Keepin' on til something happens

My exercise life is kind of mundane - walk, walk, walk. Get the miles in and the steps - almost always.
Big events - Buddy gets attacked by a dog last Monday when we're walking. The dog wasn't on a leash. It came running. It was big. Buddy went into his barking mode - the dog jumped him and the fight went on. I was pulling Buddy's leash. The owner of the other dog came running, she yells for me to pick up my dog. I can't. They are snarling and snapping - both of them. I'm supposed to snatch him up? I keep pulling the leash, she grabs her dog's collar. Buddy sits on my leg - I can feel his blood seeping through the fabric.
The good news is, it all happened on his back left leg. Not his neck or face.
The woman gave me her number. Told me she's on disability. So I'm not sure that she can help. And they were moving - that day- that's why she let him run in the woods area for the last time. They were care-taking at that little red church.
I was shaking, I called Rachel to come get us. We went to the vet. They cleaned him up and said to come back Thursday. On Thursday, he looks great - doing really well. On Friday night, he's bleeding again. Rachel takes him in Saturday. He needs more treatment - back on Monday, today.
The punctures are very deep - there was pus - they drained it and stitched the muscle that was torn and stitched the outside.
But my issue - my back started twinging over the weekend. Is it from "flying the dog" down and up the stairs? Was it something I did at work? Last night, when I went to bed, I stretched a leg out and zap! something happened! Ouch! Big time.
So today, very little walking - I'm very slow - hard to go downstairs. I walked up the street slowly. I'm icing and heating. Hopefully, this will help. We'll be in Guatemala in a week - less than that really. Yikes!

Bloody left back leg.

Good shot of the "cone of shame"

Two months go by - had vacation - back to work -

I really have stuck to my steps and miles since the last post - more than 2 months ago!
But Dave hurt his foot yesterday - I still got my miles - but not today. This is the lowest I've had in a long time. So far - not far before bed, I'm at 8,092 steps and 3.35 miles.
And it's funny that last month I talked about this being the only thing I have control over.
That's still pretty much true - but today with my first week of back to work, Dave being hurt (though happily he's feeling better today) and it's pouring down rain!
Feeling a bit out of control of so much, I've decided I want to really clean up the family room and possibly use it as my hiding place from the world. So I have been working on that starting last night. Carting a bunch of Nathaniel's stuff into his room to get it out of there.
Rowena did a great blog post about kids getting their stuff out of their parents' homes. I think it's time.
The good news:
 I've been to Minneapolis all by myself for 4 days.
4 of us went to Denver for Hillary's wedding.
Rachel got a job at Starbucks and is in training.
Today, she ran a half-marathon in "Beat the Blerch" she said she walked and jogged, but she finished!
And like I said before, Dave's heel is beginning to feel better after hurting it last night.

The Global Market in Minneapolis wall by the children's area! I love this place.

Things I Can Control in my Life.

I'm sad maybe depressed today and the last few days, maybe weeks. Today though I have tears.
My daughter is struggling harder with her anxiety and depression which is manifesting itself by staying in bed - doing very little. Having days of binging and eating trash food - basically throwing herself out a window - in a less dangerous sense. But I'm not sure it really is less dangerous.
Anyway, this sends me down the "I'm a bad Mom" track which is not good for me. At All!
And on top of that the politics, the violence, the racism the backlash of that, the arguments, the "taking sides" when all I want is a world where everyone is loved and accepted! That's pushing me down into a deep hole as well.
And everyday, I get kind of obsessive compulsive about making my fitbit goals. A few nights ago, at 11:56, I remembered to check my stairs - I was short 1 - I'd been close to sleep - but I had to jump out of bed and go down downstairs and back up - Yay! I made 10 flights.
In a way I feel that's kind of sick. But I had 3 minutes - plenty of time - I live in a split level house. I would not have gone down the street.
I also don't worry over the calorie burning or the sleep and I DO NOT enter food. I don't care so much about those things - and I have a bit less control over them and I don't like the tediousness of food counting.
And so, I pray for my daughter to find her energy to go introduce herself to the Starbucks' managers. I pray for myself that I find my inner peace. And I pray for the world and government that there will be good answers - positive forces working.

One month later...

Oops! I posted a month ago.
What's happening exercise wise? Still walking, steps counting, miles counting, etc. I've had no mishaps, no falls, no adventures really. Oh there was the guy that needed to borrow my phone - at first I called the number but he ended up with it in his hands. (And no, this isn't a theft story) What made it interesting was that Dave and I were on our walk, this young guy needed to call about a ride because his friends left him. He did have two other friends. Ahead of us, we'd seen some police cars. So his conversation sounded something like this. "You gotta come back for me. The cops are gone. They didn't do anything to us, come back!"
Yikes, were these kids involved in some kind of illegal activity? And now my phone number will be on their phone records?
We never saw them again - so hopefully they got their ride back home. And so far, no calls from the police asking us how we know these guys.
I haven't ridden my bike. For work, I've had lots of outreach visits or needed to get back and forth from one library to another, so biking wouldn't work. And I tend to walk to a store if it's within a mile or two, so it's not that I'm driving everywhere instead of biking.
Exciting life news is that Dave and I are planning to go to Guatemala in October for a 1-week immersion trip. We even have airline reservations.
This feels like a pilgrimage for my Mom who always wanted to go back there but never did. We were there in 1961. It's now 2016! Isn't that strange? I was 6 years old. Now I'm 61.

The Daughter, Dad and Dog.

Father and son on Father's Day.

Bike anywhere?

It's now June 2nd. "Bike Everywhere" month is over. I did a total of 5 days making 10 trips. Nothing to brag about.
But considering I had the walking trip where I scraped hands/knees and chin and the bike fall sliding into the ditch. I think I did OK.

Not exercising - just wearing a red nose.

Shawn is arresting me out at Mountaineers Forest Theater.

I did keep up my walking! Miles and steps! Yay! me!
Someone introduced me to a PBS series: Murder in Paradise. I've watched 3 episodes of season 1 while doing my PT exercises. (Those and my other "lifting heavy things" are the things that fail to happen most)
We went to the Mountaineers Kitsap theater and I could walk up the big hill the very first time without having to rest! Rachel was thrilled because she could too. Dave with his asthma struggled a bit more. It's a steep hill!

I wish I felt more confident about the PT. The docs in Minneapolis would like me to come get checked and have a potential repair done. They think there's a hernia hiding in there. They're supposed to get back to me about what the recovery time would be after a repair.

Roll me over in the blackberries... let's not do it again!

So 9 days after the "trip" I wrote about, I'm biking to work - first time after that "trip" - preparing to get up the hill to 1st Ave, so I decide a water break would be nice. I stop, get off the bike and get my water bottle. All the sudden the bike is wobbling and I can't get it - I'm not sure what happened. (Sometimes, I wish I had a video camera following around so I could watch it in slow motion) Anyway, the bike falls over, I go backwards and fall down into a shallow ditch with lots of black berries!
I lay there to inventory myself - I seem to be together - nothing broken. I did see my keys that came out of my pocket. Then I roll over and very carefully, place my hands between blackberry spaces - thank the good Lord there were gaps, and crawl back up the incline. Back onto the sidewalk.
A young man is headed my way - I assume to check on me and when he sees me reach sidewalk level, he turns back the other way.
I wave and yell that I'm OK.
And onward I go to the library....
My head and body were feeling pretty disoriented for a while.
My ride home was uneventful. Thank the good Lord again!
If I'd been young, I'd have thought to flash a selfie of me laying in the ditch, but I didn't.
Rachel took this photo of me walking one day this last week - probably Wed. I'm not sure....It's actually a collage photo.

Wiped out! plus update

I tripped on an out of alignment sidewalk while walking Buddy.
I splayed out. Both hands and knees got scraped and i banged the side of my face. Ouch.
We kept walking for a little while but I really wanted to go home.We still walked about a mile.
I'm not biking today.
I went to PT on Monday and I've been sore from those exercises already and my hands don't feel like holding onto handlebars. I don't think I could have broken anything, but my left wrist (the one I broke almost 4 years ago is hurting and a tad swollen. I've got ice on it.
I'm curious if my face will bruise.

update:
that night - I hurt really bad especially the right hand. So today (Thursday) I called the consulting nurse and went in to be seen. Happily, I have only bruises and scrapes! Just need to remember not to lift anything heavy! (which is much lighter than my normal lifting)

It's Mother's Day 2016

This is my first Mother's Day without my own Mom still here on earth. She's lived across the country from me for the majority of my life - but she was only a phone call away.
Last year, I was able to visit her in May. It was my last week of Leave from the kidney donation. She had been sick off and on and I know she worried about the kidney donation and I wanted her to see me in person. See that I was fine.

Sitting on the porch - the only photo I took on the trip.

It was a fun visit - short but filled with a lot of errands that her assisted living sent me on. It was hard for her to get in and out of a car, so I don't think we went anywhere together - not that I can remember.
I bought her some nice white velcro tennis shoes, I bought new sheets for the hospital bed.
I am so grateful that I could make that trip.
I had hopes of returning in August. But she passed away 6/29 at 91 years old.
Having her in my life for so long is a blessing I'm grateful for. But I miss her terribly, especially on Mother's Day.
I think she'd be laughing if I could tell her about my fitbit and trying to reach all the goals. And she'd worry that I'm getting too skinny - even without seeing me!
This week, I added biking back into the mix. I biked to work on Wed and Thursday - and even with doing squats and all this walking, the hills were difficult!
Yesterday, I biked to the Farmer's Market - I had all the time in the world - my favorite kind of day off.
I spoiled myself on Mother's Day weekend too! (Dave wasn't there to stop me! He had to do a funeral)
I bought: a "rag rug", a new tiny purse to replace the African one that is getting thread-bare, 4 tomato starts (I hope I don't kill them), 3 felt-board sets, 1 tile (that I'm sure my kids would have purchased for me had they seen it) that says: "Best Freaking Mom Ever" And some asparagus for dinner!

Fun weekend - and look what I bought!

Beautiful metal lawn sculpture with pink peace pendant.

Dancing Lady with Seahawks pendant.

I went to the Puyallup Farmer's Market on Saturday while Dave did a funeral. I was on the lookout for things to go on my tree. And what could be better than
this awesome dancing woman?
I decided on the Seahawks pendant. I'm not sure either one is going to really sparkle the way I'm hoping it will when it's way up in the air. We shall see.

While I was there, I met a dog trainer who gave me free advice! I spoke with her about the stubborn dog-walking that's been happening.
She advised that we hold him with the leash made very short - keeping him right next to me. This will let him know, we are making the decisions not him. And we should carry some sweet potato to redirect him when he does get stubborn.

So far, so good - I'm not sure he's enjoying these walks as much as him being in charge - but I sure am.

The "tale" or "tail" of walking the dog

Buddy the cooperative doggy. "I love to walk"

Buddy the uncooperative doggy. "I want to go home"

This week has been a lesson in how not to walk a dog. We've been thinking it fun to allow Buddy to decide where we're going - it makes walks a bit of an adventure and unless you have plans and need to be in a hurry, it works out well.
Tuesday, I needed to get back home, so we were going to take a 1 mile walk. But as we went along, Buddy wouldn't take my directions. He refused to turn towards home. (Though this photo of uncooperative doggy was yesterday when he didn't want to continue walking - but the resulting taut leash is the same) We ended up on a 2-mile walk to where my daughter will park her car. I had to call my husband to come pick us up - I knew where he was headed and I didn't have time to walk home from there. So Buddy happily trotted over to the car, as if he was saying "See, I told you it would be here"
Today, we seemed to be on the same wave-length and all was well.

Kidney donation anniversary was Thursday!

I've had a great week though emotional. Lots of memories from a year ago when I flew to Minneapolis to donate a kidney. Tuesday was the flight anniversary, Wednesday was the anniversary of the "night before" or "Goodbye kidney" party, and Thursday the donation anniversary.

The whole thing all together - the renewal of friendships in Minnesota as well as the awesome privilege of donating a kidney will be one of the highest highlights of my life.

Buddy needed water.

 I've had some great walks on the BPA trail this week as well as other places. The sun has been shining and the views of Mt. Rainier have been amazing.

My shadow.

From the Trader Joe's Parking Lot.

I must say that trying for 10,000 steps and 5 miles a day has me really enjoying the sites and sounds of the outdoors.

I've hit my goals all week. (not counting carlories burned but I rarely do that. I don't know how the calculation was decided, but even on days that I get way more steps and miles and stairs, I still rarely hit it.
Honestly, I don't really care!)







With views like this, how could you worry over picky details!

Beautiful days in the Pacific Northwest!

You can't beat the last few days! The sun is shining! The temps are rising - but not too high!
Tuesday was very busy and the only day I didn't hit the 5 mile goal - but I did hit steps. That day most of my steps were from mopping and cleaning the house which was in desperate need.
I made my usual Guadalupe House soup but then, we also served dinner at the Reach Out Women's shelter - we cooked a turkey in the roaster. Dave came home early and was able to get most of the turkey making done.
Those things were back to back with a short visit home to finish off the prep for the turkey dinner.
The women were really happy with the dinner  that the staff had put together.
And we discovered a wonderful Russian salad called Vinagret - it's made with beets, potatoes and all kinds of other stuff. Amazing! So I have a new favorite and Olga H who made it, gave me her recipe - there are several versions online too.

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 This tree is just down the street from the library.

These 3 photos were taken on walks this week.

Now that I've blogged, I'm learning what the gizmos mean!

For work, I'll be posting blogs and today I took a 2-hour webinar to learn more about it.
I wondered if those same doodads at the top of the editing were here on mine and they are. Of course they are. I just didn't know what most of them were for.
So maybe I'll be able to make these posts more interesting now. We shall see.

Sunday was my first day in a while where I didn't hit 5

Blueberry "scone" doesn't look like fitness!

miles - I hit all my other goals though. It was a busy day and I'm happy with being so consistent with goals. Yesterday was my record high number of miles (since I've worn the fitbit) 6.88 miles! Go me!

We were going to a potluck Sunday night, and I made 2 kinds of bread. A beer bread and a Paleo rustic loaf. The beer bread was made with flour, sugar and beer. I was told it was delicious. The paleo rustic loaf was gluten-free of course but horrible, so we don't need to make that again. This blueberry "scone" I made a different day this week- it's paleo and delicious!

Rain, Rain Go Away!

I really don't mind living in the rainy Pacific NorthWET as my friend Cap likes to call it. But since I've been trying to get 5 miles worth of walking every day, I'm tired of doing so much of that indoors - at Fred Meyer or Costco - or staying outside and getting wet. Oh well...
I've been rained on several days this week.

We're walking in the rain...

This is a selfie carrying an umbrella - also listening to a book so I look kind of like a bug!
Buddy was with me this day too:

This dog is not good for the environment - he refused to walk without a ride in the car. We rode to the Park and Ride and walked from there. What a goofball!
Yesterday, a high school classmate and his wife came and we went to Pike Place Market. Lynh wasn't feeling well so we stayed inside and did little walking. I left my phone in the car by mistake, so I had to walk quite a ways to get it. That was my longest walk of that particular visit.
I have hit all my steps and miles this week! Even with me not feeling so good today. I like the goal.
I suppose I should raise it someday, but I don't see that happening any time soon. Maybe the goal should be to go faster.
I should be back on my  bike before too long - I'm not sure how that will fit in - probably will just help with calorie burning. But that too will wait for the rain to slow down.

What do you do when it doesn't count?

Dave, Buddy and I went for a long 3 mile walk. The fitbit was not on my wrist! I forgot to put it on after my shower. Sad me!
We walked a route that brought us to Norpoint Way, then over to 256th back to 21st. I ran into the Hong Kong Market to see if they have ground turkey for Buddy's new diet (they don't) and over to the meat/produce store where I got 2 flat-iron steaks out of the discount meat freezer and 2 halves of cantaloupe from the discount produce bin. (I'm thrifty- what can I say?)
I had skipped our corner protest due to rain. I've had an awful cold for a few weeks and didn't want to add to it as it seems to be getting better now. And of course it rained for the last mile of our walk. Oh well. When you live in the Pacific Northwest, you have to live with that.
After getting home, I googled how to add miles or steps and was able to do it on the fitbit dashboard. So all is not lost. Though I know my body knows when I do something so it never doesn't count.

This isn't really from today, but looks similar - same Buddy, same walk. Today he was wearing his harness. A really huge dog saw him and even though we were across the street, the dog started to run. I'm so glad the people had good control over their dog!
By the way, Rachel ran this morning in the Seattle Hot Chocolate 15k. She had her best 5k time and best over-all and considering she was back to hills, this is even more awesome. I'm very proud of her.

Buddy is sick again and didn't want to walk

Last night, Buddy got into un-popped single-serve microwave popcorn. We're not sure how many packages - they were shredded. And he ate most of it.
Dave discovered it when he woke up. Buddy had pooped on the floor - and Dave got him to go out where he pooped a lot more. And it was fully of popcorn kernels. Yuck! (He offered to show me where it was so I could see and I said "no, that's ok"
Just to make me feel included, Buddy began vomiting up food mixed with popcorn kernels - so I did get to see much more than I would have liked.
He acted happy to go outside on the leash but only wanted to get in the car. (I kind of wonder if he was saying, "Take me to the vet, please" Instead, I took him to the parking lot for the BPA trail. We began walking - slowly - until a little dog on a leash walked toward us. Buddy barked and barked like he always does, except he had very liquid grossness spitting out his rear as he barked. He walked a bit more and then wanted to go back to the car.
So much for walks where he could get rid of more popcorn. We had several more bouts at home.
I did call the vet and when they called back, I was told he should be better by tomorrow afternoon.
I sure hope so. He's acting very "puny" and doesn't even want to eat.
It's very hard to see.
I never left him home alone until Dave and I went out for our walk this evening.
Buddy was asleep on my bed on a pillow when we got home.

Better at the exercising than the blogging about it

I guess if you have to be better at one than the other, I'm glad I'm better at the exercising!
This past Sunday, Daughter Rachel (I only have one daughter, but that's her name) ran in the Disney Princess Half Marathon. She's been training in her own fashion for a long time.
I'm really proud of her determination and her success at doing it her own way.

I started getting another cold last weekend. It sure feels like I've had a lot of those over the last 4 months! I think this is the third. I did a little research and determined that walking is still ok. I shouldn't try to get my heart rate  up but a normal walk works. And so I did. Every day!

I say I got the 10,000 steps but most days, in order to reach 5 miles, I need closer to 12,000 steps. (I should have told them I was 6 ft 2 instead of 5 ft 2!)

Today is my longest work day 8 hours there (paid for 7.5) and at least according to yesterday's desk schedule, I'm on the desk 3 hours this morning, then set up and do story time, and another hour on the desk towards the end of the day. Busy. Sometimes, I get a lot of walking in when I'm on the desk - it all depends on what kinds of questions people have for me. And if I have time to get up and walk around the library to see who might need help - and visit with the folks in the comfy chairs.

And over the weekend there is a Lenten retreat. My plan is to get a lot of rest when I can, go to sessions as they work out, sleep at home, go back and take Buddy walking - try to keep him out of trouble. (Last night, he got into a box that contained some orange bean bags I was going to donate away. He chewed through the plastic to get to them and ate beans out of one of them!!!! Others had holes in them.)

I left my fitbit at home today!!!! Aaaaa

I've done really well at wearing my fitbit everyday. And I've hit 10,000 steps very consistently and not only that but hitting the 5 mile goal.
But today.... I got up at 5am to take my daughter to the airport and went back to bed when I got home. I stayed in bed til 11!
While I showered, I plugged in my fitbit. Checked it once - not quite charged and proceeded to leave home without it.
Between staying in bed all morning and not wearing it to work - where I was on my feet for an hour on the desk and another 2+ hours setting up, running, and taking down our Lego program, I missed the recording of steps and miles.
My daughter once said to me "Even if your fitbit doesn't know you did it, your body still knows" Those are words of wisdom for today.
So my today goal was to hit a recorded 5,000 steps and 2.5 miles - half-way to the real goals.
As of this minute - I have 6,010 steps and 2.6 miles. Yay!
I still have 4 flights of stairs to do which will also increase steps and miles.
Again, I'm proud of myself - I'm working really hard at reaching these fitness goals.
And a shout out to Fred Meyer for letting us walk round and round on these rainy, cold winter evenings.

The groundhog predicted an early spring

Hi All!
The last post about my back hurting might make you think I quit or took some time out. But nope! I'm still plugging along - walking, lifting heavy things and sprinting once a week!
I feel really proud of myself - other than a random day where I was awfully busy, I've even hit the 5 mile goal.
My hardest thing is the calorie burning! Fitbit decided I needed to burn 1921 calories a day.  At 60 years of age, a woman and about 125 pounds, I've only been able to do that about 4 times. I kept telling myself it didn't matter, but I found it disheartening.
When we were at the emergency vet with Buddy the dog the other night, I discovered that I could indeed change that number. First I moved it to 1500 calories and decided that was too easy. I checked my averages and that was about 1800 calories so I changed it to that.
I still don't hit that every day but much more consistently! And that feels much better.
I'll share one story from yesterday.
I did a story time in Enumclaw, a small town East and South of me. Afterwards, I walked around the very cute historic downtown and ate lunch in an awesome restaurant - The Mint! I had a delicious salad with balsamic tomatoes and house-made blue cheese dressing, and a bacon jam cheeseburger which was AMAZING.
The sun was shining! The setting was beautiful - Mount Rainier in view, cute shops and this awesome lunch. What a gift from God!!!!
I found a recipe for a primal bacon jam which I'm hoping to make tomorrow morning!!!!

My back isn't happy

Why is it that when you try to do something good for your body, one of the parts rebels?
I'm not in a lot of pain - just twinges.

I've altered the way I sit in this chair and in my bed when I do my praying/reading/journaling. I'm avoiding any kind of reclining at an angle. That seems to be helping.

Yesterday, Rachel, Buddy  and I walked to the produce store and to the groomer to make an appointment for Buddy. I still went walking with Dave later even though I'd gone past steps and miles, but I like spending time with him. He stayed out later than me.

I'd thought I'd walk Buddy to the groomer today and walk home, then drive to pick him up. The rain changed my mind. Buddy didn't even want to go get in the car, so trying to get him to walk wouldn't have worked.

And the thought of walking down to pick him up went out the window because our crockpot blew a fuse and I had to deal with that. It turns out, the crock pot is shot - the plug was showing metal. So I transferred the pork roast to the roaster and all that together took some time.

I talked Rachel into going walking with me and Buddy came along - it was a nice happy walk - he even was in no hurry when the rain started!

I'm down to 1500 more steps for the day - hopefully, I'll get that at work!

I've met bunches of goals

Today is the 16th.
On the 13th I did meet my calorie burning goal after all - I forget it keeps counting calories burned right up until midnight.
I met that goal on the 13th, 14th and 15th. It's not looking so good for today.
I've met the 5 mile goal Every day but Tuesday this week!!!!
I've met the 10,000 step goal every day this week.
I really am proud of this.I feel like I've tried hard.
I was surprised I met them all yesterday because I was working 7.5 hours and it was rainy, so almost all the 10,000 steps happened at work. It helped that I was on the desk 4 hours. I do lots of walking around - getting things for people, roving, going in and out to the back room for things.
Plus I had story time - there's a lot of movement involved in that.
All in all, I'm pleased with my fitbit and the challenge it gives me.
Unfortunately, I had really bad leg cramps last night = in both legs! I need to figure out what causes them. (I still have bars of soap in my pillow case that I have down by my legs - it sure seemed to help at first!)
Today, I did 2 sets of 10 of squats and pushups. (both on the wall) I did that on Thursday too.
Tomorrow is sprinting day. We're also talking to the rcia about vocations.

Wednesday 1/13/16

Yesterday, I met steps but not miles and I was too tired to do the final 1/4 mile - some days you just have to be realistic and accept your limitations. I'm coming down with a cold which didn't help much.

Today, we were signing escrow papers for our refinance at 8:30 in Renton, so after I went to Ikea. They weren't open when I got there, so I sat and read and drank water.

I found several things I'd hoped to buy a clamp on lamp, a floor lamp and a hanging lamp, 2 bath mats, a robe, & 2 kinds of hampers, I moved the van into the loading zone, loaded it and when I went to leave, it wouldn't start. I tried a few times. No go.

I called AAA. While I waited I walked around and around inside the parking garage for about 45 minutes and racked up lots of miles.

AAA hammered on the starter (the battery was fine) and it started! He advised me to drive straight to a mechanic. So onward to Northshore Automotive. Because I got there between 12 and 1, there was no ride home so I walked in the rain all the way home. 1 mile which wouldn't be too bad but it was raining.

I was supposed to be at work by 1:00. I had to change clothes, fix Buddy's food and he insisted on a walk - he got a very short one. I went to catch the bus but was running late. I hoped it would be later, but it wasn't. I called Anna and she said she'd come get me. (Uber estimate was $19.00 - $20.00) I started walking towards 320th and she found me just past Westway.

I ended up with 14,094 steps, 6.06 miles and 1849 calories - I didn't meet the calorie goal. I've only met it once. Maybe the "natural calorie burning" will add up?

So tonight, I'm tired and my nose is running.

And I look forward to picking up my van full of my Idea purchases tomorrow!

1 full week of 5 miles

I'm not sure I'm doing this blog right because I was pretty sure I added a blog post since the one that says "yesterday was too busy" or whatever it says.
I'm enjoying my fitbit!
I've hit the step goal (10,000) and Miles goal (5). One day I even hit my calories burned goal (1900) I don't know why I have such a hard time - I try moving faster to get my heart rate up but even yesterday when Dave and I went for a 5k walk and I sprinted 3 times plus we walked up and down hills a lot - I still didn't hit it. Oh well.... I'm not going to worry about it.
Today I discovered that I can get points on aarp for fitbit goals - there are buy-one get-one coupons to local restaurants even. Yay!
Buddy and I went for a long walk this afternoon - I led him lead the way. I keep forgetting to map the walks, so I'm not sure how far we went but it was long for him. (He actually went on the 5k walk with us yesterday too)
And speaking of Buddy his red-eye thing has magically disappeared in the last few days!

Yesterday was too busy

Yesterday I was rushing all over doing various errands and things around the house and I fell short of my 10,000 steps for the day. I was more than 8,000. I decided that I'll do my best and some days I'm not going to meet that goal.
Today I did my door squats and door pushups. 10 of each.
I haven't decided what exactly I'm going to do for "planks" I think I may go back to the exercises the doctor gave me for abs that are much gentler.
I also haven't decided what to do about chin-ups. The piece of equipment I have is a pain. I'll think about it some more.
But glad I've done day 1 of squats and pushups.
Right now, I'm at 5,650 steps. Dave's just now leaving work, so I'll run to Fred Meyer without him. I needed to get to the bank before 7 and eat supper too!
Onward!

I hit the 5 mile goal for the first time

I've had the fitbit for more than a week and I've done the 10,000 steps for 8 days in a row - today I hit the 5 miles.  Yay me!
I still need to start my old primal exercises - it's in my plan but haven't gotten to it yet.
I'm happy that the steps and flights of stairs goals are going well. And now the 5 miler mark.

3 years ago I started this...

Welcome back.
I got a fitbit for Christmas - it's the FitbitHR.
For now, I'm concentrating on the goal of 10,000 steps and 10 flights of stairs.
I also have hopes of getting my calories burned to increase because I really don't want to feel like I'm always dieting just to maintain my weight.
I still follow a Primal diet and for the most part I've stayed close to the same weight. It fluctuates a bit here and there - maybe 10 pounds up at the most. (I'm really unsure what my "real" weight should be, but I'll just go by how my clothes feel. I really dislike tight clothes.)