Observations of Walking

I've been walking almost every day for the past few weeks and really enjoy it now. I've made a few observations as I walk my subdivisions and the three around us.
1. I need to get a college banner, sign, statue something for our yard. We are in the minority without one. People have warned us that when college football season starts in the fall, we will be shocked at the craziness that will ensue around us. We are LSU fans, so I guess I need to go buy something to show our allegiance.
2. If I don't go college, then I need to go Saints or buy a big "G" for our front door. Yes, this is the Saints emblem in Christmas lights.

3. There are 14 houses in our subdivision for sale, including our next door neighbors, so you should move here.
4. There are these things here called "hills". They make it much harder to walk. Dallas and Houston did not have these strange things. My legs are jelly today.
5. I love walking at night. Its much cooler than the morning and I make sure I am walking facing the sunset. Its beautiful and the sky is huge.
6. This is what it look likes if they take out your driveway. This is one of the houses for sale. I'm sure they will put the driveway back if you decide to buy it.

7. Walking has become imperative as I am home all day with the kids. It gives me 30 minutes of peace. And I have great music on my phone, so it lifts my spirits at the same time. Very proud of myself!

Special K Diet

I am doing the Special K diet for two weeks. It says replace two meals with their shakes or meals, have two of their snacks, and have one healthy meal. You can also have fruits and vegetables. I have also been walking 30 minutes everyday. It says you can lose 5 pounds in two weeks, and I have lost 3 pounds in 10 days. Four days left to lose 2 pounds. Now, I know I could have lost that on my own just eating better, really watching my calorie intake, etc.  But this has made it easy to make those decisions. I haven't had to think about it, what I'm going to eat. And most of what I have tried has been really good.

I love the Breakfast sandwiches. The protein shakes are pretty good. I've had the strawberry, chocolate and the coffee flavors. I also like the chocolatety caramel pastry crisps. Helps my sweet tooth. Did not love the protein cereal bars. The texture was weird and they are really small. Did not love the cheddar cracker chips. They went stale really fast and I didn't love the flavor. I may try a different flavor. I love the cinnamon pecan cereal and the chocolatety delight cereal. And the maple brown sugar hot cereal was really good!

So yes, I have spent a lot of money with Kellogg's the last two weeks, but its still cheaper than lots of other options. And again, for me its about convenience and not having to think about it. I haven't been starving myself, and have enjoyed most things. I have cheated a little bit, but not as much as other times I've tried to lose weight. They do have a plan on their website where you can make a personal plan and check out healthy recipes, but I haven't done any of that. So I'll keep going for another week. We are going on vacation soon so I'll have to watch myself or I'll gain it all back. Apparently its true that when you hit 40, gaining is way easier than losing. I'm 8 months away from turning 40, but I guess my body is already there! One day at a time.

My Three Favorites:

 

My favorite things right now...

Didn't enjoy my blog the last two days? What? You didn't read it? Didn't you know there is a special code to read my invisible blog posts from the last two days since I am writing 7 days in a row? No, I didn't write them. I did do the other two things on my list which were more personal. My blog is kind of just fun! I have a really good one ready to write, but I have to wait for the right timing. I'm hoping I can before the end of my 7 days.

So, my favorite things for this week:
1. My brother got me a Target gift card for my birthday. And yesterday I was working on my computer, clicking the buttons on my wired mouse, over and over again to get it to work. And I thought, I am done with this, got my purse, got in my car and went to Target and bought this beauty with my gift card. WHY did I wait so long to get a wireless mouse? Its awesome!

 



2. Listen to the sounds outside my back patio. I am 99% sure its frogs. I am not really a fan of frogs in general but the sound makes me feel like I'm in the country.



3. I have struggled with dark circles under my eyes forever, and found this a few weeks ago. Its done the best job of anything I have tried.

 

 

 4. I love the gas lanterns outside my house. A lot of the houses in our subdivision have them. We don't keep them lit all the time, but we had some people over the other night so we lit them. And the next night when I got home from my walk, I took a picture. They just make me feel so welcome!



The next seven days...

Our busy summer has now slowed way down as baseball has ended this weekend. My boys are already bored and wondering what we will do with our free time. Oh my friends, Mommy has plans. Reading, cleaning, learning to ride bikes, etc. Don't tell me you're bored. I will find you something to do!

But I have also found myself kind of bored, and I need to get my creative juices flowing. So I'm going to do a few things for the next seven days. Hopefully that will keep me focused, disciplined and not bored.

1. Blog everyday. This is day 1. I don't know what I'm going to blog about, but I'll think of something. When I'm really into blogging, my head is constantly filled with ideas. But when I've been out for along time, my brain gets mushy and dull. Hopefully each day will get better as the week goes on.
2. Walk. I have been walking a lot the past two weeks. I think I finally passed the point where I want to do it now. I had to skip a few days because of scheduling and baseball and I missed it. I've walked the last two nights and realized how much cooler nights are than mornings. I'm feeling better. I have more energy. I'm also doing the Special K diet (maybe that's another blog post) but I think the walking has been doing more than the diet.
3. I have a pretty large team of ladies under me in Trades of Hope and we have our own Facebook page where we share things. So I think for the next 7 days I'm going to post a verse and prayer we can pray over our team, our goals, our callings, our work. I'm excited about that.

I think that's it for now. That's only three things, but the discipline to actually do them is a big task. I have now done #1 and #2 for today. One more to go! See you tomorrow.