30 Day Shred - Days 19, 20, and 21 (Christmas Party Edition!)

You'll have to take my word for it, but I really did do the 30 Day Shred on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

I spent much of Friday whining to Generations Gone By about how much I loathed Level 2, but when Superman called at 2:45 p.m. and told me he was leaving work at 3:30 p.m., I got my butt in gear and did my time on the LifeCycle and did my 20 minutes so I could be done before he got home from work. The rest of the evening was spent in preparation for our annual Christmas party being held the following day. Bathrooms were cleaned, the coat closet was emptied to make room for the coats of our guests, and the boot caddies were put out. We got the meat cooked for our wontons, the gingerbread cookie dough was made and put in the refrigerator to chill, the sugar cookie dough joined the gingerbread cookies in the frig, and the Santa cookies got their hats. We even found time to hit the grocery store for the last minute ingredients we needed.


Saturday was crazy busy. We got up and got cleaning. Vacuuming, dusting, and getting ready. The "gingerbread" houses were assembled and placed on the plates that we'd threaded with ribbon and tied an ornament to, the royal icing was placed in squeeze bottles for the kids to use, and the candy decorations were placed in bowl. The gingerbread cookies were baked and cooled, so the kids could decorate those, too. The tortillas were cut and fried for tortilla chips, and the wontons were assembled and fried, too. The serving table were laid out with napkins, paper plates, and cups.

In between all that, we all did our exercise...Valiant and I did our last loathsome day of Level 2, as well as getting in our 25 minutes of additional cardio. Superman did Day 9 of Level 9 and his cardio.

All that planning made me feel like we were ahead of the game, but...apparently I was the only one who thought our Christmas party started at 6:30 p.m. Everyone else received invitations that said 6:00 p.m.!! You guessed it...our guests were arriving while we were putting finishing touches on everything. Thank goodness I'd showered and gotten dressed and ready early! Lesson learned.

Today? Today was our day to take a deep breath. Still, Valiant and I were excited to try Day 1 of Level 3 and we loved it! Seriously, we actually felt invigorated when we were done. Superman finished Day 10 of Level 1 and is unenthusiastically anticipating doing Day 1 of Level 2 tomorrow. ( Guess we should have kept our dissatisfaction to ourselves!)

Andrea at The Train to Crazy commented that she is maintaining order in a house full of little girls and wonders if that counts as doing something that makes you feel proud? Oh, yeah! There is no way I could be doing this if my kids were younger. Truly. You can have everything you want in this world, but you can't have it all at the same time. Pat yourself on the back Andrea! Getting your house cleaned with toddlers is something to be proud of!

Melissa at 365 Days of Exercise is struggling to figure out how you balance life as a wife, mother of a toddler, and full-time worker with a burning desire to transform your body. She posted that she slipped up a bit this month and her measurements reflect her split focus. You can clearly see the effects of all those steps she's taking at work, however, as those calves are getting smaller and smaller. Melissa, after much reflection, I've come to the conclusion that you can only devote yourself to "x" number of things at a time. Why am I now getting back into shape? Because my youngest child is 10, not 2! I feel less torn when I spend time on myself now than I did even 3 years ago. Cut yourself some slack, celebrate your successes, and view the situation with honesty. You've done a fabulous job this year and you have a super cute haircut! What else does a girl need?