Sunday, December 6, 2009

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?

3 comments:

Tricia said...

Erin, I would have loved to have received one of those invitations - and been living close enough to attend! I love that it was interactive with everyone getting to decorate their own gingerbread houses and cookies!

Today's the day I get my stitches out and you know what that means!

(Btw, I noticed a tiny white "bug" crawling across your site when I first got here, and now he has quite a few friends who have joined him - ?????)

Tricia said...

After I posted that comment, I scrolled back to the top and guess what? Those tiny white bugs crawling across your red dot background turned into snowflakes in the picturesque winter scene!

Anonymous said...

Wow! I am impressed. I am still trying to get the bathroom painted. Why did I marry a perfectionist? Ladies help me here. Seriously, does he think after 14 years, two coats of wall paper, and practically no finishing, that this bathroom wall is going to look pristine. Put some paint on it already. Now, yes, I feel better. Still getting in my 30 minutes each day. The scales are trucking down, thanks to a water pill the doctor prescribed. I have been retaining water and it seems there is nothing wrong (THANKFULLY) with my heart, so she gave me this water pill. So the scales are moving at about 1/2 a pound a day now, and so am I. LOL It's motivating, though in a weird way, even though I know it's not actually poundage, it's fun to see the scales moving.
Don't tell Mom but I found a great deal on a Wii at Walmart today. Buy the Wii and get a $50 gift card. I got her one so she can bowl at her appt. And then I used the $50 to buy what Hubby is getting me for Christmas, new smaller clothes! Fun, fun! So now I have to keep at this so they will look good on me. LOL

Plans for this week pretty simple, Christmas shop, finish bathroom, clean house, do anything I need to do before Christmas. Hubby is taking two weeks of vacation. I am officially not going to get anything done from that point on. RFLOL

Oh and Erin, those snowflakes are making me cold. We actually got about an inch here in the deep south Saturday. The kids loved it. It didn't stay long, but it was pretty while it lasted.