Itty Bit of Fit

Everywhere you look, there's someone wearing one of those fancy bracelets announcing to the world they have made exercise a priority in their life. Good for them.

After being shackled to a pedometer for several years for a health program at my "old job," I have such a sense of freedom not having to carry anything, even if it was conveniently handcuffed to my wrist.

Since hubby has been on a walking kick this year, I did get him a FitBit for his birthday. It looks like the one on the left, only in black. It fits right in his pocket and does a great job recording his daily steps.

Because it synchronizes with his computer, he can also see running totals for workouts and compete, sort of, with other people who own the same device. So of course he is challenging a friend daily. And winning, I'm sure. I'm somewhat tempted to get one but I'd get all frustrated when Jim would kick my butt every day. Another set of friends, who are sisters, are into some serious competition, too!

It has motivated me to get moving a bit. Just an itty bit on days when I don't have cardio kickboxing or just days where I can squeeze in some steps.

So I am doing it the old-fashioned way. Just walking with a friend and counting it as exercise. Got to walk at lunch today with one of my co-workers in my department and later took a 15-minute walk break with another co-worker who started when I did and had a week of training with me.

It was nice to get out and nice to spend a few minutes getting to know some new people. Just enjoying our itty bitty steps toward fitness.

Night Cap

When your son comes home with a graduation cap and gown order form, it's time to go to bed, pull the covers over my head and resume my state of denial.

Uff da.

I realize it's only September but this school year is already going too fast. First the senior pictures, now graduation items. I have to remind myself his party is not for another 8 months and 1 week so I don't need to start stressing yet, just because SOME things have to be taken care of so early.

I wouldn't mind if time slowed down for a bit. We'll just have to treasure each moment we have with Boy Wonder until he goes away and we wonder what he's up to...

And get comfortable in my cozy bed of denial. I may be there awhile.

G'nite!

Snack Size Does Not Equal Fun Size

What do you get when you cross a teenager with a snack-size bag of popcorn using a microwave that has only one "popcorn" button for regular size popcorn bags?

First a near-fire of sorts as the bag and all its contents burn, burn, burn. What's the point of shutting off the microwave if the timer hasn't gone off?

Second, you walk into a house late Friday night and it smells like burnt popcorn.

Third, you take the garbage out the next day and the house still smells like burnt popcorn.

Fourth, you run the diffuser with air freshener on maximum setting for three days ... and the house still smells like burnt popcorn.

Fifth, everything you microwave smells like burnt popcorn.

Sixth, just 72 hours later.... you guessed it... you get a new microwave...

with THREE popcorn settings! And the first thing you do is show your teenage son how to make popcorn!

Good thing we've been considering getting a newer, bigger microwave for some time now. So even though our hands were forced a bit, I am sure we'll like it. It was time.

Anybody need a used microwave? For FREE? It works. It just, well... smells like burnt popcorn!!

Fab FORE!

I guess you could say I chose quality over quantity when it came to golf this summer. Golfed only a handful of times – including a scramble – and 3 of those times were with our friends Scott and Sandy. At very nice courses.

We spent Father's Day weekend golfing with them in Green Bay and Door County. Today the four of us met near Green Lake, Wis., at the Lawsonia Links course, which has been rated the #2 public golf course in the state.

It's very nice and very challenging. Before we teed off #1 the ranger was giving us some history about how the course was built for the mob back in the day and how every green is elevated and there are sand traps aplenty.

Sandy and I found plenty of sand or mud/sand. All of the bunkers required some decent shots to get out of and over the ridge onto the green. Yup, had to shoot higher than our heads. That took some finesse and, sometimes, more than one shot. Ugh.

 Here's Scott and his wicked back swing taking a shot from the fairway.

 Hubby teeing off. If you look on the left side, you can see I got the ball in the picture!

 Just pretty.

Scott putts while the rest of us look on. See that ball in the foreground? That's mine, lined up for a birdie putt!

 Me when I miss a birdie putt! Grrrr...

Oh look. More sand! That elevated area in the background is the green. Any time we fell short of a green or went over it, we were in trouble.

Oh look! One sand trap that we DIDN'T go in!

 Sweetheart shots.

My last date of the summer! Well, most likely. It was pretty great that Mother Nature cooperated. Don't want to push our luck but I wouldn't mind getting a few more swings in. Gotta keep up my streak of "high score!"

Ripon Good Time

We all dragged our backsides out of bed early today to head southeast towards Ripon. Good thing our runners weren't dragging!

Both our boys and girls cross country teams had a successful inaugural appearance at the Ripon invitational. One of our girls had a top 15 finish and our boys, well, they rocked it and finished 2nd as a team!

This means they've placed 1st or 2nd in 3 out of our four meets so far. So yes, they are ranked in the state and we can only cross our fingers that everyone stays or gets healthy!

Carter had his best finishing time of the season, but it is not close to his personal best from last year.

He's healthy, though, and still having fun so I hope that keeps him motivated. I know we all (as in fans and parents) are having a good time. It's fun to win or almost win, isn't it?

By the time we got home after 1 p.m., we actually needed a nap before our next item on the agenda. So, hubby and I slept like old folks for almost 2 hours! Got up and hit the road to Waupaca to meet up with some friends we worked with in Iola. Yes, I already miss them enough that a get-together is needed!

The Clearwater Harbor Bar on the Waupaca Chain O' Lakes is closing for the season next week so wanted to be sure to get there and enjoy good company and the last bit of summer.

The breeze required sweatshirts, but as long as the sunshine required shades, I was happy! Seeing good friends: a bonus!

Home by 8 p.m. so we could see our boy for a few minutes before he went off to someone's house. Despite the nap, I'll be hitting the sack soon. Tomorrow we have more fun in the sun planned.

Please, summer, just hang in there...

Royal Rain, er Reign

Rode with some football friends up to Gilman this evening to watch our Assumption Royals in action. We were under the lights, under the raindrops and under umbrellas.

Couldn't complain when we were watching the Royals' reign continue this season.

They easily beat the Gilman Pirates 53-12 and improved their record to 4-1. Pretty awesome. Very excited for the senior guys who are going out with a great year!

Since Gilman is some 2 hours away and I slept fitfully in the backseat on the way home, I am in a fog right now and NEED to get to bed since Carter has to be up and out of the house by 6:15 a.m. to catch the cross country bus.

Let's hope we see more Royal reign than rain tomorrow!

Finding Balance

Didn't I resolve a few weeks ago not to find so many excuses to skip exercise class? Huh. That time went by fast.

I honestly did have a sore back and did have to work late a few times, but I am resolving again to get back into my dedicated rhythm.

My fitness instructor always points out how we "practice balance" in every class. I know he is talking about strengthening ourselves so we don't fall and can't get up. But my head hears "work out one day and have ice cream or pizza the next." Isn't that finding balance?

Thankfully I coerced a girlfriend to try the class with me. So we went last night to cardio kickboxing and this morning (yup, the 5:40 a.m. class) for strength training. Early tomorrow morning will be another round of kickboxing. Like me, she says it's a lot of fun. I hope she sticks with it. It's always helpful to have someone with a like-minded goal pushing or pulling you along.

That's what the balance is. Some give and take so we stay on track.

I won't feel guilty that we had the pizza buffet at lunch. That was a company treat for working last weekend. If I sandwich in a few breadsticks between UBC (Ultimate Body Challenge) classes, I think I'll be OK.

Last time I checked, I had surpassed losing 15 pounds in 2015 and can do push-ups like nobody's business. So I didn't lose too much ground with my "let's go once a week and survive a killer session" attitude. But I'm happy to start mixing it up over 4-6 days again.

That'll help balance "Pumpkin Everything" season, right?