Gotta Dance!

So I've taken about 4 ballet classes so far. The first class, my feet started cramping up after a few minutes of basic barre exercises. I almost threw up after a sequence of chaine turns.

The good news is, I could do pretty much everything and all the terminology and basic moves came back to me very naturally. I have a perma-grin on my face throughout the whole class, and I even rocked a triple pirouette on Saturday. I've also run into a bunch of people I used to dance with when I was actually really good. I got to see a woman who was in her early twenties when I was a pre-teen dancing way back when. Great to see her still dancing and looking great. Other ladies who "knew me when" have said such sweet things to me about how they love watching me dance, and how great it is to see me again. Does wonders for the ego, and let's face it, whose ego can't use a little boost every once in awhile?

One side effect of all this ballet is now that I'm in a leotard and tights at least once a week in front of a very large mirror with lots of other people, most of whom are smaller than me, the diet is going pretty well. Talk about motivation to look your best!

Here are my beefs (because let's face it, no matter how good things are, I always think they could be better!)

1. Classes are only an hour long. I'm just getting warmed up around the 45 minute mark - wish they were 90 minutes long. I did find out that another school has a 90 minute class on Tuesday nights - I may check it out.
2. Classes are only 3x a week, and realistically, I can only make 1 or 2 at best. Wish I could take one every day. It's hard to make progress while taking class just once a week.
3. I want to be on stage! One of the reasons I love ballet so much is because I crave the performance. So I have to figure out how to get back on stage. Let's take the Nutcracker for instance. The only parts I'm going to get are in the party scene and dammit, I want to be at least a snowflake!! Have to figure this one out. Suggestions are welcomed.

I'm filling in some of my ballet-less nights with yoga, trying to increase my flexibility and get those feet stronger for the pointe shoes!

Sugar Plum Fairy - Here I come!

It's been 17 years . . .

My daughter, now age 5, is starting ballet classes at FSTB school at The Grand in Wilmington. It's a serious ballet school. No tap, no hip hop, no crazy 8-hour long recitals where your kid points her toe, spins around and exits stage left. I know, I'm such a snob when it comes to dance, I just can't help it. Ells has expressed an interest in ballet and has clearly stated she doesn't want to do tap or anything else. Is she my kid, or what? I'm really excited for her to be exposed to such a beautifully technical and disciplined art form. I hope she loves it as much as I did back when I was 6. She's all ready to go with her pink slippers, classic pink tights and black leotard. She's ready - and so am I . .

I bought ballet slippers and leotard for myself about a year ago, thinking I would take a class last year, but there was never a good time, and there were at least 10 others excuses I pulled out that prevented me from committing. No time, too expensive, I'm too out of shape, it's too far away from home, etc. Well, last week, all my excuses disappeared. Once I enrolled Ells, I looked at the class schedule and discovered there is an open class across the hall from where Ells will be at the exact same time. So I can either sit in a hallway for an hour and chat it up with some other moms, or I can take the open class. Kind of a no-brainer.

I am so excited I can barely concentrate on anything else.

Will I know anyone from my previous ballerina life in class? Hopefully.

Will I be the fattest one in the room? Probably. I don't even care!

Will I know what I'm doing? Absolutely!

Will I be able to walk on Monday? Definitely not!

Will I get strong enough to take the class en pointe sometime during the year? Hell yeah!

It's been 17 years since my last ballet class, and I'm just 5 days from my next one.

Giddy up!

So after many false threats to get back on the P90X wagon, I've actually gotten on board. I've completed 3 days with 87 to go, but I'm thinking it's a promising start! (It's 2 days longer than any recent start of late.)

Tonight is Yoga night. Always a hard one for me for a couple of reasons: It's a 90 minute workout. It's physically challenging. When I'm bending and twisting, my belly pudge often gets in the way, sometimes even hurts! I WILL do it tonight - I must. I haven't weighed myself in a few days, and I'm going to try to avoid the scale for at least 2 full weeks. Been drinking lots of water and being careful eating, so hopefully this will continue for another 87 days and I can fit back into my clothes from last summer. I plan to check-in here more frequently - perhaps it will help keep me focused to stay on track.

What else is new? Got a new job at work. Really looking forward to a change of scenery with new challenges. We are staying with friends at the beach this weekend. First beach encounter of the summer - should be fun. Looking to add an animal to the family. We're thinking cat. I checked one out at the local SPCA that looked promising, but I want to wait until the first week of Aug when the whole family is off to help with any animal adjustments into our home. Poor Dewey - he has no clue he's about to get a feline sibling.

Vet bills and working out

Lots going on.

Took my adorable, 4 year old Golden Retriever to the vet Saturday for a vaccine, to get some more flea/tick green stuff, and while we're at it, I figured he'd get a check up. He has been drinking more water than usual, panting in the middle of the night, and just recently limping a little bit. He also has a cut over his eye that he keeps scratching that's not healing very well. So after a few minutes on the internet, I've decided that he either has hypothyroidism or something called Cushing's disease. I decide to get his bloowork done, they treat his eye, test his poop & pee, check for Lyme's disease, etc. $340 later, I get the phone call that his bloodwork is totally normal and he's probably pulled a muscle in his leg and just extra thirsty from all this heat and I should really have him wear one of those humiliating Elizabethan collars to keep him from scratching the cut on his eye so it can heal. Why must these little, incidental ailments hit all at once and cause me to jump to a serious diagnosis? I don't like that one bit! He looks totally pathetic with that stupid collar on. Grateful that he is fine, but I'd really like my $300 bucks back, please!

Since this blog is really supposed to be about how I'm going to get back into shape, I should probably let you know how that's going. Oh right, NOWHERE! After completing 11 weeks of P90X last summer, looking fabulous and swimming in my size 6's, I quit smoking (very awesome) and stopped working out (not so awesome). I spent the last half of 2009 and the first half of 2010 yo-yo-ing, doing a little bit of exercise here and there, but nothing consistent. I have recently fallen in love with 600lb Gorilla-branded ice cream cookie sandwiches (360 calories a pop) and rediscovered the Rita's Cherry Gelati. I have no clue how many calories in one of those, nor would I like to know. Now that I'm tipping the scales, still not smoking and squeezing into my 8's and 10's, I decided to get back on the P90X wagon starting tomorrow. This way, even if I can't stop the indulgent sweets as a substitute for the cigarettes, at least I'll burn some calories. I have a friend at work that's been doing P90X for about a month now and she's looking fabulous and feeling great and I'm so jealous! I am going to do my best to workout in the mornings and stop feeling like a slug. I am also going to update this blog more frequently in an attempt to keep me motivated.

PS Update as I'm writing this: I also vow to never let my son go on the treadmill by himself anymore (he decided to run at 10mph and bit it just now while I was up here on the computer - I just went down to scold him for putting it up too high only to find him on the ground with some serious "burns" on his knees and tears in his eyes.) Instead of my knee-jerk reaction of "told you so", I set him up in front of the TV with frozen veggies on each knee. I'm thinking I'm disqualified from the Mother of the Year award. Oh well, I was never even nominated!

So here's to healthy dogs, consistent workouts and no treadmill wipeouts. Carry on!

The World According to my 5-year old.

5 years ago today, we welcomed Elliana Rose Scherer to this world. She was a schedued C-section at 37 weeks and was a whopping 7 lbs 15 oz. I imagine if she went full term she would have been just as big as her 9lb 4 oz brother.

I took the day off from work today so we could spend some time together. I try to do that for both kids on their respective birthdays. So once we got Braedon off to school, Ells and I headed to the pediatrician for her annual well-visit. She was bouncing around the waiting room telling the receptionists that her Daddy "sent" her a note for her birthday. In actuality, my husband "left" her a note on the kitchen counter since he normally is up and out in the mornings before the rest of us even get out of bed. Chris has also wrapped a few presents I'd left on the counter the night before. Ells told everyone that her "Dad" got her some presents. The way she put it, it sounded like Daddy doesn't live with us and I just couldn't let that stand. So I corrected her (out loud) several times, since she repeated the story more than once to anyone who would listen.

On the way there I asked if she had brushed her teeth. She said no, and asked if we could go back home before her visit. I just let her know that she'd be fine and although she need not announce that fact that she hadn't brushed her teeth, she should answer all of the doctors questions honestly. Once in the room with the nurse, the first thing out of her mouth was that she hadn't brushed her teeth. Then she told the nurse that she didn't want anyone cutting her neck, because if that happened she would die. I'm sitting there thinking, get me out of here, now! Later on, the doctor asked Ells if anyone in her house smokes. After a long uncomfortable pause, she said, "My mom." I quickly interjected stating I quit smoking last August. Then Ells declared that her brother smokes. I ask, "Do you even know what that means?" She gave me a puzzled look and said, "Isn't that like fire?" ugh. I'm pretty sure that everyone in the office is now convinced that everyone in the house chain smokes, except for Dad, because he doesn't even live with us!

The day has only just begun. We are going to have lunch with Mom-Mom Schiavelli, my grandmother, and then off to her pool party this evening with 50+ people - Yikes! What was I thinking? I'm sure Elliana will give me more blog-worthy material the rest of today and for years to come. I'll keep sharing. Love you Ells.

Day 3 Ouch & Grumble

I’m well into my 3rd full day of healthy living and I’m sore and hungry. I’ve been doubling up on workouts and my food intake and been very “clean”. Lots of lean meats, fish and egg whites. Only complex, high-fiber carbs and lots of water.

I made the fatal mistake of getting on the scale last night. I need to try and avoid the scale at all costs. It’s hard not to see progress in the form of numbers on a scale, even though I know that I am doing well and on my way. Over the past few months my weight has been creeping up to about 150. I was 135 at my lowest point last summer after 12 weeks of P90X. To have gained it all back and then some in less than a year really sucks.

What’s worse, I got rid of all my size 10’s last July vowing I’d never need them again and guess what – I need them. I didn’t just move them to the spare room closet, I removed them from the house, donated them, threw them away, they are GONE. May I remind you that I’m only 5’2” tall? 15 pounds on my frame could mean the difference between and size 10 and a size 4!. So I’m squeezing into my 8’s and I only bought maybe 2 pairs of 10 jeans just to get me through Spring. Actually, that strategy has probably worked out for me since I can’t stand how tight and uncomfortable everything is. It may be exactly what I needed to get my head back in the game.

I'm Baaaaack!

The mind is an amazing organ. Most of the time it works against me, sabotaging all my valiant efforts to get healthy, eat right, work out regularly, etc. But I’ve realized that I get just a few opportunities a year when my mind is weak, or maybe actually strong, whatever, something’s changing and I feel like I’m back on the fitness wagon. Realizing that this probably won’t last forever, I need to hold on and enjoy the ride while it lasts. So here I go!

I did 3 miles on the treadmill last night while watching the Miss USA pageant. Wow – I never thought I could feel so smart and pretty. Now I’m nowhere near pageant pretty, but I can put my face on and look halfway decent, but my brain? Thank God for that. Those girls, as stunningly gorgeous as they were, couldn’t put 2 coherent, intelligent sentences together. One of the finalists actually said that birth control pills were a controlled substance. Huh? She may have even been the winner! Anyway – back to my workout. Stuck with the oldie but goodie Body for Life interval cardio for the first 20 minutes, then kept a steady pace for the rest of my 45 minutes.

The other exciting piece of news for my Sunday night activities is that I was in bed ASLEEP before 10pm. That never happens. I have decided to temporarily give up facebook and actually dedicate my evenings to sleep. They say you need at least 7.5 hours of sleep each night to most effectively burn fat, so sleep has become my new best friend! Part of me wants to put on my “wall” that I won’t be back on facebook until I’m ready to post pictures of me in a bikini, but I’m not quite brave enough for that declaration just yet.

Fast forward to Monday morning. I got up at 5:30 and worked out – AGAIN! I know scary huh? Like I said, I’m just riding the wave. You never know how long my psyche is going to continue to cooperate with me, so I’m milking it for all it’s worth! This time I decided to break open the P90X tapes and do a little Core Synergistics. I kept up for the entire hour and only skipped a few exercises that I can’t stand. For those diehard P90Xers, those pesky moves would be walking push ups, the last half of steam engine and table leg raise dips. I need a few weeks under my belt before I can totally HANG. The morning workout didn’t feel as productive as my treadmill workout the night before, but I’m certain it will count for something. At the very least, it got me to examine my bare gut hanging down while doing planks. It’s like I have a third boob on my waist. Super gross and I am totally going to get rid of that ASAP! One of the benefits to working out at home is that I can wear barely nothing, which is so motivating, yet disturbing when you get to see things jiggle that are just so totally wrong! My poor husband gets to see me mid-workout when he leaves for work, and I’m not sure how he can even witness the sweaty mess that is me in a jog bra and shorts, and still be attracted to me. I’ve said it before – he’s a saint!

So the plan for the rest of the day is clean eating and another workout – already had my Myoplex Lite breakfast. Packing egg whites, whole grain English muffin, chicken breasts, melon, an apple, water and another shake for work. I’m planning to get in another treadmill workout early enough to hit the sack by 9:30. Less than 2 weeks until the pool opens – Yikes! That and a full length mirror should be all motivation I need!