Week 2 Down onto Week 3

Well this challenge is definitely just that a challenge.

First challenge for Week 2 was food, we didn't get to go shopping for fresh fruit or veggies so I had to get creative with our snacks. Normally we would munch on them between meals but since I was out I had to make up different things. Best one was baked corn tortillas, the kids love using them as chips (I was out of real chips too).

I also have added a part to my own personal challenge: Drinking enough water!!!

I know I don't drink enough water, I don't like water. Never really have, I would much rather a nice glass of tea, soda or juice. All with sugar in them so I am trying to not go those routes.

I have a water bottle that I carry with me everywhere since I always try to drink water and this week I have made the commitment to drinking 3 of them full each day. That will be a total of 96oz a day, so far I am a short each day but getting closer and closer to hitting my goal.

As for Claire requirements:
Workouts-
Monday-Fitness Blender with my kids and 2 stretching workouts after theirs
Tuesday- Hip Hop Abs from Beachbody (a fellow challenge member was doing them and encouraged me to dust off my discs and put them to use)
Wednesday- Another HHA session and it felt good!!
Thursday- HHA ab workout session
Friday- Cleaning the house but not much else because I pulled something in my left lower back.
Saturday- I walked around our field and tried to help friends harvest onions. Back was still hurting too much.
Sunday- Felt much better so I did 3 Fitness Blender stretching videos.

As you can see the Second challenge was not giving up when I hurt my back on Friday. I went to my support and asked for prayers.
Verse-Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough troubles of its own.
Matthew 6:34

This verse is hard for me because I am constantly trying to prepare for days ahead, I don't like to not be in control or at least ready for what each day brings especially with homeschooling four children. I also like to have a list of jobs to do when my husband is home so I feel that we use our time wisely.

Like I said this verse is a personal struggle for me, one I am still working on.
Accountability-I check in with my group every few days, sometimes daily if I have the time. I try to post every evening when I have complete my workout.

Over all I am thoroughly enjoying this challenge and I am loving the changes I can see in myself already.

On to Week 3!!!
I can't wait to see what it has in store for me :)

Week 1 Living and Active DONE

Well last week was a challenge. 

With the kids and hubby around all week I really didn't have time to myself which would normally be my workout time. 

However with hubby home we spent tons of time in the garden/field at my mother in laws. We had rows of onions and potatoes to harvest and with temps dropping it was time.

My workouts looked like this:

Monday: 2 Fitness blender videos each 15 mins long

Tuesday: working at the Food Bank= loading over 150 food boxes= constantly moving for 2.5 hours.

Wednesday: Two 30 min sessions of harvesting potatoes plus 15 mins or so on onions.

Thursday: Absolutely NOTHING!! My body was hurting so I took the day off.

Friday: 30 mins of harvesting onions and a fitness blender video for stretching (I was still hurting after Wed!!)

Saturday: Random work around the house but nothing to big

Sunday: 3 Fitness blender videos= 33mins total

All in all I had fun starting the challenge and on a plus note I can now hold plank for more then 15 seconds at a time. Its amazing that one week of regular working out can help you feel better.

Eating went okay, I did find out that I don't eat enough calories every day. So trying to work on that now.

I got the memory verse memorize and have been checking in regularly to my group, they are the best!!

Here are some potato and onion photos from our work days to enjoy:  

Thirty minutes of harvesting
set to dry.

One of 3 rows we dug. 

Truck Load on Sunday for Hubby
to take to friends and family

Mini Melon sized onion.

September Already!!

Wow where has this year gone? I honestly can not believe that we are in September, I am so not ready for fall. The past month went by really fast and I am so behind in my fall prep. I am hoping to get a jump on them this week. Biggest job right now is cleaning out the kids closets. I have noticed that all the kids have had major growth spurts and now have out grown last springs wardrobe. Normally we have quite the score at or local thrift store but the last few time I have gone in there was nothing in my munchkins sizes. 

I need to sort and donate all the stuff we no longer need and try to see what I might have stashed for this fall. I am so not the organized type but I try so wish me luck as I enter a very scary zone since the first room up is the girls......the two of them have trashed their closet in the last couple weeks since our rain has made it nice and cool, I guess that's taken in their young girl minds to mean dig into everything because they are cold.

On top of that we are having our first week off of school (started today) and it will be spent with quite a bit of it harvesting the remaining potatoes and majority of the onions from my mother in laws field since it is getting closer to freezing time. My husband is planning on taking a truck load of onions to friends and family when he goes to work next week.

For a fun part of their week the kids also requested that they get to have target practice with their .22 rifle and their bow. 

All of that is on top of our bi-weekly food bank volunteering which is this afternoon. 

 I look forward to sharing pictures!! 

2nd Annual Living and Active Challenge

 Peak313 has done it again!!

Last year at this time Clare created Living and Active, a challenge for our Spiritual and Physical Fitness together along with our Accountability and she has brought it back starting today.

I am the worst person to stick to a fitness program unless I have people holding me accountable so with the help of my lovely Facebook group I know I can do this. 

Last year I quit early because my ankle which I had sprained early in the year. It started to really hurt causing me to favor it and hurt the other one. Not the best results but I am fine now and I even asked my doctor this morning what he thought about me doing the challenge and he told me to go for it! ( I just happened to have an allergy shot appointment this morning.)

Over all I am very healthy, just over weight. My blood pressure and tests are great, but my family line does have medical conditions that are a concern.

 I have been feeling pretty sluggish lately and had already decided I needed to get my booty back into gear. So when Clare posted that she was doing another challenge I was very ecstatic.

The challenge consists of 3 parts:

Spiritual- She gives us a memory verse aka Soul Food each week

Physical- Workout 4x a week 

Accountable- You can have a friend/family member that holds you accountable or you can find a Group to join (there are two on Facebook) and last but not least she does a roll call each Monday for you to check in on.

If you are the slightest bit interested in the challenge you should join, you never know what God has planned for you!!

If you need an accountability partner I am more then happy to help!

You can do this!!! 

We all can!! 

Today's soul food is:

“Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

Ecclesiastes 4:12

I also did my Physical requirement for the day with 2 videos from Fitness Blender. I did a full body stretch and a yoga video, each were just over 15 mins a piece.

 Don't forget to check out Peak 313 and the information Week 1.