Well, I hurt my back and was in bed for two days. I was pretty miffed because the only thing I did to hurt my back was bend over and pick up a freaking pillow! Argh. Oh well. I didn't post for a while because I was a little depressed about hurting myself and not getting to workout. I'm am feeling much, much better now though. I've slowly been getting back into exercising. Mostly I've been doing snow shovelling for exercise. I looked like an idiot out there today snovelling WHILE it was snowing. I wanted the exercise! I can't really exercise in the house right now because it is crazy. We are waiting to get new carpet put in and with the Christmas tornado that just hit - things are a mess. So, show shovelling it is. Starting Tuesday, weather willing, I will be going back to the pool in the mornings. I love swimming. It's almost like meditative exercise for me!

Well, the baby was fussy last night, both of the older kids got up in the middle of the night, and the dumb dog is just darn lucky to be alive this morning, so I did not get up early! I did do aerobics after my oldest daughter went to school before I had to get the others ready for school. Today was a really rough day. The kids were just awful. I don't know what's up with them, but they were ALL having a bad day. Ugh. When they went to bed, I just wanted to veg out in front of the TV and eat chocolate. Luckily, I didn't have any chocolate in the house! It took every ounce of willpower I had to get my rather large butt up off the couch and do my Thighs of Steel video, but I did it! Yea, for me. Now, I am off to bed. If that darn dog opens his mouth tonight....well, I just have one word - DOGBURGERS! LOL.

Whew! I just finished Step Interval with Sharon Mann. I got a good workout. I think I want an aerobic step for Christmas. So far things are going well. My kids had a major meltdown today. Ugh! I wanted to SCREAM at them, but I refrained. Their dad is in California on a business trip, and they miss him. Not an excuse for the meltdown, but I understand it a little better. It's amazing how many of those boxes of organic greens I go through in a week! My oldest daughter loves to eat them with me, so that's pretty cool. I need to find some new yummy dressings. I love Seeds of Change French Tomato, but I'm ready for a switch. I finished off that bottle today. I have a sweet one that okay when I have a spinach and fruit salad, but I really prefer the savory dressings. I'm going to try and get to bed early tonight, so I can get up early in the morning. I really enjoy working out in the mornings, but I REALLY like sleeping! It takes a lot to get into the habit of getting up early to workout. I'm planning on driving down the street to swim in the mornings when my husband gets back from California. Will power baby! I can do it!

Well, I have lost eight pounds so far! Yea. It feels good, but honestly I have so much to lose that it's hard to get excited. I shoveled snow today, starting learning belly dancing moves with my daughters from the DVD I bought, walked home from a friend's house, and did the Thighs of Steel video. I'm beat. My husband did the video with me. I ate pretty healthy. All in all - a good day, and now I'm off to bed!

Well, I forgot that today was CiCi's day! Once a month, my son's preschool has a fundraiser night at CiCi's Pizza. They really look forward to it all month long, so I couldn't really say no. I did GREAT though - I'm very happy. I ate mainly salad - a huge salad of romaine lettuce, carrots, pepperoncini, cucumbers, mushrooms, peas, a few croutons for crunch, and low-fat Italian dressing. All in all CiCi's night wasn't the healthiest dinner, but it was WAY healthier than when I've eaten there in the past. I got 63 minutes of exercise in, too, which feels really good. Tomorrow is weigh-in day. Ugh. Oh well, I might as well take body measurements, too.

Boy am I out of shape! I used to be so fit that it is hard for me to actually realize how far I have to go - ugh. Since we had snow yesterday and the evening temperatures were below zero, I decided to do a "Thighs of Steel" video. That kicked my butt! My three year old did it with me - sort of. Half the time she was climbing on me which made it all the more difficult. I bought two new DVDs from Target today. One is a DVD from Prevention called "Dance Yourself Thin" and the other is a bellydancing video. I did the "Dance Yourself Thin" one today, and my daughters did it with me. It made it pretty cramped in our tiny family room, but it was fun to do it with them. I want to set a good example for my children. I have been eating very healthfully for a while now (well, I eat lots of healthy food and then add unhealthy food to it - not a recipe for weight loss!). That is rubbing off on the kids. They've been raised on whole foods, but now my daughter ASKS for salads. Yesterday I made healthy burritos, and she asked for a salad to go with it. I told her the salad was inside, but she wanted a salad, too! Hurray! I turned down eggnog today, so that's good! Tomorrow starts our commitment to 1000 minutes of exercise in December. I think we'll do it. I did 214 minutes of exercise in the last six days! I'm feeling very positive today.

Okay, so I am finally stepping into the world of blogging. I gave birth to my fourth child three months ago, and I have set up this blog to make me accountable for losing weight! I'm going to link this, so that friends will be able to read it. I've got to stick with it. I'm going to be thirty-five on May 29, 2007. I want to be trim and fit by then - thirty five pounds lighter. Get it? Thirty-five by thirty-five? :-) It's going to be tough because I am definitely an emotional eater, and things are very stressful right now. We are trying to get our house ready to put on the market in April, and that on top of raising four children is stressful. I've made a commitment to exercise for at least 20 minutes a day, but hopefully 35 minutes. I'm also eating very healthfully. I try to follow the guidelines of Joel Fuhrman, MD.

I think it's going to take me a while to get used to this blogging thing, but hopefully I'll get the hang of it pretty soon. We have a snow storm moving in, so I went walking with my husband and three of my kiddos this afternoon (the oldest is at school). Pulling 73 pounds in a wagon takes the work out up a notch! We walked for 30 minutes. And we're off!