Container City

Some time ago I heard about a city in Mexico that was using old shipping containers as low cost apartments for lower income families. At the time I was interested, but didn't look further into it. Today I found a link to the Container City website and found myself completely fascinated by what I saw. When I originally heard of this concept I thought that it was a good idea, but wondered how it would be to actually live inside a shipping container. Wouldn’t it be a little depressing? How would they do windows, doors, etc? This site showed me the answer to my questions.

I think that it is absolutely amazing that they have built entire communities using nothing but old shipping containers. Some of them don’t even look like containers when they are done. It seems to be something that has been much more popular in London than it is here. I don’t know why the U.S. hasn’t caught onto this trend, but I think it would be a great way to not only provide an alternative to cookie cutter living spaces, but to be green at the same time. Things like this just amaze me.

I always wonder what kind of imagination the people who come up with ideas like this had as children. I know that my imagination now is nowhere near a place where I could look at an old shipping container and think “I bet people could live there.” I totally want to go take a tour of one of the container cities now. (Guess I should inform the huz that I want to take a vacation to Mexico or London)

I am also amazed by Kit homes. I’m a dork, I know it. Don’t judge. Just accept it and move on.

Disappointing

I measured myself last night with the huz's help and was thoroughly disappointed.  I was even more disappointed by my weight this a.m.  I half expected to see no change at all, but what I saw was disheartening.  All of my numbers went up save 1 which could have been a simple error in measurement when we started.  Even my weight went up 2.9 pounds.  This may not seem like a big deal, but to me it is.  It makes me think that I am doing something very wrong.  A lot of people will say "Well, muscle weighs more than fat."  Well, those people don't understand that I am a big enough girl that even if I am gaining muscle, I should be losing weight.  It made me want to stop, but thanks to a dear friend of mine who I wish I got to see more, I didn't.  She gave me a few pointers on what to eat and just some encouragement which I needed after seeing such disappointing numbers. 

So, I stuck with it and did day 8.  I feel a little bit like I am becoming a failure only after just a week because I have to stop more now than I did when I first started.  Shouldn't I be getting better and having more and more endurance?  Most of it is because I am getting this horrid cramp on the outside of my shins/ankles right above the knobby bone.  It is a killer!  For those of you that need a visual:   

I used to get it right when I started skating again.  If I didn't stop and try to work it out, it would eventually pull all the way up my leg to my knee.  It's frustrating to say the least.  So, I think that if I don't find a good pair of shoes soon, I might have to make the 30 day Shred into something that is going to last a little longer.  We will see.  For now I am going to do my best to stick with it.

30 Day Shred

Today is day 7 of the 30 day shred for me.  I have to tell you that I am seeing no difference what so ever yet.  Aside from a slight increase in endurance.  I am sure that this is because of how out of shape I truly am.  However, I am still motivated.  I want to be thin and fit.  I need to get into shape for my sake and the sake of the girls.  We are going to do measurements tonight and weight in the AM.  I will let you know if there is any difference in those, but I'm not sure that I have been doing it long enough for a difference there either. 

I have been working out for 7 days without wearing shoes and my bad knee is starting to feel it.  I have one pair of shoes that are were great.  I've had them for at least 3 years.  I have a very hard time picking out shoes.  I have only ever had good luck with Reeoks, but would be willing to try anything but Nikes.  I tear Nikes up like nobody's business.  If anyone has any good suggestions on good shoes, please let me know.  Also if anyone has any good ideas for helping to trim the calories here or there while still being toddler friendly, I would gladly accept the pointers.  My insurance is having a nutritionist call me due to my status as borderline diabetic. I am in denial that I have full blown diabetes.  So is my Dr.  I think that this is going to be great, but they said it could take up to a week for her to call me when I talked to the nurse on Friday.

We have yet to sit down and plan out the menu for our venture into Menu planning even though I keep "suggesting" that we need to.  If we don't talk about it by Tuesday, I am planning it myself which I hate to do.   If you have been reading my blog for any length of time, you will know that I am not a cook.  The huz does all of the cooking.  My cooking repertoire extends to baking a turkey, White Castle stuffing, Chili, and hot wing dip.  Not the best items, but at least I can do a few things.  Though, not enough to start doing a weekly meal plan. 

Also, today is Mouse's 2 month birthday.  It is so hard to believe that my Christmas baby turned thanksgiving baby is already 2 months old.  Of course, in 6 days I will be saying the same thing about my little monkey.  She will be 20 months.  Time flies when they are little and I am so blessed to be able to be a SAHM. 

Good-Bye for now

I learned late last night that my husbands Step-Grandmother passed away. While it is a sad event, it was time for her to move on. She was no longer living the life she wanted to live. Nor was it a life that her family wanted her to live. However, she left this world on her terms. Much like my grandma did. She decided when it was her time (though she had voiced her opinion about it being her time many many times before. :) ) Now she is at peace and can do a much better job at watching over us all.

I had only been in her life for the past 11 years or so, but she was special to me. She was very sweet and could be quite sassy. She was also one of those grandmas that you never knew what she was going to say. She liked to keep people guessing. It was always a joy to see her at family gatherings. As she started to get less and less steady on her feet, I would always try to help with moving her and she would always tell me "Jeannie, you're so sweet". Little did she know that I didn't do it because I was trying to be sweet. I did it because it is in my blood. Helping people is in every fiber of my being. It's what I do. It is what I have been trained to do and it just happens automatically. Helping her with such a small task as sitting in a chair at Christmas was my pleasure. I may not be good at much, but I am good at that and it meant a lot that she knew it.

I regret that she never got to meet Autumn. For some reason I have this weird thing where I think that it is very important for grandparents and great grandparents to meet new children. I don't know if I am hoping that their years of wisdom will rub off on the baby or if they will pass on some secret code that will tell them how to live a fulfilling life. I know that she can see her now, but it's not the same.

Grandma Rose, thank you for letting me into your life for a brief moment. You touched my heart and I will always remember you. Please watch over us as you wait to meet with us again. I, selfishly, must as one or two more favors of you. Please hold Ember's donor angle close to you and whisper sweet songs of joy in his/her ear. Tell her angel that we love her/him. Also, if you see my Grandma Hill, tell her I love her. Until we meet again....I love you. We love you.

30 Day Shred...day 4

It is already day 4 of the 30 Day Shred and as you have probably already guessed, I am not dead. However, I am fairly certain that I will be any moment now.

I really do think that I am making at least a little bit of progress endurance wise. (It's either that or the many times I had to stop last night to give little mouse back her paci. Yes, she uses a paci - don't judge me) I actually made it through the first two sets on jumping jacks!!! For the first time ever without stopping. Again, I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about this. Though, I did have to stop several other times for fear of my lungs bursting. Even as I am sitting here typing, my arms are shaking begging me for mercy and I LOVE it. Am I a glutton for punishment or what?

It's just that I can feel that this is actually making my body work and it's great. It is the first time in a long time that this has happened for me. I don't even think I hurt this bad when I started derby not so many years ago. Though, let me tell you rink rash hurts worse that this ever could. Especially when it leaves the fishnet stocking imprint on your but cheek. OW!

Tomorrow is going to be a full day and we will be out of the house for most of it. Yay! We have to go to Children's, then to Sam's for formula, then maybe to the mall for a nice little stroll. After the huz gets home we eat and then I work out. It seems to work a little better if I do it at night rather than in the middle of the day. We are also going to work on doing Menu Planning this weekend. Thanks so much to Lori for suggesting it. I am excited to see how it works for us.

Wordless Wednesday....Just like daddy

A little late, but at least I am here.

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago.

This is the little girl who refuses to wear a hat for more than 15 minutes at a time. She asked to have the bandanna put on her head and she love it.

Now if you put one on her, she will wear it for a few hours at a time. She has also started to wear the cute little crocheted hat that I bought her.

Oh! And I did the Shred for today too. I am going to go die now.

30 Day Shred...day 2

This morning I woke up with some soreness in my legs. I thought to myself that I was feeling pretty good and glad that I was going to be able to move throughout the day. Ha! I feel asleep in the chair this morning after Ember got up for about 30 minutes. When I woke up, I realized that my abs and sides were sore. Let me say that again....my ABS are sore!! I didn't even think I had abs underneath this belly! And this was after only the first day! I can't even begin to explain to you how excited this made me. I have never, EVER done a workout that has made my abs hurt. Not even when I was hardcore into sports in high school. To me, this means that it is actually giving me a workout. While I am so very excited about this, I am also VERY sore. As the day progressed I felt myself getting slower and stiffer and hurting more and more as I moved. I knew this was going to happen, but it still hurts! Ugh

As much as I didn't want to because of how sore I am, I did the workout again today. I am sure that I ended up stopping more this time than I did yesterday, but it felt good to work all of my sore muscles. That is, until about two hours ago when I realized that I can't walk down the two steps into the garage. Yes, walking down stairs is much harder than walking up then right now. You use a whole different set of muscles and when they are sore, they sure as hell let you know it. I am motivated at this point in time to keep this going. In the first part of the DVD, I always have to stop in the middle of the jump rope part. It is just too much on my feet and shins. I REALLY don't want to end up with shin splints. I had them a lot in track and it was hell. Well, when you get to the end of the DVD, you do 2 minutes of cardio. This includes the jump rope part. Yesterday I didn't stop because I wanted to prove I could do it and I did the same today. I don't know if by then I am worked up enough to push myself or what, but it feels like such an accomplishment to make it through those 30 seconds of torture!

I would agree with anyone that tells me that Jillian Michaels is a master at torture. However, after the results I received after just one 20 minute session I would also have to thank her. If this continues, I can see how this could truly help me. Now, the diet is another story. I really need to work on it, but it is just going to have to wait until it is time to go grocery shopping again. Not a lot of healthy stuff in the house right now. I had pizza for lunch and and then a little later had a small pouch of Ember's fruit snacks. Just before dinner I ate a bag of baked Cheetos's and then had a piece of pizza. I was SO hungry. The huz did fix me a great dinner though. It is actually a Weight Watcher's recipe. It is a modification of hot wings where you use chicken breasts, cut them up into strips, and then use hot sauce on them. They are actually pretty good. Especially for someone who LOVES hot wings. He also made this whole grain rice mix that was pretty good. It was only 3 carb choices for me. (45 carbs total for the whole meal) Oh! I also only had three diet sodas today. Usually I have a bazillion and one throughout the day. I guess that is progress.

Now, we will see how I feel tomorrow. They always say that the third day is the worst. Let's hope. In one of my more pain filled moments the huz said "Hey, you only have 28 more days to go." At that moment I wanted to jump on him like a spider monkey and just smack him! However, my sore thighs told me that this was not an option. So, I politely told him to shut it. :) He loves me. He knows it. hehe