Crazy Shrinking Chef Pants

So Impatient

2017-02-16T10:30:00.000-06:00

Here I am up late again, because I was dragging ass this morning. It's rare that I get to sleep in anymore, even on a day off, so I just went with it. Now I'm hoping this chamomile tea knocks me out soon.

The diet was rocky but not a complete loss today. Not a huge deal, but yesterday was all about some Valentine's Day chocolate so it's been a struggle getting back on board.

Whenever I'm up late I start playing with my workout schedules on my computer and I get itching for them to get faster so I can get to the "good stuff", you know, P90X, Les Mills Combat, Body Beast. I'm aching to start lifting weights and kicking invisible ninjas. But I know how deconditioned I am right now and I know what my feet and my right knee will take right now, so that stuff has to wait while I get the meal prep and the weight down.

I must walk before I run so to speak. I can, however, use that excitement to keep me getting up and working out and sticking to my schedule. I promised myself that I would do what I tell my group members and friends to do: Trust the process.

It takes disciplined eating, determination and consistency to accomplish any fitness goal. It also takes time. I didn't get deconditioned over night, it's going to take time to rebuild.

2017 is my year, go out and make it yours

Sherry

Looking Forward to Round 3

2017-02-15T10:30:00.000-06:00

Time to get strict again. Last strict round saw a 15 pound loss. I'm looking for 10 this time. Round 1 went fairly smoothly last time, hopefully I can hit a rhythm fairly quickly this time as well.

We're looking at Hip Hop Abs, Cize on Wednesdays and some 21 Day Fix the last week.

I honestly can't say that I'm looking forward to 21 Day Fix, but it'll only be one day a week at first, so maybe I'll get acclimated to the slight obnoxiousness that is Autumn Calabrese. Don't get me wrong she absolutely knows her stuff, just kinda wish she would know it less verbally sometimes. But, I grew to love Tony Horton, I'll grow to love Autumn.

2017 is my year, make it yours

Sherry

Looking Back on Round 2

2017-02-14T10:30:00.000-06:00

This was a sensible 3 weeks instead of a strict 3 weeks. The results: holding steady on all fronts. Which was exactly the goal, find out if I can go without the containers and the strict parameters and not gain fat.
But I've had some cheat day pizza and ice cream and goodies and not it's time for Round 3 which will be strict and bent on losing again.

Round 2 was still Hip Hop Abs and Cize on Wednesday. I'll admit that compared to Rockin' Body this is not as challenging, but I can feel some firming up in my abdominal region, so I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's doing its job. In a couple of days the repetitive first two weeks will be done and it'll get a little more interesting.

2017 is my year go out and make it yours,

Sherry

Suddenly it's February

2017-02-01T10:00:00.000-06:00

Rockin' Body is officially done and I'm into the first week of Hip Hop Abs. It starts a little slow with a week of half hour workouts, so I'm kinda feeling a little lazy, but it'll pick up soon.

I'll be taking progress pictures in the morning to send in to Beachbody. I don't know if there is a free shirt for Rockin' Body, but if there is I want it.

I'll be adding one day a week of a new program on the first of each month so my first look at Cize is going to happen in the morning. I'm pretty sure this is not going to be pretty, but it'll be a blast.

The eating has not been going well on Round 2, but I'm almost back to eating clean and I think the next round will be pretty straight. Sometimes the stress gets to you and you lose sight of the goal, but I haven't gained so I'm just tightening up the diet a little more each day and pressing on. Failure is not the end, just another step toward success.

2017 is my year, go on out and make it yours,

Sherry

Rockin' Body Winding Down

2017-01-26T00:00:00.000-06:00

In a few days I will have finished the first program in The Rebuild. It's not even February. I chose a 4 week program so that I could start off with a bang and check it off in January. I tend to have a hard time finishing things so this is a good shot in the arm. Plus I decided to check off the boxes for the Beachbody Challenge so that I can get the free T-shirt for each program. We all like free stuff, right?

So here's a quick run down on Rockin' Body.

It's a 28 day program and I just found out that there is an upgrade available which I assume will take it to eight weeks. I didn't know I wanted the upgrade until today. As silly as this program seems at first it burns calories, makes you sweat and is just really fun. Plus it's seriously affordable at $20.

Mark Move and Groove\
Super easy and short workout to get you used to the moves, the music and to Shaun T's exuberance.

Party Express
Just as the name implies. It's a slightly longer workout, less than a half hour or just right at.

Hard Core Abs
I love any ab workout that doesn't involve getting on the floor and if properly executed this will work the intended area.

Booty Time
Not my favorite. I do feel it in the hips buns and thighs, but there is a lot of burning in the calves with a lot of these moves that, for me, detract from getting as much as I can in the meatier areas of my anatomy.

Shaun T's Dance Party
A bit longer cardio that is a lot of fun and gives Shaun T the time to just really get big and lively. This guy is so much fun to work out with you can't help but want to get up and push play every day.

Disco Groove
Oh, the gold fabric every where. Gold body suits, gold leggings, just yikes. That being said, this is probably my favorite workout in the program. If you just get over yourself and get into it, it's super fun and over before you know it. Kind of sad that today was the last Disco Groove session.

Rock It Out
Was not expecting this. Pick up some light hand weights. I emphasize light because you are going to be holding them for a long time. Then you're gonna be doing like 90 push ups. So choose wisely my friend. While some folks put this program off as a joke, Rock It Out has left some mighty men (one I know in particular) with some sore triceps. I'm sitting here with sore deltoids from yesterdays session, right now. Luckily, (sarcasm) Rock It Out is the very last workout in this program so I will remember it fondly as I take that last rest day before Hip Hop Abs.

This is 2017 and it's my year, make it yours too

Sherry

The Rebuild. Round 1

2017-01-23T00:00:00.000-06:00

Well, Round 1 is over and Cheat Day is almost over. It's time to recap and look forward to Round 2.

With one more week of Rockin' Body to go I'm looking forward to moving on to Hip Hop Abs. I'll be doing the deluxe edition for those of you that have decided to join me. Let's face it, the eating plan is what makes weight loss happen. So I'm using the eating plan from the 21 Day Fix. It works, you just have to do it. I'll be starting the workouts on March 1st, but for now I'm just using the eating plan.

But for now, the Round 1 stats are as follows:

15 pounds lost
3 total body inches lost (I took measurements a week into it, so those are a little off)
2% body fat lost

Thus far the first couple pair of jeans I've earned back are still a little uncomfortable, but they have a lot of spandex in them so I probably filled them up a little more than I wanted to admit before. (think 8 pounds of potatoes in a 5 pound sack.)

But with 15 pounds in 3 weeks I'm not gonna beat myself up.

That's all for now, got an early day tomorrow.

I'm making this my year, you should make it yours,

Sherry

The Rebuild and Getting 21 Day Fixed

2017-01-12T10:00:00.000-06:00

Here we are, it's already the 11th of January. Yup got that New Year's Resolution bug going, cause why not? People like to ridicule others about the whole New Year's Resolution thing. Yeah, most of them don't last, but why ridicule somebody that wants to improve themselves or something about their life? Maybe if we were just a little more supportive of one another instead of making fun or just flat out telling them they can't do it, we might actually make this world a little bit better. If not the world at least our own little corner of it.

So anyway, let me hop down off that soap box. I am all for the New Year's Resolution, even if it doesn't last through the first week. Maybe you bit off more than you could chew and you need to edit your goal a little. I totally get that. Last year I came blazing out of the gate attempting The Master's Hammer and Chisel, I nearly broke both ankles and then 10 days in I was sidelined for 10 days with strep throat. Shit happens, y'all. I learned something though. I am deconditioned. At my age you get deconditioned a lot quicker than in your 20's.

Therefore, this year, I'm starting at the bottom and working my way up. I took all my Beach Body Programs and a few extra ones I have accumulated and I've lined them up from easiest to hardest and I'm starting from the ground floor. No shame. Start where you are and go from there.

So I'm starting from Rockin' Body, Hip Hop Abs may actually be easier, but I have the deluxe edition so its twice as long. I wanted something I could check off this month to get the ball rolling.

I'm also using the 21 Day Fix Eating plan. I've piddled around with it off and on for a couple of years, never sticking with it for more than three days. I just used it here and there to bring down my serving sizes, but then I'd snag a cookie at work or we'd have something new to sample or I'd bring home a colossal cookie for Walking Dead night. Then a peanut butter pie would go on markdown and heck, let's have a pizza on every day off. Yeah, it got ugly. (but oh so tasty)

Today is Day 12 of eating clean on the 21 Day Fix and Doing Rockin' Body 6 days a week. I am down 11 pounds and my work pants are starting to get delightfully baggy. I'm pretty sure that by the next time I have to replace them I'll be wearing a smaller size.

The BF is not too happy about the sheer tonnage of vegetables and rotisserie chickens in the fridge, but in this case what doesn't kill us will absolutely make us stronger. Or at least it will seem that way because we don't have to expend so much energy hauling extra posterior.

*Bonus* Because it is only once every 22 days, cheat day is going to be epic. Not The Rock epic, but epic none the less.

From the Ground Up,

Sherry

21 Day Fix-ish, Cut Yourself Some Slack

2016-11-30T09:32:00.000-06:00

I'm on Day 3 of the 21 Day Fix eating program. Honestly, I just can't take Autumn right now, so I'm not doing the exercise portion.

I've come around to something I have always known; you can't just wake up one day and decide you are going to be a clean eater and exercise 6 days a week if you haven't been doing it in the last half a decade (or if you've never done it). It takes time to get that shit down. There are going to be days (Stuck Pig Day for example) when you eat a box of mac and cheese by yourself. There are going to be days when you go from having 2 birthday petite fours a day to just finishing off the box during a 3 AM internet session.

That shit is going to happen. Admittedly, it is going to set your progress back. But you decide how far back it is going to set you back. Are you going to dwell on it for the next 5 days and decide that all is lost, or are you gonna get back up on that pony and ride.

My first 3 days have been rough, and to those looking in, it's going to look like a non-starter. But I have accomplished a few things that I have not been accomplishing for the past 5 years.

1. I did 5 meals worth of meal prep. (I only currently have 5 to go trays to put the prepped food in, and no lunch bag that they actually fit in. It's a process folks.) This is more than I have done since I've been at my current address. Up til now I have been 100% winging it and that ain't working.

2. I set up a workout program that I can actually stick to. I have come to the realization that I have workout ADD and therefore I need to change it up. As much as I love Chalene Johnson and as much as I love ChaLean Extreme, all Chalene all the time for 120 days just doesn't work for me. So, ChaLean Extreme Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Belly dance is Tuesday and Thursday since I can't take the impact of more aggressive cardio right now and Sundays are active recovery with PiYo. This covers my resistance training, cardio and flexibility without burning me out on one trainer.

3. I did my measurements and weigh ins on the appropriate days and logged them. I've been avoiding these things because I've been eating way too much crap too often. Seriously, I work in a bakery, the struggle is real, but I did pretty well this week. Honestly the weigh in was much better than I expected.

So in 3 days I've gotten 3 things right. In the next 3 days I will get more right, Even though this first 21 days may not go perfectly, the third week will look much better than the first. The next 21 days will be even better because I gave myself permission this round to struggle and to figure out how to make it work for me.

Carrying on,
sherry

Zach is annoyed at this strange early hour.

Hive Inspection June 29

2016-07-01T10:00:00.000-05:00

It was a nice cool 80ish degrees out and the bees were super calm.

There was a ton of honey in the middle super, we left the bottom on alone again.

They are still all over the top medium super but not building anything. Maybe the nectar flow is a little low right now and they are just not ready to start filling the top. The queen is still laying tons of brood so, we'll see when there are more bees.

Hive Inspection 15 June 2016

2016-06-17T10:00:00.000-05:00

I had been pacing the floor waiting for bee day since Monday. I couldn't wait to see what they have done with the medium super that I added to the hive last week.

It was soooo humid, by the time I had gotten my gear on I was already sweating balls.
We opened the hive and started pulling frames to inspect on the top deep. Every frame was at least 95% full. Heavy capped and uncapped honey on one side and half honey half brood on the other for the most part. Awesome! Bees everywhere!

so many bees and no comb

We replaced all of the frames and pulled that super off to get at the week old medium super. Pulled out the first three frames to inspect. I good amount of bees running around on each frame. No wax, no brood, no honey nada. When we got to the 9th frame there was about a silver dollar sized area of wax. I was so disappointed, as fast as they had been moving on the previous addition I just new I was going to have at least a few frames of honey.

We proceeded on to the bottom deep which contains the 5 frames that came with the nuc and they are all covered completely with capped and uncapped brood and capped and uncapped honey and pollen and just saturated with bees.

Hopefully they will get to the medium this week. I have high hopes because there seems to be a huge amount of brood on the deep frames, more so than there was last week.

I did notice a small patch of what I assume to be drone comb, the cells are a bit larger than usual but open, not like the queen cells that have been popping up on one of two frames and then disappearing.

big ugly comb from second deep

We moved the new medium to the top and I guess we'll see what happens this week.

Go be you, unless you can be a beekeeper, then definitely be a beekeeper.

Sherry

Recovery Week

2016-06-14T10:00:00.000-05:00

This year I have come to terms with who I am a little bit. After years of failing to finish the Beach Body programs that I so dearly love; I've come to the realization that it's not just the physical part of me saying I don't want to do it to day. It's my brain as well. I get a little bored, then I end up taking two weeks off because I'm currently tired of a program, but I haven't finished it so I feel I can't start anything else until I finish it. OCD becomes an excuse.

The solution? Two programs at a time. No, not a hybrid although those are coming. Nope I run two concurrent programs. I work program one for 3 weeks, then I do a recovery week of program two. This helps me to restore from the neck down by working out in a different way, and restore from the neck up by alleviating boredom before it gives me and excuse to stop.

Currently, I am halfway through a 60 day run of Zumba on the Wii (don't laugh, it works) and two weeks into PiYo. I beat up my joints and burn fat and sweat it out on Zumba for 3 weeks then restore and work on flexibility and strength for a week with PiYo. When I finish day 60 of Zumba, then PiYo will become my program one and I'll work it for 3 weeks at a time and ChaLean Extreme will be my brain recovery as I spend a week building some muscle.

It sounds convoluted but it's making more consistent and making my physical activity a bit better rounded.

I suppose only time will tell. But I am feeling quite a bit better the last couple of weeks and I don't talk myself out of my workouts quite as often.

So, there's the non-bee related fitness catch up.

Go be you, who else is gonna do it?

Sherry

June 8th Inspection My Girls have leveled up

2016-06-13T10:00:00.000-05:00

I waited a week to put on the extra super, so they gave
me a little warning cell. LOL

Weekly inspection time, I get a little behind on my record keeping.
The girls had only partially filled in about 5 frames on their second deep last week so I left them as they were. This week they have, again, surpassed my expectations.
I really have to stop right here and give a shout out to Kelley Bees for selling me just a fantastic nuc. These girls have been mild tempered and productive from day one. Yeah, I've been stung 3 times so far, but each one has been through my own error or lack of attention.

My girls tend to make some wavy comb at times, but it's a nice creamy delicious color and they fill it out and up with a quickness.

I only found two of these empty queen cells, I've read that sometimes they make these for practice and they don't actually attempt to grow a new queen in them. I'm hoping that's true. Time will tell I suppose. I'm new at this so I'm learning as I go.

You really must pardon me, but last week I didn't take many pictures and I find that going through a whole week without new pictures of my hive to ponder makes me sad and lonely. LOL

Everything going as planned, capped brood and some larvae on the inside, honey around the outside.

This frame looks a bit spotty, but most of the uncapped chambers have larvae in them, so I'm not worried, my queen was only about 4 weeks old when I got the nuc.

I love this picture. When I'm all suited up with nothing by my phone for record keeping, I don't get many detailed picture. Hopefully I'll get better as I go.

The girls have officially leveled up. Their first medium frame (yellow) has been added. I put it in the middle instead of on top because that seems to be the best way to get them working a super fast. I'm a newbee, we shall see on Wednesday how that works out. If it worked I'll move that super to the top Wednesday and add either a queen excluder or another medium depending on how industrious they have been the following week.

Seriously though, go be you, unless you can be a beekeeper, then definitely go be a beekeeper.

Sherry

June 1st Inspection

2016-06-12T10:00:00.000-05:00

didn't take many pictures this time around, but I like this one

The bees keep tromping on.
The girls have filled 5 out of the ten frames on their new deep super. So from April 23rd they have multiplied and filled a deep and a half. I can't believe how strong this nuc is. Totally, digging my first hive.

I did however learn a very important lesson. If you drop your cell phone on your bees, the vengeance is swift and violent. So, don't do that. Got tagged on the finger and the left leg. So my sting score is up to 3 in my first two months as a beekeeper. What doesn't kill ya, right?

But still....

Go be you, unless you can be a beekeeper, then definitely go be a beekeeper.

Sherry

Bee Wednesday (last week's inspection)

2016-05-25T10:00:00.000-05:00

Got out to the hive last Wednesday and for once it wasn't raining or blistering hot.

The ladies are multiplying their little hearts out.
This is what it looked like when we took the top off for inspection.
We had a few cells that could be swarm or supercedure cells, but from what I've read there is hopefully no reason to sweat that just yet.

new super

They have started working on the seventh frame out of the ten in the box, so I have added another super. Hopefully, nobody at the property will second guess me and take it off, cause that will piss me off.

...And yes I was humming the theme from the Jeffersons when I put the new super on.

Until next time,
Go be you, unless you can be a beekeeper, then definitely go be a beekeeper.

Sherry

Bee Day and I think I may have found my queen

2016-05-13T10:00:00.000-05:00

Out for another inspection on Wednesday. For once it wasn't raining and chilly. In fact I was sweating buckets. Going to have to find one of those 70's style sweat bands for under my bee helmet.
My colony is still multiplying like crazy, in fact if they keep going at present speed I'll have to put on another super in another 2 or 3 weeks.

I still haven't spotted my queen, but there are new eggs and larvae every week so I'm not worried.

I'm really bad at taking pictures while I'm all bee geared up, but here's a look down inside between the frames.

This is a look at the comb that I didn't scrape off the bottom of the frame last week because it was so chilly and I wanted to get them closed up. This can be real problem if you let it go for several weeks. They'll start building comb everywhere and sticking every thing together. Clean that stuff off the outside of the frames as often as possible.

holy crap, after writing this entry, I just realized that my queen is in the bottom left corner of this picture.

Girls are finally starting to build on the new foundation instead of just on their original nuc frames. This was a happy moment for me to find this. I wasn't sure how long they were going to continue avoiding the new foundation. This makes frame number six that they are working on, once they fill in the seventh I'll add another deep super for them to continue building up their numbers.

So far, I think I purchased a really great nuc and they are thriving nicely, I'm seeing more honey around the edges, which means they are foraging and feeding themselves and their new members. I also noticed a distinct absence of hive beetles this week, I saw two last week but because of the weather didn't have a chance to get rid of them. I think my girls took care of that on their own. \

Until next week, go be you, unless you can be a beekeeper, then definitely go be a beekeeper.

Sherry

Zach feels that I should be working on his blanket, so I'll be back later.

Wednesday is Bee Day

2016-05-06T10:00:00.000-05:00

The only time we have to get out to the hive is Wednesday evenings, so of course the weather was off and on crappy.

Got a quick peek and then closed them up because it was getting chilly. I think they have doubled again in population. Still haven't seen the queen but she is obviously working her little elongated butt off.

Lot's of capped brood, caught a glimpse of some larvae which was pretty cool. They are actually starting to put out some honey as well, which I did not notice last time. Pretty darn awesome.

We neglected to get pictures this time because the weather was getting chilly. Hopefully next Wednesday will be a little better.

Go be you, unless you can be a beekeeper, then definitely be a beekeeper

Sherry

1st Hive inspection

2016-04-29T10:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my first Wednesday evening hive inspection.

I am absolutely thrilled with my hives progress. There are close to twice as many bees in that hive as there were Saturday. They are furiously populating.

They have gone from filling 2 and a half of the frames that came in the nuc to almost filling all five. They've even starting paying a little attention to the new frames in the hive.

I didn't do much on the inspection because we were dodging rain showers all day and I didn't want to have them open while it was raining.

I scraped off some extra wax that they were putting in places I didn't want and I didn't know what to do with it, so I stuck it to some of the outside frames to encourage them to go to those. I don't know if that's right, but I figure, why not. I dropped a piece in the bottom of the hive and a bee tried to drag it away, so I figure they are attached to it.

I don't know what I'm looking at yet, but there were know beetles, I didn't see any mites and there was a thick coating of bees and capped brood on 4 solid frames. All that in 4 days, I'm pretty pleased.

I did get stung and of course I came home to an empty box of benadryl. It was going to happen sooner or later, might as well get it over with. She got me right through my jeans. Poor thing got herself caught between my jacket and my pants. Itches, but even if it is an allergic reaction, it seems to be a mild one.

April 27th so many more bees, and they've grown it seems

Go be you, unless you can be a beekeeper, then definitely go be a beekkeeper,

Sherry

PS:

sometimes they like to pretend they're still strays living out of a box.

I am officially a beekeeper

2016-04-24T10:00:00.000-05:00

So we got up at 6AM, yeah 6AM...fine I got up at 6:10...whatever, go down to Kelley Bees and pick up my nuc. I was a little bummed when we picked up our egg an cheese biscuits at the gas station on the way out of town that the bourbon cream doughnuts were already sold out, but OK fine, first world problems.

We arrived around 7:15 Leitchfield time (no idea how to spell that) and had a quick walk through the store. Yes, I got a tee-shirt. There was no way I wasn't getting a t-shirt. I'm a first time beekeeper, nobody calls the new mom out when her 2 month old has more selfies than a Kardashian, and I've got about 20,000 new babies.

Not gonna lie. Got a little giddy when we rolled up in the parking lot.

mini beehive, in my car

So, it was suggested that we get the little net sack to put over the nuc since we have an enclosed car and not a truck. We'll save it for next year, but not one escaped the nuc on the way.

nuc frames installed in their new super

The instructions said to let them fly around for a day and calm down before we let put them in the hive, but I had to get to work and wouldn't be off until 9, then there was a half hour drive back over there during Thunder Over Louisville, so yeah, we may have jumped the gun a little.

this is me (the Beekeeper) inspecting one fairly impressively filled frame

Yeah, I claimed I wasn't looking for the queen, but I was kind of hoping. All in all, I'm really pleased with this nuc. After watching a few videos last night I was preparing myself for disappointment, but I love my girls. They are sweet and docile and with the exception of one pissy little drone they are all calm as pie.

Couldn't have asked for a better day to drop them. Slightly overcast and not too chilly and very little wind.

The man whose property they are on has been giving me reports about every 3 hours on how they are doing. He's pretty much as excited as we are.

We also have a resident OG (Old Guy) who has been a beekeeper for about a half a century, he took a look at them while I was at work and found my Queen. He says she's about 4 weeks old and he was pretty impressed with the nuc as well, so I'm feeling good about my humble beekeeping beginning.

Go be you, unless you can be a beekeeper, then definitely be a beekeeper.

Sherry

PS: can't leave without a gratuitous Zach picture.

gratuitous Zach picture

Oh will we ever get to Saturday?

2016-04-20T10:00:00.000-05:00

Jeep

A few months ago, as part of my degree plan, I took a coaching philosophy class. During this class we had an assignment to build a vision board. As this is an online class we had to build it as a Power Point slide so that we could upload it.

beekeeper me

Pittie

the hive has arrived

Now I have never really gone in for this sort of thing, but in the interest of my GPA I put a little bit of though into this. I included a picture of Scarlett Johansson from behind in that Black Widow costume, cause who wouldn't want that. I also included a 4 door green Jeep Wrangler, cause yeah, goals. I also included a pit bull and both a picture of a fancy beehive and a picture of myself from years ago in a beekeeper's suit.

pretty hive

As Part of this class we were also encouraged to watch a show on Netflix called The Secret. Now this was all about the power of positive thought and visualization. I thought it was pretty corn ball, but I figure it's a 5 week class so what can it hurt to try a few things out.

One of the easiest visualization techniques described on the show was to take a $1 bill and add a few zeros after the 1 and put it some place where you will see it every day. In the spirit of the class I took a $1 and added two zeros after the 1 making it $100, hey I'm not greedy. Approximately 4 weeks later I received a bonus check from work for $92. I guess there was a discount for my skepticism.

I figured what can it hurt, so I added another zero to my "vision dollar" to make it $1000. About 5 weeks later I received an unexpected college refund in the amount of $1,100.

my hive all painted and waiting

So, I figured it was already made so I printed my vision board from class up and hung it next to my desk. Roughly a month after that class ended the vision board was still hanging on my wall and I was wasting some time browsing the internet. I was checking out a few beekeeping forums and FB pages when I came across an entry from a man who has some undeveloped land in town and wants people to put some beehives on it. Seriously?!? This is the opportunity I've been waiting for for over 5 years! I got in contact with him and over the course of a little over a month we were getting ready to meet when I got an e-mail out of nowhere from another man who wants to put up several beehives on his property, is looking to rebuild his grandfather's orchard with the help of the bees and has the equipment for extracting honey and brewing honey ales! Needless to say, I'm going with option 2.

My hives are here and painted and I go to pick up my very own box of bees on Saturday. As of Saturday morning I will officially be responsible for my own bees.

I am four days away from being an honest to goodness beekeeper.
Maybe there is something to positive thinking and visualization, cause the universe seems to have gotten out of my way on this particular project.

Now about that ScarJo butt...

You go be you, unless you can be a beekeeper, then you should definitely go be a beekeeper.

Sherry

Zach delaying village construction

Just Wow!

2016-04-11T22:31:00.003-05:00

So, in 12 days, barring any unforeseen circumstances. I will be a beekeeper. Seriously. That is all.

The Adventures of Sally Self-Destructive

2016-01-21T10:00:00.000-06:00

I'm at an age where as a woman I am supposed to be in pretty good touch with who I am. I read this in a book recently, so it must be true. Everything they write in books is true, right?

All kidding aside, I was surprised to find upon hearing this statement, that it's actually kind of true. I mean, yeah, I've always been selfish. I kind of think a lot of that came from just never feeling like I fit anywhere. I don't really remember a whole lot of times that I didn't just feel alone, inside my books, inside my bubble. The few times I stepped out and asserted what "I wanted to do when I grew up," I was shot down. So, I stayed bottled inside. Missed out on a lot that way. Was a grown up kid but turned into a childish adult.

So, all of this soul searching was sparked by the two main books I'm reading right not. The Encyclopedia of Modern Body Building by Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. No, I don't want to enter body building competitions. But if you want to get in shape and help others get in shape, might as well go to the master. He may be a raging misogynist, but he knows how to grow and shape some muscle.

But as usual, I digress. It was deep in a hot bathtub with my Kindle (because I learned after chapter 1 that I couldn't hold that beast of a book up and read it for an hour at at time) that I finally decided to admit to my self that I am truly self destructive. Every goal I have ever set for myself I have found a way to screw it up.

For instance, I lost 30 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year's after Skankagedden, only to gain 37 pounds after leaving the state. I lost 24 pounds after the psycho ex in order to get into basic. Gained it back with some more my last 3 years in the Air Force. So, do I need a horrendous betrayal to get fit? Do I need to be so screwed up and low and emotionally shattered to stay on a program? What the hell is wrong with me?

I'm in school to be a personal trainer and I haven't lost one frolicking pound. It's not that I'm that lazy, I like working out. It's not laziness that keeps me from getting up in the morning. I think it's more that I'm just tired of fighting, I'm tired of life being so fucking hard. Yeah, I know, there are a bazillion people out there having a rougher time than I am. And yeah, I'm in a better place than I was a couple years ago. But I'll tell you this, those bazillion other people are tired of fighting too, so suck it with your judgement.

But this is how my psyche works. I get great inspiration on how I'm going to set goals and achieve them at 1AM. Then in the morning when it's time to step forward I'm going on 4 hours sleep, so I hit the snooze and hit it and hit it and hit it. Did I mention I have some insomnia?

I know I need to be following an exercise program. I'm in a group right now that I'm supposed to be working out with and what do I do? I miss a night's sleep and give into the tired. I am fighting off a bug I probably got from the cookie bastards at work and I taper off. Winter hits with its snow and I don't want to leave my blanket hole in the morning, much less deal with crawling into the back corner of the living room repeatedly to drag out the equipment that I need to use daily.

If I do actually make it through a full week of doing the program and hitting the diet I load up a double barrel of pizza delivery and shoot myself in the back fat with it. Because unfortunately, that's who I am. Even with my best intentions and multiple tracking devices I manage to get off script and screw it up. I know from experience that I can never, ever, ever, take my eye off the ball. When I take my eye off the ball it rolls down a hill and into a hole that's covered by grass, leaves and right now, snow and it takes me a week and a half to find it again.

So, this is me, Sally Self-Destructive, and I've got to find a way to suffocate that bitch so that I can find the shapely and strong hard to love bitch that I started out as, because as stubborn as she was, she could actually get shit done once in awhile.

If this post makes no sense, chalk it up to the fact that I took a melatonin an hour ago and it's 1AM. Excuse me while I got put my back fat before picture as the background on my phone for the next time I want to buy a mark down pie.

Damn those markdown pies.

Go be you, I'm gonna go be who I once had a chance to be,

Sherry

Mid Month Stuff

2016-01-18T10:00:00.000-06:00

It's the 15th and that means measurements. Part of the New Year's Resolution stuff is to hit all my scheduled weigh-ins, measurements and progress pictures.

In spite of the pizza incident the day before my last weigh in I am down 2.26 pounds and 2.26 inches. Strange coincidence. Now yeah, one of the guys that is in my challenge group for this program (Hammer & Chisel) has lost 12 pounds, but he's a guy and he just came off a cruise, so I'm not going to sweat it. (especially since I just started actually tracking my calories yesterday)

I'm encouraged to be going in the right direction even if its slow. Usually, I've had one lapse and given up by the middle of January, but I'm working on this year being better than the previous ones.

Heck, I won $4 dollars on Powerball, anything could happen.

Zack rolling around in my lottery winnings.

Go be you, who else is gonna do it?

Sherry

Hammer & Chisel Day 9

2016-01-17T10:00:00.000-06:00

Max Hammer Strength

OK, this is my favorite. A pre-exhaust of each exercise followed by 8 reps with max weight. Hard, but so much fun.

No new moves here, but most of the time traditional works, that's why it becomes a tradition.

Those Bulgarian squats showed up again. Seriously, who is this Bulgarian and what the hell did I do to him? I think I can safely say that they were slightly less awkward today. I could be delusional from the lack of oxygen arriving at my brain from the pull ups.

Nine days into this program, I gotta say I really like it. It's got variety without being too frightening and I'm starting to look at the Bulgarian squats as my progress move. Let's see how many I can knock out today before I fall down.

still trying to figure out where they got these stupid short benches though.

Go be you, because nobody else is going to do it.

Sherry

Hammer & Chisel Day 8

2016-01-16T10:00:00.000-06:00

Chisel Cardio

Better and worse than I thought it would be. At my advanced weight I get really tired of jumping around really quick. This didn't have a lot of jumping around, two rounds of burpees, that's it. The rest of it mostly involved some weights and the first kettlebell move I think I've seen in a BeachBody workout. But then I haven't done them all.

I definitely have a lot of places to improve on this workout, but I don't dread it next time it comes around even if it does have that awful C word in it.

I might even have gotten accustomed to Ms. Calabrese, she wasn't nearly as obnoxious in this workout.

Go be you, because nobody else is going to do it.

Sherry

Hammer and Chisel Day 7

2016-01-15T10:00:00.000-06:00

Total Body Hammer

I've been a little under the weather so I'm on a day on day off schedule until I can breathe better. Hopefully, I'm successfully fighting off a bug, otherwise this is just sinus issues due to the inhuman winter weather. If I hit the Powerball I'm seriously moving someone that Jimmy Buffett would approve.

But, as per usual, I digress. Total Body Hammer, with the exception of yet more Bulgarian squats, is my favorite workout in this program by far. All weights all the time and none of that jumping around crap.

I look forward to this next time it shows up on the calendar as I cringe every time I see a day with the word cardio in it.

Go be you, because who else is gonna do it?

Sherry