Another Day in Paradise

It is Monday morning. Charlie took the kids to school for me so that I could study a bit before heading to school myself. As I type, baby chickens pop their heads up to look at me over the edge of the trough they are living in across the room from the desk until they are old enough to move outside. Thankfully, they are not escaping to chase the dogs today. Hopper spent 20 minutes guarding one under the trough yesterday before I realized what she was doing and put little Empire back. She finds the job necessary as Wyatt's dog, but she could do without the chickens.

My husband turns 41 today. After 14 years together, two children and all of these animals, mornings are a little harder than they used to be. I don't believe either one of us can truly grasp what all we have undertaken in the last 13 years of marriage. I suppose we should have expected it when Bailey arrived right before our first anniversary. Workouts, nutrition, and weight management were much easier in those days. Now we find ourselves working at it more and more each year.

I started my day at 4:30- although not very willingly. When the alarm went off, I hit the snooze button, but the dogs had another idea. I tried to ignore them, but lost the battle. I shivered my way to the front door to let them out, then got dressed and came to the office to put some boxes together to mail. I really want Heather to get the Take Flight set in her hands with enough time for me to change the writeups if she needs me to. We had a late night after dinner out with Charlie's Dad and dessert with his Mom, Dad, Bunky and Uncle Steve last night, so the kids were rather reluctant to roll out of bed at 5:45. At 6, I sent in Remington. I had spent 5 minutes calling Vegas to come in for breakfast. I think it took the first four before he realized he was being called for food, then he suddenly came running. Just like the old 14 year of wolf-mutt to do his own thing.

Here I sit, blogging to the world instead of studying. As a point of information, though, I am partially waiting for the Pima web portals to open as I type. We have entered that stressful time known as the run up to county fair. Some of Wyatt's chickens will go out on April 16th, then Bailey has shooting sports competitions on the 17th and 18th. After that Bailey's animals and welding projects go out and we live there until the fair closes. Plus all of the Clover stuff. Then we come home and focus on final exams for the kids and I, and then life should be strangely quiet for the summer. Funny, to type it like that it seems so simple.

I started the morning with cottage cheese and blueberries. Charlie finds some amazing fruit out there. Good shopper, that boy. I eat very well these days. Still, I am struggling with the weight loss. In December, I got sick, and spent one day in bed. I woke up ten pounds heavier. The doctor ran several tests, but I am normal. My metabolism seems to have chosen to take yet another dive. The hour of exercises is no longer enough to maintain the healthy body weight I was accustomed to maintaining, if not being overly happy about. The wrinkles, the exhaustion, not so bad when tempered with this wild life I love to be a part of with Charlie and the kids. But the weight thing is slowing me down.

So after pouring over the recent research that says I just need to exercise more, I am trying to increase my strength training time and the cardio intensity. So next Monday, I plan to post an update of my training logs, with one hour of cardio- a minimum of 6 miles each day rather than 5, and three days of upper and lower body strength training. No one believes that fitness profesionals go through these trials. So I guess that makes me want to share this new road. We shall see, right? Wish me luck.

As for Charlie, he is hoping to return to exercise today after the last month of health challenges leading to last week's surgery. He is doing amazingly well and still looks very young for 41. There is some grey in is hair, but he earned it. We earn every day of this crazy life. And I am proud to do it with him. Happy birthday, Charlie! Here's to the next one.