Looking back at 2013 and the Special 5K Challenge

This blog has been a long time in the making, over a year in the making, actually.

Thanks to not-so-wonderful genetics and poor habits, I had been diagnosed with insulin resistance and high cholesterol some time ago, but in the summer of 2012, I had some pretty bad lab test results regarding my liver enzymes. Around the same time, my hubby wanted to join a gym. So, being the engineer I am, I formed a plan. If we were going to invest the money, I wanted to do it wisely.  Engineers are known for being tightwads too.

Step 1: Use www.myfitnesspal.com for one month to collect data to be used in Step 2.  There are several free websites that work similarly, where you track what you eat and how much you exercise.  The account has an easy setup, and you can use their calculations for your calorie goal or you can customize it.  I used a weight loss goal of 1 pound per week for the calculations, since that was recommended.  My favorite tool is the recipe calculator, because I cook a lot from scratch.  It allows me to see the nutritional information for my recipes, and I can play with ingredients or portion sizes to make them "healthier".   The first week was a real eye opener about what was going in my mouth. 

Step 2: Meet with nutritionist at Wellness Center. She was pleased that I came with “data”, and it made our meeting much better since I had info to give her.   At this point, I had already lost 5 pounds.  We only had to tweak a few things.  The greatest change for me was that she said I needed to snack in the afternoon.  What?!?!?   I was of the "three square meals" upbringing. She gave me a recommended calorie and carb goal, based on my health at the time.  I thought she was crazy, saying that I could have 140g of carbs a day, but she said to trust her.  So I did. And that's why she is the nutritionist and I am an engineer.

Step 3: Pick a gym. Between Step 1 and Step 2, my husband and I did the free week at the local Wellness Center and the local YMCA to see which one we liked better.  Both places have their advantages and disadvantages.  We chose to go with the Wellness Center. When you sign up, they do blood work, an assessment of your flexibility and strength, and give you a recommended routine for your health goals.  Once again, the engineer in me liked this data-based approach to your overall health.  You can see where to you start and get body measurements (besides just weight) along the way to see how you are progressing.

Step 4: Get committed through goals and accountability. One of the things that I was told that I needed to do was cardio 3-4 days a week, 30 minutes each time. I have some girlfriends that wanted to do the Liz Hurley Ribbon Run in October, so I decided that the Couch-to-5K plan would be my tool for committing to the treadmill.  Plus, I asked these same girlfriends to pray for me in this new endeavor.  This kept me accountable as well. Now that I knew I had an audience and a cheering section, I must succeed!  (Pride can be a terrible thing.)   I even bought a pack of smiley face stickers, and every day that I went to the gym or ran in the neighborhood, I put a sticker on that day on our kitchen calendar.  You have to find what works for you when it comes to positive feedback.  I am eternally 12 and goal-oriented, so stickers work for me.  And quite honestly, when you start seeing results, it is much easier to stay committed because you know that what you are doing will actually work.

Step 5: Stay the course by finding support.  Big T and I made the decision together that the gym would be our first stop after work each day.  We were also very blessed by having family and friends to not only support us, but join us, in our lifestyle change.  This made family and social gatherings less of a challenge.  Sometimes you may have to seek out your support.  It may be someone you notice is at the gym at the same time you are.  It may be an online friend on the tracking website.  And if nothing else works, invest in a full length mirror and chat with yourself every day about how good you are doing!  

Step 6: Andi's Rule #7- Find your fun.  For the record, I do not "like" running.  I like weight training.  I really enjoy playing softball.  But more than anything, I really, really enjoy hanging out with my friends. Being social and just to see if I could really do it,  I agreed to what I call The Special 5K Challenge (not to be confused with that cereal commercial).  One of my running buddies thought it was a great idea that we all participate in one 5K per month in 2013 to keep us motivated.  Here is my photo proof of participating in each 5K.  I wasn't able to run 100% of each 5K, but I did run at least 95%:

February- Wounded Warrior 5K-Huntsville

March - RoadRunner 5K-Huntsville

April - Double Helix Dash 5K-Huntsville

May - Poke Salat 5K-Arab

June - Color Me Rad-Birmingham

July - Fiddler 5K-Smithville

July - Blizzard in Blossomwood-Huntsville

August - Autism 5K-Town Creek

September - Schoolhouse 5K-Huntsville

October - Liz Hurley Ribbon Run-Huntsville

November - Attack of the Lions-Monrovia

December – Galaxy of Lights Fun Run (2.5K)-Huntsville

December - Rudolph Run-Huntsville

So now here it is 2014.  My plan is to remain “fit for service”.  Fingers crossed!

Christmas Letter

I debated about this for a while, and decided, why not?   I always loved reading the Christmas letters and notes that my family received when I was a child, especially if it were people that lived far away.  I thought it was neat to hear about what had been going on with them since the previous Christmas.  Of course these days with all of the social media and instant communications, we pretty much know what our friends and family are up to.  And if you are friends with me on facebook, you probably already know most of what I will be sharing here, but maybe I will have a few new things for you.


Greetings from North Alabama!
2013 has been the year of new challenges, but in a good way.   In January, one of our good friends threw down what I will call the Special 5K Challenge.  In order to keep us all motivated to stay in shape, she suggested that we do a 5K a month.  And so I did, after I recovered from having the flu in January.  As a result, we learned about several charities this year that I will cover in a future blog. Thomas decided to pursue his own challenge with participating in USPSA shooting matches each month at Catherdal Caverns as well as teaching an NRA certified handgun course each month.  I even agreed to be a student in the September class.

Due to the untimely arrival of the flu, we had to miss a very important first birthday.  So a few weeks later when I was recovered, we went to see the birthday boy but decided to stay the night at the Chattanooga Choo Choo in one of their sleeper cars.  This was a cool experience - and I do mean the temperature too!  The heater quick working sometime during the early morning hours and woke us.  Needless to say, we were the first folks at the breakfast buffet that morning!  The cars are decorated in antiques and just really nifty.  

 We took a few days in June and went to Pigeon Forge to "do the touristy thing" for the first time.  Even though it rained half of the time, we incorporated getting wet, and muddy, into the plan.( I wrote about some of the things we did in earlier blogs.)  We definitely plan to go back; Dollywood definitely requires two days to do it right!  As you can see below, we left rather dampish.

We have a sad note for this year as well.  We lost our sweet Shadow to what we suspect was cancer.  She came to us just a couple of weeks before we got married hiding under the front porch steps.  I always wanted a short-haired black cat, so I guess God sent her our way.  She was the stereo-typical kitty, and most of our friends and family never saw her because she was always hiding.  Bandit has adjusted well to being an only child and is only more spoiled every day. 

In the fall, Thomas was able to experience his first Auburn football game.  (It was my third.)  His nephew Allen plays the trombone in the Auburn band, and we told him we would come to a game to watch him.  Between runs and matches, the only game we could attend was the Georgia game.  It was VERY exciting to watch the Tigers win with 87,450 of our closest friends.    It was truly a memorable event!

 

 We wish you and your family a very happy holiday season.  We hope that you have a fabulous 2014!

Thomas, Andi, & Bandit

Fast and Easy Apron

 Recently I was thinking about birthday gifts for a couple of my friends who were turning three, and I really wanted to give them an apron and kiddie cooking stuff.  I wasn't sure that I would be able to find a child-sized apron, so I began googling how to make one from a tea towel.  I thought I had seen that in a magazine or something  a long time ago.   I found, and read, several sites with different ways to accomplish converting a tea towel to an apron.  I came up with my method by picking pieces of others and putting it together.   Since a friend asked to me, I am doing a blog.  I hope that I explain it well; I don't do much with a sewing machine on a regular basis.

So first I had to find some tea towels that would have pictures and colors that a 3-year-old would approve of.   I found mine at Target.   Next I had to purchase matching binding and thread.  I determined through experimentation that extra wide double fold bias tape worked best for me with my skill level.

 

Next, I folded the towel in half lengthwise, and then in half again, and marked the center.  Then I used a ruler, and marked a line at an angle to the long side.

 

I then cut along the line with it folded.  Next I opened it up and started attaching the bias tape with pins.  All you do is fold it over the edge that you just cut and pin it.

I didn't measure, but I left somewhere between 12-15 inches for the belt tie on either side, and probably about the same for the neck loop.   Since I was making this to be adjustable, I didn't worry about it being too much.  After I stitched it around, it looked like this:

 

Now this is a bit too long for a child.  So I folded the bottom of the apron and folded the belt ties up a bit and secured them with two safety pins.   This now gives the child a big pocket and a more suitably sized apron.  As the child grows, the pocket can be made smaller and the apron longer by adjusting the safety pins.

Bandit just had to check out the ribbons.

And here is the other one I did with strawberries.  Note the neck loop is tied in this one to make it smaller.

 

I also googled how to color my own safety pins with nail polish to match. How cool is that?

 

Seriously, I was able to knock each of these out in less than 30 minutes.  It is that easy.

What to do in Pigeon Forge? - Bluff Mountain Adventures

So what do you do when it is raining when you are on vacation?  Go muddin' of course.

In the sea of brochures and coupon books and online searches, we happened across Bluff Mountain Adventures.  We thought it sounded like fun, so we gave them a call and ran over to the ticket office to reserve our spot for the noon "Mountain Trail Adventure" ride.  We opted for a two-seater so that I could take pics and film while Big T drove.  We were given directions to their facility, which is just off of Wears Valley Road.  Once we arrived, we took a short walk to the building where we would leave from and return to.  We picked out our helmets and safety glasses and then watched a safety video with everyone in our group.  Then we went outside and received our assigned vehicles.  We actually ended up with their Teryx, a four-seater.  Big T says it was like we were in a Cadillac and everyone else had a sports car.  We were excited regardless.

When we first left, the guide took us through a little warm up course so that everyone could get used to their particular ATV.  Then we were on the trail to the bluff.  For the first few minutes, it was clear, but then it started raining.  And it continued to rain.  I was using the point and click camera during transit, so unfortunately, all of those were blurry.   But when we got to the bluff, this was our view.

It was a bit foggy, but still gorgeous.  

I had to lose the helmet for our break.

And somebody was REALLY having fun.

On the return trip, I decided to attempt to take some film.  This first one is as we are leaving the bluff.

This next video is about halfway on the return trip, and Big T is pleading to the viewers to convince me that we should add an ATV to our inventory.  I also get popped with a limb when I say "That's gonna leave a mark."

This last video is toward the end of the ride. It can only be described as F-U-N.

Hubs had to take this pic, to show how much mud was on my face.

If you choose to try this adventure yourself, be sure to check out their rules and regs on their homepage at the link at the beginning of the blog.  We were surprised to learn that many people come there and totally disrespect the machines.  Not cool.

Things I am glad we did:

Watertight container for the point and click camera.

Frog tog poncho, because it is quick drying.

Wore hiking boots.

Things I would have done differently:

Brought beach towels for the ride back to homebase. Fortunately we had a picnic blanket that served the purpose.

Water shorts or quick drying shorts. Soggy denim is heavy.

Got mud?

What to do in Pigeon Forge? - Three Bears General Store

I surely did not intend to blog about a souvenir shop when I went into it, but before I left, I knew I just had to.

To make a very long story short, we into Three Bears General Store to get some cash.  When we entered, I thought, "Wall to wall souvenirs".  This place has all kinds of the usual t-shirts, caps, bags, jewelry, toys, and anything else on which you would advertise the Smokies.   They have a concession area and a section that is similar to a Christian bookstore with tshirts, jewelry, purses, bookmarks, and all sorts of goodies.  As I ascended the stairs my thought was "wall to wall Christmas ornaments".   But then I went around the left and saw the sign to See and Feed Live Bears.   Gotta check this out.  So we pay our $3.25 each and head on out.  We missed the feeding time by 30 minutes, but we did see the black bears in their habitat.  Here are a few photos.

This must be a really comfortable lounging position because this bear did not move for a while.

This one was napping on the other side of the habitat and refused to acknowledge anything.

This one was pacing the entire time.  I figured if there were a Papa, Mama, and Baby bear here, this one must have been the Mama.

I wondered how they fed the bears without getting hurt.  Now I know.

After we had our fill of watching the bears, we went back inside and headed toward the Arcade.  Hubby loves arcades, and I do enjoy a bit of Skee-Ball myself.  On the way, we spy the massage center.  The young lady who was running it asked if we were interested, but we said no.  T asked her about a lanyard she was wearing that said "Praying for Willow"  and "Facebook- Willow's Branch".  She is the mother of a beautiful 5 year old who has Schwachman-Diamond Syndrome.  Click here to link to her facebook page for the entire story.  As she is telling us about all of the physical challenges her child has, she also shares with us about the store's prayer wall.   It started with "Rooting for Regen", a 12 year old in the community who has brain cancer that they are rallying around and supporting.  He is very discouraged because he has gone from an athlete to not being able to move.   This love and support then spread into their "Prayers for Smiling Faces".  Customers can submit a card with a child's name who is having their own physical battle and the store will post it.  See photos below.

Isn't Willow just a cutie?

And this is their wall.

The link at the beginning of the article can take you to their homepage and you can learn about all of the nifty things they have on this property.  But the niftiest thing is probably not mentioned.  It is their staff.  Most retailers in this area are friendly and nice, but Three Bears takes it a step( or should I say a mile?) further.  As customers leave a particular section of the store, every member of the staff in that section says "Have a blessed day".  And they say it like they mean it.
So, that is why I wrote this blog.  I want to encourage you to pray for Willow and Regen and all children who have to battle diseases.  I want to encourage you to pray for their parents, who are daily examples of strength and courage.  Lastly, thank God for the medical advancements we have and pray for continued research.
And have a blessed day.

What to do in Pigeon Forge? Tail of the Dragon

When I was surfing the 'net to decide what to do on our vacation in Pigeon Forge, I was a bit overwhelmed with all of the options!  And good or bad, I like to do just about anything - cheesy tourist traps, hiking, historical places, amusement parks, and even shopping.  So, I took to social media and polled my friends.  Most of the places or suggestions I had heard of, but there was one that was new to me "Tail of the Dragon".    What could this be?  A ride at an amusement park?  It is a ride alright.

Click here to see the brochure and map on page 3 of what we drove.  It was SO MUCH FUN!  And of course, since we were in God's Country (aka Tennessee), it was gorgeous.   This drive is quite popular with those who own  a different kind of Harley, Shadow, and Bandit than we do.  Theirs usually purr a little louder and run on gas instead of Cat Chow.
Below are a few photos I snapped.  Most are through the windows, so please forgive the "not so brightness".

I love names like "Punkin Center".

Add caption

Their dragon is so cool, he wears shades.

A rather mild curve at the beginning

The dam shown on the map.

We saw several of these signs, but this was your last chance to get out while you could.

This was a common site.  Very very common.

Switch to the right.....

Switch to the left....

And just hang on.

Hubby is glued to the steering wheel at the scenic overlook. Can't. Let. Go.

How purty.

Are we there yet?

After we reached the Deals Gap store, we turned around and headed to PF for some grub.  Driving this on empty stomachs was not a great idea, but we survived.  Jenean (our GPS) directed us to take Foothills Parkway.  It was a much smoother ride.

See?  He was able to peel himself out of the car at this stop.

And that is why it is called The Smoky Mountains.

God's Country. Amen.