Kaylamity

I have survived three and a half weeks of Bethany's Bikini Boot Camp!  Albeit I feel like I may die during every single class.  I have been attending 3 days a week - Monday, Wednesday and Friday, religiously- and only missed 2 classes, one because I had a sinus infection, pharyngitis, tracheitis, and bronchitis - all at the same time, and the other was rained out.  I have even attended a couple of the extra cardio classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I have been so sore since I started this adventure, every minute of every day.  But I persist.  I am determined.   Running, I have found, is the bane of my existence.  Well, cardio in general.  I am still the very last, slowest bootcamper, at every class I attend.  I still cannot run consistently for a full lap (1/3 mile).  The stairs still hate me.  "Jumping Jacks" still feel like daggers are being stabbed into my ankles.  And I cannot even bear to talk about "Mountain Climbers", much less "Man Makers".

I have done it.  I have finally stepped out of my cocoon of self-pity, bit the bullet and decided to lose the weight. Well, I decided I wanted to lose the weight as soon as I gained it.  I just never committed to really doing anything about it until now. My 40th is coming up in 8 months.  That scares the living crap out of me.  I also have a (gulp!) grandchild coming into this world no later than a month (to the day) from today.  When did I get old?  My 19 year old classifies me as "middle-aged".  When did that happen?  I don't remember considering people in their late 30's, or even late 40's, middle-aged when I was a teen.  Granted, most people wouldn't guess I was actually my age, I usually get at least 3 years younger, and have been -on good days- thought to be even 7 years younger... going by my face alone. My body, on the other hand, with it's BMI of 29 and extra 60 pounds (to get to an appropriate weight - a 70 pound loss would be my goal to

Today is the first day of the school year 2011-2012.  We still have four of the six children in school.  This year we have at least one child in every school: Joey in elementary, Jess in middle, and Sis and Chas in High School.  For three of them it is a "momentous" year: last year in elementary for Joey, last year in middle for Jess and first year of high school for Sis.  Chas believes this is a special year for her, too; since she's a Junior she thinks she's an upperclassman.  But I remember that for Seniors, no one is an upperclassman but them. I remember being in school and the excitement of the first day back every year.  There is something about new school supplies that still gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to this day.  Everything is crisp and shiny and has that "fresh from the store" smell.  There are no pen marks on the binders, no crumpled wide-ruled notebook paper.  All the pencils are the same length, the end erasers still pristine.   Everything

The new year has begun… but I have not.  I feel like someone has hit my “pause” button and I’m just waiting for them to hit “play” so I can get going.  I had high intentions of getting back into the gym four days a week, of reading my bible daily, and staying busy until bedtime every night to get my house in order and chores caught up, but I am failing miserably.  I have not stepped a foot in the gym since before Christmas, have only touched my bible on church days, and am lucky to get dinner on the table nightly and enough laundry done to keep us in clean clothes.  I am in need of revival. This past Sunday was the first day of Revival at our church.  It’s the first time we have attended Revival there, and the first time Jerry or the four youngest children have EVER attended a church revival.  I would really love to say that I have been revived physically, but I can say I have been revived spiritually!  This four-day spiritual uplifting is just what the doctor ordered.   Just weeks a

Emotions.   Moods.   Feelings.   They go by many names, but they are all the same thing: a reaction to a situation.   They are a reaction that, many times, we have absolutely no control over.   Sometimes we just “feel” a certain way for no reason at all.   Nothing happens, nothing doesn’t happen.   There is no rhyme or reason for feeling a certain way, yet sometimes we just do.   It makes me crazy!   (Is that another emotion?)   Not long ago our pastor’s bible study topic was whether our feelings affected our faith.   He suggested that he believes that we have total control over how we “feel” about something.   I’m not so sure I concur with that opinion.   I do believe that we choose how we physically react to a situation (like choosing not to snap and bite someone’s head off or take a swing at someone’s jaw), but can we really decide how we feel internally?   Actually, sometimes our bodies have physical reactions that we cannot control: Crying, for example.   There are times when