Zumba!

Well, I was right, Zumba is as much fun as it looks, and as much hard work.  And I was wrong; I wasn't quite ready.  I did it anyway.  Y'all should be proud of me.  I have never in my life done a solid hour of cardio exercise.  I felt like I was going to throw up, but I didn't, and I didn't give up either. ☺ Zumba is tough.  Some of the moves, I couldn't even do; they're not part of the normal way I move, but I'll learn.  I've always thought I had great rhythym, but with the combination of the very fast tempos, and trying to learn the unfamiliar steps and stay with the group, I looked pretty clumsy at times.  It took me two or three times through some of the steps just to figure out what I was supposed to do.  But I kept at it, even though I wanted to collapse on the floor.  It's a good thing that I have a week until the next class; maybe I'll be ready then, and do better. ☺  Note to self: work a muscle group other than legs on Thursday.

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In knitting knews(lol)...I've finished the lace portion of the Evellyn Anne blanket!  I have increased for the ruffle, so I now have 952 stitches on my needle.  Yikes.  Onward!

Cleaning and schoolwork and exercise, oh my!

I've been reorganizing(as mentioned yesterday).  My house has been effectively de-Christmas-ed.  All of the decorations are in the attic...oops, just remembered the third tree is still in the library.  I'll have to find the box and get that put away today.  I switched the placement of a few pictures on the walls, putting Hubby's military stuff like his Cadet sabre from West Point in the front room.  The sabre now hangs prominently over the bar, and the pretty lighthouse picture that had been there is now above the mantel in the family room, which makes a lot more sense, if you ask me.  My front room/bar room/dining room is nice and clean, for the most part.  I haven't checked it this morning to see if the girls have messed it up, so I could be wrong.  Haha.

The kids are doing schoolwork...Princess is doing handwriting, and Angel just finished hers.  Kitty is playing with her Leapster that Grandpa Claus gave her for Christmas, learning about shapes.  I'm doing laundry.  Fun fun.

I went to the gym and worked my legs, then did 20 minutes on the bike and 10 on the stair-stepper.  I'm planning on trying Zumba tomorrow!

Okay, I know it's only the eleventh day of Christmas, but....

I got a bunch of Christmas decorations boxed up and put in the guest room yesterday. Woohoo!  I'm planning on finishing up today, and getting it put all-the-way away...something I'm ashamed to say I didn't actually do last year.  But I'm doing it this year, and that's what matters. ☺ I can hardly wait, in fact.  I was quite a scrooge this past Christmas.  I was disorganized and stressed, and didn't even make gingerbread once(in 2009 I made three batches before Christmas)!  I was grumpy, and not really in the Christmas spirit at all.  I am going to do a much better job next Christmas.  I'm putting the decorations away already organized, and I'll be getting rid of a few decorations that we haven't used in a few years.  And once the decorations are put away, I'm going to do some major de-cluttering and organizing of the rest of our stuff.  We have way too much, and it's creating stress for me, and for the rest of the family as well. 

And of course, being organized will help when our contractor is finally ready to put in our new floors.  Yep, we're still waiting.  We had wanted to get them done before Hubby's dad arrived in the middle of December, but the contractor was swamped with decks, and couldn't get it done by then.  I need to give him a call and see when he can fit us in.  I really want to get the new floors in.  And I'm excited about being able to help with the project too!

I made some more progress on Evellyn Anne yesterday, but not much.  I'll work on that some more after I get the decorations put away.  Ugh.  I just remembered I need to do laundry too.  Fudge. 

I went to the gym this morning.  I felt very sleepy and unfocused.  I did a little work on my chest, arms and shoulders.  Cardio went better; did 20 minutes on the bike and 15 on the stair-stepper.  I want a nap.

Knitting and exercising and organizing, oh my!

I made some progress on Evellyn Anne yesterday.  I'm on the twelfth repeat of the lace pattern, of fourteen.  And after that, the ruffle.  I might be able to get it done by the end of the week, which would be nice.  I want to get it blocked before I go visit family in Kansas; my parents have almost no carpet in their house, so I wouldn't be able to block it there very easily.  And I want to have my little niece Evie be my model for the pattern pictures, since the pattern is named after her.

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I went to the gym this morning and worked my back.  Did 20 minutes on the bike and 15 on the stair-stepper.  It was a good workout.

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Today we're starting to get the Christmas decorations put away; Hubby's dad just left a little while ago, so now we can access the attic where the boxes are stored.  I'll be glad to get it all put away; I'm ready to get on with the new year!

Yep, yet another post about...you guessed it: exercise

Haha...I'll keep it short.  I know this is supposed to be a knitting blog, but there's a heckuva lot more exercise than knitting going on these days.  Okay...worked arms and legs and did 20 minutes on the bike and 5 on the elliptical.  Was going to do more, but couldn't.  Decided not to beat myself up over it.  Angel told me today that "all that exercise is working." ☺ I don't see it myself, but I can sure feel it.

Today I'm cleaning and organizing.  Going to take a little break and knit for a while.  Evellyn Anne is calling to me.

Quickie workout

I had to rush through my workout today.  We got to the gym just after 1, and I realized that the Kids' Club was closing at 2.  So I had about 50 minutes to do what usually takes a little over an hour.  I worked my legs, then did 20 minutes on the bike.  I pedaled faster than usual, to make up for the shortness of time; so I was working harder.  I should have left the kids at home so I wouldn't have had to rush.  Oh, well.  I'll make up for it tomorrow. 

Happy New Year!

Angel, Kitty and I made it to midnight!  Hubby had gone to bed, but he got back up to toast the New Year with us.  We didn't bother with champagne, since we were going straight to bed; we toasted with sparkling white grape juice instead.  It was a long evening.  And it didn't end when it should have.  My neighbors were setting money on fire lighting expensive loud fireworks, and at midnight they were just getting started.  They didn't finish until after 2:30 in the morning!  It sounded like a prolonged gun battle right outside my home.  I am very surprised any of us got any sleep.  These are the same "neighbors" who have extremely loud parties, to which police are always called(and not always just by me).  I've decided to start praying that they move away.

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Amazingly, I woke up with energy this morning!  Before everyone else came down for breakfast, I tidied the living room.  I took the ornaments off the tree and put them in ornament boxes.  I can't put away the trees until Hubby's dad leaves; the containers are in the attic that is accessed through the guest room.  So I'll wait until Tuesday or Wednesday.  I went to the gym and worked my back, chest, shoulders and abs; and did 20 minutes on the bike and 10 on the stair-stepper.  It was a good workout, but my back still hurts.

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Happy New Year, everyone!  I'm hoping and praying for good things in 2011!