Once the girls and I arrived home from spending the holiday's at my parents' I got down to the business of keeping those resolutions I set for myself. Nineteen days into the New Year I can report....
...I have remained sugar-free for all but one of those days. I had a little slip up the last night at my parents' house and had one bowl of ice cream and some cookies. Other than that it has been good news the whole way. And I'm thrilled that I took this step. Conquering those sugar cravings was a battle I had to face and I've done myself proud. I don't crave sweets like I had. Truthfully, the first few days are the hardest as the sugar is coming out of your system. After that your body doesn't crave it like it used to. However, if I were to indulge in something sweet now, my body would want more and more of it. I'm no fool. Sugar, in me, acts like a drug. Sad, but true. For those that haven't ever had a problem with this, no amount of explaining it will help you understand it better. For those who know what I'm talking about, no other explanation is needed.
...I have increased my cardio time (more on that below) and also my ab time. I've added an ab workout at the end of two of my step classes each week which has forced me to do more abs that I was previously doing. I intended to do more abs on my own at home, too, throughout the week but I haven't been as good at that yet. That's my goal for this coming week.
...I began training myself for that marathon as soon as we got home. I'm using the treadmill at the gym now rather than running outside. I don't think I'm ready for that yet. Either before or after my classes at the gym I'll hop on the treadmill and knock out half an hour or so of wogging (combination walking/jogging). I'm gradually decreasing the time I spend walking while increasing the jogging time, until I can get to where I don't need to walk anymore. This coming week it will be 15 min jog/5 min walk/repeat, for a 40 min workout. I aim to do this three to four days a week, depending on how wiped out I get with teaching my classes, too. I'm working on finding the right balance so I don't end up over-training and burning out, or worse, injuring myself.In other news, Morgan made the 100 mile club at her school this past week! She's the first girl in her school ever to make the 100 mile mark. Now she'll have her name on the plaque along with the handful of boys that have come before her in previous years.
Bethany has a birthday coming up and it's shocking to me to see that my baby is nearly 6! Where did the time go? Oh yeah, it's been spent with four major deployments over the course of six years. I'd count up the number of months James has actually been with Bethy since her birth but it would be far outnumbered by the months he's been away from her. That's the life we lead.
I just had a 2nd Lasik surgery this week. Back in September I had my first Lasik surgery on both eyes, taking me from approximately 20/400+ down to 20/20 in my left and 20/25 or so in my right. After waiting a few months to see if the right eye would improve my eye surgeon decided an "enhancement" would be a good idea to get that right eye where we'd like it. It had just been under-corrected before. So this past week I went back in and had my right eye touched up. It's a really odd feeling having your eye propped open and seeing these instruments and lasers coming down at you and you can not turn away or blink at all. You see this stuff happening and every instinct is to blink but there's a spring holding your eye open and so you can't blink. Instead you're looking straight at everything they are poking and prodding your eye with and praying the surgeon's skills will pull you through.
And as of yesterday morning at my post-op check his skills did pull me through. Now my right eye is seeing 20/15, so "fighter pilot" vision for me, as the surgeon called it. I had been very hesitant to have this surgery, concerned about the cost and possible outcomes. However, I have to say that I've been very pleased with my results and the difference it has made in my life. Night vision is still a problem for me but I'm hopeful that night driving glasses will be an option and help with that difficulty. All in all, though, if I had to do it again I would.
Lastly, a bit of good news from James. It sounds as if his expected 15 month deployment may be shortened ever so slightly and he could be home a couple weeks earlier than we'd thought. I know, I know, two weeks difference doesn't sound like a lot but we'll take ever little bit we can get. Especially knowing that he'll only have between 12-15 months at home before Uncle Sam will be sending him again.
I repeat, such is the life we lead. The only thing you can do is keep moving forward.
