Hmmm, it's been awhile since I rambled on so I guess it's time for an update.
Debt
My current credit card debt is at $22,971. That's over $3200 paid off or 12%! It's really nice to realize I've paid off 12% in just 8 months. That's significant. I KNOW this but I'm still struggling with how long it's going to take me to pay off the rest of my credit card debt. I used a snowball method debt reduction calculator to get an estimate on how long it will take me to pay off my two credit cards. I will be free of credit card debt in March 2011. YAY/UGH! That's only/over 2 years! AND that's only assuming I can maintain my current payment amount. During the summer, I won't have my second job so I might not be able to make $900/month to my cards.
Perhaps you can tell I'm all over the place here. A year ago, I was using my credit card without a second thought. Now I've gone 8 months without using it at all. I'm doing great but I want it to go faster!
Fitness
My goal of running the Des Moines marathon came to a screeching halt when I injured my hip and was unable to train for almost a month. Instead, I walked the 5K. It's not nearly as glamorous but it was something. I'm back to running and will hopefully be in good enough shape to run Living History Farms Cross Country Race in three weeks. I'm currently dealing with a sore calf/ankle. I'm so sick of these pissy little injuries that keep cropping up. I thought being more active was supposed to make me healthy but I just seem to be moving from one injury to another. I just want to feel good and enjoy my improved fitness.
Actually I AM enjoying my improved fitness. Now that my hip is doing better, I've been able to resume my weight lifting to the degree I was before I starting putting in a lot of miles training for the marathon. I've really been trying to push myself and I love it. I like seeing how much I can lift. I like being exhausted at the end of the session. My shoulders and back are coming along nicely and my legs are really looking good! My next fitness goal is to be able to do an unassisted pull up. Whenever I do assisted pullups, I crank my music (frequently Lenny Kravitz version of "American Woman") and I picture the most amazing shoulders and back I can think of. I'm making progress. I know this will be a slow process. Being able to do push-ups took me a long time so I'm prepared for pull-ups to take awhile as well.
Granola Girl
I was talking with a coworker who also lost a lot of weight and during our discussion (which was wonderful) he recommended that I read the book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" about a family who goes a year trying to feed themselves entirely from food that they raised/grew or that was locally grown. It was extremely interesting and really got me thinking. So much of what I eat is grown hundreds (sometimes thousands) of miles away. It's covered in pestisides and then has to be trucked across the country or even an ocean. Bananas, citrus fruit, cinnamon, olive oil, pretty much all fresh fruits and vegetables during the winter: they all come from somewhere else. We take our huge selection of food for granted, forgetting that much of it is not native to our region or at least shouldn't be readily available during the winter. Even during the summer, we'll purchase tomatoes at the grocery store, grown in California, rather than support local growers who produce a superior product for less money. We're so oblivious and brainwashed that we mindlessly throw inferior food into our carts and move on. Many people don't even realize that what they're eating is inferior. They've never been exposed to fresh, organic, locally grown foods and therefore are clueless that they're missing out. In all honesty, I really shouldn't write "they", I should write "we". My only saving grace is that we had a garden growing up. I understand how food is grown and how much better fresh vegetables taste. I simply ignored it for several years (and ballooned to 260 lbs in the meantime.)
Anywho, I'm now struggling with the concept of trying to eat more local foods. I think I've realized that I need to do this slowly. First, I need to learn more about what's produced locally an then I need to convince myself to give up some of the foods I take for granted. Bananas, fresh fruit and vegetables during the winter are going to be really hard. I lost 100+ lbs eating more vegetables and I'm not about to risk gaining back any weight by jumping onto the local food wagon before I've had a chance to figure out what works best for me. Even the family in the book had a few items that weren't local such as olive oil from California.
Politics
As I write this entry I'm watching Obama win the election. I've been pretty indifferent about this race. I really wasn't for either side and today I voted for the person I thought was the lesser of two evils. However, I must admit, Obama's acceptance speech was very good. He is an excellent public speaker. Whether that means he will be an excellent President remains to be seen but I did enjoy his speech.
Debt
My current credit card debt is at $22,971. That's over $3200 paid off or 12%! It's really nice to realize I've paid off 12% in just 8 months. That's significant. I KNOW this but I'm still struggling with how long it's going to take me to pay off the rest of my credit card debt. I used a snowball method debt reduction calculator to get an estimate on how long it will take me to pay off my two credit cards. I will be free of credit card debt in March 2011. YAY/UGH! That's only/over 2 years! AND that's only assuming I can maintain my current payment amount. During the summer, I won't have my second job so I might not be able to make $900/month to my cards.
Perhaps you can tell I'm all over the place here. A year ago, I was using my credit card without a second thought. Now I've gone 8 months without using it at all. I'm doing great but I want it to go faster!
Fitness
My goal of running the Des Moines marathon came to a screeching halt when I injured my hip and was unable to train for almost a month. Instead, I walked the 5K. It's not nearly as glamorous but it was something. I'm back to running and will hopefully be in good enough shape to run Living History Farms Cross Country Race in three weeks. I'm currently dealing with a sore calf/ankle. I'm so sick of these pissy little injuries that keep cropping up. I thought being more active was supposed to make me healthy but I just seem to be moving from one injury to another. I just want to feel good and enjoy my improved fitness.
Actually I AM enjoying my improved fitness. Now that my hip is doing better, I've been able to resume my weight lifting to the degree I was before I starting putting in a lot of miles training for the marathon. I've really been trying to push myself and I love it. I like seeing how much I can lift. I like being exhausted at the end of the session. My shoulders and back are coming along nicely and my legs are really looking good! My next fitness goal is to be able to do an unassisted pull up. Whenever I do assisted pullups, I crank my music (frequently Lenny Kravitz version of "American Woman") and I picture the most amazing shoulders and back I can think of. I'm making progress. I know this will be a slow process. Being able to do push-ups took me a long time so I'm prepared for pull-ups to take awhile as well.
Granola Girl
I was talking with a coworker who also lost a lot of weight and during our discussion (which was wonderful) he recommended that I read the book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" about a family who goes a year trying to feed themselves entirely from food that they raised/grew or that was locally grown. It was extremely interesting and really got me thinking. So much of what I eat is grown hundreds (sometimes thousands) of miles away. It's covered in pestisides and then has to be trucked across the country or even an ocean. Bananas, citrus fruit, cinnamon, olive oil, pretty much all fresh fruits and vegetables during the winter: they all come from somewhere else. We take our huge selection of food for granted, forgetting that much of it is not native to our region or at least shouldn't be readily available during the winter. Even during the summer, we'll purchase tomatoes at the grocery store, grown in California, rather than support local growers who produce a superior product for less money. We're so oblivious and brainwashed that we mindlessly throw inferior food into our carts and move on. Many people don't even realize that what they're eating is inferior. They've never been exposed to fresh, organic, locally grown foods and therefore are clueless that they're missing out. In all honesty, I really shouldn't write "they", I should write "we". My only saving grace is that we had a garden growing up. I understand how food is grown and how much better fresh vegetables taste. I simply ignored it for several years (and ballooned to 260 lbs in the meantime.)
Anywho, I'm now struggling with the concept of trying to eat more local foods. I think I've realized that I need to do this slowly. First, I need to learn more about what's produced locally an then I need to convince myself to give up some of the foods I take for granted. Bananas, fresh fruit and vegetables during the winter are going to be really hard. I lost 100+ lbs eating more vegetables and I'm not about to risk gaining back any weight by jumping onto the local food wagon before I've had a chance to figure out what works best for me. Even the family in the book had a few items that weren't local such as olive oil from California.
Politics
As I write this entry I'm watching Obama win the election. I've been pretty indifferent about this race. I really wasn't for either side and today I voted for the person I thought was the lesser of two evils. However, I must admit, Obama's acceptance speech was very good. He is an excellent public speaker. Whether that means he will be an excellent President remains to be seen but I did enjoy his speech.
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