Or not....

Hello friends!! I hope you are all doing well. I have had a great weekend of hanging out with friends, watching Emily run in a Cross Country meet, and working.

Maybe that last part wasn't "great" but I am always glad to help out when I can.

I am tired so I am going to make this blog brief. I read a couple of things this week that have literally changed my life.

The first being, I am reading a book called "The Paleo Coach" by Jason Seib. I following him on Facebook and am always willing to learn more about nutrition and exercise. But just a few days after I committed to running the Jingle Bell Run in Dec, I read this passage:

"Traditional running, like distance running, as opposed to walking or sprinting, tends to be perceived by the body as stress, which increases cortisol, thus breaking down more muscle and storing more fat. In other words, fat loss gets really tough unless most of your muscle mass is emaciated first".

Go ahead, look up emaciated, I will wait...

So a couple bells went off in my brain when I read this:

1) I have never lost weight by running. Even when I ran 7 or 8 miles each weekend day and some during the week, I never lost any weight (I know this is true for ME , you may have a different story and I respect that).

2)I hate running.

Yay!! I have a reason to not run anymore. I will gladly walk the Jingle Bell Run with my friend and just enjoy it. For me, my greatest weight loss comes from aerobics, squats, push ups and healthy eating.

Not running. Ever. Unless being chased.

The second thing I saw was a movie called "Fat, sick and nearly dead". It is about an Australian man who was over weight and decided to come to America and do a SIXTY day juice fast. You can watch it online for free and I really recommend you do. It is about an hour, forty in length, so pick a rainy day. Well worth it. The second half of the movie is about a man he met along the way and how he changed his life. Can't get thru it without Kleenex. Warning you now.

As a cook, drinking my meals is totally foreign to me, but once you see all the science behind it, you get roped it. My lovely neighbor offered up her juicer for me to try and I got the kids involved. They loved watching the fruits and veggies go in and come out juice. I know I could do a breakfast juice every day of fruits because I do not like to eat fruits but seem to have no problem with them in liquid form.

It is the veggies I have an issue with. I eat plenty of veggies and feel like I could skip this aspect.  I am going to try for a week and see how breakfast goes before I totally commit to a juicer.

I warned Griff not to go to school and tell everyone we are "juicing". I don't need Social Services at my door!

We took Jack off all medications, hoping to clean out his system and start over. I don't feel like he has improved at all this year so there must be another component I need to look at. He is my little guinea pig and I feel for him though I love his ability to try anything!

That's it from here. Lots of Paleo cooking going on and juicing, too. Hope you all are well and I would love to get one more follower for an even 16.

I am a little OC that way!!

Best wishes to you. 

Cat 

It's Jacktober!!!

Hey Friends! October is here, or as we call it in our family, Jacktober!! Yes,the baby of the family is the only one who gets a whole month named after him, but the names of the other kids month's would not be so fluid:

Emuly

Grarch

You can see why Jacktober has prevailed!!

Our Fall weather has been nicer than our entire summer but it still causing the leaves to fall. This is my favorite time of year as I see Fall as a chance to reset and make things right.

In that vain: Tom and I have taken on what we call our "October Smackdown". Our youngest will be 10 on the 20th and we really feel like there should have been a cut off on keeping the "baby weight". Ten years is a bit much, yes??

So I have been running again. My neighbor and I are signing up for the Jingle Bell Run which is 4 days after my 44th birthday. I needed a kick in the pants and this is it. Two days of running remind me that I am not 30, let alone 40 anymore, but I know I can do a 5k. RIGHT???

Chaos reigns supreme most of the time in this house since school started. Em is learning how to drive. Griff has more homework than all 5 years of Elem combined and Jack is just trying to deal with what life throws his way.

Tom and I are in a good place, thankfully. Summer seemed hard on us and I think it was bcz we didn't go to the pool as much and everyone had a lot of extra energy. We are working as a team more and talking a lot more about the kids stuff and what each of us need.. If you can't talk to your main squeeze, who can you talk to?

He did say something that made me laugh for a really long time today. We were talking about something and he told me that he was the "Total Package".

I feel for those of you who don't know my husband. His lot in life is to make me laugh and he hit BIG on this one. Tom is a wonderful man and I love him to death but to put that statement out there, was pretty bold. Even for him. But thinking about it, for me, he IS the Total Package.

And yes, I know I used all of our real names in this post and I will continue to. I am fairly sure all 15 of my followers are peaceful!!

Run like the wind and enjoy Jacktober!!

Cat