Yep, you've read right....jogging!

I've been doing some of it too!!

Just on the treadmill at the gym....in 200-300 meter sections but I have worked up the total distance that I jog per session. I started out barely managing 1 km of the 3km's that I spent on the treadmill, now I can do 1.4km's.

That's pretty cool as when I started out at the gym I could barely walk at a brisk pace for much more than 10 mins without being totally wiped out!!

Lisa

Hey everyone

Can you believe that were into the 3rd week of January already????

One week to go until 17yods starts his apprenticeship, about another 10 days until 15yodd returns to school for the start of Year 11....only then can 13yodd and I start our school year off.

Back to the reading goals....I've read 3 books this year...yes that's one book per week which is totally unsustainable of course.....one book was finished off in a little over a day!!

A quick run down...

First book was The Glass Castle, a memoir of a bizarre childhood, interesting and sad but it finished a bit short for me....it didn't feel that it was finished well, but I gave it a rating of 4.

Next was Lisa See's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, set in China during the 19th century, I understood more about Chinese culture from this book, especially the role of women....foot binding included. Gave it a 3 and 1/2 rating.

Then the magnificent The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini....what an absolutely compelling read. I finished it in one day....I couldn't put it down. The story of love and redemption, not a pretty story in some respects and it gives an insight into life in Afganistan from the 70's through to 2001'ish.....

I wanted to finish it before the movie started, which I did, and I'm going to see the movie this coming week. Kite Runner is a 5+, I thought it better than the author's 2nd book A Thousand Splendid Sun's, still it was a great read. I look forward to reading more by this author.

Yup, after my pathetic reading list for 2007.......shows what last year was like for me....I'm working on having a much more productive reading year in '08!!

I love the start of a new year....a blank canvas to work on! Now I'm also good at setting wonderful goals, making plans etc and then not following through with them.....so while I'm writing out a list of books that I want to read, I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't get to them.

I figure that if I have a plan, I 'might' get somewhere with my reading.....it might turn into a rabbit trail that will look very different from what I write here today.

Over on the Sonlight forums there's a list of classics that people can read and join in a discussion via the forum, so I thought that that list would be a good place to start.....a 'classic' a month.

The first couple I'm not familiar with at all, and the Pearl Buck book isn't easy to find here in Australia.....guess I'll be visiting the 2nd-hand bookshops to find a copy

January...... The Awakening, by Kate Chopin

February .....Portrait of a Marriage by Pearl Buck

March...........East of Eden, by Steinbeck

April..............Wuthering Heights, by Bronte

May...............Eight Cousins, by Alcott

June.............Frankenstein, by Shelly

July...............Treasure Island, by Stevenson

August..........A Connecticut in King Arthur's court, Twain

September..Great Expectations, Dickens

October........Peter Pan, by Barrie

November...Swiss Family Robinson

December...Sense and Sensibility, by Austin

Intersting list, a couple that I've never been interested in read, but I'll give them ago and see what happens, you never know, I 'might' decide that I like Dickens or Shelly!

I'm going to give The Kite Runner another attempt.....I did start it last year but I couldn't get into it, but I did finish and love A Thousand Splendid Suns by the same author.....and there's the movie of Kite Runner coming out this week......I'll probably break my rule about not watching the movie until after reading the book.

I'm reading Wallace Stenger's Angle of Repose atm, I've been looking for it for years and gave up trying to find it 2nd-hand so sprung for a new copy last week as a Christmas treat......

I've also got a few books on order from the Library which are on the list for the year....

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See and Peony in Love by the same author and The Time Traveller's Wife are on the list as well as The Pillars of the Earth....got that one from Oprah's book club

Anyway, that's all for now, gotta go and starting read all these wonderful books.

Blessings

Lisa

Welcome to 2008....

I'm praying that during 2008 life will settle down somewhat.....I felt that 2007 just rushed by, I often felt like I was hanging on by the tips of my fingers as the year flew by. I felt that the year needed a couple more months in it......I was so not ready for Christmas....and this was my first Christmas back with all my family, including my parents for 10 years.

This new year will bring some changes for us, ds 17 starts his full time job as an apprentice electrician at the end of this month, dd 15 is starting at a new school for Years 11 and 12.....this one is closer to home than the old one which will reduce travelling time for Zoe......last year the days were longer with the bus ride added in to her day. Dd, 13yo, will be continuing education at home, but this year will be her last one at home.......we've decided to send her to school in '09, it will be her very first time, ever......so after what will be 10 years of educating our dc at home, I'll be ready for a new phase of life.....

I would like it if Hannah decided to continue at home for her 4 years of high school.....there are so many options open for high schooling teens, such as part-time work, studing at TAFE colleges and other oppertunities for service but I understand her reasons for wanting to go and see what school can offer......there will be more options for courses than what our DE providor can offer. And being the only dc at home with just mum can get a bit boring for a social girl......

So Hannah will be working hard to get good grades so she can have a good report card to show the new school. I'm changing tact for this last year.....I'm going to following the DE school course requests so reporting will be easier for everyone.....as much as I wanted to continue using Sonlight 6 and 7 with H, it's too hard to put it into a report so that the DE teacher can grade everything properly. But I still would like to pick out a few of the readers and RA's to use will she plows through the Abeka course on history!

Math is easy: continuing with MUS, we'll go back to LLATL....blerk!!!! But at least I know what the teacher wants to see for reports etc! Science will be the PAC course that she started late last year....the Basic Science Mysteries, written by John Hudson Tiner, which isn't the schools choice....it's mine, but it's working for Hannah so well that I'm not interested in changing to Abeka.....there are tests for each module so it's eay to show what work she has completed. DE will want a Bible course, I think they like the Lifepac's, so even though they're pretty boring, that's what she be using! I just want to get through this coming year, enjoy the last year of having dc home fulltime without the hassle of figuring out what the DE school wants every term.....btw, I think that the reporting system to way too complicated and in many ways redundant, and have told them, but that's the way it's gotta be.....apparently.

Other plans???? We're not sure at this stage......I'd like to move to a bigger house, with a smaller yard, but we'll need to sell our home in Adelaide to do that, which we are looking into doing, just not sure when! We're planning a trip back to Adelaide in September, hopefully Morgan can get time off work so he can join us for a few days....while I don't miss Adelaide's weather, I do miss all the yummy food and wine places....we'll base our plans around all the food places that we miss so much....oh and friends as well

This year it will be dh and my 21st year of marriage, so I'm thinking that a few nights away minus kids will be in order to celebrate adult style!! Gotta get on to that as the date is only 8-9 weeks away! It's a good thing that ds can drive....we don't really need to organize anyone for them now....not for a couple of nights....Ds complains about being his sisters' taxi service, but I figure it's the least he can do after all the running around we've done for him....including teaching him to drive!!

Oh, and we'll be planning an 18th birthday bash for ds in September.....

Apart from all that the new year lies before me like a blank canvas awaiting the colour and pictures of life to be filled in.....lets pray that it's filled with lots of memories and special times spent with loved ones.

Blessings to all for a great year in '08.

One of my goals when I started to work out at the gym 3 months ago was to loose 5kg's by Christmas.......I step on to the scales on Christmas eve to find that I've lost 5.5kg's....whoo hoo!!! And I'm down to a size 14....size 10 for those in the US....I do 'love' your size numbers

I'll probably have another assessment done in late January.....since doing more with weights I've noticed more improvements. I'm doing every body part very time I go to the gym and each day I focus on 2 particular parts with 2-3 exercises....

Here's my plan

Day 1

Legs: Squats, Lunges and Leg Press

Shoulders: Side Raises and Military Press

Crunches and Knee Raises

Plus One Chest, Bicep, Tricep and Back exercise

Day 2

Back: Pulldown, Row, Up-right Row and Back raises

Triceps: Pulldown Bar and Rope

Crunches and Knee Raises

Plus one Leg,  Shoulder, Bicep, Chest and Back exercise

Day 3

Chest: Bench Press, Pec Deck and Incline Press

Biceps: Alternate Dumbells and Bar-bell Curl

Knee Raises and Crunches

Plus one Leg, Shoulder, Back, Tricep and Chest exercise.

After the next assessment, I'll get hubby to work out a new plan, so to keep things fresh and interesting!!

As this year rapidly draws to a close, I thought that I'd list my reading list for the year, pitiful as it is!!

I've found this a difficult year to get into reading.....we moved twice, one interstate and one local, I started working from home, which has seriously eaten into my reading time....and life seemed to be in hectic mode this year.....hopefully I'll manage to slow down the pace of life during 2008...yeah right....snort, snort!!!

My list is so short that I'm not going to bother writing down the months that I read the books in.......but there are a couple of 'treasures' in the list.....the rating after the title is obvious

And then There Where None, Christie **

Cane River, Lalita Tademy ***

The Jungle, Upton Sinclair ***

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith ****

A Murder for Her Majesty, Beth Hilgartner *

The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards *****

A Thousand Splendid Sun's, Khaled Hossenin *****

Tom Appleby: Boy Convict, Jackie French **

Sheet Music, Kevin Leman ****

Here's hoping for a more productive reading life in 2008.....I'm enjoying a couple of great books atm, but they won't make it into this years list.....if I do manage to finish one or more I'll be certain to add them in

Happy New Year to you all, here's to more reading time!

Hi

Here's my activism side peaking out today.

Here are are stories that I think are worthy of your interest.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/11/26/1196036770955.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

Haven't these women heard of the HIV AIDS problem????

And

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/11/23/1195753310737.html?page=fullpage

Sorry I've just edited my post because I'd linked the same story twice....this 2nd one equally appalling....I certainly hope that world listens and that we don't have history repeating!

Last week dh and I had our re-assessment after 8 weeks of working out.

While I haven't lost a huge amount of weight, nearly 3kg's, all my measurements went down

Measurements:

Lost 1 cm from my biceps
Lost 11 cm from my waist......cool!
Lost 4 cm's from my hips
Lost 2.5 from my thighs

My bust measurement was increased, but that would be due to the new bras' that I'm wearing......there's a bit more 'lift' in these new ones....helps the 'girls' to defy gravity

My body fat percentage is down by 1.5%....I thought that that might have been a higher percentage....next time!
I'd love to get down to the lower end of the 'healthy' range...being in the healthy range would be great!

The waist measurement was very encouraging!

I'm going to try to get stricter with my diet and once my dd finishes school for the year...2 more weeks...then I can stay at the gym for a bit longer in the morning....at the moment I prefer to get home to see her off to school.

Will get assessed again in another 8 weeks time.

Of course there's Christmas to get through before then, but I'm hoping that if I can stay at the gym for another 1/2 an hour 2-3 times per week doing more cardio, I'll have some good results.

 Dh has worked out a routine for me using weights, working on 2 body parts each day....I'm feeling the difference all ready!

After my leg workout the other morning I could barely get up my stairs to the kitchen!!

Enjoy a trip down memory lane.....

http://15minutelunch.blogspot.com/2007/10/strap-in-shut-up-and-hold-on-were-going.html

Love the green shag toilet set.

NOT!

Check out this blog....I love it!

Awesome photo's as well.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/

And her cooking blog.......love the kitchen too!

http://www.thepioneerwomancooks.com/

Enjoy