Wonderland Alice

I am SOOO honored to be here! I actually posted pics now - so there is proof of the Tardis Although it looks way cooler in real life.

So sickness still prevalent in my home.... however since being recognized in the Most Wanted Assassins List (but mostly because ElastiGirl asked!!) here is proof of the Tardis in my home. The door is about 24x30 inches. The inside is easily 5 1/2 feet at the tallest point and nearly at least 6 feet wide and almost 8 feet long. The child is wishing that someday a fairy will come along and make it work. This is the same child that looked forward to the little men approaching her on her 16th birthday to let her know she was the next avatar.... She is obviously a perfect candidate for Nerd Fitness! Its a little messy.... My fault. Sorry.

I have another…. head cold. I'm so glad I made this challenge about getting myself in order and its a good thing I gave myself an out with the handstands. I STILL can't be upside down. Crazy I tell ya. I got a root canal on Monday - the entire left side of my face has a nice purple color to it now… as least the swelling finally went down some. It isn't painful anymore - just ugly. I got up early this am - and stayed up. Hopefully it will help end the insomnia - right now I'm extremely tired. Tried to make Lamb Gyros this evening - and broke my food processor. I did get it mostly done tho. They are chilling in the fridge till the morning. Also made meatzza for dinner tonight. I slightly overcooked the initial burger bottom, but it was still edible. We decided that next time we will just fix it like Stuffed Pepper Goop (all the fixings for stuffed peppers - just not stuffed into pepper - I use little ramekins instead). The kid herself is doing much better with wheat. She is pretty much down to just wheat for breakfast. If I could just find her gluten free bagels she would eat…. I'd have her mostly fixed. I don't see her ever giving up outback or carabbas bread and butter - ever. But at least she is 80% better than she was 6 mos ago. Not bad for a teenager. Her face has cleared up a ton too… I just can't tell her that

Well…. I just blew up my 3rd food processor this year (ie last 12 months). The last one choked making coconut butter… This one succumbed to gyros. Really? Pulsing lamb meat killed my food processor? I need an affordable food processor that works. This one was an oster. I wanted a kitchen aid, but since we keep blowing them up, I'm inclined to stick to cheap ones. I'm not totally convinced there isn't SOME user error at play since my husband often makes his own pancakes for breakfast (oatmeal, egg whites, cottage chz - bleh - he loves them). He has a tendency to not be very patient sometimes. So - anyone have good luck with abusing cheap food processors? I wouldn't mind paying $200 for a food processor if it made coconut butter easily AND would last more than a year (must take a good beating and still keep pulsing). Thanks for the help!!!

Well it's been a rough week. I made it to the gym. I'm getting lots of push-ups in I can't seem to be upside down without getting really dizzy. I tried to bridge for the mini challenge and fell over. I go tomorrow for a root canal ( um yippee) and to have my ears checked again. So far on the daughter scope I'm doing well. Her closet is done and I added shelving to her tardis. (Yup I made her a tardis from an attic space in her room. The door is like 2ft square and it's prob 6x10 inside so it IS bigger on the inside.). I have also been kicking butt in the recycled bag to yarn project. We had 3 trash bags full of bags to cut up and I'm down to 1 bag. I need to check my fitbit for my logged sleep. Sometimes I forget to turn it off in the morning so I'm sure it's a mess. As long as I remember to set it at night it's good tho. I wake up for the Hubby every morning so the am time is pretty consistent. I'm going to start taking melatonin.... As soon as I can find it. I bot it and have no idea where it ran to!!!

I'm still kinda wimpy but trying to get back into it this week. I think I still have an ear infection so I may have to go to the doc... Again. I feel pretty weak but am going to the gym today regardless. It's been over 2 weeks so I think that's plenty of time to rest. At some point rest becomes lazy. I have been trying to get my house in order. I have completed 2 projects for my daughter (pics soon).. I can't find the vacuum sealer attachment I want locally so I think I'm gonna have to order it I'm not sleeping well at all, but I'm trying. Most nights I'm in bed by 10:30 now. My husband wakes up sometimes more than 5 times a night to pee and I'm such a light sleeper I wake up every time. Let's see how the gym goes today. I've also been working my way back to keto. I should be there by Friday if I can actually accomplish anything at the gym!

This Challenge for me is about getting myself in order. Really re-arranging my life to better suit my daughter and I. I spend 1 hour each morning preparing MY HUSBANDS food for the day. I plan to come up with a better routine and cut his daily time requirement in half. That will give me an additional 3.5 hours to spend on myself (this all stems from the fact that he says I need to do 5 hours of cardio per week - so I said if you want me to do cardio then YOU have to make sacrifices too). 1. Get my mornings in better order: WIS 1 DEX 1 (all or nothing) I plan to vacuum seal as much as I can for at least a week. I also have to study about vacuum sealing in the process so we don't end up with botulism or something. I also plan to make more of mine & my daughters lunches ahead of time as well. I just need to report in on my progress. 2. Sleep more each night: CON 3 I do have a tendency to have insomnia so I've decided to rate this as an overall. During the challenge I want to attempt to sleep 7+ hours per night. That is 294 hours per week. 290+ hours CON 3 280-289 hours CON 2 270-279 hours CON 1 0 - 269 hours NO POINTS 3. Handstands: STR 1 STA 1 As long as I practice 5 of 7 days per week, points are awarded. Practice 5 minutes per day. If I still cannot be upside down come Monday, I must do pushups in place of handstand practice until my Ear Infection / Nose Goop go away. Life Goal: CHA 3 All or nothing. My Daughter. I promised her I would do 1 project for her per week. Small or large I must come through on this for her. She just turned 16 and although I've never let her down, I feel like she kind of thinks that for some things. This week I will attempt her closet re-org. She also has a shirt she wants something done with... Who knows what it will be - just something for her. It would be amazing if I took pictures and posted them on my non-existent blog too. (If I lose a point somewhere else, I can assign myself one of those lost points for doing this each week.) ** I forgot to mention - I am rather ill right now. This will help me to properly recover

I am proud of what I accomplished, but I didn't accomplish what I set out to do. 1. Work on my business, set up shop and get the website functional. I studied A LOT. I realized that in order to get my store running, my website needs to be set up differently. In teaching myself what I needed to know - I realized that this goal was unachievable the way written. I was supposed to study 35 min/week and that I did plus some. For the effort I put in and what I learned as a result. +2 WIS points. 2. Crossfit 3x per week. Easy. No brainer. +2 STR 3. Spend 5 min / day practicing double unders. Practiced. Still cannot do them. No points awarded. 4. Move More. Goal was to achieve 50,000 steps at least one week. I actually got over 70k steps. +2 STA 5. No Wheat. I restricted my wheat until I got to the cruise. Once on the cruise I had to lighten up a little bit. I only ate wheat a couple times for dinner (like in crust or topping for dessert) and I tried to pick off / not eat that part. For my effort +2 CON

I have slept a lot. Found Out I have an ear infection to boot. Antibiotics are helping a ton. Now if only the dizzy spells would go away!

I know nothing about coffe, latte or milk in my tea. I was raised by a british nanny and now live in the south. Some would say I ruin my tea with sugar, however - I do love me some sweet tea. Having said that, I'm trying to break my habit - so I know how change is. I'm going from sweet tea to unsweet not coffee to tea. For me - I have to have a complete replacement - not something similar. I can't drink black tea without sugar - warm or cold. I hated green tea to begin with, but I started with an orange jasmine green tea that eventually grew on me. I also love Celestial Black Cherry Berry herbal tea. Tastes just like Cherry Jello when you add a bit of stevia. Now most people wouldn't want to drink cherry jello - but I happen to love it (and I make keto jello out of it too). I think the most important note here is how to brew it. Take some pointers from our English chaps as they do it best. My mother in law recently chastized me for not pouring the water properly. Boil your water. Take your cup to the stove. Place tea bag in the cup. Pour boiling water immediately over the tea bag in the cup sitting on the stove. Apparently you loose something if you drag the tea pot over to the counter So she says. I do have to say that my tea tastes better every time she makes it for me. Regardless, brewing time is important. Even the best tea can taste like crap if not brewed to its best strength. Make notes of how long you brew each type until you find a strength you like. It DOES matter and it varies by tea. FYI - My mother in law grew up in Suffolk and has lived in the states for over 50 years now. She for some reason prefers regular ole Lipton tea with a splash of cream (totally ok for low carb!). Good luck on your tea journey.

They had gluten free bread available all the time. Notes were posted that said "gluten free desserts upon request" but it was usually limited to one item per night. The cobbler didn't give me a headache, but I didn't eat more than 2 tablespoons of crumb topping or graham cracker crust per day. I really limited how much gluten / flour I came in contact with. There may have been small amounts in other things I ate, but since I am allergic to onions, they pretty much eradicated sauces that came on my food that would have had flour in it. Ironically I did find that my mouth ulcers worsened while eating the gluten free bread me thinks it had almond flour in it (and I think my almond sensitivity is growing) I'm sure if I made a big deal about it, they would have made more. I asked one day at the buffet lunch and he told me they would prepare me pasta if I asked - I just chose not too. I took a tour on our last boat of the kitchen and what they go through, so I tried to not be a bother. Besides, I only eat rice pasta and not the gluten free with corn, and who knows what they would have made. I didn't need pasta anyway. I NEEDED cobbler My family is intact with all the doggies and kitties together again. Apparently the recent storm here kept burger from arriving at stores, so I have to find the energy to venture out to get some for the hubby. I haven't started keto yet, but this near fasting while I'm ill is probably a good start. I'm really gonna try preparing some crust less quiches today for the fridge. Too bad the kid doesn't like eggs. I'd try them out on her. I did buy turnips and I plan to cook those for dinner if I can stand long enough!

My husband and I are in a huge battle. He is convinced that until I spend 5+ hours in the gym doing slow boring cardio plus my cross fit workouts that I will not lose any fat / weight. Thoughts?

Well I guess Ill split the difference. I only have 1 humidifier so I'll be a good mommy and let the kid keep it in her room. She's had it in her room for a couple months now and uses it off and on. I slept all day Friday on the boat ( I was literally awake to eat and go to the bow of the boat for for my daughters bday). I can't sleep when my husband drives....but I did very little yesterday. And I didn't get out of bed until 4 today. Since we were gone for a week we had next to no easy food to cook. I crawled upstairs to ask the hubby to go get me stuff to make chicken n rice soup. I asked for easy rice (note I had instant rice, regular rice, sushi rice, jasmine rice, brown rice and wild rice and he buys me instant rice). I just wanted to tear open the pack and dump it in my broth... But off to bed I go. More sleep and no workout for me.... My poor nose hurts from tissue abuse. Puffs plus lotion just isn't enuf!!

How do you treat your common cold? At least thats what I think it is. Fever, runny eyes, sneezing, drippy nose that you can't breathe out of. Drinking hot tea and water, making rice soup… Living on Nyquil. Anything else? Tried zinc. That totally worked - NOT. I took it for the 5 days my hubby was sick. Complete waste. Now my daughter and I are both sick. According to my fitbit I have walked a total of 1232 steps today… most of that was to beg my hubby to go to the store and then he made me go outside to view my flat tire I can't do anything about. Totally loving life Its all snots and sneezes today.

Ok - so I'm home. I did what I said I was going to do. Posted the day I left - and I'm posting the day I return home. I did exercise at least 1.5 hours while I was gone (I also had a day off because I slept all day on Friday due to either too much sun or a cold that is coming on strong). I did not jump rope. I forgot my rope in the car. Hubby used it to tie the step ladder in the back and I didn't grab it back. I figured they would have one on the boat and they didn't. I couldn't believe they didn't - but they really didn't. I practiced handstands 5 min per day in my room. That was fun on a moving ship. I snorkeled for 1.5 hours on Tuesday and 2 hours on Thursday. Thursday I swam A LOT while snorkeling. Tuesday I floated and rested because there was a dock available to climb onto. Thursday there was grass I could stand on but it freaked me out - so I just kept swimming. The lack of fish around really scared me - made me think sharks were close by or something. Wednesday I actually swam laps as best I could in the pool on board. I was in the water for over an hour. People kept getting in my way so i dont' know how much I actually swam. I walked a lot and played shuffleboard with my husband. I tried to climb stairs as much as possible. It didn't count going downstairs, only upstairs. I admit that I had a tendency to take the elevator when it was more than 5 floors. By Wednesday my nose was pretty stuffy and I found myself getting short of breath quickly. After Sunday I will post all my fitbit stats. I wore it all the time except for approximately 4000 steps on Thursday. I forgot it and walked off the boat into Haiti. I ended up walking back through security and back through the boat to get it. I did keep track of my food - but I won't post all of it. I did eat more than I should have and I'll weigh myself in the am to see the damage. I didn't eat hardly any wheat/gluten. I succumbed to blueberry peach cobbler (with the cobbler stuff on top), a piece of key lime pie (and I tried to not eat most of the graham crackers) and a piece of cheesecake (again tried to scrape off the graham crackers). I always had oatmeal, hot milk, pineapple and ham for breakfast. Lunch consisted of spinach/salad with cucumbers and caesar dressing and about a cup of waldorf salad through wednesday when they started making it with walnuts . Dinner…. caesar salad and gluten free bread w butter. I did not have dessert every day - the 3 above were the only ones I ate. I did also have a serving of jello on Thursday. My dinners sucked. I told them I was allergic to onions - that meant my dinner came without sauce most of the time. Sunday I had steak. Monday - plain chicken. Tuesday - Marsala Chicken - ie plain chicken Wednesday - Marinated Chicken - ie plain chicken Thursday - rice w/ cream sauce (they had pasta and I grabbed a bowl of rice for them to prepare instead. They thought I was crazy - but they said they didn't have gluten free pasta available) Friday - Rosemary Lamb Shank I also had 2 virgin strawberry daiquiris and 5 vanilla/chocolate ice cream cones (sans cone). I'm sure I ate more than 1500 calories per day, but I surely didn't eat as badly as I could have !!! Tomorrow I must grocery shop and pick up my doggies

The boat is pulling out now. All electronic devices off to prevent international charges!! Be back Saturday!!

The countdown has officially begun. I finally found a dress that I'm comfortable (and actually happy) wearing. I'm starting the packing process (I have to prepare all 5 of us humans, 2 dogs and 4 cats). I have officially decided that I can no longer have wheat. That should be interesting on the cruise. I may have a lot of migraines. I'm getting my script filled tomorrow so I'll have enough pills for 1 a day if necessary. I also need to get my epi pen script refilled, but I don't have time to go to the doc for them to do it (my previous doc retired). On the flip side - I'm still jumping rope. I still can't do more than 1 double under. I keep smacking my own toes. Someday I'll learn to jump with shoes on. I haven't figured out how I'm going to journal my food intake on the cruise. I think its just going to be a running list. I won't even try to guess at portion sizes. I am sticking to the workout plan tho - 1.5 hours. 50,000 step goal. Hopefully I'll way exceed that.

Ok... So goal # 5 is out the window... The original plan was to follow a stupid diet my doctor put me on... 800 calories is just plain dumb. I never should have agreed. Anyway... Since we have the cruise, I have been taking this time to experiment. I I have been relatively wheat free since thanksgiving. More so since Christmas. I hadn't had any wheat since the start of the challenge. I had a slice of cornbread on Tuesday and a croissant today. Both immediately produced migraines. This is enuf evidence for me that no matter how much I love hot yeast rolls, they will give me a migraine. I must stick to gluten free while I'm on the boat. So not all is lost. I have learned something. I also learned that I'm not the only person on the planet with a pixie stick addiction... My friend showed me the duck dynasty clip (I don't watch much tv). That made me laugh!!! I'm trying to mentally prepare for the food on the cruise. I don't drink alcohol so strawberry slushes are my downfall... That and ice cream cones but milk hasn't been playing nice so that may be easily remedied anyway. I don't typically eat a lot because they don't tend to have much food I'm willing to stuff myself for. Dessert can be an exception. Especially since I've learned to like cheesecake since our last cruise. Not liking cheesecake made skipping dessert much easier. My requirement is to keep track of my food. Not limit myself in any way. I usually walk 4-5 miles per day on the boat so that will make up for a little extra food intake. And really. I'm on vacation

Thanks everyone It has been an especially hard week. Being "iced" in has made it impossible to get to the gym this week. Not because I didn't want to go, but because the bridges were iced over and they literally closed them. Unlike salting them in normal places - they just placed barricades and made it impossible to cross (police in place or I'd have moved barricades). And since I'm such a wimp - my cardio consisted of running stairs this week. When the hubby is home I can't do ANYTHING without being critiqued - so I just don't do it. If I can't exercise while he is asleep - it just doesn't happen. I fit squats and pushups in where I could. I am eating more this week. I'm not sure how much more because I haven't been measuring. I figured I'd go back to what "felt" right until after the cruise. I'm not eating crap and I'm not over eating. But I eat when I'm hungry and eat good food (well maybe it doesn't taste great but its good for me food). Sometimes our desires (and goals) have to take a backseat to our needs I'm learning. I surely don't like it! 7 days until the cruise! I can't wear the bikini I wanted to, but maybe by "summer" I can. Lets hope anyway. Wait - does a 40 year old need to wear a bikini anyway? Probably not.

Totally. If you are anywhere near me - totally!!! My blisters are just now healing - but it was such an amazing experience. Still makes me happy I would be happy to come work out with you!

Ok - so I only have a minute before the hubster arrives. Its confession time I have been VERY depressed this week. The whole trying to starve myself under doctors orders and STILL not losing so much as an ounce. Then deciding to eat more… Yesterday took the cake tho. It has been a little more rough than usual here. When I left work Friday the temperature began dropping rapidly. My dogs were outside and I was afraid they would freeze. I had a 30 minute drive and it dropped nearly 10 degrees in the 10 minutes it took me to get to the gas station and fill up. Since I was driving away from the water - I was really afraid. It was already down to 30 and they are 1) "Southern" dogs and 2) they haven't grown a winter coat because it just isn't that cold. They also don't have a dog house. They refuse to go in it. They have a huge porch to lay under and plenty of trees and what not - but not actual cover on all sides. Anyway - I decided to just stop and get dinner for my daughter and worry about groceries later. I ended up eating McDonalds (grosser than gross). I haven't eaten McDonalds in like a year but I DO love their french fries. Regardless…. I got 2 cheeseburgers and fries for me and the kid (each). I ripped off those buns and ate meat and cheese… then unfortunately I really did eat the fries too. Most of them. They weren't as tasty as I remember. What happens…. I get on the scale - and NOTHING. Still…. Not an ounce!! You mean I can eat McDonalds or I can eat 800 calories and weigh the stinking same? I GIVE UP!!! Tonight when I stopped at the store - I gave in and bought sweet tarts too. I figured if I'm gonna kill it - I might as well get it all out at once. The only good news that came out of this is that I only ate 1 handful of sweet tarts. I didn't polish off the box and I don't want any more. I'm actually craving some meat right now. So tomorrow - I'm back on the bandwagon. I figure by Tuesday I'll be back in ketosis - provided I work out and I'm a good girl until then. Its nearly pointless tho because I'm leaving for the cruise in 2 weeks and I KNOW I will not be in ketosis for that! Anyway - lets see what I can do with myself. No more pity party. Although I will probably emit cuss words if I get on the scale tomorrow and weigh less!!!

I was supposed to follow it until next Friday. Wednesday evening I ate more carbs and woke up Thursday with a migraine. I ate 40% carb yesterday and the migraine revved back up after dinner. It looks like my choices are meds, keto or migraines my body just doesnt like carbs. Regardless, im not gonna eat 800 calories. When I return friday Ill tell my doc he is a moron and he can either come up w a reasonable plan or ill go elsewhere. Besides it isnt the calories giving me migraines!!

Thank you for the encouragement!! I'm keeping at it no matter what. Because of my encouraging workout yesterday, today I have killer blisters on my feet. I went to the gym anyway and worked out with just my sockies on. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but worse case Ida gotten a smashed foot. This way at least I got a nearly pain free workout in

Just wanted to say Hi and welcome you over to the Assassin side I read through and couldn't really identify why you were sore Friday... you didn't mention who you trained with the first time but since you trained with a Marine and a cafe fighter - it made me wonder if you trained with a grappler or a wrestler. While you wouldn't normally crawl in a knife fight, you might crawl with a grappler or a wrestler. Maybe your training partner had a completely different style than you and while the movements themselves weren't difficult, they may have been outside your normal scope of movement or at least your movements since your injury... Just another thought... Regardless - welcome to our playground. We hope you enjoy the stay

We are looking for status updates from you. Your fellow Assassins are here checking up on you and want to know where you are. How goes it???