Lungs Are Important.

Well you haven't heard from me much lately because I've been totally wiped out. Ian's dad was ripping out the shower stall in our downstairs bathroom, and there turned out to be more mold there. It must have really gotten into the air. Tuesday I was so achey and tired all day. I didn't think a whole lot of it, I thought maybe I was coming down with something. Yesterday when I woke up, I couldn't take deep breaths without my lungs hurting. Throughout the day it got worse and worse until it felt like my lungs were on fire all the time. I was just miserable! I slept for about 4 hours in the middle of the day but still felt awful after. That's when Ian said you know what, it's probably the mold! I honestly hadn't even thought about it, but I am allergic to mold so that would explain me having that reaction.

I opened some windows which wasn't pleasant because it turned cold yesterday and was only about 40 degrees. It really did help though and within a couple of hours my lungs were hurting much less. Ian bleached the mold when he got home and we left the windows open a bit longer, and I was feeling better.

Today my lungs still hurt with deep breaths but it is MUCH better. I think they are just recovering now.

It's so weird, it made my lung capacity so much less. Everything makes me out of breath the past couple days. It's getting better now but man that was weird. It was like gainin 100 pounds overnight or something. So uncomfortable!!! I'm so glad I'm starting to get better, this has NOT been fun.

I Cooked! Skillet Lasagna

Tonight I made a skillet lasagna! Thanks to my friend Cori for a yummy recipe. Since my oven doesn't do much, a skillet lasagna was a perfect recipe for me. I also did some garlic breadsticks and a yummy salad with basil-ranch salad dressing. Mmmm! I have to say it came out quite well! It used those no-boil lasagne noodles and was really easy. I felt good about the fact that I made the meal come out right and it tasted good. With just 2 of us we have enough to eat it for a total of 3 nights - that's what I'm talking about!! I love maxiumum reward for as little work as possible :)

I am really wanting to learn more about cooking and maybe even get to the point where I like it. I just subscribed to this blog - simple daily recipes - and I also asked my dad if he'd like to look for a cooking class we could take together. He was up for it. They're in Texas right now but when they get back we can look into what's out there.

Here is the recipe for skillet lasagna if anyone is interested. I got it from Cori and I don't know if it's from a book or somebody else. Cori let me know if I need to credit somebody! :)

SKILLET LASAGNA (Serves 6-8)

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 (26 - ounce) jar spaghetti sauce, divided
1 (14 1/2 - ounce) can diced tomatoes, slightly drained (optional)
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 large egg, beaten
1 (9 - ounce) package no-boil lasagna noodles
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

*Tip: to ensure that the lasagna noodles cook thoroughly, spread a piece of wax paper over the skillet before topping with the lid. The wax paper prevents any steam from escaping.

Directions:
1. Cook ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until browned and crumbly, about 5 minutes; drain well.

2. Add half the jarred spaghetti sauce to ground beef in skillet and mix well. Pour diced tomatoes evenly over ground beef (optional).

3. Combine ricotta and egg in a small bowl and mix well. Spread evenly over tomatoes. Top with a layer of lasagna.

4. Layer the remaining spaghetti sauce and remaining lasagna in the skillet.

5. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, covered, until lasagna is tender, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with mozzarella. Cook, covered, for 2 minutes. Serve immediately.

Ian and I decided after eating it that we would have wanted some mozzarella cheese in the bottom layer, too. It would make it gooey-er. LOL. So if you like cheesy, I would suggest that. It was VERY good. Sorry I didn't get a picture! Maybe next time.

Bleh.

I'm feeling so lethargic lately. Part of that is I only worked out last Tuesday and this Tuesday. There's been a lot of snags in the way between Brandy (my workout buddy) having sick kiddos & husband at home this past week, and me having a lot going on, and me being apparently unable to push myself to go alone. Last Tuesday was with Brandy and this Tuesday I walked with Ian.

Now of course i'm being blessed with mother nature's monthly gift... so i have no energy at all. My walk Tuesday was ont he verge of impossible even though I only went for 30 mins. Today I'll at least get activity from all the errands I have to run...take care of the kittens... post office... huge grocery shop. But I think true exercise will be on the backburner until at least Sunday.

I'm really hoping that this coming week when I feel all better and Brandy's family feels all better, I can work out SO much more. Cuz right now all I want is to eat chocolate. :-/

Exercise This Week

I got a good workout on Tuesday - elliptical and track. Yay for Brandy going with me! That's it for this week though so far. Things have just been all over the place. Today won't happen either. The guy to work on the downstairs bathroom will be here shortly, and then I have to go shopping for an interview outfit (get to that in a moment), and then my dad is coming over to do the last bit of painting in the bathroom. He'll probably be here til right before Ian comes home, and Ian and I have massage appointments tonight at 7. So yeah, busy day.

I am hoping to work out with Brandy tomorrow sometime between 2:30-5. Tomorrow night I'll be with Kellie and Cori, spending some time with Kellie before her big trip. She's going on a 2 week trip to 9 countries which she is leaving for on Sunday. We might be sending Waddles with her so he can be even more well-traveled!

Happy Developments

I already wrote about some of this on my other blog, but Friday night we got 3 hours of exercise! We had a huge geocaching extravaganza that was a lot of fun but super exhausting, after having already gone for an hour walk prior to that. Then we went back Saturday morning and walked another 30 minutes or so to finish off. We found the cache right away and then mostly walked around trying to figure out why we were so confused. You can read about it and see pictures here.

Here's why I'm so happy... despite all the complaining and friction, at the end of the week Ian had exercised on 4 days. And 3 of them were with me. That is all I could ever hope for!! So maybe it won't be SO difficult to get him going after all. He did still complain, but he did it, and that's what matters.

Saturday we even got a little bit more exercise - about another half hour of walking when we were finding the geocache and retracing our steps to figure out all the confusion. And of course grocery shopping, which is tough work too :)

I'm planning on working out at the rec center with Brandy today, in about 2 hours. Just 2 days off and I'm feeling antsy! That's a good sign, right?

Yesterday :)

Yesterday was laundry day, which is also the day I try to go the rec center by my parents house. Kellie wasn't able to join me again, as she had schoolwork to do, so it was just me. But guess what... Ian went with me!!!!!!!!! He really didn't want to but he knew he needed to, so instead of my convincing him, he was doing the work of convincing himself. That took a lot of weight off my shoulders. It's nice not to feel like I'm forcing him.

What he did was eat while working (tuesday is work from home day), and then on his hour lunch break we went to the rec center. He walked around the track while I did the arc trainer. I think he walked about a mile or so. I did 35 mins on the arc trainer, intervals level 1. It kicked my butt, in a good way though :) The incline parts were so hard. But it was so nice seeing Ian going around the track as I exercised. He may not have been pushing himself like I was, but he was THERE. That's huge progress because it has been so very long since he exercised. He told me afterward that he wanted to stop after the first couple minutes, and then a few minutes later, and then a few minutes later, lol. His biggest weakness really is his legs. I've said this before but for me, my legs can go forever and it's my (lack of ) cardiovascular endurance that makes me wear out. For him, his legs wear out far before his cardiovascular endurance becomes an issue. But you know he was so tired afterward that on one hand it makes him not want to do it, but of course on the other hand makes him realize that he NEEDS to. I said, now what if this were Italy and you walked for 30 minutes and were too tired to see anything else all day? That would suck! He totally gets it.

I hope we can continue to do this on Tuesdays, and if Kellie can come great and if not I'll have my Ian. And I really want us to get some fitness stuff for the Wii, like the Wii Fit and Dance Revolution and things like that. They are just expensive.

Anyway I felt so happy to have him join me. After he finished work, we had soup and salad at Panera Bread and it really hit the spot! Good food tastes so good when you've worked so hard.

Today I'll be walking with Brandy around 3pm, so looking forward to that. So far she's been really consistent and not cancelled on me except for Sunday, but the weather was terrible (40 degrees, rainy, dark) and her son was really sick.

Pushing

I have to really push myself to work out. I fight and fight myself. Today I wanted to cancel on Brandy up to the last second. BUT... I went. That's what matters right? And we are going tomorrow, too! I feel so good about myself for making the effort.

I really wish my stupid heel wasn't such a problem. Besides my foot pain I still deal with a bit of a bone spur on my heel. I had surgery to remove the bone spur back in 2003 I think, but they didn't do a very thorough job and I still have a bit of a bump that just rubs and rubs against the back of my shoe no matter how tight I tie my shoe. Bandaids come off... does anyone have a good suggestion for this???? Those blister bandaids don't work because they're so thin. For non-protruding things they work but for a protruding bump like this it doesn't stop it from blistering. HELP!

Anyway we had a really good walk. I am chatting online with Brandy now and she has the Wii Fit so I was asking her about it. The only problem is it records your weight and you MUST look at it - and I know myself and know I cannot see my weight right now, at least not in these beginning stages. Maybe later one. Right now I need to focus on exercise for how it benefits me and ignore my weight so that it does not become the point. Brandy and I were talking about that and she's managed to get past that. Here are some great things she said:

"It's just a game, I dont care anymore, I think I got to the point were I went completely crazy about the number and lost it and then came back to reality and realized I didn't care anymore as long as I could go outside and have fun without dying and feel healthy. I dont care I just want to feel good and my weight isn't important because the girls on the cover of magazines are not typical, that is society's image, not mine and my family doesn't care as long as I can have fun with them...so I focus on becoming healthy and feeling good."

This is exactly the point behind Intuitive Eating and rejecting the diet mentality.

I told Ian my feet hurt and he wanted to do something nice for me. I couldn't think of anything. So I told him what would make me happiest is if he went for a walk or got some activity tonight even though his legs are tired from yesterday's walk. And he said he will after dinner tonight! He is being so sweet. I feel so happy :)