My Heroes... James Smith

James Smith was born in Ireland and traveled to America as a young boy. He didn't know his birth date or at least refused to ever reveal the exact day. He worked as a surveyor and in law. From the first, he was a supporter of the revolution. He served in Congress and repeatedly attempted to retire from it to return to his private practice, only to be called back. He did finally "escape," not long after we won independence. He preferred his private life and lived to be around ninety.

As I read the brief history in Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence by B.J. Lossing, I could not help but wish I could have known James Smith. He intrigued me. A sense of humor and deep sense of honor and duty as well as a serious devotion to Christianity.

This and That...

I've read a half dozen books or more and given them away, thrown them away, or deleted them from my Kindle. What I don't want to read. Good to know, but disappointing, too.

My eating is horrible one day and okay the next. It's frustrating.

I am doing my workouts, every day, without fail.

Falling on my face with eating and doing great with exercising. What could I accomplish if I could changing my eating? Maybe my eating is my "vice." Probably. No. There are other factors I can't ignore. There are situations beyond my control.

I am sleeping much better. I have to take a Benadryl almost every night. It's a relief to sleep through the night almost every night. To not be tired all day long, so tired I can't stay awake in the middle of the day. Improvement.

Dear God, help me to be a blessing. Help me to know the way. I'm afraid and uncertain. Help my unbelief. I need a breadcrumb.

Week 114 of REAL...

REAL - Reduce stress Exercise Adequate sleep Lower caloric intake

What Navy SEALs are required to do to make it into BUD/S:

http://navyseal.s5.com/requirements.html

http://military-fitness.military.com/2013/01/the-spartan-300-workout-and-new-variations.html?ESRC=sm_fit.nl

RIght up front: Never in a million years could I do what is required. However, I needed to start somewhere. Considering how fit the SEALs are, I figured it was a good place to start. So my SEAL puppy reps (SEALp) consist of girls' pushups, crunches, and flutter kicks, a SEAL training basic. I started with doing one of each. 

Hip lifts

PT ~ Physical therapy using 2-lb and 1-lb weights, alternating days.

UB ~ Upper body exercises

I've worked up to 50 and then 10 more.

BD ~ Belly dancing (my version of it, anyway)

The 23rd: 2-mile walk. SEALp. PT. UB. BD.

The 24th: 4-mile walk. PT. BD. 1 hour of yard work. 

The 25th: Rest. 

The 26th: 2-mile walk. SEALp. PT. UB. BD.

The 27th: PT. BD.

The 28th: 2-mile walk. SEALp. PT. UB. BD.

The 29th: PT. BD.

The first picture was taken in February 2012. The second picture was taken in June 2012. Inspiration, at least to me:

Speech by Neil Gaiman...

Thanks to my BFF for sharing this link with me.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/21/neil-gaiman-commencement-speech_n_1534005.html?ref=tw

Follow up on yesterday...

Laundry is done. Yay!

Enjoyed some reading.

Everything else went to the wayside. Life happened. I visited with a friend. It was lovely. A dust storm rolled in followed by thunder and lightning and a spectacular downpour of rain. I turned off the computer and watched. It was amazing.

Starting over today.

Carpe Diem... Bristol...

NASCAR ~ Sadly, Carl was a DNF - Does Not Finish. Crash. He is still #3 in the Chase. Go Carl!

Today's list of things to do includes:

Laundry.

Editing.

Writing.

Reading.

I'm gradually forming a writing schedule I think will work for me. Tweaking it this week.

Thank Goodness It's Sunday... #169...

~ Friends who believe in me and encourage me.

~ Inspiration.

~ Good books.

~ Sleeping better.

~ New opportunities.

My Heroes... Unknown Soldiers...

Again. I read last week's post and needed to share. God bless our troops.

http://www.unknownsoldiersblog.com/2013/08/here-among-us_19.html

http://www.unknownsoldiersblog.com/2013/08/adapt-and-overcome.html

Sleeping better...

I've been taking a Benadryl every night and sleeping through the night. I wake up a little foggy, but I sleep through the night. I don't need to take naps to make it through the day. A little lavender also helps me relax. As I sleep better, my eating habits improve. When I'm tired, I eat to stay awake, so it's a constant battle to sleep enough so I'm not hungry so much. My workouts continue, as evidenced by Thursday's posts. I am doing better. Celebrate! YAY!

Week One-Hundred Thirteen of REAL...

Sigh... I do not know what happened to this post. It's been in the queue for publishing for a while and everything in it disappeared. Oddly enough, when I open my last REAL post, it also shows empty, even though the content is on my blog. Weird.

REAL - Reduce stress Exercise Adequate sleep Lower caloric intake

What Navy SEALs are required to do to make it into BUD/S:

http://navyseal.s5.com/requirements.html

http://military-fitness.military.com/2013/01/the-spartan-300-workout-and-new-variations.html?ESRC=sm_fit.nl

RIght up front: Never in a million years could I do what is required. However, I needed to start somewhere. Considering how fit the SEALs are, I figured it was a good place to start. So my SEAL puppy reps (SEALp) consist of girls' pushups, crunches, and flutter kicks, a SEAL training basic. I started with doing one of each. 

Hip lifts

PT ~ Physical therapy using 2-lb and 1-lb weights, alternating days.

UB ~ Upper body exercises

I've worked up to 50 and then 10 more.

BD ~ Belly dancing (my version of it, anyway)

The 16th: 2-mile walk. SEALp. PT. UB. BD.

The 17th: 1-mile walk. PT. BD. 1/2 hour of yard work. 

The 18th: Rest. 

The 19th: 2-mile walk. SEALp. PT. UB. BD.

The 20th: PT. BD.

The 21st: 2-mile walk. SEALp. PT. UB. BD.

The 22nd: PT. BD.

The first picture was taken in February 2012. The second picture was taken in June 2012. Inspiration, at least to me: