Old McJames Has a Farm

Not really, but it was a catchy title.  In reality I have a garden, not even a big one right now, but it is a garden.  Reports show that gardening can help reduce stress. Liars.  I kid, I kid. Working in the garden gives me a sense of accomplishment, the results don't take all that long, and you can say that you did it.

I mean, this is pretty awesome, right?

These are getting ready to plant, meanwhile, in the garden:

 I even got Victoria in on helping:

It's fun, and it does give me exercise when I'm not working out, and I'm not even thinking about it, so it's still helping reach my goal of losing weight to be the 'Man in Black' for the Festival.  Speaking of the Festival, Lyndsay had an idea that blew my mind. Instead of being the Man in Black the first day, I should be him the second day, in case I find anything better that would compliment my attire.  She also had another reason, she is going to look for a dress so she could be Buttercup from the movie. Woah, that would be awesome.  Now, clothes at the Renaissance Festival aren't usually cheap, but in this case, I might splurge.  Also, during the Festival I will probably update the blog each night when we get back to the hotel, so keep an eye out for those. You must read them.

 This weekend is Lone Grove Days, and I plan on having a special update about that this weekend, so look for that.  It's a day of fun in the city where I live, games, activities, music, shopping, a car show and food.  Also, I should mention, that I wasn't going to go this year, but Lyndsay got Shanghaied into working the concession stand.  Probably a good thing, so she can monitor how much of the delicious bad food I try to eat.  She might put my picture up with the caption "Do Not Sell to This Man." Speaking of eating, I've changed my diet, and it's working.  I feel better and I am losing weight (and inches).  Just goes to show you, you treat your body good, and it will return the favor.

If you didn't catch it, we went to the Zoo this past weekend, and well, this sums it up:

Anyhow,  until next Thursday Dear Reader.

Fun Things Ahead

As most of you know, my family loves to go to Renaissance festivals. Due to scheduling and a low budget, we were going to have to skip the Scarborough Renaissance Festival in Waxahachie, TX this year.  This one is my favorite (at least that I've been to thus far) and I did not want to miss it.  After rearranging schedules, and saving money (and selling a lot of crap on eBay) we have the funds, and will be on our way at the end of May.

Last year I dressed up, and I loved it.

I did only dress up one of the two days we were there last year, mainly because I had sweated so much in it that I dare not wear it again.  This year, I will wear this outfit on day 2, day 1 will be:

That's right, the Dread Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride.  I might not make a great one, but I'll have fun.  I'll even shave my beard down to just a mustache to complete the look. 

Since this is at the end of May I have roughly a month to get myself into a little better shape so I don't have to pretend to be Wesley in his old, fat years.  I'm hoping to trim down my belly a bit, and lose about 7-10 pounds.  I'm already on my way, I've made good progress, so I think I can do it. 

Just the little time I've been more conscious of what I'm eating, my belly has reduced in size a bit, and I attribute this to the reduction in sodium intake.  I still need to lower it, but it was astronomical before.  The short term goal to look decent for the fair is really off to a good start.

As a practice run, we may end up going to a Renaissance Festival in Muskogee, OK (okcastle.com) for one day and see if I can stand the costume and if I look horrible or not, you know, to get feedback and whatnot.  We shall see.  Until next time, dear readers.

So Soon? What is this sorcery?

I told you I'd keep you up to date. I won't be updating everyday, but I wanted to update you on my first day of sticking with my plans.  Last night went well, and today has went well.  To fill you in on a few things I'm working on, here is a small list:

• Reducing (or eliminating) sodas - this is a big deal for me, but so far so good, well today anyway.
• Not buying take-out or going through a drive-through and prepping my lunch for work.
• Working with Lyndsay and making meal plans for dinner, and preparing them.
• Exercising regularly, I mean I have all the equipment and I was doing so well, time to get back at it.
• Drinking more water.  This works with the first one, and I'm doing well (for my size 124 oz a day)

Hopefully this will give me a good start to get back on track.  I'm 5'9" and 212.8 lbs with a goal of 180-190 and less than 20% body fat, it's currently 35-37%.  I told you, I've throwing out numbers, that way you guys can see if I'm making progress.

I'll leave you alone for now, and like I used to do, I'll update you once a week - on Thursdays.

Thanks for reading, you wonderful people you!

-J

Look at this, it's one of those updates

Yep.  I've not been telling you anything lately.  I've had a few people email or message me and ask what's up.  I've been busy.  Stuff at work, stuff at home, and dealing with stuff internally. Long story, I'll save it for another time.  In having conversations with myself, I pointed out some good things to myself. I said to myself, "James, you've got to change a lot of things in you're life, or you won't have any real quality of life, and it could possibly be cut short."  I then replied to myself by saying, "Shut up."  I knew I was right, and I do that when I know I've been beaten.

If you've been following my blog, you know I haven't been steady with my exercise schedule, it's like a phase.  I can't let it be that way anymore.  I have to stick to a regular routine, I felt better when I was doing it, and I had gotten ill and had to skip a few days, and then, boom, I stopped.  Going to fix that, and going to fix that fast.

I also started not caring about what I was eating, going for whatever was easiest and fastest.  This caused me to gain some weight and lose a lot of money.  I had stopped prepping my own meals (especially lunch) because of the extra time that was involved, but that was pure laziness. No more.  After my pep talk with myself, I'm motivated. Also, I saw a picture of myself when I was working out, and then I looked into a mirror and a tear streamed down my face.

So, to hold myself more accountable, I'll be posting more about my progress, and *gasp* actual measurements.  Wish me well, and here I go in 3 .. 2 .. 1

Motivation, Gotta Get Me Some

So, a whole week or so has passed since I last talked to you. You know, you really should call more often, I get worried. Anyway, I have found that finding motivation isn't exactly easy. Sometimes it's downright hard. Actually, for me, most of the time it's difficult.

Telling yourself that you can do something and actually doing it are, unfortunately, different things.  I think the best thing for motivation with exercise is a mirror and an honest child without a filter. They both will always tell the truth.  I'll update you again later with that progress.

I have some new followers who didn't know what I was talking about when I mentioned the Regular Dad web series, so here's the trailer:

Let me know what you think.  One of the premises of the show is I'm endeavoring to film the whole series from either my iPod or my iPhone. Just to make it interesting.  Something else I've been working on is the Regular Dad comic, which will be short and sweet.

I'll be updating you more about all the projects later, and hopefully entertain you a little more.

Changes

Changes.  They can be good or they can be bad.  I have changed the location of my blog to myblogtypething.com - and that's a good change.  I paid for my lunch with a $20, and I got money back - that's also good change.  Unfortunately there is bad change.  Last week my grandmother passed away and that was painful change.  Notice I didn't say it was a bad change, because given time to reflect, it really isn't a bad change.  My grandmother was 80 years old and tired.  She deserved the relief from the pain.

Speaking of changes, the blog has a new address - myblogtypething.com!  I figured this would make it easier for the thousands upon thousands of you that visit everyday.  So, update your bookmarks!

More changes are coming for me, I had shirked off my exercise routine due to being ill (translated dying) but I am getting back in the habit.  I have been able to maintain a lower weight than I have before and some of that weight is now muscle, so I've probably lost more fat weight, but gained muscle weight. Sweet.

For those of you wanting to know where the web series 'Regular Dad' is, don't worry it's in production, it's just taking a bit longer than I anticipated. No worries, you shall be entertained.

As always, I invite you to let me know what I'm doing right, what I'm doing wrong, etc. Email me and let's make this better!

It's a hard knock life

So, it's been a while.  Have a seat, we have a lot to catch up on.

First of all, I've been doing very well about sticking to my workout routine. I'll allow you a moment to stop looking shocked. There. I've not been so good on keeping my diet healthy.  What can I say, some bad food tastes soooo good.  With that in mind, I have been trying to output more calories than I input, but that's a lot harder than it seems.  I have been losing weight, more importantly I have been losing inches from my waist.  The downside to that is a pair of my favorite shorts now fall down.  It hasn't happened in public yet, but I hope I'm with my girls and I can embarrass them, not scar for life, but enough that people will still ask them about it when they are in high school.  I hope I remember underwear that day.

I've had a lot of people ask me (since I had a long post on suicide) about the women in Oregon who chose assisted suicide instead of living with an extremely aggressive for of brain cancer.  I've decided to not get into the debate.  I won't make any friends with my opinion on that, and it's better off that people make up their own mind instead of me helping to sway them.  I will say that her decision is her decision and no one else's, which makes me want to point out that it really isn't any of our business to judge her. Enough about that though.

Last week I have an ingrown toenail cut out (on both sides of my nail).  I have a low tolerance for pain and even though they used a local anesthetic, I could still feel it in my mind.  I was sweating a lot I'm sure. At least my foot didn't slip all around.  Right now, I'm not sure if it has helped with the pain, but I'm hoping for the best and they are doing the other foot Monday.  So if you hear a loud scream Monday morning and your dogs start to howl with it, I'm sorry, my bad.