New writing exercise posted.

I've posted a new writing exercise on character creation at WriteYourAssOff.com.

Enjoy, and Happy Writing! :)

Heads up, folks. Irene's on the way.

People tell me, a native Floridian who's never lived anywhere else, they would never want to live in Florida for a number of reasons, but they normally rank hurricanes at the top of the list.

Fortunately for us, direct strikes by massive storms on our state aren't that common. But as the current storm, Irene, is proof, Florida is far from the only area vulnerable to direct strikes from massive systems.

For those of you on the eastern seaboard in the path of this monster, it's time to take heed. I don't care how many near misses you've lived through, or if you think your local emergency management folks are full of beans. This is a storm to pay attention to and prepare for, even if the preparations turn out to be unneeded. Believe me, as someone who lived through Charley, a storm that wasn't supposed to hit us but made a last-minute turn in our direction and hit us head-on, you do NOT want to guess wrong. And don't forget to take care of your pets. Don't leave them behind.

Good luck to all those in the storm's path, and please stay safe.

On my way to a healthy habit.

Dragged my tuckus out of bed early to make it to a 9 a.m. Aqua Fit class. (Okay, so the cats dragged me out of bed early. They decided to cause a ruckus at 5:45 and I never went back to sleep.)

I hit the sauna first, then the hot tub, for about five minutes each, to try to wake up, warm up, and limber up. Then the pool (supposed to be heated) was COLD! But I got a couple of slow laps in before the class started and by the time the instructor got us moving, it was okay.

I'm going easy on the cardio, focusing mostly on strength training right now. I did get some cardio in with this class, and it wasn't too hard on my shoulders/arms. My abs are somewhat sore from all the crunches I did yesterday, but not nearly as bad as I thought they would be.

My first weigh-in is tomorrow. Already, I've lost a little over 3 pounds this first week. WOOT! And I've been managing to stay under points the past several days. I decided to swap my activity points first instead of the weekly points. That will give me more motivation to get them built up. (That old OCD Taurus thing in my brain helps me in this case. LOL)

...And that's a hat trick!

Three times to the gym in one week. WOOT! I took it easy on my arms today (my shoulder is giving me fits) and just did machines for abs and legs. Did thirty minutes on the machines, then swam for twenty minutes. My problem before was I'd get bored doing the same thing all the time, so the chance to work on multiple machines in one session helps with that.


So far so good on sticking to the plan. I've switched to using up my activity points first, which is more motivation to me to exercise daily. Might not be much every day, but at least on days like this, I can rack up eight points. So far since I started the other day, I've earned thirty points and only used one (and that one was the day I signed up, which was late at night and I'd already had a huge meal at dinner LOL).


I started a challenge, Fit Floridians, for everyone to try to earn at least one activity point every day (or more, if you so desire).

Survived work-out #2.

Hubby went with me to the gym today. First we had to hit a few stops, I needed new earbuds (couldn't find mine) and an iPod holder, swim goggles, and swim cap (for me), dog and cat food (not for me LOL), and finally got there.


Did some machines first, lots of leg work because I need the most work in my butt and thighs, but I did some crunches on the machine and some arm work too. Then 10 minutes on a stationary bike, then...


Ahhhh, the pool. :) My favorite. LOL I did several laps at a brisk pace (for me), hubby did some laps and some water walking. Finished that, then to the hot tub for a few minutes. Shopping at Publix (getting easier now that I know some of the basics to get, can we say bingeing on fresh fruits? LOL) and then home. I'm soooo ready for a nap, but one of my publishers dropped edits into my inbox yesterday and I want to get them done. Plus I'm working my way through the Rosetta Stone Latin America Spanish course. It's stupid that I live in Florida and can't speak more than a few words of it. I've taken it several times in school but always just the basics and my retention sucked after the class was over.


Go me! :)

...And I didn't drown.

Well, I signed us up for a gym. Nice place, even has a pool, hot tub, and sauna. And today they had an "aqua fit" class. I figured that would be perfect for me, low-impact and easy to do because of my fibro. Hubby went with me and did it too.

We survived. LOL We both felt like...well, fish out of water, but we survived. Half the time we weren't sure what we were supposed to be doing, but one of the other students assured us it took her several classes to get the hang of all the moves.

And so far, I'm still under-quota on my daily points. Woot! Go me! Hubby and I are determined to work this together. Once he gets his weight where he wants it with the Medifast plan, he's going to transition over to Weight Watchers with me. (I think he's jealous of me getting carte blanche on fruits and veggies LOL.) It does make grocery shopping a little tricky, because I'm constantly calculating points and he's got to focus on calories. LOL Thank the Goddess for my Droid, because I loaded the WW apps onto it and was walking around Publix yesterday with my head down, plugging EVERYTHING into it before it went in the cart.

I have to admit the competitive Taurus in me likes that I feel like I'm "beating" the system in a way. (At least, for now I am. How long that lasts depends on how fast the scale moves down. LOL) Like tonight, I had plenty of points left, and I was plugging the ice creams still left in the freezer into the points calculator (and nearly having a coronary over THAT). Well, I wanted a treat, but I was still a little hungry. So I grabbed a handful of grapes (0 points) and noshed on those before I had one of my low-point ice cream bars (still yummy).

HA! Take THAT points calculator! LOL

Of course, our Lab, Scudder, won also, because I dropped the bunch of grapes on the floor and they went scattering all over the place. He managed to snarf three or four before I got them all gathered up. LOL

Another journey started.

Well, I'm now a member of Weight Watchers. Hubby is doing the Medifast plan (under a nurse practitioner's supervision) and I decided why should he suffer alone. LOL In all honesty, I need to lose about fifty pounds to get to a healthy weight for my frame. I gained about twenty in a couple of months from the Lyrica I was on (which I stopped taking).

I have to admit, the fact that I can pretty much eat any fruits and veggies is a nice bonus. No problem in staving off hunger pangs, at least. I'm doing the online version, not the live meetings. So if you are on there, look me up in the community as tymberd and feel free to friend me.