Tag Archives: exercise

I woke up again!

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I tried another NEW THING AT THE GYM yesterday and again, I didn’t die in my sleep! This is becoming a habit I think.

I blogged about my ZUMBA experience over at Fat Chicks Running so don’t forget to pop over and read all about it.

What’s on your agenda today? During my cleaning frenzy last weekend, I never did make it to my living room/desk area. I’m considering tackling that today. And taxes. I have to tackle taxes. Both things I don’t want to do but both things HAVE to be done. So, I’m thinking both of those things are priority numero uno.

This weekend we have our first all day soccer tournament. Of course, it was 70 degrees here two days ago, tomorrow is supposed to be 51. WTF? I mean, dude, I do NOT want to sit outside and watch these games like a granny with an afghan on my lap. I suppose I could take my Scooby Doo Blanket and wear my skull cap, huh?

Today is supposed to be pretty and in the 60s. I am suffering from spring fever so bad! I will definitely get outside and run today.

Oh and in Harriet the Head news, I think she’s having an affair with Grim now. He came by for a visit last night and flirted with Harriet all night. I mean, who knew? It was annoying after a while, so I finally took some benadryl to force Harriet to shut up and go to sleep.

Have a good weekend y’all!

I didn’t die in my sleep

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But the Grim Reaper did come for a visit. He’s really quite pleasant, for a bony, ashy, stinky, soul-stealing void of a death kisser.

I really thought I might die last night. You see, I tried a NEW THING AT THE GYM because I need to change up my workouts. I have a goal to meet. My birthday is in 1 month, I want to lose another 12 lbs by then. So I’ve met with Cute Little Trainer Boy for some tips and he advised me to try this NEW THING AT THE GYM.

POWERHOUSE 90

It’s a class. If you’ll click the link above, you’ll see exactly how well I did in yesterday’s class. Here’s a hint:
Needless to say, It’s going to take a lot more classes, and a lot more humiliation before I can call myself the master of the Powerhouse 90 Arm Class.

Anyway, back to my new BFF–Grim. See, after class, I came home and collapsed. I had some Advil for dinner, washed it down with 1.5 liters of water (I’m not joking. My bladder wished I was joking when I got up to pee 14 million times last night) and I ate a banana.

I went to bed a little before 10:30. Jon Stewart was still on TV, totally railing on some dude and I wanted to watch but my body told me it was time to die. So I gave in. It was my time.

That’s when Grim came to visit. He said I was a good little girl to drink all my water and take my Advil and eat that banana. And because I had done those very smart things, he would let me live.

My head told him it was okay to take our soul, we had the Bird Flu and were gonna die soon anyway. I told Head to put a sock in it. Head said she would if I started to call her Harriet like she asked. I don’t understand my head at all.

Grim was very sweet. He rubbed my back while I fell asleep. I asked him if that was some super sekrit soul-stealing technique but he swore it wasn’t. He swore that if I stole his soul, I would know it.

As I drifted off, Grim asked if I planned to do another class. I mumbled something like “Probably,” and Harriet the Head screamed bloody murder. Grim said I might want to take it easy because if I did too many classes, then one night, he might have to pay me a real death-kiss visit.

I might have to take that under advisement.

date weekend

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I have a date with my computer this weekend. We’re going to be spending a lot of QT together, plotting, storytelling, and maybe even getting on each others’ nerves a bit. But it must be done. So I’m firing up my iTunes, sticking in my headphones and hitting the keyboard. If my computer cooperates, I might even let him go to second base. (especially if iTunes sets the mood by playing some Barry White…)

In the mean time, HobbitGrrl has offered some fantastic marathon advice for n00bs over at FCR. Really great advice. Now I feel at least somewhat prepared for that very scary event, which is only 1 month, 2 weeks, and 5 days away. Not that I’m counting.

If you haven’t been keeping up with my fitness status over at FCR, I’m down 13 lbs, have lost 1 full size, and am now able to run 2 miles on pavement without stopping. Still a long way from 6 but hey, I’ll get there. It’s sure a lot better than the struggling I was doing over my first 60 second run a few months ago. 🙂 Also, I’m finally to the point that I actually want to go workout. This is a new thing for me…I missed a week to let my foot heal and I was really cranky. (I know, know! Who am I and what have I done with the real Mel?) Don’t worry, the real Mel is fine. She’s off on some island with a gaggle of red-heads servicing her every need…

launching into the week

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Last week was a busy one. I started a new job, plowed toward the deadline for LOVE SUCKS, worked out 5 days, pretended to be a mother on a couple of days, blogged, went to a party, and worked on a new batch of mojo. Seriously, I am amazing.

Dunno if you’ve been keeping up with my exercising progress at Fat Chicks Running or not, but I’ve been steadily increasing my distance and trying to stop worrying about how fast I’m running. I talked to a couple last night who have been running for 20+ years and they both hammered it into me–what matters is how far you go, not how long it takes you to get there. Fine. Fine. Fine. It’s really hard for me not to try to go faster because of the uber competitive side of my nature. (Which has apparently been dormant for a while but is now back with a vengeance!) So I’m just trying to do slow and steady. I’ve got a long way to go before I can run a 10k. Honestly, I think I still have a long way to go before I can run a 5K. I can walk both (probably faster than I can run them) but I can’t run them…not yet.

I feel great though. I’m down an entire size in a month even though I’ve only lost 12 lbs. Probably because I’m lifting weights as well as running. My legs are freaking rocks right now (well, my thighs are rocks under a large layer of fat…but still…rock baby!) I bought a book called The New Rules of Lifting for Women. I haven’t started reading it yet because I’ve been head down in writing, but I plan to break it out and start reading this week.

Something I’ve noticed since I started really working out daily, I now look forward to it. Never thought that would happen to me. Something kinda just clicked about 2 weeks ago and my mindset changed. Instead of cussing my way through the 45 minutes on the elliptical, I was just doing it. And thinking. Or not thinking (which is really nice. My mind never seems to shut down, so I totally embrace anything that gives it a break.) It’s honestly one of my favorite parts of the day now. Yes, I said it. Write it down. And remind me of that if I fall off the wagon again.

One thing I know I’m not doing right is eating enough. I think I’m only taking in about 1000 calories a day, and I know I need more, but I can’t seem to make myself eat more now. But I don’t want my body to adjust to such a low calorie intake. Not sure how to work that one out yet. I did allow myself a junk food lunch yesterday, and while the cheese dip was good, it wasn’t all that. Guess my mindset really is changing.

This week should be very similar to last week. Writing, working, running, mothering, blogging, lunching, and mojoing. You got your week figured out yet? Happy Sunday!

sunday morning

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*crickets*

Yeah, I pretty much got nuttin’.

Am head down working today. Will go to the gym at some point. I start a part-time job tomorrow, so I have to really focus on writing when I’m at home.

Y’all have a good one. Meanwhile, I’ll continue to enjoy my new music and write. See y’all tomorrow!

✌

just another manic monday

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Mondays are always so busy!

I’m over at Fictionistas, talking about the sense of smell.

I’ll be blogging at Fat Chicks Running later today. I went to the gym TWICE this weekend. I know, you’re shocked. So am I. I’m also planning another video blog this week…if I can somehow manage to hide my Cartman chin. I’d also like to change my voice. Am I the only one who hates to hear my recorded self?

This weekend was a bit of a whirlwind. I swear it was just Friday. And now, Christmas is a week away and I’m trying to figure out when it became December. I swear I was just in my bathing suit, allowing the sun to worship me. Honestly, am I the only one who thinks time is flying by at warp speed? (look! Cartman chin is gone! Maybe I should Vlog looking up…)

Time flies when you’re growing old?

Speaking of old: A shout out to my niece Zzer (zeezer–nickname for Elizabeth) who turns 13 today.

Oh and just to give y’all proper notice, Fishdog turns 40 tomorrow. Yes. He’s gonna beat me to the big 4-0. Nothing makes me happier.

It’s a busy week here at Chez Francis. I’ll be writing my fingers to the bone. I have a lofty page goal for the week, I’ll keep you posted on that. Also, we’re supposed to get iced in tonight. Love Arkansas weather. It was 65 degrees yesterday. It’s 33 now.

While I’m at the gym, why don’t y’all tell me about your weekend?

let’s get physical

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I went to the gym tonight…talking about it over at FatChicksRunning.

Hope y’all have a good weekend. I dunno if it’ll be a blogging weekend or not for me. And who knows, I’m drinking tonight, so y’all might get lucky and get a drunk blog later

Wouldn’t that be something? A dirty little secret (mmmm gingers) and a drunk blog all in one night?

Keep your fingers crossed. Until then, enjoy…

end of the week report

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Mac is back. She’s a little tired from being worked on and having her 80 gig hard drive replaced with a 120 gig hard drive, but she’s happy. I still haven’t gotten her completely set up–the internetz connection keeps disappearing for no apparent reason. That happened when I first brought Mac home, so I know it’s a setting issue and I just have to find it.

The sad news is, her old hard drive = toast. It’s so toasted that none of the data was recoverable. We have the drive in our possession, and if ever we have a spare $1000 lying around, we’re going to ship the toast to a specialty recovery place and give it the old college try.

I’m totally at peace with the loss. It sucks, but I knew better. And now I’m writing like the wind to try to make up my lost time. The good news is, I really wasn’t happy with what I had written, so this forces me to back the hell up and start over from chapter 2. I can do that. It’s a good thing I’m a fairly fast writer!!!

I am going to pick up my running today. My cold has moved out of my head. It’s trying to move into my chest but I’m fighting it. I have that damn persistent itch between my ear and my throat. I’ve been tempted to take a wire hanger to my ear…but every time I turn on the closet light to find the right utensil, a panicked voice starts whispering “No More Wire Hangers!” and it freaks me out.

A Rader Story:
I realized the other day I haven’t told you guys a Rader story in a long time. It’s a shame really, because he’s always so damn entertaining. I’m sure we’ll have more inappropriate conversations to report at some point–but there will never be another licking nipples report. That was just too much.

Rader is a charmer. He always has been. And I’ve always known his charm was going to be the death of me. Last night, I got the full effect of his charm and his sense of humor. Now, the child is only 10, but he’s tall and handsome and he carries himself like a teenager half the time. We were sitting in the living room and Fishdog told Rader to take his folded clothes from the coffee table and put them in his room. Rader (without missing a beat) winked at me, smiled and said “Sure.” He knew he was being cheeky and he was completely unapologetic about it. That one little wink struck me as so intentionally flirty–like the hot guy in high school flirting with the cute quiet girl.

When he winked, I flashed forward five years and saw exactly what kind of young man he was going to be. And boy are we in trouble. Charming, good looking, funny, flirty and smart. I am not ready for this. The mothers of the girls of Little Rock are not ready for this…

Hope you guys have a great weekend. I’ll be busy WRITING (I know, you’re shocked). I’ll also be running and blogging over at FatChicksRunning so don’t forget to stop by!

Happy Friday!

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I don’t know about you, but I’m tired! This was a long, emotional, stressful week. And now I have to clean my house because I’m having a little get together tomorrow night with my BFF from high school and my 2 college roommates.

Damn you dirt! Why you keep stalking me?

My stat counter has been a busy beaver lately. I’d like to welcome everyone from AIG, AG Edwards, Merrill Lynch and all the other financial institutions searching for the other Melissa Francis–the CNBC reporter. Also, to all the gossip mongers who are searching for “Melissa Francis naked,” “Melissa Francis boyfriend,” “Melissa Francis married,” “Melissa Francis breasts” I hope you’ve found what you’re searching for. There are no pics of reporter Melissa Francis here–naked or otherwise. And yes there are a few cleavage shots here and there on this blog, but none belong to her. She seems to be much more dignified than I am. (I’ve even been accused of being vulgar. *gasp! shock!*) But I appreciate your visit and I hope you’ll stop by again. 🙂

Writing report: I brutally cut a chapter yesterday and started over. I was totally stuck and finally realized I wasn’t writing the right stuff. So I just CUT it. Snip. Just like that. And the words started flowing a little easier yesterday afternoon. Here’s hoping that continues.

I’m anxiously awaiting cover information for BITE ME! My editor emailed a couple of weeks ago after she and the art director discussed the concept. I was so thrilled because it was almost EXACTLY as I had always pictured my cover. Now I’m dying to see if that concept remained or if they tried it and it didn’t work and they moved on to something else.

Covers are funny because what marketing decides will sell might not be at all what the author likes or envisioned. And the author has no choice in the matter. Sure they can give their opinion, but the fact is, the final decision belongs to the publisher. So as an author, you just keep your fingers crossed that you love (or even sorta like) the cover you’re given because, guess what? It doesn’t matter. It’s yours to keep.

I have to say, I’m not really worried I won’t like the cover because Harper has done a fantastic job with their YA covers overall…so I have every expectation of being very happy.

Okay, I’ve randomly discussed all sorts of things in this post. Now I’m going to wrap it up and get back to writing. Y’all stop by FatChicksRunning! today to see how my 3rd run went this week.

Have a great weekend!