30 days of resolutions

Long time no post...I have been doing a lot of personal development reading.  And I have joined a leadership business called LIFE.  This business has put some incredible information into my life.  Because of that information I have a better marriage, better financial understanding, a better relationship with my daughter, and a desire to help other people get some of what I have.

But, with this wonderful information comes a list...no, a plethora of activities that I want to do to continue to improve myself.  It is interesting that life was good I was fine with it being good, and could have gone on in good indefinitely.  But now that I have seen better I want to continue to improve.  I want to get to great, or marvelous, or maybe even magnificent.  So here is a list of resolutions (in chronological order) that I am going to do for the next 30 days.  Because change is a slow process and if I want to make the change from good to great I have to develop some new habits in my life:

Wake up on the first ring
             This is set for 6:40 right now but I am going to roll that back 10 min a week until 6:00
Read the Bible for at least 15 min
             I am currently working through the new testament and I am at Luke
Eat a healthy breakfast
             high protein, low carb, and delicious
Make it to work on-time
             believe it or not, this one is difficult for me
Work out 3 times a week
              running and resistance training
Get two peoples numbers to call to STP per day
             this is a LIFE thing and it is the main action in the business side of it
Listen to one LIFE or TEAM cd per day
             essential for improving myself
Read for 15 minutes out of a Top 5 book
             also essential for improving myself

I think that will do for now!

B-dubs and no weightloss

Last night I went to buffalo wild wings with some of my coworkers.  It was $.50 wing night, so we thought it was a good idea to take advantage of it.  I had one beer, cause I was driving, and a dozen wings and french fries.  I was so hungry by the time that we got there that my mind kept trying to convince me that I needed 18 or 24 wings, but I stuck with 12 and was stuffed by the time I finished.  I probably could have gone with 6 wings, but I was proud of myself for not ordering more than 12.

Today I got on the scale and I was still 230.  I didn't go up or down.  On top of B-Dubs, I had a ginormous shake for lunch.  I used peanut butter because I was talking to a guy and he said that it is really good for curbing hunger.  I definitely used too much, cause I felt sick the rest of the day.  I am going to stop putting everything I can think of in the shake (all fruit and veg of course) and start working on making something that is a little tasty.  I almost gagged on my afternoon shake.  It was awful!

I also made it to the gym and did another crossfit workout.  I definitely am looking forward to taking a day off.  I have to go to the gym with some friends tomorrow, but I think that I might take friday off.  I will probably go out for drinks Friday night, so I don't think that I will want to workout on Saturday.  Maybe that should be my day off.  My body is hurting...in the good way that tells me that I am using more muscles than I usually do. The only time it feels any kind of good is when I am about five minutes into my warmup run.  When the blood is pumping and I am cruising along.  Other than that it is all pretty painful.  But that will pass in the next couple of weeks and pretty soon I will be having to really push myself to get sore again.  But MAN, does it hurt today!

Weightloss

I made it to the gym again today.  I had to modify the crossfit workout because I can't do pull-ups right now and I can't do vertical pushups yet.  So instead I did thrusters, pushups, and walking lunges.  It was pretty intense, I wasn't able to go continuously through a round after the first set, but I did better than yesterday.

If the scale is to be believed, then I have already lost four pounds.  Of course I was wearing slightly different clothes, but that shouldn't make that much of a difference.  Either way, it is weightloss.

I am going to have to modify my diet once again.  I just get too hungry in between meals and it is making me have an upset belly after I eat.  I have decided to take a single piece of fruit in the morning and one after lunch.  This way, I am sticking with the vegan theme, but I am able to eat a little something to stave off the hunger.  I am going to try it tomorrow and see how it goes.

A Whole Lotta Change!

Ok, so a ton has happened since my last entry.  We didn't make it through the shake diet.  We made it two days and in the evening of the second day we had to eat something.  I went into this not realizing what a psychological effect chewing has on me.  It was incredibly difficult, not to eat so little.  I have dieted before and that is not something new, so I was prepared for that.  But the lack of chewing was just too much for me.  I did manage to lose a couple of pounds while I was on it.  So it was hard to justify eating, but it was something that had to be done.

Then, the following day I found out that I had to leave for Texas.  I am spending five months here and Jessi and Lil D are going to try to come out twice during that time.  Our parting was the hardest part of this current adventure.  Jessi and I have never been apart for this long.  We are definitely used to being apart, but we have never spent more than about a month and a half away from each other.  D and I have only been apart for a couple of weeks.  I know that Jessi is capable of taking care of the house and our daughter, and I thank God that she is.  It has been forced on her, but she has always risen to the challenge.  I am a lucky man!  But the thought of being away has been tough.  The act is never as difficult as the thought.  Physically being separated is the easy part.  The hard part is the emotional toll that it takes on me.  I haven't cried myself to sleep yet, but I am pretty confident that it is coming.

So to try to make this time go by more quickly, I am starting a workout routine and I have modified the Shaking diet a little.  I am still doing only vegan shakes in the morning and for lunch, but I can have an afternoon snack and a healthy (not necessarily vegan, or even vegetarian) dinner.  I will also be doing the Crossfit Endurance workouts of the day.  Well, I will be attempting them at any rate!  Here is the website. These guys don't mess around! The idea is that you do two workouts a day.  One traditional crossfit workout of the day (WOD) and a cardio workout.  These have to be split by at least 3.5 hours, but can be done in either order.  Because I am in Texas in Summer I am going to do the cardio in the morning, when it isn't too hot.  And the WOD in the afternoon, when I can stay in the gym.

Starting weight was 334, but that was fully clothed.  I am going to continue weighing clothed and hope for the best.  I have five months...I should be able to pull something off in that time!

Starting weight and day one!

Jessi and I have started a ten day reboot.  It is essentially a vegan diet that we don't eat...we make into shakes.  The idea is to super-load ourselves with vitamins, minerals...nutrients.  We are at the end of day one.  Four shakes in, more vegetables than we would normally eat in a week drank.  I feel pretty good, but I want to eat!  I don't really care which type of food.  I would be happy with popcorn.  Just something that I could sink my teeth into!  But 10 days isn't so bad.

Now to the starting weights.  I won't post Jessi's cause I am not sure she would want that.  But I am tipping the scales at 226 pounds on day one!  Hopefully we will get through it and come out on the other side a little thinner and a little more healthy!

Baby showers bring Baby flowers

Jessi offered to do a babyshower for a friend.  She has done one before. When we were quite a bit younger. This was the first one that she has done since coming into her own for party planning.  It was quite the success! I was super proud of her for pulling it off!

The friend wanted to have games. So Jessi came up with some good ones to play.  There was the sonogram scramble. Where the guest have to guess the body part on a sonogram picture.  We did the bottle chug, where adults race to see who can finish a baby bottle of applejuice first. We matched baby pictures to adult pictures. And finally tried to estimate a length of ribbon to the circumference of our friends belly.  I usually don't like playing the baby shower games, but these ones were pretty fun.  And everyone got involved which makes a world of difference. 

Delilah had a tough time. She wasn't able to nap. Which is always difficult for a baby. She was a trooper but towards the end she was having trouble holding it together.

First Day in Court

First, and hopefully the last, day in court.  Jessi and I have been trying to get our security deposit back from our landlord for almost a year now.  The carpet in our spare room was destroyed.  The cat has diabetes and before we figured it out she had been peeing outside of the litter box.  Because it was the spare room, we didn't notice it until the it was really bad.  And then we used the wrong technique to get it out of the carpet.  It was a disaster.  And the landlord thought that was reason enough for him to keep the deposit.

So, there is a surprising amount of prep work that can go into a court appointment.  I kept putting off the prep work.  I think that I was hoping that the problem would go away.  I don't do well with confrontation and confrontations involving money are my absolute worst.  I also don't do well when I am not allowed to speak freely.  Which makes court difficult for me, because it is necessary to present yourself in a manner that is respectful to the judge.  And that usually means only speaking when spoken to.  So I was scared of this particular endeavor, and because I was scared, I kept putting it off, hoping it would go away.

But back to the prep-work. First, we had to send a certified letter to the landlord telling him to repay the deposit within a certain timeline.  We did that back in September.  Then when the timeline that we had suggested past, we are able to get a court date.  That took me until December.  The court gave me a date for the 6th of February.  Then we had to serve the papers to our landlord.  With the help of a friend of mine, that was accomplished.  We had to do a substituted service, which basically means giving the court papers to someone at the home of the person being sued.

After all of the paperwork was done, we had to gather our evidence.  Which was a surprisingly little amount of evidence.  We had a few phone calls.  And a few text messages, and copies of our checks.  The interesting part is that we never actually had to use it.

We sat down in the courtroom and listened to a few cases before we were called.  Jessi and I went up to the front of the courtroom and our Landlord was there. The judge asked us what our case was and we told him.  He listened for a moment and then told our landlord that we were in the right.  And that he could counter sue us for the money that it cost to repair or replace the carpet.  And then we could counter sue because he didn't pay us in time or something.  The judge said that this could drag on for quite a while.  He then asked if we would be willing to step into the hall and try to talk it out.  Then we could come back in and if we needed him to he would rule, or if we could work it out he would just drop the case.

So we stepped into the hall and talked it out with The old landlord.  In the end, he agreed to give us six hundred dollars over the next two months.  We got the first installment at the end of the day. And we have a signed agreement to have him pay the rest!  Here's to hoping the rest of it comes!

Let crying babies go home!

We were over at a friends house for dinner and drinks tonight.  Something that we do on a pretty regular basis. Delilah was down in one of the bedrooms and we were talking religion of all things.  The conversation was very stimulating.  We were discussing the bible, different churches, and our experiences with both.  Those conversations can be tricky.  Especially with friends who have differing opinions.  But tonight was not one of those nights.  It was just a conversation, not heated but passionate at times.

As we were in the middle of this conversation and another bottle of wine came out and the beer was flowing freely we heard that sound that all parents no as the potential end to their night.  The unmistakable cry of our baby.  And it wasn't the kind of cry that comes on gradually.  It was that cry that isn't even a spot on the horizon one second, but a black inky cloud raining down the next.

Jessi was up and in the room in a flash.  Re-inserting the pacifier and trying to calm Lilah down.  She gave it a few minutes, got LL sleeping and went to open the door.  Which, of course, immediately woke the little one back up and launched a fit of screaming.  I went in (Daddy to the rescue, naturally) and tried a few of the techniques that I have developed.  All with no success.  To be fair, she was quite for about three minutes at one point before vaulting back to full volume.

So we called it a night, gathered our things and came home.  A lovely night, regrettably cut a little short.

p.s. Lilah fell right asleep when we got home! Sometimes a baby just wants her own bed I guess.

Court Papers Served

A friend of mine and I went over to the scumbag landlords house yesterday and tried to serve him, his wife, and their company papers.  We pulled up to the house and my buddy got out.  He went to the door and knocked.  I was parked so that I could see the screen door open, but wasn't able to see who was standing there.  I saw my buddy ask the man a couple of questions and gesture at the court summons.  Then a hand comes out of the void where the door should be, grabs the screen door and closes it.  My friend wasn't bothered.  He just patiently explained to the man for a few more seconds.  Then he looks at me in the car and starts to walk over.  I unbuckled my seatbelt because I was sure that he was going to ask me to get out.  But he opens the door and says "it's the wrong house."  I knew that it couldn't be, but my immediate reaction was that we needed to get outta there, get to the right house, while we had this momentum going and before one, or both, of us chickened out.

The man that was in the door finally poked his head out and gestured for my buddy to come back.  He said that we weren't at the wrong house and that he would take the papers.  Success!!!  Now I just have to build my case and wait for the day!

First 30 Day challenge done

So this is the last post that I have to do to complete my first 30 day challenge.  I am proud of myself for getting through it.  I didn't do what I usually do, which is going way overboard in the beginning by doing a whole bunch of different challenges to the point where I fail from the sheer volume of activities that I am trying to add into my life.  Instead, I stuck with the two and was able to see them through only missing a couple of days.

I think that I will continue to write.  Maybe not everyday, but most days.  And probably not all on this blog.  I have two others that I use.  One is about running, which I will try to use to document my Yoga and weight loss, and the other is about projects.  So if you enjoy my writing take a look at those.

My next challenge involves getting up in the morning (I have decided to do the up at 630 and Yoga during the week challenge)  I might overlap a little and start writing my book in the middle somewhere.  I figure as long as I keep it to three challenges and they don't run concurrently, it will make a nice diversion half way through.  Something to make the first challenge feel like it is just a part of my routine.

So wish me luck!

Here are the links to my other two blogs:

Running - http://jjbatestltr.blogspot.com/
Projects - http://jjbateshome.blogspot.com/

Jessi is back in School, and Daddy-Daughter time

So Jessi started back into school this week.  I am proud of her for making that step.  I know that it isn't easy to transition back into doing for yourself after spending time so completely engrossed in doing for someone else.  But it is important for Jessi to remember that she is a person first and then a mother. She can not give what is necessary to Delilah, a strong female role model, well rounded and capable of taking on her life, without stepping away occasionally to accomplish those goals that do not include her family.  And school is something that doesn't have to take a lot of time away from either Mother or Daughter in order to grant great rewards.

And besides, it means I get more Daddy-daughter time.  I realized this afternoon, as Jessi was away, and I was trying to balance getting the court paperwork together for our security deposit dispute, that I do not have a lot of time with just Delilah and I.  I get the morning, when she sits patiently and watches me make coffee, then breakfast, and finally pack a lunch.  And at irregular intervals, I get an hour or two while Jessi runs to the store, or out for an hour or so of "girl time."  But it will be nice, for both her and I to have some time that is just ours.  A special time that is set aside for her and I to develop a relationship outside of our usual threesome. Designated Daddy-Daughter time.

Almost done

I am almost done with my first 30 day challenge.  Just a couple more days to go.  I have to say that parts of it worked and parts didn't.  I wanted to get up early in the morning, write in the blog, and have that morning time become my new routine.  That definitely didn't happen.  But, I didn't really identify that as the thing that I wanted to do.  I just said that I wanted to be "up before the sun and write in my blog everyday."  And for the most part I accomplished those two goals.  There were two days that I didn't remember to do the blog, and probably four days that I slept in.  So, with a few minor imperfections, i accomplished my goals.  But, that wasn't the idea going in.  The idea was to get up in the morning, before the rest of the house, and spend some Josh-time while sharing the experience over the internet.

All of this leads me to think that I need to have a more defined goal during my next 30 day challenge.  I need to realize what it is that I want to get out of it, and make that the goal.  Then I need to stick with it.  So, I think that I know what my next goal is going to be.  I thought that it was going to be to write a book in 30 days.  But, after writing in the blog everyday I would like a break from that.  And I currently weigh more than I have ever weighed.  I do not want my goal to be running everyday, although I would like to do that.  I don't want to end the 30 days and never want to run again.  And I am worried that in my current over-weight state, I might injure myself.  So I am tossing around the idea of waking up at 630 every morning and doing a Yoga dvd.  This would facilitate me being up in the morning, and it would jump start my day with a little exercise.  Not any exercise that will injure me, but something that I need to do.  And as I stretch, my  balance will become better, my muscles will elongate, my tendons will strengthen and I will be able to run injury-free.  I am not completely committed yet, after all, I have two days to decide.  And just like I always say, "If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute."

Watching Delilah

One of the greatest joys in life is watching your kid.  I know cause I just spent twenty minutes watching Delilah as she looks around the room.  A serious look on her face as though she were conducting some sort of inventory.  She looks around, eyes moving around the room until something catches her attention.  Then she focuses both her mind and her attention on whatever it was.  She does this for just a moment.  Just long enough that I can tell as I look in from the outside that she is making mental notes.  Occasionally she will try to push herself towards whatever has her attention.  She is still not strong enough in her legs to propel herself and the little standing contraption that she is in towards whatever it is that she is curious about, but it is fun to watch her try.  When she realizes that she isn't quite ready for locomotion she doesn't get upset or frustrated, she just takes a deep breath and lets it out as if to say, "I guess I will have to try again tomorrow."And her attention is off to the next thing.

She is getting to be so good with her hands.  She reaches for things, mostly toys and brightly colored objects with her whole body now.  And when she can't quite reach or see she will contort herself to get a better look or grasp.  She hasn't quite mastered rolling over yet.  She does it occassionally, and the first time she did it I thought that we were well on our way to the walking stage.  But she still only does it occasionally. Which is good in a way.  I love this stage, and I certainly don't wish her to stay a baby, but I realize that when she can start walking I will forever be worried about what she can get into.  From the kitchen cabinets to the wrong group of friends in highschool.  So for now I just watch her and learn from her, love her and try to encourage her growth.

Boys night in!

I am not sure where the idea came from, or how long it has been around, but I do love me a a girls night out.  Not that I like to spend time away from my wife.  On the contrary, I love a night out on the town.  But when the girls are away the boys will play...mostly video games.  I don't get a lot of time to play video games.  And I am terrible at them because I play them so seldolm.  But I do enjoy it.

So the girls went out for a night on the town.  One of our friends had to leave on a business trip for a couple of weeks.  So the girls got together for some drinks to let her forget her loneliness for a minute and the boys stayed in to watch the kids.  We broke out the deep fryer and video games and beer.  It was pretty fat boy.

And a whole lot of fun!

Back to the original plan

So the original plan for the 30 day challenge was to wake up early in the morning and write on this blog first thing.  Somewhere along the road, probably during the holidays, I started writing at night.  That makes it entirely too easy to forget.  And it isn't the point of the challenge.  The Challenge was to get me up early and to get to writing.  So this morning I am getting back on track.

Haha, I stopped writing this to finish watching the Colbert Report this morning and now I am finishing it super late at night.  At least I am finishing, huh?

I'm Beat

A full day of chores will do that to a person.  But I got to try my new leaf blower and hedge trimmer.  Jessi and I did some destruction on the front yard.  It really needed to be done.  There was a hydrangea that was out of control right at the front entryway.  It  had grown to the point that if you were approaching the house it was necessary to walk to the far left of the sidewalk.  We have wanted to get rid of that thing since we bought the house.  We also cut the lucky bamboo down to the point that we can see out of the kitchen window.

I used both the blow and the suck part of the leaf blower.  It was way cool to not have to pick up the leaves once they were in the pile.  And it is extra good to not have all the leaves around the mats on the way into the house from the backyard.

That's all I have the energy for tonight.

Skipped a day

Well, I missed yesterday too.  That is frustrating. Especially because during the early afternoon I thought "I should do my blog now" but decided against it. 
And then pizza and beer happened and ny the time it was time to go to bed I was not thinking about it at all.  bit the pizza was good and the beer was a little too good! I saw my bosses wife out at the pizza place.  And she is so sweet and amiable that it was not in the least bit awkward.
I got all of the stuff that I need to finish the garage shelfs.  I am super excited about that. And I got some new yard working tools.  I got a leaf blower and some hedge trimmers.  I went with the plug in models cause this yard is pretty small, I don't like gas tools (it is too much to have to get gas and keep refilling them and the two cycle oil and all that) and I have tried the battery operated ones and they lack the power and the stamina to get anything done in the yard.
So for today...chores here I come!

Beginning of a long weekend

I was able to get all of my work done this week.  Which was basically just waiting for other people to do their work and so that I could make sure it was all done correctly. So now, after a 10 day work-week I get two free days off.  I am very excited about that!  I love long weekends!  Thats all I've got for today!

The biggest Poo in the world

So I thought that I would be a nice husband and let Jessi sleep for a few extra minutes this morning while I kept an eye on Delilah.  So we got up and had a nice little Father-Daughter time.  I changed her and we went into the kitchen for some coffee (for her, I don't touch the stuff).  I put her in her little seat on the counter and made my coffee.

Last night I had made some soup and we got some really good bread from the grocery store.  I decided that I would cut some up and make it into French Toast for breakfast.  I got all of the stuff ready and made some delicious french toast with eggs, spices, and heavy whipping cream.  It turned out pretty great and I will definitely remember that for the next time that we have that type of bread in the house.

About half-way through the cooking process, I hear Delilah starting to grunt a little bit.  I didn't think anything of it cause she doesn't really like the chair that she has to sit in on the counter.  I figured she was just fussing a little cause she didn't want to sit in that chair anymore.  Well, normally a little fussing turns into a wale within about three minutes.  This morning, I noticed that she didn't seem to be escalating at all. Just grunting away.  I looked over and she was a little red in the face and had a kind of concentrated look to her that I hadn't really seen before.  I recognized it for what it was and asked her if she was pushing one out.  Being a four month old, she didn't respond.

I finished my breakfast and thought that I would change her really quick before I got Jessi up.  When I took off the diaper there was just the littlest bit of poo in the bottom.  I thought that was strange for all the grunting that she had been doing until I lifted her legs to get the diaper out from underneath her.  That is when I saw it.  There was a load of poo that shot out the back of her diaper and about two thirds of the way up her back.  And there were piles of it...I mean piles.  I tried unsuccessfully to get her out of her clothes without smearing myself, her, and the changing table for about five minutes before I realized that it was a useless effort and that I would just have to accept my foul-smelling fate.  I finally got her down to her birthday suit, filled up her little bath and got her, and myself all cleaned up about fifteen minutes after I had to leave for work.  Then I had to do that task that only a parent can do.  I used to wonder how Mom's and Dad's could put up with some of the disgusting things that kids do.  Now I know.  They break you in little by little.  A little spit-up here, some drool there, and they slowly build the intensity until you have shit up to your elbows and you are washing it off of everything that was within a ten foot radius of you.  And somehow, through some miracle that is older, stronger, and longer lasting than anything man has ever or will ever create, you are happy to do it!

Lunch with Delilah

Jessi started going to spin class.  It is one of the exercise programs that she really enjoys.  I am less of a fan of spin class and would much rather go for a run.  But I am glad that she started.  For a couple of reasons.  Number one, I think that physical activity is imperative to living a healthy life and to managing stress.  Number two, I get to see Delilah during the day.

We had a really nice lunch date.  She had already eaten so I went to a drive through and got myself a little something.  Then we drove around a little, filled up the car, and went to the library.  Delilah was really good in the library. It didn't even occur to me that a library is no place for an infant, until we had been in there about twenty minutes and she started to fuss.  I am used to hearing her fuss.  And I am used to hearing her fuss when there is silence around, as I do not usually have any kind of background noise going when I am at home with her.  But it is something entirely different when she fusses in a room where everyone is silent or talking in whispers.  The first noise that she made was almost deafening, and it was just a little teeny whine.  I quickly grabbed one of the books that I had been looking at and took her up to the front.

The lady at the counter did what a lot of people do when I am walking around with Delilah.  She told me when her first grandchild is due.  We talked about it for a minute and then a gentleman who worked there saw Delilah and started telling me about his daughter turning sixteen and learning how to drive.  He let his head hang down in consternation as he told the story of her getting her license.  It was proof positive of my post last night, that children are the great unifier.