My Boobs (Breast Cancer Awareness Month!)

If you somehow didn’t notice, October is breast cancer awareness month. Normally I just smile, nod, purchase something pink and feel good that I’ve done my part. I had my first mammogram last October at the age of 38 because my breasts are dense and there is a small history of breast cancer in my family. I wanted to go ahead and establish a baseline for my normal so that if anything came up, I would be as prepared as possible.

As far as my boobs go, I was a rock star. I was taking care of my girls. They were fine, we were fine.

But here it is October again and this year is a little different. I have a story to tell.

August 1^st, Tuesday

We got home from the gym around 8:30 PM and I was stinky, sweaty and sticky. All I wanted to do was get in the shower and then go to bed. I stripped off my clothes and was about to get in the shower when I scratched a mosquito bite just below my left breast. When I did that, I felt something. And not a small something. A good size something. A lump that was up under my breast. The size of a grape and it felt like a grape. How in the hell how had I not noticed that before?

Jeremy was outside so I called him in and said, “feel this.”

I’m sure we both wore very quizzical expressions as we mashed and poked and prodded this strange intruder in my body.

Again, how in the hell how had I not noticed that before?

“What do you need to do?”

“I guess call my ob/gyn in the morning.”

You can imagine all the thoughts running through my head. And you can bet I was wearing out Google. By the time I fell asleep, I was resigned to que sera sera and was weirdly calm.

August 2^nd, Wednesday

I already had an ob/gyn appointment the following Monday for a routine appointment. So since I’m a natural ostrich and love to bury my head in the sand, I didn’t call to make an appointment about this new development. I decided it was fine to wait until Monday. I mean, it’s nothing, right? Why get all excited and upset.

When Jeremy woke up he vehemently disagreed with me and convinced me to call anyway. Guess what. They asked if I could come in to the office in thirty minutes, waiting almost a week was too long.

Um, yes. I guess so.

At the appointment my amazing doctor checks the lump out and while he doesn’t say, “it’s nothing to worry about”, his demeanor does imply that it’s probably not cancerous. Of course, it could be and he can’t give me false hope, but judging by the feel and location, I leave with a mammogram and ultrasound appointment and some peace of mind that it is probably a weird fat lump.

August 8^th, Tuesday

 Oh how I wish there was a hidden camera in the mammogram room. Y’all would laugh your asses off!

I don’t think I can begin to describe the hilarity of what ensued, but I will try. Picture a very sweet grandmotherly lady trying to convince this grapey lump (let’s call it Gilbert) to not roll away while it’s getting its picture taken. I’m in a lovely hospital gown with my left boob hanging out and smooshed between two pieces of clear plastic, with my left arm over my head and my face smashed up against a plastic guard. My right hand is holding my right boob out of the way and I’m on my tip toes for some unknown reason.

Click goes the machine. No Gilbert.

Try a different plate, smaller this time. Lift boob onto plate. Lean into machine. Pull right boob back. Smoooooosh goes the machine. Try to keep robe half on as it’s falling off. Smash face up against plate.

Damn! Gilbert rolled away again.

Repeat. Damn! My fingers are in the picture.

Repeat. Damn! The gown is in the picture.

Me- Do you mind if I just take this gown off? Ok. Great.

Repeat. Same situation but let’s try leaning over to the right. Nope. No Gilbert.

Grandmother tech- Do you mind if I get another tech in here to help?

Me- No, that’s fine. I’ll do whatever we need to do to get this picture.

I assume the position and Tech 2 now holds left boob up while I hold right boob. While on my tiptoes with not just my left breast in the machine, but my entire left chest basically.

Tech 2 to Grandmother- Are you compressed??

Grandmother- Yes, but I don’t want to break her ribs!

Me- Break ‘em! I don’t care, let’s just get this done!

In the end, we won, but just barely. Gilbert finally showed a tiny bit in the last shot. All this drama though did lead to a reassuring comment that the lump was NOT in my breast, it was clearly under it.

And that is a good thing. Thankfully the ultrasound was next and had zero drama. Gilbert had nowhere to hide. We got a great picture and I was told I’d hear something within a week.

August 10^th Thursday.

I received a wonderful call from my doctor’s office that the ultrasound showed it was a fatty lipoma. Not cancerous! They did want me to follow up with a surgeon for removal and I agreed to the appointment. But then as the date approached I decided not to go.

From all my research, I knew that a fatty lipoma wasn’t anything terrible and that it didn’t have to come out. I had had A LOT of stuff going on in life and just didn’t want to deal with this particular issue anymore. Live and let live for me and Gilbert. He can stay as long as he doesn’t bug me.

Fast forward a few weeks and I am getting annoyed at Gilbert. He doesn’t hurt, but he is right where my bra rubs and is becoming annoying. In my head, I swear it’s getting bigger too. (It’s probably not, but you know how your mind can get you going). Since I’ve met my deductible, I reschedule my appointment with the surgeon to find out my options.

September 25^th, Monday

Dr. comes into room and is surprised that I’ve waited so long for the appointment! In my head I think he is going to tell me I can leave it or have a small, in-office procedure to remove it. No big deal. A little lidocaine, a little cut, poof! Problem solved.

WRONG.

He informs me that there is still a 2% chance it could be something bad and that he either wants to

A)     Biopsy it and then check it every 6 months or

B)      Schedule surgery to cut it out.

WHAT?!?! Like real surgery. Like go night-night and wake up confused and disoriented and in pain. But a biopsy sounds miserable as well….

October 5^th, Thursday

Bye bye Gilbert. I remember being wheeled out of my pre-op room and then I woke up in the recovery room. I have an approx 2 inch incision under my left breast where the lipoma was removed. Official lab results won’t be back until next week, but Doc told Jeremy everything looked fine.

I kept all this to myself and a very small group of people until today. But since it is Breast Cancer Awareness month I decided to share my story and publicly celebrate how lucky I am that it was nothing and that I was able to get the top quality care I needed. By sharing I also hope that as women, we stop putting ourselves on the back burner! I’m still stunned that somehow I missed that lump until it was as big as it was! Even though breast self exams aren’t really recommended anymore, if we all did them, we might save our own lives. And ladies, if you haven't had a mammogram before or if it's been awhile, please go get one! Your insurance covers it and it is no big deal for a huge piece of mind.

Stay Strong Y'all!

Do You Love Free Samples?

Did you know that Amazon has some really cool sample boxes that basically let you try products for free? Yep! They do!

How it works.

1) Order a sample box at a cost of $7.99- 19.99.

2) Receive a credit of the cost of the box toward the purchase of an item in the box!

For example, I love coffee! When you purchase the K-Cup Sample box for $7.99, you receive 13 K-Cups in 9 different varieties. If you choose to purchase a full size product from your samples, you get $7.99 credit toward that order. 

How many of you love makeup and fancy beauty products? Check out the Luxury Beauty Box. 

12 amazing products for only $19.99 including brands like Calvin Klein, L'Occitane, Tan Towel, Elizabeth Arden and Clark's Botanicals. If you choose to purchase one of the products in your box, you get at $19.99 credit!

Have a puppy you love to spoil? Check out the Dog Lover's Box! This box is only $11.99 and gives you samples from The Honest Kitchen, Blue, Nutro, Spot Farms and others! And again, if you choose to purchase an item from the box, the cost of the box will be deducted from your purchase.

Are you a fitness junkie or know someone who is? Why not try an Optimum Nutrition box? This box is only $7.99 and you get samples of protein, amino acids, fat burners, pre workouts, protein bar and other fun stuff!. Yet again, you get $7.99 credit to the purchase of any item from the box.

These are just a few of the boxes that caught my eye, but there are quite a few listed on the sample page. You do need to be an Amazon Prime Member to get these deals, but most of us probably already are, right? 

Stay Strong Y'all!

**Many of the links above are affiliate links. This means that if you click through my link and purchase something, the company gives me a few pennies as a ‘Thanks For Referring Yo Friends’ gift. You get charged nothing extra. And I get a penny (or two) for my thoughts.

Clairol Root Touch Up- A Product Review

Raise your hand if you love your hair! Raise your hand if you don’t love your ‘Sparklers’! What are Sparklers you ask? They are what I call my grays. I do not love them. At all. I do, however, love my hair girl, Kela because with one magic appointment she makes my hair look awesome! We’ve done brown, blue, red and blonde! This transformation from blech to beautiful happens as long as I remember to make appointments…. And I’m really, really bad about not making an appointment to get my hair colored until it is really, really disastrous looking.

It was about the time that I was realizing that the hair needed some help that Influenster sent me a box of Clairol® Root Touch-Up - Light Brown to try and review for the blog. I was skeptical because I learned a long time ago not to try to do my own coloring at home, but I thought, eh, why not? If it is a train wreck, Kela can fix it!

The instructions were super easy. I took the provided little plastic tray and mixed bottle #2 with tube #1. I swirled it around with the provided brush and then painted it on my part line and hair line. I waited 15 minutes and sent a few ridiculous Snaps to my sister who tried to convince me this was a bad, bad idea. At this point however, it was too late to turn back.

After fifteen minutes I rinsed and conditioned as the directions said. And guess what? It was awesome! When it dried, the sparklers were gone and my roots were a nice shade of light brown that blended really well with the rest of my hair. Beyond impressed!

Before (and post lake)/ After

I even got a Snap of approval (‘Not bad’) from my sis!

It wasn’t messy and it was super easy. If you wake up and realize that your roots have become too much, I’d encourage you to give Clairol Root Touch Up a go! It will tide you over until you can get your whole head ‘did’!

Disclaimer- I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

Want an opportunity to get free stuff too? Check out Influenster!

Stay Strong Y'all!

Stinky Girl, A Product Review Of Schmidt's Natural Deodorant

Full disclosure: I'm a stinky girl. Some girls don't sweat and they never smell like anything except roses and sunshine. That's not me. I'm foul. I have to scrub and dub-dub. I have to apply industrial strength deodorant. I have to sniff test anything I think about re-wearing without washing.  The strange thing is that I don't really sweat, I just get damp and stagnate. I believe if I did sweat I would push the stinkies out and they would float away. Instead, they just build up and create a noxious stank that emanates from my pits. Thankfully, I stay on top of this and I doubt any of you would realize this truth about me. 

Enter Schmidt's Natural Deodorant, Lavender and Sage. Apparently Birchbox thinks I will enjoy it. Normally they are spot on. I lack faith with this one though. Normal deodorant has a boat load of aluminum chloride that acts as an antiperspirant to actually plug your sweat glands.  They also have some smell good stuff that acts as the de-odor part. With Schmidt’s, there is no aluminum chloride, so you will still sweat, but the product promises to effectively neutralize odor and absorb wetness.

Day one: I apply the product post shower; heeding the directions to "gently apply a small amount to underarms" Strike one: I really do not enjoy the smell of lavender. The sage isn't bad, but the deo sort of smells like a high end blend of Herbs de Provence. Combine that with my honeysuckle lotion and men's Escape cologne and I'm a French prostituée eating leftovers from a fancy dinner on a hotel bed. (Yes, I wear men's cologne).

Workout #1 should be a pretty good test for Shmidty. The weather is cooler than it’s been being, but as I warm up the box starts to feel really, overly hot so I turn on a fan. I do a quick pit-sniff and everything is fine. I lift my arms up and down a few times to test for stickiness and there is none. So far so good.

WOD #1 is a 10 minute EMOM with burpees, toes to bar, and OHS. I’m panting and hustling. If I was going to stink and sweat, it should have started here.

WOD #2 is another 10 minute EMOM of handstand push-ups. After I’m done, a friend who knows I’m experimenting with this deo, runs up and sticks her nose in my pits. LOL she pronounces me officially NOT STINKY!

I am not 100% convinced that the Schmidty is that good. I am assuming it is my 48 hour Right Guard that hasn’t worn off yet. We shall see.

PM: Shower and apply Lav & Sage before bed

Day 2:

AM-I get up and head to work to coach and workout. I haven’t applied any more deo since last night’s shower. Workout #1 for me is some lifting and mobility work. Nothing overly strenuous and I do not sweat or smell.

Midday- Take shower, apply Lav and Sage and head to a routine Dr. appointment. I don’t know about you guys, but every time I go the doctor I get a little nervous and my body acts like I’m about to enter enemy territory. My internal temp goes up, my BP gets a bit higher and my pulse quickens. Research shows stress sweat is stinkier than physical activity sweat due to the increase in cortisol and endorphins being released. This appointment should really test the product and SURPRISE! I leave the appointment and still smell like a French whore! (Which is a good thing in my case, remember?)

PM- Workout #2 is a high rep barbell workout. As I am warming up, I can smell the garlic on my hands that I chopped at lunch which makes me thing, “Hmmmm…lavender, sage and garlic….I smell like a pork chop!” (It’s always about food)

At this point I am starting to lose some skepticism and think maybe this stuff actually works….

Day 3:

My rest day! YAY! Since I don’t go into work until later today, I focused on taking care of some housekeeping. No shower or extra deo, just starting working. I also did Romwod outside in the beautiful sun and can say I did not stink! That’s 24+ hours after the last application!

I took a shower before heading into work and was still pretty hot when I put Schmidty on. I wasn’t stinky, but I did feel damp under the pits all day long. I know the product said it would absorb wetness, but where, exactly would the wetness go when the product absorbed it? It is still going to be under my armpits, right? I keep thinking of soggy diapers…..

That evening I noticed my pits were kind of itchy.

Day 4:

AM-Get up, shower, apply Lavender and head to work. Notice again that I am damp under the armpits and it isn’t going away. It’s really hot outside today and this is a deodorant, not an antiperspirant, so no big surprise there. I am, however, still feeling some itching and now I get to add in some burning. That is not cool. As much as I pretend that I am a complete bad ass, my skin is kind of a sissy so I’m not sure it’s liking what is going on.

PM- Amazingly, I still smell fresh as a daisy, but the slight itching and burning is becoming more pronounced and I have red whelps in my pits. Really.not.cool. I don’t know if I’m allergic to something in the deodorant or just the constant dampness is irritating my sensitive skin.

I take a shower and go to bed without deo of any kind to let me pits breathe a bit.

Day 5:

AM: It’s Saturday! Once I got to the gym I realized I had never put on deodorant at all this morning so I used the Lady’s Speed Stick I keep at the gym. The itching and burning is gone, mercifully. And I keep noticing throughout the day that pits are dry as a bone. That’s a really, really, really good feeling. Score one for antiperspirant.

Day 6:

Once I get out of the shower, I look at the Schmidty and ponder whether to try again. I love the idea of a natural deodorant, but the moistness in my pits when I use it is really aggravating/distracting/gross/odd. And since I’m not sure if I’m allergic to it or not, I decide not to experiment any further and grab my old anti-perspirant/deo and cake it on.

Here’s my official review of this product. It is a great option if you want to go natural and avoid aluminum chloride. I was NEVER stinky and I worked out 4 of the 4 days I used it. I even made it through a doctor’s appointment that would normally make me very stinky from the stress.

However, I just couldn’t get over the wet pits that stemmed from it being a deodorant only. Apparently, neither could my pits as they rashed out in protest. I’ll hang on to this product and try it again in the fall/winter when it’s not 100% humidity and heat and see if that makes a difference.

If you are looking to try something natural, I would recommend you try Schmidt’s. They have different varieties if Lavender and Sage isn’t your jam. I think the Bergamot and Lime sounds divine!

UPDATE
I shared my thoughts with Schmidt's and they were super nice with their response and offered to exchange my product for another one.

Thanks for sharing the Schmidt's love! After reading your blog post I wanted to share some tips and tricks to better your Schmidt's experience. Some report a temporary transition during which they may experience more odor and wetness while the body releases fluids previously blocked by aluminum in the sweat glands. Not sure if this is the case for you, but it might be that you'll notice increased effectiveness after giving it some time to "kick in." Also, I do have one pro tip for you: try holding it under your arm momentarily to soften upon contact with body heat--this is the perfect time for maximum absorption so it should give you a little extra boost.

By the way, we also offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee, we'll always be happy to set you up with an exchange so you can try one of our other products. Our Charcoal + Magnesium deo combines some of our most effective ingredients into a single formula! You’ll find adsorbent charcoal, magnesium, and odor neutralizing sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) all in the same smooth deo. Find out why this innovative deo is shaking things up on our blog: https://schmidtsnaturals.com/care/charcoal-magnesium-schmidts-best-formula-ever

Wow! What great customer service!

Stay Strong Y'all!

I just updated my "Affiliates I Love" page, check it out!

And if you are hip on the social media, 

Follow me on Facebook at Angie McCord, Fitness, Nutrition and Life Improvement.

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**I am not receiving any compensation for my review of this product. The opinions are 100% my own. That said, if you do decide to shop through the links above, Amazon gives me a few pennies to thank you for referring you. And if you subscribe to Birchbox using my link above, I get $5 to spend in their store. 

The Problem Of Getting A Bad Ass New Shirt...

A few Friday's ago, LiveSore Nashville came to the box for 17.2 and I went home with this sweet "Traps & Tats" tank.

I frickin' love it. I feel so boss and bad ass when I rock it.

However, I also feel like a fraud. A hypocrite.

You see, the shirt says, "Tats".

As in plural.

As in more than one.

I only have one tat.

Can I wear this shirt honestly?

Should I get another tat?

I want another tat.

But I'm trying to save money.

And I want a big tat.

Hand drawn by my daughter.

Seriously, it's already drawn up.

Or maybe just a little tat.

A small, minimal something that is actually really deep and metaphorical.

Do tattoos go on sale?

Do you want a tat that was on sale?

Can J do it? He's artsy.

Do they sell tattoo guns on Amazon?

Oh wow, they do.

Hmmmm....what all else would we need?

Is it cheaper just to get the tat at my shop?

Wait, can I say, "my shop" since I only have one tattoo?

Hang on. Since my current tat is actually a cover up...do I indeed have 'tats', plural?

The circle of life.

Oh man, two gym buds just brought up the 'let's get tats' discussion.

#want

Random conversations I have with myself.

Stay Strong Y'all!


I just updated my "Affiliates I Love" page, check it out!

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Gooood morning, good morning! Good morning routines!

Good morning! 

I enjoy reading and learning about other people’s lives. Especially really successful, driven people. I want to know what they eat, how they sleep, what they do for fun, how they schedule their day, how they handle email, how they prioritize stuff, how they avoid burn out…..how do they do it??

One thing I have found that successful people have in common is morning routines. They all start their day very intentionally with the idea of starting off calm, focused and centered. 

Most of them do some form of these things.

Meditation

Journaling

Exercise

Most of them do NOT do these things.

Check email

Open social media

Hit the snooze button

Do work/occupation stuff

Their intentions are to spend the first part of their day focusing on their needs and making themselves an overall better person. Most of them emphasize this is not a long, drawn out routine. 5-10 minutes of meditation along with 5 minutes of journaling while drinking their morning breakfast beverage (most drink tea). And then another 5-10 minutes of stretching, yoga or mild calisthenics. Some of them do their daily workout in the morning, so of course, that takes longer.

Basically, one half hour to start their day on the right foot.

By opening email and social media first thing in the morning, you are letting other people determine how your day starts off. And if it is work email, you are letting others dictate your priorities for the day. These successful people choose not to let other people’s requests/needs affect their schedule or feelings right off the bat. Think about it. If something has happened overnight that is a true emergency, you would already know because someone would have actually called you.

The world won’t end if you don’t connect with the world within 30  minutes of waking up. I promise.

Knowing all that, let me share my routine(s).

When I was teaching my morning routine was routine, but there was nothing calm, focused or centered about it. I got up, fixed coffee, took a shower, made myself presentable, fixed a quick bite and drove to school. And that was on a good morning. It didn’t happen often, but I occasionally overslept or I couldn’t find the skirt I wanted or my hair just would not dry or I left the house only to turn around after three miles because I left my bag at home. Ya know, the stuff that happens to all of us.

It worked, but it didn’t necessarily start my day off in a Zen like state. And since I was already getting up at 4:50, getting up even earlier to do all these hippy- trippy- namaste things was just. not. happening.

Then, once I was no longer teaching and no longer having to get up at the butt crack of dawn, I decided to do a focused morning routine. I would get up, fix my coffee and go sit on our front porch swing. I would bring out three books. The book I was currently reading, a copy of The Secret and my journal. I would spend a few minutes reading and writing positive affirmations in my journal. On a super good day I’d even do a few sun salutations!

And get this, I didn’t even bring my phone outside at all!

Then we sold our house and life got way more interesting. I realized last week that I no longer have that morning routine and I miss it. Currently my morning looks like this.

Get up and fix coffee. Open email and read TheSkimm and The Morning Brew while drinking coffee. Nibble on breakfast #1. Open FB and look at notifications. If I see something important, I’ll read that. Then I get dressed and ready for work.

While there’s nothing terrible about that routine (and I do learn a lot with those two emails!), it doesn’t exactly fit with what I’d like to accomplish for myself in the mornings. As the weather gets nicer, I want to get back into that routine of reading, being thankful and sending out positive juju into the universe. Of course, I could totally do these things inside, but something about being outside just makes it better!

Y’all know I’m big on goal setting, so here we go. I’m setting a goal to get this morning routine back on track at least twice per week. I’ve got to go dig my copy of The Secret out of storage and get my journaling pen ready, but that part is easy. It just the part of dragging my lazy-non-morning-person butt up and at ‘em that is hard!

What does your morning look like? 

What could you do to make it a more positive experience?

Stay Strong Y'all!


I just updated my "Affiliates I Love" page, check it out!

Hey, I know you may not know me that well, but can I ask you to do something for me? Do me a favor and subscribe to my email list. Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts

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Proudly linked up at :

I Hate Winter!

57 Days Until Spring!

I saw this somewhere on the internetz today and smiled big! I hate winter & I hate being cold. However, I don't mind snow. I mean, if it's going to be so freaking cold I can't feel my extremities, at least I'll have something pretty to look at. 

With the oncoming snowpacalypse, I'm reminded of when I was a teenager and learning to drive. One day my stepdad took me out in the snow so that I could learn how to drive in it. I had an five speed manual 87 Fiero and I LOVED THAT CAR! (I swear, if you have a Fiero for sale, I'll buy it!). He stressed to me to go slow and steady and to not aggressively accelerate or brake. 

I was doing great on the snow covered back roads and was feeling pretty confident. I mean, it wasn't that hard.... I guess my confidence/cockiness was showing because he reached over and pressed on my right thigh causing me to press the gas hard. You can imagine what happened! The car started to slide and spin and I, the oh so smart teenager, stood on the brakes! We did a nice little 180 and then wound up nose first into a ditch.

Remember I said it was a Fiero, right? (If you don't know what those cars looked like, google it.). My step dad laughed really hard and said,
"I told you not to hit the brakes."
"I didn't!" I exclaimed.
He pointed at my right foot.
It was still pinned to the brake and the brake was pinned to the floor.

Ending up in the ditch that day was definitely a failure. However, I learned a lot from it. Thankfully, someone encouraged me to get back on the road that day and to keep driving.  I'm now a pretty decent driver in the snow and ice. I drove a Camaro through many snow storms and have plowed many a backroads with my Prius. 

Why am I telling you this story? Well, how are you doing on your New Year's Resolutions? Have you driven them off in the ditch? Did you give up and quit trying to drive? Did you decide it was too hard?

If you did, let me be the person that encourages you to get back behind the wheel. So you had an accident. No biggie. Get back in the drivers seat and take charge of your goals! You can do it!


Things I'm Loving This Week:

                                                  


I just found these bars and OMG they are amazing! They taste like iced sugar cookies! And they have 22 grams of protein!











This app is awesome! Strides lets you track your goals easily and sends you reminders when you are slacking! You'll love it!










What has you excited this week? I'd love to hear! 

Stay Strong Y'all!

Hey, I know you may not know me that well, but can I ask you to do something for me? Do  me a favor and subscribe to my email list. Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts, I'll send you my weekly planner printable!

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Follow me me on Periscope, I'm crossfitang.  I broadcast about fitness, nutrition, life improvement, planning and organizing and lots of random stuff.

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Random Thoughts At 5 AM. Who Is Greyber Rubio?

Current Situation:

Eleiko is having no problem sleeping.

I didn't put up a tree last year at all. This year I at least put up a baby one.

So what do you do when you wake up wide awake at 5 AM....and you went to bed at midnight?

Hmmm....I had such a fun, great night last night that I had trouble winding down and then woke up at the end of a weirdo dream wide awake just a few minutes ago. (Today will be fun).

I decided to just write a random blog because there is so much stuff in my brain that I need to get out. This will not be the most grammatacilly correct or most fluid post ever, just roll with me.

After Dallas I decided to not compete anymore in 2015. My body was pretty tired of maintaining comp weight and constantly being pushed hard. I'm no spring chicken and it was getting harder and harder to recover from each event. But then an email inviting CFM to compete in Reps for a Reason found it's way into my inbox last week.

And I love me some powerlifting....

So I entered last Saturday. I weighed in that day at 123.2 and completed

90 squats at 75% body weight
22 bench presses at 65% body weight
40 deadlifts at 85% bodyweight

And then I couldn't walk right for the next 84 hours. Seriously. I've NEVER been that sore in my life.

Last night we hosted our annual Pound For Pound Lifting Challenge and I decided to lift (I'm not real good with the "I'm not competing" thing am I?). It was so fun because I had zero expectations and I didn't cut weight. I just showed up and lifted with friends. I weighed in at 122.8 and snatched 125 and clean and jerked 165. No PRs, but I did attempt to PR both and got really close.

Another reason last night was fun is that I live broadcasted the event on Periscope. Y'all, I'm addicted to that thing! If you aren't on Periscope, it's like YouTube, but LIVE! I get to pretend like I am a reporter or a talk show host. SO FUN! I need to figure out how to get paid to do that.... Wanna hire me to live broadcast your event? :) If you get a chance, hop over to Periscope and follow me. I'm crossfitang over there.

The other awesome thing last night was watching our pre-teens and teens lift. They did sooooo good!! The girls all hit PRs and they were mostly really pretty lifts. I think the boys all hit PRs as well, but their lifts started looking like demolition derbies at the end! Lol, there were barbells and bodies flying everywhere.

I love working with our teenagers! That is were my teacher heart lies. I love watching them get frustrated and then growing. I love the smile on their faces when they do well. CrossFit and weightlifting is just so dang good for kids. It teaches them patience, dedication, humility and perseverance.

Everybody last night was awesome. From the athletes to the parents to the judges to the spectators, it was great!

When I got home, Jeremy and I stayed up watching the videos from the night until almost midnight. I had a little trouble falling asleep because I just kept going over every lift I attempted. #weightlifterproblems

Once I finally fell asleep, I dreamt I was visiting my old school. I was coming in to do a guest lecture and I had brought a few friends. Somewhere in this, a friend (I think it was Audrey), told the custodian he was doing a crappy job. He proceeded to tell us to do it ourselves then and stomped away.

As we were cleaning the cafeteria of styrofoam peanuts (why?!), the cafeteria became overcome by a weird presence. Yep, the cafeteria was haunted and the ghost was harassing us. He was dumping our mop buckets and making big messes after we had just cleaned up.

Weirdly enough, we discovered it was the ghost of the janitor! (I have no idea when he died, but oh well!) We started communicating with him via an Etch-A-Sketch and he told us he was tired of being treated like poop. He said everyone took him for granted and no one ever spoke to him. In fact, he said, no one even knew his name. So we asked what his name was.

Greyber Rubio

And then I woke up. At 5 AM.

And couldn't go back to sleep.

So I got up and fixed a cup of coffee and grabbed a slice of cold pepperoni pizza. Breakfast of champions, right? (My macros will be a little flexible today).

I watched a few Periscopes (Told ya I was addicted) and then decided to write this. My alarm will be going off at 7 AM, but I plan on just sitting here in this chair until then.

What do you do when you are wide awake at an ungodly hour?

Do you 'scope?

WHO IS GREYBER RUDIO??

Stay Strong Y'all!

Hey, I know you may not know me that well, but can I ask you to do something for me? An early Christmas gift if you will? Do  me a favor and subscribe to my email list. Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts, I'll send you my weekly planner printable!

And if you are hip on the social media, 

Follow me me on Periscope, I'm crossfitang.  I broadcast about fitness, nutrition, life improvement, planning and organizing and lots of random stuff.

Follow me out on Instagram, I'm doodleturtle. I'm even more fun over at IG!

My Top 5 Posts Of My First 100 Posts!

When I hit publish the other day I couldn't believe it was my 100th post! Wow! And I couldn't believe that people have actually read what I wrote, commented on it and shared it! Thanks y'all!

To celebrate, I wanted to go back and find my top 5 posts, based on number of views. I've linked each post so you can go back and check them out. Here we go!

5th Most Viewed: 
I did a series on If It Fits Your Macros and Flexible Dieting, and Part 2 was the 5th most popular post I've written. Lol, why didn't y'all like the other parts?

4th Most Viewed:
I was hot and bothered when I wrote this post about being Commit-O-Phobes! We are all busy so we should really get over it!

3rd Most Viewed: 
This was one of my favorite posts to write and I'm so happy so many people got to share the experience of winning Bronze at the Worlds Masters Cup Weightlifting Championships with me!

2nd Most Viewed:
Dana is a former client who completely rocked her nutrition plan and reaped (and still is reaping) huge results from dialing in her nutrition! In this guest post, she reflected on how she felt during a recent competition as the "bug" in the proverbial "sometimes you're the bug, sometimes you're the windshield" metaphor.

1st Most Viewed:
This was not a fun one to write. Here I had just completely blown a big weightlifting competition and was trying to come to grips with the failure.

Thank you all so much for following along on my crazy journey! I feel like I wear a lot of hats. Mom, Wife, CrossFitter, Weightlifter, coach, nutrition coach, Tupperware Lady, organizer and planner.... I appreciate you all listening to me ramble about the randomness of my thoughts!

Stay tuned as I have plans to add another hat to my head soon..... :) :) :)


Stay Strong Y'all!

Do me a favor and subscribe to my email list. 

Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts, I'll send you my weekly planner printable! 

Check me out on Periscope, I'm crossfitang

Check me out on Instagram, I'm doodleturtle

26 Facts About Me!

Twenty-six things about me... 

A- Age: 37

B- Biggest Fear: Small spaces, snakes, aliens

C- Current time: 7:27 AM

D- Drink you last had: Coffee

E- Every day starts with: Coffee

F- Favorite song: "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley 

G- Ghosts, are they real?: Maybe...

H- Hometown: Hazel, Ky/Puryear, TN

I- In love with: Jeremy

J- Jealous of: eh, nobody really

K- Killed someone? Not yet

L- Last time you cried? Saturday

M- Middle name: Dawn

N- Number of siblings: 7 including halves,steps and in-laws!

O- One wish: People would be kind to others

P- Person you last called: The insurance lady

Q- Question you've always asked: How has evolution not weeded these people out? (I know, not kind)

R- Reason to smile: Even on our bad days, we still have it really, really great!

S- Song last sang: "Unlock The Swag" by Rae Sremmurd (terrible, but catchy)

T- Time you woke up: 6:51

U- Underwear color: N/A

V- Vacation destination: Warm, beautiful beach!

W- Worst habit: Anxiety

X- X-Rays you've had: Foot & abdomen

Y- Your favorite food: Cheesy pasta, gas station food, peanut butter & chocolate

Z- Zodiac sign: Aquarius

What are your 26? Post and share!

Stay Strong Y'all!

Quantity Vs Quality

My November goal was to blog every day.

I didn't blog yesterday.

Oops.

It's not that I didn't remember to do it, it's just that I didn't have anything profound to say. So I made the executive decision to not say anything at all.

Which led me to mull over the question of quantity vs quality.

In Blogging

Most bloggers and internet entrepreneurs tell conflicting stories. One will tell you it's all about volume at first so that you have content and credibility. Another one will tell you that it's both. You have to put out a lot of really good content. And others will tell you it's about really great content and to not waste readers' time.

For this November goal, I was going to try to do both. But I just wasn't feeling it yesterday and didn't want to waste bandwidth ranting about people that turn left from the go right lane. Or jabbering about how banded back squats can kill you. They can. I almost died yesterday. Thanks J for saving me!

I could have written about the lovely play my daughter was in last night, A Permanent Signal. It was really good and she (as usual) was amazing! As she gets older, the quality of the productions she is in keeps improving and becoming more and more enjoyable. I don't know why I didn't go ahead last night and write about that, but I think I had subconsciously decided to not write already.

The final decision then, is that for November, quantity may trump quality. I'll share the good ones and quietly hit "publish" on the meh ones. After that, we will see!

In Food

I struggle with this one! I'm a grazer and a half and I love to just eat and eat and eat! I love gas station food and Taco Bell, so obviously I'm not a quality snob! I think quantity wins on this one, though I do try to eat high quality in large quantities as well!

 I like to partition my macros so that I get the most amount of food, think small portions, multiple times. A few ounces of chicken and veggies here. A handful of nuts and raisins there. A little bowl of oatmeal and bananas.

When you watch the cooking shows and they present their "entree" to the judges and it is one jumbo shrimp on a quarter cup of polenta with two green beans, I'm like, "What the hell?!"  I get that it is high quality foo-foo food, but if I'm paying $$$$ you better flippin' bring me more than what I can cram in my mouth at one time!


Since I got to pondering this QvQ thing, I've come up with other areas you could apply it to, so stay tuned to part 2!

Stay Strong Y'all!

A Random Assortment Of Thoughts

This is going to be a free flowing post about things floating through my head, bullet style.

*Squats- Yesterday got crazy (see below) and I had to make a decision to either do my heavy squats at home at 10 PM or wait and do them today. I was just not feeling it last night so I did them today. They were not fun, nor the prettiest. I don't generally use my belt anymore for squatting, but today I did because the core was just not holding up. I didn't want to sacrifice the leg work by dropping weight so I belted. 

*Blessings Disguised As Stress- Yesterday was hectic in a very good way and while the hectic-ness drove my overly planned and scheduled self nuts, I couldn't help but smile because it was an awesome kind of hectic. Yes, my workout schedule got messed up, but it was all because of very good things!

*Double Unders- Here's an amazing fact you might not know. If you make people attempt double unders, they figure out how to do double unders. 

*Tired Of Not Being100%- I've been a bit under the weather the last week and the meds are helping, but slowly. The meds are also making me slightly nauseous and I'm getting dizzy easily which makes working out super fun.  Box jump overs?  Let's go up and down and spin around! Blech. GHD sit ups. Ain't happening. 

*I Ran A Mile Today!!! I know that's not a big deal for many, but I rarely am able to actually run a whole mile. I didn't walk at all today, woop woop!

*I Don't Understand Hunger Strikes- Seriously. How does someone choosing not to eat affect anyone else? If I choose to not eat to protest something, who am I hurting except myself? On the flip side, if you choose to not eat to protest something I'm doing, why should I care? 

Stay Strong Y'all!

Speaking at MSU yesterday was great!

My November goal is to blog everyday and I intend to reach it. So is it cheating if today's blogpost is actually a CrossFit Murray post?

Because I did blog over there! I wrote about how important it is to know your lifting maxes.

Lol, I'm calling it cheating.

Yesterday I was honored to be asked to speak at MSU to a group of Physical Education majors about owning your own fitness business. We discussed the pros and cons of owning your business versus working for someone else. They asked excellent questions about how to improve their skills once they enter "the real world" and how to value their time and knowledge level when deciding to market themselves.

My favorite part is always when I'm asked to tell about how we started CrossFit Murray. There is a lot of backstory, but the gist is this. We sold nearly everything we owned to get cash, including my car! Jeremy drove a Toyota truck from the mid 80s that we bought at a yard sale and I drove our mid nineties Chevy truck.

The reason we found the truck at a yard sale was because we were getting up on Friday mornings and going to yard sales and buying everything that we thought we could make a buck on. We were never rude or insulting and paid a fair price for a yard sale. Then we got up early on Saturday and set up at flea markets to sell the stuff. We also had a booth at Peddler's Mall where we put the nicer items. Many locations have flea markets on Monday mornings, so it was common for Jeremy to leave the house at 3:30 AM on those days to set up in a prime spot. This hustle allowed us to open CFM with no debt and confident that we could make it on just my salary as a teacher. And if it didn't go well, we could walk away and be no worse off.

I know a lot of people get aggravated when they have a yard sale and people show up early and buy "all the good stuff." I know some people get aggravated that those same people turn around and sell it for more at a flea market. And that is exactly what we did. Rather than using my words to possibly persuade those folks to change their mind, I like the explanation given here by Dana White at A Slob Comes Clean about why you shouldn't worry about who buys your stuff and what they are going to do with it.

You never know, you could be fueling a young couple's dream or putting food on a widowers table.

Thank you so much Tawnya for inviting me to speak! I love to encourage people to achieve their dreams!

I'm also speaking at Flex Fitness in Paris tomorrow night. Come see me! It's a St. Jude fundraiser and a $10 donation is suggested.

Oh and I PR'd my clean yesterday! WOOP WOOP!

Stay Strong Y'all.

Manic Monday/Speeding Eclipse

This morning when my alarm went off, I didn't want to get out of bed. Surprise surprise, right? Who wants to get out of their warm comfy bed at 5:26 AM? I hit snooze a couple of times.

When I got up, it was closer to 5:45, but that still gave me plenty of time to get ready and get to the gym. I like to leave myself a lot of cushion and I was reminded of why I do that this morning. 

Coming out of Hazel, a little town I drive through, the speed limit goes 35 to 45 and then 55. As I drove into the 45, I got passed by a little Eclipse. My immediate thought was to look at the clock, see that it said 6:54 and assume that he must have to be at work at 7.

As fate would have it, Mr. Eclipse and I caught up with each other again in just a mile or so because we were behind a school bus that was going at that lovely school bus pace. Then,  Mr. Eclipse surprised me by whipping out and passing the car in front of him as we are all breaking for the school bus to pick up a kid.

Poor Mr. Eclipse. What must you be feeling? Frustration at the situation? Indignation that you were going to be late because of a school bus? Panic that you weren't going to make it to work on time? Rage? Fear?

Whatever he was feeling, Mr. Eclipse whipped out again and proceeded to pass a car and a semi-truck AS THE SCHOOL BUS RED LIGHTS WERE FLASHING! The children were standing on the side of the road. All the cars and the bus were stopped, and Mr. Eclipse is picking up speed in the oncoming late.

What the hell is this idiot doing? Kids, you better be paying attention! Bus driver, be checking your mirrors! This could end badly.

Mr. Eclipse whips into the line behind the bus and everyone's breathing returns to normal. As soon as he can, Mr. Eclipse whips off onto a side road with intentions (I suppose) of driving 80 down back roads to Murray.

I get it, don't you? We've all been there! Overslept. Can't find keys! Going to be late! Oh shit, a school bus!

But that should be the extreme anomaly. Not an everyday occurrence. And judging by Mr. Eclipse's stunts today, I would wager this wasn't his first crappy morning commute.

Now think about how his day is going to go. Rushing out the door, getting stuck behind traffic, passing cars, coming close to causing injury to children, rage, adrenaline, aggression and frustration all built up. He's probably still going to be late. His boss will be pissed. It's Monday morning and his day is going to suck. And honestly, tomorrow and the rest of the week will probably go the same way.

Would could he do different? Well, one simple solution is to get up earlier. I know it sucks. I hate mornings also. But if getting up 15-20 minutes earlier gives me time to just slowly go about my morning routine and leave 5-10 minutes early, I call it a win.

Yeah, I would have preferred to not get stuck behind a school bus. But I had plenty of time and was listening to a great podcast. I was heading to a place I love to work at. My Monday started off stress free, thanks to just dragging my arse out of bed a bit earlier than I wanted to.

Mr. Eclipse can blame whoever he wants for his shitty Monday, but I'd wager it started when he didn't get his butt out of bed.

Because I wasn't in a rush, I fixed my oatmeal this morning and enjoyed it while sitting behind the school bus. Lol, I know I look like crap. It's Monday morning, what do you expect?

Stay Strong Y'all!

7 Minutes Of Free Writing...

9.12.5

One of the blogs I follow puts up daily writing prompts for each day of the current month. I found one particularly intriguing this month and it was...

Free write for 7 minutes - and publish without editing.

Since this is a blog about my Random Thoughts, this should be fun.

3-2-1 Go!

Really stoked about talking to the MSU Softball team about nutrition today. They had lots of great questions and I had a blast!

Really perplexed by the lady that came into the gym this week to sign up and had NO EMAIL ADDRESS. How do you live in America in 2015 and not have an email? I understand having an email and never checking it, but not having an email? Really how? When I asked her if she could get one (since our software system needs it), her response, with a perplexed face was, "I don't have a reason to ever need one.". Again, HOW? Even my 80+ year old grandmother has an email! And she looked around my age. SMH...

This morning at the gas station on the way in the clerk was really chatty. I wasn't really awake, but I tried to play along. She had calculus homework sitting to the side. I commented on how it had been awhile since I studied calc. She smiled and said, "Oh, how long?"  She smiled weirdly. I realized -when I got in the car that I looked like a meth head. Ratty ripped gym shirt, wet hair piled on my head, not yet caffeinated face...yeah... I looked like I took calc. haha

J is watching Avatar. Good movie.

We have to paint the new gym tomorrow. I hate painting. yay.

I'm pretty sad Under The Dome ended last Thursday. I loved that book and enjoyed the TV show. Even though it went off the deep end and got really weird, I still looked forward to it each week. I don't really watch a lot of tv, and that was one of about 2 shows I watch. Lol. Project Runway is on at least.

Dawn Fletcher emailed me this week! I love her and I am excited about an opportunity she has given me. I have to start working on it tomorrow and I'll tell you all about it soon.

WOW! Times up already!

Stay Strong Y'all!

A Random Mess Of Thoughts

9.6.15

Life

I've had a few life facts reaffirmed this week and learned a few new ones. In no particular order, here they are.

• Never go into Hucks without your phone camera. You WILL see the raddest mullet ever and you will immediately want to ask Joe Dirt for his autograph. You will also see free pizza samples sitting right out in the open at about butt level 3 feet away from the register and 6 feet away from the door. I'm not a germ-a-phobe, but something about that just looked unsanitary.
• Whoever prices things at Murray Goodwill is nuts. I have a project list of things that I am searching for so I routinely run through Goodwill and Angels Attic. I never find things at Goodwill. Scratch that, I never buy things at Goodwill. Wal-Mart is right across the road and is cheaper. 
• Don't try to mop when the dog is in the house. No explanation needed.

• You can use fish food as plant fertilizer? (not sure if this is a fact, thus the question mark) Sometimes my brain makes a lot of random leaps and connections and this one may be pushing it. I was looking at my sad little houseplants wondering how to make them happy. I was also thinking about lunch. Then I remembered that fish meal can be used as a plant fertilizer. Which made me think that I could pour my canned tuna water into the plant. Then I remembered the shrimp pellets I accidentally bought for my Beta fish. They don't float, so he won't eat them. Hmmmm...they make Miracle Grow pellets that you sprinkle on the soil. Why can't I sprinkle these pellets on the soil?? I did it. I'll let you know what happens. 
• When you decide to use fish food pellets as plant fertilizer, the dog thinks they are treats and digs the soil out to get to them. 

I got a Tupperware box yesterday! Here's the super exciting unboxing! Lol, really, don't get your hopes up. It's not that exciting. Ok, it's not exciting at all. But I'm in my jammies and look wretched so it might be worth watching just for the laugh value.

Training

Yesterday I got to compete in my first CrossFit Competition since February! Super City CrossFit hosted the second annual Battle of the Boxes Team event in Metropolis, Il. We won last year so we were hoping for a repeat and WE DID IT!

Yesterday was special because it we had so many athletes interested in competing we had to take two teams! 12 athletes represented CFM in a fun, hard day of competition and 3 of those had never competed before so we were excited for them to experience it! Each team had 3 guys and 3 girls.

The first event was 15 minutes to establish a max deadlift, a max bench press and a max clean. The girls on my team and I are all really close in abilities so we were able to execute this event according to our plan almost flawlessly! Shout out to Lindsey for her 140# bench!! The boys did amazing as well and our team won event 1!

The next event for us was 5 minute WOD where we had to push a weighted sled (115# I think) in 100 ft increments as a relay for distance. I pushed it 100 ft, then Meg  pushed it 100 ft back, then Lin, etc. This event about did me in. First, I don't have a lot of muscle endurance yet since I just started back to CrossFit. Second, it was 100 billion degrees in blazing sun and on asphalt and I don't sweat. I just get really hot and overheat. I survived it and we won that event, but it took me a good 30-40 minutes to get my head back on straight!

For our third event I have to give props to my partner, BJ. We had to do thrusters and bar muscle ups. He was a machine on that pull up bar! His hands ripped and he was hurting, but he kept going strong! This was the only event we didn't win yesterday and we lost it by ONE SECOND! I remember on my last muscle up staring at the bar convincing myself that I could do it. Dang. There was that second we needed!

The last event of the day was Triple 3. The boys competed as a unit and the girls competed as a unit. Each unit had to row 3000 meters, do 300 double unders and run one mile. Megan was worried about her double unders but she rocked them LIKE A BOSS!! And when those girls took off running, they were on fire! As for me.....

I am not a great runner. I enjoy sprints, but anything over 400 meters is just gross in my opinion! But, I've been working on it and was feeling fairly confident going into the 1 mile run. I had a plan and I had a playlist. As I took off out the door into the blazing heat, I was surprised when J came up running beside me. He was coaching, not competing, so I thought he was just running out to give me a few words of encouragement. But no. He ran the entire mile with me!

My calves cramped up and my shins started hurting about 1/3 of a mile in. J was encouraging me, but I couldn't hear him because of my head phones. Apparently everybody else could hear us though!

J- Land on your heels! Stretch out your stride! You are doing fine!
A- I CAN'T HEAR YOU!

J- Don't let anybody else pass you! You are almost there!
A- I DON'T CARE!
J- MOVE YOUR ASS!!
A- (me hauling ass the last 300 meters)

Hahahahahaha! I'm not sure my time, but that was probably my best/worst mile. I had to walk a lot and I yelled at my husband (and he yelled at me) and I cried, but I made it in the door fourth. Even though I'm a terrible athlete mentally sometimes, I am proud that my husband is my coach and knows when to baby me and when to push me.

And even though I was writhing on the floor and making sounds reminiscent of a dying animal at the end of that event, our team won it as well! So close to a sweep!

If you've never been a part of a CrossFit competition, you should go sometime just to watch. The community and support that everybody brings is amazing! And my favorite is the women.

Nowhere else have I ever seen women come together and cheer each other on like they do at a CF comp. Even if they are on different teams, it doesn't matter. In CF, we love strong women. We love building each other up. We love seeing each other do things we didn't know we could do. If all women acted like CF women at a comp, a lot of cattiness and drama would go away.

Best Thing I've Came Across Lately

Teaching middle school for 14 years put me in a position to know and work with young people dealing with depression and suicidal thoughts. Having a college aged daughter with friends suffering the same issues has shown me we have to look at new ways to help them. They suffer and think they are alone because they just can't see anything beyond the present situation. Those of us that are older and know that hard times pass just can't convey that to them because the concept of a future that is better is almost impossible for them to envision. I came across this article by Tim Ferriss and I think it is a profound piece on the subject. Please share it with anyone you know that is struggling.

Another ingenious thing about this article? The hyper link reads this

http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/05/06/how-to-commit-suicide/

Why does it say "how to commit suicide" at the end? So that if someone searches that phrase they will be presented with this article. And because it's Tim Ferriss, this will show up at the top of Google searches. Love it.

Talk back

What life facts have you learned lately?
Could you have your spouse as your coach?
What do you think about the Ferriss article?

Stay Strong Y'all!

This post is linked up at the MIMM with Katie & The Fit Dish Link-Up with Jill Conyers and Jessica Joy!

And don't forget you can still get my Fast Food Macro Cheat Sheet for a few more days for only $1.99!

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