Sigh.....

Three years & seven months waiting for our referral. There isn't much else to say. We're updating our homestudy/paperwork to open up our request to boy or girl, but my heart just isn't in the whole paperchase this time. Now that the Hawaii trip-of-a-lifetime has come & gone, I feel like there is little to look forward to. I guess I'm just bummed - gotta fix that somehow, but I'll be buggered if I know how.

Huzzah!

Did I tell y'all that I've lost an inch each off my chest, waist & hips since I started Crossfit 3.5 months ago? Well, I have. Huzzah! I've also done things I never thought I'd do, like flip a tractor tire about 50 times (with help, I'm not that big of a badass yet!), lift more than 100 lbs (at once), do 110 back squats (with a 45 lb bar on my back) in one workout, row for 2 km in one workout, etc. I am empowered. Don't make me angry, I just might flip your car over (but give me another year of Crossfit before I attempt that!).

Yes, I guess it's been a while....

Hello, my faithful readers (though, by now, perhaps I have lost my audience)! It has been ever so long since I graced my blog with my presence. Not much has been happening, really, just life in general, but I'll try to catch you up as best I can.

May
May is my birthday month, and we celebrated with another trip to Buffalo, this time with my parents. A very good time was had by all, and much shopping was done. Turns out Walmart is a great place to get a deal on protein powder & Gatorade pre- & post- workout drinks (even though I think the post-workout drink tastes like lemon/lime & barnyard, Andrew seems to like it - but I think he will pretty much eat anything). We spent half a day in East Aurora again, and had a FABULOUS lunch at a place called Tantalus. I had a to-die-for stuffed burger (with no bun, as is my custom). It was stuffed with sundried tomatoes, feta & black olives, and the beef was just so beefy-tasting. It was the best burger I've had so far this year. I'm itching to go back & have another one! We celebrated my Dad's birthday at the end of the month (we got him a luxury car test drive, which he & Andrew will partake in in August. Dad's driving a Ferrari & Andrew's driving a Lamborghini - sweet!!!).

June
June is bit of a blur (being so long ago & all). We spent a weekend in Prescott again, stopping for cheese curds at Maple Dale on the way there & the way back. Sooooo many curds. I think I'm curd-ed out for a while (but the roasted garlic curds are sooooo good). During that trip we had a lovely day in Westport, where much shopping (window & actual) was done. My work team also moved from the factory location to the airport location, so my commute was cut in half, which is awesome! Being near the airport, we see lots of planes (arriving & departing), though some sitings are pretty scarily close! Part of my route home includes Airport Rd, and the runway where several planes land runs perpendicular to Airport Rd (and starts at Airport Rd). Wow, are those planes LOW when they land! It seems like they're going to land on your car sometimes. Scary, but exhilarating!

July
July's been pretty quiet so far.

Adoption
No news here, unless you consider our needing to update some of our paperwork (AGAIN) news. We've been advised that it can wait until the whole dossier needs updating at the end of the year, unless we get a referral between now & then. That doesn't look likely, as paperwork requirements in Ethiopia have changed yet again, which has slowed referrals down. It has speeded up processing post-court date, though, so that is a very good thing for those who have referrals. We continue to wait & hope. We are considering opening up our request to a boy (which Andrew was always in favour of, but I resisted because I really wanted a girl). Now that we've met our friends' little guy, home since November of last year, I am no longer resistant to the idea of having a little boy!

Crossfit
Yep, I'm still doing Crossfit, usually about twice a week. It's still challenging, which I think it will be for quite some time, but I'm enjoying it, and I really enjoy the supportive, family atmosphere at the gym. Lots of people have told me that they are seeing results on me, which is nice. My core is definitely tighter, and I am definitely getting stronger. I can deadlift 105 lbs, power clean & push press 65 lbs & back squat 45 lbs. I'm getting there. I enjoy going with Andrew, though we don't really work out together, because he's at a different level, fitness-wise, than me. I'm wishing I'd started in the winter, though, cuz this hot weather is killing me when I work out. I must lose about a pound every workout, just from sweat. Good times! And sometimes, it's just too hot to work out (like when it's over 32). There's no A/C in the gym, just ceiling fans & roller doors. It's brutal sometimes.

Well, I think you're all caught up now. I'll try to start posting more often, especially in the lead up to HAWAII CRUISE 2012!!!

Janna's Crossfit Challenge - The Crossfittening, Part 5

So here we are – the end of my Crossfit training classes, and the beginning of my proper Crossfit journey. I’ve got to say, I am pleased that I have made it this far, but I’m still really nervous about starting the WODs (Workout Of the Day). I plan to do my first WOD tonight, provided the weather allows us to get home in time to change & get to the gym in time. Tonight’s coach is Mitch, who did 4 of my 5 Foundations classes. Not sure how I feel about that – I am kind of looking forward to the anonymity of being in a class with other people, but then again, I know Mitch will push me, which is actually a good thing. I’ve taken a look at the WOD, and it’s mostly weightlifting moves, which I’ve done, so I should be able to do it. Let’s see.

Anyway, on to my last Foundations class. I had originally agreed to meet with Mitch at 5pm on Wednesday, which suited me because I like to get my workouts over & done with so I can enjoy the rest of my evening, but then he emailed me on Tuesday & asked if we could do the class at 8pm instead. In the spirit of just finishing my last class already, I agreed to the time switch. There weren’t any WODs on at that time, so Andrew decided to come along & join my class (it’s always good to get a refresher on your technique). The last class worked on the snatch, which is a variation of the clean, which we worked on in Monday’s class. The warm up was 500m of rowing (with a clean “dismount”, again, hooray me!), then practicing the snatch technique. As a special treat, Mitch used his smartphone to video a bunch of my lifts, to show me what it looked like when I was doing it wrong, vs when I was doing it right. As with the other lifts, I get the technique, but my co-ordination is still lacking. Practice makes perfect, I guess. Once again I was using the 20lbs bar. That night’s workout was 250m rowing, 15 power snatch lifts, 25 burpees, 15 power snatch lifts and 250m rowing. It turns out burpees are the devil’s work (for those of you not familiar with the terms a burpee is sort of like a push up where you start from a standing position, into a pushup position, touching your chest completely to the floor, then stand up, jump in the air & clap your hands – if that doesn’t make any sense, look it up on YouTube). Let’s just say my burpees are decidedly slower & more visually awkward than the average burpee. By my tenth burpee my hands were KILLING ME, OMG, so I negotiated the 25 burpees down to 15 burpees (thank doG, that was the worst part of the workout!), but otherwise I finished my workout. Hooray!

From what Andrew tells me, the gym peeps are looking forward to me starting the WODs. I’m pretty stoked that they are all rooting for me, but at the same time, I’m really nervous about letting everyone down. I’ve never been an active, athletic person, and I’m nervous about making a fool of myself, and, truth be told, ashamed of how I look (though I never feel like that when I’m actually working out, for some reason). Everyone there seems really nice, and they even threw a joint birthday party/euchre night last weekend to celebrate a bunch of birthdays (Andrew’s included). I didn’t go (I was feeling too shy, until it was too late to get tickets, then I wanted to go – story of my life) but Andrew did. If I can encourage myself to keep going at least 2-3 times a week, hopefully the gym will become an important part of my life, as it is for Andrew. I just don’t know, though. We shall see.

Did I mention we got a new car?

It's true! After 3 years of me not liking the Mazda 5 & it being relegated to the garage for crimes it did not commit (it wasn't its fault it wasn't a good, comfortable fit for me), we decided to trade it in for some "new hotness". To be fair to the Mazda, it was a good car for a family, and we bought it with that intention - 1 month before the agency went bankrupt. We held onto it for 3 years, thinking our referral was just around the corner. Now, with no referral & no idea when we'll get a referral, it seems silly to hold onto a car that I don't find comfortable to drive just because it would fit a baby seat & have plenty of cargo space. Sure, the cargo space was great when you went to Ikea, or to the garden centre, but for the amount of times we used it for that purpose, it just didn't make sense to keep it once our new car caught our eye. It's a 2012 Ford Focus hatchback, so it is a fair bit smaller than the Mazda 5, but it is soooo cool! We got the white metallic finish (white platinum) and it's got a zippy little engine & it's comfortable for me to drive, and it's just a great little car. We picked it up on Tuesday & it got its first drive-to-work today, and I am pleased to say that it drove like a dream! The ambient lighting is pretty cool too - it's in the cupholders, footwells, & the doors, and there are many colours - bright blue, dark blue, green, red, pink & purple. I have chosen purple for the time being, but that is subject to change.

So, in conclusion, it's sparkly white, it's zippy, it's comfortable & it's got ambient lighting. Hooray!

Janna's Crossfit Challenge - The Crossfittening Part 4

Class 4 was on Monday, the same day I wrote the Part 3 post. As you may remember, I was running on little sleep & felt barely coherent. I managed to get my butt in gear & get to the gym for my 5pm class, but my heart really wasn't in it. The warm-up, a 500m row, was uneventful, and I managed to get off of & away from the rowing machine without killing myself or messing up my knee, so that's a plus right there. Class 4 was all about the "clean" weighlifting move (squat, shrug, lift, etc), and the class itself didn't go badly. I was the only student in the class, which is both good & bad. Good, because you get the trainer's undivided attention, and bad, because you get the trainer's undivided attention, meaning you don't get a little break while the rest of your classmates are showing of their moves. We mostly worked with the 20 lb bar, but about two-third of the way through the class he had me move up to the 35 lb bar, which just about killed me. Had I lifted the 35 lb bar a bit earlier in the night, I think I would have coped okay, but by that time I was buggered. It was downhill from there, and my workout - 2 rounds of 20 lifts (20 lb bar) & 20 step ups (12 inch box), then 1 round of 10 each - took all of what little strength & confidence I had left. That workout took me 11min 23sec to finish, and I was SOAKED with sweat (ewwwww) afterwards. Of course, it was Andrew's birthday that day, so there was no rest for the (very) weary. I zoomed home, freshened up, and headed out again to dinner with our adoption/crossfit friends & their son. It was a long day, and probably not the special 40th birthday celebration Andrew had been hoping for (but I'm going to make it up to him!).

Janna's Crossfit Challenge - The Crossfittening, Part 3

I did NOT sleep well last night, so if this latest post doesn't make sense, you'll know why! Last Wednesday was my 3rd Crossfit class, and my first class with a different instructor - Dan R. It was also my first class with girls as my classmates, so that was interesting - even more so because they were friends, which made me feel like a fifth wheel. Andrew & I had been running a bit late, so by the time I got to the gym, it was straight into the warmup - 3 minutes of rowing. Easy peasy, I thinks, I love rowing. And it was easy - until I tried to get off the machine. I swear I had both feet out of the footholders, so I'm guessing I tripped over the machine itself, and went for a less-than-graceful almost-faceplant. I have a wicked dark bruise on my right knee, and I came within 1 inch of actually planting my face on the floor. SO EMBARRASSING! Clearly my clutziness knows no bounds. Anyhoo, a couple of ladies doing the WOD (workout of the day) came running over to me to see if I was hurt - nope, just my pride! Then I caught up with the rest of the class for pushups & situps. The class itself was about deadlifting. Deadlifting is where you keep the bar very close to your body, go into a squat with straight arms & a straight back, look straight ahead & lift to your waist. We did quite a few practice lifts - some with the PVC pipe, some with just the bar (35 lbs), some with 10 lbs on each end (55 lbs) and a few with 5 more lbs on each end (65 lbs). All in all, not too bad! Then it was into that night's workout - 3 deadlifts (55 lbs), 6 pushups & 9 ball slams (15 lbs medicine ball lifted above your head, then slammed into the ground at your feet), as many rounds as possible in 6 minutes. I was allowed to use a bench for the pushups, due to my "injured" knee (it hurt to much to be getting up & down over & over again). I managed to do 4 rounds, but I was EXHAUSTED by the end of it all. The aftermath was painful - sore lower back muscles, hip muscles, inner thigh muscles & the muscles on the back of my arm. I had recovered by Saturday, though. Next class is tonight (Monday) with Mitch from 5-6, then it's out to dinner for Andrew's 40th birthday dinner with some friends.

I continue to feel a little apprehensive about Crossfit, but I think that's because with the Foundations classes, I don't know what's coming, what we'll be working on, and I'm afraid I won't be able to do it, or that I'll do too much & hurt myself (though, so far, I've only hurt myself during warm up!). I do enjoy going, though (who knew I'd ever say that!) and I kind of miss it if I haven't been for 3 days or so. I'm really hoping I can stick with it, and lose weight & get fit.