Guest bath demo...the hole is much bigger now.

Lily, the Maltese puppy we took care of.

Disney World, a Bug's Life or some show that had a bug theme.

House Projects

It seems like Na and I keep on adding to our house project list. This past week, Na has been demo-ing our guest bathroom. He finished the floor and moved onto the wall. But because the original tiles and the drywall are stuck together (someone decided to put a really thick coat of mortar) so tightly, we have to take down the dry wall with it. So now we have exposed beams and we have to drywall the shower/tub before we can tile. We went to the tile store this weekend (never knew how expensive the frilly, accent tiles can be) and picked out this really pretty mosaic piece (it has wine, dark green, and brown/tan stone colored square tiles). We plan on putting a 4 inch strip of the mosaic all across the top and between brown/tan ceramic canes, then we will put in 6 inch brown/tan tiles for the rest of the wall. The most expensive part of this bathroom is...drum roll...the stupid 1x12 inch canes..we needed 22 at 10 dollars a piece!! I wasn't expecting it to add up to that amount...it gave me a little heart burn at the store. But, the guest bath will look awesome and if we want, we can redo the master bath ourselves. I figured that the two things that sell houses are bathrooms and the kitchen, so, I'm hoping it'll help us when we eventually move. I also replaced all of our kitchen knobs (all 30 of them) from silver to oiled bronze (I found them at Target for cheap) and I painted our master bath cabinets this really nice chocolate/espresso brown color. It turned out really nice. We'll also paint the guest bath cabinet the same color, but it's a huge mess in there and probably won't paint it until the tiles are all in. We also plan on "framing" our existing bathroom mirrors with chair rail moulding, painted to match the cabinets. We did all this while babysitting a Maltese puppy. Three dogs and we still got a lot done.

Link to workout blog

My ChaLEAN Extreme reviews will be available at http://workoutreviewsbysabina.blogspot.com (see link to your left). Since it'll be 90 different posts, I didn't want to flood my regular one.

ChaLEAN Extreme - Day 4

It was a slow day at work. They were doing some construction and we got kicked out of our cubicles for part of the day. So, I had more time to work out than usual and decided to tack on a few extra moves after doing Burn Circuit 3. I think I'll start tacking on sprints after the circuits to really get my heart rate up. I do have a heart rate monitor and will wear it tomorrow. I am curious as to how hard I am working. If the dripping of sweat is any indication of the amount of work and effort I'm putting in, I think I'm doing pretty well! :o) I felt stronger today and am hoping to improve in the next week or two. The only difficulty I have with Burn Circuit 3 is keeping my balance while doing the calf raises. I suppose it's working my core too, seeing how you have to really concentrate on not rolling an ankle.

Here's the breakdown of Burn Circuit 3:
1) Sumo squat with overhead press - 30 lbs total
2) Lunge with calf raise - 40 lbs total
3) Squat with lat raise - 20 lbs total
4) Lunge with frontal press - 30 lbs total
5) Squat with calf raise - 40 lbs total
6) Sumo squat with deltoid raise - 20 lbs total
7) Squat with overhead press - 30 lbs total
8) Lunge with lat raise - 20 lbs total
9) Sumo squat with calf raise - 40 lbs total
10) Slow sumo squats - 3 reps
Extras: 12 push-ups with leg raises and abs

Tomorrow is Burn It Off!, Recharge, and Abs. I convinced my hubs to do the workouts with me tomorrow :oD It'll be nice to have someone go through the "sucking wind" with me. I did weigh myself and I lost 2.5 pounds, probably all water weight. I think I'll keep track of my progress once a week and weigh in on Mondays. I have also been good with my diet this week. Not too much junk, lots of water, and less soda.

Sunday will be my day off, yay! I'm looking forward to a day off, only to start my second week on Monday and mow the lawn (which, in itself, is a workout).

ChaLEAN Extreme - Days 1,2, and 3 restart

Day 1 - I restarted CLE last Tuesday and it was painful. I did CLE for three weeks prior to getting sick and I was ready to move onto the Push phase, but then I was out for three weeks and that set me back. I decided to restart and I'm glad I did since I was such a weakling on Tuesday. It wasn't so much the weights that I had a problem with, it was the endurance. I found myself resting a little more than usual. I woke up the next day with a sore chest (thanks to the chest fly with a hip lift) and sore sides. Here's the breakdown of the exercises and weights I used:
1) Sumo squat with hip lifts - 40 lbs total
2) Lunge with posterior fly (1 arm) - 10 lbs total
3) Push-up with leg lifts - 12 reps
4) Dead lift with posterior fly - 16 lbs total
5) Lunge with core rotation - 20 lbs total
6) Bench press with leg lower - 40 lbs total
7) Squat with side bends - 30 lbs total
8) Lunge with posterior fly - 20 lbs total
9) Chest fly with hip lift - 30 lbs total
10) Slow push-ups - 3 reps (8 counts)
I am hoping to go heavier next week once I am fully recovered.

Day 2 - I felt a little stronger on Wednesday and did my workout during my lunch because I'm still tired at 5am in the morning. I think next week I'll start hitting my regular gym before work...they have newer equipment and an extensive set of free weights in half pound increments. I am determined to stick to my schedule and eat healthier this time around. I lost 3 or 4 pounds last time, but I have to admit, I didn't really stick to a diet. My other goal is to expand my cardiovascular endurance so I can start Insanity by Shaun T in 90 days. I am hoping that Insanity will help me run faster. My goal is to run an 8 minute mile and have the endurance to run 4 miles at that pace. Here's the breakdown of Burn Circuit 2:
1) Sumo squat with bicep curls - 30 lbs total
2) Single lunge with tricep extension - 20 lbs total
3) Dead lift and row - 40 lbs total
4) Sumo Squat with overhead tricep extension - 20 lbs total
5) Dead lift with reverse grip row - 40 lbs total
6) Bowler's lunge with single arm row - 15 lbs total
7) Bicep curl with abductor balance - 30 lbs total
8) Lunge with double row - 40 lbs total
9) Triple threat push-ups - 4 times
10) Tricep pushups - 3 reps

Day 3 - I am weak when it comes to endurance, cardio, and coordination. So, CLE's Burn Intervals are tough for me and most of the time, I feel silly doing it. I can't have anyone watch me do it, so when Na was getting ready for work, I'd stop the DVD every time he'd come into the living room. I'm hoping with more practice (this Saturday) I'll get the moves/boxing down and not feel so uncoordinated doing it. The hardest part was the boxing and jumping at the same time. I tried to follow Chalene as best I could but she sure is on a fast pace. I didn't do the ab workout because I had to get ready for work and I was going to do it at night, but never got around to doing it. By the time I was done with the intervals, I was dripping in sweat..it's a great workout...in hindsight.

Day 4 - I'll be going to the gym during my lunch again. I'll post later today about Burn Circuit 3. This workout is perhaps my favorite in the Burn phase, so, I'm excited and not dreading it. I'll do the abs workout tonight since I didn't do it yesterday.

It's been awhile

I just realized that it's been 5 months since my last post. Time just flew by for us and we've been busy. I'll do a short re-cap. March = Disneyworld/Sea World with the Cloughs, Na's birthday, and we had the Woolners and Ma & Pa Walker at our house. April = My birthday, Disneyworld again, and the Bloch/Luks stayed with us. May = Prepared for hurricane season by buying a propane stove and other supplies. June = started mowing the lawn every weekend since it rains so much and everything grows so rapidly. We also decided to tile the bathroom ourselves so we signed up for a tiling class at Home Depot in early August. July = Na and I decided that our lawn is way too big (corner lot) and it's so humid down here that we will be hiring a lawn mowing company next summer. Every weekend is a three hour ordeal and eats up our time to relax and hang out. I tried to convince Na to get a John Deer, but those are expensive and wouldn't be worth it. We also hung up curtains in the master (looks much more grown up now) and finally broke down and bought an entertainment center. My $20, painted, IKEA shelves from college were good to me, but they needed to go. I also started a 90 day workout program called ChaLEAN Extreme (I know, the name is a little cheesy). It's an interval and circuit training program similar to P90X (what Na and I did last year) with no pullups this time, but lots of lunges and squats. I was doing well on the program for about three weeks, then I came down with walking pneumonia. I was out for another three weeks and after two trips to Urgent Care, 5.5 days off of work, two rounds of antibiotics, one round of oral steroids, and lots of cough medicine, I'm finally getting better, albeit, not fully recovered. I restarted ChaLEAN and will be posting my experience on the program. I figured if I blogged about it, it would probably motivate me to 1) update the blog on a regular basis and 2) keep me on track since Na isn't doing it with me.

New Kitchen!

Before and after photos of our kitchen. We finally broke down and got a new dishwasher. The one that came with the house was broken and never really cleaned our dishes. In fact, it would spray particles of food onto the dishes and then it would be caked on during the drying process. The dishes were cleaner before they went in the wash. Na and I hated doing the dishes for that very reason and would let it all pile on top of our ugly, broken formica counter until it was too unbearable. Na spent a whole day installing the dishwasher (someone told us that all you had to do was plug it in...not the case). It was well worth the effort! That was his Valentine's Day gift to me.

We also got new countertops put in and tiling done because the counter had buckled and ripped, not to mention the pure ugliness of the green backsplash that went all the way up to the cabinets. Also, Na HATED the shallow sink and the really low faucet. It was so bad that you could not put a pot under the sink to fill it, you had to push the faucet in one direction, tip the pot under it, and hold it at an angle. It also didn't help that the faucet didn't reach out far enough...I think it was more of a bathroom faucet, you know, one of those that are way too close to the back? Na made sure we got a really deep sink and an even higher faucet that pulls out. That was my Valentine's Day gift to Na.