Baby Steps! Keeping Those Resolutions in 2014!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

It is that time of year when most of us make our New Year’s Resolutions.  I don’t make many, mainly because I never keep them, so it seems like a waste of time.   Sometimes, I vow to cuss less and then some slow driver pulls out in front of me, with no one behind me for miles, and proceeds to poke along in front of me and before you know it, I need a bar of soap to wash out my mouth. 

I am also not very good at giving up something.  I have many Catholic friends and family who have to give up something for Lent and I always wondered why they just didn’t give up something easy like Brussels sprouts or watching reruns of Full House.  I guess that is why I am Lutheran. We don’t have to give up anything during Lent and that’s a good thing because once you tell me I do, I would be driven to have it. For that reason, I could always understand Eve being tricked in the Garden of Eden by the serpent, except for the part that she got close enough to a serpent to be tricked.  He wouldn’t have been able to fool me because I would have been running in the opposite direction.  On the other hand, if it had been Adam telling me I was not allowed any fruit from the tree, oh boy, I would have been two fisting those apples and shoving them into my mouth faster than you could say, “did you just spit an apple seed at me?”

Almost every year, I vow to lose weight and this year I mean business.  I have already hatched a plan that the dogs and I are going to walk/jog on our walks starting January 1.  We were at the park the other night and I was showing John how it was going to work with the dogs and me running, and around the corner came the park ranger in her car.  As she passed by, I told John I bet she was probably checking out a call they must have received about a gazelle sighting in the park and he said he wondered if she had any luck in spotting one.  

Yesterday, I took the dogs from him and ran straight up a hill and when we got to the top I did the whole Rocky up the stairs thing, including the jumping, the air boxing, and the hands over my head thing and all he said was, “slow down and catch your breath, that was a pretty good 50 meter run.” 

My plan is to run after dark in our neighborhood. I think jogging under the shroud of darkness will work best for my neighbors and me. After all, no one wants to see a middle aged woman huffing and puffing and clutching her heart and screaming at her dog to slow down when they just happened to be looking out their window.  Oh, and by no means am I planning on wearing compression leggings or running tights, because I am afraid pulling them on and up will cause my hips and boobs to meet somewhere above the waistline.  I also plan on only taking one dog at a time, because two dogs could mean the difference between a leisurely jog and a Usain Bolt sprint, especially if we have a deer sighting. 

I need to buy reflective vests for myself and the dogs and I hate to invest too much in these items for fear this new weight loss plan of mine does not stick.  I thought about just buying reflective tape and putting it on my shoes, but John said oncoming cars might think there were two extra long dachshunds wearing some sort of bedazzled coats coming straight at their tires. I would also hate to be like my Megan who used to want to join everything as a child only to quit as soon as we purchased the uniform, the leotard, the equipment, or the shoes.  She once took ballet lessons and immediately hated it because she found out she had to learn ballet steps and positions BEFORE she could be the lead in Swan Lake.  The vests are a definite must because if I collapse on the way up our long driveway and I’m too weak to shout out their names, John and Hayley should surely see me as they try and leave for work in the morning, since it is still dark out.  I would hope they would come looking for me before that, but it might depend on what is on TV that night.

No, my New Year’s resolution is to lose weight and exercise more and no more excuses.  How could this plan fail when I have the best running buddies available?  I don’t know because as I am writing this I am already wondering if I am biting off more than I can chew, although if I worried about biting less, I may not have this problem to begin with in the first place.  Gee, you know what? I just looked at the calendar and January 1 was yesterday and I prefer to start my diet after a weekend, so I am going to bump this whole idea up to January 6.  I think that works better for Fudge and Vern, too!  Here are our New Year’s resolutions:

 

Laurie-to be healthier in 2014

Fudge-to come when called or at least pretend to know her name when we scream it!

Vern-to sleep through the night or party alone in the living room!

John-to be quicker to admit his wife is always right (he was asleep when I wrote this, so I had to guess what his would be)

 

Baby steps!  This is a lot to bite off and it isn’t going to happen overnight, so we need to take baby steps to make this work for 2014.  Meanwhile, Happy New Year and here’s to keeping those resolutions!

[GBK]

Love the blog Laurie, good luck.  My resolution is always to lose weight, but it likes to keep finding me even when I manage to lose in the beginning of the year :)  We can try again though, and my prize will be our DK getaway!

[Leslie and Halas]

I'm going with laughing more, too!  I don't really have other resolutions, but I do have some specific goals I want to meet regarding certain exercises, so that should keep me on track with my workouts during the year.

You know what will making running even more fun?!  Stopping every now and again to do a few burpees!!!

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

Great blog-I wish laughing would burn more calories so I could go on a Laurie, Fudge and Vern diet.

But I still have this weekend since Zach is headed home as I write and we have all the holidays to recreate.  Then it's my birthday in February, there's St.Pat, then Easter then it's summer and well.  Stuff gets in the way of any dieter.  

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Mick Jagger once said 'It's ok letting yourself go as long as you can get yourself back'  I try not to have any resolutions too but I like Karen's one, to laugh more. Thanks Laurie yet again :)

[Donna K & Quincy]

Laurie, I do admire your resolutions and your resolve of the moment but I think I'm with Vern on this one. I think I'll resolve to drink more martinis. Happy New Year! I hope you meet all your goals and now I think I'll go get a start on mine. Cheers!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

LOL, Happy New Year, Laurie! My resolution for 2014 is to laugh more, so thank you for helping me achieve my goal! 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

OMD, the picture of Vern at the end of this blog is priceless. And his expression says it all!  I have really, really let myself go this past year; hopefully the new year will give me a fresh start on stopping the decline. But isn't that what we always say......  I think I am waiting for the magic to happen and, poof, I am svelte and in shape.