Week Three by the Skin of my Teeth

This week was certainly a test of my positivity and ability to accept that not every week will be a great week. I have been really struggling financially this month because of having to replace all four tires, two breaks and two routers on my car in one fell swoop. I am grateful that my financial management to this point helped enough that it didn’t break me and I was still able to pay all of my bills on time. Which is always the goal right? The only issue is that I have had zero flexibility and that is hard for me considering it is my birthday month and I wanted to be able to treat myself… maybe it was a sign. These financial woes definitely showed throughout the week because it led to a bit of a spat with my mom on two occasions and a bit of a spat with myself almost daily. I know that starting this weekend things will start falling back to where they need to be but it is never easy to handle bumps and bruises and this month has proven to be one of those move mountains types of months. To add fuel to the fire I also got a call from another collector who I hadn’t heard from in ages and had no idea where the account was located. At this point the balance on the account is nearly three times the size of the original purchase price. I know that with a positive attitude and gazelle intensity I can conquer this too.


As far as health and fitness are concerned it was another test to my capability to accept things not going my way. Crossfit is still fantastic, I love it thoroughly and this week was a balanced week-a yin yang situation. Monday was tough. I took my friend because she was having a rough day and when I went I felt like things weren’t coming as naturally as they typically do and I got frustrated. I felt that my form was all wrong and the coach who was available had no time for me (which is reasonable considering there are 20 other people there). I left feeling sore in all the wrong ways and upset. I was definitely a bit sensitive just because it was the first day I didn’t leave on cloud nine so I emailed my box owner and he calmed the frustration right out of me. I was back at it on Wednesday with as much or more rigor. I was stoked to be back at the gym and it was an interesting day. The challenge was to do 2 rounds of 12(beg), 18(int) or 24(adv) reps of Dead lifts, wall balls, box jumps, ring push-ups, wall balls, box jumps, and kb swings. I did the beginner level at 12 reps and set a goal for myself to finish before ANYONE else (beginners or otherwise). I finished at 13:45 well before anyone else including the other beginners. I felt like a winner. I AM A WINNER!

Eating primally this week was pretty standard. I really just didn't eat much at all. I am going to have to start keeping track of what I eat for the challenge so I really should get on that. Primal living is being made just a tinge easier by my new friend on the Marks Daily Apple Forum. He goes by TAWFUNGUY and is officially my "Primal Boyfriend" as suggested by his wife. LOL. He is an inspiration to so many people in just 24 days of being primal, he was even commended by Mark Sisson himself! At this point he is counting down his time to a loincloth which he will wear hopefully in a year or less... I told him I might join him in a coconut bikini, nothing lights the fire quite like a visual goal! The two of us have become a mutual support system and the tribe is growing and definitely becoming fierce. I really am grateful that someone has been able to be a bit of a supporter to me. His positive vibes and mine coincide very well and hopefully my primal positivity will turn into primal inspiration.

On that note I have decided that it is time for me to start making an impact. I was approached by three different Deaf people (and even a few hearing people) in the last two weeks regarding my recent weight loss and health changes. This led me to decide that maybe a useful tool for not only the expansion of health knowledge for Deafies across America but also for my own personal motivation, might be to make a vlog (Video-Blog) pertaining to Primal Blueprint and all the health benefits therein. I would say you can probably expect the first installment of this vlog to come around in the next few days, and then I plan to make several starting there.

On the positive lifestyle note-I think it might be useful for me to buy the book “The Secret” and start again on that path. I do have the daily calendar for the book and have considered making a journal from it on my own time. I need to find the time to do what is right for me.

My goals starting now:

1. To get back into a healthy routine with bedtime and wake time

2. To continue to follow the PB way of eating and living including fun and play

3. To spread the word of primal health to Deaf people locally and possibly beyond

4. To start living more positively and relaxed again. Not every day needs to be filled with things to do-Stop doing start being.

5. Keep working toward my health and fitness goals of size 10 and 175 lbs

This week has been kind of trying emotionally as well. I think a huge part of that is this is the first birthday I won’t be able to spend doing what I want to do without a question. I work, which I love, but that means that I can’t go out on a limb and just act goofy on my birthday. It also means the crown is out, for the first time in 9 years. I will find a time and place to wear it.

I do want to touch on that a bit, just because there has been something kind of bothering me about it. This week I have been posting videos and comments related to my birthday on Facebook. It isn’t really surprising to most people who know me because I tend to celebrate long and hard for my birthday. My aunt did make a comment saying that I am the only person she knows who advertises for my birthday, so I thought I would address this with a bit of an explanation:

My birthday falls on August 31 which is a great day I must say. The interesting thing about it is it is a cut off birthday so I was always the youngest in school. The other interesting thing about my birthDATE in particular is the fact that it tends to fall in the first or second week of school. To most people this is not a big deal, but as a kid growing up it is a HUGE deal. For most kid’s birthdays (At least during the 90s) we would get to bring treats to school and our friends would bring presents and in middle school lockers got decorated and balloons were brought, the whole nine yards. Well, if your birthday falls in the first two weeks, the teacher doesn’t really remember and friends NEVER remember and so my locker went undecorated and my treats went unappreciated. Now, the year I started high school at Littleton my birthday was the third day of school. I decided that I would wear a crown. I was new in the district so no one there knew me anyway, and they would never guess it was my birthday so I would give them a hint. It worked. I got a couple more happy birthdays than normal and I was satisfied.

College came, first day of college was my 17th birthday, I wore the crown along with a shirt that read “today is my birthday! Say happy birthday to me!” and it worked! Not only that but that day happened to be the day I met my current best friend Tove. She and I had a mutual friend and to this day she will tell you “How can I forget?! You were wearing braided pigtails and a crown and a tshirt that said it was your birthday!” –If nothing else, it earned me a great friend!

I choose not to live in a world where people don’t tell me happy birthday. If that means I have to act like a selfish little girl and advertise for my birthday for a week in advance and wear a crown, then so be it. Nowadays with Facebook there is no need to tell anyone it is your birthday, Facebook will do that for you. I understand that it seems childish and honestly for 358 days of the year I am more than willing to act my age or older, but the week of my birthday is the week I get to throw that caution to the wind and be the center of attention. I hope you don’t mind.

For now that is all. I hope to be able to bring you more inspiring posts in the near future. My vlogs will be up and running shortly and I will be sure to keep this blog apprised.

Thanks for reading. Have an excellent week!

Share a smile today! :)
'Manda