In our little town of Keizer there is this woman who runs up and down the main road. She has an 80's look to her and she runs daily and and she has a jogging stroller for her child that never seems to get any older. A couple years back they put a picture of her on the cover of the Keizer Business Directory. She is an icon of Keizer.

I like to walk and I have a double stroller and mostly I use it for my little girls to ride in while I walk with Cory and Mya to School and back. It's about 1 1/2 mile round trip to the school and back and the idea is that I would do that twice a day. When the weather is nice I do that 3 to 4 days a week. It's cold enough right now I don't want to go outside unless I really have to. Actually I haven't wanted to exercise, I guess I am in a slump. I decided I needed some motivation. I decided that since I love my husband and I want him to have something nice to look at and not my flabby body. That sounds silly but that was motivation enough.

I also had car problems with my van. It would sometimes start and sometimes not. I could always get it to start on the 2nd or 3rd try but I was worried my luck would run out and eventually I would be stuck somewhere. The best time of day to take my van in would be when I only have the two girls but I didn't want to bother anyone with helping me get to the auto shop and back home. So I decided to walk. Yesterday when I went to drop the van off I kept track of the distance and it was a little over 3 miles. It was no problem and I made sure DH left me the Ipod touch so Em and Ballerina would have something to do otherwise they end up fighting a lot when they are in the stroller a long time. Walking home from the shop was no problem. Today I had to walk the kids to school then walk back to the shop to pick up the van. In all I think I walked 4 1/2 miles. This time was more up hill so I got a pretty good work out. I was joking with my sister that I could be the next Keizer icon.

I would like to have a nicer looking tummy and it seems like a worthwhile goal since my baby is 3 1/2 and I don't plan on having any more. Now I need to come up with some kind of plan for how I am going to get these abs of steel. I think I might do some research today. I know quite a few ab exercises from all the videos I have done so I could probably come up with something on my own. I am also trying to watch what I eat now that the holidays are over. I have 4 more pounds to lose to be at my ideal weight and I know that isn't much but it's really stubborn and won't leave easily. Being in shape and healthy is way more important than how much I weigh at this point. Having rockin' abs would definitely be a bonus.

Even when I have been in shape my legs are not the sexiest which is fine with me. My arms do look nice when they are more tone. My second motivation is our trip to Fiji this summer and I am hoping to spend a significant amount of time laying around on the beautiful beaches so I want to look as fab as possible. I don't have unrealistic expectations of looking like a movie star or super model but I know what potential my body has. And I do have the benefit of having a husband who likes me just the way I am. I know that helps my self image a lot.

Some friends at church keep encouraging me to attend their exercise group they have at the church building. I did that all last year and my little girls were such a pain, hanging on me all the time. This year they have worked out a babysitting system but I still haven't felt like going and I don't know why because I think it would be a lot more fun to exercise with others. I guess I feel like that will take up a good portion of my day and end up being more stressful than beneficial. Plus up to this point I haven't had Ballerina fully potty trained and I didn't want to deal with her and have the whole thing be a waste of my time. I have been pretty protective of my time lately. I don't know how effective it's been. I don't get a rush from being busy and going lots of places all the time and dealing with crying and the fights so I try not to go anywhere unless the benefit out weighs the trouble it takes to get there. I assume anyone with little kids knows what I am talking about.