Overhead squats. Snatch squats.

I think overhead and snatch squats are so hard to be successful at. One thing I can do is:: practice. I read some tips online how to improve. Yep. Practice.

Today at Hydro, we are gonna do this:

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Burpees
Kettlebell swings 35/53

Then immediately do double unders

12 minute cut off.

Hoping I'm able to do double unders without too many problems.

Today's temperature is COLD. It feels like -15 with the wind chill. Ew. Like my neighbor, Jason, was saying the other day - not looking forward to MUD (gas&water) bill. And another thing they put a rate increase in electricity bill. Nice. Oh well.

Later people.

Update: double unders - fail. Did 100 singles instead. Finished in 9:12.

Pic of Dawn and I. I heart her shirt. Hehe.

Diet Coke and Donuts Freak

^^ NOT ANYMORE! ^^

Diet Coke. Diet Coke. I used to drink Diet Coke just like it was "water."  Every day on my way to work, I had a can of Diet Coke. At work, they have Diet Coke which I often buy for $1.25.  After work is done, I go home and have a Diet Coke before taking a nap.  After waking up, I have another Diet Coke.  Get the hint that I was HOOKED to Diet Coke?  I even got a Diet Coke t-shirt for Christmas.  That is really funny because after Christmas in 2012, I decided I needed to stop drinking Diet Coke and drink a lot of water instead. In the month of January, I have had only 2 bottles of Diet Coke and I shared them with Dick.  A huge change, but for good reasons. I noticed that whenever I drink Diet Coke, I always end up hungry and wanting to eat more.

For a long time, I knew diet sodas aren't good for you...... Empty calories.  Aspartame.  Risk of heart disease.  Causes headaches.  Caffeinated.  Risk of obesity.  And many more.  Why was I poisoning myself when I get one chance in life!? :P So, from now on, I will just drink one or two Diet Coke cans/bottles a month which is better than 6+ a day.  Crazy.

Diet Coke with bacon?? I love bacon, but I don't think I would want to drink bacon flavored Diet Coke.

Donuts.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE Hy-Vee and Casey's donuts.  In the past maybe 5 years, Dick and I would go to Hy-Vee or Casey's to get some donuts about 2-3 times a week after work.  Yep, that much.  I love the taste of their donuts, but I hated how I felt afterwards.  That terrible bloating feeling. Yuck.  Again, after Christmas in 2012, I decided NO more donuts.  They're gross.  I just need to remind myself they're gross and not worth in my life (even though I miss them .. the sweetness taste). Looking at the donuts pictures below (especially the Hy-Vee ones) sure make me hungry for one, but I'm proud of myself for not having one for about a month since my dad got the family Daylight Donuts during Christmas.  I can't eat just one - gotta have two or three.  Blechhhh.  These days, I make an egg sandwich with wheat english muffin or have an oatmeal.

Hy-Vee Donuts

Casey's Donuts

 Willpower.  Yep.  That's all there is to it.

Til then.

What's it like to be deaf in my words?

This is how I feel .. Some other deaf people and I may have different perspectives so don't think we are all the same. :)

I'm watching a tv show that looks interesting. It doesn't have captions.

I need to get my fiancé's attention and he's nowhere to be found. I have to look in each room to look for him so I can ask or tell him something simple.

There's a severe thunderstorm going on during the night. I'm tired. I went to bed hoping Dick and I won't be flown away to a different state due to a tornado.

I go up to a cashier at McDonald's asking for paper and pen to write the order down. He or she tends to misunderstand what I was trying to 'say.' Getting a little fed up, I had to move my lips slowly P-a-p-e-r p-e-n. One time I had my purse with me and I usually bring pen with me but I don't use it because I'm selfish. :) One stupid lady got all pissed at me and pointed at my purse saying 'you have one!' I just stood there waiting for a pen for a long time. too bad. Really, they should be able to provide what I need. Paper and pen can be found pretty much everywhere, right?

Every time I go into a store, especially the mall ones, the employees ALWAYS ask 'May I help you with anything?' Or 'is there anything specific you were looking for?' Or whatever they ask. I always sign I'm deaf or give a gesture out saying I'm ok. Know what their responses usually are? Oh I'm sorry. I hate pity. Why are they sorry? Embarrassed they talked to me? Sorry I'm deaf? I dont know. Well, I'm sorry you're hearing.

Dick and I enjoy going to places together. People go up to us telling us stuff. No eye contact. So I had to wave to get their attention to let them know we are deaf. They look at Dick and started to talk to him. He said I'm deaf too. They just looked and walked away.

What is the radio for? I never use it in my car.

I can feel the music. I can dance, but I'm shy. Maybe after 10, 11 cans or bottles of beer, I'll dance the night away. Ha.

Dick and I go to Crossfit. We miss a lot of information but do we complain? No. A discount would be nice because we don't get 100% of what the coaches are saying. Ha ha. Just kidding. No pity allowed. I think we pretty much get 20%, more or less, of what the coaches are saying.

Everyday at work, there's a safety meeting or whatever it is called at the beginning before we all go to work. Do we get all of the information of what is being said? No. Having an interpreter would be nice but silly since the meeting usually lasts for about 5-10 minutes. At least, our boss knows a little bit of sign and he always print paperwork out summarizing what will be talked about at the mini meeting, but still, that's not the same.

Softball. I love softball. It's my passion. I tend to play with hearing players because of the competition. I really hate when I'm feeling left out. I go home and cry once in awhile. Not cry, but feeling disappointed, mainly. I never know what the score is. I always have to ask what's the score and that's getting old. People always laugh and I'm like, what are you laughing about? What are you talking about? I just don't let it bother me till I go home and talk to Dick about it. I then realize I'm thankful to have the skills I have because I'm sure there are people out there that think deaf people can't do it.

I drive my own motorcycle. Some say, how did you get a motorcycle license? Um. Really? I can read. I can see. I "hear" with my eyes.

I drive a stick shift. How? Practice. I'm used to it. I learned from my dad when I was 11.

Going to a movie theatre is tough. We have to use this rear whateveritscalled caption view. It's better than nothing, I guess. I'm sure people giggle at us and wonder what that is for. Duh, we are deaf and need to understand the movie better. We mostly rent movies or watch on Netflix which is easier.

Ok, that's all for now. There are so many obstacles/barriers out there but we just stay strong. Attitude is everything. Being positive helps. It is what it is.

Nutrition

www.balancedbites.com/GUIDE/BalancedBitesNutritionGuide.pdf (copy and paste, obviously)

Here's a good website you can take a quick look at and it pretty much explains what you should have on your plate. I don't follow 100% but I've been getting better. A lot better than what I was at this time of last year.

Every woman should know how to clean and no, I'm not talking about cleaning homes. Crossfit term.

Animals, plants and water are what you should be putting in your mouth.

Small weight loss. Inches down.

Sometimes I don't like the scale. The number means nothing. So that's why it is very important to measure yourselves. I lost about 2.5 inches in my waist area since I've started crossfit. Dick and I have been eating a lot at home. We were so bad with eating out last year. It has all to do with our laziness. Don't feel like cooking. You don't know what restaurants put in their food - seasonings, dressings, all that extra calories so screw it .. Eating at home is the best way to keep healthy, in my opinion. The dishwasher is really busy these days. Ha!!! Oh, yea, a lot of things is being recycled - milk jugs, almond milk carton, so many things. I hope you recycle. A little bit of recycling or a recycle freak. Either works for me. Better than nothing!

Here's a silly pic of me with my jeans. Still kind of tight in the thigh area, but that doesn't bother me. I used to use the 2nd hole in my belt. Now I use the 3rd hole. Call me weird, but that little thing makes me happy.

I used to weigh 156 when I first started crossfit back in November. I'm at 149 now.

Today's WOD

Since Dick and I were not able to go to Crossfit Hydro, we looked a few WODs up online. We decided to go to Blue Moon and do dumbbell thrusters along with 5 burpees at every minute. Dick grabbed 35# for each hand and I grabbed 25#. That was a tough one. I kept going and had to do 3 burpees for the last 3 rounds. Our goal was to get 50 thrusters. Dick couldn't finish it (the burpees) so he stopped doing those and did thrusters instead to reach 50. I did it and ended up with 13:38 on the clock. We were going to do 100. Forget it. Maybe next time.  We went to Dick's to get an AB roller. We did a few of these and we were too pooped. Ha. I also got softball shoes, well, lacrosse to be specific, for softball season coming up. I've realized I didn't like the turf shoes. Hard to run fast in those. They're still nice, but just not my type. Originally $64.99, bought them for $8.75. Super awesome deal!!! Awesomeness.

Till then.

Last Sunday on the 20th, I got my very first experience competing in the team crossfit games.  Now, that was something NEW to me.  Boy, was I nervous!  If it was a softball tournament, it wouldn't be a huge deal since softball is my thing.  Crossfit isn't.  Dan (one of my teammates) asked if I would be interested .. I looked at some of their requirements such as swim 50M, lift from ground to overhead, kettlebell swings, double unders, some more I can't remember.  I didn't exactly want to join at the beginning because of the swimming part.  Just because I was worried of what I would look like in a swim suit. Ha! Definitely self-conscious, lol.  So I got over it quickly and told Dan, yes, I would gladly participate.  It was a fun experience. I got to ride on Stephanie's back for about 100M, do burpees, box jumps, 35# kettlebell swings (9-15-21 reps), got a personal record of 115# power clean and push press, toes to bar, swim with a 35# KB underwater, squats, etc.  So if you ever feel too comfortable in your life, GET OUT.  I got out and did Crossfit.  I was SO hard on myself than I thought, and doing Crossfit has helped me a lot and be proud of what I've accomplished so far.  At the beginning, I admit, I wanted to be as strong as a lot of people at the box.  I came to a realization that I am a beginner and I will build my strength. I did look at others' weight and was in envy of others that they can lift so much while I couldn't.  I've came a long way (3 months of Crossfit, I think) .. I remember I couldn't clean and jerk 65 pounds.  Now I am able to do 115#.  Awesome.  Super proud.  I did bench press 115#.  Something I have never done in the past.  There are A LOT of things I need to work on, but that's okay.  I love Crossfit no matter what.  Few of my goals: get a RX'd workout, do a pistol, do a headstand push-ups, do better with kipping pull-ups, get a muscle-up (a way later goal, ha).  I had 14 double unders in a row.  That was huge for me.

I have a couple of pictures, but I'm too lazy to upload them to my computer.  They're on my iPad, though.

My team:  Dan, Steph, Ross and myself.  CROSSFIT HYDRO CRAZED!!

So, on February 3rd, it will be Dick's and my last day of Crossfit at Crossfit Hydro.  We will be going to another box which is located Council Bluffs called Crossfit Vise.  The main reason is because they will provide a class at 9:30am which would be perfect since we work really early hours in the morning, usually get off at 7-7:30am .. They also had a super awesome deal.  We also liked the space.  Looking forward to classes .. We are doing on-ramp classes again, but that's ok.  As long as we are learning so much. We were super sad to announce to the Crossfit Hydro community but we had to do what was the best for us.

TMI, I gotta poop.