A New Vision

Sooooo...there have been a couple things I've realized I need to change about me, or at least change my perception on.

1. I've done 20 years of Taekwondo mixed with some kickboxing, Hapkido, Karate and extreme martial-arts. I'm thinking that I need to tick that off the ol' bucket list. This is probably the hardest and most painful choice I have made. I have realized that I'm going to have to stop seeing myself as an injured martial-artist. It is making me depressed thinking about being a martial-artist who can no longer perform. Instead, I've decided that I'm just not going to think of myself as a martial-artist any longer. Time to hang up the belt and say that I've been there and done that. I will still throw some punches and kicks when I can, but my training days are over. Time to focus on something I CAN do.

Bowing out

2. Since April I have been trying to slim down. I've been using the number on the scale to determine my success. The problem that I have is that I LOVE to eat, but I HATE cardiovascular workouts. Being that I am very goal oriented, I have been stressing and upset that I can not reach my goal weight. Even while I was good about eating right and exercising, I never dropped those last 10 pounds. I stopped lifting weights as much as I used to thinking that it would help with my back, and that muscle weighs more than fat. The result was just a soft, squishy version of myself. I am NOT a skinny chick. It's time to hit the weights again. I'm putting on muscle now, and I feel much better. Now I have to find some clothes that fit.

Need muscles like his ;-)

3. I remember having the biggest crush on my uncle when I was about 5 years old. Don't worry, he's an uncle by marriage. Anyway, Uncle Danny is a farmer. My favorite vacations were spent on his farm. Not just because my Aunt and Uncle were some cool people, but the animals and being outside were always so much fun. I also remember that whenever people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always answered that I wanted to be a farmer. Time passed, and when you grow up in the city, the idea of being a farmer isn't something that occurs to you.

Now that I've been propagating plants and growing stuff, I really enjoy creating gardens and more plants. I suck at growing vegetables, but other plants and trees I love. I don't think that I could have a whole farm, per se, but having my own tiny farm in my backyard is something I should focus on...for fun. It will be a nice release and escape for me to grow things. I also love animals. I want to find a way to either breed puppies, dog sit, or work for a vet.

My family on my Aunt and Uncles farm...I'm the little girl

So those are the 3 things I am changing my views on. It's time to do things that I can do and that make me happy.

Free Pineapples and Gardening

Back in April I decided that I wanted to see if I could actually grow pineapple plants from just the tops of pineapples. It worked! Look at them now, they have grown so much:

All I did was cut the green tops off of the pineapple, put it in a bowl with water for a day or two, and then plant it in the ground. The only reason I put them in a bowl of water for a day or two was that gave me time to actually find a place to plant them and then find the time to dig them into the ground. I only soaked the bottom of the top (where the green meets the yellow).

When I found a nice sunny spot for them, I just put the bottom part of the green top straight into the ground. I didn't even bother with special soil, just good ole Tampa sand dirt clay whatever. I didn't fertilize and only watered if it didn't rain in a week or so.    SO COOL!

I love to garden! I love digging in the dirt, planning out where to dig, and growing stuff. It's both relaxing and rewarding for me. I've tried several times to grow fruits and vegetables, but I do not have any luck with that, but I do really well with plants and trees. I did a ton of gardening in the spring. I planted several fruit trees, tropical plants, and flowers.

My garden before I planted

Also, this year I dug a vegetable garden on the side of my house, the only thing I could grow were weeds. The strawberries, cucumbers, and melons grew but never fruited. The carrots and radishes started to grow, but never matured. The rest of the plants just died. 

Cross with his plant

Cross, however, picked out a banana pepper plant to grow in my garden. The only edible vegetable we got this year was banana peppers. Not that we got to eat those, as soon as Cross picked them he washed them and ate them immediately. Banana peppers are his favorite.

Anyway, I miss gardening. I was able to do a bunch this past spring, but now my back is hurting too much. I can't bend, lift, dig, or carry bags of mulch or dirt. It's yet another hobby of mine that I need to replace because of this stupid injury.

Speaking of injury, today I woke up in a little less pain and was able to swim laps comfortably. YEAH!

Today's Workout:

5 minutes freestyle (have to do by time because I lose count)
50 meters free pull
50 meters free kick
5 minutes breaststroke
50 meters breast pull
50 meters breast kick
50 meters backstroke (I really hate backstroke, that's why I only do 50s)
50 meters dolphin kick
and repeat until I got kicked out of my lane for campers.