Little bit of this, little bit of that

I headed to the gym this morning and did the following Tabata:

20 seconds 135# deadlift
10 seconds off
20 seconds burpees (as many as you can)
10 seconds off

repeat 8 times

I am not 100% confident in the number of reps I performed b/c I kept them in my head while moving from one round to the next. You can imagine, keeping 16 numbers in your head is not an easy task when you're just fighting to keep going.

Deadlifts
5,4,4,4,4,4,3,2

Burpees
9,8,7,7,7,6,6,6

In total, the workout is only 8 minutes long, but let me tell you, 3 minutes in, I wanted to die. It was tough. 135# deadlift is a lot for me so I'm pretty pumped about doing it so many times.

On the finance front- I haven't had much to blog about. We get paid every other week and of course, we get paid the same week. So there's not much activity except twice per month or every other week.

Our tenants in our MI home will be paying their rent today and I'll be sending that to our debt. $1,100! Wahoo! It's tough when you get to the largest debt like this and it takes so long or goes so slow. But, we're still chugging along... slow and steady.

You guys have heard me mention time and time again how awesome Mint.com is right? I mean, I love this website. It reinforces the nerd in me!

However, I have a complaint! Yup, that's right... Mint.com programmers, if you're reading this, I have an issue. Normally on the 30th or 31st of the month, I go into Mint.com and create the budget for the coming month. It's a very simple task and it saves the month prior so there's usually very little tweaking.

BUT it won't let me create August 2009's budget in there because when I click on the "August" tab, it takes me back to my 2008 budget. While this might be handy for some people, I would like to create my new budget and don't really care what I spent last August. And, it says, "August 2008" so it's not like I can just change it.

So, for you blogville, I created a spreadsheet to show you what my budget is for August:

Our total debt reduction in August should be $3,525!

Our home in MI might need a few repairs, so that debt reduction number might be slightly lower. I'm hoping we can use overtime pay or other income to pay for the repairs without taking away from our snowball. When I create my budget, I only budget our salaries. I don't include our overtime pay or Michael's LA Fitness pay. That is "extra" and we tend to throw it toward debt when it comes in, but I don't plan for it.

Conference call in two seconds, gotta run.
Bye!
Kelsalynn

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Not just a restaurant

Remember when I was tagged and asked to confess 10 things about myself?

One of my confessions was that I'm not very smart.

Today, I have an excellent example of how stupid and ditzy I can be.

It's embarrassing to admit, but you peeps are my blog followers, so I know you will love me when all is said and done.

Someone made a reference today to how they were at a beach and it was a Melting Pot. I said I didn't understand and all hell broke loose.

I admit, the only time I've heard "Melting Pot" is in reference to the restaurant, which is mighty delicious might I add.

Everyone proclaimed, "You've never heard the term 'melting pot' before?"

No. I haven't.

I come home and tell Michael about the conversation at work and how I felt stupid for never hearing this term. Here's how the conversation went:

"Honey, I embarrassed myself today."

"Yeah, so what else is new..."

"Good point, but this time it was pretty bad..." and I continue to tell him the story of the melting pot.

He replies, "You've never heard 'America is a melting pot' before?"

No!

He continues, "I hear the term 'melting pot' probably once a month somewhere."

"No way. Where? Where am I when you hear this because I don't hear it?"

He contiues to tell me that he also heard it in 8th grade, 9th grade, and probably 10th grade history class.

I was a straight-A student in high school. How did I miss this? Was I sleeping that day in history class?

How am I so ditzy that I have not heard this term that apparently my husband, who I live with and we do a lot of things together, hears once each month?

How have I made it 28 years of life without hearing a term that is so common and is considered 'general knowledge.'

How do I correct this? And do I care enough to? I would like to not look like an idiot but I don't know what I don't know.

Since I'm talking about my faults, let me say that one of my strengths is my ability to laugh at myself and shrug things off... so it's not like the people around me thought I was embarrassed, we were all able to laugh at my expense and I'm okay with that.

Confessional complete.
Kelsalynn

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Run

The WOD today called for a 10K run.

Instead, I did two different CFE (CrossFit Endurance) workouts on the thrill mill.

First, 12% incline, 5.8 mph, 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off for 8 rounds.

One of my favorites so I do it whenever I can.

Second, I did sprints but in a new fashion-
3 rounds:
10 seconds on, 10 seconds off
20 seconds on, 20 seconds off
30 seconds on, 20 seconds off
40 seconds on, 20 seconds off
50 seconds on, 20 seconds off

So you sprint further each time with less rest in between. It was hard.

Round 1= 7.7 mph
Round 2= 8.0 mph
Round 3= 8.5 mph

Then I stretched my hips and calves and lower half for a good 10 minutes.

Good endurance day.

Kelsalynn

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Breaking records

No, no, no, the record breaking has nothing to do with finances or fitness.

This is my THIRD post of the DAY! #3 for the day! Can you believe it? I think that has to be a record.

I understand that you probably have a life and despite what I tell myself, you do not check my blog repeatedly throughout the day. It's okay, I understand, which is why I'm informing you of my blog trifecta so you can go catch yourself up.

But if you don't want to, here's a quick summary:

First, I blogged after my workout this morning. "Cindy" was the name of the WOD and for the most part, I did okay, but in the end she prevailed by torturing my poor hands. At the end of the post, I mentioned how I was getting slightly annoyed with work.

A few hours later, my day only continued to get worse and I needed to vent.

This brings me to now... I'm home from work and feeling much better. I went to the gym after work for workout #2 of the day! It was honestly the best thing for me! I had some serious aggression from the bad day I was having and the workout did the trick.

Here's a description of the WOD:

With a continuously running clock, do one clean-and-jerk the first minute, two clean-and-jerks the second minute, three the third minute... continuing as long as you are able. (Until the clock beats you essentially)

I ended up completing 8 rounds + 5 extra reps of the ninth round. It was fun! The first 4 rounds are fairly easy and then round 5 and beyond are drastically more difficult.

My weight was 65#.

What a roller coaster of a day. It makes me wonder what I did before I had workouts to calm my nerves. Probably take it out on my husband... I should give him a big hug and kiss... he deserves it!

Until tomorrow (I promise I'll only post ONCE!)
Kelsalynn

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Oh my gosh

Can anything else seriously go wrong today?

I'm so frustrated at work right now I could scream.

I just shut the door to my office b/c I need a minute. I tried to call Michael but he must still be at work. The next best thing? Blogville! I can't scream or yell or bitch over the phone so typing is the next best form of venting!

And since I don't have a car, I'm stuck here. I can't even go home for lunch or run to Target to just walk around for a bit.

I love my job most days but today I hate it. I hate stupid people who keep making mistakes. I hate reminding others to do THEIR job. I hate putting out fires on the back end because other people were too lazy up front to prevent the fire in the first place.

*sigh*

I haven't been this pissed off at work in a really long time.

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Cindy

Yesterday's WOD called for "Cindy" but since my hands were still all blistered up, I did deadlifts instead.

I was smart yesterday.

Today I am stupid.

I thought, "Oh, I'll just tape up my hands and be able to do Cindy."

Stupid. Stupid me.

Cindy calls for:
AMRAP20 (as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes) of:
5 pull-ups
10 push-ups
15 squats

Before we left the house, Michael taped up my hands really well... I thought for sure it was going to work.

Again, stupid me.

The tape only lasted through 3 rounds so I just ripped it off. I made it 9 more rounds with blisters galore and my hands killing me.

In all, I completed 12 rounds or
60 pull-ups
120 push-ups (non-modified!)
180 squats

I'm proud of that but I know I could have done better if my hands weren't killing me. Right now, between both my hands, I have 5 band-aids. I look like I do cage fighting after work each night! At least that's what I tell people when they ask.

The last time I did Cindy was May 13th and boy have I improved since then!

Sure, I completed 17 rounds the last time, but I did ASSISTED pull-ups on level 10! So, I only did 5 rounds less this time around but did pull-ups all by myself. I'm pumped about that.

And, I know this is crazy, but I'm going back to the gym after work tonight to do a WOD with Michael. I'm a day behind so I am doing two today to get back on track.

Plus, today has been a HORRENDOUS day at the office and I need a workout to relieve some of the aggression I have right now. Sometimes, I'm amazed that I work with adults b/c some of them act so petty and so ridiculous. It's days like today that I wish I had a car because I would seriously leave at noon and just call it a day.

Until tonight,
Kelsalynn

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Psychotic deadlifts

This morning's WOD called for 7x 1rep max of deadlifts.

The last time I did this workout, here's how I did:
145
155
165
175
185
195
205

Today, here's how I did:
165
175
185
195
200
205
210f

So, identical pratically. I couldn't get the 210 up, but I wonder if I would have waited a bit longer and given my hands a break I might have done it. The hardest part with deadlifts is actually holding onto the bar and not dropping it. My hands are so weak and 200+ pounds is a lot!

oh well, 210 is mine next time baby.

By the way, remember here when I said I wanted to create October's budget but told myself "No!" and to stop being psycho????

I'm officially psycho. I couldn't help it. The psycho in me prevailed and October's budget has been created. October has the potential to be the FIRST MONTH where we do not send every extra penny to debt. We might be debt free in October which is an awesome feeling... time moves so slow sometimes!

Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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Great Saturday

Today was a pretty phenomenal day. I woke up at 7 AM just b/c I'm used to waking up at 5:00 so 7:00 is sleeping in. I took Michael to work at 8:30, then came home and slept for another hour. Gotta love naps on the weekends man.

After grocery shopping, I headed to the gym to pick up Michael and workout.

The WOD called for:
AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) in 20 minutes of:
10 wallballs (20#)
10 incline sit-ups
10 back extensions

It was my first attempt at using the 20# ball. We have 11# or 20# and usually I stick with the 11#. It might not seem like a big difference, but when you start throwing it up, those 9 lbs really take their toll.

Michael took a video of me doing the workout with his phone. I worn you, the quality isn't the best in some spots...

I ended up completing 13 rounds! That means, in 20 minutes, I did 130 reps of wallballs, sit-ups, and back extensions. I still can't believe it myself. I'm totally proud of myself b/c it wasn't easy and in comparing how I did to others on the CrossFit website, I really kicked butt!

From there we showered and got ready to go to our friend's house for a BBQ. Here are a few pictures... enjoy!













Nikki calling "Next" on the drums...


Sunday is a rest day! Wahoo!
I hope everyone has a good weekend!
KelsaLynn

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Cardio and two-a-day

UPDATE*** Tonight's WOD "Lynne" was awesome! Lynne is 5 rounds of max # of bench press and max # of pull-ups. I did 75# and kipping pull-ups. Last time, I did 65# and assisted pull-ups. Here's how I did:
6/6
7/6
5/7
5/6
6/7
I'm considering bumping it up to even 85# next time. My blister is killing me and definitely didn't help today. I probably could have done better but it was hard to kip with a huge blister on your palm. I taped it and wore gloves but still...
*************************

Today's WOD is "Lynne" which I've been really excited to do again. The last time I did Lynne, it was my first time ever doing a bench press so I was hesitant and really short-changed myself.

Because it's a bench press, I really need a spotter so I'm waiting until after work tonight to do the WOD with Michael.

However, since I get dropped off at the gym early each day, I decided to do some cardio this morning. It's funny how some days my hips and knees are fine and other days, I can barely walk let alone run. Today, they were just dandy. I did two different tabata workouts on the treadmill. A tabata is anything 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off.

First, 12% incline, 5.5-6 mph, 8 rounds. I can tell I haven't done this in a long time, it was more difficult than I remember.

Then, I did 8 rounds of 20-second sprints at 9 mph.

I was drenched.

I had some time left so I decided to work with the jump rope. Have I mentioned that this girl cannot do a double under with a jump rope??? That's when you jump and the rope has to go under you twice before your feet hit the ground. For most people, this exercise is fairly simple. For KelsaLynn, it's been quite challenging.

And for the first 5 minutes of practicing, not much had improved. I still could NOT do a double under!

I took a few seconds to shorten the jump rope by about 2 inches... I realized it was gathering on the ground when my arms were at my sides... probably too long.

VOILA!

I ended up curing my ailment of not being able to do a fricken double under!!! I ended up doing a bunch of them just to make sure it wasn't an accident. I still can't do two consecutively, there's a little hop I have to take in the middle, but it's a hell of a lot better than before.

Sounds stupid, but I'm so relieved! I could not figure out what the hell was wrong with me that I could not do one...I mean, I'm fairly coordinated, yet I can't jump rope?

What a great way to start this Friday. I'll post later tonight too when I get back from doing Lynne. PS: I'm going to kick her ass.

TGIF!

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New favorite?

I LOVED today's workout. Absolutely loved it.

I'm not sure why. It's all movements I've done before- deadlifts, hang power cleans, and push jerks.

The name of the workout is "DT."
5 rounds:
65# deadlift, 12 reps
65# hang power clean, 9 reps
65# push jerk, 6 reps

My time? 16:44! It was hard, but fun. I felt like my legs were getting a good workout during the deadlifts. My arms were getting fatigued from the cleans and the jerks. And the last two exercises are very powerful movements so that was a good workout too! It was just awesome.

I'm definitely on a high right now!
Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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Fun with Numbers...

I'm obsessed.

Seriously.

I look at our budget multiple times each day. I've always enjoyed crunching numbers, afterall, I'm an accountant by profession and I honestly love my job.

When it comes to our own personal finances, I can't stop crunching the numbers and trying to make them better.

I have our budgets for August and September already completed and while things will pop up and I'll likely need to adjust them as it gets closer, the foundation is there. And I could have kept going. I wanted to do October's budget but told myself no and to stop being psycho.

I've kept track of every payment I have sent to our debt above the minimums. It's fun to see the list grow and grow, knowing very soon I won't have to add anything to it!

Just for fun, I totaled up each month's worth of payments and here's what I came up with:

Our average snowball per month has been $3,858! That's crazy to me!

The car accident happened in February so I was holding onto cash just in case we ended up owing money to our lender. When I found out we were good, I sent that money to debt in March, which is why March is so high.

I also like seeing how little we're actually obligated to send to everybody else each month compared to when we started.


And if all of these little charts don't illustrate well enough how obsessed I really am, let me tell you something else. After our debt is paid off, we need to save 3-6 months of expenses as our Full Emergency Fund. I already have calculated what these two numbers are and a separate spreadsheet created to track our progress. After that, we start contributing 15% to retirement and again, the spreadsheet is created and the numbers calculated so I know MONTHLY how much we need to contribute to both the 401k and ROTH IRA's.

Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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Blister

Oh CrossFit, how I hate that I love thee so...

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What it's all about...

Which should I talk about first- fitness or finance? I have a little bit of both...

Okay, since most of you started reading this blog when it was about a runner (what's running?), I'll document the workouts I did yesterday and today first.

Yesterday's was fairly easy- 60 seated muscle-ups for time. I did this same workout on May 29th, and completed the muscle-ups in 6:39.

Yesterday, however, my time was 4:42! That's almost two whole minutes faster!

A muscle-up is when you pull yourself up on rings (first a pull-up, then a push-up from the rings so your arms are straight), then lower yourself back down (tricep dip motion). So, it's essentially three different arm exercises in one, plus one hell of a core workout. Since I can't do a full muscle-up I do them seated, which is just one version.

I guess it's time I bump it up a notch- the seated muscle-ups are getting a little too easy for me. The next version is jumping, so I guess I'll go with that the next time this workout comes around.

Today I did Nifty Fifty. This workout is a killer, but one of my favorites! It calls for:
50 box jumps
50 pull-ups
50 kettlebell swings
50 walking lunges
50 knees to elbows
50 push press
50 back extensions
50 wall balls
50 burpees
100 jump ropes (I can't do 50 double unders)

When I did this workout in April, my time was 20:20, but so much has changed since then- I knew my time would be slower today.

Back then, I did assisted pull-ups whereas today I did all 50 un-assisted! I used our kettlebell in April which is only 26 pounds and today I used a 35# dumbbell. Finally, I used an 11# ball today for the wall-balls where before I used only 6 lbs.

My time today was 39:16- a hell of a lot slower, but considering that I increased weight in 3 categories and did the pull-ups on my own, I'm proud of that time. I also forgot my water bottle so I kept stopping at the drinking fountain.

Okay, on the Finance front- I sent $1,600 to my POS student loan today! WAHOO!!!

I think these next couple of months are going to be the hardest. We're so close to being debt free, but not quite. Patience is not one of my strengths.

Total Paid Off so far = $52,192.75
86%
This also marks a milestone- we owe less than $10,000! We're in SINGLE DIGITS! YIPPY!


Amount remaining = $8,760

Eeek! So close...

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Flagstaff

Sorry for the lack of posts... I'll try to make up for it with this post and lots of pictures!!!

Today, Michael and I headed up north to Flagstaff for a day trip of hiking. It's been 115 degrees for weeks now, maybe even a month. We really needed to get out of the city and go someplace cooler.

The drive up north is almost 3 hours. It's amazing how the scenery changes in such a short drive- from flat and desert (no trees) to mountains galore and lush green everywhere. I love it!

We hiked the Inner Basin Trail which essentially goes up the center of all the moutains so you're surrounded by them. It's actually 3.5 miles one-way, but storm clouds rolled in after 2.25 miles so we chose to turn back. I'm glad we did- we got sprinkled on slightly, but nothing we couldn't handle.

The hike starts at 8,700 feet and we were at 9,800 feet when we decided to turn around. So in just over 2 miles, we climbed 1,100 feet! It was crazy!~ The trip back was easy that's for sure - all down hill!!!

Here's some pictures! ENJOY!

Here we go...



Getting closer... see the difference in landscape?



The view pulling into the trailhead



Getting ready...






Welcome to the Inner Basin Trailhead!



Randoms while hiking:









I got a little somethin-somethin in my shoe...



Michael pulling a huge thorn from the bottom of my shoe:






My trusty navigator



Feeling on top of the world when you're alone in nature:









From inside the basin:















Our view on the way out of the trailhead:






Okay, let's start the trek home now...



Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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Quickie

This morning's workout:

7 x 1 rep hang power cleans
65
70
75
80
85
90
95f

I couldn't get the 95 up, but I did get the 90! Last time I did this workout in May, I couldn't get the 90 up, so it's a small improvement.

Kelsalynn

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Nancy

Hey! I headed to the gym this morning! I bet you're totally surprised!!! (note the sarcasm)

I completed "Nancy" which calls for:
5 rounds
400m sprint
15 overhead squats at 45#

My time was 19:45

An overhead squat is where you hold the bar over your head and do a squat. Sounds easy, but when you have the bar over your head, your center of gravity is totally off. So when you squat, you have to engage your core, abs, and back unbelievably just to do the squat. I think it's more of a core workout than it is a leg workout, although it is a squat.

Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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Consistent

Today's WOD was one of my favorites-

5 rounds of:
30 GHD sit-ups
25 back extensions

I'm not sure why it's so fun for me- it might be because it's one of the only workouts I actually beat Michael's time in! He's typically faster and stronger than me, but for this WOD, I beat him. I'm not sure how I do it, but I also think it's a lot of fun!

The last time I did the workout was May 14th and I did it in 11:30. The time before that was April 1st and my time was 13:03. I definitely saw a huge improvement from April to May, but I remember feeling like I was FLYING in May when I did it in 11:30.

Last night, I thought to myself, how can I possibly do that workout any faster? It doesn't help that when I blogged about it the last time, I asked myself the same question. I barely took any breaks and kept a steady pace (according to myself back in May!).

Crap.

Well, off to the gym I went and I knew I had to kick butt!

And I did.

But my time was still 11:30!

EXACTLY!!!

It's a tie!

I did the WOD in the exact same time as before- not one second faster, or one second slower. At least I didn't get slower, that's important.

So, next time, maybe I need to consider adding a weight to my chest or holding onto one when I do the back extensions. I'm sure my time will suffer, but it will be from stepping up the workout as a whole so I'm okay with that.

Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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Thrusters

Back to the swing of things after the enjoyable and restful weekend.

I did go to the gym on both Saturday and Sunday, but I didn't work out. Instead, I kept time for Michael and "coached" him through his workouts. It was weird standing there in jeans and a shirt!

I slept better last night than I have in a long time. I'm hoping my new routine has settled in and I'll start to feel more energized shortly.

This morning's WOD called for 7, 1-rep max of thrusters.

I love thrusters. You have to use your legs and upper body. To me, the motion of a thruster feels natural so it makes it more enjoyable. But man, once I add some weight, it gets tough (in a good way!).

Here's how I did:
75
80
85
90
95
100
105

This is a new max for me by 10 pounds! The last time I did 7, 1-rep maxes of a thruster, about 6 weeks ago, my max was only 95 pounds! Wahoo!

Congrats to Jen who completed her triathlon this weekend in under 3 hours! And Congrats to Stacy who completed her FIRST TRIATHLON ever! You guys ROCK!

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Our Budget

One of my bestest friends asked me to post my budget so here you go!! I'll try to give more details where necessary too.

Here's the snapshot from Mint.com:



1. Mortgage & Rent: Our rent for our AZ apartment is $1218.90 per month, our mortgage & Home Equity Loan for our house in Michigan is $1,006.12 but we collect $1,100 in rent from our tenants.

2. Groceries: This is all "store" stuff- toilet paper, deoderant, etc. not ONLY groceries. We spend $150 per week for both of us so normally $600 per month. According to the budgeting forums on Dave Ramsey's website, you should expect to spend $100/per person per month. That means Michael and I should only spend $200/month but I have no idea how we'd ever do that. But if you want to shoot for that, good luck! (Lexi, for you, you'd want to budget $400 according to this "rule of thumb" b/c you count kids the same as adults.)

3. Bills & Utilities: Our cell phone bill is $113 for both Michael and me- we use Sprint and we get unlimited everything so our bill is the same every month. We don't have a house phone. Our cable bill includes internet and DVR and is $69.31 every month. The condo we rent has an HOA and that HOA includes basic cable which we don't pay (the owners do) so that's why we can get expanded cable, internet, and DVR stuff for so cheap. Finally, SRP which is electricity. This bill is practically nothing for 8 months out of the year, so we're very lucky. There are 4 months or so of unbelievable heat and temps over 110 so our A/C runs non-stop. Our bill goes from $70 to $250.

4. Gas & Fuel: I budget $40/week for fuel.
5. Student Loan: My POS student loan payment of $106.36/month

6. Home Insurance: This is actually our renter's insurance bill we pay every 6 months, I just got the notice in the mail. It's $75 every 6 months... this is one of few bills that I don't save for monthly. I don't know why. I also got a $45/year premium notice last week for my jewelry insurance.

7. Service & Parts: I save $50/month for car repairs. Since our car is a beater and has 115,000 miles on it, something is bound to go wrong. This month, $30 of the $50 will go to an oil change, but the other $20 will go into our ING Savings account that is titled "Vehicle Repairs."

8. Personal Care: I save $50/month for personal care- this is me getting my hair done. I don't get my hair colored as often as I probably should, but it's just too damn expensive. I try to wait 3 months in between colorings so $150 for a cut, color, and eye brow waxing.

9. Spending Money: Michael gets $10/week for whatever he wants to do with it. The main reason for this is b/c I got sick of balancing the checkbook everytime he wanted to buy something and he didn't like always communicating every little purchase. So, it's handy for him to have some cash for whatever he wants.

10. Auto Insurance: We pay every 6 months but it works out to $35/month so I save this in ANOTHER ING savings account titled "Car Insurance."

11. Amusement: I just guess. I try to plan any nights out or dinner or a movie or whatever. I'm usually wrong, but if we go over, it's so minimal that it's usually not an issue.

12. Gift: This is different every month and it never fails that Michael forgets to tell me someone's birthday is. This $30 is $5 for a co-worker (we all throw in 5 bucks) and $25 for a gas card for the co-worker who gives me a ride home from work these days. A lot of people save monthly for Christmas gifts. We do not, but maybe we should. We don't spend a lot at that time of year like most people.

13. Shopping: Again, I try to plan this as much as possible. Michael's sunglasses broke. He just needs to replace the lenses so we budgeted $25.

14. Health & Fitness: Michael's gym membership at the fitness center near his work so he can exercise over his lunch break.

15. Movies & DVD's: We do Blockbuster online and this $18.40/month

16. $0 based items: The one thing with Mint is that if you don't have a category listed on your budget, but classify a transaction to that cateogory, it just won't show up. Yet to me, you're still "over" so I put a few recurring expenses as $0 (if unplanned) so I can see them each month.

17. Property taxes: Normally, each month we have to budget for property taxes for our MI home. Until last week, I didn't know how much this would be so I budgeted a lot. Since I over-saved, I did not have to save any more this month, but starting in August, our monthly budget will be $325.


As you probably read, I use ING Savings account to help me stay organized. I got this idea from someone and I love it. If you don't use ING and want to, let me know b/c we can each get a referral... but regardless, you totally should.

There are no fees at all and you can have as many accounts as you want. I have one for our "Emergency Fund", "Vehicle Repairs", "Car Insurance", "Personal Care, and "Property taxes." Each month I transfer the assigned amount from my checking at Bank of America to the appropriate account at ING.

When I make an appointment to get my hair done, for example, I transfer the amount back to my checking account and use my debit card.

Once we're debt free, I'll even have more accounts with titles such as, "New Furniture", "New Car", "Vacation Fund", etc.

Kelsalynn

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Rest

I took today off from working out. Michael didn't have to be at work as early as normal so we both slept in an extra 30 minutes or so and I skipped my workout.

I'm so glad.

After reading everyone's comments on my last post, I also decided to take Saturday and Sunday off. I honestly can't remember the last time I had a day off from working out- it's probably been 3 weeks. As diligent as I normally am with my workouts, and as intense as I am, I do not feel bad at all that I'm taking 3 days off in a row.

I'll get right back into things on Monday and hopefully not skip a beat!

Since I don't have a workout to blog about, I decided to put on my money cap and talk about finances!

With Shitty bank out of my life, I'm now working on slowly chipping away at my $11,350 student loan from ACS... Oh! And I decided instead of referring to the company as "ACS", it will now be known as POS (Piece Of Shit for anyone not following along...)!

As I was saying, my last remaining loan is $11,350 with POS. This was my very first loan ever! I've had it a long time and my payment is so low (only $106/month), I must have chosen a 30-year repayment period or something! I honestly don't remember but it's from my undergraduate degree so when I got my Master's, it was deferred... either way, we've been together a long time!

I sent them $1,000 yesterday so my balance is $10,350 and my debt payoff is at 83%! My payoff amount has now surpassed the $50K mark too! We've paid off $50,602.03!

In two weeks, I'll be sending another big check to them and I can't wait! We'll be in the SINGLE DIGITS!! Less than $10,000 left to payoff baby!!! I can't wait!

One thing that has been a motivator for me is to compare our budget from November/December 2008 to now. Even if we weren't getting out of debt, we've really learned to control our money better than ever and our expenses have drastically decreased as a result. Although all of our extra income is going to debt, I know that once the debt is gone, all of that "extra" will be going to our goals, to our dreams, to ourselves ... I love that we have more "extra" each month now than we did last year... soon, it will be more for US!

In November & December, for example, our budget was $4,000/month which included a car payment, student loan payments, personal training, and an average of $200/month in entertainment or fast food! $200 in Entertainment! I can't even believe that! What the hell were we doing? I don't remember our lives being any more fun at that time yet we were spending a heck of a lot more on "entertainment."

Our budget for the month of July is $2,900 and that amount even includes some expenses that are unique such as an extra $150 for utilities (it's the summer in AZ so our A/C runs non-stop), an extra $150 for groceries (5-week month for us), and an extra $75 for our renter's insurance due this month.

How much are your expenses each month? Is there anything you can eliminate to decrease your monthly expenses and free up more of your income?

I've said it before, but if you are not using Mint.com, you need to! It's AWESOME! I love it!

When you first register, it does take a little while to set up your accounts, so don't do it if you're rushed, you'll just get frustrated. I'd recommend giving yourself 30 minutes or so to just sit down and be patient while it accesses and downloads all of your activity.

But once you register your accounts, it's simple, easy to use, and totally worth the time invested to get it set up.

Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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What is wrong with me?

I've been exhausted lately. Last night, I went to bed early (somewhere around 9:00). I kept telling myself at 8:00 it was too early to go to bed, but after an hour of that, I decided to stop fighting it.

You'd think I'd wake up this morning feeling refreshed but nope! I hit snooze twice even, fighting the day.

I got to the gym and did a workout I've done before.
Four rounds:
400m sprint
50 squats

It's not an easy workout, but usually pretty quick. The last time I did it was on May 19th and you can read about it here.

My time on May 19th was 12:28 and I remember thinking then that I could do better.

Then why today was I Sucky McSuckerson????

My time today was 15:30! OUCH! A whole 3 minutes slower and I ran the first two rounds at 9.0mph & the last two at 8.5mph!! So I ran faster than last time yet my time was slower... comes down to the squats then. I guess my legs are more tired than I originally thought from the front squats I did two days ago-- even though I wanted to do more weight at the time.

Some random thoughts going on in my head:
*It's been 110-115 degrees here in the Valley this week, I wonder if this is affecting my energy levels while my body adjusts to the heat
*Since I have to be at the gym every morning regardless, I've worked out on days that should be rest days. I wonder if my body needs a break.
*I haven't been sleeping well... tossing and turning a lot, only half asleep.

Ah well. The weekend is just two days away! I can't wait!

Kelsalynn

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Nothing but love for Nate

I had a difficult time sleeping last night. I thought for sure when I woke up, that my workout was going to suck just because I was so groggy.

I was wrong.

Today's WOD was "Nate" and it called for-
2 Muscple-ups
4 Handstand Push-ups
8 Kettlebell swings- 35#

I can't do muscle-ups, so for every 1 muscle-up, I subbed 3 pull-ups & 3 tricep dips.

So my workout looked like:
6 pull-ups
6 dips
4 HPU
8 KB Swings

It's as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes and I completed 7 rounds plus 2 pull-ups or

44 pull-ups
42 dips
28 HPU
56 KB swings

all within 15 minutes! Not too shabby! Especially since the last time I did this workout was November and I did the pull-ups on LEVEL 14 ASSISTANCE! Wow! What a difference!

My hands are totally shot- blisters galore!

Oh well- this all arm workout got nothing but love from me!
Kelsalynn

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Disappointed

I was so excited for today's workout. It looked awesome- front squats and sit-ups (incline bench, arms over head).

Prescribed called for 185# front squats!!! My 1-rep max is only 95# so obviously, I was going to have to scale it slightly.

CrossFit offers different levels of scaling for you already and they have a theme-
"Big Dawgs"
"Porch"
"Pack"
"Puppies"
and finally, "Buttercups"

Normally I do the pack scaling, but even still, today's pack called for 95# front squats. The reps are 21-18-15-12-9-6-3. There's no way I can take my one rep max and do it 84 times.

So then I went to the Puppies scaling, which takes the weight down to 45-55# but also reduces the number of reps to 21-15-9-3.

This is where I'm not sure if I should just follow the scales as they have laid out, or push myself to do more.

I know I could not do "Pack" at 95#, so I chose to do "Puppies" at 55#. But it ended up being way too easy and only took me 7:37. I wish it would have been harder either by adding some weight (65# would have been perfect probably) or increasing the reps (back to prescribed). Now that would have been a fun challenge!

Not a bad workout- 48 front squats and 49 sit-ups in 7:37. I should be happy with that I suppose.

Kelsalynn

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Nah, nah, nah-nah... hey, hey-hey ... GOOOOOOD-BYE!

Dear Shitty-bank,

Our relationship has been short...much shorter than you would have liked I'm sure. It's a bond we both thought would last a decade.

To you, the connection we had was strong and fruitful. The interest you earned from me probably made you smile immensely.

And I'm sure you loved my ability to pay on time or early every month. I was so good to you. I'm not surprised by your desire to continue this relationship for as long as possible.

Unfortunately for you, I had to bring an end to this friendship 8 years early. You see, it's really quite simple.

I hate you.

Don't take it personally. (Or do. Whatever. I don't really care.)

I hate all debt. I hate that I paid you first for so long when I should have been paying myself.

I hate that for so long I considered you, my student loan, "good" debt.

Times have changed. I have grown and you will never be a part of my life again.

I know this saddens you. You will have to find someone else to earn interest from- some other individual that doesn't mind paying you before herself. By getting you out of my life after only 2 years, instead of the 10-year repayment period you anticipated, I figure I've saved myself thousands of dollars.

I used to think about you once per month when I would send you my payment. After today, I will never think of you again.

You will not be missed.
Kelsalynn

______________________________

7 DOWN, ONLY 1 TO GO!

ACS-Education Services- watch out! I'm coming for you next!

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Document this

Shoulder Press
1x1x1x1x1

45
50
55
60
65
70 (faulted)

Push Press
3x3x3x3x3

55
60
65
70
75

Push Jerk
5x5x5x5x5

45
55
60
65
70
75

I might have been able to do more on the push jerks, but by the time I was on my last set of these, my wrists were KILLING me. The round of 75# was tough enough that I felt good about it- more pain to my wrists didn't really seem worth it at that point.

Tomorrow is a rest day for CrossFit and I'm naively happy about this. I say naively because I'll still be heading to the gym before work so I have to do something. I'll probably do some light cardio or some good stretching of my lower half. After yesterday's run, my right hip is not feeling too great so it might appreciate some attention.

Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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Couple pics

I'm not the best at taking pictures. As a result, I only have 2 pictures of our awesome 4th of July adventure.

Michael and I live right next to South Mountain. We decided to hike to the top, pack a blanket and watch the fireworks in the Valley from there. We also packed flashlights and hiked back in the dark, which was a little scary!

Here's a picture from where we sat:


I never would have guessed that we could watch 10 different fireworks shows from the top! It was awesome! And most of them were so far away that you could see them, but not hear them. We ended up being on top of them as well which was a view of fireworks I've never experienced before!

We took the pup with us and she did great! She laid in between us on the blanket the entire time. It was 100 degrees, even after the sun went down so hiking to the top and even just sitting there, we were pretty sweaty and the dog was panting.

Here's a picture of Michael and Nikki:


I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July weekend!!!

Kelsalynn

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Badger

I did 60 pull-ups today!

I did 60 pull-ups today!

I did 60 pull-ups today!

I'm so excited! I did "Badger"- or a smaller version of Badger.

I originally started off with plans to do
3 rounds of:
30 squat cleans (35#)
30 pull-ups
Run 800m

I told myself I wanted to do the first round of pull-ups on my own. The most I've done in a day before now was 25, so I figured 30 would be a good step up. After the first round, I expected to do the last 2 rounds with assistance.

But after the first round, I felt okay and wanted to keep trying pull-ups on my own. I told myself I'd do as many as I could, and if I had to move to the assistance machine, I would and I wouldn't be disappointd with myself.

Wouldn't you know that I made it through the second round without assistance? Boo-yah!

But, after 60 squat cleans, 60 pull-ups on my own, and 2- 800m sprints, I was toast. In fact, I thought I was going to barf. I was proud of the fact that I had more than doubled the # of pull-ups I could do in one workout and decided to skip the third round. It took me a total of 30:36 to do two rounds of "Badger".

You should see my hands- they're nasty. And my arms are so fatigued it hurts to even carry my water bottle. It might sound like I'm exaggerating, but I'm not. My bicep shakes when I lift my water bottle!

Now I'm extremely sleepy & will likely take a nap.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Oh, and by the way, I did 60 pull-ups today! =]
KelsaLynn

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Duds, then WOD, then COMPARISON

That's us.

The Dickey's (that's my last name in case you never knew) are a bunch of DUDS today!

It's 3:12 PM and we're both still in our PJ's. We've both taken naps, read our books, watched movies, played on the internet, blah blah blah.

I don't feel like doing anything, yet I'm bored and want to do something. Anyone else ever have this problem?

For AZ, it's cloudy today which probably doesn't help at all.

We'll probably leave soon to go to the gym and workout (because we have nothing else to do) and hopefully that will help give us a little more energy.

Don't count on it though. I have a feeling we'll be right back in our pj's once we get back from the gym. How many movies can you watch in one day? I'll let you know...

____________________
Well, I'm back from the gym and yes, I definitely feel better. I did 50 Hang Power Snatches (HPS) at 35#. It was tough but I really liked it. I did a HPS for the first time just recently if you recall and I wanted to do more of them- they require you to use your entire body- it's really a great movement. CrossFit must have known I wrote that because they came out with today's WOD which called for 75 HPS. I chose to scale it and did "Pack" which only called for 50 reps. My time was 4:35.

I also did my first STRICT pull-up today. I'm totally pumped! I've attempted strict pull-ups for the past couple of weeks but I get to a certain point and have to "kip" slightly in order to get up all the way. It's like there's a spot in the movement that catches me up every time and is like my "wall."

Finally today I was able to break through that wall and go through the full pull-up motion without kipping or stopping. It was a huge boost for me! Once I did it that one time, the mental barrier was broken and I ended up doing 3 total pull-ups without kipping!

Okay, even more exciting, I found my piece of paper with my measurements on it from April of 2008! It actually has 6 months worth of measurements on it so I had Michael take them today for comparison.

I love comparisons... It's so motivating and reassuring. I usually base my comparisons off of performance during workouts, but it's neat to see that my measurements are following in line as well.




Pretty crazy right?

Kelsalynn

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Damn...

Passed temptation #1 but I honestly wasn't expecting it to be this difficult this early on.

I mean, it's the 2nd day of July and I'm already wishing I wasn't stupid and challenging myself to a no-cheat month! lol

For the holiday, my boss went and bought a bunch of popsicles for everyone in the office. I really wish I could have had one, but one popsicle had 21g of carbs, which is not Zone and thus, would be cheating.

Damn. They looked yummy.

Who's idea was this??? Oh yeah... nevermind.
Kelsalynn

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'bout time

One of my debt payments for $1,100 hit my account today so I was able to update the debt payoff bar!

Wahoo!

Total Paid =

$48,506.93
80%

By mid-month, I will have Shittybank out of my life because all of my student loans with that company will be PAID IN FULL BABY!

That leaves us with one debt left - a student loan from ACS-Education Services. I need to think of a good name for them like I did with Citibank, I mean Shittybank.

Any ideas?

I found this cool picture of what your meal plate should look like when following the Zone diet.



Tomorrow morning I'll be heading to the gym as usual but instead of working out, I'm planning to hit up the more pleasurable parts of the club- the sauna, steam room, and jacuzzi! I'm so excited!
Kelsalynn

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Let the fun begin...

Happy July 1st everyone! Holy crap, where did the month of June go? Man, it flew by!

Well, let the fun begin! July is a no-cheat month (for me and maybe Jen too?) which means total discipline against those random temptations to consume brownies, soda, cookies, and candy as I woke passed co-workers' yummy-looking candy dishes.

Most days, I don't anticipate this will be a problem. Right now, I'm not craving anything which is more normal for me. It's those unexpected indulgences that plague those of us who work in the office setting- why is it that when someone brings in a treat, it's not fresh fruit?

This morning's CrossFit WOD called for a 10K run.

Ha!
Yeah right.

I decided to just do some cardio instead. I went to the gym and started running on the thrill mill. At first, I thought to myself, "this feels good... maybe I'll do a 5K instead."

Ha!
Yeah right again.

After 11 minutes, my right hip was creaking in ways it should not. I stopped at 15 minutes and headed to the bike where I rode for 15 more minutes.

I really wanted to do the stair mill from there, but they were both occupied. Instead, I opted for some good wholesome stretching.

I'm so glad I did! I stretched for a good 15 minutes- legs, back, arms, chest, everything! It felt really good. I'm amazed at how tight my hips are. I really need to work on stretching them more which would probably help with my pain issues.

Tomorrow is a rest day for CrossFit (3 days on, 1 day off) but I need to be dropped off at the gym b/c that's how I get to work these days. I decided to take my suit and go into the jacuzzi, sauna, and steam room. I think it will be a great way to enjoy some R&R before work.
Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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