Author: peggielarsen

Why I Ditched My Fitness Tracker

Why I Ditched My Fitness Tracker

So, my UP Band decided to crash and burn last week. I was extremely annoyed with the fact that I use it as an alarm and I woke up 45 minutes late and had to cancel my 5:30 a.m., kettlebell group. Lucky for me the 

So, meal prep…it's easy, I promise

So, meal prep…it's easy, I promise

Meal prep truly is not that hard. Give yourself a few hours on Sunday and you can have breakfast and lunch meals for the week. The trick is being organized and prepared. First off, you need some containers. These can be meal prep containers you 

Two Cookies, Two Coffees and Two Waters

Two Cookies, Two Coffees and Two Waters

The last few weeks at our house have been a whirlwind of pain and suffering. On February 11, 2016, my husband broke the small bone in his leg, just above the ankle and really messed up his ankle. He was across the road from our house, hunting with the dog. He went to jump over a small draw and caught his foot on grass or a weed or something. His foot bent back and sideways and he fell on top of it. When he got up, his foot was turned completely backwards. So what does anyone do in that situation? Crank it back where it should be of course, TWICE! What???!!! Who does that? Luckily he had his cell phone and called his boss, who is also our neighbor. So nice he was close by. After he put his foot back in he started walking up the hill to the highway where our neighbor picked him up and took him to the ER. I was at the studio, and got a text from John, which said, “Rick is giving me a ride to the hospital I broke my ankle I love you call me when you have a chance give me a ride.” That was it. Lovely. So Tayler had the broken jaw in November and now this. I told them that if I break anything I am killing someone.

Flash forward a few weeks to February 25th. Finally. Time for surgery. Let’s get this show on the road already. It has been a LONG few weeks waiting for this. Great. Let’s go. So ready. We were instructed to show up at the Same Day Surgery at 8:30 a.m. We get in the room and the nurse starts asking the obligatory questions they have to ask everyone. She asked John if he had any metal anywhere on his body, to which he replied his earrings and screws in his head from his brain surgery in 2000. I then responded, “His nipple rings.” I was kidding of course, but the nurse could not stop laughing. We couldn’t either. I think I’m pretty funny sometimes. She then gave the instructions on what to change into and said they will be with us shortly.

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Hanging out, waiting. Waiting, hanging out. How much longer? Holy crap. John is still in a shit ton of pain. Then, finally. They come and get him to take him back to surgery. It is now about 11 a.m. The surgery takes about 45 minutes. To the waiting room I go. Hmmm, look at those cookies. They look pretty damn good. They have sugar, chocolate chip oatmeal, chocolate, and a few I have no idea what they might be. Might has well have one, with some coffee. Because waiting. So I have the oatmeal chocolate chip one with a great cup of clinic coffee. Okay, now what? Magazines. Time to catch up on who’s cheating who. Well, that took about five minutes. Standing, sitting. Sitting, standing. Checking out Facebook and Instagram and Twitter. Done. That took about 30 minutes. Now it is about 11:45 or so and I see the surgeon walk out into the waiting room. He came over and told me that everything went well and it turned out exactly the way he wanted it to. Sweet! Glad it’s done. Now I can go see him.

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Not so fast. Still waiting. Why is this taking so long? Maybe I’ll have another cookie and another coffee. The chocolate cookie this time. Tastes okay. Missing something. Coffee is still good clinic coffee. Then I think to myself that I haven’t really had any water today. Oh, there is a water machine. So I have two waters while I still wait. Now it is 1:30 p.m.

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Finally, they come and get me. They take me to a different room. When I walked in and saw him, his eyes are all puffy, like he just woke up from a two week sleep. He was groggy as hell. Apparently he had trouble waking up after the anesthesia. I knew something wasn’t quite right. He told me all he could think about was how long I had been out there waiting. Awwwww. The nurse got him some coffee and juice and something to eat so they could give him some pain pills. It took a while for him to feel okay. She took out the IV and then went over instructions on what to do when we got home and all that fun stuff. She then said he could get dressed and she would come back in and get him to wheel him out to the car.

He was smart enough to wear shorts, so at least we didn’t have to worry about trying to get jeans on. I helped him take off his fashionable hospital robe and gown. We got his shirt on. Then it came time for the pants. He put his right leg (the bad one) in and then the left. Then he had to stand up so I could help him pull up his pants. So here I am right at his waist, he’s 6’3″, trying to get his pants pulled up. I have my arms around him and keep pulling but the pants get stuck on his butt. We both then started laughing and couldn’t stop. I seriously thought I was going to pee my pants. I had to get down in the squat position so I wouldn’t pee. We still could not stop laughing. I am sure the nurses were wondering what the hell was going on. It took us a good five minutes before we could not look at each other and start laughing all over again. It was hilarity in the middle of a shit show. So we finally are now all ready to go. It was about 2:30 by now. The nurse wheeled him out and helped him into the Jeep.

We got home and I left him in the Jeep so I could go let the dogs out. Our plan was to go up the front steps of the house instead of through the garage. I told him I would go behind him up the steps in case he fell. He could fall on me.  He started up the steps and guess what? He just about fell backwards down the first step. That would have been a disaster. We finally got in the house and got him settled in the chair. Ahhh. Home. Time to start recovering.

After I got him coffee and water and all settled, he looked at me and said, “Thank you for taking care of me.” My heart melted.

We are still laughing about the pants.

…hopefully the next 6-8 weeks go fast.

Distant Memories (repeat)

Distant Memories (repeat)

I picked up my sister from the airport in Rapid City, yesterday. She is here to help with the Retreat I am hosting on Saturday. On the way home we started talking about family and about our grandma. I remembered this blog post I had 

So, My Daughter Is Pretty Amazing

So, My Daughter Is Pretty Amazing

I absolutely love how my 16 year old daughter rocks the confidence and self esteem. She amazes me with her sense of humor and her compassion and empathy for people. She is one cool kid. She writes herself little notecards all the time with her 

So, the only thing I did in December was Swings

So, the only thing I did in December was Swings

I put on an online kettlebell swing challenge for the month of December with clients and some former clients and a few of their friends. We did a different Kettlebell Quickie every day in December. That was the only exercise I did in December. I stretched and did some mobility work, but no other exercise; just swings. Of the 31 days in December, I missed one of the days, the day where it was 300 swings. I think missing only one day was pretty damn good. Challenges are interesting. Usually everyone is gung ho to start and thinks, “OMG, this is going to be fantastic!” Come about day 10 or so, it turns into, “OMG, this sucks ass!” This challenge did not feel like that for me. Maybe because I didn’t do any other workouts or maybe because I love kettlebells. I did wonder though if I would lose strength, or if I would gain anything just doing swings. I just tested it. I can still press the 18kg bell, no problem. I love that I didn’t lose any strength. I’ll be honest, I ate like shit for about three weeks straight with the holidays sprinkled in. Even with the crap eating, I did not gain any weight and kept up my strength. My quads and abs have more definition and that also makes me happy. I am so glad I finished this challenge. It feels great!

Kettlebells do a body good!

So, It's Twenty Sixteen

So, It's Twenty Sixteen

Hard to believe 2015 is gone. Seems like it flew by. So how many of you make New Year’s Resolutions? Do you ever succeed? I checked and research shows that about 8 percent of people who make New Year’s Resolutions keep them. Pretty shitty odds, 

So Tayler Got Her Wires Cut

So Tayler Got Her Wires Cut

Tayler had her followup appointment on Monday, December 14, 2015. This was the three week mark. She is doing amazing, so the doc said he would cut the wires. If he left them longer, he thought her jaw would just lock up. She has been 

So My Daughter Broke Her Jaw

So My Daughter Broke Her Jaw

It’s been an interesting few weeks. The Monday before Thanksgiving I went to work like usual. My daughter texted me early that morning around 6:30 or 7 and said she had been throwing up. She thought maybe she would be able to go to school if she didn’t puke again. I told her to wait a while and let me know how she felt. She texted again and had thrown up again so I told her to stay home and I would call the school to let them know she was sick.

Around 9:30 she called me and told me she fell down the steps and had a gash on her chin. I told her I would come home and check on her. When I got home and went down to her room she was bawling. I looked at her chin and it wasn’t bleeding a ton, but there was a gap so I thought she would probably need stitches. She also said she had a severe headache and her left ear hurt really bad. She also said her teeth felt weird. Off to the ER we go. Broken jaw. This means we have to go to Sioux Falls (3.5 hours away) for surgery. The surgery went well and her jaw has to be wired shut for six weeks.

Hello smoothies and shakes and liquid food. Can you imagine? Yuck. Especially at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and New Years. Not fun. I have been making sure she gets protein in all of her food and Vitamin D. She has lost 10 pounds already and she really doesn’t need to lose any more than that.

I thank God that she is okay. It could have been so much worse. Turns out she fell down the steps, hit her chin on the railing and the force from that is what broke her jaw. We have no idea how long she was knocked out. That is really scary to me. She said she woke up on the landing of the steps.

But…the freakiest thing of all…she has to carry wire cutters with her at all times. If she gets sick and has to throw up, she has to cut the wires or she could  be in serious danger. Wire Cutters!!!

Tuesday will be two weeks… and life goes on.

Thank God for guardian angels, because she definitely had one that day.

Eating Your Way Through The Holidays

Eating Your Way Through The Holidays

Source: Eating Your Way Through The Holidays