Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Rehearsals, kitten fostering, missing Grandma, keeping on.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Hire the only Dr. Seuss Storyteller in the whole world for reading celebrations! www.DianeMatson.com/drseuss

Monday, September 19, 2011

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

My new Dr. Seuss Stories page (and videos) is up!
Thank you Julie! www.DianeMatson.com/drseuss
My show is a great way to celebrate!

Friday, September 9, 2011

Engaging THE 4 HOUR WORK WEEK - Week 13 / BODY - Week 6

ALL WEEK:
Massively working on my new Dr. Seuss web page (I design and write text, then my web-mistress does the cool stuff). Also created content for the next Newsletter, my website home page (the latest news), and the News section (more extensive than the Home Page content).
Meanwhile, The Giving Tree and Horton Hatches the Egg are in editing with my director, Déous, who owns Area 51 Productions, LLC. I watch and give notes as they are ready.
Plus, have to get images to an artist who creates the photo “banner” at the top of each newsletter (usually different each time). I’ve pre-paid the amazing Trish Ellis for her wonderful work. She’s worth it - particularly as new stories are finished for viewing.


MONDAY
Returned the shy female to the pet adoption place. Got to go in with her, hold her, and attempted to relax her with a feather toy. She took a few steps towards it, and was clearly interested, but not enough to actually engage in play. Still, no hissing, and she’s clearly more relaxed now. (I checked in a few days later, and she continued to show appreciation via kneading the air with all four feet, and fully exposing her belly as she stretched backward.)


TUESDAY:
Bunch of errands.
Wrote my FAQs for my new Dr. Seuss Storytelling website and sent them off to friends/family who have or work with kids (and parents) for feedback.


WEDNESDAY:
Reread in 4HB how drinking more than 16 oz. of diet soft-drinks can make you gain fat. I drank a gob of the stuff over the last week, and probably ate more than usual. I can tell I’m not shrinking this week. I’ll weigh myself tomorrow to find out for sure, but clothes are a little tighter, and it looks like I should be losing at least 2 lbs of fat a week on this diet. Crud.
I bought a new 32 oz. water container. I’ll drink water (maybe with a little lemon juice in it), as well as my usual 32 oz. water when I eat. See if that helps.


THURSDAY:
Yup. Gained a pound and a half. Crud. I’d happily weigh 1000 pounds if I looked as lean as I wanted. Come on muscles! Show yourselves!
Lemon juice in ice water goes down pretty good and I’m able to keep hydrated as well as by drinking diet soda and plain water. And I can drink 16 oz. of diet pop without harm, so I’ll use it as a “treat”.

Finally used 4HWW info. and attempted to figure out the best key search words to put on my Dr. Seuss page. Way harder than Tim makes it sound. I never actually found a place where I could hunt for the hottest words (and how many hits) when people are looking for a Dr. Seuss storyteller. Some sites cost money, or required another program, like Firefox (no comments from loyal users, I’ll get there).
Wound up doing a Google search on “Dr. Seuss storyteller”. I’m listed at the top, which is cool, but I still paged through the lists of sites and their descriptions, copying down a bunch of terms to throw onto my new web page.
Now, aside from approving the final filmed demo of Horton, and my newsletter banner, I’m done with stuff on my end.


FRIDAY
Definitely getting stronger in my weight lifting. Tim suggests getting measured on Cheat Day, before eating forbidden foods. I haven’t measured myself since my initial measurements, so I should probably do this. It’s hard to see a difference in muscle definition, but I can tell I’m a little smaller than 6 weeks ago. Really hoping the “no diet-soda” change will make the fat loss happen faster. I lost weight like crazy when in Germany, eating cheese, pastries, ice cream, and whatever else I wanted, often starving an hour after eating, (but I was also walking about 6 miles each day). I also didn’t drink anything but water.
Some people in Tim’s book, who lose lots of weight, work out more than the minimal amount. I want to add things that will improve my body, using minimal time, before adding back the hour of glide machine I used to do on days I didn’t lift weights. I can use the extra time, outside the gym.

THIS WEEKEND:
My thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by 9/11, and the natural disasters that have been hitting our country.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Engaging THE 4 HOUR WORK WEEK - Week 12 / BODY - Week 5

Last blog was 1 ½ weeks ago, and between travel and deadlines, I had to skip a week. Oh well.

Last weekend I was at a family reunion with my mom. It was so weird to be staying at a hotel 5 minutes from where my grandparents lived. So close! I wanted so badly to go the rest of the way! But they are gone, and so is their dear little farm house, once my haven, where I could relax from school and life, has been replaced by a housing development. I’ve only been to the area 3 times since we moved my grandparents from their house - and that only happened after they died.
Outside of the actual reunion and a brunch the next day with the cousins I’m closest to, I met some new relatives that Mom loves and we heard lots of new stories about my fabulous family. The family traits continue to be passed down over the centuries. We are inventors, builders, musicians, storytellers, have a great sense of humor, and we care about people and animals.
Grandma had 32 first cousins, so the family is sort of huge. Some didn’t use the names they were born with (spellings, nicknames, and marriage changed some), but Mom has spent years on our family tree, and we learned of other relatives that have worked from their end.
I spent the weekend laughing and crying (I so miss my wonderful grandparents), but mostly it was positive.

When I got home, aside from unpacking, I had two main goals this week:
1 - Write down stories and family history I learned over the weekend (frequently calling Mom for help because she knows the family better and has the genealogy). Quick, while it’s fresh.
2 - Pushing to get my next newsletter and website text ready.
My web mistress goes back to college on the 6th, and even though she says it’s quick and easy to drop text and photos in, I’d prefer to give her nothing but friendship (and a sympathetic ear) while she’s studying. I’m also completely redesigning my Dr. Seuss website - which is more complicated. Love the new look - simple, but more informative.
The filmed demo of THE GIVING TREE and HORTON HATCHES THE EGG should also be done editing soon, so had to check with Déous, my director/editor, on that. I’ll likely have to hunt for “forest sounds” while opening and closing credits roll on GIVING TREE, but he’s doing all the rest.

I think I should wait a few weeks to send the Newsletter (best sent out on Fri.) because this next week is all about 9/11. Aside from the focus and additional electronic flow around the topic, I think it’s just inappropriate, during this time of grieving and remembering.

I’ve lost at least another pound of fat. Haven’t weighed myself since Wed., at which point, I’d lost 5 pounds total, so far (and I even cheated lightly a second day on the weekend!) I’m sure if I had more body fat, I’d lose faster. The leaner you are, the slower you tend to lose body fat. I started at about 20% and I’m trying to get down to 10%. Just low enough so my muscles are nicely, but not extremely, defined.
I haven’t eaten breakfast within 30 minutes of getting up. (I usually eat 40-45 min. after getting up - not lazy, just takes me a while to feed kitties, put away dishes, and mix food together.) I’ll try fixing breakfast the night before, so I can grab grub faster. Tim says it makes a huge difference.
Tuesday as I examined my posture to ensure I was doing the kettleball swings correctly, I noticed that my butt looked rounder. This is actually one of the primary benefits of the exercise, but I’ve spent my life focused on improving my waist and hips, so I never really paid any attention to my ass. But it definitely looks smaller, rounder, and sort of cute now.
Friday I got a few more of the suggested supplements, which should help with fat loss and muscle gain.
I’ve only done each set of weights 3 times (and the first couple I was figuring out how much to lift so I’d hit failure by or before the 7th rep), but I can still tell I’m lifting more, which means I’m also gaining muscle weight.

Hubby and I returned the super-social kitten we were fostering Wed. and kept his shy sister for another few days. When we got her a week and a half ago, she hissed at people. Now she purrs and kneads and nuzzles in ecstasy when you pet her. She still backs off when you approach her, unless she’s been sleeping). The silly thing really enjoys attention and being touch. She just doesn’t realize a hand approaching her is a good thing. Poor baby. This weekend, I’m going to see if feeding her tuna by hand will change her mind. We’ll see if it works. She is so emotionally broken, but tuna is like crack to kitties.