Happy New Year! 2013 is going to be great!

Yes, that is a mantel full of fireworks.This is what happens when my husband and son go off to buy fireworks without me.When I got it all up there, I told my husband,"I can't believe we have so many fireworks." His reply-"I thought we had more." What?!  (The mantel will be empty come tomorrow).

Happy Soon To Be New Year Everyone!!! Was 2012 a great year for you or will you be glad to be rid of it? Although I have had a pretty good year,I am looking forward to 2013.

Do you all make resolutions?I do.
Every year,I have this big list of resolutions I want to accomplish.Within the first week(or day),I've broken almost all of them.Then the next year would come and I would have a brand new list with the same old resolutions on it.Lose a ton of weight, get organized,etc.,etc.,etc.I often thought,'Why am I setting myself up for failure?'

This year, I'm trying something different.

Instead of a list of resolutions,I've come up with a theme for 2013.

I wish to be happy, healthy, wealthy, and wise.

At the first of every month,I'm going to ask myself:
Am I happier, healthier, wealthier, and wiser than the month before? Even something small is a step in the right direction. Then I'll post about my progress.

So here's to a fantastic new year..and I hope that it finds you happy, healthy, wealthy, and wise.

One more picture of my fireworks-

                                    and two very excited guys ready to blast in the new year!

I'm Bona Fide

 

 

I know, I know...two months is too long to go in between posts.I've had a very good reason though.

 

It's official. Black belt, baby!

 

I have been training for this for a VERY long time.I've been taking shotokan karate for about five years now(and have been putting off my black belt test for about a year).

The reason(s) I had been putting off this test??

1. It's a brutal test.The test is broken up into two days.One day for the physical endurance and then another day for the katas and sparring.
2. At a little over 200 lbs, I'm a big girl..horizontally.Vertically,I'm only 5'2".So I had been trying to drop some weight before I did this.My problem??My love of butter(and other fattening foods).
3. Part of the physical test includes a two mile run.I am not a runner.It is probably my least favorite activity and not just because of my resemblance of Marvin the Martian (my legs are really moving fast,but I'm not going anywhere).In fact, they say that people have a Fight or Flight instinct..I don't think I have any Flight(I'm all Fight,lol).

So I've been training.Running my two cursed miles 2-3 times a week,building up my endurance,practicing my katas and kicks.
And it has been hard...really reaallly hard.

I did the physical test on Wednesday. It included:
*a two mile run (did it very slow at 22 minutes.I told you I'm not a runner.)
*100 push ups and 100 sit ups in 5 minutes
*100 front kicks and 100 round kicks on each leg/100 reverse punches on each arm in 5 minutes
*60 slide up hook kicks and 60 slide up side kicks on each leg in 5 minutes

Then on Friday I took my black belt test.It included:
*performance of 13 katas(routines)
*8 universals(fighting combinations)
*12 one steps(fighting moves)
*Breaking two boards

*6 rounds of sparring with my peers who were testing with me.These rounds were with a fog machine on and some of the rounds were in the dark with a strobe light on.They wanted to see what we could do when there are distractions.
*30 seconds in the ring with Red Man. Red Man is one of the instructors who is dressed head to toe in steel plated pads.
*9 rounds of sparring with the black belt instructors.

It is seriously one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life.
I plan on continuing with karate.
At the end of my test,one of my instructors said,"Getting a black belt isn't the end of your journey.It just means you know the basics."Too true.