It might be a beautiful day in the neighborhood, but it still felt a bit like “Nightmare on Elm Street”

You know the old saying, “If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong”? Uh, yeah. My weekend was pretty much a comedy of errors.

Let’s see….. It all started Friday when I arrived home to world war 3. Boy’s friend wasn’t able to come over that day. Boy thought hauling old wood sounded crappy. Husband threatened to take away new phone (boy was working to earn money to pay for phone). Boy called grandma to complain about his cruel treatment. Exhausted mommy puts on grubby clothes to haul away lumber – after working all day and doing the grocery shopping for the week. Work till dusk. Much wood hauled away, boy finally helping. Family tired. Go out for dinner at pizza joint around corner. Pay stupid amount of money for good food & lousy service. Mommy is bitter at spending money we can’t really afford, only to leave place in such a lousy mood. Mommy goes home and falls asleep, too tired to bathe.

Saturday dawns bright and early. Mommy wakens family early, providing healthy breakfast. Why the early start? So the remaining wood can get hauled away before husband’s hired carpenter assistant and the lumber arrive! Boys tossed out back door, hand dogs down to husband. (Airlifting dogs through the back door is common theme of weekend).

Grubby mommy finally gets bathe, decides to go get toenails painted before running errands and cleaning house. Mommy comes home to world war 4. Everyone is inside cleaning house. All wood is hauled to garbage pile, nothing to do but wait to helper. Hub has boy helping clean house. Boy throw fit because he doesn’t want to vacuum the entry haul. Boy throw s fit because he doesn’t want his room vacuumed. Mommy yells louder than everyone. Takes boy & friend, shoves in car, drives away to run errands. Mommy gives boy a piece of her mind.

Mommy returns home from errands and gives boys to hub to help dig holes. Doesn’t digging holes help build character? Holes dug, men go off to get lunch while mommy cleans house.

But wait! You may be wondering, when does the construction part start? Where is the lumber? Excellent question! Wish we had an answer!

Hub returns from picking up sandwich. He is twitching. Lowe’s said the stuff would be delivered after lunch. Storm clouds are gathering. Hub is nearing aneurism. Dogs wonder why they can’t get in house. Mommy notices cold beer in fridge. Hey – the kitchen is clean. Isn’t that enough work for one day???? Leftover pizza goes good with beer. Maybe there’s a horror flick on sci-fi!

What is that loud noise I hear? Could it be? A delivery truck – huzzah! Wood is delivered, menfolk are relieved. As the men being opening up the bundled piles of lumber, the mommy continues to wash the 400 loads of laundry that have been carefully saved up all week.

That’s not so bad, you’re thinking. Yeah, it’s 2 pm on Saturday afternoon and the wood is just getting delivered. But the storm clouds aren’t too thick and you’ve got plenty of daylight. And you would be right. But I know something you don’t – the delivery was wrong!

The order contained items we didn’t need (but got delivered). The order contained items we did need but weren’t delivered. It was a mess. After sorting through the delivery, hub loaded up some of the stuff we didn’t need, found the receipt (isn’t he glad I keep those things?), and headed down to Lowe’s.

Now, you know what Lowe’s is like on a beautiful spring Saturday. Half the town was down there, looking for stuff to buy for some home improvement project. While hub had talked to a manager on the phone so they had a clue, it still took over 2 hours to get the mess straight. Hub returns home at 5:30 with Taco Bell and more beer.

Holes are dug, wood is sorted out, tacos are eaten. It’s the end of day one and not one stick of new wood is in place.

After “disaster Saturday”, Sunday is a bit of sanity. Hub’s buddy came back to help again. Other than the boys having to chase Chyna (aka “escape artist dog”) down the street while I followed madly in the minivan, the morning was fairly uneventful. I did a little more housework, and the boys got the began work on the underpart of the deck.

The goal was to have the decking boards on so we wouldn’t have to continue lifting the dogs in and out of the house all week, but that wasn’t happening. As the sun went down, the hub put up a set of temporary steps and we laid decking boards out for the dogs to use. The underpart was built, but that was as far as they got. It was dark as he put the last of the power tools away.

We still have to cement and fill in the holes before we can screw down the decking boards. The decking boards have to be cut and attached. The stairs need to be redone so they are permanent. The railing has to be put in. The roof needs to be put on the covered section. The lattice needs to be attached, and then we can accessorize.

How much longer will that take? Well, I dunno. As of right now, hub only has work for the next 2 days. He can use some time during the week if the weather holds out. It will take all of next weekend if we start back up Friday (excluding doing the finishing touches like flowers and the fountain).

It was a heck of a weekend. I want a nice quiet low key week please, so I can gear up for part 2 next week. Stay tuned…..

I will not freak out

Have I mentioned that no one in my house has done any housework in days? I am seriously considering calling in an air strike!

Have I mentioned my husband is taking a chain saw to our deck this afternoon?

My mom is putting her cat to sleep this afternoon. He is very old and things just aren’t working well any more. He’s having a hard time eating, so it’s time. I told her I’d go with her (of course).

I have a very long to do list for the weekend. I will focus on one thing at a time. I do have my grocery list already made out, so I can do my shopping tonight, or start on some house work. We’ll see.

Not all is freak out stress in my world. I lost a pound, but more importantly, I feel like I am moving in the right direction again on the fitness front. The weather is supposed to be perfect for building a deck. My husband has plenty of help, so I can focus on doing the things that need to get done to take care of the house & get ready for the week.

My son is going on a 3 day field trip next week – Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Party at my place!!!!!!

My thought for the day: Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials. --Lin Yutang

You mean I own an alarm clock????

I tried, but I didn’t get up at 5 this morning – I was just too beat from last night. We had a lot of fun. I felt a bit of a twinge when everyone on my team (but me) was enjoying a beer or two. Ah well. It’s amazing how motivating spending money you don’t have can be. Hub has no work lined up for next week (although a solid prospect of working for a temp company that uses different types of hires contractors) and the trainer was not in the budget. At least not for 12 weeks!

Part of me feels guilty, but mostly I don’t. I spent my entire bonus on the family and not a dime on myself. If this means tightening down in other areas, then so be it. We have decided to cancel our honeymoon trip for the end of May, which is a savings of several hundred dollars right there. It’s something we can do another time, and I think hub will enjoy just hanging around the house – maybe having a few friends over for a cookout etc. He’s feeling very overwhelmed and overbooked, and the deck project is very big. So I think the prospect of going was stressing him out. Vacation shouldn’t do that.

I am stressed about hub not having any work next week, but this is a busy time of year so I don’t think it will be for more than a week or two. This part of his work still stresses me out, even after all these years of dealing with it. Part of me knows everything will be fine, but it still bugs me. I guess I’ll always be a worry wart.

Well, not much profound to say. Any plans for the weekend?

This is your life

So, first of all about the trainer: It went well. I signed up for 12 weeks of sessions, with 2 sessions per week. We’ll see how far that gets me. I will say, seeing how much body fat I’ve gained since my doctor checked it (18 months ago) was a little heartbreaking. We did more of an assessment than a workout, but I think its what I need to help me get back in the groove.

I have to say, I’ve been in a bit of a weird mood the past couple of days. I just haven’t really felt like doing much of anything. Too tired after work (and working out) to really do any craft project work, and frankly that hasn’t sounded really interesting to me in any case. Mostly I’ve just lolled about.

Tonight I am bowling to raise money for JA, so I will be getting home past my bedtime. Despite this, I will once again attempt to get up at 5 am. Wish me luck – I have been sleeping till 6 every morning. Luckily I’m working out in the afternoons. But it’s kinda sad that I am missing such perfect running weather.

Between us and the dogs, the freezer is packed! No buying more food until we’ve eaten up some of what is up there. So I must plan next week’s meals accordingly. Hopefully that will also mean a lower grocery bill next week.

I still have an appointment with the trainer at my gym for this Sunday, and I am meeting the new trainer (Brett) tomorrow. I won’t be exercising today, but my goal is to get a couple more interval sessions in this week.

Well, that’s about it for today. Hope you are doing well!

If I’m cooking for 3, why not cook for 7?

Have y’all been following this pet food thing? Apparently, there are 2 companies that received potentially tainted rice protein whose names have not been disclosed. Is that scary or what? It’s like you play Russian roulette every time you open a package of dog food!

After much discussion, we have decided to make our own dog food. I know it sounds extreme, but it’s cheaper than the Wellness dog food several of my friends rave about, and really, cooking for a dog isn’t that hard. Needless to say, they love the new food! I am still going to buy Wellness cat food for the cat – after reading up on it, they seem to be more difficult to cook for.

I went to the gym after work and did 30 minutes on the elliptical. It included several high intensity intervals, then a few minutes of steady state, and I had a warm up and cool down in there too. I kicked my butt! I went home, cooked for all the hungry mouths (including me & the hub), and then we sat our butts down to watch UFC 70.

The boy was over at my mom’s house giving her a hand cleaning out her storage barn, and it felt nice just to veg. I ate a very healthy meal (some of the veggies I steamed for the dogs, lentils, and sautéed chicken breast), then enjoyed a little air popped popcorn while watching the fights. I have no idea why I enjoy the UFC so much – I guess we all have our “guilty pleasure” TV shows. That’s mine!

Today is the appointment with my friend’s trainer – I’ll let you know how it goes! I will say, it’s a different type of workout than I would do on my own, and if I know someone is waiting I am much more likely to actually get in my car and drive to the gym – also, a trainer won’t let you slack!

Typically it looks a bit like this: we’ll warm up, do some weights – upper body and some ab work, do some lower body, go do a few intervals on a bike or something, then do some more weights, then a short cool down on a piece of cardio equipment. The first session was 75 minutes, the last one was right around 60. Last Sunday we finished with hack squats and I was done – seeing white spots kind of done. I push myself, but not to that level. Given the amount of fat I need to burn, making my weight training a fat burning event is critical. If I can do HIIT on my own in between, I should be making some great strides.

One good thing about working this hard is that I don’t want to undo it when I hit the kitchen. So I might have one piece of dark chocolate or something, but I’ve been doing pretty good at stopping myself.

So, how about everything else? You know, life, the universe, everything???? I have left all my hobbies – my illumination, my sewing, all my craft stuff - sitting idle. I think I had so many things going that I stopped enjoying any of it. I have no plans to work on anything crafty this weekend. We are working on our deck this weekend. My job is to do all the housework and make sure there are food & beverages. The boy & a friend are getting paid to help with the demo, hub has a friend coming over to help build the structural part underneath, and then I can pitch in laying the decking boards on Sunday if needed.

I don’t think I enjoy painting as much as I thought I would. It’s fun to do every once in a while, but I always put so much pressure on myself to do everything well. Why should I put a bunch of time & effort into something I want to be an “occasional hobby”? Why do I take everything and turn it into some sort of drive to succeed? I think I would be a much more content person if I didn’t have such a drive to achieve in every facet of my life. While this drive does serve me well in some areas, too much of it is overkill.

At the end of the day, it always come back to me needing to not always take on too much, to not try to master everything immediately, blah blah blah. Outcome oriented minds always focus on the destination and fail to enjoy the journey. That’s me in a nutshell. How do I get out of this great big nutshell??? Ah, that is the question!

Like the weather, my mood has improved

Good morning! I had a busy but good weekend. Friday was grocery shopping and taking care of some housework so we could head out to Busch gardens for the day Saturday. The weather was excellent. The only downer was that, due to a HUGE high school marching band competition, the park was very crowded. Despite that, I managed to ride every roller coaster.

The ride home was long, but we got home safely. Unfortunately, doggie children never let you sleep in late! Yesterday we finished laundry, I did the cooking for the week, and hit CostC0. It sounds busy, but was a pretty relaxing day. I did go to the gym and worked out with my trainer. I felt like I got a good workout. I am meeting with my friend’s trainer tomorrow, and then I’ll make a decision about what to do. I will say, I do like working out on Sundays a lot, so I may go to both!

I know that sounds frivolous – paying a trainer twice a week. But I have come to some realizations since my Friday meltdown: I am miserable. A trainer is cheaper than a new wardrobe. I need to be more consistent about taking care of myself if I want to have a healthy life as I get older. I am worth the time and expense. The way I’ve been feeling lately is no way to live.

Losing weight is just a piece of it. Lately I’ve just felt on edge and tired. It’s funny – a friend and I were discussing this the other day. We both a willing to use supplements to help boost our health, and we go to an “alternative medicine” physician who supports that route.

Anyway, Dr. W had recommended my friend try a supplement called Phosphatidylserine. It has been shown to reduce cortisol levels. The reason my friend mentioned it is that she noticed a marked improvement in her sleep when she started using it. I bought some at the Vitamin Shop and tried it Friday. I felt like I got much deeper sleep and woke up feeling more rested. Now, I am not saying this is any sort of panacea. But I think my stress was definitely affecting me in a number of ways, and feeling rested versus run down makes it easier to shift from panic mode to problem solving mode.

Today I feel ready to tackle this issue, one day at a time. Thank you so much for all the kind comments! Group support is a great benefit of blogging.

How was your weekend?

Panic attack

I made 2 mistakes this morning:

1. I got on the scale. I am up 2 pounds. This is just crazy. It feels like every time I get on the scale I’ve gained a pound or 2. I realized this morning that I have gained 18 pounds, and am 10 pounds away from my highest weight every. Just typing that makes me feel like I’m going to hyperventilate.

2. I grabbed a pair of pants out of the closet and wore them into work without really taking a hard look at them. I hadn’t worn them in a while, and didn’t think too much about it. I had to call my husband and ask him to bring me another pair because those looked so bad on me. You can’t imagine the humiliation in that. I am tearing up thinking about it.

I’ve spent this morning feeling like I can’t quite catch my breath because I am just in a panic. Part of me is thinking “That’s it! Nothing but protein shakes until I’m down 8 pounds!” Another part knows that isn’t logical, but oh my god I can’t stand this!

I know my exercise has been erratic and I know that my eating has been erratic too, but honestly, my behavior doesn’t seem that bad. But I guess it is. Right now I just feel like I don’t have any hope.

I know in the greater scheme of life this shouldn't be that big of a deal, but right now I just feel awful.

Moving on, in my tiara

After talking with my mom, I decided it might be prudent to have a plan B for next school year. I am generally happy with the school – it’s a good environment and I know the quality of education is higher than public school. But I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the pastor – I will say he did seem fair but I got the impression he felt like I was overreacting. Currently, we pay roughly $3000 in tuition. We were also paying $2000 for after school care, so we’ll say $5000. I looked into 2 schools: they both have a good academic reputation and both would be convenient to home, mom, and my office. One was $9000 and the other was $11000. So, switching schools would be a serious financial burden. OTOH, we were only looking at having him in private school through middle school, so 2 more years. Well, at least I am researching options. I don’t want to feel stuck.

It’s kind of funny – I had my meltdown Tuesday night, then hub has his last night. Poor guy – he was really mad & upset.

Today is off to a good start. One of my co-workers made a yummy fruit platter (it’s huge) with really terrific stuff – pineapple, kiwi, grapes, strawberries, and oranges. No yucky cantaloupe – hurray! This afternoon another co-worker is bringing in a chocolate cheesecake (that’s what I requested.) Yum! The nice thing is that this department is large enough that you can have a piece of something, enjoy it, and then the vultures will make sure every last crumb is gone. And if you choose to pass, no one will notice.

Tonight we are going out to a nice restaurant. It’s a local “chain” – I think there are 4 or 5. The one nearby is the original – it’s near the country club, so a lot of older folk, but its really nice, quiet, and good food without being all pretentious or anything. Lunch is the business crowd, and dinner is the country club crowd. They have 3 things that are especially good: steak, alfredo noodles, and creamed spinach. I plan to have a steak, steamed vegetables, & the alfredo noodles. The nice thing is they are served in a side ramekin, so they are a reasonable portion. That way you can eat the whole thing and still feel human!

I made an appointment yesterday with my friend’s trainer for next Tuesday. I’ll let you know how that goes.

Saturday we are going up to Busch Gardens. The boy is bringing a friend, so that’ll be fun for him. Once again, the stress of the week has meant the house has gotten away from me. Tonight when we get home from supper it is my intention to put on some jamming tunes and spend 30 minutes just picking up around the place.

Today's title? Yes, I am wearing my tiara my boss got me last year! Have a good one!

At least it's done

Well, the meeting is over. I can't say it went well, and I can't say I'm satisfied with the outcome, but it's one I can live with. As for next year, we'll wait and see.

And for the record, I learned exactly why that child is a bully and who he gets it from. The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree in that family.

How do you “divorce” your trainer?

I will say that I got a great workout on Sunday, but there’s a “but” coming. Actually, a couple of “but”s. My biggest but is that I have done something to my left elbow. It’s sore on the inside, feeling like its likely a hyperextension. That’s a “but” b/c he let me do a bicep concentration curl on that arm for an entire set and didn’t correct my form until I was done. So, I dunno. My second “but”: any trainer that says “muscle weighs more than fat”? Well, no. It’s denser than fat. He said a lot of things a guy trainer would say to try to reassure a female client “you’ll get tone. You won’t bulk up.” Hmmm…..

In any case, I have another appt for this Sunday, but I have an appt next Tuesday with a co-worker’s trainer. I feel like I’m seeing someone on the sly or something, but she raves about this guy all the time, AND he’s $5/hour cheaper. I didn’t even consider him b/c he’s here in Gso, but if I can get an appt right after work then that will work out great. I can change at the office and he’s a 15 drive from here. My guy doesn’t get to the K’ville gym until late afternoon, which is why we’ve set our appts on Sunday. But that doesn’t always work either. Money is a little tight right now (I finally worked up my courage and looked at the post vacation Amex bill. Yikes!), but the hub will not let me quit the personal training. And frankly I don’t want to.

I am still stressed about this meeting this afternoon. Thanks for all the kind comments. I know I’m not the sort of blogger who write amazing earth shattering posts which elicit passionate responses from readers, but you have always been generous with the good wishes when needed, and for that I am grateful. No matter what the outcome this afternoon, the gym bag is in the car and I plan to deal with my post meeting leftover adrenalin in the gym!!!!!

Tomorrow is my birthday, but I will be up at 5 and hitting the gym because I slept in this morning since I got up at 1:30 and didn’t go back to bed until 4 am!!!! Ugh! The up side is that hub said the boy was in a very good mood this morning. I think he’s just relieved that we are finally doing something. As much as I hate this sort of thing, I feel bad that I haven’t done more, sooner. It’s been tough on him.

Conflict resolution solution

I hate conflict. I mean, I doubt the majority of people enjoy it, but I really dread it. Which is why I am writing a post at nearly 3 am - wide awake, unable to get back to sleep, dreading my day tomorrow.

I think I mentioned the situation at my son's school. In a nutshell, there is this ADHD out of control kid in his class (who we'll call Joe). Last year Joe was an annoyance, this year Joe has escalated to physical violence against the other kids. His mom has essentially given up, so the kid is really running wild.

Despite repeated assurances by the principal that he is punishing Joe (who must have his own desk in the office by now), nothing has changed. And really, is punishment effective if it isn't a deterrant? I don't know if the man is a bad principal or if nothing short of a cattle prod will get this kid in line, but things have continued to escalate throughout the school year. My son is miserable and who can blame him? If I had to go to work every day knowing I might be assaulted by a co-worker and that the management wouldn't take action, how would I feel?

At the end of our rope, I wrote a letter to the pastor of the church that owns/operates the school. In the nicest way possible, I described the situation and said we either needed him to step in and work to solve the problem or we would have to pursue legal action. As you can imagine, that got his attention.

The whole mess is complicated by the fact that this family attends church there, and we don't. I don't know how (or if) that will affect the pastor's viewpoint. I do know our son isn't the only child who is having these issues with Joe, and I know we aren't the only unhappy parents. But I doubt anyone else has gone to the pastor. And I don't know this man, my son says he is nice, but let's just say that my experiences with the clergy have led me to trust this man no more or less than I would any other stranger.

I really don't want to get involved in any sort of lawsuit/police complaint, but I have to stand up for my son. I also have to figure out a way to handle my stress besides eating. Cheese dip and beer is just not a healthy dinner people.

Please send good thoughts/prayers/whatever our way. I need my son's school to be a safe environment for him. Given that the middle school is essentially one big class and he and Joe both have 2 more years of each other, I'm not sure how that's gonna happen. Unless the principal sets up a videoconference so Joe can follow along from the office. This feels like a "locked room" murder mysetery - I just don't see the way out. I hope someone can.

It’s 5 o’clock somewhere

I’m a little tired today. For one, I did HIIT on the recumbent bike at the gym yesterday. For two, I stayed up and watched “Godzilla” (the one with Matthew Broderick) until 10 last night. And for three, I am still recovering from my pretty intense workout session Sunday.

I used the bike yesterday because I wanted to try a technique the trainer showed me, and because by the time I got there it was 5 and that was my only option. I have to say, I have a tough time getting my heart rate very high on the bike. I’m hoping to get there earlier today so I can have my choice of equipment.

I don't know if any of y'all shop Costco, but they carry these pre-seasoned individually packaged salmon fillets in the freezer section. They are awesome! That plus salad and spinach souffle is lunch this week. Well worth having on hand for lunches or a quick dinner.

Weather here is odd – very windy and cool for this time of year, low 60s. At least I don’t have the air conditioning cranking yet!

Hope you all have a nice day.

Powerless

I woke up this morning – luckily, because the power was out! We had a very strong wind storm last night. Everything came through okay and the power did come back on as I was headed to the kitchen. The boy was a bit grumpy – some school systems were delayed and he was a bit bitter that he had to go on time.

The workout was good yesterday – I am sore today. Last night we went out for Mexican food, but that was at the end of a weekend of eating healthy foods so I decided to just enjoy.

I didn’t get up and work out this morning (obviously!) – I hope I can at least do a quick session around the neighborhood this evening, but I have to do my mom’s taxes. I am not the procrastinator on this one. :-O

So far I am happy with Glenn (the trainer). If it doesn’t work out with him, I may switch over and try out the trainer one of my co-workers works with. She raves about him all the time. I will say it was a very good workout. The part that didn’t “wow” me was more some of the stereotypical traps a lot of trainers fall into (“muscle weighs more than fat”, repeated assurances that I wouldn’t get bulky. Well duh.). It’s like someone who knows how to drive a car, but doesn’t know how the engine works. As long as I am getting a good workout to my high standard, then that’s fine.

Have a good day!

Looking back, looking forward

Well, it's been a while since I posted - really posted about anything important in any case. I am going to make an effort to catch up here.

Work has been pretty stressful so far this year, and in the face of that plus hub's unemployment for a couple of months, I just felt overwhelmed. Given fears over the economy, our company has made instituted some cost saving measures. We did actually lose a couple of folks on our team. That was very difficult for me - I've never been through that before. The more ongoing nag are the goals we are expected to accomplish with little or no funding and (worse yet) what feels like not a lot of high level support. I work for a very good company and I know I "have it better" than a lot of folks. That's part of the reason this feels so frustrating for me. In any case, my boss is still good and our team is solid. The bummer there is that our boss has been sent to another office to "turn around" a troubled team whose manager just left. He's there at least 3 weeks. It's just been a tough adjustment coming off such a great year last year. And my projects feel pretty small in comparison. I'm not the only one, which is some solace.

Vacation was very good - the house was nice and we had a great time. Very relaxing. Towards the end I started feeling depressed about the thought of coming back and my weight and just a lot of stuff. Sigh. Then of course we got back and I got sick. In a way it was a blessing because the extra time away from work gave me an opportunity to do some hard thinking about how I was feeling and what I planned to do about it.

I feel like I’ve just let a lot of things go, stuck my head in the sand, and pretended they weren’t there. Not just my weight (although that too), but my declining fitness level, my detachment from my emotions (me? feelings?). Vacation was interesting in that I had large chunks of time to do what I wanted. I couldn’t even remember when I thought about what I really wanted. I spend so much time thinking about distracting things (money, bills, the house, the boy’s homework), that I don’t really give much thought to how I feel or what I’d like to do or what makes me happy. I had gotten so wound up I even lost touch with the basics of what it is that makes me happy.

I mean, I love my family, I am proud of our home, I enjoy my job. But what do I like to do with my spare time these days? I don’t really know. I don’t feel like I’m doing anything that I have a passion for - I just have a to do list. That feels sad to me. Even the medieval scroll project I am making for my husband doesn’t really thrill me right now.

So, what am I doing about it? Well, a couple of things.

1) I bought a book about meditation. I’d like to spend just a few minutes each morning/evening meditating. Sadly, I haven’t had time to start it yet! But I want to spend a few minutes this week reading the book at least!

2) Fitness. I received an unexpected check (one of those class action lawsuits that you don’t know about but you’re a part of) for $400 and I decided that rather than spending it on my house or my family or even my trip with hub next month, I would buy myself a birthday gift. I love my hub, but he really considered that stupid phone my birthday gift - like I gift a phooey about a phone - I just want one that works. That was his idea of a good gift - not mine. Anyway, I decided to spend the check on a personal trainer. I spoke to one of the employees at the gym and have a session today with the guy he recommended. I told him I wanted to work out once a week for 12 weeks, plus have him review my exercise overall as well as my eating.
Glenn (the trainer) asked me to stay off the scale & not obsess about counting calories at this point. For the next 3 weeks he just wants me to focus on making healthy food choices and enjoying my very difficult workouts! So that’s my plan. I have to say it feels good to be doing something for myself.

3) Long runs. My long runs (long for me) used to be one of my favorite times of the week. They were time I could just think without any worries about anyone else. No phone, just me. I am going to start making time for that again. I need the time to decompress if I am going to make any gains in my mental and physical well being.

So, how has this weekend been?

Excellent! Hub & the boy went to finish up the out of town job yesterday. Friday after work I gassed up the car and did the grocery shopping. They got started on the housework. Saturday I ran several errands, and I also managed to get everything put away from the beach trip. But I also make time to go for a walk and to sit & watch a TV show. I didn’t feel tired or worn out or resentful, which was a refreshing change of pace! I couldn’t believe how much I accomplished!
This morning has been odd. I woke up a 4 and couldn’t get back to sleep. I got out of bed at 5 and went in and did my cooking for the week. That took until 7:30, and then I was tired, so I went back to bed! I slept until 9 and woke up feeling ready for the day! :-) Since then I’ve done a bit of housework, but made a point to stop when I started feeling stressed.

It’s about 11:40 now - my appointment with the trainer is at 2:30. Today I have to mop my bathroom floor and do my mom’s taxes. She does EZ, so that’s not bad. She’s coming over this afternoon. I even have tonight’s dinner already made! I may paint or not. I may sew - or not. I’ll work on what I feel like this evening, making sure I choose the thing I want to do, not the thing I “need” to do. I’ve been spending too much time on “need” lately - turning things into “need to do” that shouldn’t be in that category. One thing I won’t do is read a book - I’ve had about all the reading I could take while I was sick!

I hope that I use this blog more often while I am working with the trainer, not only to document what we’re doing, but also to keep a record for myself of what I accomplish.

Alive

Sorry, this has to be quick. I came down with that horrid rotovirus (or whatever) - I left work a bit early Monday and was sick as a dog. Awful. I'm feeling better today, but now my mom has it. I am working at her house today (thank goodness for laptops!) in case she needs anything other than 3 little dogs sleeping with her and using their reiki puppy powers on her. :-)

Take care - back soon! (Knock on wood!)

Just a quick note

Hello! We made it back, safe and sound. Vacation was wonderful, I am now back to reality. :-O I will post more later, just wanted to let you know I'm here!