A sense of happiness

I had a very nice evening last night. I picked up beer & pizza for dinner, we watched part of "The Jerk" with Steve Martin, I had a nice soak in the tub, and then we watched a cheesy giant snake movie on sci-fi channel. I felt like I just relaxed.

It helped that the boy was picked up from school yesterday by grandpa and went to the beach. I have several days of quiet puttering around the house to myself - hub has to work tomorrow and then he has a side job that he plans to work on Sunday. I am working on Monday, but it will be quiet.

Now, tonight the goal is to have the same kind of evening without the pizza and beer! :-)

Have a good weekend!

Step away from the crazy woman

I guess its the lack of medicine - I have to say I am acting crazy. I am feeling so darn frustrated! Its nuts! I feel like I can't relax or focus. It's not good. Of course, things weren't good on the medicine either. I'm gonna give this 2 or 3 weeks - hopefully things will settle out.

The journey of a thousand miles

I got up and walked this morning! I realize walking 1 mile in the neighborhood isn’t exactly stretching the limits of human endurance, but it feels great to be getting back into my healthy routines!

Getting there. :-)

Fit and Fun – or fit in any case!

Every year the trifecta of vacation prep, vacation, and back to school means my physical fitness takes a real hit. And of course it is always difficult to get back into the groove. This year I have help – our department is doing a “Fit and Fun” competition, running from Sep 4 to Nov 12 (10 weeks).

Some highlights:

Weigh-ins will be confidential. The nurse will perform the weigh-in and only report the amount lost, not the total weight

Each pound lost will earn 10 points or every 7000 steps walked will earn 1 point, whichever is greater for the individual that week. Individual points will be totaled for the team.

Teams will be assigned after initial weigh-in to balance the total weight on each team.

Weigh-in and pedometer readings will occur each Monday, or the first day the individual is at work, each week.

Participation in JDRF will gain the individual double points for walking that week.

Mini-contests – rules and points will be announced with each contest.

The thing I really like is that you get the greater points of either walking OR weight – so, even if you are trying to lose weight, if you have a bad week on the scale you can still contribute to your team by walking. Also, even if you don’t need to lose weight you can still participate.

This aligns well with my intention to do a half marathon training program. My plan is to walk in the mornings this week, then next week add in weights, then the next week add in HIIT. I think I’ll do weights in the morning, it cuts into my running/walk days, but I’m afraid I just won’t go in the afternoons.

My feast went well this past weekend. Hub is home sick today, I feel bad for him. But we were so wiped that we did nothing yesterday, so I’m glad he’s home to put a dent in the mountain of dishes. Also, this is one more day my mom doesn’t have to drive over to pick up the boy from school. While she is doing quite well after her knee surgery last week, I’m glad she gets and extra day to take it easy.

I had a nice weekend. I had a good talk with hub last night – I am going off this medicine. I am not liking the way it makes me feel. Anger I can deal with. Lack of will to do anything I can’t.

All's quiet in Dogland

The dogs have been getting along well all week. Bess is at mom's until Sunday, so we'll see what happens when she comes home. I did get an email from a lady that might be interested in Chyna - I invited her to come out & meet her. So, we'll see what happens.

I have more cooking & shopping to do, so I am taking a couple of hours off today. plus take our houseguest to the airport and check on my mom.

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Please Friday, hurry!

The work week feels very ugh this week - still sort of unsettled. I started working on the feast last night so that Saturday isn't too crazy.

Bess is still at my mom's. She is doing much better. Things have been quiet at home with the dogs, we are in a weird holding pattern. I guess we'll see what happens when we bring Bess home. We can keep the dogs separated while we're away. I still have no answer.

I am eating much better, despite failing to prepare food for lunches this week. We did have pizza for dinner last night (I couldn't stand the thought of cooking one more thing), but did get soup in the crock pot for tonight. exercise will re-commence next week, that's the best I can do.

No news on the doggie front

That is all for today. :-(

Sadness

Yesterday while we were at work, Chyna attacked Bess. She has become increasingly aggressive with the other dogs lately. Hub came home to find Bess bloody, terrified, and wet. He rushed her to the vet. She'll be okay, but we have to find another place for Chyna. She's great with people, but not other animals.

I feel awful.

Cold nearly vanquished

The cold is nearly a distant memory. Yay for vitamins! The house is largely put back in order (other than the dining/project room) - a bit more to do but not too bad. I begin shopping today for the feast I am doing this weekend. I have picked a good (read relatively easy) menu, good people to help, and am getting lots of support. I am looking forward to it, but I am also very excited about lots of potential projects on the flip side!

One project I am looking forward to it running and exercise. I am still trying to figure out a schedule and get the house squared away plus this meal. But next week I am going to begin going back to the gym and walking 3 mornings a week. After that I want to start a running program. I think that will help keep me focused. I never finished my cooking for the week, resulting in a not super healthy lunch from the cafeteria, but I am going to work on that this evening.

I am cooking dinners again, so there's a victory!

Friday

I am feeling better - taking vitamins, getting plenty of rest, slowly moving the diet away from the beer & back to the veggies... ;-) I hope the hub gets some stuff done around the house this weekend. I have work to do, yes, but a lot of it is him re-packing stuff back into the garage for storage.

Because I now have a lot of crafty type projects I want to work on, I decided to start a livejournal to chronicle my efforts. I am mainly sharing it with SCA type folks I know, if you are interested, drop me a line & I'll send you the addy. No one in my 'real' life knows about this blog, and I prefer it that way. If someone finds it I wouldn't freak out or anything, but I'd prefer to keep it to myself.

I am not getting on the scale until next week. I have a plan for cleaning up the diet & getting back into the exercise (slowly). Because the hub has to be in to work so early, I have to take the boy to school every morning. So I may try hitting the gym in the am for workouts, doing HIIT in the afternoon, and using the other mornings I'm not lifting for running. Yes, running is back on the agenda. I am going to do a marathon training program. Not sure when I'll begin, but I realize how much I miss it. I may not go much past the 1/2 marathon length because I have to keep weight loss my focus, but I need the mental boost that running gives me and that I miss.

I have nothing planned for the month of September and I like it - especially since October is booked!

Have a great weekend!

G'day!

Did I mention in our last post that a friend came home with us for a few days? This is his first trip to America, and I'm not sure hanging out in small town NC watching Discovery channel is exactly a good "look" at America, but there ya go.

The cold is improving - let's face it, when you spend 2 weeks camping in primitive conditions, your immune system is overwhelmed. Right now I'm working on accepting that my house is gonna be wrecked for the next couple of weeks until I get better and get past cooking this feast next Saturday.

I will post a few pics once I get the disk loaded onto the computer.

I had things nicely wrapped up prior to my departure, so I can ease back into things slowly this week, which worked out well. It's hard to get back into the swing of things, but 2 weeks of vacation really recharges the old batteries.

I've caught up on blogs, although I gave on reading old posts. I finished the Harry Potter book while I was gone. I really enjoyed it.

As any of you longtime readers know, we used to camp with a certain group when we went to Pennsic, and began camping with a new group last year. This was my second year in camp. Not all the folks were the same, but several were. After 2 years, I feel like these folks are much better friends than the ones we camped with before were. I made friends who I truly know are good friends. No matter how far away they may be, they are friends. That's the greatest thing IMO about the internet and email - the power to bring people together. Nothing replaces personal interaction, but it allows me to stay close to folks that live far away.

So, getting to know folks is my #1 good thing. My number 2 would be learning new skills. Of the 900+ classes offered, I made it to 4! I learned some embroidery, and got some great ideas for how to use it. I learned viking wire weaving, and how to make a viking apron dress. I learned more about various styles of medieval clothing than I thought my brain could hold. (I love the costuming part of this hobby!)

I worked, I played, I sweltered in the heat, joined a good friend's household, and got on staff for next year.

Okay, back to work!

I'm back!

Vcation was everything I hoped and needed. My house is a wreck and I am busy trying to clean and put away mounds of stuff. I caught a nasty cold. I can't wait until next time.

Details to follow.