Yesterday I lost the whole day to an allergy attack with sinus headache--the only thing I managed to do besides sleep and sneeze and whine was to vacuum the breezeway. When I was falling asleep, I remembered the days when I enjoyed, not housework, no, but the feeling of accomplishment that comes when the housework is done.
Despite my general reluctance to give any of my money to large, sprawling charitable organizations, one of my colleagues is currently battling breast cancer, and when Mom said she was interested in charity walks, I signed us up for this one. While we were en route to the walk, I talked to Mom about how yesterday reminded me of how, back when I was depressed and un-medicated, the simplest things caused me to give up and turn into a slug. I told her that I think it might be time to bump my Lexapro dosage, and so I'll be sending an e-mail request to my neuro tomorrow.
The walk was nice--2.8 miles around the University of Akron campus, which has changed a ton since I was there. It was quite chilly, but the sun was shining, and thankfully someone took our picture before the walk started, because I was a sweaty wind-haired mess by the end. :P
An ordinary but still rather revelatory Sunday in the life of me.
Showing posts with label Exercise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exercise. Show all posts
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Sunday, July 03, 2011
The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Jammies...
I got my Lexapro Thursday night, and had Friday off from work. I had planned to do a little window-shopping, finding the Ulta and Sally Beauty Supply stores in Fairlawn, and follow that up with a workout at the pool. Since the instructor who does the Friday water classes is the one I think is useless, I decided to shop first, then work out on my own after the class was over.
After a fruitless ton of searching, I found the plaza where the Ulta and Sally were hidden, and managed to get away with only renewing my Sally's card and picking up a small bottle of Orly Cutique at Ulta. Since I was planning to leave my car at the Natatorium for nearly an hour while working out, I talked myself out of going to World Market and buying a ton of chocolate. I did stop at Hobby Lobby on the way home, and that's where my plans hit a snag. I had strolled around and looked at everything, picked up just a few items, and was on my way out when I suddenly realized I needed to find a bathroom. After five miserable minutes hoping no one would come in, I was finished and headed for the car.
Working out while my intestines were distressed did not seem like a very good idea, so I came home, drank a bunch of water and took a long nap. I had more water, and later ate a very cautious dinner. I felt fine yesterday morning, so I worked out for half an hour, then came home and mooched around all day. Today I am planning to clean and do laundry so that tomorrow I can go see my folks for lunch and then make some pesto before I lose another bunch of basil. I was going to go work out this morning, but I overslept and now I can't take the time, so I'll have to do that before I go to Hudson tomorrow.
Happy early 4th/belated Canada Day, everyone!
After a fruitless ton of searching, I found the plaza where the Ulta and Sally were hidden, and managed to get away with only renewing my Sally's card and picking up a small bottle of Orly Cutique at Ulta. Since I was planning to leave my car at the Natatorium for nearly an hour while working out, I talked myself out of going to World Market and buying a ton of chocolate. I did stop at Hobby Lobby on the way home, and that's where my plans hit a snag. I had strolled around and looked at everything, picked up just a few items, and was on my way out when I suddenly realized I needed to find a bathroom. After five miserable minutes hoping no one would come in, I was finished and headed for the car.
Working out while my intestines were distressed did not seem like a very good idea, so I came home, drank a bunch of water and took a long nap. I had more water, and later ate a very cautious dinner. I felt fine yesterday morning, so I worked out for half an hour, then came home and mooched around all day. Today I am planning to clean and do laundry so that tomorrow I can go see my folks for lunch and then make some pesto before I lose another bunch of basil. I was going to go work out this morning, but I overslept and now I can't take the time, so I'll have to do that before I go to Hudson tomorrow.
Happy early 4th/belated Canada Day, everyone!
Saturday, February 05, 2011
Workout stats (a work in progress)
Water walking, 02/05/11:
Steps in to building: 84 (was lazy and parked near the door, plus it's COLD)
Steps in first 2-minute jog: 184
Steps in second 2-minute jog: 192
Steps in third 2-minute jog: 170 (lazy, lazy, lazy)
Water walking, 02/12/11:
Steps in to building: 134
Steps in 4-minute jog: 292
Steps in to building: 84 (was lazy and parked near the door, plus it's COLD)
Steps in first 2-minute jog: 184
Steps in second 2-minute jog: 192
Steps in third 2-minute jog: 170 (lazy, lazy, lazy)
Water walking, 02/12/11:
Steps in to building: 134
Steps in 4-minute jog: 292
Thursday, September 30, 2010
A week's worth of mudge
On Monday I found out that I have a blood clot in my left palm, and I'm now on stomach-killing NSAIDs to get rid of it.
On Tuesday I had to go to the dentist.
On Wednesday I started my day with being tailgated through hilly S-curves in the fog, then spent forty minutes on the phone with six different people just to change a contact phone number at the VA. The last hour of the day was spent frantically rushing around trying to get a Medicaid reapplication ready and mailed before 4:30 while a client showed up forty-five minutes early to read and sign her will. After I'd done all that and hurried home, I got to water-walking only to find out that the useless substitute was teaching the class.
This morning, I found out that the VA didn't correctly change the number, but they called Bosstopus at home last night with an appointment reminder instead of calling the veteran's nursing home.
I think I shall schedule a nervous breakdown for tomorrow.
On Tuesday I had to go to the dentist.
On Wednesday I started my day with being tailgated through hilly S-curves in the fog, then spent forty minutes on the phone with six different people just to change a contact phone number at the VA. The last hour of the day was spent frantically rushing around trying to get a Medicaid reapplication ready and mailed before 4:30 while a client showed up forty-five minutes early to read and sign her will. After I'd done all that and hurried home, I got to water-walking only to find out that the useless substitute was teaching the class.
This morning, I found out that the VA didn't correctly change the number, but they called Bosstopus at home last night with an appointment reminder instead of calling the veteran's nursing home.
I think I shall schedule a nervous breakdown for tomorrow.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Uncool at the pool
Because I feel as if I've maxed out on the water-walking, Mom suggested I start water aerobics with her. However, the times I have tried it, the class is too fast-paced and complicated for me to keep up. After a bit of thinking, I decided I needed to add wrist and ankle weights. I ordered them from Swim Outlet, and they arrived on Thursday.
Saturday morning, I decided to skip the class and instead do a 40 minute workout on my own when there was less of an audience* in case I made a fool of myself. I only used the ankle weights, figuring that when I get used to those, I will add the wrist weights. They were certainly effective--my speed slowed down to where it was when I started taking the class fifteen months ago, and I could still feel the strain in my leg muscles when I went to bed last night.
While I was at the pool, a woman came in wearing a shower cap rather than a swimming cap, and then proceeded to wave her arms about in very weird gestures the whole time she was walking. Uncool, but very amusing.
As I was leaving, a man on a motorcycle, with a boy behind him pulled up to the curb. The boy got off, the man watched him walk in the door and then left. I'd have given the guy lots of points for being a cool dad, except neither of them was wearing a helmet. Risking your own life is one thing, risking your kid's life is unconscionable. Uncool dad!
Saturday morning, I decided to skip the class and instead do a 40 minute workout on my own when there was less of an audience* in case I made a fool of myself. I only used the ankle weights, figuring that when I get used to those, I will add the wrist weights. They were certainly effective--my speed slowed down to where it was when I started taking the class fifteen months ago, and I could still feel the strain in my leg muscles when I went to bed last night.
While I was at the pool, a woman came in wearing a shower cap rather than a swimming cap, and then proceeded to wave her arms about in very weird gestures the whole time she was walking. Uncool, but very amusing.
As I was leaving, a man on a motorcycle, with a boy behind him pulled up to the curb. The boy got off, the man watched him walk in the door and then left. I'd have given the guy lots of points for being a cool dad, except neither of them was wearing a helmet. Risking your own life is one thing, risking your kid's life is unconscionable. Uncool dad!
Sunday, July 04, 2010
The joys of home ownership
As I mentioned, Sherri and Jay made a spontaneous trip to Ohio on Thursday. We had a lovely, quiet Friday and Saturday, full of shopping, baking, eating, movie-watching, perfume-testing, laughing, exercising, lunching with relatives, etc.
On Sunday, I got up at my usual 6:20, and the water was out. I tried flipping the breaker, to no avail. When Sherri woke up, I sent her down to the basement, and explained what had happened, then put some empty bottles in my car and headed out to the folks' house.
Mom was out riding her bike, but I got in the back door to the garage, and started filling water bottles at the utility sink. I was almost done when Mom got home, and she invited the three of us to spend the day at her house. I wound up not going anywhere, although Jay and Sherri went to Barnes and Noble and picked up dinner at the Olive Garden. Somehow, throughout the day, the pump came back to life enough for us to be able to flush toilets, although not shower or wash dishes.
Monday morning, I took a shower at the Natatorium, then went on to work. While I was there, I talked to Dave, the well pump guy, and he said he'd meet me at the house at 12:30. It wound up being closer to 2:00, but he replaced the switch, and didn't have to dig anything up, yay! As soon as he was gone, I told Jay and Sherri to have the long showers they both wanted, and then it was time for a nap, then dinner, then a quick trip to World Market.
Tuesday morning I dropped Jay off at the Nat and went on to work, then headed for a local nursery, where I picked up six pink-flowered lavender plants. When I came home, Jay walked Little Miss and Sherri and I made pesto. We also discussed books and knitting and gardening. She's taken up knitting again, so I can count that and BPAL as my enabling successes for the visit.
While I did very much miss Imp and Rob and Dampy, it was nice to have Sherri and Jay all to myself. I wished they lived closer.
On Sunday, I got up at my usual 6:20, and the water was out. I tried flipping the breaker, to no avail. When Sherri woke up, I sent her down to the basement, and explained what had happened, then put some empty bottles in my car and headed out to the folks' house.
Mom was out riding her bike, but I got in the back door to the garage, and started filling water bottles at the utility sink. I was almost done when Mom got home, and she invited the three of us to spend the day at her house. I wound up not going anywhere, although Jay and Sherri went to Barnes and Noble and picked up dinner at the Olive Garden. Somehow, throughout the day, the pump came back to life enough for us to be able to flush toilets, although not shower or wash dishes.
Monday morning, I took a shower at the Natatorium, then went on to work. While I was there, I talked to Dave, the well pump guy, and he said he'd meet me at the house at 12:30. It wound up being closer to 2:00, but he replaced the switch, and didn't have to dig anything up, yay! As soon as he was gone, I told Jay and Sherri to have the long showers they both wanted, and then it was time for a nap, then dinner, then a quick trip to World Market.
Tuesday morning I dropped Jay off at the Nat and went on to work, then headed for a local nursery, where I picked up six pink-flowered lavender plants. When I came home, Jay walked Little Miss and Sherri and I made pesto. We also discussed books and knitting and gardening. She's taken up knitting again, so I can count that and BPAL as my enabling successes for the visit.
While I did very much miss Imp and Rob and Dampy, it was nice to have Sherri and Jay all to myself. I wished they lived closer.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Doppleganger
So far, I've welcomed three new people to the water-walking class the last two times I've gone. The interesting one last night was a fat chick with glasses and dark curly hair who has the same first name as me. It's pretty cool to think that I've been doing this for over a year now, and even if I haven't lost weight, my clothes fit better and I haven't gained any weight!
Of course, sometimes I don't manage to make myself go, like tonight. I suspect there may be a bit of situational depression attacking me, what with the layoff and the lack of success in job-hunting, and while I am very happy for The Mad Tatter, I'm also a little bummed that she has a job and I don't. I'm having a hard time getting through my days at work, to say nothing of cleaning or gardening or water-walking after work. This is the kind of thing where I wish I could just slap myself out of it, because there are a lot of people a lot worse off than I am.
Of course, sometimes I don't manage to make myself go, like tonight. I suspect there may be a bit of situational depression attacking me, what with the layoff and the lack of success in job-hunting, and while I am very happy for The Mad Tatter, I'm also a little bummed that she has a job and I don't. I'm having a hard time getting through my days at work, to say nothing of cleaning or gardening or water-walking after work. This is the kind of thing where I wish I could just slap myself out of it, because there are a lot of people a lot worse off than I am.
Friday, April 09, 2010
MS Walk 2010
Mom and I are walking together in Columbus this year, along with my brother, sister-in-law and both of my nephews. If you're interested in making a donation, send me an e-mail and I'll send you a link.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
348!
My natatorium membership renews on March 7--I can't believe I've been water-walking for almost a year. This is the first exercise program I have ever stuck with, and while individual classes haven't been easy, the commitment has been.
When I started, my jogging speed was one step per second. On Wednesday night, I did 340 steps in four minutes or 240 seconds. Today, I did 348 steps during the four-minute jog. I celebrated with ten minutes in the hot tub and a long nap this afternoon. I haven't lost any weight in the last year, but my clothes feel better and clearly, my endurance and speed have improved.
My only regret is that I didn't do this right after my surgery!
When I started, my jogging speed was one step per second. On Wednesday night, I did 340 steps in four minutes or 240 seconds. Today, I did 348 steps during the four-minute jog. I celebrated with ten minutes in the hot tub and a long nap this afternoon. I haven't lost any weight in the last year, but my clothes feel better and clearly, my endurance and speed have improved.
My only regret is that I didn't do this right after my surgery!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Thank you, Bakerella!
Last weekend, Mom and I broke our brains trying to balance an accounting that is due on January 26th. On Wednesday, Mom called me to tell me she had balanced it, and all that remained was to put it in the proper format and mail it to Portage County. I told her I would go in Thursday night and put all the data from the Excel file on the admin computer into the Word document that matches the court forms (said Word document also on said admin computer). I worked a full day at Hyphenated Corp. and then fought traffic to get to Mom's office. I might also mention that I had spent the entire day fighting an allergy attack of the repeated-sneezing-and-very-itchy-eyes type, and wanted more than anything else to go home and take some Benadrool to MAKE. IT. STOP.
When I got to the office, Mom was still there, but indicated she'd had a truly horrible day. Not only was she having trouble with a bank on behalf of one of her clients, her computer had died earlier in the week, and on Thursday Dad came in to install her new one.
Unfortunately, Mom didn't remember to tell him I would need the admin computer, and he took it home! So I had wasted my time and gas money, and we were no closer to gettting the accounting to the court than we had been when we couldn't balance it. I told Mom I would have Dad e-mail me the files I needed, then fax the completed forms to the office, so she could make copies and send them to the court.
When I hadn't heard from Dad by eight o'clock, I called and Mom said he was taking a nap. At that point, I was still sneezing like crazy, and I told her that I was going to take a bath, some Benadryl, and go to bed, and Dad could e-mail the files tomorrow and she could mail them on Saturday. Then I hung up on her.
After several attempts to get the right files to me, Dad sent the ones I needed, I plugged in the information, printed one copy, faxed one to the office, and called Mom and told her that I'd go in to the office after water-walking Saturday morning to get the copies made and everything in the mail (she had a client meeting at eleven-thirty).
When I woke up Saturday morning, it was early. I was worried enough about the accounting to get dressed, have coffee, let the dogs in and out and go into the office before water-walking rather than after. When I got there, I discovered that Dad had used a new password on Mom's new computer, so I had to call and wake up the scary bear to get it. After that, everything went smoothly, and I headed off to water-walking with a light heart and a filled briefcase. After class, Mom signed everything and headed into the office, and I made it to the post office in plenty of time.
So what does all that have to do with my post title? Well, between working Thursday night, Friday night and Saturday morning, plus the fact that Dad won't have the computer back until Monday, meant that I didn't have to go into Mom's office today.
Wednesday is my last day at Hyphenated Corp. Since I have promised repeatedly that I will bring in crack cookies (Jan Hagels) one last time for my co-workers, I made those today. As with any baking project, the first step is to vacuum the kitchen floor and wipe down all surfaces so there are no inadvertent inclusions of dog hair. I made three batches of Jan Hagels (40 cookies each).
My father adores peanut butter. He puts it on anything that will hold it, including garlic bread and hamburgers. He also likes peanut butter cookies, but he constantly comments than there is never enough taste of peanut butter in the cookies, whether homemade or commercial. While browsing Bakerella, I found a recipe for flourless peanut butter cookies. I made a batch of those, set two aside for Dad, and added the rest into the cookie tins for my co-workers. I didn't dip the cookies in chocolate the way Bakerella did, because I want Dad to evaluate just the cookies. I'm thinking that these would make a very sophisticated version of peanut butter kisses if I use Cemoi Truffes instead of Hershey's Kisses. JammiesFest attendees, prepare to be guinea pigs!
I also trashed my clean kitchen and burned myself, but it was all worth it.
When I got to the office, Mom was still there, but indicated she'd had a truly horrible day. Not only was she having trouble with a bank on behalf of one of her clients, her computer had died earlier in the week, and on Thursday Dad came in to install her new one.
Unfortunately, Mom didn't remember to tell him I would need the admin computer, and he took it home! So I had wasted my time and gas money, and we were no closer to gettting the accounting to the court than we had been when we couldn't balance it. I told Mom I would have Dad e-mail me the files I needed, then fax the completed forms to the office, so she could make copies and send them to the court.
When I hadn't heard from Dad by eight o'clock, I called and Mom said he was taking a nap. At that point, I was still sneezing like crazy, and I told her that I was going to take a bath, some Benadryl, and go to bed, and Dad could e-mail the files tomorrow and she could mail them on Saturday. Then I hung up on her.
After several attempts to get the right files to me, Dad sent the ones I needed, I plugged in the information, printed one copy, faxed one to the office, and called Mom and told her that I'd go in to the office after water-walking Saturday morning to get the copies made and everything in the mail (she had a client meeting at eleven-thirty).
When I woke up Saturday morning, it was early. I was worried enough about the accounting to get dressed, have coffee, let the dogs in and out and go into the office before water-walking rather than after. When I got there, I discovered that Dad had used a new password on Mom's new computer, so I had to call and wake up the scary bear to get it. After that, everything went smoothly, and I headed off to water-walking with a light heart and a filled briefcase. After class, Mom signed everything and headed into the office, and I made it to the post office in plenty of time.
So what does all that have to do with my post title? Well, between working Thursday night, Friday night and Saturday morning, plus the fact that Dad won't have the computer back until Monday, meant that I didn't have to go into Mom's office today.
Wednesday is my last day at Hyphenated Corp. Since I have promised repeatedly that I will bring in crack cookies (Jan Hagels) one last time for my co-workers, I made those today. As with any baking project, the first step is to vacuum the kitchen floor and wipe down all surfaces so there are no inadvertent inclusions of dog hair. I made three batches of Jan Hagels (40 cookies each).
My father adores peanut butter. He puts it on anything that will hold it, including garlic bread and hamburgers. He also likes peanut butter cookies, but he constantly comments than there is never enough taste of peanut butter in the cookies, whether homemade or commercial. While browsing Bakerella, I found a recipe for flourless peanut butter cookies. I made a batch of those, set two aside for Dad, and added the rest into the cookie tins for my co-workers. I didn't dip the cookies in chocolate the way Bakerella did, because I want Dad to evaluate just the cookies. I'm thinking that these would make a very sophisticated version of peanut butter kisses if I use Cemoi Truffes instead of Hershey's Kisses. JammiesFest attendees, prepare to be guinea pigs!
I also trashed my clean kitchen and burned myself, but it was all worth it.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Feet per second
Not falling speed, just the rate of speed I can manage while jogging in the pool. It's definitely improved since I started water-walking back in April, as has my endurance. Tonight, I really needed the workout, because it was an extra Mondayish Monday.
The day started with an office in which the air-conditioning was apparently blasting all weekend, a work fridge that has been broken for a week, a nastygram from the building management about people leaving their lunches in the ice-maker, and another nastygram from manufacturing, and went downhill from there.
Over the weekend, I did some proofreading for the Little Mermaid on a book she was supposed to build today. I found three small errors, and knowing she had another multi-volume pub to build today, offered to fix the errors when I got in. She took me up on the offer, and I made what I thought would be three simple fixes.
One of them was easy. The other two were not, and in fact, I lost track of the number of times I started from scratch to add one damn form to the book. Start with the .pdf, convert it to a .tif, load the .tif, put the .tif in the book, yell to tech support that it wasn't working, wait forty minutes and start over again. Finally, tech support told me to send them the .tif file, which I did, and they got it to work eleven minutes before LM left for the day. She'd already notified our forecaster that she wouldn't be building the book today, but still, it's infuriating that some glitch cost me a day's worth of work and LM a shot at getting her book done on time.
Another co-worker scared me to death--I had asked her to proofread something I'd done for MegaBookMan, and she said she didn't see any of my changes in the finished manuscript. So I went in to re-do about two days' worth of work, and every single edit I'd made was there. I don't know wth is going on with that co-worker, but I just re-proofed the whole thing and called it done.
Our busy and hellish time of year is starting earlier, and I'm just hoping that my mnemonics and spreadsheets hold up as we head into fourth quarter mayhem.
The day started with an office in which the air-conditioning was apparently blasting all weekend, a work fridge that has been broken for a week, a nastygram from the building management about people leaving their lunches in the ice-maker, and another nastygram from manufacturing, and went downhill from there.
Over the weekend, I did some proofreading for the Little Mermaid on a book she was supposed to build today. I found three small errors, and knowing she had another multi-volume pub to build today, offered to fix the errors when I got in. She took me up on the offer, and I made what I thought would be three simple fixes.
One of them was easy. The other two were not, and in fact, I lost track of the number of times I started from scratch to add one damn form to the book. Start with the .pdf, convert it to a .tif, load the .tif, put the .tif in the book, yell to tech support that it wasn't working, wait forty minutes and start over again. Finally, tech support told me to send them the .tif file, which I did, and they got it to work eleven minutes before LM left for the day. She'd already notified our forecaster that she wouldn't be building the book today, but still, it's infuriating that some glitch cost me a day's worth of work and LM a shot at getting her book done on time.
Another co-worker scared me to death--I had asked her to proofread something I'd done for MegaBookMan, and she said she didn't see any of my changes in the finished manuscript. So I went in to re-do about two days' worth of work, and every single edit I'd made was there. I don't know wth is going on with that co-worker, but I just re-proofed the whole thing and called it done.
Our busy and hellish time of year is starting earlier, and I'm just hoping that my mnemonics and spreadsheets hold up as we head into fourth quarter mayhem.
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