It's 2:22 a.m. and normal people are busy doing Zzzzz. I woke up and could not sleep, then I realized I wanted to start a new thread so NOW was my only chance.
It's 2:22 a.m. and normal people are busy doing Zzzzz. I woke up and could not sleep, then I realized I wanted to start a new thread so NOW was my only chance.
Hello April! Any spring goals out there? Mine is to STAY ON TRACK. Exercise and food. I had a fleeting thought to stay in bed for another 1/2 hour this morning and skip cardio, but reason prevailed and I got up.
No special plans for April, except for the same ones as you, Mel. I was pretty good foodwise in March, there were only a few detours in the not-so-healthy direction and none of them were major. So that was good. It's not that difficult as long as I am organized and everything is prepared ahead of time.
I actually stayed up for quite a bit, I suppose travel fever kicked in. The worst part of me flying anywhere is that I have to board the girls in a kennel. I will miss them terribly and I will worry about them - they are used to certain standard of living and the kennel doesn't provide sofas with pillows to lounge on.
But, they will get to run with other dogs and they enjoy that.
The worst moment will be when we take BF's greyhound to a dog park. There is a very groovy one about a 15-minute drive away, and my dogs run there as if they had jets in their butts. So I will be sad that they miss on the fun this time. Monty is quite up there in his senior years (13) and he is getting a bit weak but he still enjoys a good romp.
Today is a no exercise day for me. I was at the kennel before work (it's a bit out in the country) and I have to work through lunch as I am leaving early to get to the airport.
When I got to work, there was an email from the Social Committee saying there are Easter treats for everyone in the servery ("One per person, please!"). Some people must have OD'd because when I got there, there were none left. I really don't care for a bag of mini-eggs so that would not have been a problem for me.
This is going to be a hard core month. I got that Sissons book and a book called Primal Eating for Athletes or some such. Gonna ramp up the cardio, and should be just fine!
Have a good trip, Tomato! Will you be a Flying Tomato (hahahaha! I slay me!)
Mel - I'm with you on the stay on track goal. I have let the snackyness get way out of control recently and i have to pull that back in line. Four days down, the weekend to go...
It's very balmy in Chicago, although quite windy. Monty is definitely enjoying having me around, today he got taken out to pee 5 times already. He poops like a clockwork.
Darn rain, did it all have to fall in the Northeast? S-w Ontario is as dry as Sahara ... everything so parched. I wish half the rain that fell in Rhode Island fell in S-w Ontario (I am sure Rhode Island would not mind at all - I had no idea how bad it was until I flipped through a paper waiting at the gate before boarding. Mel, enjoy your daffodils.
I did 40 minute total body workout (Jackie Warner's DVD) and 10 minutes of yoga afterwards. I will my miss my weekly yoga class this Sunday so I must not let the lower back get too achy. One thing that really bothers me is that I cannot do push ups at all (even when the lower back has an "O.K." day.
I had a lovely lunch at a little Thai place nearby. I saved half of it for later.
No word from Lydia - her house must be all spic and span now and I wonder how is the house hunting going?
It is NOT spic and span yet, and that's the problem.
HOWEVER! (drumroll please) I have successfully painted the basement concrete walls. I'm currently cutting around the walls on the floors and will be doing that this weekend. It took me all week to do the sucker and I'm exhausted.
I did make it to the gym the am. The only day all week. I did a quick 20 minute interval workout before meeting with my neighbor for her workout. I've been guiding her workouts for the past two months. Mostly as a favor to me if you can believe it... to keep my training skills from wilting. It really was a great experience. Today was our last official day together because this move needs to my one and only focus right now.
Tomato, I hope you have a wonderful time in Chicago.
Goals for this spring? I'm going to be realistic here and admit to just getting through it. Although my neighbor had great advice for me the morning. Just let most of this stuff slide with the current house. Do only the things that are most important to you while you are still here in Columbus. Time is running short here and you don't want to look back on only working for two months on something that wasn't that important to you in the first place. She's so right. Caused me to regroup this afternoon. But, I'm still finishing the basement floor. LOL
Howdy! It's here today and the snow is melting rapidly.
Lydia - I totally agree with your neighbor! I watched a ton of House Hunters and various how-to-sell-your-house shows when I was sick a couple weeks ago. Seems to me that clean and clear of personal things (family photos, etc) and minimal furniture are what help a house to sell. Are you house hunting in VA?
Alena - hope you're enjoying your weekend. I'm sure RI would give you some of the rain!
Mel - more hard core?? You are already way more hard core than me!
I ended the week with a water aerobics class and UB workout afterwards. I am much more sore than I expected from the WA.... Today I'm hoping just to get in a walk as tonight is our square dance club's pie auction fund raiser. I don't know how much dancing I'll get in, but I'm determined not to eat pie! I did make two as they are our admission price. Then we auction off speciality pies - which are really just a pie with other gifts on a theme, like basket auctions. Our is a GI pie - a broccoli quiche with some MREs (meals ready to eat issued by the US Army to troops in the field), 2 war movies on DVD, a camo hat, a toy tank, all in a camo covered container.
Our gym is closed for Easter and I have a full schedule anyway: Easter breakfast and service at church, then a play with 3 GFs (we have season tickets). May be time for another walk if the weather is good.
Ikea made my day!
I had an INCREDIBLE experience at the IKEA customer service yesterday.
There DD and I were, with a wilted klippan couch on a cart. "My sons field hockey team crashed through the klippan. I know it is out of total guarantee (that is 3 y) but I thought I maybe could get something because of the partial guarantee up to 10 yrs ?" and the lady smiled, conferred with colleagues, and gave us a cash refund for the entire amount on the bill so I could buy a completely new one!!!! WOW
I mean, I do not expect a 139 euro couch to survive a night with "boys A (18 yr olds) in the singstar stage. (Beer is allowed from 16 yrs on in europe), especially after 4 yrs of use. So this totally made my day.
I'll spend easter redecorating the home after my ikea trip.
Happy easter everyone,
Ikea should pay you for all the good will you're sending out here Rabbit.
Our weekend was busy. I got plenty of exercise decorating, dancing, and cleaning at our pie auction. My legs ached when I got home!
Today starts a new 4 week exercise phase in my program. Ugh, I already don't like the schedule. It looks like this:
M - whole body (WB)
T - LB
W - cardio
Th - UB
F - WB
S - Cardio
S - rest
The whole body workouts are shorter, and the first is heavier on the UB stuff since LB is the next day, and the second has more LB stuff as the UB is the day before. But... I do so much better with 2 days of rest a week that I need to figure out where to combine. I'm thinking I'll take Thurs for a rest and put the UB onto Sat with the cardio, or move both to Friday and do the WB on Sat. I could just slide Wed's cardio over to THurs, but I like to take a Zumba class on Wed which is a great cardio workout. Ah decisions, decisions! Anyway, starting to day with WB.
turning off my computer meant that I had to REMEMBER my password to post. I'm getting senile!
Rabbit- Those IKEA sessions always leave me with sore hands. Good job!
My weekend was very buy also. I moved 1/2 a mountain of mulch, transplanted some shrubs, and did enough cooking that I have dinners for about 2 weeks. At least the protein part.
And ate enough chocolate yesterday to make myself sick Dumb. That's what I mean that I have to be more hard core. A few bites would have been plenty, but nooooo.....Ms. all or nothing surfaced.
mel - yikes! FPS (forgotten password syndrome). I so hate having to log in at my various customer acconts...I always mix up my passwords & user id's. Did you get the mobile card so you can 3FC on the train yet?
pat - sounds industrious!
I spent the weekend on the same thema as mel and pat: yesterday mowed the grass and cleaned the terrace. Good. Unfortunately also ate too much. Icecream is my downfall, allways, everytime. Luckily it will be gone next friday, as DD is having friends over for a gathering with a lot of coockies, baking & sleeping over. And DS will celebrate his 18th birthday with a 25 friends on a BBQ next saturfday, he will host the part with 2 friends. I already told DS and DD that I do not want to go to Ikea again with a coach, so they'll tell everyone to be carefull. And I'm not cleaning house untill somewhere next sunday I think.
The weather is turning around: gorgeous spring weather all around. I plan to bike to work next week. Not possible this week as I'll have to go to the store today, and visit 2 schools tomorrow and the day after: I'm a role model for women working in a technical profession, and have to tell 14/15 yr old girls that this is something they could also pursue.
I am back, too. I returned Sunday night, or rather, Monday early a.m. My flight was 2 hours late as there was a huge thunderstorm in Chicago (which I hoped would move over to Ontario but it did not). We got some rain overnight but not nearly enough.
I did not do as well, while in Chicago, as I would have liked. I did get some exercise in, 2x (one was by a DVD, the second was mostly cardio. The townhouse complex where BF lives has a small gym which has a few basic pieces of equipment but it enough. Three treadmills, two ellipticals (although not as sophisticated as those at my gym), a few benches, recumbent bike, the machine for back exercises (whatever it’s called) – where you can you wide grip pull downs and arm exercises with cable pulleys), a decently supplied weight rack. I did 20 minutes on an elliptical, some exercises on the back machine, tricep extensions, etc. and 20 minutes on the treadmill, 15 minute out of which I was running. (The PF foot has calmed down since the flare up in the hot yoga class and did not complain after the treadmill exercise which made me happy).
But, I will have to have a discussion with BF regarding how to handle our eating during our future visits. He does not understand I need to eat every 3 hrs (he is the type who eats three square meals a day and says that more frequent eating causes him to gain weight [but I don’t think he realizes that my more frequent meals don’t mean more calories]). He does not cook much and never has any fruit or veggies in his house. We want to do some fun stuff when we’re together as we don’t see each other that often and our planning has big holes – we always leave later than planned, don’t make it to the grocery store and as a result, eat out. That’s gotta change.
On top of that, there was a visit to his mom on Easter Sunday, where the only thing to eat were boiled eggs (we already had had eggs & turkey bacon that morning) and hot cross buns and other assorted, equally horrific, pastries. And that was before me having to get to the airport at least 2.5 hrs before the flight, and then a 2 hr wait for the delayed flight.
I am not saying I am completely guilt-free. I could have gotten off my butt and driven to the grocery store while he worked on Friday (he works from home on Fridays) and make something. Except I am bit scared to drive his car (it’s much bigger than mine and almost new and the thought of me driving it terrifies me. I have to get over it).
My crimes against humanity consisted of
a raspberry brownie and a latte with what definitely was not non-fat milk (although I have to admit I entirely forgot to ask) at the Milwaukee Art Museum;
- an Italian Beef sandwich with fries (at least the beef was real beef and not cold cuts);
a half of a hot cross bun and a few jelly beans;
- a grilled chicken sandwich (but with too much cheese on it) and FRIES again (at Chili's, while camping for 4+ hours at the O'Hare airport);
and a Coffee Crisp yesterday at work which is completely inexcusable becuase I was already home.
Ugh, sorry for the litany but having confessed makes me feel better.
We went to visit the Milwaukee Art Museum – very groovy architecture – my most favourite painting was Noah and the Animals Entering the Ark ( a huge piece). From a distance, it looked like those two dogs are salukis. Up close, I didn’t think they were but they still looked very close.
On the way back, we drove through the country as BF wanted to show me the greyhound kennel where he used to board his previous greyhound (who is now at the Bridge). It’s a kennel that keeps the greyhounds available for adoption through one Chicago greyhound adoption group plus it provides boarding. We were invited in (the owner is an elderly gentleman who is very friendly) – there were almost 50 greyhounds in there! 15 boarders and approx. 30 who were waiting for a couch of their own. Lots of long noses wanting to be petted through the crate door. That was so nice. Of course, I wanted to adopt about half of them.
45 minutes in the pool yesterday and tonight I am heading to some core class – something new to replace the Pilates class. I am still trying to catch up on my sleep – yesterday, I arrived to work after some 4 hours of sleep – I don’t function too well under that circumstances.
Hopefully, I will be able to get to the gym for a real workout tomorrow. I am glad that I planned before leaving so I had some frozen portioned food to fall back on when I returned – there were enough veggies for a salad as well so my eating is back on track.
April Is The Cruellest Month
to you all!
here today and the snow is melting rapidly. 
You are already way more hard core than me! 
It looks like this:
At least the protein part.
Dumb. That's what I mean that I have to be more hard core. A few bites would have been plenty, but nooooo.....Ms. all or nothing surfaced.
