Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Taking Stock


Really must own this bumper sticker. Not even sure what a couple of those symbols stand for...gotta look 'em up.

Time flies when you're working a plan. Not feeling like Wednesday yet, but the past 2 days have been busy. Did laundry and shopping Monday night, and last night hit the Y. Not sore today, so doing cardio tonight, then a little OT tomorrow. Work is steady and different, and ironically, my current responsibilities are a pinch less stressful (oughta be more stressful, but it hasn't hit me yet).

Last night's workout was GOOD. I went into it planning to do only 1 set of weights. It was my first day back to weight training in months, hell, the better part of a year; so the last thing I wanted to do was overdo it. There are 13 machines I focus on there, and I split them into 2 workouts with an even amount of upper and lower body so that I can alternate and one area never feels too shredded. So I did 1 set last night after a 10-minute bike warm-up and realized it really didn't feel like enough. So I hopped on the treadmill for 10 minutes to stay warm/get warmer and then did another set. So. Frickin'. Smart. Cooled down with another 10 on bike and woke this morning feeling stronger and not sore.

Sad how mind-blowing these little successes are. I have the brains to create my own plans to improve my health without causing myself pain. Whodathunkit.

Outside: Summer in Florida...just as well I no longer have windows in my work area, cuz I'd love to be out getting sun...this way, I can focus without pining.

Inside: chilly...not complaining, except when my toes are cold (and I don't wear sandals to work, y'all...silly circulation).

Wearing: Jeans cuffed with Danskos...yes, large women can be stylin'! Well, that's what I tell myself anyway...

Reading: Kathy Reichs' Fatal Voyage

Creating: the usual lists, piles, brainstorms...

Going: Y, OT, Y, Y.....hmm...what else...out on my deck :)

Hoping...
July is screeching to a close here. My fear is being replaced by resolution. I want to start looking. Initially, that will mean punching up the resume and creating different cover letter scenarios. Also, making lists of companies that I'm going to try for, as well as trolling the ones that are actually hiring. Also, hitting every university and college in that area, looking for their employment opps. That will at least make me feel proactive, even if I know I shouldn't act yet.

We're hopefully only a week and a half away from 2Q results from my company, so my hoping also includes the prayers that those results will create a slight uptick in my company's stock, so that we can nab most of that nest egg before the market drifts down again.

Image from here.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Using the Ole Brainpan


Irony. I really dig the simplicity of the Nike slogan, and I can't wear their sneakers. They've always been too narrow, and with my arthritis now, I'm a hard-core New Balance gal.

Something weird happens when I take lithium. My brain gives me permission to take a day off. I spent yesterday doing a whole lot of nothing, and didn't even have any decent marathons on the idiot box. Instead I watched movies. Caught X-Men: Wolverine for some Hugh Jackman eye candy, then Batman Begins b/c I hadn't seen it yet and wanted to give Christian Bale a chance, and then The Dark Knight, which I watched in deeply sad awe at Heath Ledger's performance. My god, but what a gift he had. Commercials make me ridiculously impatient, but I toughed it out...and played on the Kindle, read a little, and ignored my urges to feel bad about being a slack.

It must have worked, because while I hate that a whole weekend day is gone, leaving me with today (Sunday) to pull off quite a few domestic projects, I woke up this morning with a clearer head. Made my coffee and breakfast, jumped on the computer for a bit, and laid out a fresh exercise plan. The Arthritis Foundation created a new website dedicated to folks with OA, offering tips and basic knowledge on how to make your life better if you have it. (side note: how sad is it that I was delightfully surprised that it was actually an informational website and not a site trying to sell Celebrex or something...so used to Big Pharma being media whores...). With that fresh knowledge in my head, I realized the major flaw in my current plan: I had none. I was killing myself with each workout, thinking my body could handle it, when in fact it was shredding me and forcing me to take 2 or 3 days off between workouts (which is not a great way to establish consistency), while also flaring up my OA in my knees, big time. Silly human.

Created a plan, plus a spreadsheet to start strength training again, then put on my workout clothes and hit the Y, smartly. I'm so NOT-exhausted after today's workout, I want to smack myself. But that's counterproductive, so instead I'll skip the nap I would have needed after a regular Melanie workout, grab lunch, and either go shopping or start laundry. Still plenty of Sunday to play with.

Image from here.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Taking Stock


Bit of an odd week. Getting up an hour earlier is no sweat, but there's still a rhythm to the day that I haven't quite attained yet. I'm exhausted by the end of the day, which I can blame on not eating right and overexerting the 2 times I've exercised this week, but still...it's annoying. Add to that, that I volunteered to move my desk to a remodeled conference room at work. No biggie...I jumped at the chance, and I'm glad I did because I had way too much crap in my old desk anyway, so it was a great opportunity to purge, but still...

Heh...2nd "but still"...must be feeling whiny....while I'm at it, my knees are bitchy this week too.

I think I'm going to find myself job hunting up there by like, mid-August...just for sanity's sake. This treading water thing is killing me...the whole, can't look now cuz what if I get a nibble, we can't move early BS...feels a little like fear doing the dictating.

Outside: summer in Florida...almost mild for us...not much above 90 because rain threatens and then barely falls. We won't discuss the irony of having a mild summer while our corn crops go to shit in the midwest thanks to the droughts.

Inside: 3 new coworkers in the remodeled conference room with me...one's fine, one's standoffish, and one's a complainer...it's an interesting mix. I'm the den mother, answering their questions with more social aplomb than I actually possess.

Wearing: slacks today...Fridays are usually jeans days in Melanie's world, but I ate too much yesterday and knew they'd be uncomfortable.

Creating: ..... yea, i got nothin'...

Reading: a little Kathy Reichs, a little Ashley English...

Going: nowhere! Was lovely visiting with C last weekend, but man, I covet those weekend days! The dining room needs attention, and I have to spend time cooking this weekend too. So frickin' tired of eating out because I didn't prep well enough on the weekend...

Hoping...
Too many things!

Image from here.


Monday, July 16, 2012

Monday


A good weekend. Small headways. Some impromptu friend visiting, shop wandering, a little sun on my shoulders. New work schedule. Trying to get back on the eating smart bandwagon. Exercise after work. Got those first letters written and sent. Medical flexible spending finally reactivated, thank the lord. Life is good.

Image from here.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Summer weekend


Friday. And there was much rejoicing.

Laundry. Farmer's market. Pulling things out of boxes. Putting things into boxes. Throwing things into piles of Goodwill, toss, and keep. Creating lists. Writing letters. Taking the recycling to the place on Philips. Showing the cat some love even though she's a standoffish little snot. Enjoying some Firefly out on the porch in our new deck chairs. Thinkingthinkingthinking. Clearing off the desk AGAIN. Baking, cooking, and creating in the kitchen. Trying to stay the hell off the Kindle and ignore the marathons on the idiot box (really, Melanie, haven't you seen all those NCIS episodes by now?). Y time and getting back on track with food intake. Being kind to myself.

Have a great weekend, y'all!

Image from here.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Taking Stock


I ache for the weekend. This week has been hard. Not sure if it's hormones, my body finally developing a tolerance for Paxil (been wondering that for a while now, will revisit the issue next month with my GP), or just the blues, but this week at work....I've had such anger. The little black cloud took up residence over my head this week, and I'm tired of having it around.

The work itself is actually groovy. I'm on a new project that isn't measured like regular editing, so my paycheck isn't regulated by my speed right now. That's a blessed relief, and I'm enjoying it while it lasts. But around me, the old-timers like me are heavy with discontent, because the company is growing too fast and the ways that they are finding for dealing with that growth bring much unfairness to our positions and the way we're paid. Never mind the fact that they've started outsourcing to the Phillipines...

Outside: summer holding pattern

Inside: tense around the edges

Wearing: the style is casual slob today...capris with deck shoes, green top...

Creating: still need to crank out that damn realtor letter...

Reading: Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs (I started the series over, for a distraction), The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer (Book 2 of her depressing dystopia series)

Going: Y and RAM

Hoping...
The company's stock rallies.

Image from here.

Monday, July 09, 2012

Tackling Monday with Faux Energy

Suck it.

I so love when I have all these grand plans for the weekend and real life gets in the way and craps all over them.....

Ah, it's not as bad as all that. Saturday was spent puttering and then shopping...I didn't actually get out of the house til like, 3PM, but picked up food, got a load of dishes done, did my nails...the little things. Sunday was the first day of the monthly hormonal enslavement though, so other than grabbing a nap and being pissy, nothing got accomplished. We were both down for the count (Hubs had a migraine), so we ate pizza 2 nights in a row and slept a lot (though in our defense, if you haven't tried Freschetta's Brick Oven with 25% extra cheese, you're missing out)...

That's not so bad, I mean, I get when my body and mind need down time and tell me in no uncertain terms.....it's when I wake up Monday ready to conquer the world and have zero spare time to do it in that I get ornery. Tonight I'll be writing lists in between knocking out the laundry that didn't get done yesterday, thinking about tearing into the bedroom closet (because I bought some large boxes and that area is crying out for purging), and treating myself to 1 new show on TNT...luckily I can pack/write while watching.

So in other words, laundry and that show @ 10...

Too hard on myself? Maybe, but I'm also looking at the calendar, seeing that it's actually July, and then allowing myself small panic attacks. This week I'll be writing the letters/emails that I wanted to write last week, to realtors/property management companies up in Asheville, the letter that says "so we're planning to move in December, my credit sucketh, what do we need to get a roof over our heads?" I'm thinking ahead to mundane stuff too, like how I always say I'll do holiday cards (for xmas/yule/etc) and then never do them, but THIS YEAR, I definitely want to do them, but in order to make that happen, I really oughta like, create something now, since we'll be moving right on the holidays this year (please gods!)...

I'm also thinking about books I want, to expand my farming library. My time in Kate's blog has re-engaged my desire for a milk cow when we have our little patch of land, so there's learning about that. Lil Sis would say move first, think about that stuff later...but it's that stuff that's helping to drive the move, so it all helps. I was in traffic this past weekend and it hit me how badly I want to be further away from a big city, how over being around so many people I am. Sounds misanthropic, I know, but it's about wanting the work that goes into a life further away from civilization...I'd rather shop on the weekends than hit the store every damn day after work. I'd rather eat from the cabinets and the freezer. I ache to nail that level of organization in my life. It's as simple as cooking on the weekends to make the weeks easier, and doing more stuff from scratch. It's baking your own bread. I made waffles from scratch using a whole wheat recipe, and I'll never buy Eggos again...they were excellent! I'm starting to digress.....I'll shut up for now.

Image from here.

Friday, July 06, 2012

Laptop in the sun



This is where I'll be this weekend, when I'm not making lists, budgets, and timelines...when i'm not throwing things around and into boxes and into Goodwill piles and into the trash in the dining area.....when I'm not at the Y or out walking and feeling the sun on my arms.....I'll be here, deep in a new blog, trolling the archives, and dreaming of my own farm...

Happy Friday, y'all!

Image from here.

Thursday, July 05, 2012

Taking Stock

Brain's pretty jumbled this week, so I'm stealing from my Tumblr to take stock...

Outside:


Inside:



Wearing:

Creating:

Reading:



Going:


Hoping:
I can get my thoughts organized and really lay into the timeline for the move, because this summer is going to FLY by...

Images from here.

Monday, July 02, 2012

Can't think of a subject line...


It's one of those "in way too good a mood to be at work" days.

Saturday was actually kind of meh. I woke up slowly and was ornery, which I realized I could blame on the pizza we'd indulged in the night before...just a brick-oven Freschetta with cheese, but definitely too many fat and carb calories for this gal. It was quite interesting to listen to my body that morning, see how it was affecting me...call it a cheese hangover. Reminded me why I've been getting off dairy. But I learn lessons slowly, so I coupled that indiscretion with pasta later that day and popcorn with butter for lunch.

So this week is going to be about what's in the calories, learning more discretion in that area. Because Sunday, I had popcorn without butter and spent the entire snack kicking myself, because white corn is perfectly tasty without 300 calories of solid fat poured on top of it.

I haven't gotten the OK yet to shift my schedule earlier, but I'm not letting that stop me. There's quiche leftovers in the fridge for Hubs, so I'm walking tonight. Yesterday was better, both eating and exercise-wise. I kept my portions under control, and worked off calories doing laundry and cleaning off our back porch (probably mostly water weight, as we've definitely hit July here, but still...). Today my legs are just a little achy...it feels terrific.

I'm holding myself accountable (see widget to the right), but don't expect that number to move for at least a month now. I just couldn't resist seeing how the first week of the rest of my life had gone. And that's a perfectly respectable number, especially when you consider I haven't held onto any kind of food/exercise regimen since oh, 8th grade? I'm not looking for Biggest Loser numbers; I'm looking to change my life. I made intelligent choices about my food intake for an entire week. I'm rather immeasurably proud of myself.

I'm educating Hubs on Asheville, and his initial reactions are favorable. Gotta plan our trips now, working them around family visits, figuring out what entities to visit while we're up there...this week, I'm writing emails to property management companies so they can give me a clue about what they'll need from me, given my less-than-optimal credit. I'll also be compiling lists of potential employers in the area, and shopping for a laptop and Photoshop, I think. I really can't imagine doing remote work on our home system; it's just too slow. So much to research.....

Image from here. Also, with apologies to Ashley, I've found that I've been thinking of Les as "Hubs" in my head lately, so it's rubbing off here. Wasn't trying to snitch a moniker, just happened...