Pondering...

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

So today I went poking around the internet for information on swing dancing classes, since my mate has agreed to go with me (whee! fun!). Not a lot out there, but it's a start - I sent a bunch of links to myself to check out at home since I can't access most of them from here.

Then I stumbled over the Mercy Healthplex site. I hadn't realized they actually had a facility at the Western Hills Campus (the old St. Francis St. George Hospital, which is about a mile from my house). THAT is about the most convenient option I could ever conceive of in terms of a gym I might actually go to - I used to have a membership to FitWorks, but I let it go because I wasn't working in Florence anymore (at the time), and making a special drive to Florence or Newport just wasn't going to happen. Particularly during our first years living together, I was so happy at Home with my mate (a totally new experience, let me tell you), I really had no desire to be anywhere without him. I STILL largely feel that way (we make an incredible team and love doing stuff together), but I'm getting out to walk now (I didn't even want to spend THAT much time away from him before), and I think that's a good step in the right direction. It's not especially healthy to be that dependent on his constant presence, but the flip side was that I'd spent so many years escaping from being home because home was SUCH an incredibly unhappy and emotionally unhealthy place for me to be, having Home be HOME was something I needed to revel in for a while.

So, I let the old gym membership go to save money a couple of years ago, knowing I wasn't going to take the time to go. Now, since this is so INCREDIBLY close (I could walk there as a warm up, seriously), it won't take any more time than my daily walk really, and they offer a bunch of classes I'm intersted in. Like spinning and zumba (which are on alternate days at 9am - perfect timing for me).

So, I'm considering it. Anything to keep things fun and interesting. I just signed up for a free day pass to check it out. And my company is already on their "corporate partners" list, so I'll get a discount. If it's affordable, I may just go for it. (Affordable is important though - we've not got a lot to spare right now.)

Meanwhile, I got up early (well, okay - early on a normal day - having opted to go to bed when I got home at 9am and sleeping 12 hours, I can't really say I got up "early") and spent some quality time with Jillian before showering and heading to work tonight. The sleep was exactly what I needed - I'm in a MUCH more positive frame of mind tonight (not about work stuff, but I've decided I'm not thinking about that today). I plan to do my walk when I get home, get some cleaning taken care of (we STILL haven't fully unpacked from our trip), and I fully intend to curl up next to 'Yote on the couch and read for a bit while he's shooting zombies in there somewhere. Sleeping 12 hours means less snuggle time - gotta make up for yesterday.

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

JOYFUL_STORM 7/28/2010 1:59PM

Any chance of taking your mate with you as a fitness buddy? (I know y'alls hours are non-standard.) When I exercise my husband's working out too, which helps my motivation a lot. At home, he goes out for a neighborhood run in the morning while I use my stationary bike. We also go to the gym together a 3 times a week or so. He's training for his black belt in karate, and I use the cardio machines while he's in class. It's not snuggling, but it's companionable, and it's part of our working on building a healthy life as a couple. :) Report Inappropriate Comment

JONEIL513 7/28/2010 1:01PM

The gym sounds great!! taking classes is a really fun way to keep mixing things up, hope it works out for ya! Report Inappropriate Comment

HIPPICHICK1 7/28/2010 12:52PM

I hope the new gym works out to be in your budget. It sounds PERFECT!! Report Inappropriate Comment

DRAGONSPITTLE 7/28/2010 12:26PM

WOOT! The delicate balance between snuggles and fitness.. LOL Report Inappropriate Comment

NAMSMOMMY 7/28/2010 12:19PM

How cute are you! Good luck with the gym :-) Report Inappropriate Comment

MOMMABOF7 7/28/2010 8:08AM

How great that you have a gym that close! It's destiny! you must join :) Report Inappropriate Comment

EUPHRATES 7/28/2010 7:23AM

*grins* You are SO twitterpated with this guy. LOL It's SO cute. Comment edited on: 7/28/2010 7:28:34 AM Report Inappropriate Comment

_COSMOPAULATAN_ 7/28/2010 7:16AM

DO IT! Your health is worth ANY cost, especially the cost of a gym membership. Then you can find yourself a Chris :) Report Inappropriate Comment

I shouldn't be this tired. :(

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Then again, I WAS up for 28 hours again (9am Sunday until 1:30pm-ish yesterday) and only got 8 hours of sleep today. I'd been planning on getting up early to shred with Jillian, but at 9pm I felt like I'd been run over by a truck, so I opted to get that last hour of sleep. It didn't really help all that much.

And now it looks like I'll probably have to ride the bus home from work today (unless I can convince my boss to let me go early again...which he's going to lose patience with eventually) - one of the people I catch rides with is working 1st shift the next 2 weeks, and the other is working from home tonight. If I take the bus, I won't get home until after 10:00 AM, and as tired as I am that's going to put a serious crimp in my walking plans (I ended up opting NOT to go walking when I got home yesterday 'cause I was SO exhausted I was afraid I'd close my eyes for a minute and wander into traffic, I don't expect today to be much different, but at least if I could do it EARLY I could get to bed right after).

And I really really need to ramp up the exercise. I weighed myself when I got up, and I'm still stuck at 244.5 lbs. I know *exactly* what is going on with that - it's my current "set point". That's what I weighed when I first started the marathon training in 2003. That's what I settled back at after I gained the weight back, and had been at that weight until all the stress and heartache of the break up last summer apparently had me "eating my pain" and I ballooned up to 260 - my highest weight ever. *sigh* SO, 244.5 is where my body thinks it's happy, and it's going to fight to stay there - which means I need to redouble my efforts if I'm going to break the pattern. Having the universe throw me curve balls isn't helping.

And yeah, the universe just tossed me another one - it appears I'm scheduled to be part of a DR exercise (one our department is involved in every year but I've never been part of it) on August 9th, which involves me working a 12 hour shift from 6:30 PM to 6:30 AM at yet ANOTHER location. And I'm salaried, so while it's "mandatory overtime" for the other folks scheduled, I don't know what that means in my world. AND the only reason I know about it was because of an off-the-cuff comment made by my LEAST favorite person here (the one I've told them if they ever make me report to him my badge will be on someone's desk the next day...who it occurred to me yesterday may very well end up the supervisor on the late-night 12 hour shift when we go to 12 hour shifts, so that decision may become WAY easy here shortly) that I'd better make sure I'm trained on abends and restarting jobs by Aug. 9th since I'm going to be on the DR team this year. (Which he is apparently in charge of - I smell a rat.) Checking the schedule confirmed it (note - there haven't been any e-mails, no one ASKED me if I'd be available, and according to another co-worker, that's standard practice). I swear to the gods, I'm working with the biggest idiots on the planet.

So yesterday I was thinking that maybe I'd been jumping the gun, that things weren't so bleak, that maybe I could tough it out until my bankruptcy is done with and then get some schooling in the medical field under my belt before I jump ship. Today, I'm back in the same dark hole I was last week. I didn't call the one recruiter back yesterday on the apparent job I'm a perfect fit for - guess I'd better call him today. On the GOOD side, I sent an e-mail to my LinkedIn friends last week that are current or former work associates asking for recommendations, and at least 4 have already come through (with really glowing comments - the folks OUTSIDE my own department are awesome). So I can start using that as my "website" on applications - it should help.

But I don't really *want* to go to another site just to continue doing what I hate. If I jump ship, I'd like to land in nursing somehow or other. Even if it's a low-paid nurse's aid job, if it's at night, I'll be happy. Of course, that will have some fairly profound affects on our living situation. So yeah, I'm all tied up in knots at the moment. I know it'll be better once I get a chance to talk it over with my mate (starts watching the clock for 4am to arrive).

Not happy doesn't begin to cover it.

At least I'm not tempted to go raid the vending machine - I'm perfectly happy with the food I've got with me, and honestly? A good hard walk would clear my head. So I *think* I'm solid with the eating and fitness goals, except the frustration that comes with having circumstances thwarting my preferred plans (to walk as early as possible in the day). At least it's not going to be as horribly hot as it's been, so THAT won't be a problem. Just the whole "getting to bed" thing (and the temptation to chuck it all and just go to bed when I get home...and believe me, crawling under the covers and never coming out is a huge temptation right now).

**Edited at 7:00 AM: Well, I talked the bus/getting home issue over with my boss, and he said to just go ahead and leave early so my mate can pick me up on the days I don't have the car until my co-worker is done with his stint on 1st shift in two weeks. So YAY - no 2 hours on the bus! That's a load of stress off right there. He also said they *just* met with the auditors to discuss what coverage was needed for the DR exercise yesterday, and was not aware that anything had been published to the schedule yet - he's looking into the situation. So, it may not be as dire as we suspect - we'll see. In any case, I should be able to get my walk in this morning and that should help my mood and outlook. AND I'm less inclined to do generailzed violence at work. For now anyway. But if a certain supremely annoying co-worker goes missing, I know nothing.

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

TRIXEL 7/27/2010 8:32PM

That's a lot to think about, especially a lot when you're sleep deprived. No wonder you're feeling tired or stressed. Good on you for not resorting to emotional eating. Big high five on that! I hope something good comes through for you that smoothes things out a bit. *hug* and thank you for the kind words on my blog. :) Report Inappropriate Comment

MINIDRIVER63 7/27/2010 8:05AM

I'm stuck right now too, and it's very frustrating! I think we just need to focus on healthy habits: eating, sleeping, exercising and let the numbers fall where they fall. At least that's what I keep telling myself. Report Inappropriate Comment

JARMCCOY 7/27/2010 4:26AM

Exercise is important but workign out while fatigued can be worse than skipping it all together. When we are tired we are more likely to injure ourselves. We might strugglu with good form and the body just well isn't optimally prepared for the beating. I ran into this during finals. I had 2 weeks where between school and work that was all I could manage. So I recognized that and that it would come to an end and only had 2 work outs during that time inside of 6 days a week. At the end of my chaos I returned to me schedule. Good luck Julie Report Inappropriate Comment

About The Polyamory Thing

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

A friend of a friend posted on their sparkblog about having just discovered the concept of polyamory today, and it occurs to me I haven't really put that out there yet. And having just posted pics of the All Ohio Poly Picnic the other day, I figure I should toss this out to the spark universe (knowing that those who know me IRL are chuckling about now, 'cause it's not like I hide this aspect of my life).

Here's the comment I placed on that person's blog - opening it up for discussion here.

I've been living polyamorously for about 20 years now, and have probably lived in every combination and permutation at one point or another. There are great forums online - my favorite is Polyamorous Percolations: www.polyamoryonline.org/smf . I also recommend the book "Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships" by Tristan Taormino - there are others, but that's my current favorite (we keep at least 2 copies on hand so I can loan it out). And there is a podcast called Polyamory Weekly that's pretty awesome too. polyweekly.com/

There's also a poly spark team, though it's been pretty quiet of late.

So if you've never heard of it before and are curious, or have heard of it and have questions, or have been trying to keep up with the cast of characters in my life (which is actually relatively small at the moment - it's been MUCH more complicated in the past, and I suspect it will become more complicated again in the future, 'cause you never know what the universe has in store next)...ask away. :) I'll do my best to answer, or point you in the direction of resources that might help. One of my mottos in life is "Ask me a direct question, I'll give you a direct answer - just be sure you really want to know" So - there ya go. :) (Just be sure to "subscribe" to this blog so you'll see my answers - I'm just figuring out how to talk back and forth at people here - I'm used to the commenting feature on livejournal that e-mails you if you have replies). :)

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

EUPHRATES 7/27/2010 3:52AM

Heh...no, I saved the long ramble for the depressing blog I followed this up with. Some days I wax longwinded about poly, and some days (like today, when I'm down anyway) it just feels like too much work. Plus, anyone interested can find my livejournal - it's not like my whole life isn't all detailed online somewhere. *grins* Report Inappropriate Comment

LADY_JOSIELOT 7/27/2010 2:56AM

This blog title amuses me. Not sure why. Probably partly because I am tired and need sleep. I was imagining a long and lecture-y rambling blog (like mine!), but as usual yours are generally on point. Expected, yet somehow disappointing. ;) I've poked around on Poly Perc (alliteration!) and checked out the Spark team before, but never bothered to join either. Off to write my daily rambly (is that a word?) blog. Have a good night/morning. - Josie Report Inappropriate Comment

Retooling the plan a bit

Monday, July 26, 2010

So my *intent* was to take last week to get back in the groove after vacation, and then start the C25K program this week. Today in fact.

Unfortunately, my prediction regarding last week being weird was accurate. I've done Jillian's Shred once and done one power walk, both since Friday (in fact, truthfully I did both *on* my Friday, since I did the Shred when I got up Thursday night). Other than that, my focus was trying to get caught up on my sleep, and making sure I ate right - that was about all I could handle.

And the walk on Friday liked to kill me - I totally overdid it. See, after spending a week walking on uneven dirt trails with hills, walking on the sidewalk felt so EASY I really kicked it up a notch starting out. Which would have been fine if it hadn't been NOON (doh! what was I thinking?) in the sun during the hottest part of the day, on a day with temperatures in the HIGH 90's. By my half-way point, I knew I was in trouble - I could feel my heartrate WAY off the charts, the pounding in my head threatened to grow into a headache, and I was already about 2/3 of the way through my water bottle. I toned it WAY down for the rest of the walk, and just took it easy - which was only marginally helpful, but it got me home. Where I collapsed into a chair, sucked down water like a fish, and told my mate to smack me next time I got the bright idea to power walk at noon in nearly 100 degree heat.

SO, the long and short of it is that I'm still easing back into the exercise routine, and I don't feel that increasing my intensity into the C25K at this moment would be wise or healthy. Next week? Totally - and hey, it's a new month, so that works out well in terms of keeping track of things anyway. This week? I'm going to walk and/or shred every day the way I was before we left on vacation, to get back in the groove and gear up for taking it to the next level next week. And since I'd planned extra time in for a "cushion" anyway, I should still have plenty of time to be ready for the Run Like Hell 5K in October!

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

JONEIL513 7/26/2010 1:14PM

Yikes! i'm glad you made it back home ok, definitely not an ideal time to be working out outdoors. I like how you're tailoring the plan to your needs, i've been finding it is helping me alot to listen to my body. you'll definitely be ready to Run Like Hell! Report Inappropriate Comment

MIMERKI 7/26/2010 12:59PM

It happens to everyone. The important thing is not to beat yourself up over it and to get back into it when you can. Plus, I bet you did a bunch of exercise at camp that you've pretty much forgotten (did you dance?). Would you like a buddy on the C25K plan? I don't have a 5K in October but I'm sure I could find one, and knowing there's someone else you know out there doing it can help. Report Inappropriate Comment

DRAGONSPITTLE 7/26/2010 11:56AM

I have to do my exercise before 9am or after 9pm this time of year... Go you on rolling with it and refocusing as needed. =) May you and Jillian see alot of each other this week. Report Inappropriate Comment

ZCTMMOM1 7/26/2010 10:03AM

You inspire me...I wanna be you when I grow up! Report Inappropriate Comment

Busy Weekend Much?

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Okay, I'm officially looking forward to having NOTHING to do next weekend. Being this busy the first weekend back from camp, though fun, was NOT conducive to things like actually finishing unpacking. *headdesk*

That said, it really was a glorious weekend. Yesterday my kids came over (yes, I consider the son's girlfriend one of my kids now), and they played Fluxx with my mate until I got back from the grocery store (bad planning on my part - oops), then we ordered LaRosa's 'cause I knew all my pots were going to be taken up with cooking for the picnic, so trying to cook for them wasn't going to work. OMG - yummy food, AND I managed to stay in my calorie range - yay! Then we played Munchkin for a couple of hours, and had a blast.

Pictorial evidence:

My daughter Erin, my mate (I think he'd been asked to clarify a card, or he was just reading the blurb - they really are hilarious) and my son Christopher.


The younger son, Connor, his girlfriend (some of you know her as DANCINGRAVEYNS here), and Erin.


Aren't they adorable? *grins*


That turned into a heckuva game of Munchkin!


SO, today we went to the All Ohio Poly Picnic. Good thing we'd made plans with a triad we know in C-bus ahead of time, as we'd have NEVER found the place if we didn't hook up and caravan. Even so, we were pretty late getting there (having epic fail on finding it on our own), and the other organizer was on her way out when we got there. BUT there were still folks at the shelter, and we had a chance to socialize and eat, AND introduce our triad friends to *other* poly friends in the area (I knew *most* of the people there - there were a couple from Cincy, at least one from Dayton and at least 3 I knew from Cleveland along with the Columbus folks - I'd estimate around 15 all together, though there may have been more there who'd left before we got there). I made my mom's salmon salad (which I tweaked to make it more healthy by using whole wheat pasta shells and low fat mayo and low fat Catalina dressing - I uploaded the recipe on the recipe page here just a little bit ago to do the calorie calculations), AND I made a spark recipe - cheesy cauliflower salad (which I ALSO tweaked, and turned it into cauliflower, broccoli and red onion salad - OMG it was yummy). They were a total hit!

Salmon salad - my sister and I referred to this as "ambrosia" growing up - my favorite summer dish EVAR!


The cheesy cauliflower, broccoli, red onion thingie. (You can find both recipes on my "cookbook" here: recipes.sparkpeople.com/CookbookEdit
.asp?id=243349 )


And us with our triad-friends from C-bus (from 2 separate angles).


And a gratuitous pic of my incredibly awesome mate, 'cause I can (and 'cause he's hawt). :D


And now I'm going to curl up on the couch next to him while he saves the world from the Zombie Apocalypse and catch up on some reading before we both head to work tonight.

But yeah. Glorious weekend.

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

JONEIL513 7/26/2010 1:30PM

what a great weekend with family and friends! glad you had fun! Report Inappropriate Comment

WICCAD_KAT! 7/26/2010 12:04PM

Great times ,great family , great friends , great food ! what more could anyone want ? I am totally going to try these recipes ! Report Inappropriate Comment

DRAGONSPITTLE 7/26/2010 1:04AM

The people at Looney Labs are some of the coolest people ever. (I worked at a game store for years and talked to them on a variety of occasions) @charitydawn- Fluxx is a game where the rules are on the cards...so the rules change constanly based on what's in play. Starts with the Basic rule of Draw One. Play One and then branches out from there. You can win by having Cookies and Milk....which makes more sense once you get playing. www.funagaingames.com should have it should you be interested. I have the stoner fluxx.....surprisingly MORE difficult than the regular. LOLOLOL man...now I want to play Munchkin really bad....Hmmmmm...*starts plotting* Report Inappropriate Comment

EUPHRATES 7/25/2010 10:58PM

Heh...we'd actually picked up the original Fluxx game last year at Origins and hadn't really played it yet, but he went to a demo with Looney Labs and having seen it played, knew we'd all love it. We picked up Stoner Fluxx this year (need to corrupt the kids - I did *way* too good a job at sheltering them). LOL I think Zombie Fluxx will be next (just a hunch). Muhahaha! Comment edited on: 7/26/2010 12:30:55 AM Report Inappropriate Comment

SGKAYLOR123 7/25/2010 10:38PM

My husband and I love Fluxx!! Which version were you playing?? We have a bunch of different kinds including Zombie Fluxx, Eco Fluxx, Family Fluxx, Monty Python Fluxx, Fluxx 4.0(I said we loved Fluxx already right lmao). Looney Labs has the best games!! Report Inappropriate Comment

CHARITY_DAWN 7/25/2010 10:20PM

ok I need to learn how to play these games.... Teach me please Report Inappropriate Comment

DRAGONSPITTLE 7/25/2010 9:24PM

Yea for Munchkin! Fluxx is a good game...for not me. LOL Huzzah for tasty food and friends in the out of doors, too! Report Inappropriate Comment