Health Updates and March Goals

It’s 7:30 on a Saturday morning and I’m awake. In fact, I’ve been awake and up since 6:15. So weird. Despite what the experts say about waking up at the same time every day, I love sleeping in on the weekends. I suppose, though, that being up early and getting some stuff accomplished is okay too. You know what else is okay? Naps. And I plan on taking one this afternoon, sometime after going to town to workout and buy groceries and before the snow that we’re supposed to get this weekend hits.

I thought I’d do a health and fitness post this morning since there’s not a whole lot else going on, and because I could use a motivation boost. I said a few posts back that one of my monthly goals was going to be to get back in the gym three days a week. I didn’t meet that goal. I still managed to fit in exercise by taking walks, but there were a couple weeks I only made it to the gym once.

Over these past few weeks, I’ve struggled with activity, meaning I’m not getting enough of it. I can pinpoint a few reasons why:

1. The weather – Sure, it’s a poor excuse, but when it’s cold, I just want to be comfortable, and my idea of comfort is to be at home, warm, and snuggled in my recliner. The chilly temperatures already make me feel stiff and sore, so even though I know that exercise actually helps alleviate that, my brain instantly says “Why would you want to give your body more discomfort than it already has?”

2. Mental fatigue – Once again, I know the science that says exercise helps with mental fatigue, but by the end of the work day, I’m so drained (and sometimes discouraged), that I just don’t want to be around people. So I avoid the gym, and if it’s too cold, I just head home and indulge in sugar therapy instead of sweat therapy.

3. High workload – This one doesn’t have so much to do with making it to the gym as it does with my drop-off of walking activity on breaks and lunch. With the recent change in position, I’ve spent several days over the past couple weeks skipping my lunch hour and eating at my desk so I can fit in some more work. I hate to leave things when I’m on a roll, even though I know it tires me out and my brain needs that break. I’ve given in to the “I can get one more thing done” mentality, so it’s cut down on the twenty to thirty minute walk I was fitting in on my lunch hour. As for breaks…

4. Smoking – …I’ve been spending them with co-workers having a stress relief puff. I have a history with smoking. I used to love doing it, and I still enjoy a cigarette if I’m drinking. I find that the act of smoking and connecting with people helps calm my nerves during times of high stress. Even though I haven’t been drinking, I have been experiencing some anxiety, and this has been my outlet. Yes, I just admitted to trading in a really healthy habit of walking on break for a really unhealthy one of smoking on break.

5. Hydration – My problem with hydration has been a lack of. I’ve been craving soda and sweet coffee drinks. I’m not surprised when I feel sluggish and experience ankle cramps when I exercise because I know I haven’t drank enough water.

While these are all issues I’m relating to physical activity, the fact is that exercising also helps my mental and emotional health, both of which I really need to focus on as well to avoid work burnout and to maintain the level of productivity I currently need.

One of my March goals was to start a strength training routine again, and while I still plan on doing that, I’m also making it a point to face the above listed issues head on. While I can’t do anything about the weather, I can control the other things to an extent.

So the rest of March goals are going to be to handle these issues now and get back on track with the healthy habits I’d started at the beginning of the year: walking on breaks, stopping the smoking, taking lunches, and drinking a lot of water. If I can tackle these and reset my attitude, I think I might set some more challenging goals for April (C25K, I know you’re waiting for me).

A.

 

 

 

Snow Days, Reader Problems, and Our Anniversary

Yesterday, I had a legitimate snow day off work. At the time, it seemed pretty cool, other than the fact that it snowed all day and we were stuck at home. I managed to get some work done from home, but going in today (after a four hour delay to recover and shovel out of the white stuff) was rough. That day off threw me for a loop, messed with my deadlines, and gave me a stack of work that needed immediate attention. So yeah, great in theory, not so great in practice.

Having said that, having the day off did give me the chance to completely devour Cress like I wanted to, and devour I did. Was it good? Heck yeah, it was good. I’m so contrary though. I wanted to read it all in one sitting, and then I did, and now I wish I would have made it last longer because I loved it so much. In hindsight, I should have stretched the fun out over a few days. But every time I told myself to do that, I couldn’t put it down. Reader problems, man. Also, now I have to wait for the fourth book, but at least I’ll have an excuse to re-read the series before that one comes out (like I really need an excuse. Whatever. I do what I want!).

Today was our four-year wedding anniversary. Go Team Us! We didn’t do anything celebratory other than get dinner at Subway, but to be honest, we never need a reason to do things together. We don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day either. However, as may have become apparent for anyone who’s read this blog long enough, we often randomly decide we need to have a nice dinner out together, or we’ll go walking together, or we’ll take a trip together….the theme is that we do a lot together for no other reason than we have a blast, and I’m completely okay with that.

We made it to the gym, which was a challenge because I really didn’t want to go. My back has been sore for a few days, and the cold makes me want to hibernate. I’m always glad afterwards, though. I started an audiobook to listen to when I walk and when I’m taking it easy at the gym (thanks, Humble Bundle). I’ll do a review when I’m done, but it’s making me a little uncomfortable. It’s creepy, yet I almost think it’s supposed to also be slightly romantic? I’m intrigued.

I’ve also decided to go ahead and start revising an older writing project, one that is actually one of my favorites. I send the first draft for an alpha reading and will start doing active revisions once the feedback is in. Trying not to do too much stuff at once since I don’t want to burn out on revising, but it feels good to move these projects along.

Other things accomplished today: watched some Coursera videos, started organizing and packing the back room, and finished my grocery list.

Now time for some well deserved sleep.

A.

February Goals and Progress with Revision

This past weekend was spent doing almost nothing. I think I was still fighting an infection because the stomach pain from the sickness I had last week didn’t go away, so I wasn’t feeling up to doing anything besides sitting around and reading and watching cute movies on Netflix. The highlight of the weekend (or lowlight as it were) was probably a bad haircut, though realizing it as a bad haircut was kind of a delayed reaction. Either way, I’ll be rocking the headbands for the next few weeks. My hair grows fast, though.

My stomach pains seem to have gone away. I’m avoiding soda and carbonation until I know for sure, but today was good. I was even able to walk on my breaks and get a workout in at the gym before we headed home. We’re waiting for a big snowstorm to hit. The city of Manhattan and the university and all the schools are already closed for tomorrow. My place of work is still open, however. If it’s not too bad in the morning, I’ll probably still go in. Current projects are much easier on my dual monitors. But if it’s bad in the morning, I’m prepared to work from home.

Since we’re into a new month, I’ve been trying to come up with some good goals for February. My writing goals included putting together the second draft of my novel and sending it to my beta readers, a goal which I accomplished tonight. I’ve set the deadline for the end of this month, which means March will be more revision and formatting. But now, other than the small bit of anxiety I’m getting with actually putting my work out there with the intention of maybe publishing it, I can rest for a few weeks and focus on some other things.

Seriously…even if this book doesn’t happen and even if everyone who reads it hates it, I’m going to feel good about the fact that I’ve gotten this far.

The two main goals for this month are going to be to finish my current/newest knitting project and to recommit to three days a week at the gym. Though I’ve been active (with the exception of last week, which turned into a seven day rest to heal from my illness), I haven’t been putting in the gym time, which is fine, except I’m paying for the membership. Since this might go away soon, depending on the job and money situation, I feel I should take advantage while I have it. Once the weather gets warmer, I’m going to be putting my goal focus into walking and running goals, so might as well take advantage of the gym while the weather dictates.

I may come up with some other goals later. My brain is all over the place right now.

It’s past my bedtime and work is likely to still happen tomorrow, so I’d better get a shower and get some sleep.

Side note: Cress releases tomorrow! I can’t wait! I’d be tempted to stay up until midnight to download it, but that will lead to starting it, which will lead to staying up all night reading it, which means nothing would get done tomorrow, and I need to be functional.

A.

 

 

Weather Woes and Scenic Views

It’s been a good weekend, other than the fact that I keep having bouts of sleepiness and stuffiness in what seems like a constant fight to keep from getting sick.

Friday night was a chill night with my friend. We went to Olive Garden, and I tried OG’s zeppoli for the first time (italian sugar coated donuts with raspberry and chocolate dipping sauces). I may now have a reason to go there just for dessert sometime.  After I left her, I had some time to kill while Jon finished at gaming, so I had a coffee and some reading time at Hastings.

We’d planned to take a walk and go geocaching on Saturday, but the weather wasn’t as agreeable as we’d hoped. Though the temperature was warmer than it has been, it was really windy and cloudy, and we got a little bit of rain. We also couldn’t seem to figure out where to buy a park pass to go hike around Tuttle Creek State Park. Once we find out where we’re going to be moving to, I’m definitely investing in an annual state park pass.

It worked out okay since we were saved from being caught out in the weather. We did make a pit stop at the dam to take some pictures and look for a geocache that we didn’t end up finding.

It was fun climbing around on the rocks to look for the cache, but it was a bummer that we didn’t spot it. The wind was biting, so maybe we’ll have better luck on a warmer day.

We chilled at our house sitting house for the afternoon and watched This is 40, which I thought was pretty funny. Later, we went to our friends’ house for some  social time and to get a check on the car. We also watched Iron Sky, which was…as expected…pretty ridiculous.

Today, the weather was more agreeable, so we relaxed through the morning, then took a walk around the neighborhood before going to lunch at Longhorn’s. I tried the Parmesan Crusted Chicken this time. So good! Afterwards, we headed back to Wamego and decided to take further advantage of the nice weather by walking the track and doing a zombie mission. This might not have been our best idea, since lunch was really filling and I felt sluggish the whole walk. But in hindsight, I’m glad we did it.

I’m sleepy tonight and as I’ve been writing this, my throat has gotten progressive sorer, so I think I need to go ahead and lay down early and try to sleep it off. I’ll read for a little bit. I’m currently reading Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. It’s not about dating nerds. In fact, it’s a very unsettling novel and definitely a turn from the stuff I’ve been reading.

As for my January goals regarding coursework and novel revision, I’m not sure if I’m going to reach them, but this week I'[ll be kicking things into high gear. I also start a new Coursera course tomorrow. More friends are going to be in town this week, and I’m excited to see them, but we’ll see how much social time we get. Either way…I can’t be sick, so fingers crossed that I wake up feeling great tomorrow morning.

A.

Computer Break, Now Over

I’m back to the  blog after a few days off. Jon and I house/dog-sat this week, and I opted to leave my laptop at home, giving myself a few days to just unplug and focus on reading, catching up on American Horror Story, and spending time with friends. It was kind of a nice break, though I came back to a ton of email and now that I’m ready to blog, I don’t remember everything that happened over the past few days.

On Sunday, we gamed. My character, Mavis, is currently In a Relationship with a gnome…and It’s Complicated.

On Monday, we took a muddy walk around one of the local parks and watched the Stevie Nicks episode of American Horror Story: Coven.

On Tuesday, I hung out with one of my good friends who’s in town for a few days for work. We ate Pizza Shuttle, visited, and watched scandalous YouTube videos. It was awesome!

Today, I finished a book that made me cry and caught up on emails since I was reunited with my computer.

It hasn’t been a bad week, to be honest. It’s been much better than last week, that’s for sure, even though there’s still alot going on at work. I attribute part of that to the warmer temps and the sunshine. I’ve been able to get out and walk, including extra long walks to and from my car due to having to park in the back while intersession is going on at our work building. I haven’t minded.

I’m hoping to get back into my blogging groove while still finishing up my goals for January. However, this is a late one, and I need to get ready for bed.

Until tomorrow…

A.

 

 

Wintery Weekend

Last year, I was able to find some good things about winter. Then again, it was pretty mild. This year, there are no redeeming qualities to this season. I’m hating it more than I’ve hated it since moving out of Michigan, and this weekend only solidified that. Don’t get me wrong, I know other parts of the country are having it ten times worse. But here in my little corner of the world, winter can leave and never come back.

Friday night, we made it to the gym then went to Imperial Garden for dinner since I’d been craving some sweet and sour chicken. We went to Terry and Erica’s for our scheduled game night, but we didn’t game because we were all brain fried. So we visited and introduced them to some pretty awesomely bad fan fiction on the web.

The snow hit on Saturday, and we waited too long to get out and take a walk. Even though the morning was clear, we putzed around, and by the time we finally did go outside, the sleet sent us right back in. I finished some knitting projects and watched several hours of “Cheers.” Still, by the end of the day I was super restless. Besides the fact that we didn’t get out to do anything, the fact that I felt trapped by the weather just made me want to go out and do something that much more. I did do a little cleaning, some reading, and some putzing on the web, but nothing really active.

The sun came out this afternoon, and the plow trucks did a fair job of clearing the roads, so we headed into town for gym and gaming. Though I was pretty happy to get back into the gym, I didn’t hydrate well beforehand, so my feet hurt and I felt lethargic. Still, I exercised for about a half hour and finished Season 1 of Zombies, Run. I found out tonight that the initial purchase doesn’t give you all the new seasons, so tonight I bought the Season 2 pass so I can continue. At some point, I’ll have to buy season 3, but I think that’s a little further down the timeline (it’s not even released yet).

We made it to our Pathfinder game, doing a holiday one shot, and then Jon and I did a little bit of shopping to get dinner for tonight and lunches for the week. Things are going to take a little planning since we’re staying at Forsh’s the next two nights and we’ll want to plan what we’re making on Christmas Day. I think the day after Christmas will be chili since we both have that day off. I hope the weather is nice. I’d like to use the time off to get out and do some walking and geocaching.

As I mentioned before, I’ve been watching a lot of “Cheers” since it’s on Netflix. I put it on on a whim last week and realized how much I enjoyed it, both for the amusement and the nostalgia. It’s also really interesting to see how the show handled certain issues back then and how different it is from today. Some of the jokes throughout the show wouldn’t be acceptable today, especially those involving racism or gays. There have also been at least two scenes (I’m only in season 2) in which someone attempts sexual assault on Diane and the laugh track continues. She then proceeds to say how it was her fault. Yes, times have definitely changed. It’s also kind of strange that as an adult watching the show, I realize what a jerk Sam is and how dysfunctional his relationship with Diane is. It doesn’t help that I can’t stand Diane. I think she’s one of the worst TV characters ever. Luckily, the rest of the cast makes up for her.

Tomorrow’s Monday, and our work deadlines have been pushed up due to the holiday, so I need to get some rest so I can kick butt tomorrow. Off to shower and bed.

Stay safe out there.

A.

Christmas Caches, Groceries, and Getting Outdoors

It was a beautiful Sunday. I know it’s too much to hope that the worst part of winter is over, so I made sure to enjoy the sun and the slightly warmer temperature today by getting out and doing things in the outdoors. After solving another puzzle cache at home, we went out to do some geocaching, grabbing several in the Countdown to Christmas series.

The plan was to get the caches, go to the gym,  then go get stuff ready for gaming. Unfortunately, our game was cancelled for the day, so we changed things up a bit. Since we had to go grocery shopping anyway, we went to town to do that before heading back to Wamego. Instead of going to the gym, I used the daylight to do a zombie mission at the rec center track.

I made it around the track twice, walking for forty five minutes. I decided to go ahead and do the zombie chases even though I was walking the longer duration. It wasn’t bad at all. I did four chases and even jogged a little bit longer on one of them. They weren’t as hard as they’ve been in the past, so at some point, I’ll have to legitimately lengthen all of the jogging sections. The fact that I can jog even a little bit is pretty crazy, but I’m loving it!

Jon made us soup and sandwiches for dinner, and I watched The Polar Express to solve another puzzle cache. I also worked on a writing project for my mom. My writing brain doesn’t want to work tonight, so I’ll have to finish that tomorrow. I’m going to finish off the night with a shower and some reading before bed. It wasn’t an overly strenuous day, but I want to be fresh for another Monday. I’m hoping this coming week isn’t as harsh as last week was.

A.

 

Writing, Gaming, and Packing

It was another cold Sunday, and even though the temperature said it was ten degrees higher than it was yesterday, it was still uncomfortable. It did, however, give us a good excuse to stay in almost all day, and sometimes that’s a good thing to do. That’s not to say we didn’t venture out at all. I was hungry enough this morning to make a quick breakfast run to pick up donuts for breakfast. They sounded really good, but I need to remember that all I ever need is about a half donut to stop the craving. Donuts aren’t actually my favorite thing in the world.

I used most of the morning to up my Nanowrimo word count and play around on the internet. I’ve started playing Candy Crush Saga on FB. Such a time waster, but I like the fact that you have to stop when you run out of lives. I’m currently stuck on a level, but I’ll just keep playing until I get it. For me, it’s just kind of a nice zone-out activity.

We had gaming later in the evening, then we made it to the gym where I did another ten minutes on the elliptical. We did a short workout due to knee issues for both Jon and I, but twenty minutes is better than none at all (my first ten was spent warming up on the sit-stepper).  After grabbing Subway for dinner, we came home and packed for St. Louis. It’s freezing in the apartment even though the heat has been going, so I’m ready for a hot shower and some sleepy time under about four blankets.

The goal for tomorrow is to get as many Nanowrimo words written as I can, make it to the gym, and finish getting stuff ready for the trip. I’m hoping that the trip isn’t this cold, especially since we want to visit the zoo. Yeah, I know…I’m taking a chance by going on a vacation in November. Still going to do it though. And that reminds me…another thing on the to-do list: find some gloves.

Don’t let Monday get you down!

A.

 

Our First Geocaching Event

Tonight, Jon and I attended our first Geocaching Event, Post Hallo”weenie” Roast, and had a blast, though getting to that point was a little rough.

The day started out okay. I had an eye exam this morning and everything checked out fine. I believe my vision has actually improved slightly in the few years since my last exam. I ordered some new lenses and frames, and I should have those by next week. So that was good.  Work wasn’t horrible. I got quite a bit done and used my lunch to start this year’s NaNoWriMo project.  After work, however, anxiety crept up on me and I had a tough time in the two hours we were doing stuff before the event.

Besides my normal social anxiety that was peeking out due to the prospect of meeting new people, I was also feeling road anxious and had a hard time driving with all the people leaving work and going to sporting events. Normally, I can deal. Today was really tough. I think that even though I used this week to do more activity outside, this coming week needs to put me back in the gym, because that has been effective at keeping the high amounts of anxiety at bay.

Things finally eased up when we found two caches near where the event was being held and actually made it to the event itself. The event was a fire and weenie roast hosted by one of the area’s more well known cachers. The place it was held seemed a little scary at first, but it was actually a really cool area. There was a 400 yard walk from the parking lot to the campsite where there was a grill, a firepit, and some stone benches for seating. There was also a huge field to one side, and a hill that I believe lead to a creek on the other. There were two caches in the park, but we opted out of going to them, deciding to go during the day sometime to explore the area more thoroughly.

This reminded me of The Blair Witch Project, but the actual area wasn’t as creepy as one might think.

We had just gotten settled, did a few introductions, and were getting ready to roast some hot dogs when a storm started blowing in. We’d seen the lightning in the distance, and it just seemed to be getting closer. There was talk of moving to the event to the host’s house, but after checking the weather, it looked like it would only be a short one. To stay out of the rain, everyone walked back to the parking lot and waited the storm out in their cars.

I have a mild phobia of lightning. I love thunderstorms, but I worry about being outside in one because I don’t want to get struck by lightning. I was more than happy to wait it out in the car, but once we got there, it rained for three minutes and the thunder and lightning were nowhere to be heard or seen. Once the rain let up, everyone headed back to the campsite to eat and enjoy the rest of the evening.

The event gave us the chance to put some faces to names. Everyone was super nice and offered to help us when we were ready to hide our own caches. Semmels (the host) gave all the first timers a bison tube, and later he hooked us up with a few micro containers to hide as well.

Film canisters and bison tubes

We also met North Coast Cacher and discussed how his Wamego Boat Ramp cache has thwarted us several times. We had a good laugh over it, but seriously….we are going to find that one. If the weather holds tomorrow morning, I think we’ll head out there again, despite me saying last time that we were going to give up on it completely. Now it’s just becoming a challenge.

The event also gave us a chance to discover several travel bugs, including one brought by NCC and ones on people’s vehicles. This only confirms that we really need to get one for our car.

Besides talking to people, I got to enjoy a bonfire, something I loved doing as a kid and don’t get to do nearly enough as an adult. I got to eat roasted hot dogs and have a s’more, and Jon and I got to look at the stars for awhile. It was a great night! There are two more events coming up, and I’m definitely less anxious and more excited to attend both of them.

It’s way past my bed time, so my writing projects will have to wait until tomorrow. Hope everyone out there is gearing up for a good weekend!

A.

Ready to Drive Again

This is getting posted late, so it’s not really Saturday morning, but I liked the start of this post, so I just rolled with it.

It’s early and chilly on a Saturday morning, and I’m waiting for Jon to shower and dress before we head to Oklahoma. We’re getting a later start than I’d planned, but if the weather holds, we should still make good time.

Yesterday was dreary, rainy, and…yes….snowy. In the five years I’ve lived in Kansas, I don’t remember seeing snow this early. It didn’t stick in the city, and the roads were wet but not treacherous.

Work was a steady stress level of 5 because I was preparing for a four day weekend, so I had to make sure all my bases were covered. Otherwise, it was a pretty busy but chill day for me.

The drive to Rose Hill seemed longer than usual, but I think weather figured into that. We made a stop at a DQ for a bathroom break and then another one down the road to find some geocaches.

The first two were quick micros, one of them in a cemetery near the gravesite of 300 Russian Mennonites who had died of smallpox in the 1800s.

In hindsight, we should have got back on the road to RH, but caching is addicting, and my compass said we were less than a mile from the next one. Technically that was true, but to get a car there was a little sketchy.

We navigated muddy roads and narrow bridges to get to the cache spot, which was near a spring and water plant.

The compass took us up a stairway to a rocky ledge that just sort of ended. In the middle of that ledge, the compass basically told us we had to climb the rocks to get to the cache.

Needless to say, we didn’t find it. Even if we were in the shape to do it, the rain had made the rocks slippery, so it wouldn’t have happened this time around. Part of the area was really pretty, but it unsettled me. Too many horror movies maybe. There was also some offensive graffiti written on the rocks.

We stopped for dinner and made it to the house in time to relax and get some sleep before the trek to Oklahoma.

A.