Weekend Wrap Up!

HEY! It is officially spring so I got rid of my old Weekend Wrap Up image and put up the more spring/summery one! Did you notice? No, of course you didn't! That's why I had to point it out! Anyway, here is what I was up to this weekend...

My weekend actually started on Thursday due to Friday's snowstorm canceling school. I knew another snow day at this point would add an extra day on to the end of the year, but I needed the day off. Thursday was a really crappy day at work. So crappy that I stopped at the liquor store on the way home. But I had to wait until after piano lessons (at 7:30) to drink it. (By the way, please don't think it was the students that made the day crappy. Not at all. I can handle students. It's all the other stuff that makes things stressful.)

This picture was taken at 7:33.

I slept quite well on Thursday night, which was wonderful. I have struggled with sleeping all this week. Even though we had off school on Friday, I still got up at 5:30 and squeezed a run in. I was done before 8! What a great feeling!

It snowed in my face the whole time, but it made me feel invigorated!

I started another puzzle, so I spent much of the day watching Forensic Files and doing puzzles with Jelly.

I also went to the grocery store and bought these:

Paul and I had made a pact that we wouldn't buy any ice cream until summer. But I found a loophole. Sundae Nut Cones are not ice cream. They are Sundae Nut Cones.

I finished my puzzle!

I went on a really hilly run... I will tell you about it later in the week!

I went to Wal Mart to buy a toilet seat. They didn't have them. So I went to Sear's. Didn't have toilet seats either. So I explored the rest of the mall and got these dope blue sunglasses that I totally plan to wear on vacation this summer.

And I bought these socks. They are for 32 year olds, right?

Too bad they aren't comrpession socks!!

And I started another puzzle! I told Paul we need to get my a card table for my puzzles. Because old ladies have card tables in their living rooms so they can do puzzles and watch their programs. Right?

They had really cool puzzles at the mall but they were all about $14! All the puzzles I had done so far were from Dollar General and cost a buck. I couldn't imagine spending a lot more than that since the ones I got at DG were perfectly fine. So on the way home from the mall, I swung by my neighborhood DG and picked up a couple more 500 piece puzzles for only $1 each. You can't beat that!

Due to an iced coffee from Starbucks that I enjoyed on Friday Saturday afternoon, I was up really late on Saturday night. (What do they put in those things!?) I forced myself to get up early on Sunday and get in a workout. I lifted back at home in my pajamas while I watched Dateline.

Then we went to my brother and sister-in-law's house and played games all afternoon! We dug out 1313 Dead End Drive- a game from our childhood. I WON!

I have sort of been keeping something from you... We watched a lot of Survivor this weekend. And that's what we did all Sunday night. We are obsessed! We're now on Season 8- All-Stars! Woot woot!

 

Does Starbucks make you really hype?
Tell me something fun you did this weekend!

Health & Fitness should ENHANCE your life, not CONTROL your life.

Living a healthy lifestyle requires hard work and commitment. It means not always indulging when you want to. It means not always being lazy when you want to be. It sometimes means sacrificing other things in your life to make your healthy lifestyle a priority. But overall, all of these choices you make should make you happy. Health and fitness should ENHANCE your life.

Exercise, food, calories, and "healthy" choices should not consume your thoughts 24 hours a day. It shouldn't make you feel trapped. It should not CONTROL your life. Because that is not healthy.

I've been there. I used to think I would get "fat" if I didn't do 2 hours of cardio a day. I thought eating foods such has butter and olive oil would make me instantly gain five pounds. I had a very all or nothing attitude. I was trying to be healthy but what ended up happening was that I was being controlled by my own thoughts.

It is possible to have too much of a good thing. Being obsessed with anything is bad. But I know how easy it is to fall into the trap when you're trying to be the best you can be. Every once in awhile, take a minute and take stock of your healthy habits and priorities. Are they making your life better, or are they controlling you?

Have you ever found health and fitness controlling your life?

How does it ENHANCE your life?

Weekly Workout Recap

Here is what I had goin' on!

3/14- Another double digit run! I felt a little stiff at first, but things got better.

3/15- A very windy 5 miler. I couldn't wait to get done!

3/16- It was freezing this morning! Apparently, the cold put some pep in my step!

3/17- Three days of running in a row only means one thing- LIFTING!

3/18- I forced myself to lift chest at the gym. I hadn't done chest there in quite a long time but I knew I needed to. There are heavier weights there than I have at home. I was really proud of my multiple sets/reps of chest press at 30lb! I remember when I could only do 25lb and the 30s were too heavy for me to hold and lay back on the bench at the same time. Now I just have to be confident and I can do it. If I am not confident, I know I will psych myself out and drop 60lbs right on my chest.

3/19- I didn't sleep well the night before (actually, I haven't slept well all week) so I felt like a was dragging on this run at first. However, once I warmed up I felt okay. A little puppy started chasing me around mile 3. I love when puppies (not scary dogs) chase me because they are just so happy and friendly!

3/20- 5 miler in the SNOW! We had off work today due to the snowstorm. Luckily, it wasn't laying on the roads in my neighborhood so I was able to run relatively safely. I was definitely running defensively, though!

Notice I always wear the same pink shirt when I run? 

It smells DISGUSTING even before I start my workout.

Do you tend to wear the same clothes when you workout?
What's your most recent lifting PR that you are proud of?

What it's like to not sleep.

... Not like you need me to tell you what it's like to not sleep all night. We have all been there. In fact, I am surprised how many people I talk to who have trouble sleeping! What does it say about our lives that we can't relax and enjoy AT LEAST six hours of uninterrupted shut eye?

Anyway, I have a lot of time to think when I'm laying in bed awake. So I thought I'd take you through what a typical restless night is like for me. (Note: Not EVERY night is this bad. And sometimes I do manage to sleep from around 9pm-3am, which at least is six hours. But a night like I am describing below happens once every week or week and a half.)

You see? The night starts out so hopeful.

8:30 - Crawl into bed. Excited to play Scrabble on my phone and fall asleep with the help of 6mg of melatonin. (I am afraid to go to bed without it.) Paul is not there. He stays up much later.

9:15-ish - I shut down my Scrabble game and fall right asleep. Or else I fall asleep with my phone open. Bliss.

11:58- At some point Paul has come to bed. I know this because now he is snoring and I am awake. I quickly grab my pillow and head out to the couch to sleep. I'm not messing around with this snoring business. Except I am really thirsty and need to pee, so I take care of all that and curl up on the couch. Dang it is uncomfortable and dang it's freezing out here!

12:20- Well, I am wide awake. Don't panic. I take another 6mg of melatonin and play Scrabble. I'm hoping to replicate how I fell asleep just 3 hours ago.

1:00- Three games of Scrabble later and I am feeling a little tired. Time to try to sleep.

1:02- HOW COME I CAN STILL HEAR PAUL SNORING????? I go shut the bedroom door. Back to the couch. Awake.

1:03-2:30- This is the "Think About All The Horrible Things That Ever Happened In My Life" portion of the night. I think about student teaching, when we had to put our cat Basic to sleep, canceling our Hawaii trip, worrying about Paul all day long, how much I am going to miss the cats when we are on vacation this summer, stupid work stuff that annoys me, the freaking lady on Jeopardy that just won't lose and has won four days in a row OHMYGOD I FREAKING HATE HER... The list goes on and on.

2:30- I am never going to fall asleep on this couch. Maybe Paul has stopped snoring? Gonna go try the bedroom again. Thankfully, all is quiet and I climb into bed. I look at the clock. There's still hope. I already got almost 3 hours of sleep and if I fall asleep right now I can get 3 more hours!

2:35-3:30- My mind is still racing. I've already covered all the horrible shit when I was out on the couch. Now it's time to think about all the stuff I have to get done the next day. Lesson plans, grocery shopping, piano lessons, pack my lunches for the rest of the week... This is all stuff that is already on my actual to do list, so there's no reason to go over it all in my head. But I do. Of course I do. That's what you do at three o'clock in the morning.

3:30- I convince myself that I am semi tired and even start to doze off a bit. But sleep does not come. Instead, two kitty cats barge into the bedroom crying and scratching the closet doors. It's breakfast time. I get up and feed them. We keep their food in our room. That may be our first mistake...

4:00- Okay, I am just going to freaking get up and start my day. I psych myself to get out of bed, even though I feel like a zombie and pretty much hate my life at this point. But then Kitty Paralysis happens. Kitty Paralysis is when your cats hop up on the bed and curl up on you for a post breakfast nap. Jelly goes between my legs but Christmas prefers to be right up in my face. He curls under my arm and lays his cheek on my cheek. I am stuck and can't move for shit. But I am so happy and am reminded that even though I had a crappy night, I have two kitty cats who make my life so rich!

4:45-5:30- Hey! When Christmas' purring died down, I actually managed to doze off for an hour! TAKE THAT INSOMNIA. As soon as my alarm goes off, I pour my coffee and hop on Facebook to tell the world of my sleeping woes. Because you know, if you don't post it on Facebook, it didn't happen.

And that my friends, is a typical night in which I can't sleep. Can you relate to any of this? I hope not, bad sadly, I'm sure many of you can...

Finally, a parting word from the ever inspirational Grumpy Cat.

I freaking love Grumpy Cat.

Tell me the crazy shit you think about when you can't sleep!

Does your partner snore, and if so, HOW DO YOU COPE?

Ever experience "Kitty Paralysis"?

Throwback Thursday- Blog Style!

I started my blog back in June, 2013. It's almost been two years!

The only person who read it way back then was my mom.

So today, comin' at ya, are some Throwback Thursday blog posts from the days of yore... Hopefully you will find one or more interesting and/or entertaining!

Ophidiophobia!

The Stability Ball- and PC's Tips 

If anything, just watch Paul's video on this one haha! I bet he forgets this it out in internet-land.

The Top 10 Joys of Owning MY Cats

Shitty Runs

"Going" On A Run

Leave a link in the comments with a fun blog post from your early blog days!

Things I Suck at Part 2

(PART 2!!!!)

That's right. I wrote about things I suck at before. But as it turns out, there are so many things I suck at that I felt like doing a whole other post on the topic!

ps. I swear I wrote this blog post before I looked back at the first one. Turns out, I still suck at a lot of the same things! Especially those involving focus, patience, and butt cheeks!

1. Relaxing. Either my shoulders are hunched or my butt cheeks are clenched. If I lower my shoulders, my butt clenches. If I un-clench my butt, my shoulders go up.

2. Taking care of/styling my hair. It is really long right now, and I don't know what to do with it. I am really unmotivated in the morning to actually put gel in it so it doesn't get frizzy at work. It gets really tangled after a shower and twice I have had to rip out knots.

3. Keeping my jewelry cabinet organized. Every couple months I go through it and arrange everything into their own little separate compartments. But after about a week it is back to the same ol' mess.

4. Focusing on one task at a time. I jump from one thing to another too often at work. I used to not be like this!

5. Answering my phone. If you want to get a hold of me, the last thing you should do is call, because you will never get a call back. But if you text me, I will answer it right away!

6. Being patient. I know I said this before, but I really need to work on this one!

7. Sleeping. When I woke up this morning, after the third night in a row of sleep troubles, I told Paul, "Now I know how Michael Jackson felt." Dramatic? Maybe. But I get dramatic when I am tired!

What do you suck at?
Any suggestions on REALLY good conditioner that will help untangle my fine, curly hair?