What's on my Facebook wall?

Just something (mostly) chill for you this morning. Let's take a looksie at what's on my Facebook wall these days...

~ Funny ~

~ Inspirational ~

~ Timely ~

The stats are factual. I googled it.

Who's going!?

~ Teaching ~

I hope you're having a great Sunday!

Weekly Workouts!

28 miles this week with over half of them on trail!

Saturday- Lifting @ Planet Fitness and 35 minute Zumba workout in my carport! My favorite Zumba channel playlist so far is these videos by Zumba with Kristine.

Sunday- 10 Miles on the AT with Allison. Allison started at Boiling Springs and ran North. I met up with her at Trindle Road and we continued North for 5 miles and then turned back. She did 18 total and I ended up joining her for 10. We chatted the whole time, which made the run go really fast! She is a strong runner so she pushed me out of my lazy summer running comfort zone!

Muddy!!!

Monday- Lifting @ Planet Fitness and 10 minutes on the stair climber. I pushed it and went up over 50 floors!

Tuesday- 5 neighborhood miles. My back only got a little tight and was fine all day... until crosswalk duty, where I have to just STAND for 20 minutes straight. That made it ache. What a bummer. I can run 5 miles but I can't STAND STILL. 

Wednesday- 7 miles on the AT. It was a beautiful run and you can read more about it here.

Thursday- 6 neighborhood miles. I had the go ahead to run from my PT, as long as I did my "Standing trunk flexions" (bending over) 30 times before, during, and after my run. I tried hard to bring my pelvis back a bit during my run. My PT says I have hyperlordosis, or "anterior pelvis tilt" and that's what's causing my lower back pain. Unfortunately, my back was super sore all night and all day but it was because I got my period. I got zero sleep that night thanks to the pain.

Friday- 6 miles. I felt great during my run but my lower back felt a little tight as the day went on. I kept doing my bend overs though! I'm also making sure I tilt my pelvis forward when standing and walking around my room.

How were your workouts this week?

I had a PT evaluation.

After dealing with lower back pain when running on the road and standing/walking all day at work, I finally took the next step and got a PT evaluation. I wanted to know what was wrong with me and how to fix it.

I really liked my PT. He was very knowledgeable and I feel like I got some  good info from him. Here's what he discovered...

I have very minor scoliosis, but it's not causing my problem. One of my hips is a little higher than the other, but that isn't causing my problem either.

What's causing my problem is I have lumber lordosis, or anterior pelvic tilt. It is causing lower back pain and tight hip flexors. Here are some pictures:

My PT gave me 4 exercises to do until I see him again on Monday. They one thing he wants me do is to simply bend over as far as I can and come back up 30 times... every hour. Which means I have to do it in school in front of my students! So needless today, some of my music classes also learned about anterior pelvic tilt and joined me in bending over 30 times, or however many times they wanted to. Others wanted to do push ups or jumping jacks so I just let them do whatever they wanted!

I have two appointments scheduled for next week. My PT said this will be an easy fix and shouldn't take much therapy, which sounds awesome to me.

I hope it all goes well!

A Gorgeous Trail Run!

I had a half day of work on Wednesday because I had a doctor appointment. That gave me time to do my run on the Appalachian Trail! 

I parked on Sherwood Drive and ran South, a bit past the bridge that goes over 81, and then I turned around and went back the other way. 

I was wary of going North because it is a long section without a road crossing, but when I got to my car, I saw a woman with her dog heading North, so I decided to tack on a mile at the end going North. That's how good I felt. It was an AWESOME run!

Going South, it was very, very muddy. Even when I got into the fields, there was mud. I know some people don't like getting their feet soaking wet and muddy, but that's just how it goes on the trail. It doesn't bother me. You can't get wetter than wet or muddier than mud.

When I went North past Sherwood, it was a lot less muddy. I could have easily gone more than 7 miles, but I don't like running trail alone and I was on a bit of a time crunch.

The only bad part of the run was at the three mile mark when I turned around and snapped a picture...

... while I was getting bit by like 20 bugs! It was terrible and my arms and legs itched so bad for the next two miles. I don't know how I survived....

Later on in the evening, when I looked at my pictures, I was like, "Wow, it is so gorgeous!" That's when I realized... when I run alone on the trail, I am so hyper vigilant about the possibility of predators, that I can't even relax and appreciate the beauty of nature.

I will be honest, ever since I heard about the Delphi Murders, I have been very scared to run trail alone. Google it if you want to. But only if you want to be scared.

Tell me if you Google the Delphi Murders...
Do you get nervous to run/hike on the trail alone?
How was your Wednesday!?

Tuesday: A much better day!

Guys, today was a much better day! It started off with a very rainy run, but it was still enjoyable. 

I was worried about my back hurting on the road (it seems to do better on the trail) but obviously I can't run trail in the dark morning hours. However, there's a big athletic field beside a middle school near my house and I would have loved to run the perimeter of that (it's a half mile) but in the dark, I just didn't feel comfortable. What a bummer. It sucks to be scared to run certain places in the dark!

Lately, I have been hungry for non breakfast food for breakfast, so I made these little cucumber bites. It's German rye bread, mayo, cucumbers, and paprika. 

I was so excited to eat them, however, as I backed out of the driveway, I totally dropped them ALL OVER ME. There was mayo and cucumbers all over my cute outfit! I ate the three squares that fell on me but had to ditch the squares that fell on the floor of my car. I also had to go inside and scrub the mayo and paprika off me. There was no time to change!

Random: I was glad to get an alert on my phone to inform me Bill Cosby was sentenced to 3-10 years and state prison. He deserves to be punished for the many women he victimized throughout his life.

My students were mostly very well behaved today, which made it a very fun, relaxing day... as relaxing as teaching elementary school can be, that is!

Then I had piano lessons after school. I only have 5 students right now but I really love teaching all of them. I love connecting with my piano students one on one. I hope when they grow up, they remember me as a crazy, funny, piano teacher.

Well, now that my piano lessons are over and I wrote this post, I can pour a glass of pinot grigio and watch Jack Tapper. I love Jake Tapper!

Did you ever have cucumber squares like these?

Do you like Jake Tapper? What about Anderson? Wolf Blitzer cracks me up... on his show, he acts like everything is BREAKING NEWS!!!!

How was your Tuesday?

Oh what a day!

Normally, I like Mondays because I don't teach piano lessons after work, which means when I'm done, I'm DONE. However, today was soooooooo busy.

I am really questioning whether I should have taken on teaching band instruments this year. I haven't even started lessons yet and all of my free time is spent contacting parents, making sure kids have instruments, printing out materials, and making sure I'm prepared to teach the lessons. (When I say "free time", I mean the time I normally spend writing lesson plans FOR MY NORMAL JOB THAT ALREADY TAKES UP ALL OF MY TIME!!!!)

I envisioned having at most 5 kids in a lesson group, but that's not the way it's working out. Now I am up to 10 trumpets, 7 flutes, and 6 saxophones. The clarinet and trombone numbers are only at 2-3.

Of course I am excited so many kids are interested in band, but I'm not sure what I'm going to be able to teach 10 beginning trumpet players during their first 20 minute lesson. That's soooooo many kids!!!!

On a brighter note, once again I got to eat with colleagues and they listened to my vent about my situation. I love my colleagues! What would we do without each other!?

This morning I tried the stair climber at the gym. I climbed over 50 flights in 10 minutes! It was a workout and I was scared I'd fall because I really jacked up the speed.

I'm currently on hold with my insurance company to make sure they cover direct access to physical therapy. Then I'm going to schedule and assessment with a physical therapist. I'm not saying I am going to go to physical therapy, but I want assessed to have some insight into what's wrong with me.

Okay, time eat dinner, pet my cat, and watch the news. How depressing. But I like to be informed.

Did you ever do the stair climber?

Do you like Mondays?

Weekend Wrap Up!

 

Happy Monday!

It was a busy weekend!

I just filled out my fall calendar, and next weekend is the only weekend we don't have any plans. After that, we are booked through October!!!!

The cats woke me up at 3:50. So I just got up. I was awake anyway.

I ran 5 miles and did 15 minutes of Zumba in the carport. But my back hurt later that day. Freaking A.

At least I had time to make dippy eggs for breakfast! There's always a bright side to waking up an hour and forty minutes before your alarm goes off...

Work was exhausting. This was my morning: 1st grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, chorus.... WITH NO BREAKS IN BETWEEN. So I have to wrap up my 4th grade class with enough time to set up my room for chorus. It is exhausting.

But two good things happened at work!

Good thing #1: I had a ton of laminating to cut!

Good thing #2: I actually ate lunch with coworkers for the FIRST TIME THIS YEAR! You see, most of the teachers who eat lunch when I eat lunch do not eat in the faculty room. So normally there is no one for me to eat lunch with. It's a bummer, but I make good use of my time by spending about 10 minutes actually eating my lunch and watching a vlog or something, and then using the remaining time to do work. However, it was good for my SOUL to be able to eat lunch and connect with my colleagues today!

After work, Paul and I went out for sushi. We love Tokyo diner in Mechanicsburg. It's reasonably priced, the sushi is divine, and there is never a wait for a booth!

I slept until 9:16! IT WAS AWESOME! I was awake for two hours in the middle of the night, which wasn't fun, but being able to sleep in made up for it.

I had a strange breakfast... pasta with roasted squash, tomatoes, parm cheese, and chicken. In my defense, I hadn't eaten for 17 hours, so my normal cinnamon bagel and yogurt just wasn't going to cut it!

We went to Planet Fitness for a bit and then I came home and did some Zumba videos in my carport. Some old guy who lives across the street was raking leaves and watching me.

The bracelet I bought from Products of 47 came in the mail. I LOVE IT!!!! I was inspired to look for a bracelet like this because Sunny Hostin wears a similar one on The View.

My pictures don't do it justice so....

Here is a picture of a similar one from her Etsy site. The picture shows it better.

That evening, we finally took Paul's parents out for their Christmas gift- Dinner at Penn's Tavern in Sunbury. We dined in their historic 1700s dining room. Paul and Bob got an authentic German dinner while I got salmon and Deb got steak. The food was delicious!

 I took this picture after I ate most of my Spaetzel!

The cats woke me up at 3:00 and I couldn't fall back asleep, so I just got up.

At 7:40, I met Allison at Trindle Road to do an out and back totaling 10 miles on the AT. This was a section I hadn't run in a very long time and I enjoyed it greatly! Allison and I chatted the whole way, so the run flew by quickly. She is also a very strong runner and pushed me out of my lazy summer running comfort zone! We averaged around 10 min per mile, which is FAST for a muddy, slippy trail.

Since I got so little sleep, I was kind of in "just keep going mode", so when I got home, I showered and headed right out to do some shopping!

First, I went to Target. Guys, the 90s are BACK and I don't think it's a good thing!

WHYYYYYY!?????

I did get a top for $22, which is more than I like to spend, but it was made very well.

All the bathing suit separates were on sale!

I got two bottoms ($9 and $14 each) and a cool top ($6). I'm posting a pic of me IN the top not be like "hey look at me in a bathing suit top" but because there's just no way to get a proper picture of it unless it's ON.

Note: The only bathing suit bottoms I get are Mossimo. None of the others cover my arse.

Boy shorts! Look good on my athletic body.

Kind of trendy. I hope it's sill in style next year!

It's very Cell Block Tango, don't you think!?

I know all black is boring, but I have colorful separates to mix these with. I was actually looking for some black.

Then I headed to JC Penney. Ended up getting two pairs of thick leggings with back pockets, so they basically look like dress pants but they are as comfy as pjs. I got a black pair and a very dark purplish pair. They were only $14.99!

The purple pants are MUCH darker than this picture.

I also went into Sephora, which is in JC Penney. I wanted to ask some questions about primer and dip my toe in investing in good foundation and primer. The girl was very knowledgeable and set me up with a good primer ($13) and a foundation which was a match for my face and skin characteristics ($20). I know the bottles are small but the girl said they should last for 4 months.

I know the cheap drugstore makeup isn't great for your face. It can make your skin age faster. It also doesn't stay put and settles into my wrinkles as the day goes on. I'm excited to see if spending a little more money on a better quality makes my makeup look better.

I'm also tossing around the idea of phasing make up out for work and only wearing it during social or family activities. Then I could invest in really nice make up but not wear it daily.

So much to think about!

By now, I was starving, so I went to Moe's and treated myself to lunch. We means I ate out THREE TIMES THIS WEEKEND! THAT NEVER HAPPENS!

Then I went to The Christmas Tree Shoppe. You should be proud of me. I didn't buy any Christmas decorations!

I did get all of our Halloween candy, including some healthy options (pretzels and fruit snacks) and non food items like stickers and tattoos.

I also got my favorite $1 hand soaps.

Now it was time for the boring part of my shopping trip... Aldi and Dollar General. I stocked up on Paul's cereal...

... got some prizes for my classroom...

(Stickers, tattoos, and bouncy balls.)

... and found my Halloween mask!

Oh, look what I saw at Aldi!

Wow! What a day! Are you still reading? If so, you're a trooper!

Do your kitties like cat nip?

What do you think of the comeback of the 90s style?

What kind of makeup do you use? How often do you wear it?