Where's Carlos when I need him?

I have been soooo good this month, going to the gym 6 times a week!  I cut back on the time to 35-40 minutes but have decided to try to build it back up.  Today my hamstrings are killing me!!  It hurts to sit.  It hurts to walk.  I need a massage, Carlos!  Where are you?  (Carlos does free chair massages at the gym on Saturday mornings... hmmmm...).

Old paint

Today I finally took the 10 cans of old paint from the basement and got rid of them.  Those with totally dried up latex paint went right into the trash.  Those with some moisture left, I opened and am leaving out in the garage in hopes that they'll dry up too.  I found one can of oil based paint that I'll take to our community's service garage for disposal.  YAY!

My job

A few months ago my sister strongly recommended I read "Younger Next Year".   Since she's not a big reader, I was impressed that she'd finished this book (ha ha!) and thought it was probably worth a look see.  At the time I was deep into Stephen King's latest (which was great, BTW) and now I'm deep into Elizabeth George's latest, "Believing the Lie" (600+ pages).  It turns out Ken bought the book for his Kindle and has been reading it off and on.  One thing he told me, which made a real impression on me, is that when you retire, you need to look at exercising as your "job".  Since you already have the habit of getting up and going to work every morning, you should just get up every morning and exercise as if THAT is your job.  It worked for me this morning.  I was up very late last night after ushering for "Hair" and the last thing I felt like doing was going to the gym.  But I asked myself, if I had a job, am I tired enough to call in sick?  The answer was "no".  So off to the gym I went.  And now I feel soooo virtuous!

Last night I had the strangest dream...

Actually, it was this morning right before I woke up.  I was dreaming that I was at the hospital waiting my turn for chemo.  I got to talking to other patients and they told me things about their cancers that made me realize just how little info I had about mine.  They were at the end of the their treatment regimens and I realized how scared I was knowing that I wouldn't have them with me throughout my treatment.  When I woke up I was very disturbed.  I'm sure this wasn't prophetic, but it got me thinking about what I would regret if my life was cut short soon.  Here's what I came up with.
1)  Spending so much time worrying about my weight instead of concentrating on eating well and exercising more.
2)  Too often letting people annoy me.
3)  Too little time connecting with people, even if its a brief meeting.
So when I went to the grocery store this morning, I gave the lady behind the deli counter a great big smile and when she asked me "how are you", I said "Fantastic!"  She responded with a smile of her own and said that if I was not going to complain today, she wouldn't either!
When we got home from the gym, car wash, and grocery store, I made a healthy breakfast of eggs, spinach and cheese, with a side of Irish brown bread and cantaloupe.
I feel great!!

Shoe Rack

In an attempt to keep our carpets cleaner longer, we've been trying to take our shoes off right when we come in the house.  Since we don't like having lots of shoes cluttering up the entryway, I asked for a hanging shoe rack for Christmas.  Well the kids thought this was boring so I didn't get it.  I almost went out and bought one myself after Christmas, but then remembered my goal of reusing things and being more green.  So I thought about what I could use that I already had.  I found the recently emptied wooden crate (remember those from college days?...we used to keep our LPs in it... but that's another story).  So I cleaned out the hall closet and made room for the crate on its side.  It doesn't give us room for more than 5 pairs of shoes, but its better than nothing!

Paper towels vs hand dryers

I wonder about this issue every time I'm somewhere that actually gives you a choice.  I realize this is rare these days, but the Food Bank restrooms do, so I think about this at least twice a week!  So I finally checked this on the web.  There are really 2 issues here.  Which one is the "greenest" option and which is the cleanliest option.  On the green issue, I found this article:  http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/the_green_lantern/2008/06/electric_hand_dryers_vs_paper_towels.html  which ends by saying: " The bottom line is that hand dryers will be the greener choice in about 95 percent of circumstances. If the choice is between using a tiny corner of recycled towel versus a 2,400-watt dryer, then the Lantern can see how the towel will win. But dryers get the nod in most other scenarios, particularly if the dryer is rated at less than 1,600 watts. (Check the specs plate on the side if you're really curious.)  "


On the germs issues, I found this article:  http://infectiousdiseases.about.com/b/2008/10/17/automatic-hand-dryers-vs-paper-towels.htm  which says "

the vast majority of research has shown that there is no difference between using paper towels and warm air dryers in terms of removing bacteria! In fact, a study from the Mayo Clinic showed that there is no difference in removing bacteria from washed hands using paper towels, warm air dryers, air drying, or cloth towel   "

A productive day

Laura came over today and we managed to get all of the wedding tasks into a rough timeline.  I don't know how she really feels about this, but I sure feel better!  There's a lot to do in the next 5 months, but it feels manageable.  Hopefully I'll sleep better for awhile...

Ken and I also got all the Christmas decorations taken down and put away.  Then we rearranged the living room furniture.  Change is good!

And finally, I am sending all remaining Christmas cookies to work with Ken tomorrow.  My will power is shot and I need to start on that losing 10 pounds thing!

Food vs. me

I was feeling very tired all day yesterday and ended up noshing on anything in sight.  Why do I do that?  It's maddening!  I spent many hours on wedding planning and felt overwhelmed by the end of the day.  There's so much to do in the next 5 months!  But today I am feeling re-energized and ready to move on.  Food will NOT control me today... food will NOT control me today... food will NOT control me today...

Wedding showers

I just started looking at ideas online for wedding showers.  Most ideas I've found are in the category of "I'd rather stick pins in my eyes".  Suffice it to say, we will NOT be doing anything requiring clothes pin, cotton balls, toilet paper, or construction paper cut into heart shapes... We WILL be looking for a winery where we can gather and drink to Laura's happiness.  What does this have to do with my blog topics?  Well, I guess creating a shower to Laura's liking, will bring me (and her) serenity.

Competition

Why is it that so many things feel like competition that shouldn't?  I go to the gym and look around at all the super-fit 20 somethings and feel discouraged.  How stupid is that!!  I'm really only in competition with myself.  And so far I'm doing fine.  I've already increased the weights on all of the machines.  New goal:  stop comparing myself to anyone other than myself.  If I end this year fitter than last than I have succeeded!

Control

I watched an interesting video clip on Wimp.com this morning:  http://www.wimp.com/livescontainer/  It amazed me how this young woman has already figured out things that have taken me far longer to understand.  Like accumulating "things" should not be a goal in our lives.  She points out that none of us real own anything.  We just have custody of them temporarily while we're here on earth.  Everything eventually gets handed over to some one else.  It's taken me a long time to realize that I'm sick of "things".  In fact, in my quest to get "lean" this year, I plan to continue weeding down my possession.  Anyway, back to the title of this post: Control.  After viewing this video I started feeling bad about some of the decisions I've made throughout my life.  But then realized how futile this is.  There's no going back.  There's often no do-overs in life.  So starting now I'm going to work on looking forward, controlling what I can in my life, and not feeling bad about the past.  Wish me luck!

Lean

I was brave this morning and weighed myself.  Sigh... Got my work cut out for me.  We're hitting the gym this morning... But can I ignore the left over cinnamon bread and cookies?

Water

If money were no object, I'd have one of those water systems that heats your water as you need it installed.  Do you know how much water we all waste waiting for the hot water to kick in?  It's gallons every time we take a shower!  So here's my challenge.  Think of as many ways as possible to capture that water and use it.  I already keep a 1/2 gallon pitcher in the bathtub which we fill before our showers.  Then I use the water to fill the toilet tank the next time I flush.  If I coordinate the 2 events, I can usually fill the tank from the shower.  If not, the cats like to drink out of it!  But I also waste a lot of water when I wash my hands.  In the winter it's so hard to wash my hands in cold water so I tend to let the hot water run until it's really warm.  Gotta work on that!