Blaaa

This winter has been uncharacteristicly (awkward word!) mild - we have had very little snow, and really warm temps - and many people around here are so happy. This week we have been experiencing 70 degree temps, and it seems everyone is all happy and chipper and enjoying the warm sunn weather (minus the tornados yesterday) but I feel all a-funk. I have not had the chance to enjoy the snow and cool weather. I think I need the change in weather and sceenery to re-set my inner mind. When I lived in CA I would get so depressed over the lack of "seasonal" landscape, and the perpetual blue skys. I think I am odd, because everyone else seems to think that he blue skies are happy. Oh well. I've always knwon I am wierd.

I'm just in a funk.

Lauren seems to be struggling with emotions again. Are they due to her meds? Or is she just experiencing secondary anxiety due to the fact that she is on meds? I think she had another mild anxiety attack last night. I guess I really should look into a thearpist for her - her symptoms do not seem to be constant, but this waffling is just as frustrating to us. Maybe more - we keep thinking we have an answer or fix and then the problem reappears.

I also need to make a stupid decision on my new vehicle. What do I repalce my beloved Durango with? I want good gas milage, lots of space for people and cargo, 4-wheel drive, good safety for passengers, ability to tow our camper, and low cost : ) I'd love to have multiple cars for each purpose. The huge range of needs is what confuses me. I think I am used to having different vehicles for all purposes. Just dont have the space to store them living in the city.

I want to live in the country again! grumph. I want chickens, an out building, maybe a green house, a decent sized garden, a pond, woods, and just space!!! Imiss space. I hate having neighbors looking in my windows.

Yea, I am just in a funk this week.

I also need to go to the gym. Life is crazy the next two weeks and I do not think I will have time to go there often. I need to though. I did so well when I was going 5x a week.

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Hey - I'm BACK!

I have not blogged in such a long long long time. No one was reading it, so I stopped. I guess I do not care if people read it or not, but it seemed a bit odd to ramble on and on to no one. Let me know if you are reading this - I will be competly blown away if someone actually is reading it!

Lotsof things have been going on in the past year and half. Biggest news is Lauren was diagnosed with arthritis. Luckily it is not too painfull for her, but still lots of inflimation and loss of range of motion and strength in her wrists/hands. We are now seeing the pediatric rheumotologist every 3 months, and an eye doctor as well, because there is a small possibility of inflimation occuring in her eyes. (thankfully her eyes have not shown any signs of inflimation, and we just got the OK to go every 6 months rather than 3 months.) However, we are struggling with medicines and side effects. After 6 months of being on NSAIDs she is still experiencing inflimation. One drug (which was added in additon to her NSAID) gave her anxiety and depression, so we took her off that combo. Now we are on a new and stronger NSAID and she is experiencing headaches and possibily stomach upset. Poor thing worries too much, and it is hard to find out what her real side effect is vs. self-inflicted anxiety.

But, that is our daily background struggle. We try not to dwell on it, because really she is in pretty good health right now.

Both girls are now involved with our local youth theater group. I always thought I'd have athletic kids, since I did all sorts of sports as a kid. But neither one really likes sports, so we have theater nerds. grin. It is a really good group, of both kids and adults, and the experiences and "lessons" learned are are more than I ever thought possible. Lauren is currently in her 4th play, and Annika is now in her 2nd. Bill has been in charge of constructing the sets, and he loves it. I'm just glad that he has found a past-time that involves something besides the kids and work. Yes it is for the kids, but he is using his creative building skills and does not really interact with them while he is there.

I also have a part time job. I work for the Livingston Hunger Council as their Community Garden Coordinator. I enjoy the job, the work, and the cause, so it is a great opportunity for me. I just wish that the bulk of the job did not occur when the girls were out of school. Oh well. I'll post more on this later. THis is enough update for now.

Late Gym Yesterday, None Today

The girls had no school yesterday, and then Annika had her art class, so I was not able to get the the gym until after dinner. But I went - and did a hard workout on the elliptical.

Today I am not able to go due to other obligations. Work in classroom, Roofer here to fix missing shingles, (should be called ka-ching-gals, like the sound the cash register makes!!) and then the girls have their parent-teacher conferences tonight. Maybe I could go around 8pm. groan

Back from the Gym

I ran again today. 2.50 miles exactly - in 35 mins ... maybe a few seconds less I can't remember if I cut it off or not. Nope, I did not ... just remembered the treadmill counting down and turning off. The big news is I ran 2 sets of 3 mins! I also ran 2 or 3 of my 2 min sets at 5.5mph - up .3mph from normal. I felt a bit stronger last time; I felt too "spent" early on today. I want to push myself some, to go farther/longer each week, but I just felt tired today. Ehh, tomorrow I will not be able to work out. The girls have the day off of school and then Annika has Art Class and Lauren has Play Practice. Unless Bill comes home while Lauren is at play practice, I am stuck at home w/the kids all day.

Skipping the Gym Today

It is Halloween today, and I had to "work" at the Sub's Halloween party all afternoon, so I decided to skip working out today. Which means NO CANDY for me! I did manage to skip all the doughnuts at the party. Yea me! I was hungry too.

Funny story for the day: I love to weigh myself 1st thing in the morning, then go to the bathroom and see how much I lost. hehe. Well, today it was 4lbs! yea, my scale is not so reliable/consistent.

Day 2 of the Resumed Regime

Went to the gym again today. I ran on the treadmill today (using my replacement ipod - Blue Velvet - since I lost poor Purple Pal a month or so ago.) and I did pretty good. I ran for a total of 37 mins: Walked at my usual 3.5 for 5 mins as a warm-up, then ran at 5.2 for 3 mins (I could have gone longer; I was completely amazed that I was not very tired!) and walked for 1.5 mins, then ran for 2.5 mins, walked for 2, ran 2 etc. until the last 7ish minutes when I changed things up and ran at 6.5 for a minute, walked for 2 minutes, ran @6.5 for another minute, then walked the last 5 minutes on a 4.0 incline at 3.8.

I know I know, a lot of detail here ... but I feel the need to be accountable for my workout right now. As I'm inclined to blow them off! In total I ran 2.75ish miles today. Well, walked/ran combo. And all my 2 minute runs were fairly easy. I guess next week I'll have to up my run times to 2.5 mins, or 3 mins. Hmmmmmm

Grope, Grasp, Fumbling

I need to find that motivation I had last year. I was so strongly motivated to stay on tract with both my diet and exercise. I know I can run now. (I don't love it, but I love that I can do it) I just need to find that something and grab on to it again.

Grope

Grasp

Grapple

Flounder.