Working out

I started going to the community fitness center one month ago and I am trying to get in the habit of exercising regularly. It's very difficult to acquire this new habit, and I continue to try. Indeed, it has only been a month, but I'm discouraged because I haven't lost any weight at all.

I am expecting too much too soon. I'm not 25 anymore and the pounds are stubborn.  I also haven't changed my eating habits yet. I didn't want to take on too many changes all at once.

I feel a little stronger, and I feel more comfortable being at the gym. I sleep better on the nights after I've worked out. My workout consists of a whole body set of strength training set along with 15 minutes of aerobic activity. It takes me about 45 minutes to 1 hour to complete everything.

The wonders of the iPod. I collected some music in a workout playlist....but found out today it's too short. Well, back to iTunes....

To help track my workouts, I found an app called Gym Buddy. So far it seems to work pretty well for building and recording workouts. I still need to play with to get all the details about the exercises set up just right - I'm not sure how to record a timed exercise, like holding a plank position for so-many seconds. Or, how to record "weight" on a push up - it's my own body weight, reduced a bit because I can only do push ups on my knees.

Back to the music...
Naturally, I Google'd to find suggestions for work out music. Most of the lists I found are all compose of angry screaming rap music. I need lists for geezers - like an upbeat 70s workout mix (Abba!), or an 80s pop mix (Peter Gabriel, Michael Jackson). Even a contemporary mix that isn't rap music would be nice. I can appreciate rap at some level, but it just doesn't do it for me any more than 1950's rock-n-roll, or Elvis, or heavy metal.

The young people seem to enjoy investing their time in curating their song libraries, but I just don't want to spend my time that way. I just want it to *be* there, not work for it. Heck, I even still listen to the radio.

And not XM radio.

Once I come up with a few enjoyable lists, I'll share.

Charity Quilt

Charity Quilt
Originally uploaded by ava99riley00

Look, I have been working on a quilting project!

Tough

It has been a tough time two weeks. We had a major blizzard on Tuesday (and I went to work every day this week, thanks a lot). It caused the guild to cancel the Charity quilt-a-thon day, and I was disappointed because its' my favorite meeting all year. I had done a lot of work preparing for it.

My computer hard drive died over the weekend. I'm back online, $200 and three days later.  The music for my next concert is kicking my ass (it's very hard).  I screwed up a meeting at church (I thought it started at 5:30...no, it was 5:00).

On the good side, I experimented with spray quilt basting for a charity quilt and it worked well.   I quilted it on my machine with good results.

I still haven't finished Ann's quilt. It's all done except the label and I used my dead computer as an excuse. I like to make my labels as a word document that I trace onto muslin. Then I embellish the label and applique it down; that's how it became an excuse.

Once I get the label done, I am free to work on new projects. I am looking forward to that!  I have several ideas for what to do and I can't wait to get started!

Now that I joined...

What am I going to do at the gym?

I'm trying to change my life to incorporate regular exercise. I want to feel more energetic, lose a few pounds and hopefully start a new habit.

I had my first personal training session last Thursday evening and it went well. I was pleasantly sore afterwards  not so bad that I ached.

Today I'm trying a Yoga class. I've done yoga before, and I do a video yoga workout at home occasionally now (*sigh* Rodney Yee - whatta babe). It has been several years since I attended classes regularly. Maybe this will be a good fit. We'll see.

Off to class!

OMG...I joined a gym

I actually joined a gym today. It's the local community center, but hey, it's a start. Next: sign up for a fitness assessment and some personal trainer appointments.

No excuses

I have not finished Ann's quilt, her Christmas Gift. It is down to the binding, which is sewn on, but needs to be whipstitched into place. I refuse to start another project until it's done. Even though I have a new block of the month and a new Jelly Roll, I can't play with anything new.

Vacation that won't be in my top ten list

This past weekend, we got to go on a "free" cruise given to us (and all the other employees) by my husband's company. The stars were not aligned.

The flight was at 6:00 am on Friday.  Got to the cruise ship, no trouble, signed up for some spa treatments and rested for a while. The ship left Miami at about 4:00. By 6:00 I was a mess with seasickness. The ocean was very rough for a few hours; I heard I was not the only one feeling like crap. I just skipped dinner and slept.

Husband was slightly ill the whole time - not with seasickness, but with a cough and cold and stress and whatever else makes him inclined to be sluggish this time of year. Every time he lay down, the coughing started. It was not like I could sleep in the guest room.

We spent way too much money on entertainment; although I did enjoy the spa treatments, yoga class, gambling (Texas Hold 'Em), and exotic beverages.  Nassau in the Bahamas was as seedy as the last time we were there about 10 years ago. We didn't spend much time in town, but even the 2 hours we did wander around the business district was a waste. The food on the cruise was decent. The other people on the cruise were not exactly my kind of crowd. There were a number of beautiful young princes and princesses who looked and acted as if they were on "Jersey Shore." 'nuff said.

To make our return flight, we had to debark in the first group - EARLY! When we got to the airport, our flight was cancelled due to snow. We had to stay another day and we were rebooked on anther EARLY flight the next day, Tuesday. When we got to the airport and checked in, the airline strung us along all day and finally cancelled the flight at 2:00 pm. Fortunately we didn't have to stay another day; instead we booked on a different airline and left at 6:00pm. We arrived in Kansas at about 11:00pm, to lovely 7 degree weather. Then we had to dig out our car.

We didn't bring the cell phones because we were to be out of the country and didn't want to deal with roaming fees. This meant we had no easy way for us to call work or call the kennel where we board the dogs or the vet where we board the cat to let them know we were stuck.

It was simply one hassle after another. We spent way too much money for a "free" vacation. It resulted in too much stress for missing work and being tired and screwing up my schedule.

I tried to keep a positive attitude. However, I didn't find any female pals among husband's coworkers or their spouses. And overall, I had a little too much close proximity with the husband.

It was just not good. I'm glad to be home, and really glad to find my first Block of the Month kit in the mail!!