New Things!

Monday I wore a pair of my Doc Martens to work and realized they just do not fit. So I asked a coworker that wears my size if she’d want them and she enthusiastically said yes! So they are now hers. I forgot to take a photo, though, before giving them to her. But they are part of my 1,000 Things Project. I will no longer hold on to things I cannot use! That brings my total to 157 items outta here!

I walked Gladys on Monday. We, apparently, think walking around our neighborhood is boring. We’ll both happily walk 4 miles in the desert and not once slow down or look bored. But a 1.37 mile walk around the neighborhood just makes us both unhappy. We need closer desert, I guess.

Also, on Monday, I used my new cookbook and made Chicken Enchilada Stew!

Ingredients!

And it turned out DELICIOUS!!!

You can’t taste this but you can tell. You know this is tasty good.

Tuesday I gymmed! When I get to the gym I did my warm ups and then had to wait for Tyler to finish up with his other client. The back door of the gym was propped open so I went and stood out there and just enjoyed the quiet and the being outside and the perfect temperature. When he came out to get me I explained that I just needed some quiet before we got to work. He then suggested we just work out there! He brought out dumbbells, a medicine ball, and a weighted basket ball type ball and I did my thing out there. And? It was really awesome. It was quiet and perfect and I just enjoyed it so much.

I did curl & presses with a half squat. Three sets of 20.
I did squats then swung a kettlebell up and back down. Three sets of 20.
I threw the weighted basketball up at the wall from my chest level and caught it for three sets of 20.
Then I backed up and threw that ball from over my head to the wall and caught it for three sets of 20.
Lunges on the stairs while pressing the medicine ball up. Three sets of 20 on each leg.
Then side squats with one leg on a stair and the other on the ground while holding the medicine ball at chest level. Three sets of 20.
Then I did two things inside. Crunches on some machine where I hold the straps that are attached to the weights and then crunch over. Three sets of 15. Then I had to do crunches on the roman chair. The kind where your back isn’t touching the pad, just your butt. And he said “You’ve gotten stronger!”

And you know what?!? I allowed myself to say “I KNOW! I have!” Because I have.

We then discussed that my one year anniversary is March 4th and just how far I’ve come since then. And now he’s going to put together some scary tough anniversary work out for Tuesday AND Thursday of that week. I can do it.

Today I ordered a new cheese shredder since I killed my cheapy one. This time I bought a good one. And I bought a ladle. For using with my crock pot. My kitchen is getting so mature.

Then I also went and bought new gym shoes!

This gave me some angst because I do not want bright, neon gym shoes and that’s the norm these days. So I looked around at the online stores that have them and they were all the same price no matter which shop it was. But at Road Runner Sports I’m a VIP member and I had a coupon. So, they won. But they don’t offer all of the colors that the Brooks Ghost 7 come in.

I had really wanted this one:

I love purple!

But Roadrunner Sports only has these colors listed on their site:

I had finally decided I’d go with the blue! They’re not so bright and they’re different than what I have now. And, according to my friends, they’d make me faster and stronger and super desirable.

These guys will now be my walking the dog shoes!

But, of course, when I got to the store they only had the pink or the minty gum colored ones. I totally hate the pink. Hate them a lot. So, I went with the minty gum ones. They’re, what I imagine when I look at all of the options, newer version of what I already had!

There’s some purple there! Yay purple!

I introduced the old to the new and we all had a good talk and everyone is fine and dandy with this whole thing. And? I got new gym shoes and saved $25 in the process. So, that’s all a good day right there.

Brooks Ghost 6, meet Brooks Ghost 7.

And then I came home and ate all of the things because that seems to be what I do now. Is be hungry and eat.

I, also, am trying to determine whether or not I’m going to lose this nail:

My gross toe.

The nail has looked bruised and there seemed to be a callus formed under it, too. Well, I was finally able to peel away some of the callus and then it looks like the bruise is drying up but the nail is also, kinda, loose? I dunno. I’m hoping I can be gentle with it and the nail will grow out and I can just keep cutting and peeling and not really ever lose it. That’s my hope. That’s my toe. Now you know.

Now I shall go reflect on how to be faster, stronger, and more desirable in my new, but not blue, shoes.

Spring Ahead

My schedule should now be back to normal! That makes me happy. I like my routine. Yes, the break from it here and there is lovely but I’m looking forward to just being on track for a bit.

But first I have a week to recap! Let’s get right to it.

TRX rows

Foam roller

Stationary lunges

Shoulder up & overs

SB hamstring curls

SB knee tucks

Seriously. The WiFi at the gym is fucking with my records. There was nothing saved in regards to sets but it’s fine. There was no weight involved, other than the shoulder up and overs and I’m pretty sure that was with the 12lb bar.

So, first I had to do the TRX rows. Three sets. I think each set was different. But don’t hold me to that. And since I fully admitted to not foam rolling due to illness he made me roll between each set of rows. He told me to roll my hips, quads, hams, calves, and butt. I said “But my butt is fine!” and he said “Roll the butt.” And I was rolling my butt and was feeling nothing and said “See?! There’s nothing in my butt!” and he looked at me and I was all “You know what I mean!” But then he showed me a different way to roll my butt and ouch, yeah, there’s knots in my butt.

Then I had to do stationary lunges. First set was just lunges. Then I had to do two sets of forward and backward lunges. The thighs. They burned.

In between the lunges I did the shoulder up and overs. But he said I had to do the Gandolf with the bar and then I pretended to do the whole YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!! thing and he was all “Yes! Now, twenty times with each arm.” I’m lucky he’s my trainer.

Then the real fun started. He pulls out the Swiss ball and tells me to do the hamstring curls. These I’ve done before. So I start and he’s all “Wait. As you pull your legs in, lift your pelvis up.” and I was all “I thought I was!” and he said I wasn’t and then I did and he said “yes, just like that” and then I started to giggle and said “Oh, shut up Andrea!” and he laughed and walked away.

But then he made me do the knee tucks on this thing. I’d not done this before so for the first set he shows me what do do and he’s understanding of my giggles and rolling off of it. He reminds me to do small corrections when balancing to prevent the rolling and reminds me to keep my core engaged. There is just so much you gotta do and keep in mind. It’s exhausting!

While I’m doing my next set of hamstring curls a hot dude shows up and gets really close to my space and asks if he’s too close to my space and we both tell him no but then I do a comedy routine about him distracting me. That’s how you get a hot dude’s attention at the gym. Self deprecation and sarcasm.

The second set of knee tucks was ugly but I KILLED IT! on my last set. I looked down towards the ball instead of straight at the ground and that seemed to help me with my balance. Boom!

Since I’d been sick and I was a trooper during this set he let me go after 50 minutes. I allowed it.

Wednesday and Thursday I was so sore! I haven’t been sore like that in a bit. But off I went to my Thursday session anyway!

BM incline chest press						40×10	40×10	40×10
HS lat pull down rev grip,						50×20	70×12	70×12
TRX T rows						10	10	10
TRX bicep curls						10	10	10
Roman chair leg raises						10	10	10
Roman chair knee raises						10	10	10

That BM incline chest press continues to be my nemesis. He had to help me on every single one. I hate that.

The only other thing about Thursday I want to discuss is this TRX T row thing he made me do. Holy effing shit. This scared me. I hated it a lot. It’s like doing a trust fall but you have to trust yourself. Thursday I learned I trust myself about as much as I trust all you other people. Which is not really a whole lot! But I did them. It took a lot of nervous giggle time, sweaty palm wiping, and him saying “See? You did it!” while giving me high fives. Not a fan. But that’s ok.

That was Thursday.

Then it was the weekend and I was back to my hiking each day! Yay!

Saturday we went out to Lake Pleasant and did an absolutely gorgeous hike.

It’s a lake! And it was, in fact, very pleasant!

With it being my first hike in three weeks I was glad it was an easy hike. It was about 5.5 miles with little elevation gain. But it was good for getting back out there.

Then this morning this little lady barricaded the door until I admitted to her that she was, in fact, going on the hike with me.

Seriously. I’m Gandalf, bitch. You? Ain’t passing.

Today was an easy 4 mile hike with a few nice hills to walk up so I loaded all of my camping gear into my big backpack to get used to that. After putting that and my full 3 liters of water I had about 15.2 lbs on my back. It was really not too noticeable until I went to walk up hills. Then I could tell I had an extra 15 pounds on my person.

Don’t everybody ask for my number all at once.

A very nice man asked if I’d like for him to take our photo and I said YES! and then Gladys wouldn’t look so I was making my kissy noises to get her to look and that is when he took the photo and that is why I look like the coolest. Other than, yeah, I’m just, you know, the coolest.

Gladys did great and I was happy getting another hike in and doing it with my big bag and there were a few times that I had to ask people to excuse me so I could walk around them since I kicked it into high gear. Yay, me!

After this I went to Costco and bought stuff I needed. Which also meant I grabbed a cookbook!

It matches the kitchen counters!

I’ve already picked out a really delicious sounding recipe for pork chops to try out first. I’m gonna branch out and cook good foods. I even bought two sweet potatoes. Now I just, you know, need to cook them. Once I figure out how. Yeah.

And Gladys spent a good part of the day being a tired hiker.

She really is the cutest.

Everything is going pretty well, is what I’m saying. I like that.

Rest Mode

I did not hike today. I wanted to. But my throat was still sore and I was grumpy and Gladys was grumpy and I just felt like I should have one more full day of rest. So, yet another day that I didn’t even leave the house. I haven’t had a weekend like this in forever. But I did just read an article about fitness for hikers and the twelfth step was rest. So, I just did step 12. Boom!

Truth be known? I think I’ve been flirting with depression again. I hate that. But I find myself feeling like I’m unloved, uncared for. That not even the people that should be bound to love and care about me just….don’t. But really all that means is that people just aren’t showing they love or care about me in the ways that I think they should. And that is silly as fuck. So I’m gonna stop that.

Another thing I’ve been grappling with is a conversation I had with a couple at the PGA fun times that really just got into my head and pulled out all of my negative self thoughts.

Basically this couple met on Match and I said “Oh, how nice! I didn’t have much luck there in the past when I tried.” That prompted the man portion of this couple to look at me and say “Well, you know…you’re not an unpretty person…” and I was all “Umm…that doesn’t exactly mean I’m an attractive person!” and it really hit me wrong. And then he got his lady portion involved and she explained that I have a nice smile. I’m cute. I have the cleavage. But that Match really is a visual forum and maybe I’d have better luck on eHarmony. And I said something and my Dad hears everything because he’s Dad and he leans over and says “I’m her Dad and I’m hear to look after her…” or something like that.

Basically my Dad had to intervene to make the people stop telling me that I’m ugly. That? Felt super duper.

So on top of not feeling loved or cared for I get to grapple with my crazy self esteem in regards to my appearance. Which is not great. And it makes me wonder if certain people would still be in my life if I was prettier and blah blah blah stupid stuff.

So, here’s a picture I took of myself and it is 100% not edited other than to crop out unnecessary items in the background. My tendency is to edit it, make me look prettier, all of that. But nope. I will not give in to that. Well, not here, anyway. I did that for Instagram and Facebook. But this forum is about me being healthy. So this is me trying to be healthy, emotionally.

My Dad will tell you to back off if you say mean things to me.

I hate all of the work it takes for me to sometimes just be ok with me. I hate caring what strangers think of my appearance. I hate that I work so hard to get people to like me. I’m too sensitive. I’m too apologetic about who I am.

Hopefully this weekend of rest will have done the trick and I can get back on my regular routine that includes happy endorphins. I guess I really do need those.

Spring Cleaning

I did not workout with Tyler this week. I did not walk Gladys this week. I worked and rested this week. Today I am sneezy and ugh but will go hike with Gladys tomorrow on an easy 4 mile trail.

I was hit with the need to get rid of some things this morning and straighten up so today has been devoted to the 1,000 Things Challenge.

I am a keeper of paper. I am a keeper of paper that will remind me of a fun time. However I am now doing my photo books digitally instead of with scrapbooking tools so I do not need to keep these things. My goal for this year is to work on my photo book for 2015 as I edit the photos and get them ready. And? To scan any paper mementos that may go with them. The first ones of the year? The PGA tickets and daily pairing sheets! Scanned and recycled, my friends. This is a big deal. This counts towards my goal of getting rid of stuff. Six items, gone. Bringing the total to 30!

Precious memories!!

Then I went through all of the freebies that my Dad picked up at the PGA event and tossed out the trash, put the granola bars in the pantry, the sunscreen and chapstick in my hiking supplies closet, and then? Put the stuff I do not need in the box to leave this house! That is three items. My total is now up to 33!

Free stuff!!

These three things are of no use to me. Out of my house with you!!

Today I told the world I was going to go shopping. Instead I watched “Friends” on Netflix and then started to clean out my closet to prepare for my shopping spree. After I posted a photo of all of the things I pulled out of my closet a friend invited me to a clothing swap in two weeks. Now, this may mean I may take some things out of the house and then replace with new things. But I’m not going to sweat that. Because I will only replace things with things that I need. So it’s all just a net loss, OK? Yes!

So many clothes, so much nothing to wear.

I hate to shop. So most of the stuff that I have to give away is super dated or super worn out or both. But maybe somebody will like something and take it? And if not? It all goes to a charity as donations so yay all around! If my count is correct, this is 87 pieces of clothing! Bringing my total of things gone to 120!!

Then I have three dog accessories that are way too small for Gladys and are not anything I can reuse = 123.
A five piece Batman toy set = 128.
One Pez dispenser and some Pez = 129.
Six books = 135.
Three hair accessories = 138.
Four pair of socks = 142.
The bra from my wedding! = 143.
One scarf = 144.
Two bathing suits = 146.
One bag = 147.
Three wallets = 150.
Three t-shirts from my previous employer = 153.
Three bottles of lotion that I will never ever use = 156!!!

Tiny dog harnesses.

I’m sorry, Batman. I cannot keep you.

I’m giving away a Woody. Any takers?!?

Swim suits that just do not suit me. At all.

Fun knee socks that I just never ever wear. Likely because I live in Arizona.

Handmade hand bag!

Wallets. Go away.

I kept one. That’s enough.

I have a love/hate relationship with lotion. I hate slathering it on. Hate it. But I like the way it smells. So i buy it and then never use it. The other bottle is just too greasy for me. I have a bottle I use and that’s the way it should be. Go to a home that will enjoy rubbing you onto their skin. With or without the threat of a hose.

So, yeah. Here we are in the beginning of the second month of the year and I’m already up to getting rid of 156 items. Woooo!

Now I will spend the rest of the day washing all of the stuff I’m giving away and packing it up. And NOT going shopping. because, really? Who wants to do that? Not me, that’s who.

Seriously, someone needs to kidnap me and make me shop…

Lost Time

So! One would think I would have a whole lot to say to catch back up. One would be a little bit wrong.

I didn’t get to workout last Tuesday as last week at work was NUTS and I only got to work out with Tyler on Thursday. But we did this stuff:

TRX rows						10	10	10
Weight stick shoulders up & over						20	20	20
Med ball squat toss down turf						15xLOT	15xLOT	15xLOT
Med ball hold overhead down turf						15LOT	15LOT	15LOT
Crunch						15	15	15
Crunch feet up						15	15	15
Leg lifts						15	15	15
Toe touches						15	15	15
Leg extensions						25×15	25×15	25×15
Gorilla squats						10	10	10

The first time I was doing the medicine ball squat and toss down the turf I wasn’t doing it totally right. Then I did them totally well. Then he made me add in burpees on the last set and everything went to shit.

The last set of the medicine ball hold overhead was me actually lifting it up and down over my head as I walked down the turf.

Then I did so many crunches. SO MANY CRUNCHES!

I have no idea what a gorilla squat is. None. Unless it was those squats I did to stretch out my hamstrings, which I assume it is since I did that between each set of leg extensions.

Then my Dad came to town and we spend Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the Phoenix Waste Management Open, the PGA event. It was so fun. Saturday I wore my FitBit and inbetween all of the walking we did there and the walk I gave Gladys I walked 7.5 miles that day! Go me!

Yesterday I had cold symptoms and a sore throat so Tyler told me to keep my cooties to myself. So there is no more update for this here blog.

Today I am home from work getting some rest. I think I really just needed some rest. It’s as important to your health as all of the exercise and eating right. So, here I am. Getting rest. Go me.