Ridiculous I tell ya!

​I sometimes think my life is straight out of some looney toon cartoon!  Expect the unexpected is what I need to start saying in relation to my life!   This last week has been exactly that!   Rashes, car breakdowns, rain,  x crazy dog, etc.   ok, the dog is a puppy…so she is supposed to be crazy!  But otherwise, life has been nuts!

Rainy Weather 

So let’s start with the weather.    It was overcast and rainy for about a week and a half.  When the sun would shine long enough to actually mow, I would be working!   We even had hail three times…that I know about! (Picture of hail on the front deck below)  So the grass was growing like crazy!    

Yes, I know.  Rain and fast growing grass is be expected in April and May!  Thankfully, this weekend we had some sunny weather and we were able to get out and mow.   The grass was so long that we had to go much slower.  So what can usually be done in a combined 7 hours took about 9.  Fun fun!   But hey, push mowing is good exercise right?

Around the house we also got a few things planted.  My father in law put up some shelves that had formerly been in their garage.  And he started to build me a counter to fit into the great abyss.  My washer and dryer sit at a right angle to each other …not side by side.   That leaves a corner of space that I can’t access or use in the Landry room.  It is annoying because it’s not only dead space, but I have dropped stuff back there and have to contort…or move a machine to extract it!  So I had a grand idea of putting up a table/counter back there.    It’s in the works!   It is half built at the moment..:but it’s on the way!   I also got a plan in my head for a rocky hill that sits along the road.  Right now it is all weedy and overgrown (and an eyesore).  I have a plan in my head for how to turn the eyesore into something that at least looks like we care…if not is pretty!

Car Breakdowns

It’s the old car…the one that Jason typically uses to commute to work.  Last year , the car was giving us a warning light..and then up and died on the side of a highway.  The alternator went out.   The mechanic that we went to had the car for like two months and well…we will NEVER go back there due to some other issues.  But hey, the car was running.  Or was it.  We actually didn’t drive that car much in the next 6-7 months as Jason was injured….(you can read about the axe accident here).    He went back to work in late February.  And by mid April he mentioned that the light was flickering again….intermittently.   We took it to our new mechanic…and they ran all sorts of tests.  Drove it.   Checked the alternator.  You name it.  Everything was good.  The mechanic was like, we can put in a new alternator if you want.   But the mechanic went on to say, ‘honestly, if it were my car I would run that one until it goes out…then put the new one in.   So that is what we did.   This morning the alternator went out while Jason was on his way to work. …like he is quite literally waiting for the tow truck as I write this.

Car problems …yuck!!!

Poison

Last fall we had been working on cleaning the brush piles and all the overgrowth by our shed.  It was going smashingly (until the aforementioned axe accident).   Except….I picked up poison!  That was in lots of places on my body.   Like really? How?   I would be in misery for about three weeks and have a week or so reprieve and then boom…I would contract it again.   For about three months.  Then it was gone….no more poison…and blew side mi the of peaceful skin!   Until two weeks ago…back in the same area.  I was so careful!  Long  pants.  Long sleeves.  Gloves.  I was cognizant of where I touched my body …keeping my hands away from my face, etc.  and I scrubbed down with strong soap afterward.    Three days later it began.   And it spread.  And spread.   I seriously have poison just about Al everywhere!   I kid you not!  I think my feet are the only thing not affected!   I seriously have poison underneath my bra!   How????   I’m counting the days until this bout is history!

Jason luckily, is immune.   So I have made my vow that I will not be helping to finish clear that area.  He is on his own!   We try not to use poison since we have animals, but we have caved because we need this poison gone!    

 Fun fun!

Points Challenge

I started my points challenge on May 1.   You can read about the points challenge plan here.   It is going well.  I am adding up my points.  I know that there is room for improvement.  But it has also opened ky eyes to a few ‘problem areas’.  For example.  The first day I only earned 2 points for fruits and veggies!   That’s horrible.  So I have been really making an effort to rebuild the habit of lots of fresh fruits and veggies!  

So it’s working to help me bring awareness to what I’m doing on a variety of different levels!

Weigh In

So I restarted and got more focused on my health at the beginning of may.  I started my challenge.  I have been wracking up points.  How am I doing?

I have  no real clue.  I have hopped onto the scales once or twice.  However, I haven’t really paid attention to the numbers or what is happening.  Why?  I’m fighting a mammoth case of poison.  I am full of potions and lotions.   Medicine messes up and skews the numbers on the scale.  So I am just staying the course…the weight will drop and when this poison is behind me and my body can go back to normal, then I will find my weight!  Until then, carry on business as usual!

Emotions

I am battling some serious emotions and feelings.   This last  year had been wave after wave of depressive feelings.  It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions.  It’s been extremely difficult.  I feel like I’m pulling out of it and then I get kicked in the teeth again.   (Or at least it feels that way). I know that my emotional state affects my weight loss efforts.  And the reduced weight loss just plays into those emotions exacerbating some of the stuff that I am already feeling.  It’s just difficult!   I’m fighting it though.  I’m fighting the urge to just let myself sink into a depression. I’m gonna make it.

So that is the update on my crazy life.  I’m fighting for my mental health and my physical health!   I’m determined to win!

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

It’s Friday and I decided to do a mishmash of things that are happening and that is on my mind. We are going to go from injuries, to weight loss, to my new car to...well who knows what!   I haven’t written this post yet and who knows where my mind will go!  So here we go.

Exercise

 I managed to run twice this week thus far.  I do plan on going out for a run today, which is Friday. My goal when I started to work from home was to run three times a week!   I only worked four days this week so three sounds like a good deal to me!  It has been rough.  Let me tell you!    I am sooo slow.   I could probably walk faster, or at least just as fast!   But I managed to shave a bit of time off my  mile pace on my second day of being out!

We have also continued our after work walks together.  It is a good time for us.  We get a to walk and we get some time together without the household ‘chores’ and life responsibilities such as making dinner and doing laundry encroaching!    

Food

I am still tracking.  Today made a complete week of tracking.   My food hasn’t been perfectly in line with where I want it to be, but it’s been tracked and I haven’t been too far off my goal.  In fact, if my body lost weight like a normal person, I would still be on track to lose 1 to 1.5 pounds a week just by the numbers.  However, my body doesn’t seem to lose unless I am eating down around 1200 calories...so the 1600 that I ate a few days was too much.   And yes, the scales are reflecting that with a maintain.   But that’s ok....baby steps.  I’m getting back into the groove!

Car

So I bought a new car early last winter   I have been mostly happy with the car until summer hit.

As the weather began to get warmer I turned the air conditioning on...expecting to have the same results that my 16 year old Honda has...which is that within minutes of turning the AC on, I am about frozen out of the car.    This car was not the same.  On a 73° day we felt like it was almost cooler outside the car.   Surely that couldn’t be right.   I have been at home so we really only really get to test it on the weekends since I don’t drive much during the week.  But each week we tested it...short trips...long trips....this setting...that setting.  Last week was mid to upper 80’s and the car was....tepid.  It wasn’t boiling hot....but it was not cold and I don’t even know if I would call it cool.  It was comfortable, on the warm side of comfortable.   So I finally called a Honda dealership to have it looked at.  So what did they find?  ‘It’s a miracle!’  They said the car’s air works perfectly and is blowing air that is 34°. What?    I drove the car home and I didn’t notice it being ‘cold’ even though it was set at the lowest temp....but in fairness it was only two miles.  We will take the car out this weekend to give it a good test.  Grrrr. How annoying!    This car hasn’t even made it to 8k miles yet!    I’m just more annoyed.  I’m obviously under warranty...and the problem has been noted and logged with a Honda dealership at this point.   Even though they kinda made me feel like I was insane when they kept saying ‘there is nothing wrong with this car.’   Hey, maybe I’m just going through menopause and have only experienced hot flashes while in this car and no where else!   Oh no, that can’t be because Jason has been hot in the car also.  In lieu of feeling crazy,  I have decided that if it doesn’t work, that I will be using my GoPro and a thermometer.  I will start the car and the GoPro...take the temp...take a drive and record the boring scene for 30 minutes...and show that the car internal doesn’t get anywhere near where it is supposed to!  Get it on video...why not.  I have the gear and it can’t hurt since they told me the car works perfectly and they did nothing, yet I sweat when I drive any distance in my car while the air is as low as it will go (58°) with the fan on high! (Even long trips). I’m hoping that there was a miracle and the A/C is working perfectly...but I have my doubts at the moment.   Stay tuned!

Aches and Pains

I ache!  It’s no fun!!! My left thigh just aches!   Seriously, just sitting it aches.  The muscle or whatever spasms and I hurt.  Running hurts...walking hurts.  Climbing the two flights to our apartment works.  What’s up with that?    My right arm..that pain from last year...the one that kinda disappeared with yoga is back. Yeah, I need to restart yoga don’t I?  (Which I did restart right before my bike accident and then that caused me to stop doing that for a bit!).   My plantar fasciitis is kicking a bit this week.  I felt it on Monday while we were hiking...and it hasn’t abated at all this week.  Just joy. (Note the sarcasm).   The bike accident injuries are mostly gone.  The ribs do twinge with pain every once in a while as does my arm that was covered in road rash.  

I’m pushing forward though.  I am hoping that exercise will strengthen muscles....stretch tendons...do whatever to make me feel better!

Weekend plans

As the weekend is upon us we look forward to our time together.   We are hoping to get away next weekend for a bit...but this weekend is grocery week (we go every other week) and probably a bike ride or two.  

Life is continuing on.  I have been just plodding along and just taking it one day at a time.  I’m still working on my weight loss journey but trying to enjoy life to the fullest.