Filed under: Daily
The morning news weatherman actually “yuks” when he laughs.
How have I not heard that before today?
I really need to leave the television off in the morning.
Filed under: Daily
The morning news weatherman actually “yuks” when he laughs.
How have I not heard that before today?
I really need to leave the television off in the morning.
Filed under: Daily
The morning news weatherman actually “yuks” when he laughs.
How have I not heard that before today?
I really need to leave the television off in the morning.
Filed under: Daily
I just watched a short morning news story about heart surgery. The story was accompanied by video of heart surgery. Usually stuff like that doesn’t make me squeamish. It didn’t today, either, but I thought “Wow – it would suck to have a weak stomach and see blood and tissue (moving, oozing tissue) this early in the morning.”
During the next commercial break there was an ad for cream cheese. I hate cream cheese. I mean, I HATE cream cheese. As I watched the cream cheese loving angel in the commercial spread the vile cream cheese on a bagel I actually got that *feeling* in the pit of my stomach. I had to divert my attention away from the tv in order not to yak up the precious coffee I’d just swallowed.
I’m guessing that’s not the effect the ad people are going for.
Filed under: Body
So the first week of Better Fitness has passed. I’ve lifted weights and done some cardio. I’m not hating it yet. Actually I’m sort of enjoying it. I’ve never gone to a real gym before, and there are enough people there to watch to keep my mind off the fact that I am, in fact, sweating.
Last week was my first time ever on a StairMaster. I’m a fairly intelligent person, and I’m not so fitness-equipment illiterate that someone has to hold my hand through my workout, but it took me 10 minutes to figure out the deal: I could see the entire workout intensity displayed by bars on the screen, just like the bikes and treadmills I’ve used. So I started out on the warm-up level of one bar. I stayed on the one-bar level for a few minutes. I could see that the next level had 4 bars – higher intensity (and in my head, higher resistance, because isn’t that what always happens? The resistance gets harder so you have to push harder?) so I mentally prepared myself to put a little more weight behind my step. The next level started…I stepped harder…and dropped so quickly to the floor that my chin bounced off the display screen.
WTF??? The higher the bar the lower the resistance? What clown came up with THAT idea? It screws with my head.
One night a few years ago I woke up in the middle of the night. I very rarely have sleeping problems, so I didn’t really know what to do with my wide-awake self at 2:20 am. So I just plumped the pillows, rearranged the blankets and waited to fall back asleep. Before falling back asleep I realized that I was surrounded by complete silence. Complete. No cars passing, no floor creaks, no airplains overhead. Complete silence. I listened harder – there had to be SOME sound – but at the same time I slowed my breathing and prayed that I wouldn’t cough or shift the blankets. I didn’t want to break the silence. It sounds silly, but that was one of those teeny tiny moments in my life that stuck with me. The silence was unexpectedly BIG, and I was in awe of it.
Last week I woke up to find the VIM’s arm hooked across my midsection and his face buried in my neck. I layed (laid? lie? argh!) there for a minute or two trying to find that perfect silence again. It wasn’t going to happen. Every few seconds there was a soft breath from the VIM, then the furnace kicked on. Too much going on. What I DID find, however, was a perfect feeling of contentment. I wasn’t thinking about how tired I was going to be in the morning, I wasn’t thinking about things we said the night before. I was just perfectly happy to be exactly where I was at that moment. Again, the feeling was so much bigger than I expected it to be that I was in awe.
If I had to chose between a handful of extravagant, enviable, high-profile, once-in-a-lifetime moments or a lifetime of quiet (almost silent) moments to make my own, I’ll take the latter every time.
Filed under: General
You know what they say – People who live in New York City never do the touristy things like go to the Statue of Liberty because it’ll always be there…they’ll do it someday…there’s always something more urgent to do…
I don’t live in New York City. I don’t live in ANY city. Or even near a city. I live smack dab in the middle of rural USA. There are no fast food restaurants in my town, but there is a drive-thru feed store where you can pull up and a happy worker will fill your pickup bed with 50 lb bags of oats or sunflower seeds or dog food or any other dry food you may need to have in bulk quantities, though.
Anyhow – even though I don’t live in NYC, I still have that same “I’ll do the touristy things later” mindset. There are so many amazing things about living here and I just don’t take advantage of nearly enough of them.
Although I’m a little late for New Years Resolutions, I’m going to resolve to do more than just have my address in my town. I resolve to LIVE here.
- At least once this year I’ll buy eggs at the farm where they gather and pack the eggs every morning and put them in a little refrigerator by the lane with a little box for payment (on the honor system) right beside it.
- I will buy more apples from the orchard store instead of the ones at the grocery store.
- I will buy my spring bulbs and summer shrubs at the Mennonite farm down the road instead of the giant warehouse hardware store.
- I will try to visit the local festivals – the apple butter boil, the fall foliage craft and bake sale, etc
I spent my teenage years just waiting to get out of here. I just KNEW I was a city girl stuck in a small town. But I’m not. I still hate to admit that, but it’s true. I’m a small town girl.
And I’m thankful for it.
I’ve been moaning and groaning for a month about needing to get back on fitness ball. I’ve talked about wanting to start lifting weights again to try to get rid of the granny flab on my upper arms. Unfortunately, I’ve also been wanting to curl up in my comforter and sleep until spring. In January, cozy warmth will trump almost everything else.
The VIM called me last night and told me that he signed us up for a membership at a local gym so we can lift weights together. Starting tonight. Half of me thinks he’s sweet. The other half can’t wait to bulk up so I can beat the living crap out of him. I take my comforter time very seriously.
