working out for Disney

[Sans Souci]

Good morning. It's been ages since I posted. Life has been pretty chaotic, but I'm posting here so I can try and inspire myself to work out later on today. There's still a ton going on, but I'm thinking it's calming enough that I can do something.

My ankle is still not well enough to wear shoes with a back, so no real walking. Walking around Disneyland for 3 days without good shoes was pretty miserable. I guess at least all of the blisters are gone. Things have healed enough that I think I should be able to manage the stationary bike. The injury is improving...it's just slow. So maybe biking and moving will help bring more circulation to the area to help speed things up.

Beyond that, let's see...
- Sam's summer travel season wrapped up a few weeks ago. I ended up doing a trip report for that one because we were at a Disneyland Good Neighbor, right on top of Disney property, and ended with three days at the parks. Kendall decided to stay home, which made for a bit of an empty feeling. Fall play for Sam won't start until October, but there will be scrimmages and collegiate camps before all that starts up. While most of her fall schedule with the team will keep her in state, we have one in FL, one in AZ, and we're keeping an eye on camps and camp invites...since a few she'd like are out of state.
- Our vehicle situation from the May storm still is ongoing. I got mine back before we drove to CA, but they installed the wrong windshield and didn't reconnect everything. So, my HUD didn't have all of its features, the mounting around my rearview mirror came apart, my antenna wasn't connected, and my rear vents also weren't connected properly. They replaced the windshield again about 2 weeks ago, reattached the antenna, and maybe did the rearview thing correctly (it's still rattling and may be slipping some), but the vents are still off. So, it's going back in today. David will be taking his truck back in later on this week so hopefully they can fix the CEL once and for all.
- As for hurricane damage, all of our debris is gone, but we still need to fix our fence. I just gathered recommendations, so maybe it'll get done this week. It would be really nice to get back to being able to let Voo outside without supervision. I know she runs around more without us out there. She's also recovering from an issue that landed us at the emergency vet the other night. It's an issue that plagues some dogs, but it's never been a problem for her before. The description of the issues gets auto censored by the forum tech, so no point in typing it, but I feel like she probably naturally expresses these glands when things are more normal with her outdoor situation.
- Kendall started college. Today is her first day of classes. Move in was last Tuesday. Sam was already in school and someone needed to be home for her, so it was just me moving her in. Her boyfriend was originally also going to come along to help, but they ended up breaking up 4 days before she left for school. Thankfully, everything fit into my vehicle and I managed to make it up and back in a day without any hotel stays. We left the Houston area just before 4am and I got home a little after midnight the next morning (after being in Norman for nearly 8 hours). I really didn't have to do much. After check in at one of the school's arenas, we pulled up to the dorm and crews of people swarmed the vehicle and loaded her stuff into huge boxes on industrial sized carts...labeling everything as it went in. The only thing they wouldn't take was her tv, which I brought to her later in the day via a shuttle bus. By the time she and I got back to the dorm (had to drive back to the arena and take a shuttle bus), all of her stuff was in her room...ready to be unpacked and set up. Rooms are small, so I left her and her roommates to figuring most of that out. The only real snafu came after move in. The next day, while she was out at a freshman camp, facilities came in and lofted her bed in error. She's so short that she couldn't get in. They were running behind, so she wound up sleeping on the floor. David and I called about it as well and escalated it when we found out that it was going to be a week or two before they could get to it.

So, that's the update...and hopefully I'll get to bike later. My nerves are shot, so I think I need it.

That's so sad about Kendall's and her bf breaking up just before she went away. It's cold comfort, but at least she will be distracted with becoming accustomed to college life and making loads of new friends--a fresh start. That move in sounds exhausting.

I hope you can use your stationary bike. You definitely sound like you need some stress relief. I don't know how you feel about yoga, or if you can even do it right now. (I am thinking downward facing-dog might not work with your injury, but I obviously don't know.) But that might help you.

 

[Sans Souci]

Good morning-

Checking in with a jump rope, kettlebell, discs and pull up bar workout. Phew. Mercifully, it went by quickly.

My husband is going to kill me, I was matched to make a lasagna for a family who lives in Camden. He goes with me to drop off lasagnas for safety reasons. If you are not matched, there is an option to sign up to make a lasagna for unmatched families and Camden requests are never filled. I have seen families roll over for months, while families who don't live in Camden wait a week or two to get matched. I once mentioned to my husband about picking up a Camden family for a lasagna, but he is adamant about not going to Camden. I mean, he rents an apartment in Jersey City, so maybe he should reconsider that stance. I think if we go in the day, we'll be fine. I was matched this morning and he's working, so I texted him to tell him. I haven't heard from him yet. One thing that worries me about this is if I do this without push back, the regional leader might see this as a willingness to go into Camden all the time and dump those requests on me. I don't mind going into Camden, but my husband is a hard sell. Would I go alone? No. Would I go at night? Certainly not. But I think going with someone in the day reduces the chance of anything dangerous happening.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

That's so sad about Kendall's and her bf breaking up just before she went away. It's cold comfort, but at least she will be distracted with becoming accustomed to college life and making loads of new friends--a fresh start. That move in sounds exhausting.

I hope you can use your stationary bike. You definitely sound like you need some stress relief. I don't know how you feel about yoga, or if you can even do it right now. (I am thinking downward facing-dog might not work with your injury, but I obviously don't know.) But that might help you.

This is going to sound awful, but I was hoping they would have broken things off or taken a break in early June. He left for Europe for 8 weeks and didn't get back until less than 2 weeks before she was leaving. He had serious honesty issues, which led to the breakup as well as an apology forced by his parents for lying about some stuff with me and David. There's more, but in the end, this allowed her to show up to college without anyone at home holding her back. In fact, I learned that she had contemplated withdrawing and staying locally to be near him. So, good riddance to him!

Sam wants me to start meditating. I'm just not sure there's enough meditating or yoga I can do to that would bring me peace. It all just keeps piling on. I was able to get into downward dog last night. I could feel a pinching sensation but it wasn't awful and didn't appear to disrupt anything.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

My husband is going to kill me, I was matched to make a lasagna for a family who lives in Camden. He goes with me to drop off lasagnas for safety reasons. If you are not matched, there is an option to sign up to make a lasagna for unmatched families and Camden requests are never filled. I have seen families roll over for months, while families who don't live in Camden wait a week or two to get matched. I once mentioned to my husband about picking up a Camden family for a lasagna, but he is adamant about not going to Camden. I mean, he rents an apartment in Jersey City, so maybe he should reconsider that stance. I think if we go in the day, we'll be fine. I was matched this morning and he's working, so I texted him to tell him. I haven't heard from him yet. One thing that worries me about this is if I do this without push back, the regional leader might see this as a willingness to go into Camden all the time and dump those requests on me. I don't mind going into Camden, but my husband is a hard sell. Would I go alone? No. Would I go at night? Certainly not. But I think going with someone in the day reduces the chance of anything dangerous happening.

Mind you, it has been a long time since I was an NJ resident, but Camden was on my list of places where I didn't go unless it was absolutely necessary. Granted, Jersey City was also on that no-go list (and much closer), but I've heard it's really improved. Still, if you go during the day with your husband, I would hope you'd be OK. Are you able to use Google Maps satellite images to see if it looks sketchy? My dad grew up in south NJ (Glendora, I believe) and had a job at Campbell's Soup in Camden for a while. So, I would hear stories. It's too bad you couldn't meet up with the Camden person in a different location. Fingers crossed it goes well!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Good morning! So, I stuck to my plan and biked last night. Our new phone plan included an Apple TV subscription, so I was able to watch a new (to me) show while I biked. I went 10 miles and kept my pace around 17-19 mph. I had to hunt down my 8lb weight set. I found one of them when I was cleaning up Kendall's room over the weekend (she was not happy about that) and the other was hiding in Sam's stuff. So, I did three sets of arm work along with some stretching. I also grabbed the 5lb weight set at the end and did 100 reps on the twisty thing for my abs. I'm also trying to change a few things with eating. Gotta start somewhere!

Life is in a "when it rains it pours" phase and I'm just doing what I can to not drown. We found out this morning that we need a new hot water heater and they can't replace it until Thursday. It's in the attic, which is apparently a mess of beams, so it's not going to be cheap. The only bright spot...it'll fit through the attic access...barely. My vehicle's venting issue from the collision center's faulty repairs was only supposed to take a few hours yesterday, but after no call by EOB and no call this morning, I called about 30 minutes ago and was told someone would call me later today with more info. David's truck will be going back in for the CEL issue on Thursday no matter what happens. The dog's emergency vet visit was bad enough, but I'm on day 3 and I'm really tired of the whole nursing her back to health process. She's a good patient but it's a lot of work and is disrupting my sleep. I was supposed to be looking into fencing repair, but with all this going on...I may just put up something temporary for the dog and wait until hurricane season ends. Just simple things like finding out that some of our smoke detectors need replacing and figuring out a good date for routine pest control is pushing me to the limit. I can't even think about rescheduling my appointment to go in for my checkup. It's too much! I know it could be worse...it could always be worse. Sorry for the venting, but I could do with a long break from pricey drama.

 

[Lilofan]

Good morning-

Checking in with a jump rope, kettlebell, discs and pull up bar workout. Phew. Mercifully, it went by quickly.

My husband is going to kill me, I was matched to make a lasagna for a family who lives in Camden. He goes with me to drop off lasagnas for safety reasons. If you are not matched, there is an option to sign up to make a lasagna for unmatched families and Camden requests are never filled. I have seen families roll over for months, while families who don't live in Camden wait a week or two to get matched. I once mentioned to my husband about picking up a Camden family for a lasagna, but he is adamant about not going to Camden. I mean, he rents an apartment in Jersey City, so maybe he should reconsider that stance. I think if we go in the day, we'll be fine. I was matched this morning and he's working, so I texted him to tell him. I haven't heard from him yet. One thing that worries me about this is if I do this without push back, the regional leader might see this as a willingness to go into Camden all the time and dump those requests on me. I don't mind going into Camden, but my husband is a hard sell. Would I go alone? No. Would I go at night? Certainly not. But I think going with someone in the day reduces the chance of anything dangerous happening.

Jersey City is night and day to what is is now. It is much improved. Back in the day some in my family lived at Newport Towers that had a clear view of the World Trade Center and many shopped in NJ Newport Mall that lived in NYC for clothes ( NJ does not tax on clothes ).

 

[Songbird76]

Blah! I am sorry you have covid. This was just my experience, but my last bout in June was more mild for me. I still felt bad, but I didn't have any fever this time. Hopefully, it's mild this time for you. I found staying super hydrated helped make me feel less bad. I hope you're on the mend very soon.

It has been more mild this time. I haven't used nasal spray and I've been doing pretty well without it. I finally had a decent night's sleep last night. I had to work yesterday because it's vacation and there was no one to cover if I called in sick. Without any restrictions or guidelines anymore, there's not much you can do. So I had to work, and my sleep score for Monday night was 23. I got 2 hours and 28 minutes of sleep that night according to my fitness tracker. But I got like 7.5 hours last night. I'm pretty sneezy today and I'm coughing more than I had been, but I usually don't cough a lot with covid, so even though it's more than yesterday, it's not too bad. I have to work again tomorrow and Friday, so hopefully I'll be feeling a bit better.

 

[Songbird76]

Good morning. It's been ages since I posted. Life has been pretty chaotic, but I'm posting here so I can try and inspire myself to work out later on today. There's still a ton going on, but I'm thinking it's calming enough that I can do something.

My ankle is still not well enough to wear shoes with a back, so no real walking. Walking around Disneyland for 3 days without good shoes was pretty miserable. I guess at least all of the blisters are gone. Things have healed enough that I think I should be able to manage the stationary bike. The injury is improving...it's just slow. So maybe biking and moving will help bring more circulation to the area to help speed things up.

Beyond that, let's see...
- Sam's summer travel season wrapped up a few weeks ago. I ended up doing a trip report for that one because we were at a Disneyland Good Neighbor, right on top of Disney property, and ended with three days at the parks. Kendall decided to stay home, which made for a bit of an empty feeling. Fall play for Sam won't start until October, but there will be scrimmages and collegiate camps before all that starts up. While most of her fall schedule with the team will keep her in state, we have one in FL, one in AZ, and we're keeping an eye on camps and camp invites...since a few she'd like are out of state.
- Our vehicle situation from the May storm still is ongoing. I got mine back before we drove to CA, but they installed the wrong windshield and didn't reconnect everything. So, my HUD didn't have all of its features, the mounting around my rearview mirror came apart, my antenna wasn't connected, and my rear vents also weren't connected properly. They replaced the windshield again about 2 weeks ago, reattached the antenna, and maybe did the rearview thing correctly (it's still rattling and may be slipping some), but the vents are still off. So, it's going back in today. David will be taking his truck back in later on this week so hopefully they can fix the CEL once and for all.
- As for hurricane damage, all of our debris is gone, but we still need to fix our fence. I just gathered recommendations, so maybe it'll get done this week. It would be really nice to get back to being able to let Voo outside without supervision. I know she runs around more without us out there. She's also recovering from an issue that landed us at the emergency vet the other night. It's an issue that plagues some dogs, but it's never been a problem for her before. The description of the issues gets auto censored by the forum tech, so no point in typing it, but I feel like she probably naturally expresses these glands when things are more normal with her outdoor situation.
- Kendall started college. Today is her first day of classes. Move in was last Tuesday. Sam was already in school and someone needed to be home for her, so it was just me moving her in. Her boyfriend was originally also going to come along to help, but they ended up breaking up 4 days before she left for school. Thankfully, everything fit into my vehicle and I managed to make it up and back in a day without any hotel stays. We left the Houston area just before 4am and I got home a little after midnight the next morning (after being in Norman for nearly 8 hours). I really didn't have to do much. After check in at one of the school's arenas, we pulled up to the dorm and crews of people swarmed the vehicle and loaded her stuff into huge boxes on industrial sized carts...labeling everything as it went in. The only thing they wouldn't take was her tv, which I brought to her later in the day via a shuttle bus. By the time she and I got back to the dorm (had to drive back to the arena and take a shuttle bus), all of her stuff was in her room...ready to be unpacked and set up. Rooms are small, so I left her and her roommates to figuring most of that out. The only real snafu came after move in. The next day, while she was out at a freshman camp, facilities came in and lofted her bed in error. She's so short that she couldn't get in. They were running behind, so she wound up sleeping on the floor. David and I called about it as well and escalated it when we found out that it was going to be a week or two before they could get to it.

So, that's the update...and hopefully I'll get to bike later. My nerves are shot, so I think I need it.

Wow, you've got a lot going on!! How did K fare on her own while you guys were away? I can't believe she chose not to go to Disneyland with you!!! I would have jumped at that!!

I'm sorry about the cars. I can't believe they have messed it up so much!

Glad she got moved in, but I'm sorry about the bed. Was it someone else's bed they were supposed to loft? What about her roommates' beds? Did they get lofted, too? I'm surprised the school does that for them. When I was in school, we had to buy a loft/bunk beds and set them up ourselves. We also had to move all of our stuff in by ourselves.

What year is Sam in this year? Is she looking at schools yet?

E is in Wageningen for Intro week at her Uni. She comes home tomorrow. I miss her so much and I can't wait until she's back. Sucks that I have covid though....I don't want to make her sick. She has another couple of weeks until she starts though, so that's good.

A has his orientation on the 29th, but he's only taking two subjects this year, and his school is here in town, so he can just ride his bike there and back. His orientation is only like a half day.

 

[Songbird76]

Good morning-

I slept in today. But I still did a workout. It was a 55 minute full body, strength training workout with some cardio sprinkled in.

My son's flight didn't get until after midnight, because there were storms here. They held the flight in Chicago. He was supposed to land at 8. But he got his first solo flight in. I did file a complaint with TSA about the TSA in PHL never responding to my son. I just got a canned response. Allegedly, my complaint will be forwarded to someone at PHL, but it's going to be deleted after it's read. I expect nothing to happen, because TSA is notoriously rubbish at PHL. The whole airport is like a giant, dirty Greyhound station. My next 2 flights are out of Newark. When Newark looks better by comparison, you know you've dropped the ball.

I had a good weekend. We went to a sports bar/crab house Friday night and ate on their patio. They had live music, too. It was great timing, because the rest of the weekend was on and off rain and t-storms.

Glad he made it safely!! That must be a huge relief for you! Did he say anything about the service in Chicago? How did he feel it went?

PHL TSA is awful! We went through there last summer on our Disney trip and they were so confusing, rude, and unhelpful. It was also set up so poorly!! They had one huge line set up and it was for all flights, but some went a lot earlier than others, so this poor girl right in front of us had an early flight, but the security hadn't even opened yet, and we're so far down the line, we were worried we wouldn't make it in time. They should have had some sort of way for people on earlier flights to go through first when they first opened. I hope that girl made it on time. The whole thing seemed unorganized and chaotic.

 

[Sans Souci]

This is going to sound awful, but I was hoping they would have broken things off or taken a break in early June. He left for Europe for 8 weeks and didn't get back until less than 2 weeks before she was leaving. He had serious honesty issues, which led to the breakup as well as an apology forced by his parents for lying about some stuff with me and David. There's more, but in the end, this allowed her to show up to college without anyone at home holding her back. In fact, I learned that she had contemplated withdrawing and staying locally to be near him. So, good riddance to him!

Sam wants me to start meditating. I'm just not sure there's enough meditating or yoga I can do to that would bring me peace. It all just keeps piling on. I was able to get into downward dog last night. I could feel a pinching sensation but it wasn't awful and didn't appear to disrupt anything.

That doesn't sound awful at all. That's good that she eventually opted to go where she wanted to go to school. Who knows how she would have felt if she'd stayed locally and they still broke up? Maybe the honestly issues are immaturity or maybe it's a character flaw, either way it does sound like this is a good thing in the end. What better time for a clean break than going away for school?

I think I am going to start meditating again. It takes a while for me to get the hang of because I am constantly having to prevent myself from thinking of other things. You're supposed to acknowledge the thought in your head, but not become engaged with it. I end up thinking stuff like, "I need to make a grocery list when I am done." Instead of stopping there, I start putting together a list in my head while I am supposed just be present in the present. I end up stopping a regular mediation practice because it becomes another thing to tick off my to-do list, and that's probably counter-productive. lol

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Wow, you've got a lot going on!! How did K fare on her own while you guys were away? I can't believe she chose not to go to Disneyland with you!!! I would have jumped at that!!

I'm sorry about the cars. I can't believe they have messed it up so much!

Glad she got moved in, but I'm sorry about the bed. Was it someone else's bed they were supposed to loft? What about her roommates' beds? Did they get lofted, too? I'm surprised the school does that for them. When I was in school, we had to buy a loft/bunk beds and set them up ourselves. We also had to move all of our stuff in by ourselves.

What year is Sam in this year? Is she looking at schools yet?

E is in Wageningen for Intro week at her Uni. She comes home tomorrow. I miss her so much and I can't wait until she's back. Sucks that I have covid though....I don't want to make her sick. She has another couple of weeks until she starts though, so that's good.

A has his orientation on the 29th, but he's only taking two subjects this year, and his school is here in town, so he can just ride his bike there and back. His orientation is only like a half day.

She was fine, but I had my worries. It rained nearly every day (which is unusual), they had numerous severe T-Storm warnings as well as several flash flood advisories. So, we had a whole system with me checking in with weather stuff. She now regrets not going, but she also wonders if she would have blamed the trip on the boyfriend breakup had she tagged along. I know she would have been miserable with the softball part.

It's just not fun. I'm hoping David remembers to call the dealership today about bringing his truck in tomorrow. I mentioned it before he left, but I know he's going to forget. For mine, it sounds like they lost a piece of tubing during the reassembly of my vehicle. Just like they misplaced my old windshield and lost my vehicle registration and toll decals. Hopefully this tube fixes it. They're waiting on it to come in, so I took my vehicle back until it does. I really don't enjoy driving the girls' truck, but still a blessing to have it.

So many kids these days want to loft that a lot of schools have invested in frames that can be set at different heights. Back when I was in school, there was a company that did a pretty brisk business of selling custom wooden lofts because our beds couldn't. One of K's roommates on the other side of the quad was supposed to get lofted. It wasn't at move in and they did K's instead of hers because the way the rooms are numbered is confusing. The other girl decided to keep her bed as is because it's no real space saver. If you loft, your desk goes underneath and your trio of dressers comes out, so it's not worth having to sleep that close to the ceiling. Kendall was just too short to get in and I had a bit of an emotional meltdown over her possibly having to sleep on the floor on her first bday away. I was happy to see that OU had move in help. It makes it easier on us and it streamlines the process. We had something like this at SU for my move ins. Looks like it's been a thing there since the 1940s. https://calendar.syracuse.edu/events/2024-apr-04/goon-squad-2024-registration-deadline/

Sam is a sophomore. She's been looking at colleges since 7th grade because it's different with sports recruitment. She has a list of 40 schools where she's actively emailing coaches, but it's all about exposure, and sometimes a school shows interest that wasn't on that list that actually could have potential. She's got a hair over a year until her D1 window opens. I could probably devote 20 paragraphs to this and still not fully describe what we're going through and have ahead of us.

I can feel your pain with missing her. K has been gone for a little over a week and just when I think I'm getting used to it, I realize I'm not there yet. Part of why I forced myself to clean her room and packing staging area was to remind myself she's not here. I leave her door open as another reminder. I was in my office the other day...Sam had K on speaker phone, and for a moment my brain thought she was out in the hall. I can also understand not wanting to get E sick. Hopefully all will be good when she gets back and you'll soon be back to yourself. At least she has some downtime until school actually starts. K is already on day 3 of classes...and she's fighting some kind of cold. Those buildings are notorious for gunk in the ventilation system.

At least A is close and shouldn't have a heavy load. Being able to transport himself is a plus. I'm hoping Sam gets her license in November so she can start doing the same with the truck.

 

[Sans Souci]

Mind you, it has been a long time since I was an NJ resident, but Camden was on my list of places where I didn't go unless it was absolutely necessary. Granted, Jersey City was also on that no-go list (and much closer), but I've heard it's really improved. Still, if you go during the day with your husband, I would hope you'd be OK. Are you able to use Google Maps satellite images to see if it looks sketchy? My dad grew up in south NJ (Glendora, I believe) and had a job at Campbell's Soup in Camden for a while. So, I would hear stories. It's too bad you couldn't meet up with the Camden person in a different location. Fingers crossed it goes well!

I did google her house and looked at the neighborhood via google maps. She is located on the outskirts of Camden and is very close to another suburb. The houses do not have bars on the windows; and the houses and yards are tidy and well-kept. But my husband did say ok. I bribed him with the promise of lasagna. Two years ago, someone he works with was in Wilmington, DE for work and she was instantly killed in her car by a stray bullet. Now he is even more cautious about being in sketchy areas. I would like to help more people in Camden, they wait months for a lasagna. But I don't want anything bad to happen to my husband or myself.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

That doesn't sound awful at all. That's good that she eventually opted to go where she wanted to go to school. Who knows how she would have felt if she'd stayed locally and they still broke up? Maybe the honestly issues are immaturity or maybe it's a character flaw, either way it does sound like this is a good thing in the end. What better time for a clean break than going away for school?

I think I am going to start meditating again. It takes a while for me to get the hang of because I am constantly having to prevent myself from thinking of other things. You're supposed to acknowledge the thought in your head, but not become engaged with it. I end up thinking stuff like, "I need to make a grocery list when I am done." Instead of stopping there, I start putting together a list in my head while I am supposed just be present in the present. I end up stopping a regular mediation practice because it becomes another thing to tick off my to-do list, and that's probably counter-productive. lol

She's really happy so far, so I think she's quickly seeing that it was for the best. As for his lies, it could be a bit of both. Earlier in the summer, he told K that his dad wanted him to break up with her...said he could do better and that with K being curvy, she's the kind of girl that could really balloon if she had kids. Now, he may have said it, but the ex-boyfriend also lied about having permission to drive K to college and made up this lie about how David and I refused to help K get to school and move in. So, it's possible he made up or exaggerated the dad thing as well. One of many lies.

I probably should meditate, but I'm also a bit superstitious. The last time we had a span of bad things like this, I bought some sage. I actually carried it around until recently. It all sort of disintegrated. It was just after the eclipse that this all started, but it's also around the time when I tossed the last of the white sage bits. Maybe I can do both...sage and meditation. I hear you though...is it really restorative if it's shifted into the to-do list?

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I did google her house and looked at the neighborhood via google maps. She is located on the outskirts of Camden and is very close to another suburb. The houses do not have bars on the windows; and the houses and yards are tidy and well-kept. But my husband did say ok. I bribed him with the promise of lasagna. Two years ago, someone he works with was in Wilmington, DE for work and she was instantly killed in her car by a stray bullet. Now he is even more cautious about being in sketchy areas. I would like to help more people in Camden, they wait months for a lasagna. But I don't want anything bad to happen to my husband or myself.

I think 2004 was the last time I was in Camden (just clicked). It occurred to me that my paternal grandparents are buried in Camden (although, I think some of it is also in Collingswood). I was trying to follow the hearse, so I wasn't paying a lot of attention to the area, but the cemetery was beautiful and I don't remember feeling like I was driving through a totally sketchy area. I do understand your husband's concerns. It crosses my mind in a lot of areas, but I can also see why you'd want to reach out to people in an area that often doesn't get much love.

 

[Sans Souci]

Jersey City is night and day to what is is now. It is much improved. Back in the day some in my family lived at Newport Towers that had a clear view of the World Trade Center and many shopped in NJ Newport Mall that lived in NYC for clothes ( NJ does not tax on clothes ).

I think there are some very nice areas in Jersey City, such as Newport and Paulus Hook/Essex Ave, but there are still sketchy parts. My husband's apartment is near the Liberty State Park light rail station and it's got a bit of an edge there. There are bars on windows on the houses and apartments and the police are ever-present. I used to walk to Liberty State Park and walk around there, I stopped because it becomes so desolate there once you get away from Statue of Liberty ferry terminal. I was walking around mid-summer and I'd often be alone or see very few other people and for some reason, I never had cell service there.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Happy Wednesday!

It was tough, but I got back on the bike last night. It was late and I wasn't really up for it between getting softball stuff in order, dealing with Voo, the hot water heater, my vehicle, and a few other headaches. Our smoke detectors started going haywire yesterday after the plumber finished looking at our hot water heater. Ugh...another day of cold water until he can replace it. So, after a bunch of early evening errands, I hit the gym. I only biked 8.75 miles. My lower legs kept cramping and the ankle discomfort was more pronounced. I did a little bit of legwork afterwords (whatever I could tolerate), a little more arm work with the weights, and the weighted work on the twist plate thingy. It's something.

We're supposed to be getting a Planet Fitness in town towards the end of this year. They're building in a spot that used to be occupied by a grocery store. Not that I want another bill, but having a cheap gym that's only 5-10 minutes away would be amazing. It's also a huge parking lot with good security. I would have used my previous membership more if it was more convenient and safer to go at later hours.

 

[Sans Souci]

Glad he made it safely!! That must be a huge relief for you! Did he say anything about the service in Chicago? How did he feel it went?

PHL TSA is awful! We went through there last summer on our Disney trip and they were so confusing, rude, and unhelpful. It was also set up so poorly!! They had one huge line set up and it was for all flights, but some went a lot earlier than others, so this poor girl right in front of us had an early flight, but the security hadn't even opened yet, and we're so far down the line, we were worried we wouldn't make it in time. They should have had some sort of way for people on earlier flights to go through first when they first opened. I hope that girl made it on time. The whole thing seemed unorganized and chaotic.

It's shambolic and loud. There is actually another TSA check point they never tell you about, but you have to go out into the parking garage and walk back in another entrance. It's always dead there. My husband had an issue with TSA on Friday. The agent was telling him to do something, but my husband said the agent wasn't very loud, so he asked him to speak up. The agent rolled his eyes and spoke loudly and condescendingly. I was once selected for an additional screening and I wanted to do it in private, because I asked them what it entailed. Part of it was lifting my shirt up to my bra, no, ma'am. They didn't want to take me somewhere private. I am glad I did. though, because it was lot more than that. I was patted down and touched in ways I found humiliating in private. I would have hated people seeing me getting screened like that in public

My son ended up going it alone at O'Hare. He said he called when he arrived and they told him to check in, then go to security and present himself to someone. He said he forgot, but the upside of it is he said he feels like he doesn't need that assistance going forward.

 

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

Ok, I started this yesterday, but the cat is in one of her needy moods where she wants to come in every few hours. I have to vacuum, sweep and mop every time she leaves, so I got side-tracked.

I decided to switch gears this morning and do an hour of yoga. I've started feeling beat up by my workouts and just needed a change.(yesterday) I did another hour of yoga today that was cardio-based. It was kind of rough, because he uses lots of sun salutations to get the heart rate up. I dread this practice when it shows up in the schedule. It does get the heart rate up, but it is very repetitive, even by yoga standards. There is a 15 min core workout you're supposed to do afterwards, but I was good. JMO, but I think there is a lot of core work in power yoga naturally.

I'm just chugging along, enjoying the milder, drier air on my walks. It's nice to return from a walk not looking and feeling like I've come out of the shower with my clothes on.

 

[Sans Souci]

It has been more mild this time. I haven't used nasal spray and I've been doing pretty well without it. I finally had a decent night's sleep last night. I had to work yesterday because it's vacation and there was no one to cover if I called in sick. Without any restrictions or guidelines anymore, there's not much you can do. So I had to work, and my sleep score for Monday night was 23. I got 2 hours and 28 minutes of sleep that night according to my fitness tracker. But I got like 7.5 hours last night. I'm pretty sneezy today and I'm coughing more than I had been, but I usually don't cough a lot with covid, so even though it's more than yesterday, it's not too bad. I have to work again tomorrow and Friday, so hopefully I'll be feeling a bit better.

I hope you're better and you've been getting through your work days. I get a dry cough with covid that comes in fits. I hate it because I can't stop and it's really hard to breathe when it happens. That's how I knew I had a rebound, because that cough came back again and it stopped once I started the Paxlovid.

 

[JPPT1974]

Well COVID is never going away. Despite the having much more flu shots and technology. Just need to still be cautious.