working out for Disney

[Songbird76]

Happy New Year!

Today was my first workout of 2023. It was an upper body circuit workout.

We got back pretty easily from Washington the other day. We left early because our room had no hot water. We didn't have hot water when we went to shower the day before. My husband told them and they told him there were two work orders before the maintenance man could get to our room. We waited as long as could, but we had to shower because we had timed tickets to the National Air and Space Museum. Wow, did that suck and when I realized nobody fixed the issue when I went to shower on Thursday. We had other issues with the hotel and room, but I don't want to dwell on it. The unfixed shower was the final straw.

We had a great meal and good time at the Air and Space Museum. I took some photos.

747 nose
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Neil Armstrong's suit for the Lunar walk.
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Command Module from that mission.
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Command module from a Gemini mission (I forget which one.)
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Very cool!! I would love to see that! We tried to go to the Air and Space Museum when we went to DC, but it was too late in the day and they didn't have any more slots or something? We didn't even know that was a thing....we just assumed we could go in as long as the museum was open. I'd love to go back and see more of the things we missed.

I'm sorry about your hotel. Did they do anything to compensate you? I think hotels tend to be kind of shady with their dealings. When we lived in the US, there was a cold snap and I really wanted access to a hottub, so we called a holiday inn about an hour and a half from us and asked if their hottub was working, they said yes, we booked a room and got there only to discover that it was NOT working. They had lied to me on the phone to get us to reserve a room. I was so angry. We had already paid and checked in before finding out that the hottub was not in service and they refused to do anything for us for the inconvenience. We had booked there solely for the hottub. But something like a shower, that's something that they should either move you to a different room that HAS hot water, or if it is hotel-wide, they should find other accommodations for you or give you a refund! It's so unacceptable to make people pay for ammenities/services you aren't providing!

 

[Songbird76]

Good morning. A little late, but wanted to wish everyone...

It hasn't been a great time for working out for me. Having that one cheat day on Christmas sent me into a bit of a funk. I allowed a similar cheat for New Year's, which still has me feeling off. While I'm sure briefly going off my dietary changes is a big part of it, we experienced a couple of losses over the last week that are really weighing on my mind. One was a close family friend and the other was a girl around Sam's age that was in our softball circles.

While non-traditional, I did get in a bit of a workout yesterday. I spent a couple of hours starting to dismantle the outside holiday display. I still have to bring in all of the inflatables, but I took down and stored about 50 strings of lights, two light up wire frame animals, two framed wreaths, two battery lit garlands, six plastic candy canes, and six power stations. Take down usually feels like more of an arm and back workout vs. the squatting in setup. We've had too much rain over the last day to mess with the inflatables, so I'm thinking of making today a gym day. Santa didn't bring me the new sneakers I'd asked for, but I found them on sale for $60 off, so I'm hoping to try them out in the gym.

I'm so sorry to hear about your losses. How is Sam handling the loss of the girl in the softball sphere? Did she know the girl well?

 

[HouCuseChickie]

You used mom and extra sleep in the same sentence

A girl can dream while wide awake and anxious!

 

[Figgy1]

A girl can dream while wide awake and anxious!

Tell me about it. It's winter break and I was thinking I may get some extra sleep. All I get is extra cooking
and just when he decided he wants to help cook my dishwashes dies.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I am sorry to read about your losses. This holiday season was a bit subdued for me, too, since this was the first Christmas without my grandmother.

Wow, you pack a lot of activity into 30 minutes! Hopefully, as K becomes more comfortable with the drive to school, she'll settle into a routine and you can sleep in a bit.

I'm sorry this Christmas was tough. It's never easy when you lose someone close.

I'm trying. If we can't make it to the gym, I need to do something. For K, we practiced a couple of times over the break, but repetition will build comfort.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Tell me about it. It's winter break and I was thinking I may get some extra sleep. All I get is extra cooking
and just when he decided he wants to help cook my dishwashes dies.

Oh no! I hope you can get it fixed or replaced soon...and without any massive costs or frustrations. It's a major life disruption when one of these kinds of machines fails.

 

[Figgy1]

Oh no! I hope you can get it fixed or replaced soon...and without any massive costs or frustrations. It's a major life disruption when one of these kinds of machines fails.

Thnx! It could be fixed but it was 15 years old and would take at last 125 and 3 hours to do so if nothing else was found as dh would do a deep dive into the electronics, motor..............................
The new one will be here early next week, we got it on sale plus dh gets a discount, free delivery so all things considered I'm not too upset.
The new one is quieter and more efficient according to the specs so yea for that
I'm knocking wood my NY mani is holding up so far

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I'm so sorry to hear about your losses. How is Sam handling the loss of the girl in the softball sphere? Did she know the girl well?

She didn't know her well, so that certainly helps. Still, there was a lot of buzz in her circles around her passing and some mutual friends who knew her really well. My husband got to speak to the mom of Sam's former bestie the other night and her kid is absolutely shattered. So, it's just a lot of heaviness around these kids. I think this is the first time Sam has lost anyone in her age group that she knew at any level, so I wanted to get the kids talking just to get out their concerns and know that they can come to us. We had a bit of a replay of this with K yesterday. A kid in one of her classes took his life over the break. A lot of her classmates and the teacher were extremely emotional, but K wasn't and felt a bit guilty. Her only interactions with this kid were being required to debate him a couple of times and unrelated name calling. She said he called her an alien and was usually pretty unkind to her. I had several suicide talks with the kids after the passing of the softball girl, so I changed course a little and focused more on K's feelings. She did try to console her teacher, who felt bad that she was unable to identify anything in his class writing that could have been a red flag. Just so much for these kids.

 

[kamnasrivastava]

Have a wonderful trip!

Figgy you have inspired me... going to run around to be back in an hour...

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Good morning!

Yesterday was another day where we wanted to go to the gym, but it just didn't happen. David took a really long work call right at the end of his workday and it was after 6pm by the time he was able to come up for air. I had done some dumbbell reps earlier in the day, but decided to just put in another 30 minute workout upstairs. Last night's focused more on kettlebells, the squat machine and aerobic work. I even pulled out the step bench for a portion of it. I'm super sweaty and out of breath after these sessions, but I don't enjoy it. It's going to be another 3-6 weeks before the replacement pedal for my bike is back in stock, so I need to get motivated for the drive to the gym. David can't go tonight or tomorrow since he's having a colonoscopy tomorrow morning, so it's on me to go after work on my own. I have a mammogram at the end of my work day today, so I think I'm going to hit the gym right after that. I at least got the day off to a positive start with a 3/4 mile walk with the dog. Not much, but it's a little something extra.

 

[Songbird76]

She didn't know her well, so that certainly helps. Still, there was a lot of buzz in her circles around her passing and some mutual friends who knew her really well. My husband got to speak to the mom of Sam's former bestie the other night and her kid is absolutely shattered. So, it's just a lot of heaviness around these kids. I think this is the first time Sam has lost anyone in her age group that she knew at any level, so I wanted to get the kids talking just to get out their concerns and know that they can come to us. We had a bit of a replay of this with K yesterday. A kid in one of her classes took his life over the break. A lot of her classmates and the teacher were extremely emotional, but K wasn't and felt a bit guilty. Her only interactions with this kid were being required to debate him a couple of times and unrelated name calling. She said he called her an alien and was usually pretty unkind to her. I had several suicide talks with the kids after the passing of the softball girl, so I changed course a little and focused more on K's feelings. She did try to console her teacher, who felt bad that she was unable to identify anything in his class writing that could have been a red flag. Just so much for these kids.

That's so hard. When I was a sophomore in high school, there was a boy in my class who had taken his parents' pickup out without permission and was rushing home before they noticed it was gone. He ended up rolling it and he was thrown out and died. His mom was the first one on the scene....that must have been terrible for her. Anyway, in our tiny town, of course we all knew him pretty well, but he wasn't a popular kid by any stretch...kids made fun of him, picked on him....then he passed and everyone was all tears. It felt so fake. Everyone around me was bawling and I just couldn't cry...I mean, it was sad of course, but we weren't friends. I felt that same guilt that K feels....like, I SHOULD be crying because I knew him, but I just wasn't close to him at all. I don't even remember if I went to his funeral or not. But the way some of the kids who were so mean to him were acting, you'd think they had been his best friends, and I was just thinking "Yesterday, you couldn't stand the kid and you made his life miserable, and now to day you're acting like he was your brother or something." Then that made me feel even MORE guilty, because if people who were mean to him could feel that grief, why couldn't -I-? A lot of my classmates were complete jerks, but somehow they were showing more emotion at this kid's death than I could. No, he and I weren't friends, but at least I wasn't nasty to him like most of my classmates were....I just didn't get how they could be so much more emotional over a kid they hated.

Tell K it's ok not to feel emotional over someone she wasn't close to. And if he was unkind to her, it's completely understandable that she wouldn't be grieving. I'm sure she feels bad for his family and close friends...empathy doesn't mean you have to grieve someone you didn't know. Now that I look back on it, I think most of my classmates were probably emotional because they felt bad about how horribly they treated him. Crying made them somehow feel better about it like it lessened the impact their bullying had on him. And it probably had more to do with the sudden realization that it could have happened to anyone of them....they were more sad about the idea that it could have been them than they were about him. I didn't have that guilt of treating him poorly, so for me, I just felt really bad for his family. Emotions are just hard at that age. I hope K doesn't feel guilty for long.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

That's so hard. When I was a sophomore in high school, there was a boy in my class who had taken his parents' pickup out without permission and was rushing home before they noticed it was gone. He ended up rolling it and he was thrown out and died. His mom was the first one on the scene....that must have been terrible for her. Anyway, in our tiny town, of course we all knew him pretty well, but he wasn't a popular kid by any stretch...kids made fun of him, picked on him....then he passed and everyone was all tears. It felt so fake. Everyone around me was bawling and I just couldn't cry...I mean, it was sad of course, but we weren't friends. I felt that same guilt that K feels....like, I SHOULD be crying because I knew him, but I just wasn't close to him at all. I don't even remember if I went to his funeral or not. But the way some of the kids who were so mean to him were acting, you'd think they had been his best friends, and I was just thinking "Yesterday, you couldn't stand the kid and you made his life miserable, and now to day you're acting like he was your brother or something." Then that made me feel even MORE guilty, because if people who were mean to him could feel that grief, why couldn't -I-? A lot of my classmates were complete jerks, but somehow they were showing more emotion at this kid's death than I could. No, he and I weren't friends, but at least I wasn't nasty to him like most of my classmates were....I just didn't get how they could be so much more emotional over a kid they hated.

Tell K it's ok not to feel emotional over someone she wasn't close to. And if he was unkind to her, it's completely understandable that she wouldn't be grieving. I'm sure she feels bad for his family and close friends...empathy doesn't mean you have to grieve someone you didn't know. Now that I look back on it, I think most of my classmates were probably emotional because they felt bad about how horribly they treated him. Crying made them somehow feel better about it like it lessened the impact their bullying had on him. And it probably had more to do with the sudden realization that it could have happened to anyone of them....they were more sad about the idea that it could have been them than they were about him. I didn't have that guilt of treating him poorly, so for me, I just felt really bad for his family. Emotions are just hard at that age. I hope K doesn't feel guilty for long.

That reminds me a lot of K's situation. I told her it was perfectly fine for her to not be emotional over his passing. I think she's good. Most of what I've heard from her today is just excitement over her courses for next year and frustrations with people's poor driving. She texted earlier to inform me that she was ready to explode because some kids were joking about running stop signs. She's not wrong, but it just helps her grasp why I worry about her driving.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Hello!

Yesterday was a strange workout day. I got in that early morning walk with the dog, did a few things with dumbbells in my office when I started feeling sluggish, and spent about 30 minutes dismantling all of the inflatables from the yard. I ended up getting in A LOT of walking before my mammogram. This new scanning center I'm going to is tied to the local hospital. In hindsight, I should have driven to the separate entrances around the side or back, but I went in the front. Nothing is well labeled and there's no directory like pretty much every other medical building has, so I went up to 2 since this is suite 240. On 2, I found the ICU. I went to the center of the building looking for a help desk or some kind of logical directions, but there was nothing. I received bad directions from several people who noticed I looked lost, but eventually had someone lead me to the other end of the earth to get to this place. After my scans were done, I wanted to go to the gym, but the highway to get there was a parking lot. The back roads didn't look much better, so I went home to wait it out for a little bit. When I got back out, it said it would only be a 21 minute drive, but something happened right at the exit. That 21 minute drive took 45 minutes! Once I did finally get there, it took four loops around the parking lot to find a parking space. The inside was even worse. I spent 15 minutes on a bike before going in search of lifting machines. Pretty much everything was occupied or had lines. I eventually got on the lat pull, the chest press, the leg curl, and the leg press...which I also use for calf presses. After 10 minutes of trying to get on other weight machines, I gave up. I saw a couple of free treadmills where I was hoping to finish things off, but they were taken right as I was approaching. So, I gave up and went home.

No gym or really anything today...although I might do stuff in my office tonight. I thought about an early walk with the dog, but David had a colonoscopy today and I didn't want to risk being late. It also kept me out of the home gym for little workday stuff. After work, I need to buy a bin for storing some stuff, so nothing right after work either. We have an early morning for softball tomorrow, so not really up for the gym. We shall see.

 

[Songbird76]

That reminds me a lot of K's situation. I told her it was perfectly fine for her to not be emotional over his passing. I think she's good. Most of what I've heard from her today is just excitement over her courses for next year and frustrations with people's poor driving. She texted earlier to inform me that she was ready to explode because some kids were joking about running stop signs. She's not wrong, but it just helps her grasp why I worry about her driving.

Oh, so funny, running stop signs and putting lives in danger! Ha ha!!! I can see why that would frustrate her. E has only had one driving lesson so far....she wasn't eligible until the end of November, and then of course December is super busy and most people take time off, so no lessons. But she actually enjoyed it much more than she thought she would. She was really dreading it and she didn't want to get her license. I told her she'd be fine, because she'd have the GOOD instructor the whole time, not switch over from a bad one, so she'd have no bad habits to fix. Plus, she's starting out with stick rather than auto, so she won't have to learn a different style or anything, but she was still dreading it. But she actually enjoyed it. My second instructor is amazing and he really put her at ease and joked with her and whatnot, so it wasn't so scary. But I could see her getting frustrated with other drivers....I do!

I'm glad K's feeling better about the kid's death. It might sound cold-hearted to someone outside who doesn't know the situation. I guess my high school classmate's son got in trouble in junior high because they were talking about empathy or something and he said he wouldn't be upset if he heard someone's dog died or something? He said he'd feel bad for the person of course, but it's not something that would make him cry, because he didn't know the dog, didn't have any connection to it. His teacher thought that made him a sociopath because he lacked empathy. I was like....um, that's not how empathy works. Why would he cry over a dog he's never even seen?

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Oh, so funny, running stop signs and putting lives in danger! Ha ha!!! I can see why that would frustrate her. E has only had one driving lesson so far....she wasn't eligible until the end of November, and then of course December is super busy and most people take time off, so no lessons. But she actually enjoyed it much more than she thought she would. She was really dreading it and she didn't want to get her license. I told her she'd be fine, because she'd have the GOOD instructor the whole time, not switch over from a bad one, so she'd have no bad habits to fix. Plus, she's starting out with stick rather than auto, so she won't have to learn a different style or anything, but she was still dreading it. But she actually enjoyed it. My second instructor is amazing and he really put her at ease and joked with her and whatnot, so it wasn't so scary. But I could see her getting frustrated with other drivers....I do!

I'm glad K's feeling better about the kid's death. It might sound cold-hearted to someone outside who doesn't know the situation. I guess my high school classmate's son got in trouble in junior high because they were talking about empathy or something and he said he wouldn't be upset if he heard someone's dog died or something? He said he'd feel bad for the person of course, but it's not something that would make him cry, because he didn't know the dog, didn't have any connection to it. His teacher thought that made him a sociopath because he lacked empathy. I was like....um, that's not how empathy works. Why would he cry over a dog he's never even seen?

I'm not sure if "uptight" is the best way to describe K, but she's very letter of the law. I'm sure some of her disgust over these two girls is that they are super popular and get away with a lot. The rest is just that these girls are idiots. Apparently, they run stop signs because they think they're unnecessary and don't get why we have them in the first place. I'm glad driving has been going well for E. Having a good instructor makes a huge difference. I had no desire to drive, I had a really impatient and nasty instructor, and I sometimes had to drive my dad's vehicle at the time...which was a big Bronco that was tough to maneuver. K wanted to drive, so it didn't matter that she didn't love her instructors. Not having to unlearn anything is also probably helpful for E.

Yeah, they really don't understand empathy. I see friends posting regularly about pets passing and while it's sad and I feel for them, it doesn't bring me to tears. Hopefully, the kids at K's school that were impacted by the passing took advantage of the extra counseling that was available to them last week.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Good morning!

I didn't make it to the gym on Friday, but K and I did hike around an unfamiliar Walmart and lugged around a 50 gallon storage bin. Saturday's softball practice was 100 miles away, so I was pretty worn out upon arrival. There was a path, but it turned out to be tied to the golf course, and I just wasn't in the mood to be dodging golf balls and carts. I decided to take a nap in the truck. We did hit the gym for nearly 90 minutes yesterday. I started out walking a little over 30 minutes on the treadmill, did some arms and abs work that I wasn't able to get to the other day, and then a quick 5 min cooldown on the treadmill.

I'm not really sure what's on tap for today. So far I've been pretty good about getting in a few minutes of physical activity each hour, but not sure about later on. I'm not ruling out the gym, but I have grocery pick up right after work, Sam has batting tonight, and I'd like to see the football national championship game. Kickoff is around 6:30CT, so maybe I can just watch the first half at the gym, drive home during half time, and watch the rest at home. We'll see.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Good morning. No gym yesterday, but threw in several rounds of cardio boxing drills that's about 20-25 minutes. No kicks with these, but a lot of moderate squatting, five different punches, and obliques work with all of them. I also added in three sets of traditional squats, three sets of demi plies, three sets of grand plies, a little bit of cardio marching, 20x calf raises with two different types of arm movements for back and chest, a singular set of butterfly arm/shoulder raises with the 5lb dumbbells, and a set with the 8lb dumbbells (15x triceps press, 12x standing row, 10x shoulder press).

I'm also playing around with meals. Before all of the holiday eating, I was having a lighter lunch and a heavier dinner. I'm trying to go back to that this week, but I'm trying heavier lunch and lighter dinner. For dinner, I made sort of smoothie/juice with kale, carrot juice (added ginseng and turmeric), cup of coconut Greek yogurt, pineapple, blueberries, and about a half a tablespoon of raw honey. I like kale a lot, but I'm not sure how I feel about it in these sorts of drinks. On one hand, it added a really fresh taste that was borderline minty when combined with the other flavors. On the other, I got it shredded down to the size of dried parsley flakes, which happened to tickle my throat...to the point of choking. The consistency looked right. Maybe it was too fresh for this use? Maybe I need to soak it or let it sit out for a few hours and wilt? I'm going to skip the kale for tonight's smoothie and try either beets or broccoli...maybe both.

 

[Songbird76]

I'm not sure if "uptight" is the best way to describe K, but she's very letter of the law. I'm sure some of her disgust over these two girls is that they are super popular and get away with a lot. The rest is just that these girls are idiots. Apparently, they run stop signs because they think they're unnecessary and don't get why we have them in the first place. I'm glad driving has been going well for E. Having a good instructor makes a huge difference. I had no desire to drive, I had a really impatient and nasty instructor, and I sometimes had to drive my dad's vehicle at the time...which was a big Bronco that was tough to maneuver. K wanted to drive, so it didn't matter that she didn't love her instructors. Not having to unlearn anything is also probably helpful for E.

Yeah, they really don't understand empathy. I see friends posting regularly about pets passing and while it's sad and I feel for them, it doesn't bring me to tears. Hopefully, the kids at K's school that were impacted by the passing took advantage of the extra counseling that was available to them last week.

To be fair, that's teenagers for you. Their brains aren't fully developed and they aren't good at predicting consequences. I would hope someday they will "get" why stop signs are kind of important. I hope they don't have to learn it the hard way.

Yeah a good instructor makes a HUGE difference. I learned from my brother mostly, out on my dad's ranch where there was no traffic. And of course I grew up in a town with no stop lights and where it was rush hour if there were three other cars on the road. For me, driving here is like city driving for anyone else. It's really scary. E won't have that. I think she'll be fine. Like K, she is a rule follower.

I remember our school bringing in grief counselors when kids died, but most kids only went in as an excuse to miss class. There may have been a few who actually needed it, but not nearly as many as the ones who took advantage of the situation to skip. But it's better that they have it for those few who need it, even if some abuse it.

 

[Songbird76]

I'm going for a walk with E later. A is having oral surgery in half an hour, so DH took him to the hospital and I took the rest of the week of of work in case we need the car to take him back in. I haven't been getting exercise at work for the last several months anyway. I'm applying for new jobs. The woman who started the company I work for right now sold off most of it a few years in... She's a millionaire now. Anyway, she remained a shareholder until they sold the company to an existing company a little over a year ago. Way back when she sold off most of it, she started a new business. That one is expanding now and they are out growing their current space, so they are investing in a second location and the new one will be here in the town where I live. They will use the new location for office space, a warehouse, and a store. It was just in the paper last week. So I sent her a message on Facebook to ask if she has any openings and she said she would, and told me how to apply. I can't imagine why she wouldn't hire me. She knows me, I've worked for her before. I also translated her website for her vacation homes in Curaçao into English for her outside of work. So it's a pretty secure prospect. And I'd maybe have the opportunity to work in the store part of the time. I could work more hours than I do now, and I could work during the day so my sleep schedule would be normal again. I wouldn't need the car to get there, so I'd get more exercise by riding my bike there and I'd be in the shopping district, so I wouldn't have to go out of my way if I needed to get something like I do now. It would be soooo much better. I really dislike my job now and I dread going. This would be like going back to the job I liked!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I'm going for a walk with E later. A is having oral surgery in half an hour, so DH took him to the hospital and I took the rest of the week of of work in case we need the car to take him back in. I haven't been getting exercise at work for the last several months anyway. I'm applying for new jobs. The woman who started the company I work for right now sold off most of it a few years in... She's a millionaire now. Anyway, she remained a shareholder until they sold the company to an existing company a little over a year ago. Way back when she sold off most of it, she started a new business. That one is expanding now and they are out growing their current space, so they are investing in a second location and the new one will be here in the town where I live. They will use the new location for office space, a warehouse, and a store. It was just in the paper last week. So I sent her a message on Facebook to ask if she has any openings and she said she would, and told me how to apply. I can't imagine why she wouldn't hire me. She knows me, I've worked for her before. I also translated her website for her vacation homes in Curaçao into English for her outside of work. So it's a pretty secure prospect. And I'd maybe have the opportunity to work in the store part of the time. I could work more hours than I do now, and I could work during the day so my sleep schedule would be normal again. I wouldn't need the car to get there, so I'd get more exercise by riding my bike there and I'd be in the shopping district, so I wouldn't have to go out of my way if I needed to get something like I do now. It would be soooo much better. I really dislike my job now and I dread going. This would be like going back to the job I liked!

Good luck with the new job hunt.