working out for Disney

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

I've been mixing it up this week, I started out doing yoga, then kettle bells. the hiit and today I did a lower body workout.

I got the covid and flu shot Saturday. My pharmacy switched to Moderna last year and wow. It is much more intense than Pfizer, but I felt better more quickly. Pfizer used to take me out of commission for 2 days, this was one. My arm finally stopped hurting yesterday. I don't think I have ever sweated so much from a vaccine. So gross.

I am trying to get ready to visit my MIL, but I am not feeling it. I am just very anxious. I feel like the national temp went up several degrees this week and I am dreading whatever happens next. But we're taking my MIL to Dublin as a belated 80th b-day present. We're going to an afternoon tea on a double decker bus that doubles as a tour around Dublin. I've seen one of these busses in Washington DC and I was kind of curious. So, now I get to see what they are like.

 

[Songbird76]

Thank you! What's crazy...I look at those pics and they feel like they happened just yesterday, yet they were nearly 2 months ago and me right now is about 25 pounds lighter than those pics. Sam is a junior (11th grade) this year. It's all going so fast!

Oh wow....that's a lot of weight to have lost in 2 months!! I hope it makes you feel better, both physically and emotionally.

I was thinking she was a junior, but I wasn't positive. So she's got a while to go yet, but the end is in sight.

 

[Songbird76]

I think I remember you talking about this woman. Wasn't there something with changing the color of the cladding on your house and she wanted you to change it to match everyone else's, but you didn't to change it? Is that her?

I've been mostly lucky with neighbors, loud parties on weeknights here and there. But over all, ok. I don't want to jinx myself, I've had no issues with neighbors since I moved to NJ.

Yep that's her, but my husband overruled me because it saved 2000 euros to match everyone else's. Basically, there's a housing corporation that owns almost our whole neighborhood. They had a deal for a while that we got in on. We had signed up on a waiting list for this corporation...there's a SERIOUS housing shortage in the netherlands, and people can wait decades for a home. This waiting list works on a lottery basis rather than a first come first served basis. So while we had been on a different list for 3 years, we were still coming in almost dead last on the list for every house. We were never going to get a house with that organization. So my husband saw this one and signed us up and this house gave the option of renting or buying at a lower cost than the house was worth, with the stipulation that when we decided to sell the house, we have to offer it back to the organization first. They can refuse to buy it back, but we have to give them the option. Only a few houses are privately owned in this neighborhood, and the organization does renovations and improvements and usually they offer the people who bought their homes the opportunity to opt in on it at a reduced cost....we get a group rate, basically. But because we OWN it, we can also decide which parts we want to do like everyone else and which things we don't. So like, we got to choose our own door, where everyone else had to take what the organization chose. So everyone's houses look exactly the same in our entire neighborhood, except for the people who own their own. We COULD do a different color, but they gave you a discount for keeping the same color as everyone else. But before they made that offer, we were planning on getting a different color because the colors they picked are UGLY. They look like lego houses or something...it's too yellow. It's supposed to look like natural wood, but it really doesn't. But this neighbor kept pressuring me to make it match because otherwise it would be an eyesore. She also has strong opinions about people's yards and how everyone should have to keep their yards a certain way because all these yards with weeds or overgrown grass look terrible....she would LOVE an HOA as long as she was in charge of it. She wants to tell everyone what to do with their homes, with their yards, and she can't drive or have a job, so she's got nothing to do all day but look at people's homes and judge them and then gossip to the rest of the neighborhood about it. She just had a baby in January, so hopefully that keeps her more occupied and hopefully she'll learn a little bit of why not everyone has the time to keep their yards to her exacting standards, because some of us have actual responsibilities, like jobs and families and we don't have unlimited time to spend pulling weeds, nor do we have money to hire someone to come redesign and maintain the yard. But yes, that's her.

 

[Songbird76]

Hello-

I've been mixing it up this week, I started out doing yoga, then kettle bells. the hiit and today I did a lower body workout.

I got the covid and flu shot Saturday. My pharmacy switched to Moderna last year and wow. It is much more intense than Pfizer, but I felt better more quickly. Pfizer used to take me out of commission for 2 days, this was one. My arm finally stopped hurting yesterday. I don't think I have ever sweated so much from a vaccine. So gross.

I am trying to get ready to visit my MIL, but I am not feeling it. I am just very anxious. I feel like the national temp went up several degrees this week and I am dreading whatever happens next. But we're taking my MIL to Dublin as a belated 80th b-day present. We're going to an afternoon tea on a double decker bus that doubles as a tour around Dublin. I've seen one of these busses in Washington DC and I was kind of curious. So, now I get to see what they are like.

Sorry about the effects of Moderna. I only ever got Pfizer, and I had a low grade fever and headache, plus the arm ache, but it really wasn't too bad.

I hear you about the anxiousness. I'm glad to be over here right now, but I wish we could at least plan a vacation there, and it's really not safe to do that. About the Dublin buses....if you are prone to motion sickness, DO NOT sit at the very front on the upstairs part. Or maybe we just had a bad driver, but everything felt magnified and we couldn't wait to get off that darn bus!

 

[Sans Souci]

Yep that's her, but my husband overruled me because it saved 2000 euros to match everyone else's. Basically, there's a housing corporation that owns almost our whole neighborhood. They had a deal for a while that we got in on. We had signed up on a waiting list for this corporation...there's a SERIOUS housing shortage in the netherlands, and people can wait decades for a home. This waiting list works on a lottery basis rather than a first come first served basis. So while we had been on a different list for 3 years, we were still coming in almost dead last on the list for every house. We were never going to get a house with that organization. So my husband saw this one and signed us up and this house gave the option of renting or buying at a lower cost than the house was worth, with the stipulation that when we decided to sell the house, we have to offer it back to the organization first. They can refuse to buy it back, but we have to give them the option. Only a few houses are privately owned in this neighborhood, and the organization does renovations and improvements and usually they offer the people who bought their homes the opportunity to opt in on it at a reduced cost....we get a group rate, basically. But because we OWN it, we can also decide which parts we want to do like everyone else and which things we don't. So like, we got to choose our own door, where everyone else had to take what the organization chose. So everyone's houses look exactly the same in our entire neighborhood, except for the people who own their own. We COULD do a different color, but they gave you a discount for keeping the same color as everyone else. But before they made that offer, we were planning on getting a different color because the colors they picked are UGLY. They look like lego houses or something...it's too yellow. It's supposed to look like natural wood, but it really doesn't. But this neighbor kept pressuring me to make it match because otherwise it would be an eyesore. She also has strong opinions about people's yards and how everyone should have to keep their yards a certain way because all these yards with weeds or overgrown grass look terrible....she would LOVE an HOA as long as she was in charge of it. She wants to tell everyone what to do with their homes, with their yards, and she can't drive or have a job, so she's got nothing to do all day but look at people's homes and judge them and then gossip to the rest of the neighborhood about it. She just had a baby in January, so hopefully that keeps her more occupied and hopefully she'll learn a little bit of why not everyone has the time to keep their yards to her exacting standards, because some of us have actual responsibilities, like jobs and families and we don't have unlimited time to spend pulling weeds, nor do we have money to hire someone to come redesign and maintain the yard. But yes, that's her.

Hopefully the baby takes her focus off of everyone else's business. If someone kept coming to my house all the time to complain about picayune nonsense, I think I would drop a subtle hint about getting a restraining order. You have a right to not be harassed by a controlling busy-body.

 

[Sans Souci]

Sorry about the effects of Moderna. I only ever got Pfizer, and I had a low grade fever and headache, plus the arm ache, but it really wasn't too bad.

I hear you about the anxiousness. I'm glad to be over here right now, but I wish we could at least plan a vacation there, and it's really not safe to do that. About the Dublin buses....if you are prone to motion sickness, DO NOT sit at the very front on the upstairs part. Or maybe we just had a bad driver, but everything felt magnified and we couldn't wait to get off that darn bus!

Yeah, my husband is driving me nuts. He keeps warning me about what I post online and we were out walking yesterday, I was talking about the gubernatorial primary we had earlier this year and I was talking about one candidate who raised a ton of money and came in dead last. I didn't even mention this person's name. We were walking past a house where a guy was teaching his young son how to hit a baseball. He told me to stop talking. I was like, WHAT? So I did stop talking-- for the rest of the walk. He explained he didn't want me getting into trouble or the guy confronting me. Confront away, because I am done biting my tongue. I said, "You can tell which one of us was born and raised here and which one of us a naturalized US citizen." Sooo--things are icy in my house right now.

 

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

Yesterday I did a low impact HIIT workout followed by 10 min of core work. I really dislike core workouts, but I know it needs to be done.

Look, I am going to be honest here. I am mentally struggling right now. On top of this three ring circus, the amount of day light is becoming shorter each day and I can feel this mentally. I feel like I am on a roller coaster I never wanted to board and it never stops at the station to let the passengers off--and I don't like roller coasters.

 

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

I am checking in with an upper body strength training w/o and I went out for a nice, little stroll.

I am re-making meal I made last week called "Marry Me Gnocchi". It has sun dried tomatoes in it and I was cooking them in oil and I had chopped, fresh thyme on a paper towel to add it. I, of course, accidentally flipped the fresh thyme off of the paper towel. So, I went to look for the dried thyme. It took a while to find it because my son cooks a lot, too. I should have turned off the heat, but the sun dried tomatoes burned and I did not have enough to start over. So I made it anyway, but texted my husband to bring something home for himself It didn't taste too bad, but the tomatoes were gross (carbonized). I usually don't burn things. So, tonight is the second attempt. lol

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Happy Monday! I weighed in over the weekend and was down another 2 pounds. It was a nice pick me up since the jeans I ordered aren't the same as the ones I lost. They're the same brand and size, and I'm pretty sure they're the same model but they are definitely not cut the same as my last pair. They certainly won't be fitting me any time soon...maybe ever. It's crazy because I have another pair of jeans of the same brand (different model) that are a size smaller that are larger than this new pair. This is why women hate shopping for jeans!

Speaking of shopping, I am supposed to go to OU in a couple of weeks for family weekend. It's just going to be me since Sam has a tournament and no college camps/visits scheduled. I can't tell if it's just because she wants me to fit in or if there is some embarrassment but K wants to style me like a proper southern sorority girl. That means dressing up for tailgating and football. I was hoping a flowy short floral dress in OU colors and white sneakers would cut it but she strongly suggested cowboy boots and was even leaning towards this one dressy jumpsuit I mentioned. I also need outfits for several other events...according to her. We shall see.

 

[Sans Souci]

Happy Monday! I weighed in over the weekend and was down another 2 pounds. It was a nice pick me up since the jeans I ordered aren't the same as the ones I lost. They're the same brand and size, and I'm pretty sure they're the same model but they are definitely not cut the same as my last pair. They certainly won't be fitting me any time soon...maybe ever. It's crazy because I have another pair of jeans of the same brand (different model) that are a size smaller that are larger than this new pair. This is why women hate shopping for jeans!

Speaking of shopping, I am supposed to go to OU in a couple of weeks for family weekend. It's just going to be me since Sam has a tournament and no college camps/visits scheduled. I can't tell if it's just because she wants me to fit in or if there is some embarrassment but K wants to style me like a proper southern sorority girl. That means dressing up for tailgating and football. I was hoping a flowy short floral dress in OU colors and white sneakers would cut it but she strongly suggested cowboy boots and was even leaning towards this one dressy jumpsuit I mentioned. I also need outfits for several other events...according to her. We shall see.

I think these jean brands go around to different manufacturers for contract work and while they still carry lines of jeans (or clothes), you have different die cut machines, different fabric, different workers/processes, etc. It is frustrating not to have uniformity within brand styles.

The family weekend sounds fun. I wouldn't know what a proper, southern sorority girl should dress, let an alone a regular, ol' sorority girl. It sounds really cute though. I'm sure you're both looking forward to some mom and daughter time.

 

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

Checking in with a lower body strength training workout. I previewed and I thought I might not like it, but I did. The reps were very slow, forcing me to slow down and I felt a lot more muscle recruitment. I even had to decrease my weights. As much as I like faster paced workouts, I think they can be riskier for injury and probably not the best for building muscle. I do like them though! lol

I remade the "Marry Me Gnocchi" last night and it was sooooo much better. A weird thing I noticed is I used 2 different brands of sun dried tomatoes. I used up the ones from last week and opened a new jar to get the amount required for the recipe. The ones I used from last week started to burn very quickly, while the others didn't. I think they were thinner than the new sun-dried tomatoes. So from now on, unless it's going in a salad or in a dish after it's been cooked, I won't use the thinner tomatoes. But it was good, nonetheless and my husband didn't have to go to the drive thru for dinner.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I think these jean brands go around to different manufacturers for contract work and while they still carry lines of jeans (or clothes), you have different die cut machines, different fabric, different workers/processes, etc. It is frustrating not to have uniformity within brand styles.

The family weekend sounds fun. I wouldn't know what a proper, southern sorority girl should dress, let an alone a regular, ol' sorority girl. It sounds really cute though. I'm sure you're both looking forward to some mom and daughter time.

It's just so frustrating. This is why I prefer stretchy athletic wear and flowy dresses. This is also why I've tried to hold onto whatever jeans I have fit into over the years (well, not the college years...when I was extremely skinny). Maybe I'll get lucky and my lost pair will turn up.

I decided to put my foot down and buy things that seemed appropriate that I'd also wear again. So, no cowboy boots! I also ditched the idea of the jumpsuit since the way I'd wear it doesn't exactly scream football weekend. I bought a flowy red and white floral dress and a pair of white and black Adidas, since white sneakers can go with just about any outfit and I could wear this dress to work or even softball (team colors). I'm going to go to whatever little event at the house, I will tailgate, and we can bar hop later if she isn't already embarrassed by me. I'm already looking at the other moms in the parent group on Facebook and using superficial tactics to see who might be my parent buddy for some of these events.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Hello-

Checking in with a lower body strength training workout. I previewed and I thought I might not like it, but I did. The reps were very slow, forcing me to slow down and I felt a lot more muscle recruitment. I even had to decrease my weights. As much as I like faster paced workouts, I think they can be riskier for injury and probably not the best for building muscle. I do like them though! lol

I remade the "Marry Me Gnocchi" last night and it was sooooo much better. A weird thing I noticed is I used 2 different brands of sun dried tomatoes. I used up the ones from last week and opened a new jar to get the amount required for the recipe. The ones I used from last week started to burn very quickly, while the others didn't. I think they were thinner than the new sun-dried tomatoes. So from now on, unless it's going in a salad or in a dish after it's been cooked, I won't use the thinner tomatoes. But it was good, nonetheless and my husband didn't have to go to the drive thru for dinner.

I’ve made something similar but I use oven roasted cherry/grape tomatoes. Sun-dried would be good too.