Renewing a Commitment

I'd love to be one of those people who absolutely love to exercise. I wish my solution to a bad day was to hit them gym, that would make staying healthy so much easier.

Unfortunately, I am not one of those people. I've tired several times to get onto the exercise bandwagon, but it never seems to stick. Back in late winter/early spring, I again made a go of it, I went consistently for about four or five weeks, and then stopped. It seems so much easier to break a habit than to start one.

I wanted to get back into going, but needed motivation. My health insurance offers a $100 credit twice a year for consistent attendance at a gym or fitness center, and the second period started July 1, so marked that as a starting point.

However, July 1 fell in the middle of a massive heat wave. Yes, my fitness center has ac, but we're talking about extreme, suck the life out of you heat. I deeply admire anyone who finds motivation to do anything besides hide in their air conditioned house during this weather.

It's a little tough to see, but on my calendar widget for
my phone, the gym is scheduled.

Monday, then, I laced up my shoes and went back. I scheduled it in my calendar, and forced myself to go (I seem to better at going when it is in my calendar). I've made it three times this week, with another scheduled trip for this weekend. Maybe this time it will stick.

In hopes of sustaining motivation, I also decided to address one of the bigger excuses I used before for skipping the gym, my iPod. I have a iPod touch, which I used at the gym to listen to podcasts and audiobooks while at the gym (I found this to be more motivation than music). But I've had my iPod for awhile now, and it doesn't take long for the battery to drain. I could leave it sit for a couple hours and there would be no power. Instead I found an app on my android phone that does the same thing. In addition to eliminating an excuse, it also is one less thing that I have to carry to the gym; a win-win (don't worry though, between car and home use, the iPod is still seeing plenty of use).

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Massive Writer's Block

It’s been awhile on here, but to be completely honest, I’ve suffered from a bit of a writer’s block. And by a bit of a writer’s block, I clearly mean one that could encompass the state of Texas in its shadow. Lots has been going on, but nothing to write about. There have been several times that I’ve set down, determined to write a post, only to discover that there was nothing going on in my head but a tumbleweed blowing around, putting words on paper (or in my case, on a laptop screen) seemed to be an impossible task.
But, I figured, the only way to move past this was to sit down and actually write something, anything. Actually get words onto the paper (or screen). So here I am, staring at the screen, waiting for words to come to me, and I’ve got nothing. Zip, zilch, nada. So we’re just going to go with some general life updates and hope that the writing muse comes back to me.

Life at the bank is still going pretty good. I’ve now passed the 90 days of work mark, which means not only to I now get PTO, but I also am able to sign money orders and sell prepaid gift cards. Now there’s a reason to get out of bed in the morning. As time passes, I’m feeling more and more at home with my co-workers. It just takes a while for me to warm up to new people. And every day I feel more and more like maybe I might know what I’m doing (which is usually followed by a moment where I do something so unbelievably stupid that I feel like a complete and total moron). Overall, I’m feeling much more comfortable, and it seems much less likely that I’ll search too terribly hard for a teaching job come fall. I’m content to have a job to fill somewhere between 30 and 40 hours per week, supply Husband and I with decent benefits, and leave me with free time to do things I like to do (you know, like write blog entries).

Most of my free time lately has been absorbed by my latest toy, Husband finally gave in and let me get an iPad. Since its arrival at the house, I’ve spent lots and lots of time getting it set up, learning how to use it, and finding apps to make my life easier (or just apps that do cool stuff). I have found some apps that quickly became indispensable in my life, but that’s most likely a whole separate post (yay, stuff to write about!).

I’m also planning out a garden for this spring. The spot Husband and I have picked out for it was rather low lying, so I think we’re going to put a little extra effort into it and build a raised garden. After my excellent experiences with canning last fall, I’m excited to grow my own stuff to can for next fall. Especially the ingredients for salsa, that turned out super yummy! I’ll also be either digging in or building a flower bed for some lilies in front of our fence, but that should be easy enough to do. I also took a little time to read the Hunger Games trilogy. Despite no longer being a teacher, I haven’t lost my fascination with literature geared toward young adults, just my primary excuse to read it (however, one of the beautiful things about a Kindle, or other e-reader, is that no one has any idea what you’re reading).

Despite being enamored with the iPad, I have, of course made at least a little time for knitting. I have discovered that I’m deeply unhappy with the current socks I’m working on. I intend to frog them, but somehow just haven’t gotten around to it. I’m waiting for inspiration to strike on what socks I’m going to make next, so for the moment, they are just sitting on the needles, waiting. I finally finished the Sheetcote pullover and cast on for the February Lady sweater, which was a personal victory, because I bought the yarn for it a long time ago and it’s been on my Ravelry queue for even longer than that. I’m extremely pleased with how the Sheepcote pullover ended up, and somewhere between pleased and annoyed that it turned out I could have made it at least one size smaller.
Speaking of one size smaller, my new year’s quest to become healthier was going great, but I’ve hit a bit of a stumbling block as of late. I had been consistently making it to the gym, at least three times a week, and doing yoga at home on a less consistent basis. I managed to drop almost 20 pounds and about 2 inches, but then hit a wall. I wasn’t feeling the greatest for a couple of days, compounded with an increased number of evenings where I’m scheduled at work until later, and my gym attendance dropped. I’ve made a promise to myself to get back into the habit of going, however. I’ve just got to grit my teeth and get through it on the days I don’t feel like going and adjust to going later in the evening on days when I work later. I’ve just got to renew my commitment to a healthier lifestyle and stick to it.

That’s pretty much the highlights of what’s going on now. Let’s hope I also get over this writer’s block and back into the habit of regular posts.