Pet Peeve

Treadmill walking/jogging is very boring. S calls it the Dreadmill and I can agree with that, but it sure beats going outside in crappy weather; it's wintertime so there's a bunch of crappy weather going on.
I have to exercise; I cannot function normally without it. However, I have pushed not exercising beyond the point of comfort - I didn't exercise at all for two months from about 2 weeks before The 123 opened until somewhere after the middle of November. Unless you count being on my feet for 18 hours at a time and not sleeping for a couple of days in a row exercise. [My body doesn't think that counts as exercise.] It got to the point that I had a hard time moving when I woke up in the morning - I must've looked about 75 years old hobbling around trying to get moving.
This post is not supposed to be about exercise, but while I'm talking about it I will say I've been very consistent for about 3 weeks and I can move better. Not good, yet, but better. I've been spending time on the treadmill everyday and the only way to make something so mundane bearable is to numb the brain a bit: The TV works well for this.
In the past few months, I've spent even less time watching TV than I have spent exercising. I do that fairly often - just not watch TV. A few years ago I think I must've went about 2 years without seeing anything on the television. Sometimes it makes me look like an idiot when the entire room is discussing a plot or a character from a show that I've never even heard of, but I'm sure that's not the only time I've ever looked like an idiot so I don't let it bother me very much. I remember that length of time because I was in a dentist's office for a check-up and they had the TV going in the waiting room with some afternoon talk show on and I was aghast at the content: the language, the violence -physical and verbal- and the content. This was mid-afternoon in a public place with school age children and the show was not appropriate. I mentioned it to a couple of people and they just laughed, shrugged and blew me off as prudish (or stupid) and naive. The things we can get used to...
Anytime I go a length of time without watching TV I am always re-shocked at some of the crap that is broadcast so nonchalantly. It's getting worse; I don't think this is my imagination.
This time it's the drug commercials.
I have a problem with drug commericials in general. They are very good at telling you that you need this drug because it will make you stop sniffling. They then go on to tell you (because legally they have to) that the side effects could include itchy or watery eyes, stomach cramps, internal bleeding, severe brain damage, and death. And yet, with all those hideous side effects, people go to their doctors and ask for that medication because they have an annoying sniffle. They must or the drug companies wouldn't spend the money on advertising.
I think that's stupid.
I've laughed about the drug commercials for years (since they began to allow them on TV -it was illegal for drug advertisements to be on TV at all up until, what, about 10-12 years ago?), but I'm also shocked by the number of generally healthy adults on a regular regimen of prescription drugs. I'm pretty sure that just about everyone is on something. (That's another scary subject....)
The particular drug commercials that have me shocked this go-round with the TV are the ones for ED: Erectile Dysfunction. I'm not sure I've seen any of these since Bob Dole told us he had that problem. That's been, what, 10 years ago? (Oh, hell, that means my initial guesstimate of 10-15 years for TV drug advertising is woefully short - it must be more like 15-20). Bob Dole was quiet and tactful compared to the ads now. Now they don't leave any room for misunderstanding: the commercials are blatant and outspoken with no room for misunderstanding. Apparently, the ED drug market is burgeoning and competitive.
I haven't seen these commercials with my kids in the room, but if they're watching TV when I'm not there, surely they're seeing them, too. What do they think?
I will have to ask them.

I went for a walk and remembered my camera.

I had some time last week when I was running errands in Marion County and I figured I'd try out a trail head I'd never been to before. I posted a few pictures here, but more are posted in this post -Daytripping on the Ralph Larue Trail, Marion County- over at the Taylor County Blog. You can find a rope swing, a trailhead/trail location information, sycamore, hemlock, Bumblebee flowers and other details over there.

The first trillium I've seen this year!

I didn't even know this railroad trestle had been converted to trail! Very cool.

Good Morning - Kettlebells and Sunrise

I've been swinging kettlebells for my regular workouts. I swing at home, so I save the time -and the gas- that it takes to get to the gym. It looks deceptively easy; I am soaked with sweat about 20 minutes into it. I like it so much I'm actually thinking about cancelling my gym membership for the summer - swing and run.

This morning I got up at 5 so I could be finished by the time I wake the kids at 6. The sky is just starting to lighten up now, but in about 45 minutes the front yard will look like this:

Or not. It's supposed to rain today and these pictures were taken right before the kids walked down to the bus -7am- on one of those perfect days last week (we've had several perfect days this past week-yay!). Today it's supposed to rain and the mist has climbed into the front yard.
The mist in the valley is beautiful. This is looking out across the front yard. Just beyond these trees, the hillside falls off the cliff. If my kids were younger it would bother me -like the little pond in the backyard. I'm still aware of it when they're out playing, but we've made two trails down into the deep cool of the rhododendron where dirt still clings to the rock face and softens the slope. You've got to slide down on your butt and pull yourself back up with the spindly roots that stick their knees up, but in the heat of summer it's worth it to go down there and hop from rock to rock. The kids aren't allowed to go down without asking -most of the time I go with them, but most of the time they don't ask. When it gets hot again, we'll probably start going down in there again. There's a high rock -though lower than the level of our yard and beneath the tree canopy- that would be perfect to set a porch swing (just without the porch).

This next view is the same, just wider. The spring leaves are just now starting to win. Barely.

Triathlon cancelled!

The Adventure Pursuit Triathlon has been cancelled!
Ack.
I went over there to look this morning because I hadn't heard anything recently and because I'm going for a run today. The cancellation was posted on March 3rd. There's no explanation, just a short blurb about a mountain bike ride.

Bruises, Book-Moving Spree, & Publications

I'll be the first to admit that sometimes I'm just a wee bit nuts.
Okay, sometimes more than a wee bit, but I'm not going to discuss that here (Oops, wait a minute; keep reading.)

Anyway, I know I cannot be the only one who does this:

I have a very dark, painful, BIG bruise on the inside of my leg right above my knee (no, I'm not taking a picture - it's as big around as an average orange), and I have no idea how it got there. I don't remember whacking it, but I am very aware of it everytime I cross my legs when I'm seated or when I'm lying down on either side and my knees are touching.

I have tried to figure it out, but no recollection.

I have been doing this my whole life, even when I was a kid. Come to think of it, my kids do it, too. I don't disbelieve them when they say, "I don't know" to a horrible looking bruise on their (usually) shins, even though it HAD to be painful when it happened.

For me, I think it must happen when I'm concentrating on something else. For this particular bruise, it must have been sometime during the recent book-moving spree, but I cannot remember when.

Book-moving spree:
Two doors down from The 123, there's a fellow who's vacating the 4th floor. He doesn't live there -never has- but he has been storing things there for years. For the past two weeks he has had a crew of men sorting through and moving everything. He offered all the old books to me (okay, he offered after I asked, because I am a bibliophile) and I couldn't turn them down. I didn't even look first, I just said, "I'll take them!"
Thankfully, the guys helped me move them down the stairs (Thank you!). All three LONG flights of stairs. They had a dolly cart and were able to haul 5-6 boxes each trip. I ran up and down the stairs and hauled one box each trip (I counted it as my workout for the day). We stacked them randomly just inside the door of The 123, which means we were in the way of construction. So, I had to move them UP the stairs (all 22 of them) to my office (without exaggerating, there are 30-40 boxes of books, so I counted hauling them up to my office as a workout, too.)
The past couple of days, I've been unpacking them from their boxes and stacking them randomly on the floor, just to get an idea of what's there.
A large percentage of the books (20-30%) were published before the turn of the century. The LAST century (publicaton dates between 1850-ish and 1899!). A smaller percentage are related to West Virginia, so I'm excited to go through those more closely. There are magazines (in wonderful shape) from the 1920s, 30s, & 40s. There's Girls Life and Cosmopolitan, among others. The oldest (in good shape) that I've found is a Cosmopolitan from 1894!

The one thing that has struck me as significant in the cursory inspection is how similiar the ads are to today's "Buy Me!" freak show. Even in the 30s magazines, there is no hint of the Depression; they intend to sell their products, Depression be damned. I guess I always had this idea that we are living in an increasingly materialistic society - and it was a relatively new state of being. If I can extend my idea of relative, I may be right, but from what I've seen of the 100 year old magazines, not much has changed in the world of materialism and advertising in that amount of time.
As I go through all these books and mags in detail, I'll share some of the more interesting things I find.

Publications:
My deadline last week was for the 100th Anniversary Celebration of Mother's Day article for the Wonderful West Virginia Magazine. This is the first time I was asked to write an article (normally, I write the article -or have an idea for an article- and approach the editor of the publication I would like to publish it in) and I did not hesitate before shouting, "Yes! Absolutely! No Problem! When do you need it?" If I hadn't been so excited, I probably would have tried to sound less desperate, but being asked, instead of having to ask, made a HUGE difference to my ego. Desperate or not, I wasn't turning it down (I also don't care if I was asked because I'm the only contributor who lives in or near Grafton - I am still happy).

For those of you who don't know, the observance of Mother's Day as we celebrate it today (and as it was signed into law in the United States) originated here in Grafton, Taylor County, WV. The International Mother's Day Shrine, on the National Register of Historic Places, is located on Main St. If you're looking for something to do with your mother, this is a great place to visit. Mother's Day would be a good time, but our small town will be packed. However, you don't have to wait on Mother's Day, you can plan to come at any time; take at look at the schedule of events for the year. I'm pretty excited about the (black-tie) Ball at the B&O Railroad Heritage Museum; it'll be like stepping back in time to the boom days of Grafton as a major railroad hub.

Anyway, this particular article will be coming out in May.

I have another one (actually, a two-part story) that's scheduled to come out in the March issue (continued in the April issue) of the Wonderful West Virginia magazine. It's about the...no, wait, I'm not telling you right now. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I'm getting kind of long-winded today, so I'll save it to share with you when I'm doing my usual wildly excited "I'm a published author!" publication dance (that my family laughs at me for). Maybe the novelty of publication will wear off and I'll quit dancing everytime something I write gets printed.
But I doubt it.

Jack Lalanne

I love Jack Lalanne.
In 2007 (he turned 93 in September) he had a full schedule of interviews and public speaking engagements!
Here's a clue how he does it:

Got Excuses?

Wow...



Thanks to Sister Skinny for this video. I liked it so much, I posted it over here, too.
I can use all the inspiration I can get.

Speaking of inspiration, Heather is looking for kickass tunes to fuel the workouts. I'll be following along, as I could use some new stimulation on the MP3 player, too.

The end of the stomach bug, snow days, messy kitchen, pictures, exercise, the hazards of dieting, and other such ramblings

We made it through the stomach bug; I'll spare you more details.

The kiddies have not gotten back to school yet. We got quite a bit of snow and they called off school for our county -and most surrounding counties- yesterday and today. The kids are ecstatic! The only thing that would make them any happier is if I'd let them stay out all day. But, no, too cold for that. I call them in after half an hour and (they make it in about the 45 minute mark) have them spread out their gloves, hats, coats, boots, snow pants, and scarves to dry. I try to control the sprawl, but no such luck: the kitchen looks like a bombed closet (or like Grunt's room, but that's another post) when they're in and a wading pool by the time they go out again.
I went out after lunch, but they were all in lounge-mode and didn't join me. I dutifully -at PK's request- took pictures while tromping up the mountain and laughing at the dog. I think she may be even happier than the kids. By the time I came back in, all three of them were getting dressed again. I was just in time to help adjust gloves, tuck sleeves, zip coats, and wrap scarves.
Now it's quiet in here (at least for the next 25-30 minutes) and the camera battery is dead. You'll have to wait on the pictures until it's charged.

Changes are happening over at The 123. Progress. Good.

I've not been to the gym since last week, but all is well on the exercise front. I've been doing Turbulence Training and long walks with the dog. The Turbulence Training (I found it through Skwigg. You can get a 4week TT body weight routine over at her site, too.) is surprisingly tough, even the body-weight stuff. I've been doing some pretty heavy-duty lifting and it's STILL tough. Tough=sore=results=good :).
Okay, I was just over at there copying links and here's Skwigg's post for today on the insanity of dieting.
Argh. I have a lot to say about all the diet bullshit, but I'm still working out what I feel comfortable posting on here and what I don't. I suppose if this were a completely anonymous blog, I'd spill it all. But it's not. On the other side of the anonymity discussion, though, I find that the longer I keep this blog and the more feedback I get, the more I'm willing to put myself out there. Remind me I said that when I start getting snarky comments and hate mail.

Stay tuned. I have more to say.
And I'm getting braver.

Pictures to come, too....

Adventure Race!

I've been doing my end of the year evaluation: Where was I this time last year? Where am I right now? What did I do to get here? Where do I want to go? What is it going to take to get there?

I do take a holistic approach, but my main focus is on fitness.
It is a fact -taking into account my entire life- that my physical fitness level is a direct (and brutally accurate) reflection of my life as a whole. If my body is in good shape, my mind follows. If my mind is in good shape, I'm generally happy and well adjusted and making progress to become a better person physically, mentally, and spiritually.
Start with fitness and everything else follows.

So, for me 2007 has been productive. Perhaps not as productive as I'd like, but definitely an improvement. I'm not arguing with improvement; I'm patting myself on the back.

I'm more physically fit than in 2006 on all three levels: cardio-respiratory, strength, and flexibility. I've lost some weight. Not as much as I need to, but I'm going in the right direction. I am nowhere near where I was in, say, 2003, but I'm headed back to lean and strong. My injuries are less bothersome, my body doesn't hurt and scream in protest when I get out of bed in the morning, and I can run again (yay!). My head is clear, I'm generally grateful and happy, my marriage is good, and I've had a few things published this year. Pretty darn great.

So what about 2008?
In 2008 I intend to be a great mother and a wonderful wife, continue to improve and practice the art of writing, publish more of my work, open a coffee shop, lose the rest of this pesky extra weight, and get back to lean and strong (using my fitness level of 2000-2004 as a benchmark to strive towards).
Because I can use my fitness level as an accurate gauge of everything else, my physical training needed a boost of inspiration.
AND I FOUND IT!
This organization, Adventure Pursuit, puts on this Adventure Triathlon! I've always wanted to do a triathlon! I've done quite a few running races: 5k, 10k, and even a 1/2 marathon, but I've never done a triathlon and I AM EXCITED!
It's not a traditional triathlon (run, bike, swim) because the swim is replaced with paddling (remember I mentioned wanting a kayak - this is why!), but I'm not a big fan of swimming anyway. When I saw this I knew I wanted to do it - never mind that I've never been in a kayak in my life. I do have some canoe experience, so that may help. I hope.

I have to go. I have bread rising that needs transferred to the oven. We're going to a party tonight and I have stuff to do.
Don't worry - you have not heard the last of this adventure racing stuff yet. Far from it.

Snow Day II

We did NOT have a repeat of the Treadmill Phenomenon today. I told everyone that it was my workout time and I intended to get in a good workout so, unless someone was bleeding, I didn't want to hear about it. They were kind enough to put in last minute requests before I descended into the basement. (It took me another half an hour to do it all, but it was worth it because I got my hour of quiet. Well, almost quiet; let's classify it as minimal thumping.)
I had to:

• make peanut butter sandwiches.
• find two AA batteries for Grunt's camera.
• fix the printer so Screech could print out some fish pictures to finish off her school project.
• feed the dog.
• unzip a winter coat with a broken zipper.
• give instructions on which household chores needed to be done (haven't I done this about a gazillion times already?).

In the end, I got a great workout.

This afternoon we baked bread as a warm-up prelude to Christmas cookies.