Exercise | BulgingButtons

June 26, 2018
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Where Does the Day Go?

You know the old saying, if you want something done, give it to a busy person? Well, I feel like I’m not busy (since I’m not working this week) but, boy do I feel busy.

How do I get all those things done that I do during the school year? When do I grocery shop and do laundry, let alone go to the dentist, the bank, or, heaven forbid, the cable tv store to get a replacement remote? My non-work pace is slower, to be sure, but I still feel pulled in too many directions. I think it’s me, because really, I don’t have a whole lot I HAVE to do.

Sure, there are many things I SHOULD to do, but are they critical? No.

I should organize my studio (fancy way of saying office/craft room, but I like studio better).

I should rearrange parts of my kitchen that aren’t working well.

I should give my house a deep cleaning.

I should do some gardening.

I should clean out my closet.

I should do some editing of my manuscript.

I should read the professional book I just dropped $40 on.

I should restore my dining room to its former neat and tidy self.

I should exercise. Okay, I really should do this one.

I should plan a menu for the week, so we don’t end up grazing all week.

I should shop around for new car insurance.

I should take a closer look at all of my finanaces and make sure I’m not wasting my money.

I should write more.

So many I shoulds. We all have them. They suck the life out of me if I let them. I need to plan an organized attack on some of them and let others go, at least for now. Deep breaths. Prioritize. I can do this. So can you.

January 21, 2018
by BulgingButtons 2 Comments

Any Resolutions?

I didn’t make any New Year’s resolutions this year. I haven’t in a while. I know that I’m horrible at keeping them, and then I feel guilty, so I just avoid that whole thing.

I do, however, tend to take stock around New Year’s, which I think is pretty common.

A few thoughts I’ve had are:

Jeez, I’ve eaten a lot of crappy stuff over the holidays. Better cut that out.
Golly, I’ve gotten pretty lazy. Better get moving.
I like books. A lot. I should make time to read more of them.

That’s about it. Simple, right? And yet maybe not. So no, I didn’t make any resolutions, but I’m trying to eat better, move more, and read more. So far, so good.

Eating at home has been a help, and so has the passage of the holidays. There are fewer temptations, and less justifying this little treat or that little indulgence. Don’t get me wrong, I’m far from perfect, and just today we were discussing the fact that vegetables really need to make up a larger portion of our meals, but January is better than December was in this regard.

As far as exercise goes, the fitness challenge at work couldn’t have come at a better time. There is plenty of support for getting up and getting moving throughout the day, and it’s been helping. My Fitbit has been much happier since I’ve been giving it more steps to count each day.

That leaves the reading. I was lucky to get a new Kindle as a gift, along with a sleek new case for it, and I’ve been enjoying it. I also read a “real” book a friend loaned me a while ago, and it was fabulous. I’ve read six books so far in 2018, so I’d say I’m off to a good start.

So that’s where I am with all this resolution-type stuff? How about you? What are you trying to do in the new year?

September 16, 2017
by BulgingButtons 2 Comments

Doing the Hustle

Can I get a woot-woot? Yes, I did it, I finally won a workweek hustle this week. My fitbit buddy ropes me into this thing each week, and then each week he outperforms me, by a lot. Still, it keeps me moving, even if I do feel like a failure week after week. No, that’s not really true. I don’t feel like a failure, but I don’t feel like a winner either, because, hello, I don’t win. Until now. I WON.

There were several other people in the challenge, but when it came down to the wire, it was my friend and me, with me in the lead. Normally the challenge goes to midnight, but this week it was started by someone in a different time zone, so 9 pm was the deadline. With about an hour to go I was up by a few thousand steps, but my friend can easily crank out that many in a short period of time, so I kept marching in place and generally making myself crazy adding steps. At one point I found myself walking in circles, then in the opposite direction so I wouldn’t fall down. And still, he wouldn’t synch his steps. I know he did it on purpose. He’s diabolical like that.

In the end it didn’t matter, because I won by a comfortable margin, and yes, I did a happy dance. Why? Because I know he’s way better at getting exercise during the week, but this week I really tried hard!

So I enjoyed my victory while it lasted, then accepted the weekend warrior challenge, which I am currently failing at miserably. Hey, I’m tire! I exercised a lot last week!

Oh, and by the way, I do feel a little like a loser, because I’ve lost about thirty pounds since June. Yeah, baby!