- This check-in is for October 19th – 25th.
- I feel like the universe decided to kick me while I was already down. My living room flooded, a couple of my books and a few art prints got ruined, and I had to deal with that and the cleanup after while I’m still sick and my back has been bothering me.
- I’m going to keep trying to get back up, though. I had a massage yesterday, and since I’m anemic again, I decided to treat myself to a steak at Texas Roadhouse after.
- Another issue I’ve been dealing with in my apartment is the neighbor’s cigarette and pot smells coming through the walls and stinking up everything. It gets so bad that I start coughing even more than I have been with being sick, so in addition to writing an email to the apartment manager about it, I bought an air purifier. It arrived yesterday, and does help with a lot of it, but not all of it.
- Exercise Days: 1/7
- Steps: 40,611
- Miles: 16.36/16.31
- Total Miles: 666.30/850
- Zone Minutes: 34/150
#FitReaders Check-In
- This check-in is for October 12th – 18th.
- I slowed things down considerably this week, just in time to come down with some sinus thing. Luckily, I had bought plenty of soup since I already knew the temperatures were going to drop enough for it to finally feel like Fall.
- The only activity I had planned for yesterday besides Dewey’s 24-Hour #Readathon was going to see “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” I’m glad I went, but it did mean I only finished one book for the readathon, and I also ended up having to take a nap shortly after I got home.
- It’s raining today and my stomach isn’t feeling well on top of being sick, so I’m ordering groceries instead of trying to venture outdoors. Since I’m not going anywhere, my plan for the day (besides resting) is making bread in my bread machine and drinking large amounts of herbal tea with honey.
- My A1C, cholesterol, and other numbers haven’t changed from last year! There was one test result that has my doctor concerned, though, and she’s referring me to a Rheumatologist.
- Exercise Days: 1/7
- Steps: 34,534
- Miles: 13.98/16.31
- Total Miles: 649.94/850
- Zone Minutes: 80/150
#FitReaders Check-In
- This check-in is for October 5th – 11th.
- This week was really stressful and I’m resting today and waiting until tomorrow to do anything else other than laundry.
- My doctor thinks the pain in my hands, particularly my right hand, is tendonitis. Which means I’ve been doing too much. Yes, I already knew this, but when your doctor tells you that, the best thing is to heed the warning. While I’m waiting for the results of the x-rays and the labs she ordered to rule out regular arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, I’m taking a look at my To-Do list and cutting as much as possible.
- My garden gave me another giant eggplant and a whole lot more bell peppers, so I’m coming up with inexpensive ways to use them before they go bad. I still have everything I need to make an eggplant lasagna, which I’ll do either tonight or tomorrow night. Last night I cooked up a package of cheese tortellini, chopped up a couple of bell peppers, and added a jar of pasta sauce for a quick, easy, and comforting dinner after a long day of still doing far too much.
- The “far too much” was getting the rest of my gardening stuff from my ex’s garage, but I did at least get his help. The only thing left is my basil plant because I have no where to put it right now that my cats won’t be able to get to and destroy it. I did realize that I needed a break before I did anything else and took a nap, but then I decided to go to Costco. I only went so I wouldn’t have to go today or tomorrow, and I really needed to get laundry detergent so I could get caught up on my laundry.
- While I have to wait to find out my A1C, cholesterol, and other numbers, my blood pressure and weight were surprisingly really good. I haven’t gained any weight from the last time I weighed myself a couple of months ago, and I have no idea how that happened considering how much junk I’ve been eating. I’m still working on getting back on track with eating and exercise, but I feel much better knowing the past few months haven’t completely derailed my physical health. My mental health is a bit of a different matter, but I’m working on that as well.
- Exercise Days: 0/7
- Steps: 41,473
- Miles: 16.58/16.31
- Total Miles: 635.96/850
- Zone Minutes: 19/150
#FitReaders Check-In
- This check-in is for September 28th – October 4th.
- This week hasn’t been nearly as stressful as the couple of weeks before it.
- I’ve gotten most of my belongings unpacked, put away, and organized. The cats seem happy. We’re all settling into our routines. Now all I need are several bookshelves so I can unpack my books and get back into writing “Down the TBR Hole” posts, but that will have to wait until next month.
- Now that my life is slowing back down, I’m going to be working on returning to more healthy eating habits. I’ve eaten far too many meals from restaurants and fast food places. Even after I started “cooking” at home again, more often than not, those dinners consisted of Dinosaur nuggets, and other processed foods that I could easily throw in the oven or the microwave. I’ve had very few fruits or vegetables or anything else that didn’t come from a package.
- I have my annual appointment coming up and I know that my labs aren’t going to look good. I also know that I deserve a whole lot of grace for whatever the lab results are because I’ve managed to come through several major life changes without completely losing my mind. I will not allow my doctor or myself to beat me up for some numbers on a lab report or whatever the scale says.
- Exercise Days: 0/7
- Steps: 47,643
- Miles: 19.15/16.31
- Total Miles: 619.38/850
- Zone Minutes: 23/150
#FitReaders Check-In
- This check-in is for September 14th – 27th.
- This has been a stressful and extremely busy two weeks. I won’t go into detail here since I wrote about my move yesterday.
- I was supposed to relax yesterday and do nothing but read, drink tea, and cuddle the cats. While I did do some reading, drank a lot of herbal tea, and definitely cuddled the cats (I even took a nap with my oldest fur child, Dresden), I spent a lot of my time updating my address everywhere and fighting with my printer to get it connected. I didn’t get out of my pajamas or go anywhere, though, so better than nothing.
- Today is going to be busy and interesting since I’ll be tackling all of the chores and errands on my own and I’m not familiar enough with the part of the city where I live to know my way to and from places like the grocery stores I prefer. I also have to go to my ex’s house to do my laundry, and later this afternoon I have a massage appointment (and I’m very much looking forward to that!).
- Exercise Days: 2 and 2/7
- Steps: 52,886 and 55,974
- Miles: 21.43 and 22.58/16.31
- Total Miles: 600.23/850
- Zone Minutes: 70 and 64/150
#FitReaders Check-In
- This check-in is for September 7th – 13th.
- I overdid it at the Ohio Renaissance Festival last weekend and ended up having to take a couple of days off from work. I felt so bad, I thought I had come down with the flu.
- The night before I went back to work, I realized I had less than two weeks before I move, and I’ve been on a rollercoaster of emotions and anxiety since. I’ve been moving from one place to another, several times to different countries or across the US, my entire life, but this time feels very different despite only moving across town. Maybe it’s because of why I’m moving or maybe it’s that I’m getting older and all of the major life changes and stress over the years have piled up, but this move is the hardest one I’ve ever done.
- The few vegetables in my garden that didn’t die have been plentiful. I ended up with a giant eggplant, far more bell peppers than I know what to do with, three enormous carrots, and a ton of green beans. I’ve been eating the green beans with a ham that I baked, and trying to figure out a way to put bell pepper in everything else. I’m going to cut up the carrots to put on salads, and I’m baking an eggplant lasagna sometime this week.
- Next year, I’ll mostly be doing container gardening, but I think I might have room on my patio for one or two gardening boxes that are similar to raised beds.
- Exercise Days: 0/7
- Steps: 30,613
- Miles: 12.40/16.31
- Total Miles: 556.22/850
- Zone Minutes: 12/150
#FitReaders Check-In
- This check-in is for August 31st – September 6th.
- Yesterday, I went to the Ohio Renaissance Festival for Fantasy weekend. I had a wonderfully whimsical time, walked over 10k steps, and was exhausted by the end of the day. It was 100% worth my time and energy!
- I now have an official move-in date for the townhouse apartment I’ll be renting, so I’m going to be spending most of my free-time over the next couple of weeks packing and prepping for the move.
- Exercise Days: 2/7
- Steps: 42,781
- Miles: 17.20/16.31
- Total Miles: 543.82/850
- Zone Minutes: 75/150
#FitReaders Check-In
- This check-in is for August 24th – 30th.
- This past week was very low-key. I didn’t have any social plans except for on Thursday, and I used a lot of my free time to read. I’m not sure if the considerably slower pace after such a busy week was the cause, but I felt down a lot. Maybe it’s just more of the ups and downs of dealing with the ending of a relationship and the major life changes that come along with that. Reading definitely helped, though.
- One thing I forgot to mention in last week’s post was that I decided to also participate in #75Soft. I did fairly well the first week, though I struggled a bit with journaling, getting enough water, and moving my body, but I really fell off the wagon this week. I’m doing my best to be gentle with myself about it, and getting back on that wagon this weekend.
- Yesterday, I drove out to Lynd Fruit Farm to go to their market. They got in fresh apple cider and had some good deals on produce that made it worth the gas to get there and back. However, I wanted to go so I could get out of the house, take a mini road trip by myself, and treat myself to a sinfully delicious apple fritter. I also bought way too many pickles from the Crazy Cucumber and a small bag of kettle corn.
- Exercise Days: 1/7
- Steps: 42,835
- Miles: 17.27/16.31
- Total Miles: 526.62/850
- Zone Minutes: 55/150
#FitReaders Check-In
- This check-in is for August 10th – 23rd.
- I had a massage last Saturday afternoon, which helped me quite a bit with the crazy amount of stress I had. The rest of that weekend was busy and I’m not sure how I would have managed if I hadn’t had the massage to “reset.”
- My calendar was jam packed this week with social activities I had scheduled when I was doing really well in addition to appointments that had been scheduled for a while. One of those appointments was with my Health Coach. We discussed how busy I was going to be if I went to the social stuff and I was concerned about how I was going to fit in the self-care activities I’m trying to do every day and also get enough sleep. I was considering cancelling those plans, but she reminded me that doing fun things is just as important a part of self-care as all of the other stuff like meditation, journaling, exercise, etc. She’s right, of course, so I didn’t cancel my plans, and I’m glad I didn’t.
- I’ve joined two social clubs – the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) and a local chapter of the Silent Book Club! I could go on for hours about how much I love the SCA (but I’ll spare y’all), and the Silent Book Club is the perfect no-pressure book club for me.
- Exercise Days: 1 and 1/7
- Steps: 31,408 and 46,875
- Miles: 12.69 and 18.97/16.31
- Total Miles: 509.35/850
- Zone Minutes: 48 and 20/150
#FitReaders Check-In
- This check-in is for August 3rd – 9th.
- I went out yesterday looking for ideas for my apartment and doing some price comparisons. I’m not all that into shopping, so deliberately going to stores and taking a look at the options was a bit eye-opening, mostly in a good way. It reminded me of how much I already have, but it also showed me that the possibilities for organizing and decorating my new home are just about endless. I saw some of that possibility online, but it was narrowed down to my search results and whatever the algorithms gave me.
- I’ve started journaling every day again. I stopped a while back, thinking it wasn’t really helping all that much. However, I definitely noticed a difference in my mood and stress levels after I picked it back up again.
- Tomorrow I’m starting a short daily challenge on the meditation app I use, Insight Timer. It’s a Morning Routine challenge, and I think it will help get me back into a regular morning routine that’s more focused on self-care instead of just getting dressed, gathering up my things for the day, and rushing out the door.
- Exercise Days: 1/7
- Steps: 38,009
- Miles: 15.41/16.31
- Total Miles: 477.69/850
- Zone Minutes: 49/150