Starting Anew

My husband sent me texts and photos all week from Boy Scout camp, and then they actually returned yesterday afternoon. I swear my son looks like he got bigger! Since there's no laundry facilities at the camp, they bring back all their clothes dirty. And my son, because he's an 11 year old boy, has mixed his dirty and unworn clean stuff together. So it all has to be washed, regardless of whether the item was ever deployed. Ugh.

It's been ridiculously hot. And everyone I know has been afflicted with bug bites from the tiniest unseen biting creatures. Surprisingly, my hubs said camp wasn't terribly buggy if you didn't count the swarms of moths dropping out of the sky. My son used them for fishing bait and caught two fingerlings, which he promptly tossed back. He said he had a good time, and he's come back as brown as a nut in spite of being sunscreened. My husband is thoroughly sold and can't wait to do this again next year. As I knew he would.

The OrtoCanis brace

The dog is suffering though from the extreme heat. Because he can't really stand for any length of time, I don't even consider the possibility of having him groomed. He's still not very happy with me when I rub his face and paws with a wet paper towel. The OrtoCanis neoprene sleeve-like brace arrived in the mail on Saturday. It fits fairly well, but the dog isn't very happy about it. After two days, I've decided to let him opt out for now. It's probably too hot. When he wears it, he avoids putting his foot down, which suggests that the brace is making it more painful for him to walk instead of providing support. Well, he's a difficult dog so maybe the SolvIt hip harness is the best I can do for him. I'd hate to spend huge amounts of money on a brace just to have the dog refuse to wear it.

I get to gym unusually tired and a bit spacey. It's probably because I woke up at 3:30 am and couldn't get back to sleep. I even tried lounging on the leather reclining sofa, but no go. Then, of course, just as the sun started to peak a hint of color in the pre-dawn sky, I feel asleep, only to have the alarm ring an hour later. My best sleep is in the early morning, probably when it's coolest. Mileage isn't so great today but it is over six miles. Yaaay for me!

My Sony headphones are annoying me because the light-weight wires don't hang properly. Instead, the one attached to the right earphone curls upward and rests against my neck most of the time. Ugh! I see regulars, and newbies. No one has their spawn in tow. Shaggy and The Mayor are actually chatting like old friends. Creepy. PJPants stares dolefully over his shoulder at me from the treadmill. Double creepy.

Today's a Push Day so after the preliminary push ups and pull ups, I'm at the Smith machine. I don't feel like wresting a small flat bench away from the DB area so I use the huge adjustable inclined bench for Inclined Benching. Then some DB shoulder work. Counter-intuitively, I'm back at the Smith afterwards, and I do flat bench pressing without the benefit of the smaller bench. It's okay because I'm staying at 120 lbs. Maybe next time, when I've had more sleep, I'll play with 125 lbs.

Several high school and college guys have come to work out. It would be nice if they not only picked up after themselves, but didn't stand literally an inch from the rack, effectively blocking anyone from actually using any of the other DBs. I only do two sets of pull ups today. They start off strong and impressive, but by the time I get to 25, it's a bit of a struggle just to keep afloat. Afterwards, I do a full Mat Stretch. The heel of my right food curls oddly during one movement, but I try to keep focused. Do I need more potassium? Should I be eating bananas?

This week I have my son in tow for two out of the five days. We plan to see The Secret Life of Pets. I read that it's preceded by delightful Minion short flix. Can't wait! He's getting kind of big for the Child Care Room, although he's not quite old enough to work out with me during peak times. Because he's a tween. Soon he'll be a sullen teenager, so I'm spending as much quality time with him now as I can. Before it's too late. He's already mostly bigger than I am. One day I'll turn around and he'll actually be bigger. And taller.

I'm seeing some promising leads for online work, but I have to open a PayPal account. Ugh. In this modern day and age, everything seems to have strings attached to it. To have a PayPal account, you need to verify that you are you. Sounds a bit Seussical, if it wasn't so damn Orwellian. You need phone, email, credit card, bank account — all to prove you are you. The whole process takes 2-3 business days so there's no immediate satisfaction. All this just to apply for a few online positions that barely pay dollars, but might be helpful for building confidence and experience. I have still to compile my list of things yet to do... lists are great. There's a fabulous sense of satisfaction once you get to cross things off! But the list has to be relevant, and correct. I started a list a few weeks ago, but then I had to add too many suddenly urgent things and the list became totally irrelevant. Time to start anew. And this time I'll use a bigger piece of paper.


Monday Workout
(6.18 miles total cardio)

X trainer
30 min
134 cal
3.67 mi
7.34 av spd

HGPU 31

Knee-ins 50

Pull Ups 100

Crunches 3 X 50

Bird dog planks
2 X 60 sec

Smith incl bench
30 X 15
50, 70 X 12
3 X 80 X 12
50 X 26

DB Lat S/S w Rec Incl Flye
3 X 20 X 12/20

Smith flat bench
30 X 20
80 X 15
100 X 12
120 X 12
80 X 25

Elliptical
30 min Prgm1
2.51 miles
281 cal

HGPU  31