Thoughts on February

Not only did I not keep all my February resolutions, but I also dropped the ball on planning for March. I’ll come up with something by tomorrow. (Actually, in the 13 seconds since I started thinking about my March resolutions, about six possible Rules have sprung to mind, so I’ll be just fine on that front.) Anyway…

Resolutions kept:
Give 44 things to charity
Walk 44 miles
Turn 44
Be able to do 10 push-ups
Try workouts from several different online programs (if three counts as “several”)

Resolutions not kept:
Clean for 15 minutes every day
Apply for a passport

I have a good excuse for the passport thing. M.H.’s passport needs to be renewed, so we decided to go do this together. But he doesn’t want to be photographed with the beard he’s got now, and he doesn’t want to shave his beard until his book is published; therefore we can’t go apply for passports until his book is published. This makes perfect sense to me.

I can’t really say why I didn’t keep the cleaning one. It wasn’t that onerous, and it was actually pretty satisfying to pick some random bit of house unpleasantness every day and make it go away. I did this most days of the month, but once work started picking up, I found it impossible to even get started. Getting started is always the trick, huh?

Accomplishment

Silly me, thinking this month wouldn’t be too busy, when it turned out that every spare moment that wasn’t spent working or achieving some sort of resolution needed to be spent on M.H.’s book. On the other hand, the book is soooo good, and soooo close to being done, and it will be fun to get it out into the world. I’m also excited for M.H. to get started on a new book, because the creation stage is much more fun for him than the revising-and-revising-and-revising-and-revising-and-publishing stage. (And writing the book blurb, LOL.)

Anyway, I’m really just checking in to brag that just now I did 10 push-ups! I wish they had been prettier and that it hadn’t taken every fiber of my being to finish them. But I’m pleased to have knocked another item off my February resolutions list—especially since right now it looks like they might not all get knocked off.

Hmph. For March, I need to curb my goal-setting enthusiasm a bit, maybe.

Birthday shenanigans

My birthday was a long series of little delightful moments, like the kids randomly coming up to me and giving me hugs, trying a new restaurant for lunch and discovering that it’s wonderful, eating donuts and ice cream, and going to a middle school band concert that featured my kid being particularly awesome.

Instead of presents, all I wanted was to do a little shopping at an online used clothing store I discovered. I know it sounds like I just bought myself presents, but really, truly the shopping was the present. Anything that arrives in the mail in the next few days is just a birthday-extending bonus.

It was interesting to have everyone’s blessing to just spend a few days doing whatever I want and making all the choices. Mine were all about eating, collecting affection (yay, Facebook!), watching Gilmore Girls, and spending money. I also considered going to the gym or reading a book, but apparently my packed birthday schedule left no time for such secondary pleasures.

A little stronger

I don’t know if it’s Carb Nite, or strength training before Carb Nite,* or persistence, or dumb luck, but today I can do three gorgeous push-ups in a row, whereas every other day in February so far I’ve only been able to do one. They are so hard, though, and I can’t wait until they are easier.

My parents are having a birthday dinner for me tonight, so I’m having a second Carb Nite in a row, which is no big deal but probably not the fastest avenue to losing weight. Actually I’m planning to hit the gym again right now; if I’m not getting thinner today, I might as well get stronger.

* Choosing to believe it’s this one, though.

Elephants and affirmations

I woke up with a flash of clarity that was almost shocking in its duh-ness: The A in GREAT should stand for Affirmation. It has all the qualities I was looking for in a bonus resolution. It’s quick, it’s easy, it’s positive, it’s life-changing, and it’s something I probably wouldn’t do consistently without the encouragement of a resolution.

You may remember that I am a huge believer in affirmations—I used them pretty successfully in my triathlon training and races. I also think they are the only way we can actually, sometimes, steer the elephant. (And I highly encourage you to just click the link, because I’m not planning to explain that wonderful but cryptic phrase; my new hero Tom Naughton has already expounded on it.)

Anyway, Affirmations will have to wait until March, because for now I have Adventure (also good). I thought for today’s Adventure I’d take Jen’s suggestion and try Workout A from this site. I’m planning to finish it one hour before the commencement of Carb Nite, because that’s what you do to get crazy strong, apparently.

44ing

It was satisfying to drop off my box of 44 donation items yesterday, but it occurred to me as I was doing it that there’s almost nothing charitable about it. An easy, no-thinking, non-wasteful way to remove stuff I no longer want from my giant American house? That’s all about me, baby. I’m glad the homeless also get a benefit, but really it’s almost more charitable to SHOP at the store (and far better for the environment than shopping elsewhere). So I did that, too, a little, but the stuff I got was so cute and cheap that it did nothing for my sudden fit of guilt.

Not actually going anywhere else with that line of thought right now, so moving on to another aspect of my “44” theme…

Walking is harder than I thought it would be. Both of my two treadmill sessions so far were cut short by little aches and pains—today it felt like my ankle just spontaneously sprained itself (it’s fine now). But it’s a good thing I resolved to walk this month, because apparently my body has forgotten how. I didn’t think 44 miles would be all that challenging, but now I don’t know!

Busy Februarying

Instead of going to spin class this morning, I tried a short weight workout I found online (remember, it’s an Adventure!). It was advertised as HIIT, which in my mind means short, intense intervals with lots of rest. Instead this workout was long, intense intervals with very little rest, but I did my best to keep up anyway (Adventure!).

I have a feeling I’m going to be suffering tomorrow as a result of my poor decision making.*

Today would be a good day to knock stuff off my February to-do list, so I think I’m going to rally my trembling quads and start with delivering 44 items to charity. I already have several things set aside, and it should be pretty easy to find the rest. My entire basement is basically a museum exhibit of stuff that needs to be gotten rid of. Maybe I’ll get rid of a few extra things so that afterward I can shop in the thrift store and still have a net loss of household junk.

* Adventure!