tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48111256985894764062024-03-16T12:52:03.942-06:00TheBombDotMomThings that are awesome because I said so, that's whyIronmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.comBlogger1102125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-81995157178901258672023-10-27T08:49:00.000-06:002023-10-27T08:49:02.093-06:00Two little lessons<p>I’ve decided that the recitation of my little workouts is super-boring, even to me—and the list since I last posted would have been QUITE long. But I will say I have been faithfully doing 15 minutes of yoga every morning, along with one headstand on my bench, all of which feels great and seems to be making me stronger. I suppose the lesson is that consistency is good, even if it’s a pretty tiny thing you’re being consistent about.</p><p>Another lesson I have learned (in the “Month of Achilles Healing”) is that my Achilles really aren’t going to heal in the face of a poor diet. Earlier in the month we were eating out a lot, and I was making myself gluten-free pizzas for dinner almost every night, and my Achilles were just getting worse and worse despite everything else I was doing for them. Now I’ve gotten all the grains out of my diet again, and it definitely makes a difference. Annoying but true.</p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-73805492504732342842023-10-08T09:44:00.004-06:002023-10-08T09:44:38.895-06:00More on the art show<p><b>Sunday:</b> Yoga 15 minutes, weights 20 minutes, walk 1.2 miles</p><p>I forgot to post the picture of my art show table:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH1LWAL6L2P6yUyP8VeYH59lt_s513itr0f7SLBzSFqw5jp8Q9h1QyHinWXNsxNrwSWCy_5ioT7F6-w4MDORUjEyRUXRZtFz4tRYss94vdF7xb46nrBMI2k8L8QyIy0WCb7t4yhSR4IqjjMuNOhPcjnYHXOWQEAq7HIzA9RSmTgmXpU-3MElBAy9CVfSI/s640/art%20show.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH1LWAL6L2P6yUyP8VeYH59lt_s513itr0f7SLBzSFqw5jp8Q9h1QyHinWXNsxNrwSWCy_5ioT7F6-w4MDORUjEyRUXRZtFz4tRYss94vdF7xb46nrBMI2k8L8QyIy0WCb7t4yhSR4IqjjMuNOhPcjnYHXOWQEAq7HIzA9RSmTgmXpU-3MElBAy9CVfSI/s320/art%20show.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>I feel so much better today; I slept a normal amount and woke up a normal human. I’m going to assume yesterday’s exhaustion <i>was</i> mostly about the stress of getting this all together and then spending so many hours talking to people.</p><p>And I REALLY want to do this again. I’m going to try to figure out how to be a little more professional—like how to finish and frame things so that people can actually hang them up. (The few that are framed were ones where I ripped out ancient family photos and replaced them with painted paper.) Everything you see here was propped up with bookends and/or rocks, so honestly my first task is to buy some display easels. M.H. needs them for his book-selling events anyway.</p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-25848839023814648432023-10-07T14:42:00.005-06:002023-10-07T14:42:44.583-06:00Art show!<p><b>Tuesday:</b> Yoga 15 minutes, walk 1.2 miles<br /><b>Wednesday:</b> Yoga 15 minutes, walk 1 mile<br /><b>Thursday:</b> Yoga 15 minutes, walk ??<br /><b>Friday:</b> Yoga 15 minutes, walk ??<br /><b>Saturday:</b> Yoga 15 minutes, walk 1.2 miles</p><p>Yesterday was Art Walk, where I had a table among about 20 other artists with a bunch of my abstract acrylic paintings. I was thrilled; I sold two of them for actual money and traded one to another artist for something cool. But I am also EXHAUSTED—I don’t know if it was from the stress of getting everything ready and named and set up, the physical exertion of doing all that, or just the fact of having to spend four hours straight talking to people.</p><p>At any rate I was in bed by 9 and slept until almost 8 a.m., and still I’m tired to a degree that I wonder if I’m coming down with something or maybe just have reached an age of irreversible decline and infirmity.</p><p>Being part of the “art community” in town has been really rewarding, and I learned a lot yesterday. For one thing, I found out that there are a few other annual shows that I could participate in if I wanted. To do that I think it would be good to improve my presentation somewhat and be a lot more deliberate in trying to make quality pieces. On the other hand, there’s really nothing stopping me from just continuing to slap paint around on things and then trying to sell them.</p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-87136679499738696972023-10-02T13:24:00.005-06:002023-10-02T13:24:53.424-06:00October’s challenge<p><b>Saturday:</b> Rest<br /><b>Sunday:</b> Walk 1 mile<br /><b>Monday:</b> Yoga 15 minutes, walk 1.2 miles</p><p>Welcome to the Month of Achilles Healing! (It’s October 2, but I just decided.) My <strike>plan</strike> <strike>resolution</strike> challenge is that every day for the next 30 days, I will:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Use the Thumper on my Achilles</li><li>Go for a short walk</li><li>Stretch</li><li>Use infrared light on my Achilles</li><li>Stretch with the brace my sister sent me</li></ul><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_cJI-4jI3Sbj2iwFEhuJdBpyG-FySk_lonRiiGm4_MvghuFfeqp_zbySPXlFJopbzl2PhdbDmta2pLNSULbFwytukC5XO6UivkXfdPUw0h11jzHrF6HFnK1Yb9kDXulg_l0CMFNs-DH2ICkC_dYtqmJqlHSWeTsZIgPu407164hHXR_hEdcGv-1nR5jc" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Equinus Brace" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_cJI-4jI3Sbj2iwFEhuJdBpyG-FySk_lonRiiGm4_MvghuFfeqp_zbySPXlFJopbzl2PhdbDmta2pLNSULbFwytukC5XO6UivkXfdPUw0h11jzHrF6HFnK1Yb9kDXulg_l0CMFNs-DH2ICkC_dYtqmJqlHSWeTsZIgPu407164hHXR_hEdcGv-1nR5jc=w320-h213" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(It looks like this.)<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />I’m still chasing the high of that glorious day several weeks ago when my feet just didn’t hurt. <p></p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-84015158088705501952023-09-29T10:26:00.000-06:002023-09-29T10:26:01.010-06:00Some temporary chaos<p><b>Saturday:</b> So much yardwork<br /><b>Sunday:</b> Yoga 30 minutes, so much yardwork<br /><b>Monday:</b> So much yardwork<br /><b>Tuesday:</b> So much yardwork<br /><b>Wednesday:</b> So much yardwork<br /><b>Thursday:</b> So much yardwork<br /><b>Friday:</b> Yoga 20 minutes</p><p>I am happy our landscaping project has started, but right now it’s messing up my life a bit.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhwlNGMG8UHoyho7cvQEupAE6Za8tKnrxlaMEtU5VFMSPFIEWQ64S8v0KNm8UggBpSeMryrh2hla20MMe52s2hnf3ovqd7x7DUyN4Xd9nBy3hnpFDsRrBsFboDHRLMfXy6RP2jQN1jf8Dg18vxkIaNeVd1LaAotMvHs5xfp5MWgT6XAQ26HG-LArwC7dA/s640/ud.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhwlNGMG8UHoyho7cvQEupAE6Za8tKnrxlaMEtU5VFMSPFIEWQ64S8v0KNm8UggBpSeMryrh2hla20MMe52s2hnf3ovqd7x7DUyN4Xd9nBy3hnpFDsRrBsFboDHRLMfXy6RP2jQN1jf8Dg18vxkIaNeVd1LaAotMvHs5xfp5MWgT6XAQ26HG-LArwC7dA/s320/ud.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mud.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>It’s so stressful to have loud noises and constant beeping coming from the back yard, I don’t know how to oversee what’s going on and make sure it’s all OK without making a nuisance of myself, I’m putting in a lot of time “helping” with the cleanup and waste disposal but not actually seeming to achieve all that much, I’m worried about throwing out my back from picking so much stuff up off the ground, and I’ve been skipping most of my other exercise. Oh, and I put “free rock” on Facebook Marketplace, which means I’ve also been juggling <i>dozens</i> of daily interruptions from people messaging me and ringing the doorbell. (Yet the rock never seems to totally go away.)</p><p>My Achilles have been particularly painful lately, and I don’t know if it’s from not taking my short morning walks, not stretching as much, eating a bit worse than usual, or some combination of that. Actually I’ve been surprised at how much regular walking seemed to make things better and not worse—that should probably be the priority. I just keep spending my entire morning in the yard and then forgetting to ever go outside again.</p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-25888531654327726292023-09-22T12:56:00.001-06:002023-09-22T14:23:47.087-06:00Landscaping shenanigans<p><b>Wednesday:</b> Yoga 30 minutes, so much yardwork<br /><b>Thursday:</b> Yoga 25 minutes, so much yardwork<br /><b>Friday:</b> Yoga 25 minutes, so much yardwork</p><p>(Yardwork totally counts as exercise—it is much more strenuous than anything else I’m doing and involves <i>plenty</i> of walking for me and my fussy Achilles.) </p><p>We have major landscaping happening in our back yard. It is going to be awesome eventually, but right now we’re at the “oh no oh no what have we done everything is mud and chaos” phase. We’re helping as much as we can with the labor because our landscaper (Stuart) makes more hourly than either of us—although when you consider that I’m not really all that effective at said labor, it does probably make financial sense for me to sit here and focus on my nice desk job.</p><p>But anyway. I’m going to spend the next several weeks moving dirt and rocks around, and it’s honestly a nice change of pace.</p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-74549162409534108322023-09-19T09:02:00.001-06:002023-09-19T09:02:39.490-06:00Interruptus<p><b>Friday:</b> Walk 1.2 miles<br /><b>Saturday:</b> Yoga 35 minutes, walk 2.1 miles<br /><b>Sunday:</b> Weights 20 minutes<br /><b>Monday:</b> Yoga 35 minutes<br /><b>Tuesday:</b> Walk 1.5 miles</p><p>I just decided to write out a to-do list for today, and when I grabbed my scratch paper, there sat yesterday’s list with NOTHING crossed off. So that will also do for today. Sigh.</p><p>The problem is that I am trying to give away the TONS of river rocks in my back yard in preparation for landscaping. This entails having Facebook open almost constantly and managing literally dozens of people messaging me, plus random people knocking on the front door. It’s going to save us quite a bit of money in the end because the rocks won’t have to be hauled to the dump, so it is worth it. </p><p><i>But on the other hand, </i>I am so very easily distracted. Every ding and interruption derails me for 5 to 60 minutes, which you can imagine is not conducive to working at my desk. Adding “Don’t get sidetracked” to the list as we speak.</p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-78515424337435739432023-09-14T08:20:00.003-06:002023-09-14T08:20:52.554-06:00It’s happening<p><b>Monday:</b> Walk 1.2 miles, walk 1.5 miles<br /><b>Tuesday:</b> Yoga 25 minutes, meditate 10 minutes <br /><b>Wednesday:</b> Weights 20 minutes, meditate 10 minutes, walk 1.5 miles<br /><b>Thursday:</b> Walk 1.5 miles</p><p>We met with our landscaper yesterday, and the lawn overhaul is beginning as soon as Monday! I’m so excited; there’s going to be a greenhouse and a ton of garden space, and everything else is going to be sustainable. I have so much to learn about gardening between now and next spring—or maybe next winter, since…greenhouse! </p><p>I’m pleased with my headstand bench—I have been wanting to do inversions again, and this is a nice intermediate step toward “real” headstands and handstands.</p><p><br /></p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-2320089087616619222023-09-10T09:42:00.003-06:002023-09-10T09:42:32.149-06:00Weekend fun<p><b>Thursday:</b> Walk 1 mile<br /><b>Friday:</b> Walk 1.5 miles<br /><b>Saturday:</b> Walk 1.5 miles, hike 2.5 miles<br /><b>Sunday:</b> Rest</p><p>I ended my “Whole30” on Friday after 10 days, but in a way it’s all part of the plan: Eat according to the plan at home and resist eating out for reasons of laziness, but when something fun comes up, don’t worry about it too much.</p><p>This weekend’s fun involved a hike, a waterfall, a Shakespeare in the Parks performance, seeing Dexter, a burrito, a sub sandwich, and many snacks. No regrets, although I actually do feel like crap this morning. According to SnoreLab (and my memories, and my throat), I snored with my mouth open all night and woke up like eight times. Now I feel tired and dehydrated and like fall allergies just reared their ugly heads. I tried doing a little yoga this morning but gave up within five minutes.</p><p>I’m on the verge of embarking on an editing project that will mean 20 additional hours of work each week. This is technically doable, and I want to do it, but it’s basically taking me all the way to full time for about six to ten months (or more, depending on my other clients). I’ve been thinking through how that’s going to fit into my life—what needs to go and what needs to stay. Somehow I need to doing the food and exercise that is actually starting to make me better…</p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-34215845904730790172023-09-06T13:06:00.004-06:002023-09-06T13:06:41.711-06:00Skies have cleared<p><b>Monday:</b> Walk 1.5 miles<br /><b>Tuesday:</b> Rest<br /><b>Wednesday:</b> Yoga 45 minutes, walk 1.5 miles</p><p>Yesterday the smoke in town was TERRIBLE, and I also felt kind of crappy. Today he skies cleared up, I feel great, and I gave myself the gift of not going to the yoga class that has gotten so annoying.</p><p>I was on a roll with creative pursuits this weekend and made a useful thing out of old T-shirts:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHgRFuHccI57d7z_-ThUViQpgM-jO_-Lhat6sZk1cH9Af4vWvHjDJc36sxhWTMcwLPJwRXz7mz3WLMo_bwCM-tpfMDWPgn8mZfVmXpCbgOh678HKTK-NOdN-RxMFceF2_CZyZeA6f-hSet6zp57EUNX90WfFfjG3H7jROZI3vZ5aVI-4CfXKt9gp5X4RU/s640/bag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHgRFuHccI57d7z_-ThUViQpgM-jO_-Lhat6sZk1cH9Af4vWvHjDJc36sxhWTMcwLPJwRXz7mz3WLMo_bwCM-tpfMDWPgn8mZfVmXpCbgOh678HKTK-NOdN-RxMFceF2_CZyZeA6f-hSet6zp57EUNX90WfFfjG3H7jROZI3vZ5aVI-4CfXKt9gp5X4RU/s320/bag.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>I need to remember that if I’m (1) caught up with work and (2) actually then step away from my desk, I get to do fun things.</p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-35537942637608099882023-09-03T16:26:00.002-06:002023-09-03T16:26:45.520-06:00Having a nice weekend<p><b>Saturday:</b> Yoga 35 minutes, meditate 10 minutes<br /><b>Sunday:</b> Walk 1.5 miles </p><p>Here’s the result of art lesson 2:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj69wRAsjmGg-lneCZCTCoHstCWh4Xo_sIlsMT0YNbsfusToM_FnT20zxuWO0doyknnLOZ8n8XJf7rmVnjLZTbxtX30Y6WEOQ8LPIX89KolALaeJSHHU_fm3mnurSFvhD_nly-XiiaqlNdW2qxbMoqgjjgFsZMsDCozJ474nv7lwq4ZxZPHNhL5CC-Dyno/s640/day%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="449" data-original-width="640" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj69wRAsjmGg-lneCZCTCoHstCWh4Xo_sIlsMT0YNbsfusToM_FnT20zxuWO0doyknnLOZ8n8XJf7rmVnjLZTbxtX30Y6WEOQ8LPIX89KolALaeJSHHU_fm3mnurSFvhD_nly-XiiaqlNdW2qxbMoqgjjgFsZMsDCozJ474nv7lwq4ZxZPHNhL5CC-Dyno/s320/day%202.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>I actually worked on three paintings today, since I feel inspired and am having an AGGRESSIVELY relaxing weekend. It’s clear to me that my brain is continuing to wake up (this is Whole30 Day 5).</p><p>Yoga is great, but I’m thinking it probably shouldn’t come at the expense of walking, at least until walking gets less challenging (yes, I said “challenging”). I can’t quite put my finger on what is hard about it. It’s partly that my Achilles often hurt, especially on any kind of upward incline, but really I think I’m just out of shape to a ridiculous degree. So in the name of tendon healing I don’t want to go any farther, but in the name of getting my body good at walking again, I think I’d better make sure I at least do my short stroll every day.</p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-85427482072611441272023-09-01T18:32:00.001-06:002023-09-01T18:32:37.969-06:00Day 1, Day 3, Day 20<p><b>Thursday:</b> Walk 1.5 miles<br /><b>Friday:</b> Walk 1.5 miles</p><p>This is Day 1 of an online abstract art class I’m taking. The first assignment was to tape off a piece of paper and then play around with a limited color palette. The class is called “Find Your Joy” so in theory we are just supposed to be having fun and enjoying the process, but lately I can’t seem to figure out how to make <i>any </i>marks with a paintbrush that I enjoy. It used to be that everything I painted was a delirious free-for-all, but this was not all that exciting:</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisx6591Z0JMR2sUjXvs_d1TaOjEdTx2sjTIQV7vEt2YeHVpHNT07p1Xr9Zde2Tra9lico_VYsOWfRFZmfUSHvImTDasUT_ZDINdjoYX1CTHzp4BYF7JJZbSYW6dL384_T1jR4k3E3hwtrLvd0Et0V3Aw1NpJ0k4NpwpQky9Htqs_E39vQ8PwNGDSkuxlE/s640/day%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="640" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisx6591Z0JMR2sUjXvs_d1TaOjEdTx2sjTIQV7vEt2YeHVpHNT07p1Xr9Zde2Tra9lico_VYsOWfRFZmfUSHvImTDasUT_ZDINdjoYX1CTHzp4BYF7JJZbSYW6dL384_T1jR4k3E3hwtrLvd0Et0V3Aw1NpJ0k4NpwpQky9Htqs_E39vQ8PwNGDSkuxlE/s320/day%201.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>BUT…this is Day 3 of the Whole30, and I really do think I feel my brain waking up again, so maybe things will get better.</p><p>And finally this is Day 20 of a work marathon—I just looked back, and I haven’t had a day off since August 12. But I am taking the entire weekend off, with plans to see friends, do more painting, and chop up a bunch of T-shirts to make T-shirt yarn. I eventually want to use it to crochet a rustic basket in which I can gather all the garden produce I will have this time next year.</p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-72457747304376191432023-08-30T13:48:00.002-06:002023-08-30T13:48:34.866-06:00Day 1<p><b>Wednesday:</b> Yoga in the Park, one hour </p><p>I think it would be interesting to go back and see how many blog posts I’ve called “Day 1” and evaluate how all those big plans worked out. Ambitious “day 1” declarations are sorta my whole personality, according to some people. (I might remind those people that I trained for and completed an entire Ironman, so <i>sometimes </i>things actually work out fine.)</p><p>Anyway THIS Day 1 is day 1 of the renewed Whole30, and since the last one went just fine I don’t see any particular reason for ridicule or skepticism. I even got on the scale this morning to get a new “starting” weight (exactly the same as at the end of the last Whole30).</p><p>I declared before heading to yoga this morning that I was going to give it one more chance to not be weird, but unfortunately it seems to be just weird now. The instructor was talking a lot about reaching, for some reason, and to demonstrate she went over to a nearby tree and reached for a branch about three inches out of reach. Then she said, “Now watch what happens when I reach for it <i>with my energy</i>,” and we just sat there as literally nothing whatsoever moved or changed. I was half-expecting the branch to bend gracefully into her hand, but no. Then we all had to go to our own trees and reach for our own branches, so I amused myself by going for one I could actually reach and saying, “I win.”</p><p>I think if I actually want to start winning at yoga I need to stay home and use my time a bit more productively, but I am a little sad because this started out as pretty fun.</p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-6910095597080159362023-08-29T08:18:00.002-06:002023-08-29T08:18:15.105-06:00Whoa<p><b>Monday:</b> Yoga 30 minutes, walk 1.5 miles<br /><b>Tuesday:</b> Weights 20 minutes, walk 1.2 miles </p><p>I have been faithfully using the Thumper on my Achilles and calf and have also been pretty good about taking a slow walk every day. Yesterday a miracle occurred and my Achilles <i>stopped hurting</i>.</p><p>I’m not sure exactly how to say what I’m about to try to say. But I think when you’ve lived with a pain for long enough—no matter how mild—it just becomes part of your life and actually starts to condition you. So I might <i>say </i>my Achilles feel pretty good today, and that’s true in relative terms, but in the back of my mind <i>of course</i> they’re still going to hurt when I get up after sitting for a while. Or go down stairs. Or walk for any distance. That’s just a given. Only yesterday some of those things didn’t actually hurt at all, and I started realizing that I have been avoiding or delaying standing up, using the stairs, and walking because of the anticipated pain. My pain was slowly training me to be more sedentary.</p><p>So yesterday was fantastic and eye-opening. And just to be clear, my Achilles do kind of hurt again today, but nothing like this has happened in four or five years, so surely it points toward healing.</p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-28800597798403724812023-08-27T08:25:00.002-06:002023-08-27T08:28:01.657-06:00A fresh hell<p><b>Friday:</b> Walk 1.2 miles<br /><b>Saturday:</b> Walk 1.5 miles<br /><b>Sunday:</b> Walk 1.5 miles</p><p>Yesterday the first day in a while that I haven’t been migrainey, but I’ve still decided not to push it (see definitions). That’s partly because I haven’t had a day off work in weeks, and that seems enough stress. </p><p>I’m not sure what happened to me last week—probably a hormone freakout, because on top of headaches I was having terrible hot flashes, which is an exciting new symptom. My strategy for survival was desperately avoiding getting hot, even a little, because a little hot would turn into a lot hot, which would then blossom into a headache.</p><p><br /></p><p>Definitions:</p><p><i>push it (v):</i> Do literally anything physical beyond a very slow morning walk. </p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-85066399159065488142023-08-24T13:15:00.001-06:002023-08-24T13:18:51.075-06:00Migraines and magic<p><b>Wednesday:</b> Yoga in the Park<br /><b>Thursday:</b> Walk 1.5 miles</p><p>I’m feeling slightly better but have now started getting migraines—some pain-y ones but mostly visual auras. Today it’s visual auras, which still make it very difficult to work at a computer, so things are piling up alarmingly. </p><p>I don’t know if this new wrinkle is from rampaging hormones or crappy food or a reaction to spending a lot more time than usual at my desk or some combination of those, but at any rate I am making a real effort to eat better today and take lots of eye breaks. Also I just took an Excedrin Migraine even though nothing actually hurts, so I’m hoping that will let me at least get something done this afternoon.</p><p>Yoga was pretty good yesterday until the instructor started in on an incoherent spiritual rant of some kind. It wasn’t just that it was super woo-woo; it literally made no sense. Then two students chimed in with weird stories about “energy” + something about tarot cards, and honestly it makes me not want to go back. Or maybe I was just grumpy because I had a headache during all this and wanted to go home and take an Advil, HARD TO SAY. But seriously this class is sponsored by the public library so cool it with the flakiness, people.</p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-41505089384417352732023-08-22T06:50:00.003-06:002023-08-22T06:50:26.072-06:00Bad night<p><b>Tuesday:</b> Rest </p><p>I call it “rest” but really it’s: horrible night of sleep, very early morning, and tons to do today.</p><p>We went to bed super-early last night because we had to be up at 4:30 to take Mik to the airport. But the power went out sometime before 11, causing a fire alarm to start making a horrible noise, which woke me up and started me worrying about all the food in the freezer, whether we’d be able to cook Mik breakfast, global warming, etc. So I slept on and off after that, but then starting around 2 the power turned on and off three separate times—and every time it did it would cause M.H.’s phone to light up the room, the Sleep Number bed to make a loud clunking noise, and the fire alarm to switch from its horrible but relatively quiet growl to a loud “low battery” beep every 30 seconds. I must have eventually gotten back to sleep because when the alarm finally went off I was in the middle of a nightmare.</p><p>(Obviously M.H. slept peacefully through it all. Not jealous.)</p><p>But then I had to give my baby back to his college AND I theoretically have to work all day. Grumpy face.</p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-83733399079075770792023-08-21T09:40:00.000-06:002023-08-21T09:40:16.913-06:00Transitioning<p><b>Saturday:</b> Walk 1.2 miles<br /><b>Sunday:</b> Walk 1.2 miles<br /><b>Monday:</b> Walk 1.3 miles</p><p>Mik goes back to college tomorrow, and I WOULD go straight back into Whole30ing, but we have a refrigerator full of leftover taco bar at the moment, so it’s going to take a few days. I also really want to do more on the exercise front again, but I haven’t really been feeling that great. I’m not sick, but I definitely don’t feel 100% well either. Hopefully it’s just from lots of gluten and time at my desk, rather than a virus. (Actually, as I think about it for a hot second, I kind of hope it’s from a virus and not just from a week of worse eating/movement, because that would mean there’s absolutely no margin for lifestyle error anymore in my life, and that would be RIDICULOUS.)</p><p>The tiny bit of extra walking this morning was because as I was approaching my house, I saw two kids run over to our Little Free Library. I took a detour so they would have a chance to look without me scaring them off. :)</p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-27452350872057926222023-08-18T09:16:00.002-06:002023-08-18T09:16:43.132-06:00Fast, slow, and upside-down<p><b>Wednesday:</b> Yoga in the Park, 1 hour<br /><b>Thursday:</b> Walk 1.2 miles<br /><b>Friday:</b> Walk 1.2 miles </p><p>I’ve kind of been swept up into being “busy,” which is not my preferred mode, but here we are for at least another week or so. Plus some of the work of this week was putting together a bid for a contract that would REALLY consume my life for the next 11 months. Not sure if I’m hoping to win it or not, tbh.</p><p>But did you notice how I kept doing the slow morning walk despite the work increase? It’s actually a really nice addition to my life, particularly with an audiobook at hand. Someday when our landscaping is done I hope to swap that for a morning putter about the garden and greenhouse, but this is very pleasant for now.</p><p>Also…I bought something interesting from a person on Facebook Marketplace: one of those yoga headstand benches. I was once able to do “real” headstands but always thought one of these would allow me to do other interesting poses as well. Now I just want to get back into headstands, but at any rate I’m very excited to have a cheap one.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjmOFJjLuzLqHd5FCnLhkW3zk8TSp93DL0p9A9UBOqhFthEPBCTOE2b0XbT6lsdJSMkRRAdxInIIfhFcMiicv6zSIZfG_ZfE4xY5VAA8X3w1Y8cNEFX1EY2ig-lPIWsSBM0VoTtk0t-J6dmZsy3Mv_w8YsUuXG62erLh7YzuyUJLn8EA7_ixa2w__ns9vM" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="305" data-original-width="575" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjmOFJjLuzLqHd5FCnLhkW3zk8TSp93DL0p9A9UBOqhFthEPBCTOE2b0XbT6lsdJSMkRRAdxInIIfhFcMiicv6zSIZfG_ZfE4xY5VAA8X3w1Y8cNEFX1EY2ig-lPIWsSBM0VoTtk0t-J6dmZsy3Mv_w8YsUuXG62erLh7YzuyUJLn8EA7_ixa2w__ns9vM" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me in the future (left)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-73285056999956060482023-08-15T14:10:00.002-06:002023-08-15T14:10:30.511-06:00An opportunity to prioritize<p><b>Tuesday:</b> Walk 1.2 miles, yoga 25 minutes, meditate 10 minutes</p><p>My typical morning self-care/puttering-around has ballooned into like a four-hour production. I’ve recently added a walk, some meditation, a little cooking, and some Achilles rehab to my pre-work activities, which already included reading, coffee, cooking breakfast, doing yoga, checking out the garden, taking vitamins, etc. Honestly I would love to add painting/drawing/crocheting to the list of morning fun, but I do have to work at some point.*</p><p>Also I was just informed that I have a boatload of work incoming next week, so I really can’t continue spending so long on non-paying activities. I’ll have to figure out what’s most aligned with my New Life Plan and go from there.</p><p>*For the money, not the satisfaction, particularly. I have concluded that at this stage in my life I could very happily putter around all day and still stay quite busy.</p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-33914945743051234982023-08-14T11:28:00.004-06:002023-08-14T15:31:19.132-06:00Tiny vent<p><b>Monday:</b> Walk 1.2 miles, weights 20 minutes, meditate 10 minutes </p><p>I started my day with learning about an editing mistake I made last week, and that is a CRAPPY way to kick off the workweek. I know logically that I can’t be 100% perfect all the time, but that is still my expectation for myself—as well as the general expectation of my clients—and it’s the one thing I ABSOLUTELY HATE about my job. </p><p>Just to be clear, I <i>really </i>like editing and I <i>really </i>like working from home and I <i>really </i>like my clients. But it is so annoying and frustrating to have a job where the standard is perfection. I mean, I know I’m not a brain surgeon and there was nothing on the line here but…a typo…on the internet. Still if anyone knows of an editing gig where people are looking for about 90% accuracy, would you let me know? </p><p>Because in grade school I got used to seeing “exceeds expectations” on my report card, and that is <i>literally impossible</i> in my current job.</p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-60721558069776690762023-08-13T09:37:00.000-06:002023-08-13T09:37:02.072-06:00Some insights from the “fantasy success story”<p><b>Saturday:</b> Yoga 30 minutes, meditate 10 minutes, walk 1.2 miles<br /><b>Sunday:</b> Yoga 30 minutes, meditate 10 minutes, walk 1.2 miles</p><p>It’s absurd how little I can walk before my Achilles start complaining, but it seems important to do at least this 1.2-mile down-to-the-park-and-back walk. In fact, I wrote out my “fantasy success story” last night, focusing mostly on what I “did” and how I “overcame obstacles” (yeah, it feels embarrassing and I will not be sharing it at this time). But one of the things I found myself writing was: “I think the important breakthrough I had was realizing that I didn’t need to have my Achilles 100% better in order to start walking (slowly, gradually) again.”</p><p>That little gem just popped out of my brain unexpectedly during the exercise, but I think it’s valid. I’ve tried not walking at all, and my Achilles just got worse. I’ve also tried walking tons as if nothing was wrong, and my Achilles also just got worse. But little tiny slow walks don’t seem to matter much either way. And even though I know I can do all kinds of other exercise and movement, I just think walking outdoors is uniquely important for human health, and some has to be better than none.</p><p>Another thing I wrote about was that I taught myself to LOVE cooking, so now I’m wondering how exactly to go about that. My first thought was that maybe I could try to make my food “pretty” and take pictures of it. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLYNirTqzaVuny0EQj0itkMhEFEdv-sPR7wLidT-JI2gkGTOiUx-LI2qWKaXtjX1NOkNfwil-zWe9dWSf5a8F0Z398saa0cSeOR525BG1BserQS5er_YkEokYL6zOui5TSYccCU5z_9Y7t5u2QfOTx3J7f6Nrdzbgus_0hrgTEOMv2sY3NC0uqrgVu52s/s640/breakfast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLYNirTqzaVuny0EQj0itkMhEFEdv-sPR7wLidT-JI2gkGTOiUx-LI2qWKaXtjX1NOkNfwil-zWe9dWSf5a8F0Z398saa0cSeOR525BG1BserQS5er_YkEokYL6zOui5TSYccCU5z_9Y7t5u2QfOTx3J7f6Nrdzbgus_0hrgTEOMv2sY3NC0uqrgVu52s/w240-h285/breakfast.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Breakfast</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>Unfortunately 1) it wasn’t that pretty and 2) it’s LESS satisfying because it’s just more work. Some other ideas I have are:</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>music always playing while I cook</li><li>count the number of different plants I eat in a week and make a game of trying to keep the number really high</li><li>weekly meal prep night with M.H.</li><li>find a cookbook that makes me excited to try new things?</li><li>positive affirmations???</li></ul><p></p><p>Help?</p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-76935115555587417352023-08-11T13:41:00.006-06:002023-08-11T13:45:48.606-06:00Fake it till you make it<p><b>Friday:</b> Rest</p><p>I’m pretty sore and my back feels funky from lifting weights yesterday, so I decided it was time for a rest day. (The plan is no plan: Push myself when I can and rest when I feel like it.) </p><p>I have been using the Thumper a lot. Sometimes it seems like it’s helping, and sometimes it’s more of the usual—my Achilles hurt at random times of day and ache on random nights. All the muscles in my calves feel a bit bruised from the massage. As I recall, that’s usually the point when Dan the Physical Therapist would double down on causing me pain, but I’ve decided to take a BIT more gentle route while still continuing on with it. Another useful thing is that after I massage for 10 minutes, I always take a few minutes to stretch, which I hadn’t been that good about previously.</p><p>I’m just staying positive: This IS going to heal, and I AM going to get my weight (and therefore blood pressure and cholesterol) down. Hey, remember when I wrote myself a “<a href="https://ironmom2011.blogspot.com/2011/04/power-of-pretending.html" target="_blank">fantasy race report</a>”* to prepare for my Ironman race? I wonder if I could do a “fantasy success story” of how I got my health back and injury rehabbed, maybe written from the perspective of 12 months from now. Hmm.</p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">*The actual fake race report is no longer online, but you would find it boring anyway.</span></p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-68883833298030185392023-08-10T08:25:00.005-06:002023-08-10T08:25:49.317-06:00Exercising as planned, mostly<p><b>Wednesday:</b> Yoga in the Park 1 hour<br /><b>Thursday:</b> Weights 20 minutes, meditate 10 minutes</p><p>Yesterday I went out the the garage again with a damp rag and a husband who knows how to do things. I wiped my bike down, we located the doohickey and the tire pressure recommendations, and he hooked up the air compressor. But…the air compressor is dead. Damn. Got excited there for a second.</p><p>The weight routines I have been doing (sporadically before; definitely more regularly from now on) are from a YouTube channel called “Lift with Cee,” designed for “women over 40.” As a total beginner physically but an expert based on past lifting experience, I deem them perfect for me. They can be easy, but there’s lots of room to grow.</p><p>Yoga in the Park is great—I keep running into new friends I’ve met in the past year or so. The weather has been perfect, too.</p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4811125698589476406.post-41818072131862408652023-08-08T10:47:00.002-06:002023-08-08T10:47:11.599-06:00Will she or won't she (ever get on a bike)?<p><b>Tuesday:</b> 30 minutes yoga, 10 minutes meditation</p><p>I actually semi-thought about going biking today. I tried on two pairs of bike shorts (they didn’t fit, plus they had that weird crackling thing that happens to stretchy fabrics when they haven’t been touched in 12+ years). So I put on regular shorts, went out to the garage, located my bike shoes and helmet, dusted off the bike (cough), and located the air compressor. I could <i>not </i>locate the little adapter I needed to actually inflate the tires, though, nor the writing on the tires that tells you what to inflate them to.</p><p>So I reasoned that that was enough for one day (haha) and went downstairs to do some yoga instead. Which was great except that I was coughing a bit from inhaling all the dust on my bike (this is true but also a metaphor). During yoga, I caught myself worrying about all the things I couldn’t do very well, so I decided to start noticing instead of all the things I COULD do well. For example, my hamstrings are very flexible, I know all the poses that are being called out, I have all the equipment I need, my shoulder is fully rehabbed from a softball incident, my spine has a lot of mobility, and so on.</p><p>The percussive massager thing (hereafter called the Thumper) seems really useful. It really dug into some tight spots in my calves, and I wasn’t sore the day after using it, so I might get even a little more aggressive with it.</p><p>I also got five hours of work done yesterday with most of the company having gone and am planning on five more today. That may not get me totally caught up, but at least I feel like it’s under control again.</p>Ironmom (Julie)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14178486144653846897noreply@blogger.com0