I’m once again sniffling as if I have a cocaine habit. However, one look at my overweight, currently lethargic body will convince anyone otherwise.
Today’s Daily Challenge
Standing with your hands against a wall, pinch together and widen your shoulder blades five times.
This Pilates-inspired exercise strengthens the muscle on the side of your chest along your ribcage, called the serratus anterior. This muscle controls the movement of your shoulder blade. Keeping it strong helps you reach something on a high shelf, throw a ball, or hang laundry.
Back To The Norm For One Night
The boss and I played over ninety minutes of smack-it ball last night, before going to our local Taco Mac (where he has completely usurped my popularity) for a few pops with dinner. I attempted to eat better by ordering a Cobb salad, but really can a salad with grilled chicken, bacon, a hardboiled egg, and blue cheese crumbles really be called “healthy”? Perhaps it was slightly healthier than the food I normally consume when out.
Upon arriving home I had barely enough time to fetch the recycling can, my mail, and hang up my wet clothes before passing out on the bed. So much for “productivity”.
I need to find an alternative to racquetball for exercise as I seem to be hurting my elbow a bit by playing.
My Return To Local Theatre
Tonight I’ll be making an appearance at Horizon Theatre for “Cowgirls”. Due to circumstances both in and out of my control this will be the first time I’ve visited Horizon in probably a year. It’s not that I’m really excited to see a country music musical, but I am excited to support local theatre again.
The Planning Has Finally Begun
I’ve been putting off the planning of my European trip for too long. Yesterday I finally started making some arrangements but have a ton of things to research before I depart. It’s not like I haven’t had ten months to plan, other things (mostly work) kept interrupting my planning.
Of course I will accept any suggestions you might have for things I should see in Belgium, Germany, as wells as Netherlands or France. The latter two countries are “if I have the time” destinations, the former two are definite.
Today’s Personal Project
Must clean up parts of my house, mainly the kitchen.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – sniffly and sleepy, I’m like two dwarves
Current Music – silence at the moment
Website Of The Day – While I find Paper Cup Project‘s website navigation annoying, I find the artwork they are creating fascinating.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – racquetball, >90 minutes
Morning Weigh-In – 217 pounds (2014-06-14)
Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~10.5 miles
Wheel Mileage – ~33.0 miles
Gym Visits – 6 (6 cardio)
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
June Goals
– clean my basement to the point where I could have people over
– hire a plumber to fix all of the sinks at the ITP Estate
– go away two of the weekends
2014 Goals: Measurable
– Get my weight down to 190 pounds so that I can wear a 36″ waist pants comfortably
– Completely read ten books, audio books permissible
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Completely run at least one 10k
– Fix all (or at least most) of the things which are wrong with the ITP Estate
– Sell the ITP Estate (tentative)
2014 Goals: Unmeasurable
– Continue to Simplify, simplify, simplify
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
– Eat smaller portions
– Start, and continue, to make my own bread using my bread machine as well as using the technique outlined in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking
– Read and discard magazines during the month in which they arrive (even digitally)
Books I’ve Read/Heard In 2014
- “Johnny Carson” by Henry Bushkin
- “Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative” by Austin Kleon
- “Chaos: Making a New Science” by James Gleick
- “What’s So Funny?: My Hilarious Life” by Tim Conway
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
We just watched Monuments Men last night, if you watch that movie you might want to go see the Madonna that was saved that is back somewhere in Bruges & some other art that was also returned to Ghent.
We also finished of the last episode of the TV series Fargo last night – wow, what a crazy TV show. I actually really liked how it ended. If you haven’t seen the show, look it up, its pretty good.
The grass at the Ben Hilton has been slayed- I really need to get over there with some Roundup to take care of the poison ivy that is all around where I dump the trimmings.
We decided to grab Zaxby’s on the way home, pulled into the driveway and immediatly realized we have forgotten to pick up my car! Oops. Ate dinner, continued picking up around the house, took the trash to the gate and drove to the park and ride- via the Dairy Queen.
There needs to be exercise in my evening plans, but I don’t know if I’ll have time- the home stager is set for tomorrow. While we (mostly Debbie) have done amazing work, there remains much more to be done.
Barb, we saw MM in the theater and really enjoyed it. Never watched Fargo. We’ll put it on the list.
-FP
Is the home stager someone you hired? Recommended by the realtor? I’m targeting August as my “action month”
The home stager is part of the realtors fee. Makes sense, as we will all benefit. They will likely see things we are just ignoring or think will be fine. Should be interesting.
As a single guy who didn’t have enough horse-sense to redecorate for the woman he loved I’m certain that I’ll need help staging my house for sale. But before I go there I want to get all the sinks working and some of the electrical issues fixed. Oh, and at least one-third of the crap currently inhabiting the house out of the house.
Staging your house is a great idea, just be careful where you store your stuff. I got an email from Laura last night that the basement of her parents house where we have our stuff was flooding. Not good news when you are out of the country. I’m returning home tonight and will have to stop by to assess the damage.
Oh that sucks, Bob.
I assume some items will live with other people, and anything else that shouldn’t be in the house while potential buyers are there will go into a temporary storage unit that hopefully doesn’t suffer the same fate.
Steve (& everyone) – Billy Bob Thorton is amazingly good in Fargo. I’m sure he & the show will be up for many Emmys.
Home staging, I can’t wait to see what they do different than what you’ve already got.
You don’t want the house too personalized, zero clutter, and nothing that says “this will be work”. At leaset that’s what I gathered so far. The realtor specializes in farm/equestrian properties, so told us to keep the pastures mowed. We’ve been working on the landscaping and have more mulch to put out.
It’s still very scary.
Bob, sorry to hear about the water… anything of value should be covered by one homeowners insurance or the other. When I had a storage unit, it was covered under my renters insurance.
Speaking of flooding – talked to my Dad, Cedar Rapids is getting some good flooding, but nothing as bad as a few years ago. So far so good with the basement staying dry.