I was on time for class this morning (7:25am) and we worked with the large balls.  Then we did stretching.  Boy, I've been wanting a nap all day, but have resisted going tot sleep ( mostly because I was driving a lot)
I hope I'm not sore tomorrow.

A Busy Weekend

On Friday, when I was feeling quite anxious and overwhelmed, I decided that physical activity was the key to bleeding off some of my excess negative energy. So, on Friday afternoon, I started moving furniture. By Saturday night I'd moved everything but the bed, nightstand, and cat tree in my living/sleeping space (I left the pantry and closet alone since I did them earlier in the year). Sunday morning I put the finishing touch on things, brought gobs of unwanted items to charity, and started enjoying my new space. The key is that I got rid of 2 pieces of large, unused furniture (also donated, since I got them for free). Here is the result.

Front Door View

Seating

 This looks like the same seating arrangement, but that's only because I moved it all and then moved it back when it became apparent that this works best.

New Yarn Home

I'm working on getting this neatend up, I just have to figure out how to get the boxes to be bigger on the inside.

New Desk/Entertainment Area

I have a second green shelf to hang, I just need more dry wall hangers. It's going in that empty spot above the second monitor.

Oh, and I finally got a frame form my master's diploma. I found an official frame at the thrift store for $10!

New Sewing Area

Those books in the desk support are all my sewing books. I haven't finalized the set up, but you get the picture.

This is a much safer place for the bookshelf. This way if there's an earthquake, rescuers won't have to dig me out from under all those books.

And my sleeping space. It feels so much roomier without the looming doom of the bookshelf, and I finally got around to hanging my shell lights.

So, while none of this actually decreased the amount of work I have to do for this overwhelming project, at least one source of frustration in my life has been conquered.

Oh, and just so you know, the glass on my desk/sewing table weighs 60 pounds and I moved it three times over the course of this endeavor, trying to get just the right feel. I moved it to where it is now, from where it is now, and back to where it is now. I currently feel like Xena.

sore today

Well, yesterday morning I worked out with a bunch of 20 something year olds and I held my own. But I'm a little sore today, mostly on the backs of my thighs and my upper arms.
The next youngest person is the teacher (50) and a Scottish woman who is missing her left hand/fore arm.
It was a very invigorating class and after stopping at HEB for a few groceries, I came home and moved furniture.
Tom asked me who helped me, and I showed him my muscles.
I was a little discouraged in the afternoon when I had an appointment with a gutter company and they quoted $2000 for gutters that don't have tops on them to keep out the leaves.
So, I'm going to call Sears and get another quote. 
After he left, I worked some more moving stuff but my feet were swollen, so I layed down on the sofa and watched the last Batman movie that had just arrived. 
I checked my blood pressure last night and it was kind of high.  No more hot gods.  They're just too salty.
Today's lunch was tomato heart healty soup, crachers and milk.
Dinner tonight will be chicken gumbo.
Monday is a school holiday so my next workout is Tuesday morning.  I think house cleaning will be my weekend workout.  The weather is supposed to be in the 60's, but I am still avoiding outside and cedar pollen.

Feeling Down

I've been feeling down the last few days.  Every so often I get very frustrated and overwhelmed by the things in my apartment. Right now I have too much furniture, and too large furniture. It takes up way too much space and I feel claustrophobic trying to move around. Also I can't get to the things I want to do, like sewing, because there is too much stuff in the way. Finally, there is so much little stuff all over everything that I can't get organized despite constant trying. So now instead of feeling relaxed at home I feel anxious and overwhelmed, which spills over into my work and school life and interferes with my performance there. That further spirals me down until I'm left sitting in my chair staring off into space in an effort to escape.

So today I've decided to spend the morning going through the things and really thinking hard on what I need. And if I don't really, really need it, I'm going to put it in a bag for donation. And then, I am actually going to take the bags to a donation site, instead of having them sit around on the floor taking up more space. I wish it was the garage sale time of year because I'd have a patio sale, but it really isn't and I can't wait 6 months for good weather to come around. I've got a few things up on Craigslist, but around here it's a one in a million chance that selling on Clist will actually work and while I wait and wade through the scam after scam after scam, the stuff is still here, taking up space in the physical and mental areas of my life. So away it goes. I have a friend who calls it "buying peace" when she gives things away. I could use some peace, and those less fortunate than me can use generosity more than greed.

And on a final note, I want to make it abundantly clear that I do really, really need all my yarn.

classes

Well, I decided that I needed to do more workouts so yesterday I signed up for not only my aerobics and yoga class on Tue and Thur, but I signed up for a flexibility/conditioning class on Mon/Wed at 7:30am.
After class I plan to use the gym's machines and do a 30 minute workout.  Class starts tomorrow!
So, I'll be getting up at 6:30am 4 days a week this semester!
Hope my knees and feet allow me to work out.

Contra dancing Wednesday

I exercised yesterday, but today I was expecting to do some Contra dancing tonight, but after one dance, Tom said he was too tired and we came home.  So tomorrow I'm going to go to the gym around 10 am and get in a workout.  I did cut out a dress, get my hair cut, bought some fabric at The Common Thread and cooked dinner.  So I did quite a bit of moving around and not too much sitting.

I hope your hiccup is better.

Set back

I've had a slight set back in my "move more" goal. This past weekend I slipped into old habits and had the TV (well, the iPad, but same principle) on and just sat for most of the weekend. I also slept in both days, resulting in my sleeping in till 10am this morning. I am not quite behind today, and have a bit of a headache (I'm hoping some hydration helps with that).

My habit is to let this minor set back completely derail me. However, part of changing habits is dealing with hiccups in a different way and that's what I'm going to do instead. So I'm going to go put the roast in the crock pot, work on hydration, do 10-20 minutes of cardio later this afternoon (headache permitting), and get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight. The TV is staying off until Bones at 8pm, and when Bones is over the TV is going off again.

I did go buy new pillows on Saturday, and I have been sleeping much more soundly since then, and I'm not waking up with contact pressure headaches. So at least there's that positive thing to report.