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By kilax, October 19, 2018 12:07 pm

So, the last time I did this, my crappy blog closed all the polls on its own. Now they are all miraculously open, somehow, also on their own. Sigh. (Yes, I am looking in to updating my blog.)

Anyway. So if the polls stop working, feel free to leave a comment. BECAUSE THIS STUFF IS OBVS WAY IMPORTANT.

not

In (my work) class this week, we were talking about how NO ONE still uses checks. But guess what?! I do! That’s how I give Steven extra money for our joint account when I get paid (because we use two separate banks so I don’t think I can transfer it easily electronically?), and that is how I pay for my massages. And usually how I give someone money if I owe them.

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We also talked about who still has a land line. Yeah, not me. Ha. Ha ha ha.

This one is from a conversation with Mom and Alyssa about walk-in bathtubs which I had NO idea were a thing. They were saying how it must be odd to have the water fill up around you, when using one. Um, is that not part of the fun of taking a bath?!

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I get in when there is a bit of water in it. If I don’t, I tend to make it the wrong temperature. (Although Steven pointed out, if you fill it up with yourself in it, you can make it too hot and not realize it, too.)

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My swim pass expires on October 31st. Last year it cost $225 for the year, and I assume it will cost that or slightly more, for the next year.

A drop-in fee to use the pool is $6. Therefore, to make the pass “worth it,” I need to use it at least 38 times ($225/$6 = 37.5 visits). So far this year, I’ve gone 40 times, which means I’ve paid $5.63 for each visit.

So I use it enough, but man, the drop-in (“open swim”) hours are not very convenient! Friday morning open swim is 5:00 am – 7:30 am. I used to teach at 5:00, drive there, and be swimming by 6:20 am. Now I’m training someone at 6:00 am though (after I teach). So I’m rushing to get there and swim before open swim closes (who knows what they’d even do if I swam past then, ha).

And note – I swim for relaxation and exercise, not because I’m going to do a triathlon. I do feel it helps my body, but is it crucial… no? Would I miss it…? I don’t know. Ha.

Such deep thoughts for a Friday!!!

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By kilax, October 3, 2018 7:23 am

These are polls, so if you’re viewing in email you may have to click through to see them!

UPDATE – my blog randomly closed all the original polls, so I added second ones if you want to vote. UPDATED AGAIN, they shut themselves off again, so I give up!

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I’ve been thinking a lot about this last question. I lead very structured classes – my rhythm is predictable and I tell my class what we’re going to do and count the reps. Maybe some people want more spontaneity/surprise? “I know I said ten burpees but we’re doing fifteen!” <— Eww

Comments (16)

By kilax, August 14, 2018 7:28 am

This ended up being more about weight than I expected, so skip if that’s something you try to avoid reading about. 

It’s been almost two months since I wrote that I was considering running the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon the first weekend of October. I can now say that definitely WON’T be happening. I’ve been running a decent amount this summer, averaging just under 40 miles a week, but my nutrition is off! I’ve put on some summer weight, and since I’d like to weigh less than I did to run a marathon than when I wrote that post two months ago, that means I have some diet* work to do!

I’m not super discouraged I’ve gained weight. My yo-yo cycle usually has me gaining weight from May until October each year (and losing from October until February). So that I only ate somewhat poorly for two months (June and July) is an improvement for me. How’s that for a positive spin? And maybe I will do even better next year! <— I am really good at going easy on myself.

So what’s coming up with running? I’m signed up for the Madison Mini Marathon (a half) this Saturday, and the Gear Western Country Half Marathon in Long Lake, MN on October 13th. Both races will be run “for fun” with no time goal. I’m not focusing on speed right now – I’m just running easy summer miles! So not short races for me!

Speaking of (hot) summer miles – I was talking to a friend who works at a school last night and she said she’s ready for summer weather to be over when she goes back to work. I told her I’m always ready for it to be over after my birthday (last day of July)/river trip. So August usually feels pretty miserable to me – I’m so over it by then! I’m handling it well this year (mostly by ignoring it and not dwelling on it, a great way to handle any problem, ha) but I do fantasize a bit about fall running when I see leaves on the ground!

When I say the word “diet,” I mean “what I eat.” I am not “going on a diet.” I don’t do that.

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By kilax, August 9, 2018 6:11 am

• Kitty update! They’ve almost been home a week! We’re letting them explore more rooms, which they love (they still sleep in a closed in room at night, mostly for safety from our second floor drop to the living room). Khali likes to be near them, and they like to follow her around. There is still some slapping and interesting noises between those three, but things seem to be getting more friendly and less “get off my turf”! Happily, Khali’s personality is staying the same, and she isn’t regressing back to her scared stray cat “I don’t trust you” behavior. Phew.

The second picture in this series is of Apollo getting smacked.

• Data is STILL in the bathtub. We can take him out and walk around with him, but he always goes back to the bathtub. He’s still eating and going to the bathroom fine (well, what qualifies as fine for him now), but isn’t he bored out of his freaking mind in there?! Also, I’d like to use all the awesome spa stuff I got for my birthday (he’s occupying the only bathtub in the house)!!!!! His regular vet was off when we took him in last week – I wonder if he’d have a better analysis, or if we do just need some anxiety meds for Data?
• I wish there was a way to prevent sad animal stories from being shared by people in my feed on Facebook (I do tell Facebook I don’t want to see it) and from showing up in my RSS news feeds. Ugh. I’d rather see stories like this.
• Rachel and I decided to run the Madison Mini Marathon next Saturday for a birthday celebration together. Yay!
• Gah, I’ve felt like a zombie most mornings this summer, and my diet is definitely to blame! I’m so ready to have a normal schedule and get back in to a routine!
• I’m currently reading Not Tonight, Josephine: A Road Trip Through Small-Town America, a book about the (British) author’s travels across the US in the 2000. Gina read it and liked it so she gave me a copy for my birthday. The author is humorous and I’m learning more about US geography (and getting some travel ideas, too)! I’m enjoying it!

• Speaking of books, something strange has been happening at my library, where the books I have that are eligible for renewal are somehow already renewed by their due date without me doing anything. I wonder what the hell is going on. Of course, this did NOT happen with The Last Time I Lied, which is newer, and was not eligible for renewal, and I did not have time to finish. Sad face. I put in a hold request for it.
• I will finish with a Photoshop rant. For some reason, the quality of my “save for web” settings keeps getting changed from maximum to medium. And I don’t notice it until I upload the images here and see how pixelated they are, after I’ve closed them in Photoshop. So I have to reopen them and resave them at a higher resolution. Wah wah wah. And yeah, I tried to figure out how to stop this! I just need to remember to make sure it’s at maximum each time I use it!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 189

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By kilax, July 17, 2018 10:35 am

I’m having a great summer. But I’m human. I need to complain:

1. Why do manufacturers assume I want my paper towels and toilet paper to be BIGGER?! I do not! I have the feeling they do this to charge more for less, not give us more for less. And it’s definitely not for the environment (less waste and all that). (This annoys me because the bigger ones don’t fit in our holders well.)
2. Am I really helping someone with a project at work by doing a role I have no idea how to do if I have to ask them what to do about everything? Or is it only making me frustrated and less confident?
3. Why do the dentist fees on my explanation of benefits (EOB) not match the bill I was given at the dentist? Why are EOBs so damn hard to understand? Why did my dentist eff up my last appointment so much (I could write a whole post about that but I’m still too annoyed to. Hopefully I just forget all the details and don’t ever talk about it again.).
4. Why wouldn’t Kohl’s let me exchange something via mail and insist I go to the store, even when I told customer support I couldn’t find that item in the store on my own? Why do they think I ordered it online?!?! BECAUSE I COULD NOT FIND IT IN THE STORE AND HATE SHOPPING.
5. These deer fly bites. Ouch.

And some good things!

1. We’ve been putting pumpkin in Data’s food and it seems to be helping with his poo! Yay!
2. I got to do actual design work at work last week and this week.
3. I have five days in a row off work coming up.
4. At some point, there will be kittens in our home (probably August 1st or 2nd).
5. We figured out who Beanzie is.
6. I’m not running my fastest, but I feel acclimated to the summer heat and high humidity and dew point. It’s not completely wearing me out (yet).
7. I’m the smallest I’ve been as an adult (after college) in the summer. Which is actually heavier than earlier this year, but I struggle the most with my eating in the summer, so I’ll take it! The goal is to maintain my weight and focus on losing again in the fall.
8. I feel overwhelmed by everything on my personal (and work, sigh) calendar, but grateful for all the love and fun activities!

Thanks for listening/reading!

Comments (8)

By kilax, May 10, 2018 4:55 am

• My new car hails from Brooklyn and had some NYC parking/traffic love – a few dents on the doors and on the bumper. It also had a few slightly rusted metal pieces and needed a full detail, so right after I bought it, I took it in to the dealer for all of those things to be taken care of. I just got it back Tuesday (they had it for nine days!). They missed one rusted piece, so I’ll have to take it back, but it’s nice to have for a short while (including an upcoming road trip… although I would have been fine taking the loaner on that trip, ha)!

• I grabbed The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks from the library at the train station last week, but couldn’t get more than a few pages in, so I took it back. Ha. Now I’m reading A Wrinkle in Time, loaned to me by Bobbi. I never read this book growing up!

Photo taken before my walk to work in the rain yesterday soaked the back of this book through my backpack. Ugh, I felt like such an ass but Bobbi wasn’t upset at all. 

• I actually like my official race photos from the Wisconsin Half Marathon! I doubt I’ll order any though – I’m on a bit of a spending freeze (minus a few magnets). Thankfully, the race shared a finish line photo of me on their Facebook page, and I have photos from Steven!

• Gotta nip this weight increase in the bud! I can do eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 177

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By kilax, March 30, 2018 7:27 am

Ha, the title is mostly a joke!

When I started swimming consistently a couple of years ago, I used techniques I remembered from learning to swim as a child. I started with breaststroke, and worked my way to freestyle.

For a long time, I had to focus so much on what I was doing, especially with breathing, that I didn’t think of anything else while swimming. I was zoned in 100% on my stroke and not inhaling water. It was a lovely meditation, and break from my own thoughts.

Now, the motions have become ingrained. It feels natural. It feels easy. My mind wanders. It’s no longer my meditation.

I miss that! Damn it, for getting more comfortable in the water. Ha!

Really though, those swimming moments are the ONLY time I can think of where my mind completely shut off and focused on the task at hand. The ONLY time. All my other workouts? My mind is all over the place!

I wonder if I worked harder at learning bilateral breathing, if that would let me meditate in the pool again, until I got better. Or if I talked to an actual swim coach and got some pointers on what my body should be doing, if focusing on THAT would get me back to the meditation. Because I’d like to find my way back to that feeling!

Comments (14)

By kilax, March 28, 2018 6:17 am

When we were at the movies last night, I thought about this time I was being über healthy and instead of having popcorn at the movies, I brought a bag of grapes to have. Like, wtf, Kim. Ha.

I always get popcorn now, YOLO

It was my junior year of college (fall of 2004). That previous summer, Steven and I put ourselves on “Operation Tub Tub” (OTT, for short). We ate between 1200-1500 calories a day, and both lost a lot of weight that summer (we needed to)! I wanted to see how long I could keep the weight off, hence the grapes. Hint: not long. School was hella stressful, and I ate my emotions then, something I still work on NOT doing now.

OTT wasn’t bad – we ate a variety of healthy foods, and felt good. (I didn’t exercise then, like I do now – that wouldn’t work on that low calorie count.) But it left little room for error, and no room for flexibility! It required counting calories and so much planning. And it definitely required (for me) the support of doing it with another person.

Gawd, what is the point of this long intro? To tell you that having food “rules”* (“eat this amount of calories or less a day!”) has NEVER worked for me, and never will. Not in the long run.

But these food rules are NEVER going to go away! Gah, I see these headlines/articles all the time now (that’s what inspired this post). “I’ve lost weight and kept it off because”:

• I limit myself to two full fat treats a week!
• I never have any added sugar!
• I don’t eat after 8:00 pm!
• I only eat between the hours of noon and 6:00 pm!
• I eat these exact macros!
• I don’t enjoy food! (ha)

Props if it works for someone to be that diligent and controlled, day after day. Really! I’m impressed. But I do NOT have it in me. I want to eat things I enjoy, in moderation. I want to have a bit of chocolate each day. I want to go out to eat a few times a month. I want to have popcorn at the movies!

And yes, I want to eat a mostly healthy diet, but the minute I start giving myself food rules, is the minute it becomes unsustainable for me.

View this post on Instagram

Sneak peek of the newest meal plan on the #JillianMichaelsApp 😂 go.jillianmichaels.com/app

A post shared by Jillian Michaels (@jillianmichaels) on Jul 7, 2017 at 7:52am PDT

I highly recommend following Jillian Michaels on Instagram!

*Yeah, I don’t count my vegan lifestyle as food rules. That’s just my lifestyle. 

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By kilax, March 6, 2018 4:19 am

Yet another “times flies” post from me – March 4th marks five years that I’ve been a personal trainer at Essential Fitness, LLC!

FIVE YEARS!

CRAZINESS!!!

The story of how I became a personal trainer is here. Everything is still true from that post – I LOVE seeing students grow stronger. I love getting paid to workout. I still teach Monday, Friday, and some weekends. And I still don’t plan to ever make this my full time job (the amount I teach now is perfect).

What I love about teaching strength classes:

• Teaching lets me do something I’m passionate about (which is rarely the case in my day job).
• Teaching encourages me to be a lifelong student of exercise.
• Teaching lets me be creative in a way I enjoy.
• Teaching lets me connect with lots of different, wonderful people (students, coworkers, and boss).
• Teaching encourages me to stay healthy (although I’ve definitely gone up and down in weight over the years).
• Teaching gives me an excuse to buy new music on iTunes!
• Teaching makes me patient.
• Teaching makes me happy!

I’m sure you’ll be seeing more “anniversary” posts in the future, and my continuing thoughts on teaching strength training!

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By kilax, February 19, 2018 12:59 pm

While I was sad my parents had to leave late yesterday morning (I wanted to hang out more!) it was a blessing in disguise because Steven and I were worn the f*ck out from our weekend of doing all the things, and needed a day to be sloths. It felt good to do almost nothing after two and a half busy days!

And I am still feeling lazy so I am going to bullet this shiz up, ha!

On Thursday

• Mom and Dad arrived at 6:30 pm and we ate homemade vegan alfredo sauce on pasta! And dessert was a vegan apple pie sent from my mom’s mom!

• After dinner, Steven and Dad went to Menards to get the beam and other wood for the basement project, while Mom and I watched the Olympics, then screwed around in the basement gym for a bit.

On Friday

• I taught class at 5:00 am, and Dad and I went for a run (me)/bike (him) when I got back.

• Then Mom, Dad, and I went to the 10:15 showing of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. I laughed so much, and we all liked it. I usually do NOT like Jack Black (except in The Holiday) but his character cracked me the hell up in Jumanji!!!

• We went to Aldi after that (where we picked up a Kringle for Mom and Dad to try!), the came home and made lunch (salads and couscous). Steven came home from work and ate with us, then he and Dad got to work in the basement.
• And Mom and I got to work shopping at the outlet mall! I live so close to the outlet mall – it’s less than a ten minute drive, and I even run through there and fill up my water bottle on long runs. We found a few deals, and made sure to send my snister photos of the clothes we were trying on.

Sample photo we sent Christina, ha

I only got two soaps and a new PocketBac at B&BW. Restraint FTW!!!

• We went to Woodman’s (a grocery store) after to get ingredients so Mom could make a cake she wanted to try vegan for me (and to get some things I needed).
• Then we went home and made chili and cornbread for dinner (and had pie and Kringle for dessert!). Steven and Dad kept working until we ate, then went back in to the basement to work more, after. I’ll do a separate post about the project, but it was structural, so there were parts of the night we were told not to be in certain parts of the house (on the stair landing or in the kitchen). Mom and I were playing Blokus in the kitchen when we were told we needed to move (they were putting a beam in underneath us, so I understand why!), so we went to the living room, but they had turned the power off, so we played Blokus by candle light. Ha.

On Saturday

• Dad came to my Indoor Cycling class (then went back home to work in the basement with Steven after)!

• And Mom came to my Fitness Boxing class!

• After class, Mom and I went to the Holcomb Hollow grand opening, then ran errands at the mall. I hate going to the mall (and shopping, in general) so it was nice to have Mom with me! I got my rings cleaned, and did an exchange.
• Then we picked up everyone’s favorite El Famous Burrito for a late lunch! (Seriously, most people who visit us want to go there!)

• The boys ate a late lunch with us, sampled some of the Holcomb Hollow treats (and had more Kringle) then got back to work. Mom and I went for a swim (we swam for about ten minutes then used the hot tub for forty!). When we came back, I helped her book a hotel for her March trip with her mom to Mount Rushmore.
• I made a stir fry type dish for dinner, and the boys ate with us, then, you guessed it – got back to work. I helped them clean out one (huge) duct and later, hold some ducts in place. That is basically all I did on that project. <— so helpful (they didn’t care, but I feel a smidge guilty to be entertaining my mom and not helping much)
• After dinner, mom got to work on the cake she wanted to make. It was called a Hummingbird Cake (recipe here), and the main flavorings were banana and pineapple. She decided to make it in to cupcakes. It turned out AMAZING! We all liked it, and had some close to 11:00 pm. Oops. SO MUCH SUGAR ON THIS VISIT AHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

• The boys finished up the project around 10:30/11:00!

On Sunday

• Dad and I went on a run in the morning, then I finished up this dishcloth real quick for Mom to take with her.

Ha, it’s obviously NOT blocked

• Then they packed up and were off! We took a quick usie since, of course, we got no photos of all four of us throughout the weekend.

We’re extremely grateful my parents visited to help us with this basement project. My dad is so helpful with house projects (or any project). Steven and I were impressed that they got it done in one and a half days of work, and I know that wouldn’t be the case if I was the one helping him with it (because I have way less experience)!

And I appreciate my mom running errands with me and helping me out with other things around the house! And being up for doing anything I suggest, ha.

I really do hope though, on the next visit, all FOUR of us can do something fun, like go to a movie, or bowling, or out for a meal!!! I bet we can make it happen!