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Three (3!) Things Thursday

Feb 2nd, 2012
by gazelle.
2 comments

1. Today I have the day off work so that I can finish writing my Capstone. Which means that in approximately 10 minutes, I need to log into work remotely and do some work stuff. I hired a new person this week, and she starts next week, and I couldn’t be happier unless she’d been able to start a couple of months ago. I swear if I had a time machine, I would only use it for good!

 

 

2. Seriously – did you catch that first sentence up there? Today I am going to finish writing my Capstone. I have two weeks left of school after today, but that will be reserved for revisions and formatting. All the major writing will be done by 6 pm today! DONE!

 

 

3. I had a great swim again last night with the Amphibious Ambitious One. The pool we’ve been at the last couple of weeks has been so delightfully empty! I hadn’t been feeling my best before getting there, and wasn’t sure how well I’d do, but she talked me into at least giving it a try for 15 minutes. I swam for 30 minutes w/o a break and felt amazing! I definitely need to add more swimming into my week – no idea why it’s such a pain in my ass to do this. Seriously – the pool is a 10  minute walk from my office, is always empty-ish, and I have a 10-punch card. Why can’t I do this 3 days/week?  I feel so amazing after. Maybe once school is done & don’t feel I have to rush home to write every night?

photo credit – the Ambitious One

February 2012 Goals

Jan 31st, 2012
by gazelle.
1 comment

Can you believe that today is the last day of January? 2012 is already 1/12 over! This month was not the way I typically like to start the year, and I think you’ll see that the number of stressors in my life negatively impacted my goal achieving for the month. I am okay with that, because if I weren’t okay with that, then I would be more stressed out, and that helps no one.

So – what was I going to do this month?

January 2012 Goals

  1. Find a daycare for Alvie Bean starting in July! – FAIL! But I really do need to get on this ASAP. July is only 5 months away, and I don’t think the cats are going to be adequate caregivers. We’re on a waiting list, but the earliest that would start would be September.
  2. Purchase and install shelves/storage for Alvie Bean’s room. – FAIL! Dammit. But – we got a carseat! And baby laundry detergent. As soon as I have a place to keep the clothes, I will be washing and folding and storing.
  3. Clean out the office and make it more office-y, and less “place where junk goes to die” – FAIL! This is going to have to wait until I’m done w/ school, but since that’s nearly here…
  4. Minimize work/school stress through the gratuitous use of meditation (oops – typed medication the first time; not the same thing), yoga, and other exercise. – FAIL!

January 2012 Training Goals

  1. Fifteen hours of exercise-related activity. – FAIL! I got about 11.5 hours, which all things considered is okay, I guess. Between the pelvic pain and the additional stress in my life, I’m just pleased that I didn’t quit EVERYTHING 3 weeks ago!
  2. A minimum of five yoga classes – SUCCESS!  Finally – something I actually did! I logged 5 yoga classes & 1 home practice. Yay!
  3. Average one swim/week – FAIL! I only swam twice in January. BUT – my last swim was so awesome, and I’m swimming again tomorrow. So, yay?
  4. Average one bike/week – FAIL! I am finding it very difficult to bike at all anymore, so didn’t log any bike time this month. My knees hit my belly. I need to go back to the fitness center and use the recumbent bike again – that seems a little better.
  5. One walk with the architect every weekend – FAIL! See aforementioned pelvic injury.

 

Well – that doesn’t look good, does it?

BUT – I did have some successes that I need to mention.

  1. I got through my big, stressful work project, sanity intact
  2. I survived the month, sanity intact
  3. Ummm…my sanity is still intact?

Honestly – January was not good to me. Between the giant, enormously stressful work project, finishing up grad school, my dad’s cancer diagnosis, the tree falling on the architect’s truck, and oh, yeah – last Saturday night our furnace stopped working (so happy we don’t live in a SUPER cold place), this was a rough month. Add to that being fairly pregnant, and you have a recipe for crazy, I think.

It’s hard for me to gauge how well I handled all this, as I’m not sure how well I should be handling it all. Sometimes I think I’m okay, and sometimes I think that I could really be doing much better. I have decided that since I still feel fairly sane, that maybe I’m either (a) handling it okay, or (b) repressing and on my way to a huge breakdown at some unknown point in the future. Could go either way, I suppose.

 

ANYWAY – onward and upward…if my February goals look familiar, that’s because they are.

February 2012 Goals

  1. Finish grad school! YAY!
  2. Find a daycare for Alvie Bean starting in July!
  3. Purchase and install shelves/storage for Alvie Bean’s room.
  4. Clean out the office and make it more office-y, and less “place where junk goes to die”
  5. Finalize baby prep lists

February 2012 Training Goals

  1. Fifteen hours of exercise-related activity (total tallied below: 15.5 hours)
  2. Six yoga classes, minimum (estimated time: 7.5 hours)
  3. Five swims, minimum (estimated time: 3.75 hours)
  4. Two 15-minute upper body weights sessions/week (estimated time: 2.25 hours)
  5. Four visits to the fitness center for 30 minutes of cardio (estimated time: 2 hours)

I know that the key for me is exercise, and I don’t think this is overly ambitious. However, I do reserve the right to listen to my body and step back if necessary. It’s going to be a busy month. I am 31 weeks pregnant & will end February at 35.5 weeks pregnant. I have no idea what I’ll be able to do by then. I’m hoping that I can continue to move – at least a little – because I know that will make everything go easier.

So (don’t feel compelled to look at this; it’s my own personal crazy) my training plan for February 2012: Feb 2012 Plan

Happy end of the month!

Weekend update – and recipes!

Jan 30th, 2012
by gazelle.
3 comments

 

I can’t believe the weekend is over already! So many things! Friday, I went back to my Hatha 2 yoga class, and lo! it was good. I’m definitely slower than I used to be an getting into poses, and I just watched everyone else do the arm balances, but overall, it was great – challenging but not TOO challenging.

After yoga, I caught up on my yogathon duties since I’d missed my meeting the night before – I’m on the planning committee again this year, and will be talking more about that once I know more. :)

The rest of Friday was spent writing – I am thisclose to being done with my capstone. All that’s left at this point is about 2/3 of the conclusion and some formatting! YAY!

About 8 pm Friday night, I realized I hadn’t gotten up from my desk in almost 7 hours AND that I hadn’t eaten in about 8 hours. I also realized that we were nearly out of food. I ate the last of the eggs and then waited for the architect to get home from his guys’ poker night. I would’ve loved to go to sleep, but I can’t fall asleep when he’s not home because the power of my awakeness keeps him safe when he’s driving. This probably does not bode well for having a teenage son who might want to stay out past 10 pm.

Saturday, I was back to yoga – this time the prenatal class. It seemed WAAAY harder than the Hatha 2 class. After I got home, the architect & I took loads of stuff to Goodwill. I feel so much lighter! Then, we met with a new doula candidate – and I think she’s the one! (The one now equals the one much less likely to QUIT on me.) Then – a walk. It was such a pretty day! I’m not sure when I turned into an elderly invalid, but that 1.5 mile walk was too much; I could barely move the rest of the day. I guess it’s swimming & yoga for me from here on out.

Sunday was groceries, writing, and a little project. I love coffee (this is well-documented, I believe), and I love flavored coffee creamers. However, I do hate the creepy ingredients in most flavored creamers. I usually deal with this by ignoring the ingredients lists. But no more! Yesterday I made my own coffee creamers – vanilla & hazelnut.

I looked at a lot of different recipes, and then ended up going with a mixture.

French Vanilla Creamer

1 cup half-and-half

1 cup heavy cream

2 TB maple syrup

1 vanilla bean

Scrape the seeds and whisk with the rest of the ingredients. Heat up to a gentle simmer. Turn off heat & allow to steep for 30 minutes. Strain & chill. (I skipped the straining.) Cool.

Hazelnut Creamer

1 cup half-and-half

1 cup heavy cream

4 TB hazelnut syrup

Whisk together. Heat to gentle simmer. Turn off heat & allow to steep for 30 minutes. Cool.

They smelled awesome, but as of this writing, I hadn’t tried them yet. I’ll add a note to let you know how they turned out.

 

Not the most ambitious of DIY projects, but the most ambitious I’ve been for awhile!

 

Have a good week, everyone!

Three (3!) Things Thursday – NO!

Jan 26th, 2012
by gazelle.
1 comment

1. I am done with this fucking work project. For better or worse, it is over and turned in. Last night I drank 17 bottles of wine ate some tacos to celebrate.

2. Three weeks from today, I will be done with my master’s degree. I can’t believe how close I am to being done!  There is still a lot of work that needs to happen in this three weeks, but I know it will happen.

3. I am so exhausted right now. I am having one of my periodic bouts of insomnia, and combined with the work and school and personal stress, not to mention pregnancy, it’s been a rough couple of weeks. I am looking forward to getting some good sleep this weekend. This weekend = yoga, walking, swimming, school work, sleeping. In other words – good things!

Weekend in Review – Boring!

Jan 23rd, 2012
by gazelle.
2 comments

Friday – I worked from 8 am – 6 pm. Then the architect & I went out for dinner. Then, I went to bed. We are party animals!

Saturday – I went to yoga (yay!) and then to Babies R Us. We are now the proud owners of a carseat for Alvie Bean. The architect is convinced that Alive will be early, and wants to be prepared.

Saturday afternoon, I did a bit of yard work – a lot of pruning & prep work for the spring – and tried to decompress a bit. I got really sick Saturday night – nauseated and dizzy and cold sweats and blergh. I slept on the sofa (with a bucket near by!) and it was the best sleep I’ve had in a while. Apparently sleeping on my back propped up into a semi-reclined position with a cat on my ankles is the most comfortable ever!

Sunday – pancakes and coffee in the AM. School in the PM.  Today will be work from 7 – 7, I think. This damn project I’m working on needs to be done by mid-day Tuesday, and oh, it will be. Oh, yes.

I am tired, and still a bit pukey feeling. I’m pretty sure it’s mostly exhaustion & stress.

I will try to stay abreast of the posting this week, but no promises!

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