Life Recently
[A week of awesomeness]On Sunday, I went to my parents place and helped assemble (‘helped’ implies I had help … which I didn’t) a Bowflex and a Nordictrac that my dad had gotten from someone else who had it abandoned in a rental property. Or at least that was the story. It sounded like something I shouldn’t look at too closely, so I didn’t. But the cool part was that dad gave me the Nordictrac after I was done assembling it. Now I just have to figure out how to get it into my house. That's one of my projects for today.
On Monday, I went to lunch with my mentor at work and she said that she’d heard from multiple sources that I was doing well, was on top of things, organized, and effective. That was really thrilling to hear! After years of being either a slacker dodging work or unappreciated when I battened down and did a great job, it was nice to hear my efforts were recognized. And nicer still to imagine that my job is secure.
On Tuesday, I mentioned to my boss and boss’ boss an international professional conference for my field that was being held in Dallas, which is just a four and a half hour drive from here. It’s at the end of April. I did not think there was a chance in hell of them letting me go to it, since they weren’t letting me go visit my own suppliers, but they were surprisingly receptive to it. As it turns out, the company has some housing in the metro area where I might be able to stay for free and my boss was interested in car-pooling down with me. I like my boss, so that sounded awesome. I turned in a requisition for it.
Tuesday evening, I went to Zumba for the first time. I’ve signed up for I think 8 sessions with 10 other women from work. It was awesome! Hard, exhausting, frustrating to try to get my body to follow the complicated movements of the instructor, but totally worth it. I felt great for an hour after, just exhilarated. I’ve never had that feeling after exercise before. Instead, it was always a feeling of being drained and a deep-seated aversion, like I’d been hurt inside. It didn't help that other kids would laugh at me because they did better (yes, I have not seriously exercised in more than twenty years). I’d heard about runner’s high, but it seemed like a myth. I’ve done a little running - not much - and it was always torture. Or boring. Or boring that turned into torture after a while. But this class was fun!
On Wednesday, my son elected not to go to his father’s home for the evening. I’m hoping this turns into a recurring theme, so that I don’t have to worry about whether the kids are going to be taken to school or not. The downside is that I don’t have Wednesdays to myself anymore, but they’re my kids. They’re part of my life whether inconvenient or not. I was proud and happy that he picked me over his dad, bogus as that is. However, my ex had picked up my daughter from school, so all I had at home was the 13 year old. I fobbed him off with the excuse that I was going in to town to shop for exercise clothes (which I did) and then went to a demo on vaginal fisting at the club. I was still home at his bedtime to make sure he got to bed when he was supposed to. (Also: vaginal fisting = pretty cool.)
I also had a doctor’s appointment for a general physical, but nothing of importance happened. They’ll do blood work in a week or so. I can see why people don’t bother to go in for a physical, if all the doctor does is listen to any specific complaints you have, listen to you breathe, and order blood work. I had imagined that a general physical included at least a head-to-toe examination, a discussion of major areas of health impact (sleeping, emotional, weight, lifestyle, nutrition, etc.), and a review of risk factors pertinent to my situation. But … none of that. Huh. Well, I can put a check in the box that I went and scratch off routine or annual doctor’s visits as something that would be of benefit to me.
Thursday was a good, solid day of kicking ass. I ordered some books to get back into reading. Clearly I've stalled out on the recent one, 8 Weeks to Better Health. Maybe switching gears is in order. I had Zumba again and although I don't think I got as thorough a workout, I was more coordinated at the movements. I felt more accomplished after. Just two sessions and I'm already noticing how much easier it is to move my body - flexibility and comfort. I'm totally sold on it. I'm going to see if I can find some Wednesday/Friday sessions to add to it. Also, small victory - I managed to catch up on most of my emails to people.
Yesterday (Friday), I had several nice ego boosts at work. I really get the impression that my bosses think I'm doing good. They were using a spreadsheet I'd devised, and they took my advice/direction on where to source some parts to get us out of hot water with the supplier who burned down. The big boss (owner of the international parent company) came by and toured the facility. I managed not to see him or get seen, which given he's rumored to be an asshole, was a very good thing.
[Goals]My goals for the weekend include:
- Breakfast for the kids
- Shopping
- Making Spanish rice
- Attending my dad's fajita cookout
- Trying to get the Nordictrac back to my house
- MBU? Or at least editing and syncing up one or more of the chapters in my inbox
- Clubbing? Not sure. My daughter wants to sleepover at my mother's, and my mother is cool with that, which would free me up … but I've got a lot of other things I want to do this weekend … but on the other hand, I hit it off really well with a guy at the fisting demo and he has the most fabulous chest hair …
- I'm supposed to be finishing Sexual Tension, but I'm totally not feeling it
- Post that Brick that I wrote earlier in the week, the little short one
- D&D
- Bills
- Heroes rewatch