End-of Week Scrambling...

I went back to my procrastinating ways a little this week.  I did call a Blue Cross agent, Jeff, who sent me quotes from not only Blue Cross but several other California health insurance companies.

The rest of the items on my list got a little postponed.  I did see my French conversation partner on Tuesday, but did not get to the beach, as it's been overcast here in San Diego.  I spent most of Tuesday speaking French and just hanging out with my friend, so I didn't accomplish anything else on my list.  The next two days were similar, but only because I worked those three days and was too exhausted to do anything when I got home.  So that left me with only Saturday to a) clean the balcony, b) get stuff for the yard sale, c) do something for my teaching binder, and d) do my last two exercises.  

Saturday morning:

My husband went to play tennis, so I went to Staples to copy lessons for my teacher binder.

Then I went to my parents' house and spent nearly 4 hours clearing stuff out of my room for the garage sale.  The thing that took me so long was deciding which stuff I could part with.  I hang on to WAY too much sentimental stuff.

Clean closet!

I hope some people will actually want to buy this stuff... there is a large Stewie doll that I hope some fan of the Family guy will be interested in...

Saturday afternoon:

I cleaned the balcony.  I pulled up many rusty nails to get up the crappy green floor, rolled up the floor, and piled it in a corner.  Next step will be weatherproofing the floor so water doesn't leak into the holes where I pulled up the nails.  Check out the results:

Saturday evening:

I did yoga using my computer and DVD while my husband watched the baseball game.  He tried to ignore my grunting as I attempted to hold a side plank pose.  

I did not finish Exercise #3 this week, so I told Kit that I needed an extension.  I did Exercise #3 Sunday, and I will do 3 more this week.  

For Exercise #3, I went for a 40-minute walk.  I saw a roadrunner, and while it did not make the "Beep-beep!" sound, it was pretty fast like its cartoon counterpart.  But I must tell you, they are definitely not purple:

(Note: one has to be careful of copyrights when using other people's photos.  I got this fabulous roadrunner photo from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roadrunner_DeathValley.jpg where all the content is released to the public domain.  =-)

This tired walker is going to shower... 

Exercise #1

Today I capitalized on my 15-minute breaks again, this time taking advantage of the full 15 minutes, and not just 10 min. of walking.  I walked 7+ minutes one direction, and the same amount back.  I am building up some nice calluses thanks to my not-so-padded Franco Sartos.  I guess if I were really gung ho, I'd pack sneakers in my car and put them on on my way out.  But that would require planning, something I sometimes lack...

Overcast but there was a loooooovely breeze...

Tomorrow will have to be busy for me to get ahead on my list.  I hope to at least call Blue Cross and find at least one other health insurer to research.  Among things not on my list that I would like to accomplish tomorrow - going to the beach, and meeting with my French conversation partner.

It seems that my optional items on the list are proving rather difficult to accomplish.  It seems that if they're not mandatory, I kinda don't do them...  the meditating, I haven't done at all.  And going to bed by 10pm?  Lately it's been more like 1am.  But I am tired since I had to get up for work this morning, so I am going to bed by 11pm tonight.  And I'm gonna knock out Watership Down, the awesomest 500-page book about bunnies you will ever read.  Goodnight all.  =-)

A Productive Week...

Did I mention I got some work, finally?  Since I had no luck finding a job in education for the summer, I went back to my old haunt, the temp agency, and got my first of hopefully a string of short-term receptionist gigs.

As for the list, I got a late start this week, not exercising until Wednesday.  As I said, Exercise #1 was at the gym (on bikes, weight machines, and the elliptical treadmill).

I got creative for Exercise #2, and I added up two days worth of walking on my work breaks.  Thursday, I walked 10 minutes (5 minutes up the street, 5 minutes back), and Friday, I walked 10 minutes at my first break and 10 minutes at my second (and I could see the ocean on the way back =-)  The only downside was that I was slightly sticky for about 20 minutes afterwards.

This is the street where I walked - my cell phone pic doesn't do it justice.  The little strip of silver to the right of the building at the end - that's the Pacific.  Gorgeous.

For Exercise #3, I also got creative.  It came down to 11:30 pm on Saturday and I still hadn't done Exercise #3.  If I had put it off till Sunday and requested an extension, then I would have to exercise four times the next week.  So I got off the couch from watching "Where the Heart Is,"and walked up and down the stairs 20 times.  It took only 5 minutes.  So for some reason, 20 was the magic number, and I did 20 of everything from leg lifts to arm circles to grand pliés to squats.

Can I request bonus points?  I kicked butt on our balcony today (even though I already worked on the grill this week), with the help of a little child labor (we donated money to our church in exchange for giving a 14-year-old some work around the house).  No laws were broken in the employment of this child.  And we tipped her $10 and gave her food.  She repotted our ailing palm and pulled up nails that were pinning down the monstrosity that is our fake grass floor covering.  We finished two thirds of the job, and check out the results (and y'all will have to look at my previous posts for the "before" pictures):

I also looked up HMOs at Blue Cross Anthem, but or course I couldn't figure out if they covered allergy shots.  I assume they don't, but I will call next week to see.  So that takes care of my health plan item.

So woohoo!!  That completes this week's part of the list.  After I worked out, I finished watching "Where the Heart Is."  Natalie Portman is just so darn cute.  I'm off to bed.  Cuz it's late and stuff.  =-)

A Quick Note...

It's my bedtime so before I go, I wanted to say that I cleaned out my bedroom for the garage sale again and did Exercise #1 at the gym (gym visit #2) yesterday.

That's all for now... trying to get to bed by (or around) 10pm.  Why oh why is that so hard to to do?  

A Modest Disposal

I did work on the balcony for about 25 minutes on Sunday, making very modest gains.  The grill, despite rampant rust on the exterior, the inside is shaping up nicely and might be fit for grilling soon.  I plan to recycle the plethora of unused planting containers, rip up the nasty green floor covering, and re-pot our ailing palm.  I also have a crackpot idea of buying some out door tile, and just laying it down without grout, simply because I'm worried about doing anything permanent - they may have to tear down our balcony at some point because the beams are eaten through by termites.  (Should I really be having company out there  when the thing could conceivably collapse?!!)  I guess for now, we'll keep other people off of it, and just make it look nice...

Here are some "Before" pictures of our balcony.  I hope to have some kick-ass "After" pictures in the near future...

The hole in the middle is where our hibachi grill burned through the covering.  Every time it rained, the balcony would get so flooded that our little Buddha would appear to be floating.  If anybody could do that, Buddha could.

Our laminate flooring samples have been sitting there for a year...

Most of this will be recycled.  I plan to re-pot our palm in the container in the middle, so it doesn't become a casualty of my lack of a green thumb (like its buddy on the left there).

Requesting an extension...

Yes, I am hereby requesting an extension on one of my items... already.  I was hoping to clean the balcony/grill area during the first week, and it might have happened if it hadn't flipping rained half of this week.  Once it rains, the faux grass abomination that is our patio flooring becomes a soggy green mess that sticks to your shoes and the bottom of everything on the porch.  So, seeing as it's 11:21pm on Saturday, I'm not about to do it right now to remain faithful to my list.  Last month, Kit and I decided that an extension of a day or two would be acceptable.  Just be wary of granting too many of these...

I did, however, check off my third time exercising this week.  I went for a walk with my husband for 40 minutes, hiking up a hill that made me slightly asthmatic and conscious of my need for a lot more cardio.

Now, you're probably wondering, what of my partner in this project?  Kit recently told me that she has been checking off items too, but her cell phone memory is too full to take pictures of everything.  More on that later, and possibly some visuals if she ever decides to purge her data memory...

Digging Through the Past...

Last night, I did my Exercise #2 for the week at L.A. Fatness, as my hubby calls it.  I did Body Works Plus Abs, which consisted of weights, mats, and a step.  I only felt slightly lame for putting down my 5-lb. weights occasionally and lifting air.

Today was a busy day in the life of the Five Things project - I went over to my parents' house to do a little house-sitting, and while I was there, I ate breakfast and researched activities for my Teaching Binder on TeacherVision.com - now I fully understand the wonder that is Capture the Flag.

I also spent a good amount of time working on the Garage Sale item on my list - which meant digging through my old closet and my old bedroom to finally clear out all the junk that has been sitting in my closet, under the bed, in drawers, and on shelves - some of it dating back to  elementary school (hello, 6th Grade Compass Rose!).  I finally allowed myself to tear out all those notes from undergrad - as much as I loved Statistics, I already have plenty of bedside reading material to put me to sleep.

I salvaged a few items of clothing, magazine articles, college papers, greeting cards, and other memorabilia that I might care about a few years from now.  I read a magazine article that suggested taking pictures of school projects you can't bear to just throw away - so I took close-ups of my Compass Rose, Greek God thrones, cool R.L. Stine book report, and topographical map of the fictional land Broadway Island (7th Grade social studies).  Now they will live forever in digital form, and I can send them to the recycling center where they will be born into some other kid's priceless school project someday...

Woo hoo! Hard part's over...

So in continuation of my last post, I did exactly that - ran up and down the stairs 25 times and popped in a yoga DVD.  Remember "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally" Order of Operations, peeps?  Of course you do (hint: solve the Parentheses first):

(13 stairs X 2 (up and down) X 25 times) + (1 landing X 2 steps to clear said landing X 25 times X 2 (up and down)) = (650) + (100) = 750 steps and 1 tired girl who needs to shower

I texted Kit a pic of me doing the Dancer Pose, which took a fair amount of coordination considering I was holding a phone in one hand and my foot in the other:

So the hard part's over - the First Thing.  Well, the first step of the First Thing.

Now it's off to the Shower Thing and then the Bed Thing.  Nites!

The first week is always the hardest...

Ugh, it's Wednesday and I haven't done one required item yet... I'm over the hump, and the only thing I've done is go to bed by 10pm last night.  Well, I went towards bed at 10 anyways.  By the time I brushed my teeth, did a half-ass job of washing my face (rubbed a cotton pad soaked with toner all over my face, and put on some ProActiv lotion), and obsessively checked my phone alarms to make sure all the appropriate reminders were programmed in, it was 10:30.  I allowed myself to read Watership Down for 15 minutes and then finally turned out the light.  But I am giving myself bonus points for the effort.  Kit put some bonus items on her list too (you basically can give yourself a pat on the back if you do them, but they're not required).  I'm thinking maybe I'll allow myself to buy something cool on our next shopping expedition if I do a relatively good job on my bonus items...

And speaking of Kit, here is her list of Five Things, which has blossomed into Six Things.  Hey, we're making up the rules as we go:

"Hi Kat--

I had a blast. We must have girl time again soon!

So this is what I have so far for my five things:
1. Exercise 1x a week (weeks with migraines exempt but then I should make up so total of 4)
2. clean the shower
3. fold my laundry every week (bonus to do one load every other night)
4. clean out & organize a closet or organize all the boxed books and put them on the bookshelves
5. hang pictures in my house
6. take our bags and boxes of donations to goodwill (added to this month since I only had 4 last month)

xoxo
Kit"


Good job, Kit, I love the part about hanging pictures, which is something I desperately need to do, as I have about 5 hangable things leaning next to my bed, including a three-foot-tall gilded mirror, a giant floral Monet, two botanical prints, and a picture montage with no pictures in it.  They have been there for more than a year... maybe a good reason to put them on next month's list...


Wow, it's 9:03... I still have time to work out, right?  I really don't want to drive to the gym in the rain (and this is So. Cal. in July - what the - ??) so maybe I'll just run up and down the stairs and pop in a yoga video... more on that later... =-)

So Kit and I celebrated the first month of our Five Things project by meeting up in Newport Beach, CA. We lunched at Baja Fresh, sat on the beach reading trashy magazines, then browsed in Nordstrom (it took a tremendous amount of restraint to NOT buy anything, even though I found a fabulous dress for $184, sigh), and we finished up the night with Happy Hour drinks and appetizers at the Aloha Grill. It's a good and glorious thing to do next to nothing with your best girlfriend for an entire day! =-)

So now it's back to business, given that we have had three weeks to slack off. Today, I decided on my Five Things, and sent the following email to Kit:

"Hey girlie,

Thursday was so fun! We should totally do that again!

I have tentatively decided on my Five Things:

1. Clean balcony (must begin in the first week)

2. Exercise 3 times per week. 3 times this month must be at the gym

3. Look into/apply to new health plans (must do 1 thing per week)

4. Arranging a yard sale

5. Assemble a teaching binder with lessons for each grade level. 1 thing must be done per week.

optional bonus activities: meditate 20 min. every day (I would just get kudos for doing it) and going to bed by 10:00 two nights/week.

Let me know what your list is, and we'll count this as the first week. Happy list-making! =-)

Love ya,

Kat"

More later on what Kit decides to do...

But while we're waiting, behold the object of my shopping restraint - fab or no?: