Gym is Open (Wednesday 1/16)

The gym is open.  I plan to do treadmill work and some strength training unless the roads are too icy to navigate.  We're expecting Arctic weather and they never seem to be able to tell us how much snow to expect.  1-4 inches is too broad a range -- if it's one inch, I'll be fine.  Four inches, and I'll probably slide down the hill and not be able to get back up the road. What did you do to move your body today? Kix

I woke up this morning feeling worn to the bone.  The roads don't look too terrible, but frankly, I'm tired and have decided to forego my killer treadmill today. I did shovel our driveway (including chiseling the packed bits from my sister driving her big a$$ car out of the garage at 5 AM to go to work).   While I was chiseling our driveway, I noticed that our right-side neighbor was leaving her house hunched over like a question mark.  Turns out she threw out her back.  I told her I'd shovel her driveway, and, of course, she said, "Oh, no no no!"  I told her, "If I do it anyway, are you going to beat me up?"  She laughed and said she can't run that fast.  (Her adult son lives with her, I don't know why he doesn't shovel, he just drives over the snow and goes to work). I shoveled her driveway and sidewalk.  My late mother would crawl out of her casket and come after me if I came indoors and put my feet up knowing my neighbor had a sore back and a driveway in need of shoveling. It's just the way I was raised, I guess. While I was at it, I did the left-side neighbor, too.  He and I trade off in terms of shoveling each other's sidewalks, but I wanted to get some more exercise, so I did his driveway, too.  While I was shoveling his driveway, I found four frozen strawberries imbedded in the snow.  Guess I know what they had for dessert last night!  I thought about doing the driveway and sidewalk of the elderly couple in the cul-de-sac adjacent to our street, but I'm not acquainted with them at all and worried about offending them.  Some people are funny that way.  Our left-side neighbor knows them, so I'll ask him next time if he thinks they would mind if I shoveled their walk. Once I shower and have some lunch (leftover lasagna), I'll do some housework.  Not the kind of wonderfully aerobic housework that Dunny does, but I'll vacuum and dust and wax and maybe do some laundry.   Kix

I would much rather do aerobic housework than shovel snow in the cold!  That was very nice of you to freeze yourself and help out your neighbors.  The reason my housework is aerobic is that I let it get too bad first - I never just surface clean. Then, once I start I'm a mad woman - every crevice, corner, surface, and hidden place is scrubbed.  I can't clean my kitchen partly - I have to reorganize the cabinets, scrub the fridge, clean out the pantry, scrub the oven and under the burners.  When I vacuum, its just insane.  I'm lazy yet obsessive compulsive... this is, at best, a quirky personality combination. 

Dunny, what I did today is probably a step up from "surface clean" but not anything close to what you do.  Heck, I didn't even move the furniture when I vacuumed.  My sister did all that just before Christmas, so I figure we're good until next year!  I did mop the foyer, which was getting kind of crusty with all the mud/salt/sand getting tracked in from outside.  I also vacuumed the hallways, living room, and kitchen.  I ran out of time to mop the kitchen floor, but I did wipe up the digusting slobbers, so it doesn't look too bad. My sister's stove is one of those flat glasstop ones, so no burners to clean under; however, when anything gets scorched on it, it's a hassle to clean.  Even so, it's still better than cleaning under burners.  I should clean the inside of the fridge, but I hate doing it, so I don't.  There's no fur or anything in there, I just need to give it a proper scrub. Thinking about it, I'm pretty sure I'd rather shovel every driveway in the neighborhood rather than deep clean the inside of a house!  I'm glad there are people like you around, otherwise, we'd all be piggies! Kix

I used to have an elderly neighbor that I'd shovel out too - at least as much as I shoveled mine. If it got too deep when I lived back in PA, I'd get lazy and just shovel tracks! The funniest was after "The Storm of the Century" back around '95 - so deep I had to shovel a path for the dog - and Bruno was not a little dog!

In Oregon, they get the snow in the mountains, but we just get freezing rain in the valley. I sort of miss snow...

Wow, Kix, I'm tired just hearing about all your shoveling escapades.  Would you be MY neighbor???  Bet that hot shower felt great -  I went to the gym at lunch today - did 30 minutes on the rowing machines and 15 minutes on the bike, whi*****luded a 5 minute cooldown.  I'm going out to dinner tonight with a couple girlfriends, so the cardio is it for me today.  More tomorrow -  Kellie

I don't know what was wrong with me, I felt so tired and achy all day.  Not the ill kind of achy, just tired.  I ate more protein tonight and I'm starting to feel like my old self, so I'm thinking I did way too many carbs yesterday and my body just couldn't stand it. I'm not sure about living in Cleveland (although my nephew enjoyed attending Case Western), but if you'd consider a move elsewhere, I'd certainly be your neighbor!  I like being neighborly, too, so I'd shovel your driveway without being asked. Kix

Cleveland has a fabulous Asian art collection at their museum, which is right near Case Western. I spent a summer in Lakewood at the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival back in the early '70's and liked it much more than I expected. My only objection is that it is a city ... I'm more of a country girl if I have a choice.

*&%^$# weather is starting to tick me off - it is so cold out there! I got lots of snow at my house but there isn't any here at work, so the ride to work was actually decent. But getting up this morning and leaving my house at 5:30 to work out with it being 2 degrees... that was just too much. If I had the money, I would be flying to Mexico every weekend and sit on the nice, warm beach. Being a broke student just sucks sometimes. Today was long run day - I did 3.3 miles. I've been having a really hard time running 4 miles - I'm not sure why since I was just fine before Christmas. But I am trying to get myself back to doing 4 miles and figured small steps were better. So, I'm adding small amounts each time I run. Today I felt great, I probably could of done 4 miles no problem. But I don't want to pu**** and wear myself out, so I will be disciplined and do my little schedule. Tonight I have an intro meeting at the Colorado Mountain Club - it's a club that plans many outdoor adventures for it's members and has some great mountaineering courses that I want to take. Everyone I know has been adamant about me taking classes there, so I'm looking forward to hearing what they have to say.

PJ, I've about had it with this weather, too.  My sister says, "It's stock show time, it's supposed to be cold."  All I can say is it's a good thing we went when we did -- had we gone in this kind of weather, I can guarantee you I'd have been weeping the entire day.  This kind of cold makes my joints hurt like a son-of-a-gun. Being broke does suck, I can certainly relate!  Right now, I'd sell my soul for a trip to Hawaii.  I have enough frequent flier points on Hawaiian to go for free.  Only problem is, I need to get to CA first, as Hawaiian doesn't fly out of Denver.  I'm saivng my points to go first class to Australia, and I'm getting pretty close, so I don't want to spend my points now.  I might have to make do with a trip to Vegas and some slot machine action.  Vegas has to be warmer than here. According to 9Weather, it's going to be varying stages of cold for the next five days.  B$$$$$ds! Kix