Getting Fit with Lisa

My blog for getting fit - Getting Fit with Lisa.

I was tossing around the idea of having some guest bloggers there and we could encourage each other. Let me know if you are interested in blogging there occasionally or regularly.

Wednesday Wherefores

Wednesday already? How'd that happen?

Work is going well. After an initial sharp learning curve, I think I've settled into a good understanding of the tasks involved. I am clicking past user searches and evaluating the relevance of the results that came up. Sounds fairly simple, until you see the intricacies of it. A small percentage of my work is reviewed by another annotator and the overlap rate has to be pretty close. I picked up three extra hours this week, so that's serendipity.

Spanish class has been a little frustrating lately. It seems the expectation is that the students can learn the language in the one 80 minute class we have each week, spending the least possible amount of time on homework. Obviously many traditionally-schooled students have 5 hours of foreign language weekly and still don't manage to come out with any fluency, so I don't think too many of my students can manage it on one class per week and no effort. I guess I need to reiterate the concept of spending time OUTSIDE of class on Spanish in order to achieve mastery.

Monday night I could have gone to the movies with friends, but I didn't. Worked instead.

Last night read some of Wuthering Heights - nearly done. Probably could finish it tonight, although I don't know if I will make the effort. Did finish the Trigiani book last night. Pretty good.

Last Monday was the long long day where I had to drop Bob at work and pick him up. So I took advantage of dropping some materials from other libraries in my local library's drop box. The library courier takes them back to the proper libraries. I've been told it usually takes a day or two. Well, on FRIDAY, several DVD's still had not made it back to the home libraries, and therefore they were QUITE overdue by that point. I don't make a habit of keeping library materials past their due dates, so I was pretty annoyed. Saturday they were still not showing up as returned, but it was past library hours when I checked the computer. So on Monday, I was determined to call and track them down, wondering by this point if they'd been stolen from the drop box or something. However, they checked in as returned on Monday morning - A WEEK LATE. Argh. So now I have huge fines at one library where I had 3 DVDs out. I need to go beg mercy from them. I could have returned them myself on Tuesday or Wednesday and owed less money. Plus one of my children has a terrible habit of keeping books under the bed or in piles around the room and has had a number of items out late recently, racking up some fines. So I am taking a moratorium from library materials for a little bit. We still have lots to read around the house, and the kids will just have to deal with no movies out for a while. I don't really have TIME to watch anything right now anyway.

Wanted to run yesterday, but I had a meeting that went for about 4 hours instead of the two I'd imagined. So since something had to give, it was running. The weather was gorgeous and I was actually REALLY looking forward to running at a path in Lapeer. Ah well, I will go running in a little while today. It's overcast but it's 50 degrees!

Weekly Preview

Saturday - Taking the kids to the pool
Sunday - Church, Youth Group? (D,E), Running?
Monday - Spanish, WORK (4 hrs daily), SOF movie night??
Tuesday - Lessons, WORK, Meeting with SOF Committee
Wednesday - Lessons, WORK
Thursday - Lessons, WORK
Friday - Co-op, WORK, Keepers Sleepover (E,S)
Saturday - Halo3 Party

I went running yesterday! (cue the confetti!) I used the MotionTraxx podcast for the first time. My choice was the Big Time Episode #5 “Big Time” at 160 BPM. The music is techno, but very upbeat and repetitive - perfect for exercising.

According to the DJ, this podcast is an 11:00 mile pace, a little faster than I am used to running. I believe I have been mostly running around a 12:00 mile. So, I ran faster and alternated with walking when it got overwhelming. I didn't measure my distance, but was out for about 40 minutes in the chilly sunshine. I expect to run again tomorrow. I am going to experiment with some of the other podcasts over the next few weeks to find out what pace I am comfortable with and which ones will challenge me.

I spent the morning sleeping in and working on the Lightning Thief unit study. Bob is at work today 12-5. They are having a half-off clothing sale.

If I am going to take the kids swimming, I better get them some lunch! We need to leave at 1.

4 Miles, 7 Inches, 2 Tests

Did not run on Saturday, but did go out and jog 4 miles on Sunday. It was actually alternating jogging and walking and that's the longest I've ever done. I went two miles down the road, so I had to come two miles back. lol It's a hillier route than I am used to also. The weather was about 41 and sunny when I left, though it was overcast by the time I returned.

I'm feeling it today! My legs are SORE! No workout today (Monday is usually a rest day.) but I will do Tae-bo Tuesday, unless I actually go sledding myself, which I doubt. I'm more of a stand-and-watch kind of mom.

Did my nails bright PINK the other day - 2 coats with a clear top coat and it lasted 3 days without a chip. They need to be redone, and I am debating whether or not to put in the effort. I like how they look when they are painted, but I don't like constantly thinking about my fingernails.

My grey needs to be touched up and I need a haircut. Maybe I can get myself all pulled together before the weekend!

We have a lot of snow. Seven inches maybe? Bob left for work this morning and had to backtrack since someone hit a pole and there was no way through. He ended up getting there late and thus working an hour late. But they asked him to come in tomorrow for 5 extra hours!

Reading a Chris Bohjalian book, but not feeling like I want to keep reading.

Took two "tests" in my training today. One I did well on, the other not so much. Hopefully I can clarify some of the concepts during the live web meetings we will have this week.

Hump Day Update

Quick update.

Monday, we did some lessons and then headed out to spend the day at a friend's. She was hosting a scrapbooking day and the kids were going to have their SOCIALIZATION PRACTICE. Every homeschooled child needs this, you know. So, the moms socialized and the kids socialized. People came and people went. We stayed. All night. LOL We haven't seen these particular friends in way too long and the night was so fun! We laughed and laughed. She introduced me and another friend to Tyler Perry, whose movies I'd never seen. We also watched Scrooged. You know, for holiday spirit. Then we talked religion into the wee hours. We are all Christians, but go to vastly different churches.

Daylight came way too early and WHAT? This friend doesn't drink COFFEE! So I was bleary. Headed out late morning, stopping at Meijer on the way for gingerbread house supplies. Mid-afternoon I went for a 3 mile run outside. I took a new route. More hills. Ow. Had to walk some. Plus having only 5 hours of restless sleep probably didn't help too much. lol

The rest of Tuesday was spent in listing books on Amazon and job searching on the internet. OK, I may have played a LITTLE Bejeweled on facebook. So, that was Tuesday.

Oh yeah, and Bob got the big fridge moved into the kitchen! YAY He had Tuesday off. It's not hooked up to water yet. That will be a bigger job since that hookup doesn't even exist yet.

Today, I never even left the house. LOVE that when it's cold and windy. It was Gingerbread House Day here today and pictures will be up eventually at Cornerstone. We watched some Mr. Bean on DVD and had a long lecture (ahem) on expectations and how they would change if anyone here were to be enrolled in public school. Did you know they would have to be at the jr/sr high school around SEVEN AM? Ungodly hour, isn't it? They thought so too.

I did push the kids outside for a while today, but I didn't even do Tae-bo. Tomorrow is another day. If it is sunny and not too awfully windy, I will run 3 miles outside again. If the weather is icky, it will be a Tae-bo day.

Tomorrow I also have to get everything ready for Family Christmas on Saturday - gather all the white elephants together and make sure I have all the goodies made.

Friday we are going to the rec center for a swim party with the homeschool group. The kids are excited about that. They love swimming there and it's expensive so we don't go too often. Read that as Almost Never. We'll stop at the store after for any last-minute stuff and make sure we get a good night's sleep so we can head out bright and early Saturday for the celebration!

Sagas 1 & 2 and 5K Coming Up

James went to the doctor last week and was put on an antibiotic. Well, THIS week, he seems to have turned up with a non-allergic amoxicillin rash. He is covered in red spots. I was going to take him to the doctor, but it turned out to be a lot harder than I imagined.

I called our regular pediatrician. Waited on hold for about twelve minutes before speaking to a human and learning that the doctor is out of town for 2 weeks. Gone to India. The office referred us to the pediatrician on call - he was gone to jury duty. (They can't excuse him during H1N1 season??? Really?)

So, I called HIS replacement and left a message on their answering service, which told me they would call back within 48-72 hours. Reassuring, eh? I then called BACK to our office and asked if James could see one of the family practice doctors. Nope, they were all overloaded, and all call-ins were being referred to the walk-in clinic. Farther away? During flu season? Not really a good idea, in my opinion.

Finally that last office called back and told me THAT doctor had gone home sick. I was talking to the nurse though, and she agreed with me that it was probably the non-allergic amoxicillin rash and James was probably not contagious. Keep giving him the amoxicillin.

But I kept him home from co-op anyway because he just looks so awful. He feels great though! The other kids have gone to co-op but I am home with James.

That was saga #1. Saga #2 involved a hard drive failure which thankfully is covered under warranty. I spent a lot less time on the phone with tech support than I did trying to get ahold of a doctor. lol A new hard drive will be sent to us within a couple business days, and we can get back to business. But everything on that hard drive is toast. All of my stuff is backed up. David and Emily both lost some work, though. Emily was devastated, but David was matter-of-fact. He told me his philosophy is basically "Don't cry over spilled milk" and got back to work typing in his lost 2000 words.

I have finished teaching the first semester of one of my Spanish classes. It will resume again mid-January. Three weeks remain in the first semester of the other Spanish classes.

This coming week appears to be calm - most activities are not being held because of Thanksgiving. I am hopeful that I can catch up with my writing. I am several thousand words behind.

I've been counting calories this week. I've not been recording my food intake in a couple of months, but I've gotten lazy. Next year? I better count calories around Halloween. I am going to try hard to make my goal by mid-December.

I found a 5K race, the Santa Shuffle in Lapeer, that I think I'll run two weeks from tomorrow. There is a fun run for the kids that I may be able to persuade the kids to participate in. Anyone care to join me?


So, fin

Completed Workouts

Completed Workouts -
S - None - resting,
M - Tae-bo video (65 minutes)
T -Jog 1.0 miles (darn treadmill died!)
W - Kickboxing Class with Emily
Th - Jog 2.5 miles
Fri - Nothing. My knees were bothering and I overslept besides. :-D
Sa - Jogged 3.4 miles (6 loops, plus walking there and back)

Workout Log

Completed Workouts -
S - None - resting
M - Jog 2 miles
T -Tae-bo video (35 min)
W - Jog 2 miles
Th - Played soccer with Suzy's team for 40 minutes
Fri - None
Sa - jogged 2.5 miles (and was nearly late for soccer, so I didn't go the full 3 miles)

Workout Log

Well, these were the workout plans were: S - Bike ride, M - Jogging, T - kickboxing (evening), W - kickboxing (AM), T - Jogging, Friday - OFF, S - Jogging

What actually happened was:
Sunday - Walk with family (instead of bike ride)
Mon - Sick, so no workout
Tuesday - Jogged 2.5 miles instead of going to kickboxing
Wed - Did Tae-Bo video instead of going to kickboxing (she changed class time and it's later in the AM - messes up my day!) + 100 crunches
Thurs - Nothing! Way too hectically busy!
Friday - Tae-bo video
Sat - Jogged 3.1 miles! WOO-HOO!!! Longest ever, and I ran 1.5 miles before I stopped to walk!