We interrupt this program for another appearance by Mother Nature
That Bitch!!
When I left a few days ago, happy, P90X’d on day 30, I was recovering from Core Synergistics. I am actually still sore but who has time to think about it when the natural world gives you so much more to do! Let me explain.
I have trees. Big trees. They keep falling down. Not the whole tree, just parts of the tree. Limbs crack and break and then lay across the yard or the fence or the neighbors garage or her house…it keeps happening. Every single time it storms I worry. Every single time a tree part falls on my neighbors house it is the calmest, clearest, least windy day EVER! Every. Single. Time. I leave, the tree is fine. I come home, BOOM, it’s laying on something. Then I have to get tools (now the BF and I have to get tools) and we cut it up and drag it to the nice wood/limb/branch pile I have going in my backyard. I’ve posted pictures of it. I’ll post again in case you don’t believe me. It’s ridiculous now because every time I get it mostly cleaned up, nice and neatly stacked for continued ease of disposal, more falls and the pile grows. It’s a joke to the neighbors now.
The far left side and the far right side wood piled up is the old stuff. Everything in the middle is from yesterday.It doesn't look like alot I guess in this pic, but trust, its all tangled and gnarly and high.
This time I really got a surprise. MN (Mother Nature) decided to shake things up by NOT felling the tree limb I was actually worried about but a completely different one that I never even considered! Tricky! I should have known. I took pics of this tree. Foam was coming out of the bottom. I do not know what that means in tree life, but it’s probably not good. Got pics of that too.
So anyway, this real dangerous, heavy, stretched out limb just hangs over my neighbors house looking menacing every day and extra scary in storms. The birds don’t care. The squirrels don’t care. They just keep adding weight to it, running up and down, just doing their thing. I panic thinking it will fall. It’s huge. It’s old. It has NO chance in hell of missing her house and landing neatly in between on the driveway. It’s just that kind of tree. But it’s expensive to remove this kind of tree. Thousand dollar or more type money, which I don’t have. So we wait, and hope, and cringe every time the wind blows, but so far so good.
And oh yeah, there is also another limb that goes off it in the other direction, over my house, that looks fine. No worries. We noticed on Saturday when we got back from motorcycle class that it was dangling its leaves on the roof. Brushing ever so slightly like it was caressing the house. We tell ourselves, well we’ll have to get up there and trim those back. Not me…the BF…he’s much better at that sort of thing…plus it could start interfering with the satellite dish! Oh my! Can’t mess up the TV! He’s off on Monday (yesterday) so we can do it then.
So Saturday is class—sitting, talking, learning, then leaving. Expect to arrive early on Sunday and be prepared to ride the whole time! Ok. After class we take the kids clothes shopping for school, have a nice dinner and chill in the evening. Everyone’s happy! No P90, no other exercise except the brain stuff earlier.
Sunday 7 am. Off to class. Riding riding riding. It’s fun. It’s stressful. I feel worked out. 5 hours on a machine I have never set foot across in my life. And I get to control it and ride it and shift it and stop it…it’s too much fun! Not for everyone though. We did lose some people on the riding portion. 3 out of 12 had to go. As deemed by the instructors. Dropping the bike more than once or stalling it over and over in traffic, or actually flipping off of it, it did happen, right next to me, is pretty much instant exit. So needless to say, I was burning some stress calories and actual cals pushing that bike around. But I survived it and actually had a pretty good time. I am by no means ready for the road. I could drive it fine and turn it and stop it and all that, but I had some trouble with the quick, up and down shift (I think my boots were too fat and I couldn’t get my toe under the gear lever smoothly every time) and apparently I go WAY too slow for the other people! I’ll admit I was putt-putting it, but I shouldn’t be the leader. I need to follow someone else to gain speed! It’s not my fault!
After we got home, the kids are going to hang with their dad and he shows up to get them and notices that lovely, dangling, brushing, tree branch is now sitting on the damn roof solid. Crap. Seriously?? It must have cracked at a seam overnight (no storms, no wind) and laid itself gently to rest on the roof. Nice. So what is the afternoon like now? Up on the roof, the BF, not me, cutting branches and getting the limb up and off, then call someone to remove the rest because it is heavy and big and probably too much for us. Accomplished. The BF managed to use a handsaw to remove enough of the branches that it is up about 6 inches and if it continues to lean it will just rest back on the roof and not cause any major damage. It did crinkle the nice furnace exhaust pipe thing that our friend Jeff put up last fall but thank fully that was easily straightened.
If you look close you can see the crack. The left side is the main trunk to the ground, go across the limb to the dead knob and it's right underneath like a gash in the side. Just enough to bring it down. But not too much that it crashes on to the roof.
Here’s another question. Why, after all these years, have I never purchased a chain saw? I have needed one almost every spring and summer since I moved into this house. That money spent would have proven itself worthy over and over again. Well, we own one now. A big, nasty, loud, long-bladed monster tree cutter. A few inches short of the commercial kind. I’m not spending 500 dollars on one, but I can handle 200. After removing enough and watching it basically lean right back on over to the roof and then calling some tree services and getting a quote for 1000 dollars (WTF?? Seriously?? We already took half that shit off and it’s practically stand-up accessible) Then for another $1300, he’ll take off that other limb that is super-giant, super-heavy, and hanging so far over the neighbors house that it could be considered a whole tree all by itself. Really? Only 300 extra dollars to take off the giant limb as opposed to the half cut one? I was nice and didn’t say anything. What a rip. They have a bucket! I guess that’s what we pay for. Either that or he just didn’t want to do it so he throws out a ridiculous number hoping we would laugh and tell him to move along.
So I get the idea that since it’s obviously just going to lean back on the roof, we can go get a chainsaw and hack that sucker off ourselves. We can get it on the roof and just hope we can cut it back enough it will swing and miss the house when it goes all down. Ha! Lofty goals on Sunday night! Monday morning. Different story when my shaky ass is standing on the roof, on that treacherous angle, trying to hold limbs and not fall to my death on chainsaw chips and debris. I REALLY underestimated my ability to stand on a roof with confidence and move around. I was constantly afraid of falling off, therefore I was afraid to move too much and therefore not much help in the removal process. The longer I was up there I felt a little better, but those slippery chips were too much for me. Bright ideas look 100 times better from the ground looking up.
I have to give every kind of respect for people that can work on a roof with no problem. That is an awesome balance thing and confidence and surefootedness that I do not have! Your job is tough and scary and I can see why people pay you the money to do it.
Once the BF and I realized there was no way we could do it ourselves, because of my chicken-shitness and his lack of reach over the house and up to the limb, we decided to use the trim, wait, let the tree limb lay back on the house, trim, wait, lay, etc…method of removal. It might take awhile but the lower the limb comes down, the easier it is to remove. The person we finally got to take a look and remove it for us said that method is not going to work and is not really smart. He’s a 20 year tree guy and he has removed stuff for us before. He’s back in the biz after hurting himself some years ago, and ready to take on some small jobs! Ha! Small jobs! That’s what he considers it. I don’t care because he’s cutting us a really good deal and he knows what he’s doing. He hopped onto the roof to look at the tree like he was walking on the flat ground. Jealous!
Anyway, so there it sits now, about three feet off the roof, maybe four. Alot of the weight is off and if it starts lowering, our tree guy said just leave it. Don’t be fussing with it anymore. But, again, I have a giant pile of branches and limbs and leaves and sticks and junk in my yard. So this week is cutting and stacking neatly to make room for all the rest that is about to come. This might be the most yet! Seriously. I just thought about it this minute. We are going to have basically a tree’s worth of trunk and limbs in the yard. I really got to wrap this up and get outside. Those lazy kids of mine are still sleeping and I’m wasting hours typing and we have some work to do. I’m going to need some bribery options to really light a fire under their asses. I’d like to get all of what we presently have cut up today if possible. That’s prob going to save us alot of time and pain down the road. Especially if it starts storming like its supposed to.
Ugh! I may skip P90X again today. I was going to sneak it in (I have missed 3 days already!!) and I’m feeling nervous and agitated, but this might have to take precedence. Ugh! Kenpo too. It’s fun. I don’t HAVE to do it. It’s my choice. It’s voluntary but I feel guilty. I don’t even know why! It’s ridiculous the things that go thru my head. I’ll try to do it later. I swear. It’s not like I’m going to turn into a lump of fat in 4 days. But still…I also have the stress of this cycle class, the test is next weekend. I have to read the book. I have my real school starting the next week and I have to read that material. I have no money. All my savings money is going to stop a tree from poking through my roof. I have laundry and house stuff, and frankly I’m feeling a bit queasy right now thinking about it all. I let myself stress way too much about things I can’t even control. AND things that aren’t even going to happen for 2 weeks! (I’m thinking school. I’m trying to tell myself I need to make it fun like I did when I first started. I love it. I’m afraid of failure. But I love it. Nursing is the best job in the world and I just have to get through. I think I need some BF support tonight. Help!! Thanks honey!! I love you. Sorry for being a baby. Love you!) I feel like an old lady shaking her fist to the sky cursing the powers that be. Ugh!
Enough of the whining. Stop thinking. Start doing. Alright. The tree limb is still high and mighty for now. The crack is still cracky but not split all the way through. I will get dressed, cut limbs, exercise, figure out the money situation for the week and do laundry until it doesn’t matter. I will read and absorb and take it one little day at a time. Hour here. Hour there.
If you are still reading this, WOW!, and thank you. It’s like listening in to someone’s therapy. I hope to never look at it again! The internet is a great big toilet bowl of random crazy and I just laid a big old load down! Feels better! And you helped wipe! Alright, eeww, that’s probably enough there.
We need a picture of calm. A picture of soothing. I don’t know what I have, butt, I’ll find something.
Oh man. The hilarity never stops around here. I think it’s bad when you have to add a whole new category to your site, dedicated to tree trouble because it just keeps happening. Ugh! The picture below is much better. I found it trolling for something to illustrate all this text.
Just breath and relax:
Transition week!
Day 30 for me and I think I found my new favorite workout! It’s Core Synergistics. And it’s sweaty good fun. I need to make this somewhat short…my short I guess because I have got to get to bed. Besides school and the P90X I’ve recently devoted my life to, I am going to take a motorcycle class in the early a.m. (and then the next day and the whole next weekend…I mean if you’re gonna do it…) with the BF and get my license to ride, all official like. I even went to my first Harley store to purchase some gloves (they’re required for class) and got on the mailing list and a rewards card! I suppose it’s not really bad ass to take a riding class thru the state but…I get to ride a motorcycle!
So P90X. Day 29 and 30. Start of Week 5. I added an extra week of Phase 1 because I wanted more of a boost into hardcore fitness. Plus, I have to run 5 miles in three weeks so I need the weight help. And I didn’t feel like I was really “getting” the exercises and I missed a few days here and there. Also my diet was not the greatest. Besides, Tony says you can!
So now I am in transition week to Phase 2. Yesterday was Yoga X. Oh man! What a workout! I had sweat dripping in my eye! I was super warm and stretchy!
Here are my big accomplishments:
1) I was able to do the standing leg extension, one leg, TOE GRAB!!, and balance for almost 30 seconds! That felt great! What a difference! I almost had to take a picture for proof. I still might actually.
AND:
2) I was able to do crane! Oh yeah! I did it. I did it for, like, 2 or 3 seconds! Then I fell. Then I did it again. Then I fell. For one minute. Up and down. But it was feet off the ground! What’s funny about this yoga though is that I did alot of these moves in grade school. We used to balance on our elbows all the time and do plough and shoulder stand for fun. But that’s the key probably. We didn’t know what the hell we were doing and we weren’t aware we were “exercising”. Now it’s like work. Dammit.
Then we (kids and I) did Tony & the Kids for about 30 minutes. It’s an older DVD geared towards kids and it takes all the P90X moves, funs them up, lowers the reps, but keeps the cardio aspect. It was goofy at first but we were sweating by the end. Plyo, Kenpo, Yoga, Core, it’s all there.
Then today. Day 30. Core Synergistics. My first time. Holy Ab-A-Rolly I don’t even know what this is! Everything. Arms, legs, abs, weights, pushups; Ridiculous. WTF. Pushups. I was so beat by the end of the hour I could barely lift my arms for the cool down. Now that’s crazy and that has got to be X enough!
So after I’m done and I can lift my pen and my arm has stopped sweating all over the paper, I can write in my exercise/diet notebook. I like to keep track daily of what I’ve done and how I feel and all that good stuff. It’s kind of like this but much much shorter and to the point. This is the expanded version of…everything. Anyway, it’s about diet. I tell myself to eat better, drink more water, keep exercising, don’t overweigh, etc., etc. Then I give myself a pep talk along the lines of: if you stop eating crap you can get more muscles/tone/definition and less flabby/shaky/jiggly/cottage cheesy/dimply. I can be smooth and firm! I’m brutal!
Clothes Alert!! Final boost of the day!
After my shower and personal hygiene thing, I prepared to put a pair of jeans on with the usual tug and pull maneuver I named the “Pants Dance”. My kids think it’s pretty funny. I jump from foot to foot, holding onto the beltloops for dear life, while thrusting a limb through a pant leg until they basically work their way up to my waist then I can stand or lay into them with a classic scootching, twisting, wriggling shimmy, so I can get them high enough to zip and button and adjusted to fit around the thigh and knee and crotch and waist all at the same time. Occasionally (every single pair of jeans I own) the loops break and leave the telltale hole at the seam. Don’t need beltloops when your pants are almost too tight to even put on. A belt really doesn’t add anything to the party when there’s already too many people there!
But today, lo and behold, those pants slipped right on! My weight hasn’t changed beyond the 6 pounds (maybe 7) I lost already, but my body feels different. Those pants went right up very comfortably with little to NO muffin top! Now that is worth pushing play everyday! P90X! Bring. It.
And that’s where I am ending it tonight. It is way too late and I am way too close to 5 am! I’ll post more about all the other stuff and pictures too after I get my three hours of sleep and finish my class and go bowling and eat and school supply shop and all the things that everyone does everyday.
Wherever you are…enjoy the day, for it is glorious! And I love a good sunrise.
Thanks for hanging through to the end. Until later then. X it.
Dodge Challenger 25…That was quick!
Taken from my car at dusk. It’s a crap ass picture, but it counts! And it proves that I do go to the gym! This was in the parking lot. You would think I would be over this already—so many on the road now—but you would be wrong! After I get all the pictures I already took out here on my site, I’ll focus on the Challengers that are really unusual…like customized colors and what not. Until then…keep the count!
Dodge Challenger 24…Easing back into the pool of the crazy
I don’t normally like to leave the license plates visible, but his Challenger is the SRT8. Really fast. Nicely done. The state is not clear so I figure it’s OK. Plus his car is badass and I’m sure he won’t care anyway. I wouldn’t.
FYI, I have tons of Challenger pics I have picked up from the last few months and they will be posted soon. Gotta start somewhere! Mo-power!
Day 26 trying to keep the momentum going…
I have about 3 more weeks before the real world kicks back in and I cannot devote my mornings, days or nights to this workout thing. I am trying to work the schedule now. I can do it with the kids yelling in the background that they want to go do something fun! I can do it with them walking in and out of the room telling me how gross and sweaty I am! I can even do it with the BF in the room watching or not watching! That’s how you know you have passed a roadblock in your mind! If you can bring it just as hard with other people staring at you as you would alone with no one around then you have crossed into another area of fitness! I’m a little hesitant on the “Oms” for the Yoga still, but in my defense I don’t have the big breaths anyway that can carry my voice for that long.
Here’s a funny thing that happened today: I gave my daughter a little pop in the jaw this morning as she walked past me while I was doing my warmup jumping jacks. It tapped her perfect right under the chin and clicked her teeth together. I swear I almost pee’d after the sound it made and her voice that said, “Oh!” I said, “Why the heck did you walk past me when you knew I was throwing my hands up?” And she said that she knew how light I throw my arms up and she didn’t think it would hit her and even if it did it probably wouldn’t hurt anyway! She’s a koo-koo but it made the workout less serious and more fun. And don’t worry she is totally fine. She went right on into her room to watch a movie while I dripped all over the living room floor.
Anyway, I want the exercise part of my day to be seamless for when I start mine and the kids school schedule. I’ll need to workout the minute they leave for the bus and then shower and get the heck out of here to make my classes. 16 weeks now. 16 weeks after X-Mas. Then I am done. Done done done and I can work work work for the rest of my natural born life. Good thing I’m working out now. I’ll be so strong I’ll never die! Ha.
Alright, well, I need to motivate my son to finish his “job” for the day. He’s so close! All the lawns are cut and all he has to do is sweep and get rid of the big stalky weeds.
Oh and if I haven’t talked enough about how great P90X is and how much I love Tony Horton (is it wrong to have a crush on my fitness instructor??? heehee) then here’s one more reason to love him and the system: Tony and the Kids! The DVD I just got for my son (and daughter) but mostly my son. HE WILL BE FIT! No more beer belly! Haha. For the record, Mason says, “I don’t have a beer belly!! You are not even funny anymore MOM!”
Then let’s go! Everyone push play and bring it with whatever you got! I’ll be back later. X it!
Drizzle
That’s the weather sprinkling on my chair sitting and magazine reading.
I just want to update quickly for the P90X crowd. Skipped Thursday for the garage sale….the drinking portion is below…and went to the early morning fitness training session with my friend Beth, today, Friday. It was at 7 am. Maybe not early for some, but too early for me to have to get up and dress and drive and exercise. I was regretting the margarita’s and pizza (ugh…I did THAT too—horror!) because I felt pretty crap ass this morning. But I did it and it was awesome. VERY glad I went…thanks Beth!!
Her trainer ran us through all these drills and arms and cardio and I really can’t even remember the order or what exactly. It was fast and sweaty and quite a good workout. What’s weird is that the whole time he was showing us what to do and timing us and we were doing it, Tony Horton’s voice was running in my head. “You can do anything for 30 seconds”, “Do your best and forget the rest”, “I’m done talking. 5 4, 3 2, let’s go”. I really believe doing those workouts, even for 24 days now, has vastly improved my ability to work out in other areas! Just like the program promises. I know I’m like a running commercial for the stuff, but I love it.
At any rate, I’m worked out for the day and I had nothing but time left to finish some school stuff and update other things so that’s good. I made Beth run an extra 10 minutes with me—squeezed off a fast (for me) mile to prepare for the weekend—so I don’t feel guilty about missing my P90 workout. Tomorrow is another day. Shoulders and arms and abs. I like having arm muscles, and abs I guess, although they are still not visible. Then I can go to the gym and run and that will make up for movies and popcorn which is the next thing I’m going to do tonight. And NOT the healthy air-popped corn. I’m having the nasty, buttery, stomach cramping kind. Sounds yummy doesn’t it? I’m thinking I’ll skip the alcohol though. I’m a cheap date. Ahem.
I’m going to attempt more sitting now. My Achilles tendon is hurting from the incline and I need to rest. I’ll put a little ice cream on the wound, from the inside, and all will be well. I filled all the birdfeeders and we have a BlueBird so I want to get a picture. Hummingbird pics are coming. I caught a really good one and the camera died so it’s trapped on there for the moment, but there’s another kind of bird: One on top. One below. Hahaha. X it.
To the…
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just shy of pretty 