Mishmash Musings

Since most of my weight loss/exercise plans have failed to yield decent results thus far, I think I’m going to try yoga next. I personally have never understood how stretching and holding certain positions could burn tons of calories or tone muscles, but obviously it’s effective for millions of people — including celebrities, who arguably have a bigger interest in staying fit and healthy than “regular” folks do.

Anyway, I’ll start with some basics and aim for just 15 minutes a day to start. If I like it or see that it’s making a difference, I’ll slowly increase the time and complexity of my workouts.

Wish me luck!

My son spent a week with my brother-in-law’s family in California last summer, and has been asking to go again ever since. My BIL has a house pretty close to the beach, and spent some time teaching my son how to surf. Ever since then my son has insisted on wearing surfing clothes when the weather is warm enough, and he is clamoring to learn water sports like diving and surfing. Obviously there’s no place to go surfing around here, but maybe we’ll get him some diving lessons this summer. There’s really not much else to do, since he doesn’t like soccer, baseball, or other traditional sports.

My husband really wants to buy a motorcycle of some sort. I don’t know where this urge is coming from, but maybe it’s a sign of an early midlife crisis. I’ve tried to talk him out of it, but he won’t budge. I’m not the kind of wife that issues ultimatums, so I guess he’s going to end up getting one sooner or later. The only thing I ask of him is that he be careful and that he purchase extra disability insurance just in case something happens. You simply never know what other drivers might do, so it’s better to be covered in these situations. Once he gets that bike, I know I’m going to worry from the moment he leaves until the moment he comes back. Ugh, not looking forward to that at all!

I did some much-needed spring cleaning yesterday. I donated a bunch of books to the public library (I can barely stand to read regular books now…digital texts FTW!), and threw away a ton of old papers that I had no business keeping. I think I get into these moods after watching Hoarders. I just imagine myself drowning under an avalanche of clutter, which is usually enough to motivate me to get moving. I think from now on, if I buy something, I’m going to throw away/sell/donate an equivalent item. For example, if I buy a shirt, I have to get rid of one. If I buy a DVD box set, I have to sell one I already have. Sounds like a plan!

Sad to say, but my diet has gone almost entirely out the window in the past two weeks. I have not been worrying about portion control or calorie counts, and have been eating pretty much all day, every day. I know perfectly well that this is due to the amount of stress I’ve been under at work and at home, and yet I’m powerless to do anything about it. Scratch that — I feel powerless, but could probably control things if I made a concerted effort to do so. The effort isn’t there, and my morning scale readings reflect that. I wish I could just do a colon cleanse and make the two weeks’ worth of mistakes go away. But that’s obviously not going to cut it. Back on the diet first thing in the morning, I guess!

My uncle’s birthday is coming up soon. Usually we just go out to dinner or something, but this year I’m thinking about changing things up and buying him an actual present. I’ve been looking at Accessory Gifts for Men, and have come across some cool gadgets that I know he would like. I think he’ll appreciate the thought, and will be surprised that I’m not just taking him to Outback or something. Change is good, right?

I think it might be time for a new Kindle. I have the old First Generation model, and while the device itself works just fine, the USB cable no longer does. That means I can’t transfer books to my Kindle–unless I actually buy them from Amazon.com and have them delivered via WhisperSync. The problem is, I read a lot of free stuff that doesn’t come from Amazon, so I guess I’m SOL.

I will look into purchasing a replacement USB cable first, but from what I’ve heard, Amazon provides very little support for 1st Gen Kindles these days, so I’m not expecting much. Oh, well… having to buy a new Kindle wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world .

I really need a new hobby, one that gets me out of the house and into the fresh air for some exercise. A friend of mine lives up in Wisconsin (right on the border) and is really into horseback riding. I have always wanted to try that, so maybe I’ll go up there one of these weekends. I can borrow my friend’s equestrian apparel and equipment at first, and then if I like it, maybe I’ll buy my own stuff and look for lessons closer to home.

Maybe the fact that I either read books or watch movies in my free time is a contributing factor to my weight problems. I need to get out and move around a bit more!