All It Takes is a Sick Day

Busy busy busy. I feel that’s all I can tell people when they ask me how I’m doing. That answer just saves time when I don’t want to go into detail.

Going into detail:

– My office moved recently, so my commute is about an hour one way.

– I am in the market to purchase a new car, so that includes research, test driving, comparing, budgeting, and more research.

– My house is the home base for my husband’s band. This means practice, gear storage, recording, mixing, writing, jamming, all the above. Thankfully his band mates are my mates and don’t make fun of me when I’m in my pjs wandering the house during practice and look goofy.

– Traveling!!! I want to go out and see places. We have been out of state twice in the last month.

– Pets. They are our babies and need love and attention.

– Fitness. I’ve gotten into it in a big, bad way. I joined the gym at work and run at home. I work out 5-7 times a week for 30-90 minutes each workout.

– Personal projects. I love doing projects and always have stuff going on.

– Cooking/housework/personal life. I try, really hard.

– The random fire that needs to be put out. Being an adult means things are never boring. As much as you need them to be sometimes.

So in general, if I’m not working on something, I feel that I’m wasting time. This has become a problem, because I apparently don’t take time to relax. That changed today. I woke up at 5 am with the sorest throat I’ve ever had. It hurt so bad to swallow that the pain would extend to my ears. When my ears are affected by any illness inspired symptom, I know I’m in pretty bad shape. It’s my own warning sign. At 8 I took my temperature. I naturally run a couple degrees cooler than the average 98.6, so having a temperature above that of any kind is rare for me. Today was going to be a productive day full of adventur around Fort Worth. Instead I had a fever, sore throat, and an achy body. I stayed in bed, drank my weight in fluids, depended on IB Profin, and drank even more orange juice (my go to remedy for sore throats). As I felt better on and off, I wanted to go for a run or workout or do anything productive. Don’t worry, I didn’t. I needed to chill, relax, and get better. Looking back on the day, I’d say it was a wonderful day. Yes, I felt miserable, but I relaxed and didn’t feel bad about it (well, I felt like a lazy bum at first, but eventually got over that). Yes I could have worked more on my fitness, cooked a new meal, worked on a project, or a hundred other things, but my body was like “dude, we are done”.

My day did include

– Hours of Hulu with SNL and Face Off.

– Naps

– Cuddles from my cat

– Seriously, so much orange juice

– Mission Impossible 2, 3, and Ghost Protocol.

So I guess it took a personal sick day to get me to realize that taking a break and relaxing is just as wonderful as being super productive. Also, my body better get well asap cause I have a hankering for a good run (good for me, I’m not a runner. More of a jogger gasping for air. But every minute I run means I’m getting that much better for when the zombies come and chase us all around.).

The Roller Coaster of my Fitness

Since Nick proposed in September a few years ago, I’ve had a lifestyle change when it comes to what I eat. At first, I wanted to eat right and exercise for the wedding. It was a great motivator, to be able to fit into the wedding dress. Before the wedding, I dropped 15 pounds. Then, I got married, went on a honeymoon, and ignored the idea of eating right. I mean, how often will I ever get to visit Hawaii (our honeymoon location) and enjoy such delicious foods?

The next stage of my personal fitness was inspired by how well I felt when eating well and exercising and the excitement of pants fitting right. So until about last October, I ate right for the sake of eating right. Then, I decided I wanted to do another push. I wanted this summer to be the first summer I wouldn’t try to hide when wearing summer clothes. I wanted to finally be able to look at pictures when I’m tagged in them and be happy about how I look. Since then, I have done one and a half rounds of P90X, dropped another five pounds, and now have muscles I’ve never known existed.

I was doing really well eating right and being good to my body and things were paying off. My skin has been clearer (I have an angry history with acne), sleeping was more restful, and I felt good about how I looked. Then, the splurging started to occur more often, the exercising was less intense, and this last week (and especially the weekend) I just ate what I wanted, as much as I wanted, and fell off that health kick. Sure it was fun, and tasty, but it was not helpful at all towards my goal. I feel that I needed this kick in the pants. I’d been running out of motivation. But after a few days of eating what I wanted and have been craving, I don’t feel as great as when I eat right. I’m relearning that it doesn’t pay off for me.  I’m ready to jump back into the game! I’m ready to eat right, exercise hard, and get ready for summer!

For the next month there will be no more splurging (as much as humanly possible): I will aspire to eat super healthy, to give my body what it needs, try new tasty recipes to avoid boredom, and to exercise better and more intensely. Looking back on my health habits the past year, I feel better, do better, and am just an overall most positive version of myself when I eat right.

Tonight, my husband and I will do a run in our neighborhood. I love and hate running. I hate it because I am not a runner. I don’t have the talent or endurance one needs to outrun a zombie hoard or win a marathon. It hurts everywhere and all I can do is concentrate on breathing. I love it because I can feel it working. I can feel myself getting stronger. I get to be away from any television or computer screen and I get to enjoy the beautiful neighborhood we are living in. Also, to distract myself from what I’m doing, Nick just tells stories and I love that he is a talker. I’ve also noticed that my ability to run has improved by like 300%. I use to be that person who would run for 30 seconds and be done.

So basically, I’m rededicating myself to eating right and being fit. Yes there will be splurge days in the future. But for the next month, the goal is to avoid those. Just hit the reset button and get a strong foundation with it.

Also, I’m glad I’ve made this decision now, because my pants still fit. That means I didn’t wait until it was too late. Lol

I’m an Adult pt. 2

Almost six months ago I wrote a post about my monster wisdom tooth and how I was going to put on my big girl panties and get it taken care of. I had been putting it off because I hate surgeries, pain, and needles. In the last month, it had gotten worse. I was constantly biting my cheek, altering how I ate things, and in pain every day. The tooth had come in sideways and the pain was getting increasingly worse. I then remembered I had made a promise to myself and the dentist that I would get it taken care of within six months. I just barely made that promise by being a huge procrastinator.

I went in last week for a consultation to an oral surgeon close to the house. He explained how there is no room on the left side of my mouth for the wisdom tooth, or any other tooth, and that is why I was biting my cheek. The tooth had to come out. There was no other option. Finally, someone who knew what he was talking about.

Last Friday I went in for surgery. The tooth is now in a little plastic baggy they gave me. I apparently asked if I could keep it, which is awesome cause I’ve been dealing with that tooth almost seven years, so I want something to show for it.

Good News:

– I don’t need to get an implant to take place of the missing tooth. There isn’t any room!

– The tooth apparently hadn’t attached itself to my  jaw bone. So they just pulled it right out. No stitches needed.

– This doctor knew what he was doing, how to do things right, and the right meds to give a terrified person who gets nauseous on pain medication.

What gets me is how on earth could my previous surgeon or orthodontist not have noticed the lack of space for this tooth to come in. I suffered years with a chain attached to the tooth, which was seriously painful, then the tooth erupting sideways, also super painful.

Nick took care of me all weekend. He has been telling me stories of how hilarious I was upon waking up from the surgery. I kept telling the doctor and nurses how great of a job they did and thanking them. I also managed to spill ice cream all over myself. I slept most of the weekend and am still recovering, but it’s going way better than I expected. I hate being inactive, so resting over the weekend frustrated me, even though I needed it. I’m doing everything I can to prevent infection or a dry socket (this tooth is where I had a dry socket in high school, and I do not want to repeat that event).

I would post pictures of the massive tooth and disgusting bruise I had from the iv, but they gross me out enough as it is. So you will have to enjoy these photos instead. I decided to practice my un-scrapbooking skills while recovering.

Working on a scrapbook

JD not letting me work

Now I just can’t wait until I’m all healed so I can chew without the pain of that ridiculous tooth. This will be the first time in almost 7 years that I will be able to chew on the left side of my mouth without a chain or an ornery tooth, seeking revenge or something.

Sounds too good to be true!

Spring in Jan

Apparently we are done with winter in Texas. This last weekend was amazing. The weather was beautiful, bright, warm, and breezy. How better to celebrate than try out some water. What? Water…

Yup, lemon/cucumber/mint water. It’s amazing. I found the recipe on this website! and tried it out.

I’ve been working hard on my second round of p90x and drink a ton of water. It does get a little boring and I crazy juice, chocolate milk, anything really. So, make water fun. Problem solved. This mixture also promises to promote healthy benefits, which are a huge plus. Also, you can just keep refilling and use the same fruit over and over until, you know, you replace.

Lemon Water Startin!

I’ve tried this kind of water once before at a dinner with friends. I’m sad it took me this long to get on the bandwagon myself.

With this batch of water, the cucumber is a bit strong for my taste, but only just. If i dilute it a bit, it’s perfect. I might just still be a little burned out on cucumber since we had our mini garden last spring/summer.

Time To Soak

Speaking of gardening, I’m sad to say I might have to take a haitus this summer. I have been excited to try my hand a second year since I feel that I learned so much last year. Sadly, we aren’t sure of our living arrangements and if we end up moving, it would be easiest without plants to relocate. We shall see.