Water Aerobics

We’re now almost to the last quarter of the year and I have been going to water aerobics since the end of January. I have missed some weeks. Work travel, vacation, theater….and then there have been a few times where I just really didn’t feel like going. But on the whole, I have consistently gone for about 8 months now. I’m starting to see small changes in my arms. My forearms are definitely getting smaller and more defined. I remember one time looking at them in the shower and wondering how they had gotten so big with no muscle. They are changing for sure, but so are my upper arms. I still have flab and they aren’t super defined, but I can see muscle there now. And I already know my lower body is getting stronger because of the way I can get up off the floor so much easier now. 

I still have a long way to go, but this is the point where I’m starting to see a little bit of results and it makes me want to keep going. Honestly, the membership is worth the pool alone and its one of the best things I could have done for myself this year. I’m making friends there (even though it’s not the type I hang out with outside of the pool) and between the exercise and the community, it’s just helped me so much, both mentally and physically. 

I’m wondering this winter if I want to add another day. Some of the ladies really like the aqua jump class where they have mini trampolines in the pool. They say the water keeps it from being hard on the knees. So I might try that, but also, there are other classes and a whole gym, plus the walking track. 

I’m still struggling with sugar, but my eating is slowly improving as well. I’ll get there. It actually feels like I might really get there this time, making slow changes that I can actually live with. 

A Different Sort of Peach Days

It’s that time of year again: Peach Days. Friday night I met up with my family and we went to the Peach Days carnival. The kids still like going and it’s fun to hang out with the family, even if there are a bunch of other people. I think people are figuring out that Friday night is less crowded than Saturday. There were a lot of people. I hate to think what it looks like today. And then for the first time in quite a few years, I didn’t go up to Brigham at all for the Saturday part. My sister doesn’t have any kids in the parade this year and I just can’t see going up for any other reason. They did go up because my niece had to work at Peach City. I won’t say I’ll never go again, but the big parade doesn’t hold a lot of interest for me as an adult. I was only going to cheer on my nieces and nephew and be with family. I probably could have gone to the quilt show and a few other things and just missed the parade, but there is always next year. 

I slept in and did a little cleaning, then I drove to SL to hit up an indie bookstore I’ve been meaning to go to for a while. Lovebound Library is a romance bookstore, although they do have a little bit of general fiction. It’s a cute store and they do have a nice selection of books, though they are mostly contemporary and romantasy. I picked up 3 new books and spent some time rearranging some of my bookshelves to fit them in where I wanted them. 

It has been fun visiting indie bookstores this year. I still have more to go to than months left in the year but that’s ok. Most of those that are left are going to take some planning to get to. I’ve bought a lot of books I wouldn’t have bought if I weren’t trying to support them. And I’ve got some favorites to go back to. The biggest problem is that none of my favorites are really that close to me and it’s still easier to get my books from bookshop.org or Barnes and Noble. 

I have a little bit of cleaning left to do and I’ll be making a new soup for dinner tonight. But I’m in for the day and am planning on reading. LOL I’m having a bit of book anxiety again with all the shiny new books waiting for me to get to them, plus I keep adding to my KU list. I’ve just got to let it go. I have more books than I’ll ever possibly read and new ones come along constantly. This is just the way life is.

Anyway, it’s been a nice weekend so far. I’ll be seeing family again tomorrow for family dinner. The weekends are always too short. 

More Repairs

Yesterday when I was driving to work my neighbor called and said my garage door was open. She went and shut it for me, but it wouldn't stay down. I played around with it last night and cleaned the sensors and knew I wasn't going to be fixing it myself. 

It turns out the gear in the motor was broken and I had him install a new unit and a new rail thing that it runs on. Oh my gosh, I love it! I know I said I was going to cut down on my spending, but this was worth it. The other one was over 20 years old anyway. He also installed the remote entry for me. I already had one purchased and it was sitting on my shelf waiting for someone with a drill. Now, I have a very quiet garage door that I can open in my car, on my phone, or with the keypad. 

Hopefully, I'm done with costly repairs now. Lets keep it to the hundred dollar range for a little while, hm? Still, I'm very happy with this one. 

Labor Day

I made plans with my sister to get out of the house on Monday for the holiday, then while I was waiting for them to pick me up, I wondered if I wouldn't rather stay home. I'm really glad I got out. We ended up at Tony Grove and walked around the lake. Perfect temperature and when the wind blew, I was very grateful for my hoodie. 

There are very few things that smell better than the mountains. It was a lovely day.

Daylight

One positive thing that I’ve been noticing since I was home sick all week. It’s the way the sunlight hits my windows in the afternoon. It’s not as low as winter sun, and the leaves are still on the trees, so it’s not direct sunlight in the windows. But it’s still hitting those south facing windows just right and making them glow with light. My plants are loving it. It’s been getting a little darker since summer solstice, of course, but now I’m noticing it in the afternoon sun as well. I absolutely love the autumn and winter sun. There’s a softness to it that you just don’t get in summer. So happy that I could consciously notice it now so I can pay attention as the season progresses. 

Sick

Well, I’ve been looking forward to September for ages and it started with a bang. I guess I can say it can only get better from here? Tuesday day was fine. I got out my fall decorations, all 4 of them. LOL And switched my candle warmer to an apple and cinnamon scented wax melt. Wednesday I woke up with a scratchy throat and the day went downhill from there. I ran to the grocery store in the morning to get lemons and orange juice and Gatorade, just in case. By the afternoon there was no denying I was getting sick and by the time I got off work, I felt awful. I worked a bit on Thursday as well, mostly because I couldn’t breathe unless I was sitting up, so why not? 

I already planned to take today off for a 4 day weekend. This was the weekend I was supposed to go to Cedar City. I have tickets waiting for me at the box office. I needed one more day to get over this. I’m over the sore throat and chills, but my sinuses are still a mess and my head still hurts a bit. There’s just no way I can comfortably do that 4 hour drive by myself. And let’s face it: I have no desire to sit in a theater feeling like this. And I want to be in my own bed with my own things when I don’t feel good. The hotel was paid for with miles so it doesn’t feel like such a waste. But there goes almost 200 dollars down the drain. I don’t have another weekend to go and one of the shows closes tonight anyway. I know I’m grumpy and I just plain don’t feel good, but I waste so much damn money sometimes. I know this one really can’t be helped. I didn’t try to get sick. I’m just….not happy about the whole situation. 

So today, I’m going to sit here and wallow in misery and hopefully take a nap, because I didn’t get much sleep last night. Hopefully, I’ll feel better tomorrow and maybe I can figure out something to do that will make this weekend not feel like a complete waste. Something free. I’ve wasted enough money for now.

Rainy August

We got a nice rainstorm today. It was basically raining when I got up and was pretty steady until around 3. I loved it. 

I had to be at the church this morning at 8:30 to help clean. I got there in time to grab a vacuum. I don’t mind helping out when I get the vacuum. I was sweating when I was done. Then on the way home, I noticed my tire pressure light was on. I drove home and checked and none were flat-flat. I was really hoping it was just the temperature change. So I showered and got ready and drove over to the shop. The tires were a few pounds flat and they did say it was the temperature. Even though it’s not cold, it’s still almost 30 cooler today than it has been.

Then I did my grocery shopping and ate lunch. I had been planning to go to the library book sale, but they had to move it indoors and I just was not in the mood to be with a bunch of people in that space. So I skipped it and took a nap instead. After my nap, I was still not in the mood to be home. I wanted to get cozy, but not until later when I knew I was in for the day. I had told myself I could look for a few more wax melts for fall so I ran down to the mall. I found 2 apple based scents I’ve never had so that was good. 

I’m finally in for the night and it feels right this time. The sun is shining, sometimes. I think we may get a little more rain this evening. I made a soup called “Busy Day Soup” that I basically dumped frozen veggies and some leftover unseasoned ground beef in a pot with a can of tomatoes and some homemade onion soup mix. Then you add a noodle so I added bowties since that’s what I have. It actually tastes pretty good for a very quick soup. No chopping and very simple pantry ingredients. If it freezes well, I can put it into my soup rotation. 

Time to get cozy and enjoy the rest of the evening. I do hope we get a little more rain. The 10 day forecast has the temperatures in the 80s and as we head into September, I really hope we’ve seen the last of the high 90s. Two more days and I’m hitting fall hard!