Pubsgal Adrift

Hi everybody!  (Hopefully "everybody" includes a few human beings in the orchestra of crickets!)

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I've written a blog post.

First, the fun stuff.  We've been enjoying...

Our first Little League Baseball season with Thing 1!

(Of which all weekends in March were rained out except Opening Day.)

Birthday fun with Thing 2!

Spring flowers - the narcissus bloomed prolifically, but snails ate my daffodils.  Grrr.

Checking out the studly neighbors

Random acts of silliness

We're also enjoying the fresh sight of a newly-painted kitchen.  We have a couple of family visits over the next few weeks, so Mr. Handsome-and-Handy gave it a fresh coat.  The walls are a buttery shade of gold--sort of like that in the folds of the narcissus flowers above--and the ceiling is white, which really brightens the kitchen up quite a lot.

So the home front is good.

The work front is actually going okay.  I'm busier than ever, which certainly beats the alternative.  But the intensity of the last couple of months has definitely thrown me off balance a bit.  Which, in some ways, is a good thing. Life changes can be kind of like changing one's exercise routine: it exercises parts of ourselves that maybe aren't getting what they need to grow stronger.

But what has that meant for the health & fitness life?  The word that comes to mind is "adrift," probably in both the positive and negative senses.  In some ways, it's been freeing to not be so obsessively focused on it.  To move along naturally, without exerting a lot of energy.  On the other hand, "adrift" also means lacking direction, which isn't such a great thing for very long.  I don't have my quarterly athletic events picked, for example.  And although I didn't see this definition in Webster's, "adrift" also apparently means, "feeling wedged a bit too tightly in one's clothes."  Not such a hot feeling.

How does a typical "Pubsgal adrift" week go?  Well, "typical" implies consistency, which has been lacking lately, but here's a brief summary:

• Sunday:  Nom, nom, nom.  Lounge, lounge, lounge.  Nom, nom, nom.  Thing 1 had a paper due tomorrow?  Oh, bother!
• Monday:  Bolt breakfast.  Work, work, work.  Ugh, I don't feel like class at the gym during lunch.  2 p.m. already?  Guess I'd better eat something.  Thank goodness I have hula class tonight!  Work, work, work.  Bolt dinner.  Hula, hula, hula.  (Aloha, aloha, aloha!)
• Tuesday:  Bolt breakfast.  Work, work, work.  Another meeting?  Work, work.  Oh, hey, it was sunny out there today.  Oh well.  Bolt dinner.  Supervise homework. (Secret #5,643 they don't tell you about parenthood:  When the kids have homework, *you* have homework.)  Read bedtime stories (that's one of the good secrets...they haven't outgrown bedtime stories!).  Hop on stationary bike and watch another installment of "Eat, Pray, Love," the literal and internal travelogue of a woman named...uh, what was it?  Oh, yeah. Julia Roberts Liz.  It was beautifully filmed, and though it wasn't on my movie top 10 list, it had the occasional zinger of insight and of humor for me.  Lately, I find that I'm relating best of all to her need for bigger jeans.
• Wednesday:  Linger over breakfast.  What, today's not Thursday?  ACK!!! Bolt breakfast.  Drive kids to school.  1 p.m. meeting?  Oh crud, looks like gym class is out again. And it's raining again, so a walk is out.  (Of course, another week, this was, "Oooo, new farmer's market within walking distance of work?  I'm there!!!"  This past week, it was an inner dialog like this:
  "I will lose all self-respect if I miss yet *another* week of gym class."
  "But I'm scaaaaaaared!  What if I can't keep up?  Or get so sore that even typing and breathing makes me whimper for days?"
  "(1) You *always* have DOMS after that class, what's the big deal?  And (2), if you don't go, how will you know if you've still got it?"
  "*sigh*.  You win."
  "Of course I do.  Now go and pack that gym bag!")
  Work, work, work.  Hmmm...feels weird leaving when it's still light outside.  Bolt dinner.  Homework. Stationary bike.  Bed.
• Thursday:  Linger over breakfast, because it's the kids' carpool day.  Marvel that Mr. Handsome-and-Handy cooks beautiful omelettes every day, knowing I will bolt them down in about 5 minutes, and he's still okay with that. Work, work, work.  Debate at lunch: gym, or walk?  After so much rain in March, it's a pretty easy decision.  Yeah, nice dose of vitamin D!  Work, work, work.  Go home, bolt dinner, homework, etc.       
• Friday:  Hmmm.  I think I'm coming down with the office cold...it doesn't feel like allergies.  Weird, it's been so long since I've been sick.  Work, work, work.  Oh, whew, time to go home...Oh crud, I have to do birthday party shopping on the way home.  But do I feel too sick for sugar-free mojitos tonight?  Hmmm....nah!
• Saturday:  Collapse.
  Well, except for one evening a couple of weeks ago:  Zumba party school fundraiser!  So awesome & fun!  We whooped and hollered and shook our bangled bundas.  (Boy, I was grateful for hula class and all the hip rolling.)  One of the instructors had an inspiring story:  she had started taking Zumba, and a group of her Weight Watchers friends asked her to teach them.  She eventually lost 80 pounds and became a Zumba instructor.

So with the tightness of the pants came the realization that it was time to set a course and start paddling.  I cracked open our local tourism guide one day last week, and on the calendar?  A 10K race on June 12, so now I have a Q2 event in my sights.  It's been awhile since I ran regularly, but I did a nice lunchtime run last Tuesday, and it felt fine.  If I stay consistent, I can get back to the distance.

On the food front is where I've really been "la-la-la*I-can't-hear-you-scale*la-la-la."  I've been fine with the carbs--blood glucose control has actually been good, and I've been seeing great fasting numbers--but I've been ignoring the caloric impact of fat and haven't been vigorous on the veggies.  No tracking, no measuring, no weighing.  This doesn't work so great for me, because I just can't ignore those things and experience my best possible health.  So I brought back the calorie tracker.  I didn't do so hot this week, but at least it gives me a general direction.

And there's a final definition of "adrift" that doesn't fit:  lack of support.  I miss the interaction of commenting on blogs regularly, but I have been reading and enjoying, and getting inspired by all of your adventures.

See you around the blogosphere, and I hope everyone enjoys a wonderful spring!