TA/Meta Continuity & anything else Spring 2020

[ebianco]

Hi all,

Oops I went and got behind again LOL. I am still having a hard time with everything but one day at a time.

The rest of this week I accomplished:

Thurs-Cathe Flex Train which I've had for a long time but have never done. The music was awesome and it was all strength but the sequencing of alternating upper and lower body got my heart rate up, and I really enjoyed it! I have an all new assortment that I got from Mary's newest sale since I've been actually doing new workouts and discovering new gems. Not that I need any more workouts

Fri-Simone Rebound cardio then I tried out Buti but I was just not into it - my knee was like no thanks - so I put in Yoga Warrior Gentle Yoga (until recently I totally forgot I even had purchased this set ) and the Yoga Warrior really hit the spot. I didn't do the entire workout but I did over half and it was about a 60 minute total workout with the rebound and Buti first.

Sat-Firm Tough Cardio Mix (some cardio and abs) plus Firm Tough Tape 2 for about a 70 minute workout. Tough combo!

Sun-Pure Barre Results Abs plus walking outside

Eventmom Good luck on the sale of your house when you decide to list it! I hope the market is hot for you like it is here.

Buzzer and Eventmom Thank you for your kind thoughts! I really enjoy our check in group. It is great to have such a supportive environment. Nothing has been resolved yet in my life, and I just feel tired and exhausted all the time (just as much emotionally as physically despite how much sleep I get). My food consumption has been not good at all. But at least I am enjoying my workouts and still really motivated to do them.

What do you guys think about Dr. Fauci saying that COVID conditions may extend through most of 2021? I still have on idea what to expect, but that seems reasonable by the time vaccines have been developed and are available to the general public.

Buzzer I can't believe it got cold so fast! I can tell fall weather is on its way here too in the DC area, but it is more gentle, in fact the weather is gorgeous in the high 70s lately, still shorts weather. I love summertime but I love fall and spring even more. I am not looking forward to winter though.

Starting my workouts again on Wednesday with more Firm, Cathe, maybe Jessica (I picked up on new to me Jessica strength DVD), and Pure Barre on Sunday.

[Buzzer]

Body Beast Back and Bis... DONE!

I am so loving this rotation. I love to lift, and I am really noticing I am getting better at it again. I am lifting in control, heavier, and just getting that old feeling back from when I lifted heavy years ago. I know it made me bulk, I know it's stressful on my joints, I know I am getting older and probably shouldn't keep going since it'll damage my body, but I love it. I guess I will do it until I can't. Besides, nothing else was working for me either, so might as well bulk, have the joint stress, and build muscle.

I skipped the first set of deadlifts, because I really don't believe in deadlifts until you are warmed up. Too much of an injury risk, and it has bothered me since beginning this rotation that they put it as a first exercise. It's a low back blower-outer for sure. So, I skipped it and moved on to pullovers. I meant to go back but didn't. However, I didn't really miss them because you do deadlifts in legs too. I went heavy and to failure on all the sets and reps, and took rests. The workout took me an hour and 10 minutes. It flies though.

I am noticing more tone in my muscles, and a friend hugged me and commented that I am just full of muscles. So I guess those are two good things. I don't notice clothes fitting better, or a reduction in how many chins I have (HAHA!) but I guess there's two things I can hold on to rather than "clothes fitting better". I used to use that as a guidepost, funny how now I have to put that one away. Don't know about weight lost, because I don't weigh myself anymore. I'll settle into more tone at least.

I am obsessed with pan fried buttered vegetables. I swear I make them for about every meal. Breakfast has been pan fried veggies with eggs or bacon or sausage, lunch we do a salad and sandwiches or leftovers, and dinner I go back to pan fried veggies with a protein and a sauce. So far no complaints from the family, which is good, and I am getting my veggies in. I don't know why, but I am loving it! I look forward to making them and eating them. I need to look up more sauce recipes though. My standby sauce is lemon juice with stevia, and sometimes I add heavy cream or coconut milk to it to make it lemon creamy. I have been making that once a week. It's so good! I have a paleo sauces cookbook, I need to pull that out and get more range in my flavors though!

So eating better, lifting heavy, building muscle.... should lead to weight loss right??? right??? HAHA!! ugh.

Yesterday we met my sisters and a few nephews for lunch. we met halfway since we live about an hour and a half away from each other. It was fun! We met at a European market and deli. I stuck to no gluten, and we brought home a yummy salad. We spent way too much at the market, buying sausages and LB wanted a tea set. I got her a really pretty one with roses on it. She and her friends do tea parties, and have always used this mini teeny tiny set we got from Ikea. Just a ceramic play set. Now she has a real tea set! She's excited for a tea party. Usually the tea parties start out as tea with cream and sugar and snacks, and end up as cream and sugar and snacks and spilled tea. Which I suppose is fine, they are kids!! I'm kinda excited about the tea set too though!

We are in another week of swim lessons, which is kinda killing our schedule. Today we have nothing else planned, so after swim lessons we are hitting school and violin practice hard. We haven't done that lately with the garage and crazy schedule lately!!

I feel like I lose control of our schedule a lot!

Ebianco: I'm sorry things aren't going better for you. You're right though, taking it day by day. Nothing more you can do than that. some things just aren't in our control and it's hard not to stress about them! I hope it all works out soon though, just get it in your past.
I hadn't heard that extension until 2021! It wouldn't surprise me though. I was surprised it went on this long, since China stopped most of their restrictions I had heard. I don't know what to think about going until 2021. I guess as long as they don't shut down businesses again, I'm OK with it. I will just keep on keeping on.

I always joke that here in Colorado, we have a week of Spring and a week of Fall. It usually goes from snow and cold to too hot, then from too hot to snow and cold. My favorite seasons are spring and fall, and I never get them!! We are back to too hot, but too cold during the night now. I don't turn on the fans anymore, but if I open the windows at night it gets to about 55 - 60 in the house. The dogs love it. We joke here that it's the "too hot in the sun, too cold in the shade" season. It is like flipping a switch here, and I hate it.

Eventmom: So far I'm not worried about overdoing it, because during the week I don't think we are going to get near as much done as on weekends. Yesterday neither of us had a chance to work on the garage. I think I'll be good to do workouts during the week for a while (DH is having his 2 weeks where he has to go into the office so he has long days) but weekends I'll probably take "rest" days and do workouts at the construction zone instead!

[eventmom]

yesterday - TA vogue + 30 min Christy Taylor spice
Today - TA vogue + DC 1.3

ebianco - we're at least 9 months away from listing probably more like 1.5 years. I don't think DH will retire this year. I have no idea what the market will be - zillow says we'll make maybe 50K money on our house (after 20 years and many improvements) some friend told us more like double our money - DH believe the friend. I think like you say, it will depend on the market.

I think 2021 for covid restrictions seems about right we will not have a safe enough and reliable enough vaccination very fast and at risk populations (which are a pretty big proportion) will need the rest of us to exercise some caution. I know my DH will not be eating in a restaurant for a long time, honestly I'm thinking maybe never - not exaggerating. Too many people in our state think it is nothing so we find ourselves being extra cautious.

buzzer - I think the fact that you are enjoying your workouts is the most important criteria so good for you. Glad you don't think you overdid it!

[Buzzer]

Firm Volume 2.. DONE!
rest day.. done.

I did Vol 2 and I started with 8 pounds, and ended with 5 pounds. I was a bit worried about doing so many shoulder exercises with the 8 pounds, thinking I would workout my shoulders the next day. So I cheated a lot and decided to drop down to 5's. Well, I took a rest day instead so I shouldn't have worried!! It was fine though. Using 5 pounds was still a workout! I was sweating and it felt good.

I love the Firm abs. I have always felt their abs a lot, and love the more traditional work instead of planks and slaps and whatever else is the fashion now. I love me some good, traditional floor abs!!

Vol 2 has lots of shoulder work, and still, two days later, I am feeling my abs and my shoulders a bit! Even with the 8 and 5 pounds! I am gonna do shoulders today anyhow, because it's on my rotation. I think it'll be Ok though.

I am loving adding in a firm every now and then though. Not doing an exclusive firm rotation is making it so I can push more during the workouts. I'm not as tired when I do them, and I am using lighter weight, so I can do the exercises more flair-y like I used to. Heck, I used to do these workouts with 12 pound weights on the floor exercise and still do the flair!! Now I'm no weights and no flair! HA! I was a machine before I guess!

I took a rest day yesterday because I was just feeling so overwhelmed. We have had such a busy schedule and I feel like I am failing at getting just about anything done. I seriously start at 7, workout, make breakfast, wake up LB, we eat, I get her ready for swim lessons.. then the drive to and from swim lessons, plus the lessons, plus the showering and dressing after takes about an hour and a half or more. Then yesterday we had violin, so we got home after swim, ate a yogurt, played a song on violin to get in one more practice and went to violin.

It killed until about 1 or 1:30. We still had to get school done! We did school then after lunch and at least got it in. The people down the street asked if LB wanted to come over and play, so I sent her there and I got some house decluttering and cleaning done. I am so tired of the clutter I can't even stand it. So I went through and if it was something I felt like we were just storing and not loving, it went to trash or goodwill bag. We need just stuff we don't mind maintaining in the house. We don't have a garage or a basement, so all the stuff you would normally stash there has to be in our tiny house. So we have tools, all our summer and winter stuff has to be stored in the house even when it's off season, knick knack crap that I don't even know why we have it... a lot of it went away yesterday. At least the parts in the dining area and kitchen. Oh, and one bookshelf.

Hopefully today or tomorrow I can send LB to a friends and get more done. I'm just tired, overwhelmed, and feeling like I have lost control. So I think it's my way of at least getting back some control of something. I doubt it'll stay like that, it never does, but I am glad to have it done now!
I need like a week here on my own to just focus on getting everything done in the house, yard, shed, workout room... just to go through everything and organize, get rid of, and figure out. Never gonna happen, and I'd be lonely if it did, but I really need it! HA!

We got school done though, so I feel like that was a HUGE accomplishment. I think once swim lessons are done this week it'll be easier. It's just shown me that one thing scheduled in the morning can just totally throw off your schedule and your sanity!!

Today will be Body Beast shoulders, then swim lessons, then she trains the horse, then this afternoon she has a zoom class for violin from a new teacher doing a group lesson. She is going to be kinda playing in a group, and that's exciting! I wish we could get her in a group lesson once a month or so just so she had other kids to play with. She does love violin though.

Oh yesterday we also took the puppy to the vets to be fixed. He is there over night, so today we will have to go get him. Another thing added to the list! Puppy getting!

I told DH that we keep loading the puppy into the car and leaving him at the vet. The big dog is probably starting to notice and now he won't get into the car in case he doesn't come back. The puppy refuses to get in the car, so I have to pick his 80 pound behind up and load him in. Plus, he sits down and lays down so I can't pick him up. We have stairs that will also flatten into a ramp, and he refuses to go up. So I have to sneak attack him and when I finally get him standing, swoop in and grab him like a calf around the butt and chest and lift him up before he sits down. It's so hard, I make the "AUGH!" noises, and I don't think I can do that his whole life. I need to get him trained to get in the car! I don't blame him though. He probably has noticed he gets in the car only to go to the vet too, and sometimes doesn't come back!

Anyhow, lots going on today too. I am feeling better with getting school in and decluttering yesterday. Amazing how those two things make me feel less like I am failing at life.

Eventmom: I would think you would double your money after 20 years, but it is 2020. I get about once a week a text from someone saying "I'm an investor, interested in your property at (address)." and offering to buy it. DH said to text them back that we will sell for $1.5 million. I told him I'm afraid one of them will take me up on it, and I love our location, just not our house!! Then we'd have to find something else in the neighborhood, and I just don't want to. I guess I can't be bought. Although, I know that no one would take us up on it, unless they were going to build a 5 million dollar house here to make up for it. Which I guess is possible, but would be weird.

Hopefully you can double your money though. At least if you aren't in a hurry to sell, you can always put it on the market and let it sit and slowly lower the price until you find where people are more interested.

Ebianco: Hi! Still keeping you in our prayers and thinking of you! Stress on top of stress stinks. I didn't know you were in the DC area now! If we get an opportunity to go back to DC we will have to get together!

[eventmom]

TA level 4 hip year 2 + DC 1.1

buzzer - wow! no one is coming to us to get us to list our property. On our house I'm afraid because the zillow price is so low anyone who looks at our house will come back saying well that's all it's worth - zillow is a little more than 1/2 of the price someone threw out (not to buy just their guess and of course DH thinks that high price is accurate???) It must be hard to have no garage, our house is pretty small given we have 2 offices in it, but we have a garage and a barn LOL! sorry the puppy is not into car rides hopefully that will improve.

hi ebianco!

[Buzzer]

Body Beast Shoulders... DONE!

It felt really hard. I felt my shoulders for until at least afternoon after this workout! I don't know why it was so hard. I kept the weights the same as I did the workout before, but this time, I was pooping out faster, struggling more, and felt it more! I guess that is good. I don't know if it's because I did the Firm workout (even though it was with light weights) or if it was how I ate, or drank, or something else. I slept like a champ for a few nights, now I am doing OK at sleeping, but maybe I didn't sleep enough that night. Any way it happened, it was a super tough workout!

I don't know what I will do today. it's a rest day on the rotation, however I took some unplanned rest days so I might try to do a yoga or another firm or something.

Yesterday was a bunch of commitments with time to kill between. Like, 30-40 minutes to kill which basically meant we got a snack or lunch in. However, we got through everything, got the puppy picked up (who is now in a cone because he won't leave his butt alone, so I heard him walking into things all night) and made it to all of our commitments. It was exhausting!

Today the only commitment we have is swim lessons, so I am ready for the break! I'm sure horse training will come up, or something else, but for now I am looking forward to a quiet day!! Last day of swim though, so that makes me beyond happy. It's a time suck.

We tried to get our halloween decor up on the gate yesterday, but the spiderweb I bought is too cotton and small. It looks more like stretched cotton instead of a spiderweb. I got it at the dollar store, so I can't complain. However we will stop at Walmart today and get the fabric one that was much better last year. The cotton one we used before was nice, and it trapped all sorts of bugs and weeds that blew around so it made it super creepy. I thought we'd get that this year too, but it was short (like 6" tall) and long, so it was hard to deal with, and would barely cover from one bar of the gate to the next so it's tied to the gate too much. I like having the string kinda hidden and it is not hidden at all. Anyhow, long story about my halloween decor. We usually do a giant spider on a giant spider web that takes up our whole gate.

So we will probably redo our halloween decor today. I am feeling less overwhelmed, but still motivated to get stuff done to end the feeling completely. I want to feel relaxed at home and not anxious because I see too much I have to get done.

The weather is getting a little cooler, supposed to be in the low 70's from here on out in the 10 day. We got a 6 month extension on the garage build, however they said they do not offer any longer extensions so we have to be done in 6 months. Which would be fine if DH wasn't tweaking with it constantly so I feel like we can't go out and just stack blocks like I had planned on. He keeps stacking, unstacking, trying new things, measuring, moving... I just want to put the blocks on and be done. now suddenly we are finding out we need rebar between every second layer (which DH is trying to figure out how we can best do it) and each block has to be placed super exact. it's annoying. I feel like we can't even get started right now without him because he will have to undo whatever we do anyhow. I am this close to just hiring someone to do all this crap and build it and be DONE.

I think when (or if) it comes time to build a house, I am going to push to have someone else at least do the outside walls and we can do the inside and finish it. But the outside walls, I don't have time to do all this crap, and neither does DH. Stupid.

Anyhow, dogs in a cone, other dog is afraid of our car in case he goes in and doesn't come out (or comes out shaved and in a cone), LB and I have done nothing but run or wait, I am decluttering as much as I can, garage is a bigger pain than I thought it would be, and overall just feeling like there's not enough hours in the day. Add that to the fact I had a bad dream that woke me up at 3:15am. Not the kind of bad dream where you can go back to sleep, but the kind where you lay there and worry and want to check on your kid and hug her. So I got up. stinks.

Eventmom: I think right now with everything going on, people are looking to get out of the city so our area (and other foothills areas) are in high demand. Things are snatched up almost as soon as they are on the market. It's one of those things where you see an open house, and then hear there were 4 or 5 offers already. it's crazy. I am grateful to live here, and the texts make me laugh. I guess if we were looking to sell, I'd be happier! It seems like zillow DH put the price of our home in there, and listed it at like $700k or something like that. He figured if anyone offered that, he'd take it. Now I wouldn't. However, maybe the zillow price was put in by someone else? or maybe you can put a better price in yourself?

Hi Ebianco!

[eventmom]

TA hip level 2.4 day 2
mission possible hi-lo

buzzer - I don't think we can alter zillow's pricing, it's based on what nearby houses have sold for. the other houses have no barn, no ring, and around 3 acres v. our 17 acres. so it's not accurate but I can imagine people thinking it is. sorry about the garage headaches, it seems like projects are always more complicated than expected -that's certainly how it goes for us! I hope you start making noticeable progress soon.

hi ebianco!

[ebianco]

TGIF Everyone,

My stress level has increased to the point that I have been sick to my stomach the last couple of days I also started taking an apparently powerful probiotic, which may also be a big contributor, but still I think a lot of it is just stress. As such, my exercise has been more limited, but it is also comforting to keep some part of my routine. Work is really busy this time of year and I'm trying to tackle a large project, some of which I have to do this weekend and into next week, and I'm hopeful that by next Friday I will be feeling less stressed.

Wednesday-Fitprime Push Pull, this one is super tough and I also remembered that there's not a huge amount of reps, I think this one was designed to be more slow and heavy, so I heavier up and got a really great workout.

Thursday-I was feeling at my sickest yesterday, but still wanted a workout, so did Jessica's Walk On Build Muscle Boost Metabolism, the 35 minute total body workout, and I loved it! It was really hard for me in a large part I think because I was feeling sick, but also because it was legit tough! I love Jessica, I definitely need to do her workouts more often! There is also an upper body workout on this DVD that looks very total body-ish that I am going to try next time.

Today-I tried the first part of Jazzercise Burlesque (the first three tunes) which was very fun, and the music was recognizable, but it wasn't overly hard, not such a bad thing. Then I dappled with Yoga Warrior the Versatile Warrior DVD, which was okay, for about a 40 minute workout.

Eventmom I think you can create a zillow profile and add additions and things to your house, I haven't done it but maybe it would help influence the z-estimate? At any rate I hope when you do decide to sell, that you get a lot out of it!

I agree with you about maybe never getting "back to normal" with COVID, in fact I read a news article just today about that.

Buzzer Our weather is very abrupt in spring and fall too but not like your area! We have a couple of weeks at least, LOL. It is for sure getting cooler out there every day. Our electric bill is finally going down now that the summer heat has ended!

I have been thinking of the original Firm volumes a lot. I have been so into the Fitprime lately, and the later classic Firms, but haven't picked one up in a long time. I remember Volume 2 has all that shoulder work, it seems like every other exercise in that one is squats with overhead press!

That was funny about the halloween decor! I heard some experts are discouraging halloween trick or treating this year, not a surprise I suppose, another victim of COVID and likely another source of controversy/confusion for everyone. UGH not to be a downer though, it's been a tough day.

Thank you for your positive thoughts! I would love to visit if you make your way to DC! I would love to visit you too if I end up going to Colorado, but probably won't be anytime soon LOL.

[Buzzer]

Firm Volume 3... DONE!

I did the whole thing with 5 pound weights, and quite honestly I could do all the flair and hip shaking like I could 15 or 20 years ago! Although back then I was using 20 as my heaviest and 8 as my light weights

I enjoyed it. I didn't feel like I was overdoing it, I know that workout by heart so I barely even watched the DVD except to observe the background exercises and have a conversation about the workout in my head. It was fun! I actually am finding my knee feels a little better with adding in some Firms. I think it likes the inner and outer thigh work rather than the squats that Body Beast does so much. I used my taller section of the fanny lifter for my box step ups, and stood for the seated work since the fanny lifter is so short. I broke a sweat and my heart rate was up. I also realized how much more fat is on my legs than I thought was on there. Oh well. I also saw muscle so I am going to hold onto that.

I am loving Body Beast still and Firm, so I am gonna continue on doing both. Today DH said he wants to be out at 6am to start on the garage, which means I will probably take today off working out, or I will workout later when the day gets warmer. I will either do yoga or chest work, depending on how I feel by the time I get to my workout. I did knee pushups and used my 5 pound weights for chest yesterday, and vol 3 isn't heavy on chest work. So I should feel OK doing chest work today.

I forgot how many "knee up"s are in vol 3. After lunges, after aerobics, she has you lift your knees. Must have been a thing for Anna at the time! Plus all the stretches where you think you are getting a break and now it'll be less intense, then there's more heavy work. By the time the final stretch came, I was questioning whether it was the real final stretch or if she went back and did more hip raises or something. I know the workout by heart when it's happening, but don't always remember the whole thing where I can anticipate minutes in advance. I do like to "sing along" with the dialog though!

Yesterday ended up being a good day. I needed a nap about 3 something, and so I had LB read to me from "Calvin and Hobbs" while I took a nap. She needed to read and I figured she's pretty much Calvin. She has a great imagination and loves tigers. She's at an age where she understands most of it, however I never realized how many big words are in C&H. She kept waking me up to help her with some of the words. We worked on the garage from about 4:30pm on. All we did was level. Level front to back. Level so the wall is straight. Level side to side. I feel like every block has to be checked and rechecked 100 times. I swear I have touched each block so far at least 10 - 15 times. I told DH I can see now why people do shoddy construction. It's annoying. I'm sure he doesn't have to be near as exact as what he's doing, however since he is I am going to need to suck it up and spend most of my days leveling rather than building.

So LB and I were at Walmart getting the new spider web, and she asked to look at the xbox one games. We were going through... she was just browsing. I saw one that was "Farm Simulator" and pointed it out. She was so excited. She read the back. She was just glowing as she talked about driving the tractors. Raising chickens. Riding horses. I was laughing inside about how excited she was for "farm simulator", so for $20 we now have a simulated farm. She was over the moon for it. She is learning the different types of farm machinery, got herself a truck, has chickens, is learning how to make money to support the farm, and even commented to me that "I can see how you can go through gas really fast." when she was driving the truck. I guess it's worth it because she will learn about machinery, she can contract help, lease equipment, buy things for the farm, earn money, raise animals, sell eggs, she has to harvest her fields and go through the whole process including bringing it to town and selling it.

She also had her first farm, where she was learning, and she plowed a weed field and overturned a tractor at the top of a waterfall. I'm sure that's just the stuff I know of! The overturned tractor cracked me up, and her description of how it happened. She thought she could just drive it off the waterfall Dukes of Hazzard style and instead she wiped out.

Anyhow, today is work on the garage, and hopefully we get a bunch of it done! And that it's naturally level so I don't have to drink myself into sanity.

Ebianco: I am glad there is some potential stress relief in sight. I don't know how you are doing it. Probiotics are a good thing I think! Even if they are strong and make your stomach hurt, it'll even out eventually and your immune system will be stronger for it. I heard a thing recently where your gut health is a huge part of your immune system and stress can kill it, so you are doing a good thing, even if it upsets your tummy I suppose!

I am anticipating Halloween being cancelled. It's sad, but I guess it's a struggle up here to find some halloween stuff going on anyhow. We usually do trunk or treat through the church, and try to hit a few houses up here. The houses are a hike between them though, so it's usually driving the kids around house to house. Last year she hooked up with a group of friends to T or T, which was fun. However this year I don't know if they will be doing it. I will probably still take her around and find houses with lights on if there are any! She's only 8 once, and a lot of the kid stuff is over sooner than I remember. It seems like we T or T'ed forever, but in reality it only lasts about 10-12 years. Then you are "too old". So to me, giving up one year of the few precious ones we have is a big deal.

I'm seriously not afraid of trick or treating. Sure you have candy to candy touch contact, but we touch stuff at the store that other people have touched and haven't gotten sick yet, so I am not going to worry about her and another person at the house we go to touching a piece of candy. That candy has probably had less contact than most things we buy!

Anyhow, I agree vol 2 is a lot of shoulder work. I don't know why I picked that one to do before my shoulder workout! I knew better. The firm seems to be a lot of shoulder work anyhow and vol 2 is like shoulder overkill.

Eventmom: Maybe that's what DH did, get an account or something on zillow. It may be worth it! In our neighborhood we have a billionaire that lives just up the street, all the way down to one room cabins built 100 years ago that haven't been updated since then. So I get the pricing nightmare. DH has to contest our property taxes every year because someone with a million dollar home sells.

[Buzzer]

Body Beast chest... DONE!
Firm Standing Legs... DONE!

I took Sunday off to build the garage, and we went out about 7am. I put a whole pallet of blocks onto a dolly and set them closer to the building area, so that was a bit of a workout. The dolly has one flat tire, so I'll add that as a resistance workout!
Monday I did beast chest, and LB came out during my last few sets. I was previewing UFCFit stretch, so she did some of the stretches. I also had her count my reps on the close grip push up with a fly, and decline push ups. I felt like I worked out really hard, and today I am definitely feeling the muscles in my chest, so that's good!!

Today was legs, and although I pulled out my leg sheet, I also got Firms standing legs and figured I'd do the warmup, because with my knee being so sore I wanted a good warmup. I would do the warm up, then when I didn't want to do standing legs anymore, I'd go to my body beast legs where I can push hard then slack a bit. Instead, I did all of standing legs!! It was fun! I wore my 20 pound weighted vest for the whole thing. I think next time when they say to pick up weights, I will add in my 3's or 5's. I worked on form and focus. The step ups got grueling, and I paused after one of the volume 1 sets about 30 minutes in to walk around a bit. I made it though! I used my pink ankle weights, which are about 3 pounds each I think, and put them on and took them off and put them on and took them off... which was a workout in itself how many times they do that.

I did the whole workout!! I was happy to see the stretch though. My knee is really sore, it doesn't hurt to touch, and when I workout it feels fine. It's mostly when I rest and try to bend and extend it. that lets me know it's muscle/ligament. I am wrapping it and putting dit da jow on it (I still have some from probably 10 or 15 years ago I'm using) and hoping something works. I will admit I have woken up at least once a night when I move because it's so achey. It's not hurting, just aching. The whole knee just aches. I am not ready to see a doc yet, but if it keeps up I might. I am guessing arthritis has caught up with me since it has always been the knee I have injuries on. . Getting older stinks.

So when I came out, the puppy was outside with a dead bunny in his mouth
I got him to drop it and leave it (surprisingly!) and covered it with a plastic bin. I am so glad he dropped it when I asked him to. I was afraid I was going to have to chase around the dog with a dead bunny. the dogs love to chase the bunnies, and sadly I think he killed it. I am so sad!!! I don't mind them chasing the bunnies, but I don't want them hunting the bunnies!! I have to take a deep breath, and it has taken me a long time to separate out that the wild bunnies are prey and food and domestic bunnies are different, but it's still hard for me.

I had to then catch the puppy and put him on the back deck, and wash off the blood off his legs so he doesn't lick it off and continue to get the taste of blood. I don't want a hunter on my hands. I do know akitas are hunters, but so far we've been lucky not to have one that hunts our bunnies in the yard. Ugh.

I don't even know what to do to stop him once he starts. Hopefully the bunnies will just see the danger and abandon our yard on their own. ugh.

Yesterday we got everything we needed to do done.... swim lessons, school, violin, train horse, and then we spent the early evening until 7 (when they close) at urban air with friends. It was a good, tiring day!!

There was a flipped car at the entrance to our neighborhood, which was apparently stolen, and the driver was arrested. The passenger, who was wearing a black shirt, ran away. It happened at like midnight, and they didn't catch the passenger. So I told DH about it this morning, and jokingly said "watch for a guy in a black t-shirt on your way to work." Well sure as shooting, he got to the post office at the bottom of the hill and there was a guy in a black t-shirt talking to the postal lady when she got to work!!! Luckily she was in her car, and DH pulled into the parking lot. He said the guy had his arms inside his shirt, visibly cold, and asked DH if he could use his phone. DH said he rolled up his window and called 911. Within minutes the sheriff came and they arrested the guy.

I am really impressed!! I am grateful he had to go to work today so he could help the post office lady out (we have 3 in our PO and they have been there a long time) and also so they could get that guy.

So it's only 8:39am and already it's been an exciting, weird day!!

Today we have swim, and my check engine light came on and my "turbo" doesn't work so I am going to my mechanic to get the engine codes to see if he can fix it or if DH can. I can still drive it, I don't need turbo, but it does need to be fixed. As much as I love my car, it has been kinda squirrly lately and I don't want to get to the point where I am concerned it's even gonna turn on in the morning. Hopefully this is my last issue and we can fix it fairly cheap.

Waves to you guys, I hope you are having a great week so far!!