TA Meta and everything else - Spring / Summer 2022

[eventmom]

yesterday - youtube sleek ballet it was 25 minutes and a bit tougher than I expected but certainly not tough
today - karen voight's yoga stretch from sleek physique

ebianco - I'm so sorry to hear about your cyst. it sounds dreadful. the entire situation seems awful. sorry to hear you had to move out of your bedroom to get some sleep but sometime you have do what you have to do. My dh ended up sleeping in the living room in Taos - on a futon - because it had more air circulation. this was when I had covid so I was pretty much good riddance. Coach Kel is a pretty good youtube channel I know she has a paid something but never researched it. And, I will never give my fitprime 6 day trainer - if I could I'd buy a back up!

buzzer - hope you are hanging in there with all your social commitments.

[ebianco]

Hi everyone,

My cyst pain rages on but I did keep up with my exercise today. I did Firm Tough Cardio Mix (a lot of it, close to 30 minutes worth) then Denise Austin Yoga Burn which is 20 minutes for a 48 minute workout.

Eventmom Thank you for your kind thoughts, it is really terrible. On Tuesday when the office opens back up, I'm going to schedule to have it drained because obviously the antibiotics aren't working. I'm going back to the original location too because I was profusely unimpressed with the doctor I saw last week that had absolutely zero sympathy and sent me away. There is another location about an hour away from me to the south, that may have sooner appointments, and honestly that's okay with me. I'm just going to get the first available Tuesday and take off whatever time I need to, regardless of when or where!

I'm actually pretty excited, DH and I went bed shopping yesterday and are getting two twin XL mattresses (that is the same space as a king) and two adjustable bed bases, and separate sheet sets, and got a good labor day sale. The new beds should really resolve the motion issue (FINGERS CROSSED). We are getting it all delivered in two weeks! Unsurprisingly I haven't heard anything yet on the cpap machine but I think I need to give it one more week before following up with the sleep doctor office. I've been too preoccupied with my cyst to really fret about it.

Yes, I treasure my Fitprime 6 Day Trainer DVD set too!

Buzzer waves!

[eventmom]

cardio barre intro - which I'd never done before it's 20 minutes but was good for now. I rode my horse, then I did one of the free essentrics.

ebianco - that sounds like a lot of exercise for someone dealing with what you are dealing with. I hope you can get into somewhere on Tuesday and get some relief! congrats on the new beds! We got a new mattress and it helped many issues.

hi buzzer!

[Buzzer]

Amy Bento Drop Sets just legs and abs... DONE!
Amy Bento Drop Sets just chest and back... DONE!
two days "rest"... DONE!

DH was at his shop on Saturday, and I woke up not really motivated to workout. So we instead painted the desk area in the kitchen! It's kinda in the dining room/kitchen, however it was the same dark wood and black countertop we had in the kitchen. So LB and I spent Saturday cleaning it off, cleaning it up, then painting the whole thing. It took us all day!!! It was worth it though. So much brighter!

Sunday we were just exhausted, so I took the day off. We did some finishing touches on the desk area (it's a desk, a set of 3 drawers, then two lower cabinets with doors and 4 upper cabinets with doors) and went to get a basket to put the ugly internet router in.

So back to it on Monday. I did the leg portion only of the workout, which ran about 20 minutes for the legs. I didn't think it was too bad, anywhere from 2 to 3 sets of each exercise, 3 exercises. I went a bit heavy (heavier than Amy), but felt like I could have gone heavier. however, my legs are still feeling it! I felt my quads even before I went to bed that night! So I guess it was a good leg workout, and also I think it was because I have been doing high rep/low weight rather than heavy weights/low reps. Either way, my legs felt it!

Tuesday I slept in because I spent a few hours during the night awake. So I didn't wake up until after 7am, so I just wanted 1/2 hour. The chest and back, with warmup and cool down, was right about 1/2 hour. I again went heavier than Amy, and for the pushups I used 20 pound weights as a chest press instead. It was good, however I should go heavier next time. Today I am going to do the shoulders/biceps/triceps portion of the workout. All together the workout is an hour and a half, so broken into 3 30 minute workouts is working for me right now. I don't know why I like 30 minutes so much lately!

Maybe it's the transition from summer to all the "beginning of the year" changes. We are doing school, violin, CC, violin group starting, LB getting ready to graduate to low brown belt, she had westernaires graduation... just a lot of changes this last few weeks. I think it's just a lot all at once so I'm easing back on myself. We'll see.

My car is still in the shop. I took it in on Thursday, and they are waiting on parts for it. So I am driving the newer big... no, HUGE.. car. I call it the bus. I successfully took the bus through the drive thru yesterday to get lemonade for LB after homeschool gym (another change we have to our schedule!). Oh, I also forgot I drove up about 3 hours away ( should have been a 90 minute trip, but traffic!!!! Ugh) on Friday to get our 1/2 cow. On the way home, tons of rain and hail. I feel like I have not had a moment to myself that is stress free!! So I'm waiting for my car, driving the bus, and DH drove the truck. It's about 20 years old, and when he was getting onto a main road, his clutch went out and he was partway into the road. So LB and I went down to sit with him, and that took a fulll morning. Luckily I had worksheets for LB to do, so she sat in the bus and did them. So much going on right now.

So we are down two cars. Luckily DH works from home! I am shuttling LB around in the bus, and we have a full schedule lately.

DH got LB's floor done in her room, so she and I put her mattress into her room and she is sleeping in her room! It's not completely done, we still have to put the moulding back on, and buy her a bed. Her mattress is on the floor right now. But she's in her room!!

Ok, I don't even know if this all makes sense... so much is going on. Cars in the shop, LB moving into her room (kinda), kitchen and desk area done, my dining room table is on it's side to be repaired (the table leg is broken) then I will see if I can get an antique dealer to either buy or take to auction the table and chairs, and two bookcases we have that I want to get rid of. Upheaval in the house to the max.

Eventmom: I hope you are doing better!

Ebianco: I have to admit I loved sleeping in the camper. When I got back into bed these last 2 night with LB back in her room, I realized that DH is part of the reason I sleep so poorly. He piles blankets on himself so high... so even though we have a fan in the room blowing in cool air, he is HOT. Then he even gets close to me and he radiates 100 degrees. That wakes me up! I don't know if that's all my issues with sleep, but I think that has been mine now that we are back in the house. It's so difficult to sleep with someone else!! I'm glad you may have found a solution. I hope it works!! keep us posted! I think it sounds like it will work.
Sleep is such a stress. I swear, I worry every night that I won't sleep well. Then when I wake up and I have slept enough, I am high fiving myself. Only to remember that I have to do it again the next night... then the stress if you have a full schedule the next day and you can't sleep well. I hate being tired all day, or needing a nap and being in town with no way to sleep. Driving without enough sleep is awful too. trying to keep myself alert enough so I can react well and have some energy for the day... it's a lot.

LB had a nightmare at 4:30am. I was asleep, on my way to 6 hours!! She woke me up and I have been up since. I feel bad for her, however we have a full day of activities we have to do and now I'm stressed about my day. I hope I am alert and good all day! Sleep is so hard. I'm glad you are finding solutions though. That Cpap can't come soon enough!

[ebianco]

Hi everyone,

I'm thrilled to say life has been looking up since last time I checked in. I was sitting there on Sunday with raging cyst pain, and out of the blue thought, "I wonder if I can just to go urgent care and have it drained" so I called the quasi emergency room I have used near me (not a full out hospital but a healthplex, somewhere between an urgent care and an ER?) to be sure they COULD do the procedure first, and they could!! And they had no wait so I was in and out in maybe over an hour. AND the doctor was really competent (not always the case in an urgent care place) and did a great job draining it. It was really painful , not just the numbing but the entire process (partway through I asked him to re-numb it), but I feel sooooo much better now. I am finishing antibiotics and my follow up with my primary doctor said the infection looks like it is healing. Also, I learned from my primary that THEY are also able to drain AND remove cysts?! So I didn't even need to go to a dermatologist and wait two months. The ER doctor said I should use a general surgeon and not bother with a dermatologist either. So I learned a lot but suffice it to say I'm not returning to the dermatologist.

Now that I'm feeling enormously better (I have technically a small open wound which will close on its own, no stitches, it's not painful and I've been cleared for exercise) I decided to go ahead and start EPIC Heat this week!! I have heard that the first workout out of the gate, leg complexes (this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUau...gXkXVM&index=1) is notoriously challenging, like the most intense workout of the entire series. It didn't look THAT bad on preview but the stacking of similar exercises really made the burnout real. I loved it but now wondering how I'm going to do ANOTHER leg day on Friday?! The system is structured so each week will have lower/upper/lower/total body/HIIT the first week then upper/lower/upper/total body/HIIT for the second week, so this is a lower body week. I DO really like that Heat workouts are a tad shorter, which warm up and stretch it was only 46 minutes today and not close to an hour.

The only subs I'm making in the entire system are when she has shoulder workouts (the ENTIRE workout is shoulders) I am doing an alternate upper body. I think I had to sub about 3 workouts in the whole system and tomorrow is one of them! So I'm doing an EPIC Endgame instead. Oh, but I am also subbing some of her HIIT which is over the top burpee stuff. And I'm adding extra ab work here and there.

Eventmom and Buzzer I am jazzed about the new beds!! They are not coming til next Saturday (17th) but that time will go right by. For now I'm just sleeping in the other room but we both miss the togetherness of sharing of course. My sleep has still been a bit wonky, I become so wired during the day and then it's hard to fall asleep at night even though I'm so tired. And still no word on the cpap, I think this Friday is two weeks so I'll call him maybe on Monday.

Buzzer Yes I think women in general suffer sleep problems with their partners (men usually sleep heavier so they aren't bothered) and I'm certainly one of them! I think I was able to wing it more the past few years being younger, but now I just want to have a good night sleep.

That is a lot going on! We are down a car too and I'm not used to not having a car during the day when I'm working at home (not that I usually go anywhere, but still like having that option LOL!)

[eventmom]

monday - TA beg #2 her super easy dvd
tuesday - did a zoom session (free) from floor barre (the zena rommett foundation, so the original floor barre. Also did 20 min Sara Ivanhoe yoga before I rode.
today - 9 minute warm up from yoga for surfers, then rode my horse, then came in and did fitprime from the 6 day trainer. I think I'll use these workouts for a week or so.

buzzer- wow that is busy. sorry about the car issues, glad your dh works from home. I'll be LB loves having her room on the way to re done.

ebianco - yeah on the cyst! Caroline G's workouts look so great but too hard for me certainly right now. Wish some of my dvds had the production values of her free youtube workouts!

[Buzzer]

Amy Bento Drop Sets shoulders, bis and tris... DONE!

I liked the workout! It is three sets of three exercises for each muscle group. It took way more than 30 minutes, I would have to say 40 minutes at the least. I don't know what time I started working out, so it's hard to say. It was long though! I can't imagine doing this whole workout in one day. It's an hour and a half long total, and the leg portion is only 20 minutes.

I did not feel my chest or back after that workout, and today I am not feeling any upper body soreness. So I don't know what to do with that info. I am still kinda feeling my legs though!
I am probably doing the leg portion again today. I liked the workout enough to do it again! Plus, the leg portion was short. I like that.

Still no car. They have a number for me to text "to find out any information or answer any questions" while my car in is for service. I texted yesterday between appointments, and no response. So glad they have the "text to find out" number then they don't even check it. Yesterday was so busy, so today I am going to just call. It's been a week without my car. I know "parts take time to get there" and other people are telling me how their cars were in service for a few weeks, however the lack of communication is annoying. DH's truck, on the other hand, is ready to be picked up. So at least we will have a spare car! So stupid. His car was the one more broken too.

Today we have nothing planned. We may go get LB's bed, and go to karate. That's it though!! YAY!

Eventmom: LB is totally in love with her room. She wants to keep her most loved stuffed animals in the garage, since the garage is mostly fire proof and she has this crazy huge fear about the house burning down. I told her that her stuffies can be with her where they are loved, rather than in the garage where they won't get as much interaction. She agrees, but isn't comfortable with the idea. Probably TMI, however she always tells me when she is going to go to the bathroom. yesterday I told her "honey, you don't always have to tell me. You can just GO" and she said "well, I want you to know where I am in case there's an emergency or fire or something. I don't want you to have to try to find me." I don't know if I just learned we have crossed the line to an overblown fear that is somewhat consuming her, or if she just thought of the answer and went with it. Anyhow, she loves her room! She can't wait to get her bed and move in completely!

Ebianco: That cyst story is crazy from all sorts of angles. First that the Dermatologist was making you wait so long in so much pain, second that urgent care did it so quick, and third that your GP could have done it for you too. How did that all go down! I mean, seriously. What a joke the dermatologist is! I guess it all comes down to they wanted the money for the cyst, and didn't want what was best for you. Otherwise they would have sent you to your GP or told you to go to urgent care. I agree, I would be done with them. Such a crazy story! I'm glad there's a happy ending though. I would be livid.

I agree women have more trouble sleeping. I think we are lighter sleepers since we are the caregivers, so we were designed to wake up more to every little thing. My DH sleeps through everything! However, if I get up in the night to go to the bathroom, he wakes up. But man, if LB comes in with a nightmare, he doesn't bat an eye.

[ebianco]

Hi everyone,

So WOW I am intensely sore from my leg day yesterday. I don't know if its because I barely exercised last week and now my muscles are shocked, or if it was just that yesterday's workout was so hard. Today was fine because it was all upper body, but tomorrow is a full out lower body day and I don't know how I will manage! I'm committed to following the system but I suspect I'll have to reduce weights or do a lot of bodyweight to make it through tomorrow. Anyway, today I did EPIC Endgame total upper body (this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV3S...gXkXVM&index=2) instead of EPIC Heat day 2 which is a shoulder workout. This one is a toughie and the staple is shoulder exercise (so still felt like i got plenty of shoulder work LOL). I finally invested in a 54# kettlebell, because my 45# is starting to feel too light for deadlifts and 'landmine rows' as Caroline calls them! I got a fancy one with a monkey on it (this one: https://www.onnit.com/primal-bells/) because regular ones cost about the same anyway. It was a little pricy with shipping (I paid $130 total) but seriously on amazon they are just as expensive for a regular one, and I'll have it forever. I was tempted to get the 72# too to get free shipping, then realized their shipping doesn't count on their kettlebell products?! Also, I can't honestly say I'll ever be ready for a 72# so just the 54# for now!

Edited for Friday - well I made it through the Epic Heat Day 3 leg day!! Actually I felt relieved because even Caroline was doing bodyweight on at least half the exercises in this workout (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iyU...gXkXVM&index=3) and it was a no repeat workout so there wasn't an element of burnout like with her other workouts. And for the weighted exercises I went lighter than usual. It felt tougher at first but once I got into it, it wasn't that bad! It ended up being a leg intense cardio day almost. With warm up and stretch it was 46 minutes today, and I'm walking on the treadmill. My upper body is crazy sore today from yesterday so maybe it is just my muscles being shocked from the week off last week? So I don't know how I'll make it through tomorrow (total body) but was relieved that the system seemed to acknowledge how hard day 1 was and day 3 was much easier. So maybe tomorrow won't be so bad LOL.

Edited for Saturday - Epic Heat Day 4 total body today (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CBx...gXkXVM&index=4) and she focused on hip thrusts, so the lower body was all glutes/hamstrings no quads which was fine with me! I strongly suspect my glutes will be killing me tomorrow, I had to break many times during the workout, and I tried to stretch them extra today. Then some back and chest work that was VERY hard after my upper body day Thursday, and a lot of burpee stuff - I was a good sport and did all the burpee stuff for the three staples, but when she went into an extra set at the end, I took that time to squeeze in biceps and triceps work which wasn't directly hit, then I added this Heather abs workout which was fine but nothing special (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRWs...gXkXVM&index=5), with a longer warm up, I did the Firm Volume 6 again the warm up and all the cardio tunes, and long stretch it was a 62 minute workout. Now to get through HIIT tomorrow and I'll have done my first week!

My eating has been back on track I'm sure thanks to not being in intense pain from the cyst, so yeah!

Eventmom and Buzzer Yeah I can't say how great it's been without the cyst pain, such relief! Isn't it crazy that the GP could have done it all along? I didn't even think to ask. But yes I'm never going back to that dermatologist again.

Buzzer Wow, I'm sorry to hear LB has a real fear of the house burning down!! I hope is a passing fear and not something that preoccupies her and gives her anxiety. Anyway I'm glad she's excited about her bedroom!

[Buzzer]

Amy Bento Drop Set Strength Legs and abs only.. DONE!
Amy Bento Drop Set Strength back and chest only.. DONE!
JNL Fusion upper body workout, back and chest only... DONE!

The legs I went up in weight and it was awesome! My legs aren't near as sore this time as they were last time, but I sure felt them. I love it because it's not a brutally long leg workout, however it is effective!

Back and Chest were good... I again went up in weight. I used 25's for the pushups, and that was good. I just felt like I didn't do much, so I added on the JNL back and chest. That did it! I was SORE. like the whole rest of the day I was sore and felt depleted. It was good though! I was surprised at the feeling. Today I am not terribly sore from it, as a matter of fact I barely notice that I worked those two groups out. But yesterday I felt it!

Last night we had a birthday party for DH/farewell to summer party. We originally did it as a fire pit and outdoor cookout, however after days and days of 100 degree weather, yesterday's high was 65. So by the time the BBQ time came around, it was around 50 degrees. So we cleared out half of the new garage, put 4 picnic tables and two food tables in it, and had the party in the garage! It was great! We had about 30 RSVP on evite, then another about 20 show up either with families that were invited or DH invited them by text. It was HUGE. Everyone fit! I felt like it was a wedding, I talked to everyone, but felt like I didn't talk to anyone. The evening went fast and we didn't get to bed until almost midnight. I was exhausted!


Today I skipped my workout. I woke up early with the Eugene panting in my face. I booted him out of the bedroom and closed the door, but all I could think of was that he was inside during the party and we didn't take them out afterwards, and I didn't want him to go into LB's room and poop. So suddenly I was hyper aware of sounds, and just got out of bed. So I was DRAGGING all morning. I finally took a nap about 2:30 and LB woke me up about 20 minutes later because she is doing legos in the new garage and got scared. That's OK though, because I will still be able to sleep tonight.

So today I have just laid around. I did clean up the bookcases at then entrance to our home... so when you walk in, a fireplace is the first thing you see. We have little cubbies on either side so we put bookcases there. They are dark, and it's time for them to go. LB and I ordered two rocking chairs to put there instead, and they should be here next week Friday. So until then, one of them is an antique book case we got when we got the table, so I need to get that out of here. The other one LB said she wants in her room for her books. I'm totally fine with that. I am at a point where I look at the space we have, and see how much we have that we are just storing and displaying but not using. These bookcases collect clutter, they are displaying "things", and we had books in there that just sat and didn't get read. the books are out in the workout room for me to go through, sell, or donate. The "things" are either packed up for a display rotation (I'll pull them out and display them later.. I read a long time ago "even a museum doesn't display all it's treasures at once" and had forgotten that until I read it in a book recently). So now the bookcases are mostly empty, the entrance looks less cluttered. I like it.

Once they are gone, we like to sit by the fireplace in the snow or cold. So this way, we have rocking chairs on either side and we can pull them out, sit by the fire, then put them back when we are done.

[Buzzer]

500 error again. So didn't finish my checkin. Tried finishing it this morning, still 500 error. Hopefully I will see you guys again soon! Otherwise just quick checkins for a while I suppose.