lazy days and present run-down

lazy, lazy, lazy days. and yet, still amazingly productive.

Tuesday, the day AFTER Christmas, I spent most of the early afternoon doing a "Clean Sweep" on TDP DinoBoy's room. Had to make space in there for all the new shtuff he procured, even though the bulk of the pirate toys stayed at Grandma's. I put all the Little People in one HUGE box (Denise -- are Mark and Matthew interested??) and filled another box same size with random other toys that he's outgrown and/or no longer captivated by (dangling grammar-part, I know. Soorry). I also re-arranged the furniture to give him a bit more free space, and dusted and straightened the whole mess. It's much more functional now. And I have to say, the little one is really good about keeping things in their place once he's done playing with them. But he's got to have a dedicated place for everything first. So I think we accomplished that.

Wednesday, I set out to "Clean Sweep" the playroom. I had to clean it up so that Elder Child could use it as a bedroom for the next six weeks. With his foot in the cast, he can't get in and out of his captain's bed very easily, so he'll be bunking in the playroom for a while. I also needed to re-do the room so I could make space for this:
Doing so involved clearing out a futon mattress and myriad other schtuff out of the guest room closet, so I could move the 6-foot bookshelves into the closet. Then I went through all the crap on the shelves and culled and tossed and donated, so that the "shared" toys are now organized and readily accessible to both, yet out of the way. The "guest room" has morphed once again, this time from a playroom into an exercise room. So now all that's in there is the TV with cable, the treadmill, the body-shaping-gym-resistance contraption, and the futon.

and, the body-shaping-gym-resistance contraption thing? Wow. I have what I call T-Rex arms -- small, weak, and useless. But, with this thing? Move out of my way. The pull-ups alone will get me in serious arm definition territory. I'm still experimenting with the various positions and resistance levels, but with regular use, this is going to be a wonderful addition to the regime. Especially when coupled with these:


Of course, I don't have the Nano. Yet. Hub got a new Shuffle (the itty, bitty, clippy one) from his company as a pseudo-bonus, and gave it to me to use. But since my old one is fairly small, lightweight and unobtrusive anyway, I thought it would be better to exchange the new one and apply it toward a Nano. So. Schweet! Of course, I won't have nearly enough songs to come anywhere close to filling it, but it will be nice to have an easier way to upload run stats. I upload with the Garmin fairly rarely, only because I rarely think about it. This way, I might get some more useful information. And pretty charts. I lurves the pretty charts.

My brother, meanwhile, sent me Carmichael's nutrition/training book, to help with reaching some of the nutritional goals I'll need to meet to get me toward my goals. It's rather dense, though, so it may take some time to digest. heh. I made a nutrition pun! sorry.

All that's left is to put a new battery in the chest strap of the HR monitor, and I can resume base training. I'm still thinking I'd like to do another full marathon in February, but that is still to be seen, depending on how some other things shake out. At a minimum I'll do the Cowtown Half, but whether I do the full is still up in the air.

I have done pretty well on my goal of working out every day while on break. Wednesday was the exception, but with all the heavy lifting and cleaning -- it was easily a 4-hour job -- I don't feel like I slacked. I've been heavy on the treadmill, which has been good to keep me on pace with a bit slower run/jog than I'd do on the streets. That, and it's also been ridiculous weather-wise -- either too cold, too windy, too rainy, or something. But I have gotten it done. I've not paid nearly as much attention to my intake as I should, but I'm not going to stress over it right now. Just putting the other things in place, and once I'm back in the work rut/routine, it will be easy enough to police the food choices.

So, that's that. Got to jump in the shower and get ready for bed now. We left the kids at MIL's for the weekend, while we drive down to San Antonio for the AlamoBowl. Woo-hee. How the mighty have fallen -- last year, National Championship at stake, this year, we play Iowa. Whatever. It should be fun to cheer for the Burnt Orange Nation with Hub and our friends. Later!

PS -- Oh, and the Elder Child? Almost completely back to normal, with the exception of a the splint-thing. No pain overnight, which is a HUGE improvement over pre-surgery, when the pain from the coalition would wake him at least three times a week. And the swelling is receding already, and he's getting restless, so it's been hard to get him to rest and elevate. But he really is a good kid, and he's been a great patient. He's gotten the hang of the crutches pretty well, too. His biggest problem today were the storms that moved in and freaked him out. He'll be up and running around before we know it!