so i'vebeen off work for close to a week, finaly getting around to a bazillion little projects around the house. i decided to move my sewing studio into the dining room. i wasn't entirely satisfied with the space i'd been
renting, it was never quite big enough and once a project started to grow i'd have to schlep it home anyways. T and a friend helped me move out of the studio on Sunday and between sprucing up the garden i've been busily reorganizing fabric and notions. i took down the bamboo shade on the east side and watched the sunlight fill the formerly dark space. it completely changed the whole look and feel. i've been working on a couple of baby quilts and am itching to start a bigger project now that i have the space.
i'm determined to keep active despite my sedentary hobby. on my 3rd cup of coffee while surfing a quilting website a pop up ad caught my eye...something about keeping active and osteoporosis. just the nudge i needed to get out the door. it was a good 20 minutes before i settled into a rhythm...the hot muggy weather didn't help. on tuesday i felt really good and decided last minute to go a longer route. to be honest i bit off more than i could chew and mentally bonked after about 45 minutes, my pace dropped steadily and then i got off the familiar route and ended up in a gross industrial part of town...sheesh!
so, with all the upheaval going on around here my camera is currently MIA. when it turns up i'll post a few pictures of my staycation adventure!
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Kaboom
Tonight were headed to Candlestick park for KFOG's listener appreciation party...the KABOOM SHOW. Melissa Ethridge is the headliner but I'm really jazzed about the John Butler Trio.
Saturday, May 08, 2010
What's a mother to do?
Totally off topic...it appears that in my absence my lame ass blog has been abducted by naughty asian girls who like to post naughty pictures of themselves...whatever.
M is is growing up fast. At the ripe old age of 14 she's rapidly forming strong opinions and views on a wide variety of subjects....none the least of which includes her utter disdain for her given middle name.
truth be told i half get why she feels the way she does.
instead of a name name, i opted to pass along my last name for a couple of reasons.
1. M's dad and i were not married at the time of her birth and while we were an "intact" couple and she has her dad's last name at the time i felt compelled as her unwed mother to include my name on her 1st legal documents. secondly, despite my puerto rican heritage my parents didn't speak spanish. i'm 3rd generation american and for the most part felt disconnected from my cultural roots...until i became a mother. my decision to insert my last name in there was some sort of cultural gesture, a way to remind her of her "puertorican-ness".
as is typical around here M and i can be hanging out, laughing whatever and in an instant things can get intense. M is becoming a young woman and as i mentioned has strong opinions, often misguided and ill-put at times.
last night was one of those nights. somehow the discussion veered off course and before i knew it we were full on feuding over her desire to change her middle name.
i get why she feels this way. with the exception of my mom and occasional face book comments M doesn't really know my side of the family. not for lack of effort i will add. suffice it to say, we're just not close. it's dysfunctional and from an early age i knew to keep my distance. i participate in occasional functions, but still keep my distance.
a year ago my half-sister from my dad's side reached out to me and we had a few visits and calls that ended rather abrubtly when M confided in her that her feelings were hurt because she hadn't accepted her multiple requests to be friends on face book. that bitch texted her a really harsh response that was completely inappropriate for a 13 year old girl. we have never spoke since. that said, among other reasons, because she and M share the same name, M wants to drop it.
i know she's only 14 and while she feels strongly now, there's a good chance she'll have a difference of opinion as an actual adult. i wanted to drop the subject, in fact stated when it was starting to escalate "uhm, why don't we have this argument when your 18? we've got plenty of material to tie us over till then" still, she wouldn't let up and things got ugly.
i guess while a part of me understands her point of view i guess what bothers me the most, is it feels like she's rejecting me. it wasn't just my cunt half-sisters name or our dead beat dads name. it was my name. thinking about it, my mother tended to give her kids family names too. my middle name was after my dad's crazy sister...seriously. physically she was beyond beautiful but a total head case. same for my other half-sister she was named after my mom's eldest sister, perhaps one of the most sadistic people i've ever met. still, i like my name and i don't relate it to a crazy relative. it's MY name.
when the time comes i will support M's decision. no doubt we will continue to be at odds on the topic but as her mother i need to pass on more than a name. ironically, with mothers day coming up i'm not feeling so mom-tastic.
M is is growing up fast. At the ripe old age of 14 she's rapidly forming strong opinions and views on a wide variety of subjects....none the least of which includes her utter disdain for her given middle name.
truth be told i half get why she feels the way she does.
instead of a name name, i opted to pass along my last name for a couple of reasons.
1. M's dad and i were not married at the time of her birth and while we were an "intact" couple and she has her dad's last name at the time i felt compelled as her unwed mother to include my name on her 1st legal documents. secondly, despite my puerto rican heritage my parents didn't speak spanish. i'm 3rd generation american and for the most part felt disconnected from my cultural roots...until i became a mother. my decision to insert my last name in there was some sort of cultural gesture, a way to remind her of her "puertorican-ness".
as is typical around here M and i can be hanging out, laughing whatever and in an instant things can get intense. M is becoming a young woman and as i mentioned has strong opinions, often misguided and ill-put at times.
last night was one of those nights. somehow the discussion veered off course and before i knew it we were full on feuding over her desire to change her middle name.
i get why she feels this way. with the exception of my mom and occasional face book comments M doesn't really know my side of the family. not for lack of effort i will add. suffice it to say, we're just not close. it's dysfunctional and from an early age i knew to keep my distance. i participate in occasional functions, but still keep my distance.
a year ago my half-sister from my dad's side reached out to me and we had a few visits and calls that ended rather abrubtly when M confided in her that her feelings were hurt because she hadn't accepted her multiple requests to be friends on face book. that bitch texted her a really harsh response that was completely inappropriate for a 13 year old girl. we have never spoke since. that said, among other reasons, because she and M share the same name, M wants to drop it.
i know she's only 14 and while she feels strongly now, there's a good chance she'll have a difference of opinion as an actual adult. i wanted to drop the subject, in fact stated when it was starting to escalate "uhm, why don't we have this argument when your 18? we've got plenty of material to tie us over till then" still, she wouldn't let up and things got ugly.
i guess while a part of me understands her point of view i guess what bothers me the most, is it feels like she's rejecting me. it wasn't just my cunt half-sisters name or our dead beat dads name. it was my name. thinking about it, my mother tended to give her kids family names too. my middle name was after my dad's crazy sister...seriously. physically she was beyond beautiful but a total head case. same for my other half-sister she was named after my mom's eldest sister, perhaps one of the most sadistic people i've ever met. still, i like my name and i don't relate it to a crazy relative. it's MY name.
when the time comes i will support M's decision. no doubt we will continue to be at odds on the topic but as her mother i need to pass on more than a name. ironically, with mothers day coming up i'm not feeling so mom-tastic.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
week one
monday i ran after work, uhg!
that somewhat "easy" 30 minute jackie warner workout i did on tuesday had me walking around like i had a stick up my butt for 2 days.
i was complaining about how sore my quads were still to monica on wed when we met up for a run. when we get together we tend to talk and walk alot more than run, and since we hadn't seen each other since before christmas and because i was still so sore it was a veritable gab fest.
there's a big hill i've always been curious about but never took the time to explore along side of the paved trail we were on and at my suggestion we checked it out. once to the top we followed the single track back down to the main trail and continued a short ways to the 1 mile mark. the hill warmed me up and the legs felt better than when i started so we started a slow jog. we turned around at the 1.5 mi mark and i ran the rest of the way back.
thursday i passed on happy hour with work friends and went home and did wii fit for 30 mins. mostly yoga and a couple of strengthening ex's.
by friday i was wondering why i hadn't incorporated a rest day...uhhh because you need to do SOMETHING in the way of physical activity every day duh! so as i'm loathe to do i waited till after dinner and went with T and took the dog for a 30 plus min walk.
so far the 30 day challenge has been doable and i can already feel habit starting to take hold.
that somewhat "easy" 30 minute jackie warner workout i did on tuesday had me walking around like i had a stick up my butt for 2 days.
i was complaining about how sore my quads were still to monica on wed when we met up for a run. when we get together we tend to talk and walk alot more than run, and since we hadn't seen each other since before christmas and because i was still so sore it was a veritable gab fest.
there's a big hill i've always been curious about but never took the time to explore along side of the paved trail we were on and at my suggestion we checked it out. once to the top we followed the single track back down to the main trail and continued a short ways to the 1 mile mark. the hill warmed me up and the legs felt better than when i started so we started a slow jog. we turned around at the 1.5 mi mark and i ran the rest of the way back.
thursday i passed on happy hour with work friends and went home and did wii fit for 30 mins. mostly yoga and a couple of strengthening ex's.
by friday i was wondering why i hadn't incorporated a rest day...uhhh because you need to do SOMETHING in the way of physical activity every day duh! so as i'm loathe to do i waited till after dinner and went with T and took the dog for a 30 plus min walk.
so far the 30 day challenge has been doable and i can already feel habit starting to take hold.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
30 DAY CHALLENGE
as is typical for me, following a big endurance event i go into hiding for a while. i dunno. once the event is completed i tend to shift my focus on all the crap that went neglected while i trained . i have a really hard time balancing it all.
that said, 10 plus pounds creeped back on since october!
we've been working on the kitchen, remember that remodel we started about 3 years ago? anyhoo, i have spent every free minute over the last month prepping and painting my kitchen cabinets. T and i celebrated our 10 year anniversary and decided to spend money on sprucing up the cabinets. we swapped out old hardware for new and added crown molding. it looks amazing but as is want to do i'm itching to address the lighting and would love a new sliding glass door with a doggy door built-in versus the panel that's in place now.
it was a big job, all the sanding and kneeling to get to the lowest cabinets...yes i was extrememely thorough and with the exception of a few deeper sections everything was primed and double coated. my arms and knees got a workout for sure but it's not the same as really working out.
painting with all the wet weather wasn't the best move but i know i'll be too busy in the spring and summer with training to deal with it so i have no regrets, sure it took longer but now i have a pretty kitchen that has inspired us all to cook at home more.
so, i'm on day 5 of my 30 day challenge which is about re-establishing the habit of exercise. the point is to do something for a minimum of 30 mins daily. it usually works out to be more than that. back in '05 when i returned to running for the umpteenth time that's all i did. in '06 i discovered triathlon and that seemed to address the lack of cross training. then after my marathon in '07 things got really inconsistent all the way through to this past summer when i finally committed to training again for the pac grove tri in '09.
excercise for the sake of exercise has never held much interest to me. training for events did, but this cycle of going from balls to the wall to virtually nothing isn't working. i have my secrete heart on a couple of big events this year but what i really want to accomplish is the habit of working out over the long term not just for a specific event.
i'm no stranger to injury, i've let my ego get in the way when trying to reclaim former levels of fitness. still, i've been fortunate and only have laziness to blame for the current lack of excercise. so, for now i'm mainly concerned with consistency and not hurting myself. and while nothing will ever replace my love for a good long run i'm realizing more and more the need to strength train. rw has some great videos as does fit tv so there's no excuse when i don't get to the gym....not to mention the wii that hasn't been used in a months. tri club starts back up in march at the Y where i spin 1-2 x's a wk and the bart trail is close and paved which is a plus on these wet rainy days.
lastnight working out to the core video felt well kinda lame..and at times a little too easy but that's when i recalled a sage bit of advice my tnt coach gave and it's was essentially a reminder that in the beginning of an excercise program it should feel like you could do more....but if your patient and give your body time to adjust and don't do too much too soon it will pay off in the long run.
i'm in it for the long run.
that said, 10 plus pounds creeped back on since october!
we've been working on the kitchen, remember that remodel we started about 3 years ago? anyhoo, i have spent every free minute over the last month prepping and painting my kitchen cabinets. T and i celebrated our 10 year anniversary and decided to spend money on sprucing up the cabinets. we swapped out old hardware for new and added crown molding. it looks amazing but as is want to do i'm itching to address the lighting and would love a new sliding glass door with a doggy door built-in versus the panel that's in place now.
it was a big job, all the sanding and kneeling to get to the lowest cabinets...yes i was extrememely thorough and with the exception of a few deeper sections everything was primed and double coated. my arms and knees got a workout for sure but it's not the same as really working out.
painting with all the wet weather wasn't the best move but i know i'll be too busy in the spring and summer with training to deal with it so i have no regrets, sure it took longer but now i have a pretty kitchen that has inspired us all to cook at home more.
so, i'm on day 5 of my 30 day challenge which is about re-establishing the habit of exercise. the point is to do something for a minimum of 30 mins daily. it usually works out to be more than that. back in '05 when i returned to running for the umpteenth time that's all i did. in '06 i discovered triathlon and that seemed to address the lack of cross training. then after my marathon in '07 things got really inconsistent all the way through to this past summer when i finally committed to training again for the pac grove tri in '09.
excercise for the sake of exercise has never held much interest to me. training for events did, but this cycle of going from balls to the wall to virtually nothing isn't working. i have my secrete heart on a couple of big events this year but what i really want to accomplish is the habit of working out over the long term not just for a specific event.
i'm no stranger to injury, i've let my ego get in the way when trying to reclaim former levels of fitness. still, i've been fortunate and only have laziness to blame for the current lack of excercise. so, for now i'm mainly concerned with consistency and not hurting myself. and while nothing will ever replace my love for a good long run i'm realizing more and more the need to strength train. rw has some great videos as does fit tv so there's no excuse when i don't get to the gym....not to mention the wii that hasn't been used in a months. tri club starts back up in march at the Y where i spin 1-2 x's a wk and the bart trail is close and paved which is a plus on these wet rainy days.
lastnight working out to the core video felt well kinda lame..and at times a little too easy but that's when i recalled a sage bit of advice my tnt coach gave and it's was essentially a reminder that in the beginning of an excercise program it should feel like you could do more....but if your patient and give your body time to adjust and don't do too much too soon it will pay off in the long run.
i'm in it for the long run.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Holidaze
i'm just not feeling it this year.
doing a pretty good job at faking it though. the tree is up and a few bits of Christmas are strewn about the house. i even put in my 2 cents when one of my sister-in-laws suggested that we NOT do secrete santa this year...give me a break! even i with no x-mas spirit at all this year can get it up for that...as far as i know no one is destitute in our family and keeping it under twenty bucks seems reasonable. this year T came home the biggest ass wreath i've ever seen....completely dominates the door....that's my man for ya bigger is better.
M and i did a 5k last month...her 1st! she decided to go last minute with me and my friend Monica and her dtr. Brianna. she's been keeping me to my word to get us to the Y 3x's a week and has been working hard on building her endurance and wants to do another 5k....which we will be at the end of january.
my running has mainly taken place at the Y and i have been trying to work more on core strengthening. at the moment my right trap is KILLLING me...i think i may have strained myself on the inversion table while rotating side to side with a 6 lb. medi-ball.
i hosted Thanksgiving this year and to be honest it fell a little flat. i really have no desire to see these people again for Christmas. T and M will drop off gifts on Christmas Eve....while i'm at work and Christmas morning we're driving to Gardnerville for a White Christmas with friends. looking forward to snow shoeing for the first time and maybe just maybe the spirit of the season will take hold. in the meantime i'm faking my way through a few hand made gifts and will take a crack at gingerbread.
doing a pretty good job at faking it though. the tree is up and a few bits of Christmas are strewn about the house. i even put in my 2 cents when one of my sister-in-laws suggested that we NOT do secrete santa this year...give me a break! even i with no x-mas spirit at all this year can get it up for that...as far as i know no one is destitute in our family and keeping it under twenty bucks seems reasonable. this year T came home the biggest ass wreath i've ever seen....completely dominates the door....that's my man for ya bigger is better.
M and i did a 5k last month...her 1st! she decided to go last minute with me and my friend Monica and her dtr. Brianna. she's been keeping me to my word to get us to the Y 3x's a week and has been working hard on building her endurance and wants to do another 5k....which we will be at the end of january.
my running has mainly taken place at the Y and i have been trying to work more on core strengthening. at the moment my right trap is KILLLING me...i think i may have strained myself on the inversion table while rotating side to side with a 6 lb. medi-ball.
i hosted Thanksgiving this year and to be honest it fell a little flat. i really have no desire to see these people again for Christmas. T and M will drop off gifts on Christmas Eve....while i'm at work and Christmas morning we're driving to Gardnerville for a White Christmas with friends. looking forward to snow shoeing for the first time and maybe just maybe the spirit of the season will take hold. in the meantime i'm faking my way through a few hand made gifts and will take a crack at gingerbread.
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