My life is nothing if not exciting...

I was minding my own business, getting ready for the gym, when Buttercup fell backwards, broke her fall with her wrists, and promptly broke her left wrist.  Didn't get my workout, but I did get my heart pumping.

For whatever reason, Buttercup's blood pressure dropped quite low in the ten minutes it took to get to the ER (68/30) and she was whisked into a room lickety split and placed on a bed which was tilted way back to put her head below her heart.  The blood pressure situation resolved itself and Valiant was bored.

Four hours laters, the break was set, the splint was on, the sling was in place, and the pain pills had kicked in.  Even better?  She was still rocking her Vibram Five Fingers...those shoes made her the star of the ER.

This afternoon, we head to the orthopaedist for the permanent cast.   Any guesses on the color she'll choose? 

Gym Rat Pig

Exercise is good for every body...just ask Pig!

 Heading for the Gym Pig

Signing in Pig

 Free Motion Pig

 Marathon Pig

 Personal Trainer Pig

 Muscle-bound Pig

Frugal Gym Towels

With the cool weather, Valiant, Buttercup, and I have started exercising regularly again.   In the spring and summer, we get our exercise with outside activities, but fall and winter means that we spend a lot of time inside, getting far less movement in our day-to-day lives.  Weekly ski trips don't make up for daily exercise.  So, we have to be more deliberate in getting our exercise.  To that end, we hit the gym at least five days a week, which means five days of three sweaty people each day.  Okay, maybe I'm the sweatiest, but still, all three of us use a towel every day...that is a lot of towels.

I was unwilling to buy enough towels to keep up with our usage.  Even assuming I do laundry every day or every other day, we're talking 3 to 6 additional towels at any given time.  Three days of workouts means I need 9 towels.  Who wants to go buy 9 towels to take to the gym?  Not me, that's for sure.

Then I remembered the towels I still have from our pool and spa days.   Perfectly good beach towels.   (Yes, I still have them, I just couldn't get rid of perfectly good towels.)  The need for gym towels gave me a perfect use for these towels.

Lickety split, I cut them in thirds, and serged the raw edges.  Just like that, I created three gym towels from each beach towel.  One for each of us, for three days.

Then I took each towel and wrote "Face" on one side and "Equipment" on the other side.  Why?  Because it occurred to me that I'd like to know that the side of the towel I am wiping the sweat from my brow on is NOT the side of the towel that has been sitting on the equipment where other people's sweat has been. 

 
Have you ever thought about that?  I hadn't, but once I did, I couldn't let go of it.  I needed to find a solution and simply labeling each side of the towel was as basic as I could get.  (Now, if I had an embroidery machine, I'd embroider little patches and sew them on my towels...wouldn't that be cute?)  In the meantime, a marker works just find.

I love that I found a use for these towels...and a free one, at that.  I still think it is so cool when I come up with little solutions like this that repurposes something I already have.  Do you have any "a-ha" solutions that you can share?

WIP Wednesday...

Guest Room/Gym - It's not done, but it certainly is ready to accommodate guests and a little bit of cardio. What do you think? Any takers?


The bed is ready to go...although the throw pillows aren't quite right. (Ignore the black towel on the bed. The cats have already begun enjoying the bed.)


The desk looks cute. I bought that lamp at a "clearance, clearance" price because I loved it ($10, I think.) It took me two years to find a way to use it.


This little guy will get hung in the corner next to the bed. (I had the bird and a friend was throwing away what she thought was a plant hanger- which we painted black and we combined them.)

Oh, the cost? $22 for new pillows. That's it! Everything else is stuff we had in our basement storage area. Not bad, eh? I really think it looks welcoming.

Gym is back in my life...

If you're following along, you know I've been mightily resisting starting up with Gym again. He's just so demanding! Well, I was weak and I couldn't hold out any longer. I saw Gym this morning, but I didn't go alone. No, when sweet Valiant saw me suited up and ready to go, he got on his running shoes and joined me as I confronted Gym. (Wasn't that nice of him? That's why I call him Valiant...he'll be at my side, ready to face down anything!) After some serious negotiating, I settled on 24 minutes on the LifeCycle and Valiant did the same on the treadmill. It's not much, but maybe it will keep Gym happy!

Meet "Gym"...

This is a picture of "Gym", as Gym is today. Gym hasn't always looked like this. In fact, Gym and I have had an on-again, off-again relationship for close to 30 years. In my younger days, I would cheerfully head to Gym's house and spend hours there EVERY DAY. I'd do a few aerobics classes, spend time on the LifeCycle, play on machines and then do it all over again. Then I got more responsibilities and my time at Gym's declined, but didn't disappear...in fact, Gym moved and I got a new, fun place to visit. Honestly, at that point in my life, my social life seemed to be wherever Gym was. Gym was fun, I felt good when I spent time with Gym. This was definitely our on-again period.

Then I started seeing Superman and, frankly, Superman was a lot more fun to spend time with than Gym. Superman liked Gym well enough, but he didn't really want to spend any time with Gym. So, I'd see Gym in fits and spurts and it was fine. We weren't exactly broken up, but I really didn't see Gym much. Then Superman gifted me with Charming...I needed Gym, but didn't really enjoy my time with Gym. I was married, I had a baby and I had a job! Where was I supposed to fit Gym into my life. Valiant followed Charming and Buttercup followed Valiant. I was too busy for Gym and too busy to feel guilty for neglecting our relationship.

When Buttercup entered preschool, I started seeing Gym again. Oh, the exhilaration...I felt young, free, strong, and energetic. But that wasn't enough for Gym...whatever time I dedicated to Gym, it wasn't enough! The demands were endless..."you need to spend more time on the bike, a few more reps on the machine, why didn't you run today?, what do you mean you don't have time for a class?" Gym was never happy! Instead of feeling terrific, I felt inadequate. I wasn't capable of meeting the demands Gym was placing on me. I was definitely ready to break it off.

Then life intervened...I moved away from Gym. I was free!

But I was weak...and I let Gym move into my house! For a while, I was able to keep Gym under control, but pretty soon, Gym was demanding more than I could give. "What?! You only did 24 minutes on the bike? Why didn't you do 32? No work-out video? You know you have the time...obviously, you are a slacker!" So, I stopped seeing gym last July...it it felt good. Oh, I visited twice in September, but that was it...it was over.

That, I thought, was the saga of Gym and me...until now...

You see, it is starting up again...Gym's siren call is reaching out to me, "You know I'm good for you. You know you like me." Gym's seductive promises, "Come to me...I'll make you happy....I'll make your clothes fit better...you'll look better without clothes...you know you need me."

I think I'm weakening...I think I'll start seeing Gym again soon...just not quite yet.

[If you need inspiration to take care of yourself, I urge you to check out Melissa at 365 Days of Exercise. She has committed to do some form of exercise everyday for one year and is blogging about it. She's fantastic...)