Sunday, May 31, 2015

May Review

A new thing about my life is that I have no deadlines. What I have is lots of lovely free time to do things in, so I just pick one thing from a few different categories off my wunderlist and do them whenever I have time, and it takes however long it takes to get them done. Whereas before the model was, this or that Has To Be Done by whenever it had to be done and it was done as it got by then. That's a pretty significant difference to be able to sit with something until you're done with it, and you decide when that is. What done is.

Hygiene

1. Draft simple beauty routine.

Boy, there's nothing like writing up a process to blow your mind how many steps are in the simplest of processes. Also for a girl who doesn't use a lot of products, I still use a lot of products. I ended up splitting this up into shower, skincare, makeup, and hair. Anyway for what it's worth, skincare is done.

Cleaning

2. Clean bedroom.

Just under the wire, done! Holy crap, that was a big job; I had to divide it into like five parts, where the first four parts were cleaning out my clothes and the last but not least part was cleaning the dust bunnies out from under the bed. So like hygiene lives in the bathroom and cleaning the bathroom yielded Draft beauty routine, clothing lives in the bedroom and cleaning the bedroom yields Draft clothing chart. I have a demented idea about that, but I doubt that I will even get that started before this cycle starts all over again. But anyway, I have purged a bag's worth of clothes from my shelves and finally bought actual casual bras in place of my cut-up cami bras and, really sadly, seem to have lost a pair of workout shorts, oh well.

Train

3. Renew CPR certification.

Man, this was one of those tasks that you look at a hundred times like yeah I gotta get on that until finally you're like GET ON THAT MEANS WHAT, SPECIFICALLY. Well, it means:

  1. Googling "cpr certification chicago," and ah, you find that Red Cross, as well as some others, have certification classes but you pick Red Cross because you like Red Cross, they seem nice.
  2. Searching their site for a certification class near you, which turns out to be at the Rauner Center near Rush, easy enough.
  3. But wait there's more, actually pulling the trigger on registering for a class at the end of May, what are you dithering for. It's a little more expensive than you imagined, you used to get your CPR training through the league for free. But nothing free lasts forever and this class includes first aid, that's probably a good thing for you to know.
  4. What, there's more? The online portion of the class that has to be done before the in-person class—and hello, the end of May is coming up right quick— you actually have to launch that and see what that's all about, geez, it's three levels each of CPR and first aid.
  5. Get crackin' on the online portion, it's actually pretty fun and you learn stuff like did you know in a diabetic emergency, when in doubt, give sugar, even if you don't know whether they're hyper- or hypoglycemic. I would not have guessed that.
  6. Finally finish the online portion, all in all it takes about a week.
  7. Realize that the in-person class is at 9:00AM on a Saturday, and weep a little bit. Figure out how to get there, blue line should do.
  8. Take the in-person class!
Done!! I am now certified in CPR and first aid for another two years.

Watch

This has been a very TV-heavy month, I've been depressed on and off and that's when I shuffle around the house with Netflix on an IV. Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Death in Paradise, Foyle's War, and Murdoch Mysteries have been getting me through the day and putting me to sleep at night. Police procedurals are best for this, comfortingly predictable. I've long been done with the Law and Order, CSI, and Criminal Minds available on Netflix, and now I'm digging into British and period police procedurals. Now that the original CSI is cancelled, I'm psychically willing Netflix to pick up those fifteen seasons. And NCIS, get that too.

ETA: AHHHHH!

One weekend we watched John Wick and The Equalizer, for an inadvertent film festival of insanely competent assassins coming out of retirement. We also started season two of Vikings, which I don't hate. My attention span is shrinking for long storylines, though, movies actually are better for me than TV series, apart from the aforementioned police procedurals, which are the best.

Sparty and I watched The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, which made us give up on our indie film club. I think I'm just not an indie film gal, oh well, know thyself.

ETA: Also, Valhalla Rising. WTF.

See

This is supposed to be see people but it also means see movies, which to my mind is more active than watch TV or even watch movies at home. We only go out for movies that we really want to see in theaters, and then we go the whole nine yards and get a jumbo popcorn and two cokes. This month we saw Avengers: Age of Ultron, which I loved (but I pretty uncritically love all superhero movies) and Mad Max: Fury Road, which I liked.

People I saw: Biggie for a haircut and lunch at Upton's Breakroom, my niece in her spring concert, Fury at Fury brunch, not counting people I train, people I train with (Problem, Brawla, Minerva, Painbows), and people who train me (Box).

ETA: Also, Outfit bout. And also, meine frau in her beautiful new apartment.

June Picks

Hygiene
1. Draft shower routine.

Cooking
2. Draft spring and summer food charts.

Cleaning
3. Clean kitchen for the love of god.

Train
4. Take ProSource quizzes.

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Happy Birthday Odie!!!

happy birthday odie

Friday, May 22, 2015

A Game of Inches

So basically I had three different headaches all at once, good times. Antibiotics for the sinus infection, neck stretches for the muscle tension, and upgraded contact lens prescription for the eye strain, all taken care of. The last of my tests came back and it's been like Steve Martin in LA Story throwing the suns on the weather map: normal! normal! normal! normal! normal! It's nice to be normal, but I think it would have been nice to have had an explanation instead of having had a stroke for, oh, no particular reason. Or I guess that leaves roller derby freak accident as the leading suspect, not that there really was evidence of that, either.

week ofWORKTrainNutrition
3/6-3/10--hospital
3/11-3/14--post-surgery
March 15on chair-post-surgery
March 22on chair60%post-surgery
March 29on ball80%transition
April 5on ball100%recovery
April 12on ball100%recovery
April 19on chair*80%BRAT
April 26on ball100%transition
May 3on ball100%post-recovery
May 10on ball100%transition
May 17on ball100%post-recovery

Now in post-recovery nutrition, which is to say back to my normal food chart that I plan to publish on my new blog, Nomnomnomicon, stay tuned.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

My Skincare Routine


So like I said, I'm putting my life back together again, piece by piece, and I seem to have decided that writing it up in a blog post signifies that piece being in place for now. And if you must know, these are all the pieces and presumably my blog fodder for the upcoming months.

Also like I said I'm cleaning all the rooms in my house, and certain pieces live in certain rooms. So like I cleaned the bathroom, which meant throwing out a ton of expired—I mean like waaay past their sell-by date—products, so I could actually see the skincare and makeup and hair products that I use and actually get myself to use them. Which I'm frankly not that good about if I'm stressed. I know, gross. Well, what is to be done, anything that you want to do like clockwork, you should set like clockwork, so I've been putting a little thought into this and here it is.

So this is my skincare routine after I shower or wash up in the morning, and before I go bed in the evening.

Maybe later I'll write up my shower routine, but in the meantime here's The Week's insanely detailed How to take a perfect shower, which I mention mainly because she mentions the Salux cloth, which I didn't even know was called that. That's the scrubby I've been using my whole showering life, you get them from the Korean store a.k.a. Joong Boo Market.

skincare products

Dental and vision products not pictured.

1. Floss and brush teeth.

Not skincare per se, but I floss and brush my teeth before I wash my face so I can wash off any toothpaste that gets my face. Makes sense, right?

2. Wash face.

I wash with Aveeno Ultra-Calming Foaming Cleanser, which I've used for years and years, and for exfoliant I keep a mug of baking soda by the sink and just dig up a little bit to give my chin and the sides of my nose little extra rub. I do actually prefer Arm & Hammer, I like its texture better than generic baking soda.

3. Put in/take out contacts.

Because I have the cleanest possible hands after washing my face, also makes sense? I clean my contacts overnight in Clear Care Solution, which is supposed to neutralize overnight after which you can take them out of the case and pop them right in your eyes, but I have trust issues, so I rinse them in a generic no-rub solution, and actually I rub them, because I have trust issues.

4. Swipe with toner.

I just added toner to my skincare routine and after doing some internet research where I concluded somebody has a bad reaction to everything and I can't really afford to break the bank on everything expensive for my face, I decided just to stick with witch hazel and generic at that. I soak a cotton ball with that, first swipe my chin and the sides of my nose and then lightly swipe all over my face, then quick pat my face with cold tap water, then pat my face dry with a towel.

5. Apply serum.

Origins Plantscription Anti-aging Power Serum is my one expensive thing, I got a sample in a gift pack from my boss for Christmas and it really seemed to make my skin look better. That said, it took some talking myself into spending so much on a single product. My skin does look pretty good at the moment, but I think that might be the 17 days of antibiotics o.O. Anyway. Three pumps into the cup of my palm, then I sort of preferentially dot it into all the places where I don't really look old yet but where I could start to look old someday, and from there distribute it all over my face with light upwards strokes like all the French ladies on the Youtube videos. I was putting an extra pump on my neck with the light upward strokes, but it seemed to be irritating my scar so I stopped that.

Any extra gets rubbed on the backs of my hands, but vigorously scrubbed off the palms of my hands with a towel. I can't stand having product on the palms of my hands. When I get old, the backs of my hands are going to look like Dorian Gray and the palms of my hands are going to look like the portrait of Dorian Gray.

5b. Apply benzoyl peroxide.

I haven't needed it lately but if I have blemishes, I dot them now with 2.5% benzoyl peroxide. I use Neutrogena On-the-Spot Acne Treatment.

6. Go put on lotion.

Here I want the serum to have a minute to absorb into my skin, so I go to the bedroom and put lotion on my legs and arms. I use Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion with Broad Spectrum SPF 15, ah good, I completely forgot that this comes with sunscreen.

7. Go back and put on moisturizer.

Still nekkid, by the way. I want the lotion to have a minute to absorb before I put on clothes, so I go back to the bathroom and put moisturizer on my face. I use Aveeno Ultra-Calming Daily Moisturizer Broad Spectrum SPF 15 all over my face, and most days that's the end and now I go put on clothes.

ETA: Meh to all that, too much process for not enough result.

4. Apply moisturizer.

With my contacts cleanly in (or out), I can greasy up my fingers with moisturizer. I have a different moisturizers for day and night: Aveeno Ultra-Calming Daily Moisturizer Broad Spectrum SPF 15 for day and Aveeno Positively Radiant Intensive Night Cream because I couldn't find the ultra-calming night cream at Jewel. I wants it! I suppose I can stand to be radiant for a while.

Some days, though, there is makeup! And also, there is hair. I might write those up later, too.

I did go back to toner and lotion, so now this is in a little different order that I guess I will rewrite.

 

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Whole Day Fitness
 post recovery

I am officially declaring myself in my post-recovery training period, nutrition will follow as soon as I'm done with these antibiotics. I'm recovered but I'm not as I was, I'm less focused on discrete, high-intensity workouts spaced through the week, and much more on whole day fitness focusing on continuous low-level activity throughout the day. Which I was moving toward anyway, but it's more front and center now that it's pretty much all I do. I've started working out again, but just; we will see how that goes. I've been getting my whole day fitness act together through my recovery period, and it is solid:

1. I walk before breakfast.

Nothing major, just by default: on work days, how I get to work is walk to the train and take the train, thirty minutes door to door, some walking, some stairs, some train surfing, some sitting, some more stairs. On home days, I'm up and about tidying the bedroom and the kitchen, also about thirty minutes.

2. I get up 2x/hour mornings and afternoons.

On work days, I have this down like Leroy Brown. I don't track this with jelly bracelets anymore, I have a new system that I will tell you about later. On home days, I tend more toward being on my feet for at least an hour, sometimes two, cooking or cleaning in the morning, and then off my feet doing desk work in the afternoon. Ideally I'd like to be getting up 2x/hour here too, but it depends how I feel; if I feel like I need to rest, I rest. It's more important to be rested for clients in the evening, which is also on my feet for an hour or two—not to mention mentally and emotionally present.

3. I meditate before dinner.

I also have a new meditation routine, I don't meditate in the afternoon anymore. I still do breath counting versus the parade, but now I do it at home to start my evening. On work days I leave work at five, get home, tidy the bedroom and change out of my work clothes into my home clothes, and sit on my bed and actually I have some PT to do for my neck that I set to breath counting, two birds, one stone, wot. I know, multitasking makes it seem like I'm unclear on the concept of meditation. But it's very focused and single-minded, just because it's productive and time-saving doesn't mean it doesn't count. On home days, it's similar but sort of in reverse: I change into my play clothes at five, sit on the couch and meditate, and then leave the house for the gym. So I always have this nice transition into evening, wherever I'm coming from or going to.

4a. I work out 3x/week evenings.

My workouts are 60 minutes of kettlebells with Box on Monday, and whatever 30 minute program I'm on for Tuesday and Thursday. At the moment and probably through May, I'm doing some PT for my knee, building myself from the ground up!

4b. I rest 4x/week evenings.

What on earth am I doing with all these nights off, well I'll tell you, on Wednesday I am resting like woah. I leave Box's workouts thinking ah, I could have done more, and then I am sooo sore for the next two days. The other three nights I am leaving open to be ...social. I know, concept. I mean, Box has also classes on Wednesday and Saturdays that I could pick up. Or I was also thinking about Pure Barre, or Orange Theory. But I decided that I didn't want to just fill my schedule right back up with workouts, I need some breathing room. I don't always go out, in fact I mostly don't, for now I just want to be able to. If I don't, I just chill and watch TV or do something off my to do list.

5. I stretch before bed.

Boy I could not get down to stretching when I was still derbying, but now it's as easy as eating. Which just goes to show, your resources are exhaustible. Saving on workouts means that I have some to spend on stretching, simple as that. I have a flow for this, hopefully it'll be second nature by the time I ramp up on my workouts and I'll be able to maintain both. (I don't think I undercut what I just said, setting up a new habit takes more energy than keeping up an old habit.) Now that I don't have late practices, I start going to bed at nine. Nine!! I drink a glass of tart cherry juice, then tidy whatever needs tidying in the front room (the evening counterpart to tidying the bedroom and kitchen in the morning), then brush my teeth, then stretch, and then go to bed. I don't have to make myself or talk myself into stretching, all I have to do is drink that glass of tart cherry juice and it all just flows after that. Including brushing my teeth and washing my face before bed, which I also didn't used to be good about. Life is so much more civilized without late practices.

Anyway, this here stretching: I was doing ballet stretches for a bit, but now I'm doing the second half of my neck stretches before bed—there were so many of them, I divided them into two parts. AREA WOMAN ACTUALLY DOING HER PT EXERCISES, call CNN. Actually I found a connection between the neck and the ballet stretches and brought them together, so still get to do a little ballet, and will get back to when I'm done with my neck.

Monday, May 11, 2015

Getting My Act Together

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Friday, May 8, 2015

Blast >:(

This sinus infection is hanging on, so I have another course of antibiotics to get through. The annoying thing is I have to take the antibiotics with breakfast and dinner, and I can't take them with calcium, so that interferes with my having yogurt for breakfast, which is my new thing, or would be my new thing if I could get on with my life already!

week ofWORKTrainNutrition
3/6-3/10--hospital
3/11-3/14--post-surgery
March 15on chair-post-surgery
March 22on chair60%post-surgery
March 29on ball80%transition
April 5on ball100%recovery
April 12on ball100%recovery
April 19on chair*80%BRAT
April 26on ball100%transition
May 3on ball100%recovery
May 10on ball100%transition

Oh but, my LDL is back to 68, HDL also 68. BOOM.