Thursday, August 18, 2011

Day 169 of 365

Today's picture happened because of my daughter.

She's home this week, helping us get a handle on the gardens. With my husband and I both back in school, our time to keep up on the gardens has waned.

Our daughter likes to have her own money. When she was in high school, she worked at our local pizza place. Later on she spent a summer working at McDonald's getting lots of overtime and lots of cash in the bank.

Once she went off to college her money started to slip away. We paid for all her expenses - tuition, room and board, books, etc., but being away from home with no adults to help her reign in spending, it went and went fast. By year two she was broke.

Now, she's almost two years into her latest job and loves it. She loves having her own money again, not having to ask the folks for living expenses. She loves her job at a high-end department store - and loves spending money there. Thank goodness she knows how to wait until clothes go on clearance!

But she always likes being able to come home and earn just a bit extra. Sometimes she works for trade - cell phone paid for the month for a hard day's work, or sometimes she grocery shops in our pantry for payment. And sometimes she likes cold, hard cash.

She's young and fit and is able to do those things we can't physically do anymore. Eventually we'll have to give up some of our gardening because of our limitations, but as long as she wants to earn money we're more than happy to pay her to help.

She's enjoying working in the vegetable garden this year since she was the one who planted it. She's enjoying harvesting veggies to take home with her. And she was very excited about the huge russet potato she pulled out of the ground.

Whoa!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Day 168 of 365

I finally broke it.

Yesterday I got home after a long day's work after 6:00. Then, I
  • Posted my tutorial and picture of the pocket tissue cover.
  • Had dinner.
  • Hemmed my husband's pants.
  • Made sugar cookies.
  • Guided my daughter in picking corn and digging potatoes.
  • Decorated sugar cookies.
  • Made salsa.
Then tonight I got home after a long day's work after 6:30 and I:
  • Had dinner.
  • Tied my husband's tie for tomorrow.
  • Finished up making salsa.
  • Posted my blog.
  • Tried on clothes my mom gave to me.
  • Packed for my overnight trip to my daughter's tomorrow night.
  • Paid bills.

    Something was missing from both those days.

    After 120 consecutive days I broke my exercise streak. For two days in a row, I have not ridden my exercise bike.

    It was a conscious decision. A hard decision.

    I could have (maybe) got myself downstairs and on the exercise bike for one short mile like I've been doing this last week or so, but didn't. I couldn't face another day of doing a half-hearted attempt at keeping the streak going.

    I knew I could not dedicate the energy/stamina/focus to bike as long as I should. On these work days, I've been barely squeezing in a mile. I've just been going through the motions.

    If I'm exercising, I need to put my all into it. And I'm not.

    I'm not giving up exercising all together, but I am giving it up right now, temporarily. Hopefully no more than just this week. For quite some time before I started back to work, I was biking anywhere between 3-5 miles a day. I need to again find the dedication to ride like before.

    But I'm exhausted - both mentally and physically. If you've been on this journey with me, you know I've been exhausted like this before. I feel like I can't catch a desperately needed break. I know in a few short weeks my schedule will be more manageable, so I just need to hold on.

    I'm grasping with every last bit of energy I have.

    I did do a good deed, though. The sugar cookies I made yesterday were for the school secretary, who shared some onions (hence the new batch of salsa) and carrots from her garden with us. So I returned the favor with some tomatoes from our garden and some carrots from my oven.