Balance

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Sheila

I was so excited after hitting 12 miles this month to keep going. Wednesday and Thursday mornings, though, I had some things going on that meant that I couldn’t swim in the morning, and then by the time I was done with those, the ball of the day was already rolling, and I didn’t stop it to take the time to go swim like I wanted.

Instead, I put it off and looked forward to this morning. There were two other things that were competing for my attention: a request for help at school, and a mass being said for a friend. I was tempted by both opportunities. Really, I felt guilty about considering not choosing to do something I felt like I should. I should, after all, be running around doing *stuff* right? Instead, I decided that I really, really wanted and needed to swim.

There have been many mornings this month that I really didn’t want to swim. If I had to get wet, I wanted it to be in private, with warm or hot water and great smelling soap and shampoo. I wanted to feel clean and warm and dry when I was done. But this morning? I was looking forward to it. I wanted to feel like I had done something this morning, I wanted my muscles to feel a little tired because they had been worked. I even wanted to feel the water feel cold for a couple of seconds until the activity made it feel warm and cool at the same time. I was even ok with the contortions needed to make sure that my socks and pant legs wouldn’t get wet because the floor was wet.

But when I got out of bed this morning to wake up the girls, I intended to walk straight to the door, but ended up smacking into the side of the dresser. I course corrected to Katie’s doorway and came close to falling down the stairs. By the time I was getting Maggie, I realized that I was having some issues with my balance. I wasn’t dizzy… just off-balance. It was a strange feeling.

So, today, I didn’t get my swim today. But I am getting to chill on my couch for a while today while I try to reset my balance-meter in more ways than one.

Monday, though? I will be swimming. It’s all about balance, right?

Share on Facebook

Short URL: http://tinyit.cc/c9020  Tweet:
Posted in blah | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Meanwhile…

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Sheila

I am not great about following other blogs carefully. I’ll visit one for a while, then forget for a week or month or two, then catch up. So, while I read quite a few blogs, I don’t read all of them every day. (Can you hear the defensive tone? That’s right… I don’t spend all day every day reading things on the computer just for fun. I actually do stuff, too.)

Here are some of the best things I’ve read recently…

From Momastery: A Mountain I’m Willing to Die On

Children are not cruel. Children are mirrors. They want to be “grown-up.” So they act how grown-ups act when we think they’re not looking. They do not act how we tell them to act at school assemblies. They act how we really act. They believe what we believe. They say what we say. And we have taught them that gay people are not okay. That overweight people are not okay. That Muslim people are not okay. That they are not equal. That they are to be feared. And people hurt the things they fear. We know that. What they are doing in the schools, what we are doing in the media – it’s all the same. The only difference is that children bully in the hallways and the cafeterias while we bully from behind pulpits and legislative benches and one liners on sit-coms.

Diana Nyad talks at TedMed about how extreme goals can release you from living with regrets large and small.

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?” –Mary Oliver

Don’t Carpe Diem has been making the rounds, and makes me want to wave my fist in the air and yell “Yessssss!!!!!”

When I started this post, there were a couple other things I thought I had seen. Maybe I did, but I can’t find them now. Oh well. Maybe that means there will have to be another post like this sometime.

Share on Facebook

Short URL: http://tinyit.cc/97888  Tweet:
Posted in Internet | Tagged | Leave a comment

12 miles

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Sheila

This month, I started with a goal of swimming 12 miles in January. Since I only started swimming again in December, 12 miles felt like a little bit of a stretch, but one that I could manage.

I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of the beta testing at www.bia-sport.com, a woman-centric workout and activity tracking site. One of the best things about this site is that it is goal oriented. So I entered in my goal of 12 miles (20,000 yards to be precise, which is just over 12 miles), and every time I logged a workout, it added it to my monthly total. It was as gratifying to see the total yardage needed to reach my goal shrink every time I swam as it was to see my total for the month grow. Talk about an easy way to stay motivated!

And this morning, after I logged in my workout this morning, got to see “Goal Completed – Congratulations” printed under my goal instead of my running yardage count.

Satisfaction, indeed.

And now I have a week to decide what February’s goal is going to be.

Share on Facebook

Short URL: http://tinyit.cc/28988  Tweet:
Posted in Good Times | Tagged | 1 Comment

Other Books I read in 2011

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Sheila

I read other books that I didn’t count as part of the 10, and here they are:

Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan. The story of 3 generations of women and a beach house in Maine. This is the second of Sullivan’s books that I’ve read, and I really hope she is working on a third now! She writes beautifully; I love how the present and past, the profound and the mundane are woven together as part of the same story, just as they are in our heads.

Commencement, by J. Courtney Sullivan – This was wonderful. Chronicles 4 Smithies 4 and 5 years after gradution. Many flashbacks, 4 points of view. I really enjoyed this book!

The Paris Wife Awesome book club read!

10th Anniversary by James Patterson. I like the Women’s Murder Club. Its good summer reading.

Promises Kept by Jane Green – I cried. This book made me want to throw it across the room because I knew what was going to happen. The happy woman who was succeeding in her marriage, parenting and friendships and genuininy happy? She was going to get really, really sick. Can’t say I was shocked.

Storied I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe – Are there any adult women who didn’t have a crush on Rob Lowe at some point?

Blue Bloods, by Melissa de la Cruz – Young Adult vampire fiction set in New York City. Does anything say summer more than that?

Bossypants, by Tina Fey – too much fun to count.

The Divorce Party, by Laura Dave – Two points of view, one very long and interesting day. I’m tempted to count this in the official list. Maybe I still will.

The First Husband, by Laura Dave – A different take on chick lit. I found this really enjoyable and thoroughly engaging. I’m looking forward to finding other books by Laura Dave (I think there are some).

Bitter is the New Black, by Jen Lancaster – too much fun to count. An unemployment memoir with the best subtitle ever: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry a Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office. Really. With a title like that, how could it not be fun? Also My Fair Lazy I didn’t love this one as much, although it was still wickedly funny. And I think I want to read some Edith Wharton now.

Still Alice, Lisa Genova – a book club selection. I love this book. It is both an amazingly and horrifyingly real account of a woman’s battle (and submission) to early onset Alzheimers Disease. I didn’t count it because I’d read it before.

Let Neglected, Lisa Genova – a book about Left Neglect syndrome, which is apparently a real thing where a traumatic brain injury makes a person incapable of understanding that there is a “left” side to things. Very interesting, but so foriegn it was difficult to really “get it.”

The Power of Half, Kevin Salwen and Hannah Salwen – another book club selection

The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery. When I got this book out of the library, the librarian gushed over what a wonderful book it was and how much I was going to love it. She was wrong. I read half of it and put it down because I just couldn’t do it anymore. Deeply philosophical and very slow moving, I just couldn’t get into it. I might try it again.

Under the Boardwalk and Summer Lovin’ by Carly Philips. Brain Sorbet. Light reads that are just easy. Great for the beach, the bathtub or when you simply don’t want to be challenged.

Sizzling Sixteen & Smokin’ Seventeen by Janet Evanovich. My dad reads these, too.

Lift by Kelly Corrigan. I loved The Middle Place so much and was excited to read her new “book.” But at under 50 pages, it is hard to consider it an actual book.

The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly. Lawyer fiction sort of like John Grisham.

Leave it to Cleavage by Wendy Wax. Meh, but she apparently lives in East Cobb, which is interesting.

Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner. So much better than the last couple Jennifer Weiner books. It was great to see her back up to form.

10th Anniversary and Now You See Her by James Patterson.

Something Borrowed and Something Blueby Emily Giffin. I picked up Something Borrowed because it is out in a movie, and realized halfway through that I had read it before. I didn’t really remember the ending, though, so it was fun. I knew I had read Something Blue already, but re-read it because I could’t remember the details and wanted to see what happened with Darcy after finishing the first one.

My Stroke of Insight by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor. I had seen this woman’s TED presentation and was fascinated. The book did not disappoint. Dr. Taylor did an amazing job of explaining what a stroke feels like, and how it feels to recover from one. In the midst of that, she also manages to explain some brain anatomy and functionality in an understandable way and use that to explain transcendence and connection. Pretty impressive for 224 pages.

The TED Presentation: http://blog.ted.com/2008/03/12/jill_bolte_tayl/

I feel like I’ve missed more, but I can’t remember what they are now. Besides. New year, new list.

Share on Facebook

Short URL: http://tinyit.cc/dcf8b  Tweet:
Posted in Good Times, list | Tagged , | Leave a comment