2025 Planning
My new planner has arrived! After searching unsuccessfully at Barnes and Noble, TJ Maxx, and Marshalls (I got my 2024 planner at TJ Maxx) I finally ordered this one. Sarah mentioned it in a Best Laid Plans episode, and described it as a simple, affordable, but surprisingly versatile option. I’ll be honest- my first impression was that it felt kind of cheap. It’s not going to fall apart, but it definitely doesn’t have a luxurious feel. But hey- I spent $22. What was I expecting? On further examination, I think it’s going to work. It has everything I need. Monthly pages: And the weekly pages fit all my criteria. Each day has plenty of room, and Saturday and Sunday are full size spaces, unlike some planners where Saturday and Sunday get a half-space (no, no- all wrong!) I also like the “track it” section at the bottom of the right hand page. I’m thinking of tracking hip stability exercises, and maybe stretching? Or core? Maybe I’ll play around with it, and make the “wins of the week” section into two more “track it” sections. The back of the planner has pages for gift ideas, birthdays, expense tracking, and some lined and some grid notes pages. I’ll use some of the notes pages for tracking my reading, and a TBR list. And, there’s a page of stickers… Not sure what I’ll do with those, but since they’re blank, the possibilities are endless. I’m excited! I can’t wait to start filling it in- and what, you might ask, am I filling it with? Well, I do have some goals and plans for 2025…. coming up tomorrow. Do you use a paper planner? Do you have your 2025 planner yet?
Weekly Rundown- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Actually, the title should be “The great, the good and the terrible.” There was so much that went well this week- the weather was phenomenal, I had some great runs, we had a VERY exciting high school football game, and my rib is about 90% better! Woohoo! But… I hurt my back, ARRRRG! As always, I’m linking up with Kim and Deborah for this Weekly Rundown (thanks, ladies!) Let’s just see what happened… Monday After the holiday week, I couldn’t face waking up at 5 am to run. I knew it would be cool and beautiful all day, so I decided to run after work. In the morning I did an upper body strength workout. I can now raise my arms above my head, and this was the best upper body workout I’ve had since I hurt my rib. Things are going GREAT! Before going to work, I just decided to tidy up a little- Christmas bins were out, and I needed to put things back into place. All I did was bend down to move the coffee table over a few feet, and when I stood up, I immediately knew that my low back was messed up. Phooey. It was so stiff and achy, I was worried about running. But after work I decided to give it a try and hooray! I can still run… 3 happy miles. Tuesday My back felt TERRIBLE. I decided to do a lower body strength workout at home. Some moves were impossible, but I could do squats so I hit those pretty hard. Good workout, in spite of my back. Wednesday I started the day with a lovely 6 mile run! It was 50 degrees and look- I’m wearing long sleeves! After this run, DOMS from my workout yesterday kicked in with a vengeance. I really put myself in a predicament- I couldn’t bend over because of my back but now I also couldn’t squat down because my legs were SO SORE. So, if I wanted to pick something up from the floor… I couldn’t. It was pretty funny (if you have a dark sense of humor.) I would say I felt like a 90-year-old woman, but actually I hope I’m moving better than that when I’m 90. It was a rough day. Thursday Okay- enough is enough! Since I can now raise my arm above my head, I decided to try the Caroline Girvan deadbug workout.. I haven’t been able to do any core since the rib injury. I could do it!!! I did feel my rib a little, but it was okay. After I finished I stretched my back for a while. This workout and stretching session was the turning point for my back- after this it started to slowly, slowly feel better. After work, another 3 mile run! Friday Since it felt so good the day before, I did the Caroline Girvan deadbug workout again, followed by hip stability exercises. I felt like I was gradually putting my body back together. At night… high school football game! It was the state semi-finals. The game was close and exciting, and in the last five seconds the other team almost scored the winning touchdown, but were stopped at the goal line and we won 14-11! It was the kind of game where everyone was on their feet screaming in horror, and then shouting for joy (unless, of course, you were rooting for the other team, in which case, reverse that.) Next week, our team (and the band!) will travel to the State Championship game. Everyone is so excited! This has never happened before in the history of our school. I can’t go because I have to work, SOB!!!! But it will be live streamed, so I’ll watch as much as I can. Saturday 4 mile run before work. My back is much better! And, every run this week has been great. I credit the amazing weather. Sunday Off! But I HAVE TO get our outdoor lights up! If I don’t, the Christmas police are going to come and arrest me. My rib is better, my back is better; I have no more excuses. How was your week? Any mysterious ailments? If you celebrate Christmas, are you finished decorating?
Festive Coffee Date!
Hooray! EVERYTHING is festive in December, right? Decorations and lights are everywhere. Even going to the bank feels like a special occasion. I’m linking up with Coco and Deborah for this festive December Coffee Date. Get out your holiday mugs and let’s get started! Unfortunately, the first thing I would share over coffee is NOT festive. Just as my rib was starting to feel much better, I hurt my back. Yep- I innocently bent down (<= bad idea) to move the frickin coffee table, and my low back has been very sore ever since. Ironically, on this week’s episode of the Happier podcast, Gretchen gave herself a demerit for doing the same thing. Well, she wasn’t moving her coffee table. But it sounds like the same situation- leaning forward with the back rounded screws everything up. This is an ongoing issue I’m always aware of, but ironically my back had been feeling PERFECT ever since I fell in my race. Hitting the ground seemed to jolt everything into place, kind of like a chiropractic adjustment. I guess my back was feeling so good, I forgot to be careful. Luckily I can still run, so I don’t consider this a Serious Problem. But it’s made my life seriously uncomfortable this week. (Obviously, what I need to do is throw myself onto the ground as hard as I can to give myself another adjustment, right? If there were any chiropractors reading this, they would probably be screaming right now.) On to the good news. Our weather has been AMAZING. I know it’s been cold and miserable up north, but I’m not going to apologize. We suffered through a long hot summer, but even worse, we sweltered through the fall, while everyone else was posting photos of beautiful foliage. We paid our dues, and now it’s our time to shine. Oh yes- THIS is why I live in Florida! I almost forgot. Speaking of forgetting… I got two advent calendars this year, and I forgot about BOTH of them until yesterday. Oops. Here’s the first one: I’m opening two doors a day until I’m caught up! One of today’s surprises was mini-cards. I’m not quite sure what I’ll do with them, but they’re cute! The other advent calendar has cat treats. I don’t know how we’ll get caught up with that one, because I don’t want our cats- who are already “festively plump”- to have more than one packet of treats a day. We might have to just start where we are, and open some “bonus” doors after Christmas. Do you have an advent calendar? Who wants to come down to Florida for a blogger meetup in February? – I’ll be meeting up with at least three, and possibly four bloggers (oooh! I wonder who they could be!!!)
Reading, Eating, and Rosacea Update
First things first! Last week I posted a “cry for help” with my rosacea. That same day, I ordered this product from Amazon: This woman looks even worse than me! At least I don’t have it on my FOREHEAD. (Or, maybe that’s what I have to look forward to…) Anyway, I picked this particular product because it contains sulphur. Some people mentioned there’s a prescription face wash for rosacea that contains sulphur, and it really helps- but from what I understand, you will smell like sulphur. I cannot smell weird with the job I have. But this product has a much smaller amount of sulphur, and the reviews were positive so I decided to try it. IT WORKS. My face looks so much better! I mean- it’s not perfect (that’s okay- I gave up on perfect long ago.) But it got me out of the category where people feel the need to ask me what’s wrong, so I’m really happy (and- it does not have an odor.) Noemi also did a post about rosacea, and she recommended another cream that I’m going to try as well. One thing I’ve found is that something will work for a while but then stop working, so I’m going to try rotating different things. Let’s move on! I actually read TWO books during November, which is huge for me during NaBloPoMo. The first was The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and the second was Tied up in Tinsel by Ngaio Marsh. I enjoyed Tied up in Tinsel so much that I’m reading another book by Ngaio Marsh, one that I picked up a couple months ago at the used bookstore. I’m REALLY enjoying this one! It was written in 1958, and the premise is, a murderer is on board a ship sailing from England to South Africa. It’s a cargo ship, with accommodations for nine passengers, and one of those nine is the culprit (the way this is set up is just barely plausible.) Inspector Roderick Alleyn, Marsh’s series detective, is on board to find the guilty one. I love mysteries with a closed circle (where everyone is snowed in, on a train, or contained somehow or other.) Ngaio Marsh is sometimes compared to Agatha Christie. I would say Marsh’s characters are more fleshed out and the writing is better in general- but no one can write an ending like Christie. Marsh does a respectable job though. When I finish this book, I’ll be at 50 for the year! I’ve set this goal over and over again and always fall short, because I usually don’t read any books during NaBloPoMo. This year, I front loaded my reading in the first three quarters, and managed to read two books in November. I also should mention that four of the books I read were LONG- around 1000 pages (the three books of Ken Follett’s Century Trilogy, and Stephen King’s 11/22/63. I imagine I’ll read a couple more books in December when I finish the Marsh- so overall I’m very happy with this year of reading! Eating…. ugh. I’m in eating jail until I recover from Thanksgiving. I ate way too much bread, sugar (even though I tried to avoid it- it crept into things like salad dressing and rolls) and rich foods in general. My stomach let me know that it is NOT HAPPY. Here’s how my dinners are going to look this week: Do you set a reading goal for the year? Do you need to recover from Thanksgiving?