the hulk does the hula

renovation has invaded my work life and my entire building will be closed for the next two weeks--prompting me to work from home; where we are between renovation projects while we try to refinance out of our weird construction loan and into something normal (the bank told us we would have no luck at all if any part of the place looked like a construction zone). there is still plenty to be done, just not right at the current moment.
my running has been pretty sporadic lately: also pretty short. i have been experimenting with weight lifting. following the livefit (google it) plan and really liking it. i'm in week six. my scale says i am only down maybe two pounds, but everything i own fits better and i definitely feel stronger. likely my results would be better if i were carefully following the nutrition portion of the plan, but it was not designed for vegetarians, so i am just eating like normal, but with more attempts to stuff protein into everything, without putting peanut butter on everything. oh peanut butter how i love you.   

tackled the pillow beast

So,

Older isn't always wiser, I am living proof of that. I've been taking this return to running slowly out of care, at least partly and out of laziness almost definitely.

I recognize that I feel better / sleep better / have clothes that fit better when I run regularly...

but I've gotten so used to *not*

not getting up early

not shucking work clothes and immediately heading out after a long day

not devoting a major part of my weekend to increasing mileage

its become a little hard to get myself out the door with any regularity.

I started out giving myself a day of rest after a day of running. and sometimes two.

and those periods of inactivity are so seductive.

at least, at this point I recognize the problem? Its me. all me.

Today I woke up around 5, and wondered what time it was and if I ought to get up

but I hadn't put out clothes the night before

so I stayed in bed, wondering until my alarm went off at 6:15

and went out to walk the dog

and it was 45 degrees out

and I could have kicked myself for not getting my butt out the door earlier

so. maybe tomorrow I will fight that battle a little harder.

maybe.

entering the woods of the discontented

Oh, my.

So: house has heat, I have running...though my "long" runs are still 5miles long tops(but mostly pain free!! though, my hips seem a lot tighter than they used to be), and my pace has suffered horribly. I do a fair bit of "Maine aerobics" because our method of heating is wood (...so nice it warms you twice, once when you haul it in and next when you burn it). and...hah! my aerobics instructor (cardio weightlifting) just came in to see me, possibly because its been a month since I've been to class <-- totally the best kind of instructor ever, huh, one who will hunt you down if you don't show up for long enough. she's awesome.

house: we finished the rear unit, rented that sucker and are currently having all of the cash sucked out of our pockets by the front unit, as we try to make it livable for us. its been kind of intense. but hopefully will be worth it sometime in the near-ish future.

we're at the tail end of renovating the kitchen, which is the second to last project we've got, given how expensive we've been told that kind of renovation is.

I'd say a rough estimate of cost so far would be in the $5k range. low for a kitchen renovation, but high for an amount of money to spend on a single room (if you ask me). my e-fund is still a shadow of its former self, and for the first time since my first year out of graduate school i am carrying a balance on my credit card (psychologically i can't let go of the efund to get rid of that. i know i am an idiot). it will, i hope, be gone next month, but I find it kind of sickening that its stuck around this long. getting rid of it is at the top of my priority list. above redoing the bathroom (our last money sucking project, I hope).