Couch Fauxtato JULY Activity Forum

[Susan]

Hello Taters! Remember me, I use to check in with some irregularity .

It has been some end of June and start of July! We had a bad storm on June 26th and my storm door was flapping in the wind. I had my left hand holding on to the door jam and was pulling the door shut with my right. This created some type of vacuum and the interior door SLAMMED shut on my hand. I ended up with 3 badly sprained fingers and a broken and cut (4 stitches) middle finger. I only missed 1 day of exercising over that though. The splint is now off of my finger and I just have to keep it bandaged.

Last Thursday (8th) I had the dreaded gum surgery. I have not exercised since! I still have pain and swelling. The stitches come out next Thursday, but I am going to force myself to start back exercising on Monday. I am going to allow myself the rest of the week to goof off.

Maggie, your new pic looks great! I really need to update my photo too. I will put that on my to do list! I also want to thank you for continuing to post this forum. I know without this I would not have exercised 29 days in June. Keep motivating us :great:.

Barb, your design sounds wonderful, but for some reason I cannot see the pics.

Rob, it sounds like you have been really doing great!

I hope to check back in before Aug. Maybe I will become a regular {there's always hope for something}.

[barb keith]

Glad to see you back Susan!!! OUCH!!!!!!!! You POOR thing!!!! Take it easy on yourself. It's freaky how those things can happen. Ya never know!!!! I think I deleted the pic because of a space issue. But Maggie told me how to remedy that, but just haven't gotten around to it. After I paint some more, I will post another pic. (Just haven't done anymore lately, getting ready for the party.)

Man, Rob, I wish I had nature trails around here to go to. But in Flatland, USA, what's a person to do? Live vicariously through Discovery and Travel Channels.

Maggie, with all this talk of handweights, I dragged mine out last night and did about 25 bicep curls and 25 tricep curls. I'm determined to get the last of my middle-aged sag as gone as I can from my triceps. I know I will never get rid of it completely, such is the middle-aged woman's curse.

I spent the majority of the day cleaning out my garage. HOKEY SMOKES!!!!!!! What a disaster!!!! I haven't been in there to clean or organize for about 5 years or so. The bugs just have been having a hayday in there. What a mess!!!! We're cleaning it out in prep for the BIG 5-0 B-day bash in August. We're gonna string a tarp up at the front of the garage and tie it off into the trees to provide shade. So the garage will be headquarters for food, music and beverages. The way it looks right now, I would dig a hole for me to crawl into and then pull the dirt in on top of myself. I don't think I could have done all this yard work and garage cleaning this year if I hadn't lost the weight I have. I actually think I'm getting younger, not older. I certainly don't feel like I'm gonna be 50, that's for SURE!!!!!!

[Seesko]

Susan, I hope your hand is better soon!
Barb, weight training is always hard for me to stick to, but I must admit that I feel better since I started doing it. I hope you do too.

I just finished my four mile walk. My pace was a bit slower today. My shins were killing me the whole time. Does anyone know what shin splints feel like? What can I do to help the pain? I really didn't feel like i was working hard enough at the slower pace. After ds goes to bed I will do my weight lifting and lap around the block.

Hope you all are doing great!

[Rob]

maggie - You're absolutely right, 20 miles is a hike! Well more of a forced march since you'd need a gun to get me to do it. lol

Seesko - You're doing really well on the walking. 4.5 miles in 67 minutes is slightly over 4 mph (4.02). excellent pace. And where do you get the strength for pushups? I'd rather be beaten with a stick than do those.
I used to get those then they went away. Try stretching before and after walking, it might help.

Tara - You can only do so much in a day. With all the hours you've been working let your body decide whether to go to the gym, don't force yourself.

Susan - Sorry about the gum surgery but glad it's behind you. You're doing great on the exercise too!

Barb - Man I wish I lived closer to you. I'm betting your 5-0 is going to be the party of the year. Check with your county and city (or town) department of parks. I did that when i first moved here and received a large envelope with parks and trails listed.

as for ocd Rob - I walked 4.5 miles this morning at Tanglewood in 85 degree humid weather. That wasn't enough for some reason having to do with a stupidity gene I thought only my brother received. I walked 2 miles at the lake this evening. It was more from boredom than wanting to exercise.

[Maggie]

Hey, Susan! Glad you stopped in! ... gladder yet that you're doing well. Let me know if you need any photo-assistance on you update!

Tara, WTH? indeed! I took a long weekend here, and today was a total blow off - I mean who wants to do laundry on a long weekend? But today was no day to fly up to the county park (w/lake ). ... and tomorrow's supposed to be on the cool side. Oh, well.

Rob & Seesko, you guys are going to be in competition for "The Amazing Walking Fauxtatoes"! If it cools off as promised tomorrow, maybe I'll go for an actual walk. - it could happen. Seesko, sounds as if you're having shin splints. As a confirmed CF, I've only HEARD of them.

Barb, I understand. Flapping triceps are the impossible to eradicate "badge" of being over thirty ... so I guess we should be happy we keep waving good-bye when we stop "waving good-bye" ? I sort'a am. I never expected to live past 30 anyway. I guess now I shouldn't trust myself, huh? .... well that's what Abbey Hoffman said, anyway. Ponder that, on the big 50. When's this party, again?

[barb keith]

LOL Maggie. It's on the 14th of August. My actual b-day is the 16th, but that's on a Monday (can't party then.) I suspect I will be seeing double by the end of the evening. I will have my usual Rum and Diet Cola. But it hits much faster, so I will have to pace myself. We're going to have meat and whatever salads people bring to pass. I'll make sure I have plenty of LC stuff on hand. I'm going to have a traditional cake as well as a LC cake for any of my LC buds and myself. We're also going to have a bonfire way out in the back. I have a HUGE yard, so there will be enough room for people to get a badminton game, volley ball or whatever going PLUS a baseball game going if they wanted to. We're going to do some kiddie games as well. I am going to make a bean bag toss thingie with MY face painted on the board, with my mouth open. We'll see if we can get 50 bags tossed into my mouth!!!!! (grown-up version of pin the tail????) I so wish you ALL could be here, oh what fun we would have!!!!!!

Seesko, definitely stretch before walking. That helped me a LOT when I started out and did some walking. It always got me in the shins too. I would suggest you sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you, bend at the waist and try to touch your toes. Do that for about 15 reps. Don't bounce at all, just stretch. Then another good one is to have 1 leg in front and the other bent to the side (sitting on the floor). Lean toward the straight leg. Switch and do the other one. Do at least fifteen of those too. Then, with your feet planted firmly on the ground, place them about 3 feet away from a wall (hip width apart) and lean forward and touch your hands to the wall. Hold for a count of 15. If you don't feel any stretching, move your feet further from the wall. And lastly, standing up, pick one foot up in the hand on the same side of the body and pull your heel up to your gluteous maximus, hold for at least 15 secs. Don't do any bouncing with any of these..........that will tear muscle. Then after your walk, do the stretches again. HTH!!!!

Rob, we have lots of forest preserves around here, but they're all so flat and uninteresting. Plus, I could never get anyone to go with me and I don't feel safe going by myself............so yardwork, garage cleaning, occasional bike riding and Curves is what I do. I would just like to go to places you go to since it's so hilly and gorgeous in your part of the country. But the heat would KILL me!!!!

It's been COLD here at night since the front came through. Day time temps are in the low 70's..............I LOVE it!!!!!!

[Rob]

Maggie - Hey what's long weekend at home for if not to be extremely lazy.

Barb - It's coming up fast! Sounds like the preparation you're making for it is the only activity you'll need.

Took sophie for a platdate with sebastian. Soon as she saw him she lunged, I wasn't ready, she got away. i ran after her and ended up getting tangled up in sebastian's leash trying to grab sophie's and took a tumble. Then sebastian was running back and forth to the creek for his swims and barreled right into my legs. I'm not sure which incident caused the hamstring pull in my right leg, hardly matters. So I only was able to do 3.5 miles walking today (including 1/2 mile creek walk). Lucky me I get to watch sebastian and his 5 cat brothers and sisters for a week starting tomorrow. Hope my ham is better by then.

[MaryKay]

Rob - be careful 'tangling' with the dogs. My girlfriend is dealling with a broken knee thanks to her 2 dogs and the cables in the back yard.

Barb - sounds like it will be a blast. If you aren't too exhausted to enjoy it.

I did my curvex 3x this week, water aerobics 2x - frustrated that the scale isn't cooperating, but clothes were fitting much better - took measurements today and down an inch about everywhere. hopefully, the scale will reflect it soon.

spent today getting garage and stuff started ready for a garage sale next weekend. Sheesh. I kept thinking we gave away so much of my MIL stuff when she passed (think we filled up Goodwill that month). but found so much stuff we didn't even know was there in the garage. Christmas in July - whole table of xmas items. had five lighted ceramic trees!! getting rid of a lot of our stuff too. yeah, some of my big clothes. Some of my jeans I just bought a couple months ago that are already too big.
YEAH!!

Its going to be a long week -working all day, then garage stuff in the evenings. I'll be so glad when it is over. I HATE GARAGE SALES. never go to them myself.

[Tara]

Hey all...

Nothin' to report for today. Well...I washed the truck. Does that count? Workworkworkworkwork.

So...when did people get so damned RUDE??? We did a parade today...and it's customary to toss candy to the rug rats along the parade route. We got almost through the entire parade route before running out of candy (no cheapie stuff, either...the little mini candy bars) Anyway, this group of boys, probably between the ages of 8-11, who had already been tossed the last of our candy, became extremely rude when we ran out. They first yelled that we were lying about running out, mixed in with a few other insults, then started chanting about tipping our truck over. A couple of them just stared at us with outright indignation, that we would not have saved more candy for them. (Mind you, we're in a long line of other ambulances and fire trucks, 90% of which are tossing some sort of treat) Then I saw their mother, about 10ft away, yelling to them and pointing out other spots where candy was being thrown (in front of toddlers, where they could easily scoop it up before the little ones could get to it) My parents would have dragged me outta there by my ear, had I acted that way...and here this mother is...encouraging this boorish behavior. Grrrrrr. People

Ya think I need a vacation?

[cynthia*lc4life]

hey taters, been kinda busy the last few days. TOM came and I was busy eating everything that wasn't nailed down (well, maybe I pried up a few nails too).
I think sanity may be slowly peeking around the corner to see if it is safe to return or not, lol. Frustrated attitude + TOM = disaster! The scale is banished for at least a month!
I got back in the pool today, feeling almost normal. I really hate the way bad eating makes me feel.Hope it wont take too long to "cleanse" the yuck out of my system.

MK, Congratulations on the lost(?, but not looked for) inches!!!!! You go girl!
Rob, OUCH! Hope you're feelin better!
Tara, definately you need a vacation!
Barb, sounds like lots of fun!

[barb keith]

Oh MAN Tara, I can't believe how some young people act these days. And I suspect the parents in this case should really be the ones to blame. I NEVER would have let my kids act that way. Unbelievable!!!!!! Talk about raising selfish kids!!!!

MK, you GO girl!!!!!

Rob, now that's enough spill taking!!!! Stop it right now!!!! Hope your hamstring is better soon!!!!

Cyn, that TOM is out to get us every time!!! It's good to know it will pass though, eh?

Well, since I got so involved in cleaning out the garage yesterday, I COMPLETELY forgot to go to Curves in the AM. But I figure I got plenty of mod. exercise anyway, lifting heavy stuff, carting things from here to there. It's shaping up, but no matter how much work we put in on the garage, it still looks like a P-O-S. What it needs is to have drywall put up, but that ainta gonna happen. Today I am going to work on the bean bag toss board with MY face on it. We're going to have the guests try to throw 50 beanbags into my mouth. LOLOLOLOLOL I mailed the invites on Friday and already got an RSVP. The post office around here does amazing things!!!! (And I let them know how pleased I am with their service) We got our riding mower fixed too, so I think some mowing is in my near future. It should be easier now too, since DH got out and trimmed lower branches off of the many trees we have. Now we can actually get UNDER them to mow. It's going to be about 74 today with low humidity, so we can actually get some major stuff done in the yard. My DD came over to help yesterday, she found a box of old pix. She's going to put together a photo album of "50 years of Barb". Should be fun. She's a good kid.

[Maggie]

Tara, I sense burn-out. You DO need a respite every so often. Sorry about the punks. Yeesh!

Cyn, you know the drill: more water, eat clean and, yes (as you said) lose the scale for a few days. LOL!

MaryKay, you're doing great. Re: pounds v. inches, I'll take the inches, myself.

Barb, Sounds like your garage "challenge" MORE than qualifies for "activity." Heck, the daunting nature of the task would get my heart rate up just planning it.

Rob, I hope you soon recover from the canine capers which injured you. Animals have been instrumental in some of my "best" injuries, the most recent involved trying NOT to step on a cat.

... gotta cut this short. Going to sit with a friend whose having a meltdown.

[Rob]

Mary KAy - If the clothes are looser and the measurements are smaller the scale will have no choice but to give in eventually. Or beat it into submission! LOL

Tara - This is proof positve that inaddition to all the other terrrible side effects of sugar, it also makes children rude. We had 2 break-ins last halloween and all they stole was the candy. Talk about sugar addictions.

Barb - All the major cleaniong and yardwork you are doing definitely excuses you from all the curves sessions you want to skip. Just make sure that you leave a few days before the party to rest up for it.

Cynthia - Ah well it happens to the best of us. You know what to do about it. That's the part that so many people are ignorant of who don't have the kind of support and information this forum offers.

Maggie - I've had many of those "trying not to step on the cat" injuries myself.

The hamstring was much better today. I knew yesterday that it was a mild pull but I didn't expect it to clear up this quick. I did 4.25 miles at Tanglewood this morning. I'm currently at the house sitting job so I will at some point be doing the dog walk down "I hate Rob's knees" Hill. so that will be another 1/2 mile but I won't count it officially.

[Seesko]

Wow everyone seems like they are doing great!

MaryKay...I hate garage sales too. I never make enough money to be worth the pain in the nexk it is. We are trying to sell our house so dh wants to have one, but I'd rather just donate anything we don't want. He says he will help with it, but guess who will probably end of doing eerything.

Tara..As a teacher I have noticed that kids have developed an attitude of what are you going to give me? Rememer when we used to do things just because we were told or we knew it was the right thing to do.?

Barb...Please come clean my garage!!!!

Rob.. I am glad your leg is better! Your still the walking king! Not counting the extra walking due to doggies...I would count every step!!!

Maggie... I hope your friends meltdown wasn't to bad! on a side note....when I first started coming to this site I thought your picture looked like susan serandon now I thing you look like maggie from days of our lives. You just have a beautiful and famous looking face!!!

Cynthia... Way to get back with the program! We all make mistakes, those of us who are successful don't let them get the better of us.

As for myself, I didn't walk yesterday because ds was feeling sick. He had a slight temp and wasn't up to par so I thought it not a good idea to take him out in south texas heat. I actually think the day off may have been helpful to me as well because my shins are not hurting as badly this morning. I will stretch big time before walking tonight.

[Tara]

Hey, taters

Did 2 sets of 25 against-the-wall push ups today...and that's about it for now. I'll be going to BF's to babysit later today and I'll chase the toddler around a bit...then take the kids to their mom's (they're going to grandma's for a week) Which means Bf and I will be alllllll alone later

Yes, Maggie. I DO need a vacation. This time of year I really get antsy to get outta here for a while. Actually this time the last few years I was at the beach, but we changed our vacation week. Going to the beach with best friend and a couple other friends August 14th. Needless to say, it can't come soon enough!

Seesko ... yep, everyone needs a break sometime. If you're hurting, that's a good time to take one! I agree about the kids' attitudes. Nope, our parents wouldn't have put up with that #%@&

Rob ... Careful with that hamstring!! Add me to the list of those with dog-related injuries, haha they're lucky they're so cute.

Barb ... I agree w/Rob. Garage cleaning is a fine substitute for any ol' gym workout! You need to take a pic of that bean-bag toss for us -- that sounds hilarious!

Cynthia ... yep, kick that scale to the curb!

MK ... Heck with the scale! You look great, and you're obviously losing inches, as indicated by your pictures.

Later, taters!