Psychotomy

So, DK’s had an amber necklace since he was a few weeks old. We had to replace it this spring (?) when the original snapped from his playing with it, but not unexpected

One of kiir’s parenting forums got a group-discount from the place we bought his current one, so she decided to pick up a few, for DK and for the next baby. Since DK always had his, we can’t say for sure whether they actually help with his teething pains, but he did scream more during the week we were getting it replaced. So maybe.

And they supposedly help with headaches, so Kiir got a couple for herself. Then I swiped one of those, since she wasn’t wearing both at once anyway. And since I’ve been having headaches nearly daily for the last few weeks, ranging from painful to near-debilitating (and twice in the last month or so I stayed home with migraines, and probably should another couple).

I’m pleased to say that, since we put them on friday night and acclimated saturday, I’ve not had any serious headaches. Normally my headaches radiate from the front or middle of my skull and travel back and down to encompass my whole head. For the last few days I’ve had the sidereal pain in the back of my head, but not the focal pain in the front, so it’s just a bit of a nuisance rather than a debilitating problem.

It’s possible that I just haven’t had a bad headache all week, but that would make it coincidentally the first week I’ve gone headache free in MONTHS. And if it works, EXCELLENT! I’ll start wearing them like a rap star wears chains, yo!

Posted in: fitness by attriel /
2 Comments

No, seriously

My neck (and back) are screwed up from years of abuse. High school we had those big heavy bags, but i have never been particularly fond of wearing a backpack across both shoulders, and doing so when it weighs 30-40lbs was always more nuisance than I was interested in. So I had a duffel with all my books laid out in it, and I slung it over my right shoulder. Actually, on occasion, HUNG it on my shoulderblade.

All in all, high school was probably not good for my back.

Then I have crap for posture. I slouch. I actually slide so far down my chair at the office that my ass is on the edge and my shoulder blades are hung on the top edge, and i’m more just sorta wedged between my body parts. I need to tweak my desk some i think and figure out a better position … but I’ve never had great posture, so I’m not expecting miracles there.

And now with DK, I’ve got my head turned 75% of the time. Keeping an eye on him at the table. Watching him as we walk. I’m fairly confident that that’s what has been slaughtering my neck the last few months. And then sitting on the floor to play xbox or watch a vid with him, since my chair broke in the spring and I never did find a good replacement (and I’m not entirely convinced he’d let me sit in one anyway), that’s kindof abusing my lower back for me. Wheeee

Bath time is starting to be a nuisance. I’m sitting on the floor, parallel to the bath So my torso is turned (back), and my head is turned (neck). Then I’m leaning on the tub so I can keep one hand in the water to splash with him and what not. So my ribs are pressing into the tub wall (mmmm). All this is sitting in front of the air vent, which means it’s almost constant cold air (I swear, even when the air isn’t running, i get cold air on my back during bath time). THEN he uses me to climb in and out and in and out. So he’s applying new random and uncontrollable pressures to my body, in case something wasn’t pulling wrong. (incidentally, I go through 2-3 shirts a bath ; when they get wet enough, I change. see: air vent)

Lately he’s been sleeping such that I end up flat on my back. And I don’t have the right pillows for that to be good for my neck, either. I either need to get new pillows or try side sleeping ; I’ve never been a fan of back-sleeping anyway :/

oi. My neck hurts :o

Posted in: DK, fitness by attriel /
No Comments

So. Missed posting yesterday. But I have a good reason:

I fell asleep with DK at 8:30-9pm and apparently wouldn’t wake when kiir tried to prompt me up. bolted upright out of the bed ~11ish because I had a dream where DK was falling down the steps (again ; actually, seriously? you’d think that wouldn’t be a race for the baby situation after the third or fourth time, yaknow?) (but it is)

Decided that I didn’t really feel like getting up and doing anything. Because, lets face it, 11-12 is when I usually go to bed anyway. and if I fully got up, I wasn’t going back down until 3 or something ridiculous like that.

This morning I was almost to the train when kiir called me feeling nauseous, so I turned around and watched DK for the day. Did work while he watched tigger & pooh and word world. In the morning I took him out for a walk with K before gymboree. DK and I were all set and ready for gym, so I figured no worries about taking K for his morning walk. Except when we got to the lake (10 minutes) it started POURING DOWN RAIN. So I ended up running back from the lake. OMG! I’m not really “in shape”, per se, jaknow? ow! Of course, then I had to change everything but his diaper before we could go back out for gymboree (by which time the rain had totally stopped again ; go figure)

Rained for most of the day while I did work, though, so at least I wasn’t out in it again :o

Posted in: DK, fitness, general by attriel /
No Comments

OK, so, I never made it past the first week of that 100-pushups thing. Not because I can’t do it (although, i’m not sure I’d've made it, anyway), but because I can’t DO it. With DK’s stuff everywhere, it’s hard to find a space large enough to stretch prone to DO a push up. Then when DK is awake, he wants to come see what I’m doing and climb on me. And when K’s around, he wants to come stand RIGHT UNDER ME. Makes it hard to do the ‘down’ so I CAN push ‘up’.

So, I’m kindof abandoning that I guess.

Then we got a workout video thing for exercising with the baby. Except (a) the person talking is really insipidly annoying (?), which is really to be expected. They want perky cheerful people. But then the exercises, half of them I can’t (who has enough room in their house, with a baby, to act like a sumo-wrestler?) or won’t do (I refuse to believe there is an actual benefit to making stupid noises at DK). YOU may be doing these in an empty studio that has 3 adults, 3 yoga mats, 3 babies/toddlers, and 3 tiny-ass baskets of toys, but *I’m* doing it at home with the baby’s stuff. Lemme tell you. Not the same :o

Still, it was a damn good workout the two days I did it. Just hard to find a time when I want to spend 45 minutes of me & des to workout. Although it is a nice break from days on end playing xbox with him, I s’pose.

Started working on Weight Watchers(tm) again this week. The chart stuff indicates 24-30 points a week for me. Yesterday was 50. Today is looking to be 40+. My piece of pumpkin bread in the morning is 8. Actually, it was 12, but I cut it smaller yesterday. I started saying something about it “did you see this morning I took …” and Kiir filled in for me “waaaaaay way way too much?” … so maybe not as better as I thought :/ So today I took a SMALLER slice. Next time I make bread I need to make the three smaller loave the recipe calls for. Because cutting soft crumbly bread to a quarter inch thickness is hard. And not very filling.

But my healthy cheese sammich for lunch? Two slices of wheat bread, and two slices of munster cheese? 8 points again! WTF! *sigh* I should drop it to 1 slice of cheese (cheese = 3 pts, bread = 1pt). But I don’t know if that’s enough flavour. Milk? 2-3 pts depending on which glass (well, the really small glass would be 1 and the really big one is 4, but I’m assuming I’m usually using one of the 3 middle sizes, since I only have 2 of the small small and the big big i usually don’t fill all the way).

Still. Some pumpkin bread, two glasses of milk, and a sandwich, and I’m up 15 points, nearly 20 if I keep the second slice of cheese or take the bigger slice of pumpkin :/

OI!

Posted in: fitness by attriel /
No Comments

So, some folks on the forums my old everquest guild come gaming collective use …

uh …

some folks on a forum I read were talking about the “100 pushup challenge” and talking about trying it. We have some stuff dedicated to quarterly weight stuff and diet etc, so I figured I’d join in on this. Doesn’t look like we’re getting WiiFit anytime soon, what with the high demand and low production, so why not. and, c’mon, doing 100 pushups? gonna need some muscle or toning for that! and the 6-week training? gonna build some muscle during that, I imagine. so, it could well be good for my weight.

Or at least turn some of my excess weight into functional muscle mass instead.

Did the “initial test” a few minutes ago, and hit 15. With K assisting. By standing under me when I pushed up, to make sure I went all the way up I guess. Just wish he’d moved out for down rather than me using my head to nudge him around an’ stuff! Nothing I read, quickly, suggests that there’s any difference in structure once I’ve passed 10 to begin with, and since I just hit the “rank 3″ listing at the bottom edge, I figure “15-20″ is a good initial measure. So. Let’s see how THIS goes ;)

Posted in: fitness by attriel /
No Comments

So, since last week, my shoulder has been twinging real bad. To the point that I almost went to see the doc. But I decided I didn’t really want to hear her tell me it was a symptom of me catching The Diabetes :o

I decided I should try cutting back on my soda, b/c I’ve heard that caffeine might have a negative effect on bone density or something. and aspartame, let’s be honest, is like powdered death.

Replaced most of my soda at the office with two liters of water. And by the time I got home, my shoulder didn’t hurt anymore :o So, I’m thinking that maybe my shoulder has a relation to when i’m severely dehydrated. Like, when the headaches don’t get my attention, my body starts playing voodoo doll with me …

So I’m trying to build the habit of drinking a liter a day. *sigh*

Posted in: fitness by attriel /
No Comments

I’ve gotten into the habit of taking K out every night when I get home. We’ll pass when it’s raining bad or exceptionally cold, but I think I’ve taken him out for a walk ~55 of the last 60 days or so. we walk up to the lake and around part of it. doing it daily, he stays down enough that it’s reasonable in the evenings. It works better than him going into trot when we throw the ball, and it gets me some exercise.

Speaking of which, between eating better (we started making up weekly, now monthly, menus) and the daily walks, i’m stayng around 212 right now. it’s not great, but it’s better than 3 years at 220. and despite my doctor, it’s a start.

current habit in motion is 1L of water a day. I’ve managed it about 5 of the last 7 days, so it’s going to be another week before I get the 10-in-a-row for building a habit. But I’m working on it, and I really do need the water.

Posted in: fitness, k-line by attriel /
No Comments

So, last weekend I clocked in at 221.6 … still … after over a year … two?

Obviuosly I SUCK at dieting (note: i am also, apparently, infinitely hungry, of late, which doesn’t help that’s for sure). I also suck at exercise (because lets face it, after 10 hours out of the house, min, for work, do i want to (a) go home and take K for a walk, (b) go home and play xbox while des climbs on me, or (c) go to the gym for another two hours?)

Last week I found a link off of Lifehacker: Wii Sports Fitness

The link lists the sports and general calorie burn.

I’ve been doing this for a week, half an hour each night, and Sunday I was at 219.4!!! WOO! Yeah, OK, so that’s within the normal variance range on my weight (217-224), so maybe I just had a light dinner or whatever.

Unfortunately, I’m finding that I don’t really move that much playing tennis, just swing my arm. Baseball is actually more trying on me, since I have to scrunch down a bit to hit the ball really. But a couple best of 5′s in tennis (which tend to go all five games, really) and some batting practice baseball (which eliminates that whole “watching” thing the site complains of) and I do the WiiFit Age test thingie.

Last week: 28 starting (!!!), 32, 79, 48, 32, 28, 42

The 79 was because I suck at the “hit the gloves” boxing test, and got fed up and just threw punches. 25 hits. 27 “misses” where I punched the trainer instead. Including at least 2 uppercuts to his genitals. apparently that was bad :o

Posted in: fitness by attriel /
No Comments

a couple weeks ago i made the statement that i was gonna start walking

last week i took my new pedometer and measured again the k-walks. which came up way shorter than before :/ i don’ know which pedo was broken, but damned annoying

yesterday i went walking round the mall. usually i walk on the inside strip, with the sand gravel and people playing in the field etc. the tourist area. yesterday i decided to walk around the outside. or the backside. actually , i was kinda picking directions based on “damn, that light just turned, i don’t want to wait, i’l go this way” :o forgot the pedometer, but i’m fairly sure it was >5 mi … and damn did my feet hurt later. i think my shoes have started to die … again … ah well, at least i’m walking again.

weight’s back to 217. AGAIN. i was down to 213 after the hospital :( i need to start cutting back hard on how much i eat or something, b/c i cannot seem to lose weight otherwise :/ maybe i should start having steak once a week. i get one bite, k eats the rest, and everyone’s happy :o except i want to kill myself by tearing out my intestines with a spoon to make it hurt less, but otherwise happy :/

Posted in: fitness by attriel /
No Comments

there’s no plank, but there’s a hell of a lotta walk going on. been going down to the mall, and around it, at lunch most days. i estimate that it’s ~5mi round-trip, maybe a little under.

then home and if K hasn’t had camp we go past the fields and around the lake to the boathouse. and back. another ~5mi.

oi :o bought a new pedometer since mine ran out of battery apparetnyl and two button-batteries cost more than the 15$ pedo, frankly :o

Posted in: fitness by attriel /
No Comments