Life by Misadventure 2

Ooo, let's get Starsky in on this, and we three can be an unstoppable force of boredom for the others. What's your favorite routine/machines? I like the elliptical, but if I'm really not feeling like exercising, which is about 50% of the time, I ride the bike and stare at my phone for 40 minutes.

I like that!

Good to see you.

Yeah, the errors will be okay, but I'm not holding out hope for quick fixes because not everyone is seeing them and I'm using a fairly niche combination (Firefox web browser on Linux). So it will probably be low on their to-do list.

My family has gone through three at-home machines: The treadmill, the elliptical, and the bike. On the treadmill I flew off and my elbow punched a hole in the wall...I was being stupid to see how fast I could go.

I'm sorry. I've had that happen. Been more upset or even angry after a bad session. It's not like I don't express how I'm feeling or reacting to things in what I consider an articulate fashion. So it's very frustrating.

Ow! Sounds painful.

Did you try putting a hula hoop at the base?

Um, well....the experiment isn’t going very well. I took your suggestion and placed cat treats in the center. Ginger ate the treats and stepped out. A little while later, we held our breath as she stepped in and stopped, but it turned out she only paused for a moment to check for raccoons, and walked off. Round three, my daughter and Ginger were walking by the hula hoop, aaaand my daughter accidentally kicked the hoop. It rattled and hit the stairwell, so the cat shot up the stairs in sheer terror

Very funny ideas, Cephy, but I won’t be able to conduct any human experiments at work. My boss’ boss just doesn’t have a sense of humor. No horseplay. I miss the horseplay at my previous job

It was only bad because she gave me a "reality check" that I was already aware of with little advice on how to improve on it. Well, she told me that I and my parents are co-dependent on each other. She kept asking, "If you are an adult, why do you need to ask your parents permission?" So many people ask me that, and I don't have much of an answer. But she told me that now is the time to ask myself, "What do *I* want?" and to have a discussion with my parents about this codependency situation...ugh.

You mean like this?

Hmmm...I wonder if I could make my senior citizens do exercises with a hoola hoop?

That's me. Yeah definitely me. I'm that girl doing amazing hoola hoop tricks. Totally.

Well, my financial situation isn't great, so I go to a local(ish) community centre which is cheaper but doesn't have real gym equipment.

I have a hand-me-down rowing machine at home, so I use that. I tried jogging again, but had pain from potential shin splints and had to quit.

So, plyoga and stretching/rolling at classes. Weights with dumbells, rowing, some core exercises (I'm very negligent on these), and theraband elastics at home.

Plyoga class is very hard on me, but it's still probably my favorite because I hate working out on my own. Also, it's varied and I push myself harder so then I feel better afterwards.

Of course I walk the dog every day. But with the other exercises, I don't even feel the walks.

My 16 pound cat’s favorite thing to do is to wake me up at 4:00 a.m. Last night, I fell asleep in a big massage chair with very high sides. The only way she could get to me was by leaping high into the air to clear the sides, and she landed on my belly while I was in a dead sleep. My daughter calls her a cannon ball. She is a VERY large cat. That was shocking and a bit painful.

So, I got up, and as I was brushing her, I could hear my daughter telling me in my mind that I am the one that creates all my own problems with the cat (I do spoil the cat). She has even said I teach the cat to (fill in the blank - wake me up at 4:00 a.m.). But she cries. You should hear her tiny little mew.

Reinforce.

Are there hiking spots you could go to? I have tons in my area, but the whole county is just chalk-full of scenic hiking trails. I am so blessed. Sometimes it's nice just to walk around the neighborhood. My old (waaaaa it's not old it's a pile of rubble!) neighborhood had a beautiful vineyard that sometimes I took my dog there on walks.

You don't feel anything with the walks unless you're wearing uncomfortable shoes. But if you got the tunes on, your soul feels pretty darn good. And it DOES count. The doctor tends to say that unless you're walking 5-7+ miles a day, plain old walking is just "the bare minimum."

My cat lost three pounds and she is STILL 16 pounds! They want her to lose 4 more pounds! But she's mah buddah kitteh. She's good about not waking me up, but the late Mr. Biggles would scratch-scratch-scratch-meow-meow-meow in the middle of the night if we kept the door closed...but as a little kid...the door kept the monsters out!

That is a big cat!

OMG, did this weight loss happen while the cat was missing? <sob>

How much did the other one lose?

I was hoping maybe someone was feeding them

I have a real soft spot for stray cats. I’m feeding two whenever I see them. One is terrified. The other one cries for food.

This is for Fuzzy

I guess I have bears on the brain. I was driving home in the dark and thought I saw a bear. It was just a big, black trash bag by the side of the road!

Oh, I love this

I hope Fuzzy's doing alright.

... oh wait, I can do better than that ....

No, she lost the weight before the fire. She didn't look like she lost much weight, she's incredibly smart (more intelligent than some dogs) and she roamed the neighborhood which I assume was in search for food, because people came up to me to report sightings of her all over the neighborhood.

Evy is so polite. Salem has always had first dibs on being first to eat, so Evy would wait until Salem was done and then she'd eat. Salem was a stray, covered in grease and oil and fleas when the animal control officer brought him to my mom. He was smaller than a cup of microwavable mac n cheese, and when we brought him to the vet, they guestimated that he was actually 6-8 weeks older than anticipated because he was so malnourished. My mom didn't think he'd live, now he's all grown up and lived through the fire! Salem lost a bit of weight, but according to the foster mom, he's regaining his weight and in great spirits! He has a companion with the foster mom's mini schnauzer. They're two peas in a pod, and it makes me so happy that Salem is doing well. Evy's foster parents say Evy is very loving and enjoys snuggles, and that's what a temporary foster said about her, too, that as soon as they let her out, she wanted to snuggle with the foster's daughter.

Yes, hello Fuzzery Buzzery.

Also hello to Jennifer, who has struggled a bit for the last few weeks, I think. She has been around today more though, which has been good to see.

Hope you're both hanging in there okay.

I'm enjoying the chat, but sorry, I really must go to bed. I don't want to slide back down into the pit, and sleep routine is important in that regard.

See you all later. Goodnight.

Nighty night, Ceph. See you tomorrow! Or thereabouts.

@ceph