Friday, August 29, 2008

A different kind of workout and a challenge for today

Well, I’ve had a couple good days, as far as not eating things I shouldn’t and exercising. Yet, I am up .6 lbs in the last 2 days ….actually, yesterday I was up .6 and today I stayed the same. I am not sure why. Not enough water? I have been on the treadmill – 1 mile walks each time.

I’ve also been doing some physical labor in my new library.
I have A LOT of books, the result of a literal lifetime of collecting books and almost 20years of homeschooling 5 children.

That adds up to literally a room full of books.

My son (and my brother in law) built me a room (15’ X 15') to hold those books and this week I have been working at transferring them from their shelves in storage (they’ve been mostly inaccessible for almost 2 years) onto their new shelves on the bright yellow walls. Armload after armload of books from one part of the basement to another….thank goodness I don’t have to carry them all upstairs (there were enough upstairs to carry downstairs as it was). Anyway, I have been working for an hour to an hour and a half at a time and by the end, my back muscles are screaming at me to stop.

This counts as exercise/working out, doesn’t it?

I’m still not sure if I have enough new shelves - I don't even know how many more books there are to move - they are stored in kind of layers starting at the wall, then forward so that I can only see the front layer at any one time. All I know is that I am a long way from the wall. Maybe it is not all books, I don't know.



Here are some photos of my work in progress:

about 2/3 of my fiction....just stacked in a's, b's, c's, etc

about 1/2 of my school books stacked by subject. Also most of the Hardy Boys books and below, children's books (many are still upstairs)


the only wall that is actually set up....encyclopedias, the begining of non fiction, classics, and kids/teen chapter books



Changing the subject, tonight I am going to visit an old friend. She offered to take me out for supper or lunch in honor of my birthday, but I suggested we just visit at her house – I’d rather be able to relax and take our time. However, with this suggestion, I did not take into consideration that she would be making our meal and therefore, did not let her know of my goals. I haven’t seen her since January and we did not talk about weight issues at the time….too much else to talk about (like 2 brand new baby grandsons for me). I also do not go around telling people that I am changing my eating habits.



I was going to say “on a diet”, but then realized that I do not think of what I am doing that way. So, if I am not “on a diet”, I am just learning to live and eat in a healthy manner, then what is there to worry about tonight?



Well, what if she serves pasta in a heavy cream sauce, for example? That could be disastrous to my goals for this week! I should have informed her of my efforts, I know she would have been glad to accommodate…..but I didn’t think of it until late this morning and I don’t think it would be nice to call at this late time.

I think I’ll bring a healthy, non perishable snack to have on my way home (an hour’s drive) – so that I don’t feel like I have to eat whatever she’s serving in a large enough quantity to last me all evening. Maybe that will help me to be very moderate in my servings.

Of course, all this worrying could be for nothing…..she could be serving something fat free, low cal, high fibre, the whole nine yards.

I’ll let you know.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Karyn

I envy your lovely library!! I love books too, though my collection doesn't rival yours, but unfortunately, a lot of mine are in storage too.

Moving all those books has got to be great exercise.

I wouldn't worry about your weight fluctuations v. much. Just about anything could make your weight change that much. Sometimes I agree that it makes a lot of sense to only weigh yourself once a week, though I have to confess I can't stick to that rule!

Anonymous said...

Karyn, congrats on your library finaly coming together. I look forward to buy you a couple of Lazyboys (with heaters as it is cold in the basement) for your new library. Maybe a love-seat Lazyboy though so we can cuddle.

--cara said...

How did it go last night? Did she serve heavy creamy pasta?

I was going to make a suggestion to help out but just realized that the dinner with your friend was last night.

And, yes, moving those books absolutely counts as exercise. My mom told me that driving burns 200 calories an hour. So moving books should burn calories, too.