Why go to the gym

if you're not going to break a sweat?

I know I'm far from the last person in noticing this phenomena with certain gym visitors. There is one person who looks perfect but actually kicks ass in her workouts. The perfect hair, perfect gym clothes and doesn't break a fucking sweat. Only I've seen her lift so I know she's in shape.

This morning someone was talking on their cellphone while using the elliptical. Half the time I refuse to use mine while sitting outside because of the sweat so I can only imagine how lovely hers would have been if she actually got a workout. Others have full on normal conversations without pausing for breaths or sweating buckets. I don't understand why they even bother. My neighbor calls them cheerleaders for wanting to look good without effort. They are also the same ones who usually have make-up.

Me? I'm red faced and sweating 10 minutes into my cardio. By the end of my hour, my t-shirt is damp, my hair is damp and I've been sweating in places you didn't think you could sweat. One of these days I may actually get a kick-ass workout without being drenched but it won't happen without sweating a shitload in the meantime.

Be a respectful neighbor please

There is a couple living next door to us with two wee yippers for pets. This morning they got a late start on the constant barking. I don't think we heard them until around 7:30ish. Or that's when I actually started paying attention since the older two were out of the house by then.

Since we've moved in the dogs are outside before 7am every single day. Barking at whatever which usually means absolutely nothing. One thing I've noticed is they're outside way more when the husband is out of town. Even our other neighbor hates the fucking yippers and she has two dogs slightly larger only she controls their barking by bringing them inside.

I think if this trend continues, which I'm fairly certain it will, I'll be having a talk with them. Jake's room is on the side of the house facing theirs. Almost every single nap he's gone down for the dogs have been outside yipping. Only once has the wife actually come out for shushing measures after a good hour of nonstop barking.

So much fun living next to people who don't give a rat's ass how their pets behave. My only question is how in the hell she can stand listening to the yipping all day long.

Worn out is my middle name

Between the gym and mowing the lawn I am worn out.

I pushed myself this morning on the elliptical which I'm sure my arse will thank me tomorrow. I love the random workouts you can choose so you don't give yourself an easy workout. Apparently the one I chose this morning was the gluteal workout. Why don't they just name the butt work out something along the lines of 'your arse will hate you in the morning' or 'how to become more asscular as you don't age gracefully'. Or completely ignore me since I'm obviously speaking out of something.

While my weight hasn't budged yet I can see a difference in my body already since getting back into working out. Shaving my legs in the shower I can see definition coming back. My abs are slowly getting stronger, something I noticed the other day when checking my diastasis out. I can feel the muscles in my mid-abdomen now. Before it was only the upper abs I could feel. Bit by bit I'm reclaiming my body back into something healthy and strong.

Unfortunately, I wish I could say that for my lawn mowing skills. We bought a self-propelling lawnmower. This works great as long as I'm going straight. It's the hills and curves which I find to be a bitch in maneuvering the damn thing. I don't have the strength yet in turning the mower around the nooks in our yard. I would have completed the backyard with the weed whacker if I could have gotten it started. I'll have Jason show me the trick later on today. Truly, I'm not a complete moron when it comes to following directions.

I'm trying something new

Last night we joined a local gym near our house. While there's two gyms on post childcare is spotty and done one a co-op basis. Don't get me wrong, I would have done the co-op in a heartbeat if I knew there was any sort of consistency. I don't want to get Jake and myself ready only to drive back home because no one is there to watch him while I work out. This gym has free childcare with set hours! Jason's also realized how rough the next few weeks/months will be with school and needs to get in his workouts whenever possible. He doesn't exactly want to spend anymore time on post then needed.

Ideally I want my happy ass in the gym 5 days a week for cardio. I've been working out at home with dvd's but need to kick up the cardio bit regardless what the workouts I'm doing say. This also gets me out of the house so I don't get myself in trouble. The whole plan is getting myself to the gym first thing in the morning thus cutting down on procrastination time. Then I'll be doing my Fluidity or Squeeze workouts 3 times a week. Once I get myself back into a regular routine, I'll incorporate other workouts I have at home with the cardio being the one constant.

This morning was my first day at the gym. Surprisingly I wasn't winded at all even though I haven't used a treadmill, stationary bike or elliptical trainer in months. The one issue I'll have is the stationary bike. My arse is sore and the copious amounts of scar tissue I have isn't helping the situation. I'll most likely go between the recumbent bike and stationary until I get past the soreness and break up the scar tissue some. On the left side by my tailbone it still hurts. I will get to a physical terrorist again if this continues. Otherwise I feel good.

Boring, Sydney, Boring.

I'm bored. School starts next week so I'll be even more bored. Sure there's stuff I could do around the house only it'd last all of 10 minutes. Which means I'm sitting here in front of the t.v. while putzing around on the internet. Here is all the excitement from being a stay at home mom once again. Woohoo!

On a good note we might have sold our double jogging stroller this morning. One of the families at the pool has twins. We're bringing the stroller with us tomorrow so they can check it out. Fortunately they don't give a damn it's not in pristine condition. They appreciate the fact it's been used. Keep your fingers crossed it leaves our hands.

Mini Ft. Leavenworth on our Street

This is what happens when you move to a community with a large military population: you're surrounded by military even when not living on post. So it is with our street. Friend's of Jason are experiencing the same phenomena in their neighborhood down the road from us.

Our neighbor's on the left are military with a currently deployed spouse. Two neighbors directly across from us are military. The one on the right works on post. I know there's a few more down the street from us of which I've met the daughter. I'm not saying I don't mind being around military but if I wanted to be around so much I'd rather live on post. Such is life.

The one on the left moved in the day after Jason arrived here. She and her two boys have been in Arkansas for the past year. Both her mom and FIL died. They moved back upon finding out her mom was sick while her husband went to Ft. Riley for training. Her FIL died shortly after their moving back from a riding lawn mower accident. I'm fuzzy on the details since we were drinking that night. Her house is a beautiful disaster one experiences with moving by yourself coupled with kids. I know this all to well having done the same while living in Germany when Jason was deployed.

Yesterday we bonded some more. She's more conservative in a few areas then me but we lean towards many of the same lines of thinking. It was nice talking a bit about politics without having any major differences of opinions as our boys wrecked havoc on her house. Her youngest is a few months younger then Jake making them twins by default. She also appreciates TJ hanging around Brendan and Colin vs. her oldest who is 11. He opens up around the boys in a way Tristan doesn't bring out of him, giggling along with whatever mischief is going on.

We've also shared a few similar past experiences with our respective spouses which I'm not ready to spread all over the internet. The deployments have wrecked various kinds of havoc on both of our families. I'm hoping things will be smoother for them when her husband comes home this time then our experience a few years back. At least he'll have a break once school starts in January.

And we're in Kansas

It's still all fresh and new smelling so I can't exactly give a decent opinion on being here. I do know the drive through Missouri I read all kinds of billboards saying I would be going to hell. I mean, I already knew that part it's just unsettling in seeing so many bible thumping, pro-life billboards like that on the open road.

The drive to Atlanta and then Leavenworth was okay. The boys were heinious buggers for various parts which I can't exactly blame them. The dvd player only worked partially on the way down. Boredom was the name of the game until I put on the GPS map. Amazing how a little map with a red arrow can be so entertaining.

I'll write more on Atlanta later. It was a difficult trip for me in seeing mom and how the house has become these last few years. I can't say it's easy seeing a parent getting old.

We're mostly settled in to the new house. A rental found through a military website. During the past week, Jason and I have made several comments wondering why the property manager didn't get a cleaning crew in or what is our expectation upon moving out. I never expected to clean up old urine from an unknown person.

At least we're within distance of a major city. One of these days we'll get down to Kansas City and check the place out. So far we've been figuring our way around Leavenworth, Lansing and the surround area. I did make a wrong turn down to Overland Park the other day. Damn construction on the highways.

So yeah, we haven't left Kansas yet, Toto.