HOE, HOE, HOE!
Last weekend, me and Mr. T had a load of beauty bark delivered. The whole front yard needed it, the perimeter of the back yard and my rose garden, which is pretty much the entire side yard. Sounds easy enough, right? Shovel the bark into the wheelbarrow, dump it where it’s needed and rake it out. The problem was weeds.
Not in the front yard, that gets barked and weeded regularly. But my rose garden only consists of about eight young rosebushes. And we never barked around them in the six years we’ve lived here. Every summer (except 2008 — after T Junior was born), I take a hoe and clear out the area tangled with weeds, spiders, rocks and ants. It’s tricky to get up the weeds and not damage the roses. And every year the bark never happens and the weeds grow back. But with bark in the driveway, I knew it would finally get done.
It took me about four hours (2 hours and 30 minutes on Saturday, and an hour and 30 on Sunday). On Sunday, Mr. T and his friend Dan, dumped bark around the front yard and my roses! (And that was after a full day of yard work at Dan’s house Saturday.) After we excused Dan for the day on Sunday, I had to hoe around the perimeter of the back yard. That was probably anout hour and 30 minutes. Mr. T switched off with me after a while and I shoveled bark into the wheelbarrow. My back was a little sore, so I was being very careful to lift with my legs. I could feel it in my quads that night.
Yard work as workout? I’m counting that as my different exercise from the Summer of Weight Loss Challenge.
SUMMER OF WEIGHT LOSS
Speaking of SOWL, I’ve gained about a pound over the last two weeks and the week before that I stayed the same. There are a number of reasons why, I’m sure. I have not been tracking very well, I’ve been using most, if not all, of my extra 35 points on the weekend, not drinking enough water, drinking too much alcohol, not getting the gym as much as I was, etc. (I need to get over to the spreadsheet and fill it in.)
That’s changing starting today. I went to the gym this morning (elliptical) and I had a low-point lunch. So far, I’ve only had about 32 ounces of water, but I have a lot of day left.
This week’s challenge: GET BACK ON TRACK. If you’re like me and started slacking a little, it’s time to go back to the basics: Burning more calories than you eat, paying attention to how much and what you are putting in your mouth, exercising, etc.
Good luck!
WRITING
Recently, I met someone who is helping me tremendously in the writing arena. Bethany Maines, author of Bulletproof Mascara (check it out HERE) has given me priceless insight and tons of inspiration that has helped me get my writing butt in gear! She also helped me make up my mind about what genre I truly, truly want to write in. I got my entire plot worked out and was on chapter 4, when I rearranged a few things. I had to back up a bit and am rewriting the first four chapters (keeping some stuff from before, so I’m not starting over). The book’s probably going to be crappy when I finish it, but I will finish it. I will. Plus, I think you all know that I’m a “rewriter” by now. I can rewrite like nobody’s business. Wish me luck!
(PS: I have a writing blog here if you’re interested, but I update it even less than this blog.)
6 comments
Ok, good luck getting back on track!! Me too! Me too!!!! I need to get back on track in a serious way! My eating is horrible! Like, I can't stop! I'm always starving and I'm starving for junk: cookies, chocolate, blackberry pie…mm…yummmm.I can't wait for you to finish your book! It will be good I am sure! And yard work should totally count towards exercise!
I need to get back on track as well… but I'm giving myself some leeway and have long had Sep 1 picked out as d-day. That's the day my gym membership comes off hold. Working out at home has not really worked out. 🙂 Glad to hear you got some inspiring advice about the writing & are making headway.
Yard work definitely counts as a work out. Every bit counts!
Ok, I'm getting back on track, too. I started back to work this week and wham, ate like a horse cuz there's so much food around. Grrr. Thanks for the inspiration…and great job on all that yard word!
yard work is definitely a workout. when i rake leaves, i can't move my core the next day. lol, kind of pathetic.
Nothing like getting back on track at the end of the challenge but here is my post!