I’ve been absent + What I’ve been up to, photo edition

   Reason:

   The last week has been really tough. I had been feeling like I was headed down this path of overtraining for a little while now. With long intense workouts 6 mornings a week, teaching 2 classes a week, and just being an overly active person by nature- it was bound to happen. The day that I would take off from training would be a work day anyway, which means I’m still running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Honestly I just chalked being tired and drained to metal stresses more than the physical ones I put on my body. Studying for CPT and trying to find a new job, making workouts for others, doing stuff around the house (DIY projects with general maintenance) all stress me out! And I’ve been consuming more coffee, less water, and in combination with my ADHD meds I have had a whole lot of trouble sleeping, which we all know isn’t helping matters. 

    So I decided to take Friday, Saturday and Sunday off from the gym last week. Friday was my first rest day in 8 days.  In those 8 days I worked out a total of 12 times- because I skipped my rest day to take advantage of the sun… Silly me. Of course I didn’t get any solid sleep all weekend and have still not slept through the night since.. (from coffee I’m guessing?) 

   I went back to the gym yesterday and today- and taught last night as well. It’s too soon… I feel weak, I’m exhausted and guilty.  Guilty because I know Paula is more than likely not going to go to the gym if I don’t go, and because I’m supposed to be smarter than this. So now it’s time for a game plan. I’ll get back to you on that! 

   For now, so photos since I’ve been gone.

Thursday’s Class

Friday Morning “Active Rest” walk- Met up with my neighbor after I had already completed a half hour loop for another 45 minutes.. 

Little Miss Khloe getting big!

   Sunday afternoon and Monday morning was spent giving my flower beds some much, much needed love. I’m pretty excited that these guys have decided to spread all over the place!

   I also purchased this Dalmatian Foxglove at Lowes reduced section for $3.25! Even though its not in the best shape this year, next year when it returns it should be nice and strong. They can grow up to 4ft high and 2ft wide!

     I have been on a roll with the house stuff. I went thrift shopping and have started some projects with some one of the items I found.. Bit  of a big deal since we have lived in this house for 2 1/2 years and I have one mirror hung up and one picture in the entire house.. and it was time to get cracking…
 First- this guy needed only to find a home and be screwed in..

   Only $5 from the thrift store and this thing weighs a ton! When I saw initially I didn’t have any set plans for it, but I just loved it… Once I got it home it popped into my head to use it here in the kitchen for coffee mugs. We only have 4 of them, but 3 of those 4 are huge and take up a ton of space in our small cabinet- this is so much better. Plus it matches really well :)

    This guy has some potential

   This was $2.50- and I have big plans for it.

   Lastly, I’m trying to give our side door, which leads to our totally remodeled kitchen, a face lift.. it is in rough shape:

  I’m pretty sure its original to the house.. and it is certainly going to be a ton of work.. See those holes up there? Yeah about 70 years of curtains.. and multiply that times 4, just to get an idea of how many holes I have to fill! 

Have you ever had symptoms of overtraining? What did you do about it?

Do you like DIY projects, decorating, or gardening?

Farming and beer waffles

    One of the reasons I was excited when we bought our home was the ability to be a micro-farmer. I’m no expert- not even close, but I’ve had a garden once at an old apartment and some when I was growing up. There is just something to be said about fresh garden veggies, especially when you’ve grown them yourself. So this week we spent a ton of time ripping up weeds (which seems to be all that we can grow at the moment, ha) decided what we were going to grow and how it would be placed into the space. Sunday afternoon we went to the local nursery to scoop up some babies and give them a new home.  I’m not lying when I say we went a bit over board. I’m talking 16 tomato plants, 12 lettuce plants, 4 swiss chard, 4 basil, 1 parsley, 2 bell peppers, 4 cherry peppers, 4 cayenne peppers, 4 broccoli, 4 collards, 4 beets, 4 brussels sprouts, 8 kale, 4 green beans, 4 squash, 4 zucchini , 4 cucumbers, 4 pickling cucumbers. Whew..  

 

This spot was previously unused, and kind of ugly. We have the propane tanks, the random rock wall and some stairs that shouldn’t be used for anything but pot holders. If all goes well this will be the permanent garden space- which we will eventually make raised beds. Anyway we are hoping to grow in abundance so I can share with family and friends, and have enough to process and use through out the fall. 

    Moving on... a couple months ago James went to brew his own beer. He had an amazing time, learned a bunch of cool stuff- an got 12 cases of beer for less than it would cost to buy them at a liquor store. One of the beers was a porter, it’s super dark-almost black and smells pretty strong. There is no way I’m drinking it, but I can put it to use in some thing else:

That’s right- chocolate beer waffles! Seriously these things are so amazing I wish I could take credit. The recipe was taken from Vegan Brunch- Isa is seriously a genius! So when the hubs asked if I would make these I jumped at the chance. I made a double batch which seriously made about 30 waffles!! Apparently they were good because he ate 6 of them for breakfast this morning. I hate that men can eat whatever they want in whichever quantity and still have no worries about gaining an ounce. He’s lucky I love him!

Bottom line.. Run out and get ALL of Isa’s books- I don’t care if your vegan, veggie, omnivore.. just go get the books and make as much food as you can stand.. You will be happy about it I swear :)