The Switch

My riding lesson was delayed by 2 hours, so I decided I could get a few things done in the morning before I left for the barn.  "A few things" are always needing to be done when one lives in an antique house.  This morning, my goal was simply to install two dimmer switches for chandeliers in the master bedroom and the master dressing room.  The dressing room had the added complication that in an old house the wires are not colored or marked and they weren't much for following standards in those days like always putting the hot wire in the side with one wire on a 3 way box.  The other would be easier, a single pole, but the added complication was that the breaker for the bedroom is not marked in the breaker box.

I could have taken the easy way out and used a cell phone and a helper (the master bedroom is upstairs, the breaker box downstairs), but instead I used it as an exercise opportunity.  There were three options for the three way, and I exercised every one of them, resulting in six trips up and down the stairs to wire and test.  Finding the correct breaker switch took an additional 10 trips.

I hate the stairmaster and arc trainer at the gym.  I can't imagine the point of climbing stairway to nowhere (and I know heaven is not located above the cardio room in the gym), but getting my switches swapped was worth the effort and made the workout more of a game.

The light went on, and I hope to make that same switch with as many workouts as I can!

"Enthusiasm is the great hill-climber."  Elbert Hubbard

Lost and Found

I've lost this.  Have you seen it anywhere?  It happened sometime over the past two weeks while I was at Hilton Head Health.   I may have left it in Amber's cardio boxing class or perhaps someplace on the dance floor in Zumba.  I know I had it with me during Adam's outdoor circuit; I was pretty sure I carried it with me the whole time, maybe I left it along the trail.  Is it along the beach we walked every morning with Ashley and Alicea? I might have left it in the dining room while I was eating one of Chef Jen's creations.  It could very well be in Beth's conference room or in one of the lecture rooms that Bob frequents. Aha! I could have dropped it running between the the workout rooms during ULTRA circuit with Jeff and Alicea.

It weighs about 8 pounds and I've had it for a long time, but it doesn't have my name on it.  If you find it, keep it, I have plenty more I plan to lose....along with a couple of chickens, a cinderblock and a few bags of meow mix.  If your curious about this, you might check out this old post.

I Need a Superhero

It's obvious who the villains are:

Fatman (AKA The Capered Crusader, The Dark Chocolate Knight)
Fatwoman (think of an overweight Pfeifer or Halle Berry with pointy ears)
The Nibbler (nibble me this, dieter)
The Choker (big grin)
Cravin'
Wonder what I ate Woman

(This is Fatman)


(This is Wonder what I ate Woman)


You get the drift. But I need the fat fighting superhero. The one that makes me want jumping jacks instead of flapjacks.

This super hero has to be a girl and has to be active.

I'm thinking along the lines of Fit Girl



Fighting fat and chopping vegetables, she has the skill and weapons for both.

She'll make fat free swiss out of your gouda intentions.

Left Something Behind at the Horse Show

2.2 pounds got left behind somewhere at the horse show. I have some ideas about where they may have gone.

Saturday was a cold, misting, sometimes rainy, gusty winds day. I went for a nice ride in the morning to get my mare and my own brain reacquainted with the arenas. We had a nice quiet ride.

In the afternoon, I started warming up before my test (white breeches alert) when the german cowboy rode his stallion into the warm up arena. My mare who is experiencing midlife crisis and is hearing her biological clock ticking loudly at her own stables that don't do foals or stallions, decided to play hard to get and hard to stay on. It was a handsome stallion, but explosive canter departs are not my idea of a good warm up before a dressage test.

(certainly, this is what she was trying to do)

Against the recommendation of my trainer, I decided to enter the arena and ride my test anyway. Winds were gusting, and the tent flaps were flapping, and the the tent poles were being raised and pounding the ground behind us. It wasn't the best test, very stiff and tight, but I kept her on the pattern and we stayed in our arena. Our exit from the grounds was again explosive when the tents almost blew over. I dismounted and walked her up the hill to the stalls (look, exercise!!!!)

So even though things were different, difficult, and distracting, I stayed on course. Hmmm. I think I can extrapolate that lesson to something related to my eating and exercise habits...

I was mostly concerned this weekend that I would lose my nice pattern of eating, spending time on SparkPeople for motivation, and logging my food. I did bring my regular breakfast and tons of good veggies and fruit to snack on. I forbid myself to eat cheese and crackers which is our normal show grounds fare. I did drink all the champagne I wanted, but I filled up on celery, carrots, and hummus first.

I was so physically busy with riding, grooming, tacking up, cleaning tack, video taping other rides, that I really didn't think too much about eating and I kept moving.

So I think it is my job that makes me fat. My work is intellectually intense, but doesn't require much movement other than my fingers across the keyboard and electrical impulses between neurons and sparks jumping over synapses in my brain. I could stop being an engineer and business COO, but after seeing my riding scores this weekend, I think I'll keep my day job.

The 2.2 pounds I lost were significant. Well, the 3.2 ounces (the .2 pounds) were the significant part. They put me down a notch in the first digit of my weight!

This Alice is in Onederland, and will be chasing the 65 pound jabberwock the rest of the way home.