Day 52 - Hibernating in These Foolish Things

• It’s been exceptionally cold and blustery here, and it will continue into Sunday. I haven’t left my apartment since last Sunday, except to take the dog out for her walks. I literally haven’t left this little apartment complex. It’s so confining, and I don’t like it. Of course, I could leave and go somewhere…but where? A coffee shop to do work? Too much trouble to bundle up the dog and go. I miss the big, luxurious mall from [former city]. That place is almost an ecosystem unto itself and I could gallery walk (they have rotating art collections), window shop, and find a little corner (I know all the secret nooks and crannies) to settle in and sip a hot drink and work. But there’s nothing like that here. So I will stay in my pretty little space and look out over the trees in the back - and the beautiful birds who come to my feeders and wait out the next two days. We’re supposed to get a glazing of ice overnight tonight, so I’ll wait until it’s allllll over and melted on Sunday to peek my head out and go somewhere.

• But it’s times like these that I am happy to be working from home. I’ve let myself lie in bed over an hour longer than normal this short week. I’ve let my schedule get wonky, working at my computer a couple of hours earlier and getting my workouts in a couple of hours later. I’m glad to have that flexibility as my body hasn’t wanted to hop out of bed and jump on a trampoline and then lift weights so early these cold, cold days. But if I get up and get some work done and sip on some coffee and let my body sort of warm up, THEN I’m ready. It’s been a decadent week. I don’t want this to become habit, but it’s been kinda nice and indulgent.

• I was finally able to re-install my security cameras around the apartment. There’s one at my front door, one looking OUT my bedroom window, one on my back patio, and one over my garage door. Do I sound paranoid? Well, I did get a little paranoid after my garage was robbed. Even though the robbers took random, weird things (my Rx glasses, a wine cooler, a tolltag, a big jug of water??), it just feels gross when someone goes through your things, doesn’t it? AND…we haven’t heard any follow-ups from the Machete Man incident - a guy with a machete knocking on windows! The good news about the way my apartment is set up is that you can’t access ANY of my windows from the ground. Even though the front door is accessed on the ground level, the architecture and landscape actually make all of my windows and the rest of my apartment a level above the ground (in other words, there are apartments below mine - kind of hard to explain, but they are interesting and half sub-terranean). And I overlook a cliff, so it’s a cool view. ANYWAY. The things I’ve captured on my cameras so far: my next door neighbor going in and out with her dog…and ME going in and out with MY dog; various neighbors out walking and jogging their dogs past my garage (in various states of appropriate winter clothing - some are headed to the hot tub, so they are in swimwear and robes!); a raccoon scurrying around my front door at 4am; squirrels on the patio; neighbors coming and going in the middle of the night. I keep waiting to capture my downstairs neighbor fighting with his girlfriend again - I heard them arguing a week or so ago around 5am. At least he hasn’t been blasting his video games lately. Knock wood. Bottom line, I feel weirdly more secure now knowing I can see what’s going on. And I’m highly entertained as well! And honestly, it’s a reminder that there are cameras EVERYWHERE, ya know? Whenever you’re outside of your own four walls, you really must assume that you’re being watched at all times.

• And yes, I’ve got to decide if I want to move or not. I have to be very honest. Moving is a bitch and I don’t love doing it. I think if I can re-negotiate my lease for one more year (yes, I know, I know I’ve said I either want to live downtown-ish or even go back to [former city]), I’ll feel okay about it. It might not be the best decision on my part but it’s the most convenient. My co-worker moved across the country this past week and it was nothing but one disaster after another, and she got to her new place and she HATES it!! Of course, this woman has a tendency to be super dramatic, but she’s been documenting her move on socials and…ughhhh…it just gives me the dry heaves thinking about trying to do all that right now. And it’s fucking expensive!! I suppose I’ll write more about this again soon. It’s a hard decision!

• My challenges are still going! It’s Day 52 as my numbered days of the year indicate (see entry title). I’m still working through the puzzles of wearing at least one thrifted/pre-loved item per day. Normally it’s been two, three or even four items. I’ve loved every day! The fitness/mental challenge has been a little harder with these cold, cold days and I’ll be honest…I haven’t done a 45-minute outdoor walk on all of the days this week (though I did yesterday), so technically, I have failed the classic 75 Hard, but as long as I’m doing all of my daily habits and keeping my workouts in check and feeling really good and healthy, I’m fine with that. I know what the fitness/mental challenge does for me, and it’s nothing but goodness, so I will keep up the parts that keep me going!

• As far as my food goes, I’ve been making all of my own meals and trying to stick with my protein goals (100+ grams per day), no wheat, and no refined sugars. I bought some 72% cacao dark chocolate chips to make these amazing chocolate-covered peanut butter protein balls, but was bummed to notice later on the package that there was some added sugar, but eh. Whatareyagonna do? I’m still going to eat them as they are such wonderful treats and add to the protein intake. I also followed a recipe for blueberry oat flour muffins I found on socials, but I didn’t have any oat flour, so I made my own. But I don’t think I let the food processor do it’s thing long enough and the flour was still a little chunky. Gotta be honest - I like it that way! I’ve even read that you don’t want to chop up your fibrous food too much as you lose the stringy long fibers that help flush out your system. I don’t know if that’s absolutely true? But it kinda makes sense to me. What do I know? BUT…I had heartburn last night, and I’m trying to figure out why. Heartburn makes me very, VERY nervous even though it was never a symptom of my colon cancer. Heartburn is a bad sign. I’ve had heartburn maybe twice in the last couple of months, and it’s concerning. WHY? I’ve made almost all of my own very healthy meals, so what is causing it and how do I keep it from coming back?

• Okay, I better get a move-on with my day. I’ve let the dog sleep in long enough. She haaattess having to get up and out in the cold, so our first walk of the morning is always just a pee/poop run and then I let her come back inside and warm up while I workout and do my thing.

xox,
GS