Treadmill Trauma
It's shortly after 7 a.m. as I write this morning, and a welcome sun is streaming in the windows. Temp on my outside thermometer is 32 or 34 degrees. Hard to tell, since there's a bug spot at exactly that point...
I'm sitting here at the computer, listening to Beethoven and drinking a hot cup of black coffee. As usual these days, I'm in my pink flannel pajama bottoms and a heavy sweatshirt, while the fire warms up the house.
Occasionally a shot rings out from across the deer woods, and I'm very glad I'm (hopefully) safe from my neighbors' enthusiastic teenagers who are out, shooting up the countryside... Yesterday I heard eight shots in rapid succession. My son Matthew, who is also hunting this morning, says that some people shouldn't be allowed to have automatic rifles... Each year I pray that we all survive the hunting season intact. If the deer would just come up here to the house, I would keep them safe. They could bed down here in the yard, and I would protect them! There's no hunting season in the DeJournett front yard!
Hunting season isn't my topic this morning, however, so I'd better put myself on track, hadn't I?
A couple of weeks ago, my children moved my treadmill up from the basement to the kitchen. My theory is that I may actually USE the machine if it's up here. We bought the treadmill years ago for my husband, but he fared much better when we went in to the park at Advance.
I can see why! One minute feels like an hour on the treadmill! Because of the plug in situation, the machine faces away from the living room TV, and I've also discovered that I have to turn my CD player up super loud in order to hear it over the roar of the treadmill. My cats scatter for cover at such times.
Right now, I have the ambitious goal of adding one minute to the ten minutes I've started with. I'm up to thirteen. Whoopee! Madeline's tearing up the rubber, folks!
I think of everything imaginable that needs to be done, while I'm on the treadmill. As soon as I set foot on that rubber belt, I think of a million things to do besides walk.
In the days of my 2-4 mile walking program, I discovered the value of an early morning walk, so I put on my shoes and hit the pavement (or gravel) by 7:30 a.m. every morning and again in the evening. The good thing about the morning walk is the way it gets your metabolism ramped up. Then, you seem to burn fat all day, and the pounds can just melt off throughout the day.
I know that! So why don't I do it??
I hate to admit it, but I spend way too much time on this computer. Yes, I do research for articles, and, yes, I communicate with friends, family, and people who have things to put in the paper, but I think I also waste a lot of time, just looking at "stuff." I don't have to worry about playing games, because I consider that a waste of time. No virtual reality games for me! The REAL reality is more than enough!
I think I heard somewhere that our society is now feeling the effects of a computer "addiction." I believe it. A computer addiction may not cost us as much as a gambling addiction (Can you believe that Prop A passed???) - but who knows how many hours are lost with "addicts" like my brother, who works nights and spends his days playing "World of Warfare"???
Well, it's 8:30 a.m. now, and I'd LIKE to skip the treadmill this morning and take a real walk in real time on real gravel on my real lane in the sunshine and yellow leaves. However, I'm afraid I'll get shot, so I guess I'll crank up ole Skinny Boy, the treadmill, and see if I can shed a few rolls of fat!
From the golden hills of Tillman, Mo., this is your chunky roving reporter Madeline, signing off on a picture perfect fall Sunday morning.
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My kids will just have to put up with the embarrassment of having a mother with fruit wallpaper!!! Hahahahahaha!
As I sit here at the computer by the front windows, I'm totally wrapped in FLANNEL to keep warm. It would be NICE to be able to walk myself warm right now - but, alas...
One possible solution is to dig out my old Walkman, get a new headset, and walk to the oldies. I used to really cover some ground, moving to Michael Jackson's "Thriller"!! I also had a Richard Simmons' walking tape! "C'mon, girls, you can do it!! I believe in you!!"
I would never paint over the wallpaper! My husband's ghost would come in here and knock me off my ladder! That is not the proper way to do it, he'd say! You remove the wallpaper first, prepare the wall, and only then do you touch paint to plasterboard!
However, the last time I removed wallpaper - from the downstairs bathroom - I was sick for three days, and I didn't know if my lungs were EVER going to recover! That never used to happen to me. It's rough getting old!
"Sex and the City" ought to get you hot, too!!
Maybe if I can just turn my treadmill the other way, I can see the TV... I'll have my son help me with it tomorrow. May have to drag out an extension cord.
Thanks for all the suggestions, girlfriends!!