Thursday, April 20, 2006

It took almost a year, but...

I finally went back to our condo gym and actually used the treadmill (part of my new year's resolution was to lose weight, so I decided I've spent a good 3.5 months gaining even more weight just to challenge myself more, and it's time to do something about it).

I asked my hubby to go with me to the condo gym to help me figure out how to use the equipment. The first and last time I went, I couldn't figure out how to get the treadmill to work. Then the elliptical next to the treadmill. I finally found one elliptical that did work without having to do some hoodoo voodoo to it. My hubby went the next day to check out the equipment for me, and he couldn't figure it out either. So I've never gone back. Call me a defeatist, I don't care.

I waited for him to get ready to go to his "real" gym. So, as usual, when we we left, he was telling me to "hurry it up," even though I was the one ready for the past 20 minutes.

We walked up to the condo gym door, and I swiped our pass over the electrolock thingy, and opened the door.

"Okay, bye," my husband said to me. He had already taken a few steps away from me.

"Hey! What?!" I said.

"You opened the door. You now know how to do it," he said.

"I know how to open the door. Jeeezz....I wanted you to help me with the equipment!"

"Oh," he said.

We went inside, and a young guy just got off the treadmill and was walking to the weight machine. I stepped on the treadmill and started pushing on buttons.


"See!" I said. "I can't get this thing to work! I push on the start button and nothing happens."

My husband tried the button and nothing happened. But see, I knew it worked because I just saw the guy on it and I see people on it all the time. It's like you had to say a secret word to get the thing to work.

That's when the guy said, "You have to turn it on first."

Turn it on? What a novel idea! I had searched and searched the last time I tried to use it, and I couldn't find any off/on switch. If there was an off/on switch, then someone hide it just as well as the person who designed the copy machines at work.

My husband got a look on his face like, "Ah, yes....turn it on! I can do that." I just stood on the treadmill waiting for something to happen.

"It's in the front," the guy told my husband.

My husband looked and looked and he couldn't find the stupid off/on switch.

The guy got annoyed with us, the two dummies who couldn't figure out how to turn on a treadmill, and walked over and turned it on.

"See! I told you I couldn't figure out how to get it to work!" I said.

My husband rolled his eyes and left me to walk on the treadmill while this guy was working out like a little mad man on the weight machine. I planned to stay on for 20 minutes, but when after 20 minutes the guy wasn't done and I thought if I left before him, I would look pathetic, I decided to go another 5 minutes. Which turned into 10. Then 15. And finally 18 minutes. He still wasn't finished, but I was. And so here I sit.

Okay. So I'm going to totally embarrass myself and recap what I have accomplished on my resolutions list:

  1. Lose all the weight I've gained and then some. (Okay - so I'm trying again, and this week I have had a feeling I'll get through it without eating a whole box of cheez-its or convincing my hubby to buy me donuts. And yes, I have gained about 10 more lbs since I wrote this, but what the hey, I've have health issues!)
  2. Start going back to the gym on a regular basis and do yoga at home. (I went tonight! Whoohoo! Looky me! And I do plan to do yoga so that my tightly wound up muscles can get some release (this is in lieu of seeing my nutty acupuncturist who thinks I'm infertile)).
  3. Learn to make more things by sewing and become a better sewer. (Okay. this hasn't happened, but I do have the cutest old school tattoo material and cute retro/swing material that I want to make clutches with -- actually doing that is another story.)
  4. Do as much as I can to our tiny kitchen to make it look more up-to-date, including buying a new range and microwave, refinishing cupboard doors, replacing faucet, tiling floor. (Um...my dad did install a new faucet in our kitchen. And while our plans haven't turned out the way I saw them way back when, we are still saving up money to replace an appliance. AAAnnnddd...our dishwasher is leaking water....so I do see us buying an appliance soon. Everything else? Not so much).
  5. Paint our bedroom, bathrooms, kitchen (see 4). (We bought paint! For the bathroom! Like a month ago! Ya!!! Actually, we have a ton of things for the guest bathroom, but we've yet to do anything about it. So I don't see painting the kitchen or bedroom happening any time soon. One room at a time, and I'll start with the smallest, thank you very much.)
  6. Go on a well-deserved vacation as our funds permit (tax refund! I hope...). (This has come true. We are going to London and Dublin this summer. Funny how the least demanding thing AND the most expensive thing ends up happening. Anyone want to buy some jewelry to help support our vacation plans??? )
  7. Support my hubby in finding a new job. (Done!!! Although it wasn't quite what he expected. But life is always like that, don't you think?)
  8. Become pain-free for a few months, somehow, anyhow, doesn't matter how. (I'm working on that. Got some new meds, most days I feel pretty good unless unexpected things slam me upside the head and I get stressed out about it. I hope exercising helps me. And I've been sleeping way better with my new meds, and I know that helps.)
  9. Learn Adobe Flash and become proficient with Adobe Illustrator. (I won't be learning Flash anytime soon, but I have learned a ton of new things with Illustrator. I'm also embarking on my Certification in Project Management plan, which includes learning MS Project -- not that I'll really use it right now, but it's good to slap these things on your resume when you can.)
  10. Continue to have fun whenever I want. (Still doing this.)

So who knows where next week will find me. Maybe we'll work on our bathroom. Maybe I'll fall into a donut coma. Maybe I'll lose 1 lb. Maybe that box of cheez-its in the cupboard right now would make a nice pre-dinner snack?

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