It's what you make of it

Today was a productive day. Jon-Jon and I cleaned house - he prepped the living room for me to vacuum (I didn't even ask him!) which basically meant he picked up all the chew toys any any other crap off the floor. I vacuumed the living room, going under sofa cushions, wall corners and ceilings. Then I cleaned both bathroom floors, toilets (ugh), and sinks. I also vacuumed the hallway, master and guest bedrooms. Jon swept and steam cleaned the kitchen floor (thanks be!) and most of the carpet in the house.
We were tired.
I also weighed in today. I expected it to be bad since I fell off the wagon but, man. I really need to make more of an effort to journal. I tricked myself when I tried to mentally remember what I ate. How stupid is that? I neglected to attend two of my last meetings because of Bay to Breakers and then I was out of town. But I could have tried harder to go to meetings on other days, you know? I think I'm done beating myself up. I'm back on the wagon and feel good about it. I have a strong support system with friends like Tel (thanks for pretty blog header!!!!) who swear they will help me out. I've got 17 lbs to shake off!
Oh, and I also joined a gym. That was a hard decision. I was spoiled before. I had worked at a non-profit that was attached to a gym so I had a free membership! Then, during this last year with the bad J-O-B, I made no time to work out and, while I still had one year of free membership at my old job, I didn't take advantage of it. I was tired, depressed and frustrated so I was pretty sure I shouldn't be around people, anyway. Well, now there are no more excuses. I went to my local 24 and signed up for a membership. I can't believe I pay to belong to a gym. But I do. The biggest reason why I felt I had to was because ...
I'm running a 1/2 marathon, remember?! I trained for the first time on Saturday. I ran about 2 miles and walked for 1 mile. It took me about 47 minutes to finish three miles. Jon ran with me for moral support. Oh. My. Gosh. I need to train daily. Well, truth be told, I hate treadmills. But I'm also scared to run outside around 5:30am. I would prefer to run on the the local college campus. But, and this is horrible, I still remember when I attended a while back and there was serial rapist who attacked women in the middle of the day while school was in session!!! That was nearly ten years ago but that still freaked me out. Much less running when barely anyone is on campus yet! And that spot is really the closest and best area for me to run. So with slim-to-none selections, I opted to join a gym.
In case you didn't know, I'm running for a cause. It's Train to End Stroke. One of the reasons I chose this cause is because I am a big advocate of the American Heart Association. And here's why you should make a donation:
1. They are smart with their donors' money. More than 75 cents of every dollar goes to research, education, and training. They also fund the BEST research. They have a panel of doctors and scientists that review all the proposals and only select what would best benefit the public.
2. They are the biggest (non-goverment) contributors to research. Even bigger than the American Cancer Society. It must be because they are pretty good about their overhead being less than 25% of their budget. I'm just sayin'.
3. We ALL know at least one person we are close to that has been affected by stroke or heart disease. And if you do not, you are exceptional and very, very fortunate. Think of all the things that your donation could help discover to make our parents, friends and even ourselves live longer and healthier lives.
Please make a donation. Any little bit helps! THIS IS A SECURE LINK and it's super easy to pay by credit card. Seriously, anything you can give is greatly appreciated. Trust me, I promise it's for a good cause. Think about giving and help save lives. And here's another link if you missed the first one ;)
Or just cut and paste it!
https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=231134&lis=1&kntae231134=E7345D14234A426AB3CD73E26F7AF460&supId=174574576
OK, I'm done asking. For now!