Thursday, August 11, 2011

I Did a Good Thing

I know I haven't been writing much.  It's leftover fatigue from my trip, I think, and also family shit that has put me in a terrible mood.  I won't be writing much today, either, but I'm hoping that I can motivate myself to write at work tomorrow.  We'll see.

Today, I woke up at 7:30am, voluntarily, on my day off.  I had to take my parents to Boulder to get a rental car since my fuck-up sister has broken the truck.  They needed to get the brakes on the Suburban fixed and today was their only available day to do it.  After I dropped them off at the rental place, I went to school to talk to the financial aid people to make sure that I'm going to actually receive all the financial aid I've been awarded - the grants and the loans.  I checked online yesterday and the system is so confusing and it looked like I was going to only receive about half of the awards.  It has something to do with my enrollment and that I'm only at 9 credits with 2 credits waitlisted.  The guy assured me that I would receive all the money I was awarded, but I'm still skeptical.  At this point all I can do is wait and see.  I did find out that I can request that I receive my allotted spring loan for the fall semester, which I may do and then just put away in case I decide to move somewhere.

When I got back to my parents house, I had to notarize something for them, and then Phoenix and I went for a run.  I averaged about a 10 minute mile, which is pretty cool.  I did feel pretty tired afterward, and my legs are a bit sore.  But I'm hoping that I can keep running for awhile.  I need new shoes really bad, so when I have some extra money, I will get some.  First I need to get my stride analyzed to see what kind of shoes will be right for me, especially since my legs are all fucked up anyway.

After the run, I went to Kohl's to look at blenders, because a few weeks ago I went to make a drink for Meredi and myself and discovered that we have no blender in this house.  While I was at Kate's, we needed to use a blender she got for a wedding gift which is just like a Bullet, but it's called a Rocket, and I loved it.  It's super easy to use and clean, and it doubles as a food processor.  So I think I'm going to get one.  I didn't buy anything while I was there because I realized that I had a coupon back at my house for at least 15% off (turns out it was 20%) so I grabbed Phoenix and we went home for awhile.  We took a short nap and then went back to my parents house.  I'd told them that I wanted to come over and unload all the firewood that was in the back of the truck that I'd picked up from a neighbor's house awhile ago that never got unloaded.  It's a huge pain in the ass, though, because where my parents keep the firewood is literally the west side of the back of the house, and the gate to the backyard is on the east side.  So it took me 4 trips with the wheelbarrow up and down the hill and stairs.  Another house in our neighborhood had a bunch of firewood sitting outside with a "free" sign, so I took my car up and filled up the trunk as best I could with wood, and did two trips for that.  I unloaded it all onto the front lawn and then took 6 more trips with the wheelbarrow to get all of that to the backyard.  That shit was heavy - a lot of that wood was big huge chopping-block sized chunks.  Surprisingly, I only got a couple of splinters in my hands, and otherwise did not get hurt!  I swept all the crap out from the truck bed and sprayed it out with water, and vacuumed my trunk out.  There were three big bags of gravel in the bed of the truck to add weight to it for when it snows since it's rear-wheel drive and that sucks.  So I had to unload those as well.

By the time I was finished it was about 5pm, so I sat and had a beer and talked with my parents, and then ran to the store to get some salad and bread for dinner.  We ate, I helped clean up, and now I'm home.

I'm exhausted.  My back is pretty sore in the spot where I messed it up in March, and my arms feel like noodles but otherwise, I feel great.  I did a lot of stuff for my parents today that was extremely helpful for them and I'm so glad I could help them out.  I wanted to do things today that kept me active - and I feel like I lifted weights for like two hours lifting the wood and pushing and pulling the wheelbarrow.  It was perfect exercise.  I actually considered doing another two-mile run after dinner, but I really worry about pushing my legs too hard since I haven't run in a couple of weeks.  I did push myself, though.  I just felt like I needed to do something physical and so I tried to challenge myself a little.  I probably won't sit and do all my planks and ab work tonight since my back is sore, but I plan to really get going on pushing myself physically for awhile.

I also feel like I didn't waste a moment of my day today and that feels wonderful.  I got to play with Phoenix, he got some exercise and went swimming, and we spent the entire day together, which is really important to me.  I did some really nice stuff for my parents, and that feels amazing.  I even did it without them asking, and I think that was what was important to them.  Without my sister there, it was a really pleasant day, pretty relaxed, although physically taxing.

I'm all showered and ready for bed already so that's where I'm headed now.  I'm a little worried about my back, so I may ice it for a little while before I actually go to sleep.  Otherwise, today was a win for me - physically, emotionally, and mentally.  I feel GOOD.

1 comment:

  1. I'm glad you had a good day! Those are the best- I wish I had manual labor I could do around here... damn apartment living. Miss you.

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