A Surprising Ride to Productivity

As you know, I've been trying to lose weight since before the dawn of time. Lately, my husband has adapted his working life to include a standing desk. He no longer sits at all during the workday, thereby keeping his heart working just a little harder and bearing weight on his muscles and bones. The thought is that while it's certainly not a cardio workout, it is healthier than sitting all day and can help in the battle against the dreaded sedentary life so prevalent in America right now.

I've wanted to claim some of the benefits of this method, even while working at home, but upon experimenting with possible solutions, discovered that I really didn't like knitting while standing, even if I had something in front of me, like a desk or lectern. Sitting and knitting is easier, I suppose because of the back support. Since about half of the work I do while sitting is knitting, I needed another solution.  One day, I got the notion that a small exercise bike might do the trick because on a search for standing desk options, I saw a photo of a woman in professional dress, peddling while she read through pages in her hands.

Bingo! I found a similar-looking cycle on Amazon for about 140 dollars and not only does it work, it works brilliantly. After a fruitless search for the perfect little desk-ish thing to go over the bike to hold my computer, phone, bottle of water, knitting or whatever, my clever hubby built a perfect desk. It has the added bonus of being a good height to use as a standing desk for the times when I'm not knitting and just using my computer or talking on the phone.

I can put the resistance to low, get peddling and happily work like this for about 2 hours at a time before I need a stretch and change of venue. I can comfortably knit, sew, and do anything on my computer, including photo processing.

I'm so pleased with this set-up and have noticed an unexpected benefit. I often struggle with focused work and usually move from task to task throughout the day to keep from getting bored. This works pretty well up to a point, but while I'm peddling, I'm anchored to where I am, I'm dispersing kinetic energy, and there is a meditative rhythm going through my whole body, so I find that I can dive deeply into whatever activity I'm doing and be very productive for a long time. Time passes without me noticing! Not only that, I look forward to time on the cycle and look for activities I can adapt to doing while peddling. Because the resistance is low, it doesn't cause me to work up a heavy sweat, so I can wear my regular working clothes.

In the two weeks or so I've been doing this, I have lost more weight, which is great, but really, that has slipped somewhat to the back of my mind. It really does feel better to move more throughout the day! It's good for body, mind and soul! I hope I can use this set up for a long time.

Yes, this post was written on my cycle!

 Cross-posted to The Same Stitch. 

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Sunday

It was a good day to have Linda's Chicken Corn Soup for dinner. With homemade biscuits and a salad made with nothing but baby greens, apples and some delicious, nutty-tasting mystery cheese I got from Wegman's but forgot to write the name of on the storage container; it was all so wintry and satisfying. Evan ate 4 biscuits, a leaf each of lettuce and spinach, and about a half cup of soup and we called it good. We were all there together. And that matters.

Now it's a good evening to have some Aztec Spice Sipping Chocolate from Dove. My beautiful mug from the thrift store (one man's trash really is another woman's treasure, because I adore this mug) feels warm in my hand and the cinnamon and hot pepper warm my whole insides in the pleasantest way while I try to think of what I want to write.

All my people here (all two of them-ha!) are asleep so they can wake up at 2 am for a wild Mormon Superbowl Party. No, really, they are, and yes, people are coming over. With food. See, we keep the Sabbath in a reverent and conservative way, so we don't watch sports or regular programming on Sundays. It's our day of rest from all things ordinary, and even the Superbowl falls into that category, at least until the Lord's day is done, Ravens or no Ravens. We give Him one out of seven and it's really lovely to have a day of peace and renewal. If you're really curious about my beliefs about the Sabbath, you can watch this or listen to this.

In the end, it's fun to have these early Monday football parties, I guess because we're all odd together. I'm proud of my kids for that tradition of thinking for themselves. They all go into a sort of cone of silence just before the game starts so no news from FB or texts from friends will ruin it, and in just a few hours, they'll experience it with all the fun and freshness of everyone else.

So, in this quiet house I await our weekly visit from the missionaries who serve in our congregation. Both of these fine young men have been out on their missions about the same amount of time as our Sam, and I cannot even describe the joy I feel in their association. It is a gift to be able to get a real-time view into what Sam's life is like right now and feel in person of the same kind of goodness and enthusiasm for just serving and trying to help people that Sam expresses in his letters. Our local missionaries come to use our computer and compile their statistics and reports from other missionaries for the week. It's lovely to see two very young men take on real leadership and responsibility.

Also in this quiet house, I am making my plan for the week, which includes the addition of three of my favorite humans on the planet, Sheely, Xavier and Preston. I get to be a mommy/auntie/grandma substitute while their actual parents are out of town. I'm SO excited! I can't wait for all the crazy times-the getting up and getting to school times, the homework and trampoline times, the cozy reading of story times, some video game times, etc..

I love them so dearly and like I've said about 600 times before, I feel like if I can do this, it satisfies my hope that all my family so far away will also have friends nearby who will love their kids like I would.

Earlier in the week I got to hang out with their tiny baby brothers and that was a happy day. I was able to feed, change and lull to sleep two 4-month olds. I was pretty dang proud of myself and I thought I couldn't admire their mother more, but I was wrong. She's a star of the highest magnitude.

And so to bed after a lovely, quiet day. Tomorrow will start with a longish run with a friend, then I'll get rooms ready for kids, do some knitting, do some photo work, and then welcome the young guests home after school.

And here we get to the meat of why taking Sunday off from real life is a good idea. I actually feel ready for Monday, with a very full week ahead of me. I feel like I can face it with some grace and patience, and that's a good feeling.

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A Celebration of Overcoming

My sister Randi is one of my heroes. I've known her since she was born, and almost from that moment I have watched her overcome challenge after challenge that I can't even imagine having to face, mostly having to do with her health. Sometimes I really can't help but wonder why it is that she has had so many mountains to climb while I stroll along in a comparative flower-strewn meadow. But it does no good to wonder. Life is what it is. I have my own path to navigate and she has hers. She would not want me to call attention to her triumphs, but the fact is, they are many.

She gets around in a wheelchair because her legs retired from service when she was a teenager. We still don't really know why (truly-all the doctors on her case at Johns Hopkins University Hospital never did come up with a diagnosis), but it's some sort of neuro-muscular condition that is not treatable. She also has Rheumatoid Arthritis. And some other things.

But, more importantly, she has a life. In her mind, it's just an ordinary life, but with apologies to her sensibilities, I have to say that she can never be called ordinary. It's that degree of difficulty thing. Like divers in the Olympics. Ordinary for her means amazing in my mind. Just imagine for a moment something simple like, let's say, making a box of macaroni and cheese. Except while sitting down. Permanently and with no option to get up. See? Amazing. And yet so normal.

So, from this life of hers, here are a few relevant highlights: She has always been an awesome auntie to all the kids in our family. See? They adore her, even when they're big.

She went to college. First community college, then all the way out to Arizona to live alone and get a teaching degree from Arizona State. Then she got married. Then she had a baby. You might think it's just fine to to sit all through a pregnancy, but it's actually really hard. But then she decided it wasn't that hard and had another baby. Except that time it was TWO. Yes, a woman in a wheelchair with a three-year old, by no planning or intervention, was given TWINS to raise. Look how great they are!

So there you go. Three little boys. Moving around the country with her husband's job. Not really living close to family. More health problems. Callings in church. Job changes. So yes, on the one hand, her life is ordinary in lots of ways. These are things that we all cope with. But for her, literally getting out of bed every day is pretty much a win. She's in pain a lot of the time. She has no use of her legs and her arms don't have 100% of their strength and they don't get stronger with use. Now add in the fact that every member of her little family also has some sort of health issue ranging from ADD to Type 1 Diabetes, and the amazing should start to kick in a bit.

So, to be able to gather with her a couple of weekends ago for a simple family occasion, the birthday party and baptism of those very twins, was just wonderful. It's made me feel such deep gratitude to see the friends she's made and the talents she's magnified. She has created a happy place for herself in her little hometown and I loved watching her move comfortably and confidently among the people who love her and her crazy-fun little troop of small people.

Because I view the world through the lens of my camera, of course there were photos. It was important to me that this moment be captured. This is the last of the baptisms for her children. It's a milestone. Her oldest is almost 12. Things will change lots in the next few years. I really wanted to make a portrait of their family for right now. I'm really happy with what we were able to do in the several, approximately 42 second-long windows of opportunity for photos afforded by the moods and mischief of 3 young boys. We told their story and I'm glad.

So, Hurrah for my sister. One of the best people I know. God bless her and her family.

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Winter Thursday

I woke up late today, but we still managed to get Evan to seminary and I have managed to resist the urge to climb back into bed. It's not very cold out and it's sunny, and I have a date with a friend later today, and those facts have helped me to keep moving and stay productive.

So, here is what I've done since 5:40 am (Yes, that's late. We are all supposed to be up by 5):

• Drove Ev to seminary
• Got the Christmas decorations put away
• Put out the garbage
• Put in a load of laundry plus folded another one
• Cleaned up the kitchen
• Decluttered in my office area
• Wrote two blog posts for my knit blog to be published while I'm out of town this weekend
• Listened to the Book of Mormon audiobook (the actual Book of Mormon, no affiliation to the musical, haha)
• Wrote a letter to my son in California
• Actually mailed said letter (the greater triumph, really)
• Answered some emails
• Fed the animals
• And last but not least, folded the second load of laundry, wrote this blog post and got ready to go run some errands. 

I really want a nap, but if I just keep moving, I'll be fine, right?

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A Sleepless Night

Tonight I had my chance. At about 9 pm I was done for the day. I was falling asleep as I sat on a couch visiting a friend. I came home and got into pajamas and turned off everything, gave a couple last consults on a homework question and let my body relax under the covers. My eyes closed and I felt heaviness settle over my body, but sleep would not come. Always around the holidays I let my schedule track with the young people in my life and stay up late and I can handle it for a while but tonight I really was ready for a full night's sleep.

Yet here I am. Blogging at 3 am (sighing in dejected, limp frustration). My alarm is set to go off in 2 hours to get Evan's lunch and see him off to seminary. At this point, I'm now afraid I'll miss the alarm, so I probably won't try sleep at all. And tomorrow is a FULL day of stuff I have to do. (sighing again)

I'm trying to figure out what's on my mind that won't let my head turn off, so I decided I'll try to write it all out of my system.

• I'm thinking a lot about my missionary son again. He had an unusual week, but it will all work out, I'm sure of it. 
• I have LOTS of normal things to do in the next few days. Some are overdue, some are on time, and for some I'm ahead of the game, but they all need to get out the door, and include: 
• making reservations for my February travel
• finding a hotel for our trip to see my sister
• putting in 2 photo orders
• proofing 2 shoots
• getting discs/uploads to dropbox done for three clients
• putting away the Christmas decoration boxes (the decor is all dismantled, I just have to get everything stored)
• making sure to set the dvr for Downton Abbey, which starts on Sunday (What? That's keeping me awake??? Shhsh. I'm just trying to capture the whole parade of thoughts...)
• Reading my book club books
• Getting back on track with Weight Watchers (I took a break from tracking over the holidays, but it's okay because I MISSED it and can't wait to get started again)
• Getting my from-home kids settled and back to their routines

Hmm, my brain was a little full and the update is that after writing all that stuff down, I was able to go to sleep immediately, I did hear my alarm, got up to see Evan off for the day, then went back to sleep till after 10 am. Not ideal, but I did sleep at last. So, now I have half a day to get a full day's work done but it is all laid out before me and I can get a move on. I'm off to a good start, dressed, with a load of laundry in the washer and my bed made. 

Welcome, 2013! Let's make it a good year. 

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