Update On Tee Land

Things are still plugging along here in Tee Land. I have a few things to update here today. Nothing too spectacular, just little things.

On the fitness front, I'm now using 10 pound weights for my arm routine. I broke down almost a month ago and bought a pair from Amazon, and I'm glad I did.

The first day I used them, there was a big difference. I just did one set of all my arm exercises, and only did 10 reps. I'm now up to one set of 15 reps, except for the lying triceps extensions. I only do 10 reps of them. They're still tough. But I'll get there. I'm not quite ready for two sets, yet. It may be a while, as my arms are pretty much dead after I've done everything. It does feel good to lift more weight though.

My elliptical routine is going well. My left ankle is OK. I've done some more research online, and instead of tendonitis, I have muscle knots. That makes sense, because I can actually feel the knots. Stretching before and after my elliptical workout is helping, plus I use my new gel pack as a heating pad and that helps.




I love this ice pack. It gets freezing , but when you put it in the sleeve, it doesn't seem all that cold. When you take it off 20 minutes later, you realize just how cold it gets. Always use it in the sleeve, you'll get frost bite otherwise I'm sure. You can use it as a heating pack also, which is what I've been doing lately. It gets super hot, and the sleeve is a must or you'll burn yourself. It's definitely been a good buy for me.

Not sure if it actually does anything, but I'm using Icy Hot spray in my lower leg. I was expecting this stuff to go ice cold, and then heat up. It is cold going on, but I don't feel any heat.

I'm back up to .8 mile on my elliptical. I plan on aiming for .9 tomorrow and then a full mile next Friday. I like upping my distance on Fridays, because it gives me the full weekend to recover. I took last week off because I didn't like how my ankle muscle was feeling, and when I got back on it Monday, my endurance was still up there. So, taking time off is definitely a good thing now and then.

Once I get back up to one mile, I plan on doing .5 mile on my “off” days. I'd like to get back to doing a mile six days a week, but we'll see. I'll get there eventually, as long as I have no issues. Need to remember to heat or ice my muscles afterward. I can't tell which helps more, an ice pack or heat. I think heat works best on muscle knots, at least for me anyway.

On the writing front, things are still going well. I still have the person I write for from TextBroker. He sends me about 13 topics every two or three weeks. This is an “off” week right now, and I'm being a lazy bum. There's a lot of writing I could be doing, but I'm not. I did pick up one topic from Demand Studios and I have a week to get it written. I need to write more about that site soon, to give you a better idea of how I came to write there.

For now, I should probably end this, and get a snack. I've been a bottomless pit lately. I think it's because of my elliptical workouts. I seem to be hungrier when I'm more active. I see some sliced peaches in my near future.

Update On Tee Land

Things are still plugging along here in Tee Land. I have a few things to update here today. Nothing too spectacular, just little things.

On the fitness front, I'm now using 10 pound weights for my arm routine. I broke down almost a month ago and bought a pair from Amazon, and I'm glad I did.

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=keemovtee-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B000I1BR7Q&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

The first day I used them, there was a big difference. I just did one set of all my arm exercises, and only did 10 reps. I'm now up to one set of 15 reps, except for the lying triceps extensions. I only do 10 reps of them. They're still tough. But I'll get there. I'm not quite ready for two sets, yet. It may be a while, as my arms are pretty much dead after I've done everything. It does feel good to lift more weight though.

My elliptical routine is going well. My left ankle is OK. I've done some more research online, and instead of tendonitis, I have muscle knots. That makes sense, because I can actually feel the knots. Stretching before and after my elliptical workout is helping, plus I use my new gel pack as a heating pad and that helps.


http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=keemovtee-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B0027CU1EY&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

I love this ice pack. It gets freezing , but when you put it in the sleeve, it doesn't seem all that cold. When you take it off 20 minutes later, you realize just how cold it gets. Always use it in the sleeve, you'll get frost bite otherwise I'm sure. You can use it as a heating pack also, which is what I've been doing lately. It gets super hot, and the sleeve is a must or you'll burn yourself. It's definitely been a good buy for me.

Not sure if it actually does anything, but I'm using Icy Hot spray in my lower leg. I was expecting this stuff to go ice cold, and then heat up. It is cold going on, but I don't feel any heat.

I'm back up to .8 mile on my elliptical. I plan on aiming for .9 tomorrow and then a full mile next Friday. I like upping my distance on Fridays, because it gives me the full weekend to recover. I took last week off because I didn't like how my ankle muscle was feeling, and when I got back on it Monday, my endurance was still up there. So, taking time off is definitely a good thing now and then.

Once I get back up to one mile, I plan on doing .5 mile on my “off” days. I'd like to get back to doing a mile six days a week, but we'll see. I'll get there eventually, as long as I have no issues. Need to remember to heat or ice my muscles afterward. I can't tell which helps more, an ice pack or heat. I think heat works best on muscle knots, at least for me anyway.

On the writing front, things are still going well. I still have the person I write for from TextBroker. He sends me about 13 topics every two or three weeks. This is an “off” week right now, and I'm being a lazy bum. There's a lot of writing I could be doing, but I'm not. I did pick up one topic from Demand Studios and I have a week to get it written. I need to write more about that site soon, to give you a better idea of how I came to write there.

For now, I should probably end this, and get a snack. I've been a bottomless pit lately. I think it's because of my elliptical workouts. I seem to be hungrier when I'm more active. I see some sliced peaches in my near future.

Goals For 2010

Before writing this entry, I decided to have a quick lunch. I made my favorite meal of plain noodles and a side of veggies. I decided to make up the last of the green beans. Sprinkling a little bit of parmesan cheese on the noodles makes the meal tasty.

















OK on to the resolutions...or should I say goals. I'm trying not to make any of the goals too large or too broad, and if they are too broad I will try to scale them down into smaller goals.

Goals for 2009:

1. Be patient and understanding with myself. If I need to take a break from exercise I will not beat myself up about it. If I feel any discomfort at all I will stop what I'm doing and take the necessary break. I will not gripe or whine about being off my exercise routine. I will find alternate ways of getting exercise in. When I need a break from the elliptical I will do a couple of workout videos from the SparkPeople site.
2. Stretch twice a day. This helps me tremendously. It is a fact that everybody needs to stretch, but for someone like me who has cerebral palsy, it is an absolute must. Stretching my legs not only makes them looser but also improves my balance slightly. When my legs are tight it causes me to have more issues when I walk. My legs don't straighten all the way if I don't stretch.
3. Keep up with various writing goals. I would like to keep this blog active and write frequently. Other than this blog I also want to write more personal journal entries located at another site that I keep locked. Venting to my private journal allows me to get my frustrations out and not blow a gasket. Hee hee. Another writing venue I wish to still continue with is a few freelance writing sites. In the last year I've made some side money so I can buy some fun things that I would not normally buy for myself. And the final writing goal I want to partake in is to write more creative works. Participating in 2009s NaNoWriMo was a good start for me to take up creative writing again.
4. Continue with positive thinking and positive self talk. When I catch myself thinking negatively I will make a point to stop mid thought and change it to something positive. If I catch myself calling myself nasty names or telling myself that I'm stupid, I will stop and take a deep breath and keep moving.
5. Work on balance and walking. I'm not setting an end date for this goal, this is something that I will be working on forever. I will start out slow by standing up while watching TV and balancing on one foot as long as I can and then switching legs. I did this for a while last year and I think it helped a bit. I will also use my walker to get around this room. Having three cats will be a challenge for this goal, but I will do my best. The floors out in the kitchen and hallway areas are a bit uneven making my walker seem like I'm pushing a shopping cart with one bad wheel. So I will not practice out there quite yet. I will get there in time though.

I'm sure there are more goals that I can set, but these will do for now. Through the next year I will add to my goals and maybe modify my current ones as I need to.

Have a happy new year and I wish you all the best for 2010.

Goals For 2010

Before writing this entry, I decided to have a quick lunch. I made my favorite meal of plain noodles and a side of veggies. I decided to make up the last of the green beans. Sprinkling a little bit of parmesan cheese on the noodles makes the meal tasty.

















OK on to the resolutions...or should I say goals. I'm trying not to make any of the goals too large or too broad, and if they are too broad I will try to scale them down into smaller goals.

Goals for 2009:

1. Be patient and understanding with myself. If I need to take a break from exercise I will not beat myself up about it. If I feel any discomfort at all I will stop what I'm doing and take the necessary break. I will not gripe or whine about being off my exercise routine. I will find alternate ways of getting exercise in. When I need a break from the elliptical I will do a couple of workout videos from the SparkPeople site.
2. Stretch twice a day. This helps me tremendously. It is a fact that everybody needs to stretch, but for someone like me who has cerebral palsy, it is an absolute must. Stretching my legs not only makes them looser but also improves my balance slightly. When my legs are tight it causes me to have more issues when I walk. My legs don't straighten all the way if I don't stretch.
3. Keep up with various writing goals. I would like to keep this blog active and write frequently. Other than this blog I also want to write more personal journal entries located at another site that I keep locked. Venting to my private journal allows me to get my frustrations out and not blow a gasket. Hee hee. Another writing venue I wish to still continue with is a few freelance writing sites. In the last year I've made some side money so I can buy some fun things that I would not normally buy for myself. And the final writing goal I want to partake in is to write more creative works. Participating in 2009s NaNoWriMo was a good start for me to take up creative writing again.
4. Continue with positive thinking and positive self talk. When I catch myself thinking negatively I will make a point to stop mid thought and change it to something positive. If I catch myself calling myself nasty names or telling myself that I'm stupid, I will stop and take a deep breath and keep moving.
5. Work on balance and walking. I'm not setting an end date for this goal, this is something that I will be working on forever. I will start out slow by standing up while watching TV and balancing on one foot as long as I can and then switching legs. I did this for a while last year and I think it helped a bit. I will also use my walker to get around this room. Having three cats will be a challenge for this goal, but I will do my best. The floors out in the kitchen and hallway areas are a bit uneven making my walker seem like I'm pushing a shopping cart with one bad wheel. So I will not practice out there quite yet. I will get there in time though.

I'm sure there are more goals that I can set, but these will do for now. Through the next year I will add to my goals and maybe modify my current ones as I need to.

Have a happy new year and I wish you all the best for 2010.

Ramblings Of An Insecure Writer

This is the third day of National Novel Writing Month, and I think I'm holding my own so far. I've met my goal of 2,000 words the first two days. I've not written anything today yet. Not sure why I'm procrastinating today. Seems like I'm finding other things to do and not doing what I should be doing. The story I'm writing is coming to me in bits and pieces. I'm not sure I like where it's heading, but it's the only thing that keeps popping up. I don't want to write the cliché suspense story.

I was hoping to delve into the mind of a young adult who had a horrible childhood. Not a very uplifting story, no, but it's what I came up with. And I have to give credit for my idea to one of the contestants on The Biggest Loser (no it's not about weight loss). For those of you who watch the show, my idea came from Shay. For those who don't watch the show, Shay is in her early 20s and was the daughter of a heroin addict. So my story is revolving around that. I have no idea what Shay went through growing up, I'm just going with it.

Anyway, it seems my mind wants to turn it into a suspense story. Sure, my main character is dealing with the memories of her past, that was my main idea. But an idea came to me yesterday, and I'm having a hard time ignoring it. The problem, is it's so cliché. I keep asking myself "Do I really want to go there? Seriously?", and I guess I do. After all, when I first started I said I'd let the story go where it wanted to. So I guess I'll do it.

My other thoughts are, "Am I good enough to write like this? Who do I think I am trying to write a 50,000 word novel in one month? What if I write something 'wrong'. What if I get certain facts wrong? Am I writing the same things over and over? Didn't I write a paragraph like this yesterday? Am I going to be able to meet my 2,000 word count today? I'm going to stuck and am not going to be able to get out of my blockage.".

The doubts are creeping in and it's driving me nuts. I need my mind to shut up and just write. That's the point, just write. It doesn't have to make sense. This is just getting the words out on paper (or screen). Editing will come later. If I even want to edit it. No one is going to read this except me. No one is going to say "This is wrong. This isn't how such and such works.".

So its time to get to work. I needed this mental scream to get myself going. Aye, aye, aye, what am I doing to myself?

Ramblings Of An Insecure Writer

This is the third day of National Novel Writing Month, and I think I'm holding my own so far. I've met my goal of 2,000 words the first two days. I've not written anything today yet. Not sure why I'm procrastinating today. Seems like I'm finding other things to do and not doing what I should be doing. The story I'm writing is coming to me in bits and pieces. I'm not sure I like where it's heading, but it's the only thing that keeps popping up. I don't want to write the cliché suspense story.

I was hoping to delve into the mind of a young adult who had a horrible childhood. Not a very uplifting story, no, but it's what I came up with. And I have to give credit for my idea to one of the contestants on The Biggest Loser (no it's not about weight loss). For those of you who watch the show, my idea came from Shay. For those who don't watch the show, Shay is in her early 20s and was the daughter of a heroin addict. So my story is revolving around that. I have no idea what Shay went through growing up, I'm just going with it.

Anyway, it seems my mind wants to turn it into a suspense story. Sure, my main character is dealing with the memories of her past, that was my main idea. But an idea came to me yesterday, and I'm having a hard time ignoring it. The problem, is it's so cliché. I keep asking myself "Do I really want to go there? Seriously?", and I guess I do. After all, when I first started I said I'd let the story go where it wanted to. So I guess I'll do it.

My other thoughts are, "Am I good enough to write like this? Who do I think I am trying to write a 50,000 word novel in one month? What if I write something 'wrong'. What if I get certain facts wrong? Am I writing the same things over and over? Didn't I write a paragraph like this yesterday? Am I going to be able to meet my 2,000 word count today? I'm going to stuck and am not going to be able to get out of my blockage.".

The doubts are creeping in and it's driving me nuts. I need my mind to shut up and just write. That's the point, just write. It doesn't have to make sense. This is just getting the words out on paper (or screen). Editing will come later. If I even want to edit it. No one is going to read this except me. No one is going to say "This is wrong. This isn't how such and such works.".

So its time to get to work. I needed this mental scream to get myself going. Aye, aye, aye, what am I doing to myself?

November Craziness

The month of November will be a bit crazy for me. Why? I'm finally going to do something I've wanted to try for several years. National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo, starts November 1 at 12:01 AM and lasts until November 30 at 12:00 AM. The goal? To write a 50,000 word novel in a month. That seems daunting when you look at that number. Fifty thousand words. Roughly 175 pages. In one month. Have I lost my mind? Probably. When you break it down in smaller chunks, that's 1,667 words a day. That seems more doable. My plan is to write 2,000 words a day, so in case I need a day off or I hit a patch of writer's block I'll have some leeway.

So, yes, I will probably be a crazy woman the entire month of November. Especially since I can't remember the last time I've done any creative writing. I've got a few ideas rattling around my head, so it's just a matter of organizing them and seeing where it leads. The problem is, the only plots I can think of are tragic ones. Deaths, suicides, dealing with awful events. Strange. We'll see. Am I going to share this novel? Probably not, because it's going to be really really really bad. Like I said, it's been a while, so I'm very rusty with the whole creative writing thing. Something I want to change, since I love writing.

Two thousand words a day, plus any other freelance writing assignments I can get my hands one, plus staying on top of my workouts. This is definitely going to be a challenge. If I finish, great, if I come up short, well I can try again next year. If I stay positive and don't slack off I think I'll be able to do this.

Yikes.

November Craziness

The month of November will be a bit crazy for me. Why? I'm finally going to do something I've wanted to try for several years. National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo, starts November 1 at 12:01 AM and lasts until November 30 at 12:00 AM. The goal? To write a 50,000 word novel in a month. That seems daunting when you look at that number. Fifty thousand words. Roughly 175 pages. In one month. Have I lost my mind? Probably. When you break it down in smaller chunks, that's 1,667 words a day. That seems more doable. My plan is to write 2,000 words a day, so in case I need a day off or I hit a patch of writer's block I'll have some leeway.

So, yes, I will probably be a crazy woman the entire month of November. Especially since I can't remember the last time I've done any creative writing. I've got a few ideas rattling around my head, so it's just a matter of organizing them and seeing where it leads. The problem is, the only plots I can think of are tragic ones. Deaths, suicides, dealing with awful events. Strange. We'll see. Am I going to share this novel? Probably not, because it's going to be really really really bad. Like I said, it's been a while, so I'm very rusty with the whole creative writing thing. Something I want to change, since I love writing.

Two thousand words a day, plus any other freelance writing assignments I can get my hands one, plus staying on top of my workouts. This is definitely going to be a challenge. If I finish, great, if I come up short, well I can try again next year. If I stay positive and don't slack off I think I'll be able to do this.

Yikes.