cat in the box

A little Good Friday entertainment at the Miller house.
There was a box, so naturally Bubba made himself at home.

And then suddenly, some long orange thing snuck up behind him!

This guy.
He's pretty cool.

xoxo, wife.

a bad case of splints.

Shin splints, that is.

So last time I wrote this great post about working out. I think I mentioned that my legs had been bugging me.
Well they kept getting worse. I was complaining and Ty and I both figured it was just sore muscles.
But then a couple days (and a couple workouts) later I said, "This is more than sore muscles. This is pain. Like...my BONES hurt."
Then Ty said that perhaps I strained something.
After I explained it some more he said, "You know, that sounds like shin splints."
So I WebMD'd it.
And by golly, that's what it is.
And it sucks.

I took two days off to rest, because the website said to rest for awhile.
I didn't want to lose my drive, so tonight I thought I'd do the elliptical.
You know, lower impact and all.
After a mile and a half, I noticed that my legs were really starting to hurt.
But I like to end on an even number.
So I decided to keep going until I got to 2 miles.
Bad idea.
After my two miles, I stepped off the elliptical and onto the ground.
And pain shot up my left leg.
You know...the leg that didn't hurt quite as bad before.
And while I was walking up from the basement I realized that I did much more damage.

Ugh.

So now this is me.

Stupid splints.

xoxo, wife.

accountability.

You're reading this on Sunday, but I'm writing Saturday night.
And I need you to know something.
My legs HURT!
I've been doing that whole "working out" thing that people are always talking about.
And it sucks.
But it works.

I'm here today to document my workouts from this past week.
Because I think this is the first time in my life that I've been consistently active for two weeks.
And now that I'm putting it into writing, hopefully it'll keep me more accountable.
Because if I'm not going to stick with this, then why the heck have I been torturing myself for two weeks?

Monday: 45 minute brisk walk on treadmill.
Tuesday: Started the Couch to 5K workout. Week 1 Day 1
Wednesday: Couch to 5K. Week 1 Day 2
Thursday: 2 miles on Elliptical
Friday: 1 mile on Elliptical (because my legs were sore from the day before!)
Saturday: Couch to 5K. Week 1 Day 3 (and that completes the first week of the workout! Only 7 more to go!)

This week I've conquered a major fear.
I've shared before that I've been diagnosed with Anxiety.
I rarely have panic attacks anymore.
But my anxiety flares up big time if I feel like I can't breathe.
And obviously when I work out, I get out of breath.
This panic has been a major factor in why I've never consistently worked out.
But this week I've pushed myself.
And I'm learning that even if I'm out of breath, I'll catch it eventually.
Nothing bad has happened while working out this week...besides the incredibly sore legs.
And the past two days, my workouts have been panic free.
If you're keeping score, that's Lisa: 1, Anxiety: 0.

I'm proud of myself for keeping with this for more than 5 minutes.
And I really hope that I'll keep having the desire to workout and get in shape.
And now that I've put it out here on the internet, I think I kind of have to keep it up.


xoxo, wife.

raging anger of a dieting job-seeker

Yesterday I sat down to fill out job applications for next school year.
I already had some stuff filled out, but was waiting on letters of recommendation to finish them.
I scanned everything in yesterday morning, and was ready to start submitting.

However,

...my scanner made my college transcript document "too large" and it wouldn't upload.
So, many of my applications are still sitting un-submitted.
Except Elkhart.

Thank you, Elkhart, for being the one corporation that would accept my large transcript.

I was starting to get crabby. 

I'd been working on applications since 10:00am and it was now nearing 3:30.

I'm currently dieting.

And on Spring Break.

For your information, on Spring Break I want to pig out on sweets. 

But I'm not.

So I was kind of grouchy.

I began working on another corporation's application.

This one had an INSANE amount of essay questions.

Which was making me even more grouchy.

Because they all had to be 1000 characters or less.

Not 1000 WORDS...1000 CHARACTERS.

Do you know how much 1000 characters is?

Like 3 sentences.

For some very important questions.

Grouchy.

So I sat there for about an hour and a half and wrote and rewrote the stupid essay answers.

I had finally finished.

I clicked the "next" button at the bottom of the page to continue to the next page.

Then I see this message: "Your application has timed out. Please log-in again."

So I log in again.

All my pages are there...EXCEPT the freaking essay page! An hour and a half of work...gone!

So I sat down and did the whole thing again...and when I clicked "next" again...

THE SAME MESSAGE APPEARED AND I LOST MY ESSAYS AGAIN!

Oh, the rage.

Oh, the anger!

I yelled a string of profanities and stormed away from the computer.

Me and my rumbling tummy couldn't take it anymore.

I went to the bathroom.

Checked my social media.

Shot some glaring looks at the computer.

Cursed my stupid diet.

Cursed the sweets that I wanted to eat.

At the end of my fit of rage, this is where I found the dog.

In her kennel...scared for her life. (Just kidding, she wasn't in there because I was stomping around and yelling...at least I don't think so.)

Then I took a deep breath.

Told myself to "get it together, Lisa."

And decided to get back to work.

However, I made some changes.

Instead of working at the kitchen table with soft music playing, I parked myself on the couch.

With the television on...Dance Moms to be exact.

I wanted to have hear other raging anger.

And I got back to work.

Rewriting those dang essay questions...AND SAVING THEM THIS TIME!

With the dog by my side now.

This school had better hire me.

xoxo, wife.

life lately.

First off, I have to start by saying that it's Spring Break. 

And I'm excited about it.

Sleeping in until 8:00, doing whatever I want-whenever I want, and not having boogers on me at the end of the day is pretty refreshing.

In honor of Spring Break, I got Abby this adorable little dress last weekend. 

We've been calling her "Princess."

On rare occasions these two lay together. And it has to be captured...because it probably won't happen again for another 3 months.

Ty came upstairs from working out. He took off his socks and was pretending to put them in my face. Then he said, "I'll give you $5 if you hold my sweaty socks for 15 seconds." 

I'm unashamed to say that I took him up on that offer.

Then I gagged and washed my hands for 45 minutes.

Afterwards Ty said, "I'll give you $20 to lick my sweaty armpit."

I'm unashamed to say that I considered it.

But I declined.

This little corner of my sofa-table makes me happy. My mom painted that mason jar for me. 

I made Red Lobster biscuits with dinner the other night. Of course they weren't exactly the same, but they were pretty darn close. YUM!

I upgraded my iPhone4 to an iPhone5C. I ordered this super cute case to put on it.

After only a week and a half, my case broke.

And I don't even remember dropping my phone.

Dang.

No worries though. I promptly went to Target and found another cute case.

In my down time this week,  I've been working on my hand-lettering. 

It's extremely calming.

I'm finding that I love how letters fit together to make words.

It's really beautiful.

Or corny. 

I'll let you be the judge of that.

A couple nights ago I started the Couch to 5K program that trains you to run a 5K.

Will I actually run a 5K?

Probably not.

Will I even stick it out the 8 weeks it takes to train you?

Doubtful.

But it's a heck of a workout.

The whole time I pretty much want to punch myself in the face.

But afterwards I feel pretty good about myself.

And finally, Bubba has been enjoying my Spring Break. 

He gets to drink the last little blow-back from my morning protein shake from my cap.

He's a fan of strawberry banana.

Or perhaps is just intrigued by the fact that he's drinking something other than water.

Either way, he now comes running when I open it each morning.

Sorry Bubba...I'm going back to work Monday, where I will drink my protein shake at exactly 7:30 before the kids come in the room.

xoxo, wife.

life according to my cell phone.

It's been awhile.
I know.
There's been pretty much absolutely nothing going on around here lately.
Work.
Home.
Eat.
Sleep.
That's pretty much it.

But for the sake of trying not to fall off the face of the internet, I thought I'd go through my phone and see if there's ANYTHING I could find to document some kind of activity in my life.

Ty sent me these lovely roses at work for Valentine's Day. 

One of my students: "You got a good man!"

A couple Sundays ago, I snapped this picture. It was a lazy, napping, reading kind of afternoon.

Yes, I notice the mess in the picture. But I wanted to capture this moment. This was one of those moments when it hits me how content I am with my life. My Kindle, a fuzzy blanket, a napping dog at my feet and a napping husband a few feet away...just doesn't get much better than that.

Got a really sweet text from Ty. (My texts are the green ones.)

I love this guy.

We went to Ash Wednesday service at church...one of my favorites of the year.

After getting his ashes, Ty was prompt about messing his up.

Mine on the other hand....looks pretty dang good!

And, since I have to document any meal I cook, here's tonight's.

Chicken and green beans. And I must say: the chicken was pretty darn good.

Other than that, it's just been work, painting, dinner with a friend of Ty's who came into town, dinner with my best friend from high school, filling out job applications for next year, and longing for spring.

Hopefully I'll become a little more regular here soon.

xoxo, wife.

you know you're an adult....

When you get excited about a new hamper.

Isn't it lovely?

Our dog ripped the last one, which was a canvas bag that hung on a wooden stand. 

I really wanted a new one, but there are things we needed I wanted more than a hamper. 

But alas, Ty came home the other day and declared that he had ordered us a new one.

He had some money left on a gift card, and instead of using it all to buy something for himself, he bought us this nice new hamper! He's a keeper, I tell ya!

Now that I've gotten all the laundry done and out of the old, ripped one, this new one sits proudly in it's place. I'm hoping that it doesn't overflow before next Sunday (laundry day.)

xoxo, wife.