Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Goals Be Good

So sometime last year, I had a series of goals. I actually did pretty well on several of them. Several petered out as goals are wont to do. But it is fall and although fall is the season where things start dying , it is also the time when school starts so that somehow seems apropos that goals start. Right? I've found that when I write them down in this forum, I'm more likely to do them. (Not always a guarantee. I totally flopped at getting my finances into some semblence of order which was one of last year's goals. But there's some warped accountability thing happening if I talk about it. Plus when I actually get stuff accomplished, I can brag about it here and get the reinforcement that I need to keep going.)

So here's my plan of action:

1 - Clean the living room. (I know I talk about cleaning a lot. The truth is, though, that even though I talk about it A LOT, I rarely do it. Currently I have a sewing machine with old mail stacked on top of it and a bunch of library books with I think more stacked mail underneath it. And a bunch of recycling to take out and some other crap in the middle of the living room. I need to be able to move around in the living room to do goal 2.

2 - Work on some core strengthening exercises. I've printed out a bunch of them from the Mayo Clinic website. (Basically I googled trunk strengthening exercises and decided whose site looked the most trustworthy.) Heel/ankle is still swollen all to shit (Like there's a giant egg just sitting on the back of my heel) so I still can't do any wildly aerobic exercise except swimming*. But I think that I need to do some more exercise to strengthen my torso to help with balance and to alleviate some of the back pain I seem to suffer more often than I feel I should. Hence, core strengthening exercise. But I need the space freed up from goal 1.

2 A - here leads me to a question of those who are in the know. Many of the exercises I have on my list suggest not doing this on your hardwood floor, but instead put something down to cushion. Short of buying a gym mat, what do y'all suggest? Towels? A polar fleece throw?

I'll come up with more goals as the ideas swirl around in my head. I'm sure there should be something about WC in my goals... as in by this date I will have either finagled something to do with him or I will give up altogether.

*I am a morning exerciser. After work, I do not want to stick around to do exercises. The pool here at my job opens only 1 hour before I actually have to be at my desk. I don't think that's enough time to exercise, shower, change and get to my desk so I don't swim here.

8 comments:

Peeved Michelle said...

Just buy an exercise mat. They're cheap.

I already gave you the WC deadline: 01/01/06.

... said...

I use a yoga mat on my hardwood floors. They don't move around on you and they are thin enough that rolling them and storing them away is easy to do. I would also recommend a inflatable ball. Just sitting on them in front of the TV or at my computer desk helps develope my stabalizing core muscles....just a thought. Nice thing is that when you need them out of the way, you can just deflate them...

Rachel said...

I have no helpful words of advice, because I wouldn't know what I was talking about, but good luck Joanne! Keep us posted on how it's going!

Joanne said...

Since I'm totally accident prone, I would have to go with one that would not slip. Add that to my list of things to buy at target on Sunday. :)

Peeved Michelle said...

Joanne, if I were you, I would use a cushy exercise mat on top of a yoga mat. No way a yoga mat would be enough padding for me on hardwood floors.

Kate the Peon said...

1/1/06? That's a long ways away.

Goals are indeed good. I agree with the publishing part of it - works for me, too.

Joanne said...

Michelle knows I'm ridiculously shy and neurotic so 1/1/06 is about the right timeline for me to finally have maneouvered the situation. Although, I don't know that I want to give up this workcrush, cuz even if I just obsess about him, at least it is someone to crush on. It's no fun having NO ONE to crush on.

Peeved Michelle said...

I always have a crush, sometimes it changes weekly and I never do anything about them. The difference is that I am not single. When I was single, I was always working my crushes to try to will them to like me. If it worked, great, if not, I moved on to the next crush. (Remind me to re-tell the story of how I finally got Mr. Beautiful to make out with me, drive me home and come in for a little extra. That one is my favorite.)