Cross Training

Cross Training is so important. 

We all know this, right?  Last year I tried to incorporate swimming.  We can all agree that wasn't so successful.  I also tried to add cycling, but not having a bike was really putting a kink in that plan.  Shocker.

Yes, I love Hot Yoga.  And there is always strength training.  So important.  But lifting gets old.  Squats are boring.  Planks, ugh.  I do them, but really though?  Sometimes you want some FUN!  (or at least a sense of accomplishment)

Having a house on your own is a lot of responsibility.  There is more upkeep than you realize.  Especially if you are a project junkie like I am.  So recently, I decided to tackle a few neglected items and was surprised to find that it was a quite an exercise in cross training!  

First, I raked up a storm.  This involved a lot of stretching, bending, squatting and lifting. And then dragging a bunch of heavy bags of WET leaves to the curb. 

Next I tackled some rouge shrubbery.  Here are my tools.  You knew I would have pink work gloves, didn't you?

Here is the before.  We have these ginormous shrubs that hide the front porch.  Problem is, they are only green on the very outer edges.  If you prune them at all, you'll see a big old hole in the bushes.  So I decided to take advantage of Winter and chop away.  Figured it would look worse and dead but maybe I could get away with it since pretty much everything else is dead.  It will grow back in Spring.

I managed to find a birds nest.  So now, thanks to me, a bird family is prolly homeless.  Sorry nature.

Here is the pathetic after.  But look, a porch!  Who knew?  Yeah, it looks bad now.  In a couple of months it will be green and bloomy.  These bushes have many, many little branches and I had to cut each of them with my loppers.  The electric hedge trimmers were a bif FAIL as the branches were too big for them.  Manual labor.  A lot of upper body work!

The aftermath.  Thanks goodness the City will come by for free and make mulch of your yard clippings!  Carrying these from the house to the curb wasn't a heavy job, but once again involved a lot of squatting and lifting.  (and a lot of little scratches - they were sharp!)

Next I once again used my arms to this time pry the old copper metal flashing that served as a 1950's version of weather stripping.  I actually broke a sweat pulling all of this off the exteriors doors!  Fortch, I did not slice my hands off.  Thank goodness for protective pink gloves!

The after, nice rubber gaskety sealing.  No drafts here!

It's fun to get creative with your fitness every now and again.  I've got a really good one planned for me and Bahama Mama.  Stay tuned for more details on that one...

Getting ready to head to Houston soon.  Marathon #4 looms ahead.  I'm resting, resting, resting today.  No house projects for me this week!