7/28 - Choices, Houses, and Monkey Boy

This quote is quite pertinent to the Living Lean philosophy I've been working with today, which is basically I have the choice to eat that pint of ice cream, or I can choose the size 8 jeans I would like to fit into. I just have to decide what I want more, right now. The thought might come back 5 minutes from now, but I'll deal with it then. Right now, which do I want more?

As suggested by the program, I've created a reminder for myself that I can attach to my belt loop. This go around I'm addressing my addiction to sugar and after dinner snacks. There are other addictions I want to walk away from as well, but these will suffice for now. The idea is, whenever I want something with sugar in it, I instead read the card and remind myself 1) I have a choice and 2) there are benefits to not choosing that thing. One other thought they had me put on an earlier card was "I've trained myself to eat this way in this situation." I might put that on this card too, because it's true.

Today's accomplishments:

Today I fixed my Mom's laptop, which wasn't showing the screensaver or shutting down when she expected. I also fixed the issue she had with her desktop not communicating with her networked printer. 

Today I finally finished the book I've been trying to read for the last month, for work. I wrote the book report/reaction paper, but I think I'll want to rewrite that before I hand it in to my manager. There's a lot of "I" in it, and some not so positive "the company" stuff. At least I have a first draft to work from.  

Today I also went with my Mom to look at rentals. The general family consensus is that she can't afford the house she's been living in for the last 40+ years. The truth is, the house did not receive the necessary upkeep, and the retirement funds she has left are not enough to get it and keep it in repair. Taxes and utilities are also hella expensive, and the yardwork is already sometimes too much for her. We are looking at houses because she has a lot of stuff she doesn't want to get rid of, like sewing and knitting machines.

This is in Cleveland Heights, near the Noble library, but it looks like either the people are not moved out or someone has already moved in. Nice neighborhood with kids playing outside. Lots of room to walk the the dog, though the backyard was not enclosed. None of the ones we looked at today had enclosed back yards. Small yard, so the mowing wouldn't be overmuch, but large enough to hold her stuff.

This is also in Cleveland Heights, not far from the first house and closer to Monticello. It was also what looked like a nice neighborhood. There wasn't much of a lawn to mow, but the hedges on the side and back of the house were so overgrown she wouldn't be able get her car to the garage. Keeping up on the hedges would be a chore even if the lawn wasn't.

This is in Euclid. I like the house a lot, but getting back into the neighborhood was a challenge, in part because of cars parked on the narrow streets. You don't see the driveway, which starts out on enough of a hill that I bottomed out pulling in. I like the brick and the yard looks easy to care for, but that driveway would be a pain and difficult to plow in the winter.

This is another Euclid house. I liked it best, even though the houses on either side were both in need of work. From the outside at any rate, this looked like it was in the best shape. It was also the smallest of the 4 we looked at though, so probably wouldn't be in the running even if it were still available by the time she's ready to move.

I'm feeling surprisingly well after yesterday's double jaunt through the park. My thighs and hamstrings are tight (but not overly so), and I had to take some Aleve for the pain in my foot this morning. Google tells me it's either planar fasciitis or tendonitis. I blame my back, partially because I blame everything on my back. Also, the left side of my lower back hurt this morning too. Honestly I don't know the cause, but the Aleve seems to have done the trick. I walked about a mile and a half this evening, down Babbit to Lakeshore and back, with no issues. I'll try a short run tomorrow morning, but won't push for speed or distance unless I'm feeling no pain.

I probably won't have time to blog tomorrow, since I'm picking up Monkey Boy after work. I expect to spend the better part of the evening hanging out with him and my self proclaimed BFF.