Out of Pace

Whew! Well, my seminar out of the office yesterday did present too much of an obstacle in my stairclimbing for the day, so already I am off pace! I completed 3.5 of the 6 complete runs I had scheduled for myself. Today I will have to be aggressive in making up some ground if I want to stay on track. My goal is to end every week of the five-week challenge on target. Next week, Friday is a holiday, so I will be busy paying it forward for that, and, if I'm smart, putting a few extra stair runs in the bank for Thanksgiving week, too. Whew!!

Tell that to my calves. They are not enjoying the renewed interest in stairclimbing, and I think it is actually the downstairs running that is causing them pain. Not so much pain that I can't do it, but enough pain that I am getting grumbly about it. :) I hope my calf muscles don't get so big and burly that I can't wear my sexy new boots - that is already a pretty marginal "fit" to begin with, I must say!

Ah well, press on. I will feel so good about my success at the end of the month (well, 12/2, to be exact). And exercise is good for me, because, wow, do I shut down this time of year! It's funny, because I love me a sunny fall day, and we've had a bunch of them lately. But I feel myself winding down like an old clock: going to bed early, dragging my ass out of bed in the morning. Feeling put-upon for any commitments outside of work.* Bah. Tonight, though, I have a massage right after work, and I am long overdue! Then a couple friends and I are going to catch a movie. I drove in so I wouldn't have to fuss with taking a late-night bus home. I could have done it - I jus' didn't wanna.

Eating this week has been bad. I bought a package of chocolate chip cookies last weekend from the Safeway bakery, and I'm afraid too many of them have passed through my lips. There are only two left, and my kids will eat them after school today, thank goodness.

Part of my major stress lately has been finances. Today is payday and I am going to exercise great restraint this pay period and not go overboard with what I call "catch-up expenses." Last pay period it was bras for my daughter and myself, umm, sexy new boots that probably weren't a necessity, an overly expensive trip to the pumpkin patch, and taking the kids out to eat a couple times. Seems like there were a couple other not-large-but-not-insignificant purchases for things we needed around the house. Oh yes, sheets for my bed (I am SO OVER worn flannel sheets that have turned scratchy!)...just "stuff." The pay period before that it was my new iPhone which I-swear-to-God-I-would-die-if-I-didn't-replace-that-piece-of-crap-phone-I-was-using-since-my-old-iPhone-died. Anyway, too much spending, and I am still recuperating from moving expenses this summer (I am prepaying my last month's rent per the terms of my lease, and thus have a chunk taken off each check so it will be paid by the end of the year. This sucks now, but will be nice when I actually don't have to pay the last month's rent when we move. Which I hope we never do, until I marry rich and move into the house he's built just for me). By the end of the year, I will also be caught up on all the medical expenses that I've been drowning in the last several months. Suffice to say, between all this bill catch-up, my paycheck is pretty much spoken for! It's tough, because I also want to buy clothes for this banging new body, and realistically, I only have a few articles of clothing in my wardrobe.

2012. Except for the world-ending part, it will be a great year! I am looking forward to accessing my health flexible spending account again, which is how I typically address all these copays and expenses. Rent will be paid, bills will be paid off.

Here's a little known fact about me. I am 1/4 Eskimo, or Native Alaskan.** Why is that relevant in this blog entry? Because that's Christmas money, baby! I'm not sure exactly how this works, but tribes were organized into "native corporations" a billion years ago. I am a member of two native corporations. They have business enterprises in the Nome and Anchorage area. They pay dividends at Christmas. :) I have already seen that one corporation is sending $250, and usually the other one is more. During the leaner years, we wouldn't get dividends at all, or they'd be about $50. Last year, I think I got the most ever - about $750 between the two. Ironically, there was something to do with birth year cut-off in joining the corporations, so I, with my 1970 birthday, am a member. My sister, with her 1975 birthday, is not. I think my mom gives her the dividend checks she receives. Anyway, that's why I'm not stressing too much about Christmas for the kids. The dividend checks will come, it is a three payday month (yay!!) and all my catch-up bills will be paid off.

2012, baby. We'll enjoy it right up until 12/22 when the lights are shut off. ;) (My 10-year-old is actually very, very worried about this! I'm not - it's my long-term financial plan, hahaha.)

* I always feel put-upon for the commitment *of work*. Just sayin.
** My ethnicity, I will place my hand on a bible and swear, is the reason I am fat. It's Eskimo genes, keeping me warm. You can't fight genetics, baby!! ;)