WOD-ing Along

I recently spoke to my homeopathist about the results of a hair analysis he ordered, which shows various mineral and heavy metal concentrations in the body.  The results confirmed his suspicion that I had adrenal fatigue, to which a friend quipped, "Doesn't that mean you're like everyone else who's alive?"  The homeopathist's view was that I needed to 'slow down', specifically in regards to exercise.

I don't generally consider my level of activity excessive.  I do Crossfit three times a week, and have a Pilates class on Sunday. When we have a functioning kitchen, I cook dinner most nights and make enough for me to eat the next day for lunch, plus some breakfast foods. (Daniel sometimes joins in the leftovers).  I do most of the house-cleaning and laundry.  I work a full-time job.  I don't think this is unusual in today's society.

However, you have to admit that does sound like a lot of activity, and it could explain why a lot of society also reaches for stimulants like caffeine and sugar to get them through the day - not to mention people's general lackadaisical attitude towards getting enough sleep.  I try to be in bed and winding down before 9 PM every night, and I wake up somewhere between 5:15-5:30 AM, depending on when Daniel is waking me up after his shower.

The homeopathist's words stuck with me, though. For a long time now, I have contemplated going to powerlifting-specific classes instead of Crossfit workouts. The pace is a whole different beast. You do your lifts and then you recover for several minutes before going again. As my rolfer (who is also a lifting coach) put it, "You should leave the class feeling like you could have done more".

My friend Jules teaches a Monday night one-hour class at Crossfit206.  And I have contemplated Rolfer's class as well; my friend Joanna attends his lifting sessions and has PR'd many times since she's started. It is tempting.

And different. And change is hard sometimes.  So I don't know why I am resisting it. I think it would be fun. I enjoy lifting weights.

Today's WOD at Crossfit Seattle was 5 x 20 wall-balls. 100 wall-balls. In 10 minutes (5 sets of one minute on, one minute off)... but still. And the strength move was backsquats. I am having trouble getting up from my chair.

Yes, maybe it is time for change. :)

Asymptotic Kitchen

Cheers and happy We're-well-into-2012! I don't tend to make New Year's resolutions, as I think you should begin whatever it is you are thinking of beginning as soon as possible (like, today!), but if I had made a resolution, overall it would be to dress "better".  Better in the sense that I am not wearing t-shirts and cargo pants to work. Better in the sense that clothes fit me and make me look good, rather than just being comfortable and stretchy. 

And that has absolutely nothing to do with anything that I actually wanted to talk about. I joke that we are approaching the end of our kitchen as an asymptotic limit.  Yes, I am an engineer; sue me. 

We have successfully moved in, ripped the kitchen down to the drywall, subfloor, and studs in some places, and rebuilt it since Thanksgiving-ish-times. 

We knocked the wall down between the living room and kitchen, and took out the closet that was attached to it.

We have had the oak floors refinished and the wiring completely redone.

We have installed plywood subfloor in the kitchen, followed by Hardibacker (aka cement backerboard) and porcelain tiles on top.

We have assembled and installed IKEA cabinetry, as well as a Maytag-for-IKEA dishwasher that has a matching vanity panel so it blends right in with the rest of the cabinets.

We had a "blue pearl" granite countertop installed for us by people who barely spoke English (but gave a good price).

We bought a fridge and washer/dryer at Home Depot's Black Friday special and had them delivered (the washer/dryer came later that weekend, the fridge came in January).

We paid way too much to the electrician's company to have the drywall guy finish up some drywall repair for us. Lesson learned - call the guy separately and he'll charge less than half what his electrician-pimps did.  But he did a great job.

We have used our paint sprayer and did a coat of primer and two coats of two different colors in the "great room" - Behr 'Pale Honey' as our main wall/ceiling color, and Behr 'Moroccan Red' for our accent wall (an orangey tomato red that I like more and more).  Choosing our paint scheme took less than 20 minutes; I showed Daniel my top 10 ideas for color combos, and he pointed and said, "That one looks good to me." Done. Thank you, Behr paint ideas booklet.

What's left?

We still need to drill and install the door handles on the upper cabinets. Also, sanding down some drips from the paint sprayer (boo!) and touching up the yellow paint in some places. I need to re-do the line between the red wall and the yellow ceiling for a sharp, straight line. Right now it is .. not.  Baseboards await us. We are planning to buy a contractor's pack of MDF baseboards from Home Depot and paint them espresso brown as our trim color (another suggestion from the Behr booklet). Plinths and other cover panels await for the cabinetry.  I would also like to use something like these glass tiles for the backsplash behind the countertop.

But, for now, we have this:

Excuse the countertop

And this makes me happy.

...

Hopefully by next week we'll have a functioning stove! (It's in the basement).