Stress

I meant to update my blog much sooner than this. As many of you know by now, my mother-in-law passed away two weeks ago. All of last week was spent with the family and mostly away from home. We did a lot of driving, eating and being depressed. Chad's latest blog summed it up pretty well. This week we've both been back to work, but it's been a battle to resume any semblance of normalcy.

I've been dealing with a lot of stress and anxiety. Regular, mundane chores become insurmountable hurtles. I had a panic attack the other day just thinking about doing the dishes and picking up the living room. I had to reschedule my book club because I couldn't handle the thought of cleaning up. My first day back at work last Friday was almost torture. I felt like just being normal was too much to handle.

This week has been slightly better. We've still been eating out a little too much, and sitting on the couch watching TV too much. But, it's still better than it was last week. I got my hair cut today which improved my mood quite a bit. Also, another plus is that I bought a shirt and a pair of leggings that were made in America. They're really nice.

I know this is a really short blog for not having updated in over two weeks but it's about the best I can do right now. I thank everyone for showing so much love and support to my husband and I during this very difficult time. I love you all!

Feeling Icky

I said I would blog today, so I'm following through. Unfortunately, I've ended up sick today and I'm not feeling like I have much interesting to say. My morning was a little eventful. I went with a couple of coworkers to a health fair for teachers to advertise our massage therapy business. We took massage chairs and offered free 5 minute chair massage. We spent about three hours doing that and then came home.

As soon as I got back I took a turn for the worse. I've been feeling a little off for the last couple of days but today I got really queasy and light-headed. I took a bath and then took a nap for a couple of hours. When Chad got home, he brought me all kinds of goodies to make me feel better. I think I'm just going to take it easy for the rest of the day and probably won't do my work out. I think if I just allow my body to rest today I'll be better for tomorrow. I definitely need to be able to work tomorrow.

For an update on my Made in America series, I still haven't gone looking for a hair dryer. I purchased a coin purse made locally by someone in Fayetteville. Besides that, I haven't really needed to buy anything. I'll keep you posted. Have you bought anything made in America lately?  

Made in America?

I recently received an e-mail about a clothing factory in Jordan where young girls have been subjected to sexual abuse by their superiors. This factory makes the Classic brand which is sold in stores like Target and Macy's. I've also seen documentaries about conditions in factories where our "made in China" things are made (especially for Walmart). It's terrible.

When you're made aware of such things, how do you reconcile your conscience with the things you buy for every day living? Is it even possible to not buy anything that isn't made in America? Try looking around your home at things you frequently use. How many say "made in China"? Probably a large percentage. I haven't shopped at Walmart in quite some time, but that's only a very small step in the right direction.


I mentioned the idea of buying only American-made on my facebook where an interesting thread began. My brother-in-law suggested that someone go all American for a year and write a book about it. Then it was questioned whether or not it could even be done. My husband brought up the fact that you wouldn't be able to drive a car because, where are you supposed to get all-American gasoline?

I would love to try the experiment but I would only be able to take it so far. Someone should film a documentary in which they build a house from the ground up using only materials that were made in America, then furnish the house with things only made in America, then live in it never buying anything that wasn't made in America. One of the things that I'm concerned about is clothing. I've been to places where they sell only made in America clothing and it's incredibly expensive. I'm talking $100 shirts, $200 skirts, etc. I have seen some affordable things, but you really have to go out of your way to find them.

So my question to the population is this: How do we change the way things are now? We can't stop the abuse in other countries without supporting American industry. We also can't support American industry if we can't afford things that are made in America. So, where do we go from here? I received an e-mail asking people to buy only American-made for the month of August. It makes sense. If everyone buys only American-made for even a little while, it would put a hurting on imports. But you know that everyone won't do it.


I'm going to attempt it. One month of not buying anything not made in America. I can't promise I'll really be able to do it, but I'll try. What really stinks is that my hair dryer broke yesterday and I'm not sure I'll have much luck finding one not made in China. Any suggestions?


Would anyone else be willing to try the experiment? Have you ever tried it before, or is it something you're already doing? Do you think it's even possible?

Ridiculous Workouts

I have Shaun T to thank for realizing that I am neither fast nor agile. I completed the first four days of The Asylum, with yesterday being the first rest day. Today I had to go back into Speed and Agility. I feel confident that when this month is over, I'll be fairly well prepared for the obstacles of the Tough Mudder. Hopefully I'll be more prepared to start running too. These workouts are ridiculous.

Sorry I don't have pretty pictures or interesting things to say today. :-/

Training

Ok, I'm here. Mostly. I'm trying to get back into a routine, but it hasn't happened quite yet. I just sort of go with the flow of each day. It will probably get better when Chad goes back to work.

I'm getting prepared for the Tough Mudder coming up in October. Chad and I have started Insanity: The Asylum. It's pretty hard core. It's harder than Insanity. I would say it's the hardest workout I've ever done. Each workout is 45 minutes to an hour and when it's done I'm ready to keel over. We've gotten pretty strict about our diets. We pretty much eat what the program suggests for each meal and make sure we get enough calories and protein.

Once these 30 days of The Asylum are over, we'll start running pretty hard core. I have a friend who wants to do the mudder with us and I'll need to help her train too, because she doesn't have any training experience. I'm getting really excited though. It's going to be such a great experience and such a challenge!

Well, I don't want to bore you and I don't have much more to say. Keep checking in for adventures in Tough Mudder training!

Normalizing

Hello friends. I apologize for my prolonged absence from the blogging world. We went on vacation to visit my family in California and I was too busy catching up with them to do much blogging. If you want to catch some highlights, visit Chad's blog here. He blogged pretty consistently while we were there.

Being there made me realize how much I missed it. It was pretty hard to come back to West Virginia. I still feel like I haven't settled back into life here. It also doesn't help that work has been very slow and I've only been working a few hours a day, if at all. I'm getting over the jet lag and I feel very lethargic most of the time.

I've been staying up late and waking up late. It's certainly not helping me get back on track. My blogging might be a little sporadic for a while. Please bear with me as I try to get back to normal.

Preparing for Vacation

I don't think I'll have much time to blog later today, so I need to bust out a quick one before I go to work (for the last time for two weeks, huzzah!). I've been slacking on my blog all week because it's been SO INSANE at work. I've had a minimum of 6 appointments in a day all this week. I've been totally fried after that every day.

Today I need to get packed and ready to go to California for TWO WEEKS! I also need to finish up some cleaning around the apartment. Then, tomorrow, we head out to Columbus, OH. Chad has a friend who lives there with his wife and we'll be spending the day and night with them. They're going to take us to the airport Monday morning and let us leave our car at their place. That will be a big money saver for us. It's nice to have cool friends.

Monday (July 4th), we'll get to CA around 10am and go straight from there to my grandparents' house, where all my mom's side of the family will have a big get-together. I can't wait to see my family and spend the day swimming, lounging, and eating. I can't promise that everything I eat that day will be healthy since I'll have no control over it but, hey, sometimes that happens. I can't wait for the day when we can go back there for good. If only I had infinite money. :-P

So, between tomorrow and Monday be expecting plenty of tweets and twitpics. I probably won't get to blog again until Tuesday. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and happy Fourth of July!