What I'm Reading This Week #36

Well hello you!  So happy you stopped by and hope you're ready for September.  It was a nice birthday week in comparison to last year when we rolled into Kentucky to be greeted with 103 degrees.  So 81?  Yeah, I'll take it!  I saved the gift boxes from my friends to open on my actual birthday including a surprise box I wasn't expecting and it sat in the Amazon pile a little longer than it should have so that was nice.  We got my free bundtlet from Nothing Bundt since I pre-worked it off with 9000 'steps' on the bike for 800 calories.  We both rolled our eyes at the insane amount of visual shrinkage going on there as the cake doesn't even touch the sides of the package anymore like it used to.  If you think we're paying $6 for that crap, you're nuts!  (We don't get them unless there's a bogo going on anyway- way too expensive now compared to the $3.99 they were when they rolled into town 8 years ago.  Anyhoo...

It was your typical midweek past middle aged birthday celebration.   Always so grateful for the gifts my friends send not because I'm getting stuff but what it means.  Even if it's just something small like a card, it's always nice to be thought of the older you get.  You don't realize how much you miss the cards and gifts after your grandparents and parents are gone. So big thanks to those people who still think of me even at this age to keep me tied to the joy of birthdays past.

It was a whopper on the workout front in the sense of trying not to keel while doing them.  The Mr had dry needling done Wednesday on both shoulders so he was feeling it by that night and has another appointment next week since that chiro is willing to wave the adjustment fee since he doesn't need it.  Here were our workouts for the week.

Sunday- Cleaning the garage until body broke
Monday- Same as above and then a 3 mile WATP that broke us both
Tuesday- SATW Upper Body Hybrid
Wednesday- Turbo Fire HIIT 30 (after we'd had a long teary talk lasting until almost 7pm and would've been real easy to skip!)
Thursday- floor bike earlier for NEAT, SATW Lower Body Hybrid and a "fun" surprise
Friday- Probably Air Drumming

Wanna know what last night's "fun surprise" was?  The Mr was leaving and comes out to our HOA lady taking a picture of our house.  We knew it was coming after all of the BS with the siding/window crap (which we still have not received adequate rain since then to know if the problem is actually solved.)  Because she is a word that would make people in the US clutch their pearls but Brits use as freely as we say shit, we knew retaliation was coming.  An hour later an email that our "garage needs painted, you have 10 days."  The garage looked exactly the same as our neighbors.  He even painted his 2 years AFTER we painted ours which is how I know this was retaliation.  She flipped my rage button.  They have a specific custom color you have to bleed your bank account over at Sherwin Williams and there was 45 minutes left in their crappy sale.  I told the Mr to go get it and I wanted to get to it.  I put the first coat on at 6pm while starting my watch, went down and did a lower body strength session then right back out with a foam brush and did the second coat.  Well because I know her, I know if I'd only painted the garage door, she would've come back with "the wood around the edges needs painted too."   So I made sure I had enough to do both coats and then painted the wood around it which took me to 8pm and this calorie burn between it all:

Then I came in and immediately made dinner.  I'm thisclose to writing back and saying "we completed the paint job last night.  Thank you for bringing this to our attention as we didn't realize there is wood rot on the outside trim of the garage door which I'm sure you're aware is the association's responsibility.  You have 10 days to complete this."

Now let's rage into:

Not Drinking Enough Water? Your Stress Hormones May Go Into Overdrive  (Oy, I need to get back to drinking my water bottle on the nightstand in the morning.)

What Personal Trainers Think About Walking Becoming Trendy Again (I'm just waiting for consistently low temps so we can get back to it!)

15 Three-Step Casseroles You'll Want to Make for Dinner  (I am down for casserole season!  I'll have to sub avocado oil for butter though since a lot start with the word "creamy.")

The I-Y-T Exercise Is Just What You Need to Stop Your Shoulders From Hunching  (I did this with bands to help with my perimenopause related shoulder issues.  Yep, that's a thing!)

9 Signs of High Functioning Depression (Yep)

How to spend more time loving life and less time just surviving  (I have a hobby in mind for purpose but I can't truly dedicate the time until this house is clean so the visual noise is gone.)

Letting loose with a swear word may actually make you stronger  (Which is why I can lift cars. 😂)

Stop leaving this appliance plugged in overnight — it’s spiking your energy bill  (Hey Mr, can we use those smart plugs we have to turn off the printer and stuff like that since we rarely use it?  Maybe one on the microwave to turn off overnight especially given we just got our highest electric bill ever without changing our habits.)

Southwest Airlines’ new policy will affect plus-size travelers. Here’s how  (For those who fly it.)

Test Out Your Retirement Before You Call It Quits  (A very good idea and I'd say add 8% at least to level out for EVERYTHING that's skyrocketing.)

I don't know what we've got planned.  I need to get new gifts to their places and my soul needs this first floor cleaned up.  I would like to tackle the basement a bit and lots of decisions will need to be made.  I kept a Home Depot moving box so the next donation box can get started.  Ring a ding ding.

What are you getting into this weekend?

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