I fixed my toilet!
The thing had been running since just after Christmas. Finally it got to the point where we'd just twist the knob to stop the water from going into the tank, and turn it on only when we needed to use it. Eventually things got so bad that I had to remove the lid of the tank and manually pull up the float, since the chain was broken as well.
Finally. Today. I'd had enough.
I checked the brand of the valve mechanism in my toilet, and went to Menards. A friendly guy in the toilet section pointed me to the right part, and an hour later, my toilet is now blissfully quiet. I hope this takes care of the problem for good. Man I got sick of hearing that thing waste water all day.
Now I feel like I can put another notch on my homeowner belt. This was even more satisfying than changing the deadbolt lock on the front door.
I'm starting to like DIY. The best part was that it was only 9 bucks to fix a problem that probably cost me a heck of a lot more than that in lost water over the past couple months.
Oh, also I tried to do a detox diet today. I was okay until I got home and I was ravenous and there was a container of leftover potato, broccoli, onion and carrot curry in the fridge that was calling my name. Oh well, maybe next time I'll make it all day. I do have to say, though, that aside from the splitting headache, I felt pretty good most of the day.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Hot 'n' Sweaty Yoga
Today I got it in my head that I was going to try taking some classes at the yoga studio where I'd like to take teacher training. They offer the first week free, so you can try it out. Since this was a rather spur-of-the-moment decision, I went directly from work to the 5:30 level 2 class uptown. Boy, am I glad I live on the East side and don't have to make THAT commute every day!
There were tons of people out walking around and smoking outside restaurants and generally hanging out enjoying the 45 degree weather. I forgot how much life Uptown has compared to Longfellow.
So I get to the yoga class and the studio is swanky and hipster cool, as expected. I unroll my mat and notice that I'm the only one in a class of about 25 people who does not have at least one towel. Now, I usually grab a towel to wipe off my sweaty hands at the yoga classes at my work fitness center, where the room is barely 65 degrees, so I know it will be somewhat uncomfortable for me here, where the temp. seems to be around 80. But then what do I know? I keep my house at 67 at the highest. I have heard these classes are warm, but this wasn't the "hot yoga" so I wasn't terribly concerned. At least not until they turned on the humidifier. And yes, I made the rookie mistake of placing my mat directly in front of the heating vent AND right below the apparatus that was hissing steam. By the time I realized it, it was too late, the place was packed and I didn't have anywhere else to go.
Knowing my capacity for perspiration, I thought about going out into the boutique and buying whatever absorbent piece of cloth they may have for sale. But I talked myself out of it. I can endure anything for an hour, right?
I think the mirror here makes me look about 20 pounds heavier than the one at the fitness center at work. It couldn't have anything to do with the girl in front of me who is 5'10" and has calves that are smaller than my wrist.
It starts off fine, I'm able to follow along and the poses are all familiar to me. Then I start to sweat. It was inevitable. I'm a sweat-er. This is why I like winter sports, because I can got into a sauna afterwards and it actually feels good in contrast.
These people are all really fit. Plus, there's no talking in the yoga room, so they all seem very serious as well. None of them look at me and go "you don't have a towel? here, you can use mine."
We go through a series of poses that other instructors like to describe as "heat generating."
And here's where I'm like the Billy Idol song "and I sweat, and I sweat, and I sweat, sweat , sweat, sweat, sweat, sweat." Only I wasn't with myself. I was with 25 other people who all had towels and I didn't. Their sweat was easily absorbed and wiped away, while mine pooled up under me and trickled into my eyes. Good thing I can use verbal cues so I can keep my eyes shut.
It gets harder and harder to stay in downward dog, when my hands and feet start to slide in opposite directions. I look down and see the drip, drip, drip, drip, drip of sweat coming off my head and landing on my mat, making it even more slippery, as if I need that.
I look around to see if anyone has witnessed my travail in keeping myself upright, and perhaps is contemplating offering me the use of their towel, but everyone is focused on their inner selves.
For a nanosecond I contemplate leaving class early. I don't know how much longer I can endure the profuse wetness. Now my hair is completely soaked. I look at the woman next to me, whose back muscles are bulging under her tank top, and her hair is completely dry. And she has a towel that she apparently doesn't even need.
By the time the instructor tells us to do crow pose, I almost collapse in laughter at the impossibility of keeping my legs from sliding immediately down my upper arms as I try to balance on my hands. Yeah, right. I do child's pose instead. I can't slip anywhere when I'm curled up in a ball on the ground.
Toward the end of the session, we do half pigeon, which I actually like and I'm glad that it's a pose I can do without having to balance on sweaty hands. So I bring my right leg in front of me and I'm transported immediately to the backyard slip and slide we had when I was 8. My leg slides in front of me and keeps going, almost into the splits. Wow, I didn't know I could go that deep into the pose.
Finally it's corpse pose time and I'm thrilled that I actually survived.
Now that I'm done, and totally soaked in sweat, all I want is a shower. But it's hard to dry off after a shower when you don't have a towel. So I wait long enough for some of it to evaporate off me before climbing back into my work clothes (ech) and finally getting a drink from the sink.
I remember seeing, in the boutique area, one of those thirsty towel thingies you put on top of your mat.
I look at it again on the way out. The price tag says $75.
If, in the middle of class, a peddler would have pushed in a cart of those things, I probably would have forked it over.
So I get a whole week free of hot sweaty yoga. I can't wait for tomorrow!
Namaste :)
Today I got it in my head that I was going to try taking some classes at the yoga studio where I'd like to take teacher training. They offer the first week free, so you can try it out. Since this was a rather spur-of-the-moment decision, I went directly from work to the 5:30 level 2 class uptown. Boy, am I glad I live on the East side and don't have to make THAT commute every day!
There were tons of people out walking around and smoking outside restaurants and generally hanging out enjoying the 45 degree weather. I forgot how much life Uptown has compared to Longfellow.
So I get to the yoga class and the studio is swanky and hipster cool, as expected. I unroll my mat and notice that I'm the only one in a class of about 25 people who does not have at least one towel. Now, I usually grab a towel to wipe off my sweaty hands at the yoga classes at my work fitness center, where the room is barely 65 degrees, so I know it will be somewhat uncomfortable for me here, where the temp. seems to be around 80. But then what do I know? I keep my house at 67 at the highest. I have heard these classes are warm, but this wasn't the "hot yoga" so I wasn't terribly concerned. At least not until they turned on the humidifier. And yes, I made the rookie mistake of placing my mat directly in front of the heating vent AND right below the apparatus that was hissing steam. By the time I realized it, it was too late, the place was packed and I didn't have anywhere else to go.
Knowing my capacity for perspiration, I thought about going out into the boutique and buying whatever absorbent piece of cloth they may have for sale. But I talked myself out of it. I can endure anything for an hour, right?
I think the mirror here makes me look about 20 pounds heavier than the one at the fitness center at work. It couldn't have anything to do with the girl in front of me who is 5'10" and has calves that are smaller than my wrist.
It starts off fine, I'm able to follow along and the poses are all familiar to me. Then I start to sweat. It was inevitable. I'm a sweat-er. This is why I like winter sports, because I can got into a sauna afterwards and it actually feels good in contrast.
These people are all really fit. Plus, there's no talking in the yoga room, so they all seem very serious as well. None of them look at me and go "you don't have a towel? here, you can use mine."
We go through a series of poses that other instructors like to describe as "heat generating."
And here's where I'm like the Billy Idol song "and I sweat, and I sweat, and I sweat, sweat , sweat, sweat, sweat, sweat." Only I wasn't with myself. I was with 25 other people who all had towels and I didn't. Their sweat was easily absorbed and wiped away, while mine pooled up under me and trickled into my eyes. Good thing I can use verbal cues so I can keep my eyes shut.
It gets harder and harder to stay in downward dog, when my hands and feet start to slide in opposite directions. I look down and see the drip, drip, drip, drip, drip of sweat coming off my head and landing on my mat, making it even more slippery, as if I need that.
I look around to see if anyone has witnessed my travail in keeping myself upright, and perhaps is contemplating offering me the use of their towel, but everyone is focused on their inner selves.
For a nanosecond I contemplate leaving class early. I don't know how much longer I can endure the profuse wetness. Now my hair is completely soaked. I look at the woman next to me, whose back muscles are bulging under her tank top, and her hair is completely dry. And she has a towel that she apparently doesn't even need.
By the time the instructor tells us to do crow pose, I almost collapse in laughter at the impossibility of keeping my legs from sliding immediately down my upper arms as I try to balance on my hands. Yeah, right. I do child's pose instead. I can't slip anywhere when I'm curled up in a ball on the ground.
Toward the end of the session, we do half pigeon, which I actually like and I'm glad that it's a pose I can do without having to balance on sweaty hands. So I bring my right leg in front of me and I'm transported immediately to the backyard slip and slide we had when I was 8. My leg slides in front of me and keeps going, almost into the splits. Wow, I didn't know I could go that deep into the pose.
Finally it's corpse pose time and I'm thrilled that I actually survived.
Now that I'm done, and totally soaked in sweat, all I want is a shower. But it's hard to dry off after a shower when you don't have a towel. So I wait long enough for some of it to evaporate off me before climbing back into my work clothes (ech) and finally getting a drink from the sink.
I remember seeing, in the boutique area, one of those thirsty towel thingies you put on top of your mat.
I look at it again on the way out. The price tag says $75.
If, in the middle of class, a peddler would have pushed in a cart of those things, I probably would have forked it over.
So I get a whole week free of hot sweaty yoga. I can't wait for tomorrow!
Namaste :)
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Lucky Day
Today I had that excited feeling in my stomach for most of the day. I don't know why. It was a rather dreary day, but I still felt exhilirated. I heard from a couple friends whom I'd been sending non-physical messages to contact me. The Law of Attraction works. That's all I'm going to say about it right now.
Later I went to the gas station to get a car wash, and just as I was leaving, had the urge to buy a powerball ticket, so I looked in my wallet and had two dollars, and I bought two. When I walked out the door I found a penny on the ground right in front of my car.
I came home, rode the trainer for what I expected would be another uncomfortable interminable 30-45 min. of butt torture, and after about 20 min. I started to feel GOOD. I rode longer than I originally had planned and discovered during my ride that Icicle Works' Whipser to a Scream is an excellent song to listen to while trying to ride very high cadence. I got off the bike and felt even better than I had when I started.
I announced to Michael that I was going to Target and did he want anything. He tasked me with picking up hair gel and mouth wash and then, out of the blue, wrote me a check for 200 bucks, to pay me for groceries.
Then I went to Target to get my medication, for the second time this week because my primary care Dr. takes her sweet time refilling my rx and I found $20 on the floor.
This was a moral dilemma, because I wanted to find the rightful owner, but wasn't sure which of the 200 people in the store it belonged to. I looked around for anyone who looked like they might be missing something, but everyone was minding their own business. I considered turning it in, but thought that if I'd lost $20 in Target, I wouldn't count on anyone turning it in, so I wouldn't tell anyone it was missing. I mean, it wasn't like the 50 grand that person working in a thrift store found in someone's belongings last week.
I know John is going to tell me I'm going to hell for keeping the $20, but it was meant for me, because today is my lucky day. How do I know that? Because I found a penny outside the gas station. The universe talks to us all the time, we just need to learn to listen.
If my lucky day ends with me winning the powerball, you all are invited to my writers/artist/yoga retreat on 200 acres of undeveloped land in northern WI (or the U.P.)
Today I had that excited feeling in my stomach for most of the day. I don't know why. It was a rather dreary day, but I still felt exhilirated. I heard from a couple friends whom I'd been sending non-physical messages to contact me. The Law of Attraction works. That's all I'm going to say about it right now.
Later I went to the gas station to get a car wash, and just as I was leaving, had the urge to buy a powerball ticket, so I looked in my wallet and had two dollars, and I bought two. When I walked out the door I found a penny on the ground right in front of my car.
I came home, rode the trainer for what I expected would be another uncomfortable interminable 30-45 min. of butt torture, and after about 20 min. I started to feel GOOD. I rode longer than I originally had planned and discovered during my ride that Icicle Works' Whipser to a Scream is an excellent song to listen to while trying to ride very high cadence. I got off the bike and felt even better than I had when I started.
I announced to Michael that I was going to Target and did he want anything. He tasked me with picking up hair gel and mouth wash and then, out of the blue, wrote me a check for 200 bucks, to pay me for groceries.
Then I went to Target to get my medication, for the second time this week because my primary care Dr. takes her sweet time refilling my rx and I found $20 on the floor.
This was a moral dilemma, because I wanted to find the rightful owner, but wasn't sure which of the 200 people in the store it belonged to. I looked around for anyone who looked like they might be missing something, but everyone was minding their own business. I considered turning it in, but thought that if I'd lost $20 in Target, I wouldn't count on anyone turning it in, so I wouldn't tell anyone it was missing. I mean, it wasn't like the 50 grand that person working in a thrift store found in someone's belongings last week.
I know John is going to tell me I'm going to hell for keeping the $20, but it was meant for me, because today is my lucky day. How do I know that? Because I found a penny outside the gas station. The universe talks to us all the time, we just need to learn to listen.
If my lucky day ends with me winning the powerball, you all are invited to my writers/artist/yoga retreat on 200 acres of undeveloped land in northern WI (or the U.P.)
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Goals
I was recently looking at some goals I had written down about a year ago. Out of five goals, it turns out that I have actually accomplished two of them-- skiing a sub 5 hour Birkie and racing my bike (I actually did two races last summer.)
I love that I had forgotten even writing them down, and now here I am, a year later, having accomplished some of them. I do think the writing them down helped, even if I didn't consciously remember doing it. I will continue to do that as new goals arise. Right now I just want to achieve goal number three-- finishing my novel.
And in a bit of synchronicity, as I'm writing this, I came across this website: http://www.stickk.com/
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