Some things about the gym

Most of the time going to the gym to exercise is boring.  Mundane.  Nothing exciting usually happens. 


Other times it is bizarre.  Like this time.  


And most recently ...


My friend, Laura, and I were lifting weights one day last week.  She was on one machine and I was on the one next to her.  I look over and in front of her is one of the muscle head guys (the guys who live at the gym), doing these calf lift things up on a bench in front of her ... bent over with his butt sticking right in her face.  Well, not right in it, because she was 5 feet away.  But right in her view.


But she didn't see it because she wasn't paying attention.  So she looks at me with a strange look, wondering why I'm laughing.  I bring it to her attention and she starts laughing also.  I was laughing so hard, my face turned beet red and I had tears running down my face.  Then, of course, I had a hot flash.  Because you know they always come at the most convenient times.  :)  I don't know why I found it so funny, but I did.  So she's laughing at me laughing.


In the meantime, he had moved on.  But it just struck me as completely hilarious.  Especially since he's the type to strut around the gym being all big and loud, thinking he's hot stuff.  


He's not.


He's short.  And missing a few teeth.  And his neck is the same size as his head.  And I'm thinking he probably doesn't smell all that great.  I haven't been that close to find out.  And I don't plan to.


Just sayin'.


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So yesterday morning I'm in the locker room getting ready to go for a run.  The downstairs locker room was closed because of maintenance, so the women who usually go down there, were upstairs.  Mostly older women who take water aerobics.  


These two women were having a conversation when I walked in.  One was complaining about them calling her when it's not like she's five minutes away.  Why can't they call someone else? (No idea who she's talking about).  


Then she complains about the noise coming from upstairs.  I tell her the daycare kids are riding bikes up in the gym.  They do it every day so I don't notice it much anymore.  She says, "Oh, that's good exercise.  Unless they fall off."


What?!  Why would she say that?

Some people aren't happy unless they are miserable, I guess.

Then after my shower the locker room was packed with the women who are usually down stairs.  Every one of them complaining about the upstairs locker room.


There's no carpet on the floor up here.  The floor gets so wet.  (Um, not when you dry off in the shower before you come in the locker room.)


There aren't any plugs up here.  (Yes, there are.  More than downstairs, actually.)


I hate this locker room.  It is like a dungeon.  (Really?  Not even sure what to say to that.)


So I was thrown off my routine a bit since everywhere I went, there was one of the downstairs women.  At the mirror where I put on my makeup.  At the outlets where I dry my hair.  In the restroom when I had to pee.


I'm really hoping the downstairs locker room isn't closed too often.  :)

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That Really Bites

Tonight was supposed to be a date night for Doug and me.  We weren't positive what we were going to do, but we knew we had three hours without children and planned to take full advantage of that time.  

Except ... instead of having today off, he had to work.

And ... instead of getting off work at 1:00 like he had hoped, he worked until about 6:00.

So instead of the fun evening I had planned ... some quality time together ;) then dinner ordered in (or a frozen pizza - I really didn't care!) and a DVD movie, we barely saw each other.

I dropped the kids off at church at 5:00.  I was dressed in my running gear since I chose to meet my friend Laura at Panera this morning instead of going to the gym.  I figured since Doug wasn't going to be home in time for our date, I'd go for a much-needed run.  I dropped them off, left my car in the church's parking lot and ran/walked for 35 minutes.  (More running than walking, in case you were wondering).  I ran about 2.5 miles total.  I'm really just guessing that based on how long it took me.  I typically run about a 10-minute mile, sometimes faster, sometimes slower.  Add in my few minutes to walk to warm up, a 2-minute walk in the middle, and a 6-minute cool down, I'm figuring a did a total of 3.25 - 3.5 miles.

(Oh, and it felt sooooo good to run outside!  I'm so tired of running on the treadmill at the gym!  Running outside is so much more interesting and motivating to me.  I'm glad it was warm enough today!)

Anyway, I sent Doug a text when I first started my warm-up walk to let him know what I was doing.  It is tricky to text and walk when you have an old-fashioned phone like mine.  :)  Anyway, he texted (is that a word?) back that he'd be leaving to come home about in 30 minutes.

After my run I went home to shower and dress.  He got home right around 6:30 as he said.  We talked briefly about our days, then I headed back to the church to teach Kids 4 Truth, since the teacher that I sub for might have strep throat and was staying home tonight and the leader of K4T asked me to fill in last minute.

When the kids and I got home a little while ago, Doug was already in bed.  He's probably dead tired from working so much the past two days when he was supposed to be off.  I can't blame him.

He starts afternoon shift tomorrow, so our opportunity for another date night won't happen until maybe mid-March.  Although we might be able to go to lunch sooner than that.  We'll see.  But we typically have Alex with us when we go.  So it's not the same.

I should be used to these disappointments by now.  This isn't the first time we've had to cancel plans because of his job, and I'm sure it won't be the last.

It just really bites.

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How absurd is that?

Doug went to the dentist the other day for his 6-month cleaning and check-up (which actually ended up being 9 months because he couldn't remember when he had been there last, but that's not the point of this post.)  While there his dentist, who also happens to be my dentist, found that he has a broken tooth and an infection in his gums that he was unaware of.  How he was unaware of it ... I don't know.


Anyway, our dentist gives him a script for penicillin and schedules him for a follow up appointment in a few days so they can take care of the problem.


Doug went to get his script filled and when he picked it up, he asked Darla (the girl that works at the pharmacy - we know her because she went to school with my sister, not because we frequent the pharmacy :) - he asked her how much he owed.  She said "nothing."  


He was like, "um, why?"  


She said, "This one's on the government."


Huh?!


My husband works hard for a living.  Makes a very adequate income.  Has health insurance that we pay for.  And was expecting to have a co-pay when he picked up his medicine.  Just like he usually does.


But I guess, thanks to the government, even people who don't need government assistance are getting it anyway.


Now how completely absurd is that?!


Just needed to vent.  Thanks for listening.  Or reading, rather.  :)

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Musclehead

As you know, I spend quite a bit of time at the gym.  Well, not nearly as much as some people, but I'm there almost every weekday morning for an hour or so.  And I've been going for just over 2 years now.


Going that often, I see a lot of the same people every day.  Muscleheads who think they are God's gift, women who look like they live there, and a great deal of average, trying-to-lose-weight kind of people like me.


One of the muscleheads in particular is who I'd like to focus on.  Laura, you know who I'm talking about.  :)


This particular man is at the gym daily.  Lifting weights and being annoying.


He sweats all over the weight machines and never wipes them off.  It is disgusting.  


This morning I was lifting weights (I always use the machines, not the free weights), and I had to skip over a couple stations because his gross sweat was all over them.  He sits down, does a set or two of whatever, drips all over the machines, stands up and walks away to lift more weights on the other side of the wall.


Eeeeeeeuuuuuuwwwww!  It is completely disgusting!


There's a sign that politely asks you to wipe down the machines when you are done using them posted very clearly on the wall.  Maybe he can't read?


Yesterday he was being particularly annoying.  I was running on the treadmill (about 4th from the left) and he kept walking up and down the aisle in front of the treadmills to talk to a guy who was riding a stationary bike.  Now, he could have just walked in from the other side because the guy was at the first bike on the right.  But, noooooo, he had to keep walking in front of me, annoying the crap out of me.


I don't actually look AT him, but I can see him because he is everywhere.  And he's big.  Not tall.  But muscular.  I guess from all that weight lifting.  :)


He was reminding me of a peacock.  Strutting his stuff in front of the peahens trying to get their attention.  Being loud and obnoxious.  Making lots of noise.


Ugh!


I don't know why he, in particular, bothers me so much.  Except, of course, for the sweaty weight machines.


But he does.


Now you know.


:)

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Invisible

During this time of the year, the “holiday” season, a time that is supposed to be filled with love and good cheer and peace toward your fellow man, why is it that so many people are terribly rude? Okay, maybe not “so many” but you know what they say about a few bad apples.

For example …

I went shopping this morning with my little man. We had several places we needed to go – grocery shopping for Doug who is working midnight shift (you may recall, Doug does our grocery shopping – lucky me!).

Most of the stops were fine, no problems.

In fact, they were better than fine. The folks at those few places know my name. We smile and wish each other a Merry Christmas, do a little small talk. It is nice. I left those places with a smile on my face. Looking forward to the rest of my errands.

But a couple left a bad taste in my mouth. Not the actual places, but the people shopping there.

At Sam’s Club, we were pushing our cart toward the checkouts. There were only 4 or so open at the time – I guess because they weren’t that busy. As we were heading toward register #8 – with no line – another lady literally raced in front of me to get there first. I watched her watching me. She was so determined to get there first, it was almost laughable.

Now I had maybe 10 things in my cart. She had a cart overflowing with stuff. I could have easily gotten through the checkout quickly had she let me in front of her.

But instead I went to register #10 that turns out also had no line. The one she flew right past in her effort to beat me to register #8. I laughed to myself and, of course, got checked out much quicker than she. I just hope she felt better about herself.

Then at Walmart, a store I am really beginning to dislike, I was done with my shopping and was on my way to the register. The direction I was heading, I had to pass the store entrance to get to the registers. This woman was coming into the store pushing her cart like she was on a serious mission. She didn’t slow down when she saw me (and several others) coming her way. She kept right on going, making me have to stop to let her pass without wrecking my cart into hers (or hers into mine). So I said to Alex, “Hmmph, I must be invisible today.”

Once I got to the registers I was standing in line – probably 4 people deep. The register opened right beside me, so the lady in front of me whipped her cart over. No problem, she was there before me, even though she was clearly over the 20 item limit. :) So as I started to move my cart over behind her, some chick without a cart cuts right in front of me. Right in front like I wasn’t even there!

I said to Alex (loud enough for her to hear), “That’s it! I must be invisible today!” I didn’t look to see what her reaction was. I just proceeded on my way in the line I had started out in and waited patiently for my turn. Which, mind you, isn’t easy with a 4 year old who needs to touch anything and everything he can reach. But wait I did. Patiently, not so much.

So my question remains. Why are some people so flippin’ rude this time of year? Or are they rude all year long and I just happened to be the lucky one on the receiving end of it today?

Of course, I’ll never know the answer because, God willing, I will never see those people again. And even if I did, I wouldn’t remember what they looked like.

Thankfully.

Thanks for letting me vent. Not that you had a choice, because it is my blog. :)

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