Happy September!

I sincerely apologize for my absence lately!  I've been a bit overwhelmed for reasons I will go over in posts over the next couple of weeks.  Be assured, they are mostly of my own making.

I cannot believe how quickly August came and went.  August is probably my most loathed months of the year (if I must choose).  It's the hottest month and marks the end of "lazy" summer days.  It's also been historically the hardest for me emotionally.  "Bad" things always happen this month that shake up my universe.  This year was no different, but notably not as dramatic as some years past.

I've been mostly keeping busy with work and some personal projects.  Since Jeff was away for training for the last two weeks of the month, I spent a lot of time alone.  I had invites from friends so I wouldn't feel lonely, but I politely turned most of them down in order to experience that alone time.  The results were kind of interesting.

1. I work really well by myself.
My first night home I went nuts on the kitchen.  I went shopping, cleaned out the fridge, prepped meals, took out a bunch of garbage, put away a bunch of things, and brought general order back to the realm.  Yes, I maintained the orderliness for the whole week.  I washed dishes at night and put them away in the morning while the water for my coffee boiled.  I cooked most of my meals (and always cleaned up afterwards).  I was rather proud of this momentum.

But most of my cleaning was done by Sunday or Monday night.  I just didn't have that much to do through the rest of the week.  I did bits and pieces here and there, but when I am by myself I just hustle and get things done so I can enjoy the rest of my time.

2. I watch more TV than I would have liked to admit.
I had lots of things I wanted to do like organize the garage, minor gardening, organizing things for a yard sale. But all I really wanted to do was play with yarn.  I made a lot of progress on a blanket I've been working on, and that's best paired with watching TV or listening to audio books (I've been listening to Good Omens at work while working on a scarf commissioned almost a year ago).  I only feel a little bad about this because I was technically productive on a long-term project and I was doing something that made me happy.

I guess I pictured myself deep in some meditations or intensive yoga practice or something all week.  I did well on incorporating yoga in the first week but had some difficulties during the second week.

3. I'm less swayed by temptation when I'm on my own, but I won't exercise more.
I lost about three pounds across both weeks.  I wasn't pure Paleo but I did make a lot of changes.  When Jeff was in town for the weekends we ate out at restaurants a lot, and I made a lot of excuses to myself why "splurging" on grains and sugars was okay across two or three days when I only planned on allowing three "off" meals for the week.

I only formally worked out (I don't really count yoga for this) twice.  I planned to go back to Jillian Michaels - 30 Day Shred just doing one eight-minute circuit per day to keep things quick and simple.  I did one circuit in the first week and one circuit in the second week.  I need someone to motivate me, challenge me, or something.


The two weeks proved to be an interesting experiment.  I'm so thankful to have had the opportunity to be on my own and get to know myself better.  I have a lot still to think about as a result of the time to myself, but all things will work themselves out...eventually.  For now, I'm glad to have my Jeff back and thrilled to finally see the boy this week.

Now, onto September, the infamous birthday month for me and my family (no...seriously...it's ridiculous).  It's going to be a crazy month, to be sure, but I'm looking forward to that craziness.