Conquering pain

Today there was pain (sometimes there will be!) but life waits for no one and after all was said and done I did all I set out to do, and more, and managed to have the most insane cardio session I've had in the gym in weeks, maybe months which affected the rest of my day. In the ongoing game we play of mind over matter, maybe I don't win every day but today I'm claiming a victory.

All it took was a couple key sentences from my trainer, a new, higher level of difficulty on the machine (because I didn't want to do it at all but I'm rebellious even against myself so I made it even harder lol), a little Deftones to help me reach "the dark side" 😈, and a little trance-like music to keep pace with once I "broke through" and got "there". Everything just fell away, I literally felt nothing at all for awhile, and it was a beautiful thing. Today's selections were...

However, come down was hard! Lol I don't think I started having feelings again, physical or not, until about an hour after I left the gym, but come they did! I'm exhausted from this day but like the saying goes, there's always a silver lining. 

What did you conquer today?

I'll leave you with the song that did have me in my feelings today. I'm falling asleep to this one in my ear tonight. Night fam.

Night times are the best times!

Helloooooo! I'm exhausted but everyone is finally asleep meaning I can be alone with my thoughts for awhile. That trumps exhaustion, mmm, I'd say 80% of the time. Let's talk! :)

First off, I'm now up to date on Saga after reading book 6, 7, and 8 shown below...

Favorite character lately is Prince IV from the Robot Kingdom. (Hilarious!) My library didn't own past book six so I had to shell out a little money for the last two books. Book 9 comes out in the fall.
I'll leave a couple of my favorite scenes here and/or scenes that I didn't expect so I can look back later.

First of all, I did NOT expect to turn the page and see an erect penis in a book! HAHA! What made it more funny was what came next...

But of course the guy with a TV screen for a head would be broadcasting porn on his screen as he did his thing. I laughed out loud. Sucks to be Prince Robot IV because everybody knows what you're thinking!

Next up was Alana, the "Mom" in the series.

In the story, Alana has birthed two babies by now and well, it hasn't been the prettiest experience. When I turned to this page the very first thing I saw was her stomach and the very first thing I thought was, Awwww!! Look! Its just like mine! My second thought was, Hmm, and look! She's totally owning hers. I could hug the illustrator for that.

Overall, well done Saga! I look forward to more in the fall.

I'm still reading the boob book here and there as well as a textbook I didn't quite get through in school that I'm referencing now at work. Stay tuned for my next reading adventure.

As far as other pursuits of happiness, I'm still loving Witcher 3 and wish I had endless, uninterrupted hours to play. I also started a K-drama a few weeks back called I'm Not a Robot. Oh, how I've missed K-dramas!

The story is about this guy who is super rich and smart but allergic to humans. (LOLOL So very K-drama-like already!) He's lonely so he buys a robot girl to have instead of a human girl. Except, the "robot" girl gets broken so the scientists send a real girl in its place to pretend to be the robot until they can fix it. But maybe he's not allergic to this ONE girl??? Hmmm?? ;) Every episode makes me laugh out loud as she tries to be a robot and he gets more and more attached. I'm 10-15 episodes in and loving it!

News in real life is that this was the longest day of the year, meaning we're halfway through 2018 and I need to get busy! I have stuff I want to accomplish you know! :) Here's some reminders for myself, some fun things I've learned or done recently, and some things coming up.

• I'm almost done picking paint colors.
• I need to have one more contractor come out to give me a quote on my master bath remodel. That will give me four quotes and I've got to make a decision because this needed to be done forever ago!
• Planting beds have been moved to their final resting places. I need more cardboard and need to find a place to deliver dirt or I'm just going to have to go the bag route. Ugh! $$$
• I experienced the worst finger jam of my short life thus far. Was an interesting experience and not completely devoid of fun. Watching my finger turn blue, purple, green, and yellow as the days passed reminded me of a poem from school by Agra Gra called, And You Call Me Colored. I'll leave it at the bottom of this post. My kids sometimes tease me about turning colors when I bruise, blush, get sunburned, etc., while they continue to be...always brown. Little boogers. :)
• I did a couple things that really pushed my boundaries and were out of my comfort zone and so far have ended up ok. Cheers to growth and growing pains!
• I changed my own taillights and the oil in my mower! Yay for learning new little things and fun was had.
• I can feel it, I'm putting in a new mailbox soon! The one I have has been taunting me since 2012 and at this point the box isn't even attached to the post. Your time is limited mailbox. I'm coming for you...

I think that's enough for now and I've got to get at least a few hours of sleep. Until next time!

Here's the poem:

When I was born I was black

When I was sad I was black

When I was hot I was black

When I was sick I was black

When I was scared I was black

When you was born you was pink

When you was sad you was blue

When you was hot you was red

When you was sick you was green

When you was scared you was yellow

And you call me colored.

~Agra Gra

Hard to talk to you right now

I have no desire to speak to you tonight though I've thought of you for days and what I might share. In the end, I'll put little to nothing here. Only this...

This song has been on repeat all day and in my ear at every possible moment. LOUD! 

A great one for car concerts of which I'm a huge fan and put on daily!!! ;) Which brings me to my next point...

For the 976th time, I was frustrated today that I cannot get the music in my car to be as loud as I need it to be! I've blown speakers, I've worn earbuds and noise cancelling headphones while driving, which I have to live with outside of the car, but car times are important times and what I have is not enough. I literally need to be able to feel the music vibrating the inside of my body. My very first memory of that sensation was as a little girl in the back of my Dad's car. I want to be able to scream lyrics if I want and not hear myself and I need it to drown out my thoughts so I can have peace. Every time I get a new car I tell myself that this time I will put better speakers in that can handle what I need but I always put the money towards other things and then its too close to getting another car. Its a key way that I cope with things, I got frustrated about it again today, I'm not going to do anything about it because the money truly is better spent elsewhere, and I'm aware that I'll be deaf when I'm old. But hey, at least I didn't get addicted to drugs. Right?! ;)

I'll force myself to come back to you soon.

Updates and a little gratitude

Checking in here even though my heart's not really in it today, or lately. It's good for me though so there will be a few updates and such and then I'll go.

I'm now deep into the Saga series and still digging it but (Whew!) it's starting to get a bit depressing. On top of that I recently found out that what I thought was a complete series of only six books is in actuality still running with the 9th (and not final) book being published this fall. I like to finish things. Sigh. I've recently finished book 3, 4, and 5 shown below. They get extra points for showing full frontal penis though and not in a "porn" way.  That doesn't happen often. Also, I think my favorite character so far is Lying Cat! It's a giant, blue, hairless cat that will say "Lying!" anytime it hears a lie. How precious is that?!

I'm also dabbling in a book I accidentally found in the library called Breasts: a natural and unatural history by Florence Williams. I dont know that I'll read it all but the hilarious description of her breastfeeding expectations versus reality in the first chapter has me hooked for the moment.

In other news, the planting beds for the garden have been built (so fun!) and are sitting in the backyard awaiting dirt.  Pictures will come along soon for that.
The kiddos are out of school and the whirlwind that is summer vacation has begun. I'm thinking a beach trip is in order this weekend and then my youngest turns eight on Monday. EIGHT!!! So I'll be baking a cake this weekend. :) White cake, white icing, and covered in sliced strawberries; same cake he orders from his mom every year. Awww.
I didn't get to do as much adventurous cooking as I would've liked to lately but I was able to make some homemade Ukranian garlic bread and borscht. Very fun cooking and though I'd never tasted anything like it, the soup grew on me over the several days I was eating it. I give borscht a thumbs up!

That's all for now so I'll leave you with...Hmm, what should I leave you with?...

Let's go with three things I'm grateful for today!

1. My kids; their lives, happiness, innocence, health, joy.
2. Best friends; because they make my world go 'round and make life sweeter.
3. Sunshine!!!! I love it and it makes me feel happy!

What are you grateful for today?