Settling Down into Routine

Ah! What a difference a week makes!

Somewhat settled down now into a comfortable routine. A lot of things happen at once, once I get into a routine, and these things tend to complement themselves. Win-wins, all around.

For example, I started walking every morning. 6:30 the dog starts scratching in his crate. Our new alarm clock. The wife or one of the little ones walks him, and I walk myself. About a mile every morning, so I’ve logged five this week. Gives me energy for the day, a quiet half-hour to think things over, kick in the half-century metabolism. So far I’ve lost 3.5 pounds, according to the scale. At this rate I’ll be at my fighting weight in about five weeks.

Now that I have energy and some time in the evening, I started lifting the weights. Slowly, one set the first night with light weight / low rep, two sets the second, two sets with greater reps the third, etc. Already starting to feel the body realign itself. Had some muscular aches and fatigue up until yesterday, but today I feel fine. Lifting always gives me added energy and confidence. It’s a wonder I don’t look like Arnold – but it does take commitment, and without that energy, I don’t always do it consistently.

I’ve made significant headway into my Napoleon bio (490 pages of 810) as well as the book on the Orthodox Church (just passed the halfway mark of 340 pages). Not sure what to read next, but I have a while, as I don’t think I’ll finish them both until the end of the month. Most likely some fiction – Silverberg or Dostoevsky or one of the slim trashy horror novels I’ve accumulated, or maybe a revisit of Tolkien. And speaking of the Orthodox Church, I have a somewhat lengthy semi-planned post on that subject. Maybe Monday, maybe Tuesday.

Did some significant bonding with my girls this week. Watched Death Trap with Little One and Killer Klowns from Outer Space with Patch. Made them dinner every night, installed air conditioners in their rooms (we go from snow right to 80 degrees here in North Jersey), hit the library and the grocery store with my little and not-so-little helpers. It’s fun, and I missed it these past couple of months.

Busy weekend on deck. We go to see the Mets play the Rockies at Citi Field tomorrow night. Will have a recap and some pics; hopefully the Mets can right their weeklong nosedive; we’ll see. And Sunday we’re visiting my parents for an early Mother’s Day gathering. I’m gonna try to eke out some time to write and get some posts on deck. Also, to read, to keep walking and working out, to keep my honey-do list fairly short, and to enjoy spending time with my family.