Mamma said they'd be days like this....

There are days when I hear a song in the morning and it just gets stuck... in my head...all day. There are days when it isn't a big deal if I subconsciously hum a little to myself, even if I am around my kids. Other days the songs may not be the best tunes to...well.. influence our youth... not that they haven't heard the songs on the radio themselves... but I figure as a teacher I should show some responsibility... there are times when the kids talk to me about music and I realize just how old I really am. I remember a few years back there was a song out.. and I am really bad at the names of artists and songs, much to the chagrin of my friends... but the song was something like... 'Ain't nothin' but a gold digger...' The song has a pretty infectious beat and I find it entertaining... it used to get stuck in my head ALL the time, even when I hadn't heard it in the morning. I heard that song the other day... and it once again got imprinted on my brain. For some reason, the song that is in my head today is, 'Mamma said they'd be days like this, they'd be days like this my momma said...' I have no idea why that song is in my head. It's not like today was even a hard day, in fact, it was a pretty good day.

Work was pretty good... and then right after school I went to work out... then went to our team dinner. I am now home, making some banana bread and packing up snacks for the kids at the meet tomorrow. I am also getting ready to write their weekly messages on their numbers and a few other things... but I wanted to take a break from that and blog. So here I am. My workout was good today. I was VERY mindful of my right knee as I did some cardio stuff... and guess what people? I did 5 minutes on the elliptical machine.. yahooo! It did pause once, but that was because when I first got on I thought about trying to pace myself to go really slowly so that I could maybe do 10 minutes on it... but then I remembered the stiffness and soreness I experienced after I kicked its ass last time...and decided that 5 minutes was good.. plus I had my doctor's voice in my head reminding me that as I increase my activities it should be at 10-20% at a time... whether it is time or weight... and since I have not been on the elliptical since I sooo won our showdown, I figured 5 minutes was good. From there I did some balance stuff for my knee using a bosu... which is the thing this woman is standing on....thank goodness for google images... I stand on it like this, which was part of my PT... I have added some arm exercises while I balance on it... Today I used 8 lb weights and did a combination of arm curls, butterflies, and shoulder presses... while balancing... It's an exercise a trainer had shown me a long time ago and I feel like it does many things at the same time... so I like it... efficient. When I stood on the bosu during PT I had arm rails I could grab onto if I started to tip over... but at the gym I don't have that luxury. From there I did some stretching, and leg lifts and quad sets... which is basically straightening my leg and trying to push the back of my kneecap into the floor... it tightens the quad muscles... I of course do all the exercises for both legs... and today really tried to make sure I wasn't favoring my left leg to see if that makes a difference in how my 'good' knee or right knee feels. Also... using an exercise ball between my back and the ball as I slowly did mini squats. After that I did 30 minutes on the bike. It felt pretty good. I think I kind of like warming up, then doing the weight training and specific exercises and saving the cardio until the end of the workout. I am glad that I went today. While I was there my MP3 player died... twice... because of the battery... after it crashed the first time it came back on... but the second time... it was completely dead. But I managed to get through most of the work out... listening to the soundtrack of RENT. (The Broadway show, not the movie.. which of course is better!) RENT is my absolute favorite Broadway show that I have seen thus far. I am hoping to plan a trip to NYC this spring... to celebrate my birthday and hopefully by then, my ability to walk around without limitations and pain! So I need to start looking for a show or two that I really want to see. I love Broadway... I have bought the soundtrack to every show I have seen on Broadway... Some people may think that it is a little strange to work out to the soundtrack to RENT, but... I love it. And today, I was able to just escape...as I was working out I can say that I was truly not thinking of other things besides working out and my music... it is RARE for me to have those times... when my head isn't thinking about everything all at once. At one point at the gym I realized I was absolutely oblivious to what was going on around me... usually I watch people do their workouts and try to find some good eye candy to help me get through my work out... BUT... today... I was just there...it felt good. I need to put some new music on my MP3 player... maybe that is a good weekend project. I also hope to do some painting this weekend. I haven't done that in a while and have been getting some ideas that I want to try...So maybe I will put in some music, play it loud, and paint... I haven't done that in... well... ages. If I do get any painting done, I will take some pictures.

The banana bread should be just about done... so that means I need to take it out of the oven and see if it was successful or not... lets hope so.