A Much Needed Burial

Happy Sunday y'all! It feels nice to know that I won't be going to work tomorrow. Thank you, Martin Luther King, Jr. for your work that now gives me a day off. It's going to be a long time until spring vacation, so I'm going to enjoy every moment tomorrow....probably by grading papers. What else is new, right?

So it's the New Year. Or at least it was. I've made New Year's resolutions before. Some I've kept, others...not so much. I'm not one for public (or privately for that matter) sharing my resolutions because if you mess up and break one of them, people tend to let you know about it. Quickly. I already have enough acceptance issues, so I don't need the extra pressure, thank you very much.

But I will share with you that I'm hoping to make some changes in my life so that I'll be healthier. I'd like to live longer, and more fully enjoy the time I have left. One way I know to do this is to exercise.

I'm one of those people that refuses to join a gym. Now granted, I don't have all the weight equipment at my house, but I can get the same results by walking or running at home. I'm not a stranger to exercise and healthy eating, I just don't enjoy it. You know you're getting old when you talk about your peak years as being so far back in the past. That's not good.

BUT....a few years ago, I joined Weight Watchers. It was successful for me. I lost around 50 pounds in a matter of 3 months. I was running every day and being very careful with what I eat. I kept a food journal and had a strong support group. I would even say that it bordered on obsession....watching what I ate and exercising every day.

And then things changed. Since then, I've not had the same OCD spirit with healthy living. When we moved to Mississippi, I found that my running exercises really dwindled down. There are many more bad weather days here. To compensate, we took my mom's treadmill. She wasn't using it and said we could have it. I tried really hard to walk on the treadmill while I watched TV. The treadmill wasn't some fancy type.....but man it was loud. I say "was" because it has died in my living room. It was a hit and miss situation. So now what? Join a gym? Walk/run outside? These are the questions that I ponder while sitting on my couch. I'm pretty distractable, so it's not surprising that my mind wanders and I forget to exercise.

What is the proper burial for a dead treadmill? Do you hang on to it because it's too bulky to move? Do you keep it for scrap parts that can be used on other projects? Do you throw it away? Again, these are questions I ponder. So far...I have no answers. I need to exercise and my treadmill is broken. I guess I should suck it up and just do what I tell my students to do....
"Be a creative problem solver."

Any ideas? Anyone? Anyone?