We Don't Need No Stinkin' Rules

As many of you are probably aware, I'm a rule follower....at least most of the time. Case in point:

Yesterday afternoon I did my duty and I donated blood. Yes, it was the first time that I have done this and it turns out that it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be and I did survive. While I was in the resting spot eating some cookies before I went back to the office, I decided to actually read the Post Donation Instructions:

1. Keep your arm at rest, drink fluids, and eat snacks while you are resting. Make sure you feel fine before leaving the donation site.
2. Leave the bandage on for 4 hours. If the needle site bleeds, apply firm pressure over the bandage and raise your arm for 5 -10 minutes.
3. Drink plenty of fluids during the next 24 hours to replace lost fluids, and make your next meal a hearty one.
4. Do not smoke for 30 minutes.
5. Avoid alcoholic beverages for 24 hours.
6. If you feel dizzy, sit down and lower your head, or lie down keeping your head lower than the rest of your body. Do not drive until your dizziness subsides.
7. If dizziness or bleeding persists or if you have problems, call 1-877-xxx-xxxx.
8. Avoid strenuous lifting and/or pulling with your donor arm for 24 hours.
9. Occasionally a bruise may develop. {Lots of words that I don't want to retype but talks about applying ice packs.}
10. We recommend that you wait 12 hours before operating heavy machinery, driving buses or cabs, climbing scaffolds or ladders, scuba diving, sky diving or lifting weights, and 72 hours before working as a member of a flight crew.

My thoughts while reading:

1. I can do this. Would it be bad if I grabbed another package of cookies?
2. Not a problem. I can leave this puppy on all night...shoot it is starting to itch....
3. I really wish I had grabbed a bottle of water before I sat down. These cookies are really dry....
4. Not a problem. If I were to smoke, it would take me at least that long to find somebody to bum one off of and then to walk off campus...heck, not even worth me considering this one.
5. Hmmm, I'm supposed to meet The Queen at Chuy's after work, I think I can be strong and not drink (BWAHAHAHA....that did not work.)
6. Not really dizzy so much as nauseous....ah well, I can kill a couple of minutes with my head on my desk....ahhhh, much better.
7. Nope, no problems, don't need to call.
8. Oh shoot, I'm supposed to work out with my trainer in the morning...better text him and tell him I can't life weights so that he can rework the workout (which he did and killed me with a total lower body workout).
9. Woo Hoo!! No bruise....can barely even tell I was poked.
10. Dang it, there go my big plans for the evening to go sky diving and then scuba diving. Does driving a carpool equate to driving a cab....

Bathroom Habits

I was thinking about this as I was getting ready this morning and of course knew that I needed to share it with the whole world....

When do you close the door to the bathroom?

I admit that in my own space (and I consider my space to be my home, obviously, and hotel rooms where I'm staying by myself) I almost always leave the bathroom door open. The only time I close it is when I'm showering (don't really know why I do that) or when I have company over.

However, when I am visiting somebody else's space, I ALWAYS close the door...even when I know that I'm the only person in the house. For example, when I recently house sat at the Castle, I would always close the door (of course that may have been more to keep the dogs out than anything else) but even when I was living at the Castle, I would always close the door, even when I was alone. Not only would I close the bathroom door, but I would also always go up to the bathroom in my room and close the door to my room as well.

Okay, thought I'd share....

One Week of Bad Decisions....

I went out of town last week for business and was suckered into eating out and having a drink or two (or three or four). I "tried" to make some good decisions like opting for a salad one day at lunch rather than a hamburger, but for the most part it was down hill. And, yes, I paid for it.

1. I put 3 pounds back on.
2. I felt gross, including rampant heartburn, lethargy, bloating, and all those other lovely bodily functions that come with poor eating
3. My trainer kicked my ass after not seeing him for a week and a half.

I'm too old to be partying like a rock star...even if I didn't go quite that far. We ate at some very nice restaurants and I have to admit the food was VERY good....but the overall effect was plain and simple "blech" for me.

It really is amazing how one week of bad decisions can wipe out a months' worth of really hard work. Needless to say, I'm back at it. I was back in the gym yesterday working with the trainer, who thought it would be fun just to throw in some extra exercises since "we had some extra time". And then I was back up there at 4:30 this morning getting my cardio in. I gotta get back to pushing myself hard if I'm going to make my goals and since I started watching Losing It with Jillian Michaels, I figure I'm in much better condition than some of those folks...if they can do it, I sure as hell can....I only wonder who I can get to scream at me....