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Strickland Park

Well, today did not go as planned.  It never does!  I went to Glencoe to see if the Brent & the guys he hired had gotten all of the trash, and no.  They did not.  On the way, I got a text from Sonja asking about when the mobile home would be gone and the area cleaned up. 

Her patience is almost certainly wearing thin, and I don’t understand why I am the only one who can deal with this issue.  I called Brent & he contacted the buyer of the mobile home, but I told him he and I had to return next week to get it done.  So, hopefully we can finish.  He wants me to transport OPEN cans of paint in my car because his truck is too precious.  Then rent a trailer.  It’s ridiculous that we are still having these fights.

I needed to decompress, so Justin and I went shopping at Five Below and Dollar Tree, followed by a walk at Strickland Park.  Since I was in Stillwater, I thought it would be nice as I said yesterday, to go walk somewhere in the area.  And it was.  There’s a lot of fun stuff at Strickland, and the trail is walkable, even though the playground dominates the space.  During school hours on a weekday was a great time to go get in my steps.  It made me want to walk all the area parks.  Maybe I will make a checklist and just visit them all!

I talked to Conner on the phone on my way home.  He’s hoping to get out of Stillwater at some point.  I think it is a good idea if that’s what he wants to do!  There’s a world out there and there is no reason to not get out and just enjoy life.  I was so happy to hear his mom had come by to have lunch and do some painting.  It’s been rocky, but I’m glad to see things are in such a good place with her.  Now, if we can just get his dad there as well!

Even with the stress that lingers from Glencoe, I felt pretty good today.  The walk was nice, the pollen was a little lower, the temperature wasn’t so bad.  

[Walk #328, 1.12 miles]

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92ºF

It’s so hot!  I actually thought it seemed okay when I headed out, but while I was walking it was uncomfortably warm and by the time I got home, I was drenched in sweat.  To be fair, I was also working on my pace. 

And it went pretty well: 20’29”/mile.

I’m thinking about going to Stillwater & Glencoe tomorrow, and if I do, I’d like to walk somewhere there that I don’t normally get to walk.  I still can hopefully get in an early morning walk, just in case.  I want to go up there to get some vinca from the old place to plant at my new house.  It isn’t ideal to replant this time of year, but I need to grab some of the vinca before I can’t.  

[Walk #327, 1.38 miles]

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Waiting

I spent all day waiting for the guy to arrive to fix the dishwasher.  He never showed up, but he did call a little after 6 p.m. to say he was an hour and a half away.  I asked him to reschedule me for tomorrow.  I hadn’t gone for a walk all day because I was expecting him any moment, but I did do some jogging in place cardio at home.  It is just not the same.  I’ve been doing that sort of thing all summer, and I have not seen the results that a daily walk can give.  I think it’s just too easy to be lazy and only do just enough.  With a walk, it is so much more often that you reach the exercise goal, but still need to get back home, so you get the extra in naturally.

At home, the notification goes off and I immediately stop.  I could up my goal, but I’ve struggled to even reach it recently.  Walking is just better.  Joining a gym might work as well.  While it would give me the option of just stopping at my goal, having to drive to the location might give me the motivation to do a higher goal that isn’t specifically in my watch, maybe an hour.  I haven’t decided.  The cheapest gym in town is $40 per month, at least that I have found.  Stillwater had multiple $10-15 options, so it seems like a big ask to spend so much.

I asked for a call tomorrow when they are on the way to my house, so I shouldn’t have the same excuse.  I can go on my walk and just be on notice to return to the house when they are on the way.

[no walk]

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I’m Back

Finally!  After excuses and life’s being too busy, I am hopefully back to daily walks.  I had been planning to get back to it anyway, but I was so frustrated this afternoon that I needed to get out of the house for a moment.

Moving to Guthrie seems like the right thing for me, and the new house has been great, but of course this month has only started and there are challenges.  The dishwasher stopped working a few days ago, so I scheduled a repair for that.  Of course, we knew that it was on its last leg during the home inspection.  That’s how I ended up with a home warranty.  Hopefully, they are able to just replace it.  But I guess if they got it working properly, I couldn’t complain that much.  It doesn’t fit properly into the space and I would like that to change.  We’ll see.  Someone should be here tomorrow.  On top of that, there have been other electric issues and currently the hot water is not working.  I suspect it is the electric panel and not the hot water heater, but I just need to have an electrician out to look at it.  I discovered that this morning, and then today during a drive to Glencoe, the fan on the car AC went out.  I’m wondering how many other things could go wrong this week.  

All of that sounds expensive and annoying, so when Justin was doing what Justin does and not really responding, it started to really grate.  I get that his anxiety can cause him to become so overwhelmed that he retreats internally and basically can no longer participate externally.  I do understand that.  However, and a massive however, he thinks things are always fine and doesn’t understand why he should take his medication.  He doesn’t see himself from the outside, so he doesn’t see the problems that it causes.  It’s such a catch-22.  Medicated, he loses some of the personality that makes him so special, but he is able to function better as an adult in his 40s.  And I know that his reluctance is more than that.  There are side effects he doesn’t like, and if he has someone to do everything for him, he can get by not having to be as functioning.  Is that fair?  I worry sometimes that I’m being unfair ABOUT him.  I don’t think I am.  While I do genuinely want the best for him, when you live in a household with others, you participate.  Currently, I have to do everything.  A single task given to Justin can take a few weeks to complete.  He might as well be doing nothing in that case.  And then I feel overwhelmed because I’m having to put this place together myself.  Having just done the majority of the work moving out of Mom & Dad’s house, the shed, and then my own house (including Justin’s stuff), I’m so tired and I still feel like I’m getting no assistance from people involved.  I’m not sure what to do.

That frustration aside, the walk was nice.  I only did 15 minutes.  It was a pretty impromptu walk, so I didn’t really know what routes worked best around this neighborhood.  I can see how I will easily be able to get good walks in as I get back up to 3 miles.  I could easily snake up and down the streets in various ways.  I need to get my walking kit back together, so I have music and a bag and probably a cap.  It was a little sunny and I don’t need a sunburn on my face!  Tomorrow, while I would prefer an early walk, I will have to wait for the repair on the dishwasher to be over.  But I can start going out in the morning on Wednesday.  I was upsetting some dogs who didn’t know me, but after some time they’ll get used to me and it won’t be an issue.  I don’t know if I need treats like I have had before.  That was mostly to befriend rural dogs who are more likely to bite.  The dogs around here are inside fences… mostly.  I think I should be fine without.

[Walk #314, 0.71 miles]

This photo was taken on the trip to Glencoe. I was on the phone during the walk and did not take a photo.