If you can stand the heat, I love to horseback ride in the summer while I have more free time. Unfortunately this has been a hot summer, and I’ve been indoors more than normal, but that hasn’t stopped me from thinking about riding and looking at equestrian riding apparel online.  It’s amazing how many cute outfits there are out there instead of the traditional jeans and tshirt that I wear.

This summer my fun has been stuck to the pool…not even laying by the pool, but in the pool to stay cool.

I used to love my comfy shorts (or jeans in winter) and tshirts.  I even made the comment many times that I wished the school would require us teachers to wear nursing scrubs every day (just so I could be comfortable and be able to get dressed quicker in the mornings).  But I’ve realized in the last month or so that my style has changed somewhere over the past few years.  I was still buying the comfy clothes, but I don’t wear them as often. Instead I wear the few other things I have that aren’t my big tshirts and athletic shorts.  When did that happen?  So in response, I decided to clean out the closet and then slowly start buying more clothes.  I filled 7 reusable shopping bags last night with clothes that I will be donating to my daughter’s garage sale.  Goodbye to my old style – hello to the world of figuring out what my new style is.

I’ve tried a few different exercise videos over the last few months – determined to find something that I can do, enjoy doing, stick with, and shows results.  Wow! That’s a lot of criteria huh?  So far the closest thing are my walking away the pounds videos except I’m not seeing as much results as I would like.  My other favorite is some of Jillian Michael’s videos, but she’s a few steps ahead of my fitness level right now.  So…I have some friends trying this new 20 Second Fitness series, and I’m fired up.  I can’t wait for it to get here so I can try it out.

Because I’ve also modified my diet and stuck with the exercising without seeing the results I was hoping for, I’ve considered other aids like Lipofuze, but since I don’t even like taking tylenol or such when I have a headache, I’m trying to avoid any type of medicinal approach.  I have a trip to Panama approaching (less than a week! Woohoo!), and when I get back I’m going to get a little more stringent with the diet and add in the new exercise video set (my goal is to do it in the morning and still one of my walking videos each day as well) and really hope for some (just a little) sign that it’s working.

It’s only 8, but I am about to go curl up in the bed with the DVR and probably be asleep before too long.  I’ve been researching my chronic exhaustion and can’t find much that seems reliable about what this could be.  I have been reading tonight about melatonin and how it regulates the sleep cycle. Apparently it causes drowsiness.  I don’t know if your body can produce more than it needs, but it’s something to look into I guess.  The plan that I really want to stick to is just exercising more, but it’s so hard lately.  I just lack any energy to get up and do anything.  I plan to use the time we’re out for Thanksgiving to maybe get back in the habit of at least some physical activity.  *sigh* People keep telling me I’m just getting “older,” but I think there’s more to it than that.  Seriously? Ready for bed at 8:15? Lots of nights, not just tonight!  I must do something!  UGH!

It’s awful how far you can get behind in such a short period.  My to do list has tripled it seems since I didn’t have Internet access.  BAD! I’m behind on blogging, shopping, emails, staying in touch with family and friends in forums and on Facebook – EVERYTHING.  I’m slowly catching up.  If you are waiting to hear from me in some way, I promise I’m working on it!  Shoot me an email if you want as I think I’m mostly caught up with email and should be able to reply fairly quickly.