As most of you know, blogging hasn’t been my forte lately. The long and short of it is that I’ve had a lot of things happen in my personal life since May 2014 and blogging was one area I’ve had a hard time keeping up with.
Don’t get me wrong, I have tried. I have REALLY tried but it just doesn’t happen. I’m finally to a place (or at least closer to it) where I genuinely think I could start blogging more regularly again–so much so that I’m even participating in TWO Blog Hops this month. The first one is a private one and the second one I am hosting. Yes, you read that right, I am hosting it. If you have a blog, please follow this link and sign up. The more the merrier!
While cleaning up my blog today, I noticed the draft file…Fun Fact: there are 122 blog posts that are in the draft file. That’s a lot of starts that didn’t get finished.
Here is one of my favorites, I started it back in Oct. of 2013. It’s titled, The Tread Desk.
As most of you can imagine, I spend A LOT of time sitting on my derriere each day. While I have no trouble sitting, and actually enjoy it, over the past three years, I’ve had one terrible side effect: I’ve gained some weight. Serious weight.
When I first married Bob, I was ninety pounds and literally could have blown away in the Oklahoma breeze.
Then I had two children.
That changed things DRASTICALLY for me. I no longer struggled to gain and maintain weight, but for the first time in my life, I was “sturdy”. I did fluctuate between the 120 and 130 range, but when you’re only 5 feet tall, no matter if you’re 120 or 130, you look heavier than that. Looking back now, I should have been THRILLED and embracing my newfound “luscious feminine curves” as they’re often referred to in books. But, I did not.
I started writing Intentions of the Earl in the spring of 2010, then in the fall wrote the two follow-ups, thus began my “secretary’s spread” as a friend of mine used to call it when I worked in an office job as a secretary. It’s where you sit on your hiney all day working, and because you’re eating at your desk (thus eating more) and not being very active, you start to spread.
I knew I was having some sort of issue with maintaing a stable weight when I realized that at the ripe age of 24, sweat pants were far more comfortable than jeans! Furthermore, I remember getting a slight wake up call in early 2012 when Her Secondhand Groom was picked as a finalist in a contest and I was going to fly down to be present at the awards dinner. In my excitement, I bought a green dress to match Juliet’s, and got some stern determination that I WAS going to fit in a certain size because I refused to buy anything larger and started walking and gave up soda. This unfortunately led to the horrific tale of me getting myself STUCK in said dress.
I can admit without reservation that the dress DID fit when I needed it to, but my good habits did not last. I was back to drinking soda and not walking soon enough, though I did continue to ride my bike. Slowly, but surely every ounce (and then some) came back and by last year at Christmastime, I came to the conclusion that if I didn’t do something, this yo-yo would continue.
This year, I’m doing much better. Am I super skinny and looking stellar? No. BUT, I’m working on it.
One such way that I’ve begun working diligently on it was by buying THE TREAD DESK.
This is as far as that draft got. Why? Probably because I even finished it I had found alternative uses for said tread desk. I wish I’d read this draft a few months ago before I did a major overhaul of my office because for ages I had boxes stacked up on the treadmill part and paper, fabric, and insanely high stacks of books piled on the desk part. Needless to say, that tread desk lasted about as long as this post.
Do I still have it? Yes. Do I use it? Absolutely! It’s a great conversation piece. Just like my stationary bike and my “shaker” (don’t ask).
The Tread Desk, while sounding great in theory that you’re walking while typing, has one little flaw. (I should make note that the flaw is not in the product itself, but with ME.) My multitasking extends just as far as being able to chew gum and walk at the same time. I was always gripping the sides of that desk for dear life while I was on the treadmill, which defeats the purpose because I couldn’t type and when I did, I could feel my fingers slid right off the keys. Good times.
I know what you’re all secretly wondering: could she wear that green dress now? And the answer is….NO! Not a chance. I’ve physically put my body to the test for the past two years trying to stay healthy and somewhat fit. My arms and legs have slimmed down, but my middle has not. (Oh and I can’t even remember when the last time I had a soda was.) I have finally decided to take some advice I saw on Facebook the other day….
Have a good afternoon! Oh, and today is the last day to enter my contest from yesterday and if you have a blog, go sign up for the blog hop!
Rose Unscripted 
I can’t even imagine trying to type and walk at the same time!
It did not go well.
I am sad to inform you, unfortunately, concentrating on getting taller doesn’t work well either. I speak from many, many years of very concentrated experience. *sigh*
Who even dreamed of a “tread desk”? In theory it sounds interesting. Just like I thought reading while on the tread mill sounded feasible. Nope! That didn’t work either. The best I could do was watch a videor. Trying to do much of anything while walking on that moving platform really doesn’t seem to work. Could be why we have so many of them sitting in the corner collection . . . whatever. I know that is where mine is. I really need to actually use it.
Good to see you back to blogging a bit more again. I missed you!
Thank you. I’ve missed blogging.
I tried reading while on the treadmill and couldn’t keep track of where I was. It was like with each step, my eyes moved and found a new line. It was HORRIBLE. Nope, I’m back to sitting–sitting at a desk to type, sitting in a chair to read…and of course sitting in front of the TV to read.