A Week at the Gym and a Pumpkin Search

Currently this evening I am relaxing with a cup of tea after a frustrating evening of trying to track down a pumpkin or two for a jack-o-lantern.

Where-o-where have all the pumpkins in my town gone? All that I could see left on display were those hybrid "Boo" pumpkins which are coloured white and look like they've been horribly attacked and drained by the vampire bunny Bunnicula.

My only other option tonight was to actually wade out into the farmer's market field under cover of night and pinch one. But that's probably considered bad form, and probably not worth the mucky shoes to boot, so it's get up early and drive out to the supermarket across town that opens early before work and get one so I can carve it with the daycare children.

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I am also relaxing tonight because I am tired out after an amazingly good-feeling workout at the gym with Melanie this morning. I am going to be SO sore in various interesting ways tomorrow. Ooooh! I can hardly wait to find out what new pains I will discover.

My guess is the killer thigh machine will come back to haunt me. Mel fondly calls it the Gynecologist.

But it COULD be overshadowed by Mr. Crunch the Ab Machine.

This is the fourth time in the space of seven days that I've graced the local gyms with my lately-absent self. I really feel like there's hope I'll get back into it like I was doing a year and half ago before appendix surgery gave me a convenient out and I just never mustered the energy again since. Well, except for a panicked few weeks right before my bellydance show in June when I threw myself into fitness briefly for the sake of my rather-revealing costume.

I'm even doing a bit of gym-hopping, going to one with Jeff and the other with Brandy and Mel. Kim mentioned that there was one in Cumberland I could drop in at with her too. Could this be the face of my new social life? :)

If so, there IS hope for the little black dress I plan to wear in Rome next May. I don't actually have the particular dress yet, but I'm sure it will be more fun to shop for after a few months getting in shape again.

Last Sunday I was watching Brandy demonstrate a new exercise that she swears by from her Pilates-aerobic class. She was lying on her back holding a medicine ball between her raised legs AND doing crunches. It was amazing. She is looking fantastic.

Small wonder. I snuck off into one of the smaller unpopulated rooms at my other gym the other day to try this exercise out and not embarrass myself too greatly. Good thing I did. I'm pathetic at it. I suspect Pilates is not for me---I know aerobics isn't.

What I do like is the rowing machine---you know why?

It reminds me of Colin Angus and his finacee Julie Wafei rowing by themselves across the Atlantic. They rowed sixteen hours a day for an ungodly long time and by journey's end they were buff. Note: If you can wear a homemade bikini made from fish-skin confidently, you know you must be in fine physical shape.

I recently went to see their film presentation of their circumnavigation of the globe using only human-power. It was rather inspiring although frankly it made me feel like a couch-potato. But it DID make me want to move more.

Now, when I row at the gym I stop after half an hour and I'm freakin' exhausted, so my hat's off to them.