Exercise?

So I've been thinking lately about how to fit regular, consistent exercise into my hectic inconsistent schedule.  I don't even know where/when to start mapping out my day seeing as I work days and nights.  How about 9am?  That is usually a time of the day I am home. 



9 am = I am usually home getting ready to go to Nails Plus where I love being a Massage Therapist.
10 am - 11:30 am = On the road to Bath, NY ~ 1.25 - 1.5 hour trip.
11:30 am - 8 pm = Clients!  Some days I get out a little early or have a large gap between clients but I am there and awake all day.
8 pm - 9:30 pm = Driving home from Bath, NY.
9:30 pm - 10:30 pm = Either napping or driving to Price Chopper where I am a Grocery Stock Clerk.  If I am scheduled to be there at 10 pm then I am driving to work otherwise I am napping for roughly 45 minutes before I get ready to be to work at 11 pm which is my standard work time.
11 pm - 7:30 am = Standard written work schedule has my shift finished at 7:30 am however in reality I am usually at work until 8:30 am on average.
8:30 am - 9am = drive home

That should cover a typical 24 hours.  You might note there is no scheduled sleep time or meal time.  This is because there aren't enough hours in a day to set aside time for such nonsense.  I don't usually eat anything during the 9 am hour while getting ready for Bath.  I should also mention that getting ready for Bath is more than showering and getting dressed.  It is the time I catch up on Facebook, blogs, and talk to my husband outside of the work environment.  (He works with my at Price Chopper)  I also call Nails Plus to make sure I have clients that day.  Since this hour is pretty packed and precious to me I refuse to add exercise to this hour although I am sure I could add a healthy breakfast.

Usually on the way to Bath I stop at the local KwikFill for a 16 oz fakeccino thing and a cream cheese danish.  I know these are completely unhealthy but I enjoy them and I can consume them while driving.  Time wise this puts me eating something around 10:15 am. 

I will skip my time in Bath for now and come back to it later.  So that takes me to the drive home.  I usually stop at the KwikFill in Bath for a drink and snack for the trip home, however, if I am driving straight from Nails Plus to Price Chopper I will forgo the KwikFill stop and make a fastfood stop along the way.  Usually BK for chicken fries and a small sprite.  Again, not healthy but it's food, sorta.  Time estimate for food is 8:30 pm.

Once at Price Chopper we take scheduled breaks, 30 min lunch at 12:30 am, 15 min break at 3 am and 15 min break at 5 am.  Lunch usually consists of a microwavable something or other (almost always easy mac) and some kind of fruit (apple, banana, etc).  The two breaks do not always include food but most time I do snack on something.  

Now back to Bath.  You must know that I only go to Bath if there is someone scheduled for the day.  I usually have at least one person scheduled everyday.  Also note they are closed on Sundays so I never drive to Bath on Sundays.  Now while there I try to order lunch when the girls do but if I am with a client when they order I just miss out.  Sometimes they will think to order me something but they usually forget.  This would be the perfect place for me to keep fresh fruit/veggies around to munch on between clients but I just don't think of it when I leave Price Chopper or my house.  I usually think of it as I am starving between clients.  For some stupid reason my view on food while there is if I eat great if not oh well.  Not a healthy thought process I know.

So although my 24 hour schedule doesn't have designated time to eat I do have some structured eating time.  As far as scheduled sleep goes that changes on a weekly basis.  At Price Chopper my schedule can change from week to week but my boss knows I work during the day so he tries to keep my schedule steady.  I usually work M, W, F & Sat nights.  So during this standard week I sleep Sun, Tues & Thurs nights for as many hours as humanly possible.  I have had weeks from hell where I worked Price Chopper M, W, R, & F nights and those weeks kill me because those three days in a row means I get 1-2 hours of sleep a day and come Sat night I sleep all night and usually most of Sunday as well.  When I say as much sleep as humanly possible I mean anywhere from 12 - 20 hours.  Twenty hours has been my longest sleep spell since working both jobs.

So although eating and sleeping are not scheduled in the 24 hour plan they do exist even if you have to look at the weekly forecast.  So any thoughts on how to incorporate consistent exercise or should I just fit inconsistent exercise in when I can and be happy with that?  The later will probably win out.

Steel Cut Oats

A few days ago I made a large batch of steel cut oats with dried blueberries, strawberries and cranberries mixed in topped with fresh sliced bananas.  It was absolutely delicious.  The first day I ate about half the batch.  Not all at once mind you but at different times throughout the day.  I finally finished it this morning for breakfast and let me tell you, it warms in the microwave just fine. 

I have been reading a bunch of different blogs lately and it amazes me how many people update their blogs three or four times a day!!  I don't understand a. how they have the time and b. how they keep motivated to be so diligent about it.  I like blogging but i guess i just don't find my life interesting enough to update that often.  Either way they seem very happy in their lives and activities so who am I to question them.

Anywhooo it's time to continue cleaning.  Hope everyone (reading this or otherwise) is having a wonderful day. 

Catching up

Good Morning!!

I literally spent all of At. Patrick's Day catching up on sleep.  Rj & I left work and did our normal payday morning ritual of depositing checks and then going straight to MacDonald's for breakfast.  We do this every Thursday morning after work.  Although McDonald's is probably the worst breakfast we could have it is something I look forward to every week.  We get the same food every time.  The #6.  A sausage, egg and cheese mcgriddle sandwich, hash brown, drink and a hot mustard for me.  Full of saturated fat and cholesterol but absolutely delicious. 

We then drove straight home where I promptly put on pajamas and went straight to bed.  I think I was asleep before I hit the pillow and stayed that way until 12:30 this morning when I woke up to go to the bathroom.  I most certainly needed that 15 hours of uninterrupted sleep after having only 2 hours of sleep/day for the last 4 days.  I was sore and stiff from sleeping so long but after moving around and waking up slowly I feel amazing.

After catching up on sleep I spent 4 hours reading the blogs I like to follow.  I was only two weeks behind on my reading.  Not too shabby if I do say so myself.  I realize these blogs aren't an obligation but I still like to keep up on them.  They are almost like an addiction I think.  Or maybe it's more like watching a soap, a ludicrous past time.

Currently my steel cut oats are cooking on the stove.  They are a new food I thought I would try after several friends stated they were more tasty and healthy when compared to standard rolled oats.  The tastier part will be tested shortly and I'll have to look up the healthier part.

I don't have to be in Bath today so I am most certainly thinking I will be cleaning and sleeping today.  Cleaning because my house is a wreck.  Multiple tornadoes have hit my house, specifically the living room and kitchen.  More sleep will happen later because I have to work tonight at Price Chopper and in Bath tomorrow.

On that note I hope everyone has a fabulous day!

NYC Expo

This past weekend I went to the International Esthetics, Cosmetics, Spa Conference down in New York City.  Hands down was the best weekend I have had in a while.  It was at the Javits Center on W. 34th St. in Manhattan.  It was interesting to see all the different products the vendors had to offer.  It was definitely geared more towards the esthetic & cosmetic side but there were a few massage oriented vendors there.  I did get to stop at the Biotone table where I was able to obtain a bunch of different samples.  Almost all the samples I came away with were for products I had wanted to try/experiment with but was too afraid/cheap to spend the money on.  Although on top of the samples I did buy 1/2 gallon of both lotion & oil, a 4 oz tub of body wrap solution and an 8 oz bottle of massage gel which I am excited to try out this week. 

Another table I stopped at had the most comfortable massage tables every.  Unfortunately I don't remember the name off hand but I did get their card and a catalog.  I don't need a new table yet but I am passively looking for a lighter traveling table.  At the conference they had one table displayed that only weighs 21 lbs.  That would fabulous instead of lugging around my table which has a wood frame.  Although none of their tables were particularly wide and I have always favored a wider table.  Probably because I am a larger woman and want my larger clients to also feel comfortable and confident on the table. 

There was a German company I looked at.  They have only been available in the US for a couple years now but the one thing they had that no other vendor there had was a massage candle.  Now I had seen them in catalogs before but had never experienced one.  It was quite pleasant!  I had been nervous to try one because I thought the melted candle would be too hot but because the candle is soy and another oil with no parafin it melts at a much lower temperature.  The end result for the client is the sensation of heated oil and for the therapist is a lubricant with the natural consistency of butter and a heated consistency of oil.  There were none for sale but they did give a small sample candle and I am super excited to try it.

More than likely I will go again next year and depending on how things go this year I may even pay to go the the International Beauty Conference which is in the same building on the same dates.