health & fitness, randomness 2 Comments

Functionally Fit

When deciding how “in shape” you need to be, be it only slightly overweight or totally buff, there’s a term called “functionally fit.” That means that you’re in shape enough to do the things you need to do, and do the recreational activities you want to do. Say, for instance, you decided you wanted to go hiking and camping. Could you do it? How about skiing or snowboarding (besides not knowing how)? Or would it leave you in total pain the next day, or would you even be able to enjoy yourself while you were doing it?

Yesterday, Aaron and Mark and I helped Kris and Jamie move Kris’s stuff from his parents’ basement (where it had been in storage) to their new house in Maumee. Moving it out was mainly a matter of logistics, since he’d moved most everything up into the garage prior to yesterday’s move. We just had to pack the truck so that everything would fit. (Everything did, for the most part; he just needs to go back for his guitars.)

Moving it in, though, involved a steep 1960’s stairwell with no carpet and no banister, in addition to the front stairs up to the house. And I discovered something about myself that I’d been ignoring before: I go to great lengths to avoid cardio. Like going up and down stairs. Moving heavy stuff, sure, I’m all about it. I’ll unload the truck and move the heavy crap to the edge where someone can grab it and take it up to the upstairs bedroom. But actually carrying the stuff up there? Rather not. Because it makes me all out of breath, and my legs get all heavy and tired.

Lazy ass.

This morning when I awoke, my biceps were sore, my delts were sore, my lower back was sore (I lifted one Rubbermaid tote incorrectly, thinking it was a light one when it wasn’t), my ass was sore… I’m sure I’m forgetting something. So what did I do about it?

I grabbed the pruning shears and went outside to give the hedges a haircut.

Now my arms are sore *and* weak, but I’m OK with that. I’d rather keep moving. Today, Aaron and I are going to take a nice, long walk at Wildwood Metropark and test out Fries’s late grandfather’s camera before I offer to buy it.

So… functionally fit? Close, but not quite. At least I learned something about myself, though.

ruminations 3 Comments

Is That So Wrong?

Is it wrong for me to want my male friends to find me attractive, even though I’m married?

I mean, it’s not like I would ever actually *do* anything with any of them, even given the chance. Hell, I can’t even fantasize about doing the nasty with anyone but Aaron. Still, though, a part of me would like to know that I’ve still “got it”—not like I ever had very much of “it” in the first place. At the height of my boyfriend / make-out-buddy phase in college, I met every single one of the guys I dated on IRC. On internet relay chat, cuteness or hotness isn’t so much a factor as desperation and a sense of humor, I think.

I guess I’m just realizing that I’m getting to the age where, if I don’t make my body look all svelte and sexy NOW, I’m not going to get the chance in the future. I get a few more prime years, then if I’m not careful, it can be all downhill. I may never have another chance to make anyone think I’m sexy. (Apart from Aaron, that is. But he thought I was sexy when I was 250 pounds, supposedly. Not sure how that works.)

Anyway, I guess I’m just feeling weird about wanting to be all sexy-looking to other guys. Someday. Is that wrong, or just human?

photos

Forty Pounds Ago


[Posted on Flickr by dianaschnuth].

As a reference, this is what I looked like when I was 40 pounds heavier. Amy, Aaron and I were going to the Dayton Air Show back in 2003.

I hunted down this photo because I’m thinking that I want to cut my hair and donate it again, and was wondering if I wanted to go with the standard bob again. I think it was cute, but man, I can’t get over my hugely round face.

randomness 1 Comment

Boobs.

My boobs used to be size D. That was when I was technically obese, though. Now that I’m on the cusp of being merely “overweight,” my boobs have reduced to somewhere between C and D.

I tell you this because today I rediscovered the joy of the shelf bra.

Now, last year, I bought a few tank tops through mail-order that had shelf bras in them. And I decided that said shelf bras were overrated, because they did absolutely nothing to hold anything in. For some reason, though, today I decided to put on my blue racerback tank with shelf bra, and to go with only the shelf bra for support. (I was just hanging around at home after work.)

And, lo and behold, the damn thing works.

Mind you, I can’t go jogging or anything in this, and my boobs still tend to migrate together into the uniboob, like with a sports bra. But, still… once I lose the remaining pudge around the middle, I could so wear this in public.

Just thought I’d share.

genealogy

Yep, They’re Still Dead

And still they’re eluding me.

So, today’s research: I got emails back from the Clermont County Public Library and the Ohio Department of Health. First, the *very* nice librarian at Clermont County confirmed that Thomas COOK and Rachel HILL were married on 5 March 1852 in Clermont County, but said that the record contains no information about their parents. I’m not sure why I thought that would be helpful in the first place, being that I need to establish a link between them and who I think is their son.

As for the Department of Health, they haven’t offered uncertified copies of death certificates since 2003. My bad. So, I’m sending off a request for Benjiman Smith COOK’s death certificate along with a check for $16.50 (ouch). I’ll wait and see if that’s helpful before I go and drop over $30 on the other two certs for Ben’s siblings. I’m pretty much just trying to establish where they were all born, and Ben is the oldest sibling I don’t have a death record for. (We’re assuming that the birthplace listed on the death cert is marginally correct, and that I might be able to someday locate birth records from that information. I haven’t had a lot of luck with his older two siblings, though.)

Tonight I mainly spent by looking up census records on Thomas’s and Rachel’s respective families and figuring out how they might have hooked up. From what I can tell, their families lived mighty close to each other for quite a while. Now, Thomas and Rachel got married in 1852, when he was 20 and she was 19 (I think). They had at least 5 kids: Isabelle Kate, John, Comadore (?!), Harvey, and William.

William’s older sister Isabelle married John HILL sometime between 1870 and 1876. As far as I can figure, their parents must have died just about that time, too, because William was living with Isabelle and John HILL in the 1880 U.S. Census, at the age of 12. I haven’t been able to find their brothers John COOK or Harvey COOK, and I believe Comadore died young (before age 10). Leave it to them to throw me a curveball, eh?

I think my problems would be solved if I could find William’s marriage record to his wife Ella, and if that record states who his parents are. I know from the census that they married in 1895. I just don’t know exactly where. Could be Clermont County, could be Butler County, could even be Warren or Montgomery (although I think those are less likely). I’d have to request the record from the county, since the state of Ohio doesn’t hold marriage records from before, jeez, looks like 1949? Wow.

So, yeah. The counties I need wouldn’t be at the Ohio Historical Society archives, so I’d have to contact the counties directly. If it’s in Butler County, I might be able to get it from the Butler County Records Center & Archives — looks like they’ve got marriage records from as far back as 1847, and parents’ names were listed beginning in 1894. Just in time.

If the marriage took place in Clermont County, it looks like I’ll have to write the County Clerk for the record. No big deal, though. Looks like they have marriage records beginning in 1801? Hmm. I’ll have to write them and see.

That’s been my evening. Man, tomorrow I need to take a break from this and work on my podcast. Can’t believe the marathon genealogy-fest I’ve been having this week. And I’ve barely even used any of Ancestry’s resources, which was the reason for this binge in the first place.