Things have been a little crazy the past few days. The great home improvement mission has continued in full force.
Things got really serious late Monday afternoon when I discovered the joys of pressure washing. Once I started I couldn’t stop. It’s one of those instantly gratifying things. I pressure washed my back patio for almost 4 hours and finally broke when the sun was setting. Does anyone else get totally sucked into tasks like this too?
Throughout the course of pressure washing I managed to pressure wash the skin off of one of my toes and sustained a trail of four unidentified bites up my inner thigh that seem to be swelling and itching more and more with every day that passes. Today is the worst so far and it’s the third day. What is this? I know it’s not mosquito bites. Spiders maybe? It stung really bad when they happened and now itches. Anyway, I couldn’t believe the difference pressure washing made in the appearance of my back patio.
The best recovery for manual labor is pizza. Definitely.
This is only the start of the home projects. I will blog about some of them here. There’s so much to do!
Back to the healthy stuff y’all come for… 😉
I’ve started making smoothies at work every morning. Here are my pics for this week’s smoothies…almond milk, dates, whole natural almonds, spinach, bananas, frozen mixed berries with pomegranate and plain Greek yogurt. I’m really liking blending whole almonds into my smoothies instead of almond butter. Gives them a little different twist.
I went home for lunch yesterday so that I could get all my trash and recycling from all the projects out to the curb for pickup. I put together this awesome bowl for lunch. Brown rice, arugula, avocados, heirloom tomatoes, kalamata olives, feta and hummus topped with fresh basil and mint and a drizzle of olive oil and red wine vinegar.
As far as workouts go, I haven’t done much. The yard work has been a workout in its own! One notable workout was the “Hotshots 19” Hero WOD that was posted on the CrossFit main site. I did four rounds of this on Monday. I used 65# for the power cleans and a thin band for the pull ups. Just four rounds took me 31 minutes. I would have loved to have done all six rounds but knowing all the work that waited for me at home I thought it best to stop at 30 minutes. I was really sore from the cleans the next day.
This workout is in honor of the 19 fallen fire fighters from the Granite Mountain Hotshots team that lost their lives battling a fire in Yarnell, AZ on June 30. There is an official page set up for the workout where you can make donations to support the families. 100% of the donations will go to the families of these 19 brave men. It was a good WOD to do on Labor Day to remember the important work that so many do.
Did any of my other CrossFit readers do this WOD?
I know exactly what you mean when you say that you got sucked in with the pressure washer! I get really OCD about it and have to wash away every spot of dirt haha :).
I love the workout. My heart still breaks every time I think about those firefighters and their poor families.
i know, it was so terrible. 🙁
I tackled home projects too this weekend and it’s just the beginning! I did my pantry and spice drawer and everything is so neat an organized!! Can’t wait to see what else gets accomplished this month!
Beautiful post Jen – great way to honor these 19 brave men and their families!
I rented a pressure washer last year to pressure wash my deck before I painted it – and up until I read your post, I thought I was the only one who went crazy with it! I ended up pressure washing the driveway, house, side patio, would have done the dog too – but, fortunately for her, i my time with my new tool had come to an end and I had to take it back 😉
i purchased mine so i can only imagine all the fun times we have in store together! 🙂
Jen, it might be a no see-um. I got bit by one when I was running and had the same reaction you did. I found neosporin and hydrocortisone to help.
jill – this has happened to me with no see-ums before where the itching gets worse days later but i think this is something different because when i did get bit it stung and hurt like crazy for hours and now it’s changed to swollen and itchy 🙁
Very random questions for you – what kind of blender do you use for your smoothies? I’m in the market for a new one that can handle “tougher” items like almonds. Also, I’ve always wondered why so many people use almond milk in their smoothies. Is there a nutritional benefit to using almond milk over cow’s milk, or is it just a personal preference? Thanks! 🙂
hi christina – i use the vitamix we have at work. it’s the only thing that can handle the dates and the nuts. when i make smoothies at home with my normal kitchen aid blender, i usually leave those kinds of things out. that said, a vitamix is definitely not in the budget for home use right now! 🙂
and the almond milk is just personal preference. no reason.
how many whole almonds do you add vs almond butter? just curious…
My guess would be fire ants.
I don’t do crossfit, but I might do that salad! YUM!
I did the Hotshot 19 yesterday because I worked Labor Day. It was a long struggle & those power cleans sure added up! I went RX with the lightest purple band and finished in 37:15. Everytime I wanted to stop, I just thought of why I was doing this workout in the first place. #tribute #crossfit
I did “Blake” WOD last night. Tonight i am trying Yoga for the first time in about 16 years. Thursday is CrossFit again. Saturday our WOD will be in the pool.
Have you ever heard that you are supposed to alternate the greens you use in your smoothies? I just recently heard this.
i haven’t heard that you have to but i do sometimes use kale. usually spinach though. what is the reason for this?
We did Hotshots 19 in our box on Monday (in Australia). Took me about 42 minutes – those cleans really added up (I did 65…can’t imagine what 95 would feel like!!)
I know what you mean! Using pressure washers are totally addictive!
God bless the 19 fallen fire fighters from the Granite Mountain Hotshots team.
I did the WOD and it was awful. So sore today! My legs did not want to move for today’s WOD. But, every time I thought I just wanted to stop, I thought about those 19 people that lost their lives. It was a very humbling experience and felt great that we were all honoring these people together. It took me 54 minutes. I did 95# power cleans and regular kipping pull ups.
I have gotten those kind of bites and I have no clue what they are! I actually went to the dermatologist because they weren’t getting better. He gave me a steroid cream that did the job. And pizza is the perfect reward. I have been craving pizza lately and think I need to get my fill this weekend. Love all the yard work and house repairing you’re doing. Impressive!
Jen, it was great meeting u at Y2 this evening! Love your classes and your blog!
I saw the Hotshot WOD online last week and I am dying to try it!
I’ve been getting all sorts of super annoying bites lately and I’m not sure what they are from- but boy are they annoying!
We did this as a partner wod at our gym, and it worked out great!