Gym Free Session

I have known for a while now to it my gym offers a free training session. I went today to see what I could learn about how to do anything. 

I learned quite a bit, actually. I figured he would try to sell me something at the end, but didn’t know he’d be as pushy as he was. He was trying to get me to spend about $700 a month on a “training package”. lol, no. My membership is only $27 a month. 

He talked me down and down and down to a twice a month package for over $200 a month and I agreed to it thinking I can cancel later- he seriously wasn’t letting me go without signing up. So he told me to get my debit card. I think he thought I left it in a locker, but it was in my trunk. He said go get it and come back. I went out to I my car and literally left. 

Then, he started blowing up my phone from the gym number and his own cell phone. I blocked both phones. 

Pushy salesmen are the worst. It literally made me call up and cancel my membership there, because he was so extremely pushy with the selling. 

At least I learned a little bit about the machines, and later I came home and ChatGPT gave me this response. Basically, 3-5 times a week. 5-8 machines covering the entire body. 3-4 reps of 8-12.  Just do that and you’ll get toned. Follow with 30 minutes of cardio. 

 

Wonderful Days Off

First of all, I renewed HULU to start watching The Testaments. If you aren’t aware, it’s a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, which I hated to love so much. The Handmaids Tale was addicting, but it was so dumb. I didn’t want to watch The Testaments, but I knew I had to see what happens to the main character’s daughter. 

The main character of The Handmaids Tale had two daughters. The older one, who was stolen from her arms at age five during a coup de etat, is the main character of The Testaments. The second daughter was born to her as a handmaid.  The Testaments is pretty good so far, but there is a huge debate online about whether or not the secondary character in the Testaments is in fact that second daughter. In the book, she is the second daughter. But the book takes place 15 years after The Handmaids Tale, whereas the show only takes place four years later. Since this second daughter is only a toddler at the end of The Handmaid's Tale, she’d be only 6 on this show. But the secondary character is a teenager- which fits with the book. 

This is what the show’s writer had to say about the issue:

To make matters more confusing, they chose a teen actress that looks just like the perfect mix of the actors that played her biological parents. Not everyone saw the memo from the show writer, so everyone is abuzz online. 

Yesterday and today, I was off work. I really needed it. This morning, I spoke to gift card boss about the client I went to see Monday and Tuesday. Thank god, she was evaluated by a nurse and is going back to skilled nursing. I’m so freakin glad. I told GCboss about some uneasiness I had regarding the fact that she left AMA. GCboss said this lady and her husband thought I was wonderful and had all nice things to say about me. That’s nice!  But I’m still glad she’s back admitted. I knew an RN would say hell no. 

When I’m old, I am going to have to be extremely careful not to fall. Falling REALLY messes them up. I should walk as much as possible now, and when I get older, maybe start using walking aids before a doctor tells me to. One can still walk in the park with a cane or walker with wheels. It’s just my opinion that at that age, being extra careful it’s important. Falling can be fatal for elderly people. 

Speaking of walking in the park, I started my day getting about 6,000 steps in a nice park all the way in Elgin, TX. 

Then I went into Austin, did two small jobs on merchandiser, then got about 4,000 more steps on the treadmill at a gym there. Then I went on field agent and ate lunch at a Subway there in Austin, getting a free sub plus $3. Then I went to San Marcos to pick up my daughter and take her out for a fun afternoon. I took her to Waffle House (which is why I ate at subway first-not much healthy at Waffle House). Then took her to Target. I didn’t get to see her much over spring break. We had a healthy conversation about sensitive topics. I’m glad my daughter can talk to me!  I couldn’t open up to my mother about half the stuff she opens up to me about. 

Now im home, and it’s pouring rain. 

Feeling Good, Feeling Bad

I went to the park two days ago and walked while holding a water bottle in each hand. While walking, I did arm lifts and arm circles holding the bottles as weights. If I waned a drink, I made sure I drank roughly equal amounts from each bottle. Yesterday I felt great. The problem I have had in my muscles since 2014 is “being worked out” by exercising.  No one ever suggested exercising to me as a solution. In fact, it was semi discouraged by the pervasive message to “not let anyone tell you to just exercise.”  (In other words, go to a psychiatrist and therapist instead.)  

I found this meme message that resonated with me. “Do a rep for every lie you believed.”  It’s powerful. It’s really about rising above whatever situation you find yourself in after believing a multitude of lies. Scroll down to hear about my latest client at work. 

This is so true:  There’s so much “don’t exercise” mentality out there, and I’m trying to unlearn all of it. 

Gift card boss put me with a brand new client. What this client didn’t tell her was that she left skilled nursing against medical advice.  She has a fractured hip and shoulder. Her fall happened at church during a service for Holy Week. So it was VERY recent. I cannot turn her in bed to change, bathe or dress her. I have to do so by pushing things under her and pushing hard on the mattress. This itself is a workout. Plus, her husband is the literal king of Weaponized Incompetence. I had to show him how to start a wash machine and dishwasher. 

She really likes to talk to me and has said a couple times that I’m a good listener. They like me and are asking for me to come back. But I REALLY need my days off, which are today and tomorrow. If I don’t get my days off, I’m going to completely fall apart. Gift card boss took me off of the schedule of the bedridden 89 year old that I was working with to put me with this lady. The good news is that by the time I go back Friday, she will have been evaluated by a home health nurse. I need advice from an RN on this one. I’ve only cared for people who have had weeks to months to recover from fractures. Hers are so recent that she reminds me of the princess and the pea. 

And she won’t take pain meds! 

But on to how I feel. The exercise has really helped the problem in my muscles that I can’t describe. My arms and legs are feeling gooooooodddd!!!  But there’s fatigue that comes with it. Some of it maybe caregiver fatigue. Some may be that I’m working out about five days a week without really knowing how. I have not puked from dehydration any more than that one time. I know I need to rest to make it work, but I also don’t want to excessively rest to the point where I’m back into a sedentary lifestyle. 

Easter/Palm Sunday/Spring

Kevin went to a different park. He sent me his location, and I went there. There are about five parks all “interconnected”. I walked far enough to eventually reach where I was yesterday. I also got a money shot picture of this cardinal. 

Here’s the trail. It’s a beautiful tree tunnel. 

Being Easter Sunday, I earned time and a half for both of my shifts. My religious background is complicated. My parents were Eastern Orthodox, who celebrate Easter based on a different calendar. Then when I was in middle school, they enrolled me in a Christian school affiliated with a baptist church. So I essentially left the Orthodox Church when I was 13. About every four years, orthodox and regular Easter falls on the same day. About every four years, it falls a whole month later. Two years out of every four years, it’s a week later, and that’s the case this year. So while yall were celebrating Easter, my mother was going to church for palms. 

I like when it falls on the same day. A week later is tolerable, and a month later is obnoxious. Although, the last time it fell a whole month later,

I observed both lents and lost 10-12 pounds. 

Last but not least, my phone decided to make me photo collages of my boy Alex. I love it. 

 

Walking Steps

I was doing great with reaching 10,000 steps a day.  I also would add my favorite arm/upper chest/upper back machines to it. On Thursday, we went to the park, and the water fountains were disabled. I should have known to stop what I was doing, run to the gas station nearby and get a bottled water. But I persevered, and once I was done with my workout I then went to the convenience store for water. Then I went home and had another bottle of water. I started getting extremely exhausted and had to lay down. Then I was sick as hell and finally managed to get to the bathroom to puke my brains out. I googled “throwing up after workout, and the cause was just what I did- exercising dehydrated and then chugging water afterwards. Dr. Google recommended a rest day. 

I have no idea how to exercise properly. I just have to learn as I go or research it online. I have always been surrounded by people with sort of a negative attitude towards it, and it has rubbed off on me in such a way that I have always thought “I can’t” do it. In fact, I was afraid a rest day would make me give up completely, but it’s supposed to be part of the plan. I took Friday as a rest day and then yesterday went hard again, this time with warm up and cool off. I went to this park during my six hour break and got my 10,000 steps.  I carried water with me this time. Most people would say my puking on Thursday is a reason to give up completely, but I just would prefer to learn from it.  I’m not going to turn into a gym bro that looks down their noses at people, but I also don’t want people who don’t do anything to insinuate that because they either  can’t or “can’t” that I can’t either. No doctor has ever told me I can’t. So I’m going to, because it helps a problem in my muscles that I can’t describe to anyone. 

Another great thing about this park is the benches by the water and the tree thicket. There is no workout equipment there though. If I want to write in the park, I can come here. If I want to do arm day, I can go to the one near my house. 

 

Split Shift Day

 It's the first of four split shifts, actually. During my 6 hour break, I did 3 more of the toilet paper and paper towel audits on the merchandiser app that paid $25.16 each. The three of them only took about 2 and a half hours with drive time. I could have done more, but they were out of the way. Then I went back to the HEB parking lot by my client’s home and worked on my book, The Child Advocate. I wrote out the main points of the SIDS training I received twice as a young adult.  I received it once while working in a daycare and once while working at the child crisis center. There is not going to be an entire scene of sitting through this training, but I am going to add the main jist of it somehow. The purpose of this book isn't just to tell a story, it's to raise awareness of a multitude of topics at the same time. But I want to sneak the awareness raising into the story telling. 

One of the stores I did the toilet paper job at was a Family Dollar. I was the only “customer” in the store (put in quotes because I didn't buy anything.)  

One woman was closing out her register, and another, younger woman was starting her shift, presumably with a new till. The older woman was standing over her till and just having an absolute meltdown, cursing shit fit because something wasn't adding up. Every time she yelled and/or cursed, I jumped because I thought she was yelling/cursing because she noticed me taking pictures. The younger woman was just standing at her register unbothered. I wanted to browse their cheap cosmetics, but decided not to. I just left when I uploaded the job. 

Tomorrow, I have a lot to blog about regarding news stories. There are several news stories that are bothering me right now, including but not limited to Joseph Duggar’s nasty ass and his ditzy nasty wife. I regret that I used to watch their show in the early 2000’s with my first husband and gawk at them. With another son admitting to the same thing, it's now a pattern and no longer “one bad apple”.  The Duggars have more than 40 grandchildren, and imo they ALL need forensic interviews by an advocacy center. All 40-whatever. No exceptions. 

Side Jobs

 I got a comment yesterday asking what my side jobs were all about. Well, I heard about one or two of these apps about 7 years ago on a subreddit called beer money. Then I heard about the rest as time went on. I did them as side jobd for a while, then when the pandemic hit, I did them as my main source of income because they paid so well. Keep in mind that they paid extraordinarily well during the pandemic, because no one wanted to go in and out of several stores. Then starting in 2022, the pay started decreasing steadily and by the end of 2022, I got a “real job”  which is fine, because that real job is where I met my husband. 

There used to be this mutual understanding among people in the forums for these, that we wouldn't be referring our friends and family, because that would mean fewer projects for us. I don't think that matters anymore in 2026. No one really depends on these anymore. The good paying gigs do come around every so often, but it's rare. 

The apps are Field Agent, Murchandiser (formerly EasyShift), Ivueit, Observa, GigWalk, and Premise. Premise has literally nothing anymore. Field Agent will only pay $2-$3, but I keep it for the free meals and free items +$3. Observe is average. Ivueit is for real estate investors and mainly wants pictures of landscaping. Merchandiser is the most intense. Merchandiser used to be EasyShift which paid you to go into stores and take pictures of certain aisles and displays. Field agent does the same thing. Like I said in the last post, though, you gotta keep it discreet. Some store managers and employees get nervous if they see someone taking pictures and might even ask you to leave. On Merchandiser, you might see very high paying liquor display audits. These are harder to do incognito, because liquor stores are smaller with more attentive staff, and they 100% will tell you not to take pictures. However, it's easier to be discreet at Specs. Specs is larger with less attentive employees. I generally do non liquor display jobs and liquor only if it's a specs location. 

Also on Merchandiser and Observa are jobs where you do actually go speak to a manager and have to ask about back stock on a certain item and check their handhelds. Also on Merchandiser, there are actual merchandising jobs where you build displays. There is a lot on there from frito lay. My husband asked yesterday why don't the frito lay reps do those. I don't know, but my guess is because they don't like going to family dollar or dollar general. 

Between March of 2020 and December of 2021, I did these in nine states: All over Texas of course, because that's where I live. Also Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Southern Illinois and a little bit in Memphis. Before I met my husband, I was on again off again with an old high school friend in Arizona who was a single dad of two. I went to see them often, trying tovaee how much I could make on the way there and back. Another time, I needed my birth certificate and literally did these all the way to Illinois where I was born, because they were not shipping it. In July of 2020, I did very high paying coca cola beverage audits all over Arkansas. I made a killing. I also went through Arkansas on the way to Illinois. Another time, I just did my own little personal tour of Oklahoma while doing these. Same with Louisiana. Other times, I would go out to do some nearby and keep taking the next one and the next one and the next one, only to have a super long drive home. My mother yelled at me often to plan my routes better. I would do that, and then when I got to my farthest point, they'd send me a route offer for even further that I couldn't refuse. 

My favorite memory is calling her and her sounding anxious asking “Where are you?” I said, “Missouri.”  she thought I meant the Houston suburb of Missouri City only 25 miles from her house. I had to admit “No. No I'm in the state. Of Missouri.”  

This whole experience was a big lesson in finding myself and the beginning of my healing from severe panic attacks that started happening when I finished college in 2014. Now that my husband is on them, he wants to do more of the ones where you have to speak to a manager, because he's used to doing that with the inventory service. It's only a side hustle now, but comes in handy often.