Shredding and Shedding

Many people who know me well know that I thrive on multi-tasking. It is easier for me to accomplish something if I have other things going on simultaneously- especially if the initial task at hand is a tedious one.

This past week, I was given the task to shred a bag full of papers. Anyone who has had this task knows that the monotonously spastic rhythm of the buzzing of the machine is enough to drive anyone, who is paying attention, crazy! I knew I needed a distraction, but I didn't know what I could do while shredding, since my hands would be busy. 

The light-bulb of good ideas haloed above my head as I remembered that I brought my Thigh Master to work.  Knowing that I would be sitting a lot more than I am used to, I thought that it would be important to have something to do to help stimulate the blood flow in my legs. I couldn't think of anything better to accomplish this than to have my Thigh Master at work, since it would stimulate blood flow while I could, as the commercial says, "squeeze, squeeze, squeeze" my way "to shapely hips and thighs."  So, I walked back to my desk to retrieve the Thigh Master.

I am really glad that no one was there on an appointment or visitation, because it would have looked very strange for me to walk through the hallways of a mortuary with a bright-blue figure-eight-shaped object that is almost the size of my entire arm.

Once I got in a comfortable position and gave myself a couple test squeezes, I continued my task of shredding while attempting to shed some weight.  

While shredding, I didn't realize that the Thigh Master made a creaking sound because of the loud sound the shredder made.  Interestingly enough, I realized that it squeaks with each squeeze and release when I was trying to be patient while waiting for some papers to be delivered to my desk, so that I could enter them into the computer and have the family proof the document I typed.  So, while my husband was in the other room with a family, I slowly and, as quietly as I could, put the Thigh Master in place and started to squeeze. If sound could be heard in slow motion, this was the moment that it would have happened.  It might have been because I was trying to be quiet that I took longer to squeeze it together.  There was no doubt that everyone in the other room heard the squeak.  As embarrassed as I would have been if I had just let a big one rip (even though I know that girls don't do that), I quickly yanked the Thigh Master out of place and started opening drawers to make whoever might have heard me think that they heard the drawer squeak. Since that moment, I only use it when no one else is around.

The rest of the week, I tried to think of how better to utilize my Thigh Master during the day.  So far, I have felt like it has made a difference to have it at work.  It helps make typing data and doing other important, but tedious, tasks much more pleasant. This is one spoon-full-of-sugar that makes the some of my tedious "medicine"- and with more consistent use, my pounds- go down.