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Thursday, January 28, 2010

I'm a grown up

Rowan and I this evening in the bath:

"What's this?"

"Neutrogena face soap."

"Can I have some?"

"No, it's for grown ups."

"I wanna be a grown up."

"There's more to being a grown up than just wanting to be a grown up. You have to be like 20 years old, not 4. You need to have a job and pay your bills."

Bubbles

"And you can't fart in the tub."

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Momma!!!

That's the word you'll hear very loudly around here today. As we are enduring our long 65 degree winter, I decide it's time to clean Rowan's room. This is always met with crying and whining and begging. Because after all I am throwing away her identity in some small way.

Spring cleaning her room involves 1 large garbage bag, 1 bottle of cleaner, and 1 cleaning towel/cloth. This is the point where Rowan starts to get nervous. I tell her to stay out of her room because I am cleaning. In the corner of my eye I can see her furtively "rescuing" an armload of toys from the hideous gaping mouth of the trash bag.

When I clean her room (or any room for that matter)it involves starting in one corner and wiping down everything. Then comes the bad part. I pick up and inspect EVERY SINGLE ITEM. I'm looking for any rips, tears, breaks, dirt, missing pieces. I ask myself, "does she play with this anymore?" If there's any defects or missing pieces it goes in the garbage bag. If it's just something she doesn't play with it goes into a donate pile. I have to watch that pile very closely or a devious child will sneak back in and try to give it a second chance.

This is about the time I start hearing, "Momma don't throw that away. It's miiinnnee." Really? You need this? This old broken McDonald's toy that's a boys toy because they were out of the girl's toys that day that you don't even play with because it might go up in value to what...negative five cents? Oh yeah, we let her eat McDonald's. I have to. It's in my contract under "sucker clause." She gets one bad meal a week and I get to throw her toys away a few times a year.

Luckily we made it through another cleaning spree. She's getting better at accepting her fate. It makes more room for new toys.

And I didn't have anything else to write about today.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Another brilliant idea...

I wanted to show y'all what went on last night...
Luckily I did not do this. We went to see some old friends who moved out of town. She was so nervous about making a good dinner that she forgot some of the bread was in the oven. Fast forward to billowing smoke and opening all the doors. Of course we didn't let it go. "You throw such memorable dinner parties. We'll never forget it." This is par for the course. Whenever we go to someone's house something always happens. Remember this in case you invite me to your's.

The kids played dress up or dress weird. This was a winner. A Barbie dress with a swimming mask and a gun holster.


Now ladies, you know you have to occasionally change things up to keep your man interested. Or so I'm told. Here's what I did today. I was walking around the house with these eyebrow waxing guide stickers. Jace was cleaning the kitchen and turned around saying, "what are you doing?" Then he decided he didn't even want to know and walked off. In his head I knew he was thinking, "she's doing something weird for the blog again. *sigh* I wonder if they have that opening at The Nut House Ranch yet?"


I had been planning this idiotic brilliant idea for the last 2 weeks. I was going to wax my eyebrows. This should be easy. I've plucked them. I can stand pain. So I melted the wax and glopped in on all over my two brows. And waited. Only took a couple minutes to work up the courage to pull fast like a bandaid. I got the right brow done. Not bad. Man it hurts. Just a hint of tears. I still have to pull off the other side and there's no going back. It has to come off but I don't want to because the first side is really stinging. I'm going to have to find some guts somewhere or I'll have a finely shaped brow and one that looks like it has the plague/fungus growing off it. So I hold my breath and rip rip rip as fast as I can before my brain has a chance to register what I'm doing. Done. Then OOOOOWWWWWW!!!!! Big pain. Nice eyebrows.


I sit here this evening eight hours later and my eyebrows still haven't forgiven me. It's a dulled pain now. I vaguely remember the box saying I could use it for the bikini area. Fat chance that is ever going to happen.








Saturday, January 23, 2010

Knitting a midlife crisis...

I will start by saying that I have been busy and I wanted to post because so many things were happening. Instead I procrastinated. But I finally decided I better get this up or it was going to become an epic long post with too many topics. It's going to have too many topics as it is, but we have some catching up to do.

First, I went to the Farmer's Market here in town. There's not as many sellers (vendors/farmers?) as I would like but they are a shy bunch and don't want to show up too early and get stuck standing around outside in bad weather.

I bought brocolli, spinach, and onions from this lady, Julie Braune of Braune Farms. Let me just say that these people are nice if not just a wee, tad sensitive. Don't get me started on when I asked to take a picture because I'm doing a blog and her response got very...animated. "Oh thank you for asking. You don't know how many times people take a picture of my table withOUT ASKING AND THEN IT ENDS UP IN SOME MAGAZINE AND I DON'T GET COMPENSATED OR ANY CREDIT!!!" (me wanting to cower under her table) And I told her I would definitely mention her in my blog and give her credit. Ahem. Nice veggies, though.


This stand had preserves, honey, organic protein bars, and awesome aprons. I got the honey.


Now we can get the good stuff! I will once again blame my friend for this. She knitted the cutest hat and of course will not make one for me. So I have to learn how to knit. Off I go to Hobby Lobby and here's what I found. Yeah, there's some yarn, needles, a little basket, and a one page instruction guide to learn how to knit. That's all I need, one page. But the real treasure is the tin boxes. They were on clearance (favorite word) and cost me $2 or less each. Right now one is holding my knitting tools, one is empty, and one is filled with chocolate, wrapped, and ready to go into the mail for another very nice blogger. But I digress...And I just figured out one of my pictures is out of order. I really need to get this post up so we will leave the knitting for just a moment.


The other night Rowan's school had "Math Night." She came home from school that day with a Sad Face in her folder. Which means she was a bad girl and couldn't shut her mouth or follow directions. I told Jace that this was the beginning of her life of crime. Because we all know it starts when you're young and it's something small. (Her dad is a criminal, too. $7.60 in late fines at the library!!)

She wasn't having too much fun at Math Night because she thought she was going to get punished any minute for getting the Sad Face. She did let loose at this bowling game. So there's the pitch...

And it's a success. She wiped out almost all the penguins. Yea! After about 15 minutes we were ready to go. We just don't do well in these situations. Most times it feels fake standing around with other parents who don't want to be there either but feel it's their obligation. But they're really wondering So You Think You Can Dance, Lost, American Idol, or Grey's Anatomy. Or there's some parents who are looking around to see if they're serving beer at this thing. I'm making a case for homeschooling and we are getting closer. Rowan is doing well with our at home kindergarten math and so far I know all the answers. A little more research about local groups and regulations and we'll be there.

O.k. back to the knitting. I found this book at Half Price Books. It's That book you're always looking for when you want to do something. You find lots of books with pieces of information but there's only one with all of it. This book has over 250 stitches with charts and pictures so you can compare your work. Last night I was working on technique and tightness of the thread and generally zoning out. I was thinking of the patterns and said (in my head), "I wonder what it would look like if I do this..." I made up my own pattern and it worked. My friend is going to be jealous because you shouldn't be able to do this with less than a week of knitting experience. But I needed to get her back because she put something on my locker at work and now I have to make her crazy.


Deep Breath...sigh... O.k. now why is this post called Knitting a Midlife Crisis? I started thinking of all the things I'm doing right now (see side bar for Things I'm Working On and Things Accomplished). Why am I doing all these things? And what's the hurry? Then it dawned on me that I'm feeling my fleeting youth. I have a desire to cram in as much stuff before I am too old to do/learn these things. I consider it a midlife crisis without the little red sports car. I also noticed that besides the jogging I have cultivated a number of hobbies that I can do while sitting or laying in bed. This is handy for when I either blackout on the treadmill, trip and fall on the treadmill, or trip and fall and then blackout on the treadmill. I will have plenty to do while I'm recovering from my near death injuries. On the good side we are loaded up with Dora, Hello Kitty, and Scooby Doo bandaids so I expect a full recovery.


Thanks for catching up with me today.


















Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Shopping Secrets

Recently I was asked if I posted any of my shopping deals on here. I haven’t because sometimes it’s a real labor to type it all out. I did a little shopping yesterday and I’ll go through and list what I got and some little tricks of the trade. These can also be found at CouponMom. You don’t have to be completely immersed into it to save money. Even tiny adjustments will have big rewards.

Here’s what I did at CVS:
6- 12 packs of Pepsi for $20.
I used $18 in Extra Bucks and paid $2.17 out of pocket. I saved $27.94. 93%. I received $10 in Extra Bucks. Extra Bucks is like cash back for buying specified things. They are good for about a month so you can accumulate them and use them little by little or in bulk. I get a lot of free stuff this way.

1- ROC age diminishing cream clearance priced $7.50-$3.00 coupon.
1- Aveeno Body Wash clearance $3.75-$2 coupon.
2- Glade Fabric and Air freshener $3.99ea-(2) $2.00 coupons. Received $6 Extra Bucks
2- Veet gel cream clearance $2.75ea
2- Duracell Batteries $2.99 ea-(2) $.75 coupons
1- Bubble lip smacker pink strawberry $5.99
I also used a $9 Extra Buck and the previous $10 Extra Buck. My out of pocket was $11.04. My savings was $48.21. 81%

At Target:
Clearance priced clothes. They beat the pants off of Walmart for clearance prices. I almost always pick up items for $2 and $3. You can also stack a Target coupon and a manufacturer coupon. Target coupons can be found at Target.com at the bottom of the page as “Grocery Coupons.” Just check off the ones you want and print.

1- Gatorade G2 $.96-$.50 coupon
1- Purina Cat Chow $3.99-$1 Target Coupon & $1 manufacturer coupon
6- Purina canned dog food $.99ea-(3) Buy one get one free coupons
2- Cat Treats $1.49ea-$1 Target coupon and a Buy one get one free manufacturer coupon
1- Dog Treat $2.99-$1 Target coupon and $1 manufacturer coupon
2- Cat appetizers $1.27ea-$1 Target coupon and Buy one get one free manufacturer coupon
1- Prilosec $10.49-$3 coupon. This is now cheaper than the store brand version.
Some other odds and ends. My total was $44.81 and I saved $28.27. 39%

This whole saving process takes only as much time as you can put into it. If you read through this whole post then you are already ten times more educated than someone who doesn’t use coupons. I’ll be going to a couple of stores today and I’ll report back what I get.

Write if you have any questions about this or other shopping questions.

Helpful Blog Advice

I’m reposting some blogging advice I read on CarrotSpeak last September. It’s kinda stuck with me and I thought I would pass it on. If it will benefit you then copy and save it. If you repost it please give credit of where it came from.

This is the original post in its’ entirety:

Monday, September 14, 2009
Making a Difference Monday #5 -- (FAQ)
 
http://address-the-world.blogspot.com/2009/09/making-difference-monday-5-faq.html

How can I gain more followers?

There is no one answer to this question. The easiest way to gain followers is to establish a small base following and let your popularity grow from there. Find a few blogs you like, follow them, and comment. Most blog owners will respond to commenters. If they like what they see on your blog, they'll follow you. If they're really impressed, they'll add your blog to their "Blog-roll," leading their followers to your page. Eventually, you'll find some blogging "friends." Strange as it sounds, you really begin to develop bonds with some of these people, even though you may have never met. These bloggers are your "base," and are the platform from which you can begin to build a larger following. Do not be discouraged if it takes a while for your blog to take off. There are tons of blogs on the internet, and therefore tons of potential followers. There is a circle for everyone; it just may take a while for you to find yours. :) Also, participating in memes (like my Making a Difference Mondays) is a good way to increase the traffic on your blog and have some fun. :)And finally: To keep followers, always make your readers feel at home. Answer their comments and emails. Treat them as friends, and you'll find that is exactly what they'll become.

Do you have any advice for new bloggers?

1 -- Do not, under any circumstances, try to be someone you are not. The thing that makes blogging intriguing is that everyone can be rewarded for being their self. A blog is only interesting if it is unique somehow, and it can only be unique if you aren't trying to mimic someone. Don't be afraid to let your personality shine.

2 -- Do not blog only for publicity. You won't find it rewarding in the least. Blogging is a personal thing. It's a way to share your ideas and interests with others, meet new people, and voice your opinions into the world. In the blogging world, we are all equals in a way we cannot be elsewhere. We all have the same tools, and all have the same opportunity to be heard. We can form communities that couldn't exist outside of the internet because of distance and language barriers. Take advantage of that and enjoy yourself. Don't stress over numbers...just smile as they grow. =)

3 -- Use ads in moderation. They're bulky and distract readers from the rest of your blog. A few tasteful advertisements would be much more effective in giving your blog a polished and professional look while helping you earn a few extra bucks.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

How to knock off your friend without getting caught...



A million or so years ago I was a girl scout. Now that it is cookie season I feel compelled to support the cause. In the past years I haven’t known any girl scouts per se and I usually throw the $3.50 at them at their booth at Walmart and waltz off with my box of Samoas (oops they are now PC caramel delights).


This year I know one girl scout. When she isn’t grounded for being a teenager then she’s out doing girl scouting stuff. (spelunking, rock climbing, camping, and tea party) So this year I feel ten times more compelled to support the cause. (and I work with her mom who will drill laser burns into the back of my head if I don’t buy a box or ten)


After buying my case of cookies I came home all warm hearted. Until I read the labels. Have you seen how many calories are in these things? Of course I didn’t read it until after I had eaten too many to possibly work off all those calories. I mean what are these things made of? I’ll tell you what I think they are made of. Lard, lead, and dark matter. How else can you fit that many calories into such a seemingly small innocent object. So delicious by the way.


Then it dawned on me. Eureka! My friend is trying to bump me off. We have a great friendship based on me making light hearted jabs at her blog and life in general and she tries to kill me in return. It’s all in fun of course. (if I’m found dead she did it) There’s no other way to explain the short course of events that have happened. Here I am trying to get healthy and she just happens to show up with cookies. She has deduced that I won’t refuse to buy girl scout cookies. So she loads me up with 10 boxes and about a million calories. Next, she knows I’ll get on the treadmill in a vain effort to run all those calories off. So I will either die of clogged arteries or a coronary. And all of you will not be the wiser.


However, I have found a way, or two, to get her back. First, I won’t eat all the cookies myself. I’m going to give some as gifts to people I would like to see get fat. And if I have any left after that there's always a market when the cookie sales stop. You know who you are. You bought the 2 boxes of thin mints and just when you got addicted they stopped selling them. Well, I’ll hook you up. For a small price increase of course. Is that illegal? That would suck to end up in the “pen” telling my new cell mate I’m here for selling the hard stuff. I’ll have to work on that aspect of my plan.



But for now, my friend, just know that your plan is...foiled!
 

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Victory Not So Great

Let me start by saying if you would like to hear from people and find out how many interested readers you really have on your blog, then change your background picture. Gosh! I changed the picture to show a feeling that cannot be expressed sufficiently in words to go along with that day’s post. And boy did I hear about it! All kinds of people crawling out of the woodwork to let me know they liked the old one and definitely not that last one. So here’s the old picture back. I will warn you that it is subject to change according to my mood so please don’t get attached to it.


Moving on. I had time to do my second official jog. I am very happy to report that my warm up was 5 minutes and .18 mile. I jogged for 20 minutes and a distance of 1.08 miles!! And cooled down another 5 minutes for a complete distance of 1.44 miles. I’m amazed I achieved this so fast. Now I can quit. Kidding. I’ll stay at this pace for a little while till I feel I’m ready to increase my distance. But for now we’ll all be happy knowing that I can run a 15 minute 45 second mile.

Unfortunately, all my running glory has been overshadowed by Best Friend. Best Friend, as you recall, was Rowan’s fish. I say “was” because he sadly (finally) passed away. He had a terrible lingering plague which he was unable to recover. Ich.


Best Friend received the best treatment possible from the best health care system available. You’ll notice in the picture there’s a sign that says “F.I.C.U.” This stands for Fish Intensive Care Unit. I walked by and noticed a couple of candles burning, foolishly thinking they were just scenting the air. “They are for keeping vigil for Best Friend,” said Jace. Of course. There’s also a lamp to keep the water just the right temperature. Rowan even spent some time taking pictures of Best Friend...with the flash on. Wouldn't you get better if someone was repeatedly flashing lights in your eyes? Poor fish. Pretty much cooked under a lamp and strobe lighted to death. This is why I didn't get attached to the fish. But alas, all is now in vain.

We now have to plan a fish funeral. We’ll have a ceremony and burial in the garden later today. Not sure what we’ll say. “Best Friend was a great fish…”

I’ll keep you updated.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Down, down, down

Today I'm doing work related things and since I don't talk about work it's Top Secret.

In other news, the dental saga still lives on. When we last left off I thought everything was settled. But alas, things do not seem to be going my way.

I decided to call the office to verify my appointment time and find out what they had found out about all our fantastic new benefits and how great my life was now going to be. I confirmed my appointment time, which was different than what they had told me. Eight o'clock is different than ten o'clock. Otherwise I would show up to work 2 hours late and call it the same difference. Then I asked one of those regrettable questions...Did you verify all the benefits and what are the new numbers?

"Well, the information you gave us is an HMO and you basically only get a discount. Your husband's coverage terminated on December 31st and we don't have any new insurance information for him." At this time Jace was in open enrollment but they had given him the basic plan on January 1st, even though his enrollment doesn't end till the 15th. So he's in this sort of floating gap coverage period, instead of just extending the old insurance up until the new insurance kicks in.

"So what's the cost under my insurance?" I innocently ask. They couldn't give me an answer. So basically they have no idea. And they didn't call me back to let me know all this. They were going to let me walk in thinking we were good to go, get the procedure, and then STICK ME WITH A BIG FAT BILL! A $2700 bill. What is wrong with these people?!

I cancelled my appointment. I had to. This was the third time I'd had a run in with these office people. How many times does God need to tell you that this is a bad idea? So we are free and unentangled and don't owe anything to this swine. (<-favorite word to call scamming scheisters and like ilk)

But it gets worse, sort of. Now Jace has finished enrollment. Yippee! We can move on with life. "But I can't find any dentists listed here in town that take the insurance you got," Jace tells me. So we first come up with this plan that I'll go talk to my first dentist and see if he takes the insurance and maybe he's just not listed. That happens. Then I decide I'll call and just dump this coverage and go back to my old coverage. This is smart because otherwise I would be paying for an HMO that I can't use. I'm going to get back on my old coverage. I try to do this on the computer. No luck. I'll call and talk to the nice lady. And she is nice. We make all the changes. I'm home free. "Why don't you add Me and Rowan?" Jace asks. O.k., I have her on the phone and this is going smooth. I give her all the information. Clack, clack, clack on her keyboard. Then she stops clacking. You know that millisecond of time when you know something is different and your fortune has changed? That was that millisecond. "Is your husband covered under TopSecretCompany, too?" she asks. "Yes, they just switched over and he just finished enrollment," I answer. It turns out, apparently, that if you are a TopSecretCompany couple then you can't be dependents of each other. What this means is that we can't both carry dental coverage on each other. This sucks. A lot.

Both of us carrying dental on everyone meant DOUBLE DENTAL. This is good stuff. In a world where dental will only give you a max benefit of $1500 or so per year, having double dental means you just upped your benefits to $3000 per year. This means when you get a crown and your first insurance pays and then you think you're getting stuck still paying for half of it, your second insurance comes in and pays the other half. You end up paying $0. But now that Jace and I are both affiliates of TopSecretCompany we can't do this. Only one of us can carry the insurance. So I had to dump mine.

All of this to say I now have a tummyache and a headache and I need to go cower under my covers and feel all boo-hooey. (Refer back to the PTSD post) I've had it up to "here" for today.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

I Didn't Die!

The sound was enormous. I thought it was thunder but the sky was clear. Maybe an earthquake or tornado? I rounded the corner on my walk towards the stadium. The sound grew louder. As I approached the stadium the sound became deafening. The moment of truth had come.

I walked into the stadium. There had to be at least 100,000 people. Not that I was counting. The sun was bright and the sky blue. The crowd quieted when they saw me. I could hear nothing but the fluttering of the Olympic flag. Then the crowd broke out in loud cheers.

I waved and smiled at all the fans around me. I walked quickly to my place on the starting line. I was running the race of my life with 9 others. They looked puny and weak. Not like me, sculpted and sleek. I knew what they were quickly realizing. The didn’t have a chance against me. I was going to leave them in the dust…

Or so the fantasy goes. I did my run for today. Here’s the real numbers. I warmed up for 5 minutes, walking .12 mile. I was thinking this is going to be a breeze if I went this far in the warm up. I ran/jogged/danced for 20 minutes for a distance of .87 mile!!! I had to mix up the arm work to keep interested. My max speed was 4 mph (so I can outrun a bear going 3 mph). I finished with a cool down for 5 minutes with an ending distance of 1.15 miles. I burned 115 calories.

If you play with the numbers you’ll figure out at that pace I would go a distance of 2.3 miles per hour. It will take me approximately 13 hours to finish a full marathon. That’s very inspiring.

Things I learned today: I didn’t die. It was easier than I thought it would be. I’m a really slow runner right now, but I did finish my target workout time. I ran much further than I thought I would. I could have run longer but didn’t want to push my luck. I do better listening to the news instead of music.

Next anticipated run will be Thursday. Look out Mile! You’re not as big as you used to be. Now I’m off to lift rocks for the garden…the fun never ends.

Physician Clearance

Something you’ll read on every diet aid or exercise contraption/gadget is a warning to see your doctor before starting an exercise program. For the benefit of this blog and to seem like I’m conforming I’m posting this interview I had with a physician yesterday. I’ll call him Dr. Anonymous.

*The official disclaimer* There’s probably very little truth in here, but there is some. We’ll call it embellished and fairy tales. This is in no way to advise an actual person on starting an exercise program, ie do not sue me.

Dr.: Hi Julie. How’s it goin?

J: Fine. Listen, I’m doing a post for my blog and I was wondering if I could interview you anonymously?

Dr.: ….

J: It’s a real topic. I got a treadmill and I want to start an exercise program. I’d like to know what you would recommend, knowing me and my health.

Dr.: Well, where are you starting at?

J: I did a trial run on the treadmill. I didn’t prepare or warm up. I just got on and ran for .18 mile.

Dr.: *rolling eyes* That’s pretty low. The recommendation is to increase your distance by 10% each week.

J: Isn’t that like -2 in my case?

Dr.: In your case you may want to up that just a little. But 10% is the recommendation. And of course go for 30 minutes 3 times per week. Any more would cause a chance for an increase in injuries.

J: I noticed you seem to be in pain and limping. Why is that?

Dr.: I ran about 20 miles and hurt myself.

J: …dude, you need a car. So if I increase my distance by 10% that’s .018. Next time I should try to run .198?

Dr.: Yes. And in your case you need to premedicate with 2 puffs from your inhaler. Since you have asthma, it could be highly likely that you’ll have an asthma attack and die a slow horrible death. But it’s great that you want to exercise. *big smile*

J: ...*pondering*...So can I use the cup holder on the treadmill for beer?

Dr.: It’s a good way to get the carbohydrates you need for running. Absolutely.

J: Well, thank you Dr. Anonymous for your help. I’ll be giving you updates about my progress. Hope you can walk the rest of the day. *waving bye*
 
Next post…How I Died A Slow Horrible Death On The Treadmill…

Sunday, January 10, 2010

My New Frenemy


A friend told me a quote found in front of a gym. “When the aliens get here the fatties will get eaten first.” This saying is not for thin skinned people. People eating their 2,000 calorie burger with their Diet Coke… “Who does this gym think they are?”

If you are like me then you are now approaching middle age(s) and everything is starting to fall into place. Some things faster than others and with the help of gravity. All the hoaky wisdom of all the old people who don’t know how things really are. You know what I’m talkin bout. Drink your water, eat your veggies, go play outside.

Now if you’re also like me, and many of you are not, then your “exercise program” consisted of drinking too much, smoking, staying up all night, and sunbathing without sunscreen to get that good base tan. Until now God and hairspray has kept everything where it’s supposed to be. Fast forward to 35. Gone is the drinking and smoking and sunbathing. I’m still not exercising because I can’t seem to schedule it into my hectic life. And 35 is the new 20 so I’m really not 35. Right?

Please come with me to the age of 39. Now the people dropping dead in the obituaries aren’t quite so much older. And it’s right before 40. Official oldness. Ask any young person. Getting an exercise routine is now more about staying alive than staying fit. All the studies say you have to exercise or you’ll get every disease and syndrome known to mankind.

Of course you have to pick an exercise that you like, or might come in handy later on. I’m choosing running/jogging that may closely resemble crawling/gasping. I’m picking this because one day I would like to live further north in the mountains and there will probably be bears. I can easily envision being outside and having some terrible accident where I get covered in A1 steak sauce and here comes a bear with a bib on. A bib with a picture of me instead of a lobster. So I need to be able to run. Kind of fast but just fast enough to outrun you, or whoever I’m with. You know that old joke.

At this time my running is not to train for a marathon. I have the weird opinion they look like cattle drives. I may change my mind when I want a huge crowd of people to see that I can run X number of miles. For now I’m going to run simply because I can’t do it. It’s a complicated goal. It’s not: I can run a MILE. It’s: I CAN run a mile. That’s the best way I can explain it.

Today is the first day that I will take Frenemy with me. I will run as far, and controlled, as I possibly can. You readers will be an inspiration because I don’t want to come back with a readout of .1 (or less). I will jog my little heart out. Jace will come along and scrape me off the road like road kill. And when I get back I can show you this:


The day turned out longer than I expected and I just took a trial run. The display says “0.21” but it really was 0.18 miles.* This is our starting point. This is what we’re working with. I told you I sucked at running.

My next “run” will be on Tuesday afternoon. Hopefully the display will say 0.2 and not have a flat line on the cardiac monitor.
 
*Jace’s cousin gave us a treadmill! For FREE!!! It even has a fan. A FAN.






Saturday, January 9, 2010

The Thrill of Entitlement

"I am four years old and I'm getting my first pair of roller skates. I already know I'm so good that I will never fall. I'm the perfect skater. I'm fabulous!"

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Rough Drafts and Things I'm Working On

I was reading a blog the other day and it mentioned things that sometimes happen when writing a rough draft and what eventually makes it into the post. The blog said a bunch of other mumbo jumbo but this is what I remember most. A rough draft. That really made me chuckle. I've never written a rough draft before. It has occured to me to write one, but would it spoil the spontaneity?

So in the quest for an ever better blog I may start doing the rough draft thing. But not today. Today I'm working on the blog appearance. You'll notice different tidbits popping up on the side. These should relate to things I'm working on or have finished.

Speaking of things I'm working on. I have several goals in progress. I would like to read one book per month. I have technically done this for January. I'd like to be able to jog for at least a mile. I suck at exercising. Get the gardens ready for spring planting. It's harder than you think to go outside and do prep work and build raised gardens and rock walls when it's cold! It doesn't sound like a lot but when these are accomplished I can add different goals.

I'm hoping to achieve many things this year and will gladly report all my successes...and maybe failures. I'll leave you with a quote I heard today. "Berlin is a perfect example of what it means to not speak out, not stand up for your beliefs." -Samantha Brown

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Whiling away my Sunday

I'm not even sure that whiling is an actual word. Being from Texas means I can get away with making up hick words and saying hick things like y'all and tump over.

Today we went to IHOP and sat in a very claustrophobic restaurant and ate smiley faced pancakes and omelettes. Now we'll spend the rest of the day whiling away the hours doing odds and ends.

I'll get my coupons in order. I bought 2 newspapers this time. We'll do some housework which can be soothing sometimes as it brings order to one's life. Don't worry we won't get crazy with it.

We let Rowan play around with the camera and these are some photos she took or wanted taken. This one is her and her ole Pa. Notice her stomach hanging out of her Hello Kitty shirt.
This one she took. Even though it's blurry I really like it. Even though Rowan can be a pain, and I'm allowed to say that because she's too young to know I'm writing this, this is basically how we feel when we're all together and she's around. Just plain happy. Content.
And this one is Rowan looking at the camera and pressing the button saying something like, "press it like this?" Yes, Rowan, just like that.
And this is a picture of the lamp she took. It's actually very artistic. Good placement and the lighting is very good. Duh. It's a lamp.
And now for all those thinking how cute Rowan is. This is a picture of what she has done today before noon. Real cute. Somehow she managed to squirt orange paint 10+ feet across the island and into the open dishwasher. So much for whiling away the hours.