Post Turkey

I guess we all took a minute to enjoy Thanksgiving.  It's been a while, perhaps since employment that I last set my blog down for over a week.  Probably a good thing.

We did take our little trip to Mississippi, which was wonderful and delicious, though too quick.  It was all of driving there, preparing for the meal, cooking the meal, cleaning up afterward, and then coming home.  In the few bits of down time, I really enjoyed hanging with the fam, as I hadn't been to my aunt's house since about this time three years ago when I lived with her for the fall.  Good thing I married the dude I was waiting around for.  Yay.  Small food highlights:  roasted turkey, fried turkey, stuffing with shrimp, sausage, and crawfish, cheesy baked mashed potatoes, asparagus, brussel sprouts, pies, mini pumpkin whoopie pies (cookies).  Amazing.

The holiday didn't help my run any, but it hasn't hurt too much (yet).  I ran once in Mississippi on a trail that runs alongside the Natchez Trace.  Beautiful, and I didn't even feel like I was likely to be raped - even when I hollered for Joe who was ahead of me and he couldn't hear me.  I actually didn't wrap up my week 8 runs until yesterday.  Oops.  Too much stuff going on.  The last run was 28 minutes, which ended up being around 2.5-2.6 miles.  I was hoping for 2.75.  Dunno if it's the hills or that I'm just slow.  I feared it would be terrible yesterday, but it was actually awesome.  Turns out a good strategy is to run past stuff that is slightly creepy/scary - like the weird dude on the side of the road or that dicey neighborhood.  That's what I did yesterday.  Damn sure wasn't going to stop.  In the end I even felt so good I sprinted.  Sort of.

Tomorrow I start my last week of the C25K program.  Tear.  Three 30 minute runs, and that's it.  Then next week will be the week of my first 5k.  Joe was set to run it with me before he realized his TDY is a week longer than anticipated.  Oh man.  Maybe I was hormonal, but I cried intermittently for the rest of the evening.  (Probably also had to do with old Army wounds too.)  It seemed like Joe was all I had, ya know.  I didn't feel like I should have to ask a friend to stand outside at 8AM for half an hour in December on a Saturday to watch me run.  No, it seems that should be reserved for family.

But seeing how hard I've worked and how upset I was that he isn't going to be there, Joe secretly texted my Army wife BFF about it, and she left me the sweetest message asking if she could come watch me.  I was and am really happy that she doesn't mind coming out, and I knew Joe had a part in it.  He denied it, but after I snatched his phone, he chased me around my aunt's house, catching me before I could check his call/text logs, which pretty much gave me my answer.  I don't mind, though, and in fact I'm glad he did.  Otherwise, I would have probably bailed out of self-pity.  It was really sweet of him to look out for me, and I'm glad that if he's not waiting for me at the Big Dog Jingle finish line, someone else will be who I know, love, and is my (only) Army family here.

It's Thanksgiving Week, Y'all

This time in two days we'll be in good ol' Mississippi, perhaps even questioning if we've made the right travel plans.  I think any family gathering causes one to consider alternatives after the fact, but still I'm excited for it and welcome the insanity.  Then, it'll be back to multiple years of staying home.  :-)

We've been on a four day weekend since Thursday.  It's flown by, and sadly, I don't really remember Thursday or Friday.  One day was errands and the other day was something.  I ran one day as well as today.  Something, something.  Yesterday we actually gathered with people for a Thanksgiving dinner who were for the most part NOT in Joe's unit.  HOORAY!!  Sometimes I feel like we get so wrapped up in everything - the same people and politics that it's really nice to get a breath of fresh air.  Plus, they had two fried turkeys.  Amazing.  AMAZING.  

Today's been a good day too, despite a rocky start.  I caught Joel Osteen AND Word on Fire this morning and have actually continued to contemplate both (similar) messages throughout the day.  Something about watching church from my living room makes me feel less judged.  AND, these guys have great voices, which helps me pay attention.  I could go on about my past church issues, but I'll spare you.

Later in the afternoon, Joe and I went to a nearby park with very FEW hills.  Thank God.  It was the first day of my 28 minute runs.  Joe started off with me and then ran off to do some sprints to train for his upcoming half marathon.  The run didn't start well for me, though they never really do, but about half way through I settled in and felt I could go for a while.  I knew I could have kept going, but I'm not looking to max out right now.  Just finish the runs.  The goal today was 28 minutes or 2.75 miles.  With all the hills I usually have, I look more at my time than distance, but today Joe said I nailed the distance as well.  He was really proud, which was pretty great.  I'm proud too, and I'm even starting to notice physical changes in my shape, etc.  It's really good. 

On a final note, Joe and I ate out together for the only time this month since his grandma rolled through and took us out.  We got the Domino's carryout special - Lg 2 topping for $5.99.  It was $6.41 with tax.  We've done so well to tighten our budget this month.  It has not been easy, but we have made it work and will have leftover money for Christmas gifts that does not have to come out of savings.  Still, here's hoping Joe is sent to the promotion board ASAP...though I keep wanting to call it the "parole" board...HA.  It seems there are probably plenty of parallels.....

Sponsored A(d)sssss

So ya know those ads on the side of your Facebook page?  Oh, you don't know because you don't check FB a thousand times a day like an addict in need of a hit?  Well, let me tell you, I keep seeing social worker ads on my page.  One is for MSW, which I have, and the other for Ph.D in social work.  They both make me insanely mad because I already spent a lot of money on one of the worthless degrees, and then to pour salt in my wound, FB says I should be a doctor in the philosophy of social work.  Yeah.  Sure.  As I flashback to one of the last patients I saw = female pathological liar with two black eyes and both wrists held together by a long series of vertical staples.  Not to mention that last masturbator.  No, I think I'll pass on the Ph.D in shit that makes me want to kill myself.  Thanksomuch.

My other two rants for right now are: 1) No free turkey - instead I got an e-mail of what appear to be orders with other people's info in it.  I informed the sender of this, thinking it might be sensitive, but have not gotten a response.  2) Joe's seriously about to go into pay loss, which makes #1 on this list even more angering.  Give me whatever is free.  I am not prideful, and the Army takes from me all the time.  Bah.

That aside, it's been a pretty glorious evening.  I hit the dog park on post this evening and was soon after met there by Joe and a few friends, as well as strangers and strange dogs.  Dexter, of course, embarrassed me right off the bat with the raping of a male weimaraner.  Thankfully, what had most people's attention was not the humping itself, but rather the fact that my fixed male dominated one that was intact.  Poor Charlie.  But it all went fine.  People and dogs alike all got along.  Lu, who has recently been afraid of strangers, ran right up to folks she didn't know (even males, though she loves only Joe) to say hello and let them pet her.  Woohoo!!

After the dog park, we came home, and I made tacos.  Then after dinner, I made a badass fire (in our fireplace).  Joe made us hot tea and we settled in with exhausted pups and some crime shows.  Now we're in bed - Joe of course is half sick (but still ran six miles today - wtf?) and cashed.  The heat is on a low setting, and with the bedroom window cracked open and the cool 40's air coming in, we have a down comforter over our regular one.  (I love cool air on my face and blankets on the rest of me.)  Great night.  Love my family.  xo

It's Lovely Weather for a Sleigh Ride Together with LU!!

I got down in her face and sang the whole song to her.  She's so chill.  I'm getting them conditioned for children...or just a long life with ME.  Lu is ready.  Dex hates feet.  That's a problem.  

Day 2 and Gold's still hasn't charged my account.  I'm going to go ahead and claim victory.  And in light of that, Cardio X from my own living room felt extra good tonight. Maybe after I've been running a bit more, I'll pop in to good ol' Gold's and ask the attendants if they're still bringing KFC back from across the street and eating it in their back office to the torture of their patrons. 

At any rate, I knocked shit out today, which is probably going to be super boring to list, so I guess I won't.  We did get the CRV dropped off for windshield replacement, and prior to that I got the oil changed.  Tuesday is $5 off an oil change for ladies, and then it was b1g1 free windshield wipers.  Came in under budget on that.  Awesome, and best of all the dude installed them there.  Which was kind of hilarious to watch from my front row seat in the car (cuz it's one of those where you don't get out).  Anyhow, I really got shit rolling on that car today - gathered all the maintenance records and checked the carfax report (which Joe had never done).  Everything was good until I realized the front door automatic windows are getting peculiarly slow.  Dear God, let us sell this car already.  SERENITY NOW!

I also checked into my cashed out retirement.  It's been over three months since I quit - maybe four now, and my money is still all sorts of tied up.  It's just Murphy's Law all across the board.  I'm not even mad anymore.  It's just too stupid to be mad at any longer.  One day hopefully I'll get a decent check in the mail, and it'll be a nice surprise. 

On the bright side, Joe did graduate from WLC today.  Woot woot.  Next stop Promotion Board?!  Eh?  He has to go back to his company tomorrow but then is off for the rest of the week, which is good because he's starting to get pneumonia or something.  But I don't work, so I can nurse him back to health (enter: maniacal laughter).  Next week he works on Monday, and then Tuesday we're off to Mississippi for a very Happy [Redneck] Thanksgiving! 

GOBBLES!

"I peed on my balls.  I don't even know how it happened..."

Casa De Mulia

It's pretty great here tonight.  The Eagles are on and have been giving the Redskins a pretty hard spanking, though it's letting up a teensy bit now.  I'm laying in bed watching the game with the sound mostly turned down since Joe's asleep beside me...he has to get up at 0315 to be at work by 0445.  It's like the Warrior Leadership Course is taking one last opportunity to screw him...he graduates tomorrow!!  Woohoo.  Last bit of goodness here is that the bedroom window is open, letting the cool, damn air in as well as the sound of drizzly rain.  As I've heard Sarah say, SNUG.

Today was overall a pretty good day.  I believe that Gold's Gym and I may really be parting ways now.  They debit my account on the 15th of every month, and nothing came out today.  Please Lord, don't let it be taken out tomorrow.  That's $50 extra bucks for the month, as well as a headache I no longer have to deal with.  YEAH!

Running went better today.  I ran alone before Joe got home, and I went for all 25 minutes, which is hopefully somewhere around 2.5 miles.  When Joe runs with me, it's actually usually pretty good, but when I run with him is where we run into trouble.  On Saturday, he tried to take me for a run.  No good.  It's all about who is in charge.  Thankfully, for the past several weeks he has slowed it down and basically been my cheerleader.  It was actually pretty difficult to run by myself today (minus having someone running me on never ending hills), and I'm pretty sure I run better at night.  Something about the darkness...I dunno.  But I got it done today, and tomorrow my "off" running day training will consist of Cardio X.  What up.

Before I get back to the game (or pass out), I will share the story of Dex puking.  I had to give Dex his two antibiotic pills tonight, as well as two glucosamine.  Wrapped them in velveeta cheese - he took them right down.  That is until he threw up just the pills and a tiny bit of food  a short time later.  I walked into the living room, and he was doing the sad dog thing, laying next to his vomit.  Dude, he needs his medicine, so I scraped the puke up with the dog food scoop and put it in his bowl with a little extra food.  Of course, he ate around it.  I then picked up the puke ball and put it right in his mouth.  He spit it out, and by this time, the capsules are spilling their powdery contents.  So I called for a spoon of peanut butter from Joe.  Nurse Joe worked quickly, and I managed to take the pill mass and jam them into the peanut butter and let Dex lick it all off the spoon.  Success.  And that is when Joe said, "I think you're ready to be a mom."  

Dah Dah Douche

Wow. A dumpy mood can really turn around when you get news of a free turkey. Yes, we qualify for a free Army turkey. Woohoo! GOBBLES!!!! Sometimes I like to get in the dogs' faces and shout "GOBBLES!" the way Timmy does on South Park. They love it.  And then I let my face go slack and shake my head really face to make the noise Gobbles makes.  Turns out I'm really good at it.

Well, we had a poor people weekend. Of course, Joe worked on Saturday, so that cut into plans anyway. But yeah, we did not eat out, nor have we at all in November (except when Grams and Aunt Jo took us out on Thursday - woot!), nor did we spend any money on things other than groceries or taking Dex to the vet. Seems that he has an infected lip, possibly from a Lu-bite. 

Not eating out hasn't been too terrible. I made a huge batch of manicotti Saturday night, which is looking to give us four meals. YES. I froze some of it for next weekend, though I'm hopeful there might be some room in the budget to have a small meal out together. We'll see. I'm just damn determined to have some money left over at the end of the month, and at this rate, we'll be able to get some Christmas gifts and STILL have a little extra. Woohoo.

In running news, I put off my 25 minute Friday run to Saturday so Joe could go with me (he wanted to). Well, Joe went nuts and tried to become Coach Knapp. He had me running up several hills right off the bat, which frustrated me to no end. I knew I was going to get mentally and physically exhausted too quickly and not have enough for the end. I do push myself, and I do run hills regularly. But I am a beginner, and I am following a specific program which does not say to run yourself ragged on hills at the beginning of a session. And thus, I lost control of my breathing really early on and felt like death, though Joe still wouldn't listen, so I punched him in the arm. I know that was wrong, but it ended up being the thing that finally got his attention. Of course, he got pissed off and ran off in another direction. I tried to push on and did for a while, but after dizziness and nausea started to set in, I stopped between seventeen and eighteen minutes of the twenty-five I was supposed to do. I was so frustrated I cried. I just really want to be good at something and right now this is sort of all I have.

We've since both apologized to each other, me for the arm-whacking and Joe for trying to coach me. Hell, I could have ignored him and done my own thing, but I trusted him as the senior runner. He later told me that he wanted to push me to achieve success and confidence with the hills so that I would feel good and in turn, he would feel good.  For me to feel confident about my runs, I need to just complete them.  I'm only now starting my first week of all running and no walking.  I just need to knock out the next couple weeks with consistent running before I start to challenge myself with extra stuff.  Maybe Joe was projecting onto me the things he would like to do in training, as I believe he is going to start preparing for that half marathon in January...  I think I may try to run without him tomorrow. :-)

"Money, Get Away..."

"Get a good job with more pay and you're okay...." - Pink Floyd

I feel like I'm trapped in a big catch twenty-two with money. I've said it before: I wish I could work only when Joe is gone and then when he is home magically not have to anymore, but always have the job to go back to. Not possible, or at least not that I've found yet. It seemed when I was working - during the week and every other weekend - that it was very stressful trying to coordinate time off with Joe and make sure I could be with him as much as possible when he was around. Now that I've quit, we get to hang out a whole lot more together, as well as not sweat having time to ourselves in thinking that we were sacrificing our already limited time together. Makes the marriage a bit more healthy in that respect. HOWEVER, now we don't have as much money to actually go do stuff or take off for a weekend. So more money = no time, and more time = less money. There's no winning. Right now we are literally on our last few dollars (excluding savings which I don't want to touch) until pay day - Monday. PiSSSSSSSS.

Whatever. Still waiting on other money to come in, sell Joe's car, and of course his elusive pending promotion. It's making Christmas-planning very interesting. I'm trying to come up with some inexpensive (perhaps more creatively personal) gifts. Since I have the time, I thought about baking. I have another idea that concerns some different tastes of the south that would be store-bought. I just don't know how to tell people that the gifting is going to be a bit slimmed down this year. Gah. Anyone else dealing with this? Do you have any nice, thoughtful alternatives to big expensive gifts? Help me.

"Let's Pee Down His Air Hole"

So it was one of those days where I know good things did happen, but now I'm tired and wounded and can only remember the crap. For example, the back door knob finally got replaced, which is really joyous news. To get the door to open we would have to simultaneously turn and shake the door knob like a violent HJ - think of that workout tool that you hold in both hands while it's vibrating up and down. Yeah. Not how I like to start my day (letting the dogs out).

However, the fact that I almost ripped my own mole off later in the day stands out more in my mind than being able to open the back door without pleasuring it. I was researching windshield replacement costs when I had this itch around my collar bone. God in heaven. One of my nails clipped the underside of the mole, and I thought it was over. I ran to the bathroom mirror to find the mole still intact and attached, though red and irritated on one side, if not a teensy bit bloody. Unable to cope with looking at it, I immediately slathered on neosporin and a bandaid. Windshield pricing was more nauseating after that.

Then, later, I went to volunteer at the humane society. I was warned that the dog "Bugsy" had no training and would "mouth" your hand, but what I wasn't told was that she would try to tackle you to the ground and turn your arm into a chew toy. Yeah, that happened. If it had been my dogs, they would have been down for the count, but I would like to volunteer there again, so I had to hold back. Still, somehow I dog whispered the shit out of her, and she didn't bite me anymore. The downside is that I look like a cutter now. Bugsy, you bitch.

After the dog incident, I came home to my pups and took a nap. I've been damn tired the last few days. Is the time change really that significant? Shit. I mean, I know I'm unemployed, but I've been keeping active and eating well. What the effffffff.

Naturally, being tired and bitchy, I didn't take well to Joe coming home late(r) tonight, especially given the circumstances. He's doing all this training to further his career and maybe some day get a damn promotion, and in the meantime he's gotten into pay hurt because he hasn't had time (save for that one windy day where it was canceled) jump out of a plane. Yeah, we get jump pay, but he has to jump every so often to keep it. Next stop: pay loss. Stupid stupid shit. I've never wanted him to jump out of a plane so badly. The pay loss isn't terrible, and he would be reimbursed (maybe...in about 893 years), but man, it's almost Christmas where every cent counts.

Butts UP

Dude, we totally got off the couch some this weekend. I had my twenty minute C25K run on Saturday, and I did it! Went about two miles without stopping! Each mile had 2-3 hills on it, which blew. They weren't huge ones, but kinda steep. Joe ran with me and at one point serenaded me with the high falsetto parts from Enrique Iglesias' "I Like It." Now that's love. AND, the whole time I ran, I did not think of my toes. New shoes are a go! Or maybe it's because I was too busy dealing with the cold air sniffles and blowing my nose into my sleeve every five minutes...

Since Joe worked the first half of Saturday, and I went nuts cleaning the house until he got home, we kinda chilled after our run. With Joe only having one day off a week now due to training, we pretty well laid low all weekend. We're also trying to hang on to our money for Christmas, etc. Wow, I just realized that this post is going to be pretty boring.

Today we walked for about 25 minutes and then came home and did the P90X Core Synergistics workout. It's tough, man. I've decided to work only the C25K program straight and use a few P90X workouts on my off-running days. Both would be too much. I'm starting week 6 of C25K, and after the next two sessions, all the rest are running only (goes through nine weeks total). No more walking. Need to make my off days count for sure. I'm really enjoying this - seeing what my body can do and being active with Joe. I'm also pushing Joe to run a half marathon January 8. It's free, and he can damn run. It's also a certified course should he want to run at something bigger and better later in the year. :-)

Blah blah blah blaaaaaah. Eagles beat the Colts today. Holy crap. Good night.

Toot My Horn (I Will)

And then I punched my blog in the face.

Okay, so I originally threw that pic up while testing the updated settings in my blog (thank you Aimee). At first it was being weird, but then when I put up the tweaker pic, it suddenly works. I was going to take it down, as it was a quick snap of me, immediately after exiting the can (thank you Croat). But it does show the one thing, nay, two things I have going for me. Hey, we're supposed to be more positive regarding our own bodies, right ladies? By god I'll do it then, even with this suck ass picture where I'm unshowered and attempting the biggest wink ever.

First, look at my teeth. They are beautiful and never has a pair of braces or even a retainer come close to them, not even in high school college/make-outs. Though you can't see it, the bottom row is perfectly straight as well. Of course, I do sleep with a night guard in (think Tina Fey in Date Night) to keep myself from grinding those gorgeous things to dust. And the color, beautiful; my gracious, I can't even remember the last time I used a whitening strip (I'm too cheap). They're just amazing, and I would like to take a moment to mention a man that I'm never supposed to mention in my blog ever EVER, my dad. D Shizz gave me these teeth. Thank you, sir.

Second, and final, are my eyebrows. While my left eye (your right) is collapsing in this picture, making a proper examination of my eyebrow pretty tough, righty (your left) is looking good. Yes, folks, it has taken me FIFTEEN years to get them back about to where God first gave them to me. See, at twelve years old I decided I wanted to shape them like my mom's, but this was after she'd already moved away, so I did it myself. No bueno. They then went really thin for a while, but now after careful growing, my luscious (but not too much so) eyebrows are back.

Honorable mention does go out to my ears. They're not too big or too small. They don't stick out, and I have enough lobe for earrings. If you ever look closely, you'll see I have three holes in each ear, though I only use the first holes so as to not continue to look like an angry high school gal.

My awesomeness aside, I cooked a pretty cool meal tonight. Wait, this is just furthering my awesomeness. So be it. Yeah, I cooked this tonight. It was bitchin. I'm trying to actually cook squash this winter instead of leaving it to look cool in a bowl on my counter. (I did do the butternut squash soup the other night too.) I was skeptical that I'd like it, but it turned out really well. I added extra garlic, ginger, and chili sauce. And instead of using a tenderloin, I used three boneless pork chops. Nothing processed in this meal (hello Paleo diet folks), and I could have added more veggies. Next time.

Arm Me With Harmony

Man, Naughty by Nature's "OPP" has been in my head all evening. I think it's because Jackie Jackson was on Oprah earlier, and I believe they played "ABC." Still, I really enjoy Naughty by Nature's rapping abilities.

So anyway, I'm trying to add more pictures to my blog. You know, to make it less boring, depressing. Plus, I read several blogs, all of which have way more pictures than mine does. Well, it's a pain in the ass. I don't know why, but I have to add all my pics in the reverse order in which I want to appear. I have fought this thing multiple times to no avail. Oh well. Here goes:


This morning, as I headed down the driveway in my Army sweats and aqua bathrobe to fetch my then empty trash can from the curb, I looked over and noticed my neighbor's curb. Being shocked by this white trash display (even dressed as I was), I involuntarily said aloud to myself "that's a mattress." Of course, I then went inside and got my camera. Hell no the trash dudes didn't take it. Where the hell would they put it?? Plus, unless it was gross, it should have been donated. But now it's rain-soaked in someone's yard. Jack asses.


Note the tree line that we're trying to grow to block the view of my neighbor's house, yard, and now mattress. Truly, they are strange people and not well-liked by the rest of the neighbors. The guy (an older man) is a douche and likes to give me pointers on various things. Well, sir, here is one for you: haul your own mattress away or buy a bed from a place that does it for you. C'MON.


I can't wait for the lady with the pristine yard across the street to call the cops on mattress man. I'll get my camera out for that too.


We're trying to eat well, so I bought these vegetables the other day. Um, and the bananas - fruit is really expensive this time of year, so yeah.


For lunch today, I had left over brown rice and baked vegetables (red pepper, broccoli, and purple onion). What I did was scramble 2 egg whites + 1 yolk and then dump the leftovers right into the frying pan with a little mozzarella cheese (made with 2% milk). I then heated up two flour soft tortillas (processed food, I know) and put a little reduced fat sour cream in it with some baby romaine lettuce on top. Then I dumped the frying pan contents on them and wrapped and ate.

This was also after my run today, so it was extra delicious. The run raped me. I dunno what happened. The first eight minutes were fine, and then I did my three minute walk. The next eight minutes were awful. I slowed way the hell down, but never quit. I think part of it is because my neighborhood has so many hills and the other was that I didn't run slow enough to start. When I got home, I immediately began stripping down on my way to the toilet. I'll spare you the rest. Day2 of Wk 5 = complete!


Dinner wasn't the healthiest, but not the worst - salad with some ranch dressing. I know, I know. The other thing is chicken with mushrooms. I dipped the chicken in a little egg/cream mixture (just a LITTLE cream) and then dredged it in bread crumbs. Browned them on both sides on the stove and then baked with mushrooms and a little mozzarella cheese. I sauteed the mushrooms some on the stove ahead of time. Once in the baking pan, you add a little chicken broth and throw it in the oven. Turned out well...not bad for a last minute google.


Back to running, I've been having issues with my feet hurting since I began my program, but in the last few days I have felt like lightning was going through my toes on my right foot. I did some internet research and then went into my local running store (not a chain). Dude answered all my questions and commended me on running the program alone. There are apparently local group runs that do the C25K together, but the guy told me I'd have more invested in it doing it singly and would therefore have better success. Positive reinforcement, yay!

So after the guy watched me run outside in front of the building (not in a creepy way), he measured my arch and my length and width. It was determined that I have a medium arch and decently narrow feet. (I think I was hurting because the toes on my narrow feet were clinging to my shoes for dear life.) After trying on a few pairs, I then purchased some shoes that would work with the size as well as with my pronation = Scott Makani 2's. I'd never heard of them, but a little research shows good reviews and winning Gear Junkie's Outdoor 'Gear of the Year' 2010 for Road Running Shoe. Woot. I'm almost bummed that I don't run again until Saturday, and I have NEVER felt that way. Feels good!

Back on the Wagon

I did my Couch 2 5K Week 5/Day 1 exercise tonight. Just as we were about to walk out of the house, Joe (with no prior verbalization of symptoms) proclaimed he had strep throat and made me look at the white stuff on that thing that hangs down in the back of your throat. Still, he wanted to go with me. About 30 seconds down the road in our warm up walk, he asked if it was really cold outside. I told him it was not and sent him back in the house, sensing he was borderline feverish. I won't lie; it would have been nice to have company. Still, I got it done and with Joe's PT belt on so I wouldn't get hit by a car. Run 5 minutes, walk 3 minutes, run 5 minutes, walk 3 minutes, run 5 minutes. Day 2 is going to be two 8 minutes runs with a small walk between them, and Day 3 is running 20 minutes with no walking, ideally at a 10 minute mile pace. We'll see.

To go along with the exercise, I'm trying to meal-plan some healthy stuff. I was checking out some recipes from the running blog I now follow. I really wish I could like oatmeal. I like it in muesli, but when it's cooked as oatmeal (even distracted with fruit or some seasoning), it triggers my gag reflex after a few bites. The texture + warm temp...I can't handle it. Maybe I will try again, though. Damn it. We actually do eat pretty healthy, but I'm looking to branch out a bit. Tired of the same ol' stuff. However, tomorrow I think I'm going to make butternut squash soup with a side salad of greens and left over chicken breast. I have to do "big" grocery shopping tomorrow, so I'm trying to get the meal line-up complete. With next month being Christmas, we really need to hoard our money for gifts, which means I need to be extremely savvy with how I grocery shop. I'm getting decent. Not up there with coupon mom, but I'm trying.

LOCKporT

Well, I am home from an amazing weekend in the land of best friends finishing each others' sentences and thinking the exact same thoughts at the same time. Maybe folks thought I was going to Chicago to drink my way up and down the downtown, party hardy. No, man. I went to hang out and talk to a great friend. We had so many good conversations. It was amazing. Also, I got to see the Croat as a mama and meet her amazing daughter. After a day or so, Olivia got used to me and would smile when she saw me. Heart = melted. I asked a ton of questions about having a kid, and Croat never hesitated to respond. It was great, and we even had a date night out together, just the two of us. Amazing. Unfortunately, we forgot to take any pics of us together. Bah.

Alas, here I am in Georgia once again. Traveling home was fairly uneventful. On my flight, I sat next to a small Asian guy about my age. He didn't speak much English, as evidenced by his exchange with the beverage cart gals. But when he saw me working on my sudoku puzzle, those numbers became our universal language. Unfortunately, he made no bones about staring at the puzzle while I tried desperately to crack it. And I just knew that because he was Asian, he was solving it in his head without issue. Finally, as he started to unfold his napkin to draw the puzzle board, I gave it to him - just handed him my newspaper, which he readily accepted. He didn't immediately get it all worked out, but soon enough while I watched over HIS shoulder. I then gave him my second one, which he didn't have time to complete on account that we landed. Along our descent he asked me a question, of which I could only understand the words "you" and "Atlanta," to which I said "yes." We're pretty much BFFs now.

After that I got my bag and headed to my car. I thought I remembered where I parked, but no dice. I overshot the damn aisle (seemed a lot further on Friday) and searched too far out for about 15 minutes before one of the courtesy carts came and picked me up. Since I was nearly in tears, I tipped the lady $5 once we found my car. I didn't have any ones, and she deserved it anyway, as she was very kind to me. And that's what happens when regular coffee drinkers skip all caffeine all day long. You lose your fucking brain.

But I made it home, jet-lagged (that one hour difference is pure craziness) and kind of dumb. Joe took care of making dinner (and coffee), and we relaxed together. I was supposed to run today, but it would have been terrible. Instead, I'm going to get back on the wagon, rest, eat clean, and run my no-nads off tomorrow. Booya, Georgia, I'm back!