Couch to 5K

I'm doing it.  Day four.  I'm still alive.

2010 Wrap-Up

I am copying Linda over at All & Sundry. I took her list from last year and edited it a bit.

So here is my 2010 wrap-up:

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?
There must be something but I guess it was so unremarkable that I can't remember it.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I'm not a big new year's resolution kind of person. This always seems to imply that if you want to fix something you need to wait for a special date to begin the process. That just seems dumb. If it needs fixing, then fix it!

With that being said, I want to lose some weight and get my hip fixed.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes! My neice had her beautiful baby, Ava Danielle, in July.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, thank god.

5. What countries places did you visit?
We met B's brother, SIL & their kids at Hershey Park and had a very pleasant day there. We went to Washington, DC and got to be all touristy-like. We moved back to Florida and then came to Indiana. Really exciting. I had a few interview trips (Houston, TX, Iowa, North Carolina) nothing special.

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
A bicycle; a hip replacement so I can say goodbye to constant pain.

7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

• March 8th – horrible car accident
• November 8th – started new job

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I got a new job with great pay and great benefits.

9. What was your biggest failure?
This really isn't my failure...but the work-at-home job didn't work out unfortunately (the contract I was going to work on didn't get won by the company). I also didn't get a permanent offer from the company I was working for (they didn't want to pay me what I was worth, twits!).

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Other than the chronic hip pain, no. I broke my elbow just at the end of 2009 so that doesn't count. E broke his ankle in May. I got bad seatbelt contusions and B broke his finger in our horrible car accident in March (we soooo could have been killed then).

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Hmmm...this is difficult. I am cheap and don't spend a lot of money...well, we bought a new car (see above for why we needed a new car).

12. Where did most of your money go?
Stupid mortgage on a house we can't live in.

13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The job that fell through. It would have been perfect...great pay, great benefits, work from our house...*sigh*

14. What song will always remind you of 2010?
Song?

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? Happier
b) thinner or fatter? About the same...maybe a tiny bit thinner (maybe only in my mind).
c) richer or poorer? Just a bit richer

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Relaxing. Doing fun family things.

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Quarrelling with B.

18. How did you spend Christmas?
Quiet Christmas at home.

19. What was your favorite TV program?
Eh...don't really watch TV... I've been watching Lost on Netflix

20. What was the best book you read?
I have really read a lot this year but there is nothing really memorable. I just finished Pretty in Plaid by Jen Lancaster...I love her books.

21. What was your favorite film of this year?
That would presuppose that I went to see current films.

22. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Nothing. I am 35...no, wait...I am 50-something. I am old.

23. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
To be able to actually live in one of the houses that we own or to sell the house in Idaho (I can almost physically feel this as a weight around my neck).

24. Who did you miss?
I miss my family. We will be travelling back to Seattle in March for my nephew's wedding. I am looking forward to seeing everyone then.

Nerdiness

I finally got around to downloading some pics from my camera the other day (okay, it was yesterday) and guess what? I found some Christmas pictures! Guess what I was doing on Christmas morning?

Yes. I am a nerd. Yes. I am the one who puts this crap together. Yes. I am insane.

But at least I am coordinated:

We got some snow...

Yes, we did. The first winter blast of snow last weekend was a cake walk compared to what we got hit with on Wednesday. First of all, it was a Saturday. I had to convince B that there would be no hockey on that day but other than that, we had plenty of food, never lost power and we got along just fine and dandy.

When it started to come down on Tuesday, after B picked me up from work we needed to make an emergency grocery stop (milk and forgawdssake TOILET PAPER). It didn’t really snow too much that evening and when I went to bed about 11 we had gotten maybe an inch? Maybe? Nah, this storm ain’t nothin’. Hah! I say to you, storm! You are beneath me!! Mother Nature, I fart in your general direction.

Well, she must have heard me and Mother Nature, she is a bitch. On Wednesday morning, we had been blessed with about another foot of snow. And still it was snowing.

You know, sometimes I don’t think that B has the sense God gave a duck. “Get ready for work! Get E ready for school!”

Me (logging onto the computer SINCE WE DON’T HAVE A TV AND CAN’T WATCH THE NEWS): “Ummm…school is cancelled today. I don’t think it’s a good idea to go out in this.”

“Nonsense! I will go dig the car out. Look! A snowplow just came by!”

“Ooookay…”

And still it was snowing.

I get to work. There were maybe 10 people there. We all congratulated each other on our stupidity pluck and determination. And still it was snowing.

The VP came around at 9:45 and said, “We are closing in 10 minutes. Go home. Drive carefully. May God have mercy on your souls” (okay, he didn't say that last but he should have). I asked if we get a special prize (I did. I'm just that way...). I call B to come and pick me up.

(An aside: while waiting to be picked up I saw no less than 6 snowplows drive by - NONE OF THEM PLOWING. What's up with that? Are they all running back to their snowplow diner to smile and laugh at the the morons who were stupid enough to be out in this insane weather?)

The trip home was pretty dicey. The roads really sucked. Visibility was near zero at some times. I think that B was driving using sheer instinct and prayer. Me? I was hanging on to the door frame and pushing my invisible brakes through the floorboards. I was screaming in my head OHMYGAWD, OHMYGAWD, I CAN’T SEE THE ROAD! OHMYGAWD, OHMYGAWD while calmly saying to E, “Please don’t disturb daddy, sweetie. These are really bad road conditions.” OHMYGAWD!!!!! WE’RE GONNA DIIIIEEEE!

Well, we didn’t die. We didn’t crash. We made it home fine. And this morning we found…

This is our car. AFTER B had shoveled the car out. There is a tiny path just the width of a single snow shovel from our door to the parking lot.

This is (one of) the giant piles of snow where the snow plows dumped it.

This is the giant pile of snow in front of our building. Yesterday we couldn't even open the front door.This is our patio. The snow hits E about hip level, making it something over 2 feet (I am guessing something like 2.5).

So much for global warming...

I Love Zappos

Mmmmm....shoes...














Happy birthday to me.

The Magician

I did not post much about what we did this past Halloween. We had a pretty busy day, though. We started out at O'Dark thirty with a hockey game. Then we went to a local library which had a magician performing. E volunteered and I got this tasty video:

E and the Magician from itsjustme on Vimeo.

We ended the day Trick-or-Treating with one of my co-workers and her grandson in their neighborhood. The day was (only slightly) marred by the downpour that occurred (fortunately) at the end of our Trick-or-Treating outing. We went back to Ginny's house and E & D played downstairs while our clothes dried in the dryer and she & I sipped hot coffee and chatted. A pretty good day.

Greatest Gift

Don't have much to say today, but I want to post this because I love this song. This is another one that I wind up blubbering through. Enjoy.

RIP, Mary Travers

Mary Travers died yesterday. She was one-third of Peter, Paul and Mary, the folk trio who gained fame in the 60s with protest songs and anthems. I have always favored songs with good lyrics, melodies and harmonies, so I have always loved PP&M.

But a tall, blonde woman and two goatee’d men (all three aging) with two guitars singing of civil rights and protesting a war that is only known in history books do not sell records anymore. You only heard of PP&M when they went on a reunion tour or had a special on PBS. Last year I watched a PBS re-run of one of their ‘reunion’ tours. I sat and sang along, mostly with tears in my eyes. My son saw me and asked, “why are you crying, mommy?”

“Because this song is so beautiful, sweetie.”

“Don’t cry, mommy.”

They were playing Puff, the Magic Dragon. I wasn’t thinking of a dragon but of a battered yellow fish and a pink and green bear, both a bit ragged as the softness has been loved off of them. I looked at my sweet boy and knew that soon these two little stuffed animals will wind up stuffed in a box somewhere just as Jackie Paper’s dragon was. E won’t want to sleep with a bear and a fish anymore and I will lovingly store them in a box somewhere awaiting a time when perhaps my son’s child will need some comfort as he sleeps.

“Yes, my sweet, this song makes mommy cry.”

And it probably always will.



A dragon lives forever, but not so little girls. Rest in peace, indeed, Mary Travers.

Of Fire Ants and Hummingbirds

One thing that I did not miss about living in the southern regions of the country is fire ants. They certainly belong in one of the lower circles of hell. If you have not lived in the south then you have not been introduced to these nasty little devils. These are not the innocuous little black ants of my youth in the northwest. These little mites lay in wait and jump out to lay their torture on unsuspecting bare or sandled feet and ankles.

This is the south, y'all. Sandals are part of the uniform (and no wisecracks about the pedicure or I'm gonna have to hurt you).

Yesterday as I, all unsuspectingly, was retrieving my groceries from my trunk I felt at first a little burning, then more then more. It feels like someone is sticking pins in your feet, little devils. I got four bites in one toe alone. They must have thought it was a smorgasbord.

God I hate them.

Speaking of southern wildlife, there has been a hummingbird snacking on the bottlebrush trees outside my window. I am still trying to get a decent picture of the little guy. I probably shouldn't be calling it a 'guy'. I think it's a female since she isn't all adorned and all.

Anyway, this is the best I have so far.

Here's hoping your day brings more hummingbirds than fire ants.

Back again

Oh. Yeah. We moved in to our new townhouse last week and got cable/internet yesterday. Yay!! I can finally post here and access my email without having to go to the library.

I thank B's sister. She put up with us for almost three (3!!) months. She is almost a saint. But she doesn't have internet access at her house!!! My god! How very 20th century!!

Well, we are still in Minnesota. It isn't snowing. And I am still employed. I yam a happy woman.

And now, since anyone who may have actually been reading this has moved on, I am really looking forward to posting regularly again. Tomorrow. For it is late. And I want a bath. And some wine.

Over the Rainbow

Yesterday on our long, long, LOOOONG drive home we passed through patches of sun intermingled with rain showers. When we exited the freeway and started the drive to my SIL's place I saw the arc of a rainbow in the distance.

"Look, E, a rainbow!"

"I don't see it..."

"Right over there, between the..."

"Oh! There is is...do you see the end of it?"

"It's over there behind those trees."

"Can we drive to the end of the rainbow?"

I paused for a few moments. Do I talk about optics and prisms and that from a different angle it will disappear? Do I tell him that there is no 'end' of the rainbow, no pot of gold, no dream to reach for?

"We don't have enough gas, sweetie."

"Oh."

It made me a bit sad though. I am sad that I no longer believe in searching for the end of the rainbow, tilting at windmills or chasing unicorns. Santa is just a guy in a red costume, after all.

When is it that we lose the whimsy and playfullness of children? I don't know. I do know that I wish we had had enough gas to go chasing that rainbow.

Someone Lost a Tooth

How Much Would It Take

On the way in to work this morning, I noticed a sign posted on the door:

Found some money. If you can tell me the EXACT AMOUNT it will be returned.

Followed by a name and phone number.

This got me to wondering. How much money would I have to find to bother with a sign like this? Now I am the type of person who will correct a clerk at the checkout line when she hands me too much change. In that situation it really doesn't matter the amount, I have given back amounts ranging from just a quarter to a ten dollar bill.

But if I find some laying on the floor at work? What would it take in that situation? A couple of bucks??... Probably not...it's just not enough to bother about. But what about $10? $20? $50?

I don't know. Thoughts?

Bad Blogger...again

I have been a very bad blogger lately. I have no excuse. Except that my life is one big steaming pile of horse crap right now.

Prepare to be suitably depressed as the days follow and I commence to spill my rather dodgy guts to the Internets (not that I get a lot of traffic anyway...).

Yearly Lecture

Ummm, yeah. Went to the doctor yesterday. Basically a yearly checkup, fasting bloodwork, yearly 'female' stuff, the yearly weight lecture, etc. Also, my hip hurts like hell. Got a reinforcement on the yearly weight lecture (losing weight will help your joints, yeah, yeah). Blood pressure was high in the office. Okay, maybe some white coat syndrome, maybe some of the chicken adobo I had for dinner last night (1 CUP of soy sauce...umm, yeah). Was not so high at home last night.

Anyway, I am going to work on my weight. Will probably join Weight Watchers again. Probably online since I don't have a freakin' car and am so bloody immobile. I wonder if I can get a WW at work started here. This is a GIANT company and they seem to emphasize health stuff.

I am gonna put this weight tracker thingy on my sidebar. Maybe if I look at that thing everytime I go to my blog it will motivate me (like seeing my flabby flesh in the mirror in the morning is not motivation enough?? Evidently not...).

*sigh*

(for your entertainment...funny weight loss stories...)

Updates

Good news:

1. Snot and sore throat: I started taking that Cold-Eze on Friday when I first started feeling my sore throat and today, Tuesday, after a not too bad weekend, I am feeling much better now...(channelling John Astin...).
2. Jacksonville has been named one of America's cleanest cities and the population has continued to increase the past few years so hopefully it will help us in selling our house.
3. I finished a super-high-priority (where the visibility goes very high in this lab) aspect of my project so I am looking pretty good here at work.

Not so Good news:

B has to get a grip on reality and stop writing giant checks behind my back (to try to pay off our mortgage). Fortunately the loan is in my name and the loan officer called me to ask about it (I told her to shred the check).

Sometimes I just want to take a club...

Heh.

Heh. Long time, no post.

What is it about laughing babies? If this don't make you smile, then you must be dead.

Not something you hear every day...

There was an elk alert announced on the radio today.

Because of the cold weather this winter, elk are at a lower elevation this year and there are elk crossing I-84 between Boise and Mountain Home.



Now in the event of an accident, that would be a difficult conversation to have with an insurance company that was based (probably) in Ohio or New York...

"You hit a whaaat...???"

Cursing

Had a note the other day that we needed to speak with E's teacher.

Uh, oh. That is never a good thing.

It turns out that E dropped some blocks and proceeded to say, "Shit. Shit. Shit."

Um. Guess we're gonna have to start watching what we say more.

The worst part is he kept encouraging the other kids to say it too.

My son. The King of Curses.

My New Toy

Here I am playing with my new toy. I am so glad to finally get a decent camera again. I still have my trusy old Pentax, but it is a film camera. And let's face it, film is just soooo last century.

I am hoping to get back into photography like I used to do. I think I used to be pretty good, but I just haven't been doing it much because I simply hate those point-and-shoot cameras. All of the ones I have take so long to take a picture that by the time the shutter clicks, the subjects have all left the scene and are back in the lodge drinking rum toddies.

This picture is straight out of the camera and since I didn't use a flash it is kind of dark, but I just wanted a quick-and-dirty shot.

Why did I buy myself a camera? Because it is my birthday. And no one else will.

Happy birthday to me.