Rainy Saturdays

Goals: 2x Arms, 2x Legs, 2x Cardio, Daily Abs
Sitrep: 2x Arms, 2x Legs, 1x Cardio, 5x Abs

It's one of those lovely lazy rainy Saturday mornings. There's a steady rain falling; it's about 45*F out. Just perfect for curling up on the couch with a blanket and a good book. It was wonderfully quiet this morning. (Once the dog was fed, that is. Boy she's obnoxious.) I feel a bit rejuvenated now. And this afternoon I'm off to my little sister's to see their new pony. {sigh} They need another critter like I need a hole in the head, but Michelle is a rescuer. She just can't say "no". Even when she really, really wants to.

Her girls know this, which makes it easy for them to manipulate her. Especially Shanni, as the baby. I can't blame Michelle. I'm about as bad. Which is why I'd make a terrible mom.

Speaking of Moms. As I was drifting off to sleep last night I was thinking of how nice it would be to have a hug from Mom & Dad. Not that I was feeling bad, or sick, or upset or anything was wrong. Just that sometimes it's nice, even at 34, to have those arms around you. Sometimes it's nice to have that feeling that there's someplace safe where someone will keep the bad stuff away.

And as I was thinking this, it struck me that this is how my niece thinks of my sister and BIL. And how my brother's kids think of him and their mom. Although they are getting old enough, at least the girls are, to start seeing beyond that safety a little bit. Soon they'll start realizing, at least a little bit, that that feeling is more of an illusion than reality.

How strange to suddenly realize that my brother and sister are the ones that are now the Mom and the Dad. I knew that, but didn't think what it really meant I guess. How frightening it must be for them and my sil & bil.

It was a weird feeling as I lay there thinking on this. Especially from the youngest niece's point of view. I knew what she was thinking/feeling as a child and what I was thinking/feeling as an adult. And how the two thoughts/feelings were the same yet different. It almost felt like we meshed. Like I was in her head while at the same time in my own.

Titleless...in other words, TGIF!

Goal: 2x Arms, 2x Legs, 2x Cardio, Daily Abs
Sitrep: 2x Arms, 1x Legs, 1x Cardio, 4x Abs

The elephant on roller skates made it to the bottom of the hill yesterday. With only one near-miss. [g] I did Arms, but was getting that glare in front of my eyes that usually signals "fever" or "migraine ahead". I took 2 ibuprofen and lay down for about 30 minutes. The glare kinda went away so I did Abs. I got it done, and only ended up with a minor headache. [g]

But wait! Still have more workouts to do to meet the week's goals, and I definitely can't use the weekend as an excuse to not workout. You know, that old "I'll do that tonight" or "I'll do extra tomorrow". Because that just turns into "Gee, I have 2 hours to do today. Maybe I should just start over from scratch tomorrow since I'm so far behind." I felt really proud of myself last night for pushing through and getting my goal for the day done. I'm going to focus on that and do my 30 minutes after work today. Legs & Abs. Legs are my least favorite. BUT THEY ARE HISTORY.

Other than that, I'm not feeling particularly chatty or upbeat today. The "glare" is back in front of my eyes. Makes it hard to focus on anything. Going to buy the sinus rinse recommended by cranky otter today. ;) [I know, I know. Took me long enough. I've just been avoiding stores. Too many people & I can't handle that when I'm sick.]

I'm also feeling blue today about that friend that just kinda dropped me this summer. It's dawned on me that our friendship for all intents and purposes is over. Whenever I try to talk to her now I get the look. You know the one. The "studying a bug through a microscope" look. Or worse, she gets the same look on her face she used to get when our former (thank the gods) crazy-as-a-loon receptionist used to talk to her. I just realized the other night: Our friendship started with her grandmother's death, and ended with my grandmother's death. Oh, the irony!

Halfway There - Hoo Yah!

Goals: 2x each Arms, Legs, Cardio + Daily Abs
Sitrep: 1x Arms, 1x Legs, 1x Cardio, 3x Abs

Well, I did it! I've completed 30 minutes of REVing for 3 days straight now. Hoo yah! Feels good. I did the cardio as soon as I got home last night, and then had dinner because I was starving. Exercising makes me hungrier. I'd always heard it's supposed to do the opposite, but that's never worked for me. Anyway. Did the Abs later in the evening, around 8pm. I think it was Alden's - and everyone else's - wonderful replies to my post yesterday that kept me going. I just focused on how good I feel after doing Abs, and how much I actually like abs. And I kept picturing myself with a flat stomach. Now there's some motivation.

I also got outside yesterday with my camera. I've completely spaced on the manual settings, it's been so long. I didn't get very many good shots in the end. Sigh. Now I remember why I stopped. My unreasonable perfectionism ruined it for me.

The important thing is, I had a great time just tooling around in my yard, trying to capture the trees and the light and the clouds, etc., on film. Trying to capture what I was "feeling" with the camera. I had fun. So I'm just going to keep plugging away at it. Because that's what matters. That I enjoyed myself, not how many "good" photos I got.

And that's something I need to apply to working out. Doing these exercises is what gives me the physical and mental energy to get out there and do things I enjoy. Today, Thursday, is generally the day that I let the friction stop me; that I let inertia grab hold once more. Well, not today.

So here's a Shout-Out to everyone that reads this: I'm challenging you to exercise today. Any exercise. Walking, running, hiking, weights, going to the gym, BodyRev - whatever you like. Just get out there and exercise today. And I will do Arms & Abs tonight.

I will come back here tomorrow and post my success. Because this unbalanced force is gonna annihilate that inertia!

I am an elephant on roller skates heading down hill. ;)

[And no, that's not a reference to my weight or size. It's just how powerful I feel!]

Newton's First Law of Motion

Goals: 2x Legs, 2x Arms, 2x Cardio, Daily Abs
Sitrep: 1x Legs, 1x Arms, 2x Abs

Holy smokes was last night full of dreams. And they weren't that fun. I think the networks need to add another rating to their system. One for "Chock-full of spiders and big ugly true-to-life gigantic pictures of the little b#$%!#ds." Geez. It was one darn line that started the dreams, though. "No matter where you are, you're never more than 6 feet from a spider." Lovely thought. Does that black can of Raid come in a pocket size?

But I really wanted to focus today on something that came up in this week's Gator Patrol. I've been thinking about it for a few days now and can't figure it out. The post was "Why do I (we - because I'm sure I'm not alone in this) do this to myself? It's so much harder to keep starting over than it would be to keep going."

This is exactly what I do. But why? Is it because I'm lazy at heart? (I am.) Because I don't like to exercise? (True as well.) But I do this elsewhere in my life. I'm a great starter, not a good finisher. You only have to take a look at all the unfinished projects around my house to figure that out. But why is that. Is it learned or are was I born that way? Why are people so darn different?

I look at my family. My sister is the ultimate when it comes to being healthy and exercising. For awhile there I was worried about her. But my BIL & niece have mellowed her a bit. ;) She is always on the go, busy. Even before the baby. And my brother. He might not be into the gym and all that, but the man is always busy. And in shape. He's just on the go-go-go, and whatever he's doing is usually physically oriented. I haven't lived with either of them since high school/college. But seems to me from visits and conversations that they don't have all these unfinished projects lying around. I could be wrong on that, though. And then there's Mom. Now that woman should be called Wonder Woman. She never stops, unless it's to sleep. :) Constantly moving, working, doing...Dad isn't too far behind her. Although I think he & I are more alike. He'd be happy just sitting tinkering on the computer or watching TV. Like me.

And then there's me. I start lots of stuff, have lots of grand ideas, but lose momentum halfway through. It drives me crazy; yet I've given up on it. Grudgingly accepted it as something to live with. So I have my scrapbook from my Japan Vacation (4 years ago!!!) with only a few pages done. Spent tons of money on an album and stickers and papers...That's just one example.

Maybe I'm being too hard on myself. But really. It's just so darn hard to make something stick. Yet the habit of sitting there on the sofa watching one show after another for two or three or more hours while trying to decide what to do was an easy enough habit to learn! Whenever I start contemplating this, I usually think of Newton's First Law of Motion (thanks, Dad!):

"An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force."

I guess I'm that unbalanced force. Or my mind is. ;) Because why else would I stop when I'm moving? Why else do I make it halfway through the week meeting my goals and then...nothing?

The lesson continues with: Objects tend to "keep on doing what they're doing." In fact, it is the natural tendency of objects to resist changes in their state of motion. This tendency to resist changes in their state of motion is described as inertia."

So I've been very focused since starting REVing on over-coming my inertia. The Gator Patrol and my swim buddies have been fantastic helping with that. So I don't think it's inertia that is keeping me form doing this daily. If it was inertia, I wouldn't keep starting up again.

Galileo reasoned that moving objects eventually stop because of a force called friction.

But what is the "friction" I keep encountering. I used to say I didn't exercise because I wouldn't be able to do the stuff I really like to. Not enough time, yada, yada, yada. That doesn't hold water. Because 30 minutes a day isn't that much; I've found time to do other stuff the last 2 days while still getting 30 minutes a day of REVing done. Geez, I REVed 30 minutes last night, and still managed to eat dinner, watch Biggest Loser & SVU (plus a couple other 30 minute shows), hem 2 pairs of pants, read a little, and get to bed by 10pm.

So where's the friction? Is it mental, internal? Because I can't think of anything external that is stopping me. Why do I keep doing this? Because the BB poster was right. It's harder to keep starting over than it is to just keep going. Why can't I just let the momentum carry me along?

Colors & Light

Goal: 2x each Legs, Cardio & Arms + Daily Abs
Sitrep: 1x Legs, 1x Abs

Pretty tired today. Was raring to go this morning, but now I'm at work. LOL. It's this office. Everything is gray or white or beige. We need more colors in here. It's way too drab and drains my energy.

But outside, oh, outside this morning is absolutely wonderful. Sunshiny with just a few clouds. And those mostly around the horizon. Big, heavy, blue gray clouds. But it's that sunshine that gets to me. It's the kind of light that tells you it's crispy and cold and definitely autumn. The light is brilliant; the foothills & mountains look like they've been etched into the skyline. Every little detail illuminated. And that sky just stretches forever and is deeper than the ocean. And the trees and leaves with all the fall colors...the depth of textures and colors is overwhelming. It's days like this that make my heart seize, my breath catch in my throat, and I can just feel the power in the air!

First Day of Fall = First Snow

Week's End Sitrep: 2x Arms, 1x Abs
Goal (M-Su): 2x each Legs, Cardio & Arms + Daily Abs

Yesterday was the first day of fall. It rained most of the day. Which was rather nice, actually. Hopefully that will take the edge off of the fires around the state that are still burning. But it was cold. Brrr. 44*F with a nasty wind, and we were out harvesting the garden. {sigh} Knew we shouldn't have put it off. But we got it all harvested, so all's well that end's well. And we have a nice pile of goodies. A huge bucket of carrots. OMG, I've never seen so many carrots! :) It's definitely stew time. LOL.

Then we (Michelle & I) went shopping with her girls, as today is KT's birthday and she got birthday money from her grandmother. Hit Target and then Hastings...Tonight is the birthday dinner, with cake. Yum.

But this morning (as I expected!) the rain clouds have mostly cleared to reveal the mountains & foot hills around town with the first snow on them. They look lovely. But I'm not ready for winter. I want a fall, darn it!

On Saturday I spent the day running. Friends of ours celebrated their 60th Wedding Anniversary by "rewedding" as my little sister named it. :) It was a lovely ceremony. The groom was teary-eyed from the second he saw the bride. It was great. We helped set up - and take down - for the reception. That's exhausting! At least we didn't have to wash the dishes by hand. 150 people. OMG. The church had one of those commercial dishwashers that washes a load in 3 minutes. Only you have to hand dry...

Ruth & Everett are the kind of couple that make Happily-Ever-After seem like non-fiction. :)

First Day of Fall = First Snow

Week's End Sitrep: 2x Arms, 1x Abs Goal (M-Su): 2x each Legs, Cardio & Arms + Daily Abs

Yesterday was the first day of fall. It rained most of the day. Which was rather nice, actually. Hopefully that will take the edge off of the fires around the state that are still burning. But it was cold. Brrr. 44*F with a nasty wind, and we were out harvesting the garden. {sigh} Knew we shouldn't have put it off. But we got it all harvested, so all's well that end's well. And we have a nice pile of goodies. A huge bucket of carrots. OMG, I've never seen so many carrots! :) It's definitely stew time. LOL. Then we (Michelle & I) went shopping with her girls, as today is KT's birthday and she got birthday money from her grandmother. Hit Target and then Hastings...Tonight is the birthday dinner, with cake. Yum. But this morning (as I expected!) the rain clouds have mostly cleared to reveal the mountains & foot hills around town with the first snow on them. They look lovely. But I'm not ready for winter. I want a fall, darn it! On Saturday I spent the day running. Friends of ours celebrated their 60th Wedding Anniversary by "rewedding" as my little sister named it. :) It was a lovely ceremony. The groom was teary-eyed from the second he saw the bride. It was great. We helped set up - and take down - for the reception. That's exhausting! At least we didn't have to wash the dishes by hand. 150 people. OMG. The church had one of those commercial dishwashers that washes a load in 3 minutes. Only you have to hand dry... Ruth & Everett are the kind of couple that make Happily-Ever-After seem like non-fiction. :)

ExCUse me, Mr. Pre.si.dent?

Said by Mr. Bu.s.h today, in response to an advertisement criticizing Gen. Pe.tra.eu.s:

"Most Democrats are afraid of irritating a left-wing group like MoveOn.org - are more afraid of irritating them than they are of irritating the United States military,"

I cannot think of any conditions under which US citizens should ever be afraid of irritating our military. I am stunned beyond belief. Is he saying US citizens should be afraid of irritating the United States military????????? Because if so, that smacks dangerously of military coup/dictator-like talk to me.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7006170.stm

Maybe I lived in South America too long.

Dreaming in Tongues

Rev. Goal (W-Su): 5x Rev
Sitrep: Arms 2x, Abs 1x

Last night I challenged myself to 30 minutes of REVing. [Because of one very inspiring lady!] :) Felt really good, too, when I got done. As in, hah, see? I knew I could do it. I could hear the virtual applause from the BB & Gator Patrol. And Alden just might be back next week for a SitRep, so I definitely want to be able to report good things.

The last few nights, I've been dreaming in Spanish. Already knew I have a propensity to do this; my dorm roommate in college told me once I was talking in my sleep in Spanish. And this was before I spent 2 years in South America with no one in my town speaking anything other than Spanish & Guarani.

Woke up Wednesday & Thursday mornings with the certain knowledge that I was dreaming in Spanish. Not just that I was speaking/thinking in Spanish in my dream; the whole dream was in Spanish. And then Mom called last night. Now, that's not new. LOL. We talk a minimum of once a week. More lately as Mom has been checking in on one of her kids that's sick. :) It's not easy being a Mom or Dad from thousands of miles away, I think. [Love you Mom, Dad.]

The "new" (I should say different) part is that she was speaking Spanish to me. Now, it's her native tongue, and I totally understand her desire to speak it. Especially as next week they're off to visit with her family in Spain. But she doesn't call me speaking in Spanish very often. Mom said my dreams must have been preparing me for her phone call last night. [g] You know, I don't think she's too far off on that one!

It was fun, if a strain. Poor Mom. She must wince listening to her daughter butcher her native tongue. A lot of fumbling, comingling of Spanish/English, and a lot of "How do you say..." Sigh. I've lost a lot of the fluency I had while in the Peace Corps. After all, it has been 10 years since I came back. [Still feels like just yesterday that I left.]

I think I'll borrow my little sister's "Intro to Spanish" cd's that she picked up at Costco this summer. (She wanted to be able to talk with my mom some in Spanish. Isn't that sweet?). I need a refresher course!

Gator Patrol Today - with Alden!

Original Goal: Do anything this week.

Revised Goal: Rev 5x by Sun. night. Starting Wed.

Sitrep: 1x Arms

Yikes! Alden's supposed to post on the bulletin board today. I'm excited but also a little chagrined. Been missing his motivational posts. I haven't been doing too good lately. Granted, the last week or so has been due to my ears. But the 2 weeks before that, I was only meeting half my goals. And they were easy goals at that. Sigh. But at least I'm still trying!

I actually revved last night for 15 minutes. No dizziness, no ear pain, no heartbeat pounding through my ears/head. That has got to be the worst. That darn feeling/hearing of the heartbeat in your ears. That, and the swoosh of the blood rushing through your veins. {shudder}.

On to happier things. :) Just got these pictures of my youngest niece meeting the Princesses at Di.sne.y. Her first trip there:



These were the only ones it would let me "save" to my computer. Through the backdoor, of course. Isn't she so adorable? I'm not biased in the least, btw. ;) She's as cute in person/on the phone. Like the day she called to tell me she was eating cheetos. "Mommy doesn't like cheetos. Tia Natalia likes cheetos."

And guess what???? My oldest niece tried out for and got into her school choir! Yay! :) I'm so thrilled for her. :)

She didn't get it last year, but hung in there and tried again. I'm so proud of her for that.

Edited to add: And she got straight A's. Whoo-hoo. That's my niece!

She's moved past the adorable stage into the beautiful & smart one. :) I can't believe how grown up she is! Time is passing too fast.

Maybe I should change my post title to "Two of my wonderful nieces!"

How Many Food Choices??

So I was watching the Biggest Loser last night. (I love this show. Totally fascinated by it, lol). This year they're doing little multiple choice quizzes as they go to commercial break. Naturally, I got them all wrong. Holy moly I don't know much. But the one that got to me was this one:

How many food choices does the average person face in one day?

a) 10
b) 50
c) 200
d) 1000

Correct Answer: 200

Mind-boggling. Of course, as I went to sleep, all I could think about was that number. I mean, really. Isn't that high? I wonder what they count. Does it include every restaurant or fast food place or coffee shop or grocery store a person sees in the day? Or just the actual food items they choose between? It's gotta be the former, to hit that high of a number. Either that or I have a much more limited diet than I originally thought. Or I'm just a creature of habit. Which I am, but worse than I thought?

Or is it every thought about food? 'Cause then I can see it. I think about food a lot. Don't eat every time I think about food, but I think about it. Start planning my mid-morning break around 8:30 am, lunch "planning" (I bring from home, it's a done deal!) starts around 10 am, when I have my break, and so on. Then there are all those "oh, a chocolate bar would be great right now" and "I could always take a quick break and walk the 4 blocks to the health food store" moments. (Like a chocolate bar from the health food store is better for you. Hah. And then the phone rings or I check email or I'm just too lazy.

So this morning I decided to count the number of food choices on my way to work. Of course, I'm such a creature of habit that my choices this morning were: toast w/butter and...toast w/butter. LOL. Really. It's hard enough to get myself dressed in the morning without having to decide what to do for breakfast. So the count started with the corner store. Not that I've ever gone in there, or been tempted. But I look at it every day, and recognize it as a source of not-good-for-me food. (I love the name of this store, btw, it's called "The Man Store".) And the count promptly ended. Not because there aren't any more between home and work. There are tons! I just forgot I was counting because I got caught up in "To Kill a Mockingbird" on audio (just getting to the end).

I did briefly contemplate stopping at Starbucks for a Cafe Mocha non-fat milk with whip. But ever since tracking my meals on SparkPeople, I just don't enjoy those Mochas as much anymore. They blow my calorie count out the window before the day has even really started. Just not getting the same thrill out of them, darn Alden and the Gator Patrol. ;)

So. An estimate. There are 11 food-related places on the way to work that I can remember. 2 grocery stores, 2 restaurants, 3 gas stations, 2 fast food joints, 1 coffee shop and 1 gas-station type store with no gas station. Not too bad. Maybe I'm just below the average on this one. It's hard to imagine being faced with 200 food choices a day. So let's everyone weigh in on this one. How many food choices are you faced with during the day?

The wonders of modern medicine...not

So, I'm on my second round of antibiotics, since after 6 days on the first one I was not feeling any better. I think the doctor might have made me wait the full 14 days, but really. Six days, I should be feeling better. I should not be needing 4 ibuprofen at a time, every 4 hours. On top of the Sudafed every 4 hours. And I should not be able to be next door to Barnes & Noble and not go in. What's worse, I wasn't even tempted to! And Waldenbooks was just up the road and I had a 25% off coupon! The only thing that makes these business trips bearable, is the chance to go to a real bookstore!

Anyway. The doc says my left ear is getting better. Apparently my right ear got slightly worse. And it's heading into my sinuses. And she mentioned staying on the first antibiotic? I don't know why they don't listen to me and just give me a Z-pak straight out of the gate. When I'm this sick, it's all that works...Hopefully the new drug will kick in. So far so good. I'm at work and functioning. Can't hear anything much, but I'm here. Because I feel totally wrapped in cotton, the day is dragging unbelievably. (And yes, CO, I'm getting that sinus rinse...WalMart didn't have any yesterday when I went to the pharmacy.)

I did get almost an entire book read while out of town last week. My work computer was acting - irrationally, shall we say? - and while attempting all sorts of troubleshooting, I got to read. No internet time, which is bad, but good as apparently I missed a big brouhaha on the BB. I'd've waded right in, no doubt, and not feeling good would probably have been a real b###h.

If you're at all interested in politics and religion...even if you're not, for that matter, read "The Mighty and the Almighty" by Madeleine Albright. Very well written, even if I didn't always agree with her, and a very interesting viewpoint. I inhaled this book, which is hard for even me to say of a non-fiction political/religious book.

Photo Contest:

Our local newspaper is having a photo contest and my little sister's mom has entered. Here are links to the spots where her pictures are. Look for pictures by Michelle Boone. If you're so inclined, please vote! She could use the encouragement (as well as the cash prize.) She's trying to start her own photography business. She takes the most amazing people shots. I think she has better pictures than the ones entered, but these are the ones she chose.

http://www.helenair.com/photo_contest/gallery.php?category=People (on page 20 - links at bottom)

http://www.helenair.com/photo_contest/gallery.php?category=Scenery (on page 30 - links at bottom)

http://www.helenair.com/photo_contest/gallery.php?category=Animals (on page 23 - links at bottom)

http://www.helenair.com/photo_contest/gallery.php?category=Objects (on page 15 - links at bottom)

Levels of Pain

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to rate pain? I remember when I told my sister I'd gotten a tatoo, she asked how bad it hurt. Did it hurt worse than labor? Having just had a child, that was her reference point for pain. Having not had a child myself, I couldn't say. I imagine labor's worse. But I'm not up for finding out. Even when given a scale of 1 to 10 it isn't that easy. My 10 is probably not the 10 of a Navy SEAL. So unless you know my frame of reference, what's the point?

Last night I suffered some of the worst ear pain I've ever had in my life. Right up there with migraines, if not worse....Standing up it felt like someone had wrapped a fist around the middle of my inner ear and was pulling steadily down on it....Sucked big time. Worse than my tatoo, certainly. Of course, when the doctor asked me to rate, on that scale of 1 to 10, how badly my ear hurt, I gave her my best "You-didn't-listen-to-a-word-I-just-said" look, and replied "200."

I had a bit of a sore throat on Sunday, nothing major, just some sinus drainage. I know, TMI, but it's my blog. Sunday night had the weirdest dream about my right ear hurting so bad, and I couldn't get in to see the doctor, and then couldn't get the prescription filled, and then I was running from the bad guys and all sorts of weird stuff. Woke up with my right ear hurting. Go figure. A couple ibuprofen, some sudafed, and I was good to go. Until about 3:30pm. Then the pressure & pain started in my left ear. By 4:30 pm I was downing aspirin again and begging around the office for anything with pseudoephedrine in it. No luck.

Got home and took the last Sudafed. Then lay on the couch with the heating pad, debating about whether or not an ear infection of the magnitude the one I apparently had, merited a trip to the ER, and trying to talk myself through the pain. (I kept thinking, the body obeys the brain, the body obeys the brain!) I had to do something. WalMart for Sudafed or the ER? WalMart won. Hey, it was closer, and cheaper.

Of course, it irks that I have to stand in that darn pharmacy line just to buy sudafed. Some idiot tried to cut in line in front of me and I didn't even have to say a word. They changed their mind after one look at my face. [g] Got my sudafed and was swallowing one as I walked out the door.

By this point, I was in pretty bad shape pain wise, for me. Heat didn't help, so I ended up with a bag of frozen green beans on my ear/head. Works almost as well as the peas. Which apparently I ate at some point. Not last night. Note to self: buy more frozen peas. Downed 3 more ibuprofen at that point, and passed out on the couch. Last thing I remember thinking was "Body obeys the brain, body obeys the brain..."

Woke up several hours later with no pain! Plenty of pressure, my ear was still clogged. But no pain. Yay! (Or so you'd think.) Woke up around 3 am and my ear felt kinda weird. No pain, just...moist. So I got up and got a trusty q-tip and cleaned my ear oh-so-gently. Q-tip turned pink. Lovely. I couldn't sleep after that. Until I turned on the history channel. Something fascinating about the Anglos and the Saxons and how they became the Anglo-Saxons after fighting for so many centuries, etc.

So I got into the doc's first thing this morning, and you know what? I don't like it when the doc looks in my good ear and says "Wow. Interesting." And then looks into the ear that's hurting and says "That's the worst ear infection I've ever seen in an adult." Gee, thanks, doc!

I've ruptured my ear drum. Just a little bit, it's not bleeding any more and she couldn't even see it. So that's why there wasn't any more pain. Who knew? I thought the full dose of sudafed plus the ibuprofen and subsequent freezing of half my head did the trick.

Now I'm all dosed up with antibiotics and sudafed and aspirin/ibuprofen (I can alternate those every 2 hours for the pain if I really need to, who knew?) and a nasal spray. And I get to go out of town for work tomorrow. Oh goody. :) At least I won't have to cook!

It's the Easter Bunny's Fault

Have you ever had one of those moments when, judging by the utter astonishment and "You've got to be kidding me" looks on people's faces, that you've just said something incredibly stupid? And yet you have to sit there for a few replaying that last bit of conversation in your mind to figure out just what it was?

It's bad enough when this happens with your peers. But when an almost-twelve-year-old that's already too bright for her own good and you're barely two steps ahead of her on a good day aims that look in your direction....well. It's humbling, that's what it is. Or humiliating. Take your pick.

After a fun filled afternoon last Saturday (including another jaunt to the library - whoo hoo, more books!) my little sister's mom Michelle came over to pick Shanni up at my house. I'd bought this truly delightful cookbook "The Best of Family Fun Cooking & Parties" [run, do not walk, to the nearest bookstore for this book!!!!], and we were leafing through it, idly chatting, etc. Shanni proceeded to tell me a story about how the day before they'd found an egg in the bathroom, and were trying to figure out how it got there. It'd obviously been someone's delicacy; partially eaten and had some fur on it. Probably one of the cats or dogs. I, thinking I'm absolutely brilliant, deduct that one of the critters found [insert drum roll] a rabbit nest and stole a rabbit egg. Carting the remainder inside to "save" for later.

See, this is where I get the looks. I rapidly review the conversation and say, somewhat uncertainly, I guess, due to the laughter I get, "Ummm, rabbits lay eggs, right? Or not?"

When they finally stopped laughing. I was assured that no, rabbits do not lay eggs. They are mammals and have live young. By this point I am beet red. To my ear tips, even! I hate that even at 34 I blush so easily. Sigh. They giggled over this for the next hour, seriously.

I know I will never live this down...how do I know this? Well, a) family just does not let stuff like this go...and b) my little's step-father called me several hours later (not having been there at the time) and is all serious on the phone saying "Natalia? This is Steve. I have something very important to tell you...Rabbits are mammals. Mammals have live young..." he said some more after that, something about marsupials can have live or lay eggs, or something like that. Oh, and we don't really have any marsupials in Montana. Don't remember the rest because I was laughing too hard. But I do remember him saying "Michelle was right, I can hear you blushing over the phone." And I was. Am blushing right now writing this.

In my defense, it's all that darn Easter Bunny's fault. I mean really. What's a city girl to do? He goes around giving away eggs every year. Rabbits and eggs are inextricably intertwined in my mind! Although if you really look at it, it's pretty twisted. Giant rabbit hiding potential babies all over the place and we have to find them...Geez. And apparently, they're stolen at that! ;)

Chocolates & Long Island Iced Teas

Goals: 2x Abs, 2x Arms, 2x Legs, 1 outdoor
Sitrep: 1x Abs, 1x Arms, 1x Legs

My house tonight.

Okay. I'm trying really really hard to make that fruits & veggies and Tension Tamer tea, but am struggling. And it's only 10:14 am.

Got to work yesterday to a work computer (mine) that is d-y-i-n-g. It's 4 yrs old and near the end of it's lifespan, but I'm milking it for all it's worth. But see, it's my computer and we don't actually have extra workstations lying around. I'm also going out of town for 4 days next week for work and need the dang laptop. *pulling hair out*

I'm the IT around here. So it's my job to fix it. I was working on the computer all day yesterday (between other things) and took it home and was working on it until 11pm. No workout and now I'm tired. ;( [anyone else hear the violins] *g*

I also have 5 seminars I'm prepping for concurrently (who the heck arranged that? oh, yeah, me!) and yesterday half our staff was out sick and on vacation. One's back, thank the Goddess, and I'm making him bind books today...I've got all printers going full bore, and two computers set up on my desk. I keep sliding my chair back and forth between the two. I'm on fire. LOL.

It's better than yesterday, when I was, quite literally, running between two desks across the office from each other... Hey. Can that count as a workout? No, prolly not since I hit McD's on the way home...

Now that my brief break is over, back to the grind.

Yep. Tonight can't come soon enough for me.

Unexpected

Last Week
goals - 3x Arms, 3x Cardio, 1x Abs
sitrep - 1x Arms, 2x Cardio

This Week
goals - 2x Arms, 2x Abs, 2x Legs, 1 Outdoor
sitrep - 1x Arms, 1x Abs #2

I slid into bed last night and finally figured out why it feels so nice lately to go to bed. It's the sheets. And it's not because I put clean sheets on this weekend. I change them all the time since that silly dog sleeps in the bed with me.

Lately I've started using the sheets that I got as a child. The ones given to me for my "hope chest" by my maternal female relatives whenever we visited them in Spain. When I have those sheets on the bed, it's like going to sleep wrapped in a hug from my Abuela (grandma) and my Tias (aunts) and my mother. Which is wonderful. No wonder if feels so good. Which explains why I love the hot pink & white bathroom towels with a puffy white swan appliqued on them. Soooo not my style, yet I hang them in the bathroom with a smile.

Those towels and sheets, and the others in my closet from that "hope chest", don't weigh me down (as they might some of my more liberated friends), they lift me up, because they represent the love and hopes and dreams my family had - still has - for me. They're also a reminder of simpler days. Childhood and teenage years that, even with all their accompanying drama, still bring a smile to my face as I remember them.

It's things like that, and like getting home to an answering machine message from a friend with a simple hello and check-in and encouragement all in one, that really make my day. That make me feel all wrapped up in hugs; that all's right with the world.

Everyone Gets a Teaspoon

As cranky as I was last Friday, the week actually ended on an upbeat note, which followed me through the weekend.

After work I went home, picked up the mutt & headed over to my little sister Shani's house. While waiting for some other friends to show up for dinner, we decided to go get some pictures of the veggie garden we planted earlier this year. When we got to the garden gate, Shani and her mother had me close my eyes and then escorted me into - and across - the garden. I threatened them with all sorts of dire consequences if they made me step on my carrots! They finally led me to a stop and this is what I saw upon opening my eyes:

Is this not the coolest? It's our Giant Pumpkin!!!! Whoo-hoo...then we proceeded to go mad taking pictures of the rest of the garden.

Michelle, my little's mom, was so excited that we actually have a watermelon growing. I guess we didn't realize we'd planted that...There were a few of us doing the planting, and apparently there are tomatoes as well! Although only Shani eats them. [g] I think one of the guys helping with fencing planted the tomatoes. The watermelon is quite small, as you can see.

As Michelle said,
"Everyone gets a teaspooon!"

I took home a stack of potatoes and onions, as well as some of the Kentucky Wonder Beans. We planted squash and cucumbers and more. Even some carrots that turned out pathetically small as we didn't realize they need to be thinned. Ooops. It was kinda funny how excited we were (especially me!) about eating stuff we planted and grew. LOL. It was a first for this city girl.

We had some of the corn and onions with our grilled burgers and hot dogs. Steve, my little's stepdad, kept joking about killing one of the wild rabbits so prevalent out there and make us a rabbit stew...Which made the kids shriek in dismay, of course. [g]

After dinner we played a few rounds of Jenga. Complete with our own song. See, Shani's step-dad has this habit of making up songs on the spur of the moment. Very original and creative, actually. And usually pretty funny. He and some of his friends "escaped" to the man-cave while we played Jenga. We could hear them laughing, and at one point it sounded like he was singing something about hunting...

Which prompted Josie to start one of her own (sung to a kind of blues tune):

Saw a Rabbit in my garden
And I Grabbed my pitchfork
My wife said no
The kids were screaming
"Go go go"

That last line was my contribution; she seemed a little stuck, and they seemed fitting. We couldn't stop laughing for a looooong time. And this was without any alcohol! Aren't friends grand?