Bringing Spring Indoors

March 22nd- this is about two days after Mr. Fix brought the forsythia branches inside.

March 26th- yellow and green starting to open up.

March 31st- lovely yellow blooms to stare at while I sip my coffee.  

Close up of the blooms.  I figured I should bring that sunshine to myself, since it is evading this part of the country and really putting a damper on my overall mood.  I haven't even been wanting to run or go outside or anything.  This week is Spring Break for my husband and kids.  I still have to work, and let me tell you, the crappy weather is helping make going in to work tolerable.  

What else? Well, Mr. Fix just went to the lumber yard to pick up supplies for the island portion of the Never-Ending Kitchen Renovation.  Only 5 weeks until the marathon, and I'm dragging my feet on booking a flight.  So far the best price is $300 round trip, and I'm thinking that come payday, I'll have to cave and purchase before they're gone.  But seriously, how many people are really itching to go to Cincinnati? And will I ever be able to say/write/think about "Cincinnati" without singing the theme song to "WKRP in Cincinnati?"  Probably not.

Baby, you and me were never meant to be.  Just maybe think of me once in awhile.  I meant W-K-R-P in Cincin-aaaa-tiii.....

Cold No More

The photo above shows my windbreaker turned inside-out after my last long run before getting sick.  It is shiny and the wetness is my sweat, which froze & turned into ice & stayed trapped inside the jacket until I peeled it off.  Then it began to melt and drip all over the floor.  Kinda gross, I know, but it was only like 10 degrees outside that day and I was layered up beyond belief.  

Today was a different story.  I ran in capris with only a long sleeved technical tee and a vest.  It was sunny and warmer than it has been (about 39 degrees today), and I was able to use the entire running/biking path through the park now that the snow mountains are melting away.  It was lovely and energizing and all of the good things about running.  Plus, my run was fast today:  I was supposed to run at race pace (about 10 minutes/mile), but ended up running way faster than that- 9:15 min./mile.  Like I posted on facebook , "My training is paying dividends!"

Adding to my sense of accomplishment today? Daughter #1 asked when we could take the growing pile of stuff in the upstairs hallway to Goodwill.  I said I'd help her load it in the car & she could take it today.  Her willingness to help (and her shared affliction of Clean Disease) spurred me to further purge my closet, my husband's clothing, and my accessories collection.  Is there anything so satisfying as getting rid of clutter? I think not.

So, now that my computer is updated, my run is complete, my mother-in-law provided leftovers galore for dinner, and the last load of laundry is in the washing machine, it is time to enjoy the last few hours of the weekend.  Here's to a great week!

WTF?

A bit of a rant, so bear with me.

I'm frustrated once again (and always, it seems) with the behavior of men. Not men in general, but the men in my life, both intimately and peripherally. I am confused as to why they behave in a way that makes them seem like their personal growth stunted at age 15 or 16. Why the perpetual adolesence? Is it something done in response to something women do? Their parents? Their siblings, cousins, friends?

I want to believe that men are capable of rising above fart jokes and petty arguments in favor of intelligent conversation and responsible actions. I want to believe that when I say to them, "I need you to do X, Y, and Z" that they will actually do X, Y, and Z. I want to relate to someone- not a female friend- who knows me well enough to anticipate my wants and needs and act on those rather than looking past those in favor of...more fart jokes.

During my bartending years, a regular of mine told me that men don't grow up until they hit age 45 (and he knew what he was talking about, I'm pretty sure). Look, I'm 37, and I think waiting another 8 years is a ridiculous thing to ask of me.

So, thank you dear friends for bearing with me. A good rant is, as my Martha says, "a Good Thing." The weekend is only two days away...

Smile, already!

Above image found here .

See? Even the birds have a reason to smile! Its the weekend, and around these parts the weather is going to be a huge improvement over the past week: sunny and mid-40's.

It'll be the perfect weather for me to pick up my running again after the past week of Feeling Crappy (see previous post). I've got other big plans, too: Turbo Tax is calling, the pile of stuff for Goodwill is blocking bathroom access upstairs, the one unfinished baby sweater arm is waving at me like a broken doll, and the only thing my laundry needs is a spark of lightning to bring it to life a la Frankenstein. So, running and other stuff on the docket, I guess!

Have a great weekend.

UGH.

Title and photo kinda says it all, huh? Well, here's the scoop: Last week I was trying to shake the symptoms of what I thought were allergies (back story: Mr. Fix brought home another bunny- a lion mane bunny- and it has long hair and needs to stay indoors until the coldest of the cold weather has gone. More on this another time.). I had it all: stuffy nose, itchy eyes, scratchy throat...all of these things I get when I'm around cats. We both figured, "Oh, it must be the bunny." So I suck it up and cope like I always do, buying Sudafed at the pharmacy along with a box of those super-addictive Vicks-and-lotion Puffs (which I call "Crack for the Congested"). I even stayed home from work on Friday (okay, that was planned already, but I'm glad I did because I felt like crap).

I had a lovely although much too short lunch with My Favorite Redhead and My Favorite Local Celebrity, and when Mr. Fix came home from school he laid this on me:

"Uh, you might want to get that throat thing checked out. There's a ton of kids out at school with strep."

Aw, man! Really? So I hightail it to the FastCare Clinic, and sure as sunshine, I'm positive for strep and given a 10-day supply of penicillin. Up until this point, I've felt a bit tired, but nothing awful. Friday night and I'm looking forward to chillin' on the couch with the latest episode of What Not To Wear (yes Katie, they ARE my friends!), and its like a ton of bricks just smacked me from all sides and underneath. I even texted My Favorite Redhead as through she were Daughter #1. OUT OF IT!

To shorten it up, it is now Thursday, and I'm just starting to feel better. My throat is good, my congestion is less and less each day (although I do have a new addiction to my humidifier), and my energy level is almost to the point where I'm contemplating a run tomorrow morning (that's right- I haven't run since last week!).

Point of this rambling? Take care of yourself. Do not (after you've been diagnosed with strep and been in and out of consciousness for two days) decide to rid your home of germs by scrubbing rooms from top to bottom with bleach products; this will just make you more tired. You may, however, get pissy with your mate for not picking up some slack while you try to recuperate.

Hope the end of the week finds you healthy and happy.

I've always enjoyed the quirky, sublime humor in The Far Side comics. The above is a scanned image of a postcard I received waaaaayyy back in 1988 from a dear friend who went away to college and left me to navigate my senior year of high school alone. *snif*

But now- thanks to TECHNOLOGY!- we have re-connected via facebook . I'm finding myself oddly drawn to be "friends" with people I knew peripherally in high school. I guess the explorer/social anthropologist in me has too much pull for me to just click "ignore" on those friend requests. It is interesting to see how your high school mates have aged (it has been, for me, 20 years!), and I like to claim that by "friending" these folks on facebook, you're really just participating in a highly evolved form of people-watching.

Anyhoo, other than not having started the new book I bought (The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski), and being totally blindsided by how emotional I was with the book I read to my students (Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls)- and I mean bawling like a big ol' baby- I've been steadily going through the motions of marathon training and daily life.

I did, however, complete Phase 2 of the running t-shirt quilt I started with my mother-in-law, my husband's Auntie Vikki, The Devil, and Vicky the Bail Bond Lady. Have you seen these things? Well, you take all the t-shirts from races you've run in, cut them up so you just have the logo from the front (or back, or sleeves, etc.), and you use those for the blocks of a quilt. I've seen lots, but Auntie Vikki made one for my father-in-law that is absolutely gorgeous, and the rest of us- having runner's envy- had to have one, too. So last night we took the cut up shirts and backed them with the fusible interfacing that will help stabilize the knit fabric. Next up is adding the individual block borders and sashing. Yes, I will post pics as things progress beyond a pile of what other people would consider rags.

I took the day off from work today and am contemplating on running 4 miles at the YMCA, or 9 miles outside. I'm due to have a lunch/wine tasting/gossip session with My Favorite Redhead, so we'll see how the rest of the morning unravels. Hope the weekend finds you happy.