Category: Rando

EEEEEEEE!!

~ meh ~ Leave a comment

IMG_20130408_093302

Finally.

Everything is better in the spring.  Feeding the chickens, walking the dog, going for a run…even waking up at 4:45 to go coach is less painful when you don’t have 4 inches of ice to scrape off the car.  We have the windows open.  It’s supposed to be 79 tomorrow.

Paul attempted a greenhouse this weekend, using scrap wood and an old, moldy shower curtain (yum).  But the shower curtain didn’t quite fit, and after about 20 minutes the whole thing blew into the garage and broke.  We’ll fix that this week.

HORRRRAAAYYYYY

…and then there were three.

~ meh ~ 3 Comments

IMG_20130315_214939…or 7, depending on how you count.

Yes, that’s right.  This August, Spike is going to have some competition on his hands when it comes to attention from the mo-in-law.  And he has no idea it’s coming.

P.S. Big thanks goes out to Lisa, who is my savior and mailed me a huge box of maternity pants for work (yeah, fat!) as well as some baby clothes…which Paul promptly put on the dog.

Be happy for no reason

~ meh ~ 1 Comment

laughing-child-camel

“Be happy for no reason, like a child. If you are happy for a reason, you’re in trouble, because that reason can be taken from you.”

– Deepak Chopra 

(This is the only picture I have hanging in my cube at work…it was passed around the webs a while ago, I don’t know where it came from or who to credit, but I love it. )

To every season

~ meh ~ Leave a comment

IMG_20130212_160227“Dogs are not our whole lives, but they make our lives whole.”
~Roger Caras

IMG_20130212_161939This week is the Westminster Dog Show (which is always, of course, an amazing display of wonderful mixed with the bizarre).  Sadly, this same week, the world also lost a great dog.

After a long, happy life chasing gophers and eating anything he could get his tiny paws on, yesterday Barkley headed up to that big beach in the sky, where I’m sure he will find lots of sun to lounge in, bottomless bags of hot dog buns to chow down on, and plenty of disgusting things to roll in.  And since his accomplishments have been highlighted on here a few times, I figured a tribute was appropriate.

IMG_20130212_160950

RIP Barkley.  You are missed.

The Lull

~ meh ~ Leave a comment

IMAG2885-2

The post-holiday hangover.  Dead Christmas trees littering the sidewalks.  Holiday lights and ornaments still hanging in windows seem like desperate hangers-on.  And on my run Saturday morning (first real run of the new year…whattup!)…

IMAG2886-1

Snowman carnage.  Misshappen, anorexic-looking snowman families with missing limbs.  Everywhere.

Fortunately, I had my new running shoes to keep things bright (another pair of Mizuno Wave Riders).  6 miles, no music, no podcasts, no buddies, in the cold.  And it was nice.

So, a new year.  New races?

So far this year I am signed up for one race: the NYC Half Marathon.

I signed up to run with a friend, who wanted someone to pace her to break 2 hours.  It was a lottery.  I got in, she didn’t.  I mainly signed up for the trip to NYC, so I’m still going.  We’re still figuring out who will actually use my number.

But in terms of BIG races, nothing on the docket yet.  I was a little burned out after Hawaii, and to be honest don’t really have the $$ to do another race of that magnitude.  But I’m giving myself until March to make a decision about another 70.3.

I would really like to improve my running speed, finally do a real half marathon PR, and maybe sign up for a few fun open water races (that, hopefully, I would actually get to race.)

Other than that, work is busy, just putting my head down and hibernating until spring arrives.

IMAG2665-1

Hello, 2013.

Family Photo

~ meh ~ 1 Comment

IMG_20121218_091623

Like every year, the holidays roll around and I start going through pictures from the year to find one for a card and realize that we haven’t taken a single normal picture together all year.

Time to rally the troops for a family pic.

IMAG2756-1

Last year there were only three of us.

IMG_4664

The weather was nice, the sun was shining…easy.

This year, there are more.photo

And in addition to having our dog wear a bow tie (thank you, Marsha), Paul decided he wanted everyone in the picture.

IMG_5309

Um.

This probably goes without saying, but trying to look not just calm, but happy while having a dog, cat, and chicken(s) sitting with you on the same bench is…yeah.

It was also about to seriously storm outside (it hailed again yesterday), so we were on a tight schedule.

Aside from one minor incident where everyone got loose (Spike went after Romy and clamped down on her butt feathers and wouldn’t let go, the cat just laid there and watched while chaos ensued)  we managed to get something.  I may look a little special, but at least we’re all (minus Michelle and Tom Brady) on there.  Success on some level.

IMG_5282practice shot before we brought in the chickens

Happy Holidays.

Ho-Ho-Horrifying

~ meh ~ 1 Comment

gross

If I’m going to suffer, I’m going to make sure everyone who is subjected to this vision of me running by suffers too.  Oh my god.  Where did my chin go.

Work has been super busy this week, so I’ve had an extensive “recovery” for a race that really shouldn’t have required a lot of recovering (I’ve run a total of 2 miles).  Fortunately today is our holiday pot luck at work, which means a heart healthy lunch is just around the bend.  Last year people brought chitlins and chicken livers.

HAPPY FRIDAY!

RIP

~ meh ~ Leave a comment

img_20120824_131219

At 6:43pm yesterday, my co-worker’s abandoned fish who has been living in my cube for the past 5 months went to visit the big fish bowl in the sky.  Final diagnosis (my husband is almost a doctor) was ischemic stroke coupled with something else really weird that made him spin in circles whenever I shook the bowl to make sure he wasn’t dead.  He went quickly and quietly via commode.  I will miss his enthusiastic greeting every morning when I enter my cube.

RIP ol buddy.

IMG_20121005_171220

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

~ meh ~ 1 Comment

…and it’s started early.  Yesterday on NPR they mentioned that because of where Thanksgiving fell this year there is maximum number of days between Thanksgiving and Xmas…which means max days for catching “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” on the radio.

Speaking of Christmas music, at 5am yesterday morning I was subjected to an hour and a half of it while on deck coaching.  I love holiday music as much as the next person, but it’s not December yet.   I’m not sure how many times I can take George Strait’s “Christmas Cookies”.   And this morning I found myself covered in ice after scraping a very thick layer of frost off the car (my cotton gloves were frozen).  It’s feeling official.

Good news is the chicken coop is holding up.  Temperatures in the past few weeks have dropped into the mid-20s (feeling like high teens) and so far their water has yet to freeze inside the coop.  Good sign.  And they’re still laying.

Another good thing: the Smokies Half Marathon in less than two weeks!  After two months of smooth sailing on the running front, last week I hit a bump.  I did an 11+ mile run on Thanksgiving day, 5 days after my 10.5 miler (the weather Thanksgiving day was gorgeous, and that weekend they were predicting freezing rain, so decided to squeeze it in early), and my body hasn’t felt good since.  I’ve taken a few days off of running, but still sticking with some cross training (mostly swimming and yoga.)  So we’ll see.