Good Intentions

Today I was going to finally find the cord and upload photos to the computer and write a nice post. Unfortunately, I managed to fritter my time away with the following:

1. pushups/situps but no running
2. email checking and check writing
3. breakfast
4. shower and dressing
5. making breakfast for girls
6. taking out of garbage/recycling
7. diaper changing
8. bank depositing
9. grocery shopping
10. grocery putting away
11. emergency agreement for a guy at work
12. annoying emails from a jerk at work (not the same person)
13. making lunch
14. online billpay (which is not updated and better as promised by our bank)
15. eating lunch
16. cleaning up lunch
17. diaper changing and new outfit application
18. returning of bins to the garage
19. shopping errand for my folks
20. driveby of their house
21. visit with Doug before he golfs
22. putting Dagny down for her nap (this was the appointed time for photos or at least butt-sitting)
23. making cookies with Annika
24. making cool flan cake that Anna wrote about last week
25. freaking out when Annika touched her mouth to the raw whole eggs
26. further freaking out when Annika licked her lips during freakout #1
27. two phone calls with sister-in-law
28. clean-up after Annika peed in her pants
29. putting Annika down for her nap (no story)
30. kitchen cleaning from baking endeavors
31. sighing at the mess that I forgot was made in the office while I was doing #10

Guess I'll clean up that mess now and get some photos done later. The cooking extravaganza and inviting of sister-in-law's family for dinner is an example of what Doug calls my "putzing". I've noticed this tendency when I'm worring about getting something gone - I add other things to the list so as to make myself as upset and crazy as possible. Examples: cleaning out Annika's dresser and mailing snapfish photos (old ones) to friends while I tried to pack for the beach trip.

In running news, I visited the Orthopaedist yesterday. They x-rayed me and examined but concluded (as I already had) that my knee problems are due to the IT band. It's good that nothing is badly wrong, and they gave me exercises to do and a plan for still doing my race. Obviously, I won't be in top form, but it is better than quitting.

New Shoes

We went to the sale at Coggins today and got new shoes for both girls. Annika is our little Imelda - she digs shoes. It was Dagny's very first pair of shoes, since she is preparing to walk any day now. Very funny, though, that her feet are nearly as wide as they are long.

I'm sorry for the lack of posting. The endorphin shortage is really getting me down, so I haven't had anything nice to say.

A Damn Lie

So, all of the weight loss magazines and advice columns say that walking burns just as many calories per mile as running but it takes longer since you aren't going as fast. They are liars. Liars, liars, liars.

Since I hurt my knee, I've been run/walking or just walking instead of running. Keep in mind that I am walking as fast as I possibly can and running when my knee doesn't hurt. Regardless, according to my Garmin, I burned approximately 225 calories (one darn cookie) when running 3.25 miles at an 8.5/9 minute per mile pace. For the same route at an 11.5 minute per mile pace, I burned only 60 calories (one starburst). Yes, Garmin might be wrong - and he probably is, a little.

However, in my completely non-scientific and un-controlled experiment of one, I've noticed the same thing. When running the 9-12 miles per week, I can eat whatever I want (within reason), consume multiple beers and snack on nuts several times daily and still lose weight. While walking, I've cut down on the beer and limited the nuts, but now I'm gaining. I'm not so worried about the weight - big deal. If I would resist the snacks and eat more fruits/veggies, I wouldn't gain anything but what a disservice this hype does to those who are really trying to lose! It makes me hate the dieting "know-it-alls" as much as I hate the childbirth ones. Bastards.

Oh, and - the endorphins. Not being produced so much with the walking, as you may have noticed.

Some Things You Can't Photograph

Some things cannot be photographed, especially if your camera doesn't capture motion very well. What? That camera was supposed to be better at capturing subjects in motion? Guess I'll have to read the instructions again!

I tried to take pictures of Annika preparing "Hachi Hachi" for us last night. First, she set up with the window behind her (back lighting = bad), second, she moves really fast and lastly, I can't find the cord that hooks the camera to the computer. It's been that long since I uploaded photos. oops. There was a lot of set-up as she took two trips from the basement with her plastic shopping cart and returned to get the pinchers, the tea set and various other items. This was good because it gave Doug and me time to finish making dinner.

There is a local restaurant called Hachi Hachi which specializes in Japanese steakhouse cuisine - spinning egg, clanking spatulas, volcano, fire, the whole nine yards. We don't actually go there as there is a good place around the corner called Sake Steakhouse. However, the name Hachi Hachi is very catchy so that is what Annika calls it. On Saturday during the UGA game, Annika decided that she would make Hachi Hachi for Doug and our friend Virginia. She removed the following from her pretend kitchen: plastic spatulas, a knife, egg, "cookie", tongs - she calls them "pinchers", plates, cups, ketchup bottle and Dagny's stacking rings. She proceeded to cook the entire meal with her ingredients - she spun the egg, squirted the ketchup to make fire, stacked the rings to make the volcano, and tapped her spatulas on the table the whole time.

I learned of this extravaganza when she came upstairs to get some shrimp. We don't own shrimp, real or pretend, so I tried to give her some of Dagny's interlocking rings. No dice. Rings are not like shrimp AT ALL. After she melted down, Doug came upstairs and explained the situation and retrieved the tupperware full of leftover popcorn. Eureka!

Annika ran downstairs and completed her cooking with the "shrimp" and threw it into everyone's mouth with her spatulas. Annie appreciated all of that nice popcorn on the floor.

A Whole New Era

So, Dagny might be going to school (mother's morning out) next week. I have to ask them some questions about it at the open house this week and we may have to wait until after Christmas, but that will be fine. I had thought that she was too young because she still naps twice a day.

Well, I was wrong. Yesterday, Dagny skipped her afternoon nap and possibly also her morning nap and was FINE. She chirped at us and played with her toys on the kitchen floor while we made dinner and was perfectly happy until she got hungry. She put all of the toys into a box, shutting the lid in between each addition and then took them all out and began again.

Today, I skipped the morning nap in favor of a trip to Camille's pool. My theory was that if we were going to skip a nap, it was better to skip the morning one. We were in the car during prime napping time, but Dagny didn't sleep. She got a bit tired at the pool and promptly crashed in her carseat when we left at 1:30, but that was at 1:30 and after swimming. Right now, she is playing on the floor next to me (I brought the box down here - she is putting Annika's paper dolls inside) after having only slept for 2 hours. It's hard to believe that she is already becoming a little person, old enough to play independently and go to "school". Amazing.

Sorry, no photos - Doug has the camera in his car so I've not taken any pictures since the sticker incident.

Better Than You

When I was in school, Doug and I noticed that every group of people (club, sports team, group of students) we encountered seemed to want to have another group of people to look down on, to be "better than." The folks who weren't going into the corporate world thought they were more virtuous than those who were "greedy money-grubbers" while those who were doing the corporate thing felt superior because they were getting jobs with more prestige and benefits. The exercisers felt superior to the couch potatoes while the non-exercises felt superior to the shallow and vain. The liberals felt they were smarter and kinder to others than the conservatives while the conservatives felt that they were more smarter (funny how they both thought that!) and more realistic than the liberals. It's a difficult fight for us (big us, not just me and Doug) not to seek out ways in which we can deem ourselves superior. I fight this in my daily life - it's hard not to sweat the "idiots" when I am foiled again by the other drivers or the lazy behind who must have the closest parking place or at the post office or the shipping place.

Anyway, I know I fight this tendency and yesterday I heard a comment about "Sunday Catholics". Now, we've all heard or made the snippy comments about the only-on-the-holidays-church-goers, but I've never heard anyone look down on the folks who show up "only" every Sunday. It just goes to show you that EVERYONE fights the urge to deem themselves the "good one". Maybe we'd all be a little happier if we tried to find the goodness in everyone else instead of searching for the chinks in their armor that we could use to deem them less than us.

However, all of this niceness is ignored if you are in front of me on my run because I have to beat you. I might think nice things about you after I pass you or while failing to pass you, though. : )

Gross Dog Story

This story is gross. You have been warned.

So, Doug and I went out for a fun evening on Saturday to the Hsu's dine-around with a group of our buddies. We visited Silk, Hsu's and Pacific Rim. The food was delicious and we met some neat folks and I had a great time despite being the designated driver. There was much pre-date prep to do (during which I burned the skin off of my bikini area, but that is another story), but I was dressed, primped and ready to go when Doug left to pick up our babysitter. I went around the house laying out jammies, turning on movies and picking dinner items . . . until I got to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, I discovered that Annie had pooped all over the floor. Apparently she had some kind of distress and walked during her pooping so there was poop everywhere. SIGH. I grabbed a roll of paper towels and the Clorox wipes and got busy. After I picked up the first (and biggest) pile of poop, I noticed what appeared to be a booger in it. That is not unusual for Annie, but then I noticed that the booger was moving - verrrrrryyy slooooowwwwwly, but moving. Shudder - that's right folks, tapeworm.

Imagine my joy to realize that the dog has been dropping tapeworm segments for who knows how long (maybe not too long since they allegedly examined her poop at the vet on Tuesday) and Dagny has been crawling all over the floor putting anything and everything in her mouth. UGH! And the vet was closed - not to reopen until Monday! Plus, the cleaning up of the poop, the disinfecting and the mopping. By the time Doug got home, I was sweaty and had to return upstairs to de-stink. Horrible.

Annie has had her medicine now, and is hopefully worm-free. Luckily I am up-close-and-personal with Dagny's poop a lot so I will know if she has any worms on board so we can kill them.

In other news, I have recovered enough from my knee injury to run uphill so I've been doing the loop running uphill and walking downhill (40 minutes, approx 12.5 minute miles). My half marathon training is all shot to heck, but at least I can run SOME of the way. I'm going to the running shoe store today with my birthday coupon to see if some new shoes will help me.

Dagny Showers

Dagny had her first shower this week. After our trip to the Piri-Piri Chicken place, where I was doused with hot sauce (FYI - this is not usually part of the chicken experience), I decided to kill two birds with one stone and bathe Dagny while I washed the hot sauce off.

Dagny LOVED the shower, and giggled whenever I put her under the spray. She didn't even mind when I turned her upside down to rinse her hair. It got a little dicey when I soaped her up (soap is slippery, you know), but was a success overall. It will be even easier when she can stand up by herself and I can put her down! Showering with a baby requires some forethought, though, to lay out the jammies, towel, diaper, etc. - otherwise the whole bathroom and bedroom get wet.

In other news, I got a delightful surprise this week when trying out the Archer Farms Coffee Pods in our Senseo coffee maker. Doug bought me the Senseo a few years ago for my birthday so that I would be able to make myself coffee in the morning without waking Annika and without brewing a whole pot of coffee for just me. We keep it in the basement and so far it has been very good. The pod supplier that I had been using is either gone or ignoring me, so I've been buying Maxwell House (surprisingly bad) and Folgers (not so bad) pods at Target. Then, last week, I noticed the Archer Farms pods and they were they same price as the others so I picked them up. Since this is Target's store brand, I wasn't holding out much hope for them but they are really good. Hooray!

Where Oh Where Have My Endorphins Gone?

This morning, after we ate our breakfasts and got dressed and did some laundry and I cleaned up where Annika's pull-up leaked AGAIN, the girls and I headed out the door on the way to the vet. Unfortunately, Annie chose that moment to chase the non-waving jogger down the street. Then, as I chased her with Dagny on my hip and Annika took a break to pick mushrooms in the yard, Annie proceeded to take a large poop in the neighbors' yard.

We aren't really friends with this neighbor. I think she means well and the family is pleasant enough to our faces. However, while Doug was building our house, she called the city a lot to complain about us so we don't hang out with them. Anyway, I had to go and retrieve the poop - even more than I would have if it had been any other neighbor. Luckily, our newspaper comes in a bag - very convenient for the poops. I left my phone and the newspaper in the driveway and ventured across the street to get the poop. At this point, Annie refused to come to me and instead chased another walker down the street - she did stay in the yard, though.

I did the best I could to scoop the poop into the bag with my non-Dagny arm and keep it out of Dagny's reach. Unfortunately, the pile of poop was larger than our newspaper bag so I got most of it on, if not in, the bag and carried it home to get a new bag. My shouted instructions to Annika to help me by getting a new bag amounted to dust in the wind - the woman walking by at that point just smiled knowingly. Armed with the second bag, Dagny and I headed BACK to the scene of the crime in time to see Annie harrassing yet another walker with his two dogs. He laughed at us, but kept moving and luckily Annie was too intent on peeing all over the yard to follow them. Crisis averted.

I managed to clean up the rest of the poops and the mushrooms, Annika claimed to have washed her hands with soap and we headed to the vet - sweaty and makeup-less. Now we are back home for Dagny's nap and I have made the executive decision that we are going out for lunch - like that will be easier. . .

Maybe my knee will feel good enough to walk tomorrow so I can get in a better mood.

In other news, have you ever noticed that Jafar (the bad guy from "Aladdin") looks a lot like Prince? And also that Captain Hook (from "Peter Pan") does too? Except that they look bad in a bad way and Prince, well, you know.

Walk the Line

3.22 miles this morning in about 40 minutes - 13.3 minute miles (approx). I ran up about 4 hills, but with tiny baby steps and not for very long at a time. I've done a lot of research on the knee issues this week and it looks like I need to have a support band on my "bad" knee so that I don't compensate with my other knee and I need to do more strength training on both legs. So, that will be OK. I won't get to do my long run this week - and it would take too long to walk it, so I will probably go super early and walk on Sat and Sun. It will suck since I have to be home at 5am on Sat for Doug to leave, but it's better than nothing.

Out, Out Damn Tooth

Dagny is teething again (her top left front tooth). That darn tooth is trying to come through and it must be causing her a lot of pain because she is causing the rest of us a lot of pain. Tantrums, screaming fits, waking early from the nap for no reason . . . Annika got a little crabby when her teeth erupted, but nothing like this. Stock tip - buy stock in whoever owns Tylenol because we are using a lot of it this week!

In other news, I hurt myself. Since I started back running in 2001, I've had a "bad" knee which is (I think) an overuse injury or runners knee. That darn right knee pains me a lot and gets sore if I run too much. So, I've been very careful to not add mileage too fast, which is why I'm still doing the 13-14 mile weeks instead of more. However, this week I think I ran too long after I was tired or broke form as I grew tired because I've hurt the OTHER knee. So, a week or more of reduced running (very slow, walking down the hills) is in my future. That and some weird stretching exercises, leg raises and possibly a date with my pal Billy. Depressing - walking around the block does not give the same endorphins that a run does, plus it takes a LOT longer.

Minimum Wage

There is an item on Neal Boortz's website wherein he makes the assertion (paraphasing) that unless they have a physical or mental disability, any adult who is trying to support a family on minimum wage is a loser. Apparently, there has been a lot of backlash to this statement from folks on the other side of the political spectrum.

So I was thinking about all of the crappy jobs that I've had, from gas station cashier to waitress to pizza maker at which I worked for minimum wage or less, and I think Boortz might be on to something. If an employee gets a minimum wage job in a regular business (fast food, retail, whatever) and shows up to work and actually works, they will get a raise. In the non-documented labor market, the going rate for babysitters in our area is $8-12 per hour and the rate for day-laborers is $9-10 or more - both well above the minimum wage of $5.15 per hour. Frankly, in our area, I don't know that there ARE any minimum wage jobs - even fast food places pay more than minimum wage in order to attract workers.

Your thoughts?

Never Say Never

I swore I'd never be that woman - the one who feeds her kids macaroni and cheese and hot dogs instead of fruits, vegetables and decent food.

However, in the midst of trying to get the stuff together for the church consignment sale and a work crisis and my mother-in-law on the phone (volunteering to keep my kids, bless her), I made an executive decision. Desperate times call for desperate measures. We had hot dogs, macaroni and cheese and cantaloupe for lunch. Both kids and mom ate like truckers and felt much better after all of the drama.

I don't feel so good now (hot dogs are not my friend) but the stuff is ready for the sale, the crisis is smoothed, the girls are in bed and now I can concentrate on paying the bills.

I Kick Ass

Due to the extra day of running last week because I was on the girls' weekend and the long run today because my girls were at Nana and Papa's house last night, I ran 17.2 miles this week.

So, technically I only went 13.9 (if I subtract the extra day), but that is still amazing for me. And the bad knee only hurts a little bit. Ice, ice, baby.

At this rate, I may actually make it to the half-marathon by January. Holy shoes, batman. Some realizations from this week's run: (1) cotton socks = bad for long runs, (2) Publix has good bathrooms, (3) stashing the water somewhere on the way "out" for the "back" part of the route is genius, (4) other than technical fabrics (maybe), there are no shirts that won't chafe me.

Earthquakes

Another couple that we know is splitting up. Wow, it just feels like an earthquake to me. I was trying to fathom the reason it feels that way and all I can come up with is that I grew up afraid that my parents would divorce. They are (and always have been) more vocal in their disagreements than the average couple but I don't think they would ever actually split. I worried about it a lot, though. My sister was afraid the house would burn down and I was afraid that mom and dad would separate.

Maybe it's the Catholicism or maybe just the childhood fears, but it really rocks my world when people end their marriages. Somehow it makes all other relationships feel that much more tenuous to me.

Interestingly, however, when my college buddies and my sister split from their spouses, that was not upsetting at all. Perhaps I was able to write that off to the fact that they had crappy spouses (which they did, not that I am biased or anything).

Hollaback, Girl!

This morning, only one of the people I met on my run responded to my wave and cheerful "Good Morning." I suspect (it was dark because of the clouds this morning) that the non-waver was the woman who never waves and runs as if she were in severe discomfort. I wrote this woman off as an unfriendly person several months ago because she won't ever wave or respond to me. However, apparently the woman does wave - to Doug!

Add this anecdote to my experiences of this weekend. I got to run two days because Natalie, Camille, Lissa and I were on the girls' weekend in Hilton Head. Needless to say, I was jubilant on my run - the road was flat, I wasn't having bottom issues, I had unlimited time and my tunes were good. So, I waved, smiled and said good morning to anyone I met on the path. Without exception, every male person smiled and waved or said hello back. Women, even if they were in the company of their smiling spouse and kid, acknowledged with only a wave or grunt - no smiling. I started to notice this pattern and made it a point to make eye contact with everyone to test the theory - same thing, except for a few other running women who appeared to be having as much fun as me.

What is up with the women? Maybe they are intimidated? I can't believe that because although I don't wear much clothing to run because more clothes equal more chafing, (1) I have no boobs, (2) I flatten what miniboobs there are with a compression bra, (3) my tummy has housed two babies so it jiggles and hangs over my waistband more than I care to admit, (4) I have no makeup on, and (5) I sweat like a pig.

Are women just unfriendly to each other - why? Why NOT smile and wish everyone good morning?

By the way, that last 23:06 around the loop - that's a post child #2 record (not a world record, but still). : )

Good

So yesterday I was at the office and someone asked how I was. "Good," I answered and cringed inwardly because I know that "I'm well, and how are you" is the grammatically correct answer. And then, of course, if I really told them how my project was going . . .

So that reminded me of Yvonne. When I was a freshman in college, I roomed (random draw, obviously) with a girl who was my total opposite. She was vivacious, cool, the life of any party and lots of fun. Yvonne was the definition of a magnetic personality. People called nonstop to hang out with her. Whenever anyone asked how she was (regardless of the real answer), she always answered "Good!" It was a good lesson for me - "How's it going?" is not a real question. People don't want to know the answer. They don't want you to say the grammatically correct "I'm well, and you?" - they want to hear "Good!"

Does that mean that I put on a smiley happy face all of the time or that Yvonne did? No, but it does mean that sometimes it is worth the effort to smile and say "Good!" because at the end of the day, most of it really is good.

In other news, I might have set a world record around the block (I'll have to search the archives to see if it is true): 2.8 miles in 23:06 - 8.25 minute miles. That last 0.2 miles up the hill after that to get to three miles really sucked, though.

Wherein I Try to Take Photos

In this post, you will notice several attempts to take a photo of Dagny and Annika smiling together. They seem to smile together regularly enough, but I cannot seem to capture it. It may be time to call in a professional.

Dagny has begun pulling up and is terribly frustrated that she can't walk yet. She is a fast crawler, though, and can cross the room in seconds. Luckily, she only wants to be where Annika is so we can contain her that way.

Annika has gotten mouthy of late and told me last week (after we left Chik-Fil-A because she threw a screaming tantrum) that if I wasn't nice to her I wouldn't get to go to tennis. At least she understands the idea that there are consequences to bad behavior - it shouldn't be too hard for me to convince her that the behavior she needs to worry about is her own . . .
We 've not been to the pool much because of Annika's many camps and my working but next week Annika has some lessons so that should be fun except that some stupid mother scheduled the lessons during Dagny's nap. Oops.

In other news, I ran 12.5 miles last week with the 6 mile run on Sunday.
It was surprisingly easy except for the tummy thing and Doug and I are enjoying logging our mileage into the computer now that we are both "wired". I was surprised to learn that it is 0.1 miles longer to go around my loop "Doug's way" than to go my way.

My running book tells me that optimum racing weight for my height is about 105-108 lbs. HA! I choose to believe that I am a mesomorph (and therefore immune to the "goal race weight") because I seriously think I would become ill if I were ever that thin. I'm hoping for a better training run tomorrow and less knee pain so that I can add a mile next week.

Race Training

So, I signed up for a race - a LONG race but not the big one. I started training this week after the Peachtree and ran 6 miles on Sunday. I thought that it would be tough and grueling but the weather was nice and cool and I didn't need extra water or anything. Doug said that he was not surprised - he knew I could do it. Gotta love that guy. I wasn't very fast but that is because I made the mistake of eating (very delicious) steak for dinner on Saturday. Steak + running far = great discomfort. And my new running book says that I should be running at 2 minutes slower than my 10K pace which works out to about 10 minute miles, which is about how fast I was, including the walking..

Dagny learned to crawl last week. She is fast! She is trying to pull up on everything and doesn't like to be confined. It's a whole new world over here. And, she can say "woof". It sounds like "ffff" but if you ask her "what does the dog say?", she says "ffff".

Are You Out?

Yesterday, as we walked to our car from our lunch outing (Annika walking and holding my hand, Dagny in the stroller), Annika remarked, "Mommy, I'm out of kisses." So, I gave her a bunch of kisses and asked if she felt better. "Yes," she replied, "but now you are out of kisses." "It's OK," I said, "Dad will give me more when he gets home." Apparently, I've not been able to convey the message of limitless kisses yet.

Anyway, we continued our walk for several minutes because I had parked very far from the door - seeking shade. Poor Annika was tired - probably I should have carried her while pushing the stroller. As I stowed the diaper bag and stroller and buckled Annika into her carseat, she suprised me with more kisses and said "now you aren't out of kisses."