in all fairness, i’m sure a big part of my defeat today was due to my complete and total lack of sleep last night. i blame the hubby. we got home at a reasonable time last night. i managed to be very productive before going to bed. i laid down at a semi-decent time. i relaxed and started to doze off… and then hubby started tossing and turning. he rolled and twitched and jerked all over. he even jumped and claimed a nightmare in which i was trying to kill him by… eating him alive. after an hour, he fell asleep and proceeded to rest like a baby. me? i was awake. very much awake. and no matter how hard i tried, i couldn’t get unwound again and i seethed. ugh! i slept… not at all. when the alarm went off at 06:00, i snoozed it angrily and told hubby he sucked. three minutes later, i grumpily stalked out of bed, through on some walking clothes, and dragged hubby for a walk on the beach. we had time to get in a forty minute walk but had to turn around a little over twelve minutes into it because we walked straight into a storm. we tried to beat the rain home but got soaked instead. luckily, that wasn’t such a bad thing since it’s bloody frikkin hot in florida at 06:00. so i got a 25-30 minute walk in. better than nothing, right? but then, after a quick shower, it started.
it was immediate… it was constant… it was brutal… it was…
monday
all. frikkin. day.
by 15:20, when i finally took two minutes to run out to the kitchen and grab a pack of poptarts for lunch, i was broken. as i sat down and took a bite out of my cold poptart and heard the binging of my work instant messenger, i fought back tears. not only did i not get my lunch hour… i couldn’t even have five minutes to eat a poptart! absolutely ridiculous.
i shut down as soon after quitting time as i could and attempted a nap but failed miserably because my tummy was extremely upset (if i get another ulcer because of this daggum job… *shaking fist*). and, since i didn’t get a chance to throw dinner in the crockpot until my 15:20 poptart run, there was no chance of it being done in time for dinner. tomorrow’s dinner it is. which means that i had to come up with plan b. i enjoyed a glass of wine and started to feel like monday was nearing its end. when it was time to get up and head to bed, i remembered that i needed to finish dealing with the contents of the crockpot and transfer them to a refrigerator bowl. hubby headed on to bed. i spent then next fifteen mintes pulling chicken to shreds and digging for a bowl. which is when i knocked hubby’s full cup of watered-down cranberry juice over making a mess all over the kitchen. i screamed at monday and proceeded to clean up the huge mess, expecting hubby to get out of bed to find out what was going on and maybe lend a hand. not a peep. once i had finally gotten the sticky mess cleaned up and tomorrow night’s dinner put up, i headed into the bedroom and found him sound asleep. the man who had slept all night last night while i stayed fully awake because he woke me up at the start. i’m not saying it was right, but i was pissed. i slammed the door, slammed stuff around on my nightstand while taking my meds, huffed around while bathing all of the sticky juice off my legs and feet, and finally jumped into bed much later than i had wanted. he slept through it all.
we went to wedowee this weekend for FIL’s birthday and a family reunion. it was a very nice weekend with the in-laws and everything seemed to be pretty good around there.
before we left yesterday afternoon, i happened to be in the house alone with MIL. we had a very troubling conversation that left me worried and sad. i listened to her and tried to offer my support but before long i was teary eyed telling her that she was the only mother that i have in my life at this time and that i love her very much.
the conversation ended abruptly when the men-folk came back in and quickly changed to talk about “final arrangements” for both MIL and FIL, should anything happen (they’ve both had health problems lately so i guess it’s been on their minds). we left soon after for the long drive home.
two and a half hours after we left, i got a call from my MIL. she was crying and told me that she had been thinking about our conversation and that she felt that perhaps she needed to talk to someone. i told her that i loved her, that i would pray for her, and that i would help any way i could, even if it was just listening.
it felt relieved to know that i might have reached her and helped her some. i hope and pray that she finds her way to a better place.
wednesday night yoga has been cancelled until further notice which limits our social interaction and activity.
the bridge run last night was… nothing to speak of. i walked to the water table (just before the bridge), stood around and talked with mello’s son, and walked back with hubby and cargo after they had made their trip over the bridge. hubby is still having pain with his kidney. it makes me sad to see him still hurting and generally not feeling… right. he barely ran his one lap over the bridge last night, walked back to the parking lot with me, and was so nauseated he just sat on a curb while i visited around for a few minutes. we didn’t stick around long at all because he just wasn’t feeling well. my poor boy.
more on that… hubby went back to the dr wednesday and they did another ct scan today. they said his kidney and ureter look fine and they can’t figure out why he’s still hurting so they put him on more antibiotics and made him an appointment for two weeks from now when the specialist is back from vacation.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD-N-LAW!!!
we’re supposed to be heading to wedowee after work today for FIL’s bday and a family reunion tomorrow. everything is kind of up in the air right now because hubby might have to leave from there to visit a bank on monday and that is quite the logistical nightmare for us. i should be packing but i just don’t know what’s happening. for now, laundry is my excuse. last load is in the dryer.
i’m getting increasingly bummed about my leg pain. i truly don’t think it’s anything serious… just a nagging pain that a lesser sissy could grin-and-bear… but it prevents me from doing much of anything because it starts hurting to the point that i’m afraid of serious injury.
how am i supposed to train for that half-marathon in march if i keep injuring myself???
more importantly, how am i going to lose all this friggin weight if i keep injuring myself???
friday night i got a text from tat inviting us to dinner… a text that she sent while driving to the restaurant. good thing we’re spur-of-the-moment people! also good that the sushi house they were heading to was literally around the corner from us. it turned out to be a birthday dinner for a friend of the group who is visiting from australia. hubby and i split a teriyaki steak meal but i did try one of the sushi rolls that tat ordered.
saturday afternoon, i finally made use of my Christmas gift from hubby this past year. sadly, i miscalculated early afternoon traffic and the few minutes that i was late were taken out of my hour of massage. but the remainder of that hour… pure heaven. i could easily make a habit out of that.
saturday night we met back up with tat and the gang for mexican and then walked across the street to a bar where a band tat had heard of was playing. we hung out until they gave in and then the two of us went to our favorite hangout for a bit longer. we didn’t stay very late since the band that was playing was a bit of a dud. such is life.
sunday… total and complete laziness. at least on my part. hubby spent the day feverishly working on his own project. he’s a much more dedicated person than i am.
for tonight’s bridge run… i did next to nothing. i attempted to jog just a bit but my leg was hurting too much. so i switched to walking mode. mello’s son was manning a water table just before the bridge and train was standing there talking with him so i stopped for a cup of water and conversation. and… i never really started again. we stood around and talked while the one-lappers headed back to the parking lot and while the two-lappers turned and headed back over the bridge. until i decided that i had better walk back to the parking lot to avoid being last. i’m fine with it. i really wasn’t feeling it. i sure do wish my leg would stop hurting. the shame about it is that i was all decked out in my new, less-hot, girly running duds and didn’t even run in them. oh well, at least they didn’t get all sweaty and gross.
new girly running gear
and just for good measure, sunset in our backyard…
scooter and sunny came over tonight for a movie and popcorn. it seems like we haven’t seen them in forever. we talked for a few minutes and then went to pop in the dvd. turned on the dvd player, it lit up, but refused to open. we spent the next thirty minutes or so trying to extricate dr horrible’s sing-a-long blog from the dvd player. it worked perfectly fine a few weeks ago when we forced sylvis and peach to experience all that is horrible. now, no matter how many times we unplug it and turn it off and on, it is holding my precious dvd hostage. since we did, however, have guests here, we had to improvise so we hooked my computer up to the tv so that we could watch a movie. it was a great idea doing a movie night at home; much more social than going to the movies. it’s so nice to be able to hang out with friends. now how to take a hammer to the dvd player without damaging dr horrible…
after the run, most of the bridge gang grabbed a gourmet breakfast to refuel. that poor little diner didn’t know what hit it when we walked in. i think we took about half their tables.
this afternoon i texted panda to let her know that “i’m in” for the race tomorrow. shortly thereafter, i got a text from tat asking if we were really going to do it and i confirmed that we are.
holy heck, i’ve committed!!! ack!
tat quickly volunteered to drag her sick butt out of bed at the crack of oh-my-goodness-it’s-early to join us and help push us along. i’m thinking that will be helpful. after all, she helped me achieve my best ever bridge time! although i am a bit afraid of pushing too hard since it’s been a month since i gave up running for the summer.
so i’m officially in. i’ve filled out the registration form, written a check, and put them in my purse so they don’t get forgotten. better be one heck of a cool t-shirt!
i mostly walked the bridge again tonight. the only stretches that i ran were the downhill stretches. great idea on my part! i did try to step up my walking pace and i think i was fairly successful in that. it took me under forty-four minutes to walk the 3.2 miles which is well under a fourteen minute mile. not too shabby, in my opinion. back at the parking lot, panda mentioned to hubby that she’s doing a 5k at the naval base saturday morning and i guess he told her that she should talk to me about joining her. when i returned, the peer pressure began. at first, i laughed. soon enough, i was considering it and gave her a “maybe.” panda ran the bridge while i walked so i couldn’t really get a feel for her pace but i felt that it was fairly comparable to my own. she assured me that, since it will be her first 5k as well, she plans to do a walk/run. before we left, i told her that i’m “leaning toward it.” i know i can do it. and i think i’d like to. especially if there’s a chance that i could do my first race with someone. my one hesitation is that i saw hubby swim/run with these military folks and get put in his place. and hubby is an athlete but these people are just… more. it’s a bit intimidating because i always said when i run my first race my only goal will be to not be last. however, under these circumstances, i think there’s a very real chance that i will be so i’ve got to get okay with that before saturday morning. we’ll see.
after the run, we came home to get cleaned up and then went back out to meet mello, nightingale, and faith at a club where their neighbor’s band was playing. nothing like dinner, conversation, and entertainment after a run (walk)! my favorite part… mello’s amazement at me “letting my hair down.” ha ha! i know that i’ve had my hair down in front of that crowd before but he swore he’d never seen it down and couldn’t believe i had so much hair. i laughed and gave him the pouty “you never pay me any attention” line. fun times!
they decided to mix things up a bit with the yoga. instead of meeting in the store and watching a video, we met on the beach. yoda had a battery operated cd player and we all laid our mats out around it near the dunes. the gulf-side setting was ideal for the mental side of yoga. the logistics, however, were off. if you know me, you know that balance is not my forte. trying to balance while the sand shifts under my mat… not too hard to get the picture. i was a mess. i did almost no yoga because every time i tried a pose, i’d fall over. then there were the ants. they had it out for me. during the rare moment that i was successfully holding a pose, i’d have to break it to smack the ants off my feet. that’ll teach me to get up so close to the dunes. i’m not saying that beach yoga was a bad idea, it was a nice change, but it just wasn’t a good fit for someone of my *ahem* skillset.
last weekend we headed up to the smokies to hike up a mountain. a couple friends of ours have some standing reservations at the mt leconte lodge and invited us way back on new years eve to accompany them. unfortunately, as the time approached, they found that they were unable to go due to injuries and such so they asked that we go in order to keep them from losing their reservation for next year. and so we went.
our trip actually started after work last tuesday when we made our way to north ga to see some friends and work from the office for a day and a half. it’s a six hour drive that took us seven and a half because of an accident just below atlanta. i kid you not… i was PARKED on the interstate for an hour and ten minutes. seriously… no movement whatsoever. you can guess how happy i was that night and the next morning after getting into our friends’ house so late, staying up even later to visit, not being able to sleep at all, and then getting up ridiculously early for the commute to the office. most of the office showed up on wednesday to see us so we had a good time visiting with the coworkers and, more importantly, i got to eat at la parrilla!
thursday we worked a half day at the office and then headed to pigeon forge to meet up with our friends who weren’t able to make the hike. we spent the evening hanging out with them and then parted ways. they had told us that the trail we were taking was only going to take about two hours so we took our time getting around friday. i slept in a bit, we had some breakfast, and got checked out of the hotel. at the last minute, we realized that we would be parking our car on the side of the road over night so we decided to call a coworker who lives in the area and took our computers to his house for safekeeping. we slowly made our way back to the trail-head for alum cave bluffs and got started on our hike after 14:00.
preface: i actually had all of these pix uploaded and ready to post via iphone while we were on the road last week. i tried. and tried. and tried some more. unfortunately, wordpress kept crashing the iphone’s browser so, no post. hey, it wasn’t for lack of effort! anyhow, without further ado, our fourth of july in pictures…
we walked to our favorite plaza to meet up with several friends for food, fun, and fireworks.
Tat showing off her new ‘stache
our full-moon view for the evening
hubby, faith, N, G, tat, o’neil, panda
hubby, faith, N, tat, o’neil, train, half of panda’s face
faith, N, G, tat
o’neil, train, panda, me
me and my boy
we did plenty of mudding in our jeep but this guy takes the cake
how? just, how?
and the climax of the evening… a very respectable fireworks display. we had great front row seats for the thirty minute show. there were some powerlines in our view but they weren’t terribly distracting. most importantly, cobalt’s fireworks scene mode is farooking awesome and i have some of the clearest fireworks pix that i have ever seen. i heart my little cobalt!
i cannot properly express my gratitude for all of those who have fought, bled, and died for my freedom.
there she stands
a memorial street that went on for miles somewhere in AL
one of the many fields of graves in arlington national cemetery. so many brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.
tomb of the unknown soldier - "here rests in honored glory an american soldier known but to god"
"beneath this stone repose the bones of two thousand one hundred and eleven unknown soldiers gathered after the war from the fields of bull run and the route to the rappahannock. their remains could not be identified, but their names and deaths are recorded in the archives of their country. and its grateful citizens honor them as of their noble army of martyrs. may they rest in peace. september, a.d. 1866"
i’m happy to report that hubby ran the bridge last night. he did good, nice and slow; not pushing too hard. recuperating well.
me.. i walked. it’s just too hot. and there was smoke in the air thanks to a 900+ acre controlled burn that got out of control (gee, it’s summer in florida, was that really so much of a suprise?!). and… well, i don’t need to make any excuses. the fact is, i said i was taking the summer off from pretending to be a runner and that’s just what i plan to do.
and you know what? i liked it! yep, i had a very enjoyable walk. all by myself with nothing but my tunes for company, i watched the scenery and the traffic and the passersby and truly enjoyed myself. even though i did nothing but walk, i was pouring sweat by the time i got back to the parking lot because it is just that farooking hot.
we hung out and talked a bit and then faith and train disclosed a wing plan so we headed home to change and then we… walked some more! we walked to our favorite plaza to meet up with faith, train, panda, and some other military guys for $.60 boneless wings. the food was yummy, the company was fun, and conversation was eclectic. we got back home right around 23:00 and just in time for a big storm. that would have been a lousy walk.
altogether, i got nearly six miles of walking in today. and i’m pretty happy with that.
