Archive for March, 2009

2009
26
Mar
7:28

three years

   Posted by: arcanai    in pondering the past

ron has been on my mind this week.  hubby and i have been talking about him a lot.  today is three years since his passing.  i still can’t believe how much a coworker’s death could affect my life… like we had been bff’s or something.  he is the reason that we are living at the beach and having so much fun.  every time i see a center console boat, i renew my pledge to not put things off.  shame on him for taking life for granted; for thinking that he could hold out for a better time on the things he really wanted.  who are we to say when time is right?  so, i’m feeling a bit melancholy today.  but i’m also going to go to the bridge run tonight and instead of feeling badly about how slow i am, i’m going to be thankful for having another day to be out there pushing myself and having such great companionship doing it.

*UPDATE* i just spoke with coworker and good friend, bl, who said that his doctors have declared him to be in remission.  to celebrate, he is tackling his “bucket list.”  earlier this month he swam with dolphins in the bahamas and in a couple months his kids are taking him skydiving.  go him living life to the fullest!

i tell ya, give the girl the flu and she just stops ranting altogether!  what can i say?  last week was totally miserable.  i’ve never in my life been hit that hard by the flu.  i’ve never run a fever for five days straight and i wanted to die a bit.  i am thankful that it was just the flu and strep throat because if i had had a stomach bug on top of that… i may have had to swan dive off the balcony.  so, though i had no energy to post here, i did have stuff to say.  snippets of posts that never were:

  • we followed up our wildy young work-night with a friday night at our favorite hangout to see a band we hadn’t seen there before.  they were craptastic.  i won’t even call them a cover band as they were purely karaoke – no original sound whatsoever.  the lead “singer” hurt my soul when he started doing the axl rose mic-stand-dance during sweet child o mine and i was appalled when gives you hell came on and i remarked at how much they sounded like all american rejects just to realize that none of them were singing.  not even lip-syncing.  they were just playing their instruments in the background while the cd played.  we only stayed until midnight, two sets was all we could take of music mockery. 
  • the next morning, i set my alarm (on a saturday!) and got up early to go to the mall group run.  i remarked to hubby how i felt strangely flu-like because my neck and shoulders were stiff and i hadn’t swum laps in days.  i brushed it off figuring that i had just slept wrong.   the group run was just me and mello (hubby had a board meeting at our condo) and he was having sciatic pain so we mostly walked.  i’m glad that i went because he’s a trainer and it gave me the opportunity to have some one-on-one time with him to get some pointers on my running.  i felt much better about things after talking with him for that hour.  by the time i got back home, i was shivering cold and wrapped myself in two blankets on the couch.  a few hours later i realized that i was running a heck of a fever and hubby was packing up to go to bama for his mom’s birthday.  my flu was to be a lonely journey.
  • i totally expected to be better after a couple days.  we had already planned on taking last tuesday afternoon off for the all american rejects concert and i was really looking forward to it.  instead of having fun at a concert, i found myself breaking down and going to the dr tuesday afternoon.  it was day four of not being able to get my temp below 101°.  it sucked laying in the back of the car right across the street from where the concert was taking place while hubby was in filling my prescriptions.  stupid friggin flu.
  • steroids rock – my throat and ears felt so much better that night after just one dose.
  • when my sissy relayed to BIL that i was waiting in the car while hubby was in the pharmacy he assumed i was pregnant.  i don’t follow the logic there but sorry to disappoint.
  • i’m amazed that i had a one-day work week last week and it was the longest week of my life.
  • after being cooped up all week, i finally felt up to a walk to our mall sunday.  we walked down there, had a yummy dinner (solid food, no more soup!!!), walked around the plaza a bit, and walked back home.  it was fabulous to get out and get some fresh air finally but i was exhausted by the time we made it back home.  energy replenishment promises to take a while.
  • the cough and sinus congestion refuse to let up as well.
  • it was a gorgeous, cool, open-window weekend.  perfect for airing the germy stuffiness out of the house.
  • hubby abandoned me again monday.  he’ll be back friday and i miss him like crazy.
  • prayers are needed all over including:
    • my dad’s wife totaled her car monday.  thankfully, she’s okay other than seat-belt bruises but she’s sore and shook up.
    • my friend katie’s 7yo son is recovering from yet another brain surgery yesterday.  it was unplanned but, fortunately, “minor” (can brain surgery be minor?!) and he came through with flying colors.  he’s such a trooper!
    • my 8yo niece’s friend is battling cancer.  that’s just wrong on every level.  no, the kids don’t know.
    • the wife of the youth pastor at my sissy’s church is fighting lower-body-paralysis (hopefully temporary) after childbirth. 
2009
13
Mar
18:01

playing young and feeling fine

   Posted by: arcanai    in work schmirk

in case you missed my string of plurks last night/this morning, we were hit with a youthful impulse last night:  we left the house at about a quarter of midnight and headed out to see a band.  on a school work night!  i felt like the old rebellious kid sneaking out at night (not that i ever did that and if you’re a minor reading this rant, you should absolutely not sneak out of your parents home!).  truly, it did wonders for ameliorating my mood after my lousy run. 

you’ll recall that running buddy, scooter, and his wife, sunny, are friends with an atlanta band called the b@$t@rd suns and give them a place to crash when they’re playing in town.  this time, instead of driving an hour to see them, they were playing right down the street – we couldn’t not go. 

the venue was much better.  it was roomier and far less smoky.  i still reeked when we left but nothing like that last place where i had to wash our clothes, febreeze them, and wash them again to get the smoke out.  it may just be increased familiarity with the music but i really enjoyed the band more this time too.  they have a great sound to them that is just plain fun.  they finished their set a little after 01:00 and scooter talked us into going back to his house to hang out and grill burgers with them and the band (and his parents who flew in from CA last night to visit – talk about a full house).

we had a great time hanging out with everyone and chowing down on the unhealthy snack foods that sunny went way overboard with.  when the drummer broke out his toothbrush around 03:30 and started making up the futon, we figured it was time to depart.  we were home, showered, and in bed shortly after 04:00 which left almost two and a half hours to sleep before the alarm sounded. 

i had considered not going to sleep at all, thinking that the two hours would just make getting up that much harder but i actually woke up feeling fairly refreshed.  all day i’ve been waiting for the inevitable crash but i’ve felt better than i have all week.  i guess if i’m going to suffer from insomnia anyhow, i might as well be out doing something fun while not sleeping.  i managed to grab a fifteen minute nap on my lunch break and i got about an hour after work but, really, i’m not hurting.  crazy, that.  i think we’re going out again tonight so the true test will be how long i can make it before crashing then.

2009
12
Mar
19:57

thursday’s activity whatever…

   Posted by: arcanai    in feelin bad, getting healthy

it’s official… i am past the “wow, i’m doing this!” and back to “exercising depresses the #($& out of me.”  excellent. 

i walked a lot more than i have been.  i did one full lap of the bridge plus about another quarter back up until i met back up with hubby.  my thought was that i’d meet up with him and then he’d slow down and go back to the parking lot with me so i turned around as he passed, looked up, and he was just about out of sight.  *deep sigh*  a lot of the men were great about offering up words of encouragement to me as they passed by but it just didn’t help.  i walked most of the way back to the parking lot (i have NEVER walked that stretch because it’s exposed and i don’t like to be alone on it any longer than i have to) because it was taking every bit of energy that i had left in me not to burst into tears.  i wanted to cry so badly.  still do.  WTF am i thinking that i’m going to sign up for a half-marathon in october.  there’s no chance. 

so my whole way back i was trying really hard to cheer myself up so that i wouldn’t cry.  i said, self, you’ve been sick all week…you were puking all day tuesday…you’ve had no activity since last friday… it’s inexplicably sunny for the run now… you have no music to keep your energy up (mental note: charge shuffle)…  

and then i wanted to cry even more because it’s all just excuses.  seems like every week i’ve got a list of excuses for why i suck so badly.  it’s really quite exhausting. 

i’m not quitting.  i really like the community that the group offers and, unfortunately, the thursday run is the most popular event.  not to mention that somewhere very deep within me i still hold onto hope that, one day, i’ll actually be able to do two full laps of the bridge.  i’m just praying that next week is a better week though because i don’t know how long i’ll be able to hold up if my attitude remains this way.  really, i just wanted to throw myself into traffic and be done with it tonight.

2009
8
Mar
19:52

painting the town red

   Posted by: arcanai    in home sweet home, pix

the living room anyhow.  that was the project last sunday.  and, as i expected, even though it was just one+ wall, it was a bear.  we used a gray primer this time.  we were told to do that when we painted the bunk room red, that it would make the job so much easier and take less coats overall and blah blah blah.  so we did it this time.  let me tell you… primer rocks.  if we could have just tinted the primer to the “red red wine” color we had selected, we would have been golden.  it’s thick and covered the wall perfectly in one coat. 

however, as a base that is supposed to be the miracle for painting red… pure and utter crap.  waste of time and money.  when we painted the bunk room, we put four coats on.  it’s still a bit streaky (don’t look!) and a fifth coat would have probably made it perfect, but we ran out of paint.  the living room also took four coats.  of the red.  over the gray primer.  that’s five coats total!  so how the heck did it save us anything?  really, it was more time and effort because i had to clean up the brushes and rollers and such between colors.  and that primer was a pain in the rear to clean out of the roller.  for some reason, it kept sudsing up.  what’s up with that?!

my wonderfully fabulous hubby took pity on my tired arms and shoulders (or was trying to stay out of trouble after criticising my painting – me being the one who has always done all of the painting) and did the last three coats himself.  it looked great.  until i started taking the tape off.  i have painted a lot of walls/rooms.  i always use tape because i don’t have a steady hand at all.  after all that work to have beautifully red red wine walls, the #$(&%! tape took the existing paint right off the walls.  and pulled up the new paint in several places.  i ended up using a razor to cut the edges so that the new paint wouldn’t get too torn up but there was nothing i could do about the old paint.  it looks awful.  i was ticked.  still am.  the tape is a 14 day painter’s tape (we had it on there for all of eight or nine hours) but i’m pretty sure it was a different brand from what i usually use (scotch instead of duck).  you’ll recall the fiasco i went through saturday trying to find my tape and having to go to the store to get more.  unfortunately, the store i went to only carried scotch.  i will not be buying scotch again.  guess that means that i’m going to have to suck it up and paint the rest of the monstrous living room sooner rather than later.  ugh.  if you don’t look too closely at the corners with the missing paint, the project turned out beautifully. 

hubby was tempted to leave it as an alabama wall. 

roll tide!

this is the extra little accent wall we painted. the photos are from our trip to germany.

2009
7
Mar
13:26

begging for 6006ies

   Posted by: arcanai    in Nuthin' Special

for years now, i’ve been saying that i want to do the 3-day walk for 6reast cancer but something always seems to get in the way and i say, “maybe next year.” 

well, an old friend of mine, jori, seems to have much better commitment than me.  she has registered and will be walking and raising funds to help 6006ies everywhere.  folks, i know that times are tough right now, but this is such a great cause!  i don’t know many people who haven’t been affected in one way or another by 6reast cancer.  every dollar counts when fighting cancer so even if you can only part with five or ten dollars, you can make a difference!

and, one of these days, i really am going to do the 3-day walk myself.

2009
7
Mar
12:33

change of season

   Posted by: arcanai    in Nuthin' Special

spring break season is officially in full swing around here and i’m loving it.  it makes swimming laps in the pool nearly impossible but it sure does liven up the place.  last night we went to our favorite hangout to watch our favorite local band.  the band is good, but it’s the guitarist that amazes me.  his energy level is incredible and he does this back bend thing while playing that just makes me go, “how the heck does he do it?”  they just put on a great show and their original songs (we’ve bought two of their cds) are just as good as the covers they do.  there was a great crowd of spring breakers to dance with and watch.  i had a couple of boys start dancing with me but they always backed away when they shouted introductions into my ear and i’d shout back my name  with an additional “and this is my husband.”  spring break boys are actually very funny.  hubby and i were dancing side by side when one boy came up behind me and started dancing with me.  i completely ignored him while jumping around with both hands in my pockets.  he kept trying to hold my hand but when he started to reach around to my tummy, i pulled hubby over for some makin’ out.  hee hee.  😀  the boy backed off rather quickly but stayed there watching with a “wtf?” expression while i wrapped my arms around hubby so that my ring could be displayed.  he then went away.  i was highly amused, as was hubby.  it was all a lot of fun..we ended up staying through the band’s last set and didn’t get home until around 03:30.

2009
7
Mar
12:15

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

   Posted by: arcanai    in pix

COUSIN!  hope it’s a great one!

happy to finally see us

2009
6
Mar
20:21

friday’s activity

   Posted by: arcanai    in Nuthin' Special

lunchtime:

obstacle course swimming.  it wasn’t too bad when i first got down there, only three people (adults) in the pool.  after my first few laps, there were a couple more people to navigate around.  by my tenth lap, there was a group of children.  i managed to get 20 laps (1/3 mile) in before it was just too difficult to navigate anymore.  i totally mowed down a small child in water wings on my 18th lap or so.  he attempted to get me back by unsuccessfully dive-bombing me on my next lap.  i just couldn’t do less than twenty.  and that’s the fewest i’ve ever done.  oh well.  the water temperature in the gulf is 60° today but i’m anxiously watching for it to get warm enough to swim my laps out there.  where’s global warming when you need it?

2009
6
Mar
9:29

thursday’s activity

   Posted by: arcanai    in getting healthy

lunchtime:

the pool was too crowded so i decided to break out the fiit and give it a chance to be nice.  i was ebullient when it declared that i had lost 2.7lbs since my last workout (28 days ago, you must have been busy).  i realize that’s not much weight loss but anything with a downward trend is enough to make me happy.  just don’t give me an upward line!  so i got 35 minutes of fiiting – aerobics only.  i unlocked the island loop and didn’t think i was ever going to be done running in place.  i also managed to get about halfway through the left hula hooping, which is progress.  i tried twice and just couldn’t finish.  my hips are just retarded, i guess. 

evening:

bridge run, once over = 3 miles.  i’m getting very disheartened with my slow-pokedness.  i know that running is a very individual thing but i’m just so tired of being SO FAR BEHIND everyone else.  hubby hurt his back earlier in the day, spent the afternoon hobbling around the condo, and was still twice as fast as me.  jerk.  i jogged most of it.  i walked not quite half of the uphills but that was it.  the majority only did one lap (i think only two people did two) which i think is mostly because many of them just did a half-marathon on sunday.  unfortunately, this only accentuated how much slower i was as they were all gathered back at the cars by the time i came gasping up.  oh well.  i know i need to not beat myself up about it because at least i’m out there trying but it’s just… disheartening. 

2009
4
Mar
19:21

wednesday’s activity

   Posted by: arcanai    in getting healthy

lunchtime:

28 laps in the pool.  i really felt like continuing but hubby was with me and i was taking it easy on him.  🙂  not to mention the pool was getting too crowded to navigate.  such a shame; first time in a week and a half that it wasn’t empty.  i’m really very bummed about the change of seasons.  i’ve actually started to enjoy swimming as an exercise – yes, you read that right – there’s an exercise i like.  it sucks that i’m going to have to give it up so soon.  maybe i can sweet-talk the night security guy into letting me in at 02:00 or something crazy like that.  it’s also noteworthy that i started trying to do a more proper backstroke at the end of last week.  i had been doing a lazy bird flapping thing with my arms and i’ve started trying to do the windmilling thing now.  i cannot believe how much of a difference that makes.  my shoulders officially hate me. 

2009
3
Mar
19:23

tuesday’s activity

   Posted by: arcanai    in getting healthy

lunchtime:

28 laps in the pool.  sheesh! i could tell it’s been three days since i’ve swum.  i was dying.  and since i was already self-conscious by virtue of the change of seasons (snowbird to spring break – the bodies laying out around the pool have drastically changed in the last few days), i was displeased with the amount of gasping i was doing.  so it goes.  at least i’m trying.  no effort, no results. 

evening:

hubby and i went for a 2.5 mile walk.  it was fairly leisurely; i did a bit of jogging but nothing to speak of.  for some reason, my left calf is very tight today.  i noticed it after swimming too which makes no sense since it seems that muscle is hardly used in swimming.  anyhow, we started on the beach for the first mile, crossed the road to walk our plaza a bit, and walked back via the street.  activity is activity, right?