Vacation: Underway

Vacation so far feels like work but it's a welcome change from the other kind of work.

After running which I wrote about earlier I convinced Mom that we should go back to Skyline for lunch. It was packed. Clearly everyone else from out of town had the same thought I did.

After Skyline we went to the toy store across the street and got Luke's present. I picked it out.

Then, lists in hand, we headed over to Hyde Park Kroger where (surprisingly) I ran into no one that I know. It was packed. Nut-house may not be the right description, just tons of people and tons of shopping carts. The store also has a very odd layout. The produce is the last thing you come to. It was about there that I really felt like any more people surrounding me with their carts was going to give me a panic attack.

(I'm still hungry by the way.)

After Kroger I went down to the Green Dog Cafe and got the last of my Christmas presents to my parents. Wow, just took like 10 minutes to read their menus. Now I'm really hungry.

When I got back from my solo shopping trip, Mom and I went over to Bed Bath and Beyond to get a new stock pot (which is awesome by the way) and bath grip strips (family in town and all).

I dorked around and recovered from all the shopping, driving and traffic. I took Mom back out for one last trip of the evening, to Bangkok Bistro, my other favorite Cincinnati food for take out. Dad still isn't eating so much.

And then I started cooking.

I wrapped presents while the chicken broth and wild rice were cooking. The entire time they were cooking, over an hour. Then I got into the active phase of making the soup: peeling the chicken off the bone. It's so yummy. (I am so hungry.) Mom was making Moon Beams, the best treat ever, but I only got to have two because they're for the party.

We both finished cooking around the same time. Chicken broth is never, like, a clean thing to make. The pot gets this weird chicken goo-film on it that can't be described. It's not really that gross, just hard to clean. Plus the broth boiled over and stained the stove. It gave me a mild heart attack thinking I wasn't going to be able to get it out. I think I did mostly. Thank god for that glass top stove cleaner.

Now it's well after midnight and I'm dog tired. All my wrapping is done. One-third of Christmas dinner is done (the soup). And we picked out family photos to embarrass everyone else entertain everyone at the party. Tomorrow I plan on sleeping in. Not sure if I'll run. Also not sure when Christmas Eve Dinner will be eaten. Mark's cooking. Yeah!

Ok, my eyes are starting to cross. I'm headed to bed.

Let the Vacation Begin

Yesterday (Tuesday) I did the drive in 10.5hrs. That's about the shortest it's ever taken me. It helped that I stopped twice in Wisconsin and then drove all the way to Ohio. No one knows what I was thinking. Actually, I kind of remember what I was thinking. I know that while driving through Illinois I planned to stop in Indiana for friend chicken and french fries. But in Indiana it appeared I would get home in time to eat Skyline which made me want to get home even more. YUM So I didn't stop in Indiana for fried food. I just kept driving. I had a nice talk with Mark and Irmghard and a really nice conversation with Jenny.

In the beginning of Indiana I called my Dad. I asked where the nearest Skyline is to the new place. His response, "Hmm. I don't know. I just know the one you went to last time you were here." Me - 'how late is it open'. Dad, "I don't know". Me (sensing the conversation was going to be way less helpful than I anticipated) 'is Mom home?' Mom wasn't home at the time but I called back and they actually waited for me to get home to go out to eat. So I got home, put my stuff down and got back in the car to eat.

Dad, sadly, has some sickness. Virus? Swine flu? It's not entirely clear. Boo. I haven't given him a hug yet.

This morning my alarm went off at 7am. Where am I? What's that noise? Why is it so dark? I went back to sleep. An hour later I did wake up and get out of bed. I went for a run mostly because I've been dreaming about running here for a couple of weeks. Wow are there a lot of hills here. Here's what I did this morning. That part of the hill right after the first mile marker is steep. They don't make 'em like that where I run.

Right now Mom and I are planning the menu for several of the Christmas events we're having. I'm cooking on Christmas day. (I feel like such a grow-up.) It's only 6 people that I have to cook for. I'll be making creamy chicken wild rice soup (in honor of my Minnesota heritage), roasted veggies and pear-blue cheese flat bread.

My next goal is to convince Mom that we should have Skyline for lunch instead of whatever she wants to make here. And then we're going to Hyde Park Kroger (where I'll undoubtedly run into like 1o people that I know) to go grocery shopping. It'll also undoubtedly be a nut house which is why I want to eat before hand.

Merry Christmas: My Favorite Christmas Pictures

In honor of Christmas I'm reprising some of my favorite Christmas photos.

Bonus points to any family member who can tell me where this first one was taken. I love that I'm sitting on John's lap in this.


This one is classic Mark but I think the look on Brian's face is the funniest. He's the one who looks sweet and innocent but is secretly breaking closets or something.


The true secret to awesome photos of your family: Strap the camera to the 4-year-old's wrist (strap tightly) because adults will make faces for her they won't make for anyone else. Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:


And if all else fails, find the cute little kids and take their pictures.

Still brr, although less brr than Tuesday

I ran this morning with the St Paul crew. At the end of my run I had frost and icicles in my hair. I think that's so cool. Bragging rights. The only thing cooler would have been if steam were coming off my head. (It might have been, I just couldn't see it.)

I tried to work today but the computers were not working. Well, the computers were working, just not the internet or email or my calendar or my to do list. Luckily I had a training planned in the afternoon. Even more luckily the three hour training took about 90 minutes. So I went home.

I did some productive stuff today. I got on the rowing machine at the gym. (Yes, that's two workouts today. I won't be working out tomorrow in honor of Amanda's birthday.) I did my laundry which is always a big relief. I cleaned my house somewhat. At least enough that a teenager can see it without me dying of embarrassment.

And then I played on the internet.

• This is how things were at the office today. (In defense of the office, when the computers are working again, things will be much better.)


• HCFS is bad for you. And the follow up, bacon is awesome (sorry to my Jewish friends, bacon is yummy). And the follow-follow up watching TV is bad for you and stopping it makes you thinner. Duh, Duh, and Duh.


• How powerful I feel when I go caving, running too actually.


• Coffee and tea cut the risk for diabetes surprises me only because caffeine... well, no I guess it doesn't surprise me but I'm trying to cut coffee out of my diet completely because... for some reason caffeine makes me totally hypoglycemic, a condition best remedied by eating things with simple sugars. Yum. I also decided to stop drinking caffeine because the caffeine withdraw really impacted my marathon training. I thought it'd be nice to not deal with that at all this year.

Holy mother of Wow is it cold outside!

After the second or third pair of pants didn't fit quite how I expected, I decided it was time to get back on the horse (so to speak) pick a new marathon and start training. (I have some very crazy awesome friends who think I'm going to be ready for the frozen half. They're out of their minds but that leaves me free to cheer instead.) After determining the social work trip that would've totally screwed up marathon training was moved to spring 2011, I picked the Twin Cities Marathon as my next race. What else was I going to pick?

Sunday night after the best 5k in town (where it was only slightly warmer than today), I sat down and mapped out my next marathon training plan. I did this last year too so I knew how far I had to run each week and how far my long runs needed to be each week as well. I like the schedule I found because it's a 40 week program, the 20 week marathon training plan and the 20 week "you have to be able to do this before you even start training for a marathon" plan.

Also, I noted to Amanda that the last two races I've run (the 5k and the marathon) have been at, um, a biologically inconvenient (read: painful) time. I learned, there's an app for that. Which I installed onto my iPod. Seriously, that's one way I know the next marathon can be more pleasant. The app actually proved helpful right away in scheduling step back weeks on the training plan and for picking which spring races to run. Minneapolis Marathon here I come. I will be running the half just like last year.

In honor of the training program, I ran today. Outside. For 4 miles. Wow! It's cold. I gave the yaktrax their first workout of the season. I was glad I had them in a few spots where the wind comes off the lake and blows snow all over the path. I probably could've made it without them. There were a few places where I wished I didn't have them on too. I ran an out and back path around Lake Nokomis. When I got back to my car after running I first noted that my Dreidel Dash hat was covered in frost and my balaclava had literally turned to ice and was frozen in one position. I had icicles in my hair too. When I got in my car I thought "oh, my legs have also turned to blocks of ice" but they thawed quickly. I celebrated by going to the YWCA and sitting in the hot tub.

I'm trying to remember what training in the cold was like last year. I remember a lot of early mornings in the cold. What was I thinking? I think I did that because the YWCA is the least pleasant place on earth in January. (When I want to know how many people make new year resolutions about getting in shape I go to the gym in January. Anyone I don't recognize is guilty.)

Dashing... More like a slow trot actually

Wow! am I out of shape. I didn't really have high expectations for my time in the best 5k in town so the 38:00 time wasn't actually a huge disappointment. It turned out to be a really fun race. A friend of mine dropped 5:00 off her time from last year.

I actually got to run with a friend's son for the last half mile or so. We talked about football. Speaking of football. After the dash, I had to sit at the table for my work which is a community partner of the race. I showed up at the table (changed from my sweaty/icy racing clothes) and she wasted no time saying, "I have to get home and watch the Vikings". I was lead to believe that in the third quarter the Vikings were down like 16 to 7 or something. Loosing to the Bengals. And I wasn't emotionally prepared to hear it from my dad tonight (who lives in Cincinnati). Imagine my joy when I got home and watched the last 2:00 of the game (literally) and watched my Vikings win! And clinch a play-off spot!

This race also made me think about training for my next marathon, perhaps the Twin Cities in 2010. The other option is Grandma's. I don't have quite enough time to run Minneapolis. The thing about Twin Cities is there's a possibility I'll go to South Africa again with more social workers and that would be in August/September right as training reaches a fever pitch and there's no way to train in South Africa. People just don't go out and go for a jog there. But the trip hasn't been scheduled yet. Who knows.

I'm feeling like I need another big race to train for. For some reason a half-marathon just feels to easy to train for now. Never in my entire life, did I imagine I'd think that.

The Cincinnati in me wants a snow day so bad it hurts

It's Minnesota and we finally have snow. It comes at a high price though. Snow with no wind is pleasant. Snow with howling wind, well the snow doesn't even stay still long enough to run a sled through it so what's the point really? At least the lake will be frozen so Amanda and I can jump into it.

I actually had a really nice day, despite an unusual amount of driving. Most of the driving was before the storm started. I got home around 6:00p, but I was in Minneapolis about two miles from my house since about 3:30p. The drive home was a short distance in slow but moving traffic.

Now that I'm home and cozy, it'd be nice to have an excuse not to work tomorrow. On the plus side, I don't need to be at work until 9:50 (or so) so I can leave my house after rush hour. That at least will be pleasant.

More on the Old Magazines

In my last post I told you all about having way too many old magazines. Beth suggested Art Scraps in St. Paul.
I also did a web search about what can I do with my old magazines. And the results are:

Apparently everyone at Tree Hugger just recycles them.

I could make my own tables and other furniture.

But the coups de gras was the discussion here. Among my favorites are:

Look for your local FREECycle organization. In my area it is done by zip code. You can find Free cycle in the groups area of yahoo.com. OR simply type freecycle.org. It is a GREAT concept. You are trying to rid of stuff and someone else might like it for free - they come and get it. Saves the landfills. (This one is actually useful.)

first see if the library might want them. if not how about an elementary school or even a welfare office, doctors's office. etc. (I don't think it's called "the welfare office" anymore, but useful ideas.)

You can check with the jail in your town. They may take them for the inmates to read. They will not however take any hardback books. WIN!!

A Time for Healing?

After my poor mental health post I took a step in the process of healing from bed bugs which I dealt with for a long, really long, too long, ridiculously long, time.

A result of the multiple spraying, inspections, and packing of everything in my apartment is that my clothing, and basically all of my textiles lived in plastic bags for (oh my gosh) the past year except clothes/coats/towels/sheets/etc I use regularly. I think my loathing for all Ikea furniture was made perfectly clear when I threw away the piece of crap dresser I bought from there. But I love some of there other little things (hello $3.00 rugs) including their dresser and closet containers. (New rule of thumb: Ikea furniture - bad; Ikea textiles - generally good).

Sunday I took all my clothes, sheets, and towels out of the plastic bags (I'm referring here to the Mondo-size zip locks) that had been their home for the past year. I sorted everything out. Then I cleaned my linen closet which was ridiculously cluttered for how little is actually in there, and stored the sheets and towels.

Having taken stock of my clothing I went to Ikea in search of organization (in addition to a Christmas present specifically requested by Mom). I bought one of those cubbie/drawer things that hangs over the clothes bar. My choices of color were a red/orange (just no) white, or black. I chose black because the white can look dingy. I forgot that it's really hard to see in the black drawers. (It's an unusual complaint and I won't take the thing back for it. I just want you to know.)

The now-sorted clothes went into the hanging organizer well. And presto my room is clean. The laundry hamper now fits back in the closet since the floor is no longer cluttered with over-large ziplock bags. It just made me feel so much better to have two clean closets and every thing back.

I also cooked actual food yesterday, peanut butter curry. My parents were interested to hear I can get fresh-ground peanut butter at my co-op. Seriously. The little machine just makes it right there for me. On the curry, yum!. I needed a better curry to rice ratio but the recipe I found (truly African) didn't have measurements so much as an ingredient list and loose information about proportions. It's really a miracle I got as close as I did. Ingredients in the curry include raisins and cashews. All my favorite meals involve fruit. Well, many of my favorite meals and almost all of my favorite deserts involve fruit. Yum, nonetheless.

I also sorted out my tupperware drawer. How does that get so out of control? and today I sorted out the last drawer to have textiles in plastic bags: the drawer full of my kitchen towels. It just feels so much nicer, I feel better about myself, and less loathing for living here now that stuff is back where it belongs. I actually didn't realize how much loathing I had for having my place that way until it wasn't.

My progress in the apartment has left me with a couple dilemmas. My questions to the readers:

• I have a crap ton of the really good take out containers that the Chinese restaurants use for soup. What can I do with them? Is it dumb to give those to Good Will? Anyone want them. They're really good. Problem is they're all the "large" (read: two servings) size and I don't want them. I think they're partly responsible for the chaos in my tupperware drawer.


• I have, also, a ton of magazines, mostly Eating Well, that I'm not using anymore. What do you do with old magazines? I think there's like an art form now of folding up pages from magazines and making them into coasters. How do I find a local artist who will use them? Is there anyone else that will use them? I think I could recycle them too.

Sunday Linkfest - Since football today was entirely disappointing

• What I think God thinks is exactly what God thinks. Duh.


• If that wasn't proof enough, here's another reason you should listen to me.


• While listening to the weather tonight I heard words like "blizzard", "cold blast", and "arctic chill". Don't worry, I'm still excited for the Best 5K in Town (Seriously Amanda, sign up!) It appears the weather is destined to be freezing for this race. That makes it more fun.


• When I own a house this is how I'll decorate it for Christmas.


• Speaking for designs and decorations, I thought Kelly my pooky bear could do this and I know that several of you could make this.


• When I ran this week some friends were talking about the toy hamsters (not knowing they can kill you) but it took a lot of web searching before I could find even this limited information about the health risks of antimony. Is this for real or just someone freaking out?


• A possible solution to driving in Minnesota in the winter?


• Definitely not what I would call life changing but an interesting idea about waste and energy. Ewww.


• And finally this is for Amanda!

Hermit Saturday - Almost

What'd I do today?

930-ish, I got out of bed and ran my Run fast up hills route. Hey, it's cold and I am going to run outside in a 5k next week (Sign up if you haven't!) and I can count on my fingers the number of times I've run outside since the big day. I didn't go quite the full distance because I ran into Cheryl a few blocks from my house and I stopped to say hi.

1100, Watch my Bearcats try to give me a heart attack in their eventual win over Pitt. (Side note: I've technically completed programs at both of these schools.) Brian Kelly: Stay in Cincinnati!

1400, that game finally ends with me jumping up and down. I "read" part of The Two Towers (on tape) and had lentil soup with chicken for lunch. I basically hung out all afternoon watching various football games and movies. BTW, this is a Bearcat but this is what a Bearcat really looks like.



1830, go to the Liquor store because there's more football tonight (since when do I like football?). In the parking lot, my mentee calls me and says, "can you take me to the emergency room?" and the surprising answer was No. (I'll support that decision to anyone who has questions but seriously, if she needed to go, I wouldn't have said no.)

1850, went to the YWCA and hung out in the hot tub, where I talked to a (mildly hot) guy named Alex. I neglected to mention that was my first name too. Also ran into Cyndi (yes, I did spell that right, and I spell all Cyndi's that way now) and got to hang out with her little baby.

2000, (is it weird that I do military time?) Now watching the Nebraksa/Texas game and still fighting with my mentee about why I will not take her to the ER to get antibiotics. She just hung up on me so I'm thinking we're pretty much done with that conversation. Do you think less of me now because it's not a satisfying feeling at all. Also, go Nebraska. Today has been a big day for punt blocking in all football games.

The Friday Five

I haven't done one of these, but The Friday Five looks interesting this week:

1. What song do you play the most? According to my play list (and please keep in mind I spent quality time running with my iPod this summer): Healing Hands - Elton John; FutureSexLoveSound - Justin Timberlake; I Run for Life - Melissa Etheridge; A Little Less Conversation - Elvis; Affirmation - Savage Garden

2. What song do you play the least? Angels Would Fall - Melissa Etheridge and Sorry to a Friend - Edwin McCain have last been played two years ago, of the songs that have actually been played at least once.

3. What's the last song you added? Parachute - She is Love. (Quick plug here for Skreemr.)

4. What's your favorite playlist? My exercise playlists. I have one that's several hours long for those looong runs I did this summer and one that's shorter with only fast, fun songs with a good beat. Favorite songs for exercising, besides those above include: Fire Burning on the Dance Floor - Sean Kingston; Burnin' Up - Jonas Brothers (I feel no shame); Temperature - Sean Paul; Remember the Name - Fort Minor; Lose Yourself - Eminem (I know it's Eminem, but I feel like I'm in Amsterdam at about 38K every time I hear it); Waking Up in Vegas - Katy Perry and 4 Minutes - Madonna.

5. What kind of iPod (or MP3 player) do you have? My first one was a Shuffle, the 1G model, orange. My second iPod is the Product Red Nano, which accommodates my Nike+ sensor that Amanda and Eric and Kelly got me when I graduated. My most recent purchase is a 2ng gen iPod touch (maybe it's a 3rd gen, is there a 3rd gen? probably second gen) that I love. It's great to be able to watch movies on airplanes. 'Nuff said.

My day started off with a bad touch and started off from there

Thursday: A colleague was walking around the office carrying a stuffed bear. Said colleague explained (to someone else while I was in the room listening) that the animal represents a positive spirit and she carries it around for anyone who might need it. (I was not judging. Well, ok, I was judging but I was feeling bad about it and I wasn't judging out loud for sure.)

Friday: I had no time today for anything. I had about an hour to get all of my work done for the day. Then I had a meeting, then off to the School of Social Work to educate young minds about working with seniors. About five minutes into my work time there's the fuzzy bear (and said colleague) literally in my face. Bad Touch. I was neither pleased nor amused. Amanda said it's how she feels every time I say "do you need a hug?". NO!

The morning meeting wasn't too bad, until the end and by then I had an excuse to duck out because...

I went to the school of social work to talk to people about working with seniors. It could have gone better. I had twice the time to work with as I expected, and (I'll admit) I was under-prepared. But I think the students were also fried because it's one week to the end of the semester. Poor things. The last semester was by far my favorite.

The end of the day got much better. I saw Amanda and my pooky bear at the No Coast Craft-o-Rama. It was a great time.
::Steps up on soap box:: To all of you who make jewelry that you sell, I encourage you to make some with surgical steel hoops/clasps/hooks etc. For me, earrings are my most favorite girl accessory of all. (Most of you have noticed that I rarely wear skirts or dresses and never wear make-up.) Earrings I love. And I'm always bummed when I see earrings I'd like, and I'd love to support local artists but they don't make earrings my sensitive ears can wear. ::Steps down from soap box::

We had awesome food, I had Vietnamese and they had tamales. Yum!

It's always a sign of my mental health when:

• I wake up and run (or go to the gym): this week, I've worked out or ran all three days, last week not so much


• My kitchen and living room are clean: No. Just, no.


• I cook for myself: the only reason I "cooked" for lunch today is because I couldn't fit in fast food between my meetings. Ditto for tomorrow. Awesome Chinese with Amanda last night for dinner and I'm pretty convinced tonight's dinner will be from a restaurant as well
  


• I take a shower every day: only doing that because I am actually working out


• I get out of my house: well, last weekend was a holiday so it's hard to use that as a measure

Where's this list coming from? At one point last week, it'd been a really long time since I'd run or done any kind of physical activity and I was starting to worry about myself. Post marathon depression is apparently a real thing, as is Seasonal Affective Disorder (will I ever see the sun again?). Anyways, I decided to take stock. Things aren't quite as bad as I thought. Particularly surprising is that I haven't missed a day or working out yet.

Thanksgiving: Status Update

Liz: Lying in bed
Number of people snoring: One in my room with me, one next door (actually louder than the roommate), and at least one dog down the hall
Nose: Still plugged up. I see Afirin in my future.
Contacts: Much better. (Amanda, no worries because I do have a new pair with me.)
Sleepy: Me, not so much. But the dull glow from the computer doesn't seem to bother my roommate (who opted for the 12:01am shopping start time last night with no naps today and is now sacked out).
Food I ate today: Surprisingly little. Snack mix (and not a lot) for breakfast, lasagna for lunch and a left-over sandwich and creamed corn for dinner, plus two cups of coffee, three twizzlers and many pistachios. Sadly, no more turkey for Liz.
Shopping left to do: Mom and Dad (duh, they're here, I can't do it all now), my mentee, and one thing for a colleague.

I was also thinking of Thank-You/Christmas cards to all the Bolder Options donors. I guess I should get on that one.

My Thanksgiving: Just, wow

Wednesday:
O'dark-thirty: Wake up. I have a sinus infection. My whole face feels like it's about to cave in. Pack food. Go.
Can't remember what time: Keep driving. I was given advice to avoid Chicago entirely. I did.
Been-on-the-road-too-long o'clock: Gary, IN is my least favorite city to drive through. The only traffic I hit all day.
Oh-crap-I-gotta-pee: I remember Amanda told me a human bladder can hold 200 CCs. I can tell you, an entirely full bladder is a painful experience.

Thanksgiving-Thursday:
No one wears a watch 'cause it's vacation.
Morning: Wake up. Have the cereal my mommy brought me. Later morning, RUN! It was a cold day when I started and ended up cold and rainy so I cut it short (sort of) at around 40:00. A nice and slow run because I haven't run since my trot around the lake a few weeks ago with Jenna.
Lunch: What's the point in eating right now?
Immediately after we don't really eat: All the cousins/aunts/uncles/kids (wow! there are a lot of people) showed up. I sat back and watched the mayhem. It's fun to watch my cousins suddenly act like adults because they have kids.
4:00pm This is the only exact time I know because it's time to EAT! We had my favorites including creamed corn, sweet potatoes, mash potatoes, stuffing (there were even more kinds of starch but I lost track) ten different kinds of pies, lasagna, and eggplant parmesean. (Did I mention there's this weird Italian contingent in my extended family?)
Later: Wow! There are a lot of people in this house.
In the evening: I had some coffee and was doing one of my favorite things: checking my newsreader. I read this article about Thanksgiving Turkeys and now cannot eat turkey. Ever. It's not a gross thing, just an ethical thing. (I wonder if my turkey bacon comes from the same turkeys that we use of Thanksgiving. That would be a big problem.)
Late: Tried to sleep. I didn't sleep so good (see the above mentioned sinus infection)

Friday:
Omyguswhutimeizit?: I'm up. I'm up. We went to Macy's where I got my first Christmas present: a wool coat. Charcoal, with a hood and a zipper. (Kelly: Is this like the coat it took you a year to find?) This eye-issue started at Macy's. I thought it was crap in my contacts.
1030 or 1100: Get back to the house. It's not crap in my contacts. It's my eye. Wow, does it hurt. BTW, I don't know what happened to my glasses but they're not in my suitcase. Liz walks around with no contacts and no glasses. Liz cant see the big-screen TV.
I ate lasagna in my semi-blind state.
1:30pm-ish: Back to shopping. I helped Mom pick out several items and Barnes 'N Noble (if you're reading this, they're not for you). The contacts were back in my this time and my eye hurt less but still noticeable.
Did I mention all the football we watched all day? Go Bearcats!
Then we went to Bath & Body and I got my soap for the year. No, seriously. We also shopped in Bed Bath & Beyond where I did not buy anything.
Dinner-time: I did beg Mom to come down to the basement and talk to me while I spent quality time on the elliptical. Then we ate again.
More shopping: This time on the internet. I bought my gift for Dad (Eating Well Magazine), the Melcher Christmas steal-a-thon Christmas Passing Party (a gift certificate to Kiva - hmm, I hope my family doesn't read this blog), and gifts for Amanda and Kelly (I do know better than to tell that one).
My eye is still bothering me, this time it is the contact. You know when you get that weird halo/blurry/funky thing lenses can do? That's what I've got going on. I'm not sure what the issue is but the pain's basically gone. I'll take the blurry vision.

Tomorrow: Who knows? I'm thinking about running but also thinking about going on the elliptical instead. I've got to get back into training for my winter 5k.

The ER: The Sweetest Thing I Heard After...

I did have to go to work today for a little while despite my adventure last night. While there, many of my colleagues told me to go back home. (Thanks.) I did have one thing I had to do and couldn't re-schedule, but I only stayed a few hours.

While I was explaining what happened, a colleague said the sweetest thing I heard today (besides Amanda taking me to the ER and staying up all night): "Do you want me to come and clean up the blood in your house?"

I made the comment that my bathroom looked like a crime scene. The colleague noted that some people just don't like cleaning that stuff up, and a problem of living alone is that any mess is my own. Luckily, while other people's blood makes me want to pass out, the site of my own doesn't bother me at all (unless it's gooooshing out of my face).

Still, I feel like one friend who will get out of bed and haul @ss across town in the middle of the night and another who will clean my house for me is a sign that I'm making a family here. Sweet.

my latest trip to the ER

Sunday night around 11:30pm: I went to sleep. All was normal.

Sunday night/Monday morning 1:30am: I woke up. At first I thought I had a runny nose but quickly figured out it was a bloody nose. Which would not stop. Applying pressure made it worse. A Google search (rarely a good idea in this situation) did yield some helpful information. The most consistent information was: if the bleeding doesn't stop in ten minutes, go to the ER.

1:40am: Still on the fence about the ER, but still bleeding.

1:41am: The biggest blood clot ever came out of my body. (Ewww.) At that point I was really scared. I called Amanda and begged for help.

2:00am (Thank goodness Amanda got her car fixed.) The bleeding slowed to a dull trickle. The magic words at the ER seemed to be, "I can't stop bleeding" because I got right in.

The timeline in the ER is a little blurry (Amanda could tell you better). But the doctor came in, looked at me, left, came back, left again, and then came back to actually work on my nose. It had basically stopped bleeding by then and I was feeling pretty guilty about dragging Amanda out of bed and across town for something that basically stopped on it's own.

And then the doc touched me. Gooosh. And we were back in bloody nose business. So she cauterized the area. Holy mother of Wow! did that hurt.

The doc came back to check on me and found that I'd sprung a leak so she cauterized more. This one didn't hurt so bad, but it still did not tickle.

4:07am: "We'll give that ten minutes to make sure it stops" says the doc.

5:00am: Still no doc to do one last check (thanks Abbott Northwestern) but the RN sent me home with follow up instructions. I called in sick/late to work and went to bed thankful for health, health insurance, and a friend I can wake up in the middle of the night from a dead sleep to sit with me in the ER so I won't be scared.

Running a marathon taught me to have faith...

Amanda and I were talking about a circumstance unrelated to running. I was enumerating the values of taking one particular action and Amanda was noting the possible risks and negative outcomes associated with said action. In response, I was encouraging faith in a positive outcome. I was trying to explain why I'm so sure the positive outcome is the one that will actually be created out of the circumstance. In explaining my point, I made a statement Amanda really liked:

Something about running a marathon taught me to have faith

I was saying that I had faith in my ability to create the experience I wanted out of running the marathon. Not the experience of running 26.2 miles in a certain time, or running a certain speed, but all the experiences that went along with it that were so positive like raising a whole bunch of money (there's still time to donate) for a great mentoring program and having people make a 26-mile-long line and cheer for me as I ran by (something you should all try at least once). The experience I meant was just knowing that the marathon was going to be a wonderful experience. I didn't know if I was going to finish or live to tell the tale. But even a few days before I ran I knew it was going to be great.

The other day we got some really discouraging news at work. That information highlighted a larger a concern we've all had about the something that's been going on (or not going on) at work for a long time. The news is discouraging on its face. But the circumstance actually creates an opportunity (finally) to address this larger issue. In the end, something really positive will come out of this, even though it didn't appear that way when it showed up on our doorstep. Why?

Because something about the experience helped me find my faith that I can create the reality I want.

Sidenote to my friend Amanda: I'll also refer you to what it says up top just below the title of the blog and tell you to Man Up.

I need to train for a new marathon, and I've found a miracle cure

I've had two unusually severe migraines this month. I'm not sure I got a migraine the entire time I trained for the marathon.

Ergo, I've decided I need something new to train for. I'm thinking not a marathon because I don't want to tear up my joints prematurely (I plan on using them for a long time to come) and I don't want to buy that many pairs of shoes again. I did hear tell of some Freeze-your-@ss-off-Half-Marathon in the middle of January that I will be, um, strongly encouraged to (read: if all else fails, shamed into) run with the St Paul runners so that may be my new goal. (For some reason, the 5k wasn't the correct motivation; something about the distance I think. But I can't wait to run it.)

I haven't run as much since the big day. For a while it was resting, then motivation, then the time changed and I have even more issues than normal about getting up because it's dark, plus add to that some days I should now be running at the Y and I have a whole separate mental block about that. I need some positive motivation to make me actually run at the Y. (I'm fine once I get started, but just the thought of it...) I'm open to any and all suggestions.

My new training plan, for now, is to train for the I-have-no-idea-why-I'm-running-when-it's-this-cold-Half-Marathon. All the running I did last year taught me I'm really happier going for a nice steady run for a couple of hours than hauling tail for a couple miles. And the Best 5k in Town will be a great speed training session for the longer race. (PS, you should list the Dreidel Dash over at RaceberryJam.)

In migraine related news, I found a freakin' miracle drug yesterday (as I lay in bed feeling like I was going to die). The migraine I had yesterday was the most severe one I've had in a long time and I was really desperate. I remembered an old (read: legal) prescription I had for some, um, really strong pain killers and I had some leftover pills.

Lord only knows why I didn't cut the tub in half, but I swallowed this entire horse pill (per the instructions on the bottle). I compare the strength of this medicine to using a power saw to cut a piece of paper in half.

Twenty minutes passed by and then: I didn't have a head ache, I wasn't in any pain, I couldn't remember pain, I swore my head and my entire body would never hurt again.

And then I slept for like five hours.

It's like a whole day of my life that I'll never get back. But those pills. Wow. What a relief to be pain free for all that time. I'm a little worried I'll get addicted (I haven't taken any more) but the sleeping part didn't feel right. Almost like a hangover without the sick, so I really don't want to take the pills ever again, despite their awesome pain relief.