Random Thoughts Thursday 106
By kilax, August 18, 2016 6:27 am
- I hit a 700 day streak practicing Spanish on DuoLingo! I am practicing stuff I’ve already learned though, since I went through the entire Spanish course late 2014/early 2015. It would be awesome if they added more vocabulary and lessons. And if I practiced with a Spanish speaker!
- My running uniform might be changing! I needed to replace the Champion’s Women’s Absolute Bike Shorts that I use to run in, but couldn’t find my size, so I ordered the Champion Women’s Absolute Fusion Shorts with SmoothTec™ Waistband to try. They’re the same inseam length as the other pair (7 inches), but a little bit different material (these are 87% Polyester/13% spandex vs. the old ones being 87% Spandex/13% Nylon), and they have a bit thicker waist band (the inside of it leaves funny marks on my skin, ha). The new shorts have been working for short runs and I am anxious to try them on a longer one! This is not sponsored, I bought these with my own money.
- The ducks have stopped visiting. Wah! I haven’t seen them in a week. The pond must be too low for their interest. Sadness. But that’s okay because we have a new friend, Burt (see first picture, below). My mom found Burt when she was out cutting hosta leaves to put in these pretty flowers she picked up for us when she went to run errands. Steven does NOT like spiders. When I showed Burt to him, he jumped back and said “it’s time to get a shot gun.” Ha ha. (Well, I am laughing – he may be serious.)
- Besides helping with house projects, cooking for us, and surprising us with flowers, my mom also helped me out by wrapping some gifts for me. I am horrible at wrapping gifts, which is funny, because that is kind of what our Tuesday night house project was (more on that tomorrow).
Themocracy
Oooo…we usually have a spider like that near our mailbox and she will build her web there for a few weeks. If you really want to freak Steven out (and if it’s the same type of spider) try to get close and she will start swinging her web back and forth (defense mechanism) My friend has one by her back door and it would happen every time she had to walk by (we looked it up and thats what we learned from the internets…lol)
Does your spider have the cool zigzag in the web, too?
I walked by the other day and he (she?) was doing that swinging back and forth thing! I would never show Steven though. He would have nightmares, for sure.
LOL!!!! And yes, the web has the zig zag thing in it. I have to say, I’m not a huge “fan” of spiders, but outside and away from me I’m OK as long as I know they’re not dangerous (the yellow “banana” spider is not!)
My other friend with the spider is extremely animal-friendly to the point where she had a BLACK WIDOW living in her mailbox (she didn’t realize it was one—LOL) and wouldn’t kill it until her husband looked in there and pointed out that it was about to have babies (egg sacs…) EEK!!!!!
Ha! I bet I would be the same way with a spider… outside 😉 Out of my mailbox! We had ants doing that in our mailbox, and we took care of that!
Hope the shorts work out well for long runs too! And I’m with Steven on the spider, not a fan.
Your mom is so cool to do that. Glad I got to meet her during your visit to SLC.
As for the spider, the rule here is: you stay on your side (outside that is) and I leave you alone. If you get inside the house and are easy to catch, I will put you back outside. I do admit Burt has nice colors that look great outside. lol
Me too! That was such a fun trip and so nice to see you so many times!
I used to be all about catching them and releasing them at our townhome, but we have SO many in our house now… I usually kill them 🙁
There are some places to find an online language partner (or do lessons) over Skype. Would you be interested in doing something like that to keep improving? Do you find that you’re getting better at this point and retaining the stuff you’ve already learned on DuoLingo, or do you feel like you’ve kind of plateaued at this point?
Spider…no. I’m in Steven’s camp. The two of us can hide out with a shotgun, and you and Harrison can marvel at the wonders of nature.
I might have to try bike shorts. I’m always wary of tight, stretchy shorts because they seem like they’ll just ride up (like, the legs will roll up on themselves) when I move at all and I’ll constantly be having to pull them back down and into place. These don’t seem to do that for you though? I’ll have to try a pair!
I am kind of interested, but think I would prefer in person (which makes it even tougher because of scheduling). I am still getting better as I repeat the more difficult conjugation, and relearn the vocab I can’t seem to remember! I need more though.
LOL!!!!!
Yeah, these don’t roll up at all. They are supposed to be a tight fit for that reason! 🙂
Shot gun or a flame thrower for those spider critters lol I get freaked out we get the big brown ones – ewwwwww.
Your gift looks amazing! Very cute 🙂
I have a pair of shorts from Target that are really comfy but i have been getting chaffed around the waist in this heat. It just stings a little in the shower.
LOL!
Do you ever used body glide around your waist in the summer? I do for the long runs!
700 days! That’s so awesome! My streak never came back, tragically, but if it were, I’d be at a little over 200 right now.
I’m with Steven on needing a shotgun. Just seeing that spider gives me the creeps. It looks TERRIFYING! I would much prefer ducks!
It makes me so sad that your streak didn’t come back 🙁 I had meant to ask you about it!
Steven said I shouldn’t be surprised if Burt isn’t around much longer, lol.
Eeek! I’m with Steven on this one…
I like those shorts! I need to get something similar for my long runs. I ran yesterday is my favorite shorts and chafed big time (mostly because of the rain). I am hoping a tighter fit will solve that problem in case it rains on marathon day.
Love it that you keep practicing with your Spanish. Would love to one day have a conversation with you.
I bet it will! A tighter fit and LOTS of glide!
Yes! That would be great!!!!