This:
Ha ha. Steven’s response.
But, OMG, so many rocks in our shoes ALL THE TIME. Construction in the house, having a crushed stone driveway, running on trails (for me)… we can’t escape it!
We needz MOAR gaiters!!!
Because it would totally be normal to just wear them all the time, right?! Ha. I at least need another pair for running. And they’re already on my birthday wishlist (yeah, even though my birthday is in July, I add things to my wishlist throughout the year)!
We actually will need water gaiters (well, waders) soon. Our pond is a mess and we’d like to clean it out!
Aww, sniff, sniff, where are you, Betty?!
- On Monday, Steven and I were outside filling up the bird feeders and when we got back to the garage I noticed an animal in the yard. Holy crap, it was Data! We accidentally left the door in to the garage open and he got out and was eating grass. Eek! I am happy he didn’t stray far (or run from me when I went to retrieve him).
- Data has it rough at the new house, chasing the sun around all day. So much movement!
- Last year at work, we were given a choice between receiving a monetary bonus or a time off bonus. The worth of each option was equal. I chose time off, since we have a long vacation coming up in June… then found out the next day that our close costs were WAY more than we thought, and that we’d have to pay in a lot on our taxes. Sigh. I felt stupid for making that choice, for a few months, but now? I am happy I did. The money stuff mostly worked out, and now I don’t have to stress about having enough time off for that trip in June, while I take afternoons off here and there.
- This article (pdf here) about ConBody gym in Manhattan is interesting! Coss Marte is an ex-convict who was having trouble finding work after serving time. After a passer-by asked to join him and his friends in a workout that he developed in prison, he thought to start his own workout studio to teach his “prison-style boot camp,” regain his economic freedom, and employ other ex-cons who are struggling to find work. The studio has been very successful with 300 to 400 people a week taking one of the 40 classes offered. Great story of someone making a comeback and interesting workout idea – whole body movements you can do in a small space!
- The mention of “boot camp” style workouts got me thinking about how a lot of those are outdoors (although not ConBody), so I guess that means no music? Music is a big tool in the classes I teach – I wonder what it would be like to teach a class without it!
- This has really been a bit of a sh*t week for me. Stupid stuff going on at work, stupid stuff going on with our contractors, people being stupid… ugh. I hope things turn around.
Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 94
When we were planning our wedding, I remember how exciting it was to get the mail and see if we’d get any RSVPs that day!
And I also remember how annoyed I was with people who thought they didn’t need to send the RSVP because “You know we’re coming, why do I need to send it in?” Um, because we are keeping track of things in a spreadsheet and I already paid for the stamp and, oh, yeah, “HOW EFFING HARD IS IT TO FILL IT OUT AND PUT IT IN THE MAIL?” Probably easier for you to send it in, than for me to remember to add however many people for food, etc., because you’re too lazy to send it (or wanted to keep it for a scrapbook, wtf?!). Grrrr.
Ha ha ha.
I thought about that while I sat on responding to an RSVP for a couple of weeks because I couldn’t decide on which song to list under “song request”!
I finally got my head out of my arse and sent it in. Geesh, I don’t want to be one of those people that drove me crazy!
(I wrote in “Quando Quando Quando” sung by Michael Buble and Nelly Furtado. That’s our wedding song, so I figured if they play it, Steven will HAVE to dance with me!!! HE’LL HAVE TO!!!!!!!!)
This has been out since Tuesday and I haven’t purchased my copy yet. EEK!
I must remedy this immediately!
- I had a great time seeing my mom last Friday and Saturday night but MAN staying out late (her conference was an hour drive (one way) away) wrecked me for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I am an early riser and am not used to that! Totally worth it, though.
- My mom met someone at her conference that lives really close to where we are going in Alaska in June. I asked that woman if she knew any runners that could run with me while I am there, since my family is convinced a bear is going to attack me when I am running (and maybe a local can help with that? ha). The lady said she does know some runners, so I friended her on Facebook and plan to make some dates for our trip!
- We had chimney caps installed last week. Yay! I like the way they look, AND this will keep things out of the chimney. Win win. Ha.
- Peoples visited again early (4:00 am) Saturday morning. It’s cute when he visits the balcony – he runs back and forth on the railing and Data follows him. Then he comes down on to the balcony and runs around… and Data follows him some more. Aww, besties! On Saturday night/early Sunday am, we also heard some interesting noises outside that may have been Peoples… some animal decided the bottom of the downspout needed to be taken off and dragged across the driveway. That was a creepy noise to hear in the middle of the night!
- My second cousin has recently fallen in love with Asics shoes and tipped me off that Kohl’s had the Cumuluses for $60! What a deal! I used a 20% coupon, and with free shipping, they were just under $50 a pair. Yay! I am happy I didn’t wait for a 30% off – I checked the day after ordering them and all the size 12s were gone!
Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 93
Wow, I’ve blogged every day for the past one hundred days! I don’t think I’ve ever done that before!
I wasn’t initially planning a blogging streak, but I’ve stuck with it because it gives me some semblance of control while my life is feeling a bit chaotic. I know – two moves for someone who works from home a lot and doesn’t have kids? Doesn’t seem too chaotic.
But what makes me feel anxious (and chaotic) is not having control of my schedule, and I’ve (we’ve) had A LOT of that over the past few months. It’s funny – what are our instincts when something major is changing? KEEP AS MANY THINGS THE SAME AS POSSIBLE! Ha! Flexible, I am often not. But I am working on it.
New longer commute? No problem. Finding new stores and figuring them out? Okay, I can do this.
But I stupidly tried to keep other things the exact same after our moves – how much I work out, how much free time I have, how much we cook, how many movies we can watch a week, and so on. Some big things, some little things. All important things.
And my point is, things are up in the air as construction is on going at our house, and even though it’s ours, we’re still in a bit of a limbo. We’re not settled.
So it’s nice, with all that, for me to have this space as my constant. And to share things with you each day and interact with people, for fun. Thanks for reading!
(And me mentioning this means the streak will probably end soon – ha ha – that seems to be how things go!)
Steven says to me in bed this morning “There’s poop on my face.”
Um, what? I must have not heard that right. “What’d you say?”
“There’s poop on my face.”
Oh man, I’m thinking. What did Data do? I just fed him! He is going to be in so much trouble!
I turn and look at Steven.
Oh.
Ha ha. There is a poop emoji pillow on his face. Ha.
Ahh, the poop emoji. One of my favorite emojis. My mom was just telling me about how she was at an event recently, and as an ice breaker, everyone wrote a question on a piece of paper, crumbled it up, threw it in the center of the room, then everyone grabbed a random question to answer. Hers was (you guessed it) “what’s your favorite emoji?”
Lamely (ha ha, just kidding) she answered “the smiley face emoji” (zzzzzzzz, Mom), but she did the story about how she never thought there would be a good use for the poop emoji, until I used it in a text to tell her my septic tank needed to be replaced. Apparently, the group thought that was very funny. <— insert smiley face emoji.
Speaking of poop emojis, I can’t wait until our other bathroom is ready to use again. It will be nice to go back to having two toilets in the house. This must really be on my mind, because I actually dreamt we had a third toilet that I had just forgotten about. Ha!
These two beautiful white birds that belong to our neighbor like to visit our pond. We enjoy seeing them!
On Thursday night, we had some other visitors. Coyotes. We heard them three separate times throughout the night.
Then on Friday, only one white bird showed up.
And Saturday.
And Sunday.
And today.
I am really hoping the other bird is off on official bird business. Because my animal loving heart REALLY needs to toughen up, if he/she isn’t!
On her April Fools’ joke!
Snow?! Good one!
Ha ha, snow isn’t uncommon here in April and it will all be gone tomorrow. I’ll enjoy looking at it while it lasts today!
And I still have all my cold weather running gear handy, so it’s allllll good. To think, though, I was tentatively planning (earlier in the year) on racing for a half marathon PR today if I got my shiz together. I wonder how that would have gone in this weather – besides the snow it’s supposed to be REALLY windy. The cold temps would have been nice though.
Speaking of having all my cold weather outdoor gear still accessible – do you pack up winter and summer items when you aren’t using them? I didn’t at our townhome since I had a walk-in closet, but I think that’s something I might (have to) start doing now, to free up some closet space.
- My mom being in Chicagoland for a conference (this weekend)! I’m hoping to see her once or twice.
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens coming out on DVD on April 5!
- Teaching fitness boxing, and teaching an outdoor cycling interval class with a fellow Efit instructor.
- Using my “dump cart” to do some yard work! (I really enjoy picking up sticks… and we have A LOT in our yard.)
- Dates with friends.
- A visit to Dallas to see Gina, Steve and Luca, and to celebrate Luca’s fifth birthday!
- A visit from my snister and her husband at the end of the month!
- Contracted housework being done… maybe? Hopefully?!
- Maybe hanging some artwork/photos up around the house!
- That as of April 1st… I still have five weeks left to train for the Wisconsin Half Marathon. Phew!
What are you excited about in April?
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