Kit-Kat bar

I had a nice run this morning, sweat pouring down my face but the wind helped to keep me from overheating. Our local running shop sponsor's a fun run each month and is always fun to meet up with other runners to talk running. Today, unfortunately, I was running late but I was still able to get a 4 miler in before the last group arrived back at the start.

I'm supposed to be mowing now, but it's so hot, but I need to get it done. That and getting ready for my next week of work. It's just crazy. I really need a week off. I don't remember my last vacation where I got away for awhile. Fargo doesn't count since that was only a couple days. I need to get away. I need a break.

Long day

Today was a busier than crap day. And yet I got a ton accomplished. I wish I could be productive like I am today every day. But for some reason, I just can't.

My brain is fried. I got a bunch of new books today so I'm wishing I could just sit and read for the next three weeks, but that won't be happening. Oh well.

I wanna be a beach

A couple gals from FXB and I went to a beginner yoga class tonight. It was good. I needed the downshift from the tension of the day. Thanks to P90X I had good form and the stretch was awesome.

As we were coming into the end of it all (sts), the gal leading us read a passage from 365 Tao (number 41) about the beach. Paraphrasing massively here since I was half out of it as I heard it, she read how our mind needs to be like a beach, where the ocean waves continue to wash away the gunk from yesterday and you're left fresh and renewed.

I need that reminder (and if I get the book, I'll try to put the actual passage here) because I get so caught up with all the crap from 'ago' and beat myself up over it. I need to work on that and live in the now.

Mmm...

I need to write about my favorite salad. My friend SBK and I go out to eat on occasion (i.e. every week) during lunch and one of our favorite places is WSG. It's sooooo yummy. Over the months of going there we have found our favorites. SBK usually gets her soup and salad (depending on the soup for the day), while I get the Big Salad.

This salad is amazing!! Mixed Greens with cucumber slices, grape tomatoes (now, originally it had tomato slices but I kept requesting the grape tomatoes and now that's all they serve with it), onions (which I ditch), bacon (!), and chicken. It's a balsamic chicken salad, so I also get the balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Mmmm... It's so good and WSG has it down just how I like it - no onions, chicken on the side (so I can cut it up into smaller pieces), and a side of bread.

mmmm...I'm getting hungry again.

Funny...

So I've been trying to write a little bit each day this month - trying to get myself back into the habit of doing this because I miss writing.

But I've also noticed, that I really don't have a lot to say these days. Well, I shouldn't say that because I do but I have things I really can't say here, so I'm limited by what I can write.

I've been watching the Twins/Indians games the last couple days. Yesterday was a double header and I got lucky enough to be able to watch both. They were both decent games and I was able to cheer on my team (who won both games, by the way).

Work is the same, nothing exciting. I still work at what seems like a junior high some days. Boss2 is back and it's nice to have him back.

I'm back running - at least the last couple days I have been. Tomorrow will be rough since I have a meeting right away so I can't run before work. But it's kickboxing day, so tat helps a bit.

That's life - nothing exciting. :) Maybe someday I'll have things to write about again.

Wet run

I felt like this during my run this morning (without the subtitles):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iuc8uWMdaDg

Uffda...and that was at 7am. Thanks to MS for suggesting we wait to mow the rest of the lawn until Friday when it's "cooler".

Water works

I read this post this morning on how it's okay to cry. It was a good reminder to me. I find myself struggling some days to hold back the tears because, due to where I work, it's just not good to cry in front of people. And I feel bad when I break down in front of MS because he feels so helpless when sometimes all I need is a good purge.

Why is crying so taboo for adults? Why can't we just let our emotions show like kids do? When they're upset, they show it. When they're happy, they are so elated the joy just oozes from their pores? Why do we as adults remain so stoic and contained? Why can't we let it out? Is it society? Is it just where I live that we have this habit?

What would happen if we did start 'acting like children' in that way? Hell, half the time we act like children with our other actions - not in a good way - so why can't we let our emotions show like this too? Something to ponder...

JB's surprise!

A couple of weeks ago I got a message on FB from EMB asking me if I could make a quick trip to the Cities for a surprise b-day party. Our friend JB celebrates her birthday month and she wanted to put something together in her honor. JB's new BF also wanted to help out.

I thought this was brilliant! What a great way to get to the Cities, see JB and EMB again and get to meet JB's BF. I loved it. So plans were made.

It was great! I also got to catch up with a college friend, Dan, who is now mutual friends with JB and her BF. Crazy small world.

So some parting shots from the night:

It's so humid it's wet

You gotta love the wet humidity...you walk outside and just before you start sweating your clothes have stuck to your body like saran wrap on a bowl. It's just a joy.

I hate July.

Oh I need help

My eats lately have been crap. Crap, I say. We had a grill out today to get rid of food leftover from last Saturday's event. So hamburgers, chips, ice cream. Yummy, but not good for me.

I need a good goal. I need some help. :( FXB is planning a FIT challenge so hopefully that will help. For now, I might have to have a small bowl of ice cream to cheer up. :)

Another day, another dollar

Boss1 has gotten his funny bone back out. It's pretty funny, he's been crackin' jokes and teasing like he used to a while back. SBK and I are thinking it's because Boss2 is gone and one of our bigger projects at work is getting easier and coming to an end.

Either way, it's been fun to go to work again lately. Despite still being super far behind, it's going well.

I wish I had more to report but I really don't today. I'm pretty blah these days.

Not a good sign

I woke up for my 5am class this morning at 4:15. As I struggled to drag my sorry butt out of bed, I realized that I have several more weeks of this early morning rising ahead of me and that the "Fall Back" time change will really hurt.

The workout this morning was good though. I didn't get a run in today, though I should have. My plan was to run after work, but then MS asked me to go with him to have a family chat with his mom. That was fun.

Now, I just want to go to sleep. My work yesterday was beneficial though. I got a lot of paperwork completed and didn't feel quite so stressed when looking at my email numbers. Yay! :)

Here we go!

I have been feeling a little like I've been drowning lately - drowning in emails and tasks. So today, to try to get my head above water a bit, I spent the afternoon going through my inbox at work and sorting, deleting and filing emails. I'm happy to say my inbox went from 2896 to 937. The only bad thing now is that I have a lot of work that I need to do that had been squished down by so many emails over the past couple months. You know, those emails that weren't a priority at the time, but now suddenly need to get completed? Yeah, those. Not that all 937 are that, but a good chunk are.

I'm okay with that. For now. I need to get my head above water, and at least right now I can see the surface. Soon I'll break through and I'll be able to breathe again.

Communication

I think sometimes our world is falling apart because we just don't know how to communicate. While I recognize the irony of me posting this here, I do find it sad that so much of our transactions between others revolves around email or the Internet.

MS got a new job a couple weeks ago and he starts tomorrow. However, because he's been on workman's comp for a bit, he had to find out about it from a co-worker about his promotion. No one called. Then he had to find out he was starting tomorrow again from a co-worker. He called in to check in with his new office and the admin assistant said, "Your new boss didn't call you?" Uh, no. And then...yes, there's more, he went to a retirement ceremony today and his new big boss came up to him and said, "Why aren't you in uniform?" MS said he didn't know he had to be. The boss said, "We were going to do your official promotion today." Yeah, a phone call would have made that work a little better.

It's just funny. For the longest time I thought it was just my workplace that struggled with communication, but apparently it's running rampant. It scares me that we aren't able to speak with one another. Yes, again, I know the irony since I am one of the biggest offenders and one with the biggest issues talking about my feelings or whatever.

Anyway, just some thoughts on this hot summer Sunday. :)

Picnic time!

KC and I put on our bi-annual bash tonight. Normally we have a holiday party and then a spring thing, but our spring was quite busy so it was moved to tonight - which was a wee bit warm.

We opted for something simple this time - just a picnic. Thank goodness others helped out. We had a lot of fun, for the 30 or so people who showed (out of 150). KC also brought her new little boy, so I got my baby fix and MS got a little bit of one too.

Proof that FB can be good sometimes

My friend Nichole posted this today:

"We ask ourselves 'who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?'
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same." - M. Williamson

O! How I need this reminder...especially on days/weeks/months like these.

Crazy day

It has been insane lately! What is going on? Is it just because it's after a holiday? Is it because I have to work this weekend so I'm annoyed? Is it because of everything else messed up in the universe? I don't get it. Please...someone advise me?

Stuck in my head

Today would have been my parents' 49th wedding anniversary. Sadly, Dad's been gone 17 years now. It's too bad. I do miss him and think he would have been a lot of fun to be around these days, for a myriad of reasons.

But my struggle is that while I'm at work, I find myself wishing I were at home or out running; and then when I'm at home or out running, I find myself thinking about all the things I could be getting accomplished at work.

Today was actually a productive day - I got a lot done, but not nearly enough. And while I worked through lunch, making today even longer, I felt the need to leave as soon as I possibly could, only to find, once I was home, that I had a laundry list of things I should have been finishing before tomorrow.

This isn't a new problem, but it's one I don't know how to fix.

I live in acronyms

The theme for this month is SWIM, so today while I was sweating profusely when running at high noon, I thought maybe it would help me to come up with a better meaning behind SWIM than just the wet, bikini wearing, goggle donning kind.

I live with acronyms on a daily basis so every word should spell out something else - you know, like LOL, ROFL, etc. I'm not a texter of the generation today, but I do like a good acronym.

Sooo SWIM - S W I M... I came up with a couple:
Strong While In Motion
Strength Will Invoke Movement
Sweat Will Induce Muscles

I like these because when I'm running I'm usually feeling pretty weak and pathetic. I don't run very fast, yet, and running on gravel always seems to slow me down. I get down on myself and it makes running even tougher to keep mentally strong. So maybe if I can keep this new mantra - strong while in motion - I can someday believe it and make my marathon goal.

Holiday

First, happy independence day to all celebrating America's freedom today.

I must be out of practice with this blogging everyday thing...I know I had a great blog post from yesterday but I can't for the life of me remember it. I couldn't remember yesterday either. Hopefully I'll get back into a good practice of writing and I'll remember things better.

MS and I relaxed today, which was much needed. We slept in again, I went for a run (mostly because I felt guilty that most of my running friends were running races today), then finished mowing the weed patch. MS and I started laundry and then went to town for lunch and to see "Thor". I really liked the film, and as MS said - you really can't go wrong with comic books stories. :) I never grew up with those but I'm enjoying them.

Tonight we're going to see if we can see any of the firework shows around, though I'm ready for sleep. Oh well...

Anyway...hopefully tomorrow I'll remember my stories better so I'm not quite so lame here. :) Happy day to you all!

A day of rest

I'm doing my best to remember that today is Sunday. It hasn't felt like Sunday at all, but I know that it is today.

One of the best parts of today was not setting the alarm. We slept in (to 6:42!) which was wonderful. I loved just being able to gradually wake up instead of being jerked awake at 4:08 so I can make it to my 5am class. Tomorrow's class isn't until 6 so I can sleep in a little bit, too.

Otherwise, MS and I relaxed until we had to go into town. I got to welcome home a friend who had been overseas with the military for the last 3 months on a rough tour. It was great to see him and chat a bit. Then I ran a couple errands - getting pictures developed from yesterday's zoo trip, and getting a small album for MS's mom so she could have some in her apartment at the AL. She liked the pictures, I think. She's not super happy to be in the AL, but we're trying our best to help her get comfortable.

MS and I even went to the mall and shopped a bit. Crazy stuff. I'm so not a mall person but the mall was practically empty. I guess that's a tip to me - shop on holiday weekends. :)

Tonight we're just veggin', which I really need. I just need to breathe and relax. Tomorrow starts another week. :)

So for your viewing pleasure, here are MS and I at the zoo. :)

Overkill?

I decided to do a lot of extra working out today to make up for my breakfast and basically every other meal I ate this week. It might have been overkill but I'm just hoping that maybe every bad thing I ate is gone now.

I started the morning with 45 minutes of a lower body workout. It was great. Then the girls and I went out for breakfast, which was great except that I felt really guilty for the bacon I ate. So I came home and ran 3.5 miles. Then MS and I took his mom, along with my mom and his aunt and uncle, to the zoo. We spent over 2 hours walking around and checking out the animals. It was fun. I got some good pics that I'll upload tomorrow.

After that MS and I came home and I needed to mow, so there's another 3 hours walking and pushing. The lawn at least looks nice, but now my feet are so tired and swollen I'm not sure my shoes will fit tomorrow. :)

NaBloPoMo

I'm going to try this again. I haven't been writing much lately and I really have been missing it. MS will think I'm crazy but I really feel like this would be good for me. I only wrote twice last month, so let's see how this goes.

The theme for this month is SWIM, and I have been swimming against the current for awhile now. Between work, MS, MS's mom, FXB, coaching, running and trying to keep sane, I've been fighting the waves daily. I need to find some clarity and maybe by writing this month - every day - I can get back to some resemblance of normal and clarity.

I have found it to be very interesting that the last week or so I haven't really been interested in the details of my job. Then about an hour before the day is over I'll suddenly get motivated and try to get everything done. This is good, but it's not good because most of the day I'm struggling to find motivation and accomplish things that need to be done. I'm not sure what all that is about.

BVL did need some help the past couple weeks with proofing her resume and application for a job. I'm happy to help her because I know she'd be great in the position. I'm praying she gets an interview and is selected. We'll see. We got everything finalized and she turned it in earlier this week. Now, we wait.

So that was keeping me confused. On top of that, our state is going through a flood which has been keeping us all busy. And we had VIPs visit a couple days, so I was coordinating those efforts. That kept me confused as well.

I'm also looking at another Master's. I'm not sure that I need one, but for some reason I feel like I should have one that I can "use". KC found one that would work really well for both of us, and we could study together, but I'm not sure I'm ready to add that to my fall schedule. I signed up for a training/education course for work a week ago and I need to get that done. If I do decide to do the master's then I need to have this course completed before I start it. So there's some added confusion.

I have a lot on my plate right now and trying to keep it all coordinated is not going well. For now I need to just keep swimming.