Weekly Rundown- Blah.
Well, it’s Sunday again so I’m linking up with Kim and Deborah as usual for the Weekly Rundown! I’m also joining San and fourteen other bloggers for NaBloPoMo– 30 blog posts for the 30 days of November. In addition, San is hosting her annual Secret Santa Mug Swap. Head over to her page before November 17th if you want to participate! Let’s talk about the week. My daughter described it as “the worst week ever.” I wouldn’t go quite that far, but it was pretty frustrating. Here’s how it went: Sunday Instead of a long run, I just ran 5 miles and hightailed it home to watch the NYC Marathon. It was a pleasant run and a pleasant day… nothing special. Monday I’m still working my way through Caroline Girvan’s Iron Series on YouTube. You may remember a couple weeks ago, I hurt a mystery muscle around my ribs/back/side and had to skip Day #14, which was a full body strength workout. Well, that muscle still hurts but I’m forging ahead anyway, so I went back to complete that workout. Tuesday No school because of election day. I ran 4 miles, then did my plyometrics and Planksgiving. Hahahahaha…. who am I kidding. I’m totally not doing any kind of planking challenge- I keep forgetting. I think I did a plank three times this week. Oh well! In the afternoon we got the news that due to Hurricane Nicole, school would be canceled for Wednesday and Thursday. This canceled what probably would have been the two best days of the whole year for my daughter- she was supposed to have a big field trip, AND a rehearsal and performance for a county-wide jazz band. Lots of tears and anger around here. Wednesday Well, we obviously have a major storm heading our way so I better get a run in while I can! Another 4 mile run, then home for a gloomy, rainy day. Thursday Oh guess what- the storm didn’t hit us after all! I started the day with Caroline Girvan Day #19 (continuing where I left off before I went back to make up Day #14) which was another full body strength workout. I left a sullen and disappointed daughter at home while I went to work… where I discovered all my clients had canceled because they thought there was going to be a hurricane. I was in a really bad mood- until I realized how ridiculous it was to be upset that a hurricane DIDN’T hit us. We’re LUCKY. Our house is intact and we didn’t lose our power. Onward! Friday Don’t ask me why, in our red, red state, our kids aren’t off for Veteran’s Day. It makes no sense, but I’ve learned not to question these things. I’m all for honoring our veterans- but I’m glad they had school. We had to get back to normal. I did a 3 mile run, followed by plyometrics and my “poor man’s Planksgiving.” Saturday OFF! Sunday On tap for today- a much needed trail run. Two weeks ago I went 10.5 so I’ll run 11 or 12… we’ll see. I was hoping some cooler air would blow in after our “storm” but so far it’s still warm and muggy here. Whatever! I just need to run. This was a really blah week, with a lot of gloomy weather and canceled events. The two strength workouts I did were good, but it seems like it’s taking me forever to work my way through this series (there are 30 workouts and I’m now on #20.) I’m liking Caroline Girvan, but I have something planned next, which I’ll talk about soon (ooh! Suspense!) How was your week? Were you affected by Nicole? Are you having colder weather? (Please send some our way!)
The Problem With Saturdays
Saturday afternoons are my favorite time of the week. I get done with work at 1:00 and have the whole weekend stretching ahead of me. The first thing I do is have a cup of tea with my lunch while reading my favorite book blog, “Modern Mrs. Darcy.” Then I take a nice long nap and (during football season) watch the Baylor game. I love Saturday afternoons. I HATE Saturday mornings. I only work four hours, and you would think those hours would pass by in happy anticipation, but it’s the opposite. Those are the longest and most unpleasant hours of the week. For a long time I couldn’t figure out why. It’s such a short workday! There’s so much to look forward to afterwards! I finally realized that’s the problem- I spend those four hours looking forward to what comes after. It reminds me of one of my favorite articles, “How to Be Happy Anytime” by Leo Babauta. He says, “Why should you compare what you’re doing now…with anything else? Wouldn’t almost anything lose out if you compare it to something you like more? Will you ever be happy with what you’re doing if you always compare it with something you like more?” Yes- if I’m at work but thinking about lounging on the couch watching football, of course work is going to seem unpleasant. There’s no reason to compare the two things, and the very fact that I’m looking forward to post-work activities implies that I’m not happy with what I am doing. Realizing this is a great first step, but what do I do about it? Well, for one thing, I can try to make Saturday mornings more pleasant. Years ago when I was experimenting with intermittent fasting (I don’t do that anymore) I used to fast on Saturday mornings, which was the WORST IDEA EVER. It made the morning a truly miserable time to get through, four hours until I could eat and enjoy my life again. Now I sleep in a little on Saturdays, eat a nice breakfast, and drink my tea. I do everything I possibly can to set myself upto feel good for the morning. It’s still a work in progress though- sometimes I’m able to immerse myself in what I’m doing, and sometimes I’m still thinking “Just three more massages… two more massages… just one more…” The point of Leo’s article is that any activity can be pleasurable if you look at it the right way. Appreciate it for what it is instead of comparing it to anything else. I’ve mentioned it before on the blog, but it’s worth repeating, and the article is worth reading again and again. “Life will suck if you are always wishing you’re doing something else. Life will rock if you realize you’re already doing the best thing ever.” Here we go again- Saturday morning. Let’s see if I can make it the best thing ever.
Five Things
Well, Hurricane Nicole made landfall to the north of us, giving us a mildly windy night. We awoke to a beautiful and breezy Thursday. School had been canceled, but the place I work was open so my husband and daughter stayed home while I went to work. I thought I would stop at Starbucks on my way for a treat, but Starbucks was closed (WHAT.) When I got to work, it turned out that almost all my clients had canceled because they thought there was going to be a hurricane. ARG! Can we come to some sort of consensus? Are we open, or closed? I know that hurricanes can be dangerous and unpredictable, and the schools especially have to exercise an “abundance of caution” in these matters, but I propose that next time, we try being a little more reckless and see how that works out. Don’t get me wrong- I’m glad the storm didn’t hit us. I’m glad our house is intact and that we still have power. But this whole thing put me in a bad mood. I decided to follow the advice of Linus Van Pelt (from Peanuts) who said that the secret to happiness is having “five things to look forward to and nothing to dread.” Five things I’m looking forward to: 1. A trail run on Sunday. When I get really cranky like this, I know I need a trail run. It’s been over a week since I was out on the trail, and I can tell. Sunday is supposed to be a beautiful day- a little cooler and dryer- and I have a long run planned. 2. My son is coming home! My son will be home in eight days. The stretch from August to Thanksgiving is the longest we go without seeing him, and I really miss him. He’s a sophomore in college now, and it doesn’t get any easier. 3. Thanksgiving… kind of. I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving in the abstract, but I’m not really looking forward to all the cooking. Let’s say I’m looking forward to pie. For our family of four, we make three pies. Some would call that excessive but we think it’s just about right. One of these is a pumpkin pie (for me) made with no sugar, which I know sounds awful but is actually really good. 4. A book flood. Jolabokaflod, or the “Christmas Book Flood” is an Icelandic tradition of giving books as Christmas presents. This article describes how Icelanders traditionally give presents on the 24th, and spend the night reading. I want a Christmas Book Flood! This year, I’m planning to give my son a “flood” of sci fi/fantasy books for Christmas. He reread the Harry Potter books during the pandemic and told me it helped him forget all his worries (yes, that’s what reading is for!) and he wishes he had another series to get into. I’ve already gotten some great ideas from NGS, but if you have any suggestions for me, let me know. What’s your favorite sci fi/fantasy book? 5. A trip to Tampa. My daughter will be going to Tampa in January for All-State, and we’ve decided to make a family vacation out of it. I’ll get to hear my daughter play and also visit some friends we haven’t seen in a long time- they recently moved from Philadelphia to Tampa. I’m VERY excited about this trip, and am hoping it will help ease my post-Christmas depression. January is usually such a blah month. Linus was right- I’m feeling better already. Thanks to San for organizing NaBloPoMo! Can you think of five things you’re looking forward to? Don’t forget, I’m collecting ideas for great sci fi/ fantasy books!
Last Christmas
Well, today was a gloomy day. We got lots of rain, a little wind, and we were all stuck at home just waiting for this storm to hit. It’s supposed to make landfall to the north of us, so barring any last-minute changes, we’ll miss the worst of it. I can tell it was a boring day, because the song “Last Christmas” has been going through my mind. At the end of November last year, I wrote this post about my least favorite Christmas songs, and “Last Christmas” topped the list. This turned out to be a popular post- or I should say, people loved disagreeing with me. Katie said “That is my husband’s absolute favorite Christmas song, so much so that his friends tease him about it.” and Nicole said, “I LOVE Last Christmas. It’s one of my very favourites and I even have a playlist, made by a friend, of Last Christmas in different versions and with different artists! I even play it on the piano.” After all the debate about the song, it wasn’t exactly that I started to like it… but every time I heard it (meaning, multiple times a day on the radio) I felt some kind of strange connection to it. Okay… maybe it’s not so bad. The reason why it’s going through my mind right now is because I’ve been thinking literally about last Christmas. My son and I are Christmas fanatics, but last year was a complete fiasco. It all started on Festivus… Festivus is celebrated- by Seinfeld fans everywhere- on December 23rd. Our family actually has our own Festivus traditions, but last Festivus everything went wrong. Our cat had a cut and we were worried we would have to take her to the vet. An ornament broke, and then, when we went to get the Festivus bagels (a tradition, because in the Festivus episode Kramer works at H&H Bagels) our favorite bagel place was OUT OF BAGELS. How does that happen? On Festivus??? Several other strange things happened, and we were joking that it was the worst Festivus ever. “Ha ha… I wonder what will happen next?” Little did we know… my son and I were both ABOUT TO GET COVID. That night I was wrapping presents when I suddenly realized my throat felt terrible. About five minutes later my son said “I hate to say it, but I don’t feel good.” The next morning we were both horribly ill. We were sick for two days- Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. My son was so sick on Christmas Day, he couldn’t even sit with us at the table for dinner. On the 26th we both started to feel better (although we were tired and achy for a few more days.) My son declared it “The Worst Christmas Ever.” But not to worry! We immediately decided that Christmas of 2022 would be The Best Christmas Ever to make up for it. We even started a list of things we wanted for this Christmas, but never got any further than “Don’t get Covid.” My general feeling is that, to make this the Best Christmas Ever, I’m not going to hold back. If there’s a choice between one wrapping paper and a nicer one, I’ll get the nicer one. Same with presents, decorations, and well, everything. I’ve found that when I opt for the cheaper, smaller, more sensible choice, I regret it later. So this year will be “Christmas- Bigger and Better!” You can see why I’m already thinking about it. I’ve got a lot of work to do for this Christmas Extravaganza. I might even have to come up with new words for “Last Christmas…” Last Christmas, we both got so sick… the very next year, we made up for it… Okay, that needs a little work. But I’m on it! Are you making Christmas preparations yet? When do you start decorating for Christmas? – My rule is, the day after Thanksgiving.