I’ve Changed My Mind
For years, I’ve been adamant about NOT starting Christmas festivities until after Thanksgiving. However, lately I’ve been re-thinking that. Today a Christmas commercial came on TV and my husband exclaimed, as he always does, “It’s too early!” Well- yes. If all you have to do is sit back and wait for Christmas to appear, you can wait until after Thanksgiving. But if you’re the one, ahem, in charge of putting up all the decorations, sending all the cards, baking all the cookies, buying all the gifts, and wrapping all the gifts, then waiting until after Thanksgiving can be kind of stressful. I’ve decided to treat the month of November as kind of a Thanksgiving-Christmas mashup. For example, this morning I drank my tea out of my Thanksgiving mug, but I added this delicious creamer: I took down my orange lights- I usually leave them up through Thanksgiving, but they were starting to look kind of drab- and replaced them with white. Much brighter and happier! And, of course I would NEVER wait until after Thanksgiving to drink out of the Starbucks holiday cups- that would be sheer insanity. Ever since my son started college, we’ve been decorating the Christmas tree on Black Friday. This year, we may have a high school football game on Black Friday, and my son leaves on Saturday. This means we may have to decorate the tree on Thanksgiving. Or maybe even the day before! I’m totally on board with this. How about you? Are you in Thanksgiving mode, Christmas mode, or both? (or, neither?) Top photo was taken from Lisa’s blog. She spotted that decoration in her neighborhood!
Weekly Rundown- So That Was Weird…
Well, it was an interesting week. When we left off last Sunday, I had just run the Treasure Coast Ultra (race recap here.). I was pretty happy with how it went. During my last loop I tripped over a root and fell, but got right back up and was able to keep running. No harm done (I thought…) Cue the ominous music and let’s start this Weekly Rundown! (As always, I’m linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Rundown, and this month I’m joining San for NaBloPoMo.) Sunday It was the day after my race, and I slept in and took it easy. I did a couple errands that involved some walking (returned something to the mall) and my quads and hips were very tight and sore. Pretty much what I expected. Monday Still sore, but motion is lotion! I got out for a 2 mile walk. Once I got started, everything loosened up and I felt pretty good. After the walk my Garmin told me I needed 47 hours of recovery, though (ha!) Perhaps sensing some residual fatigue? Work was a little challenging. My right side and right arm were sore from the fall I took during the race. Nothing I couldn’t handle though, and it can only get better from here on, RIGHT? Tuesday GAAAAHHHH! I can’t even explain what happened, but I woke up around 4 am and the pain in my side was TERRIBLE. I guess I slept in a funny position??? It hurt to move and it hurt to breathe. I lay there wondering how I would get through the day. Finally I got up. UGH. HOW did I make this so much worse BY SLEEPING? I decided to go out for a cautious walk (motion is still lotion, right?) It hurt to move my arm and it hurt to breathe- but I walked 2 miles. Work was almost impossible. The pain is right below my right breast, just to the right of my sternum. This sucks. Wednesday I slept all night on my left side without moving, and it actually went pretty well! I woke up still in pain, but it was a little better. I decided to increase my walk to 3 miles. In lieu of another walking photo (they’re so boring) here’s the sunrise. In all the excitement, I don’t think I’ve raved enough about how happy I was to turn the clocks back! It was a day off of work, phew. Lots of rest and again sleeping only on my left side. Thursday All right. Side still hurts but everything else felt back to normal, so I tried running. 2 slow miles. The main problem is, it hurts to breathe. But it hurts to breathe whether I run, walk, or lie down, so I might as well run, right? Work was a little better- I made it through the whole day, but it wasn’t easy. Sigh. Friday Let’s see what kind of strength work I can do… deadbugs? Nope. It hurts to lie on my back and it also hurts to raise my arm above my head. I ended up doing my hip stability exercises and some bodyweight squats, and called it a day. Saturday 3 mile run! Everything feels good other than my broken rib (if that’s what this is) AND it was only 64 degrees! Woohoo! So…. I’m pretty bummed out. If it weren’t for this side injury I would be good as new. I’m thinking it’s a cracked rib, but I don’t know how it was so mild for three days and then got 100x worse while I slept on Monday. Bodies are mysterious, and mine is even more mysterious than most. However, I’m happy I don’t have any injuries that are keeping me from running (my injury is just keeping me from breathing, ha ha.). This will heal, just like everything else. Have you ever had an injury like this? Should I hightail it to the ER and get a body cast?
Friday Night Football
Our high school football team played their first playoff game tonight. Because of our standing (#1 in the county) the game was at home. We won!!! Of course I was there. I ran into one of my clients at the game, and was happy to be able to modestly say, “Why yes, my daughter IS in the band.” I’m so proud of the band! They add SO MUCH to the whole experience. I love watching them during the game, and I also like watching the cheerleaders. My daughter couldn’t care less about football, but she likes the social aspect so she’s happy we won because it means another game next Friday. I didn’t like football either in high school- I didn’t understand the game so I never knew what was going on. And, I remember being freezing cold during our games, and desperately wanting them to be over (and livid that “three minutes’ on the clock did NOT correspond to three minutes in real life!) It was actually NOT HOT here tonight! My teenage self would be astonished to see adult Jenny VOLUNTARILY sitting through an entire football game, cheering happily. Life really does get better as you get older. Did you play in your school band? What’s something you hated in high school that you like now?
Happy Things Friday
Why, yes! I did blatantly steal this idea from Elisabeth. I always love her Friday posts, and I think we could all use some happy things. Here are a few of mine: THIS LITTLE SNUGGLE BUNNY! She’s so, so sweet. Every time I sit on the couch she comes and sits by my feet. Cats always make me happy. On my day off, I went to Starbucks. I usually get a plain Earl Grey tea, but when I want to treat myself I get a “London Fog,” which is Earl Grey, milk, (I get oat milk) and vanilla. I always order a Grande, but the barista accidentally made me a Venti at no extra charge. I’ll take it! Gretchen Rubin has a quiz to discover your most neglected sense. I haven’t taken it yet, but I know my sense of smell is definitely NOT neglected. I’m loving all the holiday scents. These are the three soaps I bought at Bath and Body Works last week. Every time I wash my hands, I take an extra moment to smell the soap. Speaking of scents… I went to Target this week, and their candles are buy one, get one 50% off. Might as well get started on my Christmas-y candle collection! I haven’t actually lit these yet- I’m still enjoying my fall candles for now. I light one every day. One more very happy thing… I’m loving NaBloPoMo so much!!! Everyone is doing such a great job! I love having so many blogs to read every single day. I’ve tried, but I know there are posts I’ve missed. I still have 15 more days to get to everyone’s. Once again- a huge thanks to San for organizing the whole thing. What’s making you happy this Friday? Top photo by Luca Upper on Unsplash