Weekly Rundown- Still Moving
Oh, hello! It has been… a week. Running is going well (still following the every third day schedule) and Pumpkin Palooza is in full swing- but somehow I feel like my life is slightly off track. Well, I’ll just keep moving forward until things start to click again. I’m linking up as always with Kim and Deborah for this Weekly Rundown. Here we go… Sunday Running day! I walked a mile and ran two. Everything felt good! Monday No school because of Labor Day, but I had to work. I wanted to go to the gym, but the gym didn’t open till 8, WHAT? If I have to work, so should everyone else! Just kidding. Instead I went for a walk, and I was very glad I did. Sunday was rainy and gloomy, but today while I was walking the sun came out and I was happy to be out there. 3 fast miles! Tuesday This was a strength day at home including hip stability exercises, Bulgarian split squats, and the Caroline Girvan deadbug workout.. Wednesday Running day!!! Wednesday is my day off, and I was so happy to run in the daylight! Yes, it was hot- but so what? I walked one mile and ran 3 with no pain, woohoo!!! Thursday More strength at home. I did an upper body workout from Sally McRae’s app, and then the Caroline Girvan deadbug workout again. Honestly, I’m getting tired of this one. But every time I try a different ab workout, it turns out to be a million crunches that strain my neck, so I keep coming back to Caroline and her deadbugs. Friday Finally, leg day at the gym! I did some single leg balance exercises, then squats, deadlifts, and abs. After work I had an appointment with my sports chiropractor for another ART treatment. I’m… cautiously optimistic? I’ve been through this so many times now. My calf will feel great- until it doesn’t. I’m hoping this time it’s finally healing. As I mentioned in Friday’s coffee date post, this was a tumultuous week. But you know what? It’s Friday night, so let’s just relax and enjoy- GAAAAAAH! My husband brought in the mail and I had a frickin’ JURY SUMMONS. For God’s sake, what is going to happen next??? I mean, I realize jury duty is not on the same level as someone dying, but I can’t afford to lose two weeks of work in November, our busiest time of year. Well, hopefully I can manage to weasel my way out of this civic duty- sigh. Saturday Alright. This should have been a running day, but my chiro always wants me to take a day off after a treatment, and the truth is, I was pretty sore. I enjoyed sleeping in a little before going to work. In the afternoon I watched Baylor lose, and then my husband and I went out with some friends for a serious attitude adjustment. Sunday On tap- RUNNING! Then, pumpkin pancakes and in the afternoon I”ll get some football-palooza going. Trying to go into the new week with a good mindset! How was your week? Do you like getting called for jury duty? (hahahahaha…)
Somber Coffee Date
It’s the first Friday of the month, so I’m linking up with Coco and Deborah for the Ultimate Coffee Date! Sadly, we just received news that my husband’s brother, Charles, died. I couldn’t just go ahead and write a lighthearted post, but on the other hand I don’t want to make this post too heavy either. Let me explain… Charles was an eccentric man, and in later years had become reclusive. My husband visited him occasionally, but the rest of us never saw him. When she found out he had passed, my daughter said “Oh no- I was hoping to meet him someday!” All this is to say, the only person greatly affected by his death is my husband. Charles was much older than my husband, and was a father figure to him when they were growing up. The family dynamics are complicated, but any way you look at it, it’s hard to lose a family member. But life goes on! While giving my husband all the support he needs, the rest of us are carrying on. Here’s what I’m looking forward to this weekend: NOT WORKING. I always work Saturday mornings, but then have the rest of the weekend off. Two Sundays ago, I went in to work to pick up a few extra hours. I really didn’t enjoy that, and vowed I wouldn’t do it again. But then last Sunday someone really wanted me to come to her house and give her and her daughter a massage. I couldn’t turn down two private massages, so I did it. But seriously. This Sunday I am NOT WORKING. FOOTBALL! So much football! Starting tonight (Thursday) with KC and Mahomes, then the second Baylor game on Saturday afternoon, and continuing Sunday afternoon with the first Dolphins game of the season. In honor of the occasion I’m going to get out all my football decorations (why are they not out yet???) and make a fun charcuterie board for the Dolphins game. RUNNING! I’m continuing with my every third day running schedule, and so far, so good. Saturday is a running day, woohoo!!! What are you looking forward to this weekend? As you can see, I have not fixed my blog issues yet. It won’t be this way forever! (OR WILL IT? Just kidding. I’ll fix it soon.) Top photo by Trishy on Unsplash
Reading and Eating
Well, I’m nearing the end of Winter of the World. There’s a quote on the cover that says “This book is truly epic… The reader will probably wish there was a thousand more pages.” Well, yes I do!!! Luckily there’s one more book in the trilogy, Edge of Eternity. I’ll be starting that one next. Last week I went to Barnes and Noble to look for some of the books Allison mentioned in her guest post on Engie’s blog. Guess how many they had? ZERO. Darn! Barnes and Noble doesn’t have a very big horror section. I still had fun though. I sat in the cafe and read this magazine… And I found a planner I love! Well, I love the cover. The inside might not be quite what I’m looking for, but I love the cat so much (the top of the cat’s head and eyes are peeping up on top of the pages as well) that I might try to make it work. I decided to think it over a little before I buy it. (Should you get a planner just because you love the cover? Probably not.) Now I’m excited because tomorrow (my day off) I’m going to a used bookstore! I’ve never been there and didn’t even know it existed until recently, but it’s not far from me. I hope I walk out with an armful of books. Okay, eating. Remember the grand plan of prepping ingredients on Sunday for a week’s worth of bowl dinners? Well, the last two Sundays I worked. Not a lot, but just enough that I didn’t ALSO feel like doing meal prep. Somehow we got through last week anyway. And, since this Sunday was the start of Pumpkin Palooza, I made my favorite Pumpkin Baked Ziti (recipe from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Veganomicon.) My sister and I were commenting how the orange and brown color combination looks so pretty now- but once Thanksgiving is over, it looks drab. When I take down the fall decorations and put up all the sparkly, colorful Christmas things, I can’t believe how dreary orange and brown look. But for now, I’m loving it! Lastly- pumpkin oatmeal for breakfast! I just make my regular oatmeal, put in a couple dollops of pumpkin, and all the pumpkin spices (don’t forget cloves- very important!) I’m not quite sure what we’ll have for dinner the rest of the week (leftover ziti will be making an appearance) but we’ll get through it. Do you like used bookstores? What are you reading now? Top photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Ways in Which I Am Losing It
Wow. I’ve really been, shall we say, “absent-minded” lately. Leaving my car keys sitting on the treadmill at the gym, going to work without my lunch… (in the first instance, a good samaritan turned them in at the front desk; in the second, I was hungry all afternoon.) Let’s look at a couple other recent examples. Several weeks ago, Elisabeth talked about Oliver Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks on her blog, and included some quotes from the book. It sounded really good, so I immediately requested it from my library (a copy had to be transferred from a different branch.) When it was available, I went to pick it up! As soon as I held it in my hand, I realized… I have already read this book. Yep! I read it about a year ago, and had completely forgotten all about it. SIGH. I brought it home anyway, thinking that maybe I would re-read it, but never did. I returned it to the library, unread… or at least, unread this time… or whatever. Moving on. As we all know by now, Sunday was the first day of Pumpkin Palooza! I made pumpkin waffles to celebrate. Here’s the photo: Hmm, you might be thinking. Nice can of pumpkin there! The REASON I included that in the photo is… that was the pumpkin that was supposed to go in the waffles. Yep! I made my “pumpkin waffles,” and when I took my breakfast over to the table, there was the can of pumpkin, unopened. I FORGOT TO PUT THE PUMPKIN IN MY PUMPKIN WAFFLES. HOW could this happen? I’m supposed to be the Crazy Pumpkin Lady! This was an epic fail. Although- the waffles were okay. Not great, but okay. I still put in all the pumpkin spices so that kind of counts… right? You can see the problem. Possible solutions include: Pay more attention to what’s actually going on instead of thinking about the book I’m reading all the time, Have myself committed, and/or Start getting more sleep. I’m thinking I should start with a combination of 1 and 3. These points are actually related, because I keep staying up too late reading. But my book is so good! I look forward to reading it all day, and once I start, it’s hard to put it down. Well, we all know sleep is important, so I’ll try. It would be nice to get through a few days without doing anything stupid. How is your sleep these days? Have you made any glaring errors lately? Top photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash