Friday Coffee Date
Oh, very well. Time to finally put away the holiday mugs- but at least I have my new one from Birchie! It actually lifts my spirits to drink from it. I’ve been feeling a little down lately, and the mug reminds me that it will all work out! Or, as John Lennon said, “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.” I haven’t blogged in a couple days because I’ve been on a mini-reading retreat. I decided to buckle down and finish this book before my son leaves, because he really wanted to discuss it: Wow. Every time I read really great science fiction, I’m struck by the mind-blowing possibilities. With any regular fiction, even if it’s a mystery, you know all the ways it could end. They’ll either live, or die. Laugh or cry, stay or go… in sci fi, things happen that you never could have dreamed of in a million years. Barack Obama was right- this book is “Wildly imaginative.” Next up- third book in the trilogy! So I keep mentioning that I’m in a weird mental slump, and it even pertains to running (gasp! Who am I???) To be clear, I’ve been doing all my runs, but I just can’t get excited about them. Yesterday I did a long run on the trail: It’s pretty, right? But the ENTIRE THING looks like that, for miles and miles. No wonder I’m not excited. I need to find a new place to run… or, i just need January to end. Let’s just skip right over to February! Blah. Are you embracing the January vibes? Or are you ready for this month to end?
Post-Everything Blues
Okay, it’s finally hitting me. Our trip to Tampa helped ease the post-Christmas depression, but now that’s over. My son leaves on Friday, so I’m basically sad, and know that I’ll be even sadder at the end of the week. THEN, I looked ahead to next week and saw that Monday is Inauguration Day. OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. Let me get this straight: all the holidays are over. Our trip is over. My son leaves on Friday, and then Monday Voldemort becomes president. No wonder I’m depressed! At least there’s still football. But that will be over in a few weeks, and then what??? Well, there will still be reading. No one can take that away from me! My goal for the year is to read 60 books, and so far it’s going horribly. I’m still making my way through this one: I really like it, but it’s complex, and takes a lot of brainpower. I thought I would whip right through it on the Tampa trip but instead I hardly read at all. I’m just over halfway through and this is my first book of the year. Sigh! When I met up with Stephany, we discussed the fact that people who read 100+ books a year are usually reading some audiobooks. For some reason I’ve been resisting them, but Stephany suggested that I make it a goal to read ONE audiobook this year. I also want to broaden my horizons and try one romance novel. I asked Stephany to recommend a good one, and she’s thinking about it (the pressure is on!). So, reading goals for 2025: Read 60 books Read one audiobook (obviously, more if I really like it) and Read one romance novel, to be selected by Stephany. Stephany also had a GREAT idea for the end of football season- set aside three hours on Sunday (when I would normally be watching a football game) for reading! I could even break it into quarters- read for a quarter, take a break, read another quarter, get a halftime snack, etc. I love it! Okay, I guess things aren’t so bad. I can do this! Do you have post-holiday depression? Or are you glad to get back to normal? Do you read audiobooks? Top photo by Cintya Marisa on Unsplash
What Else Went Wrong- and What Went Right!
This vacation will go down in history as the “worst” All-State year, although we’re already laughing about it. You know what they say- the things that go wrong make the best memories! In addition to the things I already mentioned… The hotel gave us a room with two full-sized beds. FULL. As soon as I walked into the room I thought “Oh no.” At home, my husband and I share a KING. I’m definitely a special needs sleeper- I use two extra pillows, one for my knee and one for my arm (I always sleep on my side.) This was VERY hard to achieve while sharing a full bed. There was a lot of grumbling! Luckily I brought own blanket (see what I mean about special needs?) and after the first night we bought a blanket for my son ( who was sharing with my daughter.) One of the keys to sharing a bed happily is NOT sharing covers, so this eased the situation a bit. Here’s how our bed looked after housekeeping was there: We drove home late Saturday night, but our troubles weren’t over! After several drivers flashed their lights at us from behind, we discovered that our taillights weren’t working. We were driving a rental car, so spent some time messing with all the settings. The headlights were on and the brake lights worked, so although it wasn’t ideal, we decided it was safe enough to continue on. We were worried about getting pulled over, but by that point it was almost midnight and we just had to get home. It was a stressful drive. The next morning, before we returned the car, my husband thought to look at the owner’s manual and discovered that there is a setting, on the side of the steering wheel that we hadn’t noticed. But why- WHY- would anyone want to set it so their headlights are on but taillights are off??? Maybe if you’re committing a robbery and want to get away unseen? It’s so strange. ANYWAY. There were good things, I promise! Like…. A BLOGGER MEETUP! On Friday I met up with Stephany! We had an afternoon of fun planned. First stop… You can purchase drinks, food, and hang out with the cats! We didn’t get anything to eat or drink (because we knew we would do that at our next location) but we met lots of cats! The cats were available for adoption, and if I didn’t already have two cats, these two would now be mine: “Licorice” and “Pumpkin,” two brothers who are a bonded pair. They were sleeping while we were there, cuddled together the whole time. I do dream of getting another cat one of these days, and I would LOVE an orange tabby. Stephany told me that the number of cats you own should match the first number of your age, and I like that! That means I can actually get THREE more! Now I just have to convince my husband. After we had our cat time, we went to a bookstore… We browsed, each bought some books, and then sat in the cafe for iced coffee and tea. I mean… could this be any better? A blogger friend…. cats… books… iced tea, and a fun conversation. Stephany had some great ideas for the “reading” category of my 2025 goals, which I’ll be sharing soon. (Yes- I promise I’ll share my 2025 goals before Valentine’s Day.) Does anyone drive a Dodge Durango? Do you set it to drive with your taillights off???????? How many cats is too many? – My husband and I do not agree on this.
Weekly Rundown- Tampa!!!
Woohoo! This week was our now-annual trip to Tampa for FMEA (Florida Music Educator’s Association, otherwise known as All-State.) My daughter was playing in the band, my husband attended professional development seminars, and my son and I were along for the ride. Workouts continued to be minimal- I’ll get back on track next week. Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown- let’s get into it! Sunday Since my strength training was sketchy last week, I vowed to do SOMETHING on this day, and I did- my hip stability exercises. Better than nothing! Monday 4 mile run to start the day. It was the last day of winter break, so I got to run in the daylight once again, woohoo! Tuesday UGH. School started again, which meant getting up at 5:30. That was painful. I did an upper body workout and the Caroline Girvan deadbugs. Wednesday 12 mile long run! I ran partially on the road and partially on trails. Good run! It was cold though- in the 40s when I started, which accounts for the odd attire. I wore a hat and gloves, and long sleeve zippered sweatshirt. I eventually unzipped but kept the hat on for most of the time. In the afternoon, we left for Tampa! Glad I got that run in before sitting in the car for four hours. Thursday No workouts! This was a super busy day, and- it’s a long story, which I went into in my last post, which was a whine-fest- but I had to drive my daughter to and from her rehearsals (in other years it was a short walk from our hotel.) I did do a lot of walking, so it was a good day. Friday Again, it was an early day and I had to drive my daughter to her rehearsal. Since the Riverwalk was not a great option for running, I took it to the hotel gym. The treadmills were a little too smart for me, and I didn’t have time to figure out how to set them the way I wanted, so I just went by time. I did ten minutes of walking, 3 mph at a 12% incline, and then ran for 30 minutes at a 1% incline. Done! Saturday The past two years, there was an FMEA 3K race, but they didn’t have it this year (not sure why.) I decided to run my own 3K on the treadmill! I figured out how to program it for a 6K workout. I warmed up for 2K, ran a 3K “race” and then cooled down for the final kilometer. The only thing is, after all these years I still can’t convert kilometers to miles, so I didn’t know how to set my pace. I did run the 3K at a “hard for me” pace, and increased it a bit at the end for a final kick. I thought I would get my stats from my Garmin, but failed to realize I needed to calibrate it for treadmill running. Technology fail! Or, me fail. If I had had more time I could have figured everything out… I did have a good workout though, and finished with a little core work. My daughter’s concert was at night, and then we drove home. Oof- very late night. Sunday Back to reality-sigh. Some sort of strength work must happen today! How was your week? Do you keep up your workout schedule while on vacation?