Reading and Eating
This week, I finished The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu. My son really wanted me to read it, but warned me that it was a little hard to understand, and difficult to keep the character’s names straight (since this is a translation from Chinese.) Nonsense! The name thing was a little challenging, but I’m used to it (reading all those Japanese murder mysteries paid off!) And, yes, too bad I never followed through on my summer plan to learn all about quantum physics (remember that half-baked idea?) But you don’t need to be a genius to enjoy this book- it was fascinating. I’m looking forward to the next two books in the trilogy, which my son is bringing home at Thanksgiving. There was also a postscript by the author that I enjoyed. He explains how he became interested in science, and then in writing science fiction. He says “I’ve always felt that the greatest and must beautiful stories in the history of humanity were not sung by wandering bards or written by playwrights or novelists, but told by science. The stories of science are far more magnificent, grand, involved, profound, thrilling, strange, terrifying, mysterious, and even emotional, compared to the stories told by literature.” I never used to like science fiction, but now I enjoy it. Next up… a book that’s been languishing on my TBR for a long time: A couple weeks ago Noemi mentioned how much she loves it (and the other books by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.) Whenever someone talks about LOVING a book, I’m extra-curious to read it, so I finally took the plunge. I’m not far into it, but I started liking it in the first chapter. One more bookish thing. Last week Stephany wrote about things she’s recently purchased, and I was especially interested in the “Books are Magic” advent calendar. I looked at it on Amazon, put it in the cart but then decided to sleep on it. Do I really NEED an advent calendar? Maybe I shouldn’t spend the money…. while I was thinking about it, my husband made an Amazon purchase and bought the calendar since it was in our cart. Oops! (heh heh…) On to all the amazing meals I’ve made! Er, well, there was one. On Sunday I made the Pumpkin Pasta Bake With Almond Ricotta from Nora Cooks. It was so good! My daughter didn’t like it (SIGH) which meant more for my husband and me. We ate it Sunday with a salad, Monday with roasted broccoli, and Tuesday with roasted cauliflower. It made THREE DINNERS, woohoo!!! What are you reading? Are there any genres that you previously disliked but now like?
The Big Day
Halloween, I mean. But also… the election. I’m challenging myself not to talk about the election again here until next week. I was doing pretty well, but now every time I think about it my stomach clenches with anxiety. I know other people are feeling the same way, so the last thing you need is me reminding you to worry. So let’s talk about Halloween! Do you dress up? I love Halloween, but I never dress up. There would be nowhere for me to wear a costume- I can’t wear one to work, and I’m not going to a party. I have been wearing my Halloween t-shirt though: And I’ve been sporting my “spooky” hair clip. My daughter says claw clips are for old people. So be it. My daughter will be going to a Halloween party, and I’ll stay home and give out candy. My trick-or-treating days are long over, and I don’t miss it. Well… maybe a little. This year, my daughter is dressing up as a character from a… game (I think?) and her costume is a black wig, white shirt, and black pants. Apparently her friend is going as a partner character, and the two of them will make sense together. Whatever! I miss these days: We also don’t carve pumpkin anymore, and I do NOT miss that! I never really enjoyed it. I think these were the last ones we carved: In addition to Halloween, we have a busy week and I’m all for it! My daughter has an audition, another social event, a pep band rehearsal and we have a home football game. Bring it on! It’s the start of our super busy season, and I love it. Are you doing anything for Halloween? Do you like dressing up? Do you carve pumpkins?
Weekly Rundown- A Low-Drama Week
Oh, hello! I’m linking up as always with Kim and Deborah for this Weekly Rundown. It was a good week, but nothing exciting. Since I ramped up the distance of my longest run the last three weeks, this week was a cutback with no long run. But there were still workouts, and lots of dark, blurry running photos! Let’s get into it… Monday I started the week with a 3 mile run. Seriously. I CANNOT WAIT to turn the clocks back!!! One more week! I followed this run with the Caroline Girvan deadbug workout. Tuesday Since I wasn’t doing a long run on Wednesday, I went to the gym for leg day (might as well get it over with! Wait- do I have a bad attitude?) I started with hip stability exercises, then moved on to squats, deadlifts, and of course abs, as always. Wednesday 5 mile run on the cross country trail. It was nice to start and end a run in the daylight for a change! I spent the rest of the day doing errands, including… Thursday Strength workout at home. I did my hip stability exercises, this MadFit standing core workout, and… skater squats. Last week Susanne posted a video of them, so I tried it. I could do them! I didn’t look, ahem, exactly like the guy in the video, but I could come pretty close. Friday Oof. 3 mile run, and everything was great except that my headlamp (which I wear around my chest) died in the middle of it. Look how dark it was! (I took this photo under a lone street lamp.) I could barely see where my feet were landing, and it wasn’t good. I returned home intact and did the Caroline Girvan deadbug workout. Saturday Headlamp has been charged! A 4 mile run before work, and I worked on my cadence. I have a metronome app on my phone, and I can comfortably run at 58. Three steps for every beat of the metronome=174 steps per minute. Ideally it should be closer to 180. The faster your legs turn over, the less time you have to make extraneous movements that slow you down and lead to injuries. I’ll keep working on it! Later on I watched Baylor win! We’re looking good, and still have a chance to salvage our season. I also watched a little of the World Series, but… meh. I was rooting for the Mets. Sunday On tap for today, my favorite Sunday activities: sleeping in, waffles (possibly) and football! Sundays always start off so gloriously, but then end with laundry, cleaning, and an early bedtime. Sigh. How was your week? Do you like turning the clocks back? Have you voted yet?
Friday Coffee Date- I Voted!
Oh, hi there! Thanks for joining me. I’m hoping you’re reading this with a delicious hot beverage in your holiday mug. If we were having coffee (tea) together I would tell you that… I voted! I went on Wednesday, my day off, and it was quick and easy. After all the drama around this election, it was a relief to go and mark my ballot. Although- am I the only one who does this?- I’m always paranoid that I’m going to vote for the wrong person. It’s completely ridiculous- I’m not going to accidentally vote for Trump! But I kept checking my ballot over and over again. (Of course, I do live in Florida! But the ballots are different than they were in the 2000 debacle. No more hanging chads.) The other excitement of the day is- I fixed my blog! Well. I fixed the current glaring issue. The sidebar no longer shows recent posts in their entirety. And I created a “Favorites” category, so in case you’re new here and are thinking “What’s all this about a sprained ankle and DNFing a race?” you can find that race recap there. Unfortunately “Favorites” only shows up on the home page. I want it to be on the individual blog post page, and I’m baffled as to why it’s NOT there. Part of me wants to keep working on it, and get my blog all spiffy in time for NaBloPoMo! The other part of me thinks I should quit while I’m ahead, and not take the risk of deleting the entire thing right before November 1st. We’ll see. So- NaBloPoMo! It’s one week away! Every year, San does an incredible job of organizing our part of it. Her page describes what it is, but simply, NaBloPoMo is “National Blog Posting Month”- participants post 30 posts for each day of the month. It’s SO FUN! I encourage everyone to give it a try. I first met San through a fitness blogging community, but through NaBloPoMo I met all the other incredible bloggers who are now my BBFs (Best Blogging Friends.) In case you need inspiration, Engie has posted a list of NaBloPoMo Blog Post Ideas. If you want to participate, San has a sign up page. Of course you don’t have to officially sign up, but this way you’ll be on the list of participants, so others can find you (and you can find them!) Speaking of BBF’s, the Cool Bloggers Postcard Club is going strong! Elisabeth sent me a postcard from Portugal! Angie and Anne sent me a postcard on their day of crafting, and Lindsay sent the “darn it” postcard to cheer me up last week, when I mentioned I was feeling down. My husband is baffled- “You got ANOTHER postcard???” but I’m loving it. So fun. When are you going to vote? Do you have the weird paranoia that you’ll vote for the wrong person? Who’s planning to do NaBloPoMo?