IT’S HERE!!!

We finally had a shift in our weather!  It wasn’t COLD- we’re still waiting for that first blast of crisp, cool air that brings us down into the 50s at night.  But we did get down to the upper 60s and 70s, and had some breezy, overcast days that gave us relief from the heat and humidity.  It was lovely!  Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown.  Let’s get right into it! Monday No school AGAIN today.  The schools were closed last week Wednesday-Friday because of the storm, and then today was a scheduled teacher work day for the end of the quarter.  SIGH. The upside was that I could sleep a little later- my 3 mile run started in the dark and ended in daylight. I followed the run with a MadFit standing core workout.. Tuesday Finally, back to a normal routine.  I did this 30 minute Pilates core workout.  It’s so hard and painful!  I try to think about how strong my core will get if I keep doing it.  I also did my hip stability exercises, including the one leg sit-to-stand. Wednesday 12 mile trail run!  This was the run I’ve been waiting for- I finally felt good.  It was 68 degrees when I started, cloudy and breezy.  By the end of the run the “feels like” temp was 80, but that’s nothing.  I’ve done long runs where the “feels like” was 103.  The weather really does make a huge difference! You might be noticing I’ve been aggressively pushing my long run distance.  Way back in May I (recklessly) registered for a 12 hour race on November 9th (hahahahaha.) I obviously won’t be running for twelve hours, but I still plan on going.  The course is a repeated 4.5 mile loop, so I’ll just do what I can. Thursday Just a cool, breezy, short 2 mile run… …followed by hip stability exercises and Caroline Girvan’s deadbug workout. Friday Leg day at the gym!  Even this workout felt better, although I can’t credit the weather for that.  I did squats and deadlifts, and felt a surge of adrenaline I don’t usually get.  I really need to get to the gym more than once a week. Saturday Another overcast, breezy run!  4 miles, and towards the end I felt a vaguely familiar feeling… that feeling when running is effortless.  I haven’t been “flying” in a long time!  Ever since “Calfgate” every run has been difficult.  But I KNEW if I just kept grinding along, I would have a breakthrough eventually.  Today was the day! I followed up with 100 crunches on the stability ball.  My stomach is definitely not getting any smaller, but hopefully it’s getting stronger. Later in the day I watched Baylor win, FINALLY!  Great game- we needed it. Sunday On tap…. sleeping in.  Waffles!  Football.  Baylor and the Dolphins are both on a one-game winning streak- let’s keep it going! How was your weather this week?- I can finally talk about the weather without swearing, or crying.

TGIF!!!  Seriously, I’m ready for the weekend.  But first, let’s have a lovely cup of coffee (or, tea) together and chat about our lives. If we were having coffee together, I’d talk about our weather.  The other day I saw this headline on our local news: “Cold Front Arriving.”  Oh, REALLY?  Let’s just look at the forecast: Now, a high of 79 is a HUGE improvement!  And it was cloudy!  And windy!  You could tell it’s no longer summer.  And running this morning when it was 69 degrees felt amazing.  But I was still wearing a tank top.  I know our perspective gets skewed after living in Florida for a while, but I think we should strive to be a little more accurate with our adjectives.  80 degrees is not a “cold front.” Moving along.  I had a personal triumph this week involving pants.  My daughter needed pants for a concert on Wednesday, and Tuesday we discovered that her old ones no longer fit.  She had no time to shop, so Tuesday after work I found myself at Macy’s frantically going through the racks.  Of all the articles of clothing to buy for another person, pants are the worst.  I brought along a pair of her jeans for reference, but there are so many choices.  Straight leg?  Flare?  Does she want pleats?  Pockets?  Is she going to wear a belt?  I finally picked out three pairs, figuring one of them would fit and I could return the other two. LUCKILY, one of them did fit!  The next day I headed back to return the other two, but at the last minutes I noticed one of the tags said “Final Sale.”  NOOOOOOO!  How did I not see that before?   They weren’t expensive, but I figured that was $20 down the drain. But then… I thought of my ex-boyfriend- let’s call him “Andy.”  Andy had ZERO fear of rejection.  He had no problem asking for special favors.  If there was a sign saying you couldn’t do something, he would ask if they would make a special exception for him.  And he couldn’t understand why I didn’t like to do that.  So what, he would say- the worst that could happen is they’ll say “no.” I decided to channel my inner Andy.  I was literally cringing inside as I said “I know these say “final sale”, but is there any way I can return them anyway?”  The clerk scanned the receipt without saying anything and handed me my refund.  I must have looked astonished because she said “You have one day to return “final sale” items.”  WELL.  Who knew??? I was so elated!  I had written off that $20, and now I felt rich.  And… guess what store is right across from Macy’s?  Bath and Body Works- and they were having s SALE on fall candles! I had to get it!  It was only $10, so I still came out $10 ahead.  And it smells sooooo good.  I don’t like candles that smell sweet- like I don’t want my house to smell like apple pie.  This just has a lovely, fresh, apple smell.  Oh, and guess why the fall candles are on sale? It’s obviously time for Christmas!  Unlike some people, I don’t mind seeing Christmas displays in October.  Show me all the Christmas!  I’m not going to BUY any Christmas items (I’ll wait till November) but I did smell the candles.  I like the ones that smell like Christmas trees. Would you try to return pants that said “final sale?” Is it too early for a Christmas display? Top photo by Brigitte Tohm on Unsplash

Hi there!  This week in reading I finished this: It was good!  But it wasn’t life changing (I think after reading Ken Follett’s Century Trilogy my bar is set a little too high.) The premise of this book is, a mysterious woman on an airplane goes down the aisle, predicting each passenger’s age and cause of death. That’s all fine for the people who are told they’ll live into their 90s, but many of the passengers are given an alarmingly early death date.  Is the woman actually psychic?  Will these people start to die in the manner she predicted? One thing I know about Liane Moriarty is that her books aren’t going to have some horrible, dark ending that sends me into an existential crisis.  But I honestly couldn’t see how she was going to put a positive spin on this one.  No spoilers- you’ll have to read it for yourself.  I really did enjoy it, and it has this quote that I love: It is only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on Earth and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up that we begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it were the only one we had. -Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Nest up is the first book of a sci-fi trilogy: My son read this.  He said the first book was hard to get through, the second book was better and the third book was amazing.  He INSISTS that I read them, but I’ve been putting it off (for reasons which are probably obvious.) I finally feel like I’m ready to dive into a “difficult” first book of a trilogy, so here goes. Eating-wise- yes I did cook!  Once.  I made Massaman Curry from Minimalist Baker (I made the tofu version.). It was really good! My only regret is, my daughter can’t tolerate cooked onions of any kind (SIGH) so instead of sauteing the shallots first with the curry paste, I fried them in a different pan and added them as a garnish to my husband’s and my dish.  Don’t do this!  They were kind of crispy and had a strong onion-y taste. Next time I’ll just leave them out entirely. And one last thing.  A couple weeks ago I mentioned that we were going to have a mini “Oktoberfest” but then forgot to post about it.  Possibly the reason I forgot is we drank Sierra Nevada IPA and ate sub sandwiches, so it wasn’t very German.  BUT!  I did drink my beer out of this mug, which I got a long time ago at a brewpub in Munich- so I think I should get some Oktoberfest credits. What are you reading?

Sigh.  For some reason I can’t identify, I’ve fallen into a funk.  It doesn’t make any sense- we made it through the hurricane.  Cooler temps are on the way.  I’m able to run (!) Both kids are doing well.  There’s no reason to be depressed, but for some reason I just don’t feel like doing anything. Sunday started out fine.  I watched the Chicago Marathon on TV.  Then, I put up our outdoor Halloween decorations- ahem, such as they are.  As much as I love the holidays and decorations, I really don’t have a talent for these things. I remember once, years ago, after I put up the Halloween decorations I asked my husband if they looked okay.  He said “Well… yes.  I mean, Halloween is SUPPOSED to be weird.” Whatever!  I mainly put something up so trick-or-treaters will know to come to our house.  In our neighborhood, so many houses don’t give out candy, people probably won’t bother knocking on our door without some kind of encouragement. Getting those decorations up made me feel good, but then I fell back into my lethargy.  My husband was working and my daughter was out, and I thought of something that would make me feel better: a nice, big Coke Zero. I went to the grocery store where they have a fountain, and got the largest size possible.  In the US, if you get a large size fountain drink, it means you’re getting a barrel of soda.  And I got chips and salsa!  I went home and had a feast, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It should come as no surprise that my stomach hurt today, but I don’t regret a single minute.  If I hadn’t gotten that soda, I would have spent the whole afternoon wishing I had.  You regret the things you DON’T do more than the things you DO, right?  Anyway… I think we just need to get back into our regular routine.  The kids were off of school again today (SCREEEAAAM!) but tomorrow they go back and we have a busy week.  That should get me back on track. Oh, and if this doesn’t make me happy, nothing will.  Yet another installment in the “Houses I Saw That Made Me Think of Jenny” series.  This one’s from ccr in MA: Okay, enough whining.  I’ll be back tomorrow with recent reads and eats!  But no more Coke Zero. Do you put up outdoor decorations for Halloween?