Queen of Procrastination

I am the queen of procrastination. I never intentionally put things off - I just find better things to do! So this is my new desktop background on my computer. I find it oddly motivating.

I Must Go Here!

I MUST, MUST, MUST go to this place! It is Skyhigh Sports. There are a few of them scattered across the country, but this one is in Nashville. I read about it on another blog and now I REALLY want to go! It looks like so much fun. Watch the videos on the site. Dodge ball on trampoline floors and trampoline walls? Oh yeah! Count me in!

And Happy Sunday!

We have had one stalker respond to Friday's post. Any more lurkers - or stalkers?! Feel free to chime in!

Hello, Friday!

Happy Friday to ya!  We had the most lovely rain this morning and distant rumbles of thunder.  I LOVE this kind of day. 

Today I am working and cleaning a bit, and then I will have to make myself purty for my husband who has been in Delaware this week and who is coming home today.  And believe me, making myself purty takes effort! 

Also, I've been organizing my basement storage shelves in my head all week and now my containers arrived from Dollartree.com (that place is GREAT!) and so it's time to get the organizing out of my head and onto the actual shelves. 

I want to try to do this week's 5K today, too.  So, this post is a brief one. 

One last thing - I see on my stats that I actually have more than three readers!  Can you believe it?!  Neither can I!  Anyway, since I told you all about MY plans for today, I would like to hear from my readers about YOUR plans.  Y'all need to stop being lurkers and start leaving comments (ahem....nice, clean ones, please!)

Hope your Friday is a great one :)

Final Tally

I just finished doing workout #2 which I told you about in excruciating detail in a previous post.  Yes, I managed to do it all the way through again!  I was a little worried because I haven't exercised since the 5K last Tuesday.  I'm still going to get through it a few more times before moving on to #3 because it is still definitely a challenge.

The final tally for last week's 5K was that I was #98 out of 106 participants.  This week's 5K is in Oklahoma City. 

Not much going on today; just working, doing a little cleaning, and reading.  I'm currently reading Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss.  I'm really enjoying it and don't want it to end!  All the really old books are free on the Kindle and I have been reading many of them.  I really like literature from that time - it was actually literature - but there are definitely a lot of good books out there now, too. 

Well, off to do stuff now.  Hope you all have a great evening!

Happy Monday

Good afternoon!  We had another quiet weekend.  Jerry and I had big plans for yesterday that didn't work out.  We were going to be at Lowe's when they opened at 8:00 and look at freezers, washing machines, shower stalls and toilets - not that we're getting all of those at once.  We're just shopping around right now.

About 2-3 months ago our big freezer bit the dust and we have been making due with a small chest freezer and the top portion freezers of two refrigerators (one in the house and one in the garage).  That freezer was like a member of the family.  We've had it for 23 years.  It moved to West Virginia with us, and back again.  I cried when that freezer died.  We were told it can't be repaired because they have changed the coolant systems now and it will cost more to redo the coolant system than to replace the whole thing.  Did I mention I cried when that freezer died?

The space was a little tight when we first unloaded everything out of the big freezer into the smaller ones, and now the space has eased up as we have used things, but we are gearing up for winter again.  We want to buy another cow and pig and these freezer spaces just aren't going to hold that.

Then, naturally, because if something can go wrong it will - about a month ago the washing machine started leaking.  Thanks to the interwebs we know what it is, but either we fix it and start down the slippery slope of one thing going wrong at a time, or just get another washing machine.  It is a Sears machine and we have had it for 16 years.  We have never had a minute's trouble with it before now - I love it, and we understand each other after 16 years.  Can you tell I have trouble with change?!  

When we went looking around online we actually discovered that it's harder to find one with an agitator now.  Maybe I'm old fashioned but I don't see how the agitator-less ones can get your clothes clean, and in only a couple of inches of water?  And I don't like the front load ones.  And I don't like the low water ones.  Now do you see why I keep holding onto my old one?!  It only leaks a very little bit which is really very manageable, and still cleans my clothes just fine, thankyouverymuch.

The shower stall and the toilet are for finishing the basement bathroom.  The toilet needs replacing and Jerry has taken the wall out between the bathroom and laundry room to make room for a shower stall as it was just a toilet and sink before.

Anyway, all this to say that we never made it to Lowe's.  Our usual morning routine is to sit out on the deck while I have my first cup of coffee of the day and he has his first smoke (yes, he's working on that!) and then we start our day.  But we couldn't get started yesterday, and one cup of coffee became three, and I don't think I even got out of my pajamas until 10:00!  Yeah, I know.  Don't judge.

Last night we watched two more episodes of Jericho - just two.  We are getting better at pacing ourselves!  Then we watched Andy finish a video game he has been working on, then it was bedtime.  A most uneventful but yet relaxing day.

I am now #89 out of 96 participants in this week's 5K.  I'll have the final tally tomorrow when the location changes and a new one is announced.  I haven't exercised yet today.  And may not.  Don't judge!

Enjoy the rest of your Monday :)

Moving up!

Just a quick note to let y'all know that I'm now #53 out of 56 in this week's 5K - despite the veggie pizza, Mom! - the other day my mother emailed me a smart remark about my pizza post and coming in near last!  Everybody's a comedian.....

A Shameless Business Plug for My Son!

Tom is a gifted graphic artist and I promised you I would share his website.  Click HERE  for all the print-y goodness!  His prices are really better than that other online company, Vista*****.  Check it out for yourselves and send a little business his way - you won't be sorry.  And I'm not saying that because I'm his mother! 

More Veggie Pizza!

I had a hankering for more veggie pizza, so I just finished making one and am waiting impatiently to cut into it!  And yes, I did use the word "hankering."

Andy and I went to Giant today and for the first time used the Scan-It thingie.  I really liked it, and it's much easier to use than I thought.  It was very nice to bag our stuff as we shopped and have that all done by the time we got to checkout.

We had thunderstorms roll in during the night that woke me up occasionally, but I didn't mind.  I love thunderstorms - just not the terrifying kind!  Last night's were very mild, and we got some much-needed rain.  I didn't have to water the garden today, or fill the birdbath.  We have tomatoes, green peppers and squash going right now.  The broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower finished and we replaced it with squash.  I was sad because the cabbage white moths pretty much destroyed the cabbage and some of the broccoli.  We'll be armed for them next year, the little buggers.

I ran this week's virtual 5K this afternoon which was in Topeka, Kansas.  There is a new location every Tuesday, and right now my standing is #22 out of .........23!  There are still five days to go; surely I can finish ahead of a few more people?!  My time was 46:35.  Not setting any records, but I'm happy with it.

Welp, my veggie pizza is calling me, and I'm going to answer!

Enjoy your evening :)

Update!

Woo hoo!  I did it!  I actually made it all the way through the second workout a little bit ago.  And I felt so good afterwards, I went for an additional two miles!  Bring it ON, Elizabeth Hasselbeck!  No, no....only kidding, Elizabeth.....(cowering)...

Happy Tuesday

Good morning, my peeps!  Just a short note before I get back to work.  Today is the last day of the pay period for one of my jobs and I'm in there with everyone else grabbing the work as fast as it comes in to get as much on this paycheck as I can!  Picture a shark feeding frenzy, or better yet, people knocking each other out to get the last Cabbage Patch doll ('member that?  Sheesh), or whatever the latest got-to-have-it-for-my-rotten-kid-so-I-don't-have-to-spend-time-with-them toy of the season is. 

Okay, it's not that bad, but people do tend to wait until the end of the pay period to get their contracted amount of work in.  I'll admit that I've sometimes done that over the years.  Mostly I try to work consistently throughout the pay period, but I still sometimes put a little oomph in at the end!  A whole lot of people don't work at the beginning of the pay period, so I have all that I want then.  But like I mentioned in a previous post, the work really hasn't gotten slow this year as it usually is this time of year.  And I'm okay with that.  Oh yeah - this morning I typed about a patient who is allergic to chocolate.  Can you imagine?  I can't - nor do I want to!  What a horrible, dismal world that would be!

Yesterday I was completely lazy.  Not work wise - I did extra work - but as far as exercise and food.  I didn't exercise, and worst of all, ordered Dominos for dinner!  Oh, yes I did. 

Well, off to do more work and whatever else I can get into.  My plan is to exercise today, but we'll see how that goes.  Happy last day of July, everybody - can you believe it?! 

Relaxing Weekend

Yesterday was a good day.  Tom came over early because he had some graphics business in the area to take care of, then he and Andy went and played tennis.  Meanwhile, I got some work done while Jerry napped, and then I made pizza. 

The veggie pizza was REALLY delicious.  You should definitely try it.  It was based on Tammy's pizza recipe but I used what I had on hand.  I used her thin crust pizza dough recipe which has turned into our favorite, and the one I make most often.  For the sauce I used Frank's Red Hot Wings Sweet Heat BBQ sauce.  Then I put a layer of thinly-sliced fresh squash and one diced fresh tomato on the sauce.  Then I put a thin layer of Mexican shredded cheese and then a layer of Colby Jack shredded cheese.  On top of the cheese I put another layer of thinly-sliced squash, really thinly sliced onion, and diced green pepper.  Then I cooked that pan of goodness at 450 for about 9 minutes, and ohhhhh, man, was it delicious!  I made a second pizza too, just regular pepperoni and regular pizza sauce, because Jerry isn't one with hot sauce or veggie pizza! 

While we ate we watched Jericho, which Jerry and I have been watching on Netflix.  It's pretty good, but creepy.  We're trying to pace ourselves - we have a bad habit of finding a show we like and then watching it in big chunks instead of spacing the shows out and making them last! 

Today, Sunday, we are just relaxing.  Jerry is outside cleaning his truck, I'm inside making potato salad, reading, and typing this!  In a little while we'll grill chicken breasts for stir fry, or whatever I decide to do with them.  Hope your Sunday is relaxing, too, and I hope you'll make time for the Lord because it is His day, after all. 

Happy Sunday :)

Going for a record here....

THREE DAYS in a row for posting.  I may faint.  And so may you.

I've been playing around with the Blogger settings and decided to try a new layout for a while.  I like the dandelions.

I mentioned my new treadmill - well, in short, I LOVE IT.  Except that it's going to kill me.  More specifically, Jillian Michaels and Elizabeth Hasselbeck are going to kill me.

The treadmill is iFit compatible and so connects to my computer and tracks everything; miles, calories, and lets me load preprogrammed workouts from my computer on it.  In the preprogrammed workouts hosted by Jillian Michaels and Elizabeth Hasselbeck that come with the iFit module, the incline raises and lowers by itself according to what you've chosen, or you can use Google maps to put something on there.  I put my own street on there because there's a hill on it!  Also, the last 5K we did in March had hills and so I put that 5K course on there so I could be more ready for next year!  There are also virtual 5Ks and 10Ks all over the world that iFit puts on there, a different place each week, and you can compete with anyone in the world who chooses to participate.  The treadmill tracks the time and then posts everyone's results.  I have run six of them and I'm usually somewhere around the bottom of the list, but that's okay.  On the iFit website there is also an average time of all the runners together who do the 5Ks.  I'm just doing my duty to bring the average down!  Wouldn't want people to get too full of themselves, ya know.

So, back to Jillian Michaels and Elizabeth Hasselbeck killing me.  I decided that things were getting boring - sure, I was sweating like a pig and getting out of breath, but I wasn't seeing changes anymore, and the Jillian Michaels workouts I had been doing were getting boring.  So, I found an Elizabeth Hasselbeck 30-day Makeover Workout.  Oh.My.Goodness.  You're supposed to do one each day.  Uh huh.  It took me SIX DAYS to finally do the VERY FIRST workout all the way through the way it was programmed in there.  I finished the whole 30-minute workout but I would override the settings and bump my speed down when I felt like I was going to die/my legs were going to fall off.

So finally on the sixth day I managed to do the whole 30 minutes just the way good ol' Elizabeth Hasselbeck told me to.  Concerned that it may have been a fluke or for some reason I had superhuman strength that day, I decided to make sure I could stick with workout  #1 successfully before I moved on to workout #2.  So I did that for five days and lived to tell about it.

Then yesterday I'm not sure what got into my brain and made me think I was ready for workout #2, but I tried it.  And failed.  Miserably.  The reason this is a 30-day makeover is because it kicks your behind EVERY SINGLE WORKOUT.  On the very first one she has you going 4.2 miles per hour on a 5% incline which varies up to a 10% incline at a lower speed.  Hills and 4.2 miles per hour?  At the same time?  That probably doesn't sound like much and I'm sure everyone reading this could do that, but I thought I was going to pass out.  Workout #2 has you going at 4.3 miles per hour, again on hills.

I didn't get a chance to try it again today because I was working, cleaning, getting ready for Jerry to come home......yeah, all that.  Do those sound like excuses?  Yeah, they do to me, too!

Anyway, just thought I'd post with my mundane thoughts for today.  Remember, you asked for it!

Have a grand Friday evening, everyone :)

Two Days In A Row!

Good morning!  Two days in a row I've posted!  Since the last post in June (the one before yesterday's), Blogger has changed its format.  Guess I'll have to figure this out.........For now I'm just typing in the little box they give me!

Nothing special planned for today.  I went to bed entirely too late last night and so got up later than usual this morning.  Yesterday I was on the treadmill by 6:00 AM  but not this morning!  Oh yeah - I got a treadmill!  I'll have to tell you all about that soon, too.  I have been reading Ishmael and the sequel to that, and that's what I was doing last night when I didn't realize how late it was getting.

I'll be heading out soon to Safeway and Rite-Aid to do this week's couponing and to get Jerry's Pepsi stash for the week.  Yes, I'm still couponing, but it's getting harder and harder since that stupid show came on and ruined it for honest and ethical people.  Yesterday it was Giant, CVS and Walgreen's.  I have my rounds each week, but it usually doesn't take long because I'm only getting a few things at each place.

Lately I've been driving Andy's car and it is really fun to drive.  Andy's getting his hours in to get his license, so I drive some and he drives some.  It is a BMW 318ti and it feels like you're sitting on the ground when you drive it.  I love the way it handles and scoots down the road!  It's a very different feeling from my Tahoe, which I still love, but I also like zipping around corners in Andy's car!  The first time I drove it, Andy was with me and I was taking one of the traffic circles like I'm used to when I drive my Tahoe - slowish, so as not to roll over!  Andy gave me a dirty look and in a drill instructors voice told me from now on I'd better take corners LIKE I MEAN IT!

Last but certainly not least, I want to wish my oldest son a very happy birthday today!  So proud of that son o'mine!  Funny - he's getting older, but I'm still staying young.  Wonder how that works?!  Happy birthday Tom!   We love ya LOTS!

Well, off to start my day, a little later than usual!  Hope everybody has a wonderful day today, especially Tom!

I'm back!  Actually, I didn't physically go anywhere - just took a short sabbatical from blogging!  Most bloggers are polite enough to tell you that, but I kept intending to write and never got around to it.  My apologies for my silent page. 

Since I wrote last, Andy graduated and got his first car, and Tom got a new car and launched his graphic design business.  I will post pics of cars and a link to Tom's business soon. 

Work is just as busy as ever which is strange, because usually this time of year the docs are all taking vacations and work is slow, and then when they come back in August they want all their work caught up to two days!  I'm thankful that it's keeping at an even level.  Jerry is back and forth between Delaware and here, and doing tree work here and there.  So, nothing has really changed, but I figured I'd better update so people didn't delete my blog!

I will try to write more often just so some people don't harp on me about not writing often enough.  I just hope those same people remember that they bugged me to write when I write about humdrum, mundane things just to have something to write about!  Just kidding - I like to write; it's just finding time to do it!

I hope everyone's summer is going well.  Ours is - just way too fast, and too busy! 

Have a wonderful Wednesday, y'all!

Recycle bin?! I think not!

Iknowit'sbeenalongtimesinceIpostedbutpleasedon'tputmeinyourrecyclebinbecauseIhaven'tpostedintwomonthsI'vebeenbusyandhaven'thadtimetoblogbutwillseewhat Icando! 

Yes, I know what "tomorrow" means.

So, I didn't update "tomorrow" like I said in my last post. But you really should know me better than that by now!

The 5K went pretty well. I walked A LOT of it. There were hills on this course and they were tough. I really am out of shape for this kind of thing. At least the rain stopped just long enough for the event. I looked at my heart rate monitor at one point when I felt particularly winded and it was 189. I figured that maybe that was what the doc meant by not exerting myself, so not wanting to end up in the ER, I took it a little easier. Besides, like I said, I'm REALLY out of shape for this kind of thing!

The boys did well. We separated and did our own thing on this one, so they just waited for me at the end. I went straight from the finish line to the truck to leave, so that's why my face is so red in our group picture. I always turn red as a beet when I pretend to run. I feel fine but I look like I need life support. You can go here to see the results. You can hit Ctrl+F to search for our names instead of reading through the whole list, if it's easier.

There were people with cameras all over the place. As I was rounding a corner, I saw a camera aimed directly at me and begged the lady holding it PLEASE DON'T TAKE MY PICTURE! Well, I begged as well as a person gasping for air can beg. I found these pictures of Andy on the web, though! Luckily, none of me have showed up around teh interwebs. In the first picture below he is talking to the lady who finished just ahead of him - she's 70! Andy said he drafted her the whole race, like a race car!

So, there is my recap - sorry it's a little a lot late!

The Good, The Bad, and the (Not So) Ugly

Here's a recap of the last few weeks.......

1. Jerry and I went away for a weekend for our 30th anniversary.

The Good: We had a GREAT time. We put 1,050 miles on my truck (I'm not kidding - we have proof!) and saw just about every inch of West Virginia and a good portion of Virginia, too. It snowed the night we were driving there. That got a little hairy in the dark in the mountains, but I loved the snow - seeing as how we can't seem to get any here this year.

The Bad: Tom borrowed Jerry's fancy shmancy camera for work and accidentally left the photo setting on a some weird thing that only he has software for - which means I can't upload all the pictures I took until he changes the file format. Which, of course, I didn't know as I was taking ALL THOSE pictures.

The Ugly: There may or may not have been some white-knuckled gripping of the arm rest in the snow, in the dark, with trucks barreling by in the opposite direction.




2. I had a colonoscopy this Wednesday (two days ago).

The Good: The adenomatous polyp is GONE! It didn't grow back. Praise the Lord!

The Bad: It was a colonoscopy, y'all.

The (Not So) Ugly: They did remove two very small polyps and I have to go back in three weeks to find out the pathology of them, but the doc wasn't worried about them and said they didn't seem like anything to worry about, and I won't need another colonoscopy for five years, instead of three years, like it was this time. So, not so ugly.




3. There's a 5K tomorrow that the boys and I are participating in.

The Good: I'm excited and eager to get out there and have fun. I'm slow, but I have a really good time!

The Bad: I started having knee pain and needed new shoes, so lost some training time until I got new running shoes. And also my treadmill broke and getting outdoors to run didn't really happen very much. I finally got new shoes this week, but still lost valuable training time.

The Ugly: They told me after the colonoscopy that I wasn't allowed to run tomorrow because they removed the polyps and I might bleed. I was already signed up for this before they scheduled me. I might try to run anyway because I'm so slow, walkers can pass me! We'll see how things go tomorrow.

Consider yourself caught up until tomorrow!

Catching Up

We had a great time at Mom's in February. Here's a recap in pictures.


This guy showed up (identity masked to protect the innocent guilty).







There was a motley crew in attendance.......









Hilarity ensued........








There was entertainment.......








And family pictures taken - like this one......








And this one..........








And this one.......








And last but not least.....GOOD FOOD!

So True!

There's another 5K that I'd like to try to do in March, but my treadmill broke and I'm forced to go outside to run, which isn't working out too well! We'll see if I'm ready - I may have to walk this one! Anyway, I wanted to share this - a friend sent it to me and it is SO TRUE, and cracks me up every time I see it.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

This week is our 30th anniversary! The post I wrote (in the sidebar about what I have learned in 26 years of marriage) still applies. We are planning to go away but haven't got all the particulars in order, so nothing to write about yet, but Happy Anniversary to us in the meantime and yes, I would do it again, and yes, I pray for an additional 30 years (or more) with this wonderful man.