I've been quiet lately

Believe me, it is not because my life is so boring there's nothing to write about. Quite the opposite! First things first: Thurston arrived! Her name is Elinor KeeYoung Lee and she arrived early in the morning on December 1. I am thrilled and I can't wait to see her in a few weeks!

Sunday I did inventory. I hired an army to assist, and Jen, CookieAmy, Deb, Michelle and her two girls and I got everything counted in about three hours. I stayed to figure out all the discrepancies and put the inventory in the system. I am glad that is over with, and I'm glad that I have such friends who will help.

Monday afternoon I finally got that massage I've been needing. I felt sooooo good afterwards. My back felt loose, I could feel blood running through my legs, and the allover tightness was gone. I wouldn't have believed that such relief was possible, but with the relief the TPTherapy kit brings me, I became a believer.

Monday evening I went to dinner at Ozone Pizza with the Tuesday night regulars. The pizza was good and the company was awesome. I had a great time! I am taking Angela out to lunch on Monday to celebrate her birthday, and I'm keeping the place a surprise. I think that bugs her in a way, but she's going to be a good sport about it. She has been such a good friend to me and I want to treat her.

Tuesday was a good day at the shop and for me. I made great progress on one of the afghans I'm doing for the moms. I finished it today and will start on the other perhaps tomorrow. I am almost done with Thurston's blanket, too. Only nine more points to go. That will probably take me about an hour. That's all the Christmas knitting! What a relief. The funny thing is I have no projects other than those going. I'm going to have to think about what I want to do next. Something for me. Maybe those socks I've been thinking about for over a year!

Today was a crazy day. I ran this morning, even with the frigid weather. In fact, I thought I was going to be snowed on! I'll post more on that later. When I got back from the run I found the box of Sudafed, which was in my knitting bag, on the living room floor chewed up. Luckily the pills were still intact and untouched. I guess the blister packs kept them from smelling like food. Also on the floor was the remains of the bag of Halls Vitamin C drops with Zinc and Echinacea. I thought they were horrible, but apparently the dogs thought otherwise. Tawny had a little piece of a drop stuck to her nose. I called the vet to check, and I'm glad I did. Apparently zinc and echinacea are extremely toxic to dogs. So I had to take them in immediately to have their stomachs pumped. As I thought, it was all Tawny, and poor Rava had to suffer guilt by association. I wish this would teach her a lesson, but I doubt it.

She is going to have to learn to be by herself for some lengths of time. I cannot be with her 24/7. Maybe next time I go run I'll put her Thundershirt on and see if that makes a difference.

I went to the post office to mail a few things on the way in this morning. The box I was sending to Bill was going to cost $56! So I opened it and repacked it into two flat rate boxes and cut the postage to $25. Crazy! I hope he will get the boxes. I insured one because it has his Christmas present in it, which cost a little money.

I have been thinking about doing the Seaside Neighborhood School Half Marathon for a while now. In fact, I was considering making it my first half, but then got talked into Disney. Today I talked to the owner of an RV park near Seaside and she said she'd guarantee me a spot. It is a small park, but it is about 2 miles from where I need to be. The state park that is right there is full, as are all the parks in the area. So once I got the spot, I went ahead and registered for the run. The registration fee is going up on the 17th, so I'm glad I got in before that. I think I'm a little crazy, but I'm excited about it. The shop will be closed, so I'm going to take the coach out for a few days. It will be like a vacation before my big vacation to see Bill for R&R. I don't know how the dogs, specifically Tawny, will handle the race morning, but there's only one way to find out. So now I have two halfs, two months apart. I am really excited about it. I think the weather will be perfect and the course is supposed to be unbelievably beautiful. The Jim Carrey movie, The Truman Show, was filmed in Seaside. There won't be any Disney characters along the route, so I won't be stopping to take pictures, so I should be able to better my time.

Tonight I canned some more jam. Bill is really liking the ones I've sent, so I needed to make more. I did a low-sugar recipe using the premiere varietal, which I think is a little sweeter than the tif-blu. I was able to make eleven jars, so that should keep Bill happy for a little while. I also want to give them as gifts at Christmas, but only to those who I think will appreciate them.

Well, I'm going to post my run and then get ready for bed. It was a draining day. I hope tomorrow will be better!

Brrr!

I wanted to run five miles today. And I did! And it was cold. No, it was COLD! This is Florida. North Florida, granted, but still part of the Sunshine State. Where people come to get warm in the winter. Today was a really good test run for my trip to the frozen tundra of New Jersey in a few weeks. The temperature when I left the house was 40, but the winds were out of the NNW at 19mph, giving a wind chill of 30. That is just too darn cold, even if the sun is shining!

I put a scarf on, but the only ones I have are fuzzy. The concept helped, but the fuzz was annoying. So I'm thinking about a new sewing project, a buff. I'll try it without elastic. I spent a good portion of the run trying to conceptualize it in my mind and how I would make it. I contemplated ordering one, but it is a good item on my Christmas list, if people pay attention to that sort of thing.

Splits on the run were 10:26, 10:51, 11:03, 11:25,  11:18. I am really happy with the run. I still feel a little head congestion, but it's not too bad. I may be able to get back on track this week.

Running again

My head is still congested and my ears still squeak a little, but I ran this morning. I really needed to see if I could. I decided to stay home on the treadmill, just in case it got bad. Otherwise it was a fantastic day out (except for the stiff winds). I really wanted to stop running after the first half mile. I set the treadmill to 5.6. The second mile I went to 5.5 and the third to 5.4. I know that was the opposite of what I should have done, but I just was feeling blah. I am happy that I pushed on and did the full three. I did them in 32:40 for a 10:53 pace. A far cry from Tuesday, but I'm not knocking it. I feel good having done it.

I'm thinking about getting outside tomorrow, perhaps for a five miler, even though tomorrow is supposed to be my rest day. I know it is forecast to be in the high 20s, so I'd rather stay in (in bed, preferably), but I will be going to NJ in a few weeks, so I need to deal with cold, long runs. I can't just put off my training because it's cold. If I was just running for maintaining fitness, I'd cut myself some slack on the 20 degree days, but I'm training. Since I took this week off, I really need to make sure I stay as much on track as possible. I have a hat, gloves, a jacket, and tights, so I should be somewhat prepared. The only thing I'm missing is something to cover my face and help warm up the air as I breathe it in. I put that on my Christmas list (a "buff" from planetbuff.com).

We'll see how things go in the morning. Tomorrow should be a good day. A lot of running around in the morning, but a nice relaxing afternoon and evening. I can't wait! Oh, I did inventory the shop today -- what a day! -- so I'll try to catch you up on that tomorrow, too.

Ugh

Well, I think the case of the yucks has officially turned into a head cold. Thankfully there is nothing in my chest and I'm not coughing. My throat is a little sore, but not bad. My head feels like it's swollen. My nose is dripping. Yuck. I haven't been able to check for fever because I've been drinking water and tea. My head feels hot sometimes, but I don't feel feverish.

I cancelled movies with Teresa last night and climbed into bed at 9:30. I skipped this morning's run and slept in until 8:30. It felt good, but I still didn't get up rested. I think I'll do a repeat performance this evening and see how that does for me. I'm also going to drop by CVS and see what kind of OTC medication I can take to feel better.

Part of me feels like I should stay home. The other part feels like it's not too bad and the loss of sales would hurt the business more. So I'm going to go in. I hope it is a relatively easy day. I need to do a lot of computer work, like updating the web site, figuring out how to export the inventory list so that I can do it this weekend, and generate a list of items included in and excluded from the sale of the shop. I also have to fix the printer if I'm going to be able to print the inventory. I see the problem with the printer, but I have no idea how to fix it, nor who to call. Oh well. I'll do what I can.

I got a case of the yucks

Thankfully it is just a little. This morning was the third morning I woke up with a scratchy throat. I sneezed a few times this morning and my nose is running a little. This morning is about 30 degrees colder than yesterday morning. We've had these huge temperature swings a lot lately. I don't remember coming in contact with any sick people recently, so I'm not sure where this is coming from. I'll take some DayQuil and hope that will take care of the symptoms. I'll need to drink more water and probably get more sleep. I was planning on going to the movies with Teresa tonight, since I had to cancel on her Monday because I had to write the newsletter. Now I think I need to postpone again. No need to get her sick, if I am contagious. Which brings me to my next concern. Do I go to work and risk infecting my sweater class? Am I sick or is this just a reaction to the weather. It has been rainy the past two days, first day was hot and rainy yesterday was cold and rainy. So I'm in a bit of a quandry.

In other news, I figured out what I did wrong on Monday while trying to make something new. I will have to give it another try and see if I can be successful. Time to get ready for work.

Monica called yesterday and we may have a little one today! I will be glued to the phone!