Summertime Movingtime

I realize I have forgotten to mention this at all, but Beardface and I are moving. Well, we sort of already moved, but not officially.

I am writing you from our mattress, sitting on the floor of our current apartment with very little (read a kitchen table) of our furniture here with us. Why, you ask? Necessity, of course!

As soon as I started work with the government, I knew we would be able to afford a larger place; the apartment we currently live in is around 400 sq ft, and although it is clean and fairly modern, it just isn't enough space for two people. We tried to make it work with creative furniture configuration, but nothing really helped the fact that we simply didn't have enough space for all of our stuff. So about May I started to get the itch that I wanted to move NOW. Please keep in mind that our lease in the current apartment doesn't actually run out until August, so this was a bit risky.

We found a cute little house in the same neighborhood as my alma mater, which thrilled me. It is a much nicer neighborhood where more people own their homes and are more likely to take good care of them. Plus, the house is about 900 sq ft; it would be HUGE to us. We fell in love with it (ok, I fell in love with the kitchen and wanted it) and wanted to move in July 1st. We got it cleared with our current landlord and handed in our deposit.

It wasn't more than a few weeks later that I remembered I had to travel to Connecticut for work that week. Believe me, I was fairly confused as to why I was traveling at all for work the week before the Fourth of July, thereby cutting my holiday weekend short, but I had to do what I had to do.

My husband and I were then left with only two options: 1. He could move all of our things without me, and I'd get back and be living in a new house. or 2. We could move all of our big things and Beardface could live with the bare necessities (did you just picture Baloo?) for a few days while I was gone. Although the first option appealed to me quite a bit, I had to be the good wife and decent human being to go with option two.

So this morning, after several weeks of putting our things into boxes and recruiting a small, but efficient army of our friends and family we moved our things in. As exhausting as it was, it went by fairly quickly and without any major issues. Although it was warm, we all survived.

Now all we have to do is put everything away. I say that as if it's easy.

As our friendly volunteers were leaving, though, one of our friend informed us that he and his parents would be moving within the next month or two. And that's not just a small apartment; it's a large house! Heat, moving trucks, boxes, part two. I'm so excited.

Scared Silly

Have you all seen that movie "The Fourth Kind"? It is creepus.

It is another one of those thriller movies made like "The Blair Witch Project"; it used "real" footage to prove that alien encounters were happening at an alarmingly high rate in a particular town in Alaska. For clarification, I do not readily believe in aliens or any other lifeforms on other planets, but to be honest, there is something about the crappy quality of homemade video evidence that makes me want to believe whatever I see. Maybe I'm too gullible.

Whatever it is, I am going to have a hard time sleeping tonight, even though I ran 3.5 miles this morning (yea!) and did a little strength workout while making dinner. I guess I could just read until I fall asleep. I am currently delving into The Fellowship of the Ring by Tolkein. It's one of my husband's favorite books, and I feel I owe it to him to get through it. I'm about half way, and it's honestly not all that bad.

For now, though, I am beat. I'm going to hit the hay because we both have to pack tomorrow. It's going to be a busy weekend, what with us moving and then me going on TDY for a few days starting Monday.

In Bed Before 7? You Don't Say!

It has been one of those days, and everyone reading this knows what I mean. I woke up feeling slightly hazy, and no matter what I did all day I couldn't shake the fuzz on my brain. Yup, one of those days.

I went for my 3.5 mi run this morning, which I will admit terrified me. I left the house just before 5am, and it was obviously still dark. Last night I had used this to figure out a nice route to incorporate the extra half mile that I usually don't run in the mornings. Well, I picked a few new streets on this route that happen to have very little nighttime lighting. And for those of you who have never been up before the sun comes up, 5 am is basically nighttime for all intents and purposes. Anyway, here I am, phone-less, iPod-less, key-less, even, running down unfamiliar roads in the dark. It's no wonder my husband wants to buy me a road tag. (A road tag is basically an identification bracelet, anklet, or shoelace attachment for runners in case of an emergency.) The poor Beard probably thinks I'll be kidnapped.

But I digress. Back to my brain fuzz.

I had my usual cup of coffee at work, and I got cracking into my computer training early. As a government intern, I am required to do an irritatingly large amount of computer training in order to become certified and useful to the U.S. Government as soon as possible; my strategy has been to knock it out in the mornings, then roam the plant in the afternoon when I'd rather be taking a nap.

At about 0715 I sat down in front of a training module on government acquisition (doesn't get more thrilling than that, does it?) and got to work. By about 0800, I had lost all attention in what I was doing and wanted to just go home.

This pattern stayed with me all day, even when a few of us left the plant for "official U.S. government business". Usually I'm thrilled when I can leave the plant during the day, if only for a short while like it was today. This afternoon, though, I felt like I couldn't concentrate on walking straight, let alone be excited to be outside.

I managed to get home in one piece and cook some coconut shrimp for dinner (my absolute favorite summer dish), and now I'm in bed. I have a wonderful husband that cleaned up after dinner and gave me a cup of tea so I could sit under the covers and send my thoughts into cyberspace. I'm hoping for sanity and brain clarity tomorrow. Oh well.

How Do You Take the Heat?

Most sane human beings eat cold delicious things in the heat. Ice cream, ice pops, salads, fruit, and other cool treats adorned your plate today if your weather was anything like it was in central Virginia.

But as I type this I'm sipping some peppermint tea. Hot peppermint tea. And what was for dinner? Grilled cheese and tomato soup.

You have to understand how Mondays work around here. I usually have to wake up early to take care of dishes and other random chores, not to mention I'm already exhausted from my long run the day before. (If you're wondering, my long run on Sunday as only 4.5 miles, but it was about 87 degrees, so I thought I was going to collapse from heat exhaustion by about mile 2.)

My husband had a long day at work (which he always does in the summer; it gives him Fridays off :-D). We both are usually out of the house for a solid 12 hours on a work day between our short commute, my 9 hour work day, his 10 hour work day, then going to the gym. But typically we greet each other with smiles and happy kisses and things.

Well this afternoon I got to the gym a bit later than normal, hoping I'd still be working out by the time Beardface got there. I finished my strength workout and was killing time on the rowing machine (yup, you like that) when Beardface slunk his way up the stairs and over to where I was. It literally looked like someone shot his childhood dog. The poor man had a look of despair on his face, as if nothing had gone right today, and nothing ever would.

I knew I had finished the last of our milk earlier, so there was no hope for the cream of chicken soup that I had in the cabinet. I made up my mind there that I'd head to the grocery store as soon as I got home. In true southern style I threw on flip-flops, jeans with paint stains, and a tank top and headed to get a gallon of milk and 2 cans of Campbell's Tomato Soup (or Beardface Cureall, as I like to call it). I got home and got to work slicing the bread and making the grilled cheese sandwiches.

When Beardface moseyed out of the bedroom and into the kitchen I saw a hint of a smile, and after talking about our days, I got him to laugh. Just remembering it makes me smile.

So whatever it is you do on your nasty hot days, I bet it's not what we do. Grilled cheese and tomato soup. It's good for your soul.

A Butt Kicker of a Week

I don't know what it was about this week, but I am beat! And it's only Thursday! I haven't felt like any of my workouts have been too terrible (today was a 3 mile run and a strength routine), but I guess it's all just wearing down on me. I am so ready for the weekend.

Speaking of the weekend. Guess what Beard and I are doing this weekend? No, not Disneyland. No, not camping. Even cooler. We're going to the lake! :-)

For clarification, we aren't like your everyday average Virginians who enjoy all sorts of crazy things at the beach. People fish, go boating, go hiking, and just do crazy lake specific things. All of these things seem cool, I guess, if you're the kind of person who has a Virginia Tech sticker on your F-150. But if you're regular folk like my husband and I, the lake is really the closest beach you have.

Boy do I miss the beach. I grew up so close to the beach that my mother would take us kids at least once a week from Memorial Day through Labor Day. I was what you would call a "Water Baby". Moving down to central VA has moved me about 4 hours drive from the Atlantic ocean, and that depresses me a little. Mostly just in summer. You know, when the sun is beating on your face and it's so bright outside you can barely open your eyes. Little beads of sweat form on your back as soon as you step outside. That's when I think "Man, I could use some Jersey Shore right now". (Aside: when I refer to the Jersey Shore, I mean a gloriously beautiful National Park called Sandy Hook, not the dirty trashy Sleez-side Heights that has been the setting for a recent reality television show.)

What do you like to do best in the summer? Those of you not near a coast, what kind of summer-y activities get you excited for the hot months?

How I Know I've Been Living in Virginia Too Long...

...I went to the grocery store today in stretchy pants. Ew.

Pure Satisfaction

A few months ago, my mother was rummaging through her basement as my husband and I were getting ready to leave for home. Home is a seven hour drive from my mother's house, and neither of us were in a mood to look through my mom's junk to find things we may want to take home. But leave it to my mother: every time you go to her house, she has some old piece of junk, either a dresser or a lamp, or a fish tank, or some old clothes, that she is just dying for you to have. I've come to the conclusion that my mother is honestly just too lazy to have a garage sale. Instead, she pawns all over her crap on her children. We really are unsuspecting victims.

In this particular instance, my mother brought out this:

Apparently this mirror was my Uncle's, and when he passed away, my mother asked for it for me. She thought I would love the bright colors and that it would be fun in Beardface's and my apartment. Oh how wrong she was. I was fairly horrified at the sight of this thing, and I couldn't think of what would make it look more normal. Until it hit me: I can remove the paint and stain it. Oh how beautiful it will be!

And that's what I did. Beard came with me to Lowes, and we picked out all the necessary supplies: sandpaper, paintbrushes, gloves, stain, and polyurethane. I was all set.

That day I got to sanding, and, let me tell you, sanding paint off is no easy task. Especially since whoever painted this particularly hideous artifact painted several coats of several different colors all over it. I had a lot of work to do.

Almost a month later of working on this beast over weekends when I could drag it outside to sand it, the project was complete:

Yup. The mirror is finished. And it honestly looks like something I'll hang in my house. I've got a few more projects around the house that I'd like to do this to (like the coffee table you see the corner of on the right side of the picture). Once we move (July 1st!!!) I'll be getting my hands dirty with some more projects.

It's amazing how something old and gross can become something so simple and pretty.

Trying Something New

As you all know, I had a pretty rough week. It was really hard to get enough sleep when my body just didn't want to sleep when I needed it to. So I'm supposed to be having a restful weekend so I can get back to work on Monday refreshed. What do I decide to do on my restful weekend?

Make lots of bread. :-)

I had to make our regular sandwich bread anyway, so I figured while I'm already kneading things, I might as well try some baguettes.

Our regular sandwich bread is a delicious and easy recipe that I found on The Fresh Loaf. That website, by the way, is my go to for any bread, rolls, or other delicious rising baked goods. I've done that recipe several times by now, so I can nearly do it with my eyes closed. I got that all baked last night, so I'd have time this morning for...

The baguettes.

(Did I hear you say mmm?)

Baguettes have to be, hands down, my absolute favorite type of bread. They have a crusty outside and a soft, chewy inside, and are absolutely made to go with some chopped tomato salad (Recipe to follow). This is the recipe I'm using for the whole wheat baguettes. I'm not sure how it will turn out because it usually takes me a few tries with a bread recipe to get it to where it tastes lovely. Either way, it's a very exciting prospect. :-)

As far as running, yesterday was a rest day (boring, but necessary), and today I've got 30 minutes of cross-training on my schedule. Beardface and I don't usually go to the gym on Saturdays, but I may have to today, whether he'll come along or not. I know 30 minutes of walking isn't going to cut it, but 30 minutes on the rowing machine might. ;-) Tomorrow is a 4 mile run, so I'm all kinds of excited. Can you see me wiggling my behind through the screen? Thought so.

Chopped Tomato Salad (Makes 4 servings)

2 cups chopped tomatoes, any kind

1 tbsp olive oil

salt, to taste

1/2 tsp black pepper

5-6 leaves fresh basil

1 clove of garlic

Pick any kind of tomatoes that you like. I love cherry tomatoes because I only have to cut them in have to make them bite-sized, and they are very sweet. If you are a roma tomato kind of person, use those. I wouldn't suggest using beefsteak tomatoes simply because they tend to have the least flavor.

Chop the tomatoes into bite-sized pieces, and chop the garlic as fine as you can. Put both into a bowl with salt and pepper. Drizzle the olive oil over it, then stir. Rip the basil leaves into small pieces and add to your mixture and give it a light toss.

Serving Suggestions: I have been known to eat this straight, by itself, but it can go well with some great bread. My parents used to refer to this salad as "Dippity Do's" because it called for a good piece of baguette to be dipped in the juice left by the tomatoes and olive oil. You could also serve it over some toasted bread (not sliced Wonder bread toasted, but real bread, toasted in the oven). That would look more like bruschetta.

Enjoy!

Sleepyface

I could have told you at 3pm yesterday that this morning was going to be rough. Oh boy and it was.

I know there have to be more people out there get antsy when they're tired. Well, I'd only been in work about 3 hours before I felt like I couldn't pay attention to anything. I don't want to make the outrageous claim that I have ADD or that I need some kind of medication for this. No. I need some regular sleep hours for this.

I didn't anticipate how difficult it would be to go to sleep as soon as I get home from work and to still wake up at the same time as if I was working first shift. Seriously, that's nearly impossible. I'm just very thankful that today is the last day I have to work this crazy shift (for now). (Fun Fact: When you work for the U.S. government you get all sorts of silly benefits you didn't know were available, like an alternate work schedule. I work four 9's and a 4. Jealous?)

Anyway, last night Beard and I got into a little spat over cell phone plans. We are both really looking forward to being on the same cellphone provider, but we have slightly different ideas of what is necessary as far as phone usage. I have a very conservative view of our money (don't spend it all if you don't have to), whereas as my husband can sometimes have a more liberal view of it (if we have it, why not spend it?). You can see where the problem starts.

The argument got a little heated, since we were both absolutely beat, and of course we didn't get to sleep until way after we both had hoped.

Which left me this morning with 3 miles to run, strength training to do, 2 dinners and one lunch to make, and a box to pack.

Dinners, check.

Lunch, check.

Exercise, check.

That box, oh boy I'll get that sucker after work.

A Busy Morning

Unfortunately, I'm about ready to get dressed and run out the door to work. Why, you ask? Because I spent the morning prepping and freezing fresh produce from our co-op! Plug www.sausserfarms.com ;-)

Check out our spread:

Running on Empty

This week at work I've been training with the two second shift QAS's (Quality Assurance Specialists). Luckily, I don't have to work second shift with them (1500-00300), but I did have to shift my schedule around to have enough time to learn from them. So I'm stuck work 1130-2100 this week. Not the greatest shift to work when you normally lay down in bed around 2100.

(Please excuse the military time. I'm so used to it that I think in it nowadays.)

Yesterday felt great, honestly. I got up, had time to prepare dinner and put it into two containers, one for me to take to work, and one to leave in the fridge for Beardface. I felt very accomplished, and I still managed to get to work on-time, and while I was still alert. My shift itself wasn't terrible, either. Since my job involves a lot of walking around, it's hard to get very sleepy. I had intended to hop right into bed when I got home, but my husband, the sweet man he is, had lit all the candles in the house and had run a hot shower for me, with some company, of course ;) Clearly getting to bed was the furthest thing from my mind when I saw that.

This morning, I had high hopes of waking up at normal time (0450) and going for a run before Beardface was showered and ready for breakfast. Of course this did not happen. I smacked my phone at 0450 and just lied in bed until my husband's alarm went off. We got up together, but I was still a bit of a zombie. I had to pack him lunch and make breakfast for us. By the time he left, I may have been fairly responsive, but I'm not sure.

I did run my 3 miles this morning, but not until about 0700. It was strange to run in daylight, but I welcomed the sun on my face. I was a little slow-going at first, considering this was my first run back since my 10K. Tomorrow I've got a 2 mile run scheduled, and I'm hoping to try to get that done before breakfast. I've got my fingers crossed.

The First is Always the Easiest

The Virginia Ten-Miler is probably the most famous race in our area. People come from around the globe (or so the website claims) to run the historic, hilly course.

I'll admit, I've always had my eye on the Ten-Miler for a running goal. It is famed to be one of the most difficult races of its distance in the country because of all the hills along the course, and no, I've never particularly trained to run hills, but oh well.

So I'm arming myself to prep for this terrifying but awesome race. I've got a 12 week training schedule for a half-marathon (which is 13.1 miles, but I figure training for a longer distance will help me with speed), and I've got a few weeks leeway to work on hills. I'm running the Ten-Miler this September. Yea... :)

This morning was the first day of my training schedule, and I bounded out of bed this morning to check the distance I get to run today. To my dismay, Mondays, for the entire 12 weeks, are stretch and strengthen. Did you hear me groan? Because I definitely just did. I understand that rest is important, and that strong, well-stretched muscles run better, but it is just far too boring and easy to to a strength workout and stretch.

I know I'm cuing all yoga and pilates lovers to attack me right now, so I'll go ahead and concede that strength workouts can be difficult. But I have never found a strength workout to be anywhere near as difficult as running 10 miles. (Yea, what do you have to say about that, yogis?)

Tomorrow at least I have a 3 mile run scheduled (for very early in the am. YES!). The first two weeks look fairly boring, but I know I have to suffer through them.

Lord, help me to find the patience to take the baby steps necessary to build up my endurance.

A New Twist

I was having dinner with a friend from church yesterday, and during our conversation she made me realize something that I'd never thought of before: I could (and should) be running for charity.

I doubt she knew that what she said really triggered something significant in my heart, but I do have to thank her for it.

I do spend an awful lot of time running. I run anywhere between 15 and 25 miles each week, which usually means I spend almost 3 1/2 hours of my free time pounding pavement. When you consider that 40 hours of my week are dedicated to work, and another 56 hours are dedicated to sleeping, I'm left with about 5% of my "free" time that I choose to spend running.

I used to really enjoy running road races, just for the fun of it. I've done my fair share of 5Ks, and now I have two 10Ks under my belt.

I do think, though, that it's time to put this activity to good use. I've done some research on ways to use my running as a way to raise funds for charities, and I have several options in front of me:

1. Run charity races exclusively. These usually cost about the same as any other road race, and the proceeds go to one charity or another. I ran a 5K for Autism Awareness a few years back, and my hard-earned $20 went towards Autism research. This is definitely a viable option, but charity races are not as frequent, nor are they as popular as regular old road and trail races.

2. Pick a charity for each race and ask friends and family to donate. This sounds like an awesome idea on the surface, until you realize that my friends and family would have to trust me a heck of a lot to just hand me some money for my running in a race. It would in no way be official, and may creep some people out. Including myself.

3. Become a St. Jude's Hero. This option sounds like the best to me, so far. St. Jude offers a program for runners, walkers, and bikers to raise money for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. For a relatively small sign-up fee, St. Jude hooks you up with a fundraising site and some training information. I would be able to run any race I'd like, and I would just advertise to friends and family that they can donate on this particular website to sponsor me. It sounds slightly awkward ("please give money to this charity because I'm running this race"), but I feel because it is a known charity and an official program, it is less likely to raise any flags.

I definitely still have some thinking to do on this topic. If there are any other options out there, drop me a line. I'd love to hear how others turn their running into fundraising for charities.

I'll keep you all updated on my training progress and what is going on with everything.

Races and the Bare Truth

This morning was successful.

(That was for all of you sitting on the edge of your chairs waiting to hear how my 10k went.)

It was definitely warmer than anyone had expected; the temperature was about 85 degrees at 9am. This made the run quite a bit more difficult. Not to mention the hills. Oh boy were those killer.

I ended up finishing in at 82 minutes.

Yes, that sounds terrible slow, even to me, but keep in mind the conditions. Most everyone was running at a significantly slower pace this morning, so I was still satisfied with my slower than usual time.

My 10k isn't really what I wanted to talk about today, though. I had a more substantial topic in mind.

For the last 7 or 8 years or so, I have carefully developed a very unhealthy response to stress and fatigue: I overeat. When I say I overeat, I mean to the point of feeling very stuffed and often almost sick. When there is something that upsets me or frustrates me, I will sit in the kitchen for an hour or so, walking back and forth between the table and the refrigerator, consuming 1,000 calories or more in that time.

I know that I'm not the only one who experiences this, and I know it is a fairly common disorder. It is difficult to come to terms with, and even more difficult to deal with.

Today, because of being tired, I found myself weak. And I gave into my stress response.

I intend to work through this with prayer and careful planning of meals and things. If anyone has any other suggestions, feel free to leave them.

I'm sorry that I haven't delved much into the emotion behind this response, but I feel it is the action itself that I would really like to stop.

Running and Nerves

It has been a few days since I've been on here, and honestly, it's been a busy few days.

Between work and church and trying to keep the apartment in order, the hubby and I have a lot to do, and we still try to get to bed by 9 or 9:30!

I am feeling a bit nervous, today, so I wanted to blog about it.

Tomorrow I'll be running a trail 10K, which is a new experience for me. I've run a 10K before, but it was a road race. Trails are very different. There are all sorts of little dips and hills in the trail, plus tree roots, rocks, and living creatures. On the road, I am honestly only accustomed to dodging an occasional car.

I'm also a bit out of training due to a medical incident last week. I was given the okay by my doctor to run the race, but I haven't been doing enough running to really feel confident.

So I haven't run today, in order to rest up for tomorrow. I'm hoping I'll run the whole thing without stopping to walk. I'm shooting to finish in an hour. Wish me luck!