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Archive for the Ramble Category

So…

By DragonLady on May 17, 2013

I’ve been working on a post for like 2 weeks. It’s reached the point of finish or abandon, though probably neither will happen today.

Spot brought 2 kittens home…finally. Next day, Notch got out and killed Spot. The kittens are safe though, so there is that. And after all the talk about how all the “good” cats ran away, and Spot was useless and wouldn’t leave, I cried over her, useless as she was.

Don’t judge the nasty carpet. It’s a closet. Which is why the kittens are in there.

Straight tea tree oil now causes me hives and blisters. Maybe it will still manage to kill the candida.

We are again battling a mouse infestation. Because KitKat is as useless a mouser as Spot was. I found this morning that you CAN catch a mouse with a trap that isn’t baited. One of the kitchen mice ate the bait off the trap night before last without tripping the trap. I didn’t get around to rebaiting last night, but apparently, the mouse tried to walk across it last night, and didn’t quite make it. So far, that has been the high point of my day.

I have an obstacle course race tomorrow. I already have regret.

This entry is filed under Exercise, Funday Friday, Life, Ramble, Running, Sad, Video. | 6 Comments

Hodgepodge of stuffs

By DragonLady on April 30, 2013

1. I ran the 2nd Annual Rabbit Run 5k Saturday the 13th. Just like last year I woke up sick, only last year it was a sinus infection, this year side effects from a diet detox. Unlike last year, I was able to run the entire race (slow as I am), redeeming myself from last year not making it much farther than a mile before I had to walk. Sadly, I only beat my time from last year by about a minute, and definitely did not PR. However, I seemed to have run out whatever I woke up with because I felt pretty good the rest of the day.

2. I ran the Sanford Fitness Fest 10k Sunday finishing 3rd in my age group. Oh, and I finished dead last overall, so clearly there were a total of 3 in my age group. haha! Only 27 ran the 10k, so it wasn’t so bad. In fact, it was like a typical tribe run. I finished, so it was a win. The hubby decided the day before to run with me only he did the 5k since he hasn’t run since last summer. We started together, but there was a point where the 5k & 10k split, so from that point on we were each on our own. I heard he really blew it out from that point to place much higher than when he was running at my pace.

3. I’ve been fighting off a candida overgrowth on my scalp with a candida diet. This is week 4, and I am so done with this diet because my scalp is actually worse than before I started. I knew it would get worse before getting better, and the first week of detox saw the entire left side of my scalp practically explode with hives and blisters. Which is typical for a detox, though the last couple detoxes left me with those rashes on my face. But anyway, I’m going to give it the rest of the week, and if no improvement, I’m just going to get my doc to prescribe me an antifungal shampoo because I cannot buy Nizoral over-the-counter anymore. Petra thinks I am getting glutened. I am starting to lean that direction especially considering the ramen I cleaned out of my utensil drawer on Saturday.

4. Discovered that I would rather “clean up” Microsoft generated html than code it myself.

5. Pretty sure I’m going to attempt a full marathon in October. Pretty sure != registration.

6. Found a Spice Girls song on my iPod. And Ricky Martin. One of those 2 is believable that I put it on there.

This entry is filed under Diet, Exercise, Life, Ramble, Running, Video. | 9 Comments

Maniacal Monday #16

By DragonLady on April 1, 2013

Why does the weekend fly by so fast while the work week drags?

1. The hubby and I went to Good Friday service Friday night. Oh, man. Talk about being undone. Although I have never seen The Passion of the Christ, I have seen enough bits and pieces that I can recognize it at any point, and know that I am about to meltdown.

2. I finally had a DNR – Did Not Race. I not only registered for the 3rd annual Jelly Bean race 10k, (the 2nd annual Jelly Bean race was my first ever 5k), I also bought a finisher’s medal. With 2 weekends to get that run done, I didn’t get that run done. No, I don’t have a good excuse/reason. Actually, I did do some running Saturday morning, but it was to the bathroom. Still paying for that Papa John’s 2 weeks ago… I was, however, highly productive around the house. And at least my first DNR was a free virtual one. Well, except for the finisher’s medal. But I think I will just alter it to say “2nd” and “2012″ and attribute it to last year. And by alter I mean tape paper to make it look obvious. lol

3. I’ve cooked 2 weekends in a row. Enough that I have been hooked up with a week of meals. Which is good since as of today, we are broke until next payday. Fun times.

4. I’m going to do a detox next weekend (I finally took my new juicer out of the box after buying it a month ago), and will be giving up sugar and dairy – specifically cheese. I may expound on the why later in the week.

5. In the midst of my cleaning out of clutter Saturday morning, I happened across my taser. (I wondered where it went.) I wasn’t entirely sure it was still working when it went missing, but I went ahead and plugged it in to charge it. Sunday morning, as I was showering (which is a story in itself that I will spare most of you), I heard the hubby comment on the fact that I was charging my taser, and yes, it was plugged into one of the outlets in the bathroom. The following conversation ensued after discussing how long it had been charging (about 24 hours at that point):

J: “Well, it’s shocking me.”
M: “Did you seriously just tase yourself?!”

Sure enough, when I was done showering and opened the curtain, he was still standing there with taser in one hand and touching the contacts with the other while triggering it. And I’m thinking, “What if it had still worked?”

6. The hubby and I went on an impromptu date Sunday for lunch (because my taser didn’t work – lol). We finally decided on Red Robin because while I was open to Sonic tater tots, that would have been my lunch while he would have eaten a burger I want. So there we are at Red Robin, and our waiter decided he recognized me? From that point on, every staff that came by our table spoke primarily to me. At this point I should point out that when I am out somewhere, I really prefer to blend in to the background and not be noticed. I’ve built up this idea in my mind that I give off a vibe to that effect, but apparently I fail miserably at it. Karyn told me flat out that she has never noticed that from me, and my daughter took it a step farther and told me I shouldn’t look so approachable. Wait. What? Ok fine. I outwardly fail at my inward introversion. Probably the whole forcing myself to make eye contact and smile when I really want to scream and ball up in a corner in the fetal position. I have issues, and this wasn’t the direction I intended to take with the date. haha. Squirrel!

We also stopped by the American Tobacco Trail, and walked out about a half mile and back. It was a miserable walk because I needed to pee a little bit before we walked out, and I needed to go so bad on the walk back that I was afraid to cough or sneeze. And once we go back to the parking area and I headed into the hole-in-the-ground toilet, I couldn’t go. Ugh. I really hate that when I have to pee so bad I can’t. But eventually the dam broke, and then I was like “Am I ever going to stop?” And yes, you needed to know that.

7. I was introduced to “The Game” on Friday, and am not appreciative. Don’t ask. Don’t Google. Chad threatened to disown me over it. lol Same guy also introduced me to this:

Petra refused to watch the whole thing, but you should. Seriously.

This entry is filed under Diet, Exercise, Fail, Family, Life, LinkWhoring, Maniacal Monday, Ramble, Running, Semi-confessional, Video.

Recap part deux

By DragonLady on March 19, 2013

I am in a much better mental state than I was yesterday so maybe I will do more of a race recap. Ok, maybe I am not in a better mental state, but I can write more about race day without being snarky and judgmental, and maybe purge some of the angst from myself so I can write about what I really want to write about.

I can’t tell you how much I love having heated seats. You really can’t beat them when you are wearing running tights and your butt is cold. This is one of the reasons I drive us to races. Karyn has fallen in love with my seats too. But that really isn’t all that relevant. I just want to express how much I am thankful for heated seats.

I bought a parking pass when I registered, and was so glad because I wasn’t up for a shuttle to/from NetApp to the race site. I get motion sickness, and bus rides are pure torture for me. Anyway, so we head up there and I am thinking that I know what road to turn onto from Hwy 55, but I was wrong and so we had a little not so scenic side trip before I stopped and looked at the directions again. Anyway, so we get there, and the lot was nearly full, and as the guy was directing me into a slot, a car whipped in behind him and got it. It was the last slot, too. The guys manning the traffic at the street had let 2 cars into the lot more than there were slots for. These things happen, and they are just volunteers. I ain’t hatin’. Except on the person who slot blocked me. Anyway, the 2 of us extra vehicles got to park in VIP parking. “Yo, VIP!”

I actually ate some of the gummy fuel things they were giving out. I keep pretending that didn’t happen as I know they are just sweetened chemicals. So really, eating the gluteny pizza was not the only “food” fail. And then there was the stop at Starbucks afterwards. And why can’t every Starbucks make a triple venti caramel macchiato with extra caramel the same? Tasted great last week on post. Tasted like mostly espresso there. Eh, what do you do?

Did I mention I could barely walk yesterday? I’m still sore today, but mainly in my back.

I really really hate this “song” and always have, but since I referenced it…

This entry is filed under Diet, Exercise, Fail, Humor, Ramble, Running, Training Tuesday. | 2 Comments

Maniacal Monday #15

By DragonLady on March 11, 2013

1. I went grocery shopping Friday night. With. A. List. But I had the hubster with me so there were things picked up that were NOT on the list.

2. The hubby has been asking me to make my rice…stuff. It’s official name is broccoli casserole, and it calls for cream of ~~mushroom~~ chicken soup, most of which contains gluten and so I can’t eat it. It also calls for Cheez Whiz which I won’t eat. I substituted real butter for margarine also because I won’t eat margarine if I can at all avoid it. Anyway, so I had to make my own gluten free cream of ~~mushroom~~ chicken soup and my own cheez whiz. Oh, man, cheez whiz is much better with real cheese. Overall, the casserole tasted way better, but without the processed stuff, it needed salt, and even after adding salt, I didn’t get it salty enough. That said, I’m ok with that because I am not supposed to use a lot of salt, but when I think it needs salt, it is probably greatly lacking.

3. Petra and I went out partying Saturday night. By party I mean dinner and a movie because that’s how we roll. Anyway, we saw Oz the Great and Powerful. And Sunday night I saw it again with my kids. My kids did not provide me with quite the entertainment Petra did because they didn’t get my side commentary and quoting from The Wizard of Oz, Galaxy Quest, and The Fellowship of the Ring.

And yes, I loved it and will be getting the DVD. And need to watch The Wizard of Oz again.

I want to see this just on GP.

4. I did something Sunday that felt so rebellious and unbaptist. I took communion at a church where I am not a member (going against my closed communion upbringing), it was regular bread and not unleavened (going against the whole unleavened bread with communion “rule”), and ate the bread knowing full well it was gluteny bread. It has been at least a year since I had bread with gluten, and oh, man. It was soooo good. Just that little bitty bit was enough to reignite the flames of gluten craving. And enough to have me all bloated today.

5. And, since Karyn went to the beach over the weekend with the extended family, I set out to do my 12 mile run alone. And oh, was it ever an epic fail. I made sure to dress appropriately for the warmth and sun, but forgot to take water with me, and started off entirely too fast. I didn’t do a full 4 miles before I got so sick that I not only stopped running, but called the hubby to come and get me. I may or may not have cried. And I may or may not be able to run the half this weekend.

6. Sunday afternoon/evening I told the kids they had 15 minutes before we left for the theater. I then proceeded to eat one more time, and they came up to my office to rush me. Jamie picked up my acoustic and started playing, and she is really doing well with the guitar now. Then she said to me, “Give me a song to play.” So I played this:

She was like “No, that’s too much stuff to do.” I told her it was not, and to give me the guitar where I proceeded to start playing it (with great difficulty because it’s be a WHILE and I couldn’t remember the chords right away. Had it crossed my mind, I would have told her to learn this one:

As if I have ever mastered it.

7. I really don’t have anything else (that is for public consumption).

This entry is filed under Diet, Exercise, Fail, Life, Maniacal Monday, Ramble, Running, Video. | 8 Comments

Funday Friday #13

By DragonLady on March 8, 2013

This was a weird week. I should have known it would be weird when I woke up Monday morning at 2am to a panic attack. For those who don’t know, panic attacks have been an issue for me off and on since I was about 6 or 7. For several years instead of panic attacks I would have just anxiety, and a full-on panic attack was drug-induced. This is why I tell doctors not to give me codeine. Anyway, I had them really bad for about 2.5 years after I got out of the Air Force, and that’s when I noticed a pattern. Panic attacks follow periods of high stress. Later on I noticed depression follows the panic attacks. But I am digressing. I woke up with chest pain, and before I could get all the way awake and reason the pain out, the panic set in with “I’M HAVING A HEART ATTACK!” That got me all the way awake, and I had to talk myself down with “No, it’s gas. Chill out.” I went right back to sleep, but the repeat was a couple hours later. This led to an all day fight Monday wondering if it was the panic or if I was sick because I just felt like crap all day.

Tuesday morning I got up as normal, feeling fine, and went to the bathroom like normal, only after I sat down it ceased to be normal. Didn’t even have warning cramps. Just exploded. At that point I knew that Mondays events were me getting/being sick. I called in Tuesday, felt bad for doubting Jamie saying she was sick on Sunday, and realized that James and Rick each had it also to varying degrees. James not as bad, Rick worse. Chad managed to escape the bug. And yes, it was a bug because we didn’t all eat the same things. Weakness and achyness lasted the last couple of days from the bug.

Monday night I finished Chad’s scarf (and I wove in the ends of the hanging yarn before I gave it to him).

I was so sick of working on that thing, but I really didn’t appreciate how easy it was until I started on a scarf for Jamie that involves actually following a pattern. For Chad’s, I just did 1 stich and the rows were all 20 stiches wide, and I just knitted until I was satisfied it was long enough, which was about 5 1/2 feet. For Jamie, I decided to make a Slytherin scarf. Of the first 44 rows, I’ve done 4.

I wandered around yesterday on 3 hours sleep, plus the half hour nap I took at lunch. I was a complete wreck, and I don’t know how insomniacs manage to function.

I laughed so hard at this:

This entry is filed under Funday Friday, Hobby, Life, Photos, Ramble, Video. | 2 Comments

Weekend randomness

By DragonLady on March 2, 2013

I know. I never blog on weekends. lol

So John was going to leave me a snarky comment this morning telling me to post, and discovered I have been. Apparently one of my rss feeds sporadically works (or not at all). Any of the feeds displayed on the page should work. Should. Anyway, that explains why I hardly have any visits besides Facebook and Google searches. Not that I had a large readership base to begin with. hahaha!

The half marathon is 2 weeks from tomorrow. Karyn and I ran the American Tobacco Trail today as one of our final training long runs. This was the 11 miler. First of all, I gotta say, I love the Tobacco Trail! But, I kind of rolled my ankle at about mile 6. By mile 9 I was about to die (figuratively) because my shin was cramping and my foot and ankle were screaming. Thinking it would be worse if I tried to force out the last 2 miles, I painfully walked back. I kid you not, my knees and thighs are more sore than that ankle.

This has grown on me.

This entry is filed under Exercise, Fail, Life, Ramble, Running, Video. | 4 Comments

“And where do we go from here?”

By DragonLady on March 1, 2013

I have started, and deleted this post about 3 times now. It’s gone from snarky to whiny to incoherent. As I sit here trying for the 4th time to get this written, this version may be snarky AND whiny AND incoherent. See, there are events and conversations behind it that would give it the necessary context, but I don’t want to blog about those. But there was one conversation that has kind of served as a catalyst for wanting to write about this because something was said that kind of shook me up and made me think.

At one point I said essentially that doctrinally I am still a baptist. Then later as I thought on it I thought “But culturally, I don’t think I am.” This brought up the realization that I have been a baptist my whole life – 12 years longer than I’ve been a believer. So naturally, me being me, I “have” to question whether I have picked baptist churches as an adult because I am altogether baptist or if it’s because that’s all I know. I mean, seriously, up until the past month, aside from a handful of base chapel services when I was active duty, the only non-baptist church I had ever attended was a Catholic church with my best friend in high school for a few months.

There are some things that I am sure of.

1. I don’t want my “Christian experience” to consist of just church attendance. That’s performance. I did that for my entire childhood as a deacon’s kid. I don’t want to just play the part at church services and functions. Like I said, been there done that.

2. I don’t want to go through the motions and not get out of my comfort zone. Kind of like #1, only I want to perform in a way that brings glory to God and not attention to me. “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.”

3. I want to reach out to the lost, particularly the unchurched. You know, the ones who don’t know how to “perform” as a “good Christian” is supposed to. Rough, crude, and unpolished. The ones that folks who grew up in church and never openly rebelled/strayed don’t know how to relate to.

4. I don’t want to “get our country back to God” by means of political activism under the banner of the church. We cannot ever change a culture of any kind through politics. No law ever changed a person’s heart. Plus, the USA has never been nor will ever be the new Israel which is to say we, as a country, are NOT God’s chosen people.

So far, this seems to be kind of a ramble, but whatever. That’s what happens when I don’t fully contextualize. Where I am right now is with my family looking for a new home church. Let me tell you, when you leave a church where you love each and every person there, it is like breaking up. It’s not pleasant. It hurts. It hurts you, and it hurts them. But sometimes you have to move on for the sake of the whole family, and when your kids don’t want to go anymore, and you reach the point that it is nearly impossible to force them, it’s time to move on. Hence the dilemma. Do I continue to press for a baptist church out of tradition? And I have come to the conclusion that what I want is a church faithful to scripture, zealous for evangelism and discipleship, as focused on children and youth ministries as adult, and not afraid to open up in worship and in life (meaning, you can’t be open if you “bite and devour” aka gossip and backbite).

I think I managed to hit snarky, whiny, and incoherent. Therefore, since I have labored over this post for well over a week, I leave you with a little “Flyman.”

This entry is filed under Confessional, Faith, Family, Life, Ramble, Theological Thursday, Totally Judging, Video. | 10 Comments

Funday Friday #12

By DragonLady on February 22, 2013

1. I have a race tomorrow morning and thank goodness it is only a 5k. Why? Because I haven’t run at all in 2 weeks. And it is supposed to be rainy and cold.

2. Karyn and I are running a half marathon in 4 weeks. We have 2 long runs left. I do not feel at all ready or prepared.

3. Will be rethinking this whole running in winter thing. See #1 and #2.

4. After not touching my guitar for a month, I started playing it for fun again. I forgot how much I love to play. Yes, there has been much Fleetwood Mac.

Looking for that I saw this remake and it’s not bad.

Petra, this may help towards me actually liking Florence + the Machine. Maybe. And mainly because I have hated most Fleetwood Mac remakes. lol

5. Speaking of Fleetwood Mac remakes, I think I had once said that Santana did the only good remake of a Fleetwood Mac song with Black Magic Woman. In fact, I like Santana’s remake better than the original. Maybe because I heard it first, but whatever. I found 2 (so far) other FM remakes in my music library over the weekend. First was NOFX (whom I had never heard of) doing Go Your Own Way. It would be better if the singer would consistently sing. The other was Judas Priest doing The Green Manalishi. Leave it to Judas Priest to take a British blues-rock song and make it sound like, well, Judas Priest.

6. Repairs and remodeling are proceeding like mad at the house. While we have always had a door between the kitchen and laundry room, there was no door between the laundry room and the den/family room. There is now.

That’s 24 8ft 2x4s. Very heavy. And sound masking so that when the family room/den remodeling is complete and the tv is moved down there, the sound of laundry will not affect watching of the tv.

7. That’s all I got. This was playing at the Commissary this morning when I walked out of Starbucks.

You’re welcome.

This entry is filed under Exercise, Funday Friday, Life, Ramble, Running, Video. | 6 Comments

Maniacal Monday #14

By DragonLady on February 11, 2013

1. I did the 2nd Annual Virtual Run for Sherry Saturday in conjunction with the 9 miler training run. More on that tomorrow.

2. I had an emotional meltdown on one of the school administrators last week over my daughter’s absences last semester. They are being totally supportive so I guess crying does work even if it was virtual via email. But, I made a deal with Jamie that if she will finish out the school year and comply with the attendance contract, we will start homeschooling her starting this summer since she is constantly asking to drop out. It’s purely social, and I totally understand where she is coming from.

3. Our oven went out last weekend. Superbowl Sunday specifically. The igniter went out, but it didn’t just go out, it burned out. And after attempting to get a replacement part, and discussing the big hole burned in the bottom of the oven that is probably why the temp was never right, we opted to just buy a whole new stove. And James picked out a “fancy” one.

4. #2 above apparently ushered in the return of the migraines. The weather is not helping.

5. Now that the roof is done, and all the completely busted out windows are repaired, James and Rick started working on the suite bathroom upstairs. They pulled out the outdated vanity, and pulled up the old tile, and have laid down new.

Out with the old…

…in with the new.

Plans are to repaint the avocado green tub, and to apparently replace the old plumbing fixtures with new since the cold water handle is a vice grip as the old handle stripped and the fittings are so old that they don’t make that size anymore. Fun times.

Also, they took the top off the old vanity pulled out of the bathroom, and made a cabinet in the laundry room and are going to install a sink.