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Maniacal Monday #18

By DragonLady on June 24, 2013

I had such a fun weekend. I mean, it did warrant the rarely seen weekend post. There is a lot that I don’t really remember because I think I spent a ridiculous amount of time playing minesweeper. Don’t judge me. I did play another game, but I’ll get to that.

So after that run, I was determined to do nothing and go no where the rest of the day. But that didn’t happen as I had to get some more quinoa and I couldn’t find the leather wipes that I got for my car so I had to get some more of them. Told the guy about “losing” the other ones and followed up with “I bet you I find them now!” Anyway, I couldn’t get out of the house without Chad noticing so he sent a Food Lion order with me. I set out, and I wasn’t a half a mile up the road before it started sprinkling. It lightly rained off and on until I got to Pittsboro, and as I came down the hill by Horton Middle School, I could see that it was raining heavily at the bottom of the hill just past the light. And yeah, it was pouring at every stop but the last one. So, the forecast for Saturday was 100% chance of rain every time I went somewhere. Pretty sure it didn’t rain at all at home on Saturday.

Sunday was the day we scheduled our girls night out that hasn’t happened in a while. We were all craving Ethiopian, and we had to get it in around vacations before Karyn moves. We agreed to meet at my house at 4:30 because I volunteered to drive. I needed that incentive to clean out my car which is why I needed the wipes. It did not (apparently) mean vacuuming my car since that didn’t happen. But the seats were clean. lol Anyway, so knowing they were coming, rather than pick up around the house, I spent the afternoon playing Sim City. That’s how I roll and that is why my house is a pig sty. That and I am on strike again. Like that ever works. Anyway, turned out we needed to pick up Karyn on the way, so I really didn’t let Petra and Brittany in the house. Really that was more of a dog issue since Gizmo was trying to use that opportunity to get out.

We were hungry when we got there due to saving ourselves for it, and demolished the food in like 15 minutes. After dinner we went around the corner to take pictures in front of this big mural, and, oh, my goodness. Comedy gold. But then a mall cop ran us off. Again, comedy gold. A couple of us are accustomed to security guards/real cops running us off. It does make for entertaining stories. Like getting arrested. 😉 “good friends | good food | good times” Also comedy gold: the bug that flew in Petra’s eye that Brittany had to get out. Because for some reason this year we have gnat swarms and they swarmed us.

So then I get home, and immediately Chad told me we had to go to Food Lion because “we have no food.” We did, but it was all stuff he won’t eat or stuff that would have to be thawed before cooking. I made sure that was a quick trip, and as I paid for it, I got a text, but I didn’t bother to look at it until we were walking out. It was Jamie. “Get me tuna.” My response? “Too late. Will get u some tomorrow.” Yeah, I wasn’t going back. Mother of the year.

And then, as I was changing into my jammies I remembered the plank. Ugh. That was a painful 60.8 seconds. It took me a while to get up off the floor from that one. Suffice to say, I was so exhausted by the time I got in bed, I didn’t need any sleepy dust. lol I also didn’t want to get up this morning. One of my co-workers said to me “Yeah, no make up this morning.” I replied, “Please, I didn’t even brush my hair.” Because really, once it’s in a pony tail, you can’t tell. Stop judging me! 😉

Speaking of comedy gold:

This entry is filed under Maniacal Monday, Ramble, Video. | 2 Comments

Maniacal Monday #17

By DragonLady on June 17, 2013

It’s been a while. I put off writing something I wanted to write about, and now I’ve decided that if I do write about it, it will be all snarky and end up with me being exactly what I want to rail against. So now you get a list post of catch up material. You know, for the 2 or 3 of you who still keep up. 😉

1. Rather than doing a recap (way after the fact), you will get the Reader’s Digest version of the last race. The Wednesday (I think) following the Ninja Challenge, Karyn dropped a link to a race on my Facebook wall for that Saturday. Thinking “It’s only a 5K,” I signed up for it (and the hubby too). Who knew that on May 25 we would wake up to temp in the low/mid-40s(F)?

It was a trail, not real rough, but not real smooth and way more hills than I wanted to do. I struggled. Bad. Then as we were coming in to the finish line, a chick who had walked much of the course (ok, maybe she didn’t, but every time I had seen her prior she was walking) passed us running to the finish. I decided that she was NOT going to beat me, and busted out into a sprint to the finish line. Karyn was shocked to see that kind of speed come out of me though I am sure I wasn’t going near as fast as I felt. LOL

2. The first weekend in June, the hubby went to a small music festival that a friend of his hosts every year. He came back and told me “I brought you something.” I got all excited thinking he got me some of that fantastic homemade wine, but it was a small (roughly half-pint) jar of moonshine. :-/ If you like sourmash, it was good. I don’t, but I drank it anyway ’cause that’s how I roll. And not in one day either.

Then 2 or 3 days after the festival I come home, and he opens up the front door, and this ran out:

Yes, he brought home another dog under the reasoning that someone else wanted a dog like that. Her name is Precious, and yes, we still have her. :sigh:

KitKat is not amused.

3. Tiger and Sushi are doing really well. They got totally eaten up with fleas, and we undertook chemical warfare this weekend to rid them and the dogs of the flea menace. KitKat kept herself well hidden and managed to (so far) escape bath time and/or dusting. She isn’t likely to get a bath because despite her fat, she is quite nimble and not afraid to sink her claws to the bone.

4. Friday night I sent Karyn a text asking her if she was up for 10 miles on the American Tobacco Trail (ATT) in the morning. She said no, but that she needed to. So I asked her if it would help that we only had to run 7. 🙂 So we go out there, and if she hadn’t been going, I would have gone back to bed. But, it turned out to be a much better run than I was expecting. Just after the 3 mile marker I met Karyn on her way back, and told her I had improved my 3 mile time. I was feeling great and kicking it. And then I hit a stretch of trail that wasn’t shaded and nearly died. And had to run back through that stretch after the turnaround. But I got my third wind around mile 5, and even after sprinting the last tenth of a mile, I felt like I could keep going. However, I was very glad I didn’t have to! Twice during the run I had to stop and rake pea gravel out of my shoes, only the second time when I did the rake, I nearly cried when I realized that was NOT a rock, but was a blister. Evidently I can no longer wear the really short running socks.

5. Father’s Day was rough this year. For me. I might write specifically about why at some point.

6. June 9 I had to take Chad to pick up a game we preordered on his birthday. This year his birthday gift was one that just keeps on taking, and I’ll have some more pain in August or September when the other one comes in that I preordered for him. Anyway, since Starbucks was right there I “needed” to stop. Now Saturday morning when I picked up Karyn, I told her that we would be going to Starbucks after the run. And when I ordered (at the drive through) the dude who took my order was very friendly and Karyn made note of it. So I then told her about the stop with Chad because that dude was just as wacky friendly. Which is fine. It’s entertaining. What wasn’t entertaining on the 9th was when the dude handed me my coffee and hesitated over the handoff as our hands were (awkwardly) touching.

7. Heh

This entry is filed under Exercise, Humor, Life, Maniacal Monday, Photos, Ramble, Running, Video. | 2 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. :sigh: 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.

Race 3 down

By DragonLady on March 18, 2013

Karyn and I ran the Tobacco Road Half Marathon yesterday. My time was 3:20:53 which was about 22 min slower than the City of Oaks Half Marathon last November. But you know what? I didn’t and don’t even care because there is no way I should have been able to run that half. Yes, walkers passed me. Yes, when Karyn met me at mile 12 to make sure I finished, she walked as I “ran.” But I finished it, and celebrated by glutening myself with 2 slices of Papa John’s pizza. Karyn might have heard moaning that shouldn’t have been heard. lol And this is as much of a race recap as I care to do. Oh, and I am sore as heck today because I did not properly train. Not that I didn’t have a training plan. I just missed a LOT of training runs.

This entry is filed under Confessional, Diet, Exercise, Maniacal Monday, Running, Video.

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. :sigh:

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. :headbang: 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

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. :sigh: 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.

6. Jamie makes me listen to Alt Nation when she is in the car with me. It’s starting to grow on me.

This entry is filed under Exercise, Fail, Family, Life, LinkWhoring, Maniacal Monday, Photos, Ramble, Running, Video.

The last Monday of 2012

By DragonLady on December 31, 2012

It’s amazing the difference having a restful Sunday makes on a Monday. I still wanted to sleep in, and wish I had taken today off instead of boxing day, but I don’t feel emotionally drained. More on that later. Seeing as how it is the last day of 2012, and a recap of the year seems to be the thing to do, here goes a quickie:

Accepted a challenge to eliminate artificial flavors/colors/preservatives from my diet and went through awful physical withdrawls. Twice.

Failed at my exercise and reading challenges…and still can’t do even one pushup.

Figured out a bunch of food sensitivities in addition to gluten.

Found a metal rooster that dwarfed Beyonce.

ROOSTER DOWN!!!!

Had surgery to remove a nasal polyp. 2nd time.

Learned that I can take Vicodin without getting sick if I take Phenargen first. The better option would still be Percocet.

Lost over 30 pounds, went down 2 trouser sizes, and 1 shirt size.

Running: First managed to run a full mile, then a 5k, then a 10k, then a half marathon, and then a Thanksgiving 8k to redeem myself from the Labor Day 8k.

Discovered (the hard way) that I am super allergic to hair dye now.

I learned that I can really open up to my friends and share my skeletons and that it really helps to heal from past issues.

“Had” to buy a new riding mower. And a new push mower.

My mom turned 80.

Flew sober.

Had a 29 day period.

Nearly went vegan. Twice. Didn’t make it past 2 weeks either time.

Our cat Simon got hit by a car and killed.

My dog escaped one too many times, and met the same fate as Simon.

Mittens went missing after the second to last Darci escape and is presumed dead since she hasn’t been seen since August.

My youngest started high school.

Took 3 of Petra’s cats.

Was surprised with a large sum of unexpected money and was able to pay off all credit card and vehicle debt.

Broke down and got glasses.

Got another mammogram (first since 2006) which resulted in another biopsy (just like 2006).

Rehab, DWI, and a totaled van.

Mourned the sudden death of my first love.

Complete emotional breakdown that I let spill onto others, and not in a good way.

My phone doesn’t really do it justice, but I got to see a beautiful sunrise this morning.

This entry is filed under Diet, Exercise, Fail, Faith, Family, Life, LinkWhoring, Maniacal Monday, Photos, Ramble, Running, Sad. | 4 Comments

Maniacal Monday #13

By DragonLady on November 12, 2012

1. I hurt. Nearly every joint in my body. It makes me cranky.

2. I have the munchies. This is particularly difficult to deal with when trying to eat vegan and you really really want a bacon double cheeseburger on a gluteny bun. This also makes me cranky.

3. I did a lot of laundry today. I hate laundry. See a pattern yet? 😉

4. We had family photos done Saturday. The children were completely uncooperative. 16 and 14 are the new 4 and 2 which was their ages last time we had a family photo shoot done (because I don’t count the church directory photos from a couple years ago).

5. This young man, Travis, and his aunt and uncle came to our church and spoke yesterday. Incredibly moving and so inspiring. I am so glad I got the chance to meet them.

6. I made myself run Saturday morning. I only did 3 miles, but it was my fastest 3 miles.

7. I want this:

I call him Chester.

8. Wants someone to come fold and put away my laundry.

This entry is filed under Maniacal Monday, Ramble. | 4 Comments

Back to school

By DragonLady on August 27, 2012

So today is the first day of school for my kids. Who almost forgot about that this morning as she kept hitting her snooze? Yeah, so it was 5:06 when I hit the snooze the last time and before I drifted back off into another 9 min of blissful dreamland, the thought shot through my brain like a second alarm. “First day of school. Get UP!” Because now that they are both in high school, they both have to be up and out the door crazy early which means my entire morning routine has to change. No more fartin’ around until 5:30 to get in the shower. Nope. Shower by 5, kids up by 5:30.

Chad had freshman orientation last week, and I had to drop him off because the buses didn’t run that morning, only for the ride home. I didn’t have a meltdown even though I was dropping my BABY off at high school. But, as I told Molly, it would be a different story when they both got on the bus this morning. Seriously. I didn’t have a meltdown when Jamie started kindergarten because I just dropped her off at daycare like normal and they walked her to school. Now when she started first grade and I watched her get on the bus the first time, yeah, I cried. When Chad first got on that bus to start kindergarten, I cried. Ditto for when each of them started middle school, and when Jamie started high school. But it was when they got on the bus.

Anyway, got Jamie up (Chad was up already), and Chad reminded me I hadn’t filled out the form for the laptop. Handed that to him and he asked about lunch money. 2 checks later, and I’m really glad I didn’t hit the snooze any more. I winced and moaned and half-howled down the stairs (reason here), and proceeded to the kitchen to fix some breakfast. What happened first, though, was that I made a mess. Thankfully, it was only about a tablespoon of quinoa that hit the floor. :sigh: So I was dealing with that when the kids headed out. Good thing they walked out when they did because the bus ran like 2 min later. It was still darkish so I didn’t see them getting on the bus. Therefore, meltdown avoided because I was sweeping up my mess in the kitchen.

So, both my kids are in high school now, or rather I should say both of my BABIES are in high school. You know, because they love it when I refer to them as “my babies.” haha! But seriously, when did this happen?!?! Anyway, I am glad school has started again and that they will have some structure again where they actually sleep at night again.

I’m not spell/grammar checking. Don’t judge me…

This entry is filed under Family, Life, Maniacal Monday. | 10 Comments

Maniacal Monday #12

By DragonLady on July 16, 2012

So much has happened over the last few days, and so much of it is stuff that I am just not going to blog about. At least not yet. It is a pretty safe bet that I will eventually. On the other hand, I have a few things I do want to talk about, if just briefly.

1. I have lost 32 pounds so far, and 8 since starting the Marathon Weight Loss Challenge. Whether or not I lose the remaining 18.2 pounds is not so important to me as losing what remains of my spare tire. 😉

2. I took last week off to heal my knee. It tried to hurt as I ran last night, but it calmed down after a mile. Both knees were hurting before I got to the half mile point. I only did 2 miles, and managed a consistent pace.

3. I ate vegan all weekend, but I don’t think I am going to be overly strict about it. For instance, I will still eat honey. I also don’t think I can resist another bison burger if I happen to be in Southern Pines. I tell you, though, it was hard cooking steaks for my family, and not eating one.

4. The hubby let the inside dogs eat leftover fried potatoes. Evie puked for 2 days. :-/

5. I take back envying stay at home moms. Seriously, if their days are like my Saturdays, on the go non-stop, and getting very little accomplished, but totally worn out from all the nothing-to-show-for-it work, I don’t know. I mean, I did do 3 loads of laundry, but only 2 of the 3 made it out of the dryer. I managed to cook the hubster a meal for dinner but that’s only because I found a pack of instant potatoes in the cabinet. Otherwise, it was just steak. Chuck. I can’t afford ribeye for the non-discriminating cow-eaters. 😉 I did get all the dishes washed…

6. Just realized that I was quite vocal in sunday school yesterday. Huh. Interesting.

7. Is totally not liking this romaine lettuce I bought. :-/ Had a similar dislike with baby swiss chard over the weekend.

That’s all I got for now, so I will leave you with this because it’s stuck in my head….