Midweek Mix... the Running Late Edition

WHY must other things interfere with my blogging?  Why?  These other things are what keeps me from hitting publish and then here I am wondering why my blog is not updating!

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I had another great run this morning.  I ran on the treadmill so I could watch my new boyfriend Dolvett Quince on Biggest Loser.  I have to say the contestants were cracking me up talking about their trainers, especially when the black team said working out with Bob so early in the morning was a whole new experience with regular Bob turning into Bizarro Bob. I liked Bizarro Bob and giggled my way through that segment! But I did not hold on to the treadmill because I was afraid Dolvett would yell at me.   I'm really liking the change in format this season.  And if you don't watch, this entire paragraph made no sense to you at all!

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I am not a big fan of pre-processed/frozen meal.  To me at least, most of them taste like the same thing no matter what the package flavoring is supposed to be so I don't want them even if they are convenient - I'd rather have a sandwich.  However, when I find a great deal, I'm willing to consider keeping a few on hand.  When I was out grocery shopping Sunday I saw that the Lean Cuisine's were on sale for 2/$5.00.  I had a couple for $5 off four so that meant 2 would be free!  As I looked in the case I saw that they had some new things since I last perused them (a looooong time ago) so I took a chance and bought 4 packages of their 'new' spring rolls - two of the Garlic Chicken and two of the Thai:

By the time I got home from grocery shopping and started in on the cooking and prep I needed to do for the upcoming week, I realized it was already 3:00 and I was really hungry as I hadn't had anything to eat since the boiled egg and yogurt I'd eaten while planting daffodil bulbs.  As we eat dinner around 7 I didn't want to eat anything too heavy so I decided to try the Thai version.  I have to say, they were unlike any other Lean Cuisine I've ever tried - they were actually very, very good.  In fact, they were so good that I would even say I prefer them over anything I've eaten from take-out.  They were flavorful and light - not greasy the way take out versions can be.  Each package contains two servings so at $1.25 a serving, I say SCORE!

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I promised I'd show you some of the other decorations I put up for Fall so here you go:

These two are some old favorites.  I especially love the cutout fabric wall hanging.  Usuallly I hang it on a windown but this year decided to put it in the living room.

The rest of these are new decorations I found and put up this year for the first time.  Sometimes I wonder if I'll find a way to use the new stuff I can't resist but I always manage lol!

Now if the weather would cool down a little - but only a little!  It has been sort of odd coming home everyday with the unusual heat and humidity we've had (September is normally a clear blue skies no humidity month here), to a home decorated for Fall!

Spectacular!

I had the best weekend!  So much good packed into a couple of days...

Friday night I was supposed to go out with a friend for dinner and can you believe it, our plans were cancelled due to the weather!  It was pouring rain and foggy and the place we were going was a 45 minute drive.  We just figured it would be better to reschedule because neither of us wanted to be worred about driving home in driving rain.

I made the most of the cancellation and went home and prepared a dish for a 50th birthday party I was attending on Saturday.  Plus I stopped by a local Thai restaurant to buy a gift certificate for the party girl and decided to get myself something for dinner as Mr. Helen had plans to be out with his father.  Score for Thai food!  Yum.

Saturday, I got up early with every intention of running early and then my friend from the dojo texted me to come pick up the macaroons she had bought me at Carlos Bakery. If you don't recognize that name, you'd probably recognize The Cake Boss (shown on TLC).   That's their bakery.  Anyway, their macaroons are To. Die. For. and my friend has family in Jersey so when she went last week she bought me a dozen.  She knows I'm good for the money no matter what!  When I got there she wanted to chat so my run started an hour and half later than I anticipated.  But I did it anyway, even though the humidity was killer.  I made myself run for an hour because I'm trying to get myself back into condition.  I have to tell you, I felt like a million bucks at the end of that run, so I know I hit that runner's high!

Saturday afternoon I went to the surprise 50th.  I had never been to the place where this party was held but I had asked one of my coworkers who was helping to plan how people were going to dress.  She told me very casual, jeans.  Perfect since I hadn't gotten to wear my new jeans on Friday night, I would wear them to the party.  And now, I will tell you WHY it's so important to have clothing that fits properly, even it it's your "Freak out, my butt is too big" size.  When I came downstairs after dressing to leave for the party, Mr. Helen said, "Is that a new outfit?  Turn around and let me see?" (I did the twirl.) He said, "You go girl, you are WEARING THOSE JEANS!" It took everything I had not to bust out laughing. I wanted to say (ala Seinfeld), "That's right, this butt is all mine and it's SPECTACULAR!"  But I didn't.  Wear clothes that fit.  Period.

Saturday night we went out for a bite to eat.  My penance for losing the football picks last week.  Thankfully, he did not pick a place where we could only get wings but still, I probably could have ordered better than I did.  I don't regret one single bite of the Reuben Sandwich I had, I'll tell you that!

Sunday I woke up later than normal for me.... 7 am!  I did sit and drink coffee and glance at the paper until 8 am then headed out the door to do a fast walk.  My legs and butt were super sore from running for an hour on Saturday!  Did a 5K walk and got home and decided, The Time Had Come. Yes, I needed to face down the 100 bulbs.  I decided to take Lori's advice (have you seen the photos of her beautiful gardens?) and instead of using the bulb thingy, I went looking for a shovel so I could dig up the whole row in front of the wall.  The package said the bulbs needed to be planted 4-6" deep and I found this shovel which is only about 2 feet tall total.  It looked to me that the head was about 6" so I figured if I dug up a shovel full the trench would be deep enough. 

Here is the trench getting started and you can see how far I have to go...

Not to mention that I'm a bit of a girl when it comes to creepy crawlies and this dirt was full of these.... ewwwww!

Here is the finished trench with the bulbs dropped in. Since I originally wanted daffodils, I did 2 of those bulbs to 1 tulip bulb.  I used about 80 bulbs total and gave the rest of the tulip bulbs to my neighbor as I was d-o-n-e at that point!

Even though it was hard work, it only took me around 2 hours and honestly I felt energized at the end of the planting!  So I decided I would take down all my summer decorations - inside and out - and put up my fall decorations.

Here is what I put on the corner of the retaining wall.  A little bit of Fall color to be enjoyed as people drive by or we whip into the driveway!

The rest of the day I grocery shopped, did some cooking...

Roasted Asparagus

Roasted Carrots

.... and fretted over the football picks.  Good grief.  I could not allow Mr. Helen to win two weeks in a row!

And guess what?  I WON!  I WON!  I WON!  I WON!  I am not one bit humble.  When Mr. Helen got home from work I told him I was glad the Giants won (because that's his football team since he was 9 years old) because he needed that salve for his wound.  He said "What?"  Then I did my victory dance and said, "Uh, uh, uh, uh UH I won!  I won!  I won!  I won!"  And proceeded to threaten him with a Vegetarian restaurant as my pick for dinner this week.

Spectacular!!

Le Freak, C'est Chic

I know for every person who weighs themselves on a daily basis there is one who doesn’t weigh themself at all and instead uses their clothes as a guide.  I would say that I am somewhere in the middle.  I weigh myself around once a week but I also know that no matter what the scale says my clothes will tell their own story.  I know this because even at the weight I’ve been carrying for the last couple of years, I’ve been wearing a smaller size thanI have in the past at this same weight.  For me, this means my clothes have been acknowledging the working out that I do, even if the scale does not.

My least favorite clothing switch is from the loose flowy sundresses of summer to the more tailored clothing of fall, winter, and spring.  Right around the end of September to mid-October is when this usually happens and honestly, no matter what the scale says, I dread it. 

Because I have an outing planned for Friday evening that will require casual clothing – but not a sundress as it will officially be autumn by then after all – I had to dig out my dressier jeans and khakis to figure out what I could put together.  As I shook them out and held them up my brain began to scream, “These were getting tight by last spring and now you know you’ve gained weight since last fall…” but I chose to ignore it and began to pull them on.  They did go up over my hips but only zipped halfway and were not even close to buttoning, even if I did the typical womanly trick of laying down on the bed to flatten out my pot belly.

Not me but very well could have been...

So, now I was faced with having to find a pair of jeans or khakis or something that would fit before Friday. Tuesday at lunchtime, I ran into TJ Maxx and grabbed a pair of jeans that looked like they would fit - Ralph Laren - so even though they were the same size as my old jeans I figured being designer they would also run big.  Get home after MT, cleaned up and used that opportunity to try them on. They fit but unfortunately were so long I'd have to wear heels and I need to want to wear flats.  Sigh.  But my bad for not trying on.

So back to looking for jeans.  Yesterday while out at lunch to buy a roll to eat the chicken salad I’d brought for lunch, I ran into the Dress Barn that is right next to the grocery store.  Dress Barn has 2 sides:  regular misses sizes and "woman"....14W-24W.  As I enter, I am just praying I don't have to go on the W side. (That would be like going to the dark side for me.)  I go in, find jeans and grab the size I’d like to wear and a larger size, still hoping I don’t have to go on the W side of the store.  The smaller size did not fit and the larger?  Glided right on like they were made for me.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t even enjoy the fact that I found jeans that fit and were the right length because the size I had to buy is my official freak out size.  Even though they were still from the regular misses section I could not find any comfort in that. So, I sat in that dressing room trying not to have a melt down and yes, freaking out. 

My current feelings about all this are only compounded by the fact that all of the exercise I’m doing right now feels really hard.  As I said when I was trying to explain to Mr. Helen about our Muay Thai class Tuesday (and he wasn't 'getting' it):  the moves were not hard but I felt so fat and out of shape and out of breath that I was miserable.

While I have no choice but to wear my freak out size at this time, because yes, even I know you need to wear what fits otherwise you look ridiculous, I am not happy about it.  Not one single bit.  I feel betrayed by my clothes.

Double whammy:  not happy with the scale, not happy with my clothes.  Miserable in fact.

Le Freak?  Not so chic.

Tuesday Ten

10. This post made me both laugh out loud and think, “Wow, that’s a very good idea."

9. I used to love to dance and I don’t get to do it much anymore.  I loved to dance so much that the last time Little Helen saw her biological father he asked, “Does your mom love to dance like she used to?”  The man hasn’t seen me in 30 years and that was what he asked.  Maybe I should find a dance class as my fun thing?

8. I went on Saturday to get the bloodwork and other tests my doc ordered.  Three hours, 18 vials of blood, 2 bruised and aching arms and a severe case of nausea later I was done.  Now I wait for results.

7. I had the most discombobulated day ever this past Sunday.  I won’t even go into all the details but suffice it to say that it ended with me not cooking the pot roast I prepped.  That’s right, I went to take the finished roast out of the oven so I could throw some biscuits in, and it wasn’t in the oven!  It was sitting right on top of the stove where I put it when I put the oven on to preheat.  Which means my oven ran for 3 hours without anything in it. I don’t even know how I managed to do that, but talk about a senior moment!  We had sandwiches for dinner.

6. Princess Diana’s wedding gown, along with some of her other gowns and memorabilia are being exhibited until January at one of the local casinos.  Going to this exhibit is probably the closest I’ll get to being in royalty’s presence.

5.  Look how clever I am.  I was making a recipe that called for creamed corn and found I didn't have any.  So I decided to make my own:  1 cup of corn, 1/3 cup milk, 1 1/2 tsp. corn starch.  Cook until thick then throw in food processor and pulse a couple of times.  What do you think?

  

4. I had no idea that mentioning Kirstie Alley’s weight loss would get some of you so worked up!  Shocked I was!  My point – which I think some folks missed – was that one of the things women my age are told is “age makes it hard to lose weight.”  Well, yes.  But Kirstie Alley is 10 years older than me and lost weight.  I don’t have an opinion on how she did it or whether she’ll keep it off, I’m just saying that she’s 10 years older than me so I should be able to do it too.  In other words, age doesn't make it impossible.

3.  Ever since we moved into our current house in 2006, I have wanted to line the front of our retaining wall with daffodils.  While I love flowers I am truly not the gardening type.  But this year I was out shopping and saw a bag of 50 bulbs and bit the bullet.  Then I bought 50 tulip bulbs thiking maybe I'd mix it up.  Now I have 100 bulbs, the bulb planter thingy, bulb fertilizer and I'm procrastinating and wondering, "What the hell was I thinking?"

2.  I lost the first round of football picks with Mr. Helen.  I can smell chicken wings and pizza in my future… sigh.  Hopefully the place he chooses will have a salad on their menu.  And I better start winning otherwise I see a football season of greasy spoons ahead of me.

1.  What we are today is a result of our own past actions; Whatever we wish to be in the future depends on our present actions; Decide how you want to act now. ~unknown

My Mind is All Over the Place

Have you all seen this photo of Kirstie Alley and her 100 pound weight loss?  Amazing.  I hope she's able to maintain it this time as we all know that's almost harder than losing it for some of us.

Ever since my bad disappointing doctor's appointment on Monday, my mind has been racing and I haven't been able to calm down about everything. When I saw that photo of Kirstie, I was consumed by jealousy.  She's 10 years older than me.  If she can lose weight, why can't IIIIIIIIIIIIIII?  By Wednesday I'd only slept about 8 hours total in the previous 2 nights so I decided I had to take action.  Ironically, I had told another friend who was upset about something that it really is OK to wallow - as long as you don't stay there too long.  So I decided to throw myself a pity party so I could get over it!  As I partied I remembered that there are things that will happen in the course of our lives that are absolutely out of our control.  If that is the case all you can do is the best you can do in the situation you're in.  Stressing and trying to be in control don't help.  Yes, be proactive in finding solutions but stressing well, pretty much all that does is set you back.  I've said before that one of the things I love about this doctor is her holistic approach.  In addition to going over medical tests and result she also always chats with me about my job and relationships and exercise and anything she can think of.  By the end of the visit she told me that my assignment while we wait for the next round of tests was to find something fun to do.  Something that I love and would fit into my life on a regular basis. When I asked why she said that she has watched me become so obsessed concerned about my health issues that it seems to her that the slightly overweight but happy patient she had when I was first diagnosed in 2005 has all but disappeared.  And so, that is my goal.  I need to find something fun to do.   I'm working on it.

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When I went to my Muay Thai class last night (thank you Mr. Helen for the super sore shoulders today) it was 72 degrees.  When I came out of Muay Thai, it was 62.  That's a 10 degree drop in just about an hour and a half.  Woke up this morning to 50 degree weather.  Unfortunately, the weatherman called this one correctly. While the house has maintained it's warmth, it was brisk outside!  In addition to eating a whole lot more oatmeal, I have to find a way to transition from summer clothing.  I don't find it easy.  I'm not quite ready for pantyhose or even slacks.  Since the temps will end up somewhere in the mid to upper 60s today I decided to somewhat continue my summer theme with a couple of variations.  The dress has sleeves and I went to a black patent leather peep-toe pump.  Still no panythose!

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Mr. Helen and I both enjoy football.  He's a bit more into it than I am, as he played.  He's even been inducted into his high school's Football Hall of Fame. I have to say it's fun to watch games with him because he really understand the game from the inside out.  He probably should have been a coach or a color analyst, that's how much he gets it.  When he was catching up on the scores, etc. last week after he got home from work on Sunday, I was telling him about Lori & John and their football picks and dinner to the winner game they play.  He thought that was a great idea so we are going to start doing it this week!  Wish me luck....

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Guess what else has to transition in the fall?  My manicure colors.  Which mainly means I stop wearing hot pinks.  While I don't care for some of the super dark colors that almost look black, I do like the various shades of plum and purple.  This week's choice was Ate Berries in the Canaries by OPI.

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Finally, on this Frigid Friday, if you are one of the 3 people left who haven't seen this video, you must go watch it.  I promise, it will make your day!

Tuesday Ten: Better Late Than Never Edition

10.  Sorry this is delayed but I forgot to hit publish yesterday, no kidding.  Because I was late getting this going and I was busy at work. So now I've had to use #10 to say this and I have an extra thought for another time.

9.  A lot of bloggers I know who are trying to get away from artifical sweeteners have switched to Agave.  Lately I keep running into articles that are saying that Agave is no better for you than High Fructose Corn Syrup!  And articles like this one, that say it's worse!  Interesting to say the least and controversial too, I'm sure.

8.  I got indignant when I saw this display at the grocery store TWO WEEKS AGO, but evidently their marketing people knew something I didn't...

7.  ...FROST is being predicted for my fair state by the weekend, maybe.  In fact, our overnight temperature Thursday night is supposed to dip into the 40s.  Wednesday after work I'm going to have to pull out long sleeved running gear and check to see if my slacks from last year fit me this year.  Not my favorite thing to do.

6. The reason I'm worried about my slacks is that on Monday I had a doctor visit.  It did not go well.  I will not go into details but suffice it to say my metabolism is not functioning at all right now.  Without changing anything I have gained 15 pounds in the last year.  There is much more involved than age and menopause.  My doctor is referring me to a metabolic specialist.  For crying out loud, I deserve a freaking break!!

5.  A couple of Saturdays ago, Mr. Helen wanted to go out for breakfast.  We went to this restaurant which was owned for years and years by the same family who then sold.  It went through several other owners and incarnations and openings and closings and now, the original family has bought it back, reopened it and judging from the parking lot, I'd say they'll do well.  When we opened the menu, I saw they had a Reuben Omelette and knew immediately that's what I'd order. Here's the description: Three freshly prepared farm fresh eggs filled with tender, lean corned beef with Thousand Island dressing, topped with melted Swiss cheese, served with our red bliss home fried potatoes, your choice of white, rye or wheat toast with jelly; served with your choice of coffee or small juice or a small milk.   OK, so they didn't top it with the Swiss, they tucked it inside and that was probably even better.  I couldn't help but think of Biz, who loves all things Reuben! 

4.  You can choose your friends but not your family.  Fish and relatives stink after three days.  That is all.

3. I'm so disappointed.  I had signed up for a Zumba class through our adult education program and got notified yesterday that it has been cancelled.  Boo!

2.  A Facebook friend recently shared this link.  If you have ever worked in an office with an annoying person, this is a must read.  All I have to say is that I wish I was David Thorne.  After you read that, toodle around on that website.  There's a bunch of belly laughing stuff on there.

1.  "What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul." (Yiddish Proverb).  May we all have a day filled with laughter!

Life Goes On

In the years since September 11, 2001, it has been interesting to me to hear how different people perceived that day.  One thing I have found almost consistently is that the further west people were, the less they seemed to be impacted by it, unless they had a family member or friend who was somewhat involved.  For those of us on the east coast though, it was a very scary time.  I remember for days afterwards waiting for the other shoe to fall.

I spent the day yesterday avoiding the TV and the internet.  10 years later  and I still can't watch it without crying.  At the time I was working for the director of an emergency communications center.  That day we were supposed to cut over to a consolidated center:  the town was going to a central 9-1-1 for both police and fire.  If you've never been in a 9-1-1 dispatch center you might be surprised to know that most of them have large TV screens all over the place.  Sometimes it could be hours between calls so dispatchers are allowed to watch TV and movies.  Therefore, we all had a front row seat to the events in New York City and Washington, DC that day.  As the events unfolded, it almost felt like slow motion.  Ultimately because no one was sure what was happening, the cutover was postponed until several weeks later. Though NYC is 2 hours away from where I live, it felt like the next town over - like our neighbors were in a war zone.

In December of that year my sister and I went to NYC to see the Rockettes and as usual zipped around the city on the subways.  We had gone to the southern part of Manhattan to a particular bookstore and were walking back towards the north looking for a subway station.  As we walked we realized we had somehow gotten ourselves right in the area that had been impacted.  Even months later, there was heavy ash and soot all over.  I can't describe the sadness it made us feel to see all the posters people had put up looking for their loved ones.  Then, at one point we turned a corner and literally found ourselves looking at this:

It took our breath away.  Even years later as the area was cleaned up we found it almost too hard to go there.  We had a friend who had volunteered countless hours to give massages to the workers involved in the cleanup so once the memorial/tribute was set up at St. Paul's Chapel - the church that survived the attack we went because we wanted to see where she had been.  Once we got there though, we almost raced through the area.  We literally could not stand the grief.

Then, in April of 2009 my own family experienced the sudden, horrific death of one of our own and we became just like those families who woke up one blue-skied sunny day and sent their loved one off to work and then just never saw them again.

So, while I remember, I don't know if I'll ever be able to watch any of the documentaries or not.  A bit ironic since I did watch quite a few things in the immediate years after.  As for now, I choose to use the day to remember that while life is a precious gift that can be gone in the blink of an eye, life is also meant to be lived as fully as possible until it's not possible.

That's why my day was spent off the internet and TV and onto exercising, sunning on my patio, preparing healthy meals for this week and picking the last of the produce from my patio pots.  It was a good day.

I Don't Have What It Takes

I am reluctantly coming to the conclusion that I do not have what it takes to get where I thought I would like to be in terms of weight loss and fitness levels.

Before you and I both have a hissy fit, hear me out.

One of the ways to get to a goal is to gain knowledge about how to get there.  I have gained lots of nutrition knowledge over the years due to my time as a Weight Watchers leader (before points, when the plan was based on the food pyramid), and also due to my thyroid issues.  If the best self defense is offense, I’m your candidate.  Because these situations made me go out like a hunting dog to find out anything and everything I could about nutrition both to be a good example (when I was a WW leader) and to have the power that knowledge brings.

As for exercise, my knowledge comes from experience.  The term “adult onset athlete” describes me well.  The most athletics I ever did growing up was cheerleading and back when I did it, it was not quite the sport it is today.  In the 1980s I dabbled a bit in some aerobics classes but truly, they were not something I loved or even did regularly.  It took a 60 pound weight gain from quitting smoking to get me to do anything at all on a regular basis.  By then I was in my thirties and miserable.  Between my damaged lungs and the pounds of fat, about all I could do, at first, was walk on a regular basis.  Once a few pounds came off, I discovered step aerobics and bought the VCR tapes and step so I could do that at home.  But still, only a few times a week – most certainly not everyday.  In the early 2000’s my doctor started noticing a trend towards hypertension and I had gained a bit weight back – maybe 10 pounds.  He encouraged me to add running intervals to my semi-regular walking to see if I could lose the weight and stave off medications.  It took most of 2002 but by 2003 I was calling myself a runner, and began to enjoying ‘racing’ even though I still had to start taking a pill for that hypertension (Helen, some things are just genetic…) In any case, I loved running and suddenly I was one of “those” people who exercised most days of the week.

Then in 2005 I gained 40 pounds while training for a half marathon.  It was the thyroid.  Ever since then, my doctor has been working with me non-stop to try and figure out what I need to do to get the weight back off.  While I have weighed less than I do now, I never have been able to get back to pre-diagnosis weight.  It really is miserable because between the extra weight affecting my running and feeling like I’ve been on a diet for 6 years, I often go through times when I just want to completely quit and be fat and lazy.

But I digress.  Lately, I have tried several things to see what the heck I need to do (see ‘miserable,’ above) and have been completely unsuccessful at figuring out anything.  I reached the point where statistics were saying I should have lost 6 pounds in the last few weeks only to see a gain of 2.  Explaining my stats to Shelley (that is not a joke, I made her look at them), I yelled, “I am going on a liquid diet.  I am so sick of this sh*t!”  Shelley of course ignored me at first then threatened me if I tried anything so drastic.

My next step was to start looking at other people whom I see as successful at their weight and fitness.  While I get lots of inspiration from fellow weight loss bloggers there’s nothing quite like actually seeing in reality (vs. virtuality) what folks are doing.  And this is where I’ve reached the point of knowing that I do not have what it takes.

These people – of all different ages so don’t think I’m looking solely at those who are much younger than me – just live differently – specifically in one area.

The food varies from person to person – vegetarians, junkatarians like Mr. Helen, calorie counters and lifetime WW members.  While this does prove to me that we all need to find our own path – that there’s no one right way – I haven’t been able to see what I could do differently than I’m doing now.

Where they differ from me?  They exercise multiple times; every single day – rarely take a rest day. Or they exercise for hours at time, which is something I do only if I’m in half or full marathon training.  Which I haven’t been.  As an example (and this is just one example of what I’ve seen over and over again), one individual exercised THREE times on a recent day:  1 hour aerobics class in morning; 5 mile run pushing her forty pound 3 year old in a jogging stroller at noon, then 1 ½ hours of Muay Thai and conditioning training in the evening. Even Mr. Helen, who does not have a sedentary job, additionally exercises for 2-3 hours at a time 5-6 days a week.

I am not willing to do that as there are other things in life I want to experience and that much exercise takes up more time than I'm willing to give up.  (See Debby, I told you I'm not an athlete.) This in turn seems to mean I won’t get where I want to either weight or fitness wise.  Very sobering thought and obviously I need to rethink it all.  I’m just like a computer that needs a reboot and I’m not happy about it at all.

Tuesday Ten

10. I did my first "unfriend" (or is it defriend?) on Facebook.  Got tired of someone's attitude and language.  I'm no saint in the language department but really, is it necessary to swear like a lumberjack every single time you post?  Since the person is related via marriage I called them out on it.  The response was to swear AT me.  So I unfriended.  It actually felt good!

9. You know what's irritating?  That little red dialogue that pops up and says "You've entered the wrong username or password."  Usually both aren't wrong, just one of them.  Why can't the ding dang dialogue tell me which is wrong? Irritating.

8.  Most schools around here are starting today having used anywhere from 3-5 "snow" days depending on when they were scheduled to start.  All due to power losses, etc. from Irene.  This does not bode well.  Of course we could luck out and have a mild winter which is what I'm hoping for.

7.  It's pouring rain and we're under a flood watch for the next 24 hours or so.  We've had a solid week of pretty good weather but folks around here are so worn out from getting themselves back up and running after Irene, we'd rather have no rain at all.

6.  When you live in the North, Labor Day signals the end of wearing white.  It makes me sad to pack away my white... and also makes me want to move south.

5.  We upgraded to all digital through our cable company.  As usual, I just had to make the decision to do it because Mr. Helen does not like technology changes.  But here we are a few days in and he's loving the free On Demand stuff, the Fishing network, the Golf network and the NFL network, with some Hillbilly Handfishing sprinkled in if he happens to go by that as he's flipping the channel. 

4.  #6 would be why we have 5 TVs.  One of my oldest virtual friends, Mama Bean has been experiencing the same Hillbilly trauma though I'm not sure she's blogged about it yet.  She only recently started her blog and she's a good writer so give her a read.  She and I met through Sparkpeople 4 years ago and have yet to meet face to face.  One day though, right Mama?!  *Edit:  she started a separate weight loss blog today!  Here is that one.

3.  The kyoshi at my dojo has a son-in-law who is a professional DJ.  Last week she shared a link to free podcasts of music mixes that he does.  I downloaded this one and I've run to it twice now.  I listened to it Saturday night while making dinner and got some unintentional exercise because I couldn't stand still.  Over the weekend I've downloaded several more of his mixes - so much fun to have some new music to exercise to!

2.  One of the search terms recently used to find my blog was "Colbie Callait belly button."  Now I'm dying to know what post that led too.

1.  Been feeling stuck in a rut lately.  With eating, exercise, work, blogging - almost everything.  Roxie made mention of end of summer malaise.  That sounds like something that would definitely happen in Texas due to their record breaking heat.  I wouldn't blame anyone for feeling malaise from that.  Not sure if that's what's going on here on the east coast but I suppose it's as good of an explanation as any.  Now I just need to figure out what the heck to do to break out of it.