Couple Quickies - ;)

I don't have enough time to really write about anything but wanted to share a couple funnies...

A while back I was e-mailing with a friend (I'm sure most IRL friends will figure out who this is) and she sent me this little "story" about her activities one day. I was laughing so hard in my cubicle that tears were forming and I had to show a coworker because she was wondering what was up. Part of the humor is picturing my friend running around in this scenario, but I think it's still amusing if you don't know her.

"oh, and a funny Fritz story. last night he was running around the house with a full-sized poop stuck to his butt. I pulled it off and found that it was full of these little twiggy dried grass thingy's (from outside on the balcony in a pot that he likes to munch on). after I got the turd off there was still a giant twig sticking out of his ass so I chased him around the house trying to pull it out. he thought it was some sort of game and kept teasing me by running away at the last second. then he bit me and looked all violated. puh-lease!"

Also, SH found this item on some website and of course he said he thought of me. I wonder if they make it in a bumper sticker or t-shirt or something. It's pretty amusing. I think I want it...

We're Runners!

Holy crap, it’s been a while! I really didn’t mean to slack this long. It started out with waiting for SH to get the photos of Lena and me he took at the race (which he still hasn’t done due to some computer issues he was having – must get on him again) and then I was bogged down with my project at work (more on that later) and then blah blah blah…

Anyhoo, the race was great! It started out pretty chilly in the morning, much to our disliking, but we put on our hats and gloves and packed in as much coffee as was safe – didn’t want to have to pee halfway through!

We really had no idea what to expect and were prepared for a bit of a cluster, but there really wasn’t that many people there at first when we were getting our packets and it really was pretty organized and quite the event. We got a bunch of fun info, coupons, free food and drinks AND free Caribou coffee! I prefer Dunn Bros myself, but hey, I’m not going to turn my nose up at someone who wants to give me free coffee! ;)

We were pretty amazed and excited about the adrenaline high we had that had us pumping and allowed us to only have to walk a couple short stints that we figured totaled no more than .5 mile – and that was mainly due to a side stitch that Lena developed. With how we were feeling, I wonder if we could have possibly ran the whole thing if poor Lena hadn’t been plagued with the dreaded stitch.

Our next goal is to do another 5K in the spring and run the entire thing – NO WALKING! Then it will be a 10K, I think, regardless of whether we can run the entire thing. It will be like this time – we’ll just DO IT. And THEN we’ll focus on running the whole thing. Then what? A 10 mile, and then a half marathon…

That’s the goal at this point anyway. We’ll see what happens…

So we ran, cashed in on some “free” stuff (we did pay a $25 entry fee) and then celebrated by taking a leisurely morning afterwards wandering to this cute French café with French foods (like yummy quiches and sandwiches) and the most beautiful dessert/pastry case (patisserie?) over on the Mpls side of the metro. We had a nice brunch and got a few small treats for later. Then we meandered over to a billiards store for fun (well, because SH wanted to stop there because we were in the area) and we stopped by a cute little garden center we happened upon. It was a nice wind down to our eventful morning.

I guess I’ll wrap up with a few pictures that Lena’s dad took, which was a rather humorous moment. He was standing on the side of the road an kind of hopped out with the camera and shouted “Look alive!” at us (thus the excited looks) and I swear, I didn’t recognize him at all! It must have been the fact that he’s been growing his hair out lately so it’s a bit longer than I remember and a bit grayer too. Lena was pretty amused when she found out I didn’t know that was her dad at the time. She exclaimed “What, did you think he was just some weird old guy taking our picture!?”

“Uh, yeah… I thought it was pretty funny!” In my defense there was a bunch of people (race volunteers, I’m guessing) on the sidelines throughout the thing yelling things at us like “Way to go!” “You’re doing great!” “One mile down!” “You’re halfway there. Congratulations! Way to go!” etc. So, it didn’t really seem like that much of a stretch… Anyhoo, here’s the pics I have at this point thanks to Lena and her daddy!

Us "Looking alive"!

We're runners! Whoo hoo!

Very attractive shot of us enjoying our "free" post-race bananas. Wow, I actually look like a monkey too! Blech!!

That is all for now. :)

Lucky Girl

Today is my and SH's fourth anniversary. We will go out for a nice dinner at Kin.caid's and then probably wander around the area where the restaurant is located in downtown St. Paul, which bears a resemblance to Paris so of course we love it there! Then we'll probably just head home and have some more cocktails and cuddle time. ;)

Yesterday he reminded me of something he's said in the past but was something I didn't really want to think about or accept at the time but now... Now it is starting to sound completely wonderful. He said, and I'm paraphrasing a bit because my memory is still intermittent these days:

'No matter what happens with this kid thing - if it just doesn't work out - I really think we can have a great life together, just the two of us, enjoying being with each other because being with you is the most important thing to me.'

I really am lucky.

I love you sweetie. Here's to many more anniversaries...

It's A Girl!

Well, I’m finally getting around to posting about the new addition to our family - a new German Shepherd puppy.
We figured she needed a good German name, so we decided on Greta. Greta was born on April 1 in Albert Lea and came home with us around mid/late May. It just took this long for SH to get his pics loaded from his digital camera for me to post anything because how can you post about a puppy without including pics?

Here we are in the yard. She’s very tired as you can see. It’s so very hard being a puppy, you know.

Shilo seems to be very happy now that he has a little sister to play fight with. He likes to eat her head, as we call it. Seriously, he puts her whole head in his mouth and… gnaws on it – that seems to be the best description. Lena could tell you. They both, actually, like to chew on each other’s head. Doesn’t look very fun to me, but whatever…

A couple weeks ago we were shopping and in the pet section I found the cutest “costume” – that’s what the tag said. It was a pink beret with the Eiffel tower on it and the text “J’adore Paris”. Naturally, I had to get it! So, here is Greta with her first ensemble.

Since I can’t do this stuff to Shilo, I’ll do it to Greta! Hee hee!

Yup, Shilo loves his sister…

Tas, on the other hand (in background), not so sure...

Yay Me!

It appears I am down 3 lbs now. Not a whole lot, but 3 in 1 1/2 weeks works out to be an average of 2 lbs a week. Not too bad. Hopefully I can continue this for the next 3 months or so.

Also, Lena and I are slowly working back into the weekend gym routine; which is very good, and much needed.

I seem to be doing quite well with my restricted calorie plan. To review the past week I come up with:

6 days under my allowed 1500 calories (under by roughly 100)
6 days under my allowed fat intake
still keeping up with my food tracking (obviously)
keeping on track with daily weigh-ins

I'll have to post something non-food/weight loss related. I've been meaning to for the last few days but things have just been kind of crazy - mostly at work. That's right, I still haven't won the lottery and quit my job. ...oh well, there's always next time... ;)

Mmmm... I'm sitting here checking blogs, waiting for it to be time where I'm forced to get dressed to go over to mom's for a visit, and watching the fat squirrels run around and playing games in my backyard. Whilst doing so, I figured what the hell, I'll have a little bit of coffee since I've done so well abstaining in the last 6 months for the sake of my gametes. I didn't want to brew a pot and saw there was some leftover in the maker so figured I'd just heat that up and drink it. Now, as I drink it I find myself thinking that I really can't remember when the last time sweet hubby had coffee was. Did he brew this coffee yesterday (hopefully), or was it Friday? Or Thursday? ...Wednesday???

Apparently all this treatment crap and hard work to try to stay balanced both emotionally and physically and, well, sane, has taken a toll on my memory. I was mentioning to sweet hubby this morning that the thing I thought I needed at Target last night (and couldn't remember) must have been a refill on my thyoid med and figured I better call it in so I could pick it up today since I'm down to 3 pills and that was weird that I never got a call on this to let me know it's ready. Well, apparently the pharmacy's automated phone line called 3 days in a row about a week ago, according to hubby.

"It did?" I inquire, confused.
"Yeah, I told you about it. Don't you remember?" He responds, somewhat incredulously.
"Huh, no. That doesn't ring a bell." More confusion as I wrack my brain trying to remember.
"Yeah, I told you a couple times." He confirms.

I guess it's to be expected with the kind of strain I've been under these last couple/few years with the IF struggle and dealing with the mom-grandma situation (I'll have to post about that later - long story). It's probably nothing to be too concerned about - well, unless it expands to forgetting that dish soap is not to be used as a salad topper and goo gone is not a good source of citrus-based vitamin C...