Thanks

First off, thanks for the kind comments on my surgery, but it really isn’t a big deal. If CP didn’t have to drive me home after the surgery, he wouldn’t come home early just for it. That is not because he is an un-caring husband, it is because it is an outpatient surgery. I might be a little sore afterwards, but he is basically coming with me just to be able to drive me home.

Ewww. I just looked up some videos on removing cysts and I think that I am about to throw up. Wow was THAT a bad idea.

Now I have completely forgotten what I was going to write about today. So instead you get a short post on cysts! Boy aren’t you lucky on a Friday!

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Oh! Before you go running off into the weekend, I wanted to share my good news! I won another contest! Yes the lovely Aritza had a contest and I won a fabulous damask cosmetic bag! Yay! She has yet ANOTHER contest celebrating her birthday- in this one you could win a necklace from NuvoNova’s etsy shop- but you have to enter before May 3rd. Good luck!

All I got today

......is bullets!

*Sadly, CP will have to work again this weekend. While he is gone I might try to orgnize the house, put things up for sale on ebay/ Craigslist/etc. That also means I won't see him until next Thursday night, the night before my surgery. Boooo.

*My cold is getting better- I think. While at a three hour conference yesterday I ate way too many Halls so that I wasn't interrupting people with my coughing. Unfortunately the result of that was a very unhappy stomach!

*The only good thing about my cold? People don't want to sit next to me on my commuter bus. Ha!

*My ten year college reunion is coming up this year. I can't believe that it has already been ten years!! Some of my friends from my freshman hall are thinking about going- I would love to go with CP (we did go to the same college- he is one year ahead of me). He doesn't have the same ties to undergrad that I do- for one his fraternity was disbanded. It will also depend on where we are living come October.

*It was difficult, but I waited until monday to contact HR at the other company. I figured that with the woman being out of the office for a week, she was probably slammed as soon as she came back. Turns out I was right and she has been out of the office a lot. She said she would contact me towards the end of the week. it will probably be today- when I am off-site all day in training!

*Because of my cold I haven't been able to work out recently. I ended up not doing the 5K because as I ran for the bus Friday afternoon, I had a coughing fit. Too bad. Hopefully I can get outside this weekend to burn off some calories!

I'm off for my training.

Surprise!

I was halfway through Food, Inc. when I got a surprise last night. CP thought that his flight got in late, but it turns out that he messed up and got in five hours earlier! Yay! It was nice to actually sit down and have dinner with him after two weeks of eating by myself. And, he loved my latest dinner- Asparagus, Red Pepper and Mushroom stir fry over Quinoa!

I used chicken instead of tofu

Mmmm quinoa. So easy to make (just 10-15 minutes!) and so very delicious.

Unfortunately for me, I am sick. Last week I was feeling very run down and wanted to sleep constantly. This week I am just as tired, but came into work on Monday with a cough. A nice hacking cough that produces a lovely yellow-green phlegm. I am supposed to run a 5K tomorrow morning, but I am not sure it is a good idea. I haven't tried running since Sunday and at that point I didn't have a cough. What to do, what to do......

Food

Tonight, PBS is showing the documentary “Food, Inc.” For those of you on EST it is on at 9pm, for other areas you would have to check local listings.

I would HIGHLY encourage you to see this documentary if you haven’t already. It is based on Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser and The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Both books I would also HIGHLY recommend.

I am just about to finish the Omnivore’s Dilemma (I read Fast Food Nation a few years back) and let me tell you, it is EYE OPENING. Some of the stuff I had heard about before, but having information on our food system all in one place really helped me hone into my thoughts and feelings on the subject. In fact, I am preparing a blog post on my reactions to the book as really, it has opened me up to a whole new way of thinking.

Have you seen the documentary yet? Or will you be watching tonight? Have you read the books? If so, has it changed your thinking on food at all?

Distracted thoughts

What do you think about when you run? This is usually the sequence of thoughts that run through my brain while I am out for a run:

Oh. I’m feeling good! My legs and lungs will surely be able to run at least 3 miles today.

Huh? I have only run ½ a mile so far?

Don’t think about how far you have run, focus on the beat of your music and trying to keep up with it.

Go away nagging pain (in various spots all over my body- but usually in my knees).

Alright, think about something else. (spots a cute dog) Oh what a pretty doggie!

Check out how fast the water is moving today (when I am doing my run in the recreation area with a river running alongside)!

What a mean doggie- barking at everyone. Thank goodness Fuzzy Britches doesn't bark.

There is someone walking ahead, make sure you keep up your pace- but not too fast- so that you can pass them and keep running. How awkward it would be if you passed them and then ran out of gas and had to stop running.

Ugh. Here comes a hill. Just keep your legs moving.

One lap down, only one more to go!

Uhhhh it would be nice if you and your dog didn't take up the ENTIRE path...you could move to the side so that others could get past you.

Yes! I love me some Ke$ha while running.

I could go on and on. Are you a distracted runner like me? I check out dogs, other people in the park, the wildlife, the river, etc. I try to sing songs in my head, make up stories about the people that are in the park with me, etc.

I know that I will NEVER be an elite runner (it’s just not in my gene pool- I have fast twitch muscles and am built for sprints, not endurance), but my distracted thinking is just another reason why. You see, elite runners only think about RUNNING when they are running. Makes sense. They are thinking about split times, when to make their move, etc.

What do you think about when you are running or working out?

Wow I can’t believe that I didn’t have enough time on Friday to post the news that ALL national parks will be fee-free from Sat (the 17th) to the 24th. Unfortunately, the Northeast does not have a lot of national parks so CP and I won’t be able take advantage of the promotion. :-(

This weekend was not too exciting for me. CP had to stay in OH for work, so I mainly spent time with Fuzzy Britches. We went on a walk in the rain on Saturday and then a 3 mile run on Sunday. With a local 5K coming up this weekend I needed to make sure that I would be able to run the full distance! I watched The Blind Side which was good, but not amazing. I also made a couple delicious meals:

Veggie Cassoulet. Based on me reading off the ingredients, CP did not think that this was going to be a tasty dish. Thankfully, he was wrong and I brought in leftovers to work today!

Roasted Root Vegetables (with herbs from our garden and parsnips from our neighbor’s garden) with a boneless pork chop topped with apple chutney (homemade and canned by CP). I am proud that I peeled and cut up the beets without getting red stains everywhere! :-)

I would highly recommend both meals as they are healthy and taste great!

Other than that? Just cleaning the house, talking to friends, family and CP on the phone and running errands.

Hopefully you had a more exciting weekend than I did!

All about sperm

Last night I was rolling on the ground laughing. Why you ask? Because of this National Geographic special- “Sizing up Sperm.” Yes, you read that right. I was randomly flipping through the channels last night and the title caught my eye. Since CP is in OH for work, I have full control over the tv. So I decided to check it out. And boy am I glad that I did.

First, a little factoid that I learned in the beginning of the program- did you know that with every heartbeat the average male produces 1000 sperm? Just a little knowledge you can drop on people at your next dinner party. Ha!

Instead of showing sperm under the microscope, this program decided to use real people (dressed in white of course) in order to recreate the quest to reach a woman’s egg. So in order to show what sperm goes through when a man ejaculates, they showed people going through a water slide. LOL.

Later in the program, a sperm came on to talk about her theory that it is more likely for a couple to get pregnant when they have “gourmet sex.” What is gourmet sex you might ask? Well, it is when the sex is GREAT for both partners. She theorizes that when a couple has gourmet sex, the man gets even more excited and therefore sperm from lower in the testicles is ejaculated.

But then a party-pooper evolutionary psychologist came on to dispute the gourmet sex theory. You see, he has done lots of research. Yes he and his crack team of researchers went to a strip club and had to sit through 300 shifts. I’m sure it was absolutely TERRIBLE work for them. The result of their research? That strippers made more money while ovulating than while menstruating.

WELL DUH!!!

First off, if it is a all-naked club, a woman on her period would probably not take off her thong. Therefore not making as many tips as other women that will take off all of their clothes. And secondly, if he was a woman he would know how crappy and bloated you feel when you are on your period. What woman feels great when she is bleeding for five days? If you are not feeling particularly sexy, that is probably going to come off in your dancing that week. So his “conclusions” didn’t really move me.

Overall, the program was perfect for my 12-year sense of humor. Every time they said that words “long” and “hard” I giggled. The sperm people (as they were called by the narrator) were hilarious to watch. First, going down a water slide. Then running up a mountain to signify the uphill battle that is trying to get to the woman’s egg. I could not make this up if I tried.

Friends of mine were a bit weirded out by my funny texts regarding the program, but I think that I convinced at least one of my friends to DVR the show. CP didn’t quite understand my giggling either….maybe I just needed some sleep?

Have you seen anything funny on tv lately?