A record!

Wow! Three posts in one day!

Anywhoodle (yes, I have been on the computer too long today), despite the fact that Amy Jo had a problem not too long ago with the design on her blog, I mistakenly clicked on "design template" in Blogger and completely screwed up the simple design of my blog. Boooo.

Since I am have no idea what HTML even stands for (okay maybe I do, but it doesn't mean that I know how to use it!), I had to completely overhaul my blog because I couldn't get it back to what it used to look it.

SO. New picture for the header (one that CP took in Kruger National Park, South Africa, on our honeymoon) and new colors. Do you love it? Hate it?

Wrap-up Friday

Workouts

• This week I jumped back on the working-out bandwagon after some time off. This week I ran twice (both Day 1 and Day 2 of Week 5 in Couch to 5K) and then weight lifted the other day. I plan on doing something this weekend too.
• I am a bit worried about my right heel though. I notice it hurting more after wearing flip-flops so much. I then read this article. Rah roh. But I love my Tevas! :-( I will wear my flip flops a bit less and in general, try to wear better shoes for the rest of the summer.

Replies to Comments

• My difficulty in keeping a secret. Yes Amy Jo, it does make me feel better that I can at least share the secret with you guys. And Kate, I love what you said about the secret keeping me closer to CP. What a great way of thinking about it! And by the way, I am very good about keeping other people's secrets. Mine? Not so much. :-)
• Moving to a more positive outlook. Thanks for liking my blog name ~*Jess*~ and Funderson! It's my favorite phrase!
• Memories. Tia were you a nationally-ranked pole vaulter in college in the late 1990s? If so then you probably know someone I went to high school with who ended up vaulting in the Athens Olympics. Kate, I wish that it was as easy as getting the zipper fixed, but the zipper is fine. It is the fabric that is attached to the zipper that has come loose. According to my mom, as soon as I would sew it back up it would break. Maybe I sew it back up myself but make sure not to put anything too heavy in the bag?

Bastards

This week, CP and I stepped outside to check on the garden and saw this:




We looked at each other with surprise. What the heck ate the leaves off two of our tomato plants? Not only were leaves gone, but chunks of our green, still-ripening heirloom tomatoes.

Damn it. We didn't get to enjoy tomatoes last year because there was not enough sun. Are we going to go through another year without tomatoes???

What could have done this? Deer? A deer may be the only thing that is tall enough to reach the leaves. The two tomato plants to the left were virtually unscathed. Did the zucchini prickles keep the deer at bay?

Then we spotted these biznitches:



That's right. These three motherf*ers (aka Horned Tomato Worms) ate about 15 tomatoes and most of the leaves on two of our tomato plants. Bastards.

For comparison, here is what the two still-healthy tomato plants look like:

We then had to cut off all of the branches that were missing leaves (so that we could tell if there were more worms) and vigilantly watch the plants to make sure that there were only three worms. According to my mom, they are only around for about a week or so a year and eat everything in sight before dropping to the ground to turn into moths.

So far we haven't seen any more missing leaves or found any more worms. But our tomatoes are finally starting to ripen. Yay!

In fact, I just picked these tonight when I got home from work:

Because of the horned tomato worms, we sadly will not have enough tomatoes to make tomato sauce this year. *tear* So instead, we have been eating a lot of this:

That's right. Fresh tomato slices with a pinch of sea salt. CP's mom used to "make" this dish all the time and I am loving it!

Next year we are just going to have to be more careful about these stupid worms.

*NOTE: I'm sorry for the poor quality pictures. I think that my camera cord is now packed away. I promise that once we move into our new house I will stop taking pictures with my Blackberry!*

Memories

There is something that I won’t be able to part with in the move down to CT and this may sound silly. It’s the addidas bag that I use for the gym. It’s a great size because it has a two side pockets I can fit my ipod into, my building security tag, my shower shoes, etc. and then a middle pocket that has plenty of room for my running shoes, workout clothes and knee brace.

The problem with this bag? Is that the fabric flap for the main compartment that is supposed to attach to the zipper is no longer attached, thus creating a big hole. Good for airing out purposes when my stinky clothes sit in the bag after lunch, not so good for keeping stuff in the bag or keeping stuff hidden from view.

THE bag with my gray workout pants poking through the large hole, despite the fact that it is zipped up.

It’s not just any addidas bag though. It is a bag that I received for competing in the Millrose Games.

For those of you that don’t know much about track and field, the Millrose Games are a BIG DEAL. Professional track and field athletes come to the games to compete- the Games are held at Madison Square Garden in NYC. (Funny story- Michael Johnson came to the Games in 2000. I wanted a picture of him, but some security guard wouldn’t allow me to stand next to him to take the picture. So I stood back and took a picture of Michael anyway, with a teammate in the background. Jerk.)

Amazingly, I qualified to compete in both the shot put and the 20 lb. weight throw two years in a row in college. The women that I competed against? Some of them were people that went to the Olympics. In fact, the second year that I competed (2001), I had to throw against the (then) current U.S. record holder. That’s right. NO PRESSURE. Here she is on the far right- Dawn Ellerbe (holding a hammer, the outside version of the weight).

Part of a Sports Illustrated spread on Olympic athletes

I consider myself a taller person (I’m 5’9”), but compared to her 6’2” 240 pound body? I was nothing. I’m sure that she looked at my uniform from a small 5,000-person Division 1 school and had no idea where it was even located!! Dawn ended up winning the weight throw with a toss of over 72 feet. My best throw was just shy of 61 feet, but it was my best throw EVER. I even qualified for nationals with that throw. :-)

I know that keeping the bag despite its hole seems silly. I am totally holding on to the fact that I was an athlete back in college. Ummm yeah TEN YEARS AGO. But I can’t seem to give away the darn bag!! I am proud that I competed against some of the best in the world. I am proud that I stepped up to the heavy competition and not only beat people from larger schools, but also beat three women that threw for a living. Using the bag when going to the gym reminds me of working hard and taking names- just the kind of inspiration that I need when I go to the gym.

CP will have to rip the bag out of my cold, dead hands if he ever wants to get rid of it.

Do you have things from your past that you will absolutely not part with?

Looking brighter

Last Friday I was in a huge funk. I wrote a post that I ended up not publishing because it was just depressing. Whining about my job and how bored I am. Whining about my weight gain, knowing that it has been my fault entirely. Blah blah blah.

While bored that same day, I went poking around the internet. I found stories of people that have gone through so much in their lives, whether it be losing someone special, going through a major accident, or something else. After going through that physical or mental pain, they still had hope. They were still happy. Life was certainly not perfect with rainbows and unicorns, but they were still POSITIVE.

So what the f am I doing? Getting depressed because I am unhappy with my job? When I survey my life, it doesn’t suck. Yes I am unhappy with work because it doesn’t challenge me, but if that is my biggest worry then I need to suck it up. I have a job. I am able to pay my bills with my salary. I am not in danger of losing my job. My boss is not awesome, but she is also not horrible. THINGS COULD BE SO MUCH WORSE.

As far as weight gain, that is my fault. I was doing well after the wedding and then when CP traveled for a bit I slipped…..big time. After my surgery I made a half-hearted attempt to get back into the gym, but never fully committed. I want to be healthy if/when I get pregnant. If/when I get pregnant it is NOT the time to start back in with my running and 30 Day Shred ways, so I might as well start now. Which is what I did on Monday. I brought in my workout clothes and hit the gym at lunch time. Then again today. Last week I would have said, oh well I can’t work out on Tuesday because I will be in training so I might as well start working out the following week. Excuses. I decided to jump into Week 5 of Couch to 5K for my first two workouts back, tomorrow I will strength train.

No one wants to read my whining. I don’t even want to WRITE whining posts anymore.

Sometimes you just need to read something that slaps you back into reality. Stuff that makes you fight back tears at work because you are so amazed at someone’s strength after so much pain. Stuff that makes you go home and hug your husband and your dog. Stuff that lets you know just how good you really have it.

A more positive outlook starts NOW.

Hard to keep a secret

So this weekend at a family party, CP and I were showing pictures of our new place to everyone. We had finished showing the three bedrooms and CP’s dad says, “So where is the nursery?” Not wanting to tip our hand that we are trying for a baby, I said that we don’t have one yet. I basically lied because the other bedroom on the second floor of the new house will start off as the office, but as soon as we get pregnant, will turn into a nursery. (CP has this funny idea that even after we have a baby he will continue to work there instead of having to move the office down to the basement. RIGHT. Silly boy.)

Other than the comment from my father-in-law on Saturday, no one asked about kids. (I also made sure to have two beers while we were at the party less anyone thought that my weight gain since the wedding/Christmas was because I was carrying a kid. Nope, just from eating crap. Sigh)

So last night I was having a dream where I was walking around with my mom and two friends from college (who both have two kids). They were asking me something and I let it slip that we were trying for a baby. Immediately, I backtracked and stuttered out something….then moved on to a new topic. My backtracking was enough to keep them from asking any more questions, but at that point I think that they were a bit suspicious. I then realized that in my dream we were looking for a bathroom. Sure enough at 3am, I woke up and had to go to the bathroom.

Things that I learned from last night:

1. Even in my dreams I can’t keep a secret!!! Gah this is difficult!
2. When I am pregnant I am going to have to go to the bathroom ALL.THE.TIME. I already get up around 2 or 3am every single night (even if I don’t drink anything past 5pm)….when a baby is pressed on my bladder I will have no chance. I AM SO SCREWED.

But really, this secret is killing me! I can only talk about it with CP and you guys. I HATE that I can’t talk to my girl friends about it. About their experiences. I know WHY we are doing it, but it is difficult with my personality. I want to talk things out with friends. I want to know other’s experiences. And it is SO DIFFICULT to not tell my mom because I am really close with her.

Here’s hoping we get preggers soon or else this secret is going to slip out whether CP likes it or not…..

Non sequitur bullets

· Why am I never asked my opinion in polls? You know, the ones that they talk about on the news where they ask random people about how they feel the President, Congress, etc. are doing? Who are these random people that are getting called?

· Do you hate Mel Gibson as much as I do? I have never really enjoyed his movies that much (CP thinks that I am crazy that I hate Braveheart, but that movie bores me). Between his anti-Semitic drunken rantings and his recent audio tapes with racial slurs and assertions that his girlfriend “deserved” the beatings he gave her, I hope that this guy never gets a job in Hollywood again. And that he serves some jail time.

· Speaking of Hollywood types, why o why is Switzerland balking on extraditing Roman Polanski? Yes I realize that it has been years since the rape (of a DRUGGED 13 year old girl) happened, but he pled guilty to a lesser charge and then fled the country. I don’t care if he is a talented director. He should be jailed for what he did. Otherwise it’s just an example of another rich celebrity that is able to escape the law.

· Does anyone else feel some sort of kinship with a country once they travel to it? I find that with some of the out-of-the-way countries I have been to (not talking about places in Europe here), I root for them in the World Cup (without bothering to watch the games- ha!), I listen more closely to news stories about the country and try to talk the country up when asked for advice on where a friend should travel. I have found that I at least do that with Argentina and South Africa. I’m also partial to countries that speak Spanish because although I am not fluent, I can get around, order, understand people, etc…..even if I am shy about speaking the language for fear I get something wrong.

· You remember my post on Friday about being bored? Well that is most of my days here. However yesterday at 3:45pm (I got in a little early and was supposed to work until 4pm), my boss comes running over with an urgent task. Why do the higher-ups give us negative 10 minutes to do any task for them? How about a bit more notice? Or giving us the task earlier in the day? So I stay to help out my boss with the urgent report and end up being 30 minutes late for my hair appointment. This happened about a week and a half ago too (on a Friday no less). I’m literally about to walk out the door to get waxed and then enjoy my weekend when my boss comes running over with something. I guess if I want work to do I need to schedule an appointment, knowing that I won’t be able to make it there on time?

· This week I saw two odd things while walking outside at lunchtime. The first was two girls dressed in jeans and Ugg boots- in 85 degree weather. I don’t get the Ugg boots/miniskirt look so I was even more confused with the ladies in jeans. Can you imagine how sweaty and smelly the inside of those boots must be??? Right after that I saw an older man in handcuffs with the police trying to get him in the cop car while his pants were around his ankles. He clearly was too hot in his jeans!!!

· I think that others of you have talked about this before but prenatal vitamins make my hair grow like crazy! Not just the hair on my head, but I am having to pluck my eyebrows ALL THE TIME. I probably should have checked how long the hair was on my legs before wearing capris to work today- whoops!! AT least my fingernails are nice and strong….