Recent about nothings

For the first time ever I put peanut butter on my vanilla ice cream with a bit of chocolate syrup. Why oh why have I never done this before? So good.  Also good: peanut butter on celery, apples, bread, graham crackers, a spoon, bananas. I guess I eat a lot of peanut butter. It surprises me that I’m just now thinking to put it on ice cream.

My multi vitamins expired in May. The nurse in me says just throw the bottle away and get new ones, I wouldn’t give meds (even if it’s just vitamins) that expired to my patients, why take them myself? The economical person in me says there’s a bajillion left! Surely they haven’t lost all their potency in 7 months? The reasonable person in me says I can afford a new bottle of MVI’s. The cheap person in me says, BUT THERE ARE SO MANY LEFT! I’m still taking them…for now.

There was a blood drive in my town today. I really wanted to go donate and was planning to after I went to my little meeting with a trainer at the gym I just joined. I sadly decided against donating because I didn’t want to feel horrible during my jog later today especially having to work after. I guess I’ll hold off donating until after the marathon in May with all the running I’m going to be doing between now and then. I haven’t donated since just before I moved here a year and a half ago. In fact, the last time I donated my cell phone rang in the middle of my bleeding, but my purse was on the floor next to me and I couldn’t reach it. I said, “That’s my phone…” hoping my phlebotomist would hand me my purse so I could answer it, but instead she did a little dance and said she liked my ring tone and left it where it was. It was the assistant to my now boss who left a message wanting to set up an interview. I called her back from the snack/recovery table once I was bandaged up and scheduled a day and time for my interview. What a happy happy day. I left that blood bank elated.

A few months ago I made a weird decision to not cut my hair until something significant happened to me. It hadn’t been cut since February this year and was already overdue for another cut. Now it is longer than I’ve had it probably since high school.  My favorite length is just around or below my chin. I’m not sure what caused me to make this decision, maybe I was getting bored and needed some motivation to make something happen but regardless of the reason the decision has been made. The significant event wasn’t anything specifically, but I would know if it was significant or not. If nothing else then I can at least look forward to a haircut any time after May 4 once I complete my first (and possibly last) marathon. In the meantime, you may call me Sampson.

Week 2: personal reminders

Rule # 1: Don’t skip a running day.

My training schedule has 4 running days a week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday). It’s been raining here lately so I’ve been stuck on a treadmill. I’m tired of it already. It’s dumping buckets again today, but I can’t imagine myself getting back on a treadmill right now so I’m probably just going to put on my old running shoes and get soaked. I only have to go 3 miles today, but for some reason 3 miles on a treadmill seems like it takes so much longer than 3 miles outside.

Rule # 2: Eat when you’re hungry

Whenever I exercise a lot, I am ALWAYS hungry. Like I can eat a meal and feel full then not even an hour later be ready for another one.

Rule # 3: Don’t feel guilty about it

Also, whenever I exercise a lot I’m more aware of what and how much I eat. I’m afraid that because I AM hungry all the time if I eat all the time I’m going to take in too many calories and I wind up not eating enough making myself feel even worse. So to let myself not entirely hate this process of training for a marathon, if it’s a healthy food choice I’m going to eat whenever I want so I’m not completely ravenous like I was when I did INSANITY. Also, I’m not going to be as strict with myself in regards to dessert. Rule # 3 so far is the hardest for me, because even though I’m trying to follow rule #2 that keeps me feeling better physically, I still can’t quite shake the feeling that I shouldn’t be eating so much.

Rule # 4: Drink more water

I don't really have any commentary on this one

 

 

It sounds like the rain has eased up a bit, so I think I'd better head out before it gets worse.

 

Ready ready ready, ready to run

It’s official now. I registered today and there are no refunds. It’s gonna happen.

May 4, 2013- Provo City Marathon!

I started my “official” training this week, and today I joined a gym so I’d have some where to go to use a treadmill if it was raining or dark outside when I wanted to run. As a part of my membership I get one free personal trainer session every 3 months and they set me up with a trainer who has run a marathon before, so maybe that will be helpful.

I went just over 6 miles on my long run this week (I'll be doing my long runs on mondays for now at least instead of the typical saturday since I'm scheduled to work weekends for the rest of the year). Next week it will be 7 miles.   

How to bake a cake in 1/3 the time

It’s a complicated process, but don’t worry. I think you can manage it:

1.       Accidently preheat your oven to 450 instead of 350.

2.       Place the cake in pre (over) heated oven.

3.       Set the timer for one minute less than the box instructs for the shortest amount of time (33 minutes).

4.       Call your mom to ask a question about the frosting recipe.

5.       After approximately 10 minutes you should smell burning cake like smells.

6.       Go to the oven, open the door and check on the cake.

7.       Act surprised that it looks like it’s done.

8.       Look at the timer. Notice 21 more minutes to go.

9.       Wonder how in the world the cake baked that fast.

10.   Take the cake out of the oven.

11.   Notice the oven temperature setting.

12.   Wonder where in the world your brain was at when you set it. Wait, didn’t you set it for 350? You could have sworn you set it for 350.

13.   Worry about what you’re going to be like when you’re older.

14.   Freak out that you may have ruined your sister’s birthday cake and start anticipating a trip to the store to buy another box of german chocolate cake mix.

15.   Thoroughly inspect the cake.

16.   Pat the top of it to ensure it is baked all the way through.

17.   Pat it some more (good cake, gooood cake).

18.   Notice the burned spots where the batter dripped on the side of the pan giving off the burned smell and be relieved that the cake itself may be ok.

19.   Smell the cake.

20.   Smell the cake again.

21.   Poke a toothpick in it.

22.   Smell the cake again.

23.   Scrutinize the color in the corners.

24.   Declare it good.

25.   Serve with frosting and ice cream to help make up for any dryness that may have resulted from the flash bake.

26.   Be proud of yourself. You only took 12 minutes to accomplish something that takes everyone else 34-38 minutes. Eat cake!

Mystery cable connection

While watching tv yesterday I hit the “on demand” menu (I have Comcast-xfinity for my cable service) to find a show I wasn’t able to watch earlier this week. A note popped up on my screen that said something along the lines of “remove power source from cable box for one minute and then try again when menu returns”. Occasionally, and rarely messages like this come up and after it re-boots everything is fine. I unplugged my cable box for a few minutes, plugged it back in, turned on my tv again but all I could see was snow and “no signal”. Weird. The cable box was plugged in, and despite the on demand feature not working my TV was working just fine moments before. There should have been a signal. I turned the cable box on and off 3 or 4 times, and still snow. Perplexed, I changed the input to make sure it was on the right channel, even though I hadn’t changed the input. All the cables appeared to be connected and plugged in on the box and the cable jack on the wall. I followed the other cable from the cable box that was supposed to connect to the tv and found it dangling, attached to nothing. I figured it must have somehow fallen off my tv when I unplugged the power source (although it was unlikely since they screw in pretty securely) so I took a look behind my TV to see where it should screw in. There wasn’t anywhere to secure it because there was already another cable attached to the only spot it would fit. I followed that cable attached to the tv and found it dangling attached to nothing. My cable box only has 2 spots the cord attached to my TV would have fit that already had one cable connected to the wall jack and the other cord that was dangling connected to nothing. So I had a cable going from my cable box and a cable from my tv both hanging there connecting them to nothing and nothing connecting my tv to the cable box. I unscrewed the dangling cable from the cable box, replaced it with the other end of the cord attached to the tv and voila, sure enough the picture returned on my screen and I now have an extra cord. I haven't touched the cable cords since I originally hooked it up except to change out the cord connecting the cable box to the wall jack for a longer one about 2 months ago. My TV had been working just fine. My questions are: how in the heck have I been able to watch tv for the past forever (not to mention just moments before this discovery) if it wasn’t connected correctly? AND how was it not connected correctly in the first place? I’m not retarded. I wouldn’t have left cables hanging off of appliances not connected to anything and expect it to work. I’m pretty sure I did not hook it up that way when I got my self-installation kit last year. I’m so confused. I feel like this is an episode of the Twilight Zone.

Phantom kitty part II: the Jolly Roger

So the tuna disappeared. Turns out I did have a beast of some sort in my garage and it wasn’t just in my head. I tried to put more tuna out and called out “here kitty kitty kitty” to see if I could get it to come out, but all was quiet and I couldn’t find the kitty anywhere. I opened my garage door and rattled all my boxes. Nothing. Before going to work, I listened for the kitty. Nothing. I had named it “phantom kitty Roger” because I could never find it, and used roger as a play-off of gaRAGE. I turned my car on and backed out, and then there it was again. Very loud yeowling, but where was it coming from?

I stopped, turned the car off, and proceeded to pull out and flip over every box in my garage. The meowing stopped. I could not find the phantom kitty. The meowing started again, and it was not coming from the boxes in my garage. It sounded like it was just outside of my garage. I walked to my car and it got louder. I popped my hood and at first couldn’t see anything, but then there it was. A little gray kitten, laying on top of my engine looking at me like, “you’re not my mother!”

I proceeded to scold Roger and told him to get out, I had to go to work. He didn’t listen. I shooed him with my hand and after a couple tries, he finally scurried down and took off like a sonic the hedgehog blur yeowling the whole way. Not sure where he went, but the meows got quieter and quieter. Perhaps he found another garage to crash in. I figure it must have been one of the stray wild kittens we have around the hospital that crawled in my car while I was at work Monday night, that went for a fun ride, since I never leave my garage door open.

It dawned on me as I was driving to work that I had named the kitty Roger, because it lived in my garage, and I found it in my car that I named Jolly. They made a perfect pair.

Phantom kitty

I feel like I’m losing my mind. Maybe I’m still asleep and it’s a dream. Yesterday morning when I got home from work as soon as I shut my car door in my garage I heard a blood curdling squeal. What WAS that? It happened again and it sounded like a cat that was trying to die, but not without first letting the world know it was angry about it. I stepped out of my garage and looked around. I couldn’t see anything. The meows (if you could call them meows) stopped and I went inside.

It happened again when I got home from work this morning. It sounded so close. Again I stepped outside, looked around. Couldn’t see anything. I wondered if my neighbor had moved out and left a cat in her garage, but that didn’t make sense because she moved more than a month ago and I would have heard something before now. The meows stopped and I went inside to go to sleep.

I woke up a couple hours early and remembered I had laundry I wanted to put in my dryer so my plan was to transfer my wet laundry and go back to sleep. I turned on the light in my garage where my washer and dryer are, opened the door and as soon as I did: Boom. MEOOW! MEOOW! What the heck little kitty? Where ARE you? I have several boxes, both empty and full along the wall of my garage. I thought I saw something dark move further between some of them. I walked to where I thought the sound was louder (it was so hard to tell where it was coming from!) and pulled a top box off, then scooted another. The meowing stopped and a blur of darkness darted past me. It moved too fast for me to even see a shape or distinct color, but it was a smaller blur and faster (could hardly see it!) than I thought a full grown cat should have been. I moved to the other side of my car to see if it was cowering in the opposite corner, but couldn’t see anything. I looked under my car and couldn’t see anything. Where did it GO? No more meows.

I transferred my laundry and thought it was all in my head, went inside and thought, but what if it isn’t? Then I felt bad for poor phantom kitty because it’s hot in my garage and if it’s been there since yesterday he’s probably hungry and dehydrated. I considered opening my garage door to see if something would run out, but then I wanted to know for sure if I really did have a cat in there or if I was actually going insane. I got a small bowl of water and another dish of canned tuna and put them on the floor of the garage.

I’ve checked twice now, and so far I’m a crazy cat lady, only a real crazy cat lady since I might be feeding an imaginary cat.  I guess I’ll try to go back to sleep for a while before work tonight and see if the tuna is gone later, but I’m afraid the excitement has robbed me of the full “days” rest I was hoping for.

Update: the tuna disappeared, but I couldn't find the phantom kitty and it wouldn't run out when I opened the garage door. I'll have to find a way to get it out tomorrow.