Run Mama Run!

Running is my new drug. Since I quit smoking, quit drinking excessively, and quit certain other activities that shall remain vague and generally vice-like, I needed a new drug. Running works. Monday, during a break in the icky wet weather, I laced up my shoes as quickly as I could and bolted out the door. Yes, J was home with K, so no, I didn't abandon my child. The air was cold on my face, the music was moderately loud in one ear (gotta listen for cars and creepy people!), and I ran. No dramatic time or distance accomoplished this day. Just a good run, part of my training. The best thing about running is the way it clears my head. I work out all kinds of stuff while running (and laughing to myself that I listen to Guns'n'Roses sometimes!). So, here are some bullet points to get stuff out of my head and onto paper, so to speak.

Why I Run

• to lose weight (still working on the post-high school partying/medication weight)
• to be prepared for Bay to Breakers this May (long-time goal of mine)
• to live actively (now, this is a good one, because somewhere along the way, in high school I thought it was cool to not sweat, but now I realize that if I don't sweat at least 4-5 days a week, I'll earn a lovely early grave and lots of other crappy things along the way to that grave. Not to mention, I need to be a healthy role model for K, so I better keep up that active lifestyle, right?!)
• to honor those in my life who frickin' deserve to be honored

Why I wear pink when I run (it's not always a conscious choice, but I almost always don a pink article of clothing)

• My grandmother kicked breast cancer's butt in the late '80s and lived to be almost 80 without a single scary recurrance of the bastard mutant cells.
• J's Aunt Jamie, who is currently kicking breast cancer's butt and looking like the incredibly stylish woman she's always been while doing it.
• I am inspired by the last two winners of the Biggest Loser (both members of the Pink Team, both woman!)

I really do think about that kind of stuff while running. I often ask myself why the hell I am out in the cold, running to no where in particular when I could be home, warm and cozy. But then I think about people who can't walk, let alone run and decide that if I have the ability to do this, I will do it. I am damn lucky to be healthy and in a place where I can run outside in relative safety. I say relative because there are some creepy people who tend to walk on the trail I run, but I know that it's a peaceful place to be, so I can't really say they're creepy. . . just better to be safe than sorry.

Lately, I've been working on forgiving myself for mistakes I've made. And Oh Boy, have I made a lot of mistakes in my life. Now, I generally see mistakes as the opportunity to grow and learn something about myself. That's all fine and dandy. The problem is when my mistakes include other people who don't get to see the growth I experience in the aftermath. They remember me for my mistakes, while I look back and say "Oooh, that sucked, but I really learned something there." See, that's what mistakes are good for. I also have to remind myself that if the people around me are truly my friends, then they will see that I am growing and will allow me the space to do so and still appreciate my friendship. Or, they just like me enough to tolerate the crazy stuff I do and then I can explain myself later on so they get all the cool stuff I learned. So those that have split afterwards have missed out on the opportunity to get to the know the new and improved me thanks to the sometimes painful, sometimes awkward mistakes I've made. I guess it all boils down to this: I have grown A LOT in the last few years, and while I've made some mistakes, I am thankful for the opportunities I've been given to grow and I'm thankful for the friends that have stuck by me in the process. One day, I'll be as wise as Yoda, and seek my wisdom you shall. Heehee, I'm a dork and proud of it!

Moving on.

I think K has another ear infection. Boo. I'm hoping to take her to the doc in the morning to confirm and see what lovely antibiotic they'll prescribe now that she's allergic to amoxocilin. Poor thing is having such a tough time going to sleep. Between the cold and the teeth and now maybe an ear infection, she can't catch a break! Still, she's stinkin' cute and I love more than life itself. Today, she was having sooo much fun playing with her GrandAuntie T and GrandUncle M. Never have I seen my child laugh so much at a kitchen towel. They are two of the most creative people I know and am eternally grateful that they are in my life.

Update on my classwork: Yes, I'm taking beginning clothing construction. I am in the process of making a tee-shirt and it is so fun! So simple, but so enlightening! I did sleeves in class today and I can't wait to do it again! I'll be taking some pics tomorrow to share my first effort at my shirt. J is so supportive and is already talking about me taking more classes next semester . . . :) I love to sew!!!!!! I've also made a nifty quilted cover for my pattern tracing paper and am working on a tool roll based on my cousin's design for all my cool sewing supplies. Will post photos.

If you got this far, know that I appreciate your attention. Sometimes, I just have to purge some thoughts to make room for new ones!

I am annoyed.

There are so many things that are annoying me right now! My PG&E bill went up from Christmas. Way up. Our December bill was high (double!) and I chalked it up to Christmas lights. We were very cautious after Christmas about our energy usage - lowering the thermostats, only using our space heaters when absolutely necessary, turning off lights and powerstrips when not in use, wearing layers, etc, and still, our bill is even higher! Ugh! When I called their customer service line to see if there was anything we could do to reassess our usage or see if there is some kind of drain on our house or anything to further reduce our energy usage, the wait time was over an hour and a half! Hello! I have a family to feed, a sick child to care for, and much more important things to do than sit on hold for 90 minutes. . . grrrr.



We had cable installed today. Ugh! That was a fiasco in and of itself. We bought our first new tv - a decent-size LCD tv that was well-rated with Consumer Reports. We made adjustments in out budget to allow us to get cable in order to enjoy our new tv. The installer came within his alloted 2-hour window. That's good. . . ok. Once he assessed our situation, he told us he'd have to install a new cable. Ok, fine. Then, he peeks under the house and says there's no way he can run the cable under the house, that he'll just have to drill a hole through the exterior wall of the house straight into the living room. Uhhh, how about NO! I'm renting this house from my family. This yahoo was talking about drilling through a wood-panelled wall, that although I dislike, is not mine to be drilling through! After calling my aunt to confirm that I was going to tell this guy he was nuts, I told him no way. He'd just have to go under the house to figure it out or we'd cancel our order and take our business elsewhere. I guess his supervisor told him to quit being a wimp and figure it out, because he came back from his phone call to say he'd need J's help to get the wire through. GRRRRRR . . . all wired, cable worked, no big deal after all.



Now, after having cable for a few hours, we have a static-y picture! Not much better than the picture we had with our rabbit-ears! The technical support person on the phone was completely unhelpful with his "sending signals to the box" stuff. I'm thinking they hire a bunch of charlatan psychics over there. He scheduled a technician to come out to our house Friday afternoon but suggested that we take the box into their office and someone could do something on site. Well, longish story short, we drove our unhappy cable box to the office (just ten minutes from our house) and J got us a new box with an HDMI cable for free. When the cable company hands out $30 cables for free, they score a few points. And somehow (ssssshhhhh) we get more channels than we ordered. Hmmmmmm. . . .

And, so I can record my weirdest night ever. . .

Saturday night I wanted sushi for dinner. J, K, and brother S were all in agreeance that sushi was the thing to eat. So, I picked a local restaurant off of www.yelp.com. There were so many in our downtown area, that we just went with what was closest to the parking garage. We should have left when the head waitress started yelling at the couple in front of us, while waving her arms, no less : "HELLO!!! Two! You two! Over here! Two at the bar right here!" Not kidding. Not exaggerating. I should have dragged us all out of there at that moment, but my intense craving for sushi overrode my common sense. When it was finally our turn to be seated, she gave us the third degree in a very loud voice: "Are you next? Are you sure there was no one ahead of you??" At this point, after waiting 20 minutes, I'm beginning to take it personally. Now, we make our choices quickly and wait for our order to be taken. Little K is very quickly reaching her limit for being out in a restaurant and is getting antsy. I am losing my patience. Here's what puts me over the edge. Not only does she take the orders of the two couples that were seated AFTER us, but then, she begins to bus a table as all of us are looking over at her. It is only when J and I get up to leave with poor, melting-down K that this waitress comes over and asks to take our order. I told her I didn't need to wait that long for sushi and we left. S stayed with his friend A and ordered some rolls to go. It took ONE HOUR to get the rolls and leave. As J and I are walking back to the parking garage, totally floored at the incredibly poor service we just didn't receive, we stop in our favorite burrito place to grab a burrito to split and a baby burrito for our baby. While placing my order, the goober who ordered ahead of me interrupts me to confirm his order one more time. Now, in all fairness, the young woman taking the order did mess it up a bit, but interrupting me, or anyone, is rude. Goober's burrito is no more important than mine and he could have waited 30 seconds more for me to finish my order before jumping in to make sure his steak burrito had extra guac. Besides, there were many orders to be made ahead of ours, so he had plenty of time to double check his order.


Uggh. Not to mention, poor K woke up sick again this morning. We just finished a round of antibiotics for her ear infection from the last cold. I hope we don't go through this cycle again.