two dolla

my cereal bowls do not sing

The General is a little hippie dippie in her holistic healing ideas sometimes, but there are other times that she’s right on target. So while it may be a little intimidating for me to shove a burning candle in my ear, I still tend to listen when she tells me something’s going to make me feel better and it doesn’t involve shoving a pile of pills down my throat. In other words, this whole I’m pretty down with these ancient healing/stress reducing ideas that are all over the place. Even this whole tibetan singing bowls thing I’ve been reading about lately. If a certain type of tone coming from a certain type of bowl can help me re-center myself after a really crappy day at work, for instance, you can be sure I’ll be sitting in the middle of the floor with a bowl next to me trying to do just that!

since the servers are down at work

Blogging from my phone seems like the most productive use of my time right now. I don’t know what it is lately, but it’s been so hard for me to find the time and/or the desire to blog. I think about it and I even start posts, but then eight hours and two sentences later, it just doesn’t really seem all that important anymore, ya know?

A new bowling season has started, so that’s fun. Our team from last season/league, Pin15 Club, consisting of me, The General, Jenni and Bill (and sometimes Matt and Katie) finished the season in next to last place. I wound up with the high womens scratch game (of 222) and high womens handicap (295), which meant hot $10 prizes with both of those.

Now I’m bowling on Tuesday nights on TEAM RAMROD with Andy, Marc and Adam. I think we’re going to be pretty bad ass. Or at least they will. They talk about stuff like ball resin and throwing hooks and oiled lanes, so clearly that means those boys are hardcore.

I’m seriously a bowling nerd. I love it a lot. I even have my own shoes now, that weren’t stolen from a different bowling alley, thanks to The General. Now if I could just figure out how to bowl consistently, I would be all set.

And the servers are still down, but I have two co-workers here that might start to wonder what I’m hammering out over here.

a sampling of my evenings at the gym

As I sit here, still smelling my own sweaty funk, I felt it important to give you an example of what I’ve been doing at the gym the past couple of weeks:

Elliptical Trainer
Time: 23:00 minutes
Distance: 1.57 miles
Calories: ranging from 270 to 467 depending on where I look

Stretching
Five minutes of nothing but stretching my back. SO GOOD.

Weights
Leg curls: 30#, 2×10
Leg extensions: 40#, 1×12 and 50#, 2×10
Leg press: 90#, 2×12
Seated calf raise: 45#, 2×12

Recumbent Bike
Time: 12:00 minutes
Distance: 2.27 miles
Calories Burned: ranging from 140 to 190 depending on where I look

And then an hour later, I come home and am so jacked up I feel like bench pressing my car.

I’ve been posting all of this through DailyMile, but it irritates me to no end that I can’t put all the components of my workout into one entry. And then it just looks like I’m spamming Twitter and Facebook, because it updates there, too.

In any case, I haven’t had a soda since Friday and REALLY I DON’T MISS IT. Except yesterday when our sales manager walked in with a 20 ounce bottle of Mountain Dew and I wanted to see how fast I could drink the whole bottle. I’m guessing 20 seconds.

couple of healthiness related things

I went a whole day yesterday without any caffeine. A major part of the day was spent helping The Kid with his History Day project, so the caffeine would have been very, very helpful, but it wasn’t until 9pm that I noticed I hadn’t had any. I had a headache when I woke up this morning, but it wasn’t something that a few ibuprofen couldn’t cure.

Also, since we’ve been on this health kick, we just went grocery shopping for one week this week. That way we get more fresh produce and all that jazz. here it is Sunday morning and our cupboards are kind of bare. That made breakfast a little rough this morning. But I battled through and had the following:

1/2 cup refried beans

2 tablespoons of salsa

1 ounce of cream cheese

And then I threw it in a bowl, put it in the microwave, and had a breakfast/brunch type dish that was only about 220 calories. I don’t know how many Weight Watchers points or whatever it is, but I do know that it’ll fill me up until we get to the grocery store this afternoon with the rest of the masses and find out what’s on the menu for the rest of the week.

If you have healthy recipes you want to share, I’d love to give them a whirl!

from player to announcer

I realize I’m… aging(?) when I watch NCAA and NBA basketball on TV and the announcers that used to play in the NBA when I was in high school.

The Missouri/Kansas State game is on ESPN right now and LaPhonso Ellis is one of the announcers. I remember watching him play for the Denver Nuggets when their uniforms looked like this:

I can’t watch the NBA on TNT without major flashbacks of the Michael Jordan glory days when people like Steve Kerr, Charles Barkley, Reggie Miller, and Kenny Smith were playing ball in their short shorts instead of sitting behind the scorekeeper’s table with fancy suits a giant headphones on.

a plea for garcia

It was a cold day, just a few weeks after we’d moved into our new house when we got a call from Pet Project Rescue asking us to take in a couple of puppies that were found outside, fending for themselves, in South Dakota. Of course, we said yes.

And now, nearly three months later, look who’s still hanging out at our house:

It’s Garcia, or C.C. as we sometimes call him. He’s five or six months old now and is very much ready to find a forever home. He weighs about 35 pounds, but the majority of that is all legs and his big ol’ head. He has the softest black fur with tints of brown throughout it. His little white goatee kills me, and if you scratch the white spot on his chest, he’ll love you forever.

More »

my latest educational endeavor

Yesterday, The General and I went to a class/seminar hosted by The Canine Coach focusing on Urgent Care with your pets. It was $20, so I signed up. The focus on the class was supposed to be when you can treat your animals at home or when you need to take them into the vet right away. For twenty bucks, I figured I wouldn’t get too mad if the instructor of the class just told us we should always take the dog to the vet no matter what. That was not at all the case.

We learned dog CPR, which was possibly the most exciting thing that ever could have happened to me at that moment in time. We also learned better techniques at managing wounds, tips at how to get your dog to swallow medications better, and what constitutes a freaked out visit to the emergency vet. It was incredibly, incredibly informative.

If you have dogs, I would highly recommend signing up for it. The instructor, who’s a certified vet tech that’s used to dealing with two large breed, clutzy dogs herself, does a fantastic job of presenting the information. The General and I went out and supplied a first aid kit for the dogs as soon as it was over. We have it in a box for home or travel.

i’m sure you’re all wondering

With an upcoming wedding in which I’m part of the bridal party, everyone is always asking me if I’m going to wear a dress. I would, if asked. I really would. I wouldn’t do it for many people, but for my BFF and Brother from Another Mother, I would totally do it.

June 15, 2002: This is the last time I wore a dress. I know you’re all wondering. It, too, was for a wedding, one beautifully done outdoors wedding in which Rick and Brooke got hitched. Prior to that?

May 25, 1996: My high school graduation. I wore a skirt underneath my gown. I don’t even know why. It’s not like anybody could have noticed. And let me tell you, sitting through 300+ students walking across the stage when your last name starts with B is way painful. Even more so when wearing a dress. And before that?

October 12, 1992: My uncle got married and I was a candlelighter. There were high heels that had been dyed fuchsia involved. My only consolation was that I got to see Michael Jordan (and the rest of the Chicago Bulls) play later that night in an exhibition game in Kansas City against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

That’s three times in almost 20 years. Maybe I should go dress shopping this weekend.

Michael Jordan took a break, too.

Through a lot of thought and internal turmoil, I’ve finally decided that I’m not participating in the 2011 Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure. It’s been a really great run (six years in a row!) and each year has been even better than the last, but it’s time for a break. I figure, much like Michael Jordan, I’ll end it on a good note.

I was the sweep captain last year with a fantastic group of sweep van folks that I seriously loved. Regina came all the way to the 612 to participate in her first 3 Day. With the help of my awesome friends both on and off the 3 Day, it was an experience I’ll never ever forget… just like the previous five years.

If you’re thinking about doing it this year, do it. You won’t regret it. It will change your life. Every day during the event and leading up to the event, whether you walk or you crew, you’ll find something deep within yourself that you never even knew existed. You’ll pull from strengths you didn’t know you had and surprise the heck out of yourself when it’s all over. Visit http://www.the3day.org right now and register. Don’t second guess yourself.

The fundraising isn’t easy by any means, but if that’s the thing scaring you away from doing it, don’t let it. Email me. I’ll give you some proven ideas that have helped me raise thousands of dollars every year. People are more generous than you’ll expect.

The walking? Yeah, it’s not easy either. My kid said the other day, “Why do they make you walk even after you’ve raised all that money? Why can’t you just raise the money?” Explaining awareness to him was a lot harder than I thought it would be. If you register for The 3 Day and don’t finish all 60 miles, I guarantee you that nobody’s going to think any less of you. I promise.

I’ll be back. And I’ll be asking for your donations once again sometime in the future.

February has arrived.

Tomorrow is Groundhog’s Day and my middle school band teacher’s birthday. It’s the shortest month of the year. There’s Valentine’s Day in a couple of weeks, my grandma’s birthday and my parents’ anniversary. And since it’s the shortest month of the year, I’m giving the blog every day for a month thing yet another stab at things.

This month, I’m also taking my first certification test at work. It’s a 2.5 hour multiple choice exam. Once I pass it, I’ll be certified to do my very own job. There’s a whole heck of a lot of laws and contracts and terms that I think I knew existed, but had no idea all of the details. The last test I took that required this much studying was in 2003 when I had to switch my Missouri license to a Minnesota one.

Also happening this month? Marshall is getting neutered. He is way to proud of his little kitten testicles. We walked in today and he was having “relations” with a sparkly stuffed pony.