Sunny skies, foggy brain

I seem to be in my typical holiday mood: cranky, anxious and jittery. Normally the bright sunny days improve my state of mind but today I'd like the thick fog to return so that my grumpy wouldn't seem so out of place. The holidays aren't the reason for the mood, it's the entire December-short-days, get-everything-done-by-the-end-of-the-year thing that gets to me every time. I'm quite ambivalent about the holidays themselves. Having two days off work doesn't bother me at all.

In an effort to improve my attitude I've attempted to increase my level of activities from "lacking" to "low." I'm trying to get in at least a little extra bit of movement each day but my energy level is riding as low as the sun in the winter sky. I've been using my new Wii Fit, more for the entertainment value than the exercise value, and that's gotten me off my posterior most days. I don't think it's intended for a dedicated, hard-core fitness freak but right now my dedication is lost in the holiday mail and my core is flabby so the Wii is doing what needs to be done. It's less mind-numbing than a treadmill, I don't need any special workout clothes (I just start stripping off layers as I get warm and I'm using it barefoot now), and I don't need to even go into a different room.

I've also attempted to correct some of my sloppier eating habits but you wouldn't know that from my tendency to have popcorn, ice cream and wine at night and call it "dinner." I've limited my consumption of holiday crap goodies to no more than one each day, I'm eating healthy lunches and if my evening eating isn't quite what's recommended I'm not going to drive myself crazy about it until January. As long as I'm getting some good nutrition each day I'm sure I'll maintain.

My obsession with sunscreen might be getting slightly out of hand. I don't know why I think I need to wear sunscreen on my legs when they're completely covered with long pants and boots. I've been wearing an SPF 15 moisturizer on my face for years, but now I'm spreading it on my neck and ears too. I've also been hovering around the moisturizer/lotion aisles trying to discover a lightweight, non-oily, non-pore clogging, higher SPF goop to spread on my face but I haven't found anything yet. I like the Neutrogena sunscreen that I use when running but not for all day use on my face. I like the Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion with Menthol for the rest of my body but it doesn't have a sunscreen (and Aveeno seems to be trying to discontinue that particular lotion). I figure I have, at best, a couple of months before it gets warm enough that I'm outside with parts of my limbs uncovered and by then I hope to be fully sun protected.

Meanwhile, even with the sun exposure I was getting before this my Vitamin D levels were low. That was while taking 1000 mg daily. Well, almost daily. I tend to forget my vitamins and supplements on weekends. I doubled the D during the week and I try to remember to take it on weekends. I can see it now: lovely pale skin and rickets. Nice.

Whine whine whine. I told you I was feeling cranky.

Good intentions pave the road to where?

Because of the extreme heat and crappy air quality, my plan this week was to get up very early and either run or cross train before work. I was successful on Monday; I wasn't sleeping anyway so I got up and did a lower body toning tape. I was unsuccessful today; I wasn't sleeping anyway and still reset my alarm for the regular time. Sigh. Before I left home I packed a bag so I'll be running after work. In the heat. And the smog.

It's definitely cooling though. In theory the air quality will be much better today than it's been, there's a good strong breeze through the trees. The horizon looks blue instead of sickly brown (but it's still a bit hazy) and that's a good sign too.

Chicago seems so far away, but it'll be here before I know it. In training-for-a-marathon terms, it's just a few long runs away. Well, several long runs away. But in order to do the long runs I need to keep up with the weekday training.

After my exhausting run on Saturday I was at my mom's house. She noticed how crappy and worn down I looked and asked me why I bothered with all of this. My answer was simply that there is nothing I love more than running marathons, and to do that I need to train. Regardless of weather or air quality or health or injuries, I need to have consistent mileage on my feet (preferably running) and regular toning and core work. My brain is well aware of this. Now I just have to convince the rest of me.

Rambling Friday

Earlier this week my bro called me and asked if I could look after my nephew for a few hours on Thursday night. I was a bit stunned, since this was the FIRST TIME in 11 years that I was offered this chance. Yes, I've taken the boy shopping for presents but that was it. This time, I was asked to spend a few hours with him and take him to dinner. Wow. I actually had to stop and think about it, which made my bro think I didn't want to do it. I couldn't really tell him I was amazed he was finally giving me this opportunity.

Included would also be, of course, shopping. I'd never gotten nephew a Hanukkah present and had put off our shopping trip for various and assorted reasons. Last night we went to a few stores and I was happy to that although he still tries to get (1) a very expensive total of presents and (2) items I know his parents would find inappropriate, he knows the real limits and will put things back on the shelf if I give him a "look." We had lots of fun deciding what to get (some -- popular tv anime -- toy thingamabobs) and what not to get (Barbie, Elmo, anything girly or too young for him).

We went out for sushi for dinner, although he doesn't like the fishy things as much as the tofu or egg types. It was lots of fun, goofing around, being Auntie. He's a good kid (if just a bit spoiled ...), bright, funny, active. He wore me out!

I don't want to obsess about the weather, but what the hell is up with this weather?? From cold and rainy, to hot and hot and hotter, to cold and windy and rainy. Boots and jackets to shorts and tanks and sandals to boots and sweaters. Spring? Winter? Fall? Summer? Hey, that's why we live in California; there aren't seasons here. In fact, we normally don't even have anything you could call "weather," except in the dead of winter when it gets cold and might - let me emphasize might - rain. Cut it out, Mother Nature. We are not amused.

I'm having food issues these days. I do great until I get home, then good eating habits go out the door. I tend to leave it so late that I'm too hungry to prepare anything decent (even those 7 minutes in the microwave seem too long) and end up eating yogurt, ice cream and popcorn. With Jelly Belly jelly beans for dessert. I rationalize it that I've had a big salad for lunch (which I normally do) with a serving of protein (usually) and so it doesn't matter. Of course it does, and I know it does, and I know I'd feel better eating right, but I'm just not quite there. Since my jeans are not as comfortable as they've been I'll have to turn this around quickly.

My exercise was impacted this week both by the weather and my own uncoordination. I missed Tuesday's run because I was chasing down a tetanus shot (needed since I stabbed myself in the leg with a screwdriver while gardening) (and may I add, OW!) (both to the stabbing and the shot). Wednesday was too hot to run but at least I got in a brisk walk. Thursday I had intended to run on the treadmill in the morning but the blisters from the hot walk made it hard to stand, let alone run. Ditto that again for this morning. One step forward, two hops back. I will run this weekend, blisters notwithstanding. I might first wrap myself in bubblewrap and Body Glide and steel armor ...

Sigh

I realized this morning that I'm quickly becoming a regular visitor in the land of Slothville. In fact, I'd go so far as to say I might even be moving there if I wasn't spending so much time in Gluttonia. My workouts are missing, my eating habits have deteriorated, my body feels like sluggish sludge. Nice.

One little backache (maybe not so little) and I feel I have a license to join the rest of the country in Sofatown. I know quite well how quickly I adjust to my natural state of rest. I'm so slow when I'm active that it's often hard to tell the difference between when I'm moving or not, but there really is a difference.

I think I need to schedule some challenging, scary event where strength and stamina are involved (even a half marathon would work). Working toward Chicago Marathon just gives me too much time to put off any focus. I need to start spending my extra time in Healthland with visits to Goodchoices.

You'd think by now I'd have learned how hard it is to make a comeback.

Happy noniversary to me

With one more day like yesterday I think I would be entirely caught up. Unfortunately by the time I get another one, there will be more things that need to be done so catching up is not going to happen right now.

Although Saturday was forecast to be cold and rainy and windy, it turned out to be a pretty nice day. My hoped for 15 minutes of gardening turned into 3 hours. Yes indeedy, that most certainly is a trend with me. Once I get outside on a nice day I find more and more that needs to be done. Since the early afternoon was clear I threw on a long sleeved shirt and went to wrestle with my jasmine and my lemon tree. It was not only intermittently sunny, it was warm. Wonderful day to be outside.

I clipped and pulled and weeded and cursed my so called gardeners and delighted in the spring weather. Then I headed toward the lemon tree. Despite long sleeves, gloves and long pants, I got scratched and poked and mauled by that little overgrown thing. I picked a couple dozen lemons, some so indescribably nasty that I gagged, thinned it out a bit and then called it a day.

What does one do with a couple dozen lemons? Keep in mind that (1) I don't cook and (2) I don't bake. What I do is drink, so I made ice cubes! I squeezed about a dozen lemons and poured some into the only ice cube tray I have in the house. I used to have many ice cube trays but darned if I could come up with them anywhere. The only other thing I had convenient was the top of the little thing that holds eggs that came with the fridge. Odd, but hey, it worked. Many hours later I discovered that I probably should have watered them down a bit before trying to freeze them, since even now they're not hard solid. I tossed one in a glass of soda, and other than reminding me exactly why I'm staying away from citrus fruits, it was a great idea. The rest of the lemons I'll attempt to give to my coworkers. Maybe hide them in their desks when they're not looking.

My house is clean, for the first time in -- well, I'm embarrassed to say how long it's been. It wasn't a true spring cleaning; I didn't touch the baseboards, the windows, the cabinets, etc. But it's dusted and vacuumed and the bathrooms cleaned. Much nicer to be in now.

I didn't get much chance to be in my house today, it's momday. Several hours helping with her paperwork and taking her to lunch so I didn't get done the one thing I've been putting off. I did take my tax stuff out of the filing cabinet and spread it all over my table, so it's a start. Baby steps, right?

While I was writing check after check for my mom I realized that today's date was familiar to me because 19 years ago on this date I was busy marrying my future ex-husband. For the first time. Don't ask me the date of our second marriage. Or either divorce. It's funny how some dates, some numbers will stick in your brain forever and some won't stay there for more than a minute. I remember my ex's social security number but it took me 4 or 5 years to learn my cell phone number. I know the very long i.d. number for my company's payroll but can't remember my brother-in-law's birthday without looking it up (and he's been my bro-in-law for over 30 years). I remember my very first telephone number (Vermont6-9219 -- I'm sure most of you young whippersnappers won't remember that phone numbers started with the first 2 letters of a word. And we didn't have no steenkin' area codes either. But I digress. Again) but can't remember my current license plate. And passwords? Yikes. Good thing most places give you 3 tries before shutting down.

Moving right along ... or not. I took a few days off my exercise routine to give my body a bit of a break after the century. Those few days have now stretched into a week and my body is getting very displeased. The gardening and house cleaning felt like a workout. Tomorrow I intend to arise early, since I won't be asleep anyway, and start the week with some cross-training. Let's see how that works, shall we?