Better. Faster. Stronger.

Yay! Finally, the sickness is gone around here and the rain finally let up long enough for me to go for a run. I even ran halfway up the big hill! Go me! I did 1.86 miles in 26 minutes 20 seconds. Faster than last time! Yay!

Okay, enough with the exclamation points. We'll see how my legs do and how my long run goes on Saturday. Assuming, of course, that it doesn't rain or something.

I'm so glad the Menace is feeling better. Poor little thing. She was just so pathetic for a couple of days. She just curled up into a little ball on the floor and watched cartoons for about three days. She couldn't keep hardly any food down, and was only marginally better on fluids.

We had another little blow last week. My parents raise horses, and my old horse that I was mine when I was a kid had to be put down. He was 37 years old (in case you're wondering, that's really old for a horse). He's been an old man for as long as I've known him. His health had really declined in the last year or so, but it was still sad. I hope he's in horse Heaven, kicking up his heels now.

Maybe it was because we were feeling sad about Mr. Pibb, or maybe it was just because we were suckers, but the Menace saw this kitty at PetsMart the other day that she instantly bonded with. She's been begging for a kitty "of her own" for months now. We've got two other cats, but in her mind, one of them is Daddy's and one of them is mine, so she needs one of her own. We discussed it over the weekend, and went back and forth. We finally caved and went in first thing Monday morning to get him. She is so excited. He really is a good kitty. Our only issue is that he has claws (the other cats are declawed) and our dogs need to learn some manners. We don't want to start off with any bad feelings, so we're introducing everyone very slowly. So far so good. We've only had one incident where a dog got too close, and I managed to pull Mr. Kitty off before any real damage was done. It's been an adventure though, with no end in sight at the moment.

So that's my week. Hopefully my legs don't hurt too badly tomorrow, because with all of these animals running around here, I'm having to vacuum double time now. Oh, and I broke an important piece off of the vacuum last week. It still works, but if I sit in one spot without moving for too long, it burns and melts the carpet. Awesome.

Hold Everything! The Menace Is Sick.

Poor thing. For the second time in the last month or so, the Menace has a tummy bug. Her fever and tummy ache started yesterday morning, and she progressed to throwing up shortly after bedtime. She was just so sad. It was a long night, and it's been a long day. She's still got a fever, but she's eating and drinking a little, so hopefully she's on the upswing. I fear I may not be so lucky. I'm exhausted. I've been chugging Emergen-C drinks, but I don't think I've ever met a stomach bug that didn't like me. I may be losing some more weight in the very near future.

So, I did what any good wife/mother would do in my situation. I spent the entire day cooking. If I do get sick, my family has Irish Stew, King Ranch Chicken, home-made chicken noodle soup, and some nifty queso to eat. If I don't get sick, I don't have to cook for a while. My house is mostly clean, so at least I won't be putting my face into a dirty toilet seat. Man, I hate getting sick.

In other (completely unrelated) news....(Deep breath)

We're considering home-schooling the Menace.

I know, right?

Here's the thing, we're in a metro area, and I have not heard overwhelmingly good things about the school system here. Quite the opposite, in fact. We can't afford private school. Well, I guess we could, be we wouldn't be able to do anything remotely fun, and I enjoy fun. I don't really have any desire to get my kid up in the dark, and ship her off to school where she'll be exposed to a veritable petri dish of communicable diseases and other children more obnoxious than herself. She'll sit around all day, learning a little and waiting while the teacher teaches/disciplines the other students. Then she'll eat a crappy lunch (unless I pack it for her, which I would) and maybe have 15 minutes or so of recess. Then I'll wait in traffic for a half an hour to pick her up, and we'll come home to do homework so that I can go over the lessons that she didn't really get to learn because the teacher was busy trying to handle the class.

Or.....I could teach her myself. We would have a 4 day school week with about 4 hours a day. We could have all the field trips we want to all the things we want to see. We could make sure she was enrolled in extra-curricular activities and classes (so that she'll be socialized and all). We can make sure she gets a proper education and can even take time to explore her interests further. Plus, we can travel during the school year if we want to and not have to deal with the school pitching a bitch and calling truancy officers because she's got unexcused absences. (Um....last time I checked, I gave birth to her, ergo, I get to make any and all travel decisions about her. When the school superintendent goes through 41 weeks of Hyperemesis, and 19 hours of labor only to end up having a C-section, and funds her life, then they can tell me what I can and can't do with my kid).

I home-schooled for a year and it was awesome. I don't know if we'll do it forever (or even if we'll do it at all for sure), but we just might try it out for a while and see how it goes. Besides, I'm confident that even I can't screw up Kindergarten.

P.S. I'd like to give a shout out to Heather, who caused the craving for King Ranch Chicken in the first place. Thanks Heather. I hope you're happy.

P.P.S. It's delicious.

Playing Catch Up.

I haven't been slacking. I just haven't been writing. Well, I've been slacking a bit due to the friggin rain that's keeping me from running outside, but I've still been using the elliptical, doing yoga, and lifting weights. I did run on Saturday. I did the full 3.68 miles, but I only timed the first half. It was 27 minutes 2 seconds. I was feeling pretty tired, and my right leg was really throbbing, so I just walked the second lap, and I didn't time it. I felt a lot better after my cool down lap though, so that was good. Each time I've done the elliptical I've done a full hour and burned 800 calories. I've lost two more lbs too, so that's good.

I have had one official setback. I just ate a cup of cherry ice cream with chocolate syrup, sprinkles, and a big blob of peanut butter. I know, weird, but I really wanted it. It was great, and now I'm not craving it anymore. I wish that I was losing weight faster, but oh well. I'm working hard on it, and I'm happy with the progress that I've made so far. We'll call it a win. Now, if only it would stop raining long enough for me to make some headway on my speed!

So Far So Good

Well, my legs felt better tonight, so I got back on the horse. So to speak. I did one loop tonight, so 1.84 miles. I finished it in 27 minutes 4 seconds. I'm still not going to win any time records here, but I felt a lot better tonight. Not nearly as much pain, and I was able to jog comfortably for much longer stretches without much side pain. It was nice. I've been adding more stretching, and I added some Dr. Scholls sports inserts to my shoes, which made them more comfortable inside and stopped the slipping problem I was having. I also officially signed up for my race and paid my entry fee, so there's no backing out now. I still haven't lost any more weight, but I still haven't put any on either. Since I'm feeling pretty good so far this week (yeah, I know it's just Monday, but stay with me here) I'm hoping that I'll be able to stick to the plan and lose a pound or two.