It's Getting Better All The Time

it's been awhile since i've pulled off running clothes soaked from solid effort or felt that distinct burn in my quads and calves. i ran 3 times this week and i am especially proud of the 4 miler i ran AFTER work on wednesday, which by the way is NOT sucking at all. i mentioned previously that i've been running for time as i haven't strapped on the garmin since training last year but i have a few favorite short routes that keep me in the 4 to 5 mile range.

i have serious studying to accomplish. T and M are off for their annual spring trek to Gardernerville, NV this weekend so i'll have uninterrupted hours on end to study. Math is still playing hard to get but i'm hanging in there and slowly but surely the evil bitch is coming around.

so yeah it's been awhile since i've strung 3 runs together in a weeks time ...could Gu and Body Glide be in my near future? T brought the racing bikes inside and their hanging from hooks in the laundry room making it ever so much easier to get up and go for a ride but that usually involves more time than i have these days but maybe if i really bust ass on the studying i could ride on sunday,we'll see.

i am so loving the weather right now, happy spring ya'll!

Back to square one

seems like i've been in restart mode for awhile now. school work and running on regular basis are a constant challenge. i run for time these days and the last time i ran was about 10 days ago. todays 40 minute run felt pretty good though i got a later start than i would've preferred.

our census in concord had been low and i was asked if i could help out in one of our marin facilities. after 3 days i asked to be considered for a full time position and once i had a talk with my concord manager the wheels were set in motion and i'll be working in san rafael full time after next week. woohoo!

the commute from berkeley is cake and i figure what i shell out in toll is more than made up for in what i save on gas. it's a smaller building and it's lacking in many of the basics but i really like the nursing staff and anyone who works in rehab can appreciate that.

we layed down the kitchen and laudry room flooring two weeks ago and the house still hasn't recovered. we reorganized quite few pieces of cabinetry and moved some other pieces of furniture around. the old couch was taken away and the new one is finished but waiting to be delivered from somewhere in virginia. T thought it would be a good idea to drag out a spare twin mattress in the meantime, personally i think it just exacerbates an already chaotic living space.

it's true what they say about it getting worse before it gets better.

i've been tagged

consideing what a blabber mouth i can be it's funny even to me that i can scarcely think of 7 things to share about myself
but i'll give it a go...

i'm often perceieved as as pushy and demanding.

ironically, people tell me all the time that i'm too sensitive and that i take things too personally.

i attended 2 grammar schools, 2 middle schools, 3 high schools,
1 allied health professional school, and 5 jr. colleges.

i served a mission in italy during my mormon phase..relatively short phased but enough to completely wreck my twentys.

i love my husband more today than when we were first married.

when i feel nervous or insecure i go for a run or do something active to regain my confidence and works every single time without fail.

i'm funnier in person than i am on my blog.

so there ya go, lame but true. now i need to wade through about a bazillion pages in my anthropology book.

Good Night Moon

Over the weekend M and I hauled out our bikes and rode for a good hour . i rode to class on Saturday, avoiding hills whenever i could. i got a couple of lights and reflectors today to ride at night but i have to admit preferring to drive while it's still chilly at night. maybe in the summer when it's lighter and warmer.

I supported girl scout cookies sales last week and brought home..hmm...8 boxes on Thursday....
I'm glad i took just 2 classes, it's a manageable load and i'm doing well in both classes so far. i could stagger my math study sessions better, but all in all it's going well.

I think i just need to face a few facts and not keep hoping for things to settle into any consistent routine. i have a few fixed items on my plate but so much else is random and feels out of my control.

i wanted to swim on Sunday, i felt too tired to run or ride after Saturday's little ride to class that had me huffing and puffing..so, i wanted to swim because i needed some thing restorative and when i found everything BUT my swim cap..that's when i decided to go for a bike ride with M...much to her dismay.

Let me just say this about life with a girly girl. yeah it's fun and i love me some pink.but i wish she was a tiny bit more like i was when i was her age...i liked girly stuff and bikes.....Plus, i wish she'd just get with the program already and not find it necessary every single time to protest and whine.

Needless to say it wasn't a really enjoyable ride but we managed to put in a whole hour. after we pumped up her tires we headed over to the bicycle bridge and rode around the fake lake there along highway 80. we rode around the "lake" once and then backtracked home. we rewarded ourselves with? that's right MORE GIRLSCOUT COOKIES. ok so not good in the nutrition dept. but i'll take a few points for the ride and for not losing my shit when she made it so easy to.

ok. im so going to regret staying up so late. but i'ts hard to go to sleep after my night class.

goodnight moon

Live and Learn

this guy pretty much summed up how i felt following a field trip to the zoo with my anthropology class a couple of weeks ago. we had to observe a number of animals and try to identify signs of culture and communal behaviors. i didn't manage my time well and pretty much had a meltdown by the end of the day.

It's all work

i have been crazy busy with work, a couple of the surrounding nursing homes have been shut down due to influenza and our caseload has literally tripled in the last week. it's not called work for nothing.

while i wont go so far as to say i'm worried i am starting to get concerned about when the hell i'm going to settle into some kind of routine. school, work and working out it's still not coming together. i rely on T for most of M's shuttling to and fro and with him out of town on business i've been picking up the slack. on wednesday i worked half day and walked the dog for 50 minutes.

i will say to his credit he pushed hard on thursday to make it back from Monterey on time to get her to her dance class in oakland by 4 pm. not having a regular schedule has forced this catch as catch can approach....and it's really not cutting it. you can only wing it for so long.

on the upside. we're eating allot less red meat, mostly chicken and some fish. 2-3 servings of veggies and fruit. water intake pretty much sucks , though i have been enjoying brown rice tea allot. i'm really trying to at least eat better if i'm not exercising as much. only ran once this week but i'm not going to get all wrung out about it. it is what it is.

m and i are attending a nutrition class together next week at kaiser. i've been getting a tad bit too casual about workplace eating, seems like the valentines day candy showed up early and i've been popping a chocolate or two or three in my mouth on a daily basis.

i really shouldn't be here right now

but because any self respecting procrastinator knows that before you can really dig into the meat of the matter, in my case doing housework AND homework, there's trimming and prepping that must occur first.

looking at the mountain of stuff that has occupied my dining room table for oh uhm, ever.....i'm now thinking that the kitchen island will be my study area. it's the one room that i seem to keep tidy and it's far away enough from the living room that i can concentrate and co-exist with M's marathon viewing's of "Jon and Kate makes 8." lately she's been pulling the "why am i an only child?" card, to which i calmly reply,
"because knowing ones limits is a good thing and kid your it!"

i recently finished reading "Eat, Pray, Love" by elizabeth gilbert...which i thoroughly enjoyed..turns out it was a nice segue for the topic of discussion in yesterday's anthropology class. gilberts travels take her Indonesia, a country i knew literally nothing about before reading her story. in class, we watched and discussed a film on Papua New Guinea. gilbert described the cerominies and customs she observed and much of it was similar to what i saw in yesterdays class. i think it's kinda cool when that happens, seemingly unrelated acts that turn out to compliment eachother. making connections is awesome.

still, as fascinating as it all was in class yesterday. it's a class, and i'm a little more than intimidated at the prospect of writing college essays. i'm not uptight really or even anxious but i'm definitely not in my comfort zone....and that's usually a good sign. it means i'm about to learn something new. learning to swim comes to mind.

if pain is weakness leaving the body than i can reasonably assume that the discomfort i'm feeling now is new knowledge trying to enter my brain, right? i'll keep this in mind during monday night math class.