Hershey's

Did you guys know that this website existed?

I want to eat everything on there.  It's great because I can tell it to give me recipes with cocoa in it which tends to avoid milk.  Yummy!  I'm a big fan of sugar.

Lack of blogs

Wanna know why I haven't posted since December 1st?

Go back and read my post on December 1st.

Then think about how my full-time job is in retail, and it's been holiday season.

I love my job, but this month, I hate my job.  I'm exhausted and sick of being sick from lack of sleep and too much stress.

So, what did I do today to relieve my stress?  Check out Jake's blog to find out!

Let me just say that it was FANTABULOUS.  And I still have $15.65 left for more!

News

Dun-duh-na-duh!  Dun-duh-na-duh! (Those are trumpets beckoning your attention.)

I have a full-time job.  Hoorah!

I just got offered the apparel lead at my job today, and it will eventually turn into softlines lead (or something like that- I didn't catch the actual title and we currently don't have anyone doing it, so I'm not familiar with the title).  My full-time job will come with benefits, starting in 90 days from Sunday, and will most likely (still has to be approved from corporate) come with a 10% pay increase.  I will still be hourly, but will be guaranteed at least 32 hours per week.

I don't even know how this whole benefits thing works since this is my first job that offers them.  I am stoked.  It's obviously not in my field of study, but at least it will help us out financially for a while!  I really do enjoy my job too, which is nice. :)  And I finally will get to enforce changes that I really think need to happen since ya know, a grand total of 3 people have to listen to me now.

Moving up in the world is what I'm doing.  Ha.

Oh yeah.  And I'm going to be taught about guns now, too.  Eek.

Zoo

Oh my goodness.  Jake just told me about this story he "stumbled" upon.  Oh my goodness.  Hilarious.  Fabulous.  Fascinating.  And more adjectives.

Busy beaver

I haven't blogged in a while.  I think it's because I've been so busy with work.  I'm getting a lot more hours at my retail job, and it's getting crazy.  I'm getting ready to go to work in just a couple of minutes.  After a couple of hours, I'm going to come home and change and then drive to meet with my client, then drive back, change, eat lunch, and go back to work until around 10pm (if I'm lucky).  Today is the last day of our store being open before Black Friday, so it all has to be ready to go.  I'm already pooped, as I've been up earlier than normal this week so far.  I'm hoping that tomorrow (Thanksgiving) is fairly relaxing, because Friday I work 4:30am-4pm (with only one planned 15 minute break for me to eat).  So, welcome to holidays when you work retail. :)

In other completely random news (only since I'm thinking about it right now), I have a wisdom tooth coming in.  I can feel that it poked through maybe about a week ago, and it's more out now than last week.  I'm hoping that it doesn't grow in crazily, because we don't exactly have any money to go to the dentist.  Here's a secret (and I hope you don't judge me for it): neither Jake nor I have been to the dentist since we got married.

I know that's a bad idea.  It's just that once we go, we're going to find out how many cavities we have that we can't pay to get filled, and I'm probably going to find out that I have to have this wisdom tooth removed or something, and we have no insurance to pay for it.  Bah.  I'm sick of insurance issues.

Well, I better get going to work now.  I've got my yummy oatmeal in my tummy, so it will for sure be a good day.  :)

Slip

Jake was just trying to convince me that we should go trick-or-treating tonight.  I told him that two adults with no kids, one of which is a big bald guy, might not go over well.

Jake responded by saying that he should put on a ski mask and carry a crow bar, tapping on the doors with it.  Then he would say "trick or treat" and "they would give us money...errr... candy."

Freudian slip?

Parenthood

I LOVE the show "Parenthood."  It's seriously fabulous.  I don't know what it is about it- I just feel like I can connect with the characters so well and it's just fun and the family's interactions are fabulous and funny.

If you haven't seen this show yet, please watch an episode.  At least give it a chance.  It airs on Tuesday nights on NBC.  I want this show sticking around for at least a few more seasons!

Trip down memory lane

Jake was just trying to decide between two things, and I seriously just heard him uttering this saying from our childhoods...

"Eeny meeney miney mo, catch a tiger by his toe, if he hollers make him pay, fifty dollars every day.  My mommy picked the very best one and you are not it... with a dirty, dirty dish rag on your big fat ugly toe."

Hilarious.

Thief

This morning Jake and I went to get donuts (big treat for me since they contain milk).  We found a great local place, ordered our donuts, and sat down to feast.  I tried both of my donuts, but then settled in to eat my double chocolate cake donut (my absolute favorite).  Jake had one cake donut and a cinnamon roll, and offered me a bite of his cinnamon role to try it.  I could tell I was getting full off of my one donut, so I told him no since I wanted my last few bites of donut to be from my chocolate wonderfulness.  I had also mentioned just prior to him offering that I was going to need to get a bag for my leftover donut.

After I finished, I was looking around at the donuts and taking in the place since it was the first time we had been there.  After a minute or two, I looked back onto the tray and....  (I can't even type this without laughing.)

... my donut was gone.

I looked at Jake, and he was licking his fingers.  I was SO mad at him at first and in complete shock that he would have the guts to eat my leftover donut without even asking.  Jake claims that he never heard me saying I was going to ask for a leftover bag, and that by me saying that I wanted my last bite to be the chocolate, that I was apparently offering him my leftover donut.  The look on his face was priceless, too.  He could tell I was pissed and didn't really know what to do.  Apparently he's not seen me that angry before.  After that, I started laughing hysterically and couldn't stop because it was SO funny.  Seriously, who does that?

So I ate one donut.  And had no leftovers.

And I'm STILL laughing.

5 days

So I woke up this morning feeling the need to run.  It's starting to drive me crazy.

Then I decided to look back at Joel's blog to see how many days after his marathon that he was feeling this way.

5 days.

It's been 5 days for me, too.

5 days must be the magic number.

I'm SO anxious to go run.  Maybe tomorrow morning I'll go for a short run?? :)

26.2

Welp, it's over!  I did it.  26.2 miles.  I felt good most of the way, too!  I'm just super pumped that I was able to follow the advice from the book that we were reading and that it was all really helpful.  I started out much slower than normal and it really paid off.  I even ran up the monster hill that I was dreading.  I was also chanting to myself, "Take that, Runkle!" the whole way up (Mr. Runkle was my cross-country coach in high school that told me I just wasn't built to be a runner).

I did have some stomach issues, but I think that had to do with trying new flavors of Gu that I wasn't used to.  I was told that there would be all flavors of Gu, but I didn't realize (duh me) that there wouldn't be every flavor available at each station.  I freaked out a little when I got to the first station and my options were orange (which I absolutely hate) and a kind I hadn't tried before.  Luckily I liked it, but the next Gu after that did NOT settle with me right.  I took a few trips to the bathroom and gave a few runners a sight as I hung my head off the side of the course for a bit.  One guy was really nice and offered a piece of gum to settle my stomach, but I'm not exactly a gum chewer.  When my stomach was ok, I passed them again and told them I would try not to puke in front of them again. :)  I also think the issue had to do with someone not diluting the gatorade correctly at a few of the stations.  It was disgusting- SUPER strong.  Many of us tried to dilute it with the water available but it was still gross.  Bummer.

Anyway, the whole thing was great for me.  I couldn't believe it.  I actually had fun the whole time, and certainly see myself doing more races in the future.  I don't think I want to spend the time training for another marathon, but the actuall race didn't bother me.  I'm just feeling like an old person now.

Jake finished a strong 21 miles and then was overcome with some pretty bad dehydration.  He wasn't able to finish the race, but I am SOOO proud of his 21 miles!  Nicely done, babe!

Long line of bathrooms before the race.

This is where I started sprinting.  AND passed a girl.  :)

The end.

Marathon morning

It's marathon day!  Jake and I couldn't exactly sleep late so we're up and drinking our gatorade and I'm drinking/eating my smoothie.  It's a lot of fluid to try to get down... bah.

So, I think this fact is quite amusing.  As of this morning, I have officially lost 50 pounds.  Not as of yesterday, not any other day, but on marathon day.  Funny stuff.  I had stopped losing weight but apparently if you try to eat less sugar, caffeine, and other bad stuff, you tend to lose weight.  Funny.  Jake also reminded me that I will lose a bunch in water weight today too, so I won't be at 50 pounds for much longer!

Ok, wish us luck!  Love you guys. :)

Nerves

Oh my gosh.  4 days until marathon.  I'm SO nervous just thinking about it.  Good thing I have a very busy day ahead of me so I don't have to think about it.

I skipped my last short run because I've been having pain in my heel that's gotten progressively worse for the past month.  I think at this point I'd rather hold out until marathon day and allow it to get worse then, not during a short run beforehand.  Sooo, that means that we walk 3 miles on Friday and then we're done and waiting.  Bah.

We got to go to the Rockies game last night (and we went on Saturday too)- sweet for free tickets.  I tried really hard, but I couldn't resist.  I got a beer at the game.  We happened to have cash on us and we never do, so it was much easier to spend the cash than it would be with a card (isn't it backwards for most other people?).  It was a good beer though, so definitely worth it.

Ok, but no more alcohol or caffeine until after the marathon.  I've been struggling with laying off the sugar too.  I made milk-free brownies yesterday because I couldn't hold off.  I'm going to try to be good now....

4 days.  AHHH.

Spiders

I just killed a spider in our apartment that was the size of a half-dollar (with a shoe; NOT just by squishing it with a kleenex!).  Oh my gosh, it was so disgusting.  I remember last year when we were having major problems with spiders that there was one that size toward the end of summer, and I immediately said "we're moving."  I was sure that I was NOT going through that again the following summer.

This summer has been much better because we learned to have the bug dude spray stuff outside of the windows and on our porch early in the season.  We haven't had to kill nearly as many spiders this year.

But this one was disgusting.  Just this one spider makes me want to think about moving again, but I need to be rational.  It was just SO gross.

Funnel-y-things

Last night we got to go to the Rockies game since some friends gave us some tickets (it was a great game!).  On the way back to the car, we ended up walking through "Oktoberfest" which basically is a big beer festival.  They were selling funnel cakes and Jake could smell/see them, and therefore was having a hard time and was commenting that he really wanted one (I guess he's only had a couple in his life because they are SO expensive but he really loves them).

We were with our friends and one of the kids decided he needed to use the porta potty, so we stood there to wait.  Jake noticed a woman holding a funnel cake and practically started drooling over it.  He looked over at me and said, "I wish she would just walk up to me and ask me if I want to finish it for her."  I laughed and told him it would never happen.  Jake has a tendency to see people not finish their funnel cake and gets mad because he totally wants to eat the rest.  So all of a sudden I look at this woman and I can tell that she's done.  She looks around, walks just past Jake and....

throws it in the dumpster.

BAHAHA.  I couldn't stop laughing.  Poor Jake.  I just need to let him buy one sometime.  He's been through too much torture.

;)

Day at home

Today we decided to stay home from church.  We were supposed to be running a marathon, so Jake was not scheduled to be "on duty," and we've been talking about staying home at some point soon.  Jake hasn't had a day off of duty from church since Easter (not including the weekend we were in Iowa), so we were anxious to get a day off to just relax.  Here's what we decided to do with our time.

-Slept in until 8:30!!
-Played with the wii a little bit
-Went to Champps to eat and watch the Cowboys game
(Jake was brilliant and got extra bacon for me while he was at the breakfast buffet so that I could put it on my hamburger so we didn't have to pay more for bacon. Seriously.  Brilliant.)
-Went to Sunflower for a couple of grocery items
-Dropped by the tropical fish store for fun
-Thought about how hot it was and how thankful we were not to be running a marathon
-Chilled on our computers
-Watched more football
-Played "Taboo" by ourselves
-I had a 2 hour conversation with Karine about wedding planning while Jake watched more football
-Ate pita pizzas (with chicken, hummus, pinto beans and veggies- yummy!)- well at least I did.  Jake was too full from his buffet. :)
-Studied Hebrew/wrote case notes (guess which one of those I did?)
-To bed before 10pm

Not too shabby of a day if you ask me. :)

Oh!

One more thing.  I just checked the weather forecast and it is supposed to be 90 degrees on Sunday.  The record high for that day is 93 degrees, and that was in 1980.  Divine intervention that we're not running our marathon on Sunday??

Let's hope that on October 3 the temp is much lower than that.  I'd like both of us to survive this marathon.

Up-to-date?!

Is it really possible?  Am I really up-to-date with all lingering household things?  I mean, I need to clean the apartment, but I'll do that over the weekend since we planned a stay-home day this Sunday (which I'm pretty excited about, but I think Jake is even MORE excited about).

I'm pretty sure the reason I am feeling so much more relaxed is because I officially stopped taking new clients, including transferring over a few clients I just started seeing (better to transfer them now before we get very far than to transfer them a month or so from now!).  I realize that financially it wasn't that smart of a decision, but I just can't handle that job anymore.  I had a mini panic attack the other day.  I have been missing Jake like crazy.  And I've been exhausted.  So I'm dropping back.  And it's nice.

And now I'm fairly up-to-date at home.  YES!

Now I can focus on preventing injuries in the next couple of weeks while we extend our marathon training.  Thank goodness that the date is finally set (Oct 3)!  I emailed Forrest, one of the authors of the book we're using for training, earlier this week and he gave us some tips for extending the training.  Unfortunately that means we're running 14 miles tomorrow.  Boo.  I'm ready to be done.  I'm struggling more with the emotional side of training though- anyone have any tips to stay focused?

Football predictions

On our way back from Iowa Jake and I decided to make football predictions for the season.  I just want you to know that I made my decisions before he made his.  Being that many of our picks are the same, you should just note that Jake must have decided to "follow" me with my big football knowledge. :)  So, here's what we decided.

AFC West
E- Chargers    
J- Chargers
AFC East
E- Jets            
J- Patriots
AFC South
E- Colts          
J- Colts
AFC North
E- Bengals    
J- Ravens
AFC Wild Card
E- Patriots & Steelers
J- Texans & Steelers

NFC West
E- Cardinals
J- 49ers
NFC South
E- Saints
J- Saints
NFC North
E- Packers
J- Packers
NFC East
E- Cowboys
J- Cowboys
NFC Wild Card
E- Vikings & 49ers
J- Falcons & Giants

Superbowl
E- Colts & 49ers
J- Colts & Packers

Superbowl Winner
E- Colts
J- Packers

Superbowl MVP
E- Peyton Manning
J- Aaron Rodgers

So here's how it's going to play out.  We will get points for various things we guess correctly, and winner will get to have a really great day of being queen/king.  Winner gets whatever they want, including having pillows fluffed or foot rubs or whatever.  In addition, winner gets $50 to spend in whatever way they want (part of it might be going out to dinner).  

I am SO going to win.

Feel free to comment on how much better shape I'm in than Jake. :)

Va-cay!

Here are some additional pictures from our trip that Jake hasn't posted already.  It was pretty fabulous!

My parents are weird.

With Paige and Brett

This was right after Joel saw some people coming to the door and remembered he had a gorilla costume in the closet.  I'm sure this is a normal occurrence for his son, Gabriel.  Hilarious.

New schedules

So our church hired a new administrative assistant, and apparently she's really great.  One thing I have already discovered that I love is that having her in the office has changed Jake's schedule a bit.  Instead of working 8-2p, he has been working 11-5.  I know he would much rather wake up at the buttcrack of dawn and be done early, having the rest of the day to relax, BUT....

I LOVE IT.  I SO love his new schedule.  I already see him more since I often work in the afternoons and evenings.  Plus we have time together during part of the "work day," so we can make phone calls and do whatever we need while we're together.  Much more effective.

Don't tell Jake though, cuz we haven't talked about it yet and I have no idea how he feels. :)

Faithfulness

I should be going to bed, but if I don't blog this now, I know I won't at all.

Today was really rough.  It was my first day seeing clients again and therefore, my first day driving by myself again.  I had a mini-panic when I approached the same intersection where I had my accident (not because of memories- because I have none- but because I a lady about ran into me.)  It's a pretty ridiculous intersection with lots of things happening, so after talking to Jake and remembering the guy at the impound saying there are tons of accidents there, I have decided that I am going to avoid it.  Anyway, I was just having a hard time because my brain was overworked during sessions and driving.  I seem to start out the day feeling pretty good but then around about lunchtime I start to get a headache that gets worse if I don't take a nap or at least have a lights-out-sounds-off-lay-in-bed-time-out.

So today I was having a mini-meltdown because things are harder than they used to be and because my job is already pretty stressful.  There's no time for me to take a break because their time-sensitive high-risk lives don't just go on hold for me.

Then tonight I got the mail.  I had my first paycheck for seeing clients.  Finally!  It's like 4 weeks behind because either medicaid or the department of human services has to pay my company first and then they can pay me.  That was such a relief.  Then I opened another piece of mail which told me that my federal consolidation loans have gone through (so no more talking to 5 different loan companies and filling out 5 different forms!!!).  There was also a page that had a table on it and another page that explained the table which basically said:

"Congratulations.  You are so poor that we think you shouldn't have to pay any money on student loans right now."

I REALLY like that.

So the end of my challenging day was pretty nice, and I am thankful for that.  God continues to be faithful, even when I'm not so sure what the heck he is doing.  I'll try to remember that when all the medical bills come from the accident and pray that our car insurance agrees to pay them. :)

Let's hope tomorrow has a happy ending because my brain is going to be swamped!

Update

I haven't blogged in a while.  I mean really, it's been a long time- almost a full month!  I probably shouldn't be blogging right now (I'm supposed to be giving my brain as much rest as possible because of the concussion), so I'll keep it short with a few pictures.  But first, I just want you to know that I still would appreciate prayers... it's been 5 days since the accident and I still feel way "off."  I'm a bit uncomfortable with the fact that I freaked a bit when I realized I only had like 7 percocet left.  I'm trying really had not to need them today.  I've gone to the chiropractor 4 times now since the accident, so I know that helps.  I could tell this morning's adjustment went way better than yesterday.  Anyway, just prayers for quick(ER!) healing so that I can get back to my job (I keep pushing my sessions with clients back), and also prayers for us as we try to find a car that will last us at least 5 years and not be terribly pricy.

Here are some random pictures I just uploaded and realized I really liked.

Yeah for cool fireworks pictures.

At the Colorado Rapids game on the 4th of July.  You can read about our trip in the rain on Jake's post.

Not the best picture of us here, but it was the only picture of the two of us together on our anniversary date.

This picture makes me laugh.

I finally saw Heather after 3 years!  We met her in Fort Collins on Saturday and I was desperately trying to hide the scratches and bruises on my arms.  I still had some on my face though.  Bah.

3.

3 years today.  I like that the little counter thingy at the top of my blog is so simple today.  We have been married for 3 years.  No extra months, weeks, or days.  Simply 3.  Nice.

These past three years have been the most exciting and challenging years of my life.  I'm so glad that I've had Jake by my side!  If I had more time, I'd probably write more about how wonderful my husband is.  (He is pretty wonderful.)  Unfortunately, I have to head to work now.

However, I am working a shorter shift today because... we are staying at a nice hotel in Denver!  I'm super pumped.  We also went to a Rockies-Cardinals game last week as part of our anniversary, and also signed up for a wine tasting event (we have to schedule it).  Our anniversary fund is not going to be able to cover dinner this evening, but we'll just use that toward our monthly budget for eating out (it'll probably cover the whole budget, but it'll be worth it!).  I totally love that we spend our anniversary doing things together instead of buying things for each other.  I am so much more a quality time kind of person than gifts.

Anyway, Jake, I love you super much.  I'm excited to splurge a bit tonight. :)

Monday thoughts.

I want to write the unwritten rules of running/biking on a trail.  I'm pretty sure that there are quite a few people on our trail that could learn from them.  Today's annoyance was a guy who has three spaniels who has a weird leash he puts around his waist so that they can run with him.  Three dogs and a runner take up a ton of room on the trail.  He was running faster than me but he stops sometimes with the dogs.  So, I passed him at one point, and then he was right behind me for a mile.  It was oober annoying.  Then he passed me, but while there was another walker on the trail going the same direction as us, and another walker from the opposite direction.  At least he had them on a leash though.  There are many people who don't leave their dogs on leashes, and there IS a written rule about that.  I'd rather not worry about whether their dog is going to freak out at me when I pass.

Turns out that McDonald's actually still smells good right after finishing a run.  Kinda weirds me out.  It should smell disgusting, but nope.  I really wanted a sausage mcmuffin.

Per Pam's suggestion, I made banana muffins last night.  The recipe is from the milk-free cookbook my mom sent me (still really excited about it!) and they taste very yummy.  Seriously.  Super moist- I think I'm getting good at baking at altitude.  I bet if we ever move away from a high-altitude area, I'm not going to know how to bake anymore.

I have also passed the 40-lb weight loss mark.  I have lost 41 pounds so far.  Despite how I sounded in my last post, I am still excited.  Jake and I were chatting about it earlier, and he mentioned that I've lost 4 average sized bowling balls off of my body.  That's really intriguing and disgusting at the same time.

And Leah, I did try your and Alisa's suggestion with the running shorts.  (sorry for the inside info to everyone else.)  I'm thinking I'm actually not a fan.  Worth a try though!

Haircut!

I got my hair cut last night, and I'm super excited.  I've been wanting to cut it much shorter again for a while.  It just gets so obnoxious while running when it's long; plus it gets pretty heavy.

Anyway, we were planning to go to "manna" last night (where we get free groceries and I get my hair cut), but we hadn't been in a while.  We were talking on the way over realizing that there was a possibility that they might be closed tonight without us knowing since we hadn't been there in a while.  We got there and it definitely was closed.  Boo.  We made a whole trip there and it wasn't open.  I still wanted to get my hair cut, though, so we drove around and looked for a salon.  We found a place that seemed fairly cheap (I've only paid for a haircut once since we got married prior to last night!), and decided to go for it.

When we were leaving, Jake said "You should have become a hair stylist."  I asked why, and he said "You just sit around and talk to people all day.  You'd be really good at that."

He must have forgotten that I just got my degree in counseling, where I DO sit around and talk to people all day.  And I don't have to learn how to do hair.  What a weirdo.

But I still love him for the sentiment. :)

It's hard to believe...

1. that just a week ago I thought my flowers were going to die.  I think they might be on round #2 of dying and re-blooming, but I'm still excited I have some petunias.  Hurrah!

2. that these bananas have gone from "too green" to "too many spots" without passing through an in between stage.  Seriously; look at them!  They skipped my eating stage!

3. that my husband can be rented out for only $5 each half hour and $12 max.  I tend to think he's worth more than $12.

4. that I really had to say goodbye to the Durkin family.  They're headed back to NJ now that Chris is done with school and has officially been offered and accepted a head pastor job.  I'm going to miss them and their beautiful children!  Abigail is such an awesome snuggle buddy and Ethan's constant turbo-speed is super fun to be around.

5. that I have halved my jeans size since beginning to lose weight.  I have lost 38 pounds to date, and apparently my body is still going.  I'd like it to stop though because yesterday I did another clothes update and realized that I no longer have dress pants that are my size- I didn't save anything smaller than that size.  I don't want to sound obnoxious, but I'm not really sure what I need to do to stop losing weight when I'm training for a marathon.  At least it's slowed down some.  I just can't afford new clothes!

6. that we are over 25% done with our official training program and 68% done with everything (pre-training included).  That's more than 2/3 done in total.  Jeesh!

7. that Sarah Loan and Sarah Soldner are so weird.  Ok, it's not hard to believe.  There will probably be more pictures of our visit with the Sarahs at some point and in some form.

The end.

Batting practice

It's really too bad for any horsefly that makes it into our apartment.  Jake and I have a habit of torturing them.  How you say?

We find a way to get them into our bedroom (smaller room) and shut all the other doors in there.  Then we take turns running around taking swings at it.  It's pretty funny to watch it get more and more "drunk" in behavior the more we make contact.

It's fair to say we love this game.  In fact, I emailed Jake earlier today to tell him that there was a horsefly in our apartment waiting for a Jake-and-Elizabeth rendezvous.

Yes, I am the same lady that talked about how it's great to have organizations that work toward the fair treatment of animals.

I just like torturing flies.  It's good for hand-eye coordination.

Bring it.

So I was just sitting on the couch with my planner and another book strewn across my lap.  Jake looked at me, laughed, and said "You've got your security blanket."

So I like my planner.  A lot.  And I look at it.  A lot.  I can look at it for a long time and it makes me feel better as I organize and plan in my head.

So maybe it is a security blanket to me.  :-}

Birthday Shout-Out 'N Stuff

My brother had a birthday last week.  He's pretty great.  He's got the sweetest heart and he's super funny.  Jake and I always have a blast when he's around and continue to laugh about things he's said when we're apart.  Sure, we have our arguments and we certainly don't agree on everything, but who does?  I'm so happy to have him as my big brother and I miss him like crazy.  Love you, Clay!

Randomness: My petunias are blooming like crazy again.  I'm really excited because I thought I killed them.  Not yet at least!  Phew.

I think I officially have an injury.  It sucks.  I'm limping around a lot and I think I am going to skip today's run, which was supposed to be 5 miles.  I don't like the idea of skipping, but I suppose if it makes me heal faster so that I can actually run later this week then that's good.  Saturday's run was absolutely horrible (long saga story there) and yesterday was pretty awful too since I was in pain and basically gimping all over the place.  Anyway, I hope it gets better quickly because I don't want to lose too much momentum mentally.  I really wish I could just skip working this week because being on my feet for 8 hours at a time doesn't exactly help (by the way, I work in apparel now instead of cashier... moving up in the world!).  I did change my availability though primarily so that I could have the weekends free for my counseling job, but it will also help for the long runs.

I'm really excited that we're going to a Rockies game tonight.  They're playing the Red Sox, which is a team I absolutely despise.  So it should be great fun- except that Jimenez is not expected to pitch tonight, so we can't exactly count on a win for the Rockies.  Cross our fingers!

Google guessing games

So, Jake just showed me a way to entertain myself.

Go to google and start typing a phrase and let it guess what you are going to type.  Here are some of my results of my search.

"When will..."
-the world end. (as if google knows the answer)
-I die quiz. (since there is a quiz out there that could accurately predict my death)

"Who should..."
-say I love you first. (Um, me.  I held his hand first even when he nervously declined my invitation.)
-I follow on twitter. (A reputable source to ask about these things)

"Why does..."
-my belly button smell. (Ew)
-my poop float. (Dude, not all of them are going to be sinkers.)

I realize that google tries to make guesses based on things you have searched for previously.  However, I can personally guarantee you that I have not ever typed those things into google.  There were also a ton of guesses that were related to pregnancy.  I guess there are a lot of people out there who have pregnancy questions they'd rather not ask their doctor.  That's a bit amusing to me.

Anyway, it's fun.  You should play too.

Adventures in the Rohde household

Jake: "I just farted and it's probably going to smell like sausage pizza."

Gross.  It did, too.

He only knew cuz he farted earlier with the same results.

Still disgusting, though.

PETA

So, I didn't get the job.  I was pretty upset about it since I had decided I wanted it pretty badly.  After quite a few tears, Jake and I decided to do a little food-comforting.  Where do I go when I want some food comfort?

Chicken nuggets.  From McDonald's.  Mmmmm.  I know a lot of people probably think they're gross, but I have a huge love for their chicken nuggets.  I don't really know why.  Speaking of McDonald's and chicken, did anyone outside Denver hear about what PETA was trying to do here?  They wanted to put a statue of the below image outside of McDonald's on the 16th street pedestrian mall (they didn't succeed).  The picture I found is actually KFC, since apparently they have a problem with how KFC treats chickens too, but this was the clearest picture I could find.

I just have to say that I am not a fan of PETA.  I think it's great that they want to make sure animals are treated well, but most of the time they do really stupid stuff.  Here's another example.

Last fall PETA found out that there was a Swiss restaraunt who was going to substitute human breast milk for 75% of cow's milk.  PETA apparently liked that idea, so they followed up by saying:

"The fact that human adults consume huge quantities of dairy products made from milk that was meant for a baby cow just doesn't make sense," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Everyone knows that 'the breast is best,' so Ben & Jerry's could do consumers and cows a big favor by making the switch to breast milk."

Wow.  Unless we've heard incorrectly, I'm pretty sure there is not a shortage of baby cows getting milk.  Jake also pointed out that by taking nursing mother's milk (and using the same logic as PETA), you are then creating a shortage of milk for human babies.  Good call on that one.  

Again, I really applaud the idea that we should care how animals are treated.  I just don't understand where PETA gets some of their completely erratic ideas.

The end of my ranting for the day.

Now I'm going to go run 6 miles.  Well, soon we will; it's raining outside and is like 52 degrees.  That's cold weather for running.  At least for me. :)

Mixed bag

I still really like the weather in Colorado.  Even when it's hot outside, it's not really that hot!  It's pretty fab-o!

Boo for clothes needing to be hand washed.  I just bought a couple things that apparently need to be hand-washed, and I didn't realize it until after I had purchased them and worn them.  I still would have bought them, but hand washing things is sad.

So boo to that.

I'm anxiously awaiting a phone call about a full-time job.  Not very patiently I might add.

We called to have someone come check on our dishwasher.  As soon as the dude came in, he was like "Man, what are you guys cooking?  I can smell it all the way outside and it smells the bomb!"  Too bad it wasn't ready to eat cuz we would have given him some.  I'm very excited to eat our chicken soup tonight.  It really does smell the bomb!

TMI

... so if you can't handle gross stuff, don't read this.

I think one of the worst feelings in the world is needing to go #2 while running.  I mean seriously; it's AWFUL.  I felt that way for the last 2 miles of my run, but the last 1/2 mile was by far the worst.  I just kept counting down the time till I was done running to encourage myself to make it through the discomfort.

My sunburn is still obnoxious.  My left thigh got burnt pretty badly and it started to blister- it's been peeling sporadically and actually feels really uncomfortable while running.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to remember to put sunscreen on my legs next time I'm outside for an extended period of time.

Yep, TMI.  But I had to say it.  Sorry.

Rafting

I indicated that there would be a rafting trip report... so here it is!

It was fantastic!  We had a great time.  Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures from the actual rafting portion of the day because you have to buy a CD of pictures from the photographer and it was REALLY expensive.  Too bad you can't buy one picture- there just weren't that many stellar photos that stood out.  We did have a great time though and the wetsuit really made the cold water tolerable.  We certainly looked goofy, but we had fun.

We did go to lunch at the on-site restaurant after we went rafting.  Here is my aunt Jean, cousin Shannon, and my cousin Corey's half-sister, Gentry.

And the other side of the table.  Here's my uncle Bryan and cousin Tommy (who apparently doesn't like pictures... or maybe was just hungry- I'm not sure).

After lunch we headed back to their campsite and went swimming for a while (where I proceeded to get extremely sunburnt on my legs because I was a doof and forgot to put sunscreen there).  To get out of  the sun for a while, we headed back to their RV and hung out for a bit (in case any of you readers don't know, my uncle is part-owner of an RV business- so this one is just one of many that he simply "borrows"). :)

We had some yummy sloppy joe's for dinner and shortly thereafter Jake and I made the trek back home.  But not before we got a few goodbye pictures, of course.

By the way, it still weirds me out how much older my cousins are.  I vaguely remember throwing them around all the time a few years ago.  Weird!  Anyway, it was a great trip and we had a fantastic time.  Now if only my legs would recover from this darn sunburn.  Oh well; it was my fault.

Early

I'm real tired.  Why am I blogging at 4:30am then you ask?

Cuz I accidentally changed our alarm clock time forward one hour when I was setting it last night.  I was pretty tired.  So instead of waking up at 4:45 which was already ridiculous, we woke up at 3:45, even though the clock said it was 4:45.  Jake realized what time it was AFTER I got out of the shower.  Whoops.  It was probably a good thing though cuz we might not have had enough time to finish getting ready to go without being super rushed, since today, we are going...........

Rafting!  My aunt and uncle and a few of my cousins are out here for vacation so they invited us to go rafting with them for the day.  It's a half-day trip which starts at 9am (need to be there 45 min early), and it should take us about a couple hours to get there.  Hence why we're up early.

Pray that I don't die today.  Assuming I don't, I'll try to update you about my experience when we get back!

Snakes and flowers- a lovely combination

Today I saw some kind of bullsnake on my run.  Kinda freaked me out, but it also intrigued me.  Ok, so it was pretty cool- mostly because it didn't try to attack me.  I think it looked something like this:

I didn't see its head though so I'm not totally sure.

In other news, my parents bought me a pot of flowers for graduation.  They've been on my porch, and I'm worried that they aren't going to make it.  It's my first plant I've had to take care of, so I hope I don't blow it.  I know it could just be that they get more sun than that type of flower can handle, but we'll just have to see.  They got a good dosage of miracle grow today so I hope it helps.

Bummer

I just started applying for a federal loan consolidation online.  Today was not a good idea to do it.  Why?

Because I have questions.  Actually, I have one specific question that I need answered.  All the people that I would call to have this question answered are not at work today because it's Memorial Day.  I can't move on with the application until I get this question answered.

Sadly, I work tomorrow from 9-5.  Everyone that I need to talk to will be at work at the exact same time.  Fabulous.

So, it looks like I will be working on this on Wednesday.  I'm not going to do well with that because that means postponing something super important for 2 more days.  But, I will work on letting it go... It may mean that we have to pay 5 different loan companies this next month, but I'm letting it go...

Ah.... much better.

Preliminary = Complete

It's totally official! (Can you tell I like official things?)  We have now completed our preliminary training program, which means that we have been training for 22 weeks so far.  I now feel pretty good running for 30 minutes straight.  Today I also was reminded how much I sweat when it's hot outside.  It's pretty gross.  I think I need to buy more running shorts.

On Monday of next week we officially start running for mileage instead of time.  We start by running 3 miles, then 4, then 3, and then 5 on Saturday.  Phew.  I've only run 5 miles once in my life.  One week from today that will change to twice.  Hurray!  I'm not too concerned about 3 or 4 miles since I run somewhere in between there for my 30 minute runs.  But 5...  I'm nervous and excited at the same time.

I just heard that the Phillies were apparently in a really long scoreless drought.  They went 31 innings without scoring.  That's embarrassing.   Seriously.

I just realized that I wanted to be showered and ready to go right now.  Maybe the internet is a bit more of a distraction than I thought.

Life with internet

Ok, I just decided that I'm going to start a list of the things that I have done since getting internet.

1. Read my email MUCH more thoroughly than I usually do.
2. Responded to emails in a much more laid back fashion than my normal "sorry-I'm-so-to-the-point-right-now-but-I-only-have-about-30-more-seconds-on-the-internet" fashion.
3. Checked our finances.  So far we're doing ok this month.  Congrats to us.
4. Spent time on facebook.  Oh facebook, it's been so long.
5. Found out that the Cardinals are no longer leading the NL Central division.  Totally been out of the loop on that.  Also found out that the Rockies are only 1.5 games back from first in their division.  Very cool.
6. Speaking of the Rockies, I also found out that Troy Tulowizki, an outfielder for the Rockies, is going to be growing a mullet as long as fans keep donating money to the Children's Hospital and Colorado Special Olympics.  I think I would pay for him NOT to do that.
7. Caught up on reading people's blogs.  I have some great blogging buddies.
8. Watched 2 episodes of Glee.  We're now only 1 episode behind.
9. Ate Pizza Hut Pizza.  (That was what we did to celebrate.  I know, I'm allergic to milk.  But I've been craving it for EVER and it seemed like a good time to splurge.  Too bad that I ate the amount of calories for dinner that I probably should have only eaten in one day.  Oh well!  I'm also going to continue to regret it for the next 2 weeks while my body recovers, but it was well worth it.)  (That was kind of an impressively long paragraph inside the parenthesis.)
10. I have been really thirsty, so I just went to get a glass of water.  I finished drinking it before I even set it down back by my computer.  That wasn't so much related to the internet as it was interesting to me.  Now I need more water, so I conclude my post.

Fascinating

Fascinating.  I have internet in my apartment.  FAST internet.  Fabulous.

So now I have time to write, but I'm not really sure what to write.  I'm so used to being as quick as possible with the necessary things on the internet that I have to teach myself again what it's like to just lounge around on the internet.   I even enjoy the fact that as I type, the text actually stays up with me because it's not lagging behind due to a slow connection.  I keep trying to type faster to see if it can handle it, but it has no trouble whatsoever.  Incredible.

I had my interview yesterday.  It went really well.  I'm just confused now because it's actually a full-time job when it was posted as a part-time job.  That poses a problem for me because I have a part-time contract job that's just getting going.  I don't know whether I'll get offered the job or not, but I've been praying about it quite a bit.  We'll see what happens.

Interview

I have an interview on Wednesday morning.  I'm kind of excited and hopeful for it because as much as I love retail, I'd really like to be done and have two counseling jobs instead.

Ok, that's all I have time for now.  But on Thursday night, you better believe I'm going to be on my computer as much as possible because by 5pm on Thursday, we will have INTERNET IN OUR APARTMENT!

Yahoo.

29 hours of goodness.

Here's an outline of the super duper short trip my family made to come out for my graduation.  Most of it involved food.  Fabulous food.

It began on Friday night when my family arrived and we hopped right into the car to drive to dinner with my wonderful friend, Lisa, and her family.  It was Friday night traffic in the Denver Tech Center, which, if you don't know, is pretty awful.  It took a while to get places.  Anyway, this first picture is with Lisa and her brother Ben, who I was really excited to finally meet.  We ate at Claim Jumper and it was REAL yummy!  I pretended that I wasn't allergic to milk and ate whatever the heck I wanted.  I LOVED the cheesebread.  Yum.

After dinner we headed back to the apartment and played mariokart on the wii for a while.  Clay kicked my butt, as expected.  On Saturday, I had graduation ceremony in the morning.  They gave me a "diploma," which as you will see doesn't have a name on it or anything.  I had to give it back anyway because I technically already received a diploma in December.  It was also kind of a bummer that the only thing I got to keep, my tassel, says "2010" on it, when I graduated in 2009.  

And here's me with my favorite brother in the whole world.  I wish he could've stayed with us for a few days extra.  He's a funny guy.

Pastor Steve, his wife Darlene, and their grandson found me after the ceremony.  It was super sweet because Pastor Steve just finished a 30-day silent retreat by himself, and it was nice that he still knew how to talk.  He is technically on sabbatical for the next few months and he and Darlene were heading off to Israel that evening.

And here's me with one of my most favorite women in the world: Sharon!  She's the administrative coordinator in the counseling department (used to be my boss), an amazing woman and amazing friend.  She told me after she got a picture with me that she came to graduation just for me, which still brings a huge smile to my face.  What a lovely lady and a blessing to me!

After all the festivities, we headed to hotel to pick up cars and ended up with a picture of me by a tree.  Whoot.  It turned out to be a nice day weather-wise!

We took a family picture as we got back to my apartment.  I know at least I was starving because we were ready to head to my favorite Chinese restaurant.  I wish I had pictures to share from that experience, but my stomach was very thankful.  I'm pretty sure I mostly ate eggrolls and saved my meal for later. :)

After lunch, my family headed back to the hotel for a siesta while Jake and I went to a graduation party for a friend.  After the party: ROCKIES GAME!  We were so thankful that the weather cooperated and we got to go.  My dad was real smart and nice and got us seats that sat right under an overhang so that we'd be ok if it rained.  Smart cookie is what my dad is.  Mmmm....cookies.... I want one.  Oh!  And we also went to our favorite vendor just outside the stadium.  You can get 2 hot dogs, chips, and a 24 oz drink for $5 and can bring it into the stadium.  Fabulous.

So that was the real short weekend, but it was oober fun.  As my friend Lisa has said, "I'm so sad it's over."  (She was referring to her Krispy Creme donut, however.)  Now I need to drive home from church so that I can eat lunch.  I'm starving.  All this talk of good food.... LEFTOVERS!!!  Yum.

Two

As of Saturday, I had never dropped an egg on the floor...

(I bet you can see where this is going...)

Since then, I've dropped two.

TWO eggs.

On two separate occasions.

I just need to say that cleaning raw egg off the floor has got to be one of the most disgusting things ever.

I'm not really sure what my problem is, but I sure hope that 2 is my maximum.

Ugh.

Just a side-note though... it really does sound pretty cool when it hits the ground and cracks.

"Let's make like a bread truck and haul buns."

Another weight loss update... I have lost 31 pounds in the past 15 weeks!  Hoo-rah.  I'm getting much closer to my goal weight now which is super nice- except I don't exactly know what my goal weight is so we'll just see how much more my body decides it wants to lose.  I'm really having a problem now though because I don't have many pairs of pants that fit.  My khakis that I wear to work are super too big (for real) and I have to wear a walkie on them which pulls them down that much more.  Thank goodness for belts!  If anyone has any ideas of places I could buy some cheap khakis though, that would be nice.  I'm in between sizes right now so I know they won't last much longer before I need new ones again, but the ones I'm wearing now really look bad.  I've already looked at Kohls, Target, WalMart, Levi outlet, and I will be looking at Marshalls this afternoon.  Any other ideas?

Random comment: the person who we thought moved apparently decided to come back, because the internet is back.  It's bought us some time, but we'll still need to purchase internet soon.  I'm just thankful for the days we do get our flightly internet.

I'm really pumped that Joel, Pam, and her parents were able to finish the marathon this past weekend!  I'm really excited for them and their "cheesy" medals (marathon was in Wisconsin), and I hope that Jake and I get medals in about 4.5 months.  After we complete next week, we will be halfway through marathon training.  Whoot!

I'm watching A League of Their Own on tv right now (my favorite movie ever), which is where my blog title came from.  This movie seriously gets even more fabulous every time I watch it.

Thanks and other stuff

You may have noticed that is has been a while since I last blogged and therefore thanked all of you for your breakfast ideas.  Thanks a lot- I really appreciate it!

It's been a while because we don't have working internet.  We've been mooching and it has generally been terrible in the past year and a half we've mooched, but it has done the job.  I think the person we have been mooching off of moved.

So now we need internet.  Fast.  In fact, I'm typing super fast because I had about 15 minutes to be on the internet today which is the most I have had in the past couple of days.  I drove to church a few days ago to use their internet, but it's just so annoying.  So pray that we find some internet that we can actually afford (which, at this time, we can't afford anything, even if they pay us to use it) and that we don't have to buy additional services like phone, tv, blah blah to be able to get it.

Thanks!  Now I have to go because I have to go eat and go to work.  I also need to find out more about what's going on with my parents' house that apparently had smoke on the roof and the fire department knocked down their door to check the house.  It's ok, but I think they are speculating that someone who was on the roof (my parents are getting a new roof) at that time might have been smoking and started the smoke which then led to a lovely "sunroof" that I'm sure they didn't want.  That's all the details I have right now.  So pray for that too.

And hey, pray for anything else that you forgot to pray about until now.  Prayer is good.  The end.

I need you!

K, here's the thing friends.  I seriously need your breakfast ideas.  I really appreciate Emily who gave me ideas, and my mom (via email), but I need more.  For real.  I hate to be a bother, but I was really hoping that I'd get at least 4 people living in different households to comment.

So for real.  I need you.  Please just take a minute, look over my requirements for breakfast ideas, and throw me the ones that you eat that should qualify- even if they're things that you've only eaten once before.

Thanks!!!

What to eat?

When I was younger I used to eat leftovers for breakfast.  Since getting married, I think I've retrained my brain of the things that are acceptable to eat for breakfast, and I can no longer tolerate eating leftovers (probably a good thing). :)  After we bought the Biggest Loser cookbook, I got quite a few more ideas of things I could eat for breakfast and was really enjoying breakfast.

Then I found out that I am allergic to peanuts and milk.  Just think about all the things that are breakfast foods that include peanuts and milk.  Peanut butter on toast, cereal, yogurt, cream cheese, the list goes on and on.  I can't have any of that now.

So here's where I need your help.  I don't have much variety for breakfast, and I know that's not good for me (besides the fact that I'm getting sick of eating the same things!).  I'm really curious what kinds of things you all eat for breakfast to see if I can get more breakfast ideas.  I need to keep the calories up (trying to keep my breakfast close to the same amount of calories for lunch/dinner), so I don't do well with just a piece of fruit (but it obviously can be combined with something else).  I'm purposefully not telling you what I typically eat so that your ideas are not influenced.

So... what do you eat?  Ideas?

More Stories... Mostly Embarrassing Ones.

I thought of a few more stories from work that I wanted to share.

A couple of days ago I noticed a bag with some clothes sitting on the counter and asked a co-worker "do you know what this crap is doing here?" right as the guy whose stuff it was walked up to the counter.  Whoops.  I'm not sure if he heard me, but he didn't appear offended at all.  Thank goodness.  I was fairly embarrassed.

On Friday nights there are always a group of kids (not the same ones every time) nicknamed "the theatre kids" who come into the store.  They received their nickname because their parents drop them off by the movie theatre nearby, but instead of going to the theatre they come over to our store and disrupt and destroy things.  I think they are usually in the store for about 10 minutes before getting kicked out.  They're generally extremely loud, because apparently pre-teens have a lot of drama to stand around in random places in our store and talk about.  They often play basketball or climb into the tents (most obviously to make out) or simply pick up assorted balls and leave them around the store.  Annoying.  Good thing we have walkies and can alert all other employees that the "theatre kids" are in the store and keep tabs on them.

As cashier, one of my jobs is to try to get customers to buy a protection plan on various items, most commonly on shoes.  It's actually a really good deal if you frequently wear out your shoes.  Basically it will cover the shoes for one year and covers generally wear and tear things like sole separation, rips, tears, fabric discoloration, broken eyelet, etc.  So when one of these things happens to a shoe, a person who bought the protection plan can return the shoe and get a check for the exact same amount of the shoes plus tax to use like cash in the store (usually used toward a new pair of shoes).  I purchased one of the running shoes I just bought because they'll obviously wear out in a few months and then I get a new pair of shoes for like $9 at the end of the marathon.    Anyway... so when I ring up the items and click "total," if there is anything that the customer purchased that has a protection plan, it will pop up on the screen and tell me how much it is and how long the plan lasts.  It's pretty hard to tell which item the protection plan covers because it doesn't give many details.  One guy I rang up had the protection plan pop up, and I assumed it was for the shoes he was purchasing.  The plan was real cheap, so he decided he purchase it.

Then later he came back in and said he realized that the protection plan was for the sleeping bag he purchased (it'll cover zippers, rips, etc), and not the shoes.  I noticed my name on his receipt as the person who made the mistake, and I was super embarrassed.  So then I tried to return the plan and the shoes so that I could change the protection plan to the shoes,  but it wasn't popping up on the screen.  I finally figured out that it was because the shoes he purchased were youth shoes, which do not have protection plans (obviously kids will outgrow the shoes first).  I apologized to the customer, explained what happened, and then proceeded to be super embarrassed.  I'm so glad that he caught it though before 30 days had passed, because then he could have been stuck with a protection plan on the wrong item.

One more embarrassing moment (gosh I just realized that about all of my stories were embarrassing for me!).  We have a new store manager, and while she was still fairly new, someone called and asked to speak with Kelsie.  I hesitated, and then told him that we didn't have anyone that worked in our store with that name.  The person then informed me that it was our store manager.  Oh. My. Gosh.  Probably should have learned her name a bit quicker.

Ok, there's my stories for the day!  I really do feel educated there most of the time.  In fact, when I found out that the newest cashier is in high school while I have my MA, I felt VERY educated.  And overqualified.  But I still LOVE being a cashier.  As Jake says, I'm totally in my element there.

Stories

I'm trying really hard to be optimistic.  I feel like I've been crabby for the past couple of weeks.  I know that this schedule is really just wearing on me since I go half of the week only seeing Jake for 3-4 hrs a day if I'm lucky.  The rest of the week I'm home alone in need of social interaction.  I've done what I can to be proactive about being around people, but it's still hard when most people work during the day.  This extrovert is simply in need of people!  So anyway, I'm trying really hard not to keep whining, because I know it's certainly not helping anything.  I'm also trying really hard to keep my blog more positive, because I know that reading someone who is constantly crabby is pretty annoying too.  Just know that I'm working on it!

Here are a few stories from work that have been interesting.

-Denzel Washington came into our store.  For real.  Except he's in high school, and isn't actually the actor.  But it was still fun.

-A kid puked in the store within the past couple of weeks.  It was disgusting.

-We had a couple of (probably 10 year old) kids steal some glow-sticks, but they most definitely got caught.  It was fascinating.

-On the above note, people steal WAY more often that I realized before.

-The power in our store went out yesterday for around 5-10 minutes.  There is a 24hour Fitness near us that was working on some things and it lost power for most of the stores on that strip.  We had to try to continue business in the dark, but I couldn't ring people up for a while since the computers rebooted and it took forever for it to reload.  It was weird for a bit.

Fun stuff.