Life

Sometimes, even in the very bleakest, coldest, windiest days of winter, something unexpected will happen that brings a smile to one's face. Sometimes it can be the littlest, most mundane thing and it will make your whole day.

On Wednesday I was shopping at PCC and remembered that I needed flax oil. The PCC flax oil was $27 for 24 oz, this is normal, but I remembered that Madison Market had the little bottles on sale this month. So I decided that I would hold off and make it to Madison Market by 2/1,

So today, after and alternately very stressful and monotonously tedious week of work, I decided to celebrate the start to my weekend with a trip by Madison Market for flax oil. Imagine my excitement to find out that Madison Market not only had the 16oz flax oil on sale, but they had put the 24 oz on sale as well - for $7 off list price! And, not only that, but there was a coupon, so I bought two and GOT AN ADDITIONAL $5 OFF. If you're not keeping track, that is $17.50 be bottle or $9.50 off. You can't buy flax oil at that price these days.

Lordy lordy lordy. I was singing the whole way home and scarcely noticed the freezing cold, huge amounts of traffic honking at me, and the gale force winds.

I wonder how long this blissness will last?

Running through the winter

It's been pretty cold here. I ride my bike to work and every morning I have to psyche myself up, not so much because my body will be cold, but because my hands get so cold on my ride to work. But, convincing myself to ride to work isn't that hard. The other options, driving and paying $15 to park or paying $4 per day to ride the bus with a bunch of crazy, sick or crazy and sick people doesn't really feel like much of an option. Running is different, running is optional. So running when it's crazy cold outside can be a hard sell.

The past couple Thursdays I have been going down to the track and doing speed work. Here's what happens. I ride my bike home in the cold. Walk the dog in the cold. Then somehow I have to convince myself that it is a good idea to go back out in the cold and down to a dark, lonely track right on Rainier Ave. to do a painful work out. I'm not actually sure how I get myself out of the house. There is usually a lot of talk about how the actual pain will only be about 15 minutes long. Or how in 50 minutes I'll be home and done and so glad I did the workout. And someday, when I actually pass the level II crossfit criteria (more on that in another blog but it involves some fastish running) I'll be so happy.

Then there is the trail run on the weekend, today's challenge. I have been running with my friend Michelle and that makes getting out of the house much easier. Two weekends ago, we headed off and got to run for 1.5 hours in the pouring rain. Last weekend, I was all geared up for freezing weather, then as we drove out there it got warmer and warmer. I guess there was some convergence zone and it was extra warm in the mountains. So our run was 50 degrees and sunny. It rocked.

This weekend I was not so lucky. Michelle is off skiiing, so it was just me convincing myself to run. It was about 31 degrees when I woke up and there was nothing appealing about getting out and running for at least 1.5 hours. I watched an episode of Homocide and drank some tea. Watched another episode and decided I needed pancakes. Then I convinced myself it would be warmer in the afternoon and watched yet another episode. Finally, about noon I decided I had to go. So I got all geared up and stepped outside thinking 'oh, it's not so cold out here'. Unfortunately, this week was the reverse of last week. As I headed out of town it got colder and colder. In fact about Bellevue, the snow started. But the time I got to Cougar, it was snowing. And as I ran up Cougar there was more and more snow. It was cold. I don't think my fingers warmed up until about 30 minutes in.

All I can think about lately is how nice it would be to throw on shorts and a t-shirt and have the challenge of running be the run, not the exposure to the freezing cold. I don't know if doing this makes me a stronger, better person? Or maybe it just makes me crazy.

I wish I had some pictures of Otto running in the snow, he was certainly having fun!!

Cleaning house

So, I have not yet pulled out of my funk ,but yesterday I was mentioning to my sister that I needed some new blog topics. Her response was that it didn't matter what I blogged about. In fact it doesn't matter that most of my blogs are about nothing. She says it fits my theme - A Day in the Life. She said that much like Seinfeld, my blogs are about nothing and that's the point.

So, we'll go back to blogging about nothing......

Or in this case house cleaning. Could there be anything else more tedious or more relentless. Over and over and over again, it's the exact same scenario. Every week, at least once a week my dining room table taken over by mail and clothes that I wear to work put in my bike bag and don't quite put away when I put the new set of clothes in the following day. Pet hair invades my house at an astonishing rate. Cold weather coats, gloves, and shoes that get worn for dog walking and running never seem to make it to their real home, and when they they do, I can't find them. The clothes that I clean then hang up to dry and forget to put away (there are some of those i the pictures for my house appraisal, so embarrassing). Then there is the kitchen. How is one to keep up there? I will wash all the dishes and get the kitchen ship shape before I go to bed. Then the following morning I make breakfast and prepare lunch for the day and it's a mess again.

And those are the things that actually get cleaned on a regular basis. Even worse are the things that never quite get put away. The mail that I need to deal with at some point in the future. The paperwork that needs to be filed. The stuff that I don't want to get rid of but never quite finds its true home. The 'whatever' that has been sitting some place it doesn't belong for so long, that I don't even see it any more.

Now, there are people, perhaps some of you reading this, who just can't understand this blog. There are people that don't seem to have stuff with no home. There are people who manage to get their clothes, clean and dirty, exactly where they belong at all times. There are houses you walk into whenever, that are always neat and tidy. Houses in which that extra deep cleaning takes place in a timely manner. And those people just think people like me are lazy. But I don't know if it's lazy. For me it's almost a block. I will start a cleaning project with great intentions, and so quickly be distracted by something else (internet?, dog walk? pull ups?) Or I will assure myself that sunday, not saturday, is truly the better day for cleaning. And in the end, no matter what my intentions, the state of my house will improve, but perhaps not get 100% clean.

And really, you can't call me lazy. I hauled my ass out in 30 degree weather the last couple weeks and ran down to the track to run sprints. And even if I am lazy sometimes, I am 100% sure that everyone needs some time every week in which they are doing absolutely nothing.

Anyway, it's time to clean the house once again, and I have so little interest. Oh wait, the dog is whining for a walk.

General Malaise

Daisy's bored.

Otto's bored.

How quickly the wonder and excitement of the new year fades, and suddenly it's just any old year. I had plans to blog every day in January, but I think I'm just feeling too blah. I'm not depressed, just not excited by much of anything at the moment. The weather is just depressing. My work is a stressful mess that leaves me dreading returning on a daily basis. And aside from crossfit, there isn't much going on (yes, crossfit is my excitement). So I don't have a lot to say short of bitching and moaning about the weather and work - something I have bored you all with lately.

With luck there will soon be some major excitement, or at least a funny story or cool picture I can share. Keep your fingers crossed. In the meantime you can call me or shoot me a funny email and pull me out of this apathy!

Serenity then a hurricane

I just got back from a nice relaxing vacation. I was ready for my vacation. Somewhere this fall I acquired a couple extra jobs. That combined with no time off for any holiday plus no real holiday celebration left me pretty grouchy and tired of working by January 1. So I took a week off, relaxed with the family, and didn't think about work until a couple times yesterday when I started thinking 'ugh, I have to go to work tomorrow'.

This morning started out okay. I slowly began to slog through my 100s of new emails, annoyed only by the fact that I couldn't reply to any emails because me inbox was so full of crap that I wasn't allowed to send any new emails until I deleted my way below a certain email size.

Unfortunately, that was merely the lull before the storm which hit around 9am. In one department, major infighting amongst employees combined with long frequent breaks in very conspicuous locations = major headaches. In another department, the one that has a ton to do between now and year end (2/1), one of my employees got appendicitis and is out for two weeks (meaning I will spend two weeks doing her very full time job). Fortunately no major crisis in the third job, just a weeks worth of work.

I was just about on my way out the door for a self imposed permanent vacation, when I finally decided I just had to ignore the forest and just concentrate on each tree in my path. But I tell you, right now all I can think of is vacation? What vacation? Oh that and 'ugh I have to go to work tomorrow'.

Seattlelites (and I) are getting boring.

So with one crazy weather phenomena after another, Seattlelites are getting a little dull. It's getting so all anyone wants to talk about any more is the weather. First there was the endless snow. Then there was snow again (though I guess only briefly). Now there is the incessant torrential downpour and wind.

I went and got my hair done today and literally, every hairdresser/client combo had a weather/what I did during the snow conversation. And I will certainly include myself in that frenzy. I had the same conversation with my lady. And when I over heard others having the conversation, I was just about ready to jump on in with my own, rather boring, addition to the what I did in the snow story.

I know this isn't merely a Seattle experience. How many times have you been around someone and spoken about the weather, just to be talking. I remember one time I was speaking to a work friend and she had just gotten back from Ireland. Somehow the only thing I could manage to question her about in the minute I had before the elevator arrived was to ask after the weather. She went to a foreign country, there has to be more to talk about than the weather. Combine our usual weather small talk with real extreme weather, and certainly what else could on even think about.

So is this an American thing, thing endless weather obsession? Or a universal human experience? Maybe from way back in the day the weather has had (and still does have to some extent) such a huge impact on our daily lives and lively hood, that we are programed to discuss it. Or maybe some evolutionary track has made it more successful for those who excel at small talk. They move to the top of the evolutionary chain. (I could see that, those better at small talk are more successful in society and more likely to be helped or saved if there are issues???).

Anyhow I'm moving a bit far afield, but perhaps I'm just explaining why my blog, like the rest of this city has gotten stuck on the weather. Anyhow, I must go now, I'm off to pair up the animals for the ark.

Letting my peeps down

So I know there was uproarious excitment at the promise that I was going to be blogging daily for the month of January, but it's not going to happen for another week or so. I got to Chicago yesterday (after a brain numbing 8 hours on a plane and in the airport). And I find it's just too hard to concentrate here. There are people around. At home I blog in my little house with my dog and cat sitting beside me. It's quiet. Here there is just too much going on to have much focus. So, I am starting my daily blog 1/6. And I am sure it will be that much better for the anticipation.

By the way, to those who know the Erbecks, I met the new Mr. Luca the other day. He's just about the cutest thing ever! Second, of course to True, who is super cool because he is talking all the time now. And while we're on kids, I should probably give a shout out to my stepbrother's kid Mar. She's True's age and pretty cool herself, except that she mostly talks in Spanish, so she's a little harder to engage in conversation than True.