Where in the World is KIMpossible?

I know, I know...I've pulled a disappearing act.  I'm back, though.  So that's what matters, right?

This is gonna be a hodgepodge of stuff.  Bear with me.

I know I owe y'all (and me) a checkpoint, but well...big shocker here...I haven't been quite as dedicated and diligent as I planned.  Back on the wagon, though, so I guess it can be said that at least I don't give up.  =/

My brother and sister-in-law planned a vacation to Jamaica.  A flight from Los Angeles (where they live) means a necessary lay-over.  They were able to manage an overnight one on Friday, 9/30, which allowed for my entire family to celebrate older sister Cathy's birthday.  We went to Perry's Steakhouse and had a most wonderful meal followed by this:

and maybe a little bit of:

Afterwards, Cathy opened up her presents.  My siblings went in on the gift thing with me, so we were able to get her some Brighton jewelry that she wanted and perfume.  Here is my cute packaging:

Oh and in other news, I chopped off all my hair.

I decided this hairstyle looks better straight than curly, so I've been straightening it daily.  There is the fast way - round brush - and then there is the slow way - Chi.  Nine times out of 10, I do it the fast way.

Oh...and I'm embarrassed to say I blew off my first race.  I did not end up doing the Beach Palooza 5K obstacle course on 9/24.  I woke up that morning and was just not feeling it....the drive all the way to Galveston by myself...the fact that the only friend I knew who was racing it had a time slot a couple of hours before mine...and finally that I want to be able to run a 5K outright again before I sign up for another. 

I have my See Jane Run half coming up on Sunday.  My training has, of course, not been as I had hoped for, but I am still excited.  I will be leaving on Friday after work to enjoy a nice leisurely Saturday meeting up with friends from days gone by (college) and perhaps even a blogger meet-up later that day.  My father's birthday is also on Sunday, so I will high tail it home after my race to celebrate with my family.

I had some Chinese food at family lunch and this was my fortune:

Can I substitute "dogs" in place of "children" since I don't have kiddos yet?  No?  That's okay cuz I don't think I would ever call my dogs the most wonderful - haha!  I do love them dearly, though.

This past Saturday, we all ended up hanging out at my parent's house - swimming, eating, and watching the dogs play.  On Sunday, my dogs were both dead to the world.  Besides breakfast at 6am and a prompt return to bed, Penelope didn't join the world of the living until 3:30pm.  Yikes! 

I have a slight obessesion with Tai Pei's wonton soup.  I eat it almost every day for lunch and I buy it in the frozen section at Walmart.  Don't judge me.

Another slight obsession I have is with dystopian and/or post-apocalyptic novels.  I just can't get enough!

We are planning young sister Linda's baby shower.  It's going to be so fun.  My mom has made a motorcycle "diaper cake".  Wait until you see it!  I've been commissioned to make a watermelon carriage like I did for Melissa's baby shower and I'm also making fruit salsa to be eaten with cinnamon & sugar pita chips.  I love party planning/preparation!  So fun!

I've been watching Medium on my Netflix.  Oh my goodness, it's so very good.  I'm half way thru with season 6 (out of 7 seasons).  I've picked out my next show once I finish.  It's gonna be Friday Night Lights cuz my parent's swear by it.  Have you seen it?

Okay, that's all I have for you for now.  I better start catching up on reading all the blogs I've been neglecting!

Good golly, Ollie

(good thing my parents don't read my blog...)

My parentals are quite convinced they have the perfect "child" in Oliver.  He can do no wrong in their eyes.  He is the child they always wanted.

In my father's office, there is a picture of the 4 of us kids hanging on the wall.  Beside this picture is a picture of just Oliver.  There appears to be an imbalance in the world...

OLD picture...we all look much better now!

We all know that whenever the parentals go out of town, I stay at their house.  We like to keep Oliver in his environment, after all (and he is way too much dog to reside in my home with me and my own two monsters).

This past weekend, Oliver demonstrated just how far he would take his only-child mentality/status. 
Older sister Cathy and brother-in-law Jay brought home two cutie patootie puppies about 6 weeks ago.  Oliver was the first dog to meet the new additions and my mother thought he was so great with them.  She said he was gentle.  She said when they were sparring he would get in there and break it up.  All this changed when toys were introduced into the picture.  Oliver is a toy-hoarder.  He has many, many toys and they are all his.  Even when my precious blind Penelope is over and goes to retrieve the one toy she fondly remembers and still loves - a little blue football (she doesn't too much care for the red one and how she tells them apart is beyond me considering her...um...blindness), he will steal it from her.  Even when all the dogs are given brand new bones to chew, Oliver will want one that someone else is chewing on.  When we are outside with the dogs, he will want only the toy being tossed for another dog.

My mom is in the process of making some decorative items for younger sister Linda's baby shower.  She bought a cute baby toy - a stuffed giraffe that sings his A-B-Cs.  Somehow, one afternoon, when my mom left Oliver free to roam the house while she went for a walk, Oliver ended up discovering this toy up on the table and stole it (she claims it must have fallen on the floor and that he was confused).  She had to buy a second toy to hide for later.  Um...me thinks later Ollie will discover this hidden treasure and once again claim it as his own.

Cathy came up with a brilliant idea of buying a puppy mini monkey toy and then a grown-up matching monkey guy for Ollie.  She thought this would break him of the habit of having to have what anyone else had so that her puppies could enjoy their toys and so that baby-to-be Ethan (Linda's little bun in the oven) would be able to enjoy his toys in the future.  This plan didn't work.  Ollie only wanted the mini monkey toy.

Jay captured Ollie hoarding mini monkey.

Later, Ollie would put toys and/or bones into one of the puppy's beds to tempt them...and then, when they got curious as to what new and exciting item awaited them, he would attack (by way of growling/barking at them meanly and lunging forward).

Ollie tauning a sweet innocent puppy.

About the only time Ollie was sweet was when he was sleeping.  I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before, but Oliver likes to rest his chin high up on some body part of mine (or my mom's when she is home with him).  Usually he chooses my hip or my leg.  Well, on Sunday during our scheduled nap (yes, it was me and 3 dogs in a bed - yikes), Ollie rested his chin upon Penelope.  I couldn't resist taking this picture.

that's a pretty hefty head to have on top of you!

And just for good measure, here's another cute picture...this one of how my Penelli and Delilah sometime sleep - side by side - so sweet!

of course this is at the foot of the side of the bed where I sleep...

So yeah...Oliver was a bad boy this weekend.  We texted my parents pictures of him being a bully (no pun intended) and they accused us of posing him and/or setting him up (or even being jealous of him).  *Sigh*  how come I didn't get this whole "benefit of the doubt" thing when I was growing up???

Oh my...Tomato Pie!

I couldn't wait to get home last night...to make Tomato Pie...again.

No, I'm not a gluttonous monster.  Well...maybe I am, but THIS particular situation deems the title unnecessary.

You see, I received my daily recipes from Allrecipes.com the other day and what to my wandering eyes should appear, but a recipe for Tomato Pie.  I wondered what in the world it is, so then I clicked on the happy link and found out.  It's made of all things wonderful - tomatoes, green onion, fresh basil, bacon, and cheese.  Truth be told, I wasn't too keen on the bacon part, but brother-in-law Jay told me I had to follow the recipe (I have a problem following directions, you see), so I did with the slight modification of using lean turkey bacon instead of the real deal.

I heated a pot of water to help strip my tomatoes of their skin.  I preheated the oven for my pie crust.  I got my skillet all hot and bothered ready for the bacon...and then I placed 6 strips of bacon in said skillet because I don't like to fry up too much at a time.  I went out to my car to get something I forgot and when I returned, I found my once-upon-a-time sweet Delilah guiltily licking her chops over a tasty meal of 3/4 of a pound of RAW turkey bacon.  That can't be good.  I was soooo mad as my Tomato Pie would now be slightly naked with only 1/2 of the bacon I intended for it to have.  =/  Needless to say, Delilah went outside until the storm came to get us.

don't trust this innocent face

I then proceeded to chop up my basil and slice my green onions.  The crust went into the oven for a few minutes to avoid sogginess as I crumbled my bacon.

I then began to layer sliced tomatoes, basil, green onion, bacon, seasonings (garlic powder, crushed red pepper, and oregano).  I did a second layer and then a third.  Next, I topped my pie with a mixture of 1.5 cups of 2% shredded cheese mixed with 3 TBSP of light mayo.

In the oven it went - loosely covered with tin foil - for 45 minutes.  After 45, I took off the tin foil for another 15.  I ain't gonna lie, my house smelled heavenly.

I took my masterpiece out of the oven and pushed it far back on my island to cool.  Now, I had no intentions of eating it for dinner that night.  It was meant for dinner for the next several nights.

A little while later, I went to the bathroom just to come out and discover Delilah (remember her?) had tipped the pie off the counter and it was now laying face down on my kitchen floor.  I could have killed her.  BUT, I didn't.  Instead...she was banished outside and my Tomato Pie went in the trash.  sigh.

I do not give up easily, however.  The next day I went back to the grocery store and bought more turkey bacon, cheese, and basil to do it all over again.  Oye.

It was worth making twice...it's that good. 

Recipe:
4 large tomatoes - peeled and sliced
1 pie crust
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
3 green onions sliced thinly
12 strips of cooked bacon - crumbled
3 TBSP light mayo
1/5 cups of 2% shredded cheddar

Directions:
Preheat over to 375 degrees.  Boil a pot of water.  Fry bacon.  Chop basil.  Slice onion.  Put two tomatoes at a time in the boiling water.  Stick pie crust in oven for a few minutes and then remove.  Let tomatoes sit for a minute or two in the water, then carefully remove them and put them under cold water to remove the skin.  Repeat for next two tomatoes.  Slice tomatoes.  Layer tomatoes, green onion, basil, bacon, and seasonings.  Top with cheese/mayo mixture.  Loosely cover pie with tin foil and bake for 45 minutes.  Remove tin foil and bake for another 15.  Let sit for 5 minutes or so before slicing pie.

If you make 6 servings out of your pie, it's around 313 calories per slice.

***Note:  next time I make it, I would probably choose to chop the tomato***

Lesson learned:  NEVER ever trust Delilah around food

Weekend Recap

I had a lovely weekend.   I didn't want it to end, actually.  I've been thinking lately that it would be a really great plan to make the work week 4 days and the weekend 3.  Who's with me?! 

I started out Saturday morning by making myself a peanut butter, banana, and honey wrap.  I didn't want the bulk of bread weighing me down when I headed out for my long WALK, so I used a whole wheat "homemade" tortilla from H.E.B.  It was perfect.

I opted not to carry water with me for my WALK because I wasn't planning on doing a whole lot of miles and because I truly do hate carrying anything more than I need with me.  I did pop a Powerade Zero in the mailbox so that I could stop on by the house without actually going in the house to hydrate. 

I decided to count the change I came across as I've noticed a lot of coinage lately on the ground.  I found a penny, but no...I didn't pick it up.  Then I happened across a dollar bill.  Eureka!  I surely did pick that puppy up (but only after looking around me to make sure nobody was watching as if I was doing something wrong).  Later I happened across another penny.  So, the dollar made my long WALK profitable, I'd say!

this is a dramatic reenactment since I didn't have my camera with me at the time of discovery


Around mile 3, I returned to the ol' mailbox for a drink.  I then continued on my merry way.  My left knee started giving me a bit of trouble - complaining, I guess you could say.  It was kinda popping a little bit here and there as I rounded corners.  I made it back to the house around 5.5 miles and decided I should ice it.  Good thing I did, too, as there was definitely a bit of fluid in there.  =/


We didn't have family lunch this weekend because my dad was flying in from San Fran later in the afternoon and we didn't want him to feel left out.  I did, however, go with my mom to IHOP for a second breakfast of sorts.  Hey...when you burn 800 calories so early in the day, you get HUNGRY!
 

After IHOP, I hung out with my mom for a while, then we ran errands, then picked up my dad from the airport and went to BJs for a late lunch. 

I dropped them off at home and then headed to my own place to chill with my doggies until it was dinner time.

I had purchased a Groupon a few weeks ago for The Brownstone Cafe and my friend Kim and I decided we needed one of our infamous KNOs (Kim Nights Out - it originated when we were in college together).  We had a most wonderful time enjoying our respective meals, catching up on our respective lives, and sharing a Nutella crepe for dessert.  Since we all know I'm terrible about remembering to take pics, this is one I found on Google that closely resembles the deliciousness that melted in my mouth!

source here

 


Sunday, I decided to not set my alarm.  The dogs woke me up at 6:56am because they were STARVING.  I swear you would think I never feed them.  Shortly after they ate, Penelope decided to put herself back to bed (she never leaves my side, so this was weird).  Delilah and I decided to join her and we slept for another 3 hours.  Bliss.

My parents and I then went to see The Help.  I loved it, though I wish there were a few things they had included in the movie that I thought were pivotal parts of the storyline.  I then went back to their house to enjoy the new puppies as older sister Cathy and brother-in-law Jay brought them by for the afternoon.  Later younger sister Linda and brother-in-law Craig joined us and we had a wonderful family feast!

I tracked my food all weekend long, I started reading a new book (The Murderer's Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers) that is quite good, I hung out with some of my fave peeps, and I rested up.

 

Now let's just get to another weekend, shall we?! 

random stuff

I got my new recumbent bike on Tuesday afternoon at work.  My dad convinced me I should let one of the guys at work put it together instead of trying to do it myself.  Turns out this was a smart idea as my dad had to help the dude put it together...it was a bit complex.  My dad was then soooo soooo nice and brought it over to my house for me.  He kept trying to help me out further by placing it, but I couldn't have him do that since I wasn't entirely sure how I wanted to make the room work.

As a kid, I LOVED moving furniture around in my bedroom.  I thought it such an adventure to have a different room design.  Unfortunately for me, I have a small home and a fondness for furniture.  This means there is very little room for my creativity.  =/

I had a vision, however, and carried it through.  I was afraid, you see, of having to get rid of my coffee table ottoman that I absolutely adore.  I managed to make it work without going to such extremes.  I just moved things around a bit to give my bike a great view of the TV.  I do, however, feel a bit guilty.  In case you haven't caught on, my one true love Penelope went blind over a year ago.  She is 10 years old and was raised in my house, so she knows it forward and backward.  It's kind of mean to move things around at this stage in the game, but I think she will figure it out.

Another issue I've been having lately is with my WiFi.  I apparently forgot my passkey.  So, I've been all old school connected through what seemed like an endless supply of wires.  I had no clue how to create a new password or reset my router, so I did some Google-searching, learned how, and managed to do it ALL BY MYSELF.  Mind you...I'm not very computer savvy, so this was a BIG deal to me!

In other news...found out today that my Galveston Seawall Half scheduled for November 19th has been canceled.  This makes me sad as it seemed like a really cool race.  Ah well...maybe they will do it again next year!

and then there is...training.

Training is going...okay.  Since I made the decision to walk The Hottest Half (not a decision I'm proud of, but one that is necessary for survival), I've determined that the new shoes I bought aren't going to make the grade.  They are a really great motion control shoe for "the heavier runner".

New Balance 1012

I like them as far as comfort and feel go, BUT it's a heavy shoe.  The weight is 12 oz.  Yikes!  I did some shopping on Amazon last night and found a lighter (7 oz) shoe (a cross-trainer) that I think will be better for the walk.  With training wearing the heavier shoe, though, I should be super speedy once I get to lighten the load!  ha!

New Balance Women's WX20 NB Minimus Training Shoe

Last, but not least...I got the biggest craving EVER for green bean casserole.  I decided to feed the beast and make me some.  I forgot to take a picture (bad blogger), but trust me when I tell you it turned out delish and it was oh so simple to make.  I just took one can of 98% fat free cream of mushroom and whisked in 3/4 of a cup of skim milk.  I added salt and pepper to taste and then a 19 oz bag of frozen green beans that had been thawed out.  Next, I took a small can of French's fried onion and put all but the last 1/4 in the mixture.  I poured the mix into a casserole dish, topped it with the remaining onions, and baked it on 350 for 45 minutes.  I've determined that 1 cup is about 200 calories.  That's a lot of green bean casserole happiness!

So, that's about it in a nutshell.  I guess I've been kind of boring the last few months with my posts.  Welcome to my world - haha!

Hope y'all are having a lovely week!

3-day weekend

Watched 6 movies.  Must have been Red Box's best customer this weekend.

Morning Glory - cute/sweet
Vanishing on 7th Street - ugh/don't waste your time
The Last Exorcist - okay
Battle:  Los Angeles - not my kind of movie
Conviction - pretty good
Devil - decent

Went swimming twice.  Starring...THE DOGS!

Ollie wears a kerchief so his head doesn't get sunburned and then he floats in his "boat".

Ate WAY too much food.
 
homemade suchi - Craig made most of them and they turned out beautifully.  I tried my hand at forming the California rolls and failed miserably.  See if you can figure out which ones are mine.  =/

HB Steakhouse - yum!

and other unmentionables...

There was some bone-hoarding coveting going on...

Delilah looking innocent despite her stash.

Coco on "her" ottoman

Some just plain cuteness...

Sweet Penelli

Oliver with his new toy named "Chef guy"

Might have watched most of the entire Teen Mom marathon on MTV.  Yes, Meliska...I'm all ready for the new season.  =P

Had to rescue Craig and Linda when Linda's battery died and they got stranded at Babies R Us.

It was just the kind of weekend to refresh/recharge me.  Now I just need to make it to Labor Day weekend.

Hope your weekend was everything you needed it to be and more! 

Happy July!

I hated June.  I think I hate June every year come to think of it.  Oh well...it's neither here nor there cuz a new month is upon us.

One little cool thing about June though is that mi casa turned 11.  Ye gads, can you believe it?!  11!!!  How am I old enough to have bought and lived in my very own home for 11 years???  I can tell it's 11, though.  Ruben is needing some work.  My second garbage disposal blew out and needs replacement.  The whole interior of the house could use a fresh coat of paint.  The master bathtub/shower is needing some retiling.  Pretty sure two new toilets would be lovely!  Once I open up the can of worms called home-improvement, there will be no turning back.  The cool thing is that in less than 7 years, Ruben is 100% mine...all mine thanks to some refinancing I did several years back.  Now that is a good feeling!  =)

Let's look at July...

The parentals are abandoning ship AGAIN.  My father is heading out to Scotland on a golf trip with two of his brothers and my mother is going out to Los Angeles to visit with my brother and sister-in-law and then continuing her jaunt out to Vegas for some R&R.  This means I head to their house for Oliver-sitting.  I thought to ask Linda and Craig (and Coco) to join me and my monsters for a long-weekend staycation. We plan to eat, watch movies, and soak up the sun poolside.

I also plan to get some mad mileage in.  We need not mention how The Hottest Half is *gulp* six weeks away and how this chickadee isn't nearly where she should be training-wise.  I blame work for zapping the life out of me, by the way....well and a stupid blister on the back of my heel, but whatever....

Since I'm gonna be at the parental's house for about a week, I figure it reaps a couple of advantages.  It saves on my electric bill at home (thank God) and they have a home gym.  I can cross train my heart out on the bike when I'm not walking, running, skipping, crawling out my mileage on the pavement in this AWFUL heat. 

So happy July to you all!  May you have a wonderful much needed holiday weekend filled with fun, family, and friends!

what a wonderful weekend!

What a fun Saturday!  I started off my morning knocking out some mileage.  One word:  HOT.  

To cool off, I used my happy Metha body wash from Bath and Body Works.  Get some now.  Trust me.

source here

I then went to pick up my cute mom so we could do breakfast.  No family lunch this Saturday since we are doing a Father's Day / Brother-in-law Jay's bday celebration on Sunday.  My cute mom and I went to IHOP.  I ordered the SIMPLE & FIT Blueberry Harvest Grain 'N Nut Combo.  Yum.  I'll just say it right now - my egg substitutes never come out tasting quite like that!  Next we went to see Mr. Popper's Penguins.  I don't know why the rest of my party pooper family members didn't want to see it - it was such a fun movie and we adored it!  I was able to get a diet vanilla root beer at the movie theater - mmmmm.

After the movie, my mom and I ran some errands.  We then ended up at Panera for lunch.  I heart Panera.  I hung out at my parent's house for a while before deciding to rent a couple movies from Red Box on my way home.  I chose I Am Number 4 and Just Go With It.  I enjoyed both movies.

Sunday meant family day. I met up with younger preggo sister Linda, brother-in-law Craig, and their dog Coco at my parent's pool around 12 noon. Of course I brought over my beasts as they desperately needed a play date. Older sister Cathy and brother-in-law Jay joined use a bit later when my mom served us up a yummy lunch. We then hung out, laughing bunches, and later headed to our dinner at Del Friscos in the Galleria area. They were running a pretty awesome special for 2 where each person got to pick a salad and then it came with an 8 oz filet, a crab cake, your choice of side, and your choice of dessert. I coupled of with my mom. We had such a great meal. I just love spending time with my family.

After dinner, we headed back to my parent's house for my dad and Jay to open up presents.  My mom is like Snow White in that animals seem to flock to her.  She is not so welcoming of them.  There are frogs that end up in the grotto under the waterfall in the pool.  There is a bird that keeps nesting in the backyard (my mom is not a bird lover).  Now there is a turtle that has traveled to the front door.  Here she is.  She's shy, clearly.  haha.

It was a wonderful weekend filled with fabulous food, family fun, and movies - what more could a girl ask for?

How was your weekend?

and then sickness happened...

I was supposed to run the Tomball Bunny Run 5K on Saturday.  I was hoping to get a new PR with this race since I PR'd this 5K last year.  Then sickness happened.

As I last posted, I had some weird side pains going on and went to my doctor on Monday.  She determined it was muscle strain and prescribed muscle relaxers and anti-inflammatory pills.  Then Tuesday evening I just started feeling blah...all chest congestion-y and whatnot, so I went to the store and bought some Mucinex and prayed that would kill it dead.  By Thursday, I still felt crappy and my cough sounded similar to a dog barking, so I decided I needed to go back to the doctor.  I didn't want to go all the way back to my doctor because it takes so long to see her with drive time and waiting time and all that jazz, so I went with Plan B.

With the parentals being on vacation, I had to go home during lunch to let their beloved Oliver out midway through the day, I decided to go to the Ready-Clinic outside the H.E.B. near my house.  Let's hear it for the rent-a-doctor who basically diagnosed me by asking me a series of questions on his computer and checking the boxes when I replied "yes".  Um...I'm pretty sure I could have done this on WebMD.  He concluded that he didn't think I had the flu.  I knew I didn't have the flu.  Once you have it as an adult, you remember it too well.  I explained to him that I needed to be better by Saturday for my race.  He told me to stick with the Mucinex and then to add Flonase.  Why he didn't give me a cough syrup, I have no idea.  Why he didn't give me some kind of antibiotic (especially considering I was running a slight fever), I have no idea.  All I know is that come Saturday, I was not better.

I was not able to run my Bunny Run.  I was not able to meet MayRay in the City as she ran her first 5K or be there when Lauren PR'd (again).  I was not able to attempt a PR of my own.  I am sad.

This also puts me behind in my own training for my two half marathons I have coming up in rapid succession.  Le Sigh.  I'm still forming my game plan, though, don't you worry.  I'm gonna kick this sickness to the curb.  I am.

In other news, I am dating the sweetest guy EVER.  He knew that my Delilah kept escaping from my yard because the back gate was cut on an angle, so he built me a new back gate over the weekend.  He also replaced some broken fence slats and put down some stuff to make my grass green (once I promised to water it).  =D  I'm not used to such niceness.  I like it.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend and that you stay allergy/illness free!

a pain in my side

I had the worst night's sleep EVER Sunday night.  Well...I've had other sleepless/restless nights, but I guess when it's the most current one that is so fresh on the brain it seems like the "worst one EVER". 

I got home (mind you that "home" means my parent's house this week) from a date around 11pm.  I would have felt awfully guilty forcing the dogs to go to bed right away considering they were just sleeping prior to my homecoming, so I let them frolick and play for a bit before calling it a night.  We probably hit the hay just after midnight and then enter tossing and turning from stage left.  First of all, the dogs had to do their territorial bickering over who got to be the closest to me.  You would think this would give me the warm fuzzies, but really it just made me angry.  I was at the point where I would have just preferred one of them pee on me to claim me as their own so we could call it a night - honestly.  Sheesh.  Finally we were positioned just right so that THEY were comfortable.  I was not, but in all fairness it had nothing to do with them.  More on that in just a bit.  Then, Penelope woke me around 3:45am having to go to the bathroom, so all dogs went outside.  Dear sweet loveable Penelope woke me again at 4:15am to go to the bathroom AGAIN, so all dogs went outside.  Me thinks Penelope was having some issues.  I finally fell back asleep just to be awakened at 5:08am by one of my employees.  No worries - he was thoroughly yelled at.  Apparently the two of us have differing opinions about what constitutes an emergency.  I assure you...the reason behind his call was not one.  I gave up any and all hope for sleep and started my day.

For the past few days I've been harboring a secret pain.  My right side hurts -  more specifically it's my rib cage area.  It's not debilitating or anything remotely along those dramatic lines.  It mostly only hurts when I turn to the right, cough, breath out deeply, or touch it.  It still isn't normal and so I've been kind of worried.  Crazy thoughts have been filling my overactive imagination - liver issues?  gall bladder?  appendix?  lungs?  I had no idea what to make of it.  I decided to be a big girl yesterday and go to the doctor.

She wanted to rule out obvious big ticket items, so she ran a few tests and took some chest x-rays.  Everything came back as normal.  Based on me telling her of my side stitches as of late with my running - specifically with the half marathon and based on the fact that I've been really working on the use of my arm swing during my runs, my doctor has determined that it's a muscle strain with delayed muscle soreness.  I was prescribed an anti-inflammatory, a muscle relaxer, and rest.  So much for my PR hopes on Saturday...rar.

On a side note - the muscle relaxer's instructions say to take it 3x a day.  Who could possibly take a muscle relaxer while working and still manage to be fuctional?  Surely not I.  Last night it was totally like this:

Muscle Relaxer 1
Kimpossible 0

I crashed turbo fast after taking my pill.  I will say that I do feel better already, so I hope this is an indication of healing and I will be back in the swing of things in no time!

a glimpse at my week

Well, first of all I've been drinking water like it's my job.  true story.  Went out to do my 10-miler on Sunday and let's just say it didn't end up being 10 miles.  Someone was dehydrated.  someone never learns.  So, the cup and I have become one.

my new camera!

Last week I received a call inquiring as to whether or not I wanted to participate in a focus group.  Hmmm...I'm all about helping my fellow marketers...I mean Marketing was my major in college and all that jazz, but what was in it for me?  Oh...$100, well okay.  So on Monday, I headed over to the Galleria area for a 2 hour focus group regarding the purchase of my mattress.  They fed me dinner.  I had a few laughs with the other focus group panel members.  They sent me on my way with $100.  So guess who had some extra cash to apply to her new camera fund?  This girl!  If you are wondering what happened to my former camera, see here.

Tuesday I decided to get all wild and cRaZy and sign up for Beach Palooza.  That Rachel - I'm telling you - she sure does some whackadoo things (like The Warrior Dash this past weekend) and this time I decided to jump on her band wagon.  Beach Palooza is a 5K obstacle course taking place in Galveston on September 24th.  If you are interested, register by March 29th to get the lower price of $35.  You get a t-shirt, a pineapple hat (who doesn't need one of those?) and a finisher's medal.  We all know how I feel about medals!  This could be a really fun bloggy meet-up...*hint, hint*

Wednesday I cooked dinner for a fella.  We ate my buffalo chicken and watched some tv.  It was his first time to meet my monsters.  They were shockingly on their best behavior.  Penelope pulled a rag toy out of the toy bin for him to throw for her so they could play fetch.  In case you are just tuning in, Penelope is blind.  I don't know what got into her, but this wasn't the first time.  A few months ago, she pulled the same stunt when LaShaune came over for the first time after we went to see a play.  My weird little wonder-pup.

Oh and I finalized my outfit for my half marathon that is this Sunday - the Dallas RnR.  *gulp*  I'm not ready for it.  Someone (me) has allowed her A.D.D. to kick in and distractions have led me astray from my training.  Ah well...I'm gonna go out there and do my best and then kick my A.D.D. to the curb for the next two I have lined up in rapid succession.  I shall wear a white Nike dri-fit tank, black Nike capris, and a pink Nike hat (the pink hat is in honor of my good friend That Pink Girl who is coming on out to cheer me on).

Last, but not least, I decided it was time for me to leave some emotional crap behind me, so I deleted about 200 emails (a journal of sorts) which I had saved in a special file.  These emails spanned across a very painful 2 years for me.  I had been torturing myself lately by reading them and felt it healthy to "destroy" them.  We can't change the past, that is for sure.  It is true we can learn from it, but beating our selves up over it never did anyone any good.  I feel a bit cleansed.

Tonight I head to Fort Worth. 

How's your week going, my little gumdrops?

a celebration of sorts

My dogs are so cutesie.  sometimes.  I came out of the shower and discovered them all cuddly like this on my bed.  Sweet little love muffins.  You probably wonder how I could ever talk bad about them when they look so precious and innocent.  This is how they lure you. 

Delilah & Penelope

Today is Delilah's "Gotcha Day".  It's the day we celebrate me bringing her home to be part of our family.  For 3 years I've tried to convert her from a hood rat to a dog.  We are assuming she is 4.  I feel kind of bad celebrating her Gotcha Day considering I am the worst kind of mother to my one true love, Penelope, and forgot to celebrate her 10th Birthday on February 5th.  Perhaps tonight should be a joint celebration? 

The thing is I can buy Delilah bones and she will devour them.  I can buy Delilah toys and she will destroy them.  I can't buy Penelope anything.  She very rarely chews on a bone.  She very rarely plays with a toy.  She used to be quite the Frisbee enthusiast before she went blind.  Every blue moon she will still grab a rope toy to be thrown which is nine kinds of pathetic cuz...um...how is she going to find it once it reaches its destination?  I hate celebrating with food, but they do lovie themselves some Beneful Prepared Meals, so I will probably buy one for each of them and let them go to town.  Normally I buy one for them to share when I feel guilty about something.  I'm very predictable.

So, one thing I don't do often enough is take my babies for walks.  I know, I know...I'm awful.  Let me explain, though.  First and foremost, I have to take them separately which is kind of obnoxious.  I wish I could say that this is because Penelope is blind and it's easier to navigate her that way, but the truth of the matter is that I had to do it this way before she went blind because they are both unruly and undisciplined during a walk and pull in too many directions.  Secondly, Penelope makes cRaZy noises since she can't see and everything catches her attention, so I find myself making announcements to everyone who stares at us that she is blind as if that makes it all less awkward for any of us.  AND then beyond that, I really don't have any excuses except that I'm just bad.  =/  Tonight, however, both of my monkeys will get walked (and then mama shall run).

Do you celebrate your pets' birthdays or am I just a weirdo not sporting a beardo?





preparation + prayer = 9 miles

I have been drinking water all week long like I'm being paid a sponsorship to do so.  The KIMpossible from 2 years ago would not recognize herself today, that is for sure!  As I have mentioned before, I was so THAT girl who could go the entire day without drinking a single beverage.  so true.  so bad.

I wanted to set myself up mentally and physically for a killah 9-miler, so here's what I did on Friday in preparation for Saturday's run:

1)  Carbo loaded - though typically I limit my bread carbs to 2 of my 3 meals, I allowed one with each of my meals.  For breakfast, I had a PB&J sammy on whole wheat bread.  For lunch, I had a hamburger patty (no bun) with a side of homemade BAKED sweet potato fries (the fries are considered a bread carb on South Beach).  For dinner, I bought myself a grilled chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A.  Of course there were healthy sidekicks (fruits and/or veggies) with all of these meals.

2) I drank plain water all day long with the exception of the last two 16-oz cups which both had the added bonus of Nuun in them.  I figure a little extra electrolytes could only benefit me in the long run.

3)  I foam rolled some areas of contention.  My calves seem to get tight lately on my runs, so those got foamed out first.  My upper back and shoulders are always an issue, so they were foamed out next.  For good measure, I finalized the process with my knees only because my left knee has been suffering from some minor runner's knee as of late and I didn't want my right knee to feel left out.

4)  I took an Epsom salt bath.  That Pink Girl does this before her really long runs.  Though 9 may not be considered "really long" by some, for THIS girl at THIS point in the game, it is.

5)  I lotioned up my legs and shoulders with this product I remembered I had bought soooo many years ago from Origins for tired legs.  Why I could have possibly thought I needed such a product years ago when I lead a relatively inactive lifestyle is beyond me, but I'm thankful I still had the product in my possession and that it still appeared to have its original potency.  It had that subtle spa-menthol smell and a definite cooling effect.  I figured it was a preventive measure.

6)  I had a nice long talk with my monsters (read:  my dogs) about how I desperately needed 7 to 8 hours of sleep.  I told them how proud I was of them for allowing me the courtesy of 7 straight hours without interruption the night before (Thursday night) and how grateful I would be if they allowed me this privilege once again.   I then made sure I did my part by getting my booty to bed at a decent time.

Of course, the best laid plans seem to always be ruined...the dogs woke me up at a ridiculous hour to go potty.  So much for our heart-to-heart.  I noticed when I put them out that it was drizzling and humid out.  great, just great.  I wondered if I should postpone my run until Sunday.  I decided just to go back to bed.  We slept for another hour and then they were STARVING.  Poor things...you should really feel sorry for them since we all know how mistreated they are.  So, they ate and I decided to go ahead and take my thyroid pill.  Then we resumed sleeping.  When we woke up again au natural, I made myself a nice breakfast of oatmeal - 1/2 cup of oats, 1 cup of water, 1 TBSP Splenda brown sugar, and an unmeasured amount of cinnamon.  Delish!  I added a banana and it was the perfect breakfast!  I don't like to eat and run, so I hopped onto FB for a while, before gearing up, sayin' my prayers, and heading out.

It was much much cooler than I realized (apparently a cool front came through in between my interrupted sleep), so I felt a bit chilled in my tank and capris, but I knew I would warm up turbo fast.  I swung by the ol' mailbox at 2.5 miles for a drink and then resumed my run.  I swung by the ol' mailbox at 5 miles for a drink and some Clif's Shot Bloks and then resumed my run.  I swung by the ol' mailbox at 6.5 miles for a final drink before heading out to complete my run.  I did need to stop and stretch at 7.5 miles because the wind was killing me at this point.  It was so gusty that it was making it so hard to run.  I then continued on my jaunt to complete my 9 miles.  Did you notice I never once mentioned intervals?  That's because I didn't do them.  My body hates them, I'm sure of it.  I decided to forgo them and to just run the mileage and my body responded so much better to this technique.

I expected to be sore and uncomfortable like I was last week when I ran my miserable 8, but I wasn't.  I actually feel great.  I chalk this up to preparation and prayer, honestly.  I'm also proud to announce that 4 out of my 9 miles were completed at a sub-13 pace.  This is such an improvement for me.  I also managed to take over a minute off of my average pace from last week's 8 miles.  How crazy is that?!  There is definite improvement in the air, my friends, and that makes this girl VERY happy.

After my run, I showered QUICKLY to get to family lunch.  I once again used that tired legs lotion - you know, just in case my legs decided to give me trouble later.

Yay for BJ's Brewhouse and their delicious turkey burger (subbed veggies for the fries, of course)!  I also added a side of their chili because I was starving having burnt 1228 calories during my run.

In other HAPPY news, I had to go to an INCONVENIENT Academy to pick-up my race packet for the Bayou City Classic 10K which is on 3/12.  Traffic was horrific trying to get there for some reason and I was in a truly foul mood by the time I arrived.  I decided to peruse the Clearance Section whilst there and low and behold I found ONE Nike Dri-Fit Tank in my size for $9.88 (normal retail price $36.99).  Um..SCORE!  That practically made my day.

So...a good weekend and counting!  I'm wishing the same for all of you!  =)

Second day SUCCESS!

I promise you that my intention was never really to go day by day to report to you my successes and/or failures. not really anyway.  I prolly won't.  maybe.

We know Monday was a fail.  kinda.  I mean I ended up getting a really yummy quiche and great asparagus soup out of the night, so that's something.  I just didn't nail my list.

Tuesday, on the other hand...well that was a success!  Redemption is mine (um...at least for the moment).

Tuesday's goals were as follows:  up at 5:45am, play my games for 1 hour, clean the floors and guest bathroom, watch two TV shows from my DVR, do kettlebell DVD, read one chapter from my book while taking an Epsom Salt Bath, in bed by 9:30

Since I went to bed at 10:15 last night and woke up at 5:45 this morning, I actually got 7 1/2 hours of sleep.  This is a rarity!  After work, I came home and dealt with my beasts dogs.  I then reheated some quiche.  I didn't end up eating my soup because I ate half a bag of steamed brussell sprouts for a late lunch so I was kind of all green-veggied out.  I then played my games for an hour and watched one more episode of Modern Family from my DVR.  Oh then guess what?  It was time for Glee - yay!  So I watched that and then changed into my running gear and headed out the door after taking some glamour pics.  There was to be no kettle bell workout for me since I had a make-up run to take care of.  The plan was 3, but secretly I knew my route would give me about 3.5 miles.  I was not feeling intervals for whatever reason, so I decided to just run my mileage outright and see what happened.  Up until this run, the most I had run outright since my injury was 2 miles.  I did 3.5 last night - no intervals - no walk breaks!  Can I get a "whoa"?  I consider that to be a win!  The best part was that I maintained the same pace I had been running at the 2 mile mark without intervals and the 5 mile mark with intervals.  weird.  So...I don't know what I'm going to do with regard to my 5K coming up in a week and a half.  I guess I will wing it for the time being.  Either way it doesn't look like a PR is possible, but then again...my game face hasn't been on either.  A race + spectators + competitive Kim = all kinds of crazy!

I came home from my run and cooled off.  I then cleaned my floors.  Didn't get to the guest bathroom, but I'm not gonna beat myself up over that one.  Next up was my Epsom salt bath.  It was awfully nice to soak in that puppy while catching up on my book - I managed 3 whole chapters in my book - "Such a Pretty Fat" by Jen Lancaster.  I may or may not have gone to bed a bit on the late side, but hey...I ain't perfect....I'm me.

This morning I registered for The Woodlands Half Marathon which isn't until NEXT March 3rd (you know...2012).  I'm sure you must be thinking I'm a little premature (which is better than immature,  so I'll take it).  I'm just sure they will fill up their 7500 slots fast, so I'm not taking any chances.  Part of me soooo badly wanted to sign up for the full, BUT without running my first full until January 2012 (Houston Chevron), I just can't commit to another one. 

In other news, I've been working on coming up with my outfit for my brother-in-law's 80s-themed birthday party at the end of this month.  I finalized my masterpiece, y'all.  Wait until you see.  It's gonna be RAD!  That will be such a fun blog post!!!

That's all I have for you for now.  Have a good day, party peeps!