Category: Randomness

I haven't been running/jogging/exercising in a LONG time. I am not counting our soccer games we have once a week, because, well, just because I'm not! I have been eating too much and exercising too little. So this morning, I dragged my butt out of bed and went for a jog at 6AM. I know this may seem crazy to you, but if I am going to exercise, I want to do it in the morning. Why you ask? Simple:

• Because it really wakes you up and prepares you for the day.
• Because by 6:30 you have already accomplished something.
• Because you can get sweaty and then shower. Instead of getting ready for your day, coming home from work and then getting gross again after working out.
• Because it's so quiet and peaceful in the morning.
• Because it's cooler in the morning than in the afternoon and no one likes to exercise in the heat. And yes, I know you could go to the gym, but being outside when you can in this state is something you must do!
• Because it's a little fun dodging sprinklers in the morning!
• Because you can get out any aggressions in the morning…and get those endorphins going early in the morning.
• Because I said so.

You can view the path I took HERE if you are interested.

Happy Friday!

I came across a website I am sure most of you already know about. It's the best time waster I have found…because it actually uses your brain instead of letting it rot in your head!

FreeRice.com

You'll love it! It gives your vocabulary words and you need to see how many you can get. It donates 10 grains of rice for each question you get right. They start out fairly easy and get harder as you get more right. And you can also make it keep track of your previous score so you don't have to start over each time. You can also change the category if there is something else you want to try…say geography. I don't even attempt that one!

Have fun wasting some time and learning something at the same time!

I love zoos. Not just a little bit. But more like one of those kids that needs to have a leash attached to them so I don't wander off or so you can pull me along when I won't stop staring at the bats. (Sadly, both of these things have happened.)

So when we went to Florida for Christmas this past year, I knew I wanted to fit a trip to the zoo in.

One of my favorite things at this zoo is the monkey exhibit. They have this huge cage and you can walk under part of it. And these monkeys like to sit on the part you walk under. So I got this cute picture of one of them.

This one actually had a baby holding on to it. Which is what I was trying to get a picture of. Animals don't always cooperate for photo opportunities the way you want them to, though.

This was a really nice zoo. I haven't found a zoo I haven't liked yet, but I am sure there are some out there that aren't as good.

Here is a link to the gallery of photos I took when I was there.

Also, I realized I didn't post the pictures from this same zoo when we were there about a year ago. So here is the gallery of photos I took on that trip.

I have pictures to share from our trip to Seattle in January, too…of course a trip to the zoo was made there, too!

And who goes to Washing DC and has to see the zoo? Yeah. That would be me!

And Lord knows I love the Omaha zoo.

And I can't believe I haven't gotten myself a membership to the MN zoo yet considering we are so close to it. I could probably add a whole section on this site about the zoos I have been to. But I won't. For your sanity of course.

See…I told you I liked zoos.

In a Mother's Day ode to moms, I have come across something all moms should consider. The dreaded “mom jeans”.

Chuck comes across all sorts of websites. He recently sent me one. I both laughed at it and took it as a chance to learn a little something.

Here is the website so you know what I am talking about: Mom Jeans

So, as you can see, the placement of the pockets matters! I can't believe that those are the same butts! I have seen “mom jeans”, but never knew what it was that made them stand out. Now we have empirical evidence to show us what it is! I love this!

So, I am going to do my best to keep these tips handy and not allow myself to buy any “mom jeans”….EVER. Because there's nothing worse than “mom jeans”. Except maybe minivans. Oh dear…or mom jeans IN a minivan. *shudder*

Happy Mother's Day!

Last weekend we went to my brother, Adam's house to work on projects. He wanted to tear down some old paneling that was on the walls and then drywall it.

So we went shopping for the stuff we needed.

Then we did some destruction. (My favorite part!)

Then the guys put up the drywall.

While the guys were working on projects in the basement, Adam's girlfriend, Katie and I tried to tackle a thought I had for their persnickety wallpaper in the kitchen. Katie isn't opposed to painting over it, so we went to town with the sander to smooth out what she had already attempted to remove and some of the seams. This will be a little tedious, but not nearly as bad as it would be to continue trying to strip off the wallpaper.

I even learned to do some drywall taping. By the way…it sucks. Well, not the small part I did, but I can't imagine doing it for a living. Although, I would have had better tools if I were doing it for a living.

While the guys were working on some other projects, I repaired a bracelet for my friend. And played with their kitty, Emma. And Katie and I went shopping again and she bought a new fridge. Theirs is a really pretty golden color with parts being held together with duct tape. Katie is SO excited for the new one to arrive. Then I played with the kitty some more.

We wore out their dog, Kipp.

And the guys were pretty tired, too. After the shopping, destroying, building and then starting a couple other projects, we called it a day. We'll be back before too long helping with more projects I am sure!

HERE are all the pictures I took when I was over there. They have been hard at work on the yard, too, so there are some pictures of their plants. Because I love taking pictures of flowers.

First I need to preface this to say that this is the third time I have written this post and it keeps getting deleted or lost or something and I am starting to think my blog is conspiring against me. So hopefully I can remember everything I have written and wanted to say.

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I went running TWICE this weekend. That might not seem like a big deal. But I am not a runner. I suppose it was actually more jogging than it was running.

Chuck had plotted out a route when he went running last week and I modified it slightly. It ended up being about 1.58 miles. Not too bad. A nice distance for a little run jog.

So I went last weekend and it sucked. It really kicked my ass. Chuck and I have gone to the gym and run on the track and I am always impressed that I can do that without too much trouble. But outside? That is a whole different story! Every tiny variation in the road is something I am not used to and it wears me out much faster.

When I ran last weekend, I stopped 3 times for short walks. (I was sure I was going to collapse into a pile of mush if I didn't.) Saturday I made it with only two walking spots. I walked shortly after a hill. I was impressed at how far I had gone this time without walking. The second walk was also after a small hill. I just wanted to recuperate a little.

Sunday I wore Chuck's heart rate monitor. (Mine was dead.) I wanted to see how close to death I really was getting. So I made it to the spot where I had walked the first time on Saturday. My heart rate was pretty high, but I wanted to see if I could get it back down without stopping and sure enough, I did. I continued on the trail until I was back out onto the sidewalk. I was exhausted; partly from going farther than I had the day before and partly from running the day before and just being tired from that. So I looked at my heart rate….Death is approaching….either walk or die!

So I walked for a short distance and was happy to see how quickly my heart rate recovered.

I ran the rest of the way home and I was impressed that I didn't want to fall over when I got home! This was an improvement already!

So overall, I was proud of myself for tackling this running thing over the weekend. I have a long way to go, but I had to start somewhere. I don't plan to run marathons or anything, I just wanted to get into a little better shape. I hope to run twice a week. That is my goal for now. We'll see how that goes. Now that it is getting lighter earlier, I will be more apt to go running in the morning before work.

Is there something you have done recently that you were proud of yourself for doing that you didn't think you could?

I know that my posts lately have been a bit dull (because I know you really care about what I had for lunch). And the posts have been few and far between. But hang in there. Life has been busy and stressful. I hope things settle down and move to a new kind of busy before too long. Class is over on May 11th and I KNOW I will have more time after that.

And heck…If you have something you want me to write about or have been yearning to know (ha!), let me know and I'll add it to my list of topics to post about!

And by the way Minnesotans…hasn't the weather been gorgeous!? I know it's going to get a little cooler for a while, but it really made me excited for the rest of Spring and Summer! I hope you have been able to enjoy it!

I came across this gallery from…wait for it…Levar Burton's Twitter page. I know. I'm silly! So here you go. Check out these little block figures. You'll be impressed at the ones you'll see.

Cube Dudes

*hint* Star Trek:TNG characters are on page 3!

Around Valentine's Day, I came across the cutest thing! Heart shaped paper clips! Now these aren't something that you need to buy. They are something you can make with your everyday, run of the mill paperclip.

Here's a website to one of the places I have found with instructions. But what really helped me, was seeing a video of how it's done. This video actually helped me even more!

I have these all over my desk now! I have them clipped to my calendar at work, attached to pictures, in my drawer in case I need one for something. I have also shown a couple coworkers how to make them and they thought it was really cute! The one thing we agreed on was that we would be sure we didn't attach them to anything that went to our boss!

Have fun making these and leave one for your sweetheart on a note!

Last weekend we made a quick trip to Lutsen for some skiing. We went with Chuck's coworker and his wife. We planned it the weekend before when we went skiing with them in town. We had a lot of fun.

We left on Friday after work and headed up there. We stopped in Duluth to get some dinner. Then after dodging about 100 deer on the way up, we made it to the resort. We checked in to our room and quickly hit the hay. No one got a very good sleep because throughout the night the temperature in the room kept fluctuating.

Then at 4:30 or so in the morning, the fire alarm went off. Chuck went to scope things out and no one else in the place was around. Shortly after, the alarm went off and we started falling back asleep….only to be woken up by a maintenance guy trying to get into our room. We aren't sure what he was trying to do to get into our room, but our friend got rid of him and we finally were able to get back to bed.

We woke up and got out on the hills by 9:30. Not too bad considering how tired we were. We skied and skied! It was such a nice day. Lots of sun and warm temperatures. With this weather, though, we ended up having sloppy slopes by the afternoon. Chuck and I stayed out skiing until about 3:30. I think our friends went in about 2:30.

After skiing we hung out in the hot tub for a while and then got ready for dinner. We decided we wanted ice cream first. So we took a drive to a town about 30 minutes away and got some ice cream. After that trip, we returned to the resort and went to one of the restaurants for dinner. When we got back to the hotel, we were all so tired we decided to go to bed early.

We woke up and hit up the breakfast buffet. YUM! Then it was off for some more skiing. We were skiing by 9. We stayed out there until about noon and then packed up to head home.

Chuck took our friend, Scott, and I down “The Plunge”. He went down it on Saturday and I chickened out. I shouldn't have. I guess the conditions on it on Saturday were WAY better than when we went down n on Sunday. It was really icy and dark back there, so I had a hard time seeing where I should go. Scott and I sent Chuck down part way first so we could see how he went. It didn't help. I went sideways down part of it and then made a couple turns. I could have stopped myself had I put my skis slightly more uphill, but instead I bailed and went down. Nothing too bad. Nothing came off and I got right back up. After standing with Chuck for a second, he told me to go the rest of the way down….and really…this wasn't a very long hill…..I had just freaked myself out. So he told me that I have done steeper than this and I just realized “Hey…yes I have” and took off down the rest of it.

I guess Scott fell on it, too. There was a ski patrol that came over at the same time we did and told Scott there was a friend of his that had multiple injuries on that run last week. NOT the thing to tell a person who is already uncomfortable to go down it. I guess Scott fell once (like I did) and then got himself back up.

It was nice to know that I did it, but I wish I would have gone when the conditions were better and not waited until Sunday. I will know for next time!

On the drive home, we stopped in Duluth for dinner at Grandma's. I love that place. Our service was terrible, but the food was tasty. Andrea (Scott's wife) and I decided we wanted ice cream. So we found a McDonald's on the way home and got a couple Shamrock Shakes with oreos in it. It was SO good! I am going to really have to fight the urge to get another one of those in the near future!

We got back to their car to drop them off and headed back home. We were back by about 7. It was a fabulous trip and I am so glad we were able to put it together on such short notice. We also made some new friends in Scott and Andrea and I look forward to hanging out with them again soon.

Sorry there aren't any pictures. Scott said he took a couple and I am waiting on those. But I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you!

Hope you had a great weekend and if you are in Minnesota, I hope you were able to enjoy the gorgeous weather we had this weekend!