Joshua AFTER!

Kelly After!

Joshua Before

Joshua After

Kelly Before

Kelly After

Someday, I will have time again and I will be able to post meaningful posts full of wit, warmth and wisdom. Instead I shall simply post - I am tired. I biked too much this weekend. Trying to keep up with the house is hard. Trying to keep up with homework is hard. Trying to keep up with exercise and healthy eating is hard. Trying to keep the dogs exercised is hard. I'm grumpy and I fear I'm burning out slowly.

So I'm going to go throw the ball for the dogs for a while and then eat some ice cream. Because ice cream helps everything.

Two entries in less than one week! Go me!

I think if I didn't have a lifetime account that I had paid $99 for that I would probably switch to a different blog format as xanga appears to be mostly dead and beyond repair. Oh well. While it lasts, I shall write here. And hopefully I remember to actually download all of my entries for the last 9 or 10 years sometime - just in case Xanga goes fully defunct and this site goes away.

I've been 30 for exactly 2 months today. It really is no big deal. But I'm not sure if it's no big deal because I don't have time for it to be a big deal with all the other stuff going on in my life or if it's just really nothing more than another year, another decade and another day. Guess we'll find out when I'm less busy - which should be about this time in 2011, when I'll be 31!

Still no news on the unemployment front. No interviews. Nothing. Not even an unemployment check yet. I'm really not excited about being a single income household.

School continues - immunohematology/immunology looks like it will be better taught than hematology. And it will certainly require LESS microscope time, which is immeasureable thrilling unto me!

In terms of physical stuff, I am currently at the lowest body weight that I can remember being as an adult. I may have at one point weighed less in graduate school but I don't remember it. I know that I haven't been this light on my feet in more than 5 years. Of course, I workout a lot more - running 4 days a week (MWF and Sun) as well as lifting/cross training the other three days - including a 10+ mile bike ride at least once a week. I'd really like to get the biking level up higher but we'll see.

It is not, however, not even mostly about exercise. It's more about eating. Or what I'm NOT eating. I'm currently avoiding meat, dairy and sugar products (including honey, agave nectar and anything with fructose that isn't a fruit). I mostly eat beans, fruit, vegetables and a small amount of whole grains. I'm not fully vegan at this point - since I can't give up eggs for breakfast and I still use meat as a condiment (i.e. I cook bean soup flavored with a strip of bacon - 1 strip of bacon in 12 or more servings). I also try to eat tuna at least once a week - trying to keep those omega3s up!

I do admit, that the week or two before I donate blood (which I try to do every 56 days) that I generally consume some beef (usually 3x - 2 oz or so) to try to help my chronically low hemoglobin levels. Stupid anemia! But I shall prevail! I've been trying to up my green leafies (including kale!) as well as taking chelated iron and a multivitamin. That seems to help at least a little bit.

This weekend is the 6 mile mud run down at Rawhide - which includes obstacles! Like a slip and slide! And two river crossings! And a waterfall! And a mud pit! I may, in fact, be REALLY excited about this event...what do you think?

Wow, another 3 months flows on by and here I am again. Still wanting to promise to write more but knowing I simply haven't the time or the willpower.

The half marathon went well - I finished in just under 2 hours and 40 minutes. Karen kicked my behind by a good 10 minutes or so. With regards to running, things are going quite well though I'm still not averaging a sub-10 minute mile. I have Pat's Run (4.2 miles) on this coming Saturday - which will be awesome since it finishes on the 42 yard line of Sun Devil Stadium. I will try to get some pictures of it but they will likely end up on facebook. Also has a smashing tech shirt - which I will be running in. The following Saturday is the Dirty 6 - a six mile mud run with 9 obstacles. I'm super super excited to run that. And to get filthy. And to be on a slip and slide. Yeah, it will rock.

In other news, school is going well. I'm about 1/4th of the way done or more.

Oh, and Joshua got laid off about 3 weeks ago. And that really sucks.

Oh, and someone stole my debit card number this week. Which is also of the suck.

My house is valued at less than 50% of what I paid for it (or so sayeth my property tax valuation).

But let's not dwell on the ickies. Pat's Run on Saturday is my focus - as well as the fact that I started Immunology/Immunohematology!

My to do list is nuts. I have a school list, a work list and a home list. Long and long and long. I am already counting the number of classes left already.

I finished my first course (2 weeks long only) and have started the second one. Urinalysis is really less fun than you'd think.

My husband broke his foot which will necessitate surgery on Thursday. It gets me a day off, I guess. But I'll be studying the entire day anyway.

"Life style change" is still in progress. Primarily vegan. Sadness there. Primarily low carb. Very sadness there. Mostly, I eat fruits, vegetables and beans. No dairy. Minimal meat. And slightly amounts of carbohydrates in the form of whole grains. Theoretically, I'd like to see the baked goods all pretty much go bye-bye but I love toast.

Less than four weeks until the half-marathon.

Huh. So it appears that I missed November and December. Oops. I really wasn't dead. Or really all that busy. I was mostly LAZY.

Oh well. Life continues.

Let's see --> it is the last day of 2009. Tomorrow is 2010. I'm only caring because I theoretically have tomorrow off of work.

In the past few months...I fell back onto soda pretty hard core (helllllllooooo coke) and stopped eating a lot of my veggies. I'm not really up too badly in weight but it makes me feel not as healthy and less likely to run. Started a feedback loop of Kelly eats poorly therefore she doesn't run because she feels poorly so therefore she eat poorly and then doesn't run and so feels poorly...you get my drift. It was also helped by the discovery of the world's tastiest cookie - Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk. They are seriously easy, evil and awful for you. And I have made them at least 4 times since finding the recipes. And notice how I just gave it to you? Yeah. You're welcome!

There was also much of the company. Sister in law, parents and parent in laws over various time points. That does not help me to eat like a normal person.

I also ran a 10k Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day (66:02) and a 12k on December 12th (82:45). And there is a 10k scheduled for January 9th - all preparation for the half marathon that is February 15th. My sister will be flying out for that - she arrives the 13th of February.

That's about the sum total of what's been going on for me - I'm mostly hanging out on Facebook lately...

Bust - 40"
Waist - 37.5"
Hips - 44"
Thigh - 26.25"
Arm - 12.25"

Running is making my ass rounder.

I completed this week's 9 mile long run in 104 minutes. It is slower than I'd like but at that pace, I'd still net a 2.5 hour half marathon. So, I'm not going to complain. At least not overly much. Distance first, speed second.

I'm writing this at work. On a Saturday. During overtime. Because we have some clients from hell who want stuff NOW - no matter that things only arrived two days ago and that I had to be called in to get this shit done. Stupid job. Stupid people. Stupid stupid. Oh well, my overtime here will just about pay off Karen's ticket out to do the half marathon with me in February.

Tomorrow Nanowrimo starts. I am excited. I am participating (and so is Kimberly) and while I have a plot, I really only have a very very vague plot. No plot outline, no character sketches and no idea where (if anywhere!) this story will go. I'm a brave soul, I guess. But I figured, classes don't start until mid-December, I might as well actually DO Nanowrimo this year, instead of wanting to do it and avoiding it again. I will be blogging bits and pieces of the story, I think. Well, maybe. I guess it depends on how bad it sucks!