Run to the hills!

Run for your lives!!

I had an awesome playlist for my run today:

Let's Groove - Earth, Wind & Fire
Club Thing - Yoav
Get on the Good Foot - James Brown
Reckoner - Radiohead
The Distance - Cake
Rock With You - Michael Jackson

I've decided to stop running on the street for now and start running at a track so's I can listen to my Ipod without worry of being mowed down by a Mack truck or a soccer mom. It's amazing how music can be so motivating. I am running further and more often than I was before. I really think I will be ready for a 5K by at least May if I keep this up!

It's Crossroads Film Fest time again, and although I won't be here for part of the weekend, I am really excited nonetheless. I just think it's so cool that Jackson has a film festival as competitive as and as comparable to those found in bigger states or even in Europe. I got to preview a few of the films for the JFP, and I was really impressed with what I saw. The feature-length film I previewed was a documentary, a genre for which I am a total sucker. Some people are into horror movies, some are the romantic-comedy type, but give me a documentary and I am a happy camper. It can be about plastic wrap, I don't care - I will be riveted. I just haven't seen a documentary yet that didn't grab me. There must be something about documentary filmmakers - they know how to make the ordinary seem so much more interesting. Of course some topics are totally interesting... this particular film I saw was about a punk band in the UK where 3/5 of the band had developmental disabilities, and I think that's pretty interesting. But even if it was about parsnip farming, I'd watch it.

It's almost April, which means it's almost May, which means my BDAY is coming up soon. I have this awesome group of friends made up of many Taureans like myself, and we are planning a giant space-jump party since there are so many birthdays. I'm excited about that, but I'm also still pining to have my skating party that I didn't get to have for my 30th birthday. I have heard that the two remaining skating rinks in town aren't keen on adult birthday parties, but I may check into it, anyway. The only problem I have is that I would want to be able to drink for my party, and I'm pretty sure drinking and skating do not go hand in hand. But I am working on a soundtrack, nonetheless. Today I stumbled upon a whole slew of old-school roller rink songs on Itunes. Wonder if I can dig out those white skates with the pink wheels?

Seriously - this is what my birthday could look like:



I'm pretty sure the reason everybody was so skinny in the '70s is directly related to roller skating and blow. Probably in reverse order. So maybe skating and beer wouldn't be so bad after all?

Pig Snacks

The BF found a recipe for some type of British meat pie, and part of the recipe is a broth made from "trotters," or in Mississippi terminology, pig feet. Knowing that the suburban Krogers doesn't typically carry such pork parts, we headed to the Piggly Wiggly off Meadowbrook in search of trotters.



What a hidden treasure we found! First of all, there was a guy getting DOWN to the rock music in the parking lot. He was wearing headphones, dancing his ass off, whilst hanging on to his tricked-out bicycle. We stopped in the parking lot for a full 5 minutes just to watch him dance. Then once we were inside, we found a wall of bargain items - 3 packs of onion soup mix for $1, Jiffy cornbread mix 2/$1.00 - I snatched that stuff up. Plus, the meat selection was incredible! Not only did we find pig's feet, but we also found pig tails, ox tails, pig ears, hog mawls (which make me think of "Friday," but I don't want to eat them), and much much more. I even bought a "hen" thinking it was a regular ol' chicken. 2 hours cooking time later, I realized there was a huge difference. My enchiladas were still delicious though! Anyway, two thumbs way up for the Jackson Pig. I have been non-impressed - nay - scared shitless - of the Pig in Crystal Springs, but this one was much larger, nicer and had way better selection and better prices than the K-rogers.



That picture above is from a better spot to shop in Crystal Springs, Wilson's meat market. Best pork rinds I've ever had. Yes, I have a thing for piggies and all meats made from pig.



Just don't tell Nummies:

Random Doo Dads

There used to be a snack mix called "Doo Dads," do you remember that? That was my favorite snack in preschool.

We were rehearsing "All We Like Sheep" from "The Messiah" at choir practice the other night, and I couldn't help but wonder, why don't adults have to dress like sheep and angels and whatnot in church plays like kids do? I think "The Messiah" would be more fun if I could wear a sheep suit.

I have been waiting for a while for the grocery stores to start selling those colorful plastic balls that they keep in the big bins in the aisle. Sally is pretty athletic so I figured one of those toys would make the perfect little soccer ball for her. Tonight I was picking up a few things at the Krogers, and I heard this little girl saying, "Mommy, I want a BALL!" over and over. So I rounded the corner, and lo and behold, a big bin of colorful plastic balls! Much to the chagrin of the little whiny girl, I plucked one out and brought it home for Sally. She loved it, kicked it around awhile, and about 5 minutes later this is what I found:

It was the saddest thing I have ever seen.

That's the fastest $1.50 I've ever spent.

For Katie, my lone reader

I hope she isn't my only reader (but even if you were I'd still write for your entertainment K!), but since she asked for an update here it is.

I'm fine, I'm just fat.

I went to the doctor Monday morning and only had to read Coastal Living for about five minutes before they called me back. Then the nurse weighed me (I won't say what it was, but I will say I think their scales are WRONG), and took me into a little room and asked me what was going on. I started telling her about my BP being high a while back, and then the cat/puffer thing, and the chest pains, and the high BP last weekend, and I'm telling her as fast as I can, but she interrupts me and says, "So you're just here for a BP check?"

No, I said, well, yes, but also to see why I'm having chest pains. So she takes my BP whilst telling me that the home version of the sphygmomanometer (there's that word again) is no good, and it's no wonder I got a weird reading. She tells me my BP is normal and in comes the doctor. He is in an even bigger hurry than the nurse, but he listens enough to hear the part about the cats and the puffer. So he says it's probably just because of my asthma/allergies, and I will be fine.

I wrote them a check for $20 to tell me that nothing is wrong. Guess I should have gone for that run after all! Admittedly, I feel a little better this week, and maybe stress had something to do with the chest pain too because I have certainly been stressed the last week or so with work, but still. I couldn't believe how quickly they got me in and out and how disinterested they were in my CHEST PAIN. Normally if you go to the ER with chest pain they usher you right by the bleeding, barfing people in the waiting room. So maybe I need to find a new Dr.?

Anyway, I'm fine as far as I know, but I am fat, as evidenced by the pictures one of my clients took today at our Advocacy Day at the Capitol. I put the Rotund in Rotunda! It's okay though, I'm hitting WW hard core and trying to exercise somehow every day. I'm actually sore today from yoga I did yesterday, so that is a plus. Thanks for asking!

Down with the Sickness*

So Sally and I have both been a bit under the weather this weekend.

Friday night, I filled in for a friend and "hosted" the Singer/Songwriter's Showcase at Sneaky Beans, and the BF and his friend Bill joined me. I put "hosted" in quotations because I really did not have to do much - just introduce the artists and let them go to it, which to me is the best kind of "hosting" there is! Sherman Lee Dillon, Taylor Hildebrand, and Drew McKercher (who for some reason I wanted to call "Jeremy" all night, he looks like a Jeremy I guess,) played some really good tunes. Kudos to my friend Anna Kline who put the whole thing together. Next month she is doing an all-girls' singer/songwriter showcase, so check it out.

I had to go to Oxford Thursday for work, and I stayed with my good friend Emmy, who has two cats. I am allergic to cats, and Emmy does a good job of keeping them out of the spare bedroom so I won't be too affected, but I still had a pretty big allergic reaction, in the form of sneezing, wheezing, and itchy/watery eyes. I used my puffer (I have mild asthma) multiple times over the two days I was there, and by Friday my chest was hurting a little bit. I figured it was just because of the overuse of the puffer. Nonetheless, I went to the most awesome breakfast place with Emmy on Friday morning, Big Bad Breakfast, and had my fill of scramby eggs, ho-made sausage (they make it fresh on-site), home fries and a biscuit. I have been telling everyone I know about this place - go check it out if you are in O-town.

So I had to board Sally until Saturday morning. The BF and I picked her up and took her home, and I got to making lunch, which was Pad Thai with tofu and bean sprouts. We noticed Sally was not her usual spry self, and shortly thereafter she decided to puke on my carpet. After that (and I made the BF clean it up), there was a series of horks and gacks, dragging her to the linoleum floor of the kitchen, only to have her barf on the carpet when we weren't looking. Every time I took her outside, she would graze like a little moo cow. For those who don't know, dogs eat grass when their tummies are upset - it makes them barf. I don't know what they fed her at the vet's, but next time we are taking our own food, that's for sure!

Later on that night, I started having mild chest pains again. I didn't want to scare anybody, but it was rather annoying. I told the BF, and he made me lie down with my feet up. We had a healthy dinner of seared tuna over mixed greens with strawberries, goat cheese and pecans, and I took a couple of BC powders, which made me feel better. We took my blood pressure, which was a bit high, and I went to bed at a reasonable hour. I slept until about 10:45 this morning.

Today has been okay - Sally has still been a little under the weather, but she did eat some kibble and just a few blades of grass. We totally missed the snow, or at least I did. BF said Sally tried to eat it when he took her out early this morning. I managed to do some yoga this afternoon, and wanted to take my BP afterward, just to see the effect, but my stupid digital sphygmomanometer (how's that for a $5 word?) wouldn't work right. So I really have no idea what my BP is this evening. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow to get it checked out. I need to lose some weight - that much is obvious - but only like 10 or 15 pounds. I think that will get me back to normal BP and everything, but until then I might have to take something. I want to be able to continue my running (which was going pretty well until this happened), but I don't want to be found lying in a ditch somewhere, either. I can just see it now - the headlines would read, "Pudgy woman found dead of a heart attack on her pathetic less-than-a-mile running route."

On the money-saving/making front, I went to the grocery store for the first time in a week on Friday, used coupons which saved me like $20, and should have enough food to get me through until the next weekend, or even the next paycheck, who knows? Also, there is this event going on next weekend at a local hotel where you can go sell your gold, so I may go check that out and see what I can get. I actually have a little more money than I thought I would at this point after paying bills and stuff, so maybe I am saving a little bit? Stay tuned chickens!

*Sorry for the reference to a pretty lame hard metal song - I don't remember who does the song but I did rock out pretty hard to it whenever it used to come on the radio. So there's that.