The Battle of the Fleas
Ah, yeas, fleas - the bane of my existance for the entire months of August, September and most of October. What a nightmare. When I last posted about this, Tokes (the formidable pest control manager), Nick (original pest guy who kept scratching his head when I told him we still had fleas), and un-named guy (who spewed out facts about fleas like he was taking a final exam for something incredibly important) came to our house and blasted the heck out of it with toxic fumes. I could tell the difference when I arrived home later that day and could barely breathe as I walked through the door.
Whatever they did seems to have worked (knock on piles and piles of wood!). I THINK the fleas are gone (knocking feverishly). I haven't thought about fleas now for at least a week or two. Praise Tokes and his gang and hope to never have to see them again.
Running More Like the Wind and Less Like a Gentle Breeze
Running is going well, relatively. I'm by nature a slow runner and I don't think that will ever change. I read an article recently that said endurance is more important than speed, so I think I'll just concentrate on increasing my distance and not caring that every runner within a 1/2 mile radius is passing me, sometimes more than once. Who cares? I'm running! I'm putting one foot in front of the other and propelling myself forward for extended periods of time. Not everyone can do that.
I ran a 5K at the Homecoming weekend I attended at JMU, my alma mater. It was quite an experience. I'd been battling some kind of nasty respiratory illness for a week prior to the run and then made the mistake of staying up until midnight the night before the run. I was 99% sure I was not going to be able to drag myself out of bed the next morning. What I didn't take into account was that my guilty conscience would not allow me to desert my friend Alison who had also signed up for the 5K and who was counting on me to get her to the start line, given that she didn't trust her sense of direction. I couldn't let her down, so I dragged my sorry butt out of bed at 6:30 a.m. and forged ahead.
I think the only people who signed up for this run were extremely fit college students and alumni who run marathons. When the gun went off to start the race the entire crowd began sprinting up a huge hill, basically leaving me in the dust. The first 3/4 mile was uphill - torture. By the time I reached the 1 mile point, I could no longer see any runners in front of me and when I turned to look behind me I saw 3-4 stragglers bringing up the rear. A moment later the fastest runners were already running towards me, on their way to the finish line.
But I pressed on. At one point I saw no other runners and wasn't even sure I was still on the mapped course anymore. I hoped that there were at least a few people still behind me. I couldn't fathom the thought of being the last runner left. My friend Alison had disappeared from view within the first five minutes of the race. I breathed deeply and decided to enjoy my surroundings. After all, I was running through the beautiful campus of the university where I'd spent four (no wait, five) of the best years of my life. Some reminiscing was in order.
I made it to the finish line in approximately 35 minutes, not bad for someone who'd had 6 hours of sleep and a bad cough. And I didn't come in last place - out of 155 people I was 141. Alison came in 35th place and won 1st place in our age group. So for that I'm glad I dragged myself out of bed.
I've signed myself and the kids up for the annual 2 mile Turkey Chase near my mom's house in Bethesda. I'm also setting my sights a bit higher - planning to try a 10K sometimes in the next few months and hopefully a 10-miler by the spring. Hopefully . . .
The Kitchen Project That Never Ends
Once I finished painting the kitchen cabinets my project stalled for months. Part of the reason was that I could not decide on a paint color. I made the mistake of buying one of those huge color wheels with every color imaginable - too much information. I drove myself crazy trying to pick a color.
So I let my husband pick the color. He's color-blind. Sounds a little crazy, right? It actually makes sense. His color blindness is such that he has a hard time differentiating between different shades - which means subtle nuances that drive me nuts are completely lost on him. He picked a color within 30 seconds. It's called Sunrise.
It's a lovely golden color, kind of like a light pumpkin spice. I found this photo online and I love all the blues that go with it. I'm very proud of him for choosing it because usually his sense of color is WAY off.
So now I'm in the process of applying Sunrise to our kitchen walls. I'm determined to get this done this week. It pains me to think that I started the kitchen re-do almost a year ago (gulp!) But at least it's almost done.
Walk to Defeat ALS
Beautiful day spent with friends and family walking around the Washington Monument and talking about Tato. It was the anniversary of my dad's death but it was also my husband's 41st birthday - so the day ended up being a happy one, filled with lots of laughs and lots of meat at Hill Country Barbecue downtown. Oh, and we raised over $5,000 for the ALS Association. I'd say it was a huge success.
Life goes on - and in such a good way.
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