Welcome to my World

To quote a semi-wise old chick who has the benefit of hindsight and age:

“Less talk, more walk. Stop thinking and start doing.”

****************************************

It’s Wednesday.  A day off from the paying job does not mean a day off from the work of life.  I just jotted my random to-do list (of stuff that was really for today + stuff I didn’t get done Monday & Tuesday; fuck) on to a post-it note in the order I need to accomplish it.  First thing on it is:

Run with Lotus

Then a bunch of household chores and paperwork.  Then a haircut, errands (bank, Cape Cod Nutrition).  Then more paperwork and chores.  Then take Spawn to music.  Then work on an advertising project with Josh this evening.

****************************************

Oh, wow.  Action, rules, consistency … what a concept. 

UPDATE, 9:02AM.  

Spawn and I shared a banana/blueberry protein smoothie.  Got Emma packed up for her field trip today (Wellfleet Nature Sanctuary! Veronica had her field trip yesterday, New Bedford Whaling Museum) and got them on the bus.  Lotus and I ran two miles.  It’s an absolutely beautiful, sunny morning – cool, dry air.  I already have three things crossed off my list, and breakfast in my belly:

Two eggs, heel piece of Matthew’s whole wheat bread with 1 tbs. butter, half an avocado…Winnie the Pooh kid-sized plate

And I am off to the showers, then off to my haircut appointment and other assorted errands before I come home to play with the never-ending cycle of laundry (there are three baskets of clean, folded clothes to put away; one load in the dryer and another in the washer as I type.  It. Never. Ends.) and pay a pile of bills.  Adulthood blows but life rocks.

// posted by Norma @ 5:52 AM 9 Comments

Yesterday was one o’them days where, for every item I crossed off my to-do list, I added two (or three) items.  I felt like I was all good and caught up with stuff the middle of last week; then all this new stuff crops up seemingly out of nowhere.  It’s okay.  I’m keeping all the balls in the air . . . so far. 

Yesterday, I split up a sunflower butter/banana/protein smoothie into three servings (Veronica wanted some) and used that to fuel my run with Lotus.  After my shower and morning chore-shit, I ate two eggs + the leftover spinach/strawberry/slivered almond/bleu cheese/raspberry balsamic vinegar salad that I had from the Father’s Day cookout.  And I made my lunch for work: a pile of steamed green beans, about 3 oz. grilled chicken breast, olives, tomatoes, half an avocado, the juice of half a lemon.  After work, I ate a big, unmeasured blob of sunflower butter mixed with ground flaxseed.  The Vegan Gypsy asked me recently why I don’t eat dinner very often – it’s simply because I seem to not need it.  Trust me, kids: if I am hungry, I eat.  I always have.  But I have finally learned that if I am not hungry (and if I’m going to be at home for the foreseeable future and have my food handy in case I do get hungry later, and I’m not recovering from a workout, or fueling up for a workout) I can skip a meal.  I don’t know if it’s that my typical post-work nut butter snack just happens to really fill up my belly, but, more often than not (even on days I’m off from work, my eating schedule stays pretty much the same), I am just not hungry around dinner time.  Sometimes I’ll still have a bunch of veggies and a little protein, but I have no problem cooking up food for the rest of the family and just hanging out with them.  We spend all our evening time together but there’s not always a structured meal.   As much as I believe in eating at regular intervals to keep blood sugar and insulin response regulated, after five years at this, if there’s one thing I know it’s my body – and as of late, my body’s usually not hungry after 4:30-5PM.  I just keep sipping water out of my big hockey bottle and have my prunes at bedtime.  I live the glamorous life, kids.

Today I’m getting in a good upper body workout (I think my legs have had quite enough running the past two days; thankyouverymuch), venturing off into the glamorous world of Army/Navy Surplus and Outdoor Goods, eating repetitive, boring, clean, whole foods, drinking enough water to drown a small gremlin, and knocking some shit off that to-do list . . . and probably adding some shit, too.

Some of you (and I’m not saying who) maybe wanna print out that graphic up top, make a couple of copies, and keep them where you can see them frequently.  Less talk, more walk.   Stop thinking and start doing.  This isn’t rocket science, we aren’t undertaking a massive covert military operation; we’re cutting the bullshit out of our lives and being straight with ourselves.  I fucking loathe Star Wars and all that is associated with it, but when it comes to cleaning out your head, your body, your very life, I will quote Yoda:

Go do it.

// posted by Norma @ 6:03 AM 15 Comments

It was a good day.

Sun, breeze, fresh air.  Awesome race.  Time with the family.  Steak tips.

It took forever for them to get the race results posted, but when I finally got to check them out on Sunday night, I was pleased.  I finished 85th out of 156 runners overall, 11th in the age 40-49 Female age group, and 42nd out of all female runners.  My official time was 51:13, which is a shitty 10:15 pace, but it was much better than I expected to do, and I had SO MUCH FUN doing it.

The kids got home around 2PM, and, shortly thereafter, the three of us drove down to Josh’s dad’s house to meet up with everyone.   We played a game of horseshoes – my first ever attempt, and I sucked bad, but I did score the winning point for Josh & me – had a cookout, sat around and talked and laughed.  Then we stopped by Josh’s mom’s house to see his stepdad, and then home, finally, after a long busy day and lots of time in cars for all four of us.

Lifelong friend il duce sent me the link to this post from a blog about classic comic books that is something that could NEVER be published today, because people might get their itty bitty feeeeewings huwt.  Right, Averyl?

Today is another pretty, early summer morning.  I’m going to run, then eat, then go to work. 

That’s all I got.

As you were.

// posted by Norma @ 5:40 AM 11 Comments

Ohhhhh man! 

I

Feel

AWESOME.

I haven’t run five miles in a row (nor has Ben) since we did Boston’s Run to Remember on Memorial Day weekend in 2010. 

And we fucking killed this thing (by our out-of-practice, three-years-older self-set standards).

The finish line clock read 51:12 when we crossed it.  Waiting to see what the official time is online, but all I was hoping was that we could do it in < 1 hour (we finished the 2010 race in just over 46:00, I think) – and we did way better than that.  We kept a strong, steady pace, side by side for the entire thing; just one brief stop for Ben to tie his shoe. 

Pre-race, in my car, waiting for Ben

Post-race, back at home, four 16.9-ounce bottles of water in the tank

Rather pleased with myself for totally crushing my expected time

Way cool technical t-shirt; we all got medals and shot glasses, too! I gave my shot glass to Ben, as shots and I no longer hang.

SO, that was my Sunday morning. 

And it was awesome.

I need to make something to eat, take a shower, make a big salad to take down to Josh’s dad’s house for our Father’s Day cookout, and wait for the Return of the Spawn.

Thanks for all the encouraging comments on the morning post!  I’m a fucking runner again . . . who woulda guessed?    The old chick pulled one out.

Can’t wait to do it again.

// posted by Norma @ 11:23 AM 15 Comments

Well, that’s not it.  That’s more glam face.  A self-indulgent, narcissistic selfie I took in the car while waiting for Josh when he was in a store.

But I got my game face on: it’s the Lazy Lobster 5-Miler this morning and I’m meeting up with Ben at 8AM to head over to the starting line and get runnin’.

Lotus and I had a good practice run yesterday:

She is my little running buddy.    She keeps a close eye on me when she sees me go in my closet and sit down to put my sneakers on.  If I come out and wave my baseball cap at her, she runs right to the door and starts dancing in circles.  If I come out and head for the basement door, she whines. 

Saturday:  Food was extremely routine.  Eggs/avocado/sweet potatoes.  Spinach salad with tuna.  Sunflower butter with flaxseed and an apple.  No dinner.  Work was a mad house allllll day.  Kayaks practically flying out the door, all kinds of people asking all kinds of questions.  I stayed an extra hour, then came home, took care of business, went off on a little adventure with Josh, came home and . . . continued the adventure.  I saw colors. 

Fueling up with a power protein smoothie and water and a fully-charged iPod full of ATTITUDE.  First song when I press the Play arrow as the starting whistle sounds:

// posted by Norma @ 6:12 AM 8 Comments

Thursday and Friday were kind of a non-stop blur of motion; stuff to get done and places to go. I didn’t even get all the stuff done.  There are more items circled than crossed off on my to-do lists for those days, and I’m not going to get to all of them today, either.  I hate feeling behind in stuff I have to get done.  I can’t play too much catch-up tomorrow, as I have my race in the morning (it’s not exactly far away, but not exactly local, either – I’ll have to leave the house at 7:30 and probably won’t be back til 11:30.  We’ll be heading down the Cape in the early afternoon to visit both sides of Josh’s family for Father’s Day.  This is my fourth Father’s Day with them.  I attended my first Josh family get-together just a couple of weeks into our ‘going public’ with our relationship (yes, we’re kind of like a celebrity couple in these parts – a notorious, sexy, much-envied celebrity couple – I’m only slightly joking here) and they were very welcoming, and very kind.  By the fall of 2010, I really felt like I had a family again.  It’s a very nice feeling.  Anyway, the next day coming up that I don’t have to set my alarm and don’t have anything (yet) written on a to-do list is a week from tomorrow.  Sigh.

Yesterday was slamming busy at work but it was a very good day.  I expect today will be the same.  In the late afternoon, Josh and I hung out on the couch with the kids roaming around the house.  We had an hours-long energetic discussion about politics, current events, societal expectations and other esoteric/intellectual bullshit stuff that demonstrated that we can disagree (strongly, sometimes) about the world around us but that we totally agree about our life together and how we’re living it.  I love him madly.

The evening schedule had a wrench thrown into it, so we decided to get out of the house and take the Spawn out to dinner and get back right about when their father arrived to pick them up for the weekend.  We went to one of our favorite places, Bangkok Thai Cuisine downtown, where we get to practice our very limited Thai vocabulary and laugh a lot with the staff, who love our attempts at their language, our appreciation for their culture and food, our practice of Muay Thai, our kids’ appreciate of all the above, and Josh’s Thai-themed tattoos.   I went with the asparagus curry stir fry with shrimp, no rice:

I also stole one tofu triangle with peanut sauce off Josh’s appetizer plate.

As always, I woke up five minutes before my alarm was set to sound.  I am having a coffee with almond milk and then I am going for a run on this absolutely beautiful, sunny, mild morning.  Then I’m going to eat breakfast (eggs and a sweet potato and avocado), make my lunch (a big bowl of raw veggies with a can of tuna plunked on top of it) and go to work.  Josh and I have a non-dinner date night plan for later this evening.  I love him madly. 

Think about it.

// posted by Norma @ 6:37 AM 12 Comments

So I have these two photos of ingredient lists.  One picture shows the ingredients in a box of store-brand peanut butter dog treats.  The other shows the ingredients in a box of national brand peanut butter cookies.  You guess which is which.

Which one sounds like a better quality product (in relative terms, people.  Despite what some trolls may scream at me later, there is no such thing as a “better quality” product found in a box in the supermarket.  It’s all junk and you don’t need to eat any of it. Ever.  You can rest assured that Norma will never tell you that some cookies “in moderation” are “a good choice!”  Ever. But one of these seems a little less offensive than the other, I think. I mean, if you were going to feed it to a living being you care about.)?

And what the fuck is apple powder?

So, please; comment.  Which of these would you think is “okay” to put in your kid’s lunch box?  And which one is a reward for rolling over?

Long fucking day yesterday.  Work, supermarket, dance class, dinner:

Rare steak, mixed greens, mushrooms, red bell pepper, 1/4 avocado.  (Yes, 1/4, not the usual 1/2. It was just Veronica and me eating at the time, so we shared the half avocado on our salads.)

Nothing else going on, just rain allllllll day.

It’s the weekend.

Your body doesn’t care.

Your body doesn’t know what day it is, but it sure does know if you eat crap, over-eat, and act like a slug.

// posted by Norma @ 5:37 AM 17 Comments

I feel like I kicked ass on Wednesday.  Emma and I shared a strawberry-banana protein smoothie first thing.  Lotus and I went for a good two-mile neighborhood run (had to re-route twice because of some neighborhood ASSHOLES who walk their dogs off-leash or let the dogs wander around alone.  Not cool.  There’s a leash law for a reason, people).

Then I had to run down to the bank quickly to finish up the thing from the other day (when you find good service somewhere, STICK WITH THAT PLACE!), and then I was back at home and thrust myself right into Good Housewife Mode.

First, breakfast:

That’s about three ounces of leftover pork loin, half an avocado, cucumber, raw baby carrots, and a teaspoon of mustard.

I worked on the kitchen, cleaned up my desk, TCB’d some Josh business stuff, tackled piles of laundry, and even organized my closet, all before the Spawn arrived home from their half-day of school.  When they walked in the door just a few minutes before 1PM, I was eating lunch:

That’s a pile of mixed greens, some raw veggies, leftover salmon, and two tablespoons of feta.  I also ate 15 almonds (that’s all that were left!), and around 2PM, I ate 3/4 c. of diced fresh pineapple.

Josh was working very locally so he stopped in for a little bit and then he was off to the mulch piles again.  The Spawn and I headed out a bit early before music lessons, because Veronica had a gift card she’d gotten for her birthday that she was itchin’ to spend.  We did that, and then I waited for the girls while they were in with their instructors.

We got home just before Josh finished up for the day.  I put burgers on the grill and had mine with the other half of the avocado and a pile of mixed greens:

Like my elegant dinnerware? That is a melamine kids’-sized Winnie the Pooh plate.  Seriously.

After dinner, I called my mother’s elderly spinster cousin.  I haven’t spoken with her in a few months, and she’s a really sweet person.  We never knew her well – she is a notorious loner – but she and my mother were the same age and grew up together and were always friendly, and she has been very kind to me all my life.  She’s alone in a big old house in what used to be a nice neighborhood but really isn’t anymore, and I worry about her.  Sigh.   She seemed to be doing as well as can be expected – has all her wits about her and still living a very active life, taking the bus all over town and just got her garden going.  She still makes homemade wine in her basement, too.

We have a fairly nice morning on tap, rain showers coming in the afternoon, and then some kind of Nor’easter predicted for tonight with rain continuing alllllll day tomorrow.   I am just about to go wake up the Spawn, then Josh, as he is taking advantage of the weather pattern to  lay down fertilizer on about 23 clients’ lawns.   I am going to get my sweat on, go to work, kick ass, come home, go grocery shopping (again), put another basket of eternal laundry away, take Veronica downtown to her dance class, come home and chill out.  That is my Thursday, June 13, 2013.

With all the “advances” being made by Big Pharma, even the morbidly obese (or, the DeathFat, as Paris calls’em) can load up on meds and devices and knee surgery and live a long, miserable life.  Medical science can keep you alive, if not exactly “well,” almost indefinitely these days. If you’re 30-ish (I know a lot of you are a lot younger than I am . . . fuckers), there’s a good chance you’ll make it into your 80s even if you are overweight and riddled with the effects of carrying around all those unnecessary pounds of fat.  Doesn’t mean the years are going to be fun ones.   Choose wisely.  Everything counts.

*mission accomplished

UPDATE, 7:27AM and all is well.  Emma and I shared a protein smoothie.  Kids off to school, Josh off to work. I opted for the basement as it is not easy trying to get just one dog out of the house to run and leave the other behind. And I can’t run with both of them.  So I went downstairs, warmed up for 10 minutes on the elliptical, then did a circuit:

Alternating 25 lb dumbbell curls x 10 each side

45 lb barbell curls x 10

35 lb dumbbell overhead triceps extenstion x 10

Three times around.  Then a minute of jumping jacks, a minute of jump lunges, and five minutes of abs.

Shower, eggs, work!

// posted by Norma @ 5:39 AM 13 Comments