Saturday: Nothing Tastes as Good as Skinny Feels

With my husband busy biking today, I had to take Ivan with me on my run. My friend Genie, who I now qualify as a saint, met me at the park to run the 5.8 mile loop with Ivan in the jog stroller. She even pushed the stroller up some of the hills. We had a great run, though Ivan melted it down for the first couple of miles. We finished in good time, and I let Ivan run about afterwards, though as per usual, he wanted to play in the street oblivious to oncoming traffic, so his running about did not last long.

After we ran, I wanted to hang around and talk to the running group, but I quickly realized as I have realized many times before: it is difficult to fraternize when you must be actively involved in suicide watch. Ivan wanted nothing more that to hurl himself off the brick steps at the front of the park directly into oncoming traffic. I felt like my conversations went something like this:

"So, how far did you run - Saints preserve us, Ivan don't jump, DON'T JUMP OR MAMA WILL SPANK - what were you saying?"

"Ten miles, that is great for starting at - IVAN!!! IVAN!!! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!!! IVAN!!! - I'm so sorry, what were you saying?"

Honestly, that's about how it goes. I screech at Ivan, I run to stop him from hurting himself in some way, get back to the conversation and forget what in the world I was talking about. It is a bummer, no doubt about it. The thing is, I don't care if he gets dirty or muddy or puts his hands or feet in a puddle. I don't care about those things at all. All I need to do is avoid a time consuming trip to the ER and preserve Ivan's life. It doesn't sound so hard, right?

Next week, I should finally get to run with the running group unimpeded. Also, I am very pleased that Lynn, my swim friend, is going to be joining our running group. She is also running Boston this year, and I am hoping that I can casually force a few people into a training group that will keep me motivated until April. That is my covert plan.

At home, I got in a Gilad workout, which was just great, lots of good ab work and lunges. I finished watching Valentino: The Last Emperor. Such a great film about one of the last classically trained couture designers left. Just amazing craftsmanship and extreme personalities. Now watching Lagerfeld Confidential, as I am on a couture film jag.

In closing, my sister sent me a great quote from Kate Moss (probably her only one, for the love of Mike): Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.

So true, right? It is my holiday mantra. I am ready for the three of you: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year. Skinny feels better than egg nog, or dressing or pumpkin pie. Honestly, friends, if I am forced to stimulate the economy by buying new jeans after the New Year, my budget might explode.

Friday: Swim

Today, I woke up late as per usual and sprinted out the door with Ivan in tow. OF COURSE, there was some epic traffic snarl which put me to the pool LATE, though I left ON TIME, though I woke up LATE. I was on the edge of the pool at 8:50ish and was able to swim a 200 meter warm-up, before starting the workout, which is as follows:

• 200 warm-up
• 4 x 100 IM @ 2:00
• 3 x 200 @ 3:45
• 12 x 100 @ 1:45
• 12 x 50 @ 1:00

Actually, I probably didn't get in all the 50's, which means it was like a 2700 meter workout. Generally, I feel like anything less that 3000 is a pittance, but I had no choice but to make do. I got Ivan from the nursery and headed home and meant to do many other things like run and do a Gilad workout, but no.

I vacuumed my new rug and got rid of the old rug, I did phone errands and worked my crossword puzzle. In the afternoon, I took Ivan in to the pool to practice his swimming. While Ivan has not lost any of his floating skills, he is currently a terror in the pool. As soon as he hits the water, his behavior plummets to what I would assume is the behavior of a pack of wild dogs when tossed the carcass of wildebeest. He takes toys from the other kids, he fights and sprints around the pool, he hurls himself into the pool nearly hitting his head. By the time I had tackled his slippery little body and dragged him from the premises, he was bleeding from his chin and had scraped up the tops of his feet and his knees and his his stomach from trying to get away from me and get back into the pool. He was not crying, but shouting angrily and waving his fists and no doubt uttering infant expletives.

At home, I decompressed took Ivan on a walk. In the evening, my parents brought me Moe's for dinner. Early to bed, as up early to run!!

Thursday: Three Workouts

You know, I am clearly one of those nerdy, accomplishment driven people that thrive on tatting up their "to do" list at the end of the day. It is what I do and probably why I find this blog so deeply satisfying.

To all of you wondering about when Sloan Manor may be completed, you may not want to hold your breath. The porch is finished to the point that it probably meets some codes, and the windows do not have pane dividers, but are functional windows from which I can see the pile of sidewalk stones that have not yet been used to make the new sidewalk. We do have up the new molding, but it has not been painted. The lump in the front yard has been shaved off and re-sodded. AND TODAY, we got seven new trees AND new drapes. It seems that we Sloans are starting many projects that do not get completely finished in the originally assessed amount of time. NOW, I will tell you my strategy for tying up loose ends: throw a party. In the month of February or March, I am planning on setting a date to invite many people to my home. This will throw my husband and I into a frenzy (A FRENZY) of project finishing. All loose ends will be tied up in a week; mark my words. So watch for a party invite from the Sloans and let the FRENZY begin.

Now, Ivan and I had a good three mile run this morning, and when we came home, Ivan had a ride on the tree diggers backhoe. Ivan and I then took a walk and had coffee and got home to find that The Beast had killed a mouse. So fabulous!!! It is the only reason to have a cat: we are mouseless.

After, dead mouse removal and a diaper change, Ivan and I did Gilad. After Gilad, I made Ivan some mini-quiche for lunch and he did not eat any of them and I ate all six. Yes, its true. Then Ivan went down for his nap and I rode the trainer for half an hour at top speed, while I watched National Trust Gardens: Stourhead edition. It is my favorite program on our HD channel. It is a video tour through all of the National Trust properties in the UK. The gardens and homes are just amazing.

I got ready and headed into work, which was so nice. I then came home and worked with the new drapes and made dinner before settling in for the Thursday night line-up. Parks and Reacreation made me laugh outloud!!!!

Getting ready to knit and watch the Project Runway Finale: Part I

Back to swim tomorrow!!!1

Wednesday: Veteran's Day

So, today was Veterans day and the pool was closed, so there was no swim practice at all. I have been at home all day. Not once did I drive my car. So weird, right? I was somewhat insomniac last night, so I stayed up and read a good deal of my Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman book. She gets more horrifying with every page, and I just keep turning. Most likely it will be finished up tonight, and I can get started on The Elegance of the Hedgehog.

Anyway, because I stayed up so late reading, I overslept. This is a common occurrence. This time of year, however, I start to get stuck running later in the morning anyway, because, if I run too early, I worry that Ivan is too cold, and then I feel the guilt. THE GUILT wears me down. The birth of Ivan gave me a monster dose of THE GUILT. It hangs around my neck like an anvil if Ivan has been in his car seat too long or if he is cold or if his teeth chatter because I have let him play in the bath so long that the water has gone cold. For this reason, I got up later and had breakfast and tea to let the weather warm up, before loading Ivan into the stroller and getting in a 3.5 mile run at a fast clip. For the occasion, I loaded a great song by Owl City onto my shuffle called Fireflies (please click and listen). A new song on the shuffle is a huge boost to the morning run.

At home, I let Ivan run around the yard and climb and chase the cat, before we went into the house and Ivan took his nap. I lazed out and took a nap while he took a nap (I never do this, but it is a holiday). I managed to get in a Gilad workout, which was great, as I neglected it while convinced I had H1N1. When Ivan when down for nap number 2, one of my students came over to work on his freshwater perch lab for marine biology.

Ivan is officially down for the night and I am settling in to knit. Oh, what shall tomorrow hold?!

Tuesday: Recovery Run

So today, I slept late. I stayed up a bit too late reading my Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman book, because it is THREE KINDS OF FASCINATING. I can just barely put it down at night. I can't wait to write the book report, because Pamela is conniving yet caring, a gold-digger, yet she seemed to come from old money. She is a conundrum; so terrible, yet so amazing and bold. She's not really all the attractive either. I mean I am just baffled by her, yet mesmerized!!!

Anyway, the book is a great read, and I sense that the author kind of hates Pamela, so I will have to delve further into that. It is all very interesting.

I went to Bible study today, and it was great!!!! I did not stay for small group, because I was supposed to do some testing at the Learning Matter's offices today, but it was cancelled. This was actually a great thing, because I had missed my run when I slept late. When I came home from Bible study early, my husband was home tending to some tree acquisitions. For this reason, I had the happy occasion of going on a run on my own. I ran a fast 3.5 miles and made it home so that Elliott could head in to work and I could put Ivan down for his nap.

I showered and got ready for work, traded off the baby with Katelen and headed into work. No swim tomorrow, since it is Veteran's Day and the pool is closed. Hopefully, Thursday and Friday will see me back on the workout schedule. Watching the Little Couple and getting ready to continue knitting the cabled bolero!!

Monday: Am Hypochondriac

I have felt relatively ill all day. Not extremely sick, just a little achy, a little nauseous, and my head hurt. I became more than convinced that I had some latent form of H1N1 that was going to render me ill like a small-pox victim of the 1400s.

My fear of small-pox is well documented. I once made the mistake of listening to the audio book The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston on the way to Birmingham to visit my sister. By the time I arrived in Birmingham, I was so terrified at the idea of an air-borne epidemic that I could barely inch myself from the car. I thought seriously of forming a saran wrap bubble around myself and communicating with the outside world only while swathed in latex and a protective layer of hand-sanitizer. Also pondered was the idea of going through life with a scuba pack so as to avoid breathing the easily contaminated air of the masses. Another step that should clearly be taken, I thought, was that a massive vaccination/immunization project should be started by our government. I developed a catchy logo, "be a fox, outsmart the pox" (seriously, I thought that up on my own), and pretty much lived in a paralyzing catatonic state of smallpox/anthrax fear. I'm just a bit that way. It took me months to get over.

Anyway, I took Ivan to get the second part of his flu shot today, though I must admit, it was really just a front to get the Doctor Bastian to see if I was going to die of H1N1 today or slowly and painfully tomorrow. Doctor Bastian, ever patient with my ridiculousness, told me that as I was not running a fever or showing ANY major flu signs, he was not even going to test me for H1N1. He said I probably had some sort of vague viral illness and that if I still felt bad later in the week or got worse, to call him. As per usual, I appreciated his waiting until he left me alone in the examination room to roll his eyes all the way back into his head, as I imagine he must have.

I texted one of my students to let him know that I might run late, as I was getting tested for H1N1. He promptly emailed me back to say that "you are such a hypochondriac. Why don't you get tested for testicular cancer while you are there?". So clearly, I have issues.

That's about all that went on today. I just finished my Bible study assignment, and I am now getting ready to continue work on my cabled bolero.

Sunday: Sickness or Slacker

I went to bed at 10:30ish last night, and I got up at 11:30 this morning. Clearly, I am seriously ill or Ivan is staying with my parents. I did not feel great, but I woke up and was able to spend my afternoon knitting my cabled bolero. I knit my way through Away We Go. I recommend this if you are 30-something and expecting a baby and planning a road trip. It had Jim from The Office and this girl who was on Saturday Night Live. It was sweet and weird and made some good fun of breast feeding. So watch it, or maybe don't watch it if breast feeding and purposeless child having make you uncomfortable. I think breast feeding is great, an there is a relative purpose to my child rearing, so I found it to be a lovely film.

The soundtrack to the movie, however, was worth the watch. Alexi Murdoch is a new favorite of mine. The music in the movie was just great, and the music is both poignet and perfect for the film. So, I will be reading and listening to more about this artist.

After this I continued knitting and thought about getting ready for the party we had this afternoon. My friend, Linda van Auken had a birthday party that was hosted by her boyfriend, Marty. He has a lovely home and had everyone over for Linda's birthday. It was such a nice afternoon, and I have had a huge allotment of both kale and broccoli: a superfood triumph that I like to think negates my chocolate chip cookie intake. Surely it does. Why will I eat so many chocolate chip cookies? It is and inevitable failing of my willpower.

Anyway, I really did not feel great today, so I skipped swim and luxuriated in the slight possibility that I might have the H1N1. While this did not prevent me from having a fine time at Linda's party, it did prevent me from exercising today. I knitted up a cabled bolero storm and ate myself into an alternate chocolate chip cookie reality.

We were able to pick up Ivan after the party. We brought him home and shuffled him right into his Christmas footie pajamas. It's November, right?; the perfect time for Christmas pajamas with reindeer on the feet.

Currently, renewing my love of Arrested Development on IFC. So brilliant was the show that renewed my crush on Jason Batemen. It is the best show of all time, by the way. 30 Rock is a close second, but if you haven't watched Arrested Development, get started!!!! It will make you laugh out loud.