Motivation Monday: Day 99

Yesterday's run.

Today will be Day 99 of the run streak. Some of my friends are going for one hundred days. Some of my friends are aiming for a whole year. Today I’m aiming just to get one mile in. I’m tired. It’s cold. But I have access to a treadmill so I could turn on a podcast and easily zone out for a bit. As soon as I find the motivation to change my jeans for running shorts.

That’s about it for today. 

Motivation Monday -- I Fell Down

Yeah. It's Tuesday again. I'll get the hang of this one of these weeks.

I'm a little bummed out. I fell while running on Saturday morning. I tripped on a bump in the sidewalk. It's so stupid. I'm not as scraped up as my last fall, but my right knee is still fairly bruised and swollen. Yesterday I Frankenstein shuffled around the grocery store and it exhausted me. Today I'd like to try walking one mile. The few pounds I'd lost the last two months have migrated back on because I haven't been as active as I'd like to be and we were traveling for a couple days so it was difficult to eat as well as I'd like to.

The Army Ten Miler is in less than a month. With my hamstring and IT band I'd been beginning to think I was going to have a nice, slow run rather than aim for a PR. Now I don't know what's going to happen. I'm keeping the race in mind but I'm sure I'm leaning more toward a nice, slow run than a PR at this point. Somewhat ironically, my hamstring and IT band feel a lot better so maybe this forced rest is actually going to do me some good.

I'm trying to be more conscious about drinking water and eating lighter until I'm back into training mode.

For now, though, I really want to curl up with a book and a hot cup of coffee.

Rainy Days and Mondays

I know it's Tuesday, but with school starting today it feels like Monday. (This is the first set I ever made on Polyvore, four years ago! It has very little to do with my post; I just like it.)

Rainy Days and Mondays by rabbitrabbit featuring Topshop

It's the second rainy, dark day in a row. Yesterday there was too much thunder and lightning to go outside and play but I'm hoping to get Muffin outside today (although I just heard thunder, so maybe not). I'm too tired to fight with her right now about turning off the television. We're both tired of coloring, Play-Doh, Legos, and unpacking and we don't have our full repertoire of toys and activities. And I can't fully unpack the bedrooms yet anyway (see below).

We had a rough morning at the first day of school and we both need a little quiet alone time. She doesn't seem to understand that I need to work while she's at school, so I can't stay there with her all day to play. Today was supposed to be my day to start working and running regularly again and it didn't happen and I'm a little grouchy about it. Tomorrow there's no school and I'm not optimistic about Thursday and Friday going my way, either.

We moved into the new condo last week, warily. Some parts of the carpet smelled brand-new while others still seemed a bit off, but I was tired of not being in a real home and I think all my moving helpers were tired of loading and unloading my stuff, so we moved in. Then, after a couple days of rain when I had to close the windows for long periods, causing some stuffiness, I realized that not all the carpeting had been replaced. They'd only done the stairs and the hallway, not the bedrooms. The bedrooms still have a funk, not to mention the carpet looks older and has sort of sticky feel when I walk on it barefoot. They're coming back on Thursday to do the bedroom carpets so what little furniture and other belongings we have in them I have to move out.

We had a nice weekend with Mike home, though! Lots of playground time for him and Muffin. We used our "welcome to the neighborhood" coupon from Lowe's to buy a grill and patio furniture during the end-of-season sale. Mike ate home-cooked food while I started to feel at home in our new kitchen.

The next few days are going to continue being rough. But I'm trying to remain positive that over the course of a few weeks things will smooth over. She'll get used to school. The carpets and a couple other maintenance issues will be fixed. Mike will be home for a long vacation. I may even be able to run that half marathon at a slow-but-sure pace and then set my sights on a Turkey Trot or Jingle Bell Run.

I'm not even asking the rain to stop and let out the sun. I'd just like the thunder and lightning to stop so Muffin can go outside in her new raincoat and rain boots.

Motivation Monday -- No More Time for Excuses

From Pinterest.

I do love running, even though it hasn't been a top priority for the last couple weeks. All that changes today though. Later this afternoon. I didn't quite get all my homework finished before I went to bed last night so when I woke up early this morning I headed for my laptop rather than my running shoes. But I have a plan for today. More homework while Muffin is at school. A nap while Muffin naps (I was up late trying to finish up my work, too.). And then a three-mile run around the park with the jogging stroller this afternoon. I posted my intention to run to the playgroup I belong to so between that and the blog, it's out there for everyone to know about and hold me accountable to showing up and doing it.

Have the driver do the grocery shopping and have the housekeeper make something hearty and healthy. I have these resources, yet after how many years of living abroad now (four going on five?) I still haven't mastered using them to my full advantage.

I'm running against the clock. On Monday morning two weeks from now the half marathon will be over. I still plan on doing it, just running my best slowly but surely.

That Room

I wouldn't sign us up for Hoarders, but we collect stuff. Mike has his cameras and his bike parts. I have fabrics and bits of paper. We both have CDs and DVDs that have been listened to or watched once. We both have old clothes. Occasionally we do go through our stuff and pare it down a bit but we still end up with that room. That room where boxes remain unpacked and stuff that we need to keep but don't use ends up. All the moving around that we do hasn't cured us of our habit of collecting things and holding on to them forever. We moved in together about eight years ago and I'm afraid we might still have boxes from that first apartment stashed away somewhere.

We've lived in our current house for almost a year. We moved in just before Christmas and the last delivery of our household effects was on New Year's Eve. So I decided that before the end of the year, I want that room cleaned up and organized. I've had a junk room rather than a sewing room and office. It was a room that Muffin had never even seen because the mess was piled so high. Even when the mold hit, I braved the room long enough to rescue some fabric but we never go to the rest of the room.

When Mike had last Friday off and we had a full staff of housekeepers and nannies to keep Muffin busy, Mike and I went in and tackled that room.

It's still not perfect but it came a long way that morning. I've sketched out a couple little work tables to be made and I've figured out my storage needs. I've found homes for two sewing machines, the printer, and the scanner. All the fabric is on shelves. Our housekeeper gladly took some of the craft supplies that I felt I no longer needed. Her daughter and young cousins keep scrapbooks and love getting my crafting hand-me-downs. Muffin sneaks in there now and marvels at the fabrics, anxious to touch them all, making little "oh, oooh," sounds.

I can't wait to start using my new sewing room office.

P.S. We've been doing some big cleanups around the house, and one morning we put out several garbage bags, including one from the catbox, because, well, we have a cat who uses the catbox so we have to throw it away. Within an hour, every garbage bag was gone from in front of our house except the one full of kitty litter. It took several days for that one to disappear. The ups and downs of having a "private" garbage man. He doesn't really have to take anything he doesn't feel isn't worth sorting through to see what can be resold. Eventually it all disappears though.

Slow Week in the Hills

It's been a slow week here. One of the highlights for me was finding fresh thyme at one of the grocery stores. Four trips out to the quarantine office and Ellie is now here not only in actuality, but legally as well. I bought Muffin some over-priced t-shirts and shorts from the British equivalent of Old Navy here because I was afraid that if I waited for mail-order from the actual Old Navy, she would have outgrown everything I ordered by the time it arrived. We saw the neighborhood Rolls Royce. We saw the hot-pink Mercedes that's owned by someone out in HITEC City. It's been too hot to go outside and have any fun.

Yup, exciting.We're in a summer slump I guess. I hope we can get out to the mountains in a few weeks for a short vacation. We need cooler temperatures and a change of scenery.

I guess I'll be reading a lot this summer

I moved from my hotel into our summer house on Sunday. It's a great little house. Clean and open. Big yard. Tree-lined street. One mile from the beach. Not really my taste in decor, but that's what you get with furnished rentals. The internet's a little wonky and the most basic cable doesn't come in regularly. However, the wireless feature for my Kindle works and there are plenty of places to sit quietly and read.

All those baby books are starting to feel like homework. I swear I'll get to that Labor and Delivery chapter of What to Expect as soon as I finish Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter.

The Year Ahead

No year-end recaps for me. This was one of the most stable years we've had in a long time in that we lived at one address for the entire thing. When we leave Bujumbura this summer, almost 2 years to the day we arrived, I think it will be the record for the longest amount of time we've spent in one abode. (I hesitate to say "house" because we've had so many apartments and hotel rooms along the way.)

Forget about a decade recap. My head hurts trying to list all the places I've lived in the last ten years, let alone jobs I've had and other stuff that's happened.

We are ringing in the new year by resting. As usual for us after a busy period (trip to Kenya, family visiting, and then Christmas) we are feeling flu-ish. We have a busy year ahead of us, what with moving from Africa to India and planning to spend some time in the States. Also, I'll be losing my job when we leave here and will have to find another one when we get to India. Plus I registered for an online master's program starting in March. So I think we deserve a low-key, do-nothing new year's long weekend to build up our strength for the rest of the year. 

Regular blogging will resume soon, both here and at What I Eat. I have lots to say. I just need the energy to type it all out.

Happy Presidents' Day!

I have lots to talk about regarding recent D.C.-Metro Area adventures. But I'm tired. For the time being, enjoy this educational song and video about George Washington. (Adult themes and language.)

From Wonkette.

It's so nice to have Mike home. He's adjusting to living in a real home and getting his sleep patterns on track. He went back to work today. We've watched movies, gone shopping, just made up for lost time. It's great.

I went ahead and signed up for Adventure Boot Camp to kick-start my workout routine. It starts in about a month. We'll see what happens.

just a few words

I'm supposed to be working out and/or sewing and/or cleaning up the kitchen, i.e., something constructive and useful instead of watching TV (West Wing Marathon Monday on Bravo) and reading blogs right now. Hrmph.