Unhappy Kitty

I spent part of the afternoon sorting the clothes in my dresser and putting some aside for donation to charity. It had gotten to the point where the drawers were overflowing, so I had to do something. Simba was a little upset that I did this because that meant that the pile of clothes on top of my dresser were no longer there for him to nap on. Out of protest, he decided to jump into my dresser drawer in an attempt to thwart my progress. We decided to put an extra pillow on top of the dresser, which has made him happy.

Gloomy Weather

It has been cloudy/rainy for most of the weekend. Only now is the sun coming out a little...at 4pm on Sunday. Perfect. The race yesterday was okay. Not overly fun or exciting. I finished with an average time for me, but really had to struggle. There were some small hills that I was not expecting. My first mile was too fast, a big problem for me when I am in a small race. I get all swept up with the pace of the people in front of me. When I am in a large race, I start farther pack and am more likely to be with people of a similar ability. When there are only a 100 or so runners, that is more difficult to do. I ended the race with my face beat red, a sure sign I was over-doing it.

I went for my first dress-fitting yesterday. It went well and I am glad to moving along in the dress department. Did you read about how I got my dress? It was a long time ago, so if you are new to reading this blog, maybe you haven't read it. You can read it here. It is probably the most popular post I have done in terms of people arriving via search engines. It is because they are looking for photos of women without clothing. I am happy to disappoint them.

Strange Dreaming

I can only remember small parts of a dream that I had last night, but what I do remember is funny and strange. I was running in a race, but it had something to do with my wedding. I cannot, unfortunately, remember the details. Would the race lead me to the altar (or, in my case, the non-altar arch by a pond)? Am I symbolically "training" for the wedding? Is it just a product of me getting more involved in the details of the wedding planning and that has manifested itself as a race?

I remember during the dream I passed a water station and it was decorated fabulously with a navy-colored tablecloth with pretty silver ribbons. Those were my sister's wedding colors. There was a giant punch bowl on the table.

I am disappointed that I cannot remember more of the dream. Usually I can remember my dreams in fantastic detail. Maybe I will remember more as the day goes on.

Videocast

I did a short videocast today. Check it out here or download here.

SIMBA!

Our "new" couch!

Decadent Dessert

Tonight Prince E and I made chocolate molten lava cakes!!!
Photographic proof below.



Okay, I will admit that it was from a mix. Fancy powdered sugar topping courtesy of Prince E.

New Podcast!!

Listen to new podcast here or download here.

On today's show:
Musical Review: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Movie Review: Brick (3.5 cat paws)

Running with Family

During Easter weekend, I had a chance to run with my mom and sister. They both just started running this year. It was so much fun and I am excited for us to have our first race together in a few weeks. I am so proud of both of their accomplishments. During our run, we ran on a path at a local park. The map of it is below, courtesy of google earth. The strange blur at the left side of the photo is where the satellite coverage of the small town ends. My parents' house didn't make the cut and is just part of the large blur over the town.

Snakes and Swans

Today the Prince and I went to the Nelson Lake Marsh Nature Preserve in Batavia, Illinois. I posted several photos, which you can see by looking at the flickr sidebar on the right side of the blog. (yes, you actually have to leave the confines of your RSS reader and actually come to the page, sorry!!)

We saw lots of geese (not too exciting), as well as two pretty swans (they were too far away to get a good photo). We also saw a water snake, which I was able to get a picture of (it is the fourth photo down on the sidebar). We also saw several cranes and a couple different species of colorful birds. I really wished I had a bird watchers guide so that I could identify them all. We also heard several frogs, but I never actually saw one. I think I sort of saw one swimming away after the Prince saw it jump off a log.

A lot of the foliage at the preserve reminded me of the woods behind my parents' house; like what we used to call "umbrella plants." Not sure what the real name is, though. It is the top photo on my sidebar.

The preserve has a mowed down grassy path that goes in a loop around the marsh. The website lists it at three miles. There were lots of opportunities to be a little more adventurous and take the dirt path down closer to the action. It was a lot of fun and the weather was perfect. I would recommend the trip to anyone in the Chicago area.

I couldn't pick just one.

Here are a couple of the stories. I couldn't decide which one to do.

How Tom and Katie's baby is like a llama:
Suri- a kind of alpaca, native to South America (alpacas are in the same family as the llama)





Why Prince E doesn't know me as well as I thought he did:
I discovered a couple of days ago that he didn't know how to spell my name. My first name is a common one and the nickname I go by is a shortened (also common) version of that. The spelling, however, is not common. He filled out an online form to register us for something and he spelled my first name wrong. He admitted it was not a typo and that he had sat at the computer trying to remember which was the right spelling. He chose wrong.

My latest "You are how old?" story:
I was in the laundry room and an elderly woman asked me, "is you a teenager?" I responded, "No, I am a grown up." "Really??," she said, with a shocked expression. "I couldn't sworn you was about 14." When I told her my true age she was shocked again and couldn't stop staring. Yes, I look young for my age, but, really, 14??? She must have not noticed the tattoos on my ankles or the bags under my eyes. Or the engagement ring.

Then, yesterday afternoon, Prince E and I were in the elevator with a friend of ours. Who should get on the elevator but laundry room lady. She looked at me, as I was holding hands with the Prince, who does not look 14, and said to him "I told your lady I thought she was a teenager, but she said she is a grown-up." The Prince, sensing my embarrassment responded, "That's good because she didn't finish her Algebra homework." Luckily then the door opened and I could escape her peering eyes. The Prince got a good chuckle out of the fact that the woman thought he had a child bride.

Contemplating running two races in one weekend:
No more story there, I am only going to do one next Saturday and skip the Sunday one. I will admit that I chose the Saturday one, in part, because the only reason I was going to run the Sunday one was that registrants got tech shirts and by the time I went to register they only had L and XL left.

Why my tongue was numb

Still taking votes for which of my stories you want to hear about. First up, #2.

Yesterday I went to get a temporary crown put on my tooth. You may recall the gross picture that I posted of my broken tooth. The procedure overall wasn't too bad. The most annoying part was the plastic thing that I had to bite down on on the other side of my mouth, in order to keep my mouth open. It was too large for my mouth so it was digging into my cheek and gums. I have started going to a new dentist and she has a TV set up so I was able to watch the Discovery Health Channel (which I don't get at home) during the procedure. As a result of the two shots, the left side of my face was completely numb, as was my tongue. I had trouble drinking the cup of water to take some advil and dribbled on myself. After the procedure, my dentist informed me that because I am so small ("a little peanut"), she had to use the child-sized instruments on me. At least they gave me the adult dosage of the numbing agent!! My face was frozen the whole way home and, for some reason, I kept poking my cheek, delighting in the fact that I couldn't feel it. I called Prince E and told him to bring me a shake and french fries for dinner. I guess I am sort of childlike.

Guess who's back...back again? Simbasmom's back...tell a friend.

So, I am back, with lots to talk about. Let me know which of the following topics you would most like to read about. I will pick the top two or three selections.

1. Why I have been busy at work and why I will be busy again soon.
2. Why my tongue is currently numb. (with bonus topic: why I am like a child)
3. My latest "you are how old?" encounter.
4. My recent run with my mom and sister.
5. Why Katie Holmes's baby is like a llama.
6. What "old school" DVD Prince E and I watched over the weekend and how it was different this time.
7. The new show TV that I like to watch, which involves a blue genie.
8. How I am contemplating running two races in one weekend.
9. Why history may repeat itself.
10. How I discovered that Prince E doesn't know me as well as I thought he did.

*Most effective when sung to the tune of "Shady's back," by Eminem.

Just a suggestion...

I got this announcement in an e-mail from Petco. I didn't realize I was eligible to receive Mother's Day Gifts!

Busy Simba's Mom

Sorry for the lack of posting, but work has been very busy for me this week. This afternoon, the Prince and I are heading to Michigan to the family compound for Easter. RussianLlama and her hubby are accompanying us as well, so it should be a fun weekend. Work should calm down a little after Wednesday, so I promise more posts and a new podcast at the end of next week!

Flower girls and easter bunnies

Today we went to Target and I found a purple basket to use as a flower girl basket. Yes, I know it is supposed to be an Easter basket, but it is purple and has daisies on it. Plus, it is My Little Pony! The flower girl should love that. In the basket are two little bunny friends that Prince E insisted I needed. They are so funny looking that they are cute. The basket came with a stuffed pony on the side, which we surgically removed. It was not meant to stand alone, though, and now permanently sits with her rear in the air.

Shamrock Shuffle 8k: Race Report

Here is the race report, audio version: download here or listen online here.

WARNING: I curse A LOT!! I didn't realize that I swear so much. Also, be sure to turn the volume down after my intro.

Enjoy!

HAPPY OPENING DAY!!!

Go Tigers!
I would make the joke about how on opening day everyone is in first place, but the Sox opened their season early last night, so the Tigers are already in second place! At least the Tigers are still undefeated!!

Update: YAY!

Race Report Coming Soon

I recorded audio from the time Prince E and I arrived at the race site up until the time we headed back to the car. The sound is pretty good throughout, with the exception of the start of the race, where there was a lot of background noise. Twenty thousand runners nervously chatting before a race can get pretty loud. Rather than do a typical written race report where I talk about interesting things that happened a long the way, I am going to try to do the report just using the audio. Don’t worry, I will edit it way down, because you don’t need to listen to a lot of dead air. For those of you don’t listen to my podcast, but do read my blog, you should check it out when I post it. (Maybe you will like it!) It will take some time to edit, but I hope to have it up tonight or tomorrow.

P.R.!!

I shaved 40 seconds off last year's time in today's Shamrock Shuffle 8k! More details later, including (hopefully) the audio I recorded during the race. Congrats to Prince E who rocked the 5k walk in 45:20!! Yay!