13 things to be thankful for

Dear Diary, 

Here are some things I'm thankful for:

13.  I'm thankful that I've got good genes.  I complain about my depressive, anxious, alcoholic genes, but I have some good ones, too: I'm smart, and I have nice, thick, oily skin. I know that last one sounds weird, but trust me: if you live in the desert southwest, thick oily skin is what you want.  It keeps me looking young.  Good vanity genes also includes that I have only a few strands of gray hair at 46.

12.  I'm thankful for Baboo.  Of course.  There was a time when I briefly waffled in my decision to marry him.  I was pretty gun-shy.  But I swallowed hard, took the plunge, and my life has been awesome ever since. 

11.  I'm thankful that my Baboo has an excellent work ethic.  If he didn't, I would have as much fun as I do, and my running shoes would be much lower quality, and I wouldn't get to brag about his accomplishments as much as I do, which of course is the grownup version of my boyfriend can beat up your boyfriend.

Speaking of which: yes, in officer's training this month he did beat out most of the younger guns the fitness tests, which of course, includes running two whole miles.

10.  I'm thankful for Ma and Pa Baboo.  As inlaws, they are The Awesome.

9.  I'm thankful Blogsy for iPad now has WYSIWYG editing. This has been a major hindrance to posting to my blog, so I'll be doing that more often.

8. I'm thankful for all four crazy critters that live in my house: the loud, whiny complaning one; the spazzy wiggly one; the blind one; and the one that hisses at everybody else.

7.  I'm thankful for my job.  In a bad economy having a job is enough to be thankful for, but I have a job where they treat me with respect and provide the tools I need. 

6.  I'm thankful for my brain.  Pretty soon, I'll be testing for my independent license.  I expect to pass. I wish I could say I am grateful for the licensing board in my state, but their glacial pace makes it impossible (I applied for this in August, and it's been pending since then.)

5.   I'm thankful for Rihanna's Disturbia.  And, for car dancing. The two are not mutually exclusive.

4. I am thankful for waking up to a warm kitten tucked under my chin, purring--What? You wish you  had an under-the-chin kitten? Well, there's plenty of poor homeless kittens out there; go getcha one.

of course, I am thankful for the few stolen hours of sleep I manage to get between the several moments that the blind kitteh inexplicably smacks me in the mouth with her tiny, sharp-clawed paw. (WHAT the fuck is up with that, anyway?)

3. I'm thankful that my work computer knows what I mean when I type doe snot.

2. I am thankful for good friends like Herself, the Dreadpirate, who shames me into not skipping out on the Turkey run I signed up for but felt like I was too exhausted to run, given that cats kept me up all night.

And,

1.  I'm thankful all three of my kids are safe, even the one who recently unfriended me on Facebook and is not speaking to me (You know who you are.)

...

San Antonio

Dear Diary,

Well, I guess I am a little burnt out on road marathons. This was not all that exciting. I felt like I wasted a lot of eneergy in the first ten miles dodging around women walking six abreast walking elbow to elbow.  And crap, it was hot. I hoped for a PR. Then I hoped to break five. Then i hoped to break 5:15.

By the time I was at mile 20, and had thrust a bag of ice into my bra top to ward off the 87 degrees heat, I just wanted the damned thing to be over.
And yet...
I continue ti be grateful that I can even run a marathon.

12.  Of course, I'm gonna lose a toenail.  or three.  Lovely.

11. The Army had other plans for our hope-for weekend. They had Baboo work all day Saturday and part of the day Sunday. Immediately after the marathon, I had time to shower and get into a cab. By the time I hit the airport at 3:30, i was ready to chew my own arm off, having not eaten since 4 am.

   I ate three suppers. Of airport food.  I practically had to sell blood to pay for it.  But surprisingly, I made good choices.  I ate at some schmancy place that served little pices of food for a lot of money, hoping for good protein. I grabbed a sandwich to go.   Then, in Dallas, I ate a grilled chicken sandwich at McDonalds DON'T GIVE ME ANY CRAP I was starving.

10. Oh, AND the Garmin Nuvi kept sending me to closed gates on base?  There's no "I can't go this way" button, either.  So, I would just turn back while the Nuvi erupted into a hysterical litany of turn left make a u-turn turn left then turn left make a u-turn...I have to wonder if the Nuvis all talked to eath other, what mine would say about me?  You wouldn't believe the idiot who owns me. She never follows any of my damned directions. Why does she even use me?

I'll tell you why.  Because it always leads me to a Starbucks.

9.  I took the week off from running so that my toe could turn black and stop hurting.

8. You know what? I forgot how much I liked celery. I started taking it to work and eating it,with hummus. Of course, I have to say it in a gutteral, sexy way HHHHHHUMMUS.
But, this seems to be helping my, "it's 9 am an I've eaten my lunch" problem.

7.  This week I had a kid's mother in my office. The kid asked me about my medals and then I told her, Running is my anti-drug. we talked about coping skills. We talked about treatment. I worked my magic, the magic that is required when the state you live in allows anyone over 14 to refuse treatment. . I shit you not.
Anyway. As we leaving my office the kid's mother took me aside on the stairwell to ask me a question, in private: so I bet you know where I can get a good workout bra.
Why, of course I do. It's all about priorities, you know. You can have more kids. But a good fitting bra, well, I mean, c'mon.

6. I have bifocal contacts! I am incredibly excited about this, new piece of artifice and vanity. Why, no, my eyes are not 46 year old simultaneously near sighted and farsighted organs. Not as long as I have these little babies. I am a snowflake, as fresh as the day the cloud made me.

5.  So the eye doc told me how they work: at a near microscopic level, the lens is like a window screen, with the screen part being corrective for reading closely. The rest is corrective for distance vision. Cool, huh? So this week, i have the 'low' version in, during which my brain begins to train itself to fill in the gaps.
If you have ever taken perception or cognitive psychology, this is even cooler. Eventually, my visual cortex and I suspect, my executive functions, will learn to integrate decent vision close and far. If this is too nerdy for you, forgive me. I just love that as i age I can continually prop up my various functions in a way that my parents couldn't have.

That's your science moment for the week.

4.  and yet...as Baboo and I were discussing this week, I am pretty satisfied being the wise woman.  I am older than most of the people I work with.  I work with a lot of twenty-somethings, and I interview a lot of teenagers that utter dramatic statements like, why are they even including that stuff that I did before in my case? That was like, six months ago!  It's history!
Meanwhile, I find that I have lots to say on any number of topics.  I never thought I'd be this satisfied being older, but I am. 
But I'm still vain.
I still want the Retinyl palmitate in my skin cream.

3.  Blind kitty is learning her way around the house now.  She's completely blind, and yet can find her way to and from the little box, at two months' old.  *snif* I'm so proud.  I still can't leave food out for her, because Catso and Hissy Fit will eat it if I do.  They have no shame.  They've been freaking out since I put them on Indoor Cat Weight Control Formula.

2.  Jonster has come home.  This is former Seaman Jon.  He is no longer in the military.  I've had a rough year worrying about this kid, but I think he's going to be okay.

1. My souvenier from San Antonio.  I picked up this little gem at the expo, where I'd gone to get the injinji socks I forgot to pack.  At f

At first, I thought it was related to the gels and electrolytes it was sitting among. Then I looked closer at it.

No, I said to the saleswoman.

Yes, she said. 

Not--

oh yes.  I sell tons of these.

I will tell you that it is pink.

I promise a full report.

...

No, I said

First world problems

Dread pirate turned me onto this "know your meme" website. http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/first-world-problems#.TrvF1Cp5mSM The precipitant.receding? Whatever. Trigger, for this was me jokingly whining about how the remote cotrol mysteriously stopped working on our old dcd player, and no universal will work...leading me to surmise that the IR has gone out. This is. Totally geeky thing to be able to surmise but like most things in life, i am very good at figuring out what the problem is. I leave it to others to fix it. Which is why I am a diagnostician.

Anyway. So, i love this meme and i have been tweeting useless whines this week. i hasten to add that I am grateful that nearly all my complaints are of this ilk. Here are some:

• I still haven't figured out how to utilize my smartphone's Mobile hotspot feature.


• I want to network our stereo components, but I haven't the right modem for it.


• I think my trail shoes have gotten a little worn.


• My friends can't seem to decide on which ironman to do, and I'm on pins and needles, hoping it will be one I can get to and do.


• The director of field experiences at my grad schhol is a giant a.hole who Consistently utters factually inaccurate statements. But i have to kiss his ass until I graduate even though I'm older, smarter, more experienced, and lets face it, prettier.


• Pet care is cutting into my workout time.


• I still haven't developed my own low-calorie carmel sauce.


• I am going to have to run a marathon in 80 degree with incredibly high humidity. Boo

.

And the last one...

I bit the inside of my lip and my crystal lite stings.

Boo.

So, now, very very late post. Thursday 13.

Dear Diary,

13. I PR'd the 10k last Sunday by about 10 seconds. I didn't beat one hour, but I scored third place in my age group. I'd like to thank my coach, who had me do a warmup before the race (it was 45 degrees) as well as thank the fast women in the 40 to 49 growho slept in, went to church, or whatever it is that people do on Sunday mornings.

12. The day before, I hiked up about 3 miles up into the Sandias and ran back down.   Not a whisper from the ankle which, by the way, has no more bruising.

11. Through both of these, I had no ankle pain. So I consider the matter finished. A mystery, but finished. 

10. The drama that is my only daughter has come to a close. She moved to South Dakota, where her father's people are, to go to job corps.   South Dakota is a much safer place to be poor than Albuquerque.  In Albuquerque, you have to live in a section called the "war zone".  years ago, when I first moved here, I looked at a map that was color coded according to types and frequency of crime.  The war zone areas were all bright, bloody red. 

9.  Meanwhile, youngest son returns on the 12th, while I'm in San Antonio. Still not ready to talk about that yet. 

8.  It was 27 degrees this morning.  The San Antonio marathon is expecting a high of 83 that day.  "Run fast," says Coach Baboo.  Ha.  Whatever.

7. Hey, where the hell is my yoga mat? I've got a Groupon for yoga, but you have to bring your own mat.  What on earth could have happened to a yoga mat? 

6.  Considering the following races for 2012: Bander 50k, Grasslands 50 miler.  Also considering the Javalina 100K again for 2012.

5.  Also considering the Grand Columbian Tri v. Redman Tri.  Yes, a TRI.  With cycling and shit.  The Grand Columbian has a special award for couples to complete the triathlon.
4.  The kitten thing is getting old.  My hands are hamburger.  They, along with my feet, are covered in hundreds of tiny holes and scratches.  So is my cleavage.  I've gotten to where I just carry her straight out from me, which of course freaks her out more.

3. I didn't post anything because I've been emotionally preparing myself for Himself's departure.  He is spending November and part of the first week of december in San Antonio at Officer's Basic training.  I hate being alone.  I truly do.  I don't ever want to go to sleep, and I say up way to late, eating too much, watching too much TV. 
This should give you a snapshot into my life if Baboo wasn't in it: I would be huge.  I would still be running, because I have been running...but I would be huge.  And tired.  yes--I'd have dark circles. 

2.  So, but, Himself is flying me out to San Anotnio this weekend.  I'm staying on base.  It's kind of Himself's very own bootie call.  He'll probably cringe when he reads this. But there it is.  Oh, and the marathon on Sunday.  My fantasy goal: sub-4:45.  Hey, he's pretty damned lucky to have me as a wife, right?  I mean, I'm all ready to run, and rhomp, and work out.  And Sunday I'll run a marathon.

1.  Oh, and did I mention that it's 83 degrees this weekend in SA?  AND HUMID?  Hmm.  the hoped-for PR is looking dimmer and dimmer.  But that's okay.  I'll get a break from being clawed by tiny kitten claws. 

Meow.

....ee