Anniversary Photos That I Almost Didn't Post

Today, Jerry and I have been married for 17 years. In some ways, it feels like forever; in others, it feels like we just got married yesterday. We both definitely feel like newlywed kids--even 17 years, two kids, a nephew, two nieces, a house, and several pets later.

Because of COVID, we didn't make any big plans for our anniversary today. What we really wanted to do was to go to Red Lobster and then to the movies--something we did ALL THE TIME when we were dating. Due to the circumstances, we decided to stay home, make a Doritos Taco Salad and watch a couple of movies with the kids. Basically a typical weekend night ;)

Jerry bought us something fun for our anniversary, and I was SO excited when I saw it. He can never wait more than three seconds to give me a gift, so the second it arrived in the mail, he told me he couldn't wait and he gave me the package straight from the mail.

He'd designed matching shirts for us to wear today! Hahaha, it was so random, but exactly something Jerry would do. And it's one of my favorite gifts ever, because it made me laugh and it was a fun inside joke between us.

He chose my very favorite photo of us (from like a hundred years ago--2013?--but still...) and wrote on it:

[chuckles]
Since 1999

Jerry and I have been together since May of 1999, which is why he put that year. And the [chuckles] is kind of an inside joke. In our "old age" these days, we watch TV with the captions on (my hearing isn't as sharp as it used to be).

When we first started using the captions, we would see the funniest descriptions (and we still do) and it would make us laugh together. Our favorite is "chuckles" because it's such a funny word and nobody really uses it. 

When we got the kittens, we started blending their names together--and when we said Chuck (Chick + Duck), we both burst out laughing and said we totally should have named one of them Chuckles. 

Anyway, that's where the "chuckles" came from on the shirts.

Every anniversary, we like to have one of the kids take a few pictures of us to collect as we age through the years. I've been so self-conscious lately of the weight I've gained and I've been avoiding the camera as much as possible (other than my daily "progress photo" for 75 Hard) but I still wanted to get photos today.

We each put on our t-shirt and posed while Noah took some pictures. I was feeling good because of all of the hard work I've been doing with 75 Hard; and then when I saw the pictures, I got really upset. I don't know what I was expecting, but I couldn't believe how big I look in them. I look the same size (if not bigger) than Jerry!

I really didn't want to share these pictures. I wanted to just pretend that everything was great and that I'm super happy with the progress I've made. I certainly didn't want to let this ruin our anniversary. 

But I keep telling myself that in 20, 30, 40 years, am I really going to care what my weight was today? Will it really matter if people judge me today for how I look? Maybe I'll lose the weight again and maybe I won't--but I'm sure that the most judgmental person is ME. Instead of seeing my husband of 17 years looking amazing and fun and happy, I was looking at a roll here or a bulge there on my body. (But seriously, doesn't Jerry look great?! He's been doing intermittent fasting since a few months before I started.)

Jerry couldn't understand what I was even talking about. He kept saying that I look amazing, and of course, I told him the's only saying that because he's my husband. When he compliments me, I have such a hard time believing it. 

I'm still not happy with how I look in these photos, but I'm going to post them. Because I'm proud that Jerry and I have been married for 17 years and we've been through all sorts of ups and downs. I'm not going to let these photos "ruin" our anniversary, and I'm going to continue to work on ME.

Maybe next year I'll be happy with our anniversary photos and maybe I won't; but these photos are a visual of a very stressful couple of years for me. They represent that things aren't always perfect, but we pull through. In a way, they even make me feel lucky because I have a husband that sees me as beautiful no matter what.

Jerry is my very best friend and I'm continuously in awe that he puts up with my "craziness". It's hard to be with someone who has bipolar disorder! To quote Forrest Gump, my very favorite movie, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." Except "life" is me and he opens that's box daily--sometimes hourly! Hahaha.

"I'm gonna lean up against you, and you just lean right back against me. This way we don't have to sleep with our heads in the mud..."

Jerry and I have literally NOTHING in common, but we somehow make our relationship work. I love to spend time with him, even if it's just sitting in the same room together. Some of my favorite parts of our relationship:

We quote from movies and TV shows completely randomly during conversations.
We balance each other out--he's an extrovert and I'm an introvert.
We agree on how we raise our kids.
Jerry is SO willing to take on chores/tasks around the house to make things easier on me when I'm stressed out or depressed. He is not afraid to do laundry or dishes and he never avoided changing a diaper when our kids were little.
We trust each other 100%. About everything.
We don't keep secrets from each other.
We do all sorts of goofy things that people would consider immature, but we have so much fun together.

And that's all I have to say about that. ;)

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Just for fun... 

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Saturday Night Tidbits

I've gotten to the point during this 75 Hard challenge where I completely lose track of, well, everything. I've been doing great staying on the challenge--it definitely feels like habit now--but I feel like I'm so absorbed in all of my tasks that it's taking over all my time (not in a bad way).

I can't remember a lot of what I was going to write about, so I decided to go through the camera roll on my phone and see if I can find pictures of things I'd planned to share and just didn't get around to doing so.

During one of my walks, I was going past the bar/restaurant that is a few blocks from my house, and I noticed a turtle in the middle of the parking lot. The lot is gravel and there are streets on three sides of it, so it was a very odd place to see a turtle. (This picture is from later on; the grass wasn't even near the parking lot he was in.)

I see a ton of turtles on my street because I live right across from the marsh; but this parking lot was three blocks away with no water or anything nearby. I had no idea how it got there--there is no way it could have walked all the way from the marsh to the bar without getting run over by a car. I'm betting some kids probably picked it up and then left it.

Anyway, I decided that if it was still there on my way back home, I'd pick it up and bring it to the marsh. The parking lot was empty because it was morning, so I wasn't worried it would get run over unless it tried to cross the street.

On my way back, it was still there, although it had walked toward the back of the bar. It was a snapping turtle, and even though it was on the small side, I had to be careful when picking it up--I've picked them up before and they don't hesitate to try and snap your fingers off!

When I picked him up, though, he just pulled his head into his shell and barely moved at all. I could see he was alive, but I wondered if he was super dehydrated from being in the sun with no water in sight. He just didn't look very good.

So, I walked him back to my house and I found him a spot on the other side of the dike. I set him down so that he was halfway in the water and I hoped that he'd be okay. He didn't come out of his shell when I set him down, though. (The next day, when I went for my walk, I looked to see if he was still there and he wasn't--so I'm assuming he was fine.)

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Noah turned 16 on July 13th, but wasn't able to get his driver's license because of COVID and the Secretary of State working only by appointments. The soonest appointment was in October! However, when we went up north to visit my sister, the SoS up there had an appointment the next day (that's how rural it is). So, Jerry took Noah to get his license.

I'd been telling Noah for years that he should start saving money for a car, because I said we would not be buying him one when he turned 16. He never listened to my advice until a few months before his 16th birthday, when he started asking family members if he could do some work for them. 

Well, he got really lucky. He'd saved up about $600, which was definitely not enough for a car. But my friend Adam, who just moved into a renovated van, didn't need his car anymore. So, he offered to sell it to Noah for $500. 

Now, this car is old. It's actually the same year of MY first car, which I got 22 years ago! Hahaha. It's a 1989 LeBaron--and it only had 49,000 miles on it! Noah was thrilled--he's like me in the sense that he prefers retro-style things and he loved the idea of having such an old car. He even learned what it means to "roll" down the window ;)

We put about $600 into it for new brakes and rotors and a couple of other things. My dad is an auto mechanic and he and Noah checked out the whole car and they are going to be working on replacing those parts together. It's a great skill for Noah to learn, so I'm happy about that. 

But Noah's lucky to have gotten his license and now he'll have a safe car to drive that will last as long as the motor and transition hold out--hopefully he'll get a few years out of it. I love this photo of him with his new wheels! Hahaha.

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I went for a bike ride with Renee a couple of days ago, and it was great to see her! I haven't seen her since before the COVID quarantine. We met up at the Metropark and rode about six miles to the neighborhood where I grew up, so I showed her my old house and all that, then we rode back--it was about 12 miles total. (Naturally, I forgot to start my Garmin until a quarter mile in.)

I still find it so interesting that my heart rate is much higher when riding my bike versus walking! I was at or above my MAF zone for over 50 minutes during the ride with Renee. I have to work really hard when I walk to even get to the lower end of my MAF zone--so I usually don't hit it. I'm not doing MAF training, but I still get curious about my heart rate)

(Zone 2 below is my MAF zone--it actually should be 132-142, so I'll have to fix that, but it's close enough).

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I happened to get a photo of this rare-as-a-unicorn moment... Phoebe taking a nap within a 20-meter radius of the kittens! 

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Usually, Duck wakes me up in the morning by sitting on my head or draping himself across my neck, so I was surprised a couple of days ago when I noticed it was actually Chick that came to cuddle with me while I was reading my book. Kitten cuddles in the morning are the best!

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Yesterday, my dad took me in his truck to Lowe's so that I could buy the materials to build a wall of shelves in the garage. There was no way I'd be able to get that stuff home without a truck--I had to get eight 2'x4'x12' boards, six 2'x4'x8' boards, and three 1/2"x4'x8' sheets of plywood, ripped in half. 

Today, I cleared the wall and started building. I should be able to finish them tomorrow or Monday. Once those are finished, I'll have so much more space to store things in the garage and everything will have a place. The four shelves will be 12 feet long and 2 feet deep. 

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I'm still going strong on 75 Hard! Tomorrow will be Day 28--four full weeks. It's also Jerry's and my 17th wedding anniversary! :)

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Postless

I am not going to write a post today, sorry! Jerry is off work for the weekend, and we are having a movie night with the boys. It's rare that all four of us are home at the same time!

I hope that everyone has a great weekend--I'll write tomorrow :)

Here is a picture of Joey on our walk today...

It's been a great (but tiring!) day :)

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The Story of Our Psych Cinnamon Pie

I've mentioned before how much my family loves the TV show Psych. It's a great family show and just fun to watch! I adore the banter between Shawn and Gus, and I especially love all of the different names that Shawn creates for Gus when introducing him to people. 

A couple of Christmases ago, I even designed a Psych shirt for each of the kids, and I love how they turned out. I wish I'd have thought to do a shirt with a list of all the names Shawn gave Gus through the seasons! There are probably hundreds.

To the point... 

In one episode, Shawn and Gus go to a small town called Dual Spires. The town is known for their amazing cinnamon, and Shawn and Gus were invited to the cinnamon festival. There is a scene where they go into a diner and are given a piece of cinnamon pie. They were both a little skeptical of it, but after one bite they totally fell in love with it.

Throughout the rest of the episode, they can be seen eating pieces of cinnamon pie--sitting in the diner, walking around town, etc--probably the equivalent of a couple of pies each. They absolutely loved it and couldn't get enough. 

After seeing this episode, the kids, Jerry, and I all wanted to try this cinnamon pie. I'd never even heard of such a thing! I sorted through a dozen or so recipes on the internet until I found one that sounded good. That was about three years ago, and we just never got around to actually making it. Eli's been watching Psych again recently and he asked if we could finally make the pie.

I bought the ingredients and Eli and I made cinnamon pie. The batter smelled just like a cinnamon roll with cream cheese frosting--I couldn't wait to eat it!

It ended up being every bit as good as I'd hoped. The whole family loved it, and we all agreed that we need to make it once a week. It has the texture of pumpkin pie and tastes like a cinnamon roll.

The original recipe can be found here on RelatableKate.com; I only made a couple of minor changes, including my crust recipe, which I'll type out here.

For the crust: I used my go-to crust that is almost impossible to screw up. I admit that I suck at baking, but even I can make this crust. 

Ingredients for Crust:

1-1/3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup oil (any flavorless oil will do)
2 Tbsp cold water

Directions for crust: 

In a pie plate, combine all ingredients with a spoon (or your hands). When all the flour is moistened, gather all the dough into a ball and put it in the center of the pie plate. With your hands, press the dough across the bottom and up the sides of the plate, forming a shell. No need to grease the plate (the oil in the dough keeps it from sticking). And better yet, no rolling out the dough! (You can try to make pretty edges, but I don't bother.)

Ingredients for the filling:

8 oz brick of cream cheese, softened to room temp
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 whole egg plus two egg yolks
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
4 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3-1/2 Tbsp. cinnamon (it seems like a LOT of cinnamon, but trust me!)
2 Tbsp. flour

To make the filling, combine the cream cheese, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl on high speed until it's smooth and airy. Add the eggs, cream, butter, and vanilla and mix until smooth. Combine the cinnamon and flour in a small dish and then slowly add it to the mixing bowl. Make sure you just add a little at a time to avoid clumps.

Once it's all mixed together and nice and uniform in texture, pour the batter into the pie crust. The pie will rise slightly in the oven, so don't overfill it. Bake at 350 F for about 45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The original recipe says to let the pie cool completely, but we couldn't help ourselves. We cut into it while it was still slightly warm and we served it with Reddi-whip on top. 

Here is a printer-friendly version (with my crust recipe)

And of course, we ate it while watching the Dual Spires episode of Psych :)

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Two Great Workouts... and a Nap?!

I don't have any pictures for this post, so here is a picture I took of Joey and Chick. Little Chicklet loves Joey and just went and curled up with him for a nap. Joey always looks uncomfortable (like, "why is he lying here next to me?!" but he deals well with it).

And here is a cute picture of Duckling--I don't know how he sleeps like that! Estelle does that, too.

My body must have seriously wanted to catch up on sleep--after dinner today, I was sitting in the living room talking to Jerry before he went to work...

...and the next thing I knew, I was waking up two hours later!

I texted Jerry to ask what happened and he said that I just fell asleep and he didn't want to wake me. He also said that Noah took my car to go to his college class (he'd had one classroom session left before the COVID shutdown, and today he was able to take the final exam and--hopefully--pass the class. He's a smarty pants, so I'm sure he will pass.)

I am clearly getting old. I never used to take naps (EVER) but over the past few weeks, I've done it twice. Today was just so weird because I slept so deeply. I didn't hear Jerry leave, didn't hear Noah leave, I was totally out of it. 

I'm mostly bummed out that my eating window closed while I was sleeping, hahaha! I had a very filling dinner, though. Right now, I just feel groggy and even more tired than I was earlier. I hope I'm able to sleep tonight after taking such a long nap today.

I got to check off two new items from the Cookies Summer Challenge list today: the Silent Walk (no headphones/music/podcasts/etc) and the 50/50 Walk (alternating running (or fast walking) and slow walking).

During the Silent Walk, I decided to try to work more on leash training Joey. Reader Karissa, who is a dog trainer, suggested in a comment that Joey tends to call the shots on my walks which makes it less enjoyable when I'm walking for deliberate exercise. When I used to take Joey for runs, he knew that running meant business--we don't stop to smell pee on the roses, so to speak. And then after the run, I'd let him smell everything and pee all over the bushes and all that to reward him for being focused on our run.

Now, it's hard to get him used to walking for deliberate exercise versus fun walks. So, today I worked on keeping him close to my left side with a loose leash. Every so often, I'd tell him "Okay, go ahead!" and he'd pee on the fire hydrant or telephone pole or whatever. Then we'd get back to business. It worked out pretty well! If I'd been listening to a podcast or audiobook, it would be way too hard to constantly tell him to "heel". I must have said "Heel" and "Good boy!" and "Leave it!" at least 10,000 times. The "leave it" is for sniffing out dog poop or road kill or other gross things.

Anyway, Joey did really great today! We'll need to keep practicing so it'll hopefully become natural, but using the "Silent Walk" today was very helpful.

For my second workout, I got all ready to head outside for a walk, but then I remembered that I wanted to watch my show on the treadmill (Sweet Magnolias). So I did that instead. And to check off an item from my Summer Challenge list, I decided to do 50/50 intervals of running and walking. 

It's funny how choosing walking for exercise has given me a bit of motivation to throw a little running in here and there. Today, I set my watch timer for five minutes each--run five, walk five, run five, etc.

I did my walking at 3.0 mph and my running at 5.0 mph. At first, I wished I'd chosen to do 2-3 minute intervals instead of 5 minutes, but I think the 5 was good. Long enough to feel a little tough (considering I haven't been running in such a long time) and having the longer walking intervals was a nice breather in between.

For the final five minutes, I started on 5.1 mph, and then each minute, I bumped it up by 0.1 until at 44:30, when I bumped it up to 6.0 mph for 30 seconds. 

I felt so good about that workout! Even though my running is relatively slow, I don't care about the pace right now. Just the fact that I was running made me feel good. And the best part is, I'm still planning on walking being my main form of exercise. When I try to force myself to run, I resent it. When it's optional, I sometimes get the urge to do it.

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As I wrote yesterday's post, I was thinking about how much I miss doing the Transformational Tuesday posts! I wasn't getting any more submissions, so I stopped doing the posts, but I'd love to continue them if people would submit photos.

Basically, Transformation Tuesday is just a post of before and after photos of anything you'd like--a DIY project, a new haircut, a rescue pet, weight loss, etc. I LOVE before and after photos, so please consider submitting one! Here are the guidelines:

1) Email one "before" photo and one "after" photo, of anything you'd like, to: transformations (at) runsforcookies (dot) com.

Please keep the photos separate rather than collaging them, and refrain from using words, filters or Photoshop on the photos (I like to keep the photos on the post relatively uniform). If necessary, I may crop or resize the photos simply to fit uniformly into the post, but I will try to keep them as original as possible. Also, if there is someone in the photo, just make sure it's cool with them that I share it here.

2) You may include a link to your personal blog or social media page if you'd like (no business or promotional pages--this will be at my discretion). Please include the following:

-One or two sentence description of the transformation

-First Name; Location; A few words of who you are (i.e. "New DIY'er" or "Cat Lover", etc). If you want me to leave out name/location, just let me know.

3) I will post whenever I get enough submissions to do so--it could be one week or it could be several. But I will post them!

Thanks for sharing :)

(Here are the previous Transformation Tuesday posts for ideas)

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Tomorrow morning, I'm supposed to meet up with Renee for a bike ride. I'm looking forward to it--I haven't seen her since before all the COVID stuff began!

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Some Recent Garage Progress

First, check out these socks that Jerry bought me. They came in a pack of five, and this one just happened to have a black cat with a "D" on his shirt--I said it was no coincidence that he looks like Duck and has a D on his shirt. ;) Unfortunately, there was not one for our other cats. But since Little Duckling is my favorite (shhh!) these are highly appropriate.

I'm making the finishing touches on the garage (finally!) but I don't have a lot of photos to share just yet, so I'll post the few that I have right now of some recent progress. Today, I was planning to start moving everything back in its place, but then I decided to work on a very tedious project that took all morning and into the afternoon...

A few days ago, Jerry mentioned that maybe we should get rid of a large Craftsman toolbox that looks in pretty bad shape. He seemed reluctant to get rid of it because it belonged to his late grandpa who was very special to him. I told him that we'd keep it and I'd try to clean it up. So that's what I worked on today.

It's definitely "well used", but a little elbow grease and a LOT of sweat went into this today. There was so much grease on and in it! (I didn't think to take a photo before I started, so that's why a couple of drawers are missing in the before photo).

And the most exciting part? Organizing it tomorrow! Hahaha, organizing is one of my very favorite things to do.

Remember the 2x4 sill on top of the foundation wall? After I did all of the drywalling and painting, I still wasn't sure what to do with that 2x4 sill. (This photo shows the drywall on top, the 2x4 sill, and then where I was painting the foundation wall underneath):

I wanted to cover up that sill somehow without just painting it because it looked pretty rough in some spots. So, here is what I came up with--I used my table saw to cut down some cedar boards that my brother gave me into strips (3/4" x 2"). Then I used a trim nailer to attach them to the front of the 2x4 sill.

Then I attached some 2x6" boards on top of the 2x4 sill, making a little ledge that goes all the way around the garage. I painted the whole thing white, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Much better than the 2x4!

I finished up the windows as well. I had to cut down some boards to make jambs and a sill, and then I just bought the trim from Lowe's. I painted everything white, and I hung a light gray shade (I don't have a picture with the shade yet). Here is the progression from before the drywall, after the drywall, and then after the jamb and trim.

This is a different window, but they all looked the same... obviously this is before I did anything to the walls or windows. (They aren't crooked--it's just an awkward photo! haha)

This is after doing the drywall, but before I added the jamb and trim to the windows:

And finally, here is the finished window! I love how they turned out (I had to do three of them).

I made screens and covers for the flood vents (there are three of them) and those were a huge pain in the ass. I'll post photos when I take some.

I primed and painted the garage door (the one where we walk into, not the large ones for cars). I also hung trim around the door and painted it. I hung a ceiling fan above the "man cave" section of the garage (where we have couches and a TV). Again, I'll have to get photos of it all.

I'm hoping that by the weekend, I'll have everything moved back into place. Noah's been wanting to have a few friends over for a belated birthday party but he's been waiting for the garage to get done so he can do it out there. 

It's hard to believe that early this year, our garage looked like this! ;)

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75 Hard: Week 3 Recap

It's been 21 days since I started 75 Hard! I say this each week, but I'm still surprised I've made it this far. 

This week has actually been the most difficult one yet. I'm not sure why--nothing remarkable has happened this week--but I keep feeling like, "I just want a day off!!" Which is a bit dramatic, because I'm not doing anything insanely difficult.

I'm still having sleeping problems (nothing new). I liked when I had the discipline to go to bed early--I really noticed a difference in my mood when I got enough sleep. I'm such a light sleeper that every little noise wakes me up. When I am disciplined enough to make myself go to bed at 10:00 (or even 11:00) then I usually feel rested the next day. So I think I'll make that a secondary goal this week--try to go to bed by 11:00.

For a few days, I'd managed to go to bed early, wake up and journal, read, drink my water, and then go for my walk. This past week, I got out of that routine which threw off the rest of the day a bit.

But anyway, I managed to stick with 75 Hard all week, even though it truly was HARD. Here's a quick recap:

Drink one gallon of water every day.

This one is usually not at all hard for me, but I found myself having to drink a quart of water shortly before bed a few days this week because I haven't been drinking it throughout the day like I usually do. I really need to make it a point to drink a whole quart before my walk and a whole quart after my walk in the morning. The rest of the day is easy after that.

Take a progress photo every day.

I'm surprised I haven't forgotten to do this yet. I made a habit of getting dressed for my walk and then taking a quick mirror selfie before I head out. I'm very glad that taking a progress photo is one of the "rules" of 75 Hard. If not for seeing the progress with my own eyes, I don't know that I'd have the discipline to continue the challenge when I "just don't wanna" sometimes.

Diet of choice + no alcohol.

I'm still loving the intermittent fasting. It works into my lifestyle so well. I've been reading about it and listening to podcasts about it a lot lately, and I'm excited to see if I notice some of the health benefits that have been studied. 

I'm doing intermittent fasting with a daily four-hour window to eat. I was eating at 4:00 every day (breaking my fast with dinner), but this past week, I've had a few days where I started my eating window at 2:00 (or even 11:00 AM one day!). I always shut it down after four hours, though, in order to stick to my "rule" for 75 Hard. On those days where I start eating earlier, I break the fast with something other than dinner--an apple with peanut butter or something like that. Then I'll have dinner a little later.

Read 10 pages of a non-fiction/self-improvement type book.

I'm still reading David Goggins' book 'Can't Hurt Me'. It's such a great book! I finally convinced Jerry to read it so that we could talk about it.  He's a much faster reader than I am, so he's much further along! We'll just talk about it when I'm done, I guess ;)

Work out 45 minutes twice a day (one must be outside).

This hasn't been a problem at all this week. I haven't even minded doing my second workout of the day because I have been watching Sweet Magnolias on Netflix while I'm on the treadmill. It's such a good show! And I'm only allowing myself to watch it while I'm on the treadmill.

My first workout of the day is always a walk with Joey. He's gotten so used to it every morning and I'd feel really bad if I don't take him--even though it'd be nice to walk without him trying to stop at every bush, tree, and telephone pole along the way!

Using the treadmill has inspired me to change things up a bit here and there. I've been experimenting with the incline and the speed (even adding some running to one of my walks). When I was running, I never used to use the incline buttons--but now that I'm walking, I am finding it more enjoyable to play around with things.

I started 75 Hard with the mentality that quitting is not an option--I was super determined to see the whole thing through--and I still feel that way. Some days are much more difficult than others, depending on what I have going on, but I feel like this has been helping me so much both mentally and physically! I'm almost a third of the way through--it's going by quickly.

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The Most Awkward Walk Ever

I've been wanting to actively try to work on my Cookies Summer Challenge list now that I'm in the habit of walking twice a day. Yesterday, I had to get a couple of things from Lowe's for last finishes on the garage, so I decided to stop at the state park and do my walk there before heading to Lowe's. 

As far as the list goes, I chose to do the "scenic walk" where I go slowly, pay attention to my surroundings, and just truly enjoy nature--taking some scenic photos along the way. 

Speed was not an issue; I didn't even stop my watch when I stopped to take photos or anything like that. There is a random set of stairs that you can climb to get a good view from high up, I guess.

I even walked up there and decided to take a panoramic photo. I never take panoramic photos, but during the "scenic walk", I thought it'd be a good idea.

I held up my phone and balanced the little arrow on the white line to get the panoramic pic, and then I climbed down the stairs and continued walking. I stopped to look at the photo a little bit later, and I realized it wasn't panoramic. I had no idea what I did wrong! I stopped to test it out at another spot, and it turns out I never pressed the button to start the panoramic photo. *sigh*

I didn't want to go back to the lookout, so maybe I'll do it another time. It wasn't anything super special to see anyway, though. Here is the "test one"...

I continued to take some more photos along the way. I was walking a three-mile loop. The state park wasn't very busy--I came across about three people going on the opposite direction on the trail up to the halfway point. Whenever I run or walk there, I only see a few people on the path.

That arrow is pointing to a long that for the most fraction of a second, I thought was an alligator. BAHAHA. I watched WAY too many episodes of Billy the Exterminator and maybe Naked and Afraid. (I know there are no alligators here, but in my daydreaming mode, it startled me for a second).

So here is where the awkward part comes in...

...after about 1.75 miles, I saw a couple of women walking toward me. I was just about to say, "Good morning!" as we passed each other when they apparently decided that was their turn-around point. They were literally about 15 feet away from me when they turned around. And they happened to be walking the same pace I was (maybe a little slower, but I didn't want to rush ahead of them and then have them walking right behind me).

It was SO AWKWARD. For a little over a mile, they were just steps ahead of me. Why on earth would they have turned around when they did? Didn't that make them feel awkward knowing that I was practically right on their heels? I tried walking slower, but it just felt TOO slow (about a 22:00 minute mile). And I didn't want to stop and wait a while, because hey, it's my exercise time, too.

I had headphones on and was listening to my audiobook, but they were chatting--knowing I was right behind them. I even cleared my throat a couple of times to remind them that they may want to hold the private conversations for another time. 

Finally, I just gave up on my "serene" walk, and I started playing Best Fiends on my phone while I was walking! We were going slow enough and I was trying my best to fall back--but it seemed like the slower I went, the slower they went, too.

I've been running/walking regularly for 10 years now, and this is something I've never encountered. If I've ever been at my turn-around point and someone is there, then I just go farther before turning around to make sure there is some distance so that I'm not super close to them. If I had been running yesterday, it'd be no problem to just pass them and then get a good distance ahead. But they clearly saw that I was walking. 

It was just odd to me. 

But! I got to check off my scenic walk for the first couple of miles at least.

This morning, I did my sunrise walk. Duck woke me up at 5:45 by trying to fit his entire face into my nostril, and I was debating whether to get up or try to fall back asleep. I remembered that I still hadn't done my sunrise walk, so I checked what time sunrise was (I have an app on my phone that tells me the sunrise/sunset times). Sunrise was at 6:35, so to check this item off my list, I had to start my walk before 6:35 and end it after.

I got dressed and headed out at around 6:20. I wish I'd been able to get to the lake a little faster to take a picture right at 6:35, but I ended up getting there at 6:41. 

I made some serious progress on the garage today (hanging the rest of the trim, priming and painting the trim and door, and priming and painting some boards that I'm going to place where the flood vents are. I already made some screens on frames for each flood vent, so we can open them when it's hot outside and get even more airflow in there. It'll make more sense when I post pictures. I'm really hoping it'll all be completely done by next weekend!

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My History With Coffee (and why I torture myself once a year)

Note, that photo is a year old. My face has filled out a bit more since then! Hahaha

I wasn't planning to write about this today, but I made the mistake of drinking a cup of regular coffee (not decaf). (I say "mistake" as in "it was stupid of me", not to be confused with "accidentally").

I purposely drank a cup of caffeinated coffee today.

Way back in 2010 (and prior) I was a regular coffee drinker and had no problem with it. Sometime in 2010 or 2011, I realized that it made my anxiety skyrocket. The week before I was on The Dr. Oz Show in 2011, I quit drinking it because I was SO nervous for the show and the last thing I needed was more anxiety.

I had the worst headache of my life for about five days, and nothing would relieve it. But once I got over that, I was scared to drink coffee again. Every once in a while, though, I'll drink it just with the hope that it won't have that affect on me anymore.

What is the definition of insanity, again?

The caffeine makes me very jittery, nauseous, irritable, and anxious. I want to be one of those people who loves coffee! (Why? I have no idea. But I could use a pick-me-up once in a while if it didn't come with the awful side effects) I do love my decaf coffee with cream and sugar, and I've been having that as a treat after dinner lately.

While intermittent fasting, I do a "clean fast"--meaning that I don't consume anything but plain water, black coffee, or unflavored black tea during my fasting hours. Today, at around 3:00, Jerry was making coffee and I was feeling tired after a very busy morning/afternoon. On a whim, I asked him to pour me a cup (a small cup--like 6 oz).

I thought I would hate drinking it black, but it actually wasn't bad! I definitely prefer to have it with sugar and heavy cream, though.

Anyway, I drank this small cup of coffee and felt fine. Until about 4:00. 

I started to feel really nauseous and I got shaky. I felt incredibly anxious for no reason. Ugh, I hate that caffeine does this to me! I ate dinner, but I still felt really crappy afterward.

I've been doing my second 45-minute walk after dinner every day (on the treadmill, so I can watch Sweet Magnolias--love it!). Yesterday, I felt great--and I even ran for a little bit! Today, my heart rate was high from the very start and I just couldn't bring myself to do more than walking at 3.5 mph with 0% incline for the entire 45 minutes (usually, this feels very easy to me).

My heart rate was definitely higher than normal and my face felt really flushed. 

The stupid thing is, I do this to myself about once a year! I get the urge to try caffeinated coffee (because people love coffee and the "pick-me-up" sounds wonderful), but then I 100% regret it afterward.

Anyway, I am just going to lie down and either read some of my book or watch a scary movie on this Friday Saturday night. (I had to edit because I originally wrote Friday! See? Quarantine=Groundhog Day. Hahaha! I'll try and write something more interesting tomorrow. Have a great weekend!

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I Just Felt Like Running

 

(When @carlostherunner on Instagram learned that Forrest Gump is my favorite movie, he made this for me from one of my race photos. I love it!! He does a lot of fun photoshopping with his running pics--check him out!)

My very favorite movie of all time is Forrest Gump. Not only do I love Tom Hanks, but the references in that movie are amazing and each time I watch it, I find new bits that I didn't notice before. 

Jerry loves the movie, too, and we both quote from it all the time. We like to quote from movies anyway, but Forrest Gump is definitely our most quoted. It never fails... when I say, "I have to go pee" Jerry says, "I believe he said he had to go pee!"  and I reply with, "I must have drank me about 15 Dr. Peppers."

Anyway, today during my second walk, "I just felt like running".

I didn't RUN run. I was doing my walk on the treadmill and I increased the incline to get my heart rate up higher, hoping to get it into the MAF training zone (for me, it's 132-142 bpm). It's very hard for me to get it that high when I walk (today I had to walk at 4.0 mph with a 1% incline for about 8 minutes to get my HR up to MAF).

Walking that fast is hard! I started thinking it might be easier just to jog at a slow pace. After that, I lowered the incline to 0%, and then I went between 4.0 mph (walk) to 5.0 mph (jog). Each time I ran at 5.0 mph, I ran until my heart rate reached the top of my MAF zone--142--and then I lowered it to 4.0 mph until my HR dropped to 132. 

Then I repeated this over and over for a couple of miles. Because my treadmill and Garmin read differently, the Garmin was showing my pace as 13:30 when I was running at 5.0 mph (12:00/mi). It's annoying, but I'm used to it now. I believe the speed on my treadmill is correct, but I KNOW that the timer is off. So, I just use the timer from my Garmin and the distance from my treadmill to determine my pace.

Not that it really matters. But I wanted to get some credit for adding in some short bouts of running, dammit!

When I was 44 minutes in, I knew that my show (Sweet Magnolias) was supposed to end at the 46-minute mark, so I decided to just run the rest of the episode, regardless of heart rate. Well, the episode didn't end until over 52 minutes in--so I'd run for 8 minutes. And I felt good!

I'm sure that if I wanted to, I could run for 45 minutes straight right now, but there is something appealing about the fact that I'm not "going for a run". I'm just going for a walk and if I just happen to "feel like running", I can. But I won't feel bad about it if I don't ever want to run again. I'm exercising for 90 minutes day--it's walking, but I'm good with that. I'm getting older and and being called a "runner" doesn't really do anything for me anymore.

It felt good though--I was sweaty when I was done.

Since I walk with Joey in the mornings, I don't go very fast. He wants to sniff every little bush or telephone pole along the side of the road, and it drives me crazy. I would enjoy it more if he didn't come with me, but each time I get my shoes on in the morning, I can see him peeking over the couch until he catches my eye. And then I just have to.

I don't have the heart to leave him at home (he needs the exercise, too!) so I bring him along. Since my morning walks are on the slow side, I've been trying to make an effort to make the afternoon ones harder. I can ride my bike, which gets my heart rate higher, or I can walk on the treadmill with an incline, or I can add some running to it if I feel like it. 

Today, it felt good to "just feel like running"!

Since today is International Beer Day, and that's an item on my Cookies Summer Challenge list--celebrate a run or walk with a beer (or root beer, ginger beer, or non-alcoholic beer)--I had a Heineken 0.0% with dinner (the 0.0% means literally no alcohol at all). I have always loved Heineken, so having these occasionally is a good treat! (They taste identical to original Heineken, honest)

With it being Friday, I made pizza for "pizza Friday" at our house. I didn't make just any pizza, either. I made the most delicious pizza of all time--Dill Pickle Pizza! This recipe is SO delicious.

I wouldn't change a single thing about the recipe--no substitutions, modifications, ingredient swaps, etc. Especially with the crust! It's very unique and oh so delicious. If you like dill pickles, I insist you try this recipe. (It's not my recipe, although I wish I could claim it--here is the original). I love that the crust ingredients are measured by weight--I always screw up baking anything, so having the exact measurements made this super easy.

Now I have 19 Days down! 56 to go :)

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