Completely restless

I am SO frustrated with how this week is going! Not running is killing me. There is a certain point that I reach in taking a running break where I start to get really anxious, and crabby, and stressed; that point is 48 hours. If I go longer than 48 hours without a run, you don't want to be around me.

My last run was on Wednesday, when I felt my knee acting up a little. I made the decision not to run again until Monday, so that my knee trouble didn't turn into full-blown injury. I know I made the right decision, but this week is all off for me.

My eating as been terrible :(  I haven't been eating horrible foods, but I've been constantly snacking to relieve anxiety. Usually, going for a run does a pretty good job with the anxiety issue, but I just feel so restless right now, and I keep going back and forth to the pantry for handfuls of Cheerios, or almonds, or Goldfish. I know, logically, that I'm not hungry--I am just anxious and restless.

I've been counting my PointsPlus for everything, but I usually just estimate it AFTER the fact, which isn't very accurate. My weight has been bouncing between 133-134, so I'm glad it's not continuously climbing, but it's still higher than I am comfortable with (I loved when I was maintaining 131). Also, when I eat like this, I just FEEL really crappy. I feel like I've gained a hundred pounds overnight.

It doesn't help that I haven't earned many activity PointsPlus this week. Normally, I earn 65-75 per week, but since Wednesday, I've only earned 13 (and that was because I ran on Wednesday).

The "baseline" is the bare minimum activity I am supposed to do per day--and I didn't even reach
that point on Thursday or Friday

I feel so inactive, which is making me feel even lazier. Also, without the extra PP, I've had to cut back on how much I'm used to eating, which has been hard. (Good grief, could I be any whinier?!)

Anyway, I went for a walk yesterday and today, and didn't have any trouble with my knee, so I'm going to run tomorrow and see how it feels. Hopefully, the pain I felt on Wednesday was nothing, and I'll be back to normal tomorrow.

I'm also going to work hard to get my diet under control again. No more mindless snacking! I'm going to weigh out my portions BEFORE I eat a single bite. I'm going to plan out my meals in advance. And most importantly, I'm going to stay as busy as possible during the day so that I don't have time to be wandering into the kitchen constantly.

Tomorrow, I'm going to deep clean my kitchen--cleaning the oven, pulling out the appliances to clean behind them, cleaning the cupboards, etc. It's still way too cold to feel like spring, but I guess I'm in the mood for spring cleaning!

I really didn't intend for this post to be such a downer. I am just having a really rough week. Hopefully, tomorrow I will be feeling much better because I will have gotten a run in :)

Continue Reading...

The True Nature of Cats, Part 4

This is the final post (of four) of my The True Nature of Cats experience at Purina ONE headquarters. Here is Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Before I went to visit Purina ONE, we were asked if we had any questions for their experts about our cats. I had quite a few questions, and it was great to get answers to them. Here are a few Q&A's.

Q. What is the best food for a cat that is missing a lot of teeth? (Paolo only has a few teeth)
A. Although one would think soft food is the only option, most cats can eat even dry food without teeth.  I would recommend canned food for the water content since cats get most of their water from their food.

Q. How can I estimate the age of my (stray) cats that I took in?
A. Unfortunately, unless the cat is over  10 years old and showing wear on the teeth, it’s very difficult to determine the age of adult cats by looking at them.

This is Paolo exactly as we found him in our shed. You can't tell because
of all his fur, but he was SO skinny. We have no clue how old he is!

Q. How can I keep my cats from clawing up my new carpet? I must have a dozen scratching posts, but Estelle and Phoebe prefer to scratch my carpet.
A. It sounds like your cats like the texture of carpet and scratching on horizontal surfaces.

• Purchase carpet remnants of a different color and brightness than your carpet. This way, your cats can learn where it is okay to scratch.
• Spray the new carpet remnants with catnip oil, and put them in areas where your cat likes to scratch. 
• Reward your cat for scratching the remnants with praise and treats. Say "Ahhhhk" each time your cat scratches your regular carpet to disrupt the scratching.

 I really wish there was some way to find out how old Paolo is, but I guess we'll never know! I love the idea of different colored carpet remnants for scratching. 

Since this is my last cat post in the series, I thought I'd share a few tidbits that I found interesting, but just didn't really fit in anywhere else:

• When cats brush past each other in passing, and curl their tail over the top of the other cat's back, it is a cat's way of giving a hug. (I never used to notice this before, but now I've seen it a few times! Paolo does it with Chandler, and Estelle has done it with Chandler as well.)
• When cats roll around, belly-up, they are desiring affection and play. It's a good time to interact with your cat. 
• If you are interacting with your cat, and your cat is biting your hand (whether playing or not), your cat may be overstimulated. Try petting one area (say, under your cat's chin) very softly and slowly and see if she doesn't stop biting. This is worked WONDERS with Phoebe! She used to wrap her paws around our hands and then start biting and kicking her back legs, scratching the heck out of us, while she "played". I discovered she was overstimulated by the type of play we were doing, and when I started just petting her very softly in one spot, she immediately stops doing it.
• If your cat is taking things and moving them around your house, it could be a predatory instinct; they may be using it to replace a prey they would find in nature. In nature, they would kill something and bring it back; in the house, they may find it lying around somewhere and bring it to you. (Chandler used to do this constantly with my kids' baby socks--I would find them everywhere).
• Like people, cats can suffer from chronic stress. This stress can cause them to be aggressive, not using the litter box. excessive grooming or meowing. Common stressors for domestic cats are: boredom, new pets in the home, obstructed paths to the litter box or feeding area, unwanted contact, or unclean areas. Chances are, if you change these things to make your cat happy, then your cat will stop the bad behaviors.

 I've had my cats on their new diet for about three weeks, and they're doing really well. I honestly wasn't expecting to see a change in them at all, but since I got them on a feeding routine and started playing with them properly, they seem so much more energetic and happy. Chandler has always been very lazy, but he's been really playful--and he's now 24 pounds, meaning he's lost a pound this month! I've even seen Paolo playing a little bit, which he never used to do. Phoebe and Estelle LOVE the new play times--they get really excited when I bring out their favorite toy (the feather wand thing). 

Phoebe always rolls on her back when she's feeling playful

Last week, I asked you to e-mail a photo of your cat in his/her true nature (where they like to hide or hang out). My boys looked through all the pictures and chose their favorite one:

That is Fozzie, hanging out in the dishwasher ;)  Congrats, Fozzie! You'll be getting a coupon for a free case of Purina ONE wet food! 

Over the past three weeks I've gotten a ton of cat pictures submitted for the giveaways, and it's been so fun to see them all! My boys narrowed it down each week, to a total of three cats, and now those cats have a chance of winning a box of toys and puzzle feeders (courtesy of Purina ONE). I'm leaving this choice up to all of you! Choose your favorite picture, and the winner will receive the box of goodies. You can vote on the poll below, and I will accept votes until Wednesday, April 24th at 4:00 PM EST.  Here are the photos:

Kiwi

Lincoln

Fozzie

Please choose your favorite photo--Kiwi, Lincoln, or Fozzie? (Please only vote once)
 

Continue Reading...

Shopping list

Last night, I was feeling really anxious for some reason. Once in a while when my anxiety gets bad, I'll take a Xanax, so I took one before bed. I woke up at 7:30 this morning!! I don't remember the last time I slept in that late. Thankfully, Jerry was off work today, so he had gotten up and got the kids ready for school. He let me sleep, knowing that I needed it.

Unfortunately, Xanax makes me groggy, so it took me a while to really "wake up" this morning. We turned on the news to see the latest info on the Boston bombers; I was surprised to see that one of them was dead, and they were searching for the other. That was fast, considering the FBI just released their photos last night. (Yay! Just before this post went live, he was the other bomber was caught)

I had to go to David's Bridal today to try on the bridesmaids dress I'll be wearing in Jerry's sister's wedding this September. I saw on Twitter that Starbucks was giving free coffee this morning until noon, so Jerry came with me because the closest Starbucks happens to be next to David's Bridal.

First, though, we stopped at Sam's Club. I told Jerry that we had to make a list and stick to the list; I always end up spending way too much money at Sam's Club! We only needed three items.

A very simple in-and-out trip. It never ends up that way, though, does it?! This is what we walked out with:

By that time, it was too late for Jerry to get his Starbucks, so we just went right to David's Bridal. I had no idea what the dress looked like or what color it was or anything. The saleswoman asked what size I thought I needed, and I said most likely a 6, because the bridesmaid dress I wore in Sarah's wedding was an 8, and that was 10-15 pounds ago.

The dress was strapless, and floor-length (it's an outdoor wedding), which didn't thrill me, but I really liked the color. Here is a pic from their website:

(source)

The size 6 fit just fine in the waist, which is the "fitted part" of the dress, but I have no boobs to hold up the top (which is why I don't like strapless dresses), so I can already picture myself constantly tugging it up. Also, the dress is probably made for someone who is about 5'8" tall, and and I'm 5'4"--even with the highest of heels, it would need to be hemmed :( 

I have no idea how it looks on me, because David's Bridal doesn't have mirrors in the dressing rooms! I'm guessing that's probably because they want you to step out of the room and be surrounded by mirrors and other people looking at you, but I just didn't feel comfortable doing that. It feels kind of like asking strangers to judge how you look in a dress, before you can even see it. I asked Jerry to come in and give his opinion, and he said it looks "good". Not that he would tell me if it didn't! ;)

After I left, I wished I'd have thought to have him take my picture in it, so I could see what it looked like. The dress was expensive, so I didn't order it today (I don't have to order it until June-ish). Just hoping I maintain my weight until September!

It felt SO strange not to run today. I was feeling really antsy all day, and I wanted to run. When we were walking around Sam's Club, however, I felt that small twinge in my knee, so I knew I wasn't imagining things. I'm going to stick with my plan of no running until Monday, no matter how good my knee may feel tomorrow or Sunday.

It's hard to adjust my eating, though--usually, I earn a lot of activity PointsPlus--about 10-11 per day on average. I'm going to be careful to ration out my weekly PP. Instead of my usual glass of wine and Dove Promise last night, I had tea with the Dove--saving 5 PP right there. Jerry is off this weekend, and we talked about maybe going out to dinner at La Pita tomorrow, so hopefully I can manage to work it in ;)

Continue Reading...

Paranoia

I shouldn't have run yesterday. It was a rest day, so normally I wouldn't have. I was still slightly sore from my half-marathon on Saturday, which was all the more reason to take a rest day. But I wanted to participate in the Run for Boston, so I decided to just take it really easy.

That would have been just fine if I hadn't gotten the call from the school to go pick up Eli, causing me to run way too fast to get back to the car. A couple of hours after I got home, I noticed I was limping a little, to avoid feeling a twinge of pain in my left knee.

It wasn't horrible pain, but considering I spent all of last year nursing knee injuries, I immediately thought it was the end of the world. I had the initial reaction of, "Now I can't run in my race next weekend, and I certainly won't be able to train for or run the Chicago Marathon with Andrea. This is it. My running career is over, and I'll never be able to run again."

Dramatic, much?

I knew it was my IT band; God knows I've had enough experience with ITB pain. Out of the common knee injuries from running, the IT band is the better one to have--if you take care of it right away, it usually gets better quickly and it doesn't cause permanent damage. So after I was done dramatizing the small twinge of pain I felt with each step, I thought logically about what to do. I'm going to rest, ice, stretch, and foam-roll the hell out of it.

Phoebe helped me rest...

She was SO relaxed. I was cracking up at some of her sleeping positions.

Foam rolling is super painful (even when not injured), but I did it for a while last night, and almost immediately felt better. By the time I went to bed, I wasn't feeling the pain at all anymore. And today, it feels fine. I'm still going to take some rest days, just in case. I'm skipping my long run tomorrow, and taking the whole weekend off, so my next run will be Monday. Then I'll hopefully be pain free and this whole thing was just a huge overreaction.

If I hadn't been injured before, I certainly wouldn't have reacted the way I did. I would have run through it, because it wasn't that painful. But I learned the hard way last year that it's much better to take time off immediately than to wait until the pain is really bad. 

Speaking of being dramatic, I almost had a heart attack today.

Today I had a webinar meeting (of which I know nothing about), so I decided to give it a try. The invitation wasn't clear whether it was video or audio or just text. I'm super paranoid of having a camera on my computer, and the day I got my laptop, I taped a piece of a post-it over the webcam. That way I don't feel like I'm being watched. I had no idea what to expect at the Windows Champions meeting, and I kept picturing my face popping up on the screen, huge, for everyone to see my unwashed hair and my pajamas.

As soon as I was given access to the meeting room, there were some people who could be seen from their webcams, and others who just had a generic icon. I wasn't sure if my webcam was turned on or off, but I hoped it didn't matter, because I have the post-it over my camera. As I was looking around the screen, trying to figure out what the little icons meant, I noticed the chat box. The first thing that popped up was:

"love the post it over the webcam. just have to make sure it doesn't fall off when you have crazy hair."

Cue heart attack.

My face flushed, and I froze--how the hell could they see me?! I wanted to slam the computer shut, but I just had to figure out how they knew. I thought maybe the post-it was too see-through. Then I was able to scroll up through the conversation, and I saw that just before that comment, just before I logged in, someone had said that they have a post-it over their webcam, and the comment was just in response to that. BAHAHA! 

I genuinely laughed out loud at my own stupidity. (And then quickly covered my mouth, because what if they could hear me?) ;)

Continue Reading...

This and that

This post is really just going to be a mish mash of things that have been going on the past few days. I finally uploaded some pictures (nothing too exciting), but it reminded me of things I wanted to write about.

On Sunday, I was super sore from the half-marathon on Saturday, so I took a rest day. On Monday, I was still really sore. Jerry didn't have to go in to work until noon, so I asked him if he would want to go for a short, easy recovery run with me. I knew my legs would probably feel better if I moved them a bit, and since Jerry only runs probably four times a year, he was the perfect running partner ;)

We went to the State Park and ran the 5K loop. We ran at a very comfortable pace, which I thought would feel like a piece of cake, but with my sore legs, I actually felt like I got a good workout. But it was really nice to run with Jerry--I think it was only our third time running together, and we've been together 14 years!

I had a pretty relaxing afternoon, until 3:30 or so. Jerry sent me a text saying that there were two explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon watching the news.

I ate horribly on Monday afternoon/evening. I didn't binge, but I just kept snacking. I don't know if it was because of the news getting to me, or just feeling snacky. I got into the peanut butter and chocolate chips--a lethal combination for me--and eventually decided to throw away the chocolate chips. I did fine with them in the house for the longest time, but the past week or so, they were constantly beckoning me.

Then, even though I had already gone over my PointsPlus for the week, Jerry and I did a margarita taste test in the evening. A company called SmarteRita sent me a bottle of their product as well as a bottle of Skinny Girl Margarita to do a taste test. I will never turn down free margaritas! ;)

The two brands have nearly identical nutrition stats. They have 100 calories for 4 ounces, which isn't bad at all. I wanted to do a true taste test, without being biased, so I had Jerry pour a glass of each brand, and then I closed my eyes and tasted each of them.

The first one I tried was not very good. I thought it tasted like really watered down tequila. The second one was actually really good, and tasted like a "real" margarita--not the best margarita I've ever had, but good enough that if I were at a restaurant, I'd order a second one. I asked Jerry which was which, and he told me the first one was the Skinny Girl Margarita, and the second was the SmarteRita brand.

I did the same test for Jerry. He blindly tasted both of them, and had the same thoughts--he said the SmarteRita tasted like an ordinary margarita, and the Skinny Girl Margarita tasted "what you would expect a diet margarita to taste like--kind of tasteless".

I liked the SmarteRita so much that I ended up drinking two okay, three glasses of it that evening. I looked up on their website how much it costs, and it's $11.26/bottle. If you can find it in a store, that's a decent price. But when I checked out shipping, the shipping costs more than the drink! Shipping to my house is $12.95. I would honestly never order it because of the shipping cost, but would buy it if I found it at the grocery store. (If you're in Texas, you're in luck--here is a list of where you can buy it.)

(In full disclosure, I was given the two brands of margaritas to taste for free, but was not required to post a review. As always, my opinions are honest.)

So anyway, between the peanut butter and chocolate chips, and then the margaritas, I was 20 PointsPlus over for the week (I'd already used my activity PP and my weekly PP). It's no surprise, then, that the scale was up today:

Up a pound from last week, which isn't terrible, but I was happily maintaining 131 for a long time until about a month ago. I'm going to be careful about measuring and counting everything this week, and hopefully I won't see another gain next week!

I saw on Facebook a page called Run for Boston 4/17. Basically, they wanted to get as many people as possible to run today (4/17), wearing a blue or yellow shirt, and then take a picture with a sign that says "Run for Boston". Today is normally a rest day for me, but I wanted to participate, so I went to the State Park for a run.

I planned to do a nice, easy pace like I did yesterday. It was gorgeous outside! I stopped about a half-mile in to take a picture.

About halfway through my lollipop route, my cell phone rang. I almost ignored it, but decided to make sure it wasn't the school calling about one of the kids. I looked at the caller ID, and of course it would be the school. I stopped running and answered. It was super windy so it was hard to hear. I was also breathing a little hard from running. They said Eli told his teacher he felt like he was going to throw up, so they wanted me to come get him.

I knew I was 2-3 miles from my car, so I told her I'd be there as soon as I could. I tried calling my mom to see if she could pick him up, but didn't get an answer, so I just ran a pretty fast pace for the last half of the run. I was trying to get back to the car as fast as I could. My body did NOT want to run fast, since I'm still a little sore from Saturday's race. My adrenaline was going, and I was feeling stressed out. I felt like a bad mom, because it was going to take me 40 minutes to go get my kid. What started out as a nice run ended up being stressful and tough, mentally and physically.

Finally got back to the car and drove to the school to pick up Eli. He's totally fine, which I knew when they called; he hadn't complained about anything this morning. A lot of times, he gets a stomachache when he eats too fast, or drinks too much, or just eats something that doesn't agree with him. But the teacher said that a couple of kids have been out with a stomach bug, so it was best that I take him home.

Eli's pretty cute, though. On the way home, he asked me if he could do what he always does when he's sick: "watch a movie with a blanket and pillow on the couch and drink broth". I think it's kind of funny that his comfort food of choice is just chicken broth. It started when he was really dehydrated from the stomach flu one time, and now he always asks for it when he's sick. So we watched a movie together this afternoon.

Tomorrow, I'm for sure taking a rest day. I'm not sure how far I'm going to run for my long run on Friday. Now that the half-marathon is over, I don't have to run more than 6 miles until marathon training this summer! But I kind of like running 12 milers (long enough to be a little tough, but not enough to be miserable).

Continue Reading...

Motivational Monday #11

After getting the kids on the bus this morning, I turned on CNN to continue watching the footage of the Boston Marathon bombing. I'm still just stunned at the whole thing. I wasn't planning to run today, but something strange happened while I was watching the news--I felt like I needed to run. I was feeling so sad every time the news showed photos and video of the bombing.

Every time I saw the photo of the 8-year old boy who was killed, my heart just broke all over again. I feel so sad for his father, who had just finished the race when the bomb went off. I have an 8-year old boy, and he was waiting at the finish line for me at my first marathon last year. It meant so much to me that my family was there for me. I just couldn't even imagine going through that.

My heart felt so heavy, and I felt like I needed to get out of here. I actually wanted to go for a run. And I realized that over the past year or so, I've evolved as a runner. When I'm feeling stressed, running takes my mind off of the stressors. When I'm feeling anxious, running gets out that negative energy. When I'm feeling sad, running is a relief in the same way that crying is.

I put on my running clothes, and headed out the door. I ran six miles at a comfortable pace, and as I ran, I thought about how proud I am to be a runner. Runners have a determination so strong that nothing can break it. I left the house with a lump in my throat and a head full of images that sickened me; but when I returned, the lump was gone and all I could think about was how much love I have for the running community (both runners and spectators showing their support). It was very fitting, then, when I saw this quote that John posted on Facebook:

It couldn't be more true! And on that note, I'd like to share yesterday's Motivational Monday post...

---

Yesterday, I got a phone call from John, my Ragnar Relay teammate who lives in San Diego. He was at a 10K race, and said that he met a woman named Wyndi, who recognized him from my blog! Later, I got an e-mail from Wyndi about the encounter, and she wanted to share that for Motivational Monday. This is Wyndi and John at the Peace Love Run race... (by the way, if you ever seen John out and about, make sure to say hello! He is honestly one of the friendliest people you'll ever meet).

---

This is Ally and her fiance, after running her first 5K. Her fiance made her promise that after the race, she would start calling herself a runner--and after running the 3.1 miles in the rain, she finally agreed that she was, in fact, a runner. She finished in 33:58, beating her goal time by over 6 minutes!

---

I don't have many male readers, so I am always excited to hear from the few that do read ;) This is Dean, running a 5K race--his very first race! He is running to lose weight, and has lost 34 pounds so far. He said he ran the whole way, felt great, and even could have kept going!

---

Katie walked 25,780 steps on Saturday--the equivalent of nearly 11 miles! That was the most steps she's taken in a single day so far. She's also lost 42 pounds since January! (Here is Katie's blog)

---

Chris ran her first 5K in under 42 minutes, beating her goal time of 45 minutes! When she first started training in February, she couldn't even run for a minute without getting tired and winded, but she persisted, and it paid off in a big way at her race.

---

Elizabeth ran her second 10K on Saturday, and PR'ed by 5 minutes from last years' time. She's lost an amazing 151 pounds! (Here is Elizabeth's race report on her blog, and her Facebook page)

---

Ashley PR'ed her third half-marathon, with a goal of 2:10--and she finished in 2:09:55! She spotted another of my Ragnar teammates, Andrea, at the race, also (next time, make sure you say hello! Andrea is super nice, I promise.) (Here is Ashley's blog)

---

Amanda ran the Portland Race for the Roses 10K--by herself! She's always run with a friend or family member, and she was very nervous to do the race alone, but she made her goal time with ONE SECOND to spare! This photo is with her sister, who ran the half-marathon. (Here is Amanda's race report)

---

Kelly ran her fastest 5K ever at a race last weekend, finishing in a super speedy 23:37! She's shaved 10 minutes off of her 5K time over the past 2.5 years, dropping about 20 pounds in the process. She has a goal of completing an Ironman by 2015. (Here is Kelly's race report on her blog)

---

Tricia completed her first 10K on Saturday! She began with a goal of running 5K, and when she checked that goal off, she went for the 10K. Now that she's completed that goal, she's toying with the idea of one day doing a half-marathon :)  (Here is Tricia's Facebook page)

---

Lyndsey did her first trail run (if you've ever run on a trail, you know it's quite a bit different from road running). Only one-tenth of a mile into the run, she fell, scraping up her leg; but rather than limp back home with a broken spirit, she continued on for a total of 8.5 miles! That's hardcore ;)

---

Deb ran a half-marathon on Saturday to benefit the American Cancer Society. She ran in memory of her mom, who passed of lung cancer 14 years ago. Deb says, "She would be so proud that I've lost 40 pounds, and am running, and loving it!"

---

After reaching 80 pounds lost, Wendy started the Couch to 5K program this week! She said it felt great, and she hopes to train to one day run a 5K, 10K, half- or full-marathon, or even a Ragnar.

---

Here is a link to the Facebook post with lots of great motivation. Here is a snippet:

GREAT JOB this week, and congrats to all of you!

Continue Reading...

Boston Marathon

I had my Motivational Monday post all ready to go up at 9:00, but after hearing the news about what happened at the Boston Marathon today, it just didn't feel right to post it. I'm horrified and just feel sick about the whole tragedy. I know quite a few people that were there today (runners and spectators), and I'm just shocked that this happened. An 8-year old boy killed while spectating a marathon?! It's heart breaking, and just so soon after the tragedy at Newtown--how can we even feel safe anymore?

I was so sad to hear the news today, and I have been glued to CNN all day. My thoughts and prayers are with all those that were affected by what happened today in Boston.

I'll post the Motivational Monday tomorrow. I'm sure you all understand.

Continue Reading...

Rabbit

I was surprised to wake up pretty sore today. I run 12 miles for my long run just about every week, so I didn't think I'd be sore from running a half-marathon yesterday, but pushing the pace took a toll on my legs. Normally, I run four miles on Sundays, but I took a rest day today. I might take another rest day tomorrow.

My next race is the Glass City Marathon as part of a five-person relay team. My sister is the one who formed the team made up of Jeanie (that's my sister), Jen (her best friend), Debbie (another friend of hers), Ty (who I invited), and me.

I'm really excited about the relay! We're doing it solely to have fun, so there is no pressure at all, which makes me happy. I've never run as part of a relay before, except for the Ragnar Relay, which is overnight, so this should be new and interesting. We provide our own transportation to each exchange point, which I think is even better--our team can stay together and leap frog the runner with the car, just like in the Ragnar.

I volunteered to make sparkle skirts for the whole team, so I worked on those today. When I bought the fabric for those, I saw some ribbon that matched perfectly and I thought would make cute headband. So I bought the stuff to make headbands for all of us as well. I made a copycat version of the Sweaty Band.

I spent the whole afternoon sewing sparkle skirts for my relay teammates.

I have some fabric scraps that I'm going to use to make wrist bands, too. Now that I'm done with my half-marathon, I am really excited about the relay!

---

Yesterday, at the starting line of the race, I saw Ty just before the race started. She wanted to get a quick picture, so she motioned for a group of us to get together, and someone took a picture with her phone. I didn't know any of the others in the photo (and I didn't even turn around to see who was in it, because I was focused on the race starting any minute when the picture was taken).

Anyway, yesterday, Ty posted the photo to Facebook:

When I looked at the photo, I was shocked to see that the woman on the right in blue was the woman who paced me for the whole race (although she didn't know that...)! We were pretty much leap-frogging each other, and I made it a goal not to let her out of my sight, since she seemed to run the pace I was working on.

I wrote a quick "thank you" comment on Facebook to her, because she had no idea that she was my "rabbit" at the race. Ty sent me a link to her story, and I was completely amazed. Her name is Asia, and there is no way I can do justice to telling her story in a few words here, so here is the link to her story. The whole thing gave me goosebumps.

---

I talked to my friend Sarah on the phone today. We've been trying to work out a date for me to go visit her in Phoenix. I've been wanting to go out there ever since I started flying again (despite my fear), but it's been really hard to figure out a date. I had been planning on going out there the last week of May, but she found out she has to do something important for her job that week. Then she's coming home (to Michigan) for six weeks!

She used all of her sick days for maternity leave, so she can't take time off until the fall. So now it's looking like I may end up waiting until the fall to go visit. That's going to be tough, because I have a couple of big things going on in the fall--I'm a bridesmaid in Jerry's sister's wedding in September, and then October is the Chicago Marathon with Andrea. Oh, well, at least now I'll have some time to save a little extra money, because right now I'm really too broke to think of a trip!

Continue Reading...

The True Nature of Cats, Part 3

If you haven't seen it yet, I wrote a post earlier about my half-marathon recap. You can read it here.

(This is the third post of a four-post series about The True Nature of Cats movement that I learned about at the Purina ONE headquarters. You can read the first post here, and the second post here.)

The first week, I wrote about food; last week, I wrote about play; and now I'll write about making our cats environment as close to nature as possible, while in a house setting.

Anyone who has owned a cat probably knows that cats like to be hidden. They love to watch what is going on without being seen themselves. This is part of a cats instinct, so it's important to allow them to hide. In nature, cats spend some time stalking their prey before pouncing, and the stalking involves watching without being seen. We can set up spots in the house for them to use their instincts to hide.

The Purina ONE headquarters has an entire room set up with tons of cat stuff--toys, cat trees, hiding places, etc. It was SO cool to see all the different ideas...

Estelle would have a field day in that place! They even had a spot set up where we could make a hiding box for cats (which they then donate to a shelter, which I think is really cool). But it would be cheap and easy to make a box for your cat like this one, using a cardboard box, some tape, and paper:

Cats also like to be up high. This is another thing they do in nature--climb trees to watch their prey without being seen. Ideally, we'd all have a tree in our house for our cats to climb, but that's not very realistic, obviously. So the next best thing is to provide spots that are up high for our cats to perch.

I have a cat tree that my cats love to sit on (I keep it next to the window, so they can look outside). I saw some cool shelves at the Purina ONE headquarters that great for cats; I think I may make one (stepping completely into the "crazy cat lady" shoes). It's a curved shape, which is more natural than a flat shelf.

They also had these AMAZING cat trees around, which I would love for my cats, but I heard they are something like $1200. My cats will have to stick to the carpeted tree, unless I can sweet talk my dad into making one of these babies...

(By the way, Purina ONE doesn't sell this stuff--they bought it to create an ideal environment for cats, to educate people on the nature of cats.)

Estelle can give you some other ideas of what kind of environment makes cats happy... ;)

Can you spot her in there? No idea how she did it, but she's lying on top
of the hangers without falling!

Boxes, bags, and any kind of nook or cranny cats can find make great spots for them to hide. Bonus if the spots are up high! This picture of Chandler is on top of my kitchen cupboards, and before he got too fat to get up there:

Cats have different preferences, and all four of my cats like different spots--Chandler likes to be up high, Phoebe likes to be outside (if she can sneak out) or on a lap, Estelle likes to be inside of things, and Paolo likes to be wherever is soft and cozy.

Speaking of cats going outside, obviously that's in a cat's true nature as well. But cats are much safer in the house, and statistics show your cats will live much longer as an indoor cat. But something we learned at Purina ONE was that you can train your cat to use a leash. There are special leashes for cats (a harness, rather than a collar). Purina ONE included a leash in the box of stuff they sent, so I gave it a try. My cats weren't happy about it, but maybe with some more practice they'll like it. A leash is a safe way to let your cat explore outside (if would be very different from walking a dog, however; you wouldn't walk around the block, but let your cat explore the bushes and trees and and all that).

---

On to the giveaway... :)  The winner of last week's canned food coupons goes to Lincoln! My boys found this picture hilarious:

Hahaha, he was having a ball with the toilet paper!

For next week, I have a coupon for an entire case of canned Purina ONE food (24 cans total) that I will be giving away. To enter, send me a picture of your cat in his/her "true nature"--where they like to hide or spy on you ;) Use the subject "Happy Cat".

This is the box that the toys from Purina ONE came in--
Estelle claimed the box instantly!

I only got about 25 photos for this last giveaway, so I didn't put them into a slideshow this time--but I'll save them and maybe make a slideshow next week, including those pics then.

Don't forget, the three food winners will be given the chance to win a big package of toys and puzzle feeders and cool cat stuff from Purina ONE! This will be your last chance, so make sure to find a cute photo of your kitty in his/her true nature ;)

Continue Reading...