I'd like to thank the Academy...

I've been nominated!

I would like to thank the fabulous Ms. Kim at (Just) Trying is for Little Girls for nominating me for this bloggy award.  It's been awhile since I've gotten an award so I was very happy to be a recipient.  Even if I do think it's mostly out of revenge because I pointed out that she went to a crappy undergraduate institution that drools and is much too fond of sheep.  (But I like her a lot anyway.)

The rules of this nomination are:
I get to tell you seven random things about myself as well as pass on the award to seven other great bloggers.

Nominees, in order to accept this award you must:

-Thank and link back to the person who awarded you
-Write seven random things about yourself.
-Award seven other awesome and inspiring bloggers.

Without further ado then, here we go.

1.  My hair is naturally curly but when I was growing up straight hair was in and I hated it.  (Both my hair and that straight hair was in.)  I even got it permed once.  Bad stylist for letting me do that.  It turned out horribly.  I went back to blow drying my hair straight and then curling it with a curling iron.  What was I thinking?  I've had a fabulous stylist for years now and my hair takes about three minutes to fix.  I just blow it dry and it falls exactly into place. 

2.  I can't eat cream puffs due to a cream puff incident when I was a teenager.  Being a latchkey kid and thus home alone for several hours every afternoon, I taught myself how to cook.  First just food and then things like bread and so forth.  One day I decided to make cream puffs.  We had this Mexican vanilla that apparently was waaaaay stronger than normal vanilla.  As in something like four times stronger.  Which I didn't know.  So I used too much and between the tasting of the filing and then eating some of the cream puffs I got soooooo sick.  I've never had a cream puff since and just the idea of them turns my stomach.

3.  I also did not know there was a difference between sugar and powdered sugar.  Hey, I was about 12.  My stepdad very bravely had a piece of the cake and frosting I'd made from scratch.  He proclaimed it good, but crunchy.  We tossed the rest.

4.  I seem to be on a theme now.  I also made cornbread from scratch.  It was good but extremely dense.  Like you couldn't swallow the piece in your mouth dense.  It sat for a few days with only one piece gone and then we tossed the rest out of out to the dogs.  And by tossed I mean threw out the kitchen window onto the deck about five feet below and 12 feet over.  It bounced, with no pieces falling off.  Our dog Katie picked up the whole thing (from an 8x8 pan) and then carried it around the backyard for about a half an hour, criss crossing her path to hide her scent, before finally burying it to save for later.  We were in tears, we were laughing so hard.

5.  And last but definitely not least, I never could master making biscuits.  I think I kneeded the dough too much because no matter what I did they always turned out to be the consistency of hockey pucks.  Which is what my stepdad started calling them right away -- "Hey, you made hockey pucks!" -- as I tried for a couple of months to get them to come out right.  He would toss one down on the kitchen lineolum for the dog and she'd bat it back and forth across the floor until knocking it down the stairs, at which point she'd eat it.  The dogs always loved it when I cooked.

6.  Might as well stay with the food theme.  I refused to eat cheesecake for years just on general principle.  Is it cheese?  Is it cake?  Tell me!  I finally agreed to try some when visiting family in New Mexico when I was about 15 and now it's one of my favorite things.  My brother had the same objections and the same reaction when I talked him into trying some.

7.  I have a rule about birthday cake:  If it is your birthday, you must have cake.  I don't mean that literally.  I won't force you to eat cake or anything.  But I think you should have your favorite treat on your birthday.  If you want baby peas, have baby peas.  If you want chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and no filling unless it's chocolate, that's the kind of cake you should have.  Nothing is worse than someone getting you a crappy birthday cake.  So this should mean that as I head off to my office birthday lunch, there should be chocolate cake.  With chocolate frosting.  And no filling.  Unless it's chocolate.

Now to pass on the fun.  BUT since it was just my birthday and I am still of course the Empress I am changing it up a bit:  If nominated, you have to list seven silly things about yourself.  (Please note that if I've seen you do this already I won't nominate you again here, there were lots of folks that I find inspiring but that had already done this.  Though if you want to tell me seven silly things about yourself....)

Ready, Set, Go!

- Heather at Will Run for Coffee
- Julie at Running on Purpose
- Michelle at Runn Princess Runn
- Julie D. at The Finish Line Diaries
- Meredith at Therapeutic Runnings of a Mom
- One Crazy Penguin!
- and... Michel at Baby Weight My Fat Ass

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

Planning a Birth Day

I might have mentioned that my birthday is this week.  Did I mention it?  Are you sure?  Well, in case you missed it earlier, my birthday is this week.  Thursday, to be specific.  I'm a Scorpio to the core.

And in case I didn't mention it, my birthday is in two more days.

I've been planning out what to do on the day of my birth.  I was born very early in the morning, and hopefully my mother will not be making good on her long-standing threat to phone me at the specific time, a la City Slickers.  She's been saying she would since 1991 when the movie came out.  So far, she's always fallen asleep before the golden hour.

Fun fact:  Jayne Meadows was the voice of Mitch's mother in that movie.  Did you know she was also married to Steven Allen?

I took Thursday and Friday off from work.  Growing up, big tests were always scheduled right around my birthday.  In college, it was always semi-finals.  A few years ago I decided I never wanted to get up early on my birthday again so now I always take the day off.  (It goes without saying that I also don't want to work on my birthday.)  Last year when I turned 40 I took the whole week off. 

The plan for my birthday is to sleep in.  Then I'm going to get up and indulge in a big ol' plate of eggs benedict.  I make an excellent eggs benedict. 

Next I may go to the zoo.  I was definitely going to go to the zoo, then I found out that the Annual Squishing of the Squash is on Friday.  Except that (a) it's at 10:30 a.m., (b) there will likely be lots of rugrats children there as a consequence, and (c) it's supposed to rain on Friday.  Thursday's weather is supposed to be nice (as it should be -- did I mention it's my birthday on Thursday?).  So Thursday sounds like the better option, even if I miss the squishing of the squash.  Unless I sleep in really, really late (totally possible), I think a trip to the zoo is on for Thursday. 

Zoo grounds are open until 5:00 p.m. so getting there in the afternoon would perfect for the next part of the agenda:  Sushi!!  I realized I could again go to one of my favorite sushi places over in Beaverton for my birthday dinner.  This will probably be solo; I tend to like solitude on my birthday.  I ponder what I will do with myself for the next year, much more so than I do for New Year's Eve.  My work schedule has made New Year's pretty much a null holiday for me.  Besides, it makes more sense to contemplate your life on the anniversary of your birth, rather than on New Year's.  Unless your birthday is on New Year's.

Speaking of birthdays, mine is this Thursday!

Likely I will take my sushi home with me to keep me company while I watch my latest DVD of Midsomer Murders.  I do love a good death to counteract a birthday.

What is your must-do on your birthday?

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

Dreams of a Sub-Three Half

Shh, don't tell, but my secret wish is for a sub-three hour half this Saturday.

It may remain a dream, at least for 2011.

Sunday Julie and I went out for a longish run.  It was kind of a toss up as to how far we were going to go; five miles, six miles, and seven miles had all been bandied about.  It would depend on the route we ran and how we felt.  For me, this was the first run post-marathon.

We intended to go torture ourselves on Terwilliger.  I only live a few minutes away so I was going to get to the meeting place first.  Imagine my surprise when confronted with this.

It was Run Like Hell!  Which I had not only completely forgotten was on Sunday but also that it would come that far up onto Barbur.*  They didn't look exactly like this when I saw them but they did look awfully rough.  That could be partly due to zombie costumes but I'm betting it was more to do with the fact that I saw them right about at mile eight after climbing up the long Barbur hill.  It was also just shy of two hours into the race, so I was likely seeing a lot of runners like me.

I texted Julie of the problem and to meet me at the nearby Freddy's where we decided they probably wouldn't let us bandit even a small part of the race course, so we headed off to Sellwood Park to run the Springwater Corridor Trail.  Where I really was not feeling it at all.  Still with the pinched nerve issue in the hip, and fresh twinges in the latest suspected stress fracture site.  The hip seems to sort itself out after about four or five miles and it was something I could run through this weekend (just didn't feel like putting myself through it for a training run).  The potential fracture site is a tad more worrisome.  I hadn't been having much of a problem with it for several days until I started to run.  It works itself out after a short while, but afterwards was (and still is) fairly sore.  My grand plan to do a few more races and to get a sub-three half before the end of the year may not materialize. 

Well, if that's the case then so be it.  It was a beautiful day to run on Sunday with a gorgeous view and great company.  And a couple of guys -- completely not together -- who were running with their arms mostly down by their sides, palms just over their thighs.  Who runs like that? 

Maybe they were leftover zombies.

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

*True story:  At first I couldn't figure out what race would be coming that far up Barbur that I didn't know about.  So I'm searching my brain (BRAAAAINNNSSS), saying to myself "What the hell?"  And then it hits me -- it was Run Like Hell! 

I don't wanna run but I do wanna RACE!

I'm a little burnt out on actual training but I still want to run.

Well, maybe the first part isn't entirely accurate.  I'm a little burnt out on getting up at the butt crack of dawn to run.  It's dark and it's early.  Really, really early.  Times like this I wish I lived where it stayed light up super late all the time. 

But then I'd probably have snow as a trade off. 

Anyhow.  While training is imperative in order to run a marathon -- so, you know, you don't get a stress fracture or anything -- it's a lot less important for shorter distances.  Like 5Ks.  Even kinda half marathons.  At least when you're like me and slow as dirt and pretty much okay with that.

Yet I do want to race.  In 2009, the first year I started running I ran something like 30 races.  It was a lot.  It was also expensive.  I didn't run as many in 2010, only 15 races, partly because I had a lot less disposable income and partly because I was marathon training.  And partly because I more or less quit running after the Eugene Marathon. 

It's my story, I get to have three partys if I want to!

I also ran more races in 2010 than I might have otherwise because I was part of a running league (and I won my division so neener!) and they counted as points.  This year, I haven't done many races at all, again due mainly to money and marathon training.  As the long runs get longer, I find it hard to race at the same time.  My good intentions to race say 3.1 miles and then finish out the balance of the run afterwards never work out. 

Now that training is done, and given the fun I had at the Portland Marathon, I've got the racing bug again.  Still no money but we've all got challenges to overcome.  So, piggybank permitting, I'm thinking about finishing out my year with some of these:

Nov 24 - ORCC Turkey Trot 4 miler

Nov 26 - Winter Wonderland of Lights

Nov 28 - Hot Buttered Run 5K

Dec 3 - Ridgefield Holiday Fun Run 5K

Dec 4 - Jingle Bell Run 5K

Dec 11 - Holiday Half

Out of these, I definitely will be doing the Turkey Trot at the Zoo.  The rest, I may just flip a coin.  I looked at doing the Ridgefield Holiday Fun Run last year, I did their Fourth of July run in 2009 and it had a great atmosphere.  Plus it's seriously cheap -- $15 with a canned food donation.  I think that includes a shirt. 

Anything coming up on your race calendar I should know about?

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

I Am a Crazy Person

A few weeks ago I learned about the Runaway Pumpkin Half.  I thought it looked like a lot of fun and all the cool kids were doing it but money has been a huge issue in recent weeks plus I started having potential stress fracture thingies (technical term) a couple days after the Portland Marathon so I put the race out of my mind.

As it turns out, completely out of my mind.  Last night I was texting with the Fruit Fly about my birthday dinner and she reminded me that she was running the half that same day.  I had forgotten about that race until she mentioned it, and then a little voice in the back of my mind said "you should run it."  So after a couple of hours, I checked out how far the drive was to the race (about 90 minutes) and how much it was ($65).  I was still thinking I'd pull the trigger a few days before the race, then I saw on the website that not only did registration close on October 25 but that you had to register by October 20 -- you know, that day -- to be guaranteed a shirt and a goodie bag. 

I'm all about the shirt and the swag.  Why else would I run a race? 

So now I'm signed up.  And so is the Fruit Fly and Kim (and her famous boobies!) and then Julie (who fixed her blog - yay!) texted me this morning to say she was in too.  Rumor has it that 2012 will be the year of the half so I would say we're in a good position to do that...

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

The Birthday Countdown!

In exactly one week it will be my birthday!

For the first time in a very long time, I am planning a birthday dinner for myself for next weekend.  Usually my friend S just drags me out to buy me dinner. 

It's somewhat of a challenge to arrange this dinner as some of my potential guests have different dietary needs/desires.  Sushi appears to be definitely out.  At least two are vegetarian so that precludes a juicy steak dinner.  At least one is a dedicated carnivore like myself, although he's fairly strictly meat and potatoes whereas I'm slightly more adventurous.  And then of course there is me, the birthday girl.  Having my own dietary quirks I am sensitive to those in others.  But I'm still going to eat at a place where I really want to eat.

Dinner is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, October 29 at the Raccoon Lodge in Beaverton.  If there are any readers in the area who want to come help me celebrate let me know and I will send you an invite when I firm up my plans. 

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

Monday's Musings

1.  After a long, long week it was an uneventful weekend.  I again slept a phenomenal amount on Saturday, getting up around 2:30 p.m.  Ah, sleep, my favorite avoidance coping mechanism.  It is getting more normal around the house, the Bear and I are settling into our own routine without the crazy dog.  Bear has been moving around better, probably because a crazy dog isn't walking over her or knocking her down several times a day.  We even played Tug of War, which is interesting with an old, somewhat crippled dog.  It involves mostly her head and a lot of snarling and growling at each other.  Ever arm wrestle a small child?  It's a lot like that.  But with more sound effects.

2.  I'm wearing jeans today that I haven't been able to wear in several months.  Yay for depression coupled with a lack of money and appetite.

3.  I surfed some recipes yesterday trying to get myself interested in cooking (and eating) again.  Made my very first tater tot casserole last night.  It was very tasty.  Not healthy, but tasty.  Next weekend I'm going to make BBQ wings and drums.  Perhaps with tater tot casserole.

4.  I finally put some new bumper stickers on my car.  One is the Run Oregon sticker from Foot Traffic that I've had for months and months.  The others were ones I got at the marathon expo from One More Mile.  I now have "26.2 Been There, Run That" and "Running is a mental game and we are all insane."  Love that last one.

5.  I'd like to run a half marathon between now and the end of the year but I don't want to actually train for one.  Since I (a) am broke, (b) need to spend more time at the office as we get closer to December 31, and (c) I strongly suspect that I've developed a new stress fracture in my other leg I think I'm just going to have to go with the "It's good to want things" position and take some time off.  Still planning to do the Turkey Trot and the First Run stuff though. 

6.  Now I feel really slow.  Maybe I should race with a turban.

7.  But not the beard.

8.  Every once in a rare while I feel the need to peruse the blog of my ex-boyfriend's wife.  Just to make sure I'm still winning.  I am!  One of his complaints about his first two marriages (we weren't married, FYI and thank god) was that his wives were all wrapped up in doing their own thing and he was on his own all the time, blah blah blah.  If you read his current wife's blog you'd be hard-pressed to figure out that she actually has a husband what with all the activities and shit she does.  Oh, and as time goes by the kid gets less cute.  The universe, she has a sense of humor and I am laughing along with her.   Sadly I just learned the wife was volunteering at one of the water stops during the marathon, under the Morrison Bridge.  Damn, I could've accidentally thrown up on her or something.  Then again, it's not her fault she's married to a dickhead.

9.  Now I'm looking for blogs that celebrate singledom.  Hmm, are there any?  I'm thinking maybe not -- I mean, look at this article.  It's all "Don't slit your wrists quite yet -- he's still out there waiting for you!!"  What if you're not frustrated?  What if you could give a shit about whether he's out there waiting?   I wasn't born lacking.  I am complete as I am.  Ooh, this is good.  Maybe I'm just a quirkyalone.

10.  Yeah, I think that's it.

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

Running is FUN. Running a marathon is even FUNNER!!

At first, I felt like I had to keep defending my marathon time.  Yes, it was much slower than my Eugene time.  I was pacing a friend, that's why. 

As if I needed to justify my time.

You know what?  I don't. 

I had lost sight of the fact that when I signed up for the Portland Marathon, it was because I made a promise to a very bestest friend:  I will help you beat your 2010 time. 

And that's exactly what I did.

Know what else I did?

I had an abso-fucking-lutely fabulous time doing it.

I realized this morning that I couldn't remember the last time that running had been fun. 

Once we got started -- and don't get me started about how they put us in the walkers' corral.  I love people walking a marathon.  I totally do.  I just don't want to dodge and weave around them for the first two miles, which added almost a half a mile to our race distance -- it was fun.  I felt great.  (If we ignore the whole Ultima drink debacle.)  My first time running pain free in WEEKS. 

There were portapotty stops.  Just look at my Garmin stats:

Average Pace Per Mile:  16:10.
Average Moving Pace Per Mile:  14:44.

If we hadn't had to make all those potty stops -- almost 45 minutes worth of time.  Our last three miles were faster than our first three miles.  Isn't that awesome?

There were lots of bands on the course and neither of us was running with music.  Which meant I sang.  A lot.  Particularly from after the St. John's Bridge, meaning in the last eight miles I was being completely silly.  One band started playing "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" as we went by.  I sang almost the entire thing.  Even though we couldn't hear the band anymore.  I did YMCA with arm movements.  I made up lyrics; Wheels on the Bus is an immortal classic the way I sing it.  We even did the Jaws theme at one point.  It seemed appropriate at the time.

And above all, I had fun which is how it should be.  And Julie got her PR, which is how that should be.  Next year I'm still aiming for the Marine Corps marathon and maybe I'll do Vancouver USA in June since I had to sit it out this year.  Those races, I can have my own time goal. 

But it's almost better to run for your friend's goal. 

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

From the Highest High to the Lowest Low

I ran the Portland Marathon on Sunday.  Despite getting sick from the course's electrolyte drink and not figuring that out until around mile 15, I had a great time.  And I invented ten new refrains to the song Wheels on the Bus. 

I came home from the race to learn that my dog had relapsed.  Monday morning, my sweet baby crossed the Rainbow Bridge. 

I love you, Maggie.

T Minus 1 and Counting

Got my bib, shirt, etc.  One More Mile was there are the expo, I picked up a new tech tee that I might end up wearing tomorrow.  On the front it says something like "I'm the reason you have someone to pass" and on the back it says "If you can read this I'm not last." 

I think that sums it all up for me.

Saw Jeff Galloway and Frank Shorter there but didn't stick around for their talks. 

RainWatch 2011:  There is an 88% chance of rain at 5:00 a.m. that drops abruptly to only a 32% chance at 6:00 a.m.  Overall they expect less than a tenth of an inch of rain so if luck holds we'll only get sprinkled on.  They are forecasting 50 degrees at 6:00 a.m. and up to 60 by 2:00 p.m. but mostly cloudy.  I am definitely wearing a short sleeve shirt tomorrow and probably will not wear the wrist gaiters.  Sounds like the perfect running weather to me!

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

The Marathon is Coming! The Marathon is Coming!

Less than two days before the big event!!  Who's excited?  Are you excited?  I'm excited!

RainWatch 2011.  We're now up to a 70% chance of rain for Sunday.  Oh wait, it's dropped to 60% since this morning!  And only a 50% chance of rain by the afternoon.  Since I will still be out on the course by the afternoon.  Sounds like it will mainly rain in the morning.  Just enough to soak us all by the start, I'm sure.

With that in mind, I stopped by the running store at lunch to try to pick up a small stick of BodyGlide.  Which they don't carry, only the size I already have.  Guess I'll be packing that along with me!  I did pick up some blister sticker thingies, "for the prevention and treatment of blisters."  I haven't opened the package yet so I don't know if I'll use them preemptively or not -- Don't want to put on something untested on marathon that might actually cause blisters.  But if I knock on wood do develop them during the race, it will be nice to have them available. 

I think I've figured out how to get to the race.  I live in the perfect spot to zip downtown -- except for downtown races when they block off the streets between here and there.  Looks like I should (a) be early enough that I'll be through there before they block the streets and (b) be able to go around the block if I need to.  Then I just need to find parking in relation to the start.  Parking is free on Sundays until 1:00 p.m.  At which time I will still be out on the course.

At least 1:00 p.m. is better than the post-race party.  Know what time that starts?  11:30.  Guess where I will be at that time?  Somewhere around mile 18.  These people, they make-a me laugh.

I am too broke to do a pre-race dinner but it looks like I will be at the expo on Saturday around 11:30 and thereafter.  If anyone wants to meet up then, email me at cilleygirl (at) comcast (dot) net and we can arrange to text.  Or you can always tweet me at cilleygirlpdx.  I usually see tweets in a somewhat timely fashion.

If you want to follow my progress, my bib number is 3608.  The Portland Marathon site has a live tracking link.   And did you hear?   The Occupy Portland protestors have camped out in the parks where the race starts and ends.  Political machinations are working overtime in Portland to solve the problems arising from that.  One of the activists said that the protest is way more important than the marathon.  Not to the marathoners it's not.  The day after, sure.  But not on Sunday.

So, goals.  The A-plus-deluxe goal is to finish at 5:59:59.  I'm....optimistic.  That was what I hoped for when I signed up to run Vancouver in June.  The B goal, at least for me, is to beat my Eugene finishing time of 6:26.  Barring blisters and heat stroke, I can do that.  The C goal is to finish in under seven hours.  Barring decapitation and/or amputation, no problem!  There is also something called "swinging the gate" that happens at 1:30 p.m. where they foist you onto an alternate route.  I'd like to avoid that. 

Let's call this the D goal...

All in all, to quote Julie today, we're going to do our best.  Otherwise, popcorn.

Still with me?  Good for you!

I never obsess -- unlike some flies I know *snerk* -- about my outfit for a race.  If I were photogenic in the slighest, maybe I'd care.  But I don't.  Temperature regulation and prevention of pain, that's what I'm all about.  I'm tempted to wear long sleeves because it will be in the 50s on Sunday but I always end up regretting that.  So I'm sticking with my Eugene Women's Half marathon short sleeve and adding my wrist gaiters.  We are supposed to have some wind on Sunday and I'm thinking in particular about the bridges and running next to the river.  I hate having frozen hands during a race.  My regular capris, shoes and socks and smelly hat will round it out. 

And really, what more do you need?

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

Doggy Update

We think she had a stroke some time between Monday night and Tuesday morning.  She was worse last night when I got home, had a hard time keeping her feet under her and just basically zoned out.  She was a little better this morning mobility-wise and when I checked on her at lunch she's gotten a tiny bit more of her personality back.  But overall, it's like about 90% of my dog is just gone.  She goes through the motions like she knows she's supposed to be doing this things -- eating, expelling waste, sleeping -- but she doesn't remember why.  Hopefully she will continue to improve but unless it's a dramatic improvement I won't leave her like that with no quality of life. 

Some hard decisions to make in the next several days. 

--the CilleyGirl

On Alaska, Rain Watch 2011, Krab, and My Dog Plays (?) Dead

So.

Alaska.  I keep having this urge to move.  Not like move into a new place here in Portland.  More like move to Alaska.  I have no idea why.  Okay, I do have an idea why, right now:  Northern Lights was on TV recently and now I'm re-reading the book.  If you have actual literary taste and don't know what I'm talking about, Northern Lights is a book by Nora Roberts that takes place in a tiny Alaska bush town called Lunacy.  I try to catch it when it's on TV because, as I mentioned recently, I'll watch Eddie Cibrian read the phone book.  Plus this was the movie where they met and had they affair and now country music fans think she's the Antichrist.  Or Antichristess.  I get those mixed up. 

Anyhow.  Alaska. 

I've always wanted to move to a small town somewhere.  Not necessarily Alaska.  Remember that Julia Roberts' movie where she's the battered wife and she fakes her death to get away and then moves to a small town in somewhere like Iowa?  When I saw that movie, I wanted to move there.  Just something about that small-town atmosphere -- at least how it's portrayed in stage and screen -- appeals to me.  It could be that the town is so small that people HAVE to be friends with me.  Because in a town with lots of people to choose from.....

Rain Watch 2011.  It's on like Donkey Kong.  Thank you so much, Portland weather, for deciding to be fall THIS week.  So far, Sunday calls for a 50% chance of showers.  I don't mind the rain except for how that's the only time I've gotten blisters from running.  I think I'll just BodyGlide the entire inside of my shoes.  And maybe pray.  Because there are no atheists with blisters.  Or something like that.

Krab.  I've been trying to get away from the dreaded carbs for breakfast.  Stupid bagels.  I thought to go back to shrimp in the mornings but turns out the bag of shrimp I had had freezer burn and no longer tasted anything like shrimp.  More like water soaked curlicues of flesh.  Not even cocktail sauce could save it.  I'm on such a miniscule budget right now that I was writing down what I was spending for each item on my shopping list.  The big thing of fake crab?  Less than $7.00 and enough for five days worth of breakfasts.  Provided I don't nibble on it in the evenings.  Mmm, fake crab, just like my caveman ancestors used to eat.  If they had a surimi plant and Red Dye No. 5. 

My Dog Plays (?) Dead.  In the long process of waking up this morning, I noticed my dog wasn't in bed with me.  I figured she was downstairs doing some sort of mischief.  Found out when hitting the snooze alarm for the first time that she was laying on top of the hope chest (she jumps on that to get into the bed).  She woke up but just lay there all while I was getting ready.  She came downstairs shortly after I did but got up on the couch and just lay there too.  Not even coming in for canned dog food.  Her nose was wet and cold so beats me what's up.  Maybe I'll have a dead dog when I get home.  Yes I'm morbid but sheesh she's nearly 16 1/2 now.  She's had a good life.  Every day is like a bonus.  

And on that note. 

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl