(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday

This is Lilly.  She says "phbbt" to head collars.

This is Kip the wonder dog.  If you look closely, you'll notice only three legs.  Yep, Kip's a tripawd.  I love Kip and he loves me.

Don't you wish you lived here too?

Cheers,

the CilleyGirl

Random Thoughts for a Wednesday

1.  Having to extend your vacation unexpectedly can sometimes be a good thing.  Like,  "We've been selected to receive a free additional night's stay and I don't have to work tomorrow anyway, yay!"   Not so fun when it's "I almost couldn't get my car to go back into gear as I hurtled down a mountain pass in the dark at 65 mph and nobody is open on a weekend anymore for car repairs except for (luckily) the Aamco transmission service center (convenient since I needed a new master cylinder for my clutch as it was cracked and all the fluid had leaked out on my drive to Bend) but they can't get the part until maybe Tuesday) and I was supposed to go home on Monday, fuck me!"  Enforced idleness sucks rocks.

2.  So as you may have guessed, my three day relaxing weekend in Bend with friends turned into a somewhat stressful four day weekend in Bend with friends as I waited for news on my car.  But they had it done by noon on Tuesday at just over half of the original estimate, meaning I really should get my cats into the vet soon for their annual checkups.

3.  Welcome to the world, Prince George Alexander Louis.  I wanted to be on record to say, I bet they'll call him Alex.

4.  Despite the car drama, it was a good weekend.  My friend S had done the Whole30 with me earlier this year and discovered that life is better without wheat.  I ended up eating mostly gluten-free this weekend, at first inadvertently and then intentionally.  My stomach was much happier and a lot of the bloat started going away.  I'm working hard to continue with it.

5.  We also did some of their tour of homes, went on a lovely short hike, and floated the Deschutes River.  I'm a bit sunburned but mainly in the spots where I missed with the sunscreen.  I have some odd tan lines right now.  Happily we did the hike, with its great views of Mt. Bachelor and mumble mumble mumble before the latest fire down there took hold.  It was extremely hazy in Bend yesterday and it's not so great here in PDX either.

6.  Did I mention I've been reading Mark Sisson's 21 day Primal Challenge book?  While I will be going back to paleo/primal, I don't think I'm going to do the specific challenge.  "Go outside and do 20 jumping jacks then sprint for 30 seconds!"  "Fuck you!"  In other words, it's too much like personal training for my tastes, and you all know how I feel about personal training.  But I can do the eating and start moving again.  It felt great to be out hiking Monday night, although I need to carry my asthma inhaler with me for any exercise now.

7.  I'm going to hell (if there is one, that is).  Just read an article about a woman, the Guiness record holder for number of shoe-related items, was found dead in her pool, and her half-her-age boyfriend is suspected of her murder.  My first question of "Was her pool shoe-shaped too?" was not addressed in the article.  Details, people!

8.  Pretty sure Anthony Weiner needs therapy.  Is this man compelled to send texts of his junk?

9.  I've been craving Chinese food and that's a tough order when you (a) don't like a lot of vegetables in Chinese food and (b) really really really like all the fried/sugary sauce dishes.  Last night I discovered that Happy Family helps with all of that.  I picked out the celery and zucchini and had plenty left over with the mushrooms, water chestnuts, and carrots plus the protein of scallops, shrimp, chicken, and beef.  Probably not entirely gluten free (and I did have a few bites of rice and some sweet 'n sour sauce with a few slices of BBQ pork) but it's a helluva lot better than what I usually have.

And speaking of food, I hope lunch shows up soon...

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

Working for a living

I think they've been working me way too hard at the office...

Are you excited to end another week?  Me too!  I am off to Bend to visit friends and their dogs for a couple of days and am looking forward to having Monday off.  As you may have guessed, things are not slow at the office.  This is actually my new office mate, Slim.  I don't think my boss has noticed him sitting across from my desk yet.

Plodding along with other stuff.  My body seems to think it has an abundance of sodium at the moment.  My fingers are extremely swollen and stiff.  I've been drinking fluids but so far no relief.  It's probably congestive heart failure or something like that.

After throwing away much too much food lately, I decided to try something a little different.  As a preface, remember the scene in Lethal Weapon II where Mel Gibson follows Patsy Kensit (the little blonde secretary from the South African embassy) to the market and they have a conversation where she says that she shops every day because she never knows what she'll be hungry for one day to the next.  I can relate.  I used to be able to plan and shop for meals for at least a week and then stick to that pretty well.  Not anymore.  I find myself going to the store a lot but instead of buying just for the short term I still shop like I'm going to follow through on planning ahead.  And I end up tossing a lot.  I swear I should just bring bananas into the house and immediately throw them in the garbage.

So my plan now is to think ahead no more than three days at a time.  This was my first week doing that and it actually turned out fairly well.  Last Friday I had made a big meatloaf and then on Saturday made a big potato salad.  Sunday evening I had enough leftover for dinner that night plus three lunches plus a bowl of potato salad leftover to have with another entree.  Monday and Tuesday I had the lunches.  One of those nights I had the rest of the potato salad plus some protein, a turkey burger patty I think.  Tuesday I wasn't hungry in the evening so I had turkey burger again and some fruit.  Wednesday I was in Salem on business and so had lunch out with my boss on the way back to Portland.  Wednesday evening on a whim I stopped at the store and picked up breakfast fixings for dinner and had that Wednesday and Thursday evening.  Yesterday I felt like sushi so I had that for lunch.  And now today I brought the last of the originally planned lunches which, had I stuck to the plan, would've been eaten before now.  Nothing tossed out, a little flexibility but not so much that I (a) spent a ton of money (maybe $25 between sushi lunch and two breakfast-for-dinners) and (b) ended up tossing stuff out.  I do though need to take a pint of strawberries, some romaine, and a cucumber with me to my friends to eat this weekend.  But still, not bad *and* I didn't eat a bunch of fast food either.

How often do you shop for groceries?  Like grocery shopping or hate it?  Do you go with a plan or where the whim takes you?

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

Schilling for the kitties

I have very little to report on my own life so I thought I would take a moment to let you know about a cause that is near and dear to my heart -- helping shelter kitties!

I follow a blog out of the Tacoma area, the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee, by a woman who along with her husband and trusty grown cat Charlene Butterbean foster kittens for the Tacoma Humane Society.  Her pictures and stories are amazing and provide for some serious cuteness overload, lots of laughs, and not a few tears.

Each year in conjunction with Tacoma Humane's Dog-a-Thon, the IBKC does its own FUNdraiser for the cats.  In past years they have blown past their expectations and raised squillions and squillions of dollars for the shelter.  For me, not only have all of my pets as an adult been the product of animal rescue, but my last cat, Sammi, was fostered by and then adopted from this particular shelter when I lived in Tacoma.  I have been lucky enough to be able to donate to this cause since its inception.

If you have pets in your hearts, please check out the IBKC and if you have money in your wallet please consider making a donation.  This year's goal is $100 squillion dollars and they are more than halfway there.  Today every penny raised will not only go to the spay and neuter programs but will also be matched by a generous anonymous donor up to $3,000.

Jo as a foster for Redmond Humane.  So tiny!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

It's aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiivvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

At least I think so.

If you've been following me for a while, you know that I have two crazy-busy times at work:  December and June.  As you might guess, I've been in the June crazy-busy for a while now.  Three weeks of six days in the office.  Really looking forward to this weekend when I will finally have more than one day off in a row.

On top of that, I had several client site inspections, we interviewed for and hired a new staffer to replace one that is leaving, and -- the most fun of all -- I had this weird thing going on for over a week where I was almost constantly nauseous.  I have a new appreciation for what morning sickness must be like and I didn't even have to be pregnant to get it.  That week SUCKED.  Or maybe it BLEW.  For about three days at the end of it I had to force myself to drink fluids because I got super dehydrated after even water made me sick and wasn't that a blast. 

Now we have a heat wave here in Portlandia.  It has been getting up to 92 degrees inside my apartment and not much below 80 degrees inside at night.  In the winter it's great that my apartment holds in the heat, but right now, not so much.  I think I have heat rash, which is just a grown up version of diaper rash. 

No gigantic plans for the holiday weekend, although I do have plans.  A long-time friend whom I have never actually met in person is on the west coast for vacation with her mom; we're having dinner Friday night.  I think I might use the occasion to make my own inaugural trip to Voodoo Donuts.  I know!  I've had their donuts but never actually been there.  Saturday I'm going to the Huey Lewis & the News show at the Zoo so if it's not too hot I'll do the zoo first (lesser flamingoes!) and concert second.  In between, I think I'll sleep.

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

Whodaho? Idaho!

I am back from the wilds of Idaho.

Quick trip this past weekend to visit my dad and grandparents.  My grandmother turns 82 this week, it's Father's Day this weekend, plus my grandpa has early-onset Alzheimer's (on top of Parkinson's) so a trifecta of visit reasons.  I try to get out there at least once a year, particularly since they're all pretty much house-bound these days; my grandpa can't be left alone for any length of time in case he falls and he doesn't like having people babysit him plus my dad has Periphal Vascular Disease so he can't get around much any more either. 

On the bright side -- for me, at least -- is that only one the PVD is inheritable.  My grandpa is my grandma's second marriage and not my dad's dad, and so far we don't seem to have Alzheimer's or Parkinson's on our side.  On the not so bright side, my grandma had a ventricular aneurysm and my uncle (her son, my dad's brother) also had PVD.  Long story short, my health has been on my mind this weekend.

I didn't eat much all weekend (and as a consequence was down about two pounds in our Biggest Loser weigh-in today).  They're very much the Standard American Diet.  This is an actual conversation I had with my grandma on Saturday:

Grandma:  I left out the cereal for you for breakfast, and there are bananas on the counter.

Me:  Oh thanks but I can't really eat cereal anymore.  It's the grains, particularly the gluten, they just tear up my stomach and it's already been a little upset the past day.

Grandma:  Well, there's toast if you don't want cereal. 

Me:  Hmm.  Not really all that hungry yet, thanks.

Grandma:  Or waffles, there's waffles in the freezer from when Jordan and Ryan (my cousins) were here.

Me:  I'm good, thanks.  Maybe in a bit.

Not making any of that up.  And yes, as you all know I do eat grains even though I should limit them to tiny miniscule amounts.  But I do better when it's with a lot of protein, like a burger or a sandwich, and not by itself, and definitely not for every single meal.  Consequently, didn't eat much.  Luckily I'd gotten some beef jerky on the drive down so that I wasn't starving.

Also not starving?  My dad's dog Otis, who is part puggle and part I-beam. 

It's tough to really tell from these pictures but Otis is a wide-body.  Like two feet around.  He's not really fat though, he's solid, and he can move.  But he looks like Violet Beauregard's dog.

In other news, I got my first StrideBox today and it is awesome!  (like a hot dog!)  Here's what I got:

• Two packets of Skratch Labs Exercise Hydration Mix, lemons/limes flavor.
• A packet of Pocket Fuel, Banana Blueberry flavor.  I bought a couple of these in a different flavor about a year ago for long long run fuel but never got around to trying them.  Still think it's a cool concept though.
• An Electro Delytes Energy and Electrolyte Citrus Bar.  Sounds good.
• A PowerICE Frozen, Refreshing Ice Bar with Electrolytes.  This sounds really good. 
• Blue Steel Sports Anti-Chafe Cream with Tea Tree Oil. 
• A packet of Lock Laces.  I've always wanted to try these.
• A Due North Foot Rubz Massage Ball.  The trick will be not letting the cats hide it.

Really glad I signed up with StrideBox.  I love that their motto is Just Keep Running.  Which is similar to mine, Just Keep Swimming.  And of course, Polka Will Never Die.  I still have Kona Kase and Bulu Box coming soon. 

So, now that I'm home I will be cleaning up my diet.  The cupboard is fairly clean at home, I got rid of a lot of things with the last postal carrier's food drive (including two boxes of brownie mix that I didn't need to eyeball any longer).  After my bout with making chicken stock, I really want to make some bone broth.  I've been doing research into what kind of bones, how do it, etc.  You'd think it would be easy but not necessarily.  It's funny, most of the recipes almost skip the first few steps, like they assume you already know how to get to step 4.  But from my first experience trying to make bone broth, where I just threw some raw marrow bones in a pot and cooked the shit out of them, clearly I need those first few steps.  I'm thinking I need to have a chat with the butcher too to get the "right" bones.  If anyone has bone broth recipes/suggestions/links, please please please leave them in the comments.  My tummy thanks you!

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

An Unexpected Visitor; A Tough Decision Is Made

Hello everyone!

It's been a weird week.  I felt like I made a big dent in my sleep deficit last weekend with the holiday and all, then slept poorly all week.  Some of it was from a couple of late nights but most were from hitting that point of exhaustion where you end up too wired to sleep.

One of the late nights was from the latest in the Broadway Across Portland series:  Rock of Ages!  What a blast.  If you get the chance to see it, do.  Particularly if you are like me and was in high school in the '80s.  Extremely cheesy and fairly raunchy, it was a fabulous show.  Even though it seems like I'm always feeling off physically whenever a show rolls around, I am so glad I became a season subscriber.  For the upcoming arts season my calendar is pretty full between season tickets for the opera, ballet, and the Broadway series.  Plus there are a few other theatre companies in town that have shows I'd like to catch. 

Friday started early because of a work thing and I was already running on fumes since despite going to bed by around nine the prior evening I could not sleep.  I had some time to burn off at the office so I left a little before four and that night took an extra hit of sleep meds.  Finally got a good night's sleep and even woke up by nine -- very early for me on a weekend.  Part of why I was up so early was the Kitty Crazies; after an hour of being the launching pad and/or wrestling arena as I tried to sleep I gave up and got up and let them go out on the deck to get the rest of their ya yas out.  Was surfing the net and just generally lounging around when girl kitty came in, all spooked.  Like, I couldn't even get her to make eye contact spooked.  It was clear it was something from outside. 

I followed her into the den and picked her up to soothe her, just generally humoring her because what could be so scary from the wetlands?  A really big duck?  I'm cuddling her as I head towards the window and saying just that, "What's the matter kitty, did the big bad birds -- holy crap!"

We had a visitor.

This?  Is a big fucking turtle.

I knew of course that there were lots of birds and frogs in the wetlands and I've even seen one of the resident beavers, but it never occurred to me that there were turtles.  Particularly big ass turtles. 

It's a big fucking turtle mommy!

Pretty sure it's a snapping turtle, which are not native to Oregon.  I've posted my sighting to the Oregon Turtles website.  I think it may have laid eggs down there. 

This looks like a good spot to deposit a family...

It'd be cool if they contacted me.

What is everybody looking at?

So, in other news, I've made a tough decision.  I've decided not to run MCM this year.  There is just no way I could go from zero to under a 14 minute mile marathon in five months, even if I was motivated to try.  And that's the crux of it, the lack of motivation.  I feel like I'm making my way back to it, very very slowly, definitely not fast enough to not get swept even if I did decide to just go for broke and try it. 

I've got a list of what I need to do to run MCM in 2015 and ideally I'll follow that list.  I really want to run this race. 

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl