MEGA music wednesday

I started running again. Best thing I've done since figuring out the dinner situation. I'm logging my runs on Daily Mile. It's made clear what I already know: I'm a slow runner. Turtle runner. But I don't care because today I ran for 20 minutes straight. First time I've ever done that. About halfway through I realized I was FAMISHED, and later with a minute to go I experienced some serious stomach cramping. If you run, you know this. It's not a stitch, it's not a muscle cramp. It's... well, it sucks. But dammit, I was NOT quitting with a minute left.

In honor of my run, I'm sharing today's playlist. It's my belief that a running playlist should make you want to keep running, should help you get lost in the music and in your thoughts, and your legs just keep moving. Each song on my playlist made me smile when it started. That's an awesome feeling to have -- smiling WHILE exercising.





Originally, I was going to pick my favorite from this list, but I couldn't. I don't have a favorite. I like them all. So instead I'll give you the song that made me smile the biggest when I heard it start.

flashback friday

Because it's Friday. Because this week kicked my ass. The new site is slowly coming along. Sneak peek at the end of the post. Now, here's something old.

October 2, 2007: junkie alert

I think I am a victim of Rebound Headaches.

Do you know what these are?

It's, like, when you have a really bad headache, and after a while, the headache is like, "Let's not go out with your friends because, and I know I probably should have told you this a long time ago, but I really hate your friends."

And you say to your headache, "Well, screw you, bub. Your friends are freeloaders who forget to shower. And also? Why don't you ever tell me you love me anymore?"

To which your headache responds, "Because all you ever fucking do is nag me. I can't stand the sound of your voice anymore."

And you cry, and your headache reaches out its hand and you shrug it away. Through your tears, you sputter, "I don't think we should be together anymore," and reach for the giant bottle of ibuprofen that you bought at Costco because you are ALWAYS getting yourself into bad headaches.

And then, 20 minutes later, you are fine. No more bad headache. You are FREE.

Until the next day, having forgotten all the mistakes you've made in the past, you see a potential headache and instead of turning around. Walking away. Having some pride in yourself. You walk right to it. And think if you love it enough, you can change it.

An hour later you're reaching for the ibuprofen.

In all seriousness, this is apparently a real (so says WebMD) condition. And it says to get them to stop (I've had a headache, oh, 12 out of the last 14 days) you need to see a headache specialist to monitor your withdrawal when you cut out the pain pills. And the caffeine.

Which means I should probably call my doctor.

Crap.

Ready for a peek at the new blog?

peek!

I'm sure it'll look totally different by the time it launches. I already want a new color scheme.

music wednesday

{currently migrating the blog to a new platform. redesigning and feature-adding and it's all too exciting! should be ready to launch in 2015.}

I work two nights a week so on the nights I'm home and making dinner, I need music. Really, I need music all the time and if I could launch a campaign to support music in the library I would. It's too quiet in there. Sheesh.

Emma loves to dance, and her big thing lately is Dance Parade! where she (must) lead and Fred and I follow, dancing through the house with quick breaks to catch our breath. Because we're old. Here's what made our parade move this week:

relief

Ever since switching from a full-time job to a part-time one, I keep thinking I should have more time. Time to clean, time to cook, time to read my book while nibbling Belgian chocolates. But I still found myself feeling frenzied and harried and every other -ied that I did before working less. While Fred was out of town, I took some time to think about what I could do to change that, even just a little. I asked myself, what are the things that make me the craziest on a day to day basis. At the top of the list was The Dinner Question.

I'm obsessed with food. My Google Reader feed has too many food blogs to count. I grill friends and acquaintances about the latest restaurants they've been to and what they had and tell me again about the food! I love to eat. I love to cook. I love to think about eating and cooking. When I can't sleep, my version of sheep-counting is to imagine I'm kneading dough. Works every time. But I hate -- H.A.T.E. -- the moment right around 4:30 when I start wondering "What do we have for dinner?" I've read countless articles and posts that all say the same thing, the same very thing I'm going to tell you today, and I've always thought, Wow. Great idea. I should do that. And then I go clip my nails or feed my cat or pass out in an alley and it never happens.

Until this week. (This is the part where you say dun dun DUN. C'mon, say it. SAY IT.)

Last weekend I put this together:

A binder. With recipes. All organized and shit. With little tabs and subcategories and all sorts of nonsense. On Sunday, with this binder and some new cookbooks, I spent half an hour deciding what to make for dinner every night this week. Yes, even Friday. And then I went through and made a list of all the ingredients required. Yes, all of them. Then I shopped my house. My pantry, my cupboards, my refrigerator and freezer, and crossed off what we already had. What remained of my list I took to the store.

We followed the menu every night. I had all of the ingredients I needed. We tried new recipes and ooh'ed and ahh'ed. We proclaimed winners and losers. And I realized that removing a single question -- What's for dinner? -- had eliminated such a tremendous amount of BLERGH from my week. Not only that, but buying only what we needed for the planned meals, plus a few extra staples, reduced my grocery bill for the week by $100, easy.

I'm not suggesting everyone make a recipe binder. I have zero short-term memory so I need something like this. But I AM suggesting that if thinking about what to make for dinner drives you batshit insane, take 30 minutes this Sunday to figure out what to feed yourself and any other persons residing in your house. And then stick to it. The crazy will thank you.

one more

Thank you to everyone who told me which picture I should submit. Votes streamed in from all over the internet!

Okay, not really. But some people voted and the winner was...

Choice 4!



So now I have to ask one for one more teeny tiny favor: will you vote for my picture? Tell your friends, neighbors, random strangers on the street. If my picture is one of 10 with the most likes, it goes before a panel of judges.

You have to like Modern Bird Studios in order to like my photo, but they're awesome folks and totally won't clutter up your FB feed.

Ready? Set? VOTE!

a favor, please

Do you know Modern Bird Studios?

You should. Not only do they make the most gorgeous art from YOUR photos, but the people behind it -- Megan and Gregg -- are hilarious and wacky.

And now they're having a contest. For a piece. And I can't decide which picture to use. Can you help?

choice 1

choice 2

choice 3

choice 4

choice 5

Vote in the comments, please!

on the plus side, there's a chance of free ice cream tomorrow

Fred's in Houston this week, and so I've switched to working all day shifts so I can chauffeur Emma to and from school and not have to find a sitter to watch her at night. Twice. I love being home in the evenings, but this arrangement also means that I spend four hours in the car every day with every single idiot in Illinois.

I also sleep very lightly when Fred's out of town, which means waking up every 45 minutes or so. I'm tired. And so this will be short.

Here are some things I've been thinking about today:

Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Great discussion. Great ideas. Really need to consider implementing that one.

I'm considering switching to a Blogger or Tumblr blog. I like Wordpress but the .com blogs (as opposed to the Wordpress.org sites) are kind of wimpy. There's a lot I'd like to do and my hands are tied. Plus, all the pretty pretty blog templates I see are for Blogger.

I haven't scrapped anything in months. MONTHS.

Given that my original degree is in writing, I'm thinking about teaching it at work. To people. Who are awake. I'm simultaneously pumped and wicked nervous.

These.

Possibly bringing back Music Wednesdays. For those who didn't read the old blog, every once in a blue moon (see what I did there?) I'd write about something vaguely music related on Wednesdays. Wow. I could have just said, "Music Wednesdays: just what it sounds like." At any rate, there's so much music I want to share with you. For tonight, however, I'll leave you with the last song I heard tonight.

my version

I don't have an exciting life.

I'm a public librarian. I'm married to an academic. We have one (most of the time) mild-mannered child.

Exciting is when I'm home for lunch and can have a grilled cheese sandwich instead of the pb&j I usually take to work.

Exciting is when I paint my nails alternating colors.

Exciting is when our small town DQ starts the countdown to opening day (and what we consider to be the official arrival of spring).

Exciting is when Emma can wear rain boots instead of snow boots for the first time this year.

Exciting is when a song I really like comes on.

What's your version of exciting?