Team Sweden!

The winter Olympic games start in February and Sweden just released their hockey team roster. Four Red Wings, including the beloved captain and my future husband Niklas Lidstrom, have made the cut.

I can't wait to watch! Yes I will be rooting for Sweden followed by Russia and, if those two don't make it, Team Canada.

Official Team Roster:

• G
  Henrik Lundqvist
  (NHL)
• G
  Jonas Gustavsson
  (NHL)
• G
  Stefan Liv
  Jonkoping (SEL)
• D
  Tobias Enstrom
  (NHL)
• D
  Magnus Johansson
  Linkopings (SEL)
• D
  Niklas Kronwall
  (NHL)
• D
  Nicklas Lidstrom
  (NHL)
• D
  Douglas Murray
  (NHL)
• D
  Johnny Oduya
  (NHL)
• D
  Mattias Ohlund
  (NHL)
• D
  Henrik Tallinder
  (NHL)
• F
  Daniel Alfredsson
  (NHL)
• F
  Nicklas Backstrom
  (NHL)
• F
  Loui Eriksson
  (NHL)
• F
  Peter Forsberg
  MODO (SEL)
• F
  Tomas Holmstrom
  (NHL)
• F
  Patric Hornqvist
  (NHL)
• F
  Fredrik Modin
  (NHL)
• F
  Samuel Pahlsson
  (NHL)
• F
  Daniel Sedin
  (NHL)
• F
  Henrik Sedin
  (NHL)
• F
  Mattias Weinhandl
  Dynamo (RUS)
• F
  Henrik Zetterberg
  (NHL)

??

I think one of my cats is rolling me over in the middle of the night.

Every night this week I have woken up on my stomach to find a cat sleeping on my back.

I don't really sleep on my stomach, at least I don't fall asleep that way... I suspect that my cat knows where she wants to be and nuzzles/pushes me while I'm sleeping so that I wake up a little and roll onto my stomach to she can have her spot.

Sheesh!

It's really nice to have this warm weight on me during the cold, cold mornings, though.

Ownership

Isn't the human sense of ownership a funny thing? The way we attach part of ourselves to our possessions even if the possession in question isn't valuable. It's still ours. If we lend a pen to someone we want it back. If someone steals something from us, even something trivial or inexpensive (or even if we obtained it free of charge) we don't think that's right.

The other day I bought a box of cereal and was taking it home on the metro. It wasn't important and didn't cost much money, and for a moment I thought about just leaving it on the bench there by the train platform, walking onto the train empty-handed, and I couldn't. The cereal was mine, I paid for it, I wanted it, and even though it means next to nothing in my life, leaving it behind was impossible.

It's just cereal.

Weird things I'm musing about on this cold, clear, wintry night.

Ready for Life to Settle Down

I'm ready for the holidays to be over:

I'm ready to stop spending money. I'm ready to stop over-eating. I'm ready to get back to a consistent workout routine. I'm ready for a more predictable schedule in general! What can I say, I'm a creature of habit...

The snow storm was really fun though! We stayed in and I made spaghetti and meatballs, a good cold-weather comfort meal. The snow really did come down, even by my grew-up-in-Michigan standards. It was nice to have 48 hours of forced relaxation and, especially, not have to worry about digging out a car and driving to work Monday morning! By the time I needed to catch my bus everything was up and running again.

Check back later this week for a New Year's resolution post... my favorite thing :)

Ready for the Snow!

I have tea, coffee, wine, whiskey, books, crosswords, kitties, ice cream, and - most importantly - nowhere to be for the next 56 hours. I am ready for the snow storm!

I definitely appreciate not having the burden of car-ownership most in times like this.

Bring it on!

Pretty Good Harris Teeter Trip

Subtotal before discounts and coupons: $66.45
Total after discounts and coupons: $38.40
Total Savings: $28.05

Not bad at all!

Some things to note about shopping at Harris Teeter: the store will double all manufacturer coupons up to $0.99. This is GREAT, especially when stacking those on top of store sales.

So today, I needed alunimum foil. I use foil a lot because I roast a lot of vegetables and bake a lot of chicken and fish. Reynold's foil wrap at Harris Teeter costs $4.29 but was on sale for $0.50 off. Since, I bought two, that would have made my total $8.58 - $1 = $7.58.

However, I had two coupons (one for each box of foil) for $0.75 off. Since Harris Teeter doubles coupons up to $0.99, this means that I really got $1.50 off each box.

So, $7.58-$1.50-$1.50 = $4.58 = $2.29 each. So I basically got two eighty-foot rolls of aluminum foil for half the price of one!

Another thing to note about Harris Teeter is that they will accept competitor's coupons for $x off the total amount. This is A VERY IMPORTANT THING TO KNOW. Over the weekend I got a circular in the mail from World Market. The circular included a coupon for $10 off a purchase of $30 or more.

Since there is no World Market close enough to make the travel time worth the purchases, I took the coupon to Harris Teeter today and they took $10 off my total purchase price. Big savings there.

Yes I am a nerd but this is becoming addicting! So far this month at Harris Teeter my spending and savings look like this:

Amount before discounts and coupons: $132.31
Amount after discounts and coupons: $82.42
Total Savings: $49.89

This is a 38% savings on groceries so far this month! And I'm still getting everything I need - produce, meat, lunch supplies, ice cream, coffee, etc. Who doesn't like that??

How do you know when you're PMSing?

When you come home from work too tired to stand up, eat two bowls of cereal, and definitely don't feel like working out.

Ugh.

Pretty Good Trip to CVS!

Three (3) boxes General Mills cereal
One (1) All Small & Mighty laundry detergent
One (1) bottle Aussie hair conditioner
Two (2) tubes Revlon lip gloss
One (1) pair black socks
Total before coupons and discounts: $51.62
Total after coupons and discounts: $19.25
TOTAL SAVINGS: $32.37

PLUS I got back a $5 off purchse of $25 or more coupon... which is ALSO redeemable at Harris Teeter, where I get my groceries. Harris Teeter will accept "x amount off total purchase" competitor coupons.

Wheee!

Long Weekend

I took a train to Norfolk and had a great Christmas with my mom, her husband, my brother, and his wife. We ate a lot of amazing home-made food and drank a lot of wine, beer, and whiskey. We took the new puppy for a long run on the beach and collected shells. We watched football, read books, sat by the fire. I ran in the cold and in the warm.

We went to an omelet shop and an art museum. We went consignment shopping and jewelry shopping.

I got charged by a dog on my run and got a new command structure at work.

Right now I am waiting for my mom to come see my condo for the very first time and give her a tour of my new neighborhood. It's half-price burger night at Mr. Henry's and they have the best chicken wings on Capitol Hill.

Tomorrow we have tickets to see the terracotta warriors at the National Geographic museum, which I've never been to.

My belly is getting soft but my resolve is rock-solid. I can't wait to try out all my new Christmas gifted Northface running clothes!

Heading out of town!

Be good while I'm gone... don't do anything I wouldn't do.

Catch y'all on Monday.

Get Me Out Of Here!

This day is annoying me, so I have a nice afternoon planned:

Stop in Eastern Market for a Christmas gift I need to give this weekend;
Medium-long run (about 50 minutes hopefully);
Make hot cider with honey;
Start on Season Three of Weeds that just came in Netflix yesterday!;
Spend a few minutes studying French on Rosetta Stone;
Start to get excited for my nice long train ride down to Norfolk this weekend.

I have the Post Magazine crossword saved just for this purpose! I can't wait to look out the train window, work on the crossword, and see my family for a few days.

No wonder I have no patience for work right now. Too much to look forward to!

20:00

Went for my first post-flu run today. Wanted to keep it light and simple since I am still prone to the occasional coughing fit.

I was slightly overdressed for the weather (mid-30's) but overall the run felt good. Legs, lungs, everything felt strong. It was short but that's fine... I just wanted to get my legs back under me.

Friday Night Booze Tales

I really wanted to make tea - all mugs in dishwasher (which is running).

So, I thought, whiskey would do the trick - all glasses (drams and otherwise) in the dishwasher.

I settled on a beer, in the bottle. It works :)

Frustrated with the flu

I am going on day seven of this stupid virus, and let me tell you, it's NO FUN.

The ONLY positive is that my weight is down, but that's because I've barely eaten since last Thursday.

Last Thursday was also, incidentally, the last time I ran. It was a good one - an hour - but I've missed some prime running weather. I have reconnected with light yoga routines but I'm itching to go outside and move my legs. Maybe that's a good sign.

I've been at work since Tuesday but today the nausea was back. I have been sleeping deeply when I can fall asleep, but I have this dry cough which wakes me up several times during the night. Dry coughs are terrible; once you get going it's really hard to stop an attack.

Oh well. It's GOT to be about done. Every day is one step closer to health, right?

I just want to run. And eat a cheeseburger.

Quiet Night

I feel like I'm on the last leg of this flu or whatever the hell I had. All I know is that it knocked me flat for three days. And even though I'm still coughing, nursing a sore throat, and trying to get my appetite back, I still feel a pang of guilt for bowing out of a social engagement tonight.

Why is it so hard to just stay in?

Partly it's because I don't want my lift or my time in this city to pass me by while I remain a homebody. Also, I don't want to be forgotten by my friends. But really, I think I'm just so accustomed to going at full speed that slowing down feels unnatural.

I will say that I'm making progress on some of my winter goals. At least before this flu thing hit, I was rock solid with running and weight workouts. I've also been reading a lot, plowing through Patricia Highsmith's Uncollected Stories and looking forward to hitting up the library this weekend for another couple of novels.

I think I'm just annoying at being sick. I missed a perfect running day, I'm missing a friend being in town, and I just plain want my energy back.

BLAH!

Diagnose Me

Symptoms:

Sore throat
Dry cough
Body ache
Headache
Lethargy/weakness
No appetite
Nausea

No fever
No vomiting
No stuffy nose/head congestion

I feel like death. Haven't eaten since Thursday night.

Sonnet XLIII

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.

--Edna St. Vincent Millay

Annual Thanksgiving Rant

I hate Thanksgiving food! There, I said it.

One of my health and fitness rules is to not eat anything I don't like. How many times have you chowed down a piece of junk food that doesn't taste good, doesn't make you feel good after, but is sweet or savory or fatty or whatever it is you're craving? Personally, more times than I can count. And for what!

So now I eat chocolate, but it's good stuff. Not a random Snicker's bar. I drink beer, but good beer. And not too much of it.

I eat what I like and not too much of it.

But my rule is difficult to follow during the holidays when we have work potlucks, family get togethers, and other occasions where there's pressure to eat food that I don't really like.

Turkey, stuffing, cornbread, casseroles, pies - not my thing. I don't enjoy the look, the smell, or the taste of any variation of the above. But it's hard to avoid this type of food during the Thanksgiving season without hurting feelings.

So, I've learned to take a few polite bites and leave it at that, but I certainly don't pretend to love the food and I'm absolutely not one to gorge myself silly on Thanksgiving Day.

This is one of the perks of being an adult, I guess. No one forces me to just "take three bites" - nothing goes down my gullet unless I want it to!

Staying In

It's been a hard week for me. Work has been hard on multiple levels and there are some things going on in my personal life that are probably taking more of a toll than I realize. For the past four or five days I've been fighting a run-down sort of feeling. You know the feeling you get when you're in the middle of an all-nighter... your eyes are dry and fuzzy, you have a low-level and chronic headache, you can't really focus even though there's a lot to do...

That's how I feel. So even though I have a really hard time taking it easy I'm going to skip church tonight and try to chill out. Make tea, read work on the crossword, watch a little TV... good old fashioned night in.

I dreamt about tapeworms last night

I dreamt that a girlfriend of mine had a tapeworm. She showed it to me. It was long and translucent and had a huge head. It crawled in through her belly button when she was sleeping and she said that if she is sitting or laying in one position for a long time she can actually see the outline of it against her skin.

Vomit!

Now, I take Freud's theory that dreams are wish-fulfilling. So what the heck.