Weekly Mileage #248 and Christmas 2021

Monday I went for a frosty walk with Max, then did the grocery shopping. Unfortunately, that was too much time on my feet and my foot was not happy. At least the cold sweats were finally gone. While doing the grocery shopping, I had a weird reaction to wearing my mask- maybe an anxiety attack? I had a hard time breathing and my heartbeat was faster than normal. Not sure why, maybe my meds are being problematic again?

I finally got some stuff ready to ship (I should have done most of it weeks ago): a care package for my accountability partner, thank you packages for customers who made repeat orders this year, and a recent shop order.

I also finally made this year's ornaments and decided I was going to send out Christmas cards this year after all. I used the GlowForge to cut the ornaments out of wood, and then did a sample card out of card stock. It was my first time cutting card stock with the GlowForge. I only did one as I needed to get more materials.

Tuesday after music lessons I ran some errands, getting the stuff I needed for our Christmas cards. I'd found a good picture of us from River's baptism, so I sent it to wally world for one hour prints (that took two hours), and I got some card stock from Michaels. I was supposed to pick up a prescription refill after 12. I stopped by at 2:15 and they hadn't even started yet, despite the fact that I'd called it in Sunday night. They said it'd be 20 minutes, so I gave them 30 minutes, and they still weren't done. It took them another 15 minutes. Frustrating and a poor use of my time, though I'm sure they were busy because of the upcoming holidays.

The crowds were pretty bad. Everything took much longer than I'd hoped/planned. 

I had the breathing issue again. I'm still not sure if it's anxiety or what. It feels a bit like the beginnings of an asthma attack.

I had hoped to have time to finish some stuff before heading to the post office, but I didn't make it to the post office at all since everything took so long.

When I got home I sat on the bio-mat and iced my poor sore foot. It was not happy after so much walking Monday and Tuesday. While I sat there, I sewed the snowflakes on the wood ornaments I cut with the GlowForge. I got some good multi-tasking in, at least.

Later I spent a couple hours with the GlowForge, cutting out about half the cards I need. It takes about a minute and a half to cut each one, and they have to be done one at a time. Add in the time to position each sheet, wait for the GlowForge to focus, then remove each sheet after it's cut, and it's not a fast process.

Wednesday we dropped off the Subaru for routine maintenance and to get the transmission looked at. It shifts roughly and has since we bought it.

I finished packaging everything up to ship, which took longer than I'd hoped. Add in that I'd had another episode of esophageal reflux Tuesday night, which I'm fairly sure I managed to aspirate a bit of, and I did not feel good most of the day. I had planned to drop gifts off at the sisters I'm assigned to minister to, but I didn't have the energy. I did manage to go to the post office and the UPS store and took Ocean to Target to look for a present for his brother (we had his other presents). The shelves were really picked over, but we were able to find a present.

In the evening I finished cutting the cards and prepped them to mail, then organized my work space, which is an ongoing task anytime I'm working on a project, since things tend to pile up while I'm working.

Thursday I mailed all our Christmas cards and stopped by my ministering sisters and a friend to drop off treats (my campfire mugs with hot cocoa, herbal tea, and mini candy canes). Jeremy's brother and Buddy arrived to spend Christmas with us.

Friday Jeremy picked up the Subaru. They have no idea what's going on with the transmission, so we'll keep an eye on it for now. 

I wrapped presents in the afternoon, but they stayed in the bedroom until Christmas morning. I didn't trust the puppies to stay out of them and not nibble on them.

Christmas was low key and relaxed, though Jeremy did have to take dinner into the guys at work, so that did add some stress. We had to have everything ready by the designated time, but my red, white, and blue jello was struggling. The red layer would not set, even after adding extra gelatin to it. But the guy who had requested it still liked it, so that's a win.

We received enough in Amazon gift cards to buy the WaveMaster and practice pads that we need for practicing karate at home. We use them during class, but it will be helpful to have our own as well.

Sunday was our last day of 11:30 church. We move to 9am next week. Blech. It was nice to not have any meetings and just Sacrament meeting, though.

After church I finally started catching up on three months of unpublished posts. They were getting out of hand. I used to do the finally editing on Sunday afternoons, but I've had so many meetings the last few months that I just haven't had the energy to think about it and get it done. Hopefully the schedule change will be more conducive to me staying on top of things. I'll still have all the meetings though, so we'll see.

We also took a few minutes for the kids to decorate their sugar cone Christmas trees. Unfortunately, the sleeve of sugar cones got bashed around and they had to piece their trees together. River's was about to fall over in the picture below. This continues to be a fun activity. We might add some actual candies into the mix next year instead of just using seasonal decorations.

Weekly Mileage 

Monday-        1.46 miles               .5 hours

       total- 1.46 miles                             .5 hours

2021 totals

281.0 outside hours

248.89 miles

Sunday Funny

Max does not approve of Buddy encroaching in her territory and she found ways to show it while he was here.

She started out by coming inside and shutting the door while Buddy was still outside.

Then she stepped up her game. She'd ask to go outside, then she'd go out, wait for Buddy to follow her (he always did), then she'd come back inside and shut the door, leaving him outside. He'd be left outside, looking confused "what just happened? I don't understand..."

I'm also fairly certain she gloated about being able to sleep on my bed while he had to sleep on the floor.

Weekly Mileage #247 and the Booster Shot

bed hog

On Monday my foot was definitely feeling better, but I'm forcing myself to take it easy and not go for a run just yet. I don't want to slow down the healing process more than I already have with continuing to do karate.

Scouts that night was a Court of Honor. Sunshine received a couple merit badges, but she still needs to finish some Eagle required ones before she can advance a rank. When we got home I worked on a list of merit badge requirements for Sunshine to work on. She's struggling to get any of them done (she's not as motivated as she could be), so I'm going to start assigning a couple requirements each day so she can start making some progress.

Tuesday morning I got my military ID replaced, finally. There was only one appointment available, so Sunshine will have to wait on hers. It almost didn't happen though. Jeremy didn't think he needed to come with me or fill out any paperwork, but surprise! he did. So I called him and he made it 5 minutes before my allotted time slot was up and signed the paper I needed. So silly.

On the way home from music lessons we got my covid booster shot. By the time karate came around I was already starting to feel crummy (I'd hoped it wouldn't hit till Wednesday morning). I took some advil and powered through class, though it was a bit rough. Part of our warmup was a brutal stretching exercise while in the split position. I can tell I'm more flexible- I can get further into the splits than I used to, but it's still uncomfortable.

We started sparring, but our gear hadn't come in yet, so we had to do the moves without making contact.

Wednesday I stayed in bed all day. I was achy all over plus had the cold sweats, a sore arm and swollen lymph node.

Thursday I didn't feel great, but I went to the chiropractor (I'd already pushed the appointment back once while Jeremy and Sunshine were gone) and ran a couple errands anyway. Of course, I laid down as soon as I got back. I thought I was feeling better that evening and went to YW, but I spent the activity laying on the stage, having cold sweats after setting up tables took all my energy.

Friday I'd hoped I'd feel well enough to be up and about, but that wasn't the case, probably because I over-did it on Thursday. I spent the day in bed again with cold sweats. Max joined me and layed on my legs. Nothing like a personal heater attached to you when you're already having cold sweats.

Karate was cancelled from Thursday on. Saturday was supposed to be the last day before two weeks off for the holidays, so this closed things down just a bit early. Someone in one of the Tuesday classes tested positive for covid and they were in close contact with some of the instructors. Hopefully that person was not in our class. We didn't receive a notification that anyone in our class tested positive, so hopefully they were in one of the other classes. We were supposed to pick up our sparring gear and weapons at class on Friday, but i guess we'll be doing that after the break instead.

Saturday I was feeling better, but still not great, so I spent the day resting again. I spent a lot of time in bed watching movies this week. Not how I'd planned to spend my week, but it was kind of nice to catch up on all the movies I've been meaning to watch, but that need more attention than I can give them while sewing or doing leatherwork. I frequently have something on in the background when I'm working, but it has to be something I've seen before or I'll be too distracted by it.

Because I had the time to think about such things, here's some thoughts on some of the movies I watched and their respective books, namely the Hunger Games series and the Divergent series.

Hunger Games books: I re-read the books in the last year or so, leading up to when the prequel was released. I've read the series a couple of times over the years, so the details are fairly familiar.

Divergent books: I read the series once, but it's been a number of years, so I don't remember a lot of the details.

Hunger Games movies: no real arguments. While there are differences between the books and the movies, I don't think there's anything too egregious. (unlike the Eragon movie, which is a total travesty of the book) I think this was the first time I actually watched the last movie; I'd seen the others before.

Divergent movies: I think I'd only watched the first movie before this. Apparently a lot of people didn’t like the third because it strayed too far from the book. If I recall correctly, I didn’t like the last book- I thought the ending was terrible. I need to review the last bit of it to see if what I think I remember is accurate. If so, then yeah, I didn't like the last book. I thought the movie ending was fine. It ended on a hopeful note, rather than the depressing note I remember the book being. Occasionally (ok, rarely), a movie can be better than a book. PS, I Love You is another example of this. The book was terrible; I like the movie.

Weekly Mileage 

Monday-                                         1.5 hours

Tuesday-                                           .5 hours

       total- 0 miles                                 2.0 hours

2021 totals

280.5 outside hours

247.43 miles

Sunday Funny

both going for treats from Jeremy's brother

While I was dog sitting Buddy, it didn't take him long to realize that he didn't get treated the same as Max.

When Max closes the door after being outside, she gets a treat. 

Buddy sits next to her and looks at me expectantly "where's my treat?" 

Well, you didn't shut the door (I did try to teach him, but he just looked at me, uncomprehending).

Max gets to sleep on the bed next to me, Buddy does not. 

1. Jeremy's brother doesn't allow him to sleep on the bed

2. Buddy just doesn't lay still- he walks around and around and just takes up too much space

He kept trying though. I had to keep pulling him off the bed.

Weekly Mileage #246 and Our First Karate Tournament

the old strap positioning

Monday my foot was still sore, but it is improving. It's still swollen and sore, but my weight bearing ability is better.

The boys and I practiced our universals for the tournament this weekend. I have to be careful with my movements, but I'm managing.

Awhile ago I'd given River a wallet that I made to try out a die I got. Ocean decided he wanted a wallet too, but he wanted a red wallet (naturally, since it's his favorite color). 

I didn't have enough of the red leather he wanted, so I made it out of red waxed canvas and sewed on a patch of the red leather with the logo (which he also wanted, but can't be done on waxed canvas).

He's super happy with it and what makes it even better is that the outer pocket is just the right size for the LEGO that is his cell phone. 

I checked my email and all those missing emails from Sunday night are available again, so Yahoo must have been glitchy. At least they're back, since I needed them.

Tuesday the boys shared the full hour of music lessons since Sunshine was out of town. They're making good progress. On the way home, we ran a couple errands, then I rested for awhile when we got home. I am just not getting enough sleep.

Afterwards I practiced karate with the boys quick, then we went to karate. I have an elastic brace I use off and on when my foot is bothering me (the big toe joint/ball of foot area that I still need to get looked at), and it got me through class, though walking around and getting the boys to bed hurt. My foot did not appreciate the workout.

The dogs definitely haven't been getting enough exercise, and while I hoped to take them on a hike Wednesday morning, it didn't happen. My foot was not happy.

There's nothing like waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of a dog puking because he insists on eating dust bunnies (caused by all his hair) off the floor. Gross.

I practiced karate with the boys. We are not ready for the tournament on Saturday.

I finally got up the nerve to drill a hole in Ocean's guitar so I could add a strap button. I had tied the top end of the strap to the top of the neck, but it wasn't a good placement for him- it kept pushing it to the side (see the pic at the top of this post). I was nervous about drilling a hole in the neck, but it actually went really smoothly and there were no problems. Afterwards I adjusted the strap a bit to work with the new button. It should be a much better fit for him now. Before, he was stopping every few notes to adjust the position of the guitar on his lap.

I realized that Jeremy, his brother, and Sunshine would be back Thursday evening and I never made the dog treat pouch for Jeremy's brother that he'd requested, so I worked on that. I didn't quite get it done before bed, but I was close. I made it up as I went, trying to make it more sturdy and longer lasting than the treat bag he'd been using (and that was falling apart).

he was using a treat bag like this (we bought this one when we first got Max, but rarely use it)

he uses his all the time and that clip in the back had pulled out of the fabric

I did re-use the clip, but I riveted it to a double layer of leather, in the hopes that it will last longer than the original. I also made it larger than the original bag.

While the back is of leather, the front pockets are all waxed canvas.

the bottom is gusseted to allow more stuff inside (a complaint he had about the original bag)

the front pocket closes with a zipper

the middle pocket was open, though when he tried it out, he requested I put some snaps in to close it- there's two snaps now, though I didn't take a picture of the change

the top pocket closes with velcro. the loop at the top helps pull the edges apart.

I added a loop for a carabiner or clip and a leather tie to the zipper to make it easier to pull

If I were to do another one (unlikely, since I don't plan on adding this to my shop), I would change up some of the design elements and the order of some of the tasks (which would have made it easier to make). Overall though, I'm pretty happy with it.

Thursday I wanted to go for a hike with the dogs and boys, but my foot just wasn't feeling great. There's some bruising visible now, but it's not dark or extensive. I'm pretty sure karate practice isn't helping my foot, but with the tournament in just a couple days, it's necessary.

Instead I finished off the dog treat pouch for Jeremy's brother and then wound 13 bobbins since I had completely run out of filled bobbins. It's time consuming to do a bunch at one time, but it's much less time consuming and inconvenient than stopping in the middle of a project to wind a bobbin every time I run out.

I worked on some smaller leather notebook covers recently, so it was time to try some larger book covers. They're still a work in progress, but I'm getting closer to what I want.

In the evening we picked up Jeremy, his brother, and Sunshine from the airport and they dropped me off at the church for YW before heading home. Not ideal, but it's not a long trip between the two, so it was easy for Jeremy to pick me up afterwards.

After YW I finally got the kids' advent bags filled (more than a week late), then I got a hair up my nose and cleared out a trash bag worth of junk from under the bathroom vanity before bed. I've wanted to do it for awhile now, and apparently Thursday night was the time.

Friday I ran some errands (by myself!). One of which was to buy wood to make the frames for two canvases that I need to stretch. I bought them two years ago, never took them in to get stretched professionally, and never did it myself, either. I want to rearrange all the art on the walls, so they need to be stretched so they can be included.

My foot was still hurting- blech.

I'm so tired. A week and a half of poor sleep hasn't done me any favors and constant pain from my foot adds to the level of tired. I'm not sure about my supplements. I added an amino acid two weeks ago, and while it seems to have made a difference in the afternoons, the mornings have been such a drag- literally. I added another amino acid today, we'll see what happens from here. These are supposed to help with concentration, focus, energy, so I'm hoping they are effective.

Saturday my foot was still sore, but not as bad as at first, so at least it's on the mend.

Our karate tournament started at noon. We left at 3pm and they still had individual sparring (the 4th of 4 events) to go. Our events (forms/universals) were first on the docket, so we got them done quickly. Afterwards we watched the grabs and most of the weapons, but it was getting long and we were all getting restive. 

We could have competed in the grabs, but we would have had to practice and coordinate ahead of time and we weren't that on top of things, especially since Jeremy and Sunshine only got home a day before the tournament. Realistically, only the kids could have competed, since you have to bring a partner to do the grabs, and the different age divisions were going at the same time. The boys were across the gym doing their universals at the same time Jeremy, Sunshine, and I were doing ours. The overlap would make it difficult for all of us to compete in grabs at the same time.

We couldn't compete in the other two events, sparring and weapons, because we haven't started learning them yet, though we will start in January.

It was a small tournament, which was good. So much less stressful than it could have been. There were six people in our division (intermediate, age 13+), and while Jeremy and Sunshine didn't place, I tied for third place and the tie breaker put me in 4th, so I got a medal rather than a trophy. I totally froze up partway through Universal 3. I completely blanked on what the next move was. I just stood there, trying to remember until one of the other participants finally whispered what it was and I was able to continue. At least I didn't completely lose it, which was a favorable comment on my scorecard. 

I missed Ocean doing his Universals because he went during our awards. I was able to watch River, since he went before our awards. Jeremy was able to see Ocean, at least. In their division (intermediate, under 10 or 11, I think) River placed third and Ocean got 4th or 5th. I'm not sure on the exact placing- I couldn't hear everything during their awards. He got a medal, but they gave out another medal as well (one to a virtual participant), and I think his was mentioned first (they started at lower placings and worked up). So maybe they gave out additional places because of their age? 

Overall, the tournament was a good experience. Freezing up in the middle was actually good as well. Most of us have fears of forgetting something in the middle of a performance or speech or some other thing in front of people. I blanked, I survived. And next time I'll make sure I practice even more.

Sunday I was in meetings or church from 10:15 to 2:30. Yay.

Weekly Mileage 

       total- 0 miles                             0 hours

2021 totals

278.5 outside hours

247.43 miles

Sunday Funny

hat mohawk

River recently came up with some jokes, and now asks them of everyone he comes in contact with.

What kind of snake likes baking?

          a pie-thon

What kind of snake is in a band?

a rattle snake

What kind of snake likes being a parent?

         a black mom-ba

What kind of spider is a cowboy?

        a ta-ranch-ala

Weekly Mileage #245 and Dog Sitting

Monday I went for a trail run with Max. My energy levels are still low and I was more tired than I'd like afterwards.

River saw Ocean's bag and wanted one as well, but i didn't have all the hardware to do the same one, so I used one of the other patterns I'd bought. He picked out the leather and I made it for him. I stayed up late to finish stitching it since I wanted to take photos after music lessons on Tuesday.

Tuesday we did the boys' music lessons and then took some bag photos with the boys while Sunshine was doing her lesson.

I rested after we got home since I stayed up too late and I was tired. Sunshine had an orthodontist appointment in the afternoon. 

When we returned, we hauled tool kits and boxes of various sized plastic bags out to the shipping container. Then I cleaned up my bag making mess a bit so that the background didn't look terrible during my YW presidency meeting after karate.

In karate this week it was pushup week, which was killer. We did 5 or 6 different varieties of pushups (who knew there were that many?). I managed two clapping pushups (one of the harder ones), but fell flat on my face after both of them (on the padded floor, thankfully). I do not have great upper body strength.

Jeremy's brother arrived while we were at karate.

Wednesday we were up super early to take Jeremy, his brother, and Sunshine to the airport so they could go to Disney World and Universal Studios for a week. It's been a few years since they've done this trip and they were super excited that they could finally do it again. River wanted to go, but he's too timid about riding bigger rides and would have wussed out, leaving one of the adults waiting with him instead of riding. Not optimal.

We went back to bed after the airport run and the boys slept for a couple hours, but I didn't manage it.

I thought about going for a run or hike, but I was just too tired from too little sleep. The thought of trying to keep two dogs under control just wasn't appealing.

We did manage to run a couple errands, then went back home to work on stuff there.

Max isn't super happy about Buddy being here again (he came with Jeremy's brother for River's baptism so the dogs could get to know each other). He keeps wanting to play with her during her quiet time and she is not amused. Poor girl. It's going to be a long week for all of us.

Thursday I woke up to Buddy whining while it was still dark. Apparently he usually gets up a lot earlier than I do.

Despite the early wake-up call, I took the dogs and boys for a run/walk in the woods. I had to lift Buddy into his crate in the back of the CRV (he didn't want to jump up and in), but other than that it went pretty well. Initially the dogs were pulling in different directions or wanting to run faster than I was comfortable with, but they settled down and we had a good run/hike. The boys did well also, and River figured out that waiting behind me, then running to catch up is better than running ahead of me, which makes the dogs want to chase after him. Ocean isn't much of a runner, but he did a good job of keeping up with me and running with his brother.

After our run, I made some cupcakes for our YW/YM activity that night. The youth did a cupcake wars activity, where they decorated cupcakes to fit into different categories. It was a fun, social activity, which there have been too few of in the last year and a half.

Friday I didn't sleep great, so while I woke up to take Buddy out to poop and pee, I went back to bed and curled up on the bio mat to offset the cramps I was having, which resulted in a slow start to the day. Needless to say, we skipped park day.

In the afternoon I dropped off health forms for a Scout campout that night, practiced Universal 10 with the boys, and went to karate class.

Saturday I took the boys and dogs for a trail run, but about half a mile in I stepped wrong and landed hard on the outside edge of my left foot. Super painful. I tried to walk it off, but only lasted a few steps before deciding we were done and we headed back to the car. Thankfully we'd just started our second loop and weren't far from the trail head.

I iced my foot, elevated, etc. the swollen spot on the side of my foot. I'm pretty sure it's not broken. When I broke my right foot, it hurt a lot worse and I couldn't walk on it at all (no weight bearing activities) after the initial limping back to the car. This time around it's probably soft tissue damage; I'm just not sure how bad. I'm still deciding whether to go to the doc or not. I always second guess the necessity of going to the ER.

My sleep quality has definitely been decreasing (doggy noises in the night keep waking me up) and my mornings have been rough. I was really glad we had Stake Conference and that it was broadcast via zoom. Even though the boys have a harder time sitting still and paying attention watching conference at home, in this case it was worth it to be able to stay in bed till 10 minutes before conference started.

I iced my foot during conference. It's feeling better, though still swollen, stiff, and sore. I'm sure it'll take a while to heal completely, especially with karate jumps thrown in the mix. We have our first tournament this coming Saturday...

After the boys were in bed I was trying to figure out why all my emails from May 13- Oct 27 of this year weren't able to be viewed. I kept getting an error message and they wouldn't load. It was so frustrating since I needed some receipts from that time period to submit for reimbursement, and I knew they were there since I'd seen them when I cleared out all my inboxes. 

I got caught up trying to figure out what was going on and lost track of time. I'd left a pot of broth boiling down on the stove and didn't remember about it until the dogs came downstairs. I thought they wanted to go to bed, so I looked at the clock and realized I needed to put things away for the night. I went upstairs and immediately realized why the dogs had come downstairs. My pot of broth had boiled down and was billowing smoke. Oops. I opened the doors that could safely be opened without the dogs escaping, turned on fans, opened windows, etc. Lots of fun. 

Weekly Mileage 

Monday-        1.68 miles               .5 hours

Thursday-      1.50 miles               .5 hours

Saturday-         .60 miles               .5 hours

       total- 3.24 miles                             1.5 hours

2021 totals

278.5 outside hours

247.43 miles

Sunday Funny

little tree huggers (their pose, not mine)

Ocean frequently walks around singing "I came in like a wrecking ball!"  Just that bit, no more.

It's rather apropos. He can be a destructive force of nature. Not maliciously, and frequently not on purpose. He just doesn't always think about the consequences of his actions, which is because of his ADHD brain.

I was recently reading a novel and there was a scene where someone went into labor and the husband called all the grandparents and they were able to fly cross country and arrive in time for the actual birth.

That was not at all our experience with Ocean. 

He came in like a wrecking ball after only a couple hours of labor (it was less than 2 hours from when we got to the hospital to when he was born and less than 3.5 hours total from when I went into labor/my water broke). Super fast: no time for an epidural or anything. He was ready to make his appearance.

Weekly Mileage #244 and the Learner's Permit

pre-race group selfie

Monday Jeremy drove Sunshine over the mountain to the valley to the DMV.  She successfully passed her permit test and is super excited about being official. She has to log a bunch of hours with a parent (like an actual log has to be filled out to track her practice) and she needs to go to a driver's school. She had to wait till she was 15 and 6 months to get her permit and she can't get her license till she's 16 and 3 months, so she's got some time to get all her requirements finished. Which is good, since she also needs to complete her Eagle project before she gets her driver's license, and she is not as close as she should be.

While they were doing that, the boys and I did the grocery shopping, which isn't happening again anytime soon.

I also worked on some notebook covers.

Tuesday Sunshine and I were supposed to renew our military IDs, but we got a call a few minutes before we needed to leave saying the system was down and they’d call to reschedule once it was up again.  They expired a year and a half ago, but we were given an extension because of things being shut down because of the pandemic. That extension ended at the end of October, but this was the first date we could get an appointment for. Sure hope it doesn't take too long to reschedule. 

We did online music lessons since we were supposed to be out doing our IDs until just before our lesson time. I could have switched to in-person, but I was hoping they’d call and see if we could come in right at the end of lessons. So naturally, they didn’t. 

I sewed my batch of mason jar cuffs. I'm really happy with how they turned out.

large = pint, small = half pint

Karate was mostly a review from last week since there’s only two days of classes this week. We did start a new portion of Universal 10 that we’ll do more with next week. It’s a series of 5 kicks, all done with the right leg while balancing on the left leg. Made my IT bands so sore. I have got to start foam rolling.

After the kids were in bed I did a 1.5 hour phone call interview about my narcolepsy. I did a much more in-depth study a year or so ago with this same group- this was kind of a continuation of that, and more focused on the actual sleep study itself this time. The interviewer was intrigued by the idea of sleep studies being conducted in a hotel, as both Jeremy’s and mine were. Our local sleep clinic is housed in a hotel, which is much less stressful than some sleep clinic setups I've heard about. I got $150 for talking and answering questions go an hour and a half. 

Wednesday I had intended to take Max for a trail run, but I was tired from karate the night before, so I wussed out. After a slow start, I managed to run some errands. Afterwards I made pumpkin and apple pies and red white and blue jello so I didn't have to do them on Thursday.

Thursday morning we ran the local Turkey Trot. It was just over freezing at the start, but it was in the mid-50s by the time we were done, which was quite nice. This is the same Turkey Trot we've done since we moved here, but it was at a new location and a new course. The course has less dramatic hills than the old location, so it's a little easier. 

River after the race, while we waited for Jeremy, Sunshine, and Ocean

I still haven't done enough consistent running. I'm averaging once a week or so, and it is not enough. River started with me, as usual, but left me in the dust the last mile or so. It has begun. He was sad he didn't win anything in his age group (under 10, so it would have been difficult anyway since he's only 8), but I can see him putting a little more effort and consistency into his running in the future. Jeremy walked with Ocean and Sunshine, though Sunshine did run the last bit to the finish line. This is the first 5k Ocean has completed (while he walked last year's Turkey Trot, it was about a mile short for him, Jeremy, and Sunshine).

Sunshine running into the finish line

I pushed it the last little bit and felt pretty close to puking at the end, which I haven't felt like in a long time. Unfortunately, the cold at the beginning irritated my throat and lungs and they didn't feel great the rest of the day (though this was not unexpected as it's happened many times when I run in the cold). I was also pretty tired the rest of the day. It is so frustrating that I can't run hard (with a couple walk breaks) for 37 minutes and still be functional afterwards. When we got home, I had to lay down for a while and I even dozed off at one point.

Jeremy and Ocean walking to the finish

After my nap, I made some gluten free cornbread and some stuffing, Jeremy smoked the turkey, and Sunshine peeled and chopped the potatoes for mashed potatoes.

Friday I slept in, so no trail run, though I had planned on one.

I caught up on emails and bills and had to call the bank because of an unathorized charge to one of my business accounts. It took 4 phone calls to figure out where the charge was from, then to get the unauthorized charge form submitted. (though after thinking about it for a week or so, I'm pretty sure it was me, accidentally making a payment on a credit card from one of my business accounts instead of our regular checking account. oops.)

I finally heard from my accountability partner. She'd emailed me at the end of August to let me know she had covid, but I hadn't heard from her since. It turns out she was hospitalized a week later and immediately intubated because of super low oxygen levels. She spent the next 7 weeks in a medically induced coma. She was woken up at the end of October and finally came home a week ago. She's super weak and has a feeding tube for a couple more weeks, but she's home. Super scary. I'd suspected that she was hospitalized since it wasn't like her to not respond, and I'm happy that she's finally doing better, even if she still has a way to go.

Saturday I got a slow start to the day, but I was able to take Max for a trail run, and she was sooo excited. She was staring at me as I got dressed, nearly vibrating with impatience as I put on my shoes and socks, and not willing to let me out of her sight while I used the bathroom, in fear that I'd leave without her. Which we did on Thursday, and she knew it, so it wasn't a totally unjustified concern.

Afterwards I organized my work space. There's a pile of stuff that needs to go out to the storage container, but my shelves are a bit better organized. I also sorted my leather. The downside of buying online is that I have several sides that I'm not super happy with and don't want to use in products to sell. They are handy for prototypes (I've totally been using them on the mason jar cuff prototypes), but there's still more than I know what to do with. blech. I hate wasting money.

first version of the key fob: has the cool halter snap

second version of the key fob has just a simple key ring (it weighs less than the halter snap)

Sunday Sunshine taught our YW class lesson (she was voluntold by me a few weeks ago when we didn't have any volunteers), River gave a talk in Primary and Ocean gave the prayer in Primary (Jeremy helped the boys). It was a busy 2nd hour, but we survived.

On Friday I bought some leather patterns for half off. Ocean had seen a build video I was watching for one of them and wanted one. I've been feeling more creative lately (finally!)- key fobs, mason jar cuffs, notebooks, etc, but I haven't made something just for fun in a long time. 

I had Ocean pick out the leather he wanted me to use and I sat down and made his bag. It went quicker than I thought it would - it's all hand stitched, but it came together pretty quickly, all things considered. The leather was thinner than recommended, but it still worked and Ocean is happy with it.

Weekly Mileage 

Thursday-      3.08 miles             1.0 hours

Saturday-       1.90 miles             .5 hours

       total- 4.98 miles                             1.5 hours

2021 totals

277.0 outside hours

244.19 miles