ebum1101

go here  to check it out (as you can see, I decided it's time for a fresh start)

It's been almost a year since a new post, but since I'm a proud mama (and I want to see if I know how to embed a video), here you go:

... and who were hoping this is one time I would continue not to post:

I need to point out for the record that David managed to crash into the please-put-your-money-in-me drawer at airport parking (or had it crash into him), not once but TWICE in a 5-minute period on Saturday.

Now THAT's a special kind of clumsy. And I am officially one percentile point lower in the klutz scores.

I can't describe how thrilled I am that summer is upon us. Spring is nice -- it's always exciting to get the first few glimpses of boys wearing shorts -- but there are always some cold days in there (usually on weekends). Now that it's memorial day weekend, it's safe to assume it will be warm from now through September, and I am ecstatic.

I spent that majority of the week being stressed out about work, but I am done and I promised myself not to go in for the holiday weekend, and since hubby is working, I have the house all to myself for three days. (Would have been better with Ryan in it though). My wekeend plans? Eat lots of oatmeal (yes, even in summer), watch many many many Will & Grace and Gilmore Girls espisodes (thank you, DVR), go to the library and pick up my newly requested books, read them on the deck in the sunshine, and maybe splurge on a big mac (I have been craving one for weeks).

I considered doing a long swim today, but what I want to do I am also dreading. I am curious to see how long it would take me just to swim 5000 yards, with no intervals or racing or resting in the middle, but it just sounds so ridiculously boring that I am having trouble making myself get out the door. Seems like the kind of thing I would rather do outside, where I can feel the sun on my shoulders and see the trees in the sky.

My dogs have the right idea -- they are both lying on the deck with their tummies turned up to the sun. It's unbelievably cute. I won't get gushy but I absolutely adore them.

Off to start my day.

We just had the scariest hail storm I have ever been through. Not the biggest hail (you'll hear no stories about golf balls falling from the sky) but the ANGRIEST storm I have ever seen. I thought Jesus was coming. It seemed like God was THROWING hail down at our house. My poor dogs were scared out of their minds. It knocked a tree over and the tree fell half on a car and half blocking the street and it was quite exciting.

Wow, it doesn't look like it when I wrote it down. But it was exciting. I swear.

I spent sunday night and last night in bed reading people's 100 most beautiful people. I am such a sucker for celebrities. I know I should be embarassed, but it's a guilty pleasure and we all have them! Plus, it got me 30 minutes to be alone and turn my brain off. So I'm ok with it.

But Angelina... really? I go back and forth with her. I know she's many women's number one choice for a lesbian hookup (mine is still Britney, in case you were wondering) but she IS a home-wrecker. And even though Brad has outed himself as a sleazeball, he is still ridiculously hot and try as I might, I can't get the picture of him, in an elevator, with a spoon in his mouth (watch Ocean's 11), out of my head. And that's ok. I guess Angelina does use her fame for good, though... so I guess I'm ok with it.

Gotta love 100 poeple this year instead of 50!

I started stirring the benefiber into my water. It doesn't taste bad, but after a while my mouth feels sort of weird. I might be imagining it though. They do make a pill form, but the powder assures that I will drink water to get it down, so maybe I'll stick with this, enticing as the pill is.

Hope everyone's having a good day! I hate to admit I'm going to another restaurant but it's the Monday special downtown with the healthy-sized portions, so we're going. (Can you tell we feel rich this week?) I had a good efx "run" this morning and I deserve it. Look at me justifying. Well, here's the thing: I want to go.

my mom posted a commend on MFD that something to the effect of "she's always been strong... it's her coordination that's limiting."

Um, excuse me. It's been AT LEAST a year since I stumbled off a treadmill.

I work in sales for a company that arranges non-profit travel (mission trips, disater relief work, humanitarian aid, service projects... that sort of thing). On paper, and most of the year, it's right up my alley. I love travel, I love learing about new parts of the world, I ADORE the travel-related perks, I like that the work I am doing MEANS something, it's fast-paced (I don't deal well with boredom), it requires attention to detail and being organized and give friendly service (stregths of mine -- thank you Marcella!), and ever since I got moved to a new incentive-based pay scale (once I meet my goals in sales, I get a cut of everything I bring in above that), the pay has been decent.

But.

We're right in the middle of our busiest time of year, and some of my clients (even the preachers) aren't always nice. I have a few in particular (remember Dr. C?) who love to blame everything that goes wrong on me (increases in the fuel market, crappy exchange rates, not enough space for their people, not enough funds on their credit cards, airline schedule changes, you name it) and it really really really gets me down. I hate knowing I have to go to work and tell people stuff they don't want to hear. And knowing they're probably going to be REALLY rude to me about it. What's sad is, it's just a few people (most of my clients are good people and are easy to work with... our clientele is way more patient and understanding than the general population, on the whole) but those few can really make me dread going to work. This summer season has been especially nightmarish... lots of work and not all of it turning into sales (when there's no space, we have no product to sell) and with my renewed commitment to keep my hours below 50 per week, even in busy season, it just seems like I can't keep my head above water.

I probably shouldn't even be taking a lunch break to write this (and I usually don't break for lunch... just eat at my desk) but sometimes I just need to turn my brain off for a few minutes.

I know that the mean clients are the ones with problems, not me, but the workaholic in me has a hard time distancing myself from them... I get so emotionally involved. In their work, and their budgets, and then their criticisms, if they come.

So anyway that's why I'm bogged down... but in a few weeks, things will be easier, and in July Mark and I have two weekends away planned, so I just need to keep pushing.

Sorry to dump... I really do feel better today (though there are a couple of emails from Dr. C over the weekend I am scared to open, so I am doing everything else first!) and I am getting stuff done today. crossing things off my list really does make me feel better ~ yes, I'm one of "those" people.

I will do just about anything for the smileys on MFD for eating right or exercising right. It's pathetic. Why do I care?

For starters, I log everything becuase I want as many smileys as possible. I don't log sex, though, since the 30 calories I get credited with aren't worth having to tell a computer that a.) it only lasted a few minutes and b.) it was only "moderately" athletic. Makes me feel like a fogie. So I just skip the logging. Stop laughing at my pathetic sex life now...

I'm a bassoon. Apparently, "bassooners are fun and outgoing usually. They're pretty suite."

Don't know how I feel about that. I think it's the proximity of the word "bassoon" to the word "baboon" that's making me uncomfortable.

Wow, how much of a band geek am I, to have this as my second post? But thanks for the quiz, charus9!

Bassoon 100%
Oboe 75%
trombone 75%
Cello 67%
Flute 58%
French Horn 58%
Percussion 42%
Violin 33%
String Bass 33%
Clarinet 33%
Trumpet 33%
Tuba 33%
Viola 25%

Take the quiz: http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=20151&first=yes

In yet another occurrence of the timing-is-everything phenomenon that is my life, I have started keeping a journal again (albeit this time online... and with the goal of focusing on the concrete parts of my life, as opposed to the strange characters who live in the far corners of my imagination, with whom I'd be friends only if we were all in a book together) just when I have decided to embark on a new physical struggle. In the newest chapter of my constant battle to lose weight and be healthy and be Furman-pretty, I have decided to swim 5 miles in open ocean water in St. Croix. In October. With... my mom and my sister. (So apparently it will be a mental struggle as well as physical.)

And, just like that, I have my first inspiration for a journal entry. And unlike my past journaling, I think it's GOOD that I am putting it in writing which can be accessed by friends (though few) and strangers in cyberspace -- maybe this will hold me more accountable than in past efforts.

So. Voici!

My first step was to peruse the online library catalog for books on open-water swimming (isn't perusing the online library catalog the first step in most major undertakings?) since, for all my experience in the pool, I have none in the ocean. Or lake. Or rivers. Or anything without a wall every 25 yards and a toilet one pool deck away. My main fear isn't with the 5-mile part -- that I know I can manage. It's the open water part... will the water be really choppy? Will I have to battle the current? Will it be freezing? Will the salt chafe my skin? Will I swallow so much ocean water that I get the 'rhea right in the middle of the race? (That seems like something that would happen to me.) S, to alleviate these fears (and hopefully learn to prevent them), reading it is! (Who says you miss out on the real life while you're reading about it?)

The next step was to dig out all my old swimming stuff, much of which had dry-rotted (I think I have only had pool workouts MAYBE four times in the last four years, and zero in the last two), so that prompted a stop at omega sports for new fins and a swedish goggle strap replacement kit, and good ol' latex swim caps (I love it when my hair smells like condom). Man, has this sport evolved in the last five years! Fins are split down the toes, for better ankle balance (huh? I had pains in my swimming years, but from my recollection, never ANKLE pains ) or something.

Step three -- to the pool. To my surprise, the chlorine didn't bring on the dull headache I would have expected, nor did it drudge up any memories of being second (ok, fifth) best compared to the other people on my team (particularly the ones in my family). It kind of felt good swim again -- I could do it in my sleep -- and as soon as I started, those muscle groups sort of woke up and said, "ok, we can still do this; we remember EXACTLY how it feels." I tuckered out sooner than I thought I would -- my entire workout was only about 1500 yards, and my body felt it afterwards -- but I am feeling productive and healthy and strangely confident about this endeavor in well-being.

I've said it before, but swimming is one of those HES things that I feel better about, because I KNOW I don't look like an idiot. In the gym, if I stumble on the treadmill (it's been known to happen) or drop the weights or roll off the body ball, I feel completely incompetent. But at the pool, even if people are thinking, "why, WHY is that fat girl in a swimsuit?" or "good thing cellulite is buoyant," I don't care, since I know that when I'm swimming, at least then I look like I know what I'm doing.

And that's all for now! Look, I wrote something!

But no idea what to fill it with, since I know other people will read it, and since the main reason I got an account was to read up on other people...

Maybe inspiration will come later.