good/bad

good:

crock pot roast beef w/gravy and crispy french bread
watching 4 year olds play soccer
hot bath+recent copy of wired magazine
news of new innocence mission cd in the works
catching up on favorite blogs and email

bad:

diet hansen's creamy rootbeer (neither creamy nor very much like root beer)
mosquito clouds obscuring view of 4 year olds playing soccer
realizing that wired has too many bad words in it and needs to go now that Flash is reading everything
waiting for innocence mission cd to actually be released
not catching up on balacing the checkbook or scrubbing the shower

cure for the common cold (or is it the flu? or bronchitis?)

In the past 3 days, I've undergone a transformation that some may argue was already in the works: I've become a Geriatric Nuisance. It's all due to this mystery virus that I get every year, and this year it struck early. The usual symptoms include: head cold, sore throat, and, eventually, a killer cough that starts in the chest. This year I've mixed it up a bit and added a fever and shallow breathing. That last bit is all the evidence you need of my new status of Geriatric Nuisance. All I can talk about is my Health Problems.

In addition, I lie around all day (or as much of the day as possible), I have partaken of way too much daytime television, I'm drinking peppermint tea almost exclusively (soft foods are also on the menu), and I'm reading a fairly banal Christian Literature book about (no lie) a woman in her 80s who reconnects with her granddaughter. (It includes many sort of funny lines, including one where the witchy controlling mother receives a message from Jesus that goes, "What's it to you if Sam's part of my plan for your daughter?" I just love the idea of Jesus pulling the ol' "whats it to ya" comeback.)


In honor of the occasion, I made this for dinner last night:
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Cure for the Common Cold Chicken Soup

6 T chicken base (I like Better than Boullion brand)
2 1/2 quarts water
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
1/2 small onion, chopped or 1 tsp dried onion

2 cups chopped cooked chicken
2 cups uncooked noodles
6 mushrooms, sliced
1 T fresh rosemary, chopped

Combine first 5 ingredients. Heat to boiling; simmer, covered 15 minutes or until carrots are tender. Stir in remaining ingredients. Return to boil; simmer uncovered 7-10 minutes or until noodles are tender.

5K/smash-up day

I'm beginning to think that me+running=catastrophe. First I fall off the treadmill at the gym at prime time for fancy-moms to be there (10:00, right after aerobics or some such class), then I actually get a migraine in the middle of running, now I'm freaked out about the treadmill in general and can't seem to run on it without getting dizzy.

So last Saturday I ran the Houston Race for the Cure 5K. I know, totally small potatoes, but for me it was something of a victory. It was very hot that morning and the idea of (sort of) training for it and then actually finishing it was an important one for me. So anyway, my sister the *real* runner and I complete the race and eventually find our car. And then I smash it in the parking garage! And it's a beautiful car... was a beautiful car. I've never been into any car like I was into that one. As a person who tries to live by the old hippie adage "use things and love people, don't love things and use people" (usually expressed more eloquently than that), I should just be able to shrug this little accident off. And I will, it's just the combination of the cost of the repair and my new suburban shut-in status that are combining to make this something of a challenge.