Self Discoveries

Teeny little glasses enchant me.

SOUP! Soupity soup soup soup!

I recently discovered soup. Like I am a soup whore now. Soup. Soup. Soup. Can't get enough of it. Always find myself buying chicken broth, and beef broth and vegetable broth. Veggies stare at me in the store and whisper ideas for new soups. And beans! I love putting beans in my soups. So. Some soup pictures to make you drool...

Pros and Cons

I think I am slightly depressed. Something about how I don't want to do anything except play Bejeweled 2. Nothing seems worth it these days. Why go running? I will never lose this belly fat. Why make lovely art projects? There is no one to appreciate them. Why clean my house? There will always be something more to clean. Heh heh. Yeah. One of those days. So I was thinking of all of the pros and cons of life. Making a list like you do when you are deciding if you want to take a new job. This is what came of it.

Cons

Seasons always end. Winter always comes.
It is so easy to hurt other people. One wrong word and someone has hurt feelings.
No one ever completely understands you.
Sometimes people don't get you at all.
So much war.
Poverty.
Pain everywhere.
Deficits.
Fear.
I seem to mess things up every turn I make.
And the list goes on.

Pros

Lost of beautiful earth.
Love at times.
Understanding at times.
Chocolate.
Having enough at times.

Apparently I could use some help here....

Mosquitoes from Hell

I don't know who thought it would be a good idea to have mosquitoes here on planet earth, but I think they were seriously cracked in the head. Last night I ended up killing four in my bedroom, but not until they had stuck me with their little blood-sucking devices. And I don't know what it was about these mosquitoes, because their bites didn't necessarily itch but really really hurt! Like crazy aching up the limb, intense and nasty hurt. I was starting to wonder if they had some mutant strain of something-er-other and if I were going to wake up mutilated. The worst was when one of the little bastards got to my lip. My lip! This morning it is still swollen. (Other expletives are coming to mind...) I decided to leave one of the carcasses on my ceiling as warning to any other wretched skeeters that might want to suck my blood. My Buddha principles have been thrown out the window.

Backpacking in the Rain

I went backpacking this weekend. Yeah, and just in case anyone forgot it rained a bunchity bunch this weekend. No really, a buh-freakin' bunch. This is what I learned:

1. Cotton pretty much just sucks in the rain. Sucks. By the time we got up to where we decided to camp my cotton pants felt like a big wet diaper that was sagging down to my knees. Oh...cold wet diaper.

2. Rain coats might just have a saturation point and then you get drenched anyway. Though I had a hole in my sleeve.

3. Wrapping a plastic bag around my pack only sort of works. Maybe 4 more bags and a shit-ton of duct tape would have done the job. Needless to say my pack was wet. My spare "dry" socks were wet. My waterproof matches were crumbling with wet. Wet. Wet. Wet. Oh yeah and did I mention that I had brought my cell phone just in case of an emergency? ....It is in pieces drying on my chest of drawers.

4. Even if your tent is absolutely bomber, if you set it up in the rain and then sit your sorry little wet bum down in it there is going to be water in your tent. And the spare "dry" socky that you are using to mop up the tent floor is really only spreading wet all around.

5. Running shoes were never meant for the rain. You know that meshy stuff that is supposed to ventilate your running feet? It isn't waterproof... Just in case you were wondering.

6. Sometimes trails are really dry creek beds, that become creeks when water is falling from the sky. Hiking up a creek. Heh heh. Oh right, with meshy running shoes on. Slosh slosh slosh. Can I just say that putting my feet into my shoes this morning brought high-pitched singing sounds from my mouth.

7. My sleeping bag is officially pathetic. I am pretty sure that it was bought in the 80's. And is not meant for any kind of camping that is below 70 degrees. You know, you have your 15 degrees bags, and negative 10 degrees bags...and 70 degrees bags. That would be mine.

Don't get me wrong though, there were many fun(ny) things about our trip. Hanging out clothes all over the trail to dry. Realizing that hot sauce makes anything taste good. Being in the gorgeous mountains. Going to sleep to the sounds of a rushing river. Kissing my man.

But next time don't be surprised if I look like a marshmallow wrapped from head to toe in plastic bags.

Geeze La Wheeze

It has seriously been a whole month since I have last posted. Where have I been? Huh. I have two things to write about today. First I just got back from a weekend in Jackson Hole Wyoming with my man. Two important thingies in that sentence. One, I spent a weekend in Jackson Hole with glorious Teton mountains, green pines everywhere, and wildlife to spare. Two, I was with my man. (sigh)

The first day we were there I decided to go for a run on the Elk National Reserve. Didn't actually see any Elk, but got to run for miles and miles with almost nothing around me except mountains. The cool part is that I ended up running farther than I have ever gone before. I don't know why. I just kept going. Kept drinking water. Kept running. Got back and realized that I had gone farther than 3 miles, farther than 4...maybe even 5! Now here is the coolest part. We ended up tracking the miles in my car, and I didn't go 5. I actually went.....(drum roll)....7.6! Now, granted I walked some of that, but HOLY COW that is almost 8 miles! Which is like a million really. If I can run a million then certainly I can run a half marathon in October. :D

The second thingy that I wanted to write about was my experience today at the laundry mat. I was there folding sheets, listening to Dr. Phil when this commercial came on for some depression medication. (commercials for medications is a weird concept anyway....) But this one in particular struck me as odd. After it talked about how depression hurts, and that whatever-its-strange-name-was could help it went on for seriously 5 minutes about all of the negative side effects. Everything from dry mouth to bleeding, to increased suicidal thoughts, to liver damage...to good lord! And the very next sentence? "Ask your doctor about whatever-the-hell-they-called-it today!" What? Seriously? There has got to be a better way.

The Other Half

Guess what I did this morning. No, really. Guess. Ok, I will tell you. I decided that I wanted to run a half marathon in October. (Wendy has a goofy grin on her face.) Decided so much so that I even signed up for it, payed the 70 bucks and am officially going to get the t-shirt!

It is called The Other Half. It is in Moab. In October. It will be gorgeous. All I have to do is increase my mileage by 2 miles every month from now until then. I can do that. Green smoothies here I come.

You all are welcome to go camping down there on that weekend and cheer me on. :)