The Circle of Laziness

So I've been a little, uh, lazy . . . both with this blog and exercise. I have an excuse for the exercise part . . . mainly I still have this damn headache. I need to invest in some new medicine. But I'm far too lazy to drive to the store, talk to some dumbass pharmacist to find something close to Excedrin and then experiment with it to see if it actually works. It's like the circle of life or something. And it all revolves around my laziness. *sigh* As for my blogging, well I have no real excuse aside from the fact that since I haven't been exercising like I should, I have little to talk to you about. But from now until school starts, I'm going to have quite a bit of time on my hands and probably a lot of things to avoid, so exercise is always a good way to do that. I did buy a new pair of running shorts and a tank top (on sale at Dick's). Very brightly colored. Figured that might motivate me to get back out there. It hasn't yet, but I've been busy.

As far as food goes, well we might as well go back to me being lazy and my headache. First, I can't afford much as far as groceries go. Second, what I do have I'm too lazy/don't have the energy to cook. Third, I have zero patience for the morons at the grocery store. And, well, grocery shopping takes time. Time that could be better spent trying to sleep off this headache (which obviously isn't working, but that's not gonna stop me from trying). You might consider that laziness. I consider that to be productive. I'm trying to accomplish something. And if at first you don't succeed, try, try, try, try, again. Ignore your failures! I'm aware that I have some problems okay? Don't point them out.

I've been eating pbjs (I don't mind . . . I actually like those)  and what's left of my apples, broccoli, and cheese sticks. I'm sure those will run out before the week is up. I do have pasta (no spaghetti squash though) and sauce, so I guess when I get desperate I could actually cook something. Where's the fun in that? If it weren't for having to boil the noodles, pasta would be so much easier. I just don't like standing there waiting for them to boil (yeah, yeah "a watched pot never boils" but the second I walk away that pot is gonna boil over and my noodles will be inedible, so I watch).

I have decided I won't be going to the Apple store this weekend to get my mac "tax-free." I did the math (which may or may not be entirely accurate) and it will only save me around $150 at most. And the Apple store will be beyond crowded that weekend, I'm sure, and I can't deal with crowds. Or spending my entire day there waiting amongst morons. So I'm going to wait a few weeks. I'd rather spend the extra hundred or so than waste an entire day dealing with all those people. Plus, the longer I wait to get it (which is hard because I'm really impatient and want it now), the less I'll have to pay because when I get my loan refund, I'm using part of it to pay for the computer (assuming financial aid doesn't screw up . . . which isn't likely).

Later this week/weekend, I'll get back out there and run (unless this headache never goes away, in which case I'll spend the weekend in bed). Call me lazy. I've accepted it. I suppose I could be called worse. And really, I'm not that lazy. It's not like I'm sitting around doing nothing and eating whatever I want (which I can't afford anyway) and saying I should work out and never do. I want to go run. Whoever cursed me with this headache does not want me to run, for whatever stupid reason. At least being poor will help keep me from getting fat? Except there's the whole "junk food is cheaper than healthy food" thing, so that's a bit of a problem. Circles, circles, circles. It's all just a vicious cycle. Maybe some day I'll break it, if I'm ever not poor. Ha.

Changes

Sorry for not posting anything yesterday. It was quite a busy day. I went for a run at Creve Coeur park pretty early in the morning. It was okay. Not great. I stopped a few times because the toes on my left foot kept going numb. I pushed myself at the end of my run to keep going and by the time I was done it felt like most of my left foot was numb. I had these problems when I got my last pair, so I'm not too concerned about it. It should stop once they're more broken in. The inside of my left ankle was also bothering me. Most of yesterday and today I've had a headache and my legs have been extremely sore.

Yesterday was pretty nice overall, aside from my run. I got to see a lot of family I don't get to see too often. It was a fun party. I've been extremely tired though, so by the time I left I was exhausted and still had my headache and my legs were hurting worse. It felt like I had been drinking all day, even though I only had a couple beers. It took quite a bit of Motrin to get my legs to stop hurting enough to fall asleep. I slept pretty good though once I did. And woke up this morning to rain! It makes me so happy to wake up to rain.

I really wanted to go for a run since it was just rain and no storms but my head hurt so bad. I haven't been able to get rid of it. Once I got home this afternoon I took a shower (which was a major struggle) and then went straight to bed and slept for 3-ish hours. It was a wonderful nap. It didn't get rid of my headache though, so that was disappointing. I thought maybe having some dinner might help. Nope. Headaches are so irritating. Excedrin works wonders for most of my headaches. Unfortunately I used the last of mine last week and apparently it will not be back on the market until October. I'm gonna need to find something to get me through until then. Motrin is not cutting it.

A lot of things have been changing lately. Some of them have been hard to accept and deal with. Others are exciting. It's forced me to really take a look at the people in my life, who matters, who doesn't. People are leaving and that's part of life. It's hard to accept sometimes. It's hard when you stop being best friends with someone you've been best friends with for years. We grow up, we grow apart. It's been difficult to accept all these changes. But I know better things are coming and I'm excited about what they might be.

Finally Friday!

It's lunchtime! I had my leftover pasta from the other night. Not as good reheated . . . it was a little dry and I didn't have cheese with me to put on it. So perhaps it would have been better if I added a tad more sauce and had some cheese.

That storm last night was pretty intense. I quit watching tv for a few reasons. 1. If the storm is still going, the channel you're watching keeps changing to some stupid shopping channel for the Emergency Alert System. The noise is irritating and so is the voice of whoever is reading these "alerts." 2. I was watching a show I DVR'd earlier in the week. It freaking interrupted a recording to "alert" me that there's a freaking storm outside. So I decided to make some dinner and watch French movies on netflix instead. It stormed from the time I got home from work until well after I had fallen asleep (I sleep great during storms).

I woke up once really early in the morning (it was still dark . . . didn't check my phone for the actual time though because I'm lazy) and it was pretty hot in my room, but I get hot when I sleep, so I figured that's all it was and fell back asleep. When I woke up this morning and tried to turn the lamp next to bed on, it wouldn't turn on. I checked my phone which apparently had stopped charging hours ago. Yeah, no electricity. No wonder it was so horribly hot. Luckily my phone has a flash light app. So I attempted to use that to put my contacts in, brush my teeth, wash my face, put some makeup on, get dressed, etc. Got all that done with the limited capabilities of my phone flash light. I go sit on the couch waiting for it  to be 7:30ish so I can go get breakfast before work, and the power comes back on. Of course it does. After I'm dressed and ready for work, I have power. Jerks.

I'm glad it's back on though. Packing for a weekend in St. Louis with no power would have been awful and would have taken me forever. I'd be lucky if I packed matching outfits for the weekend (my closet is big and dark . . . flash light doesn't cover much). Also, my alarm wasn't set to get up early for my run this morning, so I didn't go. Might have still been storming at that point, who knows? I'm glad it didn't go off though. I would have found out sooner that the power was out and that would have made me mad. And my room is still super dark at 5am, so I really wouldn't have been able to see anything to get dressed. No thanks.

I do plan on running early tomorrow morning, hopefully beating most of the heat, assuming my lungs don't feel like they're collapsing. After which I'll go to my parents house to do my laundry and things and then I get to go see my family and celebrate birthdays and such! Can't wait :)

Realizations

I skipped yesterday. Oops. But I figured since I posted twice Tuesday, it would be okay. You all survived, right? Besides I was busy going to lunch and dinner with my boyfriend and then going to the see The Dark Knight Rises. And it was incredible. If you haven't seen it yet, Go. Definitely one you should see in theaters. I just loved it. Might be my new favorite Batman movie.

Obviously, I did not work out yesterday. I had considered going for a run/walk after work but oh dear god it was so awful hot. My alarm went off at 5am this morning and I did not get out of bed. I needed sleep. I thought about going this afternoon but my asthma has been kicking my butt (or lungs?) all day. Hard to run when you can't breathe. Also it's storming, and from what I've heard, severe damaging winds and possible hail. Not gonna run in that. I will enjoy the storm from inside my apartment.


 I'm coming to some sad realizations this week. First of all, I'm poor. I can't afford registration fees for the 5 and 10k's coming up that I want to do. So how the hell am I going to afford almost 150 for the half marathon? I don't know. And don't tell me to save my money. That's hard to do when you have very little money left after paying your bills and you need gas in your car and food in your fridge. So I'm not ruling it out completely that I could possibly afford to pay for it, but as of now, it doesn't look likely.

In addition to that, my training for the half marathon just sucks. I can't run as often as I should because, as I said, it's pretty damn hard to run when you can't breathe. I woke up in the middle of the night a day or two ago and couldn't breathe to the point I needed my inhaler. Clearly I don't have Exercise Induced Asthma. I should probably go back to the doctor, but that takes time that I don't have right now. It's hard to train for a half marathon when you can barely get through a couple miles with or without an inhaler.

As for dinner, I was really in the mood for a grilled cheese. Then I remembered my cheese was moldy and I threw it away Sunday. Sooo I'm probably going to have ravioli or something instead. Also, assuming this storm continues, they keep doing those emergency warning things. And for whatever reason, it changes the channel every time it does it. It changes it back eventually, but doesn't allow you to exit out of it or change back to the channel you were watching. It's irritating.

But it's almost Friday! Yay! :)

Spaghetti Squash

The end result. The best dinner I've had in a very long time.

I mad my spaghetti squash "pasta" and it's probably the best thing I've ever made (and possibly ever will make, because I don't like to cook). It took some work and close to an hour or a little more to cook, but that's mainly because I didn't know what I was doing.

After a phone call to mom (and then she called a friend), I learned the easiest way to cook spaghetti squash is in the microwave (unlike most websites that will tell you it has to be baked in the oven then boiled, etc). So, I cut it in half long-ways, then put it cut-side down on a plate (I didn't have a big enough dish/plate for both halves so I cooked them separately). For each half, I cooked it in 3-minute intervals. After about 9 minutes it was tender. Took them out and let them cool (they were really, really hot).

While those were cooking, I cooked the pancetta, cut up my veggies, etc. I have not mastered cooking pancetta yet. I seem to overcook it every time so that it's really crunchy (how I like my bacon). It was still good though. Once I let the squash cool for a bit, I started shredding it (it was still pretty hot though, so I held it with a dish towel). First you have to get the seeds out, which is kind of a pain, and you're never really sure you got it all. And I was worried b/c I was pulling out the "spaghetti" with the seeds. No worries though, there was more than enough.

The squash "noodles." Looks just like pasta.

When I was finished shredding the sqaush I put it in a bowl and then added my sauce and veggies and mixed it all up. The end result was delicious. And I'm pretty damn proud of myself for it. Almost the entire dish if vegetables. I figured I could splurge a little and get some good alfredo sauce (bought the sauce from "the Hill" and it was totally worth it--best store-bought alfredo sauce I've ever had).

Pancetta, fresh tomatoes, peas, and asparagus in alfredo sauce.

The "gutted" squash halves. There was still some "spaghetti" in there, but I just couldn't get it all, and i had more than enough. 

Waiting for Tonight . . . (no, not the JLo song)

Yay lunchtime post! I haven't done one of these in a while. Mostly because I'm generally a slow eater so by the time I finish my food, it's time to get back to work. But I've got some time today . . . because my lunch was an apple and a pbj. Go me! At least I can say it's healthy haha.

And in case you're wondering, I still felt like crap this morning. Headache, stomach ache, less than 4 hours of sleep, what have you. I somehow managed to get myself out of bed and go run. When my alarm at 5 went off, I was quite tempted to just turn it off and go back to sleep for another hour and a half or so. Instead, I just hit snooze, slept for 10 more minutes and then got up. This run was rough. New shoes need much more breaking in. And it was already hot. And I didn't feel my best. So I cut my run a little shorter than usual. But I ran almost the entire way. And I owned those hills. Running a little is better than not at all right?

I read this article earlier while I was eating (5 Ways to Trick Your Body into Being More Awesome) and I just love articles like this. They're witty and you learn stuff. There are some pretty good tips in there for college/grad students. Like how to pull an all-nighter (in case you're a naive soon-to-be freshman who thinks you won't have to stay up all night, you're in for a rude awakening. Awakening, ha). One thing I found quite interesting was the part about not stretching before workouts. I'm not going to explain all the science here because if you're too lazy to go read that article than you're probably too lazy to read this entire post anyway. Anyway, I think I'm going to give it a try and see how I feel. The only problem with not stretching is that I need to come up with a better warm up before my runs. Walking doesn't seem to do the trick. The article sort of suggest things like squats and lunges, so I think I'll give those a shot. And maybe just Google it. Goole has all the answers.

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm making some yummy pasta tonight for dinner. If it turns out good, or at least just looks pretty, I will take a picture of it for all to see my culinary skills (which as many of you may know, are quite limited). It will be hard to not want to start cooking as soon as I get home from work. I am not my grandparents, I will not eat before 5:30 pm. A light snack, however, is always acceptable. I'm also going to attempt to make spaghetti squash, and if that turns out okay, noodles! If not, I have back up noodles from the store :) It's nice to be prepared (mostly thanks to my momma).

Sidenote: I'm not going to edit this before posting--my brain hurts. So if you happen to come across any errors or typos, KEEP THEM TO YOURSELF. I DON'T CARE TODAY.

You all are just lovely people. Thanks for reading!

Mondays are a Headache

As you all probably know, Mondays suck. I've had a headache since yesterday afternoon. I've tried two different types of medicine, naps, and caffeine. Nothing has helped. So I will not be working out today because my head throbs every time I move. The thought of running or any other kind of movement sounds way too painful. Also I spilled milk all over the kitchen floor this morning. That's how my day started. Oh boy. 

So tonight I'm gonna be good and eat my veggies, relax and watch some tv, or read, or whatever hurts my head the least. And tomorrow morning my alarm will go off at 5am and headache or no headache, I'll drag myself out of bed and put on my new shoes and at least go for a walk, because new shoes are a pretty good motivation. Except for today. Because it's Monday. I have a headache. Oh and it's stupid hot outside again. 

I'm pretty excited for tomorrow though. I'm gonna make some yummy pasta for dinner. Alfredo, noodles, peas, asparagus, and pancetta. Sounds delicious! If I didn't have such a bad headache, I'd probably be making it now. Also, boyfriend is coming for a visit tomorrow night, so I suppose I'll save him some pasta to eat when he gets here :) 

I really, really want it to be the weekend though. My Aunt Rose is in town, and my cousin Tommy is on leave and we're celebrating his 21st birthday (and his sister's 16th) on Saturday and I can't wait to see everyone! 

So, here's to hoping the rest of the week goes by fast (and has fewer milk spills)!