Flexity-goodness

I very much love my flex days. I don't know what I will ever do when I no longer have them. But short of having a baby (which I have to say, visiting Molly in the hospital has cured me of any and all baby fever. She's ridiculously cute - how could any baby genetically linked to me not be - but spare me those sleepless lights.) or being promoted to management, I'll keep my flex time for the foreseeable future.

Today was fantastic. 6.5 hours of Pride and Prejudice (BBC/A&E miniseries). Or as I like to call it, 6.5 hours of visual stimulation. To which Andrew asks, "Is he really that attractive?" And yes, he really is. I tried to explain to him that Colin Firth doesn't have the universal attraction that say, Tom Brady has, but my god, is that man sexy. Andrew, being a guy, just doesn't see the sexiness. Personally, I don't understand how you can miss it. Though I'd be lying if I said I only watched it for an entire day of Colin Firth. I love the story as well. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy's love story is, in my humble opinion, one of the better ones out there. I'm not sure I know many that rival it. Maybe Rocky and Adrian. I don't know, I'll have to watch Rocky II to compare.

And in addition to watching 6.5 hours of Pride and Prejudice I went to the gym to start week 3 of c25k. It wasn't that hard. I'm starting to think I would be better off just training without it. Maybe it will be harder in later weeks. I guess I have enough time to go with it. The race isn't until August 10th, after all.

I'm getting back into LOST. (Bree - avert your eyes) Last season it totally jumped the shark and I gave up on it. But since there is nothing else on, I'm going back to it. I hope I can follow it this year.

Family Ties

My immediate family of 6 became 7 the other night with the addition of Molly. I would like to point out that my brother said he wasn't going to consider a name that anyone in my family already had. So we will deduce from that comment, that he is either A) a LIAR LIAR PANTS ON FIRE, B) realized we have an enormous family and when added with his wife's family, most of the good names are taken, C) forgot about Aunt Molly, E) realized B, so then added in any names of no-longer-living relatives, or D) Just said that to keep people guessing.

My vote is B. Yours?

Anyway, Molly arrived the way all babies do and I have yet to see her. My husband did and sent me a text that said "Hi! My name is Molly" with her picture attached. I don't know why, but I thought that was extremely witty. Because babies that are less than one day old can't talk! So it's funny!

hello!

It seems as though there are more lurkers on this blog than are leaving comments. tsk tsk! Introduce yourself, lurkers.

Secretary of Defence? TEDY BRUSCHI

Check out this video: BRADY - MOSS in 08!



Add to My Profile | More Videos

Bleck-a-do!

Bleck-a-do means some type of food sounds/looks/tastes disgusting, by the way. My father says it, I have no idea where it came from.

I consider myself to be a reasonably good cook. I'm no foodie, and I never went to culinary school, but I can hold my own in the kitchen. I used to fail at making easy mac, so I've come a long way. Because I get home before Andrew, I make about 80% of our meals. Aside from using too much Chinese 5 spice (which I like, but apparently he doesn't) Andrew's never complained, so I think I'm doing an okay job. The only thing I don't make is anything Mexican. Andrew reigns supreme with the Mexican dishes (aside from nachos, because let's face it, anyone can throw some cheese on top of Tostitos and throw it in the microwave), and I have never questioned his authority. He makes really good Mexican.

My problem starts here: I was craving quesadillas all day. With fresh peppers and onions, chicken, and cheese. Yummy. But Andrew has class tonight. "Doesn't matter" I thought, "how hard can quesadillas possibly be?"

Famous
last
words.

I ruined them. No, that insinuates I actually made them. I didn't even get that far. I had peppers and onions cut up, chicken boiling, and tortillas warming. It just couldn't come together.

I haven't failed at anything food related so badly since I was in high school and I was making chocolate chip cookies and I read 2 1/2 cups of flour as "two half cups" instead of "two AND a half cups" of flour.

I don't evn know how I messed up, I just did. I simply couldn't get it to come together. I'll have to get Andrew to teach me how to do it. I feel like I want to throw up after eating what I concocted.

But in better news, I have boiled chicken and pepers and onions all cut up for a stir fry tomorrow night. Less prep work!


P.S. Heath Ledger. What a damn shame. He quit us :( I hope it wasn't suicide. I hope it was an accident. That poor little girl has to grow up without a father now.

my weekend: a review

Skiing at Okemo is hard work. Especially if you aren't used to bigger mountains. I was ready to curl up and take a nap in the middle of the day! Saturday was the first day we skied with our new helmets. They were pretty comfortable and just as warm on my ears as my hat was. All in all, a positive review for the helmets. Though mine is boring white and I am trying to put some stickers on it. I have a Gunstock one, because they are free. Okemo wanted to charge me $3.50. Um, no. Sorry. So I still only have the Gunstock sticker, but it's a work in progress.

I don't know what my problem was, but I kept forgetting to zip up my jacket. I was wearing way too many layers and I just couldn't deal with zipping up the last layer. Note to self - less layers = happy Meghan with a zipped up jacket.

Here are some pictures from the Summit Lodge, which oddly enough, is not at the summit. But it is pretty freaking high up the mountain.

It was a long day, but we enjoyed it. Sunday we spent a good portion of the day recovering and then, obviously, watched the pats go 18-0. Then we watched the Giants beat the Packers, which, to be honest, made me slightly nervous about the Super Bowl.

I've started week 2 of C25K. I'm still truckin' on. That's all I have to say about that.

He's baaaack!!

I'll admit, I was convinced something terrible had happened. So I deleted it quietly. But apparently nothing bad happened and everything is good and everyone is healthy.

The babymaker is back.


read it.


For some reason, blogger refuses to let me link sites, but visit www.blameitonthebabymaker.com

You will not regret it.

If he continues to update at a reasonable interval, I will post him on the side.

winter wonderland

Our last storm was this past Monday. I'm pretty sure every school disctrict in the Commonwealth canceled school that day. The metro-west area got about a foot of snow! I'd say we got about 5 inches in our neck of the woods. Today is Thursday, so we are 4 days post snow. It doesn't look like it though. Here are some pictures I took today.

well I had a few more pictures to show you, but blogger doesn't seem to want to cooperate. Which is a shame, because these are not the best ones I have. I'll take more next time it snows. I'm hoping to take the camera to Okemo this weekend, maybe I'll have some super pictures from that!

I've done 2/3 of the first week of c25k. So far so good - I'm worried about next week, as the intervals move up to running for 90 seconds with a 2 minute rest. I still don't think I need a 2 minute rest for 90 seconds of running, but I have to go with the program. I don't want to do it my way and then not be able to do it. We'll see how next week goes.

are you kidding me?

BOOOO

Canton Club was closed due to a "power outage". I'll point out that there were lights on inside. Guess c25k will have to start tomorrow.

Also, driving to work in a snowstorm sucks. Snow is fabulous because it leads to skiing, but driving in it sucks. Especially when you have a Carolla.

That's all I have for today, are you all anxiously waiting for me to go back to school so I don't have time to update daily? Fear not my friends, I start two weeks from tonight.

do YOU recycle?

So I am a bit of a closet tree-hugger. In that I am on my own personal quest to save the earth, but as to avoid hearing people's opinion on the matter I tend to keep my quest quiet. For example, I buy my own bags at the supermarket to use less plastic bags (I highly recommend these, they fit more than plastic bags, they have bigger handle so they are easy to carry, and they are only $0.99. You can't go wrong). But I've not been doing well in the matter of recycling - sure I recycle my cans because I've already paid the deposit, I might as well get it back. But other recyclables? I've been terrible. Terrible. Yesterday, though, I made an improvement in this area. Andrew and I went up to The Container Store to buy a bin for recycling - with different containers so I can separate my recycling before bringing it down to our complex's recycing bins.
So now that bin lives outside on my porch and hopefully I can boost up my recycling efforts.

In other news, I started my Falmouth Road Race training today - it was a miserable failure. First of all, my shorts kept falling down. I actually had to run with one hand keeping them up. I need to go shopping for some new workout shorts apparently. So that didn't work well. And I got to the gym, and my c25K podcast wasn't on my iPod. God really didn't want me to start the training today, but I did anyway! Without my podcast, I had no idea what my intervals were supposed to be, so I just put the treadmill at 4.5 mph (I know, I know, I was running a 13 ish mile.... whatever, this was my first day of training) and just started jogging. I got about 1.25 miles and then I slowed down to a walk. I figure running a mile was a good thing. I really don't know, I don't know how to train without the podcast. But I've fixed my podcast issue, I'll have to fix my short issue, and tomorrow I can start my actual training. Though once I accomplish my 5K, I have no idea how to then train for a 10K, but I can't worry about that until I do the 10K. If anyone has any ideas as to how to train for a 10K, please, let me know. The clock is officially ticking on the training!

Andrew put the ski racks on my car, so we are ready for Okemo this Saturday! Who's joining us?

I believe in yesterday...

I don't remember how I started thinking about this, but I was thinking about a boy who went to school with me all through grammar school. By the end of eighth grade he was such a deliquent, it wouldn't surprise me if he has been in jail a few times by now. He really was just a rotten kid.

Anyway, this particular boy had to have some learning disabilities. I refuse to believe he was that slow without there being some kind of underlying cause. But either it wasn't diagnosed, or diagnosed too late, or his parents didn't put the effort in, or he didn't put the effort in, because he could barely read aloud when we were in eighth grade. Maybe that contributed to him being such a rotten, mean, coniving little punk. Maybe he was just destined to be an arse. Who knows.

But I know that he wasn't always that way. Because in 2nd grade, we were desk partners. Well, we each had our own desk, but they were pushed up against each other in pairs of twos. And you would trade homework with your partner and we would correct them in class (such a terrible way to do things, your classmates shouldn't correct your work! But I suppose they figured we would just change our own answers). And I remember how he would proudly pass his paper to me and tell me that he knew it was all right because his babysitter had checked it for him and he just knew he was going to get 100%. And he'd be right. Either his babysitter did it for him, or she really did help him, but he seemed to acutally know what he was talking about on those days. For some reason, even at the age of 7, that would make me sad. Because as early as second grade, he was showing signs of being a bad kid, and I knew he could be better. When we would be reading and he'd quietly ask me how to pronounce a certain word, or what another word meant, I knew that he actually cared. I'd help him with lots of different stuff - maybe that is why we were desk partners, maybe that was by design. Maybe if someone could have reached him earlier, maybe if he had different friends, maybe if he never went to Sacred Heart, things could have been different. Sometimes there are too many maybe's in life.

But soon enough we switched seats and I was someone else's desk partner and we probably never talked again. He and I went down very different paths, or as different as you can get in a grade with 5o people broken up into 2 classes. I haven't seen him since 1995, and I can't really say I minded that. I don't miss the punk little 14 year old pain in the neck, but I do feel sad for the little boy who was my desk partner. I know I was only 7 and it wasn't my job, but I wish I had been able to help him a little more.

you have to crawl before you can walk

or in my case, buy new running sneakers before you start C25K.

It all starts Sunday, ladies and gentlemen. The first week of my nine week adventure. I haven't had a decent pair of running sneakers since I ran track in high school (okay, so I actually did shotput, I never ran more than a mile or two). Everyone knows you have to have a good pair of running sneakers to keep your feet nice and comfy - plus, who am I to not buy shoes when the option presents itself?

So hopefully these last me a little while. I know I'll need another pair before August 10th (is it me, or is that early?) but I'm hoping I can get by with just two pairs.

That is the course. As you can see it's right on the water for a good portion of the course. It's a pretty 7 mile stretch, I just hope I able to see all 7 miles in one sitting! (and not in a car!)

So as of Sunday, I'm officially in training. Yeah, most people probably don't need 7.5 months to train for a 7 mile run, but I am not most people. I'm better.

famous

So apparently people read these blogs. Today, Andrew found out that his recent post had been picked up by these fine people. The "sad botherhood of commuters" has a quote from his post. Universal hub looks for bloggers in the Boston area and links to the better posts. So Andrew is now half famous with the people who read that blog.

The actual post is pretty witty, you should check it out.

Kermie the Frog here, with another Late Breaking News Story!

Okay folks, you heard it here first. This is something I've been thinking about and going back and forth on for a few weeks now. But it's decided and now I can't take it back. Unless I delete this post and feign deafness if you bring it up in my presence. But assuming that is not going to happen - you've heard it here first.

I am going to run the Falmouth Road Race this year.

I know what you're thinking. "that chubby girl thinks she can run 7 miles? In a row?" Well, no, I can't. But I have bout 7.5 months to get ready for it. I would like to think (hope?) that I am not in such poor shape that I can't get my act together in 7.5 months.

I started today at the gym. I can work out on the elliptical until the cows come home, but that doesn't translate into running/walking. I still can't run or really walk in a brisk pace. So I hopped on the new and improved treadmills and starting walking. A half hour later I was finishing my second mile. Ouch. At least I wasn't jogging, this was a solid walk. Next week I'm going to start the Couch to 5K program (C25K program) which will have me running 3 miles by mid mayish. Then I can start expanding the mileage until I can do the road race.

And if worse comes to worse and I have to walk the last couple of miles, I'll just stop at the yacht club and hang out on the beach until someone comes to get me.

I'll post about my so called training over the next 7 months, so feel free to comment if you have suggestions for me.

Warning: Variable Terrian!

ow. Every muscle in my body aches, which should not be the case afer skiing Gunstock. But as we skied down two trails marked variable terrain (one of which we had no business being on, one of which, in the words of our chairlift partner LaToya, we "completely dominated) we used muscles that I didn't even know I had. It was quite the workout, but damn, I'm in pain.



Since we were exausted and achey, we stayed in last night when we got home from skiing and alternated between the football game and the debates. I'm not a fan of political debates. I don't like how they just sit there and argue with each other. I don't mind when they go on about their platforms, but when all hell breaks loose because they are all trying talk over each other, they start to lose me. I don't care how well you can spin someone else's words. In my opinion Mitt Romney didn't do that well. He had a hard time coming up with points on the fly and he looked kind of edgy. Obama (I promise I know the difference between the Governor from MA and the Congressman from IL) didn't look that good either, he went on the defensive too may times. Honestly, I thought Ron Paul did the best job for the Republicans and Bill Richardson for the democrats. I wonder if that is because those two know they really don't have a chance of winning so instead of trying to bicker back and forth and look better than the front runners, they actually said what they thought and got their ideas out there. Bill Richardson was the only one to basically say "yeah, we need to pull out of Iraq. But I'm not going to promise it will happen in x amount of days, because it won't. If it does, it will cause more problems. I will send the troops home, but I won't put a definate timetable on it". I'm sure that's not what people want to hear, they want to hear what Clinton was sayng (she'll start withdrawal after 60 days) or John Edwards (they'll be home in a year). Bill Richardson was just like "yeah, they'll be home in the next 4 years". His plan might not get him elected, but at least he isn't making promises that he can't even keep.

I have to admit, I was more excited to see the random shots of Saint A's. I love when my school is on national television! Seeing as we don't have a nationally recognized football program, that doesn't happen to often. At one point they showed Professor Kuehne (is he even a professor anymore?) and I was all "OMG I KNOW HIM!!!" Despite the fact I think he taught for 1 of the 4 years I was there because of sabbaticals and the New Hampshire Institute of Politics being built. There were various monks in the audience, but I don't know any of them (despite people being like 'of course you know father xxxx' and staring at me like I have two heads, I don't know who any of those monks are. I wouldn't know who Father Mathias was if he walked up to me and had a sign that said "Hi, My Name is Father Mathias". I would recognize Father Jonathon and Brother Andrew, because Brother Andrew gave the best Humanities lectures, but now I completely digress). And when ABC shows the outside of Alumni, I was all "HEY IT'S ALUMNI!!!!" like it was some strange turn of events that a debate being shown at the Dana Center would pan to Alumni. So yay for Saint A's!

chilly

My god, that was a cold adventure. The part when we were skiing wasn't too bad because we were so bundled up. It was the walk to the car and to the lodge and back to the car and back to my house. I really thought I was going to cry when I finally got back into my car when we were leaving! It was 3 degrees when we got there and about 9 when we left. That's bone chilling.

It was a fun time out on the slopes though, and both Michelle and I had some really good runs.

You can see it's not a huge mountain, it's actually pretty small, but it's big enough. Andrew and I are planning to hit up Gunstock on Saturday when it's supposed to be about 40 degrees warmer than today!

Mountains of fun, minutes away!

I'm skiing tomorrow! Michelle and I are going to try to brave the bitter cold and head over to Wachusett. It does seem kind of silly to skip NH since all the mountains there just keep getting pounded by snow, but it's just too cold to drive 2 hours north. The windchill up there is supposed to be negative 15. I love to ski, but I can't handle that kind of cold. So over to Princeton, MA we go. I'm ridiculously excited. As Andrew says, I start thinking about skiing in August and I mourn the ending from April to July. I can't wait to get back on the slopes! (ha, please don't make the mistake of thinking that my love for the mountain and skiing means I'm a good skiier. Oh no. I'm mediocre at best)

Did you know that Wachusett Mountain is a monadnock mountain? Did you know that monadnock is an "Indian" name for 'mountain that stands alone"? Would I make that up? I like how they say it's an "Indian" name. First of all, who says "Indian" anymore? Well, I do, but who says it that needs to be wary of offending all the PC people in the world? And could "Indian" be more vague? There are over 554 American Indian tribes recognized by the government. Most of them had their own language or dialect. So, pray tell, which tribe called mountains that stand alone "monadnocks?" Hmmm??