charlatan psychic

I'm older now. 33. That's not very old. I'm really ok with my age. Since my last post, I discovered my toe is not broken, just badly bruised. I let it rest for 48 hours, then ran again and did just fine. The new shoes are also doing great. I wear them whenever I run on the road or for longer than a loop around the track. I still have my vivo trail shoes and I love them, but I'm careful to not run too far in them or on the road. I'm a little behind on my marathon training. Oops! But I did run 15.7 miles last weekend. And I'll see how far I can go this weekend. Weight loss has been a no go. I found my resting metabolic rate, I changed the way I was eating, and then I stopped tracking. I put 10 pounds back on and haven't gotten it back off. J and I have talked about it a bit, my sister and I talked about it, and this morning I just made up my mind. I have a bottle and a half of the amp'd up that I took to lose this 10 pounds, so I'm trying it a...

It's a quiet day in my house today. The TV is on, the cat is curled up on a newspaper article (sent from my MIL), and the dog is napping on the floor. I am sitting with my foot propped up on my giant stuffed white reindeer (Whitey) with an ice pack. What? Why am I doing this? What did I do? I did something stupid. This morning the pup and I went for a run. It was a good run. We stopped at the dog park as always. I sometimes tip the cement water bowls up on their edge and clean out all the debris that builds up in them.  I did that this morning, but instead of gently lowering it down, I let it fall. And it fell. ON. MY. TOE. The corner of the square cement bowl hit the big toe of my right foot. My first thought was that I had broken it. I went ahead and filled the water bowl so Remy could get a drink, then we went home. I limped the whole way. It was pretty damn painful. I put ice on it right away and called mom, like a good kid. I was able to shower and get dressed, ...

Originally I was supposed to get this Stitch Fix on Wednesday. Then shipping was moving slow and it said Saturday. Doorbell rang today. Guess what? Stitch Fix! J didn't seem to understand my excitement, but then again, I was having a girly moment. It came as we were getting ready to go get some lunch, so I waited until we came home to open it. I don't have all the pretty pictures this time, but I do have pics of the items. Right on top was a green sweater from Oxmo. I grabbed it and said it was so me! J even started joking that I had pulled it out of the closet, not the box. They were spot on with this one. It's green and see through, perfect for layering. Wrapped with the sweater was a pair of skinny jeans from Kut From The Kloth. I wasn't sure about them, since I am often hit or miss with jeans, but they fit perfect and were very comfy. They have a good amount of stretch and are soft and comfy.  I actually wanted some dark skinnies!  The next bundle ha...

About my head, that is. I saw the wonderful Dr. Cobo on Friday. She looked at my migraine journal, agreed that I was still having too much pain, and went into action. I'm trying a new drug, Fioricet , but she said this is the last of the standard drugs to try. So she is also setting up some referrals for me. I had an MRI done back in, oh, 2004 I think, with no results. They actually said my brain was normal. My migraines have changed quite a bit since then, so she figured it's time for another one. Also, I have a referral for a Neurologist. And Optometry, mostly because it's been so long since I've had a full eye exam. Now, being on TRICARE, I get to wait for them to contact me about the referrals, which sucks. But, I don't have to pay for it, so I'm not complaining too much. I haven't had to use the fioricet yet, so I don't know if I get any of the side effects. I'll update more as I get the referral appointments done. I also talked to her ab...

Ok, so it's been a month since I posted. It's been a busy month. J has been crazy with work. I have just been crazy, but that's nothing new. So, updates: Weight: sucks. I'm back up to 155. But I also haven't been tracking calories. I've adjusted myfitnesspal to 1500 calories. I will log calories burned as well and remember to maintain a deficit on days I workout. 1500 is my minimum for rest days. We'll see how that goes before talking to the girls at the Wellness Center about it. Fitness: Ran a half marathon yesterday in 2 hours 26 minutes. Not my greatest, not my slowest. I really felt like I could go faster for most of the race, but I was watching my heart rate and trying to not get it too high. J had the same issue with heart rate - going at the speed that felt right pushed the heart rate up "too high." Marathon training is going well. I had one week that set me back, thanks to a weather migraine and some super craziness with Rear D Lif...

I signed up to try Stitch Fix . It's a fashion website. It reminds me of True&Co but with clothes instead of bras. You fill out a style profile, and then a stylist picks out 5 items for you. You get to try them on at home and keep only what you want. I got my box today. It was just the cure for my almost-panic-attack after touching a worm thing that I had thought was an apple stem. It still gives me shivers. Moving on. I opened el pretty box. (be patient with my spanglish) I marveled at the pretty insides and unwrapped the tissue paper. I was so excited I forgot to snap another pic until I had untied the belt that was holding the bundle together. I took out the pieces and decided the only way to get pics was to put them on hangars. I got 5 tops in my first fix, but I'd kinda asked for that. I'm not big on accessories and I have lots of jeans. The tops: black and blue striped cardigan dark red henley style top gray blouse with a lit...

I'm on Week 4 of my 18 week marathon plan. This time, like the last time I used a training program, I'm adapting it to fit my schedule. Last week, I woke up on Wednesday after not sleeping all that well and did NOT want to run. So I did yoga instead. I pushed my 4 mile run to Thursday and my second 3 miler to Friday. Over the weekend we went biking up in Cloudcroft, NM (which is a story all on it's own) and I did my 5 mile run. Yesterday, I took Remy to the dog park. That was about it. I hadn't slept well and was tired all day. But a decent sleep last night made it better and Rem and I had a great run this morning. I'm pushing my next 2 runs back a day each again this week, because tomorrow is a bike ride with the Brigade Commander. It's a fun group to ride with, and biking is great cross training. I think it's going well. We have a long weekend coming up, and I have a 9 mile run scheduled. I have to make J come with me, or he won't be up to the mar...

J and I did the Iron Soldier Sprint Tri again this year. You might remember that last year was our first ever tri . We missed out on the spring tri (and tons of ever things) because we made a trip to KS to visit J's family. No regrets, and hey, we ran a half marathon that weekend. So, Saturday, September 28, we got up early to make smoothies and load up. We had packed most everything the night before, so there wasn't much to get done in the morning. Which is good because I'm still not much of a morning person. We parked and headed to set up in the transition area. The tri was at the new aquatic center this year, so a different area for us. And it was cold. Like, I should have put on warm-up pants cold. We went back to the Jeep to eat our smoothies while the sun came up and started to warm things up. There were many more people doing the tri this year, so I was number 216. The pool didn't seem as bunched up as last year either, maybe some people learned their l...

J and I did our testing at the Army Wellness Center. It is a 3 part test series, and not everyone does all of them. First, we did the Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) and Body Comp tests first. RMR is how many calories your body would burn in a 24 hour period of you laying still. So, if I were in a coma, I would burn 1472 calories in a 24 hour period. I laid still on a bed with a breathing mask on for 16 minutes and a machine monitored my breathing and some other stuff. I don't understand it all. This isn't so startling until you consider that most diet plans recommend around 1200 calories per day. Well sure, that would work for me, and did back when I was out of shape and (likely) had a slower metabolism. But now, I workout regularly; I run 3.5 miles on an easy day; I spend 4 hour on my bike in one ride; My metabolism is higher than their recommended intake. SO, if I were to sit on my but all day and eat 1200 calories a day, I would lose weight. Lazy person's dream! But...

Today was the Oryx Challenge. Yesterday was Yom Kippur. Today was also my first day back on birth control after the week off. I have learned to never have this combination again. J and I signed up for the Oryx a while back, knowing that it was the day after Yom Kippur. I didn't realize it would be the day after my girly week, but thought I would be fine. We rode 62 miles last week to prepare for it and my riding has greatly improved lately. Today sucked. I was doing OK for the first, oh, 20 miles or so. It's a very slow climb to the turn-around, and once we really started climbing, I bonked. I fell back behind the group and just kept pedaling away. By this time, J had fallen back with another rider from our group who was having some shoulder issues. Joe, the group leader, came back to pull me up the hill, but just keeping in his draft had me feeling like I was going to puke. I have never had that feeling on a bike ride before. I did not puke, but I did let him ...

I haven't blogged in 4 weeks. Oops. I had my follow-up with the new Doc today. Still loving her. The blood work she did was all satisfactory, so we're going to continue with the medicine she gave me last time and hope to see continued improvement. Because, yes, I did see improvement. I'm not napping as much. I'm not feeling constantly overwhelmed by little things. I think my road rage is even improving. A little. Maybe. However, she didn't like how often I was having head pain. So we've added a new drug, called Elavil. I'll take it at night since it should make me sleepy. Like I might not wake up to roll over at night, but just sleep through. So we'll follow up again in 3 months, which would be December. In other boring news, I have been cycling a lot more lately. I really love Honey and have fun riding her.  I actually did my longest ride on Sunday with J. We did a full 100 Kilometers (62 miles). Of course that had a stop halfway at the Bean in...

Today was my first visit with my new doctor. I like her.  She listened to my concerns, asked questions to get more detailed information, and is working with me to find a cause and solution. She did NOT pass me off as a paranoid hypochondriac, which is how the last doctor made me feel. So, I had 4 vials of blood drawn to do a bunch of tests, but she also gave me a little quiz. My results say that I'm overly anxious. She wants me to try a medication to increase my serotonin production. If that's really the problem, it would definitely explain my mood swings and anxiety, but can also cause the fatigue and some other physical problems.  The medication takes 3 weeks to really work, so my follow up appointment is in 4 weeks. We will discuss the blood work results, how the medication makes me feel, and also go over the headache journal I'll be keeping. OH yeah, low serotonin can also be causing headaches. Yeah.  I feel good. I feel like I'm finally being listen...

***warning to my friends with deployed husbands - I'm gonna get mushy about mine. I have been married for 8 years. Today is my 8 year anniversary. It's crazy. It doesn't feel like it's been that long. aw, so sweet So where were we 8 years ago? I was still at my insurance education editor job. J was a substitute teacher, and I don't remember if he was still at the gas station or not. I think I'd made him quit by then. That job made him angry. Anywho, we lived in a small 2 bedroom apartment. We somehow managed to pick what would be the hottest day of the year to get married on. Family and friends came to Kansas to celebrate with us. It was pretty damn cool. We were married July 23, then J left for Basic Training on August 19. I adopted Duke on August 24. That was the start of our family. Then I look at us now. I used to have plans to add some color accents to my simple wedding dress and wear it as a formal for military balls. NOPE! I lost weight a...

Just thought of this. And. OMG! Two blog posts in 1 day!! Anywho. Today is the first day this week that I haven't had a headache (if the week starts on Monday). I started having some constant, non-OTC-responding pain Monday evening. I took tramadol (my prescription pain killer) and went to bed. Tuesday and Wednesday both, I woke up with pain or pain soon after. More tramadol. Yesterday, Thursday, was the first day with just OTC pain killers. Today was the first drug-free day (minus daily meds). What triggered this? The weather. I've noticed that humid weather fronts moving into our area are triggering headaches/migraines for me. I don't remember having this problem in KS, where it was always at least somewhat humid and I didn't have the dry skin and eczema problems. I think, having lived here for 4 years, the body is used to our dry, drought climate. I am no longer tolerant of humidity, as much as I may miss it. When a humid front moves in, I get arthrit...

It started with my lack of motivation to exercise. No excuses, I felt lazy. Then I get a text from my husband that he was hit by a car on his bike ride. He's OK, but a little beat up. He even finished the ride before coming home. I helped him clean up, bandage up, and get ready for work. I went to my Friday morning craft group to get something embroidered for a project I'm working on, and the embroidery machine somehow caught the threads it had already sewn. No going back. I might have to try appliqué, as much as I hate that stuff. I took J lunch. A high point. Remy got dropped at the groomers. Then, I sold my old Trek road bike, Rhoda. I didn't tell the new owner about her name, since he's a Master Sergeant in the Army. It didn't seem to fit him. But he's new at road biking, had a friend that's into it helping him pick the bike, and eager to ride. I think Rhoda is in good hands and will get the miles she deserves. Then I picked up Rem and he di...

I've been working on a quest to get healthy for a while now. Y'all know that. Today I made another step that has my nerves up, so I'm blogging to give myself confidence. I made a doctor's appointment to talk to him about my thyroid. Yes, I did this once before, but all he did was run a test. My results were on the lower end of normal, but in the normal range. So I figured I was good. That was almost a year ago, and since then I've done some random internet research and reading. I've seen multiple site/groups that say the one common test isn't always enough for a real diagnosis. The more I read, the more I think I am a likely candidate for hypothyroidism. Want to know more? Here's what the Mayo Clinic says. Now, I've had some issues with my doctor. My last appointment, he didn't even realize I'd been to see him previously. My files were right there on the computer in front of him. He also didn't seem to care that I'd started t...

I meant to write this a few days ago but kept getting distracted. I need an excuse to sit still for a bit, so here's my blog post. This past Sunday, J wanted to take me for a long bike ride. He was sure I could do it, but I was nervous. The plan was to head over to Johnny Lolita's , ride from there up to The Bean in Old Mesilla, then back. Of course, you don't stop at a coffee shop like The Bean without getting something, so we had coffees and scones. And you don't stop at Johnny Lolita's without something, either, so iced coffees completed the ride. So what? What's the big deal? It's 25 miles between coffee shops. TWENTY-FIVE MILES. TWICE. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I rode 50 miles. This is the longest bike ride I have ever done. And I wasn't completely destroyed at the end! Although my knees were sore later that day and the following day. Just means I gotta do this stuff more often. Especially if I want to do 60 miles in September. Mi...

When I get sick, I really get sick. Especially if it's anything to do with my sinuses. I thought I was getting a cold last week, but by Friday I was having a horrible cough, no voice, and gunk in my eye. I ended up going to the Quick Care Clinic on Saturday morning. That means it was bad. I don't like seeing doctors. The PA I saw was awesome. She listened to all my symptoms, listened to my breathing (and coughing), and it all was quick and painless. She said there weren't any signs of infection, i.e. sinus infection, but it was probably a viral upper respiratory infection. So I got a breathing treatment, then picked up an inhaler of the same stuff and some decongestant. And headed home. The inhaler made the cough worse at first, but it started get better rather quickly. The gunk was moving through and not making me lose my voice. By Sunday I felt good enough to take the dog for a walk. We even tried a very slow run for a block and a half, but that left me winded and ...

So, one thing we figured out on our vacation to Colorado is that I would fit better on a women's specific bike. We looked around a little while on vacation but didn't see anything for me. J is also looking for a new bike, but had something more specific in mind. I was just looking to see what was out there. Before we left on our trip, we had seen a nice looking Felt bike at one of our local bike shops. Once we got back from vacation, we headed back to that same shop, hoping to get more info on a bike for J. The bike I had seen before was still there. It wasn't like anything I could find online, even on the Felt website. So I asked about it. Turns out it's a 2011 model that just never sold. Felt doesn't even make the ZW6 anymore. World, meet Honey. Honey, meet the world. I've been on 3 rides on her, and so far, I'm in love. The seat is made to fit a woman's butt, and mine doesn't get as sore on rides. The handle bars are set for a more ...

Ok, almost caught up with all my blogging! Time to talk about our summer vacation. J and I spent a week and a half in Durango, CO and the surrounding area. We went there last summer and loved it, but really decided to go back this year when J signed up for the Death Ride Tour . We headed up to Durango on a Monday, checked in to hotel downtown, and headed out for dinner and a walk. Now, if you know either one of us, you know that we love Colorado. We both have family there and we plan to settle down there, someday. We don't know where yet, but somewhere in Colorado will be our home. So of course heading to the mountains around Durango was exciting for us. Also exciting was finally convincing my husband that our vacations don't have to be planned out to the last detail. Some of the details surrounding the Death Ride we couldn't plan, because we didn't know, but the rest of it I left pretty open, too. J needed to ride and acclimate, and I wanted to relax. We managed...

Had to share this little story from today. We live on an Army base. It is not uncommon to hear some Artillery booms from time to time. Nothing super close, nothing real loud, even the airplanes from the nearby airport are louder, but we do hear them. There were some artillery booms this morning while Rembrandt was outside. I don't know what was different about today, but something scared the pup. He desperately pawed at the door to come in, and would only go back outside when I made him come out with me. His tail stayed down between his legs. So I brought him back in, but he could still hear the booms, and was still getting scared. The crazy pup climbed into my lap. Well, first he tried climbing up from under my TV tray, which wasn't about to work, so he finally went around it. He knows he's not allowed on the furniture, but he was all the way up in my lap. All 60 pounds of him. He kept trying to get his whole body curled up in my lap, but he's just too big! I fi...

Since J came home in April and started work right away, his family didn’t get a chance to see him. However, while he was gone, we got word from our old Boy Scout Troop in Kansas that a couple of our scouts had achieved the rank of Eagle. We had brought these boys into the world of Boy Scouts, bridged them over from Cubs. J was their first Scout Leader. We took them on their first Boy Scout campout and all froze our asses off. So of course, when asked to be a part of their Eagle Court of Honor, we couldn’t say no. The timing worked well, since J would be home and get to see his family. It was a fast trip, fly out Friday and fly home Sunday. We squeezed in as much as we could. It just so happened that the Five Trails Half Marathon was happening that same weekend. I couldn't say no.  Friday afternoon, we flew in and got our rental car. We stopped in Weston, Missouri on our way to his folks’ and bought some wine at one of our favorite wineries, Pirtle. Getting in to town,...