Turning On The Heat

It has been getting down into the low 40's outside at night and has stayed around 60 outside during the day. So we broke down & turned on the heat yesterday. I wanted to get some of that plastic insulation on the windows first (we had some from last year), but we couldn't find it. I didn't want to buy more because it's expensive, and I figured as soon as we bought more, we'd find the old stuff. I'm still not sure what to do with the door to the porch. I don't really want to seal it off completely because I like going out there, even in the cold.

I'm one of those cold people. I can put on 3 sweaters, and I'm still cold. My fingers freeze easily and then I can't use them. We also have a 1 year old who refuses to sleep with a blanket on (we try putting it on after he's sleeping, and he kicks it off, sometimes waking himself up in frustration). So in our budget, we make sure to budget well for heat.

I decided to pull out the heavy sweaters & turtlenecks this morning, and guess what I found in the basement? The window insulation! So we'll have to install that tonight during our 2 weekly TV shows, Prison Break and the Sarah Connor Chronicles, that is - if I can locate the hair dryer (which is required for installation).

Sidenote: I enjoyed this post over at Unclutterer about whether or not you should keep your yearbooks. I have 3 small yearbooks, which Roy once told me I should get rid of. I balked at the very suggestion! When I was a kid, I loved looking through my parent's yearbooks. Of course, they were cool, and I was a loser, so maybe my kids won't enjoy it as much. But still, I'm keeping those things!

Refreshed!

(Blogspot somehow posted an empty post, so you may see this post before it's complete. I have to keep going back and editing the original, empty post!)

I feel especially refreshed today. I'm not sure why. This is day 7 without decaffeinated or caffeinated beverages; I'm only drinking beverages that are naturally caffeine free. This seems to help with the headaches. I got a lot of cleaning done around the house in anticipation of having visitors tonight. It ends up one of them is sick, so they won't be coming. Since we already booked a babysitter, Roy & I are going out for tea or something similar. And one floor of the house looks great! I even vacuumed the stairwells (which are carpeted in dark blue and are a magnet for our buff & tan cocker spaniel's hair!). The other floor? Well, it still needs a lot of work, but we're getting there.

It's amazing how quickly fall has arrived. The air is crisp, and the leaves are starting to fall from the trees already.

Yesterday, I babysat for a friend who has 2 girls, ages 4.5 months and just over 3 years. Bear was there as well. We lasted the entire 75 minutes! That is a serious feat, seeing as the youngest one likes to be held all the time. Before the babysitting event, I had a buying club pickup. I bought a big vat of Nutiva Coconut Oil, among other fun & healthy things. Coconut oil generally gets a bad rap, but it's actually quite good for you:

Coconut oil is 64% medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), which burn as energy quickly rather storing in the body as fat (especially belly fat) like the long-chains. MCFAs are quite rare in foods and have massive positive implications for your health, although the processed vegetable oil industry tried to malign the tropical oils years ago and many consumers have no idea what great nutrition they are missing out on. Coconut oil is anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-parasite, and anti-fungal.

You can read more over at Green Smoothie Girl's Coconut Oil page; that above quote is from her. The most awesome thing is that it's finally cool enough that my coconut oil remains solid at room temperature (it's liquid above 76 degrees). So I spread it on my toast (and on Bear's toast, too) this morning as if it were butter!

Life is truly good.

Running & Weather

Yesterday, I did a long Bear-free run in the morning. When I left the house in my t-shirt & shorts, it was 47 degrees! It took me all day to warm up. The run felt really good & relatively easy, even though I hadn't been running in 8 days.

This morning, it's only 43 degrees out! It's 68 degrees in the upstairs & only 63 degrees downstairs. I'm traumatized by the fact that we may have to turn on the heat, and it's not even October yet!

Blogging Slacker!

My week has been so busy that I've been a blogging slacker!

Notice that we're over 50% of the way to our fundraising goal!

I did my long run on Tuesday (5.5 miles). I have to admit; I ran slowly, but it still kicked my butt! And I did my long walk yesterday. So tomorrow or Saturday, hopefully, I'll do my short run. Then next week is Race Week!

I'm cutting caffeine out of my diet in an effort to be more healthy. I'm still drinking decaf Americanos (or Americani?), but I may cut those out as well. I've been fighting a lot of fatigue, so I'm trying to narrow down the reasons. It may simply come down to the fact that I haven't gotten a full night of sleep in over a year. I'm lucky if I get 6-7 hours of sleep, and that's never uninterrupted sleep. The joys of having a child!

I also have to say I love that the feeling of fall is in the air. Often when I run or walk, the weather is in the low 70's with a cool breeze. I just love it! Of course, that means winter is coming, which I don't love. I don't mind winter, but no one fully clears their sidewalks around here. That means no running, much less walking. I don't know how we're going to swing it! The local community center has a walking track, as well as treadmills, so I might join. Of course, the jogging stroller can't go on the treadmill & there's no running allowed on the walking track. I'll have to keep brainstorming....

Blogs, Weather & Produce

Do you ever click on the "Next Blog" feature at the top of Blogspot blogs? I did for the 1st time today, and the first 3 or 4 blogs that came up were not in English :) I wonder if that's an accurate sampling of what is out there on Blogspot.

The weather here has been awful - rainy, thunderstorms, etc., which is not conducive to exercise. In fact, it's supposed to rain Thursday & Friday. I did go for a run yesterday, probably about 3 miles, and a long walk today with Noodles & Bear, which was probably about 4.5-5 miles. Usually Noodles puckers out after 2-3 miles, but he kept going strong the whole time. I probably helped that he kept finding wet places to rub in, and I brought along some water for him.

I'm also getting back into the green smoothie habit after only having 3 or 4 last week. I even subjected my mother to some :) She actually seemed to like it! After we picked up my mom at the train on Saturday, we headed over to Haymarket, where they have a huge fruit & veggie open-air market on Fridays & Saturdays. None of it is organic, unfortunately, but is it ever cheap! Most of it is quite ripe, so you need to either freeze it or use it quickly. I stocked up on bananas (4 pounds for $1!) for making smoothies & ice cream, as well as sweet potatoes for Bear, lettuce (green leaf & romaine), apples, peaches, raspberries, blueberries & strawberries. We even splurged & got some of those yellow cherries at $1.50 a pound. Altogether, I only spent $17.50! I wish it were closer to home, as I'd go more often.

I've been quite cold lately. The temperature has been hovering in the low 70's, and my body doesn't know what to do with that. Right now, it's 75, and I'm wearing a hooded sweatshirt. My fingers are freezing & I'd make a cup of tea if Bear & I weren't upstairs.

Brrrrrr......isn't it supposed to be summer?