Almost OK

Healthwise, almost OK. Baseball? Doing well!! 

Had a decent day at school. I finally don't feel like trash. Throat is okay unless I talk a lot or have to raise my voice too much. Which I didn't too very much. Still very little energy though. Oh well, two whole days to sleep :) Though I'm hoping to go for a run tomorrow. Or at least exercise. And give Slugger a good walk!

Back and forth, aggravating baseball. Benches cleared. Altuve hits a go-ahead HR top of the 9th. Pressley had a 2 inning "save"/win. It was amazing! Lead the series 3-2 and going home. Gotsta win one at home... People need to stop comparing it to 2019 WS. Please no. 

Gonna finish my book toboight. I've had to restrict myself to one chapter each night the last couple nights cuz of early alarms. Not tonight! But really, I don't have but about 40-50 pages left. Kinda sad to be saying goodbye to these characters and worlds. Guess that's what makes a good book!

Goodnight Blog!

Sick

 I say this all the time but I really should write more. Not that I have a lot to write about or that anyone reads this. But still. It'd be good for me. 

I'm sitting here watching my Astros play in the ALCS again. For the 7th year in a row. Honestly, I didn't know if we'd get this far. But here we are. Playing against the Rangers. I really don't like them. 

I've been home sick all week. Last week was Fall Break and ended with the Kodiak Ultramarathons. I'm blaming lack of sleep and being outside in 28* at the start of the 100 mile and the 100k. It's been a while since I've really been sick, other than Covid last Christmas. And boy was I sick! A horrid sore throat and just a general need to sleep. I happened to have a doctor's appointment today but would have taken today too. So 3 days off sick - that's a LOT for me! I finally feel better after a long day (not really but felt like it) down the hill where it was 95+*!! I sweated the sick out :) I am still not good but I'll go back to work tomorrow. Only have to get through 2 days, right?!

On another note, I am reading a great trilogy by Nora Roberts. Dragon something. I'm almost done with book 3. I haven't hardly done anything but read, even before I was sick. Like all day for days! It feels good. It's been a long time. I'm not even sure the books are any good, but they're exactly what I needed right now. I've been in a slump. Haven't found anything that caught my attention. Or that I liked. Until this. Already thinking about what to read next cuz it needs to be something very different! Like a non-fiction. I think this one will stick with me for a bit. 

Okay, the boys are still winning. I need to continue getting ready for bed. Cuz I should be IN bed already. Hopefully I'll sleep well. 

Running

I've always wanted to be a runner. My dad was a runner. He still is, just slower and not as far. Actually he's really more of a cyclist these days. Anyway, I grew up going to foot races with dad. Ultramarathons mostly- any distance over 26.2 miles.

I did a little running in high school. I think it was an escape. I put on my walkman and went into the woods. I enjoyed it, though my memories are of the songs (Tiffany!!) and woods, not the physical feeling of running.

 For years, I haven't run. I don't like to run. I hike. I bike. Running isn't my thing. Of course, I haven't actually gone out for a run in years and years. I'm currently reading Eat & Run by Scott Jurek. Scott won the Western States 100 ultramarathon 7 years in a row. He's also vegan. It's a good book, told in a fun and funny narative about his becoming a runner, and the metamorphosis of his diet. It's also fun because I'm familiar with the most of the races he's talking about - I've been to the aid stations he refers to and such!! He's really making me want to be a runner. He even has some advice about the physical act of running. I think a lot of the training and food stuff could apply to cycling or hiking. But he makes me want to go for a run...

And so... I'm going for a run. Someday. Soon. (I'm waiting to talk to my doc about it - not just putting it off!!)

Stick it out?

Ever start reading a book and decide its not very good a few chapters in? But then you keep reading to see if it gets any better? But it doesn't really? So I'm there right now. But my problem is that I've gotten far enough that I kinda want to know what happens. But its not very good and I'd like to move on... how long will I wonder?? I guess if I can't get it out of my head later, I can check it out again....
Oh, the dilemmas of life.

simple...

For the first time in a very long time, I can say, "I read a book today." start to finish. Not an epic 1000 page saga or anything. just a nice Christian novel. And without staying up all night to finish it too :)

Here's the situation... as of tomorrow, my home internet is going away. I can do almost everything I need to do on my cell phone (my only phone!). I thought about watching some TV on hulu.com all afternoon, because I can still, until tomorrow. But I've watched everything I wanted to watch, all the season finales and such. I had gotten a new book at the library (a week ago actually) after seeing some new titles while killing time at WalMart. Never realized they had such a large Christian novel selection!

Anyway, this book was about a young lady who ends up living with an Amish family, and taking on their ways for a while. And she likes it. So, all afternoon, as I am reading and thinking, shouldn't I be online one last time, I'm also thinking, man, there's nothing wrong with the simple life! Not the AMish lifestyle is simple, they work their butts off, but simple in there are fewer distractions and such.

So, I've decided that turning off my internet is going to be a GREAT thing and I will embrace the time to read, talk (and listen!!) to God, and hopefully continue to figure out who God wants me to be, and to be that person!!

(the book was Hidden by Shelley Shepard Gray - it's the first in a series I think)

Baking Revelation

I vaguely remember various family members complaining or lamenting about baking and how long it took, or something. How hard it was?

I just put a spice cake into my new bundt pan (yay garage sales!!). Spent maybe 10 minutes mixing stuff. Now it'll bake while I do something else. Not too tough.

The only thing I can think of to complain about is that it's already hot and then I had to turn on the oven... but so?! The cake will be yummy and that's worth a little sweat!!

Also, I suppose, if I were baking and cooking every day for a family of 12, I'd probably find other things to lament.

Good thing it's just me and G!!! (and the ladies who might get some at book club tonight)

Ah...summer reading!

It has been a long time since I've been able to say this and it made me so happy I almost posted in the middle of the night... I read a book last night :) Well, actually it was night before last. It was a simple Christian romance with a great plot and moral. Made me think. How many Harlequin's make you think about your relationship with God?! Fabulousness!!

I love to read!!!

(the book was #1 in Debra Clopton's Mule Hollow Matchmaker series)

Danielle Steel

I read every book Danielle Steel wrote, until about 5 years ago when I realized they were all the same. There is a definite pattern to each of them. It got boring and predictable.

Lately, I've bee reading a lot of non-fiction - health, memoirs, etc. Some very good stuff.

I felt the need to read something fiction and well, mindless. So I found a Danielle Steel book on my shelf that I'd gotten free somewhere and never read - "Coming Out".

Sure enough, it's mindless, predictable, and just really bad writing!! But yet it's sucked me in and I just have to know how it ends. Guess that's how she keeps selling books.

More from "Food Nation"

From the chapter "Why Fries Taste So Good"...

"You'll find 'natural flavor' or 'artificial flavor' in just about every list of ingredients. The similarities between these two broad categories of flavor are far more significant than their differences...A natural flavor is not necessarily healthier or purer than an artifical one. When almond flavor (benzaldehyde) is derived from natural sources, such as peach and apricot pits, it contains traces of hydrogen cyanide, a deadly poison. Benzaldehyde derived through a different process - by mixing oil of clove and the banana flavor, amyl acetate - does not contain any cyanide. Nevertheless, it is legally considered an artificial flavor and sells at a much lower price.  Natural and artificial flavors are now manufactured at the same chemical plants, places that few people would associate with Mother Nature. Calling any of these flavors 'natural' requires a flexible attitude toward the English language and a fair amount of irony."

Wowsers! This could truly spur me into that garden i've been talking about for years!! In any case, it will make my trip to the grocery today a little different - less processed!!

School Advertisement

I'm reading "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser. Really, I'm skimming it. I checked it out and renewed it twice already and it is now overdue. I am on page 57. I am only that far because I've been skimming for the last 20 minutes or so. I really did want to read it once I started, I just started too late.

I'm reading all about how Burger King started advertising in schools in Colorado in the mid-90's. I skimmed and read for several pages and it even brought up Channel One, which is watched in some local middle schools (that I know of!). It is a daily video with news segments and commercials geared toward kids. It's made by someone somewhere and offered nationally, apparently. I've seen a couple segments. The kids ignore it and do homework, which is actually a good thing.

ANYWAY... as I'm reading about these things, and the Top 40 radio that is played in cafeteria's and all those posters in hallways and such, I suddenly got irked. QUITE IRKED!

So, our schools can get money from advertisement about fast food, zit cream, shoes, who knows what else, but we can't pray? Schools can be as commercial as they care to be (sports team being sponsered even!) but they can't in anyway be religious. It's wrong. Just wrong. If a student has the freedom to read a poster advertising Coke over Pepsi, AND MAKE THEIR OWN DECISION, shouldn't they have the freedom to be informed and MAKE THEIR OWN DECISION about their spiritual life?!?!?!

So many questions (loudly) running through my head... how did we get here? who do we blame? how can we "fix" it? What is God's plan for ME in this capacity?!?!?