Old Man Cruiser

This is my son's cat, Cruiser. We adopted him at the ASPCA when my son was age 4, and Cruiser was a kitten, so that puts Cruiser at around 14+ years old. In cat years, that's quite senior. He has to be one of the smartest cats that's ever lived with us. We used to live on a very busy street and he knew to stay off the street, where other cats in the neighborhood quickly met their demise. When my son is in the garage ripping out some serious guitar chords, Cruiser is right with him. Cruiser is a sweet, shy, easy-going kitty, however Luna kitty "errs" when ever Cruiser walks next to her... Cruiser is a sweetie and always comes out of the wood work when I'm on the Bowflex. I wish he could be my "spotter" because he's always there. ;)

Sunset In The Burbs

In an effort to get in the swing of things with photographic composition (and all of those artsy fartsy terms I needed to know in college) I am trying to be mindful of how I "compose" my photos. This sunset photo was taken on Sunday, January 29, 2006, and the vantage point was my front yard.

Jury Duty & Other Ramblings...

I was summoned to put in time for jury duty and was actually selected as a juror. We, the jurors, listened to 3 days of testimony and were anxious to discuss the case, but the defendant took a plea bargain instead, so we were excused. A few people were just itchy to discuss this case, and we did after we were excused. The judge was actually quite interesting and somewhat on the comical side, which made him seem less intimidating... I'm glad to be finished with jury duty, not because of having to serve on a jury, but because the courthouse is just a few blocks away from a shopping mall. I'm not a big shopper but with 2 hour lunch break I could do some serious damage at the mall by the courthouse, especially since the mall isn't packed with people like it is on the week-ends.

I ordered an Ormon hand-held body fat analyzer through Costco.com last week and it came in today. It's an interesting gadget and I'm actually surprised how well it works.
I also have a Tanita scale that has an option for body fat percentage, but that percentage number seems awfully high and is extremely inconsistent, however the weight seems to coincide with the doctor's office scale. Most people I've asked do like their Ormon, so I hope I end up feeling the same way. So far, this nifty little gadget seems to be a good purchase.

I'm officially on track with marathon training! Woooohoooo! Let the mileage begin! I have about 18 weeks until marathon day!

Luna (another cat)

This little 8 pound female tabby cat goes out of her way to kick the dog's ass. Logan (the dog) is afraid... I've had to rescue Logan and tweeze little kitty "claws" out of her snout.

Logan (the dog)

My dog, Logan, a German Shepherd - Labrador Retriever mix, does not like her picture taken. She always looks away just as I'm about to take the shot... She is my one and only dog and my very first dog ever. Growing up, my parents limited us to hamsters, goldfish and turtles. I've always wanted a dog and cats...

As for her name "Logan," we did not select the name. We adopted her from the SPCA and that was the name she arrived there with, so we just left it as it. My next door neighbor wasn't too thrilled because that's the name of his grandson. Oh well... I do know someone who named their dog "Jessica." We usually don't name our pets with "people" names...

Lumpy

Regrouping

Now it's back to the subject of working out...

I joined in on the "Cookie Cutting Challenge" on Pinkdumbbells.com. I needed something to keep me accountable until I begin marathon training in a few weeks, and this one month challenge seems to be helping. A few things have not gone as planned, such as my weight training workouts, but I was able to improvise and still get in a workout. I have no excuse to not do anything, even if I couldn't get to the gym, use my weights or Bowflex. Old fashioned exercises still work well, if I do enough repetitions.

I am currently building up to marathon training. Last week I ran on 3 separate days for a total of 18+ miles. I need to bring that up to 20 miles. I need to add a mile to a couple of those runs or add an extra day of running, but just run the 2 extra miles. My knees haven't given me any issues yet. I know to take it easy and go slow if/when they act up and make sure I take all of my supplements that help with my knee issues.

I logged onto the Nike.com site and it still has "my" shoes listed, but only under the "custom" section. Hmmmm. It would cost me $25.00 to more to get custom colors, but at least I'd have my shoe style. I'll have to think about that one. They stopped carrying my Nike Turb-Oz Shox at most of the retailers I go to. The Nike people haven't posted an alternate shoe or new model to replace my shoe. I can either suck it up and pay the extra cash for my shoe with custom colors, or just find a another style/brand. The Shox Turb-Oz were my shoes after The Mizuno Wave Riders, which I loved, until I began marathon training. My big toe on my left foot had issues so I had to switch brands.

Other People's Homes

BACK TO THE SUNDAY HOME TOUR...

I did see some wonderful home ideas, one of which was a wonderful kitchen/nook that was as large as my kitchen, dining room and living room together. If you like to cook and if that's where the all the home action happens, it is the perfect kitchen. I can dream... Some other interesting ideas were this powder room ceiling which made you feel as if you were under water. One of the comments about this ceiling was "It's like a mini Bellagio."


I personally enjoyed some of the landscape details, especially since we will need to think about a major landscaping project of our own in the near future, and I found these two completely different water fountains intriguing. First, this very traditional fountain that was strategicly placed int the front yard of a Craftsman style home



...then this Oriental style koi pond/water fountain in the front of another, more conteporary home.



I'm not sure how I would feel about having 400 people walking through my home in one afternoon, but these owners were very proud of their homes and more than happy to show them off. By the way, we were all required to wear surgical booties over our shoes before entering any of the homes on the tour.

I did come away with several creative home remodeling and decorating ideas. It's as if we physically walked through home decorating or architectural magazines.

Observing From A Safe Distance

On Sunday I attended a home tour for a community my husband works in. The home tour consisted of a walk through a particular neighborhood to view a small selection of remodeled homes, 6 homes, to be exact. It was fun to see what other people do to their homes, whether if it's ultra modern minimalist or very traditional and eclectic. Most of the home owners sent their kids and pets (if any) out for the day, but a few kept their critters around. At one home was this cat, who was perched up on the third story roof of one of the tour homes. At one point the cat did come down to take a peek at us, but that was as close as the cat would come... With 400 people milling through "your" house, I guess observing from a safe distance would be the best thing to do.

Nature's Stairmaster

I managed to convince my son that today would be a great day for a hike up Cowles Mountain. This morning the air was a little brisk so I opted for jeans, a cotton T-shirt, light weight jacket and old cheapie hiking boots. Once we arrived at the mountain I realized I was over-dressed. Running clothes made of wicking material would have been perfect. I was toasty! The mountain path on the side of the mountain we hiked on is rather vertical. For every one of my son's long strides, were two of my strides... Needless to say, he was several feet way ahead of me. Oh, I can out run him any day on a relatively flat surface, but as far as mountain climbing goes, he has the advantage there! It took about 45 minutes to get to the top of the mountain, which is 1.5 miles. I remembered to bring my new camera so I took a few shots from the top...

Hey! I can see my house from here!


A view of Lake Murray, where I spend a great deal of time running.


Erik deep in thought...


Me at the top.


I've realized that I also need to invest in a decent pair of trail or hiking boots/shoes. I am so used to my cushy running shoes. While wearing the cheapo hiking boots I could feel every rock and pebble along the trail... I am glad that I did go on this hike, and, perhaps, I could incorporate this hike somewhere in my marathon training regimen that is to come at the end of this month.