Step Away From the Cake

I'm alone at work today and that's not good cause I spend too much time in my head. I was just walking around the lab and I started worrying about my foot. What if it doesn't heal by Sunday for my training?? What if it never heals?? What if I have to live with this pain for the rest of my life?? Now how ridiculous is that??? I'm crazy I swear I am. Then I was thinking about Xena the warrior Moluccan . Actually I was thinking about Mango who was killed by Nala . Then I started thinking about Xena and worrying that she would somehow get out of her cage and into the living room where Nala is and something would happen to her. What the hell is wrong with me???? I can't be left alone, clearly it's not good for my mental health. Ugh!!!!

That's what I had with this foot. I've had PF for years. It comes and goes never totally going away but always manageable and not all that painful. That's probably why I never paid it all that much attention. I would take ibuprofen, ice it now and then, use my golf ball, but not in a structured way, just whenever I felt the need. This is the most painful I've ever had it. I didn't sleep all that well last night because of the pain. While watching TV I used my golf ball , iced it, taped it up, then took 800 mg of ibuprofen before bed. Still it hurt like the dickens all night long. At one point I was laying there in agony when I realized my low back on the same side hurt. This got me thinking; did I have the PF cause my back is out, or is my back out because I got the PF?? Which came first the chicken or the egg??? When the alarm went off this morning I wasn't going to get up because of the foot pain. But it was weight day and I figured I could do that...

I've mentioned before I'm a flag-waving fool. I believe this country is by far the greatest country on earth. I don't always agree with our elected officials, in fact, I'm usually ranting about something they did. I am generally of the opinion that government has gotten too large and out of control and needs to be taken down a notch or two. But I digress. I love patriotic pictures etc. I've been looking for a flag tint for the back window of my SUV but haven't managed to find one that I really like. So I was cruising the internet and found patriotic posters While this is not a tint for my window, it's a beautiful poster. This is a wonderful image of the twin towers and Lady Liberty. They have some really great stuff over at patriotic posters. They have other posters too that are really, really nice.

I fully blame this on Vicki (just kidding). I went for my run at lunch time. Now this is the first time I've ever done that. I am NOT a lunch time exerciser. But honestly, I've read for awhile now how a lot of you out in blogland do exercise at lunch so I thought, what the hay!!! It went well. I ran 4.4 miles in 56 minutes. Gulp!! That's pretty good. For me anyway. Considering that before my run on Sunday I can not remember when I ran last. I probably could but I'd have to work at it. So as I'm getting back to work my right foot started hurting. I immediately thought of Vicki and thought to myself, this can't be happening!!! It was. By this afternoon my foot was killing me. I stopped by the bank on the way home and I could hardly walk from the car to the bank. I was walking funny and my hip and back were hurting. Oh this is so not good. I'm sitting here rolling a golf ball under my foot and writhing in agony. I'm dying. Ugh!!! I know ...

There are all these ads now about how you can pay off your mortgage quicker without spending anymore money and how you can actually build wealth with just what you make now. I've never understood it completely, and not sure I do yet. But, as I'm going to be buying a house in the not too distant future, I've decided that I need to learn and understand these things. I found this place, mortgage that seems to explain it. Apparently by putting all your money, mortgage, pay, savings, into one account you actually bring down the balance of your mortgage and not only pay it off quicker but pay considerably less interest. You can also incorporate your high interest credit cards and pay a much lower interest rate. I do know that this is a big thing and a good way to get your house paid off sooner. Since I will be purchasing soon, I'm going to spend some time here and see exactly how it works. I think it's a fantastic idea if it's as easy as it sounds. I know I don...

That's what happened this morning. In some areas of my life things are really stinking. I know it's temporary and it will pass but I feel the need to whine a little :) I live in Hawaii so I live in shorts. Luckily I can even wear them to work - woohoo !!! When I lost weight I threw away all my large size shorts. Anything over a size 12 was history. I decided that 12 would be the largest I would ever be. Well last year that didn't work out so much. I put a few pounds back on and my 12's no longer fit. However, I refused to buy a larger size so I stuck to my elastic waisted running shorts. Around December my larger cut 12's started fitting again and I was pleased. This morning I grabbed a pair of shorts that although labeled size 12 have a small waist, more like a size 10 waist. I looked at them and thought they might fit so decided to try. They fit!!!! YES!!! Not only do they fit perfectly around the waist, the hips and legs are loose. Woo Hoo !!! ...

Yesterday a story ran in the New York Times that some scientists question Al Gore's accuracy and assertions in An Inconvenient Truth. I'm not going to get into it deeply I just want to point out this story. Questions are being risen if the New York Times is writing about it. When you study science, as I did, one of the first things you learn is to question everything. So open your minds and question..... Oh, did you hear that??? That's the sound of hell freezing over due to global warming :)

Having said that about credit and debt, I have to give savings equal time. I'm a huge fan of savings in general and online savings in particular. Compare online banking, find a savings account or checking account and earn more interest today with SavingsAccounts.com This is a really good website. You can compare the various savings offered online and they even have links to each site. It gives you all the details, minimums required, etc. It's handy. They also have a great resource center with some very interesting articles. Did you know HSBC offers 6% on a savings account?????

So I've been doing really, really well on my eating and workout plans. The eating is going so well I can't believe it and I can not get over how good I feel. It's amazing. I've been working out regularly and it's starting to feel really good. Yesterday was weights and that went well. Today was HIIT and that went well also. I also wanted to get a 1 hour slow run in. Since it's still dark in the mornings I thought I'd bring my stuff to work and try running at lunch. Well, work ended up being pretty busy and I had to leave early so I didn't have time to run. I thought about running after work but that is just not my best time. So instead of stressing about it I decided to just let it go. It wasn't in the cards for today and that's just the way it was. Whew, that felt better. So no run today. I left work early and went to this seminar that was absolutely fascinating. Some folks here and on the mainland are doing research about mercury in...

I've had some money issues lately, I've alluded to some of them here. There is so much financial stuff around now it's hard to figure out which is good and which isn't. If you end up with a loan or credit card that isn't good it can do more damage that no credit at all. I found this site that talks about Bad Credit Credit Cards and it's really fascinating. Apparently there are some credit cards that require money up front. Why would you pay a credit card company money before you've got the card and used it??? I've had credit issues but I've never done that. This site has some really interesting articles and information. All this stuff can be so confusing, it's nice to have it all laid out in plain english. It focuses a lot on bad credit but there is some really good information in there.

Isn't that song by the Boss, Bruce Springstein ???? Okay, that brings something to mind. I love music, absolutely adore it. I listen to it all day long, I sing along (usually I'm alone :), I'm learning to play the guitar. I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday but I can remember all the words to a song I learned 30 years ago. I've also learned that if I really need to learn something, put it to music and it will stick forever. But you know what I do hate??? When singers espouse their political views. Bruce did this a few years back and whenever I hear a song of his I say to myself, "a* shole , you ruined it for me." I never really liked the protest songs from the 60's and I don't like the new ones. I listen to music for entertainment and an escape, not to hear you're political views. It's the same way with TV. There are only a few shows I watch and I am much happier when I have no idea what the creators or characters pol...

I have a friend who's an avid bird watcher. She had a birthday recently and since she's just taken up biking I decided a portable pair of binoculars would be a perfect gift. So I go all over town looking for a pair and discover there are slim pickings in Honolulu for binoculars. Anyway, I found a pair of Pentax Jupiters and got them. Then this morning I'm cruising around the net(yeah, yeah, I should be working, I know) when I find this. Dude, this ticks me off. I paid more than that!! They also have these if you're so inclined, Shooting Glasses. They actually have lots of pretty cool glasses. Check out their sunglasses. They even do prescription sunglasses. I'm a sunglass junkie and I want these bad. I have Maui Jims for bike riding but I love to have a pair for everything. A girl can never have too many sunglasses :) So they carry all the big names, , Serengeti, H2 Optix, Wiley, Police, etc, and they have free UPS over $29.95! Sweet!! Living in Hawaii I ...

Okay kids, here is pitch to get you to spend money. Please visit my new blog: Custom made t-shirt quilts , as a way for me to make more money :) Actually, you know you want to do this you just don't have the time yourself. So let me do it for you. I love to do it and I can make a few bucks in the process. Thank you for your time.

This morning was the first Honolulu Marathon Clinic. The man, Dr. Schaff , who started the Honolulu Marathon started this clinic in 1974. He is a cardiologist/runner who trained heart attack patients to run the Boston Marathon. He decided Honolulu should have one too. So he started the marathon and decided if he could train heart patients to run, he could train the average Joe to run a marathon. Hence, the clinic was born. Also, back in like 1975 he wrote the first book on training for a marathon for anyone and it is still around today. I have a copy and it is what started me running 12 years ago. At 7:30 this morning everyone and their uncle showed up to register for this clinic. There are a number of cool things about this clinic. First, Dr. Schaff still runs it himself, although now he walks. Second, all the "coaches" have done a number of marathons. Third, none of the are elite runners. They are just average folk who like to run. The speedy group is not all ...