off to the races

Ok, so I've had 2 appointments with the chiropracter who specialized in ART . It is amazing! When I left there Friday evening, my heel/calf area was all back to normal, like I never had any pain. Turns out this whole thing started higher up in my leg, and worked its way down. Last night, he worked on my hip flexor, and I ran 4 miles this morning with very few twinges in that area, not bad at all. Tomorrow night should be my last appointment until after the Cow Harbor Run (the 10K race I am aiming for middle of next month). I am pretty excited about all of this, Chris and the girls will come, and they will do the 2K Run/Walk while I attempt to complete the 6.2 mile course over Northport's sprawling hills! YIKES.

OUCH! And what is your Achilles heel?

Oh boy, I am in trouble. I mentioned a few posts ago that I had entered a race with some coworkers, and that I might add running to my workout regimine. So, I did, and I am loving it. I have added a mile to my comfortable distance, so now I'm up to about 3.5 miles, and reduced my time from 11min 40sec to 10 min. OK, not bad, right? I even set a goal for myself for next years Corporate Challenge, 35 minutes. (that would be 6 minutes better this year's time). Well...I have done what I was hoping would not happen...hurt myself! UGH. I think I have achilles tendonitis. I have not been able to run for 3 days, and sometimes even walking is too painful. Today is a better day though, I feel much more comfortable, and I have an appointment tonight for what could be my saving grace! ART! Active Response Technique...a treatment that a triathlete at work told me about, sounds like it could be the ticket! I am hoping and praying...there is a run in a few weeks I want to do, 10K (yikes). I was planning on walking/running it, b/c its double my comfortable distance, and quite hilly. I am off to the miracle doctor, here's hoping...hey, if this works for real athletes, it HAS GOT to work for little ol me?

How long is 3 minutes? depends...are u getting coffee or burying a loved one?

Oh boy...my addiction to coffee is BAAAAAAD! Yesterday, we went to the funeral. After the mass, we were to follow the funeral procession to the cemetary for the burial. The funeral was in Rockville Centre, which is not known for its lax parking rules, so before we left, since Chris and I were going in his father's car, I had to move mine out of its stale 2-hour spot into another 2 hour spot. In the process of doing this, I spotted Dunkin' Donuts. My aching head, empty stomach, and severe thirst hit me all at once..."MUST HAVE AN ICED COFFEE". So, after I moved the car, I asked my FIL if I could grab a coffee before we left. He said "sure, but hurry, and get me one". OK, did that, with Chris yelling at me the whole time, saying we'd make his dad miss the procession. But I wouldn't hear of it, and went ahead w/my plan.

We took all of 3 minutes in Dunkin' Donuts, but yep...my FIL missed the processsion, and we headed out to Queens with only 3 sentences of directions from the funeral home...ending in LIE West to Maurice Avenue...that is it, no more details. Any of you from this area know that Queens has a TON of cemetaries, as a matter of fact, as a kid growing up in Brooklyn and really never having been to Queens, other than as a pass-through on our way to LI to visit relatives, all I ever saw was this HUMONGO cemetary, so I assumed Queens was where you buried dead people! So, we got off the exit, and that was it. Couldn't find an entrance to the cemetary, my FIL knowing this particular area, thought we should get back on the LIE, which we did...going as far west as we could without going to NYC, then back east, then back west, until we finally got back to Maurice Avenue, still unable to find an entrance. At that point, Chris who had been trying to call his mother's cell this whole time to let her know we were lost...finally was able to reach her, and was informed that we'd missed the burial. UGH! All my fault, and I felt TERRIBLE! Chris was visibly upset, and I didn't know what to do. I looked at him meekly and told him I was sorry, and I know that wasn't enough, I don't know what is enough. His mom and sister were not mad, apparently the burial didn't take any longer than getting coffee in Dunkin Donuts. I am sorry Agnes, it is all my fault that Chris, John and Charles were not there. :-(

I am public, what are you?

I've been remiss...I just saw that my last post was almost 3 weeks ago. Been a crazy couple of weeks.

My inlaws left last Saturday, only to have to return this Saturday. One of my mother-in-law's relatives, Agnes, a wonderful and vibrant lady who I have known for almost 20 years, passed away on Thursday. She was 87, and from what I understand, knew she was going to die for way longer than any of us did, she was told she had cancer (pancreatic I think), and kept this to herself, not wanting to hurt her quality of life, nor burden those who cared for her. Tomorrow is the funeral, a Catholic mass and burial.

I struggle with these religious moments, I was not raised with a religion, my mother is a non-practicing Jew, and my father is a non-practicing Catholic. They gave me a choice when I was growing up, and I chose to be "nothing". So, I will be the lonely "jew" (since my mom is Jewish, I am automatically Jewish), feeling like everyone else in the Church is staring at my proverbial horns, as they go up to the dais, and receive Communion. For this reason, I truly feel like I have to do more for my children than merely tell them to make a choice, b/c the truth is, no kid in their right mind will opt to go to religious instruction, church or temple vs. um...doing nothing! We have been discussing our local Unitarian church, now we just need to move beyond "discussion" ;-)

This all reminds me of one the smartest things my sister said: Our next door neighbors (3 boys) were Catholic, and went to Holy Innocents Catholic School, my sister and I went to P.S. 139 (public school). One day, Billy, the oldest boy, said to Jodi "I go to Cathloic School because I am Catholic, what are you?" And Jodi, in her 6 year old wisdom, said "I'm Public, I go to Public School." :-) Perfection!

Hazy, hot, humid and HORRIBLE

ITS SO HOT OUTSIDE!!!!!!!! I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE. THEY SAY TODAY THE HEAT INDEX IS 105 - 110 DEGREES! Sorry for ALL CAPS, but I am sooo done with the summer.

Gee, I just can't wait to go out to my car, and get in the oven I call my front seat. Of course I have A/C, but as you know, in this weather, it takes a loooooooooooong time for the A/C to blow out cool air. My favorite thing is to press the "AMB" temperature button to see what my car thinks the temp is outside...my guess when I leave today? 120?

I am so looking forward to the fall...jeans and boot weather is what my sister and I call it. Best time of year, and sooo shortlived! Low humididty (major plus when you have naturally curly hair!!!), mild temps...ah...soon!

Anonymous? Uh...Not anymore

Finally, I am searchable! Not sure why this matters to me so much, but since I started this blog, I have been trying to Google this page, with no luck. I still can't seem to find it on Google.com, but I can on Yahoo

Nobody in my personal life knows about this blog. Is that because I am shy? embarrassed? or maybe just private? I don't really know, but for now this is between me and all of you who don't know me.

The houseguests are coming!

So my MIL is coming in tonight from California. She will be staying with us, and my FIL is coming on Thursday. They have been living bi-coastal for the past few years, 1/2 year here, the other 1/2 in Dana Point, CA. But they sold their NY home in January, and while they plan on buying a smaller place here, they have not really been able to look much. So, now they are coming, and planning to do the real estate thing and find a house here.

Fortunately, we have a guest room for them, but I'm not sure how comfortable they will be...or how comfortable I will be for that matter. They spent a week with us in January, and an unexpected week in February (the week the evil stomach virus hit any person who dared enter our home!), and then my MIL came to help us out when our sitter was on vacation for a week in March, and let me tell you...the house gets all sorts of crowded when they are here. The TV goes to volumes I didn't know were possible, and the mess...oh the mess! I am a bit of a clean freak, and I feel like I lose control of my key clean area...the kitchen. I clean up every night after my sitter and the kids...maybe I have OCD? Is it normal to walk into the house and just start putting things away without even realizing you are doing it? Normal routine for me: walk into house, pick up shoes by door and put them in shoerack; put coffee thermos into kitchen sink, hang up cordless phone that desperately needs to be charged; put all loose pens in pen drawer; load the dishwasher; wash coffee pot and get it ready for the morning; make Sammy's lunch for camp; clean counters, sweep floor... getting the picture?

Anyhoo...this should all make for a fun week in hazy, hot and humid NY! Thank goodness for CAC! (central air conditioning for those of you not in the real estate acronym know ;-)