Each New Day

Santa was able to come through for my son this year with an Ed Hardy shirt purchased from Ebay! My son’s birthday is in two weeks and he is wanting another Ed Hardy shirt. I was hoping for some good after Christmas bargains but was unable to find any. In fact, one online shop that I had bookmarked actually went UP on their prices! But yesterday I went to Sam’s Club to buy food for the youth group lock in tonight. I happened for some reason to walk past the center clothes section. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a shirt that I thought looked like the Hardy style. I thought “surely not”, but in fact, there were about five different styles of Ed Hardy shirts at Sam’s! They were not the top of the line ones, but I found one design that I think will work for a birthday gift. They were selling for $36!

I learned some time ago that you should not store potatoes and onions near each other. The gases that each emits causes both to spoil. I was reminded of this yesterday when at my in laws there were bags of onions and potatoes stored together. I was glad that I had read this and could move them so they will both last longer.        

I learned today that I like to have a drink while I am running. It was really cold outside, so I bundled up/layered really well. My top layer was a hooded sweatshirt with a pouch pocket on front. I decided trying to carry a water bottle in that pocket. I filled one up half way and thought that if it got too uncomfortable, I could just leave it somewhere and pick it back up on my way back around. But I actually liked having it there. One nearly every one of my one minute walks I took it out and squeezed just enough water out to moisten my mouth. It really kept me feeling good for this morning’s long run!

Today I learned how to properly air up my bike tires. My husband always tells me to air them up, but I told him that every time I do, the air never goes in properly. So he came out with me to show me how. I did take off the plastic cap, but I did not know that you had to unscrew the stem itself! I also was putting the pump on opposite from the way it should go on. Then he reminded me how to tell how much air goes into the tires (look at the PSI printed on the tire.) So I guess I learned a lot today!

I have been learning about how I want to do my half marathon run come New Year’s Day. I have been trying different things. I have tried a five minute run/one minute walk. I have tried a ten minute run/one minute walk. Today I tried running three miles then doing a one minute walk. There does not seem to be much difference in the amount of time it takes for me to complete the run segments, so I am thinking I should take the “easiest” route possible and stick with the 5:1 running pattern. I guess I will see how my longer run goes next week before I make a final decision as to how I will run during the race.  

My sister is in town. She went out yesterday to Starbucks to get us a treat. She knows that I love the chai tea latte but don’t get one often. So she surprised me by bringing me one yesterday. She also wanted to bring something nice for my daughter. She asked the guy at Starbucks what she could get for kids with no caffeine. He said you can get anything on the menu with no caffeine. So she ordered another chai tea latte. He said, “Oh, that is the one thing on the menu you can’t order with no caffeine.” So she ordered a pumpkin spice creme, which my daughter enjoyed! But I was glad to know that you can order something at Starbuck’s minus the caffeine.  

It snowed here last week! It was a big event for kids and adults alike! I learned on the news that it is only the seventh time it has snowed in December here in the last 115 years! Another thing I keep hearing is that there must be some connection between snow and hurricanes. Ignoring a couple of exceptions, it seems that since 1961, the winter following a major hurricane making landfall, the winter has brought snow! Interesting correlation….

Having homeschooled my children for ten years, I have a lot of preconceived ideas and prejudice against the public school system and its teachers. Because my son is now in public school, I have to be careful, but he knows well of my prejudice. Yesterday, however, I had a prejudice proved wrong (and I am glad for it!)

My son had an incident occur for which we were going to take disciplinary action. One of these was to have him miss his basketball game. His coach felt that this was an over-reaction to the situation that had taken place. He provided an alternative but said that no matter what we decided as parents he would support and go along with! That was a much appreciated attitude and in fact one that I did not expect. Thanks, Coach!

I learned two things on my run today. First, in the third mile I really began to have to go to the bathroom.  I tried to ignore it, but thought that was not going to work for four more miles! I decided not to cross the main road to see if the drug store had a bathroom. I kept going. I turned around and by the end of the fourth mile, I knew I could no longer ignore it. I knew the golf course had a bathroom right inside the lobby doors so I headed that way. I had less than a minute left on that run time, so I went in, did my business, and came back out with a one minute walk. It actually worked out quite well. I hope that if it happens on race day it works out as well.

I also learned that my Targert athletic socks will not hold up. As I came out of the bathroom, I realized my big toe was poking out of my sock! I guess I will use the gift card I won at last week’s turkey trot to invest in some heavy duty running socks!     

I just learned that Dr. Seuss was a political cartoonist during the WWII years. I got an email about some current exhibits at the Holocaust Museum Houston. One is the work of Dr. Seuss during the war years and the political cartoons he drew for the New York newspaper PM. He focused on the issues America needed to address at the time and how individuals could become aware and involved. He worked to inspire people to care about the fate of human beings. Theodor Seuss Geisel’s exhibit runs through July 5, 2009. The exhibit is based on the book “Dr. Seuss Goes to War” by historian Richard H. Minear.