Status Quo

Still no work for me. It's getting me a bit anxious about money, since this is the most expensive time of year, then pile on the trip to Miami for the Ragnar Relay. Adding it all up could make me throw up. I had to start my Christmas shopping since I have a 30% off coupon for Kohl's and I doubt I'll be getting another before Christmas. I earned $30 Kohl's cash, which just happens to overlap with the 30% off sale today! I had started a shopping bag online and then examined everything in the store to figure out what my final choices would be. I bought most of the list, but left 6 items in my online bag. I just checked out, and with the 30% of and $30 K.C., I only spent $60! I saved as much as I spent.

I'm trying to fill my time with cleaning and organizing the house. Making a list definitely makes me more productive. Two things are already crossed off today's list, and I'm working on #7 right now, since I had to put "blog" on the list. Posting once a week isn't "regularly" enough for me, but I also don't want to bore you with the monotony of most of my days. You know how it is- wake up, yada, yada, yada, go to sleep to wake up and do it all over again.

Since there's no work, I have no excuse to not work out. I've been walking to the gym to save gas and add a mile to my tally. I'm still feeling a little clogged in the lungs, but yesterday's arc trainer session was amazing. I sweat buckets and burned just under 1,000 calories in an hour. The walk is a nice warm up and cool down for me. The weather has been perfect for spending time outside, with a high of 60* the last couple of days. On Sunday, I ran my virtual 5k for Run4NYC and the Red Cross. I ran down the highway for the first half, then turned into my neighborhood and ran  a couple of hills for a time of 31:01. I ran the first mile in under 10 minutes, but slowed down quite a bit on the second half. I can't believe it was only a little over a month ago since I ran the half. It felt really hard, but I ran thinking about all of the people that have suffered because of the hurricane, and that kept me going.

Yesterday I got a nice surprise from the FedEx man. My Lizi's Granola winnings came from Mary at A Walk in The Woods! Three boxes of three different flavors of individually bagged granola, which is OPTIMAL for portion control! I tried the Belgian Chocolate on my toasted coconut yogurt for lunch and it was delicious! This morning I mixed a bag of the Treacle & Pecan with my Fiber Once cereal and some skim milk. Loved it! Can't wait to try the Pink Apples & Cinnamon. I really like this granola because the clusters aren't immense, nor are they hard as rocks. You could hurt yourself on some frickin' granola, and you won't with this brand. Chelsea had some and loved it, too. My husband even snacked on some late last night and said it was good. He doesn't eat granola! That's a sterling testimony in and of itself!

This came all the way from merry old England!

Here's my lunch- toasted coconut yogurt with Lizi's Belgian Chocolate granola!

Can you believe Thanksgiving is next week? 9 days. My parents 55th wedding anniversary is this Friday, so we're getting together to celebrate this weekend. Other than that, I just plan on cleaning and running. I definitely want to plan for a long run on Saturday. I need to check out the havoc that Hurricane Sandy left in her wake down at the beach. The pictures that friends have posted have just been unimaginable.

This is the beach PARKING LOT. This is where the Smith Point Bridge 5k starts and finishes. The bridge I run over is back on the right side of the photo. There are other photos on Facebook from Tri Hamlet News of the cement boardwalk that has collapsed since the sand supporting it was washed away. The many staircases connecting the boardwalk to the shore have been demolished. More than 15,000 customers are STILL without power on Long Island. Nearly 500 houses are expected to be condemned in our area alone. But the community has been coming together and helping anyway they can. There have been numerous food and clothing drives. Every day different fire houses and churches have hosted lunches and dinners for those without anything. Every one is taking care of each other. It will take time, but things will get back to regularly scheduled programming.