No Touchy!

I am not a germaphobe. In fact, I may lean a little too far to the other side of that argument. I take heart in internet opinions that I am helping my little one's immune system develop by not worrying as much about germs. But working in cooperate America, I'm definitely in the minority where germies are concerned.

I generally take pride in not being as "sanitary." I scoff at the endless bottles of Purell that line our supply closet shelves. I smirk as women scramble for the toilet seat liners in the restroom. I get frustrated when I see women flush the toilet with their foot (and why do they open the stall door to do this?!?). And I get annoyed waiting behind the woman who has to get enough paper towels to dry her hands, turn off the faucet with another towel, open the restroom door with another towel, and then turn to toss her paper towel in the trash can, which is not located by the door. And then she misses and does not pick it up, so the poor custodian has to pick it up. The custodian who likely never gets sick because she deals with so many germs.

When I'm feeling particularly high and mighty and want to bring myself down a peg, I imagine that the women in question have some horrible disease that they are trying to keep from spreading to those around them. After all, I would not dare to scoff at their consideration! Of course, I'm not sure if imagining strangers having horrible diseases is much better. Unless I pray for them too, which I sometimes do. Can you picture Jesus up in Heaven rolling his eyes at me? It probably happens.

If this much goes through my head, I don't want to imagine what these germaphobe (in my opinion) women must think of me as I wash my hands, turn off the faucet, and then get a paper towel to dry my hands. And then I throw it away! Before opening the door! With my BARE hands!! Moral of the story, maybe I'm not that OCD after all.

PS
You get bonus points if you can tell me where the quote "No Touchy!" is from. I can't remember and it's driving me crazy!

Cooking It Old School

This weekend we were supposed to see family from out-of-state. That didn't work out, so we thought about going out-of-town to see some family. That didn't work out either, so we decided to live life old school. And by old school, I mean things I might do when I go see my grandma for a weekend.

1. Garage selling! We took the little Nipplet on her first garage selling adventure, and she made out like a king. I found about 30 outfits for her for $20 (plus one for her mommy!). They were all "big girl" clothes, which is what she needed. Also I learned that babies are the best conversation starter. It was a million degrees outside, so the couple let Nathan sit inside their house with Abigail while I sorted through their box of a million outfits. The best find? This swimsuit: 

2. Making homemade beef stock! Per the internet's advice, I bought some bones, beef stew junks, and some veggies. I roasted all of that for about 45 minutes, then let it simmer in the biggest pot I thought I had for 4 hours. Nathan told me when the whole process was finished that we actually had a much bigger pot, but for now we have really strong beef stock.

3. Homemade Kombucha! Okay, I'll admit, my grandma never made kombucha. It seems like an old school thing to do though. I made the scoby about a week and a half ago, and today I'm starting to ferment the actual tea. For information about what kombucha is, read this. Suffice it to say here that it is yummy and keeps me from drinking more unhealthy beverages. 


All of these things took time. Quite a bit of time, plus juggling a four-month old and trying to meld her schedule and the timing of the preparations. I'm not sure how the grandmothers of the world did it all. And I was looking for a moral of the story out of all this, but frankly I took a nap instead.

It was a rough weekend. Not one of my personal bests. At the end of it though, I still had a sweet husband and beautiful baby girl to love on. And in the end, aren't those some of the most important things in life?

Running Into a Wall

I rearranged the house (again) so our treadmill now faces a bare wall in the "dining" room. I put that in quotes because our kitchen table is in the storage closet, so very little dining takes place anywhere besides the couch. I was exhausted last night and did not want to run, but one of the training tips I read was about the importance of training when tired. Why? Because about half-way through the race, you are going to be tired! Training while tired helps prepare you mentally and physically to run when you would rather be asleep. Makes sense, right?

I was going to try out the run/walk technique, but I kept getting phone calls from mother/mother-in-laws, so I mostly walked. Yes, you heard right. I was fielding phone calls from all the mothers! Just as I put the baby down for a nap! Anyway, it was a nice workout and I did get to run for about 15 minutes. I felt accomplished.

Back to Abigail, though. (Were we talking about Abigail? Of course we were, we're always talking about Abigail!) This week she's been going to sleep at around 7:30pm and waking up at 5:50am because that's as late as I can let her sleep and still get to work on time. So last night she fell asleep at 7:30 and I thought we were done for the night. Wrong! She woke up at about 8:45 just as happy as a clam. So we played for a while, she pooped a little (while sitting on my lap, because that is her favorite place to poop), and then she laid on the couch with me blowing spit bubbles for the next hour. Yes, an hour of blowing spit bubbles. I'm telling you, this kid has the best life ever! Apparently, once you learn how to blow spit bubbles, nothing else is worth wasting your time on. As a result, I stayed up way too late, but it was worth it to get to watch my sweet baby enjoying life so much. Moral of the story? Take time to smell the roses. And then spit on them :)

Ok, try number 3 at regular blogging. Maybe if I keep it a secret I'll stick to it? Anyway, it should be fun while it lasts!

This morning I am jazzed about running! I signed up for my first half-marathon, which takes place in about 7 months. This should be plenty of time to train, but only if I actually do it! I tend to take my bedtime cues from Abigail though, so it's not going too well yet. Hard to run if you get up at 5 for work and go to bed at 8:30. But then again, why am I going to bed at 8:30?!?!

Anyway, my fabulous husband bought me a running magazine, and so far it's getting me excited again. Largely because I found out that alternating running and walking can improve your race time! It is my first half-marathon, so my goal is completion, not time. However, if walking helps improve time, then it means I'm not failing in my goal of "running" a half-marathon if I walk some. And knowing you don't have to do it perfectly helps get me started. Hmmm, that sounds like there might be a life lesson in there somewhere ....

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