Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Watching, Waiting.


Click photo for source

This is such a beautifully written article in the form of a letter to a child. I love it. It sums up my own feelings on the Bible pretty well, actually. http://momastery.com/blog/2013/03/26/a-mountain-im-willing-to-die-on-4/
Go read it!

I am waiting to hear what the United States Supreme Court decides for our nation. I know what is right, and I know what I want them to decide. That all people should have the right to marry. That all marriages should be treated with equal weight. That to discriminate against those whose orientation isn't straight and narrow in this way, when it is *illegal* to discriminate in other ways, isn't okay.

Do I pray? I suppose you could call it that. I am sending my desires out into the Universe that our Supreme Court does what is right.


Monday, March 25, 2013

Progress!

I ran/walked almost 10 miles last week! You may have noticed, based on my shiny little ticker, that I've now gone 16 miles this year. Wohoo! I did it even in the snow and with shin splints. I had to take a break from the Zombies, Run! app, because after 3 days of running I noticed that my shins were sore. Yeah. Shin splints. I know I am prone to them, but I haven't actually gotten them since I played soccer as a kid! I worked on some stretches and just walked for my next few nights. We also got about a foot of snow in the meantime, so I wasn't going to run through that (and the ice that came with it). Walking was good, and my shins are feeling better. I also finally got around to putting my orthodic (no idea how to spell that) inserts in my shoes, since I imagine part of the problem was my unsupported arches. Wow, I sound so sexy right now.

Ahem. Anyway, I am going to drag at least one of the dogs out for a run/walk tonight (we'll probably even use Zombies, Run! again) and just walk the icy spots where nobody bothered to shovel. I've got my 1.2 mile route pretty well established, so we'll probably just do that one. I've completed one whole mission on Zombies, Run! and part of the next one. I like that when I finish a mission mid-run (I have like 10 minutes left of the second mission) it just puts it into radio mode and plays my music with random commentary, and no zombies. Good stuff!

Oh, and C threw me a surprise party this weekend! He's the best husband ever! He felt bad that I turned 30 right before he was working for 5 weeks straight (including weekends) and we never got to have a party for me. Little J even kept the secret, which is shocking. So I *may* have eaten a lot of crap this weekend... but it was fun!

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Running from Zombies (review of Zombies, Run!)

You may recall that I have a fondness for audio fiction. Genre doesn't matter, I love them all. I particularly enjoy full-cast audio drama (like the Drabblecast and Dunesteef). A while back, I saw a new app mentioned on Erica's blog, And Baby Makes Four, that was a good motivator for her to go running (this post, specifically). I checked it out, but the $7.99 price tag for Zombies, Run! was enough for me to forgo the purchase. Weeks (months?) went by, and one of my friends mentioned on Facebook that the app is now 50% off! And while $7.99 is too much, $3.99 was doable, so I bought it.

Dude. This is amazing. I love this app. It basically sticks *you* the runner into the middle of the story, narrated in present tense, full cast style. I won't spoil any of the plot points, but the basic premise is that you have a variety of missions to fulfill while you escape from zombies. You can add a playlist to your phone (if you have the right music app, and create a playlist *on your phone*) that will play your music between the plot pieces of the story. You have the option to add the moaning zombies to your runs, which I haven't done yet because I'm a chicken. Plus I was running at night, and the story is engrossing and spooky enough in the dark without the zombie noises. While you run your favorite route, you will be informed that you've picked up various items (trousers, underwear, tools, etc) and when you finish your run, you press a button and return to base. If you don't finish your mission in one go, you can continue it the next time you run. Because of this game (because, really, it's basically a real-life RPG) I ran 1.9 miles in 22 minutes last night. Okay, so I only ran most of that time. But still, it was great! I'm a bit sore today but that's not surprising. It honestly didn't feel like almost 2 miles.

The app and website are integrated (https://www.zombiesrungame.com/) and you can link your Facebook account if you wish to share your runs with your friends. It also has a way to track your calories burned, and will log your time and distance. It doesn't track your speed (i.e. if you slow down it won't make the zombies get you) and the storyline continues whether you are running or walking. I really, really recommend this game, it is so much fun!

On a related note, I recently got new ear buds. I have freakishly tiny ear canals (like, the doctor has to use a pediatric otoscope to look in my ears) and have a horrid time finding ear buds that stay put and deliver good quality sound. I usually end up buying the $10 Sony or Phillips ones at Target (with just okay sound quality), and then they break 5 months later and I buy new ones (like these). I can't wear the Skullcandy ones, or any similarly styled, "in" your ear type ear buds, because they just fall out of my ears, unless I take off the cushion part completely, and then that just hurts. I found some new ones at Target this weekend, though, that caught my eye. Called yurbuds Inspire for Women, these are actually designed for women's smaller ears! The set came with two sizes of silicon thingies, one larger and one smaller. I'm using the smaller ones. They are comfy, they FIT, they don't fall out, and I love them. They are also sweat-proof. They come in a multitude of colors (I got purple) and they are *so far* awesome. I can't speak to lasting power yet, but so far these are my favorite ever ear buds. At $30, they are more than I would usually spend, but I have hopes that they will last.

I was not paid or compensated for either of these reviews, and the companies involved don't have any idea who I am. I just wanted to share these awesome products with the world!

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Growing Up

We moved both kids to big/bigger kid beds last night. Dee still woke up twice, but no worse than normal! She *loves* that she can get in and out of her bed by herself. J still slept like a rockstar, as he always does. He loves his big bed! We got his bedding and bed from Ikea (bed frame, duvet cover, sheets). Dee has her old mattress and moved into the toddler bed that my father-in-law made for J when he turned two.

           

J's bed is sort of temporary. I will (this summer) be making him this bed (from Ana White's website) so that he and Dee will have more room in their shared room. He will be keeping his mattress since it's brand new and we just dropped a small fortune on it. It's important to us that our kids' exposure to outgassed, manmade chemicals be minimized when possible (lots of reasons why, but a good summary is given in Breasts, a Natural and Unnatural History), so we went with an organic cotton mattress for Dee (from Munchkin, got it at Target) and the Sultan Heggedal natural material mattress from Ikea for J. I figure he's going to be using it til he moves out, so it was worth the investment. He said it's a little too "hard" but it should soften a bit with use, and if it's still too firm we can always get a topper. Although the way he's been jumping on it, it might get softer really fast...