Which came first??!!??!!

I actually have no interest in this particular question since I am of the God Created All Creatures belief.

What I am curious about is this... WHO decided that it would be a tasty idea to crack open and cook up something that comes out of a chicken's back-end??!!??!?!

I'm not complaining! I love me some eggs. Fried, scrambled, poached, hard boiled. There's really no bad way to eat them. But seriously....who was the first person to make a fried egg? Did someone crack it open thinking that they'd find a baby chick and then decided to get imaginative with the snotty substance they found inside? Did someone inadvertantly drop an egg on a sunny surface, which caused it send out appetizing aromas while it was cooking? Or perhaps, because eggs give forth new life, someone thought it would be good to eat as a symbolic gesture (although that doesn't really explain how the cooking got involved)?

I WANT TO KNOW!!!!!!

Relay For Life

I just signed up to do a Relay For Life event. Basically it means that I (along with a few hundred other people) will be walking for 24hrs straight in order to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

The event is May 17th and 18th at my alma mater, Southern Columbia High School. I have set a goal to raise $100, so any help would be appreciated.

I figure it will be a great way to really spur my 3 Day Walk training!

I'm on my best friend's team. My sister and some of her marching band buddies will be involved as well. It should be a good time, for a wonderful cause!!!

To donate: CLICK HERE!!!

I'ts Been One Of Those Weeks!!!!

I have had a rough week.

The upper respiratory thing I picked up has been KICKING MY BUTT all over town. There were many days where I had no strength and spent the majority of the time either in bed or being a vegetable on the couch. Fevers, stuffy head, chest congestion...you name it, I had it.

Now, 10 days later, I am starting to feel somewhat human again!

Then there's my budget. The company I work for has postponed our raises YET AGAIN! At this point, a full 2 years will have passed since our last raise cycle. What's really funny is that, the owner of the company always posts these memos talking about how "great the raises will be compared to the rest of the industry", which is laughable, b/c we are at the LOW END of the salary scale and in the 8yrs I've been here, we have never EVER had an annual raise. It's usually 15-18months in between.....24-30 during a rough year.

And b/c of not getting my raise (and having overtime cut), I am unable to do the auto maintainance I need. My car needs tires and is leaking coolant. So I basically am crossing my fingers each time I get behind the wheel, praying and hoping that I don't blow a tire or my motor.

My guinea pig, Phantom, died on Sunday. Apparently she had not been eating for awhile but I never noticed! When I weighed her, she had lost 1lb (1/3 of her body weight. NOT GOOD). I feel like such a BAD MOMMY and the guilt is making my mourning all that much worse. If I had noticed this a week ago, I may have been able to get her to the vet and get her on some meds as well as have them show me how to feed her by hand. I am sick to my stomach about it.

And last, but certainly not least, the BOYFRIEND. He never calls. When I break down and call him, he will chat with me without any problems, but he certainly doesn't act like he misses me at all. I am so sick and tired of being taken for granted. I am sick and tired of him taking his issues with his ex out on ME. I have been waiting patiently (ok...not so patiently) for him to move past his past but it doesn't seem to be in the damn cards. I guess I should start shopping around for a new one, but really, my heart just isn't ready for that.

On a good note...I received another donation for my 3 Day Walk today. I signed up to do a Relay For Life event with my best friend and her daughter in May. I have scheduled a training walk for this Friday evening. That should snap me out of my funk a little bit. Let's hope that the weekend brings better things!!!

First Training Walk!!!

Not only did I sign up for the 2008 3 Day Walk immediately after completing the 2007 event....I also signed up to be a Training Walk Leader. I had gone on some training walks last year and found that the tidbits of information I received from the leaders I met were invaluable in helping me to prepare. I wanted to ne able to extend that knowledge to others.

This past Sunday, I held my FIRST OFFICIAL TRAINING WALK!!!!

I held it at Neshaminy State Park. I chose this location for multiple reasons. A) close to my house. B) combination of paved and "off road" surfaces. C) path goes in a "loop", which means that I simply repeat the path multiple times to reach the desired mileage (and people can drop out after completing one circuit if they don't feel up to going the full distance).

The weather was generous this weekend. I was fortunate to have dry weather for both my trip to NYC on Saturday as well as my walk. There was a bit of chill in the air, enhanced by the wind. But once we got moving, our bodies warmed up nicely.

I met 3 ladies on this walk: Mickey, Pam, and Sam. All of them are 3 Day "virgins", so I was excited to be able to pass along some of my enthusiasm for the event to them. They peppered me with lots of questions and I feel relatively confident that I was able to provide sensible and informative answers. We all had similar personalities, so there were no awkward moments along the walk.

Pam and Sam are sisters. Since I am not great at putting names to faces, I told them that I would simply combine their names and refer to them as the SPAM Sisters! They loved it so much that they are considering making it their official team name!!!

We logged in 3.2 miles, which brings my total of walking for the weekend to something around 6.5 miles. It was a great experience, which simply cemented my decision to become a Training Walk Leader.

The only downfall is that I woke up Monday with a killer upper respiratory infection and it is putting a crimp in my workout plans this week. As much as I want to get to the gym for some cross training, I know from personal experience that if I force myself to go, I will make myself sicker (and end up missing an additional week). So it's lots of green tea, oj, echinacea, and sleep for me this week.

The Big Apple!!!

Yesterday I spent the day in New York City. My sister (a senior in high school) was going there on a class trip. My mother was going as well as my best friend and her daughter. I decided to take the train and meet them up with them. I was up at 4:30 am in order to get my things together and pick up the 6:30 am train. By 9:00, I was in the Big Apple.

I walked the 25 blocks or so to join them at Carnegie Hall. What a stunning building!!! It was built in 1891 and I learned that Tchaikovsky headlined on opening night. I also learned that the building was very progressive in the fact that it was run by electricity instead of gaslights as most theaters and music halls were, as a means to prevent destruction by fire. The acoustics were absolutely amazing!!! An oboist was warming up on stage and whether we were sitting in the front row or the "nosebleeds", the sound carried to us perfectly (no amplification needed).

After the tour, we headed to Times Square for lunch and then to The Schubert Theater to see Spamalot. I have to admit that I went with some reservations. I had seen The Holy Grail when I was in high school, but wasn't exactly enthralled. However, I had a great time and laughed so hard that I had concerns about "soiling my armor". Clay Aiken starred as Sir Robin and I really love his singing......that added to the experience for me!

Next was a visit to Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum. It was an experience that was a creepy as it was fun. The figures are set up in such a way that you can get right up close and personal. You can pose with them....you can touch them. And even though you know that it's not a real person, you are expecting them to reach out and grab you. In fact, as I was walking into the exhibit, I tried to hand my ticket to the woman with an outstretched arm.....until I realized it was actually a figure of Whoopie Goldberg! They had a figure of Jon Bon Jovi (quite possibly the sexiest man on the entire planet). I posed for a picture of my giving him a kiss.....the closest I'll ever get to planting on on the hunk!!!

Dinner was at Planet Hollywood (cheeseburger and fries hit the spot after a hectic day) and then I headed back to the train. Ended up missing the train that would get me home by midnight, so I ended up not hitting the hay until 2:00 am or so Sunday morning.

I logged about 3.2-3.3 miles of walking towards my 3 Day Walk training!

RIP Faithful Friend!

Black Jack was put to sleep yesterday, at the age of 17. Although he was the "family dog", he really belonged to my younger brother. Devin was 3 yrs old when Black Jack was born, so they basically grew up together.

When my sister was much younger, Black Jack would follow her down to the creek behind our house, keeping an eye on her.

One time he got caught in some animal traps for many days. Every single day, multiple times each day, we would walk through the forest calling his name. We passed the spot where Black Jack was trapped many times but could not see him through the brush. I wondered why the dog didn't bark....my dad theorizes that he didn't think he needed to. He heard us coming and patiently, faith never wavering, awaiting his rescue.

Black Jack had been fading for the past few months......the end coming more rapidly in the past 2 weeks. It was a hard decision to make, especially for my brother. He told me, "He seems as though he's fighting to survive. I hate the idea of forcing him to die". I explained to Devin that I had been through it before and while difficult, it was a better option than letting things drag on and having Black Jack's suffering prolonged (he already wasn't able to walk more than a few steps at at time and was losing weight rapidly).

The next morning I received a text: "We are taking him to the vet now. Last night, he began to shudder while breathing, as though in pain"

I feel that Black Jack sensed Devin's struggle with this decision and "told" him that it was indeed the right time to let him go. It was Black Jack's final gift to his owner.

Devin sat in the vet's room, petting Black Jack until the dog started dozing off before allowing the needle to make that sleep permanent. Devin buried him under a tree right outside of his bedroom window, and in the ground he placed a playing card.......a black jack.