So I haven't written in a while. Truth be told, I have several blogs that are just hanging out in the drafts section of the interwebs, waiting for me to find the time and creativity to finish them. Or at least work on them a little bit. Time and creativity for writing are hard to come by…I find either I'm lacking in one or both of those aspects, and I have enough respect for myself and my readers to post something that has been well thought out and creatively edited. Yes, even the posts about poop. I currently have an idea of a post dedicated entirely to poop, but I've thus far held back on working on it because the subject matter is relatively off-putting. Throwing a little poop talk around here and there is somewhat amusing…an entire diatribe devoted to it? Maybe not so much. So here's some random tidbits because I have a little bit of time, and a little bit of creativity.
Last night I made my first vegetarian casserole using tofu. Don't get all excited/concerned, I'm not going vegetarian…I could never give up bacon…a life without bacon is a life not worth living. Okay, so maybe that's a little dramatic, but I do love bacon. I could probably be vegetarian if I was allowed to have bacon. I wonder what they would call that…baco-vegetarianism? I have to think that of all the meats that cause vegetarians to stray to the dark side, bacon has got to be at or near the top of the list. The casserole actually turned out quite good (would have been better with some bacon in it, but I digress). I even invited one of my vegetarian friends and her boyfriend over, and at the end of the meal she asked for the recipe so she must have enjoyed it. I have to admit, for something vegetarian and also incorporating tofu, it was quite good. I had to doctor the recipe a bit, of course, since I can never follow a recipe in its entirety, and I'm proud to say that the doctoring actually turned out for the better this time. This is not always the case, and many a fit has been thrown in the kitchen when a recipe doesn't turn out. A fit is also thrown after Simon reminds me that I didn't follow the recipe, and that maybe I should have. Thank goodness for take-out. To be entirely truthful, I did have a veggie pizza on hand in the freezer in the event that the veggie casserole didn't work out. It's always good to have a back-up plan.
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| Mayhem at the Color Vibe |
So I just signed up for 2 foot races here in northern Arizona in the coming months. The first race will be a 10k run down in Cottonwood. I suppose it should be mildly concerning that I'm thinking more about what I'm going to wear rather than the fact that I haven't actually run consistently since my half marathon at the end of February. I won't have the full benefit of running at a lower elevation for this one either. Cottonwood is at about the 5,000 foot range, which is lower than Flagstaff, but still pretty high. I also hear there's a beast of a hill at mile 4…hills and I do not get along, so we'll see how this one goes. We all know I have no shame in walking, so there's that. The other race I signed up for is the Color Vibe, and that will be taking place in Flagstaff at the beginning of May. It's a 5k, so I should have a little easier time with it, but I'll be at 7,000 feet this time, so I won't have any advantages whatsoever. I've always been curious about these color runs, and it seems like a decent amount of my friends have done one. They never seem to do a second one though…I wonder if that's because you're inhaling colored cornstarch the entire time and then proceed to cough it up for days afterward. That's what I've heard anyway…I'm sure I'll dictate a full report when it's finished. Although with the way I've been blogging lately, you're not likely to see commentary on it until sometime in September, if ever.
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| Ellen and I after finishing the Enchanted 10k at Disneyworld |
Still sticking with the running talk, I still have plans to join some running clubs. There are three out here that hold some interest for me. One is the Northern Arizona Trail Runners Association, and they seem to do most of their runs on the trails near Flagstaff and Sedona. Most of them are around 5 miles, give or take a few. It appears that all ages and abilities are welcome. They run on Saturday mornings though, and given the fact that I pretty much work every Friday night, it hasn't yet worked out for me to join them. I'm tentatively off work tonight (I'm on call), but I checked their website, and as luck would have it, there doesn't appear to be a run scheduled for the morning. Doh! The other group is the Flagstaff Trail Divas, and they are a group of women who get together on Thursday evenings to run. Since they started back up again this spring, I haven't had a free Thursday evening to join them. But one of these weeks I will. Hopefully. They also seem to welcome all ages and abilities, and their runs are around the 5 mile mark as well. Both of the aforementioned groups do pretty much all their running on trails, which is a really neat way to get out and run. It's so much more interesting and interactive than just running on the pavement. The last of the running clubs is a fee-based running club, and they seem to focus more on conditioning and training. They do organized runs as well, but I think they would be good for me given the fact that when I run, I get stuck in a rhythm and don't vary from it. Which is all well and good, but it's a terrible way to elevate my running fitness, should I choose to do so. The last group also trains with professional athletes and former, current, and prospective Olympians. I kind of want to join the group just to say that I train with Olympic athletes…hahaha!
So now that Simon and I are no longer travel nursing, or driving across the country, I feel that I can safely come out and say that during my 8 years of travel nursing, I didn't get a single speeding ticket while traveling to or from an assignment (there was that one speeding ticket that I got in Scottsdale, AZ during my very first assignment, but I'm choosing not to count that one). That's a lot of miles logged in a lot of years, and I can safely say that I rarely, if ever, drove the speed limit while going from one assignment to another. Even with the trailer. And a red vehicle. After moving to Arizona, I was pulled over three times…one for speeding, one for making an inappropriate right turn, and the other for running a stop sign. I got out of all three tickets, which is unheard of for me because I was never the girl who got out of tickets. Ever. Even if I cried. I was once cited for 5 things at a single pull-over…I think the cop felt bad for me since it wasn't my vehicle and there was no way I could have known about 3 of the 5 things I was cited for, but not bad enough to not give me a ticket for one of the indiscretions. I suppose I should consider myself lucky that he only chose one citation, not a very expensive one at that. So…back to my Arizona pull-overs. I honestly think that having the Minnesota plates and Minnesota driver's license had a lot to do with me getting out of the first and the last pull-over…I was able to claim ignorance, even though I'd lived in Arizona long enough to be anything but ignorant about what I was doing when I was pulled over. The pull-over for the inappropriate right was the funniest one. I was pulling out of a bar, being the sober cab that I was that night, and instead of pulling into the closest lane when I turned, I pulled into the far one, anticipating a left turn up ahead. I do this all the time…we all do this all the time. But because I was pulling out of a bar known to be frequented by alcoholics and rowdy college kids, I got pulled over. And then there I was, doing a sobriety test. While my friends and Simon sat in the Jeep watching. The interesting thing about the whole situation, was that I recognized the cop from the hospital, as he had been there a few weeks prior to pick up an unruly patient to take to jail. I didn't mention this to him, as I didn't want to appear that I was trying to get out of a ticket by revealing our past interaction, but in speaking with a cop friend of mine afterwards, he told me that I should always mention that I'm a nurse. Solidarity in working with the public (not always at their finest) and whatnot. I'll have to keep that in mind for next time. Hopefully there isn't a next time.
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| Little Beezer mugging for the camera |
In rather morbid train of thought, Brie is getting up there in age and I've been kind of joking around as to what I'm going to do with her when she passes. Simon thinks we should bury her out in the woods behind our house. Which I would be okay with, I guess. I worry that something will try and dig her up, but I guess if she's dead and her body will contribute to the survival of some other animal (aka, the natural process of things), then I guess I can be all right with that. My ideas are somewhat less traditional. I've tossed around the idea of getting her stuffed, turning her into a handbag, or making her into a rug. Simon is disturbed by all of these. My friend Adam is the only one so far who seems to share my morbid sense of humor, and thinks that the rug is the best option. I tend to agree. I could put the rug under my desk and rest my feet on it while I blog. Simon actually had the idea that we could mix her ashes into some paint and make a painting. I think that's a lot less morbid than the rug idea, but still very meaningful. Simon's sister Abby also suggested the idea of making a paver stone for the garden and incorporating the ashes into the mix for that. Both very good, and very non-disturbing ideas. Not that Brie is anywhere near passing at this exact moment, but she's elderly and fragile and I don't think it'll take a whole heck of a lot to tip the scales to the negative. The vet we go to actually refers to her as her favorite UTI-prone pug, since we are in there every couple months for antibiotics. But she's holding steady for the time being. I actually have her on a new supplement that has glucosamine and turmeric in it, and she's doing a little better. Gives her a little more control of that hind end. She still wanders around like a drunk though.
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| Basically what the new bike looks like. I like the flat black paint. |
In other news not related to running, death, or poop, I recently purchased a new-to-me mountain bike. That I haven't ridden yet. But I will. Someday. It's a Cannondale Six, which doesn't mean a whole lot me, but it seems like a nice bike…I got it for about half retail price on Craigslist and it appears to have been scarcely ridden. I've been learning all kinds of new mountain bike terminology lately, and I've been told that this bike is referred to as a "hard-tail," meaning that it only only has shocks on the front fork. Simon's bike is a "full suspension," which means that he has shocks of some description on the front and the back. Generally a full suspension makes for a smoother ride, and absorbs a decent amount of the impact when riding over boulders and such. Full suspensions seem to run at almost double the price of hard tails, but you can find good used ones at relatively reasonable prices if you're willing to put in the time and effort to look for them. I originally wanted a full suspension bike, but then realized that I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in riding over boulders. In fact, I think riding down a dirt road sounds right up my alley…hahaha! So yeah, here I am with my mountain bike that has yet to be ridden. I hope it starts to get a little nicer outside so I can actually get out and use it. In another bout of crazy thinking, I've decided that I want to find myself a fixed-gear mountain bike. I've determined that they don't exist in stock form (at least not that I've found in my limited Googling), so I have to find a bike that I like, and turn it into a fixed-gear myself. I think we can all agree on the likeliness of that happening…which is not very. The problem with finding a mountain bike with a fixed gear is that most mountain bikers like the ability to coast while aggressively riding downhill. I don't even like to aggressively go downhill on my road bike on a smooth surface…I can't imagine that feeling would change while riding over rocks, tree roots, and other random obstacles. There are a lot of dirt roads and trails here in Flagstaff that I think would be perfect for fixed-gear riding. I really enjoy riding fixed-gear…the ability to control my speed using my legs instead of the brakes is actually really cool, and it challenges me and makes me think more while I'm riding.
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| Love peonies…Grandma always had the light pink ones |
So yeah, I guess you could say that I'm embracing life here in Flagstaff pretty well. I enjoy the scenery, the outdoor offerings, the food, my job, and the people. I also like that when it's snowy and cold here in the winter, I can drive 2 hours south and be in balmy Phoenix weather. Can't beat that! People ask me when I'm going to start traveling again, as if staying here is only a temporary option (and also the subject of one of my works-in-process on my Life At the Bedside blog). I don't really know, to be honest. I really like it here, and I'm really liking the idea of staying put for a while. I'm actually planning on visiting the local garden shops to see about putting in some flowers and plants this spring. There are about 4 flower beds here at our rental place, and as far as I can discern there are only plants in 1 of them. And they've been very poorly maintained at that. I bought a few mums on clearance from the grocery store and plan on putting those out as soon as the threat of frost is mostly gone…it still gets pretty cold here at night…and it just snowed again the other day. I also just found out from a friend of mine that peonies do, in fact, grow in northern Arizona, so I was really stoked about that and have plans to buy some starter bushes and plant them in June. Peonies are the flowers that remind me most of my Grandma Ellringer, who I still miss dearly and think about all the time. It would be cool to have a few plants right outside the window to remind me of her. And who knows…maybe I inherited her green thumb…someone in the family hopefully did!
So that's pretty much it for now. I'll get working on my in-process blogs one of these days. It's just so much more fun to sit and type out whatever happens to be going through my head at the time. Until we meet again. :)
