Running...and Pooh

Sorry, if I've brought you here and you were looking for that big cuddle loveable lug of a bear, I'm not talking about Winnie. And, this post has nothing to do with the Disney Store.
Nope, this one is all about running...long distances. Because I've learned a few things over the last year and a half. I used to only run short distances. It took me a long time to get past the two mile mark. It was like that middle of the week hump, or my miserable Monday morning feeling...it was something I just couldn't seem to put behind me. But then finally I had a break through and in June I ran my first ever marathon...a true milestone for this Old Fat Mom. Of course I had to drop 30 pounds first to do it. Thanks to Weight Watchers... :D (Which by the way is running a Free Promotion until Saturday).

Anyway, back to my story about pooh...

There's a direct link to running and your digestive tract. I know, we don't want to talk about such things. But it's your body and we all have to, you know, pooh...

So, it's best to be prepared.

When I go out for a long run, I try to have everything I need: water, Shot Bloks, maybe a little Gu. But I never thought about the other part...well, except for maybe needing to pee--you know, I'm a woman and we women have bladders the size of a small pea. Anyway, I never really had a problem with the other side of the digestive tract...until I started trying to speed up. . . and cut down my time by running intervals... Now, I'm not a doctor and I don't know but I'm just saying, when I started running faster, I had to GO. So, I started reading up on the issue.

When you run, more blood gets to your vital organs and speeds things up and (apparently) flushes them out. So if you're going for a long run, remember, don't eat a lot of high fiber the night before. Avoid roughage. And when you do your first marathon, don't - let me repeat myself DO NOT do something out of the ordinary for you. People kept telling me to carb up, carb load, and eat my fill of pasta. Hey, that's not normal for me. That might be okay for super skinny runners. But, like I said, I'm an Old Fat Mom, and I usually run on nothing, 'cuz I have plenty stored up in reserves. Anyway, the sad fact was I carb loaded and felt horrible the entire way of the run. On the bright side, I finished and heck I was 50! So I'm not complaining...much. I'm just passing on a few words of wisdom to all my running friends, especially any Old Fat Moms out there. You don't want to feel sick on your very first marathon...right? So take heed ladies, don't eat a lot of fiber the night before, and don't carb load if you don't normally.

Another Birthday

It was Luke's birthday and all he wanted for his special day was . . . food. Yep, to go out to breakfast and dinner. And, heck I'm a card carrying Weight Watchers member (and by the way you can join for free until Saturday-just saying) so no one has to twist my arm...at least not very hard - to get me to a restaurant. So, off we went. First to Petite Provence on Division. Yep, those chocolate croissants for breakfast are always delish! And while we were there, the owner brought Luke a full cinnamon loaf with a candle in it. Of course the family had to sing and then a sweet young couple sent pastries over to the table (sort of like ordering a drink for someone on their 21st birthday--only we didn't know these people at all). So having had more than enough to eat, we rolled out of the restaurant. (btw: I forgot to get any pictures of the breakfast - bad Mom - so the picture above is the free dessert - a pile of ice cream, I think, from the dinner dessert.) But back to my story...

Then a few short hours later, or so it seemed, we were off to dinner.

So more food and more free desserts and I'd say we all had a very Happy Birthday for Luke! How 'bout you readers out there, do you like gifts or food with family for your birthday?. . . or maybe both...or something else...?

Wordstock

Here in the Pacific Northwest we writerly folks have a local tradition, it's called: Wordstock. It's a writer's workshop/festival filled with fun information for readers and writers.

One of the things I love about Wordstock is the price. It is so affordable that there is no reason not to go. Here is a list of the 2012 prices: 1 day-$7, 2 days-$10, groups of 10 or more: $5,  kids ages 0-13-free (but a ticket is still required).

That's the reason I always try to volunteer. And, it's a wonderful way to get to know other writers/readers and people with like-minded interests.

I've volunteered a couple of years and highly encourage others to do the same. Plus, there are all sorts of events associated with the festival that take place ahead of the BIG event, one example is a poetry slam.

And there are so many wonderful, friendly people to get to know. Like Kelsey. She volunteers a ton of her time to the cause.

She sat with me at the Registration Table but she was doing way more than me because she was a black shirt - I was a red shirt. Shirt colors are the way to quickly distinguish the worker bees from the real honey bees (or the ones who really know what's going on behind the scenes.)

And Kelsey bought a couple of the cutest books ever, at the festival: Baby Mouse by Matt Holm and illustrated by Jennifer Holm.

So, if your budget is tight but you want to get into the wonderful writerly world, take note! Write this one word down: WORDSTOCK.  And put it on your calendar for next year. You won't want to miss it! Guaranteed.

DIVERSE ENERGIES

I even love the name of this book and two of the authors were at the book signing panel, which took place Sunday, October 14th at Powell's Books in Beaverton: Malinda Lo and Cindy Pon.
But the full panel included: Mette Ivie Harrison, Cindy Pon, Janni Lee Simner, Sarah Rees Brennan and Malinda Lo. And all of these women write about strong female characters!!! and if that's not cool, I don't know what is. Plus, Sarah Rees Brennan kept me laughing while she talked about her new book Unspoken. So, now I have another book on my TBR list.

This great panel of speakers had just come from the Sirens Conference, which now I want to go to next year and was sorry I missed it this year because these speakers were funtabulous. Between skits and humorous anctedotes all of these women told powerful stories about writing, their characters and they even shared part of there lives, like the fact that Mette Harrison is an Iron Man Athlete! Crazy strong female character herself. They also talked about speculative fiction and writing in that field: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and/or Horror.

I bought a copy of Diverse Energies because Cindy Pon is one of the authors and after Silver Phoenix and Fury of the Phoenix, you have to have something else of hers to read...right? It also didn't hurt that Malinda Lo has one of her stories in the book. Plus I think anthologies are always fun and diverse... ;D because you have different authors with different stories to tell from different perspectives.And Cindy and Malinda both signed the copy for me :D

Pretty in Pink

We had to dress up our little Husky for the party so we put a pretty pink bow around her neck...I'm not sure if she's playing dead or just having fun...

But, like a kid just try to get a good picture. Impossible.

Embellishing Inexpensive Gifts...Gloves

I was making birthday gifts all weekend long. And, with such a big family, I have to watch my budget. So I took some inexpensive gloves and sewed some seasonal buttons on them to make them festive, fun and fall-ready.

Take a peek.

Then I taped on a pretty Goblin Glog sticker to a brown paper bag and a bottle of wine and WAH-LAH instant gift ready to go.

Costume Part II - The Riddler

So this is Part II of the DIY Riddler Costume.

We needed to paint question marks on the Riddler costume. So, we needed to make a template: a question mark template or stencil.

We drew the question mark on a piece of paper then transferred it to black crafting foam (you can purchase this at any craft store) so the paint wouldn't soak through - like it would if we used paper as the stencil. Then we put a piece of wood inside the tank top - so the paint wouldn't soak into the fabric and leave black blotches all over the back of the shirt (you could also use aluminum foil or wax paper). We took some black fabric paint and sprayed away.

Here's the process in a pictorial history:

 Next we need to make the mask but that will have to be another blog post. There's only so much we can do in one evening :(