I sincerely must be crazy.

I somehow stumbled across this website.

And I'm seriously considering it.

It's on my birthday.

It's Christmas Town.  and I love Christmas Town

But I don't run!!

I must be crazy!

Some pros and cons

Pros:

• It'll help the whole losing weight thing... especially since I'll have to get more exercise in to train
• It's an excuse to buy new sneakers
• I think my boss-lady might do it with me
• Fitness on my birthday.... at Christmas Town... 

Cons

• I don't really run...
• I'll have to pay money... it's $45 until Halloween.
• I might have to run it alone!  *bites nails*

Well, I downloaded the Couch to 5K app for my phone. ... so we'll see what happens....

Brace Yourself....

Oh yes, it's the season!






For pumpkin spiced everything!!

Oh let's see... I've had quite a few of Starbuck's Pumpkin Spiced lattes already....






The Spousal Equivalent came home with Pumpkin Spice M&M's

At World market today I picked up Pumpkin Pasta Sauce



And Pumpkin Gnoochi










So today, I made mini crustless pumpkin pies.  I started out with this recipe, substituted a bit of the real sugar for stevia... 1 Weight Watchers Points Plus Value per muffin!

I plan on using them to make my morning oatmeal.  I think instead of adding cup up apples and cookie butter.... I add a muffin of pie and some nuts.

Yay fall!!

It's not 5pm yet.....

Ever have one of those days where you look at the clock thinking that it must be 5, and it's only 11:30?

Today is that day.

It started out with students not being able to find faculty mailboxes, despite the colorful arrows.

Then through some email exchanges we discovered that we were handling publicity for one lecture and organizing a reception...

Then 226 alumni were emailed with a message that contained approximately the following:  email me with updates on what you're doing now.  Cue inbox explosion.

Add to that the PMS,  (Honestly, there's not enough chocolate on this planet right now), and something wonky going on in my digestive system (my stomach is singing whale songs)...

Not not the happiest of campers.

I'm going to scream... or cry....  I just don't know which.

Guns and Coffee

Now, let me preface this with:  I think that the world should be filled with rainbows and unicorns and no one should even need a gun.  And there is no violence.  And everyone eats dessert for breakfast.

So, Starbucks's CEO released a statement saying that he'd rather not have people openly carrying guns in the store.

I would like to clarify two points. First, this is a request and not an outright ban. Why? Because we want to give responsible gun owners the chance to respect our request—and also because enforcing a ban would potentially require our partners to confront armed customers, and that is not a role I am comfortable asking Starbucks partners to take on. Second, we know we cannot satisfy everyone. For those who oppose “open carry,” we believe the legislative and policy-making process is the proper arena for this debate, not our stores. For those who champion “open carry,” please respect that Starbucks stores are places where everyone should feel relaxed and comfortable. The presence of a weapon in our stores is unsettling and upsetting for many of our customers.

So, howls have already gone up on both sides of this issue.  the Pro-gun people demanding boycotts and crying about how the liberals are going to take their guns away.  The anti-gun people saying that this doesn't go far enough.  Reading the comments of a few news stories... it's already starting.

So, in a world where an armed (probably mentally unstable) man just shot up the Navy Yard in DC... do we really want to see this while getting coffee?

For me?  No.  I don't like guns.  I don't like to see them.  (Unless they are Nerf guns.  Those are rather non-lethal)  This sight would make me uncomfortable.

A handgun in a holster?  still uneasy.. but not as much.

Honestly, is expecting to run into a moose in the drive-thru?

So to sum up:  Starbucks' official position is this:  We'd rather not have the guns in the stores.... but we won't tell you to leave.

I'll be over here, with my Pumpkin Spice Latte.

Howl-O-Scream, or the time that I held bags....

Howl-O-Scream started at Busch Gardens this past weekend.  And I can hear you now.  But you hate haunted houses and scary movies....

Well, the scary festivities start at 6!  So you have all day to not be scared.

And I can hear you again.... But you don't like rides....

Yeah.... I know...

I'm not a fan of rides that can result in actual death.  I love dark rides, and rides without heights or drops or.... death...

I was with 3 coaster enthusiasts....

So there was a lot of them riding on the coaster and me holding their stuff.  And by god, they did all 5 coasters at the park!

I got to eat where I wanted....  The Spousal Equivalent and I split the smokehouse sampler.

I got to go on a few rides that I picked...

But what I wanted was the shows!




Man, the shows are cheezy.  They are fun.  One of then has naughty nurses and is a bit adult!


I know.... I know... I sent to Busch Gardens and held purses...

But I had fun!

And today I am SORE!

I know..... I know... I'm a horrible person....

And yes, it has to do with my TV viewing habits.

Last night, after a long day at Busch Gardens, I watched the Miss American pageant.  Now, this isn't something that I normally do.  I know, it objectifies women and all that stuff... but I was interested in some of the contestants.  There was a tattooed Army Sargent, a woman missing most of an arm, a woman with Tourette's.  One of the women fell during rehearsals and tore her ACL, and did the pageant in a bedazzled knee brace and flats.  She happened to be a world champion baton twirler.. and was AMAZING!!

But then America lost it's collective shit.  There they were.  1 and 2.  Both Asian-Americans.  And a woman of Indian descent (From Syracuse, might I add) won.  Yes.  A brown person won.

Wow..... way to go America....  Show how bigoted you are!

While I was watching history being made, a few things ran across my Facebook feed:

Yup.  Boycott the Olympics.  (And many, many people are saying to boycott the watching of it, not the participating in it)

And it made me angry.  Not because of what Russia is doing.  Yes, it's awful!  

But now, I'm going to be the bad guy.

You see, I have three things that I schedule time for:  The Tony's.  The Oscars.  The Olympics.  Especially the Opening Ceremonies.  

So, Russia went and passed some idiotic legislation that is an AMAZING human rights violation.

And because of that, we're expected not to watch the Olympics.  Well, I'm sorry.  If watching the Olympics makes me a horrible person.  then I'm a horrible person.

I'm sorry, I'm going to watch the Olympics.... for many reasons.

1. If it's to try to hurt NBC.. too late.. they made a multi-games deal.  That money has already been made.
2. If it's a ratings thing... I'm not a Neilsen household... so my ratings don't matter
3. I need to watch.  You do too.  The eyes of the world are going to be on Russia.  And they know it.  We want to witness if anything untoward is happening.

Honestly, people who are scholars of Russia aren't surprised.  I talked to an expert in Russia and Post-Soviet studies, and he said that the entire country is really, really conservative.  Like... if the Tea Party controlled government.

So I'll be watching.  I'll be watching the athletes that have worked their entire lives to get to stand on a podium.  I'll be watching how American's treat the new Miss America.

And I'll be watching with popcorn and a glass of wine.  Because that's how I roll.

Did you leave anything in the store??

(I've not heard this phrase said to me too often, thank goodness!)

It's not often that I shop.  Frankly, it's a rare occurrence.  But hell, I got paid two days early and I needed things!

So at 7:15 this morning, we left the house.  First stop:  get my car aligned.  Yes, I know I need new ties!

Then on to Target.  I bought some sweaters on the clearance rack, and some granola.  Yay Target Cartwheel!

Then onto Goodwill.  The Spousal Equivalent needed new jeans... so I looked too.  $3 and a $15 sushi set later... (I'm not a sushi fan, but I like that I can use the dishes for better portion control.)

Then onto the mall.  I wanted to check out the Halloween store.  I never buy anything, but I love to look!  I also checked out Hot Topic.... where I found this dress!  I'd never wear it, but I love it.

Then to the store to do the weekly shopping!  I decided to make Crock Pot Margarita Chicken. (It's basically this recipe, plus some tequila), and since we'll be at Busch Gardens tomorrow, I wanted to get the shopping done.  We also stopped at Big Lots for storage units for Legos.  I want them off the floor!

Then the liquor store, for an airplane size bottle of tequila....

then BACK to a store, because I forgot the chicken stock!

So, after getting home I:

• wiped down the plastic basket from Big Lots for use in the fridge
• prepared the Margarita Chicken
• made lunch
• washed the dishes
• took dishes out of the cabinet, to donate
• re-arranged the dish cabinet
• calculated how much cash I can take out after bills for my cash envelopes.

Next a nap.... or maybe some laundry...

but probably a nap!