P.S.

I am rewarding myself for not having any candy today with a piece of candy.

Thanks, Ma. I totally see what you mean.

A couple years ago, my mom sold the house I grew up in. Having neither the time nor the interest in going through the crap in my old bedroom (or the space to store it), I grabbed a couple items that were important and told my mom to do what she wish with the rest. Toss it. Give it away. I didn't care. This weekend, my mom came to visit. She brought boxes and boxes of stuff she claimed was too sentimental for her to get rid of - I deserved to go through it myself.

Below is a working list of items my mom found "too special" to dispose of herself:
1. The pins (aka flair) I had to wear during my two summers working at a family restaurant while I was a teen. Not exactly my fondest employment memories.
2. A Newport cigarette duffel bag (purchased with points by some member of my extended family, I suspect).
3. A stack of those magazine subscription slips that annoy the living hell out of me. Apparently, before they annoyed me, I collected them. WTF.
4. A nylon wallet full of bouncy balls. (again, WTF)

And the highlight so far?
A letter from one of my friends (or perhaps just somebody copying my homework) to one of my teachers explaining that my humanities binder was involved in a locker burglary. Sound familiar? It's not signed, but I have theories about who its author may be.

I've hardly put a dent in this stack of boxes, so I'm sure there are many more treasures to come. In the meantime, I'm looking to get rid of a copy of The Good Son. No, not the movie. The book! Let me know if you're interested.

Ama's COT 2008 Half Marathon Notable Event #2

I'm surprised Jlou hasn't touched on the swag bags yet! We (maybe just I) were expecting some vitamins, energy supplements, maybe even a Power Bar or a coupons for such. No such luck. We received: shampoo and conditioner. DOVE shampoo and conditioner. The fancy hair replenishment kind or some other type that I definitely would not link to marathon running. At least Jlou's husband was happy. He has glorious hair, you know.

COT 2008 Notable Event #2

So this isn't technically about the race, but whatever.

While in Boise, we stopped in at a little antiques store. Treasures for sale included old family photos. WTF. There were boxes of them organized by subject (couples, male, female, babies, etc). My chain of thought went something like this:

Are these really old pictures of random people?...Hold it together, jlou, there's an employee right there. Don't give away how effing ridiculous you think this is by laughing uncontrollably like you're tempted to do...Do people really buy these?...Do you think I can make money off of my old family photos? Just of the people I don't like so much, of course...What if a picture of me ends up for sale for 5 cents in 80 years?...Seriously, this can't be normal, can it?

Ama's COT 2008 Half Marathon Notable Event #1

I trained to run/walk the half and brought my Nike+ wristband to track my time. At the starting line, I went to set the wristband only to see a blank screen. I wiggled it, shook it, screamed profanity (in my head) at it until I heard the air horn. My thoughts from the start line to mile 1: "oh s***, oh s***, oh s***!"

COT 2008 Notable Event #1

Somewhere around mile 1, a couple of 12(or so)-year-old boys zipped past me. I didn't see them for the rest of the race. Thoughts that went through my mind included "Holy crap!", "Where are their parents?", and "We're all winners!!!"

Since the half, I've had a hard time bringing myself to run. I think it was something of a post goal-race crash. In any event, I pretty much took off a couple weeks, but I hopped back on the trusty treadmill today and plan to get back on schedule this week.

In other news, I'm 4 days off the soda. I read online that drinking soda gives you a taste for sweets. I have a big enough taste for sweets without drinking such copious amounts of soda that my husband says, "God, you drink a ton of soda!" on a daily basis. In fact, we've been forced to buy more Halloween candy twice already because I keep eating it all, and we need to go to the store again. Yes, that's right. I've eaten enough candy to feed a neighborhood of children. Three times. Before my run today I was trying to figure out if my sports bra shrunk recently or if I gained about 2 inches of back fat recently. Hmm...I may have just answered my own question.

Rules: Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve answered the questions on your blog.

10 Years Ago (1998):

1. Sophomore in high school.
2. Had a driver’s license but no car so I was riding the school bus.
3. Trying to convince my teachers that someone really did steal books from my locker (which they did!)
4. Irritated that none of my friends had the same lunch hour.
5. My cat ran away/was eaten by mountain lions.

5 Things on Today's "To Do" List:

1. Finish billings before I go home…it’s my Friday!
2. Make a delicious dinner, maybe lasagna or stuffed peppers…
3. Laundry.
4. Pack and move a few things to my new digs.
5. Watch Thursday night TV!

5 Things that I would do if I were a millionaire:

1. Do a happy dance knowing that I could stop worrying about having enough money for school.
2. Pay off my car.
3. Pay off my parents bills.
4. Help my other family members with their bills.
5. Donate to charity.

5 Places I have lived: I only have 2

1. Pocatello, ID
2. Coeur d’ Alene ID.
3.
4.
5.

5 Jobs I have had:
1. Hostess
2. Waitress
3. Desk Clerk
4. Painter
5. Office Assistant/AR Clerk

I'll tag....anyone who wants in!

Sorry I'm boring

Chris tagged me. Yikes!

Rules: Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve answered the questions on your blog.

10 Years Ago (1998):
1. Sophomore in high school.
2. Still pretending to know who Ama was probably.
3. Convincing myself I'd be okay if my 4.0 didn't last forever (and I was).
4. Starting to get into competitive dance.
5. Uh..I got a cute hair cut that year..

5 Things on Today's "To Do" List:
1. Wash my blanket.
2. Work.
3. Run. I guess.
4. Clean my kitchen.
5. Fold laundry.
(Guess how many of those things I got done today. Ha!)

5 Things that I would do if I were a millionaire:
(I'm with Topher. How much of a millionaire makes a big difference.)
1. Pay off my house.
2. Pay somebody to paint the inside of my house.
3. Pay off student loans.
4. Save it!
5. ??

5 Places I have lived:
1. Fairbanks, AK
2. Hayden, ID
3. Missoula, MT
4. Bozeman, MT
5. Coeur d'Alene, ID (If I have to name a 5th)

5 Jobs I have had:
1. Hostess
2. Waitress
3. Office Bitch
4. Math Grader
5. Computer Programmer Extraordinaire

Now, I'm tagging....
I didn't really check to see who's already done this, so forgive and ignore me if I retag.
1. Ama
2. xjvpastor
3. *jen*
4. Emilie
5. Amy

I'll have to run further next go around.

Which race did we run again??

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Oh yeah, the half marathon. Thanks for reminding me, medal. Anybody care to guess what the full marathon medal looks like? I'll give you a clue: there's no jagged edge.

You had me at "Bleeding. Nipples."

Ryan Reynolds wrote an amusing piece on The Huffington Post today about why he's running the NYC Marathon.

It's my hope the story of my father combined with my own goal of becoming the first person in history to sob uncontrollably for 26.2 miles straight, may inspire you to give something too.