Wednesday, January 28, 2009

January Strikes Again (and Again)

I wrote this last night (Tuesday) around midnight. Before the power went out.
***
Man, I hate this time of year.

But before I go into the Woe Is Me report, I have to tell you about Friday.

Our 4 p.m. appointment rescheduled & my mom had the kids, so I had a free late afternoon & what did I do? I went running, of course!

It had been a gorgeous day--upper 50s, sunshine. But by the time I was ready to roll at 4:30, it was grey & colder & windy. No way was I not getting my run in, though. I set out from home & put in a solid 4 miles. I felt fabulous. Strong. Glad I'd gotten an unplanned run in & put in 14 miles in 3 days.

Then Friday night around 10 p.m., I felt that tell tale tickle in the back of my throat. I was getting a cold. I started the zicam right away, but by Saturday morning I had a raging sore throat & congested sinuses. The weekend was spent in my PJ's, with me popping ibuprofen for my aching head instead of sore muscles. I even skipped church Sunday, I felt so lousy.

By Monday I still felt awful and didn't get to work until after 1 p.m. We had a client appointment at 4, and by the time I got home with the kids I was wiped out. The weather people were sounding pretty sure we were going to get clobbered by the vast winter storm hitting the U.S. and I figured we'd be stuck at home on Tuesday, so I skipped Monday bath night for the kiddos and let them watch TV instead of doing Sophie's homework. It was definitely an "all system shut down" kind of night.

Which basically meant I've had almost 4 days of being in slog mode. And that means I eat. And I don't work out. And I feel lousy about it. But I feel lousy from the cold that won't die (hello zicam? why aren't you working yet?!) and that pretty much trumps my ability to do much healthy for myself.

I'm not calling myself a failure. I'm not all upset about losing the momentum I was building last week. I'll get back on plan & hit the road running soon enough. As soon as the darn ice melts anyway.

It's just a typical January.

And January bites.
***
So guys, I'm finally at long last watching a season of The Biggest Loser from the (almost) beginning. I've watched last week's and now tonight's show, so I missed the first two weeks but I'm still going to get to see them virtually from the beginning. I thank my DVR for finally allowing me to catch TBL & American Idol. I usually am watching from 9 - 10 (or 11 on 2 hour nights).

I was so glad Joelle got to stay last week. Carla & Bob were way too hard on her. I think Jen really summed it up best in this post. And now look at her this week! You go girl. (Although I think Carla might get on my nerves pretty quickly.) And I thought it was a no win for everyone tonight on who had to go home. I hope they pull a surprise & bring back the one person who really wanted to stay but had to go home. I truly think it's possible that person wins the runner up $100,000. The couple who got to stay better work their behinds off. I'm sure they will.

You TBL fans are surely desensitized to it, but I am just floored at the overt product placements. How bloody annoying. I guess everyone has to pay the bills.

***

Now it's Wednesday night and we are in a hotel because we have no power. Half the city is without power & it looks like an ice bomb went off. We drove around tonight, going to Walmart, then the office to see if power was back on there (it is, so Mark will be going in tomorrow), and then to Walgreens for meds. So many trees have been damaged. I didn't see many homes that were smashed, so that's a blessing. But it could take a week to get our power back on. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it's only another day or so.

Life is no where near normal right now. I can't even begin to say how thankful I am that we have a warm room and food & are all safe. I know there are many, many people in this city (and the country) who can't say that right now. But this is not easy for any of us.

The kids are going to my mom's tomorrow, and will stay with her for a couple days. The poor doggie is at home by herself. I'm getting her tomorrow & will take her to our cousin or to the puppy hotel. I'm hoping we have power back by the weekend. I'm not sure where we'll go if we don't. We have my mom or my sister we could stay with. I'm sure some of our friends would set us up if we needed them to. I just don't know what's best for us. I think for now, it's going to be one day at a time.

Food & exercise are out the window right now. I'm in survival mode.

Like I said when I wrote this post yesterday, I hate January. This ice storm just gives me one more reason to be ready for February.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oy! Glad you are safe and warm, but hope you feel better soon and have power back quickly!

debby said...

Man, what a week! I think that's just real life, the ebb and flow of the exercise, I mean.

Wow, that must be some ice storm. Jill got hit by it too.

Vickie said...

we have kept our power all winter - but many here lost it for a week (just before x-mas). Did you take care of shutting off your water and blowing out the pipes? If you don't know how - call a plumber to do it for you - or your pipes may freeze and burst. One of my car pool families had this happen - water ran into the basement - they lost almost everything in the basement and had to replace the flooring on much of the first floor.

Anonymous said...

Ugh - I so feel your pain! Just hang in there and think of all the snuggle time you and Mark will get out of all this! ;)

I think you gave me your cold. I've got the tickle and the sneezing and I know it just gets worse from here. Try to get as much rest as you can - that always seems to help me the most.

Next week is a new week AND a new month, so things will fo sho be better by then. Let's start Shredding next week, k?

I'm sending warm, ice-melting vibes your way! Hang in there!

Unknown said...

Wow, L! Sorry about all this winter weather. I'm glad you and your family have somewhere warm to stay for the time being. Hope your cold/sinuses are better.

BL - ugh, the products...chew some gum, eat some jello - shut it. That and the way the show you 10 minutes before the commercial, then come back after commercial and show you the exact same thing.

Take care of your family and yourself.

Lori G. said...

My gosh, what a crazy week. But you got your running done on Friday. I just hope you feel better.

I just read that some places in KY may not get power for a WEEK. Not that it necessarily makes your life any better but still...a WEEK?

Hang in there.

New Mum Online said...

I love the goals on your side bar and the fact that 6 out of 9 of them are completed. Such an inspiration as I am terrible at goal setting. Goal for 2009 was to lose 42 pounds. So far in January I lost 3 pounds total and put those same 3 pounds back on the week after the week I lost them.
Sorry to hear about your sick and cold January.

Cindy said...

Wow. I hope you are doing OK. We did not get the bad storm at all but got some snow and sleet. And to be sick on top of it all! Hugs - as Vickie would say!