Moving!!

you'll wanna go to sosivy.tumblr.com from now on!
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Hello, Filler Time!

My folks were here for an early Christmas visit and we did presents.  Holy Cow! Goosy had SO MUCH fun!! She made sure everyone had gifts to open then rolled around on the ground with her new stuffed animals. And she loves to watch the Nutcracker.  At least until he turns into the handsome prince.  Then she looses all interest.  Also, she hates mice - but LOVES the Mouse King.  That's my girl.

I got my presents from my folks also - the LL Bean Signature pants that I really really wanted and some lovely sweaters.  I also won an eBay auction for a Classic Coach bag - black east/west cross body! Can't wait until it gets here.  Now - the Kate Spade items I want just need to stay in my price range and we'll be all set!

I really need to go and study for my Marketing final this evening... but I really don't wanna.  I am so burned out - and we have a group presentation that has everyone freaking the hell out.  And in some sad news, my uncle Jimmy died last night - don't know of what. Unfortunately it is bound to be related to alcoholism... I don't think he was sober since Judy died about 5 years ago. Makes my father, the oldest sibling the only one still alive. Enter operation Cheer Up Daddy!  I think I shall have to enlist Goosy in the cheering up process.  As she is ALL ABOUT her Grandpa. 

Wow. This got bummer filled pretty fast.  Oh well.  Can't help that now - have to study for my damn final. Perhaps tomorrow I shall post all sunny and bright.

So Over Today

You know the day isn't off go a good start when at 5:30 am you are ready for a do over.  Today has been "one of those days" starting with a let cramp at 2am (so bad that I was awake until 3:45) a toddler that doesn't want to sleep in her bed and a dog that snores so loud the windows rattle.  But.  The worst thing was my workout this morning.... I slipped doing dips.  I still have to use a band for them... and my arms were shaking so badly that ring-dips were out of the question... can you see where this is going?? Yup. Popped myself in the face with the band.  Hard.  Like my vision blacked out and I have a lovely fat upper lip.  And it was just the first round of "Elizabeth" and the big bad 6am crossfitter just wanted to sit in the bathroom and cry.  This following a series of events that have ended up making me feel like I may never get my hair cut again.  I was suppose to get my hair cut and colored Saturday morning... (got a fantastic "happy holidays" discount and everything) not realizing that we are committed elsewhere that morning.  So - for the 4th time this year, i have to cancel my hair appointment. 

I am now going to drink a lot of coffee and feel sorry for myself.  Hopefully I will be over it soon - my folks are coming down for their Holiday visit and I have a lovely picture of snow in Paris to look at on my computer. 

Paleo Challenge - Final

And the winners of the Paleo Challenge: Chris took first and I got second.

Good Lord.

So we did what we jokingly said we would do "if we won" which was take the prize money and get some new equipment for the gym.  And we got some new abmats.  They rock.

Yay us!

Leading Up to Christmas!

Well we have certainly been busy the last couple weeks.  First thing was Oyster Festival and it was the bestest one yet... even if one of us had thrown out his back, but it was properly medicated with Gin so no worries there.  We had a fantastic visit with the Family, and Goosy stayed at home with Grandma, making this also the first time that both of us were away from the kid (only the second time for me). 

Then we had a weekend off - and got lots done around the house and did crazy things like get to know our next door neighbor a little better (we have only been in the house for almost 4 years, we rare getting much better!).  Then last weekend we went up to Kingston Springs to spend the weekend with my Godmother.  Taking both dogs and the kid.  We left our house at about 6:15 and it took until almost 8 before we were clear of traffic and into Tennessee.  Thankfully the kid slept almost the entire way, and the dogs settled down nicely.  We made very good time, and once we cleared a very surreal Chattanooga we had smooth sailing all the way to Cindy's house.  The dogs got along great with hers (POSH and Rudy) and Polly the cat even got into the spirit and teased Maggie . We had a fantastic visit, Goosy got to play outside as much as she wanted and she became best friends with Rudy.  And even though her sleep got all messed up (hello 4:30 am) she went to bed nice and early Saturday.  I spent Friday evening getting kicked by a toddler and shoved by a Moose.  Not my best sleep.  Chris took Freya when she woke up Ungodly:30 and I was able to get some sleep.  Which was great because we got to go to a lovely Farmers Market - that had several grass fed beef vendors (and there are like none at our Farmers Market) and we just had fun looking at everything. We ended up getting some kale, goat cheese, tangerines and apples, to go with the chili that was waiting for our dinner.  Then it was back to the house for some lunch and wine in the back yard.  (The weather was just perfect - warm and sunny.)  The dogs played and played and played and the kid played and played and played with them.  We had a bonfire that Freya collected the sticks for and it was just a great evening telling tall tales and drinking. Sunday we went to the dog park in the morning and then drove home that afternoon.  I really didn't want to come home.  Took lots of great pictures and I have totally fallen in love with the little hunting lodge and the city of Nashville.

Then - Thanksgiving was last week.  We stuffed ourselves silly over at The Jones' and a lovely time was had by all.  We provided the Sangria and Tammy's cousin made the greens and Tammy made the rest of it.  And oh boy! It was soooo good.  I broke Paleo and had some bread - which I regretted the next day, but it was totally worth it at the time. Sunday we put the tree up and Freya has been going full on Christmas since. 

This weekend, we have "off" and then my parents are coming in for a visit - so we get to have Christmas twice.  Woohoo!  And Sally is going to be here for Christmas, and the week after, when Freya's school is closed.  Grr. (on the closed school, not Sally).  Thank god I have paid vacation this year.  And... that's all for now.  I'll post some more exciting scatterbrained rambling later.

How Come?

When the crazies start talking about their “spirit guide” and the like it is always something cool like an Otter, a Cat or (the always popular) Wolf... it's never anything like a goat or cow or duck.   Not sexy and romantic enough I guess.  I am pretty sure that there are Spirit Guides, but they are a part of a more pagan religion; like Native American, African Tribes or South American indigenous people practiced.  Not so much a Catholic or Church of England thing.  And most surly nothing like a spirit guide would come within 100 meters of the Puritans.

I guess it’s funny to me… because I have night terrors, and I have hallucinations at night when I wake up from a particularly vivid dream (my favorite is when I read the Great Gatsby in high school, after reading a party scene and going to bed… now every time I have to go to the loo at night in my folks house, I see a 1920’s party going on in the living room) that all these people talking about seeing “ghosts” and “demons” when what it most likely a sleep disorder (and I have it but can’t remember what it’s called and am too lazy to look it up). Wow. That was quite a sentence.  And, now that I'm thinking about it, I have a tendency to see things that aren't there all the time, not just at night.  I remember seeing  the movie A Beautiful Mind, and thinking: holy shit I have schizophrenia! (Schizophrenia can present in early stages as auditory and visual hallucinations; of course that is dumbing it down a lot; but the gist of why it freaked me out.) It does make for interesting walks to the loo in the middle of the night.  It also means that I have at least two people (Husband and Brother) that will see movies like Blair Witch and that Paranormal State and tell me that I am under no circumstances allowed to watch said movie.  This is after they have both had to deal with a Sivy post creepy movie. 

Don't get me wrong - I totally believe in ghosts. I have lived in a house that had a ghost cat living in the basement; a little black and white fella that would play with Misha and Sassy.  And I will swear that for years after she died, I could feel my cat Sabrina jump onto my bed.  Most people I know have at least one story of unexplained phenomena.  Perhaps at this point, I should also state, that I really find myself agreeing with the premise of Gods and so forth from the novel American Gods.  Yes, I am aware that we are talking fiction here, but there is a rather sound bit of reasoning in there.  As this is a country made up of immigrants, having shoved the native peoples as far away as possible, the people that then settled the country brought their gods and belief systems with them. Think about it... all those little bits and pieces of folk lore, or even that Oden would be here because the Vikings settled Greenland and Iceland.  All the little imps, demons and creatures from the African folk tales would have found their way over from the slave trade; and all the pixies and other bits and pieces that would have shuffled on over with the highly superstitious people immigrating from Eastern Europe. So they would all mix up together with the native religions and Viola! You get ghost stories.  Or something like that. 
 
Now, the creepiest and also saddest thing that I have ever had happen to me was when I was in high school.  There was this big white abandon farm house where my friends and I would go and hang out because we were all cool and goth and shit.  Well, before we started hanging out there someone had painted a pentagram on the floor of one room, and there was the typical "satanic" gibberish on the walls.  (I have a feeling that if met by a true Satanist these suburban weenies would have wet themselves, but I digress).  Eventually, I got more hours at work and daylight savings ended, and generally I just didn't have time to go and hang out at the house.  I really liked the house, it had a fantastic layout, and this super little room on the second floor, that had only a bathtub sitting in it. I used to talk to the house when I would hang out there, telling it how pretty I thought it was; and then one night, I had this very vivid dream that there was blood running down the walls, like the walls were bleeding, and blood covering that silly pentagram on the floor.  And I had the oddest feeling, like the house was in trouble and very cold.  The next day, I drove out to where the house was, and discovered that it was being torn down.  The property had been sold and house was about half demolished when I saw it that day.  And I just burst into tears.  I remember telling the house that I was so sorry, but there was nothing that I could do; and to date, I have not had any more dreams about the house. Where the house stood is now as gas station.

Paleo Challenge, Benchmarks, and Other Goings On

The Paleo Challenge has officially ended, and we are now doing the benchmarks to gauge performance.  So - that is three different things - the one rep max of power clean, deadlift, bench press and back squat; the Benchmark: 500M row, 40 squats, 30 sit-ups, 20 push-ups and 10 pull-ups; and "Hugo". Hugo has been this nasty looming thing for the entire challenge for me.  It is 5 rounds for time of: 400M run, 21 box jumps, 21 kettle-bell and 21 pull-ups.  I am pretty sure that it almost killed me doing Hugo in August.  (I had brilliantly donated blood the day before, having no idea what Hugo was.)  But as we are doing these with the same modifications as at the beginning, I am hoping for a sub-45 min Hugo.  So far, my "benchmark" was 6:06, down from 7:49 and my deadlift has gone up to 190 (from 185).  My back squat is 145 up from 105! WOOO!  That leaves the power clean and bench press for after Urbanna, as Hugo is tomorrow.  And I'm sure I posted this already - but going from 160 to 146 was pretty cool too.  And, at 146 I am officially weighing less than when I got pregnant. I still have about 6 pounds of fat to go - my target is 139.  OH!  And my face is like 90% better, still get some flushing from nerves and heat but the painful puffy zit infested red flushing is gone.  The best part: no more medicine! 

Now, for the other goings on.... Grandma is arriving today to stay with Freya for Oyster Festival.  It is no kid this year, and we are really looking forward to this vacation.  It will be the second time I have been away from her overnight.  I am a little nervous, but we both really need this break.  I have been looking forward to  and planning my wardrobe for this trip for the last 2 months!  Surprisingly the wardrobe hasn't altered much at all.  Atypical of me, usually I've overhauled the planned wardrobe at least 3 times!  But - can't go wrong with jeans, t-shirts and sweaters.  Biggest issues have become: which shoes and jacket or puffer vest?? We aren't checking luggage and it will all have to fit in the massive NRA backpack (that thing is a pocket universe) but boots take up a lot of room!  And do I really want a coat? Decisions, decisions!  Oh, my bag - do I carry a tote, my purse, which purse.... oh heavens to Betsy! That whoosh you just heard? That was Chris rolling his eyes.  But if I am focusing on this, then I am not freaking out about leaving Freya.  So it's all good.  Besides the most important things on the what to pack list are: camera, "ears", cords for the phones and the iPod.  Because everything else can be obtained once we are there if we have forgotten anything.