Frozen food madness

For dinner last night, I decided I would buy something at the store instead of going to a fast food place. I got ready after my run and drove to the grocery store.

I knew exactly what I wanted. I walked back to the frozen food isle and stood in front of the Italian bag meals. I opened the door and pulled a bag out. I was ready to leave the isle and pay, but I stopped in my tracks. The front of the bag said "meal for two". On this night, I just wanted a meal for one. I thought could I really eat this entire bag of food? I turned the bag over and looked at the fat grams. It read 35 grams of fat. I instantly opened the glass door and put the bag meal back on the shelve.

I walked to the next isle where the meals for one are located. I looked around and spotted a box of ravioli. I opened the door and pulled it out. Upon holding the box, I thought that I should find a meal that had meat in it since I had to go without on Fridays for another two weeks. I walked a couple of doors down and spotted fettuccine alfredo. I know it has no meat in it, but it looked good. I really wanted it and grabbed a box. I was satisfied with my choices of ravioli and fettuccine alfredo and started to leave the isle. At the end of the isle, I looked down and thought I should really have a meal with meat. I turned around and went back. After looking at all of the choices, I settled on lasagna.

Before leaving the frozen food isles all together, I went down an isle that I skipped. I was looking at frozen pizzas. Most of the choices were the large pizzas. In one of the cases were small individual pepperoni pizzas. I grabbed one, but I still wasn't sure that I wanted it. Now carrying four frozen meals, I stepped in front of the mozzarella sticks. When I grocery shop with my husband I always point them out because I want them. But we always continue to walk by. Now that I was buying something for myself, I stopped and looked at all the variety's. After looking at 3 different kinds I settled on one. And with that, I put the lasagna, ravioli and fettuccine alfredo back into the freezer.

This trip to the frozen food isle took about a half hour. So many decisions when you are making dinner for yourself.

Books read in 2007

A Man of Faith, David Aikman
Hannibal Rising, Thomas Harris
All of the President's Men, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
House of Sand and Fog, Andre Dubus III
Jack: A Life Like No Other, Geoffrey Perret
Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate, Bob Woodward
Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer, James L. Swanson
The Manchurian Candidate, Richard Condon
Leni Riefenstahl, Rainer Rother
From Here to Eternity, James Jones
Cultural Warrior, Bill O'Reilly

Currently Reading: Ava Gardner: Love is Nothing, Lee Server
Up Next: The Man Who Would Not Shut Up, Marvin Kitman

Weekend update

Last Friday, my husband and I drove to Monroe, MI to do a little shopping. We stopped at this outlet mall that was terrible. It looked like a ghost town. I asked him why we were here and he said that their website said it had many stores. Apparently the mall needs to update their site. We only went into two stores - Gap and one that sold a variety of junk. (Junk being the key word.) If Gap wasn't a store at the outlet mall, I don't think there would be any shoppers there.

After leaving the outlet mall, we drove to Monroe's other mall. It was so different from the first place we were at, people were actually shopping! While in Target, my husband pointed out a woman for me to look at. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. A woman was shopping while wearing curlers in her hair. Hello, take them out before leaving the house.

When we finished with the second mall, we hopped on I-75 and drove south to Toledo, Ohio. We stopped at Best Buy, Franklin Park Mall, Bed Bath & Beyond and Olive Garden. I bought a couple of books at the mall and we also bought wedding gifts for some friends at BB&B.

Saturday night, my husband and I stayed home and had a nice dinner. During dinner we watched Hollywoodland. I liked how the movie presented a couple different scenarios for George's Reeves death/suicide. I don't think Reeves committed suicide, but the police did and quickly closed the case.

After my 5 mile run on Sunday, I did something that needed to be done for a while. My husband and I cleaned our backyard. We raked up three months of doggy poo and filled three giant bags, gross. I can't image how much more we would have raked up if we had more dogs.

Finally, it was nice to see Dale Earnhardt, Jr. have a good run at Bristol Motor Speedway. Junior finished seventh and moved up nine spots and is currently 17th in the Nextel Cup standings.

Sidewalk reading

My husband and I were walking out of a jewelry store in Tecumseh, when I saw something on the sidewalk. I stopped and picked up a folded piece of paper. It was a love note to Kyia from Kamden. Kamden was blowing Kyia a kiss and hoped she would send one back in return.

Apparently she isn't interested if she dropped your note on the sidewalk downtown. Sorry Kamden.

Miles run in 2007

This past Sunday, I ran 5 miles. Usually it is not a big deal, but with those 5 miles I have ran over 100 miles this year. I finished the day at 104 miles.

I'm still hoping to run today. But my run will depend on if my softball game that I'm supposed to photograph this afternoon is still on.


Miles run through March 21:
2004: 67.2
2005: 93.1
2006: 112
2007: 107

Why ask that?

While getting ketchup for my fries at lunch a lady stood next to me. She grabbed a couple of napkins to wipe her hands with. She saw me squirting ketchup into paper cups and then said to me, "Getting ketchup for your fries?"

Of course the answer is yes. Why do people ask the obvious?

Books read in 2007

A Man of Faith, David Aikman
Hannibal Rising, Thomas Harris
All of the President's Men, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
House of Sand and Fog, Andre Dubus III
Jack: A Life Like No Other, Geoffrey Perret
Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate, Bob Woodward
Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer, James L. Swanson
The Manchurian Candidate, Richard Condon
Leni Riefenstahl, Rainer Rother
From Here to Eternity, James Jones

Currently Reading: Cultural Warrior, Bill O'Reilly
Up Next:

GRRRR!!

Before leaving for my basketball game yesterday, I set the DVR to record a program at 8 pm. After driving back from the game, I stayed at the office until 8:30 pm catching up on work. When I got home I looked at the DVR and the red recording light wasn't on. I turned on the cable box to find the recording information for the show was no where to be found. I was mad. After I entered the recording start and stop times, I checked the recording history and that show was on the list. But it didn't record. Thank you for lying to me DVR. Now I hate you.

Random things.....

My husband and I took the dogs for a walk yesterday. It has been a while since their last walk. On the first half of the walk, Blitz and Kelly were all over the place. Sniffing trees, sidewalks, bushes and grass. All the while, dragging my husband and me with them. After running back and forth, they finally settled down (got tired) and walked the rest of the way.

Thursday a friend from out of town is visiting. We were good friends back in college. She got married, moved to New Mexico and we still keep in touch. We are meeting at our former university's art gallery to listen to an oral defense and have lunch. The Bachelor of Fine Arts student who's work in hanging in the gallery reads a prepared artist's statement and answers questions from the art faculty and anyone else in the gallery. As an art major, I didn't have the guts to publicly defend my work. Instead of having the entire gallery to display my photographs, I had to share the gallery with 3 other people. Ah... the difference between a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Arts.

I hope to finish From Here to Eternity this weekend. That is my goal. I really want to go to the library and pick out some new books.

Fashion

While photographing a game over the weekend, I noticed people in the stands with funky clothing. I thought to myself, "Why are you wearing that?" Who wears plaid cargo pants? Or orange shoes?

Random things.....

I'm currently reading the book From Here to Eternity by James Jones. I have been reading this book since February 21 and it is good. The book has 850 pages and I'm on 479. Usually it doesn't take me up to three weeks to read a single book. But I have never read a book that was longer then 400 pages. I guess I know why.

Mascot Wars: At a boys basketball game I was photographing last night, both schools had mascots in costume. One team had a bulldog, the other had a Trojan. During a time out in the first half, the bulldog ran to center court to get his team excited and started rolling all over the floor. While the bulldog was doing that, the Trojan came out to center court to meet him. The Trojan took off his sandal and threaten to hit the bulldog with it, I'm sure words were said between the two. Two school staff members walked onto the court to break it up. Before the staff members got there, the bulldog ran off the court. After the timeout, the bulldog was talked to by its school principal. Whatever was said between the two didn't make the bulldog happy. He took off the head of the bulldog and left the gym slamming doors. The bulldog came back after he took off his costume and pouted in the stands. AHHH... high school drama.

My friendly neighbors put their house up for sale yesterday. My husband and I were saddened. We have lived next to them for 6 years and have exchanged Christmas cards, cookies and hellos. When it snowed, the husband would always use his snow blower to clear our sidewalk and entryway to our driveway. I hope whoever buys their house will be as friendly as them.. and have a snowblower.

Found in a strange location

When I left work this morning around 10:30 am, the snow had stopped at the sun was shining. I drove across town to my favorite place to take pictures: the cemetery.

After taking pictures for a half hour, I drove towards the front of the cemetery. I turned on a path that I have been on plenty of times. I noticed a new headstone. It had two figures on the sides of the headstone holding hands in the middle. I thought it was cute, so I stopped my car. I grabbed my camera and looked back over at the headstone. Sitting in the snow next to the headstone was a 24 oz glass bottle of beer. Odd. That is something that is not usual not taken to the cemetery.

I don't know if the beer was left on the headstone for a reason or someone set it down and forgot about it. All I know is when someone gets thirsty for some alcohol at the cemetery, at least it will be cold when they drink it.

Miles run in 2007

Besides running 3 or 4 times a week, I recently added more exercises to keep in shape. To go along with benching and crunches, I have added push ups and lunges. I did lunges Sunday night and I could feel it today during my run. I made it through my 4 mile run, but my legs really went away during mile 3.

Total miles through March 6:
2004: 52.5
2005: 77
2006: 86
2007: 87

Spelling contest

After pumping gas into my car this morning, I was walking to the store to pay when I noticed a large sign posted on one of the glass doors.

It read: "Pleese use other door."

Inside the store another sign posted on the same glass door, but Please was spelled correctly on that one.

I wonder how long it will hang on the door before someone notices the misspelled word.

The longest two days ever

For the past two days, I drove back and forth to Battle Creek to cover state wrestling team finals for two local teams. One team lost in the Division 2 Quarterfinals Friday night. The second team won the Division 4 State Team Championship Saturday. After these two long and exhausting days, I never been so happy to be home.

Stats from Friday and Saturday:

Hours worked: 25
Miles traveled: 350
Hours spent driving: 6
Gas used: an entire tank
Parking: $3
Heard the National Anthem and We Will Rock You by Queen: 7 times
Number of photos taken: 400
Bottles of water finished: 7
Cookies eaten: 4
Pages read from From Here to Eternity: 150
Matches I photographed: 4
Total amount of matches: 28

Friday, Friday

In a few hours, I will be getting in my car and driving about an hour and a half away. Most of my day will be spent in Battle Creek to cover state quarterfinal team wrestling.

There are two local teams that I will be photographing. The first team wrestles at 1 pm and the second team wrestles at 7:45 pm. Between the two teams, there is a huge gap. I have already packed a couple of snacks. I know the arena will provide food to media, but will there be a choice of foods? Today is the second Friday of Lent and I can't eat meat today. I'm hoping who ever picks out the food remembers those who can't eat meat today. If not, I will be relying on my snacks to last me all day.

The smell

"There should be a B.O. squad that patrols the city like a "Smell Gestapo". To sniff 'em out, strip 'em down, and wash them with a big, soapy brush."

-Jerry Seinfeld in the episode "The Smelly Car"

At a recent basketball game, all I could think of was a Seinfeld episode "The Smelly Car." In that episode, a valet leaves a strong body odor in Jerry's car.

What made me think of that episode was when someone involved with the basketball game ran by me with horrible B.O. The first time by, I thought it was one of the players. Then I realized it wasn't one of the players, it was a ref.

I didn't understand how he could smell that bad. The game just started. Maybe he worked up a sweat before the game or maybe he just smells? Who knows? Every time I saw him running to the baseline (where I was standing to photograph the game), I held my breath until he ran away. Sometimes that worked, sometimes it didn't. I just kept hoping the half would end soon because I couldn't stand his smell for too much longer.

At halftime, I was so excited to exit the gym and leave Mr. Smelly.

Fallen Hero

On local Toledo, Ohio television today was the funeral for Toledo Police Detective Keith Dressel. Dressel was shot and killed in the line of duty Wednesday, Febrauary 21. The funeral coverage started at 10 a.m. and it ended with his grave side services around 3:15 p.m.

During the five hour funeral service, television announcers said there were approximately 3000 mourners at the church. Thousands of police officers were in attendance from 37 states and Canada to honor Detective Dressel for his service to the Toledo Police Department.

I watched most of the funeral coverage. Besides the bagpipers playing "Amazing Grace", helicopter flyovers, a riderless police horse, playing of taps, 21-gun salute and folding of the flag, I think that the saddest moment came at the end of the church service. It is a tradition that when an officer dies in the line of duty that they have a "last call". "A radio dispatcher called out Keith Dressel's unit number and name repeatedly. Getting no answer, the dispatcher gave a short message remembering Dressel, saying he had answered his final call."

Detective Keith Dressel
1971-2007

So tired

My goal was to run a couple of miles today. I didn't meet that goal.

After returning home from work this morning, I took a two-hour nap on the couch. I woke up at 12:30 pm and then woke my husband up. We went to get lunch. He had a meat lovers personal pizza and I had an meatless onion and mushroom personal pan. We finished lunch and went home. My husband layed down on the couch, put his feet up and went to sleep. I grabbed my book and read 30 pages. At the time I thought I would change my clothes after reading to get ready for a run. What I did instead was grab a blanket, layed down and took an hour nap.

I'm beginning to think naps are more fun then running.

Miles run in 2007

To catch up on mileage, I ran an extra day last week. With that extra day of running, I finished the week with 13 miles. Usually I only run around 10 miles on any given week. So I was really happy finishing my week with more mileage. I would like to continue running four days a week. If I can keep that up, I can accomplish my goal of running 500 miles this year.

This afternoon after waking up from a nap, I forced myself to run 3 miles. That was the longest 3 miles I have run in a while. Running while your still tired isn't a good idea.

Total miles run through February 22:

2004: 43.4
2005: 62
2006: 69
2007: 71