Recycling Crazy Fools

So, I think people think we are officially crazy fools. We got back into town late last night and had no food in the house. We scrounged up some oatmeal this morning, as we had no milk for cereal. For lunch, we decided to eat out and get some groceries. Todd wanted some fast Mexican, so we went to Bajio on the West side. At Bajio, they make up the food in aluminum pie pan "plates" and give out plastic cups for water. All of this is recyclable, but they have no place in the store to recycle anything. So, we typically carry out our trash to bring home and recycle. Today was the first time I really noticed anyone looking at us like we were crazy. I scooped out all of the leftovers we didn't want into the garbage, but kept the "plate" and cup. I really wanted to say something to them for staring, but did just kept walking and put the recyclables on the floor of the car. This is not the ideal way to recycle, but in my opinion every little bit helps. I wish more fast food restaurants used methods to reduce the trash, like at Panera where they have a recycling area by the trash bin or Noodles where they use real plates and silverware. It would do us all good in the long run if restaurants were a little more environmentally friendly.

The Pups!

The dogs sitting pretty for a photo. Murphy just looks big for being 6-months old and Lucy is kind of grey for being just 3.5 years old.

A Pain in the Back

I have been a little out of it this week. It all started Tuesday morning. This is probably too much information, but I was shaving in the morning before work and felt a twinge in my back. No big deal, I was leaning over in the shower and shaving my legs anticipating a visit to the gym in the evening. When I was done, I stood back up and about fell out of the shower. I don't know what I did, but I must have pulled a muscle or pinched a nerve in my back. The whole day was horrible - I couldn't sit, stand, or walk. I almost got stuck in the parking garage because I couldn't get into my car. I went home and laid flat on my back the whole night. I felt like I was 90 years old trying to get around the house. I did feel better the next day. I was little looser and could actually move a little better, but was still in a lot of pain. Thursday and Friday were okay. I was able to sit and stand with less pain, but it was still hard to put on socks and pants each morning. Even now, it is still very sore and I have been trying to take it easy. Today was the first day I could flip my hair over and dry it.

Because of the injury, I have done nothing, literally nothing all week. I have not worked out at all and have not been able to go out and run the errands I planned on doing. Things at work have also been very busy and a little stressful. I usually work off the stress by going for a run or going to the gym, but I haven't been able to do that. Instead, because of the stress and different holiday events we have been invited to, I have been eating...a lot. I have gained several pounds and the scale seems to confirm that (and so do my really tight pants). I am just hoping to get back to normal so I can go for a run, go to the gym, or even bend over to get my hair dryer out from under the sink without so much pain. Being injured is a pain in the back!

Why I am annoyed!

I am so not happy! When I was wrapping gifts tonight, I discovered that the Target cashier printed the wrong gift receipts for my purchase. Instead of printing the gift receipt for my gift items, I have a gift receipts for the light bulbs and shampoo I bought. Ugh! This means another trip back to Target to get the right gift receipts. I know I should be more forgiving as this is a busy time of year and they probably hired 50 new people to man the checkouts who are still learning things. However, I went on a random Monday night at like 7:30, so there was no one in the store!! Also, I grouped all the items that I needed gift receipts for together and at the end of all my purchases. So, how can you mess that up? Lesson learned: check your gift receipts before you leave the store to avoid a trip back for corrections!

A Saturday Adventure at Lucas Oil

Last Saturday we had tickets to see the IU game against Gonzaga at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The game was a less than interesting. IU kept it close the first half, but the second half was rather boring. We watched the end of the game, but I was more interested in checking out the new Colts stadium and the activities on the field opposite where they set up the basketball court. I wasn't expecting that would have all sorts of stuff going on besides the game. We walked in the field, which was was pretty cool. While walking around on the field, we ran into Jared the Subway guy. We were forced into a photo with him, which Todd was not happy about but I thought was cool! He is actually an IU grad and the Subway he frequented during his weight loss is right on campus. We didn't really talk to him much, but we did say he would pose for a picture with other IU fans. I guess if we weren't IU fans he would have refused the photo? We also saw some other things, including a basketball signed by Calvin Coolidge. It was very cool, but a totally old school basketball. We also saw Shaq's size 22 shoes on display! Those shoes were massive as you can tell from the picture. Tristan - this totally beats out your size 15! I can't even imagine shopping for shoes that size, but I guess if you are Shaq people are probably lined up to make custom shoes free of charge. Thankfully, the weather held out enough that we were able to stop and do some shopping in Greenwood on the way home. I can never get Todd to a mall, so the hour we spent there probably the only hour Todd has been in a mall in two years!

Weight Check

Murphy has turned into our 6-month old, 55-lb lug of a dog! He now eats about 8 cups of food per day and is never satisfied! I swear we are going to have to have dog food delivered by the truckload to keep him fed. But, he is still a baby with more growing to do!

A Happy Thanksgiving

We had a good Thanksgiving! We went to Iowa to spend the holiday with Todd's family and pretty much ate the entire time we were there! The only disappointing part of the weekend was that Todd's brother Ryan could not come up from Texas as originally planned. We haven't seen them since last March, which is just crazy! When they lived in Iowa, we saw them all the time. But, we did set up a video chat and talked online which was way cool! We used Microsoft Live Messenger and it worked out well (minus the crappy built-in speakers on my laptop). We are hoping to video chat more often. As you can see from the picture above, Ben was really into chatting with his Texas cousins.

I did get in a little running while there, about 12 miles over 3 days. But, I still gained a few pounds. Like I said, we ate a lot!! On Thanksgiving Day, Todd's mom cooked a 26-lb turkey. She also made sweet potatoes (from the garden), mashed potatoes (from the garden), homemade rolls, corn (from a relative's farm), and gooseberry pie (homemade crust with fruit from a relative) among all the other traditional holiday dishes she prepared! It was a feast! Of course we had leftovers for days. I am done with turkey until next year. Seriously, I am okay with not seeing another turkey dish until next year. We also made our traditional trip to Geno's pizza.

I didn't really do any shopping, as there is no much close to his parent's house. But I did sleep a lot and look through hundreds of recipe books his mom has collected over the years. The problem is that we do not need to eat more, and I now have lots of new dessert recipes I would love to try out sooner than later! I definitely need to find a way to get to the gym sooner than later!

We did sme little white-knuckle driving on the way home, but made it safely. The roads were slick and the snow was coming down in Northern Illinois. We saw lots of cars off the road and at one point, a car in front of off fishtailed off the road, but was able to get out of a shallow ditch with no damage. There were tow trucks and police all along the way. Todd went slow and took his time. Once we got past Bloomington, IL the roads were clear and the snow was not a problem.

It was great to hear from family and friends that also had a good holiday! Hopefully the spirit will continue on into December.