Stuff and things

Say, did anyone catch the Os game last night?? We did! We actually went to the game. My husband's new company offered him four of the corporate tickets (it's a small company as my husband was employee #108 at the time of his hire). Delighted for these 11th row behind first base tickets, we invited a couple of friends and headed downtown. It was a gorgeous night for baseball, and just to be outside period. We settled into our seats and had some hot dogs, and in about an hour the Os were down 11-0 in the 4th inning. Ouch. We made the best of it though and had a fabulous time talking and laughing with our friends. We ended up staying until the very end of the game (somewhere around 9:30). It ended up being a 13-0 loss but, y'know, we stopped counting after 11-0.

Today has been very... usual. Sorry, nothing thrilling to report about that. I'm expecting one of my former co-workers, now a SAHM herself, to stop by for a visit this afternoon with her new baby. I'm really excited about that. She and I have a whole lot in common. We're the same age (just 2 months apart), both got married the same month and year (just one week apart, and that's in December which is not exactly a popular wedding month), and when we looked at one another's wedding photos discovered that we even wore the same wedding dress! We now each have one of the cutest baby girls you could find anywhere, so just add that to the list of our similarities :) She had a tough pregnancy though with multiple complications and we haven't really gotten to catch up on any of that - much less life with her new little lovey. So it's going to be a fun visit to say the least.

I also have my running group tonight. Have I told you about my running group?? I can't remember! Well I joined a running group. It's for women of all running ability levels. We're broken into smaller sub-groups based on our mile time which is nice so we can focus on where we are. It meets on Thursdays at a nearby high school and last week was our first meeting. We did our one-mile time trials last week and I was nervous of course because of performance anxiety (I did not want to be the one huffing and puffing ten minutes behind everyone else, not that I'm even in that bad of shape, but I always fear the worst!). I'm also used to running in my 72-degree basement with the treadmill fan blowing in my face. The thought of going out in the humidity and 10+ degree warmer temperatures and trying to run definitely gave me visions of being that girl they scraped up off the road and loaded into the back of an ambulance. And really, no one wants to be that girl. Turns out even though I felt like I did terribly and thought I was going to pass out at the end, I had a better mile time by over 2 minutes than I usually get on my treadmill. Don't ask me how... peer pressure?? I probably also don't push myself as much as I could on the treadmill. I set it to something comfortable and go. So anyway in this group you also have the option of a 5k or metric marathon (26.2k) goal. I am going for the 5k if that wasn't obvious by my fears of keeling over during a mile run. It's very relaxed and casual, and really just intended to encourage women to go out and be active. Of course meeting others who want to do the same thing is an added perk. I joined with one of my friends that I worked with many just a few years ago when we were in college. She ended up being the last person who qualified for the fast runners sub-group though. Lucky for me, I met a friend of hers and another friend of that girl's who are both in my group. So we'll see what tonight brings. I haven't touched my running shoes since last Thursday for various reasons (mostly time-related) so it could be a tough night. It also looks like storms are moving in and I really don't want to run in rain. They only cancel for thunder!

And I'll close with one last side note...

Could cicadas just disappear from the face of the planet, pleeeease? I am sick and tired of sitting on my deck listening to them buzz around in the trees behind our house and fearing every time I hear one that it's going to fly or land near me. GAH! I don't care if they're harmless, they are disgusting and huge and I'm tired of them ruining my ability to enjoy what few lovely warm days are left in this season. The same applies to stink bugs and stupid wasps. Leave us alone! Bugs are my freaking enemy, and I know that they know I hate them because they harass me. It's ridiculous. I will be screening in any future decks, porches or patios that I own and removing any trees that are within 30 yards of my house or said outdoor spaces.