Since I got back from our last camping trip, saw fireworks and wrote a blog post, I've been busy...
1) Using my VITAMIX...
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| Margaritas are a SPECIAL kind of smoothie. |
2) Getting FREE SLURPEES...
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| Slurpees are a kind of smoothie, too. And they're free on 7-11 every year. Worth noting in your calendar. |
3) Managing 3 different drop-offs and pick-ups for my kids' camps every weekday...
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| Extremely cool place to have soccer camp...especially when your 9 years old. |
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| Other side of the hills...a world away... rowing on the reservoir. |
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| Back to the other side of the hills (see them in the distance?)... |
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| Right on the San Francisco Bay. Pretty sweet place to have camp when you're any age. |
I spend about 3+ hours in the car on average on any given day. The last two weeks have gone something like this:
- out the door at 8:15
- arrive at Camp #1 at 8:45
- arrive at Camp #2 at 9:00
- drive home to fetch 3rd camper and oldest non-camper arriving at 9:30
- leave home at 10:00
- arrive at Camp #3 at 10:30
- arrive at hiking venue at 11:00 to give non-camper and myself something camp-like to do (because what's summer without camp?)
- finish short hike and head home or do long hike and immediately begin camp pick-ups
- leave hiking venue at 1:00
- arrive at Camp #3 at 1:30
- drive home arriving at 2:00
- eat something
- leave home at 2:30
- arrive at Camp #1 at 3:00
- spend 30 minutes farting around
- arrive at Camp #2 at 3:45 and leave at 4:10
- drive home arriving at 5:00 (traffic is always horrible going home)
- make and eat dinner
- leave home at 6:00 for swimming lessons (I forgot to mention swimming lessons)
- arrive at 6:20
- leave swimming lessons at 7:15
- arrive home at 7:30
- collapse on my bed and realize why I need to get my oil changed every 6 weeks
The school year isn't as crazy because all of the kids save one go to the same school...but it's a 40-minute drive in heavy traffic to school in the morning and home in the afternoon. The drive is only 15 minutes when there is no traffic which actually does happen and is the norm for the reverse commute.
You can go ahead and give me massive amounts of grief for my seemingly huge carbon footprint...lots of kids, lots of driving...but our car runs on recycled garbage and our kids are all geniuses working on sustainability projects. No. That's a lie. The truth is we live in a really expensive region of the country and have to live far away from cool things like camps, movie theaters, swimming lessons, grocery stores and good schools in order to afford pleasant housing. You might suggest that we move, but my husband's business makes that extremely difficult.
4) Coping with lice...which is really the most fun there is in the world. Really...it doesn't get any funner than this...
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| I found them on his head so we shaved him. None of the other kids (including the girls with long, curly-ish hair) had it...nor did my husband. But...I did. No, I didn't shave my head. I went to a professional de-louser and got the full "spa" treatment. |
5) Getting test results back that confirm my gastrointestinal situation is worse than I knew and researching how to heal it...
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| Plain, bland, chicken soup is good for the soul. Or something. |
A year ago I posted about losing a ton of weight unintentionally and then gaining it (and more) back really quickly. Since then (and actually way before then), I've had some weird and significant GI issues...constipation being one. One doctor said, "IBS." Another doctor said, "Maybe it's SIBO?" So we decided to test for SIBO. While the test came back negative in terms of the numbers, the graph showed a textbook picture of what one would see for someone with a positive result. Hence, we are treating me for SIBO.
What is SIBO?
If you didn't click the link to Wikipedia provided above and really can't summon the energy to move the cursor up to do it now, here's a little quote:
SIBO is the accumulation of excessive amount of gut bacteria in the small intestine. Any condition which impairs the normal transit or motion of the small intestine can predispose it to SIBO.Crohn's disease and previous abdominal surgery are among the risk factors for the development of SIBO.
I did this recommended, crazy, X-treeeeme elemental diet last week to try to kill of the bad gut bacteria who've taken up residence. It kicked my ass. Plain chicken soup, plain hamburger patties, puréed carrots, grape gelatin AND THAT'S IT for 3 days. It worked. The bloating completely subsided. I wasn't constipated. I felt better once the 3 days were over. The during part was pure hell. I actually didn't eat the third day because I felt so sick. I started getting really depressed on that day because the thought of restricting my diet any further was...depressing. I cried.
Then on Friday I saw a new doctor. Apparently my ileocecal valve doesn't work. And not only am I sensitive/intolerant to dairy, gluten, eggs, fish, and potato but Vitamin A, B complex vitamins, minerals and ... CARBS (rice, grains,...). WTF? So this guy is some kind of "wizard" who can fix my ileocecal valve AND resolve most, if not all, of my sensitivities/intolerances. I cannot fucking wait.
6) Hiking...
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| Last Monday's hike... 4.2 miles on a trail we've done before. |
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| Last Tuesday's hike... 7.5 miles on a new trail. We got totally lost for a little while and my son lost his shit. This is the part where he was losing his shit. |
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| Last Wednesday's hike... 9.2 miles in out-and-back format. It was far easier than the previous day's mostly due to the smaller hills and lack of scary cows. |
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| Last Friday's hike... we did a double of our normal 3-mile loop. It felt pretty easy primarily because of familiarity. |
We took the weekend off logging 26+ miles M-F and then started this past week off with a 4.2 and a 6-miler, intending to work up to a big 1-0. Then my bacterial die-off rendered me indisposed and cowering in my bed :( We're hoping to get there this coming week.
See what I did there?
Not only did I use bullet-point posting TWICE, but I plugged VitaMix, gave random life information, described my medical condition AND showed you #trailporn... ALL IN ONE POST!
I probably should enter the Runners' World Cover Contest so I can annoy the living shit out of everyone grubbing for votes, but I hate having my picture taken. And I've already done that "beg for votes from everyone you know on all avenues of social media to the point that they all fucking hate your guts" thing before...more than once. The prize wasn't worth the nuisance obtaining it caused.
Who did you vote for in the Runners' World Popularity Contest?
Did you ever enter a grub-for-votes contest? Was it worth it?
Did you workout at all last week? Tell me about it so I can live vicariously!
Do you drive a lot in your daily life? Do you like driving?
Do you have a big carbon footprint? Do you judge people by the size of theirs?
Was this post informative? Do you feel like you know me better? How much of your life do you share on your blog?
