Hump Day

This will be my second out of three short weeks -- two weeks ago, we all had Monday off for a team building event at my boss' house, this past Monday I took a personal day for a morning doctor's appointment and then a few hours at the State Fair and next week is Labor Day & I will have Friday off for my birthday. Boy, is the week of 9/8 going to seem l-o-n-g!

We don't have any big plans for the long weekend -- maybe some light housework/yard work and some errands. I will hopefully get a lot of reading in -- I have discovered a pair of authors, Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, that are knocking my socks off. I now have purchased all of their books out in paperback and have 5 to read to "get caught up" on the series. Three are stand alone books (Ice Storm, Riptide and Thunderhead), but the rest all have a central FBI Special Agent Pendergast interacting with different characters, some of whom are revisited in the later books. I made the mistake of starting mid-series, but have now started from the beginning because it looks like it's only going to get better.

Some of the other great books I've read this summer -- Racing in the Rain, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, A Thousand Splendid Suns just to name a few.

I still have work to do on the blog -- like updating my links, but I am off to do some reading...

Blog Troubles

So the designer of my customized blog is MIA and I have no way of contacting her or getting my template back, so it's back to basics.
Anyway, I just haven't had the time to play around with this over the last month. Work has been really busy -- it's budget season and planning for 2009 staffing. By the time I get home, the last thing I want to do is get on the computer.
Don's job is ramping up. He's been switched from the Vikings' beat to the Timberwolves' one but is still helping to cover the Vikings (very long, political story). His travel is going to be a bit of a nightmare, but we'll get through it.
Life in general is going pretty well. I have kind of started back-to-basics with diet and exercise after a few months of "vacation." I'm still hanging in there between 165 - 170, but I've been feeling a little sluggish. I also had a bit of an episode and discovered I have high blood pressure and borderline anemia. I'm on meds for the BP and have upped my iron intake to see if that helps. My thyroid reading was way off as well, so they changed the dosage on my Synthroid. I have a full physical on Monday to see if there is anything else. In the meantime, I've tried to focus on more fresh fruits and veggies, more lean protein and less processed foods. I'm back doing yoga and trying to meditate to help with the relaxation.
Don and I have been getting out and about more. We went to the RenFest last Saturday and then went to our Fantasy Football Draft Party on Sunday. This weekend is my company's summer picnic. We both have doctor's appointments on Monday morning and then it's off to the State Fair for fried fat & sugar on a stick.
The big weekend is September 5 - 7 -- it's my 40th birthday on Friday. I've taken the day off, although I haven't decided what to do. I was thinking about Valley Fair (like Six Flags) but I may be fair & festival-ed out by then. The other option is lunch at a lakeside restaurant and then a lake cruise. I'll also check out some museums to see if there is anything that pops out at me.
Now that I have the basic template fixed, I'll try and get my links up and fixed soon! Hope I still have a few readers out there!