Blue Skies Sunday

The weather was awesome today, and I managed to get up early enough to get out and enjoy it. There were a few minutes before we left the house that I thought it might be easier just to sit at home and read, but I pushed myself to get outside and I’m glad I did. Jon and I had a pretty awesome day, complete with some walking to help ease the soreness from yesterday.

After grabbing a quick breakfast at Subway, we took advantage of the dry roads and warm temp to go geocaching. In our back roads travels, we came across an area we hadn’t been before.

We found six caches before heading into town to do laundry and grab lunch at Olive Garden with a gift card we had. We debated doing some more geocaching before gaming, but instead, we ended up going to the zoo to walk around for a little bit.

 

We only had a partial group for gaming, but we still managed to get to the second chapter of our adventure…after almost getting eaten by the Kraken. We cut the game short by an hour because the wind picked up. By the time we got home, the warm and sunny day had been overtaken by wind and snow. Oh well…at least we got to enjoy several hours of sun.

I was going to watch American Horror Story tonight, but I’m tired and need to shower and get ready for tomorrow. I’ve been having trouble sleeping, so I’m going to take a melatonin, but I have to do it early or else I’ll be groggy tomorrow. I’m hoping that the weather isn’t horrible tonight and that I don’t have to deal with ice in the morning.

Bring it on, Monday!

A.

 

Adventures in Topeka

The weather was beautiful today, and I’m happy that we got to go out and take advantage of it. Jon hurt his back yesterday and it still wasn’t feeling great this morning, so we were going to hold off on any adventures until tomorrow. Unfortunately, the forecasted temperature for tomorrow is about forty degrees colder than today. Just getting to the car to get to MHK is going to be a challenge.

After taking some ibuprofen, Jon decided he was up to trying to get out and about, even with a sore back. After stopping for a quick breakfast, we rolled along to Topeka.

Our first couple destinations were shopping stops for clothes, first for Jon and then for me. I was in need of a new pair of pants, and I managed to find a pair at Lane Bryant that were the right size and the right length. I probably could have ordered another pair, but I figure one is good for now. I also picked up some frilly, girly items because apparently, I have a girly side sometimes.

We thought about seeing a movie at the second run theater, but there was nothing we wanted to wait around for, so we headed to the zoo. Our original plan was to walk both the zoo and Gage Park, but we ended up just getting through the zoo before Jon’s back needed a rest and some more ibuprofen. The animals were pretty lazy today, but the walk was nice. The highlight was probably the baby orangutan. He was so cute, though his mama didn’t seem too thrilled to be on display.

Our original plan for lunch was to go to Jersey Mike’s for a sub, but when we got to the one downtown, we found that it was closed. After walking down the street, we found a restaurant and pub that was open…and we were the first patrons of the day.

Jon’s lunch: “Bangers and Mashed”

Brisket sandwich and potato soup

Jon’s food was delicious and my soup was really good. I took a chance with the brisket, since I know not everyone makes brisket perfectly. I was a little disappointed. The flavor was good, but the meat was tough. I really need to remember to stick to burgers when I go to a pub. Still, for a serendipitous find, it was a pretty okay meal.

For dessert, we walked over to Hazel Hill chocolates and picked up a few small treats. Not sure if we can do that more than once very so often. It was pricey. Then we made a quick stop at Walgreens and headed back home.

Our adventures didn’t end there, though. We came home and chilled for a bit. I still have some mystery caches that need solving, so I watched a couple Christmas movies while Jon took a nap. We were going to walk to Subway for dinner, but by the time we got around to it, it was dark and I was worried about hidden ice, so we drove instead. Even though we’d walked the zoo, I hadn’t met my step goal for the day, so I talked Jon into walking a lap with me at the rec center. It wasn’t overly cold, but by the end of the walk, parts of the parking lot had started getting slippery again, so we had to proceed with caution.

The walk and the drive home gave us the chance to finally get some pictures of the pretty Christmas lights that Wamego put up for the holidays. Though I didn’t celebrate Christmas in a huge way this year, I love the park decorations the city rolls out for the season.

The extra walk helped me hit my step goal, and I got to enjoy a few more hours of the outdoors before tomorrow’s cold hits again.

All in all, it was a good day. I still didn’t get my whole to-do list done, but I’m okay with that. Tomorrow will be organizing and getting ready for the coming week and the new year. Grocery shopping, laundry, and gym are all on the horizon for tomorrow.

Happy Saturday!

A.

Day 3: St. Louis Vacation – Animals and Low Key Thankfulness

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ours was a bit non-traditional, but it was a ton of fun. It was our day to visit the St. Louis Zoo, and we made sure we were there early so we could maximize our time. We ended up getting there before the park opened, and since they parking attendants weren’t set up yet, the woman let us park for free.

I hate to say it, but the visit started out with some disappointment. We’d wanted to see the penguins, but come to find out, the zoo is remodeling for a new polar bear display, and the penguins and puffins were not available for public viewing (they won’t be back on until 2015, in fact). We pressed on to the sea lions, figuring they’d make up for the lack of penguins. We got to see them through the window and at the surface of the water, but the underground viewing tunnels were closed. We also failed to see any chimps in either the indoor or outdoor viewing areas. No idea where those guys were hiding.

We finally met a gorilla who was sitting and munching on some food. At one point, he threw his big tray and ran to a different part of his enclosure. He was kind of a drama llama. But he was pretty cool and fun to watch.

After that, things picked up. Most of the other animals were out and active, and the other indoor viewing areas were open. We went into the bird, reptile, and primate houses, and saw some of the zoo’s big cat population.

This guy was my favorite! He only weighs 1.5 lbs and was adorable! If I was ever going to have a primate pet, it would be this guy.

Even though we’d rested yesterday in an attempt to pace ourselves, walking around the zoo and tackling the hills and stairs wore us out. We started out okay, but after about three hours, we were tired and sore. We knew lunch would help, but the cafe was super expensive. We ended up leaving without seeing two of the areas. However, since it’s free, we’re planning on going back tomorrow. One of the museums on our itinerary is right near the zoo, so we’ll hit both places in the morning.

Though we’d talked about going somewhere with a big turkey dinner, we re-routed and went to…wait for it…Steak ‘N’ Shake! It was so good too. I love their burgers. We even splurged and shared a peppermint milkshake for dessert. Since we were tired and full, we went back to the hotel room to chill. Jon napped and I chatted with family. Later, we took a walk to the convenience store for sandwiches for dinner.

I know it’s not the traditional big meal type of holiday one usually spends at Thanksgiving, but I loved it! It was definitely more our speed for a holiday. I’m spending the evening doing some reading and writing and watching Adventure Time because there’s a Cartoon Network marathon and I love AT. Tomorrow is museums and the zoo again and whatever else strikes our fancy.

Until then…welcome to the holidays!

A.

Jogging and a Trip to the Zoo

I felt okay when I woke up this morning other than a pain in my shoulder that’s been irking me for a couple days. I wasn’t as stuffy and dizzy as I’ve been the past couple days.  My plan was to take it easy, but I still wanted to get out and do something. We started out by finding a couple geocaches out in Belvue. We had planned to go for a few more, but hunger and the need to find a restroom cut those plans short.

The nearest restroom happened to be at the rec center, so since we were there anyway, I snuck in a supply mission on Zombies, Run. I did it with zombie chases. I didn’t do walk/fast walk…I did walk/jog. That’s right. It wasn’t a lot of jogging. In 20 minutes, I only got two chases which are only a minute each. But it’s a start. It was also enough for me to see how jogging is way more fun than walking.  I’m thinking the zombies will be a good way to ease into eventually training to jog a 5k. The only issue I really had from that little bit of jogging was that it made whatever has been wrong with my hip worse, so I spent the rest of the day limping around.

We had lunch at Subway because I love me a Subway tuna sub, then we went to the Sunset Zoo to stroll around and visit our animal friends.

Colobus monkeys, with Kasasa, the newest baby. His current hobby was jumping on the heads of the older monkeys.

Like many of the animals today, the hyenas were having none of the excitement of the zoo visitors. They just wanted to nap.

This pic is harder to see, but that’s an otter in a cereal box. He wore it has a hat for awhile.

Red Pandas are adorable…especially when they smile at you like that. Okay…adorable and a little creepy.

The newest addition to the bobcat family. The others were sleeping. She had to play all on her own.

We put in some reading time at the library, grabbed a snack at the gas station, then went to gaming.  Now I’m off to shower, get ready for tomorrow, and ice my hip. I’ll be making an appointment with the chiro this week (something I probably should have done a week ago).

Have a great start to another week, everyone.

A.

Parties and Animals

I’m doing a phone draft because I have a feeling that by the time I get home, I’m not going to want to get on the computer. I’m currently at a get together…some may call it a party. I’ve had one glass of wine and some not-so-healthy food, and I think it’s going to be water for the rest of the night.

The wine has taken the edge off being around a group of people. I’m not feeling social anxiety. I’m feeling slight annoyance with people who I’ve learned in the past do not mesh well with me.

That’s right. It’s not me. It’s them.

The day as a whole was good. We had planned to get up early but didn’t leave the house until after noon. I was exhausted, so the extra sleep was good. The weather was cool and rainy, so even though it was the middle of the day, we went to the zoo.

It was a good zoo day. We got to see a young chimp get disciplined by one of the older chimps for picking on the baby chimp. Spanking is still very much accepted in the primate world. We watched the hyenas eye young children like they would make delicious snacks. We saw a baby bobcat.

Jon played spoons with a stranger and we got rained on. It was a blast.

Being rained on later meant that I was pretty chilled. I’m sure that will come back to haunt me.

We spent a couple hours at the library reading. I checked out another sizzler. It looked good, but 100 pages in it’s a little boring. Going to finish it, though. It’s slow, but I want to see where it goes.

Then it was a quick trip to the liquor store and then the party where I’m getting ready to draft some MtG. I’m going to lose. I always lose. But I’m hoping it’s a fun time anyway.

A.

Overestimation and a Cut in Entertainment

I completely overestimated my endurance on Sunday.

As previously talked about, Saturday was really active as far as walking went.  I’ve been slowly building endurance, but I’m definitely not up to marathon walking. This is something I conveniently forgot when I decided that Sunday would be another “walk in the zoo” day.  I suppose it might not have been bad if we’d gotten out of the house earlier to do this. As it was, we stayed in the comfy house until after noon, enjoying the air conditioning and The Best Couch I’ve Ever Sat On. If those two reasons weren’t good enough, I had to finish “Sharknado” and then there were other movies to watch. Completely legit!

We then decided to have lunch before going to the zoo.  Delicious Mexican food. You know what makes walking less fun? A belly full of lunch. By the time we got to the zoo, it was midday, so while the heat wasn’t “that bad” at first, we were only shortly past the gates before we realized we may have made a mistake.

What frustrated me was that the day before, I’d walked around a whole zoo with just one rest break, and then 24 hours later I was so exhausted I couldn’t seem to remove my butt from a bench. It felt like a backslide to me. After conferring with my partner in crime and evaluating the situation, I realized that this wasn’t necessarily the case.

1. We did a TON of walking the day before, more than I’ve done yet, and so it was a given that I was going to be tired without a rest day.

2. None of the breaks had to do with back pain or knee pain or even foot pain. It was pain that was making me sit like it was 3ish months ago. This time, tt was just exhaustion and heat, plain and simple.

3. The heat, man. It seriously saps my energy.

We decided that near-future zoo walks will take place in the morning, before a huge meal is consumed, and not after a day where we’ve already logged several miles.  I say “near-future” because I don’t think that will be the case forever. I’m steadily increasing my walking endurance and my energy levels, and I think that in a few more months I will be able to walk long distances on consecutive days. But I don’t have super powers. I’m coming off of two years of limited mobility…this isn’t going to resolve itself in just a few weeks.

The day wasn’t a total waste. Some walking is better than no activity, even if it several breaks did happen. We got yelled at by a prairie dog and judged by a peacock. Jon made friends with a young Colobus monkey. As miserable as we were, we still had some fun.

Monday returned with a vengeance but its vengeance started on Sunday when we returned to the apartment to find that the post office sent Jon’s eBay items back to us instead of to their recipients.  In typical Amanda-anxiety fashion, I instantly assumed that they’d tell us it was our fault, that they’d charge us again for shipping and handling, that they’d stand over us in a black robe and judge us for doing something wrong (even though we did everything right). Turns out, all was well. They claimed it was their mistake and re-sent the packages today at no extra charge. Thanks, USPS!

Sadly, today we cancelled our GameFly membership. It’s nothing personal. We’ve enjoyed GameFly a lot, but we’re trying to cut some costs to get through the next semester, and this seemed one of the most obvious. Jon does a lot of PC gaming and we have some games at home that I can finish. For now, while we have a working XBox 360, we can take finished games and trade them in for new-to-us used games when the time comes.

I was feeling good about our very grown-up choice…until I went to actually cancel, and GameFly turned on the digital puppy dog eyes:

Are you sure you want to quit?

You won’t get all your perks!

Want to reconsider for a free month?

You have three days left for this month…don’t you want to use them?

You’re really going to cancel? Why? (to this I picked moving and traveling, because that’s partially true. I felt bad saying “Too expensive” because we don’t actually believe it’s too expensive in general, we just need to conserve money right now). 

We have a lot of shipping centers…please stay with us!

You’re going to leave? Well, okay. Make sure to *sniff* return your games in 7 days. 

Really?

Okay, then…

Good-bye…

…but click this link if you ever want to reactivate!

So I feel like I didn’t break up permanently with GameFly, but by the end of that ordeal, I kind of wanted to cry.

Adulthood is painful, my friends. Very painful.

A.

 

Some People Do Go for the Wings

Allergies and all, I survived my day in Topeka yesterday. I messed up and threw myself even more of a challenge when I got starry eyed over some medicine deals at Walgreens and completely forgot to look for something non-drowsy. Luckily, I remained functional and didn’t fall asleep at the wheel.

We hit a local joint called Juice Stop for a smoothie breakfast and a stuffed pretzel (because I never get the opportunity to indulge in those) and I tried a shot of wheatgrass. It was grassy. I showed my ignorance by originally asking for it in my smoothie, but the staff was nice and set me straight on the fact that most people do shots and it would make a fruit smoothie taste like the ground. I’m glad they gave me the info.

Sadly, this was the only adventure I was able to catch a pic for on this trip because I forgot to charge my phone overnight (this really isn’t my best weekend, mentally). Not really a big deal, though, since Topeka is a short drive and we’re already planning on going back to the Topeka Zoo, which was our second stop. I’ve heard mixed reviews about this zoo, and they all have merit. It was nice seeing some of the animals we don’t have in MHK, but everything felt a little dirty. Then again, it was raining and hot and muggy, so that might have contributed to it. All the animals were out, lazing around and doing as little as possible. We got the once over from a gorilla named Tiffani, and even though the zoo said we might be lucky enough to see it via a “sign” on their window, we missed out on seeing the mating of the tigers.

The third stop was to buy clothes for Jon. Nothing especially exciting happened there.

Our fourth stop was unplanned and mostly a means to kill time until the movie theater opened, but it was well worth the side trip. We checked out the Kansas Museum of History which included an exhibit on retro and antique furniture, a huge train that triggered my claustrophobia when I tried to walk through it, and all kinds of neat historical stuff. I’d actually like to go back and get pictures from there sometime.

We had lunch at Hooters, another new food experience for me. The food was delicious. I had one of the best grilled chicken sandwiches I’ve ever had. I realize people make Hooters jokes and all, and I guess I thought it would be a little more risque than it was. But it wasn’t uncomfortable and the service was good.

Our last Topeka stop was to the West Ridge 8 second run theater. It has been years since I’ve been to a “cheap seat” theater. Jon and I opted for different movies. He went with the newest Fast and the Furious flick and I went to see The Purge. In my last post, I complained about people talking , but for  two dollars, a lot can be overlooked. I was lucky in that there wasn’t a lot of talking in my theater, and what there was seemed fairly appropriate, including the moment when the theater was silent and after a pivotal scene in the movie, another movie goer said “Moron” out loud in reference to one of the characters. It was funny because I’m pretty sure everyone else was thinking the same thing. There was also a scene at the end of the movie where everyone busted out laughing. Humor aside…especially because it wasn’t supposed to be a funny movie…I enjoyed it. I didn’t so much enjoy the theater seats which leaned back way too far, but again, for two bucks, I dealt with it. And we’ll probably go back.

We drove home in more rain, made a Baskin Robbins stop, and came back to the house where we watched “Knocked Up” and part of “Sharknado,” which I’m sure will get its own post. Overall, it was a fun  and active day and even though we did a lot of walking, my soreness and stiffness is at a minimum.

A.

Friday Night Storms and Weekend Allergies

I’d debated going to see The Conjuring last night, but it didn’t happen.  The main reason was that once I got to my friend’s house, the AC and her super comfy couch were so inviting, I didn’t want to leave. The secondary reason was that it was opening night and I usually try to avoid crowds at the movie theater. Besides the social anxiety (which hasn’t been much of an issue as of late), watching the movie with a crowd leads to a greater chance of sitting near someone who does nothing but talk the whole movie.  When I went to see “Mama” several months ago, I actually moved seats because the people behind me wouldn’t shut it. I could still hear them five rows up. Last week at Pacific Rim, there was a parent who’d brought their  child to the theater. Don’t get me wrong…kids at a certain age are fine, and it’s actually kind of funny when they’re into the movie and get caught asking a question out loud about it. This kid? Not into the movie and not even of an age to say actual words.  Toddler babbling during a movie does not add to the experience in a positive way.

It’s also sad when a person pays for a movie and then can’t leave their cell phone off or pocketed for two hours. Yes, that’s directed at you, Guy Who Sat A Few Seats Down From Me and Had Their Phone Out Almost the Whole Time. Sorry to nitpick, but the glare from your screen was annoying. You made me want to throw something at your face.

So it seemed easier all around to stay at the house, and it was nice. I finished a book, I took a couple videos of the hail storm that came out of nowhere, and I played on the internet. My revised plans had loosely included going to the gym before picking Jon up at the game store, but then I had a flash of brilliance. My friend has Zumba DVDs, and I figured that the training video would be okay. I’d be moving and learning and no one would be around to see how silly I look trying to do Zumba. That happened for about 15 minutes before I gave up to watch the ending of the movie “Twister.”  Like eating kale, I will eventually either come to terms with Zumba and own it, or I will stop trying and accept the fact that it’s not meant to be. This may be a lengthy process.

The storms were rolling in while I was driving to town to pick Jon up and they hit their hardest just as we got back. They lasted for five minutes and then rolled away. Fairly anticlimactic, but I guess that’s what happens. I think they’re calling for more today, so it’s still debatable whether or not we’ll make it to the zoo.

This morning is rough. My cough seems to be getting worse and my throat itches. Before we head to Topeka, I’ll be stopping at Walgreens to get some Benadryl and cough drops. I want to enjoy my day, not spend it hacking up a lung. Oh sure, I could just stay home and rest and recover, but I’m a glutton for punishment. Besides, I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for a very long week. Come hell or high water, I’m going to enjoy it.

A.