P5

Remember, friends, back in the day when Peggy's Pretty Priceless Passing Points was a list of 10 random things on my mind? Well, I'm procrastinating housework so here are 10 random things that I think about. Be afraid.

1. The "Couch to 5K" Program that I've been doing is awesome. And fun. And you all should go do it right now. ;o) Okay, maybe not RIGHT now, but I seriously recommend it to anyone who wants to add the adventure of running to their lives. I also seriously recommend running buddies (I heart Brenda E, Natalie S. and Heather C. for hauling their sorry arses out in the snow/9 degree temperatures/fog to run with me. May your husbands all be transformed into the celebrity hottie of your choice in the next life.) and rrrreally good running shoes. I can say this because now, I'm a runner and that makes me better than you.
2. Okay, maybe "runner" is a bit liberal. I am a "practically running in place I'm so slow-er" But I'm still better than you.
3. I am a miserable failure at couponing. Can I confess that here? I want to do it. I HAVE done it. But consistently tracking sales, keeping track of my coupons, driving to every store from here to creation intimidates me like almost nothing else in this world. And the math! THE MATH, PEOPLE! Once upon a time, Scott told me that if I would use coupons I could have all the money that I saved back in cash. I wonder if he'd be willing to make that agreement with me again. I might be persuaded to defeat the couponing beast if that were the case.
4. Jack's birthday is coming up and we have no earthly idea what to get him. This is because A. He doesn't need anything and B. He hasn't played with hardly ANY of his toys that he got at Christmas. Lego Star Wars and his light saber are pretty much his favorite things in the world right now. (He's even abandoned his tools, if you believe that!) Maybe we can get him another light saber so he can stop handing people his little broom and telling them to pretend it's a light saber.
5. Speaking of Jack--let's talk about this for a second. So my friend Lisa and her husband Brandon have moved in with us. Brandon will only be here another week, until he gets deployed. Lisa will stay until he comes back. This is the problem: Jack loves Brandon. Jack wants to be everywhere Brandon is. Jack has seen all the stuff that Brandon got to take to Iraq with him. Jack now wants to know why Brandon has to be the one to go to war? What is war anyway? Is he going to get hurt? Can't someone else go instead? I find it hard to explain these things to my almost-5-year old.
6. I don't know what to make for dinner tonight. The menu says Chicken Fingers and Oven Fries but I'm not feeling it. And I think I'm out of potatoes. How do you run out of potatoes? Why didn't I get some during my FRIGGIN' HOUR LONG SHOPPING TRIP AT WALMART???
7. Don't you hate it when one of your friends (no matter how close, though the closer they are the harder it is) changes into someone you can't even recognize? (I'm not talking about physical appearances--although that'd be pretty crappy, (not to mention creepy) too) I'm talking about someone who seems to have it all together but suddenly becomes..not altogether and seems totally fine with that. Maybe I'm not making sense, but it bugs me and I'm dealing with it and I hate it. Now, having written all of this I'm realizing that I WAS this person when I came home from my mission. I came home so different than I was when I left and this change was not welcome to a lot of my friends. I kept hearing "When are you going to be YOU again?" I couldn't help them understand that THIS was ME. I liked this person I'd become and didn't plan on changing. So I guess the answer to my own question is that I need to understand that, for better or for worse, this IS this person now and I can either accept it and stay friends with them or not and don't. I don't like that answer because it pretty strongly leads to my not being friends with this person and that doesn't sound like much fun to me.
8. I don't have TIVO and I'm afraid my life might not be complete. Consider it officially on my birthday list.
9. I have a hard time being like Jesus. This is no surprise to ANY of you who know me (well, and quite frankly any who don't--I'm talking to you, Internet Crazies!) but this seems especially disabling at church now that I'm responsible for the shorties in our ward boundaries. I just want to shake some people. Or punch them. Or cuss them out. You know how on "Monster In Law" they kind of daydream about how awesome it would to the just take the other out? I'm doing that now and it's AWESOME. But not at all what Jesus would do. Dang it.
10. I will give a million dollars to the person who can give me the best idea to keep the girl-child OUT of the dog's food and water (while still enabling appropriate-dog-type access). She loves it. She's drawn to it. It beckons her. "Here, Lizzy Lizzy! Come to me! Come splash in the water, shove your face full of crunchy chicken and rice and vegetable deliciousness! Your mom is too busy blogging to even notice!" CURSE YOU, BECKONING DOG FOOD!
11. (Bonus) Until I come up with a solution to my aforementioned dog food dilemma, do I could one mouthful of dog food as a serving of vegetables?