Rainy Day

When I went to bed Friday night (okay, Saturday morning), weather.com said 30% chance of rain until about 9 am. So I set the alarm for 6:00, figuring I would try to get in some running before the forecasted thunderstorms arrived.

No such luck. When I shut off the alarm, there was lightning flashing outside, and a few minutes later, a storm blew in with big gusts of wind-driven rain. I re-set the alarm for 30 minutes. 6:30, and no better. By 7:00, it was just a steady rain, though. Good enough for walking to the gym, at least.

So it was an elliptical/treadmill sort of morning.

In other news, Dan and I are planning our vacation for the end of May. This will allow me to attend a weekend camp in New Mexico, similar to the one in Marble Falls. I’ll also get my vacation out of the way early, so I can be on hand to cover the summer months at the office. Dan can also take summer school (which begins May 29) and hopefully graduate in December. So an earlier vacation than usual will work well in many respects, although I’m already stressing about all the things that need to happen before we leave.

Why is it so stressful to go on vacation? Something seems very wrong about that.

But there’s yet another reason why I think an early summer vacation will turn out well. By August, probably no one will remember Dan and I took our vacation in May, and we can have a long weekend somewhere, like maybe Galveston, Bolivar, or someplace like that.

Ever since I took the food dehydration class at camp a few weeks ago, I’ve been experimenting with my new dehydrator. The dehydrated cantaloupe has been a hit with Dan. I load up all five trays and when it’s done, I put the slices into baggies for us to take to work. My first attempt at zucchini chips was a disaster—too much salt and spice. But I got it right on the second try. And I’m going to try some fruit roll-ups next.

I’m thinking of joining the local organic produce co-op. I had been reluctant to do so before, because you sign up to get a certain amount each week, and you get whatever is fresh and in season. So I could easily envision a scenario where I was getting something I didn’t have an immediate use for, and it would then go bad. But now that I can put the extra fruits and veggies in the dehydrator and store them for later, the co-op might be a good idea.

My next kitchen appliance purchase will probably be a vacuum sealer. Apparently if you dehydrate something and vacuum seal it, you can store it almost forever. I’m not so interested in forever as I am in having good food for snacks and to take on long car trips, camping, and the like. The biggest frustration for me in traveling is the struggle to keep a somewhat clean diet on the road. I always come home from vacation craving a really good salad!

Yeah, I’m weird.

Recent Workouts
Monday: 4.5 mile run
Tuesday: 30 minute elliptical
Wednesday: 30 minute elliptical
Thursday: 45 minute spin
Friday: rest day
Saturday: 1 hour elliptical, 1 hour treadmill run, 10 minute stairmaster