Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Biking Days Over??

My mountain biking days may be over.  : (  For the first time in my life I have poison oak on my legs and it's spreading.  It's definitely not a really bad case of it but it's enough.   I'm itching so bad I want to claw myself to death.  I've definitely bruised my legs from scratching so hard.  I don't know if there's something you can put on your legs to prevent getting it but if there's not I think I'll give up biking.  As much as I love it and get a rush from it, it's so not worth this.  Perhaps I'm a wimp but I can live with that....just can't live with poison oak!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Sweet Moments

Two things hit me last night.  I knew both of them before and think about this a lot but it really hit me in the face last night:  there's nothing sweeter in this world than a sleeping child and a child's belly laugh.  Emma and I were in my bed last night watching each other draw pictures with our eyes closed.  When one of us would produce a snowman with his eyes on his belly and his arms completely detached from it's body, Emma would laugh so hard her face would turn red, she'd gasp for breath and let out an occasional snort.  There's something about hearing that deep belly laugh that makes me immensely happy.

Once we were done, she dozed off in my bed.  It may sound creepy but those of you that are moms (or dads) will understand, I just lied there staring at her.  Her eyes closed, slow, steady breathing, occasional mouth twitch....precious.  I literally could have sat there and stared at her for hours.  But I didn't - I picked her up (all 54 pounds of limp, dead weight!) and deposited her in her own bed and tucked that sweet girl in.  Man I love that kid.

Yes, that dirty brownish blob is Puppy.  He's baaaaaaack.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Darn Bike


So I went mountain biking on Monday evening for the first time in a few months.   It’s just been way too hot lately and I’ve also had this bike storage issue, which has just been resolved this week.  Every time I hit the trails on my bike when it’s been a while (even a few weeks), I’m shocked at how difficult it is.   I went to Horizons park, which I’ve never been to before and there was A LOT of hills.   Not only that, but it had rained the day before so it was a bit muddy.  I think I dropped more f-bombs on that bike excursion that I have in a year.   Very un-ladylike.   Actually, there was nothing ladylike about me that day.  I was literally drenched in sweat and covered in mud when I was done.   When I got home and took my clothes off to shower, there was mud and dirt all over the floor – I even had it in my hair – not sure how that happened.   Gross.

I work out a lot.  I run, strength train with a personal trainer, etc and it still kicked my ass.  When I would stop for a break (which I don’t typically have to do but since it’s a been a while, it was a necessity), I could feel the blood pulsating in my head and I thought I might have an aneurism.    I don’t even want to know what my heart rate was.

Even though I got tangled up in a few branches, ran off the trail, slung mud all over myself and even completely crashed and landed in a pile of bushes, I still didn’t think I had gotten injured.   But by the next morning I had already developed a nice big bruise on the back of my right leg.  I still think that’s pretty freaking good.   I have a few scratches here and there but they’re very minor.  I also wore padded biking shorts for the first time ever but my butt is still massively sore.   I’m sure people wonder what’s wrong with me when they see me sit down so gingerly.   Ouch.  Maybe I need a donut.


Sunday, July 31, 2011

Ugly words


I caught the tail end of something on the radio while driving yesterday.  It was a newly published list of the 10 grossest words in the English language.  I can’t remember hardly any of them and my late night Googling didn’t produce the same list I heard, although I did find several other gross word lists.  The only two I can remember from the radio were “wolverine” (whaaaaa??) and “panties” (I concur).

There are a lot of words I don’t really like.  They're not necessarily all "gross", but they're just ugly words that I personally don't like.   Below are a few of them, with a bit of commentary:

1 – panties - it’s okay for little girls and, well, certain adults can get away with it but in general I don’t like the word.  It’s not “gross” but I just don’t like it.
2 – vegetable - it’s the “table” part that I don’t like…it embarrasses me to say this word.   I have to say that while I may hate the word, I love, love, love to eat them.
3 – pork - as in the meat, people.
4 – discharge - that’s just disgusting and I found it hard to even type.
5 – “stick of gum” – okay, that isn’t a word but a phrase I guess….but I hate it.  If you want gum from me (which I rarely ever have), just ask for gum, not a “stick of gum”.  Please.
6 – moist – commentary shouldn’t be required here.
7 – tank top – I know, this is about as weird as not liking the word “vegetable”.  I avoid saying “tank top” whenever possible.  I’ll shorten it to “tank” but that’s still pushing it.  I’m ready for Fall.

 There's a lot of other words out there that are just flat out gross and repulsive and I think most everyone would concur with me, but I get a lot of s*** for not liking the above words.  I guess it IS a bit odd.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Sweet dreams??

I have really weird dreams, rarely scary ones, though.  Well, when I say “rarely scary”, I mean rarely do I dream about some axe murderer chasing me down and chopping me to bits.   But I guess my dreams can be scary in their own right…losing teeth, dying my hair (permanently) some obnoxious color…superficial stuff like that. 

Over the years my friends have found my dreams to be pretty entertaining (think Spicy Brown Mustard pants dream for those of you that know it!).   One year, I received a dream interpretation book as a gift so I could try to figure out just what the wild encounters are that make up my dream world.   While thinking that a dream I had that centered around raw meat means I’ll become super wealthy one day is interesting,  I recently was introduced to a new concept…well, it’s only new to me.  Someone I recently met described the theory that dreams provide an evolutionary benefit in that they help prepare us for real-life situations.  Intriguing, huh?  There’s a movie or documentary out there about it that I plan to watch once I find the right one.  At any rate, because I dream so vividly and they’re so freaking strange, this concept really sparked my interest.  So like the geek that I am, I started researching this theory, probably too much.  In addition to many web sites,  I think I’ve read 4 scientific reports on the concept of how dreams affect and relate to the evolution of the human mind, what parts of the brain are active during dreams and what that means, why dreams typically occur during REM sleep, etc. 

I don’t want to write my own dissertation on it, but I do think it’s super interesting that dreams could (and probably do) play a critical role in threat rehearsal and preparation for various circumstances that we may encounter in our waking states.   With the complexity and nonsensical nature of my own dreams, I find myself trying to figure out each morning what that dream is trying to prepare me for.  Perhaps I’m overthinking it but it’s fun and interesting nonetheless.

Not only do studies show that dreams help prepare us for “threats”, they help prepare us for other social situations.  Just like role-playing and mental imagery in real life helps prepare us for certain social interactions, dreaming can too.   This has been proven through reports of children’s dreams.  Children’s dreams most often involve family and close friends – probably because it’s more important for children to rehearse those types of close interpersonal relationships than it is for adults. 

There’s so much more I could say about this topic but the last thing is just an interesting dream state that I ran across called “lucid dreaming”.  Basically, the skinny on lucid dreaming is that the dreamer realizes, during a dream, that they are dreaming and that they are actually asleep. I think I’ve come close to this before but I don’t have full recollection of it now.  One part of this that I know for a fact that I have not experienced is that for lucid dreamers, they’re often able to manipulate and react within the dream from a wakeful state of consciousness.   Know what’s really cool?  Apparently lucid dreaming is fairly uncommon but studies have shown that you can train yourself to do this.   My dreams are so bizarre that I’m not sure I would want this for myself and it involves some wacky stuff like questioning your reality throughout the day while you’re awake (among other things).  I don’t have time for that.   I question reality enough as it is.    

Perhaps I’ll start posting some of my dreams and my thoughts on their evolutionary benefits.   This may expose too much about me to the general population, though. :)

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

What's Your Smurf?

With the upcoming release of the new Smurfs movie (which, by the way, I'm not sure how I feel about, the original Smurfs cartoon holds a special place in my heart), Emma introduced me tonight to a website where you can put in your name and it spits out your "Smurf Name".  It's funny how some are really accurate.  : ) We did Smurf names for many of our friends and family.  Look for your name below!

Emma:  Strawberry Smurfette
Veda L.:  Smoochie Smurf
Steve L.:  Itty Bitty Smurf
Craig:  Sniffy Smurf
Brenda:  Shy Smurf
Lindsay D.:  Clever Smurf
Lindsey Y.:  Spooky Smurf
Ouida:  Zippy Smurf
Ginger:  Mr. Smurf (Emma and I fell off the couch laughing at this one!)
Melissa Y.:  Suave Smurf
Naomi:  Squeaky Smurf
Annalise M.:  Tickle Smurf
Owen M.:  Coffee Smurf
Abby:  Count Smurfula Smurf
Sarah:  Root Beer Smurf
Kim:  Sir Smurfy Smurf
Mackenzie:  Smarty Pants Smurf
John S.:  Wack-a-Doo Smurf (hahahhaha)
Meghan:  Fluffer-Nutter Smurf
Keela:  Giggle Smurf

And last, but not least, my Smurf name:  Devilish Smurf.  WHY does everyone else have a cute or funny name and I'm "devilish".  I guess if the shoe fits...

Monday, July 25, 2011

Here we go again...


Well, this is my third and final try at blogging.  It always sounds like a good idea and I do it for maybe a week and then completely forget about it.  I’m not sure why I feel like I need to blog.  I guess I want to be cool.  Like Ouida Linkous and Ginger Nixon.  Maybe I should accept that I’m not as cool as them.  I’m serious when I say that if I can’t keep it up this time I will never try again.  Maybe “never” is harsh, but it’ll be many, many years before I give it a go again. 

One thing I always struggle with is a blog name.  So I sent an email to some of my more creative friends and Ginger immediately comes back with “My Name is Luka, I Live on the 2nd Floor”.  We all know the song.  I can’t tell you how many times it’s been sung to me over the years.  I thought Ginger was joking but clearly she wasn’t.    I was concerned because, I don’t in fact, live on the 2nd floor.  But Ouida thinks that’s a good thing – we don’t want any crazy fools out there knowing what floor I live on, do we?  So there you have it…My Name is Luka, I Live on the 2nd Floor is born.   It’s not pretty yet – I’ll get to that part later.  I’m just focused on doing some actual blog posts for now.    And Ouida did come up with a good suggestion that I was fond of: “What you Luka at??”  Hehe. 

I have no idea what to write about.  I don’t typically run across expressive nuts, fruits and vegetables like those other blogger friends of mine, I don’t take showers with my cat (and I don’t have a cat), nor do I participate in that couponing thing anymore (that lasted a good 4 months or so).  So, I guess I’ll stick to my random thoughts and the goings on in the life of Jaclyn and Emma.   Stay tuned…