Ten Things Thursday

Cheers to Laura Belle!

1. Thanks to my Dad and cousin my laptop is up and running! YAY! Poor thing needed a new brain. I hadn't backed her up recently so I did end up losing quite a few pictures and videos . . .c'est la vie.
2. I am reinstalling things as I realize I need them, like last night the kids wanted to know what was for hot lunch today. They had to wait while I installed Adobe Reader before I could open it. (For the record it was Grown in Washington Day and they were serving chicken legs, spinach salad, bread stick, golden corn, and apple slices. :) I let them have it. )
3. Andy has been out of town since Monday morning, he comes home tomorrow afternoon. Of course we were invited to a b-party on Monday, Lydia's class had a picnic last night, Holly's school had an Open House last night, Averill had a field trip this morning, and her picnic is tonight. I didn't/don't wanna but I'm handling it, all by my lonesome.
4. Never, never, never eat a salad with lots of cherry tomatoes on it for lunch and dinner two days in a row. Acid rain ain't got nothing on me. 'Nough said.
5. On Monday I geared up and went out for a run. It totally sucked. I felt stiff and heavy, out of sync, and I never found my groove. I walked. That there says it all. I haven't walked during a run since I finished Couch to 5k last year. I have never been so ready to finish a run, ever. 3.2 mi in 41 mins. Say what? Splits of 12:55, 11:09 (the only mile I didn't walk at all), 14:42.
6. On Tuesday I pounded the elliptical for an hour. I sweated like a beast and it felt good. 
7. Yesterday I geared back up to run. I didn't go back to the scene of Monday's disaster choosing to run HERE instead. I felt excellent, I felt strong, my breathing regulated,  and I settled into a comfortable pace quickly. 5.2 mi in 57:55. Now that's a time to be proud of. And despite some painful chafing due to what I mentioned in #4 still 100% better run than Monday. If my ass hadn't been on fire I would have kept going.
8. I tried my hand at making laundry detergent yesterday. I looked at several recipes on line and decided to do a dry mix. Most of the recipes called for Borax, Washing Soda, and a soap like Fels-Naptha, Zote, or Ivory; some had baking soda and/or Oxy-clean. I ended up using Borax, Fels-Naptha, a store brand oxygenated cleaner, and baking soda. I was unable to locate Washing Soda in my immediate local area but the oxygenated cleaner is almost the same thing instead of straight sodium carbonate, it is sodium percarbonate & sodium carbonate. So far so good. I'm the first to wear anything washed in it and so far no rash or anything so that's good. I'm not noticing any difference in the cleanliness of the items so I think it works. And yes, it's safe in HE washers. :)
9. Oh, I spent about $20 (pre-tax) on the ingredients and if I use just 1 Tablespoon per load it I should get 164 loads at about $.06/load.
10. It's Mean Week and my kids are lucky I haven't totally lost my shit on them having to deal with all their functions and off and on crappy behavior by myself all week. 

Live, Laugh, Love!