My Worst Fear--Realized

We've been having water bug* issues.

The other night, my worst fear** was realized.

I stepped on one.

Without shoes. Or socks.

It was still alive.

Screaming and jumping and rubbing of feet on the carpet then commenced.

Daniel took care of the demon bug.

And I dreamed of roaches that night.

BUT

The important thing: I survived. I even slept in the house that night. I'm a stronger person than I thought.

AND

Daniel has picked up Terminix's slack. While I'm bitter we're paying for their services and STILL finding roaches, I am also SO grateful for Daniel. He picked up lots of supplies from the store and seems to have greatly reduced the number of demon bugs getting into the house.

* "Water bugs," as it turns out, is a euphemism and a misnomer for "cockroach" or "demon bug"

**My worst fear is not really stepping on a cockroach without shoes or socks, but it's up there. A wise friend once said the internet is not to be trusted with one's bare soul, and so I'll keep my worst fear between myself and a few close friends.

Wildflowers in Richardson

I have to say that living in Richardson has more perks than I initially realized. There are so many opportunities for the community to get together and be involved--like having a "clean up the creek" day for those of us who live by Duck Creek. Or a ceremony called "The lighting of the Tree" at Christmas time--which takes place beside a little Santa-Land for all the kids. I just really like it here.

A new surprise bloomed about a month ago: there are BEAUTIFUL wild flowers that grow on the medians and on random street corners all over Richardson. This weekend we took a little trip over to the library to take advantage of the photo-op... and to enjoy the flowers :).

The Solution to Barefoot Blisters

I got new VFFs!

Vibram Five-Finger shoes are sort of like toe-socks with rubber on the bottom. They are becoming increasingly popular right now because they offer a more "natural" way to walk or run around, and lots of runners are wearing them to simulate barefoot running, with a layer of protection from broken glass and rocks.

Since I have had bad luck with joint pain and with ill-fitting running shoes--and since running barefoot was generally enjoyable except for causing intolerably painful blisters--I am now a minimalist-shoe enthusiast.

Went for a quick jog today in the VFFs, and I have no complaints yet. I am excited!

Addendum: I ran a little longer in them today, and they did give me one sizable blister... but still not as bad as the THREE on one foot that I got completely barefoot.

Running Barefoot

People have been running barefoot for a long time, but I'd never really heard of it until recently. Some runners consider it life-changing, touting that it has improved their running form and seriously improved conditions like Achilles' tendonitis, plantar fascitis, shin splints, and so on.

I've had some trouble with one of my knees, and it's kept me from running for the past 4 years--which has been a major bummer to me, because I really enjoy running. I think 4 years of rest is about the best I can do for my knee--that and Glucosamine/Chondroitin. I can't help myself... so I am back to running!

Actually, the running has been great so far (I've been at it about 3 weeks now), but my brand new, more-expensive-than-I'd-like-to-remember shoes have been causing my feet to pronate so much that it's become painfully intolerable. Hoping that running barefoot could give my feet a welcome rest from the pronating money drainers, I tried it this afternoon.

Here's what I came away with, after only one run:
1. Wowsa. Let me tell you--it is embarrassing to run without shoes! I felt like everyone in my neighborhood was looking at me, and more than once I wished I had saved this adventure for some dark, early morning.

2. Running on pavement (or even grass, for that matter) is UNCOMFORTABLE to the virgin barefoot runner's soles! Who knew feet could become so angry? Mine are screaming at me as I type. After only 16 minutes of running/walking, I got 3 medium-sized blisters on my right foot and one on my left. Since my running shoes have only been causing my right foot to hurt and I mostly got right foot blisters, I must run significantly favoring my right foot. Incidentally, it's my left knee that's damaged (torn meniscus).

3. Actually, the running part was pretty nice! Besides the layer of protection from the rocky pavement, I actually didn't miss the cushion of my over-priced pronating (but PRETTY and PINK!) shoes.

4. I could tell I was MUCH more careful running barefoot than I usually am with shoes. With tennis shoes, you tend to put your heel down first, in (some would argue) a "slamming" fashion--but barefoot, I definitely put the ball of my foot down first, and I paid a lot of attention to where each foot landed. I liked the tactile feedback from my feet, and I think it actually did change my form somewhat.

5. If you're thinking of trying it, I can tell you that the skin on my soles lasted a good 8 minutes before they started to hurt (from the rocks, not from the lack of cushion). I've been running about 45 minutes at a time, but I can see I'll need to scale it back if I want to continue. I've read that the skin on your soles build up a "tolerance" to the rough terrain relatively quickly. There have been lots of runners who have completed marathons barefoot.

I intend to try running barefoot a few more times before I decide whether it's crazy or not. People have done much less normal things that turned out to be great ideas in the past--so I'll give it a few more tries.

Mother's Day Cakes

I made some little cakes for Mothers Day, using two great recipes I found on All Recipes. Just for fun, we did some experimenting with the new camera to try to get some good depth-of-field shots. These are the results:

This is Deep Chocolate Raspberry Cake with chocolate ganache.



This is Lemon Cake, with Lemon filling and lemon frosting.

Yum!

TV in Disguise... or "My living room is not a shrine"

I've shared numerous conversations with one of my sisters-in-law regarding the tragedy of the living room TV shrine. Not to be dramatic, but as my SIL puts it, "If aliens invaded a typical American living room, they might assume--based on the furniture placement and entertainment cabinet--that the TV was some sort of god, to whom the family had built a shrine."

So, pretty much in agreement with that statement, Daniel and I investigated the interesting industry of TV Framing. We settled on a company called Frame My TV and got a Traditional Espresso-stained wood frame and mirror for the TV.

Lemme just say... though we are very pleased with the look of the frame, I think the company was stretching it a bit when they said installation is "easy as 1-2-3!" In fact, I think the falseness of that description rivals our Hunter ceiling fan's claim of "5-minute installation!"

So anyways, the mirror looks pretty dark in the photo, but it looks slightly more mirror-like in real life. And the TV only appears as a mirror when it's off. When it's on, the beam-splitting mirror glass is actually quite easy to see through.

This is the TV, on:

And here it is, off:

Worth the trouble? Not sure yet. But at least it's up, hanging, and secure. AND (after a lot of searching for the infrared receiver component of the TV) the remote control still works! The TV is about as camouflaged as we can get it. On to other home-improvement projects...

The Ranch

Daniel's family owns a ranch in Caldwell, TX--near College Station. It's a wonderful place, with cows and a pond and a big house that overlooks it all. Generously they share this great place, and so this past weekend Daniel and I and my family all made the drive down to enjoy it.

We couldn't have asked for nicer weather, and everybody had a great time. Daniel and I both especially enjoyed experimenting with our new camera, a Nikon D90.

The guys, about to embark on a fishing lesson/trip:


My nephews enjoying the tire swing:
This shot taken about 5 minutes before Jack lost his breakfast... :)


And my adorable niece, just having fun walking everywhere:


And almost the whole group, in front of the pond:


Hope everyone's summer is off to a great start. I miss summer vacation, but thank goodness for nice, long weekends.