A little bit of everything

I work in a hospital, usually on the 8th floor, so I do a lot of riding in elevators and have noticed an interesting phenomenon...the compulsive button pushers. Here's what I'm talking about: you're standing by the elevators on the bottom floor, so therefore there is only 1 button..the up button..and it is obviously already pushed because it is lit and there are several people standing there. Then that guy (or gal) walks up, glances at the obviously already pushed button, hesitates...you can see the wheels turning, then reaches out and pushes it again. Why? Does he think that his finger can push that button better than whoever pushed it previously? Does he feel like the elevator won't really arrive until he pushes it himself? Is it just a habit? If you are that compulsive button pusher, enlighten me!

I have been on a bit of a cooking spree lately. I have made rum balls, the raspberry strippers, baked potato and bacon soup, cashew brittle, whole wheat snickerdoodles, apple cider glazed pork loin. The cashew brittle is dangerously yummy..it is all butter and sugar, so I had a couple pieces then sent the rest of it with Richard to work. The snickerdoodles were my first attempt at baking with whole wheat flour and they turned out great, flatter and crisper than normal snickerdoodles which makes them perfect for dunking in coffee. And the pork loin is wonderful, we had it with some mashed sweet potatoes and it was a perfect winter supper.

Onto the training--Monday was supposed to be 4 miles but it was one of those days that I just couldn't get myself out the door, so instead it was a rest day but I'm ok with that. Tuesday was a phenomenal spin class, and I got to try out my new spin shoes. My instructor had to help me get clipped in but I think I got the hang of it for next time. The shoes really did make a difference and I could feel it in my hamstrings the next day. Wednesday Rich and I ran 4 miles with the dogs. They are huge pains if you take more than 1 at a time, so Dickson and Tanner each got a mile then Fiona went with us the last 2 miles. They loved it! Today is a rest day, then tomorrow is some light cross training. Then Saturday morning is the Reindeer Run 5k in downtown Charleston. It is more of a family/dog oriented fun run/walk than serious race, but it should be a good time. I am shooting for under 31 minutes, which would be extremely fast for me. There are a few people from work running it as well so I'm hoping they will encourage me to pick up the pace. There is free beer, food and massages afterwards so if that doesn't motivate me to run fast then nothing will!

Things in doggie-land have been good this week. Dickson and Tanner got to go to Petco for baths/nail trims/teeth brushing because they had gotten way stinky and it was too cold for me to wash them outside (for me, not them...although for supposed icy-water duck dogs they shiver and chatter their teeth when they get outside baths in the winter, they are weenies!). The girls are smaller and have shorter hair so I just put them in the shower with me and washed them down with my Twisted Peppermint body wash from Bath and Body Works. Then I dried them and finished up with some peppermint lotion on them, they did not enjoy the process but now they are super soft and smell great. Tonight we are going to see 4 Christmases, it looks funny and I LOVE Reece Witherspoon!