Weekend Bustle

I've had a full weekend, no time to pop in and post.

Not crazy-headless-chicken busy. Just a steady flow of one thing after the other...and we even crammed in 2 movies. But as I very often do, I found time to marvel at how people with kids manage their insane schedules!

It looked like an eventless weekend, with just a little shopping planned. (DH and I are planning to visit our families in India after 3 years, and I've been racking my brain trying to think of things my little 5- year old niece would like from the US. She did recite her laundry list over the phone to me, but I want to throw in a few surprises and be labeled the 'cool aunt'...I have some local competition).

On Friday night, after work, I did a 6-mile tempo run, while DH did his usual 2 miles. My legs are slowly getting used to the speed. DH was in form too; he threw in a mile of strong striding. The 5K next Saturday is going to be interesting!

We watched a Tamil movie, Jeyam kondan (the victor). It was an unusually good movie, very different from the usual "bash-the-bad-guys and dance-around-the-trees" stuff. Well, to be honest, there was a bit of that, but tastefully done. A run-of-the-mill theme, but very realistically portrayed.

On Saturday morning, after our annual drawing of blood procedure (we do this every year, so we have something to worry about for the next 12 months), DH and I gorged at IHOP (this is an annual routine also; we are usually ravenous after 12 hours of fasting...3 hours without food is about as much as I can take), where I devoured the International Crepe Passport (two eggs, two bacon strips, two pork sausage links and two Danish fruit crepes with strawberry compote and sweet cream cheese).

DH went for the more traditional Breakfast Sampler with two eggs, two bacon strips, two pork sausage links, two pieces of ham, hash browns and two buttermilk pancakes.

And coffee! In my opinion, IHOP coffee beats Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts, hands-down.

Nourished and armed with a formidable shopping list that would take me into 9 stores across 3 towns, I bravely set out. As is usually the case, I returned 5 hours later, hungry and grouchy, my feet and knees hurting (I am convinced shopping is an endurance sport; it makes my body ache a lot more than running ever did!) I had not even made a dent in my shopping list. Instead, I now possess a whole bunch of things that were not on the list. I believe there is a correlation between the state of the economy and my spending pattern. The deeper the economy plunges, the greater my urge to buy!

Any hoo, apart from the 2 base layer tops I had ordered on Sierra Trading Post 2 days ago and am eagerly waiting for, I am now richer by a basic heart rate watch (the no bells and whistles ECG-Accurate Solo 910 model from Sportline) and 2 sports bra(s?) aside from umpteen assorted purchases.

So, I came home to find my parents in-law were visiting. DH got Chinese take-out and I got a Hindi movie, so after some chit-chat, we settled down to another dinner and a movie night.

This morning, DH and I went for a run...he accompanied me for 2 out of my 4 easy miles. I tried out my new HR watch. It comes with a few disadvantages. It is not the most accurate; it does not give a constant heart rate reading; it is trickier to use than the chest strap monitors - cold or damp fingers or wrist can give you no reading or wild readings; and it takes some getting used to...the watch has to fit snugly and you have to apply the right amount of pressure to coax out a HR reading. But I like it because it is simple; it does not have the cumbersome chest strap, which my previous HR monitor did.

I am a little suspicious of the readings it gave me at different points during the run. According to the 220-age method, my maximum HR is 186 and training HR should be between 135 and 160. On the 4-mile run, my HR swung between 120 and 150, and at one point dipped to 100...does that mean I dozed off mid-run?

Our 4-year old neighbor, Ryan paid us a mid-morning visit. He checked out our Halloween decorations and was suitably impressed. After pottering about a little, he left us and we got down to business, cooking potloads of food to last the week. We are getting good at this. DH chopped veggies at lightning speed, while I concocted a watery chicken curry, sambhar, cabbage poriyal and vazhakka kootu in record time. (Sambhar is a spicy gravy made of toor dhal and vegetables. Vazhakka is raw banana; Poriyal and kootu are a kind of stir-fry). My parents in-law stayed for lunch.

Then came cleaning and piles of laundry.

And now, finally...a refreshing cup of cardamom tea, and blog time!