Where's the Ben Gay?

I am an old, old woman. Jen and I agreed to run a 5K together in Texas in April, so I've started training. I'm sure Jen has been running 20 miles a day while doing surgery and making a gourmet meal, but it's killing me. And I'm only doing about a mile a day. At less than 4 mph. At this rate, I should finish the 3 miles in about 12 hours.

The bad news is that, other than the joint pain, I can't stop eating. I ran out of Weight Watcher points about two hours ago, and I'm still munching on whatever I can find. Luckily my house is absent of anything really bad for me, and it hurts to get out of bed, so a trip to the kitchen is out of the question.

This weekend was pretty restful, although I did go to dinner with Amanda and Kelly and to see "Bride Wars" on Friday night. Great movie! Sunday was Mason's birthday, so I met the fam in Rogers on Saturday for pizza and gifts, then we went to the Razorback game. Obviously I'm bad luck. I haven't been to a game in over a decade and the first one I walk into they lose big time.

So I guess I'll just lie here in bed and ache.

Wonderful Christmastime

Some pics from this week:

Chance



Hope got lots of makeup



Taylor and me on Christmas Eve



Dad, Taylor, Hope, Brad, Chance and me



Mason and Isaac on Christmas morning



Jen and me on Christmas day



Taylor, Brad and me



Peyton taking his Christmas nap

Back in the Fort

After a mere 48 hours at home, I'm back on the road. Today was another marathon day of meetings, ending with a faculty meeting that started at 4 p.m. (where the President introduced me and stated that I was responsible for raising about $500K... no pressure). Then I ran home, threw some stuff in a suitcase, and headed down to the Fort to get ahead of the ice storm.

(There's really not much to report tonight, but if I don't update every day, my dad worries. And besides, it's not called "the occasional drivel.")

Tonight I'm crashing at Sorne and Vance's. They cooked me dinner. And the best part of the night was, when I walked in the door, Mason and Isaac came barreling in to give me big hugs. Isn't that sweet?

I meant it last week when I said that I was overwhelmed by the love in my life. And it's nice to be wanted. But the bad part of it is (and I feel completely selfish as I'm typing this) that I sometimes feel stretched thin when I come "home." I mean, I have a lot of family and friends here. People who love me and merely want to spend time with me. But people who get hurt feelings if I stay on someone else's couch besides theirs. People who don't necessarily appreciate that I do my best to spread around the Lori while I'm here. This past weekend, I was in the Fort for nearly 36 hours, and I spent the bulk of it with my family. Tonight I only had a few hours, and I'm spending it with friends.

So shhh... don't tell my fam that I'm in the Fort. It'll be our little secret. You'd think as big as my butt is, there would be enough of me to go around. Turns out, not so much.