Feasting

Halloween is a designated feast day for us. We're doing the total sugar overload thing here at our house. I did insist that everyone ate breakfast before beginning. Then we cut loose on the candy.

We'd each picked out a favorite to share and hand out. We ended up with Midnight Milky Ways, Twixes, and a Reese's assortment. Additionally, Anthony won a costume contest at work yesterday. Sadly, I don't have a picture of his costume yet, as he never put the whole thing on at home, but one is supposed to be coming. Stay tuned. Anyway, the prize was candy plus a few Halloween decorations, adding Snickers (which I almost chose myself), Hersey's minis and Smarties to the mix.

We all ate wildly for a few minutes after breakfast, then all decided to leave off until after lunch. I must admit that, while I really enjoyed the tasting feast, my tummy isn't in the best shape ever.

We're also having take and bake pizza for dinner tonight. My parents will be joining us. Davan, my mom and I will be having veggie pizza with no cheese, so not too bad health-wise. The boys will be having something with a lot of meat and cheese. I might have a small slice of the boys' pizza, though. And my step dad may wander over into veggie land. Every one else will probably stay true to their chosen pizza.

There will be two sessions of trick or treating - one in downtown Gresham at the stores in the afternoon and the other around the neighborhood after dinner. Davan is very excited. Gymnastics was canceled for Halloween, which she is okay with. If they'd offered it, though, she'd have gone until break, then come home for dinner and trick or treating.

Of course, this is all assuming I make it until afternoon. I may be crashed out on the couch. I was up reading late last night, then still took a while to fall asleep. I slept like the dead until about 5am, giving me a whole 5, 5 1/2 hours of sleep. I could not fall back asleep and finally gave up at 5:45.

I made good use of my time, going for a run (yes, a run, you heard right, even though I posted this not too long ago), and then doing an hour of yoga. I also got started on the chores before Anthony came stumbling out saying, "How did you get here? I thought you were still in bed!" He'd gotten up quietly and tried not to disturb my sleep. He does usually get up earlier, but geez, I'm not that thin.

This was my second morning of running. Basically, I decided that I needed more aerobic exercise. Walking and yoga aren't intense aerobic work. Swimming is a lot of the time, but sometimes we're working on strokes or whatever and then we don't do sustained aerobic exercise. I mulled over my options and decided to try running again.

When I've run in the past, it's been frustrating for several reasons, okay, really two - knee pain, not being able to sustain a jog even. Well, my knees have felt much healthier the last couple of years. Yeah, they have their issues, but they are doing pretty well. I attribute it to good diet (today aside!) and keeping them moving, particularly through yoga and other stretches. As for the second. Well, doing it more means being in better shape, no?

So, I'm giving it a go. It's going well! I have a little knee pain on my left knee that I think will work itself out. It sometimes hurts when I ride a bike, too, and I keep doing that. (So, why don't I ride for aerobic exercise you might ask? I don't know. I've tried that in the past and can't seem to stick with it. I like riding for transportation, but I'm not good at doing it for exercise. Go figure. I don't use it as transportation enough that I get regular aerobic workouts from it, either.) My legs are a little sore, which I think is great! I've run about 2 miles each day and been able to jog the whole time and I'm getting a runner's high already! It's good stuff.

Davan went with me yesterday (she was still asleep this morning when I went) and very much outpaced me, which was fine once she just broke free. At first she was trying to stay with me, but going slower than she wanted while I was feeling pressured to go faster than I wanted. We went around the park by our house and just met up to come back home.

It's pouring rain this morning here. It's supposed to let up for trick or treating this afternoon/evening. I've got my fingers crossed. Meanwhile, though, it's a lovely morning for just hanging out in the house. Anthony is reading, Davan is playing with some magnet guys while waiting for her turn on the computer and, of course, I'm on the computer. My book is calling to me, though, so that'll be next. Or maybe playing the keyboard a bit...

Have a great Halloween!