Playing Catch-up

When I revamped my blog, I told myself that I would post an entry AT LEAST once a week.  Obviously, I missed that, since it's been about 2 weeks since I last posted...oops!  Well, let's play catch-up.

On the fitness front, the week before last I got some sort of stomache bug.  Though I still went to work (the whole limited number of sick days deal is a pain in the ass), I definitely wasn't up to going to the gym on Monday or Tuesday.  Wednesday was Bryan's big 2-year promotion pitch!  So I decided to stay home and skip out on water aerobics.  I cooked him his favorite meal--meatloaf and green bean casserole with red potatoes.  I'll post my meatloaf recipe later--its actually my GanGan's recipe and it rocks!  Anyway, it did turn out to be a celebratory dinner, because Bryan got his promotion AND was converted to a permanent employee!  (The first two years of government employment are seen as "intern years").  As for Thursday and Friday, I don't have any good reason for not going to the gym...I just decided to go ahead and scratch the whole week.  That Saturday I chaperoned a Latin tournament (and spent the day wishing all students could be as well-behaved and focused as Latin students), and Sunday we went with Bryan's riding buddies (Sons of Texas) to a church down in Freeport where one of the members is the pastor.  Some assholes broke into the church about a month back and stole approximately $3000 worth of property.  Since they are a very small and relatively older congregation, it was a big blow.  The SOT passed the helmet, as it were, and raised a little over $1000 to help the church replace the stolen items.  It was a really nice experience--the congregation was so happy to see all of us, even before the president presented the check, and the sermon was engaging.  Afterwards we went to a seafood restaraunt and I ate WAAAY too much.

Last week, I went Monday to water aerobics, Tuesday for 30 mins elliptical and 30 on the recumbant bike, and Wednesday back for elliptical.  Thursday was my infusion--second dose of Remicade at the 500 level.  Dr. C was encouraged by my progress.  He's such a good doctor.  He remembered that last time I was in his office, when the Remicade still hadn't taken effect, I was worried about what my other options might be.  This time, he told me about a new drug that was just approved (after 3 years of testing), and another that is just now entering long-term clinical trials, but that is showing a lot of promise.  And of course, there's Orencia too.  But he took the time to go through all of that with me--again, he's a great doctor.  So while all that was fantastic, having to go to work the day after the infusion was brutal.  I did it in December, but that was only a half day...a full day really was bad.  I was so tired, and the fatigue lasted all the was through last night.  Truth be told, I'm still dragging a bit today, but at least its nothing that I can't overcome.  Yesterday, Bryan and I went riding with Ethan and had an AMAZING burger at this place called Christian's Tailgate.  Then we went to Bass Pro to look at some handguns (boys will be boys lol).  Last night we had dinner with Bouncer and Alicia--she made some amazing chicken and wrapped asparagus (the recipes for which I HAVE to get!).

Today Bryan and I slept in and then grabbed lunch at Potbelly's and went to the bookstore.  On Ethan's recommendation, I picked up Lost Christianities by Bart D. Ehrmen, as well as his New York Times bestseller Misquoting Jesus.  Ehrman is a former Christian (a former Baptist minister actually, as well as a hard-core Biblical scholar who can translate the new testament) turned agnostic who is currently the head of the Religious Studies department at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  I'm really excited about reading these books, which both look at Christianity and the Bible from an historical perspective.  It will definitely bring back memories of my religious studies classes at A&M...and I have missed thinking about religion on that level.  Bryan laughed at me for buying what he called "textbooks", but he's also interested to see what Ehrmen has to say.  We were both intrigued when Ethan mentioned Lost Christianities.  I'll definitely be posting thoughts and reactions to these books as I read them. 

Anyway, that pretty much catches us up!  I haven't weighed in in these two weeks...I'll save that for next time lol, and try to eat better in the week inbetween.  And so begins another week...with our Costa Rica trip only 2 1/2 weeks away!