Michael & Liz are Bloggable

Can someone please tell me why my herbs look like this?


And this?


They were perfectly fine and thriving for so long. Then they just flopped over and wilted. It has been in the 90s all week, so I'm sure the heat has something to do with it. Yes, I'm watering a normal amount. Will they come back?

In other garden news...much better garden news:

...$905 dollars in change.

Here are the breakdowns for the amount of each coin:

Coin	Total Value	Total Coins	Percentage
Gold Dollars	$8	8	<1%
Quarters	$570	2280	20%
Dimes	$205	2050	18%
Nickels	$66	1320	12%
Pennies	$56	5600	50%
Total	$905	11,258	100%

So looking into the comments, the winner is... Scott! His guess of $853.98 was the closest for the change amount and his guess of 11,044 coins was the closest for the coin totals. Apparently he had a little help (http://www.coincalc.com/) but I give him props for a good guess on the totals even on the website. Scott, I'll have to figure out a cool prize and send it to you.

So with the change from the container and the cash from the container, we're starting to renovate our sweet room with some big improvements. We immediately got to work this past week and I wouldn't be surprised if we were done by Memorial Day Weekend. Woo hoo!

Back up to our bedroom the large Coca-Cola container goes, maybe in another 13 years we'll be able to reap the benefits again!

Back in 1998, I was given a change bottle by one of my sisters since they didn't want it anymore. At the time, filling that container to the top was laughable. Well who has the last laugh now Mr. Coke-Bottle?!

13 years later, the masterpiece is complete. Between Liz and I, we managed to roll all the coins in about 6 hours over the weekend. This morning, in a plastic crate, I lugged it into our bank and deposited it all. The manager helping the teller even said "this is hands down the largest coin deposit I've ever seen at a bank." Here is the bottle in all it's glory:

So here's the fun part. Post a comment with guesses on two things:
 
Guess how much money in coins is in the bottle?
Guess the total number of coins in the bottle?

This does not include the cash that was in the bottle, only the coins. You have until Friday, at that point I will reveal the totals.

Here are a few stats to help:

• The bottle weighed 85 pounds. 
• The bottle is 24 inches tall. 
• The bottle is 7 inches wide in diameter at the bottom.

There will probably be a prize for the winning guess, but I haven't decided what yet. Liz and I both had guesses but I'll post those with the results on Friday. A few silly people have suggested I give the winner a cut of the money, yeah right!

Guess away!

Some of you may or may not be able to relate to the difficulties I am having training for a marathon, but I need to vent anyway and the blog is the best (and only) place... so... I am having difficulties training for the marathon. Miles 1 through 17 are pretty easy for me assuming my normal pace of 8 minutes a mile. But for some reason, no matter what pace I'm running or how I'm feeling that day or anything, once I get past mile 17, I struggle.

My history of running reveals the same. The farthest I've ever run continuously is 22 miles. For some reason my body and muscles fall apart at that point. Call it what you want, but it's basically bonking. I run out of energy and my muscles start cramping and spasming. Every marathon I've ever run has been the same story: run really well for 17-ish miles and then start going down hill until I hit the muscle-spasming-wall. At that point it's just a walk/jog lightly combo until I finish the race.

Right now I'm training for my 5th marathon in June and my sole goal in training is to figure this problem out. I've had two long runs so far in training, one 19 miler and one 20 miler. I've never been in better shape for running so the first run of 19 miles I just ran like I normally would with the average consideration for what I need for a long run. They both were around 10AM on a Saturday, and here were the results:

• In the 19 miler, I drank 32 ounces of Gatorade and took 4 total GU's as I normally would. I ran the 19 in 2:31 but the last mile in my 19 was brutal and I could feel the first sign of spasming coming on. I do not remember what I had for breakfast but it's usually the same thing the morning of a run, a bagel.
• In the 20 miler, I decided I might not be replenishing my fluids very well, so I drank 64 ounces of Gatorade and took 5 total GU's. At mile 17 I completely fell apart. I had no energy and after a mile more of running I could feel the spasms starting again. I finished the 20 in 2:47.

What's ironic is last Fall when training for the City of Oaks Marathon, my fastest 20 mile training run was 2:47. It's funny how my perspective has changed. 2:47 then was flying. 2:47 now is a major disappointment (especially when I was on pace for a 2:35-ish).

I refuse to believe it's impossible for me to run past 22 miles. There's too many people that can easily do it for me to decide that I can't. I also refuse to believe it's in my head. Your head can convince you that you don't like onions or asparagus, but it cannot cause your muscles to writhe in pain.

So I have 2 more long runs in my training that will give me a worthwhile test, 2 20 milers. I would love to be able to run 22 or 24 miles in one of them and successfully conquer this problem, but who knows what will happen.

So I've come up with only one more viable solution for my problem: nutrition. Nutrition not only the morning of the run, but throughout the week before the run. To be honest, it's something I've never paid much attention to. I run so much that eating as many nutrient rich foods as I can is never a huge priority. Hopefully some changes will prove to be just the change I need. Here is my plan:

• Based on what I've read, drinking 20 ounces of water/Gatorade per hour of running is appropriate, so I will keep that up.
• I think 5 GU's is enough for 20 miles. 1 before, and then 1 every 4 miles.
• The week before, eat as many fruits and vegetables as possible.
• Starting the day before the run, eat as many carbohydrates as possible.
• I am now taking a daily vitamin, fish oil, and iron supplements to help with my nutrition building up to the run.
• The morning of, eat a very large breakfast that includes at least a bagel, a banana, orange juice and more to be determined. Maybe my morning nutrition is bad?
• A large loss of sodium is something that has been highlighted as a potential cause of cramps and spasms, so include pretzels in both dinner the night before and breakfast the morning of.

Anyone have any suggestions for what else I might try? I guess technically slowing down is an option but I don't feel like that would help me. I think this is strictly a matter of distance and not timing.

I am hoping these changes are enough, but if I were to guess, it's not. I love challenges and this is certainly one of the most difficult I've ever faced. It pains me to think that there may not be anything I can do about it and will have to face the fact that I'm just not designed to go farther than 22. I hate that prospect so much though, and it's a conclusion I will not come to without a fight.

Today is Daisy's 4th birthday. This little girl is such a bundle of joy for us. She is easily in the top 5 for best decisions we have ever made (as is Gryffin). She has her own way of living though. She loves to roam around and be independent, but when the time comes, she is so incredibly gentle, loving, and dependent. I can't imagine our lives without her, she is such a blessing.

She's had a good day today too. She hung out in the backyard all day since Liz worked from home. I took Daisy and Gryffin to the dog park when I got home but unfortunately there weren't many dogs there. She still got some good exercise though. And tonight for dinner, they got new food from Blue Buffalo. They LOVED it! Daisy usually doesn't wolf down her food, but tonight she certainly did.

I looked back through our archives and here's a picture from her first birthday:



And yet in a matter of months, she'll be older than me in human years. Our little girl is not so little anymore.

This list is divided into two groups: the movies we got on DVD and the movies we watched through their instant streaming. The DVDs are at the top, and you can probably tell at which point the instant streaming movies start. I think there's a reason for that. The instant streaming service mostly serves up movies that are undesirable anyway. All the good movies (the valuable ones) are only on DVD. So while Netflix instant streaming is technically popular, they still have tons of problems. They are streaming more and more TV shows, which is awesome, but they need to beef up their inventory of movies.

Only 15 movies this month, was weird as it is, that's a down month for movies!

• Mr. Brooks (2007) - 3 stars - It was weird seeing Dane Cook not be funny. He did a good job of playing a serious character. Kevin Costner also did well as a creepy character.
• Kick-Ass (2010) - 3 stars - This one surprised me. I thought I would hate it like I hated Watchmen. It actually was fairly comical, but ended in a very average way.
• Due Date (2010) - 4 stars - Robert Downey Jr. and his quick talking, quick witted ways is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors. Although part of his shtick is making his supporting actor look like an idiot. Fortunately it worked well for this movie, which brings me to Zach. I also think Zach Galifianakis his freakin' hilarious and he didn't fail in this movie either. I might have to watch this again at some point.
• The Social Network (2010) - 4 stars - I was pleasantly surprised with this one as well. I really want to hate everything Facebook, but it was a good movie. Slightly boring at times, but Jesse Eisenberg was phenomenal and I understand why he was nominated for best actor.
• The Fighter (2010) - 4 stars -What is there to not like about boxing movies?! I love them. Christian Bale won best supporting actor and he certainly deserved it. He was completely another person, a different accent and everything. As for the movie, I was tempted to give it a 5, but there was something about it that just didn't click for me. Usually by the end of boxing movies I am completely drawn in, for this one, I wasn't so much. I realize it was more about the characters than the boxing story, but that to me hurts the movie.
• Waiting for "Superman" (2010) - 4 stars - If you want to know why the education system is messed up, you need to watch this movie. What I came away with though is that no matter what the solution is, there's hardly a chance it'll ever be implemented. There's too much complacency and not enough power to the people who can make positive changes.
• Law Abiding Citizen (2009) - 4 stars - Not entirely sure why I gave this 4 stars, because now that I think about the story line, it's pretty ridiculous. But I did enjoy the movie and Gerard Butler is awesome.
• Unthinkable (2010) - 2 stars - Totally unrealistic and silly, didn't enjoy it.
• Just Cause (1995) - 3 stars - I probably should have seen the end coming in this one, but it took me by surprise. Sean Connery can make a bad movie good.
• Sleepers (1996) - 3 stars -Good movie based on a true story. It was tough to watch just because of the subject of the material, but overall I enjoyed it.
• Demolition Man (1993) - 2 stars - This movie was so awful that it was laughable. Going forward and backward into the future is a recipe for disaster.
• The Other Guys (2010) - 3 stars - This had some CLASSIC Will Ferrell moments. He will never not be funny.
• Passenger 57 (1992) - 2 stars - Didn't this movie do really well when it came out? I have no idea why, it was pretty bad.
• Casino (1995) - 1 star - When you are 15 minutes into the movie, and the narrator is still trying to describe what's going on at the beginning of the movie, you know it's bad. I stopped it. I was too bored. Stop telling me what's happening, show me.
• The Last Song (2010) - 3 stars - Oh Miley Cyrus. This had some unintentional funny moments, like when she tries to storm away down their dock, as if she had somewhere to go. But in the end it was enjoyable and not too bad of a movie.

Well I'm about as furious as I can be, "pissed" would be the best way to describe it. I know I had all my receipts from gas for the month saved but during my last budget update around April 25th, I must have thrown one of them away. So unfortunately I can't give all my true results for the month. AAAAARRRRRGGGG!!!! (hitting the keyboard really hard right now!) I guess I'll just have to try and figure it out. Here's what I do have in writing from the month:

Date	Distance:	Gallons:	MPG:
04/12/11	ARG!	ARG!	0
04/21/11	354.9	11.93	29.75
04/26/11	354.6	11.38	31.16
05/01/11	145.4	4.89	29.7
Totals:	854.9	28.197	30.3

So for the month my average was 30.3 if you don't count the first week. I do recall after getting that receipt that my average for the first 11 days was in the 31's. So lets just figure out what my driving would have looked like had I done about 350 miles on my first tank averaging 31 MPG.

Date:	Distance:	Gallons:	MPG:
04/12/11	350	11.29	31
04/21/11	354.9	11.93	29.75
04/26/11	354.6	11.38	31.16
05/01/11	145.4	4.89	29.7
Totals:	1204.9	39.49	30.5

That 30.5 is a 20% increase in fuel efficiency. Now to see how much I saved in the month by averaging 30.5 MPG.

I bought 39.49 gallons and averaged paying $3.80 per gallon making the amount I paid in the month for gas $150.06. Now in the last week of March I had averaged 25.45 MPG on my car so if that had continued in April I would have had to get 47.34 gallons of gas instead of 39.49. That means I saved 7.85 gallons for a total of $29.84.

Now that April is over, I've found myself still using the tactics from over the last month. I haven't been hitting the accelerator as much, speeding off the line at lights, or driving as aggressively. So I guess the month was a success. $30 in itself is certainly not motivation enough to drive frugally, but I feel like all the benefits together is good enough for me. Not to mention I think my car is feeling less stressed by not using the engine as much and that's a better thing as well.

I can't imagine getting 31MPG for the rest of the life of the car, but I do like saving money so I'll do my best to keep it up.