The weekly ramble...

That is basically what this blog has become, a weekly rambling update about the boring lives of the Fischers :) I promise we will get more exciting some day ... or atleast I hope so! haha

It has been a bit of a rough week for us actually. My grandpa passed away last Friday and even tho we knew it was coming soon, it was still a shock because of how quickly it happened. He has been battling cancer for the past few years and it recently came back too strong to fight anymore. He was only in his middle 70s, not ready to go at all and we were certainly not ready to say goodbye to him. Unfortunately he and my grandma live out in Kansas so I don't get to see them much and I was not able to go to the funeral either. Had a good chat with my dad last night and was happy to hear that there were lots of family and friends at the viewing and funeral to comfort my grandma and family. Hopefully will get a chance to talk to my grandma this weekend and see how she is doing. It is hard to say goodbye to those we love, but it is a sweet comfort to know that we will see them again one day. Even tho that knowledge doesn't make the pain or sadness any less real, it can atleast help with the healing a little bit.

Other than homework we really didn't get a lot accomplished over the weekend or this week - for obvious reasons. It was good to just relax and spend some time together tho especially as I wasn't feeling up to doing much more than that.

In other news - school is going well for both of us. Luke keeps getting A's on his tests and homework and I've been getting A's on my translation assignment so no complaints here! I am learning a lot from each text we do and even the mistakes are chances to grow so I appreciate all of my teacher's comments and corrections. Luke seems to be enjoying his classes even tho we'd really like to just ignore homework and go play in this unseasonably warm weather we've been having ;-)

Not much going on as far as running/training these days. I had a head cold for 2 weeks and then my knee hurt when I tried to run after that so I gave it a break last week. I finally hit the gym yesterday and got in a good 1.6 miles - (.5 warm up , stretch, full 1.1 run) and nothing hurt so I am going to try the same today on my lunch break. Hopefully if I keep doing my stretches and warming up I will able to start building on the mileage and start actually training again. So jealous to see Luke run his usual 5k at the gym each day - glad he is healthy tho and I know I'll catch up eventually :) Gotta get out there and run in the beautiful sunshine while it lasts! We have pretty wet Springs here so I'll enjoy the warm and dry weather while we have it!

The only thing exciting going on around here this week is that we are going on a double date with friends to see.... THE HUNGER GAMES! O yea - I am SO excited lol. I've read the whole series twice and I think it is going to make for a fantastic movie as long as they explain things well enough. 1 more day!!!!

Sniffle, sniffle, sniff sniff :-/

Not a very interesting week around the Fischer houshold. I've been sick with a bad head cold for the past 10 days and still haven't gotten rid of it. I've been super tired and taking lots of naps, aka super lazy and not getting enough at home and on my homework accomplished.

Luke has been a trooper - taking care of the dog and some household stuff so I can rest up. He's also been good about going to the gym without me while I've been sick. Glad we can go again together this week tho!

Today was my first day back at the gym on my lunchbreak and boy was it rough! Luke took a few days off too last week because he was having some knee pain but I don't think his come back was as bad as mine today because he is a lot faster and stronger than I am. Either way, rough Monday in the gym for the Fischer clan :)

I am running at around a 6.3mph right now - that is an easier pace for Luke but I'm glad I finally climbed over the 6mph hump with him! I do not have time to do more than 2 miles due to my warm up/stretch/cool down/stretch that is mandatory if I don't want to get hurt, but at least I'm working hard for that whole time! I'd like to start adding on the miles but atleast I'm getting a little faster and am trying to stick with that for now. Hopefully I'll keep getting faster with time because our big goal coming up is a 10k in June - we want to run it in 1 hour so that would be 6.4 MPH - no slowing or stopping at all.

It is finally getting warm enough that we might be able to run outside together a few days a week after work - looking forward to that. I need to get more mileage in if I want to do that 10k in June and in general it is good for us to get out more without doing all the mileage at once.
It is also a great way to wind down after work and let go of some of the stress as well as spend some quality time chatting together, even if we only do a couple of laps. We'll see how the weather holds out.

My homework has kicked my butt this past week - legal translations = yuck! Hoping to finish that up tonight so my Tuesday evening  is easy and free for relaxing, napping (of course!) and maybe a class at the gym with Luke. Leaving plans open tho just in case this homework takes more time - which it very well may at the rate I've been going with it lately... blegh.

Luke had his first test last week in his certificate program - interested to hear how he did when he gets back from class tonight! Hopefully all of his hard work studying paid off - always hard on the first one to know what to expect.

O! A little bit of good news - we got a new blender last weekend! You know what that means - green smoothies for breakfast! Mmmmm :) So yummy in my tummy this morning! We decided to give up sugary treats for a week but at least a green smoothie is sweet from the OJ and fruit and doesnt' count against me! I'll take what I can get! haha

Wishing everyone a happy Monday - may your Friday come quickly! haha

I got in!!!

Some semi-exciting news - I was accepted to the MA Teaching English as a Second Language program at the University of Delaware for Fall 2012. This is the second time I've applied - I chose the MA German Literature program last time because they offered me an assistantship right away. That could end up being an issue this round as well because I MUST have an assistantship to be able to do this program. There is no way I can take 3 classes and work full-time, so without an assistantship, I have to pass on the program.

My Translation Certificate course is going well - so if I don't get an assistantship then I will just continue with that while working full-time and it will take me 2 years to complete. A long time for 6 classes, especially since another MA would take me just as long - but o well, either option is ok. Guess we'll see in a couple months if the PhD students left any assistantship money over for the MA students (not likely but I can still hope!!)

Speaking of school - I got a 98 on my first homework assignment for my translation class, yay! Everyone starts with a 100 and then you lose points based on errors or bad translation - I missed 2 points on one section that she didn't like but overall I can't complain about an A! This second week's homework has been interesting - mostly difficult due to the formatting and footnotes with technical terminology for the Birth Certificate and Transcript. We'll see in a week how I did on that one - still need to finish some things up tonight and turn it in. Have been miserable with a head cold since last Thursday and VERY unproductive as a result.

Luke has his first test today in his Project Management Certificate program - wish him luck!!

Dear Physical Therapist - you are AWESOME!

Here is a long rambling story about my awesome physical therapist:

I went in for a free evaluation and she told me the million and 1 things that are wrong with me which are causing my IT band, knee, calf, etc. pain and injuries. I was a little disheartened but it finally convinced me to sign up for some PT sessions. The issue is the cost - I def. could not afford to go 3x's a week for a month. I told her really I can only come in 3 x's total and need to learn as much as I can during that time. She was REALLY understanding about it and it did not bother her at all.

My first session she did some deep tissue massage for my calf and also just did a more thorough evaluation. She gave me some good stretches and exercises to work on at home, but I was still feeling a little skeptical about the whole thing.

She was on vacation last week so I saw another woman who put me through the paces as far as stretches and strengthening exercises and also did major massage work on my calf and made it feel SO much better!

This week she was back from vacation and after being put through the paces on my stretches, etc. she did some manual stretch work which was painful but helped. We then had a good chat about what else I can be doing since this was my last visit. She gave me more things and told me to make up a rotation to follow every day to get planks, lunge stretches, rolling, wall squats, etc. in on top of eveything else she has already given me.

She was SO nice through the whole thing and really seems to care that I get better, not just that I come and pay their fee. She said if I want to check back in a few weeks, she can give me more exercises if I need them or if anything seems to be hurting again she can readjust my plan - through a free evaluation, not a normal session. Seriously not normal and so generous of her with her time. Really grateful for that office and all they taught me in the past 3 weeks! Looking forward positively to keeping up with my exercises and stretch routines and adding on the mileage again slowly.

Aside from being so nice - she is hilarious and makes the session a lot less awkward by her conversation and funny comments. She even narrates the thoughts of the dogs being walked by the windows on the jogging path outside - I totally do that ALL THE TIME with Luke haha, glad I'm not the only nut who does that!

Definitely was a great experience, did not break our bank, and was well worth the time, effort, and money.

For now I am doing a .25 warm up walk, stretching for 5 minutes (mostly calves and hamstrings because that is where I am the tightest), running 1 mile, walking .2, running my last .8 (keeping those 2 miles under 20 minutes even with the walking - o yea!! :)) and then doing another .25 cool down and a 5 min stretch afterward. It sucks to eat up 15-20 minutes of my running time with warmup/cool down and stretches but hey, whatever keeps me going and injury free!

Next week I will push the first mile up to 1.2, then walk .2, then run my last .6 - gotta keep going this way slowly until I am doing 2 miles straight and then I can start adding on mileage outside to go longer. She said the walking may be annoying but it is the best way for me to add on mileage while I am trying to strengthen and stretch without stressing anything out or getting injured again. I will take boring/frustrating over painful! Wish me luck :)