Bits and Pieces (worth sticking around to the end, though)

The week progresses slowly toward Friday. I'm not conscious of overwhelming stress levels, though I am a little more minor-headachy than usual. Not life-impairing pain levels, just small ouch. On the other hand, that could be PMS, because OF COURSE this is the week*. Way to go, universe.

*TMI? Sorry about that.

"I know!" says Mother Nature. "Let's take a pants-too-tight week, with impending PMS, and add pet-health-related stress! Fun!" Awesome. Excuse me while I go eat my weight in chocolate, then go shopping for a new wardrobe.

Yeah, not really.

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I tried something a little different on the bike last night. Inspired by that NYT article I mentioned yesterday and the idea of interval training, I rode for a few minutes at my regular pace, then for about thirty seconds I went as fast as I could. Then back to regular, and did it again a few minutes later. My legs really felt like they'd worked harder than usual. We shall see.

I did my grocery shopping last night, and brought home lots of fruit, and the veggies to make that (no-tomato) salsa I love so much. Healthy and delicious! And I did not buy ice cream--which I managed by reminding myself that I want my clothing to fit, and then not even walking down that aisle.

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Fellow yarn lovers, there's a contest at Tanis Fiber Arts you should check out. I've been reading their blog since I saw and fell in love with the jewel tones in their Fiddlehead Mittens (someday I will get the kit for that), and all you have to do for a chance to win some beautiful yarn is tell them your favorite of their colorways. The hard part is picking only one!

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Has anyone been wanting to try Netflix? I got an e-mail from them offering a free month's trial for me to share with friends and family. Since that's how I tried it before joining, I thought I'd pay it forward and offer if anyone's interested. Let me know, before June 15th.

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Just for fun today*, I tried to list all 30 NHL teams without looking them up. I got to 20 without slowing down, then up to 26 more slowly. At that point, I allowed myself to look at a US map, and got up closer (I forgot St Louis?!), even checking a Canadian map** to verify that there are only 6 Canadian teams. The last team I remembered (or the one I forgot the most) was Columbus. Got it!

*I know, not everyone's idea of fun. I enjoyed it!
**Not a map that shows the teams, just one that shows cities so I could confirm that I got all the ones with teams.

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Actually, I did get a piece of good news today, a small but significant thing that might be a step in the right direction, job-wise (or, of course, may be a step that dead-ends, but don't rain on my parade). I applied for a job on Sunday, and was contacted by an HR person today with a couple of questions before passing my info on to the hiring manager.

It's not an interview, not yet, but it means that someone actually looked at my resume, and didn't circular-file it. Fingers crossed! I am so grateful to be working (and getting paid), but wouldn't I love a permanent job, wow.