Friday Five: A Random Assortment

1. My back hurts. It has hurt since Sunday. I'm not quite sure what I did. I was at a barbecue on Sunday, sitting at a picnic table, and when I got up, I noticed that I was stiff and sore. The pain got progressively worse through yesterday, and has felt a little better today. Walking helps, driving hurts. I'm beginning to think that maybe I ought to go to the doctor, but I'm trying to avoid that. Mostly because if I go to the doctor, I'll have to get on a scale, and I really don't want to find out the truth about my weight. Not right now.

2. Other than some M&Ms yesterday, I've been much better about my eating this week. I packed salads and yogurt for my lunches. And today, instead of going to the coffee shop for a chai latte and a pastry, I went to the dog park for a walk and picked up peaches at the grocery store. Of course, the margaritas I drank with dinner tonight probably didn't do me any favors.

3. Summer television is a vast wasteland. Not that I'm not watching the junk anyway. Last night, I watched part of "So You Think You Can Dance." There are a lot of delusional people in the world. Delusional, shameless people. And I'm still watching "The Fashion Show" even though it becomes more of a trainwreck every week. And not even a fabulous, campy, tranny wreck. It's just bad.

4. I think Rowen has allergies. She used to have problems with allergies when we lived in Austin, but she seemed to be doing fine in Madison. But lately, whenever we go to the park or for a hike, she gets a hacking cough and the sneezes. And one morning, she was wheezing and panting at home. Her energy level seems fine, so I don't think she's sick.

5. I finally gave up on growing herbs from seed. After weeks and weeks of watering dirt, I bought some pre-grown herbs at the farmer's market and repotted them. And now I'm an herb junkie---throwing herbs into everything and anything, in random combinations. I've had the plants for a week and haven't killed them yet. I might pick up a couple more this weekend.