– My humblest apologies to anybody who passed my house just now and worried that a woman was being violently tortured inside. I tried to lift and move a coffee table without checking to see if anything was on the lower shelf, and I wound up dropping a six-pack of PowerAde, a large wall clock, and various boxes of kitchen supplies onto my right foot. To my credit, I did not utter a single expletive while my children gaped on in horror; that credit might be docked slightly because I wasn’t actually able to utter any intelligible words in my howling.
– I actually dragged my poor kids with me to the gym this morning, windchill of -40F and all. None of us would have survived another day of being housebound, I rationalized. We all seem somewhat happier for having made the effort, actually; the boys got much more physical activity there than they can get here.
– I’m going to need that extra happiness to get me through tonight, when Eric’s going out with friends, and tomorrow, when he needs to go into work for a few hours.
– In exchange for my patience, he’s herding me out the door tomorrow evening to do anything I like. 
(Um, anybody want to get dinner with me? A movie?)
– I asked the kids if they won a contest where they could have dinner with any famous person, who would they pick? Gabe misunderstood me and picked a babysitter; when I explained again, he chose the president. Sam said Alex, the girl from Wizards of Waverly Place. (He’s already informed me that he wants to marry either her or Taylor Swift. 
)
– Eric was surprised to discover in passing that I had no “special” makeup (“No red lipstick?” he specifically said), so I picked up some red lipstick and nail polish. Both my sons declared red nails to be “scary.” Eric was forced to admit that red lipstick really isn’t “me,” either. 
On the other hand, the wrinkle treatment and moisturizer I also got seems to be agreeing with my skin, which makes me feel a little better.
– My marathon training program only calls for eight miles tomorrow, which is irritating. It’s more than I can cover in an hour, but far less than I can do in two hours; nobody shows up to start running at 6:30, so it looks like I’ll be starting by myself instead of in company. Unless, that is, I decide to cheat and either do more (likelier) or less…
– We decided to name the netbook CJ, or Claudia Jean. This is because on “The West Wing,” when CJ was under Special Service protection, her code name was “Flamingo.” The computer is “Flamingo Pink,” so it works for me. 
– I have no idea what I’m making for dinner tonight.
I’m doing this race as my first 50K/ultra in July 2012. I’m so tardy to the party but...
Red lipstick? With red hair? It would take a thousand-dollar-an-hour fashion consultant to locate precisely the shade of lipstick that wouldn’t clash.
On the other hand, you might be able to get away with going *darker* — try a burgundy with a shimmery gloss topcoat and see how that grabs you (and Eric).
Oh, and dinner? Try http://www.cookinglight.com/superfast for fast, fum recipes.
In this case, it was more about the skin tone; mine doesn’t like to get along with a lot of reds. Brick often works, but I couldn’t find a good one that day.
These days, I’m wearing a very light peach that I like, but it isn’t glamorous by any stretch.