The fabulous Emily (do you read her? You should be reading her. She makes me laugh so hard I almost pee. A lot.) posted Seven Quick Things yesterday and I thought it was just a great way to organize all the random stuff that’s been going on in my head that I’m stealing the idea. I probably won’t make you pee laughing, but you can go read Emily for that.

One. After 45 minutes of a busy signal, followed by one hour and 13 minutes on hold, I finally got through to someone at the Department of Labor and Training. She was pleasant (totally wasn’t expecting that) and helpful and the whole call took less than five minutes. (Five minutes. After two hours trying to get through. Five minutes.) The bad news — in order to get the extension, I had no choice to make that phone call. Unlike filing for your initial unemployment which you can do online, they really make you work for it the second time around. (Work for it. Ha. Work for not working.)

The good news — I got the extension! For many, many more weeks! Which means the anxiety that was starting to eat at the inside of my brain can go away.

Two. I cried when I saw pictures of Dooce’s new baby, Marlo. Not sobbing or anything, just an initial rush of emotion that both surprised me and didn’t surprise me at all.

Three.I have given up on the 30 Day Shred. I had really high hopes for it but by the third day of Level 2 I found myself bored and annoyed that I had to do another squat thrust. It probably didn’t help that Kodiak was apparently appalled that I was doing squat trusts and found it necessary to bark at me when I did them. Loudly.

The problem is, I’ve gained some weight over the last few months. I actually didn’t really notice it until some pictures were taken and all of the sudden I was like, oh, hello ARMS. So I stopped eating cereal at night. And I realized after I had alcohol four nights in a row due to various events that cutting out the booze would not be a bad thing.

And then I decided to go running. After not running for oh, seven years or so. I’ve run on treadmills and ellipticals, but have not gone for a real run since I was on the crew team in high school and the coach would follow us in his pickup truck yelling at us to run faster.

Surprisingly, the run wasn’t all that bad. Yes, I had to walk a few times, but I really ran. And when I got home I felt pretty damn good.

Four. Today my hips hurt like I’m 70 years old. This is what I get for deciding to run.

Five. I spent a fair amount of my time last week watching the first season of True Blood so I would be ready for the premier of season 2 last Sunday. I am so glad I did. If you liked Twilight you will LOVE True Blood. It’s vampires for adults. You are welcome.

Six.Out of curiosity, who is watching the Bonnie Hunt Show? I always see commercials for it and think, “really? Bonnie Hunt?”

Seven. I got a manicure with my friend last week and I found the perfect pink polish and waited my turn. When I got to the chair, I showed the woman the color and she exclaimed, “oh no! Your nails are perfect length for French manicure. I give you that.”

I could have said no, of course. But she was just so excited about my long nails and a French manicure does look pretty and all.

Well, it chipped in two days. So much for that. It did remind me a very funny video, though, were a woman keeps getting upgraded to more expensive things at the salon.