Thoughts on the Tri

I have been wanting to get into words on "paper" about what the triathlon was like.

I don't know if I can even come close in one sitting, let alone a few days of tyring to work it out. But I will give it a go and see what happens. (note: it took nearly two weeks)

It is actually a ten-year journey getting to the triathlon this past July.

In 1999 I watched an iron man event in Hawaii (on TV) and became mildly obsessed. I searched the web, found training plans, a "tri-a-tri" event nearby and went for it.

At the time I was already active, teaching 3 aerobics classes per week, and I thought that adding biking and running wouldn't really be that big of a deal. I recruited my sister-in-law to ride with me and I took on running on my own. I'm still not good at running, but I try. Running has been the most work. Finding a rhythm and sticking it out when the cramps start. I remember the first time I ran through a cramp and the feeling afterwards.

I didn't worry about the swimming, I don't have any water fears and I didn't think I was a sucky swimmer. Truthfully, I had no idea what kind of a swimmer I was. Fast, slow, no idea. I've never competed in anything before so I didn't even have any measure of what kind of an "athlete" I was. Or if I was an athlete at all. As I checked my stats for the individual disciplines I find that I don't suck as a swimmer, I placed 7th overall in my age group of 46 participants. (And that was in really crappy water conditions, too.)

About 6 weeks before the race I went mountain biking, crashed, and broke my collar bone in half, and cracked my shoulder blade. Needless to say, I didn't get to race. It also caused a halt in my teaching. I resumed teaching late that summer and then in November that year I got a new job. With the job came a screwy schedule, less access to working out (it wasn't part of my job anymore) and a desire, but disinterest in working out. I continued to think about a triathlon, even wanted to train again, but never got around to it.

Then I had a kid. Then the organization I worked for reorganized. Then I had another kid. Although I continued to think about it, I never got back into the groove of working out regularly or training.

Until this past year. I wouldn't say I was working out "regularly" but I did get back into working out. It's on-again, off-again, but I am doing it. So I figured I could do run/bikes/swim workouts and maybe do a triathlon.

In the past 5-7 years there have been triathlons in my area. I have watched some of them be very successful and others fail miserably. The past 2 or 3 years the Chelan Man Multi-sport event has taken off. I mentioned it to one of my work-girls that I run around with, JP, and she was all over it! "Lets do it, when do we register, what do we do, here's some books I got at the library." She caught the bug bad and it was contagious. So we signed up. She/we attempted to recruit several of our co-workers, but they didn't bite. There are a few on board for next year though!

We tried to workout together, but only managed a few swims and a run due to our totally opposite schedules, but we encouraged each other in our individual pursuits and agreed to run our own race in the end - meaning we'd look out for each other, but it wasn't about doing the race together, and it didn't matter who "won" it was about finishing. And we did finish!

I must say that finishing was kind of anti-climactic. I don't know if I can describe it. I swam, went through the transition to bike, met up with JP and started up the hill. We rode a bit together and then split off. I passed her on the way back we gave each other a "you go girl" and I continued back to the transition to the run. The transitions are interesting places. All the racers go to a central location to get their next set of gear. There are a few people around, mostly racers, just minding their own business getting ready for the next leg of the race. I changed my hat and headed out on my run. Again, I passed JP and we exchanged another "you go girl" and I headed for the finish line.

Once across the finish line I guess I felt kind of lost. Here I was at the end, a nice group of race people cheered me through, but then what? Nothing. That was the anti-climactic part. No one was there to congratulate me. I'm not whining. That's just the part, as I look back, that was the most disappointing. I changed my shoes, and went to wait for JP. Lucky for me, I knew the deputies at the road block so I just stood around chatting with them while waiting for her. We ran the last part of her race together, I cut around the finish line so she could have her own finish.

We wandered around the park afterward and then got our gear and headed home. My friend Pauly describes the day after really well, he says "it was just like a really hard workout." Exactly. Finishing was kind of like that too. I feel great about pushing myself and doing the race, fully intend to do another one or two next summer. But I don't know what to do about the finish line dilemma. I guess my ego needs a cheering section. Shame on her!

There's more. There's the part where I had to run and ride without music. They don't allow iPod's and the like during the race. (Sheesh, just because part of it is on the highway...) That meant I had to focus on something else, the scenery, the road, the person ahead of me - varoom, I mean behind me! The Lake, the lines in the road, the terrain, my breathing. Very different than my workouts.

There's the day we went to the Lake to swim for the first time in the open water. It was the most exhilarating thing ever. The feeling I had when I was done was, literally, something I could feel on my skin. It was tingly like I've never experienced before. Sort of like when you play outside in the snow and then come into the house where its warm and your fingers tingle, only it was all over. My arms, my legs, my face, back and feet. For hours.

Seeing the sand and rocks at the bottom of the lake instead of the lines on the bottom of a pool, seeing trees when I took a breath instead of concrete or a buoy line was a really wicked experience. Breathtaking. Being a part of someone's break through. Honoring.

For me, its a whole-life experience. I wonder if that makes sense to anyone else? 10 years is a long time to chase a dream. Even a little one - seriously, what's two hours of my life? But it continues to slowly change my world view and my self view. It's one of those things I can say I did. A dream I had, that I followed through and had success at. Finishing was my goal. I succeeded. I need a few (more) of those stories.

It challenges me to try other things that are scary or absurd-sounding - I had one person say to me "What? A triathlon, I never thought of you as the athletic type" neither did I. Just goes to show you :) I learned about another person's triathlon experience I never would have known about. I had others say "Wow, I have always wanted to do one of those." Those are the ones we are recruiting for next year! And I had a super supportive husband "Babe, you need to get up and ride today. ... What day are you running this week? ... You swimming tomorrow morning?" My Honey was very good to me.

All-in-all it was a great experience, but race day is only a small, almost the smallest part, of it. It's the getting there that is really the part that keeps popping up in my mind I guess. The process. The path. The struggle. That part.

Fall - HA!

Take that Fall!

It's been 85-90 degrees the past 3 days. I think it might have been 100 today! I love summer weather. I took the soft top off the Jeep the other day to enjoy the last little bits of summer. I even put the car seats in the Jeep, since My Honey is out of town till Sunday, so the kids and I can soak up the last bits of summer. Ahhhh :)

And, I have the weekend off. And, I have a babysitter Saturday. And, I have Dead Guy Ale in the beer-fridge. Life is good.

One of the things I like about my job is the variety. It's never the same thing. Ever. Today I participated in an exercise (off site) intended to test the emergency response plan for a local PUD. I love these things. I don't know why, but I do. Then I had the opportunity to check out the new special operations mobile command post for one of our sheriff's offices. VERY COOL. I made several requests to be put on the list to dispatch out of that beauty of a command post. WOW! Very WOW. I don't even know how to describe it. They took a 5th wheel, gutted it, ordered anything a special response team and dispatcher would need to go live and that's whats in it. Nothing special to Joe Public, but to us dispatchers, WOW! Not sure what the field guys think, I was touring with the guy that ordered it (who thinks it's the baddest thing ever - duh) and a Sargent who really has no use for it, but went along with how cool it is, but from a practical standpoint for my job - looks like it would work really, really well! I hope I get the chance to try it. It could happen.

Afternoons

I am an afternoon person, if I have eaten breakfast. I took the kids downtown today for the Harvest festival. Truth be told, I wanted to listen to Fat Happy so I made them go too since My Honey was golfing. There was a whole lot of stuff to see downtown, we ran into lots of little friends, an old grade-through-high school friend of mine, and the Wild mascot! There was a lot to see and do but I was distracted by the clock, I have to work at 5, all I could think of was that we should go so we could get a nap in plus, I hadn't eaten so my mood turned sour rather rapidly and none of the fun things seemed fun to me.

All-in-all it was fun, Miss I's favorite part was dancing to the band, and dance she did! Bubba's favorite part was seeing the Wild mascot, Walt. We did make it home in time to get a short rest/nap in so it all worked out.

I know, relax, go with it! I try, I really do.


What I wish is I could have taken some time for more of these:

Mornings

I am NOT a morning person. Ever. Anything I have to do before 10 is just a pain in my ass. Unfortunately I live with nothing BUT morning people. My kids, My Honey, they all like to get up and get going. Most of the time they will just get up together and let me sleep, but today My Honey is golfing so I am stuck getting up early.

My first wake up call today came at 6:15 when My Honey's alarm went off for golfing. The next wake up call was about an hour later when Miss I woke up. I told her to lie quietly with me or go play in her room. She chose her room, but on the way woke up Bubba. They played pretty well for awhile together and then Bubba asked if they could go watch TV - of course! Have at it!!

I hear the TV go on but I am also hearing chairs scrape on the floor in the kitchen and water running. I assumed they are getting water ready for hot chocolate and I figured I would get up when I heard the microwave go off. But it never did. The next thing I know Bubba is telling me that my favorite Disney show is on (Little Einsteins) and my coffee is ready. Coffee?

That got my attention. I went downstairs to find Miss I doing dishes and the coffee pot perking away. I asked Bubba how he made the coffee and he tells me "I did 12 ounces, I wasn't sure how much you wanted." That sounds perfect, but how much coffee grounds did you put in? "Three scoops." Well, what do you know, he did it just right. My little boy makes a good cuppa joe.

So the question begs to be asked: Why am I taking early morning shifts? For the sake of my family. I LOVE working nights but I don't see the family enough. Just 9 more shifts and back to getting up at oh-dark-thirty. Work-wise, I am not looking forward to it (booooring). Life-wise it will be very nice.

I don't think I have even mentioned how much FUN it's been working nights. I got everything I wanted - pursuits, stolen vehicles, fights in progress, awesome fires, requests for "emergency traffic only" on my radio. Fun stuff. Day shift just doesn't quite measure up to that. Plus, Thursday and Friday off rocked! I can't wait till January when I go back to those days off and I don't have to work till 5am. I think it will be pretty nice.

Coming up next month, we (just me and My Honey) are going on a cruise to Mexico.
I. Can't. Wait.

Opening weekend

We had a lot of fun at hockey games this weekend!
My sister, nephew, our kids, My Honey and I went to games on Friday and Saturday night. It might have been too much for the kids, but not for the adults and not for the team. They won both nights!! Way to go guys!

Of course no pictures of the game, sometimes I am embarrassed to pull out my camera and start clicking away...

Fair '09

"Yellow Cactus"

"Butterfly" I know, not very original

"Chihuly's Boat"

I turned this one upside down and called it "Splash"


Chelan County Fair, here I come.
I named and entered these in the fair this afternoon - yay me

Finally

Really? Nearly 90 minutes to edit and download this photo? I hope that RAM comes in tomorrow!

Renewal

I read this the other day about Yom Kippur and I liked it:

"Yom Kippur, the day of public and private atonement, a sacred withdrawal from the world for twenty-four hours in order to become right with God and others, so that real life might be renewed with passion and purpose."

The author goes on to say "... it's time for turning over a new leaf so that our lives might be restored."

It spoke to me on many levels. Maybe next year I can plan ahead, actually withdrawal from the world for 24 hours... Can you imagine?? Get right with God. Get right with others. Get right with myself.

Yeah, I know, kind of deep thoughts.

In other news, school started! I have TWO kids in school. It's kind of a mixed bag of emotions. I am very glad to see them go, we all need the break, but I miss them too. Miss I is just going on M,W,F mornings for a couple hours to pre-school. My girl DW (love that girl) recommended the pre-school her kids have gone to. What a great choice! It's not far from home, on the way to work for My Honey, not too expensive AND she will take Miss I part-time for day care.

Bubba is a second grader. He had "butterflies in my stomach until we got to the fence and then I was fine." He was talking about the fence around the school yard. I am very excited for him this year, he has some familiar kids in his class, some new ones too and his teacher is a science-y type which is right up his alley! She spends part of her summer break at a science camp so she brings back LOTS of great stuff.

I took pictures of the kids on their first day, but have not downloaded them yet, I am waiting on some new RAM and want to see if it makes a difference. Or, maybe I am rebelling against the system, everyone else posted pictures of the first day and I'm NOT. Either way, check back later, I am sure I will get around to it before too long.

Lastly, I have had (more) time off. I took part of this week off to be able to take the kids to school on their first day. I know, what a mom! Its been very relaxing, having nothing to do. The most effort I have put into life is mowing the lawn today. Seriously! I might go for a run or a ride tomorrow morning after I drop the kids off, but other than that, I have totally been chillin. Its been nice.

OK, wait, one more thing! The Nickelback concert was a TON of fun! Saving Abel, Papa Roach and Hinder opened for them. A definite do-over, same band, different band, who cares, it was fun, fun, fun. I might have lost my mind a little, danced, sang out loud, smoked, drunk-texted, who knows - what happens at the Gorge stays at the Gorge right? Right ;)

Winding Down

Its the last 10 days of summer vacation. Its been/will be the busiest two weeks of summer vacation.

We camped on Thursday and Friday last week - very fun, but the campsites were a half mile walk from the parking lot. Not so bad on the downhill way there, but the uphill way back ... glad My Honey was along to help! It was a great experience though. I have never camped with a large-ish group before, so having 3 families with a ton of kids under 13 and lots of adults was a very different, fun experience!

I am in the middle of my work-week and then the fun begins. DW and I are taking our older kids back to school shopping on Thursday. Me and mine are leaving on Wednesday night for Issaquah to stay with my Dad, then we will bring his wife back with us on Friday so she and I can go camping on Saturday. Us two are going to the Gorge for a concert on Saturday night. I am very, very excited. Know why? Because its my very first ever rock concert and its Nickelback and its at this great outdoor venue and I can't wait! Its been 25 years since I was invited to my first rock concert so it's about stinkin time I got to do it! I am excited to camp, I am excited to do the whole concert thing and a little nervous too, but it will be a blast. We know a lot of people going between the two of us so I feel pretty safe about the whole thing. Unfortunately we cant bring any food or drink in, so its going to be a spendy food and beer day, but WTH? It will be worth it!

Miss I is enrolled in preschool, she starts on Monday and Bubba starts next Wednesday. Miss I went to the day care part of her school today and did really well. I think we're going to like it there. I hope grandma likes it too! Speaking of grandma, shes been gone for nearly a month in Portland helping my SIL with her new baby. I am thinking she will be home this week? Maybe?

What else? Oh night shift. Unfortunately, this week is the first week I really feel worn down by nights. Like I just don't want to go to work. I think its just been really busy (see above) and I haven't gotten enough sleep. Or maybe its been really busy and I know there is so much fun stuff out there I am missing out on? Or maybe its just that I am anticipating change and its coming up fast, with school starting and stuff? Hard to say. Hopefully after we are into the swing of school things it will all be better. Not only that, I am half-way through, so theres that. Although that means getting up at 2 in the morning again! UGH! I can't wait till January when I get to work at 5 am! ... Never satisfied am I?

Ho hum

Where, oh where did my summer weather go? Where, oh where could it be?
It's raining today and I hate it so, oh where oh where did it go?

I was thinking of taking the kids to Blueberry Hills again, but its starting to rain, it's a little windy and its COLD (54*). Not a good way to end the summer if you ask me! Plus, my tan is fading. And I had a GREAT tan too.

Teenagers. Why don't they sell them in the store? Or rent them or something? My youngest sister has been here for nearly two weeks and I love it! Mostly because I can come and go as I please and get different errands run, go to the movies with My Honey and run in the morning. Although, there have been some interesting happenings! She found a teenage boy on my block - who knew?! and took off to "the store" for a few hours the other night. (Ummmm, the store is a 15 minute round trip, INCLUDING the shopping) so its definitely been fun, entertaining and a good view into our life in 10-12 years! It's also been interesting to get to know her and give her my point of view on her life and share some of the regular day-to-day happenings of our lives with her too.

Unfortunately, I have not gotten out to do any photography in the past couple weeks, I saw something the other day ... I don't remember what, and wanted to snap a photo, but I was in the car. Someday I will get the courage to stop and do it, but I haven't worked up to that yet. I have a few photos, but nothing that really strikes my fancy to enter in the fair this year. We shall see, two more weeks to decide.

Speaking of, just three weeks till school starts!! I can't believe its already back to school time. We are planning a shopping trip with DW to Seattle in a couple weeks. She has a girl going into 2nd grade so we'll take our 2nd graders together. It should be a lot of fun!

Beer & Crab

My girl DW went to the coast last weekend. They did all kinds of fun stuff including crabbing... I begged and pleaded, I might have even cried or bribed her a little ("if you bring me some crab, you can go swimming at my house") and she was kind enough to share with me and my family, so last night we had crab and beer for dinner. Well, I did and it was DELICIOUS!

My Honey is gone golfing for the weekend. I am really happy for him, it's been a long time since he's gotten away for a few nights. He needs it. He deserves it. He's been working hard at work and at home with me on night shift. He da man for everything; early risers, breakfast, after working all day, he picks them up and takes them home and gets them dinner and puts them to bed! He's putting in some LONG days.

Since he is gone, I am flying solo to a wedding tomorrow... I KNOW! It's one of my co-workers and since not everyone was invited I better go see what it's all about. I am thinking of going early - weather dependant - to take a few minutes to photograph a little. Its at a golf resort, and you know how the stuff is there ... picture perfect!

It's been a rough day. I don't know why, maybe because I wasn't feeling 100%, maybe because ... well, I don't know. The kids drove me crazy and nothing went quite right so my youngest sister and I rented some dumb movies for tonight. I know I can't make it happen, but when I was at her house last weekend the best part of all was sitting, drinking beer, watching two of the dumbest movies I had seen in a LONG time. (Yes, I was a little dumber after watching them.) That's what I am in the mood for, just sitting and veging, so that's what we are going to do.

Which reminds me:
"Things I would like to do in Issaquah:"
Check out Ikea for a dining table & chairs DECIDED NOT TO AFTER LOOKING ON LINE
Chill - CHECK
Read - CHECK
Clean up my laptop - organize my photos - CHECK
Sleep 10 hours or so - KIND OF, I GOT A NICE NAP IN
Write a little - CHECK
Read a little more - CHECK
Hang with Dani and Doni - 50% DONI WASN'T AROUND, WAIT HE WAS THERE THE NEXT MORNING SO, CHECK!

Not bad for a 24-hour trip. Did I mention that I took the Jeep. That the top was off and I got beat to hell by the 100 degree sun and the wind and the road?! Holy cow! The most unnerving part of the trip was I-90. I did NOT like cars on both sides of me! I didn't realize how CLOSE they actually were!

Bittersweet

Miss I and my dad working on a project together.

They are lucky to get to know him. That's what I have to tell myself every time.

Goin' West

Things I would like to do in Issaquah:
Check out Ikea for a dining table & chairs
Chill
Read
Clean up my laptop - organize my photos
Sleep 10 hours or so
Write a little
Read a little more
Hang with Dani and Doni

Nibble, nibble

Blueberry Hills, Manson, WA

Nikon

*GULP*
I did it. Bought a new camera. Its a doozey! I can't wait to try it out. The battery is charging right now.

Thanks to My Honey and DW for encouraging me to get something I will use and like and be happy with for a LONG time. It cost some bucks tho. Sure hope I don't break the damned thing. Or lose it. Or ....

Hopefully some new pix later today!

CORRECTION NOTICE
I finished in 1:40!!! AND I spent around 5 minutes in transitions (that's the space of time between the swim and bike, and the bike and run,) so actually, I did the race in 1:35 AND I was the 20th person in my age-range (yes, the old ladies in the 35-39 year olds) out of 46 ... So.... I finished the race in better standings than I graduated! I guess that's one way of looking at it huh??

CAMPING
We camped for two whole nights this week. FUN, FUN, FUN! We stayed close to home (literally, less than 20 minutes) in case it didn't work out, but the kids did fine, once the fell asleep at 10, or was it 11? And, aside from my aching ass, we had a great time.

Aching ass? What's that? Well, that's when you are boating and the cell phone rings and you bend down to answer it, but there is a fiberglass something or other that you catch your tailbone on resulting in an aching ass. Literally. Aching. Ass. I cannot sit, I cannot drive, I cannot rest comfortably. Yep, it was a joy that last night in the tent! Aching. Ass.

My Honey has pledged to take good care of me for the remainder of our vacation. Not that it was his fault, it wasn't, I just got caught unawares and cracked my tailbone on a corner-thing that's been on the boat for the whole 15 years we have owned it. Funny how that shit happens!

The important thing was we got to take the boat out! I love the water, its the most-est relaxing-est place. I hope we get to take it out again, the kids liked it a lot too, and we had another couple with us who had a nice time as well.

And that's about it. Only a few more days left of vacation ... Probably not going anywhere! Just staying home, playing by/in/around the over sized wading pool. Working on my tan. Resting my ass.

999

Niner, niner, niner. That was my race number.

I did a triathlon today. I am not sure, exactly, how I feel about it. It's almost... almost a let down. I finished and thought "that's it?" Maybe its because none of "my people" were at the finish line, maybe its because it wasn't as hard as I thought, I don't know, but I keep thinking "that's it?" Oddly, I want to do it again next year.

It was a 400 yard swim, 13 mile bike ride and a 5k run in beautiful Lake Chelan. We couldn't have had a better venue, although it was pretty choppy in the water, the rest of the event went well and I finished in 1:45 and some seconds. (That's an hour and forty-five minutes of continuous activity.) I didn't push myself (AT ALL) and feel pretty good about finishing and doing it in under 2 hours. I hoped to do it in under 1:30, but that's a goal for another year.

There is a lot more to say about the race, drinking at least 1800 gallons of water in the swim, cruising up the hills on the ride and walking (too much) during the run but all in all, quite an event.

17 on the seventeenth

Happy Anniversary, My Honey. 17 years today.

We were married on Friday night, here in town. It was a HOT day, a hundred degrees or so. When we did pictures I felt like I was going to melt, we were outside sweltering! There were a hundred people or less. The ceremony might have lasted 7 minutes, then we had a quickie reception line, ate, opened presents and took off for our honeymoon all between about 6 and 9:30. It was perfect. And we've lived happily ever after ... :)

I'm conflicted about what to do tonight. Sure, we should go out to celebrate, I think I arranged a babysitter, but I might not have, I need to check in with my mother in law, but there is also this little 20 year class reunion event ... Nope, I have not made up my mind yet. The more people I see on FB saying they're going, the more I sort-of want to go. Sort-of.

Yesterday was a perfect summer vacation afternoon!

My two kids, my girl DW and two of her three kids, plus, my niece were here and they all played and swam together. They were adorable in the pool with all the floaty-blow-up things surrounding them. Too bad I don't have a camera! It would have been a great summer shot, 5 kids in the "over size wading pool" with TONS of floatation devices around them, bright sunny sky, very nice.

Shortly after they arrived and we got all the kids situated in the pool, I broke out the Mike's Hard something or other. Ahhhh, perfect. Good friend, sunshine, a pool nearby and a nice cold adult beverage. At one point, one of the kids asked for a snack so I went in, gathered something for the masses and while they ate, DW and I got some adult-only time in the pool. It reminded me of going to the City Pool where every couple hours they kick all the kids out so the lifeguards can have a turn alone in the water. I can see why they do that. It was quiet and no one was splashing us!

More fun today, my sister and niece are on their way over to spend the day here swimming and stuff.

Busy weekend ahead: (Possibe) reunion events Friday and Saturday, definitely going out to dinner for our anniversary if we don't do the reunion stuff. Trip to Chelan on Saturday to drop off our bikes for the Triathlon on Sunday and then packing to go camping on Monday! Oh, did I mention we're on VACATION??? Mine started yesterday, My Honey starts today. No work till next Saturday.

Have I mentioned my schedule changed? I am working 5pm till 3am and I LOVE nights? It's busy with the kind of stuff I like to do - you know fast radio traffic because of pursuits or stolen cars or warrant arrests or burglaries in progress!! Yes, all those things happened last week :) And, I don't have to wake to an alarm. I LOVE that! I feel SO refreshed already. I didn't hardly notice I worked 8 days in a row, maybe because half of them were nights? Weird. Last week I was exhausted by a 3 hour overtime shift, this week I had a 4 hour overtime shift, worked 8 days in a row and I feel refreshed. I must have needed the change. I am thankful we were able to work it out!

I am also thankful that My Honey is capable of doing everything kid-related to make it happen. He is "on" for breakfast, getting kids to whatever they're doing all day - grandmas, day camp, karate - picking them up, doing dinner AND bedtime. WHEW! He goes from one thing to another without a chance for a breather. I feel sorry for him, but appreciated it SO much. And he does such a good job too!

Favorite quotes of the summer
"Mama, does my pee come out my front butt or my back butt?" ... Miss I
"Mom, whats a 'uni-brow'?" ... Bubba heard the term on Sponge Bob
"Mama, I want to pee out my tube" ... As Miss I stands facing the toilet one day

Where did I get these kids? Doesn't matter, they're keepers!

Old

I am having a bit of an "old complex."

First, there's this little thing called a 20-year class reunion coming up that I should go to. My mind isn't completely made up on this one yet.

Second, I went shopping for new sandals. I appreciate a really good shoe and I don't mind paying for it. But, will I pay for Dr. Scholls? They are cute, very comfy - VERY - but they are an old lady brand. Heaven help me, but I can't get the doggone things out of my mind. They were SO comfy!

Third, work. Why is it an extra shift (only 3 hours) and a few hours of overtime totally wiped me out?? It's more likely the thought of shift change in a few days, it's toying with my psyche pretty good, that has me the most worn out, but come on! I should be able to go to bed at 6:30 and get up eleven hours later and swim a few laps then run, shouldn't I? Well I wasn't able to. Not only that, I have been a totally crank today!

Which brings me to my next whiney tirade: That flippin triathlon is coming up in just 13 days and I am starting to worry if I can do it! I know I can, but CAN I? I feel especially like maybe not after today's "workout" if I can even call it that. I tried to tell myself that it's just because I hadn't eaten since 11:00 yesterday, which I know is a big part of it, but it's not doing me any good!

Anyway, its a feeling old kind of day. Hopefully tomorrow will be better!

Naughty

I really want to be at work for this:

AT 5 MINUTES AND 6 SECONDS AFTER 4 A.M., ON THE 8TH OF JULY, THIS YEAR, THE TIME AND DATE WILL BE: 04:05:06 07-08-09

I would TOTALLY say "oh4-oh5-oh6--oh7-oh8-oh9" just to see if anyone would notice! We get nutty like that sometimes. Especially when no bosses are around to stop us!

... I can be such a dork sometimes!

Unfortunate

Sadly, my camera broke again. The lens isn't retracting like it is supposed to.

My son saw something on TV about witches and warlocks, enough to get his little mind spinning and now he's afraid of everything. Going upstairs to go to the bathroom, going into a dark room to turn on the light, everything. Any suggestions??

We are into week 4, a much less busy week. Bubba is going to a Super Cool Science Camp, and karate and that is it. Good thing because my work schedule is HELL. 12 hour shifts from 3am to 3pm on Friday, Saturday AND Sunday. Just a few more of these 3am shifts and its nights for me! Instead of going TO work at 3am, I will be coming home FROM work at 3am. Quite a change, but I am looking forward to it. I will miss my daytime cops, but ... well the break from them will be good too.

Just a couple more weeks and we go camping! I bought a new tent, the one we used 10 years ago just wasn't going to be big enough for all of us. I thought I would give setting it up a try the day we bought it. Thing is, it had been awhile since I set up a tent and I forgot to do one teeny, tiny, little thing ... stick the pin-thingys in the ends of the poles. For the life of me I could NOT figure out why the rings were climbing up the poles and why the corners weren't tight and why the dang thing wasn't staying put. My Honey got home and asked why I hadn't put the pins in the ends of the poles and I was "OH! That's what is wrong!!" Quite a blond moment! Time to get my hair done I guess.

Speaking of my hair... I had a very bad dye job awhile ago. I will never do it again myself I promise. It's worth the hundred bucks to have a professional do it! I currently sport a reddish-coppery-brownish color that's alright, but just not me. Soon I will get it done again to my regular blondeish highlighted beauty. By a professional! I should get right on that, I have a class reunion coming up very soon. Am I really old enough to have been graduated for 20 years? Whenever I say it I feel very, very old. Very.

My workouts have been hit and miss. This is worrisome because I plan to do a triathlon next month. In less than a month in fact. Wish me luck!

Week Three

This happened last week. I think it loses something in translation, its a much better story "in person" but I was encouraged to post it, so here it is:

We had sent the kids out to play with each other in the back yard so we could get dinner going the other night.

Bubba comes hollering from the back into the garage "she hit me, Miss I hit me." It's not unusual, but we have been trying to be more consistent disciplining this particular kind of thing recently.

Anyway, I turn around and see Miss I haul off and (try) to hit him in the back. I sent her to her room and tried to console Bubba.

A few minutes later I went into Miss I's room "Tell me what happened. Why are you up here?" I ask. "Bubba was going to push me in the swing and I didn't want it so I hit him in the privates" she tells me completely straight faced in her 3 year old voice, complete with speech impediments (privates sounded more like "pybets"). It was all I could do not to start laughing so hard I cried right there. Luckily, I was sitting on the floor so I was able to hang my head so she didn't see me crack up. When I had composed myself enough, I looked at her and told her to stay where she was, I would tell her when her time was up.

HOLY COW! It was so stinking funny. And she kept saying "I hit him in the pybets, I hit him in the pybets" in a sing-song voice over and over as I tried to compose myself. Of course, I had to go tell her dad right away, he clutches his chest and gasps as he tried not to laugh out loud. She is something else. Never a dull moment!

That was part of week two.

Week three started out very bad. I picked the kids up from Grandma's on Wednesday and she was all but hitting them in the butt with the door on the way out they had been so bad. That kind of behavior continued until bedtime I guess. Fortunately, I don't have bedtime duty right now, I am usually in bed and/or asleep by 8, but they were at each other's throats the whole evening. I think they are spending TOO MUCH time together. Thankfully, Bubba has Super Cool Science Camp next week and I think that will help!

They both had swim lessons the past two weeks which was fun. I wish I had thought to sign Miss I up again, but I was kind of single-minded thinking they BOTH had to do it... duh, she can do swim lessons alone.

We are planning a camping trip in a few weeks, I can hardly wait! Sort of. I am a little concerned that things might not go very well, but the kids are excited, we are staying close to home if we need to come back and ... well, you never know till you try, right?

Week two

How many weeks are there in summer?

Swim lessons started on Monday. Miss I did really well in her first lesson by herself. Bubba also did very well. I loved it that his previous teacher was there watching him as proudly as I was. She taught him everything he knows!

The kids spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with grandma. She is so good to them! I am very lucky! She even fed them peanuts and cinnamon rolls for lunch one day, it just doesn't get any better than that!

We got the pool all set up and the chemicals all adjusted and the new vacuum hose working, so it is all ready to use. Hopefully it will warm up this week.

Week One

We survived week one.

I had Monday and Tuesday off so I made sure to take the kids to the park each day. I had a great idea to take them on a bike ride one of the days. Turned out not to be a good idea. Miss I isn't fast enough for me to actually bike with, so I had to walk my bike and then, of course, Miss I wanted to walk her bike too. It was a lot more tiring than it should have been! We did get a great treat at the bakery tho :)

Wednesday through Friday Grandma had the kids. She took them to the park every day too so they had a LOT of outside time. I also found them working on reading or writing each afternoon when I picked them up. That's a great grandma!

I got them signed up for swim lessons for the next two weeks and Bubba enrolled in a "Super Cool Science Camp" as well as a few weeks of a parks and rec program. Plus we are keeping Karate and the kids each get to do 4 gymnastics classes. Hopefully the variety will be good.

I am still planning on doing that triathlon in July, but I have not been able to keep a regular workout routine. Fortunately, today I got out for a bike ride and a run. I did a 10 mile ride and then a run. I have no idea how far I ran, I took a few walk breaks, but I know I covered at least the distance that I will have to do for the Tri. My Honey suggested that I just go out and do whatever, ride, run, walk for 2 hours since that is around how long it will take to complete the race. (I would like to keep it under 90 minutes, but we shall see.) It was good advice! Hopefully I can do a few more days of that before the race.

Time to go get cleaned up, we have a birthday party to go to!

Food for thought

Friday, the last day of school, me and the kids are sitting in DQ having ice cream as an afternoon treat and Miss I says "Mama I felt sad today." Interesting, I think she never uses words like sad to identify feelings. "What were you sad about?" I ask her. "Beethoven." She says. Ahhhh, I think, here we go.

Beethoven was my Dad's dog. When we visited a couple weeks ago they had recently had to put him to sleep because he was very sick. When we were there and found out I took Miss I into another room and talked to her, told her that the dog was old, he had been sick, the doctors weren't able to help him and then he died. Simple words for a three year old. I hadn't told Bubba because it hadn't come up and he's not really an animal person anyway so it wouldn't be that big of a deal.

But now here we are in DQ and she says she is sad because of Beethoven and Bubba wants to know what happened to Beethoven. So I tell him the same thing, he was old, sick and the doctor couldn't fix him and he died. And I wait because I know my son and he is going to have a question or a comment. And he doesn't disappoint me.

"Mom, when you die do you want to be buried in a box or burned up?" (And we're off!) "Well," I tell him, "I am not sure if that's for me to decide. Maybe it should be your choice when I die." He declares immediately that he wants me buried in a box so he has somewhere to go visit. And then asks if I know anyone buried in the cemetery. I tell him yes, and also explain that when people are cremated there is a place their ashes can be placed so you can go visit too. He asks if we can go see it? I figured why not, it was early afternoon, the cemetery isn't far and we can kill two birds with one stone (no pun intended). "First," he says, "can we stop at home and get flowers for your friend's grave?" (Ain't he sweet?)

So we run home, I pick some peonies and roses from the yard real quick while they wait in the car and we head to the cemetery. First, I show them the mausoleum, Bubba and I inspect the place where urns go so people can visit. Then, we go looking for my friend Staci's grave. I tell the kids a little about her, and how she died. We also checked out lots of other headstones too.

As Bubba and I were wandering around, Miss I stayed behind at Staci's grave. It was interesting and very touching. I could actually hear her singing something to her. I don't know what, but I thought it was very sweet. It is interesting to note too, just to show the differences in their personalities. He was into the mechanics of things, how come people have large or small headstones? How come some of them have two names on them? How come? Why?? And she realized that it was a place to sit and be quiet and respectful.

*sigh* the interesting-ness of life huh?

Official

Tomorrow, officially, is the first day of Summer Vacation.

Plans? Nope. I imagine we will spend a few hours at some park (we have many, many choices) riding bikes.

I went out into the garage the other day and found Bubba with a crescent wrench in his hand working on his bike. "What are you doing?" I ask. "Taking my training wheels off" he tells me. Sure enough he was. I helped him finish and then he just took off. Literally. On a two-wheel bike! All of a sudden I have a two-wheel-bike-riding second grader. *sigh*

So, spending time at the parks where the kids can ride is definitely a priority this summer! Makes sense to get out of the house around 10, take a picnic lunch and be home around 1 for a quiet/nap time. Wish us luck :)

DW is gonna kill me

Isn't she adorable? That was nearly 2 years ago at a going away party for a friend of ours, that ended up coming home. And let me just say we both look WAY better now! :)

That baby in her belly will be 2 next month, hard to believe. But the reason I posted that picture is because I went and got that haircut today. Except I don't have blond hair anymore, its kind of ... well, coppery. Lets just say it was a home kit (or two) mishap and then a color correction. Fortunately my hair didn't all fall out! But I am stuck with a darker color than normal for another month or so, I kind of want to let my hair "rest" for awhile! But I am excited that I got it cut and it looks pretty cute. Just right for summer.

PS DW, I gave that picture to KB for the album for WP, hope you don't mind. It really is adorable!

Feild Day

What fun! Field Day was a blast. I linked to last year's report so I don't have to repeat myself about what it's not.

My station this year was a relay-type race. What a blast! Great music, the MC did a great job again, and we got to do the chicken dance, some stomping song and the YMCA at the end. Its not very often I dance, but with 7 and 8 year olds, who cares? I tried to put it out of my mind that there were other adults there, I really didn't care, Bubba and I were having too much fun!

The BEST part was that Walt, the Wild mascot was there and so was their star goalie. Fun stuff. I was able to hang with Bubba's class at the tug-of-war station (did you know the rope actually has handles on it now so kids don't get rope burn?) and help the girls tug to victory over the boys.

They do a good job getting it organized, the kids go from station to station every 10 minutes. It works really good, they even have a rest/water station and a Popsicle station, now that's thinking!

Fun day, but there are only 3 more school days left...

Re-reading that post from last year made me laugh. Our lunch-fights were "TAKE HOT LUNCH, I DON'T WANT TO MAKE A LUNCH TODAY."

Dry Run

We had a summer-vacation-type day today.

My Honey was gone golfing so it was just me and the kids. We fiddly-farted around for a couple hours then decided to grab a late breakfast and go to the park. We played around there until noon or so then went home for naps. I could get used to that kind of life for the next few months!

We didn't actually "fiddly-fart" around. I got up and went for a bike ride early this morning, then I came home and we did stuff outside ... I gave my least favorite bush a massive trim, I figure if I keep going shorter each year I can finally get rid of the dang thing eventually. Did some weeding, picked some peonies and put them inside (boy do I need a new vase!) I also cleaned out the boat which means we can get it in the water soon! I am so very happy about that. Its been quite a few seasons since its been in the water more than once, hopefully we can get it in the water on a regular (weekly) basis this year. I'm motivated enough that I want to learn to back the doggone thing in so we can make it happen.

Its the last week of school for Bubba so it will be a fun one. Field day, a Father's Day lunch and a first grade class picnic. That last week of school is so worthless! But sooooo fun!

And work. Well, lets just say I was right, I have not spent 40 hours at work all month! Yay for me. This past week I took Friday off to take my mom to Seattle for an Alaskan Cruise with LK and I am taking Wednesday off for ... hmmm, lets see, because an issue has become so convoluted that it takes an uninvolved third party to figure out who is right. Wish me luck.

After meeting up with my sister and getting them off on their cruise I took Miss I shopping with my Dad's wife. We had fun! Then we stayed overnight, she went horse back riding for the first time, I nearly crashed the car and then we fought (until she fell asleep) on the way home. It. Was. Great. Can't wait to do it again. Actually I did kind of crash the car, there just wasn't any damage. Gotta love it when you drive off the edge of the driveway in an AWD vehicle. It's not MEANT to do that, but it can tolerate it a time or two. Sheesh!

We're back

Whew, what fun! Great food, good drinks and lots of s... sun!
Right next door to our hotel (the Hotel Valley Ho ... no kidding!) there was a great restaurant called Trader Vics, it was Hawaiian themed and the BEST food! I have forgotten what really good food tastes like. The hotel restaurant was great too.

On Monday I spent the morning by the pool, I couldn't help it, it was 90 degrees at 9am! But I was smart and put on sun screen. Kind of smart. I didn't get much color. I walked to a downtown area later and checked out some of the shops. It was nice to shop off season, not too many people there this time of year. One of the shopkeepers told me about a Botanical Garden nearby so I made a mental note to check it out the next day.

Tuesday after My Honey took off for his classes I took off for the Botanical Garden. WOW. I have never seen so many varieties of cacti! Amazing! And I lucked out because many were still blooming!


I saw a few kinds of lizards, a jack rabbit, many birds and butterflies. I spent a couple hours there taking pictures. There was an amazing Chihuly exhibit too.


Bright colored glass art interspersed throughout the desert! Talk about cool! All of a sudden you would be walking along and there would be this bright purple or orange or green thing or things in the middle of the desert. Very neat. It looked like they were lit at night too, but I didn't make it back to find out.

Later Tuesday I got my sun I wanted! I have a great start to my summer tan which was really my only goal for going to Arizona! And spending time with My Honey. We had a nice time. We got to take a walk in the mornings when it was cooler, sit by the pool drinking margaritas after his conference and eat delicious food someone else cooked and brought to us! Oh, and no kids for 3 days! What a treat. I will admit, it is nice to get home see the kids and get back to regular life ... sort of :)

Miss you

We're getting out of Dodge. Going to Arizona! Just me and My Honey. Flying out tomorrow. YAY!!! I am really looking forward to the one hundred degree days by the pool with nothing to do and no one to worry about but me. Sure, I'll miss the kids, I may even miss work (hahahahahaha) but I can't wait to just sit around and take care of me in the way I like to; no one and nothing to be responsible for but me.

I think I have everything arranged, and I just got a great idea for getting Harry to Karate ... I was going to let him skip it next week, but I think I may be able to arrange it after all.


Today hasn't quite gone as planned. In fact, the whole week has been kind of that way. There are a couple of situations as a mom, as a wife and at work that have really shaken my confidence. Maybe some time away and some self-medicating will help?


Today I thought we had a soccer game. OOPS, wrong week. Fortunately that gives us an extra couple hours in the day! Just enough time to download all my cd's again. I goofed up the last time I bought some songs and erased my library. I didn't think it was that big of a deal ... Turns out it's really gone. Can't get anything I have purchased back. Now I am considering if it's worth the extra five bucks to just go buy my own cd's again? Then I have my hard copy and the lyrics too. I miss not getting lyrics. I know, I know, there are ways to get stuff for free, maybe I will look into that too. (I better be careful huh? Maybe the feds are watching...)

I had one great week of tri-training, but, as I said I had a couple confidence shakers and haven't gotten back onto the training wagon yet, plus I was thinking about VACATION so I got distracted.

My plan is to do swimming early on Monday mornings, strength training on Tuesdays and maybe throw a run in. Wednesdays I think I need to take off, I can't fit it in with all the other stuff going on. Thursdays I want to ride after work and run on Fridays after work. Saturdays, depending on the week, will either be a ride in the morning or after work, maybe a run. Or thats what I would like to TRY and do. I think its manageable, it works out when the kids (and My Honey) are otherwise occupied so I don't have any child care issues. Sounds workable....

Try A Tri

Why the hell not? Me and some friends are gonna do it, you should too!

My cousin and I talked about it last fall, I think she is still on board, now there are even a couple gals from work that are gonna do it too. What can it hurt? Who can't take a short swim in beautiful Lake Chelan, (1/4 mile) ride a few miles (13 miles) and then take a little jog (5K)? We're gonna try, you should too!

There are a TON of training plans out there, just search something like "8 week triathlon training plans" and see all the choices you get! Contrary to popular belief, WINNING isn't the goal, FINISHING is. So what if it takes 2.5 or 3 hours? Then again, if there are age categories, I'm golden! Just kidding. Now, if I can get through training without breaking any bones!

What I did today:
Biked, uphill a lot against the wind 5.5 miles
Yesterday:
Ran, pretty puny run (1 mile) after a short aerobics class, but I did it

40 hours

I don't think I am going to work a 40-hour week this month. (No, that's not a complaint, just an observation!)

It wasn't planned that way, just worked out that someone or other is sick and I get to stay home. Plus we have a getaway planned around the end of the month, so a few more days off there. Oh yeah, there are those THREE 12-hour shifts Memorial Day weekend, I take it back, I won't work a 40 hour week until those 3 days!

Here's the deal. My Honey's dad had unexpected open heart surgery last week so we switched off who would work and when to make up for my MIL who takes care of the kids (except Friday - THANKS DW!!!) Now, Miss I has a stomach flu so I am taking tomorrow off, who wants a sick kid around when you've just had your chest cracked open? He's doing very well, out for walks every day since he was released on Sunday, but still, can you imagine puking after that kind of surgery? Me either.

Miss I seems to be doing a lot better this afternoon, but she seemed okay this morning too and then surprised us by puking up her breakfast! Talk about a monkey wrench in our day. I had scheduled Bubba to get two teeth pulled at the dentist, what am I to do with a puking 3 year old while he gets teeth pulled? Thankfully My Honey's job has some flexibility and he was able to take the morning off to take him to the dentist while I stayed home with the sickie.

Bubba has been a trooper! He's got these big huge gaping holes in his mouth where they took the teeth out, and hasn't complained about the pain one time yet. They had to pull a couple teeth to make room for the ones that are in to straighten out. I imagine this will go on for a couple years. Grow a tooth, pull a tooth. Bummer he inherited his mother's small mouth.

The weather has been wacky! We had snow at about the 1000' level last week, then 70+ degree days just in time for Thursday and Friday of Apple Blossom then it rained a lot of yesterday and last night. Now the wind has come up, hopefully this will be short lived and blow the WARM summer weather in!

Did I mention the concert at the park on Friday night? It was really fun. Fat Happy rocked da house! Okay, they rocked the park! My SIL and I had a lot of fun. Definitely a do-over when they play next year. I also read they are playing in June at one of the local coffee shops. That's a definite must-do too!

Sheesh

I am so far behind. Its kind of a state everywhere! Not just here, in the blogosphere, but my house is falling apart (its dirty, dirty, dirty. Would someone please come to visit so I would have a reason to clean?) Work is picking up, and it was APPLE BLOSSOM!

I love the AB festival. I love the music, the smells, the sights, the parade, the everything! We watched the parade from downtown today, participated in the Fun Run, tried to eat lunch at the park, but it started to rain (unfortunately, everyone else had the McDonald's idea too so we ended up with grilled cheese at home) and then took a LONG nap, well Miss I and I did. Three hours. When was the last time I took a three hour nap? Sheesh.

We have also been full swing into soccer, karate and some medical things. My Honey's dad had unexpected open heart surgery(!) Yeah, I know! He's doing great and expected to be released tomorrow to go home. Apparently open heart surgery is pretty routine these days. They were able to do the surgery here in our hometown, he was up and walking within 24 hours, and he's being released just 4 days after the surgery. Amazing. The first time around (15 years ago) it was much different. I think he spent at least a week over in Seattle and they pretty much kept him bedded for several weeks as I recall. It was just a couple years into our marriage so I really don't remember much of it. (Those first few years are kind of a fitting-in time.) Anyway, he's doing well and we are all very thankful!

Back to Apple Blossom! One thing I remember, after over 30 years of watching parades is this: the motorcycle cops from Seattle! They are my favorite. Mostly because they were my Grandma's favorite. Seems to me she KNEW some of them somehow... Anyway, they would ride by where ever we watched the parade that year and she would just beam, she always seemed so proud. I don't have any idea how she knew them, but she loved them! And so do I. It's pretty awesome how they can maneuver those monster bikes around in such tight formation. Always very impressive.

What else? Oh yeah, the Fam Damily BBQ. Success! My brother cooked (he's welcome to come over anytime to do that) and there were about 20 of us here. My sisters, the kids, my step-dad, mom, my dad's mom (yeah, I know, my mom & step-dad who are divorced and my dad's mom ... weird) my auntie her friends that were in town for the weekend, my brother and his baby's mamma. What a blast! I had a great time, made even better since I wasn't cooking! I would do it again!

Oh and hockey! We went to two hockey games in the past couple weeks! Our Wenatchee Wild made it to some kind of championship game in Iowa and now they are in the finals tomorrow! Unfortunately they're playing a team that crushed them 6-0 last week, but you never know! GO WILD!

Last sight

I am very glad I took the time to pull off on the highway to shoot these pictures since the wind came up and is probably blowing every last blossom off the trees now! So much for that warm day I hoped for tomorrow. It's only supposed to be in the 60's. What a rip-off!

Girly Girl

"I taw da pinseses!" I know she doesn't look thrilled, but she was, they gave her some trading cards and she has not let them out of her sight yet!

It was not the official kick off event, but Apple Blossom is underway this week! Miss I, My Honey and I went to a community BBQ in the park today, and Thursday is THE official start. My plan is to leave work early and get Bubba out of school for lunch ... lucky duck! I remember the privilege of getting out of school for a lunch with parents (not my parents, and I didn't come by it honestly, but it is still a great memory! Forging a note, squishing in the Porsche, I don't even remember where we ate ... maybe that burger joint on 5th St? Anyway, good times.)

It's been in the 80's which helps too. Last year was COLD, COLD, COLD. I remember shivering, wishing I had worn an extra shirt, and a hat, and gloves! Not this year, shorts and a t-shirt! Just the way it should be for Apple Blossom.

Tis the season

Time for visitors


My sister and her son came over for the weekend, my other sister and her daughter came over and the kids all got to have a picnic! Yay for nice weather and a great back yard. The kids were excited to see each other and played hard and didn't sleep and ate junk food ... just the way it should be when the cousins come to visit. We're having the rest of the fam damily over tonight for a BBQ. Should be quite the fun.

Its also time for Apple Blossom!


Most definitely my favorite time of the year. Lots to do, lots to see and food, food, food! We're kicking it off with Chief for the day on Thursday - opening day of the fat fest in the park. Can't wait!

7-year old angst

Not mine, his.

"So, who really is the Easter Bunny?" agh! It's about 10 years before I thought I would have to answer that question.

At some point every parent has to decide if they are going to LIE to their kids and have an Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy and all that jazz. Do not deceive yourselves, its a LIE. It is an untruth. You can justify it any way you want, but some of us choose to tell our kids a bold-faced LIE about such things. Mostly because we are romantic or love the fantasy of it ourselves. Who doesn't want to believe in the Easter Bunny or Santa or the Tooth Fairy?

But all good things come to an end. Sunday AT DINNER WITH THE IN-LAWS AND MY YOUNGEST PRESENT was the end. Bubba, my 7 year old asked THE QUESTION: "So, who is the Easter Bunny anyway?" In an of itself its a fair question, but presented to his mother with a mouth full of food a the dinner table before my MIL, FIL, BIL, SIL, nephews AND Miss I, well, lets just say it was all I could do not to choke on my food!

The truth came out (and provided a GREAT teachable moment later when Bubba was claiming all the Easter money for his own ...) and no one is more depressed about it than me! My first born doesn't believe anymore.... To tell you the truth, I don't think he ever did, its just the first year he let me know. He's sensitive that way!

Good Times

Its been a great weekend. I am hoping to close it out with getting the garden boxes ready, but I just keep thinking of how sore I will be tomorrow from shoveling and stuff like that. What a wimp!

We went to the WILD games Friday and Saturday - what fun! Unfortunately we lost on Friday in overtime, but we creamed them last night 8-2 so it will go at least two more games since the playoffs are best three out of five. Too bad I work next weekend. Its just too late to stay out till 11pm when I have to work at 3am. I think My Honey would really like to go, I hope we can make that work!

At Friday nights game we ran into some friends we don't see very often. In fact, we still have Christmas presents from TWO years ago for their kids. We were talking and laughing about that when She asked when we'd like to get together and do our gift exchange and I piped up and said "How about tomorrow before the game, come over for a barbecue?" And they did. I must say we made the best barbecue ribs EVER! I baked them in the oven, made a yummy sauce and then My Honey grilled them. MMMMMMMMM!!

It was fun to have a house full of people, we had them, their 3 kids, us, our 2 kids and another friend who had moved into a new house, who wants to try and find their dishes and food on the first night in a new house? Or the first week, or even the first month. Hell, we've been here for over 6 years and I still don't like to cook in the house!

AND! Its finally warm enough to wear shorts! I wore them all day yesterday, I love shorts season! I love warm weather! I love blue skies and sunshine! Ahhhh :)

Style

I tell you what, we had style! 70's style. That is me and my sister in handmade outfits. Stylin'! (I'm guessing I was around 6 and she was 2, maybe 7 and 3 ... Bubba and Miss I's ages)

We've made it through two weeks with no accidents (except the ones I mentioned already) so I can confidently say Miss I is potty trained! She even used a bathroom in a restaurant at lunch today. Thank goodness that is over! But now she thinks she can tie her shoes, make a sandwich, buckle her car seat and all kinds of other big-kid things. Oh well, one thing at a time!

Spring break is going. Bubba was out of school on Thursday and Friday because of conferences - instead of 1/2 days all week, they just didn't have school at the end of the week. He spent those days at grandmas which was nice, he misses her. Monday we picked up Cousin M and went to see MONSTERS vs ALIENS. What a cool experience. I have not ever seen anything in 3D. Very cool! I would love to see that in an IMAX theater. The kids loved it!

Today he got to go to a YMCA program for the day. It's a good thing, he needs to get out of his comfort zone a little. Plus, I want him to go for a few weeks this summer so its good to get him a day or two experience!

What else? Soccer is in full swing. Practices this week and our first game on the 8th. Unfortunately there are 3 or 4 games I will miss because I will be out of town or working. I feel bad, but such is life.

While I was sick Bubba says to me "Mom, I like it when you're sick." I had a hunch what was coming next, and he didn't disappoint "Why Bub?" "Because you don't yell at us as much." Hmmmm, teachable moment "I like it when I am sick too, you listen to what I say and do it the first time so I don't have to yell as much." His response? "Oh."

A couple days later I was home sick from work, but cooking breakfast for the kids before school, and he says to me "Thanks for cooking breakfast even though you don't feel well Mom, that's really nice of you." Ain't he a sweet little suck up?

Blah

Pretty much sums up how I feel with a little crappy and a whole lotta achy thrown in. I have called out sick for the second day - actually I went into work this morning feeling like a truck had run me over, and I must have looked it too. I asked when the soonest I could leave was, expecting it to be a 5 or 7 at the earliest, turns out there was enough coverage for me to leave then! I should have called instead of wasting my energy getting out of bed. Oh well.

I can't stand it, though. There's only so much TV-watching, blog-reading and Internet-surfing I can do. Thankfully I am not puking up my guts or coughing up a lung, but at least then I would have a reason for feeling so crappy. It would be a good time to start working nights! I slept off and on all day so I am not tired yet ... Makes it easy to quit my two worst vices; caffeine and whiskey :) We'll see how long that lasts!

I plucked a few branches from my forsythia tree the other day and put them in some bud vases. Guess what? They're blooming! They look pretty cool on my mantle and add just a touch of spring. I want to try some bulbs some day, maybe next year. I also cut some limbs from my willow tree so I have a couple vases of pussy willow branches around the living room too. They always look cool, not really colorful, you know they're just grey, but they look cool anyway.

ugh

I feel sick. I hope a good nights rest will make it go away, not that I WANT to go to work, but I really don't want to stay home sick, plus, I have nearly earned another 10 hours of comp time by not calling out sick in the first quarter!

Actually, I just can't stand sitting around the house doing nothing, which is why I am feeling so poorly right now. I shouldn't have done all that laundry, all those dishes, vacuumed and stuff like that today, I should have just sat around.

Oh yeah, and potty training. I told myself I would do it on my next 4-day weekend (about 6 months ago) and finally did it. She's doing pretty good. Only 2 accidents in the past 5 days or so. I guess that's really not bad at all. Although one was a real mess, if you know what I mean. She is doing a great job of telling me when she has to go and we did a sticker chart for her to put a special sticker on. Its very motivating for her.

And that's all I got or else I will start to go into a tirade about other things ... and that just wouldn't be fair because I am only feeling tyrannical because I am getting sick.

Walt

I have a new friend. His name is Walt. He let me buy the shirt off his back and then he went into a dark hallway with me to take it off!

Last night at the WILD game there were fund-raising silent and live auctions to raise money for The Wellness Place, a local cancer support group organization. We originally bid in the silent auction on Miller's jersey, not because we know the kid, but because it's my maiden name. We didn't win that one. We did win the jersey off the mascot's back in the live auction! And, I remembered how much I love a good ol' auction! We used to go on a very regular basis but fell out of the habit after Bubba was born. So much fun! Maybe I will look into going more this year?

The game was great too! The WILD won. They are off to playoffs in April and we'll be there on both Friday and Saturday nights! I can't wait! Maybe I will wear my new giant size jersey!?

12/346

I don't use the word "hate" too often. Or at least I don't think I do. So I searched my blog for the word "hate". Guess what? It appears only 12 times in 346 blogs. I didn't check the content (read each entry), but I would assume I really mean it when I say it. I know for sure I meant it yesterday!

(Good thing for spell check, this whiskey is hitting me HARD! I should have had dinner)

I always wonder how dumb I am going to act when I see an old boyfriend or someone I had a crush on in town. It's pretty uncommon, but not that unlikely, since I live in the town where I grew up.

Anyway, I saw an old boyfriend tonight at the grocery store. Truth be told, I have not seen him in 6 years or better, and at least 3 years before that. I remember distinctly where he was working and that I was pregnant with Bubba. Interesting. Life throws iteresting curves at us. Not that I still have a thing for him, it just fits in weird with life right now. Thats all.

Spring

Well, spring is here. How do I know?

ANTS. Mother-trucking Ants.

I HATE ANTS. I hate that they get into my house, I hate that they get on the table, the carpet, the everything, I hate them. So I spent the past hour going around the perimeter of the house with ant killer-stuff. It pisses me off that they can even get into the house. Have I mentioned how much I hate them? I wish I could find a way to just kill them all at the beginning of the season and be done with it, but NO, they return, they have to be dealt with like 6 or 10 times each year. I hate them.

Whew! Now that that is out of the way, the good things about spring are: sunshine, my sunroof, the kids can play outside, sunshine, soccer starts (today), barbecuing, flowers and sunshine. Did I mention sunshine? Ah the sunshine. It's warming up too, it's more than fifty degrees today and that's nice because soccer practice won't be something to endure, it should be quite pleasant.

Speaking of soccer, Bubba has the same coach as last year. From what little I know about drafting teams, the coaches can usually choose a few, if not all, of their players and it makes me feel good that Coach B chose Bubba again! He's not a great player, so it will be nice that he knows the coach and at least one kid on the team.

As far as karate ... we are going to attempt to do both again this year. We might only do karate one night a week, depends on soccer practices and games, so the next six weeks or so will be busy, busy, busy. I wish it ended with a weekend at Guemes again, but I didn't get Memorial weekend off, in fact I work 3-12 hour shifts that weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). It's going to be killer, plus, I may switch with another gal and work Monday as well. UGH. I think we should start planning something for May. Vegas maybe or a weekend of golf? We enjoyed Alta Lake last year ... not a bad thought!

Home

I'd like to go home, but the passes look very bad on the west side, so I think I will sit it out for another hour.

My trek to Seattle to see my sister yesterday was fun! We found a new place (to us) called Purple. It was a cafe & wine bar. Very cool. We went in because the exterior caught our eye. I didn't get a picture of that but I did get a couple inside that kind of captured the essence of the place.





I also got to see a little spring:

There won't be any of these around my house for another month or so.

For what?

I left home for this??

I am in Issaquah, usually a far cry from home weather-wise. And the same is true today. It's 40+ degrees and sunny at home, while it is in the 30's and snowing here! Seriously. It's usually the other way around. Weird. Glad I am not traveling today, the passes are a mess!

Its nice to be here, its quiet, nothing to do, nowhere to go :) I don't even have to shower or get of my jammies today if I don't want to.

Tomorrow I am going to meet my sister in Seattle for a little excursion. Not sure what we will do exactly. We ARE going to see the Seattle public library - don't ask, its kind of a weird thing I came across the other day - and find some "toys" (no, not that kind) you know, stuff that we can play with that will remind us to lighten up. I need some of that in my life.

Lent

I remember several years of ash crosses on my BFF's head in junior high and high school on the Wednesday of Lent (Ash Wednesday). Lent are the 40 days before Easter. A time of praying and fasting starting tomorrow.

I've never actually looked into what "Lent" really means, (until now) but aways took it to mean something like this: you give something up (fast) and when you really want it you pray. It's supposed to bring you closer to God.

In past years I have given plenty of things up "for lent." Swearing (nearly every year!), drinking, candy, caffeine, you name it ... well, nearly everything. And this year is no exception. I'm giving up un-necessary shopping. If it isn't necessary for every day survival, it ain't necessary. Oh the TORTURE!! I want new socks, and new jeans, and new shoes, and anything that will fit off the clearance rack! But that's the key, WANT. What do I really NEED? Socks? Maybe, but I can make it 40 days. Shoes? Hardly! Jeans? Not so much. So the torture part is staying out of the stores. I won't shop at Fred Meyer, too much temptation. I can't go near the mall - are you kidding me??? All those stores! And I am planning a trip to Issaquah in a few weeks. Does beer count as necessary? They have a Rogue Brewery there and it would be nice to stock up again. Needs vs wants!

But of course, timing is everything. Just as I embark on this journey the garage door breaks (replacement cost: $1000) some medical bills come due (health enhancement cost: $250) and we have a big weekend full of expenses (date night, family night and thank goodness it was pay day: priceless!) So it all works out. Plus, it is teaching me and the kids to THINK ABOUT WHAT I/WE ARE SPENDING MY/OUR MONEY ON. (Well, me mostly, but its nice to think it might influence the kids too!)