Wanderer in a Strange Land

Perspective

2011-07-29T10:10:00.001-05:00

For some reason today I was the remembering the baptism of a young friend of Ben's. Many years and a few wards ago, this young man reached the age of 8 and chose to be baptized. We were excited to go and support him. We listened to the talks and sang the songs and waited for the divider to be drawn aside so we could see the baptism. We waited and we waited and we waited and we waited. And then we waited some more. After that, we waited a bit longer. It was clear something was wrong. Eventually the young man's mother came out and told us she was very sorry but the baptism would not be going ahead that day. We all felt an outpouring of love, support, and sympathy for the young man. When he was younger he had almost drowned and he was deathly afraid of water. I felt such a respect for him that despite all the pressure of us waiting and the pressure of expectation, he refused to do something he was uncomfortable doing. I heard a few weeks later that he was baptized in his bathtub. He was much more comfortable with just his family there and, I'm presuming, in a place where he felt safer in the water.

Which led my thoughts to another young man. He'd just been made a priest and was blessing the sacrament. For several weeks in a row he would get the prayer wrong and have to say it again, sometimes three or four times. When he started praying I would bow mine and plead with the Lord to help him relax and remember the words. One time I peeked and saw the Bishop standing behind the young man, hands gently on his shoulders. He seemed to be whispering gentle words of encouragement to him. Or maybe he was just lending physical comfort and support. I felt such deep respect for this young man. In the face of all that pressure - praying in front of the whole ward and consistently needing to say the prayer several times - he never gave up. He never said, "No, I'm not doing this anymore." He persevered. If I remember correctly (and I may not be) I think he had to say the prayer at least twice each week until we moved away from the ward. Gosh I loved that kid. I loved him every single week. What an example he is!

Funnily enough a few years later I read a little paragraph on the front page of the Children's Friend. A mother wrote in describing how her son would have difficulty saying the prayer, and how every week the ward would bow their heads and she knew they were praying for her son, and how one time the Bishop got up and stood behind her son, gently encouraging him, and how she thought that no-one else had seen that sweet act of service, and how grateful she was for what the Bishop had done. I smiled because although the paragraph was submitted anonymously, I knew who it was that wrote it, and I knew who it was about. I was grateful that she recognized how the members of the ward were praying for her son, and grateful that I, too, had seen the Bishop's act of sweet encouragement.

I pondered on these two stories. I thought about how both of these young men may have been, and probably were, humiliated and/or embarrassed by these experiences. Maybe they look back on them as painful memories. However, I look at these experiences and feel a deep respect and love for the young men. They showed an incredible strength of character, faith, and perseverance. They are examples to me, and I am grateful for them.

Ok, I won't delete it. Not until he's old enough to check out my blog anyway...

2011-06-13T20:24:00.004-05:00

So enjoy it while it's here. And, furthermore, you must never admit you've seen these videos.

I heard singing. I went to investigate.

Goofy Goober RAWK!

And then he danced.

Enjoy. =)

Muskrat miles

2011-06-13T20:01:00.002-05:00

Some time ago there was this crazy dude who challenged The Loop to run 3 miles every single day. If we quit before him, we had to hold up a poster saying, "Muskrat Love is my favourite song" If he quit before us, we got a handsome mug.

At first I said "Oh darn I can't do it because I don't run on Sundays" but he, curse him, gave me a Sunday Exemption. So me and my ITB pain were stuck. What kind of idiot signs up to run 3 miles at no slower than 15:00m/m when she has ITB pain?? Clearly, this idiot.

So out I went. Rain or shine. I ran 3 miles every day. It didn't take me long - the very first day, I think =D - to realize that I needed to do the run/walk thing or I was never going to survive and my ITB would explode into a million pieces. So I ran 4 minutes, walked 1. Every day except Sunday.

I tried to get the runs in in the morning, but sometimes my schedule didn't allow it and I found myself heading out the door late at night. Those runs weren't too bad actually, and I remembered that I really like running in the dark. No-one can see how slow you are if they can't see you....

Amazingly enough, my ITB got better. Who'd'a thunk? Near the end I got tired. Really tired. Several people quit the challenge and held up their posters declaring their love for that hideous song. Several times I wanted to quit and hold up the sign - but I just couldn't do it. Firstly, because I can't lie and say I love a song I hate. Secondly, because I'm too damn stubborn to give in. And Thirdly, because I couldn't be bothered to make the poster.

Then Zam declared she was going to stop at day 100, and Garbo offered to let everyone quit. We wouldn't get mugs, but we also wouldn't have to hold up the poster. WORKED FOR ME! Unfortunately no-one else got on board with the idea, curse them.

Then Alice showed her workplace - and there was a picture of the mug on the wall as a reminder and an encourager for her. This is the same Alice who continued running 3 miles a day right up to running a marathon....and then THE DAY AFTER THE MARATHON ran 3 miles. Woah.

Then Mildsauce smashed up her car and missed a day of running. Poor girl. =( I felt so bad for her. At which point Garbo declared the contest over and said everyone could get mugs, including Mildsauce. That Garbo. Such a softie. =)

So here's the sticker for reaching the 100 day mark. =)

And here's the mug!!

Even better, the mug came wrapped in AWESOME bubble wrap. The whole family was thrilled.

More Andrew stuff.

2011-06-13T16:15:00.003-05:00

Playing hide-and-seek.

Andrew's been cycling with us so much..and doing fairly long distances...that we thought it only fair to get him his own cycling clothes. He chose the shirt - LOVES the hammerhead. =) His little padded shorts are so dang cute.

Believe it or not I took this pic when he was really sick. =D

Andrew's fencing instructor rents rooms in an Irish Dance studio - run by a woman from England... Anyway, after his fencing classes, Andrew LOVES to peek inside and watch the Irish dancing.

When I run in Pegram, I often see things like this:

2011-06-13T16:09:00.002-05:00

The Many Faces of Andrew

2011-06-13T16:00:00.002-05:00

Andrew's first Tri

2011-06-13T15:47:00.003-05:00

Andrew competed in his first Tri! It was ridiculously cute. =) It was a 1 minute ride, a 1 minute run, and the "swim" portion was jumping through two sprinklers. Andrew was one of the oldest there and was in the last heat. He did a great job waiting ever so patiently for his turn.

Ready? Set....

Go go go!!!

He immediately got the post-event blues. He was sad it was over so soon.

But oh my good gravy is he proud of his medal. =)

His next tri is a bit more serious, with a 50 m swim, a 2k bike ride and a 1k run. He's much more nervous for it. I hope he has fun with it even so. I won't be there, which is just KILLING me. =( I'll be in Utah picking up Emily. Actually, at that point I'll be in Kansas. Bert says he'll take lots of pictures for me. =) Ooooh I hope Andrew has a good time and feels really accomplished and strong.

CRAM - Meh

2011-06-13T15:25:00.004-05:00

Earlier this month Bert, Ben and I rode the CRAM.

So here was the deal on this one:
- Pre-registered riders were to get t-shirts. Day-of registrants weren't. Sooo....how come the pre-registered line to sign in/get wristbands was HUGE and the day-of registrant line was non-existent and they got all the t-shirts and the pre-registered riders had to put their names down to have a t-shirt sent to them? A t-shirt that has not yet arrived?

- No send off. There were official times for the various routes to leave; 7.30 for the 100 milers, 7.45 for the 62 milers, 8am for 35 and 20 milers. So Bert left at 7.30 and Ben and I waited til 8. Except...at 7.55am there were only two other riders left. No-one was there giving instructions or anything so we just...kind of...set off by ourselves. Ben was disappointed.

- First rest stop was at 10 miles. There were some off-brand nasty looking granola bars and rice krispie treats. Uuuggghhhh so gross! Ben and I looked at the box and decided to skip this rest stop. I didn't even get water, as my bottle was a little over half-full. I went to the port-a-potty. I hope we were allowed to use those. They were parked by a farmer's field some way back down the road and were kind of gross.

- So...we rode. It was beautiful! The course is really lovely. And flat. I like flat. =) And we rode. And we rode. Surely there'd be a rest stop at 15 or 17 miles, right, that's the half-way point? No. Ok....then CERTAINLY at 20 miles?
Nope.
Ooookay, then as a last resort, as this was an out-and-back course we could stop by the first rest stop which would be at the 25 mile point at the ride and at least fill up on water.
Nope, it was gone.

Soooo...yeah. And the 35 miles turned out to be 38 miles. 38 miles on one bottle of water. GAH!

Furthermore, the course wasn't very well marked at all. We met up with one chap who had signed up to do the 20 miler but ended up doing the 38 because of course confusion. He was hurting. We felt so bad for him.

The spaghetti dinner at the end was good. We may do this ride again just because the course is so beautiful, but we'll make sure we have our own supplies and we won't rely on support again. Even the SAG support was conspicuous by its absence. On the website it says it's one of the best supported. Ooookay...slight false advertising there....

We rode right past the Kentucky border. So, of course, I deviated off course and rode a few feet into Kentucky just for the heck of it. =)

What on earth happened to this silo? Did a giant come along and squish it?

Ben and I had fun riding together. =) Bert had a better time as the 100 miles was better supported. Not great, but better.

Various pics

2011-06-13T15:15:00.003-05:00

Before:

After:

Andrew and Ben:

The view on a recent run:

I am so behind

2011-06-13T13:52:00.009-05:00

Well my good gracious gravy I have ignored my poor little blog and it's been lonely and stuff. But! I'm about to make up for it - if blogger co-operates - and post a bunch of pics.

I'll start at the end.
On Saturday Bert, Ben and I did the Harpeth River Ride. We signed up some time ago cos Bert did it last year and loved it. After we signed up it was announced Lance Armstrong would be there so all of a sudden the ride totally filled up... =)

1500 cyclists descended on Nissan HQ in Franklin. Amongst them were Bert:

Ben:

and myself:

Look at that gorgeous bike! I love my bike.

Here, Ben has just said something really cheeky:

We lined up in our spots - Ben and I in the 44 miler spot, Bert in the 100 miler spot. When we lined up, who should we see but Tim Ross! He was riding the 44 too.

So we lined up, then listened to various speeches from The Harpeth Bike Club President, Some dude from Nissan, and Lance himself....who, if I heard correctly (and I may not have because the sound wasn't all that great back where we were....) gave a Nissan 350Z to his friend. So. Perks, I guess.

Anyway, then we were OFF! Well. The Adaptive Athletes and Wounded Warriors were off. Then the 100 milers. Then the 62 milers. Then, finally, us. WHOOT! Ben dropped me immediately. HA! =D

I met up with him at the first rest stop, 7 miles down the road. He'd kept up with the SAG wagon for that entire 7 miles. DUDE! He said he was pushing so hard at one point he thought he was going to vomit. He waited 15 minutes for me.

At the second rest stop he waited about the same amount for me, so I told him to just go ahead and do his own thing and I'd see him at the end. I felt like I was holding him back.

Ben, Tim and I rode together for a little while, but Tim and Ben dropped me. Later I saw Tim waiting for me by the side of the road. As I pulled alongside he said, "Ben dropped me. He said to me, "I'm sorry, Brother Ross, I've got to go" and he took off." Hahahaha! =D Very polite of Ben.

Just after the second rest stop - the one with the pink flamingos WHOOOT!! How can you go wrong with pink flamingos? My gosh that rest stop was AWESOME! Watermelon. Ooooohhhhhhh baby. And potatoes. I cannot BELIEVE how good potatoes taste on these rides. And olives. It makes me weep to think about how delicious it was. I had 1/4 of a pb&j that was yum. Good times, good times.

So anyway just after the second rest stop all of a sudden a bunch of people were stopped just around the corner. "Is this the right way?" they were asking. I looked for the road markings and all I could see was a bunch of whited-out stuff. I whipped out my directions and it was the correct way so I told them that. Then another cyclist coming behind us said "Careful! There's a bunch of tacks on the road!" Wait...what??? So I went back and the chap and I tried to pick up as many as I can. There were SO many, clearly deliberately put there. =( The SAG wagon chap came along with a good stiff brush to brush them all off the road.

I don't understand why someone would do that. It's so sad. Apparently they did it at two other spots on the 100 miler...which means they knew this ride was happening, they found out what the route was, they bought the white paint and the tacks, and they drove around really early in the morning working their evil plot so they wouldn't get caught. =(

Aaaanyway, so here I was riding with Tim and we come to this massive evil hill. We're huffing and puffing climbing it and all of a sudden we hear gunshots. Lots and lots of gunshots, one after the other. Bam bam bam bam bam bam bam - for a good few minutes. Tim comes out with a really funny comment (and how he's able to speak going up this hill I have no idea) that makes me laugh. It certainly made that evil hill much more enjoyable.

But then Tim drops me too and I'm wandering on alone, enjoying the ride. At about mile 35 my knee does something funky that I don't like and that keeps me worried when it twinges as I go up hills. It's just fine now though. At mile 40 I start getting tired. By mile 42 I'm ready to be done. I know the road I'm on and can just taste the finish line. And finally - I'm in! WHOOT! 44 miles, baby! The longest I've ever ridden. They give me a medal which I LURV and take my timing chip. I look around for Ben but don't see him, so ride up to the van and load my bike on the rack. Ben turns up - he'd seen me come in and followed me up - and I load his bike too.

We head on back to the tent for apres ride deliciousness. I was hoping for watermelon and some lettuce and tomato on a wheat bun. No such luck. Pizza and chips. Ew. Ben was ecstatic. I think he ate an entire pizza by himself.

We waited for a bit. Ben wanted to leave but I wanted to see Bert and Lance come in. As we were waiting Bert texted. He'd ridden with Lance for the first 30 miles - some of the way right beside him - but then had dropped out because he knew he couldn't do the whole 100 at that speed. We were all pretty dang geeked that he got to ride with Lance for a bit. =)

So we waited for Lance to come in:

After Lance came in I took Ben and the bikes home. The Zollingers, who were looking after Andrew...well, McKenna was...brought Andrew home. I was SO grateful! So Andrew and I dashed back to Nissan so we could see Bert come in. It was AWESOME! =) We were so happy to see him.

It was an absolutely fabulous day. One of the best rides I've ever been on. The volunteers were lovely and rest stops were SO good. We'll definitely do this one again next year. Only I'll do the 62. Or maybe the 100. Weeeeell, possibly not the 100. I don't do Pulltight hill.

Prom and fencing fun

2011-04-16T17:27:00.006-05:00

Got to post this quick as the DH came back from his 40 mile bike ride full of pep and vinegar and wants to take us out to Sweet Ceces. =D He's so cool.

Ok, first is Ben's Prom.

No wait, first is info about Ben's new school.
It was clear that Independence wasn't working out for Ben. The teachers were too busy to help him; they have so many other children to think about and Ben was completely passionless and uninterested in school. So he was totally falling through the cracks. Furthermore...there was just other not-good stuff going on. After a particularly not-good thing, we decided to pull him out of Independence.

To cut a very long story short after several weeks of searching Bert found a school that we thought would work; I may post more about the school later when I have a little more time. I went to check it out last Weds. Ben went for the day on Fri to see if he liked it. He did. Bert and I went again the following Tues and Bert liked it so we signed him up, I went to Independence and withdrew Ben and he started at his new school Weds morning.

By Weds afternoon he'd been hailed as a rock god in his music class and was recruited to play with the band at the school prom on Fri, and perform a wailing solo. By Thursday he had a date to the prom and had joined the soccer team. He appears to be getting excellent grades thus far. We're thrilled.

Ben's Prom
When Ben went to visit the school we were surprised to see a member of our church there. We had no idea she attended this school. =) Ben heard that she wanted to attend prom but didn't want to go alone, so he asked her to come with him. And she did.

Anyway, the theme of the prom was a night in Paris. Look at the Eiffel Tower they built:

And by "they" I mean the students, teachers, and parents of the school. Some of them, anyway.

Here's a fuzzy picture I managed to get of the fast-moving couple:

Pic of them dancing:

Sorry the pictures aren't very good. All I had was my iphone and it was dark. And I'm not a very good photographer.

We were there until about 11pm helping to clean the room up (in this school everyone pitches in), so we slept in the next morning til about 8am. WOW! I can't remember the last time we slept in so late! =) Then we got up and got ready for:

Andrew's First Fencing Tournament

We drove down to Columbia. There were two other children in the 6-7 year old "junior fencing" section, both girls.

Here's Andrew suited up ready to go.

Look at that awesome lunge!!! That was his touch, I believe. =)

He played first against a girl a little older who had clearly been fencing longer. She beat him. Then he played against someone else and won. Then he played against that someone else again and won, then he played against the first girl again and lost. He came in second overall in the junior fencing division and got a trophy. He seemed simultaneously disappointed he hadn't won and thrilled to pieces with his trophy.

I have to say, Cheney Fencing is absolutely fabulous. The story of the owner and his brother is fascinating and I'll have to write about it at some point in time. Chris and his wife are so kind, gentle, and encouraging. They make fencing so much fun for Andrew. The tournament today was so well organized and run. As we were leaving Andrew said "Can we come to this tournament some other time? It was really fun." =)

Today at Kroger

2011-04-16T17:17:00.002-05:00

After a ridiculously busy week and a late night last night cos of Ben's prom (more on that in a later post) we woke early to go to Andrew's fencing tournament (more on that in a later post). After getting home I threw down my first 10k in month WHOOT, then went through the strengthen/stretch routine. My gosh was I exhausted after that. But the shopping needed to be done, so off I went to Kroger. And this is what I I saw:

- A table set up outside. As a celebration of spring, Kroger was giving away free sugar cookies, and you could frost them yourself with a choice of all kinds of awesome coloured frosting. Of course, I chose purple. It was SO good.

- A beautiful little girl with HUGE eyes clinging fearfully to her momma as they approached the checkout.

- A little girl, about 3, tiny little thing, dancing along happily in the parking lot waving a receipt around like it was the most awesome toy ever while her momma grabbed her arm so she didn't dance off.

- A mother and son. The son put the cart away. When his back was turned the mother - and she just radiated giggles - hid behind a post. I was driving away so I didn't see the end of that one but I bet you she jumped out and said "BOO!" and they both laughed. =)

It was good stuff. And now I'm heating up the pizza and munching on carrots and celery and grapes while I get these pics off my phone so I can write a post about it.

For my Momma....

2011-04-10T17:57:00.005-05:00

It's astonishing to me the number of really thoughtful, interesting posts I write in my head when I'm nowhere near a computer. Then when the computer is around I've forgotten everything. Oh well. =D

Andrew has taken up fencing, and thus far LOVES it. He has his first tournament on Saturday - that should be interesting, as he will have had only four or five lessons by then. =D

I promised my Mum I'd put up fencing pics, so here they are. Enjoy. =)

Bonus! =) Ben made a Wavves pic, and Emily made a decadent peanut butter pie. =)

Elder Nicoll posted a wonderful story about a young triathlete who helped competed with his disabled friend. Oh my, it made me cry.

We've been having lovely weather lately - beautifully cool in the early mornings, so great for running, heating up to about 85f in the afternoon. Unfortunately our air conditioner is broken soooo it's a tad bit uncomfortable and currently my feet are red, swollen and throbbing, and my rings fit on my finger now instead of falling off every chance they get.

About Me ABCs

2011-04-07T19:48:00.002-05:00

I haven't done one of these in ages, and have felt quite uninspired in the blogging department, so when Jen posted this "About Me" I thought I'd nick it.

Age: 41

Bed Size: King

Chore You Hate: All of them.

Dogs: Maus, a Japanese chin, who's about to pop his clogs.

Essential Start of Your Day: Prayer, run.

Favorite Color: purple

Gold or Silver: gold

Height: 5'2"

Instruments You Play: Piano. I used to play descant recorder, treble recorder, and clarinet, but not anymore.

Job Title: Mum. The best title ever.

Kids: Emily - 20, Ben - 15, Andrew - 6

Live: TN

Mom's Name: Sandra

Nicknames: Don't really have any.

Overnight Hospital Stays: Penicillin reaction when I was a kid, baby deliveries, ovarian cyst. I think that's it.

Pet Peeve: I'm sure I have so many I can't think of any right now. Hmmm. One is when people use the wrong word their/there/they're, your/you're, its/it's. It REALLY irritates me that iphone *always* autocorrects to put in an apostrophe so I've been known to send texts with incorrect grammar and it drives me BANANAS ie "let's" instead of lets. Grrrr.

Quote From a Movie: You want only ONE movie quote? Uhhhh. Hmm. Because I read Jen's quote all I can think now is Napoleon Dynamite ones. =P
"You think anyone wants a roundhouse kick to the face when I'm wearing these bad boys? Fugeddaboutit."
"Take my arm. Other arm. MY other arm..."
"....the strength of a grizzly, the reflexes of a puma, the wisdom of a man..." =D =D
"I love technology, but not as much as you you see, but still I love technology..."
"Why you so sweaty?"
"I wish you'd get out of my life and shut up!" (My teen says that to me, tongue in cheek, occasionally.)

Right- or Left-Handed: Right

Siblings: 2 sisters; one older, one younger.

Time You Wake Up: 5.25am to take the teen to seminary.

Underwear: white

Veggie You Dislike: Kale, turnip, jicama,

What Makes You Run Late: procrastination, and the fact that the 6yo has a physical inability to move at anything faster than snails pace. "Hurry up. HURRY UP! RUN! RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN!" yields no appreciable increase in speed.

X-Rays You Have Had: Dental, Ultra Sounds

Yummy food you make: Sweet rice pudding - a recipe I got from a Jewish cookbook way back when the 20 year old was a 5th grader. I love that stuff. Unfortunately, I'm the only one who does. *sigh*.

Zoo Animal You Like Best: Huh. Do they have manatees in zoos? If so, the manatee.

That was fun. =)

How about you? Copy and past this list to your blog and after you fill it out, leave a comment so I can come see. =)

In other news...

2011-03-09T11:44:00.005-06:00

Bert informed me that our dog turned 10 yesterday.

His name is Maus.

You say it "mouse". It means...uhm..."mouse".

When we first got him he was the size of a hamster and when he tried to bark all he could do was squeak.

We were going to call him something fancy schmancy and in the meantime Bert would call him "Du kleine Maus"...and he started answering to it, so the name stuck. =)

He's been pretty sick lately. His heart is giving out and he's on a lot of medication.

Someday soon his heart will give out. I'll miss the little hairball when it does.

But in the meantime he's the perfect dog for our family. Very quiet and peaceful. Obedient with a sweet disposition.

Happy Birthday for yesterday, Maus.

Hanging in there

2011-03-08T15:40:00.004-06:00

Today was my baby's due date.

Which doesn't mean much really - I always give birth early. (3 weeks, 10 days, 1 week)

I had a hard night last Tuesday which wasn't much fun. But thus far today hasn't been too bad really. Andrew's sick which has kept me somewhat occupied. I think it's a pretty damn good excuse to buy some sushi and eat some chocolate though, eh? *sigh*

The nights are always the worst. If I'm lucky I'll be so tired when I get to bed that I'll just crash.

All I need to do now is keep busy and not think about it for the rest of the day.

I am nothing if not obedient. Oh yes, and it's my youngest's birthday today.

2011-03-02T16:14:00.002-06:00

I am updating this blog because my daughter told me to. And I do everything she tells me to do all the time. =)

Today, Andrew turns 6!! We've been saying he's "getting old" and "getting really big" all day and he nods his head in agreement. I think he's feeling really grown up. =) SO cute.

Run down of the day:
5am - up. Yeah. FIVE AM!!! But we wanted to open pressies as a family and Ben has seminary thus we had to open gifts early.
5.15 or thereabouts: Open gifts namely:
A fabulous bike from the family and all the grandparents combined.
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Lego Ninjago (Kai and Cole) which Andrew insists on calling "Nin-jerko" much to his teen brother's amusement
Rocket balloons that you blow up and when you let them go they whizz around going "WHHHEEEEEEEEE" really loudly and make Andrew and I giggle.
Star Wars Madlibs
Penguins of Madagascar comic book
The Boy who Conquered Everest

5.45am - Andrew plays SMG2, I take Ben to seminary
6.30am - We blow up balloons. Then we put together the lego ninjas and battle each other furiously using the WII controllers as an arena.
7am - Bert leaves for work. Can you believe he had to go in early on Andrew's birthday?
10am - skype call from the grandparents
10.30am: More Ninjago
11am: Andrew wanted to go to McDonalds for his birthday lunch. So we went. And stayed there THREE HOURS while he played. He had the time of his life. My brain melted.
2.30: Home. Andrew in bath to clean him up from his McDonald adventures
This evening he's asked to have sushi for his birthday meal. WHOOT!! Works for me. =)

I should post pics. Ain't gonna happen today. Maybe tomorrow. =P

I love Anne Taintor

2011-02-20T16:04:00.018-06:00

Anne Taintor is seriously brilliant. I love the humour. =)

In other news...

2011-02-20T09:10:00.002-06:00

In other news, I'm completely tickled by the fact that I've just noticed that someone from Moscow, Russia, visited my blog and looked at the "I have an unhealthy obsession with Putin LoLs" post. That made my morning right there. =)

Language Confusion

2011-02-20T08:13:00.002-06:00

It's just after dawn on Sunday morning and I'm coming off a long Bert-less week of taking the prickly teen to seminary at an appalling hour of the morning. Plus I'd been up late waiting for the prickly teen to return from his mosh pit concert. So I was exhausted. I say all this by way of excuse.

I'm woken by a sweet little 5yo voice.
"Mommy, where are the paints?"
And I think, "Paints? At this time in the morning? Well, I can hear Bert crashing around downstairs so I guess it's ok. The 5yo wants to paint? How cool is that? I love it that he's asking to paint! Normally he's not interested. That's so cool."
Meanwhile time is flowing by and the 5yo is waiting for an answer. I finally get my lips and voice to work and my sleep addled state manages to force out the words "Bookshelf in homeschool room."
So off the little cutie trots and I attempt to float back into my dream that inexplicably contains Shania Twain.

A few minutes later he's back. "I don't want a book." he says, "I want paints."
"Yes," I reply, a little more coherently now, "The paints are on the shelf next to the books in the yellow box."
"I said PANTS," he says, "not PAINTS."

Oooohhhhh! I'd totally misheard him and sent the poor kid looking for pants on the homeschool bookshelf. :D

So I tell him they're in his drawer and off he trots and I hear him playing a short while later so problem solved and I settle back in to doze. The dh comes back to bed (he's so jetlagged) and I tell him about it and we giggle.

Five minutes later here comes Andrew again looking for pants. What? He didn't find any in his drawer? No. He can't find them.

So I say, "You folded about five pairs when we were doing laundry yesterday and put them away. Where did you put them? Are they in the drawer under your bed?" He goes to check. Nope. Goshdarnit, where could he have put them? But there's a basket of laundry at the end of the bed that I washed late last night while waiting for the prickly teen so I tell him to look in there.

He can't find any. Aaaaarrrrgghhh. You know what this means don't you? It means I have to open my eyes all the way and actually get out of bed.

I make "Uuurrrrggghhh" noises as I roll out of bed and make him giggle. I lift up a couple of items of clothes and pull out a pair of pants for him.

"NO!" He says in frustration, "I need PANTS, not UNDERPANTS!"

And all of a sudden the synapses fire and the rusty cogs start turning and the lightbulb goes "bing!" above my head and I say, "OH! You need TROUSERS!"

My poor son. This whole process has taken about 20-30 minutes of confusion for him. Bert starts laughing and says, "How long have you lived in this country?" What can I say? :P Early in the morning the native language takes over. Though I'm so American now it's been a long time since I've experienced that kind of language confusion.

So anyway now I'm thoroughly awake and thought I'd tell you about yesterday's run. I don't know the Garmin info off the top of my head but I did pretty well with my new slow commitment. I think my avg pace was 13.xx and I only did 3 miles. That's pretty good considering the Voices attempted to entice me to go longer and faster.

I was able to ignore them better than usual because I hurt. Oh yes I did. My lower body is a mass of gentle aches. And by gentle aches I don't mean outright pain I mean, "Uh oh, this could either develop into something bad or it could resolve itself and go away." It's a waiting game now. What will next week bring? Strengthened legs? Or a poster? My heart quails - please not a poster! But my stubbornness is still intact. Unfortunately Nurse Sensible Gland is fully awake and is looking at me with disapproval. I smile innocently and while she is not convinced she has also not put her foot down. Phew.

Happy Sunday y'all. What a great day Sunday is. :)

I am eating Chinese food. Yum.

2011-02-16T17:52:00.005-06:00

Howdy y'all! How's it going? =) Not much going on at our place lately. Here are the hightlights:

Running
Tried to do a 9 mile run on Monday as the DH REALLY wants me to run the country music pikermi with him. I ended up in a world of hurt and walked the last 3 miles home. =( I was sooo sad. I talked to the DH about it via Skype (he's in Japan again) and he got all excited when I said I had tried to run. And then when I told him it didn't work out he said "Oh".

Once you've been married for a while you can tell what your beloved is thinking, so I said, "You want me to try again, don't you?"

"YEP!" came the immediate answer. =P Oh boy. So I'll wait a couple of weeks and try maybe six miles. If that doesn't work then the half marathon ain't gonna happen no matter how much he and I want it.

I'm ok for short distances, which is good as I signed up for Garbo's GADZOOKS challenge. I WILL have that mug. I think pigheaded stubbornness will trump Garbo's running talent, don't you? =)

Homeschool
Well we're in a nice little routine. This is how our day usually goes:
Scriptures in the morning with Daddy
Memory verse
Journal
Rod and Staff 1st grade Math
Rod and Staff 1st grade English, alternating with Language Lessons for Little Ones book two and Explode the Code
Andrew has added a dinosaur sticker book and that comes next
Art using Ed Emberly's purple book. Andrew's not as excited about it as he was the I Can Draw book.
Reading which includes Sonlight core 1 history (not the reading books; Andrew's way ahead of those), as well as McGuffey's Primer (almost done) and Christian Liberty's Nature Reader (book 1)

Things I've dropped:
Recorder, piano, classical music study, artist and composer study (actually, never started those...), memorization of the states, geography. Though once we're done with the dinosaur sticker book we'll start work on the geography sticker book.

Things I wanted to start but didn't:
Some kind of foreign language, preferably Latin, Habit training.

Other stuff:
DH, as I mentioned earlier, is in Japan.
Emily had a bit of a scare with lumps in her breast. It was a dodgy few days with everyone trying to remain calm. Diagnosis of fibroidadenoma came on Monday, just as my 9 mile run was blowing up and just as Bert was getting on the plane for Japan. We were thrilled with the news. =)
Everyone else is just fine. =)

Now I'm off to catch up with everyone else's news. =)

Oh my gosh!

2011-02-07T11:31:00.002-06:00

So I drop Andrew off at his tutorial and spend an hour at the "parent fellowship" there as they were talking about nutrition. I leave a little early as the talk was focused less on "How do I get my kids to eat healthy food" and more on Levitical eating which is all fine and good, but I can't help but think of Paul's revelation where the Lord said "DUDE! Eat the pork!" and Paul's like "Are you NUTS? I can't eat that!!" and the Lord says "Yu huh! Yes you can!"

Of course, being LDS, I'm more on the "Eat meat sparingly" thing. Though, let's be clear about what the revelation actually says:

"Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly;

And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine."

It's pretty dang clear that the most we're meant to eat is "sparingly", "with thanksgiving". And I think that's part of what being a "steward" is all about. Making sure those animals you're eating are killed humanely and you have a heart of gratitude for their sacrifice. How many of us know how the meat we're putting in our mouths was killed? And do we think about the animal as we're eating it, with thanksgiving?

But anyway, onto what this post is really about.

So I leave the tutorial and I'm thinking I can pop into Harris Teeter on the way home and pick up some stuff really fast and I can get on the treadmill by 10:30am and then do some strength and tone and stretch etc and get a good at least 3 hour workout in. I'm looking forward to it. Excited.

Then I remember I have to get Ben's meds so I drop the prescription off at Walgreens.

Then I decide to make these ice cream pops that Kara gave me the recipe for as a way to try to get some fruit down Andrew.

2 Avocados
2 Bananas
1 Tbsp cocoa powder

Blend the living daylights out of it. Put in popsicle molds or, as I did, those spongebob bathroom cup things with a plastic spoon stuck in it. Freeze 'em.

I don't know what these taste like frozen, but unfrozen was GOOD.

ANYWAY so finally I'm like WHOOT I can get on the tm and yeah it's 11.15am but I can still get a good 2 1/2 hour workout in.

I'm all geared up and I start walking to get warmed up and I plug the headphones in my iphone and I notice I have a couple of emails and I figure "Meh, what the heck. I'm walking. Might as well check 'em before I start running."

THANK GOODNESS I did! Because one was from the tutorial saying the school would close at 12:30pm.

WHAT?!?!?!

Wait....WHAT?!?!?!

Thank goodness for iphones!!! I wouldn't have checked my email before picking Andrew up at 3pm!!!

So I dash to the website and lo and behold there it is too, saying the school will close at 12:30pm.

WHAT??

So I call them. No answer. No answering machine message. Nothing.

Sooooo....what the heck would have happened at 12:30 if I'd not turned up? Was no-one going to call me? What would they have done with my son? How would he have felt if all his friends left but his Mama wasn't there to pick him up?

WHAT. THE. HECK!?!?!?!

I was there for an HOUR this morning and no-one thought to mention this? Not the teachers, not the administrators, nobody?? Why are they closing early?

Anyway. So I'm going to change out of my workout stuff and head on out to pick up The Boy in 15mins. Sheesh. Thank goodness I checked my email. Oh thank goodness.

Other news
Not much going on really. Bert's at work, Ben's at school, Emily's at college, I haven't yet exercised, and Andrew gets to come home early. Which will please him no end as on Thursday he earned enough stickers to fill up his sticker chart which means he got to rent a video game. (He has to earn 100 stickers to rent a game). He rented Super Mario Galaxy 2 and loves it. It has to go back tomorrow. So he'll get to play it a little extra today. That's ok. =)

Other than that not much going on. Hope y'all are doing well? =)

My parents are homeless, and a blast from the past

2011-01-29T20:14:00.002-06:00

Beloveds, I think it's hysterical that I can now seriously tell people that my parents are homeless. They signed the contracts on Thursday, and were out of the house on Friday. And currently have no other house to move into. =D They are looking - and what a great buying position they're in right now. I envy them. Though I think the move has been quite stressful for them thus far. Hopefully they're able to purchase a home they love.

Today was WICKED awesome. Firstly, Andrew woke me up just before 7am because he'd had a nightmare (that wasn't awesome) but then I dozed for just over an hour. Then I got in a rockin' workout for an hour and a half which included:

- Bike. Tried spinning and keeping good form. Felt a tug along the outside of my leg so kept it nice and easy and didn't push it
- Strength. One of the first apps I downloaded on my iphone was the Nike Training Center for Women thing which I'm really enjoying. I did a strength workout and it was great.
- Abs. Another great NTC workout
- Stretching. Oh baby. Soooooooo good. Can I tell you how good it felt? Ohhhh it was goooooood.
- Foam rolling. Ow. That is all. Just Ow. My poor butt and ITB.

Then I hopped into the shower then took Andrew to his basketball game. He did fine, though his coach is a little too intense for my liking. These are 5 year olds! At the YMCA! Lighten up dude.

Then we went shopping at Kroger - Andrew is getting to the age where I need to not take him so I believe shopping day may change to Mondays. Then we came home and I put all the shopping away - i hate doing that.
Then I made lunch.
Then I did the dishes.
Then I did the laundry.
Then I made: a big pot of Mexican bean soup, a big pot of beef stew, a ton of roasted vegetables, a big bunch o' salad. I didn't get to the cookies, dangit. But maybe tomorrow. =)
Then I made dinner.
Then I prepared my lesson for tomorrow.

WHOOOT! It was a day of accomplishing things. However, as much as I accomplished, my beloved accomplished a lot more. He rode 101 miles. Again. The man is a BEAST!!!

FURTHERMORE! My daughter PRed in her 5k this morning. =)

And now I'm tired. And need some ice cream. But not before I share this fabulous music with you. I was sitting here and right out of the blue I remembered a song by Japan that I loved in my youth. Within a few seconds I was on YouTube & had found it. I love technology!

The colour purple

2011-01-28T12:04:00.004-06:00

I picked up my phone and noticed something. And it caused me to look around. And here's what I saw.

I saw my computer, which is purple, the desktop of which has purple hues. The border of Firefox also has purple hues. The toolbar has a pic of a woman holding a massive gun. That's neither here nor there. Except for the fact that I like that pic.

My mouse is blue, because I couldn't find a purple one.

My iphone has a purple case on it.

I have a pen case next to my computer. It's purple. Sitting on top of it is a purple fountain pen and a purple micro pen thingie. I don't know what it's called. Inside the purple pen case are:
a purple rubber
a purple dry erase marker
a purple sharpie
a purple not-fountain pen
a purple biro
another purple fountain pen
a silver and blue fountain pen (we'll ignore those)
a purple ruler
two purple sharpeners
a purple fly named Farley (don't ask)
two purple pencil grips
four blue ink cartridges (ignore)
a green and blue pencil grip (ignore)
a scripture marking pen (red)
two more purple biros
and a purple pencil.

To the left of my computer are a pair of purple earbuds.

I am currently wearing a jumper. Sweater. Whatever. Same thing, different language. Anyway, I'm wearing it. Guess what colour it is?

Ok. Now guess my favourite colour.

Living with Leukemia

2011-01-28T10:33:00.002-06:00

A video of our friends, The Grays, whose 6 month old, Mikhael, was diagnosed with leukemia just before Christmas.

This is Mikhael's care page: http://www.carepages.com/carepages/ourfightinglittleangel

Nothing to see here.

2011-01-24T10:54:00.005-06:00

Well. I didn't run this morning. Because I must rest and recover and allow my slow-working Wolverine gland to rejuvenate and repair my body. It feels weird. I don't know what to do with myself. I find myself fantasizing about running.

And I've suddenly put on 4lbs. How in the world did that happen? I have to weigh in at WW tomorrow and I'm 5lbs over. Yeaaaaaaah. That's not good. Going to have to pay. I hate paying.

I'm coming to the conclusion that although I'm happy with my body at 120lbs, my body really wants to be 130lbs. It's where it keeps bouncing back to whenever it gets the slightest chance. Do I give into it? Or do I fight and keep my weight low? Thoughts? Opinions?

I have nothing of interested to tell you. The movers are coming to my parents' house tomorrow. Tomorrow. I never lived in the dang place but I'm having trouble with the idea of it being sold just like it was my childhood home. What. The. Heck. is up with that? Bizarreness.

However, when we visit them in the future we'll be going to Cyprus. How cool is that, eh? Can't be beat.

Here's an interesting video of Nissi Beach. What's bizarre about this vid? The amount of people!!! What's with all the people? Last time we were there there was *no-one*. Furthermore, we used to call it Messy Beach because of all the seaweed. Where's the seaweed? What happened to it? Bizarre.

Anyway! On to other stuff. Here are the rules of trail running.

Here's a graphic showing Homeschooling by the Numbers:

To vacuum or not to vacuum, that's the question.

How to feel beautiful.

A conversation I had with Ben:
I walk into the house.

Ben: hey
Me: Hey hot stuff, what's up?
Ben: Oh. You know. Just eating my own arm.
Me: Taste good?
Ben: No.
Me: Oh. Well put some barbeque sauce on it then.

This is the kind of conversation Ben and I have ALL. THE. TIME.
And yes, I do tell my children they are hot stuff. Because they are. Don't argue with me.

Things I have said to my son.
When he was five: "BEN! Stop eating the furniture!"
When he was six or seven: "BEN! Don't spit in the pool!"
Yesterday: "BEN! Stop eating your phone."

Alright. Thatisall. I must now get ready for a faaaabulous lunch date with a faaaabulous friend. =) I'm looking forward to it. Though something tells me this isn't going to help my weight loss any...unless I laugh it all off. =D

A bunch of pictures. Just for fun.

2011-01-22T19:56:00.006-06:00

I quote Andrew: "This equipment is Awesome!" "I love running!" =)

Snow in our back garden

Snow in our back garden at night.

My feet.

The book that TriciaRunning from Twitter sent me because I was the 1400th subscriber to her blog. I KNOW. Awesome, eh?

Art by Andrew

Andrew's little hamster, "Nugget" enjoying miso soup at Sake.

Well. Dang.

2011-01-22T08:33:00.003-06:00

This week was a recovery week which is good because I needed to recover. The long run on this recovery week was 13 miles. A measly stinkin' 13 miles. That's all! I mean my gosh! I can do that in my sleep.

Right?

Dragged myself out of bed at 5.30, got ready, and off I went. Before the first mile was over I'd had to stretch out my right leg four or five times because it was really tight and icky behind the knee.

A couple of miles into it I had a good at least 5 minute walk as I contacted the police because I could smell and hear gas leaking from some pipes near the soccer fields.

Just over 2.5 miles into it I stopped at home to go to the loo.

As I started into the second loop, my knee really started hurting. I stretched it. I took multiple walk breaks. But in the end I could only come to one conclusion: This really hurts. And I'm really injured. And I'm really sad.

I was listening to Chris Russell's "Run Run Live" podcast number 155 - a very special podcast. A, may I say, incredibly amazing podcast. And not just because yours truly did the intro. Ok, maybe that was part of it. =D But anyway, OTHER than the fact that I did the intro, the podcast was amazing. Inspirational. Informative. Etc. And I'd like to point out that episode 156 features artwork by my son. Thank you.

Anyway, just when my thoughts were solidifying thusly: "Oh my gosh. This isn't just a small one-week recovery. This is a big deal. This is going to take a long time. Oh my gosh. Oh no. I'm not going to be able to do the 60k. I'm really not going to be able to do it. I can't believe it. Oh no no no no no..." etc - just as these thoughts were solidifying, a song came on the podcast.

A very apropos song. A brilliant song. A really stinkin' funny song by Resurrected Runner. It was called "The day the Running died" sung to the tune of "The day the music died". I encourage you all to download Chris' podcast to listen to this fabulous song. Hahahahahahahahaaaa! In the midst of all my sad thoughts this made me laugh and brought a feeling of optimism.

Anyway, so the 60k is out. I felt pretty weepy about it on the run, especially while I was walking home I saw two fleet-feeted gazelle runners. *sigh* Oh well. Time to focus on healing and recovering. Bert wants me to do the Country music half with him this year. I will if I'm able to. I have plans in the back of my mind to do the Nashville Ultra 50k in October. We'll see how my leg feels come June before I totally solidify that decision.

And I think I'm going to post a bunch of pictures in the next post. Just for fun. =)

Well howdy!

2011-01-21T12:09:00.003-06:00

HOLY COW!!!

Has it really been nine days since I last put fingers to keyboard and waffled aimlessly in my blog? What is WRONG with me?

Snow day today. WHOOT! I love snow days. Hold on. Wait. Let me see if I can get these pics off my phone and into my computer. Uuuhhhhmmmm.....

Well that only took an hour.

Running
It's been going very well. I've done 11 miles this week which is very good compared to last. My training plan says 13 for tomorrow so I think I will run the 2 mile loop by the house over and over. That will allow me to do 13 if I can, or less if my ITB starts hurting. We'll just see how it goes.

I've also been biking quite a bit, and doing weights and ab workouts. It turns out my Visiting Teaching companion is a personal trainer and nutritionist - Yeah, I KNOW! How cool is that? She's very busy but I'm hoping she can fit me into her schedule. I'd like to get whatever-I-need-to-get-strengthened strengthened so I quit having these dang injuries. I need to run! I need to run long! Please body, keep up with my head!

There's more news. I can't think of it right now. I must dash off to take Andrew to his gym class. I have oodles of photos that I just stuck on my computer so I think my next post will be image rich. =D

Love y'all!

Pictures. Because my Mother asked for them, and I love her.

2011-01-12T14:12:00.011-06:00

These have been THE most AWESOME of days. Now, admittedly, I could have got a LOT done and been really productive. But....why? So I didn't. Instead I have caught up on email, taken children to the doctors (Andrew has the usual winter allergies that plague him every year, and Ben has an ear infection), gone food shopping, done laundry and...well, pretty much nothing else. WHOOOOT!!!!

I should probably have done the dishes as well. Better get to that.

Anyway, so I thought I would finally post the pictures I told my beloved Momma I would post.

An accurate representation of our family.

Pretending to be normal.

Hoping the dog makes us look even more normal.

Pic of me as per my Momma's request.

This is what my children normally look like. No kidding. Especially Emily and Ben. I inherited my insanity from them.

A photo taken of the three of us unawares. Except Emily. Who appears to be very aware. =)

Andrew in front of the Christmas tree being an uber excited happy 5 year old on Christmas morning. =)

Two of my boys.

I LOVE this picture. Ben is absolutely thrilled to pieces with the scarf Emily made him but is trying to be all cool about it. And the look of love on Emily's face just about makes me want to start bawling.

Ben, duck lips, and pretty much the best guitar case money can buy.

Totally random pics just for fun

My Mum's wedding veil and headband. Beautiful, eh? Wait. Let me see if I can find a picture of her.

Here we go.

My Mother. Yeah, I know. Stunning, eh?

My Father.

My Mother and Father.

My friend, Simon (left) who I've known since I was 11 or 12. His partner, Marcel (right), and in the middle - ALISON MOYET. Yes. THE Alison Moyet. I KNOW! Doesn't she look amazing? She looks ten years younger than she did 20 years ago.

A note Andrew wrote me. Apparently, he is the banana.

Creative Children and Carol Birdsong

2011-01-12T14:00:00.002-06:00

Some of the ~~children~~ hip youths at my son's school wrote a song for Williamson County Schools Communications Director Carol Birdsong. She has called a snow day three days this week. ALL HAIL CAROL BIRDSONG!!!! We love her! =)

So Ben had a four day week last week, a two day week this week, and a four day week next week cos of MLK day. YES!! What an awesome start to the year.

Anyway. As Chris Russell says, On. With. The Show.

The Survey!

2011-01-10T17:55:00.004-06:00

I've been meaning to put this survey on my blog. I nicked it off Juanita, who, in turn, nicked it off Ms. Ritz on The Loop. Everyone who reads it is tagged. Tag! I got y'all! And please tell me when you've posted it so I can come see it. =)

In my dreams, I...can run forever and not get tired, and it feels so smooth and sweet. Like breathing. I was chasing a train in flip flops and they felt so firm and secure on my feet. I imagine this is what running will be like in Heaven.

My favorite book is...Bleak House by Charles Dickens. Also, Believing Christ by Steven Robinson. I don't have a running related one.

My favorite movie is... I don't really have one. But I really really want to see "Hood to Coast".

My breakthrough was... The day I completed the couch-to-5k podcast for the day...and decided to run an extra five minutes just because. Which led to running an extra ten...which led to running two podcasts per day....which led to.....

My favorite run is... the long run. Gosh I love it.

My favorite season to run is...Spring or Autumn. Deliciousness.

My favorite distance is... Don't know, haven't run them all yet.

My favorite race is... Don't know, haven't run them all yet.

I started running because of... Weight Watchers. They said "Exercise!" and I was like "GROAN!" but complied, thank goodness.

My reason to keep running is... Because it's hard. Because it pushes me. Because I'm not sure I can really do it. Because it's something that doesn't come naturally to me, so when I actually get out there and do it I feel like I've really accomplished something. Because I like being not-40lbs-overweight.

I knew I was a runner for life when... I don't know that yet. I hope I am. I pray I am. But who knows what the future will bring.

I am most scared of... failing.

My main goal as a runner is... to keep on running. To have an excellent running foundation. To be strong.

Your turn!!! Tell me all about it. =)

Quotes and jokes from the children

2011-01-10T10:15:00.001-06:00

Ben:
"Haven't you gone through menopause yet? Aren't you like 70 or something?"

Andrew:
"You're so squishy when I hug you like this."
"I love your floppy arms"
"I wish you could have another baby before you die. Because I want one."

Andrew jokes
Knock knock
who's there?
interrupting cow
interuu....
MOOOOO!

Knock knock
Who's there?
Interrupting pig
Interrupt....
OINK OINK!

Knock knock
Who's there?
Interrupting screaming boy
Interruptin.....
AAAAAUUUUGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!

Hahahahahaa =D Made it up all by himself. I'm so proud. =)

I love snow days. Except when I have to go out in them. And I have no milk.

2011-01-10T10:07:00.003-06:00

Massive snowstorm last night. Snow day today WHOOT!!! Wrote to ladies of the ward bribing them to take Andrew sledding so I don't have to. No takers yet. =) I offered money and cookies! How could they resist?

DH said he'd go shopping for me to purchase much needed supplies - the most salient of which being MILK. However, he then ran late and so I said I'd go and he was really really relieved. Poopy. Now I have to get off the couch and put on warm stuff and brave the evil white stuff.

I told Ben I'd pay him to take Andrew out sledding. He wanted $15. FIFTEEN DOLLARS! I said I'd feed him if he took him out and I wouldn't starve him to death. He laughed. LAUGHED! Like he was sure I wouldn't really starve him. What? Obviously I'm not scary and threatening enough.

I have things to post on this blog. Important things. Things you want to read. Unfortunately I can't remember what they are. I believe I promised my parents to put pictures of the family on the blog. Actually, pictures of me specifically. So be prepared, blogreaders. I must gather up my courage in the near future and put those pics up.

That's all for today. Ok. That's all for now. I'll probably waffle some more today. It's a snow day and I'll be staying indoors for most of it. What else am I doing to do except waffle to you?

Dress warmly, beloveds! Don't freeze!

My son drank all the milk

2011-01-09T18:23:00.003-06:00

ALL THE MILK!!!!

THERE IS NONE LEFT!!!!!

AND IT'S SUNDAY SO I CAN'T BUY ANY MORE TIL TOMORROW!!!

AAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGHGHGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND he ate an ENTIRE pizza while we were at church and so therefore was too full to eat Sunday dinner with us - which because of my husband's schedule is THE ONLY meal we get to eat together as a family each week. Yeah. One meal a week together. That's it. And he was too dang full to eat with us.

AAAUUUUUGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

No hot chocolate. No peanut butter chocolate smoothies. No caro made with milk. No cereal.

Please excuse me. I'm going to sob now. It's either that or beat the prickly teen, one of the two. And I don't want to beat the teen.

*sigh*

My first 20 miler!!! =)

2011-01-08T20:18:00.003-06:00

I had 23 miles on the books today and I was very very very very nervous about it. Really nervous.

I set my alarm clock at 6am to give myself an hour to get ready/eat breakfast etc. I turned it off instead of hitting snooze and didn't wake up until 6.47am. GAH! I threw on my stuff and headed on out. Yes. Without breakfast. I know. *sigh*

I chose a circuit that was about 10 miles that I'd run twice and add a little bit more so I could stop back at the house for a potty break. I was marveling that this is the circuit that a few weeks ago I had to take a deep breath to run once. And I was running it twice. Wow.

The weather was exceptionally cold. Very very cold. It snowed quite a bit during the first circuit, and though it didn't during the second, the temperatures dropped significantly. My fingers just HURT.

I ran along, walking the "uphills" (just gentle rises really, but I walked 'em anyway). The first circuit was tiring but fine.

Just a short way into the second circuit I began feeling tired and worn out. I thought this was normal. It took me a few miles to realize that this was a massive bonk. I hadn't fueled correctly before the run, and I didn't fuel adequately during the run. I walked for a long time. I couldn't face another gu. Then I remembered I'd stuffed a Balance Bar in my camelbak so I chowed down on the frozen thing. Man it was good! A short while after that (and I'd been walking about 3 miles or so by this point..) I felt so much better and ready to run again.

As soon as I started off I felt a wicked pain on the outside of my left knee. Holy cow!!! It altered my gait and I was limping. At this point I thought "I can push the pace and force myself to make it home running, and possibly injure myself a great deal...or I can walk home and hopefully save myself from a painful injury."

I decided to walk home. I ran for maybe 2 to 3 more miles off and on. And by run I mean a pace of maybe 12:00-13:00.

I also made the decision to cut the run short and do just 20 rather than the planned 23. I was disappointed, but I also knew I'd made the right choice.

So, 20 miles in 4:31 - which is not bad at all considering all the walking I did.

I arrived home in pain, aching, exhausted, starving, and shivering. I was soooo cold. I wanted to crawl into a hot bath and have someone bring me hot food and then crawl into a warm bed and sleep the rest of the day away. Unfortunately I had to take Andrew to his basketball game so that was out of the question.

During the run:
- Water
- Perpetuum 1 bottle
- 1 balance bar
- 1 hammer gel
- 2 gu

Post run nosh:
- whole wheat tortilla with egg whites and barbeque sauce
- A slice of cake with buttermilk syrup on top
- A banana
- Recoverite
- Roma (a warm barley drink that's sort of a coffee substitute but only people like Mormons would think it's an adequate substitute. Most coffee drinkers would think it was appallingly disgusting. However, I like it. =))

Then it was shower, throw on clothes, and go to basketball. Should have stretched more and rolled, but oh well.

I thought I'd managed to avoid injury, as my knee felt surprisingly ok for a while. However, I sat during the basketball game and when I got up...Oh WOW!!!! Oh holy cow!!!!! The pain on bending my knee was something else...and even swinging my leg hurt. The pain has come and gone throughout today, occasionally radiating from my hip to my ankle. Sometimes it's fine, sometimes it really hurts.

I am seriously pondering this 60k. I don't know. If this is what 20 miles does to me, what will nearly 40 do? At this point I know I can do a marathon....but just over 37 miles??? I'm worried. I want to be an ultrarunner for life, not kill myself on the first attempt and vow never to do it again.

Am I being realistic or indulging in Runner's Pessimism here because of a disappointing run? Thoughts/advice?

I hope everyone had a really fabulous weekend. I hope your runs/plans/whatever went fabulously and you are feeling great and accomplished. And that your knees and legs don't hurt like the dickens. =)
x0x0x0x0x

Oh, btw, I've eaten what feels like almost non-stop since my run, and I'm STILL hungry! My tummy just plain HURTS like I haven't given it anything for days.

Continuation of the jury duty post

2011-01-08T19:52:00.003-06:00

I'm so sorry I quit in the middle of the post yesterday. We were called into the court so I had to quit typing and then it got really busy.

Anyway. Where was I? In my run yesterday morning I pondered the case and came to the conclusion, upon weighing the facts, that she was guilty. Total bummer. I really really really really didn't want her to be.

Of course I was undecided again once the lawyers gave their closing statements. Deliberations went very well. I have to say the other members of the jury were some of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet.

It was just myself and one other gentleman who were undecided. It took....I don't know...2 hours? Of deliberating before the both of us were settled in our mind. Two members of the jury came up to me and thanked me for my courage. I was so touched. I didn't think I was being particularly courageous; I just knew this was someone's life I was handling so I had to be absolutely sure. It's nice to think other people think good things about you, even if they're unwarranted, so I treasure what they said. =)

I worry about the young lady and the impact this will have on her life. I really hope she dumped the dude that let her take the fall, and I hope he had the book thrown at him. I hope this experience will help her to make better choices in the future. I didn't stay around for sentencing, so I don't know what happened there. I wish I did know...otoh I'm a little glad I don't.

Because we were in court for two full days the Judge said we could be excused jury duty next week. WHOOT! That makes life a lot less complicated for us. =)

Jury Duty

2011-01-07T10:52:00.003-06:00

I'm sitting in the jury room waiting to be called into court for the second day of the trial. Both parties have rested. Today we just ha ve closing statements, the charging of the jury, and deliberation. I'm hoping I will be chosen as alternate so I can go home. Something tells me that won't happen though.

I've already annoyed a fellow juror. Sigh. She felt attacked and on the defensive when another juror teased her about being a mean mother. I made an innocent comment shortly thereafter that was taken as an attack when it was in no way meant to be. Sigh. SO thankful I'm a SAHM. Humans are really weird.

I ran 8 miles this morning and pondered the case.....Hahahaha!!!! We've just chosen a foreman much to his chagrin. I'm tickled everyone wanted the same guy I'd already been thinking about. Group think is occasionally useful. :)

Anyway while running I pondered the case ....

First post of the New Year - and I'm waffling about nothing in particular. As usual. Move along. Nothing to see here.

2011-01-02T21:15:00.005-06:00

Confession
I can hear my daughter and her two friends in her bedroom. I turn to my husband and say something that I have censored because while it's funny it could also be taken the wrong way and be hurtful even though it's not meant that way.
This makes my husband laugh and declare, "I love you!"

Apparently it's an untypical thing for a woman to say. I will add that to my list of non-womanly traits:
1. I hate shopping
2. I really hate clothes shopping
3. I don't know why anyone needs more than 3 pairs of shoes. 4 max.
4. I really hate talking on the phone.
5. I don't know why anyone needs more than 4 outfits. 5, maybe.
6. I'm not telling you this one because it's none of your business so nyah!

At this moment in time I have a TON of outfits because my friend went through her wardrobe and gave me a bunch of clothes. I currently own more clothes than I think I've ever owned in my life.

Of course, none of the above applies to running stuff. I have 3 prs running shoes
- My old old ones which are now my biking shoes
- My old ones which are my everyday walking-around shoes
- My ones that I run in now

I think it's perfectly obvious to any sane-minded person that I need at least one, if not two more pairs of running shoes.

Furthermore, one can never have too many running capris/skirts/tights/trousers/tops etc. I need more.

I would like to qualify the above statements, "I hate shopping, I really hate clothes shopping", adding the rider "unless it's shopping for running stuff."

Though truth be told I have a limit for that too. But I only reach that limit after several hours rather than five minutes.

This is not what I wanted to write for my first blogpost of 2011
But it's what's in my mind. Therefore, it's what is on the page.

There is one unwomanly trait that I definitely do not have. I definitely do not like watching sports. Boooorrriiing. I couldn't care less about football, American football, rugby, golf, basketball, baseball, or any other thing like unto them.

I AM interested in ultrarunners though. And I do really like freestyle motocross. And I'm vaguely interested in snowboarding. And suchlike stuff.

Alright. I had something else to say. What was it? Oh yes.

Running
My other hip hurts now. WHAT THE HECK?!?!?!?!!!!???!!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!

Hellooooooooo - I believe I have 45 miles planned this upcoming week. I don't have time for this.

So. I think I'll just jump in where I am and see how my body holds out. Hahaha. =D If it complains too vigorously I'll slow down a bit. Or not. We shall see what this week brings. This whole training-for-an-ultra thing is an experiment anyway, just to see if I can do it. I'm learning as I go.

I'm shutting up now. For I must plan my menu for next week. Want to know what it is? =) Me too. I'll let you know when I'm done. Maybe. If I remember.

Church
Oh Oh OH!!! I wanted to tell you this last time I wrote but I couldn't because he hadn't officially been called yet - but my dh has been called as Gospel Doctrine teacher. Yeah, my calling! =) Which means we'll be team teaching WHOOOT! Hopefully this means we will spend many spiritual hours together, not that we'll rip each other's heads off in disagreements on which direction to take the class. Haha! And hopefully this doesn't bruise my fragile ego as he's ~~pretty good~~ practically perfect in everything he puts his mind to.

Nervous? Me?

Moving on....

2010-12-30T19:59:00.004-06:00

Ok deep breath time to moooove on and look forward to a new year.

GOAL!!
Who's got 'em? =) Tell me all about them. Teeeeell mee before my curiosity gland explodes.

Herewith are mine:
- Get rock hard abs. There is NOTHING wrong with this goal. Stop laughing.
- Run an ultra
- Attend the Temple at least monthly
- Pray and read scriptures daily
- Keep up on the dishes and laundry
- I can't remember the rest and I've lost the sheet where I wrote them down already. Hahahaha =D

Here's the rock hard abs I want, baby:

Ok, maybe not. =D

I am eating chocolate. I gained 4.2lbs last week alone. Ohhhhh bummer. I bagged up most of the rest of the chocolate and sweet stuff in the house and put it upstairs by Bert's desk so he can take it to work on Monday. But I saved out the chocolate David Peach sent us from England because a) I love David Peach and b) it's gooooood chocolate.

Nom nom nom nom nom. =)

In contemplation of 2010

2010-12-29T07:40:00.003-06:00

I woke this morning to the sounds of Bert removing his bike from his trainer and was so happy for him. He received all kind of awesome bike gear for Christmas, some of which was designed to keep him comfortable whilst biking in freezing weather. No doubt he is excessively grateful for his lobster gloves and shoe covers right now.

As I lay there after he left my thoughts turned to the year that we're leaving and to say I grew fairly melancholy would be just about accurate. Holy cow this was one hell of a year. It would be ok with me if I didn't experience another one like it for some time. The Spirit whispers "If this is the worst you experience, you've had a pretty wonderful life" and oh boy ain't that the truth? In comparison to some my life is amazingly blessed and cushy.

That's not to say it didn't hurt, though. And it all started way back in January. I feel like the whole year's been overshadowed with pain. May was pretty bad, beginning with the flood. I'm shaking as I remember the night - so dark, the rain lashing down, trying to get to the hospital. We'd drive and the road would be blocked and we'd see scenes like the one in the video in the link, so we'd turn around and try to find a different route and all the while my son's in the front seat and my heart is in my throat. We were transferred to Children's hospital in Nashville just before flooding shut down the freeway and it was completely bizarre to be sitting in that hospital watching the news and seeing fire trucks pumping out the hospital basement...and we'd just have to step outside the door and see those same trucks. Bert had to move the car higher in the garage. When he did so he witnessed a nurse, wading in water up to her thighs, attempting to get to her car to move it. It was surreal. It would be ok with me if I never experienced anything like that again.

And then right after I got pregnant. And then I had to stop running because of the bleeding. So that was grief. And then I lost the baby.

And I can't talk about that anymore.

Mostly now I'm just fine. It's amazing how if you just go through the motions eventually everything becomes routine again. But sometimes I'm hit with a wave of grief. And sometimes any little disturbance in my safe little life will send me careening over the edge into fury and I lock myself away so no-one sees. I used to be deeply horrified and shocked by any kind of coarse thoughts and bad language. At times when the anger gets me the language in my head would shock the old me right out of my socks.

Sometimes - a lot of the time - I feel like I'm broken and I will never be fixed.

This year took me and ripped me apart and I'm not fully back together yet and I long to be that person I was last Christmas but I'm not. And I don't know how to be her again. And I don't know if I'll ever be her again. And I'm so sad, because she was pretty nice really and the me now is torn and twisted.

One of the hardest posts to delete from The Loop was the one about the fish. Do you remember it? Did you see it? I wish I still had it. Somehow that post encapsulated everything and it felt "right." I was running and I saw a man in front of me stop and look at the side of the road and exclaim into his phone "There are fish in a puddle by the side of the road." So I stopped and looked....and my gosh there were. The sun was shining and the water was evaporating quickly and I knew if we didn't rescue those fish soon they'd die. So what did I do? I went to my husband and told him. And he leaped into action, preparing everything we'd need. Then he, I, and Andrew went out and rescued the fish. We took them over to the lake in the next subdivision and released them.

When I think about that experience there's more there than I can comprehend. Firstly, there is pain - my older son wasn't there. Then there was my immediate fervent desire to save the fish...I'm hoping that says something good about me. I could do with thinking something good about me. Then there was teaching my younger son to help others. The Spirit whispers "When you serve and help others, the grief is less." and that's so true. And then there's my husband, to whom I immediately turned, knowing he'd know what to do and that he'd do it, and do it well.

All through this year my husband has suffered just as much as I. And yet while I feel damaged, he has remained true, steadfast, a rock and a support. He has given of himself at every opportunity. Through situations that have made me snarly and furious he has through supreme effort remained calm. He's laid himself down for his family. He has been strong for us. He has raised us up. He has kept going. Not to say there haven't been times when he's broken down and sobbed too, but there was strength in that for him. Through grief and agony he has served others and given...and given...and given....until I'm left in awe at who he is and what he's done. I always knew I'd married up. This year confirmed that in spades.

I need to find a way to leave this year behind as we head into 2011. Please please God let 2011 be a good one. Another year like 2010 might kill me. For Family Home Evening I asked the family to think of positive things that have happened in 2010 and every single one of us struggled to do so. Ben's though, when it was his turn, was one of sincere gratitude to his parents and that was so beautiful. I'm so thankful for that.

So what good happened in 2010? I need to list some things but am having trouble bringing any to mind. Here we go:

- I made some really wonderful friends.
- I met my goal of running a half-marathon and then some.
- I was pregnant and I didn't throw up.
- I feel more compassion for others.
- I am less judgmental.
- Our whole family became more active and healthy
- Only one child died this year, and we will see him/her again someday

Wow, and that's what it's all about, isn't it? Through the atonement of Christ somehow all this pain and grief gets fixed. I don't know how it's done, but oh my goodness I'm so grateful for it. Which leads me to a whole slew of things I'm grateful for:

- My Saviour
- my testimony
- Hope (that's bittersweet to say, as we'd named the child Hope just before s/he died)
- Grace
- Repentance and forgiveness
- The Temple
- Redemption

The list goes on and on and on....

This is a long post but I could have written it in one sentence:
Holy cow this year sucked eggs, but Christ makes it all better.

If you've managed to read this far, how has your year been? What are the positive things that have happened? And what do you hope for in 2011?

I hope to run an ultra in 2011.
And while I hope to get closer to who I was before, I'm not sure that's possible. Maybe through this refiner's fire I'll be able to forge someone better?

Next time
Specific hopes, goals, and/or resolutions for 2011. Maybe.

OH my GOSH my butt hurts.

2010-12-27T10:53:00.003-06:00

HUGE news for the day is that I have injured myself somehow. In my right butt cheek. Holy cow. I could hardly walk yesterday and didn't sleep well last night. Sitting on Andrew's robot boo-boo ice pack didn't help much really.

Today is a little better, but it's still not entirely painless to say the least.

And just think, this time last week I was quietly preening myself on my lack of injuries. GAH!!!! This week I'm meant to do 43 miles. That is SO not going to happen. And now I'm panicking because I'm behind in my running plan. Hyperventilation time!!!!

So, what did Santa bring you, eh? Eh? Spill the beans!!!!! Everyone comment and tell me all about your fun Christmas. Gosh there's nothing like new toys is there? YES! I *AM* seven years old, thankyouverymuch. But ooooohhhhhh I got some awesome toys. Want to know what they are? Hey? Hey? Well aaahm gonna tell ya.

My awesome nifty toys
And Iphone 4. Yu HUH!!! Yes I did!!! And I've had sooooo much fun with it. Those apps are fun! Can anyone recommend any way cool apps for me to play with?

Ok, I also received a Garmin:
- bike mount so I don't have to wear the G on my wrist
- cadence sensor for the bike
- foot pod which I have not yet been able to use because my butt huts so badly.

Yeah. I made out. Yeah. I'm totally spoiled. I love it. =)

Also, it snowed
Yep. White Christmas in Tennessee. How awesomely cool is THAT? =)

Tell me all about your Christmas! Did you have a wonderful time? Was it magical and special like mine? I had my whole family with me for one of the last times as soon Emily will be off and married and then before we know it Ben will be (hopefully) on a mission and then married. *sigh* Time flies.

Next time I'll probably waffle about the New Year. Do y'all do New Year Revolutions?

I tried to be good.

2010-12-24T15:46:00.005-06:00

Ok, I didn't try THAT hard. This *is* me we're talking about.

But I sorta tried. I ate veggies from the veggie tray. That counts, right?

Unfortunately I also ate meat (chicken, fried) for the first time in Idon'tknowhowlong. Furthermore, I ate truffles and cookies and baklava and oreo truffle balls and buckeyes and coconut blondies and chocolate dipped turtle cookies (OH my GOSH was that good) and I drank egg nog. Low-fat egg nog, so that's ok, right? And you know what? My friend gave me the family a jar of homemade buttermilk syrup for Christmas. That stuff is insane. I will have to eat it with a spoon.

I'm a beached whale. B.E.A.C.H.E.D. I tell you.

FURTHERMORE!!!!!!
I was meant to run 3 miles on Weds. Didn't happen. Did an hour and a half on the tm yesterday so that sorta counts. Today's 10 mile run? Yeeeaaaahhh.....an hour and four minutes on the tm. I'm thinking that's about six miles. FAIL!!!!

But wait, there's more...
And I need a nap in THE. WORST. WAY. But my beloved won't let me into the bedroom. He is doing something secretive in there. Something with paper and pens and tape and scissors. What could it be? =) What do you think, beloved readers? Do you think he's meeting with Santa in there? I think I'm getting an iphone. WHEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! Which is good because my phone is sooo dead. If you love me message me and I might give you my number and then tomorrow you can text me on my brand new phone. Hehehehehehheehehhe. =)

Also, I'm getting a Garmin footpod. I know this because I opened the parcel thinking it was a DVD that I'd ordered for Emily - nope. Whoops.

Christmas is sooo fuuuuun!!!
I'm totally waffling.

Hey, guess what?
I ordered two running skirts MAJORLY inexpensively online. The one in the running store: $60 The ones I ordered online: $30 for two incl. shipping.

Yeah. I KNOW!!! Pretty awesome, huh?

First point I'd like to make about running skirts
Wow they feel good.

Second point I'd like to make about running skirts
CHAFING!!!! Holy cow!!!!! Thighs aflame!!!! Body glide is ESSENTIAL!

Third point I'd like to make about running skirts
My DH really really really really really likes them. =) There's a handy hint for you, girls. Buy yourselves a couple of running skirts for Christmas. It makes the men really happy. =)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

No doubt I'll be back waffling. That's what you get when I'm on a sugar high and I'm whacked out needing a nap. I'm off to check your blogs now. You *did* write something fabulous for my Christmas Eve entertainment, right? =)

Update: in the tiny period of time since I posted this I've come down with my son's evil viral sickness. Uggghhhhhhh colds are sooo icky.

What, no picture?

2010-12-23T10:35:00.003-06:00

My sister lives in Cyprus and my parents are in the process of moving out there. In a miracle of miracles they actually got an offer on their house in an incredibly difficult market in England. I shouldn't be surprised really, as my parents keep an I.M.M.A.C.U.L.A.T.E. house. Which makes one wonder what the heck happened to me, eh, and why didn't I inherit any of that?

But anyway, as a Christmas gift they got an offer on their house and are being drop-kicked out of it in about four weeks which certainly makes life exciting when one is expecting it to take several months - if not more - to sell one's house.

Where was I? I got off track.

Ah yes. Sister in Cyprus, parents moving there. Good move, parents!!!! Buy a house with a couple of guest rooms so we can come hang out like the hoi polloi in the Mediterranean.

In other news, I always thought hoi polloi meant the select few, the upper crust....but it appears to mean the exact opposite. I'm crestfallen.

I still remember the old BFBS jingle: "Somewhere in the Mediterranean this is Beee Efff Beee ESSSSS!" Remember it?

And then The Archers would play. Do do do do do do do, do do do do doo dooo, do do do do do do do, puddly puddly pum.

Ok ok ok ok, I'm off track again. I shall get back on it.

What this post is really all about
Sister in Cyprus, parents moving there. And thus I read this article with great interest. VERY great interest. (I'll paste it below just in case the link disappears) And after I read it I scrolled all over the place and could I find a picture???? NO!!!! What is the POINT of having an article about naked goddesses on the new Cypriot passport if there are no pictures of said naked goddess??????

That's all. I have nothing else to say.

Except that yesterday I was bad and didn't run. And it's 10.50am right now and I'm still in my nightdress. But I'm going for a run right now! Right.....now. =)

Goddess of Love emerges into foaming Cypriot row

– Thu Dec 23, 6:13 am ET

NICOSIA (Reuters Life!) – She may be the ancient Greek Goddess of Love, but a picture of a nude Aphrodite on the new passport of Cyprus has set more than hearts racing.

Cypriot diplomats are furious with the interior ministry for failing to consult with the foreign ministry before issuing passports with a depiction of a naked immortal that might offend conservative foreign cultures.

"They are worried that civilians and diplomats could get into trouble, particularly traveling to very conservative Islamic countries," the authoritative Phileleftheros daily newspaper wrote on Thursday.

The interior ministry said it was too late to change them, the newspaper said.

Local legend says Aphrodite (also known as Venus to the ancient Romans) emerged from the sea on a crest of foam just off the Mediterranean island.

The image on the new biometric passports is modeled on a Greek marble statue of a completely naked Aphrodite in the Cyprus Museum located in the capital Nicosia.

(Writing by Michele Kambas, editing by Paul Casciato)

The Lazy Days of Christmas. Sorta.

2010-12-20T12:56:00.005-06:00

Beloveds, it's 12.56pm and guess who's still in her nightdress?

I love Christmas holidays. =D

I am deeply unprepared, but am coming to terms with my unpreparedness by basically throwing up my hands and saying those inspiring words "Ah whatever".

Today has been really quite super. Homeschooling is all done for the day. Bert is aboard the flight that will bring him back home to us. Emily has taken Andrew out to see Tangled and he was SO cutely excited by that. Ben is quiet because he's down with a hideous cold. And I'm still in my nightdress. =P

Tomorrow: Visiting Teaching, then Emily and I are off shopping where HOPEFULLY I can purchase some more gifts for her so she has more than the DVD I've bought her. I mean really! She can't just have one pressie! So difficult to buy for.

Tomorrow or Wednesday: if Bert doesn't take Ben out to do some shopping tomorrow I'll do it on Weds. I really hope Bert does it as Ben would find it really annoying going out with me. If Bert does it I can go food shopping on Wednesday.

Today: Oh gosh that means I have to plan out the Christmas menu today, doesn't it?

Thursday: Wrap, panic.

Friday: "Meh whatever" day, where we chill out, play games, watch films, and eat our traditional Christmas Eve meal: Pizza Hut Pizza. Which, admittedly, doesn't sound appetizing to me this year. Maybe I'll make/buy a fancy schmancy salad to go with it. Nom nom nom nom nom. =) And then I'll eat chocolate. We'll watch The Nativity and Father Christmas will come to see us. Yes, I joke not, Santa Claus comes to our house to see Andrew every year. =) He used to be our home teacher and he still loves us. What a great guy.

Saturday: WHOOT!!! Paarrrtaaay! =)

Did I ever tell you about the time that Father Christmas came to our house Christmas morning? We were sitting in the music room where the Christmas tree was, happily opening gifts, when there was a knock at the door. Bert and I looked at each other and I could tell we were both thinking, "Whhaa...? Someone from the ward? Please not someone come to hurt us. Who knocks on Christmas morning?"

So we went to open the door with the children around us and Ben (who was about 5 or 6) peeking out from around my legs....and there stood Santa!!!! We all kind of looked at him with wide shocked eyes trying to figure it out and he, bless his heart, seeing the little children said,

"Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas! Santa was visiting his grandchildren and locked his keys inside his "sleigh" and was wondering if he could call Mrs. Claus so she could bring the extra set of keys?"

Hahahahaha =D It. Was. AWESOME!!!! So we laughed and showed him the phone. Ben was soaking all this up. =) Even on the phone Santa was great, "Hello, Mrs. Claus, Santa has locked his keys in his sleigh...." =D

Well what could the poor guy do? He couldn't go back to his grandkids' house. That would have totally messed with their heads. =D

So anyway, Mrs. Claus rescued Santa Claus who'd locked his keys in his pick-up sleigh, and we were given a wonderful family memory.

Here's a nifty video. I hope you like it as much as I did. =)

19 miles baby

2010-12-18T13:41:00.002-06:00

The Lord loves runners. This is so true. Despite the fact that I drug my weary body to bed at an hour way too late, and despite the fact that I thought there was NO WAY I was getting up early enough to get 19 miles in this morning, when the alarm clock rang at 3.30am I didn't go back to sleep. So 4am found me rolling out of bed, schlepping myself into my gear, and heading on out the door.

I couldn't face 4 hours on the tm. So I ran the 1/2 mile block by the house. Over and over and over. =D It wasn't too bad at all, actually. =) It worked out well as I could pop in and check on the kidlets. I'd warned Andrew last night that if he woke up and I wasn't there I would be running and if he needed me I'd be going by the house every few minutes & he could grab me then. He was totally cool with it. For him, Mummy running and Daddy biking for long periods of time is absolutely normal.

I put my water/perpetuem (which is GROSS but excessively useful) and gu on the boot of my car and stopped for a swig or two almost every time I passed by. Other useful thing about being near the house - comfortable pit stops. I had to make three. One of which was really quite urgent and could have been uncomfortable if I'd been running along 96.

The first two hours were dark. Which is good because I was listening to a podcast that made me laugh and that probably looked weird. The second hour and 55 minutes were light and started out a little weary and ended up ouchie.

What was *not* helpful was completing the 19 mile run and saying to myself "Now all I have to do is run that exact distance all over again and I'll have done the distance of the race in March." Uuuuhhhhhm. I can't imagine doing that. Barring accidents or whatnot, I *will* be doing that...I just can't imagine it. It makes me hurt just thinking about it.

I mean for goodness' sakes when I'd step up the curb to get to my car I'd go "Aaaahhhh" cos it was painful. Stepping up the CURB. I mean to say! Not painful "oh ouch injury" but painful "whine my legs and feet ache."

So. 19 miles in 3 hours 55 minutes. Five or so of those minutes were spent chatting to my dear neighbour who told me he'd found my blog! How cool is that? HI R!!!! How're you doing? How's the foot? =) He dropped an excessively heavy weight on his toe in what sounds like a not entirely painless accident. When he told me the first thing I thought was "DISASTER!!! How can you run with a broken toe?" Which just goes to show I'm completely nuts.

Ok. Here’s my schedule. How does it look? The stuff in blue I’ve already done.

	Monday	Tuesday	Weds	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Total
Week 1		5	2	2	0	15.3	24.3
Week 2	4.25	4	2	5	0	16.3	31.56
Week 3	6	2	2	0	5	19	34
Week 4	2	4	3	8	10	0	23
Week 5	4	4	6	10	21	0	43
Week 6	0	4	6	6	10	23	49
Week 7	0	4	6	8	6	25	53
Week 8	0	4	4	4	8	13	31
Week 9	0	4	8	8	10	27	55
Week 10	0	4	10	8	10	29	61
Week 11	0	4	10	8	10	31	63
Week 12	0	4	10	6	10	33	63
Week 13	0	4	10	8	8	20	52
Week 14	0	4	10	6	4	10	38
Week 15	0	3	2	0	0	60k – 37.3 miles	46.2

Why is my table coming out all weird and big and funky when it's really a nice compact little thing? That's annoying.

In other news we get to pick up Emily in a couple of hours. WHOOT! =)

Note to self:

2010-12-17T09:44:00.002-06:00

Never miss a good chance to shut up.

Running
An hour and a bit on the tm.

I fantasized I was winning a 100 mile race. Like THAT'LL ever happen. But it felt awesome in my head. =D I ran for an hour - which is at least 5 possibly 6 miles. Then I walked for some more minutes - somewhere between five and ten - until my pedometer clicked over to 10,000. Because I'm anal like that.

Homeschooling
Much to my chagrin and grrrrrr ain't happening today because I got on the tm instead of getting on with it right away. At this moment I have three boys over at my house age 2, 4, and 5. In fifteen minutes I will have two more five year olds. Yes I AM awesomely amazing, thank you for saying so. =)

Andrew has his gym class this afternoon and is totally geeked out that today is TROPHY DAY because he's been taking gym for over a year now so he gets one. =)

Family
Andrew's also geeked out because Emily comes home tomorrow. WHOOOT! We're so excited. Bert's in Calabasas CA at the moment so that kind of sucks. He comes home on Monday evening and we're tickled about that. It's Ben's last day at school today and he's way too cool to be geeked out about it even if he IS secretly geeked out about it.

Confession
My jeans don't fit and I have an elastic band looped around the button and through the hole. When I'm standing up I don't have a muffin top. I will be standing a lot today. Obviously, although I've reached goal weight at Weight Watchers again, I need to lose a tad more. Think I need to work on my core. Think I need a personal trainer to ride my sorry butt and make me do it. Can't afford one. Le sigh.

And now the boys request that I make them a marble run. So.....Engineer Mummy to the Rescue! WHOOOOOT!

.

Oh! Well HI! How are you? =)

2010-12-15T14:20:00.006-06:00

It's been TEN DAYS since I posted something. Yes. I am a bum. Furthermore, it's been busy round here and I'm STILL not ready for Christmas. I've been threatening the past couple of days that next year I'm running away on a cruise ship to the Bahamas and I won't send ANY Christmas cards.

So. What's been happenin'?
Not much really.

Christmas
Not ready

Running
I'm up to 16 miles. WHOOT! That was a slightly emotional run last Sat as the last time I ran 16 miles I was pregnant and a few days later I started bleeding and was banned from running. I kinda bawled my little heart out when the Garmin beeped 16 miles. I have to stop talking about it now as it ticks me off and I think really naughty words in my head.

Saturday is 19 but Bert won't be here (unless that evil storm front that's meant to come in right now...and isn't here yet even though the school sent the kids home early for NO REASON WHATSOEVER...hits us hard and his business trip gets canceled which would RAWK as his daughter comes home Sat and he's sad he won't be here and furthermore I don't want him to go.)

ANYWAY

Saturday is 19 and I'm not sure what to do about that.

Option a) Blow it off. Hahaha. Yeah. Like that's going to happen
Option b) Get up REALLY EARLY (ie 3.30am) and do it outside and hope Ben takes care of Andrew. Hmm. Dodgy.
Option c) Get up REALLY EARLY and do it on the treadmill so I'm around when Andrew wakes up. Problems with that are the display on my tm is broken so I won't know how far I've come and furthermore nineteen miles on a treadmill? Yeah, I can do it, but would I be sane afterwards?
Option d) Do it in the afternoon after I pick up Emily. Problem with that is..."Oh hi sweetie welcome home oh btw your Dad's not here and I'm heading out the door for four hours now, k?" Uuuhhmm....yeah, don't think I'll do that one.

Do y'all have any advice? Pretty please?

Homeschooling
We've been slowing down as I've been so busy, but we've managed to get in the basics.

Other stuff
I forget. I think about brilliant things to say while I'm running but then I forget them all when I'm sitting here typing.

Here's some random pictures.

Where do you think you're going? Because I don't think you're going where you think you're going. I LOVE Portal! =)

Yep.

Yu huh.

How to freak out your neighbours. Hahahaha! =D

Ok. Is this or is this not just about the FREAKIEST Einstein picture you've ever seen? I had to post it because it's so BIZARRE. And frankly is like UGH.

Have I posted this one already? It's Andrew talking about his Book-In-A-Box at his tutorial.

And here's one of his lego creation as of yesterday. He said "This took me like TWO DANG HOURS to make." =D Actually it was about ten minutes. He hasn't quite got the concept of time down. =) In case you didn't know, it's a flying machine ship thing and the guys live in HERE and they can sleep in HERE and they can drop bombs down HERE.

And, furthermore, I LOVE this song. It's my latest musical obsession. And it's funny. And really sweet. =)

Oh yeah, and you know what? The Manchester police are AWESOME!!!!! Check it out. SO fun. =)

.

I have a question

2010-12-05T21:28:00.004-06:00

Ok, so we're reading Daniel and Esther this week in Sunday School. If you haven't at least the first few chapters of Daniel I strongly suggest you do so - the stories are mind-blowing.

Anyway, so here I am in Esther.
So Ahasuerus threw this HUGE party and invited all his peeps. His wife, Vashti, threw her own shindig for the women. The guys got really slap-happy and giggly and Ahasuerus was like "Oi! You! Go get Vashti so we can oggle her" to his servant and when the servant tells her to sashay into the King, Vashti's like "Dude. I think not!"

So Ahasuerus, being the king and therefore used to utterly getting his way like a spoiled kid was like "Hold up! That's not right! How'm I going to punish her?" and all his peeps say "You TOTALLY have to get rid of her because if you don't all the women in the country won't obey us. So kick her to the curb and our wives'll be frightened that *we'll* kick *them* to the curb and they'll obey us."

And Ahasuerus said "Tru dat" and got rid of Vashti.

Then his peeps were like "Hey, dude, you should totally have this Cinderella contest. It'd be wicked fun" and Ahasuerus said "Awesomesauce".

Are you with me so far? Keep paying attention, it gets really interesting and then comes the question.
So all the hot babes come to the palace and if they pass the round one inspection they get to go live in this house where they are "purified". Hegai sees Esther and is like "WOAH!" and gives her seven women to take care of her and gives her the best rooms in the house.

The women who pass round one spend ONE WHOLE YEAR being "purified". Yer what?

Esther 2:12 - to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the purifying of the women;

First question
I do not know what all this is about. Anyone else know?

On with the story
Soooooo they're there for a year. And then they go see the king. And here is where I get my second all-important question. Have a look at these verses here and see if you can tell me what's going on:

Esther 2:13-14
Then thus came every maiden unto the king; whatsoever she desired was given her to go with her out of the house of the women unto the king’s house.

In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s chamberlain, which kept the concubines: she came in unto the king no more, except the king delighted in her, and that she were called by name.

Uhhhhmmmm...........

Does that sound kind of dodgy to anyone else? I mean, what are those hot babes doing for a whole night? Reading a book? Verse 17 talks about "virgins" so this sets my mind at rest somewhat..but What. The. Heck?!?!?! Bert speculates they were....dancing? My mind puts together this equation:

Spoiled king used to getting everything he wants + hot babes = ???Idon'twanttothinkaboutit???

Thoughts? I'm really hoping someone has some insight out there. Maybe some kind of "Persia's Got Talent"?

Travail

2010-12-04T13:34:00.003-06:00

Or "The birth of an ultrarunner"

I think, though, this could be considered the "pregnancy" period, eh? And the birth comes when I actually sign up for and run a race.

I had a difficult run today (more on that later) and afterwards I was pondering. I'm seriously considering doing the Land between the Lakes 60k on March 12th. This is a little too far a little too soon. I'd be better prepared for a 50k the middle of April. However, this course is described as "flat and fast" (hahahahaha!!! Yeah, only 3,000ft of elevation. And today I did 720ft and it was like uuuggghhh) and I kind of prefer that for my first ultra than billions of feet in elevation....the kind of elevation that looks like the road folding over in Inception.

ANYWAY.

Where was I?

uhm.

Braindead.

Hey, did you ever have autograph books in your school? We did at Holy Joes & we'd sign them every year or something. The favourite poem was:

Can't think
Brain numb
Inspiration
Won't come
Bad ink
Rotten pen
Good luck
Amen.

Hahaha =D

Ok, that's all entirely beside the point. I was talking about ultras, wasn't I? And pondering about them.

Anyway, so this ultra on March 12th. It occurred to me while I was pondering in the shower that this ultra will take place just a few days after my baby's due date. Not that that means anything really as all my babies come early but nevermind that. The baby's due date was 7/8th March (they couldn't decide which one so left it up to me...and I couldn't decide either). So basically all this training for the 60k is taking place during the time that I would have been pregnant with my munchkin.

Which led me to equate training for an ultra as a pregnancy, and the ultra itself as the birth. Only I'm not pregnant with a child, I'm pregnant with the me I'm becoming.

Thus, travail and the birth of an ultra ruuner. Hopefully all that makes sense. One never knows.

How all this fits in with my run today
Which makes today's run totally make sense because I got leg cramps and thought I was going to hurl - as one does when one is pregnant.

I set out with a lofty 3 hour goal. Endurolytes came highly recommended so I figured I'd better try some out. Took a couple an hour for the first two hours. Then hooooooooly cow I felt sick. I had to walk so I didn't lose the contents of my stomach. Uuuuugghh. At that point I quit taking anything except little sips of water. I thought to myself "What if this happens in a race and I have six more hours to go but anything I ingest makes me want to puke? That would *not* be good."

Not that I'm entirely sure the Endurolytes caused the nausea, but there's a strong correlation. I guess I need to take them on another run and see what happens.

Anyway, then, being the n00bsauce I am, without thinking I put on my new running shoes with the new inserts. Yeah. I know. MASSIVE calf cramps like I've never felt before. Ohhhh baby. Now I know what marathoners are talking about. Yikes. I had to walk most of the last 3 miles and I felt like a total failure. Especially when this really cute runner zoomed by at the speed of sound with her blonde ponytail swishing strong and confident as she ate up the distance. *sigh* I felt so defeated.

Enter the DH
So I was calling the run a BFFF - Big Fat Flippin' Fail - until Bert said, "It's not a fail. You got the miles in (at first I typoed "smiles" =)) and you learned something about your body." What a great perspective. The man is so smart. And level-headed. And hot.

Recoverite and the Farmer's Market
So I came in and was so late I only had half an hour to get to the Farmer's Market before it shut down. The missionaries are coming tomorrow so I needed more ground beef for the spaghettipalooza. I had time to change my shoes and throw some recoverite in some water (it SO totally needed to be blended with milk & a banana. And maybe a little peanut butter. But I didn't have time) and dash out the door.

I don't know if it was the change of shoes or the recoverite but oooee just a short while later my legs were feeling fiiiiiine. =)

And this is why I love the Farmer's Market
I bought the ground beef. Then I went to another stall (Paradise Produce), considered kale, then bought radishes. I told the lady I'd heard great things about kale but I'd had it once and it was bitter and GROSS and I couldn't handle it again. After a minute while I paid for the radishes she spontaneously said "Look, I have to give you some kale" and she did. She gave me a big bunch of kale and told me how to cook it and season it and refused to take any money for it.

Then I went to the Hatcher Dairy stall and asked for two half-gallons of skim milk and one half-gallon of 2% milk. And then when I went to pay I didn't have enough. I gave her enough to pay for two half gallons....but she insisted on giving me the third half gallon and said "Just pay us next time."

Warmed the cockles of my heart, it did. How sweet is that? So lovely, trusting and generous. And business smart (though I really don't think they thought of it that way...well, maybe Hatcher Dairy did but not the Paradise Produce) because now they have my loyalty because of their generosity.

audioaddict

2010-12-02T14:35:00.002-06:00

I was going to tie this post into something. Like, "Sometimes running is like this song" and "This song is what parenting a teenager is like" and stuff.

But actually, these songs just freaking rock. And I must download them. And listen to them while I run.

I'd like to thank my beloved prickly teen for the first two songs.

That is all.

Ratatat - Bare feast. Which reminds me of barefoot running. Which I have never done in my adult life.

Fun. - Be Calm

You hate your pulse because it thinks you're still alive

12 Stones - Adrenaline

Audioslave - Cochise

Oh you know. Stuff.

2010-11-28T17:34:00.003-06:00

Well that was a stinkin' awesome Thanksgiving weekend. Can't wait until I get Bert home for an ENTIRE WEEK at Christmas. OH my GOSH. That doesn't happen often enough.

We kicked butt on the house, moving furniture, books, reorganizing stuff etc. I need to do the last clean-ups but it's mostly done. Hooray! Plus, if I get my way, Bert will set up my bike on the trainer tonight. Oooooooh baby.

Running
On the running front I had a 2 1/2 hr run scheduled on Saturday. Based on last week's run I figured that would give me about 12 miles. So I thought "Ahhh what the heck?" and decided to make it a Pikermi. So I ran 13.1 miles in 2 hours 40 minutes which may possibly be a PR for me but I'm not sure as I keep forgetting to make note of my times. The Pikermi I ran in April was something like 2 hrs 51 minutes. Maybe. I'll have to check out www.athlinks.com to make sure. I may possibly have run one faster a few weeks after that but I can't remember the time.

ANYWAY it was fun and I was like "WOO HOO!" I can see that 16 miler looming. Last time I ran 16 miles I was pregnant, and it was just a few days after that I was put on rest...so that's the longest I've ever run. The 16 miler will be up in a week or three and that will be a milestone that will probably make me bawl.

The DH is a STUD
So I went out on my run awfully early on Sat because Bert had a massive bike ride planned. He decided he wanted to do a 100 mile bike ride by himself. So I came home at about 9.30am and he set out at about 10am. On his 100 mile bike ride. By himself. With no SAG support. On a route he planned out. Because he is BA.

After 104 miles and 9 hours (2 1/2 hours for breaks) he arrived home. He'd bonked out at mile 85 or 90 (obviously we need to research race nutrition) and plodded on til he got home. What an amazing guy. At one point he was so pooped out he fell over. I have a brilliant picture of the massive lump and scabs on his knee but it's upstairs and I'm too dang lazy to go get it.

What else is going on? Nothing really. I need new shoes. I've had these ones for a year or something like that and my knees are starting to hurt.

Weight Watchers
Oh yeah, WW is totally revamping their programme starting tomorrow. I find out about it on Tuesday. Sounds like fun. Looks like the minimum points we'll have is 29. It would be ok with me if that means I can eat more food, but I doubt it.

I'm having a difficult time losing the last 2lbs to reach my goal weight. GAH! I'm guessing chocolate cake and pumpkin pie ain't helping. Hoping I can just up my exercise to take care of that. A couple of hours on the trainer every night should help, huh? =D

Happy Thanksgiving Beloved Readers! =)

2010-11-25T14:09:00.004-06:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

I love Thanksgiving. =) What a great time of year. =)

This year it was just our little family which was lovely. Here's what we ate and the recipes:

Turkey
I bought a packet of four little turkey steaks, of which two were eaten. Bert and Ben ate turkey and substitute. Ben preferred the turkey, Bert preferred the substitute.

Turkey substitute
I bought the Turk'y Roast with trepidation, as Quorn makes my father violently sick. However, it was DELICIOUS! I mixed sage, thyme, salt and pepper in some olive oil, brushed it over the roast, and cooked it for an hour. The texture and taste were remarkably like moist yummy turkey. I ate only this and was really happy with it. Bert preferred it to the turkey. Ben wasn't so thrilled and Andrew refused to eat either.

Salad
Romaine, sprouts, cucumber, tomatoes, olives. Nothing special. No-one touched it. HA! =D

Stuffed butternut squash
I saw it at Whole Foods but didn't want to pay a fortune for it, so made my own, thusly:

1. Peel squash and scoop out the insides. Bake, facedown, on oiled sheet for 30 mins.
2. Meanwhile, saute in a little (1-2 Tbsp?) butter:
- 4 baby carrots, finely chopped
- about 1/4 cup chopped or finely sliced onion
- A scoop of garlic form the jar, or 1 clove garlic, squished
- Handful (1/4 cup?) finely chopped pecans
- Handful (1/4 cup?) sunflower seeds
- some raisins. 2 mini boxes. What's that? 1/8 - 1/4 cup?
- Juice of 1/2 lemon. Or a squirt of the bottled stuff.
- Sage, thyme, rosemary, whatever
- Salt and pepper to taste

Anyway, saute that over low heat until onions are translucent, nuts are browned etc. Or until squash is ready. Whatever.

3. Take squash out of oven, flip over, and stuff the stuffing into the cavities.
4. Cover loosely with foil - don't forget this bit or your stuffing will get a little burned like mine did - and bake for about 25 mins.

It's INSANE, I tell you. INSANE!!!! If you have a brain you'll reserve some of that stuffing just for yourself and eat it with a spoon when no-one's looking. HOLY toledo batman.

Potatoes
Peeled, boiled, served. Boring. Didn't have any. You can rice them (or mash them) with a little butter a milk if you like. We ran out of time so didn't.

Green beans
Steam (or boil, as I did) until nearly done. Meanwhile, stick a little butter in the pan - the same pan you made the squash stuffing in if you're wise - and saute a handful - or two - of almonds and a scoop of garlic from the garlic jar. A bit of salt and pepper too, if you wish. Bung in the beans when they're done. Saute 'em. Ohhhhhhhh baby.

Sweet potatoes
Before I went on my run this morning I threw 3 sweet potatoes in the oven. I baked them for 1 1/2 - 2 hours, then pulled them out until I was ready to deal with them. Several hours later they were cooled. It was easy to peel off the skin and/or scoop out the insides into a bowl. I added a pat of butter and a sprinkle of sugar and mashed them all up. I divided them between 3 ramekins and baked 'em til they were hot, then I sprinkled mini marshmallows on top and baked them for a little longer. SO delicious. Ben went nuts over them and ate almost an entire ramekin himself. Said it was the best he'd ever tasted and went on at length over how delicious they were. Yes, I am preening. Why do you ask? =)

Stuffing
Nothing exciting. Got a bag of stuffing mix. Right after the green beans were done and I'd scooped them out from the pan, I bunged the bag of stuffing mix into the bean water. Voila. Done. It was nothing spectacular, but it was good.

Gravy
I bought gravy - turkey flavoured for the turkey eaters and wild mushroom for the quorn eaters. Can't vouch for the turkey flavoured, but the mushroom stuff was great.

Cranberry Sauce
I bought a can of organic stuff. It was really amazingly delicious with the Turk'y Roast.

We also had rolls and butter - I didn't make the rolls; just bought snowflake rolls from Whole Foods. They were good. We drank Natural Brew Ginger Ale (wish it was ginger beer - I love that stuff) and Vanilla Creme Soda.

Pumpkin Pie
I'm currently making a pumpkin pie. That is to say, I made it just before I began this post and it's currently cooking. Wish I'd made it earlier but I ran out of time. Furthermore, I didn't have evapourated milk so I used a mixture of rice milk and sweetened condensed milk. Yeah. I know. Should be interesting. I also had to throw together a pie crust quick so I used this recipe: No-Roll Pie Crust Should be interesting also.

Here's the nosh w/turk'y rather than turkey:

Update: The punkin pie ROCKED.

Sweet Rice Pudding

2010-11-24T20:17:00.002-06:00

Many years ago Emily did a project on the Jewish culture. We experimented with several recipes from a Jewish cookbook we found. This recipe was our favourite.

@LDSActor, hope it helps. =)

Sweet milk pudding
from the Jewish Cookbook by Ronne Randall I believe it was this one.

1/3 cup rice flour or ground rice
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp vanilla or 1 1/2 tsp rose water
ground cinnamon

In a saucepan mix the rice flour with the sugar
Add a couple of tbsp milk and blend
gradually add rest of the milk
over medium heat bring mixture to a boil, stirring gently
When it boils, lower and simmer until thick and creamy (about ten mins) stirring constantly
Remove pan from heat and add vanilla or rosewater
Sprinkle cinnamon on the top

I'd just like to note that I very rarely have to simmer it; the mixture always reaches thick and creamy right at boiling point. YMMV.

Utterly Random Pictures

2010-11-23T22:14:00.005-06:00

Andrew at Virginia Beach

The Benjamite

Bert and Andrew after being on Escape from Pompeii at Busch Gardens

Emily and Drew

Look at this pic!!! It's Bert and Ben!! Looking at each other!! And Ben's smiling! =)

Ships at Jamestown

A picture my friend took of me at the Country Music Pikermi earlier this year. In the background you can see Loopster Michelle and her friend. If any loopsters read this, could you please let micheatl (I think that's her loop name) know the pic is here? Thanks. =)

For Emily: A Journal entry by Andrew. =)

A way huge freaky spider I saw on a run a few months ago.

My children ten years ago

2010-11-23T19:53:00.004-06:00

Just received a parcel from my parents. They sent some old letters that they had kept. Here's an excerpt from one of them, when Ben was 5 and Emily 10. Maus is our Japanese Chin:

2nd August 2001

This morning Benjamin said he wanted to check Maus' bum to make sure he was ok. After restraining my giggles I asked him if he was going to check people to make sure they were ok when he grew up; like a doctor. he said, "Yes, I'm going to check people's bums when I grow up to make sure they're ok" and collapsed into giggles. I said there were people who checked people's bums to make sure the bums are ok and they are called proctologists. Benjamin thought this was absolutely hysterical and went off to tell Emily that he was going to check people's bums when he grew up. Emily was SO grossed out. =D "Bum", I think, is the word of the day today.

We were lying on the floor of the guest bedroom (I had just rediscovered my Adam Ant LP and was introducing the kids to tribal rhythm - it wore us out quite a bit dancing around) I noticed a spider crawling along the ceiling over Emily's head. All of a sudden it started coming down on a strand of web. I mentioned this to Emily and she eeked and jumped out of the way. The spider crawled back up the web giving Emily a good view of its backside. Emily said "That could be poisonous! There are poisonous spiders in Michigan you know. Like the Black Butt Spider." She said this absolutely straight faced. There was a short pause and then I began to laugh. She said, "Actually, I just made that up to make you laugh. There's no poisonous Black Butt Spider. I just said there was because that spider has a black butt."

My goodness! My children were obsessed with bottoms ten years ago. =D

TSA

2010-11-23T15:22:00.004-06:00

It is rare for me to think of a cuss word. However, whenever I think of the TSA an exceptionally rude one comes to mind. So to say I'm riled about the new scanners and pat downs would be an understatement. Especially when I see pictures like this:

And this:

When he saw this, Ben said "Can I work at the airport?" Which just goes to show, doesn't it? And what the heck was this image meant to show anyway? That she would have gotten away with it if it weren't for the fabulous amazing backscatter? Uhhh...I think not.

And then there's the stories....the little kid been given a pat down...yeah, little kid...and he's really upset by it. The woman who was sexually abused and traumatized by the invasive and inappropriate pat down. The bladder cancer survivor who warned the agents over and over about the bag that collected his urine - warning them that if they patted him down roughly it would break the seal. They ignored him. They patted him down roughly. It broke the seal, and he was covered in urine. He was deeply humiliated.

I MEAN come ON!!!

I have been upset at all the hideousness at the airport for some time. The TSA agents I've come across have basically bullies high on power. This, though, has been the last straw on the camel's back. I hope that I never become so used to this "new reality" that it becomes ok for me.

And thus I will exercise my freedom of choice by not flying as much as I can help it. Of course there will be occasions where I will have to fly; I don't have the time or money to cross the ocean to England by ship, for example. However, whenever I can, I will drive.

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin
February 1775

My TSA Encounter

John Tyner's story

I'm starving to death

2010-11-22T16:13:00.005-06:00

Ok, well maybe that's a sliiight exaggeration. But by next Tuesday I need to be back down to my pre-pregnancy weight or I'll have to shell out cash for all of December at Weight Watchers. And I'm a tightwad so I don't want to pay it. Ordinarily I would have made it fine; I only have a couple of pounds to go. But it's Thanksgiving on Thurs. Soooooo I think I'm somewhat screwed. Oh well.

So I'm starving. STARRRRRRRVING. And it doesn't help that I really really enjoyed the carrot cake the Montebellos brought yesterday.

Now then. Where the heck was I? I'm sure I have something fun and exciting to say. Oooh! Maybe something about..

Running
I love long runs. Looooove. Ohhh yeah I love them. I went out for 2 hours 15 mins at my happy 12:00m/m happy pace (that's 11 miles). I ate Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter. I'm not sure that it helped amazingly, but it certainly didn't hurt and my tummy felt just fine. And it was delicious.

Homeschool
is going really well. Just humming along nicely. Nothing much going on. Just same old same old really.

Random Photos
Rockin' pictures of my daughter's first tri. =) She's caught the bug and has already signed up for her second one. I believe she might be doing an Olympic tri relay with her roommates too. She'll do the swimming portion. Because she's an amazing swimmer.

Question and Montebellos

2010-11-21T20:26:00.003-06:00

How does a homeschooler change a lightbulb?

In other news we had the Montebellos around for dinner again. It was ridiculously fun. I showed Bro. Montebello the video of him I'd posted on the blog. He died. Everyone else thought it was fabulous. =) Sister Montebello and I have a rather large difference of opinion in politics, but we still love each other.

They brought carrot cake. And bread. And amazing salad.

Gosh we love that family.

What is my motivation?

2010-11-18T13:11:00.002-06:00

Sorry for the meandering possibly incoherent thoughts. I could probably tidy them up and make them more presentable for outside consumption. But I don't wanna.

I was pondering this morning.
Where did my motivation go? How did I go from being super uber excited to run to seeing it as a chore and occasionally dreading it?

When I first started running I would dream about it (ok, truthfully, I still dream about it) and would wake up at 4am terrified lest the rain of the night before had morphed into a lightning storm preventing me from going out.

What happened between then and now? Why am I feeling so blah?

On my run today I traced back, feeling along the lines of running history, to the point when malaise set in. And what I found surprised me. Oh. It started when I left The Loop. And when I lost the baby.

Well that sucks.
So what was it about The Loop? It is, without doubt, one of the most loving, caring, vibrant, exciting, kind, surprising, encouraging, motivating and inspiring online communities I have ever been in.

I joined Daily Mile and twitter - and they are very nice communities - but they're just not the same.

I was on a rising spiral before I feel pregnant. My weight loss was going fabulously and my running was heading exactly where I wanted it to. I was in control and empowered. And then all of a sudden it was all gone. I lost strength and stamina, and I gained weight.

So how do I find another community like The Loop?
I think the point is, I can't. Furthermore, I shouldn't. I need to find motivation from some other source.

When I began running again after the pregnancy I couldn't even make it two miles without stopping several times. It hurt. I was right back at the beginning. I felt defeated. Life had taken me and lovingly massaged my body and soul with a cheese grater and sandpaper. And then bathed me in iodine. All that fire and confidence and empowerment had been burned away. I'd been scoured from the inside out and felt there was nothing left but a damaged shell. Lacking confidence. I was broken. I'm still broken. Sometimes I think I always will be.

As I ran this morning pondering this problem of lack of motivation and how to regain it I started thinking about other runners. How do *other* runners motivate themselves? Where does *their* fire come from?

I thought about John. How in the world does he keep going through miles and miles? How did he keep going when he DNFed his 100 miler? I don't know the inside of his head but I have observed two things:

1. He races alot. Well. It seems like he does anyway, to someone who's done two races her entire running career.
2. He trusts in God and prays.

I mentioned these points to the DH when I got back from my run. He agreed totally with the first point. He likes to enter bike races himself and gets all kinds of antsy if he hasn't done a really big one in a couple of months.

When I mentioned the second point he said "He prays probably because he thinks he's about to die." Hahaha. =D Maybe. =D

Anyway
So maybe I need to enter more races. *shudder*. Only problems with that are a) I'm really slow but uber competitive so don't want to enter short races because despite the fact I'm a back of the pack runner doesn't mean I don't want to win. Dammit. b) I'm not ready yet for marathons or ultras. c) There aren't any pikermis around here in the near future that I know of.

And I do need to pray more. That's for sure.

What about y'all?
What is your motivation?
How do you keep yourself motivated?
What really ignites the fire and keeps it burning?

Inquiring minds want to know.

No words

2010-11-17T11:31:00.004-06:00

When I read "My Brother Sam is Dead", I couldn't talk about it with anyone. Most of the time when I read a book I have intense opinions about it and have np sharing them. So book club can be rather fun. "My Brother Sam is Dead", however, affected me on such a deep level I still can't find words to describe it. I've never discussed the book with anyone and I've never recommended it for book group. I think that would be one meeting where we'd just sit around, silent, unable to speak.

This video does the same thing to me.

Mum, I'm so sorry for the bad language in it. Funnily enough while language like that normally bothers me, I didn't mind so much this time.

The Sal Giunta Story from Sebastian Junger on Vimeo.

O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world! That has such people in it!
The Tempest
Act V Scene I

If

2010-11-16T12:22:00.002-06:00

If
by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too
If you can wait, and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn out tools'
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after thy are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Organizing. Somewhat.

2010-11-16T12:19:00.003-06:00

My gosh do I have stacks and stacks of *STUFF*. I'm slowly trying to get rid of it and organize the little that's left. I have a huge stack of magazines with articles etc that I just love. I don't need the whole magazine so I was trying to think of what I could do to retain the amazing articles without keeping a huge stack of mags.

Et voila! Blog to the rescue. I'll be typing the articles into my blog. You're welcome to read and enjoy; they're the cream of the crop article-wise. Some of them are long. Most of them are homeschooling. At least one is a poem. Some are political.

Enjoy.

I haven't been an alien for years.

2010-11-15T21:09:00.002-06:00

You know, if I weren't a citizen, but still had a green card I'd be a "permanent resident alien" (as opposed to a "temporary permanent resident alien", which was my official status the first two years I lived in America. I'm not joking).

And if I were still a Permanent Resident Alien rather than a citizen, I believe I would make my son wear this:

http://www.whatonearthcatalog.com/whatonearth/Whats-New_1AA/To-Wear_1BA/Item_Home-Schooled-By-Aliens-Shirts_CF2091G_ps_cti-1BA.html

Yuh Huh. That's right. Yeah I would. =)

The Great 2010 Christmas Card Swap, and my daughter is BA

2010-11-15T18:16:00.002-06:00

It's the great 2010 Christmas Card Swap!!!!

http://zanetaruns.blogspot.com/2010/11/2010-christmas-card-swap.html

Come one, come all and have fun. =)

In other news, Emily competed in her very first triathlon in St. George UT on Sat - and came in 4th in her AG. WHOOT! So proud of her. =)

I haven't posted random pics in ages. Must do that at some point. Maybe later this evening. I'm meant to be folding laundry and putting it away right now. Shhhhhh.....=P

How to become vegan

2010-11-14T18:17:00.004-06:00

Upon reading this article just for fun I decided to lay out a plan to become vegan. You may think it's kind of nuts for me to write a blog post on how to become vegan as I don't think I could be myself - I really like milk and the milk alternatives make me nauseous. Plus I don't think I could survive without sushi. However, I'm fascinated with the lifestyle. Also, I'm kind of a list/schedule making nut and will make schedules and lists just for fun. And believe me, researching this was uber fun.

This is not meant to be a comprehensive list; I'm sure there's some animal products I forgot to include.

Also, remember becoming vegan is a lifestyle as well as diet change - and can be a pretty drastic one at that if you're used to eating meat at almost every meal (ie bacon and sausage at breakfast, lunchmeat on your sandwich, and steak for dinner). You can make one little change each week - or take a month - or several months - to make the changes. If you like, wait until one little change becomes automatic and you don't have to think about it before you move onto another.

Have fun with the journey.

Week 1. Eat no products from pigs

- Ham
- Pork Chops
- Tenderloin
- Ribs
- Bacon
- Sausage
- Pork Roast
- Ground Pork
- Gelatin

Week 2. Eat no products from birds

- Chicken
- Turkey
- Duck
- Goose
- foie gras - which no-one should eat anyway because it's appallingly barbaric.
- etc
- Eggs

Week 3. Eat no products from cows

- Steak
- Roast
- Brisket
- veal
- Ground beef
- Cheese
- Milk
- Yoghurt
- Ice cream
- Buttermilk
- Butter
- Cream
- Kidneys

Week 4. Avoid all fish products

- Cod, tuna, salmon etc etc
- Sushi
- caviar
- Surimi

Week 5. Avoid additional by-products from pigs as much as possible

- Crayons
- Artist Brushes
- Buttons
- Lubricants
- Cement
- Matches
- Glass
- Plastics
- Insulation
- Chalk
- Footballs
- Rubber
- Cellophane
- Glue
- Floor Wax
- Fertilizers
- Lipstick

Week 6. Avoid additional products from birds as much as possible
- feathers
- fertilizer
- um. Etc.

Week 7. Avoid additional products from cows as much as possible

- Casings for sausages
- Fats
- Gelatin
- Tripe
- Marshmallows
- Oleo oil and stock
- Cosmetics
- Fertilizer
- Glue
- Glycerin
- Lanolin
- Lubricants
- Soap
- Rennet
- Epinephrine
- Leather

Week 8. Avoid additional products from fish

- glue
- fish oil
- fish sauce
- fertilizer
- pearls
- gelatin
- film

Over the same period of time, start to incorporate vegan foods into your diet. Add one vegan meal a week. For example:

Week 1. Just one day this week, cook something with tofu.

Week 2. One day cook something with tofu. Another day make something with beans.

Week 3. In addition to the two days you're already eating vegan, add one day where you experiment with Tempeh

Week 4. Add another day where you experiment with Seitan

Week 5. Add a day where you experiment with other meat alternatives

Week 6. Add a meal made with vegetables

Week 7. Experiment with nutritional yeast, protein powder, milk or cheese alternatives.

St. Joseph's Convent, Haunton Hall

2010-11-11T06:03:00.002-06:00

I just woke up from a really vivid dream. I had gone to visit Holy Joes. I knew it would be changed, but was shocked to discover how completely different it was. I hardly recognized some places.

The driveway you'd go down to be dropped off at the beginning of school - the place where Rupert lived - I forget its name now - that whole area was filled in. They'd completely buried it in order to level off the grounds.

At one point I went into what was now an infirmary. I couldn't place where I was and then I looked at the arched windows that remained, and I turned around, looked up, and there was the choir balcony. I was in the chapel. (Funnily enough, I don't think the chapel had arched windows did it? That was just a weird construct of my dream). The whole back of the chapel had been opened up and now led to the outside.

I went through the back door of the infirmary/chapel and I couldn't even tell where I was. The new architecture was greco-roman and stunningly beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous and breathtaking. The sun was shining happily. The white of the marble was blinding. The carvings, reliefs, and statues were intricate. But all I felt was grief because I didn't recognize where I was.

I looked in vain for the cloisters. I looked in vain for the lower third window where I used to sleep that looked out on the roundabout by the cloisters.

I thought about Sister Concepta and Sister Marie de Lourdes and knew they were dead. I couldn't remember the names of any of the other nuns, but I knew they were dead.

Normally I'm pretty good at analyzing dreams. But I've never been good at analyzing the ones about St. Joseph's. I used to dream about going up and down the stairs right outside the 5th form bedrooms, that lead down to the dining room, and then further on down to the basement. We didn't call it the basement - what was it called? I forget.

At first the dreams terrified me. There was something evil lurking on those stairs. But then, over the years, I quit being scared and started to explore more areas of the school. The room opposite the tuck locker where Susan and I played with dolls for endless hours. The TV rooms. The music room. The dining room and kitchen. The cloisters, the science room. All these places so vivid in my memory.

It feels to me like this dream is something different. The dreams of St. Joseph's had gone from being terrifying nightmares to this one where something I loved had been completely destroyed. It had undoubtedly been made into something much more beautiful, much more grand - it was breathtaking. But it wasn't St. Joseph's and I grieved that I would never again be able to walk through the convent that I knew.

Caroline, Fleur, do you dream about St. Joseph's? Has it done a number on your brain like it did on mine? Can you write about it in the comments? If you are in contact with any other survivors (haha =D) can you send them here and ask them to write about how Holy Joes has affected them?

It's early and I'm still in a somewhat dream-fogged state.

In other news, Bert leaves for California tomorrow. *sigh*. The good news is that he's canceled his trip to Japan in December, so he only has to go to California then - hooray! So he'll only be gone for a few days rather than a couple of weeks.

Oh well. Up and at 'em.

Loopsterfest, Lunchbox giveaway, and muscle aches

2010-11-06T14:31:00.003-05:00

Loopstefest
Gosh dingy dingy dang it!!! It's 3.06 right here so they're all no doubt partying on down in WV. Curses!!! So happy for them. Wish I could be there. How come they're not calling me to say a collective hello, that's what I want to know. Oh well. I shall have to attend through other people's blogs and posts. Le sigh. Poopy pants.

Lunchbox giveaway
My friend Heather is giving away a set of four lunchboxes and a cooler bag. Whooot! Go check it out. =) I'm all about the purple cooler bag, baby. =)

Running
I neither ran nor cycled today. My inner thighs are still absolutely killing me from the workout on Thursday. I'm not in as much discomfort as I was yesterday, thank goodness. I should be all better by Monday. When I'll run and do yoga and weights again....

It's Bonfire Night! =)

2010-11-05T08:51:00.004-05:00

WHOOOOT! Let's eat parkin and burn the guy and watch catherine wheels. =)

Remember, remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason, why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, guy, t'was his intent
To blow up king and parliament.
Three score barrels were laid below
To prove old England's overthrow.

By God's mercy he was catch'd
With a darkened lantern and burning match.
So, holler boys, holler boys, Let the bells ring.
Holler boys, holler boys, God save the king.

And what shall we do with him?
Burn him!

Homeschooling
Off on a field trip today! I think. There's a Native American festival thingie going on in Nashville. I have the address. Don't know if I have the courage to actually drive down there. I'm scared of a lot of traffic when I don't know where I am or where I'm going or how to get there. We shall see....

Running
My inner thighs are KILLING me. The weights/squats/yoga yesterday really did a number on my muscles. Whooooodoggie. It's hard to sit, get up, and bend down to pick anything up off the floor. I still ran today though, of course. It went fine. For some reason the Garmin connect website refuses to acknowledge that I actually ran the run. N00bsauces.

Nutrition
I tried Gordon's protein mix but I could only find the different proteins together in this product and it was so hideously bad I had to throw the smoothie away. Gack. So I just bought a generic (probably whey-based) protein powder and it tastes a lot better. I ran out of spinach so made a chocolate smoothie instead with 1 cup almond milk, 2 tsp cocoa, 1 tsp sugar, 1 banana, 1 heaping tbsp protein powder. Nom nom nom. =) So good. I could probably have left out the sugar - didn't really need it.

Weight
My weight is slowly getting back down to where it was. I have about 2.5lbs to go til I'm at the upper end of my weight goal, but in reality probably about 5-7lbs until I'm really happy. I might not make it that far for a while, seeing as it's holiday season what with halloween, thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year etc. I'll keep on keepin' on though. It's a lifelong process.

Random photos

The trail where I used to run my long runs - and where I will run my long runs again at some point in time.

My feet after one of my long trail runs.

The reason why my feet looked like that after the long trail runs.

Not exactly BA, but it was my first.

Pretty berries.

Running, Loopsterenvy

2010-11-04T09:06:00.004-05:00

The run yesterday kinda sucked eggs. It was so hard to just keep going. So I decided not to bike today. Instead did weights and yoga. I love yoga.

The past couple of days it has hit me full force that Loopsterfest is this weekend. Should any Loopsters wish to come to my house, kidnap me, and force me to attend I wouldn't mind one little bit. My family and Sunday school class might not appreciate it, but that's beside the point, right? Right? =P

*sigh*

Can't think about it. Makes me too sad. Miss you all so much. Wish I was there. Feel free to email me photos throughout the day. Lots of photos.

Dammit. I hate it when I don't get exactly what I want. Waaaaaaaaahhhhhhh. *sniff* Y'all get to meet Alice. ALICE! And isn't Atombuddy coming? Wonder if he'll bring bacon quiche? Lisa'll be there. And Bangle. Zam will be there, won't she? Isn't Erhead and his girlfriend and adorable daughter going? SR'll be there, right? Is Garbo going? Dammit.

Can't think about it anymore. Going to have to eat some chocolate today, I think.

Voting

2010-11-02T21:50:00.005-05:00

We went in the middle of the day to avoid the crowds. There was hardly anyone there, which was kind of depressing really. Andrew helped his Dad by pushing the buttons etc. He was so excited. =)

Ben stayed with me and was not excited at all. =P I asked him if he wanted to push the buttons but he wasn't interested. I talked a little about voting. I explained there are a couple of ways you can go about it. You can look at the candidates that are likely to win and vote for the one that you hate the least. Or you can look closely at all the candidates, decide which one would represent you best, and vote for them whether or not they have any chance of winning.

I'm explaining this to him as I write in a candidate's name, something I've never done before.

He doesn't care and stares in to space with a headphone in one ear. =P Oh well.

It would have been much harder for me to vote as I did if the election were a really close thing. But it's not. So I closely examined all candidates and chose the ones who I felt would represent me best. I doubt one of them will be elected, but that's not the point. The point is that for the first time I feel like my vote wasn't wasted - that it truly meant something. Many people would say that my vote *WAS* wasted, that it didn't count for anything because my candidates have no chance of winning. They're wrong.

Update
My candidate for governor came in third!!! Wowsers! I'm shocked.

Apples to Apples results

2010-10-31T19:14:00.003-05:00

We had FHE and then played apples to apples. Here are the results (Ben did not deign to play)

Andrew: lazy, graceful, bright, famous, elderly, peaceful, thin, frail, wide.

Bert: ordinary, disgusting, chubby, miserable, awful, tough, courageous, adorable, delicious. =)

Me: Trustworthy, hardworking, annoying.

In other news, I spent quite a bit of time today researching candidates etc for the election on Tuesday. It's given me an appalling headache and I feel sick.

In further news, our kids didn't go out trick or treating today. It's a Sunday. I know some LDS families that had no problem with it. But we did. We took Andrew to the Truck or Treat on Thursday and he got some sweeties (Ben didn't want to do that either). Plus, he went in his costume to parent's night out at his gym on Friday. We told him pretty matter of factly that we wouldn't be trick or treating this year because it was on a Sunday and he had no problem with it. He's had the greatest time running to the door, laughing his head off, everytime the trick or treaters rang the bell, and he's enjoyed playing games with Bert and I. I found it really interesting that he's just enjoyed playing with us and doesn't care about the candy.

Furthermore, Bert and I have just had a discussion and have determined that Andrew has only been to England once in his life. No way! That's astonishing. Emily and Benjamin have been so many times that I can't believe Andrew's only been there once.

Time for bed. My head's really hurting.

Navel-gazing, experiments, running, Andrew and the Montebellos

2010-10-29T09:01:00.007-05:00

Continuing my habit of navel-gazing, (as opposed to naval gazing, which is an entirely different thing) as I passed the fridge this morning I saw a cute little thing my son had coloured in his primary class. It says "You are the only person who can ever be you..."

And I thought...."Hmmmmmmmmmm......"

That one needs quite a bit of quiet pondering. Especially when it's aligned with questions like "Who am I? And how do I be me?"

I am currently conducting an experiment. I'm wearing my garmin and HR monitor for 24 hours or so. Should have some really interesting data on it. (I'm attempting to refrain from giggling naughtily and have managed to contain it to a sort of smug smirk) I'm almost at 21 hours right now.

I must admit I'm looking forward to taking the dang thing off. Garmin 305s are heavy if you wear them for extended periods of time.

Also, the battery doesn't last 24 hours which kinda stinks; I put it in the charger on the nightstand last night - hopefully it was close enough to pick up my hr. What does one do in a 24 hour race? Anyone? John? Krunnergirl if you happen to pop in? Any other ultra runners? I'm guessing you have to run without? Total bummer.

I'm starving.

Ran 5 miles in something or other - I'm guessing about 55 minutes - this morning. It was 37f. I was very cold. Not only did I not take my jacket off but I wished I'd worn gloves too. Brrrr.

Ok. Time to post some random pics then it's off to homeschooling! =) I love homeschooling.

Here's the cutie pie in the bath. =)

A few months ago I took him out for sushi. He really likes the miso soup.

I believe I've mentioned my running mentor before, yes? On long runs it's Bro. Montebello's voice saying "The body can do more than the mind thinks it can. You can do more. Keep going." that keeps me keepin' on. We love it when the family comes over for dinner because they bring such light and joy into this quiet boring house. The clip below shows a typical get-together with the Montebellos. I love the "What are you doing?" at the end. =D

Edit: Garmin results
Well. That was disappointing. Even the interesting bits were boring. Bummer. =(