Ponderings of the day

I was a very late bloomer.

I got my period when I was 16.

I was flat as a board and built like a boy until then.

I didn't seriously date anyone until after college. Sure I had boyfriends and such, but never "in love" my life revolves around you type thing.

I lost my virginity when I was 21. Catholic guilt works wonders. I only did it to see what I was missing. With that experience I would say "not much"

I got married when I was 31.

I had my children when I was 33, 34 and 38.

I just recently figured how to put eyeshadow on without looking like a clown.

My friends are starting to get and talk the botox game. Honestly I don't think I need it yet.

If I did get botox I would botox my knees. Can you do that? Sometimes they look like "old lady" knees to me. I want the knees of a 20 year old.

My father just called me. The mechanic told him he thinks it's my fault the engine light came on his car (that I borrowed). I like(d) this mechanic. Is he serious? I'm still getting him a case of beer for Christmas b/c he only charged my father $10 for looking at it and fixing his broken brake light. That cracks me up.

My fault. Ha. Please.

Gym bunny

With the family down to one car, field and pavement running is basically impossible during the week.

I decided last night that I was in a funk (pms) and I needed to work off some stress. While my daughter was swimming I had 30 minutes where I could do some cardio. On Monday while doing the ellipitcal machine I noticed one extremely fit lady on a different kind of ellipitical cardio machine. Soon a skinny lady joined her (though she didn't work it hard) Yesterday I decided to give this machine a try. It's called an ARC trainer. I burned more calories, sweated my butt off and am not really sore this morning. There is another ARC trainer that you use your arms on, but I'm not quite ready for that.

I watched a little of a yoga class. I think I'm going to have to try it out. I'm the most unflexible person in the entire world. The anti-gumby if you will.

Misc. crap.

None of the brass in my house has ever been cleaned. I've decided to clean it. I have a lot of shiny stuff now. I found out that my chandelier (originally my parents) is brass. It was a black, gold, brown dirty thing. I always ignored it. I'm obsessed right now. It would be nice if I could take it down and clean it, but that would be too easy. I must leave it up and clean it. Hubby is too busy or not to interested in shiny brass so he hasn't offered to take it down for me. I figure I'm getting some sort of arm muscle work out.

My thyroid is fine.

I still haven't sent out party invitations to my son's 7th birthday. (it was November 17) He is mad at me. Can't say I blame him.

The dog is amazing. Hubby can hide a freshly killed duck in the leaves and she's pretty damn good at finding it. (she must rely on her scent skills when the duck goes down) She's still pissing me off with the socks, underwear, the plant eating and her general destruction of our yard. Though last night she went through the kid's toy basket and actually got out her own toy and left the shoes, books and plastic power men alone. (we like to put an array of things in our toy baskets) You never know what you will find in there. It's always a surprise.

My home pc is still infected. Everyday there is a new "trojan" attacking it.

My SUV water tank or something like that is busted. Just in time to squeeze $350 out of my Christmas budget.

I think my thyroid is attacking me. I'm lucky if I can stay up past 9:30 on most nights. My hair is absolutely radiant in it's brittleness. Still awaiting blood work results. In the meantime I'm doubling up on my meds starting today.

Running. Ahh running. Not so much. Like the rest of the population I'm fighting a cold. The days I feel better it is raining. Of course.

I have found a new appreciation for the ellliptical machine. Monday I kicked ass on it. Serious hill inclines and flat sprints. Tuesday I spent the day feeling new muscles being toned. I think I might have to hit it again tonight. Swimming is making me realize I actually do have arm muscles. Also makes me realize that I can pack away a LOT of food after a session.

Christmas. My daughter wants an American Girl doll. This is the child that will play with Barbie for all of 10 minutes and be bored. Did I mention the doll is $100. On top of that she wants the 70's doll. What history is with that doll? I was a 70's child. We wore really bad polyester clothing. Let's see last year she wanted an ipod and this year a doll. Something is quite backwards. I'm totally excited that she wants all of the books written by Roald Dahl. How cool is that?

My son...trains, trains, trains.

My other son. Trucks, cars, and action men. Seems to really like those little plastic army men. Hello dollar store!

My husband. Hope you liked the new car part.

Me. I do like the new car part.

The greatest gift we are getting (other than our wonderful family) My father bought the family a wii. Well I had to order it. Of course when it gets here I'm opening it up and hooking it up and playing with it while the kids are in bed. (then hiding it)

Because I'm the mom I can do things like that.

Virual load

My home pc is completely infected. It is so infected that even Norton hasn't helped.

Pulling up a blog takes a looong time. In between that time a website called horny matches (or something like that) comes up. Sometimes it's a movie website or a wacked out e-bay page will do a pop-up.

Until I get it scrubbed I have no pc.

Commenting at work is hard.

I'll be back soon.

This chick is pissing me off! She is the weight I was and am now not. She has a baby and is working out like a mad woman. I'm so impressed. Go Jen. But I must add....I have a pedicure and she doesn't. Too bad that doesn't account for the 3 lbs I put on this week.

I royally pissed off some woman on the way to work this morning. I don't know why she thought she could pass me as we merged into the lane together. She was all up in my tailgate and shoving that middle finger at me. I just waved and said to myself "calm the F down" Then I'm thinking; does she have 3 children and one is a David, has she not taken her anxiety meds for two days like me, has she put on 3 lbs in one week, has she eaten every pretzel, pie piece, cookie she can find? Because I have and I am content. See what cold weather does for me? I'm just so damn happy.

Regarding the workouts. Tues - Thursday was craptacular weather around here. I have not run. I did get a walk in with the super-pup but I don't consider that exercise. I guess I could of gotton my ever widening ass off to the gym (b/c I sweat like nuts there) but I was to lazy to pack David into the car. Lame excuse I know. Today is the perfect run day, but I have to volunteer at school. Hopefully when I get home I push one of those super-fast quick runs like a certain athlete on the other side of the pond.

Well it's off to be Mom of the Year for child #2. The child who informed me that since they don't have recess in 10th grade he is quitting school and the law won't find him b/c he is going to hide.

I raise them well don't you think.

IF, product placement

If: You have a love of dogs this is the book for you. It is the perfect potty room book. Especially if you have a husband that must announce to the house that he is going to the bathroom and you won't be seeing him for 15 minutes.

Angela wrote about it and I just had to pick up my own copy. Very funny.

If: You seem to have a dust problem in your home. By problem I mean you walk into your family room and all you see are particles flying around your room and you aren't a atom bond breaking facility this will work for you. It's a Hon3yw3ll air purifier. It rocks. After being on for 2 hours I could smell my leather furniture. I cleaned it once and the dust it accumulted is amazing. I might have to buy more.

If your dishwasher isn't getting your dishes truly clean you might want to purchase one of these.
Now our "preeater" cost us about $1,000 up front. We were looking for a top model that could swim extreme water conditons, had webbed feet, would hunt ducks, bond with the family and would eat anything and everything she felt like. So far she has surpassed all our expectations.

My arm is killing me from swimming.

I think that's good.

I have no running clothes with me. It was pouring this morning. Now the sun is out and the high is going to be 60.

Damn it.

What was that new goal?

Run the trail course twice?

I guess tomorrow is as good as any day to complete a goal.

meet / tournament

Loved it!

I wish I had some good pics to post, but it's hard to get a shot with so many people. The one good shot I could of gotton, well I got yelled at b/c the woman behind me couldn't see. Granted she couldn't see, granted she probably got there before me to secure her seat, but I was only standing for 5 seconds before she got all pissy. I sat down.

Julia was seeded to lanes 1 and 8 b/c they have no times for her. Anyone involved in the world of swimming knows the middle lanes are key and the outside lanes guarantee poor times.

Her breaststroke time has improved by 5 seconds over the summer. Backstroke 2 seconds and for some reason I don't have a freestyle time to compare to. I didn't have her do butterfly b/c it's not fun to watch.

All in all a good day and she got a cool ass shirt out of it. Well I bought the cool ass shirt for her. I might have to get one for me.

Went to visit my friend that moved. Let's see. Took the back roads b/c they are quicker. Saw two deer (female) cross in front of me. Thought to myself "better go slow, there might be more". 10 seconds later....I see him. A big ass buck out of the corner of my eye ram into the back side of my tiny car. His face is smashed up against the little window. FUCK!

I go up a little further see a rich person's driveway, park and check out the damage. (which is hard when it's pitch black) Hey there is none. Now it's time to check out the deer. I need to turn around. I back up into their mailbox. CRUNCH!! FUCK! Drive away. (yes I drive away)

The deer is not there. I figured he was fine. My husband and I have hit a deer before (rephrase that...the deer ran into our car, the hood, into the windshield then airborne) That one didn't make it. This one did.


Drive back to the mailbox. It's is steel and probably sunk into the ground. It is fine. I'm so fine! Today I open my hatch to get my workout clothes and parts of the taillight come off. Either it's the deer (b/c his antlers scratched up my car very nicely) or the mailbox.

I'm blaming the deer b/c it can't be my fault. And I'm sticking with that story.

Ran sprints for 20 minutes (2 min slow/2 fast) then hill running for 15 more. (treadmill) 24+ laps swimming. Flip turns included.

It's Sunday.

It's 6am.

I've woken up every hour on the hour.

I knew my husband forgot to set the alarm clock last night!

My daughter has been up since 4 am.

Today is her first winter swim meet.

I'm nervous. She's cool.

pavement

Please take a visit here. He has a wonderful idea brewing and the more people that get interested the better!

I forced myself to run today. I had no desire to run, but I had to keep with the program I instituted. Somehow, someway I ran under a 9 min pace the entire 3. something miles. I know I tracked one mile at 9:30 and another at 8:34.

I know that in the beginning of all runs (the first 6 minutes to one mile) I always think to myself .... "I hate running", "when will this be over" etc. By mile 3 I start thinking of sprint tri's and maybe I could do one. Then I realized I have swim 16 laps in 2+ years and maybe I should get up to 32 pool laps and then decide. This discussion with myself makes .5 miles go pretty fast.

Ok the littlest wants to dress like spiderman so I must fufill his wishes.

El Capitan

I need to get this bastard out of my house. He's pure evil I tell ya.

Weird

I forgot to post this.

My office mates think I'm a weird freak.

I come out of the bathroom in my running clothes. Since it was 50+ degrees outside that means, shorts, and a wicky top( s) on. My coworker is dressed in jeans, ugg boots and has a thick hoodie on.(we are inside the office)

She says "your not running in that!? It's freezing out!"

"It's above 50 this is what I wear. When it's in the low 40's I'll put pants on."

"You are nuts."

Only a full season runner understands why you see us running in shorts and gloves on. I never got it until I started running. Needless to say I was soaked in sweat after the trail run. My legs weren't even red from the wind.

Non runners....they are weird.

Goals, the news and the bore

I did it. I trail ran yesterday and made it up the "hill" without walking. It was quite ugly. It was almost like that nightmare when you are running and getting nowhere. Though I don't recall my heavy breathing in the nightmare. I was also nipped by some little dog. That's my fault for running in the dog park. I did not kick the dog. I'm nice that way.

Well the hill goal has been accomplished. Now I'm moving on to running the course 2x. Front and back. I'm staying with trail running b/c I find it harder, better on my shins and I have no idea how far I've run. It is one hell of a workout. I'm curious to see if my pavement times improve with this new training. The hills, and the sprints I'm doing on the 'mill should increase my stamina.

Yesterday was the first time I watched 5 min of the nightly news in over 3 years. This isn't b/c I don't like the news. It's just that:
a. I have 3 children
b. One of those is David
c. Swim team/brownies/cub scouts/homework/dog duties
d. I read the NY Times which always seems to be the news in shorter version so why bother.

Anyhow I like Brian Williams so I wanted to see what he had to say. Here is what I got: (while I think I was cleaning dog pee or some other liquid)

The stock market took a huge dive
The dollar is worth shit
GM reported a 39 million dollar loss
Then something with Pakistan.

I turned the news off immediately. I stick with my newspaper.

The bore: I'm posting this last b/c it is a bore. My neighbor is a bore. She is miserable most days. Some days she is really nice. I'm not sure if she is bi-polar b/c those nice days only happen 3x a year.

I've posted about my friend/neighbor that is going through an ugly divorce. I haven't even touched the surface with what she is going through. Short story: She had to move. She couldn't take her (outdoor) cat. The cat has been hanging out at the bore's house recently. She meant to call the bore to see if she wanted the cat. If not, she would find someone else. She didn't get a chance. I told the bore at the busstop. The bore (who wants the cat) went into a huge rant on how my friend is the worst pet owner ever. I explained all the shit she my friend is going through. After I was done the bore's mouth was wide open. Could. NOT. Believe. It. Then she said "well still, that is no excuse" (friend has--no financial support, stalking, harrassing phone calls, nasty emails, drive by's and let's just say my friend could get a restraining order against the new girlfriend and her ex)

Then she asked me about all her kids toys that were over there. (after I went through the above list) The rocket launcher ($7) the plastic baseball bat set ($15) and the frisbee (free from the YMCA) She needed those back. I'm guessing the prices.

The bore called my friend gave her the lowdown on the cat being so hungry it ate a bird. He tried to eat her bread. My friend apologized. The bore wants the cat. The bore called back and left a message about her missing toys. Of course she mentioned the frisbee. It's her kids favorite toy.

I'm sure my friend has some of my toys and I have some of hers. I don't care. I don't keep track of toys. My son's scooter is at her house. We hadn't missed it. It's not b/c we have to many toys or are rich (I think we do, and we definately aren't) It's just that I don't inventory what is gone.

We think the frisbee is in the prickly weeds. What is the bore going to do? Have H go into the weeds and get it? Buy her a new frisbee? It's a frisbee for God's sake! Who the hell misses a frisbee? Am I wrong?

I just don't get this neighbor. I've tried to be nice, but I think after this I'm giving up. To call and leave a nasty message about cheap toys while my friend is going through the divorce from hell is just plain nasty. I don't think I need to be nice to people like that. Pleasant yes. It takes up too much energy to be mean or ignore someone.

Basics

Ran a trail run today. I seem to be running the route backwards. That's ok. Next time I'll park at the beginning of the trail. Awesome hard run. Huge hill that I had to stop and walk twice on. Next time the goal is not to stop at all.

Why, What, etc in pictures

Why: Are there shot-gun shell casing in my Betty Crock3r icing? Why when I left it on the counter did my 3 year old come in the kitchen and say "HEY!" and put it back in the frig?

What: In God's name did my parents think when they purchased this picture? Seriously? Now it looks like this. playroom

I bought an AKC approved toy for my dog. Which I thought meant she couldn't destroy it. Well ha, ha, ha. I'm not taking a picture of her bowel movement. Let's just say her poo is encased in a sort of fabric material. Here is what is left of the ball portion of the toy:
Suckage: Decided to swim after 40 minutes of sprints on the treadmill. Saw old guy in lane. Decided that he swims way to slow. Got in lane next to him. I suck. I'm as slow as him. BUT he did do flip-turns, one lap of butterfly and when he got out of the pool I was impressed with his physique. More practice and I'll kick his ass.

My new favorite football team. (because I "heart" a man in uniform. Let's face it Army doesn't have a nice uniform.

schedule

Friday: Trail run.

More like a trabahortain run. (trail, bark park, horse park, mountain bike, trail run) Make sense? I followed the xc pole directions

One method, used in the US, is to attach to poles colored flags which communicate direction. A red flag means left, a blue flag means straight, and a yellow flag means right. Flags must be passed on the opposite side of the direction to which the runner is turning, with the exception that blue may be passed on either side.

and managed to end up in the dog park, then somehow got to the horse training- jump park, found a mountain bike trail then ended back up in xc land. All in 20 minutes. (with 2 short walks) I'm that fast! (or slow) Though the run was quite enjoyable.

Today I was late for J's swimming. I couldn't do a 5k run outside (hilly) so I did the elliptical. Was completley, positively bored in 10 minutes. Did manual sprints on the treadmill (yeah that's fun pushing the increase/decrease button every minute) did that for 15 min. Though, I must admit it's a LOT easier to do sprints on the dreadmill than outside.

I think the gym maybe for swimming and kickboxing. My neighbor says that class "rocks" and I will be dripping in sweat. I'm game for that.

Now my question is: (totally off topic) Do you think 4 years old is a little to young to know ALL about sex. How babies are made, that daddy sticks his "rocket" in mommy etc and the biology of eggs, sperm etc?. All that with the exception of orgasm. I think I'm far from prude, but right now babies come from God in this house. Maybe in 5th grade the facts of life will be presented.

Training

I have to have a training program. I decided this at 8 am this morning. I had a training program with I did the half marathon and training programs for 5k races and XC races. The problem is I don't have any desire to run races. I'm too competitive. I push myself to the extreme and almost have a heart attack. There is an XC race on November 24th I could do. Problem is I did it so poorly last year. The course is extremely hard and the hills are obnoxious. You know when they call one hill "bitch" it's pretty bad. The only reason I'm even debating the run is I want the shirt. I'm materialistic that way.

So I have packed my running clothes and brought them into work. I will run xc trails today. I have no watch so I will run until I get back to the car. It could be 20, 30, 40 minutes. It's a start. My plan is to xc run 2x a week. I could go home first and pavement run, but then I don't enjoy the run b/c I know my father is watching my youngest and my youngest is probably bugging the shit out of him. If I skip that step I will enjoy my run.

Mondays I will do the elliptical (30 min) and swim (30 min) Tuesday (xc run) Wed (pavement run and maybe swim at night) Thursday (off) Friday (xc run) Saturday (pavement run).

There is 10 miler in January that I might have to put on my calendar. It'll keep me "clean" during the holiday season.

Family is great. Kids have been wonderful. My friend/neighbor is moving Monday. I am so bummed. I want her to stay, but she needs to move. It's a whole deal with her controlling soon-to-be exhusband. It is for the best for all involved for her to move. At least it's not to far. I told her today that since she is moving I should drop 5lbs asap. This chick makes the best desserts I have ever tasted. I can't stop myself. I have actually sat at her kitchen table with her eating out of a box of "trix" cereal. And they thought sahm's ate bon-bons.

Great weekend.