I survived my first morning getting the kids on the bus alone. Paul had a conference call for work early for a project he has been asked to take the lead on so it was up to me. Everyone got on the bus just fine after newly pierced ears (Anna) were cleaned, pink eye (Tyler) was treated, and cold symptoms were Alka-selzered (Susan; Paul did his own before he left).
We made several life decisions:
Tyler plans to live in Alaska so he can hunt polar bears and ride a snow mobile.
Anna will live in Boone after she graduates from Carolina.
Tyler asked me to drive him to Alaska when he moves there…since he doesn’t know where it is.
Caveat–he also requests that I drive him back each week after he grocery shops w Anna in the mountains
We will see how these plans hold up. Last night Anna got shampoo in her eye and said she would never shower again.
Yes! That’s right! I am determined to get ahead of the holidays this year! Last year I was a bit deer in the headlights w all the traveling for work, then Paul’s birthday, then Anna and Tyler’s birthdays, then Christmas. Not to mention cards, work parties, gift getting, giving, thank you notes, oh, and we were training for a marathon.
But am I simplifying… NO!!!! Just planning ahead!!! I found this kick ass website, 100DaysTo Christmas.com. It has really given me a lot of great ideas and resources. You should check it out!
Matter of full disclosure: By mentioning the website here, I get entered in a drawing for a Christmas CD. Paul, Anna, Tyler and I had a fire Saturday night and we decided that we were going to sleep under the tree one night as a family. The kids like to have music on when they go to sleep so a Christmas CD would be great. My wish is for the Enya CD. Merry Christmas!
Not too much to report really. I am at Camp Crop a Lot right now waiting for breakfast to open at 8am. A couple weeks ago I had moved all of my scrapbook pages to the server at home so Paul could back it up regularly. Alas, I neglected to move them back to my computer before I left Friday to come to camp. So I have none of my projects that were in progress. I did a few traditional pages (about 10), but I cannot put them into an album b/c the order will be wonky b/c I mixing and matching digital. My plan for camp was to have an extended period of time to carefully map out the album mixing digital and traditional. Riiiiggghhhtt.
I guess you could say this is the calm before the storm that is the holiday season for us. We are in the meaty part of our training for the half marathon. The time change and the COLD has really made it a challenge for us. But the race is only 4 weeks away (read: TAPER IN 2 WEEKS!).
Halloween was fun. We took the kids to the Fall Festival at their school on Friday b/c they were Trick or Treating w their mom. It was neat to see them so into their friends (boy, I will regret those words in a few years, huh?).
Halloween morning we walked in my work’s charity 5k for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Anna and Tyler were so cute they got on the “jumbotron.” Anna was REALLY angry that we only did 2 of the 3 miles (we took a shortcut b/c to get back to do all the other fun stuff that day). That was funny b/c 1 week before that she said she “really wasn’t in the mood to walk.” That seems to be a new phrase for her and Tyler. Love it.
According to NC lore, so goes the woolly worm, goes the winter. I officially hate woolly worms and am glad Paul ran a bunch over. We are in for a VERY cold winter in NC.
But the kids had fun! Here is the link to the pictures:
Great news! Paul won an award at work for a project where he ROCKED. Basically they were having duplicate records in their data files and he wrote code for the software to get rid of them. Translation: he saved the company a TON of money. He got major props in front of a global audience by lots of big wigs and a cash award.
My handsome smart, husband demonstrating the tendons in a "wrist" of an Alaskan King Crab.,
Tyler will be a vampire for Halloween and insisted on wearing his costume all day Saturday. Paul thought wearing the cape would help him run faster. Not even Jake buys it.
Not much to report lately, which is kind of nice really. We have been getting a few requests to update the blog so here are the highlights:
SICK
I stayed home from work Monday and Tuesday of last week (9/28 and 29). At first I thought it was flu, which means automatic 7 days out of work. Luckily (?) it was only a sinus infection. I am finally feeling back to normal today (10/6) 1 week later. It has indeed thrown a wrench in my training and weight loss progress (more later). But as of tonight (great run!) I am back on track. Paul and the kids had gotten the respiratory funk a couple times in earlier weeks. I think we all are on the mend. I got my flu shot and the H1N1 flu vaccine will be at our site in a few weeks at the latest. Because I am a high risk person (asthma) in a high risk job (healthcare), I am near the top of the list. Which I feel mixed about since they are still looking at long term side affects. I did also get a pneumonia vaccine free at work b/c of the high risk thing and the fact that the H1N1 tends to affect respiratory system and turn to pneumonia.
HEALTHY
So Paul and I have been in a weight loss contest of sorts w each other for a couple months now. My goal is 11 pounds, Paul’s is 7 (I think). So we weigh in every Wed morning and if we have dropped weight we get a certain amount of money we chose put towards the kayaks that we want (but cannot afford). If we did not lose, but we did our workouts for the week (training for the 1/2 marathon in Dec), we put 1/2 the money back. So far I have lost about 6 1/2 pounds. This means that I am under the cut off for what our life insurance company thinks is high risk. So once I can stay there, I will get re-tested and save us some money!
KIDS
Tyler had a hard time w getting used to school and its routine/restriction/discipline, but he has been doing much better recently. He lost his 2nd tooth yesterday. I woke up in the middle of the night (ok, 10:30) and heard him rolling around, then nothing, then…”yessss!!!!” He had found his quarter from the tooth fairy.
Tyler's first lost tooth
Anna is kicking butt in school. She has her dad’s spelling prowess so we have been working on that, but she has aced her test each of the last 2 weeks. She is very much into mermaids right now.
Both kids love riding their bikes, Tyler prefers trails and Anna the road. Tyler wants to play hoops this winter. Anna changes her mind daily, but did decide she wanted to do a craft from a book she got from Miss Sallie, one of the triathletes I coached through Team in Training this season. Sallie works at Edward McKay, a local used bookstore we LOVE LOVE LOVE. Anna got to go a couple weeks ago and pick some books ($3 worth) b/c she got to 10 on her reward chart (for following the rules at school and home).
FUN
Paul read one of my books about Michael Jordan–its about his retirement and (first) comeback. I recently read 2 books my mom brought me: Never Change (Elizabeth Berg) and Garden Spells (Sarah Addison Allen). Now I am reading Seven Summits–it is about the first 2 guys who climbed the highest mountain on each of the 7 continents. Next comes 2 books I got in Wilmington at one of my favorite little shops, Two Sisters Bookery. My choices are Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work (Jason Brown) or Breakfast with Buddha (Roland Merullo). The weekend of Sept 20th (our anniversary!!) Paul and I went to Wilmington for the race that my TNT peeps did.
L to R: Tom, Sallie, Kathy, me
The weekend after that my parents came down and we had lots of fun, especially at the zoo w Paul’s mom, sis and her kids.
Mom, Dad, Susan, Paul at lunch at Fishbones
Tyler stylin' in my cap while he fixes my hair (at the zoo).
Girl time at the zoo!
Then last weekend Paul and I went to see B.B. King in Myrtle Beach’s House of Blues. It was SO KICK ASS! I will let him tell the rest. No new real house projects in progress. Saturday will be an easy weekend at home so we will have chore day (shhh–Paul and the kids don’t know yet).
The moment that Susan has been looking forward to has arrived. Tyler’s new drums came this weekend and I got them together before he got here today. This morning before Tyler got here I caught her in his room playing them (I had guessed that would happen). When he got here he was so excited. Susan’s parents are coming this weekend and he said that they would love to hear him play so he has been practicing for them.
Susan had to go to a club house dinner for her work to celebrate service awards. The kids and I decided to have octopus hot dogs and mac & cheese. These are two of Susan’s favorites so we hope she enjoyed her fancy dinner without us .
OK, technically this isn't from this weekend, but Labor Day weekend. It was just too cute not to share. The dogs are not allowed on the bed normally so it took several tries to get Maggie to realize Paul was OK w it. We have one blurry pic w Barton on there too...only after I staged it though.
On our way to the Dog Splash! 5 very excited heads in that back seat!
Jake was so excited to take a running leap off the deck into the water chasing the ball Paul brought. Katie and Maggie were much more cautious.
Tyler going down the slide. Notice the similarity to Jake?
ZONKED! All of the dogs were so tired after the pool. Katie and Maggie just climbed in the car to lay down. Jake tried to fight it, but this was only 10 minutes into the ride home.
Sunday morning the kids and dogs let us sleep until 7am! Might be a record in our house. We played around with the kids in our bed for awhile, then Paul got them breakfast and cartoons. I managed to get away with reading in bed until 7:45am! So when Anna asked to play the game Trouble at 8am on a Sunday, how do you say no?? Well, if I had known how Paul would respond, I might have waited until I had a little more caffeine. He is RUTHLESS! It literally took Tyler about 20 turns to get a man out to start the game. Then 2 turns later Paul landed on him, sending him back to home. Same to me and Anna. It was so dang funny, I started to take pictures. Tyler just sat under the table w the dogs until his turn came around, then he would take his turn and slide back under the table. The video of the game winning move is SO funny. I have asked Paul to post it so we will see if it is edited at all. Meanwhile, check out these pictures!
You could win this slopestyle shredder by simply registering your Norco’s serial number Norco is encouraging its customers to register their frame’s serial number, offering a chance to bag this stunning Empire frame as a result. Emphasising that police won’t even write a theft report without a bike’s serial number, the company is hoping to gather a [...] […]
New York City based Bertelli bikes is taking the fixie trend to new heights with a unique line of hand assembled bikes built up from choice NOS and vintage parts from around the world. The company says these are not just regular track bikes, saying that “every bike is a design project. It is not just [...] […]
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Potog Wil Matthews sent us this photo of Team Bissell winning the team time trial Friday at the Merco Cycling Classic in Merced, California. It was a beautiful day for riding and a great day for Team Bissell, who had a flawless win. […]
Electric bikes are all the rage these days, and one company says they are bringing a bike to the market like no other ebike out there. Currie Technologies, who is now selling their iZip Express online and through various dealers across the country, says their patented technology can make an ebike believer out of anyone. Currie’s proprietary [...] […]
This fall, a group of 43 riders will take place in the transcontinental Sears National Kids Cancer Ride across Canada, starting in Vancouver and ending in Halifax, on the other side of the country. The trans-continental ride is designed to raise money for childhood cancer research, and participants are now accepting pledges. Running from September [...] […]
Found these posted on a Raleigh Ow.ly site with cryptic teasers like “more belt drive bikes coming in the future” and “I’ll be putting this through the Seattle paces for the rest of the winter” with promises that these are sneak peeks at what’s coming down the pipe for 2011. Another pic after the break… […]
It’s not the Tracer 29er proto, but CRC Intense team riders Matti Lehikoinen and Ruaridh Cunningham are testing some prototype downhill bikes throughout the 2010 season. The video above gives you a few glimpses of them. As yet, no production plans are in place. […]
“Daily Dose: Jan 27, 2010” by Bicycle Geography. Check out their blog, Live Learn, and Ride, and follow them on their 2010 Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew tour as they encounter enthusiastic mountain bikers and interesting experiences–including tire fails. To see more Pics of the Day, click here, and to submit your own photo to be shown to [...] […]
Here is the link to the pictures:
