Corn salsa with feta cheese burgers as chasers
Even the compost pail looks tasty!
Cats settled in for a long summer nap
The unofficial start to summer
May 30th, 2010 by SusanWedding Photos
May 18th, 2010 by SusanIn honor of the nationwide voting primaries happening now, I am posting a poll for you to participate in!
It somehow came up at Camp Crop A Lot (yes this is a real place, MUCH like Oz) that Paul and I did not have any wedding photos up in our house. We have not printed any of them off the CD—we only have the album thing that the photographer did for us. [Honestly—I like many of my albums better anyway!]
Do you think this is weird? We have several pics of us hung on walls in our home, some even blown up to 12×12! That is a lot of love zoomed in on! This will in no way lead to a poll on which pic to print, but I just wanted to see what you thought.
Loading ...hi ho, hi ho, its off to work I go
May 14th, 2010 by Susan(humming the tune of “hi ho, hi ho, its off to work I go”)…When I go, I roll, I bike to work solo!
This is week 4 of the 2010 Bike to Work Season. My goal is the same as last year—1 round trip per week. So far I have 6 trips in the 4 weeks! I actually save about $5 and burn 1600 calories for each round trip based on the calculator things online and my heart rate monitor. Which is great because I seem to have ripped 5 pair of shorts in the aforementioned 4 weeks. That’s right—FIVE! All in the place where the chamois part is sewn into the shorts and it rubs against the seat. So I clearly need to 1—lighten up on the ole calories and 2—buy new bike shorts. My random thought today while I was riding in is this:
I started cycling lots about 3 years ago when I was training for Ironman Wisconsin therefore, I bought several pair of shorts at once. I cycle my clothes meticulously (I will blog about this another day) so they wear at the same rate. Which is sucky (and expensive) 3 years later when they all blow out at the same time. Luckily, through one of my professional memberships/certifications I get a huge discount on Pearl Izumi gear, which is a fav of ours. We went to the outlet in Utah on our honeymoon and spent more there than we did for the entire rest of the trip (disclaimer: we did use FF miles for 1 plane ticket and had free lodging when camping and at Dub and Betsey’s)! So we will be ordering today. Paul only has 2 pair of bibs (what boys usually wear instead of shorts).
What snu?
April 30th, 2010 by SusanIt is funny how life seems to be so hectic, but when I go to list what has been happening, there really isn’t too much.
Anna is playing softball again this spring. She is on a team w a different coach, but a couple girls are the same from last year. Funny thing about softball–the socks. One is purple and one is gold. The purple one went missing (wherever missing socks go) after 1 game. Instead of just wearing regular socks, she wore the gold one and a regular sock. Didn’t want you to think it was a gang sign or anything.
PS–the purple sock turned up this past weekend (after about 3 weeks on vacation). It was under our bed. Imagine that–a dirty sock 2 feet from where the clothes got pulled off and dropped. Who would have thunk it??
Anna rounds 3rd on her way home.
Tyler is playing baseball (T ball really). He is the only kid who gets overhand pitched to and he SMACKS it every time. He has a great swing and really crushes it. He gets that from me I am sure. The main thing he has been doing though is GROWING! This past weekend I think he ate and laid around the entire weekend. He even put himself down for a nap (normal for me, NOT for this 6 year old boy).
What do growing 6 year old boys and lazy 77 year old dogs have in common?
A few weekends ago Paul and I went to see Simplified play at the Blind Tiger again. Their songs are great and it is always a good time (made better by the recent legislation banning smoking in bars and restaurants). Turns out the band’s drummer broke his wrist so they had a new kid who did ok. Just a little different vibe since he was new.
We like that band so much that their song, “Home,” was the one that we walked down the aisle to at our wedding. Lyrics:
Never thought I would be the one who,
Found someone to make me feel like you do,
It’s true I dreamed of you,
And you came in right on cue,
At the Simplified concert April 16.
Tyler and I were playing basketball one afternoon (which means I was rebounding for him–I am allowed 1 shot per 1 million Tyler shoots). All of a sudden he stops and runs over to the yard by the fence. He wanted to pick me flowers and insisted that I put them in water right away so they would last. Here is a photo of my gift:
What more could a girl ask for?
I have been reading quite a bit lately (Paul would say “as usual”). I recently finished House Rules by Jodi Picoult. She could make the phone book a best seller. LOVE her writing style. I also finished Walking on Broken Glass. It was ok. I am part way through The Irresistible Henry House. It is quirky so far. Henry House is an orphan who is adopted by a Home Ec Dept of a college in the 40′s so his 6 “mothers” rotate weekly for a semester, then he gets a new batch of mother every 4-5 months. It follows him through life to watch how messed up this makes him. It is supposedly fiction, but I think these programs really did exist. I introduced Paul to Bill Bryson and Dave Berry. That’s right, Paul is STILL reading! He even said his next book will be FICTION. Imagine that!!!
We have been riding a lot more now that the weather has warmed up. We are doing our first mountain ride this weekend. Can’t remember exactly how much climbing, but its a lot. Hopefully the bike Garmin will work to measure climbing feet like it is supposed to. Last weekend there was such a drastic change in pressure w that big storm that it said at one point that the incline we were on was 850% grade! WHOA!
Here we grow again…
April 28th, 2010 by SusanOur garden did not do so well last year thanks to putting it in late and a certain hungry butt, eat anything Lab named Jake. I went to an herb/plant festival left over sale today and got some things. Here are what the grown product will look like:
Germander. Paul is very excited about the possibility of this taking over the yard. Like anything non-weedy can take over our yard....
Cuban Oregano. It smells like an old school pizzeria, I love it! We are thinking of just bringing it into the house to use since Paul can't do candles or other stinky things.
Persimmon Orange
Ancho peppers. This was my surprise for Paul. He is threatening to make me eat them already though. Might have been a huge miscalculation on my part.
Striped Roman Tomato. A fun little diddy of a tomato!
Any Nerds Out There?
April 7th, 2010 by PaulI saw this today and thought it was pretty cool. I think there are a couple other nerds that read this but I guess we will find out 
.
Scientists have found the first multicellular animals that apparently live entirely without oxygen. The creatures reside deep in one of the harshest environments on earth: the Mediterranean Ocean’s L’Atalante basin, which contains salt brine so dense that it doesn’t mix with the oxygen-containing waters above. Previous samples taken from the water and sediments in the basin showed that single-celled life was present, but a new study published this week in BMC Biology has identified multi-cellular animals that apparently live and reproduce in the sediments under the salt brine. Italian and Danish researchers describe three new species of tiny animals called Loricifera. The animals took up radioactively tagged leucine (an amino acid), and a fluorescent probe that labels living cells, evidence that they were alive when they were collected. The researchers also found examples of individuals that contained eggs and evidence of apparent molting, which led them to conclude that the animals spend their whole lives in the harsh sediments. The creature’s cells apparently lack mitochondria, the organelles that use oxygen to power a cell. Instead they are rich in what seem to be hydrogenosomes, organelles that can do a similar job in anaerobic (or oxygen free) environments. The find could help scientists understand what life might have looked like in the earth’s early oceans, which also had very little oxygen.
The Training Has Begun
March 29th, 2010 by PaulSusan and I are planning on riding the Blue Ridge Parkway this summer, and our training officially began this past weekend. We are planning on riding for 6 day with a total distance of about 469 miles, all in the mountains, so we have plenty of training left to do. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t on our training schedule and we got rained out on Friday.
Saturday was a little cooler than it has been but still not too bad so we were able to get in 38 miles. Susan said that she had a new route that she wanted to try that she had driven the other day. I was feeling adventurous so I said sure. For those of you that don’t know, letting Susan pick a route and having her do it from memory is a BIG risk. She is still convinced that I am taking her new ways when we do our “normal” routes from the house that she has done hundreds of times now. All and all the ride turned out nice. We only spent about 4 miles on a 4 lane highway, and I only had to overrule her turn choice once. When we got on the highway I asked her if she knew this was coming and she said “no, I was listing to NPR on the way and not paying attention” which didn’t give me to much confidence that we would ever make it home. After we got off the highway was when I had to overrule the turn choice. I knew we were east of our house and she wanted to go east. Normally I would have gone with it because we could have gotten home (it would have just been a lot longer) but we didn’t bring food or money so we probably would have starved to death. For those of you that haven’t notices we aren’t exactly spindly little climbers and I proved this when we got home by eating a pizza and a half. Probably not the best way to lose weight before a ride like this but I still have plenty of time .
Sunday morning we went out early to try to beat the rain that was coming in. Of course as soon as we pulled out of the driveway it started raining. We decided to keep going and at least get in a short ride. In the end we made it 12 miles (we were originally planning on about 30), but we felt pretty good about it because 45 degree rain isn’t all that fun to ride in.
Random Update
March 11th, 2010 by SusanHere comes the stream of consciousness…
7:35pm: Anna is giving us (Paul and me) a silent treatment. She is no longer talking outside of school. You may want to pick up that Sign Language for Dummies book.
She is also playing softball this spring. Last minute decision this past weekend to sign up. Her first practice tonight was rained out. Gotta love these silly outdoor sports.
7:38pm: Anna just made an exception to talk to the dogs.
Paul and I went to the Eric Clapton concert on Monday night. Yep, a school night. We are paying dearly for it, realizing we are WAY to old for this rock star lifestyle. Got home shortly after midnight on Monday, Paul went to work at 8am on Tuesday, I took a half day (got my hair cut), but of course still got up with Paul. Cameras were not allowed, so excuse the low quality on the photo below, it is taken with Paul’s Blackberry.
You will just have to believe us that the tiny blob in the center is Eric Clapton
I went to Camp Crop A Lot this weekend: 48 hours of scrapbooking! Here are a couple pages I finished:
What cracks me up about these pictures is that Bluesy really does not like to sit right on the ground. Ever.
7:47pm: Another exception for her to talk to Tyler.
This weekend Paul and I have NO PLANS except a fundraiser party on Sat night and NAPPING. My original idea was to make a list of all the things we were NOT going to do, but that seemed like a lot of work that would only lead to lots of guilt. Spring forward is this weekend. Losing that hour of sleep really kills me. Which makes me kill Paul. Sorry kiddo.
After Camp Crop A Lot I came home and had the house to myself. I decided that it was a good time to paint the playroom (formerly known as Tyler’s bedroom). We kept the Carolina Blue color (despite the season), but it looks much better now. It was a surprise for Paul and the kids. Anna and Tyler declared it not a good present.
Anna’s first art exhibit
March 1st, 2010 by Susan
This is the masterpiece!
The artist w her masterpiece
Anna would be on here writing the update herself, but she is currently typing up a novel of her life story. Seriously.
Congratulations to Anna!
February 9th, 2010 by SusanAnna was named Citizen of the Week at Northern Elementary School! Her certificate specifically says, “…for demonstrating Self-Discipline and Hawks.” Self-discipline was the character trait of the month in January. Not sure what the whole Hawks thing is besides the school mascot, but whatever. Way to go, Anna!
Ms. Sassafrass Citizen herself hiking w the dogs last month.
