Running Like the Devil

Not only was I running with the devil today (see photos), I was running like one, too. Not fast, just super busy.

I rode up to Stevens Point this morning with our friend Gregg (classmate of hubby's). As we watched the in-car thermometer temperature rise a few degrees -- up to 22 degrees -- we were hopeful for a great race day. Actually, even though the wind prevented it from feeling warm, it was not bad!

Here we are are in the beer tent pre-race. Not drinking, just staying out of the wind. Don't you love his number?? I was seriously running with the devil!

Hurray! I finished! I actually was thrilled first that I managed to finish within an hour and thrilled secondly that it was under 55 minutes. With my lack of serious training, I'll take that result any day. I was especially pleased that I felt good. Did not have any aches or pains in my legs or hips. Tomorrow may be a different story, but for tonight, I'm good.

The fun after the Point Bock race is gathering in the beer tent area for free beer. I gave my tickets away and enjoyed some Point Root Beer. Gregg and I also remembered to grab a photo at the finish line on our way out!

I was on a very tight schedule the rest of the day. Got home at 2:25 p.m., had to shower quick and be to the bowling alley for a 3 p.m. start in the charity tournament. Got there on time but then they were running late so I really could have had time to fix my hair rather than throw a hat on it. We got started about 3:30 and by then, after learning we actually were bowling 4 games -- and throwing out the worst -- I figured we would be lucky to make it on time to the regional finals game at Assumption at 7 p.m.

Bowling went better than expected. I always strive to get to 100. My first game was 113 and that ended up being my throw-away game since the other 3 averaged 150. Whoot! OK, I'll be honest, it was a 9-pin tourney so knocking down 9 pins instead of 10 counted as a strike. My kind of game.

We got out of there and to the school just as the National Anthem was finishing up. Had a tough time finding seats so we didn't sit together. It was another great game for our girls. After a slow start, we beat Loyal 54-37, earning the Regional Championship! Another whoot!

Now we move onto sectionals next Thursday at Neillsville. Should be a fun road trip!

After the game, we came straight home since we were tired. Well, I was anyway. And Carter went to a late movie with some friends. I do not plan on waiting up.

Running like and with the devil takes a lot out of you. I wouldn't suggest it.

Forward, March!

Today's riddle: What do you get when you cross a lamb, an ice cream cone and the color blue?

The month of March coming in mildly, signaling the opening of King Cone this afternoon and an Assumption girls basketball playoff game tonight! 

Throw in the fact that it's a Friday today, too, and you know it was a good day!

I'll admit I was really counting down to this day since Tuesday when I found out King Cone opened in its Plover location today. That is on the way home from work with a slight detour -- unlike the Amherst site (not open yet) where it is just a turn into a parking lot. As it turned out, I had a pretty good plan how to drive right by the Plover one.

Tomorrow I'll be running in the Point Bock race in Stevens Point. Participants have the choice of picking up their race packets tonight from 5-7 or in the morning before the race. Since there is going to be 2,000+ runners, why not avoid the lines in the morning and stop by today?

So after a very fast, yet productive, day at work, we went to Point, picked up race packets for me and 2 friends, then just happened to drive right by King Cone on the way home. Hubby pretty much knew he had to signal left and turn into the parking lot! Oh, it felt good to be home. Ha. Jim got his usual Pirate's Booty in a waffle cone and I got a cup of Blueberry "Yes, Please" Cake (that's its full name). Yummy. Oh so worth the wait.

We stopped home quick to drop off a few things, then dropped off race packets for my neighbor Cindy, who unfortunately has been sick all week and can't race, and our friend Gregg, Jim's classmate who will pick me up in the morning and set my pace tomorrow.

From there, we headed to Assumption High School to cheer on the girls in their second regional playoff game. This game was much more intense than the Tuesday blowout, that's for sure. Lincoln-Alma Center had quite a scrappy team and they held close for the first 3 quarters. Scary. Thankfully, our girls really pulled away in the fourth quarter and ended up winning 62-37! Yay! (I cannot change my blue nail polish at this point.)

Now tomorrow night they host Loyal at home for the regional championship. Should be quite a game. Before that, though, I've got my 5-mile run and hubby and I have a mid-afternoon bowling tournament. To answer your question: No, we don't have much down time around here!

During all this, Carter has a friend over tonight. They've been instructed to "keep it down" so I get some decent sleep. At this point, with my lack of committed training for this race, that's not going to help much. But they don't need to know that. 

If March is coming in like a lamb, it's only appropriate I am counting sheep anyway... 1... 2... 3...

Undomestic Goddess :: Part 312

And now, another episode of my life as an Undomestic Goddess...

Saw this illustration today and laughed right out loud at its truth. This applies to me 100 percent. I hate doing dishes!

I mean, really, I hate doing dishes.

I'd rather run a half marathon (ha) or give up ice cream (for a day at least, maybe a week) not to have to do dishes.

My early memories of doing dishes as a child then teen were not pleasant. First, as a child, I was one of 4 to 6 at home at the time -- eating meals and dirtying dishes. Plus all those pans to make the meals! Yuck. At that time, we did not have indoor plumbing so that added labor to the domestic chore that was already too laborious for me! I used to think -- and shame on me -- that Mom should be able to do them since she is home all day. Bad, bad thought.

As a teen, when there were 3 kids home, then 2, there still seemed like there were a ton of dishes to do. My mom was working part time then so we really needed to help out. The old "I'm all done and I'm just letting these pans soak" trick was all fine and good until we had to finish up before school in the morning.

Let me tell you this. There's nothing like waking up to the feeling of dipping your hands into a sink of now cold, somewhat slimy water. Yup. That'll make you a paper plate user the rest of your life!

It sort of did.

I rarely used "real" plates when I was single. And now, for the past dozen years at this house, I have been spoiled mercifully with a bonafide electric dishwasher. Ahhhhh.

So while I don't have to scrub too many dishes these days, the undomestic goddess in me still puts pans (and baking dishes) in the sink to "soak for awhile." Sometimes, I take the lazy Martha Stewart route (as hubby calls it) and wait for my "TV crew" to clean up after me. Other times, I'm a big girl, and rinse the pan out and put it in the dishwasher. All by myself.

At least I don't keep dirty dishes on the stove or hide them in the oven. When I was growing up, we'd try to do that, but then we'd open the oven and there'd be clean socks drying in there. Yup, there was a time I lived with no indoor plumbing and no clothes dryer.

I might as well rename this blog: My Life as a Hillbilly.

Unconditional

One can't even come close to measuring the value of unconditional love. It is a gift to give it or receive it. The catch, however, is that it might not be reciprocated.

Take these two for instance...

Sylvester is definitely "Daddy's girl." Even though Santa technically gave her to Carter and even though there is another female in the house to bond with, she gives a good 95% of her love to Daddy. And he gives it right back.... but thankfully is able to give larger doses to Carter and me.

It doesn't always work human to human, though.

We were watching our favorite show Modern Family tonight. In it, the mom was thinking that her grown daughter might be "coming back" to her, so to speak, after the years of not reciprocating that unconditional love. Why yes, that did occur during her teen years. And yes, I did look at Carter when this was playing out on TV.

He looks at me and says, "What, Mom? It's just a show. You don't have to lecture me!" I responded by pointing out that I just looked at him, I didn't say anything or lecture. But that is the typical give and take right now. He does have his moments when he forgets to be too cool to interact with me. Like last night when I arrived at the basketball game late, I was walking past the student section and he yelled out, "Hi Mom!" I will tuck that little memory away so I remember it when he is rolling his eyes at me.

And I know he'll do it often. Trust me. After spending the weekend with my teenage BFF, I know darn well we thought our parents were clueless and, like, not even close to cool. Like, totally not.

So I'll just keep on lovin' him (as REO Speedwagon sang in my teen years), and be patient for the return trip. Very patient.

Like. Totally patient.

Terrific Tuesday

Why was my Tuesday terrific? Let me count thy ways...

"Hey, I know you": It was nice to wake up in bed next to my hubby instead of a body pillow -- or the cat -- for a change. As a bonus, I got 8 hours of sleep. In a row! Great way to start my "Monday."

I scream, you scream: Found out mid-morning that King Cone already opens March 1st for the season! Wait -- that's this Friday already! Whew. Good thing I didn't give up ice cream for Lent.

Foto Fun: Uh-oh. Robyn learned a new photo image manipulation skill today! All together now... Ooooooh..... Ahhhhhh. Is is not cool or what?? (Thanks, Brenda, for giving me the inside scoop!)

Empty Bowls: We had our wrap-up meeting tonight to discuss the success of our fundraiser for hunger. It was so encouraging to hear that everyone on the committee heard positive comments about everything -- from soup to bowls. We will be helping some great causes in the South Wood County area and there is a second event for next year already in the planning stages!

A Royal butt-kickin': From that meeting, I headed over to Assumption to catch the first round of the girls basketball playoffs. As the No. 1 seed, we played against Granton, the No. 8 seed in our bracket. There was quite a mismatch of talent. When I walked in at the end of the 3rd quarter, we led 66-3. I had to do a double-take. Final score -- and this is not a typo -- was 79-3. Uff da. Long ride home for the Bulldogs. Now we play Friday night.

Good thing the only thing blue about my day was my fingernail polish!

Home Stretch

Breaking news.... There are three -- count them, three -- people in this house. And it's going to stay that way for awhile.

For now, hubby's work travel is done and my scrapping weekend is done, so we are a family under one roof. Yay!

When I talked to Jim last night, I told him I had more than 50 pages done and he said I couldn't come home until I had 72 pages done! Does he realize that making me stay longer at Camp Crop-A-Lot is not a terrible punishment? As it was, I did end up with 73 pages done for the weekend, which reflects grades 1 through 4. Can I get another YAY?

Here are a few photo highlights... (I will take some pictures of favorite pages at some point, too):

The rule of thumb is everyone is comfortable -- that means jammies or swearts or yoga pants... and slippers! Gotta love these hungry lion slippers my friend Andrea was wearing. I had to take a picture for my sister Rayna, another lion lover!

It's quite fitting that Julie and I met in 3rd grade on a field trip to the Shrine Circus. Now she has become part of the Scrappin' Circus (see controlled chaos in background)! Actually, it really was great that even though our lives and schedules have become a circus, we made the time for this special weekend.

My friend Becky (far right) organizes this annual event with 2 other women. She wanted a picture of "her people" and we had a devil of a time finding an angle where the sun reflecting off the snow wasn't killing our eyes! Here we are all squinting like crazy and when I zoom in on each face it just makes me laugh out loud. What a great group.

Monday morning: That awkward moment when you realize that all your table mates are gone so ALL the "stuff" spilling over 3 tables is yours! If you can believe it, I was packed up in 15 minutes! Experience, my friends. Experience.

So now that I am home, I've got some laundry and sleep to catch up on. Plus I had the guys DVR the Oscars for me so I am going to try to squeeze a 3-hour show into one hour.

After squeezing all that stuff into my vehicle, I'm feeling pretty confident.

Happy Campers

Greetings from the Sticks... otherwise known as rural Rosholt (that's redundant) where Internet connection is sketchy at best. But since I found a "hot spot" in our scrapping hall tonight, I will blog quickly while I have it!

On Friday morning, we woke up to maybe 3-4 inches of snow or so. But it was coming down lightly so we weren't too concerned about heading up here. Add to that the fact that hubby was home -- after an atrocious drive home from Milwaukee airport Thursday night -- and willing to snowblow so we could go.

Julie and I got here by 11:30 a.m. ... And all details are pretty sketchy after that.

What I do know is we didn't get enough sleep, but we did get enough food (and treats).

I know that Julie didn't have much scrapping experience coming into this weekend, but she caught on quickly and created more than 30 fabulous pages! As a bonus, it was just awesome to spend time with her!

I also know that I can't fit all 6 of Carter's elementary school years into one album, but now I can say I finished an album! Grades 1 through 3 are done and now I am working on 4th grade in the new, second album.

I am glad I decided to stay through Sunday night so I could keep working. There are 15 of us (of the 55 attending) enjoying an extended stay. Julie left late this afternoon to go home south of Madison. She texted me awhile ago that she made it home safely but forgot her coat, gloves and scarf here. A scrapbooker's priorities in the dead of winter are Cricut and papers first, outerwear second. At least she had her "mummy" sleeping bag with her to keep her warm if she needed it!

I can't give her too much grief about not thinking straight after 3 days of scrapping. When I finally got on the Internet tonight, I grabbed the tape runner sitting next to my laptop and wondered why my "mouse" wasn't working!

Uff da. I better get back at it while I still have a few brain cells left!