Happy VD!

We had such a lovely Valentine's Day!  John made supper last night - baked mahi with potatoes, seared scallops with sauteed spinach, and Donna made French Silk pie for dessert.  (What did I contribute you ask?  I was designated kitchen wench - in charge of pouring wine and looking cute. Vital job, I assure you.)  We gave each other small, fun presents.  A family tradition is to give the kids crazy underwear for Valentine's Day.  This year I scored big when I found Mountain Dew and Play Station 3 boxers.  I couldn't find something fun like that for our youngest, but I found a coolie, cool shirt.  His response when I asked him if it fit?  "I haven't tried it on yet.  I've been savoring it.  It's so awesome Mom!"  Does it get more rewarding than that?  (I don't think so, but you're welcome to disagree with me.)

Another totally fun thing we did was watch hours and hours of the Winter Olympics.  I loved the inclusivity of the opening ceremony.  Despite the hitch with the flame tower at the end - the pace, the imagery, and the incredible lighting effects reflected the scale and beauty of Canada.  And OMG I love, love, love watching speed skating.  Apolo Ohno is amazing* and JR Celski's story is unbelievably triumphant.  A gash six inches long and three inches deep (ack!) that came within a fraction of an inch of his femoral artery six months ago.  He went from thinking he'd not skate again - to being on the ice in two months.  TWO.  Eight weeks and he was back training.  Remind me not to whine ever again, ok? And how fun and spunky are the American mogul** (freestyle?) skiiers Shanon Bahrke and Hannah Kearney?!  The only reason I'm not moaning*** about missing football already is because I am SUCKED INTO the Winter Games****.

I hope everyone is having a sweet weekend with those they love.  I plan to have some actual training to report next post.  I go to Phoenix this weekend for a training conference.  Phoenix, Arizona - you know, where it's warm.  I am totally going to sneak in a run.  Peace!

TODAY I LOVE:  sexy, speed skater thighs!

*And by amazing, I mean, HOT as well as wicked fast.  Just saying. 
**Doesn't it make your knees ache in sympathy to watch mogul skiing?
***Not the same as whining, btw.
****Which is weird. I can't explain it but it happens every four years.  I don't like cold or snow or  anything to do with winter - EXCEPT Christmas and the Winter Olympics.

G, B, U and Then Some

THE GOOD - 

I LOVE my Wii Fit Plus!  It is such a silly little machine but I find it delightful.  It cracks me up to have it give me advice like "Soak in a lukewarm bath before bed to ease muscles" followed by "Of course I don't do that myself because it would be bad for my circuitry."  It waves to me.  I wave back.  I get up and Wii every morning.  I can't do the running in place games (b/c apparently it takes more coordination to run in place than to run forward through the world - who knew?) BUT the rhythm boxing, yoga, and strength training rock my socks.  (I have yet to be able to finish the push up, side plank x 10 exercise.  Zero points for that one!)  I love that it keeps track of my time, that I can customize my own routines, and that there are games to play for improving balance.  It is amazing how much I'm learning about keeping my core stabilized by playing games.  The boys have all made Mii's (= the Wii word for avatars).  So every morning my teenage boys (who would rather be smothered by spiders than go to a step aerobics class) are right there on screen bopping along with me.  Iain gave himself a blond beard and ski cap, Sheumais has red dreads, and Angus is sporting cool sunglasses - while they clap along and jam out to the cheesy Wii step music.  I TOTALLY LOVE MY Wii!!


THE BAD -

I'm swamped.  School was either delayed or outright closed all week until today.  It was super having everyone home, but I got terribly behind in my work and my studies.  I feel like I'm totally in over my head today - but it's so much better than any time I've ever felt this way before.  I look at my "to do" list - and everything on it is something I want to do!  (Welllll - total honesty here.  I really should run some errands but I punted that off the list before I even wrote it down because no way am I voluntarily going out in this crappy weather.  Other than that, I love everything I have to do!) 

THE UGLY - 

OMG!  What is this scary little picture all about?  It is an ad on my Facebook and I don't get it.  At all.  Who is this poor creature and what on earth does it have to do with credit card debt or recession relief?  I absolutely will never, ever, EVER understand marketing.  Does this picture make some people want to click?  (Please, oh please, oh please - don't let me meet those people.)  It makes me want to run screaming.  Is this a photoshop wackjob?  Is it real?  And heavens to murgatroyd, if it is real - why, oh why, oh why would they put it in an ad?  On my computer?  Where I could see it?  I just had a horrid thought - you don't think that the computer somehow chose that ad specifically for me based on something else typed on the page or in my profile, do you?  Egad - if targeted cybermarketing came up with this for me then I am over the internet.  OVER IT. 

TODAY I LOVE:  Talking to my Wii when it talks to me!

 **EDITED TO ADD**

I had to do something to get that ad off my Facebook page but when you click the X to close it, nosy ole FB wants to know why?  Why didn't you like this ad?  Grrr.  The click down menu did not have "Ads with trolls for no reason scare me".  My options were things like misleading, offensive, irrelevant, uninteresting, and repetitive.  So I clicked "offensive" and this is the ad they replaced it with:

Apparently only June Cleaver types are offended by scary little human-pig creatures that have no bearing on the advertisement posted.  Sigh.  I think I'll go check on the roast I have in the Crock-Pot.  (I wish I were kidding.  My edge creds are SO in the toilet.) 

Travel Whatnots

My step-daughter flew to Denver yesterday alone to spend Christmas with her mother. It's always a bit worrisome at this time of year with the chance of serious snow and delays and re-routing. (She missed the crazy blizzard shutting down the airport by mere hours last time.) Until this year, she's had a flight attendant watching out for her and making sure she gets met and signed out at the gate by her mom. Now she's old enough - HA! - at 13, to take care of herself (as far as the airline is concerned) that she flies completely solo. Yes, I think it's great that she learn how to get herself from gate to gate. Yes, she had cash and a cell phone and she knows how to use them. Yes, she got there absolutely fine. No problems. But then I get up this morning and read this story. Geez!

Speaking of travel nightmares, we're on our way to visit Donna's parents in Appalachia today. Ok, it's not that bad. It's a four or five hour drive (unless there's snow/ice and then who knows) and I like her parents fine. They seem to like me too. Sort of. They are not quite sure what to do with me. (And they certainly cannot figure out what to do with John. He's staying home.) And you know how holidays are weird for families anyway? Yeah. Well, Donna has a complicated relationship with her parents to begin with, and the pressure of Christmas is another layer and then there's the reason for this particular trip. Donna's mother wanted her to come up on a business day in order to get some paperwork signed and taken care of. Paperwork relating to the planning of their funerals, wills, etc. Because nothing says Happy Holidays like planning your own funeral!

In actuality - it is an important thing to do to make those plans - for adults of any age. And her parents are at an age and state of fragility that the urgency is more apparent. It is a responsible and good thing to do. The three of us keep talking about making our wills & planning for realities we don't want to have happen any time soon, but we haven't gotten all the pieces in place yet. Some of the big pieces like insurance and talking about it - yes. But the more detailed pieces? Not so much. I don't want to face it!


The other pertinent fact about this short trip to her parents is that we won't be able to use our cell phones much less connect to the internet. Aside from our pushups this morning (22, 30, 20, 20, 28) there won't be any training either. So - again, best wishes to all and we'll see you after the guy in the red suit has made his rounds! Peace.

In Which I Cave Due To Peer Pressure

Okay fine. You asked for WGF video? You got it:


Confession: that's not actually me. But it's close enough I say! Peace and good luck this weekend, racers - especially to marathoner D10! Go girl!

Friday Fashon Longing

<---I think this t-shirt rocks! (Ok - I'm not crazy about the maroon color but other than that small liability it's my new favorite.)

Good luck to this weekend's racers like Cindy and GeekGirl Misty who are two members of the relay team called "Three French Hens". Isn't that a great name? I know they'll rock the Jingle Bell tri. Is anyone else racing? If you are, I'll send you good vibes and try not to wonder what is wrong with you for racing in the winter!

See y'all Monday!

In Which The Dogs And I Are Pathetic

One thing that hasn't come across in my last few blog posts is that I've been fighting some weird laryngitis/chest infection combo. The excitement of having everyone here helped hold it off but the converse of that is the post-holiday letdown tipped the balance the other way. I ran a low grade fever last night and felt like poo. Today I ache everywhere and my voice is squeakier than ever. Bleck.

And then there is my sweet dog. My sweet, pain-in-the-ass dog. He scraped the stitches in one paw out with the edge of his cone, then after having those replaced (and getting a bigger cone), he chewed the stitches out of the other paw in the two minutes sans cone. Another trip to get those put back in. A few days of peace, then the vet took all the stitches out last night only to realize that for one paw it was too early. They can't re-suture at this point so they used surgical glue. Yeah. That lasted an hour before we were back at the emergency vet. Staples! Let's try staples! Those lasted 12 hours. This morning the vet said (while putting more staples in) that we have to drug Wasabi up and put him on bed rest for the next two weeks or his paw will be split and maimed forever. (The split has started healing separately and won't stick to itself to heal now - but a split paw like that won't bear his weight.) We have to keep Wasabi from walking and away from our other dog (Tallulah - the redbone coonhound). This is not going well. Keeping Wasabi calm and lying down is a full time job. Tallulah is worried and cannot figure out why she isn't allowed to be with Wasabi. Have you ever had or known a coonhound? They are incredibly vocal dogs. She will not stop howling and whining. Calming her down would be a full time job too - if it worked. So far it hasn't. As a last ditch effort, I'm considering breathing on her in the hopes that she'll get laryngitis too.

We are not having a fun Tuesday.

What A Weekend

We did not get that run in yet - but we did all of our push ups and roped more than half of the household into doing them with us. It was all kinds of fun doing push ups with seven other people. (Of course the 13 year olds did twice the number called for. Show offs!) I haven't gotten around to all my blog visiting yet. I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday. We had a full house and a full dance card of activities: Thanksgiving feast, two birthdays, girls' night out facials, connecting with the kids' friends, and a couple of trips to the vet! We also had a family photo shoot. Do you have ANY idea how difficult it is to take a decent picture of a bunch of kids? When they are not purposefully making silly faces to hose things up, they are laughing at the one who is, they're sneezing, they're staring in random directions, they're wiggling - because God forbid they should sit still for a nanosecond, or they're texting! We finally got this picture (of our five plus three other kids in our extended family by choice):
But we had to put up with dozens of pictures more like this to get it:
The four year old making jazz hands cracks me up. Isn't she a doll? I miss the boys already - they had to leave at 8 am to get back to Nashville. I worked hard to stay in the moment and enjoy my time with them, but it was difficult to ignore the insidious count down clock in my head. I hope I get better at that part of things. All in all, this was one of my very favorite holidays ever. I've got more to say (no surprise there) but I am worn the heck out! G'night all.

Micro Post

The concert was a-freaking-mazing. Madonna is an icon of girl power and reinvention. She puts on a hell of a good show. I'm so grateful to have had the chance to see it. We're on the way home but not all the way back yet (being somewhere up around Baltimore). I had a quick a minute to post and decided to say - boy, am I glad we are NOT running in the Philly half marathon we had originally scheduled for Sunday. We woke up to about several inches of snow this morning! How do you Yankees deal with that?!! Hope everyone has a good weekend. Peace.

In The Weeds

When I was a waitress, we used to say you were 'in the weeds' when the restaurant got crazy busy and you couldn't catch up. Well today I am seriously in the weeds. My "station" is a mess! I am in the middle of several quilt projects - one of which is a present and has to be finished a week from today. (Eeek!) I am in the middle of a writing project which doesn't have an exact deadline but which is haunting my brain and making it hard to focus on other non-written things. I'm trying to coordinate Thanksgiving plans. We're having dear friends visiting us from Tennessee and my boys are coming with them. We'll have a full house, an overflowing table of 17 for Thanksgiving supper, and two birthdays to celebrate that weekend. Not only that, but Donna and I are going to Philly tomorrow to see Madonna in concert! (Can you hear me squeal from where you sit?! I am sooo excited.) AND my undefeated Titans play Brett Favre and the Jets this weekend. What's that? Training, did you say? Err, hmmm. My, what beautiful weeds I'm in!!

Election Reflection

What an incredibly long and rewarding day yesterday was! I got to our precinct at 5:45 am and left surprisingly early at 8:45 pm - which gave me time to get to a returns party I had expected to miss. Our voting was steady yesterday but never once busy because 58% of our precinct's registered voters voted early. By the time we closed our polls - we had a record smashing 73% total turnout! To put that in perspective, our chief judge told us general elections usually had about a 35% turnout. We had already shattered the record before election day even started. Being the youngest of the precinct workers (and the only one with two good knees!) I was in charge of running up the stairs and out to the cars in the special handicap parking for curbside voting. (And I hadn't thought I'd be able to squeeze any training in on Election Day!)

I helped people (of a variety of ages) vote yesterday who had never voted. It was fantastic how many people made the effort to get to the polls in spite of being frail, in spite of the drizzling rain, in spite of all those little obstacles that have held them back before. More than one person told me they had never felt like their voice could count. I do understand feeling like your vote isn't worth a hill of beans - I have been a blue girl in a red state forever. But people, our voices can't possibly count if we don't use them!!! Vote anyway! (Next time.) I'm probably not ever going to be much of an activist for any one candidate or party because I think I'm missing that evangelistic streak so many people have. While I myself am far (far, far) left of center, I have almost zero interest in trying to persuade anyone to agree with me. My personal fire is directed at wanting people to be involved, be counted, be heard, be connected, be themselves (whoever that happens to be) in community.

When I told one woman that her vote put us over the top of our previous record she cried and said she'd never miss voting again. That rocked my world. I was so proud to be part of the process! BUT before you tell me what a great volunteer I was I have to admit it turns out we got paid. Not a lot, granted, but still - we got paid. Or rather we're going to get paid. By check. In the mail. Hmmmmm. And now that I'm getting moolah (even if it is only a check that may or may not be in the mail) you must no longer think of me as a precinct volunteer, but as a poll worker. (Not a pole dancer mind you. I'm pretty sure the state doesn't pay for that.) Paid or not - it was a fantastic experience. You should definitely try it sometime, if you haven't already.

I won't say much about the part of my day where I got to be partisan because ... well, gloating is unbecoming. No really, remember the part where until recently I have been a very blue girl in a very (very, very) red state? I know that while I am hopeful and inspired and energized, there are many who are disappointed and afraid. I am unbelievably grateful for the results of my state's senate race (i.e. the triumph of the "godless") and for my country's presidential choice but I am also truly empathetic to those who feel differently. So I'll stop after one last thing: What do you think of the kick ass elephant cookie Donna made? It was so yummy! I would totally share some with you except it's all gone.

*Ok, I really was going to stop there, but I simply must say one more thing (and it is my blog after all): I LOVE the "Yes we can!" cheer. It completely works for me. I'm cheesy that way. But do you think it will mean that Repubs will forbid their children to watch Bob the Builder? That would make me sad!