Category Archives: October Daily Posts

Oct 31 – Halloween Google Doodle


 

I love the Google doodles! They are so creative – you never know which holidays/birthdays/anniversary events that they will mark so you end up going over there once a day just to see what might be up.

 

We aren’t celebrating outside the blog this year :-)

It being a Wednesday it sort of snuck up on us and since no one in the house is young enough to care anymore it REALLY snuck up on us! We are going to a volleyball game at the high school tonight and then either going out to dinner or hiding out in the house with shades drawn, gate locked up and lights off to discourage trick or treat visits. OK, that SOUNDS kind of spooky but in reality most likely everyone will be in their rooms watching TV or playing video games.

For those of you who are celebrating – have a safe and fun day and night!

Oct 30 – Weary


Weary of election crap.

Weary of people who can’t respect anyone on the other side of an argument EVER – even when said person is commenting in a thread about how nice it is to see people cooperating during a disaster.

Weary of people who prefer their biases over math and scientific evidence.

Weary over people who take joy in making gullible people fall for their lies and tall tales.

As a pick me up, I turned to DYAC:

 

Multiple texting fails always make me feel better :-)

 

 

 

Oct 29 – Preparedness


 

Thanks to twitter and facebook I feel like I know half the people living under that enormous storm cloud. Many have been tracking it well since last week and could tell it would be hugs. All seem to have been diligently watching the reports and preparing ahead for the storm and it’s aftermath (flooding & loss of power).

No longer do I look for a live TV broadcast of these events – instead I follow people online. Including the major weather services and NOAA and FEMA accounts. Consequently while I have never yet been near a hurricane and could therefore easily be quite frightened of this unknown entity, I have learned that while they are very damaging to property, if you take the right precautions, then everything will be OK. So, I don’t fear for the LIVES of my friends – I am certain they are keeping themselves safe that way. I do always hope that their homes and cars escape any major damage and that their power is restored quickly.

One thing that I’ve always wondered as a west coaster with no experience in this area – why do you fill up the bathtub? I saw someone today mention using the water to flush the toilets periodically, but until today I didn’t even know about that!

Something I do know for sure though, is that one way people SHOULD prepare themselves, but they haven’t is this – DON’T AUTOMATICALLY BELIEVE EVERY PICTURE YOU SEE IS REAL!!!

By 9am Pacific Time this morning two photos were FLYING around FB & Twitter. One was a complete photo shop of a much smaller, condensed storm cloud on an image of the Statue of Liberty making it look as if the ENTIRE eye of the storm was bearing down on Lady Liberty. Uh – no? Even if you have not been watching the radar images for the last week, you should have immediately doubted that one! All storm predictions have been that it will hit land tonight AND that the reason this storm is such a Big Deal is because it is so BIG!  The other photo was of the Old Guard standing as they always do in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in a pretty intense pouring rain. That photo had been taken back in September, but all it took was someone labeling it as being today and off it flew. While it is awesome to think about the dedication of this unit and fantastic to recognize them at ANY time – the Old Guard hopped on Twitter really quickly to correct the record and then posted freshly dated photos of their own from this morning – wet, but no pouring rain (yet).

It’s interesting how gullible people get during a major event like this.

It is really interesting to see how FAST incorrect information and photos fly around spreading that gullibility. After all, the more people who post it, the more “real” it seems to you, right?

And then I saw THIS tweet in response to the revelation that the Old Guard photo was a month old- and thought “Yep – exactly. Excellent point.”

 

 

 

 

Oct 28 – Last Day of Vacation


Set my alarm for 5:45 this morning. Why?

Because Renee was starting her race at 7:50 central time and I wanted to track it. I setup my laptop right next to my bed and just had to roll over and hit refresh on the website obsessively while watching Up.

The IronMan 70.3 is as you see below – 1.2 miles swim, 56 mile bike and then a teensy little 13.1 half marathon run. So my morning was pretty filled with refreshing the results page and also her facebook page where Eve was posting pics and updates. A little after 11am – the page was properly completed:

 

Came in under 6 hours, 13th in her age group – after starting the swim in 33rd, that’s a helluva closing push!

Please note her half marathon pace – AFTER the swim and the bike. Her average for 13.1 miles was still faster than my stupid little 5k at the end of the relay last week. And I nearly puked just trying to run at a 9 minute pace for 3 miles!!

She is one Tough Chick. And now, she is also an Iron Man :-)

After that was done, I went to go visit Marie in her new house. She’s nicely settled and we had a great afternoon yapping away. She even took out all the old baseball cards that I wrote about! She still has hers….mostly because her husband also collected and made sure they kept hers and his over the years.

I’m proud to say that I made it through the entire week without once checking in on work emails. I think that’s a first for me since they gave me a work laptop back in 2002!

And yes, I did clean every window sill and corner in the house yesterday. Including the fireplace.

 

The weights are there to prevent Amber from pushing the screen open and getting in there. I used to find ashy paw prints on the floor when she would nudge it open. Although, now that it is cleaner that it has been in years, it isn’t such a big deal anymore.

The termites might still be here (for now) but it is CLEAN in the places I can see :)

Oct 27 – Termites!


 

Isn’t that pretty? That’s termite sawdust…inside the door frame of my french doors. They are pretty well established in the trim around the whole house. Door trim, roof eaves – everywhere. My shared wall neighbor had her house painted and these same trim pieces replaced and they were just covered in bugs and pretty much crumbling in their hands.

So, that’s how my Saturday started – meeting with the painter and him showing me on my side where the damage is more visible – knowing full well that just because some places don’t look as bad, you know they are there.

So you might say I have a case of the creepy crawlies right now.

Doesn’t help that while I was looking around the house after he left, I moved an outdoor foot mat and uncovered a family of crickets. One of whom I later found IN the house.

No wonder the cats have been freakier than usual!

Given the obvious infestation I am just going to have to bite the bullet and tent the place sometime in the next two months. The painter will come in January and finish my side of the outer walls, replace the damaged wood trim, paint my stucco wall and stain my side of the new fence.

Meanwhile I am going to vacuum every corner of every window and door frame and take multiple showers to remove this feeling that there are things crawling all over the place!

 

 

Oct 26 – When politics and personal life collide


OK, so I am not transitioning DIRECTLY into fluffy fun from yesterday. There’s a transition of sorts.

As I hinted at in my race report, there have been some err….female problems..going on recently as I approach that time in a gal’s life when certain reproductive systems prepare to take a dirt nap :-)

When I went in for my annual appointment with the female lady parts doctor, she surmised that it would be a good idea to check out my uterus via ultrasound for fibroids or other irritations and potentially do what is called a hydro thermal ablation to sort of “cleans things out” and reduce the irritations and thereby reduce the excessive…er…flow. (yes, trying to keep it palatable for the male readers, but you gals know what I’m talking about, right? Right)

Since this is my first ever issue in this regard, and since my kids are older – the only experience I’d had with ultrasounds before was a while pregnant and external only and I did have to prepare in any way.

This morning I learned a little something about myself.

1) Running has definitely made me mentally tougher (hey, I ran that 5k after all these issues which in itself made my doctor laugh at my insanity and toughness). I know this for sure because today I did NOT kick, punch or scream at the ultrasound technician, nor did I allow my bladder to explode as it wanted to while she took what felt like 10 bazillion pictures.

2) Because I do drink water, and a lot of it, every day as my primary source of liquid – I really do NOT need to prepare for an ultrasound by drinking 32oz of liquid a full hour before the procedure. Since I am plenty hydrated as a rule and since my bladder clearly fills up FAST – in the future, I can just drink 24 oz 30 mins before.

Woulda been nice to know #2 ahead of time so that I didn’t have to test the boundaries of #1 :)

The politics part is that the second step of the ultrasound after she took a bazillion photos of my uterus through my overly full bladder and then released me to empty it (best feeling ever!) – part two was a vaginal ultrasound. As soon as she said that I almost involuntarily giggled. Yeah, giggled. You see, being the political geek that I am I had hear a little bit about this procedure this year. Thanks, in large part, to the Governor of Virginia who is now referred to on the left as Governor Ultrasound” (Tried to pass a law mandating a vaginal ultrasound for any woman who wanted to terminate a pregnancy. Also wanted to make her pay for it. Great guy – see yesterday’s post on how I feel about the GOP right now) Also, thanks to that coverage, I knew what the to expect before I even saw the wand that is used. And that thought in my brain which had me sort of laughing at the connection allowed me to relax and get through the second part pretty well. Even though it also seemed to go on forever!

Can you tell I am having so much FUN this “vacation” week?

Oct 25 – So, wait – what year IS this exactly?


I will apologize ahead of time to my more feint of heart readers but this politically oriented post needs to be on my blog site that gets the most eyeballs.

It turns my stomach to see this graph, but it is important for female voters, and men who support us as equals, to see this:

Courtesy of Brainwrap at Ecletablog who I assume had to down a lot of Tums after putting this together.

All quotes except the last three are from THIS YEAR! 2012! It IS 2012 isn’t it? Not 1952? I’m not entirely sure sometimes. What is notable about the January 2011 quote is that it comes from LEGISLATION voted on in this Congressional session. Co-sponsored by the current Vice Presidential nominee for the GOP ticket.

This is a political party that has been ACTIVELY proposing and passing legislation to curtail not only a woman’s right to choose what happens to her own body, but also to restrict her access to the necessary contraception that could *prevent* unwanted pregnancies AND now is repeatedly stating that there are varying DEGREES of RAPE!

They have accused the media and the left of fabricating the War on Women.

No, no, not really guys. Any woman reading those quotes would be hard pressed to not wonder just how much actual value she has in your eyes.

Ladies – pay attention before you vote – at all levels of government please. Because if you think the feminist movement and women’s equality issues were settled decades ago – you are wrong.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff n fluff and kitty pictures and things – I promise :)

Oct 24 – Oh, was I supposed to post today?


And here I thought having a week off would make it EASY to post every day :/

Of course, this has turned into the typical at home time off when time fills quickly with errands and I was barely home yesterday & am out again this morning.

16′s concussion recovery has stalled. He is having trouble sleeping & still has minor balance issues. After 4 weeks that means a precautionary MRI & visit to neurologist. Yep, more appointments! I get to go in myself tomorrow for an ultrasound to check up in some charming pre-menopause symptoms.

Yay.

Oct 23 – All My Children!


Day one of vacation was filled with many errands and accomplishments. There was also a final debate.

But none of that matters.

Because this happened:

 

Right to left: 16, 27 and 27′s older sister (same dad) and her adorable baby girl. While I have been keeping up with her through Facebook for awhile now, being able to see her in person has been a little more complicated. But in a rare moment in time not only could she stop by for a minute, but 16 was still here too so I could get a picture for 27 with his two siblings. And I have a photo of all my kids who I have parented at one time or another. She even got to say a quick hello to 16′s dad who came by at the same time to pick him up. At one point in all of our somewhat complicated lives, she lived with ex-dh and I for a summer. This was before 16 was born.

I swear I could stare at this picture all night long :-)

Oct 22 – SheROX San Diego Race Report


LegUp Team ready to rock n roll!

Weather conditions were just about perfect. Some heavy drizzle just before the start kept them from being the best possible. But the water was “warm” for the bay at 68 and the outside temps were the same and there was…….NO WIND!!! (oh thank you all the deities to be thanked!)

My personal condition was less than optimal  - let’s just say that approaching 48 means some hormonal issues that got a wee bit scary just 48 hours before the race. I had no idea how they would impact my speed/endurance. If we had raced last weekend when I did that 8 mile run? Slammin’ for sure. Today? I had no idea. Though I did feel better when I got to the course and when things got started so mentally I was thinking maybe it wouldn’t be too bad.

Our photographer was 16 and I think he did a pretty damn good job!

Everyone smiles when they are DONE swimming!

We had some friendly – and we found out, studly – competition in the event because our other usual LegUp team racer was inspired by our race entry to throw together a team of bad ass athletes from her work. Their swimmer? We think she was the second person out of the water. I mean – it was stupid fast how quickly she ran into transition! Right there I knew we were toast because even though we both had our Renee’s riding bikes and I knew that our Renee could make up a lot of ground and that Eve is a lot faster swimmer than she thinks – there was NO WAY I could keep up with their runner who normally does half marathons.

And yet – like I said, Eve as gotten fast what with all the training she has done all year with Renee preparing for R’s half Ironman next weekend so it was with some surprise, though not a ton, that I spotted her coming up the ramp about 4-5 minutes after our local competition. With a relay, all you have to do is get to the designated spot (where your bike rack is) and take the timing chip strap off one ankle and put it on the other. Because of that, 16 didn’t have the chance to get into a good position to see Renee bike out other than this shot as she left transition:

Playing by the rules – don’t get on that bike until you hit the right spot!

Given that the results of the relay event ended up being pretty damn tight, I will now point out that we did everything as instructed and broke no official race rules – a couple of teams ahead of us may not have been quite so clean. On the other hand, the race officials also didn’t care that my teammates ran along with me at the end which I have no doubt kept us up near the top so….whatever.

Someone is SO READY for her Half Ironman!

The focus of a champion. Renee is going to crush it in Austin next weekend, I just know it. Thanks to her smoking bike ride, she closed the gap to about a minute between us and our friend’s team. Then it hit me – oh shit! It’s my turn!! I got that timing chip and sprinted out the ramp like a crazy woman!

Who is that goof?

At this point I was thinking “Ok, slow it down Speed Racer, on your best day you can’t keep running like this!” and just about then Eve and Renee caught up to me to escort me on my run. I am so so so glad they did!

Still smiling – and drafting my teammates!

This photo was at the half way-ish point at the end of the first loop of the course. I had no watch or Runkeeper app with me to see how fast I was going which I thought was best. The pressure of seeing the other runner we knew up in front was enough and I really wanted to have something in the tank to sprint across the finish. I really wish we had identified the other relay runners because if I had known who else I had to pick off (or that there even were two more teams between our friend’s and ours) I think I could have *maybe* had a few more bursts of energy? Or, maybe not. Even with that smile, I was struggling and I could feel it. What I didn’t know was if I was struggling because I was going fast, or if it was due to my overall health.

That smile is looking weak…

I had started to gasp quite a bit on the return leg of the course. Somewhere around mile 2 Renee had said “We’re running a 9:30 pace” Dang! Ok, no wonder I was gasping! She was great though! While Eve was team cheerleader encouraging me all along, Renee started saying little one sentence pieces of advice “Chest up” “C’mon, let’s pick off this girl.” “Back straight. Lean from your ankles and let gravity do the work” Every time she said something my brain tried to register and take the advice and it would get me through the next 10 yards. Meanwhile I realized I was matching her cadence which I know she had slow down a lot but still I knew if I could keep turning my feet over with her then I could keep going.

That face reveals a little more just how much I was struggling at the end

As the parking lot came into view the final time Renee told me to run it out if I could. We found another runner to pick off which felt good and then I saw Eve reaching back with her hand and I saw the finish and I just said “Oh hell no, I am not stumbling in – I’m sprinting!” and I took off. Now that I’ve seen the results, I am mad because there was a team that finished 1 second in front of us!!! Argh!! But I honestly didn’t see another runner in front of me at the finish chute – not that I would – at that point I had kind of lost focus with my vision and was pretty sure I was either going to pass out or barf (or both!)

As it is, I mimicked 16 from the last race he ran on this course and just veered off to the right and immediately started to feel the wave of nausea overcome me. Thankfully it was just some dry heaves so I didn’t actually paint any pavement as he did, but oh my goodness did I totally KNOW I had left it ALL out there today! They kept wanting to hand me my medal and then a towel (that was a blessing because I could wipe my rapidly filling up eyes) and then take off the timing chip and then get a picture and….!!!

I finally recovered enough for 16 to take this shot of the two friendly teams:

We did it!

They finished 1:52 ahead of us and ended up with 3rd place. We got 6th (like I said, had no idea there were two teams in between us!) out of 18 teams so I feel pretty OK with that.

The kicker?

Once we finally got our results – we had ALL set personal records for the event that we did!

Team LegUp really DID rock & roll!

Do you see that run? In relation to the other relay team run times it is lame – #14 out of 18 – BUT – for me?

Holy shit I ran a 9.05 pace 5k!!! WTF?! No wonder I was dying and then got the dry heaves at the end. If only I had been feeling 100% all week eh?

That’s more than 2 minutes faster than my first race on the same course a year ago.

I’m thinking that’s a pretty good way to end my racing season :-)