I survived the rapture, it's name was Onionman.

lets start with jury duty. as per the last post, it kicked my ass.
it was exhausting. listening to the witnesses, all the testimony, all the waiting around, all the not being allowed to talk about it was utterly exhausting!!!
and then we started with deliberations. good grief! that was even MORE exhausting. but we finally were done with it before lunch on friday. after lunch we read the verdict and then we were dismissed, but only after receiving our participation certificates???

saturday morning i got up and did a 50 minute trainer workout and 15 minute run. then we packed up the car with my mom and the kids and started on our way to Walla Walla.
i've done this race 4 times: 2008, 2009, 2010 and then this year. last year was a disaster so i was looking forward to kicking some ass this year.
the week had been so exhausting, and the drive was long. i slept for an hour when we got there and then had dinner then went to bed. i slept terribly that night but got up pretty easily.
i headed out early to get a good parking spot and it started to rain on the way there. :( i put a bunch of my stuff in a garbage bag and took it into transition to mark my spot. when i came back with my bike, SOMEONE HAD PARKED THEIR BIKE ON MY SPOT. WTF, who does that??
so i picked up my bad of stuff and moved. lame. i still got an end spot but whatever, it was lame. it was so cold but i was going to go out on a warm up on the bike - first time i had ever done that! so i put on the knee warmers, the arm warmers, the fleece jacket, the vest, the jacket and the gloves and headed out. i got rained on but the warm up was pretty good, but it was so cold i barely broke a sweat. when i got back to transition, the guy across the rack from me said he had to turn several people away who had tried to take my spot, even though my stuff was RIGHT THERE!! the stuff i was wearing was all wet, but i shook it off and put it into transition. i got on my wetsuit, put on my booties, two swim caps, ear plugs, you name it, i put it on. i was surprised to feel that the suit was a bit loose around the middle, but pleased at the same time! it still fit perfectly everywhere else. the pre-race meeting took forever. it wasn't terrible, just really long although i was there for the part where they said they consulted with the medical staff and agreed with the recommendation of cutting the swim in 1/2 because of the water temp and air temp. i said hooray and then started to leave and head down to the water because i wanted to at least get in the water for a bit before the start. i put my feet in and a shiver went right up me and i couldn't stop shivering! so i got out and started to panic a little, trying to figure out how i was going to get out of doing this race. i had already called eric hoping he would talk me out of it but he didn't answer his phone. the men went first and then the women. i waded out to waste deep and kept looking back wondering what could i do to get out of this, just pack it up and go back to the hotel!!!
but then it was time to start.

The Swim:
30 seconds before the start i splashed the water on my face and that did the trick. actually getting in after that was ok. the water wasn't too bad, cold yes, but tolerable. there was some pushing and shoving. i saw some feet, i did a lot of http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifsighting. i was happy with how i was feeling out there in the water. it was turning out to be a pretty good first open water swim of the season! i passed a few of the men before we even got to the first buoy and then passed a few more on the way to the 2nd and then on the way back into shore. my shoulders were getting tired but i kept sighting and kept swimming, all the way to shore.
My time was not awesome, but i was happy with how i swam and how i felt.

T1:
i got out of the water and easily ran up the boat launch to transition. it was crazy in there. people were all over the place, they were sitting and all sprawled out. i looked around and it seemed to be because everyone was putting on extra layers. i struggled through knee warmers, arm warmers, a vest and jacket. i even put on gloves. i could have possibly skipped the gloves but was not sorry at all that i had everything else on. i did not want to relive cascade edge 2008. i headed out on the bike and right away started to pass some people. it was raining but it eventually stopped. i was enjoying the bike and happy to be on my sweet new argon 18 tri bike. i felt good in the aero position and was riding along well until i discovered i couldn't shift into the big ring up front. i tried, i tried and fiddled and tried some more. i eventually came to terms with the fact that it wasn't going to shift so i did what i could with what i had. this made the fast, fun part on the way back not as fast as it could have been. i was still catching people but i got passed by a few on that fast section. i caught some of them back when it flattened and started up hill again, but my overall bike time was slower than the previous two years, even when i got all injured last year. :( i was disappointed but then also realized had i had that big ring this likely would not have been the case.

t2:
longer than normal since i had to take all the cold weather gear off. i kept the arm warmers on but took everything else off.

the RUn:
i headed out feeling not too bad. but i couldn't resist the call of the porta potty. i jumped in there and took waaaay too long. my left foot felt funny, i thought my orthotic might be in my shoe crooked then i wondered if i left a clif shot in there or a hair rubber band. it was really bothering me so i stopped and took off my shoe. there wasn't anything in there, my foot was just frozen solid. i started up again. i was keeping a pretty good pace those first two miles on frozen feet, about an 8min pace. mile 3 was 7:47. then my left calf started hurting. right behind my knee, down a little. biatch. it was hurting. i hit the turn around and slowed down, but was still chugging along. the last part of the run is hard. its trail and up hill and then you can start to see the parking lot and hear the finish line antics and they make you run on this uneven grass and its terrible. but i gave it all i had for that last little bit. my run time was not impressive and i'm ok with it but not super proud. i need to figure out how to not feel the need for the potty breaks. plus i would like to work on working hard on the run instead of just chugging along.
all in all the race was ok, not my best but not my worst. i'm happy i started it! and i was happy that i headed out onto the run before the first place guy finished.
i came in 4th in my age group but got bumped to 3rd and on the podium since the 1st place girl was 2nd overall. More Onionman bling hanging around the house now!

after the race i headed back to the hotel, took a nap, then we walked around walla walla some and then headed to pioneer park to see the birds. we saw some bunnies making more bunnies and then went to a playground. my mom and i met a nice guy who was there with his grandson. he's a cattle farmer from oregon and he answered all my questions about being a cattle farmer. everything from how do you get more cows (do you encourage certain cow relationships or do you let them pick their own up in the pastures?) to when you go to check on the cows out there, how do you get to them? and do you brand them? and when they have their babies do you make them come into the barns, and how does the whole slaughtering thing happen? turns out a lot of his cows go to whole foods. he told us all about it but then mentioned that if the cows get sick, or need any medication or anything at any time, they get tagged and then they go to safeway instead since they will have then had steroids or hormones or something. he was awesome and i was so happy to hear all of his stories. he seemed good with me asking, too.
after we went to dinner and then hung out some more. we stayed up late watching iCarly. I slept waaaay better, seamus was super cuddly during the night, too.
unfortunatly i did not sleep IN like i would have like too, but the kids went swimming and then we headed home.

OMG jury duty is kicking my ass

jury duty consists of a lot of waiting around. but man, it is exhausting. i have had to nap so many times this week when i've gotten home and its only wednesday!!
i managed to NOT go to Cow Chip cookies today which is good because i went last week and then on monday and tuesday. i ran today after jury duty and after my 2hr nap.
i need to go to bed now, too, but i am a little antsy.
so happy to have started reading New Moon, too. its been sitting on my night stand since xmas but i finally cracked it open during all the waiting.
training is going well. my ass still hurts. i need to get in to see the art dude, that was like magic. painful, painful magic!

things i learned at jury duty:
If I go into Betsey Johnson, I will buy something
It is nearly impossible to not eat cow chip cookies everyday
The court house does not like danskos
I miss being in Seattle (but am also somehat glad I'm not here because of 1 and 2 above)
It really doesn't take too long to get to Seattle from the eastside during rush hour, at least not the two weeks i've been on jury duty
Paying such close attention for so long is exhausting
There is a ton of waiting around.

ART

the race was fun today! 8 miles in 1:01:22. Yahoo! that's a 7:40 pace. good enough for 3rd F overall and 1st in my age group! had this been a 10k it would have been a PR but instead it was a crazy 8 miler. eric was an animal! he pushed seamus in the stroller and still managed a 6:10 pace good for 2nd overall and 1st in his age group.
it was fun to have all the folks from work there and it was quite a nice morning for a race, even if i had a totally nasty JIFF peanut butter sandwich for breakfast and wasn't really feeling like running fast.
after the race my left ass was really hurting. i stopped by to see the ART dudes. and man, they HURT me! but it felt so good. there were times when he asked me to move and i couldn't because it hurt just way too much. we determined that its all because of swimming, well actually all the kicking that i have been doing while swimming. so i am going to go back to them and get it all taken care of!
3hr bike ride tomorrow and a jump in the lake possibly!

super allergies and other gross things

eric and sirus went to the allergy doctor today. sirus has had non stop runny nose for months and months, maybe years. he just goes about his business like there is nothing wrong but we finally came to the conclusion he must be allergic to something. so eric took him in today. he got the little pokes of all the different things and apparently they found he is allergic to grass and dogs. sirus even told the doctor that he was super allergic to dogs. and maybe we should think twice before letting him roll down the big grass hills again. but he isn't allergic to cats (but eric is!). but we wonder if the remnants of the old owner's dog is still in any of the carpet. so i am pushing even harder now to tear up ALL of the carpet! hooray, that would be so awesome!!
a few months ago, seamus went to the doctors for something, i can't remember what. they said her ear was all plugged up. the doctor tried to pull a chunk out but couldn't so they flushed it out and apparently big giant chunks came out. eric even told the nurse that i would be so upset to have missed it since i love stuff like that.
so all was good and that was that. i am always cleaning the kids ears all the time, because i am obsessed. one time after that doctors appointment, i was cleaning her ear and out came a chunk of something that looked like paper. after that, seamus refused to let me clean her ears. she would cry and say no and tell me it felt weird and would throw a big fit. finally, several months later she finally told me that she had put a piece of paper in her ear and that it had gotten stuck in there. she cried and was so upset, she was afraid of getting in trouble and she didn't want me to tell eric and she didn't want to go to the doctors to take it out because they would get mad. i told her that at most the doctor would likely just tell her to not put paper in her ear again. anyway, somehow we determined that there was no way that the paper could still be in there.
until tonight. i managed to take a peek in there and there it was!!!! and eric managed to pull that sucker out!! it was HUGE! and brown!!! and nasty!! and OMG, don't touch it!! oh grody!! we wanted to keep it but seamus insisted that we throw it away! oh it was so gross! but she did say she felt way better now that it was out and that she could hear better too!!
what else is new? oh my goodness ALOT. but i can't talk about it.
but i am running an 8 mile race tomorrow. should be exciting! my work is sponsoring it for the employees so there will be a bunch of us there, so that will be fun. and eric and seamus are going to come, too!
i've been running a ton, biking some and doing some swimming. and i might even get in the lake on sunday - yikes!

totally tired

OMG, so i am on jury duty right now. in selection right now, not even called into real selection yet, although they ahve called like a million people in already. i totally fell asleep this afternoon there, too. its pretty cushy actually although they have 11 tv screens but aren't playing any movies which i totally think they should.
during lunch i walked around pioneer square which was a total blast from 1999. i can't remember the last time i had been down there. i had lunch at a pizza place that i am pretty sure took over where soup daddy's was. i walked by the new orleans which always had some kick ass gumbo. the whole thing was totally surreal and weird. but i do miss being downtown. now i get to go again tomorrow.
other things, that 5k i was talking about earlier, i got another PR! hooray!! after hurting my neck, i made an emergency trip to PT, she did yer magic, i made another appointment for friday. i took 3 days off from all physical activity, slept a ton, went to work, ya know, recovered.
friday night we headed up to wenatchee, stayed in a totally craptastic hotel, yes, i even wore flip flops in the shower! and the crappy pillows did nothing for my neck.
at least it was somewhat sorta warm in the morning, and we headed to the race.
i did a warm up, some stretching and then time to go!
i was flying, first mile done in 6:30! whoa! ok, it had a nice long downhill, but still, can't beat that. i was still going quite well through mile 2 and then we hit an out and back and it pretty much fell apart. i looked at my watch at one point and was like, huh? i feel like i am going faster than an 8min pace, how can i only be doing an 8min pace? i ran, i ran i ran. my neck didn't hurt, and i lost my ability to do math. i crossed the line in 22:08 and was like huh. i wasn't thrilled, i was a little disappointed because i thought my previous PR was 21:10 and i couldnt figure out how in that last mile I had really given up THAT much time. then eric told me my time and how it was a PR. a quick check on the internets and lo and behold!! when the results finally came out, finish time was actually 22:07, a 13 second PR! and then today, i got a 1st place age group medal in the mail! hooray!
after the race, we dropped eric off at his mtn bike race and then the kids and i came back into wenatchee, watched the apple blossom parade, got lost and went back to the race site. the kids rolled down the hill a hundred times. then on the way home with a side trip to leavenworth and the munchen haus!!! it was a really great weekend!!
oh, i'll have to give all the details of my hot date sometime soon, too!

waaaah!!!

i hurt my neck. how did this happen? let me tell you:

I ate salad for dinner two nights in a row.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
I turned thirty something.
I talked to Ryan Iddings last week about how he had to wear a neck brace after hurting his neck.
Its a rest week.
I mailed out the race registration for the 5k on saturday - yesterday.
I am being punished because when my alarm went off i got out of bed to grab my iPhone and then got back in bed to check email.

it was the last one, although i'm not totally ruling out the others and i even tempted fate by having salad again for dinner tonight (but i followed it up with ice cream). this morning my alarm went off. i got out of bed, grabbed my iphone and then got back into bed. this is a normal routine for me when i don't have an AM workout planned, i crawl back in bed, check email, check a few other things then eventually get up and start the day. well, today when i got back into bed, something went terribly wrong. :(
my neck totally geeked. it make a terrible noise and i knew instantly i was a gonner. i was instantly in pain, i went downstairs and asked eric to start trying to massage it out but it just got progressively worse. i went back upstairs took some aleve, pulled out the mystery heat pack thing and got ready for work. as soon as i could i called the PT and made an appointment. no activity for two days, another appointment on friday and we'll see how it goes. she says swimming will likely be out for a while, biking probably too since it will be tough to hold up my giant head but she thinks i should be able to run, as long as i can stand the pain. joy.

this has happened twice before. once in highschool i had fantasy hair, not too different than the fantasy hair i have now. i was putting it in a barrett and then bam! that terrible neck noise. i was like hmm, that's weird. i sat down for breakfast with my mom when all of a sudden horrible pain creeped up my neck and i lost all ability to function. i layed on the couch and that is where i stayed for the next 4 days!! the next time was in college. i had woken up early for crew practice. was fiddling around with stuff and then bam! there it was again. i didn't dare lay down, remembering the high school incident. so i sat there for 3hrs waiting for the trainer to get in. he was just like blah blah blah whatever, you're totally faking it and then he did something, i yelped, he stopped, and then was like, oh, umm, yeah, hmm, ok. here are some muscle relaxers. it wasn't as bad that time as the time in high school but it wasn't awesome let me tell you. this time is worse than the college time.

but waaaah!! wtf.

the end of april

with the end of april comes me getting old. not quite 40 yet, but no longer early 30s, or even mid 30s any longer. i am no officially in my late 30s.
the week was ok, i had a daunting workout schedule - two big swims, swims that were the longest swims in the history of swimming, topping out at 4000 on saturday morning. this swim went quite well, despite a horrible, horrible swim on friday! that swim was only 1400 but while I did it, i wondered how i could ever get through it, i started to feel sorry for myself and my poor swimming ability and wondered why do i spend so much time in the pool when i just suck swimming ass so badly. i had also woken up friday morning thinking it was my birthday that day, wondering why the kids didn't wish me a happy birthday at all. maybe i was having a pity party because prince william had gotten married and although he is not nearly as cute as he used to be, back when i went to england in 2000, i am pretty sure he had seen me sitting outside of buckingham palace and had decided he wanted to marry me, but instead found this kate chick, because, if you think about it, she is pretty much an exact replica of me and stuff. sheesh. whatever. i remember waking up really early to watch princes dianna mary prince charles back in the day, and yes, i couldn't wait to see the photos of kate's dress and all of it all. but by the time the swim came in the evening i was aggitated and annoyed and waaaah, i am such a sucky swimmer.
but then i woke up on saturday, and the kids were excited to wish me happy birthday, and their favorite babysitter was coming over to watch them so eric and i could swim the whole 4000 and then go mtn biking. the best part about the swim was that eric and i are incredibly immature. the directions for the swim said to take a clif shot 1/2 way through but unfortunately shot was misspelled as shat. so eric and i chuckled non stop about what would happen when i shat in the pool during the swim. would i get kicked out? would we have to wait until the pool totally refiltered? would it feel good? yeah, so lots of laughing about that one. non stop.
but the swim went well and the mtn biking was delux! we went to duthie and it was borderline warm! knee warmers, jersey, arm warmers and vest. NO hat, short fingered gloves! wow! it was fun!
after, we headed home and i took a nap! then got dressed to go out to dinner. i picked out a grey dress to wear but seamus though i should wear a black one instead. i asked her why not the grey one - she said it didn't have enough color. but apparently the black one had enough.
we went to the cactus!!! in kirkland and i had two of their totally amazingly delicious margaritas!!! after we came home and had cake - the cake that eric baked for me exactly to my specifications - white cake, homemade butter cream icing and coconut. i wanted it to taste just like my favorite kind of donuts that have icing and the coconut on them, they call them feather boas at top pot, but i remember them from when i was little when my mom would sometimes bring them home for us from dunkin donuts! we don't have dunkin donuts in seattle. BUT they have dunkin donuts in the atlanta airport. i look for the coconut donuts every time i go through there and they never have them. but my birthday cake was delicious!!! and the day overall was fantastic!
today i headed out somewhat early for an 1:20 trail run. it was sooooo sunny, the sky was soooo clear. i struggled with what to wear because really it wasn't even 50 degrees yet, but the sun was soo amazing! at one point i heard a funny noise and then a GIANT black bear come around the corner! turned out it wasn't a bear but a giant dog. i stopped to talk to its owner, plus their other 3 giant bear like dogs! i told them my initial reaction and we had a few chuckles about it while i petted their dogs. it was funny because all 4 of them came right up to me and sat down right infront of me.
when i got home i rounded up the kids and headed to the gym for some quick lifting and then the kids and i went for a bike ride! we rode to the store to pick up some lunch then rode to the park for a picnic and then we played for a long long while then rode back to the car to head home. oh it was so warm and sunny! oh how i hope we will get some more sun in the coming weeks!! please!!

yakima and beyond

on the way to yakima we toyed with the idea of stopping for a blizzard but wound up not doing it. got there a bit on the later side, and when i was putting the kids to bed we realized we couldn't find Sirus Wirus!! we triple checked our car and grandma and granpa's car but he was no where to be found. so i called the hotel in ephrata and they said they had him sitting up at the front desk! whew!! i may have been closer to tears about losing Sirus Wirus than Sirus was! I told the hotel we would be there to pick him up tomorrow on our way home. i went and told sirus the news and he cried and cried about how worried he was about sirus wirus but we discussed that he was having his own adventure at the hotel.
in the morning the kids got up and checked out their easter baskets. for some reason the easter bunny didn't bring any jelly beans but no one seemed to miss them so that was good. after breakfast we went outside to start the easter egg hunt. seamus was booking it around the yard picking them up so fast but sirus would stop and enjoy each egg that he found, taking it to seamus to show her or lift it high to show us. he would ooh and aah with each one he found, it was quite cute. after the hunt, eric and i geared up and headed out on an almost 10mile run. we ran by some horses who may have never seen anyone run before because they stopped what they were doing and watched us pass. then there were some sheep who stopped and watched us and then turned and ran way, and then there was a mama cow who was laying on the ground with her two calves. we were probably 100yds a way still and she stood up and just watched us. as we got closer the calves go up too and then as we were even closer they all ran away. apparently people in that part of town don't run by the live stock.
AND THEN! it was time for some egg rolling. eric had told me about the egg rolling and i always thot he was a little bit crazy, but gracious, it was fun! while we were out running, grandpa and the kids went out to the field and started digging the track. we gathered up all the eggs in the baskets and took them to the hill and started rolling. the first few runs were a little hit and miss until eric and his parents smoothed out the edges and got things going, but by the end the eggs would roll the whole way down without stopping, jumping each other and bumping and cracking on each other. eventually, the shells would come completely off, the whites would open up and the yolks would pop out and roll the rest of the way down the hill. the yolks were the fastest and could jump the highest! the kids ran up and down that hill what must have been hundreds of times and there was something funny about how cute the eggs looked as they bopped their way down. its the best easter tradition i have ever experienced and feel lucky that eric shared it with us, even if i still think its a little nutty.
then an important part of the tradition is to cook hotdogs over a fire and make smores, too! then another round of egg rolling until all the eggs were just yolks.
we had decided that it would take an extra 3hrs to go get sirus wirus so we asked to have him shipped home, only after convincing sirus that it was a good idea and more of an adventure!
sirus fell almost instantly asleep in the car and slept the entire 2.5hr drive home!

i love EW

for easter weekend we went on the eastern washington tour.
we started at home. then we drove to wenatchee to get my bike fit. we were late. we had a little misscommunication on how long it takes to get to wenatchee and when we actually needed to get there, so we were about 40 minutes late. but luckily, we were still able to get in. after discovering again that i have some flexibility challenges (although i do have good shoulder flexibility these days!) i was hooked up to some stuff and started pedaling. after a bit of chit chat, a bit of pedaling and a lot of fitting, it was time to head out.
we drove to ephrata. i really like ephrata. we stayed at the best western and i saw something i am not sure i have ever seen before - eric was totally flirting with the girl at the front desk! he turned on the charm and got us a discount on our room even! and i was standing RIGHT THERE! the girl was super nice but it was pretty cute to see eric's charming side come out. very funny. once in the room i totally passed out while eric and the kids chilled out until it was time for dinner. after dinner we went swimming! the pool was super warm so it was really really nice to hang out in and play with the kids. so warm. after a while we did get in the hot tub and knowing that sirus can be extra sensitive, we warned him to be careful getting in. he got in only to about mid-thigh, but was funny because he stood there protecting his tiny family jewels! i asked him what he was doing and he said he didn't want them to get too hot in the water. we've never talked about this before so it must just be instinct or something. it was funny.
THEN when we were back at the room we decorated easter eggs! eric claims that the only reason he picked up the Hanna Montana egg dye was because it was the only one left, it was a good thing he did, because those eggs were practically glow in the dark they were so bright!
next morning we woke up, had waffles! and then headed to coulee city. we were meeting grandma and grandpa there for a kids fishing derby. i haven't ever been to one before and now i have been to one. the kids have been to a few. despite there being 1700 fish planted in this 50yd netted off area, the kids didn't catch any fish. they got their lines tangled with almost every other kid out there. some of the kids out there were catching 4 and 5 fish, huge ones even!
after the horn sounded and adults were allowed to start fishing, eric and i headed out on a bike ride. when we were out riding though, grandpa and sirus caught a fish.
but the bike ride was AMAZING. we headed out of Coulee City. it was super sunny out, it wasn't really warm, but it was warm enough. we headed south on pinto ridge road, there were some climbs and one super steep ass climb. then lots of rolling through a canyon. we then headed east on hwy 28 until we hit wilson creek. wilson creek is a tiny little town that is super cute. we road through the town, saw a few people out and about and then headed out of town and bam, road closed! we road up to the sign and saw that the road was dirt, gravel, and bumpy. so we turned around and found an old lady with curlers in her hair out on her driveway talking to some older dude on a motor cycle. while eric talked to them, i played fetch with their super friendly rolly polly dog. they talked roads and road closures and how far the road was torn up and alternate route options. i swear the lady hugged eric, the guy asked him if we had water. eric showed him his water bottle and the dude was like "whoa! you are going to need more water than that for where you are going?" the lady said if we went the one direction we would be out in the middle of nowhere. then she went on to say that well, actually we were really out in the middle of no where. no cell reception, because we were in the middle of NOWHERE! so we headed out on the closed road because it was the only one we KNEW would take us to where we wanted to go. never mind that we saw several cars and trucks (and a motorcycle) on that road and not one wanted to give us a lift. ok we didn't ask. but let me tell you, 5 miles, uphill on a road that was dirt, gravel, rocks, bumps and crap, all on a brand new fancy tri bike wasn't the most fun. the best part was when we were riding and eric was just like "yeah, this road is way worse than any of the roads we were on in the grand fondo." i was just like WTF, how does that help me now? we were going sllllowwww. we discussed how it would be nice if we could swap bikes since eric was on his cross bike with cross tires but no pedal match up. after a while we came up on some dude back hoeing. eric stopped to ask him how much longer, 2 miles. he was dead on. then eric got a flat tire. but he kept riding. then i gave him my pump and then kept going. FINALLY we got to pavement. who cares that once we got to it, it went straight up, but whatever, it was pavement.
we got over the the hump and could see for MILES AND MILES down R ave, or R Rd or whatever. it was all down hill too for miles. we could see the town that was like 10 miles away. but then, even though the final destimation was net downhill, there was actually a lot of uphill, too. but it was fast moving and so amazingly beautiful! i love eastern washington. the old lady said that we would know we were at out turn when we got to the big red barn on the left. so apparently the lady hadn't been that direction in a while becuase the barn didn't have a spec of paint left on it and it looked as though it was going to fall at any second. but yay! we turned onto 36th and we headed downhill all the way into coulee city. we estimated we needed to go from R to J-K. We did the count down in reverse alphabetical order, until we got to J.5 and had a chuckle then chuckled some more until we got to I.8.
and then we were back at the car. 48 miles later. this ride was awesome because there were no stop signs, barely any cars, amazing views and sun! we locked the bikes and then went for a run, topping out at a 6:57 pace. yahoo!
then we got into the car and drove to yakima!!

NEW POST!

so much so much! how can someone who has such a boring life always have so many updates!! time is flying. where does it go? i'll tell you where it goes! it goes into update spreadsheets with data that has nothing to do with how many miles i've ridden my bike or how many yards i have swam. those updates take mere seconds compared to the hours that other spreadsheet updates take!
quick note about my 5k pr - i won! overall lady runner! yahoo! full disclosure, had one of the 10kers been a 5ker, she would have beaten me, but she kept on going, so i won! hooray!
i did my first track workout last week. as always i was a bit stressed about it. i was doing it in the MORNING because i had fancy team photo shoot after werk, but i got up on time, weather was perfect!!! the moon was amazing in the morning sky, positioned just over Great Clips. i got to the HS track and low and behold my key card DID NOT WORK. WTF!! so i got back in the car and drove to the dirt track at the jr high. i did the warm up, did two of the speed intervals and then oh no! disaster was going to strike! i shimmied to the honey bucket only to find that it had a mothra fawking padlock on it!!! so i shimmed to the car and drove home! disaster averted, and then i ran back to the track. was so far behind on time that i got to hear the pledge of allegiance, i got to hear about the two jr high golfers who did great at the tournament, and i skipped one 800 because the PE teachers were out there setting up and they may or may have not been giving me the stink eye. so i ran home. but my times were good, i hit them all, was even under on a few. so excited!
a bunch of other crazy workouts, i posted a contest to see who would like to take me to the school auction. i am pretty sure dan hugo was going to step up and be my date but i am also pretty sure he has a race the next morning.
what else? the other morning i woke up, went to the gym, changed into my swim suit, gathered all my crap, went down to the pool and stood there on the ledge with my cap on and everything. then i put all my crap away and sat in the therapy pool. i could not get into the pool. just a few days earlier i smoked eric's ass in a 25yd sprint. the water was freezing that day. the heater broke a few days earlier and i am pretty sure the pool was wet suit legal, but i couldn't take any chances. i sat in that therapy pool for a long while then got out and went to work. i canceled my evening plans, i didn't do my run, i went home and was passed out in bed before 8pm. it was a good decision!

holey smokes!!

oh my gosh!!! so much has happened since the last post! SO MUCH
training is nuts. its been fun but long and different. i was so tired last night that i slept for 11 hours! i went to bed at 8 and slept until 7. i slept the whole time!! ahhhh.
other things:
i got a new 5k PR! Hooray!! last time I did that, i was pretty sure i was going to lose control of my bodily functions and i didn't want to repeat that. but this time i felt good the whole time. i was having fun! i went out too fast and then started to fade but was so super excited!
i ran the lake sammamish 1/2 marathon! i ran with janet who had a goal of beating 2hrs. i had so much fun running the race with her! i was nervous about pacing her, i didn't want her to not get her goal because of some mistake that i made, so i printed out detailed split and average pace and elapsed times. the start was funny, back and forth, back and forth a bunch then out onto the trail. i got worried a few times because it looked like they marked the course wrong - turned out they did! but we were passing people the entire time and janet pushed really hard at the end, coming in at under 2hrs! big PR for her, and very exciting! I was super proud of her and super excited! this race was definitely one of my favorites of all time!
and then, OMGOSH!! the masters swim meet. back in feb janet did a swim meet and a bunch of us went to go watch. it was quite exciting and janet did great. after, she started to apply the peer pressure, and i agreed to be on a relay with her and two other girls. i was relatively calm, although when i actually registered for the event, my throat closed up and i couldn't breathe. after a while i felt ok and was only sorta concerned about it. but then i realized i signed up for backstroke and had no idea how to turn. so i went and practiced diving off the blocks and turning from backstroke. so after that, i felt a little better. but then i started doing some math and when i realized i seeded myself for my 50 backstroke at about the same pace i i do 100 free, i started to get really pretty concerned. and i really started to get concerned when they sent out the psych sheet and i was seeded with all the 80 year olds and i decided it would be a good idea to read the US masters swimming rule book and such. what had i gotten myself into?? we got there early, and next thing ya know, the 500 free was starting. it was the first event of the day and my first event. AND i was in the first heat. the rules mentioned all kinds of whistling sequences and i was just like aaak! so when the buzzer finally went, i looked to the side to see if anyone had gone yet, and once i was sure that they had, i dove in, too. lauren was my lap counter and janet was on the other side of the pool doing the 500 at the same time, but she was heat 2 since she is faster. jenny was her counter. 20 laps down and bam, that race was done. from lining up at the blocks to starting to finishing, it was all so quick that there was no time to think about anything or to get nervous or anything. now that the first even was over, i was ready to get going on my next!
50 back was just as fun, a little nutty, this time i was in heat 2! and i was almost 5 seconds faster than my seed time! bam, that even was done. then we hung out and finally got ready for the relay. janet first, then me, lauren and then sarah! so fun! the races were all a ton of fun. it was great to see everyone race and to cheer for everyone and to see them swim! it was also very cool to see the fast swimmers swim and to see how different they look in the water. results came out and i got ribbons for each of my events in m age group:
500 free: 3rd! (and last!)
50 back: 4th! (and last!)
200 free relay: 4th! (and last!)
but really i was super excited regardless because it was something new and exciting to try and it was totally out of my comfort zone. i'd almost like to do another one!
plus i wore one of my fun splish suits and got a ton of compliments on it!
and then i came home, and ran almost 10 miles.
and went to work the next day. but then slept for 11 hours. :)
other exciting things:
i went to SF for the annual Team LUNA Chix Summit. I went a night early and hung out with Allie which was super fun as always. i didn't tell her, but as I was laying there in bed in the morning, i thought that i'd like to just stay there with her the rest of the weekend because she is a ton of fun. i love her perspective on things and i just totally love everything about her! and it was fun to wake up to her little boy so excited to see me!
the rest of the weekend was good, as all LUNA summits are! we got to hang out with all my LUNA teammates, even realizing that both Olga and I were in Morocco for new years 1999 - 2000. we got to hang out with the LUNA pros, too. they are all so friendly and so willing to answer any question we can think of.
what else? time is flying!!!

bathroom break

It 11 at night and I am sitting in the bathroom on the edge of the tub totally awake. Dude, even though 11 is the new 10 today, I should be at least a little bit tired! The 1:30 run with hill repeats in the down pour? The hour of jumping rope and lifting weights? Why aren't those kicking in yet? Or what about the glass of wine? That should help, right?
Looking back at my day I'm now wondering could it be the two clif shots during the run, each with caffiene? I'm wondering what kind of shots I've been using the previous two weekends since I haven't had this problem in forever. Could it be the venti iced decalf americano that I had after the gym but double checked with them to make sure it was indeed decaf? I haven't had sleep issues with that in the past. Or could it be the brownie, ok 4 brownies I had after dinner? All I know is it better get it's act together real soon because work in the morning is going to get here pretty darn soon.
But in the mean time, the weekend was good, a long swim that included 2x800 neither of which did I beg to be over while doing although I did get kicked in the chest by the old man doing breast stroke kick with a kick board in the lane next to me and wow there were a lot of snorkels in the pool that day. But after was a fun 2hr trainer workout with Leslie and Amy in the garage while watching JackAss and Nip/Tuck. It was quite fun, I hope they will join me again! and then the fun long run in the wind/rain through the flooding and all the hill repeats with Leslie, Heather and Melinda! So happy to have the company on that run, not sure it would have been so sucessful on my own.
But gosh darn it! I want to go to sleep. But I did go shopping on Saturday and although I did pass on the lack sequin short shorts that I know I will someday regret not buying, I did buy a tube top! Can't wait to wear it, might need a 2nd one as I have already planned it out with at least 400 combos with my current wardrobe, of course all paired with and covered by my black puffy coat because it is too damn cold all
the damn time.
ps this entire post had been done on my phone, I am wondering if it will actually publish correctly!

dude, oh so tired

its monday. the end of monday. the end of monday is better than the beginning of monday, even better than the end of sunday. but i'm still tired.
i'm getting a tan. right now. on the couch at 8:25 pm. mmmm, it smells good. hoping i don't get tan hands, too.
last night i didn't sleep very well. i was cold! burr! and every time i rolled to get warm i got super uncomfortable. hoping i am warmer tonight because i want to be well rested for my 3000yd swim tomorrow. yikes! 3000yds is a lot for me. a lot. and a run tomorrow, too. but i'm taking it easy on my run tomorrow so i can run extra hard on wednesday before i pump some serious iron. what? and jump rope for 10 minutes.
the weekend was really good. lots of workouts, in the sun! not the warm, but beggars can't be choosers. we rode out to the sultan bakery which was fantastic other than the hills. we saw 3 bald eagles, pretty sure two of them were trying to get it on, too. unless they were fighting? but do they do it in the air? if so, still don't know if they were getting it on or fighting, but 3 of them! how cool is that? and a crazy flat rainbow.
and i don't know how i feel about the kids, stepping outside when its 48 degrees and partly sunny and exclaiming "wow! it's so warm out!"

my kids love me, reall they do

first off, i have tendonitis in my ass and its eric's fault!!

i went to PT today for my back. its feeling better, more like just tight than injured so we are making progress, although she said i wasn't actually injured so much before in my back anyway, just tight. my right ass was sore, she took a feel and was just like, yeah, you've got some tendonitis in there. i was like, what? she says it could even be from just how i always sleep on my right side, hence, why its eric's fault. i sleep on my right side so he will stop breathing in my face while we sleep. and yet another case of sleep related injuries.

which brings me to our romantic evening last night! some people do couples massages, we do couples body fat testing! oooh, so fun! i've gone twice but i am feeling waay fat these days so i said i needed a follow up. and eric agreed to come with me! and bring the kids along, too. why not. so i went first and my fat wasn't nearly as bad as i thought it was going to be. but all those hershey chocolate nuggets with almonds are certainly not going unnoticed. after we went to the cactus and man, the whole family was famished. went through two servings of chips and salsa and everyone cleaned their plates in record time. nice one.

but as i was getting ready to get into the dunk tank, sirus said "this is good because mommy doesn't ever take baths". nice one. this was only a little better than the conversation we all had only a day or two before:
Sirus: some people have hair growing out of their arm pits.
Seamus: yeah! like mommy!
Me: what about daddy?
Sirus: no.
HEY YOU KIDS!!! I AM A SWIMMER! Leave me and my hairy arm pits alone!!

not much but lots

i've been unmotivated to post anything. i've been training quite a bit, i've had a few really good weeks, one kind of crappy week, another good week and now on a rest week. beginning of the month i went to the pt for my ass, and this was my diagnosis:
L5/S1 facet joint inflammation with weakness in that nerve distribution, left posterior pelvic rotation, adductor magnus and piriformis strain, and sacrotuberous ligament sprain secondary to muscular strain.
so what sucks about this is that was feb 2, and my back still hurts. the periformis stuff is fine, just gotta really stretch it really well and it seems ok, but the back stuff blows. no pain or discomfort AT ALL running or biking, some sorta while swimming which seems odd to me and then mostly just after i have been sitting at my desk for any period of time. i've been going to PT every week and it isn't really getting better. not worse, a little different maybe and but not better. wtf.
AND then, my wrist is totally fawked again. same level of pain and discomfort than before. maybe even more. i have to go back to the surgeon and get it figured out. i told the pt that i was pretty sure the wrist and back were related. she wasn't so sure about that.
i'm trying to be a little healthier. lunch at work has been big spinach salads, with snacks of carrots, apples, grapes and bananas and stuff. and ok, the daily trip to the candy dish. ok, sometimes twice daily trip. grrr. i haven't broken myself of that, but trying. and i have found chia seeds! allie suggested them to me and i love them! i want to eat them all the time, totally trying to figure out what i can mix them into - can i put them on my peanut butter and jelly sandwich? can i accidentally OD on them? i do love them.
i have worn the black skinny jeans/pants a few times and love them. i wore them with my old lady, sensible healed tall boots. i asked the PT if the boots could have caused the back problem since i wore them for the first time around the onset, she said probably not since the heel is sooooo low. and i finally got new clogs! i am keeping the old one as my gardening, mud clogs and the new ones are my work / dress up clogs. the stitching was starting to go, the soles had worn down, and there were big giant holes, which i didn't think was possible, but the new ones feel so good! i know - super exciting news, huh?
the kids have been good, cute as always. sirus is so funny and sweet. he says the funniest things and his reading is coming along. he is super excited about learning and does such a great job. seamus is really into fairies, all her books are about fairies and she draws them non stop. i love her drawings, so much detail and so cute. they remind me of what i used to draw when i was little, i try to save them all!

more compliments that aren't really

i went to the PT today because my left sit bone has been bothering me and my lower back a little, too.
while she was digging into my arse muscles she said "we have to get rid of some of this muscle tone." to which i said - WHAT?? she said "you have too much tone" to which i said "that's what i want for my arse!" and she said "oh, but sometimes there is bad muscle tone and that is what we need to get rid of." Had she started with "you have too much tone" i would have most certainly replied with "thank you."
I did go on to tell her about my other recent compliments though.
i found out that not only is my arse too toned for my own good, my left big toe is very much weaker than my right big toe. who knew, but apparently its actually related to my super toned arse.

big day!

yesterday was a big day! not only did i sleep for 11 hours of uninterrupted awesomeness, i got a new dress that has pterodactyls on it, a couple sequins, too! cannot wait to wear it. i saw the dress a few weeks ago, maybe even a month or more, i can't remember when i was downtown with the option of window shopping, but i saw it and ooh and ahhed over it. then yesterday i was headed in for a haircut, the first in over a year, the 2nd in over 2 years. i had 20 minutes, so i checked on my phone to see if the dress was even still potentially available. and yes it was! and it was on sale! so i boogied on over there, the girl came up and asked if she could help me, she was wearing the dress so i said, i have come to get that dress! they don't hold items, so i had to try it on super fast, totally loved it, found out that not only was it on sale but it was an additional 60% off the sale price - HOORAY! so bam - i'll totally take it.
off to get my hair cut! love love love the guy that cuts my hair, awesomest haircutter in the world, although he spent prolly a 1/2 hr or more blow drying it, and then he did some awesome fantasy curls and it looked amazingly lovely! and then i went out in the rain. i continued to do some shopping along, not really looking for anything in particular but wound up taking the leap and getting a pair of black skinny pants. it was scary but its time. until i was heading home and walked through the juniors department at nordstrom and found some even better black skinny jean things for way less! so today i had to go take the other ones back.
friday tow of my gfs were so nice as to take me to costco to get some very important training aides! both are protein related and the body builder guy that was there sampling out some mystery bar called Diabetes or something was chatting me up all about the 6lbs of protein. he was nice, and actually i should have asked him more about it, but sushi was waiting!! should be interesting, but better not get huge, i just bought new pants - they better still fit at the end of the summer.
friday eric and the kids made the trip to go pick up my NEW BIKE! he spent all weekend putting it together since it came in the most tiniest pieces imaginable, but it looks awesome fast AND i rode it for a bit on the trainer. hooray! sooo exciting!
today took a ride around the lake with 9 of the girls! it was cold, hovering at just about 40, but there were a few peaks of sun and no rain! it was a good day, but now i am tired and want to take a nap but along with my bike brought home a bunch of the grandparent's neighbor's cow, so that is what's for dinner.

compliments that aren't really

lots going on, big changes already made and more coming. a good start to the season, training has kicked in and heading into my first rest week.
today i took the day off from work. i was supposed to have "surgery" today. i was pretty stressed out about it, not knowing exactly how much it might hurt and goodness, what all could possibly go wrong. after taking all the medicines yesterday and all the medicines this morning before heading over and then getting a shot in my ass (i asked her which ass, she said whichever, so i picked my right ass since my left was kind of sore from running yesterday) and then taking some vicodin, i was ready to go. they left me in the procedure room for a while, so i spent the time looking on my iPhone for a 5k to do next weekend. then all the medicines starting to really work and i HAD to lay down. i was feeling pretty darn good. they came in to get started and i was just like, i had to lay down. they laughed and when i tried to sit up they said to just keep laying there. then things got started, one quick look and ya know what, no "surgery" needed after all. hooray. i still wound up with 3 shots of local anesthetic, a couple more shots of some other stuff that despite all the pain stuff already hurt like a mothrafarker and then bam, procedure done and more just laying there.
eventually i was totally done, eric and sirus picked me up, and we headed home. i was feeling so "good" and the weather seemed really nice down town that i kept telling eric that we should hang out and do something. instead we stopped at starbucks for a tall, xtra hot, non-fat, with whip, salted caramel hot chocolate and went home. i tried to read a magazine but instead fell asleep for a good 5hrs! it reminded me of when eric had his lasik's done. i was super pregnant, like seamus was born only a few weeks later, it was so tramatic that while eric was getting his eyes done, the nurse came out to check on me because she said i didn't look so good. i wasn't that is for sure. but on the drive home eric was a super chatty cathy talking about it all, this, that the other and whatever and he didn't think the valium they gave him was working and then bam, he totally fell asleep almost instantly. i got up from sleeping just as eric was finishing dinner which was fantastic since i had only a small breakfast and the hot chocolate earlier in the day. 3 pork chops and 2 huge servings of mashed potatoes later, i am wondering where the cookies are and wondering if it would be ok to drink a beer.
when i was at the doctors he had to press on my abdomen, looking for something, just pushing around and whatever. he told me i needed to relax because he couldn't feel anyhing since my ab muscles were so strong. hooray! seamus's doctor said the same thing about her when she was probably 2, which is kind of funny, too. i took it as a compliment, same as when i got a bike fit and the guy said, well you have really narrow hips, to which i interrupted with thank you!!! he just looked at me like i was crazy. but dude, i don't care, it was a total compliment!! its not every day you get to hear you had strong abs or narrow hips, so i will take it when i can get it!

uninspired

dude, a lot has been going on but i have be uber uninspired to discuss any of it. could it be because my training has picked up again and all i want to do is eat ice cream, drink beer and stare off into nothingness? or is that because not only did i read twilight but i actually watched the movie?
last week sometime i came home from work and eric had set my bike up on the trainer. he also said he put in a movie for me, that it was a surprise! i couldn't wait to find out what it was and i was super excited to see that it was twilight. i take back all the things i have said about kristen stewart and how i think she doesn't look very smart. ok, so in still photos, i must admit that i still think that, she looks terrible and not smart, but i really liked her in the movie, she was very cute and likeable. but after about 30 minutes on the trainer, eric let me know what he was up to. he had some news he wanted to break to me and was just trying to butter me up. there i was pedaling along, maybe even with only one leg and he gave it to me - he got his own REI membership. what? after all these years togeher and 9 years (tomorrow!) of marriage and NOW he decides he wants his OWN REI membership? i didn't really know what to do at that point.
other news - i'm getting a tri bike! whoa! scary, i know.
and we are trying really hard to not get another cat.
and i've been swimming and actually liking it again but i am slower than ever! sl-o-w.
and i got new cold weather riding gloves - horray!

where does peperoni muscle come from?

lots? going on. back at work after a few weeks off for the holidays. it was glorious! plus it was great to get in some exercise every day, even heading out for some mtn biking in the snow and 19 degrees - burr!! my water bottle had ice in it by the time we were done.
for new years the kids went to grandmas and eric and i realized we are boring. we had no idea what to do withour selves. so we went to a fancy bar down town. i had to keep my puffy coat on the whole time despite being somewhat warm, which is unusual, but i had to keep it on because yes, i left the house with the top half of my house uniform hidden under my coat and i didn't want to expose that to the fancy bar. we had a few drinks, some totally delish fries with blue cheese fondue and then headed home to get dressed to go out for dinner. i was psyched to wear my new snakeskin print pants and tall boots, and have the fantasy hair out in full glory. unfortunatly the resturant was FREEZING, but the food was good and we had a great time despite there being no hard liquor there (WTF???) and we were forced to drink wine instead. we were home before the new year hit, and actually missed it. we were awake at least this time, but missed it and were like, oh, ok.
monday i went back to work, and it was good. the whole week went quickly, and I got back on the training horse. i did some swimming, concentrating on the drills i learned over the break, lifted some weights, skipped some rope - and OMG that is really hard and wow, its a good way to tell where you have extra fat on yer body. :( now I know. i did some running on the treadmill, even some in just my socks. that was interesting. then i did some other things and then finished up with work and blah blah blah and stuff and stuff.
on to sirus. he is so sweet. he is a funny silly little boy. when he was packing to go to grandmas i asked him if he was going to take his bear Sirus Wirus. He said that daddy said he could only take one toy and he wanted to take his new sack person. i told him he could take the sack person and Sirus Wirus, and he said no. I asked wouldn't he get lonely without Sirus Wirus? And he said no, I will hold his memory in my heart.
this morning we had an interesting conversation. eric made the kids ham and eggs for breakfast. sirus started to get upset because seamus told him that the ham was really muscle. he said no it wasn't and well, yes it is. then we had to tell him that that is what meat is. and he got really upset, and on the verge of tears and said what? meat is muscle? and just on and on, oh no! so we had to explain where all the meat came from, and, wow, hot dogs and chicken nuggets are muscle, too (sorta). he was not pleased.

Tom Cruise

oh i hate him. i hate him i hate him i hate him! he totally grosses me out and i think he is the worst!!! but we watched Knight and Day yesterday and it was really pretty good. he was funny, and cute (OMG, i i almost threw up right when i typed that) and the movie was entertaining. we saw the previews for it a while back and though it might be pretty good except for gag Tom Cruise gag, but, ugh, it was good, better than expected even. i'm not really a fan of Cameron Diaz either. Like, i think she is the worst part of Shrek, but i can tolerate her and she doesn't make me sick the way Tom Cruise does, but gosh darn it, it was entertaining and i'd suggest putting it in your queue if yer looking for something entertaining.

other news - its the last day of 2010. Wow! that's kind of crazy! i am not going to dedicate the last post of 2010 to just Tom Cruise. Instead, we are trying to figure out our plan for 2011. I've got some exciting plans coming up for the new year as far as training and racing go. can anyone say "tri bike"? oooh!! scary but exciting, and oh so pretty! new mtn bike on the horizon, too! eric got two new bikes last year, and it looks like 2011 will be the year of new bikes for me! i've got xterra worlds on the books again for 2011, only this year eric isn't so sure he is going to come with me, so it might turn into a girls trip! but i think he should come! why would he be so silly as to pass up a week in the sun and on the beach! seamus is turning 7 in feb - yikes! that is coming waaaay to quickly. the two of those kids are so cute - sirus gave me big hugs last night right before i tucked him into bed and he told me he loves me more than anything. apparently i'm ok even if i am bossy!

eric took the kids out sledding this morning. every morning around 8 - can we go sledding??? so we bundle them up and eric take them out. they love it!

i took the 2nd Bar Method class. it was much better than the first. found out that if i get higher on my toes i don't shake as much - hooray! - and then the whole building doesn't shake. this instructor seemed to incorporate a bit more ballet into the mix, too. not a ton by any means, but more. makes me think screw yoga or this class, i should take ballet again to work on core and flexibility. i remember i had a rock solid arse when i was doing all those plies and crap back in the day - chiseled man's ass. gonna have to check into that. just looked it up and wow - there are a lot of offerings locally. will i have to wear a leotard? can i wear a biketard instead?

yesterday we swam - i tried to do some drills and concentrate on everything i learned on tuesday. seemed ok. then i ran for 30 minutes on the treadmill. i was flying along, i felt good and wasn't even working and was pushing a good pace. and gosh darn it, Inception was on the big screen and i hate Leonardo Decaprio right up there with Tom Cruise but ugh, he's aging quite nicely i have to admit.

Happy New Year!!

criss cross apple sauce

so back when i was a kid, it was called indian style, but now that is not pc. we heard a new variation today, criss cross apple sauce, put your hands in the spaghetti sauce. gracious, kids these days.
we are still all missing pawpi very much, but she is now back with us in a little box on a shelf in the family room. and what was super nice was that the emergency clinic sent us a hand written note expressing their sympathies and then a few days later we received on from the vet clinic in west seattle that did her surgeries and got her well back in july. when i saw the return address on that card, i almost didn't open it because i was worried it was a holiday card, but it was a sympathy card, with a bunch of hand written notes from the vets and vets assistants there. i didn't realize they did that and i thought it was a very nice gesture. we're just not sure how they found out.
i think nadj knows what happened. she has been very sweet and is spending more and more time with me and eric. she even goes into the kids rooms, not sure if she is looking for pawpi, or what the deal is, but something is definitly going on with her.
other news, i have been enjoying my time off from work. oh how wonderful it has been! i have cleaned the house over and over, and have helped with laundry, made the beds every day and making lunch and all kinds of things!
i've even gone swimming a few times, been running a few times and been on the trainer a bit. our DVD player stopped working a week or two a go, so only basic cable tv while on the trainer, unless we take the computer out there, which i have been, which has allowed me to watch Lord of the Rings... again. wow, i don't know how many times i've actually watched that movie, but Sam annoys me in the way he calls frodo, Mr Frodo, and Frodo just annoys the hell out of me, he is so damn lame, and then good gracious, how can Legolas Greenleaf be sooooo much cuter and cooler than Will Turner?? Although Greenleaf is a pretty funny, last name, seems more fitting for a fairy rather than an elf. dude, he walked on snow! but another thing i noticed with the movie, is that once again, i found out that i didn't remember any of it!! makes me wonder what the other two are about, since i've seen them both but can't remember a damn thing, other than the trees fight back. i do know the last one, i think went on and on and on and on. maybe it was the 2nd one, but i know i was super pregnant with seamus and it just went on and on, and every time it was over, it kept going!!
other stuff, i went and had some swim technique work done today which was incredibly helpful AND got my fancy mavic road shoes finally fitted. i've had them for almost a year but stopped wearing them right before the onionman since they didn't feel right and then never put them back on after I got hurt. but today, i think we got them figured out and i'm pretty excited. i also found out i have a pretty smooth pedal stroke which i was happy to hear! Hooray!
tomorrow i am headed to my 2nd and last Bar Method class. good grief. last week i did it and it about killed me. i was sore for days after - DAYS. here's hoping this week is better.
OH! and we had xmas! it was very fun! the kids were great and happy with their presents, and eric liked his lederhosen! sirus was very funny when he noticed that eric and my stockings really didn't have very much in them. he very casually said, as he was walking into the other room, oh, santa must have not left you very much because you are so bossy. nice. and we had a lovely xmas dinner with grandma, xtie and jon, and jon' mom and we used grandma's beautiful china that i have loved since i was a little girl! it was a perfect day!

what happened

after eric got to the cat ER and pawpi was looked at he gave me a call. she weighed 4.4 pounds and her temperature was 96, when it should have been closer to 100. they did some blood work and when the results came back, apparently complete kidney failure is a 10 and she was a 9.9. pawpi was very very sick. the vet said she could stay the 3 days through the weekend, she would need constant attention and be pumped full of IVs and medicine. they would test her again on Monday and see if there was any improvement. if there was, and if she was well enough to come home, which they were not optimistic about, we would need to give her daily injections of fluids, and bunches of medicines because not only were her kidneys in bad shape, but her thyroid was going too. eric said that every time he would say "year" the vet would correct him and say "month". so eric called me, i cried and cried and cried but we decided it was time. poor poor pawpi, she was so so sick. i knew when we were packing her up to go that night that she wasn't coming back, i knew she was dying. i also knew that if we didn't take her in she likely wouldn't last through the night. eric was with her, he cuddled her, petted her, gave her kisses. then he called me again and i cried and cried some more. i cried the entire time until he got home around 2am and then cried some more, all the way until around 3am when i finally was able to fall asleep.
we decided we weren't going to tell the kids in the morning and then send seamus off to school. we didn't think that was a good idea, but if sirus asked during the day where she was, eric was going to tell him. but he didn't ask. later we had my company holiday party and decided when we got home it was too late to tell them and we would wait until the next day.
saturday morning we sat the kids down and told them what happened. seamus instantly understood and instantly sobbed. sirus looked confused and asked if that meant she wasn't coming home, and then he began to cry, too. we all cuddled and talked about it. seamus asked a lot of questions like how she got sick and what the vet was going to do with her. we told them she would be cremated and turned to ashes, and we will put her little box on the mantle and how she will always be with us. sirus said, ok, so she will be here but we just won't be able to pet her. apparently he didn't totally understand because later in the car seamus was crying and he asked her why. sirus then told me that seamus was crying because she thought pawpi had died. i had to tell him pretty directly that that was what happened. and he cried again, too. he had said earlier how we would miss pawpi but we still had nadj and seamus mccat. even later when seamus was crying again, he tried to comfort her by telling her that it was the normal life cycle, just like the salmon - the salmon lay their eggs, then they die. the eggs turn into fry, the fry turn into fish, then they lay their eggs and it goes on and on. it was pretty cute to listen to a 5 year old try to comfort his older sister like that.
it had already been a rough day, but we headed out, to get some shopping done and to just get out of the house. we went to bellevue square, and much to my surprise, many of the stores were having better sales than last week, so we stopped in a few and got some really great price adjustments.
then we went to the play area. its an indoor play area with a cushy floor and there is a ferry boat and a sand castle and a bunch of other shinny, slippery, slightly squishy things for the kids to climb on. its generally a mad house there, and yesterday was no different. i let the kids play for almost 40 minutes when i started the 5 minute count down. with 2 minutes to go, i saw a woman carrying sirus towards me, with seamus trailing behind. sirus was covered in blood - OMG - what happened? The woman said she didn't see, sirus was too upset to say anything. because he was so upset i knew it wasn't just a normal, no reason bloody nose, but i couldn't tell where the blood was coming from - nose, mouth, where? what happened? so i thanked the lady, picked sirus up and grabbed seamus and we headed out, blood gushing the entire time! we saw mall security and they took us into the mall security lair. he got the first aid kit, asked if i wanted them to call 911 and then i cleaned sirus up. while i was cleaning him, trying to find out what happened, seamus stepped up and told me that she accidentally kicked him in the face. i was proud of her for telling the truth and told her how very important it is to always tell the truth because when someone is hurt its very important for grownups to know what happened so they know how to help the hurt person. i was very proud of her because i am sure she was scared she was going to get in trouble. eventually the bleeding stopped and we headed back to the play area to get the kids shoes and then to finish up what we needed to do and go home. the lady who had helped came over and we talked a little, she said that at first, seamus was trying to pick sirus up and carry him to me, which is very sweet of her, and explains why seamus's dress was covered in blood. i was wearing my black puffy jacket and seemed like i was clean, but it was awkward walking through the mall with two kids with blood all over their clothes. :(
we made a quick stop at starbucks for some hot chocolates, and then sirus sneezed and a big deep red bloody snot rocket shot down all the way to his chin! i gasped in horror and quickly cleaned him up! then we stopped in one last store at the mall and headed to fred meyer. we got our business done there and headed home. only then did i finally go into the bathroom and look in the mirror and see that i had blood splattered ALL OVER MY FACE!!! OMG, dude, walking around, holding two bloody kids hands, with my face totally splattered, we must have been a sight, and WTF, why didn't anyone tell me????
around 4pm, seamus came to give me hugs and said, mommy it feels like its night time. she had a rough day, that is for sure.

ER

we spent the evening watching Scott Pilgrem vs the World. It was quite entertaining, not at all what i expected. i'd recommend it to anyone wanting a kind of funny movie that isn't going to be what they expect, unless of course you already know about it. we also watched From Paris with Love. I liked this movie too. Eric kept saying we got it from netflix and that we should watch it but i kept thinking it was a romantic comedy because he does like the rom-coms, but finally i was like, ok, lets watch it and it was good! not a rom-com at all. highly entertaining.
we watched the Wizard of Oz with the kids yesterday. It was the first time they had seen it. sirus was all pist because he wanted to play a video game but no, mom and dad are so mean we made him watch the wizard of oz! he moaned and groaned that it was in black and white, then started freaking out when the tornado came but then laughed as soon as the house lifted up into the air and everything was flying by her window. and when she opened the door and everything was in color he gasped! it was quite cute. he did not like the munchkins at all, and although both kids sat there glued to the screen the entire time, not looking away for even a moment, after it was done, sirus said it was only ok. he said he liked the girl but that was about it.
so tonight we watched the movie and after as we were heading to bed we noticed pawpi just sitting there in the hall way, staring at eric's shoes. this is common behavior for her, so it wasn't that alarming, but eric made the comment that she was looking quite thin, and usually she at least looks around if we call her name or walk by, but she was just staring. he petted her some, her back legs slipped from under her and she just left them there, all spread out to the sides. after a while she worked really hard to pull them back up under her. she walked a few steps and clearly something wasn't right with her hips and legs. we got down on our hands and knees, and saw that her nose was bleeding. not gushing, but there was blood there and it looked like her nose collapsed on the one side. just like even though she is so puffy we were able to tell when her cheek was swollen, this time, even though her face is squished, we could tell something was wrong with her nose.
so even though its late, eric called the emergency vets clinic and is taking her there right now. there is no way we could have gone to sleep knowing she is not right like that. something is terribly wrong.

pineapple express

dude i was so mad that i actually thought that movie was kind of funny.

but we are having one right now! rain rain and MORE rain. apparently pineapple express is a real weather phenomenon but really here in the PNW anything weather related is blown way out of proportion by the new stations an given silly names.

the after effects of the shot seem to now be wearing off but the discomfort and pain that the shot caused was alarming. "flipping the pancake" and "scrubbing the kitty puke out of the carpet" both caused pain yesterday when in the past both were ok. this morning "flipping the french toast" is still a bit of a concern and typing is actually bothering me for the first time. i haven't yet tested the actual injury itself but think baking a pie might be necessary soon to test it out. i wore the wrist brace on the trainer last night which i don't ever do but the brace just feels good and so i did it and it kept my wrist in line and it all worked out. i'm keeping the spiderman band aides on the injection site although i am pretty sure i can go without them by now.
other news, i have a new way of testing out my swimming fitness without actually getting into the pool! hooray. sort of. i have determined that i have at least two dressy dress up dresses that if i am in good swimming shape i can get them up over my ass but cannot zip them up the back. if i am not in swimming shape, they can still get up over my ass but i CAN zip them up. currently both of these dresses can be zipped up. that means i better get my ass in the pool ASAP!!! but i might wait until after the holiday party i am going to next weekend, so i can wear one of the dresses!

omg

NOW the pain is setting in. WTF! dude, if it had been hurting this bad all along i would have totally gone to the doctors waaaay sooner. this is no good.

today i got a manicure

not really, but it sure looked like i was going to get one.
i went to the hand surgeon. i was nervous about going, i was pretty confident that i would not be needing surgery but at the same time, i didn't know what to expect. on the intake form it asked me how far i could comfortably walk. i didn't know what to put down, i almost wrote that I knew I could comfortably run 13miles but instead i just put in 20??? wondering what that had to do with hands.
the exam room looked just like a nail salon. it had one of those little nail salon tables with a stool on one side and a chair on the other for me. there was a little lamp on it and then a bunch of liquids and crap over where the manicure peeps keep all their liquids and crap. weird!
as i sat there i heard the same weird suctioning noise i had heard when i was getting the MRI. after a bit, there was all the super loud banging and clanging from the other parts of the MRI. turns out there is an MRI place right next door which made me wondering if i was being exposed to something that maybe i didn't want to be.
the doctor came in, i sorta expected him to shake hands but he didn't but maybe since he is a hand doctor that doesn't work out so well a lot of times so he just doesn't do it.
he started doing the exam and writing a ton of stuff. i told him the whole history of it all and tried to lighten the mood by telling him that although a life without push ups would be bearable, a life without pie would not be, since making pie crust hurts. he didn't comment or react. he left the room a few times and came back, he looked at the MRI stuff somewhere else, he grabbed the grabber mesurer and had me squeeze it with both hands, he left the room. he came back and moved my bones around and stuff. then he left and got a hand skeleton. he said, this is where the torn cartilage is, this is where the cyst is and this is where the pain is. none of it is near the other. sweet. he said there are two bones that in some people are fused but for me are not and he suspects they are smashing into each other. so he said he'd toss a cortisone shot in there and have me come back in 4 weeks.
so he left the room and i started to worry about this shot. in my joint. in my hand. and OMG it is going to hurt because he is going to dig around in there with the giant needle and omg its going to be terrible. i started to sweat and feel a little not good. then the nurse came in and started prepping everything, the sterile gloves, the alcohol wipe, the bandaide, the syringes!! i asked her how much it was going to hurt and she didn't say, but the after affects can hurt more than the injury itself, at least for a while. it depends on the person, blah blah blah but some people it really really hurts. she left.
i rested my head on my left hand which was sweating profusely, with my hurt wrist sitting on the manicure table. and just waited.
the doctor came back and got to work. i felt one stick which was for the numbing stuff. that didn't hurt much at all. then i felt that he was putting in another one. next thing i know he was like ok see you in 4 weeks. what? that was it? that was easy! nothing to it. i assumed the numbing stuff would be like the dentist where they stick you over and over a hundred times, but nope. totally easy. makes me wonder how bad the cortisone shot would have hurt with no numbing stuff? i was so over joyed with the lack of pain that i almost told the receptionist about how awesome it was. then i assumed she probably either knew it really wasn't a big deal or really just didn't care so i kept it to myself. but wow, i was really happy. now to wait if its going to start hurting during the next 48 hrs and also to see if the shot possibly cures the whole thing for good!

M to the R to the I

i went for an xray on my wrist the other day. the people are so funny. they just look at me and are like, whats wrong with you? i tell them my wrist hurts and then they just look at me funny. i wonder if its because when i go in for stuff i am walking and talking? there was the time eric tried to kill me by feeding me salmon that still had bones in it. i was 8 weeks pregnant with sirus and there i was eating this amazing salmon when i totally started choking. it was terrible. i remember gagging and gagging and eric just sitting there, not even paying attention. i went into the bathroom because i was sure i was going to puke but instead i just gagged and gagged and my eyes were burning and watering and my mascara was all down my face. finally i composed myself a bit and asked eric to keep an eye on me all night, ya know, in case i died. in the morning a friend at work convinced me to call the doctor who told me to go to the ER right away, so I did. they did that horrible horrible thing where they shove the scope up yer nose and down yer throat but they couldn't see anything. even tho i was all preggo they did an xray which turned out to be an adventure. the girl doing it was new or something and someone said to double me up on lead barriers since i was pregnant, so i had on the normal apron like thing then she took this lead sheet like thing and rolled me up in it all burrito style. when the first person came back, they were just like, oh, ok, i guess that will work. anyway, they went on to take a billion xrays because the lady kept putting in slides that had no film in them or something like that. and once the ER doctor took a look at the xrays he came rushing in, OMG how are you not just screaming in pain! you have a 2 inch bone vertically wedged in your throat, OMG, why can't we see it? so they called in the ENT doctor to take a look. everyone who came into check on me was just like WTF, you have a fishbone stuck in your throat and yer just hanging out? so the ENT doctor and i looked at the xray together, he made a funny face and then i said - that's not a bone! that is my retainer! but then he found the bone on the xray, they took it back to the radiologist to confirm and then yeah, it was small, but it was stuck in there. the ENT dr insisted on putting the damn scope up my nose again but then they put me under general anethetic and went in to get the bone out. but alas, it wasn't there! they saw where it had been but it was gone by the time all was said and done. when i was getting prepped to go in for "surgery" i asked if i could keep my clothes on. they said sure, and i told them while i was starting to get all happy that i was going to be really pissed if i didn't have my pants on when i woke up. sure enough when i was being wheeled into recovery and was starting to wake up i heard one of the nurses ask "why does she have pants on?" people coming out of "surgery" and general anesthetic, normally don't have on pants i guess. i won't even go into how eric went to the wrong hospital when he came to pick me up and wound up driving all over the place in the middle of the night or how he always has to one up me.
so on friday i went in for an MRI on my hand. the people were nice but at the same time, totally like what's wrong with you? dude, my wrist really hurts! really it does. i haven't ever had an MRI so it was a little exciting but scary, too. i got to wear all my normal clothes but had to take off all of my jewels and assure them any lotions or makeup did not have any silver in it. i had to wear ear plugs, and lay on my stomach with my hand above my head. then in went my hand and head! dude, it was really freaking loud and would get louder and then louder at times, too. and it kept going on and on. what i don't understand is why does something that is so amazingly high tech live in a room that looks like a storage closet and why can't they make it not so loud? really, what is all that noise about?
on monday i got an email from my doctor with the results - a tear in the cartilage and a cyst all up in there somewhere. along with this was a referral to a hang surgeon. yikes! no me gusta! so of course i started doing all kinds of research on the things that were wrong and saw all kinds of horrible horrible photos and read many horrible stories about botched surgeries and such. so not cool!
so on friday i'll go see what is up with all of that. yikes!!!