Saturday, June 21, 2008

Know When to Hold 'em

Well, not like hold 'em hostage, but when you just have to stop everything and HOLD them. Sigh, so much to do, so little time and all the peanut wants is to be held! It took all of 10 minutes for him to be schnockered out, so it was well worth the time and lack of energy on my part! Now, of course, I am in a bit of a pickle with him campered in my lap. Oh well!

At this point, we have no place to call home as of, say, July 11th! We are crossing our fingers we can stay here through July, but have to plan as if we were without home. This is not new news, just imminent news! We have known for 12 months that we would only be here 'til summer. Today was official packing day numero uno, which means: the weeding of stuff began, the arguments over personal belongings, and the discoveries of random bits and pieces of our individual lives. I am excited to say that there will be a second, yes second garage sale! We had one last weekend as part of the neighborhood annual g-sale event. I am thinking we will do a short little ditty this time, maybe something in the range of 8a-12p. Short and sweet!

Wish us luck!

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Oregonian-you bore me

Imagine my dismay when, today-which is Tuesday-I opened the Sunday paper and there was a huge missing piece. Chelsea Cain, where are you? Every Sunday (or Tuesday for that matter) I look forward to reading you. See, I kind of have an author crush on you. I feel abandoned and lost without your for this week. Please, please please show up in print next weekend. If not, it may be the icing on top that makes me cancel my subscription and switch to the NY Times.

Friday, June 6, 2008

May Accomplished


Whew. The month of May had several things requiring planning and attention to detail. My catastrophic thinking was really in full gear. I was sure, just sure, something dreadful would happen. To most reasonable, calm people (everyone but me) my list is not daunting. But to me? Bring on the Chamomile and Lavender tea ("eases tension, stress, and nervous stomach"). Ambien or Xanax might have been nice, but tea sufficed. In very particular order, I completed a marathon, threw Chloe a tea party, had Jake's birthday, hosted a wedding shower, organized a Brownie troop gathering, started working the Farmer's market, and saw Chloe go off to a Brownie camp overnighter. During all this, we had a few open houses to boot!


The marathon was an adventure. I ended up doing my long runs solo for about 8 weeks. For many, I would piece together meeting people along the way to keep me company. I was super lucky to have willing friends to run anywhere from 6-10miles during my 22milers. The bonus run was meeting up for a bookclub brunch immediately following an epic long one. Anyway, on my mom's birthday, we headed for Eugene with a car packed with 3 children and gear. Nathan had soccer tryouts so he and Brian held the fort down here in P-town. We missed them! I was still in catastrophy mode so really tried to be calm and pratical about driving, dining out, and walking. It was a challenge, but man oh man is it easier to be "normal!" We had a lovely birthday dinner and then took the kids to the hotel swimming pool. Beck was fearless in the water. I'll leave it at that. Saturday morning we went to the marathon expo and pancake breakfast. It should have been named Sausage Feed, as the kids pretty much ate sausage and syrup. I overpurchased gu's, powerbars, e-caps, and clif blocks, but wanted to have many an option come raceday!


That evening we went to one of my bff's house for dinner. What a lifesaver. Sandy literally had our entire group (8 of us) over. We had pasta (suprise) and after everyone was sufficently wine and beer'd up (excluding me, though!) enlisted Sandy and my dad to cut my hair. Prerace tradition.


Saturday morning was perfect conditions. Cool and clear. Pete, Matt, Jake, and I headed for hayward field by 6am. I was really trying hard not to cry out of fear of lonliness on the run. So many what ifs! It was strange to do a race on my own. Usually I am in with someone, either as *their* person, or as a buddy, but not on this day. I had to call my mom back at the hotel right before the start and of course was crying on the phone. That's good prerace anaerobic warmup! I also got a nice text from my daily running buddies (all three!) I spoke with nice lady at the start and she was very calming to me. Before we knew it, we were off and running. The run started next to Hayward Field and meandered through many a neighborhood. The first mile was a bit uphill, or at least it felt like it! I knew things were going to be okay when I heard ABBA's Dancing Queen blaring from a boombox within the first mile! Ahhh, off to a good start. I was running alongside a scissorbill with a 3:45 on his back-hmmm, was a he a pacer or a nut? After sticking with him, he started acting crazy and running here and there. Nut. Around mile 3 or four, I heard another great song that I love so felt pretty darn good. My pace was ahead of, well, ahead of what I would expect. I did not have a pace or time goal so was thrilled to be feeling good at a sub 3:45pace. My focus was to keep my breathing in check, not freak out, and enjoy seeing my peeps at mile 9. Thankful for technology, I had to make a quick call to my mom, as my water bottle from my rambo pack leaked and my shorts were starting to be really wet. The nethers were going to be cold soon. However, I missed them at mile 9 and they had to beat cheeks to get to the halfway point! I swear we ran by Autzen Stadium half a dozen times. It was so frustrating to be all over that place, yet never get real close! Sara Sitter was spectating! yay! After going across the river, around Autzen a bazillion times, and through MORE neighborhoods, I found myself in the same stride as another "lost soul." Turns out Julie and I were both running without our running/training partners so we glommed onto each other. I had a moment of stress as I didn't want to slow her down, but she kept me going. She's a rockstar. So we ran and ran from mile 14 on. Pete joined in at mile 17 and he kept us totally entertained. I have to say, that not once did I stop running. That is very unusual for me. I love to stop and take a walking break, or tie my shoe, or stretch. Yup, not once. I did accidentally steal someone else's gleukos drink, though and will forever be sorry to one Martina who didn't get her drink! Around mile 23 Sandy and her cute family were watching and it was a thrill to know we were so close and that I had made it that far. Julie and I were counting the half miles down as we went through a park and crossed the river two more times. Did you know that when you cross a river you have to go a bit uphill? oh my god, seriously, it hurts! Our last crossing took us straight to....Autzen Stadium! Pete was a love and took my water bottle rambo pack. Voila! I felt so light that I kind of took off running. I was so ready to be done. As soon as I crossed that finish line I decided that I really did not need to move much more. Julie and I hugged and went with our respective families. It felt way faster than my time showed, but to have arrived, run, and finished without any major incidences was a success for me. Major May event completed.