We Could Be Sleeping in the Flowers

Stinky and her friend carved pumpkins in the kitchen on Sunday evening.

So, this weekend will be a little busy again. Tonight I want to rest and watch a scary movie and I'm going to grill salmon and beets and sweet potatoes. One of my favorite meals.

The jack-o-lanterns with the lights out.

On Saturday, we'll wake up early and head to Des Moines for more cyclocross. This is supposed to be bigger race, which scares me a little, but I guess since it's Halloween, it's appropriate.

On Sunday we're going to help a friend of ours move in the afternoon and then go see They Might Be Giants in the evening. I've never seen them live, so I'm really excited.

She's Moving Out in All Directions

Here is all the old black adhesive and carpet backing residue, left after we pulled up the carpet in Coadster's old room.

I had a great week so far. Monday night, we had the last Monday Night Ride of the season...Possibly. We rode out to a camping spot and had a fire and one of our friends met us out there with beer and stuff to make fish tacos. Very nice.

Here is a cute, cuddly (only because he's asleep) Archie in what used to be Coadster's room, that is quickly becoming the cat's room.

Tuesday was lovely and warm. Both The Guy and I went running on our own separate routes and met back at home. Where I made shrimp scampi with asparagus and served it with red sauce over penne pasta, with salad and bread. The Guy worked on taking the black crap off of the hardwood floors while I cooked. Then we were both pretty much exhausted.

Heidi with her reflective eyes.

Last night we did some cyclocross training in the park. I have a lot to work on, but I do feel like I'm slowly getting better and better at my skillz. When we got home, I heated up soup and pizza burgers and we just took it easy. We had a good talk about what kinds of things we wanted to do in the future and how we thought we'd train for them over the Winter. The Guy is a little more realistic than I am about such things. In my head, I can run and bike and swim all day every day. Right now, I think after Cross season is over, I might chill out for a bit and then get started making sure I swim at least once a week, do work-outs on the bike trainer a couple of times a week and run about 3 times a week. Of course, that will all go out the window if we get decent snow and I can cross country ski at any point.

And The World, I'll Turn It Inside Out, Yeah.

Me taking a barrier with my bike.

So, as I said before, this weekend was insanely busy. Because I don't have tons of time, you get another photo essay of the busyness.

A lot of people rode their bikes through the sand here, but since we are all beginners, most of them only made it halfway through before they had to get off their bikes and it cost them a lot of time. I decided to go with my strengths and just run through it. I gained a lot of time by doing that.

This reporter interrupted a conversation I was having to ask if he could interview me for the local paper. The Guy thinks he chose me, because I don't ride with a team and he wanted to speak to a beginner. If that's what he wanted, he certainly got that with me.

The Guy and I after our races. The Guy got third in his and I did better than I ever have before. Saturday was a good day.

My brother, my sister-in-law and my brother's Little Brother and Stinky after dinner. It was nice to see them and we had a good talk. There was a big discussion about gender socialization that I thought might overwhelm The Guy, but he seemed totally into it and contributed quite a bit.

On Sunday a couple of friends joined us. Neither The Guy or I had as good a racing day, but we had a wonderful day in general.

Raise the Roof and Have Some Fun

Here is a pretty bridge over pretty leaves. Fall is pretty in Burlington, Iowa.

So, my alone time, sitting on my ass watching Dexter last night was very lovely. I feel recharged and ready to take on the weekend activities.

Me hopping on my bike after jumping over a barrier.

The weekend activities look like this:

Tonight - get off work, frost pumpkin bars, pick-up a girl or two, run to a quick pumpkin carving party, leave a half hour later, pick-up The Guy, head to a sushi dinner with another couple, come home, pass-out.

Saturday - Wake-up, eat breakfast, get bikes and selves ready, head to a cyclocross race in North Liberty, race, come home, possibly nap, meet up with brother and sister-in-law and a couple of others for dinner, come home, pass-out.

Sunday - Wake-up, eat breakfast, get bikes and selves ready for the second day of the bike race in North Liberty, race, come home, head to a friend's house to help her work on her house, come home, pass-out.

Got it? Good.

My Head Keeps Spinnin'. I Go to Sleep and Keep Grinnin'.

Here is a fallen tree. Pretty.

So, if you can't tell by the minimal postings on my blog, things have been crazy, busy here. We started working on the floors in Coadster's old room, but got sidetracked by practicing cyclocross and raking leaves and living our lives and everything else.

Tonight The Guy will be at his mom's house and Stinky will be at work until 10. I considered working on the floors while I'm home by myself, but then started thinking about how crazy busy we'll be tomorrow and the weekend and, and, and...I decided I needed a night to relax. So, my version of relaxing is to go running after work, bake some pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting and then sit on my ass and watch some episodes of the new season of Dexter I have recorded. Sometimes you just have to listen to your body, when it tells you to sit on your ass, right?

Cause the Free Wind Is Blowin' Through Your Hair

Toasting to The Guy's Health and happiness.

I think I'm still recovering from this weekend. It was great and wonderful and, as always, we tried to cram as much into it as possible.
me at the derby with my favorite roller girl.

On Friday, I got home and Thy Guy and I went to work on the house. We went through every room and our storage area in the attic and the backyard and the garage and made a list of everything we wanted to get rid of, then we made a big pile in the garage with it. We also ripped up the icky carpet in Coadster's old room and threw that in for good measure.

I made tempeh reubens and salad and soup for dinner and watched a little Andy Griffith before we went to bed. Stinky was in the Quad Cities with her youth group and it sounds like she had a lot of fun there.


The Guy giving me some sugar at the derby.

We slept in until 7:30'ish on Saturday when Stinky pounded on the door, back from her youth group all-nighter thingy. She informed us that our friend S. was outside with his truck as well. The Guy and S. loaded up the pick-up and headed to the dump and to the architectural recycle store, and I took the cans and bottles back and ran another errand or two.

We got back and and got ready for our celebratory one year after The Guy's accident bike ride. We went to our friends' house. They just moved here from the Czech Republic and brought out this really good plum brandy, so we could toast The Guy. Very nice. We met up with some other friends, and rode our bikes to Hills for some Mexican food and back home for a nap.

The Guy running his bike up a hill.

Saturday evening, we picked up G. and headed to the roller derby. It was tons of fun and we drank beer and took dorky pics. When it was over, we dropped G off at a bar downtown and went home to bed, so we could get up early on Sunday.

Me all cheeky before the start of my race.

We headed to Burlington on Sunday morning. It was colder and sprinkled on and off, but the course was nice and easy, compared to some of the others. I raced the second full cross race, and I was much better at some things. I had a migraine and took my meds, which makes me spacey and my legs weak, but I felt like I was better about certain skills than I have been in other races. I didn't come anywhere close to winning, but I wasn't last and I learned a lot and had fun.

Me running my bike up a hill.

On Sunday evening, The Guy, Stinky and I finally ate dinner together. It wasn't anything all that exciting - just quesadillas with beans and guac and salsa and stuff to put on them, but it was great to hear all bout Stinky's weekend.

After dinner, I took Stinky to her youth group meeting and The Guy and I settled down to watch A Fish Called Wanda. It was a nice relaxing way to end a crazy busy weekend.

But You Had Just Enough Pathos to Keep Me Hypnotized

The Guy loving up his cat.

So, this weekend marks the one year anniversary of The Guy getting hit at 55 mph by an F150 truck. He just had an x-ray and was given a clean bill of health...For now. We're not sure what will happen in the years to come, but right now, I think everyone who cares about him is feeling very lucky that things weren't as bad as they could've been and that he worked so hard to recover so well.

To celebrate, this weekend we thought we'd go on a bike ride and then to the roller derby on Saturday, and then do a cyclocross race on Sunday. There. That oughta defy the hell out of that bad experience.

I'm wishing all of us a "getting hit by a truck" free weekend.

We Could Get Together for Some Scenes

Here I am climbing around on rocks and things.

This weekend just flew by again.

It's pretty nice to date a guy who will actually swing on the swings with you.

My sister and her kids came to stay with us on Friday night. The Guy had never met my sister before. We had a nice little chat, but then my sister had to get to a party and The Guy and Coadster and I went out for sushi. Coadster was in town just for about 24 hours, so it was nice to get to hang out with her again. We got home from dinner and watched The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Parts of it were hard to watch, but I thought it was interesting and I didn't get it figured out, like I do with some mysteries.

A couple of wacky cousins.

On Saturday, we woke up and tried to be very quiet not to wake up all of our guests. We went on the screened-in porch with our coffee and tea to watch the sun rise. After the kids rose, we all went to Village Inn for breakfast. Then we took the kids for a walk down the bike path behind our house and to the park.

The kids playing chicken on the monkey bars.

After all the kids left, I went for a run and The Guy went for a bike ride. The Guy also took a bunch of air conditioners to the dump, leftover from the previous owner and now we actually have tons of space in our storage area. Hurray.


The Guy running with his bike up the stairs at a cyclocross race.

In the evening, I grilled salmon and heated up a package of mushroom.spinach risotto and saute'd some zucchini and Summer squash for dinner. It was over 80 degrees here, so I felt like I had to at least grill something.

We watched a movie called Hell on Wheels - a documentary about the 2003 Tour de France. It was actually really interesting.

The Guy riding against a beautiful Fall backdrop in Iowa.

On Sunday The Guy and I went to Cedar Rapids for a race. The weather was wonderful again, and I really liked the course. Then, when I went to race, I jumped off my bike and was getting ready to carry it over a barrier, when I slipped on a leaf and over exaggerated my arm movement and popped my shoulder out a little. I popped it right back in, and got back on my bike to keep going, but it hurt too much to continually lift my bike up and had to drop out of my race.

My shoulder is fine and The Guy asked one of the sports docs in his office and he said I should be fine and will probably be able to race this weekend. Hurray!

That's Life. That's What People Say.

Here is my quick and dirty photo expo catch-up.

Stinky had Homecoming last week and Friday's game had them all dressing like hicks... Er, Iowans. Whatever.

Saturday we went to Pella, Ia. - a town of mostly Dutch descendants. It's where they make the windows too.

I did my first cyclorcorss race there. It was fun and scary.

The Guy was wonderful and amazing at helping me figure out how to ride through all the twists and turns without killing myself.

Of course, I liked the parts where I had to run best.

When I got done, I felt like I was going to puke blood. How fun does that sound, huh?

The real Dutch letters are an S shaped pastry filled with marzipan - pure loveliness.

The fake Dutch letters were weird little maze things they made for us to run up and down hills on our bikes on the cyclocross course. Not so lovely.

After the race, we went to beautiful downtown Pella and ate Mexican food, bought pastries and wandered around a bit before going home.

Here is Stinky making what looks like wannabe gang signs for her Homecoming photos (quaint) but really stands for Work Crew, from the camp Stinky went to this Summer. How even more Iowan of her.

On Sunday I went to Ames to Coadster's choir concert and it was fine. It was one of those things, where I drove for 4 hours to watch Coadster sing in a gigantic choir for 15 minutes. I couldn't tell which one she was, but she saw me arrive and it made her happy and that's all that really matters, right?

Stinky got her braces put on Tuesday. I have no idea how exactly we'll pay for them, but I'm nothing, if not good at creative financing.

Anyway, things are good and busy and stressful and fun and scary and expensive and wonderfully full...About what anyone would expect from their life.