Accidents Will Happen. We Only hit and Run

 So, we went to Madison last weekend to celebrate John's 50th birthday by going to a big Cyclo-cross race hosted by Trek. On Friday we got to wander around State Street and checked out the Union Terrace. As you can see, the weather and the view was perfect.

I raced the Master's 35+ Women's race on Saturday. Most of the women I raced against were still 10 - 15 years younger than me, but I tried my damnedest. I knew I wasn't very fit and decided I'd go out as hard as I could, until I died. It worked well, until the first lap, when I did actually hit that wall. Three women passed me, leaving me in last place. Which, I was fine with that. I was only seconds away from those three women, I didn't get lapped and because we were also racing with the 50 + men, I actually chicked a couple of 80 year old guys (or however old they were). Hell, I'll take what I can get.

 On Sunday I tried to pre-ride the course. They changed the course a little and it had rained a bit the night before. The one downhill seemed even steeper and because of the mud, I slid down it and jacked my bad knee up. So, I decided to be safe and not race that day, in hopes that I wouldn't ruin the rest of the season.

 Even without racing there was plenty of fun to be had. This guy raced in that suit too. Very impressive and so very Wisconsin.

Speaking of Wisconsin...Beer battered fried cheese curds. Need I say more.

Because Time Won't Give Me Time

We had some big birthdays the last couple of days. We went to Madison this weekend to celebrate John's 50th birthday. We did a cyclo-cross race in Waterloo, Wisconsin at the Trek headquarters with some of the biggest names in the US for the sport. I will try to write more about the race later. We also had a lovely dinner with some of my family members at an Oyster bar.

Stinky turned 21 yesterday. Coadster came back from Des Moines to have dinner with us and to take this "lovely" photo. It's so weird to think of my girls as being in their twenties. I am still digging the empty nest gig, but also glad that they both live close enough to see on a regular basis.

It's the Room, the Sun and the Sky

Just wanted to show you the mostly finished product of the dormer room. I think we'll move the trunk to the back wall and put a bigger coffee table in the center so we can put our feet up when we read and play board games on it. The stairway was too narrow to bring up the oversized reading chair and John had me give our futon chair to Stinky and she claims she needs it, so I can't ask for it back...So, right now we're using an old chair of John's that I love, but want to reupholster, but I also want to get another futon couch, so we have another space for guests/Stinky when she visits, and I can take a little snooze when my eyes get tired from reading...Yes, I am old and I'm a huge fan of napping.

And We Drink Ourselves Full of Beer. To Help Us When We Deal With All the Fear.

 So, after our simplification of our lives purge, we decided to work on our house in earnest. Our house was built in 1950. it's pretty solid, but we have had a termite problem and a moist (ew!) crawl space and a bunch of other problems and we decided to take out a home equity loan to get things fixed.

 The first project I worked on was ripping up the carpet in the dormer room. Archie was a HUGE help (ahem).

 I put rope in the cracks, but the cracks were all different sizes and it took forever and not all of it looks that great. My fall back plan is to put tons of primer and paint in those cracks. I'll let you know how that goes...

 I put on two layers of oil based primer and got a free high AND a free headache. Lucky me.

I finally finished the first part of the floor, and REALLY needed to get out of the house afterward.

 We decided to go to the Kalona Brewery and kill brains cells the deliciously old fashioned way - with beer.

Stay tuned for the next installment, when we kill even more brain cells with a nice fresh coat of oil based, French gray paint on that floor and who knows, maybe we'll throw in some asbestos induced lung cancer when we scrape off the popcorn ceiling in the kitchen. Cheers to DIY projects!