Beautiful People Everywhere. The Way They Show They Care Makes me Want to Say, It's a Beautiful World

It was one hell of a lovely four day weekend. We got so lucky with the weather and both of my girls are living in town and we got to hang out with our friends too. Boy howdee! I honestly don't know what could have made it better. Maybe if it were even longer...

On Thursday, we got up early and headed to the local Catholic high school for their annual Thanksgiving Day trail run. I ran with Stinky. So, it was the first time I ever did it without trying to go as hard as I could. I went at Stinky's pace and walked when she wanted to walk and it was really fun. We weren't going to win any medals, but who cares?

After the run, we went home, I made the dressing, stuffed the turkey, threw it in the oven and John and headed to the Rec services building, where we didn't work-out, but instead, we sat in the Jacuzzi and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on the big screen TV. It was completely decadent, ie, perfect.

We got home and cleaned and cooked and Coadster came over. We had a nice dinner, and I was sure I made too much food, but Stinky and her fiance showed up around 7:30 and they and Coadster and John all had another meal with it then. I, of course, didn't indulge in that because I wanted to save all my stomach room for pumpkin cheesecake. Ahhhhh.

After (the second) dinner, our friends Chelsea and Burne came over and we played some Cards Against Humanity...Because we are just THAT classy.

On Friday, I slept in and it was marvelous. I slowly got moving - and by that, I mean, I made some tea and moved upstairs to my reading room to put on the fake fireplace and read a book in the prone position.

You'll all be happy to know that I did eventually get my ass in gear to enjoy the unseasonably amazing weather. I ran my 3.5 mile route first.

There were tons of people outside playing. It made me so happy that people were playing instead of shopping.

After the run, I heated up leftovers for lunch (I wish they could last forever), then we met some friends to ride mountain bikes on the trails.

As you can see, I rode in shorts, at the end of November...In Iowa! Holy guacamole! did that feel good.

After the ride, we went home and had a drink on the porch and gave Archie all of the attention we could manage...Which still isn't enough for him.

For our evening entertainment, we played Scrabble and John beat me by at least 10 points, as usual.

Watching Archie try to fit in the Scrabble box, was also fairly entertaining.

Saturday was a little cooler out, but I still got a run in and John and I got back out on the mountain bike trails, since they will close for the month of December for hunting season, so it was our last chance.

On Sunday, the winds had calmed down some, so we decided to do a 50 mile road ride to Kalona and back.

My girls and some of our friends drove there and met us for a late lunch.

We had a strong headwind on the way there, but on the way home the winds had died down some and we had a slight tailwind (which was much nicer).

It gets dark so early now, that we were distracted by really cool looking shadows on the fields as we rode...

...And speaking of distractions, the sunset was beautiful enough to wreck my bike over. We did see cars pulled over on the side of the road taking pictures of it. It's a beautiful world.

On Sunday evening, my girls came over and we painted homemade Christmas cards. They also had to watch the Sunday night football game. Coadster is a Packers fan and Stinky is a Steeler's fan. It's damn good thing they have plenty of things to bicker about.

Here are our cards. I made a couple of cards that weren't Christmassy, so I can use them for thank-you's or birthdays and Stinky made some that were just a straight color, since she had gold and silver pens at home that she could write "happy holiday's, or Kwanzaa, or Hanukka, or New Year or Christmas or whatever you like to celebrate this time of year.

Soooo, I am full of seasonal goodness and happiness, even though (or maybe because) the weather hasn't been very seasonal. I hope your holiday filled you with goodness as well.

That May be All I Need.

Oh, kids. I got a weekend. A WHOLE weekend where we didn't race or work on the course (except to put the last of the stakes in barrels and take them to their final resting place at the Johnson County Fairgrounds, but that only took 2 hours).

Anyway, so here's what I did on my lazy Sunday. I'm sure you're all waiting with bated breath. I woke up very late and then John and I watched some professional cyclocross races online. I also ate toast and drank tea and finished reading my book that was a novel about the beginning of the French Revolution.

I finally got my ass in gear and went out for a 3.5 mile run. I love running past that dragon. The first time I saw it, I was running in the morning and it was still dark and it scared the bejeebus out of me, but now that I know what it is, it makes me laugh every time.

I guess the real danger of me staying home on a weekend, is having time to indulge my passion of obsessively taking stupid pictures of my annoying cat.

Here's something that ought to put you off your breakfast, a morphed selfie of me and Archie. A veritable meeting of the empty minds.

I finally got around to making lunch and John thinks every meal is better if the food is hot enough to make him sweat. So, I cut up some jalapenos a friend of mine gave us from  her garden. It's kind of nice to still be eating garden food in November in Iowa.

I also got to work in the garden for a little bit on Sunday afternoon. I tore apart most of the flower garden in the easement. I ripped up the sunflower stalks and some other things from the garden and then put some in our compost bin and the rest in the yard waste can for the city to haul away. I still have a lot more to go with all of that, but it was a nice start.

Since my hands were freezing from working outside and the air is getting so dry around here, John and went to the gym. Not to work-out, mind you, but to sit in the steam room. It was lovely.

After our time at the gym not working-out, we decided to try a new restaurant on Melrose Street. It's called Maggie's Farm Pizza. the food was great and the ambiance is really nice. It was a great way to end my relaxing weekend. I can't wait for the next one.

Come on and Cheer Until You Hear the Final Gun (or not)

Coadster as a football with the quarterback in 1992.

As most of you know, I'm not generally super into ball sports. But, I do live in a college town and I always want everyone to be happy, plus both my daughters work in bar/restaurants here where they make more money when we win. So, I'm usually very happy when the Hawkeyes are doing well.

This last Saturday may have been the only exception. We went to a restaurant where one of my daughter's works for dinner that night. We were enjoying our meal and were loving how happy everyone was when the Hawkeyes were stomping the Buckeyes. It's always fun to be somewhere where the whole crowd is passionate about the game...With one small exception. There was a couple sitting at the bar and when we got the first turnover, they high-five'd each other. After the second turnover, they hugged each other and then when we made the third turnover, they kissed. I just didn't know what to hope for. I wanted the Hawkeyes to continue doing well, but with how things were progressing, I didn't really think I wanted to see that couple having sex on the bar.

Luckily, John and I left before things got TOO passionate and the Hawks won. The perfect solution.