Stop All the Calls in the World

A friend took this pic of the alley by my house. All those lilacs on the left are mine. I'm lucky.

Last Friday I got off work, went to the Co-op and then came home and made salmon, rice pilaf with shaved almonds, beet salad, sauteed zucchini and red pepper and we had French bread. it was all lovely. We also watched Woody Allen's Sleeper. I hadn't seen it in years and it did make me laugh several times.

Lickety split.

On Saturday we got up very, very early and jogged over to Regina high school to do a 5K'ish trail race to raise money for our friend's organization. He started a foundation to help cancer survivors with their medical bills. Most of the things done to help cure cancer, can also cause cancer later on and screw up people's teeth and a lot of other things that cost tons of money, and so our friend is trying to help with those costs.

It's a great organization and the race was fun too. It was warm but misting. The Guy and I previewed the course, by slowly running/walking it and got back about 10 minutes before we had to run it. Our friend J. is another bartender at the Dublin. She worked until close and then drank until the race. She showed up reeking of alcohol and we kept making jokes about how we could get drunk for free by huffing her or licking her. She ran the race and did just fine, and then promptly went home to go to bed.

The Guy and our friend A.

The Guy and I went home after the race and got ready to ride our bikes to Riverside to see our friend, S. and his wife. We had lunch at Murphy's and then rode home.

We were pretty exhausted by the time we got home, so we basically just got some Chinese food and watched the movie, Cedar Rapids. it was fine. Nothing too memorable. I did think it was funny that they tried to make Iowa seem like it was some crazy, party state. Actually, the most memorable thing about it, is that it put that song, "Hotline" in my head. It was a amusing for about 5 minutes...

Our favorite bartender, S. and his wife and his phone.

Sunday was a very lazy day for me. I was pretty tired. I did a lot of lying around, reading a book called InZanesville, by Jo Ann Beard. She was in the non-fiction writer's workshop here and is an amazing writer. This is more of a young adult novel, about 14 year old girls trying to grow up in the Quad Cities in the early 70's. I love it so far.

The Guy spent most of the day building up a new road bike for himself. We did swim laps in the afternoon, and then got take-out Indian food and went down to the Dublin to eat it and feed our favorite bartender, S. while he worked. Our friend Bry came down and had a beer, before he and The Guy headed off to play pool and I headed off home to lie around and read my book some more. The end.

For Long You Live and High You Fly

My hyacinth - complete with garden bugs on it.

When Coadster was very young, she used to get upset and I'd work with her on her breathing to help calm her down. "Okay. Let's try it. Take long, deep breaths. In through your nose and out through your mouth."

Because Coadster is about the most stubborn person I've ever met, she eventually told me, "No! I won't breathe and you can't make me!" I would try really hard not to laugh, while in my head thinking,

"Okay, then. You stop breathing and let me know how that works out for you..."

I'm sure you like looking at photos of my bleeding heart(s).

No one ever learns how to breathe, they just get a slap on the ass, and on they go...Breathing. But like everything, there are ways to screw it up...And if there's a way to screw something up, chances are, I'm really, really good at it.

When I was a patient advocate at the clinic, I helped people breathe their way through uncomfortable procedures. The correct technique can calm a person down and help them manage their pain. The wrong kind of breathing can do just the opposite.

I'm fine if I'm doing moderate exercise at a decent speed, but when I try to keep up with the faster kids and start to push my limits, my breaths become faster and more shallow to match my leg speed. What that does, is keep me from getting the good red blood cells from the bottom of my lungs to my muscles, my legs start to fatigue, I don't get enough carbon dioxide out, it makes me panicky and eventually will cause me to cry and slow WAY down. Once, when Coadster and I were in an accident and I had a severe concussion, I hyperventilated so badly, that it seemed as though I was having a seizure, and the nurse literally made me breathe into a paper bag.

Now that I'm taking myself completely out of my comfort zone for speed in running and biking, I've become all too aware of how badly I breathe during a hard effort. So, now I'm trying to teach myself to breathe better. I am working on taking long, slow breaths that come from the diaphragm and are exhaled completely. I am finally following my own advice. I have no idea how well I'll do during races, when I'm exhausted and not thinking straight and can't remember my own name, let alone how to practice "low" breathing, but I'm going to try. A long, deep breath. In through the nose, and out through the mouth. It seems like such a simple thing...

It Keeps You Runnin'. Yeah, It Keeps You Runnin'

Here's me trudging through the Spillway on my 25K

So, last Saturday The Guy and I ran our 25K part trail race. It was interesting...

The race started off well. I felt strong, I was keeping up with some of the faster people and it was warm out...A little too warm.

I handled the first trail section and then we hit the road toward Solon. There was one guy who kept trying to run with women and since we were going at a similar pace, I got to hear him creeping on every woman he could, with the same stories and lines, "Yeah. I've been in the air force for over twenty years, so I'm used to do this with a full pack on my back..." After the third or fourth woman, I wanted to head him off at the pass and just say his line for him. Who ever thought of an endurance race as a place to pick-up women?

The Guy finishing up his race on the last trail.

After the 8th or ninth mile, I realized I had been going way too fast, and I was weak and hot. I tried to slow down and I had a belt with bottles of Heet I was drinking throughout the race, but it was too late. I was suddenly so weak and tired, I could barely walk, let alone run. I kept plugging along and even puked at one point, until I got to about the 13th mile mark, where we went through the finish line and were supposed to continue on, but I just couldn't. I felt like I was going to pass-out.

I went back to the car where The Guy was. He had just finished the race a five minutes or so before, and he was changing and was planning to wait for me. I felt so horrible. I was exhausted and weak and embarrassed and pretty much broke down and cried the minute I saw him.

The Guy was wonderfully supportive, as usual. We sat on the grass for a while and he made me drink water. He wanted me to eat, but I was afraid I'd just puke it back up. After we got in the car and started driving home, I got even worse. I was super hot and my vision was all wonky and I realized that I was passing out. I crawled in the back of The Guys car and fainted back there. I came to at some point and kept drinking water and took a shower and then a nap and then drank more.

So, lesson learned? The next time I do an endurance race, don't try and keep up with marathoners and train by running longer distances, so I can get a better feel for how fast I should go. I did love the race and I plan on doing it again next year.

Love Is All Around, No Need to Waste It.

Here's me after my first bike race of the season.

So, I road raced for the first time in a long time. I only did 3 last year and each one I was either last or second to last and I'm pretty sure I got dropped from the pack first almost every race. Since I've been trying to actually train this season, my goal was to stay with the pack for the entire race. I didn't reach my goal, but I was the last person to get dropped from the pack and I had them in my sights until the very end. I was 10th out of 15. Not bad for me, and I think I can build on it.

Here is The Guy up close and personal after the race.

The Guy was recovering from a cold, so he didn't do as well as he wanted, but it's the first race of the year for most of us, so no one took it all that seriously.

The race was held out in the country by Hills, Ia. It was part VERY hilly gravel and part pavement, with 30 mile per hour winds. My ass was officially kicked by the end of it.

After the race, we went out for Mexican food and came home and took a nap. Even after the nap, I was pretty wrecked. We watched some Mary Tyler Moore episodes. The Guy has the firs two seasons. The Guy and I were talking about for people our age, MTM has to be one of the ultimate nostalgia shows...Along with The Carol Burnett Show and M*A*S*H*.

Here's our dorky after-race self-portrait.

On Sunday, we took our time getting going and then drove to the trails we will be racing on next week. We did about 10 miles of the course. The Guy felt pretty good, but my legs were still dead from the bike race the day before.

In the evening, The Guy went to play pool with his friend Bry and Stinky and I were finally going to watch the movie, Tangled together. Of course, 20 minutes into it, one of Stinky's friends showed up and off she went. I went ahead and finished watching the movie by myself. I thought it was pretty damn cute.

I Used to Hurry a Lot. I Used to Worry a Lot.

Here's me "pretending" to look cold. It was actually windy and freezing that day.

Here is a quick overview blog post. Coadster is now in London. She is afraid to fly, so I was worried for her, but it sounds like she did just fine.

Here is a picture of me pointing to a bald eagle flying overhead.

Last weekend, The Guy and I ran the full 25K course of the race we're doing on St Patrick's Day. At least the last 5 miles of it are very technical trail running. After I was really tired, it was a big challenge to lift my legs enough to get over all of the roots and rocks on the trail. I did run the whole thing, but it REALLY kicked my ass.

The Guy showing off his new drink holster. I think he's ready for his spaghetti western now.

Saturday night we went out for dinner to a new place in town called Moon Raker's. Our friend E. met us, and we had good food, a great talk and a few drinks. I was pretty migrainey all weekend, so we went home early.

Me all splattered with road muck.

On Sunday we rode out on a gravel road course outside of Hills, Ia. It was cold and snowy and muddy, but it was a nice short ride.

That night, I made tilapia reubens for the first time. I don't think the tilapia had a strong enough taste to compete with everything else in the sandwich, but it was still good and it was worth a shot...

Something Tells Me I'm Into Something Good

Archie thought he'd hide in Coadster's laundry bag and go back to college with her.

So, I know I didn't get around to writing about last weekend, but you can just imagine it was more, wonderful life, I'm so happy and active, blah, blah, blah. And now I can go into the same details about this weekend.

Archie "helping" The Guy put a desk together.

On Friday I got off work at 3, because it was nice out and I wanted to go running, while it was still light outside. It was heavenly.

I came home and Coadster got home from college about the same time, The Guy got home from work. I made us some salmon, and potato pancakes and steamed asparagus and we had some crusty bread from the Co-op. Coadster loves salmon, and it's not something she'll make on her own, at school.

After we ate, The Guy and Coadster and I watched, His Girl Friday. Neither Coadster or I had ever seen it before. We both found it quite entertaining. People in movies in the 40's were so quick with the witty banter, that's for sure...

My friend E. and I at the halfway point of our 10 mile run.

On Saturday I woke up and finally finished reading my book. I made French toast for breakfast and did some other general, lazing around. Both the girls went to the Quad Cities to watch a show choir competition and The Guy headed out on a bike ride.

We decided we'd go to Solon, but then extended our ride to the Sutliff Bridge. We stopped at the bar there for some greasy food and a soda, to keep us fueled enough to ride back. It was over a 50 mile bike ride - the longest I've gone since RAGBRAI.

The Guy and E. running down my favorite part of the trail.

Saturday evening we went to our friends' A. and Britt's house for dinner. We drank red wine and she made a butternut squash and portabella mushroom lasagna. It was really good. We stayed and talked and ate and drank until a little after 11. So late for us.

The Guy and I at the end of our 10 miler. We think we're hilarious...As usual.

On Sunday, I was a bit tired (I'm sure it wasn't because of the wine or anything...). I started my new book - Ann Pathett's State of Wonder. It's really good so far.

Coadster went back to school about the same time The Guy, E. and I all went to some trails by Solon for E.'s first 10 mile run. It was a beautiful day, but the trails were a bit on the mushy side. E. finished the whole run and were both very proud of her.

In the evening, we went out to play pool for free with E. I was exhausted, so my game wasn't the best. Luckily for me, both The Guy and E. scratched on the 8 ball, so I lamely one two games.

I've Got No Deeds to do. No Promises to Keep.

Here is Archie lying on (oozing over) our hot water heater.

My weekend was wonderful. On Friday night, I made pan seared sea scallops, steamed asparagus, salad and sourdough bread and then we watched Bull Durham. It was perfect.

On Saturday I got up and went running right away. It was supposed to snow/rain all day, and I thought I'd try to get a jump on it. I ended up running a little over 8 miles, but The Guy ran for at least 11 miles. Pretty amazing. We ate lunch and then made it to the pool, where we swam laps. We had to hurry and get home and take showers so we could meet my friend K. and her husband at the Dublin at 6. We had a drink and then went to a restaurant called Basta for dinner and had a really good meal and conversation.

On Sunday, We got up and I got to work. I painted as much of the quarter round as I could before I went to run. At noon, we got on our bikes to meet our friend, Bry and his girlfriend at a coffee shop in North Liberty. We had a nice visit, and then they headed home and we rode further. We got 34.5 miles in altogether.

I picked up Stinky from work and got us some take-out Chinese food. We ate quickly and then headed to the Hilltop to watched the Superbowl with some friends. I wasn't all that interested in the game, but The Guy and I did shoot a couple of games of pool and I talked to some folks and we still got home around 9. Not too shabby, I'd say.

She's Breathing Quiet and Smooth

Here are a series of pics of me seemingly squishing other people's heads. I quite like them.

This weekend was nice. We had a few plans and then they changed...As plans sometimes do. I ended up taking The Guy out for Thai food on Friday night and then we went home and watched Fellini's La Strada. I hadn't seen it in 20 years, and I didn't remember it being quite so sad.

Even young children aren't safe...

On Saturday morning, we got a lot done around the house. I finally finished painting the trim in Coadster's old room and The Guy got almost everything out of his storage space. Sure, things are a bit crowded in our garage right now, but we'll get it all whittled down and put away or taken away. It's just nice to have it all at home for The Guy to easily work on now.

In the afternoon, our friend E. came over and The Guy took us out on a trail run. We went all through Hickory Hill Park and then out the other side and ran for however many more miles. We estimated that we ran around 8 miles altogether. Which is about half of what we're going to be racing in the middle of March, but it was nice that we knew we could at least do that.

In the evening we met back up with E and our friend Eggo and her husband at The Mill for pizza and beer. After running off about 900 calories, we figured we could load up a little. Around 8 we headed over to some other friends to play a game called Mad Gab. Of course, the kids who were there, were much better at it than any of the adults.

Oh, squishing heads can make some people so sad.

Sunday was another beautiful day. I wasn't feeling very well and was a bit migrainey, so I didn't get much done in the morning. I did run again, for about 4 miles in the afternoon. The Guy rode his bike for a couple of hours in there too.

In the evening, The Guy went to play pool with his friend Bry and I hung out at home and read my book. I'm currently reading The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides. Right now it takes place in 1982. It reminds me a lot of what I thought college would be like from reading too many writers' experiences in literature, but never was for me.

Turning Into My Soul

Hmmmm...

I'm not one much for labels. They only seem to cover one part of a person, but The Guy likes to tell me I'm an endurance athlete. I think that's pretty accurate, in many different ways.

I've lived most of my life, having to endure things. I'm not particularly patient, but I am diligent and if there is one thing I can do, it's endure. When I was younger, I endured the death of my mom, and the indentured servitude of my abusive legal guardians, my "lost" angry years, an abusive marriage (since I thought that's what I deserved) and the four years I spent reading, journaling and working on my self-esteem issues and insecurities, so that I would never again think I deserved an abusive relationship.

I counted down the hours and days until Stinky regained consciousness from her meningitis, and the minutes that seemed like hours for the tornado to slam into our basementless house and move on.

Here is a lone boxcar.

So, now that I know I can do it and I try to actively keep as much bad stuff out of my life as I can control, I don't worry so much about being happy and waiting for the other shoe to drop. Instead, I count the minutes of my brutal trainer work-out or the miles of my relaxing after work run. Every once in a while, I regret the time I wasted in bad situations in the past, but mostly, I'm too busy "enduring" the fun and athletic life I've worked so hard to create.

It's Begginning to Not Look a Lot Like Christmas

Here is an icy, snowy creek.

So, yeah. I hear there's some kind of big holiday coming up here...Oh yeah. Christmas. It just doesn't feel like it to me this year. I think a lot of it is that there isn't any snow. Last year about this time, we got a good, old fashioned snow storm and it suddenly got all seasonal.

This year, we haven't seen any of that. The nice thing, is that it's pretty warm for this time of year and there isn't ice all over the streets and sidewalks, so I've been able to run and bike outside for the most part.

I have most of my shopping done and plans for Christmas Eve and so I suppose Christmas will be here, whether it seems like it outside or not.

So I Go a Little Overboard, but Hang Onto the Hull

The awesome cyclocross wheels The Guy built me. Pretty.

I really meant to post yesterday, but couldn't on account of the Fall work retreat that went WAY too long yesterday. So, let's see what I can do today.

This weekend was wonderfully long. On Friday, The Guy and I had shrimp fajitas and black beans and de gallo and guac and it was lovely. We watched the old sci-fi movie, Them as well. You know how much I love my camp...

Me trying to make the fringe from the pool table look like Rick James bangs, and Bry spazzing out in front of the camera.

On Saturday, I got up and went running. I heard some thunder in the distance, but it looked like it might stay to the North of us. By the time I got back and The Guy and I found a park to practice some cyclocross, it started pouring. We sat under the shelter at the park and waited to see if it would let-up but then finally gave up and rode our bikes home in the rain. I did work on some mounting and dismounting on my bike and realized I have SO much work to do before my first race.

The rest of the day we spent cleaning and cooking for our dinner party that evening. I made a bunch of appetizers, like baked brie and blue cheese stuffed olives and roasted garlic and guacamole and chips and got things ready to grill. I made two kinds of salmon - garlic butter and brown sugar/dijon glazed salmon and many veggie packets. We took a break to swim laps and then came home got things ready to make mojitos.

It was a lovely dinner. I didn't have things timed as well as I would've liked, so I ended up spending more time manning the grill and making people mojitos and less time laughing and shooting the shit with my friends. Lesson learned. I also drank a mojito or two too many. It was really hard not to.

The Guy's face eclipsing mine.

On Sunday we were supposed to get up early and do the triathlon course again, but the rain brought in a cold front and the mojitos had me singing, "hangover, hangover. Send Churlita right over...." So, I did a lot more relaxing and lying about than I had originally planned. Instead, we went to Menards and I got some tulip and crocus bulbs that were way on sale to plant in the next month and a few little things for our house.

At 7 we met some friends at a pool hall where we can play for free and had a fine, incredibly silly time. Nothing wrong with that.

On Monday we finally did the biking part of the triathlon course. It was still WAY too cold to swim. Even with the holiday, there wasn't anybody at the beach. We got home and The Guy took me on a trail run. I normally just run on the sidewalk, but we went to Hickory Hill Park and it was actually pretty cool. I had to pay attention, which has never been one of my strong suits, but it was very pretty and rugged and kick-ass and I may start doing that more often.

We ended the night with the Monday Night Ride and that was a great time as well. All the goodness does make it harder to go back to cubicle world sometimes, though.

A Million Miles, Our Vagabond Heels Clocked Up Beneath the Clouds

Archie and The Guy doing their core work-out in the morning.

Soooo, three days off this weekend...But that just means more time with Archie. Oh my!

Archie trying to get into Stinky's suitcase....

Stinky left for camp for the next month and I'm taking Coadster to the Quad Cities for the weekend. It will be the first time that The Guy and I have ever been without a surly teen in the home. Now, if we could only have stowed Archie off in Stinky's suitcase...

...Getting closer...

I'm not sure what all I'm doing over the weekend. I plan to run and ride bikes and get some work done in and outside of the house and who knows...Maybe I'll even start that painting I've been talking about for years...

Score! Too bad, Stinky didn't accidentally take him with her.

How about you all? Do you have plans for the weekend? Do you know of any good ways to get ride of undesirable pets? Will you find a considerable lack of surly teens in your life for the next couple of days?

IsThis Place at Your Command?

J. and I giving G. some support before, during and after her race.

So, hey...Yeah. I thought I might get all crazy and actually blog today. Weird.

This weekend was lovely again. I had four whole days of it, so that was great in and of itself. On Friday I ran and mowed and planted some gladiola bulbs. The Guy wanted to take me out for dinner...Because he's sweet and wonderful. Our friend J. wanted us to meet him for a drink and we usually don't go out much on Friday nights, but for him, we made an exception.

G after finishing her first 5K. Yea!

On Saturday morning, I got up and went with J. to see our friend G. in her first 5K ever. She was afraid she would stop and walk or not finish, but she ran the whole thing. I was so proud of her. The Guy couldn't make it, because he needed to do some bike training. So, after G. finished running, J. suggested we go find The Guy on his time trial bike. I knew the route he was taking, and that made the stalking that much easier.

The rest of the day, I spent cleaning the hell out of my house. The Guy went to the Quad Cities with his mom to pick his sister up from the airport. When they got back, we all went to Pagliais for pizza. It's her favorite place to go when she comes back home.

Catching up to The Guy on his time trial bike.

On Sunday we went to The Guy's family lunch thing. Both of The Guy's parents grew up on farms in small towns around the area. This thing was for his mom's side of the family. At one point The Guy asked me if his quirks all made sense after meeting his family, and I told him all families were crazy in their own special way. Before the lunch, The Guy drove me around where he grew up in Coralville and showed me his childhood home and a few other places. I loved it.

His family was just fine. They all seemed to have at least two little, yappy accessory dogs a piece. One of his aunts looked like she just stepped out of a 1968 cocktail party. She had those huge dark, Jackie O sunglasses and wore a wig and the first thing she said to me was, "Cats, dogs and old men love me...And I can't stand any of 'em." Awesome.

At one point at the end of the shindig, her wig fell off her head and her son quipped, "I thought one of the dogs dropped dead, but it's just her "hair"'.

The Guy was really good about introducing me to everyone and then his mom asked him how he was referring to me to the family. The Guy told her he was just calling me his landlady. His mom asked me if I ever felt like punching The Guy. Have I ever told you all how much I like The Guy's mom?

Anyway, my weekend turned out very, very well. I got a lot done, got to run and bike and meet some of The Guy's extended family.

Searchin' For Light in the Darkness of Insanity

Here is a picture looking up the skirt of a tower in Rock Island, Il.

Oh, kids. I think I have officially become the worst Blogger ever. I keep trying and I will continue to try, but I'm sure I will be inconsistent at best.

On the plus side...It means that I am so busy and excited and doing so many things in the real world to Blog.

Sooooo, right now I'm working and thinking about what I'll be doing after work. If it quits raining, I'll go running and do recycling and garden until it is too dark to see, then I'll go inside and fold laundry and watch Twilight Zone episodes on Netlfix streaming. If it continues to rain, I might just scrap it all and watch Twilight Zone - with our without the laundry folding.

Dream Up, Dream Up

Heidi cat has been thoroughly nipped here.

So, hey. It's not only the weekend, but we get THREE WHOLE DAYS! Hurray!

I'm sure this weekend will be just as busy as ever, but I'm soooo excited for it.

Tonight I will go running after work, then make black bean chili, corn bread and guacamole. Then hopefully, watch a movie before we fall asleep. Coadster got a ride to the Quad Cities with a friend this afternoon. We were going to leave an hour early for The Guy's race, in order to get Coadster to her boyfriend's house, but now we don't have to.

On Saturday, we'll go to Burlington Iowa to watch The Guy race his bike up Snake Alley. Then we'll get pizza at Napoli and come home and nap and then garden and I might run or whatever else. In the evening we're going to see some roller derby and I am REALLY excited about that.

The Guy has another bike race on Sunday. This time it's in Muscatine. On the way home, we're going to try and stop at West Branch, where my first bike race will take place. We'll at least drive the course, so I can see how hard it is.

On Monday, The Guy has a criterium in Rock Island. We'll get Coadster on the way home and hopefully do the Monday night ride that weekend.

I hope everyone out there is blog land has a nice extended weekend as well.

'Cause I Need to Feel the Stars Sleep By at Night

Here is Iowa on a beautiful Spring day.

Tonight was another Monday Night Ride and the weather couldn't have been any better...Of course, the bugs couldn't have been any worse either, but this is Iowa in the Spring after all and that means you get lots of lots of protein riding your bike at night here. Gross!

I actually made myself get up early and run before work this morning and I'm so glad I did. It makes my whole day that much better. Tonight I am mowing that woman's lawn after work, so I'm glad I got a good run in already.

The weather has been amazing the last two days. I wonder if Iowa was sorry for this weekend's storms and wanted to make up for it. Then again, it's supposed to storm again tomorrow, so maybe Iowa is just a temperamental bitch like that....

I Know This Much is True

Here is something that appeared under our back staircase at work yesterday. It's still there today. I'm curious to see how long it "sticks" around.

So, last night turned out very, very well. I stopped at the Co-op on my way home and then got home and went running. The Guy did a little hanging out on the back porch with the cats, then he came in and tidied up the kitchen and cleaned the bathroom.

I started cooking when I got home from running. I made spicy peanut noodles, and roasted garlic and Miso soup and The Guy made salad and we had sour dough bread from the Co-op. G. and our friend Sara came over and we laughed our asses off and flipped each other shit for a few hours before we remembered it was a school night and had to go to bed.


We have a cubicle at work that we made our "happy place". We can go there when we need a time-out. We put up a tropical beach scene poster and one of the students brought in this dancing hula girl. Nice.

Tonight, I'm supposed to meet my friend E. to run. I'm a little on the migrainey side, so we'll see how that goes. I just took my meds and I'm waiting for them to kick-in. I haven't had a bad mirgraine in quite some time, so I've been happy about that. Apparently, I can't go forever, though.

I'm So Wired Up. Don't Need No Coffee In My Cup.

Here are some Star Trek Captains hanging above a pool table in Riverside Iowa.

So, I had a hard time sleeping on Monday night. I kept waking up and not being able to fall back to sleep. Since I have so much vacation time saved up, I decided to use a half day of it and go home at noon and nap. I highly recommend it.

I had Stinky call me when she was done with school, so I would wake up and get her and get things done for the rest of my afternoon. I did go donate plasma and I ran after that. I was going to heat up something easy for dinner, but The Guy came home from his bike ride and said he was craving sushi and asked if I'd let him take me out for some. Who was I to say no?

I had a wonderful half day off and was able to sleep well last night. I guess we'll see what tonight brings, but I feel a million times better today than I did at this time yesterday.

Let's all remember to stop, relax and take care of ourselves when we can, okay?

We Could Steal Time. Just for One Day

Me in front of the Sutliff Tavern sign.

Whew! But I'm tired. I think I might finally have worn myself out this weekend.

Friday night The Guy and I made shrimp fajitas and drank some wine and then tried to watch the movie, Dead Man. We got about halfway through before we both started dozing off. It's a good movie...Just a little on the slow side.

The boys hitching up the bikes across from the Harley's.

After going to bed at 10 the night before, I still slept in until after 7. It was a good thing I got so much rest, though. I did a very few things around the house and took Stinky to work before The Guy and I met Bry at the Hamburg Inn. We ate and then headed to The Mill. I'm not sure why went there. A bunch of cyclists met there to start their ride, but we didn't ride with them, because they seemed like they were going to stop at every bar in the world, and we only wanted to stop at a couple of bars.

Bry pointing toward the dangerous bridge.

We rode one hell of a hilly 55 mile bike route around Lake McBride and all the way to the Sutliff Bridge. We did stop at a bar or two and when we got to Sutliff, Bry started playing pool with the locals and we stayed way later than we thought. I was happy because I was able to handle the hills and both The Guy and Bry gave me some great riding tips. We were out so long, that we rode country roads around dusk. It was a little scary watching out for the deer that were bounding around all over the place, but we did get to see a fox too and that was cool.

The bridge - half washed away from the flood a few years ago.

We finally got home around 9, ordered a pizza and ate it while watching an Andy Griffith episode. Yeah. We sure know how to party on a Saturday night, don't we? But I really wouldn't have it any other way.

On Sunday I putzed around a lot and went running. The Guy took my car and got it washed and shop vac'ed the hell out of the inside. I can't believe what a lucky girl I am sometimes.

We went on another ride on Sunday. That one was almost 38 miles. It was lovely. Then The Guy took himself out for a nice dinner and to play pool with Bry, while I had some alone time with Stinky. We went out for breakfast for dinner and then came home and watched the most recent Harry Potter movie.

Needless to say, I am taking the day off from any kind of exercise.

And All the World is Biscuit Shaped. It's Just There for Me to Feed My Face

The Guy and I before the race.

The weather outside was frightful, but this weekend was so delightful...And yes, it did snow on Saturday morning.

On Friday night, we ate our veggie lasagna and bread and salad and drank our wine and watched Boogie Nights and it was cold and rainy outside, but nice and warm and cozy inside. I love those kind of nights.

Here's me trying to kick it in at the end of my race.

Saturday was pretty mellow. We did a few things around the house and had eggs and veggies and potatoes for breakfast. Then in the afternoon, the guy went to lunch with his ex and I went to get a few things for the house. I got some wine glasses, silverware and a table cloth, all very much on sale. As much as I hate to shop, I sure don't mind good deals.


E. and Roger and I after the race. All tired and with bunny ears. Precious.

Since Saturday was the 6 month anniversary of The Guy trying so hard to get out of a date with me, he got hit by a pick-up truck, I thought I'd celebrate it by making him go out on another date with me...I figured he wouldn't try that excuse again. I wined and dined him at the Tuscan Moon in Kalona. It was lovely and wonderful. We drove home and tried to watch a couple of episodes of the first season of The Andy Griffith Show on Netflix streaming. I made it through the first one, and nodded off during the second. Hey. 1 out of 2 ain't bad.

Here's me all done with the race with the water bottle and towel The Guy had all ready and waiting for me.

We woke up early on Sunday to get ready for my race. With a few lapses, (in judgment) I've basically been single for 8 years. I'm used to doing everything for and by myself. I've done several races and they were all fine without anyone around to watch or support...But I have to say, it sure is nice to have help in all of this. The Guy drove me to where I was supposed to be and then parked the car and met me. He held me and E's jackets while we ran, took great pics before, during and after and had water bottles and towels ready for us the minute we were done. I really don't think I could ask for a better boyfriend.

After the race, we went out for a greasy breakfast, then went home and took a nap. In the afternoon, we got up and rode our bikes to Hills and then extended the route a bit past there with our friend Bry. Nice, nice, nice.