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.

It's the Smiling on the Package, It's the Faces in the Sand

Here is some Christmas Eve graffiti I saw when I was running.


Christmas weekend was good. On Friday we ate shrimp scampi pasta and watched the movie The Family Stone.

On Saturday, I got up and went running. The girls and I scurried around getting ready to go to Ottumwa. We got to see my sister's family - which was the main reason we go down there. Her kids were fun and all hopped up about the holiday.

We headed home a little later than I wanted, but made it home before 10. The Guy got home from his mom's house about 2 seconds before us, so we all talked about our separate celebrations and then went to bed.

The Guy and I woke up on Christmas day and waited for the girls to get up...And waited, and waited...Finally, we had French toast for breakfast. The Guy was feeling like he was catching a cold, so he took a little nap. While he was asleep, the girls finally got up and went through their stockings. They seemed quite happy with what they found in there.

The Guy woke up and the girls gave us their gifts. Stinky painted us a picture to hang in the living room, and Coadster bought us books on the history of Prohibition, a book about the perfect bike and a biography of Kurt Vonnegut. She knows us well.

The Guy's mom stopped over after she got out of church, and we all went out for sushi lunch together. It was very nice, and we stuffed ourselves. I tried to run a couple hours later, but my belly still wouldn't let me. Instead, I opted to lie around and read my book Swamplandia! It is pretty bizarre and wonderful.

Later in the evening, my friend G. called to tell me stories of her evening out at the bar on Christmas Eve. About halfway through, I asked her if she just didn't want to come over and have dinner with us. it wasn't anything special, just grilled cheese and tomato or chicken noodle soup, but she ate with us anyway.

We had a great talk and laughed a ton before we lost G. to the bar again. We finished the night by watching the movie, Heathers. Both the girls had a great time making fun of all the 80'sness about it. By the end of the holiday weekend, I felt like we had covered all the bases.

But have a Cup of Cheer

This is what I get for coming to work today. An eyeful of this. Eek!

So, I have a few hours left before my long holiday weekend. I just want to wish you all a safe and fun holiday, whatever you celebrate, and if you don't celebrate, I hope you enjoy your lack of celebration as well.

The girls and I will be heading to Ottumwa on Christmas Eve for a few hours and The Guy will go to his mom's to make oyster stew and watch It's a Wonderful Life with her. On Christmas day, I hope we can get my girls and The Guy's mom all together for sushi for lunch - just like how my Irish ancestors spent the holiday.

Soooo, yeah....RAWK!

Laughing and a Running. Hey, hey.

Another snapped derailleur from the mud.

This weekend was so great. You'd think I'd get tired of all of these wonderful weekends, but I'm so busy appreciating them, that it hasn't happened yet.

A carnival ride Wintering at the Johnson County Fairgrounds.

On Friday night, The Guy took me out for Thai food and then we went home and watched Christmas in Connecticut. We both love those cheesy old movies, but like I said to the guy, the characters all seem like they're totally drunk during the entire move.

Archie wearing my wool gator.

On Saturday, we did a bunch of things around the house. Nothing all that very exciting, but nice to have done. We rode out to the Fairgrounds around 11:30 to ride bikes in the mud and to take them over the fly-over thing and I wanted to get better and faster at trudging up a muddy hill with my bike too.

It turned out that the mud was too much for my derailleur and it snapped again. The Guy rode his bike home and drove back to pick me up. The Guy also put a new derailleur on for me. There's really nothing better than a handy man, is there?

Heading to Augusta's.

In the afternoon, we went to swim laps with our friend JH. It was the first time since I trained for the triathlon in September that I had done any swimming at all. I was surprised at how strong I still felt. Of course, seeing myself in a swim suit in December in Iowa wasn't much fun, but it was good motivation for me to get busy with my Winter training, at least.

In the evening, we stopped at the Dublin to see our favorite bartender, S. His hot wife was there and a few other friends, so we had a nice talk with everyone until we realized it was time to eat and we headed to Mickey's. The Guy was good and he had black bean soup and a salad, but I had cheese fries. Apparently, cheese fries can make me forget all about Winter training.

The best Bloody Mary I've ever had. Merry Christmas to me.

On Sunday, we got up and got more stuff done on the house. We taped and primed the spare bedroom. Now, all we have to do is paint.

We took off for Oxford, Ia. on our bikes. It was a 50 mile ride, and the longest we've ridden in months. the weather was amazing. Almost 50 degrees in December. Crazy. We had a great ride and I still felt pretty strong on the bike. I hope I can keep all this up over the Winter.

We got to Oxford in time for brunch. Mimosa's and Bloody Mary's were on sale and one of their entrees was poached eggs over crab cakes, covered in hollandaise sauce. Yes, you read that right...Oh, and did I mention that the Bloody Mary's had a slice of the best bacon I've ever had in them too? I don't eat much meat, but if I'm going to, I choose perfectly cooked bacon, dipped in Bloody Mary. Yum.

This the amazing brunch we had.

We rode home and made it, right before it got dark. We had just enough time to get the spare bedroom back together before Coadster and her boyfriend came home. We all watched Good Morning Vietnam together. I hadn't seen it since it was out in theaters in the 80's. I was surprised at how well it held up. Both Coadster and her boyfriend were laughing out loud at some of it.

Sooooo, good food, fun older movies, great work-outs, a couple of drinks, awesome friends, several laughs and time with the family. My recipe for a perfect weekend.

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.

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!

Tides That I Tried to Swim Against

I had a very busy weekend. So, I am giving you a mostly photo post, with me using my words in the simplest way possible.

I got off at noon on Friday and did very many things - like running 6 miles, taking my car to Jiffy Lube and doing some bank business. After The Guy got home, I put the mower together (with some help from The Guy) and mowed the lawn, while he worked on his bike. We made a dinner and I finally tried my hand at making the perfect margarita. It wasn't quite perfect, but it was close.

On Saturday, I drove Stinky to work, then The Guy and I went back to Sharon Center for another bike race. It was good and it was fun. It was also cold, so during the half hour or so it took the guy to circle around, I sat in the car and read Arabian Nights - which is a pretty rough read, unless you're really into violence against women.

Here is my niece, who is going to be who she's going to be...Even with Jesus looking over her shoulder.

Our friend Bry showed up in the afternoon to watch The Guy's last time trial and then he talked us into going to another small town for a beer on our way home.

We went home, ordered a pizza and watched Andy Griffith. During the second episode, we found ourselves both asleep and propped-up against each other on the couch. We decided it was time to go to bed, about fifteen minutes before 9 pm. Once again, we are very, very young. Ahem.

On Sunday morning, I hit the ground running. Stinky and I left the house around 7'ish and made it to my nephew's 1st communion only 5 minutes late. Hey, that's good for me! We didn't have time to go to the brunch after, and headed back to Iowa City. The Guy had another bike race, which I wasn't able to attend.

I got home and dropped Stinky off at her work crew and then headed back on the road toward Ames.

I got to Coadster's last choir concert of the year with 15 minutes to spare. They performed Handel's Messiah. It was beautiful, if not a bit long. I sat with Coadster's boyfriend and had a good talk. I really like him.

After the show, I took Coadster and her boyfriend out for dinner. Then we stopped by her dorm room and carried out a bunch of clothes. She comes home for the Summer next weekend.

After 8 hours of driving and 14 hours away from home, I finally made it back around 9 o'clock. The Guy was out playing pool with Bry and Stinky was at a youth group meeting. It was nice to have an hour or so to myself, before everyone else got home and we all got caught up on each others' days.

If You Don't Answer, I'll Just Ring It Off the Wall

Here is Coadster in college. It seems she hasn't lost her attitude at all...

So, Coadster called me last night. As I've said, I hate to talk on the phone. I have no idea why. I think it has something to do with how socially challenged I am. I can't see the person who is talking and it makes me antsy and babble and then I get distracted by whatever is going on in my house at the time and only half listen, which makes me even more antsy and babbley and it really just isn't my thing. Of course, Coadster loves to talk on the phone and now that she lives somewhere else, talking on the phone is a necessary evil. I'm sure Coadster laughs her ass off after I constantly say, "So, what else is going on?" In order for her to talk more, so I don't have to.

Anyway, Coadster called me yesterday to tell me she gave blood for the first time. She is O negative, (universal donor) so her blood is in demand. Coadster is a HUGE wimp about that kind of thing, so it was even bigger deal that she donated. I'm proud of her.

Stinky is starting to go through that stage that Coadster went through when she got closer to being 18 - the one where she was a self-absorbed pain in the ass. Lord knows, I love them both, but I do have to roll my eyes sometimes. This morning, Stinky and I got into a little spat and she said something to the effect of, "Well, I thought I lived here, so I wouldn't have to...(be more conscientious about whatever)" I informed her that she does live here, but she's not the only person who lives here. So, she did step down and realize she was being hard to take, but we've been having more and more of those special moments lately. At least I've been through it with Coadster before, and I know it's just a phase.

Let's All Get Up and Dance to a Song

The Guy and I with some friends last weekend.

Well, kids. I hope everyone in Japan and the West Coast is okay...And that includes any of my blogging buddies.

So, this weekend proves to be a busy one. Tonight I'm making tofu shrimp stir-fry and miso soup and we're watching a movie. In my mind, it's a perfect Friday night.

Tomorrow I'll try to get up early and get some cleaning done. Then The Guy's mom is coming over and checking out his new digs and visiting the cat and meeting Archie. Poor woman. We'll go to Oyama for lunch and then I think The Guy will go back with his mom and ride one of his bikes home while I run and get a few things done around the house. We're also kicking around the idea of getting a swim in later in the afternoon.

Saturday evening we'll stop by a friend's pre-St Patty's Day get together for a bit.

On Sunday Coadster and her boyfriend come home for a couple of days. Yea!

What are your plans this weekend? Will you be hanging with family, or hanging with family?

...And May All Your Christmases be White

A pic that Stinky took of her cousin when my girls were down in Ottumwa.

So, hey! Merry Christmas or whatever you like to celebrate! Sorry, I haven't written in a while. Things have been crazy busy in my world.

Sooooo, let's see...Where were we? Oh yeah. I dropped the girls off with my sister on Tuesday night. They had a great time while they were there. The original plan was for me to pick them back up when I came down on Christmas Eve. I had a wonderful Wednesday night with the guy....As usual. Then on Thursday morning I woke up to find that there was a big blizzard coming our way for Friday. Drat!

Instead of a nice leisurely day of last minute shopping, followed by a quaint evening wrapping gifts and watching movies, I ended up running around to a crowded mall and a few other insanely busy stores,throwing all my gifts into bags and driving down to Ottumwa a day early to avoid the storm. By the time I got there I was so frazzled, and stressed and tired and hungry, I could barely enjoy myself. I did get to see all the cousins and I know my girls were happy everyone was there too.

Sadly, all they had was snack food and I was STARVING, plus I wasn't sure what time the snow was supposed to start flying, so we didn't stay very long.

Christmas Eve did turn out pretty nicely for me and the girls after all...Even if it was different than how we normally spend it. I got up and shoveled snow, then Coadster and I ran some errands. I picked up the guy and we had a lunch at the Masala for the Indian food buffet. Very nice.

In the afternoon, the girls and I went to the mall. Not my favorite place, but it makes the girls happy, they had some Christmas money to burn and it was very empty on account of the weather. We then got some groceries, and rented some movies and headed home. We ate popcorn and M and M's and watched movies until Coadster left with her dad to go to church and Stinky fell asleep on the couch. I watched White Christmas (pretty fitting, don't you think?) and at some point, Stinky woke up and I took her place falling asleep on the couch. I feel like we celebrated that day very well, thank you.

Sensitive to Fate, Not Denial

I like the roof on this building at Iowa State.

Let's see....Tonight was good. I originally planned to get some more work done on the house, but I got a message from a friend who was in from out of town, asking if myself and my friend A. wanted to meet for dinner at Micky's. Then another friend who was visiting asked what I was doing, so I invited her along with my friend, K. It ended up being a nice mellow night. After we ate, we stopped into the Dublin for one drink and had a nice chat. It was good to see G. He lives in Virginia and it had been a couple of years. The last time I saw him, he was in a new relationship, and now he and his girlfriend are living together and he seems really happy...Which was good to see. My other friend lives in Northern Wisconsin. It had probably been a year since I had seen her, so that was nice too. I love it when people come to visit. After my one beer, I was home early and played around with my new toy.

What new toy, you ask? Well, last week I posted a status update bemoaning the loss of my iPod that died a couple of months ago. One of my California cousins told me he had an extra iPod shuffle that he would send me. I assumed it was a used one, he was done with, but he sent me a brand new 4g shuffle. My old iPod had been a HUGE 16 gig thingy that played movies. It was heavy and cumbersome to run with. The shuffle is so small, I almost thought it was just a clip and that they had forgotten to pack the actual iPod. I took the night off of running, but I can't wait to use it tomorrow. I asked my friends and got on the internets and I think I've figured out how all of its little features work. Between finally running with music, mowing my lawn, and vacuuming around my living room with the attachments, (yes, I love to vacuum and mow the lawn. I've never claimed to be normal) I'll have a lot to look forward to after work tomorrow.

Okay. So, have a good night, and wake up grateful that you're not as weird as I am...As I'm sure you do each and every morning.

Cuz All I Want is Here and Now, But It's Already Been and Gone

Coadster with some of her show choir friends at the party.

Before I start in on Sunday, I just have to tell you a good thing. My brother decided to give Coadster some money to buy a laptop for her graduation gift. He gave her enough to get a nice Dell, but she had her eye on a Mac. I mentioned to my friend B. (who is a computer guru) in passing that we were looking for a laptop and if he had any advice, we'd love to hear it. He sent me links to different laptops and then found one on Craigslist where a guy was selling his Macbook that he bought for about twice what we had. Then on Friday night B. told me that he bought that laptop. I assumed he meant for himself. So, I asked him if that was his first Mac. He told me, no. He bought it for Coadster. He got an amazing deal on it and we could easily afford it with what we had. Then he updated it and added all the stuff he had. We picked it up today and Coadster is about ready to explode with excitement for her new toy. Nice.

The cake with text hearts and emoticons. Hilarious.

So, I hit the ground running on Sunday. I cleaned, I cooked, I got the girls in gear and my sister and brother-in-law were nice enough to pick up some ice and a few things and there was much hub bub and last minute stressing out. My exes brother showed up an hour early. That is one of the meanest things you can do to me. Show up on time? Great, but early is B-A-D for a procrastinator like me. Anyway, by three I was close to being there, but not quite. G., D., and Dex showed up. I quickly informed them that I was ready to start breathing into a bag. G. said, "Tell us what to do, and if you can't think of anything, I'll start bossing everyone around. D.'s here and she's good at that too." They swarmed the kitchen and washed the few remaining dishes, put out the last of the food and we were completely ready the minute everyone showed up. I really do have the best friends and family in the world.

The spread.

The party itself was very nice. Once it started, I calmed down and tried to say hi to everyone and got interrupted a hundred times. I hope no one was offended. I just didn't have time to have long conversations with anyone.

Some of the kids Coadster babysits for showed up too. There was a pretty intense kick ball game going on in the backyard.

When it was about 5:15, Coadster went to the backyard where her dad's family had congregated (they were the last ones left) to let them know she was leaving. She had sent a Facebook message to them the night before letting them know she had other parties she'd love to attend and so had to stick to the 5 o'clock deadline. They were all very good about taking the hint and by 5:30 everyone was gone except my sister's family and I told them they were welcome to stay as long as they liked, because I can relax around them.

Coadster's shrine.

After they left, I changed into shorts and picked up G., D., and Dex and we headed to our friend H.'s birthday party. That was a lot of fun too. All my favorite Dubliners were there, so I made the rounds and tried to talk to everyone at least a little bit. I even had a couple of beers, which really, really hit the spot.

My nephew as the return of creepy ham face monster. EW!

At some point, Coadster texted me to let me know she was home for the night. She said she was finally grad partied out. Even though I was having a great time with my friends, I started thinking about it, and realized I'd really rather be at home hanging out with Coadster. So, I said my goodbyes and went home. Coadster and I sat around and kind of half-watched the Hangover, while she opened her envelopes and made a list of people to send thank-you's to, while also making plans for trips and activities for the Summer. Coadster also made a big point to tell me how thankful she was that I put so much time and effort into her party. She said it was exactly what she wanted. Hearing that was worth any bit of stress I experienced from it. Not a bad way to end the night at all.

God Bid Yesterday Goodbye

Me and the girls after Coadster's graduation.

So, first please allow me to have a little vent. I just found out that it's going to cost me $450 to get the brakes fixed on my car.

Dear Universe,

Could you please let me get through a month without a costly mini-disaster? I realize these could all be real disasters and much, much worse, but I would still really love to have at least one month off without termite invasions, car problems or pipes freezing. Thank you.

Love, Churlita.

Okay, on to Saturday...It all started out well. I ran, took the girls a few places, came home and finished mowing the lawn and cleaning and then got ready for the graduation before I picked Stinky up from work. While at the store, I got the rest of the shopping done. When we got home, my aunt, my sister, my niece and one of Stinky's best friends were all waiting for us. We quickly changed and jumped into the car and headed to Carver Hawkeye Arena.

The throwing of the hats.

The arena smelled like livestock, and we later found out there was some kind of wrestling gig there, and apparently wrestlers smell like stinky horses now. Who knew?

The ceremony was nice and emotional and the principal gave a very pointed speech about the kids sticking to their guns when they know what they're doing is right and not caving to pressure...Even if it means losing your job, like he did. Wow. He got a standing ovation from the audience. The school board members on the stage, including the superintendent, remained seated.

Anyway, we were all so proud of our girl and I only teared up a tiny little bit when I saw her walk across the stage so tall and poised and I could still remember her little girl voice in my head telling me she couldn't wait to be a big, high school girl. Awwwww.

Originally, I figured my sister and aunt would want to leave right away after the ceremony, so I didn't even make plans for dinner afterward, but they said they wanted to take us out. Since any of the bigger restaurants were probably booked a long time ago, we just headed to Village Inn and were all very happy to eat there. It was a really lovely evening.

Three generations of quirky fun girls in one family. Woo Hoo!

Earlier in the day, I found out that my friend's fiance died after about a 7 month bout with cancer. It was heartbreaking. They were one of those couples you hang out with and think, "Hmmm. So that's what a healthy relationship looks like..." I'd never seen two people so happy together. I told everyone to let me know what I could do. Right before the graduation started, I got a call from G. telling me that our friend didn't want to be alone, and so all of our friends dropped what we were doing and went over to her house. I was planning on cleaning and getting ready for the party on Saturday night, but that really didn't seem all that important anymore.

We all sat outside on a beautiful night and cried and laughed and talked and drank (except me, because I had so much to do) with her until she felt okay to finally pass-out and go to sleep. It was an amazing, emotional and intense night and I was so glad I got to be there for her and felt lucky to have such an incredible group of friends.