Gamer

It can't be stopped, it's in their blood.

I AM The Princess

Every girl dreams of being the princess, maybe some more than others. The beautiful dresses, the glass slippers, the tiara. Sigh.

I recently took steps to attain my princesshood. I pursued my crown. But it wasn't a glamorous crown, it was a painful crown. A dental crown. Oh goodness gracious sakes alive, what an experience.

I have had my share of dental work in my 31 years thus far. Orthodontics, oral surgery, root canals, wisdom tooth extraction, etcetera, etcetera. It it weren't for modern dentistry, I'd be a full blown hillbilly. Crooked teeth, missing teeth, who knows what else. At least I could wear bib overalls with pride. And go barefoot all day with a baby on my hip. Wait...

I showed up for my first appointment unsure of what to expect. I knew it would be a long process but I didn't know exactly what would be involved. The little mouth-holder-opener was a lot of fun. I felt like a kid with vampire teeth that were permanently fixed open. They started with the grinding and grinding. I'm assuming they were chunking away at my tooth, belt sanding the thing down to nothing. At some point they took a couple molds. That's fun too. Having your teeth cemented to each other and not being able to swallow properly. Oh the sensations of suffocating.

At one point she put something in there that tasted absolutely horrific. I gagged and grasped at my chest, and tried to partially sit up with my mouth secured open, and a vacuum sucker shoved down my throat. It was a beautiful moment of dignity. Very princess-like. And then there is the looming questions of what to do with your eyes during dental work. Stare into the light and burn your retinas thereby distracting yourself from the uncomfortableness of the actual dental work? Look straight into the eyes of the dental assistant? Count ceiling tiles? Or the option I always choose, close your eyes. But that can be dangerous for a mother of seven. Reclined in a chair with mostly silence save the Muzak, it is very tempting to doze off. How embarrassing though if I would do the infamous leg-jerk-awake reaction. Not the safest thing to do with a drill in your mouth.

I triumphed. I exited the dental office with a little less dignity and a temporary false tooth. They warned me that "in case it comes off before your next appointment" I should come in to have it recemented. But until I get in, I can temporarily attach it with toothpaste. Now THAT would be classy. In the middle of a dinner out, mid bite, my cuspid goes flying across the table. Excuse me sir, but my tooth is in your soup. Just a minute, I need to fish it out and then go reapply it in the bathroom with this travel sized toothpaste I carry in my purse.

I hold fast to the truth that Sara Crewe said so well, " I am a princess. All girls are." Even if they are repressing their inner hillbilly while sporting temporary false teeth.

By the end of my next appointment, I will have my crown. I WILL be a princess.

Boring Old Updates About Closets, So Much Fun

Because of my love for overpriced coffee, I busted out the closet painting as fast as humanly possible. It had to dry so I might as well make a trip to nearby town to have a beautiful Iced Caramel Macchiato. That is one pretty coffee drink, let me tell you. I never want to stir it up, I just want to look at it.



And look at that muffin. What I wouldn't give for one of those muffins right now...

Back to the closet.

So I'm in the process of The Big Organization of the Fall of 2008. Do not confuse this with The Great Organization of the Spring of 2008 or the Let's Get Organized 2007, or even The Laundry Pile Family Attempts Organization 2006. None of those were very big successes. But THIS will be successful. IT. WILL.

I don't have a photo of the closet before. Picture it with me. Small closet with bifold door. Shelf and rod about six feet up wit all three girls' hangables on it. Two dressers side by side inside the closet, one of the dressers missing a drawer. Not necessarily the best plan. So I bought this organizer thingy with the hopes that it would be a change for the better. We want to get rid of as many dressers as possible in order to maximize space. Maximizing space is the ultimate goal at this point.

The closet was painted and I attempted the assembly of the organizer, as Gemma would put it, "All by my fel-s" (self). I did a pretty good job and put the shelving system together without help. But I consider myself a wise woman in some manner and I knew when it was time to call in the big guns. Nate finished out the job of anchoring it to the wall and installing the rods.

I give you...The Girls' Closet:


This will be complimented with a large wardrobe on the other side of the room to house the rest of their clothes. It has yet to be assembled. But that is another post for another day.

Let's summarize:

• I painted the closet in a timely fashion.
• I was able to obtain my Starbucks drink in a timely fashion
• My girls now have a place to store their fashion.

My life is complete.

Same Blog Different Purpose

This is an accountability post. Three days ago I took EVERYTHING out of the girls' clothes closet with plans to paint it a fresh coat of white and then install a new closet organizer. Three days ago. I put all the clothes that were on hangers on the top bunk. But when evening came around and the closet wasn't reassembled, Noelle had nowhere to sleep. So the clothes were moved to the floor. You see where this is going don't you?

So now their room is carpeted in clean clothes and the closet still isn't painted. The first night they asked if they could make a little bed in the closet and sleep there in their little "fort". Sure! Now they have slept there two nights and I think they are getting used to it.

I have GOT to get that thing painted. Today. Today I have to paint it. This is the day.

Please, if you see me around the internet, ask me about the closet. Ask me why I'm playing online tetris and not painting the closet. If you see me at the grocery store, ask me about the closet. Ask me why I'm buying toilet paper and not painting the closet. Wait, buying toilet paper is excuseable, we are down to the end of the last roll. That is dangerous territory.

While I was typing that last paragraph, my mom called and invited me to go shopping in nearby-town-that-has-a-Starbucks...

I WILL paint that closet today. (or maybe tomorrow)

Something To Think About

This quote really struck me today. I'm going to be thinking about it for quite awhile.

"We try to get joy through entertainment. We pay someone to make jokes, tell stories, perform dramatic action, sing songs. We buy the vitality of another's imagination to divert and enliven our own poor lives. The enormous entertainment industry in America is a sign of the depletion of joy in our culture. Society is a bored, glutenous king employing a court jester to divert it after an overindulgent meal. (emphasis mine) But that kind of joy never penetrates our lives, never changes our basic constitution. The effects are extremely temporary, a few minutes, a few hours, a few days at most. When we run out of money, the joy trickles away.

Eugene H. Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

Now What?

Can you bear another post about running?

So I'm three days past the big race and I feel a little bit of sadness. I have been consumed by training for four months. The nightly question was "what's on tomorrow's running schedule?". Now there is nothing on any running schedule. I can do whatever I want. What I want is for there to be a schedule telling me what to do.

I really liked having goals. I really liked having that big thing out there that I was working towards. Surprisingly, I really liked the discipline as painful as it was sometimes. So I've been thinking a lot about "now what". I'm not sure yet. I'm working it out with myself.

My legs are mostly better. I went out this morning and got them moving for 3 miles. It felt good. Stairs are becoming easier, I don't have to lean against the wall while I go down them sideways anymore. It took my shoes three days to dry out.

Thank you all for your sweet words of encouragement and for sharing in this moment with me. I can't tell you how much it means to hear congratulations from all over the internet. Next time I fully expect you all to be standing along the curb, ringing a huge cowbell or running along side me. Now THAT would be fun. The Internet runs a marathon.

Marathon: Race Report

I'M ALIVE!

Wow. Wow, wow, wow. What an experience. I have so much to say. Let me just give you the option of not having to read through a novel to hear how it went. I give you the short version and the long version.

Short version:

Despite down pouring rain and freezing winds, race day ended up being perfect. I much preferred it to heat. Ran it exactly how I wanted to, I wouldn't change a thing. It was an amazing emotional experience and I am so glad I did it. Finish time 4:15:32

Long version:

Get a big cup of coffee and maybe even a snack, because this is going to be long and possibly very boring. I really want to write this all out though because I don't want to forget anything.

I picked up Kelsey at 7 am on Saturday morning to drive up to the race. We wanted to spend all of Saturday at the expo and the Mall of America. We arrived at the expo, and after a parking fiasco, we made our way through the sky walks and tunnels to the convention center where the expo was held. Let me insert at this point how proud I am of myself for driving a stick shift in the big city. Small town rural girl meets skyscrapers and city driving. Yee Haw!

We met up with my Internet friends. None of them turned out to be axe murderers, so that's good. That brings my total of people-from-the-Internet-that-I've-met-in-real-life up to twelve. 100% of them have not been axe murderers. Pretty good statistics so far! But it only takes one.

Ok, so we met them and they were FANTASTIC! And I was so excited and probably talked too much and they were probably rolling their eyes at me on the inside, but if they were they didn't show it. I loved meeting them and I'm so glad it worked out.


Kelsey and I stayed at the expo for quite awhile. We hit every single vendor and got every single sample. Again, Yee HAW! We aren't newbies or anything. At this point it was really sinking in that we were here for a reason, to actually RUN. I bought a race t-shirt as a souvenir. I also picked up two Bondi Bands. They are great for bad hair days. Kelsey bought one and wore it during the race. Super fun. We headed to the mall but got a little bit lost. Not a lot lost, just a little bit. That little bit of lostness put us in a traffic jam caused by an accident and we missed hooking up with my internet friends at the mall. It was a bummer but we made the best of it and went to Ikea instead. Now THAT was good times. I love that place.

Then we headed back to the pasta feed to meet up with Michelle, my old running partner that moved away. She has run one marathon before, this was her second. We were so excited to be able to do this with her. We ate a whole lot of pasta and then headed back to the hotel. Nate and my support team (family) arrived at about 9. Nate was staying at the hotel, everyone else was up at my brother's house. Now it was really sinking in. Big race tomorrow.


I laid everything out and made all my lists. Then I tried to sleep but I was so excited, I didn't doze off until after midnight. As soon as the alarm went off at 5 my first thought was "Wow, I was just sleeping really, really hard." I felt refreshed, excited, and ready to go. We met up at 6:30 and walked the few blocks to the start line. The forecast was rain. Great.

Once we got to the start, we met up with the internet crew again and hung out until it was time to line up. We all kind of went our own ways at that point. We dropped our sweat bags at the sweat check. (You can put warm clothes and cell phones and keys or whatever you need in a bag and they bring it to the finish line for you) Then I headed to the start line by myself. It was insane. Remember, the biggest race I have ever run in was 500 people. This was 11,000 people. That's a lot of people. It was so crowded and so tight, I came in at the back of the crowd and was trying to make my way to the 4:30 pace group. I knew that was the general area I wanted to start in. The closest I could get was the 5:00 marker. I felt so rude trying to weave through the crowd of people, but I did it anyway. Heck, I'm a first timer, I don't know any better!

This is me at the start. See my rock hard abs? See how everyone else is giving up because they know I am going to win? Oh wait. That's not me. That's the elites...




Back to reality. I heard the gun go off somewhere up there in front of me. We all just stood there waiting for the crowd to move. Initially we were walking, I'd say it took at least five minutes or so to get to the official start line. As we crossed the start everyone began to jog. There were so many people. Can I just keep saying that? I hit the start button on my Garmin as I crossed the start line. This is me at the beginning of the race. I'm in the green long sleeved shirt. I ditched it shortly after this photo and then was wearing a blue tank top.



Initially we ran through downtown, skyscrapers and buildings surrounded us. My garmin kept losing it's signal and it was already off by the first mile. It beeped "one mile" at 8:30 something and the one mile mark wasn't until later, more like 10:29 or so.

As we ran under a tunnel in the first mile, every one yelled as they went through. I could hear them doing it before I got there and sure enough, as we approached, all the people around me yelled and cheered. At that moment I became so overwhelmed. It was like it finally became real in that very moment. I was running a marathon. I teared up and then quickly pulled myself together and tried to focus. There were a lot of miles ahead of me.

I really wanted to keep it slower and closer to 10 minute miles for at least the first six miles or so. There were a few small hills in there and I played it safe. But the weather. Oh, the weather. It wasn't raining at the start line. In fact I don't really remember when it started raining. It must have started as a sprinkle and then increased from there until it was a full blown downpour with crazy freezing winds. I wore that green long sleeved shirt and threw it to the side once we started running. Now we were at mile 4 and my hands were almost numb. I was wearing a tank top and skirt. I took a Gu our of my pocket at 4.5 and tried to open it. My fingers weren't cooperating. I did finally get it open and it was fine but boy were my hands cold. I think if I would have had that long sleeved shirt on though, it would have been heavy and cold anyway. So I was fine in my tank top.

We dodged puddles as much as we could but it was so crowded and the road was so narrow at some points that it was unavoidable. I'm not in this photo, but see how narrow it was? Geez!


I wasn't expecting to see any of my family or friends until mile 11. All of a sudden, out of the blue in the middle of the down pour at mile 7, there were Nate and my dad. It was awesome to see them at that point. The photography conditions weren't ideal, but this is me going by at mile 7.


It was around that time that I cam up on the 4:30 pace group. There were a lot of people in that group and it was so narrow that they were really congesting the trail. It took a lot of weaving and even going up on the curb and the grass, but eventually I got by them and then it really opened up. I stayed at 9:50-10:00 miles through that time and took another Gu at mile 9. Then I knew it would be flat for awhile and that this was the time to settle into a good pace. I dropped down to the lower nines and held a 9:12-9:20 for miles 9-20.

There were some really fun moments along the way. The crowds were so amazing. I couldn't believe how many people came out despite the weather. There was music from string quartets to "Eye of the Tiger" to some guy playing a tuba. Everyone was great, cheering for all the runners and calling out encouragement. I was so glad that I had written my name on my left arm. A lot of people cheered for me. My favorite "spectator" wasn't a spectator at all. It was a runner. Some guy that was right around me for quite awhile during the middle of the race, kept randomly singing songs when there weren't many spectators. He would bust out into "EVERYBODY.....ROCK YOUR BODY!" It was hilarious. I couldn't help but smile.

The middle miles were my favorite. I fell into a great pace and felt really strong. It was really, really fun. I had held back enough at the beginning that I was passing a lot of people at this point. That was a great feeling. I was expecting to see my family at mile 11 but they didn't make it to that mile marker. I was a little disappointed but then out of the blue I saw Gabe's girlfriend, Naomi. Her sweet smile was such an encouragement. Then around mile 16, I saw my dad. He was holding up my green shirt from the start and asking if I needed it. It wasn't raining anymore so I stuck with my blue tank top, I was warmed back up by then. Then a few steps later I looked up and saw my kids' faces. Here was the whole fam. My mom, brothers and sisters, Nate, and the kids. I immediately started sobbing. This race was turning into such an emotional event for me. I totally did not see that coming. I wiped away the tears and hoped that they didn't think I was crying because I was "hitting the wall" or something. I was having a great race and seeing them at that point was perfect. I'm sure the runners around me were wondering what was up with the crazy crying lady in the blue.


The miles all began to blur together and I just focused on keeping the pace until mile 20. I knew at mile 20 things were going to get hard. And they did. There was a slow and long hill all of miles 21-23. It didn't even really LOOK like a hill, it was that gradual, but boy could you feel it. Thankfully, the crowds were so, so thick all along that part of the race. I was getting really tired by this point and I could feel my legs really getting sore. This was new territory. This was further than I had ever run before. This was when I really started to pray. I thought of the verse in Hebrews about running the race with endurance. I realized that this was the part where the endurance needed to kick in. I knew there were friends and family following me online and praying for me. I focused on putting one foot in front of the other and not walking. I had been walking only enough steps through the water stations so that I didn't spill all over myself and so that the water actually made it into my mouth, so just three of four steps. Now towards the end it was more tempting to walk as I saw those around me walking more and more. But I never entertained that option. I kept plugging away trying to maintain a decent pace even when my legs didn't want to.

I saw my family again at mile 23. They were all wearing shirts that my sister Holly had made as a surprise. The back had "Team LaundryPile(it actually said our last name)" and the front said twenty-six miles.2 miles (of spectating). She even made them for Toby and my little nephew baby Austin. So cute. Here are the shirts at the finish:

The last miles are a blur. I met up with another first timer somewhere around mile 24.5 and she had no garmin or no idea what the course was like. I was able to give her a heads up on the hill near the finish and we ran together for a little while. When we hit the last water station, she stopped for water but I decided to just keep going, we were so close. As we came up the hill at mile 26, I could hear the crowd and I saw the cathedral. It was awesome knowing that the finish line was just over the hill and that it was all down hill from there on out. I let gravity do it's work and tried to go as fast as I could down that hill without tripping on my unreliable legs. There were people flying by me who had a lot left in them but I had given it my all. I had enough to do about a 7:45 pace down that hill, and I focused intently on that finish line. There were crowds lining the left and right sides of the road but I didn't even look for my family or anyone. I zoned. Sara was at the finish line and got the only photo of me coming down that last stretch. Sara, you are awesome.




I crossed that line, got my medal and shiny blanket. Then I heard Nate yelling at me from the side. I walked/wobbled over to him and again burst into tears. I was so, so happy. I did it. I couldn't believe it.


I ate some stuff and got my warm clothes on and then went out to meet my family. I was so glad they had people there to help us step up the curb. I was questioning the sturdiness of my legs at that point. I made it over to where we were going to meet and we took lots of pictures.

"Wait a second, I just ran a marathon. Oh my gosh!"

We stayed and met up with Michelle and Kelsey. Michelle ran a 4:08:17 and Kelsey ran a 5:03:06. We were all happy with our times and were so glad that we could share this day with each other. It was surreal.



You know, I don't think I would have changed a thing. This was one of the most defining moments of my life. It was so emotional and such a time of growth for me. I am so glad I did it.

I ran that race exactly how I wanted to and my body held up for it. My knee could have gone out on me but it didn't. The weather wasn't perfect but it turned out to be just fine. I am awfully sore today. I'm hobbling around and I look ridiculous. My legs hate me. But I saw Kelsey this morning and we both said that we so enjoyed the whole experience that we definitely want to do it again. Maybe next time we'll pick a little flatter course, but there will for sure be another marathon in our futures.

This could possibly be the longest post I have ever written in my life but isn't that fitting? A marathon post about a marathon.

And you deserve a finishers medal for sticking it out to the end.

Marathon Training: It's Over

This morning was our last training run. We ran two stinkin' miles. By the time we had started it was over.

How am I feeling? Mostly in denial. It doesn't really feel like I'm really going to run a marathon on Sunday. Training has consumed my entire summer and I'm going to miss it.

You know, it kind of reminds me of being pregnant. Stay with me here. Maybe no one else ever felt like this, but as I approached the end of each of my pregnancies and anticipated the birth of a new little baby, I always had mixed feelings. I felt like it wasn't every REALLY going to happen. I was probably just going to be pregnant forever. At the same time, I knew it would be over soon and I knew I was going to really miss being pregnant and feeling that little baby kicking all the time. Looming over all of that, I felt scared out of my mind of labor. I always hung onto the hope and joy of that wrinkly little newborn that would make it all worth it. End of analogy. Figure out the parallels for yourselves.

So now I'm packing. I'm trying to sort out who is going where and what each person needs in their suitcase. Three of the kids (the littles) are staying here in town with friends. (Thanks Mel!) The oldest three plus Toby are coming up to watch the race. In an amongst that we have all of them, including Nate, going in different directions at different times. I need a pre-race coordinator. But packing and getting ready for trips always stresses me out to the point that I want to cry and wonder if vacation is really worth all the work. Then I get it all done and we get there and it IS worth it. That's kind of where I'm at right now.

We leave tomorrow morning early. Kelsey and I are going up alone and early to check out the expo and to meet up with running friends from all over the country. I'm planning on trying to soak up the whole experience and enjoy every minute of it. Even the last 6 miles of the race.

I probably won't post again until after it's over. I've trained for a marathon. That in itself is an accomplishment. And if you don't ever hear from me again, then the marathon won and I am dead. If I live, I'll have a story to share.

How I beat the marathon.

I Need Some Serious Proof Reading Help

Someone needs to save me from myself. I have admitted to my punctuation problems. I'm not ashamed. That isn't my only problem though. Apparently spell check isn't enough. I need grammar check. I just read back over my last post and while I spelled all the words correctly, I missed something huge.

Assess and asses. Two different words. Two different meanings. What a difference one little S makes.

I thought about going back and fixing it.

I thought about just letting it go and not pointing it out.

But then we couldn't laugh about it together. Aren't you glad I'm here to humiliate myself on the world wide web?

Aftermath

As soon as I shut off the video camera yesterday I ran upstairs to the kids' room to asses the damage.

It didn't take me long to figure out that the kids hadn't really eaten all of the marshmallows. I collected this from amongst the "kitchen set".



What kind of lightweights am I raising? Can't even down a bowl of marshmallows? Clearly these are not my children.

A Laundry Pile First

I have made the very difficult and agonizing decision to join in on Linda's little video extravaganza. Last minute decision. Mostly I was just waiting to see if the zits on my forehead were going to be gone before the big day. They weren't. I proceeded anyway.

I must warn you. This could possibly be the most random and pointless 4 minutes and 2 seconds of your life. Things you need to know before you watch this:

• I cannot, for the life of me, maintain eye contact with a video camera. It's hard enough with real live people. With a video camera, I'm all over the place.
• Toby still wears 12 month clothes. Today I had 18-24 month pants on him. The poor kid cannot keep his pants up.
• My house really is a mess.

Ok, that's enough stalling.

Internet, meet Heth. Heth, meet the internet.

Marathon Training: Five Days Away

5 days.

Oh my gosh it's only five days away.

I'm walking a tightrope with blissful denial on one side and crazy-lady panic on the other. Of course there's a whole heap of excitement thrown in the mix.

It's only 5 days away. ACK!

If It's Not A Bunny, It's A Salamander

We haven't had many pets around here. Once we tried a cute little kitten that we named Cleopatra. Nate was allergic. For awhile we had a bunny. Banjo the bunny. He died of a heat stroke. Then there were the fish. One made a break for it. I don't even remember what happened to the other one. You can tell I loved them dearly.

I would like to introduce you to our newest attempt. Randall.


Randall, meet The Internet. Internet, meet Randall.


Now that introductions have been made, let me tell you a little bit about Randall. Caedmon caught Randall a week ago. Under a rock. WHAT IN THE WORLD?! Unfortunately, Randall was too late to be a participant in the poster of Things Caedmon Caught the Summer of '08.



Randall is living in a glass prison and is regularly terrorized by small hands. Sometimes the hands bring tasty worms and crickets, other times they just want to try to pick him up. He's made it a week, so far so good.

I'm cheering you on Randall.

A Walk To The Creek, In Photos

It's A Sing Along

Today's background music is provided by Gemma. The lyrics are a little iffy but she's got the tune down for sure. Volume level? Loud.

"Where is fun-kim? Where is fun-kim?
Here I am. Here I am.
Very really welcome, very really thank-you.
Run away. Run away."

Keeping a straight face while listening is almost impossible.

Chopped

This is the slogan I will henceforth command my children to commit to memory:

"My name is not Jose Eber
I will not cut my siblings' hair."



Yesterday Jack and Gemma were playing splendidly together. I peeked in at them to make sure there were no permanent markers, toothpaste, or duct tape being used. Nope, they were good. They were playing kitchen, gnawing on brightly colored, lead-free, wooden pieces of canned goods and pizza. Fun times.

Somewhere in the next three minutes, "kitchen" turned into "Jack's Fantastic Hair Salon". They brought me a ponytail, now unattached. I stood there slack jawed and let reality set in, counting to ten, twenty, and wisely, even higher in my mind. Then I reacted. I was torn between laughing and crying. To tell you the truth, I don't even remember how I reacted. I do know that I grumbled under my breath about big sisters who like to do crafts but leave scissors laying around. It's not like this hasn't happened before.

It was too late for speeches. The damage was done. Gemma now had a full blown mullet of all mullets. Billy Ray's true daughter, at least in the spirit of hair-dos. Her hair had been pulled up in the front into two cute little pigtails, the back still down. One of those pigtails was now completely gone. To the scalp. Jack joked about her "bald spot". Not funny Jack.

She wore a hat for the rest of the day.

This morning I took her to Dawn who worked a hair miracle on poor, poor Gemma's head. It is adorable. She saved the day. Gemma's got a cute little stacked bob with the hair tucked behind her ear on one side and the illusion of tucked hair on the other. You can tell something isn't quite right but you really have to look hard to see the bald spot.

Pictures?

Oh, ok. You twisted my arm.
Was there any doubt that I would have pictures?

I Don't Speak Starbucks

Does anyone want to take a stab at interpreting this bad boy?

That right there is a high-maintenance coffee drink.
It probably sucked their Sharpie dry.

Marathon Training: 20 Pancakes

I ran 20 miles.

Then I ate 20 pancakes.

Ok, so that's a lie. I ate a pancake shaped like a 20. My sister Mariah was here this morning watching the kids for me while I ran and bless her heart, she made me pancakes. Pancakes shaped like an H and a 20.

YAY!

Is this a subliminal message telling me to stay hydrated?

Caedmon

His fingernails are never clean and the bottoms of his feet are always brown.

The minute we pull into the driveway after school he jumps out of the van and runs to his secret spots, the places where he knows he will find a creature. It could have four legs, six legs, eight legs, or none at all. It might crawl, hop, scurry, or leap away from him.

I decided last last spring that I needed to document all of the "things" Caedmon would catch in one summer. I give you the summer of '08, the summer that Caedmon was six.



Today he is seven. Happy Birthday buddy. I wish you endless bugs, worms, toads, frogs, and who-knows-what-else this next year.

(This is a picture of a picture. It's the poster I had made and blown up.)

Marathon Training: Day ...I've Lost Track

We have reached the pinnacle of training. I can almost see over the top of this mountain that has consumed the entire summer and now the fall of '08. We have run 17, 18, and 19 miles. The big 20 looms ahead this Saturday. That is the furthest we will run in our training. Then we will trust all of the experts and our training plan that some how on race day, we will be able to cover 6.2 extra miles. After we run that big one on Saturday, we begin to taper; we decrease our mileage until race day to rest up. I'm ready to rest up.

One of the things that our training plan recommended was to run in a few shorter races before the big race. You can try to simulate a race in a regular old training run but I guess you won't ever push as hard as you would in a race. I believe it. So we signed up for a local half marathon and ran it on Saturday. Kelsey has been having some problems with her foot and decided to play it safe and not push too hard as to not injure it further. Amazingly it has held out for her and she has been able to continue to train. We are SO excited about that. An injury can take you right down and out of the whole thing. Even more amazing has been her positive attitude. She has maintained a great outlook and hasn't complained one bit. Me? I would have been crying about it a long time ago.

It was an interesting race. I've been calling it "The Revenge of the Orange." You will soon find out why.

It was a gorgeous morning for running. The temp was in the low 50's and overcast, perfect. Since we were running separately we both brought our own music to keep us company during the morning. I had made up a playlist of all my favorite running songs. I'm telling you what, the right song at the right time can work magic. I felt great throughout the whole thing. I really tried to push myself and didn't walk any of the water stations. They offer Gatorade too and as I tried to drink while still running, it sloshed all over me and down my legs resulting in stickiness. So that was fun. At one of the early water stations I noticed that they were handing out orange slices. A volunteer would stand on the side of the trail with an aluminum tray of pre cut slices of an orange. We never had anyone standing alongside the road during any of our training runs offering us any kind of food, and were weren't really supposed to try anything new during a race but, "What the hay?!" I thought and I grabbed one and chewed on it. It was very distracting. I liked it.

The race pounded on. My knees were feeling great and not showing any signs of soreness like I had worried about. Couldn't have had anything to do with the three ibuprofen I took before we headed out. I was almost smiling as I knocked out miles six, seven, and eight. Somewhere around there they had orange slices again. "Well sure! Why not?!" I thought. I reached for one as I ran by but I just couldn't keep my stride and exhibit superior eye hand coordination at the same time. I missed. Oh shwell. At least I didn't knock the whole tray out of the poor guy's hand. That would have been embarrassing. And who wants to be embarrassed during a race? Not me, that's for sure! I continued to play cat and mouse with the same people around me. Older guy in a white hat. Pink lady. Lady in a bright yellow tank top. I name the other runners. It keeps me distracted. Do you see a theme? Distraction is my ticket.

I was starting to tire so I started counting down the miles in my head and picturing our regular routes. Man, the more I write about what goes on in my brain during a race, the more I'm wondering what kind of a weirdo I am. Anyways, around mile 11 or so there was another orange slice guy. "YAY!" It was just the distraction I needed. I pulled it together and really focused on my grab. Got it. I bit off the flesh and threw the peel to the side. After stuffing the whole wad in my cheek, I continued to chew on it for quite awhile. "This is it, I've got it now." I was thinking to myself. "What a perfect race." And then a single fiber of orange decided to take a path of it's own. It lodged itself in just the wrong place in my throat and I began to cough and choke. I spit the whole nasty thing out. That little bit of coughing and choking came at the just wrong time. My already fatigued stomach that had been surviving the last hour and 45 minutes on gatorade, water, and GU's, decided to revolt. I started gagging. I tried to push through it but it didn't take me long to decide I was going to have to pull over.

I became the crazy lady barfing on the side of the road. Let's talk about humility for a moment shall we? Those moments of our most personal bodily functions are not the ones we want to share with sweaty strangers in shorts and tank tops. It didn't cost me too much time, a couple people passed me, but I was able to get right back on the trail and finish strong and complete. Well, minus one orange and most of the Gatorade. I even remembered to smile as I crossed the finish line instead of my regular "I'm about to die" expression of pain.

Finish time 1:52:44. Almost five minutes off of my previous half marathon time. I'm happy.

Next up. 20 miles, taper, and MARATHON!

Poor Little Tricycle

It was only a matter of time.
The Great White has claimed it's first victim.
Little Red Tricycle, you have been bitten.

*No children were injured. I ran over a tricycle that was unseen in the rear view mirror of the Great White.*

Car Seats. Life Savers, Most of the Time

I've recently had to do some car seat switching. Jack borders between a five point harness and booster. He's technically ready for a booster, in theory. So I bought him a new one. After about two booster days, I decided he was going back in a five point. He wouldn't stay put and kept unbuckling himself at all the wrong times. In his five point, he can get the shoulder straps undone by himself, but that bottom buckle sticks and I have to unbuckle it for him.

Fast forward..

It's a long story but circumstances led to the following situation: Jack, Gemma and Toby were locked in the van along with my keys, my purse, and my cell phone. The van was running and the air conditioner was on. They were all buckled securely in their seats. We were parked in the dentist's office parking lot. No one with an extra key was anywhere near being able to come save us. We were stranded and I needed to figure out how I was going to get in.

I took my post by the back window, the one that looks in to where Jack was sitting. He could hear me so I explained that I couldn't get in and I needed his help. I told him that I wanted him to unbuckle himself. He looked at me like I had spaghetti coming out of my nose. I told him again to try to unbuckle his seat belt. He smirked and started working on it. It was clear that he truly couldn't get that buckle unsnapped. His shoulder straps were already off but that bottom latch is a bugger and he just couldn't get it. I kept telling him to push harder, to use both thumbs. To take a break and try again and to give it all he's got. No luck.

I moved on to plan "b". I told him to try to wiggle himself up and out of the shoulder straps while still buckled. He shimmied and squirmed but nothing short of some crazy contortionist moves were going to get him out of those tight straps. I took consolation that at least he was correctly fastened in his seat. Even if it meant I couldn't get my dang car unlocked.

I them moved to plan "c". I told him to just unbuckle his whole seat from the car. Luckily his seat wasn't installed with the new latches and tethers. His seat was buckled in to the van the old fashioned way using a lap belt in the very back seat. He reached around and pushed that button, releasing his car seat from the seat. He was still strapped in to the car seat it self though.

This is the part where I started laughing. No doubt the people who were out and about that day were wondering about the crazy lady who was dancing around and gesturing outside of her van window. And now she was laughing. I laughed because there was hope. I knew we would eventually work this out without the help of a locksmith and his extravagant fee. Jack would get this taken care of, somehow. This was his opportunity to use his ninja/Navy Seal/Mac Gyver moves for good and not evil. Now you have to know the layout of our van. It's not your typical 12 passenger with bench seats. This is an old hotel airport shuttle. It has stairs. It has an aisle. The back row spans the width of the van. Jack's seat is straight back down the aisle. So he stood up like a little turtle with his shell of a car seat still attached to his back and he tried to walk up the aisle. One step, then a jerk. The seat was too wide to go down the aisle. Dang.

I started coaching him on trying to turn to the side. No luck. We tried turning to the other side. Nope. Crouching down. No. Standing on his tippy toes. No. Hmmm. My charades outside of the van were getting progressively more odd. Then I had a great idea. What if he climbed over the back seat and unlocked the back door?! Wow, I'm a genius! I started talking him through it but stopped mid-way because I realized that there is a bar that spans the storage area for hanging things from. I suddenly pictured Jack, in his car seat, suspended helplessly from that bar, hanging from his seat. That would be the end of the rescue and we would be calling in for back up.

That is when it dawned on me. I needed him to climb over all of the seats and then unlock the side door. He got it and started in on the climb. It was absolutely hilarious. My little snail, housing his seat on his back slowly climbed over all of the seats until he reached the lock and with a grin, yanked it up. I laughed and cried all at the same time. "Jack, you are the hero! You saved the day!" And he did.

But he still hasn't graduated to a booster. Maybe next year.

Labor Day Weekend 08

What a fun time that was. All of my siblings were in town. All of them. That doesn't happen very often but when it does, watch out. It's more fun than a barrel of monkeys. (What does that even mean?)

We had a grand old time. The kids camped out in the tent in Grandpa and Grandma's yard a couple of nights. No one was eaten by a coyote. We had campfires and hiking and moped rides and Gabe and Naomi's home made salsa extravaganza. On Sunday afternoon Shane decided that building a tree fort would be fun. Everyone got involved and it turned out fantastic. When I say "everyone got involved" that doesn't include me, Anna, Naomi, Mom, Holly, and One-Handed Luke. Poor Old Luke. I never really did tell you all how on his last day of work he fell while holding a glass bottle of tea. Of course he landed ON the bottle and managed to slice his hand all to pieces resulting in surgery and a cast. It was quite the ordeal. But he is still alive, so that's good.

Along those same lines, yesterday when the tree fort construction was coming to a close, we heard screaming and wailing from the back yard. Caedmon had been stung by a bee on his shoulder. Not fifteen seconds later, here came Jack around the corner bawling. A bee had stung him on the nose. Now let me tell you what, that kid's face went from regular to completely distorted in just a few hours. Even this morning his little eyes were still swollen and he looked like a completely different child. He has gotten a few special privileges because of his state of excessive puffiness. One is getting to ride along with Grandpa and Grandma when they take Luke back up to college. Gemma wanted to know if: "When my eyes are purple and scary, do I get to go with Grandma?" Of course you do Gemma. Of course you do.

Sorry no photos, even though I'd really like to show you all. I took a bunch of pictures of the poor kid but I don't want to embarass him on the world wide web.

According to Dr. Phil

I just overheard one of my children lecturing another one saying, "Dr. Phil says that when you use the word 'but' you are really saying ignore everything I just said, now I'm going to say what I really mean."

It's true. So true.

Inter-sibling conflict management, compliments of daytime TV.

It Wasn't In The Drawer

The answer to the question: "Where's the scotch tape?"

Cover Your Eyes

Jack finds a tiny, slimy, sluggish type creature and brings it, teetering on the edge of a piece of bark, for me to inspect.

Jack: What is it? A slug?

Me: It looks like a snail without it's shell.

Jack: So it's naked?

Surprise Lily

Lycoris squamigera:

Other common names: hardy amaryllis, magic lily, naked lady, (or the one I prefer) resurrection lily.

From my Midwest gardening book: "Surprise lilies really are a surprise in the garden. Just as everything around you seems to be going dormant, great stems burst from the ground and unfurl into beautiful nodding trumpets."



Jeremiah 33:3 "Call to me and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know"

Verse 10 "Thus says the Lord: 'Again there shall be heard in this place of which you say "It is desolate"...(v 11) the voice of joy and voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say:

"Praise the Lord of hosts
"For the Lord is good,
"For His mercy endures forever"

Just when things are most desolate, if we call to Him, He surprises us with great and mighty things.

Beautiful things.

Resurrection.

Adventureland

Fellow Midwesterners, sing with me.

"Come on over to Adventureland, you're gonna have a fun filled day!"

We pulled our old faithful trick that we love to pull on the kids. We woke them up and told them to get dressed because "WE'RE GOING TO ADVENTURELAND TODAY!" We love to not tell them until the day of. It's funner that way. And then we don't have to listen to the whining about "how many more days?". We were excited because Nate's long lost sister (who moved to the east coast) and our nephews and niece, and Nate's mom were all going too.

We had good times. Jack was finally tall enough to go on the Outlaw.
Remember last year? Well this year he rode that old wooden roller coaster and loved it. Gemma really, really wanted to be tall enough. Sorry Gem.



This is one of my favorite things about the trip. Old time photos. Oh my gosh, it was a riot.


Much fun was had by all but I think the funnest, most bestest, most awesomest thing of all was the Banana's Foster pancakes I had at IHOP on our way home. I took a bite and then went straight to heaven. No, that's not butter, it's.... ice cream. Pure genius.

It's Always A Nature Lesson of Some Kind

I give you the rare Roof Frog in it's natural habitat. Very elusive and not often seen by human eyes, this species was literally "launched" into existence.

I Was So Surprised

So, two night ago I had a celebrity parked in front of my house. They even stayed over, sleeping out at my curb in their rig. I'll give you three guesses.

Nope, not Hannah Montana.

Wrong, it's not Motley Crew.

Sorry, no, not Josh Groban.

It was Sara, Matt, and Bella from the Live Lightly Tour.

Sara and I went to school together back in the day. When she moved away, the distance couldn't separate our friendship and we have kept in touch ever since. Sometimes more than others. They are done touring for awhile and were passing through on the way to visit family.

When I looked out my window and saw a small house (pretty much) rolling up in front of my house, I did a double take and then wondered, "Could that be Sara?!" Yes. It was. I went screaming and running out the front door to greet them. I only knocked over one of my kiddos on the way.

They stayed overnight and even went to the pool with us the next day before hitting the road again. It was so good to catch up. I miss her.

And she even made the infamous "green smoothie" for all of us. People. It was ridiculously yummie. Don't believe me? Let me give you this one piece of evidence: Jack ate it. That is all you need to know.

Isn't the straw cute?

Thanks for stopping by Sara and Matt! It was fantastical to see you again.

I'm In Denial

I haven't been around much because I'm clinging to the last bit of summer with everything in me. I don't want it to be over yet. Most years I'm shooing the kids out the door to school as soon as I possibly can, but not this year. Summer went way, way, way too quickly.

School starts in one week. I suppose I should go shopping for school supplies.

Eh, I'll get to it.

Eventually...

A Proactive Approach To Monday Morning

Sing with me: "The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup ginormous Reeses mug."

This is what I'm talkin' about.

Thanks Ann for knowing me so well that you brought the perfect gift.

"You silly sleepy head, wake up."

(ten points to the person who knows where that quote came from)

What I Did on Summer Vacation Besides Go To The Pool Everyday

Did you think I've been stuck up on the roof this whole time?

I promise I'm here, it's just been busy. Nate has been out of town for the last two weeks and you know how I don't like to announce that he is away. The axe murderers are more apt to attack when I'm home alone. Or so I've always assumed.

Of course while he was gone I had to do some "while you were out" type projects like I always do.

You already saw the painting-from-the-roof project. I guess that piece of wood has a name. Fascia. Don't say you never learned anything from reading the Laundry Pile. So the update is that yes, it was paint that Gemma smeared all over the permanent siding. And yes, I got it off. And no, I will never paint fascia again. Never. And yes, I know that they make metal fascia that doesn't need painting. Don't rub it in.

I also painted my front door yellow. It was previously purple. I picked out the paint color and brought it home and quickly realized that it is almost exactly the same color as my living room walls. I wonder what that means, besides the obvious fact that I'm right smack dab in the middle of a yellow phase right now.

Um, what else? Oh. I spray painted the mailbox. That was fun.

Now that all that's done, we are in full Olympic mode.


It's good times. Except when the kids get a hold of the remote, they keep turning it to the sci-fi channel. Or as they call it, the "sky-fi" channel. I don't bother correcting them because it cracks me up.

She Just Wanted To Help

While I was doing this:

And this*:

She was doing this:

And this:

Isn't that precious?

*If you look closely in the second photo you will see a wasps' nest up in the peak of the garage roof. As if hanging over the edge of the roof with a paint roller in my hand wasn't dangerous enough, I added hornets to the mix. Living on the edge. Literally.

Marathon Training: Half Way There

We are halfway through our marathon training. It's been such a gradual process that all of a sudden I realized, "Wow! I'm really doing it!" I never would have thought that running seven, eight, and even nine miles on regular old weekdays would feel normal. That weekend runs would all be in the double digits. That running out and back on our local bike trail wouldn't be long enough, we'd have to add on more miles. It's crazy what can be accomplished in nine weeks. Now on to the second nine.