Merry Christmas

I set a deadline to myself to finish this video before Christmas this year... and I did it just in time.  However, I'm just now getting around to posting it on YouTube and my blog to share with everyone.  The original was a little longer, but I had to chop some stuff for YouTube to be happy with the size of the upload.  Enjoy!!

That Reminds Me

The picture of my cousins all together in the same place reminded me of another such photo taken years, and I do mean many years, ago.  My, how we've changed.  :)

A side note:  Bartee started a blog, too.  I don't know that he wants me to promote it, but if you're interested in following along, I'm sure he wouldn't mind.  With three posts in the past week, he is already updating more than me!  :)

When The Cat Is Away, The Mice Will Play

Last weekend I made a quick trip back east for a funeral, spending just two nights away from home.  Before leaving, I pulled out all the Christmas boxes so that the kids and Daddy would have something to do over the weekend.  How thoughtful, right?  :)  In my excitement about coming home to see all of that taken care of, I even cleared a spot for the tree so no furniture had to be shuffled about.  Mind you, it's the same spot that we've placed the tree for the past 2 years or more.

Walking in the house on my return, I see this stunning tree and it's not in the empty spot which had been cleared for its arrival.

Let's analyze:

• Beautifully showcased between two windows, optimizing the view for those on the street.
• All clutter in this corner cleared away to highlight the tree.
• Decorated with several of the kids' masterpieces of art.
• Ornaments are not uniformly distributed making it obvious that the kids had tons of fun putting them on.  I love this about it.
• Very pretty white garland.  Ok, we probably need to get something a little longer, huh?  :)

So, if we take everything into account... meaning the things that this photo doesn't show... we see a totally different picture.  Certainly I can appreciate the effort that went into this and the fact that I didn't have to lift a finger to make it happen, however it became obvious to me the moment I walked in that some changes needed to take place.

Let's look at what's not showing in the picture:

• The tree is overwhelmingly filled with green lights.  It seems that our Christmas tree strand of lights (red, green, blue) had one-third of the lights not working.  So, handy-man Bartee opened up the control box, fiddled a bit, put it back together and voila... now two-thirds of the bulbs would not light up.  Only the green lights were working and so he went ahead and strung the lights.  Obviously.  :)
• A recliner chair, which had regular use, was moved out of this corner to make room for the tree.
• This recliner chair had an end table next to it that also seems to have disappeared to make room for the tree.
• All this is well and good, IF they had some place to stay for the next couple of weeks until the holidays are over.  Sadly, they do not... and this seems to be the "best?" place he found for them.

It is possible that one recliner chair could have been salvaged, but shoving the end table between it and the couch nudged it far enough towards the other end of the room that viewing the TV from that angle would certainly cause neck strain.  And, the other chair... well, it might as well be in the back yard.  :)  

This is Bartee's response to my questioning his decorating decisions over the weekend, "I'll admit... the living room with the christmas tree etc... not my best decision".  So, things have been rearranged and the room is functional again.  Now before Christmas gets here, I need to get outside and string some lights!

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Although the occasion for heading home was filled with sadness, it was nice to see so much family.

The Potomac River on a somewhat gloomy day in West Virginia

There are just three cousins (on one side of the family) missing from this photo:

House Guests

Our 6 house guests left this morning and it's quiet around here tonight. We are missing them bunches. Sanjay asked to sleep with me and Priya asked to sleep with Sanjay... they have been sleeping together for several days now and it's dark and lonely in their own bedrooms tonight. There were some tears from Sanjay this morning and some from Priya tonight. When visitors are expected, there's a build up of excitement before their arrival, a bustling of activity while they are here and an emptiness when they are gone. :(

We had a fantastic time with my sister and her family and my aunt this past week. Here are some of the highlights:

Look Mom, no hands! - For some reason she didn't grab hold of the steering wheel.  :)

The photo naturally has a blue tint to match this little girl's mood upon leaving the North Pole.

The Half Marathon and Other Weekend Festivities

It's over and I survived and I even ran/jogged more of the race than I thought I would be able.

The course that we ran was not exactly for the beginner, as it turns out. I sort of knew this going in, but the date and location of it was just perfect for my birthday. The organizer's website described it like this, "The race starts at 6,000 ft. It goes up to a high point of 6,400 ft and then back down to 5.900 ft... all before the turn around. It is not a lot of elevation gain, but there is a lot of up and down. This is a challenging course with 95% of it on dirt trails." From this description we could only imagine what it would be like, but I think I can safely say that none of us was prepared for the reality that hit us yesterday morning.

Lemme just say that this was the final stretch to the finish line. Yes, that's it up by those flags at the TOP of that hill.



The first 7 miles had several long uphill stretches on dirt trails that wouldn't have been so bad, but they were littered with wide "speed bumps" making me continually daydream about preferring to be on a bike riding over those than running them. Then as we approached mile 9, we were on a ridge looking down into a valley. In the valley were snaking lines of racers going in opposing directions to each other. Obviously, the course was taking us down there and then at some point there would be a turn around and we'd have to climb back out of that thing. Ugh!! To throw this in between Mile 9 and Mile 11 was just pure torture. This section was like a single track hiking trail with switchbacks... you're not supposed to run on stuff like this, with injuries and without trail shoes. Yikes! After reaching the turnaround at the bottom of the valley, I ended up walking the majority of what was left of the course. I met up with Susan when she was on the way down and she turned around and we finished the rest together.

At this point we were both really spent and it had been a while since we'd caught up on each others lives so we walked and talked our way to the finish line. We crossed the finish line together with our friends and some other race folks cheering us on. It was a nice accomplishment and a great morning for a long run with friends, but I don't know that I'll be seeking out and running another half marathon anytime soon.

After the race we limped around the hotel, snacking on lunch and looking back on the morning. Susan was hobbling around due to her plantar fasciitis that flared up, Geni nearly threw out her hip while standing up from the couch, Tisha ended up with Runner's Knee and a bad case of dehydration which landed her in the bathroom "tossing her cookies" until about 9pm that night, Kristi was stiff and the swelling in her knees was coming back, Kim popped some ibuprofen for the aches and pains that came on during the race and I was limping around because of my right knee and my left foot plantar fasciitis. It was really a sad sight. The only one that survived without any noticeable effects was Laura, the baby of the bunch at 30 yrs old. She even had the audacity to bring and wear heels for our night on the town afterwards. :)

We spent the evening at The Cheesecake Factory and then hit one bar that really reminded us that it's been 20+ years since college, before heading back to the hotel for some much-needed rest. All-in-all it was a fun weekend that I am still physically recovering from and will be for the next few days I'm sure. I'm grateful to my friends for joining me in this craziness and I owe them one big apology for putting them through that brutal course. You gals are amazing!! I am only the second of this bunch to cross over into the 40's so I'm looking forward to more celebrations like this with them in the future. Having learned from this experience, I'm hoping they choose an afternoon of massage and hot tubs after running their flat-course races.


Here we are at the beginning of the race.


Laura looking strong up here with some of the frontrunners.


Kristi coming up on Mile 7.


Kim is feeling good at Mile 7 and shows the photographer.


This is me at Mile 7... I was doing alright here. The course actually started to flatten out, but it was ever so briefly.


Behind Geni and Tisha there was a fabulous view of Downtown Denver. The course was truly very scenic and beautiful... it had that going for it.


Geni and Tisha walk at a water stop.


Laura pushes through that final uphill stretch to the finish.


Tisha is almost smiling as she makes the final climb.


Kristi on her final approach to the finish.


Kim giving the fist pump as she takes the final turn.


Susan and I bust through the finish line together.


Geni is flabbergasted at how delicious that red velvet cheesecake looks.


Me and the girls at the Cheesecake Factory... sadly Tisha wasn't well enough to join us. :(

Shattered Dream

19 weeks ago I started a training program to complete a 1/2 marathon (13.1 miles) for my big 4-0 milestone birthday that is looming around the corner. If I get a crazy idea like this when I turn 50, somebody please stop me. It was a lofty goal that I thought was attainable with enough training. However, I didn't take care of my aging body like I should have, I think. I didn't take stretching seriously enough... and I probably should have dropped a few pounds before taking on a challenge like this. There are lots of what ifs, but the fact is, I am probably too injured to run the race tomorrow.

About 3 weeks ago, I got some knee pain after a short run and since then I haven't been able to run without pain in my knee. Oh, I've tried, but I can only manage about a mile before it signals me that I should stop. So for tomorrow, the race that prompted all this training, I will probably end up walking most, if not all of the 13 miles. :( A bit of a shattered dream, but it's okay. The whole idea was to see if I could even run this distance and in my last good training run I did 12.35 miles... I will think of that day as my half marathon day.

Tomorrow morning, we are boarding the beast (my neighbor's car) and heading up to Denver at 6:30am for the race. Since I'll be walking the majority of it, a couple of my friends who weren't going to do the race might end up doing it after all. This way, I'll have some walking buddies. It'll be the first 1/2 marathon for 4 of us, so I am excited to have some good friends join me. After the workout, we'll indulge without guilt some birthday cake, yummy food and drinks before hitting the nightlife in Denver. I'll check back in after the weekend with pictures and stories to tell.

LEGO Creation

Here's Priya's contribution:


"You know, you don't always need to use a wheelchair for leg disability, you can always catch a ride!"

Caboose - A Look Back

One Year Ago:




Today:




Still as cute as ever!

Candy Wrappers

That Sanjay is sneaky and he's a sweet freak... the combination at Halloween can be surprising.

Last year, Daddy caught him in a corner opening candy and stuffing them in his mouth. I think he thought since his back was to the kitchen he wouldn't be seen, but nonetheless he was caught and punished. Less than a week later, if I remember correctly, I was cleaning Priya's room and found a pile of wrappers in her closet. I re-assembled them for this picture:



A month later, I was vacuuming the living room and found this behind the humidifier:



This little boy gets away with so much more than his sister. Then again, he does push the limits whereas she tends to play it safe. In any case, I'm wondering where I'll find his droppings of evidence this year. :)

Anxiously looking forward to the next few weeks of housecleaning.

Persons In Costumes

Sanjay, while recently trying to convince Priya that what she saw wasn't real, said to her "No, they're just persons in costumes". I've been saving it up to use on this Halloween blog post.

Here we are tonight on the way out the door for some friendly trick-or-treating:



Sanjay is Anakin Skywalker, Priya is a black cat, and I am the State Recorder Player Champion.



Unfortunately, all the spookiness of Halloween has gotten into Priya's head. While Sanjay sleeps peacefully in his own bed, Priya has called me back into her room enough times that I'm fed up with her at this point. Bartee is now in there spewing a nice little bedtime story to take her mind off the persistent thought that someone is going to jump out from behind her and scream. The last thing she needs is another late night... the lack of sleep is probably contributing to the nightmares. I suspect one of us will end up sleeping with her again tonight.

LEGO Creations

Inspired by the website a LEGO a day, the kids have decided to participate in making their LEGOs come to life. They will create the scene and give me a caption, then I'll post it here to share. This first one is from Sanjay:



"If you take a person on a building, he might fall off."

Jerseylicious

What do you think... blonde or brunette? :)






Jersey Shore yourself and then share it with me. :)

Trip to Miller Farms

Miller Farms is quite a hike from our place, but we enjoy it so much that we try to make an annual trip for their Fall Festival. We lucked out with great weather and again this year came home with 3 wagons full of fresh produce and, this time, a child that doesn't belong to me. She's sleeping happily in Priya's room though, so we'll keep her at least until tomorrow. Now I just gotta figure out how Amma cooked that green pumpkin last year, so we can enjoy it again.

Here are some pictures from the adventure...









Here is the crowd in 2007:





And, today's bunch:





(I find it interesting that Priya had trouble keeping her eyes open on the hayride both 3 years ago and today.)