average girl doing average things

How to Parent (as in, I need to know how to parent)

2013-06-18T13:22:00.000-07:00

This parenting thing is proving to be a difficult adventure. You have kids, you assume they are going to turn out just like you and all will be great. They will look like you, think like you, act like you and behave like you. And guess what? You will be wrong.

Then you go ahead and have 3 kids, which makes someone the middle child and BAM! You have a recipe for disaster.

Enter child number 2. AKA Princess.

I love her so much, but man, that child is going to drive me to drink. Or to an insane asylum. Or both.

I just don't know how to parent this kid. At all. At times she is wonderful and loving and just a joy to be around. And then, at the drop of a hat, she's mad about something and will then cut off her nose to spite her face.

She is stubborn. Oh so stubborn.

For example, she will not brush her teeth. I tried everything. Bribery. Begging. Punishment. Reward. None of it works. The latest was she wanted a guinea pig. There was no way, no how I was having another pooping/eating animal to take care of. So the answer was no. Cue the cries of "it's not fair!", "I'll buy it with my own money", "I'll take care of it". Over and over and over.

So I relent. And tell her if she brushes her teeth twice a day for 30 days without fighting and does it right, she can buy a guinea pig. So she keeps track and "brushes". The last dentist appointment the hygienist scraped the most gross stuff off her teeth and explained all about the bacteria, showed her how to brush and really took the time to tell her what she was doing wrong and why it could hurt her.

For most kids, this would work. Not this one.

We went back for a cleaning 2 months early so I could make sure her teeth were staying clean and the hygienist could not believe the crap on her teeth in such a short time. This was all with her "brushing" so she could earn the guinea pig.

I am at my wits end here. Seriously. At 10 years old, I should not have to brush her teeth for her. Right? I shouldn't have to do that should I? How the hell else does it get done? And then she won't let me do it, so I have to hold her down. WTF. This is my life.

And then I'm mean. And the worst mother.

Don't even get me started on the state of her room. There are only so many battles I can wage. I have to pick and choose.

So, internet psychologists, please advise. At this point, I'm willing to take any suggestions from random strangers off the internet.

Three Things Thursday

2013-06-13T07:27:00.000-07:00

1. I was able to do this yesterday for the first time ever.

an almost heel stretch! is this a yoga pose of some sort?

This is pretty epic (if I may use that word even though I am 25+ years too old to do so) for me as I am not gumby and never have been. To even be able to extend my leg while holding on to it, is nothing short of amazing. So please, go ahead and be impressed. Next stop: full extension and getting the leg higher. Oh yeah. And being able to do the other leg.

How's my wheel pose coming along? Ummm, not so much.

baby steps. baby steps.

2. My son got to train with Joe Moreira, an 8th degree red/black belt in jiu-jitsu last weekend. This was a pretty big deal as Joe is the man who brought jiu-jitsu to the US. Crazy. And he came to Maine and held a clinic. So cool. It would be like, well, actually, I can't even think of what that would equate to in the running world. Maybe training with Joan Benoit Samuelson, but still not really.

This is Joe teaching a technique to my son!

Manimal is the one with the badass look in the yellow belt.

There were other black belts there and other adults who were different ranks, but Joe taught equally to all levels and he was just awesome to the boys. What a great experience! He even signed their belts! So cool.

3. I, the eye doctor, was down to one decent pair of sunglasses and this happened:

what the?

How in the world do you manage to run and wear sunglasses when the nose pad is like that? Not comfy. One would think that I would have many sunglasses since that is my business. But no, you would be wrong.

Thanks to a fast mailing system and good employees, I had this 2 days later:

Woo! Two new pairs! Of which I will not show my husband because he will steal them and he already has 2 pairs that he's taken from me plus his own. He doesn't need any more!

Yay to running with new sunglasses that make me look fast!

Are you stretchy? What's the best yoga pose you can do?

I Used To Be

2013-06-11T12:42:00.002-07:00

Lately I have been reading/hearing a lot of stories like this:

~I used to be a swimmer. We won States in 19XX.
~I used to play softball for Stanford and I went there on a full scholarship (blog I read, clearly no one from Maine! lol).
~I used to play basketball in high school and our team won States.
~I used to play tennis and was ranked #4 in the state.
~I was a runner in high school and broke the record for <insert whatever distance you wish> but got out of it as I aged.

Anyway, you get the picture. Seems like everyone who has a blog used to be really good at something. Even my local friends, they all seem to have been on a team that won a state championship at something when they were in high school.

In school, I was pretty darn average at everything. I played soccer and was high scorer my senior year, but we didn't make it further than the semi-finals and I didn't get any awards in the league. I played on the UMaine tennis team for my junior and senior year but that was only because the team didn't have numbers and probably should have been a club sport. In fact, I'm better at tennis NOW than I was then. I maybe won a match or two? the whole time. Even academics I was pretty average, #7 out of 70. Nothing special, no special scholarships or awards.

I sometimes wonder how this sets us up to perceive ourselves and our achievements. (or lack thereof) I never ever expected to win anything, award or otherwise in sports because I never had. I just wasn't that kid. Therefore, I wasn't really disappointed when I didn't win, because I knew I wasn't going to in the first place.

I wonder now, if I had felt confident in myself and felt like I was good, if that would have translated into actually being good and winning awards. Do you see what I mean?

It's like a lot of things, if you are confident and act like you are the best, often you will perform at your best. Or like the 0-12 team that knows it's going to lose and it plays a poor team poorly and does just what they thought they would do--lose. Now if that same team with the same players, wins a game here and there, they begin to believe that it is possible for them to win. Sometimes, that team just will continue to win just on sheer will, not because they were the better team, but because they believed they could win.

I have loved this about running and triathlon. I have discovered that I can win and winning doesn't have to be about being first either. I can't win an Ironman, but I can win a local triathlon held at our YMCA. I can't win the Boston Marathon, but I can win my age group at a 5K in town.

Even if I don't win or place in my age group, I can still win by beating my previous time or surging at the end to beat that person in front of me. These sports are truly sports for everyone. Everyone can find their place in running, everyone can win.

Sometimes I wish I had something that I could say that I used to be.

But I'll settle for what I am. Average as it may be.

A mom.
A runner.
A triathlete.
An optometrist.

What did you used to be?

What are you today?

I apologize for the mid-life-crisis sounding post. I'll be back to my usual sarcastic self shortly.

and so I'm not a princess

2013-06-05T12:37:00.001-07:00

So today is National Running Day as you may or may not know already. I was planning on a run regardless of whether it was some random holiday or not because it was sunny out. My outdoor stuff revolves around the weather. I swear that question gets asked at least 3 times a day at my house:

hubs: did you see the weather for tomorrow?
Sissy: mom, what's the weather today? What do I wear?
Princess: Is it going to rain today?

Anyway, when there is sun predicted, then I'm either running or biking. And biking was yesterday so today was running. Coincidentally, it is also I Don't Give a Fuck Day so that goes along with the other quite nicely.

As in: I don't give a fuck if it's National Running Day, it's sunny out so I was running anyway.

My run began as many others have, with a stupid non-smiling picture in the bathroom mirror.

What? You don't take selfies in the bathroom before you run? Who ARE you anyway?

That is my best I-don't-give-a-fuck face in honor of the day. You are welcome.

And 4 miles later I was done. An uneventful run in perfect weather. Except my stupid runtastic app froze up on me AGAIN and didn't show my full run. Is it the app or the craptastic phone? I just don't know. Either way, they both suck.

I went to take a shower before heading back to work and noticed this:

A hair elastic was in my running shoe for the whole 4 miles. And I didn't notice. Can you see the indent in my sneaker?? I'm not sure if that makes me a badass or an idiot. But clearly, I am not a princess.

And then there was this:

It's not that clear now, but that's blood on the sleeve of my shirt. So not only did I run with an elastic in my shoe the whole time but apparently, I also had bloody snot. So attractive.

And I wonder why I don't have running partners...

Did you run for National Running Day?

Or are you choosing not to give a fuck?

Or both? because it doesn't have to be an either or kinda thing

April and May Review

2013-06-03T11:57:00.000-07:00

Somehow I missed my April recap so I'm combing it with my May recap. I know you all have been on the edge of your seats waiting and waiting for this. So here goes.

Run Miles:

    April 41.55
    May 43.2

Pretty similar mileage. I just don't know how you guys manage to log 100+ mile months. I can't even begin to imagine where I would tack on the other miles to get that high. Maybe if I quit the other stuff like tennis and biking. Or my job.

Swim:

    April 4000 yds
    May 7500 yds

April was the month of vacation and I didn't have access to a pool, thus the swim mileage dropped a bit. Bringing it back in May though. I really have to get my swim in on my Friday half day otherwise it just doesn't get done. And now the pool is closed on Sundays for the summer so there is one less day to try to get a swim in. ugh. If only I could get my ass out of bed at 5....

That would require me getting my ass to bed before 10 though, wouldn't it?

Bike:

    April 85 minutes
    May 275 minutes

I've got my bike on the road now and it's so much nicer to ride outside than use the boring spin bike. I had my bike tuned and adjusted so the seat is better but now my neck is sore from holding my head up. I think I need to have my handlebars moved up some. One more tweak and I should be perfect. I'm really enjoying the biking outside and am looking forward to my 50 mile ride in July. I hope the weather is good.   Nothing worse than biking in the rain..

Tennis:
    April 6 hours
    May 6 hours

Tennis is looking to be over here pretty soon as the pro who teaches class goes away for the summer to do tennis camp at the local college. So that opens up two hours a week for more running/biking to get ready for this 70.3 I have on my schedule.

Weights:
    April 10 minutes (ummm embarrassing..)
    May 60 minutes

Music I Love Lately:
    I am loving Fall Out Boy still, even though it is starting to get a little overplayed. Cruise by Florida Georgia Line with Nelly--I don't really love the original country version-- and I Love It by Icona Pop.

Music I Hate:
    I cannot tell you how much I hate Stay by Rhianna and the more I hate it, the more the radio stations seem to play it. Same with that song by Pink and the guy from Fun. OMG. Seriously. Stop playing that song.

Things I Love Lately:
    I am loving Biscoff, longer days, hotter days, random days off, double workout days and my newish car. This recipe for sweet potato, arugula and tomato salad was *awesome*. Who knew I actually liked sweet potato?? I had it at a friend's house during a birthday get together. So so good. And no oil in the dressing!

Things I Hate:
    Exhibit A--

Super duper close up and not very clear but can you see those pimples under my arm? WTF. Both armpits have them but I am not flexible enough to get a picture of both. Anyone else suffer from armpit acne? Shaving is a real treat.

Dog hair. OMG the dog hair. I could vacuum every. single. day. and not get all the dog hair off my floor. Why must they shed? Why? Why don't I own a hairless dog? Why?

My computer that won't sent emails, but can still receive them, and for some reason I can no longer copy and paste pictures that I didn't take with my camera. Every time I try to post a picture that's on my computer, it shuts down and says 'windows is looking for a solution'. Fucking hate windows. Can't I just switch it all over to Apple products? Please? And then I'm too stupid to know how to fix it. Pity how pathetic I am.

Current Books:
Just finished The Good American by Alex George. I liked it. More historical fiction. I'm now reading (or trying to read) some book I can't remember the name of but it's weird and I'm not sure I'm going to be able to finish it. I really need some good books to read. Any suggestions?

What are you reading? Do share. But not if it's some stupid Danielle Steele crap.

Have you ever tried something you hated as a kid only to find that you actually like it?

Today was a Great Day!

2013-05-31T20:00:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day. For which I have no pictures.

But I do have words. So I'll use those.

I had today off to take the kids to their yearly physical. That got canceled yesterday because the doctor needed to be out of the office, so rather than filling in my morning with patients, I decided I'd rather have the 80* day off. Good choice.

I brought the kids to school and then came home and got some dishes done. I really don't know why I bother because somehow, just 2 hours later, the damn sink is filled with dishes again. They multiply like freakin' rabbits. Same with laundry. But I digress.

After the sink was empty, I got my bike kit on and headed out for a bike ride before it got too hot. Riding by the ocean on a beautiful 80* day really sucks if you've never done it so don't even bother heading to Maine this summer to try it out.

The traffic was a little busier than what I am used to since I usually try to ride early (6 or 7 am on the weekend) or evening. I didn't really enjoy the delivery trucks going to and fro but everyone was very kind and patient in giving me plenty of space and not beeping at me. Thank you, thank you.

After riding around 15 miles, I was back at home again to head to the dump. I know I'm a bit weird, but I really like going to the dump. Something feels really good about getting rid of the stuff that's cluttering up your garage and since I recycle everything, I end up feeling good about that too.

Bonus: The garage doesn't stink anymore. Woo!

Next on the agenda was my swim. Double exercise in one day = winning! The pool felt awesome because it was starting to get pretty steamy out even though it was only 10:30 a.m. There was only one other person in the pool so I had the lane I wanted and no one bugging me or trying to chat with me. My legs were sore from the bike ride just an hour earlier but by the time I had done 1500 yds, they felt normal. Yay!

Next was a ride to the bank and the dollar store. Can I hear a woo hoo for all the dollar store lovers? Is there nothing better than getting paper towels, tissues, toilet paper and popsicles for $1.00?? Oh yes, and toothpaste. Ramen noodles! Don't forget the Ramen noodles!! Yes, I am that pathetic that the dollar store gets me going.

Today was Girl Scout meeting day and I was taking the girls geocaching on one of the local land trust trails. I used to geocache quite a bit before this triathlon stuff so I have found all of the ones that are within 90 mile radius from my house. But most of the girls had never been so we went to find one that I had already found.

Quick tutorial on geocaching in case you've never been: GPS treasure hunting. People hide a container in the woods with toys and dollar store crap in it. You use a GPS to find it and trade out stuff (if you want) and sign the log inside. Log your visit online so the 'owner' knows it was found.

Perfect day for a short hike with the girls (and manimal, Honorary Girl Scout). The girls found it with no difficulty and we grabbed an ice cream on the way back. Just the girls, not me.

Home again and I folded ALL THE LAUNDRY and washed ALL THE CLOTHES. For now. There's always more tomorrow but for that one hour, my laundry was all done.

Dinner out at a local restaurant while the sun set and I sat in a tank top and shorts on the deck. These are the days we dream of in January, no?

If we could just duplicate this fabulous May day 300 more times in a year........

but we wouldn't appreciate the greatness of today without the misery of January, would we? Yes, I would. I promise I would.

I am going to do my darndest to get to where I can have a 4 day work week. Maybe even 3 day. That would make me so happy. Even if I made less money, I think that would be a good trade.

happy happy happy

Like Duck Dynasty. But without ducks.

Most Boring Post Ever

2013-05-30T08:34:00.000-07:00

What I've been doing lately:

work

swim

Run

Too much of this on a rainy holiday weekend

on the one sunny day we had, I got to do this

Way too much of this

Leads to this

notice the dunlap? You know, where your belly done lap over your waistband?

But I do love the new Tough Chik bike top!

What's going on in your corner of the woods?

Spartan Race

2013-05-22T07:47:00.001-07:00

Rose over at Eat Drink and be Meiri was hosting a giveaway for an entry into a Spartan Race and yours truly won it! Woo!

I had kinda been wanting to enter one of these races but just never got around to doing it or finding the time to drive to Vermont where it had been held. Not to mention they are ridiculously expensive. They are kinda like the Warrior Dash but supposed to be more badass. Some of the venues have different length races you can choose--3 mile, 8 mile and the 12 mile Death Race.

There never seem to be many choices with these kind of races in Maine. Usually there is one and it's somewhere in New England. Which, for those of you that have been to Maine, even though Vermont looks close to Maine, it really is not. Neither is Connecticut or Rhode Island for that matter. Unless you live in the very southern tip of Maine--and you almost can't even count that as part of Maine. It's more like a Masshole satellite. You'd better plan on at least a 3-4 hour drive. Ugh.

So anyway, I won this entry and didn't even know if there was going to be a date that I could even get to the venue to race. The New England venue is scheduled in August in Amesbury, MA. Super convenient as far as location because it's about 15 minutes from my Mother-in-law's house, however, the date stinks. It's the weekend directly after the Beach to Beacon 10K and 2 weekends before the little 70.3 race I have on my schedule. That's all is need to fuck myself up on some dumb mud run and not be able to race my A race. Not to mention August is hotter than hell and I have already done the Warrior Dash at that exact location.

So upon scanning the other locations of the Spartan Race, I found another New England race at Fenway!!! As in Fenway park--like where the Red Sox play! In November! Fabulous! My big races will be done, the weather will be cooler and it's at Fenway! Sign me up!

I'm not exactly sure how they are going to make a trail race/obstacle course at Fenway (which btw is in the middle of Boston) but whatever. It will still be fun. And when will I ever get another chance to be on the grass at Fenway park??

Now I'm totally excited about a race I didn't even have on my radar this year. I'm hoping that some other running buddies of mine will come down and do it with me.... hint hint Carrie and Jen and Danielle (never mind that baby you just had, Tyler can take care of him...)

Other Bonuses:

Spectators are free (unlike the Amesbury location)
Kids race
Did I mention it's in FENWAY PARK??

Softball Lessons

2013-05-20T07:18:00.000-07:00

My oldest daughter is playing softball for the middle school team this year. Our area is not known for it's softball... so the games often look like clips out of the movie Bad News Bears. But really what does one expect when there is almost nothing for little league?

In fact, the first game of this middle school season, was the first real game that any of the 7th grade girls had played in. Like where the kids pitch and catch the whole game. Like where you call ALL the balls and what ever strikes there may be. Like if you walk the entire team and they score 15 runs, you still have to get the 3 outs in order to finish the inning.

So, as you can imagine, my expectations for this season were not very high. In my head, I had a goal of having one win. With one game left to go, the girls have a record of 3-6! So really, that's pretty good!

This weekend was a double header and the first game was really close. It came down to the final inning and the other team tied the game. We has last ups because we were the home team so all we needed to do was score one run. Sissy got a hit and got on base. Then she stole second. And then third. The next girl hit a grounder to the second baseman and who got her out, but by then Sissy had run home and they won! 11-10 was the score. It was really exciting because it was the first evenly matched game they had and they did what they needed to do to win.

Sissy at second base

Getting a hit

The second game we lost 23-10. After a 15 run first inning. Whatever.

So now on to the lessons in softball. During the course of these games, there came a time when the infield popfly rule was in effect. Which I did not understand. At all. I had never even heard of this rule. My husband was ~~very irritated~~ not really very patient in trying to explain it to me but basically what he said was if the ball pops up in the infield, it is an automatic out even if the infielder drops it. What? She can drop it and it's still an out?? Apparently, yes. He said it's to prevent the fielder from purposely letting it fall so they can turn a double play. Ok. Somehow, I just could not wrap my brain around an automatic out even if she drops it.

Fast forward to a play when the infielder drops the ball on a pop fly. Me and another mom are calling out for the infield popfly rule. But nooooo. There was no one on base so it doesn't apply. Cripes. Thanks for the clarification.

It happens again and there are girls on second and third. Once again, we are confused and want the automatic out. Nope, there has to be a force play. Ok another stipulation.

And one last exception to the rule, it can't be the third out. Jeeezz.. It took 3 games and 15 innings, but I think we finally get the rule. If someone had just explained it a little better to begin with....

The lesson learned in softball this weekend:

Shut up because you don't know the rules.

Summer Schedule

2013-05-15T12:55:00.002-07:00

This is what is on the agenda for the summer:

1. July 21 in Rockland Maine. My friend, Bobbi and I are going to do the 50 mile event.

2. Lobster Roll 5K in Boothbay Harbor on July 26. It's the 4th year for this race and I haven't missed one yet, so I'm not going to start now. Fun, local race that raises money for the track they want to build. Come join, please.

3. Beach to Beacon 10K in Cape Elizabeth, Maine August 3. Again with Bobbi. I sense a trend here.... No logo because they must have it copyrighted or something, I wasn't able to click and copy..

4. Rev3 70.3 Half Rev Old Orchard Beach, Maine August 25. With the idea that if training properly for this race does not happen, I will drop down to the Olympic length. No Bobbi this time. Although I was thinking of trying to convince her and her husband to find a swimmer and do the relay. <mmmhmmm wah haha> I mean really, she'll be ready to do either the bike or run by then, right?

5. Maine Half Marathon in Portland, Maine October 6. Again with my friend, Bobbi. It will be her first half marathon. My goal is to break 2 hours, so that is her goal as well. She just doesn't know it yet. She might think her goal is just to finish, but she is wrong.

That's it folks. Pretty sure that is enough. I'm on the fence whether to do the Bath Sprint Tri June 2 again this year. It's the race I 'won' last year. (I use the term 'won' loosely because even though I did win, the event had been rescheduled due to poor weather and many of the athletes were at another race on the rescheduled day. But it is still a win.)

What is on your race agenda this summer?

Are you tackling a new distance or event this year?

How Men Lose Things

2013-05-14T14:34:00.000-07:00

So my husband "lost" his wallet yesterday. Usually a "lost" item in my house equates to "I used it and didn't put it away and now I can't find it" so I wasn't really too concerned. He, however, was all concerned and wanted me to check online all day to make sure that no one was using his card.

He was all positive someone was out there spending all our money and having a grand ole time driving around with his license.

So I checked.
Once.
Cause I knew it wasn't lost.

This is what he thinks happens every time he can't find something.

This is a major difference between he and I. He is convinced that his wallet is lost and/or stolen and we MUST begin panic mode. Someone is spending his money and we need to stop them. He even suggested that we call the police. Mmmmhmmm. Yah.

I, on the other hand, know for sure that I have just placed it somewhere and don't remember. No panic. Unless I need money. No calling of police. No freaking out about needing to get a new license. I know that it will turn up later that day when I look in my gym bag or under the car seat or wherever.

The end of the day arrived and he still hadn't found it yet. I was quite positive it was in his car or pants or shorts or coat or overnight bag. So I looked in the car, the pants, the shorts, the coat and the overnight bag and even I couldn't find it.

Hmmm. Might it actually be lost?

Just then I hear, I found it!

Where was this "lost" wallet, you ask? This wallet that managed to stay hidden under my husband's watchful eyes? My husband who looked "everywhere" for it and was convinced it was stolen? It was under a piece of paper on the counter in the same place that he puts it every, single day.

Last Minute Race and a New PR!

2013-05-06T08:52:00.001-07:00

This past weekend was the Rocky Coast 5K/10K road race in Boothbay Harbor. I have done this race quite a few times and it was my first 5K ever around three years ago! I wasn't sure if we would be able to run it this year because Sissy has basketball on the weekends with her AAU team and last year we had to leave early to get to it. Thankfully, they still allow on site registration so Friday night we decided that we were going to run it once we knew basketball was going to be late afternoon. Sissy wanted to do the 5K, Manimal was going to do the 1 mile kids run and I would do the 10K.

Manimal had his race first at 9:30 a.m. so we watched him race. They changed the kids run from under 12 to 10 and under so he really wanted to try to win it. I didn't think he would because there were quite a few fast 10 year olds running but I knew he would win his age group.

It's a little less than a mile race, I think around .9. They close the street and the kids run down to the grocery store and back. We see the first of the kids coming and it's the older boys, but then I hear, Michelle, is that Manimal??

And it was! He was in fourth place overall, only getting beat by 4th graders. Manimal is in second grade.

He finished in 5:26. First in his age group, and 4th overall. <so proud!>

The 5K and 10K had the same start so Sissy and I started together. The race didn't start until 10:30, which is a little late for a race. I was a bit worried about it being hot but it worked out fine thanks to the coastal breeze.

I had no expectations for this race. Zero. I didn't really have breakfast other than some raisin toast and a few sips of Mt. Dew. The weather was perfect, 50's and sunny, so that was in my favor. I hadn't done any exercise in two days due to crazy family life so maybe rested legs were in my favor.
I forgot my headphones so it was to be a naked run, which is often better for me. I get a pace and don't rely on the music to keep it for me.

I started out with Sissy but took off a bit from her when we hit the first hill. I was running next to a girl who has beat me before and then I beat her. I knew we were around the same pace so I asked her if she wanted to run with me. I told her my training pace had been around 9:00 so that was what I was shooting for.

I didn't have my Garmin, but I did start my timer on my regular watch. Mile 1: 7:40. Eek. That was a little faster than I had anticipated. I felt good though and Karen was matching me step for step so we kept at it. Mile 2: 15:46. Oh my. Still keeping that pace.

I didn't know if I could keep it for the whole 6 but figured I would try. I didn't see the marker for 3 and 4 and couldn't do the damn math in my head anyway so I don't know what those splits were. I did know no one was passing us and we were kinda in the front for females.

At the turn around we saw at least 5 females ahead of us. One was absolutely flying! She was seriously so freakin fast! She ended up being 2nd overall with 37:56 time! Impressive for sure.

Karen and I kept together for the entire race. Neither one of us slowed down it seemed and I didn't want to finish without her at this point. On the last mile I decided in my head that I wasn't going to try to beat her. I really didn't care. We had run the whole race together and I didn't want to try to dump her at the end. I don't know what she was thinking but she didn't try to dump me either.

We crossed the finish at the same time. They tore her bib first so she got in before me. Whatever.

I knew that it was my best race and I knew I got a PR. My watch said 52:20 by the time I stopped it. Official time was 52:13! Woo! 8:25 pace. I guess we must have slowed down some the last few miles.

Karen and I coming to the finish.

Closer so you can see the awesomeness of my peacock shirt from InkNBurn!

Sissy had a great race too! She finished her 5K in 27:24. Pretty darn good for no training!

All photos courtesy of Peter Cole

Her time was good for first in her age group! I ended up with 2nd in my age group, but only to Karen and we crossed at the same time.

That made for a pretty great start to the weekend.

Have you ever raced last minute and got a PR?

We Have Reached a Whole New Level of Rude

2013-05-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

So I think I mentioned this on twitter the other day but it's worth bringing up again. The level of rudeness the world has arrived at is mind boggling. Each day we do things that were completely unheard of years ago and even if we could have dreamt them up, there is no way anyone would have done that shit because it is so unbelievably rude.

Example 1:

I am doing an eye exam, as in EXAMINING THIS GUY'S EYES, and when I finish with the glasses part and put the dilating drops in, I usually take 5 minutes to explain what I came up with, what I recommend about glasses and any concerns I might have. I am in the process of telling this 60 something year old man what I found and while I am speaking (yes, I was speaking and looking directly at him while I speak) he picks up his phone, which must have been vibrating, and answers it.

While I am in mid sentence.

Not an excuse me, pardon me, hold on a sec, nothing! He just starts speaking to whoever is clearly way more important than I am.

I sit there for 30 seconds or so flabbergasted and then just get up and leave. I mean, really? Really?? Whatever was on the phone couldn't have waited the 2 minutes I was going to tell you about your eyes? Jeez. At least the teenagers pretend to listen to me while they are texting.

Example 2:

Today I step in to greet my first patient and he has headphones on. Ok. Fine. He does take a moment to shut off or turn down his ipod, but continues to keep the headphones in. Which is a little awkward because I'm not super sure if he's listening to me or the tunes. Again, another 70 something year old man. He wears the headphones for the ENTIRE eye exam. Rude, yes? Or am I being a little sensitive? It just felt like he wasn't really listening to me. I say, yes to rude.

Example 3:

Maybe not completely rude, but certainly annoying--Princess has dance on Tuesdays and we go up every week for lessons since September. For some reason, they only starting learning their recital pieces after February vacation. Ballet was done two weeks ago and they still have one more week to practice it. Tap and jazz, for reasons I don't understand, they haven't even been taught the whole routine yet! The recital is 5/11! That is 10 days for those of you who are numerically challenged. Which means we have one more lesson on Tuesday and then the dress rehearsal (which should be an Olympic event in trying of one's patience--but that's a whole other post in itself) to get this shit done. Highly unlikely, so we now have to come to another lesson on Friday.

Like I don't have any thing else planned for Friday. Don't complain though or your kiddo might end up in the back behind the tall girls.... did I just say that in my out loud voice?

shut up abby

Let me remind you that because I am an idiot over-achiever mother, I drive my Princess to a dance studio that is 45 minutes away. So that is really convenient.

Sigh.

I'd better get a Rockette out of all this hassle.

Have you noticed more rudeness in your life? Or are they just rude to me?

Dance moms = train wreck show I cannot tear my eyes from. What is with those parents anyway?

Running with Fish and Shits

2013-04-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

This past weekend in Boothbay Harbor was Fisherman's Festival. It's a weekend of crazy fun put on by the locals for the locals. My daughter had signed up for the cod fish relay race. Basically, 4 kids from each grade 5-8 and 9-12 make a team and have to put on fisherman's gear--oil skins pants and jackets, boots and then run while carrying a fish down the road and back and then the next person has to go. Fun times for sure! Sissy and her friends were representing the 7th graders and were the only all girl team. Girl Power!

At the start--the gear and the fish!

Getting Sissy dressed to run!

She dropped the fish! What the?

Coming in for the trade off--all smiles! trying to keep her pants on

Sissy was the first leg of the race and once she got back the other girls did a great job and her team only lost to a group of 8th grade boys by 3 seconds!! They probably would have won if she hadn't dropped the dang fish! Ahh, next year.

She didn't smell too fishy at the end. I guess we'll keep her.

Husband did the lobster eating contest.

in the yellow

He totally expected to win but was beat out badly--as in like 40 seconds or so--to another guy. It was how fast you could eat two lobsters. Turns out the girl next to him tossed one of her tails in his pile so he ate 3 tails. Oops. Guess there are worse things than eating too much lobster...

Sunday was another beautiful day and called for a long (for me) run. I haven't done anything over 4 miles in a long time so I thought I do my 6 mile loop on the roads around my house. I headed out around 8:15 and immediately went back in the house to remove layers. It was too hot! Craziness! Finally, it's warm (for Maine) here in Maine. 50* at 8 am is pretty dang warm.

4.00 mi

14:44 min/mi

4.07 mph

43:00

82 ft

59 ft

This was my breakdown for mile 4 of my 6 mile run. Not particularly fast, right? Well, after around 3 miles I started to rumbling down below. You know what I mean, right? I hadn't eaten anything so I also had not down my morning business. I was hoping to make it the hour before needing to go, but alas, that didn't happen. Thankfully, there is a kinda public facility on the route that I was running that I knew I could drop in and use the facilities. It's closed on the weekend and also during this time of year, but I knew where the key is kept and knew I could get in.

Thankfully, the door was a little open when I arrived and I ran in and found the toilet. I thought to check to make sure there was toilet paper before sitting down and there was, so I was good to go.

Business complete, I went to flush and nothing. Nothing happened. The toilet wasn't working. Ugh. I had no idea what to do. I didn't want to be the asshole that left a deuce in the toilet for people to find when they came to use the building but I couldn't make the dang thing flush! Not to mention the stink.

With nothing else to do, I left to finish my run and get home. Hubs is a plumber and he would either be able to fix it or tell me what to do. I could also call the director and tell him so he would know. Ummm, nope, husband was going to fix it. There was no way I was calling anyone about this.

I got home and replayed my dramatic story to the husband. His first question--no water, right? Umm, yah. Didn't really check that. There was water in the bowl so I thought that was good enough. He thought they had probably shut the water off for the winter and that was the problem. He said to go back with a bucket filled with water and dump it in. Once there is enough water in the bowl it will flush itself.

After a shower and will a 10 gal bucket in tow--toilet was flushed. Thank god I'm not the ass that leaves a shit in the bowl. Phew.

Have you ever had to make a deposit in an unexpected place while on a run?

Ever run with a fish?

Buying a Car Online

2013-04-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

So after we had gotten back from vacation, I came to the realization that it was indeed, time for a new car. My Odyssey had served us well for 8 years and 210K miles but now that the automatic door wouldn't shut and sometimes opened while driving, it was time to trade it in. Not to mention that I still had studded tires on it and would need to purchase 4 new summer tires in order to keep this car.

Studs for you non-Maine folks are little metal well, studs, put into your tires to give you more traction in the snow and ice. Noisy as hell and not cheap.

Like any good American these days, I jumped on the internet to find myself a car. Cause who the hell has time to go to a dealer and look at cars and actually SPEAK to a person? Not me.

an oldie but a goodie

I called the sales department of the dealership when I found a car that interested me. 2008 Honda Odyssey with 54K miles. Same car as mine already but way less ghetto for 20K and some. Oh, and a DVD player. I thought the price was fair and didn't make a big deal about dickering at that time. I mentioned my car and knew it was worth about $4k in fair condition.

I'm not exactly sure what fair condition means, but with a door that sometimes opens while driving, a broken tail light cover and a dent in the back, I was pretty sure we were close to it. After an hour or so, the sales guy called me back and said with my trade the price was $17K blah blah. So in my head I heard, we are giving you $4K on your trade. I tend to not be very accurate with math in my head or pay close attention to silly details. Remember this, it's important later.

So we agree and begin to proceed with the purchase. We go through financing and I get a decent rate with a bank they use so the finance guy calls me to go through the fine details. On the phone. On my way to my daughter's dance. Total time since original call: 5 hours.

He tries to sell me all kinds of warranty crap: tires, windshield, extended car warranty, leather and carpet warranty--what a load of shit. I decline all of it like the true cheap ass I am. He then goes over the exact cost of things and it's then that I realize that I only got $3k for my car. Of course, like a lemming, I say nothing and just let him do his thing. My payment is a little higher than I thought due to all the tax, title, doc fee etc that gets added into the total cost and the fact that I'm getting less for my car than I thought. I'm a wee bit uncomfortable but, buying this car still doesn't feel very real because I'm not actually there! I mean, I can back out anytime because I haven't signed a damn thing. I'll just talk to the sales guy in the morning.

Delivery is planned the next day. They have a driver bring the car to you and all the paperwork so you don't even have to show your face at the dealership. Not once. I took pictures of my license and insurance cards and texted them to the salesman. (said no one 20 years ago) And then it's pretty much a done deal.

I stew a little bit about the thousand dollars, wondering if it's really worth it to make a big deal about it, trying to decide whether to call the sales guy and squawk about the price and try to get it down a bit. And then my door opens while driving. Hmmm, maybe 3K is just fine for this car. If they actually SEE the car, they may decide that it's not even worth the 3K. I really should have taken pictures of the old car just so you could appreciate how ghetto it really is.

very similar to this one really--same color and same make...dents look similar. my a/c worked though

So anyway, the delivery guy arrives at my house, with my newish car, we sign papers and he takes my ghetto van back to the dealer. All done in about an hour or so. Removing all the crap from the ghetto van took a little more time than planned. One little glitch in the paperwork which we quickly fixed by threatening to send the car back and I had a new car! woo!

so pretty! so clean! so quiet!

I never realized how loud and rattle-y my old car was until I got to drive this new one. Total time spent on buying a car: 3 hours out of 2 days. Unheard of.

The first thing my son said was "mom, now you need a new Tough Chik sticker"! I was sad to see it go. Shannon, can you help me out?

Never ever thought I could buy a car without losing an entire day at the dealership. Isn't technology fabulous?

Have you ever bought a car online or without even seeing it in person?

What is your dream car?

Wordless Wednesday

2013-04-24T13:04:00.001-07:00

Coolest tree ever.

Coolest kids ever.

Getting crabby at Joe's Crab Shack.

Shut Up Already!

2013-04-14T09:05:00.001-07:00

Caution! Rant Post Ahead!

Whenever I go to my continuing education classes--and it doesn't matter where it is, it can be Maine, Florida or Texas--there is always one jackass that has to talk the whole time during the lecture. He may ask questions, but more often he talks to the lecturer like he knows more about the subject than the lecturer does.

If you know so goddamn much about it, why don't you get your own lecture? Shut the hell up so we can get this over with. No one cares how smart you think you are, no one cares about what you do in your own practice and how it is soooo much better than what the lecturer is advising. Everyone really just wants to sit here and get our stupid hours done with. So shut up already.

If you've got some long winded question that is bordering on being stupid, then just wait until after the lecture to ask it. For the love of Jesus, just wait. The lecturer will be more than happy to explain how dumb you are to you when the rest of us have left and are enjoying a margarita.

And while I'm on a rant, the meat-locker like temperatures that you keep these rooms at while we have to sit idle for 2 hour increments, really sucks for us women. If you want me to dress nicely in heels and a dress, then you cannot keep the room at 56*. My toes are like little frozen sausages right now.

Advice for the vendors--if you want me to visit your booth and talk to you about your product/instrument, then you'd better have some good chocolate or snack to lure me there. Maine is very good at this. All the vendors are right on top of this with chocolate kisses, mini PB cups and sometimes bags of M&M's. Lure me in with the candy, then strike for the kill. At this particular meeting in TX, not one bit of chocolate to be found. #vendorfail

Despite the babbling idiot, arctic temperatures and chocolate deficiency, I have managed to accumulate 11 hours of CE.

#winning

Worst Vacation Start Ever

2013-04-13T08:02:00.000-07:00

As you may or may not remember, we were heading out to San Antonio for my optometry conference/vacation on Wednesday. Things were going well at first in that I got the kids to school and that left me plenty of time to get my workout done (2000 yds in the pool), head to the dump, finish packing, clean up the house etc. We were able to leave on time, get to my MIL's and then get to the airport all with time to spare. This is highly unusual for my family.

The problems began when we arrived at the airport and tried to check in curbside. No go. Our flight was delayed so we had to check in at the desk.

Which happened to be 30 people long. 15 of which was a group of student apparently going to China. Gah.

We finally get to the agent and not only is our flight delayed minor problem but because our flight is delayed we will miss our connector flight from Dallas to San Antonio. major problem Major problem because there would be no other flights available to get us to San Antonio until the next day at 7:30 p.m.!

After 40 minutes at the desk with the ticket agent, the best we can come up with is this: instead of leaving at 6:35 p.m. from Boston arrive in Dallas, connect to SA and arrive there at midnight, we leave Boston at 9 p.m. (which turned into 9:45 p.m.), arrive in Dallas at 2 a.m., rent a car and drive 4 hours to SA.

Fast forward to finally arriving in Dallas--at 2 a.m. mind you. Time to find a rental car to get us to SA. Dallas is a large airport, right? Should be pretty easy to find a car to rent, right? Or maybe a hotel room to sleep in and then drive the next day? Not so much.

Turns out there is a race there this weekend so every single room at both airport hotels are full, so no chance of getting some sleep and then driving the next day. Likewise, the first THREE rental car desks I check do no have any cars available to rent. WTF.

Finally, Avis, Thank you sweet baby Jesus, has a mini van to rent us so we can get to SA. For the low price of $260. Bargain. Truthfully, I would have paid $600 at that point just to get the fuck out of that airport.

3 am (4 am Maine time) we are finally on our way to SA.

I love and hate the fucking GPS. So thankful that we had it so we could get navigate our way out of DFW but hate that mother because at 3 fucking am it had us driving through residential neighborhoods and all around the fucking mulberry bush to finally get to a major route. Kinda scary when you don't know where the hell you are, it's dark as shit, you are 6 hours past your bedtime and you can't see a hotel anywhere. Not even street lights and very few gas stations.

Fun times. This is what memories are made of right?

Somehow, we manage to arrive on a major highway in the direction of where we want to go. At this point, it's 4 a.m. Texas time and I can no longer stay awake for the 3 more hours I need to drive to get to SA. A Hampton Inn shows up right off this highway and allows us to get some sleep.

What a difference 5 hours of sleep makes! Once I had some rest, mouthwash and a shower I felt like a new woman.

After picking up one rental car and dropping off the other, we finally arrived at the Westin Riverwalk at 2 p.m.

Longest freakin' travel ever.

I definitely deserved this for dinner

With this view

And this cute kiddo in a poncho

So far San Antonio is fabulous. I cannot believe how many restaurants there are and how many places there are to see and eat at on the Riverwalk.

We visited Sea World yesterday and pretty much had the park to ourselves. "Off Season" ha. That cracks me up. Why the hell would you want to walk around that park in August in 100* heat when you can come in April in 75* and have the place to yourself?

Note that there is NOONE behind them. This was for Shamu's show.

I'm so thankful that this is the weather I get to enjoy for the week

instead of this

Have you ever had a bad start to your vacation?

Are you wishing for nicer weather where you live?

How I Even Out My Cheapness

2013-04-04T06:33:00.000-07:00

As I'm getting older, I find that I am really cheap about some things. Like so cheap, it's kinda silly yet I can't stop myself. But in other ways, money seems to be no object. Which doesn't really make sense because any money I saved by being cheap in one aspect, is used right up with other things. So I'm even. Like Seinfeld.

So here are some ways I manage to even out my cheapness.

Cheapo:
I cannot stand to purchase paper towels because they are such a waste of paper. We have them, but whenever possible, I use a dish towel to dry my hands and whatnot. Savings: $1.29 x 30

Savings negated by:
Replacing/upgrading my cell phone at every opportunity presented to me at a cost of $250 per phone. Cost: $250 x 2

Cheapo:
Bring lunch every single day, eating the leftovers in my fridge. Savings: $10 x 5

Savings negated by:
Eating out on weekends with the family because I am too lazy to cook. Cost $100 x 2

Cheapo:
Shut out lights constantly, screaming at children to shut them out when they leave the room. Savings: unknown $10-20?

Savings negated by:
Driving all over the state (and out of state) for field hockey tournaments and basketball games sometimes incurring a hotel charge for longer distances. Cost at least $50 for gas and $100 for hotel room at least 10 weekends. Let's not even bother to include food, tolls, and wear and tear on my car.

Cheapo:
Clipping coupons and trying to maximize savings by purchasing the products when on sale. Savings: $20-30 when doing really well.

Savings negated by:
Drinking Mt. Dew to cause cavities disgustingly expensive to repair. $300 x 3

Cheapo:
Saving bottles and cans to return to the redemption center. Even picking them up on the side of the road when out walking. $22 every 6 weeks

Savings negated by:
The number of ridiculous apps my kids ask me to purchase non-stop, not to mention the ongoing Club Penguin member fee I keep forgetting to cancel because no one uses it anymore. Gah. $5.95 x 12 and various .99 and $1.99 apps.

Cheapo:
Well, maybe not exactly cheapo, but smarter, frugal way to do health care--high deductible health insurance with tax deferred health savings account. If no medical expenses savings equal around $5600

Savings negated by:
Bringing Princess daughter to the ER for a hurt knee, knowing full well it wasn't broken but didn't want to listen to her complain about it being broken all night and how I never believe her when she's hurt and I don't care about her knee and blah blah blah so brought her anyway to have the x-ray proof that it indeed was just fine. $600

I think this might equal an Extreme Cheapskate FAIL.

Mean Girls and Smashed Screens

2013-03-31T15:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a bit of a crazy one with double duty games on Saturday. We had to drive Friday night 2 hours south to Massachusetts to get near where Sissy and Princess were playing a field hockey tournament the next morning.

This tourney was Princess' last tourney and she was about done. She didn't really want to play goalie anymore even though she is the best one they have. She agreed to play the first game as goalie and the other two games she could play as a field player. The first game didn't go so well. Our team is a U12 team and most of the girls are 9. We played a more skilled team with mostly 11 and 12 year old girls and, of course, we lost.

She had quite a few saves with most of the goals coming off a good save and they had a player there to hit the rebound right in. As she came off the field, she had tears in her eyes (which isn't unusual cause she tends to be very dramatic), so I thought she was sad about losing.

But what she said to me almost had me in tears myself. I went to help her take off her helmet and she said that a girl on the other team told her that she sucked at goalie. Those exact words.

I swear to god, the mother bear in me came out and if I knew which kid it was I probably would have throat punched her.

What compels a child, under age 12, to say that to another girl? None of my kids would ever dream of saying such a thing. How mean can you possibly be? There wasn't a trophy, medals or anything for the winners. It was just a round robin. The games didn't matter at all, other than just to have fun and learn.

Of all the kids to say that to, Princess is the one it would hurt the most. My other two kids would have been mad, but would either have ignored them, or played harder. Princess is easily hurt by comments and she didn't want to play anymore.

Thankfully, coach was awesome and spoke to the other coach and to her credit, she came right over and apologized to Princess and told her what a great job she did and that she was going to speak to her team about what had happened.

All in all, the adults handled it well, but I was so sad it happened in the first place.

isn't she cute? how could you say something mean to her? really?

Big Sissy's team did great and went 4-0. She even had two goals! So proud of both of them. It was a fun day other than the mean comment at the beginning. I wish we didn't have to drive so far away to participate.

Sissy is behind #90. I'm an eye doc, not a photographer...

It was a beautiful day, sunny and 50's. I was surprised to find that we were playing outside because all our other tournaments have been inside. We had no outdoor gear so thankfully, it was not very cold.

Princess messing around on some track equipment

After the games, we had time to swing back to my in-laws house and grab the dog and head back to Maine 3 hours away for Sissy's basketball games out in East Middle of Nowhere. Not a joke. It was totally in the middle of nowhere.

We finally arrived home at 10:30 p.m. and the Easter Bunny still had to come. Holy hell. The things we do for our kids, right?

The icing on the cake was a smashed screen on my computer when I opened it up today. Fabulous.

that's not a spider web...

Any ideas on how to fix this? I found a replacement screen on ebay which I ordered in hopes that my computer guy or I can replace it.

I can't have anything nice.

Thank goodness the computer still works. I'm not sure what I'd do if I couldn't Facebook, blog, tweet and Instagram. The horrors.

Have you dealt with any mean girls in sports yet?

I don't remember anyone trash talking me at any age in any sport I ever played. Either I didn't hear or I wasn't good enough for them to speak to. Or maybe kids are more mean now?

Have you ever smashed your screen on your incredibly expensive laptop? Did you cry for days?

I'm still mourning.

Nothing to Say Post

2013-03-28T08:34:00.000-07:00

So what do you say when you really have nothing to say? Hmmm. Well, let's see, this week is an adventure in time management. As in, I have more stuff to do than I have time to do it. Story of my life.

You know Easter is Sunday right? Have I gotten anything at all for Easter bunny stuff? Um, No. So this is how the week is going for me. I had to get my swim in last night because our local YMCA is closed on Good Friday and Easter. Seriously? Closed on Good Friday? Like because they are all in church paying penance for the death of Jesus? Pul --leese.

Only the Y in my town is closed, the others around us are still open. How freakin' annoying. There is still school for cripes sake! At least I don't use the day care anymore. That sucked.

So anyway, after picking the kids up from school on Friday, we need to pack up and head south two hours to Massachusetts for a field hockey tournament on Saturday for Sissy and Princess. That should be done around 1 p.m. and then we'll have to turn around and head back to Maine for Sissy's basketball games that are scheduled in the evening. Phew.

That doesn't leave a lot of time for shopping of any kind--food, baskets, clothes.

Sunday, of course, is Easter and nothing on God's green earth is open that day. Believe me, I've called to check. Only LLBean is open and that doesn't get me any groceries for the week.

this will be me--trying to get groceries... no money, just throw fruit and veggies

C'mon, are there really no heathens other than me that would like to take in a day of shopping on the ONE DAY that I have nothing scheduled?? I was thinking I could take the kids out to the mall to get some clothes for our vacation in 2 weeks, but Noooo, that's not going to happen.

It had better not rain on Sunday. That's all I've got to say.

I'll leave you with a couple of things that made me laugh today. Have a great Easter holiday!

my favorite easter cartoon of all time

and one last gif just because it was so stupid it made me laugh

Kinda Wordless Wednesday

2013-03-20T07:32:00.001-07:00

Mother Nature--- Suck it.

Tax time-- you can suck it too.

If I were on Pintrest--I would Pin this. It was awesome and I made it up. Lime Cilantro Scallops with mango pineapple salsa.

Three weeks until this:

but who's counting.

Clean Bottle Winner and Off Track

2013-03-18T07:33:00.000-07:00

After one crazy sports-filled weekend with the kids, I finally had time to pick a winner for the Clean Bottle giveaway!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations Jen! Get me your address and I'll mail it out to you! (Or I could drop it off on my way through one day.... )

This past week has been so crazy with kid's activites and uncooperative weather that I have really gotten off track with my running and exercise. Some days it seems that everything works against you to get that workout in and if you even hesitate for one moment, then the chance is gone. For example, Saturday we had basketball for Manimal all afternoon and we needed to leave by 11:00 to arrive at the courts. That meant that there was plenty of time to get a run in before we needed to leave, instead I hung out with the kids a bit, brought all of our Girl Scout cookie money to the bank and went to the dump. By the time that was done it was 10:30 and too late to get a run in before we needed to go.

Fine, I told myself. I'll just run when we get home. Uh huh. Suuuureee, you will. As you can imagine, that didn't happen. It was so windy and so cold and honestly, I just didn't feel like getting out there and getting it done. I should have. But I didn't.

Sunday was more of the same. Sissy had basketball at USM starting at 10:15 so we needed to leave by 8:15 to get there. No running in the morning because I just don't get up at that hour on Sunday. No way. Only for a race.

I did pack my running clothes so I could run inbetween games, but when we arrived I had packed everything except my sneakers. Doh! And it was so god damn windy and cold again that I might have just skipped it anyway.

So two basketball games, an hour ride and a two hour field hockey scrimmage later, there would be no running for me yesterday. I held out hope that I could hop on the trainer once we got settled at home, which was around 7, for those interested. I headed upstairs to get my shorts on and Princess had decided at 7 p.m., on a school night, to rearrange her bedroom.

Her bed was completely moved to the side of the room with her headboard right in the middle of the room and all her crap that was under her bed was in the open space available. Clothes everywhere.

WTF.

Seriously. This girl is going to send me over the freakin' edge.

I had all I could do not to blow a gasket. I just love rearranging bedroom furniture at 7 p.m. on a Sunday night. Woo.

If you are counting, that's two, TWO days of no exercise in a row! After two days in a row missed during the week! ugh. That translates into 3 days of exercise out of 7. yuk.

I feel so fat now.

But today is Monday. A new week with a new start. A clean slate as they say.

I'm starting over this week and it's going to be a better one.

I will get my exercise done.
I will eat more fruits and veggies.
I will not resort to fast food when in a pinch and hungry.
I will remember that sometimes life and living it is more important than getting my workout in.
The trainer/gym/treadmill will always be there tomorrow.

We all have weeks like these ones. How do you stay on track?

Oh! I forgot to add that I did manage to get in on the open registration of the Beach to Beacon 10K on Friday morning! The 4,000 (I think) slots available sold out in 4:58 minutes! Yay for fast fingers!

The Week Thus Far

2013-03-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

My little corner of useless information. Since I have nothing to report about running/fitness/triathlon, I will share with you a few things from the week thus far.

1. Dark wash jeans make your hands all blue. I have these pants that are a really dark wash denim material but are cut like dress pants, so I wear them to work. And all day my hands look dirty/bluish even though I wash them a million times a day. Somehow, I always forget that these pants do this and I'm surprised each time when it happens.

not my actual hands but you get the idea

2. I had a mole removed from my back last week and was supposed to return to see the dermatologist tomorrow to have the stitches out. That would require me leaving work early and driving 20 minutes to the satellite office. Ummm, I don't think so. Thirteen year old girls have way better eyes than a man in his late 50's so Sissy took them out for me last night using nail clippers and my tweezers. Another excellent use of these kids.

3. I wish this were the new pope.

seriously, how do you not laugh at grumpy cat? there must be something wrong with you if you don't think this is funny.

4. This Morning. Ugh. The mornings of all mornings. So last night my husband takes my van to bring Sissy to AAU bball. He never takes my van. Like never. So I nicely ask if he'll put gas in it since I won't have any for work tomorrow if he doesn't. Fast forward to this morning. Of course, we are late. Per usual. Of course, everyone doesn't want to get out of bed because of the god damn time change. I somehow get the kids the school in a not-that-late-fashion and head to work. I am half way to work, which means I have now driven 15 minutes towards work and Princess calls me. I forgot my science project and it's due today, can you go home and get it?

Oh my fucking good lord.

so I'm pretty mad and wheel that car around and guess what? Husband didn't put gas in the car. Gas light promptly comes on. Fuck me.

So I head home some 15 minutes away to get this science project and Princess calls me again. Oh, mom? You have to print out my report too.

WTF??

fucking fuck fuckers.

Rewind back to last night. The night that we were actually home at 5. The night we didn't have anything to do and actually ate dinner together at the table.

Me to Princess: Do you have any homework?

Princess: No.

Me: Are you sure?

Princess: Yes, mom.

So not only do I have to drive 15 minutes home, 10 minutes to school and then 30 minutes to work, I also have to stop and print the fucking report AND get some fucking gas!

The icing on the cake--I get home, get the project and print the report to find out......

wait for it.....

It's not even finished! She has one page written and the last sentence is "Now let me tell you about the plants".

I half want to just leave it all there and let her take the god damn zero.

Ever had a day completely screwed up by the actions of everyone else?

Clean Bottle Review and Giveaway

2013-03-08T07:24:00.000-08:00

Almost a year ago now, I was watching Shark Tank and I saw Clean Bottle on that show. Clean Bottle is basically a water bottle that can be broken down so that it can be cleaned throughly. The top comes off, the bottom comes off and the nozzle comes out so you can clean out any mold that may develop in there.

I wanted to try it out and thought it would be a great product to review on my blog so I contacted them to see if they might send me one to review. They said they would, so I waited. And waited. And waited. I never received one even after contacting the company another time.

So I was mad.

But then I saw the really cute bottle they had designed to celebrate the Olympics

and decided that I wanted to have one anyway. So I bought the "Buy 3 Get One Free" thing and got 4 of them.

I have had the bottles for about 8 months now and have really enjoyed them. I rotate 2 of them so one is always clean. It is the perfect size and fits perfectly into my holder on my bike, on the spin bikes and in my cup holder in my car.

The first time I needed to clean it, I had a hard time removing the nozzle from the top, but my husband got it out for me pretty easily. Guess I just need man hands.

one dirty ass nozzle

Once I had the nozzle out, it was pretty easy to clean. I soaked it in bleach to kill everything, used a q-tip to clean out the gunk and then put it all in the dishwasher.

Here is the bottle all disassembled and clean.

The top comes all apart to clean everything out, the bottom comes off so you can clean the entire bottle properly and the nozzle is removed to get the funk out. Yay! A bottle I don't have to throw away when it gets gross.

It goes easily in the diswasher and reassembles pretty easily. I even used it during my triathlon this summer.

Even though they said they were going to give me a bottle to review and didn't, I still really like this bottle and would recommend it to anyone. The bottle part is made in the USA, which is nice, and the company donates 10% of it's profits to eco and cycling friendly charities. Cue the Awwweee.

For my readers and twitter followers, I have one limited edition Olympics Clean Bottle to give away. You can't buy this one anymore so it may even be a collectable! And no, I have not used it.

a Rafflecopter giveaway