You know what's not particularly fun? Doing an outdoor swim workout at 6:30am in a wind storm. The wind made it seem much colder than the times it was 20 degrees. But I do it because I'm hardcore. Officially Hardcore - as of today I am registered for the 5430 Long Course Triathlon (half-ironman distance). Mark your calendars, August 9th will be a day of reckoning.
Ariel had a good day today. She had a playdate with Peyton again, and this week Mae was there too.
Here is the Peyton:
What do girls do on a playdate?
I left a bit early to go home and finish proofing Ted's pictures, Ellen brought Ariel home. Ariel had lunch too, mac & cheese and a chicken hot dog (who knew such things existed?)
Ariel and Adam played reasonably well in the afternoon and then Ariel went down for a nap around 1:30.
Once again, this poor little blog got neglected. But I have another good excuse this time, I was kidnapped by vampires. Well, sort of. I read Twilight about a year ago, and found it so-so. A couple weeks ago, I started reading the second book, New Moon, and got hooked. And then, there were two more books and the last one was 20 hours (I listened to them all) and I had to put my life on hold until I finished them. And now I am all done and slightly bereft. But my kids should be slightly less neglected.
So Things of Note from last week.
Monday - no Ariel due to President's day.
Wednesday - Ariel had school. I did put her down for a nap but after an hour she was still awake so I got her up and we went to the bird store for more feed.
Thursday - I dropped Ariel off at Peyton's house for a playdate. Peyton is in Ariel's class and her nanny is one of her teachers so it was a good deal all around. I was not needed, so I popped over to the mall to spend my Old Navy gift certificate. I scored a pink sweater hoody for $5 and a Little Black Dress for $7.50. Now I just need an occasion for the LBD - I'm sure some other lesbian occasion will present itself.
Friday - Very low key. I was completely worn out from sleep deprivation due to 10 days of staying up too late reading. Damn vampires. We had a quiet day at home.
We did go skiing last weekend. It was Alex's last day of ski school, he'll miss Saturday due to Consecration (at 9:00, FYI). But Jeremy will take Adam up for his last lesson.
Adam rocked the house. His group finally got on the bunny hill chairlift and he was fine:
Riding the lift with his instructor:
Here's a video of Adam going down the big magic carpet, which is about 1/2 the bunny hill. He's in yellow, and yes, half way through the video he skis right out of the frame. It was sunny.
And after ski school, Alex wanted to do a few more runs so Jeremy took him up the mountain and I took Adam back to the bunny hill. I did 4 more runs with Adam and he only fell getting off the chair lift. Poor guy is just too short to do that without help, and I'm not very good help. Jeremy did two runs with Alex, here they are at the end of the second run. This video is kinda painful to watch with all the big people bombing by Alex. Jeremy said he was doing much better higher up but really slows down when it gets crowded. Plus, he must have been very tired:
And a dorky self portrait. We get bored about 1:00, come looking for Adam and any other excuse to take a break:
And I'll throw today's update in as well. My boys didn't have school today, but Ariel did. We got her up to school and then ran some super fun errands. I tried to make the boys wish they were in school, but it wasn't so bad. We went to the carwash, Petsmart to buy crickets for Adam's preschool reptiles, the bank (lollipops), and Starbucks (rice crispie treats for them, Ellen and coffee for me). We came home for a bit, then picked up Ariel again and we all went out to Taco Bell for lunch. Ariel shared my nachos and burrito.
Then we came home and Ariel took a nap. She hit her head at school again, and her teachers said she was tired before that.
Hey, I just noticed when I typed the date that it's Friday the 13th. So far, it's been an unremarkable day.
I did get a picture from Reflections that I'm less horrified with, so here I am with my date. No, not *that* kind of date, not that there's anything wrong with that.
This morning I went for my run and did my strength routine and then Ariel and I went to Babara's baby shower. These are all the kids (well not *all*) from Get Fit Mommy:
Ashley's crazy donuts:
Miss Ariel, after a piece of donut:
We were only able to stay at the shower for 50 minutes, then it was time to get Adam. We went to the grocery store to buy our salmon (and snack on gourmet cheese) then came home for lunch. Ariel ate a fair amount of spaghetti o's for being full of donut, cheese danish and cookies.
She went down for a nap around 1:30 but took awhile to go to sleep. Thankfully, there was much less resistance for the pull up and the nap in general.
This poor little blog has been neglected again. Somehow in the last few weeks I'm finding myself incredibly busy. Since this is supposed to be somewhat about Ariel, here's a brief update:
Friday - We went to Kangaroo Kingdom with friends Lilianna and Jake. Ariel completely ignored said friends, but did enjoy the Kingdom.
Monday - School day.
Wednesday - Another school day. She had a persistent dry cough but no fever so she was allowed to remain at school.
Today - we went to Pump it Up drop in play with Jake. Once again, Jake was ignored, but Ariel bounced her heart out. The cough is better, but there were a couple times today when she sneezed and her head exploded. She was a bit impertinent today and wouldn't put on her sleep panties, so she woke up wet and sad from her nap.
And things that have been keeping me busy... We did have ski school on Saturday. It was the beginning of the next session and so I think it was a bit of a review for the boys. Adam still didn't get to ride the chairlift, but Alex is getting close to moving onto level 5. Otherwise, the snow was crap and Jeremy and I gave up 2 hours early and got Mexican food. My new board was nice though. It really needs to snow up there, the parking lot was melting like an super early mud season.
On Saturday night, Ellen and I went to the JCC fundraiser gala dinner. We were seated at a table with not one but two lesbian couples but proper introductions were made to clear up any confusion on our status. We were also at the table with the rabbi and a past president of the temple. I have a picture, but I look weird so I'm not going to post it.
Sunday, we had my family birthday dinner. And let me just say, if you don't want jokes about enemas, don't leave the package out on the bathroom counter.
Moving on, I think I've been feeling extra busy because on Ariel's school days I leave the house at 8:30, take her to school, work out, run errands and don't get home again until noon. Actually, it just may be the working out in general, I'm doing something every morning now and I hope I can keep it up until August. I just don't want to fall behind, right now I'm hanging with the half-ironman group and they are hard core.
And a boys update for Grammie - we got the Indiana Jones lego computer game for Alex's birthday, hoping to add variety to his Star Wars life. He is obsessed with Indy now and we just started letting them watch the first movie. We are doing it bit by bit and with parental guidence and they are loving it. I hope they don't want to watch the other movies, they are a bit stupid.
And I'll finish with two random Adam stories.
1) Adam: Mommy, guess what? I made a valentine for your husband. Me: Uh, you mean Daddy? Adam: Yeah, Jeremy
2) I was doing my birthday foot soak with the lemon-grass peppermint crystals and Adam walked by, saw the white basin and asked, "Are there fish in there?"
Happy Birthday to me! I had one of the best birthdays ever. Though not quite as good as the year Jeremy surprised me with a trip to Wolf Creek to go skiing. But pretty close. I didn't even mind getting up early to swim, I was just grateful that I'm healthy and fit in my advanced age.
Ellen had an ingenious idea for the day. Since we are going to Reflections, we got a free drop in at the preschool, so Ellen took Mae and Ariel up there (Sam already goes on Thursdays) and we had the morning to ourselves. We got coffee, we shopped, I bought a cute shirt and two new pairs of bike gloves... After I picked up Adam from school, we reconvened at Tandoori Grill for a fabulous Indian food buffet. Ellen is experimenting with chicken to get more protein in Ted's diet and as a show of support, I had some chicken today too. It was chewier than I remember, not sure if this means anything, but it was interesting. I think Adam was pretty horrified.
I picked up Ariel from school, which outraged her. She saw Ellen and apparently Ellen is WAY more fun (she did buy Ariel a donut this morning) because she threw a fit about leaving with me. We had to run errands to pick up my snowboard (being waxed) and my bike (new handle bars) and now all my birthday presents are home again. Ariel and Adam got into a new row after the bike store because both wanted to push the automatic sliding door button. Ariel was ready for a nap.
And while Ariel napped, Adam learned how to ride a bike!
I really didn't think he'd get it so soon. He's still having trouble with turning and can't start by himself, but he's going! He's so proud of himself, and he thinks his first reward should be a kickstand. So funny that kids want one and Jeremy and I wouldn't touch one with a ten foot pool. So now we are thinking about actively searching for a used 20" bike for Alex so Adam can move up to the 16". No timetable, but by this summer should be good.
And after Ariel left (ok, I timed that a bit close) I went up to the grocery store parking lot and completed my Craig's list binding transaction. What a pleasant surprise, this guy wasn't crazy. Though the weird part was, he was about 6" taller but wore only 1 size shoe bigger. So now my new board is all ready for this weekend, I can't wait!
Let's start out with the picture of the day. Now, my "squirrel proof" birder feeder is far from it, but today was this first time I saw this:
I didn't have the heart to chase him off, if you work this hard you deserve a reward.
And in other news, Jeremy got back from San Jose safely last night. He had a 24 hour trip to Google for a meeting (not an interview). I didn't post it on Monday because I always feel weird about letting the interworld know I'm home alone. But he didn't get home until 11:30 so I was still on my own this morning.
I dropped Ariel off at preschool and I so wanted to take a picture of her and her friend Sarah, who were both wearing the same purple Hello Kitty shirt but Ariel wouldn't let me. It was pretty flipping cute though.
Next, I did my run and banged out a slow 5 miles, my longest since November. And I didn't die. We had a beautiful day here and I was actually wearing just a tank top at 9:30. While I was running, I was thinking on an ultra-runner that spoke at the TriBabes meeting last month. He says that every year, he runs his age on his birthday, and I'm sure he's in his 40's. With my birthday tomorrow, I'm so glad I wasn't running 34 miles. People are nutty in Boulder. I'll just get up at 5:30am to swim.
Next I took J's skis and my new board in for a tune up, and then I returned the bindings I bought last week that won't work. I have a feeler out for new bindings on Craig's list, but if the first attempt falls through I'll just order online. I *think* I've learned my lesson.
After that it was time to pick up Adam. We had lunch, then Adam wanted to learn to ride his bike without training wheels. So, we gave it a whirl. I did the sweatshirt-around-the-waist technique and kept him upright. He has always leaned very hard on his right training wheel and it's going to be a hard habit to break. He didn't do any solo riding today, but there were a few times that he seemed to get it. I think his motivation is we told him he would move up to Alex's 16" bike when he was riding without training wheels. That's all fine, but now we need to find a 20" bike for Alex.
Sweet Ellen brought Ariel home today, after letting them play after school, then getting them a treat at Jamba Juice. And Ariel gave me a much less hard time about taking a nap.
Alex frequently brings home work that he didn't finish in school, but he never does it at home. Today he was inspired and got it out on his own. He looked so grown up doing homework at the table, I can see that's in my future for the next 14 years.
So, the boys finished their first session of ski school this weekend. Alex was in level 4 this session and is almost ready for 5. I think he'll start out in 4 next weekend and if there's a good 5 class fit he'll move up. Adam moved up from level 2 (magic carpet) to level 3 (bunny hill lift). Otherwise, Saturday was not very noteworthy. The snow was not great and even though we left at 6:00pm we still hit I-70 traffic. And I have a very long and drawn out story of finally acquiring the Craig's list snowboard but it hurts my head just thinking about it.
Today was a normal busy Monday. Ariel showed up with her normal enthusiasm. The "hocky-talkies" came out today and I discovered they *can* be a solo game. Ariel amused herself until school by being 5' from the receiver and listening to herself talk. Mostly saying, "Hello, hello, hello."
I took Ariel to school, then went swimming, then checked out snowboard bindings. And then to the grocery store and then picked up Adam.
When we got home for lunch, we saw a hawk right in our backyard. At first it was sitting on the fence, then it jumped in the leaves and came up with a sparrow. I think we must have missed the kill dive and the hawk had dropped the sparrow:
Ellen did a huge favor again today and took Ariel to Renee's concert after school, and then brought her home. Ellen reported back that Ariel was the most well behaved kid there and had a great time dancing with Ava.
Ariel got home around 2:20 and I put her down for a nap (which she was not in favor of). But she fell asleep within 10 minutes.
The phrase that's been running through my head today is, "I think my head is going to explode." It's very descriptive.
I started out today with a run and my strength training. Then Hannah came over for her 21 22 month pictures. It did not go well.
For some reason, whenever Hannah got near the backdrop she freaked out and started crying. I have no idea why.
Eventually I made enough monkey noises to distract her and I got a few decent ones. But I didn't get nearly the variety I usually do, she cried every time I tried to move her. But I didn't take it too personally, I have done at least 50 session where this didn't happen.
Ariel had a pretty boring day. She worked out with me, and took a walk outside with Grandpa when Hannah was here. Then we showered, picked up Adam and went to the grocery store. Friday at lunch is a good time to visit, there are lots of cheese samples. The kids liked almost everything, though I don't think they would try the stilton combo again. There was also roasted red pepper hummus, which Ariel did not like.
We came home and had lunch and our regularly scheduled bickering. They got it all out during lunch and they played together so well in the afternoon that I let them play too long. I was working on a silent auction gift certificate. Yes, you could bid on this at next weekend's JCC Reflections party. That is, if you are cool enough to be there. I'll be cool enough, with my date Ellen. Jeremy was pretty horrified at the idea of the party, I'm still not sure if it was Cocktail Attire or Room Full of Jews that got him.
I didn't put Ariel down until 2:30 and she was pretty wound up by then. But she did go to sleep pretty quickly.
Today was a pretty average Thursday. I did get up for my 6:30 swim workout. There is no part of the morning that is easy, from the time the alarm goes off. Even when I was driving I was thinking, "Holy Cow, I do not feel like doing this." But about 40 minutes into the workout, I was glad I was there. Even though my group now swims in the outdoor pool and the air temperature was about 22 degs this morning.
I got home and Ariel and I ate breakfast, then showered. Next, we went to Pet Smart to by crickets for Adam's class' cricket eating animals. I think that's some sort of lizard and maybe the frogs, but I'm not really sure. We also looked at the animals, Ariel like the birds and the turtles best.
Next we hopped next door to get new snowboard bindings. I'm 90% sure I'm finally getting my Craig's list deal that I found before Christmas. I've had a had time connecting with this girl, but it things go well tomorrow I'll be getting a $600 board for $175. I had to get new bindings because her board has women's smalls and I need women's large or - what I ended up getting - men's medium. Because yeah, normal people who are 5'3" don't were MENS size 8 snowboard boots. And if the deal doesn't happen, I can return the bindings.
We had one more stop at the grocery store to buy dinner before picking up Adam. We came home and had mac & cheese for lunch. Ariel went down for an early nap because she and Adam wouldn't stop fighting. Adam made her cry because he told her she couldn't have lunch. Why he would say that and why she would believe him, I don't know. Then they spent much of lunch yelling at each other, "Don't look at me!" Which is super fun since they sit on opposite sides of the table.
Ariel finally took a nap and I put a movie on for Adam, then I tried my new bike out on the rollers. Crissy asked for pictures, so here you go:
The main colors - dark blue, light blue and clear paint over carbon fiber:
A better look at the carbon fiber stripes. That's how the metal is, it's like fabric. And the feminine touch of cursive writing:
And my new speedplay pedals that I COULD NOT figure out. They are much different than my speedplay frogs and I bet it took me 15 minutes to get clipped in.
I also have new road bike shoes, which I think I need to exchange. When I was measured at the shop, my right foot is nearly a size bigger than my left. Could I get any freakier? My right toe was touching the end and I think that will become a problem with rides over an hour.
Becky showed up around 3:30 while Ariel was still napping.
First, a word about Alex's appointment yesterday at the Failure to Thrive clinic at Children's hospital. I wasn't sure if we would get any use out of it, but since we had to wait 3 months to get in I thought we should see what they had to say. One difficult part of it was they asked me on Thursday to keep a food diary. On Friday Alex had school and then the International Festival, Saturday was ski school and Sunday was his birthday party. It wasn't a very average time, and I didn't know what he was eating half the time anyway.
Alex's appointment was at 8:30 and I left at 7:20 thinking I allowed enough time for traffic for a normally 40 minute drive. Not so. Traffic was BAD. And my new GPS told me it was bad everywhere. I did try taking Sheridan to I-70 to avoid I-270, but I don't think it matter. At 8:20 I was at the I-70/I-25 junction not moving so I called the office and they okayed a late arrival. I think we actually checked in at 9:30. At that point I realized that I did indeed need to make plans for Ellen to pick up Adam from school, but my cell phone battery died because GPS really uses up the juice. And here's a mini-rant about modern technology. I don't memorize phone numbers anymore. I finally learned Jeremy's cell, after about 3 years. And it's a good thing I knew his number because I called him about Adam and told him he had to figure it out. And he did get a hold Ellen and that all worked out.
And Alex's appointment was better than I expected. The doctor thought that Alex was doing well, even though he weighed in at 38 lbs. He thought that Alex had a set back between 12-24 months that he never recovered from, but he's been following a good growth curve since age 2. He liked the supplements Alex is taking, especially the zinc. Apparently meat is a good source and only recently have there been studies showing how important it is. The doctor's only suggestion was that we have a more regular snack schedule, so Alex is to come home from school and eat before he disapears into his room to play with legos. I made follow-up appointments with both the failure to thrive clinic and endrocronolgy for the summer but I doubt anything will come of those. On one hand it's nice to know there's nothing wrong with Alex, but on the other it would be nice if he was of a more average size. Most kids his age are around 50 lbs and over 48" - they could ride all the rides at Lego Land.
And now onto today. I barely saw Ariel today. I took her to school, then had my first physical therapy session in two weeks. I'm doing pretty well, though my knees get very tired when I snowboard. I did my run on their treadmill, then picked up Adam from school. We had a fun lunch date at the credit union while me and Jeremy refinanced our house. We got a new loan at 4.875% (down from 6.25%), so that's pretty exciting.
After the meeting, Becky let me know that she would pick up Ariel, since Ariel had been a bit sick with a cold in the morning. So Adam and I hit the bike shop and I bought my new bike. I went with the Specialized, and also bought new pedals and shoes. Adam tried every trick in the book to get me to buy *him* a new bike too but I didn't give in. He liked riding around the store, even when he bumped into things and eventually fell down.
Crazy weekend recap: Friday night we went to Alex's school for the International Festival. It was much like last year, CRAZY. Only this year there was also a marimba band. Because it ran late and I-70 looked sketchy, we did not go up to Breckenridge that night. Instead we woke up at 5:00am and drove up in the morning. That did not make Jeremy happy. Luckily, there was awesome snow and I was excited because Burton had a demo tent and I was able to take out a very nice board for the whole day.
The boys had another good day at ski school. Alex did some real blues and a blue/black. I told the instructor it was his birthday so the kids sang to him and then threw snowballs.
And I guess Adam had a good day too. He's still ripping it up on the magic carpet, but I haven't seen him ski yet. We did actually try twice but we couldn't find him.
And after a full day of skiing, we drove home and got stuck in traffic. Jeremy *really* was not happy. I was fine, I slept a lot. So did Adam. We got home at 7:00, the drive took about 3 hours, including a spot before the tunnel where we just turned our engine off. I-70 is not our friend.
On Sunday, Alex had Sunday school and then his birthday party. Ellen did a huge favor and drove down to the museum and helped chaperone 7 boys. I did not research carefully and had planned the party on member appreciation day where tickets were BOGO. I have never seen it so busy, we could barely find parking. I didn't even know there was a parking garage until yesterday.
And all those cars were full of people and the museum was very busy. But we didn't loose any kids, not even for a second. We didn't have much time for the museum, but Alex got to see a few of his favorite dead animal exhibits.
That crazy double waddled casowary:
Next, we had cake and snacks in the food court. And yes, I was a huge sucker and made another Wall E cake.
And our last adventure was seeing the IMAX movie Africa: The Serengeti, which was much more graphic than I had expected. There are lions on the Serengeti, and they sure like to eat. They also like to mate, luckily in fairly tall grass. The kids seemed fine with it all though.
Happy Birthday, Alex!
And onto today.... I got Ariel to school and then had a super fun dentist appointment. After that, I did a run, of which I'm very proud - it was only 13 degs and snowing. It was a long/slow run and I walked a minute every 10 but it felt good. Durning one of those walks I took a nice picture of the creek but my dang camera phone didn't save it. After that I got Adam and we did a quick grocery store run, then we got Ariel.
Ariel had a good day, but her teacher said she was very snuggly. Not a bad thing, she just usually isn't. And she didn't seem to have touched most of her lunch. We lost her boots on the way out, which added 15 minutes of hunting to pick up. I swear, between her and Alex and Jeremy (who had lost his cell phone for the weekend) I feel like I live on the Island of Lost Things.
When we got home at 1:45, Ariel went down for a nap easily and slept all the way to pick up at 4:00.
I went running this morning, and it was actually promising for the first time in a while. I timed another 5k and came in at 32:30 (5.7 mph). Maybe I *can* actually improve. I came home and did 45 minutes of strength training on top of that, then Ariel and I showered.
And then, Lilianna came over for a playdate. Here's one of the more peaceable moments when they weren't fighting over any toys:
And of course, Aiden came too. He's 3 months old now:
The playdate lasted until it was time to get Adam. Then we went to the store and sampled a lot of cheese. Really good cheese. The kids wanted apples and cheese for lunch, but didn't eat much. Ariel went down for a nap around 1:00, woke up at 3:30.
And the house is more trashed today than it's been in a very long time.
If the president can have 10 inaugural balls, surely my 7 year old is entitled to a extra birthday party or two, right?
Alex's real birthday is not until Saturday, but with our busy social schedule this weekend we decided to have his family party tonight. This morning, I did my 6:30 swim workout* and then pretty much spent the entire day making a Wall E cake. I remember starting the cake at 9:00 and I was done with the clean up by 4:00. Oh sure, at times I ate a few meals, watched Ariel throw a tantrum over having a small accident and having to wear Adam's panties, picking up Adam from school... But yeah, for most of the day, it was Wall E and me.
And yes, at some point in the day I noticed the irony in making the cake and ordering out for pizza.
Alex was pleased enough with the cake:
Adam and Alex chose to sing, "Happy Birthday to Wall E..."
And the hit of the night, the new Power Miners lego kit:
As good as it gets:
Jeremy had the camera and thought it would be fun to take a picture of Ariel crying:
Hannah Banana was also here:
Adam was there too:
And of course Alex had to put the new lego set together RIGHT NOW. And so it's 7:55pm and he's still at it and I don't think we are going to read books.
All and all, a nice party. Alex's other gifts were Star Wars: A New Hope on DVD so we can take it in the car, and the Indiana Jones lego computer game so Jeremy will still play with Alex. They've had the Star Wars games for a year and Jeremy is D. O. N. E. with them.
Update: 8:05 and Alex is done. Unfortunately, Adam is done too, but in the over tired crying sort of way:
*And one annoyance about my swim this morning... Somehow I managed to jam my fingers on someone's head and I'm pretty sure it was her head in the wrong place. And it still hurts now to type. Wah.
There's really no such thing as a free lunch, or in this case, a free bike fit. At my bike fit yesterday, I confirmed what I have long suspected, my current bike is too big. And not in a fixable way, the top tube is too long, so my handle bars are too far away. I compensate by riding 2" in front of my hoods (where my fingers can't reach the brake quickly) or by riding in my hoods but having my back out of position. I've been talking about a new bike since last summer, but never seriously looked. So, now I'm beginning the search more seriously.
The two bikes I'm looking at right now are a Trek Madone 4.5 and a Specialized Ruby Elite, both of which have put a lot of research into women specific designs. I think that WSD was just starting the 10-12 years ago that I bought my current bike. And the good news is, bikes are a bit like computers apparently, as the technology progresses you get more for the same price. So for the same price that I got my aluminum Cannondale, I can now upgrade to carbon fiber. I just want to make sure that I nail the fit this time, and get the best gearing for the riding I do.
So today, after I took Ariel to school and did a quick grocery store run (at a different grocery store, how I hate that! They never have exactly the same brand/size/whatever!) I went to U Bikes with my bike gear and pedels and tried out a bunch of bikes (and as another aside, U Bikes is very trusting, they let me take the bikes out for 15 minutes without any collateral or ID. I asked if they needed anything, and he just asked if I was planning on stealing the bike). I rode the two above, and then for fun rode the Madone 4.7 which is a $1000 more for full Ultegra. And sure, it's nicer, but $1000 nicer? That's hard to quantify. Unless you throw in the new snowboard I've also been trying to get this year. So I left without buying anything. Tonight I need to go over with Jeremy all the gearing to see how that's changing from what I currently have (though all the bikes, including the compact double could do the 4th street hill that I used as my testing spot). I am still looking at the triple chain ring, but I don't think I'll have that massive granny gear that I currently do. So yeah, I might have a new bike soon, like a birthday present or something.
And back to Ariel, Ellen brought her home again today, which is very nice. I was passed out on the couch. I seem to have catch mom's cold and am not sleeping well this week. Ellen wanted me to blog that she gave Ariel a granola bar, which Ariel called an Orge Bar. I can kinda see that. Anyway, Ariel went down for a nap pretty soon after she got home and I didn't hear from her again until her pick up.
Yes, we are now a composting family, thanks to the People's Republic of Boulder. See, in our socialist little town, you don't get to choose your trash service. There's one main provider and they give you the choice of what size trash can you would like to pay for. Oh, I suppose you don't have to use the recycling or composting bins, but you are still paying for them. (And really, I suppose you don't have to have trash service at all, you could store it in your yard and haul it to the dump yourself quarterly.) Anyway, last December we finally got a composting bin. The City of Boulder had been debating the service for quite a while because they were worried about animals. Question: Is it that animals are too lazy to sort through the trash to get to the food? Beause that's where most of my compost that wasn't going down the disposal was going anyway.
Anyway, I am very glad for this new service. I've wanted to start composting for the last few years, but could never get past the getting a bin part (and I think there's more after that). And now we are all set. My goal (because you know how I like goals) is to have one paper grocery sack of trash a week. Where the composting is really going to matter is yard waste - we can do lawn clippings and leaves and small branch bundles too (no Dad, you may not drop off your lawn clippings at my house). And perhaps a subject for another day - how creepy is streamlined recycling - all paper and cans and plastic just mingling together?
And onto today's post. This morning I had my last fall swim workout and next week the winter plan starts. I'll probably still be swimming Thursday mornings for the next few months. I had a good workout today, I did a 1000 yd time trial. I haven't swam 1000 yds in a pool since before my last tri last summer, but today I was able to do it, and do it fast. My coach said my bike and swim are fine now, WORK ON THE RUN. Argh.
When I got home, Ariel and I ate breakfast (she does not care for Rice Crispies or toast) and then we took a shower. Ariel also got a little pedicure and french braids. After we were all prettied up, I went out to buy a bike seat. Last night was the Tri Babes Season Opener party and I won a bike fit in the raffle. I haven't had a bike fit since I bought the bike 10 years ago, so I was pretty excited. Also, it gave me an excuse to replace my old saddle, which has been held together with duct tape for 2 years.
Last night I asked Jeremy for help (ok, I asked him to buy me a saddle) and he told me to take care of it myself. So I went to Colorado Multi-Sport and bought the one they recommended. And was extremely surprised by the price tag of $140. I called Jeremy after the fact and asked how much one *should* spend and he said under $100 so I need to take it back. But it just goes to show Jeremy should have done it for me in the first place. Just like he needs to deal with all my computer tech issues. (PS - Jeremy is now on the computer and has found me many nice saddles for under $75. Takes a little spending to shock him into action).
Next, Ariel and I went to the bird store for more feed and Ariel charmed the employees with her, "Bright eyes and charming manner." Well, she was very well behaved. And then we didn't have quiet enough time to go home so we went to Starbucks instead. Ariel got a hot chocolate:
The gratuitous bandaid above the eye is for the Adam-induced cut below it. Adam is going to spend the next 14 years in his room if he can't learn to keep his hands to himself.
Then we picked up Adam and came home for lunch. Ariel did not eat much (belly full of milk???) Ariel went down for a nap around 1:00 and woke up around 3:00. I went in to get her but she told me she was waiting for Mommy. After another 15 minutes, she was ready to accept me. She joined Alex and Adam in listening to some Disney books on CD:
The books didn't hold her interest as long as the boys, but she was distracted enough to let me clean up the kitchen.
Typical Wednesday morning around here. I got Ariel to preschool with no drama, then did a 5k run, the longest distance I've ran since November. I put some effort into it (my average heart rate was 164) and my time was 34:45 (that's 5.4 mph, Becky). Guess it's back to the beginning. My new mantra is, "At least I don't hurt. At least I don't hurt." Next I went to Sniagrab to buy more toe and hand warmers and check out kids' jackets. I decided that the smaller broken-zipper jackets weren't worth saving, they were not as warm. I got Adam a Columbia jacket for $40 and Alex a new pair of snowpants for $15. Sadly, the warmers were not on sale. Next, I went to the tailor for Alex's jacket. It will be $30 to repair. He told me that YYK zippers are usually decent (especially the $40 ones he showed me). I was happy to see that's what's on Adam's new jacket. At that point, there wasn't quite enough time to go home, so I stopped at Joann's to buy buttons for the sweater I just finished knitting, then the yarn store to get more yarn for my next project. THEN it was time to pick up Adam.
When Adam and I got home, I did my strength workout, then cleaned up the kitchen. At 1:30, Ellen came home with Ariel, then cooked dinner for a friend with a broken wrist and me (benefiting from the use of my kitchen). Thank you thank you, Ellen, it is very nice to not have to cook. And, well, having to get take-out. Ariel and Mae played for about 1/2 an hour before I put Ariel down for a nap. Ariel protested quite loudly that she didn't need a nap, but she fell asleep pretty quickly.
I just typed the subject date and realized that today would have been my maternal grandfather's 100th birthday. I always remember his birthday because one year he asked me the trick question - when will be the next time my birthday will fall on Friday the 13th. I thought really long and hard about that before I remembered my birthday is on the 5th. So happy 100th birthday, Grandpa.
Anyway, I meant to open today's blog about a pondering about our global economy. So in this day and age, one can buy an Asian-made child's winter coat on sale for about $35. But when said coat's zipper breaks, one has to take it to an American company and have an American repair it. For about $25-$35. And when you look deeper, you realize this phenomenon is not limited to children's outerwear, but just about all our material goods. It's almost always easier and/or cheaper to replace _____ than to have it fixed. And since I now own 3 broken coats, I'm going to bite the bullet and get at least two fixed. As soon as I figure out where to do that at.
And speaking of material goods, I finally figured out how to get pictures off my new phone by emailing them to myself through the text messaging feature. Yeah, I thought that was a bit complicated myself. But the good news is, they aren't automatically resized and look much better. Here's one from last week, Ariel in the remodeled grocery store bathroom waiting for Adam to pee:
And today started out on a sour note when Ariel emptied her entire bladder on my dining room floor, which thankfully isn't carpeted. I heard something spilling, *then* Ariel piped up with, "I have to go to the bathroom." Seriously, WTH? And it's not like she started and caught herself and finished in the bathroom, it was the whole enchilada.
The rest of the day was not much more exciting. I spent the morning planning Alex's birthday party and making invites while Ariel amused herself with the damn Hello Kitty chapstick. I even caught her applying it on Abby, "Look Dee-Dee, she likes it!"
Ellen surprised us by picking us up for Adam's swim class in Longmont. Ariel did pretty well for having to sit through an hour of swim lessons, except for the part where she had another accident. *After* I asked her at least 3 times if she needed to go potty.
We got home in time to pick up Alex from school and then Ariel went down for a nap. And I made evil Nutter Butters. Mmmmm... Nutter Butters.
So I'll cross one thing off of my winter break list by mentioning that Jeremy and I went skiing the week before Christmas while Grammie had the boys. It was a *lovely* 5 days sans kids, and the skiing wasn't bad either. We did a day with Sarah and Devon at Breckenridge, another day there by ourselves, and then my first days ever at Beaver Creek and Vail (we upgraded our passes this year to all 5 mountains). The Vail day should have been awesome, as they got 13" of new snow. But it was too much for me. I floundered. I fell. I had a tantrum and sent Jeremy off by himself. I had trouble reading maps and ended up on way too many flat catwalks (which are bad for snowboarders because they don't have poles to push along with). But all in all, a bad day skiing has to be better than a good day at the office, right? And PS - you get no sympathy for complaining, "There's too much snow!"
We took the boys up for the first time this season on Saturday. We spent the first day at Keystone, as we are big procrastonators and missed the Breckenridge ski school cut off date. First, a few things about Keystone - it is mostly on North facing slopes in a canyon and therefore the sun does not hit the mountain until approximately noon. That means it it COLD. We did our normal pre-ski routine at the car and that does not work for kids. By the time we took the bus and walked to ski school, Adam was freezing and hysterical. I took him into the school building to warm up and then all was good.
The boys had a good day, ie we didn't have to pick them up early because they were Sick/Sad. Actually, I think they both had goods days. Alex somehow ended up on the magic carpet for a while (which makes no sense to me) and Adam is somewhat turning and stopping this year.
Jeremy and I were kinda wishing were we back at Breck - convienently pictured behind Jeremy here:
Keystone's really not that bad, there were just a lot of people there and we had to deal with the injustice of lift lines. And also, ski school is 6 hours long, which is too long for me and Jeremy. When we ski, we take a hot chocolate break and a smashed PB&J lunch break and otherwise we go. We don't stop on the runs, we get right back on the lift (hopefully). But I think we will learn to deal. You don't get much sympathy complaining, "I had to ski too long!"
On Sunday, we took the kids over to Breck for an hour or so. I put Jeremy in charge of Adam. There's no magic carpet there (that's not ski school only) so rather than walk Adam up a small hill a hundred times, Jeremy took him up the lift. It took 45 minutes, but Adam got down with only a few small meltdowns. I took Alex down 5 runs, including 3 through the baby half pipe and one through Riparoo's Enchanted Forest, which kills me. I am not good in trees. I think Alex did great, and still do not see why he was on a magic carpet.
Here's Jeremy and Adam on their epic quest:
And Alex:
And today was the exact opposite of skiing. I spent all day really busy and ended up with not much to show for it.
Ariel arrived about 30 minutes late due to a surprised snow storm. It must have started snowing very late in the night and it snowed very hard. Most streets weren't plowed or graveled. I dropped Ariel off at school (10 minutes late) then went to physical therapy. The knee taping wasn't a magical as I hoped but nothing really still hurts except going down stairs so it could be worse. After my appointment I ran on their treadmill for 20 excrutiating minutes and did my strength workout. By the time I left, it was time to pick up Adam. Adam and I went directly the the grocery store, then directly to pick up Ariel. Ariel was wearing her backup clothes, she had an accident while playing outside in her snow pants. We got home and had more lunch, Ariel had some mac & cheese and tomato soup. Then she went down for a nap.
I also did a lot of chores, like laundry. When Ariel walked into my room and saw my stripped bed, she asked, "Dee-Dee, did you pee in your bed?" When I said no, she said, "Oh. Did Adam pee in your bed?" I also got our enchilada chile in the crockpot. It's no more than sauteed onions plus a lot of things in cans, but it was nice to have dinner waiting for us when we got home from Alex's 5:15 swim class.
And PSS - we saw the fox again today, twice. Once in our back yard and once running down a different street in our neighborhood.
I'm a stay at home mom to Alex (8 1/2 years old) and Adam (6 years old) and a middle of the pack triathlete. I completed my first Ironman in Wisconsin in 2010.
