I Did It! 8.1 Miles Under 2 Hours, One Scraped Knee and Bruised Ego

Last Saturday night I actually participated in and completed the Tower of Terror 13K (8.1 miles) at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Jason and I went up to Orlando with the family and Jodie and Chris also did the race with us. I'm not sure what I did would qualify as a race as I walked pretty much the entire time, but it wasn't like a stroll down the beach. I finished 1:57:16, which is about 14:44 minutes per mile... pretty good for me and considering that I started out with Jodie and Chris going about 17 minutes per mile for the first two miles.

Once I broke away from them I got in my groove and was having a ball with it. Once we entered the park I actually felt good enough to jog a little bit, which is amazing! Once I hit the last stretch I decided to give it my all and actually run (not jog, run) to the finish line. Huge mistake. The finish line had a mat which was a good 2" off the ground and in my glory to beat some random guy who was also running to the finish line I stubbed my right foot on the mat and went down flat, landing on my left knee. No real damage, just a burn from the mat and a bruised ego. I was hoping that Jason would have missed that, but I'm not that lucky, he saw me in all of my finishing glory. You know me, I had to finish in style!

It's the Great Pumpkin... Festival!

Sunday was a very fun, beautiful day that we spent at Hunsader Farms with the Kotters, the Rileys and the Youngs. The kids had a blast playing, riding the ponies, jumping on the trampolines, tormenting the livestock and generally creating havoc around themselves. The pumpkin shooter was pretty amazing (apparently the contraption sent the pumpkins more than 2000 feet! Crazy!) It was very "down home" (eating deep fried stuff on the fly and sitting on the grass in the shade) and Sara admired my "Bradentucky feet" -- flip flops in the dirt and grass. A great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. We should make it an annual tradition.

I have a crush...

He's short, gray and very much a techno-geek. I never really knew that I needed him so much until he came into my life, like a knight in shining armor on Monday. I've named him "Bill" (in honor of the hottie vampire from TrueBlood). He gives me all of my e-mails, stores all of my contact information and (amazingly, unlike the other men in my life) he is very organized and not very sarcastic. In fact, he is the very quiet and shy type, not normally what I find attractive, but that is OK.

Sorry, Jason, hope you're not upset. Maybe you can get the red one and name her some stripper name like "Sierra" or "Jasmine."

La-la-la-la-la-la(I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!!)

Credit. Capital. Wall Street. Bailout. Depression. Economy. Money. Every where you freakin' turn all that people are talking about is this economy. Could it be that we are talking ourselves into this crisis? Nah -- but I don't think the widespread media coverage and panic helps at all. I have to say, I thought that by now I'd be sick of the election crap, but that's very secondary on my mind... (and everyone else's).

When will this situation settle down? I talked to my financial guy and got no comfort whatsoever, so I've just decided to do what works best.... ignore it. Yup. Forget about it. Day dream... try not to talk about it, avoid the news and newspaper...

My skin is breaking out and that is most definitely one good reason to ignore this crisis. I think I'm going to start having a "Family Night In" for our friends, maybe every other weekend where we all just get together at the house, watch TV, bring covered dishes, play board games and chill out. Cheap. Fun. Easy. We need a great name for it though... I'll get back to you on that.

Hectic, but Happy...

Life is crazy... I can hardly keep up with it. But I can hardly complain either. We are busy enough at work to keep everyone employed (and getting overtime no less!), I've got some really fun, really cool freelance work that I am truly enjoying and the kids keep things interesting.

News on the home front... Jake started indoor soccer at the YMCA on Saturdays a couple of weeks ago, his first game is this Saturday... Bryce starts dance classes, also at the Y on Saturdays this weekend. Jake is really starting to like kindergarten (I was getting a little worried there for awhile), I think he just needed to adjust to his lack of 2 hour afternoon naps. I am still not eating meat and haven't touched a Pepsi in almost a week (shocking, I know!). I walked 6.81 miles on Sunday, did bootcamp on Monday... nothing since. I do not know if I will be ready for the 13K on Oct. 25th, but I am going to do it... no matter what!

Jason and I are considering a trip to Vegas with some friends for SuperBowl weekend... just need to get someone to watch J&B, so that we adults can go play... also I'm really trying to plan a fun, real, first family vacation for us this April (Spring Break)... any ideas for a fun family getaway would be appreciated... I've been thinking about going back to Vermont, we've tossed around Utah (I want to see Bryce Canyon)... I don't know, but something different would be great! Any thoughts, guys?

Skinny (and VERY Freaked Out) Bitch???

So, my dear husband bought me a present this afternoon when he was messing around and not working (that's OK, Jace you deserve it!)... it was the Skinny Bitch book, which I have been meaning to read for a long time. (INSERT HUGE HINT OF IRONY HERE BASED ON PREVIOUS BLOG ENTRY)... so I eagerly started reading the book waiting in the car line to pick up my son from kindergarten. From word one I was hooked... short readable chapters, lots of cussing, funny, irreverant and very much in-your-face... totally my kind of read.

Until, that is, Chapter 4. This chapter is titled, "The Dead, Decompsing Rotting Flesh Diet." Gulp. OK... I just had heaping plateful of pulled pork at Sonny's for lunch, but I can handle this. Right? Wrong. DEAD wrong... no pun intend.

I have to say that I am pretty good at ignoring things in this world that bother me... so I act like horror movies don't exist (they do), I think that little kids don't get hurt or killed in wars (uh, yeah, I know they do) and that the animals I eat don't really feel anything when sacrificing their life for my dining pleasure (uh. well, let's just say they do, too.). The shock and horror of the words in this tiny little $13.95 paperback and the chemicals and shit in all of our foods has me COMPLETELY rethinking what I eat.

Ironically, just before I started chapter four (and right after I got home) I took out hamburgers for dinner. Needless to say, I couldn't eat them or even look at them and after I went for a quick walk so Jason could cook them for himself I smelled them on the grill and proceeded to gag as I walked in the door.

The book promotes a vegan lifestyle, which admittedly would be very difficult for a finicky eater like me, but after what I just read, I don't think I have any choice. So to be a skinny bitch you just give up everything that is delicious to you because suddenly you find it so repulsive that you couldn't be forced to eat it if your life depended on it. I KNOW I can lose weight that way.

Reading Material Avalance/Tsunami/

Have you ever heard that the amount of printed information doubles every four years (or less)... I can't remember exactly what it is, but I used to think (as an avid reader) how great that was! More stuff to read, more to learn, more to share and show that I was erudite! (I don't know exactly what it means, but it sounds good, so just go with it, please). Anyway, I am now regretting I ever even had that thought. I freakin' can't even keep up with the stuff that I WANT to read and that really sucks. For fun, here's a list of all the stuff left (like a mis-behaved puppy) laying in piles all over the house.
Books:
Last Harvest (read 12 chapters last Saturday haven't picked it up since)
The Good Life Diet (read most of it about 6 months ago keep meaning to start it over)
You: Staying Young (same as above except 4 weeks ago)
Nurturing Resilience in Our Children (tried to start it ages ago, but I'm not into it)
Safety 24/7 (just bought it for work, will probably never read it)
Magazines/Newspapers
Real Simple Oct 08 (my favorite, usually read it cover to cover the day I get it. Got it over a week ago)
Fast Company Oct 08 (ditto)
Parents Oct 08 (still in plastic wrapper)
Esquire Oct 08 (in the potty room so I've seen some of it)
Also, Biz941, WonderTime, an article in Smithsonian from June, SRQ, Sarasota Magazine, Green Builder, Modern Contractor Solutions, a zillion copies of the weekly Gulf Coast Business Review and even a Wall Street Journal cover page article given to me by my CPA.
Oh, and some random American Express special publication about on-line marketing and a Scholastic magazine about kids are around here somewhere. I think I should start a paper recycling station right here.
Get the picture?