I WAS the Warrior!!
For a beautiful, brilliant, running, jumping, climbing, crawling, soggy, dirty, swampy, muddy, fire-singing moment in time, I was one with all the elements!
WE were one with all the elements. Myself, my sister and her husband got down and dirty and we are so over the WARRIOR DASH!!
We started nervous–didn’t know what to expect–but once we got into the Wave Gate, we were READY!
Just a fun day of goofing around on a 4 mile obstacle course with 2000 of our closest friends!
We didn’t win but we weren’t last and more importantly, we didn’t get HURT!
We got pictures. We got video. We WILL be back next year!
I will post what we have right now and please check back for the video!
Warriors Unite! We kicked extreme ass! See you in 2010!
This was our starting Wave Gate
This is everyone!
Fire. Really.
Muddy???
Just a little bit...
Rinsing off enough to get in the car
Please stay tuned. As soon as I get the video downloaded it will be UP! In the meantime, check out the rest of these pics featuring crazy costumes!
Hey Jesse! Here’s your moment with the big fish!
I’d love to say more but we are about to lose our power in the house. We have an electric problem that is being fixed, right now!
Jesse. Kentucky. Big-Mouth Bass.
Happy Birthday Amanda!!
It is Friday the 17 th! My sister’s official birthday! And I see we are reading this webpage a little more regularly now. Thank you! AND making comments. Thank you again!
So, I never got back here yesterday because normal people stuff takes up more time than I thought, which is probably why I don’t do it on a regular basis. But I payed the bills, bought some groceries, tidied up the house a bit…we even had an overnight guest (the kids friend). Next up is laundry—have to get that dang pile down, posting more exciting things from yesterday when I was out in the world (Dodge Challenger…oooh) and basically waiting for my sissy today to come over!
The plan is for her to come here. We are going to have as nice birthday dinner while we can still eat through our mouths and not the feeding tube they will have to put in along with the full body casts that they put on when you break every bone in your body doing some crazy athletic race-type event because you think it’s cool. Then we’ll leave at 5 in the morning tomorrow and prepare for an all liquid diet for the next month! Kidding, I’m sure. We are highly trained athletes. Used to extreme adventures and bad terrain. WE ARE WARRIORS!!
Here are some true excerpts from the e-mail we got:
Warriors,
Brace yourselves for the wildest 3.75 miles of your life, a battleground full of dangerous and insane obstacles! Warriors, prepare to battle.
That doesn’t seem to bad, right? Then it’s all blah, blah, details about packet pick-up, parking, etc… And then this:
Danger Warning
Please understand portions of Warrior Dash are truly extreme – your best judgment and respect for every participant is expected and appreciated.
This is no joke: there really will be fire, swamps, extreme hills, etc. We urge you to take special caution when entering the forest immediately before Splintering Spools because the hill is extremely steep (too steep to run down) and there’s limestone jutting out of the hill in several areas.
Excuse me, while I go poo in my pants. “Splintering” spools doesn’t sound too bad, you know, splinters in my knees and hands maybe…unless it’s like giant shards of wood sticking out…It’s the “steep hill” and “jutting limestone” that concerns me. I would like to NOT crack my skull open on a piece of extreme rock. Fire, swamps…I guess if I’m wet already I can’t technically catch on fire right??
At any rate, I’m getting a stomach ache thinking about it!
So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER!! We are going to have SO much fun tomorrow!! I’ll make sure Mom gets us a room at the hospital together!!
Here are some flowers from my front wildflower landscape thing I tried to create! Aren’t they pretty? Won’t they be soothing to look at through giant, swollen, teary, puffy, black and blue eyes?? Ha.
For all you other folks who can only imagine…check out the web here for the actual event,
And here for the Face Book Link.
I don’t have it but some of the comments are funny.
Here’s your pictures Amanda! Happy B-day! Love, Me!
It’s Official!
Just checked the website and the scores were posted for the Final Exam I took today. I was sure I was in the “A” category, but not positive. I am not above making a read-back error (although I will strive to never do that in my professional career).
I worked real hard for this. Just like all my classmates. The mood was serious and intense. We were all first-course nervous.
The professor posted a message saying a few of the questions were reviewed and modified for accuracy. You may have an additional point or two on your score.
Click over to the grade section…yes! Official! I am now solidly in “A” territory! What a boost for the next semester! Longer and harder I hear. More intense. We’ll be getting right into the good stuff. I have to keep up!
Thank you, all, again, for the suh-port! It helps when you know you have people out there pulling for you!
Thank you professor! Now I can say how awesome she was without sounding like I am sucking up.
Good luck fellow students! If any of them might happen to ever stumble upon this: I hope you are just as happy as I am!
I feel like I took a marshmallow pill or something. I’m getting all soft and gooey.
Drink time! I’ll make it a beer. We only have one in the house so it will be a short celebration, but it’s all mine!
I’m going to go outside, fill up the bird feeder, take a seat, watch the wildlife and soak it all in enjoying the moment. Talk later.
Brother-in-Law. J and the Lily’s. JP and the Petals. Orange Slyder.
What do all these names have in common??
They would all make rockin’ band names. One.
They all describe my brother-in-law and his landscaping. Two.
These are pictures from their house, taken a week ago. Money was spent and care was taken, so he is happy to have them out in the world. I’m sorry, but beyond the lily’s, I don’t know what any of these are called. But they sure are pretty.
Enjoy!
The Neighbor’s Flowers. I imagine they belong to me…
I took the pictures. You can enjoy them. They smell really good too. I can smell them in my yard when the wind is right.
Flower Bed Update! New pictures of green, weedy things!
This is going to encompass a lot of time passage. Since I have been so busy with school I haven’t been able to post these pics that I know you are dying to see.
I know you probably ask yourself every day, “I wonder how those flowers of hers ever turned out? Did they grow? Are they blooming yet? Why haven’t I even heard a peep about them since last month?”
Well, the answer to all your questions lies below.
They have continued to grow in their very natural way and I did take the pictures, but I felt passing my class had to take priority. Flowers are nice for the funeral, but I don’t want to be the one who made it necessary.
Pictures below!
Filled in quite nicely. Still really green though. This is maybe 2 weeks ago.
The other angle. You can just see the first of the white flowers coming in.
See? Exciting huh??
And this is just last week. During the “window” time. Not as impressive as some, but it’s the best I could do with a limited amount of time and money and a shake can of seeds.
Look at all that petal!
Hey! What's that in the middle?
This is some of that "variety" advertised on the can of seeds. It's the first one!
That’s it for now. I guess it’s kind of a sad display. My flowers seem to be taking their own sweet time blooming, but at least now people can see that they are actually there on purpose. That I actually planted something, and didn’t just let the weeds grow over like cheap landscaping.
Check here for the humble beginnings.
And check back later. I’m going to post some real flowers from my neighbor and my brother-in-law.
Flowers make people feel good. Serious.
Crete, Illinois. Stealth Bomber Fly-Over? Yeah, whatever Nascar.
So we are just hanging out in Crete, Illinois, on Saturday, late afternoon, playing some mini-golf and discussing dinner plans, when, from out of the west flies in a Stealth Bomber! The military fighter plane. What??
I know. So we are all excited, like, what the heck ??!! Why would the Stealth be way the hell over here, in the middle of nowhere, with no military bases and what-not around? Then here comes another one! And there it goes, pretty far off from us. Now, I’m just mad because we didn’t get a picture.
Well, cue Nascar, cause here come two more. I’m sure it was the same two, but now we are ready for their close-up. They flew directly over us. So we got a pretty good shot. It’s kind of small though…something’s wrong with the setting on the BF’s phone. We’re gonna have to fix that.
Mason is the one who put the Nascar spin on it. And it turns out, he was right. Apparently they do a fly-over along with the Blue Angels.
Crete is pretty far from Joliet, but I guess not too far for a turn around when you are flying a Stealth. After we got our pics, they were gone. So that’s below.
And Mason, if you’re reading this, make sure you click and see who is out and taking pictures with the fans…not hiding in his trailer like a little girl. Hahaha. Number ONE in POINTS, baby!! Nothing else matters in the end. (XOXO, Mom)
We ain’t special, and we wasn’t been attacked by space aliens…it was just racing. Shucks.
Hey…are those 2 more new windows in your house or are you just happy to see me…
…through those 2 new windows that are in your house….?? Too much??
That is really stretching the “joke”, but what the hell! New windows! Three purchased, three installed! Really, really nice! John Smith! Rocked In! Even if I told you that was his real name you wouldn’t believe it! He did an awesome job! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
My only sadness is that it is 90 again here in Chicago and I had to close them for the air. Boohoo. I’m willing to sweat it out for the sake of just having windows that open, that I want to look at…but the kids don’t like to be too sweaty. Spoiled!
We have their room and the bathroom done now. I am especially pleased with the bathroom. It looks way better than what I figured it would. With these types of houses, only so much is possible. Above and beyond!
These are the rest:
Bathroom
just shy of pretty 