Running 55 and Under!
Labor Day Weekend! Scenic 5 (Mile)! We did it! I know it’s been a week but I’ve had school. I’ll always have school…but for now this is about the race.
If you have been following along, I was running five miles fairly easily. In about an hour or less depending on traffic lights. (I said easy–not fast)
So I was pretty confident I could do under an hour, for sure, in the actual race. And I did! And thanks to my running partner, Wayne, I was able to aim for 55 minutes or less. And I got that! My official time was 54 minutes and 32 seconds. I consider that pretty good. I was ninth finisher in my age bracket. I made the top 10! (In my age bracket) (Oh and did I mention that there were only 17 total IN my age bracket…) HAHAHA. I don’t care! It still counts!! I was 304 out of 372. That’s pretty funny too! I was on page 8 of the results. Next year, I’m going for page 7. Oh yeah. High hopes! Small steps! Also, I almost threw up at the end. I really hate when that happens! When I crossed the finish line, I started dry heaving. I felt bad for the nice woman who was trying to give me my finishing medal. She’s reaching out, I’m dry heaving, she’s recoiling in horror…I got it together and was fine in a few. Luckily I never eat before I run. Lucky for all of us. That’s probably enough gross stuff.
Wayne did good too. First race for him, and he ran coming off of surgery and an ankle injury, and I still couldn’t beat him! I was actually slowing him down but he (kindly) said he was speeding me up! True. Thanks Wayney! He beat me by two minutes! He was on page 7!! Curses!!
Next year. There’s always next year. Here are some photos. Forgot the camera, but I always have my phone.
The line up to start.
Wayne. (In black)
Me. I have to laugh at this because my hair and leg makes me look like I'm just speeding across the line, robot-style, all 9o degree angles, but in a movie and in slow-mo, and really I was just trying not to be sick. Funny.
Same night as sushi…Dodge Nemesis. In the parking lot on the way out.
It’s new. It’s orange-y. It looks pretty cool, I guess. This is with the phone camera. I personally like the neon lights reflecting from above, but that’s just me.
Let’s do some sushi! And a little school news…
I need to post. You need a picture. Otherwise…too boring!
Monday: First quiz of the season. I’m not even going to drag it out. Success. Thank God! First is always the hardest because you never know how the teaching will reflect into the testing. As long as I continue to study the way that I did, I should be ok.
Tuesday…however…first Skills Test. Just the basics please, but that’s what can trip you up. Seems so simple, and yet…you freeze up in front of all that experience, feeling intimidated. And I really HATE feeling like that. So, practice the skills, learn the rationale, and do your best. My son says, “Mom, that’s all you can do. I know you’ll do the best you can.” Thanks Mason 🙂
(I think those little icons turn into the real thing…smiley face…that’s cool.)
Anyway, here’s some sushi. Mason went to the truck race and Stevie, the BF and I went for food. Stevie tried everything we ordered. And even liked it! Enjoy the picture, I got skills to do.
Walking to school
and found a ring! Nothing fancy, not expensive, I mean, possibly valuable, in that whole, save-your-soul kind of way.
It’s silver, with the words:
JESUS COVERS ME
wrapped around. Of course there’s a pic. It’s on top of the fish tank. They think it’s food.
Just so we’re clear: Spilling a load on the highway is NOT a good thing??
For those of you who live and work in Chicago, that may or may not be funnier, than to some others. No one was hurt so I can joke a little. Please see the following news article:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1738200,bracket-interstate-80-082709.article
I have to add it because I didn’t write it. But here is a sample from it if you are too lazy to click, as I often am…It is from the Sun-Times, internet news source/wire…something…I really don’t know how it works, but I am just sharing info here, not claiming it as my own. See if you can spot my favorite part! Below.
Cars damaged after bracket load spills on I-80
A dozen vehicles were damaged Thursday morning and the eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 were closed after a semi-truck spilled metal brackets onto the road.
Truck driver Douglas Jordan of Houston was cited with spilling a load onto the highway east of the Des Plaines River bridge, said Illinois State Trooper Mark Dorencz. (HINT!! It’s right in this sentence!!)
A cardboard box holding the brackets became soaked from the rain and tore open, Dorencz said. Eastbound I-80 was closed about 7 a.m. for 15 minutes.
OK, back to me now. I’m thinking the guy (or girl–don’t want to assume anything) who wrote the article was being funny. Your job is to write small news items on the internet everyday and you don’t know if anyone actually reads them, or at least beyond the first few lines, so you want to spice it up a bit! Flex the language skills. Make that degree earn its money. I would. There’s nothing really inaccurate about the article, but I love the phrasing. I’m a big word buff. A lover of big words or a big fan of actual English words…See?? I love the way words sound and look and string together to mean a million different things just by moving one around or altering a punctuation mark. (I find myself to be annoying too most of the time, don’t worry, and I write WAY too much crap)
Anyway, I thought it was clever and humorous. And I am wasting time so I don’t have to study. No excuses. The BF is on his way home! The kids will be here shortly. We have a very quick birthday pop-in to do for the kids’ friend (Happy B-day Devin!) and then it’s Open House for Mason. We have to see the school and chat up the teachers. It’s perfect timing too, because Mason is already going to miss a day of school on Friday and I get to tell the teachers personally. Make sure he doesn’t have any homework like he said! Then dinner, bedtime, playtime, and I think I am getting back up. I am bone-ass tired from this week. My adrenaline level is too high and I can’t sleep, and coffee builds up in the blood, but I have to get the required things for school done and out of my mind. I like to believe that I can study at any time, but I work best late at night, if, I don’t get on here. My peeps. I need to stay connected to my peeps. Look here! A whole paragraph dedicated to nothing, just so I don’t have to study. Terrible. I should do another playlist. I should go on I-Tunes. I joined FaceBook and that is a whole other connection I have to wire up. And then fight the urge to scope it out. There are too many people in this world that you never knew you knew and then more you forgot you knew. But they are all out there waiting…and your name is about to drop back into their stratosphere. Now how will you get on?
As a disclaimer, I know FaceBook is not new. But I have been avoiding it for those very reasons. This site is hard enough to maintain in an even slightly interesting way, but you get my point. There is no sum up. Just a finish. I’m out of words.
Alright, here’s another picture. It’s the city!
Wednesday at 10 pm. School is time consuming.
Just thought I’d throw that out there. For me. And for you.
My dream of “6000 by 6 months” may not be possible. (That would be 6000 hits to this site by my 6 month anniversary of it) The date is approaching–Sept. 17—and I am far behind in the count.
Even if I had enough interesting and web generating things to say…I have no time to say them. Pity for you. My head is full of crap you may never get to know about!
Keep looking here though, tell people, post the site somewhere popular, get creative! I can’t because my brain is on skill mode: Make a bed, give an enema, re-position, give a bath, take the vitals…it’s rougher than I want it to be and I already know how to do this stuff! And don’t forget to study for the written test! Let’s be clear, I am NOT complaining. I love it like this…but my head feels fast-forward.
I bought the schedule book, so now I can waste alot of time writing down things that I need to do in the future, by exact time!
And I need to get off of here. But don’t think I’ll be leaving you empty handed, oh no! There was another party in the street and no one invited us!
Stevie and I thought these items, found along our walk this morning (beside the penny) were quite amusing.
Golf Ball. Ignoring the fact that it's garbage, isn't this a good picture?? Look at the color and detail. I took that with my phone camera! In the rain!
Golf Ball. Music CD. Something...was going on. Check out the next pic...
Partied right out of your socks! One anyway. And this is Wednesday.
Last picture. It's another spoon. The detail kind of got washed out by the color, but it's your basic, plastic, white, disposable spoon. This is the second spoon on the street in two weeks. I'm smelling a trend (and a new feature for me) Later in the day, this same spoon was crushed to pieces, still laying in the street, most likely run over by many cars. Sob. 😦
Jump in the line!
Rock your body in time!
Oh no! I believe it!
Jump right in…start the body line… shake, shake, shake, Senora! Work it all the time!
I’m kind of making up words and moving them around. I am home from the first official day of school. Short and sweet. Serve it up and push me out the door. This. This. This. Test Monday. Skills Tuesday. See you tomorrow. Don’t be late. Two hours in, and the hand holding portion of the program is over.
I am exaggerating for dramatic and humorous effect. The teachers are all quite friendly and helpful, actually, but, they are not slowly walking us along the education path. They warned us of the fast pace, rapid start, rapid finish; fall behind and you might not be able to catch up. There just isn’t time. Time is fluid. Sometimes we forget when it thickens up. It’s really more like water, and it flows the same whether you are standing in it, sitting in it, swimming in it, being dragged along unmercifully by it, or drowning in it. Unless you cry for help, no one is going to hear you. And even if they do, no guarantee they can always save you. They might be able to get you out of it, but you won’t really be o.k.
But that is a little too much for the first day. I’ll save that little rumination for about, October, when I am failing the math test! Just kidding. Positive thoughts. (Not going where you think) I’m only taking it one week, one day, one class, one hour, at a time. Small doses. Even using a teaspoon eventually fills up the bowl. And my bowl is empty!!
So why the heck am I typing on this time wasting website?? Because I like it. And I need it. I need to put all the crazy thoughts somewhere so I can make room for the technical stuff I need to do a job and do it well. I don’t think this writing thing is going to pan out in the way that I had hoped and I only won $3 bucks on the Mega Millions and $2 on a scratch off, and that’s the most we have won on lottery in like, two years.
So this is my future. I will be busy with school, in 16 week chunks, for the next two years. But I’ll still try to post to keep updated and sane. (You should subscribe to me! Top right column…and you won’t miss any of the fun. And you can comment and give me encouragement and make me feel warm and fuzzy!)
In about 20 minutes, when my daughter gets home, we will be going to the store to get me a detailed schedule planner, for the minute day-to-day things I need to do (tests/skills/exercise–yes, I still do it, just don’t talk about it as much—next race is Labor Day!) anyhoo…we need groceries and breakfast food and cash for my son’s gym uniform and sports physical….it seems kind of scattery right? (Run on sentence anyone???) But I have already done laundry and cleaned the house and did the dishes, prepped for dinner and bedtime…I am never more productive than when I have less time for the tasks planned.
Here is a picture of a nurse coffee mug I was given 2 years ago when I started this mess. (Thank you Nancy!!) I tentatively bring it out now in anticipation of success. I am normally superstitious about cart-before-the-horse and all that, but what the hell. I have to pass. Failure is not an option for me.
I also threw in the picture with all the books I was told I would need for the first semester. Semester. 16 weeks. Hey! You keep them, FOREVER! And if you are like me, you’d want to know this too:
Height of books: 17 inches
Weight of books: 42.4 lbs.
You never have to bring them all anywhere, (so they say) but I still think it’s interesting to know the stats.
You can't see it exactly, but it's about 16" tall. AND I forgot a book! I took its picture all by itself. So that brings the total to 17".
The missing book from the pile. I included it in the weight though. I should have taken a picture of the scale! I'm not going to now because I don't feel like moving all those books again. Too heavy. Too many.
Thursday. Friday. Weekend. Monday. And all the other days after that…
Wednesday post had to be at one am, because the real world has spun back into motion.
I’ve been on hold for the last year. Preparing, but not actually doing. And here it is.
Thursday. First day of school for kids. Last day of summer for mom. It was a half day, decent weather except for the morning when it rained at the bus stop. Just enough to soak my son for his first time back on the bus since 2nd grade. Yes, I went to the bus stop with him (Sister came too!) and no, we weren’t the only ones. Seems all the moms come out for the first (and second) day of school. My son didn’t care. He even gave me a kiss goodbye. In front of other people. I feel very fortunate (I truly do) to have such a nice boy. An hour later, we were out again. Stevie and I, walking her to school. She is fifth grade now. Top of the school chain! It’s a quiet walk this year. All the fifth graders from last year are gone now. On the bus. And that is what made up most of the kids on the street. One more year and she’ll join her brother at the Jr. High.
Profitable though, to take them out. Found a lot of loose change and some odd items for the next posts; Street Money and Odd Items.
After school we went to play mini-golf. The very last afternoon of summer and all its ease. Then we came home and waited for morning. Ha. Not really. The kids played outside until dinner and the BF’s friend came back (sunshine and blue skies) and fixed the roof pipe. Ten minutes. Done. It’s nice when there isn’t a typhoon trying to sweep you off the roof to your death! And don’t worry. There’s a picture. Observe:
Then, Friday. Full day. Boy on the bus. Girl walking. More change. Another odd item. This time the rain waited to pour down on Mason when he got off the bus walking home. I managed to get all the laundry done, pay the bills, organize my school papers and start the prep work. The nursing starts immediately. You don’t ease into the pool, you jump straight in. (Not with the people yet, just in the water. No worries.) Anyway, it’s good. I have some reading and vocab and, oh no, here come the kids. Mom on hold. Kids take the front. Papers to sign, homework (they jump in too) and a snack. And back to me. But I want to type. So here it is. I have a few days of catching up to do.
I’ll just end it here and post more pictures! I can’t concentrate on a good conclusion because Stevie turned on Hannah Montana and I swear to God and all things holy or hellish, that damn show makes me laugh out loud and sucks me in faster than a low flying goose in an airplane engine. To borrow a phrase from a hillbilly soliloquy. Those Cyrus folk can sure turn a phrase. Hardy har har.
My Lottery Dreams are not looking good
Obviously I am going to have to earn money the old fashioned way. Poo. My tickets are losers (although the Mega Millions rolled over again—170 million—that’s better!) And my dream for even $35,000 is looking shaky. First off, I don’t have 35 tickets to input. And second off, I didn’t know scratch-offs counted too! I actually threw away some of those. I still didn’t have 35, but I would have been closer! Oh well, I guess I better buy the rest of my books and get ready for school. It doesn’t look like there is going to be any way around it!
So it’s Sunday morning. The kids are STILL gone. I was hoping to have them yesterday, but the plans got changed to something more exciting and they are still on vacation! Lucky ducks! They start school Thursday, so I guess they should enjoy themselves while they have the time to play.
It’s a broiling 84° already. It’s been hot every day. In the 90’s. It feels hot, it looks hot, it just makes you tired. Today it’s actually windy. Hot, dry wind. Like oven breeze. I hope it blows all the leaves off my patio, then I can scratch, “sweep” off the list! I’m going to spare everyone the actual list of things I need to do (but know that I have a good, long one!) even though it’s my sister’s favorite part of this site (haha). In fact, I am going to her house today for a Pampered Chef party. She’s making chicken! Or something. I actually do want to go because I want to buy this amazing pitcher I just discovered. It has a mixer right inside it! I know I’m the only lady over 35 in America that probably didn’t know about this already, but I don’t look at a lot of catalogs.
I was going to say that I’ll take a picture of it and post it later, but I just realized that I probably won’t have it later. I think I have to wait for it. Hmm. Oh well, if they have one on display I’ll take that picture. In the meantime, please enjoy this picture of our new coffee maker!!
We had to. The other one was leaking. And this one has a timer and auto shut-off. We paid $30. Big spenders! AND we went white this time! To match my beautiful toaster I received for Mother’s Day from my son. It’s especially nice because it has a blue display, a color that I find particularly soothing when I see it in the middle of the night, glowing brightly and casting shadows in the kitchen.
If you are keeping count, this is the third coffee maker we have had since the BF moved in. He brought a lovely, large, coffee making machine, with him. Then we had the black one you saw in pictures. And now we have this beauty. That’s four years and three makers. That’s not too bad.
Here’s the pic:
Back to the Benches
I’ll try to keep this short. Let’s do something fun and superhero silly!
And now with extra, added silly. The children decide to sit in the pictures.
just shy of pretty 