A love story to wrap up the year

Well, the last day of 2008 is upon us. Rather than bore you with a list of resolutions I am very unlikely to keep, I think I will bore you with a little love story instead.

Twelve years ago B. and I ran one of those run to the new year type of races. You know, the ones that start at 11 or 11:30 and then you celebrate the new year with your fellow runners. I remember that I had to work until about 10pm, and then B. picked me up and we drove to the race just in time for the start. It was frigid, but we had a great run. I don't have any record of our times, but I believe we finished together and just relaxed and enjoyed it. We finished before midnight so we ran out to the parking lot because B. wanted to get something out of the car. At this point B. realized that he had locked his keys inside the car, so as our fellow runners were yelling "Happy New Year" to one another we were standing out in the freezing cold waiting for AAA. Once we had the keys, B. had me wait outside for a moment. Before I knew it he was on one knee proposing to me! I was completely floored and caught by surprise. Even now thinking about it I am swept up by the romance of it- B. knew I preferred a race to a fancy dinner and that made him the perfect partner for me.

Can you believe that B. still has his race shirt from that day? It's not because he is a romantic, he just can't bear to get rid of any clothing that has not been completely worn to shreds:


Usually with the busyness of the holidays and F's birthday on the 29th, I don't give too much thought to our engagement date. But this New Year's Eve I am feeling a bit nostalgic. I think we'll crack open some champagne for once and toast the past 12 New Year's Eve's we have spent together.

Happy Birthday F!

Happy Birthday F!
Eight years- how could it be this already?



I would love to post a picture of you as a baby, but we did not have a digital camera then. In fact, we were new parents and we didn't think there was a need for a digital camera or a video camera or any sort of photo organizing system. Alas, you got shorted when it came to documenting your early years. The earliest digital image I have of you is this one when you were 2.5.




Look at those chubby cheeks and big blue eyes! Your eyes are still big and blue, but your chubby cheeks have been replaced with a leaner, older face. This past year you have really grown up, and that sweet little toddler has been replaced with a fiercly independent, creative and positively unique boy who surprises us, pleases us and infuriates us regularly.

F, you are my heart. My oldest boy, my mini-me. My lego-building, Calvin and Hobbes reading, super-hero loving, naturally athletic and musically inclined child of promise, and joy of my life.

I've struggled with enjoying the holiday season this year. I've found myself getting caught up in the details and letting the days pass by with a flurry of activity but without anything substantial enough to nourish my soul. So I've been feeling kind of empty and a little melancholy which is very unlike my normal state of being.

A couple of days ago we were driving home from holiday visiting with family and the weather was horrible. It was sleeting and the roads were icy and slick. As we drove North the roads got worse and suddenly we found ourselves skidding across the road. As the van spun out of control and off of the road I found myself oddly calm and accepting of the fate that lay ahead for us. We bounced over an embankment and down an incline and landed on the frozen grass. Immediately I checked the kids and said a prayer of thanks that everyone was unhurt. As B and I collected parts from the van off of the grass and made sure that it was drivable, I was suddenly struck with the holiday spirit that had been eluding me this year. Perhaps it was the reminder that nothing is more important to me than having my family safe and close. Or that no matter what events occur or how packed the schedule is, life rolls on and takes us with it. Most of the time I'm a happy traveler on that road, but sometimes I go kicking and screaming. The relief that washed over me also washed away my worries and petty holiday concerns and left me feeling full with love and thankfulness for my family and my place in this world.

So now on Christmas Eve I am thankful, I am peaceful, and I am basking in the holiday goodness that really is there all of the time underneath the other stuff.



Merry Christmas to you, all of my dear friends!

Well, I am still playing hostess to a flock of freeloaders. How old are those pullets now-32 weeks? We are getting absolutely NO eggs from our hens, and only 3 of the pullets are laying. So that gives us 2-3 eggs a day which is absolutely pathetic!!! With the amount of food these chickens eat and the amount of money it costs to feed them I better be drowning in eggs this spring.
At least my son's dinner doesn't get wasted anymore.
It think this is the corn and sweet potato he refused last week:


We also have a rabbit who has shacked up with the chickens. We got Pumpkin this past summer and my tender heart felt so bad for him cooped up in his hutch that I allowed him to pretty much roam around the yard at will. I'm still not sure if this is a mistake or not, as obviously he is at risk from predators (and he is pooping in our garage), but he is very social and seems to enjoy haning out with the chickens, and yes, even the cats.


He no longer allows us to catch him and put him back in his hutch, and he will not be tricked into it with food-so I guess he is fending for himself now. Sometimes we can still pet him on one of his better days- but absolutely no more cuddling, which we do miss.

For sweet Gigi and Grandma S.

After being stuck at home with sick kids for nearly a month, last Sunday I headed out for some window shopping and much-needed alone time. I wandered around Macy's looking at the glittery ornaments and fine china, and I was filled with memories of my grandmothers. I lost both of my grandmothers this past year, and as I walked the aisles I couldn't help but feel their presence with me. My sweet Gigi had a love of the finer things, and looking at the finer Christmas decorations I knew which ones she would like and which she would turn away from. Some of the golden wreaths with the frosted balls and greenery and the tabletop decorations reminded me so much of her that I had to blink to hold back my tears. My Grandma S. always had a Higbee's box under her tree, and I can be sure that many of her ornaments came from there. In fact, I have several of her ornaments on my tree now. She certainly was with me on Sunday at Macy's.

When I returned home I still had the memories of my Christmases with my grandmothers playing in my head. Both of them were so dear to me. Christmas is such a happy wonderous time, but for those of us still mourning a loss, it really is bittersweet.

I decided to finish a quilt that had been sitting unfinished on my sewing table for months. My Grandma S. would have loved it. It is Moda Funky Monkey on flannel-it's free motion quilted.



When I was a girl my Grandma S. would make a sock monkey for me each Christmas-all the way through high school. I loved anticipating that present! She was so creative and each year she outdid herself. I would like to share a few of the monkeys she made for me that I have saved:

The one on the left is cowboy (I have unfortunately lost his felt hat), the middle one is runner monkey (the uniform was modeled after my HS cross-country uniform and even has my last name on the back), and the one on the right is girly monkey(hand embroidered dress, bonnet, shoes and purse with a coin inside).

I also have a set of very small, felt ornaments that my Grandma S. made. They are at least 25 years old and they are still beautiful. My kids love putting them on a mini-tree each year, and as I look at the perfectly stitched felt and knotted sequins I can almost see her sitting in the living room with my Grandfather, hand sewing as he watched TV and dozed in the recliner.



These memories are so precious to me, thank you for letting me share them with you.

We are living in a sick house over here. Everyone is sick. First it was the chicken pox that kept us home for two weeks. Then it was this yucky stomach bug that kept us in, vomiting and wretching. Still this doesn't stop the begging to go out-

"Mom, PLEASE can we go the gymnastics Christmas party, please, please, please!" said from the bed still covered in towels from last nights vomitfest.

"I'm all better now-can I have my advent chocolate?"

"But I want to go to Grandma's! WAHHH!!!"

Remember that post when I wrote about how nice it was to stay home and get things done? Well, now I am desperate for a little time away from the kids. Last night I went to the grocery store alone and I felt like I was on vacation. I didn't want to come home to needy children and soiled sheets and mountains of laundry.

Today is looking up. No one threw up during the night. C. wanted sausages for breakfast. F got dressed right away. We'll see.

Gobble, gobble!

Thanksgiving Day morning I ran a 5 mile turkey trot. It was so last minute-I didn't know if B was going to have to work, I didn't know if M would break out with the pox, there were a lot of variables. But by Wednesday PM I decided to run it. I really needed the endorphins after a long week of sick kids and depressing evening running.

I wanted to break 39:00 (I figured a nice just under 8 minute mile pace with a quick first mile and last mile would do it)

It was huge-thousands of runners. I was swept up by the rush at the start and bolted out in the first mile. My first mile was 6:30-ish (I am guessing as I missed the mile marker and didn't check my watch until someone said "first mile" behind me). Way, way too fast-I really could not believe I was going that fast, but then I started to feel it in the second mile. My second mile was around 14. I was way under pace, and I knew I was running out of steam. Really, the next 3 miles was aq battle, as my body and my mind protested the whole way. I finished in 37:23. Way, way faster than I ever would have predicted. In fact, just over the 3 mile mark I was still under 22 minutes! All summer long I tried to break 23 minutes for a 5k, and here I was in a 5 mile race a whole minute FASTER than I had run all summer in 5k's.
At the end I got my free pumpkin pie, said hello to a local runner I see occasionally (she beat me by a minute-dang it, she is so darn fast), and drove home.

I really honestly am kind of in shock over my super fast time. I had no idea I could still run that fast. That first mile was as fast as some of my first miles over 10 years ago when my 5k's were always in the 21 minute range. I think the fact that I put in some good solid 20 mile weeks in September and October helped me, and I really cannot discount the orthotics. Those orthotics are the BEST thing I have done for my running, EVER. My feet haven't hurt me since I started wearing them-and even though the rest of my body was totally sore on Friday, my feet were not. And maybe I really am getting stronger. I kind of thought I had reached a plateau, but maybe I am stronger than I thought.

So anyway, this race was a nice reminder to me that I CAN accomplish time goals if I truely do work hard enough. The thing is, I really don't like to work all that hard. When I am racing I reach a point where I am just not going to push myself anymore, even if I know I am capable of going faster. I just don't do it. I am not a super ultra competitive runner (anymore), even with myself. But that 5 mile time certainly was a nice boost!