The New Aunt Ester....

So every once of a while at Christmas with my mom's family, we get some euchre games going... and apparently I am the next generation of my great aunt Ester. I don't know what it is about cards, but I totally loose every inhibition of swearing in front of my grandparents, small cousins, and whoever else is around.... it starts out slow and quiet.... a damn it here, a darn.... and by the end I was cursing the air blue... and my grandparents were cracking up.... but I was informed that if I wanted to be REALLY like Ester, I would have to be about 3 times as loud.... maybe next year :) MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Santa brought my bike groove back!

So the day before Christmas, I had 212 miles to go as of this morning, and my goal was to do 30 miles this morning.....and let me tell you it was an up and down morning. First off I set my alarm f0r 7:30 am just in case I didn't get up in time... but in perfect vacation tradition, it also set the time ahead so I still got up at 5:30 am... which was good... because I downloaded some new podcasts cause I'm almost out, and hit the gym - I was on a bike by 7:30 am and it SUCKED... I was just dying ( maybe it was the half of a chocolate chip muffin I had had for breakfast....) So after 20 min, I my new goal was an hour..... gotta do an hour.. you can do just about anything for an hour...... and suddenly around 40 min Santa apparently dropped off my A game cause I was GONE, I had great cadence, great resistance, and my ass wasn't even sore - No idea where it came from, but I so rode that high for the next 20 miles and if I didn't have so much shit to do today, I would SO still be there busting out more of my miles.... cause no gym is open tomorrow which means instead of having 7 days left, I have 6, so instead of about 26 miles a day I have 30+.... whoopie!!!! But I am SO gonna make it!

Bike Goal - Am I going to make it?!?!

Well for those of you, which really is no one, who keeps track of my life, I have a crazy bike goal for 2007. 2007 miles in 2007 doesn't sound so crazy in January, when it breaks down to about 5.5 miles a day.... but after a summer of kidney stone love, you get down to the last 12 days of December and you are up to 26 miles a day, which on a gym bike, is pretty darn daunting.... now, mind you, I am lucky enough to have the next 11 days off, which means I have plenty of biking time, but the real question will be, do I have enough energy. Yesterday, after recovering from a cold for the past week and doing 52 miles in 2 days, I wasn't feeling so well so I decided to take a quick nap after Physical Therapy and go in a bit late.... that nap turned out to be nearly 5 hours long... not something I usually do... at all... unless I'm about to get really sick.... so the real question is... do I have enough nap time / workout time to get to my goal - I still think I will make it... and if I do I think I will be getting myself an indoor trainer... cause biking at home in front of a good DVD seems much nicer than those stupid bikes at the gym that really aren't made for short people like me :P

Cannas

So today I was lucky enough to get home before the sun set, so I dug up the cannas and saved some of the baby aloe plants (Since the one from an unnamed ex boyfriend got too big for me yo carry inside), did a bit of raking and planned out how I am gonna get all that yard work done in the next week. I did get some great news though - since we had such a dry and warm fall so far, the city extended the yard waste and leaf pick up for a whole 2 more weeks, so I have 2 more weeks of procrastinating....well not really - I took a whole day off work next week JUST to work on the yard - here is to no snow (or at least no rain/sustained snow) in November.

Raking by the garage light...

So it is fall again and that means it get dark at about 4:30 (stupid clouds) which means by the time I get home, it is dark dark dark. Unfortunitly the leaves still are on the ground and need to be dealt with. But lucky lucky me, I have some giant lights on my garage that I use once a year for the annual in the dark raking extravaganza, which was tonight. I was able to rake most of the yard (except the part behind the garage) and it is safely under a tarp, awaiting some light so i can grind it into oblivion to make some happy homemade mulch!

Cranksgiving!

So in an effort to get mile miles for the week done, and done outside, I decided to join in on this crazy thing called Cranksgiving where a bunch of bikers go to 6 wonderful grocery stores around tow and pick up one of a set list of items at each store and race to the finish (I got dried soup, rice, beans, baby formula and chili). Additionally, you got bonuses for bringing back more than 6 items, based on the weight of those items. Since I am still sorta recovering from the Kidney Stone from Hell, I decided to do some preemptive shopping and got a turkey and a TON of rice, pasta and beans. Didn't get extra bonus points for doing the extra shopping, but it was a good good ride for a good cause. All the food from the race went to Food Gathers of AA, and with about 30+ people showing up, they got a pretty good haul. Cause I have small feet and a big mouth I got a pair of socks, 2 water bottles, and some coffee (Ick - so going to someone for Christmas) and got about 20 miles in while it was nice out (nice being a relative term - it was freaking cold and my lungs were burning a bit and I have a case of the lung butter now), but all in all, an awesome way to spend a Sunday!