Los Locos Duathlon

The boys registered to do a local duathlon, 2 mile run, 15 mile bike, and a 2 mile run. Pumpkin did the biking and Peanut did the running. After all the rain we've had the last few weeks, it finally cleared up. It was gorgeous!

Peanut had on his lucky Vanderbilt running shorts. He never wears "short" shorts. I loved it! He was showing off those cute muscular legs!

Getting ready to start. They started in waves and the relays went last. This gave Peanut a chance to see where to run.

Peanut was a bit nervous and started off really fast. The boy in front of him in the yellow shorts runs cross crounty for Rhodes College. He looked just like a gazelle running on the pavement. Adam ran a good split, but did not keep up with him.

Here comes Peanut finishing up the first run. He's even smiling! He's got a half mile to go before tagging Pumpkin.

Here they are transferring the clip. Pumpkin wasn't too much of a help as he was holding up his bike.


Off Pumpkin goes to start the bike ride. We were a bit nervous about this. The ride is hilly and were just weren't sure if he'd keep his focus. He did fine! He seemed to enjoy the experience. We learned more and more about the ride route as the day went on.

We did not even know it, but one of Peanut's soccer team mates signed up too. He was part of a relay team with his dad. Peanut was determined to run faster!!

Here he goes off for the last two miles. I wish I would have gotten a picture of Pumpkin coming in off the bike, but I got caught up enjoying the moment.

Here is Pumpkin after his bike ride chatting with us waiting for Adam to make it in from the run.

There he goes! At this point, he had a half of a mile left.

Here he is bringing it home! With the time adjustment, they finished with a time of 1:17.47.

They both had a good time and were talking about what they can do next!! It may be this run. We are heading to Cincinnati in a few weeks for fall break. Buddy is coming with us and we may just entertain him.

Squeaky Clean Happiness

Happiness does come from very simple things.

On Tuesday, I got the urge to really clean the refrigerator. The timing was perfect as it was rather empty. What a job it was. Can I tell you how exciting it is to open my refrigerator? Every time I do it, I smile. It looks lovely. I snapped these photos after my trip to the grocery.

We are still limping along with a broken ice maker on the fridge itself. It is too old to call a repairman. But, too young to part with. The blue ice trays work great when the Big Guy isn't filling them. He has a tendancy to spill the water! What's better than a clean freezer with a big box of Skinny Cow sandwiches?

Here's the fridge!



What a cheap thrill to have a clean fridge! I don't think anyone else in the family appreciated it. I'm continuing my cleaning...I am rearranging the furniture in the music room. We'll see how that all turns out. If nothing else, I'll get all the dust bunnies that are lurking in that room!

Weekend Snap Shots

The rain stopped on Friday night and we were able to go to the high school football game. The Big Guy's alma mater beat up on Pumpkin's high school! They had a scoreless first half and then the defense broke down - or something. I enjoyed being there and spying on Pumpkin as he hung out with other kids. When we got home, we all had some sort of dessert. Peanut made his own smores in the microwave. He was in heaven!

I got up early Saturday morning and went to a rummage sale. I am a rummage sale novice. I only walked away with books. The paperbacks were only 50 cents a piece. I found a book Peanut needs for school. I found more of the Hatchet "series" by Gary Paulsen. I bought a few the boys have already read! Gotta love that!

Peanut's bike was on its last leg. The gears were shot. It was a hand-me-down from the Pumpkin. The Big Guy did not think he could re-run the cables to fix the gears. Seeing that it is quite worn, we weren't sure we wanted to invest in a bike shop repair. We pulled up Craiglist and found two bikes for sale. It turns out this man fixes up used bikes in his detached garage. It was very impressive. While Peanut was at the first of two birthday parties, we went and picked this up for him. He loves it. It is called a soft tail because it has shocks under his seat. The size is perfect and the bike should last him. I need to clean up the old one, list it, and see if this man wants to buy it!

Yesterday, between church and midafternoon we got lots of rain. Peanut's ref job for soccer was cancelled. Buddy was desparate resorting to sprawling out on the garage floor. I guess it was cool. Look at all those curls!

The rain stopped just in time for Pumpkin to compete in the Thunderkids Triathlon. Boy! It got extremely humid. He did well, but it kicked him. He pretty much went right to bed last night. He got up this morning complaining of a headache and is back in bed. In high school, they put the fear of God in you if you miss a day. He is not well. I hope the sleep knocks it out of him. I'll cross my fingers that catching up is not too hard to do!

Lastly, I've been reading quite a bit. It is easy to grab a book while the boys watch football. I finished Knit Two by Kate Jacobs. It is an easy read. I read her first book and enjoyed seeing how the characters developed in this second book. My sister gave me this one for Christmas. I finally got to it and I am glad I did. It inspired me to pick up my needles! Kate Jacobs wrote a third book and I put it on hold at the library. It will be interesting to see where the story goes.

Rainy Day Activities

Well! We've had a week of the rain. It's been pretty steady. The sun peaked for a few minutes yesterday. I was able to cut the grass - even a bit wet. It needed it. They are saying the rain will keep up through midweek next week. Ugh!! We had big plans to go to the high school football game tonight. Pumpkin's high school is playing the Big Guy's alma mater. I know they will play, but I don't know if I want to sit in the rain and watch.

What have we been doing in the rain you ask?

I did a swap of sorts on Craigslist. We had an old PC with some pretty good parts. I also had an original iphone. I was able to swap the iphone for a mac mini. The mini is fulfilling a need we had. The boys do not have their own computers. We all battle for the MacBook which is mine! I got the mini set up, figured out how to print wirelessly and we are all happy. The mini needs some caressing and I hope to work on that in the weeks to come. This is a great fix. It did not cost lots and we got to reuse some of the hardware we had. What a green solution.

Pumpkin still doesn't know the results of his run for Treasurer. I hope they announced it today. Peanut on the otherhand was sworn in as a student council member. It is a great little event. They do a swearing in ceremony at our town hall. The mayor of Collierville does the swearing in. Here is Peanut outside the Town Hall.

After the ceremony, Peanut got to see the mayor's office. He even got to sit behind the mayor's desk - pretty animated on the phone. I'd say!

Last week, most of my menu plans came from a cookbook from where we lived in Pennsylvania. The best recipe I selected was Overnight French Toast. This was one of the best baked french toast recipes we've had. We have something like this for dinner about once a month. The family enjoyed it too. Pumpkin liked it but prefers another recipe that is lots sweeter.

The weather, as I've mentioned, has been very blah! I never realized how much the sun is a motivator. One evening this week, Peanut grabbed my camera and snapped this photo. I had no idea. He was thrilled to pull one over on me!! Be forewarned. The photo is scary. I tried to edit it a bit to take the edge off!!!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

I don't think we've had any real rain since July. The ground really needs it. We saw signs of fall very early due to the dryness. The last three days, we've had quite a bit of rain. The sun has not poked its head out. I know that is great for the Earth. But, it negatively affects my bike riding!! I was on a roll and don't want to get off it. This morning the rain was looming. Buddy and I went for a walk. Wouldn't you know it. It did not rain. I could have gotten a bike ride in. I hope to get back out there tomorrow. I guess only Mother Nature knows if it will happen.

The rain is perfect reading weather. I've taken advantage of it even when I should have been doing other things! I finished the book, This Is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Tropper. I read this is his sixth book. I have not read any of his others. I found the book entertaining. The story focuses on a modern day dysfunctional family dealing with the loss of their father. The family sits shiva after the death. Some of the antics I could relate to as I am the youngest of six. Part of me wondered what it would be like to spend a week with my siblings under one roof. There are funny lines with easy writing style. The book pulls you in wanting to find out how it all ends. There are sexual undertones throughout the book. I found the sexual details to be a bit much at times.

I am thinking about heading to the library to find another book. But, I have so many things to do here. I don't need that easy distraction. I just got this book in the mail. Although it is not a story, I know it is full of ideas. And, Christmas is not that far away!!! It might just shift my focus and give me the knitting/sewing/crafting mojo I need.

Sugar Daddy

I just finished the book Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas. I picked it up at a rummage sale in the spring. I was standing there looking through the books and a nice woman kept handing me "good" books. Since the cost of the books was not going to break the bank, I took what she handed me.

I have not read anything by this author. This book was a mindless, good, entertaining read. I am an idealist at heart and this book did not let me down. There was a nice story line, a bit of romance and a happy ending. Gotta love it! I even learned what a Sugar Daddy is!!! I can only hope there aren't too many in "real" life.

The election results are in for Peanut. He was not elected president. I think he was okay with it. I was just impressed that he stuck his neck out there AND he congratulated the winner. The high school elections were this afternoon. It sounds like there was some confusion. Pumpkin said that he looked like the biggest freak on the video! Love it! They'll announce the results on Monday.

Here's to a weekend of soccer, lawn mowing, ironing, football, biking, church, and even some rain. It's been very dry as of late. We'd welcome a few hours of a steady rain - just not when Peanut is out on the soccer field!!

Campaign Headquarters

Both boys are running for positions at school. Pumpkin is running for Treasurer of the freshman class. This is his first time to run and express interest in student government. He painted his own posters and glued fake money on the posters. He handed out some fake dollar bills with a vote sticker on them. They had to video tape speeches which were played today during morning announcements. All of his effort was pretty straight forward. He did not go out on a limb. He is running against three girls hoping to take the boy vote. They vote tomorrow. We'll see!!

Last week, Peanut's student government started with posters and pencil for his election to student council. The pencils we picked up at the beginning of the year when school supplies were dirt cheap. The larger pencil is made from a Pringle's can. We scrounged around the house only using supplies we had. Peanut was thrilled!

Peanut was elected to the general student council body and decided to run for president!! I was shocked. Over the weekend, we made some more posters modifying the slogan to pencil in for president. We picked up lots more pencils enabling him to give one to each 5th grade student. Peanut wrote on each pencil. He handed the pencils out to each student asking for their vote. Today is election day. He will give his speech to all the homerooms this afternoon. We made this "hat" for him to use when he does his speeches. I'd love to be a fly on the wall.

Here he was this morning next to one of his posters. He did all the painting on the poster. He has a great eye for spacing and uniformity.

Peanut will know the results this afternoon. Either way, it has been a great experience for him. I am so glad he stepped up to the plate.

Vandy vs. Western Carolina

This year we splurged splitting family season tickets with another family. We got to go to this game. Wow! It was a great night. We got to the stadium a bit early, but went on in. I snapped this shot from our seats. We were next to the student section. They were well behaved. Way back when, the student section was down at the other end of the field. Way back when, those buildings were not even there!

The boys were giddy. We drove up that afternoon. The three hours seemed to fly by.

We were sitting in the "gold" section. I did not have anything that met that criteria. I settled on my Vandy polo shirt. Pumpkin took this shot. We were teasing him asking him to get more of us the next time!

He did not get much more of us! But, he got the field in the background.

In the fall of 1987 we attended our first football game together - right in this stadium. I don't remember too many night games. And, I don't remember many games where the weather was as gorgeous. It was wonderful!

Here are the boys when it got dark.

Vanderbilt had a sizable lead - for once! The Big Guy had to find something to do with his hands.

Like father, like son...

The best feature was the 'Dores won! The only bummer was I did not get to meet up with my friend, Amy. Her daughter had a fever and they left the game early.

After the game, we collected lots of mycokerewards bottle caps. Peanut was on a mission. We found a tshirt wadded up in a ball left behind by a freshman. The tshirt had the class of 2013 on it. We have a high schooler who is part of the class of 2013. He just might enjoy that tshirt. Lastly, we got to see the team walk from the field to their practice building, a new tradition started in the years after we graduated.

We had a great time. The ride home wasn't even too bad. It just resulted in a late late night. I could not remember the last time I was up until 2 am. We've got another game in a few weeks when they play Ole Miss. We'll be wearing our Black & Gold with pride even though Ole Miss is rumored to be pretty good!!!

Look Who's 14!

Wow! Fourteen years ago, we were holding a very healthy baby in our arms. Now, he is taller than me and got a few inches to go to meet up with the Big Guy. I wonder how many inches he will add this year?

Yesterday, was Pumpkin's 14th birthday! The poor boy got the nickname, Pumpkin, because he was a bedrested baby. At birth, his head was perfectly round, the shape of an adorable pumpkin.

The day was action packed. We squeezed in the opening of the presents before he left for school. Peanut was still sleeping.

I think he might of known what was in the box.

In early summer, we accidentally washed his qwerty keyboard phone. He's dealt with an archaic replacement until now. His phone cover is in the mail. He should get it in a few days which will protect the phone even more. The tall striped package contained a gift he said that was the most unexpected. We gave him a new shower head! Gotta love it! We'll get that installed this weekend and he'll appreciate it.

At the end of the day, we met up for cake. I used a hodgepodge of candles. Note to self - don't use tall candles next to short candles. This is the only picture I snapped as the taller candles bent down on the cake. Even the Big Guy leaned in to help blow out the flames.

We sang and wished him many more!

BTW, his request was for Boston Creme Pie. His grandma makes it and he loves it. There was lots of pressure to see if I could make a cake as good. I decided to keep the cake layers separate making two cakes out of the layers. It worked out great. The layers stayed together without a fear of the tops sliding off. Pumpkin declared the cake great!! And, we have one left for tonight.