The triathlete in me....

Yes, I did it, I signed up for the Temple triathlon. It is shorter than a sprint tri, it consist of a 350m (.217 mi) swim, 9.1 mile bike ride and a 2.1 mile run. I've been training for a little over a week. I think I'll do ok, (by ok I mean finishing). I ran 3.5 miles on Sunday the 22nd, the following Tuesday I swam for an hour on my lunch break. Thursday I played on hour of basketball on my lunch break, after work on the same day I rode 9 miles on the bike. I rested Friday and Saturday due to some minor muscle aches and pains. Last night I did a short brick, I rode the bike for 3.5 miles at a very fast past and immediately parked the bike and sprinted for a half mile. Today I swam for another hour at lunch. Tomorrow at luch I plan to run 4-5 miles. I plan on working up to a full sprint tri next and then on to an olympic tri. I'll try to keep everyone posted on my training. There ya have it, the triathlete (or idiot) in me.

Take Care,
Jeff

I do love my husband....

If you know Jeff you know that he doesn't do anything halfway. If he decides to go for it he will give it 110%. While I do love his enthusiasm sometimes he drives me crazy! In the 4 1/2 years of marriage he has gone through several obsessions, I mean hobbies.
The first one I remember was wieght lifting, which involved protein shakes and creatin and many visits to GNC for other powdery substances that would transform his muscles into bulging powerhouses. Then he decided it was too expensive and quit. Since then we've done paintball, "camping" and I don't know what else.
Finally I decided to take control and introduce him to a hobby that would keep him home so in a stroke of genius I bought him a guitar for Christmas! It was a hit and he taught himself how to play. Now he serenades me on a regular basis ( I especially like it when he sings "Hey good looking, what you got cooking?" Do you know anyone else who knows all the words to that song?)
BUT NOW.... He wants to do a triathalon. I am so glad he wants to work out on a regular basis but I'm dreading the new shoes and bike and shorts and helmet and vitamins and all the other things we are going to have to buy now. Oh well, When he takes me to Hawaii for the Iron Man competition I won't be complaining then! This might also help us break the sugar addiction we've developed over the last few months. He says I can't bake any more desserts but I got him to ammend the rule about absolutely no desserts so now we are down to one night a week. ( Today doesn't count since I ate that snickers bar before we made the rule and he doesn't know about it.)

I love this site meter thing...

I can kind of keep track of who is stopping by to see my blog! If you scroll down on the right side of the blog then you can see the site meter tracker that tells you how many people have visited. Even cooler then that is that I can click on it and see where the visitors are from and other information. It doesn't say names but since I only know one person in California I can figure it out. Don't worry I'm not grading my friends by how often they stop by to view it but it is pretty cool. If you want to put your own meter on your blog just go to: www.sitemeter.com it has instructions and even a tech novice like me can do it.

Operation sleep through the night update...

We did it! We endured the crying and have made it several nights now without waking up! This is a long day coming... I would feel very rested except that he wakes up at 5:30- I'm not complaining but we will have to work on this next. I'm making note on the baby calendar so I don't forget how long it took and how precious sleep is. Plus one day I will hold it over his head to guilt him into something.

Just sharing...

Remember when we had an atari? Then we moved into the big time with a nintendo. I recently was on line and found this game website and got to play tetris for the first time in a long time so I thought I would share the site - very fun way to waste some time. http://icongamez.com/index.php
Okay now it should work. I am new to adding links to my post!

For anyone who is interested in not playing video games but would love to make a very yummy dessert here is a link to one of my favorite new recipes, Chocolate mint bars: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1714574

The world of blogging

This whole blogging thing could really get out of hand... Since my good friend Liz (otherwise known as Elizabeth) started blogging she has opened up a whole other world for me. There are so many blogs out there to read! There are cooking blogs and funny blogs and frugal living blogs. It seems everyone has something to say and if their blog looks good enough then they appear to be an expert!
Also it appears there is blog rules but I don't know where they are written down. Is it ok to link to some cool blogs I read without there permission? I feel like a peeping Tom sometimes when I get on someones blog and read all about a strangers personal life.
Anyway, what I want to say is that I am not claiming to be an expert on anything and my only goal is to post pictures, brag on my family and maybe exchange a recipe or two.

Things I love about my Dad...

• His sense of humor! Christmas pranks are so much fun to look forward to every year and who doesn't love "the bad joke of the day". ( He's getting so much better at remembering the punch line too!)
• He can fix anything. Even if he doesn't know how, he tries and most of the time trying and then fixing the fix usually works out well in the end. By the way Dad if your reading this when you come home I have a few things on my list after Mom is done with you.
• He makes the best omlets!
• He brought me flowers on my 16th birthday.
• He let me drive his bug even after I wrecked the first car he bought me.
• Reading the comics on Sundays with you when I was a kid and then fighting over them when I got a little older.
• After years of watching the history channel he is a wealth of information.
• He's always dreaming big. Does any one else fill out the whole Publishers clearing house sweep stake paper and never in like 20 years buy a magazine from them? Then on January 20th wait for the knock? I'm pretty sure one day Dad is going to win it all!
• The only time he wears shorts are on vacation with my mother (because that's what she packs for him) or when he refs soccer and both occasions he pulls his socks way up!
• He falls asleep during every sermon he has ever heard and if you ever go to church with him don't sit by him during the singing!

I know I'm going to think of a million other things once I leave the computer but I'll save some for next year ;) I love you Dad , Happy Father's Day!

**** Night 3 of Operation Sleep through the night went better I think - Jeff was on duty and said he only fussed a few times but he never went to check on him. So, either he is starting to sleep better or Jeff is a zombie and didn't wake up when he cried. Either way I slept through the night for the first time since before he was born!

Operation "Sleep through the night"

In the interest of my health and sanity and Little Boy Blue we have decided to really get serious about sleeping through the night! After 8 months of getting up once or twice every night with very few exception Mama is worn out! I really hoped he would just one day sleep through the night and we wouldn't have to resort to drastic measures but it hasn't happened and so here we go....
Night 1 he woke up at 1:50 and didn't go back to sleep except for a very short 20 minutes between 4:00 and 4:20. I patted, I rocked, I begged and cried along with him but I did not feed him (which it seems is the comfort he thinks he needs.) By 5:30 I passed him off to Daddy and got about 45 minutes sleep before taking him again. Then of course we both took good naps yesterday (thank you Shawna.)
Night 2 he woke up at 12:00 and cried and screamed until 3:00. This time I realized if I pick him up he stops crying immediatly so he is not crying uncontrollably and I felt a little less guilty about just letting him cry in his crib while I dozed in the chair. He woke again at 4:45 cried until 5:30 and then slept until an unheard of 8:00a.m. Unbelievable - he went for 10 hours without eating! I did not think that was possible but yes, all you people who told me he could you were right. Please don't call me on it to my face and make me say it to your face. I am too sleep deprived to be nice about it!
Tonight Jeff is on duty and I may buy some ear plugs and sleep all night for the first time in I don't know when. What will it be like to feel rested?

Grandma's visit part 2

Grandma also spent lots of time pushing the baby in the stroller and rocking him to sleep then she and Sweet girl stayed up late reading and playing games.

Finally I have some time....

Jeff's mom was visiting last week so I was absent from my routines. Today I am finally getting back to normal! Wedid have some fun last week and thought I would share some pictures...

We went out to the ranch and Grandma watched sweet girl ride for a while then everyone took a turn getting on the horse. Aren't they cute! We also did some fishing. Sweet Girl caught so many we had to throw them back so there would be some left for all the other people to catch. I wish I could figure out how to insert the pictures in between the text instead of allthe pictures ending up at the top.

cell phones

When is the last time you went 24 hours without your cell phone? I remember years ago B.C.P. (Before Cell Phone) I thought it completely unneccessary to carry a phone around all the time. If people want to get a hold of you they can wait until you are at home, when you have time to talk. Plus I thought it was rude when people were talking on their phones in public. Flash forward about 8 years and I can't hardly live without mine!
I still think its kind of rude to talk on the cell phone in public, (but sometimes I do it anyway.) Also I'm now at a stage in my life where the last place I have time to talk is at home! Now I use every day mulitple times! However, this weekend we went to Dallas to pick up Jeff's mom and Jeff left his cell phone at home by mistake. I said, "Don't worry I have mine and I brought the charger!" Then my phone died within an hour of leaving home and I realized I brought the wrong charger too late. We stayed at my brother's house where he has no home phone and he didn't get home from his trip until after we left the next day. That's the long version of why we had no phone for 24 hours. I just knew when we got home that I would have a million messages but sadly no... I am not nearly as loveable as Jeff it seems. The only person who called me was Sweet girl but Jeff on the other hand had like 10 messages.
Now I know I can do it - go 24 hours without the cell phone but I also don't really want to!