Congrats Peg!

My awesome friend Peg (lives in MKE, met at WSU) and her sweet hub John had a baby.

Ain't he a doll?

Welcome Jack!

A couple other notes:

1. Thank you SO MUCH to each and every one of you who emailed, called, or commented, or otherwise sent your well-wishes for the run last weekend. I am not sure whether I'd mentioned this before (and many of you were already aware), but May 27th was the one-year anniversary of my Aunt Jan's passing. It was important, I think, for our family to be together, and I know I wouldn't have attempted to do something like that on my own. So I want you all to know how much your support meant to me.

2. I forgot to mention some of the other fun things we did over the weekend! Sunday afternoon we bought a kite at Aldi and took it to the meadow. Joel and my dad were kind of in charge of flying the thing, and when they gave Lucy the kite-reins, hilarity ensued. Imagine Joel running at full speed (which, as you know, is about 20 mph) and then diving-and-rolling to try to catch a runaway kite. And then imagine my dad wading across the creek in his tennis shoes. And then Joel and me, trying to dislodge a kite from two trees.

Monday morning, we drove the kids over to Arlington Park to watch the thoroughbreds go through their morning warmups. You can drive right up to the rail and watch them ride by. Special thanks to the one trainer who pulled his horse right over to let Lu and Ed pet her. He told us the horse wasn't a runner yet, just a baby of three. We told Lucy the horse was about her age; pretty sure that blew Lucy's mind. It was a beautiful morning and the horses were, of course, gorgeous... and a neat reminder that some of the best things in life are free.

3. Today I mourn the end of one of my favorite websites, Batgirl. Truly, the site that turned me into a Twins fan... and a baseball fan.

4. Argh, I know I had more, but I seriously have to go mow the lawn. Love and hugs to everyone... it's Tuesday! Yess!!

We Did It!!

My sisters and I finished the Soldier Field 10-mile!

AND Joel and I made it to our 7th anniversary!

The run itself was pretty brutal. Ellen took off ahead (and averaged 8-minute miles; that girl is totally amazing), but Jean and I ran the whole thing together and averaged just under 10-minute-miles, which I thought was really good, for us! Running that fast, though, I tell you what, the last 2 miles were really tough. But the weather was just perfect and I'm very proud to say it is done.

You can see our times and whatnot by clicking here and doing a "Ctrl-F" for "gronau" -- Jean is three places behind me (we finished at the same time, but there were lots of other people finishing at that time so it's alphamabetical).

And here are some photos!

We made a side trip to Milwaukee to visit Peg and John and any other little person who may or may not be living in their house now. It was great to see them!! Also, I cut Eddie's hair tonight:

The other photo I couldn't do last night.

Mmmm, everybody loves Puddin' Night!

Don't forget you can click on those to make them bigger (if you so choose).

And, in other breaking news...

Joey Fatone still bears an eerie, albeit slightly-burnt, resemblance to my husband.

You can't tell me that's not a little weird.

Speaking of "a little weird" Joel found this photo somewhere on the internets:

It's Ray Ryan!

This just in...

...my kids are nuts.

ARGH!! Blogger is killing me. I have like eight other photos I want up here and for the life of me I can't stop the Blogger errors. Insert loud, long swearing tirade here.

While you're waiting for the photos, you can read this little ditty I wrote one year ago today... and never posted. From May 22, 2006:

I know, I know, I’m psycho mom. I think my kids are the smartest, cutest, most amazing little beings on the planet. Blah blah blah. I can’t help myself. Maybe it’s because they look like Joel that I think they are so beautiful.

Today we put Lucy in her new toddler bed, generously donated by Joel’s aunt Doris (who’s between toddlers right now). We also moved Ed from the bassinet-part of his pack-n-play, into Lu’s old crib. (We’d been having to lay him diagonally in said bassinet for the last month, and even that way he’s brushing the walls with his head in one corner and tootsies in the other.)

Now, I know that entire books have been written about how to make this kind of transition less painful for your kid. Their little lives are full of transitions -- breast milk-to-formula-to-milk. Liquids-to-solids. Breast-to-bottle-to-sippy-to-cup. Rear-facing-to-forward-facing. You name it. And maybe I give my kids too much credit for inheriting Joel’s easy-going genes… but I figured, deep down, that this bed-switch wouldn’t be a biggie.

But maybe it’s just that I’m cheap and lazy. I eat expired yogurt and food that’s been on the floor, because I don’t want to throw stuff out, and I really don’t want to buy new stuff to replace it. The stuff you buy to replace it could just as easily go bad and need to be thrown out, too… and that’s just not good economics. (Disclaimer: I have never actually studied economics. Supply/demand whaa?)

So, right, my point: I am far too cheap to purchase a second crib for Eddie. I know other 1½-year-olds in twin- or full-beds; therefore, Lucy should be able to handle a bigger bed. So I started looking for twin beds for her. But CraigsList.com is sometimes a crapshoot, and did I want to buy a new twin bed? Nooo!

So we got the toddler bed from the Moylan family, and found another crib mattress at Craig’s List for $20. And I spent about 30 seconds thinking about a way to make the switch without Lucy noticing. But what we ended up doing was simply bringing the toddler bed into Lucy’s room, putting it together right in front of her, popping her old mattress into the frame, and showing her how to climb in. Meanwhile, we took her crib apart (it doesn’t fit through our door frames) and put it back together in Ed’s room. Naptime came, and I put Lu in her new bed, and she was out like a light. Then bedtime came this evening, and Lucy went back into her new bed, and Ed went into his new bed… and they’re both cashed out. Totally amazing.

My dentist is always trying to upsell me. Whitening… power toothbrushes… it’s driving me mental. Like, I understand the marketing reasons behind it -- an existing customer is more likely to spend more money with you than a new customer, and it’s far less expensive to get an existing customer to spend the money than it is to bring in new customers… “organic revenue growth” is the buzzword (buzzphrase). But as that existing customer, I find it really irritating.

Our mini-vacation!

Hi there! Just got back (well, at 11:00 last night) from a long weekend trip to Chicago... just me and Joel! It was ever so lovely. My dad came up Friday morning to watch the kids, and we took off in the van. We went down to Stulie's house and ate dinner at Epicurean, a Hungarian restaurant on Roosevelt Rd. I had veal paprikash ("Waaaaiiiiterrr, there is too much paaaaaper... in my paprikash") and we had these amazing Grease Bombs as an appetizer. Basically it was a deep-fried elephant ear (only more buttery) served with chunks of roasted garlic on top... and then you dunk it in sour cream. Mmmmm.

Saturday morning we hooked up with Ellen (and who hasn't?) and my Mom in El's neighborhood and went for a nice walk along the lakefront and then ordered some pizza and then I fell asleep on the couch. It might have been the gigantic margaritas Joel and Ellen made after the walk. Ellen and I did go out for cannolis a little later but we retired early.

Sunday we had crepes at our favorite Lincoln Park crepe place and then had to dash back out west for Stulie's baby shower. We got to see some old friends (Sally, Dennis, Katie Joyce, Robin and Vince and CJ, Amber, and some others) we hadn't seen in forever, and then Joel and I trucked on back to St Paul last night. It is really good to be home. My dad was plum worn out, I'm sure. And we missed the munchkins.

P.S. I forgot to mention that Jean and I ran 9-and-three-eighths-miles (3x around Lake Phalen) Thursday night! And felt terrific!! We ran another 3-ish miles this morning and I think we are maybe actually going to be able to finish this thing on Saturday. Chicagoland residents, come on down to Soldier Field on Saturday morning and watch us, all sweaty and grody, on the Jumbotron!

PPS I will try to take, then post, photos of the kids soon here. It's been a while.

"Hot and windy" is actually much worse than "uphill and in pain."

Major setback!!!

So I dropped the kids off with Jean (who is a saint, and I do not deserve a sister like her) and tried to do a 5-mile run today. Except it was 90 degrees with wind gusts of oh, maybe 800 miles per hour. OK, weather.com says 88 degrees and 21 MPH winds. Same difference. At one point the wind was blowing so hard I was seriously running in place. And with 34% humidity (man I love the internets!) I was about as miserable as a person can be. My head got so hot and I was dripping with sweat and that was at the 30-minute mark. It took me an hour to do a little under 5 miles. I walked almost the whole last half. It was terrible, just terrible.

Well the kids are napping so I'm going to do a crossword and make dinner. Hungarian Goulash -- my mom promised it was good.

PS I cut about 2.5" off Lucy's hair last night and I daresay she is adorable.

Urinetown! Your ticket should say "Urinetown!"

The shortsightedness of my blog URL really makes me smirk at myself. Maybe one of these days I'll pack up and move to something less Lucy-centric.

Happy Mothers' Day, everybody! We've been staying mad crazy, as usual. I'll try to quickly run through the last few days here:

Thursday Joel went to the Twins game and broke his fingernail on a DJ Cuddles foul ball that he did not catch. In the immortal words of Dennis Damiani: If you can touch it, you can catch it! Or wait, Dennis said "It's all about turnovers." Speaking of which, I hear he and Sally are preggers. I don't think they read this, but Congrats anyway!

Thursday night I had a coed softball game that I did not find out that we won until it was over and we were walking back to the car. I am really liking my coed team; I get to play with Jean and Julie and the rest of the team is very nice as well, and Joel brought the kids to the game last week, with mixed results. Our team is 2-1 so far.

Friday evening we packed a picnic dinner and Joel dropped me off on one side of Lake Phalen so I could run around it 2.5 times. Which I did! Maintaining 10-minute miles, which I'm really happy about. It was a little over 7.5 miles which is the farthest I have ever gone (except maybe that one time in college when I was really angry and I ran for maybe a couple hours in the middle of the night). I felt kind of good the whole time. I didn't have to walk, and I caught my second wind around 40 minutes and then my third wind at about an hour. I didn't run with the iPod because, I was trying to exaplin this to Jean and it made sense to her but we sort of share a brain so here goes: I kind of need to "hear" what my body is saying when I'm running. If I'm listening to music, I can't concentrate on adjusting my stride to compensate for whatever might be hurting me at the moment, and I can't hear my breathing to know whether I'm going too hard too fast (or simply not regulating my breathing enough). I have been using a lot of my old hypnobirthing breathing as I run; for sure, those exercises increased my lung capacity and my ability to breathe reaalllly deeply and slowly. I feel like the hypnobirthing practicing also lets me direct energy to different parts of my body as needed; if my legs are getting tired, I feel like I can focus on my arms' motion to distract from the legs. I don't know, it's pretty cool. I know when I used to run (ages ago) my breathing was really what got me down; I'd be really panting like a three-legged dog by the end. Now I feel like I can keep up this deep, slow breathing kind of forever. I'm certainly not saying it's easy, but I'm surprised at how fun it has been to improve and really feel the results of the running training.

Oh, except then I had to run again the next morning, and I almost died.

Saturday morning my mom came up for a very quick overnight visit. The entire crew went back to Lake Phalen and Jean ran around the lake twice; I ran once and biked it once. At the same time we were there, there was a fundraising Run/Walk for Batten disease; I'd never heard of it, but it's a terrible brain disease that hits kids around the age of 5 and the mortality is 100% by age 13. Kind of like MS or ALS for kids, it sounds like. Despite a few horrific appearances by clowns, we kind of butted into the festival and bought some lunch and had a little picnic. P.S> My knee is a constant irritation, but there were no shinsplints to be had all weekend. Also my sitz-bones are a teeny bit tender from riding the bike (for a whole 30 minutes, could I be a bigger baby?), the seat of which is still adjusted to fit Aunt Jan's legs, which were at least 4 inches longer than mine.

Saturday night we trucked up to Monti for Adam Briner's college graduation party. Sunday morning we went to church at Alley Joel and Cara's church in WBL. It was a really good service and we're going to try to make it more often. There were only about 15 people in the congregation and it was very cool to be in such a small group. The pastor is Alley Joel's cousin and he and his wife have 3 little boys, the youngest two of whom are just a little older than Lu and Ed, respectively. So the kids had a wonderful time together too.

This afternoon, Jean and I went to see Urinetown at Heritage Theatre Co at the MCC. I knew several people in it (and working on it) and it was a terrific show! The talent of the cast was amazing and the staging was great. The show is very funny; if you're looking for some wonderful community theatre (only $15!) try to catch it next weekend. It really made me miss performing. Like, a lot. **wistful sigh**

My one regret of this Mothers' Day is not making it to the Farmer's Market this weekend; I'm not sure what they even have this time of year, but I mean to make myself a regular fixture there this summer. And now I won't get there until June. Rats.

Well, it's probably bedtime for me. Have a great week!

Waiting for Wednesday

I can't believe, again, how long I've been slacking! Time really flies. OK.

Ed is walking, full-bore. I bought him some Target gym shoes and, I know, this is not what the books say, but I swear they have helped him find his balance. He's off to the races. He has also started repeating more words: tickle, tickle... Starsky (the Jack Russell terrier next door; I swear Ed said her name tonight)... all gone... yeah... and he was saying turtle the other day at the Children's Museum. I have witnesses! He's a really funny little dude.

Lucy is getting into the bad habit of mocking/repeating what grownups say in conversations where she's not the COA. For example, my cousin Brian stopped by for dinner tonight (which was super fun! I LOVE it when my business-tripping famblymembers come see our crazy life first-hand!) Anyway, Brian was talking, and Lucy would keep interrupting with "hmm" or "really" or "omiGOSH!" Which I know that I do when others are talking, but I do try to do it at appropriate times; Lucy not so much. Really, it truly bugs me because it feels like she's mocking me. She can't be, yet, right? Well it makes my interjections seem insincere, which I do not appreciate. :)

Staying very busy with running and sports these days; I am following Hal's 15K (9-mile) training program for novices (Jean is on a first-name basis with Hal, so if you're a runner maybe you are too? I am not) which means I do not have to run every day, though I am supposed to be doing the occasional cross-training/cardio workout. I have been counting "mowing the lawn with a self-propelled mower" and "taking the kids to the grocery store" as cross-training, and I'm not certain I won't be sunk, come Memorial Day. Oh, I've also been skipping the "Strength/Stretching" parts of the workouts. I don't do situps/pushups and I do try to stretch every day. My left knee has been hurting a bit too, so I've been tentative about running the last week. I did do 3 miles today and it almost felt good. Props to John Gilligan for letting me know about the training program! I really do like to have a plan. Regardless of whether or not I follow it.

Back to Lucy. We had some major setbacks in the overnight-diaper department (three wet nights in a row) so we are back in buppers for the time being. She was dry last night (but didn't get to bed until 9:30 because Alley Joel was babysitting because he ROCKS and because coed volleyball really needed Joel to step in as well, which he did with flying colors). We have a healthy supply of diapers leftover, so I don't mind using them up. Because that's the kind of cheapskate I am.

Twins are losing... again... and somehow even though I know that "winning the series" (because that's what we're going to do because Santana is pitching tomorrow... RIGHT!?!?) should be all that matters, I still get grouchy when they lose.

I know there's more to write but I am beat... and I just started a great new book. Sayonara...

I dunno, Bon Jovi's okay, but I just can't get that excited.

Monday I ran 4.25 miles in about 41 minutes, around my 'hood. No problems, felt terrific.

I crafted a 6.75-mile jaunt out of my neighborhood today and did it in 1 hour, 4 minutes. I had to walk the second time I hit the Big Hill on the other side of 3rd Street, but other than that 3-minute walk I felt really good!

I'm not really sure where, exactly, to go from here... I plan to keep running at least 4 days a week and I think Jean said I shouldn't go down below 3-ish miles anymore... but I don't really know how much I should increase, and when... and/or what my strategy should be for getting to 10 miles by May 26.

I did end up making a rhubarb pie yesterday (with the first rhubarb harvest of the season from my pathetic excuse for a garden!), and let me tell you, the pie was exceptional, especially warmed up, with a bit of 'nilla ice cream. Let me know if you want the recipe; I made the crust too (it was super easy! Honestly!) and I'm delighted to share.

P.S. After about a week of dry overnight buppers, Lu is wearing underwears to bed tonight. Everyone please cross your fingers (and your legs!) for us.

2 questions, and I expect responses!

Question! For the healthy-eaters, the budget-conscious, and the cooks in my readership:

Is there any reason I wouldn't always substitute ground chicken or turkey, for ground beef? Is there some reason 90%-lean ground beef is over $3 per pound, when the ground poultry is sometimes $1 per pound?

I am totally serious. Is chicken fat more onerous than beef-fat? Is it a cholesterol thing? I have no idea. Help!

Question Part 2, completely unrelated:
Lucy woke up soaking wet from her nap today. Tinkel? No. But her hair and clothes were soaked through... did she just have a sweaty dream, or something?

Feast or famine

I blog nothing for a week and then I can't stop!

And speaking of feasts:

I made Chicken Helmets last night. "Helmets" is what Joel calls any small, individual-sized portion of food. I've made mini-meatloaves that he called "meat helmets" and there was once something called "pork helmets" but I don't remember what that recipe was about.

I invented these chicken helmets, so take this with a grain of salt:

I took about 15 small corn tortillas, sprayed both sides with olive oil, and then tucked them individually into muffin tins (I kind of had to fold them... not so pretty, but effective). I baked them, empty, at about 375 for maybe 15 minutes? and then took 'em out when they were nice and crispy and holding their shape.

Then I mixed some cooked, chopped chicken (it had been cooked with garlic and some spices and artichokes, for extra flavor and saltiness) with a can of cream of chicken soup, 1/2 a soup-can of milk, maybe 1/2 cup lite sour cream, and maybe 1.5 cups of frozen peas. And some ground pepper. Then I spooned that mezcla into each little mini-taco-shell and topped each with one frozen tater tot. Baked about 25 minutes at 350 and they were so ultra tasty! They were easy for Ed to tear apart, and Lucy liked holding the little "cup" in her hands. Sooo... chicken helmets! AKA little individual tater-tot hotdishes. There you go. No charge. ;)

Random photos

Lucy 'apprised!

Ed actually enjoyed the pool, once he got used to it.
Lucy coloring eggs in Monti on Easter. Er, wait, Easter Eve.
My awesome bleeding lamb cake. Seriously, it rocked.

Coming up with an original title is sooo taxing.

What? I haven't written anything since last Tuesday? Inconceivable.

Last week was a rough week in our household. Ed sprouted 2 new molars and had some kind of nasty sad-panda cold-thing and I was experiencing several minor-yet-exasperating aggravations, plus I was running a lot (and hence very tired) and kind of anxiously anticipating my Weekend of Fun, upon which I will now elaborate...

Well, I'm midway through Meggo's Weekend of Fun!! (Oh sorry, I started typing this Saturday afternoon.) Joel took the kids up to Monti for the weekend and I am alone. I am all by myself.

Yesss!

So last night (that would be Friday) I took myself to a $2 showing of The Queen (with Helen Mirren). Great movie! This morning (Saturday) I treated myself to a haircut and then ate lunch at Shish on Grand Ave (I burned my gums on the tomato soup but the Turkish coffee was unbelievably good) and then I did a little shopping, and then I ran about 40 minutes in that neighborhood. I'm not big into the Grand Ave scene, but it is so cool to get to go into these establishments and chat for a while with the owners.

Tonight I think I'm going to try to catch the Zenon Dance show (later note: I did. And I'm glad I did, though modern dance remains a total mystery to me). Tomorrow morning I'm drinking brunch and then playing softball in the afternoon.

A couple other kidnotes I started weeks ago and never posted:
Lu can recite the entire book "Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late" with minimal prompting.

She says, apropos of nothing: "I'm sorry, I'm a girl."

She has a stock narrative to "tell you about her day." It starts with monsters in her closet, and sometimes progresses to a school bus or train ride. I don't know that she's ever been on a school bus or a train.

She thinks that when she wakes up from nap, it's a new day (she'll often refer to the morning as "yesterday" ("usterday") and sometimes as she's going to bed at night, she asks if Jayla is coming soon).

She's going to the potty "all on her own" now, from taking down her own skirt/underwears to wiping, to dumping out the little potty. She actually does really well... she's much more coordinated than I sometimes give her credit for.

Ed has glommed onto his Word of the Month: Mommy. Finally! After 2 months of "Hi" and then "Hi Da!" Now we get "Mommy. Mom-my. Momm-mmy." He usually says it like a question, too: "Momm-my?" so I'm always, like, "Yes?"

A couple books... too much toothpaste.

Lucy always asks for "a couple books" before she goes to bed. Does she mean "two"? No. She means, approximately, twelve.

Also, if she ever says to you "I want too much!" that is because when she's putting toothpaste on her toothbrush, I always tell her "Not too much!" To the point that now when I hand her the toothpaste she says "I want too much."

So! Here we have: a couple photos from last weekend. Too much photos. ;)

Bunny makes the world go 'round

Some quick updates:

- Lucy was dry again this morning. That's 4 nights in a row! She then tinkled on the rug at, like, 10:00 this morning. Unbelievable. To paraphrase the immortal words of Paula Abdul's smash hit "Opposites Attract:" we take two steps forward, we take two steps back.

- Ed has two more new teeth: D and G (just to each side of the front 2). So he's drooling like the village idiot, and his nose is running like a leaky faucet, and he cries and cries so basically his face is a very wet place. He's had fevers all day, peaking at over 103 rectally (thanks Joel for doing the dirty work) right at bedtime. He was also up coughing much of last night... poor, sick panda.

- I had a very rough day (Jayla's sick too... and Lucy didn't nap), followed by a fantastic run. Jean and I did Lake Phalen (3.125 miles) twice at dusk. The weather was beautiful and I was shocked to feel so good at the end of 6-and-a-quarter miles. Really, nothing hurt and I felt like I could have gone longer, if I'd had to. Breaking the "halfway-to-10-miles" mark was a big psychological barrier for me to cross... so we celebrated with ice cream at the Dari-ette. I am SO excited it's Dari-ette season again!!

Brown Girl In the Ring

...la, la-la-la-la!

I have no idea what this song is about. But it's on a Raffi CD that I got from the library. And now it's stuck in my head.

She LOOKS like a sugar in a plum. Plum plum!

So, I have time to type now because my 2 kids are ni-night and Jayla is very tired but still awake upstairs. And I daren't try to do anything truly constructive until I'm sure she's actually going to sleep.

Had a wonderful trip to Milwaukee over the weekend for Peg's (I almost said bachelorette!) baby shower. The shower was fun... my folks got to take the kids to the zoo and swim with them in the hotel pool... and my face got sunburnt. In April. It was awesome.

I didn't run Fri, Sat or Sun. Today Jean watched the kids while I ran for... 40 minutes!! I walked for 4 minutes at the 20-minute mark, but I think that was it. I felt really great, much much better than I thought I would. I outran some shin splints; my right hip was hurting a little, but other than that I feel like I could have gone farther. I think I went about 3.5 miles total. *sigh* We'll see.

Ed got a new tooth on Friday! It's either B, I, L, or S (Jamie will verify... please Jamie? It's on his left lower jaw). His mouth is ridiculous... he has the two big front ones on top, and on bottom he has the two middles, and one just to the right, and then this giant molar in his back left... three spots away from the next-nearest tooth. Goofy kid. He's started walking quite a bit more; you can now set him down and he might just stand/walk on his own.

Lucy has had dry diapers three nights in a row! She was up late Fri and Sat night, so she was able to empty herself at, like, 10PM those nights. We didn't expect it to happen when we reverted to her normal 8PM bedtime, but it worked Sunday night too. Awesome! I never anticipated this part would come so quickly. I'm sure there will be setbacks, but to know that she can do it, is phenomenal. Go Lu!

The Music Truck Story

It's not even a story, really. This is going to be so anticlimactic.

So you know the ice cream truck that drives around the neighborhood in good weather? Well, my parents told me it was the music truck: playing music for the enjoyment of all the children in the neighborhood. Kind of like the Pied Piper, or something.

My parents also gave me crackers, saying "Here! These are cookies!" So then when I'd go to other people's houses and they'd offer me cookies, I'd shrug and go "Eh, no thanks."

I mock, but look! I have relatively healthy eating habits today.


So...
Thanks to all the commenters from yesterday. I want to apologize for not being as cool and diplomatic as I wish I could be... my itchy typing-fingers and short temper are things I struggle with daily.

Anonymous comments are welcome on this blog. Identifying yourself, however, allows readers to put your words into some sort of context. Most of my readers are white, middle-class midwesterners. But some are not. Diverse perspectives can edify us and make us all more well-rounded and better-educated individuals. But simple words, without knowing the writer's background or experience, can be open to misinterpretation and misunderstanding.

I don't think yesterday's Anon meant to be nasty or rude -- if I only knew who the person was, I would be able to "think" the comments in his/her voice, and put myself in his/her shoes, and see where he/she was coming from. I know "tone" is important, and it's hard to convey "tone" in a simple comment.

I've heard of, and visited, blogs where nasty anonymous comments are left, all willy-nilly, and I've always been happy and proud that my readers haven't gone there. Uh, listen, I'm not a philosopher or whatever. I'm tired and I want to blog about my kids and my runs. So, hugs and kisses to all...


My kids and my runs
I just realized "my runs" sounds really gross.

Ran this morning (got up, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, at 6 AM) and got my tush out the door and made it almost 2 miles without having to walk. These hills are killing me, I tell you what. I completed the same loop as usual, but I went a couple extra blocks because I got lost in my neighborhood. I know, it's mostly a grid. I sorta got turned around... not used to being out when the sun is on the eastern horizon. Anyway, by the end I felt terrific and I think I need to start stretching my total distance. So I popped the kids in the double stroller and pushed them a mile and a half to Cub Foods (with a potty stop at the library) and back. More hills. Oyyyy.

My cousin Kate is in town for bid'ness and came over for dinner last night. Our first meal of the season in the gazebo! We had nice talks and lots of laughs.

Going to bed now...

No-hassle cash rewards.

We're watching the AI results show as I type. Joel just promised he would watch the show every single week -- and vote -- if only Sanjaya can be kicked off.

I truly couldn't care less... American Idol, I'm just not that into you anymore. Oh! Did I tell you guys that in the beginning of the season I got an email from some crazy website that was looking for American Idol bloggers and because I was "someone who's blogged about AI in the past," would I like to join their blog ring, or whatever? It's just weird how easy it is to connect these days. Well anyway, I didn't join and I'm glad because AI has me soooo cold this year.

But I do want to say, for the record, that Melinda Doolittle is totally amazing and is light-years ahead of the rest of the pack.

ALSO!

That commercial just came on, for the Chrysler National Minivan Sale... where there's a lunchroom full of screaming kids and the principal/teacher walks by and flips down a DVD player out of the ceiling and all the kids shut up and just stare at the screen. Have you seen this commercial? Joel and I agreed the first time we saw it, there are SO MANY THINGS wrong with this commercial. Here are at least two:
1. Ohhh, don't have a DVD player in your minvan? Time to buy a new minivan! I may be only a former marketing, um, person, but this seems like faulty logic. Especially when portable DVD players are available for, like, a hondo at Target.

2. The kids are all unruly at school. Rather than disciplining them, or making school interesting, let's turn on the TV to get them to shut up! Now, don't get me wrong, when we make the 6-hour drive to Chicago, we turn on a movie only the last 2 hours, when the kids are getting super duper squirrelly. (We don't actually have a DVD player in the car; we have to MacGyver a laptop balanced on a cooler and bolstered by pillows and board-books and detached headrests.) I think that putting a movie on to keep the kids from whining is one of those things that comes, and ought to, with a healthy dose of guilt. A treat! That's what I'm trying to say. Watching a movie in the car ought to be a treat. Like, dessert. Omigosh! Yes! We were at the park this afternoon, waiting for Joel to get home from work, because I was taking the kids to the park anyway, and I went inside the house one more time just to throw out a baggie and grab my keys and when I got outside and closed the door, I realized I still had the baggie in my hand but no keys and, you guessed it, I actually threw my keys in the trash and kept the baggie... I am a doofus. Anyway! So we're at the park, right, and it's probably about 5:30. And the music truck* pulls up and every other kid at the playground (maybe 10 kids) runs over to the music truck and all their parents are buying them ice cream. And I try not to be judgmental, but seriously? OK I could go on for weeks but in our family we just don't go buy $2.50 ice creams 20 minutes before dinnertime simply because the music truck stops by the park.

So Lucy and Ed and I watch all the other kids run to the music truck. (At this point Joel shows up.) Lucy asks, "What's that?" And we say, of course, in unison, "It's the music truck!" And then this little 8-year-old girl whose mom I had been talking with and who had a brother about Lucy's age, named Eddie, ran over and said "My mom wanted to know if it would be okay if we bought this for your daughter" and tried handing me an ice cream and while I really appreciated the extremely generous gesture (Lucy was the only kid not getting ice cream), I was really surprised, I mean, really surprised, and semi-appalled, and I know I'm a nazi about having the kids eat healthy but I think dessert should be a treat, not an expectation and seriously we were just about to go home and have dinner and I do give the kids treats! I do!

Aiiieee! Antonio Banderas just made an appearance on AI. I love him.

Okay, I've got a hangnail and the Twins game is on the radio and the whole point of this entry was supposed to be to post about my run yesterday, in which I wore my new shoes for the first 12-minute mile and they felt absolutely fantastic and then I switched back to the old ones and ran the rest of the loop, completing a whole nother mile before having to walk again, which I did for about 2 minutes and then ran the rest of the way home. So that was good! I meant to run today but I got real, real tired after dinner so I'm going to go in the morning before my annual exam, and Q: how do you know you have absolutely no life? A: When you are actually looking forward to your annual exam because it means you get to get out of the house without the kids.

Run updater

I went on my same 2.5-mile loop that I did yesterday. I felt... terrific, actually! I ran about 15 minutes before pooping out (but that was on a hill)... I walked for 3 minutes, then ran 2 more minutes (still on the hill, you know!), then walked 2 more and then ran the rest of the way home (er, downhill).

I got shin splints before I even hit the first mile, but I just kept going (since Jean promised me I wouldn't permanently injure myself by running with shin splints, unlike, say, running with a broken ankle) and, much to my shock, they actually went away. But I think running uphill (which I have to do for the middle part of my run) helps... sooo... I dunno.