Recap/pictures

Last Thursday, my friend E and I went to Redmoon Theatre's Boneyard Prayer, and though the play itself (I felt) had some imperfections, the art, the music (composed by a friend of mine and played by another), the puppets, and most of all, the stage and production stuff was fabulous. After the performance they let the audience wander around the set, and I took a couple of pictures.


Then on Friday, I worked (though it was sposed to be a day off) and at night, I babysat for my young friends Jimmy and Tommy. We had a fun night, but when Tommy, who's 6 1/2, had a difficult time at bedtime, the only solution was to bring his, and his brother's, mattresses into the master bedroom for a surprise when the parents got home. A family slumber party, if you will...


On Saturday, I overslept and didn't run, but I picked up my bike from the shop, where I paid $140 to fix it up and find out, after the 14-mile ride to and from my brother's place in the South Loop, that the bike just doesn't fit me well, and I'll probably need a different bike for the triathlon.


The barbecue at my brother's place was great, and there were lots of kids and lots of food there. I mostly hung with my awesome cousin who lives in Chicago but I don't see enough of and some of my brother's friends.
Here are the kids and one parent jamming out on drums in front of one of my paintings, which my brother has purchased and hung all over his house, which I think is super cool.

...and the kids piled up with my brother and sister-in-law:

Sunday morning came, and I taught my classes, and then I walked with Lois to pick up my other bike from the bike shop (where it was parked outside), and I saw this crazy graffiti on a building along Lincoln Avenue:
(What IS it?!)

On Memorial Day, I did all the garden and porch stuff I'd been putting off. The flower boxes are all done (and my gnome is guarding them),


and I planted the rest of the baby sunflowers in the rocky, sandy soil over by the garbage cans,


Lois hung out on the porch,


and the crazy neighbor lady N was out reading and making comments.


The nice next-door neighbor couple even put together a new picnic table they bought for the yard!


Then I went to R's Memorial Day barbecue, and it was lovely and the food was amazing (R can rub pork, lemme tell you!), and the company was even better.



BUT: Lois bit Tommy on the thumb (when he bugged her as he likes to do) and drew blood! I felt terrible. He was understandably very upset. Luckily, his parents are great about it and he's a tough cookie. Here he is with his Dad and his bandaid after the incident:


Lois, the biter, is now banned from all kid-attending events, which makes me sad. (Although she's probably relieved.)

Overall a great weekend! And I can barely bring myself to get back into working, if you can't tell already.

Nothing to it but to do it

This is what I wake up to lately; Lois starts the night like a dog, curled under the covers at the foot of the bed, and by morning is sleeping - and snoring - like a human, sometimes with her head on a pillow! Plus, she takes a good half-hour to get out of bed in the morning.

I just paid the $240 fee for the women-only triathlon training program I've been wavering about for over a month while checking out all the other options. It starts on Tuesday. Now I have to fix up the hybrid bike and get crackin, I guess. I hope it's filled with nice people. I hope it's not a pain in the ass to get to their training things.

I hope it's worth $20 a week.

I went to a demo of the Chicago Triathlon Club's online training program last night, and realized that although I would really like to be a part of their club (maybe for the next triathlon I do? Unfortunately, their more informal training days conflict with my program) and the people seem wonderful, I need more than a computer list of what to do each day - I need the motivation of being in a live group of people actually doing that stuff a few times a week. So I spent the extra $90, and now I'll have to make the most of the program I joined!

I ran a mile with Lois yesterday but have yet to swim at the new pool. Pushups are fine (20-30 a day!) but I need ab motivation. And I posted an ad on Craigslist so I am emailing with a couple of guys right now. My expectations are not high, but it's interesting.

Reality

This is from someone's blog, I stole it (it's the Chicago triathlon, yr looking at the people waiting for the chilly swim in Lake Michigan). Looks fun, huh?

Tonight I went to another triathlon seminar at the the running store - the focus was all the equipment you'll need/want for the event, like what to wear and what to have on you, and what to train in and what will make things easier. I could dismiss a lot of the stuff (special triathlon running shoes? Come on), but other stuff, like the $120 triathlon suit you wear under the wetsuit so you don't have to bike and run in your bathing suit with a running bra and thick biking shorts over it or something, seems ingenius.

And the deadline is approaching for registering for the triathlon training groups, which are either $240 for the women-only one that's closer to my house or $280 for the 14-week co-ed one that seems better but is farther away. I know I should do one of these groups because I have little discipline or knowledge about the event on my own, but it's so much money. Money that I owe to the IRS, the City of Chicago, the gas company, and credit cards...Ugh. SO hard to decide what to do.

SO: this sport is expensive. Hmm.

Anyway, I went to a housewarming party at M's house last night and then a show at the Hideout so I did actually talk to a few of new people that were guys, which is habit #1. And I did my pushups (still at 7) - habit #2, and flossing - #3. Good for me.

Ran 3 miles yesterday (Sat.) with Lois and M and biked about 9 miles, but did nothing today besides teach and fix art projects ... and worry about triathlon money.