I know (October update pics)

My wonderful grandmother waving from her hospital bed. She is back home and doing much better but she scared us a bit there - she doesn't like eating or drinking water, and here's how she winds up. Stubborn!

This is Clover, the dog I helped to dogsit for my friend B. Clover is old and has lost some functioning, which makes it not so easy to care for her, but what a sweet pooch - look at that face!

I am terrible at this blog-updating thing. I am gonna try to be better. I also haven't been doing pushups, situps, or anything else lately. Swam once last week, that was good. Now, I am mildly sick and without any new or exciting netflix DVDs at home, plus it's incredibly cold in my apartment - so the most comfortable place is under the covers in by bed with Lois and the warm laptop in my lap.

P came to visit and took me to the opera - Manon, at the Lyric. It was such a treat! Most of all, it was great to see him.

I have been working on lots of things: winterizing the apartment, going back to school in January, preparing for the birth of my brother's first children - twin girls expected in late January or early Feb. (I have about 7 craft projects in planning-to-just-started phase all over the apartment), cleaning the apartment, and looking for a job. We just found out today that there will be no salary increases in 2009 and we're switching insurance carriers even though we just did that last year.

I went to Philadelphia for a work conference and loved it - the conference, and what I got to see of Philly. Here's a big ship next to my hotel at Penn's landing.

I also have one broken tooth and crown and another tooth that one dentist has said needs to be removed and replaced with an implant. I need a second opinion, because should I have implants already at 38? I have yet to start that investigative process because of the unbelievable expense it is clear it will cost me.

This is my favorite Philly pic. I was there when they won the Series, and this sign was still up at City Hall after the ginormous parade/rally when I walked around downtown after midnight on my last night.

Season change

Friend S with excellent Chicago-based photographer M, hiding behind sign at Obama speech party.

Does anyone still check this little blog anymore? Maybe I've filtered out some of you anonymous readers who never comment (AHEM!) by being so lax on the posting. I promise to get better. Maybe someday I will even get regular about it...

Lois running like a bat outta hell in my parents' sloping backyard. She loves it there!

I've been working - as soon as the tri was over it was back to work after taking those 4 days off, and then to Iowa for my mom's 60th birthday party, and then back to work for the (evil) busiest week of the fall. I have six of these busiest weeks a year, and they are not so pretty. Lots of phone calling which disrupts my normal web surfing and emailing. No, really, just lots of long hours, fires to put out and people to disappoint inadvertently. But: I do look forward to autumn, my favorite season, and have been responding strongly to the cooler weather!

Fog rolling onto the Mississippi early last Saturday morning - the breathtaking view from my parents' place.

I've already baked brownies twice, baked a cake (not impressed by the trader joe's vanilla cake mix, by the way), ordered take-out Chinese food for the first time in months, bought a duvet cover, rummaged for my knitting, and started actually reading a non-triathlon book, Middlesex (finally, I know). It's fun to be in hibernation mode again. And have a little more time to indulge the settling in thing.

Bike ride with stepfather (in crazy yellow bike wear) down to the south end of the path on the day of the Air & Water show in Chicago - the firetrucks (and hot firemen) hang out all along the lakefront and watch for trouble.

Since the triathlon's over, I have to do two things: 1-clean, and 2-get myself into some sort of self-directed exercise regimen. Taking the 13 days off since the event was NOT good - I feel giant, sluggish, and sore. I attempted to find time to run in Iowa over labor day wknd, but every time I had my running stuff on, some table needed wiping down or setting or an errand needed to be run. It was hard (but fun!) being one of the four people at the house who knew about the surprise and the 30+ other people secretly in town waiting to ambush my mom and her twin.

That's my aunt K totally surprised (looks fake but the tears are about to burst out) at her 60th birthday party. Big props to my stepfather who engineered the whole weekend.

Other things about the weekend were that I got to see a lot of the great kids in my family, who I love, and - I got in a huge fight (well, one of those nonspeaking things that may last forever) with my brother, who said that I should "put Lois to sleep," totally seriously, with great conviction and bilious anger. She was barking and harmlessly nipped at my cousin's boys who were getting on her nerves. My brother had been a dick to me all weekend, but that was the final straw, and I asked my aunt to take me and pooch home instead of riding in his car as I had on the way down. Sad part is that he and his wife are expecting twins this winter, and honestly, his issues with anger toward my innocent DOG do *not* bode well for fatherhood. Plus, they just lost their best babysitter!

My jerk brother (doesn't he just *look* jerky?) with my awesome second cousin. Note shirt.

SO, anyway, I ran this morning with the Saturday 8am running group from the running store - a super-slow 3 miles with Lois. It was good to get back on the horse, but I do suck. I also had a massage last night at the physical therapy place - that was the present to myself I'd been looking forward to after finishing the triathlon. It was great. I also took my very favorite dance class on Tuesday—West African Dance—for the first time in over a year, and that was awesome. I hope to add pilates to this mix and keep up the running as long as I can into the fall, then switch back to all swimming as it gets cold. I want to get faster and more comfortable with running for longer distances if I'm gonna do the international distance next year. Then, I'll have to look for a gym again, because I recently read that the drug I take for my thyroid can cause bone density loss, and weight training (something I've successfully avoided doing for 38 years) is the #1 thing I can do to combat it.

Perfect day for a family brunch/gathering in a small town overlooking the river...really perfect.

I'm boring. I know. I have so so so many more pictures to post but it's not so easy for me with my short attention span, so these will have to do.

Family

This is my nephew D. He's 5. He's the only son from the first marriage of my stepsister C to the guy she eloped with after knowing him for 2 weeks. The managed to stay together for 2 years and produce this wonderful little munchkin. Now C is married to a good friend of my brother's, who she met at my brother and sister-in-law's wedding, and they have a second son, J, who's 2-1/2. They live in St. Louis and I never get to see them, except on the occasional Christmas.


My parents picked D up this past weekend in my Mom's new Prius in Hannibal, MO so he could stay with them and have a weekend in the "big city."

I loaned my camera to them because they forgot theirs. Here are a couple examples of my mother's handiwork behind the lens:




I saw D on Thursday night after my Elvis 5K and then also came over after my minitri on Saturday morning, too. I ended up spending the whole day with them Saturday and slept over with Lois that night.

We went to the beach on Saturday with my brother and sister in law (above - can you tell?), and they went to the zoo while I went to the bike shop and took a shower. We went out to dinner and D got really tired.



The next morning, at 6am, Lois started barking and I woke up to see that D. had woken up. I dragged myself out of bed and took him and Lois to the beach again, where, before like 9am, when it officially opens, they allow dogs.



On the way to the beach he showed me some of his tricks. It was nice to spend time alone with him. He's a pretty neat kid! Plus, he and Lois got along great, which was a relief, because she's not fond of many kids. But she loved D.



Although it was dog swim time, and the waves were crazy, and it was 6:30am, and only about 65° out, and we weren't wearing swimming suits and I hadn't brought towels or a change of clothes, the first one in the water was not the dog, but (of course) D. He went in and got his shorts wet and I said, "Just don't get your head wet!" for fear that he'd catch some horrendous cold and have to walk all the way home all purple-lipped and freezing... well, his head was under the water within about 10 seconds. He loves the water. He was like - "it's not even salty!" (which I know, means he was tasting it, ugh) and just kept flinging himself into the waves and playing. It was fun to watch.



On the way back I got a taste of what my parents had alluded to when they said he'd been difficult. He stopped and sulked. He wouldn't move. I talked, I poked I joked I promised and I threatened, and he would not budge. He did this twice on the way back, but luckily I got him going. He just would get in these foul, obstinate states that were insanely hard to figure out or to 'crack.'

Then, we all went to one of my favorite breakfast restaurants and he ordered Swedish meatballs. He loved them!



He did the stubborn thing a few more times and my parents got furious. He had also spent most of the weekend not saying please, or thank you, which made them very upset. By the time they were ready to go, I tried to get a picture of all three of them, but D refused to look up, and that was it - they just got him into the car and pulled away. I felt bad that I couldn't say goodbye to him before he left Chicago, but he wasn't even looking at me, and I couldn't force him. Sort of a big bummer.

They were packing up I guess, because about an hour later, I got a phone call. To my surprise, it was D. Here's the conversation:

(Very quiet, high 5-year-old voice): "Sorry."

"Hi D! What are you sorry for?"

(Still quiet) "Sorry."

"But why are you saying you're sorry?"

"Because I'm sorry!!"

"No, but I mean, what are you sorry about?"

"Because I wouldn't smile when you wanted to take our picture and I was..."

"Sulking?"

"Yeah..."

"OK, I accept your apology - I'm glad you called!"

"OK. Bye." (fumbling with the phone in background) muffled voice: "Poppy? Where's the off button?"Click.



It's funny how family reacts to different personalities. I almost feel that the way I had giant screaming fits as a kid was easier for my mom to handle because a) it'd be obvious what it was about (usually something very appropriate, I am sure..!), b) I'd be really done afterward, quickly going back to being the perfect little girl, plus, c) then she could react with yelling and somewhat chaotic behavior, too, which was sorta all she was capable of at the time. But with the way D behaves, we all were just like, "What the hell do we do??" ...and I think he liked that.

I am also sure that spending more time with him will be a really good thing. I get to see all of C's family in less than a month for my mom's surprise 60th b-day party. THAT will be fun!

Well

The guests of honor, my uncle and aunt, give a speech at cake time. The cousins pulled off a complete surprise with over 100 people there!

The weekend was awesome, but tiring. I decided to take today off with flex time and am tempted to take the rest of the week, too, but I can't really. A 3-day week is good enough. It's addictive, being away from the office!


Lois is taking it easy, too, as you can see... I finally have her leaving her paw alone most of the time and that's good - I hope it heals quickly.


Now I'm cleaning my apartment. It's gotten so bad that I probably won't make a dent, but I am really glad to be starting the process, finally. It really helps that it's a beautiful day out, which sorta makes no sense.


I also planted some basil and mint (I couldn't stand not having herbs) and cleaned up the porch today, too.

Oh and the habits: pushups - great, flossing - so-so, and situps - terrible, so I am going to start taking a Tuesday morning pilates class, tomorrow at 8:30. I need strength in my gut to do all this other stuff. I trained 40 minutes yesterday in the boonies of Wisconsin (stayed in a hotel and there were no sidewalks anywhere, just running alongside the state highways) doing this crazy heart zone run where I'd get my heart rate to a certain number and hold it there for 5 minutes, then drop it to another level and hold it, then back up again - 3 times. It sure makes the time go by when you're busy reading your heart rate monitor all the time.



But at one point when I crossed this highway onto a deserted country road, these two possessed redwinged blackbirds started making a racket of noise and kept swooping down, practically divebombing my head as I ran along. I was actually scared! I kept swatting my hands above my head at them and yelled, "Get away!" but the only thing that made them stop was me turning around and running in the other direction. Creepy! Luckily no one was up at 7am on a Sunday to see this whole thing. It must have looked hilarious!

Word of the day

Plus, I need a haircut, see? It's getting shaggy.

I think I'm a little depressed. The dictionary.com word of the day (from the other day, just opened today) nearly made me cry. Maybe since I am feeling that special monthly sensitivity, or maybe because it is truly describing me - here's the definition:

forlorn \fur-LORN; for-\, adjective:

1. Sad and lonely because deserted, abandoned, or lost.
2. Bereft; forsaken.
3. Wretched or pitiful in appearance or condition.
4. Almost hopeless; desperate.

This weekend is a trip to Wisconsin for my aunt and uncle's surprise 70th birthday party. I'm VERY excited to see the whole family, the cousins and all their kids. I love my family, and I am riding along with my aunt Kathy, who is also super great, so that will be fun.

Maybe what's weighing on me about being such a failure in the love department is that I know I'll be asked about it this weekend. And when I answer, I can't smile and pretend that being single is so much fun, or that I don't wish I have a husband and a child of my own...and I certainly can't pretend that my "career" is going so well. Fact is, I do want to meet someone and settle down - I just don't how the heck I'll meet him.

Since

...I spent the whole weekend with my Dad and family, I didn't get anything for me done, so I am taking today off for that purpose. I had to go in to work for a few minutes to clean something up, so Lois and I snuck in at 7:30am. Then went to the farmer's market (got some asparagus, herb plants, and 2 more annuals) and now we are lying in bed in the sun whie the nice breeze blows in. It's lovely.

Today on the lakefront I did the bike workout that I missed yesterday (because I was doing the running workout from Sunday) and I need to do laundry and clean, but we'll see. I mainly want to just relax. Tonight is a group running workout, so I have one somewhat social thing to do.

Work's gonna get really busy in the coming weeks, so I am trying to go into that calmly this time...

Missionaries

Ah, delicious, gorgeous, pee-stinker-upper asparagus. I've been really, really enjoying you lately, as much as possible, and I am sad that our time together is almost over until next year.
Oh pals. I am f-ing up on my training schedule by being too dang tired to do stuff. Last night I didn't run (but I did this morning), and tonight I was supposed to bike for 45 minutes but I got home from work at 8 (work's busy right now, plus all the extra teaching hours) to walk Lois for a while and skipped the workout in favor of making dinner and crashing for a couple hours in front of the fan.

I do bike everywhere for work/errands, and tomorrow I'll do a workout for sure (even though it's a day off), but it's just not cool to keep missing stuff on my plan. I'm learning that one of the biggest challenges of the triathlon is adjusting your life to fit in the number of workouts necessary for a 3-sport event.

I got e-letters today from my cousin J's two oldest children, asking for money to sponsor them in a mission trip through their church to work on houses in a very poor Native American town in South Dakota. Here is what I wrote back to them (and cced their mom):

Hi X and Y,

I am so proud of both of you for going on a trip to help people in ---! What a great idea to give of your spirit, your skills, and your time for others. (And I hope it will be fun, too!) I am 100% in support of that kind of work, and I know you two will be wonderful on any project you put your hands and minds to.

Since you asked for my support, I wanted to share with you about my beliefs regarding mission work. I believe that Christ showed those of us who believe in his wisdom a way to serve and a way or route toward being good human beings, but there are other individuals and groups of people who have their own belief systems about God and what route takes us most directly toward being good loving people on and to the earth. For hundreds of years, Christians have worked on converting Native American (and other) people to their beliefs, sometimes while serving the people by helping with other parts of their lives, and sometimes not.

That history and premise of mission work—working to convince others that an outside way of thinking is better than theirs (which happens all around the world and has throughout the ages)—presents a moral dilemma to me. I want to support your trip and your convictions, but while doing so, I also want to respect the beliefs that the people in Mission already have.

So, I'll give each of you $20 toward the trip (sorry I can't afford to give more!), but I hope that you will understand that it's because I believe in YOU, not because I believe in the idea of religion-based mission work.

Thanks for asking, and I can't wait to see you very very soon!

Much love,
Cousin Poptart

Saluting America...

Holy incredible pie, if I do say so myself. It tasted even better than it looked (and doesn't it look cute?).

Happy July!

Here's a quick post to catch you, my vast readership, up on me going into my busiest month ever. Have I mentioned how much I love summer in Chicago?

First, amen again that the dating week is over. I do have hilarious stories and valuable insights to share and think about, but not here, Churlita! My friend P calls it a "rotating platter of men" and thinks I should always have a handful of guys on the platter because it makes my chi flow better, but I just want a plain ole dinner plate with one entree, no sides. F my chi.

I will give you the annotated list (not in order) of the guys I met:
1) new best friend guy (hereafter known as M)
2) nice, no spark, seemed not altogether straight? or just not into me at all, cool
3) slightly obsessive but v. cute guy
4) interesting - second date to come (W)
5) really good makeout (and damn, I needed that), little else
6) went to GRADE school, middle school and a year of high school
with but neither of us remember each other (??)

The best thing is that M is a definite keeper and W is taking me out tonight, and I could really care less about the others or the damn dating site now. I saw DG last night at the show I went to, he was on a date. I'm so - embarrassed? that I was so into him.



The 4th of July was a fun family blast. Best was the time I got to spend hanging out with WIlliam, who I just love. I took a million pictures of him to last me the year or so, 'til I can see him again (sniffle).



I got to hang with my brother and stepbrother, which is rarer and rarer these days (given one lives in Thailand), and it was just like high school but with lots more boring business talk.



And Lois (please note cute stars and stripes bandanna) had a great time playing with Liza the dog, and smelling the burgers, and getting all kinds of attention. She was so tired at the end of the day I had to force her to go for a last walk.

Speaking of tired, I'm losing it. If it weren't for a great new CD I keep hitting replay on, and the occasional phone call, I'd be sleepin at the wheel - er, at my desk.