Friday, December 31, 2010

How We Celebrated Christmas....

The month of December started off with our annual Christmas party.  Way too much fun was had by all.  Let's just say that I am getting too old for 2:30 am!


I think the trash can adds so much to the photo

Jill and me

Heather and me dancing at the local hole in the wall bar called the Hideout.  This was after 1:00 am...


We went to St. Louis and saw Baron and Amelia

We had our annual Christmas Eve dinner with Rob and Michelle

My girl and me

Ah, the Sutter Home wine bottle.  So in 2008 on Christmas Eve, we stopped at a gas station for more alcohol.  We ended up buying a four pack of Sutter Home White Zinfindel.  It is the best you can get at a gas station in Kansas.  Michelle was able to drink one bottle, but I could not drink mine.  I opened it and took one drink and was done.  So last year, I gave Michelle that same bottle with a coffee mug for Christmas.  Well, guess what I got for Christmas this year?  Yep, that same bottle with a coffee mug.  I hope to be 75 and still be passing the same bottle of Sutter Home back and forth.  Surely it will be growing mold by that point!
 Michelle and Rob at dinner

Ken and me

My new friend "Santa" and me.  Doesn't everyone ask a perfect stranger if you can sit on his lap when he looks like Santa.  No, just me okay.  He really did look like Santa...

And because what outing is complete without a self portrait of Michelle and me in the back of the car with Ken and Rob telling us to knock it off.  Michelle is wearing her new scarf, shaved beaver (I cannot make this stuff up) that Rob bought her for Christmas. 

On Christmas Day, Ken was lucky enough to get breakfast, lunch, and dinner made by my domestic self.  When did I turn into Suzy Homemaker?

We opened up our presents in our PJ's

 We played with our new toys

Let's just say that Kya, Angel, and Theo did very well with Santa this year. 

I was disappointed that I did not get the hippopotamus I asked for, a sable under the tree, the deed to a plot in the mine, or a 54 convertible, but there is always next year!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! 

The month of December was a whirlwind and I am so disappointed that it is over.  I love the Christmas season so much and do not want to stop listening to Christmas music.  I am trying to reason with myself, but it is just not working! 

Monday, December 20, 2010

Selecting a Spring Marathon...

It is that time, time to figure out which marathon I will be running in the Spring.  I have been trying to avoid running the St. Louis Marathon again, but honestly, I think I have no choice. 

Ken's work schedule is the busiest in the month of April and May, which is when most of the Spring marathons take place.  There are several that I want to run that I probably never will be able to unless I go without him.  This coming April, I am going to try to qualify for Boston, so I do not want to run it without him being there. 

This really leaves me two choices:  the Olathe Marathon which would be local for me and the St. Louis Marathon.  Well, as much as I love Olathe, I cannot mentally run an out and back on a trail that I train on.  It sounds absolutely brutal.  I know it would be flat with rollers and I could have friends come and cheer, but this girl just cannot get excited about running in Olathe. 

So, unless something else comes up, I will be signing up for the Go! St. Louis Marathon despite it not being my favorite marathon.  The postives:  I get to see my friend Laura, it is close by, I have run the course before, I get to see spectactors decked out in Cardinal gear, and the race is adding start corrals this year.  Hopefully, all of the things I disliked about last year will be better this year with the changes.

I have been in a bit of a build up phase, trying to run a long run of around 12 miles and doing speed work during the week.  I am really excited for training to begin!  Here is hoping for an under 3:40:59 marathon in April!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Sucking Up...

I think it is something we are all guilty of every now and then, whether we want to admit it or not.  I personally, was always the teacher's pet in school.  Ken would say this makes me a dork, but I say it means I am a rule following booty kisser.  Same thing he says.  Whatever.  The only time I was not the teacher's pet was in first grade.  I could not stand my teacher.  All I could think was that she snorted cocaine and needed a good lip wax.  How did I know about these things in the first grade?

I now continue my sucking up in every day life with Kya's vet.  I am not above taking them treats at Christmas and other holidays if it means they pay extra special attention to my baby.  Yes, I am paying for Kya to be the teacher's pet.  Kya can be a little dramatic.  I am not sure where this comes from.  Two years ago, Ken took her to get her shots and get her heart worm test.  Well, Miss Drama Queen screamed and jumped and caused the lady vet to stab herself in the hand and start bleeding.  Lovely. 

When Ken told me about the incident, I was mortified.  I do not want there to be snickering and pointing when I take my sweet baby to the vet.  What do I do?  I do what any suck up does, I send Fairy Tail Brownies to the vet.  That's right, I am that mom.  I would rather her be known as the dog that sends treats than the dog that screams when given a shot. 

Which leads me to Christmas.  Every year I order at least three 1.5 pound boxes of chocolates from my home town candy store, Richardson's Candy House.  They have the best chocolate assortment ever.  I always deliver one of the boxes to the vet, being the suck up that I am.  Ken refuses to drop it off for me, telling me he will not take part in kissing up to the vet because we pay them for the services.  I tell him that the vet is like Kya's school and I will suck up to the teachers.  Maybe there are two dogs that need to go tinkle, well who do you think gets priority, Fluffy, who's mother is rude and not friendly or Kya, who's mother provides treats and is always kind.  The answer is obvious.

In case you are wondering what I do with the other two or three boxes of chocolates, I always keep one for myself, obviously.  I do give them out as random gifts, but last year I some how had an extra box and could not let it go to waste.  That's right, I ate three pounds of chocolate last year on Christmas break.  Do not judge.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Guess What I Am Doing November 6, 2011?


Marathon registration status: Accepted

Entry number: 658925
 
That's right, after not being accepted into the lottery for three years in a row, I finally get my turn! 


Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Dreams Lately...

Are you a very vivid dreamer?  I am.  I can still remember a few nightmares I had from my childhood.  Two involved my oldest brother and a snake and the other involved a very disturbing episode of Fraggle Rock.  Don't judge.  I think the Fraggle Rock one was the most horrible dream ever.  I still cringle even thinking about it.

The last few nights I have had dreams about an iron man.  In the first one, I just kind of showed up and said hey, I can do this.  I joked that I had not trained for the swim and that I thought I could do it.  Oh, and on this dream, I also realized that I was completely naked under my wet suit and would have to run from the wet suit strippers to the transition area completely nude.  Nice.

In the other iron man dream, Ken and I showed up about 10 minutes before the start and I realized I would not be able to drop off any of my bags for the transition areas.  I told Ken I thought is was fine, I could do it without changing clothes or shoes.  How bizarre.

My dream last night,  was that I dropped Kya off to be boarded with no blanket or cookies.  Talk about feeling like the worst mother ever.  The vet was totally judging me by saying don't you always bring her a blanket and snacks? 

Apparently I need to lay off something before going to bed.  Maybe I have been eating too many M&M's or malted milk balls.  Seriously, these stressful dreams are killing me!