Wedded bliss...

I love being married to Dan. It's just everything good. Not that before we were married anything was bad, but it's just sort of nice to know it's really not going away. Bronte was right. You can't put a house on your finger.

Today

This is me at Matthews Winters a month or two back. Not today's ride.

Today I climbed a mountain. No it wasn't the infamous 14er that so many Coloradans do, it was much smaller. But it was on my bike! O.K. so some people ride around Green Mountain all the time, but for me it felt like a big deal. Even a year ago there is no way I could have ridden this mountain. No way. But I did it!! I feel like I'm in the best shape I've ever been in. Woohoo! I love that I'm 40 and in better shape than I was at 30.

Processing...

This evening I realized I've had quite a week and a good portion of it wasn't wedding related. I had a whole round of mammogram/ultrasound fun whole just hoping that the "abnormality" wasn't anything serious. It wasn't, but I still have to go back in 6 months. I had a biopsy on a mole to make sure it's not anything serious (don't know yet). Got contacts. Realized how ridiculously ungrateful people are when it comes to "perks" at work. Slogged through some wedding stuff that is still not resolved. Finished some other wedding stuff that wasn't a big deal and was completed like it wasn't a big deal. Last, I am fighting off a cold.

Wait, that's not last. My daughter started middle school and my son needed a $100 calculator in addition to other supplies that we didn't know about. That's both good and bad. Mostly just stressful. It's been a CRAZY week. Why did I list all this stuff? Not sure, but maybe just to help me justify why I feel so tired at 9:00.

I'm hoping this weekend I can just get a few rides in, clean up the house a bit, and relax. I just need a little bit of normal stuff.

friends

Friends are like the family that you get to choose. In my case I couldn't have chosen better. They are an amazing array of accomplished people who I know through thick and thin have my back. Through all my kissing frogs, through all my triumphs and tragedies, through all my ups and downs they have been there for me. We could have talked months ago or just yesterday and I know that they love me as much as I love them. They are the true blue real deal of friends.
When I got engaged I was worried that these wonderful people wouldn't be able to be with me on that special day, because even though they are all talented and wonderful they are not rich. Not by any means. I had resigned myself to the fact that it would be a few family and local friends on my side. And then somehow, some way these very same people surprised me and WILL BE AT MY WEDDING!!! Writing that just made tears come to my eyes. I love my friends and one of my most special days they will get to be there. I'm a lucky girl in many ways. One of which is because my friends love me.

The Skinny on long weekends

This weekend we spent approximately 20 hours on the children's sporting events. My house is still recovering from our "pit stops". The dogs are still paying us back for ignoring them for two days. We are all still recovering from the amount of time we spent going. That being said I wouldn't have traded this time for the world. I clearly realized this weekend that I have such a short time with my children to make them have a memorable childhood that I need to take each of these opportunities to really love them and be with them. It's only a few more years before I'm packing them up to college. That is scary. So, in the meantime, I have right now to enjoy with them. I hope that when they are grown they will look back and see how much they were and are loved.

Quick note for Spammers

Dear SpamBots,

Amazingly enough, I still do not need to enlarge "my" penis, get discount Viagra, or want to "make her scream all night long." I'm not buying your crap products made for men, so you can stop filling my junk mail box. Thanks.

Cheers,

Smoooochie

P.S. I am not fooled by your misspelling a product to slip by my spam filter and neither is my spam filter.

wraps make me gag

I don't know what it is, but sandwich "wraps" just make me gag. I can't eat them. I just tried. It didn't work. I like the stuff in them individually, but once it gets all wrapped up the texture just gags me. blech... note to self- avoid wraps at all cost.

Jesse James is Alive and Well

O.K. I have to admit it. Jesse James is a Dead Man is my new guilty pleasure. There is just something about this show that I can't get enough of. It might be how crazy he is. It might be how he's a dynamic guy. It might be the fantastic stunts and things that he does. It's probably a bit of it all. I just love it. If you've got cable then check it out.

Water World is fun

Yep, that's right folks. An amusement park made up entirely of water rides is my cup of tea. We got to the park before the rides opened so we could ride the high demand ones first. That was a good decision because even on a weekday there were long lines waiting for a few of them. There were two that I rode several times- the race one where you are on these lugey like things and then the wave rider one where you bacically are body boarding. That one banged me up a bit, but it was so much fun! Oh, and the wave pool was fantastic!! Bronte and I had so much fun in that, but it really wore me out fast swimming in the waves.
The one thing that I realized (other than that water parks are fun) is that there are a lot of fat teen/twenty somethings who shouldn't be in a bikini. Christ! How can a 40 year old woman have a better body and muscle tone than a 20 year old? That ain't right! Or at least cover it up, girls! Seriously.
Alright. Time to go pass out after "working hard" all day at the wave pools, etc. :)

Thursday afternoon

The rain that 'they' said was coming this afternoon is about to arrive, announcing itself with distant booms and ominous clouds. It's creeping in to ruin the activities planned for later. The rain isn't unexpected or unneeded, but somehow just unwanted for today.

On another note...

I have been known to say that I was 12 lbs lighter when I met my fiance. This is true. I was. It certainly has been an obvious indicator that my lifestyle has changed. I am a part of a we. A comfortable we in many, many ways. Is my weight gain an indicator of the comfort? Perhaps, but there is lot less obvious signal that my life has changed. It is the fact that I am now able to take hikes without becoming hopelessly (and dangerously due to my asthma) winded. I can also gladly and willingly take 10 mile bike rides without feeling as if it might kill me. It's a lot of little indicators that while my size may have slightly increased my comfort, health and experience have been the cause.

Thoughts on a bike

I've been riding my bike a lot again. I love it. Really, it's good exercise and a mostly stress free way to get from here to there. I say mostly because it's not always the case because when people are involved there is bound to be some rudeness. Here just a quick refresher for everyone on the rules of the biking road.

- Always ride on the right. That's right. THE RIGHT, because when you ride against traffic (even bike traffic) you are going the wrong way and you could get hurt or hurt someone else.

- Ride single file. I shouldn't have to be stuck behind your big fat bottom because you want to have a conversation with your riding partner. If you want to chat then stop at the next bench and enjoy.

- Obey the traffic laws. If it says "Stop" then stop!! Nobody wants to see your brains splattered across the street because you couldn't follow the rules.

- Wear a helmet. See the above reason for why. In addition, your family shouldn't have to change your diaper for the rest of your life because you were too self absorbed to wear a damned helmet.

- Yield when you are supposed to. It makes you the hero. Really, it does and again you won't hurt someone else in the process.

- Lastly, when you are passing call out "Passing on your left" before you whiz by. This protects us both. Me from going to jail for assault and you from being assaulted. Besides, you get brownies and other good stuff for being polite. O.K. that might not be totally true, but it is good to be polite anyway.

If you still aren't sure of the rules then here's a handy link to help you out.

Analog

is dead. Long live digital... or is there something faster?

random stuff

First of all, Dan has a cat on his lap. He doesn't even like cats, but for some reason he tolerates Mr. E.

Second, I like the fact that there are actual cobblers out there. There are real people working hard on shoes somewhere right this very minute. Maybe it's just a throwback to all those fantastic stories that were read to me as a child. Who knows?

Third, brie is really good. I especially like the kind with herbs, but any good brie will do. On mini toasts preferably.

O.k. That's all.

Pride, Sense and Persuasion

O.K. The first step is admitting you have a problem. So, here it goes.

I am obsessed w/ Jane Austen novels. I've read several of her novels before, but never have I just breezed through all of them. I might read them again after I finish the last one- Northanger Abbey.

I think these are what are keeping me going for the wedding. O.K. back to reading.

Plants

So, it's begun. The annual planting and insanity of buying said plants. We usually buy our annuals at our local Home Depot, but this year their selection is...well it sucks! Yeah, they have your basic petunias and impatients, but other than that it's no good. The only daylilies they had were HUGE and $15. I'm a patient gardener. I'm happy to pay $5 for a smaller perinneal because guess what? They grow. I guess next weekend I'll be heading to a different store. I did get a few things.
The main thing that I got was my Mother's Day roses. I love getting rose bushes for Mother's Day. That way I get to enjoy the roses all summer. Unfortunately, I think we are about out of space so these may be the last of the new bushes I'll get for awhile. Even so, I have all the beautiful plants to remind me of how much I'm loved.
Alright, I have some holes to dig and pots to fill.

update

I was just sitting here watching "The Highlander" and thought that I should write a blog post. No correlation really. I actually have been thinking I should blog more often. Like weekly or even maybe daily when it occurs to me.
On my way to work this morning I had a number of thoughts on what I should write. Most of them were things that annoy me so I think this time I'll refrain on posting my brains ramblings. (This is such a bad movie. I don't remember it being so bad.)
O.K. Maybe this is a good start. Truman just galloped in and wants to play. Who knew that my new boxer would be a horse in disguise?