Life Is Beautiful

Goodbye August, hello September! Hello Autumn, hello soups and casseroles, long sleeved shirts, the smell of wood burning stoves, hello off -season.  I started out September with a terrible nights sleep followed by the most difficult workout of the last 10 weeks of training.  My ride wasn't too bad, other than the wind.  That died down about halfway through and was replaced by rain in the last 6 miles.  My run was another story.  I got almost to the 3 mile turnaround and walked twice. As I forced myself to put one foot in front of the other I zoned out and had sort of a dizzy feeling towards the end.  Heart rate data indicates that my body was really struggling, not just my mind.  Pushing myself to exhaustion on a run on a Sunday morning makes me, once again The Freak in the Room .  My husband has had fun with this designation since I read Meredith's post over at Swim Bike Mom.  She talks about how being a triathlete makes her a li...

The first day of winter isn't until December 21st.  Nebraska has taken it to heart.  It was 65 degrees when we came home from church.  My little blue Trek couldn't stand another moment indoors. Another "thumbs up" pose!  I only rode a few miles outside of the city to get these fantastic shots.  I last rode this stretch of highway when it was much hotter...I like this better.  :)  I went very slow and still coughed a little, but the time on the bike was the most important thing. I went home from my ride and hubby left for his run.  It sure will be nice when the kids are a tiny bit older and we can do some of our runs and rides together.  The time training together would be great! I was honored to be invited to a CHRISTmas celebration at my BFF's church.  She's so good about inviting me to things and making sure we get together.  She's my oldest and dearest friend and I don't tell her enough how wonderful she is....

My day started out so wonderfully. Well, wonderfully early anyhow.  It seems after a week of basically being inert, my body decided that it didn't need any more rest!  I couldn't fall asleep until about 12 and was up and at 'em before 6.  :)  Who needs sleep? My sweet friend, Diana's, bridal shower was today.  Thanks to some hardworking ladies, I was able to go and enjoy the festivities, snap pictures and be supportive without any work.  Since I have known her, Diana has been such a blessing to me.  She is an inspiration to strong, intelligent, hard working women everywhere and I look up to her and respect her very much.  I pray that my daughters will be as successful as she! My sister and I. She will be soon married.  And in May she will graduate and move back to Kenya.  I pray for her.  I pray for her husband to be, for her future children and for all the wonderful things that I have to be hers. I'm so happy to be a pa...

You would not believe the day that I had. Remember the stolen bike? In case you missed it - our Freshman son, Liam, had his bike stolen on Tuesday.  He had saved up and paid for half of this really nice bike in the spring.  He proceeded to ride it to the lake every week to fish, rode it at 5am to catch the detassling bus and took himself to a part time job at the game shop to earn money for a new game system.  He rode to the church for Bible study and to help the men of the church to work on the grounds on a Saturday mornings.   He's not satisfied with recreation.  The boy has purpose.  Having his bike stolen crushed him.  That bike was everything.  His independence.   Yesterday, some friends of ours replaced that bicycle.  My sweet friend told me that she and her husband heard of the theft and both said that they needed to buy that boy a bicycle.  I was flabbergasted by such a generous offer and asked if we shouldn...

I've been thinking lately about what happens when you are to busy for friends. I am embarrassed to say that a friend called me two weeks ago and I haven't called her back yet. I think about her, I read her blog and check her "space" but I haven't made time to call her. Sad, really. I miss my friends, I really do. I think about them all the time. D has a teenaged daughter that I'm interested in how she's doing and a little guy getting ready to enter Kindergarten in the fall. A is pregnant with baby number two and actually called me earlier...I missed the call - I was folding laundry in the other room. Why am I blogging rather than calling a friend. Well, it's simple really. I am seated at the dining room table on the laptop. The baby is in the highchair to my right finishing up some finger food. My 6 year old is seated to my left doing her best to finish her dinner to secure a treat later. Directly ahead of me is my 9 year old who is playing some sort o...

Ever hear someone say "Take the rest of the day off, you deserve it." "Or, you've worked hard, take a load off, you deserve it." Or maybe, "Indulge yourself, you deserve it." Just snap on the television and you're bound to hear one or a variation of these in short order. With Mother's Day on Sunday, I've heard things like "treat Mom like she deserves to be treated" and such. Of course these are commercials from places that will tell you anything to sell you something. Even if your Mom was kind of crappy, they have a card or bouquet to celebrate it. I've been thinking about this because I have someone new in my life who is highly complimentary to me. She's a really neat lady, a Mom, Wife and beautiful young woman. I can't for the life of me understand why she thinks I'm so neat. Sounds like she's been around some really lost and mean people in her life, so maybe just the fact that I don't yell at her is a pl...