Merry Christmas to me! (and to everyone else too)

The pool is essentially done! YAY!!! Just in time for some actual cold weather in Houston too. On the upside, warm weather starts early so we should be using the pool potentially by Spring Break.

There is a little more to do so we will have people around working for a little while longer but the pool is full of water. It's a little murky but it was starting to clear up this morning. You can almost see the bottom now. The things left to do are a little more stone work, ceiling fans for the patio and gas logs for the fireplace. The last thing done will be the gas logs... they will be installed in early January.

You can let me know if you agree but we think it turned out really nice! So Merry Christmas to me! :)

And to anyone who is reading this Merry Christmas to you and a Happy New Year!

Running 31 miles hurts...

in case you have ever questioned that fact.

My husband and I are training for the marathon (for anyone who hasn't kept up with me lately). Normally when you do the training for a marathon, there is one long run that occurs approximately 4 weeks before marathon day. Unfortunately I told my brother to come into town from San Francisco that weekend not even thinking about what we would do to make up for that run.

We decided to run the Sunmart 50k/50mile trail run this past weekend instead. For the non-runners in the house, 50k = 31 miles (give or take a tenth).

I had been told in the past that Sunmart was WAAAAAAY easier than the marathon. "You see it's soft ground the whole way rather than the concrete that the marathon is run on. Oh and they have these really awesome rest stops where there is all kinds of good food to eat. You get lots of cool stuff just from signing up and a neat jacket or afghan for finishing!! Besides, no one really runs it that hard anyway so go ahead and give it a try", they said! My husband got the same pitch from everyone so we signed up.

Stupidly, I believed all these so called friends who gave me those many lines of BS. I really think that they had suffered so much that they felt everyone should suffer this evil run with them.

There were some good things about the run. I like to start on a positive note so here is goes. There were a lot of really cool things that you get for signing up. My favorites were the long sleeve running shirt (probably worth about $40) and the running hat (another $20 or so). We only paid $90 to enter and there were other goodies too so I figured we pretty much broke even on the cost. Then there was the fact that this is run up in the piney woods in Huntsville, Texas around a lovely little lake. And I DID get a medal and the neat afghan at the end. This is where the good things end!

I mentioned the lovely scenery? Well... couldn't really pay attention to any of it because I was too busy watching for roots to trip over. I observed 31 miles of dirt and tree roots. All the good food? I have found that I really don't tolerate M&M's and PB&J sandwiches too well when running. Apparently the food wants to try to make a reappearance. Fortunately I managed to avoid that situation. Then there are the hills... I was told not to really run the hills. OK... that's great but it seemed to me like the course was one freaking big hill that never stopped. So not running them made the day oh so much longer than expected. Did I mention that it took 7.5 hours to finish. 7.5 hours of torture! No one should have to suffer through that. At the point that I hit about 26/27 miles I didn't want to run anymore so I started walking. Walking hurt too but I was in the middle of nowhere in the woods with almost no one near me so I had to get back somehow. Yay! What fun!

This is what pain looks like. This is akin to childbirth in that people do it more than once because they forget the pain. I am posting the picture so I can gaze on my pain anytime I forget!



In the end, everything from my neck down hurt. I cried at the finish partially because I was in so much pain and partially because my husband was nowhere to be found. (In his defense, he thought he had time to go to the truck to get a camera and take a picture of me finishing... he didn't have that much time). We drove home and I immediately went to bed only about an hour later around 6:30. I tried to stay awake but my body was having none of that. It was better to sleep too because I didn't feel the pain so much while I was sleeping.

It's hard to say whether I'm glad I did it. I swore after it was done I would never, ever do that again. I have a sort of twisted sense of accomplishment so I suppose that is good. I can tell people that I "run" 31 miles. The quotes are due to the fact that there was a lot of walking involved almost to the point of feeling like I was on some evil hiking expedition.

The husband told me last night that he wanted to do it again. I'm pretty sure he has gone completely insane and I am certain he means to drag me with him on his trip through insanity. Wish me luck!

Finally starting to come together

I haven't posted about the pool in a while because honestly it hasn't changed all that much. Pretty much it looked like an interesting concrete hole surrounded by a mudpit. In the past few days, they have gotten a lot done and they are getting close to actually pouring the decking too. Here are a few of the latest pictures.

My brush with greatness

As a general rule I never know what to expect at my in-laws house. Nothing ever bad really... just different, Louisiana-style. I can't tell you how many times I have run into wildlife in their kitchen... squirrels, raccoons, ducks, all being nursed back to health by his mom. The proof of one of those creatures is shown below although not in her kitchen at the time.

Then there are the food surprises. I've decided that people from Louisiana (outside of New Orleans anyway) will eat ANYTHING! I've actually had squirrel and have been told about eating raccoon and nutria (www.nutria.com/site.php). I have my limits... I will refuse nutria if I know that is what it is. I have to draw the line somewhere!

This Thanksgiving visit to the in-law's house provided the usual surprises but fortunately this one didn't involve wildlife... at least not the kind that I'm referring to above. This wildlife was in human form and goes by the name of Ruth Buzzi. Now if you are too young, you might not remember Ruth Buzzi but she was a regular on Laugh-In when I was young. Turns out I'm related to her now. Like me, she married into this crazy Louisiana family!

It was an interesting Thanksgiving to say the least. Ruth is known for her crazy slapstick kind of antics on TV and we did see a little bit of that after dinner. For the most part she is pretty much just a down-to-earth lady who despite her fame is not above traveling to Cental Louisiana to hang with us commoners.

For those of you too young to remember her... look her up on You Tube which incidentally we are watching in the above picture on my computer. She was most fascinated about the things you can find on the internet! :)

Happy (late) Thanksgiving

Things I am thankful for:

1. My husband (and that I finally have one)
2. Having my stepdaughter living with us
3. Our awesome house
4. My parents and in-laws
5. Having a decent, stable job

Now for the less serious stuff:

1. Roomba (see my last post)
2. My soon to be pool, patio cover, and outdoor fireplace

My new love

I have a new love in my life and please don't tell my husband! He's a hardworker... cleans my floors whenever I ask him to. With two other people in this house who often create more mess than they pick up. I leave the floors to him and I take care of the rest (in between the maid coming anyway). Wanna know who he is?

Most people call him Roomba. I call him amazing! He runs around my house cleaning up after all of us especially the very small shedding dog. And as an added bonus, the dog is just a little freaked out by Roomba. It's good for a little amusement for me.

Mud pit sweet mud pit

No updates lately because it's pretty much looked the same for the last few days. People have been digging trenches and laying pipe and electrical lines. Today there is one difference: no trenches and two posts.

I think they are done digging trenches in the yard. I can't imagine that there is anything more they could possibly sink into the ground. I'm pretty sure there is no more room. Well there is the sprinkler system but that will only be laid around the edge of the yard since most of it will be concrete.

The two posts are the first sign of our soon to come patio cover. I'm not sure if you have been to Texas and specifically Houston but if not, I will confirm for you that it's hot here. Pretty much sweltering for all but 3 or 4 months a year when it becomes pleasantly cool. Because of this I believe all houses here should be required to have some sort of patio cover. Otherwise you may as well not leave the house until dark and even then it's often still hot. Many of our neighbors are lucky enough to have one already. We have to build one. It should be nice when it's done.

Pictures of our mud pit:

Midday pool update

OK! Now it looks like a bomb exploded in the backyard!!

Working into the night

It's almost 8pm and the gunite guys are STILL here. They have been working straight through since about 6:15 this morning. I think it was the guys doing the rebar work early but the gunite started pretty early. It's really neat how they do it. The gunite comes through a long tube and is literally shot into the walls of the pool.

Day 2 of Pool Construction

I'm amazed at how quickly they can dig a very large hole.


Tomorrow they promise gunite! More pics to come.

OK, so it doesn't quite look like a bomb

The digging has started and while it doesn't look quite like a bomb exploded, it can hardly be described as pretty! The dog is wondering what happened.

Paradise is coming soon!

We have jumped in feet first (so to speak) and decided to add a pool, patio cover and outdoor fireplace to our currently boring backyard. Here is the current state of the backyard:


Tomorrow it should start looking like a bomb was dropped.

Below is a picture of the dog enjoying the grass for the last day. She is sitting on what will be concrete soon. Little does she know!


More updates to come!

Marathon Chronicles - The training series

If I cared about winning, this picture would be titled "The agony of defeat!" Fortunately I don't care.

This is my least favorite part of marathon training... the training series. I know that running in organized races is necessary to the training. Running in a race is different in the fact that you tend to get caught up in the excitement and run too fast. So these are necessary to get you used to running your own race and not run everyone else's.

I still hate them. At least the ones that we have in Houston. You would think that a city the size of Houston could find a better course to run. It's hard enough to run 13 or 15.5 miles without having to run loops on concrete.

Two weeks ago was the half marathon (13.1 miles) that is part of the training series. It was perfect weather and I did really well. I didn't feel good at all at the end but I ran faster than expected and ended up finishing in 2 hours and 12 minutes. This isn't a time to impress your friends with but it was respectable for me and I was quite happy with it.

That was right after I finished. Six hours later I was not so happy. I hurt so bad that I couldn't get comfortable. I took some ibuprofin and was able to sleep. I was really sore for days.

Yesterday was the 25K race. The conditions sucked! I think it was 70 degrees in Houston at 7am when the race started and I'm pretty sure it was around 80 degrees when I finished. I felt bad from about 5 miles to the end of the 15.5 miles that I ran. This course is three laps of the most boring running you could imagine.

I started out running 9 minutes and walking 1 minute. On my way in from the last loop, I started running 4 minutes and walking 1 minute. Let me tell you that this was the longest 4 minutes of my life every time I had to start running again. I really didn't know if I was going to finish. I did finish because you see, there was a jacket at the end. I paid about $40 so that I could run 15.5 miles for a jacket that I am pretty sure I could have bought for $40. I'm not sure I understand my own logic! Oh and the stupid thing doesn't fit. My husband will be enjoying it though.

I am happy that this part of the training is done. I dread these races but I run them. There is also a 30K race that happens 3 weeks from now but Houston Fit training program doesn't run it. I'm told it's worse than the 25K and even more boring. They run their own unofficial 30K which is a lovely course that takes us through parks and around the Rice campus.

My hubby and I may skip this one and do a trail run up in Huntsville, TX north of Houston. This race (Sunmart) is a 50K and 50 miler. We will not be doing the 50 miler. I think 31 miles of a 50K is plenty of abuse. I'm told that this will be much easier than the marathon because of the softer surfaces. I've wanted to do this one for years now and I think we will be signing up for it soon. Wish us luck and hope that we survive another day so I can add it to the marathon chronicles.

Homecoming Week! I lived through it! Mostly....

This is a little late because I tend to be a slacking blogger but better late than never I say!

The hubby and I lived through homecoming week. It was a fun-filled week of running the teenager to the store for this and to another store for that. Pretty much during the week when I get home, I don't really want to go anywhere. But apparently I'm a big sucker for that sad little 14 year old face saying "But it's homecoming week and I need ____!" I will just say that I was so very happy when it ended!

The "date" that the teenager was going to the dance with dropped off her "mum" for school around Wednesday of that week. I'm told this is a Texas tradition so you might not be familiar. This has been around since before I was in high school. Way back when... when I was in high school the average mum consisted of a real Chrysanthemum mounted on a piece of cardboard with a plethora of ribbon hanging from it that reached your knees which you pinned to your clothing. The girls with better mums had a double Chrysanthemum and the ribbon almost dragged the ground. As you can see from the picture below, things have changed. They don't use real flowers anymore and the average size mum has grown... well tripled in size from the mid-80's. They can no longer pin them... they must hang these monstrosities from their neck. I only wish I could have gotten a picture of the big ones... or the one that had battery operated christmas lights intertwined in the flowers.

The day of the dance was drama-filled. The first bit of drama was that the teenager's mom did not make it into town for the big event. I will say that said teenager took this quite well considering this was her first homecoming. I'm not so sure I would have handled this news without lots of makeup destroying tears involved. She took that piece of news in stride.

What this meant for me though was that my mostly relaxing day waiting for her to get her makeup and hair done was now filled with lots of driving.... again. Not having any kids of my own, I didn't think I would ever have the opportunity to get to do this. So in that respect it was really nice for me to get to experience. Had her mom's car not been broken down, she would have been the one to take her to all of the appointments and I would have just seen the final result. I will secretly (or not so secretly anymore) admit that it was fun to see how excited she got after each appointment when she saw the results. I took her home after her appointment and she got dressed and ready to go. At that point my hubby joined us for the trip to drop her off to have pictures taken. I have included one below...

As you can see, I have a good reason to be worried about boys. I think we might have to lock her up until she hits 35!

Then for the next drama event... After we got to the photo location, we were waiting and waiting for the date to show up. We had been taking pictures with her and her friends when she finally decided to call to see when he was going to show up. Seems as if there were two limos for this group. One starting at our location and the other starting at another. I'm not sure who planned this bit of brilliance but I am sure it wasn't me.

Apparently the boy's friend, who the boy was staying with, convinced him that the other location was where he was supposed to be. Mind you, I sent multiple emails to the boy's mom so that they would end up at the correct place. Well, the mom allowed the boy to stay with a friend the night before and obviously did not pass all the information on to the parents who were dropping these kids off.

Needless to say when the teenager found out that her date would not be able to make it for pictures, lots of makeup destroying tears started. Let's just say I'm new at this parenting thing so I wasn't quite sure how to stop the tears. Apparently my hubby is new at this too because he made it worse but calling the boy an idiot for not reading the directions. (Yes, I did scold him for that later).

Fortunately the teenager calmed down and decided that since her date wasn't there, she would claim everyone's date and have a picture made with all of them. I like how she bounces back! ;)


Fortunately both limos were meeting at the same restaurant. We followed the limo there and got a few pictures with the boy. All was well!

These are the days that I LOVE being a stepmom

Once I get past the painfully expensive reality of having a 14 year old in my house, there are days that I truly enjoy. Today was one of those days. She is a freshman in high school this year and LOVES to dress up in goofy costumes. This week is homecoming week here in Spring, Texas. Every day they have a new theme. Thursday's theme truly warms my soul... 80's day! So today we went to Walmart to find an outfit so that she can participate properly. This is a preview of what she has put together... She tells me that the makeup will be much better that day so there could potentially be more pictures later this week. (I couldn't find leg warmers so we had to improvise some)

On being a stepmom

I've decided being a stepmom is one of the scariest things I have ever been a part of. This is from the person who has willingly jumped from an airplane. This is much scarier!

I am experiencing being a stepmom in a way that most women don't. I have a teenager living in my house full time. Now I know that I'm hardly the first woman to go through this but I also know that most of the time, the dad does not get custody of the kids. This is actually how we started as well. The hubby did not even try too hard to get custody of his daughter because he thought it would tear his ex-wife up and he mostly harbors no ill will towards her.... most of the time. But when his ex decided to move yet again, the teenager had had enough. She refused to move and wanted to stay in the school district that she had been in for most of her school years.

So we went back to court mostly uncontested because the ex knew that the teenager would be able to have a say in where she lived. This is how I became a full time stepmom. Don't get me wrong, I am completely thrilled with having her live here. She is a very good kid... causes almost no problems... ever. I count my lucky stars every day that she is so sweet and very accepting of me since the very beginning.

This is the problem really. She is so accepting of me that she tells me things -- everything! I hear things that happen at her school... with her friends... with boys... Sometimes I feel completely unprepared to deal with all of the honesty I get from her. I am glad she trusts me and I want to her continue to feel comfortable to tell me everything. I often don't know how to respond... She is dealing with things that I never had to so I don't know what to tell her much of the time.

I have no kids of my own so I haven't had too much time to think about how I would raise one and to start with a teenager is a scary prospect for me. Most of my friends have little kids and while they are helpful, they really haven't yet had to think about things like dating, boys, college, etc. I do have one friend who is the stepmom to a teenager and has dealt with some of the stuff I am going through. But again, they didn't deal with these issues every single minute of the day. I don't want to minimize her contribution to that teenager's life. Without a doubt they were very involved in her life but I've been on both sides of this situation and it feels different now. I feel so much more responsible for how this girl turns out. It overwhelms me sometimes and terrifies me too.

The questions that run through my head on a daily basis are the following... What if she turns out all wrong because I didn't do something right?? How do I avoid being a bad parent when I have never really thought about how to be a good parent?? Will she blame me if all her dreams come true??

I know I'm not the first person to go through this. I just wish I had friends who had been there too. Wish me luck!

The Marathon Chronicles - Week ummmm... who the heck knows

This marathon training is definitely going better than my last two attempts. We ran 12 miles for the first time two weeks ago and will run that distance this weekend. I'm feeling pretty healthy for the most part. I do come home with some aches and pains when I run more than 10 but that really is to be expected.

The running during the week isn't quite as consistent as I would like. I am finding that even though I'm not caring for a small child, just having one in the house makes working out a challenge. Well... it wouldn't have to be if I were OK with her eating chicken nuggets and pizza rolls everyday but I'm not.

I'm trying to start running in the morning and then maybe at lunch once we have cooler weather here. The morning thing is not an easy thing unless I have a lot on my mind and I just happen to wake up at 4am. It did happen a few weeks ago but not this week! I am only averaging 2 out of the 3 weekday runs most weeks. I'm sure it will be enough but I just hate not feeling like I have the time. Hopefully the weather will change soon and I can start the running at lunch routine.

And the dating starts...

Speaking of the really cute teenager dating, she has her first official date this month for homecoming. I hoping I would have a little more time before all that started but here we are. It's only been a year since I got married and suddenly I have to worry about what they are going to try with her 'cause I know they will eventually.

I believe her to have very strong morals but you never know what hormones and emotions are going to do to those beliefs. I just hope that she sticks to her beliefs for a good long while like I did. Wish me luck!

And by the way, Jessica McClintock should be destroyed. No teenager should own a dress that is more than $200. I didn't have one until I was 30 and I think that is a good thing. Oh, and the next time that we agree to pay for a dresss that we didn't help shop for, there will be no shopping at THAT store! And there will be spending limits or the teenager will have to kick in some allowance money to make up the difference.

We have a pool!!

Well a pool contract anyway. Now the fun part begins. First there is securing financing. We have one loan approved but it's not really the way we want to finance it. I would prefer to refinance the mortgage with the improvements included. We just applied today and should find out tomorrow if they are OK with the amount of improvements we want to do.

Then there is permits and HOA approvals. The pool builder mostly handles that. However if the HOA decides to sit on the approval then that could hold us up indefinitely. Or however long they can stand hearing from the hubby on a twice daily basis (and that's if they are lucky)

After we get everyone's blessing to move forward, my backyard will suddenly look like a bomb exploded with wall to wall workers there for at least a month. I'm told that's if I'm lucky! This guy claims to do all of them in 4 weeks so here's hoping.

My main concern beyond the normal ones involving whether the pool will be built correctly is my stepdaughter. She is now living with us and gets home from school very early. I'm not so comfortable with her walking into the middle of all of those workers. She's a really cute teenager and we worry about her dating as it is. I'm sure that 99.9% of these people are just good hardworking men. It's the 0.1% who might not be that I'm worried about. So I have to find somewhere else for her to go after school for 4 to 6 weeks to ease my mind.

Busy two weeks

It has been difficult to get motivated to get on here in the evening to do any updates. We have been running hard lately and I'm not just referring to the marathon training. The training has actually suffered.

What I'm referring to is keeping up with a teenager which is a constant in our lives now. But also all the stuff we add to our lives in addition. There is rodeo committees for both of us, marathon training, and then school for the hubby (getting his MBA -- I'm not that motivated to rule the world).

Lately we have added one more headache that will hopefully soon be a good thing. I have always wanted my own pool but really couldn't afford it. The hubby found out about this wish and wants to make it happen for me. I probably would have been fine for the rest of my life if I never had one because I'm cheap and pools aren't. The thing I worry about most, other than the truly exhorbitant cost of what we are about to build, is choosing the right company to do this.

I am having constant stress over this decision! I envision a big muddy hole in my once lovely back lawn and me not being able to find the person who started the project. I have heard enough horror stories to last a lifetime. So I have interviewed countless pool guys hoping that I can find the right one who won't abandon my dream and make it the nightmare that came true.

So everything else in my life has been abandoned to make way for this dream and the future serious debt that it brings. On the upside, I will have a lovely place to go enjoy at my own home because I am not so sure we will be able to afford anything outside the home!

I think we have finally decided who will build the pool, patio cover and outdoor fireplace and on a design for the most part. I think that this has been the second most stressful decision right behind building my first house. I am looking forward to getting the financing in place and let them get done with this so that I can relax. Until then, I'm probably going to make some sports massage therapist really rich (so that he/she can someday own a pool too!)

I must be insane

My friends won't be surprised by the title. I always do things they consider insane such as marathons and cycling from Houston to Austin (about 160 miles for those who are not familiar). I don't think that from their point of view that they are necessarily wrong from their point of view. If I step outside of the activities that I choose to engage in, I can see why they may think that. This is not the reason that I give this post the title.

I must be insane because I have agreed to join the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo's Carnival Ticket Sales committee yet again. Last year when I was going through my rookie year I swore I would never do this again. It had to be one of the more painful events of my life. I am not the best salesperson and I don't enjoy it so I procrastinated almost until it was too late. I managed to make my quota and surpass it somehow even with my late start. I'm not really sure why I'm doing this to myself again and this time I'm busy training for a marathon too. I really must be insane!!

However, if anyone lives in Houston and wants carnival tickets, bbq admission tickets, or would just like to make a donation to send underpriveleged kids to the carnival let me know. I am carnival ticket sales chick again this year!

Why I don't run with my husband and Turning 40

On Saturday morning, we were supposed to run 6 miles. The hubby's sister was in town so I thought we might just run around our area rather than heading into town to run with the group. It was just the hubby and I running... we didn't have a course plotted out but I had an idea of where to go and a GPS watch that will tell us how far we are running. So we set out around 6:45am to run our 6 miles. We actually had multiple arguments on where to run. You would think we would be entirely to tired to expend all that extra energy bickering about the route!


I haven't quite turned 40 yet... give me a few more days but we have had my party for my 40th birthday Saturday night. Apparently my husband had pretty much informed everyone coming that he had bought me a wine fridge for my birthday. I got nine bottles of wine and champagne that night. So he is occasionally good for something.

A picture you won't often see of me

I don't plan to have kids... my husband has two. One is 21 and has her own kiddo and the other lives with us so I do get to try to raise a teenager. I'm almost 40 and I finally have someone in my life who will travel with me, run marathons, or bike across Texas. I have not given birth but I have observed the changes and I'm not sure I'm up for it at this age. I hope I'm not wrong...

However this is the picture of me and my friend's baby, Cade. He wasn't quite out of the hospital at this time.

Oh and random stuff

I almost forgot! My car decided to die yesterday. I'm not quite ready to buy a car yet. I think I know what I want but I want to wait til spring next year to buy something. More on that in a minute. So at the worst possible financial moment when we are about to go into the month that my husband isn't bringing home a paycheck (the new company has a lag of 60 days. BRUTAL!) It's not the battery because it sounds like it wants to start but no... I will be getting to work late again also at the worst possible moment. Thanks Miata! Great timing!!

Now back to the new car... We want to shop around for a while because I wasn't really sure what kind of car I want. This will probably be my first true grownup car. I have had a life of sports cars up until now. Toyota MR2, Miatas, and Mustangs are the cars I have owned up til now. I love the having a two seater convertible however I'm married now and we have a 14 year old in the house. When the hubby goes hunting he either leaves us with just the Miata (which is fine right up until the teenager invites a friend over) or he takes the Miata with him... not exactly the most practical choice for hunting.

So if I have to do a grownup vehicle, I insist on it at least being a convertible still. My choices are limited really. I could do another Mustang. It does have a backseat but the one I want is also a gas guzzler. There are a bunch made by companies like BMW and Mercedes but they are just a bit too far out of my comfort zone on price. My choices are a Saab 9-3, Audi A4, and the Volvo C70. All are still very expensive admittedly but I think we are going to go for one of these. We test drove the Saab and Volvo so far. The Audi is a good bit more so I doubt I will go for that one but I will test drive it soon.

The Saab was a nice car and very much still has the sports car feel to it. This would be an easy transition for me but it's a bit smaller with less trunk space than the Volvo.

The Volvo was REALLY nice. The hubby is voting for this car. He loved it from the start and I'll admit that I do too. If you had told me when I was younger that I would be considering a Volvo, I would have thought you were nuts. But the cars are a lot less boxy than they used to be and the C70 is a sweet looking convertible. Oh and did I mention that it has a retractable hard top??

After we get back from the test drive the salesman comes up to us and asks what we thought and then asks what our time frame was. My first thought was "Oh great, here comes the hard sales tactics." Instead he tells us about how we can actually get the car cheaper if we go pick it up in Sweden. WHAT??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? How can this possibly be cheaper? Then he explains that Volvo flies you to Gothenburg, Sweden, puts you up in a very nice hotel, takes you on a plant tour and feeds you lunch. Then you take ownership of the car and can have it shipped right away or you can take a driving vacation of Europe that they arrange for you (you pay for any extra stay). Then you can ship the vehicle from where ever you drive to for a small fee or you can drive back to Gothenburg where they will ship it for free. Oh! Did I mention that the car will be $3K cheaper if you do all this?

We are seriously considering this option. Hmmmmm... Free flight and one night hotel stay in Sweden. $3k break on the price of the car. Gosh let me think about this one... Yep, I think we may do this. The reason I want to wait until spring to buy the car is that I don't really think I want to go to Sweden in the wintertime. I am a wimpy Texan and don't like cold. We would go now but it takes 2 and a half months to build the car which puts us in the middle of winter. Now to figure out where we should go from Sweden...

Now for the less tiring news

My friend had her baby last week! (Less tiring for me not her) She had to be induced due to complications so the baby came at almost 36 weeks so he was a bit early. He is still in NICU because of breathing problems but is doing really well as of today. He should be home this week. Welcome Cade!

Marathon Chronicles - week 6/7

For Elastic, I was going to try to talk about something else here so that she won't get tired every time she comes here to read but apparently this is my whole life... However I will do this one and my next entry out of order so that maybe she can be not so tired.

Week 6 didn't really go well for me. I am in physical therapy and suddenly on Friday before the 7 mile run, they decided to do a strength test. Essentially they tested my calves and shins until they were fatigued. Apparently this was not a good idea because within 1 mile of starting the run, my shins were fatigued. I made it through about 4 miles before I started walking a good bit.

Week 7 was our 8 mile run. The hubby decided to be "manly" the night before by picking up a wine fridge to move it and threw his back out. I was on my own for this run. Not that this is a problem... he is usually a good half a mile to a mile ahead of me anyway. The run went pretty well even though it's not my favorite route. I was a little tired on the way out but I felt decent on the way back. I am starting to walk a little to get through the runs now. It's all good though. I will do that during the marathon too so may as well start walking some now! :)

Next Saturday we get a break!! Only 6 miles that day! YAY!!

The Marathon Chronicles - week 4/5

Ok! The hubby and I are in week 5 of training for the marathon (26 weeks total for anyone who is curious about exactly how nuts we are). Last weekend we ran 6.4 miles. For me it was a great run. I felt good the whole way and sped up for the last mile. I can't say that I was running all that fast but I was happy that I was not the last person to come in for my group by far.

My husband claims he had a bad run. Blames the chicken fried steak from the night before (likely story!) Yet he finished the run about 3 minutes or so ahead of me. Have I mentioned that I hate him and his natural ability to run??

All I have to say is hill training in Houston just stinks. Only 3 more weeks of this to go! I think my coach has become evil since I last trained with him. I recall it all being difficult when I did this before but I don't remember feeling like I might die on the middle of a stupid hill. Couldn't be that I am way more out of shape and carrying about 10 extra pounds this year... NAW!!!

The weekend

I finally got to meet my niece last weekend. She is 9 months old. I am a horrible aunt! My niece was born merely two days after I got married last year. My sister-in-law understandably was not present at my wedding since they live in San Francisco. My brother was brave and came to my wedding. He was in Houston for less than 24 hours... it was a good thing he didn't hang around because his wife went into labor about 2 or 3 hours after he got back to SF (she was a week or two early!)

Since that time I have been trying to make it to see them. There was honeymoon, then holidays, then job changes and MBA classes for the hubby. We cannot seem to find the time sadly. My brother was kind enough to travel to Houston for me instead. This pleased my parents since they cannot possibly get enough of their first grandbaby.

So... everyone came to my house. I may have mentioned that this whole marriage thing and being forced to share my space has been really traumatic. Well, add my whole family and one friend of my stepdaughter, I was positively fit to be tied by the end of it all.

On the upside, I got to spend some quality time with my brother and his family. See pic below of my newest little Aggie fan (we like to brainwash them young!)

So much to talk about...

Birthday:
We are now in August and it's my birthday month. Usually I'm not even close to thinking about my birthday but there are two things different about this one. It's the big 4-O and I feel like I should celebrate it right. Then there is also the fact that the hubby is making an extra special effort this year since we were in an unexpected financial bind last August (ex-families suck!) The hubby has ordered many gifts this year and he ordered them early. There are two good sized boxes sitting in my house taunting me. So I can't seem to forget my birthday this year no matter how hard I try!

Marathon chronicles:
The hubby and I did our first hill training last night (Yes, you can do hill training in Houston.) I've done it before but this is a first for him. I don't think he really grasped how hard it was going to be. I did tried to warn him. Being generally a natural runner, he did better than I did. On our last 5 minutes up and down the hill I did a bit of walking. He stuck with it and ran but much more slowly than his first few hills. It was a really hard workout and HUMID! By the end I was pretty much hoping I could just die right there. But no, we had to run half a mile or so back to the area where we parked. I really need someone to remind me why I'm doing this. Oh yeah! I'm nuts!

Physical Therapy:
Because I want to run, I have to get my calf issues fixed. Nothing major really... it only hurts when I run because the calves are super-tight. If I would just stretch better I could have avoided this whole thing. All I can say about this experience is OUCH!! I think I will start stretching now.

New Job:
The hubby has a new job that will keep him in town. I'm mostly happy about that but I'll admit that there are times when I will miss having the house to myself. Oh and I may miss having my job to myself. Did I mention that his first consulting gig is at MY company? Mental note: send him out with his friends occasionally.

Further proof that I am insane

I'm going to run the Houston Marathon in January. I'm probably insane. And it's not that I'm attempting this goal that makes me insane. Many people want to mark this particular accomplishment off their list of things to do before they die.

No... what makes me insane is that I have already marked that one off the list - not once but three times. Two Houston marathons and one Austin marathon are currently under my belt. I would like to say that I want to improve my previous times or that I have some lofty goal of qualifying for Boston. But no, that's not it either.

The really crazy part is that I don't know why I want to do this again. There is seemingly nothing fun about the whole experience. Training starts in the middle of July... in Houston. Yippee!!! Running in 90% humidity in the sweltering Houston summer is all kinds of fun! Maybe if you have gills.

Training lasts for 6 months and consists of at least 3 runs during the week and a long run on Saturday. The long runs start at an innocent 3 miles but they add a mile a week for 5 weeks before you get a tiny break. Then they add more mileage.

These "every Saturday for the next 6 months" long runs are scheduled to be completed before 8am in the morning. Why? See above comment about Houston summers. It starts out innocently enough. You have to start by 7:15am to finish your run before 8am. But eventually you have to start running 10+ miles. This means starting earlier and earlier each week. Not too many people I know think this is fun either.

Then there is the effect on your social life. Not that I have as much of one lately since I got married and suddenly help care for a very social teenager whose schedule is cutting into my fun. However the few times I do want to go out is often thwarted by this crazy training we have to do.

This is how my week usually goes: Run on Monday and Tuesday, off on Wednesday, run on Thursday, off on Friday, long run on Saturday, then off on Sunday. What this means in reality for me is little or no alcohol on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday because I have to run the next day. Running with a hangover in heat and humidity = Carol doubled over and puking at about mile 1. OK, that leaves the possibility of going out and/or drinking on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Of those three days, Tuesday is pretty much out. I hate going to do anything that early in the week because I get up early to get to work. And I have to go after my evening run... not likely to happen. Thursday is a possibility because it's the end of the week and I have every other Friday off. Saturday is also a possibility except for the fact that after you abuse your body with a 10 mile run, it retaliates by making you want to sleep at 6pm. So I will become a hermit for the most part. Yep that's fun.

You would think that the massive weight loss I will experience would excite me. However, I got a rude awakening to the problems of marathon training in the past. Training for 10+ miles on a Saturday makes you hungry... no ravenous might be a better word. And since you have burned approximately 1000 calories on this 10+ mile run, you feel quite justified in replenishing. All of this is good until you get to Sunday when you don't run and you are still hungry, or Monday when you run a short run and you are STILL hungry, or Tuesday... well you get the picture. Many people actually gain fat when they train for a marathon for this very reason. This has been my problem in the past.

I was a tiny little 128 pounds when I started training for my first marathon. I finished that marathon at 133 (no it was not 5 pounds of muscle gain... the ole pants were tighter!) I started my second one at 135 (you don't stop eating just because you stop training apparently) and finished that one around 138. I'm starting this one around 143 pounds as of today. This time I am diligently watching what I eat especially during the week. I allow myself a little more nourishment on Saturday but not a lot. I have now taken the only seemingly positive part of training for a marathon away from myself!

So why do I do this to myself? I must be crazy! That is the only valid conclusion.

(oh and so is my husband... I'm dragging him into all this craziness as well)

Still alive

I'm not really sure if anyone reads this anyone but I seem to occasionally get hits. So maybe somebody wonders.

I am currently trying to become accustomed to being a single parent during the week. Interesting for me since I never gave birth. I was thrown into being a parent to a teenager when I got married. She was living with her mom at the time but she did spend a lot of time with us.

Recently her mom and stepdad decided to move to Huntsville. My stepdaughter was pretty adament about staying in the Spring school district so her mom agreed to let her live with us. Now my husband has been traveling pretty much 100% for the past few months and I am suddenly responsible for taking care of his daughter. She's not a difficult teenager so I feel pretty lucky. However for a person who had been single for 39 years getting married was a rough transition much less having a kid living with me. MUCH LESS taking care of her by myself during the week!

I would say that getting used to sharing my space with other people has been the hardest thing for me. I had roommates in college but that ended in 1992 when I moved to Houston. Between January of that year and sometime around September of 2005, I lived alone except for about a year and a half total when two different friends rented a room from me. And in those situations, no one expected me to clean up after them. They were pretty much self sufficient.

Slowly but surely I'm growing more accustomed to my new life. My stepdaughter really is great... mostly my problem is my own anxiety about wanting to make sure I make the right decisions. She is quite mature for her age so occasionally I forget that she is still only 14 and does need guidance. I am doing fine but I lose sleep sometimes thinking about the issues of a kid entering high school. Most parents get a few years to have to worry about boys, drugs, drinking, etc.

I am aware that I'm not the first person to get married and suddenly have a teenager to deal with. That doesn't necessarily help me sleep any better knowing that I'm not alone. I still have to worry about the other kids that she hangs out with and hope that they are good kids too. I believe we have been lucky so far and I hope that continues.... Until she is about 30! Anyone think I have a shot of that?? Well here's hoping!

Oh... did I mention that she is very cute, has a tiny little figure, and is very popular. I probably won't sleep tonight either!

Too busy to blog? The horror!

My last post was about my involvement with the Carnival Ticket Sales Committee of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. That was pretty much my whole life up until last weekend. I managed to meet my goal on the carnival ticket committee and surpassed it by quite a lot! I was able to "badge" on my committee and then "buckle." To badge for us (as a rookie) I had to sell $3000 worth of carnival tickets. I was able to accomplish this before the HLSR BBQ started.

Buckling as a rookie means selling at least $5500. When you buckle, you actually get a buckle. This thing is huge! I'm really not quite sure what to do with it! Wearing it is NOT an option. Any suggestions?

Shameless plug for my HLSR Half Price Carnival Ticket Sales effort

I got myself into a committee doing carnival ticket sales for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. I think I envisioned being put behind a table where people flocked to me to buy these tickets.... This is not quite how it is. Each meeting is a big rally for the committee members to find sales leads and showing us how. Now if I had wanted to do this sort of sales, I would have gone back into recruiting. I wasn't all that good... However, I have made the commitment so I am determined to get motivated and find some buyers anyway I can. So here I am posting about it in case anyone reads this!

If you live in the Houston area or plan to come here for the rodeo. I have LOTS of half price carnival tickets to sell! Think about it... you can buy the same amount of tickets for half the price from me than if you wait until the carnival starts. If you are interested and want to buy online, go to

https://secure.rodeohouston.com/carnivaltickets/?HLSR=1116630

You will then be taken to a secure website that has you fill out address and payment info. The carnival tickets will be charged to you and sent to your home. It's as easy as that!

If you would prefer to buy them from me, send an email to cbatte@yahoo.com and I will figure out a way to get them to you personally.

Now go forth and buy carnival tickets!

Texas capitalism starting young!

The husband and I were driving through my friend's neighborhood yesterday. There are tons of kids in this neighborhood so it's not uncommon to see one of them with a little lemonade stand or something. Yesterday was no different or so I thought... We saw a little boy who was about 6 or 7 with a table close to the road.

I assumed he was selling something so I had the husband back up to see what he was selling. I rolled down my window and asked if he was selling something. He said, "Yeah... well sorta..." Hmmmm.... I thought. No lemonade, no goldfish, no koolaide, 3 pop guns. He then said, "I'm letting people shoot guns!" We said we were a little too busy to stop but gave him a dollar to help fund his little business. I rolled up my window and the husband drove away. As we drove away, the husband (the gun freak) was laughing and said "That's awesome! He has his own gun range!!" Only in Texas!

As a side note...

I have found that I can keep the dog quiet for hours on end if I push her bed by the fire and give her the squeaky duck. If I thought this would work on children, I might consider having one!

(There really is a fire... Just didn't capture it so well with the point and shoot)

And the 4th largest city shuts down!

You would have thought that there was an impending ice age from the way the news anchors were talking. Yes, we had some ice in Houston! Yes, most of us are not prepared to drive in icy conditions. Yes, the city doesn't have enough equipment to de-ice or sand the roads (this does only happen about 1 day every 3 years so no reason to be overly-prepared) However could we see SOMETHING else on the news? There has got to be something else happening in the world. Apparently when there is ice in Houston nothing else happens in the world!

Now I will admit that I worked from home today... I really don't have the vehicle that is well equipped for any ice at all and my driving skills in such weather is lacking as well. Mostly I didn't want to the other idiots to hit me with their stellar driving skills. As much as I would love to have the POS Miata totaled, it's not a good time for us to buy another vehicle so I am trying to keep it alive as long as possible.

It was nice working from home for a change. I've never really done it before. I always thought I would be distracted by the dog, TV, chores, or anything else other than work. What I discovered was I get more done at home. I forgot that daytime TV bores me and didn't realize that the dog pretty much sleeps all day. As for the chores, apparently work is preferable to that.

It was really nice sleeping a little later... getting up to run/walk on the treadmill for 45 minutes... and still get to start work around 7am. I was able to work long enough to make up for the two days in a row that we were sent home early! I gotta do this more often! Wonder if my manager will buy the argument? I'll keep you posted.

Weird day

Saturday was a weird day for me... I went from one extreme to another as far as events for the day. Unfortunately my grandfather passed away last week and his funeral was Saturday morning. He was a very good man who live a long wonderful life and I have accepted the fact that it was time for him. Not that this makes it much easier butI have faith that he is in a better place now. The funeral was just south of Dallas which got the cold weather much earlier than Houston did. It was a near freezing, rainy, and sad event.

We left around 1pm or so that day so when we got back around 4pm, we decided to go to the wedding of an old coworker of the husband. The lady getting married and many of the guest were people he has known since he moved to Houston about 15 years ago so I hated making him miss this wedding. The couple getting married both grew up in the 5th Ward in Houston and both are proud of their roots and what they have accomlished since leaving "the hood" (their words not mine). The wedding was held at a very old and I'm sure historic 5th Ward Baptist church and lets just say that we stood out in the crowd.

I can somewhat relate to the bride beyond the fact that we have the same first name. She is about 48 years old and this is her first marriage. I married recently for the first time at the age of 39. This is where we departed... she wanted to have the wedding of a lifetime! It was HUGE! I don't know how many where invited but I'm guessing about 250 to 300 were at the reception. We couldn't really see well at the wedding but apparently she milked the procession for all she could. It took her forever to get down the aisle! :o)

The reception was a stark contrast to the wedding. It was held at the Parador in the museum district of Houston. For those not from here, this place is not cheap. Both had really made something of themselves and overcame the conditions that many say are holding them back. I was happy to be there because I have a lot of respect for individuals who truly overcome and succeed.

So I went from a cold, rainy, sad event to a warm and joyous occassion all in one day. Not often that you do that.

Duck Bully

My house backs up to a "lake" although I would call it a large pond. We have somewhere around 40 ducks on the lake that love to come visit me when I go outside. The husband likes to feed them from the backyard and they remember us! This morning I was out in the backyard and all of the ducks came up to the backyard. I wasn't out there to feed them but I do like to go to the back to watch them. Ducks are pretty amusing animals in general.

Today, however, we had one duck who is trying to be the neighborhood duck bully. He was picking on all of the other ducks. Before you comment and say that he was trying to "impress the ladies," I will tell you that this duck was an equal opportunity bully. He fought with the male ducks and female ducks alike. I attempted to get a picture or video of our duck bully but he wisely would stop every time I would snap a picture. I will attempt to post a picture in the future.

Less UFO's?

I read an article today about several United Airlines employees spotting what they believe to be a UFO at O'Hare airport last month. The event itself didn't really concern me so much as it made me think. I remember when I was a kid that it seemed like there were a lot more UFO sightings than there are now.

What does this mean? Are there less UFO's now? Have the UFO's gone stealth on us?? Do we have less crazy people in the world these days? These are the things I ponder while trying to get my work done...

Anyone have any answers?

Ew! No pics!!

Not that I actually think anyone reads this but I decided not to completely gross out anyone who happens by. I saw the pics of the post-Christmas big kill and I have decided to spare the world!

The husband brought home 4 deer (doe actually because as he puts it, "you can't eat the horns!") While I'm not one to actually kill anything myself (I cried and had to pull over once when I accidentally hit a dog), but I do enjoy benefiting from his love of hunting. I see venison tamales, venison jerky, and ground venison in my near future! Yum!