Merry Christmas

A brief update because it has been a while since the last posting. Matt and I are getting ready for some much needed vacation this week. But, since Matt is on call 24/7, we will be satisfied if he does not have to spend the night at a building for the holidays.

It is currently snowing and quite windy as I look outside. Makes me appreciate not having a driveway to shovel. We had a Christmas get-together with my family yesterday, and my sister planned it very well. Since yesterday was also my mother's birthday, we had two occasions for the price of one and seven hours of food and family. The boys got a Wii for Christmas, so we tried out some of the games. Connor beat me in tennis 2-1, but it was a lot of fun. I even woke up with a sore bicep this morning.

I can hear Matt downstairs dealing with paperwork for the office and Goliath is sleeping next to me as I type. Overall, a pretty low key afternoon, but all that should change in a few hours when we take Cole to see Sweeney Todd. Matt and I saw the stage production a few weeks ago, but I cannot resist the Burton/Depp duo. It should be fun. Maybe we will come home and watch our copy of Sleepy Hollow. But what I really want to see is the 1945 version of Christmas in Connecticut, a holiday classic!

Merry Christmas everyone

November wrap up

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I haven't posted anything since my surgery in October. What have I been doing? I've been breathing!!

Anyway, here is a run down on all the haps for Matt and myself (plus Goliath) since then:

Matt ran the Columbus Marathon on about 2 hours of sleep

Goliath had surgery to remove fatty tumors from his little tummy

Carved pumpkins with the Youth group at church

Bought a bunch of candy and then no one stopped at our house on Halloween

Went to see Spamalot at the Ohio Theatre (quite funny)

Matt was given the Swimming award at his triathlon team dinner

I knitted Matt a sweater vest

Actually watched the entire OSU vs. Michigan game (I think the last time I watched, Mike Tomczak was playing)

Matt learned he isn't very good at playing Halo 3

Had Thanksgiving at my parent's house

My nephew Brendan asked me to make his traditional sweater with a star for his Christmas present

My back went out just before Thanksgiving (thanks to my chiropractor and acupuncturist for fixing me)

Watched a local presentation of Nunsense (I fell asleep)

Can't bring ourselves to get out the Christmas decorations

Have become addicted to watching Chuck, Pushing Daisies, and Dirty Sexy Money (the strike must end soon!)

Matt spent the night at one of his buildings to be on Fire Watch during his Thanksgiving vacation

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If you are expecting a Christmas gift from us, we need to know what you want. Email me or call us. You know who you are. If you need ideas for us, Matt needs money for new uniforms for the team and money for clothes for work. If I think of anything else, I'll let you know. I am always happy with Whole Foods gift cards, it's boring, but it is something I will actually use.

Ouch, my face hurts

Image from flickr "HDR-procedure-6.jpg"

So, it's 2:00 in the morning and I can't sleep. I had the surgery to repair my deviated septum sixteen hours ago and for the most part things are going fine. I am just so packed in that I cannot breathe through my nose, which explains the sleeping problem, also I have to get up every four hours to take pain medication.

From what everyone told me, the procedure when fine. There were a few problems getting the iv line established. They tried both hands twice and then finally put it in my right arm. That was no fun, feels like a mosquito bite my eye! Next thing I knew I was waking up and in a bit of a panic. I wanted water desperately and I was so cold my teeth were chattering. It did not take too long for the nurse to take me to my final recovery spot where Matt was able to sit with me. He tried to cheer me up as he fed me cheese crackers, but I still think I cried.

Once home, I got in bed and slept most of the day. My mom stopped by in the afternoon and she, Matt, and Goliath all stared at me while I ate a piece of toast. They finally quit when I told them they were freaking me out. Granted, I think Goliath was much more interested in the toast than me. After she left, I got in one more nap, had dinner and a movie, and haven't been able to sleep since.

I am happy at how little change I see on the outside. My nose is stretched a bit due to the packing and splints. Plus, the skin around it is shiny, sort of like people that have had too many face lifts. There is just the faintest hint of bruising under my eyes. It just looks like I haven't been sleeping well. I expected there to be more. Like the time I was about 4 or 5 and managed to get in the middle of a fight at the local swimming pool. Both boys swung at the same time, and I got two black eyes.

In 7 hours, I get the splints removed from my nose. Can you tell I'm anxious? Hopefully it won't hurt to have them removed. Maybe it will feel like the time when I was little and shoved M&M's up my nose. Mom had to removed them with tweezers, remember that Michelle? Oh the memories...

Go Tribe!

I am not much of a sports fan (I take books to hockey games, sorry Matt), but I was excited to wake up this morning and find out the Cleveland Indians are one game away from making it to the World Series. Why, do you ask, would someone with no interest in sports care? I mean, I make it a point to go to the market during Ohio State football games. One simple reason, my dad.

I have so many memories of growing up and having the Indians games playing in the background on television. The first professional baseball game I ever went to was a Cleveland Indians double-header. This was back when Municipal Stadium was the playing field. Michelle and I played a game of counting the color of cars on the long drive from Bellefontaine to Cleveland. I cannot begin to tell you why I remember all of this. I don't even remember if they won that day, but it has stuck with me nearly 25 years later. My dad was raised a Cleveland fan, and for better or worse, it has been passed to me as well (what little there is).

My sister and her son Connor are probably staying up 'til all hours to watch the games. I can just hear Connor yell with each run and out. Good thing he doesn't have school on Friday in case they win. I also know my friends Michael and Marlys are rooting for the Tribe and what a lovely wedding gift it would be for them if Cleveland beats Boston. Good thing game 3 will be in Colorado or we would have to move the wedding and reception to Jacob's Field.

So what else can I say, Go Tribe!

Ten

Last Thursday Matt and I marked our first decade of marriage. How did we celebrate such a momentous occasion? In multiple ways and typical Butterworth South style.

Matt started by going into work on his day off for a meeting. I then had to teach a yoga class, but caught up with him for lunch. We did have plans to go to the cheapy movies (only $1 before 6:00), but instead watched episodes of Pysch and Burn Notice that we had recorded weeks before. But the fun did not end there. We celebrated throughout the weekend. On Friday, I scheduled surgery to repair my deviated septum and the rest of the day was spent doing laundry in preparation for our big trip to...Cleveland.

Whenever we told people that we were going to Cleveland for the weekend, we received the strangest looks. I realize it is not a hotbed of tourism, but we had a good reason for going. We stayed in a delightful bed & breakfast in Ohio City, a small community located next to downtown Cleveland just over the Cuyahoga river. The community web site touts Ohio City as an area in the midst of restoration and provides a walking tour to see the classic architecture in the area. Needless to say, it was not all we hoped it would be, Ohio City must still be in the beginning phase of restoration. We did visit their large community market and it was a sight to see. Stall after stall of fresh produce in one building, homemade cakes and pastries in another. There were also dozens of butchers with their own areas and once I caught sight of a whole small suckling pig I announced I was ready to leave. I am perfectly happy with my soy sausage patties, thank you very much.

Dinner was spent at the Great Lakes Brewing Company, known for their finely crafted micro brews. Considering neither Matt nor I drink beer, the full experience was lost on us. We were content to eat our food and walk back to our room where we prepared for the main event, the Genesis concert later that night. Thanks to Matt's brother Mark, we had tickets to the show. Matt has been a fan for nearly 20 years and was looking forward to the event. A friend of mine saw the show in Columbus, so I already knew that it was going to be good. We were younger than most of the crowd, but still old in so many ways. About halfway through the show, my ears were ringing and I could still hear the music, but couldn't really understand Matt when he talked to me. Understated as always, Matt did not yell or cheer. He sat through most of the show and a few times I could see him mouthing the words to the songs. He told me he had a good time and I believe him.

The next morning, we had a fantastic breakfast of fresh fruit, pumpkin bread, and french toast. We also met the other couple staying in the house and found out that they had also come into town for the Genesis show. They were from Canada, just outside of Toronto and that led to hockey talk. The best part was when they did not realize that Columbus had an NHL team. Go Blue Jackets! Maybe more people would know about them if they actually had a winning season. And to complete the meal, they commented about leaving soon so that they could get home shortly after the dog sitter left. I think Matt and I met our future selves.

Cheating death, a lighthearted tale

Just a few things have happened since my last posting. Goliath and I met several new neighbors when a gang of 40 ducks congregated around our house. At first, I saw them when I was going to get the mail and they trapped me by the garage. One duck is not intimidating, but 40 is a different story. They then moved around the front door to the back yard where they hung out for thirty minutes or so. I took Goliath out to see them and was a little concerned he would go bonkers and chase them, but all it took was for one rogue duck to charge him and he hid behind me the rest of the time. I think the stripes on their wings are their gang colors. Ever since, they come by once a week to scare the locals and patrol their turf. We stay away from them, and they leave us alone.

But this is not the only story for my theme. Wednesday, I came home from lunch to let Goliath out and found he had eaten about 3 ounces of dark chocolate that I had forgotten in the office. I called the vet and told them he wasn't sick and seemed to be acting normal, so they told me to keep an eye on him and bring him in if he had problems controlling his muscles. The only thing I noticed was that he was extremely thirsty. After Matt got home for the day, we began to see a change in the pup's behavior. He was bouncing off the walls and constantly looking for food. I could understand the hyper activity from the caffeine in the chocolate, but what was up with the hunger? Was there pot in the chocolate as well? Goliath was buzzed for the rest of the night and finally calmed down around 11:00. Thinking the worst was over, we were not prepared for the two days of vomiting and detox that followed. Most times, there was enough of a warning, but the office (the scene of the crime) took a hit. We have been spot cleaning.

While all of this was going on, I had gone to see an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist to find out why I could not get rid of a sinus infection that I have had since May. I found out that I have a badly deviated nasal septum and will most likely need surgery, but there were some other things that raised red flags, so I have been taking some tests. I had a CT scan on Wednesday, allergy tests on Thursday, and Monday I have an ultrasound on my thyroid. I don't know what the CT scan results are, but I did learn something from the allergy tests. After 25 fun injections in my left arm, I now know that I have a problem with mold, grasses, and tree pollen. Luckily, I am not doing any more yard work because of the condo, so I am a little better off. But, our basement does not have much in the way of ventilation, so I have noticed a little mold development in the half-bath down there. We have obtained a dehumidifier, thanks to my friend Ginny, and I check on the area every day. We have also decided to take off our shoes when we come in so that no extra allergens get spread on the carpet. But the most surprising results were the animals allergens, namely the two photos above...feathers and DOG! When she mentioned that the dog was pretty high, I just smiled and thought, I'll stay congested. But it appears that the mold is the big trigger and Goliath just adds that something special to my sinus passages. I have since taken to sweeping and dusting more than once a week and vigilantly vacuuming the furniture and bed. Matt and I both agreed that if we thought the chocolate bender was bad, it would be worse trying to keep Goliath off the bed. Yes, we are weak. For proof re-read the duck story above.

Freecycle...how much do I love thee, let me count the ways

Since we have moved, Matt and I have been walking around a few items in our garage that we just don't know with what to do. First there was the piano that used to sit in our family room, but now has no place in the condo; and the reel mower that we will never have to use again. Then there was the patio set that we used as a dining table because we found that when you actually used it as a patio set, the table would rust since it was not protected. These things took up residence in our much smaller garage and proved a source of irritation until I remembered my old friend Freecycle.org. I was reminded of this site in one of the blogs that I read and thought I should go check out the postings of what people wanted.

My first discovery was a woman that needed a piano for the organization she runs for the blind. After a quick email, she had a truck scheduled and ready to pick up the piano in days. I then placed a posting for the mower and was stunned when nearly 2 dozen people in the Columbus area emailed me to ask for it. I felt bad having to turn so many people down, but the mower now has a new home. The patio set was my last hurdle. The table is rusted from being out in the rain and I thought no one would want it, so I waited nearly two months to post it. I made my post this morning and at lunch already had people responding. A gentleman let me know he would be happy to get it tomorrow and could fix it up, so bye-bye patio set, enjoy your new life.

It makes me feel great that these items are getting a second chance that they may not get if we just donated them to the local thrift store. Matt told me of one that will take donations, but if the items do not sell in a few months, they go to the land fill. But with Freecycle, you are subscribed to a group discussion of people in your area that are constantly posting items to be given away and even requesting items from the group. Check it out for yourself.

Happy Birthday and Erin Go Braugh

We have celebrated a fair number of birthdays lately. My step-mother-in-law Betty, Matt, and our nephews Connor, Cole and Brendan all have birthdays within about a week of each other. While Betty celebrated out in Las Vegas, we had my parents and the O'Brien clan over for a small gathering last Saturday. To add to the chaos, we were also getting some furniture delivered when everyone showed up. The couch we had ordered for the office made a noble effort to fit into the room, but in the end it just sat in the hallway looking for a new home (it would not fit through the door). Much to Matt's dismay, we had to place it in the living room, and now the furniture in both rooms do not match. He is learning to live with it.

This weekend, we had a lot going on. We attended the Dublin Irish Festival where Matt got to try his hand at hurling (see photo above), we watched an Irish dance contest, got to listen to the Columbus Police & Fire Pipe & Drum, watched the Gaelic Football National Championship and a Hurling Tournament. All in 90 degree heat and high humidity. It was okay in the shade, but you took a beating in the sun. Matt wanted to wear something festive for the occasion and pulled out a bike jersey that had a British flag design on it. I told him he might get beat up for wearing a British flag at the Irish festival. He wisely changed his mind.

As I write this, Matt is participating in another triathlon and I am getting ready to go to a library conference. Hopefully, this will be our last travel weekend until we head out for some races in September. We need the break, plus Matt has threatened me with a training schedule for a race I agreed to ride in next month. Pray that I do not fall off the bike.

More lessons learned...

Just a quick update.

My left side has taken a beating this week due to "user error" on the bike. Tuesday, I had a collision with a guardrail while I was trying to avoid getting hit by a car making a right-hand turn. Just a few bruises, my pride was damaged the most.

This morning's ride found me falling off the bike completely. Luckily, I landed in the grass. This I cannot blame on a car: I have started using clipped pedals and biking shoes. When I came to a stop, I had already released my right foot and was getting ready to place it on the ground when I started to tip over to the left. One quick squeak came out of me and I fell over bike and all. My left shoe did come out of the clip, and the trailer with Goliath stayed upright. Matt had ridden past me and told me he was stunned when he turned around and I was sprawled on the grass.

I'm off to yoga class to work out the kinks.

I'll report more happenings later when we get back from the Dublin Irish Festival tonight. Knowing my luck, Matt will hit me in the head with a ball during the hurling (it's a stick and ball sport) hands-on demonstration.

Lessons learned behind the handlebars

Image courtesy of FreeFoto.com

Matt and I are officially moved into our new home and are slowly making adjustments and getting used to new routines. I have managed to run into every sharp edge and corner of all of our furniture, walls and counters. I now sport a network of cuts and bruises that don't seem to want to heal. As a matter of fact, I gained a new one this morning when I was trying to get past Goliath in the kitchen. I scraped up against the counter hard enough that the cut managed to developed through two layers of fabric. Matt has yet to take an injury.

Anyway, on to my topic of the day.
I have been making my commute via my bicycle instead of my car for most of the last two weeks. It is a fairly easy trip, just three miles north and usually takes me twenty minutes to complete. My first trip went quite well. I made it over the two big hills without much of a problem and was able to take a bike path all the way, so no collisions with cars. The ride home was a different matter. It was 20 degrees hotter and about 1,000 percent more humid. I also dropped my bike off at the local bike shop for a tune up, a new seat, and a cargo rack. I then had to walk the three miles home which took the better part of an hour due to the heat. Luckily, this was the worst of it. I picked up my bike a few days later and continued my casual commute. I have since learned a few things about life on a bike:

Stamped concrete, while it looks pretty, is murder on a bike. No gel seat can soften the impact.

Runners and walkers wearing iPods tend to weave on the trail, start shouting you are going to pass them and ring your bell (mine is a lovely orange bell).

If you are looking for an easy way to peel a hard-boiled egg, just carry it with you on a bike ride. All that bouncing breaks the shell into a million pieces that are almost impossible to brush off.

When your husband, the triathlete, comments that the hill isn't that bad, just smile as you are trying to breathe and your legs are shaking because you were foolish enough to keep up with him.

You can never have too much water, no matter how short the ride.

Try not to lose the keys to your bike lock. You will be forced to rush out and purchase a new one.

Riding up hills with a dog in a bike trailer is almost as bad as keeping up with a triathlete.

When you have to watch the Tour de France every day in July, you develop a whole new understanding of how out of shape you really are.

What did you do today?

Today would have been any other day at the office except for one thing, it is national Take Your Dog To Work Day. As you can see in the photo above we had a nice turnout at the office. Goliath was one of 52 dogs who came in today. I was not quite sure about doing this, but I figured if it did not work out, I could always take him home. I am happy to say, he made it the entire day, but really pushed to go home in the last hour. He will sleep well tonight and dream of large biscuits.

Swim, Bike, Run...oh my

Well, Matt's first race of the season is behind us. We had a busy weekend preparing, enjoying, and reflecting on our time at Maumee Bay State Park. We started off on Saturday morning with a 5-mile walk downtown to get us all moving around and help wear us out so that we could fall asleep around 8:00 that night. We enjoyed the cookie from the little neighborhood bakery, the sites of the various sculptures on the city streets, and watching Goliath chase squirrels in the park. What we weren't expecting was for Goliath to fall face first into a pond. We were strolling through the park when we came to a large pond surrounded by an elevated sidewalk. The top of the pond was covered in green algae, so you could not see into it. Goliath strolls right up to the edge to check it out and I cautioned Matt not to let him too close. Matt, assured me that Goliath would not jump in and the next thing we know, he had gone in head first and disappeared under the surface. Within seconds, his little head came up and Matt was on his knees pulling him out. All we could do was laugh as Goliath staggered around from the shock.

Sunday morning had us starting out at 4:00 in the morning for the trip to Lake Erie and we thought it might rain on and off for most of the race. Luckily, it stopped raining shortly after we arrived at 7:00, but the muggy heat took over. I would have preferred the rain. This was the first time we have been to Maumee Bay and I must say it is a lovely state park. The bugs are huge, but the grounds are wonderful with plenty of bike paths, dunes, and more importantly a swim lake, so you can avoid Lake Erie when the water does not look good.

Matt met up with several of his teammates and we left him alone to get prepared, but caught up with him shortly before the start of the race. There were over 500 participants for the various races and Matt competed in a field of 150, finishing 74th. He looked great coming out of the water and I could tell that all those hours of swim practice paid off. Matt used to look exhausted coming out of the water. This time, he flew right past us on his way to the transition area to get on his bike. He then was able to navigate his way around a small bike pile-up to start his second leg, where he averaged around 20 mph. Once more, we caught up with him as he began his 10K run and he took the time to say "hello." By this time, it was very hot and humid and Goliath and I grabbed shade wherever we could find it. Considering all that he had done, I was surprised to see Matt ran an 8:41 pace, but I don't think he was happy about it. Oh well, he has 5 more races this summer to improve his time. The Sunday after we move, we journey to Caesar Creek State Park. We should be able to sleep in until 5:00 that day!

What does a week's worth of food look like?

Photo from bigfoto.com

In one of the blogs that I read, there was a mention of the book "The Hungry Planet" where a series of photographs from around the world are taken of families with their food for the week (see a sample of photos here). It is really amazing to see what other cultures are eating and even more shocking to see what they are paying ($68.53 for what appears to be a family of 12 in Egypt!). What is disturbing is the amount of processed foods and sodas that can be found in many of the pictures. So my challenge to you is the next time you go to the market, unload your groceries and take a picture, then email it to me with the cost. I will do the same and post my results later this week. Now is the time for farmer's markets, so go out and buy local ingredients instead of ones shipped hundreds of miles away. You will be supporting your community and helping to cut down on oil consumption used to power the boats, planes and trucks used to haul all of those items. Remember, even the smallest action makes a difference. And don't forget to take your own bags for those great finds at the farmer's market instead of collecting more plastic along the way (you can do this at the regular market too)!

Oh, what fun

The winner for the biggest laugh of my day goes to this commercial Matt just email to me about what it takes to be a triathlete (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3S0wu4Zbfk). He said it would be a great way for me to help him train. Of course I said yes, anything to help him succeed.

Sigh.....

I have been neglectful in my postings for more than a month. Many times I thought of entries, but just never got around to it. The truth is, I am wiped out and a little melancholy. I have been standing outside on the deck with Goliath today, just looking around at all the beautiful trees, shrubs, and flowers Matt and I have taken care of these several years and it makes me a little sad. The reason -- we are moving. At the end of April, someone made an offer on our house and we quickly found a new place to live that will be more suitable for us. The first week of July we will be moving into our condo in Dublin, located about 3 miles from my parents. I am excited for the change and look forward to many things. We won't have to worry about mowing the yard, getting the siding replaced after a nasty storm, and no more figuring out what I am going to do with the deck. I will be able to walk to work every day, even though Matt is concerned about what I will do in foul weather. I assured him that for 4 years I walked myself around campus at Akron in some of the worst weather I have ever experienced. We will be moving into a smaller space (so that means less energy for heating and cooling), there is a small stand of woods and a creek behind us (for wildlife to explore), and for the first time, we will have a dining room. I have spent so much time packing, going to inspections, setting up a new loan, and arranging for the movers, that I haven't taken any time to look around. We are leaving the first house we ever purchased. Here is where I watch the geese on the pond behind us, and where I wait anxiously for the hummingbirds to return each year to the honeysuckle over the deck. This is also the place I have celebrated holidays, birthdays, and the arrival of a little puppy that would change our lives. It is just walls and carpet, but it is my memories that I now have to pack up. I know that the most important things are going with me and wherever Matt and Goliath are, I am home. Maybe it is the muscle I pulled in my back yesterday, but the whole thing is making me weepy. Yet, I have a new chapter ahead, and I am looking forward to what comes next.

Earth Day is April 22, how are you going to celebrate?

My mother has many nicknames and labels for me. Just this weekend, she referred to me as "Miss Free Speech," but one of my favorites is "Social Activist." I have realized that I am the radical of my family and most likely Matt's as well. One of my biggest causes is saving natural resources. I pester my parents about shutting off unneeded lights and I'm looking for a home closer to the office so that I can walk or ride my bike instead of driving. But one of my favorites (and one that Matt rolls his eyes at) is hanging the laundry outside to dry. Just my way of trying to be more responsible.

Now Earth Day is approaching and I am wondering what else I can do to take another step towards "no impact." I am investigating under the counter composters instead of running the disposal (I would go with a yard composter, but we are hoping to move into a condo soon). I have committed myself to taking the stairs instead of an elevator; I work on the 4th floor so I should get some strong legs from this. I am bringing a large thermos of water to work instead of using the disposable cups provided by our cafeteria. Plus, I am going to take my canvas bags to more than just the market to avoid coming home with more plastic (We use my parent's plastic bags as our garbage and dog waste bags). So think about what you can do, it does not have to be big. How about going to the library for books and movies instead of buying them, or buy them used? Replace your incandescent light bulbs with compact flourescents and shut off lights when you leave the room. Just one Mom, please! For more ideas, visit http://earthday.gov, and email me with what you decide to do. I would love to hear from you.

If you think one little change won't make a difference, think again. Matt and I were talking this morning about our neighborhood. Today is trash day. We have one of those huge city garbage cans into which I could easily fit. Every week our neighbors load those cans to bursting with the lids popping up because they are so full. We put our trash can out most weeks, but if we miss a week, it is no big deal. It usually contains one grocery bag of garbage and a smaller bag of Goliath's contribution. The bags barely cover the bottom of the can. How can we have so little? We recycle everything we can. So just imagine if one more person on our street did that every week. What a difference it would make.

Stinkin' 5K Race

As you might have guessed from the title of today's entry, we have a race coming up this weekend, and no, I am not happy about it. You know when you have a project to do and you do anything and everything you can think of except work on that project? Well, that is where I am. I have been doing yoga, taking various fitness classes, going on walks, mowing the yard, everything but running. To be honest, I did run about 1.5 miles a few weeks ago, but lost interest quickly. Now on Saturday, I am going to be downtown with all the happy runners wondering why I signed up. Matt will be competing in the half-marathon portion of the race, so at least I will get to see that. The upside -- this cannot be any worse than the marathon relay we did in September. Plus, I finally got an appointment with an acupuncturist next weekend, so maybe he can fix the problem I keep having with my knee and foot whenever I run. At least I could be healthy to walk in the Race for the Cure event in May. Aunt Martha, that would be for you!

My Husband Went To Camp and Family Came To Town

Last week was quite busy at the Butterworth South compound. Matt had Team Training Camp which entailed him swimming every morning and every night he had some other sort of training, lecture, or testing. Plus a 3-4 hour bike ride on Wednesday. The picture above is him getting his sodium testing done. Evidentially, Matt loses more sodium than average during training and needs to replace it faster than most. Good thing he found this out. I am just surprised that he hasn't had problems in his past races. For more pictures from his Camp adventure visit his team web site at Human Powered Racing.

While Matt was in super training mode, I went into full librarian mode attending an Electronic Resources Management conference on Thursday and Friday. Don't pretend that you're not excited! Basically it was a bunch of librarians getting together to talk about how to deal with all the databases and electronic books and journals we purchase. Trust me, it is not fun. I spend most of my work day trying to fix problems because people cannot access resources. The best part of the whole conference was getting to see my friend Jim who is also one of my vendors.

Then Friday, Mark, Brenda, Andrew, and Alivia came down for a short visit. They were in town for a high school state basketball tournament game and spent the night with us. It is great to be able to catch up with all of them, but I have to laugh at how excited both kids are to see Uncle Matt. Wherever he goes, they want to follow. He has always had that affect on all the kids in our family. Alas, our visit was all to brief as they met up with friends at COSI downtown and then had to get back home so that Andrew could maintain his eating schedule to control his diabetes. Matt had a 10K race Saturday morning (results here). He finished 32nd in a field of 189 and I think he had his fastest pace yet.

So that is all I have for now. We have had a few more house showings, but no offers. It is still early and maybe the warm weather will bring out more interested buyers. At this point, I am just trying to keep everything tidy and my spirits up. I think Matt is looking forward to not finding me crying over the bathroom sink because I can't handle the stress.

Thanks to everyone that has written to me about the blog. Please continue to let me know what you think and I will talk to you soon.

Finally, something to do...

Not much has been going on with Matt and I lately. The weather has kept us in most of the time. Still, we have managed to get out to look at more houses, escape while ours has been shown, and of course Matt continues to train for his triathlons. But, finally this weekend the sun came out and we took Goliath for a nearly 3-mile walk along the river. It felt good to get out in the fresh air and run. Although Goliath tends to run in the zig-zag pattern along the trail and he tried to make friends with the young couple several yards in front of us. I think he was throwing off the guy's romantic vibe.

The Big Chill

Photo courtesy of bigfoto.com


Things have been pretty cold here lately. Luckily, Matt has been on top of keeping the driveway and walks all cleared for any prospective buyers. Unfortunately, I think the weather is keeping people away. Once is starts to warm up (come on 15 degrees!!) I hope people will be more willing to leave the house. On the upside, the house has been nice and warm and Goliath has not refused to go out even late at night when the wind is brisk. We had one hitch earlier this week when a brief storm came through the area on Tuesday. After a long commute, I came home to find out we had no power. Matt was already home and had some candles lit and the remote taps running at a steady drip. He was able to get through to the power company to find out that we were part of a small group (50 homes) that had lost power in the storm. By 7:00 that night, the power came back on and the house had only gone down to 59 degrees. By the time we went to bed, I reduced my four layers down to two and was quite warm once Goliath curled up beside me. Keep warm and please feel free to send a comment or message to us at any time!

Of sauce and saris

With the bitter cold, things have slowed down considerably and it was a perfect time for me to stock up on some goodies and curl up with some movies.

While Matt was out riding his bike and running over the weekend, I was making jar upon jar of tomato sauce for canning at my parent's house. I had purchased all the ingredients only a few days before we put the house up for sale, and realized too late that I could not take the chance of destroying the kitchen with gallons of sauce. The recipe said that it would make 6 pints; I ended up with 13 pints. Don't ask me how. We have sauce in the pantry and more in the freezer. Matt's idea of a quick meal is to throw together some pasta, sauce and veggies, so this is perfect for him.

My reward for all this hard work was an afternoon of movies. I have been watching a lot of Indian Bollywood and old episodes of Nero Wolfe mysteries. Quite the strange combination. Matt can handle the mysteries, but either falls asleep or leaves the room when I am watching Bollywood. I think the fact that they are in Hindi is what drives him away. He prefers not to read for his movie enjoyment.

So, stay warm and think of us as we go out again this weekend for another round of house hunting.

FOR SALE!

Yes, it has been a million years since I have posted anything, but we have been busy. On Tuesday night we officially put our house on the market. After I went through the house with a fine tooth comb and only had one panic attack, we signed all the paperwork to have the For Sale sign placed in the front yard. The next trick will be finding just the right place for the three of us. We have already looked at several places and have begun to narrow down the search. It looks like we will end up pretty close to downtown, enough that we could walk to the state house if we so desire. That would be perfect in the summer since there is an adult kickball league that plays on the state house lawn and I have always wanted to check out the games. See, there are already benefits.

Things were not looking so rosey earlier this week. Tuesday as I laid awake in bed at 4:00 in the morning, Matt tried to console me on his way to team training. He told me that the house looked great and I should just relax. I then proceeded to introduce myself to him since he had obviously never met me before. At work, my boss' response was "that can be pretty stressful and you don't handle stress well." And the hits keep on coming. Finally, Matt came home that evening to find me sitting in the family room with a glass of milk and a bag of Oreos. Most who know me realize that I have to be pretty upset to eat Oreos since they contain high fructose corn syrup and I am a firm opponent to that form of sugar. I had gotten myself into such a state of panic that I was ready to call the whole thing off. Then our realtor Brian showed up with his associate Linda and they said the house was "show ready" and in great shape. Once I handed over the key, I felt so much better. Matt later asked me why I didn't believe him when he said the house looked great. Now, I have never heard him say a negative thing about my appearance, cooking, or weight so I just figured he was being nice. My mistake.

New Year, new fun

We all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. On Christmas Day, my Dad captured a side of Goliath not many get to see. He looks pretty fierce, but actually he was in the middle of a yawn. He is not tough at all, just likes to think he is.

We were able to catch up with lots of family and friends and managed to get some painting done in our family room. This is by far the biggest room in our house and after two days and two gallons of paint, Matt and I were exhausted, but happy that it is finally done. For more than a year, I had a splotch of slate blue paint on the wall to see if we really liked the color. Many people told us that it might make the room too dark, so I finally gave up on the blue and we chose a light stone color. It looks almost white, so that is fine. It is now nice and bright in that room and since it is halfway in the ground, that can only be a good thing. Now I just have an extra gallon of paint hanging around. Luckily, this project went quite well considering neither of us was looking forward to it. The only incident was when I found a fresh drip of paint on the piano.

The news was not so good for what should have been simple oil changes on our cars. Matt had to have all the struts replaced on his car. At least we saved $100 with my work discount. My car was found to need a new air filter. The reason: a mouse had taken up residence in it. They showed me the old filter and told me the mouse was not at home when they pulled it out. What does this mean? We need to sweep out the garage and check a few items like Goliath's bike trailer. It also means that the boy should spend some time with me in the garage while I am cleaning it up. He can find anything if it means it would run from him. Don't get me wrong, I will not let him kill it. I just want it to get scared enough to find another neighborhood. Goliath managed to frighten away a little family of field mice that were living in our compost pile, so he can handle a mouse in his garage. If all else fails, maybe I should print out my Dad's picture above and those teeth should do the trick.