The "Project"

Have you ever noticed that no matter how much you love someone, as soon as you commit to a project with the them all bets are off? And you start to wonder if the life insurance you have in place would suffice for the amount of debt you've managed to accumulate???

I've had those thoughts today. I've thought about how easy it would be to let the sledge hammer slip and hit my beloved husband square on the noggin. His only saving grace is the immense enormity of his "love" that he sometimes shares with me. Although I sometimes wonder if Duracell stock would have the same affect......

We've decided to re-do our kitchen. This is a passing fancy we have had since we moved into this house 3 years ago. The kitchen is very outdated and the cabinets are comparable to prehistoric eras..... we actually found a couple of rat beds that were left over from when we first moved in......

"Do as I say" - that is his motto. "I will lead, you will follow." That is his creed. So after a huge realisation that we can not work together unless I follow any "ruling" he deems, we managed to strip the kitchen of its former self....

Tomorrow will bring a new day. But for now......dear lord give me strength........and pray the sledge hammer does not slip further than the wall......

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Thanksgiving is probably one of my most favorite days of the year. Even more so than Christmas. The reasoning for this is that on Thanksgiving no one is looking for a present. They are merely happy to be together and enjoying the simple things in life (not to mention lots of food and pie!) I will however be doing turkey day mostly healthy this year. Turkey; stuffing; peas; sauteed onions; and cranberry sauce. Simple, mostly healthy, and 100% good!

But I wanted to take a minute to give thanks......

I am thankful for my husband Bill; who gave me the strength to accept who I am and who makes me a better person just by being in my life. I am thankful for my health and for everyday that I wake to a new sunrise. I am thankful to have lived the life I have lived thus far; the good and the bad; because it made me who I am today. I am thankful for my family and for their perseverance through the hard times; and I pray for their healing and peace of mind. And I am thankful to have the understanding to know what is important, and to differentiate between what is real and what is imagined.

So many things to be thankful for that no way could they all be listed on this blog. But if a higher power does exist, He knows what is in my heart. And I find my peace in that knowing.....

Zoe & Zeus

Zoe is my rat terrier. She's 3. Zeus is my boxer. He's a little over 1. Zeus adores Zoe. Zoe tolerates Zeus. Zoe is a lap dog. Zeus is desperately trying to be a lap dog. Zeus is 65lbs; Zoe is only 10lbs.

Zeus fell asleep last night using Zoe as a pillow while they both lay on/near me. My better half snapped a pic of them. They are soooo cute!! I had to share...... just like a proud mom should.

Bike Ride = Therapy

Ever have one of those days when you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and no matter how many cups of coffee you have or how good your hair actually turned out, nothing goes right and everything irritates?? Well, this whole last week has been like that for me. Work has been awful; exercise practically non-existent; weight loss nil; and my attitude has absolutely sucked. Luckily though Bill didn't file divorce papers (that I know of)...... instead he guilted me into going for a bike ride with him today.

And it was awesome! And it was exhilarating. And everything that made me feel like crap disappeared and all I was left with was peace and repose and a great desire to keep riding even though my body wanted to quit.

And that is why I ride.

My first mountain bike ride

I've ridden old dirt roads. I've ridden loose gravel roads. How hard can mountain biking be, right?? Boy was I in for a rude awakening! I guess one can't fully appreciate the skill it takes to ride in the woods until you experience it yourself. And I for one do NOT have the skill.

My husband is a MTB'er at heart. He was an avid and great rider pre-me days when he lived in Maine. We have talked about doing it but both love road riding so it was just conversation in passing. Now that winter is creeping in, and road riding is on hiatus until spring (except for weekends) we decided to give it a go. Bill (my hubby) has an older Parkpre mountain bike that's just my size. So we cleaned it up, got new tires etc, and hit the trails.

HolyMackeral! Do I SUCK at it!!!! And its so scary!! There were drop offs and rocks and rolling hills.... the rolling hills I can sort of handle as long as they weren't steep desents, but most of the single track trail was down the side of a steep hill and I kept envisioning myself losing balance and careening down the "mountain". I managed to stay mostly vertical (only because I walked about 2 of the 7 mile trail) but I did kind of fall once when my back tire got too close to a tree stump and I was stressed from a series of rolling hills I had just cleared (a miracle) so I freaked and wobbled and went down. Jammbed my thumb. Still hurts like the devil but that was my only fall.

Right now my husband is so PUMPED to be mountain biking again and I am scared to death to get back out there. We are going to try an "easier" trail next time but this one was supposed to be simple enough. I am attaching a link of a rider on a trail similar to the one we were on. There are (I think) 4 "FATS" trails; the one we were on is called the "Skinny Loop". This guy in the video is doing the "Brown Wave" trail. The guy is a daredevil in my book so needless to say I took the trail considerably slower. It gives you the general idea..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoWyd_tUnBE
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Random Thought

In a way, crosswords do harm by cluttering up the mind with an aimless heap of unusual words selected purely for mechanical exigencies and having no well-proportioned relation to the needs of graceful discourse. ~H. P. Lovecraft

Sadly, I love crosswords......

Naive Wisdom - a poem

Broken promises lie scattered at my feet; an aching fills my empty heart.
Hopes which once were firmly grasped, lies have ripped apart.

Unanswered questions invade my mind; seeking answers never to find.
I close my eyes in anxious vain: never to trust again.

Naivete begets wisdom.

What is it with the color pink???? I hate the color pink! Or at least, I thought it did. I have always been the kind of gal who wears black and brown and blue, and various shades in between. I have been known to have some other earthy colors in my wardrobe, such as burnt orange, but pink was never one of them. It's a sissy color! A color for bimbos and girls who add 2 + 2 and come up with 5.

But in the last year or so, pink has kinda been speaking to me. So much so that I traded in an orange gym bag for a pink one. Did you hear me??? PINK! Its a soft pink, baby pink if you will, and sooo cute! Reebok brand with gray accents. And I have some dark pink wicking shirts, bordering the color of fuschia, and they don't clash with the bag.

I can't believe I am gushing about a pink gym bag...... I need therapy.