I ran a 10K last Saturday. My time was 1:02:47. I actually wanted to finish under an hour, but it wasn't meant to be. It was an off-road course, and it felt like it was mostly all up hill the whole way. J ran it with me, so I can honestly say that he pulled me along, or I would have finished alot slower than just over an hour. So thank you J, for pullling me along. Well, after the race was the awards ceremony. We hung around, listening to the times of the top placers. A friend of mine took second in her age group, and when I went to congratulate her, she was her usual negative self ("I could have run faster if blah blah blah". I stopped listening as soon as she went on her negative bender). Then my age group came around, and they named the third place finisher and her time was almost a full 3 minutes SLOWER than mine!!!! I wasn't going to say or do anything about it, as I wasn't so interested in the placings, I was just happy to have run it with my husband. J, on the other hand, said we should check the times and tell someone. I didn't get aroused by it until we went and checked the times, and sure enough, there it was, in black and white, the official finish times according to our chip times. So I went and talked to one of the race officials, they made the corrections, and the official results will be on the website.

 

Now I wanna run another race, and place in my age group so I can hear my name called out.

 

Petty, I know, but I'm just being honest.

 

 

 

more again later......

How sad. How very very tragically sad. I'm having some difficulty trying to comprehend the whole event, even as more information comes out about it, and about the sick man who killed all those people. I wonder not if it could have been prevented (no), but more about when the next one will occur.

 

Would gun controls have prevented this? No, I don't think so. It would have delayed it, but nothing would have stopped him. Seems like absent any firearms, he still would have wreaked havoc in some other way. Poison gas? Baseball bats? Pipe bombs? He wanted to harm others, he wanted to harm himself, he just used the most expedient form available to him.

 

Jim Jones used cool-aide

 

David Koresh used arson

 

Are going to ban cool-aide and matches? No. But we sure will have to listen to the rantings of the lunatic fringe of both sides of the argument pro and con for gun control. And we'll have to read about how the whole rest of the world thinks we're all gun-toting nut jobs.

 

I am not pro gun, I am not anti gun. I'm just saddened and alarmed by all this, and I don't know what the solution is.

 

I do know it's not a gun problem. Yes, a gun was used in the commission of this horrible thing, but it's an issue of mental health (or lack of it) of the individual who pulled the trigger.

Just my humble opinion.

 

May the families and friends of those killed find peace. They all are in my thoughts and prayers.

 

 

 

A google search for "redhead runway models 2006" found my blog in forth place.

 

It's funny, cause whoever typed in the seach DEFINITELY wasn't looking for me. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

 

 

 

more again later......

I love having lunch with my husband. It's another one in a long list of things I miss when he's gone. I enjoy lunching with others, but lunch with J is just different. Better.

 

It's because he makes me laugh. No one makes me laugh like this man. And it's been like this since for always. J takes it serious, this business of making me laugh. It's almost like he's out for his comedic PR when we're out to eat. He knows exactly what to say and how to say to elicit the exact raucous from the gut laughter. And trust me, the laughter comes. My stomach usually hurts before he'll relent and let me catch a breath.

 

And something else I like to do with J that I miss when he's gone: going to the movies. I went to two movies in the 8 months he was gone, we went to two movies just this past weekend. A movie popcorn combo was my dinner two nights in a row. Sitting in the theater with him is just one of those "things we do". We don't really have any other shared hobbies besides dinners out and movies. Except maybe bike rides.

 

He got his bike out of storage and boy oh boy, I'd forgotten what a beautiful bike it is. A friend of his describes it as the best looking bike in town, and in my very biased opinion, he's right. And I missed being a passenger on this gorgeouse chopper. We're gonna go for a ride this afternoon once he comes home from work. Tank top and shorts and SPF30, my official biker b*+Ch uniform. And a big 'ol smile on my face.

 

I've cooked more meals since J's been home than I probably cooked the whole time he was gone. Which is wonderful, because I enjoy cooking. I don't enjoy cooking and having my son turn his nose up at it. So for the majority of the time J is gone, our son subsists on a few staple go-to meals typical for a teen boy: pizza, pizza and then pizza. Oh, and maybe macaroni and cheese in there to mix it up once in  a while. I don't prefer American pizza, and cheesy overcooked pasta is not the culinary delight Southerners like to claim. Ian eats, that's for sure, but I don't often cook for him. J on the other hand, is a hearty lover of just about whatever I put down in front of him. I can expand beyond pizza and pasta with J.

 

Home cooked meals, dinners out, movies, bike rides. My baby's home.

 

 

more again later......

It's been a while since I last wrote. A busy month is behind me, and a few more months of business ahead.

 

J came back home from Afghanistan safe and sound. It's so great to have him home. When he walked in the front door, he saw the beginnings of the kitchen remodel. I knocked two big holes in the wall and arched them in. There's more to the remodel, but more about that later.

 

He looked good, standing there at the passenger terminal. He didn't think I'd be there for the three ring circus that was this particular soldier redeployment. I'm not a fan of it all, I prefer my reunions on a smaller and more private scale, but to the passenger terminal I went nonetheless. J was happily surprised, and I was once again in the arms of my Luvah Luvah. He trimmed down some, looked like he could use some sleep. Another deployment down. One to go.

 

J came home with a beautiful rug from this deployment. It's going to go in our bedroom. New rug worked out great for me, since, in addition to the kitchen remodel, I'm redecorating our bedroom, as well. J always likes whatever changes I make in the house; because it's all ususally done when he's deployed, he hasn't had a hand in the furniture selections, or their placement. Now that he's home, he'll definitely will have a hand in the design process. I think. Maybe I'm too much of a control freak when it comes to this.....

 

Last weekend we put together a shelving system for our storage shed. Last time I had to do that, J was deployed and it was my son Kyle who helped me assemble them. But it was far more enjoyable a time building the shelves with J. I'm hoping we work as well together again when we have to demo the kitchen. Not sure that's gonna be a great bonding experience, y'know what I mean?

 

The plan (the cunning cunning plan) is to have all these projects done by 1 July.  I'm being conservative with the time estimate. May go to August, but that's if things go real ugly. I don't envision things going that ugly, though.

 

Unplanned for and equally unbudgeted for, our heating and a/c unit crapped out on me. It's a three day job, so that should tell you something. This is not a cheap project. Fortunately, the crew doing the work is doing an outstanding job. You would not believe the horrors they pulled out from under my house, I'm actually relieved that this is all happening because in the long run, it's better for our health, better for our utility bill, and DEFINITELY better for resale, when that day comes.

 

Next will be to finish the kitchen. Jeez, what a mess. But how lovely it all will be when it's done. It's the getting it done part. Whew...I've got to get a few more ducks in a row (demo, drywall, electrician, flooring install, cabinet install, backsplash tiling) and it'll all be mahvelous. Simply mahvelous.

 

more again later.......