Playing catch-up...ketchup...catsup?

There are many things to talk about since my last blog entry (*cough* 4 months ago *cough* *cough*).

1. Ran my first 5k on April 16th. It was drizzling, in the upper 30s and miserable outside, but I did it. Then my kid did the fun run. As you can see, she was pretty excited about her ribbon.

2. My daughter turned 3 on April 19th. I have a preschool aged kid. hold me.


The cake I made. I think I'll stick to frosting next time.

3. ShankRabbit and I went to Las Vegas in May for our first real vacation since 2006. It was relaxing, fun, and holyhell HOT (not that I'm complaining. Spend October - April in Wisconsin and you too would be willing to sit on the surface of the sun if it meant warmth).

4. June was a blur and I can't remember what happened during that month. I know I was training for my first triathlon and really starting to freak out about it.

5. July went by even faster than June, but at least I can recall this one:

5a. We had a 4th of July gathering at our house. Our city's fireworks can be seen from our backyard, so we didn't have to go far for the show. Thanks to a wonderful brother-in-law with noise cancelling headphones, my kid enjoyed the fireworks without having to shove fingers in her ears. *Note to self: purchase a pair of those headphones for the kid before she stabs her brain with her fingernails*

5b. My first ever triathlon was on the 10th. It was tough (fought through hip pain throughout the entire run portion) but I had an absolute blast! I accomplished all three of my goals - 1) don't die, 2) finish in under 3 hours and 3) don't be DFL (dead f-in last).

Smiling through the pain.

5c. We had our first family vacation in Eagle River, WI (ShankRabbit's parents, brothers, and respective families). If it wasn't for the mid to low 60 degree temperatures, I think it would have been perfect.

You can't tell, but the kid is sound asleep. For real.

5d. Fresh from our northwoods trip, we spent the next weekend camping. Not much to report other than it was crazy hot and ShankRabbit got heat exhaustion. Fun times.

Went to the county fair after camping all weekend. Believe it or not, the kid is having fun on her first Ferris Wheel ride.

I think that gets us caught up to the present. My 29th birthday was this past Friday. I got exactly what I wanted - spending time with the ones I love. Oh, and a pinata*.

I have been at parties where there has been one, but never one of my own. Now I can cross that off the list. Next up...aerial fabric acrobatics! Just kidding...maybe.

There are exciting things to come - another race (an adventure 3-miler with ShankRabbit), more birthdays, and possibly a giveaway or two on this here blog. I'll keep you posted.

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* - Please picture a tilde over the n. I don't know how to do it in Blogger and my failed attempt led me to automatically post an unfinished blog post. Just in case my high school Spanish teacher is reading this...yes Sra. S, I know how to properly spell that word. Carry on.

Why you mock me blank page?!

I walk around almost every day with a blog topic in my head. It gets written and edited in my head before it hits the page. The moment I sit down in front of a blank screen, it disappears. All I am left with is a vague idea of what it might have been about. Family? Shoes? A family of shoes? So I will give you "Things Currently Occupying my Noodle." And maybe, just maybe, I will get my brain back to blogging:

1. Garden, version 2 - Due to crappy soil in our garden area, I decided on raised beds this year. Our garden wasn't terrible, but it took a lot more work than I was willing (and able, especially after surgery) to put in. This year, we will also have smaller sections and more vertical structures (but more produce).

2. Crafts - I swear I am in the middle of a craft crapstorm. I have 5,476,392 things I would like to do...and I have started about half of them already. I thought about detailing them, but then I realized it would exhaust me just to write them out. I have learned that any project without a set finish date will likely not get completed.

3. Vacation - we haven't been on vacation since 2006 (excludes anything in the midwest). I have been wanting to go somewhere - anywhere - other than our neighboring states. Preferably some place warm. With or without the kid.
Finally, I got ShankRabbit on board with the idea. We will have a small getaway (without the child) sometime soon and another one toward the end of the year with the kid (at a place with a kingdom of magic...).

I am about as shocked as I can physically be. Yay for vacation!

* * *

My brain has officially checked out, so here are some random pictures for you to enjoy (sorry to anyone on Twitter who has already seen these):


Gluten free thin mints. Yes, they can be done (om nom nom nom...)


Jacques, our new dishwasher. I love him so much.


A non-deviled egg. Part of an elaborate "welcome" gag played on a friend's boyfriend. He hates deviled eggs. So I made some out of meringue, yellow cupcake frosting, and red sugar. Heh heh...


My kid. My almost 3 year old.

My cup runneth over.

I'm baaaaack!

I'm finally shaking the lazy dust off from the holidays. My last day at work was the 28th and I was as lazy as I could be* until this past Monday. ShankRabbit threw a curve ball at me on Friday when he got such a bad headache that he spent all day and night Friday and most of Saturday holed up in our room with the shades drawn and the door shut.
He rarely gets headaches - and never had a migraine before - so I am ordering him to the doctor (under the guise of him needing a physical anyway. If it was an appointment just for this headache he would never go).

* * * * *

It's official - we will be (hopefully**) buying our first home in a couple months. I've been looking at houses online for months now, but this is the real deal. You know, with loan people and real estate agents and such.

So...wish us luck!

* * * * *

I'm sure it comes as no surprise that Peanut is continuing to grow like a weed - both physically and developmentally. My favorite at the moment: she grabs my hand and says " 'mon...go walk?" [translation: C'mon. Let's go for a walk] and leads me to whatever she wants at the moment. 90% of the time it's for a cookie or cracker. Ah, she's so my child.

* * * * *

We're supposed to get 6-10 inches of snow on Thursday. I don't have much money to offer, but I'd be willing to make some awesome baked goods for anyone that would like to shovel / snow blow our driveway for me (ShankRabbit will not be here to do it). Any takers?

* * * * *

Time for coffee, y'all. I'm not making any promises, but I'm hoping my blog posts become a regular thing again. Wouldn't that be nice?
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* - I'm the mom of a toddler. "Lazy" doesn't have the same definition as it did when I was single.
** - I'm sure things will go as planned, but I don't like to assume...lest Fate punches me in the face.

FAIL

Our family is entertaining the idea of going on vacation this year...to somewhere other than our usual destinations. I spent a good portion of my day looking at possible vacation rentals. This required A LOT of website visiting.

Here's a hint to anyone selling their vacation rental (heck, selling ANYTHING) online - if your website sucks, you suck.

...

Ok, not really. But understand that it is 2009 and there is no excuse for having a website that looks like it was created at the dawn of the internet.

Example (name of town edited out of courtesy. I'm sure it's a great place...they just have dolts advertising it):


Figure 1


Figure 2


There are just so many things wrong with this site (the background...my god, the background!), I am not sure I'd have enough space to detail it all. Let's talk about a few of my favorite parts, shall we?

Figure 1
* "Spring Fling Deal" - I think the color combination just made me throw up a little in my mouth

* "Less, less fog, less crowded!" - Not just less fog, but LESS less fog. Fog is practically non-existent here. Alert the media!

Figure 2
* Look at the very right side of the picture. See where my scroll bar is positioned? This home page was by far the L O N G E S T I have ever encountered.

* "Sshhhh...'[town] Best Kept Secret!" - first you tell me to be quiet and then you yell? Make up your mind!

* "not to winding" - just....UGH! ((facepalm))


Ok, I feel better now. Thanks for letting me share this eyesore with you.

Have a great weekend everyone!

The Engagement

I said I'd tell you the story of ShankRabbit's proposal. Here it goes...

May 3, 2006 -
ShankRabbit and I head down to Deals Gap, N.C. for "MINIs on the Dragon." This is an annual MINI Cooper owners meet-up centered around the "Tail of the Dragon" - an 11 mile stretch of road of 318 curves that snakes through the Smoky Mountains on the Tennessee and North Carolina border (we'll save the story of my motion sickness for a later date). We had planned this trip for several months, so the fact that I had been down in this area a couple weeks before was a little bittersweet to me.*

May 5, 2006 - After a hearty, country breakfast made by the lovely owners of the Hemlock Inn (the greatest bed and breakfast. Period), we decide to take a hike around the property, as it is set in a beautifully wooded area.

My experiences with hiking - mostly in Galena, IL - were tarnished with the discovery of a tick or two on my skin and/or scalp. It never failed - no matter how covered up I was they'd find a way to latch onto me. Evil parasites!

Not knowing what the woods of N.C. had in store for me (I assumed since we were in the mountains, I'd probably encounter some kind of saber-toothed zombie tick), I threw on as much clothing as I could. Two sweatshirts (one with a hood), a long pair of jeans, tall socks, and a cowboy hat. I would have worn my baseball cap, but ShankRabbit didn't have anything to cover his head (and I refused to let him hike with me until it was properly protected. I wasn't ready to sacrifice his brain to the undead insects).

We hiked around the property for a while and came to a clearing. It was obviously the future site of a home, with a spectacular view. I was glad to take a rest as the 15 pounds of clothing I insisted on wearing were creating a mini-inferno on my body. After all, it was about 70 degrees that day.

We joked about how it would be our home someday. ShankRabbit then said he'd finished the song he was writing for me and wanted to sing it. This was not out of the ordinary as he breaks into song often, so I stood there and listened to these wonderful lyrics:

In a world that's so uncertain and veiled in a curtain
It's you I want to see
Apart from all condition with purest conviction
By your side is what I'll be

It's not just the way you look
Or the cute way that you smile that I love
It's the way your soul invades me
That's led to believing you're from above

And I know you're not expecting what I'm about to be singing
But believe
That when I look into my life
I only see you as my wife eternally

Now you know I wasn't lying
When I said you never could know how much I loved you
And I hope you've started seeing
And maybe believing that it's true

I want you for forever
I need you for forever
Just say the 'yes' and I'm yours

I didn't get it. He even got down on one knee for the last line and I thought he fell. I was about to help him up when it occurred to me, "oh...he's on ONE knee...OH CRAP!"
Cue uncontrollable sobbing.




OMG! I'm engaged!



And there you have it - that is why I wore that hideous get-up and didn't have a stitch of makeup on.

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* - In the process of writing this post, I realized the story would not be complete without detailing what happened two weeks' prior. It's not as fun and happy, but in my mind this is an important part to tell...at least for me. That post will follow on Thursday.