Viva Las Vegas!

Well, spring break has come and gone for 2007. Last year I painted a room in our house and this year I relaxed in Vegas. The weather was beautiful -- much better than the snow and yuck I came home to. The girls trip went well... I came home much more relaxed and a decent amount poorer. I still can't get over how much you pay for regular food and drinks in Vegas. While waiting for one of the shows, they tried to sell me a $6 small bottle of water. And it wasn't even magic water -- I did ask. The shows in Vegas were great. We saw Phantom (AWESOME!!), Tony and Tina's Wedding (eh, wouldn't see it again), and LOVE (Cirque du Soleil set to the Beatles -- AWESOME!!). Good times. Here are a few pictures and more to come when I decide to charge the camera battery enough to download my pictures.

The Plesko Portrait Studio Proudly Presents...

I rode today. Outside. By myself. It was nice. It was short. I didn't so much want to ride as I wanted to try out my cute new biking clothes. I am a girl afterall.

Here are a few of my beautiful birthday roses:


Time to pack. Adios.

Everything's Coming Up Roses

I am now a quarter-century old. My birthday was wonderful, one of the best yet.

I went to work and was greeted by lots of hugs, 40 homemade birthday cards from each of my kids, and was sung to by both of my classes in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. It was VERY cute. One day I'll have to type of some of the funny comments from the birthday cards, they are so funny.

After school I knitted with some friends at work and then came home only to be greeted by Chris and 3.5 dozen roses. 14 red, 14 white, 14 pink. They are beautiful! We were going to go on a ride with some friends but a few wussed out due to the wind and we decided to wuss out ourselves in favor of dinner with my parents. We had a tasty meal with good company and then took Turbo on a walk in the dark. When we came back, we were pleased to hear a phone message saying that Chris's business trip the next day had been cancelled. I sat down and lost to myself in solitare as Chris frosted cupcakes for my class. Overall, it was a great day! Did I mention that I got some really nice new mountain bike shorts and jersey as well as a great creepy bunny squeaker for my bike? Becky -- it is very matchy matchy, I think you'll like it! I also got THE good book from my parents, great yarn for a baby sweater from mom #2, and lots of chocolate and a gift certificate to the yarn store from my teaching partner. Wohoooo! I can't wait to start all of my fun new knitting projects.

Chris is off on a bike weekend for the 3rd out of the last 4 weekends. I hate not having him here but know he is doing stuff that will make me worry less during his races later -- if that's the case, I know it'll be worth it in the end.

Did I mention I'm on spring break? YAY! Monday I leave for Vegas with two of my college friends. We are having a girls week so it should be fun. I'm anxious to see how Chris likes being left alone for once. I will miss him and Turbo and riding my bike, but I'm sure the time will go quickly and I'll be back to the real world of fixing resumes and finding jobs. Needless to say, I will try my best to enjoy every moment of my vacation and focus on relaxing before my first time trial of the series starting when I get back. We also have a "consultation" with the baby doctor on the 10th for a pre-prego meeting. I hope it's fun and not too scary.

Thanks to everyone for the nice happy birthday wishes. It was a great day, I have the best husband, family, friends, and students in the world. I never would've dreamed I'd be so happy at 25. Pictures to come eventually :)

Leave it up to life to bring a good woman down...

So I'm needing to vent a little. I'm not really upset, actually I'm in a great mood, but I still need to vent.

SO... I had a meeting with my principal today who basically *strongly* recommended that I go out and find another job. The district is under huge upheaval with a new superintendant that feels she can save the world by changing everything and everyone. The principal told me that all 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year teachers (or that many years in the district) are being looked at very closely by the district to see who stays where they are, who will be moved to different schools, and who will be out of a job all together. Two elementary schools are closing so there are veteran teachers who need to be placed in schools, and thus this problem. I believe that if it was up to my principal, I would stay where I am. She's happy with me and has never had anything but great things to say about me. She told me to line up a job, or two, or ten, even if it means signing contracts with other districts, until this district figures out what they are doing. She gave me some good advice on backing out of already signed contracts if the district will let me stay in my current position afterall, so that was nice. She's a great lady and I respect that she's giving us the heads-up and not just leaving us jobless in May.

SO... I guess it's time I dust off the trusty old resume and start looking for jobs. I feel ok about this whole thing except when I sit down and actually think about it. I hate that in teaching (and in other professions), my employability does not depend on how hard I work, how I perform, whether or not I pour my heart and soul into a very difficult population, but rather on how long I've been working. It's crap, there's no other way to put it. If the district wants to "reinvent" itself with cratchedy old veterans who are stuck in their ways, then great. Have fun. Getting rid of the teachers who bring fresh ideas, flexibility, and some fun back into teaching and learning sounds like a stupid idea. But, then again, this is why I have no aspiration to be a principal or higher. It has to be a terrible job.

If I have to leave, there will be benefits. I will be happy to wave goodbye to this new superintendent who thinks she knows everything. I'm excited at the prospect of possibily teaching in a neighborhood school where my commute would be much shorter when I have kids. But I would really miss these kids. My kids don't have parents who can/will teach them to read. My kids come to school as the one relaxing part of their day when they get to be kids and enjoy life. I recognize that and I don't think everyone does. I know of teachers at my school who will keep their jobs over me, and they don't give a lick about the kids they teach. That kills me.

While I'm still optimistic that I'll have my job next year, I'm looking. I hope to be interviewing soon. I hope to have choices instead of being forced into a job I don't love. In the mean time, I will go to work each day and squeeze as much love into these poor little guys as I can. Ah, life. Great birthday present again this year...

Hey now, you're an all star...

Congratulations to hubby on getting his first singlespeed win in Moab this weekend. You rode with an elite group of cyclists and held your own to turn in the first ride that you could call a win. You've always been an all star to me, I'm just glad you finally got a chance to realize it yourself.

*********

I have a bone to pick with whoever declared Moab a "desert". Some dictionary says a desert is "any area in which few forms of life can exist because of lack of water, permanent frost, or absence of soil." Whatever. I've been two Moab twice in the past year and each time there has been crazy rain that causes the roads to turn to rivers and the dry sand to messy mud. I don't believe it and I will no longer refer to Moab as a desert. It will now be referred to as a vast wetland.

We loaded up the car Friday afternoon to leave for the vast wetland that is Utah. It had been a very long day that involved a situation that needed Social Service's serious attention. Needless to say, I was ready for a little vacation. Chris drove Alan, Turbo, and me to Glenwood Springs and I took over from there. I drove through some of my least favorite conditions, including rain that made the ground so shiny that I had convinced my tired self that I was driving on clear glass and there was an upside down highway underneath me. The boys snored away and I chugged through to Moab. The hotel was a welcome break from the lonely road.

In the morning, I gave in to my sleepy bones and ditched breakfast at Denny's to sleep a few more minutes. The boys swung back by to pick me up after breakfast. When we got to the parking lot I met many people that I have heard of but never met. I also ran into Monica, a wife who I had been pit-neighbors with in Park City. She brought her little girl and dogs and she told me about some fun they were planning for the day and invited me along. I got excited at the idea of not hanging out by myself all day but retardedly forgot to get a phone number or time/plan from her. DOH! Soon I was swept up in Chris's light debacle and was sending him on his way.

Turbo and I headed sleepily back to the hotel, flipped through a million different informercials, and went back to sleep. When I woke up, I realized I had missed the free continental breakfast (which I remember to be delicious from when we stayed there in the last rainy mess of a trip) so I loaded dog up to drive to City Market to buy some doughnuts and something for lunch. When I stepped outside I saw the rain that had drenched the "desert" and I hoped Chris wasn't miserable. Luckily, I ran into Monica in the parking lot as they were packing up to head out for a hike. I went along and we had a great time hiking in the drissle with the dogs and her 4 year old daughter. Turbo loved romping through the creek and ended up swimming in a little pond with one of the other dogs. It was probably the greatest day of his whole life. He was so happy, so dirty, and quite stinky by the time we got back to the car.


After the hike we drove and had a delicious lunch at the Moab Diner -- their grilled ham and cheese is YUM! At one point I looked out the window and said "hey! At least it stopped raining, now maybe the boys are a little less miserable!" to which Monica pointed out that that was still raining, I was just seeing wrong. When we went to walk around and do a little shopping after, Monica's husband called saying that he was cold and miserable and was dropping out. She, being a wife herself, was nice enough to ask him if he knew where Chris was. He told her that Chris was up ahead and chugging along, so I got a little relief from that. I had chosen not to drive up to see Chris at the road crossings where I would get to see that he was still moving along ok because I was afraid he would be too tempted to drop out and get in the warm car. I wanted him to keep going and experience a race well raced without an option to bail.

Turbo and I headed back to the hotel and again took another nap. We woke up, I ate some tasty candy, and around 5:00 I headed to the finish line VERY pleased that I hadn't heard Chris at this point. If he hadn't called yet, he was on his way to the finish. WOHOOO! When I got to the finish, I sat around with some riders that had dropped as well as Monica and little Brooke. Chris hadn't expected to finish before 6:00 so I wasn't going to start worrying until sunset. Around 6:15, I was sitting around talking when someone yelled "there's some finishers!" I looked up and YAY!!!!! I couldn't believe it was him! It's a rare occasion when Chris shows up before I expect him to. He didn't look wiped, he didn't look like he was ready to crawl in a dry hole and sleep -- he actually looked fresh. The guy is crazy. He was so happy to have ridden with a fellow singlespeeder for the last few miles, he was happy to finish, and he was happy to have done so well. It's a great feeling to see someone work so hard for something and have the hard work pay off.

Pretty soon we headed back to the hotel and I forced giddy Chris to take a shower so we could go eat. Dave C stopped by for a shower and we all headed off for some Mexican. The food was only ok -- however the chips and salsa that we ate for an hour before getting seated was pretty tasty! We headed back to the hotel and got a little sleep before Alan came knocking at the door, finally finished wit his race after 18 hours. He was psyched to finish and Chris and I were both relieved to see him before it got too late. The next morning we were sad to see the Diner closed on Sundays so we ate at the Pancake Haus. It was also only so-so, and some very not-shy 5th grader decided that I looked like a teacher at his school and after that he wouldn't leave me alone. I love kids. I really do. But I was tired. You know how that goes.

The ride home was good minus the hours spent in ski traffic and the fact that once we hit Vail, my ears and throat started to hurt and I could tell I was getting sick. I don't know what it is about my body lately, but it gets sick quickly and the symptoms hit suddenly. There's no grace period any more. Maybe it's turning a quarter-century old ... As a result, I was home sick today, sleeping 90% of the time, and hopefully kicking whatever this is before a group ride planned on my birthday this wednesday and definetely before VEGAS! next week with the girls for spring break.

That's it. In conclusion, Chris rocks, Moab's not a desert, and my body is annoying. The rest of the story was kinda borring, sorry for putting you through it. The pictures are good though!

Imagine...

Step with me into a world where a day is a meal.

Breakfast is the appetizer. You can either go cheap, splurge, or skip it all together.

Your day at work is the main meal. It takes the most time to eat and it is here that you are either satisfied and come back to eat again or you are disappointed and vow never to return.

Coming home for the evening is the dessert. It is delicious and should never be skipped.

My meal was pretty good today.

I splurged and ate a great appetizer of Starbucks in the parking lot with hubby. It energized me for the day ahead and left my stomach quite pleased.

The main course was good but had flaws and could've been improved. My main course was like the sandwich paragraphs that I've taught my students to write. The meat was good. Imagine some freshly sliced Turkey with fresh tomatoes, crispy lettuce, and a nice hunk of avocado. Too bad the bread was stale. Entering work I encountered a parent who has just decided to start complaining about her daughter being in a K/1 class. HELLLLOOO, it's MARCH 20! Sometimes I want a stick handy to bop parents on the head. Again, the meat of the day was great. We took the kiddos out for a race in the field. I loved getting to see their little faces light up and a little jump in their step as they got closer to me -- the halfway point in the race. I raced the final little chubbo back to the start line and he *barely* beat me. 35 kids jumped on the kid in a Stanley-Cup-winning-shot-pile in congratulations in beating the lean, mean teacher. Darn, I'll need to work on my running skills ;) At the end of the day I ran into that pesky stale bread again when I had a frustrating encounter with the janitor. As long as I pick off the bread, the meal was pretty good.

Dessert is always wonderful, especially when hubby makes it easy on me and cooks it. I love dessert and look forward to it everyday -- no bread involved!

Enjoy your meal tomorrow and make sure you take the time to chew so you don't choke.

Phew...

What a day.

Let me preface it by saying that Chris has me sticking to a "strict training schedule" that I've been on for two and a half weeks now. I'm a little tired. It's not a difficult training schedule and I've had a lot of fun and look forward to my rides, but I'm still tired. As I sit on the couch I feel like my legs are numb lumps under my body and nothing else. Tuesdays are one of my two "hard" rides in the week and today is, well, tuesday.

Today I woke up all psyched up for a formal observation by my principal that I've been having nightmares about for weeks. I don't usually worry so much about observations but this one has had enough wrenches thrown in the usual routine that I've been stressed. I get to work and get an e-mail saying she has to reschedule for Thursday. Two more nights of nightmares. Hmmm...

After a busy day and feeling exhausted anyway, I realized that if I sat down for even a second, I would never get out for my "hard" ride. This one was going to be even harder than the past hard rides because it would have to be alone. Chris has rides scheduled with other people for every waking moment of each week so I needed to get out and do it myself and get used to doing that.

I got home from work and immediately threw on the bike clothes, grabbed the dog, and drove out to the dogpark bike loop. I got to the dogpark and realized I forgot my biking shoes. Back home and back to dogpark and I was finally riding.

Once I hit the open trail I realized that there was some crazy wind wipping against my face. I had originally hoped to do about two loops of the dogpark to meet my scheduled riding time but after 20 minutes of cranking into a very loud headwind (as well as dealing with some wicked female cramps), I turned around and bagged the ride.

To be totally honest, my plan was to lie to Chris... tell him I did my hour, wash the car, and nap until he got home well after dark.

Unfortunately, I am a good person and couldn't bring myself to lie about training that is supposed to benefit me, so I got home, threw the rode bike on the trainer and cranked out another hard 30 minutes. Yay for me -- now I'm sufficiently worn out; however...

I still had my mind set on washing the car, so before I let myself sit down, I quickly changed and headed out to wash the car.

Around 7:30, I was finally able to sit down for the first time since, well, probably noon.

Now I feel like mush.

I promised Chris some homemade burritos when he gets back from his ride, but instead I've ordered some Pizza and wings -- hope he's not too disappointed whenever he gets here. The thought of cooking and cleaning literally brought tears to my eyes. It just wasn't going to happen tonight. Sorry hubby.

Food better get here soon so I don't melt into a hungry pile of mush and Chris better get here sooner or else he'll find me sleeping face down in a delicious box of hot wings. Hmmm, sweet sweet sleeeeeeeeeep...

"Comon everybody! We're going to Sears!"

Today was a good day. Bill picked me up around 10:30 and we headed down to ride the Cherry Creek time trial course with Scott. It was weird riding without Chris (who is in Moab for the weekend), but we had a great time and a great ride. Weather turned out really nice -- 50s and overcast -- not hot and not cold. I'm feeling better about riding the time trial series after today, so that's always a good thing. We had some delicious Tokyo Joes and then took a spin in Scott's car (the one that has lived in my garage space for about a year until recently) -- man, it's fast! I forgot the boost feeling of a fast Turbo car, it brought back the giggles!

Bad news is that I think our washer finally kicked the bucket. That's a bummer. It has been leaking profusely out the bottom and after being disected by my dad last week, we'd pretty much determined we'd need to get a new one. Being the cheapos that Chris and I are, we hooked it all back up and decided to keep using it -- what's a little water on a crappy floor anyway? Well, I tried to get some laundry done today and the spin cycle has stopped spinning and I think our clothes would've been better off being washed in our jacuzzi bath tub. Oh well. "Comon everybody! We're going to Sears!"

Here are some great pictures that Bill took from Lookout Mountain last week. Chris's camera should be returned in the next week or two seeing as I finally got an estimate from Cannon to fix it -- only $100 so I sent off the credit card number and hopefully he'll be back in business with pictures for his blog.

The horses:


Ready to ride (Sorry bek, I realized you can't see my new duds in any of these pictures):


Yay! I made it to the top!


I'm one of those little dots on the road :) Good thing you can't hear me complaining about my toes about to freeze off...


Word from Moab is that Chris and the guys had a great ride today. Chris is running on very little sleep and he sounds a bit tired. He had a little crash today and said his whole left side is quite sore and he sounds a little perturbed about that. They were going to take a nap and head to Fruita to ride a little tomorrow depending on how his knee was feeling. Hopefully they make it everywhere ok and he's healed up and good as new very soon.

Flutterbies

Today was my now annual field trip to the Butterfly Pavilion with the kids. We had a great time... held a tarantula named Rosie, no kids got lost, and I only screamed and ducked once when a butterfly buzzed my head.

Have I mentioned before the butterflies freak me out? Butterflies, moths, tiny birds... if it is smallish and flaps wings, it scares me.

The best part of the trip? Chris came to be a volunteer. The kids could hardly contain their excitement when they heard he was coming, and when they saw him ride up on his bike, they screamed with glee. I gave him some of my "characters" and I'm sure he learned a few things from them on the trip. As he rode off to go back to work, they were worried about him. "Is there a sidewalk where he's going?" "Is he going to fall off?" "Does he go too fast?" "Is he going to be ok?" "Why is his bike orange?" One girl asked "Do you like to ride your bike with him?" and when I said "yes" she said "No wonder you like to ride your bike with him". Haha. They all love him. He missed his calling when he chose not to get a degree to teach the little ones. To them, he is the coolest person they have ever met. He's so good with them. He's a kid at heart and they definetely sense that. They missed him when he left and talked about him the rest of the day. Now, for the next month, I'll have to hear "Can Mr. Plesko come to the zoo with us? PLEEEEEEASE?" I'm considering having the kids write a petition to Ball to let him off work for the day to come to the zoo with us in April.

Anyway, another year of surviving the flutterby pavilion.

Thanks for coming Chris!

Look out! Here I come!

This weekend brought warmish weather and with it came some bike riding. Saturday I rode up and down Lookout Mountain with Chris and Bill. We had a great time and the weather was perfect (at least on the way up). Chris left early in the morning to ride down to Golden while I slept comfortably in bed. I tend to wuss out of rides like this so I told myself that if I got up to go on the ride, I would buy myself some new bike shorts and a long sleeved jersey that I've been lusting after since it went on sale. Well, it worked and I got up in just enough time to swing by Bicycle Village and pick up my new shorts and jersey on my way down to Golden. I bundled up and was nice and warm on the 40ish minute ride up the mountain (snail pace for those familiar with the ride). I wasn't sure of the climb so I took my time and didn't kill myself on any one part. A few times I began to wish I had an easier gear on the road bike, but overall it was a comfortable pace and I enjoyed the scenary and some good conversation with Bill (as Chris bolted up the mountain to catch some snob on a custom bike we concocted a great idea to somehow attach missiles to our bikes to make watching him kick our butts a little more interesting). We made it up and I was proud of myself and very pleased with my new shorts purchase. The way down was a little scary seeing as I HATE downhills and had very very numb toes and fingers by minute 2 of the descent. Note to self: even if it is in the 50s, going down hill is very cold and I should probably bring some sort of toe covering for my well-ventilated road shoes. I also learned that it's a million times easier to brake with your hands in the drops of road bars instead of on top. Ah, I always wondered what the silly curve was for ;).

Overall a great workout and I hope to do it again soon. Hopefully next time I will have a little oomph to my pedals on the way up and I won't think I'm going to lose extremidies on the way down. Pictures to come when Bill sends them our way.

There's no place like home, there's no place like home...

Two quick pictures from the car ride to Tucson. We were getting a little loopy.



Anyway, we made it through the week! This has to have been the world's longest 4 day week. I don't know why it seemed to go so slowly, but perhaps it was looking forward to sleeping in for the first time in 3 weeks. Chris and I have had a busy few weeks (so much so that the poor little girl scout who was trying to deliver our cookies started to worry about us) and I'm really looking forward to a weekend with nothing major planned. Tonight is a little surprise evening for Chris's birthday, and after that I plan to sleep, knit, ride the trainer, and enjoy watching it snow with my car warmly in the garage. I'm tired, I need sleep, I need a weekend. There must be 2 feet of dog fur piled up on the wood floor waiting for me to have a spare moment to swiffer vac it. I'm actually looking forward to doing that.

Funny kid moment of the week: Last week was the 100th day of school. As part of the 100 days activities, the kids had to fill in a paper that said something like "I want 100 ______ but I don't want 100 _______" and "I can hold 100 ________ but not 100 _______." Keep in mind I teach pretty much all native spanish speakers. In spanish, the 'i' makes the 'e' sound and in kinder and 1st grade they pretty much only write sounds they hear in words. One kid intended to write "I can hold 100 pennies". Now think about it for a second. He knew it started with pen... he doesn't know to double the n, and he thinks the "ie" is just an "i" -- add the s and what do you get? Haha. "I can hold 100 penis" haha. That one is a classic and I'm sure it's not the last time I will see "pennies" spelled that way in my career.

Many Hats

Being a crew member/wife of an endurance racer is an interesting job. I realized that during one race, while Chris just gets to ride his bike, I have to perfect the following occupations for him to succeed: mechanic, emotional therapist, massage therapist, nutritionist, water specialist, mathematician, doctor, secretary, mother, wife, dictator, lawyer, pharmacist, chauffer...

I get to celebrate the highest of highs and suffer through the lowest of lows along with Chris, without the glory of actually competing in the race, standing on the podium, or getting a complementary t-shirt.

I originally started this blog to open the eyes of mountain bike racers to what their crew and family goes through -- both good and bad.

I've shared my experiences at races where Chris has excelled and achieved more than he ever thought he could. I cheered the loudest for him as he stood on the podium in Park City and cried with relief when he finished Leadville with a great time. I watched him, cheered for him, and worried about him as he plowed through the Winter Park series. I hated not being able to be there when he got his award at the end.

On the other hand, I've been there for the lows. I saw him totally defeated the first year at Leadville, hating life after the Firecracker, completely disappointed after Moab got cancelled, and now this.

This weekend we were in Tucson for the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo. I think he did great. He worked really hard and was in 7th place after 12 hours and then his body decided to stop cooperating and he shut down. I pushed and pushed to get him to go out for one more lap at 1 am but he knows his body more than I do, and he decided the best thing was to stop. He didn't want to get stuck on the back side of the course and have something bad happen. I think he made a good decision. I've seen his mind want to stop, I've seen his body want to stop, and this wasn't either of those. He physically wasn't in good shape and it was best not to risk it.

As we heard that Lynda W had broken her collar bone, Chris turned to me and said "well, at least I didn't break something." However, over the past 24 hours I've struggled in my mind about what would be worse: broken body or broken spirit. I know that if Chris broke a bone, it would be a LONG road to recovery for both of us. He's not good being cooped up in the house or being told he can't do something. At least I could take him to the doctor or give him pain medication or help him work out one part of his body while the other is healing. This time his spirit is broken and I don't know how to fix it. The 14 hour ride home was good minus the last few after we hit the Colorado border. I'm not sure if it was being back in the state or what, but the spirit broke and there's nothing I can do but wait for it to get better. I can only imagine that this is what is like for a husband to watch his wife in labor. I want so badly to help, but there's nothing I can say or do to make it feel better. If only they had emotional epidurals... I could use one myself.

Ah the interesting job of being the wife and crew of a racer. Would I do it for just anyone? Absolutely not. Would I do it for my wonderful husband who I am always proud of no matter what happens in any piddly race? Any hour of the day.

Red Sox, White Sox, and... Black Sox?

Due to the freaking cold temperatures in Michigan for my cousin's wedding, I sported this sexy look:

Yep, black wool socks and heels. Ooooh baby! Luckily they weren't visible most of the time (Jessie -- just ignore that I publically admitted to this).
Luckily, the top looked ok (minus the REALLY tired looking eyes):

We had a great time and the wedding was beautiful. Got to see some family members I haven't seen in 5+ years and meet some new ones. I even got to borrow my cousin's BEAUTIFUl blonde-blue eyed baby for a few hours and play mommy for a little while. Let's just say that little Sidney didn't make me want to rethink the upcoming baby plan. Such a cutie!

Anyway, back from a nice trip, 4 days of work (including Valentine's Day -- like my little ones need any more sugar in their blood right now), then off to Arizona with Chris and Turbo. I'm looking forward to seeing Chris kill the Old Pueblo course and finally get his first 24 hour race under his belt. Another whirlwind weekend but it will be fun and hopefully warmish. And no, I'm not packing the heels.

Roll the windows down, turn the radio up...

Today was a day when I breathed in air and my lungs felt fresh and new instead of frozen and sick. I saw only a handfull of cars on the way home who did not at least have one window cracked. Tomorrow is supposed to be 60 degrees. Life is good and happy. Now I just need to think of some good "educational" reason to take the kids outside so we're not cooped up in the classroom all day. Hmmm...

Chris and I had a great weekend. Despite the sadness of not going to Moab, we were extremely productive and had a great weekend of being a happily married young couple. We went out to eat for a few meals, watched a movie or two, cleaned and organized the house (4 bags of old clothes are being picked up by the Vietnam Vets on Wednesday), and *GASP* washed the car! I know, I know, it's some kind of Groundhog's Day miracle. 7 snowstorms, a trip to Moab, a frozen hose and a garden sprayer made for a long car washing experience. I decided that there are two things that are deeply imbedded in the core of our not-even-1-year-old-Element: dog hair and Moab sand. If only we could figure out a way to make some sort of alternative fuel source out of those two. Hmmm...

Only a 4 day week this week! Chris and I are heading out in the weeeeee early hours of Friday morning for a flight to Chicago with my parents, then a bit of a jaunt to snowy Michigan for a whirlwind wedding weekend. We'll be back Sunday night. Good thing we love Becky a lot -- we are leaving the first potentially nice weekend in 8 weeks for bitterly chilly weather for her wedding. She and Ryan are worth it though and we're really looking forward to the trip!

In other news, I got a sweet new blue SLR for blooby courtesy of Ramin (WOOHOOO!!! I'm such a matchy matchy bike person, it makes me soooooo excited!) and Turb got some new tennis ballies!



Smile, breathe in the air and refresh your lungs -- well, unless you are walking behind an old Chevy, then you feel like you might die -- take it from personal experience.

Shiver me timbers

I am not a fashiony girl. I like nice, fun, stylish clothes but I refuse to wear them unless they are comfortable and cheapish. Today I went to the mall to look for a sweater or nice looking jacket to wear over my new clothes for my cousins's wedding next weekend. First of all, I didn't find anything that met my two requirements so came away empty handed; however, I did get a good dose of American culture. What is with "fashion" these days? The clothes are good, it's who chooses to wear them that baffles me. I don't understand the giant sunglasses fad to start with -- really don't understand feeling the need to wear them inside. Also, I saw at least 10 girls that were, well, more than slightly overweight, wearing cropped shirts with a solid roll of fat hanging out underneath. Now I'm glad they are comfortable with their bodies, but do we all have to see it? It's 10 degrees outside, is the fat roll immune to the elements? I don't get it. Hmmm...

On another note, we are home for the weekend instead of in Moab. I-70 looked nasty and Chris made the decision to not risk the roads. The decision lead to a VERY interesting couple of hours in our house but as we did a nice ABS slide down the hill to get some dinner, I think he realized he made a good decision. He's out riding now in wind that takes your breath away. I hope the skinny guy doesn't blow away.

Knitting time! Woohoo!

Is the class half full or half empty?

For the last two days I have had 15 kids in my class. I haven't decided whether I LOVE it or if it just depresses me more. 15 is the perfect size for 5,6, and 7 year olds. I can actually work with them one-on-one with their reading and writing, the overall stress level of the class goes WAY down, we have more fun, act a little goofier, and the enviroment is so happy. On the other hand, I know they'll all get un-sick and come back and I'll be a little wiser as to what it "could be" in the perfect world. Either way, I'm enjoying it right now while it's here. Today we made Valentine's/Thank You cards for a soldier in Iraq. They kids got so excited and worked their little hearts out. I took a picture of each of them to put on the envelopes and every single one thought it appropriate to solute the camera. Too cute. They, of course, all want to grow up to be soldiers now -- ah the innocence of youth.

It's snowing again. I know, I know, shocking. 7th snow storm (and this was a two-parter, some yesterday, stop, some today, still going) in 7 weeks. Blah. I like snow, but this is a little much. I was trying to be super optimistic on the way to work today and admired the beauty of all of the white. It was gorgeous with the orange and red sunrise behind a sea of white. It snowed a little yesterday but melted off enough on the plowed/shoveled spots that it was just wet this morning. Enter part deux of the storm and now there is a lovely sheet of solid ice under the newly falling snow. Roads were sketchy on the way home at 3 -- had to get Turbo to the vet for his routine shots -- roads were even sketchier at 4:30. Most cars/trucks (I love laughing at the "big bad" trucks in the snow -- haha, you can't go anywhere) were sliding and losing traction all over the place. The Element plowed through in its usual graceful 4WD style and we made it safely home. I'm absolutely not looking forward to the commute in the morning and Chris and I are both hoping it magically melts off before 3 pm tomorrow so we can go on our little weekend trip together (CHRIS: It will, magically, don't stress). We'll see. It could go either way.

On the subject of optimism and snow, I've been trying to decide what the up-side is to these incredible 7 straight snow storm weekends. Well. Hmmm... There has to be one or two out there. Here's what I've come up with:

1) Our (as in mostly Chris's) shoveling muscles are AWESOME this year.
2) Next year, we will be able to look back and say "well, at least it's not as crappy as last year"
3) I've gotten a lot more comfortable driving in the snow. I no longer think I'm going to flip over and die every time there is a flake on the ground -- that's a paranoia that started in 2000 -- only took 6 years to start to get over.
4) We got a heated blanket for our bed, Chris got a snow bike, and we got a 4WD vehicle -- all of which have definetly earned their keep this season.
5) Netflix has earned its keep this season too -- we've watched a lot of movies.
6) Driving down our street has been like some sweet off road expedition -- if you concentrate really hard you can imagine yourself driving somewhere else, up a rock in Moab, up a glacier in Antarctica, or in a fun world where cars' paths are controlled by bumpers like in bowling...

Anyone got anything else? If this snow sidelines our weekend, Chris and I are going to need some serious pick me up comments to read (CHRIS: Which it won't, don't worry). Let's think of more fun reasons why it is AWESOME that we have a crap load of snow and the high tomorrow is supposed to be 10. Hmmm?

Taxes, Snow Caves, and Knitting... oh my!

Luckily I haven't been eaten by the Tiger since Thursday, so this should be a more upbeat post...

Thursday we had dinner with my brother and his wife at their apartment downtown. Despite my pessimistic attitude going into the evening, we had a great time. They made a tasty beef stew with a couple delicious bottles of wine -- just what I needed. We had some good conversation about the "good old days" of the first Nintendo, Echo the Dolphin, The Oregon Trail, college parties, and embarassing drunken moments. Jim and I have always been pretty good friends considering we're siblings and 4 years apart but unfortunately life has taken us on busy roads lately and we haven't had a chance to hang out. It was a fun night and I hope we do it again soon.

This weekend has been a much needed break in our world that usually revolves around bikes. Chris spent the whole weekend with me -- we took a fun trip to the yarn store in Boulder followed by a delicious brunch at Lucille's and then a quick jaunt to the mall to get some clothes for my cousin's wedding in two weeks. We watched a few movies (I realized I've watched 4 Steve Martin movies in the past 7 days), did a little trainer riding, got to bed early, and slept in both days. Today we were more productive around the house... laundry, bills, cleaning, and taxes. YAY TAXES! Last year the ***** government stole my hard earned savings (aka "the baby fund") to pay for taxes but we caught a break and are getting a refund this year that will pay the baby fund back plus some. We are adults, we do taxes... we are still a bit immature, seeing as we cheered or booed the whole way through the process. Luckily this year we came out on top!

One of the highlights of the weekend was watching Turbo discover the snow cave out front. As Chris shoveled away the snow from our 6th snow storm in 6 weeks, I took Turbo out for a little play time. I think he caught the smell of his daddy and burrowed through the new snow to find the snow cave that Chris built a few weeks back. He wasn't scared and jumped right in, excited to find his own little oasis in the yard. I've decided that if Chris ever has to hide out in a snowcave on an expedition, I'm sending Turbo along with the search party. He had a pretty good sniffer for once. Here are the pictures:






Another exciting part of the weekend was my abundance of new knitting projects! I'm currently working on a baby hat for a cousin's new baby due this month -- it's cute and coming along but a true knitter needs more than one project! I got some double pointed needles to start a hat for myself using some delicious Manos yarn that I bought a while back. It'll be striped pink and gray but I'm wondering if I did it right seeing as I highly doubt this will fit on my head when it's done. I've stalled for a few days while I can get some knitting advice from a fellow teacher.

I also started a scarf for a kid that I had in my class last year. He's in the "emotionally disturbed" classroom but one of the cutest kids I've ever met. He asked for a scarf from the aid that works with him (after reading "The Mitten Tree"), so I've started one out of "bwoo" his favorite color. It'll be an anonymous gift but I'm sure he'll be excited about it. I've knitted this much so far today:

I also got some super cute baby pink yarn for a hat for a friend's baby that is due this month, but I have to finish my other one so I can use the needles...


Well, that's it for now. I hope you all have weeks where you are the Tiger and not his lunch.

Some days you're the tiger...

Some days the tiger eats you for lunch.

Just call me tiger meat. Today was just one of those days. One of those days that I just could not control my bad mood. All started out good. Actually, I was in a great mood when I got up. Was in a great mood on the way to work despite a huge accident near the highway entrance that slowed me up considerably. The first couple of hours of school were good. Then something inside me snapped and I've been in a terrible mood ever since. Can't pinpoint why. Haven't been able to make it better. We are off to have dinner with my brother and his wife in Denver -- while I'm not at all in the mood, I'm sure it'll be fun and nice to see them (seeing as we haven't really gotten together to hang out since they got engaged, oh, about two years ago). Maybe it will snap me out of my mood. It better, otherwise Chris might volunteer to leave town again in the very near future just to escape the tiger's wrath... muahahahaha.

Deep Thoughts Or Just Bored... HMMM?

I must preface this blog by saying that Chris is out of town for the 3rd of the past 4 days and won't be home for another two. I'm a little bored. A little nostalgic. A little sleepy.

Interesting thought provoking comment on Dave C's blog (http://bedrockandparadox.blogspot.com): "Yesterday with each encounter the obligatory questions and looks: what gear, tires, brakes? Are they like dogs, and rapidly evolve to look like their masters? Yesterday seemed to bear that out."

Here's what I'm thinking... he's right. I never thought about the interesting characteristics that Chris and his bikes all have in common. Physically and metaphorically, it's a little creepy to see the similarities. No wonder Chris and his bikes get along so well.

*Take the Monocog for example. It's skinny and lightweight (two different things by the way). It's unique and takes the right kind of person to understand its intriguing characteristics. It's simple but loved for its simplicity by those that understand it. It was cheap to buy, cheap to mantain, but expensive to upgrade. It rides through anything, appropriate for its intended purpose or not. It's loved so much that it's allowed to live in the house even if it does make a mess of the clean kitchen floor. It takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'.

* The Fuel has one specific purpose: kick butt when things are too difficult for the simple life of the Monocog. The Fuel is contrary to it's counter-part, the Monocog, but it serves its purpose and is a life saver when it is dug out of the basement. It survives obstacles that nothing should be able to overcome. Parts, both internal and external, crack and break but they are replaced with some TLC.

* The orange road bike. What can I say? It has a tendency to look a bit ghetto and out of place among the fancy shmancy road bikes in their matching outfits and prissy attitudes in road races. The greatest thing about the orange bike, it shows those prissy bikes what's up and generally kicks most of their butts. Ghetto shmetto, it's what drives the bike, not what color or age it is.

* The Pugsley. Well, hmmm. Doesn't look like Chris. Fat tires, heavy bike. Nothing about Chris is fat or heavy. Hmmm? I'll have to think on that one.
(Chris: I am purposely leaving out the Time Trial bike -- for some reason I've yet to come up with, it doesn't count)

Physically, the bikes share some characteristics with Chris. In a deep, insightful way, the bikes represent Chris to the tee. Weird. What about my bikes? Do they represent or look like me? I think so. To an extent at least. Luckily I only have two bikes to analyze...

* The Blue Fuel. Pretty and girly looking but can still kick some butt when it wants to. Often underestimated. Quiet but packs quite a punch.


* The Black road bike. Sleek, lightweight, a little lazy but when taken out it goes a long way. Shifts gears nicely and without complaint.

What a cool concept. I've been told by friends that Turbo is the perfect dog for Chris and I -- he's blonde, cute, athletic, intelligent... (their words, not mine). I never thought about the bikes being the same way.
Thanks to Dave C for some entertainment in a horribly borring night.

P.S: I don't mind being lonely but absolutely hate being alone. Interesting paradox.

Good Morning Nobody

**EDIT: I had written a nice long blog about how much I hate being alone and then Chris just called and said they cancelled their ride today but didn't explain why. He's informed me that nobody is hurt and they didn't get arrested, but the weather wasn't what stopped them, so I hope things are ok. I get the feeling that the ride didn't even get started, but I'm not sure. He sounds really disappointed and doesn't know whether he'll be coming home today or staying and riding a little tomorrow (which makes me think at least the bikes didn't get stollen overnight or something). Poor guy. As much as I bitch about him leaving and doing this stuff, when he doesn't get to do it it bums me out too. I love him and want him to be happy. Poor Christopher. :( Maybe going one or both of the next two weekends isn't such a bad idea. I want to make him feel better and I'm afraid my post would've only made him feel worse. Instead, here are some nice pictures from the last time Chris made his adventure through White Rim...



Here's a cute picture of Turbo:

Smile my Chris. The elusiveness of these rides are what make them epic. You'll be back. You'll conquer. I'm scared for you right now but thanks for telling me things are fine and not to worry. Come home and I'll give you a hug and dog and I will take care of you.

Me Quiz

A friend of mine made one of these and I definetely learned a few things about her that I didn't otherwise know. If you are bored, try it out. Then make one so I can learn a few random things about you. Ahh, the stpuid things you do while it's 2 degrees outside and the husband is out riding his bike.

Title Take my quiz! Take This Quiz | See Scores | Make Own Quiz

Me? Distracted? Never!

I've sat down to write this blog for, oh, say, 4 days. I have so many funny new stories from my little monsters that I've been meaning to write down before I forget. Today I got home and have been determined to start the blog finally... then I got distracted. Again. I was looking for a good quote from "Everything I Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten" when I stumbled across the author's website. Robert Fulghum is now one of my new favorite people. He writes some hillarious but very insightful and intelligent stuff. Sounds like the kind of guy I'd like to sit and have coffee with. Read through the journal entries... there's some good stuff (I especially liked the flaming broom story).

Anyway, let's see if I can get in a few of the funny kid stories. Some days I can't believe I actually get paid to have such a great time. 5-7 year olds are a unique breed of human beings. Put 22 of them in the same room after two and a half weeks of being trapped in their houses by snow and the hillarious moments start rolling in...

#1: My kids walk in from winter break and the first thing they say is "GUESS WHAAAAAAT!!!!!! It SNOWED!!!" Really? It snowed? I hadn't noticed the 54 inches in my front yard...

#2: I have a kid in my class who is a bit of a trouble maker. He is sweet, in his own precious way, but he likes to teach the other kids bad words, touch their butts, inform the other kids about how one of the Broncos got shot, etc. He comes in Tuesday morning just sobbing. I tried to stop him on the way in the door but finally had to basically clothes-line the kid to get him to pay any attention to me. I asked him what was wrong and if he was ok. After a good solid 3 minutes of his sobbing, he gets out "I lost my backpack!" I look back, spin him around in front of the mirror so he could see what was on his back and say "this one?" He looks on his back and goes "Oh! Awesome!" and went about life like nothing had happened. Kindergarteners.

#3: We were talking about opposites in class. I was shocked at how great the kids were at generating the opposite of a word. We did it for a few minutes and I ran out of ideas. "Hmmm...What's the opposite of... hmmmmm..." One kid shouts out "BRONCOS!" So I let out a little laugh and said "well, what's the opposite of the Broncos?" A few kids said "Uhh, the Buffaloes?" When one kid shouts out "NO! The Raiders!" Hahaha. I gave him a big high five for that one. That's what I would've come up with! That kid is awesome.

#4: I've been ridiculously sick for the past 10 days. Sicker than I remember being in a very long time. I'm starting to get better, but I still have coughing attacks that last a few minutes. Yesterday I was telling the kids about what they were going to be doing during writing. Then the cough attack hit. My eyes were watering, face was red, the whole shabang. A few of my little ones were so worried they were near tears. Poor guys. Anyway, after 5 minutes of the death cough, I started back up telling them what they were going to do for writing. Again, started coughing. I laughed and said that my throat clearly didn't want them to do the activity. I made my throat talk and say "Nooo, don't make them do the paper!" -- they laughed and then one kid yelled out "Don't listen to it! Don't listen to your throat!" Haha. If we all had that kind of passion for learning...

Man they are cute. As much as they can drive me to the end of all the patience you can imagine one human being ever possessing, they crack me up.

The little monsters light up each day with their goofy outlook on the world. I've started to think that 5 year olds would make the greatest world leaders. Life is simple through their eyes. I read the story of Ruby Bridges and Martin Luther King today -- despite incredible prejudice happening today against them and their families (and it can bring you to tears with what they pick up on -- "why did someone yell at me from a car telling me to go get a burrito?" -- people are morons)... anyway, despite what they go through, their little faces went so sad hearing the stories about segregation. The MLK book included that someone shot and killed him. To which I got the response "how could that happen? How could someone kill such a nice man? He didn't do anything wrong."

In teaching I get to see that all humans start out good. They start out hopeful, innocent, bright-eyed, sweet, and caring. I hate to think about what they go through before they become jaded adults. Fulghum is right, everything you need to know, you learn in kindergarten. If we could just use those skills as adults, the world would be a much better place. Hmmmm...

Moments

Well, Christmas and New Years have come and gone too quickly. I can't believe it's already 2007! I feel like it was yesterday that the world was spazzing out about turning 2000.

Looking back on '06 brings many good memories. I climbed my first mountains, "raced" my first mountain bike race, completed a metric century on the road bike in Buena Vista (and what a buena vista it was!), learned to knit, finished off my first year of teaching with a bang and took on a big challenge to start off my second year, went to California for the first time, got both of my brothers married off without a hitch, lots of bike riding and home redecorating, bought a new car, and learned to be a support crew for hubby in Park City (by myself might I add -- I take all of the credit for the 3rd place finish), Leadville, and in Moab (with wonderful friends and family thank goodness -- picture me trying that alone -- haha). I've learned to let Chris do his hobbies that most people see as crazy. I've learned to drop him off at a trailhead and hope and pray that he comes back a few days later. I've learned to sleep by myself in the warm bed while he sleeps in the yard in -5 degree weather. I've realized I am a much more patient, forgiving, understanding, and capable person than I ever gave myself credit for.

Looking forward to 2007? You bet! If all goes as planned, '07 will be a huge year for me. I've realized my abilities and talents and this year I am going to do my best to challenge myself to accomplish things that I've always wanted to do. I am semi-committed to give time trials on the road bike a whirl. We'll see how training and trying out aero-bars feels. I like the idea of a 20something minute race although getting over the fear of going fast is going to be my biggest challenge. I am also semi-committed to thinking about registering for the winter park mountain bike series. I need to get out and push myself on the mountain bike... once I am convinced that I'll get something other than last place in my age group, I will think about committing. I'm excited about conquering a few more of those mountains that I look at out the window everyday. Chris and I are hoping to expand the family this year and find out whether or not a guy who rides on an SLR for 6000+ miles can really have babies successfully ;) Should be a big year. Even if things don't work out as planned, I'm sure there will be memories galore in the coming 12 months. Good or bad, we'll get through them with grace and plenty of pictures!

Thanks to Michelle for taking what I consider to be the picture of the year. This is the face of pride, relief, success, exhaustion, and adrenaline all rolled into one:


Here's to happiness, hope, and warm feet in '07!