Update on Dad

The procedure my dad had this morning was to see if angioplasty would take care of a blockage in the Circumflex artery (think that was the name my brother said the doctor used). While trying to clear the blockage they broke through the wall. It as too risky to try again so he needs bypass. It will be 2-4 depending on what they find once they open him up.

He went into surgery around 3:00 PM central. It is expected to last 3-4 hours. Bob is on his way home from work, and we will head to the hospital shortly after he gets home.

Thoughts & Prayers Please

I got a call this morning that my dad had a heart attack while he was at work. He is going into surgery now. I will update you guys as soon as I know anything further. Thank you for your thoughts & prayers!

The Gun Show

As some of you know, Bob loves The Office -- especially Dwight K. Schrute! While shopping at Kohl's I found this shirt & could not pass it up!

Week of July 23 Training Totals

WEEK OF JULY 23

SWIM	BIKE	RUN/WALK*
0.5 miles	6.5 miles	6.5 miles
0hr 30min	0hr 25min	1hr 13min

It's not a lot, but at least I'm moving! I can tell the Couch to 5k is working. I feel better about my running after just six training runs.

Thursday Thirteen #29

I have been spending a lot of time this week removing wallpaper from the walls in our full bath. This is going to be a temporary fix until we put in tile, a new vanity, and counter. I hate the color of the counter in there, but need the paint color to work with it. I was thinking of going with an apricotish (Is that even a word? LOL!) color, but have changed my mind and will now go with some shade of lilac or lavender.

Since I changed my mind on the color, it means we will have to get a new shower curtain, valance, towels, and other accessories. When we do replace the items I mentioned earlier we are going with neutral colors so it will all still be usable.

Here are some of the things I have run across that I may pick up to use in our "new" bathroom.

Thirteen Bathroom Redecorating Possibilities

1. Shower Curtain (target.com)

2. Shower Curtain Rings (target.com)

3. Wastebasket (target.com)

4. Soap Pump (target.com)

5. Covered Jar (target.com)

6. Tumbler (target.com)

7. White Hand Towels (target.com)

8. Lavender Hand Towels (jcpenney.com)

9. Lavender Bath Rugs (target.com)

10. Light Fixture (homedepot.com)

11. Towel Hook (homedepot.com)

12. Towel Bar (homedepot.com)

13. Prints that were Bob's Grandma's
(On the floor in front of the window in the shot below.)

Whew! Finding, saving, and uploading all those pictures is a lot of work! I am heading back to the paper peeling now!

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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A New Packer Charity Cap

From packers.com: The Green Bay Packers and American Family Insurance Monday announced the details of this year's charity cap campaign, an effort to raise money to support service men and women, veterans and their families.

This is the third such campaign for the two organizations. The previous two, pink and red caps, raised a total of nearly $1.5 million for Wisconsin charities fighting breast cancer and heart disease.

Through sales of the new, stone-washed black cap with the Packers' 'G' on the front, the American Family Insurance logo and a red, white and blue remembrance ribbon on the side, the two organizations will raise money for Wisconsin groups that support the people who currently serve or have served our county, and their families.

Funds raised will go to organizations focusing on health care needs, and family support and assistance. Specific charities or organizations will be selected this fall.

I've placed my order for one! Shhh, this one is for Bob! :)

Hooray for Erin

Congratulations to Erin on being accepted to law school! Way to go, girl! I knew you would do it! I am proud of you!

Will Bonds Make History in Milwaukee?

The buzz is in the air this weekend in Milwaukee. Barry Bonds & the San Francisco Giants are in town to play the Brewers this weekend. Barry is now 2 home runs away from Hank Aaron's home run record. If he hits one tonight, I don't think he will play again until the Giants are back home, but how crazy would it be if he tied Aaron's record in the town Aaron hit many of his home runs?

We will be at the game on Sunday. Word around town is that when Barry is up to bat instead of the boos he gets in other cities, he will instead be hearing chants of Hank, Hank, Hank! :)

Weekly Training Totals

I want to track my training time here and will try to remember to post my training totals each Friday. I will probably need a reminder note on the computer...lol!

WEEK OF JULY 16

SWIM	BIKE	RUN/WALK*
0.5 miles	0.0 miles	7.3 miles
0hr 30min	0hr 00min	1hr 30min

At the end of a month I will do monthly totals. This time will not include my strength training workouts for now.

*I edited the headings in the table because I inadvertently left out the walking included in the couch to 5K program. It is run training, but I don't run the full time -- yet. :)

Thursday Thirteen #28

Thirteen Childhood Memories!

1. Hearing my dad say, "See you at cookie time". My parents would come into our rooms to tuck us in, say our bedtime prayer, and say good night. As my dad closed the door, he dad would say to me "See you at cookie time". Cookie time was actually his breakfast. He would have two cookies with is cup of coffee. His "breakfast" cookies were always Nabisco Sugar Wafers.

2. Taking the last sip of coffee from dad's coffee cup after he was gone to work.

3. Going to the drive-in theater in pjs to see Benji, Lassie, Lady & the Tramp, etc with my family.

4. Sneaking change from my parents coin jar, riding my bike with my brother to the Penny Candy store, giving the owner our money and filling a bag with candy as she tells us how much we have left to spend. My favorites were the wax bottles, candy cigarettes, and candy buttons.

5. Cutting cattails from the ditch and setting up a stand to try to sell them. Five cents for a plain one ten cents with a cute curly ribbon attached. We didn't care there were thousands of cattails the people driving by could cut themselves for FREE...lol! By the way, we never sold one!

6. Swimming for hours with my brothers in our pool. My brother, Josh, would be full of goosebumps, shivering and have purple lips, but would insist he wasn't cold. LOL! He was probably 4 or 5 at the time and just wanted to be by his big brother & sister.

7. Spending the night in the "chicken coop". As I said before, I grew up in a 100+ year old farm house. It was not a working farm, but had all the buildings of one. In it's previous life our playhouse was a chicken coop. There were quite a few hot summer nights my brothers, step-sister & I would spend the night out there. I think Josh usually got spooked and had to go in the house...lol!

8. Ice skating with my brother on the frozen "ponds" and ditches all around us with my brother. There were times we could skate in the ditch for a mile! Of course, there were also the times the ice on the ditch cracked and we got soakers...lol!

9. Riding bikes up and down the LONG driveway for hours. Sometimes my brother & I would play "ET". That is where we took turns giving each other rides on the handle bars. Should I mention the time we fell and laughed so hard my step-sister & I wet our pants? LOL!

10. Playing games! Kickball and baseball on our little front yard diamond. Football in about only area in the front yard clear of trees. Dodge ball with the rotten apples that had fallen off the tree. (Mom didn't like that game...lol!)

11. Snowmobiling in our yard and the fields around us. My parents let us drive the snowmobiles by ourselves when I was 8 and my brother 6. (I can't imagine letting Olivia drive a snowmobile at six -- YIKES!!) One time my brother went up a steep snowbank and dumped me off the back of the snowmobile. I have a sneaking suspicion he did it intentionally.

12. Sledding down the hill in front of the house on those roll up sleds that wouldn't stay under you and the metal saucer thing. I think it was called the Super Saucer or something like that.

13. Going up to Eagle River, WI to spend time with our grandparents. This one sparks a whole new TT list of memories. What good times we had up there!!

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Passing Time

Can you think of a better way to pass time when waiting for the someone to come repair a dryer than peeling wallpaper? I couldn't...lol!

The "demolition" of the full bath has begun. Instead of the complete redo we were talking about over the winter, we decided to just paint for now. It needs it BAD! Since the kitchen is a more public room than our full bath, we decided we'll do the big budget redo there first. We are going to have the cabinets refaced and replace the counters. The kitchen probably won't happen until sometime next spring.

By the way, the dryer is all better. A couple of thermal sensors needed to be replaced. It's working like a charm once again.

Another Repair -- UGH!

Barely a month ago we had to call out a plumber to repair the flange on the toilet in the full bath. Now, we have to have an appliance guy out for the dryer. It just stopped heating. Anyone know how long it takes to tumble a load of towels dry without any heat? LOL!! It's probably the heating coil thing a ma bob, but I am not comfortable with adding gas appliance repair to my resumé.

This is when Bob says the house is falling down around us we should just sell it. It's really not, but doesn't it seem like everything happens at once? "They" say things happen in threes, but I am hoping "they" are wrong. ;)

Training for the Future

I found this Couch-to-5K program few years ago, but had forgotten about it when I began training for my triathlon. By the time I stumbled upon it again, I thought it was too late to change up what I was already doing.

Next year I want to be able to run the entire 3.1 miles, and this afternoon I took the first steps to assure that happens.

It's Up!

Scroll down to July 7th & July 8th entries to read about my first triathlon experience. If I could sign up today for next year, I would do it without hesitation! I have already set new goals and will begin to work on those next week. :)

Also Up

Triathlon Pictures! You can see the shots Bob & Olivia were able to get at flickr.com.

I should have a few more to post, but I don't know when I will have access to those. Danskin had photographers every step of the way. I am waiting to hear word those pictures are ready. My fingers are crossed they had a photographer at the finish line. Bob & Olivia were there, but didn't see me.

Thursday Thirteen

I am skipping the TT this week, but do not fear it will return next Thursday!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Tomorrow, I Promise!

Bob took a few days vacation this week. We have just been enjoying time together. I have my story ready to go. I will type it up and post tomorrow. In the meantime, here is a story to inspire...

http://www.dailysouthtown.com/news/432483,181NWS4.article

Amazing, isn't it?

Tri THANK YOU!

The Danskin Triathlon was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I need sometime let everything soak in and write about the weekend. I want to express the emotion I felt during the event for all of you who supported me. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for that support. I could not have done this without you.

I Am a Triathlete

I was up just before 3:00 AM, and we were on the road by 4:20 AM. We had to catch a shuttle from Dairyland Greyhound Park to the race site. Parking and catching the shuttle were a piece of cake. (Erin was not so lucky! She left her house about an hour after we left ours. Arrived to near Dairyland at about 6:00 AM and waited in traffic for over an hour.)

Bob & Olivia were with me. I sat with them for a few minutes before I went to set up my transition area. Unfortunately, I made a rookie mistake when I racked my bike yesterday. I left too much space between my bike and the one on the end. My bike was "bumped" from the second to the third spot on the rack. Still easy to find.

I joined Bob & Olivia again for a little while. We were watching for Erin not knowing how she was stuck in the horrible traffic. The start of the race was actually delayed because of the traffic. They also allowed anyone who missed their swim wave to join one when they were ready.

At about 7AM I began walking over to the swim start area. A slow take in all the sights & sounds walk. As I walked along the run path, I wondered about the stories of these women. About half way along the path, I came across a woman who had just finished chemo treatments. Her complexion was beautiful & flawless. I will carry the image of her in my mind always. As I passed her, the emotion of the day began to hit me. A tear trickled down my cheek. As competitors continued to walk a man began to speak about Danskin Triathlon traditions and other things that would happen today. A beautiful instrumental played for a few minutes before the National Anthem. The woman who sang it had a beautiful voice. The emotion of the day hit me again at that point and a few more tears flowed.

It was now time for the triathlon to get underway. The first wave, The Elite, are brought down into the water. They have a few minutes with Sally Edwards, National Spokeswoman for the Danskin Women's Triathlon Series. The Danskin traditional countdown began. 10 9 8... and the first wave was off! The event I have worked so hard to prepare for is here.

The second wave, Survivors, is brought to the water. Just about 30 seconds until they are on their way. The following waves go every 4 minutes!

I finally spot Erin in the crowd. She didn't get to see the start of the event because of the traffic at the shuttle pick up site. While I missed her & am sad she missed the start of the event, I was (am) thankful I had that alone time to experience the sights, sounds, and emotions of the day.

Erin & I talked for a few minutes before I headed over to the swim start to join my fellow yellow capped, 35-39 year olds. We visited with one another. Talked about race numbers, triathlon training, our strengths/weaknesses, and triathlon experience. There was only one other woman near me who was a first timer. The veterans encouraged us! Suddenly, the crowd behind us and to the right began to roar. The first runner was coming by. She completed the .5 mile swim, the 12 mile bike, and part of the 3 mile run before we were even hitting the water. I would estimate she did that in less than 45 minutes.

As our group was "on deck" for the swim Disco Inferno by The Trammps played. We all sang and danced to keep loose and get pepped up. The 15th wave was off and that means we are next. Looking around I see a few women who look a little nervous about the swim. The group I was talking to all looked pretty confident. We are in the front line of the wave. I was front & center! :) One of the Danskin Angels, the swim volunteers, leads us in some cheering. Asks us a few questions about who we are going to pass first (pink caps -- wave 15), and who we aren't going to let pass (green caps -- wave 17). She then gave us a word to remember as we go through the day - FANTASTIC! We are to use that word to remind us we are fantastic swimmers, fantastic bikers, fantastic runners, and fantastic triathletes. The countdown begins 10 9 8... and we were off. It felt really great, but the sun glared made sighting something on shore very difficult. Twice I swam outside the buoys and had to swim back to the right. I still felt like I was making really good time. I could see myself passing pink caps and only saw one green cap pass me. Bob said in my wave there were only about six women out of the water before me.

Swim Time 00:16:28
Rank 1065/3919

I ran to my bike. T1 went quickly and pretty well. I know I can shave more time off of it for next year.

T1 Time 00:03:11

The bike was tough. A lot tougher than I had anticipated due to the high winds, the heat, and the HILLS! I also need to look into getting a road bike for these events. The wide mountain bike tires are killers on a road in a race.

Bike Time 00:57:07
Rank 3051/3919 (UGH -- definitely needs work)

I hopped off the bike at the dismount point and my legs felt like Jell-O -- not the bricks I was expecting. Ah, a watering station. I wove my way between the racks to my area. I racked my bike and I was off.

T2 Time 00:02:04

Ah, another splash of water before I ran. My legs didn't feel too bad at all when I began the run. I think to myself I might be able to run the whole thing. I guess I though that too soon because shortly I felt my heart rate soar. I slowed to a slow jog. A lady points out that I had forgotten to take off my helmet after the bike. Oh, crap (excuse my french...lol)! I take it off and try to figure out what I am going to do with it. I thought about throwing it down in the grass, but eventually I looped the strap onto my tank top. Looking back, I should have thrown it down. Bob saw me running with the helmet and when I took it off. He was trying to run after me to get it. He said it was pretty sad he couldn't catch me even after I had just finished the swim & the bike when he had done nothing but walk...lol.

The heat during the first half of the run was brutal. I did a little running and walking. I wanted to be able to RUN across that finish line and wanted to conserve that energy so I could. The watering station at about half way was a welcome sight. As was the Jelly Belly Sports Beans station, but neither of those were as good as the hose the firefighters had to spray us. I drank the water, ate half a package of the sports beans, and enjoyed the water from the hose. The course continued on about a quarter mile before we got to turn around and enjoy those three stations again. At the half mile left mark we got the biggest boost any triathlete could hope for -- an open fire hydrant! More pressure than that hose and just what I needed to refresh me for the home stretch. I ran the entire last mile and it was so exciting to see the word FINISH up ahead. Sally Edwards was there cheering us on, and as we crossed the finish line our names were announced and we were given a medal!

Run Time 00:43:40
Rank 3076/3919

Total Time 02:02:33
Overall Rank 2636/3919
Class Rank (35-39) 460/578

I did it! I am a triathlete!

Danskin Triathlon Expo

Erin & I arrived near the race venue at 10:00 AM. Right on time. The line of traffic waiting to enter the lot was backed up at least a mile. We sat & waited about 30 minutes before we were able to get into the lot & park.

We entered the Lakeview RecPlex at about 10:35 AM. The room was full of the buzz of excitement & anticipation of tomorrow's event.

Erin & I split up to make picking up race materials go more quickly. Turned out to be a great plan. Our lines were about the same length, and we finished at about the same time. When picking up our materials we found out our swim waves. I was wave #16 - Yellow & Erin was #28 - Purple. (The colors are the color of cap our wave wore.) We then had our timing chips scanned to verify all the information linked to them was correct.

Then we were off to pick up our shirts, swim caps, and great bag from Danskin. There were goodies all around from race sponsors. The best by far had to be the folding tool from the great people at Trek.

Neither of us thought the first timer's overview would help us with anything we could change the day before the race so we skipped it. There was still a lot of time until the next course overview so we decided to skip it too. I don't think we would have been any better prepared had we seen either one of those. We knew the course, we swam in that lake before, and were as pepped as we were going to be at that point in time.

We went back to the car to get out bikes for racking. The line for racking had to be about a mile long when we got back from the car. Fortunately, a volunteer opened another gate for racking & we weren't too far from it. We split up again to rack and met back at the gate. I got a great spot. My rack was about half way between the swim finish & the run start. I was lucky to be able to get a spot near the end of the rack. Erin got a great spot too, but she was closer to the bike start/finish than I was. At this point we were both hating the heat and were a little worried about how it would affect us tomorrow.

A quick stop at The Brat Stop for lunch, and then we headed home. I relaxed most of the afternoon & evening. I planned on heading to bed early, but wasn't that tired. I didn't want to lie in bed awake thinking about how I should be sleeping so I stayed up until about 10:30.

OH NO!

As you all know, the triathlon is Sunday! Look at the forecast -- 96 degrees with a "real feel" of 99 -- UGH! Hopefully, it will stay mostly cloudy. I hate to think of what that temp would say if it was supposed to be a clear day.

Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar

I will be drinking LOTS of fluids! Hopefully, not much of the fluid will be Lake Andrea water...LOL!

What a Sight

Several nights last week brought us beautiful sunsets! I took some shots on a couple of those nights and have loaded them to my flickr account! Enjoy!

Thursday Thirteen #27

Happy 100th week to the Thursday Thirteen! To help celebrate the gang at TT asked us to...

…write about your thirteen favorite Thursday Thirteen posts. You can write about thirteen of your own T13 posts, or you can write about the T13 posts of others that you’ve enjoyed. Be sure to link to each of the 13 posts you highlight so we can all check them out easily.

I have decided to respectfully decline rebel. There are SO many great TTs I have run across since I stumbled upon the TT meme. It would be a lot of work to go back and find all those that I enjoyed. (I will give you my three favorite 'teeners: This Eclectic Life, J's Thoughts & Musings, and Life is RANTastic! Actually, I enjoy reading their blogs daily!)


Instead I am reviving my 22nd TT to make sure I have everything I need for my triathlon. Yes, time is ticking. I can't believe it is Sunday!

Thirteen Things I Need to Bring on Triathlon Day!

1. Timing chip and strap (given with race materials during pick up Saturday morning)

2. Swim cap with race numbers (given with race materials)

3. Clear goggles & tinted goggles (CHECK!)

4. Towels (small to stage transition area, medium to dry feet before putting on shoes.) (CHECK! CHECK!)

5. Bike helmet with race number affixed to front (CHECK! given with race materials)

6. Fix-a-flat kit & bike pump (CHECK! CHECK!)

7. Running shoes/socks (CHECK! CHECK!)

8. Shirt I plan to wear during the run with race numbers pinned to it. (given with race materials)

9. Sunglasses (CHECK!)

10. Food/snacks to eat during and/or after race (CHECK! CHECK!)

11. Bottled water/fluid replacement drink on full bottle in cage on bike to drink during the bike leg. Additional fluids to enjoy after the race. (CHECK! CHECK!)

12. Sunscreen, chapstick, Body Glide, & pain meds (CHECK! CHECK! CHECK! CHECK!)

13. Cell phone (CHECK!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Happy Independence Day

Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

This image is from a few months ago. There was a storm approaching, and I loved the way our flag was waving in the high winds. I snapped about 25 shots of it before I took it down. The rain hit just a few minutes after I got this shot.

Matthew Mead Style

Oh man, I think I am in love! Check out the eye candy at matthewmeadstyle.

Check out those bowls. (Yes you, C!)

I Surrender

We have had painting the exterior trim, garage door, and fence on our to do list for about 2 years now. It took me all last summer to get the outside of the fence & the arbor painted. The inside still needs painting. We finally gave in and decided to hire someone. Two companies are coming out for estimates tomorrow, and I am waiting for return calls from two others.

I love to do those types of projects, but the weather never seems to cooperate when I have time to work on those jobs.