Jumping dog

What a weekend! We finally finished our pond and are ready for fish this week. I can't wait to get a few and show them their new home. We already have one pet, but he's not that cute.








While we were outside, our dog Roxy was trying to get something off of the grill. I caught it on camera, that little dog has some serious ups!





It was a great weekend, we caught a Rangers baseball game, went to a surprise party, played a lot of poker, and went to a cookout at a neighbors house. I managed to get in 11 miles over the past 3 days and I swam a little. I am going to rest tonight and watch the Mavs beat the Suns. GO MAVS!

I hope every one had a great weekend!

In a funk

This is how I am feeling lately...I'll post again when I'm not so cynical and grouchy.

The Pond

I just can't get these pictures in order no matter how hard I try, so you'll just have to see them in random order. Curt and I built a pond in our backyard over the past two weekends. It was a challenging project and there were a few times when I just wanted to throw him in the hole and bury him. :) Luckily we were persitant and patient with eachother. We still have some landscaping to do around it and we are going to buy a few fish. We already had our first tenant move in last night, a big bullfrog. He loves his new home and he eats bugs, so he can stay.
(Update: Thanks to Papa Louie I was able to get my pics in order. Thanks! )

Home Improvements-Back Porch

We were going for the tiled look, it isn't perfect but it looks really cool. I didn't take a before shot soon enough, but it was just ugly grey cement. The "before" shot is actually the 2nd step in our process.

Home Improvements-Garden

Here are before/after pics of our garden. Our little flowers are finally growing!

I've got MAD skills

OK, the title of this post is exaggerated a little bit, but it's still fun to say. In case you haven't noticed, I LOVE sports. I play on a co-ed softball team, a co-ed indoor soccer team, a woman's basketball team and I run/bike/swim now. I am already on the list to play flag football in the fall. So, I guess to say I love sports is actually an understatement. I ADORE sports, I love all that comes with it. I love to sweat and compete, I love the complexity of the games, I love it all. Out of all of the sports I play during the year, basketball is BY FAR my favorite. I love the game of basketball. I always have. I was never an all-state caliber player, but I held my own in high school and was recruited to play for a small university, which I did for a couple of years. Those were wonderful days. I haven't played in a while and decided that I should go to the court last night so I don't make a fool out of myself in my upcoming league. I'm 5'3" so being a good shooter is really all I've got. The first few shots I took were a little rusty and bounced off the rim every which way, but once I found my groove I was swept away in my own little world. I was knocking down 8' jumpers and 3 pointers with no problem. It was awesome! It took me back to my high school days. I was in the gym EVERY night. My dad would have me out there shooting until my arms were like lead. I will admit that it helped, shooting became second nature to me and I was known as the "3 point assassin" in my freshmen year of college.

Last night I was shooting around and a group of guys showed up. You could tell they were real annoyed by having to play half court so I offered to play a pick up game with them so we could all play full court. They reluctantly accepted my offer. There was one kid that thought that he was WAY better than the rest of us and that he was practically gracing us with his presence by even playing with us. I don't do well with kids like that. I say "kids" because not one of them was over 17. LOL. The team I was on was clearly the underdog. After all, we had a girl (GASP) on our team. My first pet peeve of playing with guys. DO NOT TREAT ME LIKE I WILL BREAK. I promise you, I won't. I'm not glass or a piece of pottery. If I thought that I might get hurt, I wouldn't offer to play. So, I had to establish the fact that I wasn't breakable by pushing a little too hard on defense. That got their attention and after a few trips up and down the floor it was ON. It was 60 minutes of sprinting and shooting, pushing and pulling, sweating and YES...even a few drops of blood. Not mine, one of the kids on my team got elbowed in the nose. It was intense and exhilirating and I was ON FIRE. I couldn't miss!! It was SUHWEET. Basketball pumps me up like no other sport out there. After the game we all agreed that we would meet again today, same time...same place. I can't wait! I got my track workout in after that (4x400, 3X300, 2x200, 1x100, 2 mile cool down). I got home and collapsed from exhaustion but ripe with anticipation of tonight's rematch. BRING IT.

Read this!!

You must go out and read this book.

Cuteness all around!!

I just had to post these pics, they are from my nieces dance recital this past weekend. Of course, their twin brothers had to jump in for one of the pictures. Cuteness is overflowing with these kiddos.

Keep on keepin' on

I haven't been posting the past couple of days because I am in a little bit of a funk, for several reasons. I thought that if I couldn't post anything great and inspiring then I shouldn't post at all, but I have come to realize that I should write about what's on my heart to get it out. Writing has always been therapeutic for me, so maybe this will help. As you may know, from a previous post, my relationship with my father has been a tough one for the past couple of years. I was very excited (and nervous) when I thought I would get to see him this past weekend. My twin brother, who is still very close to him, bought tickets for the 3 of us to go see the Yankees play our Rangers. I agreed to go because I knew that it wasn't fair of me to moan and groan about my relationship with my dad, if I was never willing to try and talk to him. Well, at the last minute my dad cancelled. I must admit that I was MAD. I don't mind him being a jerk to me, but I was so mad that he had the nerve to treat my brother that way. Ryan is the only one that has stood by him through everything. My dad knew how much Ryan was looking forward to this, and since he works for Southwest Airlines, my dad was flying for free. It made me so sad to hear my brother act like he wasn't hurt but I know deep down that he was. That is kind of thing that makes me SICK about my dad. He considers no one's feeling but his own. Needless to say, that is the main reason for my little funk. I think that since I have been wearing my feelings on my sleeve for the past few days, that has cause a riff between my husband and I as well. As you all know, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my husband. I do. He is incredible, and he is the man that completes me, heart and soul. That doesn't mean that we don't get in to it every now and then. We are both so strong minded and strong willed that a fight lasts a lot longer than it should because we are BOTH RIGHT. We have been at each other all weekend and that is not helping my mood. I hate the feeling that is in our house right now, there is tension and we are not working to resolve it. Once again though, I can't expect things to change if I am not willing to change a little myself. It is a trivial arguement so hopefully we will both get our acts together and get out of this rut we are in.

Thank God for my triathlon training! This has helped me so much this weekend, I have been able to go out and run and feel the tension melt away. When I am running I am able to let go of what is bothering me and concentrate on the here and now. I think I over did it though, my muscles are exhausted today. Every time I felt like putting my husband in a head lock, I would go for a run instead. That made for a LOT of running this weekend. :)

Life has its ups and downs. Right now I am down, but I know that I will be up again soon. I know in my heart that God promises that. He never promised a life full of constant happiness and no tribulations. He did promise peace though and He did promise to get us through times like these. He has given me a faithful heart and I know that things will get better. Right now I will just have to choose to concentrate on what is good in my life, and that list is a mile long.

Thought for the day: “We all need love, but we need it most when we deserve it least--when we have sinned against someone, when we have made poor choices, when we have failed. In these situations, ordinary love must become extra-ordinary love.”

Is it Monday???

Went for a 40 minute run yesterday followed up by a 25 minute swim, I felt really great! I can tell that my body is getting stronger and my mental toughness is improving tenfold. Unfortunately after that, I had a "Gus" moment. We had our monthly ladies get together in my neighborhood last night and this time it was at my next door neighbors house. I had promised her that I would go get some ice and come over a little early to help set up. I hurry to shower and get dressed...I realize that I need to paint my toenails so I sit down on my bathroom floor and rush through it. I hurry through the process and am about to screw the lid back, but instead I thought it would be a lot more fun to just SPILL THE ENTIRE BOTTLE OF DARK PURPLE FINGER NAIL POLISH on my beautiful NEW tile floor and ALL over my legs. Some how it made it up to my arms as well. It WAS AWESOME. I just sat there for a couple of minutes wondering if that really just happened to me. Word of advice here, when you SPILL DARK PURPLE FINGER NAIL POLISH on your floor, DO NOT get a towel and try to wipe it up. It really just smears it. I get out my finger nail polish remover to find there is maybe 4 drops left. I was completely panicked. To make a terribly long (and quite painful) story shorter, let me just tell you that a combination of rubbing alcohol and peroxide does the trick on the tile. My skin was a different story. I had to jump back in the shower and scrub the top layer of my skin off. Not a pleasant feeling. I actually scrubbed my arm so hard that I bruised. After 45 minutes of insanity, I felt that the situation was resolved. I had 10 minutes to blow dry my hair, run to the store for ice and get over to my neighbors to meet 25 other ladies that already think I am just a young punk living in a grown up's world. Luckily, when I was about to leave I went to feed the dogs and realized that Gus had DARK PURPLE FINGER NAIL POLISH on his head. And then he threw up on my foot. Once again, AWESOME.

All's well that ends well, I made it to my little get together and had a great time. I just had to laugh at the situation because there is no question in my mind that I will have another day like that. I recapped my story for the ladies of the neighborhoold and they were hysterical about it. Talk about an icebreaker. :)

Hawaii Pics

Today is so dreary here, so I am closing my eyes and picturing myself and my husband on the beach in Hawaii. Here are some Hawaii pictures for all to enjoy.

Humbled

I went for my first swim last night...let me tell you that I was very humbled. I have been a swimmer my whole life. Granted, I never swam competitively, but I was a lifeguard for several summers and I love the water. I have always considered myself a great swimmer. Once again, this triathlon has laughed at me and humbled me to a new level. When we got home from our softball game last night, my husband and I took our dogs to the community pool. This has nothing to do with my swim, but it was by far the funniest thing I have seen in a while. One of our dogs, Gus, is our special little dog. He's had so many things go wrong with him in his short 3 years of life (broken leg, losing all of his hair, knocking himself out on the coffee table...). He is just the sweetest little dog though but he is sort of clueless. So we get inside the gate and I still had Gus on his leash. Poor little guy was just walking and when he headed for the water, I thought for sure he would stop and sniff it out. He walked right into it. It was FREEZING. He was still on his leash so I was able to just pull him out (he only weighs 4 lbs), but I was on the floor laughing. My husband was getting on to me because he thought Gus was getting his feelings hurt. LOL. I dry the little guy off and jump in for my swim. First of all, OH MY GAH. It was SO cold. After I caught my breath I went for my first lap. About half way through, I hear a "kurplunk" under the water and look over. Gus had walked right into the pool again. GEEZ. Poor little guy. My husband decided to hold him the rest of the swim. Back to my swim...my first 2 laps (I am estimating 1 lap is about 25 meters) went really well. I felt strong and my breathing was good. After I started out on my second lap I though I was going to pass out. It was really tough. I managed to get in 12 laps total, but I had to drag myself out. I have a lot of work to do...but I am excited because I know that I can train for it and it will only get easier. I look back on my running when 3 months ago, I couldn't even run 1/2 mile. Now I am up to 5-6 miles with no problem. It is a long road, but it is one that is worth it.

We put our leashes back on our dogs and headed home. About half way there, I look back at Gus and all I could see was ears. He had fallen in a hole. Most days I feel like Gus. I walk through life so happy go lucky...but I always stumble, and if there is a "hole" I will fall in it. Luckily I have a God that loves me, an amazing husband, and an incredible group of family and friends that always support me and pick me back up. That's what it's all about.

(Here is a picture of Gus and Roxy. Gus is the brown one with the satellite ears.)



Today's Quote: “Prayer is an end to isolation. It is living our daily life with someone; with Him who alone can deliver us from solitude.”