Taking it easy

We're putting our feet up tonight, catching up from another busy weekend. Friday I worked in my office and ran errands, Friday night we cleaned house. Saturday two of my three kids came to town, my daughter for a baby shower and my son and his wife for the same shower (it's their baby). The g-kids were here too and my daughter and the kids spent the night.

Today was the busiest day with an early morning wake up call so my daughter and the kids could head to a nearby town to watch her husband compete in an Ironman 70.3 (which is half an Ironman if you're stupid like me and don't know those things). We got up at 5:00 so she could leave at 6:00 because they wouldn't allow cars through after 8:00 or something like that. Our plan was to join her there before he finished, so we were able to leave much later.

The 70.3 is a 1.2 mile swim, a 56-mile bike ride, and a 13.1 mile run. What boggles my mind is he traveled further today under his own power than I did in a car, even though we probably drove about 60 miles or so round trip. And I had to take a nap when I got home...

We arrived at the intersection where they had stopped cars from coming in so we wouldn't disturb the bicyclists. We parked along the highway and ran to catch the shuttle bus to the transition point, only the shuttle bus was small and the line to catch it was long. We waited another 20 minutes for another shuttle (did they only have one?), standing next to a woman and her two daughters who were eating sunflower seeds. The oldest was sitting on the edge of the road while the youngest one, probably around six, was standing on the edge of the road. There was some traffic on our side of the road as vehicles left the main area. There was no shoulder on the road so she was really standing on the highway. She kept wandering into the road which was freaking R out and I didn't much like it either. Her mother was using a Blackberry or i-Phone or something like that and only stopped to break up a fight between the girls about the sunflower seeds. R was giving me that look he gets when parents aren't doing their job and both of us were poised to snatch her from the jaws of death because we were pretty sure her mother wouldn't. It made our wait more stressful than it needed to be.

We finally got on the shuttle and I had to take deep breaths to relax so my inclination to claustrophobia didn't kick in. I thought I'd open a window to get some air but instead I opened the emergency exit panel I ended up sitting next to which made something beep at the driver. I then read the large warning on the panel and finally figured out that beeping was caused by me and closed it. Beeping stopped. We hadn't left yet and people were still finding seats so it wasn't noticed (except probably by the driver who probably was rolling his eyes).

We got moving and made it to the drop off point which was still quite a distance from the transition area/finish line. We high-tailed it but R had to stop at a bathroom. I stopped too but there was a wait, then my stall didn't have a lock or any way for the person outside to see someone was in there since there was no opening at the bottom of the door. I spent my time worried about a walk-in but finally we were on our way. We saw the flags and headed to the finish line and just as we made it to the finish area I recognized my son-in-law from the back as he crossed the line. It's amazing I recognized him because I swear all tri-athletes look the same, especially from the back. We cheered and hollered and then immediately found our daughter and hooked up with him and everyone else who came to watch. It was great!

We visited a little bit and then the weather began to change and yet another storm began to roll through our already saturated area. Our son-in-law went for a post-competition massage and the rest of us headed out with our daughter driving us to our car. Everyone was pooped but we were all excited and very proud of his effort.

Home to a nap, then trips to Barnes & Noble, PetSmart, and Walgreens. I found a new cookbook since both R and I need to watch our diets and cholesterol now. I think I'm going to like it. At Walgreens R got a couple of pairs of reading glasses (he breaks them frequently when they fall out of his pocket--at least they're not prescription). We got some bird seed for our finch feeder at PetSmart and I looked longingly at the canaries. I had canaries when I was young and we had zebra finches when the kids were young. I gave up on birds because it was such a pain to keep them safe from the cats, but while at PetSmart I realized my cats are not allowed anywhere except the basement and the back yard, so I could probably have a bird again. I'm still thinking about it, although I already have a spot picked out in the dining room for the cage.

We came home and cooked steaks for R for father's day (mine was a very tiny tenderloin, so don't give me grief). I made a yum salad and we shared a baked potato with Smart Balance on it instead of butter. My son recommended it and it's tasty, and I'm a person who loves butter. Yesterday I made a killer black bean chili that we served with a black bean and salsa bread that R found at the store. I've got leftovers for supper tomorrow.

I'm reading Barbara Kingsolver's book about living a year on local food and I'm enjoying it. I also just finished "The Prince of Frogtown" by Rick Bragg and now I want to read his other books. I'm constantly amazed by the stories of children who grew up with one or more seriously dysfunctional and/or alchoholic parents and came out well on the other end. Probably my all time favorite book is "Angela's Ashes" (Frank McCourt) and I also liked "The Glass Castle" (Jeanette Walls).

Okay, time to chill. I've got a new cookbook waiting to be perused and a library book waiting to be read.