For G-pa

Hopefully this works. This is the link to the Mud Race, if anyone wants to come and spectate. I have no idea what exactly will transpire at this thing. I know there will be bands. I'm pretty much just going to show up, get through the race and then have an ice cold beer at Pig n Steak (pronounced pig n stick)

http://www.mudwarrior.org/register/mud-warrior-virginia/

http://www.pigandsteak.com/ Where I'm going for beer after the race.

And I just read this today:

A team of Marines and Extreme outdoor enthusiasts are engineering the wildest and craziest course ever created for a mud race. You can expect a +4.5 mile course, with more than 20 obstacles. This will certainly be the wildest and muddiest day of your life.

I'm in so much trouble.

Okay...

So today we made it to the horse farm without getting locked in the garage. Thank you, Lily.

The paso fino horses are small and you can see they're easily provoked. Not quite the right word. The horse that Stacy hates is called Lothario. She showed him to me and he was pleasant but as soon as Stacy's back was turned he followed her with his ears back. And there was a door between them! Snort.

Lily had a good time. We got to see the little colt. Well, he's 6 months so not totally a baby. One of the horses made a noise as Lily walked past him, as if to say, keep on going. She thought it was hilarious. :)

It was a beautiful day - no clouds in the sky. I made it to the gym but almost died. Twenty pushups? Twenty? Really? And holy smokes there were some hot guys there today. And poor me, I had to ask them to work in on the equipment. Mercy. Whoops my pulse is picking up again. hahahahahaha

What else? Well, hopefully I can pull together the energy to make cupcakes. I am just ragged now. wheeeee!

Good Grief

Madi had another picture day today. Thankfully, her teacher mentioned something yesterday. whew

I can't WAIT to see the picture. It was a class pic so I'm dying to see what kind of preschool riot took place in front of the camera. Snort.

Well

That snuck up on me. Have to get Lily registered for Kindergarten and registration has already started! It goes until Friday of this week so we'll head in there today. Good grief. I had a panic attack. One because I had no idea it was going on, Pedro mentioned it and I looked into it. Two, how on earth is Lily going to kindergarten????? lol

I know it will be good for everyone, but dang.

I guess

This isn't that exciting but the horse farm is on some very historic property in our county. The guest house was the first school house in Fluvanna and the main house was owned by one of the oldest of two families that settled in Palmyra. Judge Shepherd. I think. The other family was the Timberlakes. Anyway, I think it's cool. I love local history. :)

Trying to get motivated to go to the gym. My new routine (for the mudrace) scares the pants off of me. I do the same thing every time I go so my muscles won't get that much of a break. Well, no break. You know, one day you focus on legs and back, next day, chest and arms, or something. Well, not anymore! But my abs hurt for 3 days after just walking through the routine so I know this will kick my butt and get me in great shape. Inverted pull ups? Mercy. And I've started doing bunny hops up the steps into my house. Don't laugh. It's great for agility. :)

Alright, excuses are over time to get ready to go....

phew

Well, it's Friday so I guess we made it. It was a close thing though. I didn't get Madi to school until 9:30. I just had no motivation. Didn't get up until 8:30 which is when we usually leave. But Madi's school is more flexible because they do have such young children, and Lily didn't have school today.

But she did have her first official lesson! Mercy.

We both learned what brushes do what on a horse. She brushed the lower part, I did the upper part. I think I get the better end of the deal. *snicker* We learned more about tack, since it is different then the western stuff that I'm used to.

The owner Mandy, promised us that the horse we were working with was super sweet. Well, he was a stinker for us! lol He took off after we put him in the paddock and rolled around in the dirt. Then he'd come over to us, turn around and run away as fast as he could, digging up clumps of mud and poop and sending them our way. The second time he did it, I turned around and covered my head. They were BIG clumps. Stink face.

But we had fun. It is a showing/competition barn so it isn't like you just show up and mozy around on horseback. There is a riding ring set up for jumps, etc. Lily really liked it and more importantly, did well, I think. I'm sorry, a 50lb little girl leading a horse big enough for me to ride? That's pretty good.

Madi is still being a honey badger.

I am so sore. I had a training session last night and I asked Barb the trainer to set something up to help me with the Mud Warrior Race. Well, it occurred to me last night while I was doing guy pushups and planks that we must be crazy to pay people to be mean to us. She didn't make me do the whole thing, just showed me what I need to do. 50 pushups. F.I.F.T.Y. guy pushups. 100 situps, not crunches. I only did 30 yesterday and my abdomen is on fire. I climb up on a bar and see how long I can hang (1 second is my record, :p). Oh yeah, and my favorite, squats on the squishy ball. It's like half of a exercise ball. It's to help with my balance and agility. And there's more but I won't bore you.

She said I could get through the race in the shape I'm in now (purr) but to do well, I'll need to do those other things. Sigh. And I'm not really complaining. I'm proud of myself for losing weight and getting in shape. I could just sit on my ass. I don't think I'm the most fit that I've ever been but I'm getting there. :)

And yes, that's the horse that we spent 20 minutes brushing, rolling in the dirt as soon as he got loose. I think he might be a match for Madi.

And...

Most importantly, I ordered a new nose piercing thing. I just don't have time to drive into town with two small kids, go into a tattoo parlour and try to pick a more permanent screw. Shut up.

I still have the one I got when my nose was pierced and those are big to allow for swelling but now it hangs down out of my nose or pokes out the side of my nose... For some reason, I never thought to check online until Stacy mentioned it. It only took a few minutes to figure out the sizes, even with Madilyn on my lap.

I hope this one makes my life easier. People are always saying "Oh, you need a tissue." Um no, that's just my humongous nose piercing thing.

So, yeah, I ordered white gold with a real diamond.

What?

And I'm going to the ballet with Stacy. She invited me. :p

It was a great day...

No, really. Saturday was awesome. We barely made it to skating on time. Lily had a lot of fun as she had the prettiest teacher. LOL She's a Libra, you have to bear with her. She likes it when people have their hair and makeup done.

Then we went and got cupcakes. And the cashier liked my nail polish. What?

Then we toodled over to Whole Foods and went way over our grocery budget but had so much fun buying yummy food. I bought French Pure Butter cookies. Actually made in France. I wanted Pedro to ask me if I was pretentious so that I could say "oui". ha!

They had free samples of Gearharts' chocolates. He's a local dude and the chocolates are hand made. It's not a really easy place for me to get to so I was excited to try one. The mint julep tasted mostly like bourbon. *cough* But Madi snatched it out of my hands all the same. Lily grabbed a tequila lime white chocolate. When I suggested that she share it with her daddy, the last half was shoved in her mouth.

So yes, we spent an exorbitant amount on a small box of chocolates....

.... which I left out and Madilyn got into. The baby that eats cat food and hot dogs crammed about $12 worth of chocolate into her mouth. Which was only about half the box. *eyes* The surprise (after the initial shock and horror) was that she ate a dark chocolate ganache made with chili and bitter orange. She couldn't eat it fast enough. She has a pretty mature palate.

Anyway, Lily behaved herself. It snowed in brief bursts. I don't think Pedro yelled at anyone. It was just a really nice day. :)

What else? Well, I've been singing the song If You're Happy and You Know It, and now Madi claps her hands when it's time for it. Without me clapping. I was putting more wood on the fire and it was almost out so I blew on it one time and walked away (I'm good like that). So I saw Madi step over in front of the fire and blow on it too.

Too. Cute.

So we're seeing more awareness - especially of chocolate. She tried to steal some at the register. *eyes* It was just a fun silly day. Lily did a snow dance in the parking lot and managed not to get run over. Sigh.

Quicke

So, hmmm. I only have a few minutes before I take off to get the girls. So of course, my brain has shut down...

I managed to run 1.5 miles today. It's hard to get back into it after being sick for a week. But I ran a 10 min mile so I was happy. I'm not sure what the mud race will totally entail but the longest stretch of running is one mile so I'm trying to condition my body for short bursts of speed. No comments from Pedro.

Madi has been a pistol (huge surprise) at school by trying to get into the bathroom. It's like 2 weeks ago she finally discovered it in the classroom. *rolling eyes* So she got in there the other day and the teachers fussed at her to get out. She called one a b*tch and walked up to the other and yelled "poo poo!" So, you know, that's kind of good. Every time she follows me in the bathroom I point out that pee pee and poo poo go in the toilet so she was probably trying to let them know that SHE knew.

*exhale*

What else? hmmm Life is rolling along. Good or bad, healthy or sick that darn sun keeps on coming up. :) Hope everyone is having a good week.