Happy St. Patrick's Day All! We celebrated all day Saturday- starting with an Easter Egg hunt at the campus Museum (pure madness) and finishing with the St. Pat's 10K race. There was a parade between the two events that we skipped due to the extremely cold weather (30s) & our need for sustenance.
Auden was in the Easter Egg hunt for the candy and he was pretty disappointed. There were at least a million kids and only a basketful of eggs strewn in the grass. A. was lucky to get three. Matti would have walked away empty handed if it hadn't been for the Easter bunny herself who gave him 2 charity ones before the hunt began. Their candy was eaten up before we even got to the mall (our parade alternative). So instead of standing in the freezing cold picking candy up off the street, we carb loaded at Sbarro's and picked up a pair of race sweats for my weather intolerant self- I was craving a little more warmth [I generally refuse to run in anything colder than mid-forties]). After the mall, Chris dropped the boys and I off in Aggieville where we met sitter Becky who pushed Matti in the stroller and kept Auden by her side during the 2-mile walk. The 10K didn't start until after the walk ended, so I got to see Auden enter the finish shoot! He was so proud and excited about getting a ribbon- only they had just run out of them (I ended up finding one for purchase after my race for $.54. It Was his first race after all).
EGG-less MATTI
*The striped scarf & hat pictured below were summer projects of mine (the clover sticker is temporary). All photos appearing in this post are taken by Chris!
The 6.2 miles was killer, but I did it (slowly)! My time was 53:28.47. Like that .47 matters when one is running over 8.5 minute splits. Anyway, I was right in the middle, middle of my age group and middle of the women. I don't really like being in the middle. I'd prefer a little higher- so I've got to get faster, although I don't see that happening anytime very soon since my calves are so tight/sore my gait has gone geriatric. Yesterday I ran 5, but very, very slowly- so slowly that I'm not recording the time. I didn't feel a bit like running- it was all I could do just to get on the treadmill. Have I mentioned yet that there's Still no TV down there? Worse than that, I face a dangling cable cord. It taunts me the entire time. Today is supposed to be an off day and it very well may be (I still need to catch up from those 2 sick days that have me behind schedule). It's cold and rainy today, so if I do run, it'll be a treadmill workout.
This is random, but the other day when I was running up Manhattan Ave. on campus, I passed what appeared to be every single resident of a girl's dorm dressed for some function. I have never seen so many self-tanned limbs in my life. They had to have gone through an entire pallet of the stuff. Now, I'm all for self-tanning (actually, I think natural color is the way to go, but if that's out of the question, self- tanning is certainly better than a tanning bed), but these girls obviously need a little help with the application process. Exfoliate, moisturize, & Then apply. Maybe since self tanning is so integral a part of the co-ed experience, they should include instructions in the Freshman Orientation- right before or after how to handle one's student loan. Because, really, I didn't enjoy running through that pack of uneven orangeness- running up hill was painful enough.
Yesterday we thought we'd get out of the house to check out Council Grove- a 45? minute drive from here. From what I'd heard, I'd pictured it as a quaint historical town with antiques and bakeries and sweet little shops- kinda like Bisbee, AZ or Fredricksburg, TX. It wasn't; and three of the "historical sites" were dead trees. Dead trees, historical or not, are unsightly- as was the bulk of the town. My only regret is that we arrived too late to eat at Hay's House (it closes at 3pm on Sunday). We did enjoy the Kaw Mission Museum, but I'm not sure that it alone warrants the drive. Before we left for CG, we did check out a restaurant here in town that we'd somehow neglected to before- the Pita Pit. Chris & I both had the Gyros while the boys just ate the grilled chicken out of their pita. It was good- we'll be back. While I'm on food, I might as well mention that I made Posole last night. You'd think a soup with pork chunks in it would tide us over until bedtime, but a mere two hours later, Chris & I were scarfing down cereal & whatnot. The posole was okay, but I won't be making it again.
I almost forgot to mention that Auden & Chris went fishing Friday and caught a big Bass!
That nose scrape is the result of his falling on the sidewalk on the way back from a walk to ColdStone on Tuesday. Thankfully, it's made quite a bit of healing progress since Friday.
PS: FINISHED:
(the movie) The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. -Review: Slow, Long, & slow and long (but pretty).
(the movie) No Country for Old Men. -Review: I'm biased because I Really like Cormic McCarthy (except for his last novel the Road which was well written, just not to my taste. It left me cold & hopeless even though that wasn't the point) and No Country for Old Men is an adaptation of his work. Too violent for those who are sensitive to that. But for those of us who aren't fazed by an intentional bullet here and there, it's a good way to spend a couple of hours. I could go more in depth, but Matti has a poopy diaper and is overdue for his nap.
(the novel) Midnight's Children by Rushdie -Review: Liked it- My next reading material really ought to be a history of the India/Pakistan/Bangladesh region. I'm deficient. He reminded me a little of GGMarquez in his approach (which made me happy); most nights I read longer than I intended (entertaining); & I'm still thinking about it- which is also a good thing.
Happy Day, Sara
...while Matt, handicapped by a walking boot, has the pleasure of looking after three kids under the age of 5. Who says life isn't fair? Like Jane (Katherine Heigl), I must be a perpetual optimist (stop laughing), because I thought it looked different- from the screenwriter of the Devil Wears Prada it said (not that the DWPrada was Blood Diamond quality or Three Amigos even, but...). You know how those funny movie previews reveal every single funny part, leaving none for the movie? Romantic comedy previews must try to hide the formulaic parts while letting slip the one or two scenes that set it apart from every other romantic comedy out there. I don't mind knowing that there's going to be a happy ending. I like that. It's just that when they don't even bother to camouflage a story line that's been done and instead opt for the most predicable outcome at every turn that I get a little frustrated. I'm trying not to go all feminist on you, but really, everyone knows that romantic comedies are intended to attract women. Does that mean that they think women aren't intelligent enough to notice this is the same movie- just a different title with different actors? I had a good time though. I love movies (even bad ones, except for National Treasure & Event Horizon- horrible movies that were both a complete waste of time and money), and it was nice to be in a theatre with a friend, being entertained instead of entertaining two young'uns for once. Yep, it was nice.
