Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Nuggets

I've been a single parent for the last five days and during that time I also competed in our local triathlon. Guess which was harder?  My mom did come up to help, which was great because I'm not sure we all would have made it through unscathed without her.  Rob goes away a couple times a year, but five days is long for us.  Kudos to all those single parents, or parents whose partners leave long/often, who somehow manage to raise loving children without going insane in the process.



The triathlon turned out to be really fun.  The swim portion of the race was in the pool so we started in several different waves.  This made the race so much less competitive (in my opinion) because I never really knew who started when.  And, it was great to see so many people I knew.  There were some people from around town who I didn't realize were athletes, and they were fast!  My own time was not real impressive (not surprising given my lax training schedule) but I feel good about it, and am excited to have a time to race against for next year.  Also, I realized that, like many things, the anticipation is way worse than the actual event.  I was really nervous the morning of, but once I started I just enjoyed myself.  (In all honesty I never really enjoy myself  on the bike, but I'm working on that.)  Anyway, since it was so fun I may do another at the end of the summer.



To steal a phrase from digthischick  (a great blog a friend turned me onto) here are a few Nuggets from the past week while I've been so silent:

Nuggets:

The weather here has pretty much been lousy.  Winter hats and mittens in mid-May.  What the heck?  It was so windy early last week that a tree blew down in our yard.  Unfortunately it was the one our clothesline was attached too.  Bummer.  At least there was no laundry on it.



Chicabiddies got a new home around the raspberries.  A friend swears this is the best way to keep the berries weed and pest free.  So far they're loving it.



 Family bike rides, in the rain (we kinda got tired of waiting for the sun).




 What do you do when it rains for 5 days straight?  Lots of baking and tasting.
 

The triathlon was a blast, and it didn't actually rain for more than a few minutes.  I don't have any pictures of me participating, but hopefully someone will send me some soon.


Mimi brought up new beach towels for all.  She mentioned the fact that I am still using the towel she got me in high school.  I guess it is time for a new one.  She also brought toys for the kids (as Juniper says "that Mimi is always up to mischief") Including this early birthday (perhaps a half-birthday) present for Kale.  It was supposed to distract him from the fact that I would be gone all morning at my race--he doesn't like when I leave (this is an obvious understatement, and of course the firetruck didn't really work) he likes it but seems a little suspicious of our motivations.


Rhubarb shortcake.  (The photo doesn't do it justice, clearly my food photography needs some work.)

We "made" (bought a curtain rod and draped some fabric over it) a curtain to cover our art/school shelves.  I love how something so quick can make such a difference in the clutter of a room.


Here's a bit of what it looked like before the curtain.



The kids have been going to Tanglewood Wilderness 4-H camp for the past few Mondays.  Last Monday Wylie was a bit sick so Juniper went on her own.  She seems to really have enjoyed her time there without him and can't stop talking about some of the boys and how funny they are.  She's even considering marrying Jack, "since I can't marry Oliver because he's my cousin, and even if we got married we couldn't have babies because of the genes."  That's homeschooling for you--we keep it real around here.  And, I believe her first non-cousin crush.


Have a great week!

1 comment:

  1. Juni is so big and so adorable, I love that quote! Congrats on completing the triathlon, and completing a week as a single mom with 3 kids, I go crazy doing it with just one!

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