Bucket List Items Grow...smile

We have been sidetracked from our fun for sometime now.  But, that's got to stop!  Now we want to start working on the bucket list again.

I want to go to Yellowstone and ride snow mobiles.  We went for 2 weeks when the girls were little during the summer.  It was spectacular.  The animals and the crowds were large.  So, I'm thinking maybe the winter it will be less?  http://www.togwoteelodge.com/play/winter/snowmobiling/yellowstone-tours.aspx?cct_info=1%7C15832%7C9798656323%7C50177394%7C1796093034%7Cb%7C17559783354%7Ctc%7C%7Cg%7C%7C%7C&cct_ver=3&cct_bk=yellowstone%20snowmobile%20tour&mkwid=svRPhhtGL&crid=17559783354&mp_kw=yellowstone%20snowmobile%20tour&mp_mt=b&gclid=CJzMsvSF5LgCFdFDMgodAQUAcw

I wan to go to Cancun and scuba dive to see the underwater museum.  http://www.aquaworld.com.mx/underwatermuseum.html

These are 2 I'm really interested at the moment.  Maybe we can get them done within the next 2 years?  

Boy...life...go figure

Yes, I'm back.  It's been so long since I've wrote anything here.  I've been dealing with some family stuff and it's starting to be something good...I hope...I think...I'm afraid to say...

Like Cher and Nicholas Cage on the movie, Moonlight, it is now time to snap out of it.  Juggling so many balls is going to have to be a way of life and I've got to deal with it.  It doesn't do me any good to try to eat my feelings.  I've put on 33 pounds since my last family crisis.  That doesn't do anyone any good, least of all me.  So it's time to be true to myself and get back to the things I love.  I'm beginning to use the My Fitness Pal app to track my food and exercise.  I'll be getting back to volunteering for my 2 favorite causes, WFPK and the public radio partnership and my church.  Hmmmm you say?  Well, I'm of the thought that what's wrong with a little conversation?  Can't we agree to disagree?  I don't agree with everything my church is about and I don't agree with everything my favorite radio station is about.  When I don't like something, I can turn it off, or look ahead to the sermon series and decide if that's something I want to hear or not.     

Besides volunteering, my husband, Bob and I are SLOWLY trying to downsize.  We've done the upstairs of the house and now we are almost done with the first floor of our house.  We have painted every room and packed up all the house, except for our kitchen and master bedroom.  We just don't need this big of a house and this big of a yard, 1 1/4 acre.  I'm not a great house cleaner, but, we still have to mow and that kills half a day or more on the weekend.  

My training for triathlons is going to have to take a back seat.  As much as I love, love, love, swimming, biking and running, it's got to wait.  I still see women older than me out there, so I can hold.  

Well, there you have it.  I'll be uploading the progress of all these things.  The family business is still fluid and working itself out.  Children are the joy and loves our lives and so you do what you have to do.  

My one man crew...smile

I was reading over some old posts on my FSQ blog and I ran across one in 2008 where I noticed the Iron Man was in town.  I'm wondering if this was some sort of seed that was planted for my triathlon dreams.  It sure has been a journey for me and my husband, Bob, over the past year.  Since September of 2011, he's gotten up early for me to race all over the country.  What a lucky woman I am.  I wish he was interested in participating with me, but, he's got arthritis in his feet and can't.  In all we've raced 6 triathlons, the last being in NYC which was an Olympic distance triathlon.  All because I watched Sanjay Gupta report about it on TV.  It's funny what motivates us.  This last race was in July 2012.  Since then, I've kidnapped my daughter from Oregon.  Helped her move in with my folks and get her scans which she has needed for over 2 years, but, I can understand the dread of knowing.  She is currently cancer free!!!  Maybe the triathlons were getting me in shape for the ordeal to come.  Because boy it was some kind of ordeal.  I've had to quit being the leader of the best quilt guild in the world, Northeast Quilting Friends.  This was hard to do, but, I was gone from Kentucky too much.  Now we have the best leader for a quilt guild, Linda.  

My one man crew has given so much to our family.  I am a lucky girl, I'll say again.  Now as we look to retirement in the near future, I think he's tired of me racing practically every other weekend.  Because besides the 6 triathlons, I ran 10 foot races, 5K's, 10K's a 15K at the Biltmore estate, and a half marathon, which I would say was the most difficult of all the races for me.  Life really is full of seasons.  I'd like to think I have another season of triathlons to do, but, he's not down with it, so, it's going to have to go on the back burner for a while.  We need to downsize our house and prepare for the future.   

It's Training Time Again...smile

Yep, the weather is warming and the pony tails are bobbing.  Such is the scene of those that are the back of the pack runners...smile.  I get out there and run in the sun when I can.  The treadmill has become my friend lately as it tells me how fast I am running.  I can't/won't/don't want to run fast, hmmm which is it.  I think if I wanted to be first in my age group, I should spend the money and invest in a coach.  But, you know, making quilts and being at the back of pack is where I'm happiest.

Cliche's and Landsharks, Oh my...smile

What are the goals for the new year?  How can one decide?  I've had so many over the years.  The same cliche's apply, lose weight, eat healthy.  When will it finally click.  I certainly did go on an exercise bonanza, running 14 races, of which 6 were triathlons and one half marathon.  The rest were 10 miles, 10K and a variety of 5k's.  That was a huge boon for me.  I've always been into sports.  Growing up in my small town in Oklahoma, only 85 were in our graduating class.  I went all 12 years at the school, and the last were spent as one of about 10 of us that rotated and played every sport for the school.  Volleyball, softball, track and basketball are all represented on my letter jacket.  

Now what.  Well, first up, I'll be making a T-shirt quilt using the shirts from my races.  I guess they don't expect someone to make that many races, and to be a collector of so many t-shirts.  But, here I am with enough for 2 quilts.  I've come up with a most ingenious way to border my quilt, I'll have to show that later. 

Right now, I'm enjoying hanging out with some pretty neat people I've come to know through my exercising.  There really is a whole community of support out there for people willing to put in the effort to participate.  These folks are the Landsharks.  It's a triathlete club here in Louisville.  I joined so I could do an open water swim for my NYC Olympic distance triathlon, July 8th, 2012.  For a few months I was swimming in a lake in Indiana with them.  They are very accomplished athletes, many being in the top 10 if not top leader of their age group.  But, they take time to encourage and pull me along, sometimes a bit reluctantly.  But, a lot of them are single and it's a bit easier to go out and socialize when you don't have anyone at home that you also enjoy spending time with...smile.