Little Businessmen

My boys are now almost two, and they are in this awesome phase where they are busy, all of the time. 

Their aimless, wildly energetic running around has turned into very purposeful, wildly energetic running around.

They always seem like they are on their way to do something important.  Sometimes I feel like I should put little business suits on them and give them briefcases and then they can be like the hurried businessmen dashing about  in New York city... except my little businessmen crap their pants and cry several times a day whereas most of those Wall street guys probably do not.

So the other night, I sat down and watched them and really tried to imagine what they were thinking while they were hurrying about...

Hey, where's my brother?
There's my brother!
I'd better tackle him to say hi!
HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Hey, a kitty!
Hey, kitty!
KITTY!!!
He's running away!
I'd better tackle to him to say hi!
I bet he wants me to lick his face!
I'm hungry!
REMOTE CONTROL!
Buttons.
I love buttons.
A lightswitch!
Mom!
MOM!!
MOM!! LIGHTSWITCH!

On.
Off.
On.
This is hilarious!
Off.
On.
PUT ME DOWN!
What's that under the couch?
I can't reach it!
I CAN'T REACH IT!!!!!!!
I reached it.
This is sticky.
This doesn't taste good.
I'll just keep it in my mouth for awhile.
I want cheese!
STRING CHEESE!
MOM!!
String cheese!!
GIVE ME SOME DAMN CHEESE!
More cheese.
More.
More cheese.
More!
GET THIS CHEESE OFF OF MY PLATE!
I hate this highchair.
Get me DOWN!
I hate everything!
A KITTY!
I'd better tackle him to say hi!
Where's my brother?
Is he hiding?
Not in the cabinet.
He's not in my diaper..
AHHH!! There he is!!!
Hey, he is naked!
I could be naked!
Hey, there's my weiner!
Weiner!
Weiner!
Weinerweinerweinerweinerweinerweiner
I frickin love my weiner.
Hey, I should pee on the carpet right now!

Ahhhh...

 

Happy Monday to me... and a winner.

As I was clearing off the boys' trays after breakfast this morning, I heard the unmistakable sound of something being dropped on the hardwood floor.  Not one big thing... more like the rain-like sound of a a million little things.

Here kitty kitty.

Somehow my little devils had gotten the cat food container out of the closet, opened it up, and spilled it.  

There was a lot of cat food.

Luckily, my obese kitty Gilligan is completely deaf and was unaware of this ruckus, or he would have waddled over and gorged himself... probably until he exploded.  I guess at 15 years old, it wouldn't have been the worst way for him to go... but for now he lives to see another day.

Gilsters.

Thank you everyone who entered to win the necklace from White Lilie Designs.  Rafflecopter and Random.org picked the winner....

Congratulations Elizabeth!!

Today, I'm very excited for run #6 of my grand comeback - wish me luck!  :)

Urine Luck... it's Things I Hate Thursdays!

Oh yeah, I just did that.  Seriously, as I was writing the post yesterday I realized just how much I talk about peeing on my blog.... peeing and swimming, babies peeing on screen doors, radioactive pee, getting peed on in the shower at the Y.

Perhaps I should rename my blog.  Peeing in the Twin Lane.... catchy, huh?

Anyway....

This is not actually a urine themed TIHT.  I know guys.   Wipe away those tears of disappointment and soldier on.

There's nothing I hate about my husband.  He's wonderful.  There are, however, a few things my husband does that I don't really care for... and only one thing I really, really hate.

My sweet husband, in an apparent attempt to either make laundry easier or cause midday vomiting for his wife, does this:

When he takes off his socks, he pairs them, and then leaves them on the ground.  I think he just wants his socks to stay buddies and not lose each other through the crazy laundry journey, and I appreciate his intent.

However, what actually happens is I pick up the socks, and inspect them for visible signs of dirtiness.  Usually, they look fairly clean, and I'm not going to create extra laundry by washing perfectly clean socks.  I'm also not going to put dirty socks back in his drawer, so I give them the ol' sniff.

Apparently, one of my shortcomings that was coincidentally first noticed when doing the poop-check-butt-sniff on my babies, is that I can't just take a little sniff of something.  It's all or nothing.

And when I take a huge whiff of worn-all-day dress socks and I'm expecting them to smell like sunshine and laundry soap, it pretty much ruins my day.



What's getting under your skin on this beautiful Thursday?  


Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a beautiful, customized running necklace!  

Swimming - The Pee Dilemma

Hey, good morning!

Had a great swim last night.  It was the first time I felt like I could swim using the front crawl indefinitely.  OK, maybe not quite indefinitely, but I wasn't gasping and sputtering and generally flailing about after two or three laps like I normally am

Also - I realized that my relative sufficiency in the side stroke is entirely dependant on the holding of a full, opened beer just above the water level.  Apparently, using two arms really throws off my stroke.

The stroke gets even better while drinking.  (That's what she said.)

After my swim, I headed to the showers.  I realized I really had to pee, so I about-faced and made a quick stop at the crappers instead.

So there I am, soaking wet, needing to pee.  In a one piece suit.  Let me tell you what I don't want to do.  I don't want to wrestle the straps off of my shoulders, pull my suit down, pee, try to get that wet spandex back up over my boobs, jump up and down repeatedly in the process, and then walk the 10 feet back to the shower and do it all again.

This conundrum brought me to a solution I was shocked to have never thought of before.  Could I just move the little crotch panel over a few inches, and do my business?   Is that gross?  Or genius?  Because that's what I did.  Worked like a charm.

Now, I realize I am definitely outing myself as one of two things.  Either I'm an idiot who in all of my years on this planet has never thought of this super simple solution to what has to be one of the major issues of lady swimmers everywhere, OR I am just a disgusting, lazy woman with no semblance of personal hygiene standards.

Either way - I do just want to throw these little things out there before the masses judge me.  Numero uno - I've never worn a one piece bathing suit before.  Numero dos - I always swim in a lake, and you can bet I'll be peeing in there like my life depended on it.


How do you pee in a one piece?  If you think I'm disgusting, for this issue or any other - now is the time folks.


Also, how do you count laps when you're swimming?  That arithmetic is harder than trying to figure out splits at mile 11 of a half marathon.

C'mon, you love peeing in lakes, right?  Major discussion at my cottage last summer about this very issue.  In fact, when the question was asked as we floated in a circle in the lake, easily half of my friends raised their hands that they were peeing.  Right then.  These are my kind of people.

The Long Road

This stress fracture recovery has been one of the more challenging things in my life, and I'm happy to report I have some great news to share.

I ran.  Twice.

On Thursday morning, I realized that a lot of my recent anger was the lack of control I had over my return to running plan.  My doctor had seemingly pulled a date out of thin air - December 5th - to start running again.  I can't see how four days could make a damn bit of difference, and the disregard of authority for authority's sake pleased me (as usual).

I decided Pfitzinger's plan was a bit too aggressive, so with the help of a fellow stress fracture sufferer, I modified it a bit.

The run was great!  I walked .25 miles, ran .25 miles, walked .25 miles, ran .25 miles, and walked .25 miles. No pain, no aching.

Two days later, on Saturday, I did the exact same thing but added on an extra set of .25 run, .25 walk.  No pain!

Today, I plan to add on another .25 running, and then hold that mileage steady for a couple of runs before I increase it.

We'll see how it goes, and I know I have a long road of recovery ahead of me, but I'm happy to finally be on it.  :)

There's a race I do every year in March sponsored by the Point Brewery because my dad was a huge Point-o-phile (just go with my made up word, ok?), and I will do it this year even if I have to walk it.  Of course, I want to run it (hopefully with my non-runner brother like last year).

Me and my brother at the Point Bock run 2010

This goal is helping me stay focused on the long term, and not just go downstairs and run on my treadmill til I keel over.  :)

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Gender Equality in Bathroom Advertising

Ha - so last night, I was with my friend Matt at a local watering hole throwing back a few brewskis, and he came back from the bathroom laughing about a sign above the urinal. Naturally, I sent him back in to the loo to snag a picture with his fancy phone, and this is what he came out with:

Yes, that's an ad for "All Things Jerky", and the tagline is "Exotic Meat... That's what she said."

Hilarious.

Super hilarious. 

But then I started thinking... you know what?  Women's bathrooms never have awesome ads like this. Where's women's lib when we need it?  All of the ads I see are for engagement rings and divorce lawyers and diet pills.  

A beer and half later, nature called and I headed to the ladies' room.  Much to my surprise and delight, I  saw an equally awesome ad for the same company on the stall door.

I don't have a "fancy" or "fully-functional" camera phone, so it doesn't take  as "nice" of pictures.

That's right.  "All Things Jerky - Try My Nuts".  Apparently the jerky is not the only thing that woos the masses...  they're also famous for their deep fried peanuts.  Welcome to Wisconsin ladies and gentlemen.

And what do I like more than the excessive use of "air quotes"?  Nothing.  But gender equality in bathroom signs is a close second.  

Happy Friday.  Oh yeah - I ran yesterday.  Shhh.. don't tell my doctor.  :)

Running Necklace Giveaway!

Super excited to bring you a giveaway from an awesome company - White Lilie Designs.

This company is great.  Here's a description from their Etsy site:

Drawing elegance and strength from natural beauty, White Lilie Designs

creates original jewelry that is handmade in Burlington, Vermont.

Combining varied textures and colors with original wire wrapping

techniques, each piece is a unique creation. Individual elements are

carefully hand-selected and delicately balanced with sterling silver and

gold filled beads and clasps to create an organic look.

I've been working with Becca, who is super sweet and extra accommodating to special orders.  You guys are going to be excited when you see the necklace she sent me:

Just like this, with a purple Swarovski crystal instead of the red.  Gorgeous.

A stunning and simple 16 inch sterling silver 1.0 mm ball chain from Italy with three

sterling silver charms attached. All are sterling silver : one a beautiful delicate oblong

shape that reads, "Enjoy The Journey" The other charm is a 11 mm circle pendant with the hand stamped, 13.1 to honor the half marathoner, also you can choose a Swarovski crystal color of your choice!! Someone completed a marathon instead? We can change it!

It was sent in a box which contained this fancy schmancy gift bag:

  Yay!  Pretty bag = less wrapping presents!

To get an idea of the length:

When will I learn to not lean my head towards the camera?  It's giant enough already.

Becca has offered one of these beautiful sterling silver necklaces to a lucky winner.  The coolest part?  You get to customize your own color, and choose 13.1 or 26.2 on the charm.

This would be the PERFECT gift for someone that completed their first half or full marathon this year, or who is going to tackle it in 2012.... go check out her store and finish out your Christmas shopping!

And then, enter the giveaway!  Open for entries until midnight on December 9th.

If you haven't entered a giveaway using Rafflecopter, don't worry!  It's super easy to use - just click each item for instructions, then do whatever it says, and click I Did This!  That's it!