Totally Innocent!

Yesterday the Murph had to go outside.  He reminded me to keep an eye on Phantom who usually tries to go after Ed or Boo.  I was just a little distracted and forgot to keep an eye on Phantom for a few minutes while I was on the computer.

When the Murph came back inside he asked me where Ed was.  I wasn't sure where any of the cats were except Phantom, who had just laid on the floor next to me.

The Murph finally found poor Ed squeezed in under this piece of furniture trembling with fear.  Only his feet visible.

I was reprimanded for not being a better body guard for Ed.

Cadence saw Ed hiding under there and looked like "Whoa, what are you doing under there dude?"

"Dude, you're all scrunched up!  That's gotta hurt!"

And Phantom was all like "Whaaat???  Don't look at me.  I've been laying here the entire time.  Ed who??"

"I'm totally innocent man! "

Obsessive Compulsive Triathlete Behavior- Part 2

Finish line

Just in case you didn't get enough of the post on my bitching about The Murph blowing off my need to get the "best" parking spot at the race last Saturday, here's part 2 of my obsessive compulsive behavior when it comes to racing.  This one involves the swim.

For most triathletes, routines are just good thing to have to be prepared and relaxed on race day.  For me it gets a little obsessive compulsive because I tend to get overly upset when my routine gets screwed up in any way.  A little flexibility would be good in those situations.

This is when the line of who has Asperger's, me or my son, gets a little blurry.  I don't have Asperger's, but can so totally relate when it comes to routines.  I haven't had a full blown melt down yet because I can usually blow off steam by general bitching about whatever it is I don't like.

In the race I did Saturday, the swim start is by your race number.  Everybody lines up numerically and goes in the water one at a time.  Your number is usually based on your estimated swim time that you use to register for the race.  This has been a source of anxiety for me since I started doing this race in 1999.

Egg Heads!

It is great for beginners because they avoid the rush of 100's of swimmers entering the water at the same time and kicking you in the face or swimming over you, but it's not good for me.  Standing in line very long is just not good.  My swim time is generally slow so I always put a faster number on the registration form so I won't have to wait at the back of the line and get in the water last.

Unfortunately, since I registered late I didn't get the benefit of being lined up by swim time.  Not only that, but I was in the 400's getting in the water.  I thought maybe I could get the race director to bump me up so I could get in the water sooner.  I've done this before.  I had even mentioned the fact that I was going to do just that to L that morning, who's husband J was doing the race and I've raced with them for years.

I looked over and both L and J were looking at me waiting to see if I was going to approach T, the race director as she was getting everybody lined up and in the water.  I hesitated.  I hovered nearby but was a little scared to approach her.  She was probably deliberately ignoring me because she knows I pull this stunt every year and she probably knows I lie about my swim time.

Lined up for the swim...

Finally, I gave up and walked over to L and J, who was in the 400's as well.  L then told me that J tried to get bumped up last year and T made an example of him for registering late and wouldn't let him bump up.    Poor J.  He looked beat!  I was glad I didn't attempt it and a little miffed that L didn't tell me that earlier when I first told her I was going to try to get bumped up. I didn't do the race last year and things have apparently changed.

L and J were waiting to see if I was going to get blasted down by T and made an example too!!

I am kind of proud of myself that I stayed within my number and was over 400 in the water with 100's of beginners doing the back stroke, floating on their backs and hanging onto the buoys in front of me.  People if you can't freestyle it for 400 yds maybe you should reconsider till next year!  Just sayin!  I can't tell you how many back strokers I almost swam up on, face to face, up close and personal.

I learned how to swim freestyle in my thirties by reading a book on master swimming and getting in the pool when nobody was around.  I was slow, but between March and the June race day, I built up to being able to swim over 600 yds freestyle straight.  No back stroke or back floating.  If I can do it anybody can.

A couple of years ago, I would not have been able to handle not being one of the first 100 in the water.  Just couldn't do it.  My entire race would have been ruined.

This year I spent the night before the race obsessing over it and the morning of the race thinking up strategies on how to convince T to bump me up, but being the chicken that I am,  I ended up not doing anything and hallelujah, I survived it!

I survived!!!

The End.

Why Pre-Race Carb Dinners Should Be "Pre-Race" Only

Penne Chicken Ala Vodka

I've gained over 3 pounds since Friday despite racing on Saturday and then running 10 miles on Sunday.  Maybe more, but I've stayed away from the scale today.

I believe the penne chicken ala vodka that The Murph made for me for my pre-race carb dinner is the culprit.

The Murph's comment was, "You were feasting on that shit man!"

Not only did I have a plate full of this stuff on Friday night (pre-race), but I had huge plate fulls of leftovers on Saturday and Sunday.

I 've had enough carbs the past three days to have enough glycogen stores to do back to back Ironman/Marathon/Marathon/sprint tri/5k run without running out of fuel.  Ok, that's exaggerating, but I'm feeling a little bloaty right about now.  Think I'll stay away from pasta for a while.

The Murph does make the best chicken ala vodka in the world.  No exaggerating.   He copied it from my favorite dish at Bellini's, a local restaurant here in Birmingham owned by a guy who I swear looks like Newman on Seinfeld.  Kind of freaky!  Bellini's also has the best pomegranate martini ever as well as the best penne chicken ala vodka ever - second only to The Murph.

Obsessive Compulsive Triathlete Behavior - Part 1

Yesterday I competed in my first triathlon of the season.  It is a local sprint triathlon that I have been doing  for years and actually was my very first one almost 14 years ago.  It's a very short 400 yd swim, 13 mile bike ride, and 3 mile run.   I decided to do it at the last minute even though I haven't been in the pool since last October.  I don't swim fast anyway so it really doesn't matter.  I thought I could handle 400 yds even if I had to dog paddle.

I have only been on my bike about twice since October unless you count the exercise bike at the gym.  I showed up for a group ride on Wednesday just to make sure I could still ride without training wheels.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Not only was I able to stay balanced, but I kept up with the top two guys and we left the rest of the group behind.  Near the end of the ride, one of the guys looked over at me and said, "Man, you're fast!  This is a really fast group and you are in the front!"

Made my day!  Usually, I'm coughing up a lung, wheezing and turning blue as I see all the riders pass me and leave me in their dust.  Humiliated.

Over the past 14 years I have developed certain "routines" that I do the night before a race and the day of the race.  The Murph doesn't really understand obsessive compulsive behavior.  He's a little bewildered that someone who is usually really laid back and sweet (ok, that's a lie) suddenly has turned into this thing with snakes coming out of her head.

He totally didn't understand the importance of a good parking spot close to the transition area.  I have a particular spot where I like to park and in order to get that spot, I generally have to be one of the first to get in the park.  I will wake up at 4 a.m. and get there by 5 to get THAT spot.  Unfortunately, the race directors changed the entire course last year (I didn't do the race last year) and didn't let me know.

The transition area was in an entirely different spot therefore my "choice" parking spot was in a different lot up the hill closer to transition.  That's my goal.  As close to transition as possible.   I did a complete survey of the area on Friday at packet pickup to decide on a new "choice" spot.

You can see the best parking spot through the trees here.

When I got home, I let The Murph know that we had to get there early so I could direct him to the "choice" parking spot.  The Murph said that was way to early to get to a race that didn't start until 7:30 a.m.  Since he was going to have to wait on me to finish the race, I decided we could wait a little later to get there that morning.

We got to the park at 6:15 and everybody was already parking two parking lots down.  The Murph said no way was he going up the hill because my "choice" parking spot was probably already taken.  It was getting crowded.

This didn't sit well with me.  I bitched about how far away from transition we were.  I didn't like that lot that we were parked in at all.  As we were walking up the path toward transition, we got to the lot where my "choice" spot was and I saw that there was actually one spot left!

I started bitching about not trying harder to grab that spot.  The Murph gave up too early!

Then we got even closer to transition where people were parking on the side of the road in a dirt field.  An even BETTER spot than my "choice" spot and there were still spots available!

Then to make matters worse I saw a rival that's in my age group and she had a better spot than me!

Steam started to come out of my ears.  The Murph was dodging the snakes that were darting out of my head.

He asked me "Why can't you just have fun and enjoy the race?"

I was confused by that because I was having fun!  Bitching about parking spots just happens to be fun for me.  If you can't bitch about not getting a good parking spot, what can you bitch about?  (Actually, I can find  ALOT of things to bitch about)

But next time I'm driving.

The End.

It's Friday! Know What That Means?

I don't know where the week went, but Friday is here and that only means one thing, time for Special Needs Ryan Gosling.  The Murph is "Hey girling" me already as he sees me writing this post.  I can't tell you what else he's saying!  It's kind of personal.

The Special Needs Ryan Gosling meme was started several months ago by Sunday Stillwell over at Adventures in Extreme Parenthood.  Go on over to her blog to check out more of these.

I did this one because the Boy's been home from college less than a month and I can only say his room is covered in filth!  He seems oblivious and refuses to do anything about it.  We are about to lay down the law, baby!!

And this one because if you haven't already seen this blog post here, thanks to me, all our cats have fleas.

And this one because just in case you didn't see my blog post where I was sulking and being a REALLY sore loser for not getting in the semi finals for the Kona Inspired contest and I blamed it all on the fact that all I have to deal with is autism not cancer or some other ailment and nobody cares about autism as much as those "other" ailments.  And I didn't have very long to PROVE just how "popular" I really am because I didn't get my entry in as soon as some of those "others"... And YES, I'm still a little sore about it, but I've got my big girl panties on now so I'm dealing...

I'm showing my "Southerness" in that last one -"ain't got nothin".  Not that I use double negatives in sentences on purpose or anything like that and we all know "ain't" ain't a word.  Even those of us here in the South.

On another note, The Boy still hasn't found a summer job and is driving me crazy.  Luckily, we are only awake at the same time for approximately one hour in the morning and sometimes for one hour before I go to bed, since he has his days and nights mixed up.

He wants me to go with him to look for jobs.  I told him that it doesn't look good to have your mother tagging along if really want a job.  I went to a local grocery store with him to fill out an application the other day.  They never called him.  They probably flagged him when we left the store for having his mother do most of the filling out.

I told him it just doesn't look good to have your mom calling for you.  I really shouldn't be anywhere in the near vicinity.  He's 20 years old!  It looks better to have almost ANYBODY with you except your mom.  It's just not good!

I couldn't get him to call the grocery store and he kept begging me to call.  He wasn't calling and he needs a job, so I broke down and called them and told them that my son was REALLY interested in a job at their store.  One of first things the store lady said to me was "Well, if he's so interested then why is his MOTHER calling?  He needs to call!".

I started babbling something about Asperger's but he's a great worker, very hard working and punctual, he just needs help with the initial call, blah blah blah.

I felt like I was in first grade again getting in trouble with the teacher.

Guess grocery store work isn't in the Boy's near future!!!

Good thing I didn't tell her his name! Wonder if they have caller id?

For more memes, go here!

Altered or Not Altered? That Is The Question.

Take a look and tell me what you think!

When I spoke with the vet the other day about Phantom's flea issue, I found out that I could go on the vet's website any time and check my pets medical records.  It's a great way to find out when they are due for shots again next time just in case I forget or don't get a notice in the mail.

It really doesn't matter about the shots because the Murph is anti-vet anyway.  He thinks his cats are just fine without them and they don't need yearly checkups and shots.  He says that they are just cats and have already had their shots, been neutered and declawed 12 years ago as kittens and now they are on their own.

If the cats weren't old and healthy, I would have already rounded them up and taken them to the vet for a checkup and shots when the Murph wasn't home.  I've already taken Boo when Cadence scratched or bit him and he got an infection last year.  Ed would probably have a heart attack if he had to go through anything as traumatic as a vet visit.

The Murph was against Boo's vet visit too, but I overruled him on that one.  Boo would have died without antibiotics.

 The Murph's response, "It's a good thing we took him!"

(think Sylvester Stallone voice)

So I got on my vet account where there's a record of Phantom, Cadence and Boo.  Not Ed because he's never been to my vet.

I added pictures of each cat to their individual records because I'm like that, a crazy cat lady, and then I began reading each of the cat's individual records.

That's when I realized that Phantom might not have been "altered".  Neutered.  Clipped.  The other cat's records said they had been altered.  Phantom's said "not altered".  Phantom's been going to that vet since I first got him in 2005 (according to his record) and it says not altered!

I know I left him there overnight when he was a kitten just to have him neutered.  I even paid for it.  I don't really remember when we picked him up if he had stitches down there.  That was a long time ago.  I've lost a lot of brain cells since then.

Obviously, I became concerned.  Is this the reason Phantom is so aggressive to Ed and the other cats??  I tried to look at Phantom's privates, but I'm not an expert on cat balls and sometimes I have a hard time telling if a cat is a boy or a girl unless it looks at me really pissy when I try to pet it.  (that usually means girl).

Besides, Phantom doesn't like having his privates inspected.  I told the Murph to do it, but he won't go anywhere near Phantom's ass.  Looks like I'm going to have to call the vet and get clarification.

Altered or not altered?  We need to know!

We Got Fleas!

A couple of weeks ago I let Phantom come outside with me by the pool.  He gets very aggressive with one of the other cats and always seems to want to dart outside every time we open the door even though he's always been an inside cat so I thought it would be a good idea.

Get some of that aggression out on some bugs and chipmunks.

The Murph and I were a little worried about Phantom getting fleas out there but I reassured the Murph that I would bathe the cat when he got back inside and that would drown any of the fleas that were on him.

I knew how to do it.

Last week all the cats were scratching, but I didn't see any fleas.  Phantom, especially, started acting very odd.  He meowed at me all the time and he looked miserable.

He abandoned his cat pillow that he normally slept on and went to the floor.  Then I noticed him sleeping on the couch down in the Boy's room.  Then he started sleeping on the desk.

One day he disappeared altogether and we finally found him on top of the china cabinet.  How he managed to get his 24 pounds of fat pad up there I have no idea.  Cadence gets up there all the time but he's 9 pounds and can climb up a wall.  Phantom's more like a dog than a cat.

I decided right away that something was wrong with Phantom.  He looked feverish.  He was sleeping too much.  He had some kind of infection and was dying for sure.  Why else would he be going someplace away from us except to die, right?

The Murph said the cat was fine.  He was eating and drinking.  He'd "get over it".  (This from a man who has a cat that hasn't seen a vet in 10 years.)

I decided Phantom had to go to the vet or he wasn't going to make it.  I dropped him off on Saturday expecting the worst.  A few hours later I get the call.  The Murph was nearby listening to everything that I was saying.

The diagnosis - FLEAS!  The vet said he was "infested" with them.  I told her I didn't even see any.  (Maybe because Phantom is black and so are the fleas)

The Murph said "It better NOT be fleas!"

I knew I was in big trouble.

Apparently, Phantom kept changing sleeping spots to get away from the fleas.  Unfortunately, they kept  following him so he kept going higher up to get away from them.  Poor thing!

The next few hours I vacuumed the entire house, washed everything the cats had been sleeping on, which is just about everywhere and picked up a very clean and newly calm Phantom at the vet.

All the cats had to be treated with Advantage Flea control, which I had hoped to avoid.

Hopefully, the flea problem is under control.

Phantom once again is an indoor only cat.

How The Queen and I Are Alike. Really!

Yesterday after running with the Running Nazi and Ms. Harry Potter, a trip to McDonald's to get a chicken biscuit since I couldn't get back inside the house without setting the alarm off, taking a short nap, and then going to the gym to do weights, I was exhausted.  I decided to take my new People magazine and go out by the pool to thumb through it and relax.

It's amazing all the important information found inside this magazine.  I mean REALLY important stuff!  I couldn't do without it every month.

I got hooked on People magazines a few years ago when I would read them while I was working out at the YMCA during the winter.  The YMCA always had the latest copy and it was fun looking at the fashion and catching up on my favorite actors and actress.  It was also therapeutic to read about somebody else's drama and realize my life isn't as screwed up as theirs.

Eventually, I changed Y's and my new one didn't have People mags, so I got a subscription mailed to the house.

When The Murph started seeing them come in the mail, he totally didn't understand.  He was a little embarrassed to have them in the house.  I always had to hide them before company came over.

That was then.  This is now.

Now, after I've read them, they "mysteriously" end up in the bathroom among The Murph's stash of Downbeat, GQ, and Muscle Fitness mags.  (GQ! ha ha!!) Sorry, don't know why I think that's so funny.

The latest bathroom stash below...

He won't admit it, but he enjoys reading them too.  He even fills me in on articles I might have missed.

This latest People magazine was full of pictures of Jessica Simpson's new baby girl, Maxwell Drew (she's a cutie) and pictures of the Queen's diamond collection in honor of her Diamond Jubilee.  As I was looking at the pictures of Queen Elizabeth II and watching all the celebrating on television later, it occurred to me how alike we are, The Queen and I.

No, really, we are!

There are actually several reason's why I think the Queen and I are alike.  Some of these are....

1.  We are both animal lovers (she has dogs and races horses, I have cats and lost some money in a horse race once)

2. We both love diamonds (Although The Queen has more than I do and her diamonds are real.  I just pretend mine are)

3.  We were both born Princesses (The Queen was born into a royal family.  The Running Nazi once said that I have a "Princess" personality.  She's also called me a big baby.)

4.  We love to wear tiaras (only The Queen can wear her tiara in public without getting weird looks)

5.  We both wear hats

Hers

Mine

And...
 6.  We both have very loyal subjects

Hers

Another loyal subject.

Mine

See what I mean?  Very much alike!

There was also a picture of Jenny McCarthy with her clothes on promoting her new dating show.

Apparently, when she's not promoting giving bleach enemas to autistic children, she's in the Dominican Republic hosting "Love in the Wild."

This Was A Tough One - Special Needs Ryan Gosling

It's Friday and that means it's time for Special Needs Ryan Gosling started by Sunday Stillwell over at Extreme Adventures in Parenthood.  Head over to her blog at Extreme Parenthood to check out more.

For some reason I had a really, really tough time coming up with a meme to match this week's picture.  I was thinking maybe something about visual sensory issues and since I don't know any that The Boy has or had during childhood, I was sitting at my computer analyzing the picture with one eye closed trying to imagine something, anything, relating to "visual" and "sensory".  

The Murph walks in and takes one look at me and then down at the Ryan Gosling picture pulled up on my computer and says "He looks stoned!"  Then he added "I'm stoned!  Let's go get burgers!  Let's go get Sliders!"  Then laughs and "Hey Girl's" me the rest of the night.

This picture apparently brought back memories of The Murph's youth and since I couldn't think of anything else at the time, I did this one.

I hope Sunday doesn't kick me off her site after this one.  I decided I better come up with a decent, family rated, special needs meme if I have any hope left of not being booted, so eventually I came up with this one.

The Murph has been "Hey Girl" ing me all week long so I did a meme of him, only now I can't find it.  It's lost somewhere on my computer.  Maybe it didn't save.  Who knows.  Maybe I will find it one day....

Pictures From The Boy's Birthday

Tuesday we took The Boy out to eat for his birthday.  His choice was The Cheesecake Factory which is one of his favorites.  The last time we were there was about this time last year for The Boy's high school graduation.  We had this kind of cake then.

 We passed up on the cheesecakes although they looked yummy, since we had a birthday cake back home.

The Boy still thinks I'm a little weird for taking pictures of the food when we go to restaurants.  He's a good sport about it though.  Even took the camera and got a picture of his own food for me.

I had the Chicken stuffed tortillas my favorite.  I rarely get anything else when we go the the Cheesecake Factory.

The Boy had the burrito.  It was huge so he took some home and had it for lunch the next day.  See he takes good food pictures!

The Murph had an omelet with mushrooms, onions, green peppers and tomatoes.  They serve omelets all day long at the Cheesecake Factory.

The Boy was a little afraid to eat the cake because he wasn't sure if it was a cake or a big, nasty burger.  It looked like a huge hamburger, but it was a cake and was very tasty.   I've had three pieces already.

The guys didn't dress up at all, but I usually do when I go out.  The Murph wore shorts and The Boy wore khaki pants and a t shirt.  It looked like the bottom of his pants legs were all chewed up and his hair is back to the normally wild disarray. <sigh>

Dress:  BCBGMAXAZRIA
Shoes:  Kenneth Cole Reaction
Purse:  Milly

 I wore my newish Kenneth Cole Reaction sandals and a dress from BCBGMAXAZRIA purchased in 2009.  I love sparkly shoes!

My Kona Inspired Contest Entry

Click here to watch my Kona Inspired entry.   Please be sure to vote at the bottom left hand corner. Thanks!!

A couple of months ago, Ironman started a contest called Kona Inspired which would allow regular athletes, who may not be fast enough to earn a Kona slot because of busy lifestyles or physical challenges, to tell their story of how they live the Ironman mantra "Anything is Possible".  From the entrants, they are picking 8 to compete in Kona this October.

I immediately started working on my own video to submit into the contest and tell my story of how I live the mantra "Anything is Possible".  Believe me - around my house ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!

I finished the video and then was afraid to submit it because I set the video to the song "Beginning and the End"and after all the copyright issues popping up and all, well, I didn't want Sony or any other music group coming after me.  And I wanted to do the right thing (of course)

(I was really just afraid of Sony)

So, I decided to send an email to the group's manager, who then directed me to the correct place to go (no, not there) which was Provident Label Group,  a division of Sony.  They said I needed to get a master license and needed some information from me.  I filled out the request they sent and waited.

And waited.

Finally, last week I hear back from them telling me that they approved my request.   They probably got some good laughs and some"who the heck is this person" as it was tossed around like a hot potato or stuck on some unlucky person's desk.   Nobody knowing exactly what to do with it.  They were very nice and polite about it though and apologized for the delay saying that this was such an "unusual request" and had to go to many different levels.

I love the song and had decided that if it didn't get approved, I wouldn't enter the contest.  None of the other things I tried with the video seem to mean as much to me as that song set to my story.  

To me the song which is about life having beginning and end is very much like an Ironman, which has a beginning and an end.  In Ironman, just as in life, sometimes in the middle of it you have to dig deep and find the strength to keep going, pull yourself through the rough patches, to finish strong and never, ever give up.  To me that strength comes from my faith in God.

I am just glad I finally have approval and it didn't end up in the garbage. 

So anyway, here it is so please vote for me!  Take pity on me! 

I'm slow, but qualifying for Kona has been a dream of mine since I did my first Ironman in Florida back when I was faster.  Faster, but still not fast enough.  I would have to take almost 4 hours off my total Ironman time to even have a chance to get a Kona slot.

Vote for me!

Pictures Of Kona