Last Year A Princess, Today a Baby

Today I ran 13 miles with the Running Nazi.  She texts me last night to confirm our run since I backed out of the run Saturday morning and she backed out Sunday morning.  When she text me and said she wanted to run at 6:30 a.m., I text back that I was thinking more like 8 a.m.  I don't like running that early since there's no reason too.  I thought she wanted to run earlier so she could get it over in time to get to work so I was a little surprised when she texts back that 8 a.m. was fine.  Actually, this morning she texts me at 6 a.m. to say let's meet at 8:30 so we would miss the school traffic.  Yes!  That was even better for me!  An extra 30 minutes of sleep!

While stopping at our usual water stop, I asked her why she wanted to run at 6:30 since she didn't even have to work today and right out of the blue she called me a baby!  Not only did she call me a baby, but she made a sneering, baby voice when she said it.  "Oh, you're just a big baby!  You don't want to get up early or run in the cold or the rain.  Baby!  Baby!"  "Big Baby!"  Something told me at that point that she really didn't like waiting until 8:30 to run and maybe, just maybe she was a little bit bitter about all the times I've canceled on her at the last minute when it was raining or cold or freezing rain or the time I canceled when that tornado was coming through.  Nothing stops the Running Nazi.  Not rain nor sleet nor freezing cold nor kidney stones nor 104 degree fevers.  She'll get up at 4:30 a.m to run 20 miles by herself in an ice storm.  She ran a marathon while trying to pass a kidney stone.  She ran a different marathon that same year running a high fever.  (and she wonders why she got that kidney stone or those swollen lymph nodes!)

Actually, I was a little surprised.  Why just last year she considered me a Princess!  At least that's how she said I acted.  She said I had a "Princess personality" and she said I was lucky that I didn't have to work and could live at the beach part of the time.  She said "I wish I had your life.   The Life of Barbie!"  (only she inserted my real name there)  She also said the Murph had a Prince personality and that's why we might clash sometimes.  (did she really mean since we're both spoiled??)  When I told the Murph what she said he thought just the opposite.  He thinks it obviously means we were meant to be together!  Shouldn't a Princess always have a Prince?   Princes and Princesses go together, just like Ken and Barbie.  The Running Nazi didn't seem convinced.  At least she doesn't consider the Murph a baby, but she hasn't been around him as much, although she "chaperoned" my first date with him when I refused to go out unless she could come too.  I didn't know him and was being a little overly cautious although now he says I tried to grab his ass and he wasn't sure who the chaperone was for- him or me!

Now that's another story!

A Day Of Sorting Through Old Stuff...

Today I finally finished sorting through the rest of the contents of my house and made decisions on what to throw away, toss in the charity pile or re box to keep and bring over to my new home.  The Murph didn't really appreciate that the things to keep pile was larger than the charity or the trash pile.  He didn't understand how a Winnie the Poo cassette holder could be of use to me now that my only child is in college.  Actually it was a cassette holder full of baby music cassettes, including various Raffi songs including Banana phone and my fave, Baby Beluga, Disney babies songs, Wee Sing America, you get the idea...   I did have it in the to keep pile until I realized that I no longer have a cassette player to play those kind of cassettes on even if, for whatever reason, I might one day want to.  I already gave all my Barney and Disney VHS movies to charity.  That was a tough decision.

One thing I have a really tough time letting go of are my books.  Not just my books, but all the children books I bought for Steven.  And it gets worse....  I still have most all the books I had as a child.  I hoped the Murph wouldn't notice my collection of Nancy Drew books and Little House on the Prairie, but he did.  As he was unloading box after box when we got home yesterday evening, one of the box lids slipped off and he noticed that all the books were yellow.

The Murph:  "What's this?"

Me (thinking oh no!):  "Oh, that's just some books."

The Murph:  "I know but what kind.  They look the same..."

Me (hoping he would just be quiet and put the lid back on): " No, nothing.  Just some books I had as a kid...."

The Murph (scrunching up his face, studying one of the books):  "Looks like a series or something...."

Me (embarrassed):  "Yes!  okaaay!  It's my Nancy Drew collection! "

I didn't have to see his face to know what his expression was.  I've seen it way too many times this past year as I have slowly cleaned out my house getting it ready to sale.  My brother's been over the past couple of days taking yard stuff that I don't need anymore since the Murph already has all that kind of stuff.   It's really bad when the Murph and my brother stand there looking at me surrounded by all my junk and just shake their heads.   I think my brother even mentioned the "hoarder' word a time or two.  What do they know!  Twenty years in one house and a person can accumulate a lot of stuff, especially if that person has kids or just one kid and an ex (or two) that left a bunch of their stuff when they got booted out.

I think my stuff is still valuable.  Like the Lance Armstrong Nike running shoes I bought for the Boy a few years ago.  I asked my brother if he wanted them or maybe his son, my nephew might want them.

My brother (taking a look at the shoes):  "Man, those things are out of style!"

Me:  "Not really.  They still make them I think.  I got them for the Boy, but he never even wore them."

My brother (wrinkling his nose at the shoes)  "I don't blame him.  I wouldn't wear those either."

The shoes went into the charity pile.  I'm sure someone will appreciate hardly ever worn Lance Armstrong Nike running shoes!

The last time my brother was over at the Murph's he recognized my rocking chair that I have kept for about 30 years.  He couldn't believe it was the same rocking chair.  He said, " no way is that the same chair you use to sit in when we were still living at home. "  Yep, it is!  Shocker!

I took pictures of furniture, tv's, rugs, planters, lamps, a treadmill and an assortment of other kind of larger items that I'm not keeping and emailed them out to close friends and family members to see if anybody wants any of it.  If not, then it will go to charity.  I thought I was doing pretty good to do that, but when I asked the Murph on a scale from 1 to 10 with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best, how did I do in getting rid of my old stuff.  He gave me a 0!

What the Murph doesn't know is I kept all my barbie stuff and my International Doll collection and they are now somewhere downstairs in one of the many boxes stacked up along the wall next to my Nancy Drew books.   Well, maybe he has an idea since he gave me 0 in cleaning out stuff.   The Murph says he's in charge of cleaning out stuff in his house when we make our next move hopefully this summer. He says things are gonna fly out of here, especially all the crap I brought over that we're going to have to make a decision on again.  We'll see....

Some things you just have to keep....

Watch Your Footing When You're In The Attic...

This is what happens when you put your foot in the wrong place when you are in your attic.    

Yesterday I went over to the house to start cleaning out what is left in the attic since I am selling the house.  We are suppose to close  next week.  I had about 20 years of accumulation in that attic.  Everything the Boy had ever done in school and all his baby toys and clothes.  I had all my old schoolwork and books and dolls up there too from when I was a kid.

The Murph couldn't believe how much stuff I had stored away up there.  He had brought everything down but one really big, heavy box.  I told him to just leave it up there and I would go through it in the attic.  I was throwing most of the stuff in the trash anyway.  He decided to make one final try, but unfortunately he tripped and his foot went right through the ceiling.  Luckily, he didn't fall all the way through.  That would have really hurt!

We did get everything moved out of the attic and called someone to come do repairs on Monday.  I had heard about this happening and have always been really careful as I piled my boxes up in the attic over the years.  We have pieces of plywood up there in areas to store things, but mostly it's just insulation and support beams.  I never thought you could actually go through the ceiling from the attic!  Guess what?  You can!!  Insulation is everywhere.  It's kind of strange looking down at your master bedroom from a hole in the attic.

Reindeer Phantom

Phantom didn't think this was funny.  He didn't like it one bit.

First "Long" Run Since The Marathon

Today was my first long run since the Pensacola Marathon a couple of weeks ago.  I ran with the Running Nazi this morning on our favorite course minus the add-ons.  It was cold, but not freezing and we were dressed appropriate for the temperature.  We only ran 8 miles instead of our usual 12+ miles since I haven't been running much and my longest run so far has been only 3 miles on the treadmill.

It felt good.  I am glad I waited a while before I started running long again.  I am totally recovered and felt strong during the entire run.  I think we were running a tad bit faster than we normally do too. (at least I'd like to think so!)  This weekend we are running 13 miles.  That will be the real long run of the week.  Hope it is warmer than it was today!

The Murph Family Christmas Trees by Barbie

Living Room Christmas Tree.  The "Glamour" Tree with silver and white decorations and a sparkly silver tree skirt.   My favorite.

Dining Room Tree.  The only white Christmas Tree with multicolored lights, all the other trees are green with white lights.  I call this the "Mardi Gras" tree because of the strings of Mardi Gras beads used as garland.

Family Room 9 ft Tree.  I love this one too.  This one is the "Music and Fashion" tree with mostly red and gold ornaments.  I love the burlap garland with the music notes from Pottery Barn.  I wish I had bought another roll of it last year.  I also love the little dresses and shoes and the hanging Santa Claus suits that are on this tree and the musical ornaments.

Office Tree.  This one is the "Snow Skiing/Lodge" Tree with gondola ornaments, snow ski, snow shoes and mitten ornaments.  

Another view of the Snow ski Tree.  I love the skiing Santa ornament on the right above the gondola.

Downstairs tree in the Boy's "apartment".  A lot of the ornaments were made by him when he was younger.    This one is "The Boy's" Tree.

Another view of the family room tree with the angel precariously balanced on top.

It's a little crowded up here!  Don't try to cram a 9ft tree under an 8 ft ceiling...

Fun Harassing The Jazz Cats Today

Phantom and I prefer the "black cat" Riesling.

Phantom is monitoring the food situation.  Cadence is just scarfing it down.

Phantom and I will leave the Moosehead beer to the Murph.

Crazy Ed and Boo with their Aussie Beach Dogs Shiraz....

Cadence wants no part of the reindeer antlers that I put on him.  I'll get a photo of him wearing them before Christmas....

Thanksgiving With The Boy

It has been a very laid back Thanksgiving weekend.  The Boy was here from college and that was nice.  He forgot to bring his dirty laundry so I didn't have to wash for him.  I hope he has enough clothes to last until after finals in a few weeks!  Phantom, who has been very good with the other cats, suddenly started acting out and going after poor Ed again.  We had to squirt Phantom so many times he stayed wet most of the weekend.  He is exhausted, sleeping under the Christmas tree now.  He also pooped on the living room couch where Ed hangs out.  I guess he was making a territorial statement.  I put aluminum foil on the couch to keep him from pooping on it.  The vet advised me to do that when he pooped last summer on the same couch and in Ed's favorite antique chair.

The Murph and I got all the outside lights hung and the wreath and the garland put up.  I got all the trees up and decorated so I think that's it,  that's enough for sure!  It's going to be party time at the Murph's house this month.  We plan on having a party for friends and then family over Christmas Day and I told the Boy he could have a party with his friends if he wants too.  One of his best friend's moved to California a few months ago and the Boy said if he had a party, I would have to fly the friend here from California.  I thought that was way sweet, but a little expensive just for a Christmas party!

The Boy somehow gets me to "help" him write papers and do book reports, but flying someone cross country is an entirely different thing.   The Boy saved up a lot of homework for me to help him with this weekend too.  I had to help him come up with ideas for 30 journal entries and then expand on some of them.  I didn't help him with all of it because that's his work.  I've been to college.  Then I helped him do a book report on a book I had never read and will never read.  It is a 700 page reference type book on Human-computer interactions and task analysis.  Can it get more boring?  I think I did pretty darn good on the report ideas though.  He was impressed that I could come up with so much to write about in such a short time.  Now he has no excuses.  He has plenty of ideas to take back to school and write about since I've gotten him started.  I just hope he turns it in!

Can't wait until Christmas break when he's back home again.  I miss him!

Just Hanging Out Under The Tree

Ed and Boo hanging out under the Christmas Tree

Don't disturb us.  We're good.

Writing, Not Shopping

For all of those people out shopping today on Black Friday - Good luck to you!  Me, I slept in late and now I'm home with the Murph and the Boy and the Jazz cats and plan to do most of my Christmas shopping online.  No crowded malls for me.  I did the Friday after Thanksgiving shopping frenzy once and that's enough.  I was at the mall before 3 a.m. and did find some good deals, mostly gift with purchase type deals or more money off if you shop by 9 a.m or 12 p.m, etc.  Other than that, it just isn't worth it.  I actually bought more stuff for myself than I did Christmas presents and right now I am cleaning out junk, not adding it.  I have plenty of junk to pack when we move.  I still have furniture at my house that need a home and clothes from the 80's.  Besides I need to be writing, not shopping.

I have gotten a little behind in my novel writing since we moved back home from the beach.  I only have a week to go for NaNoWrMo (national novel writing month) and I am only half way finished.  I need about 25,000 more words.  For the next week writing is first priority, well 2nd after working out.  I want to make sure I have the 50,000 words by the end of the month to finish my novel.  I didn't realize how hard it is to come up with things to write about!  I'm halfway finished and I have written about all I can think of to write about.  It's time to get a little more creative.  I can do it!

Thanksgiving and Christmas Decorating With The Jazz Cats

Today was Christmas decorating day.  We still haven't eaten our Thanksgiving dinner, but we got a lot of decorating completed.  Last year I had a tree in every room in my house, all with their own themes.  This year I am living at the Murph's house so it was a little more difficult trying to figure out where to put everything.  All my decorations were bought for my house with a space in mind.  Here at the Murph's house I had to improvise.

We used most of my trees, but not one in every room.  He has way too many rooms that we never even use.  I put up four big trees, one in the living room, one in the office, one in the dining room, one in the family room and one in the Boy's room.  My 9 ft tree didn't fit under the Murph's 8 1/2 ft ceiling, but we got it in there anyway.  The top is a little tipped over to one side, but maybe nobody will notice....

I added my Christmas village houses with the Murph's and we have quite a little village, complete with an ice skating rink, a snow skiing mountain, library, toy shop, church, Irish pub (for my piss drunk Irishman), train station, country inn and another Victorian house and golf shop.  Sparkling "snow" is all over the house now.  I had some stuck to my forehead when I woke up this morning.

The cats LOVE all the trees.  Each one has their favorite that they are sleeping under.  They haven't tried to climb them yet which is good.  Phantom is to big, Ed and Boo too old and Cadence knows better.  Ed and Boo like the tree that's in the living room best because that room is their usual hangout anyway.  They were all over the place while I was putting them up and decorating them, especially Phantom.  He had to supervise everything.  I guess the trees meet with his approval.

We have lights outside along with garland, a blowup Santa and a blowup snowman, but the lights are not set to techno music like I had hoped.  I think we are doing good if we get the icicle lights hung over the porch roof.  Dancing lights set to music is just out of our expertise.  Phantom couldn't get outside to supervise us although he certainly tried.  He's an indoor only cat.

Now it is time to relax and wait on the turkey to finish cooking so we can eat Thanksgiving dinner.  We are having turkey, the Murph's grandmother's secret stuffing recipe, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, rolls and apple pie.  For the Jazz Cats, turkey for Phantom and Fancy Feast chicken florentine for the rest of them.

The jazz cats are very thankful that it is Thanksgiving too.  I asked each of them what they are most thankful for and here's what the said.  Phantom is very thankful for turkey and dressing and that his boy's home from college for the holiday.  Cadence is thankful that he didn't get squirted with water today like Phantom did for going after Ed.   Ed is thankful that Phantom didn't catch him and bite him today and that he gets to hangout under a really cool tree with a nice fluffy, soft tree skirt.  Boo is just thankful to be alive and able to eat soft food everyday.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Jazz Cats.

Girl Scout Days

I found this picture from 1977 or 1978 of my girl scout troupe taken outside my old elementary school.  I am in the back row third from the left in the navy sweat shirt.  My friend yoga girl Steph, who painted the "Deluded Disillusion" painting that I have hanging in my bedroom, is next to me in the little white hat.  Aren't we cute??

Doing The Right Thing

Ok here's my random vent for the day.  I wrote it earlier today when I was a little angry and had to come back and edit it.  So here is the freshly edited, "nice" version without all the cuss words:

Today I had an appointment with the lawyer that handled my divorce from the Boy's father nine years ago.  I didn't want to have to do it, but I really have no choice.  The man is a tightwad and doesn't want to have to pay anything for the Boys college.  Oh, he says he will pay half, but he also said he would give the boy $20 a week spending money (yes, $20! Stop laughing!) and hasn't done any of it.

The Murph (aka Ken) pays ALL of his daughters college which is 4x the cost of the Boy's and doesn't even have anything in writing requiring him to do it.  He does it because it's the right thing to do.  Unfortunately, my ex, who I will call the Tightwad, needs a judge to point out to him (in writing) what the right thing to do is for his own son.

Over the years, Tightwad has done the minimum he can do in raising the Boy and that is only the child support which he was legally required to pay.  Nothing extra and he even wanted me to give him back some money on child support when he had the Boy during his summer visits.  He couldn't get that, of course, but he asked me to send food with the Boy on his visits and when he was taking the Boy snow skiing one time he expected me to buy the ski jacket, pants, and long underwear, gloves, etc. so the Boy would have something to wear during the trip.  A trip, by the way, that the Tightwad's dad (who's retired) probably paid for so Tightwad would go.

I actually did send food once with the Boy because the Boy said his dad wouldn't buy any food for him and he was at his dad's house by himself sometime with nothing to eat!  I also bought the ski jacket and pants for the Boy because I wanted to make sure he stayed warm on the trip and didn't trust the Tightwad to get what he needed.  If I remember correctly (that was about 5 years ago), I actually think the Tightwad wasn't going to take the Boy at all if I didn't get the clothes for him.  And no, Tightwad isn't destitute by any means.  When he says he has no money, he means he has no money in his pocket at the moment and doesn't count all his many investments accounts and the thousands of dollars he probably has in the bank.  Basically what he means is, he has money, but the Boy isn't getting it.  Not without a judge's order anyway.

 I can only wonder why Tightwad isn't even sending the Boy the $20 a week allowance that he promised him.  After all, 20 bucks isn't even all that much for a tightwad.  I've given the Boy more money than that, plus paying about $500/semester for him to meet with a tutor once a week.  The Boy can't talk to Tightwad at all about money without getting verbally attacked, so for now we just don't know what happened to the 20 bucks a week.

The first step is to send a letter to Tightwad and see what response we get.  Hopefully, he will agree to do the right thing and I won't have to take further steps.  He never agrees on anything though, so I have very low expectations.

My lawyer told me there are laws in Alabama called the Bayliss Laws which are established to support children in college full time when they are no longer minors.  It now covers tuition, books, living expenses and health insurance.  The Murph is paying for our health insurance now and doesn't mind, but Tightwad should contribute something for his own son.  We'll see.

I am concerned about the fact that the law only requires the parent to pay for college if the child keeps a 2.0 average.    The Boy struggles in school so what if he dips down to a 1.8 or 1.9 for a semester.  It doesn't seem right to me that he could loose it all.  Financial aid would be lost for sure, but Tightwad was on academic probation for most of his college career with a grade point average under 2.0!  He still graduated, got a college degree and his dad paid for it all and had two other children to put through college.  Tightwad only has one child, not three!

I don't get it.  I will NEVER get it!  I will protect my child though.  He deserves better than that.

Words of wisdom - Don't marry a tightwad.  I was young, but there were signs even back then when we were teens.   I should've run!  I should've run FAST!!

If only I were doing speed work back then...

Whew!  And that's all I'm going to say about that!

Marathons I Want To Run In Each State

Alabama -  Mercedes (Birmingham)- already run 2x
                  Rocket City (Huntsville)- already run

Alaska-

Arizona - PF Changs Marathon (Phoenix) or Tuscon Marathon (Tuscon)

Arkansas-

California- Napa Valley, Big Sur, San Francisco - don't know, there's so many to choose from!

Colorado- Boulder or Denver Marathons

Connecticut

Delaware- Delaware Marathon (Wilminghton)

District of Columbia-

Florida - Pensacola Marathon - already run 1x

Georgia- Georgia Marathon

Hawaii- Maui or the marathon at the end if the Ironman in Kona!

Idaho- Coeur d'Alene Marathon or the marathon at the end of Ironman Coeur d'Alene.

Indiana

Illinois- Chicago Marathon (Chicago)

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana- Mardi Gras Marathon (New Orleans)

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts - Boston Marathon - already run 1x

Michigan

Minnesota- Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon (Minneapolis)

Mississippi- Mississippi Coast Marathon (Gulfport)

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska- Omaha Marathon (Omaha)

Nevada- Rock and Roll Las Vegas Marathon (Las Vegas)

New Hampshire- New Hampshire Marathon (Bristol)

New Jersey- New Jersey Marathon (Long Branch)

New Mexico

New York- New York City Marathon (New York)

North Dakota

North Carolina

Ohio- Flying Pig Marathon (Cincinnati)

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee- St Jude Memphis Marathon (Memphis)- already run 1x

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia- Marine Corps Marathon

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

Ironman Triathlon - Never Give Up

This explains why I do what I do. It isn't necessarily because I want to anymore, it's because I have to.  I'm addicted.  It's my drug.