Looking Forward

It's fall and I'm getting ready for the onslaught of holidays.  ... thinking of Christmas presents... wondering what to do about Thanksgiving... thinking I should call around and find a place for a bon fire on Halloween... and wondering where I can get all natural candy corn!

I have found wonderful, amazingly tasty, incredibly delicious, all-natural candies at the Natural Candy Store.  They have a huge selection and everything we have ordered from them has been candy to die for.  Homemade-style root beer barrels, nougat sweetened with honey, real fruit flavored gummy bears, even rose flavored hard candies!  But-- no candy corn.  I think it's about as artificial as "food" can get.  Which actually doesn't bother me personally.  I don't like candy corn.  But my kids- especially Rachel- do, and it would be nice to find some.

Ok, Bethany needs the computer to work on her Physical Science.  So I'd better get off.

Rebecca  =)

(If you find any all-natural candy corn-- call me immediately!) 

odds and ends

There is a kitty asleep on the foot of my bed.  I know she's not supposed to be there, but she is so cute and little and asleep, that I am pretending I don't notice her.  (Mike, I am sorry.  But you are out of town, and I will wash the covers before you get back.)

I spent the afternoon at the pool with Naomi and I'm a bit burnt.  And sore.  Emily- I thought of you.  Those laps were killers!  I did two, stood up, and thought... "I'm about to faint.  They'll have to fish me off the bottom of the pool."  I made it to the edge very slowly, not in a straight line, and rested at the ladder for a few minutes before climbing out.  After that I only did one lap at a time, and rested between them.  I'm pretty sure my cardio-vascular system would benefit from my doing that a little more often!  

We have had the windows all open and the AC turned off for a couple of days now.  The weather is scrumptious.  We should have days like this all the time.  Warm sun, cool breezes, low humidity... aahhh... 

I've been able to write a bit with Mike, Bethany and Peter gone, and Josh working.  Jacob's Peak is getting plunged in the water, scrubbed, stretched and blocked.  What will be different?  I hope you'll find more accurate fight scenes, more realistic emotions, a longer passage over the mountains with more time for romance-- and fighting, more training for espionage and covert operations, more character development for Varik,  and a stronger, more pro-active main character.  Not to mention, an all-around better-written, edge of your seat, cry and laugh-out-loud novel.  That's the plan, anyway.   

At the moment, my eyes are burning almost as much as my sunburn.  I should probably go to sleep.  Sadie- I am reading a book that reminds me of you!  It's called Viola in Reel Life.  You should read it.  But not till the semester is over.

Good Night!

=)

CrossFit and a retraction

After thinking about my last post, it occurred to me that the story cannot possibly be true.  I hate it when people post things like that.  Why can it not be true?  Well, first of all, the guy supposedly started, taught-- and failed-- a class, all since Obama was elected, and since Obama's tactics became widely seen as socialistic.  Not likely.  Also it gives no location for the class, no year, no identifying info.  I'm sorry I posted it.  

But... I still think the concept is a correct one.  So.

And now, since I'm sure you've all been wondering.... CrossFit!  How is it going?  What are we doing?  I know, I know.  You've been dying to hear all about it.  =)

We wake up at 8 each morning.  (Yes, it's shockingly early.  But we have pioneer ancestors.  Early hours are in our blood.)  After morning songs and prayers we do the WOD.  (Work Out of the Day)  I don't remember what we did on Monday (probably something from CrossFit Kids), but on Tuesday we did a five-minute warm up (push ups, sits ups and such) followed by 7 individual push presses.  I can hear you asking "Push press?  What is that?"  (No-- not you, Mike R.  I know you know.  You're probably asking, Just 7?  I mean the rest of them.)   It's a weight lifting thing.  With one of those bars with heavy round things on the end.  That's the technical description.  You can watch a video of it here.  After that we did overhead squats to the end of the driveway and back.

Wednesday we did 1 minute of the basic dot drill and one minute of double unders for warm up.  Gasp!  Pant!  (No, that's not me in the double unders video.  I know you were wondering) followed by-- in 15 minutes -- a 400 meter dash and AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of 10 pull-ups and 20 squats.  We installed another pull-up bar upstairs, since all of us were waiting for turns on the one in Josh's doorway, and it was really making the work out too easy.  Mike promptly pulled himself up right into the top of Naomi's door frame and did the rest of his pull-ups with an ice bad on his head, poor guy.   I made it through 6 rounds before our timer rang.  That's 60 pull-ups and 120 squats.  I thought I was going to either throw up or pass out-- or both-- by the time I was done.  (I am such a wimp)

Today we warmed up balancing on the 55 gallon water drum (turned on it's side so it rolls) in the backyard, followed by push-ups.  Then we did 150 wall-balls for time.  Mike creamed us all, finishing in just over 2 minutes, and not even looking winded afterwards.  (He said, "Was that it?")  Josh came in next at 3 minutes, followed closely by Bethany.  None of them looked too pooped.  But then, we were using an 8# ball instead of the prescribed 20# ball.  Ugh!  Do you have any idea how heavy 20 pounds are when you have been throwing them over your head and catching them for several minutes?  My arms ache just to think of it.  Or maybe that's from the WOD.  My own 5.5 minutes were not the slowest in the family.  Peter, bless his little heart, took a whole 10 minutes.  Probably just to make me feel better.  =)  

Believe it or not, I think we get a harder WOD when we do CrossFit Kids than the regular CrossFit  I guess maybe they think kids are able to be more active than adults?  (Huh.  Why would that be?  =)  Everything I've posted here is from the adult WOD, but I'm thinking tomorrow we'll do the kids' WOD.  You can read the kids' work out here.  (Scroll down past the picture of Junior doing an overhead squat.)  Then give it a try.  If your name is Mr. Incredible, it will be a snap.  If your name is Mrs.SitOnTheCouchAnd CorrectMathMostDays... well.... just come over about 8:45 some morning to see what you'll look like.

So, I may not be Super Girl yet, but I''m working on it!  

=)

Socialism

I know many of you will not agree with this post, and I'm fine with that.  I'd like to hear your thoughts- for and against- as long as they are not just attacks.  I would really like to know how people who are pro-socialism see the world.

I got the following from my dad.  Enjoy!

Rebecca  =)

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, 
but had once failed an entire class.

That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan". 

All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A. 

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. 
The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.  

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.  
The second test average was a D! 
No one was happy. 

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. 

The scores never increased as bickering, 
blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.  

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.   It could not be any simpler than that.

The Problem with Facebook

It's been over a month now since I've written here.  And it's all facebook's fault.  

When I have 2.5 minutes, I can log on, check what everyone is up to, post one sentence about my life, and feel like I have communicated with the world.  No more complete thoughts.  We need Paul Harvey and the rest of the story.

So, for those of you who have been keeping up with my little blurbs on facebook, but who wonder, What has she really been doing this summer?  Here  is the rest of the story...

Driving.

No seriously.  My new address is KEZ 1332.  I have a 6 CD changer, a pretty comfortable chair, AC, and a cool cup holder.  

But when I'm not in the car (which does happen sometimes!) I have been at my family reunion, traveling to Utah, and pulling up carpet and knocking holes in my wall.

The reunion was great.  My parents, all my siblings, and all my siblings' kids came out to our area and we went to Mt. Vernon, visited DC, went to the top of the Washington Monument, rode paddle boats around the tidal basin, and watched the fireworks from the lawn of the Pentagon.  We also celebrated my birthday, and all my family pitched in to make a book for me of stories and poems, compiled by Elizabeth and published by Lulu.  They were SO awesome!  The first story is by my Dad, the last by my Mom.  Elizabeth illustrated the cover.  Wonderful.  Really very well done and amazing all around.  (One poem by Casey still makes me laugh every time I think of it.  I should ask him if I can post it here.  Aahh... facebook.  Just the place fir such things.)

Right after the reunion my house started smelling like formaldehyde, and to make a very long story short, we ripped up the family room carpet and knocked a sizable hole in the wall to figure out what was going on.  (know that this was at the advice of Everyone, including the EPA, lest you think us crazy.)  We have since solved the problem (sub-flooring) and have not fixed either the hole or the floor.  We're working on that.  (Much of that driving has been to Home Depot.)

The trip to Utah was great.  I went with Bethany and we had a blast.  First, I went to the doctor with my mom, and we got some better-than-expected news.  Then we just had fun-- Alpine Slide, Brick Oven, BYU campus, Lara and her babies, and more BYU campus.  My parent's house is beautiful and calm, and I'd forgotten what real grass looks like!  That stuff does not grow in Virginia.  Everywhere I went I exclaimed over the grass.  And I converted.  not to Mormonism.  I already did that.  To Crossfit.  A gym.  For the first time in my life, exercising is not boring and pointless!   What an amazing concept!  You should all look into it right now.  Really.  

http://www.crossfit.com

The we came home and... I drove some more.  Moved back into my house at KEZ 1332.  It's small, but cute.    I took Rachel and Elizabeth both to the cardiologist.  Rachel's heart is fine, thank you very much.  And Elizabeth DOES NOT have heart failure!  WOO HOO!!!  =)  This is good news.  We've done that twice already, and really do not need to do it again. 

And I've been writing.  Some.  I finally received a rejection from a publisher who held my book, asking fro more time and more copies for a year, just last week.  I went from shocked, to angry, to thoughtful, to grateful all in about 24 hours.  She made some very specific comments, and I have to say, some of them are right on the mark.  And so I am making changes accordingly.  I was sort of working on two other novels (the sort of is because of a lack of time) but they have been set aside until I get JP whipped into shape.  A friend who knows about these things has been kind enough to agree to help me out with the fight scenes and other writing.   (Thank you!)  And somehow that is a catalyst for me to get moving.  That, and the rejection, of course.  But rejections can be positive.  (I keep telling myself that.)

So, that is my summer.  Friends are moving-- or have moved-- out here.  But even my friends who live here I seldom see.  Except on facebook, that is.

Rebecca  =) 

Getting Stuff Done

I have wonderful news!  It has Finally Stopped Raining!  After weeks and weeks without two consecutive rain-free days, we finally have a forecast for sunny skies!  Hurray!  

Which means it's time to start getting stuff done.  The backyard patio that the kids and I laid a few weeks ago still needs a cement border.  (Not good to pour cement in the rain)  The paving stones for the paths can now be laid without our being covered in huge mud splatters.  And the grass can finally be mowed again!

  

Yesterday I figured out a way to walk on my left foot without being in too much pain, and now feel "stable" enough (foot-wise, that is) to finish painting The Wall in the front room.  I didn't think standing on a stool with only one foot would have been the brightest thing I'd ever done.  One broken bone is enough.  So now the wall can get painted, too!  

And... our hollyhocks that we started indoors are finally large enough to be transplanted out next to the fence!  I love hollyhocks, and I really hope these will live, and grow, and be covered in flowers.  They just seem like what every house should have.  Along with peonies and white picket fences.  And kittens.  And a swing.  

So, enough typing!  Come by for a visit some time and see how our hollyhocks are doing.  Check out The Wall.  And maybe we'll bake cookies.  =) 

My Toe

I wasn't kicking old ladies on the street, as my friend Karen suggested I might have done.  It was Bethany.  Not that I meant to kick her.  And she was definitely not kicking me.  It's just that our kitchen it small.  So really, it's the architect's fault.  If he had designed a little more space between the kitchen sink and the island, I would have fit easily behind Bethany as she washed the breakfast dishes.  And then my toe would never have caught her ankle.  And it wouldn't have stayed there, caught on her foot, as I passed her, and the bone would not have snapped.  But since the architect was trying to save space, and probably earned enough that he did not ever need to wash dishes himself, he did not understand the dangerous situation he was creating, and my toe is now broken.

I went to the ER yesterday, and as my friend Jill pointed out, "All they're going to do is tape you up and tell you to go see a real doctor."  One roll of tape, two crutches and several hours later, Rachel and I left to find a "real" doctor.

Which happened this morning.  He was nice, and his kids are homeschooled, and they even use Singapore Math, which means they are probably smart, which suggests he is probably smart, too.  All of which is good, because tomorrow morning I'm trusting him to put a pin (he said, "think finishing nail") into my pinkie toe.  But not all the way in. The end will be sticking out the tip of my toe.  =/  And then, in about 3 weeks, I'll go back into his office where he will-- (you should sit, if you're not already)-- Pull It Out with PLIERS!    <=O   

Does anyone else think this sounds like something from the middle ages?  Or some combination of Star Trek meets Atilla the Hun?  He assured me it wouldn't hurt anymore than what I've already gone through while breaking it.  Considering that I was gasping for breath, unable to speak, trying not to cry out loud from pain in front of my kids... that's not really comforting.  But the alternative is a permanently  weird, likely-to-be-re-broken toe sticking out the side of my foot.  So, I guess I'll go with the pliers.

One odd thing is that I broke my right pinkie toe (this time it's the left) in exactly the same way 9 years ago-- two days before Mike and I left for Ukraine to adopt Peter and Naomi. Weird, huh?  When I told Mike what I'd done, he said, "We're not adopting any kids any time soon, are we?"  I think I need to work on my proprioceptive skills, to become more in tune with my pinkie toes.      

That's all the news today from The Cottage on the Hill, where the yellow rose bush talks (thanks for the heads-up warning there, Dan-- I'll keep an eye on it) and the dahlias are finally showing their... um.... sprouts?  despite the almost constant rain lately.  YAY!  

Feel free to keep me in your prayers.

=)