The Bucket List

Fellow blogger Erin requested a "20 things I would like to do before I die list" so I'm gonna give it a go. I actually had a list like this in high school and I wish I could find it to see how many things on it I have accomplished, I do know that run the Boston Marathon was on it as well as ride in a taxi. I have successfully checked those items off. I guess I better see what I can do with the rest of these:

1. Write and publish a book.
2. Raise a leader dog for the blind.
3. Live off the land, except for bare minimum staples, for a year.
4. Travel to all of the homes that Laura Ingalls Wilder lived in.
5. Visit Africa.
6. Run a marathon in Alaska.
7. Enter a quilt in our county fair.
8. Go on a trip by myself.
9. Raise sheep.
10. Complete a triathlon.
11. Participate in a canoe race.
12. Run an ultra.

I'll have to work on eight more, maybe dig up that old list and see where I stand...

Creepy Craft

The most difficult part of this project was hiding the Dum Dums until Ollie fell asleep so we could make them without a taste tester!

They will all creep and crawl to school on Friday for the Halloween festivities.

Well, almost all of them.

Insanity

I'm not sure insanity is the word, maybe stupidity sums them up better. Reading news stories like this and this really make my life seem normal. Some days I am glad for that.

Having One of Those Days? Me Too

More than a thousand ice sculptures representing human silhouettes by Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo slowly melt away, Florence, Italy.

Cottage Chic? Country Chic Living?

Or how about four kids, 2 dogs and no money chic?

I finally peeled off the wallpaper yesterday in one fell swoop. Well it didn't come off that easy, but after a trip to our local friendly ACE store where I purchased some DIF, a spray bottle and a bit of motivation I was able to remove it all. And now I clearly see why we had to wallpaper the room. I had myself all set to just paint because it is more economical and easier to change but I'm not quite sure that the defects in the 100 year-old walls will not be glaring.

Not one to go down without a fight I went to the BHG website for some inspiration, however, their decorating collections just don't seem to fit my lifestyle. Maybe if I got rid of the animals, found homes for the children, sent the husband to live in the barn and, well, basically lived alone, it would work. Then I could select between Chic I and Chic II or even Living with Books. Not that I truly care for any of those options but the ability to pick something other than super-heavy-duty-extremely washable paint would be nice.

Beans For Hire

Really, I Did Run

That race? Remember that trail race I was so looking forward to over a week ago? I did make it to the starting line and found myself running on an incredible trail. The first lap was pleasant with rolling hills around the lake, the second loop added a tremendous hill in addition to the rolling ones already on the course and the third lap, well the third lap kicked my ass with a mountain that the race directors tried to call a hill on the race flyers. Liars! There was an older gentleman making the climb behind me and he kept shouting what he might have thought were helpful directions that consisted of warnings that what appears to be the end of the "hill" is not. We climbed, it would level for 10 yards, we climbed again, it leveled again, we climbed again... I seriously considered tucking into a ball and rolling down the other side. Note: for those of you that are non-runners going down a lengthy hill can be more difficult than climbing it because you have to keep yourself from toppling over and that uses very different muscles.

Anyway, I survived. As far as rating the race, I loved the course but there were no mile markers which also means no split-times. There was only one aid station so if you were running the 8.5 mile race there was lots of space in-between available hydration (I carried my hand-held bottle with me.) The awards, as you can see, are plaques and NOT mugs. Bummer, big bummer.

My biggest beef was actually the lack of beef, or at least some filling post-race food. They only had bananas and apples. I spend the days before a race training and eating well and the last thing I want to see upon landing at the finish line is another banana! I would like to see some type of muffin, cookie, or a cinnamon crunch bagel from Panera. You know, real food.



***These race directors were very economical in that they used numbers from The Crim that were leftover. I'm glad I got one that said 10 mile on it and not 1 Mile like some runners did.