Fat Chick Biking

Next Steps

2011-04-08T13:01:00.000-04:00

I'm a mom, first and foremost. And as a mom, I worry about my kids. It's kind of my job, along with making sure they are safe, happy and taken care of. But when your kid has issues like mine has issues, that worry can kick your ass.

My kid is severely ADHD. He's also diagnosed ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder) and SID (Sensory Integration Disorder, aka SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder). ODD is very commonly found as a comorbid diagnosis with ADHD. In my opinion, it's also a very harmful diagnosis to acquire, or at least it can be.

Why, you ask, is ODD a harmful diagnosis? Just read the two major players in the name of the disorder. OPPOSITIONAL. DEFIANT. Pretty negative way to describe someone, isn't it? Do you feel sympathetic to someone who is labeled oppositional and defiant? Does it make you want to help them? Or do you find yourself looking at these oppositional and defiant people as troublemakers and people who are going to cause problems for you?

Long ago, when I first started this journey with my child of trying to help him with his issues, I decided that whatever labels were given to him were fine by me...as long as they help him get the services and assistance he needs. Read that again. As long as they help him get the services and assistance he needs. What I've found is that a diagnosis of Oppositional Defiant Disorder gets him nothing but looked upon as someone who is, by definition, oppositional and defiant, and by extension, a troublemaker and someone upon whom many, many things can be blamed.

Here is the definition of Oppositional Defiant Disorder:

* Actively does not follow adults' requests
* Angry and resentful of others
* Argues with adults
* Blames others for own mistakes
* Has few or no friends or has lost friends
* Is in constant trouble in school
* Loses temper
* Spiteful or seeks revenge
* Touchy or easily annoyed

Am I saying that my child does none of these things? No, clearly he does them or he would not have qualified for this diagnosis 5 years ago. But as a layperson, teacher or someone otherwise involved in my child's life in a non-medical, non-psychological way, having a child labeled ODD is harmful. Humans as a rule want to put people into metaphorical boxes so that we understand how each person is "supposed" to act. When you expect someone to act a certain way, you start looking at their behavior through that lens...and it can very easily become habit to look for the negatives, or even the not-good-enoughs, instead of seeing the efforts that person makes, and even the good behaviors, outside of the label you gave them.

Right now, my child is facing a diagnosis of depression, an adjustment disorder w/depression, and maybe an anxiety disorder...in addition to ADHD, ODD and SID. He's 9. I am worried for my child.

He doesn't want to open up and talk about his peer relationships with his therapist, the person who did the extensive testing back in March, or even with me. That's new...and it's weird. So says me...and the professionals. Hence, the adjustment disorder. He is clearly going through some emotional trauma and feels unsafe or upset talking about his friends, or lack thereof. What was the impetus for this? I can guess it was something that was fairly devastating to him that happened a school a while back. I could be wrong.

I love my kid. My kid is a pain in the ass. My kid is a stellar little guy with a HUGE heart and a great smile. He has a special ability to piss people off. I'm glad for the person he is, and I sincerely hope that his trials at such an early age will make him stronger, not broken.

The next step is a meeting with all professionals involved in his treatment so we can brainstorm and come up with viable treatment options, be they medical, pharmacological, or therapeutic in nature. In addition, at the end of April, our wonderful psychologist will be accompanying my husband and I to an IEP review/revision meeting at the school to talk about the results of the testing done in March, and what the resulting changes in his IEP will be. After that? No idea...I just know that we will keep plugging along, trying to help him as much as we can.

Some good ADHD resources

2011-02-04T21:14:00.000-05:00

In response to some events that have happened at school recently with M, I find myself back in the research game. It's been a while since I've done the type of in-depth research I'm doing now, and while I'm doing it, I might as well share the resources I have found! I'll certainly be sharing them with the school...

Dr. Russell A. Barkley click here for his website is one of the foremost researchers in the field of ADHD studies. He's been doing this since the 70s I believe, and has a website absolutely full of information that is useful.

Specifically, I'd like to draw your attention to these items:

*The Importance of Emotional Impulsiveness in ADHD: Implications for Diagnosis and Management (VIDEO of a lecture, lasts a little over an hour)

*ADHD Fact Sheet

*80+ Classroom Accommodations for Children and Teens with ADHD

*The Important Role of Executive Functioning and Self Regulation in ADHD

In addition to this new and interesting research into ADHD, I'd also like to point your attention to Sensory Processing Disorder (also called Sensory Integration Disorder). I have another blog I'm writing called Shorty Got to Move, and it's about our journey with a child who has ADHD, ODD and SID.

M was diagnosed with SID back when he was 6 I believe (he's almost 10 now). We noticed that he liked to crash into walls, doors, people, etc; and had some other behaviors that we now know are "sensory seeking" behaviors. We did some work with an Occupational Therapist over that summer almost 4 years ago and stopped doing it for some reason or another...I really don't remember. Fast forward to now and we're doing OT again.

We started going back to OT not for the sensory issues, but actually at the behest of our new therapist for something called The Alert Program. This is a pretty cool program that teaches kids ways to get their "engines" running at a level that is appropriate to the situation in which they find themselves. It's 2 fold though - not only do they learn to self monitor AND self regulate their "engines," they also learn, through the use of 2 way headphones and music, to focus the brain on the appropriate sound. The headphones have music streaming in, but during the OT session, the child has to make himself focus on the OT's voice instead of the music. It also activates the hairs in the ear canal.

As far as the sensory issues go, M is still a sensory seeker. Though the OT says that the sensory part is probably very small in the scheme of things, getting it under control through a sensory diet, fidgets and other means, may help M feel more in control at school and at home. We will see...it will be a week or so before we get the diet.

In any case, I highly recommend Dr. Barkley's site.

I never knew

2011-01-16T21:45:00.003-05:00

how challenging it would be to be a parent.

I never guessed there would be this much heartache involved. This much soul wrenching pain. Really, I never guessed.

My older kid has been going through some stuff these past few days, and I...well, I don't know what to do anymore.

He's severely ADHD, with a side order of sensory processing disorder. To most people ADHD means that the kid is a hyper pain in the ass. But that is SO not all of it. Yes, my kid is hyper, but what lots of people don't understand is that there are sooo many other things involved. Impulsivity to the point of truly not being able to control yourself at times, poor planning, lack of inhibition, lack of forethought...and my beautiful child exhibits most of these things on a daily basis. And it hurts him. And I hurt for him.

We're also learning (again) that his sensory processing disorder really does have an impact on his behavior and ability to be in control of himself. At the suggestion of our new therapist, I made an appointment to have him re-evaluated by an Occupational Therapist. And the things I thought had gone have simply morphed. Loud noises still bother him, he still seeks sensory input in ways that most kids don't, and some other stuff that I can't think of right now. But all of these things, on top of the ADHD, are really impacting him - academically and right now, maybe more importantly, socially.

This is not a kid who seeks solitary activities. Oh no - this is a child who want, no NEEDS social interaction with other kids. But what he's finding out is that because of things he's done recently and in the past around the neighborhood, kids either aren't comfortable with him being in their house or playing with them, OR they simply won't play with him anymore.

He's 9, but he's making the mistakes a 6 or 7 year old would make. And it's not because he's a horrible, malicious child. When he's "on", this child is a ray of sunshine. He's helpful, wants to please everyone, playful, etc. But most people can't see past the things he is having trouble controlling...taking things that aren't his, playing a little too roughly, lying, etc. Hubs and I are at a total loss as to why he continues to do this. Intellectually he KNOWS these things are not ok, but I honestly think he simply can't stop himself from doing them. And it really fucking sucks.

Last night I had a dream about leaving...just leaving and starting fresh somewhere new. Today, I guess hubs was in a pissy mood because I'd been working all day, so he'd been taking care of the kids, they weren't listening and he yelled at the kids. They both cried and ran upstairs. Little one comes down and tells me big one just wrote a note saying he was going to run away. My sweet baby was feeling so low about himself and his situation that he wanted to RUN AWAY. I know that's probably normal kids behavior at some point. Hell, I remember doing it...but as a parent, it's frightening. So I gathered him up in my arms and told him that my heart would break into a million tiny pieces if he ever ran away, but I also told him that I totally understood his want to remove himself from this difficult situation he's gotten himself into.

I can't tell you the number of times I've told him to stop lying, taking stuff, etc, punished him, given him consequences, etc...he knows all this, yet keeps doing it. A book I'm reading says to let him suffer the consequences of his own mistakes, especially when he's young. The cost will be lower now that it would be learning these lessons at 25. But what if he doesn't learn these lessons? What's his life going to be like? Yes, I borrowing trouble by trying to look ahead. And honestly, I usually don't because my outlook on what his life will be like seems to change minute by minute. But tonight, my kid said he wanted to run away.

I'm feeling pretty sad tonight. Troubled.

But tomorrow I'm going to show my kid that staying positive is possible, even when things get rough. That people WILL forgive him his trespasses if he tries to show them that he's sorry. I am going to try very hard to change my parenting and see if I can help him become as good on the outside as he is on the inside by modeling the behaviors better that I want him to mimic. And mostly, to help him figure out that he is a good and worthy person, no matter what he's done in the past.

Political Quiz

2010-11-11T11:48:00.003-05:00

I took this quiz and the results were interesting:
My Political Views
I am a center-left moderate social libertarian
Left: 1.1, Libertarian: 2.18

Political Spectrum Quiz

Foreign Policy:

On the left side are pacifists and anti-war activists. On the right side are those who want a strong military that intervenes around the world. You scored: -3.87
My Foreign Policy Views
Score: -3.87

Political Spectrum Quiz

Culture:

Where are you in the culture war? On the liberal side, or the conservative side? This scale may apply more to the US than other countries. You scored: -6.03
My Culture War Stance
Score: -6.03

Political Spectrum Quiz

compare:

Can we ever win?

2010-10-18T16:24:00.004-04:00

Doesn't seem like we can.

The first week at school that M was on his new medication, it seemed to be working well. Now it seems that it isn't working so well...she says that from 10/13 to present, his behavior has deteriorated. And she filled out a new Conners rating scale and some stuff is WORSE than it was at the beginning of Sept. I wonder if she was in a bad mood when she filled out the scale or if this is accurately represented...I just don't know anymore.

I can't believe a medication can lose its efficacy that quickly. Maybe there is no satisfying this teacher. Maybe this *still* isn't the right dose. Maybe this isn't even the right medication.

I *think* it's working better than the Vyvanse was, but maybe not. At least he seemed to be even with the Vyvanse.

We see the psychiatrist this week, so I'm sure we'll be on the next dose up starting soon.

Have I mentioned how much I hate ADHD? It really sucks.

Day Five...Concerta

2010-09-21T19:57:00.003-04:00

Color me surprised. M on 18mg of Concerta for 2 days wasn't the hellish experience I was expecting. He was actually pretty ok.

Today is day 3 of 27mg, so tomorrow we start on the 36mg dose that we've been building up to.

The only real negative I'm seeing is a reemergence of facial tics. But I don't feel too worried about that as we've seen transient facial tics with almost every medication he's been on. They seem to be mostly related to him feeling stressed or tired, and today he is *definitely* worn out. Not only that, but he's not in his normal routine this week, which always makes him feel more stressed than usual.

Overall I don't have a feeling about the Concerta one way or the other. It doesn't seem to be *that* much better than Vyvanse, but we also aren't on the therapeutic dose yet. We may see that 36mg is fantastic as compared to the 50mg of Vyvanse we were on before.

Day One...Concerta

2010-09-17T08:25:00.003-04:00

Today is day one of trying M on Concerta. Things aren't going great at school, and the psychiatrist is worried about lots of things after seeing the Conners rating scale the teacher filled out.

M unmedicated is not a pretty thing. Since we're starting at 18mg of Concerta, I think the next 2 to 3 days are going to suck for all of us royally. I don't mean to be negative, but we've been through medication changes before and they weren't pretty.

What I'm hoping is that the Concerta, even though we've tried it before, will hit different receptors in his brain than the Vyvanse did, and that we'll see some of the behaviors that are causing school/friend/etc issues will lessen.

This is a work in process, as is any ADHD medication. Today and tomorrow we'll do 18mg, then Sunday or Monday we'll go up to 27mg. Two to three days on 27mg and then it's up to 36mg for the next 10 days. After that, school will be back in and the real test will begin. We'll see in which areas the meds are helping and which they aren't. We'll decide whether to increase the dose to 45mg or 54mg. We'll also see if we need to tweak the times he gets his meds. There's the possibility that we'll do a short acting in the morning and the long acting at lunch...but for now, we're trying the long acting in the morning and continuing with the short acting in the afternoon as usual.

Wish us luck.

If Concerta doesn't work, we go back to Vyvanse until school lets out again in December...then it's on to Focalin.

Have I mentioned how I much I hate having my kid on meds? It drives me nuts. I hate that he has to take medication to make him "socially acceptable." But I continue the meds because I believe there are children in this world who need medication to function...and children aren't equipped to not be accepted by others. And if this helps him function and gain acceptance from his peers, then this is what we'll do. We've tried everything else...diet, exercise, behavior modification...and on their own, the ends don't justify the means.

While I hate any child to be on medication, I also believe that it's not just about the child. It's about the family. If having a child (or parent) on medication is what's best for the family AND the child, then so be it. We have medications available to us for a reason.

Me and my Vitamin D

2010-09-14T17:29:00.003-04:00

I had my Vitamin D level checked for the first time probably a year or so ago, and it was low. So the Dr put me on 50,000IU/week for 12 weeks. I guess it went up because then she told me to take 2,000IU/day. Then I had it checked again during one of my regular checkups, and it was low again. Back to the 50,000IU/week for 12 weeks. It went up. I started taking the 2,000IU/day again. Had it checked again and it was low, but I guess not terribly, so I've been taking 3,000IU/day for a few months now.

I went to my Endocrinologist to have my thyroid checked (I'm hypothyroid and have some nodules on my thyroid) and he offered to check my Vitamin D at the same time as my thyroid levels since they had to draw blood anyway. It's low. Again. So now I'll be taking 50,000IU TWICE a week for 12 weeks.

I wonder what it is with my body that I can't keep my Vit D level consistent. It's just weird. Maybe getting out and biking more would help...exercise, sunshine...

Oh joy! It's officially football season!!

2010-09-13T20:16:00.002-04:00

My husband loves football.

When we were first living together, I would sit and "watch" (by watch, I mean ask questions relentlessly until he got so annoyed with me that I'd simply go somewhere else in the apartment) it with him. When my question asking started getting the answer "just listen to the announcers and you'll understand what's going on" I decided to take matters into my own hands and buy "Football for Dummies."

Clearly I'm no Dummy because I failed to understand football.

So let me tell you how overjoyed I am to hear him yelling at the television tonight...telling the PROFESSIONAL football players to "just put your head down and go!"

Four months and it will all be over, right?

I can do this.

What's shakin' turkey bacon?

2010-09-08T16:38:00.002-04:00

Wut up, yo? Anything exciting been happening lately?

Here are some exciting things that are happening with yours truly:

1. I had an AWESOME trip to Boulder last month (August). I did a good amount of jewelry business, which was my main reason for going out there. I did some sight seeing, and it was as beautiful as last time I was there.

2. My jewelry has been doing pretty well at one place in Boulder; and that's ArtMart. I was surprised how much sold the first week or two it was there.

3. My jewelry has been selling more here in my local area and on my website. I've had 2 web orders (though I haven't gotten payment for one yet, so I'm still waiting) and have sold 3 pieces at a gallery in Raleigh.

4. Bummer, but I haven't gotten on my bike in what seems like forever. And the bad news is that after this week, the kids are tracked out, so it will be another 3 weeks before I can do any real biking...unless I go before hubs goes to work or after he gets home. I'm kinda bummed about that because I've been reading this book, Ride Your Way Lean, and I want to get started on doing it.

5. I'm going on a cruise! This December, my Mom is taking my sister and I on a cruise to the eastern Caribbean! I'm excited. I've never been on a cruise before. I'm kind of nervous as I tend toward motion sickness, but I'm hoping I won't get it because the boat is soooo big! Look it up - it's the Carnival Glory.

6. I finally got my jewelry into a store in SC that I've been trying to get into for months. So I need to get my ass in gear making more jewelry so I can send it down there.

7. What else? I dunno...nothing I can talk about here.

So that's about it for now. I'm sure I'm missing something, but if I remember, I'll come back and write it.

Tell me what's been going on with you.

Biking biking biking

2010-07-31T12:53:00.002-04:00

I've been biking a lot this week. Well, a lot for me. I did a 7.6 mile ride this morning and I am spent. Biking everyday, when you aren't used to it, really takes it out of you. But I feel good. Isn't that weird? Tired, but good.

I can tell that my legs are getting stronger...I am able to do hills a bit faster than I usually can.

I really need to figure out what to eat prior and after riding. I have to wonder if that is a part of my energy issues both on the ride and after.

Anyone got suggestions?

Today was the last day of school!

2010-06-30T19:27:00.003-04:00

I simply can't believe that I now have a 1st grader and a 4th grader. Where has all the time gone?

I cleaned out my truck today, cuz it was N-A-S-T-Y, and found my second grade picture from 1979/80. Jesus...30 fucking years ago. Sigh.

Anyway, I picked the kids up from school and took them to Dunkin' Donuts and then to Little Caesar's. I got a couple extra pizzas to share with the neighborhood kids as an impromptu "last day of school party" even though almost all the other kids in the neighborhood have been out of school for a number of weeks. They're on traditional calendar, while my kids are on year round.

So the kids played, ate pizza, played rock band, went outside and ran around in the rain, biked...while I cleaned chain parts in the sink and got depressed about how many I've already cleaned and how many are left to clean. I clean them individually with a spinbrush toothbrush. There's still a pile sitting (rusting) in my sink that I'll clean later tonight after the kidlets are in bed. When I got sick of cleaning chain parts, I decided to play rock band. So I played guitar, then sang. Then my little one came in and accompanied me on drums while I sang. Then the other kids came in and I played guitar (cuz they all think I'm really good :D) for a few songs with them. It was fun.

Tomorrow I'm taking 4 of the neighborhood kids, maybe 5, and we're meeting a few other kids, to see The Last Airbender. I'm pretty excited about seeing it. I think it's going to be a great movie and all the kids are thrilled to see it.

Today was a pretty good day. I got lots done while the kids were at school - filed, cleaned, took a shower (yay!).

I'm hoping tomorrow is a good day too.

OMG! I can't believe I did THIS! LOL!!

2010-06-28T10:21:00.002-04:00

I fell off my bike. On the road. Yes, I'm an idiot.

I didn't forget I was clipped in. I unclipped my right foot to come to a stop on the curb, but I was going too slowly and couldn't get my balance on my right side...so I tipped over on my left side and skinned the shit out of my left knee. It really hurts.

How funny is it that this is the first time I've ever fallen off my bike? On a road ride of all places...not on the trail.

I feel really tired and sluggish this morning. I only did 2.5 miles today. I started out feeling tired, which is normal. But I usually shake it off by the end of the first mile. I didn't today. I wonder if it's from the harder-than-usual dirt ride I took on Saturday. I think I overdid it...it was really hot, and the dirt/sand combo I was riding on made pedaling somewhat more difficult than my legs are used to...I came in the house shaking and nauseated.

I need to figure out what to eat before these morning rides. I know I'm not doing a 20, or even 10, mile ride, but as fat as I am and as out of shape as I am, these rides are definitely exercise for me. My problem is that I don't want to eat too much and then not get the calorie benefit from riding. And really it's not just in the morning - it's all day...I get hungrier when I ride (obviously) because I'm expending more calories. I just don't know how many calories I should add to my daily routine so that I'm still benefiting from riding, but not extremely hungry all day too...

I hope that makes sense.

Guess I should go wash the blood off my knee.

O.M.G. I can't BELIEVE I did that...

2010-06-25T20:39:00.000-04:00

O. M. G. I Can't *BELIEVE* I did that...
Fri Jun 25, 2010, 8:34 PM
Long story short, the bitch down the street yelled at my kid, made both of them cry, so I went down and told her to fuck off.

Long story longer, if you care to read it, is this:
I'm totally honest with other people about their kids, and I expect other people to be totally honest with me about mine. I'm very realistic about what and who my kids are, what they are capable of; and I feel like I know them very well.

So a couple of times in the past, my kids have not been asked to play over at this particular person's house; however, her kids are, and have always been welcome to play at mine. I went down to her house and asked if there was a problem with my kids, why they weren't invited, etc. She never said there was a problem WITH my kids, only some bullshit excuse about whatever she felt like complaining about at the time.

So today, my younger kid (who is 5 1/2) was in her yard and he picked up one of her solar lights. She said "he tore the top off of it." I told her I was sorry and that I would happily buy her a new one. She said that wasn't the point. The point was that he touched her property. Mkay...WTF? From what my mom says, the tops come off those lights anyway so you can put the batteries in there. But apparently this woman doesn't like people to move, much less touch, her cheese.

She also mentioned that my older child had called her an idiot. I said "I KNOW that. He TOLD me." And she's like "and you're ok with that?" "No, I'm not ok with that. But that is not why I'm here. And I've taken care of it already." (The whole while I'm thinking that she most definitely IS an idiot, and a rude one at that.)

Somehow I got on the subject of this pool party she had last week for her kids where some of the kids that play with my kids were invited, but yet again, mine weren't. My kids were really upset, and I couldn't tell them WHY they weren't invited because this woman had never come clean that she had issue with my kids. Hubs and I figured we knew the issue, but it would have been nice if she had been honest with us from the start and told us she didn't like our kids. I don't have a problem with that. AT. ALL. I don't think it's right, but some people just aren't cut out to deal with kids like mine.

Basically, I told her what I just told you and she said that she was trying to be "polite." I said "SCREW POLITE! I want you to be honest with me, so that next time this happens, I can tell my kids exactly why they aren't invited to your house." I went on to tell her that "she was not to yell at my kids, ever. I have never yelled at your kids and I expect that you will not yell at mine." All this time *I* was yelling at her...I was soooo pissed. How dare she treat my children like shit? I've been nothing but nice to her fucking annoying children, and this is the way she repays me? Fuck that. Then she tries to use the "I'm disabled and my husband passed away 2 years ago excuses." I said that I was very sorry she was in that situation but neither gives her the excuse to treat my kids like that.

We agreed, after about 15 minutes of very heated conversation, that she would like my kids to stay out of her yard. FINE! GREAT! I'm down with that...I'm so down with it that I told my kids to stay out of her yard 2 weeks ago. (And of course they went into her yard today to talk to her daughter...so yes, we have some listening issues).

But what gets me is she's sitting there bitching about a light...A FUCKING LIGHT...that a kid touched and it broke. I'm all "yanno, shit happens lady. They're kids." She's all "well I paid a lot of money for my house and I'm proud of it and I picked these lights out carefully." Ok...and? So I said "well what about the $30 I have to lay out because one of the neighborhood kids that I LET IN MY HOUSE TO PLAY EVERY DAY broke the kick pedal to the Rock Band drum set." Shit happens...I don't know what world she lives in that nothing gets broken in her house.

This is totally out of character for me, by the way. But she seriously picked the wrong day to fuck with me. I didn't feel good already, wasn't thrilled with her behavior to begin with, then she fucking yells at my kid. Momma bear went a little nuts. I'm not proud of yelling at her and of the example I set for my kids, but I TOTALLY stand behind every word that came out of my mouth. You just don't treat kids like that...I don't care how irritating they are. You just don't.

So I'm toying with the idea of apologizing for yelling at her...but making it very clear that I am apologizing only for the method by which I delivered my displeasure, not what I said to her. I've already explained to my kids that what Mommy did was not the right way to do it, and that I should have calmed down before I went over there. I also told them to stay the hell out of her yard, or there will be hell to pay - in the form of a spanking and staying inside for 2 days. Man I'm mean, but they know I mean business about this. I don't want to have a repeat of today.

I'll continue to let her kids play over here...if they want to. But I will absolutely not stand for her bullshit again.
/rant

On a side note, my husband and I have seriously considered taking her daughter to Wal Mart to buy the poor kid some clothes that fit her. Almost every thing she wears is way too small, her crack shows or the zipper won't zip. And here her Mom is buying new lights for her shitty looking front yard. Go lady go. (yes, I realize that is very judgmental, but damn...the poor kid can't ride her bike because her ass is hanging out of her jeans...and for my husband to notice this, it must be REALLY bad.)

I kinda forgot I had this blog...(not work friendly!)

2010-06-08T20:13:00.003-04:00

How horrible of me!

To make up for it, here's a little gem I found while searching for something on the net today...it's really for all you guys out there.

From the New Scientist, Masturbation Could Bring Hay Fever Relief for Men.

Ok...what about us women? What does it get us? :P

The Perfect Gift for the Kid Who Has Everything...

2010-06-08T20:06:00.002-04:00

...but nightmares and the need for therapy...

You can get this gem for the low low price of $199.95!

This is what the designer says about this cuddly man-eater:
"It's a sleeping bag! It's a stuffed toy! IT'S A SHARK! In an effort to make sharks (a very misunderstood animal that also happens to be one of my favorites) more cuddly, I designed and produced a prototype for the ChumBuddy. This 7 foot monster plush was 100% hand sewn (sewing machines hate me) from fleece and felt & contains about 30 lbs of poly-fill."

And seriously...the Chumbuddy? That's the best they could come up with?

BWAAHAAA Balls Deep in Love

2010-04-05T13:18:00.002-04:00

I'm watching The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day and it has some fantastic music in it. One of the songs is Balls Deep...and this is the only thing I could find on YouTube. Funnnny shit:

Shit day turned great

2010-04-04T21:17:00.003-04:00

Ever have one of those days that starts out super-shitty and ends up pretty damn wonderful? Today, for me, was that kind of day.

I think hubs has been on his man-period for oh, I dunno, the past year or so. Today I'd just had it with the anger, the moodiness, the "ME: what's up? HIM: nothing" bullshit, so I took the kids to the park just to escape the negativity in the house. They played, I figured out that I'd fucked up and told a lady I could make a particular chain maille bracelet out of the copper rings I currently have, but I really can't because the weave is too tight in all the sizes of copper rings I have.

As we were getting ready to leave, this lady walks up to me and says "Would you all like to stay and join us for our Easter egg hunt?" Let me insert a reminder here that me and the kids are not Christian, thus do not celebrate Easter...so I felt a bit strange saying yes. HOWEVER, the kids were all "Please Mommy? PLEASE???" So we stayed. And stayed. And stayed. I didn't realize that the Easter egg hunt wasn't until after lunch, etc.

But it turned out really nicely. The kids got to play all day long with kids their age, weren't getting yelled at or in trouble because they were out of our boundaries (we have boundaries set for them at the house so we know where they are at all times, but they go out of them...etc, etc), and I got to hang out on a nice day, walk around a lot, help people and talk. I even helped (and participated in) with the egg hunt.

Seriously, these people fed us, invited us into their celebration and made us feel very welcome today. We stayed for almost 5 hours with these folks that we didn't know. How wonderful is that?

AND...I got hit on by a lady...asked for my number. ;)

So despite the bullshit at home, it turned out to be an extremely wonderful day. And the kids behaved really well.

A lesson in fucking your furniture - NOT work safe

2010-04-01T22:52:00.003-04:00

Thank you Back Alley Bikes for the link.

What in the WORLD were these young men thinking?

Gotta love the way they keep pulling up their shorts. Oh-SO-SEXY.

4

2010-01-14T12:39:00.003-05:00

Down 5 pounds.

TJs Chocolate Chips 80 cal
Light Lemonade - whole bottle 10 cal
Godiva Chocolate Balls - 8 25 cal
Godiva Chocolate Balls - 8 25 cal
Turkey Breast Golden Brown or Original 98% Fat Free - Poultry 68 cal
Spinach - Raw 4 cal
Honey Wheat Sandwich Bread 140 cal
Total Calories Consumed 351

3

2010-01-13T13:27:00.002-05:00

down 4.4 lbs

So far today:
Wed, Jan 13 2010 Grade Grams Cals
egg 70
egg 70
egg 70
TJs turkey bacon 30
TJs turkey bacon 30
TJs turkey bacon 30
TJs turkey bacon 30
Brummel & Brown Spread 45
Honey Wheat Sandwich Bread 140
Buffalo Style Chicken Breast - Poultry 84
Kroger Havarti 90
Spinach - Raw 4
PB Crackers - 6 crackers 75
Cottage Cheese, Lowfat, 1% Milkfat 81
Del Monte Pear Halves EL Syrup 60
LC Pizza - cheese 240
TJs Chicken Potstickers 230
TJs Chicken Potstickers 345
Total Calories Consumed 1,724

2

2010-01-12T12:53:00.006-05:00

down 1.2lbs from yesterday

No time for breakfast this morning - kid had to see shrink.

3 sips of strawberry milkshake
6 tiny Peanut Butter crackers

1 light lemonade (10 total calories)
2 slices honey wheat bread
spicy brown mustard
spinach
buffalo chicken lunch meat
1 slice havarti

still hungry after lunch (what a shock!)
1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
2 1/4 canned pear halves in extra light syrup

much hot chai with 2 packs sweetener per

It's 5:05pm and I'm fucking starving. Off to drink more tea. Yay.

Tomorrow is my 14th anniversary, and as such, I will not be watching my food intake at dinner. We will probably eat Japanese. Lots of it.

So I looked up how many calories I should be eating to lose weight and it's around 1800/day. I'm NOWHERE NEAR THAT! Well, I probably am now.

Dinner:
14 chicken pot stickers
olive oil (wow that has a lot of calories!)
black pepper sauce

spinach salad
mushrooms
yellow squash
zucchini
can of tuna
1oz feta
onion
4 TB TJs fat free balsamic dressing

1

2010-01-11T13:28:00.005-05:00

3 eggs
margerine
lots of black pepper
texas pete
diet mountain dew

garden salsa sun chips
2 slices honey wheat bread
mustard
1 slice provolone
blazing buffalo chicken breast
tons of brewed chai tea w/2 artificial sweeteners per

peanut butter bar - STARVING @4pm

14 chicken pot stickers
olive oil
TJs black peanut sauce

sugar free gum b/c I want to fucking EAT EVERYTHING. NOW.

small handful TJs semi sweet choc chips

Key of Awesome - I'll Never Be An Emo Vampire

2010-01-09T09:42:00.000-05:00

Awesome stuff:

Lions Park Cyclocross Race Photos

2010-01-06T13:00:00.001-05:00

I finally got a chance to go through 1000+ photos and have edited these (so far? not sure I'll have time to edit the rest of them):

Good Christ. Really? People do this shit?

2009-12-18T19:34:00.002-05:00

Seriously. Someone stole the fucking sign from AUSCHWITZ. Hello? Death camp for god-only-knows how many people. That is beyond disrespectful...it's obscene and disgusting.

Here's the article.

Can't catch a fucking break

2009-12-10T20:28:00.002-05:00

Clearly I'm a shitty parent or my kids wouldn't act like this. Clearly.

Same fucking shit, different fucking day.

M lost all his play time for the whole weekend. Yep - the WHOLE WEEKEND. And that was after me giving him opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to get his shit together. And therein lies the problem. He's gotten so used to having all these opportunities that he doesn't do what he's told until he knows I'm serious about the consequences.

It's weird though - after losing all his playtime tomorrow, something that's REALLY important to him, he continued with the bad decisions. When I got to Saturday's playtime, he freaked a bit, but STILL didn't do what I asked him to do. When I finally said I'm writing an email to Daddy to tell him you have no playtime for the whole weekend, then it's all "Mommy, I'll clean up" and "NO MOMMY! PLEASE!!" I don't know if it was the threat of losing the whole weekend of playtime or the threat of Daddy knowing that I took the playtime away (as if Daddy wouldn't know by tomorrow morning anyway).

And it's not like I asked him to paint the house for fuck's sake. I asked him to finish his dinner for an hour. And before you tell me to throw it out after a certain amount of time, my kid needs to eat. And he needs to eat protein. If he doesn't eat enough, he wakes up in the middle of the night and does god knows what while the rest of us are snoozing away. I've even been giving him a special "bedtime drink" right before bed of strawberry Kefir to help him stay asleep.

Oh - and I asked him to clean up the legos he had played with.

After I sent the email to Daddy, I was screamed at, my door was kicked and I was told that I'm MEAN. Do you know that there is no reasoning with a pissed off 8 year old? I know it now. I asked him if it was mean of me to give him so many opportunities to do what I had asked, then when he didn't do it, to take something away.

At some point I simply sent the kids upstairs. And I had my little freak out down here. I screamed. Loudly. And I slammed the door. Twice. And I kicked their god damn lego box across the room. Real mature, huh?

I'll be damned if I'm gonna sit up there with them tonight while they fall asleep. M came down, attitude in hand, and said J wanted me to come back upstairs. I said NO. He said why. I said because I have been treated poorly tonight by both of you and I can't take any more of it.

And again, I'm left feeling like a shitty parent. I'm beginning to not know which way is up with this shit.

I can't wait until our appt with Dr. B. next week. I know 1 appointment isn't going to solve the problems, but it will be start.

Fuck me. Maybe I need to go back to my therapist and work on some meditation or something.

I blame myself

2009-12-09T21:13:00.003-05:00

I blame myself for my kid's ADHD.

Maybe if I'd pushed harder, I could have pushed him out. I pushed for 3 hours and just couldn't get him out. He was vacuum extracted and came out with a HUGE bruise on his tiny little head.

Tonight I know with certainty that I'm the reason he will struggle throughout his life. Struggle to do the things that come so easily to so many.

Tomorrow the sun will rise and with it my knowledge that it's not really my fault...that I'm borrowing guilt. But for now, this is what I know.

Tonight was really unpleasant and things got said that should have been phrased differently. Things that should have been teaching moments were angry and accusatory moments. It was one of those "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST DO IT!?!?!?!" nights.

I know the answer to that question and I still can't stop asking it.

Tonight I simply feel like a failure as a parent.

And still, my kid, after all the tears and yelling and defiance...once he calmed himself, still he wanted me to be near him; wanted me to sit next to him; wanted Mommy to sit with him while he fell asleep.

Tears. Me. Right now.

I'm really proud of this.

2009-12-05T19:47:00.003-05:00

I made this. It's a Byzantine chain maille weave necklace with chain rollers from a bicycle chain, made from 4mm jump rings. I created the flower pendant too...from chain rollers and jump rings.

I love this necklace...it's gorgeous.

I was out, part deux

2009-12-03T16:42:00.003-05:00

So after that whole spiel about riding my bike, I had actually kind of decided to go do it. What happened? The school called about my older kid, which resulted in a 1/2 hour conversation with the principal with a whole lotta "I don't know" and "Yeah...I don't know either." And then a whole lotta "We'll talk to the psychologist about it in a couple weeks when we see him" and "Yes, I'll add that to the list to talk to Dr. B about when we see him."

By the time the conversation was over, it was too late to go out for a ride. Maybe tomorrow.

I'm feeling sad for my kid. I know, I know...shake it off and toughen up. This is life and that's the way it is so suck it up.

To that I say: foxtrot oscar.

I'm allowed to feel sad for my kid. He's 8. I can't imagine him going through his whole life like this.

So anyway, I'm off to cry for a bit, then make dinner. Maybe some jewelry later.

I'm Keeping Kosher for Christmas

2009-12-03T16:22:00.002-05:00

For all the interfaith families like mine...

I was out.

2009-12-03T13:55:00.002-05:00

Do you know what that means? Here's a hint. I was out = I spent money in Jodeyspeak.

You're saying to yourself that you know I spent money on only things we need, not on things we want.

YOU would be wrong. I don't NEED the beading shit I got today. I wanted it. Ok, we did need some food for the kidlets to eat, so the $100+ I spent at Trader Joe's is ok...course it wasn't all for them, but whatever. We all have to eat. Even us fat chicks.

Speaking of which: All the way home from TJ's I was thinking I'd take a bike ride before I get the kids from school. For some reason, I just don't think that's gonna happen. I walked inside, got a bagel and cream cheese out of the bags I just purchased at TJ's and started eating lunch while putting groceries away. Now I'm all full of bagels and don't want to do anything but sit on my fat ass and make jewelry.

Granted, I need to make jewelry...but I also need to exercise. It's really quite annoying. I LOVE riding my bike, but for whatever reason, I've started thinking of it as exercise instead of joy. I hate exercise. It sucks. But I love riding my bike. So why is my brain doing this?

Maybe I should just tell my brain to STFU and go ride.

Argh. I hate fighting with myself. Especially over something I'll feel guilty if I don't do.

Ah well...gotta go put the cream cheese away. :D

Oh Dollar Tree, How Do I Love Thee?

2009-12-02T11:02:00.003-05:00

Let me count the ways...

1. Today I got "ornament holders" for...yep! $1 each. Cuz it's the Dollar store, doncha know.

2. Today I got TEN tiny little containers to put my jewelry shit in. Guess how much? ONE LITTLE DOLLAR!!

3. Today I got some fake pine garland shit so I can hang ornaments on it to take pictures. It was....A DOLLAR!

How can you not love Dollar Tree?

BTW...the ornament holders are going to double as jewelry holders after the holy-days.

Dollar Tree: Me love you long time.

Well it's about damn time

2009-11-28T22:16:00.003-05:00

Fer reals peeps. I finally got my big ass out on my bike today. 5 miles. Mile 1 was hard, mile 2 better, miles 3 and 4 even better and mile 5 was back to hard cuz I was getting tired.

BUT...it needed to be done. And hopefully I will get out and ride more often. I can feel the weight creeping up, and god knows I don't need anymore of that. I've got enough, thank you very much.

So yay for me for getting out there and doing it, despite the chilly weather this morning. :D

He's a Ballchinian

2009-11-10T15:54:00.005-05:00

I'm letting my 8 yr old watch Men in Black II...we couldn't get MIB, so we settled for the 2nd one.

I walked in on the scene where Wil Smith says "He's a ball-chinian."

I looked up. And laughed inside...my little guy doesn't quite get the humor and there's no need to alert him to it yet.

As for me, I needed the laugh. And I took it. :)

NC State Farmers Market Fall Craft Fair

2009-11-10T10:37:00.003-05:00

So I got into the Fall Craft Fair. YAY!

I got the email last night saying I'm in. Only one little issue, which may or may not be an issue at all - I'm not under the covered area. My Mom is bringing me one of those collapsible tent thingies, so hopefully that will work out.

I'm concerned that I don't have enough stock. I didn't want to make too much because I wasn't sure I'd be accepted; but now that I know I'm in, I need to make more stuff. Unfortunately, it's been a shitty few days that have left me feeling less than creative. And I'm one of those people who have a really hard time creating when I don't feel creative. I think part of it is my meds - I started taking the AD every other day instead of every day and I think it's catching up to me and my body is realizing that it's not enough. I'm going to go back to daily, I think.

Anyway, I need to make stuff. And get stuff together to take with me.

I find this hilarious.

2009-11-10T10:30:00.003-05:00

Not work friendly (see? I remembered this time!)

I've had a pretty shitty few days. I had to boost these from Shine Out Loud cuz they made me laugh and sorta dance in my seat.

This one is by the same guy...not quite as funny, but it has a good beat.

All of a sudden I feel like riding my bike...

2009-11-08T16:04:00.004-05:00

but I can't. Cuz the kids are tracked out for the next 3 weeks.

I'm sure this sudden desire has to do with 1)not being able to; and 2)the gorgeous 70+ degree day we had today...and seeing all the roadies out enjoying the beauty.

I may drag the kids on a few short bike rides over track out.

Hubs doesn't get home early enough for me to ride while he watches kids in the afternoon now that the sun sets so damn early. Fucking winter.

I don't have lights and don't have money for them anyway, so that's out.

So the positive part is that while I may not be able to ride *exactly* as I *want* to, I can still ride. The kids can probably go a mile or 2 a day. It's something, right?

Finally updated my photo blog...

2009-11-07T20:06:00.002-05:00

Well, at least through yesterday.

Check it out. :D

Damn me for not taking a picture!

2009-11-03T13:15:00.003-05:00

I was out at Jo-ann Fabric earlier, and as I was driving out of the parking lot, I spied a station wagon type car (do they still call cars station wagons?) with a "QUESTION AUTHORITY" sticker on the back glass. Hanging on either side of that sticker, but inside the car, were 2 tea bags. I've no idea if the sticker and the tea bags were related in some way.

Tea bags...like the family size Lipton kind.

Two thoughts went through my mind.
1. What the fuck?
2. Maybe this person likes to do the tea-bagging thing, which you can find out about here at urbandictionary.com.

If you have another idea, I'm all ears.

Get into the act with Spanky Pants

2009-10-30T19:55:00.004-04:00

I must apologize for the quality (or complete lack thereof) of these photos - they were done in a bathroom stall with my cell phone. :P

I need some Spanky Pants.

I could rock the Spanky Pants.

Totally.

Can we talk about toilet paper?

2009-10-29T15:14:00.004-04:00

For fuck's sake, department stores, could you get us girls some toilet paper that doesn't feel like we're shredding our bits on a cheese grater? Or how bout some that doesn't disintegrate the moment one drop of pee hits it?

And while we're on the subject, you cheap bastards, do you think you could get some that you can't fucking SEE THROUGH? In this case, less is more if you buy the good kind. We'll use less and shop at your cheap-ass stores more.

Fuckers.

Quitting

2009-10-28T20:28:00.004-04:00

Have you ever known deep down that you really need to stop something, but equally strong is the instinct not to quit? Because if you quit, you give it up; and if you give it up, it might be gone forever?

I'm kind of feeling that way right now. About a few things in my life. It's like I'm at one of those cartoon signs with arrows that point a hundred different ways. If you go that way, you may end up here; if you go the other way, maybe you'll end up there, but you might end up somewhere completely different.

It's the mystery of life, I suppose, not knowing what's ahead of us and only being able to look behind with some certainty. In the right now, it's the swirling mist of choices and where they may lead.

My heart is heavy right now...with these choices and decisions that need to be made. And that little voice in my head whispering "how did you get here?"

Just because I can...

2009-10-27T19:12:00.001-04:00

...shameless plug for my bike jewelry!

Click HERE to go to my website!

Some men can totally rock the lycra...

2009-10-26T20:52:00.004-04:00

some can't.

It's the whole crotch thing. Really. I have a hell of a time not looking at a man's junk when he's wearing lycra bike stuff. Not because I want to, but because I have to. It's like a train wreck. You don't want to look, but you can't help yourself.

And god forbid his junk looks interesting. Lord help you...or me. LOL

Aside from the junk issue, I have no problem with men wearing lycra...if they have those nice mountain biking leg/ass combos. Girls, you know I speak the truth when I use the term "eye candy."

Shit. Now I feel like a lecherous old man...er...woman.

But I can admit that I look at the junk. If you wear lycra around me, be prepared. I'm jus' sayin'.

Or, protect us all and just wear baggies.

Wal Mart, oh Wal Mart, where hath thou found thy employees?

2009-10-24T13:17:00.002-04:00

Walking around the Holly Springs Wal Mart and came across this piece of Wal-Mart-y goodness:

Sometimes I have to laugh at myself

2009-10-22T12:45:00.002-04:00

Last night I attempted to make a Christmas ornament from bike parts. I worked on it for a couple hours. When I showed it to my husband, he said "that's odd." LOL

Ok...I don't celebrate Christmas...I'm not Christian, thus never celebrated it. Now I'm wondering if I'm behind the curve on making Christmas ornaments. Does being around them every year afford someone the knowledge of how to make them? LOL

I KNOW! Let's call it my Tim Burton-inspired ornament! Yeah....that'll work. :D

Here's a pic:

I might have gone a little far today

2009-10-20T18:25:00.003-04:00

The principal called me today to say that M was suspended for 1 day for the stealing incident from last week. I kinda freaked. Surprising, isn't it? Sadly, it's not. I called the hubs and told him what was going on and as usual, he is much more prepared to deal with things as they come than I am. Gimme an hour or 2 and I'll stop freaking and start thinking, but he lives this shit every day at work, so he can just spew stuff out like it's air.

So I go to pick M up and I ask to talk to the principal. Ok...if you know me, then you know when I get really stressed or really angry, I cry. Crying seems to bother people, and I hate that. Today it was just stress boiling over the top and out through my eyes in the form of tears. The principal (who I really do love - she's been awesome) looks at me and says "Bless your heart." LOL I stopped crying and explained to her that I've been really stressed about school lately because things seem to be so negative with M. I went on to say that I think we need to change the way we deal with M, both at school and at home - to catch him doing good things instead of always highlighting the bad things. He has started to internalize that shit and feels like he can't do anything right.

She told me that 3rd grade can be a challenge for most kids, but then add on M's issues on top and it can be explosive. Yeah...ya think? I told her, kind of bluntly, that the reality of the situation is that while being in 3rd grade may mean one thing for the majority of kids, for MY kid, we may need to slow the roll and get him on a positive note before we try to transition him to being more of a 3rd grader. We talked about social stories, talking to the counselor to find positive things about himself, "community service" for when he does have inappropriate behavior, not getting to go see a favorite teacher as a consequence for inappropriate behavior....lots of stuff.

I kind of unloaded on her.

On another note, I feel badly for his teacher that she has to deal not only with him and his IEP, but other "different" kids and their quirks. I cannot imagine that she has an easy job, and I really hate to push this issue. But I have to be an advocate for my kids - nobody else is going to do it. And when I see my kid coming home with so-so days fairly consistently, that tells me that the system we have in place isn't working. I need for my kid to come home with good days so that he can feel positive about both himself and school. Being the kind of kid that he is, it's important to foster a pleasant feeling about school in general.

I hope I didn't go too far, but I fear I might have.

When reality comes slamming home

2009-10-19T17:06:00.003-04:00

I've spent the past 3.5 days in sort of a fun-induced haze. My friend Daniel, from northern Canada, has been here since Friday and he's been spoiling me with good company, good food and lots of movies and photo taking.

So today it was back to reality as I really haven't spent time with the family (read: the kids) this weekend. I went to pick up the kids from school and the lady calling numbers at carpool stops me and says M got written up 2x today, but our administrators are out sick, so you will get the papers tomorrow.

What did he get written up for? Well, I think one was something from last week that I already knew about. But the other one was for saying "son of a bitch" in the hall. He swears up and down that he didn't say it, that he said "son of a GUN" not the other. So I have an email in to his teacher to see what she says.

So I got all stressed out when the kids got in the car and pretty much grilled M to see what had happened. Then he decided he didn't want to do his homework when I wanted him to do it. But he's doing it now and I guess that's ok. At least he's doing it, right?

What I realized while walking into the house with the kids is that it is REALLY fucking hard to get back into the "work" mindset when you've been in the "fun, no responsibility" mindset for the past almost-4-days.

Parenting the ADHD child

2009-10-15T21:02:00.003-04:00

No, this has nothing to do with biking and everything to do with my extreme frustration with trying to parent a child with ADHD, and some other alphabet bullshit.

1. He's different. He's always going to be different, and damn, life would be so much easier if everyone could just accept that instead of trying to force him into some pigeonhole. HE WON'T FIT.

Different isn't bad. It's JUST DIFFERENT.

2. We have some serious parenting changes to make in the next week or so or the headbutting will continue. And yanno what? It's not fucking worth it. It gets us nowhere except really fucking angry at each other. And I don't want to be that person anymore.

3. I refuse REFUSE to put my child on more medication to make him more convenient for society. He, at 8 years old, takes between 3.5 and 4 pills a day. He needs to be able to develop and grow, with our guidance, and learn that he CAN stop and think and make good decisions without depending on more medication.

4. I need to get back into the mindset I used to have...patience, healthy food within our budget, supplements, reading about ways to help him (and me...we can all benefit from this) and putting all that into practice.

5. For my own mental stability, I need to ride more. I need that outlet.

There. That doesn't sound so hard, now does it?

Right.

le Tour de Femme photos

2009-10-13T17:33:00.001-04:00

Here are the first 40 photos in a slideshow:

Best. Cake. Ever.

2009-10-09T14:24:00.003-04:00

So today is hubs 40th bday. Yep...the big 4-0. Do you know what that means? It means he's known me/been with me for exactly half of his life. He was 19 (almost 20) and I was 16 (almost 17) when we met and started dating.

Anyboob, I'm making him the best. cake. ever. because it's his birthday and I like to treat people special on their birthday.

Why is this the best. cake. ever. you might ask? Well holy shit! Lemme tell ya friend. Better yet, lemme lay the 'cipe on ya.

1 box Swiss Chocolate or Butter Chocolate Cake Mix
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
1 melted Hershey bar
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup oil
3 eggs

Mix and pour into 3 layers. Bake at 350 for 15 - 20 min; or 2 layers for 30 mintues.

THEN...while the cake is in the oven...

Beat until creamed (heh...I said creamed):
1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 c plain sugar
Add 2 8oz containers cool whip (softened, obviously)
Stir with your spatula; add 3 grated Hershey bars (I highly recommend freezing them before you try to grate them).

Ice that bitch and eat.

You can eat it off each other for that special happy birthday or just off a plate is good too. Have some milk available cuz it's chocolatey goodness.

Awesome...the scoop on poop

2009-10-08T13:19:00.001-04:00

Please don't ask me how I came across this site. It's certainly not because I was looking for it. It was accidental...seriously.

In any case, anything you've ever wondered about that glorious substance that we humans make tons of can be found here!

BMX Stunt-y Goodness

2009-10-07T19:41:00.002-04:00

A few weeks back I was driving around Cary supposedly doing errands...yeah...errands. I ran across some guys doing BMX stunts, so I stuck around for the show.

Here are a few of the hundreds of photos I took. I'm still going through them, but I thought I'd share what I have with ya.

7/22/09 Wed Womens Ride - CSH/GMW

2009-10-07T12:42:00.001-04:00

This is a weekly womens ride I shot a few months back. Not sure if it's year round or not. Check out CSH's website for more details.

Slideshow:

Female Riders! Your Chance to Help by Riding

2009-10-07T10:48:00.002-04:00

If you don't know about this ride, it's time for you to check it out...it's called le Tour de Femme.

Here's some info about it from the website.

I'm gonna do my best to be out taking awesome and inspiring photos of these ladies giving their time and money to do this ride.

If you haven't signed up already, do it now!

The Ride
le Tour de Femme is a women's only full and half metric century bicycle ride scheduled for October 10, 2009 in Cary, North Carolina. le Tour de Femme is presented this year by Grab My Wheel to Benefit the LAnce Armstrong Foundation and the local Angel Fund of Rex Hospital.
The Event
The mission of our all women's ride is to raise community awareness and funding for Cancer Research and Cancer Survivorship programs. The ride is open to all female cyclist, at all skill levels, to participate in a ride of 15 miles, 31.2 miles or 62.4 miles in length. The post-ride celebration will allow or participants to celebrate their accomplishments while enjoying refreshments and intermingling with one another and sponsors.
Packet Pickup
Packet Pick up will start at 4:00pm this Friday at Cycling Spoken Here in Cary. Packet pick up will go until 10:30pm that night and reopen the following morning at 7:30am.

The Voca People

2009-10-05T21:26:00.000-04:00

Have you seen/heard these guys? They're impressive. Take a listen:

Fat Tire Festival

2009-10-05T10:09:00.002-04:00

I had a great time at this year's Fat Tire Festival.

I love getting together with my biking friends! Seeing all the kids out there was awesome! And those 3 little guys on the striders...keep it up - y'all will be kickin' our asses on the trails in no time.

Just wanted to say how great a time I had and that I'm glad I got to go again this year. I look forward to next year! :D

4th Annual Fat Tire Festival Photos

2009-10-04T21:37:00.003-04:00

I know it's a miracle, but I've processed all my FTF photos already. :D Go me!

Here is the slideshow from flickr. Flickr was having major issues tonight and the photos are out of order. Grrr flickr.

I have no idea how I found these, but....

2009-10-01T16:49:00.003-04:00

welcome to shit you'll likely never (I truly hope you never) need....

click

Now, let's define irony.

How about the 10 most fascinating galaxies.

And now the Craziest Wall Hooks. I want the giant push pins and the hippo combo.

The most Creative Holders. I'm liking the human holders.

Don't Steal Bikes

2009-09-29T12:26:00.001-04:00

Navigate here to watch 2 vids on bike stealing from the adventurelife.org.

The first one is a guy trying to steal about who gets caught. The second is 2 brothers "stealing" their own bike to see if anyone notices/does anything.

Interesting behavior.

I think I'm in love with Andy Samberg

2009-09-27T20:30:00.003-04:00

I think these are pretty funny...failing that, at least pretty well done. Enjoy.

Lazy Sunday (Chronic-WHAT?-cles of Narnia)

Natalie Portman Raps about "A Day in the Life of Natalie Portman"

Why, God, why?

2009-09-27T19:47:00.002-04:00

Why would you allow this...this...aaaahhhhhhh.....
You think Crocs are bad? Check this shit out!

Stuff White People Like - funny shit

2009-09-27T19:42:00.003-04:00

Because I can laugh at myself...

Don't let the name put you off.

This blog is hysterical...and perilously close to many truths in white culture.

As Yo Gabba Gabba says "try it, you might like it."

Linkage: Stuff White People Like

Obama wants kids in school for longer

2009-09-27T16:45:00.003-04:00

Read this

I'm not fond of this idea. My older kid has enough issues and putting him in school for any longer during the day than he currently is would be detrimental not only to him, but to our family. Perhaps a better idea would be to look at how schools are structured currently and do a different job of targeting kids who show promise in certain areas. While this may sound strange coming from a history major, perhaps it's time we cut back on social studies, etc and spend longer in math, science music/art, and computer skills - which should include programming, etc.

If we put kids in school for so much longer per day or on weekends, when are we supposed to teach the things they need to know from us, their parents? Talk about stress! No way would I want to try to put the three or four hours of things we do every night into one or two. Not only that, but kids are not machines. They need time to relax, learn social skills by playing with other kids or parents and time to simply be kids.

Final Set of Pics from Garner Endurance Race

2009-09-25T18:04:00.001-04:00

More Garner race pics

2009-09-25T13:35:00.002-04:00

This is the next 20:

Garner 4 Hour Endurance Race - 1st 20 pics

2009-09-22T19:58:00.003-04:00

Here are the first 20 pics from the race in Garner this past Sunday. I had a blast!!

Made myself do it...and I'm glad

2009-09-21T10:46:00.003-04:00

I'm not feeling great this morning. Thought I was getting sick yesterday, but had a race to shoot and ended up feeling ok throughout the shoot. Got home, wound down, started feeling not so great, but not horrible.

Woke up this morning coughing and sniffling but decided I was gonna go for a bike ride. The weather is GORGEOUS and I need to get back on the bike. I'm sooo huge...well, huger than normal...and I feel it. That's what makes it worse for me.

So I hopped on the bike, bout hacked up a lung on the first mile. Had to stop and adjust my seat angle (yay multitool!) cuz my womanly parts were screaming, and off I went. Just did 5 miles, but I think that's what I'm gonna keep with until I can do it without feeling winded.

Today was better than a couple weeks ago. I plumped up the back tire to about 35psi, left the front where it was (probably 32psi or so) and everything felt good. I did drink 2 week old water out of the camelbak. :shrugs: It didn't taste bad. :O

Overall it was a good ride and I'm glad I did it regardless of being sick. Sometimes you just gotta do shit. Yanno?

J's trip to the dentist today...not happy

2009-09-09T17:52:00.000-04:00

Took my little guy to the dentist (same dentist I go to) today to have 2 teeth filled and a stainless crown put on. They take him back without incident, then I hear him crying. I know he's crying because of the lidocaine shots, then he stops. About 45 minutes go by and then the hygienist comes out and says that J is hysterical and won't let them do any work on his teeth. HUH?

I am finally told that J had fallen asleep after they numbed him and left him laying in the chair waiting for his teeth to numb. Then they attempted to wake him up and had a hard time doing so. So they assumed his behavior (crying, not cooperative) had to do with him being tired and "over-exerted" from exhaustion and going to school, and having nothing to do with the rather obvious fact that they woke him up from a nap. Think about how you react when you wake up from a too-short nap in a strange place. I always feel confused and grumpy...'course I'm 37 and know I can't act out how I feel at being so rudely woken. At 5? I'd expect exactly what they got. A kid who was crying, out of it, mouth hurting and not understanding what's going on.

So I get in there and he starts crying (of course!) and I try to calm him. The whole time the fucking dentist is sitting over my kid telling him to stop yelling and shining the god damned light in his face. J is squirming in the chair telling the guy "my tooth hurts" and "I wanna go back to sleep." The dentist tells me that there's "no way his tooth hurts because he's numb and isn't feeling anything." Oh yeah? You know that for sure? How bout yesterday when you thought *I* was numb. Guess what fucker? I wasn't. So now you KNOW how numb someone is? Especially a 5 year old child? I'm sorry, but I'd err on the side of caution when you don't know for sure.

So the dentist tries to put one of those long oval cotton pads in J's mouth and J has a fit. Dentist says "J stop yelling. I can't have you yelling in here, I have other patients." Then when J puts his hand up to his mouth, the dentist pushes his hand down away from his mouth. I could see that the hygienist and the dentist were both about to lose it. The dentist says "I'm going to have to refer him to a pediatric dentist because I just can't have a kid acting like *this* in my office. He's obviously exhausted and can't be here right now. We'll have to put in a temporary filling in the tooth and whoever takes care of him after this can put the permanent one in." No shit...cuz none of my family is EVER going back to that fucking place again.

It only gets better. When we walk out to the front to pay for the work they could do, J walks over to the toys. The lady tells him he can't have one! WHAT. THE. FUCK? Are you serious lady? My kid is scared shitless now (thank you very fucking much) and he can't have one of your .02 toys to help him calm down? He asks "Why?" And I answered (yes...wrong answer, but I was so pissed by this point that I couldn't keep my mouth shut) "because you weren't good." I don't think they liked my answer. He starts crying again and I said to him "you didn't do anything wrong. You were scared, had just woken up, and you didn't do anything wrong." A couple minutes later, the hygienist says "He can have a toy if you want him to." I said "Whatever...if HE wants one, he can have one."

Needless to say, none of us will ever go back to that dentist. His bedside manner is non-existent.

OH! And I asked the lady about the charge for yesterday and she looked at my chart and said "Oh, there shouldn't be a charge for yesterday! It was just an occlusial adjustment." So I asked her why I was told there would be a charge yesterday. "Oh...I just made a mistake." WHAT? You looked at the same fucking thing you looked at yesterday and NOW it's a mistake? Funny how then she tells me that even though she's deleted the entry to the insurance for the charge from yesterday, that it still might go through and that "if" they get a check she'll make sure to return it.

Something smells fishy in Denmark people. Very fucking fishy.

My mother wants me to write a letter to the dental board...county, state...and copy the dentist's office.

I'm just beyond pissed about this and my kid has to go to yet another dentist...he doesn't want me to write a note because the dentist is "mean and yucky" and he might hurt me. :(

Fuckers.

Bike Ride! YEAH!!!

2009-09-08T19:11:00.002-04:00

I went on a bike ride!!! Just 5 miles, but damn, it felt good! That first mile was a bitch. But by the 3rd mile I was grinning ear to ear.

And the weather wasn't half bad either. ;)

Took the kidlets on a ride today

2009-09-04T18:34:00.003-04:00

Jesus I need to get back on my bike! It felt really good to ride today, and that was just around the neighborhood! Imagine what it would be like to ride on some dirt...or even a long road ride! I can't wait til next week. Kids are back in school and I'ma ride my bike!!!

So diggin' this music! Check it.

2009-08-28T10:37:00.000-04:00

Race at the Reactor Photos - first 10

2009-08-17T17:00:00.002-04:00

ETA: 20 photos from Sunday's Race at the Reactor:

6GB of love

2009-08-16T19:34:00.003-04:00

That's right folks. I took 6GBs of photos at today's Race at the Reactor at Harris Lake County Park.

For those of you wondering *why* it's called Race at the Reactor, lemme tell ya. Here in central NC, there's a nuclear power plant. Used to be called Shearon Harris Nuclear Facility, now it's just called Harris Nuclear Plant. Here's a link to the wikipedia entry. Harris Lake provides water for cooling. Progress Energy (used to be known as CP&L) provided the land on which Harris Lake County Park is located...so it's all a nice big circle of helpfulness between Wake County and Progress Energy...giving back to the community and all that.

ANYWAY...I had a good time shooting out at the race. Got to hang out and talk to some peeps I don't see all that often and got to get some great shots (at least I hope they're great) of the participants. I always love shooting those shots where the riders can see the finish line. You can see in their faces that they are soooo done, but they put that last bit of effort in to ride over the finish line. I'll try to post some shots tonight...but I have got to pick a sink, toilet and fixtures for the bathroom remodel! Oy.

2009-08-08T22:39:00.001-04:00

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Shit.

2009-07-29T09:47:00.002-04:00

I haven't ridden in over a month...I've barely looked at the bike. I've been so busy doing other things - jewelry, house, kids, etc - that the bike took a back burner position.

I decided this morning I would ride. Trails at Harris are closed due to wet conditions, so around the neighborhood I went. Fuckin' 2 miles before I was toast. TWO FUCKING MILES! I guess I shouldn't expect to be able to ride a normal 10 mile ride if I haven't ridden in over a month...but 2 miles? Jesus. That's just embarrassing.

And the funny part is that it wasn't my legs that made me quit. They were fine and probably could have gone another few miles. It was the pain in my side that made me stop.

Oh well...I'll just have to get back to that level by riding more. I can do it...and even though this ride was pretty much not fun, on some level it was still enjoyable.

Breathe

2009-07-28T17:00:00.002-04:00

Pink Floyd's Breathe...heard it on the radio today and it made me think...

"and all you touch and all you see/is all your life will ever be"

It's so easy to limit ourselves by what we are comfortable with. We generally only touch and see what we want to...and that is all our lives will ever be, if we so allow it.

Well, I want more. I want knowledge, experience...things I wouldn't normally see or touch. I don't want to become comfortably numb (another great PF song) in my own existence...limited by the lines I draw around myself.

Lyrics:
Breathe, breathe in the air
Don't be afraid to care
Leave but don't leave me
Look around and choose your own ground
For long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be

Run, rabbit, run
Dig that hole, forget the sun,
And when at last the work is done
Don't sit down, its time to dig another one
For long you live and high you fly
But only if you ride the tide
And balanced on the biggest wave
You race toward an early grave.

Sports Photography

2009-07-26T16:56:00.002-04:00

Ok...I'm not a sports photographer by any stretch. Today's race, the Huck-a-Buck at Lake Crabtree, was by FAR the most difficult race to shoot of the 3 I've done. The other 2 were up at Carolina North Forest, near Chapel Hill, NC.

Why was this race so difficult for me to shoot? A couple reasons, I think. Firstly, it is VERY shaded there. As in so shaded that what sunlight gets through is dappled and not consistent. I didn't walk the whole race course, but from what I know of Crabtree, there really aren't any places that get good open shade light. It's either full sunlight (which I would have paid for today) or the dappled stuff I mentioned. So I was at a bit of a disadvantage already as I don't have good low light equipment. I can use my 50mm prime lens, which stops down to 1.8, but then I'm limited in my range because it only has one option - 50mm. My 18 - 55mm lens stops down to 3.5/5.6, but I had a hard time with that as well for most of the morning, unless I bumped my ISO up to 400...which is what I ended up doing. I have a long lens, but it has the same max f/stop as the 18 - 55.

So the other thing I could have done was use my flash. And I did on occasion, but the problem with my flash is that it takes a bit for the flash to recharge, and mountain biking is fast paced stuff. You can't sit there and wait for your flash to recharge and not miss stuff. I'm referring to my on-camera flash, btw. I have a small hot shoe flash, but I don't think it recharges very quickly either. I just got it, so I'm not for sure about it.

So I saw all these other people taking photos and was almost embarrassed at my equipment. Then I reminded myself that it is not the equipment that makes the shot, but the person using the equipment and whether they know what they are doing. Not that I always know, but I try, and I've learned a lot in the past few months. One thing I did notice was that most of them had hot shoe flashes, and what looked like diffusers over them. They had the kind that could be swiveled up and down for better light control - mine doesn't swivel. It's just a little guy a bit more powerful than the on-camera.

Something else that I did notice...and maybe it's just me being me...I like to move around when I shoot. Try different angles, get nice panning shots, etc. A couple of the photogs I saw there were literally in one spot for the entire race (3+ hours) - with the exception of going to the starting line at each stage of the race. I don't understand that...I'm not knocking it, I'm just trying to figure out how that could be fun for them. To get the same shot every time. My question then becomes, is that what "real" photography is about? Getting the perfect shot? Or is it about trying different things? Or maybe it's just personal preference.

Anyway, I had a good time despite the fucking heat...it was OPPRESSIVE today. I got lots of good shots and met some new people, got to hang with some people I don't get to see often. It was good.

I'm just sorry I didn't catch Kim before she left so I could give her the bracelet...that I actually brought this time. ;)

Check out the awesome write up at singletracks.com!

2009-07-25T21:32:00.001-04:00

I'm really excited about this.

For those who don't want to click, here's the text:

Bike Part Jewelry from Designs by Jodey
posted July 24, 2009 by mudhunny

I’ve always been proud to show off my wounds and scars from mountain bike crashes, but there is actually a much easier way to show off my love for the sport. Bike part jewelry is a really unique way to take a little bit of your mountain bike with you (literally) anywhere you choose to wear it and it makes for a great gift too.

I was super excited to see the wide variety of handcrafted jewelry designs that Designs by Jodey has created from bike parts. Jodey, a mountain biker herself, makes bracelets, necklaces, earrings, bookmarks, and keychains out of new and used bike parts. It was hard to decide on just one piece but I finally chose a custom sized Double Row Chain Link Bracelet. The chain link is such a classic and obvious representation of a bicycle part - I didn’t want anyone to mistake this as just another ordinary bracelet.

When I read that Jodey used worn bicycle parts for her jewelry, I was a little skeptical. I wondered if I was going to end up with dirt and grease rubbing off on my wrists or clothes. On the contrary, the silver chain link plates in my bracelet are clean and shiny! The cool thing is I can tell they aren’t new due to the characteristic scratches and friction marks. Sometimes I like to imagine the killer trails this chain saw in its former life - if only chain link plates could talk.

The bracelet also uses black bike chain rollers in between the chain link plates. I really like the contrast of the black and silver which makes each part stand out and together, well, it just works. The toggle clasp is a complementary gunmetal color and makes getting the bracelet on and off easy with your single opposing hand.

The fact that this bracelet has a really simple and unique design using recycled bike chains make this one of my favorite everyday pieces to wear. I got complements the first time I wore this bracelet to work and I’m proud to wear it most casual Fridays. It also goes great with the little black dress ;-)

Just like the little black dress, every girl that rides mountain bikes needs bike part jewelry. You can order the jewelry on Jodey’s website, www.designsbyjodey.com. And guys, when you’re buying bike jewelry for your lady friends you can also check out men’s bike part necklaces and bracelets for yourself too!

Like Star Wars or Indiana Jones? Legos, maybe? Check these out!

2009-07-23T11:31:00.002-04:00

This Etsy store, called Bits and Badges has the most adorable items for sale! You simply MUST check them out. :D

Do it. Do it. Do it.

WeeehooooO! Got in the local bead store!

2009-07-21T17:08:00.004-04:00

If you live in southern Wake County and want to see or buy my bike part jewelry then head over to in Fuquay. I should have some jewelry there in the next few days.

:D

Star Wars meets MC Hammer

2009-07-20T21:04:00.002-04:00

This is not the droid you're looking for...

...but this vid is awesome!

Overwhelmed by My Bathroom

2009-07-19T13:56:00.003-04:00

So we had a crack in the bathtub that caused damage to the flooring around it. I called the insurance company and they sent someone out to appraise it. He handed me a check right on the spot to pay for the damage, labor, etc. Now it's my responsibility to figure out how the fuck to get the bathroom redone.

It's a small room, and I want to stay within a certain budget..probably in the $3000 range. One main problem is what to do about the bathroom vanity. It's an odd size - 54" cabinet, so 55" top. It has one bowl in the center. The top portion needs to be replaced because the sink part is damaged. But to get a top that size would be at least $600. We could get a whole new vanity and top for the about the same price, but the vanity would be 48" instead of 54". Not a huge difference, but 6" is 6".

The couple guys I had out here last week to give me estimates on the work (before the insurance guy came) both said we should think about getting ceramic tile on the floor instead of linoleum or vinyl tiles.

I want to do something a little different in the bathroom - put something not vanilla in there. Like a design around the floor with some smaller tiles, or tile the shower with a design in it, but hubs says "just cuz we like something doesn't mean the next people who buy the house will." So what, I'm supposed to not decorate my bathroom the way I want to because some possible buyers of a house we aren't even talking about selling might not like it? I don't agree with that. I don't want the fucking thing to be purple...just not all bland and boring, yanno?

Oh - one other thing. Instead of the tub/shower combo that we currently have, hubs wants just a shower with a bench. I guess that's ok with me, but that is something that may affect resale value and is not easily changed. I mean, don't people still like tubs in their master baths?

Anyone who has done a bathroom makeover, please gimme some advice. Where did you start? What did you base your color scheme off of? I'm overwhelmed with this. Pictures would be good too. Before and after?

When you're on the trail and you need a little fix...

2009-07-17T15:00:00.001-04:00

handlebar fail
Originally uploaded by ~*the_mama_belly*~

your handlebars will come in handy if you have these grips.

:o

I'm studying English and I like the mtb

2009-07-16T22:43:00.004-04:00

I LOVE IT! One of the few things that has made me laugh on mtbr lately. It's just so...innocent, I guess. Forthright and ...I dunno. But I like it.

Here is the original thread. clicky clicky

Say it ain't so...Crocs on their last legs?

2009-07-16T19:05:00.001-04:00

This article thinks so. I hope not. I LOVE LOVE LOVE all SIX pairs of my crocs. That's right...six. They're all I wear except for when I bike. I adore them and would mourn the loss of the company if they go under. :(

The Beer Belly and The Wine Rack

2009-07-16T17:13:00.002-04:00

Well, I've got a belly, but it ain't a beerbelly.

And in the rack dept, I'm set, thanks. But if you aren't, try this: wine rack.

Good stuff.

My Jewelry in a couple stores!

2009-07-15T17:07:00.005-04:00

If you are in the Chapel Hill area, check out my bike part jewelry at

For the next week or so, check out my jewelry at Cycling Spoken Here in Cary, NC:

15 Minute Lunch: CYC - Cover Your Cough

2009-07-14T17:03:00.001-04:00

Johnny's work decides to put up signs on how to cough and sneeze properly...and he makes his own sign. Funny shit.

15 Minute Lunch: CYC.

Local cyclist killed today :(

2009-07-11T17:14:00.000-04:00

From wral.com:

Cyclist killed in collision with vehicle in Apex
Bruce W. Rosar killed in bicycle and vehicle collision

Posted: Today at 12:46 p.m.
Updated: 52 minutes ago

Apex, N.C. — A bicyclist was killed after a collision involving a vehicle on S. Salem Street near the Apex Peakway just after noon on Saturday, Apex police said.

The cyclist was identified as Bruce W. Rosar, 52, of Cary.

Police Capt. Ann Stephens said a preliminary investigation shows the vehicle was traveling south on Salem Street and the bicycle was going north on Salem Street. The cyclist turned left toward the Apex Peakway and crossed into the path of the vehicle.

Stephens said the vehicle involved in the wreck stopped at the scene.

While some witnesses were interviewed at the scene, Stephens said there appears to be several vehicles may have witnessed the accident but did not stop.

Anyone who witnessed the wreck is asked to call the Apex Police Department at 919-362-8661.

Rosar, the owner of Triangle Roadway Bicycling, had been bicycling in the Triangle for more than two decades, according to his Web site. He served as the director of the North Carolina Active Transportation Alliance and was a founding member of the NC Coalition for Bicycle Driving.

In recent weeks, the police department seen an increase in cyclists in the area. Police have also seen more complaints from motorists that cyclists are not following the rules of the road, Stephens said.

Over the past month, Stephens said police have started a campaign to make cyclists aware of the dangers on the road and remind them that they are required by law to follow the same rules of the road as motorists.

This is GOOD...really well made

2009-07-11T16:52:00.000-04:00

Evian - Live Young

Brief Turtle Invasion at JFK

2009-07-09T17:22:00.001-04:00

Turtles Crawl on Runway, Delay Flights

By DAVID B. CARUSO, Associated Press Writer David B. Caruso, Associated Press Writer – Wed Jul 8, 4:12 pm ET

NEW YORK – A runway at New York City's Kennedy Airport was shut down Wednesday morning after 78 turtles emerged from the bay and crawled onto the tarmac.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says grounds crews rounded up the wayward reptiles in about 35 minutes and deposited them back in the water, further from airport property.

The shutdown disrupted flight schedules, though, with delays climbing to nearly 1 1/2 hours.

Pilots reported the first turtle sightings at around 8:30 a.m.

The Port Authority identified the turtles as Diamondback Terrapins. They appeared to be about 8 inches long and weigh 2 to 3 pounds each

United Breaks Guitars

2009-07-07T13:44:00.001-04:00

Kinda funny, catchy tune from a guy who was screwed by United Airlines after they broke his $3500 guitar and wouldn't compensate him for it.

The Pudding Experiment

2009-07-02T14:17:00.004-04:00

Today my son and I made lemon and chocolate pudding - not the instant shit, but the kind you actually have to cook (which is the only kind I'll eat...I have very fond memories of my Grandmother and I cooking My-T-Fine chocolate pudding, pouring it into glass dishes and topping it with heavy whipping cream).

He and I had decided prior that we would make layered cups, where the lemon would be on the bottom and the chocolate would be on top. So our hypothesis was that the pudding would end up layered, after cooking per directions on the respective boxes, and pouring directly into cups after cooking.

So we started the lemon pudding first (and I had no idea that lemon pudding has no milk in it, but does have egg yolk and sugar in it!). Once that was cooking, we mixed up the chocolate pudding (which seemed to be at least double the amount of the lemon, as we got a big box of chocolate and a small box of lemon) and started to cook it. The lemon pudding finished cooking first, so we started pouring it into clear plastic cups (b/c we wanted to be able to see the layers)...big mistake. Duh Jodey - plastic melts at high temps. We immediately saw the problem and I got out glass dishes. We poured the lemon pudding into them (no exact measuring, but they all appeared to be around the same volume of pudding per dish. We left them alone while the chocolate pudding continued to cook.

Moving right along...the chocolate finished cooking and we poured it onto the lemon layer in each cup. What we *expected* to happen was that each cup would have 1 layer of lemon at the bottom and then a layer of chocolate at the top - NO MIXING. In actuality, and what I find pretty damn strange, is that the first cup we started pouring the chocolate into did NOT layer. Instead, it was almost like a pudding cake, where the chocolate pudding disappeared inside the lemon pudding. In my mind, this shouldn't have happened as this was the first cup of lemon to be poured, thus it had the longest amount of time to cool. Each subsequent pouring of chocolate pudding onto lemon pudding resulted in the expected layers...it was just the first one that didn't layer.

Odd...but I'm sure there's some easy explanation for it. Maybe it had a tad more lemon pudding than the others, thus needed longer to cool in order for the surface tension to be strong enough to support a layer of hot pudding on top of it.

Or...sometimes pudding is just pudding.

Whatever, chocolate and lemon are NOT good together, but separately they rock. If only we had some heavy whipping cream...

The Tarwheel Photos - The Last 62

2009-07-02T13:24:00.000-04:00

The Tarwheel Photos - The Third 64

2009-07-01T22:44:00.000-04:00

Nifty biking stickers

2009-07-01T19:35:00.001-04:00

Check 'em out here.

The Tarwheel Photos - The Second 50

2009-06-30T22:23:00.000-04:00

The Tarwheel Photos - The First 50

2009-06-29T20:36:00.001-04:00