Shit day turned great

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.

Atlantic Beach with the kids, 5/16/09

After the awesome time we had at the MCAS Cherry Point Air Show on Saturday, 5/16/09, we went to a restaurant and ate dinner (compliments of my mom...thank you Mommy!), then took the kids to Atlantic Beach to play and collect shells. We warned them not to get wet. They did not heed the warning. Both were soaked when we headed back to the car, much to the dismay of the hubs. I had a towel in the back of the truck and wasn't so upset with them...they had a great time, and that's what it was about. Thankfully we had the foresight to make them take their shoes off far from the beach...

Click on the photo if you want to see a description of what/who is in the photo.

Enjoy!

Happy Kid

Hubs took the day off to put up the pool, and we were hoping to take him on his first trail ride at Harris...but it was closed due to wet conditions (as was Crabtree). So we decided to go ride the American Tobacco Trail again. He'd ridden it before, but not on the new bike. Since our older son was home (he's still tracked out from year round school), we took him too. He LOVES to ride.

Hubs and I figured it'd be a fairly short ride since M was coming with us, and we were right. We stopped probably 6 times for one thing or another, but all told, we rode 4 miles. I am SO PROUD of my kid for riding that far! He has never ridden more than a couple miles, so this is his personal best. He even rode almost all the way up the hill back to the parking lot (we parked at the closer trailhead...not usually where I park)! He got frustrated at the end because it was raining and he was tired and couldn't make it all the way up the hill, but I headed that tantrum off by telling him how awesome it was that he had ridden that far and what a proud mommy I was. Then...

...he told us about the frog he put in his pack. He was all excited about the baby frogs that were ALL OVER the place and picked some up during our various stops along the ride. Apparently he found a big frog and slipped it into the outside pocket of his hydration pack...once we found out about it, we made him let the frog go. It was a cool frog, though. :D Boys...

And on a more personal note, I rode up the damn hill...go me!

It was a good ride. Hubs got to wear his new biking shoes and clipped in for the whole ride. He liked it. Kid did a long ride. I got out and rode. All good things.

Mother's Day

It was a nice Mother's Day...I got to sleep in until 10:30 this morning. I've been sleeping A LOT since we got back from vacation. Guess my internal clock is all screwy or something.

Took a shower and the four of us went to TGI Friday's for lunch. I was STUFFED. They gave all moms a free half brownie/ice cream or cupcake. I had the brownie and it was GOOD. I think brownie/ice cream has to be one of my favorite desserts.

Then we went to the bike shop in Apex...The Bicycle Chain...so hubs could try out a Gary Fisher bike (and I scored some black spoke nipples!). We're debating whether to get him a mountain bike. Right now he has my Dad's 20 year old Diamondback...and for what he uses it for, it's fine. But the geometry is all wrong for him. He can ride my GT Avalanche, and likes it, so we went to Performance last week and tried out the 09 model. He likes it a lot - and the price is right...a little over $400. The components aren't top notch, obviously, but it's not like he's gonna be out there catching air, hitting rocks, etc. If he gets to that point, we can upgrade. But I told him that he HAD to try other bikes before he decided on the GT, because you never know if you don't try. So like I said, today he tried out the GF..can't remember what model..and said it didn't feel much different from the GT. Then we went to Cycling Spoken Here and had a great time talking to Lucas. Hubs tried out a Trek 4300 and a GF Wahoo. He liked both. I was surprised that he liked them because they ride way more upright than my GT...when I was trying bikes out, I specifically remember trying out the Trek and thinking it felt like a cruiser. I like the feeling of leaning over my bike and having it under me as opposed to having my arms extended so far and my back straighter. But as with everything, it's totally personal preference. I do remember the GF wasn't as tall feeling as the Trek.

The kids started getting squirrely, so we came home after that. I decided I was going to take a bike ride - a longer one than usual. Just felt like it. So I got out and did the first 3 miles that are always the hardest. After that I just kept pedaling wherever I felt like going...and ended up having the most wonderful ride on a gorgeous day - smelling the honeysuckle and feeling the sun on my face. I logged 13.1 miles in a about 87 minutes - that's an average of 9 mph - way faster than usual. So I'm willing to entertain the idea of leaving the increased pressure in my tires from when hubs rode my bike and didn't release all the pressure the other day.

It's been a pretty nice day.

Crazy Meds

Thank God for my crazy pills...that's what we call them here at the house. I suppose they really should be "anti-crazy" pills, since they keep me sane...or at least my version of sane.

But even though I'm extremely sad these days, it doesn't overwhelm me like it would if I weren't taking the Seroquel and anti-depressant. I haven't felt this even in a couple years. It's kind of a nice feeling, actually.

Now, if the rest of my life would stop being so damn crazy...

Update on my kid

Took J to the Ortho this morning. They took more x-rays. The Dr determined that J will stay in the half cast/sling combo for the next week and will go into a full cast next Monday. It will go from shoulder to hand. He'll be in it for 5 weeks. Sigh. Fucking birthday party. *grrr*

Stuff from today

So today, before my ride, the four of us went out and bought Rock Band 2 for the Wii. We were helping a friend buy and install a new TV yesterday, and he is a gaming fanatic, and happened to have Rock Band 2. We played it for at least an hour while we were there yesterday and the four of us had a BLAST. So in the interest of doing more stuff with the kids and together, hubs and I decided to invest in the game and equipment.



So far, I pretty much suck ass at most songs on both guitar and drums. But it's got great songs from the 80s, lots of stuff from the 90s...and get this - they even included one from Interpol!

Here is hubs playing the drums...I was fucking around with shutter priority on my camera, which is why one of the sticks looks transparent - it was moving and the shutter was open:



If you ever get the chance to play, you should. It's fun and addictive. You seriously won't want to stop. And it's not that expensive either - we got everything for around $150 (course we already had a microphone from another game that will not be mentioned...cough cough...).

And just because I feel like it, I'm including a picture I took of my cyclometer, my new Fox Dirtpaw gloves that my bud Daniel sent to me (first time I've worn them and I loved them!) and my purty blue helmet in the back. I took it after my ride to document that I actually DID go 2.8 miles today after hardly riding for the past 2 months...