Lithia Springs

A few of us in my ward ventured out to Lithia Springs on Tuesday. The water is a nice 72 degrees, but not one of the kids seemed to even notice. They all had a great time trying to catch fish and finding different types of shells. That is, util the rain came and absolutely obliterated us...but up to that point, it was very pleasant.

Project of the Week....

So In my previous post I decided to do one big project per week to make myself feel more productive. So here is my first one: I framed the 6 Be's that one of the YW in the ward embroidered for me last Christmas. They turned out really cute and look way better on the wall than in a bag in my filing cabinet. Go me.

Most things are never finished

One of the qualities I wish I had most was the ability to not procrastinate. I procrastinate all the time. Whether it is writing a talk for church, returning a phone call, doing the dishes and loading the dishwasher right after dinner- I just don't do things right away. It takes me forever. Consequently I then go through moments of total focus and dedication. I make a list, I write down all the things I need to do, I set timelines and then- well, then I walk into the other room to get a new pen and I realize all the things in that room that are bothering me right then and I start to tackle those. Thus, I have forgotten all about the list and the determination I felt to get the list finished. Most frustrating is that I am a blue personality, (see book The Color Code) which means I am supposed to be good at detail work, getting things done and doing them right, being on task and focused. But whether it is having two kids that throw every best laid plan off its axis or a slight case of ADD- I just can't seem to get things accomplished very fast. I have decided (again) that THIS week will be my week to really make some headway in this house. THIS WEEK I will finally paint the bathroom, hang up the revolving tie rack Jacob that got for Christmas last year, wash my bathroom shower curtain and sew a cushion for my front tree swing. (Along with about a million other things that I know darn well will take lots more than a week.) But then I remember that all the never ending chores still have to get done too. My children still need clothes, I still need at least 2 clean spoons in the house, the grass is still going to be a foot high after I mowed the day before. Not to mention that I still have to swim, bike or run most every day of the week to keep some sort of hope alive that I can complete a sprint triathlon. And let's not even go to the realm of church responsibilities that can fit in there. I am already totally exhausted and all I did was type this post! So in the end, I am hoping to accomplish one extra project per week, big or small. I am keeping a master list of all my tasks and slowly I will cross them off one by one. My name is Earl.

Life is Short- Running Makes it Seem Longer

Truer words were never spoken! This morning was my first road run. I have only been training for the 3 mile run portion of my sprint Triathlon on my treadmill in the garage. So this outside run was a huge test of whether or not any of that training did any good and I can say for sure that it definitely did! My friend Michelle and I got up at 6:30am and ran 3 miles in an uphill/downhill route around my neighborhood. I only stopped twice- but that was only on account of a major side cramp. Without cramping up, I could run forever it seems. One thing that definitely helped was that I was running a route that I did not know previously and I did not know how long it was either. Michelle is a runner. She could run forever and that is not a snail's pace- that is a 6.5 mph, no problem. So she lead the way and I followed along. Surprisingly we met a lot of people up running that early- including the very shirtless George Jenkins High School Boys Cross Country team. Those are the kids that I want to stop and tell "You won't ever be in this good of shape again in your life- enjoy every minute of it." So here I sit in a very good position to actually finish the sprint triathlon. I was a little worried at first, but gradually the pieces are fitting together and I gain the confidence I need. In a mere 16 hours I will be in the pool swimming my morning laps. And only 18 hours ago I was on my bike with Luke tagging along for dead weight- a job he readily enjoys. I never thought I was capable of maintaining such a pace. Puny in comparison to the Iron Men triathletes of the world, but miraculous in the world of motherhood, church callings and ice cream sundaes.

My Favorite Standup Comedy Routine Ever

I just posted over to your left some Jerry Seinfeld videos. I used to have this whole routine on CD and I remember listening to it when I drove across the country from Utah to Florida and it made the drive so much more enjoyable. It truly is my favorite standup routine of all time, by pretty much my favorite comic of all time. Enjoy!

My first attempt at adding a video to my blog....It's at the bottom

Okay, here is a short snippet of our Redneck July 4th-


I didn't put a lot of effort into my Holiday pics- I think it shows....

Go ahead and Name that Planet!

One of the topics for discussion between Jacob and I, is about Star Trek and how in the world the writers come up with all the names of the different planets, species, cultures, etc. I mean, between Star Trek the Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager (our personal favorite)- there must be thousands of new names. So we challenged each other to come up with the name of a new planet and the species that lives there. So my clever idea, back me up on this one, is Trylon 5. What a great name for a planet! The species name, also brilliant, is the Drahkoor. Okay, go ahead and laugh at my creation, but is the planet name Praxis and the species name Ocampa any better? (Yes, those last two are real names from the shows). But upon further discussion about names and such, Jacob and I realized that the best names for new planets in outer space would be the names of all the prescription drugs we see advertised on television. Imagine if you will the starship Enterprise landing on planet Valtrex, which of course is ruled by Lord Crestor. His people, the Cymbalta, are decendents of the people from the planet Vioxx- which was annihilated in 2025 by a super weapon known as the Restasis. Yup, pretty sweet, huh? Sounds just as good as anything else they can come up with. But I must go now and see if I can use Cindy’s telescope for a perfect view the planet Lunesta, and its small orbiting moon, Zyrtec.

Swimming is freaking hard!!

So the final portion of my training for the Sprint Triathlon has now fallen into place. For the past two weeks my friend Susie and I have been at the city pool, twice a week at 5:40 AM for some lap swimming. Are we totally insane? Yes, absolutely. P.S. You wanna know who else is there that early? A bunch of men that are about 60, very tan, consisting of .000018457% body fat, wearing the most tiny european speedos you can find in America and when they get out of the pool they get in their mini coopers and go home. Oh, and they can swim like 700 laps without taking a breath. The very definition of intimidating... But I have to just ignore them. Well, most of the time. I do go underwater to spy on them and their perfect swimming form. (I also see that they are using all kinds of swim aids- fins, hand mits, floating things that attach by your hips, kickboards, etc. I did not think swimming was a sport where you needed that much crap, but I digress...)
The first morning of swimming was a very rude awakening. One where you start thinking of all the ways you can call and get your race registration fee of $55 refunded because there is now way in Hades you can swim that far. But after sticking with it, I am already improving. I do the breaststroke. (Freestyle is what I want to do in the race, but the breathing pattern is really tricky for me- so for now, I split my laps between the two.) Day 1 I did about 24 laps- taking LOTS of breaks, etc. But Day 4 I did 40 laps and that was without too much breaking in between. Since I only have to swim about 28 laps for the race, I think by October 11 I will be ready. I even got a sweet neon green race cap- which really does make you feel like an official swimmer, I must say. Now despite my seemingly optimistic mood, I was rather deflated the other night when I caught some of the Olympic Swimming trials on TV wherein I realized that Michael Phelps was born in a labrotory under the direction of a scientist and a man named Igor- who used dolphin DNA to bring him to life. Seriously, he is not human. You cannot convince me otherwise. But I am forced to put all those swimming prima donnas out of my mind and focus on the task at hand for me, which is 600 M and NOT getting eaten by a gator. Not sure how to practice that last part.....

It's Cindy's world, I just live in it

There are many reasons for your child to have friends to play with. 1. It helps them learn social skills 2. They learn to share their toys 3. It gives them something to do and 4. (and most importantly) It makes it so YOU do not have to play make believe with them all day long. I realize as of late (and Cindy can totally back me up on this one) I suck at “playing” dolls, ponies, mermaids, whatever. I suck. Whatever I make my doll say is inevitably always wrong. I know this because Cindy will furrow her brow, say “No” and then proceed to tell me what to make my doll say. I have also learned a few other “rules” about playing dolls along the way. First- there is always someone or something in trouble. There is never any time where the dolls are just hanging out watching TV or surfing the web. No, they are always in imminent danger from an evil queen, witch, purple pie man, “bad fairy” or something like this. Which leads to Cindy’s second rule which is there is always poison involved. Someone is always poisoned and sick and maybe dying. (thank you Barbie Mariposa and the 12 Dancing Princesses). Thus, a rescue is initiated to find the “antidote”- Cindy loves this word. Now, you would think that since I seemingly understand all these rules that conforming to them would be so easy. Here is where you are wrong. There are certain X factors that play in, that make it next to impossible to guess the correct behavior. X factors like where the evil queen is hiding exactly, where the antidote is and how you get it, the pace at which the poisoned doll is dying and how many, and more importantly, which dolls are involved in the rescue. It’s very important that only certain dolls are involved sometimes. Like Gabriella from HSM- Not a good swimmer. She’s never an asset on the underwater rescue. She has no wings or a tail- pretty useless- but very good at staying with he poisoned doll for comfort. That is usually her roll. But she can also drive the imaginary car when they all go to the pool together. Elena the fairy has become a lot less popular choice for heroism lately on account of her wings constantly falling off. It can be a liability in life and death situations. Similar to Sleeping Beauty and the crown that keeps getting caught on everything. Yes, it is a very complex world that these imaginary dolls live in. So pretty much you have to realize that your role as mom is not to play dolls and have ideas, your role is to be warm body that can hold a doll and take direction. Oh, and one more thing- NEVER play dolls with the doll’s arms up in the air. Totally unacceptable. You will be reprimanded.