My phone rings this afternoon.
"Trulee Ann."
It's my dad. My heart stops. My dad usually only calls when it is bad news or I'm in trouble.
"Dad?" I ask.
My dad takes a deep breath on the other end of the phone. "How do I send a text message?"
At this minute, my mother, wherever she is, knows the score of the BSU/Bowling Green game.
Mission accomplished.
Later: It just occurred to me that my mom is at the General Relief Society Meeting, which I completely forgot about. Oops.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Just a Reminder
There are some things I was not meant to do. Manual labor, for one. Be a stay-at-home mom, for another. And not that I'm a stay-at-home mom because yesterday I left to pick up kids at 2:40 and didn't get home again until 7:20. And that was all Braxton. It's just that I work from home and I have one very lonely little boy at home and I'm about to go nuts. And I have no friends in this VERY COLD neck of the world. And it's 15 minutes to go to town and I think I'm suffering from PMS, but I digress.....
This morning, I suggested to McKay that he sit and color next to me while I worked on some student essays. The problem arose when he couldn't just color whatever was in the coloring book. He wanted a cow. With horns. "Mommy, find me one." I couldn't find one. "Find a horse, Mama." I found a funny-looking cartoonish horse. "No, Mama, a Spirit horse." You know, like the one in the movie Spirit. So I jumped online and found a coloring page and using my very cool wireless printer connection (working from home has some advantages), I printed the page. But the paper didn't come out quite right and the horse's head didn't print. "No! I want a head!"
At this point, I am at my wits end and the next think I do is lock myself in my bedroom. Except I can't lock the door because the door technically doesn't shut all the way and because it's a rental I don't normally care, but today I care because there was nowhere to go to escape the little boy who wanted a Spirit horse with a head!
Now that I am breathing normal again (and have at least one essay under me belt), here's a reminder for me why I stay home and don't go out in the world to find a job.....yet.
By the way, that's a flaming basketball on his cheek. Face paint from the street fair.
This morning, I suggested to McKay that he sit and color next to me while I worked on some student essays. The problem arose when he couldn't just color whatever was in the coloring book. He wanted a cow. With horns. "Mommy, find me one." I couldn't find one. "Find a horse, Mama." I found a funny-looking cartoonish horse. "No, Mama, a Spirit horse." You know, like the one in the movie Spirit. So I jumped online and found a coloring page and using my very cool wireless printer connection (working from home has some advantages), I printed the page. But the paper didn't come out quite right and the horse's head didn't print. "No! I want a head!"
At this point, I am at my wits end and the next think I do is lock myself in my bedroom. Except I can't lock the door because the door technically doesn't shut all the way and because it's a rental I don't normally care, but today I care because there was nowhere to go to escape the little boy who wanted a Spirit horse with a head!
Now that I am breathing normal again (and have at least one essay under me belt), here's a reminder for me why I stay home and don't go out in the world to find a job.....yet.
By the way, that's a flaming basketball on his cheek. Face paint from the street fair.
Monday, September 21, 2009
I Had My Running Shoes
This past weekend I ran the Rim-to-Rim in Twin Falls. The race is 7.5 miles long. It starts at the bottom of the Snake River Canyon, down by the Blue Lakes Golf Course.
This is the pack of runners at the start of the race. The first 1/2 mile is pretty flat and uneventful and then you have to climb out of the canyon. The next 1/2 mile is not fun at all and is very steep. At some point, I realized I could walk the canyon faster than I was running it. Once out of the canyon, the road is pretty level and leads out to the highway. I actually enjoyed running along the highway with cars streaking past me at 65 mph. They provided a breeze. A semi went past and I wished he were longer because the shade he provided was so nice! The race didn't start until 10:00 am and by then it was about 85 degrees. I don't usually run in that kind of heat and it was exhausting.
The race continues across the Perrine Bridge. This is always fun because invariably a semi will sneak up behind me (I have headphones on) and honk and it scares me bad enough I might jump. Actually, I love the bridge because it means I'm halfway. Then I get to see my family who are always waiting in the visitor's center parking lot to cheer me on. Another mile and the race descends into the Snake River Canyon on the south side. This is great because I just let the downhill carry me. And this year, the shade on the south rim was a welcome relief. Did I mention it was hot?
At the bottom of the canyon, the race goes through the Canyon Springs Golf Course and back across the river on the foot bridge shown above. The worst part of the race, though, you don't get to see. The foot bridge is at about mile 7. Once over the foot bridge, the race is uphill for the next quarter mile. And it's steep. And it's hard. And it was SO HOT!! And just when you think, "I'm so done" people who have already finished the race start showing up on the edge of the course saying things like, "You're almost there" and "It's all downhill from here."
This is the pack of runners at the start of the race. The first 1/2 mile is pretty flat and uneventful and then you have to climb out of the canyon. The next 1/2 mile is not fun at all and is very steep. At some point, I realized I could walk the canyon faster than I was running it. Once out of the canyon, the road is pretty level and leads out to the highway. I actually enjoyed running along the highway with cars streaking past me at 65 mph. They provided a breeze. A semi went past and I wished he were longer because the shade he provided was so nice! The race didn't start until 10:00 am and by then it was about 85 degrees. I don't usually run in that kind of heat and it was exhausting.
The race continues across the Perrine Bridge. This is always fun because invariably a semi will sneak up behind me (I have headphones on) and honk and it scares me bad enough I might jump. Actually, I love the bridge because it means I'm halfway. Then I get to see my family who are always waiting in the visitor's center parking lot to cheer me on. Another mile and the race descends into the Snake River Canyon on the south side. This is great because I just let the downhill carry me. And this year, the shade on the south rim was a welcome relief. Did I mention it was hot?At the bottom of the canyon, the race goes through the Canyon Springs Golf Course and back across the river on the foot bridge shown above. The worst part of the race, though, you don't get to see. The foot bridge is at about mile 7. Once over the foot bridge, the race is uphill for the next quarter mile. And it's steep. And it's hard. And it was SO HOT!! And just when you think, "I'm so done" people who have already finished the race start showing up on the edge of the course saying things like, "You're almost there" and "It's all downhill from here."I finished the race. This is the third time I've ran (and finished) the Rim-to-Rim and I think it was my hardest, even though my time was better than it's been in the past. I'm just glad it's over (for another year). More than that, though, I'm glad I did it to begin with.
PS - photos courtesy of Randy. And yes, he took photos of me running. Do you seriously think I'd post those on my blog? Never in a million years.
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