Indy

Hello, Folks! Just thought I'd let you all know about our fantastic trip to Indianapolis! We left last Thursday night, and made it home late Sunday night, so it was a quick trip, but worth it. Mike and I are both obsessed with Track and Field, so we went to the USATF National Championships. It was awesome, because not only did one of Mike's athletes compete in the Juniors Division, and one of his former athletes compete in the mens division, but we also got to see several American Records, World Records, and Worlds Fastest Times so far this year. It was amazing.

So, Mike's SOPHOMORE Jav thrower competed in the Juniors Division, which is basically 20 years and younger. This SOPHOMORE finished 3rd overall in the competition, only being beaten by two college freshmen. He threw his Jav 215', which is only three feet away from the Sophomore National Record. So that was pretty awesome to see. We were also excited to see Ryan, who now throws for Arizona State University, compete in the shotput. He's dealing with a hamstring injury so he didn't throw his best, but it was still cool to watch.

And then there were all the people there that Mike and I were drooling over. The first day we were there, I realized that I was sitting about 5 feet away from Tom Petranoff, Javelin GOD. The man holds almost all the records with the old jav (they had to change it and make it harder to throw, because he was throwing it too far, well over 300 feet and almost out of stadiums!). So, it was crazy. Then we got to see Kim Kreiner and Dana Pounds, America's two best female jav throwers. Kreiner holds the womens American record at 209' which is amazing. And Dana Pounds threw 195' to win the meet. Pretty ridiculous stuff. And we also saw Reese Hoffa and Christian Cantwell, Adam Nelson, and John Godina in the mens shotput. Reese Hoffa (Pictured below, running his victory lap with a turkey leg) won the event, with three of his throws over 70' (amazing). Any of his six throws would have won the event for him, because he's ridiculously good. We also got to see Suzy Powell, womens' American discus record holder, throw the disc, along with some other pretty stiff competition. Seriously, it was awesome. Dan O'Brien, Carl Lewis, Jackie Joyner Kersey, and lots of other former Olympic athletes were there that we saw too.

Oh, and we got an autograph from Breaux Greer, who currently holds the mens American Jav Record (with the newer javs). Unfortunately, we didn't get to see him throw because that event was Thursday night, but he threw the new record. It's 299' and inches. RIDICULOUS. I cannot tell you just how amazing it was to see all this stuff. We went to Indy for this meet last year, but because of limited time off work and rain/thunderstorms, we hardly got to see anything. But this year we definitely made up for it, and saw some pretty amazing stuff. We're both in awe. And they also sell Turkey Legs there, which is really funny and seemed totally out of place. But they were tasty, so it's ok.

On a final note, I've been inspired by seeing this meet, and from hearing about all the marathons, triathalons, 5k's, and bike riding, to amp up my own training. I've decided to become a female body builder. And I'm off to a good start. Check out the picture below!!

The Gym

Ok, so I am irked. I love summer. ABSOLUTELY love it. I spend a lot of time reading, relaxing, baking, cooking, cleaning, and all the other stuff I love to do. As a part of my daily routine, I like to get up and go to the gym first thing in the morning, since I obviously don't have that luxury during the school year. And after two weeks, it's already getting to me!! Not the gym itself, just the geriatrics who swarm the place. Usually during the year it's the meat heads at the gym I can't stand. You know, the guys who spend more time talking about the creatine and power bars they consume, than actually lifting. You can spot them right away, because they've usually got a huge chest and arms, and then toothpick legs. Gotta love the beach workout. But, what I've discovered, is that the elderly that overtake my gym from 5:00 am to noon are much, much worse.

Today, I just couldn't take it, and had to leave early. I know it's going to be a bad day when the parking lot is full of cadillacs and oldsmobiles, so I should've known better and just kept on driving. But I didn't. I went in. And my nostrils were immediately assaulted by the smell. Granted, I was walking into a gym, so a bit of a smell is expected. But old people smell at the gym is bad, very bad. It's not just BO, it's BO combined with mothballs, bengay and flatulence. It's literally nauseating at points. Determined, I headed for the treadmill area, which, thankfully, was pretty vacant for the most part. I turned the tv on and got to running. About ten minutes later this particularly obnoxious old lady came in. The treadmill area is set up with about 12-15 treadmills in a long row, with four tv's set up on the opposite wall. When this lady came in, there were only two treadmills occupied, at opposite ends. And she decides to get on the treadmill directly to my left. And she decides to turn the tv I'm watching to a different channel. I try yelling at her that I'm watching that, but apparently she's deaf so she didn't hear my protest. I was already very annoyed and she had just walked in the room. Then, she sits down on her treadmill and whips out... you guessed it... a tube of bengay and starts lathering up. My lungs were burning up and my eyes were tearing at this point, but I was determined not to let her ruin my workout.

So, I'm running full speed by this point, while my new neighbor is at full throttle going a blistering 1 mph and huffing and puffing along. But I soon remembered that she was one of these ladies who has to talk to EVERYONE that comes in the door. You have to walk past the entrance to the treadmill area to get to the weight room, so almost everyone comes through here. The entrance is to my right, and the lady is to my left. So everytime someone comes in, she waves her right hand, nearly smacking me in the face, completely oblivious. And she's got an annoying voice. And half the people come over and stand right in front of me and chat with her for a few minutes. But of course, while she's chatting, she takes her feet off the belt, and stands on the side of the machine. Can't talk and walk at the same time you know... And then finally, I hear her comment to her friend about how far she's walked!!! She spent most of the time standing on the rails of the treadmill! Egads!! I'd had enough of being crowded and irritated, so I just finished up my run and headed for the weight room.

Personally, when I go to the gym, I put on my music and get to work. I don't like wasting time, or chit chatting, which is apparently what ALL ELDERLY PEOPLE DO AT THE GYM. Usually the weight room part of the gym isn't too crowded, but for some reason this morning was like a geriatric convention in there. And they all just stand around. It takes them about 20 minutes to do a machine, because they spend so much time just talking. And the other thing that really creeps me out, is that many of them are doing their workout in bathing suits, because many of them go to the pool after they lift. GROSS! Just gross on all accounts! So in the weight room I have a routine, and I know ahead of time what lifts I want to do that day. If a machine is busy, I'll just wait and get to it later. Unfortunately today there were old people either using or leaning up against almost all the machines. What really, REALLY irks me is the way they speak to me. For instance today I wanted to use the squat rack, and there was an old man leaning on it. I asked him if he was using it, or if I could please use it. At this point he got all offended and started on his sarcastic rant of "Oh excuse me sweetheart, my apologies, an old man should never lean on things, please, please forgive sweet cheeks". I wanted to slap him, but surprisingly restrained myself. I hate it when the old men refer to me as "sweetheart" , or "sweetcheeks", or "young thing" or "precious" or "darling" or "honey" or, my least favorite, "puddin'". But it seems that no matter what I'm asking, that's always the type of name they come up with for me. Grrrr. And the old guys, they fart all the time. In the middle of lifting, they're just straining so hard, they just fart. Most of the time they just laugh it off, too. It's just so, so gross.

And today the last straw was the same obnoxious woman from the treadmill, who came down to the weight room about 10 minutes after I did. I went to sit on the leg curl machine, and she runs over and says "Oh sweetheart, you must not have noticed... this is my towel right here, I'm on this machine". That was funny, considering she hadn't been sitting in it, and that on the contrary she was standing over by the water fountain talking to the gaggle of elderly located there. So, I relented and went to find something else to do. I went and did two other exercises, three sets of each. And the leg curl machine was still empty, so I went and sat in it, despite the fact that the lady's towel was still there, and that she had spent the entire time I was doing those lifts talking, and not doing a thing on the leg curl machine. Once again, she ran over, but this time wasn't so polite. "Ok toots, you obviously don't get it, I'm on this machine and if you keep trying to kick me off it, I'll contact the manager and have you thrown out of here!" I could not believe my ears. Had she really just threatened to have me kicked out?? Really? She had. I tried to explain that I could be done really quick while she was talking, and that she wasn't really "on" the machine, because she was actually over by the waterfountain talking. She did not take to this very kindly, and stormed away and I assumed she was probably on her way to find a manager. So I grabbed my keys and left. On my way out the front door I saw her talking to the clerk at the front desk, and then she shot me the most evil look and pointed directly at me as I was walking out. I don't think tomorrow is going to be a great day at the gym.

So I don't want to sound all evil and anti-elderly. I mean, I think it's great for them to stay in shape and be healthy. I just wish they didn't have to do it en masse at the exact time I'd like to be in the gym. Now, I'm sure you're wondering, why don't I just go to the gym later in the day? BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO! I like working out in the morning, and then I have the rest of my day to do whatever it is I need or want to do! I shouldnt' have to rearrange my whole day because of the elderly... so I guess I'll just have to figure out a way to deal with it... but I'm not gonna like it!

DONE!!!

I am DONE on so many levels!! First - I am DONE with school! Hooray! My last day with students was Monday. And then I had an in-service day on Tuesday. And that was that. The year is over, and I'm finally feeling fine and fancy free. Nice alliteration, eh? The house is also DONE! Which is amazing, because I thought it would never end. Actually, I guess it's not really "done", but there's onlya teensy eensy itty little bit left that needs to be done. The contractors need to come fix the weather stripping on our front door and replace the trim on the inside. But that shouldn't take too long. The gutters are up, all the siding is done, the lights and mailbox are on, and the new doors are installed!! And we even just put up the new house numbers, which was very exciting. We've gotten lots of comments from neighbors about how great it looks now, and we finally feel like the outside matches the inside. We've still got some work to do, but we'll be doing it ourselves. We need to paint the front door (either a dark green, or a cranberry red. Haven't decided yet, but Christy your very hot (as in Paris Hilton hot) looking front door has us kind of swayed in that direction). We are also going to re-stain the deck, build a sort of enclosure around our gas tank outside the kitchen, and MOW THE LAWN, which has not been done since they started this project. But first (I'm crying as I type this) we basically have to crawl around the lawn and pick up all the nails and screws that went a-flying when the took off the old siding. So it may be a while before we actually get to the lawn, but hopefully not tooooo long. Oh, also, I'm building a picnic table and benches for the deck! It's actually been pretty fun, since we've been working on that today!!

Alright, well I think that's it for now. I'm not sure what I'm going to blog about now that the residing is done... Hmmm...

ya gotta be kidding me...

So, it's about 1:45 am and I can't sleep. I was asleep for about 3 hours when I thought I heard some noises. It was my hubby walking about, probably back and forth from the bathroom. At any rate, I'm up and can't fall back to sleep. So I thought I'd take this opportunity to stay ahead of the blogging curve.

By the way, anyone got tips on how to de-stinkify a basement that's been hit with some water damage?? It all went down on Saturday afternoon. Technically, the rain came Friday. It was pretty much massive, torrential downpour. There was all sorts of flash flooding... it was major, major rain. I didn't really think anything of it, since we kind of live up on top of a hill. I mean, we've had rain at this house before without any problems. And then, Saturday afternoon, it dawned on us that we still don't have gutters on the house. Being that Mike was not home when it rained, he didn't even think of it when he got home, and as I said before, I thought the elevation would take care of things for us.

Alas, it did not. Apparently, the rain flooded one of the basement window wells and just poured into the basement. In about a half hour we received almost two inches of rain, and I kid you not when I say that much of that ended up in our basement. So Saturday afternoon we made a mad dash, moving furniture and cleaning up. We wet-vacced as much as we could, got fans going 24 hours a day, and moved the dehumidier right next to the damaged spot. Luckily, the water only came in through one window, and the damage is contained to only about 1/4 of the basement room. Unluckily, it has been rainy and damp since Friday night, and despite our best efforts, it is taking a very long time to dry out downstairs, and it's getting stinky. We don't know what to do!!

So here's what we're thinking as of right now, and please, PLEASE make suggestions if you've dealt with this before!!

1) The in-laws suggested we wait a couple days until they get back from vaca... to give it time to dry out, and then use their carpet cleaner to try and clean things up.

2) Mike would like to rip up and remove all of the carpet in the basement and murder the contractors who had scheduled to put our gutters on the house on Friday, but didn't because they "didn't have time", and left the house at about 4:30 pm to start their weekend festivities.

So, yeah. Mike is not very happy. We've been without gutters for almost two weeks now, and he has been worried about something like this the whole time. And now I have to admit that he was right, and well...

So, other than the smellyness of my house, things are actually coming along quite nicely, on the outside. If the rain stops (and it might not for a couple days... booooo!) it should only take another two work days for the contractors to finish everything up (gutters and all)!! And then we can get to work painting the door, re-staining the deck, de-stinkifying the basement and whatnot. I'm building a picnic table, too! Hooray!

Ok, I need to go and try to fall asleep. Wish me luck!

Oh, and did I mention that tomorrow is my last day with students?? And it's a half day??? And that Tuesday is my last work day until the end of August???? Well it is! Maybe that's why I can't sleep... the anticipation is killing me!!!!!! Oh also, kind of funny... I'm going to Hersheypark on Thursday. With a bunch of 9th graders! Oh wait... they'll technically be 10th graders... does that make me less of a nerd??? Yes, I think it does!

Oh and also, Bird, I am TOTALLY jealous that you got to play ball with girls from the team at PSU. Can I tell you that that is like... MY DREAM??? I would have been drooling.

Oh and also, Anna, I am totally embarrassed that you shared my French Revolution video with people I'm not related to. I totally wish they had put the version I played for my 6th period class on youtube, because that version was much better!!

Oh and also, I'm now in training to do the Heptathlon (sp??)! Since jav is out of the question due to the fact that it murders my elbow every time I try to throw hard, I thought I could do the hep just for fun!! Obviously, jav is involved in that, but I won't have to throw it hard since other events are also involved. And I'm also trying to find more 5k's and am training more for that. I think I'm just too competitive, and around here competitive volleyball is too far and few between. So now I can keep myself busy for the summer!

Ok, I'm actually gonna go, now. Zzzzzzzzz. That's me, trying to sleep. Goodnight:)