Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Out With The Old, In With The New

I feel like a kid at Christmas with all the great gifts I've received in the last week!
When I was down at the Eugene Half, I arrived to find this on the guest bed from my mom...
She found it at the Eugene Expo. I haven't run in it yet, but I've worn it to the gym and it's like I'm wearing nothing, it's so comfy.

...and then at the bloggy meetup, I was treated with candy from Kim, but it's long gone. The chocolate from Raina has also been eaten, but this little guy...

...sits on my tub, just waiting for me to take ice baths with him.

When I returned from Eugene, this...

...was packed away in my stuff. Mom strikes again!

Of course, Sunday was Mothers Day, but since I would be out swimming in the rain in the lake, the kids gave me my presents on Saturday night. Jack drew an eerily accurate picture of me..

...and requested it be on the mantel with all the other family pictures.

Mai got me flowers....

and although it arrived a day late and made the man a bit perturbed, when it did arrive on Monday, Mama was happy indeed....
a new iPhone! My old Palm Treo was falling apart and I lost my iPod a couple of weeks ago - it was also falling apart. The kids couldn't hold it in any longer on Saturday when the package didn't arrive in the mail and very conspiratorially told me that they were waiting for my "gourmet chocolates" to arrive. I see someone (very rightly so) did not trust them to keep a secret.

My Mothers Day swim went...well, it went swimmingly. Well...more so than in previous years. I did a 6 mile run out at the lake prior to the swim, thinking it would calm me down - take off some nervous energy - and help wear me out a bit so I wouldn't try to swim too fast and freak myself out when I couldn't breathe. We were swimming in a triangle that totaled about 700 meters. The first half of the first triangle side, I felt pretty good and thought I wasn't going to freak out, but then in the 2nd half of that side, I did freak out...but kept my head down and kept on swimming through the freak. I never did have to flip over and sing lullabies to myself. After the first lap, though, I stopped. I shouldn't have because then I really started to feel freaky and I almost talked myself out of a second lap, but Erica got me back out there and the second lap went pretty good. I was swimming great, just freaking out on the inside. When I got out and was changing into my clothes, I got pretty emotional and cried a bit. I'm not sure why the first swim of the year does this to me, but I'm glad it is over for the year. And...I'm glad I've learned to swim through it and I guess next year will be even better!

After the run and swim and Saturday's big workout, I was ready for a nap, but instead we went out to Steve's sister's house and had an awesome meal of freshly caught salmon and strawberry shortcake and LOTS of other stuff... and then the men built a fire in the pit so we could roast marshmallows and make s'mores...in the rain. It was fun, but I'm dreaming about when the rain will stop and summer will arrive!
Why doesn't her mother put a coat on the poor child?
Perfectly burned.
Grandpa helping Carly get that flame out.
Jack didn't care for marshmallows, he was into frying bugs and spiders.
Check out the fence they had to tear down to make roasting sticks!

So we stood around the campfire, watching Jack burn spiders, listening to Uncle Dan tell farting stories, watching Katie try to lick marshmallow off her elbow and laughing A. LOT.

Now, it's time to get "out with the old". I'm having my fund raiser garage sale this Fri/Sat and I'm trying to get more donations of stuff to sell and trying to wash all the mounds of clothes we'll be selling and gathering up cardboard boxes to make signs out of. My mom and aunt will be here on Thursday to help out, but between now and then we are going through this house room by room, trying to find what we can live without. It's nice to "clean house" every once in a while, right?

28 comments:

Teamarcia said...

Fun weekend! I'm freaking out just reading about your swim--eek!
Yes, house cleaning is great...as long as I'm not the one doing it. :D

Jen said...

I would definitely be freaking out swimming in open water. Way to go working through it. You should be proud. Hope you get some much needed rest today! So glad you had a good Mother's Day. And you're gonna love your new iphone!

KovasP said...

Hooray for cleaning house!

Big Daddy Diesel said...

What a great weekend you had!! Xmas in May is always fun!!

I love the word "swimmingly"

Michael said...

Wow, sounds like a perfect weekend!! Love all the great stuff....esp the ones from the kids :) Cleaning house is the best!! I soooooo need to get rid of a ton of stuff. My closet is in serious need of an exorcism!!

Glad you made it through the swim. I don't enjoy the swim portion of the tri, but luckily I'm not freaked out by it either. I have been in the water my whole life and loved it....well until I started "really" swimming!

A Prelude To... said...

I love the swim! It's my favorite leg of the race. For some reason the first time in the wetsuit each year just freaks me out. I feel like I want to rip it off of me. The next swim will be much better and then I'll have no issues for the rest of the season. It's weird.

Unknown said...

Wow, you are so busy! I was wondering about those RMR skirts...glad you liked it. I might need to add one to my collection.

A fire pit with s'mores, in the rain, in May, in Oregon? But of course!

Jill said...

Major score for all the cool gifts!! I so want an iPhone but I am stuck with sucky Spring b/c we get a huge discount at work *sigh*.

I am offically "sick" today *cough cough* and plan to do a lot of house cleaning, too. I cannot stand this pit!

Um, yeah, that marshmallow got cooked pretty darn well! :)

Have a great week, Julie!

Anonymous said...

The resemblance in the drawing is certainly uncanny!

Molly said...

You got some great gifts!

I think I'm denial that I have to start Tri training soon, I've been thinking about the lake and what might be lurking in there, so now I'm getting nervous.

I love cleaning things out of the house, it settles my brain : )

A Prelude To... said...

Something pretty funny happened in the lake on Sunday. I could see a fish out of the corner of my eye. It was fairly close and seemed to be swimming with me, so I tried to get a better look and this time when I turned to see it, it was H.U.G.E!! I blinked a couple times and looked back again after I took another breath and it was my teammate. HA! I had originally been looking at his big ol' size 14 foot and then when I looked again I saw his black wetsuited body and thought I had a shark on my hands ;-)
Oh the funny things that happen during open water swims!!

CautiouslyAudacious said...

What great gifts! I absolutely love the love to tri decoration! Like wearing nothing to the gym? Not sure how comfortable that would be :-) but that looks like a really cumfy outfit so I'll take your word for it!

Julie said...

What a great weekend! Love the pics from the kids! Glad you had a good mothers day!

That story about the "fish" cracked me up! You know it's funny I love, to snorkle and look at the fish, but the idea of seeing them when I do an open water swim bothers me....a lot.... :)

Rose @ Eat, Drink, and Be Meiri said...

I am totally craving s'mores now.

And that suck is adorable.

Kate Geisen said...

Julie! You were thoroughly spoiled. :) Awesome. Ummm...don't drop your new iPhone on the driveway. Don't ask how I know what a bad idea that would be. :(

Way to go on that swim! Sounds like a pretty great Mother's Day all around.

Raina said...

Awesome, awesome gifts! Love that towel you gave me :)

You have officially scared my away from tri!!!!!! lol - I might panic in something rubber too.

So, a friend caught a 21 lb spring chinook the other day, and all I can think is DANG, maybe I need to start fishing. Sounds so good. Nice redneck fun!

XLMIC said...

I would totally be hallucinating feetfish and sharks and stuff like that! You are so amazing for using your Mother's Day to go swim in the lake! Awesome job :)
Yay for a new iPhone! That would be such fun! It looks like such a fun family cookout... my kids would have loved that :)
Do you like doing garage sales? I have a real love/hate thing going on with garage sales. But it sure does feel great to get rid of old crap!

RunToTheFinish said...

DANG you had one heck of a mother's day weekend!! seriously awesome gifts because they were all so thoughtful.. I never really care what hubs spends, it's just when he takes the time.

yummm roasted marshmallows, now I want some

Caroline said...

looks like this was a fun weekend!!!
love the skirt...I want to try one..I need one that fits giants thought.!!!
I want your phone!
should I send my address? ha ha!!!

ajh said...

When I have the time I love to weed out.

Love the new skirt and the sweet pics from your kids.

Natalia said...

Fabulous weekend! I am trying to be more consistent with blogging,but things have been a bit hectic over here, both at work and with the move. I missed a chunk of your training, but it seems like you are on such a roll!

Aimee said...

Sounds like you had a great weekend!! Believe me, you are not alone with freaking out with open water swimming. The first swim of the year is always hard for me too! Just remember, the more you do it the better it will be!!

Samantha said...

Congrats to you! I would totally freak out on a lake swim.

And what awesome momentos from your race. The family time sounds super fun/relaxing.

Abby @ Have Dental Floss, Will Travel said...

My sister just got her first iphone, and she's already OBSESSED with it. Hope you're enjoying :)

I can't wait for summer campfires and roasted marshmallows... mmm...

Shellyrm ~ just a country runner said...

You need a set of hotdog/marshmallow sticks! They's work better than the fence posts.

I can't even imagine you swim. Open water freaks me out! Nice job being brave.

Chris K said...

Great presents. I have a good friend who lives in Eugene who I visited last summer. He owns a bike store in Cottage Grove. He can give you a good deal. Tell him Chris sent you :-)

Anonymous said...

sweet mama. and what great mom-day cards! good luck on the yardsale!

Fruit Fly said...

This sounds like so much fun! I'd have freaked out if I had to swim even half of a lap. I just plain suck - so I think you're awesome!