December already?

     Well it has been a busy holiday season already, those of you who know what I do for a living will understand. And now that I work at the busiest store in the area it seems to be even more busy.
     Last week was Luke's third birthday. He is growing up so fast, and has gotten me thinking about how much i miss him being a tiny baby! We have been busy here with Halloween and our many trick or treaters, this year we ran out of our 12 bags by eight. Luke was more interested in handing out the candy than actually going door to door. He was the big bad wolf, i was little red riding hood and daddy was the lumber jack. We did the monster mash race that weekend where we got to dress up and Luke ran his second race.
     November was Luke's birthday and if course i made his cake. Nothing would do but cars. He loved it and was so happy to have every one over at the house.
     It's December so we got our tree and Christmas lights up. It's also time to start writing a new bucket list for the new year. More on that later this month, but I'm interested in hearing your suggestions!
     I'm also taking on quite a volunteer job... organizing a race to benefit the mead high school band. My mom and some parents from the band wagon are helping too so it should be fun.
     I decided to do the cda half marathon in May, so i will start training again here pretty soon!

How to refinish a table

One day a long time ago my parents bought this table in the midst of our child hood. My parents raised 5 kids serving breakfast, lunch and dinner at this table. Along with dying eggs on Easter, doing our nails and sometimes home work this table has seen a lot of use over the years. It was handed down to me a few years ago and has treated me and my family well. But it is ugly, scratched, stained and chipped and I wanted a new table. But this one is nice and well made so I decided to re finish it.

 

STEP 1: Move the thing outside

 

 

Sanding inside is not an option so get someone to help you move it outside.

*this is the only step I needed help with.. just wanted to note that

 

STEP 2: Sand it

 

Now when I say sand I hope you realize you will be doing this exclusively for a couple days.. depending on the annoyance of your chairs. Mine were highly annoying so I spent a lot of time sanding. P.S. BUY A FREAKING SANDER! This will save you time and the cost of pain meds when you develop arthritis after this project.

 

I used the highest grit sand paper and had to go over the top about 5 times. Then sand with a finishing paper to get it all smooth. The legs can just be stripped. You can let the kids help with the legs, They can't mess it up.

Finished staining the table., Next the horrible chairs. make sure to get all the paint off so the new paint can adhere properly.

 

STEP 3: Stain it

 

Pick a nice stain and make sure you let it dry completely between coats. That way you can see what it will look like. Obviously do the same amount of coats on the chairs as well. I did three coats to get my color. After it has dried over night put a few coats of polyurethane on it.

Make sure to keep an eye on the kids... found Luke in the side yard eating grapes, I asked him what he was doing and he said he was picking grapes for grape pie.

 

 

STEP 4: Paint it

Obviously do as many coats as needed to cover everything, I needed two or three.

Turn the chairs over and try to paint at every angle so you get everything. Especially between all the spindles. SO ANNOYING!

 

STEP 5: move it back inside!

Make sure you let him know how much money you saved by re finishing this table instead of buying a new one. Oh.. and make sure to emphasize doing it all by yourself !

                                                                  

                                                        

 Add some decoration and some grapes from your child's "grape pie" idea and there you have it!

Leavenworth Half Marathon 2012

FINALLY!!!

The 16 week training is over, and I completed my first half marathon! Thats 13.1 Miles for those who are not racing litterate. We spent the day in Leavenworth, which was pretty awesome since it was Octoberfest and there was plenty of festivities going on.

There was alot of worry about the smoke since there are many forest fires burning nearby, but the smoke didnt bother me for more than a day or so after my race. In the below picture you can see the haze in the back ground.

 

This is me pre race, trying to decide if I should leave my sweatshirt or take it. It was 41 degrees when we lined up at the start, very cold. Clothing is a big deal, you dont want to over heat and you dont want to carry clothing with you for 13 miles. I opted to leave it, which turned out ok because it got up to about 58 degrees when I finished.

There were a ton of flying Irish members at this race, this is one of them. He ran in that outfit at a 7 min per mile pace!

A couple of hours later and I have finished! The medals this year were awesome. Rectangle shaped. It will be a great start to my medal collection. I hope to aquire half as many medals and trophys as my hero.. my grandma!!

Me in Leavenworth the day before the race. Not too busy yet but still a pretty nice day!

Tyson doing what he does best... drinking a beer. He was very happy to accompany me.

One of the bake shops in Leavenworth... yes I ate one!

My new tattoo... yes it hurt. Alot. But I earned my wing. Its a common thing among some of my running friends, after completing a big race or marathon you tattoo a wing on your ankle (Refering to the greek God Hermes or Mercury who flies around with wings on his feet). It is actually pretty small.

 

The race in Leavenworth was the prettiest I have ever had to pleasure of running. At least half of it was trails in the woods along the prettiest river and terrain in the area. I cant wait to go back and run it again. It was nice to get a few miles outside of the tourist area and see what the beautiful geography in that area had to offer. If I could I would seriously consider living there.

If I learned anything on this journey, it was that I am really capable of more than I thought.  I worked hard and trained all summer, gave up time with friends to run, and found out that I really love it. I may not be the fastest but I get it done. I also found out that you are really on your own. There are many running buddies who will always be buddies but usually end up down another path. As I say to my friends who ask for advice on running or losing weight... you have to do this for yourself. You are alone when you get out there. You start alone and you end alone. We may be lucky to find someone to come along for a while, but the fight is with yourself. I think thats really the way life is as well. We are blessed to find someone to be by our side while they are there, but you have to be strong enough to go on alone when they are gone.

 

"The race is long, but in the end it's only with yourself"

-Baz Luhrman 

 

Thanks for the support from everyone, and I am planning on training this winter for another half marathon in the spring. If you didnt know, big races like that cost at least $75 to register... so if anyone wants to sponser me let me know.. hahaha.

Sky High & Pearl Jam

 

 

 

           Ok my loves here is my blog, I have been busy crossing off items from the bucket list, meeting new people, and of course coming up with new things to ad to the list. Early September I jumped out of a plane. Yep, I did it. And if you are a reader you know that I rode in my first plane earlier this spring so now I am proud to proclaim that I have flown twice, but only landed once.

The experiance was amazing, I cant wait to do it again. For the first jump you have to go "tandem" which means you are strapped to an experienced jumper so that took away alot of the fear factor.

 

 

 

Here is a nice view of the very small plane. Three of us were pretty cramped up in the back of it.

This was the only scary part. I was afraid I would jump wrong and get caught up.

It was pretty smokey with the forest fires but it was still an amazing view.

Nice soft landing!

 

Next up this month we got to go to the Peal Jam concert. It was in Missoula MT and it was amazing. They only play live a few times a year and it was an experiance I am sure not to forget any time soon.

 

 

 

 

Did a couple races last month, one of which was the "Wild Moose Chase" up at Mt Spokane. It was pretty smokey but it was fun. I did have a hard time breathing up at the top of the mountain. I havent really trained at high elevation but I think I will try to do that in the spring because it was HARD.

                                                              Here I am getting ready for my jump. Lovely jump suit they make you wear...

I got my flying irish shirt this month. The running club meets Thursdays down town and if you run a certain amout of runs with them you get "inducted" into the club.. you have to get on stage and tell an irish joke. I really enjoy running with three hundred people once a week. You meet some pretty cool people there, and its nice to be around people who have the same rediculous love of running that you do.

 

Me and my sister. She watched me jump out of the plane. Though she could not be convinced to come along.

Also this month, we went to the fair and cat tales. Luke loves animals almost as much as he loves cars. We took lots of animal pictures and Luke got to make his own scrap book. He is very proud of it. Also I got to go to a book reading and signing by one of my favorite roll model.. Kim Jones. She is a great marathoner, the best actually for a while. She was also from this area so it was pretty cool to meet her and talk to her.

This weekend I have my half marathon in Leavenworth pray for the fires to cease so I dont die of smoke inhalation.

 

Story for the week: Its not very interesting.. But I rember when my parents were building the "shop" which is an enormous metal barn thing that my dad neded to fix various motors and tractors and other farm equipment.. although now that I think of it it has been packed with crap since the first year they built it.. haha. Before they built it it was just an over grown field with the biggest grasshoppers you have ever seen. I mean HUGE and different colors. I spent hours out there catching them.

ANYWAYS...as you know I grew up on a farm, and being out there we basically lived on our bikes. Since the road was roughly paved and we lived on a hill we never got a nice smooth surface to ride. When they finally laid the cement and it dried (finally) I think my siblings and I spent more time riding our bikes in circles in the shop than we did doing anything else. It was so cool. I remember being heart broken when my dad started parking the old trucks and bringing in his tools and stuff. Slowly we watched as our nice paved bike riding area dispeared. We were left with a small area that we slowly got tired of and moved back outside but I wont forget having the coolest bike riding place in town.

With the winter coming up, I decided to ad "learning to snowboard" to the list.

"Don't lose the dreams inside your head"

 

 

"Dont lose the dreams inside your head; they'll only be there till  your'e dead."

 

Ok, so I may or may not have been neglecting my blog. But have no fear, some very exciting things are coming up and I will just have to share my pictures and experiences. The summer is at an end so I figured now would be a good time to share some stories of this summer and summers past.

As most of you know I have been working on my "bucket list" hence the blog's existance. On that list is to complete a half marathon and I have been training for it all summer. I am on track, and have been having alot of trouble with my hip, I am not sure what to do about it. I am afraid to go see a doctor because I don't want them to tell me to stop running so my plan is to keep going and finish my race in October and then hope it goes away. I know my grandparents are probably reading this and shaking their heads in shame but I am going to do it anyways because I need to cross this dang thing off my list! While I am on the subject of tormenting my elder family members with worry I should probably just get this out of the way... also on that list is to sky dive and I am going next Saturday. There I said it. I will be waiting for everyone's "you are crazy" comments but I am doing it anyways. I am going with a good friend and my little sister's friends. Tyson, Luke and my sister will be there to watch and take lots of pictures to share with you.

 

Here are some pictures from our summer fun

Tyson, my cousin Mike, my neices and nephews and my sisters all using the pool. Oh and my son swimming alone in the deep end. He has learned to swim this summer (he still needs a life jacket of course) and absolutely loves it. He has learned so much!

My sister and her kids came over for a swim on one of the hot days.

Luke and I sharing a kiss before our morning swim. I tried to swim with him every day when the weather would allow.

 

 

 Here are some pictures from the Dave Matthews concert at the Gorge in George Washington. We went a couple of days ago. Tyson bought be tickets for my birthday and as always the concert was amazing. And such a beautful view.

 

As the summer winds down the mornings are getting cooler. Luke got a new helmet and we enjoy our rides to the park in the mornings now instead of swimming. Last week we met a little boy who is 3 and a half, and I am very happy to report that Lucas was much taller and much more fluent in his communication skills. He can recognize most all letters, count to ten and almost sing his ABCs. He is working on his colors and shapes and is doing great!

Pig out in the park was fun, we didnt eat anything but we did walk around alot and of course we took Lucas to ride the carousel. His favorite is the tiger.

        For my story this time I wanted to share yet another story from growing up in the country. While I was running a while ago I ran past a certain little field and was telling my sister this story. It was close to the end of fall, getting cold, getting ready to snow. And Dusty and his dad decided to do a trial acre of corn ( Not sure if it was an entire acre or what but it seemed big enough to me) anyways they didnt have the machienery to process the corn and it wasnt really a big success so Dusty and I got the job of cutting down all the stalks. I dont remember how old I was at the time, probably 5th or 6th grade but I do remember how much fun and what a responsibility it was. I obviously never really had a job but I rember wanting so bad to get all this corn cut down and hauled out before it started snowing. We would go up there after school with our clippers (you know the ones you use to trim back the roses) and we would get down on the ground and cut down the corn stalks and throw them in the back of the truck. I remember being super cold and getting really dirty and having ear wigs crawling all over the place. Mrs. Walsh paid us for doing it which was really cool because it was my first real "job". I think she gave us like ten bucks but that ten bucks was worth so much to me! I am sure the city kids got jobs and allowances but we were mostly expected to do things like taking out the trash and mowing the lawn. But we also had to do things like feeding the cows and cleaning the barn and such. I hope my child has an opportunity to learn the lessons and have the work ethic instilled in him like only a country kid can.

The job is going great, I fell in love with the people at the CDA store and it is worth the drive to be happy to go to work every day.

I have decided to ad a couple things to the list... parasailing and seeing a movie at a drive in. With that I leave you with this wonderful quote:

News and snipes

             So it has been a couple weeks since my last blog entry and boy have we been busy. So get ready for lots of pictures. As of my last entry I was almost done working at the Idaho store and half way through my half marathon training program. Well, currently I have been permanently placed at the CDA store, which turns out to be a very good thing for my career. And I will also as of today be filling in at the much closer Francis store, since someone was hurt. So all in all I am looking at the bright side and looking forward to kicking butt at whichever store I am placed so I can get promoted again.

This is a photo of my mom, me and my little sister Madison after our run in Davenport. and I am holding up my very tiny but very first racing medal for placing in my age group. Before you go getting all excited you should know there werent too many people running the 10 k that horribly hot day, most ran the 5k. So I didnt have much competition but I did do it and thats that. My mom and sister completed the 5k and afterwords we all went to lunch at "Ednas" which is where my grandma worked after highschool, and we looked around Davenport and saw my great grandpa Ben's old house. I wish I could have brought my grandpa or grandma with me so they could tell me some more about the town and their history but unfortunately that didnt work out. But we had fun anyways. Also we went and visited the most peaceful little cemetery where my great grandpa and grandma are buried and I did a gravestone rubbing, which turned out really cool. I got to bring it home and show my dad since he couldn't come along. We also went out to Egypt and visited my Great grandma and grandpa's grave, and did a rubbing on it as well. And we also saw their parents and basically an entire cemetery for Reinbolds, which is always pretty cool for me. On the way up there we stopped by and checked out a little church in the middle of no where where my grandparents got married. Another awesome experience. Hopefully I can revisit this area with a grandparent who can tell me much more sometime in the future.

If you follow my facebook at all you can see all the photos I take from my long runs, they are just beautiful and I have loved spending time out in the country at my parents house. Every week I do a long run that increases by a mile every week. This week I am doing 9 miles, and I do them all at my parent's house. Last week my little sister sent me a video of a black bear running on the very same road I run on every weekend... good thing black bears leave people alone... I hope!

My training has been going well, although I am nursing a sore hip flexor, doing a couple work outs in the pool instead of the road. Hopefully I can avoid any major injury.

Dont know how Tyosn got this picture but here I am getting sun burned on the beach at Loon lake.

Luke loved the lake, and any other body of water really. Which is why he isnt allowed near anything bigger than a puddle without his water wings or life jacket!

Last weekend we went to the fair in Chewelah and Luke got to go to his first parade. He loved the horses the most.

This is the cute little church in Davenport where my grandparents got married.

And of course, Jake is teaching Luke how to use fireworks. And of course Luke loved it.

A very special picture for me, my Grandmother and myself and my son. This was Luke's first race, and yes he registered, got a shirt and a number and actually ran quite a bit of it at the end. He put on his running shoes and ran just like mamma. And we got to run the last mile or so with my grandma which was aweome since she is my inspiration. My mom, friend Kristina, Tyson and two sisters, Kylie and Madison also did the race with us.

Another picture from the lake, Luke loved the rocks.

Luke modeling his water wings, we try to swim every other day or so.

Luke very carefully tasting the smore he helped make in the fire pit outside after we swam.

            .