Hi. The wife here.
My husband has an amazing ability for composition and creative communication of our day-to-day happenings. He's very talented, and I am a privileged partaker of his weekly blogs.
I am taking a moment, today, to give brownie points to my hubby.
We've had a really busy couple of weeks. We've both been spread in different directions, pursuing different venues and ventures as the doors have come swinging open. We've kept praying, kept listening to see if God would lead us "here" or "there" in the midst of all that is busy. We continue to long for wisdom and hope to make the right choices for our family each day.
Today, we had news--Jered got a teaching offer! I'm excited--SO excited--but I am hoping to not steal his thunder as he shares his news with others. My point, in hopping onto our family blog, is to give brownie points to the man who gave me flowers today. I have fresh flowers sitting in our family room! Each time I walk into that room, my day is better!
The other day, he made copies for me in town. That gets major points! (As any of you with two or more kids know--this is a major bummer if you're left to your own demise!) And, after arriving home from dinner in town this evening, Jered mowed part of our lawn in the dark. You see, I am really allergic to grass, and I'm really sick right now. Everything in me wanted to take care of the ghetto grass in front of our house, but I already can't breathe. And, he mowed it--in the dark. I didn't ask him...he just did.
So, with many words written, I must give these kudos to my hubby!
He makes my heart smile! And, I am SO proud of his new position--he's amazing and he'll do great!
Larissa
8.15.2008
I'm a Teacher's Wife Now!
8.14.2008
Linguistics, Part Dois
As I was entering the last post, literally as I typed "São Paulo," I heard a lady on her bluetooth at the table next to me here in Starbucks in Redding speaking in Portuguese. I think I'm going to go introduce myself.
[Click here or on headline for the rest]Linguistics
This may be of little interest to many readers of my blog. But the operative part there is that this is my blog, so I can be as esoteric as I'd like.
Many of you that I was a foreign exchange student in Brazil about 14 years ago. In fact, it was 14 years ago next week that I got on a jet plane in San Francisco, flew to Chicago, then to Miami, then to São Paulo, Brazil. I am sharing here some interesting factoids about language and dialects:
1) in English and other Germanic languages, accents (dialects) are distinguished based on the way people pronounce vowels differently. For the most part we pronounce all the consonants the same way
2) in Latin languages, accents are distinguished mostly by the way people pronounce the consonants, as vowels have little if any variance from one part of a country to another. In Portuguese, the "r" is pronounced like our "h" in some places, rolled in others, and and like the Yiddish "ch" in yet other areas. There are several other consonants with distinct differences.
3) In American English, we pronounce the "r" differently from all other consonants. Pardon my unfamiliarity with the technical vernacular of linguistic studies, but all other consonants involve some "touch" inside the mouth. The "r" doesn't. I don't know what this means other than maybe we pronounce the "r" incorrectly? Or maybe it should be a vowel.
8.02.2008
Some stores just shouldn't ... uh ... mix
From the associated press, news that a clothing store has successfully applied for a liquor license to house a bar in the middle of their store.
I was reading this story aloud and Larissa commented, "is he crazy? Does he (the owner) realize how many returns he'll get from people who thought they looked good in their clothes?"
7.30.2008
The first copy of today's Searchlight to hit the trash
This morning I delivered papers for a route that includes 2255 Abernathy in Redding.
That's the "transfer station" in east Redding. Otherwise known as "the dump."
This was significant because of today's front-page headline:
Redding waste workers disciplined
Twenty-eight Redding solid waste workers have been disciplined for plucking hot tubs, television sets, barbecues, broken tools and other items from trash and recycling streams, city officials said Tuesday.
I was just glad these aren't delivered in person. "Hi there, here's your paper with a headline splashed across the front that involves, uh, a scandal with your facilities and workers. Have a good day!"
My guess is that this paper, delivered at 3:35, was in the trash before most people had even arisen to see their own copy.
When I zoomed back by at 3:44 on my way back to Old Oregon Trail, I think I spotted three workers scouring their copy of the paper, presumably to pocket the market value of the newsprint and the ink.
7.29.2008
Keep a what?
We had a quick respite from the smoke yesterday and this morning. However, the smoke is rolling back in. From the west. It actually looks just like fog rolling in. But it's not fog.
Before leaving for work, I thought I caught a whiff of smoke. I mentioned this to my wife and mentioned to her to "keep a nose out" for the smoke.
What did I just say?
Well, you can keep an eye out and keep an ear out, but those are both body parts that most of us have two of. As if to say "keep an eye on this, and another eye on whatever you're doing." And it sounded really weird, too. Besides, if you committed your nose to something, you don't have a free nose to tend to your normal duties.
Next time I'll say "keep a nostril out."
7.20.2008
Freestyle art
17-month old girl + homemade pasta figioli soup + 3 minutes alone while dad had to leave the room ... (notice details like wall, floor, etc.)
7.13.2008
Bye-bye crib (an interactive post)
You supply the tagline denoted below by "_____"
Mattress + box spring + frame + headboard = $25 at a yard sale Friday
New mattress cover = $6.97 at Wal-Mart on Saturday
______________________ = priceless
7.11.2008
Paralyzed by ... pyrophelia?
I'm completely addicted to this complex of fires. It probably doesn't help that my office window is probably the singular best vantage point of the Motion Fire in all of Redding. A large maple tree blocks my view of the Moon Fire, but I am the source for the latest unofficial news on the Motion.
Over and out.
7.09.2008
Not scoring any points with the Redding Chamber of Commerce with this one
For those of you who don't live near here, that which obscures the sun is the smoke -- primarily from a half-dozen or so nearby (<15 miles) fires.
Oddly, the smoke is actually keeping the temperature capped somewhat. Wait a second, air pollution keeps a lid on temperature increases?
Anyway, the official high here today (at the airport) was 113º, but I don't doubt the veracity of this thermometer just a mile or so from our home. It's the 3rd straight day over 110. Yesterday's official LOW was 89º
This was taken at about 6pm. Click on the picture for a much larger version of it.
7.08.2008
But I REALLY don't look like a swimmer
Nevertheless, I'm giving it a go. I'm having the same internal battle as when I began running almost 4 months ago.
The goal: the Tinman on August 31. That's only 54 days away. The most nerve-wracking part: swimming 740 yards. Without stopping. And no snorkel.
But I'm not a swimmer, so I have to start somewhere. Tonight was that night. With just a few people left in the pool at the Y, I crawled in, goggles and snorkel, and figured I'd give it my best. The pool is 25 yards long. I want to swim 740 yards by the end of next month. That's 30 lengths.
After one length, my left goggle was full of water. During the second length, it filled up again. And again during the third and fourth lengths. Then I wised up and realized that the snorkel was attached to the left side of the goggles, and so I tightened it up and got that part resolved. But I could not get past the gasping for air part. Even though I had a perfectly dry supply of air and could focus only on pumping my arms and legs, I was still breathing very irregularly.
I've been snorkeling before, and this was no different. Well, yes it was. There were no tropical fish in the pool at the Y. Ten lengths (250 yards) and ten stops (one after each of 9 lengths and one during the 8th length when I snorted chlorinated water) later, I was done.
So I'll add a length for every other calendar day (for the goal of 30 by the week before the race), and hopefully get in 2-3 swims a week to gradually stretch this out. Anyone have any other pointers?
7.07.2008
7.06.2008
OK, so I don't look like a runner
Last Friday, the 4th of July, 2008, I ran the 2nd race of my career. I ran 5 miles in a Chamber of Commerce day in Mt. Shasta, California. I finished. But that wasn't really my solitary goal. I knew I would finish. Secretly, I was hoping to beat 55 minutes.
No, it wasn't even secretly. But that sentence sounded cooler that way.
Matt and I had changed gears late in the week after the 10k race in Weaverville had been canceled due to the smoke that will probably linger through most of the summer up there. After much finagling of transportation, childcare, and work (for him), I ended up driving up, followed about 20 minutes later by him, Hillary, and their youngest. We would be race-day registrants for the 29th Annual Five Mile Foot Race.
This was an important milestone in our preparation for eventually running a marathon next year. The 5k was in May. The half-marathon is in November.
When I parked, I saw someone with an orange vest and the words "Race Official" on it. I asked "is this the right way?" He answered "for the walk?" I started to correct him and say "no, for the run," but figured they were probably registering at the same place and that it wasn't worth the effort.
After registering, I went to the race-day registration table to pick up my bib. This is where it's important to note that there was a 2-mile run/walk event with the same starting time/line. So after paying and getting to the front of the line to get my bib, I say "I'm here to get my packet." I am not making this up -- she motions with both arms pumping and says "for the run?"
OK, folks, I get it. I didn't use to grab bear claws two at a time, but I get it.
I shared with Matt and Hill after the race the subject line for my next blog entry. You see it above. Verbatim.
It gets better.
I left a blog on Mark Swanson's blog entry about having seen him at the race, and congratulating a fellow completer. You should read the comment I left for full context, but in his reply, he mentions the overall winner of the female race, and the fact that she doesn't "look like a runner."
It's OK. I run. And I'm running more. But I am figuring something out. I am probably exerting close to as much energy over these distances as I can or should.
If you don't like a little math with your blog entry, skip down a couple paragraphs to the pictures. But basically, a kilocalorie (which we refer to as simply a calorie) is the energy it takes to propel one kilogram the distance of one kilometer. I currently weigh 118.84kg (that's 262 pounds). Running a pace of around 11:30 per mile, I expend about 1,000 calories per hour. That's a pretty good pace. If I lose 10 pounds and exert the same energy, it stands to reason that I would drop a little time off of my miles.
I hope I'm right.
So I've set mile goals based on weight loss. My faster runs have been under 10 minutes, but not over an extended distance. And I don't know if this is really how it carries out. So we'll see. It also assumes that I am otherwise in the same shape I am in now, but that will also be improving. So we'll see.
At 250, I should run a 10:58 mile. That would also burn 1,000 calories per hour.
At 240, 10:32 is the expected pace. Et cetera.
And at my eventual goal of 200, I should be running 8:46 miles. But if I expect to run that pace now, I'd be burning over 1,450 calories per hour and probably would keel over. So let's not do that.
But now we have the key to better mile times: losing. Weight.
And after about 57 minutes, I made the final turn from Mt. Shasta City's Lake Street, spotted Matt (who had been done about 17 minutes already), and kicked into as high a gear as I could, sprinting past what felt like a hundred people over the final tenth of a mile or so. It was probably only 6 people, but let's not let the facts get in the way here. Matt yelled some encouraging words for me and as I picked it up I could hear him say "yeah! Kick! Go go!" and I went. Happily, my sister was close to the finish line and grabbed a couple shots.
[UPDATE: I have viewed the official results. I finished in 56:50, which was good for 484th place out of 565, 26th out of 27 in my age bracket, and 11th out of 17 in the Clydesdale category (200+ lbs males), and 287th out of 317 overall males]
I'm back a ways. Black shirt. Blue shorts. Like I said, I passed a hundred people. I counted all the people on the sides. True story: one of the ladies who was on the race path actually cussed when I passed her.
Here I am, actually completely airborne. Pumping away. Just like the lady showed me at the registration table.
And the heroes of the story:
6.25.2008
Lowly Poop
Our son is now having moderate success with reading. As long as the words do not contain phonemes of more than one letter or tricky silent letters (even though those two categories constitute an unfair majority of our language), he is beginning to sound out words long and short.
I came home the other day to the news that he had just sounded out "lollipop" in his Sesame Street coloring book. Hilariously, when the fam picked me up from work today, a coworker was eager to hear his literary prowess. I wrote out the word "lollipop" on a sheet of paper and promised him he could shred it when he read it (he loves the shredder). The result was ... "lowlypoop."
Back to the home reading session, though. I then observed as he worked through glasses. Very methodically he sounded out guh - luh - aa -- ss -- ss- eh -- ss, GLASSES!. The next word was "hamburger." He sounded out the individual letters, but got a little frustrated. No big deal -- nobody was pushing him. But he actually asked for help, so mom stepped in.
"What's Cookie Monster holding, Aden?"
"A cheeseburger."
"Close. That's just meat."
"Oh. Meatburger!"
(a stagehand is holding up a "laugh" sign here)
"That's a good effort. Huh -- aa -- mmm ..."
"HAMBURGER!" shouted Aden.
Here's one of him working on the word for "N"
And here he reaches his max at the "M" page
Not to be outdone, Maia has no idea that while she's being entertained, Mom is also cleaning her hands and face. I think it particularly hilarious her reaction near the end when she realizes she's been filmed the whole time (another editor's cut note: she responds to "oh yeah" with either "yeah" or "yup" so listen to her when I ask her "oh yeah?" near the end of this clip):
And another candid one of her playing outside:
6.15.2008
Happy Father's Day
It's a little blurry because the scanner isn't up and running, so I took a picture of a picture.
To the dad who took me to the little league field on Sundays. "Just to play catch." I know now that he was probably learning as much or more on those days as I was. I've long-since forgiven him for nearly taking my head off with a line drive when I was 10. I wanted to see him hit a home run and instead I got to test my 10-year old reflexes from 46 feet away.
To the dad who took me "on the route" whenever he could spare a seat for his milk deliveries around Trinity County. The milk crate that fell on my head only made me stronger. And now I have a whole family that I can buy ice cream for and try to time their licks with a tap on the brakes.
To the dad who took me on a 100-mile round trip drive in my new car (a 1986 Mercury Cougar) the day before I tested for my license.
To the dad who lives across town and now wrestles on the floor with my children.
The memories are countless and could fill up an entire website of their own, and the love is just as boundless. Thank you, dad. I love you. Happy Father's Day!
One tie, one for mom
6.06.2008
Accept the compliment!
Those were the words of a good friend many times during college. We were freshman-year roommates, and his words have resonated as a self-reprimand at times and an exhortation for others as well. It's one of the hardest things to do as a human being. Think about it, how often does someone compliment you and you simply say "thank you."
I often have a retort as to how the issue which they are complimenting me is "no big deal," etc. How crushing for that person who is truly impressed to be told that with which they are impressed is really "no big deal," as in "any old schmuck should be able to handle this."
Our pastor has a line that I like. He recalls a situation where he complimented someone on their singing, to which they replied "it was all God."
"It wasn't that good," he replied.
Yet tonight, when I was working at a local Starbucks on some schoolwork, a good friend came in. We talked briefly about our families, and what I was working on. "You're going to be an amazing teacher," she said.
Wow. There was an internal dialog that was doing its darnedest to deflect that direct hit. But I was really only left with one reply.
"Thank you."
6.05.2008
Our little page turner
Relayed from the wife:
They all enjoyed a morning at Preschool Page Turners at our local library.
A needed a little prodding to go sit with the other children (3-6 year olds). He finally joined his peers, and apparently warmed a bunch of mothers' hearts when he filled in the silence between stories by saying:
"It's so nice to read a story!"
6.02.2008
HOO-rah! (an update)
The dad
Started Boot Camp this morning, sponsored by Fit One here in Redding. The running parts were actually pretty easy. The rest of it worked me over pretty good. It's three mornings a week (5:30a - 6:30a) through July 11 (the subject of this entry is how we answer during roll call). I ran over 12 miles last week and am less than 2 months from finishing credential coursework.
The mom
Started a business called "Simply Defined." She's an expert, and I mean EXPERT at space-saving solutions and organizing. It's a perfect fit for her skills.
The son
Favorite quote from the weekend was while we were in line at In-n-Out before leaving town for a trip to Sacramento for dad's work. He says "hey dad? Where's mommy at?" to which dad answers "she's at Wal-Mart."
After a brief pause he says "nice."
The daughter
In. To. Everything. Mom's breezing by her room today and finds this:
Her solution to being pulled out: opening the next higher drawer and giving that a go.
5.23.2008
How I got my nike+ to work again
A few posts ago, I lamented the fact that my beautiful new nike+ system seemed to be quite a bit off.
First of all, I stopped worrying so much about whether or not my running tracking was completely accurate and accepted the fact that it was good for me. No matter what. Getting out and running 3-4 times a week is better than not running 3-4 times a week.
But then I stumbled upon this very cool website. It doesn't take a terribly technically savvy computer person to figure it out (he has good directions just in case), but basically I still keep my ipod with me on my runs, and afterward use Google Earth to get the exact length of the run. My ipod is still anywhere from 8%-13% off (telling me I'm running faster and/or farther than I really am). As long as that doesn't get to over 30%, then this handy nike+ adjuster will allow me to modify the actual distance covered. This then modifies the xml file on the ipod, recalibrating all the split times I viewed during the run, and uploading the corrected file to the nike website. Now I can again accurately track my daily and aggregate distances.
And I'm pleased to say I've logged 61.46 miles to date. This week called for about 10 miles over 4 runs. And over the next 6 weeks, here are the approximate weekly totals in preparation for the 10k:
5/25 -- 13 miles
6/1 -- 15 miles
6/8 -- 15 miles
6/15 -- 18-20 miles
6/22 -- 14-16 miles
6/29 -- 6 miles in three days, then race day at week's end
5.22.2008
They do grow up fast
About a year ago ...
A couple weeks ago ...
5.20.2008
Guest blogger -- Laura
While Larissa helped a friend with a project yesterday, the kids got to go to the house of some good friends of ours. They have three children: 5-1/2, almost 3, and almost 6 months.
So impressionable was the visit, that Aden got his own blog entry.
Click here to see the original entry. Otherwise, I've pasted the text below. She was kind enough to mask his name, but I've re-inserted it here.I would have this little buddy over to my house more often...if I could, daily. He just exudes compliments from his lips constantly. I am starting to believe that my house is a castle of extraordinary beauty, even with all the dust, dirt, hand grime, and cobwebs that live here too.
He pays such wonderful, nice, beautiful compliments to anything and everything at my house. Even my outhouse! Well, I had the priviledge to have the little buddy over to my house today.
A conversation from Aden as he goes into the bathroom "outhouse".
Aden (without taking a breath recites):
Wow, what a nice bathroom! Ohps, Did you see that? Toots. I have them.
Oh, look at that BE-U-Tiful butterfly on the picture. Ophs, Did you see? I have the sniffs. Can you get me a kleenex?
Here Aden, here is a tissue. Oh, that is a paper towel? No, it is a tissue.
Oh yes, I use that for when I go Poo Poos to wipe my bott-um.
(Getting up on the stool to wash hands) Oh, WOW. Look at all these mirrors. Look AT ME! I look so nice. That is just so nice.
Lydia (a month shy of 3 herself): I made them.
Aden: Ah, yes you did. That is nice Lydia. Let's all clap for Lydia. (Clapping) Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Lydia!! (Hugs Lydia) Ah, Lydia You so Cute!
Ah, Aden YOU are so cute and you are welcome for a pick-me-up visit anytime to my castle!
Warms a parent's heart.
5.18.2008
The Lema Ranch 5k
Well, that wasn't really the name of it.
But it's tougher to say "Mind, Body and Spirit 5k run/walk benefiting Girls on the Run."
But then again, the Girls on the Run initiative benefited a good cause -- helping 3rd-5th grade girls develop a good physical exercise regimen to help them in all areas of their lives. I can attest to physical exercise being beneficial for other facets of life.
So I guess it's OK to say that really long version.
But my goal was to not walk at all.
The farthest distance I'd gone without walking was 2.0 miles. This was 3.1
The longest I'd gone on the clock without walking was 21 minutes.
So 35 minutes and 28 seconds later, having sprinted the final 50 yards or so, I came across the finish line having met my goal: not walking.
It means that the 4-runs-per-week training that starts tomorrow at 7am is all run. No more walking. None.
Up next: the 10k. Only 48 days away. Below are a couple pre-race shots, one of me on the final stretch, and then after the race with the kiddos.
5.16.2008
5.11.2008
Happy Mother's Day
She says the coffee tastes better in this mug.
Me and the kids made it at All Fired Up on Thursday.