My Amazing Monkey

Just wanted to mention my amazing husband. I am THE luckiest woman in the whole world to have such a wonderful hubby.
He is sexy, kind, brilliant, funny, witty and treats me like a princess. He is wonderful to my children and they can be "not so wonderful " at times. I get my meals prepared and wine served to me every night as if I were a queen.
He does so much for us. He is such a hard worker and the demands placed upon him are great, yet he greets us all every day with a smile. He is fair and not afraid to tell me if what I am doing is not all together correct. And he will stand up for me and support me at the drop of a hat. When I feel down he brings me up.
My husband is my best friend and lover.
I love you babe, more and more each day. I just want you to know how much I love you and appreciate you. When I look into your bright blue eyes in the morning, I know I am going to have a great day because I have you in my life.
Thank you for being you!!!

Spokane!!!

What a blast!! Great course (15 long miles) Great friends. Saturday was great weather and Sunday, well Sunday wasnt good weather unless you like the typical rainy, cold, windy, muddy Washington weather.
I rode my single speed. My "blue boo". It did great. I was soooo worried that I was going to disappoint my team mates. I was especially worried about disappointing Pete. I thought I would be very slow because the course wasnt so conducive to a single speeder. And yes, a geared bike would have been very beneficial on the straight aways but I kicked ass on the hills with my bike often passing up the gearies. But then they smoked me as soon as we got to the straight aways.
Can't believe how friendly and nice everyone was. From the volunteers at the tents to the racing fans to the other bikers. What a great group of people.
The first night, we pre rode the course and "devils down" became my bain of existence. I was fearful to go down it especially after biting it the weekend before at Green mountain on a very similar downhill course...I walked it..And that night I was so disappointed in myself.
The next day the race started. I was soooo nervous!!!! I want the only one--the outhouses were brimming with the evidence of nervous riders. YUCK!!! My goal wasnt necessarily to go fast but to make it down Devils down. AND I DID!!!! I was so pumped after that, I stepped on it and made much better time than anticipated!! I was quite proud of both my times and my accomplishment and the fact I didnt eat shit.
After a few mechanical problems our team was in last place. 5 out of 5th. With the excellent riders on our team we moved to 4th place and stayed there. However, upon viewing the tally and the times we are fairly positive that we took 3rd. Awaiting the final results on the round and round web site for certain.
I do however want to give a HUGE shout out to two people in particular. My hunny bunny boo boo "Monkey Mike" and Mary Napolitano for their incredible efforts in their solo races. My sexy spouse made 12 laps in 24 hours and Mary made 9 laps. WOW!! You guys are my idols. You rock. The strength and endurance you guys showed was absolutely amazing. It takes serious strength to keep pushing your legs up and down those hills and serious mental toughness to continue the pace for 24 hours. You guys are amazing!!!!!!!!
I love you boo!!! And I am so proud of what you accomplished despite your lack of serious training because of your instant add water and viola-- you have a family!!! You are an inspiration to me whenever I feel like giving up!
I am already looking forward to next years 24 hours of adrenalin!!!

OUCHIE

Decided I hate the geared bike. That in conjunction with the crappy Wildcat trail head complete with motorcycle ruts, large rocks, gravel and horse bunk made a very sucky ride yesterday. Couldnt make it up the sh*%Ty hills and then down the sh*^Ty hills the bike was horribly uncomfortable. We argued, then I bit it HARD. Endo'd in a drop off section complete with those large jutting sharp edged rocks. Opened up my right knee nicely. Had to steri strip it and ice it and coat my pain with alcohol later. Having an xray today to make sure no fractures. Hopefully just a soft tissue injury cause it will heal and can still ride this weekend. Bruised the other knee and left shoulder and wapped my head quite well. Thank god for helmets.
Anyway, may be quite a bit slower on the flats with my single speed but at least my single speed doesn't try to kill me and I know and am comfortable with the way it handles.
On second thought....maybe it was my spouse trying to kill me....I mean he did take me on that trail head with that SHi(&^%y bike with a dysfunctional derailleur, small heavy frame and very twitchy handling....HHHMM..perfect opportunity for an inexperienced rider to face an untimely demise...........

Geared up for Spokane

Went out tonight with my hunny bunny to test the borrowed geared bike I am going to ride at the Spokane 24 hour race next weekend. I have been riding a single speed for 8 months cause I had a hard time learning how to work gears as I was learning to maneuver technical trails, dodge wet roots and take one foot drops without landing t.u. (tits up).
Well, if you have a hundred gears on a bike there must be a reason for it right??? Wrong...After I realized that you don't need every single gear on the bike just because they are there..I did much better....After the first hour I was about ready to fling the noisy clacky derailleur sporting unnatural handlebar bearing f(*k@d up gear shifting chain ring sucking bike at my spouse.
Then I realized that if I just stay in my middle chain ring and use to middle gears, I was good. I even rode at dusk with a light on my helmet and didn't have to use my orthopedic emergency kit. I do still need to tackle a few good hills though before we do the Spokane shuffle.
But just let it be said that I love my single speed. My bootiful blue single speed.

FRIGGIN SCHOLARSHIP MAN!!!!

Totally got a surprise today!!! I was awarded a $11,000 a year for 3 years academic scholarship at PLU. WOW! Was that exciting. Forgot I even applied for it. That makes almost 40,000 dollars in scholarship money I have received for school so far. WOO HOO!!!

Sunny shine

I love this weather. The sun is shining. It is warm and summery. The flowers are out and the smell of fresh cut grass, BBQs, sun tan lotion and fragrant lillies fill the air. I love the sound of the birds singing and the kids laughing! Undoubtedly my favorite time of the year.

Mothers Day was fabulous. A wonderful trip to Poulsbo Valley nursery with family to rob the place of their loot. Josie helped me plant all the flowers and vegies we got. In fact..I now have green peppers and tomatoes growing all over my yard. Not just in the garden mind you..Josie got a little out of hand with the planting. She not only helped me pick out the flowers but find the perfect place to plant many of them.

Then last night, she panicked cause our lettuce was looking a little wilted so she directed Aaron to unwind and untangle the hose so she could water them. She then grabbed the digital camera and took pictures of every flower, rock, dirt mound, yard art and foliage she could. She was eager to share her "beautiful yard" with everyone she knew. Especially her teacher at daycare Mrs. Walton cause Mrs. Walton loves flowers too. And Josie did fairly well with her pictures, only a couple of pictures of her foot and Howies nostril.

Now just working on figuring out how to ride the geared bike Mike borrowed so I can ride the 24 hour race in Spokane. Very anxious bout that. Never ridden at night before and have not even ridden this new bike before. Not sure how comfortable I will be on it before Spokane. And what the hell is a almost 40 year old woman with 4 kids and one year riding experience doing attempting her first mountain bike race?? Am I friggin crazy or what....yup......

SAD JU JU.

So I need some insight....Any takers????
READ ON:

Someone explain to me the allure of pornography. I don't understand. In fact I spent much of last night surfing porno sites to determine what the allure is before I went off!!!!. I wanted to give it a fair shake. I mean, you can't exactly throw a tantrum and go on some kind of diatribe about how it is disgusting and belittling etc. etc. yada yada yada unless you experience it for yourself. While it was very interesting to find the different lengths and girths associated with the male member..I did not find it in the least bit satisfying. Nor did I understand or do I understand why reading literature about mothers doing it with their sons or intercourse between sisters and brothers very.....Literary and worth noting. It was perverse, filthy, disgusting and plain old ucky...Do not get me wrong..Anyone who knows me knows I am not a prude. In fact, I sell adult novelties myself!! I love sex but sex is so much more than what is shown on the internet.
It is about a satisfying relationship between you and your partner. And if one is truly satisfied in your relationship; Why the need to look at other women's who haws and yaw yaws and same with other mens for that matter???
Makes me wonder, do you have to pre horny yourself just to be with me? Am I not attractive because I don't have double DD yaw yaws. I don't understand.
Maybe I am alone here and maybe it is just me, but I felt totally hurt last night. I cried because I felt so belittled. I don't have the greatest self esteem and that surely cut what little I do have to the quick. If porn is to be watched..maybe it should be watched together. Couples sharing..I don't know.. That is why I sell what I sell. To improve relationships. RELATIONSHIPS.
I went through this with my last marriage...I always found porn when I was pregnant, fat and feeling very very ugly.
Oh I will stop...
Needless to say I will get over this. But I am very very hurt. Again, I don't have a great excuse as to why. Someone PLEEEEAAASE explain to me the allure. And if I am wrong..Please tell me and explain to me. I almost feel as if I have been cheated on ....

NOT so funny lesson

Your days may seem stressed and you may be overwhelmed and wish there was something you could change about your life. Perhaps, you don't like your job. You kids are out of control. Troubled relationships?
But I received a call on Monday that broke my heart.....
This call was transferred from the receptionist at the front desk. It was an overwhelmed mother who needed help with her sick baby...Sound simple right?? Wrong....This was a mother about my age with a medically fragile one year old baby. This baby was born with a ventricular septal defect. ( A hole in her heart). She has a PEG tube. (Tube in her stomach) for feeding and was vomiting all her feedings. On top of this..The mom was mentally unstable..She went on to tell me she takes copious amounts of Xanax and valium and marinol(cannabis tabs) an antidepressant and opiates for PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). On top of this, her husband is abusive and on probation for domestic abuse. She loves him....She loves him not.
She also recently broke her calcaneus(heel of foot) which has put her in a cast and unable to bear weight with the potential for surgical fixation.
She was completely hysterical. She was suicidal and had previously made two suicide attempts. She explained to me that she used to be an EMT and knew how to mix her medications to make her sleep..permanently. And she told me she was thinking about ending her life again....I could hear the baby whimpering in the background.
I spent 40 minutes on the phone with her, listening to her and collecting the necessary information to get her help. She abruptly hung up on me...I began to shake thinking about the possibilities.
I called 911, explained the situation. I also was required by law as a health care provider to call CPS in which I did that as well.
It turned out her and the baby were taken to the emergency room. It looks as though the mom was released back home and the baby was taken into a CPS hold.
I know I did the right thing for the baby and ultimately the mom. But I have such mixed emotions about that call. I may have saved two lives in the long run but in the short run, I have just taken a baby from it's mother and a mother from it's baby. And to me that would be the worst thing that could ever happen to me personally.
So, I am receiving a service excellence award at work for this call...But I don't feel very excellent.