A Lenten Update

I had big plans this Lent to focus a bit on my blog, but it's been a long time since I've done an update. Sigh, that's how it is sometimes right? I mean, I'm at home all day long, it seems like it should be easy to pop over to my blog and blast out an update. Oh well, it is what it is. 😊

So, how is your Lent going? Fruitful I hope. This Lent has been fruitful and humbling for me. I planned to go to Daily Mass and thought all along that it's been my laziness keeping me from it. The first week the baby got sick. The second week The big boys got sick. The next week I was so tired from being up so much with the baby. I made it a couple days each week and I'm considering that good. That's the humbling part. Even when we are at our best, trying our hardest, sometimes it's not about us. Sometimes we need to remember to live our vocations and that might mean that focusing at Mass is harder because you're trying to keep one child from "punching" out at everything annoying him (the piano, the lights, noisy kids, the priest not being the one he wants). Sometimes living my vocation at this season in my life looks a lot like laziness, it FEELS that way to me, but at the same time I'm feeding a baby at night, or keeping everyone else from catching whatever he has.

The puncher contemplating life--or at least trying to figure out if I'll let him jump down

This Lent has also been fruitful because some of the things I've managed to keep up with nearly 100%. I've done spiritual reading every night but 2 since the beginning of Lent. I'm proud of that because it's often where I struggle the most. There have been many parts that I've read that have really spoken to me and I'm thankful that I've managed to keep up with it. I've also managed to not play my Switch (except for Sundays-don't judge me! 😝) and that has helped me to stay a bit more focused on living in the moment during the day. I've actually managed NOT to just fill that time with other meaningless things and have been more present with the boys, including bike rides, park play time and outside playing. 

 Happy Birthday to me! I got a new bike that is electric assist and it makes pulling this train much easier!

Yes Benedict is wearing a large pull up over his clothes...is that weird?

I think this is actually Jason's picture but that's because I can't manage to touch my phone when we're outside usually because this child is FAST and also fearless! 

So, how has your Lent been? Fruitful I hope!

Small Success (Vol 5)

Whoa, it has been a loooong time since I posted last. I'm not even going to go back and look at when my last post was done. It will be depressing. So, I thought what better way to start back to blogging (regularly I hope) than a Small Success post with the ladies over at CatholicMom.com.

1) Despite the fact that most of the days this week have had 30+mph wind, the boys and I managed to get out and walk or play around the yard all but one day. This is a pretty big success to me as when it is that windy, I kind of just want to stay inside and cuddle up in a blanket.

2) We did this ride on Saturday:

 

This was on our new tandem bike:

It was very windy and it was a very rough ride!

3) I managed to shampoo the living room with our Kirby this week. It isn't meant for deep cleaning but it does look better. Jason even got a chance to see the house clean for once. It seems like even on days that I clean the house, it's a mess again by the time he gets home.

How about you?

All the Things

Another weekend went by too quickly around here, as I'm sure is the same for everyone else. This weekend we had a big bike race in our area that brought in somewhere between 800 and 1500 people (big discrepancy? Yes, that's because we didn't have a good source;-)). Jason volunteered to be a security guard at the campsite and watch bikes for a few hours in the middle of the night. Saturday I was scheduled to work in Garden City, and of course right as I was getting in the shower Christopher woke up. Jason pulled him onto the bed with him, but as is usually the case at that time he really wanted some milk and his momma. So he got down and started running around, we think he tripped on something and his tooth might have gone through his lip. :(

It looked worse this morning so I took him to the doctor. We'll be doing some antibiotics to keep away any possible infections. Poor kiddo!

Yesterday we decided to go to Las Animas to visit Jason's parents and we rode our bikes from their house into town to play at the park.

I think we did about 12 miles, so it was a nice ride. Except for the fact that on the way back to their house the wind was blowing so hard against us! I seriously hate the wind. :-|

So we have these awesome English ivy vines on our house that help to keep our house cool, it's pretty nice.

But, it seems to be growing, even up our screens and kind of looks like some horror movie.

 I was trying to cut it down and managed to slice the screen. :( So, then I just cut it from the bottom, which apparently is what I was supposed to do to begin with. Sigh..guess we'll need to replace that screen.

So, I guess that covers most of the weekend. Sorry for my rambling, hopefully the pictures make up for it.

Getting Back on the Blogging Train

I was doing so well with doing blogging every day, and then I don't know what happened. Life? So, anyway, here I am writing what I'm sure will be a long post to update everyone on what has been happening.

We've been riding bikes like crazy. I started pulling both trailers during the day for my cardio workout and then we usually do a second ride in the evening and Jason pulls both trailers (though I'll probably start pulling Christopher again).

Speaking of bike riding, we have TWICE rode 22 miles recently. We rode to and from Wiley, CO which is 11 miles one way; then we stopped at the park and let the boys play for a while and I catch my breath and stretch my legs and then head back. The second trip I even pulled Christopher back.

Jason went with me to Garden City this weekend when I worked and he took the boys to a splash park which the boys thoroughly enjoyed!

Now a weight loss update. I am down to 263lbs which is a 14lb loss so far. I am also down another 4.25" this month and that is awesome. My workout pants hardly fit anymore and I need to get some more. I'm feeling like I'm starting to make some real progress and I can see it a little bit more everyday. This weekend I wore a dress that I haven't worn for over a year because it hasn't fit. I bought it just a few months before then and it already didn't fit. It was actually something that was really depressing me. But, I'd been trying it on, and just a few months ago it still didn't fit. But I wore it to Mass on Saturday, and I felt great in it!

This week is booked solid; tomorrow afternoon we are leaving for Wichita, KS because I have a continued education that I am going to and the boys are going to play. We'll be back late Wednesday and then Thursday morning the boys have a well child check up where we're going to be discussing some vaccinations (we delay vax); and then on Friday the boys and I have to go to Pueblo because there is a warranty issue with the car. I don't remember the last time that we had so much to do in one week. We'll see if I manage to get any other blog posts done. ;-)

Five Favorites (Vol 1)

 

 This is my first time linking up with Hallie, I hope I'm doing it right!!

1. Am I the only person who cuts their hair to have bangs only to decide moments later that it was a mistake, not only do you hate yourself with bangs but they are always in your way?! Surely I can't be the only one. Anyway, what is one of my favorite things this week is french braiding my bangs into a headband sort of thing. I tried taking a picture but it was not pretty. So I'll just tell you to watch this video and you can see how I learned. Also, enjoy her finger snapping.

2. This hot wing sauce. I found it at our local Safeway, and I really love it. I'm eating plain chicken an awful lot with this diet, and it makes the chicken not plain and so yummy. It's got a little bite but it's not too bad actually.

3. Speaking of things that make my diet food worth eating? Cucumber salsa on egg whites. And chicken when I'm not eating hot wing sauce on it. And hamburgers. Yum.

4. These boys. They're my favorite every day.

5. Bike riding. Seriously, I can't believe how much I am loving a good long bike ride. I mean, Jason is pulling the boys and I'm just pulling myself along...but that's enough right now, believe me! We're managing to check out parts of Lamar that we don't usually see, and it's been really great!

So, there you go...head over to Hallie's place and check out some other people's favorites too!

One Flew Over the Giant

As most of you know, I love riding my bicycle.  I have two nice bicycles made by the company "Giant".  In the past, I used to think of myself as invincible while on my bicycle.  I have been run over multiple times by cars and have always come out unscathed.  I have been known to update my status on Facebook, tweet about interesting topics on Twitter, send SMS (text) messages back and forth with Jeanine, all while riding on my bicycle, and most of this with no hands on the handlebar.

Wednesday evening at about 5:30pm when I left work, I hit the road for home like I always do.  I was riding by the park going around 20 - 25 MPH when my phone rang. I picked it up with my right hand and noticed it was a reminder.  I saw that I needed to stop up ahead, and instead of putting the phone back and using both hands, I decided to stop one-handed (with my left hand) instead.  For those of you that ride a bike, you'll know that the left brake is for the front tire.  So here I am pedaling along at 20-some miles per hour with a 205 pound payload (I need to lay off the donuts), and for whatever strange reason, I decided to grip the brake hard, which locked up the front wheel and threw me over the front of the bike. I got some road rash on my left side including a nice bump above my left eye.  A lady up ahead who witnessed this, rolled down her window and said "You really need to be more careful.".  I said "yes ma'am" and then she drove off.

When I biffed it, I had dropped my phone and lost the battery cover and battery.  I had to search around for a while, but eventually found all the parts and got my phone working again.  I did a quick look at the bike, and everything seemed OK.  I started to ride home and felt pain in both knees and my left shoulder.  Other then that, though... I felt fine.  I got home and told Jeanine about it, then ate some dinner.  While eating, my right arm started to stiffen up, and I couldn't extend it all the way.  Jeanine palpated it, but I didn't have any sharp pain.  A little later, I couldn't rotate my wrist, so Jeanine decided we should go in and get it looked at.  PMC has a "Convenient Care Clinic" that is open after hours and keeps you from having to go to the ER.  Unfortunately, they couldn't do much for me and scheduled an X-Ray for the next morning.

Thursday morning I go to work early, and the X-Ray tech brutally contorted my poor arm into the most painful configurations I could imagine! After finishing up, it was determined that I had a radial-head fracture.  I was referred to an Orthopedic specialist, but had to wait until the following morning to get looked at.

This morning (Friday), Jeanine and I traveled to Colorado Springs, and after being looked at, I was told I had a 'good' fracture.  I don't need surgery or a cast. I will continue to use the sling, but I need to move my joint around to keep it from locking up on me.

I have learned to never use my phone again while riding my bicycle.  I had several people say "I told you so".  Hopefully I don't slip back into old habits...

Here is one X-Ray showing the non-displaced radial head fracture.  See if you can find it. ;-)

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="779" caption="Ouch!"][/caption]

Dodging Cars

I think the drivers in Lamar are out to get me... After having someone back over me and destroy the front tire of my mountain bike and then have a crazy driver almost run me over turning into my lane, I had to dodge a car this afternoon.  Unfortunately when I swerved out of the way, I hit a curb and dented my rear wheel.  I'm not sure if I will be able to straighten this on my own or not, but I'm going to give it a shot.

[caption id="attachment_160" align="alignleft" width="428" caption="Bummer!"][/caption]

Lots Of Random Stuff!

I haven't posted for a while, so I thought I would just throw out some random stuff here.

Where to begin?

Monday night I was almost run over while I was on my bicycle. I was on my way home from the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life meeting. I even had my high-dollar / high-output headlight on.  The guy must not have seen me. I can tell you that Guardian Angels DO exist... he turned and hit my front tire with his fender, but didn't knock me over or hurt the bike.  I should have at least been knocked off my bike.  It was so weird... he hit the tire, pushed me backwards, while I was traveling around 20 MPH.  I said several prayers of thanksgiving on the rest of the ride home.

I finally got my old G5 Kirby refurbished from the Kirby dealer.  It looks brand new, and the new beater-brush is awesome.  They changed the gaskets and a few other parts, and it sucks better then it used to.  I'm donating that to the Church in Las Animas, I just need to get it down there...

Jeanine and I are going up to Woodland Park this Saturday to visit with a friend/ex-coworker from PMC.  She has been bugging me to come check out the hospital she works out.  They desperately need an IT guy and have basically told me to "name my price".  I figure it can't hurt to go look at the place, see the area, etc.  It will be fun to go up to such a pretty area anyway.

I am leaving in the morning (Ash Wednesday) to head to Plainsville, KS to look at a hospital that uses eMDs software.  That is one of the software packages we are considering for the Rural Health Clinic.  Plainsville is anywhere from 4 - 6 hours away depending on who you talk to.  I will be traveling with one of the receptionists from the clinic and we will hopefully be there around 1:00pm Central Time and check things out there.  I'm not looking forward to the 8 - 12 hours of driving I'm going to do... that will be another long day... I hope that I will have time to go to Mass first.

That's all for now!

Mixing Snow, Ice & Bicycles

It started snowing around 12:15pm today, and it's still snowing here in Lamar.  Like the dummy that I am, I decided to ride my bicycle back to work even though there was snow on the ground.  I'm not sure how many inches we are at now, but it's enough to make navigating my bicycle a real chore.  I almost biffed it twice because of the ice underneath the snow, but I managed not to hit the ground. ;-)  This commuter bike isn't as sure-footed as my old mountain bike was, but it's a million times better then my nice road bike.  Those 1/2 inch tires would have probably killed me!  I might actually drive my Durango to work tomorrow if it doesn't stop snowing soon. :-O

Another Long Day

Once again, I didn't get home until almost 7:00pm. :(  Did I mention I'm ready for a vacation?

I finally got the WelchAllyn stuff working, but it's a band-aid solution.  I need to work on the VPN some more, and tweak a few more things.  We are still ramping up for the Las Animas Clinic opening.  I need to go down again Friday and work with the phone guys.

On the plus side, I enjoyed riding my bicycle in the dark with my super-cool headlight and tail light.  That is the brightest bicycle headlight I've ever owned.  People can definitely see me coming!

That's all the news for now, pretty boring I know... but that's what you get for free. :)

Awesome Weekend!

I had so much fun on the weekend that I didn't have time to post anything here.  I haven't been on Facebook for so long that I'm thinking about closing out my account... but enough about that and back to the weekend!

It all started out with my boss yelling at me for working too much this week.  I worked at the Las Animas Clinic so late Thursday, that I didn't get to bed until after midnight.  He told me he didn't want me working that late unless the building was on fire, so for 'punishment', he made me go home early on Friday (which Jeanine was delighted about).  Jeanine and I had a lot of fun hanging out together.  We went to Mission Villanueva for dinner, then vegged out at home watching the first two X-Men DVDs.  We went to bed early (at least it was early for me), and slept in Saturday.

I had to go teach a 3 hour class at the college, but I decided to let the students out 45 minutes early so Jeanine and I could go to Denver.  My sister was going to go with us, but she wasn't feeling well and ended up missing out on a good time!  We stopped at John Erger's Church Supply store and picked up some candles for St. Mary's in Las Animas.  Next we headed over to the same bike store that I bought my last bicycle from.  That last bike was designed for nicely kept roads, but those kinds of roads are a rarity in Lamar, CO.  So I decided to get a commuter bike to help offset the crappy roads.  I got another Giant brand bike, and spent a lot less on it then I thought I would.  We spent quite a bit of time looking the different styles over before I made my choice. I bought a light kit, spare inner-tube and some tubes and a tire for my other bike.  After all that I called my grandma to see if she was feeling up to a visit.  She was getting over a cold and not feeling too well.  So I decided not to tell her that we were in town, but told her we would try to visit in a couple weeks.  We didn't eat breakfast and were getting pretty hungry so I let Jeanine pick the restaurant.  She wanted to go to Gunther Toodys and we found one not too far away in Arvada.  The food was good, and the shakes were HUGE!  We decided to head back home after that.  Jeanine watched "Bolt" on my iPod Touch on the way back.  The movie sounded cool through all the car speakers.

Sunday we celebrated my dad's birthday.  His birthday is on the 25th (Monday), but due to scheduling conflicts we always celebrate birthdays on the weekend before or after (depending on which one is closest to the actual day) so more of the family can get together at the same time.  I was surprised that my brother and sister-in-law didn't show up, especially since he had the day off.  Regardless, we had a great time!  We ate some very chocolaty birthday cake and some Chinese food with lots of good snacks.  We played games and the entire family went for a bike ride (Jeanine and I brought our bicycles with us).   Most of us were able to ride all the way into town and back (about 6 miles round trip).  Then later on, Jonnie and I rode back into town and drove around for a little bit before coming back.  After all that we went out to see Jeanine's folks.  We visited for a while until Jeanine started getting tired.  She has a habit of waking up on Colorado time, but going to bed on Kansas time...  We really need to work on that... ;-)

Jeanine didn't have to go in early on Monday, so she was able to spend another night!  Lately when she comes down for the weekend she leaves Sunday afternoon to get back to Garden City.  But this time we slept in until 6:30am Monday morning!  I can't wait until she is home for good!

All in all we had a very good weekend!  I think I could get used to those! :-D