closet music

so i was reading mg's blog about closet music and how everyone has it... it totally reminded me of my friend carl. carl had jesus hates you stickers on his car. he was the singer of a death metal band. big dude with long scraggly hair and a goatee. his favorite music was all metal. one day i found out he loved elton john. elton john? wtf! but actually thinking about it, he was never in the closet about it. but i still think its hilarious that big ass death metal carl loved elton john. he actually got into a fight with someone at a bar because of it.
we just got back from the hawk's game. casey had a good time. she was good for about 36 minutes of the actual game time. we lost her at the end of the second half and by the third she hit meltdown status. but all in all it was a great time.
where the hell did the toolbar go to upload pics? am i drunk and just don't see it? oh well, i'll use photobucket.





i'm not really a sports person but put me in front of the tv while the bears or hawks are on and i'm suddenly their biggest fans and should be their coach.

woo...

that was some heavy ass snow. well slush really. it's days like this i wish i had a garage to use.

in the pink

yikes... the ice is falling now. snow soon. i wonder if we'll get as much snow as they are hyping? 3 inches, 6 inches, a foot... doesn't matter. it all sucks. if i lived on or near a mountain, i might think differently, my snowboard would at least get to play for once. its probably gonna be the heavy wet snow, at least it'll be a workout shoveling it. or i'll throw my back out.

boo

my car door cracked from the ice while opening it. sucks. i hate winter.

what?

i swear i blogged something from work today. apparently it was a dream. the weather is turning to crap as we speak. my drive home today i thought about my layering system and what i'd wear on my next ride. brrr... i get the chills just thinking about it.
i have tons of things i want to do this weekend... i want to change up the sycip or spot big time (haven't decided which yet). but i need to find the time. not sure i can. friday night we are taking casey to see the hawks. she still wants to be a rockstar but might want to be a hockey player. saturday is hayden's bday party. it starts at 12:30, so if i get up early perhaps i can get busy on it. sunday is the last chicago cross race. sram will have a big tent there (i hope its heated). i have lots of stuff i need to order but it won't happen before the holidays. i'd ask for it for xmas, but its hard asking for something when i get the deal.

dissed

have you ever been truly upset about something and it takes all of your adultness out of you to get over it when really you just want to be mad about it forever... and then you are pretty much over it and then somebody comes and rubs it in again? ughhh. i'm going for a walk.

vinegary

can you believe this weather!!! holy crap. i love it. i wish i could totally ditch work and get a ride in. hmmm... maybe hmmm, i may pack the bike up and go tomorrow. watch, it'll rain. (i try to be optimistic really, but sometimes i just have to prepare myself)
the weekend was okay but ended on a shitter. the only ride i was able to get was a couple laps around the golf course on my road bike. my stomach still aches because i wasn't able to get out on a mountain bike sunday.
i miss music. i remember in like college days and a couple years after i was always subjected to new music. now as i get further and further away from those years i don't seem to have any way of hearing that cool new band or cool old band or whatever. i feel like my collection is stale. i'm completely bored with it. does anybody have any suggestions? i could really use some fresh stuff.
i have my eyes on a new macbook. i want this before any new bike or part. my laptops are sooo outdated. i've been relying on my work computer and that just sucks.
i went blog reading this afternoon and was disappointed by the lack of updates, but then i had to look at my blog and realize i suck at updates too.
it's 10 pm and i'm going to bed.

so pissed

one guess.

turkeytastic

rode the rig. i knew it was overgeared for my weak ass self, but i didn't care. had fun anyway. had to stop twice to puke... ended up taking off my wool shirt and was fine. i was way overheated. i learn this lesson usually once a year. i haven't had many opportunities to learn this season. took off the jersey and it was MUCH better. didn't ride much due to the having to puke... but dhiraj and i caught up a bit- we hadn't talked in awhile. he wasn't feeling too well either, we took turns holding each others hair. we laughed about him still having the picture of me knocked out cold after we thought i broke my neck out at the mesa. i'll have to scan that pic.
speaking of pictures... i don't have one from the ride today because i left my camera on the front seat of the car! another point for dumbass. hopefully someone from the ride will post 'em at work on monday.
i went through all the sale papers and nothing is calling my name to deal with black friday. john had heard somewhere that some place was going to have the lcd tv we've had our eye on, but can't find it. i think he was dreaming.
anyway, i'm babbling at this point. turkey day was good. ride, family, more family, good food and pie. i love pie with cool whip. i'm sitting her super pissed at myself for not bringing a piece home with me. dammit.

gobble gobble

rumor has it that stan, the prez of this awesome component maker might show up for the annual turkey day ride out at palos. should be fun. i was all freakin' out about not being able to participate in a group ride because i have absolutely no fitness. then i found out that some of the srammies will be bringing their kids. sramtastic. as long as they aren't as fast as jay's kid i'll be fine. now for the most major decison of the week- which bike?

zoe got her first tooth! its about time... she was losing like a gallon of saliva per hour.

so...

i'm on the expressway heading for the outbound ryan. one of the lanes ends after all the entrances in the city end, essentially right at the circle interchange. i'm speeding in the lane next to this. some asshole comes shootin' up in the lane that ends (i see him in my mirror). so i speed even more so he can't cut me off. so then he shoots behind me and then off into the other lane and continues to be a dick by weaving in and out of traffic. now is it just me or do you hope that fucker hits a concrete barrier too? it is this exact person that takes a perfectly moving expressway and turns it into a clusterfuck when he makes my wish come true.
on a lighter note i got home early today. not necessarily great circumstances, my gram has pneumonia so couldn't watch my kids. but not horrible circumstances either, she's at home probably eating ice cream or something.
the tv can be an awesome sitter sometimes...

moms rule

the damn ryan is under construction. my usual 40-60 minute commute has turned into on average 1 hr and 40 minutes. yes, that's right i'm in a coffin for over 3 hours a day. its starting to take its toll. i feel like i'm going to have a breakdown. i don't think if you don't commute you can comprehend how horrible this is. my mom rules because on tuesday she was at my house watching the girls. her house was all smelly from having her hardwood floors done. i came home tuesday night at 5:30 (i left early at 4) to hot rice, chicken breast, green beans and biscuits hot off the stove/oven. we ate dinner on a weeknight before 7:30pm. i can't put into words how nice this was.
i also blame the suckiness of my blog as of late due to my commute. work is busy (i actually started a lull yesterday) so no time there... and getting home after 6:30, having to make dinner, make sure homework is done, dinner and other house chores like laundry have to be done... blogging just hasn't been a priority. i have tons of stuff to bitch about, but none are appropriate for a public blog.
i planned on going for a ride after work today. i left work at 4:30 and was home after 6. still dark, but i could ride and still be home. it wasn't raining in the city, but as i got closer to home, it was pouring. dang.
i'll get out there! but still i need to set up the gulp trainer just so i can get some form of exercize!
this weekend is the last weekend before the holiday shopping rush. thanksgiving is proving to be its usual pain in the ass self trying to share ourselves with both families. i'm not sure if i would have it any other way though.
zoe is finally starting to be more than just a lump. casey is going on 5 body wise, but attitude, man, she's heading for teenager.
sun prairie is this weekend. kind of a long haul for a cross race with two kids.

bite me

i'm too crabby to blog.

no will power

the amount of candy in this house right now is absoulutely ridiculous...















i so will not resist. i just can't.

saran wrap

so i had all this stuff i wanted to write about from the weekend- water park, cross race... and all i can think about right now is i hate fucking saran wrap.

good stuff

thanks russell. i woke my kid up laughing.

dang

i hate my camera. actually its just me. i suck as a photographer. i can only center well- and who cares if you have a digital, you can edit that shit. however i did take awesome pics with my slr. i just never remember to get them developed.
my lame attempt to get my bike photo page going... how fucking boring is a wall! i wanted to go outside... but mother nature, i hate her. anyway, it's missing a few bikes, some aren't finished (minor details), blah blah blah. if i ever get motivated i'll repost them clean and done.

do you believe in ghosts

i actually shed a tear on the way out to palos this morning. it was the day of the poker ride. while pregnant i always thought to myself, well when i finally pop this kid out, at least there is still the poker ride. of course i'm sick. like lung sick. an asthmatics nightmare... no way could i head out in 30 some degree temperatures with rain. i'm glad we headed out there though. singletrack was unrideable and the double track was almost as bad. but i'm still bummed. i kept saying to myself, too bad we didn't have yesterday's weather, then i had to remind myself again that i was sick.
i'm not a religious person by any stretch of the imagination. i'm not even sure if i consider myself spiritual, but i do feel i am to some degree. we used to always say that casey was watching spirits when she was a baby because she'd always be looking off somewhere smiling and kicking her legs n stuff. well zoe does that too. i joke with her that the spirits must be making faces at her because she'll be cracking up while i'm changing her diaper, but she's totally not looking at me. so tonight i'm sitting on my bed with zoe and the dog. i start joking with her about it again as she's looking off into the corner cracking up. so i say zoe are you playing with the spirits again, right after that behind our bed, a piece from carbon's cage made a noise, almost like somebody moved their hand across the bars. creeped me out. my mind tells me it was just a coincidence, but i can't help but think what a strange coincidence.
i think i read somewhere that the soft spot on their head had something to do with it. like it was a window to the spirit world. that's why after age two- i think about when the soft spot closes- their staring off into space cracking up ends.
not sure if i believe it, but it does catch my attention.

33

it's my birthday today. i actually had to do the math.

ho hum

these two are always up to no good...





















i'm waiting on wheels to finish building a new rig. john and i have to pick a day to do photos.
nothing much going on.
chicago cross series starts on sunday. the twin's first bday is sunday.
i've got a new set of wheels coming for my road bike so i can put force on. i may have a look 555 frame on the way. we'll see.
house is a wreck. its just clutter. we have way too much stuff.
i don't really have anything to write about, that i can think of anyway... i just felt like i should post or something... i'm going to bed. wow, it's before 11. yawn.

beautiful day for a ride

my heart wanted to go fast, my brain said no. my plan was to take it slow so i'd be able to finish. as the race went on i debated if i'd rather finish or see how fast i could go. i'm glad i kept to my goal to finish. i'm not even sure if i could go fast. i had little goals along the way like get to the finish before the elites catch you and cleaning the roots of all evil (killed it on the last lap). i finished 2nd to last. i wouldn't have cared if it were last, i still would have finished.
my fitness was, well, not there. my technical skills were rusty. by lap two they were starting to come around. by lap three i was railing turns and bombing the hills and catching air. i cleared roots of all evil. and then the equalizer killed me good on the last lap. this is me after making it half way up the first time around (my bike rules):

















i'm glad nobody was there to get a pic of me on the last lap. i could've cried it hurt so bad. i was a millimeter away from cramping with every step. i want to thank the smoking guy for the encouragement to get my ass to the top. the race was everything i expected. i'm not disappointed at all. i would have course loved to have done better, but i'll worry about that for next year.
john had a good race. he took 3rd age group.

race fans

tomorrow is sheboygan. w00t. i'm excited and full of dread at the same time. weather looks to be perfect, couldn't ask for a better day in october. i have to go try on my d'arcy gear... not sure if it fits... and if it does, i have to make sure i look good in it. this is very doubtful.
zoe is finally sleeping, casey is downstairs watching jurassic park and i'm sure john is assuring her dinosaurs are no longer real. sometimes i can't believe we let her watch certain things. we are bad parents. family guy will come to a halt real soon as she's been starting to ask questions.
john finished up his cross bike today... pics real soon (i know i know, yeah right). i did nothing to any of my bikes. i'm a total slacker. building some new wheels for the rig, the stock wheels are lards. i would have preferred pewter hubs, but black will have to do. i need an orange king headset... i'm still pissed they dissed purple... and even more pissed at myself for not buying one.
race report after the race sometime i suppose.
cross racing starts next weekend. i love watching it, but sometimes the travel isn't worth it.

friday

it's 3 o'clock on friday. i've been total slacker for the past hour or so. catching up on blogs and looking at whatever on ebay. thoughts were about sheboyagan, will sara ever answer my emails and the typical debate on my next frame. i'm thinking ti. i have a hard time with the cost, but it has always been in the back of my mind for years. we'll see, the pricetag is killing me, i totally can't afford it, but really i shouldn't afford half the shit i do...
i'm thinking of ditching out early. casey is spending the night at gramma's house tonight. hopefully zoe will be in a better mood than this:

rain

so it hasn't rained in like almost a day. that's pretty sweet. i'm hoping it doesn't rain in like the next million hours cuz that's how long its gonna take for the ground to dry. stupid rain.
if i were in shape i wouldn't mind if sheboygan were a mud fest. but seeing as i'm not, it will suck butt if its muddy.
went for a ride yesterday on the path... did i blog this already? i can't remember. anyway, my ride, it started with me in the basement pumping the tubes on the sycip. poor sycip. tires were at an unregistered pressure, she was super dusty and she still had like 06 parts on it. how awful. i had to steal pedals off another bike to take her out. i popped out the front door and the bike felt perfect. that bike is awesome. i keep trying to get my spot to feel like this bike. actually though, thinking about it, i haven't tried that hard.
i headed to the golf course. it was kind of late and i wasn't sure if i'd make it back in time doing the long loop in my condition. it was weird, i have been riding the sass which is rigid and the rig, which is now rigid (pics some day), all the time. by all the time i mean rides with casey, ride to my moms, etc. anyway, while on the sycip i had to lock it out because the sid was driving me crazy because it was like working. i am 100 % certain i won't feel this way offroad.
so i did a few laps... it was fucking walk-a-dog night. there were probably 22 dogs on the path. seriously. retracto leash nightmares.
it was awesome to be out on a beautiful evening. there was water everywhere. the singletrack along the sides of the trail were under water. the grass on the side of the trail looked like swamps. this one section of paved trail was about 3-4" under water, maybe more. i slowed down to go through it hoping to see fish or something. i seriously looked. it was kind of depressing seeing how wet it was as it pretty much meant i wouldn't be offroad in a long time. but at least it wasn't raining then.
while riding most of my thoughts were about sheboygan and at what point i would cry. before sunday i'm hoping zach and sara make it here to chat this saturday. they haven't seen our big baby yet, nor have any of us seen each other for that matter since hmmm... alpine? shit. it's funny how time is referenced through bike events. anyway, we were talking about picking up some burritos and catching up on things...

gravity rides everything

dang. check out what's going on now:














house is shaking from the thunder and at times it appears it's daylight from all the lightning. the sump pumps are kicking ass and taking names as we speak.
some kind of rig in the works... post up pics when its done (yeah right). john is still finishing up the spot. we need a dog fang and cable hanger. funny how two of the cheapest most minor things are holding up this custom build.
my sass still needs the steerer cut, spot needs the steerer cut and possibly some J carbons, sycip needs ultimates and 100mm stem, lemond needs headset and possibly new fork and stem, surly needs the bars retaped and of all things the rig is done with the exception of possibly having to swap to a longer or less of a rise stem. if i do all this minor bs i might take pics.
sheboygan this sunday. i can't wait to see how bad i do. john says, so just go to finish. real funny, what did he think my plan was in the first place! i'm a little disappointed that i haven't been out to ride in the past couple weeks. nothing has fallen into the place the way i'd like. not really complaining, just love to ride and really miss it. perhaps sheboygan will wake my muscle memory and kick my lungs into gear just to have them go back into offroad retirement for the winter. i'm sure to come home with some new bruises to my body and my pride, but i'll live.
i need to get to bed earlier, this midnight bullshit is getting old. my fault, i can't even blame zoe anymore, she's been sleeping for like two hours.
it's still storming! i'm surprised casey hasn't come downstairs like freaking out...

meh

i didn't finish my bikes this weekend. i suck. i still haven't ridden. i suck more.
work tomorrow. boo.

nothin' new. bday party for my cousin's kid today. josh's party tomorrow.
john tackled part of the basement today. i'm hoping to get some minor details on all my bikes (that i ride) done tomorrow morning and get some pics. john's too. they won't be as cute as above, but bike pics are always cool.
john's working on getting his cross bike done. instead of parting out the other one, i need to order some parts when i'm back to work on monday. ewhhh... work.

wanting to scream

i go back to work on monday. i then leave for vegas that wed til fri. i need to get sitters handled, etc. hopefully john's up for both of them. i have mixed feelings about going... i want to check it out, but at the same time it seems too early to leave zoe.
the rig is almost done. the brakelines need to be cut, hopefully that will happen sometime soon. the front brake rubs a little. i may have to have a tech weenie at work check it out. its kinda weird.
the only riding i've done is take casey to the school and do laps around it. this will for sure not have me ready for sheboygan. there doesn't seem to be time for anything and i haven't even started back to work yet. how do other people do it? my guess is they have a better support system.
i'm trying not to be too bummed about it as these ladies are worth it:

oh yeah

the mattress rocks. the delivery was uneventful. it gave me a reason to clean our room though.
i did get this though...
















and zoe smiled and talked to us for 2 days...
















and now she's back to being gassy and fussy. it's got to be the soy, but do i switch her back? i hate infant poop problems.

no weekend plans really. friday night we grabbed a pizza, it was nice to be out. it was weird not having casey with us. she was playing dress up with reese at my mom's house.



















we went to pick her up and visited with audrey for a few.
















she's like a little elf, so cute. her arms are super long.
saturday we ran a bunch of errands. we hit the mall and the mattress store to buy a much needed mattress. i can't wait. i love john n all but it sucks meeting in the middle of the bed every night. john and casey headed to duke's that evening.
















it's funny. casey loves old cars. john has never pushed her, she just does. she plays with matchbox cars all day and loves seeing all the old muscle cars. her faves are corvettes, which even funnier happens to be the car john likes the least.
it was an evening to put in the record books though. john took the trans am to bring casey to duke's. she was so excited.




































i was bummed i missed it but rage was ready to wake up and eat and he was on a time constraint. no biggee, hopefully since he brought it out he'll be more up for taking it out again.
sunday was just as uneventful. we hit lume's for some breakfast and then ran another errand. back home we picked up casey's room. it was so bad we still aren't done yet.
if you think this was exciting wait til tomorrow when i blog about getting the mattress delivered.
john leaves for cheq on friday... i wish i were going, but i'll miss casey n rage. not being able to ride would be a wasted trip for me anyway.

2 up front 3 in the back

so cliche- a bit rusty to say the least.
heart racing, legs and lungs burning, mouth wide open, sweat on my brow... all this before i even hit the trailhead.
it was my first off road adventure since october of last year. it was everything i expected and less than i had hoped.
i left the house shortly after john got home. i took the spot as the sycip is still buried and my other bikes are missing something. it felt pretty good. i rolled down into the trail. it was a little wetter than expected. most of the trail was dry, but there were spots that were pretty slick. i headed down and hit racoon alley. it wasn't too bad. i was super cautious between the trees and the roots. shortly after jill's ledge i started climbing up the steep entrance and was surprised that i wasn't going to make it. i blame clogged tires to a point, but if i attacked it in an easier gear other than what i rode it "last year" i woulda make it. anyway, i started to roll backwards and missed grabbing a tree and tumbled down doing a couple somersaults before coming to a hault. got back up and continued. i don't think this was a confidence killer, but i was definitely surprised. i had to be conscious of speed- i was super sketchy. its so hard to not go hard. i didn't have any more stumbles... but i had a mistimed log, hit the brakes hard in corners, couldn't keep the front wheel pointed in a straight line at times. i was just tired and rusty. the logs got better as i rode. they turned out to be no biggee. fatigue at this point would have played more of a roll if i had missed one.
i didn't go far. just the mesa trail. i didn't even ride the unparallel big log. on the way back i did a couple of hard efforts just to gain some confidence. i could hit it hard for a few moments but couldn't sustain it at all. on the way back i pulled the ultimate rookie mistake and looked at the finger type branch down handing over the trail and it totally grabbed me. it did this to my bottle cage.


































if i was left handed i might think about leaving it. it was pretty easy to grab.
i rode the majority of the mesa 2 up front and 3 in the back, last year i rode it 2 up front and 7 or 8 in the back.
i arrived home a little more tired than i thought i would be. my neck is also pretty sore from my acrobatics down the hill. i shouldn't be too disappointed. it'll come back fast. its only been 4 weeks since i pushed rage out.
it was funny riding. all these thoughts were racing through my head and what i thought about most was what i'd write in my blog. i had all these good thoughts, and now i've totally forgotten all of them. i don't see myself bringing a note pad out with me though.

word

omg. now i can't wait to ride. i'm dying. tomorrow... i'll talk to john tonight. maybe my mom will sit and he can come with.

since when

i took the spot and s.a.s.s. out on sunday. nothing big. just rode to my mom's house, once to drop casey off and then again to pick up some buns for some sausage on the grill. it was fun to be back on the bike even if only for a short time. i was planning on hitting the mesa on monday but it fucking rained. it'll be like this forever now that i feel like i'd like to ride.
i lost most of my "baby fat" right away, within a week i went from 166 to 138. my normal weight is about 131. so only a few pounds to go, but the jiggliness... ick! i need to start the crunches asap! it'll come in time, i actually am not that upset about it. after i had casey i think i had like 3 chins for the few months after.
zoe is feeling a lot better. we have a happy pooping baby again.
my maternity leave end is fast approaching. i have mixed feelings. i love work, mainly for the people i work with... but its harder i think to leave two. this time feels harder. i think about how i'm gone from 7 am til almost 7pm it seems. i need to fix that. i don't think i can do that anymore.
i am kind of kept in the loop at work. there's some drama with trek/bontrager am stuff. totally fucking ridiculous. i wish i could speak my mind on this here, but i don't know who reads it and i don't want to get myself or anyone else in trouble. the lack of communication (or maybe we can say lack of competence) with some people really pisses me off.
no plans for the week or weekend at this point. hopefully it dries up. no race this weekend- i don't think anyway. maybe i can plan a ride for here.

game face

don't let the pretty butterfly fool you.

ramble on

i ended up hitting devil's head on sunday with john. it took us 45 minutes longer to get out of the house than usual with two kids. we need to work on that. you forget all that shit. i ended up being way over prepared, but the weekend before i wasn't prepared as we hit a barbecue we hadn't planned on. it was cool though, we hung out with the guys from the kodak gallery/sierra nevada team after the pro crits. anyway, devil's head was good. the trip up was uneventful. we got there in just enough time for john to register and get dressed. he didn't really get a chance to warm up. i guess that's the sacrifice you may have to make if you want your whole family there with a newborn. i missed this race. i dreaded it last year as i'm not a climber but i ended up having one of my best finishes there. i think i was able to hold my own with my descending skills. the weather was a lot more pleasant this year. john got his second age podium so that was cool. casey is enjoying it.
nothing else going on really. i'd like to hit the basement to check out my bikes. they are kind of stashed out of the way. i plan on saddling up on one this weekend and see how it feels. for real this time. i have one change in mind for the sycip and a couple for the spot. the s.a.s.s. still needs a headset and the rig has no fork. damn, i forgot about the rig. i'll need to find out about that bontrager fork. this is what sucks about not being at work.
speaking of the basement, its a wreck! we got tons of water on monday from all that rain. the one rug is trashed and needs to get out of there, it smells!
zoe has some digestion issues right now so she's been a bit cranky. i feel so bad for her. i'm hoping the latest fix will work in a couple of days and we'll have a happy baby again.
everyone but me is asleep on the couch right now. i'm pretty stressed out with lack of sleep, my parents have to put their dog down, not being at work, a cranky newborn, a rambuctious 4 year old with tons of energy we're having a hard time dissipating, grass in the back is way out of control-i'm depressed to even open the blinds-, an idiot for a dog who just broke our brand new sliding screen door and some other things. i have tension headaches towards the evening. i clench my teeth so tight i have a hard time unlocking my jaw. the middle of my shoulder blades are just burning. i need a massage. i think i just really need some good sleep. i'm pretty bored as well. i have been dying for some adult companionship or something. some friends may stop by tomorrow night, saturday my aunt is having people over for the holiday and who knows what sunday and monday may bring...
fuck. i didn't want to end on a sour note. maybe if i'm motivated i'll get some bike pics and start posting some porn.

ridin' soon?

i'm way too impatient. i just went downstairs to see if i could sit on my bike...did a short loop in the basement. it didn't hurt. w00t! i'm gonna go for a little ride outside, maybe sunday, and see how it feels. don't tell my mom though, she'll freak!
everything is good. i forgot all newborns do is cry, dirty diapers and sleep. zoe is starting to be more awake now, so that's good. we should start to see smiles more often soon. casey is good, but bored with me. next week i'll start walking with her to the park and stuff provided it's not hot as hell.
my sis gave birth to a baby girl tuesday, audrey rae. all is good with them as well.
i don't have much else to chat about. i may hit devil's head with john sunday... hopefully the weather is nice.

zoe boo



















reese, audrey, casey n zoe

swallow cliff

john took casey on an offroad adventure to swallow cliffs yesterday. she came home stoked because she had mud on her legs, butt and bike.

eyes open

boring

OMG- i'm so bored...
zoe is good. casey is excited about having a new sister but doesn't understand why she can't play. she's mad she sleeps all the time.
daytime tv blows.
all my cousins went to marios for lunch today. jerks. i wish they would have all come here. i'm dying for some friend conversation. casey is fun, but well she's 4 and john has been too tired for anything. when casey was born friends and family were over all the time. it was exhausting but at the same time nice to talk to people. poor second kids.
my stomach is all squishy, i hate that. i know it's only been a week, but i can't wait to start exercising again. the thought of sitting on a bike isn't as scary as it was early last week, however still intimidating.

bru n boo

BOO

short, and well, the outcome was sweet. i started feeling contractions sunday night after 7. they weren't bad at all. consistant for awhile nad then not. i was aware of them all night, but really they weren't anything to write home about. monday morning john was disappointed to get ready for work... i was sitting at the kitchen table answering emails about 7am and POP... WHOOSH... uh oh. water broke, gotta go. rushed casey to my mom's and headed for the hospital. checked in and in a room by 7:30 something... at 9:45am monday morning Zoe Boo made her appearance. she came out sunny side up which made it harder to push her out which led to 4 snips and more than i'd like to know stitches. not to mention that she was 8 lbs 2oz! casey bru was only 6lbs 6 oz. all is well. we were home less than 36 hours later.
my digital camera came in... so i can get some pics.

look

i'm still pregnant, but it was fun watching the birth of this:















i was hoping the new digital camera would be in today so i could take some better pics... new wheels and stem should be in soon. the digi better be in by then.

is this hell?

it's barely 10 am and it's 90 degrees outside. i feel horrible for john. i'm sure the shop will be at least 120 degrees today. he works in pants and long sleeves. ewhhh. i can't even imagine. i'm sitting on my ass with my feet up working (well not at this second). road prioritization is killing me! i was hoping to have all the DIs hooked up with all the info they needed before i left on maternity leave. not to mention delivery dates for code and ultimate. not so.
john's still a little in a fog from 24/9. he hasn't had a chance to catch up having the rv and all. he was finally able to get it back to storage last night, so hopefully he can relax. not sure he'll be able to knowing there's a look 585 in the basement itching to be built.

tomorrow is here

wow, i didn't think i could be any more bored than i've been. the house is clean so i can't even do that. the stuff that isn't done, i need john to move stuff to finish it up. ughhh...
small details on 24-9... the race was cancelled early due to the weather. john was pretty bummed about that. what a sucky way to end it. he'll probably be home around 7 or so.
i don't know what i'm going to do until then. it's almost going on 3. i'd like to hit target but i can't put any of my shoes on. seriously. my flips only go half way on and my crocs don't fit. i hope the swelling goes down by tomorrow.
we were suppose to be hit with some nasty weather, apparently it went right by us to the north and south.

a whole lotta suck

mucous, hot, crowded hallway, nothing to do, hot, cramps, blown receiver. ughhh... how fucking boring. i'm so bummed i'm not here, so much so that i had tears. no blog updates as everyone's blog i read is at the race. the only friend i have that's not there is sara. my work friends are even all there. i plan on feeling sorry for myself a little while longer then i'll probably, i dunno go do something. i almost want to go into labor so i have something to do, but john's not here obviously and that would suck. it's 10:30 and already near 90 degrees. swim tonight and cook out at my aunt's. tomorrow ? who the hell knows.

look

wow, i just woke up from like a 3 hour nap. i'm exhausted! i stayed home from work today. i did what i could... i felt like shit yesterday. i went to l&d last night about 10:30 because i just didn't feel right. better be safe than sorry. we busted out of there about 12:30. so john and i were both pretty tired. john's preparing for 24-9 and i'm preparing for a boring weekend. i'll probably hang out over at my aunt's house. looks to be a scorcher of a weekend. look what john just got:
















lucky. we have no good pics yet, waiting for the headset to arrive, i'll post a pic when it's complete. i have a carbon bontrager 29er fork coming soon for the rig. hopefully it'll be here soon after the birth so i have something to do. i wanna put some new brakes on it too.

ughhh...

the torture. i've been fine for the past few months. i started surfing blogs today and saw pics of people riding and stuff. oh my god, I CAN'T WAIT anymore! i need to go for a ride on singletrack. I miss that feeling of being out there.
nothing much going on. need to clean (what else is new). this weekend, no plans. i think john is riding with jeremey and jerry this weekend. then he's off on a pub crawl. he's the mechanic i guess. i'll have to give him a camera so he can take pics. 180 or so people drunk on bikes on western ave. should be good stuff.

franklin today

no frankilin for me today... boo. all the elites should be on course now sweating their asses off. i'm bummed i'm missing it, but stepping outside i know i made the right choice. my feet won't even fit comfortably in my crocs! i'll be heading over to my aunt's to hit the pool. i'd like to evade gravity for an hour or so. luckily she's close. if i feel like shit she's less than a block away.
hope everyone is staying hydrated and has a good race.

yay

i finally got a new cell phone. this one rings and isn't dented all over. work is busy as hell. but that's okay, i hope it gets it out of it's system now before i take off for maternity leave.

franklin this weekend

(((sniff)))

i miss racing. i miss riding. i miss my bikes. i keep torturing myself looking at pictures. this weekend will be my last race i'll be attending pregnant. hopefully i may be able to sucker my mom into hanging out with me so casey can race the kids' race and have someone chase her down the hill... don't think it'll be me.

from colin

i always know when colin is back home from his epic photo shoots... i get cool new wallpaper.
i needed this...
its about 11pm and i'm still in discussions with TWN regarding road group shipments and super fun stuff like that. pffft. as cool as new product is, it's always a lot of work to get it shipped out and it never goes smooth. one of the things i'm waiting on is info for bti's shipment... this is andrew, the owner of bti:




















i love this industry.

emotional mess

casey left this morning on a trip with my parents. they are heading up to mi for some fun in the sun. they'll be back tomorrow. i cried on the way in cuz i'll miss her. then i laughed at myself. i had to explain to myself to get a grip, she'll be gone less than 48 hours! i blame hormones.

stolen

it cost me 41 bucks to fill the element's little tank yesterday! yikes.
john headed out to the wi ss championship race today. he headed up with bos. hope they are having a good time. i'm jealous. i wish i was there. it's my grandpa's 75th bday today, so i couldn't miss that.
i can't seem to get motivated today. i picked up a bit. i need to hit the bank and i need a new cell phone... but i don't want to drive the suburban. i haven't driven it in so long i dread how big it is. i hate parking it.
i guess what this post comes down to is i'm bored as shit.

who planned this anyway?

the l.a.t.e. ride is coming. i'll miss that this year too. always a good time. i wonder if anybody is doin' it. seems i must've been the plan maker as nobody seems to be doing anything together ride-wise this year.



























but what i'm really bummed about missing is this.

















and it's a national championship race this year, which makes it worse. somebody will have to use their minutes and give me a lap to lap update on what's going on. and everybody better bring their camera and take a buttload of pics.






























it was weird seeing pics of me without a bloated face and expanded belly... but what was really cool was seeing my badass bike. i can't wait to bust that out in like september.

dammit blogger won't let me post anymore pics... fuckers.