I love Lance's new commercial.

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Because he's right. Who cares what anyone else thinks? We do what we love because we love it. In his case doing what he loves to do helps find a cure for cancer. How awesome is that? So say what you will. It doesn't matter. I still think he's an awesome athlete, a superior cyclist, a great ambassador for life.

And they say CHILDREN are expensive

Four HUNDRED some dollars later. . . . . .

And the vet doesn't think her recent "lathargy" is due to her Lyme's disease. That was $400 I would have liked to have spent differently. Oh well. Hopefully we won't need to worry about that anymore.

Here it is!

Isn't it a beaut? :-)

I'm told it's "a boy". Still working on the name.

Already falling in love with it after it's maiden voyage at Suamico today. Sweet.

Celebrate Life

I think it's sad that we wait until some one's GONE to celebrate their lives. Shouldn't every day of life be a celebration?

Life is too BUSY now-a-days. Too much rushing around, too much work, too much TO DO. Why not take a break and call that old friend you haven't talked to in a while. Say "hello!". Go out for drinks with the girls or the guys or the work crew. Take some "ME" time, some time to do something that puts a smile on YOUR face.

Make that "bucket list", start crossing things off. If we wait until "the right time" for these things, they'll never happen.

Life is too short, to precious, to fragile. Don't make plans and cancel on your friends. . . . .you might not have that opportunity again. Don't forget to hug your dad (or your mom, your sister or brother) and tell them you love them. You might not have that chance tomorrow. If you miss that chance you'll forever regret not having "the time" to let that person know you care.

If it's a bike ride with friends that puts a smile on your face. . . .DO IT! If it's sitting on your butt on the couch that puts that smile there, then do that. Find what brings that balance, that smile to your heart, that happiness in your soul. . . . .and JUST DO IT.

You might not have that chance tomorrow. Seize the day. "Saisir le jour".

Crap

Well, the new bike won't be ready for it's maiden voyage until the weekend now. The shop will have it done tomorrow, but I won't be able to get it fit until Thursday night or Friday. With my schedule the way it is. . . that means I'll have to wait until Saturday. I'm tempted to just take it and ride it. . . . .but knowing what a back ache I got from the little changes on Anthony's bike, I should proably just have patience.

I've ridden my road bike twice this week. . . .and honestly, I'm sick of it already. I'm just not made for the road. I'm made for the dirt. Can I force myself out on it ONE MORE DAY this week? Uuugh.

These temps are KILLING me. I've had a stomach ache since Sunday, almost passed out on my road ride yesterday and basically I just feel plain miserable. T-Dog feels my pain.

She's going stir crazy not being able to go outside and play sticks, poor girl. It's all intervals here at the Nigh house. Play a little, rest a little. Work a little, rest a little. I hope things get better soon. I'm so tired of feeling crappy.

I wonder how many people will need to be hauled off today during this race?

With 90 degree temps expected again today and a heat and air quality advisory awaiting us. . . I'll be staying inside today thank you.

Went for a road ride

It sucked. I'm not sure how I didn't spontaneously combust. My wing man had to bring me home cuz I was seeing stars and thought I was going to puke. My stomach hurt so bad, nausea setting in. Why? Who knows. Thunder ate my heart rate monitor Saturday. . . . .so I have no idea where my heart rate was, but it wasn't high enough to cause me to feel so bad.

Maybe the next ride will be better. Sure, it has to be. It can't be any worse, right? :-)

Uploaded pics

It took forever. . . .and some of them suck. . . .but there are some good ones too.

CLICK HERE

Enjoy! Feel free to download what you'd like.

Mt Morris

I'm not going to lie. That race was hard. REALLY, REALLY hard. I do have to say the sport course was a TON better than last year. We didn't have to climb ALL the way to the top so there was a bit of breathing room, a tiny bit of time to recover.

There was a low turn out of sport girls - who can blame them, last year was nearly impossible. So my finish ended up not so bad. Most of the girls who finish above me chose not to come, I guess that worked out OK for me.


While I literally saw stars several times throughout the race, I was very proud to say I finished. THAT was my goal for Mt Morris. To finish. Goal accomplished. My average heart rate was 186 for that course, almost 10 beats higher than my first 2 WORS races this year. I thought I was going to be joining my dad during that race it hurt so bad. I guess he didn't want me up there yet. Probably a good thing. I'm really not quite ready.

My new bike will be ready by the end of the week. . . . .we'll see how that treats me. I wish I could be on it tomorrow. . . . but I'm happy I'll be on it SOON.

Not a big snake fan

I'm not a big snake fan, but it was neat to see this little guy sunning himself by my strawberries the other day. Summer MUST be here!

How the day shaped up

I got eaten by mosquito's, but I got some strawberries picked. I hope to find time to make something delicious with them for the weekend. We'll see.

I was so focused today I even got the lawn mowed. Good thing. . . .we were almost in need of a goat. Now it can rain tomorrow (if it must) and I don't have to worry.

I managed a short road ride today. . . .sadly my body felt like crap. All my rides have been feeling awful lately. It's not like I have the excuse of being over trained. . . .I think I just don't have any fitness. I feel like I'm back in that boat where I can get ONE good ride, but then I'm so far down on the fitness chain that it takes me a whole WEEK to recover. Every time I try to ride hard it feels like crap, I'm slow, my legs fill up with acid right away and my heart rate doesn't respond. How did I let this happen? It's going to take me the WHOLE season to have ANY good races at this rate. Oh well. It's too late to cry about it now. I might as well try and enjoy the ride. Maybe I'll be in shape come Cyclocross season. Yuck. :-)

Rainy Wednesday morning

This is just what I need this morning. Some rain.

We took dad's car down to Car Max yesterday. . . . I highly recommend them if you're in a jam. The whole process was quite easy and quick. I understand they scored a pretty good sale from us, but we actually got what I was hoping we would get and now we have one LESS thing to worry about. We just need something to happen on the house now.

The rain this morning will allow me to get caught up on all the paperwork I've got awaiting me. One more relocation listing to finish, a new listing to process and a BPO to do as well (that's kind of like a mini-appraisal). I doubt I'll get that all done this morning. . . .before I go to my "other job", but I should get a good start.

This way when the sun pops out later today, I'll be READY for it. If all goes as planned, I should be able to squeak a road ride in there this afternoon. Maybe I'll even have time to pick some of the delicious strawberries from our "garden" (if you want to call it a garden).

Tomorrow the car goes

It was dad's toy. Unfortunately he still had a loan on it, and of course we found out that loan is NOT covered by his "insurance" he had been paying for. That stopped about a week after his 70th birthday. He died about 3 weeks after his 70th birthday. So someone has to make the payments for the car (which we are now apparently 3 months delinquent for) or it has to go. I loved my dad and appreciated his love for his mini. . . . .but don't want a mini.

It's 2 months after his death and it still feels weird. I keep waiting for him to call me to go for coffee, drop me an e-mail to harass me for not updating my blog (he was my biggest fan). . .but then I realize that I'll never have the opportunity to talk to him again. I won't get to hug him this father's day and make sure he knows that I love him. I just have to hope that he left this world knowing what I seemed to be too busy to tell him often enough while I had the chance.

I hope whomever ends up with his mini loves it as much as he did.

I really miss him.

So much to catch up on!

First of all, a birthday shout out to Lori, who's birthday was yesterday.



Yesterday I found the perfect balance. I found time for some organization in the morning. . . . .started going through all my dad's things that have piled up in my front room. I sorted things into an E-Bay pile, an electronics pile (still need to sort through that), a junk pile and a pile of important papers to file. I've almost got those all sorted out. . . .it's unbelievable how much STUFF there is. Of course my office is even MORE of a disaster now, but at least the rest of my house is starting to become MY HOUSE again. I'm not a neat freak, but I HATE being completely disorganized. It overwhelms me, makes me irritated and eventually depresses me. Strange.

Anyway, after some much needed organization I set off for the office. I put a few hours in there preparing for a couple relocation markets I have on Monday. I enjoy working with transferees, but the paperwork that comes with that business is ridiculous. A relocation appointment takes me probably a full day to prepare for. A good 8 hours of research & paperwork completion. And the sad thing is, all that work doesn't guarantee a listing. Every "relo" listing appointment I'm in direct competition with at least 1 other agent. And while I put a great deal of research into my markets (pricing a home correctly is everything now-a-days), I've lost several of these listings lately to agents who overpriced the home. Sometimes sellers don't understand it doesn't matter where you price it. . . . .YOU don't set the price, the buyer does. So go ahead and list with the agent who overprices your listing because it's what they know you want to hear. I'll be there to help you in 6 months when you realize I was right in the first place.

To round out the day yesterday I took fellow team member "Massage Becky" on her SECOND mountain bike ride ever. We headed out to Greenbush.


I went a bit early and got a 7 mile loop in with Thunder (man that dog can run). She's tired today. :-) Then I did another small loop (loops 1 & 2) on my own while I waited for Becky to arrive. I then took her out for another big loop. On only her second mtb ride ever, she did awesome. Only a few minor tip overs. . . nothing major. I wish I would have picked up SKEELZ as fast as she is picking them up. Maybe if I had had someone to HELP me when I was first learning I'd be ahead of the game. Instead I taught myself, which meant 3-4 years of continuous falling for Brittany. Looking back that wasn't the worst thing. Now-a-days I'm REALLY good at NOT falling. Too funny.

Wausau

Overall a fun weekend. We kicked it off by celebrating Bill's birthday Friday night with a little cake and a happy birthday song.


Thunder got Daddy some tennis balls. She was very excited to have him open them.


Saturday afternoon we returned to the camper after a short trip to town to find the hotel on wheels all decked out for Bill's big "40". Surprise!








Our good friend Bubbles even made some wonderful place mats and coasters for the occasion.




Then we decided to see how many people we could get in the hotel on wheels for a birthday celebration. 13 seemed to fit rather easily.


Lots of cake!! And we discovered CAKE is Captain's secret weapon.


Saturday night cake seemed to create Sunday success for Billy.


As for me. . . . .well, "good racing" just isn't happening lately. I hope to rectify that issue with the arrival of my new frame in the very near future. Getting MY bike back together and set for me, exactly the way I like it will hopefully give me the motivation I need to get back to some regular training and find my fitness again. That and some decent weather wouldn't hurt. It's tough to want to get on my bike when it's in the 50's and dreary or overcast every day.

It's ok. Sooner or later I'll find the motivation to "be all that I can be" again. Until then I'll just enjoy the ride of life.

Belated birthday shout out

I got so busy packing Friday I completely forgot to do a birthday shout out to Bill!

Sorry Bill. Hope the bit "40" was awesome. :-)