the boys' lookalikes

For TDP DinoBoy, the face recognition decided he looked most like Michele Rodriguez. At least they got the ethnicity right that time... I'm still not sure about Bette Davis being chosen. She didn't show up on the collage, but I think it went with the eyebrows for that one. Hmmm. And Isabella Rossellini???



More very, very odd results here. At least most of the matches were men this time around. except for Lohman as the primary match. But i see the resemblance there, for sure. very, very, very odd and very fun.

how odd!

I was going to post about my morning run, with the Nano and the treadmill, but i started wandering about the internets and found this at Heather's:



I find the results rather odd, that the software seems to think I resemble either Billy Jean King or Asian men and women.... Interesting and just a bit disturbing to think I might resemble an Asian man!

What I really enjoyed, though, was the results for Hub. The photo I used was of the both of us, and these were his "celebrity matches." Rawr! I have to say, I would take Ron Livingston and Dermot Mulroney anytime! and the Carson Daly thing cracks me up!



In a bit, I'm going to do the boys' photos, but I had to post this as soon as I saw it!

I gots it!

Just picked up the Nano today! As soon as I get it set up, I'll get the Nike+ stuff set up on it, and I should be ready to roll tomorrow -- wahoo! I am currently converting all the WAV files to AAC format -- the Shuffle did it automatically, but the Nano fills up on WAV files. Or something like that. I don't know the specifics. What, am I supposed to be some kind of technical wizard just because I'm in charge of my entire division's enterprise-wide software? Sheesh, expectations.

Meanwhile, Elder Child had some serious pain in his feet today, so I wasn't able to hop on the treadmill tonight like I planned. The combination of hobbling along on the "good" foot for 8 hours at school, no painkillers from 6:45 AM until after dinner, and the lack of ice on the foot pretty much created a perfect storm that set him into hysterics at about 8:00. Out of nowhere his "fixed" one started in with sharp pain -- I think he accidentally bore weight on it myself -- at the same time the "arch" in the left one started spazzing on him. Poor baby. He was nearly hyperventilating he was in so much pain. But we iced quickly, and got him some supplemental pain medication, and he was OK after about 20 minutes or so. During that whole time, though, he just wanted me to sit with him and keep him calm. Poor bubba.

What else? Not much yet. I'm still formulating the specific goals for '07. And I just realized that my goals for '06 were on the old hooha.org site, so I can't get to those posts. I remember vague concepts of what they were, but details escape me. I'll get to it soon enough, I promise; it's just that I'm having a hard time with re-entry into the job thing after such a relaxing time home with the kiddos and Hub. sigh.

Well, I'm off to bed to let the iTunes do its thing overnight. Maybe it will be ready for me tomorrow morning, for an early morning run..... Now, will I be ready for it???

Happy New Year!

2007. Fresh starts. New beginnings. yada, yada, yada.

I'll have a comprehensive list of goals up later this week. I'm not quite ready to commit to much of anything. And I still need to wrap up 2006 goals and progress toward such. For now, i'm still enjoying what's left of my vacation. By doing as little as possible.

BTW -- the Iowa game down at the AlamoBowl over the weekend was tougher than it had any right to be. And it was a nailbiter, and it was loud, and frenzied, and we had more fun than a set of 30-something alumni had a right to have. And hearing "The Eyes of Texas" and "Texas Fight" played by the Longhorn Band again (and again, and again, and again) was wonderful and took us back to our college days. And then on Sunday morning, driving back from San Antonio, we dropped more money at the University bookstore than we ever did as students. heh. It was greatness.

For now, I gotta run. Something about an "Arthur"/"Curious George" marathon on the DVR. Later!

lazy days and present run-down

lazy, lazy, lazy days. and yet, still amazingly productive.

Tuesday, the day AFTER Christmas, I spent most of the early afternoon doing a "Clean Sweep" on TDP DinoBoy's room. Had to make space in there for all the new shtuff he procured, even though the bulk of the pirate toys stayed at Grandma's. I put all the Little People in one HUGE box (Denise -- are Mark and Matthew interested??) and filled another box same size with random other toys that he's outgrown and/or no longer captivated by (dangling grammar-part, I know. Soorry). I also re-arranged the furniture to give him a bit more free space, and dusted and straightened the whole mess. It's much more functional now. And I have to say, the little one is really good about keeping things in their place once he's done playing with them. But he's got to have a dedicated place for everything first. So I think we accomplished that.

Wednesday, I set out to "Clean Sweep" the playroom. I had to clean it up so that Elder Child could use it as a bedroom for the next six weeks. With his foot in the cast, he can't get in and out of his captain's bed very easily, so he'll be bunking in the playroom for a while. I also needed to re-do the room so I could make space for this:
Doing so involved clearing out a futon mattress and myriad other schtuff out of the guest room closet, so I could move the 6-foot bookshelves into the closet. Then I went through all the crap on the shelves and culled and tossed and donated, so that the "shared" toys are now organized and readily accessible to both, yet out of the way. The "guest room" has morphed once again, this time from a playroom into an exercise room. So now all that's in there is the TV with cable, the treadmill, the body-shaping-gym-resistance contraption, and the futon.

and, the body-shaping-gym-resistance contraption thing? Wow. I have what I call T-Rex arms -- small, weak, and useless. But, with this thing? Move out of my way. The pull-ups alone will get me in serious arm definition territory. I'm still experimenting with the various positions and resistance levels, but with regular use, this is going to be a wonderful addition to the regime. Especially when coupled with these:


Of course, I don't have the Nano. Yet. Hub got a new Shuffle (the itty, bitty, clippy one) from his company as a pseudo-bonus, and gave it to me to use. But since my old one is fairly small, lightweight and unobtrusive anyway, I thought it would be better to exchange the new one and apply it toward a Nano. So. Schweet! Of course, I won't have nearly enough songs to come anywhere close to filling it, but it will be nice to have an easier way to upload run stats. I upload with the Garmin fairly rarely, only because I rarely think about it. This way, I might get some more useful information. And pretty charts. I lurves the pretty charts.

My brother, meanwhile, sent me Carmichael's nutrition/training book, to help with reaching some of the nutritional goals I'll need to meet to get me toward my goals. It's rather dense, though, so it may take some time to digest. heh. I made a nutrition pun! sorry.

All that's left is to put a new battery in the chest strap of the HR monitor, and I can resume base training. I'm still thinking I'd like to do another full marathon in February, but that is still to be seen, depending on how some other things shake out. At a minimum I'll do the Cowtown Half, but whether I do the full is still up in the air.

I have done pretty well on my goal of working out every day while on break. Wednesday was the exception, but with all the heavy lifting and cleaning -- it was easily a 4-hour job -- I don't feel like I slacked. I've been heavy on the treadmill, which has been good to keep me on pace with a bit slower run/jog than I'd do on the streets. That, and it's also been ridiculous weather-wise -- either too cold, too windy, too rainy, or something. But I have gotten it done. I've not paid nearly as much attention to my intake as I should, but I'm not going to stress over it right now. Just putting the other things in place, and once I'm back in the work rut/routine, it will be easy enough to police the food choices.

So, that's that. Got to jump in the shower and get ready for bed now. We left the kids at MIL's for the weekend, while we drive down to San Antonio for the AlamoBowl. Woo-hee. How the mighty have fallen -- last year, National Championship at stake, this year, we play Iowa. Whatever. It should be fun to cheer for the Burnt Orange Nation with Hub and our friends. Later!

PS -- Oh, and the Elder Child? Almost completely back to normal, with the exception of a the splint-thing. No pain overnight, which is a HUGE improvement over pre-surgery, when the pain from the coalition would wake him at least three times a week. And the swelling is receding already, and he's getting restless, so it's been hard to get him to rest and elevate. But he really is a good kid, and he's been a great patient. He's gotten the hang of the crutches pretty well, too. His biggest problem today were the storms that moved in and freaked him out. He'll be up and running around before we know it!

recuperating

So far, so good. Elder Child is home from the surgical center and he is doing as well as can be expected. He tolerated the anesthesia very well, and after the initial numbing shot for the IV was a pro the entire way through. He was on the couch watching Arthur re-runs on the DVR with a smoothie at his side, and he has his crutches at the ready by about two hours post-surgery.

We expected him to be groggy for the rest of the day, though, which he was -- he took about a two-hour nap earlier this afternoon. He woke up and took his pain medication mixed into some yogurt. Of course, they gave him the biggest horse pills ever, so it's nearly impossible for him to get it down just swallowing it whole. His foot is swelling some, but that's to be expected and is OK, as long as the capillary reflex is good. He'll also be in some amount of pain for the rest of the weekend, which is to be expected. But he's getting along just fine on his crutches, although he's really only had to use them for trips to the bathroom. He was feeling perky enough to work on a Lego for a while -- I pitched in and sorted all those tiny little pieces. It was fun, if not a bit mind-numbing! But like I told him, I had nothing else planned today but to take care of him and make sure he has everything he needs.

He was in the operating room for a bit longer than we expected, because they ended up taking out the fibrous tissue between his bones and a bit of the navicular bone as well. The podiatrist who did the surgery said he's got an actual arch in there under all the bandages as well. But, the worst is over, and he was cracking smart-alecky remarks in the recovery room soon after they called us back there. And now he's home recuperating.

The best line of the day was his response to my MIL, who was quite literally hovering over him when we brought him home. I was helping him with the crutches, and she was standing behind him. After he stopped to rest inside the front hallway, she asked, "Does it hurt?" His retort: "Well, YEAH! I just had surgery, Grandma. Whaddyathink?" heh. I loves my kid!

Gotta run to Chick-Fil-A -- his appetite is back, and he's craving a chicken sandwich. And of course, I'm off to fulfill the wish. Such a good mom!

From my elf to yours...

Santa 002, originally uploaded by ccervant_99.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and yours a peaceful, healthy and happy holiday.

Merry Christmas!

We have three obligations today, and the rest of the day is ours to enjoy leisurely with the boys. And even our "obligations" will be fun and fulfilling, so pretty much the day should be wonderful. The schedule:

• anytime between 10:00 and 2:00 -- Visit with Santa. Take photos. Eat bread and donuts -- we'll be visiting Santa at the Mrs. Baird's factory in Fort Worth. Yum.
• 6:00 -- Christmas Eve Mass. All of us. Including wiggle-worm TDP DinoBoy. Who has assured us that his behavior during church will not make Santa skip right over our house.
• Post-Mass -- Christmas Eve festivities with relatives at Grandma's house. Tamales. Mexican pastries (oops - I've got to pick up the pastries!!). Hot chocolate. Yum. Presents at midnight, unless my boys can convince Grandma to get going earlier than that.

I'm not sure how you can go wrong with a day like this. Merry Christmas to all.

oh, the children!

I must have really bad genes. Or my husband does. Or something about the unique combination of said genetic material resulted in some key-ray-zee-ness around here. Oy, the medical issues of these offspring of ours.

The thing is, they're really beautiful, strong, healthy children. They are bright and energetic (sometimes a tad too much), and I thank the Lord every day and night that He has graced our lives with them. And I realize every day that there are folks who only pray that their children had the "problems" mine do, and would trade in a heartbeat for the inconveniences that we're dealing with here. To complain about my kids' (like I'm about to anyway) is a little like whining that my Rolls Royce got grazed by a shopping cart -- boo hoo, I know. But, the little things, it's the little things that make us nutso.

Like this one, the little one: The one that swings from the chandelier like a monkey? And wishes with all his might to live the "Pirate Life?" Well, he's not too far off. The pirates, I hear tell, have only a few teeth in their heads, and the ones they have, well, they're not in too fine a form. So he'd fit right in. Dentist visit this morning revealed another THREE cavities. yep, in 6 month's time since his last cleaning, the child developed THREE cavities. And yes, he does own a toothbrush -- in fact, there are about four in his bathroom that are in current rotation. Yet, despite all our brushing, flossing, etc. the child still has holes in his teeth you can drive a truck through. Nearly all of his baby teeth, including the front top ones, now have some kind of cap, crown or filling. And of course, being the, ahem, "high-spirited" child that he is, they can't do any of the work without him being fully sedated. As in IV, anesthesiologist, HR monitor, the whole works. As I said, OY.

And then this one. The Elder Child. Hockey defensemen extraordinaire, homework-impaired genius, my little triathlete: He's got feet flatter than the Flintstones. And he's been in various levels of pain with them since about 2004. The day of his triathlon, he was limping and lurching through about the last half-mile of the run, and was in severe pain for about 2 days afterward. Skating is OK, for now, since his hockey skates pretty much immobilize his foot -- there the big problem is the grimacing and wincing as he puts his skate on. He's had custom orthotics for the last three years, and rarely a day goes by lately that he doesn't very nearly collapse when he puts his full weight on that foot. Basically, two bones of his upper foot are fusing together, as in bone-on-bone action, with some scar tissue thrown in for good measure. The x-rays we took two weeks ago showed noticeable decline when compared to the ones from 6 months ago.

So he's slated for surgery next Thursday -- his big Christmas present is that he gets to wait until AFTER Christmas to get his right foot fixed. He's getting the calcaneo-navicular coalition removed (say THAT three times fast), having a titanium implant inserted into his arch, and having his achilles tendon sliced to give him more mobility and flexibility. He'll be in a surgical splint for three weeks, with crutches, then a walking boot for the next 9 weeks. Then, in the summer, we get to do the same thing all over again for the left foot. Yee-haw.

The thing is, the little one -- perfect feet. Physically, the kid is lean, long and fearless. This one, he'll be my X-Games athlete, if I let him. And the Elder Child -- perfect teeth. As in no cavities. Ever. All but one of his baby teeth are gone now. He lost three in the last two weeks -- move away from the microwave, child!! And he's never had a cavity. But the feet. Oy.

So I'm wondering, were we to roll the dice and go for three mutant offspring, would the resulting child be the one with perfect teeth AND perfect feet? Or the one with bad teeth and bad feet to boot? I'm thinking we're not even going to consider trying to find out!

Gotsa run -- we've got tickets for a Night at the Museum at IMAX! Wahoo!

ch-ch-changes...

are afoot. Much more detail later, probably not until the new year, but still, at least the promises of progress are encouraging.

Don't mean to be so cryptic, but I don't want to jinx it, so I'd rather not say anything until it's completely signed and dotted.

Meanwhile... how can I have put on 3 pounds in two weeks? I somehow managed to put taper weight on AFTER the race. I'm sure it has nothing to do with all the holiday crap around the office. Or the fact that I've been so busy at work that I've not actually eaten a proper meal in two weeks. But with vacation (which officially started today despite having to check email all day) comes free time. So I should be able to fit in a run or two or three. In fact, the goal is to do at least 30 minutes of running every day between now and New Year's. Starting tonight, after dinner settles some. And Rudolf is over.