Sunday

This morning we got up and went to the 0800 church service because Ryan had planned on going on one last long bike ride with his friends before he leave.  After church, Ryan headed to the Legion and I brought Robert to Sunday School.  He got to be one of the ushers for the offering and he put his 6 pennies in the church to celebrate his birthday.  After the Sunday School opening was done, he headed to his class and I was going to go to Target for a few things.  Ryan had sent me a text that he was at home – only one other person showed up for the ride so they decided not to go.  He came to Target with me, and then we went back to pick Robert up from Sunday School.  

We spent the rest of the day relaxing and having family time.  We went to the park for over an hour and kicked the soccer ball around and played frisbee.  It was a lot of fun.  Then when we got home, I did some laundry and got the guest bed remade.  I played Chutes and Ladders and Candy Land with Robert.  He didn’t even get mad when I won, so that’s good.  But he won a few games as well.  Ryan grilled steaks for dinner and we had mashed taters, corn on the cob, and baked beans with them.  It was a really yummy dinner.  Robert got a nice long bath this evening and I got some stitching done while we watched TV.

Today’s high:  84
Current:  65

Mystery 10K and a Birthday Party

The Mystery 10K was held on post this morning.  Here’s my race report:

What a great race even though it was .33 miles short. It was the Mystery 10K because we didn’t know the route until we ran it this morning. It went through parts of Ft. Huachuca that I’ve never been on, and it was beautiful scenery!! Some of the race was on dirt/gravel roads, but I’ve certainly run on MUCH worse. I ran with a couple of friends from work, and it was nice having someone to run with! There were some killer hills on the course, but I ran the whole way – except for walking the water stops, but in my book, that doesn’t count as walking during the race. The finish line was IN the gym, which was kind of interesting, but it just added to the mystery of the event.  The weather was beautiful. I could have taken a little bit cooler, but it wasn’t bad. And the humidity wasn’t that bad either. The course was a bit short, but seems to be the norm for races on post. I should fill out a comment card and let them know.  I finished the 5.87 miles (a true 10K is 6.2) in 1:08:48, an 11:43 pace.  I met an online running friend at the race – always nice to put a face with a name!  He actually finished 2 overall male civilian and 7th overall (they give out awards for the first three finishers male/female military and male/female civilian).  I had a great run and ran with KC and our First Sergeant.  It was Top’s first 10K and he did great!

After the race, the three of us headed to the Legion for breakfast and Ryan and Robert met us there.  We had a great time.  Then it was home for a shower for me.  After my shower, I took my laptop out in the garage and sat and did e-mail and stuff while Robert played with his cars out in the driveway.  Shortly after noon, we headed to Target to get some stuff to put in the goodie bags for Robert’s birthday party and then to the grocery store to pick up the cake.  And then it was over to Peter Piper Pizza where we had Robert’s party.  He had two friends show up and the three of them had a great time!!  We all had lots of pizza and cake and ice cream, and Robert got a monster truck and Hot Wheels cars from his friends.  After the party, we headed home to relax for a while, but then we went to Best Buy to get Robert’s presents from us.  I got the movie Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs for him and Ryan let him pick out a Wii game.  Then we headed home and the guys tried out the new game for a while before we settled in for family movie night and we watched the new (although it’s been out for a while – we’ve never seen it) movie.  I got quite a bit of stitching done this evening as well.

Ryan and I just finished folding clothes and his suitcase is mostly packed and ready for his departure on Monday.  Now I need to finish up on here and get to bed.

Today’s high:  80
Current:  68

And before I go, I’ll leave you with a few pictures from Robert’s party.

Robert and his soccer cake

Monster Truck

Hot Wheels cars

Group hug with his friends before everyone left (girl on the left, Robert in the middle, boy on the right)

Playing Cards at PT

I started the morning by "playing cards" with the 1st Trimester & Postpartum Soldiers. The guy that I’m replacing as Exercise Leader for the 1T & PP Soldiers had to give a Soldier a PT test this morning, so he left me in charge of them.  Each red card was push ups and each black card was some form of ab work. I pulled all the face cards out, so it was just A (1) through 10. We did 110 push ups and 110 "ab somethings". It was a good workout, and then we headed to the track for 6 laps.  What a great way to start my day!  Some of the Soldiers complained about the workout, but it was a good workout and it’ll only help them get back in shape and ready for their PT tests.  I’ll probably break out the cards every other week or so.

After shower/change/breakfast/pack lunch, I headed back to work for formation.  After formation we were able to have a short (only an hour) Brass Band rehearsal.  That was nice – it’s been a while.  We had an early lunch today due to scheduled training starting at 1200.  I wasn’t really hungry yet, since it was an hour earlier than normal, but I knew if I didn’t eat, I’d be really hungry later when I wouldn’t be able to eat.  So I ate.  Shortly before noon, I headed to the electronic weapon trainer building to sign for the place and get everything set up.  Yes, I was in charge again.  There was only 1 other operator beside myself, so it made for a really long afternoon.  It was a full band training event, so just about everyone in the unit went through.  We had 4 firing orders and each one had at least one person that needed to go again because they didn’t score well enough the first time.  So I ran 4 firing orders and the other Soldier ran 4 firing orders.  But even if you’re not running the program, you’re watching for Soldiers that need help, etc.  But when the afternoon was done, everyone had gotten a qualifying score and no one had to fire more than 2 times.

I headed back to the band hall for a little while after I was done with the training, but I didn’t really get much done as I was pretty tired.  I took care of a few small things, but everything else can wait until tomorrow.  I stopped and picked Robert up on my way home and when we got home, Ryan made macaroni & cheese for dinner.  It’s always nice when I don’t have to cook at the end of a long day.  He headed out right after we ate as he had a Legion meeting tonight and had to be there early.  Robert read to me after dinner (his homework from school is to read 15-20 minutes daily and I have to mark what book he read on his reading log) and then he played Wii for a little while before we left for the church.  Choir practice started back up this evening!!  Robert was very well-behaved as always there.  Rehearsal went well and it’s good to be singing again.  Once home, I got Robert off to bed and then did just a little bit of crocheting – enough to say that I did something today.

Today’s high:  81
Current:  72

Seemed like a long day

Today seemed like a long day.  I got to sleep in and that was nice, but I slept a bit too long and didn’t get Robert to Sunday School.  We did go to church at 1100, though.  The sweet older gentleman that was sitting in front of us today was a bit embarrassed by a comment he made during the passing of the peace.  He said "You should join the choir.  You have a beautiful voice."  I thanked him and told him that I did sing with the choir.  After the service he came over to me and gave me a hug and told me he was so embarrassed by his comment.  I told him it was ok – I "hide" in the second row, so he may not have noticed me.

After the service is when the day seemed long.  We had already done our grocery shopping yesterday, so we didn’t have to do that, and when we got home, we didn’t have a NASCAR race to watch as the race had been on last night.  The guys played Wii for a while and I got a little extra stitching in with the extra time.  And I made meatloaf for a mid-afternoon dinner.  I made my weekly phone call home to Mom & Dad and we talked for almost an hour again and then Ryan and I got the laundry folded from a few days ago when I washed it.  After Robert was in bed, I stitched some more.

Today’s high:  90
Current:  77

Hummingbird Triathlon

This morning I was up at 0400 to get ready for the Hummingbird Triathlon.  I rode my bike the mile and a third to The Cove and got my transition area set up.  Then I went and got my race number marked on my arm.  I visited with a few friends and met some new ones.  I had a while to wait before my turn in the pool as I was in the 4th heat.  They started with the slowest swimmers first.  Ryan and Robert came to watch me, and Ryan was able to get my Garmin started right at the beginning of the swim so I was able to get all my splits.

800 Yard Swim – 15:49:  The water was the perfect temperature and they actually had a lap counter for each swimmer. Mine did really well, and got the orange square in the water in plenty of time for me to see it and know I was coming up on my last lap. I took almost a minute and a half off my swim time since last tri, and that’s with hardly any training. I had a bit of trouble getting out of the pool. It was a pretty high wall and no toe holds underwater. My counter helped me get out, so that was nice.

T1 – 4:25:  I took 30 seconds off T1 from my first tri last month, so that was good.  I still had a little bit of trouble getting into my bike shorts, but I was also trying to be careful of my knee (which, btw, didn’t hurt in the pool at all).  The bike racks were a bit close together and I had a little bit of trouble getting my bike out, even though I was right on the end.

13 Mile Bike – 1:05:39:  This was a very well-marked course. It wasn’t bad despite having to cross a little bit of road construction and then the steady uphill climb all the way back to the transition area. It was an out-and-back course, so with the hill, it was easy heading out, so that was nice.  Crossing intersections was a piece of cake with all the law enforcement officials they had out on the course. I thanked as many of them as I could for being out there.  I still need to work on my cycling more, and that will take time off.

T2 – 1:36: I took 30 seconds off this transition as well.  I think the hardest part was racking my bike.  The guy next to me must have just thrown his bike on the rack and I had to move it to make room for my bike.  I mean my transition towel and backpack and all my stuff were right there, obviously there was a bike there at one point as well.  A little bit of common courtesy goes a long way, even if you’re in a hurry cuz you’re in a race.

5K Run – 33:06: Great run! It was mostly flat, so that was nice after the bike ride. I only walked at the 2 water stops! I had a pretty steady pace for the most part. The sun came out about the second half and then it started getting really hot. The overcast-ness was nice while it lasted.  It was sort of an out-and-back course – it went out, made a loop at the end, and then back along the same way.  A police car that was sitting in a parking lot must have caught a speeder go by or something, because all of a sudden, he flipped his lights and siren on and nearly scared the crap out of me.  I wasn’t but maybe 10 feet past the driveway when he came flying out after a car.  Talk about an adrenaline rush! 

Total time – 2:00:37:  Overall, it was a really good race – TONS of volunteers and a great course other than the road construction in a few places on the bike route.  But they didn’t use timing chips, so without my Garmin, I wouldn’t have had any splits.  For as much as we paid for the race, you’d think they could have gotten timing chips and enough timing mats to get everyone’s splits.  But whatever.  It nice having my guys there to cheer for me!  And Robert got to play on the playground for a while while I was out on my bike.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing.  After we got home (we put my bike in the van and I rode home with my guys), Ryan headed out to Tombstone for a 40 & 8 event and I got a shower, breakfast, and a nap.  I slept for about an hour or so.  In the early evening, we went out to post and got our grocery shopping for the week taken care of at the Commissary.  Things are so much less expensive out there and we’re going to start being regulars there again instead of the grocery store in town.  When we got home, I got the groceries put away and then made dinner.  After dinner was cleaned up, I got some stitching done.

Today’s high:  88
Current:  72

OUCH!

We ran again at PPPT (pregnancy/postpartum PT), and I was running with one of the postpartum Soldiers.  She had her baby via c-section SEVEN weeks ago, and she ran over a mile before she had to walk!  Crazy, I tell you.  We went 2 miles total.  On our way back, the sidewalk we were running on decided it didn’t like me running on it and pushed me off.  I fell and scraped my knee up pretty good.  It was bleeding, but not running down my leg, so I just went back to running.  But not on the sidewalk.  I cleaned it good with hydrogen peroxide (OUCH!!) and then put a big band-aid on it and finished getting ready for work.  At formation this morning, we found out we were having another 100% urinalysis.  Yay fun.  We just had one last week.   I ended up being one of the female observers, which require 3 extra trips down and up the stairs – not easy with my knee banged up.  But I managed.

We had a Hail & Farewell luncheon at Golden Corral for lunch again, and I got to ride with a couple of the other guys in the band that ride motorcycles.  Yes, I took the Harley to work today!!!  It was fun riding with them and lunch was ok.  It would have been better if we were done for the day after lunch.  But we had to go back for Chief’s ceremonial music rehearsal that didn’t happen yesterday morning.  It wasn’t very long, so that was good and then we did building clean ups and I took care of a few admin things before heading home.  Ryan left for the Legion a little while after I got home – he was helping cook dinner again tonight.  A little after 4 I went and picked up my race packet for tomorrow’s triathlon and then went and picked Robert up.  I took him to McDonald’s for dinner since he’s gotten green dots at school for 11 out of 13 days of school so far.  Green dots means that he didn’t have any behavior problems.  He got 2 yellow dots, but he said he won’t ever get a red dot.  After we ate, we went to the grocery store and got a cake ordered for his birthday party next Saturday and then went and drove the bike course for the race in the morning.  Then we got home and I finished up laundry.  Once it was Robert’s bedtime, I got him to bed and then stitched for a while.

I’m heading to bed now.  My alarm is set for 0400.

Today’s high:  91
Current:  82

Between allergies and getting up early. . . Ugh!

Sorry that I haven’t written all week.  I’ve been going to be bed around 9:30 each night, but that’s because I’ve been getting up at 0500 every morning, and between that and my allergies kicking me in the face, life has been interesting.

Monday morning started my 3 1/2 month rotation of leading the pregnancy and postpartum PT program.  The first 2 weeks are kind of shadowing the current Exercise Leaders (EL) and getting to know the Soldiers and having them get to know you.  I’ll primarily be working with the first trimester and postpartum Soldiers – it makes sense since I’m a runner and they mostly run three days a  week.  So Monday we went on a little over a 2 mile run and Wednesday was a PT test for the postpartum Soldiers that desired to take it.  They only do PT Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Work has been.   I’ve gotten a lot of admin work done, and a few rehearsals as well.  The tuba player from the Brass Quintet is on leave right now (his dad had open heart surgery, so he went home to be with family for a while), so my tuba player from the Brass Band has been filling in in BQ.  We can’t rehearse Brass Band if we’re missing our tuba player (or our drummer – any other missing instrument doesn’t kill rehearsal).  I’ve gotten some stitching done at lunch, and I’ve gone through a whole box of kleenex that AK had on her desk.  She my MPT Leader and shop supervisor for Admin now.  She’s really nice.  

I’ve finally managed to start cooking dinner at home again, after way too many nights in a row of eating out.  Yesterday was a crock pot experiment and it got two thumbs up from both of my guys!!  It’s a definite do-over!  I browned some stew beef that I had and put it in the crock pot with 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup (that I had accidentally bought at the store – they were mixed in with the tomato soup that I thought I was buying), some worstershire sauce, some onion powder, some garlic powder, and some Mrs. Dash’s Southwestern Chipotle seasoning.  And then I made up some brown rice and baked some biscuits.  It was an awesome dinner!!  Tonight was spaghetti, another favorite around here.

Today’s high:  91
Current:  80

Another Sunday

Ryan left early this morning (well, not early-early, but earlier than Robert and I did) for a 6+ hour bike ride with some of the guys from the American Legion Riders.  I brought Robert to Sunday School and then came home and got a load of laundry done before going back for Church.  The service was good, and then after the service, a bunch of choir members (maybe 20 or so) went to a care facility to sing "The Lord Bless You and Keep You" for our former director who is suffering from late stage cancer.  Boy did her face light up when "her" choir walked in her room!  We sang for her and said the Lord’s Prayer.  Her son was very thankful for us caring so much.  After Robert and I got back to the church (we rode with several other choir members), we headed to the gas station and grocery store.  We got our groceries for the week and then headed home.  We watched a few movies this afternoon, including "Surf’s Up" which I’ve never seen before.  I got some stitching done and I made my weekly phone call home to mom and dad.  Once Ryan got home, we headed to Dairy Queen for dinner.  Ryan had chili cheese dogs and Robert and I had ice cream.

Today’s high:  93 (record is 94)
Current:  77

Friday the 13th!!!!

What a good day today!  This morning went by quickly at work.  We had a ceremonial music rehearsal for a little over an hour and then we did some updates on forms for our Record of Emergency Data and our Servicemembers Group Life Insurance – updating beneficiaries and stuff.  Of course, not everyone had updates, but there were a lot that did.  And then it was time to clean the building and be done for the day!  I had a little bit of admin stuff to take care of and I didn’t leave until around noon, but that’s ok.  I headed to the pool and swam 1100 meters, which included 800 m in 17:47!  It was a really good workout and my new goggles are awesome!!!  Not only did my eyes not hurt after I was done, but they weren’t even red from the chlorine.  Woohoo!  If you’re wondering, I have Aqua Sphere Lady Kaiman goggles.  They are so easy to adjust and they’re really comfy.  After my swim, I registered for the Mystery 10K on post – a week after my triathlon.  And it’s free for Active Duty, so even better!  Then it was home to make a tuna w/ salsa sandwich for lunch.  YUM!  And then I went and got a manicure and pedicure.  I picked Robert up from Child Time and Ryan took him next door to jump on our neighbor’s trampoline for a while.  He sure loves that – and our neighbor is a friend of ours, and said we’re welcome to go over anytime.  We had chicken nuggets and mashed taters for supper and then had a relaxing evening watching the new Disney movie, "Den Brother."  We let Robert stay up late to watch it, and in return he said he’d take a nap tomorrow.  I got some stitching done – and some unstitching (called "frogging") as well.  I discovered a section I had stitched previously was one stitch off.  Not fun.  Off to bed now.

Today’s high:  91
Current:  80

Bleh. Allergies suck.

Yesterday was a miserable day at work.  It was crazy again, almost Monday-like, and to make matters worse, my allergies were kicking my butt.  I must have used a half a box of kleenex during the day, and it’s really hard to concentrate on work when you feel miserable – as I found out this morning when I was looking over one of the things I had done yesterday.  I had updated our alert roster, and in the process of making required changes, I managed to have one Soldier listed twice and one completely missing.  So I fixed that and reprinted the 45 copies that I need.  Sorry for killing the extra trees. . .  Today was a lot calmer than yesterday – still busy but at least I wasn’t blowing my nose every two seconds.  We had drill band this afternoon, and I just observed – mainly our drum major-in-training since I’m training him, but the band as a whole as well.  Drum major-in-training is doing really well, and will definitely be ready for his debut at a mid-October parade.  After drill band was done, I finished up a couple of other things and then headed home for the day.  I picked Robert up and we came home for a relaxing evening.  After he was in bed, I crocheted for a while and finished the edging on a blanket that AK knit and asked me to do the crochet edging for her since she doesn’t crochet.

Today’s high:  91
Current:  79