What Toddlers Do

Ack! I never have time to post these days.

I am getting ready to go "back to school", which in our house means me cajoling, berating, tricking or ordering my kids to do some learning. Actually, a lot of learning time is fun, it's just hard to come off the summer schedule with nothing to do, to a schedule where there is lots to do.

My little one, Marie, came to my room in the middle of the night last night and said she was tired. In her language that means, "tired of being in bed". Then she said her legs hurt. My compassionate answer was, "I'm sorry your legs hurt. Go back to bed." The supercalafragelistik thing is that she went! You can say what you want about that girl, she is a super sleeper.

Here are a few choice things Marie did over the last week to regail you:

- drew on my bed with dry erase markers
- (somehow?) got ahold of a container of popcorn kernals and dispersed them around the living room
- kissed me all over my face
- said "I want to sit on your wap" while I was typing this (and proceeded to do so)
- smelled deliciously babylike
- after I had cleaned up various toys, putting their many small parts in a box on the stairs (stupid me), she proceeded to spill them all out and play with them again
- when I asked her to do something, said "Yes your highness" (Star Wars influence?)
- when I was getting my Ron Paul fix on the computer, she came up and said "Won Pauw! I wove Won Pauw!"
- gave me butterfly kisses
- entered my room when I was dead asleep, around 6:30am, and shouted "Mom! It's 38 O'clock!"
- messed up just about every thing I cleaned up, about 1/2 hour later
- smooshed cheese all over the counter
- told all and sundry (including strangers) about her various boo boos
- out of the blue said, "Mama, I love you!"

Whew! Toddlers are hard work. I always say, "It's a good thing God made babies so cute, or else we'd throw them out the window!"

Ode to Eating Out

Oh.....eating out!
The luxury. The decadence.
Someone else serving ME.
Complex flavors and new taste sensations tickle my taste buds
Choices upon choices to tempt me!
No dishes to wash.
No counters to wipe.
No floor to sweep.
Hallelujah!

My prowess as a poet notwithstanding, I am very excited about eating out. Joe and I are kicking around the idea of starting a new blog: Coastside Eats. Loosely based on the blog of one of his work buddies http://greasepig.com/henrys/ the idea is this:

1. Eat at our favorite restaurants on the coast (Pacifica to Pescadero) as much possible (ordering different items each time).
2. Take pictures of our dishes (before we eat) and post on blog
3. Write about the food, service, ambiance...etc. on our blog

An exciting endeavor with multiple benefits: marital togetherness, eating out lots, fun, new food, good old standbyes and hopefully recognition of deserving restauranteurs. The only downside will be the coin outlay. But, it's all for the cause, right?

Stay tuned......

I'm a Paulite

Ron Paul's position in the Republican party's straw polls:

Iowa 5th place
Illinois 3rd place
Alabama 1st place
New Hampshire 1st place

Hmm....do I see a trend?

OK, OK...so the straw polls are fundraisers for the republican party and in many ways meaningless. OK, so most candidates don't even attend them. STILL...it's SOMETHING!

I heard Dr. Paul on NPR's "Wait! Wait! Don't tell me..." today. What a treat. He is so awesome. Even the smarmy host couldn't make him sound bad. He had great answers to all the questions and won the quiz - he rocks.

Why am I so drawn, even politically enamored of the Paul campaign? I think it is because for the first time in my life my ideology has a voice on the big stage. Not only that, but Dr. Paul is so articulate, smart, humble and funny. He doesn't engage in ad hominim attacks on his rivals. How refreshing is that? It is the first time I have found a politician who is honest, walks his talk and believes what I believe.

I wonder what his movement will become after the campaign. Because this is about more that Ron Paul. He'll never get enough media coverage to become known enough to even get close to winning. But the grassroots movement behind his campaign will not (I HOPE!) go away. It is about restoring the Constitution and reigning in big government. Will it transfer to the libertarian party? Will it create another party? I don't know.

All I know is I'm going tomorrow to San Francisco to a MeetUp group. We're going to paint stencil posters to hang over freeways for the Ron Paul Revolution. Cool. And in a few weeks I'm sitting at a Ron Paul table at the SF farmers market. I'm tryin.......

I just felt like it

most politicians make me feel sick
fundraisers, polls and propaganda, Ew!
pretend to be serving, in reality stealing
most of the country they screw

but this year I found one guy who is real
"Restore the Constitution" is his call
true freedom and liberty are his deal
that's why I'm voting for Ron Paul.

It's Magic!

Do you have a magic house like mine?

When you leave your cereal bowl or dinner plates on the counter, does some mysterious force come and put them in the dishwasher? Do the clothes you left on the floor yesterday magically find their way to the hamper? Are the toys left strewn around the house unnaccountably put back in their places?

It must be magic! What other possible explanation could there be?

Sixth out of Six!

Woohooo!

Yesterday I raced in my 5th sprint triathlon, the Sandman in Aptos. It is the toughest of my meager season with a 1/2 mile swim, 15 mile ride (with some decent hills I might add) and a 4 1/2 mile run on the beach.

I arrived with family in tow at an ungodly hour in the morning (this time we ALL had to wake up at 5:30am). Found a spot for my bike in the transition area, stood in several lines to register and get number written all over me (they write you age on the back of your calf!) Back in transition I slithered into my wetsuit after applying various creams and gels to my body. Then it was off to the water for the start.

As I was walking over I chatted with a lady who shared that "I use these triathlons as training". I correctly drew the conclusion that she does Ironman Tris. I had met someone like that at my first triathlon, who was racing 5 weeks after giving birth. Well, it turns out it was the same woman! And she just had another baby - 6 weeks ago. "I do one triathlon in between each baby". The next one will be her third. You can imagine what it does for my ego when my toughest tri is someone else's (who just gave birth) "training". Ugh.

But I must say the calibre of athletes at the Sandman is much higher than at the Tri4Fun. Which, of course, makes it harder for me. PLUS this year they did not separate men and women. We all started together, by age group. Oh, yea. I wondered if male elbows and feet would hurt as much as females'.

The swim: I get in before the start to acclamate my heart and breathing to the shockingly (you can't help but scream "Woo! Woo!" after you go under) cold ocean water. After warming up a bit I get out and stand next to the far flag. I plan once again to use my supreme strategy of starting from the side and swiming a diagonal line to the first bouy, hopefully passing many slowpokes who crowd in to a straight line to the bouy. It was a long swim! I can't tell how I did because Joe couldn't get the kids over to where we come out in time. You can't see much when you are in the water. I think I did OK. I know I passed a few of the folks in the wave before me, but I couldn't tell where I was compared to my own wave.

The ride: After a hectic transition - trying to put socks on wet feet when you are rushing and can't sit down is, let's say, challenging. I clipped on my tri belt with my number - 120 - off I went. The thing I don't like about this ride is that it starts out going up. And up. And up. It is about 8-9 miles up (not super steep, just steady), 2-3 miles zipping down hills (aaaaahh....) and a few more rolly, polly ups and downs at the end.

Now, I thought I was in decent shape. But you should see the calves of the many, many people who passed me! These things are like bricks. Like moulded.....marble! Mine on the other hand are more like moulded....marshmellows. I did the best I could, but I think (here is my theory) that I did so well in the swim that I was up in the group of people who are actually triathletes. So they just whiz past me on the ride. Eventually I settled in between a young man from the first wave and another woman from my wave. When I jumped off my bike at the end, I couldn't feel my toes and my legs were wobbly.

The run: Shoes are on and I'm running down to the beach again. Along the way I slurp down some disgusting chocolate flavored gel stuff that is supposed to give me more energy. Yuck. I handed the wrapper to two young guys standing on the beach - they looked confused.

The two highlights of the day were seeing my kids and hubby on my way out and back from the run. Rose was in the water, jumping up and down, screaming, "Maamaa! Maamaa!" Marie looked on in confusion. Richard stood there acting cool. And Joe cheered me on, "You're doing great! Keep going!" That was fun.

By this point I was really, really, really tired. So I decided to run at a pace at which I could still breath rhythmically and didn't hurt too much. Again, I was passed by a few folks, but not quite as much. Now, you must understand that I can check out the age of everyone who passes me. If a youngster (under 35) passes me, I feel OK because they started five minutes before I did and I must've passed them somewhere before. And I was actually inspired when the 52, 53, 55 year old women passed me - I had a five minute lead on them. But, who knows, maybe that will be me someday. I hope so.

So I ran. The beach was good - mostly hard packed and flat. We run two miles out, up the bluffs and through a camping area, back down and two miles back on the beach. The stairs up the bluffs were hell, as usual. The run back on the beach I got into a pretty good rhythm, stretching my legs and pumping my arms. It felt OK. I don't think that chocolate stuff kicked in until I was almost done.

At the end, Rose ran with me for about 50 yards. That was cool, except that she was getting in front of (yet another) person who was trying to pass me, and then getting in front of me. But she dropped off I ran into the finish alone and exhausted and triumphant. My time was almost 20 minutes faster than last year! 2:04! Even I was impressed. The whole event felt much harder to me, but maybe that's because I was going faster!

Indulging in coffee, good muffins and berries after an athletic event is pretty sweet. I stole some for my kids and we munched them on the boardwalk. We even got to see dolphins frolicking in the ocean - really spinning and flipping and everything! Everyone was going, "Ooohhh! Aaaahhhh!" at the dolphins.

On the way out, I thought I'd just take a glance at the time sheets to see where I ended up. Names are listed be finishing time, so I looked down, and down, and down. And there I was! Sue Lockyer, 2:04, 6/6. That's right. Sixth out of six people in my age group (which I assume as 35-40 years old). My inner competitor felt sad. But oh well, I figure that triathletes probably get better with age, and the older I get the more competition there will be. Hopefully I will get better too!

Infidel

I am reading this book called Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

It is really freaking me out. It is the story of a Somali girl who grows up dealing with clan customs (including female genital mutilation - ugh!), clan warfare, civil war, fundamentalist Islam. She lives in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Ethiopia and finally Holland. In all those countries (including Holland!) she chronicles the effect of Islam upon her soul, sexuality, family, ideas and life in general. It is not good.

I had nightmares last night after reading it. Basically she is saying that Islam is NOT a peaceful religion - that is just an interpretation by people who don't know. She tells her story to show that Islam is completely anti any kind of freedom (intellectual, spiritual, political not to mention sexual). Her strongest case is, of course, that Muslim girls and women are routinely beaten and even killed, all sanctioned by the Koran. There are no individual rights in Islam. It is all about submission, slavery to Allah.

Yikes!!

Now, I haven't read the Koran and I strongly believe that you can't just take other people's opinion in these matters. But man, I don't WANT to read it. I'm still trying to read through the Bible. HOWEVER, shouldn't we all want to understand better the movement that has the Western world in its cross hairs?

So, now my goal is to reconcile my belief that America's interventionist policies in the Middle East have led to the current conflict, with a deep abhorrance of a moral system that violates individual rights and liberty. Ali says that the Muslims really do want to convert the entire world. What are we supposed to do with that?

Aside from using US force (which I don't think we should), how can we combat a mindset that systematically tortures, cages and abuses women? Double yikes!

Reading Dickens' David Copperfield was a lot easier and much more fun (though perhaps not as relevant? I suppose one could argue either way.)

Here's to summer reading.