Halling Go To Alaska

Sunday - 1/23 Sweet Pea left her jacket on the floor.  I asked her to hang it up. She hung it here.  Not exactly what I was expecting, but she did what I asked.  *mental note: be more specific* Monday 1/24   This is a lot of work.  I completed most of it on my own.  It took 13-14 hours between Monday *and* Tuesday to finish it.  The good part? Beaucoup bucks. Tuesday 1/25 My two youngest in the tree in my parents' back yard. Wednesday 1/26 I was out for the evening and came home to this.  Two kitties in the window.  Thursday 1/27 OMG! Fractions are hard.  They tested my patience this week.   Well fractions didn't.  The 10yo learning them did.  Friday 1/28 After the week of fractions I needed this drink.  Sweet Tea Vodka, baby! Saturday 1/29 Was playing with my camera.  This was taken in manual mode.  So proud of myself for spending the time messing with it all. 

Happy.   Winter coating my new sticker makes me happy. This little owl and the patience he inspires makes me happy. This floor? That belongs to my 10yo.  Who cleaned her room and found this floor... without being asked makes me extremely happy. Check out Beth's place for more things that make people happy!

Sunday 1/16 The gymnast's beam routine.  It was one of her best...until she lost her balance during her dismount. Monday 1/17 It was a beautiful day for a hike - mid 60s in January.  Unheard of.   Tuesday 1/18 We now have three of these in the house.  Not sure I'm thrilled about it. Wednesday 1/19 Loved the clouds with the sun brightly shining against the blue skies.  Thursday 1/20 Sidewalk chalk that was left in the driveway.  I drove over it. :) Friday 1/21 This is a still frame of the dog I grew up with - Sparky.  The girls & I spent the evening w/my parents watching old 8-mm movies from my childhood.  Saturday 1/22 Can you say yum?  This is their latest flavor. 

I wrote a little bloggy piece for the Sisterhood.   Check it out!

I like circles.  I mean how can you not? No sharp points or harsh angles.  Just smooth, beautiful, roundness.  Like chubby baby cheeks.  Sadly, I had no chubby baby cheeks available to me to take pictures of.  So you're stuck with these.  I will also admit that all of these pictures were taken with instagram on my phone.  I puffy heart instagram. Clementines aka cuties.  We eat a lot of cuties in our house. I'm excited to see what everyone else found this week! Go check out Beth's place and find out.

My life seems to be in limbo right now...and then again it's also status quo.  It's amazing to me how life just keeps going day after day after day.  It's not going to stop if I don't get the dishes washed.  It's not going to stop because I think my kids are growing up too fast.  It just keeps going. But this waiting?  To find out if our life is going to drastically change? It's killing me.  And I can only imagine how much it is killing T.  See, we are struggling right now in the reality we are facing with T's current job.  This October he will have been at this job for 5 years.  Five years is the point in which you are considered "vested" with the state retirement system.  Essentially after 5 years any money you've socked away in their system is now there forever...until you are able to draw from it.  At this point?  There is no way he will hit 20 years with the state.  The master's degree he's working on right now will g...

Sunday 1/9/11 The face of a marathoner! Monday - 1/10/11 Epcot at night! Tuesday 1/11/11 It's a crappy phone picture, but out our plane window, we saw another plane. Wednesday 1/12/11 My new bumper sticker.  Had to wash the area on my truck so I could put it on.  Thursday 1/13/11 Double rainbow.  It was breath-taking.  Sorta felt like that guy on the youtube video. Friday 1/14/11 Beautiful sunset out my front door.  Saturday 1/15/11 Do you see the collie dog face in the clouds?  Because that's all I can see. 

I think this blog has turned into a photo blog.  I look back on most of my posts and the majority of them are my weekly pictures or  You Capture  posts.  All my training stuff has moved over to my running blog .  It's a little sad. But I'm not feeling inspired to come up with fun things to write about here.  I don't feel inspiring or interesting unless I'm doing some awesome training run (or bitching about how crappy the last one was), and now that I'm not officially training for anything, I feel boring and a little lost. So don't leave me.  I'll be back to writing something interesting one day.

Last weekend, as you may have heard, I was in Orlando with the husband.  We were meeting up with Brooke and ChristieO and Audrey.  For our pre-race lunch meal we went to this awesome buffet place called Sweet Tomatoes.  ChristieO recommended it as yummy and healthy and with lots of options for only about $10 a person.  I was sold.  One of Christie's tri-buddies was with us as she was running the marathon too.  Because Sweet Tomatoes is awesome, it was a little busy for the late lunch we were having.  We ended up finding one booth and one table.  The booth held all the boys (the husbands) and the table held us ladies. So, of course, because 4/5 of us are mothers we were swapping stories of the "joys" of motherhood and sharing pictures we had on our phones.  I honestly don't even remember what the specifics were, but halfway through our stories Brooke very purposefully and quickly reached over, grabbed her purse, and was looking at something....

I was quite excited about this challenge.  Since I was going to be at Disney World this past weekend (for a little thing called a marathon ), I figured there would be lots of fun doorways to capture.  I will admit that I forgot about the challenge for most of the day we spent at Epcot, but remembered in time to take these. This is in Morocco. England Germany And one of the entrances to the hotel we stayed at.   Head over to   Beth' s to see what other doorways were captured this week. 

Saturday - 1/1 Beki made her first Build-A-Bear!  Yes, I'm a bad influence. Sunday - 1/2 Me and Beki in my front yard right before she and her fam left.  It was great to see her again.  Monday 1/3 "Hopes and Wishes, Smiles and Dreams" This is my attempted outlook for the year.  Tuesday 1/4 Yes, this is gross.  I had ear candling done for the first time.  This was the result of one ear.  Eww. Wednesday 1/5 The frosty/snowy pine tree in my front yard. Thursday 1/6 Sweet Pea coloring pictures on the couch.  Friday 1/7 T and I on the road to the airport headed for Disney! Saturday 1/8 I got to have breakfast with these ladies!  Pretty dang lucky if you ask me.

I posted my long-winded (though it could have been longer) race report over on the running blog. Here's the direct link. http://runninginagirlsworld.wordpress.com/2011/01/09/the-disney-marathon-race-recap/ Thank you to everyone who "watched" and cheered Brooke, ChristieO and I on. I can't explain or describe to you how much it meant knowing that you were all behind us/me. It was an emotional day that was made so much more special because of all of YOU. Thank you. (Though those words hardly do the sentiment justice.) - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My oldest two on the ferris wheel in Scheel's.  I love where I live. I'm in love with him.  This was a day that I remember fondly and with tears of happiness RIP, Gracie. You're missed.  The year my middle girl became a swimmer. My Sweet Pea The first time in a long time a picture was taken of  my parents, brother and I. The gymnast Again. Love where I live. My sweet Sass. Simplicity of snow. Our first Christmas morning posed shot.