What can I say, letting out frustration on Monday helped me I think.  I also got scolded by my friends.  So lesson of the week, even though I ran over 11 miles last weekend…I may not necessary see the results for a few days.  It is true. I just have to remember that.

So what did we do this week?  Well on Sunday morning I ran 3 miles (after doing the 10K on Saturday). Sunday afternoon we babysat Evelyn for a few hours while Greg and Celeste went to the play Wicked.  We took Evelyn to Edinbourgh Park, an indoor playground. It was cool. Afterwards when they came home we went out for dinner.  I was so stuffed I dragged Eric out on a 2 mile walk. 

The rest of the week was pretty boring. Monday I biked 4 miles on a stationary bike…I know shocking! I got sick of riding it after 10 minutes and moved to the elliptical.  I’m a little annoyed…there are 5 TVs in the workout room and to hear the sound you have to tune your radio to a certain frequency.  Well my radio player only works for one TV and it is set to Spanish!  You know how hard it is to listen to Two and a Half Men in Spanish.  ARGH! 

Tuesday was a volleyball doubleheader again. This time we had 5 players!  Woo Hoo! We won some games too. We have a new player that joined us this week.  It worked out great and she is planning on joining team.  Yippy!

Wednesday morning is my “official” weigh in day and I was down 11.8 pounds…I’m rounding that up to 12 pounds. YAY ME!  One problem with being so big is that 12 pounds doesn’t really feel any different.  Think about this. I lost 80 pounds in 2008.  The smallest size I wore was 18.  Well I was bad and went off the no fat diet (that I was only on because of gallbladder problems) and gained 40 pounds back after surgery.  I know, shame on me.  Anyways…40 pounds later and I’m only one size larger…20.  So for me, I had to lose 40 pounds to get down one size…it sucks.  After work I dragged Eric to swimming. I did 3/4 mile again.  I had to make it worthwhile since the pool was closed Friday.

Thursday is my off day…but I still have band practice so it really isn’t an off night.  We had elections for officers and section leaders and I am Low Brass section leader again.  Don’t get too excited… low brass people don’t want the extra responsibility so I basically have to do it.

Like I said early, the pool was closed Friday. :(  I had planned a bike ride to DQ for dinner and then biking home but it was too cold and rainy.  I didn’t make Eric suffer too much for his dinner…I just made him go workout at the community center. I biked on the stationary bike…AGAIN!  I did about 7.75 miles in 35 minutes. After we went up to Eden Prairie to some shopping and dinner.

Saturday has turned into my long run day. Swirl woke me up a little before 8 and pulled my butt out of bed and went for a run. It was 36 degrees and sprinkling.  The old me would have been forget this, I’m going to get donuts.  But nope, I went out in the cold and wet morning and ran 5.5 miles.  My time was 30 seconds faster than last week’s pace. Also, I ran the entire mile 3.  Mile 1 and 2 I did the run/walk shuffle but mile 3 was all running.  For mile 4 and 5, I went back to the run/walk shuffle. But I did mostly running so that is progress. 

After the run, Eric and I went to Wisconsin for the weekend. We meet Mike and mom at the bar for some pizza.  I did some things around the house for mom and we went to LaCrosse to do some shopping.  We finally got to Ed Sullivan’s for dinner.  It has been years since I last ate there. It was delicious. 

Today I went for another 3 mile run…man there are hills in Arcadia…I’m not used to hills.  It was a tough run and it was colder than yesterday’s run…it was so cold our car had frost on it and I could see my breath…but I did it. On the way home we went through Owatonna (because it is so on our way?!) to be with Abbie for the closing ceremony of her TEC Retreat…we were her pseudo parents as DJ had to work.  It was…interesting…Hugging and swaying…I’m not much of a hugger or swayer…or singing those Pop Christian songs…give me Amazing Grace or How Great Thou Art PLEASE!

Here is training update:
Something really shocking is going on here. So far in the month of October I have run/walk shuffled almost 28 miles and it is only the 20th.  I have a chance to make this month the most miles run. I’m only 7 miles away.  August 2012 I did 35.66.  But that was a lot of short 2 mile runs/walks for the “Get Fit Challenge” at work. (But in September 2012 I only did 6 miles)

Mileage:

Week 5  Swim = .75 miles   Bike = 11.75 miles  Run/Elliptical = 12.5 miles   Total =  25 miles

Well this weekend was the annual Corn Maze weekend.  Every year for as far as I can remember my family has come up for the Sever’s Corn Maze.  It is tradition.  So this year Mom, Mike, Nancy, Danielle, Brady, Eric and I went through the maze (well not mom), we saw a skunk, a possum, a woodchuck, a fox and Jared Allen in the animal show.  Seriously…we saw Jared Allen!  We fed goats in the petting zoo area and jumped around in shelled corn. Again I have corn all over the house.

Jared Allen!

 After the corn maze Mike, Mom, Nancy, Eric and I went to Eden Prairie for lunch and Costco. Bradley went to Maplewood to buy a car and Danielle stayed home to study. Long story but the car doesn’t run but Bradley will fix it. After Costco, we picked up Danielle and went down to Jim’s Apple Orchard for candy, fudge, and apples.  Eric bought me this:

It is cool. 

Last night for dinner, we meet Greg, Celeste, and Evelyn at RubyTuesdays.  The meal was delicious.  I ate so much crap last night I gained a pound…and that was even with a 5 mile run/walk/shuffle yesterday morning.  Yep…I did over 5 miles…5.2 miles to be exact. It felt great but that didn’t help me keep the pounds off.  Darn.

Today Mike and Bradley went to Maplewood with a trailer to pick up the car Bradley bought and drove it down to Mankato.  The rest of us went shopping/hair cut in Eden Prairie.  Of course we played plenty of cards!

Now they have all left.

What a weekend.   Let see where to begin. Well our 10th Anniversary came and went.  Not much happened. We both worked. After work Eric went to class while I cleaned the car and went grocery shopping. Very romantic, eh? Saturday was much the same. I made Monster cookies (and broke another spatula), cleaned the house and picked up a few things at Costco and Eric had class.  

After Eric’s class, we drove down to Mankato and meet my family. We went out for dinner. I had an awesome steak!  It was delicious.  And of course Mike and Mom and to tell them we were celebrating our 10th anniversary so we got a cake and champagne. It was also Bradley’s birthday so he also got cake…but no champagne for him.

After dinner we went swimming at the hotel. When we got sick of that, we played Dirty Clubs…a card game that would never end.  I think Mike ended up winning. Bradley had over 40 points (not good!). Eric and Bradley finished off a bottle of champagne. They were definitely “feeling” it. 

Sunday after breakfast we went to Flandrau State Park in New Ulm.  This is one of my favorite parks because it has a nice sand bottom pool. We try to visit at least once a year. It was the perfect day for it…hot and humid!  We had a picnic lunch and then went swimming for an hour or so.  After swimming we gathered around the picnic tables and played some lawn games.  After everything was packed up and we were ready to leave…Bradley popped the question!  Danielle demanded a soppy story first and then said, “I suppose.” Yep, Danielle is engaged! I couldn’t be happier for them.   I’m very disappointed in myself.  No picture of the ring…I’m not a very good photographer…I should have been all over this.

Well the last two post have been wedding related.  Hmmm...

The next one will be travel related...we leave for our vacation in 32 hours and 24 minutes... 

:-)

With annual traditions, like the Sts. Peter and Paul Fall Festival, I feel like I’m a broken record.  But I did so much more this weekend than usual. 

Saturday morning, I met Mom and Aunt Bev in Eau Claire.  We went to my cousin’s baby shower.  She is due Sunday, she was joking with the host that she wasn’t going to make it to the shower, but she was there. 

After that we drove to Independence and dropped off my stuff and headed to Arcadia to Mike’s house.  We went to the Ashley for the Arts at the Memorial Park in Arcadia. Every year Ashley Furniture puts on this event as a fundraiser for various charities.  It is quite a big deal.  Anyways we went to the 3:30 performance of the Memories.  They were good. They have been preforming in the area for over 40 years! After that we went to Mike’s house for a grill out.  My cousin, Paula and her boyfriend Tom came by.  After that we went to the 7:30 performance of Matt Nathanson.  I’m not exactly sure who he is, I guess he is famous or something.  I didn’t really enjoy that so much so I took Shelly, Mike’s friend, for a walk down Soldiers’ Walk.  I love walking down this timeline of historic events. I showed her the sculptures for all the wars and the beam from the World Trade Center.  It was a nice getaway.  We made it back for the end of the concert and then the fireworks.  For such a small town, they were really amazing. 

Sunday morning started our normal tradition. Go to church to drop off mom’s pies and cakes and turn in her tickets. I’m not sure the last time she did this herself! LOL!  I got my verbal abuse from Becky Maule at the cake walk/sucker pull.  I know it is in good fun. This year she told me she dreamt about me all night and then fell out of bed. She blames me for that.  I spent $15 and didn’t win a damn cake.  They rig the game!  I got my cheese coffee cake and we turned in mom’s raffle tickets.  Something out of the norm for us, we went to the Polka Mass on Sunday morning.  It was nice, as nice as can be.  After church we had Chicken and JoJos from East End Bar. It was good but I really wish that we had the dinner at church. Smelling the meatballs cooking in the church basement during Mass was hard to handle. :(

After lunch Mom, Bev and I went back up to church for Bingo. We didn’t win of course. Never do! We left after Bingo so Mom and Betty Jane could go to Aunt Vina’s wake at the funeral home.  Bev and I went to Anna’s house to get a picture of Mickey as the “wheelchair super hero.”  So during Bingo I get a random phone call from our niece Beth. She is doing some scavenger hunt thing and need a “wheelchair super hero” in purple and white with a “G.” I told Eric he was crazy if I was going to do that.  But I told Mom and she said that Mickey would love to do it. So here he is:

After picking up Mom and Betty Jane at the funeral home we went back to the Festival for the polka music.  Bev and I stayed about an hour and then we headed home. We stopped at Culver’s for a burger and I dropped her off and made my way back home. It was a nice, busy weekend. 

So where was Eric you ask?  Well he was in Mankato working with DJ on his paper. 

What a whirlwind weekend!  I don’t even know where to begin.

Thursday after work we met my mom at our house and drove to Mitchell. Nothing to exciting that day.

Friday morning we left Mitchell and headed for Rapid City.  It poured most of the way there but those die-hard bikers were still out there!  We stopped at a Kadoka gas station and there were 50 bikes under the gas canopy.  Crazy!  We eventually got to Rapid City and the first thing we did after stopping at the parents’ house is go to Red Lobster with Gary, Tracie, Gerald and Abbie.  It was good.  After that I went with niece, Judy, Ethan and Abbie to Albert’s Ensemble performance at orchestra camp. It was interesting. Some of the small ensembles were good, others hurt my ears.  Albert’s group wasn’t bad. We eventually checked into our room at Terra Sancta Retreat Center.  It was a very nice place. I would stay there again. That evening a group of us went mini golfing…there was close to 20 of us. Eric and I were paired up with Libby, Maggie and Maggie’s boyfriend, Cody.  It made for a long evening.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at the retreat center and then family pictures. It wasn’t too bad.  Some melt downs but with a family this large that is bound to happen.  The photographer is a family friend and he has done this before with this family so this was nothing new for him. Here is the best photo my mom could get (click to enlarge):

Immediately following the pictures was the Anniversary Mass.  After that we had lunch…tacos…there was a nice video with lots of pictures of the family.  Elaine looks like Judy did on her wedding day. It is amazing.  We relaxed a bit and then mom and I took Allista for some food and to get a card.  Allista was having a bad day so we thought it would be good to take her along. She didn’t eat the tacos so we bought her and her brother, Joseph (who slept through lunch) some Culvers. Joseph was sharing his hamburger with me. He is a funny kid.  We made our way to the house to help get ready for the potluck picnic.  There was a large spread and it was a very nice picnic.   Some drama but overall it was a nice time. Only a few of us helped to clean up and it was way past 9:30 before we were done getting everything into the house and fridge.  We stayed there until 10:30.  We didn’t get a chance to go to Dan’s after party.

Sunday morning we went to Mass at the Cathedral. 9 of 14 kids were there.  That is quite amazing. The funniest conversation of the day was 9 year old Gerald talking to his mom.  

Tracie: Gerald, we have to go to church.
Gerald: I'm not going, we went yesterday.
Tracie: You have to go.
Gerald: Fine, I'll go but I'm not praying.

Afterwards was Samuil’s baptism. That was probably the largest crowd for a baptism in the family!  I took Eric back to the retreat center so he could work on his paper. I swapped my Mom for Allista.  Mom went with Gary, Tracie and family to paddle boats and Dairy Queen. I took Allista tubing in Hisega with Ade, DJ, Tim, Abbie, Beth, Ethan, Judy and Albert.  We only had a few tubes so we had to take turns. I, of course, popped my tube.  We also went swimming in the deep hole of the creek and jumped off rocks…granted it really wasn’t much of jump off, maybe a foot. But it was fun but the water was freezing!  For dinner Mom and I escaped the insanity of the house and went to Arby’s.  I’m sure glad we did.  We spent the rest of the evening at the house. Eric and DJ were hammering out his paper and I just listened to stories.

Yesterday morning we made the long trip back.  We had breakfast with DJ’s family, Ade, and Elaine. We stopped at the house and were on our way home by 11am.  We pulled into our house a little before 9pm.  Eric spent the rest of the night getting his homework done.   There was so much more I could say but this is a brief summary of the 50th Anniversary Weekend.

I'm writing now because heaven only knows when I'll have time again.  Our life is crazy right now.  With long hours at work, horrible commutes, concerts the next few nights, Eric’s final paper, Ade visiting, the roadtrip to South Dakota...just to name a few things going on.

This weekend was very fun-filled.  After working until 6:30 on Friday, Eric picked me up at the bus station and we went grocery shopping.  We picked up quite a few items on Adrian’s list. Ade, Fa and the kids made lists of things they want Ade to bring back to Brazil.  Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups was a popular item on the list.

Saturday my family came up for our church’s annual Julifest.  But first we had to go to Costco…a tradition when my family comes up.  After that we had lunch at Pizza Ranch and went to the horse races at Canterbury Downs.  My Aunt Bev has never been and boy did she have fun.  Eric was telling her everything she needed to know.  I don’t really think Eric is much of an expert when it comes to horse racing, we having won millions yet, but he plays the par t well.  We stuck around for a few races. It was fun! 

After that Greg, Celeste, and Evelyn joined us for the Polka Mass on the church lawn. It was such a pleasant night, actually a tad bit cold…YES COLD!  July 27^th and the high was barely 60 degrees. A weird thing that happened during the Polka Mass was a car hit the train just blocks away.  The train was stopped for almost 2 hours.  It was a really long train and blocked streets through the entire city of Shakopee. After the Polka Mass we headed for the tents for dinner, Mom had her German Potato Salad!  We also spent some money on the adult games and of course BINGO!  Danielle and I even danced some polkas…my calf muscles still hurt!  And I dragged Mom out for a two-step. She did well considering she had knee surgery not that long ago.  DJ, Beth and Ethan even came to the festival for food and Bingo.

Sunday the family went to my cousins’ house in Columbia Heights. We played cards and had a cook out. It was a fun time.

Yesterday was Eric’s birthday.  After work we went to Centennial Lakes to play mini golf and then went out for dinner. It was a nice evening.  After Eric finished his homework, we went to Mystic Lake Casino…at 9pm last night.  It was such an odd thing for us to do!  We walked out 45 minutes later with $6.05 more than we walked in with.  I won over $22 on one spin!  It was so exciting for me…not so much for Eric.  He didn’t win.

So stupid ol’ MnDOT decided that it was a good idea to close one side of the big Bloomington Ferry Bridge across the Minnesota River and divert traffic to the other bridge.  So they took 6 lanes of traffic and condensed it to 2...single lane across one bridge.  It is a nightmare. The backups are miles long.  So we decided to take the other river crossing on MN 101, you know the one that usually floods and is not very popular. Well yesterday it was very popular, so popular that at 7pm it was backed up 8 miles to Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie. We sat in the traffic for about 20 minutes and decided to find another route.  Well this morning it took us 25 minutes to get out of Shakopee. It is insane!

Ok breathe...

Tonight and tomorrow night I have concerts in Minnetonka and Eden Prairie. Hopefully we can figure out a faster way to get home so I can get to my concert on time otherwise I have to hitch a ride with my former boss. 

So not only that, but I have to pack for this upcoming weekend. We leave Thursday night for Rapid City, a 10 hour drive.  Eric’s parents are celebrating 50 years of marriage this weekend so almost the entire family will be there.  Well at least 14 of the 15 kids.  One is not coming because her feelings were hurt when everybody was mean to her.  But the rest of us will have a good time!

Eric did the soccer and (is supposed to be doing) the writing; I did the shopping and biking.  That was our weekend in a nutshell.  

But what about the rest of the week?  Well Eric had a soccer game Monday.  I had a concert on Tuesday. Click here to watch the video. Wednesday we played tennis (and then celebrated our workout by going to KFC). Kind of defeats the purpose of working out but at least we worked out. ;) The rest of the week we did nothing.  And I mean we literally did nothing.

Speaking of shopping, look what I bought Swirl.  I think he will love it.  Actually the story goes like this, Thursday we went to Fleet Farm to buy tarp for our tent. (ok I guess we did something) While walking up and down the aisles we found these 6 foot cat trees. They looked so cool but we had the car so we couldn’t buy it.  Friday at work I decided to see what was online and found this one and it was way cooler and I’m so excited to get. I hope he loves it. Now I have to figure out where to put it. As I asked on Facebook, Can someone be considered a "crazy cat lady" if they only have one spoiled cat? The general consensus is yes :(

So Saturday I spent the day with Greg and Celeste.  We went to Culver’s for lunch, Ikea and Costco shopping and Pablo’s for dinner.  Today I went for an 11.5 mile bike ride. I was planning on going 14 miles but when I got to Eric’s soccer game I felt sick and faint.  I sat on a bench and drank some water and then biked home.  After that I made a great bar…again rewarding my workout.  I’m never going to lose weight if I keep rewarding my workouts! LOL!

Eric had soccer games all day Saturday and today.  Out of the blue, the Referee assignor for Shakopee assigned Eric to games.  He didn’t ref a game for Shakopee at all this year and then out of the blue he gets 6 games.  It is a bit odd, unfortunately it means he really hasn’t worked on his paper due tomorrow.  Ya, that’s about right.  Oh well, such is life.

 The long 4th of July weekend is over.  I’m so sad. I really enjoyed my 4 day mini vacation.  Let’s see what did I do all weekend?  I spent quite a bit of time in the car, hence the “road tripping” title.  After work Wednesday we got an oil change…exciting I know!  Then we went for a little ride around Chaska, Carver and Jordan.  I wanted to see if the Minnesota Valley SRA campground was open.  We had quite a bit of rain a while back and the river was near flooding in Shakopee so I thought it might affect the campground. Surprisingly, it is closed for the season.  I’m not sure why and the DNR website doesn’t say why.

Thursday we went to Boston Market for lunch and took it to the local park and had a picnic. Not your typically picnic fare but it was cheap (50% off family meals). There is a really nice park by our Boston Market.  We walked around the park and enjoyed the warm air.  After that, I had to go to the 4th of July Celebration in Eden Prairie.  We played our annual concert. Normally we leave afterwards but my friend, Jenny, convinced us to stay for the fireworks.  So we stuck around and watch her kids play in the new playground in the park.  The fireworks were not bad, the show last about 25 minutes.  After fireworks there was a massive traffic jam and it took us almost an hour to get home.

Friday morning we went to the DMV at the courthouse (and stood in a very long line) to renew Eric’s driver’s license and to renew the tabs on our car…$332 later we came home with stickers and a piece of paper saying Eric can drive.  Man the State of Minnesota likes their taxes!  

We packed up the car and slowly made our way to Rice Lake State Park in Owatonna.  We definitely didn’t take the most direct route, we went through towns I’ve never been to before. We decided the weather was perfect for camping.  We met DJ and Ethan there.  We walked down to the lake (which they are drawing down :( this summer so no canoeing) and that was about the extent of our hike.  We made burgers on the open fire…I am very impressed at my outdoor cooking skills. And of course the delicious s’ mores later. We didn’t stay up too late which is unusual. Sleeping was very comfortable.  The weather was perfect.  We awoke to the birds chirping and the massive amount of daddy long leg spiders covering our tent. Thankfully they were on the outside! We packed up our site and headed to Mankato.  Danielle asked us to come see her new place.  We went out for lunch and then spent some time at her new apartment. It was nice, the typical starting out apartment.  We left there in time to make it back for 4:30 Mass.  Of course it wouldn’t make sense to take the most direct route so instead we decided to venture into Le Sueur; you know the home of the Jolly Green Giant.  Not really out of our way but it was nice to finally see what the town looks like. After driving to Mankato for over 10 years and seeing the sign for Le Sueur, I finally drove through the town.  It was cute.

Yesterday was a day of relaxation. But it was stinking hot we decided to get wet to cool off. We went to the water park at Valleyfair and hit all the slides, lazy river, raging rapids and of course the wave pool.  We were there about 2 hours.  We were starving afterwards so we went to Eden Prairie to Punch Pizza (delicious!).  After a couple of hours of watching TV, I treated Eric to Dairy Queen.  We got a car wash too and decided to “dry it off” by going for a ride.  Well the ride didn’t start off that great because the concrete on Hwy 169 exploded which put us in a very long line up of cars going very slowly.  Then we drove down to Jim’s Apple Farm for some candy.  I found maltesers…my favorite!   Look a whole box:  

Isn’t it disappointing that is the only picture I took the whole weekend!  And it is blurry! I’m really losing my photography abilities! We took the back roads back home and ran into a thunderstorm. So much for drying off the car.  LOL!

As you can tell the long weekend involved two things, eating and driving.  And I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Happy Thanksgiving and Black Friday!!

We had a great Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping.  We had an excellent meal with Hiram, Bonnie and family.  Juliette, Eric and I went shopping at 10pm.  We started at Walmart and got some fun stuff.  Eric was our "stand in liner."  That line took about 45 minutes.  Than we stood in line for 40 minutes to get into Kohl's so I could get mom's heating mattress pad.  Score us.  That line wasn't too bad.  The last stop of the night was Target. I wanted the I Pod Nano but they were cleared out. We got some dvds and stood in line for over an hour snaking around the floor.  When we got close the registers we realized that it was a waste of our time to standing line, oh well.  We got home by 2:30.  Juliette and I went back to Target later on Friday and they had a ton of the I Pod Nanos.  So I got a green one...woo hoo!!!   We made another trip to Target later to get an IPod Nano for Leilani.  It was a good shopping day.

Today Bonnie, Juliette and I went shopping again. I got 2 pairs of boots. LOVE THEM! After that we had dinner at Chris and Leilani.  Banyan convinced Juliette and I to create a dance. Click the video to be entertained...haha. I'm not sure why the music disappears and why it is sideways. It sounds just fine on the phone.

It was a great weekend.  Tomorrow we get to drive home :-(

Every year we go to the MN State Fair on opening day. And this year was no exception. What a great event if you can get past the fact you pay money to get in and then just pay even more money for food that almost certainly will be on a stick.

I think I've been to state fair almost ever year of my life except for the year we got married and some in my childhood. I can honestly say it would feel weird not going.

Anyways we meet Greg, Celeste and Evelyn after work and rode the bus. It is really the only way to go. We started out walking through the Miracle of Birth building were you can seriously see animals give birth! We saw some chicks hatch. Then ate various food items like the famous cheese curds, corn on the cob and Ephinany diner...their last year! Eric is sad :-(

We went through other buildings and while walking through the craft building Eric got separated from us...well when I found him, he had knitting needles in his hand and he was learning how to KNIT! The old lady was very excited to teach Eric. I did a few rows too. After that we got our Sweet Martha cookies and head for the all you can drink milk booth. We rounded out the night walking through the barns, seeing beautiful cows, sheep and horses and icky pigs. Another great MN state fair experience. :)