Fun with Photoshop

I have such a massive headache! I finally got around to buying Adobe Photoshop Elements, and I waited so long that the new version came out- last night. I let it download overnight, then started messing around with it this morning. All told, I think I spent about 6 hours playing with it and trying to get it to do what I wanted it to (finally figured most of it out), and then changing my blog template. I used to think I was fairly computer literate, but since entering the world of blogging, I've realized I am not that computer literate. I really struggle with HTML (I have to do a lot of trial and error to get things looking the way I want), and digital scrapbooking never seemed like much of a time saver to me (it still doesn't).

So I have a massive headache from staring at the computer screen for so long, but I did manage to do about 90% of what I wanted to. I still need to figure out the other 10%.... I had originally planned on taking Little Miss Sunshine for a bike ride this morning, but that didn't happen since I got caught up in Photoshop. After she woke up from her nap, we went outside and I started organizing the storage container while LMS kept busy with her sand and water table (she could play with it for hours on end).

Right now I'm taking a quick break from working on my quilt. If I finish it quick enough I'll hop on my bike for a little while, since I still haven't exercised today.

Here's a picture of me and LMS after the marathon. I had fun photoshopping certain identifying things out of it, and it turned out pretty good, I think.

What now?

I was talking with my visiting teacher today and she asked, 'so, what are you working on in October?' Good question. My major goals (triathlons, half and full marathons) are now completed, so what am I working on?

This week I'm going to finish my fourth quilt top, then start putting all four of them together, and start organizing the storage container. Once those are completed, I'm going to move on to typing an index of all our books and catching up on our scrapbooks. Not sure which to do first, since they'll both be time consuming. I haven't done anything with our pictures for more than a year, and we have about 20 boxes of books. Decisions, decisions.

On the physical side of things, I did ride my bike for an hour today, and I will start walking and riding on a daily again (it was nice to take some time off after the marathon, but I need to get moving again). I also need to start swimming once a week again. The weather has warmed up again, so I need to get back outside with my bike and trailer and the stroller- enjoy the weather while I can.

I also need to make sure I'm working on my ongoing goals, especially the spiritual ones. I was reading the Ensign this morning, and it said that the Joseph Smith manual is available in audio format online now, in several languages, including Japanese. I have the manual in Japanese, so now I can listen and read at the same time.

There have been a lot of changes in what's allowed in Nursery, things they don't want us doing (no more big toys- everything has to fit in the toy cupboard), things they do want us doing (only use church produced materials, only sing songs from the children's songbook- that's the hard one), etc. Some of them seem a bit silly, and I had been thinking about how to drag my feet in implementing them. Then, as I was reading the Ensign, I realized that it would be wrong to do that. We are counseled to support and sustain our leaders, and that means in everything, not just the 'big' things. I had been thinking it was such a 'little' thing, it didn't matter that much if we actually did it or not, but it does. If we won't follow guidance on the 'little' things, how will we do when the 'big' things aren't things we want to do/find difficult to do? Will we just say 'oh, it's not that big a deal, I'll be fine if I don't do ____'? When we follow all the commandments, we're blessed and we are better able to handle the tasks before us, whether 'big' or 'small'.

Fun with Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine is talking a lot more, and getting more coherent. I still have to translate a lot for others, but she is improving. Last week, she woke up from her nap and said 'All done bed. (her name) sleep good.' She's continued saying this after naps, and in the morning, and whenever she thinks it's time to get up, even if she hasn't actually slept yet.

I find it quite interesting that she talks about herself in the third person. '(LMS) sleep good', '(LMS) all done potty', etc. She's also started thanking me for everything, which is really cute. 'Thank you mommy water bottle', 'Thank you mommy chocolate', 'Thank you mommy bee-bo books'. I've tried to teach her to thank people when they give her something, and I guess it's sunk in!

Playing catch up

I've been a bit remiss in posting lately, so here's an overview of the last week.

Little Miss Sunshine and I went on a road trip so I could run a marathon. The trip out wasn't too bad, but there was one spot that was interesting, and delayed us a bit. Within about a ten mile stretch, there was:
1. an accident on the other side of the freeway. I thought at first it was a tractor trailer, but as we passed it, I saw it was a travel trailer. It was smooshed! Those things do not do well in accidents.
2. a few miles later, our side stopped for a stalled-out million dollar bus. It was quite funny, actually. A million dollar motor coach stopped in the left lane (wouldn't you pull off the road??), with the owner working on the engine in the back, trying to get it working. You'd think if you spent that much money on something, it would work.
3. just as we were slowing for the bus, LMS started saying she had to go 'pee-pee potty! pee-pee potty!'. Once we got past the bus, I pulled over and she went potty, and then we pulled back into traffic, only for this to happen:
4. a few miles later, there was massive construction going on, causing major delays, and no places to pull over. Good thing we had already taken a potty stop!

While we were out there, we got to visit with friends and family, which was lots of fun. LMS really enjoyed playing with her friends and cousins. We went to visit a friend who just had a baby a couple weeks ago. When we got back to my sister's place, LMS wrapped up her lambie (aka 'nanny') in her blankie, and said 'nanny new baby, nanny new baby'. Apparently the new baby made quite an impression on her.

LMS and her cousin who is 5 months older than her are really starting to play well together, and they are so cute together!



Playing in the backyard after church.





We went on a short hike, and they 'helped' each other up a short hill. Of course, by the time we turned around, they were both complaining so much that we didn't have to worry about bears (not that there were any around, but if there had been...).

While I was running the marathon, my sister who watched LMS during the half marathon watched her again. LMS had fun with her, and they would have been waiting at the finish line for me, except just before I finished, LMS had to go to the bathroom (of course!). We hooked up a few minutes later, though. I just checked my official finish time, and it was 5 hours 54 minutes 34 seconds, which is 2 minutes quicker than I had previously thought. Not bad!

Marathon musings

Over the past couple days, I've been thinking about my marathon experience. Initially, my first impression was not real positive, but after a couple days to ponder it, I think I have a more positive outlook on it. This course really is a great course- fast, no uphills, great weather and atmosphere. While it didn't turn out quite how I wanted/expected, and it was a lot more painful than I thought (and I was expecting significant amounts of pain), it was also motivating.

I want to get in better shape (and lose weight and get rid of these stupid shin splints) and be able to run an entire half marathon. I'm also feeling the desire to run another marathon. I didn't think I would ever have that desire after doing the one, but I do want to run a marathon that I've trained for properly. I want it to be a better experience. Hmmm, that sounds like my thoughts on pregnancy. I'd like the second one to be better than the first was.

I need to start finding races for the upcoming months so I can start working towards completing them. I find that having a race coming up is very motivating- it helps keep me working out every day. And with the weather getting worse, I'll need any extra motivation I can get.

Whew.... I did it!

I survived a marathon! I won't say it was a great, enjoyable experience, because it wasn't (it was a lot tougher than I thought it would be), but I'm glad I did it. On the plus side: the course was quite scenic, and the weather was just right for running. The run down the canyon was beautiful: the trees are starting to change colors, and there was a nice cooling breeze blowing.

Unfortunately, things started off on the wrong foot when I woke up and discovered I'd started my period. I was afraid that would happen, but was really hoping it wouldn't. I always feel crummy, very crampy, and back-achy on the first day or so, and that was the case today. I was really counting on a good, fast pace (ok, 10 minutes/mile isn't a fast pace for a lot of people, but it is for me) during the 14 miles down the canyon, to compensate for what I knew would be a slower pace during the last 12 miles.

Because I was feeling crummy (and in pain) from the beginning, I was slower than I wanted coming down the canyon. Add to that the blisters I got on both feet, and I wasn't enjoying things too much. I stopped at the half way point to put moleskin on my blisters (I had bought some moleskin to put on my feet before I started, then realized last night as I was laying everything out that it was actually molefoam. Molefoam, while having thicker padding, doesn't stay stuck to your skin at all, and I ended up pulling it off at around mile 7 or 8.) When I pulled my right sock off, I found a blood blister on the side of my right big toe. Not good at all.

I hit the wall just before mile 20. I had tweaked a muscle in my right leg (I think I may have torn something; I'll get it checked out on Wednesday when I go to my physical follow-up appointment), and it was getting progressively more painful, the blisters on my feet were getting bigger and more painful, and the bottoms of my feet were quite sore and fatigued. There must have been something in my face, because the first aid people asked how I was doing, and put some Biofreeze on my leg and sent the bicycle paramedics after me with some ibuprofen. I almost started crying as I left the aid station: I was really hurting, I still had 6.2 miles to go, and I was going way slower than I wanted. I managed to hobble through the next 3 miles, then the ibuprofen kicked in and my leg felt better and my cramps stopped bothering me and I was able to run most of the last 3 miles. I was able to finish just before 1 pm, at 5 hours 56 minutes (it may have actually been a little less than that, I forgot to check the official results before we left and have to wait for it to be posted online). I think altogether I managed to run about two thirds of the race, and walked the rest.

I was originally hoping for 5 and a half hours, with an optimistic hope for less than that even, but by the time I hit the half way point I decided if I finished by 1 pm (6 hours) I'd be happy. So I managed to finish by 1, and I survived. There is some damage though: a massive blood blister on my right big toe, 5 blisters on other toes, a tweaked (possible torn) muscle just below my right knee, very sore feet, sore muscles through my legs, matching blisters on my back where my sports bra rubbed the muscles that lay on either side of the spine (very weird- never thought I'd get blisters on my back), and a bit of a light sunburn on my face. They haven't started hurting yet, but I'm sure my shins will be hurting by tomorrow night.

Despite all that, I don't feel any more tired now than I did after the half marathon, which I find surprising: I was expecting to be exhausted after the race. I guess if I'd actually run the whole thing I might be more tired.

End result: I completed a marathon! I might possibly try another one sometime in the future, but it won't be till after I've lost weight and have been able to train properly (without shin splints to bother me). In the meantime, I'll stick to half marathons: that's a much more doable distance.

Daddy cookies

We finally made it to Costco this morning, as well as Target, the library, and the post office. I also got the car washed; kind of silly to do it right before a road trip, but there's lots of bug guts splattered on the car that have been there all summer, and I decided I didn't want to risk them messing up the paint job (I read somewhere recently that they can do that).

I was going to go walking while Little Miss Sunshine took a nap, but I ended up just relaxing and reading a book. While it was nice to relax, I need the exercise, so I ended up biking for 35 minutes after she went to bed tonight.

After LMS's nap, we made cookies to send to my Army guy. She calls them 'daddy cookies' and loves to 'help' make them. She especially loves eating the cookie dough, and the finished product.

After that, we went outside and played for a little while (the weather has actually been pretty nice the last few days), and I had to drag her, kicking and screaming, into the house to clean up for dinner. Even food wasn't enough of an enticement to pull her away from her sand and water table.


I also started getting ready for our trip: cleaned out the car, pulled the suitcase out of storage, started gathering clothes and paraphernalia.

Changing plans

This morning I did a leisurely 60 minute bike ride, something that's not possible when I'm biking outside.

I was going to go to Costco after Little Miss Sunshine's nap, but she decided to sleep late. As she kept sleeping, I changed the plan to going outside so she could play while I started organizing the storage container. But then she didn't wake up, and she didn't wake up, and when she finally did wake up, it was only because she had to go to the bathroom really bad. She really needed some more sleep. It was dinner time by then, so she ate (a lot), then we went downstairs so she could 'nun' on the treadmill. I figured the only way to get her to go back to sleep at a decent time (since she woke up so late) was to wear her out and make her tired.

She managed to go to bed without any problems, and I started working in earnest on my last quilt. I've made good progress, but of course there's a lot more to do.

Schizophrenic weather

Yesterday morning I rode my bike for an hour. It would appear I got the bike trainer and treadmill just in time: the weather has been just nasty lately. Yesterday was cold and rainy, and while today was actually fairly warm, sunny, and nice, I doubt it will last. At least I can keep exercising no matter how nasty it gets. I am looking forward to some snow, though: I have some skis that attach to our bike trailer, and I can tow it behind me with a harness that attaches to my waist, and I can either cross country ski or snow shoe while pulling the trailer. It's been way too long since I last cross country skied, and I haven't yet had a chance to go snowshoeing, though I'm looking forward to it.

This morning I walked 5 miles on the treadmill, the first little while with Little Miss Sunshine. She insisted on 'nunning' with mommy, and she lasted about 13 minutes before deciding she'd had enough. After that she was content to sit on the floor and play with her legos.

It's good to be exercising regularly again, especially biking. I didn't think it had been that long, but apparently it's been long enough to lose my bum calluses. Riding my bike is painful again, darn it! Hopefully it won't take too long to get the calluses back.

This morning I tried out what I'll be wearing during the marathon: toe socks, running skirt with longer shorts underneath, fuel belt around my waist. The toe socks are supposed to eliminate friction between toes. I didn't notice any problems, but I only did five miles, so it's kind of hard to tell for sure. I'll wear them a few more times and decide for sure whether or not to wear them during the race. The shorts and skirt are great: no further chafing problems. I do need to adjust the fuel belt a bit. I guess I bought it too large, so I'm going to have to put in some seams to take in the extra length. It's got room for two small water bottles and my packages of shot blox. I can also attach my ipod to the belt. I didn't listen to it during the half marathon, and I don't usually listen to it while out walking or running, but that's because I have to be aware of cars and all my other surroundings. Six hours is a long time without any diversion, so while I may not listen to it while I'm running the 14 miles down the canyon, I'm quite certain I'll have it on during the last 12 miles.

Always book your hotel way in advance

Last night I spent a couple hours trying to find a hotel room for next Friday. I thought I had plenty of time, but I was grossly mistaken. I tried so many different sites, and there were no available rooms. There's a good number of hotels and motels in the area, but it's kind of isolated, so the next closest available rooms were 25 miles away, on the other side of a mountain pass. That would mean getting up at least a half hour earlier than I was already planning (4:45ish), which is just wrong. I did find one place that didn't have online reservations, but that I thought looked likely to maybe have a spot available, so I called them first thing this morning. I was in luck! The girl I talked to said a group had just released a block of rooms they'd been holding, so there was an opening for me. Yay! I was starting to get really worried. I really did not want to get up even earlier than I already need to.

This morning we ran some errands; I needed to get stuff for the marathon, and wanted to get it taken care of and out of the way. After lunch, Little Miss Sunshine went down for a nap, and I went downstairs and walked five miles on the treadmill. It felt good to get moving, and my shins didn't bother me, though I'm still trying to get my shoes to really feel comfortable.

I finally finished the third quilt, so tomorrow I can get started on the last one, in between batches of jam. We canned peaches last week, and did some jam, but ran out of jars. We have more jars, so now we need to defrost the peach puree and finish the job.

Treadmills aren't just for adults anymore

This morning I biked for 45 minutes, and discovered a benefit of biking indoors: you sweat, a lot. It kind of felt like I was in a sauna. Isn't there a type of yoga that you do in a heated room? I never noticed how much I sweat when I'm outside, because the wind is cooling and drying me off. Hopefully I will be losing lots of water weight.

Little Miss Sunshine has discovered the treadmill: 'Nun, mommy. Nun, mommy.' (translation: run, mommy. run, mommy) So I stood behind her and she held onto the uprights and we 'ran'. Well, the treadmill was on, and it was going about as slow as you can go on it. But she had a great time! I tried telling her it was time to get off, and she didn't want to; she kept walking, and ended up keeping it up for about 15 minutes, which really surprised me. Now I know what to do when she's not able to run around and play outside. And she did go to sleep quicker tonight...

I rearranged our room (again), making space for my bike. I decided to leave it up all the time, so it'll be easier to just hop right on- no excuses to procrastinate. So I hauled more stuff out to the shipping container, and I think I've finally gotten all the extraneous stuff out of our room. Everything is accessible, and I think it looks nice: not too cluttered, yet functional.

I had planned on rearranging the storage container today, but it rained this afternoon when I was planning on tackling the job. Since I need to pull stuff out in order to rearrange it all, it was a no-go today. I did manage to locate the box that had my medical records from when I went to a reproductive specialist. My doctor wants to see the records, and while I do have a couple weeks till the appointment, I wanted to get that taken care of so I didn't forget about it.

I have made some good progress on my quilt, and hopefully I can finish it by tomorrow night. Then I can start on the fourth and last one. Yay! I can hardly wait to get these done and taken care of. After I finish some of my other projects, like my scrapbooks, I will do another quilt, but I think I'm going to find a pattern book and make sure I do everything right. These quilts aren't exactly neat and even and all lined up: I just kind of make things up as I go along, which is ok, but I've seen some designs that you need to be a lot more accurate when sewing them.

My own personal gym...

now consists of a treadmill, bike trainer, and assorted weights and resistance bands. Now I just need to get in the habit of using it all...

Sunday I found a treadmill for $50 on craigslist, so I spent yesterday morning driving to get it. It was about an hour and twenty minutes each way, but when combined with the $50, it was still way less than most treadmills go for. I would love to be able to spend $1000 on a treadmill, but our budget doesn't extend that far. It's a few years old, but not completely low tech, and I actually ended up only paying $40 for it: I had three twenties and no tens, and the girl selling the treadmill didn't have change, so she let me have it for $40- an even better deal!

On the way home, I stopped by the post office to pick up some packages that had come, and one of them was the indoor trainer for my bike that I bought on ebay.

In the process of manhandling the heavy treadmill into the house, I managed to drop it on my big toe and tear up my toenail. I didn't realize how bad, till I looked down and saw the toe of my shoe turning red from blood... never a good sign. Hopefully it'll be healed before the marathon, which is in less than two weeks.

Between the treadmill and the bike trainer I am now equipped to exercise even if the weather continues to be nasty like it has been lately. Definitely a good thing, since I haven't done much of anything the last two weeks, and I now have less than two weeks till the marathon. On the one hand, my shins have stopped hurting and my feet aren't bothering me, but on the other hand, I don't have the mileage in that I really should. At this point, I just need to make sure that I'm comfortable in what I'll be wearing, and make sure I don't try to do too much and aggravate my various problems right before the race.

This evening I set up the trainer and biked for twenty minutes. It does take a little getting used to, but I can change gears to make it harder or easier, so I think I'll be able to get a pretty good workout with it. It's not as interesting as being outside, so I guess I'll be watching a lot of movies while on the treadmill and bike, but at least I'll be getting my exercise.

I don't think I have anything planned for tomorrow, so I'll exercise, then go sort all our stuff in the storage container, so I can get that out of the way. Then I need to get back to my sewing. I've been neglecting it, and I really want to get those quilts taken care of.

Coping with separation

I've gotta stop reading books. I get too involved,and end up getting nothing done. I've done way too much reading this week, and have stayed up late almost every night, so now I'm tired from not getting enough sleep, and am more interested in my books than in doing things like going for walks or bike rides or sewing or organizing my stuff in storage (all things I needed to be doing this week). However, I hate not having a book to read before going to sleep at night. Of course, there's then the problem of stopping and shutting the book and going to sleep.

I think it's harder to find a happy medium with my Army Guy gone. I don't have a husband joining me in bed, so it's easy to lose track of time and get caught up in what I'm reading. One of my coping mechanisms, I guess. Lately I've been thinking about how I've been coping with him being gone. I haven't been doing too bad, but I think there's several reasons for that.

1. The six months we were separated when he was in training were a pretty rough time for me. I miscarried a few weeks after he left, and while he was able to come back for a week on emergency leave, he had to leave again way too soon. I was by myself, dealing with the physical and emotional issues that go along with a miscarriage and don't just disappear on their own. It sucked. So I figure there's not much that could be worse than that experience. True, this deployment is longer, but we do have R&R part way through, and we'll be heading to Hawaii for a couple weeks.

2. I have Little Miss Sunshine to keep me busy. She is such a sweetheart, and a true blessing in our lives.

3. The 'fuzzy brain' that accompanies my systemic yeast infection is actually a blessing right now. It keeps me from thinking as clearly as I would like, and it takes a bit of effort to focus on certain things, like a certain someone being gone. My mind tends to wander quite easily, unfortunately, which can be a real problem sometimes.

4. Living with my parents takes some of the daily stresses off of me- I don't have to deal with home maintenance. I can leave LMS at home with my mom if I need to (though I try to keep it to a minimum, and not abuse it), just having the option is a big relief. I don't have to cook dinner every single night. I really hate cooking every single night, and it's so nice not to have to right now.

5. We're able to chat or talk frequently. We're not able to talk every day, but it's still good to be in contact as frequently as we are. The webcam is a big help- we actually get to see each other, not just talk or IM. At least we're not in any other war, where it could be months or years before you hear from each other, and it was only by letter. We are really blessed to have the technology we have now.

6. Working on accomplishing goals and finishing projects is keeping my spare minutes busy, so I have less time to sit and think too much. Too much time on my hands is not a good thing.

The disadvantages of dogs

Normally I enjoy living out in the boonies: the fresh air, the neighbors that aren't 6 inches from our house, the dirt roads.... There are things I don't like though. Like the lack of leash laws, the stupid people who let their dogs run around unleashed and/or unfenced, the same stupid people who own 4 or 5 dogs....

The weather has been cold (40's) and windy the last couple days, totally out of character for the beginning of September. Today was cool (just right for a walk or bike ride) and not windy (finally!), so Little Miss Sunshine and I headed out on a four mile walk (2 out, 2 back). We've gone this route many times, without any problems; I know where the dogs live, and even if they bark, they're fenced, so it's not a problem. Just after I hit the mile and a half point, I heard a car behind me honking. I looked back to see why, and there were three dogs in the middle of the road. I kept walking and after 30 seconds looked back to see where they were. They were trotting down the road, following us, and they were catching up. So I pulled out my cell (first time I've had to use it while exercising) and called my mom to come pick us up. I can handle one dog, but I wasn't going to mess with three dogs at once- there's no telling what they will do. Before my mom reached us, the dogs had turned into a driveway at a house that has a couple of fenced in dogs. Good thing, too, since they would have caught up with us before mom reached us. Prayer works, let me tell you. Mom brought us home and we headed out in a different direction, because I really needed to get the mileage in.

So now I am in the process of researching local laws concerning pellet guns. As long as it's legal, I will be buying a pellet gun and carrying it with me. I carry pepper spray, but you have to be aware of the direction of the wind so you don't end up with it in your face, so I'm hesitant to actually use it (especially with how windy it can be here). If I'd been on my bike this whole thing wouldn't have been so bad: the bike trailer is much more enclosed and safer for LMS, and I can go a lot faster. On foot, with her in an open jogging stroller: not very protected at all.

Ever since I was a kid and the Great Dane that lived on the other side of the vacant lot next to us would come out and chase us anytime we walked, ran, or biked past, I've been suspicious of dogs. Not to say all are bad, I met a very sweet Great Dane when I worked at the vet clinic, but it made enough of an impression to scar me for life. You just don't know what they're going to do. I know people say 'oh, he's so sweet/gentle/good with kids/wouldn't hurt a flea', but what if that dog feels threatened, real or imagined? That sweet, gentle dog could do something not so sweet and gentle. And then there's the whole 'a dog should run free, it's cruel to leash or fence them in' thought process. Yeah right. It's downright negligent and irresponsible to not leash and/or fence (securely) a dog, and it could be criminal, as well, if the dog were to attack people or livestock. But for some reason, people feel that once they move out to the country, it's their right to let their dog roam free. I'd like to see how quickly they change their minds when a pack of dogs comes after them.

Ok, I feel better. Rant over for now.

Little Miss Sunshine's room is finished!

I finally got Little Miss Sunshine's room all finished, even the small details. I should clarify, though. Her room isn't really a room, it's more .... a cozy space.

Here's the before pictures, after I put the insulation in and started framing and drywalling. As you can see, it's an unused space under the eaves.

The first picture is looking to the left, from the doorway.

The second picture is looking to the right, from the doorway.

Here's the after pictures.

The first picture is looking to the left, from the doorway. This is her reading area, complete with comfy cushions.

The second picture is looking straight in from the doorway. The doll cradle is one my dad made me when I was little, which I have now passed to LMS.

The third picture is looking to the right, from the doorway. There's room for stuffed animals on the shelf, and in the hanging shelf in the very right hand side of the photo. I was going to make a trundle bed box to lift her bed off the floor a bit, but decided that it's fine as it is. I keep finding her half off the bed, so I think it's safer for her bed to be on the floor for now.

LMS is a big fan of Finding Nemo, hence the decals, the poster above her bed, and her quilt.

When we move into our own place and she has a normal sized room, I'll switch her bedding to pink or purple, something more girly than the blues that currently predominate. It works for now, though.

When I was painting and remodeling the room, I finished off a smaller space under the eaves for use as a toy room for LMS.

Here's a photo after I had put the insulation in.

Here's looking to the left from the doorway.

Here's looking to the right from the doorway.

And here is just outside her toy room (doorway is on the right), looking at the rest of her play area. Remember those shopping carts? My sisters and I had a couple of them, and they lasted forever (which includes the abuse my three younger brothers dished out). They did finally die, but I found one on ebay for LMS.

By finishing off two unfinished, unused (except for storage) areas attached to our room, I've been able to give LMS her own bedroom and playroom. It's nice for her to have her own space, and it's nice for me to have more room than I otherwise would. I have my closet space back, too, now that her crib is no longer in there.

I'm glad to finally have her room done. Now it's time to move on to other projects. Tomorrow my mom and I will be canning peaches, but we should be able to get it all done tomorrow.

I still need to get out and exercise, but I still have a phlegmy cough. I'm starting to think that maybe I do have bronchitis, after all. I was going to go for a bike ride first thing this morning, but it was 45 degrees! Add a stiff breeze, and it was quite cold, and it didn't warm up till close to noon. I'm going to have to get outside tomorrow, regardless of the temperature, though. I have to be ready for the marathon. I did buy an indoor trainer today; once that comes I can ride my bike inside, even if it's cold outside.