Weekly Mileage #144 and Christmas Fun

random ornament on a holly bush next to the trail

Monday I went for a trail run and hike, using my new trail running shoes. So far, I like them!

first mud on my trail shoes, but I'm sure it won't be the last

Tuesday evening Jeremy and I were in he kitchen- him making something, me painting, and we heard "Mary Had a Little Lamb" being played on the piano. I thought it was River, but when I glanced into the library, it was Ocean! He missed a couple notes, but it was recognizable. And he's not quite 4.5 years old yet. We've been debating which instrument he should start in the fall, maybe he'll start the piano.

Wednesday was Christmas. Probably our best Christmas morning photos yet!

they all wanted to be festive, but we can't see Ocean's face :)

The boys both got scooters, which they were super excited about. Ocean was so impatient to ride his that he started putting his together. He didn't get very far, but he made a good start....

Thursday I went for a hike. Then I finished about 98% of the painting in the kitchen before cleaning up my mess.

We've been telling Ocean for the last month that after Christmas his bobby would be going away and he would have to stop sucking his thumb. Thursday we used a thumb guard for a few hours, but he twisted it around somehow and it was cutting off his circulation. Only Ocean could manage that predicament. We took it off and he hasn't used it since, but he's done great. Taking his bobby away was the key- it was so strongly associated with thumb sucking that he doesn't do one without the other. He does miss bobby and has asked for it a couple times, especially at bedtime, but the transition has been so much smoother than with River (who still sucks his thumb at night, but he's always been a very determined thumb sucker, even as a newborn). So our efforts to keep thumb sucking associated with bobby worked for one kiddo at least.

Friday we went for a hike, then had a playdate with friends.

Saturday I went for a trail run and a hike. Then I rode my bike for a lot longer than my bum appreciated. But in running the numbers, knocking out a bunch of miles on my bike was the most efficient way to hit my mileage goal for the year. Only a few miles left!

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 1.60 mile trail run
Monday- 1.95 mile hike
Thursday- 2.10 mile hike
Friday- 1.19 mile hike
Saturday- 2.00 mile trail run
Saturday- 1.30 mile hike
Saturday- 15.00 mile bike ride
total- 25.14 miles

50 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.56 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

172.54 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
41.16 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
145.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
361.26 miles total

Weekly Mileage #142 and the Concerts

Monday as soon as I dropped off Ocean at preschool I placed my paper order. I had hoped to go for a trail run and hike after that, but it was cold and pouring rain all day. I still wasn't over my cold, so I was not willing to get wet and cold.

Tuesday we drove Jeremy to the VA hospital after music lessons so he could get another shot in his back. They decided not to and to wait another month or so, which is good, but a pain since we all had to drive there and back for nothing. They decided to wait since his last one is still working a little and they don't want to do the shots too close together since they will eventually stop working. Keeping them spread as far apart as possible prolongs the usefulness of this particular therapy.

That night I started staining and painting the rest of the kitchen cupboards. I stained half the bases and primed the uppers years ago, but then pooped out and never finished. We're refinancing the house and need a new appraisal, so I figured it would be a good idea to have the house looking as good as possible. ie, no mismatched, leprous cupboards.

those uppers may not look bad in the pic, but in reality they were pretty terrible.
half the bases on the island to the right of the pic were also only half done.

Wednesday it was cold with a teensy tiny amount of snow:

It may look like frost, but we're calling it snow, even if it did melt away pretty quickly.

That morning I picked up my music paper and got the orders shipped that needed to go out that day. Then I finished staining and painting the cupboards. I've been wearing a mask and using a neti pot and my sinuses are staying clear and not gooping up into a sinus infection.

Thursday I put doors and drawers back up and put the knobs and pulls on them. I still need to paint the walls, but I should be able to get that done this week.

That night we went to the Trans Siberian Orchestra concert with the older two kids (Ocean got to hang out with friends). Jeremy and I went to a TSO concert 15 years ago and when we saw they were coming to town, we decided it was time to go again. I'd ordered etymotic ear plugs to filter the noise, but I forgot them at home. Definite noise overload. Also light overload. They still love their laser lights and we were sitting in the nosebleed seats and ended up with super bright spotlights blinding us during two songs.

Despite the noise and light overload, it was a good concert.

Friday evening was Jeremy's work party. He took the older two kiddos while I put Ocean to bed. He was so sleep deprived (he always is since he insists on waking up earlier than he needs to and he doesn't take naps) and I was still dealing with system overwhelm from Thursday's concert. This happened after we had the mobile sawmill out in the spring, too, but it wasn't quite so bad this time. The best thing to do afterwards seems to be to keep stress and stimulation to a minimum and wait for my system to calm down.

Saturday morning we dipped pretzels for our YW fundraiser. It went quicker than we were afraid it would, even with only a few girls showing up. I'm not sure yet if we made enough money to make this worthwhile, so the jury is still out on whether we'll repeat it next year.

After dipping pretzels, I worked on notebooks. I cut out covers for my 12 open music notebook orders and then folded and sewed all the paper I picked up Wednesday. I've figured out some routines and made up some templates that I use when cutting the leather and marking the holes for the stitching that make things go faster.

That evening Sunshine and I went to the Lindsey Stirling concert. Sunshine's a big fan so even though it was right after the TSO concert, we went to this one too. I remembered my earplugs this time and while the noise level wasn't nearly as bad as the TSO concert, it still would have been too much. The earplugs meant I was functional the next day, so they're definitely worth it.

waiting for the concert to start

It's funny that we haven't been to a concert in 15 years and this week we had two. As I joked to a friend, it'll probably be another 15 years before we go to another one. These two worked out because they were both local. Time is an issue, so we're not going to a concert if we have to travel to see it.

Sunday we were up at 4 to drive 3 hours to drill. Jeremy's unit had a Christmas party that family members were invited to Sunday afternoon, but they still had drill stuff in the morning. It was a bit annoying on the timing, since the kids and I had to find something to do while we waited for Jeremy to do his drill stuff. I wasn't about to take the kids to some random ward by myself. Ocean is a high energy child and has a hard time sitting still and being quiet for longer than 5 seconds. After way too little sleep I did not have enough energy to try to help him be calm and reverent. Too bad I can't siphon some of his energy into me.

We stayed in the car for an hour or so while I attempted to nap, then we found a park and went for a short hike. The boys were able to run around and the fresh air helped me feel more alert. It was a muddy hike, but I'd anticipated this (it was a rainy week) and brought a change of shoes and pants for everyone.

that's the trail, not a stream

After our hike we changed into clean clothes and went back to the armory for the party. It was a reasonably good time, but not enough to make this an annual thing.

We had a rainy week and between that, doing the cupboards, and catching up on my notebooks, there wasn't much time for hiking. Thankfully, I did get a lot done, and I'm feeling more like I did in October, before I got glutened.

Weekly Mileage
Sunday- 1.40 mile hike
total- 1.40 miles

43 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.56 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

157.57 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
41.16 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
130.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
331.29 miles total

Weekly Mileage #140 and the Turkey Trot

On Monday we went to Sunshine's pediatric endocrinology followup. She has grown in the last six months and seems to be on track with what her bone age is, so we won't go back unless she stops growing again.

Afterwards we went on a short urban hike while in town before picking up Ocean from preschool.

The last couple weeks I've been busy working on blog posts, listings for my Etsy shop, and so on. This week I also started transferring the hosting for one of my sites, which turned out to be much more of a hassle than I anticipated, and I'm still trying to get everything in order. It didn't help that I transferred my domain to a new registrar first, then tried to change web hosts. I couldn't do anything until my domain finished transferring, which takes 5 days or so. Add in the holiday weekend, and my timing left a lot to be desired.

Thursday we started the day with our annual Turkey Trot. River ran with me again, like last year. We ran almost all of it, except the uphills, as always happens with this race. It was a better race than last year, when I'd run half a mile in the 6 weeks or so since I'd broken my foot.

2019:  41:20
2018: 44:58  (two and a half months after breaking my foot)
2017: 36:422016: 41:59 (pushing both boys in the jogger)2015: 33:302014: 34:222013: 35:352012: 37:58 (pushing Sunshine in the jogger)2011: 32:442010: 35:05 (pushing Sunshine in the jogger)

I felt good, but I pushed it too much. When combined with standing for hours prepping food in the kitchen, I didn't feel great that day or the next. My foot really wasn't happy with me. It's hard to find balance, but experiences like this have me worried about ever being able to do longer races and still be functional afterwards.

Saturday I went for a short trail run and hike since I'd missed it Monday and I knew I wouldn't be able to do it the following Monday either. My legs were so dead at first, but they felt better as I continued. I took it easy, but I could still could feel the tired.

Saturday night Sunshine and I manned the Scout Christmas tree lot for two hours. I thought the weekend right after Thanksgiving would be a great time to do it, but we only had one sale - the tree we bought when we first arrived. Maybe the location isn't the best? I don't know.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 1.29 mile hike
Thursday- 3.19 mile turkey trot
Thursday- 1.00 mile race cool down
Saturday- 1.10 mile trail run
Saturday- 1.65 mile hike
total- 8.23 miles

40 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.56 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

152.47 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
41.16 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
130.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
326.19 miles total

Weekly Mileage #135 and the Banjo Concert

foggy morning

It was a super busy week, which I knew it would be, so I took time Saturday evening to write down everything I needed to accomplish in the coming days. I didn't get everything done, but I did get a good percentage of my list accomplished.


Monday started with me calling the pediatrician to see when they could see Ocean. They were able to squeeze him in forty minutes later, which gave us twenty minutes to get ready and out the door (we were both still in our pjs). Ocean's ear had been oozing for almost a week, he was complaining of it hurting, and the ear drops weren't helping. The doctor switched medications, and we were out the door in time for preschool.

While he was at preschool, I went for a run and a hike, then ran some errands. I spent the rest of the week finishing our costumes and accessories (pictures to come later!), working on a talk, working on ornaments for my Etsy shop, cleaning and organizing the basement, and helping River get ready for his first banjo performance.

Wednesday I finally spent some time on my bike. My bum did not appreciate the long hiatus. The last time I rode it was at the beginning of May.

Thursday Ocean had a makeup preschool day, so I squeezed in another hike.

cool spiderweb covered in mist

Friday evening was our ward Trunk or Treat, and I finished our costumes Thursday night, so I wasn't working down to the wire. I'll share more pictures soon.

Saturday Sunshine had an orienteering thing with her Scout troop. While she was at that, my YW counselors and I made and photographed the samples for our fundraiser (we never held it in the spring, so we're squeezing it in now).

Shortly after we arrived home from those activities, my dad stopped in for a weekend visit. He had some training in Maryland during the week, so he took the opportunity to visit us.

We went for a hike to enjoy the fall foliage.

The kids' music teacher had organized a banjo outreach program for the local schools and topped it off with a concert Saturday night. There's not a lot of younger banjo players and she's trying to drum up more interest. The concert was mostly attended by older people, but there were also a few high schoolers.

River and his teacher started things off playing a song, and they were followed by a local lady who was very knowledgeable about the roots of the banjo (west Africa). She's made examples of the various iterations (they were first made of gourds) and played some tunes on them. Super cool! She was followed by a guy who played mostly clawhammer tunes. Jeremy took advantage of the ten minute break to take the kiddos home since it was getting late, but my dad and I stayed for the banjo/guitar/fiddle tunes and the bluegrass band. It was a lot of fun with some great music!

River did a great job and no problem getting up in front of a room full of people to play.

Sunday I spoke in sacrament meeting. It's been a couple years since the last time I did, but I felt less nervous this time, so that's a plus. I think it went well. It had been hanging over my head for a week and a half, so it was nice to finally have it done and check it off my list.

Dad had to leave Sunday afternoon, but it was nice that he had more time to spend with us than he has had on previous visits.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 1.45 mile trail run
Monday- 1.75 mile hike
Wednesday- 10.00 mile bike ride
Thursday- 2.15 mile hike
Saturday- 1.20 miles hiked
total- 16.65 miles

27 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.56 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

112.38 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
41.16 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
90.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
246.10 miles total

Weekly Mileage #134 and Last Camping Trip of the Season

We saw two hot air balloons on the way to preschool Monday morning

Monday morning I managed to go for a run and a hike. Such a good way to start the week.

I spent some time doing sample cuts/engravings on different leathers. I should have done this a long time ago, but didn't. It was a bit time consuming to do the design and enter all the different settings, but it was very informative and should save a lot of time and wasted leather in the future (no more charred leather projects like last week's banjo strap pad). The time involved is probably why I didn't do it earlier.

While the GlowForge was GlowForging away (three different leathers, 4 or 5 samples), I worked on a costume, which was a good use of my time.

the banner I was working on last week

Tuesday morning we squeezed in River's 6 year old checkup and the boys' flu shots before music lessons. We also got Ocean's ears looked at.

Last week Ocean's preschool teachers mentioned that he didn't seem to be hearing them if he wasn't facing them when they were talking: he wouldn't acknowledge them, and didn't participate in story time and singing time like he usually does. We've known something was off with him, but that was the trigger to realize it was probably his ears. Not sure why it hadn't occurred to us sooner. Maybe 9 months of no ear problems made us forget how it used to be. In any case, I spoke with his speech therapist and she watched him more closely during his next therapy session, and she confirmed that he seemed to be regressing in his attention span and speech.

I made an appointment to get his ears looked at Wednesday morning, but I also bought an otoscope camera (I was going to buy an otoscope, but decided to give the camera a try). I looked at everyone's ears, and they all looked good, except Ocean's. His looked pretty icky.

The doctor checked them out and found copious amounts of wax blocking his ears. After cleaning them (an ordeal in itself), the doc decided to keep the appointment the next day to do a hearing screening.

After music lessons, we explored some ruins. We've driven past them every week for the past 6 years, but never stopped in to check them out. I'm trying to get better about such things, and it was a nice day, so we stopped and looked around a bit. The house was destroyed by fire in 1884 (70 years after being built), but the walls were left standing.

After lunch I worked on the treehouse floor frame while the kiddos finished filling the garden boxes. Well, two of the boxes. One more box needs to be moved a bit, then it and the other one right in front of the shed need to be filled.

After building the framework, I started laying out the planks for the flooring and put a half wall up on the end that adjoins the middle level of the treehouse. There will be a mud kitchen somewhere on this level, and I'm thinking of putting it against this half wall. Still deciding.... Lots of walking as I walked back and forth, back and forth.

Wednesday it rained most of the day, so after taking Ocean in for his hearing screening (inconclusive, so we have an actual hearing test at the end of the month, just to make sure he can actually hear), he and I did the grocery shopping. We got wet, but it was a good use of our time.

Thursday we went for a hike at our local trails park to check the conditions of the trails after Wednesday's rain. They were a little damp, but not nearly as muddy as I expected them to be. I also screwed down a few of the flooring planks in the treehouse, but didn't get very far before both drill batteries were dead. They're old and it's past time to replace them, but we haven't needed them much lately. Guess it's time to stop ignoring the issue.

Friday our playgroup went on a hike at the trails park. We stopped and played in the river a bit. The water level was low, but still high enough for a good number of kids to get wet. I planned ahead and brought extra clothes for both boys to change into, as well as a towel. Bonus points to me for being prepared (for once)!

Friday evening we drove up to Shenandoah NP for the last campout of the season so we could dump the tanks. We've been planning this for some time, but I didn't realize that October is the busy season for the park as everyone comes to look at the fall foliage. Needless to say, we weren't able to get a reservation the first time we tried. We found somewhere else we could go, but it was further away, so I held off on making reservations. Last weekend I decided to check one last time, and found one spot available for Friday night!

It was cold, but we were all reasonably warm in our piles of blankets and sleeping bags (no hookups at the campground and our batteries are crap and won't last the night if something is pulling power, like the propane heater, which needs electricity to run the blower). Temps dipped down close to freezing, but we got the tanks dumped Saturday. Now Jeremy just needs to blow out the pipes and we'll be good for the winter.

While we were at Shenandoah, the boys did their Junior Ranger books (Sunshine earned hers several years ago) and we hiked to Dark Hollow Falls and back. It was fun, but the park was more crowded than we've ever seen it.

not a lot of water in the falls after the dry spell we've had the last couple months

 If we go back next year at the end of the season to dump our tanks, we'll have to go during the week, when the crowds aren't quite so bad. We may be able to go to a campground a lot closer next year though. It's closed for remodeling right now, but we've dumped our tanks there in the past.

We headed home mid afternoon and got home in time for Sunshine to take a quick shower before heading off to a stake youth activity.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 1.35 mile trail run
Monday- 1.75 mile hike
Tuesday- 2.00 miles walked outside
Thursday- 1.50 miles hiked
Friday- 1.32 miles hiked
Saturday- 2.36 miles hiked
total- 10.28 miles

24 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.56 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

105.73 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
41.16 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
80.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
229.45 miles total

Weekly Mileage #133 and Cooler Weather At Last

I didn't sleep well Sunday night, so had to drink an energy drink to get through the day Monday. It made me more alert, though I could still feel the tired under it all. By late afternoon I was feeling pretty crummy though. Definitely not something I want to do on a regular basis.

We celebrated River's birthday a few days late since Jeremy had drill over the weekend. Sunshine and I made an orange cake, as requested. One of her classes this year is to learn cake decorating, and this was our first project. It didn't turn out as I'd hoped, which I blame on the cake mix, not my lack of attention to detail ;) I forgot to check the box to see what size cake it made while I was out running errands. At the next store I went to, I thought of it, but they didn't have the same brand. The brand they did have made two 8inch cakes, so I figured I was good. Nope.

River got his first "big bike"

River wanted a 2 layer orange cake with sprinkles in the middle. I interpreted the sprinkles to be Skittles, pouring out of a hole in the middle when you cut into the cake. That didn't end up happening, as the cream cheese frosting between the layers thinned out way too much when I added mandarin oranges to it. We ended up cutting the cakes in half to get the height it should have had, so it looked a bit like a orange segment, if you squint.

Let's just say it was a learning experience and we now have a baseline to work from. And we won't be adding oranges to frosting again.

I'd already started moving things around when I remembered to take a picture

On Wednesday I took advantage of weather that is finally cooler, and spent some time working outside. This meant a couple hours clearing up the underside of the treehouse and leveling the cinderblocks that will support the framework of the new floor under the upper level of the treehouse. I've wanted to build a floor there since we finished the treehouse originally, but didn't have the time or money to do so. If I stay on point, I've got time to squeeze it in before it gets too cold. I logged a bit more than a mile walking around, moving stuff, and digging in the dirt.

River helped dig in the cinder blocks

working around rocks and roots was a pain

On Thursday Sunshine and I loaded the wood that's been drying in a stack in our driveway into the trailer and re-stacked it by the treehouse. It took 5 or 6 trips, but we moved it all. Now we have 2x4 stock for framing and 1" planks ready for building. After I do the floor, I'll build a house on the upper level, per Sunshine's request. I logged almost two miles loading and unloading all that lumber.

Friday morning we met with some local homeschoolers for games and play time. I knew a couple of the families, but didn't realize that we had quite so many in our immediate area. Most of our homeschool interactions have been with families that live in town or even south of town.

That evening I drove Sunshine and her friend to a Scout Camporee. I thought about spending the night and running the 5k in the morning, but I haven't been sleeping well all week and have just been too tired.

Instead of running the 5k (which I ran here and here) Saturday morning, I helped with an Eagle project.

That's an upside down view of Warren the Charity Bear. Those of us who know how to sew sewed a bunch of them (first the details, then front and back after embroidery) and others embroidered faces, stuffed, and sewed closed. They'll be donated to the local children's hospital.

After that, I headed home and worked on a Halloween costume while running designs I worked on earlier in the week through my GlowForge.

a wood pennant banner (masking still on, no twine/ribbon connecting them)

masking still on a possible ornament design

A banjo or guitar strap pad. It's a bit charred because I didn't run some sample cuts first, and this is the first time I've used this leather in the GlowForge.

Saturday evening I picked up the girls from their camporee and I discovered that several swallows of an energy drink will last about 2 hours (ie, increase my level of alertness) before wearing off. And it wasn't enough to keep me up at night. Score!

Sunshine throwing a javelin at the camporee (it had a gladiator theme)

Weekly Mileage
Wednesday- 1.15 miles walked
Thursday- 1.95 miles walked
total- 3.10 miles

20 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.56 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

95.45 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
41.16 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
80.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
219.17 miles total