Bike Riding

I was out front watching the kids ride their bikes in the street earlier today. We have no sidewalks in our neighborhood. We had the "kids playing, procede with caution" signs out on the street. I usually put the signs about a third of the way in the street so that cars have to slow down to go around them. I'd rather have cars slow down to go around a big sign, then slow down as they're getting too close to my child.

Morgan mentioned that he thinks people in cars get meanish when they have to go around something or out of their way around things like bikes or walkers who impede them in some way, on their way to their important destination. It's true.

Most people slow down on our street. Some don't though. I'm always amazed when a car continues through on our street at a fast pace while little kids are waiting along on the side of the road. Our stretch is one of the flattest, so there are always kids around playing out front.

Last night we only had one sign out and this teenager who lives in the neighborhood came swerving around the corner pretty fast from down the street and I tell ya, he wouldn't have known to slow down had I not run to the middle of the street and put my hand out for him to stop. We had 8 little kids on bikes in the street. The sign wasn't out on that side of the street. I waved and smiled - just to let him know I wasn't pissed or anything, and definately not confrontational. Hopefully he'll remember that and remember where to slow down next time.

My dad used to stand on the sidewalk when we were kids and yell at the wild teenagers who'd drive really fast up our street. Back then, we too would ride our bikes out on the street. Our house too had one of the flattest streets, so kids would come to ride and play on our street. I remember being so embarressed that my dad would do that - and that the teenagers down the street were kinda mean when dad wasn't around.

I really think people should be required to ride a bike for something like 6 months before they're allowed to get their license. Everyone should know what it's like to ride a bike near cars and in traffic. We turn into crazed lunatics when we get in a car. We lose all social skills with that giant hunk of metal around us - and feel indestructable. You don't notice it too much when you're in another car - but you notice it a lot when you're on a bike.

Favio

Favio is our landscaper. He's faaabulos! I love Favio.

We had 4 or 5 different bids for our backyard. All of them were very expensive. We have a big lot, but it's also a big steep hill behind our house. We need a lot of hardscaping - retaining walls, drainage, steps, tree cutting, etc. And most of the dirt is clay, so planting won't be easy.

So, we had all these landscapers come and look and give us bids with big contracts and lots of thinking and big boxes and squares and official looking stationary and spreadsheets. We didn't know what to do. So we went around the neighborhood to talk to neighbors who'd recently had work done. We took tours and talked and found that many of our neighbors had used Favio.

Favio came and looked at the backyard, and immediately waved his hands and arms across the hills and told us what he would do and how it would look and where he would put things and the waterfall and the colors and the stairs and the stone and the pretty gate and fence. It was like he was painting a picture right before our eyes - and immediately I knew he was perfect. He took us to see a few houses in our neighborhood and we talked with more neighbors and I knew he was perfect.

There's no contract. There's no worry. There's a very good feeling though. He comes every day and they work really hard and I pay him and his guys. We shake hands and he tells me he's going to make it look good for us and we'll love it. And he's perfect.

Superman

I'm not being a good parental figure today.

We have a "no tv during the school week" rule. I'm letting them watch TV (Superman) on a school day while I randomly read email, the paper and strange blogs. There are dirty dishes in the sink, it's almost 6pm and I haven't started dinner yet - nor do I know what I'm cooking for dinner. I did however, get them to finish their homework. That's the one thing I always make sure is done first thing when we get home from school.

I worked from home today, but our email server went down in the early am and didn't come back up until after 3pm. I don't even know what I did - mostly IM'd with people at work to help them do stuff. So around noon I went for a mtn bike ride for an hour and a half - which was fantastic. The weather is still beautiful and warm, but there's that small crisp autumn smell to it. Yumm. And now that most everyone has started school, the trails were empty. Once again it's my forest!

I think it'll be mac n cheese and strawberries for dinner. Not my favorite, but the kids love it. Maybe I'll have a boca burger and some broccoli and make some extra for Morgan. There we go, that's it! Dinner is planned. Now I just need to get up and do it.

I'm back in "tired mom" phase. What the hell is this "school gets out at 3pm" stuff. Getting up at 5am to go to work isn't pleasant. It's good that I'm riding or running each day, helps keep me going - but by 5pm I'm wiped out and still need to make dinner and be nice to my family. Nice! Nice! Nice! Show me some nice. Be "nice" I always say to my kids.

Yesterday on the way home from soccer practice, I was following a car that had all it's windows open. Mine were too. We were both cruising along kinda slow. We were listening to some music in our car. The kids were quiet; kinda vegin' out - and then I smelt that sensuous smell of pot. Coming from the car in front of us. They were smoking a fatty. I followed for a while, just smelling it. Sniffing it up. Smells so good on a nice autumn day - just like doing a mtn bike ride on a nice autumn day. Yumm.

1st Day of School

It's a big deal, going to school for the first day each fall.

Sam is now in 4th grade and it's his first experience in a public school. He's been in the same Montessori since he was three! He'll be a class with 30 kids of which he knows no one, coming from a class of 12 kids who he's known for years. It's a good thing for him, but I remember that first day of not knowing anyone and being so nervous. And he was so nervous today - not letting go of Morgan's hand all the way up until the classroom. I hope he's hanging tough.

Lulu, on the other hand has been in this public school for a year - and seemed to be fine this morning, with the exception of the occasional "I don't think I really need school this year". She's got a few friends in her class this year, one being her very close friend Kaia.

Finally, they're in the same school together and things will be so much easier. We can devote all our time to one school again for a few years.

Insomnia

I can't sleep.

After a week of PTO, I have to go back to work tomorrow. And school starts for the kids tomorrow. Which means summer is over. And all that. And my schedule changes from sleeping in a bit to getting up at 5am for an at work time of 6am so I can pick up the kids at 3pm each day.

So, of course, I just can't sleep.

The Yard

We're finally landscaping the backyard. It's only taken us 7 years of living in this house to finally have enough money to pay someone to help us get it done. At the same time, we'll be doing some remodeling in the house. Making an open office into another bedroom for Sam.

The yard as it stands now.

http://www.hahaha.org/gallery/v/20060824/


We sourced three different bids for the yard work. $55k up to $75k. Amazing! We finally talked with a guy who's worked with many of our neighbors and done some amazing work on the hills around here. Super talented and is a painter (artist) on the side. He's done some great stone work in our neighborhood. He's expensive, but not as expensive as any of the other bids we got. And he gives us a good feeling. Very trustworthy and creative. Finally we'll have a nice yard for the kids to play in.

Today I rode about 40 miles. Nice and easy. Although that seems to be my middle name when I ride lately. I better get some intensity in soon so that I can keep up come October. I don't want to be another middle aged mom coming in last in every cyclocross race I do. Phooey!

Demo Forest

Morgan and I rode Soquel Demonstration forest on Saturday. It was faaabulous!

We met a large group of mostly guys with whom Morgan's ridden with on various rides in Tahoe and such. Thankfully there were a few other women and 1 was about my speed, so we rode together.

It's beautiful forest off of highway 17 on the way up to Santa Cruz. We took Summit drive and continued on it about 6 or 7 miles until we came upon a bridge which was the starting point.

We started on a fire road and rode up, up, up for a while until we hit a nice trail and did a small loop of single track for a bit. Once finished with that we rode up more fire road until we finally reached the top and the rest of the ride was spent riding swoopy single track. It was perfect! It seemed to flow forever and there was enough up balanced with down for the right mix.

Once down at the bottom we spent the next 3 miles riding up a gradual fire road back to the cars. The total ride ended up being about 3 hours.

Ocean Glass

I took this week off from work to hang out with Sam & Lu before school starts on Monday.

We're not doing anything but enjoying the time off. They spent the whole summer in camp with the exception of the 2 weeks we were in Hawaii, and last week which they spent at grandma's. I figure that's a whole month off during the summer for each of them. Summer camp was 5 weeks. Summer seemed a lot longer when I was a kid. But things move faster when you're an adult.

Today we went to the pool and swam all day. Had lunch there and smoothies and ice cream. And I read a book. Right now they're playing with their ocean "glass". Spreading it out on the table looking through the colors and shapes. Yesterday we went clothes shopping for school. Got new lunch boxes and backpacks and had lunch with grandma.

Questions Lulu is asking me right now:

How come girls are so different then boys? How come girls wear longer shirts then boys. Only girls have boobs, right? And some animals, right? Do you ever feel like you'd rather be shorter then you are? Like what if your legs were half their size.

Earlier today I heard her ask Sam: What if humans were all different colors, kind of like smurfs. What if we looked like smurfs?

Uh oh - I just heard of all of the ocean "glass" spill onto the floor.

Space

I went to the gym at lunch today. Ran my 3 miles on the treadmill. Usually I go outside and run along the water on the bike trail, but my knee's been bothering me - so I thought the soft treadmill would feel better.

There was NO one at the gym. Friday's are nice. A few people were on the stairmasters and bikes, but the weight room was empty. So, I started my routine.

Personal space. I think I'm pretty low key about it. If you know someone well, your own space can become smaller and you can shift into theirs depending on how you feel with that person. Are you comfortable, do you hang out a lot, do you work together often, how neighborly are you, etc,.

Gym space is always a little weird. Bryan and I talk about this every so often. Bryan is my office mate - studio mate I should say. We sit in the photography studio all day long, 8 hours a day. There are no windows. We have our routines. We know our space. We're comfortable with each other. We agree, gym space is weird. You're working hard, sweating and concentrating.

So this dude at the gym today, came into the weight room. The weight room is pretty big. There are oodles of weights all over the place. I'm working on my core, doing crunches on a machine with weights. He comes into the room, comes over to where I am and decides to stretch right in front of me. He's maybe 3 feet, right in front of me.

The entire room is empty! No one on any machines anyhere! And he decides to stretch in front of me - and not normal stretches. He's standing up, arching his back grabbing onto 2 bars behind him sticking his front out near my face.

Jeez!

I cut my crunch set short - and crossed the floor all the way to the other side of the room. To do leg presses.

Momentum

Sometimes I lose momentum.

I listened to a story on NPR last night on the drive home. The older you get, the less you take chances or seek thrill and excitement. Most people who get piercings or tattoos are under the age of 27 - statistically. Then they quoted some percentage.

They mentioned that there's a tendancy to become complacent in life if you've worked at a job for a long time - something like over 6 or 7 years.

I'm at year 6.

But, isn't flexibility and low stress in the workplace important when you're a mother of two who likes to ride and race bikes? I have a good balance - and a lot of PTO each year.

I take less chances now then I used to. I honestly don't think it's from me getting older though. It's soo much more work to process and move a family of 4 across the country on a trip, or to move to another state. A huge process! It was a lot easier to do when I was single. It didn't take too much throught. You just did it. Now, the planning is a process in itself, let alone the actual trip.

Trying to "process" a whole family to a bike race is too much. That's why I quit road racing. That and the fact that I was so mediocre at it. Training 12 or 15 hour weeks doesn't work for a mom who works. Training 6 to 8 hours a weeks gets you last in most road races.

The cyclocross process works much better. I can start focusing on training in July or August (if I've been riding decently during the previous months) and then race for just a few months. AND, I can bring the "process" to the race and be able to see them while I'm racing. And then of course, watch Morgan race.

It's the process.

Pinehurst

Perspective

I gave Sam a mohawk. It's small. But he's small, so it fits him.

I like being a parent - it's just soo not all about me. It's good perspective on life. It's about them and lots of things seem silly in comparison. It's made me a better person.

I like the mohawk.