Sports Cliches

Today we will be watching 6 football games and at least one basketball game. It's 9:30am and one game has already started.. Go Air Force !! can you tell we're in a football pool? Anyway, with that many games today, and 6 more tomorrow M Go Blue!
I found this article about sports cliches quite amusing.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07364/845181-13.stm

Stofleez & frites

Marg & annemie

Tonight we had dinner at Edie's (Margaret's mom's) house.. Margaret gets to live there. Her buddy Annemie, from Belgium ( but living and working in Laos) cooked dinner for us (us being Michelle, Teri, Cindy, Julie, Julie's iPhone, Gina and me). Stofles (beef stew) and frites (french fries). I asked does everyone in Belgium have a frites cooker (margaret does) ? A. says why yes, national food.. How do Americans cook their fries? I said Mickey D does it for us. nobody cooks fries at home.

I was able to blog the photo from the house. The text I add later, cuz jeez how do people send text messages all the time? Give me a keyboard.

But the iPhone was the entertainment of the night. cuz Robbie (the parrot) doesn't travel as well.

Christmas with the Young family

and some hangers on's, like me.

Gina and I spent Christmas eve at Marilyn's, eating sushi and cookies. (yes, after Mass) Then in the morning we drove to one of the Tri-Cities, to have dinner & gift giving at Steve's house. Betty was the hostess with the most-ess. She cooked up a turkey and the thickest pork chops I ever saw. Dinner was DE-LISH !! Quite a feast for such a big crowd.... 14 of us.. Steve, Betty, Scott, Susie, Slots, Gina, me, Sheryl (Betty's buddy) and the kids - JR and his lovely & very pregnant wife Tanya, Mike and Crystal, and Judi and her fiance Richard (Richard is just home from Iraq).
Make that 15, Betty's son Troy drove all the way from Seattle that day for his mom's meal, and Marilyn's cookies.
Apologies to any names I'm mispelling. (am spelling that wrong?)

So, let's get to the pictures. Settle in, cuz I've got a lot of pictures.


ok, this picture should go along side photo of the bins of cookies....
let's just call this a picture of "Ann's cookies".


The new holiday door mat (we got one just like it)

Gina and Marilyn, with the clever wrapping job by Sue.

The kids...JR, Tanya, G, Judi, Richard

Slots helping out with the gravy making.

Steve opening his present from Scott.... coal !

Hula skirt for the Wiki race.. No, not for the wicked racer.

Slots & Gina in their greenery.


Betty takes a time out from cooking for a photo op.


Mike and Crystal

Sheryl and Betty.

Steve, with the gift of an eagle for JR. I remember when he was getting eagle posters, etc when he was 9 yrs. old.

The Youngs and the turkey..........
Or should I say, the turkeys are not so young ?

That's the glory of having a blog.. I can offer up lame jokes like that.
Hey, Scott, get yer own blog.

Susie makes it to the blog

And congrats to the photographer for having the patience to finally catch her smiling and not hiding from the camera.


one eye at 1:36pm

the full cover up, why doesn't she just wear a burqua?


Gotcha ! although I should have included the clock in each picture to see just how patient I was. And those sox are sure festive.


oh, and look, here's Scott escaping with 3 pairs of Levi's... 4 if you count the pair he's wearing. No, that's not a halo over him.

No chains for us

The cookies !

Sun to the snow

Our Saturday group run that Coaches Lesley and Tony led us on was a snow run. But there wasn't a lot of running.. We went from worried that there would be no snow (just rain and cold) to Holy Cow, it's 2 feet deep. and getting deeper! We ran on Snoqualmie Mtn. for 2+ hours. And we only ran 6 miles. It was slow going, running/trudging from footprint to footprint. Of course the first guy out was Tim (who is 6'8") and his steps are really far apart.

We had a blast !


i think the white spots are the flash catching snowflakes.

It looks like nightime but really just dark forest with no sunshine. I love Gina's hand on hip pose. Really she's saying "snap it, I'm freezing just standing still."

that's Tall Tim. now that I look, those gals look pretty tall, too. The snowman was there waiting for us. I think Tony made it the day before.



Gina is looking colorful, next to Tony's Always Running van.

Some of the Always Running gang just before starting uphill.



Check out this waterfall.
The whole run was just beautiful. Of course, I only noticed it when I stopped. Otherwise I had to concentrate on putting my feet into the previous runners' footprints.

No, I wasn't moving the candles around..... they change colors ...
at least I think they do, the mai tai's were very good.

Aloha

mai tai's, please
gina points out the turtle
you can see it, can't you?
a beautiful view, of my feet and toes
I have a picture of this dude, from just about every year. He's getting balder, but he still does the cliff dive.

We had a good time but "suffered" thru 4 days of rain. Yes, yes, at least it was a warm rain. But jeez. We did get to watch numerous sporting events on tv at the pool bar. And that is my kind of vacation.

More drumming

OK, I'm just delaying on writing anything.

But this is COOL ! of course, I'm a proud auntie.

Updated Drummer girl

so, the last video of Annalise drumming caused a bit of embarrassment, as it was from YEARS ago.... here is a more recent file clip of her and the Thousand Oaks H.S. drumline.

The Annual Green Jello Photo

Ahh, the green jello salad that Marilyn loves. Usually there is only one scoop taken, but I guess Betty had some, too this year. Or maybe Brett Favre stopped by for some post game jello.

aloha.

Swim swam swum

OK, so I have a few technical issues with my swim stroke. But nothing that can't be fixed according to swim teacher Cherilyn . By doing a million yards (laps) of drills. zz zzz I knew it going in, just wanted some tips on how to fix those bugs. I am just not moving enough water to get going fast. And I go backwards when I use the kickboard. Gotta find the 'forward' button on the board. Or learn how to kick correctly. So, now I'm gonna drill myself to death. in Maui.

I guess those swim lessons at Escanaba Public Beach when I was 8 just didn't do me any good. Funny about that, 250 screamin, giggling, freezing, nose picking, crying kids and 2 instructors. hmm

Really, right about now (8:30pm) I am awaiting the arrival of the totally clogged nose. So far, so good.

Packers win again !

Win some, lose some

I did an 8 mile run this morning with the group. A new route but not too exciting. The good news is my butt bone is feeling WAY better. And it 's not massively ache-y afterwards.

B U T ... the U M could not pull off a win against those other guys. :(

B U T the Huskies won a game ! wow.

B U T the Zags win again. The games are painful to listen tobecause one of the announcers is Craig Ehlo. Who was a decent/good player. He is pretty lousy at announcing. He had the gig with the Sonics and I think every game was like death for Kevin Calabro. Kevin is hands down THE BEST BBALL ANNOUNCER. but old Craig is, well, he's a hick from Texas. And he played his college time at WSU. 'nuf said. Basically, he's an idiot. with a hokey Texan accent. So, today's best line (and I do think I'm going to have keep a log of them) was when the crowd was getting quite loud. He says to his partner "we need one of those decimal thingys". pause "you know, the noise" ... then his partner says "OH, a deciBal Meter". sheesh.

And for the first 2 games whenever Larry Gurganious would come into the game, Craig insisted on calling him "LG" . Pretending that he's close with the guys and knows their nicknames, when really I think he couldn't pronounce it. The other guy would go to great lengths to say the full name. Well, tonight when LG got into the game Craig said his full name 3 times in one sentence. Like someone (either Mrs. Ehlo or LG's mom) told CE to learn to use Larry's real name because you can't call him LG through the season, and they must have practiced over breakfast Cheerios every day. It's not like it's a hard name. Sounds just like it looks.

Speaking of Kevin Calabro, the Sonic game we watched last week, he was paired up with Marques Johnson. NOW they were the best announcing team in the world. FUNNY ! Great stories without losing sight of the game. Ahh, it brought back memories. And the good news is Marques will do 8 more games this season. Those games I will watch/listen to.

Tomorrow is my swim lesson. Wish me luck.

Jump on the Sonics' bandwagon

Holy cow ! The Sonics are on a roll ! Their win streak is now at ............ 2 . Tonight's win came against Hot-Lanta. Our guy, Damian Wilkins got to show off for his uncle, 'Nique. and poured in 39 points. Still the game went into double OT... and almost triple OT but with 2.1 seconds, our new kid, Kevin Durant hit an improbable 3 pointer to win at the buzzer! Gina and I were off the couch high fiving, just like the good ol days.

OK, my swim lesson was cancelled and rescheduled for Sunday morning. Tomorrow morning is a group run, but only 8 miles. Tapering down for half marathon next Sunday. The good thing about the group runs is that they start very early. which is not necessarily good thing, but it will get me home in time to watch the BIG GAME. UMich hosts the #*!&#'s from ohio.

M ! GO BLUE !!!

oh, and Foxy Knoxy's dna was found on the knife that also has the victim's dna. stay tuned.

A Snail's Pace

S (L)O (W) , a snail appears on the window this morning, and before I can realize how F A S T it will move, it has moved at least 15 inches ! So, now I must photograph the process. Even I AM wise enough to not try and get video. (you're welcome) So here is a half hours worth of progress by our new pet Snail Bait.

First he crosses the window, then in reaction to the camera flash (even snails have papperazzi), he went down to the porch.. then across, in a zig zag pattern (like he was dodging bullets, yet slower) across the porch and then down the side.

Even as I type this I do not realize the looniness of this morning's fun.

But it could be cuz I'm listening my new tunes :

No One's Gonna Love You by Band of Horses

Hang Me Up to Dry by Cold War Kids

Lake Michigan by Rogue Wave

Shake It by Metro Station Shake It

Another Zag win

OK, that's only 2 wins but still, Austin Day !! he might be the real deal. Although I did have some misgivings as they were playing (ok, creaming) U of Idaho. Oh, did you all forget that I am a proud alumnus of that fine school ?? Helloo....My Master's degree ???

Oh, please.....do you all think bloggers are , let's see, how did Aunt Louise put it "just B.S. writers" ? (Gina reminds me daily of that line ) No, we are educated, degreed B.S. writers. Chime in anytime with a little support please, Joan.

Anyway, the Vandals' coach needs to get off the Krispy Kreme diet. Kind of embarrassing.

Today was a spin class. It was a great workout.

And if I can't think of anything to blahhhhhhhg about tomorrow, you'll all get an update on "Foxy Knoxy" .

Oh, I hear Alton Brown's voice. The one cooking show I find interesting.

Speaking of wins........ Unless the Sonics gave up a 21 point lead with 7:00 to go, I think they are finally off the schneide. But don't quote me on this because the Sonics are truly awful and capable of blowing that lead.

Another Day, another posting

But, I took no photos of anything today. so you are spared 1000 wordless words.

Here are some wordless numbers:
5:51, 5:59, 1:52, 1:51, 1:48, 1:47, :48, :47

Those are my 1200, 400 and 200 times at the track today. Right on the marks. Not too hard, not too easy. No major stress on the hamstrings.

It was a beautiful but chilly morning. The sun warmed things up, though. At the end of my workout I chatted with a guy that was doing some 400's. He had mentioned the Seattle half marathon coming up. When I asked was he running it, he said "I plan on winning my age group!" A bold statement. Esp. since he was not your typical distance runner body type. Quite fit but not in the emaciated way of most fast runners. More of a weight room looking kind of guy. Turns out he's military. He also wants to be fastest amongst military entries in the race. Bold. He said he had wanted to race the marathon in Tri Cities but couldn't due to "that business in Iraq". God, I just hate it when a war disrupts my race schedule. Ahhh, he seemed like a really likable guy. Very friendly, and all smiles while running his 400's. That is not usual. I wished him well. I have to make sure to check out his age group. Scott, 35-39.

Well, the Zags are on tv, again. Gotta go.

V. I. V.

That's shorthand for Very Important Visitors.

Unaware of my need for daily blog material, Jennie and young Marcus stopped by for a chat today. The photos show the 10 month growth spurt. He's a big kid. And cute as pie.


Not sure he wants to be a Sonic fan.
Who is these days?

Marcus' early days.

A Great Day !

It started out, as all days do, with coffee !

But then we had the Packer game to watch. And Brett was entertaining as usual. And some unknown running back, Ryan Grant, dominated the 1st half. A quick question? if your name is Ryan, do you HAVE to attend Notre Dame?

The only bummer was that the Packers were creaming the Vikings, so the network decided to skip out on the last quarter of the game and show some other game. zzz

But, the afternoon only got better.......... YES, my first college basketball game of the season. The Zags!! excellent. Cause for a celebratory beer. :) and remember this name, Austin Day. The kid is very exciting to watch. Not shy about shooting. Might fill the Adam Morrison void. Along with Pargo, Downs, and Bouldin I think the Zag season will be fun.

Yesterday was a 12 mile run. Starting near the 23/MLK/Rainier Ave area, UP to Jefferson Golf Course, around the resevoir, back down to MLK Way for 5 miles heading south, past RB High School, and back towards Seward Park. A different route. and I knew there would be some hills but one of the streets I'd never been on before, and by golly it was a massive hill. The name of it??? hmm seems it was named after a Notre Dame grad.

Be sure to check the list of other sites and blogs , Joan has joined the famous world of world famous bloggers. Hers probably won't have the same sort of drivel that this one does. You might actually learn something there. Like how many days are left in Bush's presidency. I hate to be a clock watcher but........ it was something I learned well in grade school.