Nothing today but something from the web:

Went to Applefest and the pictures are up already for that.  It was pretty much the same as it is every year.  It's funny but there isn't really anything that I like too much there, aside from just goign to see the sights and let Payton do the things he likes to do.  There are zillions of craft tables, and other people selling various wares (aside from the apples) and nothing is anything that I would be interested in buying.  I guess my taste in stuff is just different from most people around here.  I did buy a carmel apple from Payton's teacher's stand, and an apple pie from our church... but that was it for my purchases.  

 

So we came home and Payton allowed us to take a short nap while he played on the computer, which was really nice of him.  After that I decided we'd try paper machet.  That was a pretty messy process.  Made messier because Payton preferred rubbing the paste all over his body rather than the newspaper strips.   SO glad we decided to take off his shirt first.

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Couldn't stand not excercizing, so I went for a walk on the sprained ankle this morning.  No problems.  It's still a little puffy, but it didn't hurt a bit so I take that to mean it is fine to walk on.  I walked for one hour and was able to go 3.25 miles.  No substitute for running, but it still felt good to get out.

 

Tomorrow is Applefest in Woodbine, so we will be going to that.  The town which is 1,500 people expands to 10,000 people for the day.  Crafts, lots of junk to eat and/or buy, car & tractor shows, and of course apples apples apples.  Apple pies, Apple cider, Apple slushies, Carmel Apples ... You name it they will have it. 

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Payton got a pink slip in his school bag that said "medical referral" from the hearing check people.  At first I went into worry mode, because Payton had never had a hearing problem before and I was now thinking "oh no!"  Then I read it again more closely and it said in the fine print "possible middle ear fluid/infection" So then I breathed a sigh of relief.  An ear infection.  Of course.  He gets those and he rarely gets any symptoms, other than just the cold.  He never complains that his ears hurt.   And he does have a cold. ( I too, now am sharing his cold. ) I took him in to the doctor and he did have an ear infection.  So she gave him some medicine and sent him on his way.   I did ask about the possibility of not medicating it unnecessarily since he never complains and does not appear bothered by it, and wondered if it wouldn't just clear up on it's own, but she said it is best to take care of it so it doesn't get out of control.  So that was good enough for me.  Medication it is.

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Useful things to do with Legos... Build your own computer case....

 

 I actually did sprain my ankle yesterday.  But it's not the turn black and blue and swell to the size of a grape fruit sprain, more like a little puffy and I still can't bend it with out discomfort sort of sprain.   At least I can still walk on it.

 

So today seemed sort of empty without my morning jog.  It will be hard not to run for the next several days.  Applefest is on Saturday, and there is a lot of walking with that.   Walking doesn't seem to bother me too much though.

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I felt bad this morning because the one day I didn't check the weather, is the one day I mis-dress Payton for school.  I put him in shorts and it isn't going to break out of the 60's.   

 

But, anyway...  After I dropped Payton at school I went on my run.  Two miles in to my run I stepped wrong, I don't know if I hit a pot hole or a crack or what, but I twisted my ankle.  Nothing unusual about that.  I do it all the time, but this time I had to stop I actually was concerned I had sprained it.  After a minute I was able to walk again, but I went right back to the car because it hurt.   It still is sore.  It is definitely not sprained, but I think I may not be able to run tomorrow, I might just have to take a walk instead, or perhaps wrap it before running.... I guess I am not sure what the proper thing to do is. 

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OSHA isn't going to like this....

I am done with painting the bathroom.  Payton even helped paint when I started on Saturday.   I hadn't really planned that part, so I ended up tarping down more than I would have on his section, but I really wouldn't have had to.   You know, he is not a professional painter, but I have to say he was fine with the paint.   He didn't get a drip on himself, nor the windows or trim.  I expected at least a little mess on him, but you know this kid is exceptionally good at following directions, and he is exceptionally careful.... and I did tell him to not be messy. 

 

He started with drawing a big circle, then he filled it in and he put a little tail on it and told me it was a fish.  Then he saw that I was just filling in the whole wall and not making pictures so he started trying that out.   Finally he got bored about a half hour later.  I think because there was only one color and how boring is that?  Yes, pretty boring.

 

I am so pleased with the results.   I'll probably put up a picture or two later.

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Today I started taking wallpaper off the bathroom walls in anticipation of painting.  Boy it is work.   I knew it would be when I put it up, and that is why I only put up a border and not full wallpaper.  First you peel off the paper, but then the paper backing is still glued to the wall.   So you wet it down, and scrape it off bit by bit.  My arms are tired and my fingers are sore.  I am about 70% done right now.   I will try to finish the rest tonight, and get the room taped off.  Then tomorrow Payton and I will go paint shopping.

 

 

This morning was pretty busy, so I hope Payton won't want to run too much when he gets home.  First I went to our choir director's house after dropping Payton at school to record the alto parts of the songs we are singing for church (I am going to burn them to cd for the other alto's) That took about an hour and a half total.  Then I went to the grocery store for milk, but noticed they had cilantro and grapes on sale so then I thought I'd get the grapes to snack on, and get the cilantro and make a small batch of salsa... and since I was going to make salsa, I thought I better go get some tortillas so I could make cheese quesadillas to go with the fresh salsa.  Things seem to spiral out of control sometimes at the grocery store.  So I take that back home and shove it in the refriderator, and go running.  6.27 miles, so another 10k - but I walked half of it.  It was hot and smelly out.  I don't know why, but it smelled like rotten tomatoes when coming into town.  Getting back home I decided after I showered to get started on the salsa which takes awhile since you have to take all the leaves off the fresh cilantro.   Got the salsa done, then I shredded my cheese and made a quesadilla and was able to finish it and this blog entry just before Payton arrived home.

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I am still running despite no race to prepare for.  5 miles on Monday - Tuesday it rained so I didn't run - and 3 miles today.  I am just not keeping track of my time nor caring.  I don't know how many miles will be my normal routine yet.   Today I quit at 3 because I happened to be running in town and I was near my car.  Monday I quit at 5 because I had abdominal pain.   As the weather cools, it makes running so much more pleasant. 

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I'm going to post this picture even though I myself have a hard time looking at it.   But if you scroll down it does show the "happy" kid afterwards so that kind of makes up for the horror initally I guess.  I just wonder what the heck was this kid doing with the fork to get it rammed up there so well, AND I bet his mom just felt awful.  I would have.  I bet this makes the annual Christmas letter.

 

Sunday I started making "no knead bread" and it was pretty simple to mix up, so simple Payton could make it if I premeasured the ingredients for him.  The dough is "watery" so it is easy to initally stir, and you don't really stir that much anyway.   But it takes awhile to make because you have to let it set out for 12-20 hours on the counter to rise.   So yesterday afternoon when I got home with Payton I started the baking process which I felt was a little more elaborate.  You have to preheat the pot you bake the bread in (I used a ceramic casserole dish), line the pot with parchment paper if you don't have a cast iron pot to prevent sticking (but you don't have to do that, you could probably just make sure the bottom of the bread still had a dusting of flour on it), then you have to bake for 30 minutes covered, and 15 minutes uncovered... but it was pretty worth it.  The bread turned out really well.... in fact just like the picture in the recipe I followed.    I think this is a bread recipe that is fool-proof.  

 

Payton is still at my folks today, as I have a scheduled doctor visit this afternoon (there was no school today anyway).   I guess I'll probably just do what I normally do, and go for a run this morning when it gets a little lighter out.  Now that I am not looking ahead to any race event I am not sure how far I will be going.  It's tempting to scale down to 4 miles.  Maybe I'll just go out with no expectations, and do what feels right at the time.  

 

Yesterday Tim was working more with his new computer, and I with my new Ubuntu system.   I am learning a great deal about it.   I have found that the software packages that come with it, specifically OpenOffice which is like Microsoft Office, are nearly identical in function.   I edited a spreadsheet and found it to be very nearly like using Excel, certainly as powerful.  I was also able to convert it into an .xls, or a Microsoft format which is a HUGE benefit because the whole world uses MS Office.

 

The only problems I am having are with downloading extra programs not already featured in the add/remove section of the software.  I feel a little bit dumb there.  Larger files come "boxed", which is the equivalent of zipped files in Windows, and you have to unbox them with an archiver tool, but once they are unboxed it isn't always aparant how to get your newly downloaded programs to run, each one seems to be slightly different.  You kind of have to poke around a little.   This is due- I think- to the fact that all these components are "open source" meaning any Joe Schmoe can write a program for Ubuntu and it doesn't have to be set up in a rigid way like it would for Windows.  I am slowly learning though, I have no doubt I will be able to figure it all out with time.  It's just a matter of getting used to the feel of it, and maybe gaining some more insight into how Linux programs work perhaps. 

 

But back to Tim, he is loving the new computer- I get the feeling he has mixed emotions on the Vista operating system... but he gave the media center rave reviews.  I have not used the new computer yet, but I have looked at it from afar, and it is pretty.  I think I will wait until he has it all configured and working perfectly until I touch it.   He really should have it properly broke in first.  

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Weird greeting cards...

 

 

 

 

Tim's OFFICIAL time was 52 min 48 sec and he finished in 904th place.   My OFFICIAL time was actually better than I thought, 1 hr 14 min 42 sec and I was 2332nd place.  Somehow 2332nd place doesn't seem so exciting.  lol.

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Tim's (unofficial) finish time was 52 mintues, and my finish time was 1:15 minutes, I think official times will be posted later today.  I say unoffical because as we were finishing we each just looked at the clock as we ran by.  Not bad considering there were 10,000 runners, and at the start we were hung up at the start line for awhile after the gun went off, not able to run.  But after the initial delay the crowd thinned out as the fast ones went fast and the slower ones went slow.   The only change I would make doing something like that again would be to bring my pedometer.  I figured I wouldn't need it since the miles would be marked off, and they were for the most part - mile one wasn't that I could see maybe I missed it... but I found myself wondering at some points what time it was and how far I had gone.   I guess I didn't realize how much I look at my pedometer when running.

 

It was a good experience, and although I thought I would not like running with people- it didn't seem to be an issue once the crowd thinned.   I just treated this as a regular workout rather than a race.

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Leaving soon for race day....  wish us luck!

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Tim's computer is arriving today, sometime.  So the old compaq is now upstairs and running Ubuntu.  Ubuntu, for those not into computer stuff is an operating system, like Microsoft Windows or Mac.  Probably you have heard of Linux, well that is what Ubuntu is... just one version of Linux.  And I have found it (so far) very easy to use.  Not terribly different from Windows actually.   The main difference that I can see other than things are in a slightly different location, is that the whole thing comes bare bones, then you go and choose the stuff off the internet you want ala carte.  The best part to this is every program is free.  With Windows and Mac, you would pay for the operating system and then pay for programs to run on them like Microsoft Word or whatever... but with Ubuntu/Linux, not so.  Everything is free.  Of course I have not tried their version of Word, but it claims to be compatible with Word .doc 's so we will see. 

 

I am pretty excited about it, and assuming the compatibility with Microsoft office programs, Photoshop, Quicken or our camera and mp3 players wouldn't be an issue I wouldn't mind switching to Ubuntu permanently.  It seems like such a flexible operating system, I like the concept behind it and I don't have any particular attachment to Windows. 

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I've still been running dilligently all week, the race is this Sunday.   I think that my finish time will not be better than 1 hour 15 minutes, and more likely will be 1 hour 20 minutes.   Barb says that there are so many people racing that I will hung up behind people and it will slow me down further, but I don't think she understands that I was a slow runner to begin with.   So I will be running on Barb's company "team", Tim will be running with his company "team" but really it doesn't matter.   It's all a charity event and neither of us are trying to win anything.  If I remember correctly the winning times from last year were 31 minutes for the top finishing male and 42 minutes for the top finishing female.  I could be wrong though, but it was something like that.   The weather has been very cool in the mornings, today it was in the mid 40's and I was actually cold for the first 1/2 mile, which I like.  That will be to my advantage. 

 

Other than that Payton has been loving school.  They started P.E. for preschoolers... this is a change from last year.   Evidently this has become one of Payton's favorite things to do.   Actually there are a lot of changes I have noticed.  They have music class, and library class now as well.   So it is almost like they are going to classes like the older kids do.   They are of course segregated from the elementary school kids, but I just thought that was an interesting change from last year.  Payton seems to still like it all though. 

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The internet is not fixed I guess.  The success we had with switching the modem was evidently a fluke.  So for now our internet is slow and intermittant. 

 

I was able to post photos from this weekend though, even though it was agonizingly slow.

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This is a robotic fish.   Here is the website I found it on.... http://www.bountyfishing.com/blog/2007/08/07/27-aquatic-lifeforms-you-never-caught-while-fishing/

We've had internet issues here for the past few days.   That is why I haven't posted.   They are fixed now though.  The problem it seems was as simple as pluging our DSL modem directly into the wall instead of through the battery back up.   Of course this will be an issue should we get a power surge.  There is no good or better solution.   There was no good explanation for why our internet has worked FINE up until this point, but switching it did solve the problem. 

 

In other computer news, Tim bought a new one last night after months of careful saving and searching.  It will be here in 12 business days or so.  The computer of course will be blazing fast.   The old computer he has now is already faster than my laptop by a lot.   This new computer will make his computer seem slow... and my computer seem, I guess like it is standing still.  The plan will be then that one of the two old computers down stairs will come upstairs, and will be loaded with Linux/Ubuntu- and I will be familarizing myself with a new operating system.  If I get good at Linux/Ubuntu and like it, then perhaps I will drop Windows as my operating system of choice.

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I am slowed down though now, and Payton is home.   He is eating his snack, so I have a mintue to relax.

 

This morning, I went for a shortened run of 3.5 miles then home to call the IRS.  It wasn't so bad.  I was on the phone for probably a half hour trying to get things straight.  Things are not straight, but getting there.  There are some forms they have to send to the church, I need to get Pastor's W-2's in the meantime to research some stuff but the good result of the phone call is they put a hold on any more threatening letters for 5 weeks while this is all getting worked out.

 

After that I threw in some laundry, then went to Energique to buy some more pancreatic enzyme pills that have helped me be able to digest fats better.   I already went through my first bottle.  Then to the church to talk to Pastor Shurmaine about the W2's and to set up the 9-11 display I promised I would do, and forgot about until just last night, so I thought I better do it before I forgot again.

 

Then back home, and packed Payton's bag for Minnesota and then worked on my bag and Tim's bag.  It's harder packing for this trip because the weather is supposed to be colder, and I didn't have cold weather clothes out.  And when I did get them out, I found I didn't have any jeans that fit well anymore.  I was wearing size 12 at the end of the season last year, and now I am an 8.  I found one pair that will be somewhat ok, so I will just use those until I can get more I guess.

 

The wedding is an outside deal, so I am hoping that I am packing appropriate clothing both for warmth and for dressiness level.   I am told it will be sort of casual - but I still don't want to be wearing jeans to it.   Men never worry about these things.   Maybe because women pack for them. 

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