Happy New Year!

Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Off--155#

I have definitely had a wonderful holiday season. The pictures below sort of work in reverse order. Part of our Christmas treat to ourselves and to some friends was to take a limo ride to Nashville to eat dinner at the Opryland hotel and walk around to see the lights. Here are some highlights of that and of the rest of my Christmas...

Setting out to Nashville:Chris (a.k.a. Duckman), Izzie, Brandi, and Robbie

Though I partook of the Godiva, I skipped on the crown and Jack. All I could think about was how bad I felt after my last limo ride.

I promise I didn't imbibe. I'm just not photogenic. :) And, BTW, it's official, I'm definitely sick of my hair and going to change it up a bit. You can tell the hubby is really happy 'bout the pic, too.

Where we ate...

Robbie and Brandi peruse the deliciousness.

Checking out the Cascades conservatory.

The hubby waits for the limo. I had to take this from the hip to keep him from turning around.

I think Robbie had a little more to drink than I did.

A few nights ago, the weather was a little warmer than usual, so I decided to get out and play with my tripod and remote shutter release. This little house is down the street from my apartment and always has the most fun, happy Christmas decorations, so I decided to grab some shots of it.

Every year the little town where I live puts these lights on the highest tower in town to make this Christmas tree.

If you look really closely between the trees, you can see that tower of lights in the background. The foreground is the little pond in my back yard.

As we were waiting for dinner to get finished at Mom and Dad's, the kids decided to toss the football around for a little while. Here Michael takes his hand at it.

Grace looks on.

Sean

Mandy

Jessica

Mandy decides getting a piggy-back ride from her big brother is way more fun than trying to throw the pigskin.

The pictures from inside have some really soft focus which provided my two lessona for the night: I can't hand-hold for pics at a shutter speed of 1/20th of a second, and I consistently underexpose by about 1/3 of a stop. So the flash or the 50mm lens will come out next time.
Here Jess is trying to win her way into the family with her quick sense of humor.

Having already won his way into the family, the hubby shows his true colors.

I really hate this one didn't come out better. Shirley and Mandy are sharing a pretty good mother-daughter moment.

Just in case a solitary bow didn't win us over...

The Polly Pockets pool was a hit.

Noah inherited the bow.

Scott is not always pleased with his fiancee's sense of humor. The bow is SO not befitting a soon-to-be big city police officer.

My mom got me a version of the Bible called the "Doctor's Bible" and in these pics is writing the inscription in it.

My chest is bursting with love just going back over these pictures. I really am the most fortunate person in the world.

HAPPY, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! MAY YOU FEEL AS BLESSED IN THE COMING YEAR AS I ALWAYS DO.

Finally, Getting Around to Thanksgiving

Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Off--156#

I've intended to post these for a while now, and with these few days off, I'm finally getting around to it. Tomorrow will bring Christmas pics to round out the year, and in a few days I'll start my Blurb book which will be an archival quality printout of my blog--pictures and all--for this year, my own personal yearbook.

Gracie spent a large portion of the evening drawing.

Kevin gives Mom a quick kiss on the forhead for making such a great dinner.

Perfect evidence that I get my attitude from my dad. :)

Mom and Dad's border collie mix, Gypsy, mooches a little love from Dave.

Definitely conspiratorial tweens--Sonora and Mandy share a laugh.

Abbie just can't believe she's not getting any more food than that!

Anneliese sits with her dad to take in a little TV...

...at least until the sleepies kick in.

Meanwhile Katy has stolen big sister's sweater and is having loads of fun buttoning and unbuttoning it at least a hundred times with a little bit of Grandmommy's help.

...Because perfect little hands aren't always perfect.

Katy, Jessica, Grace and Sean

Daddy's little girl.

Michael

Sno

Daddy had right carotid endarterectomy the week before Thanksgiving, and I got him these balloons while he was in the hospital. Noah spotted them tied to his bed, and came to get us, begging for a "boon." To keep things as fair as possible, Dad cut apart the balloons, giving one to each little one.

Noah was just enthralled.

My favorite pic of the night.

But this one and the next one come in pretty close seconds.

TODAY'S WORKOUT:
Double 16kg C&P ladders 5 3-rung--having to push-press that last rep on the third rung for now.
Double 16kg squats 4 2-rung ladders. (For whatever reason, my legs are feeling WIMPY)

16kg swings--Tracy Rif style (two R, two center, two L) for 2 min/rest 30 sec, then repeat for 4 rounds.

Monday, December 29, 2008
Off

I wasn't going to post today since I posted all the pics yesterday, but I came across this video I liked on Mr. Jenks's blog. It's about a Australian cattle dog (or Australian blue heeler where I'm from) named Skidboot. What this dog is able to do might be unbelievable to some of you, but I don't doubt it for a second. I grew up on a farm where we always had at least one cattle dog/heeler, and often two. They are loyal, amazingly intelligent animals who settle for nothing less than being an integral part of the family.

Though every last one we had was special in a different way, one dog, in particular, will hold a special place in all our hearts. His name was Sarge, and he was my dad's constant companion for years. In the winter, when daddy brought in wood for the stove, Sarge would make every trip back and forth from the woodpile with him--every time with a stick of wood in his mouth. If a hog got out of the barn or the lot, he would come to the back door and bark until we came to check it out. Then, he would go put the hog back in the fence and stand to block the hole until you got there and repaired it. He would sit by my dad's chair, one paw uplifted to "hold hands" with him as long as Daddy would let him. When Daddy finally gave up, Sarge would just slide down and lie there, content to be next to his master. I could go on forever about him then just start telling more tales about the others. The dogs taught me a great affection for dogs in general. I can really not do justice to what dogs have added and continue to add to my life.

So, now, here's Skidboot..



WORKOUT: 16kg snatch 1 min R/1 min L/1 min rest x 8

YESTERDAY'S WORKOUT: 4 4-rung ladders of pull-up/push-ups. Pull-ups assisted with the green band.
3 3-rung ladders of door-jamb assisted pistols
20kg TGU 1/1
20kg Tabata swings.
Good workout. Those pistols smoked my legs.

December 28, 2009
Off
When I was in Florida earlier this month, we went to the High Springs Christmas parade. It had been at least 6 or 7 years since the last time we had been to one, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sitting in 60 degree weather to watch it didn't hurt either. :) One of the reasons I really wanted to go was to practice my low-light photography. Here are a few of my favorite shots.

These ladies were in group of all white horses, each lit like this with lights in the manes and around the saddles. I'd never seen anything like it. They were absolutely beautiful.

Here's another angle.

If you look, you can see the biplane on this float. It was for an organization for the developmentally handicapped in Gainesville.

Even the band members were lit up.

This was not only my favorite truck in the parade. It was the prettiest Christmas tree.

These ladies weren't all on white horses, but they all had on silver capes that were lit. They rode in a weaving pattern all the way through the parade.

These guys were the second funniest in the parade. See, they're in a dump bucket on a garbage truck.

These guys win the prize, though. Yes, those are Hari Krishnas in a Christmas parade. Apparently there's a temple in Gainesville. And, yes, they sang, "Hari, Hari Krishna" all the way through.

This was my favorite tractor--not because it was a John Deere, just because it was the prettiest and had the cutest little old guy on it. I'm an International kinda girl myself.

Cutest Mary and Joseph.

The U of Florida vs. Alabama SEC championship game was on during the parade. This fellow was intently listening. One float even had a TV playing the game.

This group gave out oranges and grapefruit instead of candy. I was quite impressed.

WORKOUTS: I've definitely not jumped into things as whole-heartedly as I should have. Life just kept getting in the way. I got in a total of 3 workouts for the week. They were all really good ones, though, in that I felt them afterward--not necessarily in terms of feeling good and strong during them.

THURS: 20kg TGU 1/1 x 2
3--5 rung ladders double 16kg C&P
3--3 rung ladders double 16kg squats
Finisher: 16kg 2 swings R, 2 snatches R, 1 swing R, switch, repeat on L--Repeat all for a total of 5
Rest 1 min. Repeat the whole thing 3 times.
This was a good workout. Not necessarily strong, but definitely good. I'll be building on this in the coming weeks. I'm gonna drop down to 3--4 rung ladders or maybe three rung, a fair number of those last presses were push presses. Then I'm gonna start building. I'll build on the existing squat ladder.

FRI: 16kg
20 squat thrusts--5 swings
18 ST--10 swings
on down to 2 ST and 50 swings
Done for time and made it in about 18.5 min.