Living on the Edge

Alaska's Iditarod Race

Spokane has its Bloomsday.  Boston has the Marathon.  Hawaii has the Iron man triathlon...but Alaska has the Iditarod Race.  It's truly an amazing race and it's not for the weekend athlete.  It's been called "The Last Great Race on Earth." 

The race travels over 1150 miles over some of the roughest, but most beautiful terrain.  The route travels from Anchorage to Nome.  The sled race teams consist of 1 musher and 12 to 16 dogs.   It will take them 10 to 17 days to travel the 1150 miles.  96 teams are slated to begin tomorrow in Anchorage.  There are 60 mushers from Alaska, but mushers have traveled from the lower 48 as well as from countries such as Belgium, France, Canada, Germany, Italy and Norway.  It's still a male dominated sport, but there are 22 female mushers this year! 

The official Iditarod website has lots of great information as well as current updates on the status of you favorite mushers.  www.iditarod.com

Our favorite musher is #10 again this year.  I'll explain why on another post.  Plus I promise pictures to go along with it. I've got to head off to school today.  HAPPY FRIDAY!

Whoops, originally I put that he was #11...that must have been last years number and they updated it since I had first checked the site. He's # 10 this year.

Quote for Thursday

“The greatest power is often simple patience.”
—E. Joseph Cossman (b. 1918), author

I think it is about time for a good recipe and some kid pictures...

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Someone emailed this picture to my husband at work a couple weeks ago.  This is that little building on top of Mt Spokane.  I think it's used in winter by cross country skiiers (the skiis are a good clue--huh?!).  Didn't look this way the last time I saw it back in October!

Moms In Motion

Spring is just around the corner. It may seem hard to believe since many areas in the Inland Northwest are still only seeing white right now!  How do I know? No, I don't feel it in my bones.  I'm actually sitting in my warmest wool socks and a big fleece jacket as I type away...

On the news tonight there was a story announcing the beginning of registration for Bloomsday 2008.  Yes, folks, it's less than three months away.  If you are in to running with thousands of your closest friends, this event is the one for you.  It looks fun, but if you prefer smaller events with fewer participants there are many chances for you throughout the Inland Northwest.  Visit SpokaneMama.com's event calendar.  There are many new sports events being added each week.  Some for women only, some for children and even more in which the whole family can participate!

Winter has been long.  Have you kept in shape?  I have a special event this summer that I am starting to train for myself, but doing it alone can be boring.  Have you heard of Moms In Motion?  There are a number of different training groups throughout Idaho and Eastern Washington.  They train specifically for certain events, such as triathlons or Bloomsday, but if you just want to get into shape and don't like to do it alone...Mom's In Motion is a great place to start!

Spokane Teams and Coeur d'Alene Teams are both gearing up for spring training.  If you can't find a team that fits your needs...you can even start your own!

So get yourself moving!

Are You Climbing the Walls?

The weather is kind of iffy right now.  How about a fun indoor family activity on Saturdays?  Go climbing at REI!!  The whole family can be involved in a challenging and healthy activity. REI has experienced staff that will teach you the basics.  They have the gear you need, including harnesses, rock shoes, and helmets.  There are a number of different routes up the wall, with easy to moderate level routes to choose from.

Members get to climb for FREE!  Non-members pay only $3 for one climb, $5 for three climbs.

An adult must accompany children.  You do need to fill out climbing waiver forms and they ask that you limit the number of climbs to no more than 3.  Group Reservations are available too, just ask Customer Service.  509-328-9900

Be sure to check the schedule on the REI website.  When there are big store sale events, the climbing wall is not available.  But there are plenty of open dates throughout the year...so get climbing!

REI in Spokane: 1125 N Monroe St 

Little Known Facts--Do they really work?

I received this through an email...I've heard that some of these things do really work.   Some I don't think I want to risk trying...alka seltzer?  Hmmm...and I wonder if Listerine would hurt like the dickens on an open blister?!  Let me know if you know that any of these are true.  My notes are in green below....

Eliminate ear mites.    All it takes is a few drops of Wesson corn oil in your cat's ear...Massage it in, then clean with a cotton ball. Repeat daily for 3 days. The oil soothes the cat's skin, smothers the mites, and accelerates healing.

Kills fleas instantly...Dawn dish washing liquid does the trick. Add a few drops to your dog's bath and shampoo the animal thoroughly. Rinse well to avoid skin irritations. Good-bye fleas.

Rainy day cure for dog odor ..Next time your dog comes in from the rain, simply wipe down the animal with Bounce or any dryer sheet, instantly making your dog smell springtime fresh.   Yup, this one worked!  Of course doing the bath thing works longer, but in a pinch I've even squirted Febreze ON them!

Did You Know that drinking two glasses of Gatorade can relieve headache pain almost immediately-- without the unpleasant side effects caused by traditional "pain relievers."

Did you know that Colgate toothpaste makes an excellent salve for burns.   And I grew up in Florida using crest toothpaste to relieve itchy mosquito bites--it's the baking soda in it--it really works.

Before you head to the drugstore for a high-priced inhaler filled with mysterious chemicals, try chewing on a couple of curiously strong Altoids peppermints. They'll clear up your stuffed nose.

Achy muscles from a bout of the flu? Mix 1 Tablespoon of horseradish in 1 cup of olive oil. Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes, then apply it as a massage oil, for instant relief for aching muscles.

Sore throat? Just mix 1/4 cup of vinegar with 1/4 cup of honey and take 1 tablespoon six times a day. The vinegar kills the bacteria.

Cure urinary tract infections with Alka-Seltzer. Just dissolve two tablets in a glass of water and drink it at the onset of the symptoms. Alka-Seltzer begins eliminating urinary tract infections almost instantly-- even though the product was never been advertised for this use.

Honey remedy for skin blemishes ... Cover the blemish with a dab of honey and place a Band-Aid over it. Honey kills the bacteria, keeps the skin sterile, and speeds healing. Works overnight.

Listerine therapy for toenail fungus. Get rid of unsightly toenail fungus by soaking your toes in Listerine mouthwash. The powerful antiseptic leaves your toenails looking healthy again.

Easy eyeglass protection... To prevent the screws in eyeglasses from loosening, apply a small drop of Maybelline Crystal Clear nail polish to the threads of the screws before tightening them. I would be sure this doesn't ruin your glasses warranty!

Cleaning liquid that doubles as bug killer ... If menacing bees, wasps, hornets, or yellow jackets get in your home and you can't find the insecticide, try a spray of Formula 409. Insects drop to the ground instantly.

Smart splinter remover.  Just pour a drop of Elmer's Glue-All over the splinter, let dry, and peel the dried glue off the skin. The splinter sticks to the dried glue.

Hunt's tomato paste boil cure ..cover the boil with Hunt's tomato paste as a compress. The acids from the tomatoes soothe the pain and bring the boil to a head.

Balm for broken blisters.. To disinfect a broken blister, dab on a few drops of Listerine, a powerful antiseptic. Or would that be painful?

Vinegar to heal bruises ... Soak a cotton ball in white vinegar and apply it to the bruise for 1 hour. The vinegar reduces the blueness and speeds up the healing process.

Quaker Oats for fast pain relief... It's not for breakfast any more! Mix 2 cups of Quaker Oats and 1 cup of water in a bowl and warm in the microwave for 1 minute, cool slightly, and apply the mixture to your hands for soothing relief from arthritis pain.

Send My Kids to College

So the only thing harder to plan for than your retirement is how to save enough money to send your children to college.  I have always had the talent of rubbing two pennies together to make a nickel...just ask my mom.  She can tell you.  It is an inherited gene from my father and from his father before him, I believe.  Dad never sat me down and gave me "the money talk".  I just "knew" somehow.  If only I'd known about saving money in retirement accounts when I was in my early 20's...then I'd be very comfortable right about now!

My husband appreciates my money skills, limited though they may be...especially since he's the kind of guy that can rub two pennies together and spend a nickel while he's doing it. Tee hee hee.  So in yet another way we balance each other out...although it definitely hovers around the just barely breaking even point most of the time in the teeter totter of life. 

Since we've been married, we have been putting some money aside for retirement as well as college...but not as much as I'd like.  (Mom, I'm still waiting for you all to pick that winning set of lottery numbers--can you hurry and ease my mind?)  And definitely not enough if CC goes to Gonzaga like she dreams of...yes, my 9 year old dreams of going to Gonzaga! 

So here's my little attempt at a family fundraiser.  You see the Google ads to the right of this column?  If you click on them...I get a penny.  Click on another one and I get a second penny. (and I've already told you what I can do with two pennies!) Click on them every time you visit and I'll be rolling in the pennies!  I'd be able to do lots of penny rubbing! 

And if you want to find a recipe for that can of SPAM in your cupboard that you've just been wanting to use, then on the left side of this column there is a google search.  Just type in SPAM and Kaching!  We are one more cent closer to that Gonzaga education!

So thanks for helping!

Lunar Eclipse

Well we saw the most amazing Lunar Eclipse tonight.  I took some pictures....a couple of them turned out pretty cool for my basic digital.  We used CC's telescope to view it. That made it really amazing. I hope some of you got the treat of seeing it.  I heard we won't have another one of equal caliber until 2010.

These two are my favorites:

helllooooooo!

I haven't posted in a few days.  I've been in transition.  Here's what's been keeping me busy...

1. transition from healthy body to sick one.  First the nose that was a faucet...then the head full of sinus pressure...and to top it off...the cough that makes my post-baby bladder create embarassing moments!

2.  lots of laundry.  decided with illness in the house, I should wash all the sheets above and beyond the 4 loads that are already in need of doing. Which reminds me...there's laundry to switch from the washer to the dryer and more clothes to fold and carry upstairs.  Remind me again why the laundry room is on the first floor while the bedrooms and bathrooms are upstairs?

2. had to stand in the snow till I was numb and take photos of the deer coming to dinner next door.  You know how you have those lists of things you need to do and if you don't do them now, the moment will be passed and you will have missed the moment forever?  Well, I caught the moment this time.

3.  new laptop!  Had to load all my programs on it and figure out the wireless network system.  Took some time, but I'm patting myself on the back because I figured it out without my husband!  I feel pretty smart now. Only one side affect in the whole process...I lost all the favorites I had bookmarked on my MSN homepage.  So be sure from time to time you save and back up you favorites somewhere!  I'm not sure how to do that yet, but I will be figuring it out soon...even if it means I just write them down in a notepad.  I'm saddest about the list of blogs I had bookmarked...they are all gone!  So if you are reading this and have a blog, add it to the comment section.   I was just getting ready to do a special weekly list of the five best blogs of the week! Dang!!

4.  since I can't get started on my garden for awhile (still more than a foot of snow on the vegetable garden) I got some sort of spring cleaning bug.  Wonder if it is a strain of the flu bug that the vaccine missed this year?  Anyway, I was soooo tired of working in the 'dungeon' (girls named it that) also known as the basement.  Soooo, we bribed our kids.  That's what it came down to...honest to goodness bribery.  Of course the bribery works out best for us in the longrun...We told the girls that if they shared a bedroom, we would make the basement into a total kids hangout room.  They agreed.  It's funny, they actually get along better now that they are sharing a room. Granted they still argue at times, but nothing like before when they had their own rooms.

So 2,374 trips up two flights of stairs (who needs a stairmaster?) almost everything is moved.  They have a groovy hangout and I have a home office with a view of the forest.  I'll take pictures soon to post...Now when the kids have friends over they have a place to hang out and be noisy and graveyard working daddy can still sleep!  And when there's a sleepover...they are in the basement so the living room won't be destroyed!

5.  DD and I had time alone together!  Both girls spent the night at a friends house and we went out to lunch at Subway (sh..don't tell CC..she'll be mad we went there without her...it's her very favorite place to eat lunch).  Then for dinner he bar-b-que'd beef ribs and baked potatoes. Yum, 3 napkins messy, but yummy!

6.  DD had an eye appointment.  He'd been putting it off for quite some time because he knew what kind of glasses his 40+ eyes were going to need.  (He would need longer eyes if he was going to continue to read!)  Plus I couldn't drive with him all the time and read the signs for him.  Don't think the sheriff's dept would like that too much!  So DD was not allowed to pick out his own frames.  Actually CC told him that...I agreed of course.  So we both went with him to make sure he chose cool frames...not frames from the 70's.  Oh, and he has those fancy lenses now....hmm...what does "progressived" mean??? LOL!  Love you honey.  Welcome to the club!

Wow, can you believe that all happened in one 4 day weekend...and that wasn't even counting two trips into town (Costco--yeah my laptop--one day and Target today)  Well, now I need to see if I can load photos directly to this laptop. Then hopefully I can post some of the shots I've been taking...

I'm Sorry You Feel That Way

Those words are what I have heard more times than I care to count from the lips of my daughter's principal.  They are dismissive.  They are trite.  They do not solve problems.  They are simply said to make you think that they are acknowledging what you are saying.

I think administrators are taught this phrase in school.  They can't be a principal until they have it down pat as a response.  This is what it means:  We are not going to change what we do, because we've done it that way forever and we don't plan to change just because you are unhappy.

It's like that little stain on the shirt commercial.  The stain is saying "I'm sorry you feel that way" while the principal is saying "we don't care what you think, you're just a parent and your ideas are meaningless to this school because we know better!"

OK, I've vented for now.  Also vented on the phone with the principal.  I let him know exactly what I thought of his trite words and what they really mean.  Also let him know that I was frustrated with the disconnect between the school and the parents and the fact that it didn't matter what I said, but I knew my words were falling on deaf ears because I was merely a parent. 

And to think I was just trying to find out when my daughter's class would be eating lunch at Riverfront Park.  After 4 phone calls to the school, I finally tracked my daughter down (with her cell phone) on the bus and had her ask the teacher directly. Now the office couldn't have called and asked the teacher while they were at school?  Why did the office not know?  puuu--lease! 

I'm not naming the school publicly, but I will be more than happy to fill you in if you wish to email me!