Weekend Report (Part 2 of 3): MDI Half Marathon 2011

Saturday, September 17th

When we dragged ourselves out of bed in the wee small hours it was definitely nippy, but it proved to be a gorgeous day with blue cloudless skies, and crisp clear air...a most exquisite early fall Saturday in Maine. 

Much of the day turned out as planned (or better).  We arrived at the starting line appropriately equipped and on time for the horn (barely, in my case, but it meant I could skip the pit stop later).  The Nanas managed navigation and timing such that they met us each at several points on the course (including the crucial first stop where they handed us our camelbaks), didn't lose or damage either of the kids, and got everyone back to the Y in time to see us finish.  Mum even got some pictures.  Here I am swooping in for a hug from Jeremy at the top of Eagle Lake. 

I only paused long enough to get my headphones tangled up and to correct Mum when she mistakenly estimated that Alan would be back at the top of the lake in approximately 8 minutes.  We were four minutes apart at that point so her calculation would have him doing 6 miles in about 12 minutes.  Um...no.  [It turns out, he had been trying to help her determine how far behind him I would eventually be, but no matter.]   Here's Alan having completed said circuit (a reasonable amount of time later).

Alan just after mile 10

Alan--considering this just another training run, and part of his taper at that--had planned to take it fairly slow ("but not shingles slow" because that would just be embarrassing).   His final time was 2:33:02, a new PR for him (compared to 2:46:59 last year, and 2:47:57 at Big Lake).  He wasn't actually complaining about the finisher's "prize" when this picture was taken, but it does look that way, and the caption expresses our general feelings on the matter.

A freakin' TRAVEL MUG??!!  Where's my #@&#% medal?!?!

I knew I'd be faster than last year, but didn't think I'd be in a position to beat my time from May, so I was shooting for 2:50:00 and was going to be happy as long as I was under 3 hours.  This is me feeling pretty darn good about my own PR of 2:43:17 (compared to Big Lake's 2:47:56 and last year's sad, slow, shingly 3:13:13).

 

Nancy triumphant!  (and ready for a shower!)

Here we are with our support crew and Emilie-the-Great, who looks like a rock star and ran like one, too.  Note that SHE has a medal....

Medals vs Mugs

After polling registrants a couple months back as to whether we'd like an engraved travel mug in place of a medal, the race organizers decided to offer a choice of a mug or a medal.  That sounds reasonable, but unfortunately they grossly miscalculated how many people would want the hardware and so RAN OUT OF MEDALS by the time the back-of-the-packers arrived (you know, the people who are less likely to have an excess of race bling and more likely to care about it).  While I wish I had a medal, I really wish the organizers had been gutsier about the whole thing.  They should have picked one item, made it a quality item, and presented it with style.  The finisher's prize is a mug?  OK, then make it a darned nice mug, put a ribbon on the handle and hang it around my neck.  I'm serious! And make sure it says that I completed the race, instead of looking like something anyone could buy at a fundraiser and using it to advertise the store that sponsored them.  While I applaud efforts to be unique and interesting, this did not cut it.  I hope very much not ever again to bust my butt for 13.1 miles to be handed [I am not exaggerating here] A WHITE CARDBOARD BOX that says "MADE IN CHINA".  Unless I'm in China, in which case that last part would be fine.  But there better be something cool inside.

Other races have truly unique prizes:

• The Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon  medal has a removable ribbon, a giant refrigerator magnet on the back and is shaped like a surfboard with a shark bite taken out of it that doubles as a bottle opener. 
• There are companies like this one devoted to creating unique medals.
• And, it doesn't even have to be a medal.  Pineland Farms Trail Running Festival gives out cowbells and I heard of another race that gives out small pieces of granite on a ribbon [hello? pink granite would represent Acadia nicely.]

Also, Alan was disappointed to be fourth in line for a post-race rubdown when they announced they only had time for two more people.  But other than that, everything was really well organized, the course was pristine and magnificent, and everyone was incredibly nice as always.  For all my razzing about the mugs, we know this race is special: there's nothing quite like it anywhere else and we're truly fortunate to experience it. 

Afterward, we drove around aimlessly for a bit hoping to find a shady spot with picnic tables, then gave up and headed back into Bar Harbor where our minivan circled like a giant silver vulture looking for a parking space.  Finally, we landed on the green (conveniently near the public restrooms) and enjoyed a lovely picnic.  We stuffed our faces, watched the boats in the harbor and even had a visit from a very friendly and trusting little bird that was like something out of a partially-animated, G-rated movie.

"Feed the birds...tuppence a bag..."

It even agreed to be passed around...

...and pecked at Alan's ankle...

...and Madeline's sparkly nailpolish.

So a good day was had by all and at this point all I had to do was figure out how to get up off the grass. 

Oh yeah, and run a 5k the next morning.

First Day of Summer

Tuesday was the first offical day of summer!

The kids are finally done with school.  We had been informed that the last day of school would be Friday, June 17th (following some post-haste adjustments to in-service and mini-days), but as I stood in the kitchen reading the notice--on April Fools Day while we were all home for yet another snow day--I knew it was an unintentional joke. The real last day of school ended up being on a Monday, and a half day at that. I am not aware of anything other than end-of-school-year parties taking place that day. Frankly, I applaud the teachers just for showing up. Especially the two who are retiring. Oh wait: one of them left for space camp last week. Oh well, good for him!

I had a day off as well. I will end up working four weekend days this month--very unusual for me--and so I find myself needing to take some time off.   For someone who is usually scrimping and saving (take a long lunch to attend a school event--work late; leave early for choir--work through lunch; etc) and often ends up using little bits of vacation time anyway, having the potential to be OVER time for the month is very unusual. The best part is that two of those weekend days "worked" were at a conference on Cape Cod.   Rough life, eh? [Actually, while I did have fun, I was pretty exhausted after that trip so I do feel like I deserve the time off.] 

Here's what we did:

We all slept in (or rather, awoke and arose of our own accord as opposed to being jolted awake by alarm clocks or cranky parents), had Mac's for breakfast [sorry Clean Food Challenge participants: I am not like you. But more on that later.], lounged around on the deck feeling sticky and getting caffeinated, and watched the chickadees squabbling and gorging at our new birdfeeder.

I made lists: groceries, what James needs to take on his youth group mission trip, what the kids need for clothing, shoes, etc for summer, etc. I love lists.

Alan stayed home to work--discussion groups to manage, papers to grade, comments to be commented upon, comparisons to make between the UMaine campus and the neighborhood where Jack the Ripper wrought havoc...just the usual stuff of online teaching.

The kids and I made sandwiches and packed them in a plastic tub along with crackers and cheese and M&Ms, filled our water bottles and went shopping.

First stop: Goodwill

We blitzed the place. At one point I had a kid each in 3 of the 4 changing rooms with conversations like this taking place:

a kid: "uhhhhh... Mom?" 

me: "Doesn't fit? Take it off.  Next item!"

 or

a kid: "Iloveit, Iloveit, Iloveit..."

me: "Great! Take it off. Next item!"

They each picked a reusable tote and we filled them with summer pants, tee shirts, and a fleece for James. Shirts, skorts, fleece and flip flops for Madeline. Shorts, shirts, pants, fleece and camouflage faux-crocs for Jeremy. A folding step stool for me. 

Here they are (annoyed with me for doing the mom-with-the-camera thing, and look at that, James is tormenting his brother) just moments after the actual equinox.

Aaaaaah summer...

Second stop: Hands of Hope Thrift Store

Didn't buy anything but I think the kids sat on every couch and comfy chair in the store.  .

Third stop: next door to K-Mart

We were just going to get water bottles... but then we saw bathing suits, and we needed flip flops, and underwear...so we ended up spending a while in there. The boys were a bit antsy while Mad tried on suits (with no luck) and we were all near faint from hunger but we survived, used the restrooms and escaped retail mediocrity soon enough.

Fourth stop: Bangor City Forest

By now it was after 3pm and we were starving! We sat at the picnic table, swatted flies, and watched a bird who seemed very interested in us (and may be the inhabitant of the nest under the picnic shelter).  Somewhere between Goodwill and the forest the kids had all managed to don at least one new article of clothing. James had on a giant Fred Flintstone tee shirt. Madeline had a new pink top. Jeremy had on his new "crocs".

  Armed with our water and the camera we embarked on a short walk.   We saw a frog.  

I got a phone call from Alan on his new cell phone.   I think he did little to no work following the arrival of the T-Mobile delivery.   We had a brief conversation which ended with me saying something like "I'm in a bog. I'm going to enjoy nature now. G'bye." And suddenly we were truly IN a bog! We had turned onto the Bog Trail while I was on the phone, not one of us ever considering that the name might be an intentional indicator of what to expect along the way. Duh. James pioneered the way across the first (and ultimately, the most daunting) obstacle. This involved me standing on a floating log to steady it while each in turn made their way across a series of logs, a teetery plank, and some smaller logs more aptly called sticks, while grabbing onto me, some tree branches, and James in turn.   Jeremy lost his balance and stepped one foot right in the little body of water almost up to his shorts!   He quickly pulled his foot out but the croc stayed behind! "My croc! It's LO-O-OST!" He valiantly reached in to try to find it, but didn't right away and seemed reluctant to try again. I was dreading reaching into the murky water myself but thankfully there was a "bloop" sound and up it popped like a surfacing whale. Yay! Crocs float! 

our water crossing

survivor Jeremy

sometimes the path was clear

sometimes not so much



There was some nervousness about not know what lay ahead and we were greatly relieved to make it back to the road. 

Jeremy said he never wants to do the Bog Trail again!  But he does want to go back to Bangor City Forest.  Well, duh!

Fifth Stop: HOME!

Jeremy got a much needed foot bath and we all relaxed for a while.  I don't even know what the kids did, really, because Alan and I spent the next hour+ playing with our new phones.  Oooooh technology is cooooool.  I don't think I made an actual phone call on it until Wednesday. 

I did drink LOTS of water all afternoon and evening.  Emilie's doing a cleanse (see Clean Food Challenge 2 if you're interested).  I explained it this way to a friend recently:  can you imagine me eating no bread, no chocolate and no cheese?!?  The answer is No, not even for just a week.  I think it's a great concept.  For people who are not me.  I did decide that I could do the drink-a-gallon-of-water-a-day part, though.  I used to drink lots of ice water at work all day and have sort of gotten out of the habit, so I figured I'd ride Emilie's wake a little and do that part and since her cleanse week started Tuesday the timing was perfect.  I managed about 120 oz the first day and the full gallon yesterday.  But the straw on my EMMC water jug disintegrated [let's see, the last time I was in the hospital I was having a baby and my youngest child is 7...yeah, time for a new water bottle!] so Alan bought me a new one last night.  Now I just have to chug two of these bad boys a day. 

purple of course!

Easy peasy lemon squeezy, says Jeremy who has comandeered the old jug and is doing his best to keep up (ooh lemon! good idea buddy!).

Alan and I wrapped up the first day of summer watching a DVRed movie, the end of which failed to record.  Ahhg!  That's okay, though, because I was a little distracted by frequent pee breaks.

I also re-started my 100 crunches a day goal and officially registered for the Flamingo Four-Miler on July 17th (anyone want to join me?).  Also, I am home today (and blogging) because I have a summer cold, so Yes, summer is here and summer is welome (although I could do without the hacking cough)!



The New Face of Nana Lois

My mom has been legally blind all my life.  If she is conscious, she is wearing glasses.  Thick ones. 

If you ask her a queston while she is lying in bed, her first response is "wait a minute, let me put my glasses on" as if she cannot process information or formulate a response without them. 

Every Soule family cat learned early on (first, to bug Dad, because he's the morning person, but in his absence) the way to get Mum up in the morning is to bat her glasses off the night stand. 

She wears them on the boat, at the beach, in the pool and even on the Matterhorn ride at Disney which was a huge mistake because they were immediately flung from her face and smashed to bits.  We know because they were mailed to her later by the lost and found department.  But that's another story entirely.

But all that has changed.

My mom recently had cataract surgery on both eyes (one week apart) which had the bonus advantage of a dramatic reduction in her nearsightedness.  We came home from Cape Cod a few weeks ago to find my mother sitting on the couch knitting...with no glasses on.

I find this to be very strange.  Mum, without glasses, not looking comatose.  Weird.

Here she is (with Dad, naturally) enjoying dessert on Father's Day:

WHYDTWTMYFP*?

Wow, last week went by quickly--very full!--and I'm already overdue on my "cheers and jeers" post.

This week I am proud because...
I guilted my mom into reading my blog!
I got my parents to get a membership at the Rec Center (by dragging them there and arranging for them to get a tour while I got started on my run).
I got in almost all my planned running miles (minus one tenth due to a lap-counting error). 
Alan rocks (see previous post extolling the virtues of my hand hubby).
James brought home a report card with all As and Bs--way to go!
I wrote and conducted a choral tribute to our interim choirmaster. The choir sounded great and it was very well received.

I am less proud about...
Inadvertently lying to you in this post last week: I did NOT get in all 6 days of training (I missed Sunday 2 weeks ago and again today).  I wasn't just slacking, though; Sundays are often ridiculously over-booked. I may have to examine how realistic my expectations are there.
I am behind on my crunches and have been eating junk food all week.
Also, we are disappointed that our team did not pull off a last-minute Superbowl win (while we were eating said junk food).  *Darn*

*What Have You Done This Week To Make You Feel Proud?

Coming Clean

Do you remember that our dryer broke the week before Christmas? 
And that, for my birthday, Alan took loads and loads of sopping wet clothes to the laundry-mat to dry them?
And did you know that we haven't done laundry since then??
Yes, we have an obscene amount of clothing in our home, and yes, 98% of it is dirty.  Well...95%, now because....

IT'S ALIVE!!!

The new washer and dryer arrived in late January and Alan has been slaving away at getting everything hooked up.  This means that he has done major plumbing, carved various holes in the walls of our bathroom (yes, I'm Ok with that),  installed a vent, run a new electrical line up from the basement, and attached a stacking kit.  Oh yeah, and actually moved the things into place (with some lifting assistance from Gumpy).We're talking serious handyman work and I am so very proud and thankful for my dear, sweet, wonderful, talented, strong hubby.  He is very tired.

And now there is some serious washing being done. It's a little daunting, sitting on the john and seeing this giant tower of appliances looming in front of you....but the whole family is sooooo in love with the pretty digital read-outs, lift-off-seems-imminent-spin-cycle, and the lilting chimes of the "wash complete" song....

This just in from Jeremy: "Mommy, the dryer is done!" 

Sweeter words have never been uttered!!!  OK, so I exaggerate...but only a little.

Gingerbread Snowflakes or How to Cheat Impressively

Today we made one of our signature holiday cookies.  It's a veritable study in how many "cheats" one can employ at the same time.  For you my loyal followers, I lay out all my secrets.

1. Purchase Pillsbury Gingerbread Cookie Dough (and refrain from reading the ingredients list).

I look for it in the grocery store when I'm doing my Thanksgiving shopping.  It's actually on the T-day grocery list that I perpetually recycle.  This year, I found it the week after at the Hannaford in Bangor (not at Old Town which is closer to home and my default location).  If you're local and you're looking for it, you may already be too late, particularly since I picked up three rolls each for myself and mum.  In fact, it may be about time to look for the easter goodies you love (commercialism astounds me).

2. Wait for the perfect large block of production time.  Today's snow day--a surprise block of quality family time--was the perfect bonus cheat.

3.  Procure cheap child labor, willing to "work" for the chance to disperse flour all over the dining room table, the chairs, the floor, themselves and me, and nibble on raw dough when they thought I wasn't looking.  And when they knew I was.  And after I said to stop.  And after Alan said to stop.

4. Assemble your tools:  a marble or glass board (one per laborer), flour, a spatula (this awesome one is from Pampered Chef), and flower shaped cookie cutters (the tiny one is from a set for use with fondant and voted most likely to suffer a tragic demise in the disposal).  Not pictured are my baking sheets, also from Pampered Chef.

5.  Allow the masses to run amok with 2/3 of your available cookie dough, supervising/advising/getting directly involved enough to forestall injuries, produce some yummy vaguely snowflake-ish looking cookies and even get a few worth decorating and distributing to friends, then send the help away to wash up and have "quiet" time (we use the term loosely) and peacefully crank out  beautiful specimens from the last roll of cookie dough.

6. Decorate cookies to look like snowflakes:  this is the deceptively easy stage.  Buy Wilton White Cookie Icing and Edible Cake Sparkles (and once again don't even think about what might be in them.  The icing looks exactly like a bottle of Elmer's glue and I can't help thinking there's a reason for that).

Here's the finished product (you'll note that only one has gotten the full treatment thus far!).  We store them in the freezer or at least out on the porch where they'll stay really cold, except for the family batch which will likely be consumed at a rapid rate.

November 21: Turkey Trot, Brewer ME

In the "everyone's doing it" spirit, we decided to take on Brewer High School's Turkey Trot.  With a fun run for the kids and a 3-miler for us (and Mum and Dad willing to come along and cheer/kid-sit) it seemed like a great way to spend the afternoon. 

So we rose early and attired ourselves in layered assortments of running togs, long underwear, sweats and even pajama bottoms(!) and packed sandwiches and snacks for lunch and....went to church.

After doing our bit and blitzing the coffee-hour, and a quick change for Nancy (from choir-appropriate footwear and a skirt to sneakers and sweats [that long running skirt I've been eyeballing would have been totally perfect for this...]) we convoyed to Brewer, scarfing down more snacks in the car.  We arrived in plenty of time to pick up our bibs, use the facilities and figure out where we needed to be.  Mum and Dad, of course, played things a little closer to the wire.  Mum saw the kids start and then retrieved Dad from the car in time to see them finish.  All three did a great job.  They had fun in spite of the cold and were pleased with their times.  Alan was desperately trying to get some stretching in before the start but I just kept thinking how much I didn't want to shed any layers.  At the last minute I shoved my fleece at Mum, along with assorted water bottles and cheese and crackers I'd been nibbling on.  It was really cold while we waited for the horde to surge forward, but after that the chill was quickly left behind.  For almost the first mile I kept pace with Alan.  He was in the zone with his tunes so we didn't chat much but he kept looking over at me as if to say "you're still here?".  I finally let him go and hunkered into my own pace, but I really didn't feel like I'd pushed it that much to begin with.  During my first walking break, Carey from UMaine who I frequently see at running events ran past and said hello.  So I picked it up again and chatted with her for a bit which was just what I needed.  Between keeping up with her and trying to keep Alan in sight I was able to pull off a pretty good pace overall.  The brisk air was certainly invigorating as well!

Afterward, we all milled around in the high school gym and visited with the many people we know.  Once again I marvelled at how much taking up running is like joining a secret society only to discover that I already know a huge portion of the membership.

As usual, we won no prizes, although someone we know walked away with 3 turkeys (yes, age-group and team awards come in the form of frozen fowl) and the $600 cash door prize (one dollar per registrant)!

It was a fun event (even though the kids were a bit unmanageable) and we're very likely to do it again.  At first, I thought the tee shirts were terrible because I thought the turkey looked evil.  They had car decals, too, and Jeremy kept asking if we could get "evil chicken stickers".  I'm thinking someone overheard us because they made a point to announce that the artwork was done (and donated) by the artist who draws The Hulk for Marvel Comics.  Upon closer inspection, it's easy to see that he is not, in fact, an evil chicken, but a hulkified turkey.  No one's gonna cook his giblets!  Way cool.

J, j and M strike action poses

Emilie with her Marks Family flock of newbie runners

November 20: Train Show 2010

This event is an annual big deal for Gumpy (aka the Train Doctor) and his model railroading club.  Funny story:  It used to be held the Sunday before Thanksgiving which was known in the family as "Train Sunday" and might as well have been included in the Episcopal lectionary.  A few years ago they finally got tired of competing with the traffic delays caused by the local Turkey Trot and switched it to Saturday.  I never knew that until this year...when we decided to do the race! And it all comes back to running....

Anyway, back to the Train Show. 

There are rows of tables set up for dealers displaying and selling anything and everything remotely train related from model engines, cars, cabooses (cabeese?) and track of all guages and types, to tiny realistic trees and packages of green dirt to decorate your layout, to the Operation Lifesaver booth with their safety videos and cardboard conductor's hats, to a toy Delorian sold by a cranky and hugely obese guy, to remote control airplanes that take digital aerial imagery while they fly. 

And then there's a silent auction and all the wheelin' and dealin' between vendors and the Train Doctor's booth with his clanging railroad crossing sign and his multi-track board for testing engines and his magnifying visor and his bags full of tools.  I think this is my dad's idea of heaven.

And then there's the little snack table that Mum bakes for and helps staff in between trying to get my dad to eat something (because he was up half the night and early that morning packing and tinkering and lugging all his stuff and didn't eat any breakfast) because she loves him and supports him and his passion.

But the real action takes up about a quarter of the large catering event space.  At least 20 separate segments built by individual members of the club are carefully hitched together to create a giant, rectangular, multi-track model train layout.  They had two very long trains running continuously through the varying landscapes and tiny lifelike scenery.

We brought Madeline's friend, Tony, along and I don't think he had every seen anything quite like it.  I suspect he went home and begged his parents for a train layout.  And believe me: no kid who sees this wants to start out small.

Here they are watching the action:

...along with Jeremy who traded his real hat for a cardboard one (to accommodate his hairdo, perhaps?):

Pretty soon, the wild-haired boy got a hold of the camera and didn't stop moving and snapping for about an hour.  Here are a couple of his more interesting "etudes de blur":

The kids each got to spend $5 so we came home with an assortment of toy cars including one which can only be described as....PUNCHBUGGY YELLOW!! 

*gotcha!*

Halloween 2010

Halloween landed smack in the middle of a two-week period of Marks family scheduling hell which, I guess, you could call "fitting", but I call it annoying.  I should apologize right now to my children because I really had a hard time getting into the spirit and it probably showed.  Um, yeah, it definitely showed.  So, sorry.

It all came down to an eleventh-hour scramble during which time we somehow managed to pull off a pretty frightful weekend. 
During the week I hemmed an academic robe for James' Dumbledore costume, and wrote a psalm parady and finished a scrapbook for a couple at church who is retiring elsewhere after 40 years. 
Thursday was choir practice, followed by Gospel Choir Concert practice.
Friday evening we finally got going on the holiday.  We hit the Spirit of Halloween store for some spooky inspiration and a few small costume accessories, then we did a quick run into Home Depot where we purchased half price pumpkins (one advantage to procrastination).  After that we had an extra choir rehearsal to try out a candidate for the organist/choirmaster position, and then enjoyed a greasy dinner at Pizza Slut. 
On Saturday, we slept in....aaaaah....and then revved it up with pumpkin carving, decorating the porch, drinking apple cider and roasting pumpkin seeds.  Alan took a spin up to Milo to help his mom finish cleaning out her storage unit and came back to carve his pumpkin masterpiece while the kids were sleeping.  
On Sunday we awoke to Jeremy's proclamation that "IT'S SNOWING!!" and "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT SNOWED ON HALLOWEEN" which was oft-repeated throughout the day.  Like many Mainers, we shook our heads and dressed warmly and went about our business.  We went to church and stayed for the farewell party at which the choir sang my psalm parody and everyone got emotional and ate sheet cake.  And then we raced home--via JoAnn Fabrics for materials for Jamie's hat--so Madeline and I could get into costume and grab PB&J and drive to a Girl Scout Halloween party thinly disguised as a birthday party for founder Juliette Low.  In Hudson.  The girls agreed that it was "okay".  I suspect the goody bags and cupcakes tipped the scales toward worthwhile and was grateful that our time spent in the cavernous (read: noisy) gymnasium was not quite enough to give me a full-blown migraine.  Then it was back home with M's friend, Auralee, in tow so the hippie chicks could trick-or-treat together.  Meanwhile, Alan worked on leveling the porch enough to open the front door and James fashioned a pair of wire spectacles.  He put the finishing touches on his beard while I made his hat.  Then I threw the kids into costumes and the car and picked up Mum and went to see Great Aunt Betty at Dirigo Pines, and the Fergusons on Spencer Street.  Then it was back home for dinner and additional finishing touches such as glow sticks and flashlights and Jeremy's pirate beard & mustache and belt-sheath repairs (already!).  During this time our only two trick-or-treaters (a blue-haired thing and an eye-popping ghoul) showed up at the now-functional front door.  Auralee's dad arrived and the hunting foray began (Alan selflessly volunteered to stay behind to tend the door and watch the Patriots game).  We roamed the neighborhood, James racing ahead and Jeremy lagging behind.  I was glad to have Rad there to help herd them across the dark streets. When we finally got home the kids were wound up and I was ready for bed at, like, 8pm.

For some reason photodocumentation was not top of the priority list (ya think?!), although Jeremy took about a hundred pictures of a stuffed Snoopy while I was carving his pumpkin for him.  To his exact specifications. He was getting annoying with the camera, but at least it kep him from helpfully shoving knives in my general direction.  Here's what's blogworthy:

[oh yeah, we made meatballs from the Biggest Loser cookbook (quite good actually) and James could not resist making the meat look like brains.  Are you a vegetarian yet?!?]

Daylight

Priceless: A Guest Post by The Man of the House

Tearing apart the door:    $0

Finding and replacing the screw that had fallen out:    $0

Straightening the bent rods:    $0

Putting it all back together:    $0

Trusting your husband to know what he's doing:   Priceless