..or, My Life is a Pile of Crap.

I’ve had it on my mind for a while now to blog about striving for balance. Unfortunately, the many and random facets of my life have gotten in the way. (Isn’t it ironic? Don’tcha think?  Except it actually IS ironic, unlike most of that song… but I digress!). Then, as I set out to make an image that attempts to reflect that eternal struggle, my dog got in the way. And then my husband asked what I was taking a picture of/for. I said, “balance,” and he said (jokingly), “a pile of crap?”  The truth of the matter is that that statement is pretty much the long and short of it — my life is a pile of crap. But the most beautiful, entertaining pile of crap a girl could ever hope for herself.

I have a lot of aspirations to build my business and better learn my craft, plus a completely impossible desire to spend more time doing everything I love — more time talking to my mom and best friend on the phone, more time spent with my husband, more time playing with my dog and turning him into a weave pole master, more time dancing, more time weight training, more focus on running faster, more time keeping the house beautiful, more time to myself to read and reflect.  Only problem is… that’s a lot of time. And considering my current need for a day job, and sleep, there isn’t exactly a bucket of unaccounted hours sitting at my disposal. 

And while a part of me feels like I need to focus on a couple of things with everything I have, the fact of the matter is that I’m not willing to let go of any of the many pieces of my life to dedicate more effort to a few things. So I guess I will have to strive for supreme efficiency, be a little bit tired all of the time, and enjoy every last second of my Pile of Crap.

I’d say more… but the pot roast is ready, and I need to start crochetting a blanket for my best friend and her burrito-in-the-oven.

This post is solely to brag about my awesome husband, Dave, who manages to build my website (AND teach me how to use it — the real feat), work full time, oh, and he’s an Ironman! The amount of training that goes into these events is nothing short of insanity, and while I will never understand the drive to do it, I am definitely proud of his accomplishments.

Halloween weekend also marked the Ironman Miami 70.3 (a “half ironman”). That’s seventy-point-three MILES, folks! It’s a 1.2-mile swim, followed by a 56-mile bike ride, and finished off with a little half marathon (13.1 miles). I’m tired just typing it!

Dave wasn’t able to get as much training done as he would have hoped this time, what with all of his other responsibilities (work being the main culprit this time), and the organization of this race was beyond terrible, but even with all of the obstacles in front of him, Dave managed to have a really solid race. I’m so proud of my ironman!

I also like to come up with signs to make him and other athletes laugh, because it seems like they are living in a unique corner of hell and could use a chuckle. The signs from this event centered on Antione Dodson and the “Bed Intruder” song video (do a youtube search if you’re not familiar, because, well, you should be!).

Some pictures from the day:

(At the finish line. )

Okay, stuff OTHER than my awesome signs….. like my awesome husband!

Getting ready for the buzzer to start the swim. Thought: “What did I get myself into?!”

Running from the water to his bike. He’s giving a thumbs-up, which means he’s not dead yet. I think I would be.

On the last bit of the bike course, and still smiling! You’ll notice that the cars in the background aren’t blurry. That’s because they’re going slower than he is. Downtown Miami was NOT a good place to be attempting to drive. And BOY were there some unhappy motorists! (Not, for the record, that I exactly blame them)

In the finishing chute! And STILL smiling!
I love this picture because I think he’s laughing at my sign (“You are so done…” seen above). I also think that the two guys in the background are laughing at it. Conversely, the gentleman on the right, whose name is apparently Brooks, is not amused. Or, is delirious. I’m going with delirious, because that was pretty funny…

Congrats to my hubby for yet another medal! 

Happy Halloween to you and yours!

In addition to my love of embarrassing my dog, I also thoroughly enjoy pumpkin carving. I love my dad to bits, and pumpkin carving always makes me think of how he would clean out the ewwies from pumpkins so my brother and I could do the fun part and carve menacing faces. These days I de-gut the pumpkins myself, but the memories are still there!

Some time in 2004, I came across an article or several about taking pumpkin carving to a whole new level. Forget triangle eyes and jagged teeth — there are ways to turn PICTURES into PUMPKINS! It takes patience, both in finding a picture that translates well into a pattern, making the pattern, and then painstakingly carving the beast, but I absolutely love it. I took a few years off from 2005-2007, but I’ve gotten back into it again, and I think I’ve improved every year (partially due to MUCH better tools!).

Here’s a look back at my pumpkin carving history!:

2007:

The Clancy-o-Lantern!
Made from a silly picture of my boston terrier. This was made in a college dorm room using a pathetic excuse for a steak knife, a push pin, and HOURS.

(Silent period from 2005-2008 during which I focused on graduating, planning a wedding, and NOT carving pumpkins)

2008:

The Joker-o-Lantern (a la Heath Ledger)

By this point my husband and I were in our own home, and I had a kitchen stocked with wedding gifts including a lovely knife set. Unfortunately, the knife set didn’t come with common sense. Before I actually started carving (I was slicing some of the gunk off of the underside of the “lid”), I had a knife slip that resulted in several frantic phonecalls (I was alone at the time), a nervous drive to solantic, 11 stitches, and a bottle of vicodin that not-so-hilariously had a “press here with thumb, then twist to open” cap (did I mention I was alone?).

I do think that the injury got me a pity vote, landing me in 4th place in that year’s pumpkin carving contest at seriouseats.com! The prize included a pumpkin dremel and a safety knife/scoop set with no-slip grip handles. These have totally revolutionized pumpkin carving for me. I’m not sure I’d say it was worth it, but I’d go so far as to say it was a pretty snazzy silver lining.

2009:

The Dexter-o-Lantern
One of the tricky parts of making pumpkin patterns is that the oversimplification of an image, especially a person’s face, sometimes makes it unrecognizable. Characters end up looking like Just Some Dude. That’s why I felt the need to label this one. (I’m still 2 seasons behind on this show, so please don’t spoil anything for me! )

2010:

The Mad Hatter-o-Lantern (a la Johnny Depp)
This one was super detailed, and the fact that I was able to do the detail work in the tools in the hat was really unexpected! I started carving WAY too late in the evening and was so sick of carving by the time this baby was finished, but I’m super happy with how it turned out!

Anyone else out there a carving nut??