2017 review

This has been quite a year. While I have been sad and disappointed on how our government is running, personally I have had a good year. My little word was plan and I did make progress with this, but some times my anxiety gets the better of me and I don’t execute my plans. But that’s tomorrow’s post. 

This year:

Lauryn is doing much better in school, socially. She is learning how to stop the drama better. She hurt her knee in October so she couldn’t dance or play softball. Oh-yes, she joined a softball team. 

Florida-we all went to Orlando for a week with four of Jeff’s HS kids (they had a national tourney).  We went to Universal Studios, Disney World, Coco Beach. We had so much fun!!! Lauryn and I did Disney together and had a blast! 

Lauryn also spent a week in Seattle with Jeff’s Aunt and uncle. She had a wonderful time and toured the city. 

In August, we got a new kitten!!! Her name is Scully. She was four months old when we got her. AJ took a couple weeks to get used to her and they’ve been good friends since then. Scully jumped and hurt her back so she was down for a few weeks and then healed. Then AJ got super sick in October. I thought she might die but antibiotics saved her and now those two are thick as thieves! 

My in laws moved from Burlington, KS to an assisted living in Andover. It’s taken them a few months to adjust but are doing well. 

I ran 4 half marathons and one full marathon. I ran 1080 miles this year. I’m looking to beat that next year. 

I read 33 books also. I hope to spend more consistent time reading too. 

That’s 2017 in a nutshell! 

Metal Monday: Prairie Fire 1/2

Prairie Fire 1/2. It was a beautiful day in October. I set out and was running strong. The day was so great-I had lots of friends cheering me on! I saw a couple old friends which was great! 

My time 2:34:00

(Backup) A Week of Shenanigans

So Caturday is a day late again. Sorry about that. The girls have been up to all sorts of craziness this week. They have played with the tree and ornaments. I’m about to put the tree skirt away. I come downstairs every morning and have to fix it. Sigh. 

They have a WWF daily. Several rounds. 

They are in cahoots together. This day, I came out in the morning to find a fortune cookie in its wrapper. It was on the kitchen table the previous night. I put it up on the railing to take downstairs and went to the bathroom. While I was putting my contacts in, I heard a wrapper. I looked out and AJ was on the railing and knocked the cookie and wrapper off so Scully could play with it. 

But this photo warms my heart to pieces. They love each other so much!!

Metal Monday: Route 66 1/2 Marathon

I am very behind in blogging. So the next few mondays will be to recap some of my races. We will start with the last one: Tulsa’s Route 66 1/2 Marathon 

I started this race hurt. I am training for Dallas marathon and during one of my 20 mile training runs, I hurt my hip. Lots of ice, stretching, acupressure and cupping and it was finally feeling better by race day. 

The sunrise that morning was Gorgeous!! The weather was supposed to be good. 37 to start and warming up to the 50’s by the end. 

The race was great.  I’ve done it once before but this time since I was well trained but not racing fast, I really got to enjoy the scenery. The course runs through lots of neighborhoods (all well to do). The day couldn’t have been nicer to run! 

This hill is beautiful but tough to climb! 

Afterwards we had some good and beer before cleaning up and heading home. 

My official time-2:44:20

“Helping” With the Tree

Currently I’m in peak marathon training season so my Saturdays are filled with running and then sitting. It’s hard to do much after running 20 miles. I watch TV because I can’t think much that day either. 

On Friday, I put up the tree. Obviously Christmas cake that day for two furry munchkins. 

 I had to hook the leaves on the tree twice...after I had put it together. 

This morning, I put the lights on the tree. I have no idea what the girls were doing but as soon as I started touching “their tree” they were downstairs! There was a lot of “helping”. 

Once I got the ornaments up, there was playing 

And then some WWF...

Needless to say, there are no Radkos or breakables on the tree this year. But I have two super happy girls and that’s all that matters. 

Sleeping Girls

Our girls love each other. And they love sleeping on L’s bed. 

Caturday a Day Late

Sorry-yesterday was full of running and shopping. AJ has been under the weather this week. She’s finally feeling better today (thanks to the antibiotics). So it’s a Scully photo week. 

As you can see Scully loves to be with us. L is her favorite. She lets L hold her any way she wants. This day, Scully was helping her do homework. She doesn’t need to be held down. Scully Just loves it. 

On Saturday, Scully was bored. With AJ hiding, she has no one to play with. She came downstairs and just sat there and fell asleep on Jeff’s lap while Oreo and Lucy were one seat over! 

Caturday: 10/28/17

Our girls have been super silly.  Scully seems to invite goofy in her life.  She decided L’s saxophone case fits her well

And AJ-she’s all about the paper towels lol

It's Lily Time!

I'm back scrapbooking at Linda's and Lily and I have become besties. Now that Cagney isn't there to share her attention, she's decided she loves me. She's been a very good girl. She's been doing a lot of this: 

 But she did wake up to snoopervise and make sure we were staying in task:

Meet Scully!

We feel AJ needs a friend. She seems bored a lot. So after much thought and discussion, we found Scully! 

She's so little! She's four months old. Her voice is LOUD! And she's got beautiful coloring. 

It took AJ about 3 days to warm up to Scully. We got her on August 20. Now they are good friends. They even nap together. 

Caturday August 5th Edition

Oh look! I'm in the bathroom so AJ needs to come i and see if there's anything important going on. Every. Single. Time. 

(Backup) Caturday and a Two Month Hiatus

Yikes! It's been two months since I've posted. My mom and I were talking about this recently. At first I said "I'm too busy" and then I said "no, I'm just uninspired ". I hope to get my motivation back into blogging. I have a few back posts to blog on so I will start there. 

But first, it's Caturday which means we need to feature the Princess AJ. She is delightful as always. I CANNOT go to the bathroom without her pushing the door in to see what I'm doing. And every time this happens: 

Caturday is Back!

Sorry for my absence. I am hoping with less craziness since it's summer vacation. But let's get to the headline...AJ! 

She LOVES water out of the glass. 

 

   

The Helper

On Monday, I finished our taxes. It was gorgeous outside so the dogs were out playing, Jeff and L were at softball practice and AJ had the whole house to herself. 

 She loves to snoopervise. Whether it's watching me write or checking out a box to make sure it's safe:

 She's sure a big help lol. 

Live Like a Boss

It's Caturday and yes, we are talking about AJ

Today she had the pleasure of going to the vet for a checkup. She whined all the way to the vet. She MADE me put my fingers in the kennel so she could touch me and if I moved them out, her paw started swinging through the slates. Sigh. 

We get to the vet and there are dogs. She was very nervous. But we got back in the room and everything was fair game! 

 

She checked out the sink too 

Checkup was great. She got two shots and we were out the door in 20 minutes. 

I needed to get some eggs so we headed to a friend's. Well, let me tell you. She WAS NOT SITTING IN THAT KENNEL ANY MORE. She whined and I put my hand in and then she shook the kennel gate so I opened it and out she pops! Talking and exploring. 

 

JUST. LIKE. A. BOSS. 

 

 

Monday Musings (aka what we did this weekend)

So I'm not going to do the weekly chase. I'm kind of bored with it. So we will recap what happened this weekend. 

Friday night: Jeff and I had supper at Abuelo's while L and a friend went to the arcade for an hour. We had sangria. Everyone had fun. Jeff played video games and I fell asleep. 

Saturday: what a productive day! I cleaned house, got a pedicure for the nice weather we are having. And then Jeff and I bought this...

 

2003 Ford Thunderbird. It has been well maintained and we got a great deal on it. 

Sunday: I got up and ran 10 miles with friends. It was hot but we got it done! 

 

The rest of this day was spent finishing chores, cleaning up the scrapbook room, finishing a book and prepping for the week. I feel good about this weekend! 

Caturday is Back!!

Sorry for the long pause in blogging. Some times I am super swamped and blogging gets put on the back burner. 

But...we return with AJ! Because she's always up for being featured on the blog. What silly stuff is she up to now?

She's 18 months ago and has filled out nicely. She is still super active. Her feat instinct has kicked in somewhat...she doesn't escape to the outside world when the door opens. But she's not as fearful to the dogs as she used to be. She often comes down when they are inside and walks around. And the second she knows they are outside, she's up on our laps or exploring. 

Shenanigans #1

 

The dogs are outside and we are eating. That's a good time for AJ to jump on the kitchen table and freak Jeff out, right? Oh...maybe not. I'll sit under the table now. 

Shenanigans #2

 I know I'm not supposed to mess with the gate but this is fun! 

Shenanigans #3

 

Free falling! 

Happy Caturday!

 AJ says hello! 

Caturday: Vacation Edition

I'm at Linda's this weekend so it's the Lily and Cagney show!

Lily is trying to be good:

 

Cagney is always good...

 

Lily cracked me up last night on her perch