although valentines day and our anniversary are right around the corner… i want this new car more than anything in the world! and i’ve been such a good girl!!! i have gotten indescribably sick of the drive to wedowee, atlanta, and orlando. really, i fidget in my seat the entire drive. i’ve been asking hubby to buy me a small helicopter or a little cessna for years but this would be so much more practical. and it gets 500 miles on a tank of regular unleaded so it’s economical too, right? now if we could just negotiate down the $194k price tag…
it’s official, the 44th leader of our country is president obama and, while i am not happy about that fact, i will do my best to give him the respect that his position deserves. i pray that my fears about the next four years are proven wrong. nothing would make me happier than to be wrong here. i pray that he is the leader that our country needs.
i’d also like to thank president bush for his service over the last eight years. while i may not agree with all of his decisions, i am so thankful that he did what he was supposed to do – protect our country. i pray that president obama will keep us as safe as president bush did after that tragic day over seven years ago.
now that i’ve figured out how to password protect posts, there is a chance that you will be seeing them occasionally (i promise to try not to abuse the power). as such, i’m going to have one password that i use for all such posts, unless otherwise noted. yesterday’s will be changed as well. if you are interested in having the key to my secret rants, please comment here and i will email it to you.
my cousin just finished her very first marathon in 7 hours exactly. She ran victoriously across the finish line and settled into a tired walk.
across the finish line - i was blinded by the sun and totally missed the shot
victorious wave
It’s beastly hot out here so I can’t imagine how hot and tired she truly is at this point. She finished 26.2 miles within the official time limits! You rock, cousin!!! I’m so proud of you!!!
and now a word from our coke sponsors...
my cousin - the marathoner!!!
UPDATE: i don’t think that i mentioned that bl (my friend who’s name was on my cousin’s back as she ran), my dad, your MIL, and my SIL all called our phones to check on you and send you mental encouragement during your run. bl said you were an inspiration.
I have not had much luck with Internet this morning but it has been an exciting time. I’m exhausted from watching all of these runners! We arriveded in time to see my cousin enter the magic kingdom at mile 10.
first sighting - unloading on sherlock
She looked great and was at a 14:52 pace.
my cousin approacheth
happy to finally see us
obligatory castle pic
running in honor of bobbert and jackie - both battling lymphoma
We then met up with Sherlock and made it back to catch her coming out of of the castle.
out of the castle and doing the YMCA???
off she goes!
Us three then caught a seat on a nice, air conditioned bus over to animal kingdom. While we were on the bus, she called Sherlock to let us all know that she had passed the halfway point and was feeling great! When we arrived at Animal Kingdom, we knew that it would be a little while before she ran through so hubby and I bought some overpriced Disney muffins (we hadn’t yet had breakfast) and found an empty spot along the runners’ path to eat and cheer. I felt hateful glares from the hot, tired, and starving runners while I consumed my pastry.
waiting for our marathoner
We cheered my cousin through the animal kingdom parking lot, which was just short of the 18 mile mark for her.
continuing with the YMCA in animal kingdom
"am i done yet?!"
She quickly took a gulp of Sherlock’s coke and continued on her way at a roughly 16 minute pace. She’s doing great but is ready for a pizza! We then got on another air conditioned bus to come back to epcot. We are sitting in the shade next to the finish line awaiting her arrival. We expect to see her in less than an hour. Unfortunately, we are unable to keep up with where she is at since her phone seems to have died or been turned off since her 13.1 mile call.
my cousin just called me to let me know she has been running for an hour and a half, 6.4 miles, but we’ve only just arrived. I really would have liked to have been here for the start but since we’ve still got a six hour drive ahead of us, that just wasn’t happening. Now to find Sherlock and get over to magic kingdom to see our runner!
but work has been busy and i’ve been having a good time hanging out with family and friends. i promise to start posting some pix and recaps in the next few days.
welcome to 2009, folks! My wish for this year is that it is free from tragedies and funerals. It’s really been a rough few years in those department. Here’s to a year of joy, prosperity, and fun for all of us!!!
the funeral went well. it was a sad occasion but it was also the most peaceful funeral i’ve been to. as one of her great-grandchildren said before performing a song at the service, “her prayers were answered this Christmas.” hubby and i worked very hard on creating a digital slideshow of her life to play in a loop next to the casket. everyone seemed to enjoy looking through the vast array of photos.
this morning, we stopped by the nursing home to visit with hubby’s ex-gma-IL and then we drove to ga. we’ll be working in the office this week and we’ve already made plans to visit with some of our old neighbors. it will be good to see them after such a long time. anyhow, we are looking forward to slowly returning to normalcy this week – work a few days, have a nice family Christmas, and then get back home. i miss home. thank you to everyone who sent well-wishes during the sad weekend.
During the night, the world lost one of the sweetest and most GOOD persons ever to live. Hubby’s grandmother passed away just five days short of her 98thbirthday. We had a big birthday party planned for Saturday but she just couldn’t hold on anymore. While we know that this is a blessing for her as she has had little quality of life for several years now, we are selfishly sad over the loss. She was a tremendous influence in my husband’s life and my own as well, though I have only known her nine+ years. We’re talking about a woman who, when my husband was going to college, gave him fifty cents to help out. She didn’t have much but she gave all she could. I am happy that she is no longer suffering and I know that she was ready. She’s been ready for years and has often asked anyone who would listen, “you don’t think the good Lord has forgotten about me, do you?” She was the matriarch of a large family – 6 children, 16 grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren, and 20 great-great-grandchildrenafter an assisted recount, the totals are actually 6 children, 17 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren, and 29 great-great-grandchildren. She buried one child, one grandchild, and one great grandchild. She will be missed very, very much.
The weather today has been ferocious and impressive! I was awoken about 02:00 this morning by the extremely loud wind. It was blowing so hard against our condo that the balcony door was actually shaking at times. It has been that way all day today. What’s more impressive is that the wind is so strong that there have been a few times today that we could not even open the sliding glass door. That is strong wind and high pressure!
The gulf has been equally impressive. The waves, according to the NOAA, are at 5-8 feet. They are crashing with the fury of an angry sea. It is really quite reminiscent of hurricane weather without the looming threat. And without the surge coming quite so far up towards the buildings.
