Sunday Summary....

Kim and I have been contemplating our next move...I'm thinking if she gets a few animals and I grab some, we should be able to find a make-shift Ark to float away on because if the rain doesn't stop soon....we'll be looking for higher ground.

It wasn't many weeks ago that the local news corp was preaching that it might take YEARS for Lake Lanier to fill up because of the EPIC drought we were in. Uh....yeah, about the drought....its sort of over and to think some folks were flipping out that the State declared the drought over not too long ago. If it wasn't then...it is now.

Now, tie this together with my bike ride on Saturday and you have a total wash out from word go. It rained on the way to the ride, it stopped ever so briefly right at the beginning of the ride, and then it started around mile 4. Not just a light rain....a mist or anything...no, a downpour. It did that until one of the rest stops and then it started right back at the decision point to ride 48 or just skimp and ride 31 miles.










The decision point is the big pic and the small one on the right.....uh......torrential DOWN POUR. So I chilled for a bit and talked to a couple other riders and then it just hit me....do it. Go ahead, you're wet already - how much worse can it get? So I took the 48 mile path and fortunately it didn't get too much worse but all in all it was a super wet ride. I started to hit the wall again around mile 34-ish....because I hadn't really stocked up on food but a rest stop saved me and I ended up peddling right at 50 miles (because of some rest stop detours) and kept a pace around 14.8 miles per hour which I thought was pretty respectable. What I did learn is that I am slow, I have the wrong equipment, I have very little stamina, and girls were CRUISING past me keeping up with amazingly fast guys and I was just blown away. Not that I don't think ladies can hang but I was just impressed all to hell with some of these women. They were super fast and none of the A/B riders even looked winded in the late miles. Amazing.

So I've got a goal to work toward.....

Now, to family matters. Reese dressed in appropriate attire for a young lady on Saturday's in the south by wearing her new UGA outfit - supplied by the very soul that tarnished the family with a Tennessee outfit. You have indeed made amends for the travesty and can now be invited to our home for a future game yet to be decided. Prior to the love offering, it was going to be dicey. (I'm so just kidding....thanks again Robin for both outfits :D)


The Dawgs pretty well decided that defense was simply unnecessary in Arkansas so they showed up with offense...thank goodness. The UT / FL debacle took place Saturday as well and I was impressed with the showing that UT made against the Army of God....hmph..sorry....Tim Tebow's team. But Reese told me that she didn't see much to cheer about so she took a nap.

Sunday has been another wash out. Just a complete mess. In some ways I'm actually looking forward to the work week because there is a chance that we'll have a day with no rain later on in the week. And another milestone happens this week. Reese turns six months old! I don't know that you throw a party for a 6 month old but what stinks is that I'll miss most of the day with her. I suppose that Reese will be fine without me that day but it's just an amazing thing that she is 6 months old now. The time is just flying by and there is no real way to slow it down.

In any case, we hope its a good week for everyone and that it stops raining at some point!

Prepping for Saturday...

One more day and I have to do this for real....I have to ride in a pack of - more than likely - well trained cyclist and keep pace. Oh I'm sure that there will be enthusiasts there...stroller types...Sunday poke arounds...but there will be a large number of real riders as well. I'm a little nervous about this. I don't have a road bike...I ride a hybrid which isn't all that great for road OR trail but could feasibly do both if asked to. Am I going to stand out like a sore thumb in a crowd of bike jersey wearing go fast types?

I haven't ridden any miles since the Friday that I attempted the 48 miles until tonight and I went out and blistered my lap of Towne Lake with a 28:57 performance...my best time ever. Two weeks off kept my legs from responding to the burn but I was gassed at the end which isn't all that normal now. But I can't keep that pace Saturday....

Only riding 7 miles tonight and then trying to pull off 48 Saturday....I'll need to pace myself...listen to slower music...fall in with a decent paced group...but will "my pace" exist? We'll see. I'll finally learn if I'm ok at this new hobby or if I need to train like hell through the winter and try again in the spring.

I'm excited about this but I almost liked the solitude of the ride two Friday's ago. No pressure, no idle chat when I didn't feel like it, no pace to keep....just my legs begging to pull over and something in my head saying nope...not yet. I like that. I haven't had that feeling in a long time in a "sport". So don't look for me in a brightly colored jersey and blowing the doors off of the pack....but look for my big butt to finish this ride and toast a cold beer when I'm done.

I just hope it doesn't rain on me...that would suck.

My girls...

Toe' up from the flo' up.....

For those that don't speak the tongue....that says "Tore up from the floor up", which is the world that we have been living in - well, in terms of our master bath at least. When we moved into this house, we immediately recognized the long vanity in the master bath as something from Munchkin Land. Only little people would be suited to use the sinks and the tile was a mix of new, old, cracked, and ugly. Needless to say, the bath didn't seal the deal - but it is big and that made it tolerable. With that in mind, we decided to finally do something about the situation a couple weeks ago and hired a pro to re-do the shower and the tub surround. I'll attempt to handle the floor and vanity replacement along with the gigantic mirror above the sinks.....See before, during, and almost done (phase I anyway)
















The grout lines are cracked badly in the floor of the shower, the tile line is less than head high in the shower as well, there is a tacky step into the tub which is dangerous at best and useless at worst, and then that brown paint....ugh.

















Step gone, mold cleaned up, subfloor was surprisingly ok...thank you Lord.









Backer board applied, pan set, sealed for moisture, taped and ready for tile.










Tile surrounding the tube and working up the shower....













Getting higher...And almost done.

I'll save a complete pic until the entire room is done but you get the idea. This is SOOOO much better than where we were. I imagine that another month will do it.....yeah, pause for a minute and absorb that. I'm taking time off to do the floors and the vanity will not be here for another three weeks. We'll be able to use the shower on Wednesday but my intent is to start pull tile from the floor ever so slowly over the next few days. We'll see if I'm handy at all.

Quick update on other things, Papa and Gramma came down for the first time since Mom's second knee surgery and they enjoyed a little time with Reese today. She was in a really good mood and just her happy normal self. We've truly been blessed with a great little girl and we're just so happy to be her parents. Nothing major outside of the bath remodel....we'll update later in the week.

Just pics....

I've been out of town again and Reese is so much more of a handful for Kim so posts have been behind. In fact, I'm just going to post a few of pics from late in the week and today's visit to Scott and Michelle's for the game. Hopefully the Dawgs can pull it off....More on Sunday.

Labor Day....

We're coming off of a 4 day weekend and we have pushed Reese all day everyday. Friday was bike day and Kim took Reese to Calhoun, then back up there for Nana's retirement party on Saturday, then over to Cartersville for a surprise birthday luau for Auntie Nadine on Sunday, and FINALLY a day that wasn't all that scripted and we still did some running around with Pooks.

Sunday night....she was TY-RED.
She slept in very well this morning giving Mommy and Daddy a small break from the norm and she played with puppy. Check the hair and her Mommy's puffy morning eyes.....
Even Bax decided to relax today...
Some of the pics from yesterday include hanging with Nana and with Mommy and Celeste.










And Daddy trying to make the same face as Reese....
We've had an awesome weekend and I'm not ready for it to end. I believe in an effort to deliver a better work / life balance, we should only work four days every week!

Lots to cover...

Day two of the labor day weekend (Kim and I were off on Friday....oh so nice) was a little yard work, a little house work, a little college football, a little bit of the tile guy coming to tear out tile, and a dash of a retirement party for Nan back in the Hoon....It was such a big day that Pooka was completely done tonight. She never....I mean NEVER falls asleep on your shoulder but tonight, she was gone on Kim right after her bottle. It was so cute.

Pics from today....

























Yes...Reese changed outfits but our little oven was burning up in denim so back to a onesie we went. I would do pic comments but suffice it so say both Papa (my dad) and PawPaw (Kim's dad) are eat up with Reese.....no fear...Papa is holding Reese on PawPaw's back so she's not just hanging out up there. Maybe I can use another sentence loaded with P/P names later on just for fun but I felt like explanations were required.

In a bit of sad news today....my Dawgs lost.

On top of that....my wife broke the Cardinal rule for daughters of UGA fans. She dressed her up in an outfit that someone gave us. I know this someone through Kim's work and while they will remain un-named for now, the travesty that has befallen the house in the interest of taking a picture is simply awful. See below....

Oh sure...Kim made this "cute" little note for the event and made a haha out of it but you can see the pure disgust on Reese's face. In fact, she poopied twice while wearing the outfit and I almost saw to it that caca was inexplicably smeared all over the outfit making it only worthy for picking up doggie poo.

But I didn't. That would have been a little too much.....I'm a nice young man.

I hope our friend in Chattanooga, TN is pleased with herself. Poor little girl was in a foul mood all day after that. At least she isn't really looking at the camera so we could always deny that this is Reese....that might be the best tactic here.

This had better not show up at her UGA graduation party!

GO DAWGS!!!!!!!!!

Thank you Lord......Georgia Football is FINALLY here. We have a retirement party for Nan to attend this afternoon so I'm a forgiving soul and will make the trek but a radio will be in hand and an absentee Dawg fan will be pulling for a long game and a good old fashion SEC beat down.

Done....

In more ways than one...I made it 44.2 miles today and I'm completely blitzed. My legs ache and my back does too. (oddly enough) Ryan tried to ride and made it 5.7 miles one way and decided to turn around for a total of around 11 to 12 miles. I can't say that I blame him though, the bike he was on was not all that great for road riding.

The route passed over Hwy 53 near my parents house twice...I was literally riding on the old road into our neighborhood that we lived in (two houses ago) and just knowing how far I had to go was killing me....and the lack of Gatorade. Anyway, I'm wondering if I can hack that again so we'll see on the 19th what I decide to do. At least they will have rest areas then so the ride may take longer but I'll have some chow and drink.....yeah!

I'll post a pic later for keepsakes (for me) to highlight my longest ride to date. Dang, I'm tired.

Here I go...

I'm heading out to attempt the Cartersville ride....I suckered Ryan into riding with me so we'll see what happens.

I love being off......

Ramblings.....

There are several things that have been "bloggable" of late and I'm just going to cram everything into a BIG 'OL post....or until I get tired of typing. So here goes.

Personal acquaintances know that I've been riding my bike on a pretty regular basis and I'm getting about one ride in during the week in the 7 to 10 mile range and then hitting a ride of about 18 to 24 miles on the weekend. I need to be riding more miles in order to shed some tonnage but bath night kills every other night and then yard work or something else might complicate getting two rides in during the week....anyway....I sent in paperwork for the Beautiful Backroads Century ride starting in Cartersville at the Budweiser plant and I'm opting for the 44 mile ride. You can chose 15, 27, 44, 65, or 101 miles and I'm picking the closet thing to half - the interesting thing about this is that the most I've ever ridden in one day was 34 miles and I was dead after that. So, this Friday Kim and I are both off and I'm going to attempt the ride just to see if I can do it and to make sure I don't look like a moron turning left when I need to turn right and that kind of thing. I'm trying to be confident but this is a tall task for a rookie so I'm just hoping to be able to walk Saturday.

Reese thinks I'm crazy.....

Next, we're planning on a bathroom remodel that is on the verge of being a MUST do versus a WANT to do. Our tile shower is cracked along grout lines all over the place and we're opting for a professional to do the shower and tub surround....because it would look stupid to do the shower and not the tub surround since they touch. But then so does the floor.....well, in the interest of saving money, I'm going to replace the floor, then the 2ft vanity and by default, the gigantic mirrored above the vanity....so I'll be taking off some time to work around the house in September or October for Project-a-thon!!!!
DAAAAD!!! I said no flash!

NEXT......this Saturday is big for two different items....1st, football kicks off with UGA visiting Oklahoma State. This is no cake walk and I am a normally blind supporter of UGA football thinking that every year is the year that we make it to the top of the SEC and BCS battle....but this year may be a rebuilding year so I'm not holding my breath....and 2nd, (but certainly first in our hearts) its Nana's retirement party. I didn't really mean to skip the fact that Nana retired from City Hall back in July but it just sort of got mixed into the background and I forgot the post about it....same thing with Nana's birthday which was right around the same time and so was Kim's b-day and it all mixed in with no meaningful posts about Nana....well Saturday is her day and there will be pics and family and eats and a sore Adam wandering around so Happy retirement, birthday, sorry its late on the blog....day.

These two are smiling because they don't have to work any more like the rest of us poor slobs.

Lastly....a Reese update. She is such a trip. Reese is becoming such a little person and she is exploring her surroundings all the time. She reaches and grabs and rakes toys off the kitchen counter. She drops toys almost with the understanding that we'll get them for her....can she already understand that? She says "mmmmuuuumma" ALL THE FREAKING TIME NOW and Kim is just eating it up. Reese doesn't realize that she's saying Mumma...she's not really asking for Kim...is she? I don't even know that she's really repeating us becuase I don't know that we say Mumma all that much........but what is pretty cool is that its a word whether its meant to be or not. rrrrrrraaaaaaayyyyyeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkk.....is not a word. Neither is mmmmmmmmmmphhh mmmmmeeeeemmmmmmmmmpppttttt. But Mumma....that has meaning so congrats to Kimmy for getting Mumma first. She loves her Mumma and that's ok with me.