Do You Slackline?

Recently Roanoke hosted an event called the Roanoke Outdoor Circus.  When Paul asked if I wanted to drive the boys into town for it, I wanted to know what all was going on.  Paul said, "Well, the best thing is that they'll have slacklining!" I had never heard of slacklining previously, but it sounded intriguing when Paul explained it's like tightropes for the layperson.  So we headed into town to check it out.

After a brief stop off at a kid's inflatable, we headed over to the slacklines.  They had kid-friendly slacklines that were only a foot or so off the ground.  Cort scrambled right up.

You know what?  Slacklines are a lot harder than you think.  You can see to the right behind Paul there was a waist-high slackline with mats beneath, but once we realized how tricky they are none of us felt compelled to try the big one!  

Um, is it just me, or does Paul need to invest in a slightly larger vest?  Hmm...potential Christmas gift?

Cort and Reid had fun just bouncing on the slackline.  If there's one thing about kids, they love to bounce.

Once we wore out our slackline incompetencies agility, we checked out the other parts of the outdoor circus.  There was music.

And colorful displays of art -

Roasted corn on the cob -

And all sorts of green gear - I had to drag myself away from this stuff.  You all know how excited I get about new eco-friendly products!  

We ended the night with the boys playing on some ramps designed for people to test out bikes.  The boys thought that bike ramps were a lot of fun!  Maybe we should build some in our yard?

Would you try slacklining?  Or is there something new out there that you've been wanting to try out that you haven't had a chance to yet?

Possessed Toys

If you have a house full of toys, like us, you've probably been a victim of possessed toys.  One of the disadvantages to toys with batteries is that when the batteries start dying, the toys become possessed.  Often, an inopportune moments like 3:00 am.  Confused and exhausted, you drag yourself downstairs to hunt for the offender, and then it stops making noise.  You stand, bleary-eyed listening to...silence. Slowly you turn and as you reach the top of the stairs, you hear BEEP BEEP!

Recently our McDonald's cash register became possessed.  It started beeping and beeping.  So I turned it off.  I went on about my business and then BEEP BEEP.  I turned it off again.  Double turned it off.  For good measure, triple turned it off.  Left the room and....no lie....BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.  Seems like someone has abandonment issues.

Remember that scene with the fax machine from the movie Office Space? 

I only thought it folks, I didn't go there!  Anyone know how to perform a toy exorcism?

Totems on Muffin Tin Monday

It's Muffin Tin Monday, and this was a very tasty dinner we had one evening.  I enjoyed breaking out the totem poles cups again.

Baked salmon and roasted onions in a creamy dill sauce, wild long grain rice, and roasted brussels and carrots, plus a side skewer of grapes.

Turns out Mom and Dad enjoyed the salmon more than the kids did.  Oh well, more for us! 

Find more fun lunch ideas at Muffin Tin Mom.

Shutterfly Christmas Cards

I'm one of those obnoxious people that has typically finished buying holiday gifts and wrapping them by Thanksgiving.  Primarily, my motivation is that I truly hate the holiday crowds.  But also, I like being able to sit back and have fun in the days leading to Christmas.  Which is why I love doing Shutterfly cards every year.  Their site is easy to use and quick (and I don't have to leave the house!), so I can get my cards ordered efficiently and have them ready to roll in the mail at the end of November.

Plus, Shutterfly has very cute designs.  There are greeting cards and photo cards and so much more to choose from.  I've even done some of their photo gifts before which have been huge hits with family members.  I love how personalized you can be.

Usually, I like to pick a holiday card that has 4 picture slots - so I can do an individual of each child and then one of the three of them.  Like this:

This year I might change things up and just do one pic of the 3 of them.  I really liked this design:

Go check out Shutterfly and simplify your holiday prep!  Are you already thinking that far ahead, or do you like to wait until the last minute?  Do tell!

Disclaimer:  I received a promo code for 25 free holiday cards from Shutterfly to write a post, but all of the opinions expressed are my own.  If you are a blogger who is interested in participating in this promo with Shutterfly, you can contact them here. 

Special Guest Post from Claude the Maine Coon

I'm the baby in the family, at least as far as the cats go, even though I'm coming on in age what with my 13 years (I'm on my third life, though) and thyroid disorder, and my diabetes which is in remission.  Or at least it was, last time I had it checked.  That was a few months ago though.  Way I've been eating and laying around I wouldn't be one bit surprised if my blood sugar was all out of whack again.  Some days I feel like I'm 104, and on my 8th life instead of just my third.  Those are the days when my arthritis is acting up.

Mostly, though, I do alright.  I wake up and take my meds, and then go sit in the blue rocking chair for my morning nap.  The kids will be up, getting ready to start their day, and Cort always comes over to visit.  He brings his little blanket, and covers me up and snuggles me.  I don't leave, even though sometimes he can be a little rough and smush me a bit.

It's free range food here, but cat food is boring.  I usually try to mooch food off the twins.  They will oblige and feed me poptarts and pretzels as long as mom isn't watching.  If mom is watching she takes them away, saying it's bad for my blood sugar.  Even though my diabetes is in remission already!

One of my favorite things to do is paw at water.  It runs in my family, the pawing at water.  I like to splash around in the toilet if someone mistakenly leaves the bathroom door open.  I also enjoy having my fur shaved - oh it feels so nice.  That only happens a few times a year though, if I get lazy with my grooming or if I start having hairball trouble.  The other two cats think I'm weird for enjoying the shaving, but what do they know?

Sometimes, if I'm having a really great day, I might sneak outside for a few minutes. I'm not allowed to go far, as I'm declawed in front and I'm on my third life and all, but I love to lay in the dirt and feel the sun on my fur, letting it soak into my aging bones.  Beautiful!

In the evenings, I jump up into bed to snuggle while watching movies or reading books.  It doesn't matter one way or another to me, I just enjoy the company.  Truly, it's a decent life I lead, and most days I'm just happy to be here.

This post linked with Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop.  The prompt this week was to write a post about A Day in the Life of Your Pet - How Bad Do they Have it?

On a side note, do you think my camera was causing his eyes to look foggy, or do you think Claude is developing cataracts?

Fitness Recap October 2011

I had a decent month in October.  I didn't do any crosstraining again, but my running was good.  I ended up with a slight increase in mileage this month (but right around the 10% rule - which basically says not to increase your running by more than 10% a week or you put yourself at risk for injury).  In total, I got in 123 miles this month.  It was a little difficult getting the extra miles in with birthdays and fall parties and less daylight in the mix, but I managed.  I had to do a little more of this than I liked:

I'm thankful I have the option of the treadmill, though.  Just wish it didn't bother my hips so much!

I ran one 5K this month which went well.  I wanted to do a 10 mile race, but in the end I skipped it, as it was a very busy weekend.  I still feel guilty about this though.  I hit the track twice, and my longest runs were a 10 mile and an 11 mile run.

I'm still having a lot of race anxiety, but I went ahead and registered for a half marathon this month.  I do not feel adequately prepared, but I hopefully I'll have a nice race.  Technically, I should be just fine running 13.1 - it's the mental part that gets me.  Not sure why things have seemed so hard for me in the race department this year.  It used to be fun!  Have you ever burned out on something you loved?  Got any tips for working through it?  I'd love to hear from you!  I still love running, it's just the racing part I'm struggling with so much.

Thanks to all of you who entered the BumEase diaper rash spray giveaway!  I'm happy to report that the winner this time is my own mom!  She has entered every single giveaway I've had since I started hosting them and has never won, and she always complains about it too (ha ha).  She plans to pass this along to my sister-in-law, who is expecting, plus still has a little one in diapers.   Congrats!

Trick or Treating Fun

Last Friday night the boys got dressed in their costumes and we headed to Pierce's school for a Fall Festival.  It was sleeting when we left the house, but the boys stayed toasty in their cartoon-wear.  There was a bouncy house, a haunted house (that surprisingly, Pierce loved), fishing for treats, crafts, and much more.

Run, Jerry, Run!!!

Poor Jerry.

No children were harmed in the taking of these pictures.

There was also a cake walk.  We did the cake walk, and ironically, the family's biggest eater won.  Reid was so excited when he got to pick out a cake.  He chose cupcakes.  And then we had to hear about it the rest of the night.

He kept trying to poke his fingers through the plastic to get to the chocolate frosting, but it just wasn't working out for him...

But in the end, he got his cupcake.  And shared his bounty with his brothers.

Hope that you had a fun and safe Halloween!

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