Floor!

Wow, I finally have a brand new bamboo floor covering the nasty stained pressboard in my living-dining room L. I love it! I don't know whether it was the reverse psychology (jb, take note!!) or just general disgust with the looming project that prompted velodude to get it done, but he did a fine job. You can check out velodude's pics here if you so desire.

That's all for now. Headed to PA soon for the burial of my dad's cremains. This will be a much better memorial service, more of a life celebration with the raw pain having subsided.

mouths o' babes

What would you think if a 7 year old charmer came up to you at the end of a little vacation and said... "my dad left marks on the sheets every night in the hotel, and now we can't go back there." I beg of you, if that ever happens to you, don't judge too quickly. You see, if dad crashes the bike and gets pretty deep road rash on both hips, chances are, his wounds are going to ooze a bit on the sheets. It's not pretty, but at least it's not some of the bodily functions that Curly's statement could have implied. Luckily, he said it to my friend T, who happens to be married to my friend S, another bike racin' fool who has I'm sure oozed on his sheets at some point. And why he decided that we couldn't go back, I don't know.

What would you think if you asked a 10 year old why he decided to be a vegetarian, and he said "because I think it's wrong to eat God's creatures". Again, I beg of you, don't judge too quickly. Don't assume the parents are members of the religious right, who have been indoctrinating their son for the past 10 years. It is possible that the parents are not very religious, only attend church occasionally, and usually forget to say grace before dinner. Although, if that is the case, chances are said parents will burst out in uncomfortable laughter when they hear 10-year old's religious response for the first time, especially if it's at the pediatrician's office and they don't really know the pediatrician well at all. Also, don't assume that said 10-year old has found religion on his own. He may have just come up with what he thinks is a "good answer", for whatever reason, to explain why he is doing something that he himself doesn't really understand.

Gateway to the Midwest

I love the city of St. Louis. I know, it's not exactly an exotic destination. There are no beaches, no mountains, no big city excitement of a Chicago or NY. But I love it just the same. We have gone there every Labor Day for the past four years, of course to attend bike races, but also because it's a fun place to take the kids. I'm trying to do one new thing with them every year that we go, in addition to all of the racing action. Friday night is a party atmosphere with a night race around a beauty of a neighborhood, big old brownstone-types and a gorgeous park in the middle, Lafayette Square. Residents set up garden parties with wine and cheese to watch the races. I drank sangria, mmm. Velo-dude raced while there was still daylight, so we got to watch the drama of the night races as a family. Saturday am was a bummer, velo-dude crashed hard in his race and was pretty beat up for the rest of the weekend, but we still took the kids swimming at the hotel later, did a little shopping, had a great dinner, made the best of it. Sunday velo-dude decided not to race, so no hurries. Had a great leisurely breakfast, went to the zoo, and showed up for the last half of the race day to cheer friends on. Race action was on The Hill, charming Italian neighborhood and again, the neighborhood gets into it. Kids tried Thai food for the first time that night...it went about as well as I expected. Won't be trying that again for a few months (years?), so I'll have to continue to get my Thai fixes with work lunches. Monday was my favorite...downtown St. Louis was bustling. After some hem-haw about racing (more below on that), velo-dude did it, raced strong, finished upright, so a success. Then I took the boys to the arch, went to the top, checked out the museum below, and back to the race venue. By this time the excitement was beginning to brew for Stage 1 of the Tour of Missouri. Okay, I admit it, I get a little starstruck at this. We were able to watch 3 circuits of the 10-circuit race, before deciding we had to get the boys home at a decent time for school the next day. And we'll see the final stage this Sunday, what more could a girl ask for? See, much of the time, I gripe, whine, and poke fun of all the bike racing geekiness that is my husband, but deep down, I have a little of the geek in me as well.

The hem-haw, of which I unwittingly played a role...Sunday night, velo-dude was discussing whether he should try to race Monday. He was reluctant, because he is sporting a very deep knee wound from the crash, and really did not want to go down and damage it more (what with 'cross season looming and all). So, when we see his friend about an hour before the race, J asks why he's not gonna do it, and he hem-haws with an answer, so to facilitate the conversation, I jump in with "he's afraid he's going to do more damage to his knee". Helpful, right? WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! As we walked away from J, he said that if his other friend M wasn't going to take his number and race, he would use it himself, especially after I called him "chicken". . . Huh? Did I miss something? I honestly had to retrace my steps to that unfortunate word choice, "afraid". I could have easily said "he doesn't want to do more damage to his knee", and I think it would have been fine, but the minute I said "afraid", the testosterone kicked in. Yes, he raced alright. I'm going to have to remember this trick; should be able to use some reverse psychology to my advantage the next time I want something. Perhaps I should suggest that the bamboo floor project frightens him? That he is too chicken to open the boxes of flooring that have sat in my dining room for 4+ months? That the nasty stained pressboard floor that proudly shows its ugly face every day in my living/dining rooms is braver than he? Hmm, I'll have to work on it.

In the meantime, have I mentioned that I love St. Louis? And, yes, bike racing?