Does it have to be monday again?

Turned out to be an incredibly nice weekend. Saturday got hot, but I got a ton of yardwork done. Remember that huge tree that snapped in half back in june? Got the last chunks of it chopped up and tossed out. That sucker was 20" in diameter and I cut through it with an axe. Now it's time to fix my grape trellises and bring in some rednecks to climb up and cut down the rest of that tree. Got some other odds and ends taken care of too. Trimmed some other trees, spread some mulch, etc.

Friday the roofers came back looking for more work. They were having trouble making their rent and wanted to do anything else for a buck. They are a couple of decent guys, so I really wanted to help them out and I needed some gutters hung on the front of the house. So I paid for materials and labor when I really didn't have that much cash to get the job done right now. Still, it's good to help out those less fortunate, right? Turns out they bought cheap materials (vinyl gutters? really?) and it turned out looking like shit. So now my lovely revamped exterior with a new roof and paint job now has white plastic gutters on the front. I'm out $240 that I didn't have to begin with and can't get back, and I'm going to have to tear down that crap and hang aluminum gutters by myself. Nothing like paying twice for something I didn't want to do myself anyway. Still, the point was to help out others who were looking for work. Maybe the vinyl won't look so bad if I paint it to match the trim.

Saturday I also got in a 10 mile run! Broke it down into (2) five mile sections. Did the first one in 46:21 and the second in 46:31. That's just over a 9 minute pace. It was the first time since the marathon in June that I've put up a double digit milage run. Felt really good at the time, but now there are tons of sore muscles. Lactic acid is a good thing here, right? It felt so good to really get some quality miles in again, I can't wait for tuesday's speedwork. But at the same time, I had enough sore non-running muscles (I think from swinging an axe at that tree) like back, arms, chest, so I skipped the normal sunday long bike ride.

Kelley and the girls made it back from Raleigh late saturday, with her dad. He left early sunday morning to head home. They had a really really good time up there. Kelley found a house she wants to buy up there, so who knows how we can make that work out. It really was a good week for them up there. Bigun didn't want to leave. Evil Genius was a little homesick. I think she had wreaked all the havoc possible in the new house and was ready to get back to her unfinished work here.

We all know I don't show much discretion here, but this story really puts the * in F*ck. Yesterday (sunday) Bigun started saying Holy F*ck. Repeatedly. We told her not to say that, but she instantly replied about how much she liked saying Holy F*ck. Then she started singing it like the NBC chimes, which if you are musically inclined are the notes G - E - C (as in the parent company GE Corp - Trivia!) as in Ho - Ly - F*ck. I had a very difficult time convincing her this was a bad thing while I was laughing my ass off. The worst part about it was she started doing this as we were in the car DRIVING TO CHURCH sunday morning. That's just my luck. Our second time going to this church getting the kids to stay in the nursery, and my 4 year old walks in singing Holy F*ck. Thankfully, she did stop before we got there. OMG I was laughing about that for the rest of the day.

At least until EG topped that. Oh yea. Evil? Can you really have an Evil 2 year old? Kelley was unpacking the suitcases when EG grabbed a bra and ran off laughing. Then she came back in a few minutes later and did her best Dr. Evil impression yet, screaming "NEVER FIND BOOBIES AGAIN! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" in an incredibly evil tone. Then she turned and ran out laughing while Kelley hit the floor. I mean it was perfect. Her voice got really low and throaty with the hahahahaha part, it was amazing. Later that evening, Bigun found the bra and ran back in screaming "I found the boobies!" Classic stuff.

Today I am still jaw dropping amazed at the Ironman Louisville folks yesterday. Big congrats to all the finishers. Ryan (Caught on the Run) finished in 9:38 3rd in his AG and qualified for the Kona championships. A-freaking-mazing. Coach Katie just ran Ironman Lake Placid on 7/26/09. She's had the goal of a sub-11 hour Ironman for years now. She was supposed to be taking 2009 off from racing herself, and instead she does 2 just a few weeks apart? She finished yesterday in 10:50, finally making her goal. She also went to Kona a few years ago. This was her 17th Ironman. Also Marni broke 11 hours. This is incredible! She finished in 10:54. She also went to Kona in 2007. I don't know if there were just favorable course conditions or what out there, but wow everyone was fast. It's truly inspiring to me to see these bloggy peeps and friends do so well.

Too bad we all have to go back to work today. It's a rainy cool last day of august here in SC. It's supposed to be cooler than normal all week long here, I think thanks to the hurricane off the coast. Next weekend is Labor Day weekend, it's supposed to get back up to 83 then. Much better than the typical 93 degrees we see this time of year. Makes me wish it was actually fall. But normally a cool week like this is followed by 9 more weeks of summer before it finally gets cool. Seriously, the last time this happened was a few years ago, and I ended up wearing shorts to thanksgiving dinner that year. So I want to enjoy it while I can and hope for the best. Hope your week goes well too!