I survived the half marathon!!!! Yeah hooray, 2 miles into the race I thought to myself, "What in the hell am I doing?" I hate running, I barely trained and I have 11 more miles to go. I had problems with my shoes early on and got huge blisters on the balls of my feet. I normally run the first 7 or 8 miles and run/walk the rest. This time I had to walk most of it. It took my 3 hours but I finished. I was just happy to be done. I was really looking forward to taking off my shoes and pampering my feet for the rest of the day. I went to go meet the rest of the family after the race. Sam, Kelsey, and Lauren looked happy to finally see me. My one and only was sitting on a curb looking a little.....ok a lot pale!! He just sat there with his head down, I asked him if he was OK and he said no. I asked if he had chest pain and he said NO. Thank God it was just light headedness and heat exhaustion.... that I can deal with. We took a few pictures and then Dave said, I got to go, I'm really sick. We got to the metro link station and Dave was sitting down on the ground. I asked Kelsey to please sprint to a seat once the train arrived so her father could sit down. We were just one stop from our train stop when Dave emptied the contents of his stomach into his half marathon goody bag which doubles as a barf bag. The train was really quiet when he puked so it was a little embarrassing, Dave said the worst part was having to carry his bag of puke out of the train. He looked so sad!!! When we got home he got on the scale, he had lost 7 lbs during the race, I of course lost .05 and I think the .05 I lost was all skin from the bottom of my feet. The next day I could barely walk my legs were so tired. All i wanted to do was soak in my big garden tub. Shannon decided to shave a years worth of hair off her legs with conditioner in my bathtub. It was so slippery I almost drowned three times. I could not hold myself up with my blistered feet so I decided to give up and crawl out so I no longer had to tread water with my sore muscles. Kelsey had a great week, she won class president and finished her race in under 2 hours again. To top it all off on Monday the Varsity coach asked her to come practice with the Varsity squad and play with them this weekend in a tournament. She is on cloud nine. Shannon decided to try out for cheerleading after all for her Senior year. I am on cloud nine...that is until I need to write out the check for next year. I talked to Erin yesterday, she was having trouble registering for her summer classes. She said, "I'll figure it out later mom, I'm on my way to the beach." I have a feeling she may not "figure it out" but her tan will be amazing.

Kelsey is running for Sophomore class president. She was searching for campaign slogans last night on the Internet. some of the cuter ones she found were; Free Drinks On Me, Vote for Kelsey (hung up above all the water fountains) Vote for me and win a free trip to Disney. (Free trip to Disney not included.) etc etc, Shannon isn't exactly positive Polly, every time Kelsey asks if she likes a slogan, she looks at her as if she just killed someone. If Kelsey can still be positive after running her ideas by her negative sister with her self esteem in tact she should do great!!! The girls had to sell raffle tickets as a fund raiser for their school auction. Normally I will buy whatever they have left, provided that they make an effort. Apparently they felt that laying on the couch watching TV, willing the tickets to be sold constituted real effort. If they don't sell their quota of tickets, they have to go to school and do a packet of work while the rest of the kids that sold their tickets get a day off. Shannon is a little upset that I will not call school that morning and tell them that she and Kelsey are sick. She can not understand what the problem is, she will still do the packet of work that is required but she doesn't feel the need to show up on that day. I believe her direct quote was "All the good mom's would call school and say their kid was sick." Yeah well, I never was a "good" mom. Erin called me today and asked if I would check her bank account and see if she is negative. She picked up her dry cleaning and it cost a little more than she expected. She borrowed a dress from a friend to wear to a fraternity dance a t a yacht club on Saturday. She wasn't quite sure what to wear to a Yacht club. She called me for advice, I just laughed. VFW dance, I can help you out with but Yacht club is a bit out of reach. Anywhoo, she spilled a drink on the dress and had to have it dry cleaned. I'm sure it was soda or punch, knowing my sweet little Erin. I checked her account and told her she was negative .36. She said, Ohhh can I please borrow 36 cents??? I transferred $20 in her account. She said, "I am starting to freak out, how will I survive the rest of the month??" She has an unlimited meal plan and no car so she really doesn't need any money. She said, "Mom I don't even have any eyeliner, that is a necessity." I told her that she now has $19.64 in her account to go ahead and buy 2 eyeliners and she will still have a little change in her pocket.

Maggie has been talking about going to Kansas City Kansas since August....the weekend finally arrived. Normally out of town tournaments are Dave's job but he had to work auction set up at the girls high school so I got the short stick this weekend. We have been travelling for soccer for 14 years it is not quite as exciting as it used to be. For Maggie however, it seemed to be the highlight of the last 9 years of her life. I was barely out of the driveway when Lauren showed up on our doorstep conning Dave into taking her to dinner. Lauren has survival skills like no other. I took Shannon's car which she wasn't exactly thrilled about but she will get over it. I am getting tired of spending 100 to fill the tank on my big van and getting 2 miles per gallon, ok 12 but that still stinks!!! I spent my weekend watching TLC in my hotel room. Poor Maggie had to sleep in her underwear because she was so hot. If Dave was with us he would have had the air on in our room full blast. I was in heaven, I didn't touch the air conditioner all weekend, unfortunately Maggie melted a bit but I was comfy. The girls played well all weekend and more importantly had a blast. Dave, Sam, Lauren, Kelsey and I are running the half marathon next weekend. My training has been well.....pretty much nonexistent. I ran, or I should say attempted to run 3 miles yesterday. In my defense it was like running in a wind tunnel. I am the type of runner that if given any type of excuse I will take it and run with it....actually I take it and crawl with it. I have considered not showing up but decided that instead I will just crawl across the finish line. I am almost 42 years old and I have nothing to prove. Shannon's best friend is also running and she is planning on making a t shirt to support her and go downtown to cheer her on.....Hello, I was in labor for three days with her, not even a GO MOM sign???? Whatever, my kids love me. Dave started on my diet, he lost 11 pounds the first week. He lost 3 more the second week. I guess a good wife would be happy for him and supportive. Maybe he should have married someone else???