A moment of self-reflection... and heaven.

I'm sitting here, enjoying some Dessa, wanting to share this comic that I saw yesterday morning while perusing the paper. I look at the comics roughly once every 10 months, so I'm glad that there was something enjoyable in there.

F Minus by Tony Carrillo

I wonder if the clouds would require special oil/lube for the chain. Probably not in heaven. 

Despite starting the day off right with some yoga, not buying a donut at the shop across the street from the yoga studio, and buying a fun present for a friend's baby, I got myself into some weird funk today.

I blame the chicken. It was a stewing hen from a local farm. I never realized - before today - that they really aren't good for much. So, instead of roasted chicken, I made chicken soup. I felt like a stewing hen, though, today - - - all tense and tough and leathery - - - until I had a revelation. 

All the stuff hanging over my head, the ongoing two-steps-forward-one-step-back nature of my daily life, etc., is pretty much self-imposed. So, I blew it off, and when looking for an image for this blog of "two steps forward, one step back" I found some quote on the Internet about even two steps forward and one step back ends up being forward progress. Whew!

Speaking of forward progress, some people are signing up for the trivia night. Yay! We still have space, if you're interested in joining us. Let me know! As of the other day, I am now the team captain for our MS 150 team. This should be interesting.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieMS150

Alex, what is a "super fun time?"

Dah dah-dah da! Check it out. Come one, come all. Help support our fundraising efforts by playing trivia! 

A Good Time for Some Indoor Activities

Yeah, so we're obsessed with the weather. But what else is there to do when it feels like it's 50-below?

I finally got on my bike which has been sitting on the trainer for weeks. It was good. But nothing like really riding my bike. I'm looking forward to my new bike being ready soon. Hopefully it will be above zero for a while when it's ready - - preferably a day like yesterday's perfect skiing conditions.

So, in addition to trying to avoid getting too out of shape, I've been spending my time plotting.

I have a thing or two up my sleeve. Up my big puffy, frosting-like sleeves. 

Specifically, I'm working on putting together a trivia night for February 21 as a way to help me meet my fundraising goals this year. There's no way that it will help me totally meet my goal, but it will help get the ball rolling, I think. And, if it doesn't? Then it just will be a fun night out in crappy ol' February. Stay tuned for more details.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieMS150

Guest Blogger Haiku

From my baby brother:

A family game night
Scrabble qua entertainment
"beeves" is a real thing.

Merry Xmas to me

Silent bike, holy bike
I'm not calm at this sight
Round fat tires
Disc brakes and gears
Holy bike will last
many years and years.
Ride in heavenly peace,
ride in heavenly peace.

Silver bike, holy bike
My heart quakes at the sight.
Shouts will stream
from places afar.
Heavenly, snow crunches under tires.
I have got a new bi-ke.
I have got a new bike.

Silver bike, red rimmed bike
Big fat tires
Big fat bike
It comes with a spare wheel set
I'll learn to mountain bike yet.
Woohoo, a month til d'livery
Woohoo, a month til dlivery.

"Pretty good year pretty good pretty good year"

And [Maggie] [s]he writes letters with [her] birthday pen

Remember a year ago? That's when I announced that, since I was turning 40, I'd try to raise a little more money for the MS Society and do the big July bike ride across Minnesota and the mud run in addition to the 150-mile bike ride. It was a fun year. I'm older and wiser now, which means that I hesitated less when signing up for all of that again this coming year.

Tonight I finally cleaned my crusty old bike chain and put my bike on the bike trainer. (I was a little sick and a lot overwhelmed after the last many weeks of work travel, so I needed to wait a bit.) I don't know what I rode in the last few times I took my bike out, but whatever it was, it needed to come off of my chain. It was good to sit on my trusty 2010 sangria and black Giant Avail, although the basement isn't nearly as nice of a place to ride my bike as the outdoors on a summer day. I also swapped out my rear tire for a trainer tire and remembered how much it stinks to put on/take off good tires on a road bike. That alone was a workout.

Next up? Christmas and all that entails, including my brain's inability to remember the correct words for the carols. Instead of "haste, haste to bring him laud," my mind insists that the babe, the son of Mary, be given some lard. And, instead of conspiring by the fire, the fires in my mind must be hot, because later on, we're instead perspiring by the fire.

In that vein, here is my winter greeting to you:

Dashing through the snow
Wishing I was on my bike
A little too wimpy though
Too scared of all the ice (yikes, yikes, yikes)
Bells on bikes can ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to ride yet sing
A biking song tonight.

Oh, cool road bikes
Mountain bikes
Biking all the way
Oh what fun it is to ride
All around the coun-tray, hey!

Cool road bikes
Mountain bikes
Biking all the way
Oh what fun it is to ride
All around the coun-tray.

Happy Holidays!

Go to http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieMS150 to follow my fundraising progress.

"I've Been on a Walk on a Winter's Day"

Unfortunately that's about all I've been on.

Last Weds, as the snow was coming down, I grabbed my bike and stuck it in the basement before I had to catch a flight. I was home for less than 40 hours, and did squeeze in a little time on my rowing machine before seeing friends Saturday night. As I was packing my bag again today, I saw my bike in the basement.

When I'm back on Tuesday, I'll set up the bike trainer.

I have been eyeing up a new bike that I could ride in the snow: one of those ridiculously wonderful fat bikes. It would convert into a mountain bike, which seems to make the outlay of cash more justifiable.

Between that, snowshoes, ice skates, skis, a rowing machine, and my bike trainer, I theoretically can get back in shape - sort of - this winter. My work travels will be subsiding, which will be a big help.

I got to skate with these cuties over Thanksgiving. If I could see them monthly, I would be one happy auntie.


It was a chilly walk home from the Jeff Tweedy show tonight in Seattle. I told the person I was with about my assorted "biking and coming across Jeff Tweedy" dreams. We'll see what weird dreams tonight will bring. The other night David Bowie made an appearance in a work dream.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieMS150