Gold's Sweet Gold's

I miss my Gold's.

Gym, that is.

You see, the kids and I are in Utah and the closest Gold's Gym is in a building that was once a grocery store where I accompanied my mother to buy food for the family when I was a child. Storehouse Market was its name. Writing the price with a black grease pencil on each product was the game. Squashing the bread with a big jug of syrup was a huge memory for me!

My Gold's is like a Greek Temple.

With columns.

With new machines.

With COOL group classes (that I'm too insecure to attend...except Gayla's :)).

With a nice cool down area complete with dark lighting for relaxation (and so no one can see how lovely I look at the end of a sweatfest...).

With lovely bathrooms and a nice changing room.

With 5 brand new stairmills (oh, yeah, I'm now the queen of the stairmill since my butt has prohibited me from running...).

With a separate ladies' workout area (that works for me when there are too many men flexing their pecks and peacocking it in front of the main weight area).

Yeah. I miss me my Gold's Gym in Boise.

But I really love working out next to my cute, lovely lashed, earringed sister Teressa!

*Sigh.*

I would like that occasionally. A cute workout buddy who can make the time go by in a flash!

I'll see you next week, Gold's Sweet Gold's!

Thursday Night Funny

Bill was hungry the other night and "needed something". That something took us to Jack in the Box where he ordered a diet Coke and two strawberry banana smoothies. (Actually the strawberry orange ones are waaaaay better, but he was paying, driving, and ordering so I just went along for the ride.)

As we pulled to the "next window" his diet Coke was handed to him as well as this question,

"Would you like any sauces with that?"

ummmmm... sure, we like strawberry, banana, sweet and sour, barbeque smoothies...

Another reason to stay in school kids. You don't want to be the butt of someone's joke on their blog.

Dinner Theater - Jr. High Style...

How do you solve a problem like Maria? Well, first of all, you sing that song from the "Sound of Music" over and over and over and over... Then you sing it some more... heheheh.

You gotta love junior high choirs.

Lindsay and Kourtni are both musically inclined and so they like to sing - in junior high choir. Fortunately, each year, our school puts on a dinner show so each of the 4 choirs can showcase what they've been working on.

It's a huuuuuge deal.
It's a huuuuuge commitment from parents since it's all parents who organize and put the thing on.
It's a huuuuuge thing for 13, 14, and 15 year olds to dress up and sing in a school gym over the munching sounds of parents, neighbors, and friends enjoying their dinner.

This year the theme was Broadway. I decided that, after the first dinner theater I volunteered with, I would never volunteer to work in the kitchen AGAIN. You see, our junior high has a kitchen nazi. This woman works for the school. She is about 4 feet tall. She is about 4 feet wide. She is a nasty little person who shouted condescending things, demanded rude things, and was basically awful to all the nice parents who were volunteering their time for the show.

Nope. Never in the kitchen again.

I volunteered to make, design, and copy the program. Ahhhh. No one yelled at me. No one shouted at me. No one demanded rude things of me. It was so sweeeet.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of my cute girls dressed in their fun costumes. Doesn't Kourtni look great with her stage make-up on? "Don't put any of that stuff on me!" she begged. Ummm, sorry, dear. You are going to be seen from the audience. So I used all my knowledge from a former life called "Drill Team", and painted her up like a doll. She looked fabulous! "West Side Story" songs were so fun! What stage presence! What teeth! What a cutie! I was sorry she didn't have any solo parts. Dang driver's ed. (That was her teacher's excuse for not giving her any of the solo parts - yeah, driver's ed...) I know. Oh, well, a girl's gotta learn to drive!


Lindsay was a nun from Sound of Music. No stage make up needed for her! But what a cute nun she made! She had a great time practicing for this. So did I... We would break into sound of music songs whenever we could. Hey, Lindsay, how do you solve a problem like Maria? heheh
The girl's got some good pipes. I know, I heard her in the shower, in her bedroom, in the car, in the kitchen, doing her homework... Nicely done Linds and Kourt!


Payton REALLY enjoyed the evening. The picture below tells the whole story! He also owes me $12.00 for the meal I bought and which he left virtually untouched. I mean, what kid doesn't eat brownies and ice cream??? (Turns out he was getting sick and stayed home from school the next day.) I don't think he'll ever go to another dinner theater again - and from the looks of it, we have a lot more to go to before these musically inclined daughters of ours graduate from high school. So the question now is, "How do we solve a problem like Payton?"

To Nap or Not To Nap...

Thank heavens for 9:00 church time.
Dang that 9:00 church time.

Dang that 10 year old boy lesson preparation time at 6:30 AM.
Thank heavens for a nice, long afternoon!

Dang that rushing around to get the rolls made, shirts and clothes ironed, hair done, Sunday dinner started, last minute lesson items assembled, gum searched for, pantyhose looked for, and searching and searching for something to wear.
Thank heavens for church being over at 12 blissful o'clock!

Dang the afternoon meetings, home teaching, and dinner clean up.
Thank heavens for a soft bed and fluffy pillow to fall in to after dinner clean up.

Dang the mess I always manage to leave before 9:00 - in the bathroom, in the bedroom, in the kitchen, in the laundry room, and in the computer room.
Thank heavens for time to clean it up before it's time to go to bed.

Dang the missed morning walk with my honey.
Thank heavens for the brisk, late, windy afternoon walk with my honey.

But most of all, thank heavens for the nice 2 hour nap that I can take if I want to. Such leisure, such drowsiness, such grogginess, such bliss!
But dang the weird afternoon dreams which involve stealing my identity, stealing my purse, admitting that you took my purse and you've broken your probation, trying to cover up your theft with a jacket, and what in the world was I doing at a Kmart/Payless during the middle of the night with probation breaking purse stealing thieves in the first place? It absolutely woke me out of my slumber!

(Oh, well, weird dreams and all, my bed is much nicer than a nap against a pole at Payton's basketball game...yes, I said basketball game...)

Dang that 9:00 church time!
Thank heavens for that 9:00 church time!

A letter to Robie Creek

Dear Robie Creek,

Tomorrow I will miss you. I will miss sitting feverishly at my computer with fingers revved and poised over my keyboard to frantically try to type faster than thousands of other runners who, for some strange sadistic reason, want to enter your coveted race.

Tomorrow I will miss you. I will miss the anticipation of training in tall drifts of snow and preparing to climb your steep 8.5 miles, often by myself, to reach the summit called Aldape. I will miss the relief that fills my body as I go 5 miles downhill to reach the finish line. I will miss the delicious feast of food that waits for me after the finish line is crossed and my t-shirt is picked up.

Tomorrow I will miss you. I have managed to get into your race for the past 6 six years and I have finished your difficult course in less than 2 hours 10 minutes.

Tomorrow I will miss you. I will miss the comraderie of 1500 other crazies on race day who, together, make the trudge up your winding, dirt canyon road.

Tomorrow I will think about you. I will remember the way I put sunscreen on my face last year without wearing a hat. I will remember the way sweat poured down my face and trickled into my eyes and burned them incessantly until the sunscreen had worn off.

Tomorrow I will think about you. I will remember the lovely sunburn I received on my right arm that outlined my ipod attached to that arm. I will remember how that sunburn outline tattoo stayed with me throughout the winter to help me remember that gorgeous day.

Tomorrow I will think about you. I will think about the training runs Alyssa and I ran last year to prepare for the pounding we would take from you. I will think about the gnarly trails we decided to take in the freezing wind and icy conditions to the top of the world - to the top of the world of Boise anyway. I will remember how nice it was to have a running partner who enjoyed climbing the hills and trails with me for a common purpose. I will remember how well Alyssa did and how excited she was to win a "medal" for taking 2nd place in her age group.


Tomorrow I will think about you. I will think about how nice going for a run is. I will try to remember how it feels to have my legs move freely beneath me without feeling like my hip is going to explode. I will think about this when I am climbing an infinite amount of stairs going nowhere in particular inside a gym and doing a bazillion exercises meant to strengthen my core. Sigh.

Robie Creek, I didn't know how much I would love, hate, miss, regret, and enjoy you. Please don't give your participants a cute t-shirt this year. Please don't give a great swag bag on number pick up day. Please remember me, because next year...

I'LL BE BACK!!!

My Last Nerve...

Well, as I found out yesterday, it's not just those 20 little first graders that are "getting on my last nerve". Evidently, according to my newly found doctor friend, I have a nerve problem in my sciatica. Yep, I've gone through 4 pregnancies and never once did any of those sweet babies give me the "stop dead in my tracks" pain that I've been experiencing the last three months.

Oh, it's nice to know that there is a diagnosis for my extreme discomfort. It's also nice to know that there can be exercises done and drugs taken to relieve the inflammation around ms. sciatica. (She's quite the wench right now...)

My hope is that with some physical therapy exercises and a round of anti-inflammatories, I can become my old self again. Of course I'll keep everyone who has been so kind to me and so empathetic to my situation up to date on my butt! heehee. Thank you friends and family!

Funny sidenote: On my trip to the pharmacy to pick up the steroidal pack prescribed to me ("don't worry, it's not anebolic", said my new doctor friend-- great 'cuz I don't want to get Incredible Hulk-ish) the pharmacist directed me to start the dosing "tomorrow".
"Why not tonight?" I questioned.
"Well, they make you grouchy, irritable, fidgety, and anxious. You should probably just start them in the morning with your breakfast," said Albertson pill counter person.
"Great! Now I have an excuse to ruin a perfectly wonderful Saturday!" I exclaimed.

Even funnier sidenote: This morning after reading the documentation that accompanied the prescription, I thought twice before popping the first two pills. Heck, there's a lot of stuff that can happen as a result of taking something that is supposed to help you! Don't worry though, I told my family to call 911 if I "vomited anything that looked like coffee grounds or experienced extreme puffiness, or developed severe mood swings, or ate grapefruit while taking the medication, or ... "

I'll "end" it right there, folks.
I don't want to be the "butt" of anymore jokes.
I know reading about this is a pain in the "kiester".


OK, I'll stop since I probably think I'm funnier than you do... but seriously, thank you for your concern.

Goin' to the doctor and I'm gonna get better..

Yes, I finally did it.

After a couple of months of complaining loudly to anyone who would listen and to anyone who wouldn't,

and after a couple of months of becoming best friends with Advil,

and after a couple of months of climbing and climbing and climbing the stair machine at Gold's,

and after a couple of months of clean running shoes,

and after a couple of months of feeling like an 82 year old,

and after a couple of months of thinking it would just go away,

and after a couple of months of Bill telling me I needed to go see someone, I finally did it!

I made the call to The Sports Medicine Institute of Idaho.

I hope they are nice to me.

I hope they don't say I will never run again due to the unfixable damage I have incurred upon myself.

I hope they don't make me do hard stretches or strange contortions (Bill frowns upon hard stretches and strange contortions - he feels they hurt more than they help.)

I hope they don't want me to take heavy drugs - I'm a lightweight!

I hope they do give me good news.

I hope they make the pain that churns in my right butt cheek and radiates to my right hip and slinks its way down my right leg and causes me excruciating discomfort GO AWAY.

I hope my insurance pays for this.

I hope I will be whole once again.

Wish me luck.

A No Good, Very Bad Day

Today was a no good, very bad day.

5 children went to the "red" - that's BAD in first grade.

1 child slapped another on the face. That's BAD in any grade.

2 children told the music teacher they were not afraid of going to the principal - they'd been there before. That's EXTREMELY BAD in first grade.

4 children sauntered in from recess 10 minutes late. That's just plain old fashioned ANNOYING.

2 children laughed and talked while I was talking. That's BAD in Mrs. Ball's class.

1 child was/is/always will be concerned about what/where/why/when everyone else is at/doing/being. That's just enough to make me want to be EXTREMELY RUDE. That's BAD for Mrs. Ball to be extremely rude.

I just want to go someplace warm, humid, sandy, watery, massage"y", facial"y", and where there is good chocolate I can eat while I enjoy beforementioned adjectives.

I think I deserve a couple of these. Don't you? (What the heck, I'm eating about 6 right now 'cuz I don't really care what anyone thinks.)



...think I'm starting to think like a 1st grader.

Fiesta Bowl, Baby!

Ever since we screamed ourselves silly at our friend's, the Lindsay's, home 3 years ago at the first Fiesta Bowl, an idea had been formulating in Bill's head. An idea that involved a loooong road trip, his only 11 year old son, a charter bus, lots of junk food, and the chance to watch his Boise State Broncos play in a nationally televised football game in person. After the BCS selection show, I didn't think he'd still want to go, I mean, BSU was paired with TCU - just like the previous year. Again. Disappointment reigned supreme with the two males in our household. Disgust, mini tantrums, yelling at the TV, hands thrown in the air - you get the gist. Aaaaaanyway, after a couple of weeks trying to decide if he really wanted to make the trip, Bill took the plunge, made sure Payton REALLY wanted to go, then paid some guy for game tickets and another guy for two bus tickets. The idea was really going to happen. The only thing that worried me was, "Who would take the pictures?" I mean, I am the only one who believes in pointing and shooting in this family, so I didn't think that there would be many photos to document this occasion.

I WAS WRONG!!!

Bill was a good boy. He took my camera. He took pictures. They were pretty good pictures considering I have one crappy camera. The following are the pictures he snapped while on he and Payton's grand adventure.

Pre-dawn fun just waiting to happen!

Adventure is out there! (On a loooong bus ride...)

Awww, I missed him while he was gone!

Da field. Da Team. Da Best!

You're going down, TCU. What is a horned frog anyway? Sheesh.

Tostitos and salsa on every chair in the stadium. That must have taken a.long.time.

Wook at does coot BSU fans! (Say that in a baby voice for full effect.)

Diggin' those BSU Bronco shorts!

No vegetables were eaten or harmed during the duration of this trip.

Bill's gettin' good with the self portrait taking!

The trip went great - for the most part. The Broncos kicked some horned frog booty and my boys were able to be there to witness it! Loud. Very, very loud!
The bus ended up breaking down in Las Vegas, but Bill is an excellent hitchhiker and managed to find a ride back to Boise with a friendly attorney from Eagle. Thanks to Scott and his son for letting two extra Boiseans share your ride! (And thanks for not being a serial killer! Kisses!)

Good-bye, Phoenix. Until next year. They'll fly down then. Maybe I'll go with them... After all, someone has to take photos for memories!

Christmas Break 2009

What a GREAT couple of weeks we had at the Ball household during our break from school. Alyssa got to come home for 2 weeks, we (well everyone except poor Bill) got to sleep in past 7:00, we ate what we wanted (when we wanted, then made more of what we craved, and are now paying the price...), we had a great Christmas day (it didn't even start until 7!), saw some excellent movies, got to take a rockin' body core fit class several times with Gayla (boohoo she only teaches at 9:00 and, unfortunately, I'm teaching school. Drat.), drove 2 hours to a natural hot springs, sat in the lovely water for an hour, then turned around and drove 2 hours home (I'll do anything for Alyssa...), had a great New Year's Eve with our extremely FUN friends (laughed and laughed and laughed some more!), and just relaxed knowing that the end of this much needed vacation would come way too soon.

I would love to show some really fun pictures of all these events, but for some reason, my camera is being fickle. I took tons of pictures but they are no more. Sigh. Tears. Sigh. Hopefully my techie daughter who attends school in another state will be willing to provide some tech support for her computer challenged mother. Huh, Lyss?

The following pictures will have to suffice. More will be added later if I can somehow retrieve them from cyberland.....

Wii Sports Resort and the nightly three point contest...

Reaction to Axe body wash, shampoo, and cologne. Yeah, he's 11.

My favorite picture of the kids - in the middle of our Christmas trash.

Checking out the new pillow-memory foam. Aaaaahhhh.

For some reason, Kourtni had way more presents than anyone else...

A new cell phone! Whooppee! Hopefully Mom can remember her number...

My new toy - a Macbook! I love to use it while reclining on the couch or in bed or eating my oatmeal, or cleaning the bathroom...

We've all been good this year!

Santa delivered WIFI to us and so we're all taking advantage of it! Except Bill - the cat's enough for him...

Traditional Christmas Eve dinner - pizzaaaaa!

Wow - it's a good thing all those other pictures were lost in cyberspace! That's a lot of photos...