Schultes Family: October 2012

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Cheap Mason and Cheap Prior

The boys wanted to be fire trucks for Halloween. Not just firemen, but fire trucks. We picked up the fireman costumes at Costco over a month ago and the boys have had them on almost every day since. I'm actually really impressed with the quality of the costumes - even the buckles are metal.

The trucks were created from scratch with cardboard, paint, tape, my silhouette (for the lettering), and some inspiration from pinterest. The axes are just cardboard wrapped in colored duct tape.

About a month ago, Ben bet me that I'd still be working on the costumes on the 31st. I took that as a challenge. At 10:30 pm on the 30th, he informed me that I only had 1.5 hours to go! I finished with a little less than an hour to spare, but somehow he still thinks he won the bet....all because he spray painted the boxes.

When I deemed the trucks complete a little after 11 pm on the 30th, I was feeling pretty good about the outcome. However, the boys informed me the next morning that the trucks were missing the "intake valve".

@?#?

"What are intake valves?" I asked.

"That's how you get the water from the fire hydrant to the hose, Mom." As if it was a ridiculous question...

The boys wanted to make sure the trucks said Chief Mason and Chief Prior. They pronounce chief as "cheap" and I don't have the heart to correct them.

Oh, and the silhouettes in the windows were my creative project from last year but we saved them and got them out again this year. Scary, huh!?

What didn't get done this year?! Carving pumpkins. Oh well, next year...

Happy Halloween!

Monday, October 29, 2012

Insta-Weekend: Alma Mater

Ben and I spent part of the weekend in Cedar Falls, IA where we went to college. It brought so many fond memories...

I graduated in 2002 - so it's been 10 years. I'm seriously old. Luckily "old' is always 10-15 years older than you are. It works out perfect that way! 32 isn't old. But 45 certainly is! See!

The best part was that we did not have a schedule or any firm plans. There was absolutely no rushing or hurrying. We had dinner with no interruptions, I took the longest shower that I wanted, woke up when I wanted to, and ran without feeling guilty. A much needed relaxing get away.

"I remember when" (see, I am old).
I remember when gas was 99 cents at the Music Station...and my white Chevy 5-speed Cavalier was my favorite car of all time. I think it still is.

Bender Hall - looks the same now as it did in 1998. I will always feel bad for having my parents carry that rolled-up piece of heavy berber carpet up 9 flights of stairs in August to my non-airconditioned dorm room.

I remember hearing this at 11:45 pm on most weeknights during my last semester while studying for the CPA exam:
"The library will be closing in 15 minutes. You may check out books for only 10 more minutes. At that time, all service desks will close."

Lame? Yes. Worth it? Definitely.

This was one of the many houses Ben lived in. This was the one where I honestly felt like my hands were cleaner if I didn't wash them after going to the bathroom.

Toad's! And their famous Chicken Tortilla soup

Pumpland. Where my accounting career began. I had my first internship here. I think I made $8/hour - and I remember that being pretty.damn.cool.

The business building.

The library. Isn't the whole book thing kind of obsolete? I'll bet there are some books that haven't moved in 10 years. The study tables and chairs were the same! Almost made me want to go back to school. Almost.

Taco pizza on the road - keeping it classy.

The business building. Where I learned about debits, credits, and how to pass the CPA exam.
And yes, those are purple pants. When in Rome...

The new Mcloed Center on campus - very impressive.

Beloved Pointe West....so many memories!

Training for my 10-mile race. I picked a pretty hilly course, but fun to run my old route. Funny to think that I ran back then to prevent the freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior 15....and now it's to be healthy.

Got to meet up with my college roomie, Andi - yeah!

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Bucket List: 10 Miles

After running my last 5k last in September I was inspired to try something I had never done before. Something I honestly wasn't sure I could do...

I've always been a runner and I would say I even enjoy it. But in short distances. (I get bored easily). Plus, my left knee has a mind of it's own after 3 surgeries...

But some close friends, my sister, and my guardian angel inspired me to do it.

So about 5 weeks ago I started training and I registered for the Monster Dash 10 mile race on 10/27/12. I ran my short runs at home in the morning on the treadmill. It's awfully dark in the mornings this time of year. I did my long runs on Saturday mornings - 4 at the Lakes, and the last one in Cedar Falls, IA around campus. A special thank you to Ben for being so supportive. The hardest part of training for something like this is the TIME it takes to train.

I had been running 3-ish miles each time I ran so I started out with a Saturday 5 mile, then a Saturday 6, followed by a Saturday 7, a Saturday 8 and then the last Saturday before the race I ran 6 (and even managed to drag Ben along with me!). During the week I would run between 2 and 4 miles between 2 and 3 times per week. The last week before the race I didn't run at all - I was in bed for 1.5 days with some sort of sinus infection and a fever. But I told myself there was NO way I was going to train and not be able to run the race, so I somehow got over it in time.

I had been training at a very unimpressive 10:30/mile pace. Having been sick, I was hoping to keep it under 11:00 minutes/mile. But I surprised myself and finished in 1:38, which is a 9:52/mile pace. Again, I have some sort of ADD, and I have a hard time doing anything for 1 hour and 38 minutes.

http://www.mtecresults.com/runner/show?rid=4353&race=1225

There were 10,000 runners running the 10 mile and the 1/2 Marathon. I was so thankful to have my cheering squad at miles 4, 7, and the finish line!

The boys' favorite part was going out for pancakes after the race!

The race felt good. Miles 6 and 7 were the hardest, but I did it! Without baby Frank, I never would have "found" time to do this - and I'm so glad I did. I got a little emotional at the start of the race thinking about all of the ways he's changed my life....And for that, I am grateful.