Moving to Australia...

...you know, like Alexander?

When last we met, I was embarking on a great biking adventure.  It was going to be amazing!  It also lasted, like, two weeks and ended with a whimper (rather than a bang) due to long-lasting illness, unbearable heat (related), and about six or so gigantic life decisions cast upon my shoulders.  Driving around in a car is much more conducive to long-lasting illness, unbearable heat, and gigantic life decisions rather than is trying to figure out the logistics of transporting via bicycle.  Yes, these are excuses.  And yes, if you bet on the fact that I was starting something I would never finish (yet again), you would be correct.

So, four months, a little bit of healing, and three-sixths of the gigantic life decisions later, here we are...

It's been one of those days.  You know, one of those parenting days that leaves you beaten up and broken down at the end of the day just begging God for mercy in the form of a peaceful bedtime.

Look, I even attach a photo of myself-at-this-very-moment, to show that I make no hyperbole when I use the phrases beaten up and broken down.  In the past 45 minutes alone, my little lovely has yanked out my hairdo and given me what is sure to soon be a black eye while trying to change her diaper.

That was today.  Heck, that was only the last hour of this day.

If I was still on Facebook at the moment, I would be staring at the screen and scrolling through all of y'alls status updates.  Possibly commenting, but probably too lazy for even that.  Most likely just clicking "Like" a lot.  But alas, I have been off Facebook and shall remain for the foreseeable indeterminate amount of time.

So what is left is just me talking to myself on my blog, which is better in a way because I can release my own thoughts without being distracted by everyone else's at the same time.  Somehow, that method just doesn't allow for the processing of a complete thought and my brain just needs a break from that sometimes.

ANYhoo...I was all about going to recount why this was such a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day.  But at this point I am over the details.  Who needs to rehash it?

Suffice it to say: 1) I now have two preteen girls with attitudes to match the age, 2) and a two-year-old--'nuff said, 3) I have been single-parenting for the past 2-1/2 weeks and still have 2-1/2 weeks of this to go, 4) the pets are driving me nuts, 5) I swear the toddler is beating me up on purpose (though it always looks accidental), and finally 6) WHY WON'T THEY JUST GO TO BED???!!! and LISTEN! and DO THEIR CHORES! and STOP WHINING! and GET ALONG! and SHUT THE FREAKING DOOR WHEN THEY GO OUTSIDE!?

Aaaaand, that should do it.  There, I feel much better now :-)  Many thanks for sharing in my vent-of-the-day.

Adventure Off to a Sputtering Start

Sort of, anyway.

Thanks to falling ill the very day after making the decision to bicycle for transport, and thanks to some super-time-sensitive errands in a row, and thanks to not being able to figure out how to ride to the dog park without the dog jumping out of the bike trailer, I haven't been able to fully do this yet.  But on the bright side, I am mostly recovered now and have been taking out the bike probably 75% more than I would have before last week.  So we're getting somewhere! 

A log for posterity and accountability:

Thursday rode to a meeting 1/2 mile away.

Saturday the three big kids were gone and we rode to church and back and then tried to go on a bike ride but only made it 2 miles before I realized that I wasn't quite recovered enough to force it any further.

Monday (today) rode to church with all the kids and plan to do the same the rest of the week.   We were running late (surprise!) so I decided not to switch hitches for the bike trailer and just take Conrad's bike.  Which was a mistake because I can't even sit on the seat while standing straight up on the pedals.  Needless to say, my hamstrings got one heckuva workout today.

The Rules

Okay, I think I have sorted this out.

I fully intended to start biking yesterday, but my purpose for leaving the house was to buy two 4'x4'x1/2" particle boards.  I was all set to go, but then C. reminded me that it would be quite difficult to get that home.  It turns out I couldn't even fit them in the Saturn, either, and Menards "couldn't" cut them down for me (I really needed 3'x3', but they don't sell those).  Stupid Menards.  Really?  A lumberyard can't cut through 1/2 an inch of particle board?  E. and I did end up biking to the archery range afterward (at 9 p.m.) (and it was still light out!) (which is a rant for another day) because we have this nifty carrying case that I can strap around my body. 

So to keep this simple--I will make every effort to bike when leaving the house, but I will use the car without guilt when:

1) Traveling more than 5 miles with children


2) Inclement weather arises, although if I am alone I should make every effort to bike if my safety is not at risk, and


3) Transporting anything larger than will fit in the bike trailer and baskets.

Did you know there are a lot of blogs about bicycling?  I am learning a lot in 24 hours.  Fascinating.

A New Summer Adventure

Time to dust off the cobwebs in this little corner of the internet.    *dust, dust*   There, that's better.  So I was contemplating earlier today what would happen if I tried to substitute my bicycle for my car this summer.  As most things in my life go, it didn't take long to cement itself in my mind (hello, I knew who I was going to marry before we even started dating!).  Snap decisions are my major M.O.

ANYhoo...I also started thinking that it would be awesome to do this thing and journal it for posterity.  I type faster than I write and have been missing blogging recently, so here we are.  If I say it on the worldwideweb, I have to stick with it, right?

A bunch of rules guidelines are floating around in my head pertaining to how exactly I can go about this.  I mean, I'm definitely not going to be riding my bike to South Dakota this weekend.  I probably wouldn't do it in the middle of a thunderstorm when I and/or my husband feel like we're going to die if one of us doesn't procure a pint of Ben & Jerry's at that EXACT moment, either.  Not that that ever happens.  Stay tuned as I work those little details out.