Tipping Thursday

Demotivational Monday

Because the weekend is over and Mondays are just horrendous at times

 

Saturday Silliness

Feeling Old Friday

Pretty in Pink?

Maybe not quite as pretty as you think.

In the United States, virtually everyone has seen the "pink ribbon" campaigns plastered on everything from make-up and cupcakes to t-shirts and fried chicken buckets, and recognize the symbol as a sign of breast cancer awareness.


It's certainly a noble cause, considering that if current trends continue one in 8 U.S. women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point during their lives.


Unfortunately, this cause is noble only in appearance; in reality, the multimillion-dollar company behind all those pink ribbons -- the Susan G. Komen Foundation – uses less than a dime of each dollar to actually look for a breast cancer cure... and that's just the surface of the problem...

Read the rest of the article here

Now this is Pretty in Pink

Long live Duckie (some language)

Tipping Thursday

Today's Workout

Weather: 60, Sunny and breesy
Time of Day: 11:00am
Distance:14.23 miles
Time: 1:57:09
Pace: 8:14
Running Shoes: Nike Lunar Fly 2's in Black and Grey
SCD Running Shoe Ranking: 8
Comments: Awesome progression (progressively faster). 3 mile w/u (8:53, 8:44, 8:36). 10 mile progression run; decreasing each mile by 10 seconds per mile with last 3 miles at marathon pace, half-marathon pace, 10k pace. goal splits with actual in parentheses 8:50 (8:42), 8:40 (8:35), 8:30 (8:24), 8:20 (8:16), 8:10 (8:07), 8:00 (7:50), 7:50 (7:43), 7:40 (7:37), 7:20 (7:20), 7:05 (6:58). Last mile hurt a bit. 1.23 cool down at 9:21 stumbling pace.
Sure it might take me 5 minutes to get out of bed tomorrow and of course I'll be stumbling around like a drunk old man during the day until my legs loosen up. And so what if the living room was spinning for an hour after the run, it was like a free carnival ride...Bonus! And never mind that today is Ash Wednesday and it was a fast day (note to self - you can run 14 miles on a cup of yogurt and 4 shots of espresso). It. Was. Totally. Worth. It.

Drive Thru Ashes at Church?! Really?!

Ohio church offers drive-thru for Ash Wednesday

CINCINNATI (AP) - An Ohio church is offering a drive-thru Ash Wednesday blessing for parishioners pressed for time or reluctant to come inside the church for the Lenten observance.
The Rev. Patricia Anderson Cook of Mt. Healthy United Methodist Church in suburban Cincinnati offered the ashes Wednesday evening for people of all faiths beginning around 5 p.m. in the church parking lot.......

Is this what we have come to? What's next drive thru confession? Communion? Maybe a quick shot with a squirt gun and call it a Baptism. Yo Padre I'll have the #3 combo - Absolution with a rosary on the side, and make that absolution a super-size cause mardi gras was a hum-dinger. And could you hurry up I gotta get home and watch Oprah reruns.

I gotta admit that I didn't know churches other than us Catholics did the ash thing. But the total tonnage of things I don't know is enough to fill the grand canyon or one of Roseanne Barr's dresses.

Be that as it may, is this what it has come to? Drive thru church? Are we really that busy that we can't get out of the car and go into the church for ashes? How long would it take for this chick playing church to actually trace a cross on someone's forehead, assuning it wasn't Herman Munster's.What is so important that we have to get on down the road for? See who Kim Kardashian is sleeping with this week? What drug Lindsy Lohan got busted for? Hit Starsux for a $6 Frappuccino Caramel Macchiato Mocha Soy Latte with skim milk of course. Turn on the news to see what civil right the Obama administration has violated now? (here's a clue, all of them have been violated by him)

This is almost as bad as the long lines at the McDonald's near our house. The drive-thru is bumper-to-bumper out to the road and the parking lot is empty. Hey people it would actually be faster to get your super-sized lard-butts OUT of the car, walk in, order, get your grease, and walk back to the car. At least you will burn a few calories and save a few quarters, no make that dollars (can't drill for new oil or import it from Canada in the land of the free), worth of gas.

Sigh, I am getting too old. When I was young I would have considered things like this just silly and something to be mocked. Maybe get in the car with some buddies and grab a few beers, drive thru the right Reverend Patricia's Ashes to Go r' Us (does she have a large black cross in the parking lot instead of golden arches?) and gotten my head tattooed up and told Patty she had a nice ash. Now instead of laughing it off it actually angers me......I am only one step away from being the old guy that sits on the front porch and yells at the neighborhood kids to get off his lawn and curses at the teens driving by in their rice-burners with the bass booming while playing their rap "music"

 Rev Pattie-kins finger painting foreheads....hey where has that finger been? And is she using the middle finger?

Priest Gives Obama's Mandate "The Finger"

Saw this on Danielle Bean's site first. Enjoy ;)

What Do People of Walmart do When Not in Walmart

Even though some Walmarts are open 24 hours a day, People of Walmart do have to leave at some point for other adventures.
Our crack staff of photogrophers have captured some of their more touching moments.

Heard Around the House

The Mom to CeCe (4) "If you lick your sister's hippopotamus again I am putting soap in your mouth"

Eric (4) and Kolbe (2) standing around the potty going pee. Kolbe has just learned to go standing up like his big brothers and thinks he is cool. Both boys peeing at the same time and shouting "Fire in the hole!"

Today's Workout

Weather: 48, Sunny and breezy
Time of Day: 11:00am
Distance:14.17 miles
Time: 1:56:27
Pace: 8:13
Running Shoes: Nike Lunar Fly 2's in Black and Grey
SCD Running Shoe Ranking: 8
Comments: Great, bitchin', fantastic, inconceivable, wicked-awesome, rip-snorter, portentous, prodigious, staggering, stunning, stupendous, sublime, surprising, wonderful, wondrous, totally tubular! Felt great on that run. Last week i felt like old dog do-do that had been roasted over an open campfire. this week i was wishing the race was in 10 days. the whole run felt easy. felt like i could have gone 10 more miles. it was strange. felt sluggish on the warm up but once i kicked up the pace i felt fine. my avg HR for the run was a lot lower than the other times i have run this same workout. i run this on the same 14 mile course each time so its easier to compare efforts.
14.17 miles, 4 mile w/u, 8 miles at Goal Marathon Pace (7:50) actual splits: 7:51, 7:47, 7:48, 7:48, 7:42, 7:37, 7:45, 7:45. 2.17 mile c/d

This Is Why I No Longer Wear An iPod

ps-You know that it's not really me, right? I wouldn't be caught dead in a Starsux...or live for that matter

Happy Valentines Day Dear

Since I am too cheap to buy you a real gift...

1. I love your soul
2. I love your face
3. I love your faith
4. I love your mind
5. I love being married to you
6. I love you body
7. I love your optimistic personality…even if it annoys me at times
8. I love that you homeshool our kids
9. I love that you have faith in me
10. I love the taste of the salt on your skin
11. I love waking up in the morning with your hair in my face
12. I love your smile
13. I love your hair…even when you cut it short, but don't get any ideas
14. I love you during labor
15. I love how hot you look when pregnant
16. I love that you stay home with the kids
17. I love that you support my working out
18. I love that you feel safe in my arms
19. I love how you cuddle up next to me in the winter for warmth
20. I love your laugh, the nice one, not the witch-like cackle
21. I love that you don’t like to go shopping
22. I love when you wear blue jeans and diamond stud earrings
23. I love you when you cry
24. I love that you can’t balance a checkbook and might not even know where we bank – that’s trust
25. I love to watch you sleep
26. I love that you don’t call me at work 20 times a day..oh wait I work from home now...
27. I love how you can nurse a baby and coach a soccer game at the same time
28. I love when you make my breakfast or lunch
29. I love when you rub my shoulders
30. I love when you hug me from behind
31. I love that you are the pick of the litter
32. I love when we pray together
33. I love that we are BFF’s
34. I love your eyebrows (plucked or not)
35. I love your warmth even though you are always cold
36. I love when you try and do new things on the computer
37. I love that you are more beautiful at 43 then you were at 16 when we met
38. I love how you are selfless
39. I love that I love your more today than the day we were married
40. I love TTN
41. I love when you wear jeans...you know the ones
42. I love that you started working out and lost weight and are even sexier than normal

Nothing Says Love like...Sewage?

NYC sewage plant to offer Valentine's Day tours

NEW YORK (AP) - It may not smell like a rose but a New York City sewage plant is offering tours for lovers on Valentine's Day.
The tour host and superintendent of the Newtown Creek Wastewater treatment plant in Brooklyn tells the Daily News it'll be a unique date, and one that special someone will never forget.
Jim Pynn says the highlight of the tour will be the plant's giant egg-shaped digesters, which break down the noxious waste into harmless sludge and gas.
Pynn says each Valentine's Day visitor will get a Hershey kiss...and at least something to talk about.

 

Today's Workout

Weather: 38, Sunny and windy
Time of Day: 11:45am
Distance:11.37 miles
Time: 1:31:21
Pace: 8:01
Running Shoes: Nike Lunar Racers in Lime Green
SCD Running Shoe Ranking: 9
Comments: 3 mile w/u. 6x1mile at 7:25 with 1/4 mile recovery jog. actual splits: 7:31, 7:24, 7:15, 7:23, 7:20, 7:16. 1.37 c/d. Once I got the first one out of the way the pacing was pretty good. wiped out towards the end.Room spinning a bit when I got home.

Harvard names a restroom after an interesting alum donation

WASHINGTON - Professional sports teams often play in stadiums emblazoned with corporate monikers, but there's a new trend in the sale of naming rights: bathroom stalls.
A growing number of colleges and universities are getting some financial relief by naming restrooms after people who make large donations. Even the Harvard Law School now has a restroom named after alum.
William Falik, a Harvard Law School graduate, donated $100,000 to his alma mater. And yes, the pronunciation is exactly the same as the term used in Freudian psychology....." 

What a great new way for schools to get more money, as if the $50,000 a year Harvard charges wasn't enough, got a potty or body part for a name? Get a can named after you. What's next? The sink? Toilet Paper holders (that would seem appropriate at some colleges-stock them with the diplomas)? How about the Tampon machines? The Bertha Butz toilet seat. Ugo's Urinal. Paula's Plunger.


Every John, Dick and Harry must be rejoicing. Not to mention the Peters, Johnson's and Butkas'.

I wonder if you have to use your own name. Or could I have a urinal named after someone else? Like the name a star scam. Who you ask....oh I don't know who....maybe something like the Pelosi Potty.....or the Clinton Crapper....the Obama Outhouse......just thinking out loud. Or how about:: the Newt Necessary......the Romney Restroom.....the Santorum Shi...on second thought Santorum sounds like an euphemism for a bathroom all by itself.

What's Been Going On the Last 15 Months

• Still crazy madly in love (with Sam, my wife of 23 years). Love that woman more and more each day
  
• Sam is more lovely than ever. She has recently lost a significant amount of weight. She has gone from beautiful to gorgeous
• I have still been running everyday and qualified for the Boston Marathon, which I will be participating in on April 16th
• I work from home everyday now instead of just a few days a week...usually its a good thing
  
• Still have 12 kids - we did have a miscarriage last fall
• Our oldest child, Alexandria, finished grad school last May at age 21
  
• Alexandria (22) was married last August and is living a few miles down the road
• Josh (20) is home from the seminary and going to University of Maryland and studying Kinesiology
  
• Caleb (19) is a junior at Towson University and studying Athletic Training
• Lizzie (17) is a freshman at the local community college, Anne Arundel CC not the ghetto Prince George's CC
• Barbara (15) is a junior home-schooled high schooler. She goes to a tutor school for homeschoolers two days a week
• Joey (14) is a freshman home-schooled high schooler. She goes to a tutor school for homeschoolers two days a week
• Robert (12) is homeschooled and in 7th grade
• Dominic (10) is homeschooled and in 5th grade
• Mary (8) is homeschooled and in 3rd grade
  
• Cecilia (6) is homeschooled and in 1st grade
• Eric (4) is terrorizing the household
• Kolbe (2) is cute as can be and was recently potty-trained. First time in 22 years with no one in diapers...bittersweet

Looking for skinnier skinny jeans? Try meat leggings

Maybe I should wear these for the Boston Marathon. It would sure make it eaiser for Sam to find me among the 27,000 other runners. Now all I need is a top to go with it.

From WTOP.com

"WASHINGTON - For those trying to find something skinnier than jeggings, search no more. A new pant goes straight down to the skin, and even farther.
Leggings designed to look like human muscle are now available at Australian-based clothing website BlackMilkClothing.com. The polyster/elastane pants will surely be the envy of all who appreciate skin-tight accoutrement......"

Maybe this shirt would work with it

Over a Year with out a Post

You can learn a lot from Pixar Movies...not sure which picture I am supposed to learn from though

Demotivational Monday

Because the weekend is over and Mondays are just horrendous at times

Demotivational Monday

Because the weekend is over and Mondays are just horrendous at times

Demotivational Monday

Because the weekend is over and Mondays are just horrendous at times

Demotivational Monday

Because the weekend is over and Mondays are just horrendous at times

Today's Workouts

Weather: clear and cool, around 45
Time of Day: 4:30am
Distance: 21.12
Time: 3:12:49
Pace: 9:08
Running Shoes: Saucony Tangent 3's
SCD Running Shoe Ranking: 8
Comments: sore, tired, old, and a mini-pad stuck on the top of my foot to protect my torn-up eczema-covered foot from the shoe (I hate socks). It worked well-no cramps at all. Plain mini pad, I think next time I will try scented ones with wings.

Vintange Ads Part 3

Lose weight and clean the house at the same...It's a win-win...for husbands...


Go ahead and annoy the 50% of the population that actually purchase sweaters


I see the company was too afraid to put their name on the ad


Like anyone is actually looking at her slide-show


Yes we men are like that

14 nails?! She cooking with her toes too?


You could run ads like that in the 60's?

Today's Workouts

Weather: 50 and cloudy
Time of Day: 11:15am
Distance: 7.69
Time: 1:07:58
Pace: 8:51
Running Shoes: Saucony Kinvara
SCD Running Shoe Ranking: 8.5
Comments: nice easy run in cool weather

McDeath

Since most of you probably don't live in the DC area where this add is running....



Sure it's a cheap-shot, sure I would never go vegetarian (blah), put it does make a point. The very ironic thing is that I am typing this while eating a McDonald's breakfast - hey I was running late and didn't have time to have a good breakfast.........

Today's Workouts

Yesterday actually
Weather: cold and rainy
Time of Day: 1pm
Distance: 7.21
Time: 58:23
Pace: 8:06
Running Shoes: Nike Lunar Racer2
SCD Running Shoe Ranking: 9
Comments: 2 mile ware-up, 4 miles tempo (a fast paced run) at goal pace of 7:45 per mile. Actual mile splits 7:45, 7:34, 7:31, 7:30. 1.21 mile cool down.

Demotivational Monday

Because the weekend is over and Mondays are just horrendous at times

50-most-extraordinary-churches-of-the-world

Love them or hate them but some of them are pretty interesting looking

50 Most Extraordinary Churches of the World

Today's Workouts

Weather: 65 and light rain
Time of Day: 1pm
Distance: 7.69 miles
Time: 1:07:17
Pace: 8:45
Running Shoes: Saucony Tangent 3's
SCD Running Shoe Ranking: 8
Comments: Very humid at the start but then a nice light rain started that felt awesome

Demotivational Monday

Because the weekend is over and Mondays are just horrendous at times

More Vintage Ads from the Good Old Days

Husbands you too can have a perky wife

All that sugar is ok if she's taking her PEP vitamins

You needs sugar and vitamins if you have cocaine tooth drops

A Subaru? Really? Maybe it would be fun if you loaded up on PEP vitamins, sugar and cocaine drops

I wonder how much therapy that kid needed as an adult

I promise to never drive alone again. I wonder what De Fuhrer likes to listen to on the radio

Of course she can, she's hopped-upped on cocaine

Demotivational Monday

Because the weekend is over and Mondays are just horrendous at times

Pet Peeve Phriday

Ok so I have already done one post on bad baby names but this is topic that is always getting new 'winners'.

My daughter Cecilia (a nice saints name by the way) goes to a kindergarten program 2 days a week for some help with her speech (not her swearing her annunciation). In her class is a girl named Princess and one named Blessing! Seriously! For real! These are these poor kids names.

Sure they might turn out to be normal kids and adults but why take the change with names like that? It's hard enough to raise good kids.

Who is going to want to date, hangout with, or hire a person with a name like Blessing or Princess? How high maintenance are these girls gonna be? Only will time will tell but if I was a betting man I'd have to go with higher maintenance than a spoiled rich sorority girl or a Ford Pinto.

Do parents actually consider the power of a name and what it will do to a child? I admit that I wanted to name one of our kids Zephaniah (a boy not a girl) but my lovely bride talked me out of it.

Heaven help the men who get stuck married to these two future Diva's in training.

On the plus side maybe they could be wide receivers for a NFL team when they grow up.

Today's Workouts

Yesterday
Weather: 75 and nary a cloud in the sky
Time of Day: 12:15pm
Distance: 7.11
Time: 1:02:10
Pace: 8:45
Running Shoes: Saucony Kinvara
SCD Running Shoe Ranking: 8.5
Comments: Great weather and a great run

Today
Weather: 85 and bit humid
Time of Day: 11:15am
Distance: 7.22
Time: 1:07:05
Pace: 9:18
Running Shoes: Nike Lunar Racer2
SCD Running Shoe Ranking: 9
Comments: dead dead dead legs. I am beat.

Star Wars in 5 seconds and Other Movies

My kids have been watching a bunch of these lately. It seems they have their mother's warped sense of humor

Today's Workouts

Weather: 75 and lots of sun
Time of Day: 11:15am
Distance: 7.07
Time: 1:03:05
Pace: 8:55
Running Shoes: Saucony Grid Type A3
SCD Running Shoe Ranking: 7.5
Comments: easy run on sore legs

0 Down...12 to Go?!

We are going backwards, it used to be 2 down 9 to go.

Two years ago around this time I was "bragging" how we had 2 down 9 to go. Well 1 new baby and 2 of the college kids moving back home and we are at 14 bodies bursting the plaster seams of this old house.

What this means in practical terms is more money spent on food, utilities, clothes, home maintenance, schooling etc...More cars in the driveway (and street), there are 7 out front right now although one of the vans is gonna be sold soon...we hope. It's the lovely van that Mary was so kind to decorate a few years ago. We got a new to us van a few weeks ago and no family should have 2 15-passenger vans, not even the Duggars. Our new van is great. Only 2 years old and fairly clean since we haven't skanked it up to much yet. But I will kinda miss the old van. In addition to Mary personally decorating it we have broken down on the side of the road at least twice in it while on vacation. You just can't buy family fun like that. I mean who doesn't like to be stuck on the side of the road in the summer heat far from home with a 10 or so kids, a van full of suitcases, no idea where you are or where to get a tow or where to have the van towed to. Not to mention the joy of spending the next 10 years vacation budget on car repairs. Yes indeed I will miss the old family truckster. Word of advice to growing families looking to upgrade to a full-size van. Don't Buy a Doge Van! Thankfully they have stopped making them. It's a wonder Dodge is in business at all anymore if their vans are any indication of the rest of their line of vehicles. We have owned two of them over the years and they were garbage. Our two Ford vans have been much better.

Um, shoot where was I? Oh yeah kids still at home...We had two kids moved out, one at college and one at seminary so we were down to 9 kids at home (yeah us!) Well Sam went and had another baby (I can't keep her off me) and the two oldest have moved back home. So we are at 14 kids age 11 months to 20 years old living at home. We have juggled rooms around and turned the classroom into a bedroom (why would a homeschooling family need a classroom anyway?). We have 2 adults and 12 kids stashed in 8 bedrooms - thank God for cheap old roomy Levitt houses.

We have reached and passed the Mortgage vs Food tipping point. Our monthly grocery bill has now exceeded our monthly mortgage payment. That actually happened a few years ago. I had hoped with kids moving out that would change but no such luck. Maybe we should start keeping chickens or goats or spotted owls...

So for now, and the foreseeable future we will have all 12 kids at home. Which is a good thing for the most part.

Here is a rundown of what the kids are up to:

#1 Alexandria (20) - In grad school for a Masters in Social Work. Graduates next May
#2 Joshua (19) - At Community College and working various jobs
#3 Caleb (17) - At Community College, working at a gym and playing on the college soccer team
#4 Lizzie (16) - Finishing up her last year of homeschool high school and working on getting her drivers license and just got a part-time job at a grocery store (can dad get a discount?)
#5 Barbara (14) - Doing her second year of high school (or maybe it's first year of HS...not really sure) and playing soccer for a local school that lets homeschoolers play
#6 Joey (12) - In 7th grade and playing CYO soccer
#7 Robert (10) - In 6th grade, playing CYO soccer. Also does swim-team and the occasional triathlon during the summer.
#8 Dominic (8) - In 4th grade, playing soccer. Also does swim-team and the occasional triathlon during the summer. Will become an Altar Boy in the spring.
#9 Mary (6) - In 2nd grade and recovering from her broken leg. She will make her First Communion in the spring
#10 Cece (4) - In kindergarten and feisty as ever
#11 Eric (3) - A Special Child is he. He is our roughest and naughtiest kid we have. He is lucky that he is very cute.
#12 Kolbe (1) - Best behaved baby out of the bunch but in to everything now. We are trying not to let Eric destroy and/or corrupt him

Today's Workouts

Weather: Awesome out there today. 72 and sunny at run time
Time of Day: 11:15am
Distance: 9.69 miles
Time: 1:24:20
Pace: 8:42
Running Shoes: Nike Lunar Racer2
SCD Running Shoe Ranking: 9
Comments: Legs a bit sore but not too bad and the weather was great so this was an A+ run today