Medicine

So Ashley still has a cough, which is going on 2 weeks now (or longer, I really forget). When I called the doctor last week, they said if she wasn't better (cough-wise) by Friday, bring her back in.

So Ray is there now with her, and I get this email from him:
Not the mask you expected on Halloween! I guess they are worried she still has the flu?

But back to last night - getting Ashley to take medicine. She battled me for almost 2 hours to take her medicine. I don't even want to remember last night; it was that bad.

And if the doctor prescribes something for her cough today? We are so screwed.

UPDATED: Ashley has pneumonia....

Still under house arrest

Sorry for the lack of updates this week - Ashley is still home from school, as is Audrey. Audrey is much better than Ashley with this fever thing, once the Motrin kicks in, she is up and playing where Ashley pretty much laid on the couch for an entire day.

Ashley was doing better, and even went to dance class yesterday, then spiked a low-grade fever last night. So I am hopeful today will be her last day at home and she can go to school tomorrow.

And if anyone has any great ideas for getting a six year old to take medicine, it would be greatly appreciated.

It's going to be one of those weeks, but maybe I will win a cool contest?

Ashley is getting better, but daycare just called - Audrey has a fever. Let the fun begin!

I was notified today that I was not selected for the Disney Moms Panel. Oh well, maybe the fourth try next year will work?

And for all of us, yes, this is for a running jacket, but still. We could all use it, even my non-running friends. One of the fastest Moms out there is hosting a great giveaway for a Brooks for Her Jacket from the Brooks for Her: Cause Conscious Running Gear.

I need a little luck this week.

Who the heck knows what everyone has

Ashley is sick as in flu-sick. She went to bed Saturday night complaining of a headache, and woke up a few hours later to a fever and vomiting. Not really what I wanted to do on a Saturday night.

And this morning? She still has a fever, although she hasn't vomited again. She ate all meals yesterday and was fine. She complains intermittently about her stomach hurting, but I think that's the Motrin we are giving.

And speaking of medicine - DEAR GOD, give me a six year old that will take medicine. Audrey? Shoots back anything we give her. Ashley? It is a fight every.single.time.

So Ray is at home with her today. Our assumption is that Audrey will get it at some point, and I will stay home with her. Ray can still work with Ashley, she isn't as needy. Although I did call to check up on them a few minutes ago, and they were playing Mario Kart on the Wii.

So what does she have is the big question - Seasonal flu? Swine flu? Who the hell knows. Unless you have severe symptoms, you aren't being tested. Neighbors and friends who have had kids with the same thing as Ashley and have taken their kids to the doctors or clinics are being told it's the swine flu. Ashley was vaccinated for the seasonal, but that was less than 2 weeks ago. In my head, I am hoping what she has is indeed the swine flu and we can be over and done with it. But it sucks. I hate seeing kids sick, mine or anyone else's. Neither of my kids have had the flu before, so this is new territory. And I hope it is over quickly.

ATT Ten Miler Race Report

My very first 10-mile race. A success? I guess if you consider that I finished it with minimal walking (more on that later). I wanted to finish strong, but as you can see from my splits, that didn't happen either. I was pretty consistent with my pace the first 5 miles, which is good. I didn't start out to fast, no stitches (only a slight one, no big deal), but I think not racing until 9:00am for a long run is different than the 6:00am I am used to do here the past few weeks. I didn't eat breakfast, and throughout the race, I fought off nauseau a few times. I Gu'd about 20 minutes before the start of the race, took a Gu at the turn around at mile 5, and ate 2 Gu chomps along the way as well. That might have been a little too much. I think I might just stick to the Gu chomps during the race. So here are the details:

Mile 1: 10:37
Mile 2: 10:24
Mile 3: 10:31
Mile 4: 10:25
Mile 5: 10:35
Mile 6: 11:08 - I walked a little at the beginning of this mile to take a Gu.
Mile 7: 10:56
Mile 8: 10:27
Mile 9: 11:13 - This is where it got mental, see below
Mile 10: 11:49 - This should have been faster, pathetic really.

So the race was on a trail, and headphones were disallowed. Since I am so used to running my long runs with my friend Wendy, I could have really used some music. I considered bringing my headphones anyway, but some guy before the race was actually checking everyone. So good thing I didn't.

And the race was small, so by mile 5, I was pretty much running by myself. I could see people ahead, but only a few guys passed me from mile 5 to 10 (except this one guy and girl who passed me probably 7 or 8 times - they would sprint, then walk, then sprint, then walk; highly annoying). So yes, I entertained the thought of walking, oh about the entire mile 9. But I didn't! I pushed through.

As soon as the pictures are posted, I might post them. Depends on how disgusting I look.

I've lost 10 years of my life, oh, and Happy Birthday Ray

Today is Ray's 34th birthday (yes, we are four days apart), but since he doesn't read my blog, no need to go into a sappy happy birthday post.

In other news, Audrey decided at the bus stop this morning to walk out into the street in front of a car. And that's when 10 years of my life came right off. We all screamed (me and the other moms at the bus stop), and luckily it was one of our neighbors and I think he saw her about to do it. She was across the street from the bus stop in the van watching TV as she has been doing the past few days. Then I guess she got a wild hair up her butt and decided to not only open the van door by herself, but to run across the street without looking.

She will be the death of me.

So her and I cried all the way to Harris Teeter, where I needed coffee (I don't know what Ray's problem was, not making coffee on his birthday) and I promised her a cookie. And then they didn't have any free cookies made, so she got a donut from Starbucks instead. I think it scared her enough, and I grilled her enough that she understands. I also told her teachers' at school about it because they are talking about safety all month, and maybe they could reinforce it some more. Oh, and she will no longer be allowed to sit in the van at the bus stop anymore.

And after that fiasco, I headed to the dealership to get the tires filled with nitrogen. We have a Town & Country van, and the tires have that NitroFill. I don't honestly know the benefits, but I do know that I had to drop $100 there this morning for various things. It's never fun going to the dealership for repairs of any kind.

Here's to hoping my Friday gets a little better from here on out. At least I have the leftover donut from Audrey this morning to eat with my lunch...

Here's a birthday post for Ray....

This is Ray and his business partner...enjoy! Oh, and Ray is the boy...

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Pretty Crappy

So there was an article in our local paper about marathon runners and such. You can read the full article here.

Basically it was saying that more and more individuals are running marathons that ever before, and the elite few that can do a sub-4 hour marathon are pissed with the slow people. One woman even states, "It's a joke to run a marathon by walking every other mile or by finishing in six, seven, eight hours."

Seriously? I think running a marathon is a pretty cool accomplishment, whether it takes you 3 hours or 10. More power to the people getting off their couches and taking on running. And if you want an elite race, then qualify for the Boston marathon and run that.

And I still think a marathon has a "mystique" regardless of how long it takes you to run it. I will never do a marathon as I think it would be a challenge my body would not like very much. I know my body (basically my knees) and challenging myself to a half marathon is just enough, thank you very much.

And are the slow people actually slowing you down? Do they make you run a slower race? Probably not. I am actually signed up to be in the 3 hour corral for the half marathon, and I am pretty sure I will finish it much better than that.

What's your take?

I tried out a Garmin watch, and now I want to marry it

It was so cool to come home and plug the Garmin watch into my computer and see my splits for each mile.

What was not cool was the fact that I had mapped out this 3 mile run, part on a trail, and it was actually 3.25 miles per the Garmin. So this whole time I was thinking I was running 3 miles, when it was actually more.

My coworker's boyfriend let me borrow his, and I am officially in love with it. So my stats for tonight:

Mile 1: 9:35
Mile 2: 9:54 (I had a really, REALLY bad side stitch for pretty much this entire mile)
Mile 3: 9:32
The last .25 we ran at a 8:29 pace.

So right now, I am sitting on the couch, watching the UNC/Florida State game and the Yankees game and browsing the internet for the cheapest Garmin I can find. Ray told me the purchase was "impulsive and luxurious". I agree with the luxurious thing, the impulsive, not so much.

New Race

So we are lucky to have a great trail near our home that I have done some of my long runs on. It is pretty flat and the miles are marked. I knew about a 10 mile race there this coming weekend a few months ago, but I failed to sign up because of one main reason - I was afraid to come in last.

The race is capped at 400 runners split between men and women. So back when I started running, heck ya I would of come in last. When I did my 10 miler a few weekends ago, I did it in 1:46 (give or take). I looked at the results for this race from last year, and the slowest person was over 2:15. So I am pretty sure I can beat that this year.

So the race filled up pretty quickly, and I was sort of relieved, but then again, I like running races. A friend of mine signed up but has since hurt her hip, and gave me her registration (a few emails between the race coordinator and her and I and we were all set).

On Saturday morning, think of me and give me the good vibes to actually finish the race and finish strong. The only other thing I am worried about is that no headphones are allowed. I really need my music sometimes!

Flu Shots and other random good birthday news

Last Thursday, I had an appointment to get both girls their flu shots in the evening. I had to teach a class that afternoon, and by the time I was rushing home to pick up the girls, I had a voice mail from the doctor's office. I called back and was informed they were out of flu shots, but had the flu mist.

Of which Audrey can't get because of her asthma. The one person who probably needs the flu shot the most couldn't get it.

And Ashley was ecstatic to get the flu mist as she hates shots. There were no real side effects from the flu mist except a stuffy nose for her, but who knows if that is from the mist or some other cold.

So today the search is on to find somewhere to get Audrey a flu shot.

And on other completely unrelated news, my twin brother called with happy birthday news. His wife is pregnant, so I will be an aunt again (Ray's brother's wife is also pregnant with baby #3). Ray's brother and family moved here to Raleigh this weekend (within a few miles of our house!), maybe I can convince my brother and his wife to do the same...

October 19th, 1975

Today is my birthday, and while turning 34 isn't that big of a deal, I am puffy-eyed and gulping my coffee this morning to ward off the lingering tiredness I have from too many nights of not really good sleep.

Friday night while Ray was off in Vegas betting at the Sports Book that the Hokies would win (which I FULLY blame him for their loss, you should never bet on your team!), I hit the sack early as I was going to get up and go running at 5:30am. My Mom was in town to help me out, and had treated me to a pasta dinner on Friday night before the 11 miles I was going to run on Saturday morning.

Audrey slept with me because I didn't want to fight getting her to sleep that night, and she decided to pee in my bed at 4:15am. So that was my wake-up call. Which actually worked out since there are certain bodily functions I need to do before I go running, and getting up even early helped that happen.

The 11 miles? Were actually good. I went with my friend Wendy, and it was definitely dark in parts of the neighborhoods we were running in at 5:30am. We were doing a 5.6 mile loop twice, and thankfully by the second time around, things started to lighten up. It was actually really cool to be running and watching the sun rise. We did the 11.2 miles in something like 1:58, so not too bad. And I definitely felt like I could run 2 more miles without too much difficulty.

On a side note - I think there were a few factors that attributed to a good run on Saturday morning. The pasta and water I drank on Friday night, the Gu and Gu Chomps I had during the run on Saturday morning. I can only hope and pray that the same good running karma will happen on race day. That is my only fear; at this point, I know my body can do it. It's just I don't want race day to be a "bad" run day.

And then yesterday Audrey decided to become demon-child, and threw tantrum after tantrum. The final straw was trying to make her use the bathroom before bed (remember the peeing in my bed incident?). She is as stubborn as Ray, and didn't want to go. She cried and cried and yelled and even tried to hit me, which isn't like her. She was overly tired as she hadn't napped since Thursday and had a 2 hour playdate that afternoon. I stayed calm and tried to let her cry it out, but with her crying and me being tired, I just started crying too. Ashley actually came out of her bed and gave Audrey a Nerds candy box that was in her room, and all of sudden Audrey decided she could pee and go to bed where she promptly fell asleep in 5.3 seconds.

Ray came home about 10:15pm where we talked until almost midnight, and then Audrey woke up about 1:30am. I brought her to bed with us (bad, bad Amy) where she laid on my chest and fell right back to sleep. But it was just what I needed after a bad bedtime routine and just what I needed on my birthday.

Oh, and Happy Birthday to my twin brother Mike!

Bandits

“I believe that the Good Lord gave us a finite number of heartbeats and I'm damned if I'm going to use up mine running up and down a street.”
Neil Armstrong

I just thought that was a funny quote...

So I am completely new to this running thing, and have learned about things I never knew about before this little adventure. Like negative splits, Yassos, tempo runs, and pace groups. I turned to the blog world and started reading some running blogs to get more information. Of course, all the blogs are of runners who run sub 9-minute miles, but at least I can dream because there is no way in hell I can ever run a sub 9-minute mile.

Anyhow, one blog I like to read is Tall Mom on the Run. She's funny (and EXTREMELY FAST) and gives good information about products. She wrote a post about bandits - people who run races without being registered. I have read plenty of posts about people who had people jump in marathons and run a few miles with their friends just to get them through it. I have asked my neighbor and friend to run a mile or two with me at the OBX Half Marathon, and I don't see what the problem is with that. Maybe "real bandits" run most of the race, but helping me out for a few miles I think is okay. Heck, I read plenty of race reports of the Chicago marathon of people jumping in and running with friends for a few miles.

I guess the serious runners see them as people taking advantage of the closed roads and such. Really? I can see if a runner runs the whole race without registering, but hopping into the race to help out a friend, I don't see anything wrong with it. I get it with the smaller races of 300 or less. Maybe they should just register. But the race I am doing is sold out, and is by no means small.

So that's my 2 cents for the day.

Disney

Everyone knows I am crazy about Disney. I troll the Disney websites daily, especially as we get closer to our vacation in December. Ray and I bought a Disney timeshare before we even had kids. So crazy about Disney - yes.

So you can only imagine my excitement yesterday when I got an email saying I made it to the second round of the selection process for the Disney Mom's Panel.

I have applied every year; and every year nothing. Until this year. Now, I have no idea how many it was narrowed down to in the second round. I am hopeful that it was narrowed down a lot.

I had to answer three more essay questions and submit a photo. The essay questions were easy, the photo was not. I attempted to have Ray take a head shot of me last night, and to say it wasn't pretty was an understatement. I could post it here, but then I would be the laughing stock of the internet for the day. So I cut me out of a picture I actually took at Disney on Ice last week with Audrey.

Keep your fingers, toes, ears, hair, WHATEVER crossed for me to make to the final selection. I should know the last week of October/beginning of November. The next round will be phone interviews.

Updates...

Ashley's nightmares have subsided. Now she just has a random cough that is keeping her up at night. Maybe when I am 50 I will sleep through the night.

All of us are getting our flu shots this week - YES RAY, THAT MEANS YOU TOO. I am not sure why I even typed that in here as he doesn't even read my blog, but he is being a wimp about getting the shot and considering he is getting on a plane to fly to Vegas on Thursday, HE IS GETTING A FLU SHOT. Maybe he heard me that time. The girls get their shots Thursday evening, I will get mine at Walgreens on Wednesday. And yes, if the H1N1 is available, the kids will get that as well.

My Mom is coming to hang out with us this weekend while Ray is away and to go to the NC State Fair. Every year we have lived here, she and my Stepdad have made it. I am keeping my fingers crossed the weather will hold out. She is also going to see Ashley cheer on Saturday.

We have finally done it - we have convinced some of our family to move here. Ray's brother Sean and his family move this week into a home they are going to rent in our town. The girls are excited about their cousins being much, much closer.

I am going to eat lunch out at work today for the first time in months (money -saving and waist-band expanding saving plan), but since I have a coupon for a free sandwich at Cafe Carolina, it is still free. I love free coupons.

Less than a week until my birthday; less than a month until my attempt at a half marathon.

10 miles

Yesterday morning when I left to run my 10 miles, it was 76 degrees outside. Perfect running weather for me. Considering this morning it is about 15 degrees cooler, I got lucky yesterday.

And I survived. 10 miles - one hour, 45 minutes and some odd seconds. I seriously thought at the beginning of this, it would take me 3 hours to run the half marathon. I am thinking that I can definitely beat that now. I might even beat 2 and 1/2 hours, which is my "B" goal at this point. More on goals as it gets closer to the race.

The first couple of miles my friend and I ran pretty slow. I normally hit a wall between mile 5 and 6 - this is where my knees start to hurt, and I just want to walk. Good thing Wendy kept pushing me and I kept going. And then my knees stop hurting (basically they become numb, probably not a good thing) and I can pick up the speed. Seriously, I am pretty sure Wendy and I ran the last 2 miles closer to 9:30 minute miles. If only I had a Garmin watch...

Which from all that I read, having negative splits is good - finishing with a faster pace than what we start with. If I can do that come race day, I will be happy.

11 miles next Saturday. I once thought that it was impossible, now I know I can do it. It may take me 2 hours, but then I can come home and eat 2 donuts like I did yesterday and not feel too guilty about it. And yes, those were the best damn donuts I have had in a long time.

My Wish List

I like lists. It's who I am. Lists and calendars. So by no means is this a hint to my parents for my upcoming birthday, it's just a list of things I would like or read about on other's blogs. And since the last time Ray and I bought each other birthday gifts (his is 4 days after mine) or Christmas gifts, the year started with the number 1, this isn't a hint to him either. We just don't do gifts to each other. We would much rather use our money on gifts for the kids.

But in the event that I a) buy a lottery ticket, and b) win the lottery, I can go straight to this post and hit PURCHASE ALL and be happy.

Garmin Forerunner 305
Top of my list. Instead of planning out my runs prior to heading out, I could just go, and this nifty device would tell me how far I have run. HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE.

A Kitchenaid Stand Mixer. Yes, I enter every.single.contest on Pioneer Woman's site to win this, but considering thousands of people enter, my chances are slim. Pathetic, really that I don't own a food processor. I have a few recipes I want to try (like homemade pesto) that require this. And no, using a mixer doesn't work. Believe me, I have tried.

Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

This is a pretty cool lense, end of story (not really end of story, I guess I should add it's a really expensive lense that would definitely require a lottery win).

A Spibelt

I plan on eating a Gu or some sort of energy gel every 45 minutes during the half marathon WHICH IS LESS THAN A MONTH AWAY. They are only giving out a gel at mile 8 on the race, so this nifty belt holds 5 Gu packs, keys, phone, etc.

A Virginia Tech Jersey

Just because I want one. And that reason is good enough.

Nightmares

Ashley has been plagued by nightmares every night for the past week or so. They are vivid enough that she can recall in detail when she wants to. Most nights, she won't tell us what they are about, they scare her that much.

What this means is her sleep has been interrupted repeatedly. There was one morning where she was up for the day at 4:45am. There have been nights where I have laid on the floor beside her bed, there have been nights she has begged to come to our bed. Considering we already have a certain three year old occupying our bed at that time, we try to comfort her by rubbing her back, turning on her ceiling fan, consoling her.

Tonight, we tried something new. I told her, kind of jokingly, that we needed to cleanse her room. This comes from watching the Exorcist too many times. She latched onto the idea, and I told her I had special spray I could use to cleanse her room. We even ran into our next door neighbor, the one with the most Halloween decorations on our street, and I casually mentioned Ashley's sleep troubles. She told Ashley that the special spray would most definitely work. She had used it many times on her kids.

So into the house we went. I found some random bottle of Febreze under my sink, and all of us traipsed upstairs. I told them I needed to do the cleanse alone, in the dark, just to add to the effect. So I went into her room and shut the door. I sprayed the special spray, which actually made the room smell somewhat better, and left, closing the door behind me. I told Ashley that it needed a few minutes to set in. Of course Audrey demanded her room to be cleansed, so I did hers as well.

And now Ashley is asleep. Last night, the nightmares hit about 11:30pm. I am keeping my fingers crossed this worked.

Things that bother me more than they should

Ashley has a "field trip" on Thursday and by "field trip" I mean they are walking across the street from their school to a Lowes Food for a few hours. I signed up to chaperon the field trip as I try to help out as much as I can. I hadn't heard anything about it, and last night at book club, another Mom that has a daughter in Ashley's class said she was not chosen to chaperon since she volunteers in the class each week. I volunteer in Ashley's class on a monthly basis for their character education (basically, I go read a book to the class, but I get to interact with the class which is fun).

So I emailed Ashley's teacher this morning to see about the field trip, and she responded that I am not chaperoning. She is only taking 2 parents with her on the field trip, and since I volunteer in the class, I was not chosen. Now I have to tell Ashley that I won't be chaperoning, which she will understand, but still. Sucks.

Tomorrow is our monthly staff meeting at work. These meetings last about 2 hours and can drag on (what staff meeting doesn't?). In an effort to make it more entertaining I suppose, one of the vice presidents suggested a hat game, so we all drew names at the last meeting and are supposed to bring a hat for that person to wear at tomorrow's meeting. But in typical office politics fashion, I guess some individuals are upset about wearing a hat, so now we don't have to wear them, but just set them in front of us. Crazy.

I ran 9 miles on Saturday and I am still alive

9 miles down, three more long runs planned of 10, 11, and 12, then a week of shorter runs, then the race. It is getting more real now.

I ran my 9 on Saturday with my friend Wendy. She mapped out a 4.5 mile loop from her house, and we left promptly at 6:30am. It was just starting to get light out, but it was actually warmer than it had been the previous mornings. I was actually worried about the cold and purchased an ear cover, but didn't need it. I did run in a long sleeve shirt though. I had a Gu prior on my way to her house, and stashed a Hammer Gel in her mailbox to pick up at the half way point.

We finished in I think one hour, 36 minutes, which considering the previous week we did 8 mile in one hour and 32 minutes, this was a great improvement. I felt better, there were no monster hills, and I think I was just more there mentally for 9 miles. I think last week it was hard with the hills, traffic, and worrying about leaving for Savannah.

I ended up icing my knees Saturday night, but I think it had to do with the fact that I ran, then went to the VT/Duke game were we walked pretty far from where we parked to the stadium and back carrying a 30 pound 3 year old. And then I went and sat in bleachers for Ashley's football game she cheered at. So my knees were pretty pissed, but Sunday morning they felt fine. The only thing that was sore was my lower calf muscles (or lack thereof).

Ray is most likely not going to run the race. He ran yesterday morning, but woke up unable to put any pressure on his foot this morning. Not good. I am thinking he needs some time to heal.

Proof that I am okay

A couple of things have thwarted my running this week. I was a little off of my training schedule from last week since I did my long run last week on Thursday instead of Saturday. I ran a recovery run on Friday in Savannah, but didn't attempt to run again until this past Wednesday. I was supposed to do 4 miles twice this week (Tuesday/Thursday) and 9 miles on Saturday. I couldn't do it Tuesday, but Wednesday I went to the gym after not eating dinner until late and consuming enough jalapenos for dinner to kill a small cat. So the run on Wednesday on the treadmill was only 1.5 miles before I almost died. Not only did I have indigestion issues, but I felt the beginnings of a wonderful head cold.

Lovely. A head cold. Which I still sort of have, but I don't feel that bad. Worse at night and while sitting at my desk at work, but not bad enough to take anything.

So last night, my friend Wendy came over to run with me. And she about kicked my ass, but we did 4 miles in 38 minutes and 34 seconds. That kicks ass because that means we did sub-10 minute miles. Even after not really running for a week and a head cold. By no means can I keep that up for 13.1 miles, but do to it for 4 totally rocks. I am sort of getting this running thing. Sort of.

And yes, the mammogram was okay as well. Definitely not pleasant having your boob squished into a pancake, but the verdict was just a benign breast condition as expected.

Tomorrow is our scheduled 9 miler. I want to get it done early so that we can tailgate for the Duke/VT game (although Ray is hesitant to tailgate with the girls, thinking they might get bored) and my friend Wendy has to work. So at 6:30am, we will be leaving her house to run a 4.5 mile loop twice. I invested in a ear cover headband thing yesterday because it has been getting down into the 50s at night and I am a complete wuss. I admit it. When my ears are cold, I am miserable. And Ray invested in some foot contraption thing he found at CVS that will hopefully get him back to running as well.

TMI

Later this month, I will turn 34. Nothing exciting, a random age, not yet on the downhill to 40, kind of stuck in the middle. In training for this half marathon, I am probably in the best shape I have been at in years. That and I am at my lowest weight I have been at since college. So I feel like physically, I am pretty healthy.

Last week, I had my annual exam with my OB. During my exam, my doctor felt was she is 99.99% sure is just a cyst in my left boob (I really can't call my boobs breasts, it's just too weird), so I am scheduled for a mammogram and ultrasound tomorrow morning. And yes, my Mom has had multiple cysts, so I have no concern other than getting my boob squished in some machine. My doctor also suggested that I start taking vitamin E as studies have shown that my reduce the likelihood of cysts developing.

At dinner that night, I was telling Ray the lowdown and he hit the nail on the head. I wasn't worried about the mammogram or what they would find. I now feel older for the first time. So later this month when I am whining about my birthday, you will know why. And every almost 34 year old is totally allowed to whine about her birthday.

**On a sort of related side note, Ray's body is falling apart as well. He has ceased his training for the marathon due to extreme pain in his foot. New shoes have not cured it, I am thinking only a sports doctor will do the trick. But getting Ray to the doctor is near impossible.**