2:22 PM: It's been one of those days at work where I just can't make any progress.

MVG tonight. My L knee is a little finnicky right now. Not sure what's going on or why. Riding tomorrow AM.  That is all.

The original plan today was to ride bikes with Chris, but he woke up feeling like hell, and looking like death had warmed over. Also unable to breathe. So we decided to bag the idea of a bike ride and we started again with the "staging of the house". This requires a lot more work than originally anticipated. I generally pride myself as being a person who does not collect a lot of excess crap. Well, guess who has two thumbs and a lot of excess crap? This girl right here.

Spent the entire day on Saturday decluttering and clearing out the living room and the upstairs, as well as the guest bathroom. Packing up this crap (including errant books, lots of photos, and sentimental knickknacks) took a long time. I also cleared out more of the closet in the guest bedroom (Orbit's office) and found yet another source of a cat urine smell. I crawled around on my hands and knees in the office, sniffing about ass high to a cat, trying to find the places he and Quentin had marked for each other. I could wring their little furry necks.

The good news is that I purchased some of this stuff:

And it works. I sprayed it on the areas that were "marked" including the carpet, let it dry, then vacuumed. I don't smell a thing anymore. And believe me, I'm sensitive. If you have unruly cats, this stuff is worth its weight in gold. Love it, and will be buying more to keep on hand around the house.

So, that was Saturday.

Then today, Sunday, after ordering my Mom the photos she'd requested 3+ weeks ago from our wedding (a task I just couldn't find time to execute) and after writing out and sealing another 25 or so thank you cards... I brought our entry way rugs to the laundromat and shoved them into a giant washer. Lo and behold they turned out wonderfully. I was going to buy 2 new entry way rugs. Now I will not. I think I will bring our comforter as well as our comforter cover, and maybe even the feather topped mattress pad and shove them all in a giant washer as well. (They have an 80 lb washer! Holy Mother!) It costs an arm and a leg, but it seems to get the job done. And quickly, I might add!

Then, hightailed it over to Chris' house and helped him move 3 mattresses and a box spring, a giant desk, a sofa-bed couch, and some miscellaneous other stuff. Then, back home, where I folded this week's laundry.

So. Many. Chores. I'm actually going to log HOME IMPROVEMENT because I really think we earned it this weekend. Next weekend looks to possibly be more of the same. We'll see.

To cap off bike week... one of my very most favorites... (but don't I say that about them all?):

5 am bike rides with the gang. This one was in Julyish of 2010. That's me on the L in the yellow jersey. (ha)

7:06 AM: Slept through swimming. I was supposed to get up and present myself to the Lake, but I did not. Texted Trudy at 5:05 and informed her of my decision to sleep. Addressed and wrote a bunch of Thank You notes last night, over a couple of glasses of wine and stayed up til 10:20. That's the kiss of death for any morning workout. 

Never fear, I still have MVG tonight. 

1:25 PM: Things are starting to catch up with me, and I'm feeling a bit of analysis paralysis. Our townhomes are going onto the market very very soon... and the search for a new home will commence in short order. Like in a couple of weeks, tops. We need to have Chris' place cleared out and cleaned and painted and ready to show soon. We need to have our current place de-cluttered, cleaned, and ready to show very soon as well. So much to do, so little time. 

• Need to call someone with a painter's ladder that can change the ill placed foyer lightbulbs for us. They've been out for 5+ years because I have no idea how to reach them.
• Need to call a (plumber? handyman?) to check out the upstairs second bathroom to find out why we can't get warm water out of the showerhead.
• Need to call a painter to see how much it will cost to paint the trim... and find out if it's even necessary?
• Need to de-clutterify the Palace. Which means taking down the many framed photos that are up, and getting rid of all of the non essentials on the countertops.
• Have a professional come in and clean the Palace.
• Chris' place needs to be cleared out so painter can come in and paint.
• Chris' place needs to be professionally cleaned.
• Chris' place needs to listed and put up on the market.
• And the rest of the THANK YOU cards need to go out by the end of this weekend. I can't handle that task dangling over my head.

Bike evolution...

First two wheeler:

First Triathlon:

First roadie. Look at those aerobars. Miles apart. 

First Olympic. And first bike I picked out and purchased:

First Half:

First Ironman:

♥

9:14 AM: So last night, while lifiting with MVG, I noticed a terrible odor eminating from... myself. I determined it was a mildew smell from my capris and top. Lately I've been lax in taking the laundry out of the washing machine and putting it into the dryer in a timely manner. There was one load that sat for at least a day, I think... in the washing machine. I dried it anyway, but obviously that was a terrible idea and it's making me smell like I'm rotting from the inside out. I apologized and explained to MVG (who claimed he couldn't smell it, but I'm paying him, so of course he would say that...) and the stench made me ill the entire ride home. I think I'm going to rewash the whole pile of it. It's already been folded but it's not yet been put away... so I think tonight it all goes back into the washer and promptly into the dryer.

Disgusting.

I don't have any excuse for this. I'm not Ironman training. I'm not overwhelmed with anything, really. I will say that losing my work from home day has completely thrown off my laundry and cleaning schedule, though, and pretty much everything is going to shit because I can't manange with the commute + the workouts + living with Chris. When I lived alone, there was no one to talk to, no one I wanted to hang out with, no one I wanted to eat with... so I got home from work, made a microwave dinner or some soup, ate it upstairs while watching TV, and then cleaned and tidied up the rest of the night, until I went to bed. But now I want to chat with Chris, I want to hang out with him, I want to spend some QT if at all possible. So, cleaning and laundry suffers. Worth it in the long term, but in the short term the house is messier than I'd like and my clothes all smell like mildew. I will catch up on the weekend.

Today, we rest. 

But bike week continues... Here are 3 of my very favorite bike pics...

There's this... taken by our very own StartingToTri... in 2008. Me, on Lucy, @ Rockman Sprint.

Me on Spartacus, taken by LazyMarathoner's BIL Phil... up bitch #2 @ IMWI 2011

And me on Lucy again... fall of 2005, when she still had a triple... Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

9:13 AM: Work has been kicking my ass lately, so I will post this, and then I will make myself scarce for the rest of the day. So much to do, so little time.

Happy RIOW. Happy WW. Happy Hump Day. Whatever you call it, make it happy. Or at least try not to let it be too big of a bummer. xxoo Whiz.

We will take a teeny tiny break from BIKE WEEK in order to celebrate Wedding Wednesday. Good Lord. This place is becoming frought with activity and events! I will have to make a spreadsheet to keep track of it all. I certainly don't have time for that.

This is the family shot, in the grand entrance to the Renaissance Hotel. It's Chris' parents, Chris' brother, my sister and her husband, our little nephew Matthew, and my Mom, and Rachael.

Chris and me, looking all casual and such.

Reception! That's Kristin (LazyMarathoner) me, AmyJo, and Kristin's dashing boyfriend Mark.

Our very own KTPitbull showing Jen Hogan (in the polka dots) the moves.

And it's certainly not a party unless you've got a group of people on the dancefloor simultaneously performing the "sprinkler".

Let's call this BIKE WEEK? Shall we?

Me and my BFF Rachael on our bikes. We rode in the DARK without helmets or lights, and with purses. What the hell was wrong with us? I don't remember where we were going, but I do recall that Rachael got her necklace caught on her handlebars that night and she broke the necklace she was wearing. In true bike geek fashion, when she pulled over to the side of the road and started crying about her chain, I bent down to her pedals and crank and proudly informed her that there was nothing wrong with her bike chain! But alas, that was not the issue at all.

I never pumped my bike tires. And I never got a flat. I loved that bike. It was a "ROSS" with shifters up on the handlebars. My sister taco'ed the wheel and bent the frame while I was away at college, and my Mom sent me a Polaroid of it in it's compromised condition in a care package. That was pretty much the end of that bike.