..."While Visions of Sugar Plums Danced in her Head..."

Advertising! This is what I am up against .....as I have visions of sugar plums dancing in my head! The photo below says,"I don't think there is anything like receiving a big box of homemade cookies for the holidays!" This is why I have visions of sugar plums dancing in my head!

I finally understand what this phrase means! It has to do with my lusting over homemade Christmas Cookies! It all happens between my ears, and in my mind's eye as I lust after those perfect buttery cookies.....and soon enough I start baking! I start gathering ingredients.... and compiling the butter and sugars and special toppings...........ohhhhhhh..... this is devilish territory!

AND these dancing sugar plums may have to do with my plan for this upcoming holiday season!

I plan to hire a NAVY SEAL who can pull tactical maneuvers on me in order to restrain me from baking cookie upon Christmas cookie this year. I figure if he can just move in with me....then he can be constantly vigilant for me...so that I do not make AND EAT cookie upon Christmas cookie! This sounds like the making of a hot romance novel! I better patent my story line!

It all started long ago when my mom would bake literally hundreds of cookies that we would give away as gifts to our family and friends. As kids we loved to help my mom bake these cookies and assemble the tins with the cookie papers that separated each type of cookie. AND we made layers of cookies that we took pride in presenting. AND ....lest you think they were just pretty....they were also delicious and were a sign that our favorite holiday was upon us! Cookies are love!

My sister and I became expert cookie makers. We have all my mom's recipes
and all of our favorite family recipes which we get much praise for making and distributing.

So what is the problem you ask? I will speak for myself and not my sissy. The problem is....I EAT THE COOKIES! I eat the raw batter and I eat the cookies. I eat the toppings that go on the cookies. I have to taste them to see if they are good right? I have to make sure they are presentable, right?

Well, this year NOT RIGHT! I am going to hire and move in that NAVY SEAL over the holidays....probably within the next few days...then I will move him out about January 10, 2010 after all the parties are over.....

In the mean time, he can help me make pies. Pies are good. I am a great pie maker...especially with a helper.... and we can make a few pies and bring them to the parties!

You cannot sample a pie before it is delivered...and he and I can have a piece of pie and still keep our physiques in great shape!

Cece

Can I Beat the Clock? I take it all Back Troy!

See Team Clydesdale blog link at right for newest post. I actually put it on the wrong blog and now cannot figure out how to put it here...without re-writing...alas!..anyway this is another part of me that you might like to see. Yes! I am an Athena woman and will always be one....even with all my weight off I will always be a big girl! That is just how it is!
Cece

I Cursed at Troy Jacobson Today!

It was not a pretty sight! And this is AFTER I got off the bike!

I confess that I cursed at Troy Jacobson today! The first time I cursed at him was at minute 28 as I contemplated getting off my bike...while being haunted by my own motivational phrase (she spit) "Do or Do Not...there is not Try!" Why did you even get on your bike then, if you were not going to see this through? It was ugly.

The video is 90 minutes.

I was suffering so and Troy was sooo happy as he shouted "PUSH! PUSH! PUSH!" I was dripping so much sweat I was blinded and when I opened one eye, I saw the beads of sweat pooling up on the surface of my kinesio tape...and finally it pulled right off my shoulder! It was ugly!

Early on he said "If you forget where you are....." he should have said "When you go into a coma...." I cursed again....and again...and again.

Then the final straw. After dueling with Troy to the end of the DVD...a voice comes on and says "And I hope that you have a new appreciation of your ability to endure discomfort." yeah right...tell me that.

Hours later as I showered and got ready for an evening out...I remembered those words as I attempted to put deodorant on my forearm rather than my underarm...and I realized I was still in a Spinervals induced coma!

If you would like to share in my suffering...see the link at the side!

cece

I was passed by a Skinny Size 8 Woman Cyclist.....

......who soon became a blue blurr..... in her blue windbreaker, blue helmet and matching blue Trek.

You may remember how well I handled myself when I was passed by Santa when I was going uphill in the Jingle Bell Triathlon last year. There are some things that leave lasting scars!

NEVER MIND that today my riding goal was to ride for speed........those of you who know me know that when a skinny size 8 passes me they have no idea that they have just thrown down the gauntlet. They become the rabbit and me the greyhound on the track....who just might be thinking of having them for dinner.....no I am not competitive! My mom always said that!

NEVER MIND that it is unlikely I will ever catch that blue blurr.......it is the TRYING that counts! And try I did as she took off down into the speed zone that is the straight and flat (mostly) path of the bosque that runs along our Rio Grande river!

I told myself to amp it up and that I did and came within 2 bike lengths of her. There were several times I could have passed her as I just coasted along her...but I thought,.,,,why pass her now when she will just pass me going uphill later and that will really piss me off! Soon, she stopped and spoke to a woman runner...but soon enough I heard "on your left" and she passed me again. I tried and tried to keep up and there was quite a head wind...I watched her hunker down and thought "if only I can get right on her wheel instead of 2 lengths behind I can draft off her...but alas I could not. We rode on and on until finally we came to an unexpected detour on the path. It was strategically placed at a bridge where we could make an easy turn around. She made it very gracefully, but as I pulled to turn another rider jolted across the bridge, which made me quickly clip out and stop my bike so I would not hit him. After he passed, I made my turn and took off after the rabbit which by now was almost a blue speck on the horizon! Soon enough, I caught sight of the blue and noticed it had stopped again to speak to the runner! AH ha! This was my chance! I whizzed past the man who ruined my graceful turn and my opportunity to catch up....and threw my big chain ring into operation. All I could think about was "will she catch me again? Will that light blue wind breaker catch me or will I make it back and be victorious? My phone rang...it was work. I had to take the call. Then I saw some beautiful photo ops...and had to take a few pics...all the while looking out for that whiz of blue to pass me....but it did not happen.

I got safely back to the open space parking lot and saw her car. I took a picture thinking "I need a memory of this day." Well what do you know? She owns a kennel and specializes in problem dogs! She sure handled this greyhound real well today!

In a minute, I looked and there she was in her light blue wind jacket. We greeted each other and said what a beautiful day it was. I thanked her for being the rabbit for me and I the greyhound chasing the rabbit around the track! She laughed! I asked her if I could take her pic and gave her my blog address. Her name is Deena and she lives in Los Lunas. I invited her to join Women Riding Well and gave her the web address and made a new friend! I hope we get to be friends and get to know each other!
cece

I Just Think that Aleve Should Sponsor Me!

Well, I woke up this am and was surprised by shoulder pain. I have been keeping the mileage down and so the pain is down too...but not this am! I popped 3 aleve (which I call a therapeutic dose) and voila! The pain disappeared. I think Aleve should sponsor my new cycling career! I would wear the jersey very proudly!

Women Riding Well took off about noon today on THE most beautiful day I have been on a bike in a very long time! It was warm and there was a very slight breeze and we planned to ride an out an back that I was familiar with...but I thought the miles were about 30 but they ended up at just under 42! However, that aleve did the trick and I had a wonderful pain free ride with no real mishaps...except perhaps after I applied more chamois butter and then slipped off my saddle.....wow that stuff is slippery. Well, that is not exactly what happened! But I did not fall....and I am really exaggerating! LOL. This is Catherine . You can see the beauty of the Sandia mountains as we go north past the Sandia Pueblo and into Bernalillo.

This is a pic from the way home crossing the Rio Grande river. The cottonwoods are so lovely in their rustic colors.

Another shot of the valley as we go north along the reservation land. We ended up stopping at one of our favorite places the Flying Star. The one in Bernalillo is my favorite because they have wonderful colors on their outdoor awnings and the interior decor is very beautiful...with painted murals.

It turns out that we had a birthday girl among us and we sang and made a surprise for Priscilla who turned 37....no...not 37...maybe it was 37 in reverse...no that is not right! ...I really do think it is 37....although she told me how old she is and I do not believe her!

Here we are outdoors in 70 degree weather singing happy birthday! We are spoiled this week in New Mexico! I hope the weather holds! Let us hope!

A mural that I like at the Flying Star in Bernalillo! We had a great day on our

bikes today and could enjoy the beauty that is New Mexico. We really are very spoiled living here. We can practically ride year round! I know I recently complained about the cold, but on days like this, I tend to forget about my complaints!

Cece

GPS gets the Best of Cece!

Well, yesterday, I was gifted with a GPS!.. Those of you that know me, know that this is a much needed piece of equipment as I just mastered left and right when I had moved from NY...only to discover that in NM there is north, south , east and west! LOL. IN NY we just went up and down...or right and left...we did not have to maneuver with 4 directions! I can hear you laughing!

Well. I got my GPS home and began to open the boxes and packaging. That took me almost 2 hours...yes, I did say 2 hours. Have you ever tried to open one of those theft resistant plastic packages? This is what is left of the packaging for the friction mount for the GPS. I contemplated calling the bomb squad to blow it open...but I kept telling myself to be a big girl and struggle through it...and that this packaging would not get the best of me! I contemplated using my teeth, but my mother told me never to use my teeth as a tool! I tried knives,...both serrated and regular, a screw driver, scissors, a butter knife to try to pry it open and finally after several attempts with a serrated mega shear....I was able to almost sheer it open,...and glory be, I did not cut myself in the process! Then I assembled all the parts and tried to make sense of them. I looked in the teeny tiny direction manual and searched for the chart that labels all the parts...to no avail. I looked at garmin.com on the Internet to find the full manual and had to download a 76 page manual all the while telling myself....why can't you be green? Printing out all this paper.? I knew if I had this much trouble in such a short amount of time, I had better print out the manual for future use. Well, there still was not a chart labeling all the equipment pieces...and there were NO numbers on any of the 76 pages I printed out that would tell me which was page 60 when looking up a topic. So, of course, I had to count and number each page and check that my numbering was correct. Do you feel like this is taking me all evening? I have not even gotten to the MOST fun part yet.

Here is the most fun part....so far! It is harmless looking enough isn't it? Well, that little ball's head is supposed to go in the little round hole in the pic below. I said supposed......

Try as I might. that ball would not go into that hole. The directions told me to snap it in.

Sorry about the fuzzy pic....perhaps it is just a reflection of how foggy my brain felt last night......the pic shows like a rocking or a levering of the ball into the mount. This did not work. To me, it seemed the ball was too big for the hole! I looked in the product manual to see if the right mount was purchased....not wanting to contemplate trying to open another one of those tamper resistent packages ...but I found out it was the correct product! Well, I twisted and I leveraged and I turned it this way and that...and I took cleansing yogic breaths and tried to remain calm. Finally, after about another hour of maneuvering...there was no more miss nice guy! I discovered that the directions should have read...........

"Shove the ball into the damn hole!

Needless to say, I have not had a chance to read the voluminous directions as to how to configure the GPS! Perhaps I have already gone through the hard part..... yeah right!

cece

YES! I am a Yankees Fan!

Last night, Andy Pettitte struggled to pitch in the 3rd game of the World Series in Philadelphia. To quote the Philadelphia Inquirer, "The 37-year- old Pettitte, who extended his major league record to 17 postseason wins in the Yankees 8-5 win last night at Citizens Bank Park, was in deep early trouble, laboring to locate his assortment of pitches."

When Pettitte was interviewed after the game, he said this:

"It's a grind when you're out there by yourself. There's not a whole lot of anything that can help you, except trying to just keep battling."

This is my motto when hill climbing...it is how I feel....but I think this is a great life lesson too for when the times get hard on the many fronts of our lives...and they do......

Cece