Tales of a Shoebox Princess

The power was out for 24 hours over the weekend. I counted us lucky though--if Jim hadn't been so obsessed with the sump pump, we probably would have flooded and not had a generator to keep us from losing the food in the fridge and freezer. Within seconds of the loss of power, Jim was downstairs hovering over the sump pump. Within a few minutes, he was bailing water out of it. We scrambled to help, but it ended up being mostly a Jim/Paul effort. After an hour, I was dispatched to the hardware store in search of a generator. But alas, I came away empty handed. We managed to find someone who had one and we borrowed it. Joe M came with two missionaries to help him lift it out of his van. They got it all hooked up and Paul could stop bailing (Jim had emerged from the sump pump to help Joe). The generator powered the fridge, the sump pump, a lamp, a fan, and any phone chargers we wanted to use. We're going to have to invest in one. They are totally rad. Saturday, the power was...

This boy is now this boy who is now done with high school. This boy also was voted Mr 101% by his track team, meaning he gave each race his full effort and all his energy, and his teammates recognized that in him.  It was one of three awards given.  Other mentions Paul received during the track banquet: 3rd all time fastest on the PLHS Millennial Team in the 1600m, 2nd all time fastest on the PLHS Millennial Team in the 3200m, lettered all four years, member of the Sub-5 team since his freshman year, and finally, the track coach said he hasn't planned a meet in the last four years where Paul wasn't listed in either the 1600m or the 3200m.  We are proud of our runner. (photo taken by Julie B because she takes awesome track meet pictures) I will miss watching him run. Graduation is Friday at 7 p.m. 

In order for me not to dwell too much on THE LAST TRACK MEET OF PAUL'S HIGH SCHOOL CAREER, I will share some bad pictures I took last night at PAUL'S LAST HIGH SCHOOL TRACK MEET EVER. (Very few of my pictures are posed. Not that posed pics are bad, but I prefer action or candid shots. However, with action or candid shots, there is a greater risk of getting awful shots. Of course, one could argue that I hardly ever take really good pictures, but I will let those people who think like that have their way because I'd rather look at pictures than argue. Even bad pictures.) Keep in mind, these were all taken in one evening--actually within 4 minutes and 41 seconds, because that's how fast  PAUL RAN HIS LAST MILE IN A HIGH SCHOOL TRACK MEET EVER. It looks like Paul only has one leg, and he's kneeling on it Even more of Paul's legs are gone, and the awarding of medals is in the center of the picture instead of Paul Premature clickage--I cut Paul in half...

I just got back from a refreshing walk. The sun was shining, a brisk breeze kept me from getting too hot, and butterflies and baby geese provided little moments of "Squeeee!"  And no icky insects flew down my throat--always a plus on any walk.  And I stayed on the cement at all times so hopefully no ticks were able to hitch a ride on any part of my clothing or body. Paul's running updates: Latest meet, he ran personal bests in both the 3200m and the 1600m, 10:14 and 4:34 respectively. He has 10 days off until his next meet. He doesn't have many more after that. He also is done working in 2 weeks. He graduates in less than a month. He leaves in a month and two days. It is too weird a concept to comprehend.  Must take more sunshiney walks to compensate for mind-blowiness of Paul growing up.

I had several very solid reasons to go to another track meet last night: 1. Paul was running in it, of course 2. He ate pizza the night before and he is sure that whenever he eats pizza the night before a meet, he does well. 3. The weather promised to be nice to me, unlike the previous meets where I was confined to the inside of a fleece-lined waterproof jacket. 4. The meet was at the high school I attended lo, those many years ago. 5. Mom promised sandwiches Unfortunately, I also had solid reasons to be somewhere else: 1. Matt had a band concert 2. Sadly NOT at my high school alma mater 3. It was the last jazz band and regular band concert of the year 4. I had no one else to drive him there 5. and he had trombone lessons before the concert. So Jim and my mom went. Lucky them!  (I will not complain) Paul ran very well. Here he is at the start of the 1600 m race  Paul loves the blue track at Minnetonka. He was in first place for most of the race, but th...

I Am SOOOO cold. My bones are made of ice, I tell you. I'm considering hopping into the freezer to WARM UP. I sat for 3 1/2 hours in 45 degree, rainy weather in the bleacher section to watch Paul run three races (however, I got there late and missed the first one). I brought an old bath mat to sit on because I knew the benches would be wet, I brought my umbrella, and I wore thermals and wool socks. I'm still cold. I sat. I was too cold to do anything except blow on my hands and hold the umbrella. Surprisingly, time went pretty fast while I was waiting for Paul's next race. Or maybe I was too cold to perceive the passage of time. After his second race, I went back to my van and sat in the running vehicle, with the heat blasted so my toes would unfreeze. Then I waited for the last race. I got out of the van to watch the second race and immediately my body core temp dropped close to absolute zero. Paul ran in his flimsy, thin, sleeveless track uniform. J...

Did you know it is track season? In fact, it has been track season for several weeks. In honor of track season, I will post two pictures of Paul running on a track. Paul doesn't usually run relays, but he gave it a try last week. He ran the second leg of the 4 x 800 (he had to run two laps) Here he is running the 3200m It was a very windy and cold meet--temperature was in the low 40s. I wore a fleece lined jacket and a scarf, in addition to my regular uniform of jeans, socks, shirt, shoes and sunglasses. Compare that with what Paul is wearing above. He was freezing. He's wearing the gloves because if he didn't, his fingers would lose blood circulation and turn a really gross shade of waxy light yellow. It's happened often and it always weirds us out. He couldn't wear gloves during the relay because he had to actually hold onto the baton. Gloves=drop the baton.

(it's not what you think) (really, I promise) First off, I just realized that I've blogged 5 of Hayley's birthdays. I've just hit my four year mark in blogging (well, earlier this month). I looked back at that eleventh birthday of Hayley's on my blog and she looked like such a little girl back then! My my my how she has grown. Now on to racism. As in race-ism. As in it's track season. As in Paul runs track. Therefore he races, therefore he is a racist. He's not racist, but he is A racist. Sort of like a cyclist, only without the bike. I love over-explaining a joke.  Note to Mike: thanks for thinking this one up. Paul has run in two meets so far. In the first meet, he ran the 3200 m (2 mile) and WON IT. As in HE CAME IN FIRST. Out of all the racists. He says the race was so non-competitive, which explains why he won it. 10:50 for 2 miles, while that would kill me several times over and leave my ruined body in a dumpster, is fairly average for a high...

Let's get in the ol' time machine and travel back to last Sunday. Why? Because that's what I'm gonna blog about today. Nevermind that I did not actually witness what I'm blogging about. The reason I was not in attendance at this particular event was that I went and signed myself for a work-related conference the next day without consulting my calendar. When I realized that I would be traveling to attend the conference when Paul's Cross Country end-of-the-year banquet was scheduled, verily, I was distraught. Jim went to the banquet with Paul, under strict orders to take photographs and keep me posted on all goings on so that I could feel like I wasn't such a loser mom. I also knew that one of the other parents would be taking pictures so in case Jim forgot or couldn't figure out how to use my camera, I could still be assured of seeing some form of printed evidence of Paul at a banquet. So to pictures. Here is the CC senior boys table. One of the guy...

I have two lasts to post about: Paul's last high school cross country race, and his last first high school band concert of the year.  The start of the last race. I like watching the start of these races.  All the boys are in one mass, like migrating birds. It's cool to watch them undulate across the golf course. Then they spread out a bit as they move through the course. This is Paul at the end of his last CC race. I am proud of this kid. Four years of running a lot is not something most kids find enjoyable, but he did. He was good enough to be named captain, and smart enough to remain captain (three boys lost their captaincy because of poor choices on their part). And here he is two seconds away from the finish line of his last race. He completed the course in 17:50, not too bad of a time. He's had better twice, but considering the previous two races, he ran over 18, he was glad to go sub 18 for his last race. It's time to hang up his spikes. *sniff...

I had a good time hosting the pasta dinner on Wednesday. Too bad this was my last time, because I think I have this pasta-dinner-hosting down to a science. We had plenty of food and the cross country kids are good kids with good manners and a lively presence. The parents are friendly too.   Thomas and Paul. Yes, Thomas is wearing swim goggles and a kerchief. Thomas, as a rule, makes interesting fashion choices. Paul purposely smiled like a goof for this picture. Table for 11. I would like to point out that there is a plate already in the spot where Paul is sitting down. That is Paul's second plate. He ate lots.  The day after the pasta dinner was the cross country home meet. The team has gone to a lot of big races that draw 15 to 30 teams. The home meet is very small, with only 5 teams on the field. This is the entire cc varsity race lineup. Can you find Paul? No need to caption this picture because I labeled things for you. Although, I will give 8 p...

and around, and around again, and over another hill and behind some trees and finally into the chute at the finish line. Can you STAND more running pictures? Because here are more. The 2011 CC Varsity team Paul wearing some items I have not seen him ever wear before. This is not a Paul I am familiar with.  Here is Paul's back. I get plenty of front-on or side-on pics, I thought I'd do a back-on just to keep you all from getting bored with pictures of Paul running. Paul was the second Laker in and despite what he whined about--sore legs from standing all evening at a football game the night before and the course being SUPER hard--he kept his time under 18 minutes, 17:50 to be precise. He says he is done with times over 18 minutes (like it took him just to SAY he wasn't going to do it anymore). Next week is the pasta dinner at our house and the next day Paul will race in the home meet. I'm sure I'll have pictures of those two events too.  But tomo...

Another last yesterday. Paul ran his last Lakeville meet at Aronson Park. Fun story about Aronson Park: Couple years ago, maybe the first time Paul ran in the Lakeville meet, I drove to the park to see him run, but it was jam packed and I didn't know where to park. The Lakeville police were directing traffic, and, as I missed the turn into the crowded parking lot, I glanced at the cop. He looked just like my cousin Jurgan. I knew Jurgan was a volunteer officer for the Lakeville police, so I got myself turned around and drove back over to the entrance to the parking lot. And sure enough, my cousin was directing traffic! I slowed down to say hello and he was surprised to see me. We chatted for as long as we could while I was driving at 10 mph, then I had to go park. I never know when I'm going to run into a Talberg cousin!  They are all over the place.  So Paul ran. I didn't see the start of the race because I had positioned myself elsewhere to get a picture, but Julie ...

And thus begins the end, the end of Paul's high school running career. You have only 9 more months to read my posts and look at pictures of Paul running, so enjoy them (or not) while they last. Friday was Paul's last time trial for the high school Cross Country running team. One of the mothers, Julie B, walked over to me, shedding a little tear along the way, and said, "I'm gonna be a mess all season."  She has senior twins on the team--one girl and one boy. The boy is one of the best runners the team has seen in many years.  She is also the team photographer. Let the pictures begin! Before he could run in the time trial, he had to put on his spikes. It took him several minutes to tie his shoes.  MINUTES. Maybe he needs a refresher course in tying shoelaces. Finally the shoes were tied. And now, it's time to play "Where's Paul-do?" There he is! And there he goes! Paul came in second, behind Stev...

Many Point is the Boy Scout camp that our boys (and my my brothers) have gone to lo these Many years. Jim took Many pictures while Matt and his Many friends were there (Jim was there too, for not Many days).  Matt had Many fun adventures and learned Many new things.  When he came home, he had Many good things to say about his time at Many Point. Matt is on the right, playing "greased watermelon" in the water with the rest of the scouts in his troop. Jim said Matt is a good swimmer. I don't know why I find that so hard to believe; maybe because when he was much younger, he was afraid of the water. One of Matt's jobs (I'm so glad he had jobs to do) was washing dishes. Look at those little twiggy arms of his! They are getting longer! The service project involved boys cutting down trees. Boys and hack saws sure do get along. Matt and two of his good friends from church. Matt is still a little shrimp, but consider that these are two of the ve...