The Burning River Blog: More Things We've Been Up To

My family is trying like hell to make the most of these last days of summer. This past weekend, for instance, we picked up the Nugget after work and headed to Tremont for some outdoor fun. We ordered a pizza from Edison's and we devoured it while sitting outside and people-watching. We walked around the neighborhood and visited a couple of galleries. We played at the playground at Lincoln Park. We watched ballet dancers on the stage in the park, part of Tremont's Arts in August series. We stopped for cupcakes at a Cookie and a Cupcake and collapsed at the end of the night, exhausted. It was a perfect evening.

On Saturday, Aud and I had some alone time which we spent sailing and enjoying one another's company. The view was spectacular. Observe:

Of course, this was my favorite view:

Sunday was spent visiting with my family and trying to be helpful. Later, Aud and I joined forces in the kitchen to make a double batch of chili and tofu scramble, with the hopes that not having to cook this week will enable us to spend as much time out of doors as possible.

Barrett has also been experimenting in the kitchen.

And speaking of kitchens, Aud and I almost bought this:

I know, I know, we just bought a house less three years ago and, truth be told, my house is much prettier than this one. But we both knew that, should an amazing house on this side of this particular street go on the market, we would try to buy it. Why? Well, these houses are all on double lots. The backyards are enormous, nearly the size of the amazing yard at the house where I grew up. I wanted to give Barrett this yard, and what a yard it was! It was giant! There was a huge deck off of the back with a large eating area and a (ew) hot tub. There was a new, giant garage with yet another huge porch off of the back. There was a giant, two story playhouse next to an alarmingly large swing set. There was an entire paved basketball court in the way back, adjacent to a fire pit.

The house itself was smaller, though still charming. We were blown away, though, by the wide open floor plan, the mass amounts of (granite) counter space in the kitchen, the waterproofed and finished basement. The house wasn't perfect. The bedroom were smaller, and we would be giving up our large, finished attic, but that house was done. Our house needs a major kitchen remodel. It needs a new garage (ours is falling down). We need to waterproof the basement, regrade the foundation, and replace the drain tile before finishing the basement and renovating the sad, sad bathroom that is down there. We've also considered punching out the roof of the attic on the back of the house to build a master bathroom and some closets (and, should there be another Nugget, that would be one hell of a room for two boys to have as their own).

I found out about that house on a Wednesday when a friend (who lives three doors away from this house) texted me that a sign had just...that MORNING...been placed in the front yard. I called that morning and we saw the place Friday afternoon. Saturday, while I was on a very long bike ride (more on that in a sec), Aud went to the bank to secure financing. We received our preapproval immediately and managed to cobble together the down payment. We made an appointment to see the house again on Tuesday night with our families (as I was out of town all weekend and Monday after work the Nugget has a swim lesson).

...and wouldn't you know it. Tuesday morning I got a call that on Monday night, an offer had been made and the sellers had accepted.

DAGNABBIT!!!

We were heartbroken. It's taken a while to get over it, but now we both realize that, if we renovated our current home in the way that we'd envisioned when we purchased it, there's no way that stupid blue house could ever hold a candle to this one. So we're going to stick with it, and we're going to sink some money into it to make it fabulous. First up...the kitchen. Walls will be removed. Islands will be built. It's going to be amazing.

In the midst of that house drama was my Pedal to the Point weekend. The Pedal to the Point is a two-day, 150-mile bike ride to raise money for the MS Society. This was my third attempt to finish every last mile of that bike ride.

I first signed up for the ride in 2007, and I trained as much as I could while working part-time and taking classes for my Masters. I managed to ride the entire way from Berea to Sandusky, about 78 miles. It was an amazing experience. The weather took a turn for the worse on Day 2 of the ride and due to cold winds and very heavy rain, the course was closed. No 2-Day ride for me.

I tried again last year and signed up for the ride. I had a much more difficult time training with an infant to care for and a job to do, but I did my best. However, I still only managed to ride 68 of the 78 miles on Day 1 of the ride and I completely gave up on mile 30 on Day 2. I'd had enough.

Part of the difficulty of the ride had to do with my bike. I was riding a mountain bike. Sure, I'd changed the knobby tires out for smooth tires but, make no mistake, this was a freaking mountain bike. No matter how hard I worked on that thing, I could barely average more than 11 mph.

After last year's ride I committed that, no matter what, I would finish all 150 (156, really) miles of that ride. I registered early and stuck to my guns, even though I could not find a single friend interested in doing the ride this year. I worked out consistently all year, including attending spinning class (often twice weekly), running, and lifting. Heck, I even jumped rope (and really, any woman worried about the effects of gravity on their girlie bits should just leave the jump rope to the UFC fighters and just go for a bike ride...your ta tas will thank you. Ouch).

And while I trained on that stupid mountain bike all summer, sometimes while towing the Nugget in his Burley, I decided to make use of this fabulous (*cough*) lawyer income and do something really irresponsible. I bought a beautiful, light, fast, all carbon-fiber bike that makes me feel rather like a superhero with wheels. It is amazing. It also helped me realize that anyone attempting to ride 150 miles on a mountain bike is just plain crazy. And maybe a little bit dumb.

In any event, I finished the entire ride strong and fast. I made great time (getting there 2.5 hours earlier than I did the first year I rode). I had an incredible weekend. The ride is an emotional experience for me. I spend much of the time thinking about my Mom. I can't even imagine how hard it must have been to be a mother with MS, to have to miss out on so much of your kids' childhood. It breaks my heart. I'll do the ride every year. I don't do it as much to raise funds as much as I do it to remind myself that I'm strong, that I'm healthy, and that I should be thankful every single day that I have the life that I have. I don't ever want to take my health for granted.