Mary Bellamy

So, there I was, painting a fake apple gold, as most people are wont to do on a Monday night. And since simple gold paint wasn't enough, I was gently tap-tap-tapping a shaker of gold glitter over the wet paint. But it seems the shaker top was not secure, as suddenly I found myelf with a counter and floor full of glitter. Of course, glitter is not easy to clean up, and will remain in the grout indefinitely, leading me to wonder:

Dillon was warned that if he persisted in requesting pictures on this blog, I'd end up posting stuff of my cat. But he said he's not afraid of a little kitty (that's paraphrasing his dirty mouth, actually).

As you can see, Nibbles is completely aware that she, as the cat, must subjugate herself to the whims of her owner. I am not her toy, though apparently I do make a nice seat.

It's less than two months until the Gold Nugget Triathlon. Am I going to be ready? Well, what have I done to prepare?

• Swimming: I've taken some lessons, learned the flip turns, and figured out the best style for me (for the record, I plan to swim half the pool on my back, then flip to a crawl stroke so I can turn at the end and resume the backstroke). Right now, my quickest lap time is 55 seconds. I'll need to do 10 laps, so I need to wrk on my stamina.
• Running: My ankle still hurts from the incident a few weeks ago. Nevertheless, I've been forcing myself to go running. And, to be frank, I suck at it. I'm working on it, though.
• Biking: Well, I need to get a bike.... I've been using the stationary bikes at the gym, but they are no comparison to riding an actual bike. The fact that it's still snowing in Fairbanks is another factor getting in the way of my bike training, but right now my big issue is that I need a bike. Preferrably a Trek Hybrid.
  

In short, I am not quite ready yet. But I gave myself a day off of training yesterday and took stock of how far I've come since making this decision. I still think I can do it. I guess we'll see on May 21.

Today I discovered that there is a booming world on the Internet: the fantasy blog stock market. As of Feb. 20 (the last time it was updated), the stock for this blog had a valuation of B$4,896.46 and an outgoing link value of B$356.89. What does all that mean? I haven't the foggiest.

Check it out for yourself and see if you can explain it for me.

I don't want to sound paranoid, but there may be a virulent strain of pregnancy in the water....

Last night, Jen and Don told us they are expecting a baby. Congratulations, and don't forget that we get to name it for you! Zephyr? Gunther? Marla? We'll pick a good one.

I managed to sprain my ankle at Gretta's birthday party. I don't want to blame anyone here, but it's not like anyone warned me that doing an Irish step dance on bubble wrap was dangerous. Anyway, it's nicely swollen, so I'll be taking a few days off from my training regimen. I will try to get into the pool, though the hours may be limited because of spring break.

I've altered my summer plans: Instead of going to Nome for the Stroke-N-Croak mini triathlon, I've registered for the Gold Nugget Triathlon in Anchorage on May 21. It's a different course, with a 500 yd. swim, 10 mile bike ride and 4.1 mile run. It's also much more expensive than the Nome one, but I figure it'll be worth it. Nome usually has a field of about 8 competitors. The GNT usually has about 1,000.

When Tom and I got home from work yesterday, I convinced him that we should head out in the blowing snow for a run. If you're not familiar with Fairbanks, it is rarely windy here. When it is, it's miserable. If you're not familiar with me, I rarely run. When I do, I'm miserable.

Fortunately Tom was tired from biking home, so he could take it easy and run at my (painfully slow) pace. We only did about a mile, but it was good progress. The run portion will be the hardest part for me.

My last swimming lesson is tonight. No one else showed up on Tuesday, so I got some quality one-on-one instruction. It still amazes me that 9 days ago I couldn't put my face in the water, even with nose clips on. Now I can do flip turns at the end of the lane.

Love means never having to say "I'm sorry I dropped your favorite crossword pencil into the outhouse hole."

But just to be on the safe side, I'll say it anyway. Sorry, Tom.

After Tom told me that friends were asking him why I hadn't posted in a while, I realized that it's time to get my butt back on Blogger. I could give you a song and dance about what I've been up to, but let's just hit the high points here.

• I quit the library and started my new job (where I don't want to be known as Mary-that-girl-who-spends-all-the-time-on-the-Internet, hence the lack of posts). The new position is cool - plenty of editing and design, plus other stuff to keep me from getting bored.
• I was offered my old position at the library and accepted it. I will start on Monday.
• I started writing restaurant reviews for the Anchorage Press, the alternative weekly paper in town.
  
• It got really icy for a while, so I stayed in a lot.
• We got new satellite residents at Hidden Hill. Based on the last few dinners, you'll be seeing quotes from Sunna and Russ here quite frequently.
• Last Friday it started snowing and didn't stop until sometime Sunday, leaving my car rather buried. Those damn 30-degree days had spoiled me, and I thought winter was over.
• I decided maybe I should run more than one triathlon this summer, so I'm considering another one either in Fairbanks or Anchorage.
• I started swimming lessons and am now much less afraid to put my face in the water. This should help with the triathlon.

And speaking of swimming lessons, that's where I'm going right now.

Tom and I decided to stick with our Valentine's Day tradition of sushi. Because nothing says love like seaweed. This year, like last year, we had the sushi at home, but this year there were a few key differences

• Tom learned to roll the sushi as well


• we did not eat a roll that contained the following ingredients: banana, peanut butter and bacon and was then cooked by the following method: deep-frying. Last year's Elvis roll will not be repeated.


After an hour or so of prep work, we had the rice cooked, dressed and cooled, and all the ingredients were grilled/blanched/chopped/mixed, etc.

Tom watched me with the first roll, a peanut-glazed spinach roll, and then felt confident to try it with the next roll. He and I made Manhattan rolls and Green Goddess rolls.

Then came the piece de resistance - the Cowboy roll. This one was our clear favorite. It had grilled steak, wasabi mayonnaise, minced red onion, spinach and blue cheese.

Of course, no meal is complete without dessert, so I whipped up a Twinkie roll. The closest substitute I could find for tobiko was strawberry Nerds, which gave the roll a delightful crunch. As Tom said, "It tastes better than it has any right to."

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Thanks to John Wilder, I've learned of the concept of the Bacardi post. And this is post #151 for me. Thanks for visiting, but I don't drink rum. Too much coconut involved in the mixed drinks. Instead, I raise my martini to you.

I don't normally buy into the materialism of Valentine's Day. Sure, we have a nice meal, but I don't expect a heart-shaped box of candy or jewelry. But when Don mentioned yesterday that he'd bought Jen roses, I started complaining about the fact that Tom never buys me flowers. To be fair, he's very financially practical, and what's more impractical than a cut-off plant that will soon die? But still, they're pretty. And it's not like he'd have to strain to figure out what I want. I've strived to make it easy for him to understand.

INT.TANANA VALLEY STATE FAIR AGRICULTURAL DISPLAY.DAY
MARY:Wow look at those lilies.
TOM:Yeah.
MARY:They're so colorful. And they smell wonderful too.
TOM:Yeah.
MARY:I don't know why everyone makes such a big deal out of roses. They're so run-of-the-mill. Lilies have such beautiful variety.
TOM:Uh-huh.
MARY:I mean, the calla lilies are gorgeous, but tiger lilies are vibrant. You know, lily of the valley is the flower for May.
TOM:Yeah.
MARY:And that's the month when I was born. That's probably why I like lilies so much. [smells flowers] Oh they smell so nice!
TOM:Hey, check out this tomato! It's, like, mutant or something.

So yeah, I bitched about his not buying me flowers. Then I got to the cabin and found Tom. With flowers. Lilies, to be exact. That he went to two stores to find. And brought home on his bike.

I do love that man.

I have two friends who are pregnant right now. That's two women who are both pregnant, as I don't buy into that couple-y "we're pregnant" crap. Only one of you gives birth, so only one of you is pregnant.

Back to my point. One of my friends just stopped by my office with her young son and told me that she's been scheduled to give birth in 5 weeks. She has gestational diabetes, and is looking forward to having sugar again in about 6 weeks.

The other friend is pregnant with twins. By the look of the sonogram, they are positioned head to foot or, as she put it, "kicking each other in the face." Tom and I have been hard at work coming up with names for her babies. However, "Pocky" and "Pretz" are reserved for our future dogs.

And so, on this, the holiest of Hallmark holidays, I look over the ritual of pregnancy, birth and parenting and wonder why. Don't misunderstand me - I'm very happy for both of my friends, and I know their children will bring them joy. But for me, the whole concept of subjugating your life to another person for 18 years is completely foreign. From buying a house in a good school district to taking "fun" family vacations to Disney World to uttering the phrase "Make your poopies in the potty," I just don't get it.

And so today I pledge my love to Tom. He understands me. He loves me. He puts up with me. And he never, ever wants me to have a child.

As part of my continuing efforts to get ready for the triathlon this year, I decided to throw on my Yak Trax on Sunday and go running with Tom on the ski trails and lakes behind our cabin.

Now, there was a period in high school when I went running fairly regularly, but that was a long time ago and often featured a break to go skinny-dipping in a local swimming hole. So I'm not exactly what they would call "in shape." And believe me, I'm feeling it today.

The trails are not ideal to run on, especially where William has not run his team. The snow is not packed down at all on Deuce Lake, and the trail turns very hilly and twisty on the other side. I switched from running to walking pretty frequently, and my hips are still killing me today. I think that's a pretty good sign that today should be a day of rest and yoga for me.

In related training news, I swam 2/3 mile in the UAF pool on Friday. My form is still horrible, probably because I am still unable to, say, put my face in the water. It's a testament to my tenacity, though, that I got in the pool, got crowded with two other swimmers joining me in the lane, but still kept going until I'd done 20 laps. I'm planning on signing up for some swimming lessons, and hopefully will be able to get past this mental block about water and my nasal passages.

The best part of getting health insurance, besides the dental work, was getting new glasses. For me, glasses are a fashion statement. As I browsed the selection at Fred Meyer, I came across a pair that had great potential.

Funky shape? Check.
Unusual color? Check.
But they were still missing that special something. That glitz, that glamour, that je ne sais quoi.... However, I'm a creative person, so a trip to Michael's was in order. After the shopping was done, I gathered my supplies and got ready to turn my ordinary frames into Ethels.

2 mm rhinestones, superglue and tweezers. I was good to go!
I tested out a pattern before committing myself.

I ran into one small problem - Superglue doesn't dry well. It creates a pretty quick bond between surfaces (thus leading me to my first hint: Don't get it on your lenses.) but doesn't dry quickly when exposed to air. The drops of glue were bigger than the rhinestones, so I had to wait for the residual glue to dry.

That leads me to my second hint: Don't touch the glue. If you do touch the glue, don't touch anything else. On the bright side, I did glue my finger to my thumb in a very pretty, mudra-esque manner. After separating my thumb and finger, I was able to work on the other side of the frames.

And voila! The frames I have christened Ethel. Gretta tells me she had the same frames 50 years ago. Either she was a pioneer, or I am spearheading a whole new segment of the retro craze.

I swear, I found this LoC entry by accident:

Cookery (Marijuana)

It is nice to know where to look for pot brownie recipes, though.

Two days after vowing publicly to run a triathlon, I got walloped with a cold. Needless to say, I haven't been back in the pool since Friday, so my training has been a bit derailed. After taking 6 hours of sick leave yesterday so I could stare blankly into space at home, I'm starting to feel better. Hopefully I can get to the pool tomorrow for a swim, because this is First Friday week. First Friday = Free Wine and Snacks Friday. I'm all about the free wine and snacks.

Of course, I was also derailed in December, though it was due to nepotism, not germs. And I thought all was better when I was offered an editing job at UAF this week. Permanent, no less, which would take me off this grant-funded roller coaster at the library. And an office with windows! When you work two stories underground, you start to crave windows. So what's the hitch? Well, it's a permanent part-time job. My current job is temporary full-time. And according to the powers that be at UAF, I cannot go to temporary part-time and also hold a permanent part-time job. Two temporary part-time jobs? Yes. Two permanent part-time jobs? Yes. A part-time job and an adjunct position? Yes. A temporary part-time and a permanent part-time job? No.

Since the library is kind of up a creek without me, the people here are trying to see if they can switch my designation to permanent part-time so that I can hold both jobs. The editing position may eventually become full-time, but in the meantime I could stay at the library.

Will the library be able to pull it off? Or will I go back to one part-time job and search for more work? Stay tuned....