cut and dry ...

I'm not the kind of parent who gets pushed around. I know how to stick to my guns, even if that means I upset/disappoint/baffle my children along the way. I set rules and stick to them. Long story short, I am the bad cop. (Note: That would make J the good cop, a role which he is totally happy to accept.)

It's always been this way. Well, at least for the nearly eight years I have been parenting. Honestly, I don't mind it. I'd rather be strict and overbearing and have my children appreciate it when they are adults (and parenting their own children), than have them always get what they want and for them to be happy with me 100% of the time.

The thing is, I am NOT their friend.

I am their mother.

I make the rules.

I have the authority in this relationship.

Yes, we are a team. Yes, we give each other endless amounts of love and respect. But, at the end of the day, I am in charge and my word is FINAL, regardless of what they may think.

Recently, Dilly has become immune to this fact. Take today for instance. We were shopping and she asked if she could buy some fruit leather. I told her choose one and I would get it for her. Simple, right?

Of course not.

Dilly proceeded to repeatedly put the wrapped fruit leather in her mouth. I repeatedly asked her to stop putting it in her mouth. She failed to cooperate. I told her that she either stopped or I would not purchase it for her. Again, she ignored my request.

So, I grabbed it from her and told her she wasn't getting it. *ensue meltdown*

That's when it got ugly.

Dilly started screaming, "But I'm hungry. Give it to me now! But, why?!?!" Completely over her behavior, we left the store. It was awesome! Best part may have been that she proceeded to scream for the entire 20 minute drive home.

Unfortunately, this is not a one time occurrence. For weeks, I have caught her putting her hair in her mouth (she denies any such activity occurred). And for weeks, I have been telling her that if she continued to chew on her hair, I would cut it off so that she couldn't.

She didn't believe me. And because she didn't, her hair went from this ...

to this ...

Six inches gone and if we are being honest, she's lucky I didn't just shave it all off. Wait, I might have to if she doesn't start to understand that I ALWAYS mean business ...

3TT: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The Good - After what seemed like an eternity (for me, not you), Nuun announced how our Hood to Coast teams would be divided on Tuesday. Each of the 36 runners was placed on a team, (Morning, Noon or Night) and assigned to a leg. Since we were allowed to give our preference of legs, I chose leg 1, leg 3 and leg 4 as my top three. I really wanted to be in van 1 in order to see other half of the course, as I was in van 2 last year.

So, what did I get?

Team Noon: Leg 7. (Click HERE for course maps)

Honestly, it probably wouldn't have been on my top three of van 2. At first I was a little bummed, but all that "woe is me" crap got washed away when I saw the rest of my van. Talk about awesomesauce. I hit the van-mate jackpot and I know we are going to have a blast.

Team Noon: AfterNuun Delight Van 2
Tonia – Racing With Babes: Legs 7, 19, 31
Kim – Nuun Employee: Legs 8, 20, 32
Tiffany – Heavy Medal: Legs 9, 21, 33
Zoe – Nuun Employee: Legs 10, 22, 34
Jessica – Pace of Me: Legs 11, 23, 35
Lindsay – Lindsay On The Go: Legs 12, 24, 36

And van 1 is pretty amazing too ...

Van 1
Kelly – According to Kelly: Legs 1, 13, 25
Laura – Nuun Employee: Legs 2, 14, 26
Laura– Camping Out In America: Legs 3, 15, 27
Jocelyn – Enthusiastic Runner: Legs 4, 16, 28
Sarah – Once Upon a (L)ime: Legs 5, 17, 29
Molly – Mollyberries’ Hodge Podge: Legs 6, 18, 30

Watch out Team Morning and Team Night, it's on. (I'm so not competitive at all ...)

The Bad -  Yesterday afternoon, I ran out to the store to pick up some groceries. On the way home, I was accelerating from a stop when a car cut into my lane and sideswiped me. (I'm totally fine, by the way).

Startled from what had happened, I quickly collected myself and noticed that the other driver paused just ahead of my car and then started driving again. I followed thinking that he or she was pulling out of the way of traffic so that we could exchange information.

When we got to the traffic signal, I got a bad feeling and pulled out my phone to snap a picture of the other car.

Good thing I did, because seconds later, the other car turned and booked it.

A freaking hit and run.

I called the cops and hopefully they can find the person. Either way, pretty much the entire front right side of the car needs to be replaced. So that's awesome!

The Ugly - I have been growing out my hair for the last few months. I have also been bleaching my hair every four weeks for the past few months. Now, after all that abuse, my hair has had enough. It's pretty much stopped holding color, lost all of it's curl, has a waxy feel and horrible texture. I mean, last night I took this picture after J told me I looked like a troll doll ...

Note: There is NO PRODUCT in my hair ...

It was bad. And I was over it.

So, like any rational person, I decided to start from scratch. I told J to get the clippers and to shave my head. We thought it was kind of hilarious. So we videotaped part of it ...



Yeah, that happened. Despite how truly UGLY it looked, I really like the end result.

That's right. The fohawk is back ...

Wordless Wednesday: Highlighter

Before: The most HORRIBLE lavender hair ever.

Step 1: Apply Bleach

Step 2: Rinse out bleach

Step 3: Apply color

After: Yes, it looks like a highlighter exploded on my head

Bonus: The girls are rocking pink streaks too ...

Wordless Wednesday: Future Heartbreakers

Before ...

After ...

Three Things Thursday ...

Sign Up - Today is the day that Doodle has been looking forward to for months - Kindergarten registration. How did my baby grow up so fast?

Last weekend at soccer. Note: blue hair gets WAY MORE stares than pink.

Anyway, she's been talking about it incessantly and even started a countdown. I really hope she realizes that all it entails is me filling out a bunch of papers and her being "screened" for readiness/placement. We might need some cupcakes to deal with the let down.

On Film - I know you have been sitting around for months thinking, "TMB talks about her swimming so much. I really wish I could see what she actually looks like when she's getting her fish on."

Well, wonder no more. Thanks to the cell phone video taping skills of my girl, Sally, you can now watch 38 seconds of my attempts at not drowning.



Go ahead, critique away. Especially if you know the key to swimming 1500m in 14 minutes ...

Find Your Fit - Spring sports have started up again around here. Doodle is back playing soccer and as expected, she is kicking a** and taking names. Soccer (well, all contact sports) is Doodle's thing. She's strong and coordinated and a little ball of muscle. Oh, and there's that whole not liking to lose thing. It kind of makes her unstoppable on the field.

Doodle (#3) on a breakaway ...

Need proof? She scored three goals in her first game and cried that she didn't score more. Go figure.

Dizzle, on the other hand, opted not to play soccer this year. After four seasons of watching her struggle (she's pretty much the opposite of Doodle), we agreed that she needed to find something better suited to her.

Apparently, that's cheerleading. *cue shock and awe from this uber-tomboy*

Dizzle (far right) "looking cute"

first attempts at stunting (not sure if that's even a proper term)

She loves it and if we're being honest, she's actually quite good at it. Thankfully, she's also quite good at running and she can't deny that she has perfect form. Now, if I could only convince her that running is as much fun as cheering. It would probably help me cope better.

Christmas Part One ...

Since we don't live near our families, we have traditionally had three Christmases each year. First we celebrate with my mom and sisters. Then, we have Christmas morning at our house. And finally, a day or two after Christmas, we open gifts for a third time with J's family. Oh, and somewhere in there we take our annual week-long Christmas vacation (we take our kids on vacation in lieu of gifts).

As you can imagine, this makes for a very hectic December.

This past weekend was Christmas Part One for us. Everyone met at my little sister's house for a weekend full of food, gifts, baking, laughing and crazy Christmas shirts. The festivities began with dinner out. Afterward, we decorated the Christmas tree.

And posed for pictures (some not as successful as others).

In the morning, we opened gifts (which I failed to take a single picture of) and started our baking marathon,


while wearing these shirts (Note: that is Dizzle's finger in the picture).


And over the course of 24 hours, my hair went from this,


to this,


and finally, to this.


Yeah, no one said we were normal.

Three Things Thursday ...

Big Hair - So, you might say that I have the opposite of big hair. Even when my shaved head is grown in, my hair is on the thin side. However, my lovely sister, who is visiting us this week and dyed my hair pink, is pretty much the definition of big hair. Her hair is super long, ultra thick and crazy curly.


After she finished bleaching my hair, we had the great idea to dye the underside of her hair blonde. We thought it would look great, but turned out to be less than stellar. So, yesterday, I dyed her hair back to dark brown. The thing is that she had to comb out her hair so that I could dye it. Have you ever seen big hair combed out? It's not pretty. It kind of looks like this.


Yeah, I laughed at her a lot.

Rhode Island - We are headed back to Rhode Island this weekend for a friend's wedding. Due to fantastic planning, her wedding happens to fall on the same day as the Newport Half Marathon. Coincidentally, there was a Groupon for this race a few months back.

Hello, fate.

I registered and am planning to crush this race on Sunday. I've got a kicka** outfit from Lululemon and a sweet bib number (3828). Plus there was that awesome 16 miler I ran two weeks ago, it's going to be good ...

Mileage - In the last 6 days, I have run 54 miles. And I'm already at 108 miles in October. Can you say peak marathon training?

shock value ...

Shock Value.
Otherwise known as: How to freak out all the other parents at your child's school in four easy steps.

Step 1: Cover your head in hair bleach.Step 2: Rinse out hair bleach.Step 3: Cover bleached hair with a less than subtle color.Step 4: Rinse out hair again and own it.

Three Things Thursday ...

"Shock me, shock me, shock me with that deviant behavior" - Unless you happen to be friends with me on Facebook, you probably don't know about my latest, um, styling choice. Remember how I shaved my head two weeks ago? Well, now I dyed it RED. Like RED RED. Not "I was born with red hair" red. See?

Yeah, I told you I like to experiment with my hair ...

San Francisco - One week from today, G and I head to San Francisco for our annual "Girls' Race Weekend." I CAN.NOT.WAIT. We are running the San Francisco Half Marathon (first half). My bib number is 15526 (feel free to stalk) and we are in wave 3. If you are running it, look for us. I'm easy to spot. I'll be the one in the pink sparkle skirt with mismatched socks and freakishly amazing red hair ...

Fundraising - I am running with Team Grassroot Soccer and have committed to raising $3000 and I need your help to reach my goal.

Right now, I am hosting an AWESOME fundraising raffle HERE. There are 6 fabulous prizes left and I will be selecting the NEXT 3 WINNERS TOMORROW. You know you want to enter. All you have to do is make a donation HERE and then leave a comment on the raffle post. Easy peasy.

And you might just want to donate sooner rather than later. It will earn you a chance for bonus entries in my next raffle starting on August 1st - A virtual gift basket from RunningSkirts.com. We're talking a new outfit from head to toe (plus some other goodies). You're not going to want to miss this ...

sometimes when I'm bored ...

Sometimes when I am bored, I dress in bright outfits and run 10 miles with my friends (new post-surgery mileage PR) ...

Sometimes when I am bored, the posse and I combine to rock our patriotic spirit (Happy 4th of July!) ...

Sometimes when I am bored, I shave my head (true story) ...

You could say, it's been an eventful weekend around here.

And now for the winner of the Gotein giveaway. There were 66 entries and thanks to Random.org, the winner is ...

#4 - Mom27g

Congrats! Email me at racingwithbabes@yahoo.com with your name and mailing address to claim your prize.

(Note: This was post 700. Come back tomorrow because post 701 is going to be HUGE. Like a HUGE Giveaway that you won't want to miss. Oh, and if you just can't wait for a good giveaway, check out my NYC MARATHON RAFFLE HERE. There are 12 awesome prizes in the mix and all you have to do to enter is DONATE HERE. The next three winners will be selected on Friday.)

shock factor ...

I have always been the type of person to try things because "it sounds like fun" or because "there's no reason not to" (which was the reasoning behind my first marathon). And while I am not rebellious when it comes to authority (total rule follower here), I am rebellious when it comes to my style.

For example, as a teenager, I had 13 earrings on the outer lobes of my ears. I also had that little spot on the inside of the ear next to the cheek (totally blanking on the name) pierced, which I did myself. And because that wasn't enough, I also put a piece of metal in my eyebrow, nose, belly button and tongue - all by my 18th birthday. Add all of that to my two tattoos and hair that ranged from blue to pink and well, my style was ... UNIQUE.

I guess I kind of feel that you either go big or go home. And going home is NOT AN OPTION.

You might say, I am all about the shock factor. And you would probably be right. Because last night, I looked like this ...

And thanks to J and a pair of clippers, this morning, I look like this ...

Shocking, right?

cut it off ...

In my house, haircuts are few and far between. This happens for several reasons.


First, I am cheap. I don't like to spend money on things like haircuts or makeup or non-running clothing.


Second, I can't be bothered with the upkeep. I am extremely low maintainence. I wear my hair pulled back everyday and Chapstick is the extent of my morning routine. My poor girls suffer for this. I often give them ponytails or throw on a headband. I don't see the point in doing much else.


Third, I am not really sure what styles look good on us. So, instead everyone gets a bob and I just let it grow out.

This is what I looked like the last time I cut my hair (November 2008):

And this is what it looks like now (June 2010):

These are pretty much the only two hairstyles I have ever had. Once every two years or so, I cut my hair to within inches of my scalp. And then do nothing with it.


I would like my girls not to suffer a similar fate. So, yesterday, I took them to get their haircut (it was Dilly's first). And I left the style up to them (well, Dizzle and Doodle anyway) and this is how it turned out.

Dizzle Before:

Dizzle After:

Doodle Before:

Doodle After:

Dilly Before:

Dilly After:

Not too shabby, right?