home!

I arrived home about a week ago, and my time here has been quite relaxed.  I pretty much train whenever I want, and because this is a recovery period in preparation for West Yellowstone and Bozeman, the training has been pretty light.  What was not light were my bags coming back from Canmore.  One of my bags was 66 pounds, and the other one 55.  But I only paid overweight baggage for one of them, and then got karma for the one I didn't pay for.  See below.

This is how my ski bag came off the plane....whoops.  At least they did a stand up tape job, I don't think anything's missing (although I haven't unpacked the bag yet so I guess I actually have no idea).

 Also when I got home I got to meet our new cat, Boss, for the first time.  Boss is mischievous, and thinks he is super cat.  He got himself stuck in the vent in my room the first night.  We used a piece of steak to lure him from his hole.  Henry and Val treat this cat like he's a real person (which is probably why Boss thinks he is a real person).

Boss in the vent

I've been a little bored at times this past week at home, as evidenced by this shot of Hobo....It's not photoshopped at all, I promise...

Meow

 One of the best parts about being home is going back into St. Paul.  I love all the little towns we've been too, but I do enjoy being in an actual city.  If not only because I love people watching.  This man had an umbrella up in the store, I'm pretty sure that's the worst bad luck you can ever wish upon yourself.  But he' probably enjoying a fabulous dessert, because this place (Bread and Chocolate) has the best desserts ever.  I had a snicker doodle cookie. It was good.

Bad luck for life

The worst part about getting old is not being able to trick-or-treat (or if you do it is awkward because you know every person is wondering what you are doing).  And the worst part about Halloween at our house is that we rarely ever get any trick-or-treaters.  I don't think there are even any more kids in our neighborhood, and Val left us to go trick or treating with her friends in St. Paul. So, naturally, I made grilled cheese. With jack-o-lantern faces.

Halloween dinner! Jack-o-lantern grilled cheese with blood (tomato soup).

 In lower school, coloring was probably my best skill (self call acknowledged). The grocery store always gives out Halloween coloring pictures, and while I may be too old to trick-or-treat, I am never too old to color.

In addition to coloring to use up some time, I also went through a whole bunch of pictures I found from back in the day.  A selection of my favorites...
Flashback Sunday:

Ghosts (or a princess and a Dalmatian) of Halloween pasts.

I used to take serious advantage of the fact that Henry was younger than me by 2 years.  For example, we used to play monopoly together and I told him I was the banker, and therefore I had all the money in the bank.  He would run out of money really quickly, and I would not only get all his money but keep all the money in the entire game.  I also used to lick the oreo filling and then put the cookies back together and give them to Henry.  It took him quite some time to realize that most oreos have filling on the inside.  Sorry Hen.  Or in this pictured instance, I made him play dress up with me.  And hold my purse.

I think this picture was for my Aunt Charlotte's wedding.  All I remember from the photo shoot was that Val was being a little sassy (although she looks really cute and happy in this picture, trust me she was not like this for all of them).

So today I have a long run, and then tomorrow is off!  I think I'm going to the big Mall of America with my mom, so that will be an adventure (and maybe a level 1 workout).  And then to Bozeman on Friday!  I miss my SMS buds and can't wait to see them!!!!

hugz and kissez