Housing Crisis

Rooter in the bathroom.

Owning a house rules, well, until suddenly it doesn't. Friday I was hanging out in my house, minding my own business and decided to do some laundry. As I was leaving the laundry room I noticed the basement sink was full of 'dirt'. My first thought was to blame my sister who has been staying with me. It was probably a bit of a stretch to assume that she had been washing something really dirty in the sink, but who knows (sorry Suzanne). But at the same time I noticed a faint scent of what I will nicely call 'sewage'. My ability to stay in denial was diminishing.

So, I spent the next 20 minutes running down stairs to see how washing machine was effecting the sink. And finally I had my answer, as the washer rinsed, the sink filled.

When I bought my house, I paid a bunch of money to have someone run a camera down my toilet and through my sewer lines. The verdict was that I would need to have my sewer lines rooted within a year. So a year or so after I moved in, I called a plumber and asked them to do just that. Unfortunately, this didn't exactly work out. I don't have good access to the sewer lines in my house. The plumber walked around and huffed and puffed and looked really grouchy. Finally he said he could come back and try to find the sewer lines (something that would involved digging). However, it was pretty clear he never ever wanted to return to my house.

So, I forgot about it.

And finally, two years later, my sink was filling up with raw sewage. This time I called Roto Rooter. The Roto Rooter guy (who was about 20), was equally as grouchy. He had to remove my toilet and could only root with 1/2 blade. Which made him even more grouchy and included much gloom and doom talk about how the roots would now be even more robust and I needed to have someone run a camera through the lines and install better access etc.

Sigh, $500 and 'half' a job later, at least I can flush the toilet without filling up the basement sink.

Think what I could do with $500!

Tomatoes!

Tomatoes and a dog butt!

Tomatoes and the edge of a dog foot, plus dog leg/dog tail shadow.

It's that time again. I am once again trying out tomatoes on the porch. Those long long time blog readers will remember the trial and tribulations, the stress and strife, as well as the agony and anticipation of the previous batch..... It's amazing I have recovered enough to try again. Forgetfulness is so sweet.

I bought these starts at the farmer's market. This time I even asked which ones were good for porches. I have one cherry tomato and one beefsteak. I figure this improves my chances of something working. So, (fingers crossed) hopefully this will be a carefree growing season. I did, of course, forget to ask the most important question of all. How much water? But then what would I have to occupy my brain.

I just went back and re-read my old tomato blog. Damn, I was funny a year ago. And yes, water was the worry. http://rcarlsini.blogspot.com/2008/08/obsessed-by-tomatoes.html. But, maybe if these tomatoes work out, I can build some new brain cells and be once again as funny as I was last year. Stay tuned!

Don't worry, you will all get the details as they unfold.

Muscle ups are hard.

As I have mentioned, Muscle Ups are super hard..........

And some are really not so graceful...........

Heroes

Muscle up

She probably isn't kissing the ball for good luck, like I would have done.

Wall Ball

Sumo Deadlift High Pull

I think this bar was about 90 pounds.

So as not to keep Michael in anticipation any longer......

The woman okay, girl, pictured in the previous post is my new hero. She was competing at the NW Crossfit Regional Games on Saturday. And she was so beautiful and graceful completing a workout that did not inspire beauty or grace in many others.

The workout consisted of 2 muscle ups (start hanging from a set of rings and pull yourself to the rings then push yourself over the rings - pull up then dip), 30 wall balls (you've heard me discuss those ad nauseum), and 6 very heavy sumo deadlift high pulls (start with a bar on the ground and pull it up so it's at the bottom of your chin). You had to do all that 5 times. Her time was the 4th fastest for the women. Actually, she was one of only seven (out of 27) women who could do the exercise unscaled (ie muscle ups instead of pull ups and full weight for the SMHP) and finished in the allotted time.

A little about her...... Her name is Kallista and she is 15. She is home schooled and a gymnast. Her dad is her coach and started her doing crossfit at 11 years old! I think her family runs a crossfit gym out of their home and she is one of the coaches.

Now here is why she is my hero. Last year she went to the national crossfit games. Now you can go onto youtube and watch some videos from the games. They are super intense. I think there are 4 or 5 separate workouts that you compete in over the course of two days. The athletes there are serious and super strong. Strong like I could never imagine being strong (and I consider myself pretty strong). So, she's at the games last year. She's 14 and the final work out is a 'heavy' Grace. Grace is 30 clean and jerks. In a clean and jerk you basically lift a weight off the ground to chest level, then you squat, then you have to thrust the weight over your head. The women were doing this with 100lbs. Kallista weighs 103. I can't imagine any of it. Being away from home, being 14, and having to lift my body weight over my head 30 times. And it's not like she was part of a group of kids, she was probably the only kid competing. I guess there is now a crossfit workout called the Kallista where you do Grace at body weight. I watched video of some guy doing it- he threw up at the end. Anyhow, at rep 22 she got off balance lifting the weight and fell- I think she got hit by the bar. Yet, some how she managed to get back up and finish the workout. There is video of it, it's super intense.

Anyhow, I think she rocks!

Sorry if the pictures aren't great, I learned it's really hard to take pictures of crossfit.

Crossfit or Crime Scene

Details to follow.....

Gluten free summer?

So, it has been 75 and BEAUTIFUL in Seattle this weekend. Uber, extra beautiful and just heavenly warm.

And I am finding

When it is 75 degrees (or more) and sunny......
When the air is warm and soft.......
When the dog is crashed out on the porch and all anyone wants to do all day is nap.....

I am finding on a day like that, a beer in the evening sounds really good. It sounds much better than wine or tequila or any other wheat free option. So what's a girl to do all summer?

And FYI, to the 100s of you missing my blogging. There will be more soon, in fact this week. I already have the subject and the pictures. Now all I need is the energy. (And the space bar, mine is broken)