R is for Ronnebeck!

Here I am, on my couch after a 9 and a half hour workday of pure bliss. Days like this make me appreciate my job even more than I already do, and validates my role with KMS. I am tired, and ready to relax, but so thrilled to be part of this firm.

I put these back in the closet last night. I am hopping along a lot smoother these days - though not completely without a limp. I'm taking it slow, thinking about life, derby and everything in between and enjoying my quiet time in the meantime. Don't pay any attention to the crazy messy closet - just the crutches, that are no longer under my foot at any given time. I banished them once again - hopefully to NOT return for quite some time!

1| The family over at this blog is going through the same thing we were going through in June. My heart aches for them, and I have never met them, I just happened upon their blog through my Relay buddies. I have been praying for them so hard, but mostly that they find peace and love in an ending for them, but a new beginning for their mother. 2| Now that I have that out of the way, I've been missing my Mom like crazy. It's just a piece of me that is missing, I don't know that It will ever heal, but she visits me so often in my dreams I feel like she's still here some times. 3| This weekend was filled with love and friendship. Friday and Saturday were spent with good friends of ours eating, and hanging out. Friday with Tim, Katherine, Lasagna & Bloody Marbles and then Saturday with Ivan, Dawn, Fish & Chips and Menchies. 4| Fall is HERE. 5| I have yet to put up a single fall leaf in my home. What. Is. Wrong. With. Me?! 6| I bought two new pairs of shoes...

 I got to Skype with Grandpa today for his birthday. He has had people around all weekend, and I wasn't able to make it to S. Dakota to celebrate, but I wanted to poke my head in and say hey. It was a lot of fun to see him, and everyone else. We had a good solid line of people walking in and out of the room to say hey, it was fun. Happy Birthday Grandpa here's to 85 more great years!

I'm hopping along today, and nearly sick to death of this knee brace. I know it's but a mere bump in my journey of life, but I'm ready for it to be over. Life is good otherwise. Last night we went to Kerri's house and ate dinner with her, and her kids, and Tim & Kat. There will be some more bloody marbles in our future (we're addicts). We're going to try to make this a once a month gathering to dine together as friends and catch up. This week a new girl started in our department. I am so excited to have a little fresh meat around --- sorry, that was the derby girl in me talking. I'm excited to have Melissa on board, she's very nice, and looks like she'll catch on rather quickly. So there's some tidbits for a way WAY too early Thursday morning - I accidentially turned my alarm OFF instead of SNOOZE, so I'm up a good 20 minutes early. Damn the luck!

1| Check out my "Bionic" Leg. I can't bend my knee, at all. It's pretty rad. (or not)  2| Let me tell you just how much fun it is to ride the metro bus and not be able to bend your leg at all to get it out of the way of people getting on and off. Crap. 3| Aquaman's been awesome. He pretty much lays by me from the time I get home till I go to bed, and I feel like he's just trying to soak up any pain I have. 4| Best. Dog. Ever. 5| Eric's been awesome too, he waits on me hand and foot (no puns intended). 6| Oh and since I haven't "said" it yet. I actually tore my ACL just a little, and damnaged some goodies inside my knee. Yay for Derby! 7| I plan on reading my 7 this week (and weekend) a lot. Since you know, I can't move much. 8| Maybe some of my crafty bits will get done too. 9| I really don't have much to report as this has absorbed my life now. 10| I did watch the Roast of Charlie Sheen last night - funnnny.....

Friday night we went and had dinner with Tim and Kat and played a rousing round of Bloody Marbles which is now our favorite game to play together. Tim and Eric are generally pretty vicious and Katherine and I try not to play too bloody, but Friday Katherine came out of the woodwork and sent me back home just as I was approaching victory... I'll get them all next time :) This is kind of a traditional Nielsen family game, and I'm glad to be able to share it with my Pacific Northwest Family! I always rock the blue marbles because the blue ones are my favorite :) We went home and got to bed early because Saturday was Derby practice... Here I am gearing up - just about ready to hit the rink. I was on the rink for exactly 45 minutes when I fell wrong and hyper-extended my right knee. Guess who's going to the Doctor tomorrow? And guess who did this all weekend? SUCK. But this one helped me heal... Kind of, mostly he just wanted to snuggle on the fleece blanket. Then Kat came to ...

Today I got an E-mail from Kim, our Highline Relay for Life Co-chair. It's time to sign up for the "Western Regional Summit" (aka: Summit or Relay Rumble). I could hardly believe my eyes when I got the e-mail, is it seriously going to be October soon?  I got all signed up and I am excited! I went to the Relay Summit last year for the first time as a one day event to learn goodies to use for our Relay committee planning. I spent most of the day like a deer in the headlights looking around in awe of all the Relay energy one place could expel. I am a little timid to go to the event this year as there were lots of videos and stories to evoke tears. I'm thinking after the past year, it won't take much for me to start crying like a 6 year old. However, I'll survive and I ended up taking the "Team Development" Chair this year instead of the "Team Retention" Co-chair position, so I'll be there for TWO days instead of just one. I'm really...

1| Have I mentioned that I got to meet Rettig 2 Rumble this weekend, and got my picture taken with her?  Rettig 2 Freeking Rumble! Okay, I'm over it... not really. 2| That being said, due to the quality of the Rettig photo, I may be getting a point and shoot camera relatively soon, by no fault of the photographer of said photo, often people just don't know how to use my camera, and my photos like this turn out less than amazing. I'm still thrilled I have it! 3| It's fall which means more hot beverages to drink - Hurrah! 4| This week I don't have ANYTHING to do after work till Thursday, and then that's just skating, Thank you GOD! 5| September weekends are starting to fill up with activities with friends ... Love it! 6| Tonight's grand plans involve, working out - putting away laundry - and scrap booking! YAY! 7| Eric's been super excited about Football season, it's cute! 8| Our house project(s) are coming along... Thank you GOD. I am lo...

I'm not sure this post even needs words for how awesome it is. My favorite skater in the uni-verse. I was so THRILLED to talk with her, even if it left me a jittery fan girl all the way home from Olympia... :)

Today we celebrate 3 years here at R is for Ronnebeck! Can you believe I've been blogging for 3 years? When I look back at my first post it kind of makes me giggle - and again at Two Years... - what a newb! I think about all the hot and cold I've had with blogging and some days it makes me want to throw in the white towel of surrender, other days I read posts from last year of the little things in life that made me smile that day and it makes me smile that I've recorded it in some way.  My Mom kept a journal every day from about 1983 till 2009. She started by just documenting the weather, or who she visited with that week, and when we picked up the journals after she passed, it was like seeing the years pass through her eyes. I tried a diary only 300 times over my lifetime, but this is the only "Journal" I've been able to keep up with. Who knows where this year will take us... and the year after that, and the year after that, but I tak...

So... truth be told I have been up to my ears in Roller Derby. My co-worker Megan has been recording our journey over on www.derbylife.com.  Today's article made me smile big, read it! The Pursuit of Derbyness: No Woman Is an Island We all know that friends are important. They help us stay honest, get us into and out of trouble and let us know in exactly the words we are willing to hear that yes, those jeans really do make us look fat. Back when I was marathon training the combination of sweat, pain and hundreds of hours pounding the pavement turned my two running buddies into my best friends. They were the ones that I stayed up with on Saturday night while drinking, smoking, and eating doughnuts. They were also the ones dragging my ass out of bed Sunday morning to go run 20 miles before it got too hot to bother. Roller derby is the first team...

IT'S HEERRREEEE!!!!!! I'm thrilled... and I'm going to TRY not to drink one EVERY DAY....Try is the key word there.

1| Labor day weekend proved to be very productive. I really wish I had one more day off work just to relax.    2|Gracie obviously got the memo about 3day weekends being for relaxation, this is what she did all day today; laid in her box and loved life. 3| It's been sunny all weekend, and I've drank more iced coffee than I'd care to think about. Summer is definitely ending around here, but I'm okay with how it's leaving us. 4| After derby practice on Saturday Eric and I cleaned out our storage unit and took an entire car load of stuff to Goodwill - including but not limited to 3 tv's (of varying sizes) a computer monitor, folding chairs and clothes. It feels good to be able to WALK into our storage unit. 5| Friday night and Sunday night we spent with Tim and Katherine, It feels so good to have them home again. We missed them 6| Bloody marbles was a hit at game night with Eric, Tim & Kat. I've been playing it most of my life with my Gr...

  "Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it."  ~Russel Baker          I am done with summer, as I am most of the time on September first. I bathe in the rich warm colors of fall, and I welcome them with open arms, every year. This morning, I even managed to wear a scarf, because, you know, that's when they come out, is fall.  My co-worker Mindy would argue avidly with me that fall is not until September 21st. She's right, technically speaking, but the moment that crisp September air wakes you in the morning instead of that warm muggy August air, it's fall. And deep in my heart, it's fall every day. My leaves will start to turn on my desk and in my home, day by day, and soon... there will be HALLOWEEN - but let's not get ahead of ourselves.  Though, this year... I'm rebooting my Halloween blog because I miss it. I will start posting soon.  My Halloween recipies, crafts and goodies will be found at .... w...