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The Lent Project: Day 34

Can you feel it? No, not spring...I wish. I mean, the end of my little experiment about avoiding social media for Lent. If only I'd counted correctly, I'd be in the last week. Er, technically, I am counting correctly and it's the Church that counts wrong. And it depends on who you talk to. Does Lent end on Palm Sunday? That's a common answer, but wrong. Really, Lent ends on the Thursday of the Last Supper...or, alternatively, the Saturday before Easter. So it depends how much fudging I want to do about my resolution. In any case, this is my last full week of Facebook and Twitter denial. I sure have missed all those cat pics!

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Well, it's finally happened...my bike has gone in for work! It's been a long time coming. It was supposed to get some upgrades for my birthday at the end of last summer, but that got put off. But it was time for my spring tuneup so I'm also getting clipless pedals, an extra water bottle cage, and a bike computer to keep track of my speed/distance/cadence. I should be good to go for both training and the summer now! The bike shop is closed one day this week and had to order the pedals for me because they were sold out, but hopefully by the end of the week I'll be riding outdoors. Now where is that warmer weather? Thank goodness I used a gift card to REI to get some cycling tights and a long-sleeve jersey. I don't think I'll be in bike shorts for awhile here in Chicago.

We made a bit of a day of it--dropping my bike off, I mean--because I had a free first tune-up coming from when I purchased the bike. So it was a bit of a drive. But we'd decided to stop on the way home and have lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings...Cole loves the potato wedges. We've been a bit nervous about their behavior at sit-down, fancier places so we usually tend towards either odd times or chaotic places with them.

Cole was in a mood from the start because leaving the bike shop we got stopped at railroad tracks for not one but TWO freight trains. One coming from the left and one coming from the right. I'd pulled up right to the crossing gate so he had a clear view out the window of each probably mile-long train. Just like we've been reading about in his books...box cars and tank cars and hopper cars and flat cars. He was in heaven.

Lunch itself went very well despite the lack of naps from either kid. We tried. But it was an odd weekend schedule-wise so we knew we were running a risk. Managed to get through the entire meal and get home before the crying started. Actually, Cole ended up asleep on me on the couch by 6:15pm that night and slept til morning. Leda loved the chaos of a sports bar...the lights and sounds and tvs everywhere. Cole barely fits in a highchair. Which makes us a little sad inside. Leda now fits perfectly in a highchair. Which also makes us a little sad inside. She isn't a big eater and wanted little to do with the meal, but Cole ate chicken and potatoes (no cheese please, oddly). Leda, however, proved she can drive via straw.

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Ironman Wisconsin contract extended through 2018.

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Couldn't let this one pass today...Republicans have issued a 98 page report detailing how and why they lost in 2012.  Called an "autopsy," the report says voters see the GOP as "scary," "out of touch," "narrow-minded," "stuffy old white men," and more. The committee also notes that the party is behind in terms of digital technology.

Hmm, sounds familiar? lol