My first Midnight Run

Well, despite hardly being able to walk after Sunday's run, I'm recovering quite well :) Those 63 stairs are going pretty well - hardly notice them and I can even put my sox on without too much groaning. 


So, Thursday the 17th is a new Italian international holiday! We are going to be celebrating 150 years of the unification of Italy as a republic!!! The theme of the run is Run and Live Positively - I heartily agree! 


Besides the fact that I'm always up from a day off :) I think I'm becoming very Italian... There is an organization that is going to be putting on a run exactly at midnight so that we can run in the holiday! I've never participated in a midnight run, so I'm really excited. We get a shirt and a number and everything - very official :) 


I was thinking of bringing my video camera so that you can see what its like too... we shall see. I've never run with a camera, but for 3km I think I could manage. 


Check out our cool Midnight Run shirts!!! 

21km ??? !!! ???

We've been participating in weekly weekend runs - running anything from 7km to 17km. It's a lot of fun to get out with all the runners who tend to be a jovial group (perhaps it's all the endorphines!) and the fact that each run takes place in a different little Italian village makes it all the more fun and eclectic. 


I am always intrigued to see what kind of refreshments they'll offer at the end of the course plus they usually have a little item of value or goodie-bag of stuff for the runners who finish.  You can never predict what there will be, and if you know me, since it's a surprise.... I get super excited about it! 


For example, after one run they offered us fried apples and a glass of wine? Or there was the time when there were sausages - Z liked that one! One time they served us a nice big plate of pasta. And most recently we were given vin-brulee... and the goodie bag? It can be anything from a bottle of wine to a package of spaghetti. 


Well, today we got up at 7am to go running - in the rain! And after Z had been up until 1:30am completing a cement project... so we were zonked, but we had an agreement to pick up some friends for the run so there was no backing out. We had every intention to take it easy, but then, when I arrived at the point where we could choose to run either 15km or 21km I thought, "I'm actually feeling pretty good!" I had my i-pod tunes going and so, I turned down the 21km direction....


The feel of the rain on my face was liberating and I was listening to gospel music and they were singing, "Thine is the kingdom, Thine is the power, Thine is the glory foreeevver!" Amen! I was on a high :) Not to mention we were running through farm fields and with the rain the trail had become all muddy... I was remembering running the Muddy Buddy race in the US with my good friend Kim... Ahhh... so great!!!


About 2 km later there was a "restoro" the stand where they give you gatorade, water, and, here in Italy, hot sweet-tea :) You know that makes me happy! 
I asked the fellow working the stand, "So, what km are we here?" 
"Oh, you're just under 10km" came the response.
Just under 10km!?!?!?!?!??!!?!??!! I thought for sure that when they gave us the choice for the 15km or the 21km we must have been closer to 12km mark! That's when the realization first hit me, "Uh, oh, Amanda, you are in for it..." 
That's when I began noticing, that since I'd made the turn in the 21km direction, I was no longer passing anyone... they were all passing me and looking very professional and well trained... I willed my legs to keep moving... 


Two hours later I did finally make it to the end - one gimpy spazzing leg and all. My poor fellow runners had been waiting around for over and hour by the time I showed up because they'd decided on 10km and Z did the 15km - MUCH smarter people. 
Oh, but when I turned in my completion ticket to get my goodie-bag, I felt VERY deserving. I'd sure earned that! And it was the biggest goodie bag I'd received yet! Pasta, granola bar, electrolyte/gatorade mix, a mini-cake, canned beans and peas and a jar of tomato sauce :D I ran to earn my food for the whole week!


Ouch! But my legs and feet are sure telling me that I shouldn't shock them in this manner... they'll recover though :) A good nap and a few items from my goodie bag will ensure that. 


Now to make it from the kitchen to my bedroom... ohhhh... those 63 stairs are sure looking daunting! 

Random Shots

A package arrived a few weeks ago!!! I love getting packages, or sending packages... I just like packages in general :) This one came from Kim!!! 

Thank you for the scarf Kim!!! It's great :)

In preparation for her upcoming delivery my friend Rachael and I went out for a "girls" night and had pedicures and Mexican food :) 

Rachael relaxing

Rachael is in the maroon and I'm in the blue - I was hoping it would look like a nice Spring color... but it turned out to be a bit alien like... 

Nice happy feet :)

Tackling the "Rat Room"

There is a room in our house that we reserve for unwanted guests (we apologize if any of our readers have been banished to this room!). You will be relieved to know that Zeno took the job upon himself to salvage our "rat room"! I wish I had a few "before" pictures, but honestly, I think I was too scared of the room to open it up and take pics of it before now... 
It's true history was that it is where the coal was kept when the house was warmed by coal. It's been a good 50+ years since anyone has ventured into or used the room. Our final goal is to turn it into a pantry of sorts complete with a deep freezer! :) 


Here are Z's initial attacks... you can see that some of the cleaning fluids and solvents he had to use to make his first attacks went to his head a bit...

You get to the "rat room" by passing through the kitchen, into the first pantry, and wa lah! 

Zeno cleaned it out, fixed some of the crumbling cement and painted it

This is our dehumidifier doing it's best to dry the place out

See the little sqare part in the roof? That's a secret passage way up to our first floor landing! Too cool huh?

Here's the brave man himself

The attacked caused premature aging... note the increase in grey hairs

in addition, I noted some psychological effects from the trauma of the cleaning attempts...

Stay tuned for the final results of Z's labors!!!! He's working on the floor and putting down more cement as we speak... 

The first Lawn Mow of the Year!

Last Sunday it was sunny and 18 degrees! (that's about 65 for you Fahrenheit folks) Of course I took advantage and spent the day in the garden getting ready for SPRING!!! I can't wait for Spring to come!!!! 


I snipped and planted, uprooted and clipped, raked and trimmed and yes, I did the first lawn mow of the year! 


Here are a few of our first blossoms coming out :) 

The Valentine's Primula's I planted by our water pump and drain

Our first Giacinta :)

Our little daffys 

Daffys are such happy flowers! 

The only casualty was one of my fingers. You see, we didn't had any gardening gloves, but I wanted to go ahead anyways. And, I clipped the tip of one of my fingers - OUCH! It bled a lot. But a little duct-tape and I carried right along :) 


Zeno knows my propensity to injure myself with sharp objects. Too bad I wasn't wearing the special "cut resistant" glove he got me for working in the kitchen:

It can be R or L handed :)

Ok, so if they exist, I can't possible be the only accident prone wife out there...  Right Jared? 

What to do with a husband who vacuums at midnight???

Now, Z and I don't divide "domestic chores" we just kinda pitch in wherever we can whenever we can. Sure, since I have a little more free time, I do end up tackling more of the housework, but for the most part we keep the home dirt at bay together... or we slack off together. 


Recently, with life and work being busy, we've been laying of the dust on the home front - or perhaps I should say, we've been doing projects that actually contribute to the growth of the dust on the home front! 


On Tuesdays, I get the afternoon off, and so this past Tuesday, after teaching an infant CPR course, I tackled the dust in the bedroom and kitchen - it had gotten BAD and so it took me until around 9pm to wrap it all up... i wasn't keeping track of the time, so it was only after I stepped out of the shower that I noticed how late it was! Wow! I'd been expecting Z to be home a while ago... Hmmmm... 


And then I heard the rattle of the door... I zipped down the stairs to find Z unloading a large box! I love boxes! And lo and behold, guess what came out? A new vacuum cleaner? ! ? ! :D 


"Well, I noticed the dust piling up and thought it would be MUCH easier if we had a vacuum dedicated to the upstairs and one dedicated to the downstairs" - oh my wonderful Z! And that's when I was glad I'd rolled up my sleeves, because if he felt the dust buildup was worthy of a second vacuum, yes, it was BAD. 


Meet our new vacuum - dedicated to the upstairs :) 

Vacuum style - get plugged in! 

You vacuum like this Amore...

Attention! Ready, aim...

FIRE!!!

Ahem, my cord unraveled a bit on that one...

You see how easy! 

Ahiii... my back...

So, when Z and the new vacuum came home, we had dinner at around 10pm and then... Z and the vacuum "played" until past midnight! I was laying in bed trying to be an example of restfulness and subtly (or not so subtly) pointing out that I'd just cleaned and vacuumed our bedroom :) 

Skiing in the Val Brembana

Work has been tiring these days... but despite our desire to have a few extra hours of sleep, we woke up early last Saturday (despite all of our bodies protests - and believe me! They were LOUD protests!), we met up with our friends Daniela and Javier to spend a day skiing on the mountains! 

Daniela + Javier taking a vin brule break

vin brule cin cin! 

Mmmm... warming and restoring

What skiing style! 

In BW it would be a vintage ski poster ;)

Takin a break... we did find that our muscles were not in mountain shape! 

Z was skiing so fast his hair stick straight up in the front! 

The Italian Alps

So nice to be in the mountains

Gotta love this crazy man! 

Una birra buona :)

It was a perfectly gorgeous day! 

Babies near and far

In addition to my new little nephews - whom I can't wait to hold!!!! 
A week ago, on March 3rd, yet another precious little boy joined us in this world :) Meet Isaac Antonio! 

As calm as can be

Little Isaac was so anxious to join his family that he was almost born in the car! Praise God that he and mom made it safely to the delivery room just in time :) 

Isaac's family - Giovanni (daddy!) Rachael (mommy) and Charlotte his new big sister!

It's so nice that the whole family is home now and very busy getting to know each other :) 
Congratulations Gio, Rachael and Charlotte!!! Isaac, just a heads up - you've got an awesome family! You're going to love it :) 

Baby Romans and RaceCars!

I am a new Aunt!!!! 
Clarification, I am a new Aunt for the 8th and 9th times :D It's an absolute blast to be an aunt <3 The only down side is living thousands of miles from the adored subjects... But with today's modern technology even that hurdle is somewhat jumped. There are only a few minor technical difficulties:
1. of course you can't physically touch the other person(s)
2. every once in a while the younger ones will decide "I wanna change this movie now Daddy...", "...but it's not a movie sweatheart, it's Aunt 'Manda ;)" or (and this one is great!) "I don't want to turn it off!" and they proceed to sit and watch you and whatever you're doing like you are the greatest entertainment since Sesame Street :) 


So, without further delay, here are my two newest little nephews: Roman Jamal (arrived on Feb. 18th!) and Jeffrey James (arrived on March 5th!). They are nephews #2 and #3 - their cousin Jaron is very pleased to have a few male additions to the troop!

Roman Jamal - Romey

Romey's Family - Jared (Daddy), Becca (Mommy) and Toria - his new big sister! 

Jeffrey James - named after his Grandpas :)

Jeffrey's family: Josh (Daddy) Natasha (Mommy) and two big sisters Lilli and Margie!



I forgot to clarify the blog title of: baby Romans and RaceCars. Roman is an obvious explanation - baby Roman is Roman! And especially his Zio Zeno is most pleased because Zeno is a true Roman as well! Born and raised :) So now we have two Romans in the family. 
RaceCar? Well, you see, before little Jeffrey arrived, his big sis Lilli decided, "If I'm going to have a little brother, he needs to have a proper masculine name" and so she informed everyone that he would be "Race Car Kempson"! And in the womb, RaceCare he was called :) I don't know about in the US, but for those of the family in Italy, we still refer to him by his Lilli-given nick-name - he's our little RaceCar!