Good morning Sunshine!

I think that July is consistently the most enjoyable month of the year for me. Consider:

In July, I have no problem saying "no" to anyone - including myself. "I've got too much to do to get ready for vacation" is a universally accepted reason for not being able to do something - anything.

No homework to check/ help with. Minimal responsibilities at home. The boy is frequently away with one grandparent or another, and when he's home he's old enough to help out! Dinner? A Costco quiche and some steamed veggies are perfectly accepted. Or even better - marinate some meat & veggies & let hub cook them on the grill!

Routine. I enjoy going new places and trying new things. And sometimes my job feels like an exercise in change management. So it's nice to have such a well defined schedule as a refreshing change of pace. Go to work, go to gym, watch part of the Tour, fix supper, finish watching Tour with hub. Putz. Go to bed.

I'm doing stuff I love. I love sewing, I love cooking, and I'm a scheduling/organizing fool. And that's all I do for the entire month!

The Tour de France. Yeah, I know most people don't get this one. But I thoroughly enjoy watching the Tour. Yesterday was a perfect example: the team time trial. Although the course was so difficult this year, one team manager said it was "more like a team trial." By drafting you conserve 30% of your energy, so a team rides in an echelon, slightly angled based on the wind direction. They look like a flock of geese, with each rider taking a turn and then falling back to take a rest. It’s truly poetry in motion.

Stronger riders will pull longer, and since only 5 of the 9 have to finish together (the team gets the time of the 5th rider), one or more riders may have the job to blow himself up well before the finish line pulling the team for all he's worth.

There are time checks out on the road, so you know how you're doing compared with the others. Thanks to a truly epic final 9 km put in by Fabian "Fabu" Cancellara (dragging his team most of the way single handedly), he managed to hold on to the race lead over Lance Armstrong by a fraction of a second. Four days of riding hundreds of km and it took a long time to determine the lead because they had to go back and check the fractions of a second.

After the first stage, the rider who is touted as the world's best sprinter was ranked 4th-to-last overall. I am reminded to make the point that the position in the General Classification says nothing about the inherent athletic ability of the cyclist, and everything about the important job they each play on their own team.

I went to the gym yesterday afternoon and did the shortest of the 4 interval workouts on my MP3 - 35 minutes. Halfway through, a guy comes and gets on the elliptical right next to me. Why? I mean, there are only 2 with the moving pole/hand bar thingies, so I can understand if I were on one and he wanted the other. (I prefer that kind myself because I get a better workout moving both arms and legs). But the one next to me was one of the other kind with the stationary handlbars - and there are at least 12 of those. Grrr. Oh well, I still had a good workout!

I went Monday as well and my bag is in my car for this afternoon! My goal is 3-4 times per week. It's so nice & quiet at the gym when I arrive around 4 - it's the ideal time to go as far as I'm concerned!

Well, have a good one!