March was busy.

The month began with difficulty. My amazing, 91-year old mother-in-law passed away. Yes, she had a long and beautiful life, but she left too soon. She was still getting around pretty well and was very mentally spry...we were all predicting triple digits. She took a bad fall that didn't seem so bad at first, but bleeding on the brain worsened and there wasn't much anyone could do. I definitely feel the loss. My life was richer for having known her. I think all who knew her feel the same.

My wedding anniversary (17 years!) followed immediately. We both completely forgot about it until the following day, so no one got in trouble. Within the week, two children's birthdays happened... someone turned 10 and the next day someone turned 6. The 10-year old had a laser tag party, but the 6-year old had a Frozen fairy pirate party WITH a bounce house AND a piñata. I fucking HATE piñatas. This was the first party in which I ever allowed one of my children to have a fucking piñata. I was also the last. What a fucking nightmare. First of all, I hate how the kids all shove each other out of the way and someone always gets hurt or feels gypped about FUCKING PENNY CANDY!!!! WTF? Grub-festing vultures. I hate it. And then there's always the potential for someone to get his/her head bashed in by the wildly, candy-crazed, bat-wielding piñata-striker. And yes, that almost happened several times at this party. My attempts at crowd-control were totally unsuccessful. The kids did a fair job of whacking the fucking thing, but grandpa really stole the show when he delivered a crushing blow that sent candy scattering into the open space across the yard and over the fence. Enough about the fucking piñata. Instagram has some party pictures, if you're interested...which you're probably not. And then my oldest stepson turned 30 and my parents had their wedding anniversary (which I am just now remembering...shit...I forgot to wish them a happy, happy).

I've been doing a lot of rowing. Uhhhhh...well...a couple of times a week anyway. I really only like to row when it's like this...

If I can see ripples, just forget it. Call me a pussy if you want, but I do this for FUN and windy chop isn't FUN.

I've been doing a lot of hiking. A 20-miler a few weeks ago and a 21.67-miler last week. The first was in 4 hours and 55 minutes, and the second was slower at 5 hours and 23 minutes. That is a LONG time to be walking alone all by one's lonesome. No, I don't listen to music or podcasts. Just all the voices in my head.

I've been lucking out with the weather for my hikes. We may be experiencing severe drought here in the State of California, but it is helping keep my training more enjoyable.

I've also been lifting on a regular basis. No pictures of that because by the end of my workouts I can hardly move let alone grab my phone and snap a photo. Also my coach would die laughing and banish me from the gym.

Then March ended and April began. The very first day marked my one year anniversary for my new hip. I celebrated by taking a selfie in silver lamé booty shorts while standing on the edge of my Lego-covered bathtub...

I am so glad I decided to have the surgery. It is like living a new life. Well, it's like actually LIVING. Hmmm...not like living. It IS living. Occasionally I get pangs of sadness when I realize how negatively affected every facet of my life was by the constant pain, but the pangs are fleeting. It's mostly happy, happy, joy, joy here :)

GIFSoup

Since my posting is sporadic at best, and this has pretty much become a lame mommyblog, I'm wondering if anyone will read it anymore. Of course, lame mommyblogs can be very popular...

Maybe I should post more about my training? As a SAHM, I have the luxury of working out whenever I want...as long as it doesn't interfere with the 200 miles a day I need to drive while chauffeuring my children hither and yon. You think I'm kidding.

Do you drive a lot in your daily life? Do you LIKE to drive?
–I've put over 10K miles on my car since December in just regular daily life driving. Fortunately, I do like to drive. Maybe not this much though. *sigh*

What has been the best decision you've made in the past year?
–hands-down hip replacement.

Do you like piñatas?