Glorious 4th (and the 4 days that I have off!)

It felt super wonderful and oh so not like me to sleep in this morning. When I awoke at 9:00 I enjoyed Gideon's morning nuzzles and kisses, welcomed Harleigh in to snuggle and chat, and didn't feel one bit guilty that I'd "lost" a good 3 hours of morning productivity.

Once up I ran some errands, went thrifting, and met Harleigh for lunch. Afterwards I got fabric to make my ken curtains. Lavender gingham. Doesn't go with a thing in my kitchen or ken, but as of late I've been super inspired by decorating that goes out on a limb with colors and gives off a homey, English-countryside, thrown-together kind of feel. And if lavender gingham makes me feel happy, then that's what my kitchen curtains are gonna be made out of. Pix to come.

Here is a rusty orange watering can that I found this morning on my thrifting rounds. With flowers it makes a pretty statement in the soon-to-be-infused-with-color ken.

The Picks Are In: Mongo Off The Clock

1. Contador(He can't not win)

2. A-Schleck(Now is his time)

3. Leipheimer(Can't stop LBM)

4. Sastre(Nice follow up)

5. Evans(Crappy team)

6. Menchov(Motivation?)

7. Kreuziger(Could be higher)

8. Nibali(Liquigastastic)

9. F-Schleck(Always solid)

10. Kloden(Bandit)

BTW...Mongo predicts that Mellow Johnny will finish somewhere between sixteenth and twenty fourth place... "Write that down!"

From Slim To None

Mongo always likes to scour the wires in the days leading up to the Tour de France...and more importantly, the Tour de France "Pool".

I won't be making my predictions until my "money" picks are in, but I did run across something to be concerned about if one is a fan of the "Face-Spinnaker", Cadel Evans.

His one and only super-domestique, Thomas Dekker, just got busted for EPO from a two year old urine sample, and he is being replaced on the Silence-Lotto team by someone you've never heard of.

If Cadel can podium this year with the team he has around him, it will be one of the greatest cycling achievements in recent memory...But it's not going to happen!

(Photo:Graham Watson/VeloNews)