This one goes out to Corblue

Thought of you last night on my run.  Took this for you.  Hope it doesn't make you miss it more.  In case it isn't obvious (lol), it is a not-very-good picture of the SF skyline at dusk.  No acorns or wet fallen leaves to slip on.  Just some goose poop from the Canada geese honking overhead.

Twilight is a really awkward time for me to run.  First of all, visibility isn't great.  Second of all, I would much rather be eating dinner!  But rain had been threatening all day and I really wanted to get the run in before it started.  Lately rain hasn't bothered me, but I was needing to wear my glasses because of the trichiasis and subsequent epilation with forceps (see yesterday's blog entry).  Glasses and rain-running are just not a good combo.  Add in the dusk lack of visibility and you may as well be running blindfolded.

I had been wishing I could run before the usual 9 p.m. because of the weather.  Wishing without much hope... Then my husband came home early!  Yay!  But he still had some work to take care of at home.  Boo... But he said he just needed about an hour, so I got the kids fed (sort of) and changed into my gear. It was just getting to that lack-of-light point that I was hoping to finish before... but no such luck.  I headed out to the bayside trail, put my music on and started going.

I ran for 30 minutes.  It was a little over 3 miles, I'm guessing.  It was a good run.  Not great but solid anyway.  And I did beat the rain... it started falling as I was stretching out in the front yard!  Hip seems to be holding up alright.  Looking forward to a longer run on Sunday (thinking of going for 45 minutes... doing time instead of miles) and a timed mile at the end of the week (just to mix it up a bit).  I haven't got "it" back yet but it sure feels nice to be on the right path!

A few things you may already know...

Did you know Disneyland is expensive?

A slice of pizza costs over $6, a small bag of chips is $3, a popsicle is $4... even the t.p. in the bathroom stalls is in a coin-op dispenser!  (no, that last one is a joke... but given the Disney squeeze-'em-for-all-they-got credo, my guess is that it's not out of the realm of future possibilities... but of course the t.p. will probably be super cute with embossed Mickeys on it).  This doesn't even mention the cost of admission... we won't go there.

Did you know 8 hours is a LONG time to spend in a car with 4 kids?

Especially after only 4 hours of sleep for the grown ups.  Fortunately, I was smart enough to NOT tell the kids the night before so they actually slept well and long that night before.  The husband's need for a candy bar actually cost us about an hour.  Those 5 minutes spent getting that treat set us up perfectly in time to be part of a roadblock due to a fire on the side of the highway.  We were about 4 cars from the edge of the stoppage.  You can bet he SAVORED that Three Musketeers like no other!

Did you know a camera would be a really good thing to bring on a family trip to Disneyland?

Yeah, one of those "must-have" items.  We'll remember that next time ;-)   Sure, we did have a cell phone, but techno-idiot me cannot figure out how to get them off the phone and onto the computer to share with others.

Did you know they don't allow outside food or drink to be brought into Disneyland?

So if you have food sensitivities or other nutritional-type issues... like, I don't know, you want to eat healthfully.  Prefer to not consume sugar or hydrogenated oils.  Can't eat gluten.  Or dairy.  Or like your water free, cool and palatable.  If any of those describe YOU, well, my friend, you are S.O.L.  Or... you can smuggle.  This is very tricky because you need to pass Checkpoint Charley upon entering... and they are pretty thorough.  Sweatshirts with hoods and kangaroo pockets are excellent smuggling devices when used in conjunction with the storage basket of a stroller.  Yes, I let my kids eat the pricey pizza and fancy Mickey-head Eskimo pie things and all that.  I am actually not against junk food, per se.  It just does very BAD things to me.  Migraines.... baaaaaaad.  So I was able to eat "clean" from my stroller stash.  Shhhhhhhhh!  Please don't tell on me!

Did you know that trichiasis is quite painful and requires epilation with forceps?


And if you don't have your own forceps (i.e. tweezers), good lighting, and a steady hand then a trip to Urgent Care is in order.  Even though it sounds like an STD, trichiasis is when your eyelash grows in wrong and gouges into your eyeball.  (And epilation means "plucking").  Of course that happened on this trip!

Did you know that beginning a 7-hour road trip at 9:45 p.m. is smart?


Just think... you miss all the traffic.  And 7 hours magically becomes 5 hours and 31 minutes!  M&M's are better than coffee!  Thanks to my giveaway win from this sweet mommy blogger I was fueled for the night!  Oh, and my Driving Goddess status is best not divulged to the authorities.  Thanks!

Did you know that a Disney Blitz is like childbirth?

Why plan?  You never know how exactly it'll go anyway.  Whatever you threw in the bag probably won't be what you really need or want to use... but it'll do anyway.  Pain, yelling, more pain, more yelling, very little rest, not much relaxation no matter how hard you try, more pain, more yelling, fleeting thoughts of how amazing it all is, some tears of joy, some pain again, insistence that it is all wonderful, brief despair that you can't make it through, unmitigated laughter, face-splitting smiles, contentment, exhaustion.  And then all you can remember is how amazing it all was.

As soon as I can figure out the darn phone I'll put some pictures up along with a story of our adventures. It was a great time.  Truly insane spontaneity.  Kind of can't believe we did it.  Makin' memories ;-)

Of course the real fun began when I returned home to find out that my primary email account had been hacked.  Nice, eh?

Where was he when I needed him?

Monday is grocery shopping day.  I think I mentioned that last week.  Well, today I could have really used that grouchy mean old man.  My kids have this WHOLE week OFF.  Their school is weird.  I think I mentioned that before, too.  Anyway... took the whole crew on the shopping excursion.  I don't have very cooperative children... when they are all together.  Individually, they are fun and helpful.  All together, they are off the charts.

How many times do I need to say, "This is NOT appropriate grocery store behavior!"

After about the umpteenth time, I referenced the mean old man (they all heard the story).  Oddly, mentioning him seemed to get them in line.  So they'll toe it for a stranger....

The thought of a WHOLE week OFF was really bumming me out.  And there is rain in the forecast.  I don't think I can handle anymore water balloons in the bathroom.  So I decided we are going to Disneyland.

Yes, I decided this afternoon.  Tomorrow at 6:30 a.m. we are getting in the car and driving ALL day to Disneyland.  For one overnight... so 2 days of Mickey and the Happiest Place on Earth.  Then driving back.  It is a looooooooong car trip.

Wish me luck.

I am hoping this act of insane spontaneity doesn't result in spontaneous insanity!

20 years ago...

hard to believe....

I am old enough to have had an amazingly memorable athletic experience 20 years ago!

Today is the Head of the Charles Regatta.  Well, yesterday was, too.  But back in the day it was a one-day deal.  It is one of those super fun events that seems impossible to win... almost like the lottery but there is an element of hard work to winning the HOC.

Here we were, twenty Head of the Charles' ago:

Meg stroking, me in 3, Angie in 2 and Sue in the bow.  

Embarrassingly, I cannot remember the coxswain's name.

We won.

We were awesome.

"This dance ain't for everybody..."

"Only the sexy people..."

Thanks, Salt N Pepa, for helping me feel sexy while running in the rain.

"So all you fly mothers (that's me!), get on out there and .... "  run!

I had such a wonderful run this afternoon!  Yay, Grandma, for coming over and helping out!  Hugs and kisses for you!

Four miles.  Forty minutes.  Rain.  Saw no one else out there until the end.  Which was a good thing...

Note to self:   white is not a good choice for a top when running in the rain.

Addendum:  Ab work is a good idea.  Especially if wearing a white top while running in the rain.

The Wet T-Shirt Contest gold-medalist effect was diminished by the double running bra ensemble.  The totally transparent wet white t-shirt plastered to the jiggly pink, post-baby (still milking that excuse for all it's worth!) belly is just NOT a sexy look... no matter how good Salt N Pepa makes me feel.  (sorry, no pictures).

I noticed this right before the turn-around.

I was glad no one else was out there.

But it was a divine run!

Motivation and Opportunity

Seems like it is hard to get these in sync sometimes.  When I am highly motivated to run, squeezing it in is often difficult.  When I have time unfettered by children, I often feel exhausted and sluggish... running is one of the last things I think I want to do.  Anyone else feel this?

Right now I feel like I am in a groove.  Last week's "long" run was great!  I had two decent, shorter runs during the week.  I want to go running now!  But.... the husband is out of town.  And it's raining.  The rain doesn't bug me at all.  But it means I can't get the kids easily on their bikes and the baby in the stroller and make them come along.

Think.  Think.  There has to be a way.

I'll let you know!

Rainy Day Fun with Kids!!!

I've struggled in the past with rainy day activities.  Finding something that works for all four kids can be a real challenge.  I don't mean ONE thing that will work for all four but just SOMEthing that will work for each one.

We can find a set of compatible table activities... playdoh, coloring/drawing, sticker-ing, etc. that will last for about 10 minutes max.  Then the playdoh press busts, the playdoh falls on the floor and gets hair or crumbs in it (sweeping and mopping more frequently would probably help that situation), the playdoh gets stuck in someone's hair (usually not the one working with it) or on the drawing of another child.... Or someone bumps the table, which messes up the drawing.  Or bumps an arm or hand or pen, which also messes up the drawing.  Or the marker of choice runs dry (sky takes a lot of blue, ninjas take a lot of black, fire takes a lot of red). Or someone starts drawing "off-road" which leads to the rat-out which brings about some yelling on someone's part...  Or the stickers get folded over on themselves or stuck in an unintended place leading to intense frustration and probably tears and shrieking... My kids are pretty loud.

We've done baking projects.  That is rarely enjoyable for anyone after about 10 minutes.  The eggs get cracked and then someone starts gets mad that s/he didn't get to crack the eggs this time and it was her/his turn and it's so not fair ALL THE TIME!!!!!  S/he then is often placated with getting to measure stuff out and add those ingredients in.  The generally results in too much or not enough in the bowl, too much out of the bowl and a huge puff-cloud of flour as the cup is dumped in from about 20 inches above the bowl no matter how many times I patiently say, "you want to keep the cup very close to the bowl."  By this time another child notices that baking is happening and wants to participate.  This child has his nose perpetually buried in a book and more often than not misses all familial announcements.  He'll elbow his way up to the counter (with very sharp, skinny elbows) and announce that he is here to help. "All that's left is mixing."  "Okay."  "Remember to start of kind of slow and low in the bowl so the flour doesn't puff all over the place."  "I know."  Handing over the spoon, it is so hard to make the decision... should I just turn away and not watch the huge flour cloud form overhead?  or should I watch and coach him on how to do it properly which will lead to slamming down of the spoon and a declaration that I don't know what I am talking about?  What's it going to be like when he's thirteen?

And there are always movies... that's where we are right now and how I am able to put this out.

This morning was a little different.  It was rainy.  This is often the time of year when we do get a bit of rain.  And the husband is out of town for the weekend.  (I really miss him).  Luckily, the kids found some entertainment!  Using the balloons from The Blob costume they played keep-away and "baseball" and juggled and were having just tons of fun for over an hour!  The baseball game got a little rough so I told them to take it outside... the rain had turned to a light mist.  So they went outside and played with the hose and got pretty wet.  Then, still getting along and in good spirits, they came in.

Someone got the brilliant idea to make... WATER BALLOONS!  I thought the were just washing up from playing outside in the rain and getting clean and dry.  Nope.  And I cannot figure out how they untied those darn balloons!  And now I know why Q-man came up to me at one point and asked me to untie one (which I didn't).

Good news is the bathroom floor that Master Procrastinator has not been attending to has now been taken care of!  As have the walls ... and the baseboards... and the hall floor....

Triple digits!!!!

Wooo hooo!!!!!  A hundred people have looked at my blog!  lol

Thanks, everyone!  I love the support!

Master Procrastinator

That is what I could be for Halloween.  I could dress like a rap star or a d.j.  Or a sort of super hero.  Except Halloween is usually about stepping outside of yourself and dressing as something you are not.  So I should go as Miss Punctuality 2010... maybe with a sash and tiara?

Back to my mastery of procrastination...

This year my kids knew pretty far in advance what they wanted to be for Halloween.  They made the decreed-final decision in mid-September.  They had cool, creative ideas that necessitated mom-help and some clever craftiness and the potential for unusual engineering.  I figured that a month plus lead time was perfect and do-able.  You always walk that line teetering on the brink of "stale idea" when you plan ahead for Halloween.

My kids go to a different kind of school.  At their school there are LOTS of days off (which presents the opportunity for a separate blog entry).  They always have a week off right around Halloween and their school parade is the Thursday or Friday before Halloween... so that costume needs to be ready early.  It also allows for the costume-inclined to have an outfit for the parade AND for real Halloween, which is the route my kids have often taken.

Sooooo... with a month's advance notice I, of course, waited until Monday to begin costumes for the parade today.  I finished them.  Grandma helped. And they came out spectacular... in my humble opinion ;-)

Q-man's required no work from me... Harry Potter.  Thank you for being so easy, Q!

Consignment store and hand-downs!


Big G went classic horror.  He wanted to be The Blob.  Here it is:

Big red t-shirt with balloons stapled to it covered by a clear plastic shower curtain with red plastic wrap taped all over it.

The balloons underneath give it that sort of gelatinous jiggle.

Baby X was the show-stopper...  a peacock!  

Poster board, tape, ribbon, and a whole lot of feathers.

Below you can see the beginning of the construction.

Miss C was still in her jammies for the event.  The jury is still out on what she will wear for Halloween.

So given the craftiness and engineering genius and fact that the costumes were completed on time (!) maybe Master Procrastinator gets to be a super hero after all!

Bad behavior in the grocery store...

Not the kids ...

me :-(


Monday is grocery shopping day.  I have been working to make it a once-a-week-ONLY event.  I have been very successful with this for the past 6 weeks or so, although by Sunday it's pretty slim pickin's in the pantry.  (what can you make with quinoa, cocktail onions and mustard?  mmmmmm).

Okay, so.... back to my purge confession...

I had dropped of the kids at school and ventured to the awesome grocery store across the street with Miss C in tow.  She is a super cutie...

She is 19 months old and talks crazy good and sings and is fun.  She was cutely singing "up and down" in a sweet and quiet voice while I was checking out the apples about 3 feet away.  All of a sudden I hear

 "SHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I turn around immediately and see this old guy slinking quickly away.  I look around sort of bewildered at what I think just happened.  Another customer catches my eye and very sympathetically nods her head as I ask out loud, "Did that really happen?"  She says, "That was SO wrong..."

As I am standing there, somewhat shocked that someone would get all up in a BABY'S face and essentially scream "shhhhh" at her, the old guy turns and looks at me and sees the expression of disbelief and disgust on my face.  He makes a mocking face at me as he approaches.  I tell him to stay away from my baby.  He tells me to keep my baby from screaming in the store. "I'm trying to shop here," he growls.  I say something about her being a baby and that he probably was one, too, at one point.  He loudly tells me he doesn't need my crap.  So I called him an a**hole.

Not good.

There was a mini-escalation, in the middle of which I went looking for a manager.  I wish I had just done that from the beginning.  Or better yet, just realized the dude has serious issues and just walked away.

I feel better now.

Lesson learned.

Thanks for listening.

Rescued by The Funky Bunch

Sunday was planned to be a big running day... well, big for me anyway.  The plan was to run 3 miles.  Three miles is farther than I have run since November 2001.  I was nervous.  I was going about getting ready as if I were heading out for a significantly longer run.  Finding the perfect top layer took on monumental importance.

You see, it had started to rain... for the first time in a very long time.   My friend, Stephanie, had given me a lightweight fleece pullover with a half-zip that would be ideal for a drizzly run... staying warm even when wet, easy to get off when too warm, all that jazz.  I could not find this pullover ANYWHERE!!!!  Oh, man.  I tore the hall closet apart.  Not there.  I went through my car.  Not there.  I tornadoed through the laundry... dirty AND clean... wet AND dry.  Not there.  It was nowhere to be found.

So I decided to find a different shirt.  A plain black, long-sleeved cotton t-shirt.  Not too big, not too small.  Not too heavy, not too light.  Not going stay warm when wet like the fleece, but whatever... it'd do.  Went through the same search drill.  No black t-shirt.

All of this searching took at least thirty minutes... about the amount of time I was planning on running.  Finally, no longer amused by my searching frenzy, my husband said, "Just put something on already and GO!  What is the big deal?  A half an hour after you finish running you aren't even going to remember what you wore.  Get outta here!"  For once I listened to this smart man the FIRST time he told me the best course of action.  I grabbed a heavy cotton sweatshirt (the antithesis of what I wanted) and left.

I started off in the nice drizzle.  It was such a nice change.  It's finally feeling like fall here... although the whole summer was pretty fall-like actually!  About 10 minutes into it the mind games started... the slowness, the "shortness", the raininess ... and all of the comparisons that one should not be making at this stage in one's life and level of fitness.  I had forgotten all about "just happy to be here" and finding joy in being able to run AT ALL and what a glorious place I get to run and how good it feels to breathe hard and break a sweat... I had started tanking big time.  I just wanted it to be over.  The sooner, the better.

My music wasn't helping.  When I run alone I listen to music, and it had been just sort of droning in the background, providing no inspiration, no motivation, hardly even "white noise" to remove the voices in my head... About one mile out, the temptation to turn around was huge.  Hey, 2 miles is about what I was up to and isn't so measly and not much more measly than 3 miles...

 Enter:  The Funky Bunch.  

There is nothing like a kick-ass song to kick your ass into gear!  I smiled and sang and ran kind of fast for a little while.  I started to feel like I used to feel when I ran... like it was easy.  And when the song was over, I wasn't.  The "Good Vibrations" from that one tune carried me through to completion.  I was able to notice how beautiful it was out.  I was running past one of my favorite places...

It may not look like much, but I LOVE this slough!

The run ended up being 3.8 miles... in 36 minutes!  Go, me!  

Chuthers and darps

The vocabulary of a five-year old includes some very interesting words, some of which the origin can be explained and some of which remain a mystery to this day.

I'll bet you didn't know you had a chuther.  Well, we ALL have chuthers... every single one of us.

A few months ago, my 5-year old, Q-man, was talking at me about something.  I was preoccupied with something else and only partially taking it in.  Something about "my chuther... blah, blah, blah.... his chuther... yada, yada, yada... their chuthers, etc."  I nodded in agreement, wondering what the heck a chuther was.  Then because the thing I was doing was soooooo important (I was probably changing a diaper or opening a package of hot dogs or trying to untangle a wad of Playmobil and Lego grappling hooks mixed with a necklace chain) I simply shrugged my shoulders and forgot about it.

It came up again during what started out as a similarly distracted, semi-one-sided conversation ....

     "We were chasing our chuthers, and he bit me."   (A-ha! I thought. Chuther again!  what is that?)
     "Your chuther bit you?"
     "No, mom!"   (really now, how could I be so stupid?)
     "Who bit you?"
     "Gus, mom.  But I bit him, too. And we said sorry already."
      "Okay..... but..... what's a chuther?"   (the $64,000 question)
     Heavy sigh... rolling eyes....
      "Your chuther is your SELF."

So I am thinking, and pretty sure, this comes from "each other".  Kind of a stretch, but makes some sense...especially in a 5-year old brain.  But where darp came from....

Traveling with young kids can be a blast... a ton of work but a blast nonetheless.  We were in Siena, Italy which is famous for the Palio, an annual horse race that dates back to 1656.  It is a super big deal over there and horses are, too.  We were wandering around and came upon an enormous statue of a horse... a very virile-looking horse, I might add (of course, who on earth would make a statue of an old nag, right?).  Big G was nearly 5 at the time.  He was fascinated by this statue.  He started telling me all about it.

     "He's really big, mommy."
     "He sure is."
     "He has big legs."
     "Yep."
     "He has a fancy saddle."
     "He does."
     "And there's his darp."
     "His what?"
     "His darp."  (now pointing up underneath the horse).

At that age, Big G was familiar with the word "penis" and what it was, so I knew that wasn't what a darp was.  Then he reached up and patted the gigantic balls...

We don't all have a darp.

Graduating...

Yay!  I have graduated from "trudging" to "shuffling"!

Yes, there is a HUGE difference!  "Trudging" connotes heaviness in addition to slowness, whereas there is a certain lightness in "shuffling."

I doubt there is any evidence of this graduation to an observer.

But I feel it... and THAT'S what's important!

So still slow.  And not able to go very far (2.4 miles is the "long" run).

And I've picked my 5K to enter....oooooo, scary...... Run Wild on Sunday, November 28.  It'll be nice to run through Golden Gate Park... or rather shuffle through Golden Gate Park ;-)

Perspectives...

What is this?

This ....

Is an excellent hiding place....

If you are very small....

And not afraid of the dark.

Pretty much everyone, from very young (see picture) to quite old (yours truly), would agree on that.

Where they don't agree is that this...

Is NOT a bathroom.

Even if you put a potty in there.

And especially if you don't...

This is the cleaned up picture ;-)



Having fun with The Ghosts of Blogging Past...

Lullabies

Everyone has a bedtime routine of some sort.  Sometimes I think bedtime routines are kind of like lucky socks.  You know, you win a game wearing the lucky socks so you always make sure you have those same socks on so you'll win again.  Or something like that.

Bedtime routines are usually a little more reliable than lucky socks, though.

One thing I have always done for my children is sing a song (or many) right before the final "good night."  This has always struck me as funny because I really cannot sing.  My lack of vocal musicality has been such a disappointment to me for as long as I can remember.  In third grade a classmate pointed out to the teacher that "maybe we all shouldn't be singing" while looking directly at ME, and since then I can't even happily sing along, oblivious to the fact that I am out of tune... I hear it!  And can't do a darn thing about it.  Such a bummer.

One of the wonderful things about having kids is that they think we parents are rockstars!  Just because!  So I can sing my off-key renditions and the kids are delighted.  No sneers, no snickers, no hurling of rotting vegetables.  In fact, there are copious tears if the song is not sung.  They will even try to weasel EXTRA singing from me!

Each child has had favorite songs, and there has always been one tried and true that we finish off with... until now.  Miss C is not into our usual finale (Barney's "I Love You"... I know you're thinking, "the girl's got taste"), and she does not want to hear any of the commonly-sung toddler bedtime fare.  Her current preferences are "Happy Birthday to You," the clean-up song (clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere...) and the theme song from Bob the Builder (which she has seen once).  A couple or three times through and she is reaching for the crib.  Not sure if it's because she feels drowsy or just wants me to stop.  Hey, whatever works, right?

Super score. Hard fall.

Trying to find an activity that all of the kids like has not been easy.  Swimming works but is best for the summer as coordinating class times is possible.  Once fall rolls around, they would be two on a team and one in lessons... so someone would be cold and wet and two others would be swimming more than they really enjoy and entertaining a toddler at the pool is just so NOT fun or safe.

Well, we finally found something they all LOVE!  Ice skating!  I have a fondness for this as it reminds me of my childhood.  I took figure skating lessons for about 3 years.  The smell of the rink is so nostalgic.  I smile every time we go inside.  The only small hitch is that the older two have flat feet and over-pronate pretty significantly.  Rental skates suck.  Watching them try to go straight on one foot, do cross-overs, etc. is painful... their ankles bend in so severely.  Their instructors recommend we buy them skates, even cheapies.  Anything would be better than rentals, they said.  Hmmmm.  How much will THAT set us back?

I started looking in the usual cheapskate (lol) places... craigslist and ebay.  Nothing.  Then I looked on the bulletin board at the rink (didn't know they had one or I'd have checked sooner).  There were some in Baby X's size looking in fairly decent shape from the not-so-great photo for $35.  Called the number, arranged a meeting to try them on ... at the rink during a public skating session on Sunday.  Cool, I thought.  I'll take the kids skating!

The skates fit.  Yay!  And were in much better condition than they looked to be in the picture.  Yay!  And the same skates were $279+ tax in the skate shop new.  And we got them for $35!  THAT, my friends, is a Super Score!

Then I fell.

I didn't remember ice being that hard.

Kind of like not remembering childbirth being that painful.

It really hurt.  Not as much as childbirth, but that moment when all of my weight landed on my hip bone and I lay there sprawled out on the ice, it really hurt.  And I had to work to keep my "game face" on.  I tend to be more of a "c'mon, brush it off.  You're fine" kind of mom and I needed to do that to myself in front of my kids!  Put it all in a new perspective, for sure!  I think I'll be checking in with them a little more carefully and compassionately from now on when they take a tumble.

No pictures of the nice, round, silver-dollar sized bruise... but trust me, it's there and it's blue and it hurts.

Giveaways!

The other day I won a giveaway!  I follow another mom's blog and she held a contest in which she listed a bunch of fun, entertaining, random questions and readers answered.  The person with the most correct answers won as well as a randomly selected reader... I was the randomly selected reader!  


The same mom is having another giveaway on her blog... it's a Scentsy Giveaway!

If yummy scents are your thing, check it out!   

What do you give a man who has everything?

He has his health.  He has good looks.  He has all the cameras he could want (ha ha).  He has 10 loving children, each of whom cherish their relationship with him at this point.  He has an adoring wife (me!).

Babe, since you're "off" cake at the moment, here is a picture of last year's celebration.  Imagine another candle on there and you're set!  Love you!  Happy birthday and many happy returns!

In the beginning...

There were shoes. 

They were new.

They were good.

 So after making through a month in my ancient Asics, I splurged... new shoes.  I had forgotten how pricey these puppies are!  Ouch!  But after all that retail running store training I had a million years ago I know I needed to get them.  A sweet pair of Saucony ProGrid Ride 3.  I love 'em!  

So nice!

I am up to two miles without stopping now.  Woo hoo!  And I need to keep reminding myself, "baby steps, baby steps."  I have decided to do a timed mile run at the beginning of every month.  So funny... and not ha ha (though it actually may be to those who watch it)... literally trudging along for time!  The first one was on Saturday 10/2 and I sped over the distance in 8:45.  Heh heh... wonder how long it'll take to knock 3 minutes off that?  lol  And I am shooting for doing a 5K over Thanksgiving weekend.  Keeping my fingers crossed that the hip stays healthy!

Making It Happen

Last month I decided it was time.  Exercise.  Running, to be precise.  So I dug around in the closet and found the most recent pair of running shoes in the house... a 5-year old pair of Asics something or other. I had bought them shortly after the birth of my third child, thinking I would get fit again.  HA!  A funky hip foiled that plan.  So I just wore the shoes around until I felt the need for making a different fashion statement, and the Asics wound up being moved from house to house to house, unworn and forlorn.

Resurrected, they worked just fine for my new little regimen.  Can you call a jog/trudge/walk/hobble for 15 minutes a "regimen"?  Every other day for the month of September I went out and jogged/walked forward/walked backward from our gate up to the playground and back... roughly a total of a mile and a quarter.

While it may not have been much, it was a start... it IS a start!  It is giving me a whole new perspective on things... and I LIKE IT!  One step at a time, one foot in front of the other.... making it happen.