Funny S*** Tuesday...

... literally and figuratively.

So I sometimes get a little uncomfortable with showing my deeper side. I am a reallyoverly sensitive, insightful, deeply-feeling person. Don't laugh. It's true. I have a weird habit of trying to cover upbalance out the inspirational, meaningful "me" with crassness and stupid jokes. Ask my husband, and he'll tell you how good I am at wrecking a mood with inappropriate laughter.

What this means is that I can't just go with yesterday's post about shooting the moon and my running goals.

No...

Today I have to destroy the image of me being some kind of super together grown up. This is sure to leave some of you broken and disillusioned. Others will laugh at me. Still others will laugh with me.

Yesterday I had physical therapy. That was were my PT told me that she fully supported me training for a marathon. I even told her my time goal and she didn't laugh :) But... before I went into the treatment room I had to change into my shorts.

I had been wearing these yoga pants for two days (this is not the gross part). The day before I had felt some weird crumbly something going on around my backside (okay, that's kind of gross). I couldn't figure it out and so just ignored it, thinking maybe it would just go away.

When I took my pants off in the dressing room at PT, this was what I saw...

That's gross.

All I could think of was... what the heck? though the words in my head were a little stronger.

Then I realized what this mess was. And no... it wasn't s***. 

It was chocolate.

The first day I wore these pants I had gone grocery shopping with two of my kids. I needed a little pick-me-up in the form of chocolate. I put a fistful of chocolate chips into a little ziploc baggie and stuffed it into the waistband at the back of the pants. The baggie had a hole in it. The heat and pressure of my back against the seat of the car, squishing the chocolate chips, caused this mess.

I had to share this with someone who would understand, so I messaged Beth at Shut Up and Run! It had made me think of a post she did about licking herself like a cat after sitting in melted chocolate in her car. 

Of course she asked if had eaten it.

The answer is NO. Even though I know it's chocolate, it really looks too gross.

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Next funny thing...

My kids have been on my case something fierce about playing on the computer. What is up with that? What happened to kick-the-can and paper dolls? I was trying to get stuff done and so I caved.

The three older kids were clustered around the screen, laughing hilariously...

What words do you love to say? 

What words always make you giggle?


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And now serious biz...although the fact that I am plugging anything with a pink voting circle badge could be construed as exceptionally funny :P

The woman who inspired me to start running again and to also start a blog is in one of those frightening Circle of Moms Top 25 contests. She is in it because I told her to enter. Was that mean?

Anyway, she is beyond amazing... drop-dead gorgeous mom of 8 little kids, about to run her first marathon (St. George...most likely sub-4), gracious, funny, smart. It's the Top 25 Big Families blog contest. She is up against some super heavy-hitters. But Catey is the real deal, folks. Please go vote for her! Remember... you can vote once every 24 hours :)

Here's her direct voting link... right HERE.

My New Best Friend

Please bear with me while I pull together the last installment of "You Ask, I Answer"... the fabulous Q & A game that bares all, tells all. (Answers vol. 1, vol. 2. and vol. 3 can be found by clicking on those numbers). The video is just boring and long, and I am figuring out how to spice it up and make it interesting and entertaining. I hope to debut it on Monday, at which point I will also announce the Nuun winners :)


In the meantime...

I would like to introduce you to my new best friend...

This is her good side.

She's doesn't have a whole lot going on on the inside.

My physical therapist introduced us. She goes by the name The Grid... click on it to read her specs. What I love about her more than other foam rollers are the following:

• the little ridges and groove things make it hurt more while rolling, thus making me hurt less after,
• no deforming over time... my other roller started looking like an hourglass, and
• the hollow, PVC-pipe core make her easier to take on trips... I can pack stuff inside of her so she really doesn't take up a whole lot of space in the bag/suitcase.

She and I have been spending a lot of time together since I was rear-ended a week ago Tuesday. I do believe she is helping get me back to running sooner than if we hadn't met. She wasn't cheap... but she's worth it ... and so am I :)

So... yep... haven't really run in over a week. It sucks. I did get a little, easy 3-miler in on Tuesday. I was going to run yesterday, but I was slammed by a migraine that sent me to bed at 7:30 (about 5 hours earlier than normal... and before my normal running window of opportunity). I hope the headache lifts enough by this evening so that I can log a few miles. I am working on my patience big time. I don't want to be a DASA.  I know that waiting until I don't feel off-kilter and bound up will pay off. And I know that not waiting will come back to haunt me... so I wait.

I've gotten a couple of bike rides in... one early enough in the evening that I was able to take these cool pictures...

At the southern end of my ride that day was an old city dump. 

People make all kinds of interesting things out of found objects

(read: junk)

This little amphitheater-ish thingy is one such creation.

There is a community of 'homeless' squatters who live in lean-tos and tents in the near vicinity...

I think they have little bonfire parties in this amphitheater sometimes.

At the northern end of my ride was the Rosie the Riveter Memorial...

These structures are an artist's rendition of ship-building...

I think this is the bow...

this may or may not be the part in the middle of the ship where the control guys hang out

(my Love Boat-watching self seems to think this was called the 'bridge')

and in the distance, out over the water, is the stern.

But I may have the bow and stern reversed :P

There are a whole lot of commemorative pavers between the bow and stern...

below are three of them...

Fascinating stuff, history. 

World War II, the war efforts and the ship-building industry are largely why my mom's side of the family wound up in these parts.

A less experienced athlete and younger person might be getting super duper agitated by needing to sit out for two weeks when in the middle of training for a half-marathon AND getting ready for a rapidly-approaching team event like the Hood to Coast Relay... stressing about letting her Nuun Platuun down. Well, I know that I will be much more likely to perform at my highest level by taking care of this pain biz NOW. I'll come back fresh and feisty... raring to go... Commando, I am :)

On the parenting front, I am struggling. My kids fight a lot. I know I need to get more authoritative with them... but I have been doing this for 16 years and am feeling a trifle burnt out. 

I just found out that my 6-year old has been going across the street to play Halo video games. We don't have video games over here... long story involving my stepsons, and husband hurling the nintendo down the street into the vacant lot to get them to finally stop needing to be glued to the darn thing. So Q-Man has been having nightmares and lots of separation anxieties lately... thanks, Halo. I just read the parental reviews on that one. What are those neighbor parents thinking? Clearly not what I'm thinking :P No more video games for now.

Baby X begged to go to another session of camp. She loves it so much. She has her father's awesome social streak. Lucky her :)

Big G is reading like the reading fiend he is. And fighting with his younger siblings. 

Miss C is into anything and everything. She can climb all the safety gates... they are now just decorative. She has figured out how to bust the doorknob covers off so can enter any room she wishes whenever she wants. She learned to push the chair over to and climb up on the kitchen counter to access the upper cupboards, where the cookies and chocolate live. She has started biting! Even herself! And now she likes to slide down the bannister...

But she gets stuck at the bottom. And screams.

Here's hoping for lovely weather for us all, enjoyable and healthy exercise, relaxing family moments and world peace :)

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

My family went to Paris and all I got was…

... sick.

Not really. 

Only two of us got to get sick :P

As far as purchases went, the kids did get to choose some pretty stellar (and cheapo) souvenirs on their trip to France...

Big G picked a few books (in French) about ancient weaponry, mythology and wizardry...

And a nifty "gold" pocket watch with an Eiffel Tower embossed on the cover, a very detailed metal model of Notre Dame, and an awesome little gargoyle.

Baby X had her eye on sparkly things and Astérix.  

A book bag, keychains and a little sparkly Eiffel Tower.

Q-Man decided on a "silver" pocket watch with a "gold" Eiffel Tower glued molded onto it of his very, very own (similar to Big G's) and two books (again, in French) about medieval castles and life in the Middle Ages...one of which came with a mighty coolio castle to build!

And his pièce de resistance...

A fabulous $4 snow globe.

Daddy was diggin' on the cheapo chocolate that was on sale at the supermarket.

(it isn't even the 'good' stuff... but man, did he get it for a good price ;-) )

What did I get?

Well, what I wanted was this...

You know how I feel about our toilets here at home. These French toilets rival Target's public restroom toilets and the blaster toilets on airplanes. And they have a half-flush, water-saving feature ;-)  Even the French version of the low-flow toilet is better than the American one. These guys have it going on!

Check this out...

I saw no plungers in any of the bathrooms I visited on the trip. None. They are unnecessary. Such a difference from our house where one is required in every bathroom and used at least once every day.

However...

due to the very low initial water level, a toilet brush (right hand side of picture and video) is indispensable. I think you know why.

So that's what I really wanted, but...

because of luggage restrictions and our budget constraints, I had to settle for these...

The World's Most Awesome Tampons!

And you have to go to France to get them ;-)

The Slacker Bunny...

Today is Easter. I know it really is one of the holiest of all days for those who are of a Christian faith. I work to educate my children about which faiths celebrate what and what each faith holds in holy regard. While we are not a church-going family, both my husband and I are spiritual people who endeavor to "do right" in this world on all levels. We do our best to impart this philosophy onto our children.

(Miss C has on 2 dresses... she picked one out, put it on, got mad, refused to take it off, demanded a new one put on over the first one... she is so two)

Right here and now, I have to confess... it's about the chocolate for my kids. Jelly beans come in second place. Peeps don't even enter into the equation. And Jesus... well, let's just say I definitely need to do some more work teaching "what is the meaning of Easter."

Still feeling jet-lagged after our great trip to France (at least it makes for a good excuse... and I'll use it as long as I can), I didn't have it all together regarding Easter preparations for my kids. No cute outfits... no fancy chocolate bunnies... no real baby bunnies or chicks or lambs... not even any plain white, hard-boiled eggs (I did buy the egg dye pack, however, so the intention was there). And, as you will be able to see in the videos, my jet-lag has been so powerful as to render me incapable of tidying up the house :P

If you would like to spend 2 minutes joining in on our egg hunt and see what the downstairs of our messy house looks like, watch this first video...

Then the kids took the show upstairs... so if you want to see what that looks like, in all it's glory, including our indoor bridge (!), watch this second, slightly longer video...

For once, I am not surprised that everyone is melting down and screaming and cranky already... and it's only noon. 

I did let them eat chocolate before breakfast

and during breakfast

and after breakfast.

Next year, we will be exploring the more spiritual side of the holiday.