Home Away From Home

Look Where I am!

Its a.....

I forgot to send you all over to my sister's blog for her good news.  Check out "Mildly Intelligent" to find out if Ria will be holding a pink or blue bundle in August!  Congrats Ria and Edwin!  We are all so excited for you guys.

He is at it again

Yay for my new TV!

Tonight I got to run while watching "The Biggest Loser"!  I was so happy to be doing this again.  I always used to run while watching TBL when we lived in Troy.  Now that I have my new TV I am back in business!  Since the show is so long I usually lift weights too.  Tonight I worked out for a solid 2 hours from 8:30 to 10:30.  I got in a run, weights, and abdominal work.  Good times.  I cannot tell you about how wonderful it was to not be staring at the wall while I was running!  (BTW- "The Biggest Loser" was awesome tonight!  I love the contestant Tara.  She is a machine!)

In other new....  Baby Jack was so funny tonight.  He stayed up for an hour and a half after I put him to bed.  He was jabbering and playing in his crib.  I went in a few times b/c I could tell he was up to something.  Three times I found him completely naked and jumping up and down on his mattress.  His clothes and diaper thrown all over the room.  I just went and checked on him now... he fell asleep about 2 hours ago.  Before he fell asleep he had taken off his clothes again!  Thank goodness he had kept his diaper on this time!  These pics are so cute.

Nice Surprise

Jack was being very secretive today.  Sneaking off to the store.  Not telling me what he was buying.  Hiding receipts.  Very fishy behavior.  Later in the day I snuck away to take a phone call and when I came back he insisted that I go upstairs to the bonus room. When I did, this beautiful television was waiting for me!!!  I couldn't believe it.  Some of you may remember that I have been running on my treadmill looking at this.  Well, it was driving me absolutely batty!  Every time I get up there to run I just want to cry.  That is not good.  So Jack surprised me w/ this.  And he is getting ready to mount it on the wall tonight.  Yay!  What a doll.  Thanks honey!

I May Never Scrub the Floors Again

I have a confession to make.  All of my childhood and most of my adult life so far I have believed a complete and utter falsehood.  It was not until the ripe old age of 25 that I realized I was believing in a lie.  What is this you may ask?  I am embarrassed to say.  But-- here it is.  I honestly used to think that my Mother never worked when I was growing up.  I know, I know. Of course she worked!  But it took me becoming a Mother myself, at the age of 25, for me to figure this out.  Here is what led to this misconception.  

There were 4 girls in my family. Chores were divided up between us.  (My brother was supposed to do the outside chores.  Just picture a 10 year old boy zipping around on a riding lawn mower at 20 miles per hour, and you KNOW how much work he got done.)  Anyway, all inside chores were divided up amongst us girls.  I did the laundry for the family.  Anna and Ria did the bathrooms and the kitchen.  One time they switched and then one wouldn't let the other switch back or something.  It was a very touchy situation.  Grace did... well... I am not sure what she did.  Oh, I think she fed various animals- dogs, cats, sheep, horses, etc.  Or did she empty trash cans?  I don't know but I am sure she was doing something in between climbing trees.  Anyway- I can remember thinking, "My Mom has got it made.  She doesn't have to do ANYTHING around here." Or- "Geesh!  If Mom would just pitch in we could get this work done in a jiffy."  Or- "I hope I have a house full of daughters someday so I don't have to work!"  I remember wondering what she did w/ her leisure time.  I would picture her sitting in her room reading a magazine and eating chocolate while we girls worked the day away.  Ha! As a Mother, I now know this was just not the case.

During Lent, Lisa's Faith Formation class has been raising money for the poor.  On the first Sunday of Lent she emptied her piggy bank.  She has asked for money every Sunday since.  I was not just going to give her money though.  I told her she could do some extra hard chores around the house to earn the money.  The main thing I have her doing is scrubbing the floors.  I just give her warm water and a dish cloth.  I taught her how to do it and she does pretty well.  She enjoys it actually.  She sings and we talk while I am nearby.  It dawned on me today as she was mopping- I still had a ton of work to do!!!  Sure, it is nice to not have to mop now BUT I can by no means sit down and eat Bon-Bons.  I then thought about my Mother.  What on Earth was she doing when I thought she was relaxing?  Probably one of the million other things she had to do!  

I looked at Lisa scrubbing tonight and thought- "Even if I had to re-scrub these floors it is worth it to have her learning this.  This is good for her."  And then something else dawned on me- My Mother probably thought all those chores were good for us!  Gasp!  I am still laughing just thinking about it.  She probably wanted us to work b/c it was teaching us something of value.  It has taken me 30 years to figure all this out!

Wow Mom.  You got me.  Sorry about thinking you never worked.  Sorry if I complained too much.  (I am sure I did.)  I guess you can say what goes around, comes around!  Love you.  Peace.

Back on the Wagon

Well I got back on the treadmill today and it sure felt nice.  I did a really slow 2 miles just to test out my foot.  I was just so happy to be running again.... I couldn't stop smiling!  (See pic.  Taken w/ phone, by myself, while running.)  So now I am icing my foot and it feels good.  I still have to ice it after every run for a few weeks.  Hopefully, my latest injury is a thing of the past!  I am off to bed now....  Peace.

I have been....

slacking on my blog.  I know.  My lack of presence here on the world wide web could only be described as-- exhaustion.  And that could only be due to two little people I know.

We have been running ragged this week!  The doctor's appointments alone could put someone in the looney bin!  Also- added to that-- I have taken 2 weeks off running for my injury.  (Which turned out to be sprained sesamoid bones.)  So no running leaves me w/ a big void in the motivation department!  However- I am due to hop in the treadmill tomorrow!  (I am sooo tempted to go tonight but am trying to give myself one more day of rest.)  Once I am up and running again I am sure I will have lots of silly and injury-laden updates for you!  Until tomorrow!  Peace.

What a difference a year makes!

It was a year ago today that I returned to racing 5Ks.  I can't believe how fast time has gone.  I remember this race so vividly.  I went alone.  Jack was out of town.  My parents couldn't come. My in-laws watched the kiddos for me.  I didn't know a soul there and no one knew me.  It was a different race experience.  My goal was to finish in 27 minutes.  I ran it in 28:40.  I remember being overwhelmed w/ emotion when I crossed the finish line.  You can read about it here.  

What I didn't write about in my blog that day is that I cried as I crossed the finish line and walked to my car.  I was so overwhelmed by just being there and not being overweight.  (I had not reached my goal weight at this point... but I was w/in 10 pounds.)  I kept looking around at all the fit people there and thinking- "This is where I want to be.  With these people.  Can I stay here with them?  Do I fit in?"  After the race that day there was no glory.  No one knew my name cheering me in.  I didn't set a PR.  There weren't hugs and pictures.  There certainly was no trophy or medal.  It was just me and my ipod and my new self.  

As I walked to my car crying there WAS a smile on my face.  I had a feeling I might belong here and it was just to wonderful to think about.  When I got behind the wheel I said a prayer before I left for home.  I remember saying- "Thank you Lord.  Thank you so much for getting me to today.  Please help me to take better care of myself in the future, so I never get to where I can't do this again."  A year later... I still say similar prayers all the time.  That was such a great day for me.  What a difference a year makes!

Beyond Crunches

While I am unable to run I have decided to concentrate on strengthing my core.  I used to do 500 crunches a night but it got repetative and I slacked off.  So now I am searching through all my favorite websites and old magazines to get the best core workouts.  Tonight's workout was from Runner's World.  It only took 15 minutes and was a lot of fun!

Down for the count...

Well folks... I am injured.  We all knew it was coming.  And here it is.  I went too hard for too long.  Sesamoiditis or a sesamoid fracture are the two most likely possibilities.  After emailing extensively w/ my running doctor in Ohio he believes one of them to be the problem.  It is rather frustrating. He said he thinks my orthotics need modified so I sent them off to him in the mail yesterday.  He also said I need to take some time off.  This is very upsetting.  We originally thought 4 to 6 weeks w/ no running.  However, tomorrow I am going into see my chiropractor and I think she will do x-rays to determine if it is broken.  If it is not a fracture and, is just sesamoiditis, then I will probably just rest as long as I possibly can w/o losing my mind. The sesamoid bones are small bones in the big toe.  And I do not think they are fractured b/c I have not had any bruising.  Hopefully I can find out tomorrow for sure.  For a completely boring but informational write up on the injury of seasamoiditis see The American Running Association.  Peace out!

Recovering from a great weekend!

I was in good 'ole Steubenville this weekend for my household reunion.  It has been 10 years since we began Stella Mariae and it is still going strong-- thanks to many, many awesome young women who are keeping it alive.  What an amazing time I had!  It was great to be back in my second home w/ my best friends.  These women are so dear to my heart.  Years can go by but we all pick up right where we left off.  I believe this is b/c our friendships are based in Christ and our faith.  I could go on and on about this weekend.  I really had such a beautiful visit.  Love to all the girls.  Peace out.

Proceed w/ Caution

Ahhh.  Another great run today.  I just hopped off my treadmill.  I did 3.25 miles. My workouts have been a little shorter lately.  I am trying to run under 5 miles at a time and only a few times a week.  I have a nagging little pain in my foot and I am proceeding w/ caution.  I am not sure what it is exactly.  The pain is on the ball of my right foot and goes up my big toe.  (Of course it is my right leg.  My right leg is really the bane of my existence.  And I looked up the meaning of that phrase... it means something "is a constant irritant or source of misery."  Ha!)  The past month it only hurt when I ran.  However this week it started hurting all.the.time.  I am confused b/c I am doing everything I should be.  Plenty of stretching, slow runs, days off, strength work... (okay, maybe I could do more strength training but does that really effect the ball of my foot?)  If it doesn't get better I will need to find a new runner doctor here in NC.  I miss my running doc in Ohio.  He knows so much.  I emailed him today to ask if he knew of anyone in this area who works w/ runners.  I also asked him a little about this pain I am having.  I am anxiously awaiting his reply.  For now I've dropped my mileage to between 9 and 15 miles a week.  And they are SLOW miles.  I am not letting this hold me down!  Onward!

Snow Day

It snowed in North Carolina again!  That makes the third time it has snowed here since we moved.  And people from here say they can have 4 or 5 years w/o snow in a row.  The first time it snowed was the day after we moved.  People we met kept asking us "Did you bring the snow w/ you?"  Today when we woke up and saw the snow Lisa said, "Mom, I think we really DID bring the snow with us!"  I took this picture out of our upstairs window this afternoon.  It is not the best shot but the colors caught my eye.

As for workout news--- I had the greatest run tonight!  I did 4.5 miles on my sister's treadmill. It is in her garage so it was super-cold but so refreshing.  It was the best run I've had in a LONG time!  Now I am off to bed.  Peace out everyone.