M+B=E2O2

Prayers, Blessing & Gratitude

Today starts the season of Lent. Every year we discuss and come up with what we are going to "give up". As a kid I always struggled with this, generally cheating and giving up something I was rarely allowed to have anyway, such as gum. I have used lent as an adult much more appropriately. I have given up salt, chips, coffee, soda & various other vices and treats over the years. The coffee one was a nightmare. One year, when we realized we were not attending church as often as we intended, we gave up time. One hour a week to go to mass. Seems silly maybe, but it was what we needed to help give us that extra boost and encouragement not to make excuses. The kids have given up this or that over the years, from light sabers (this was a big deal for that kid that year, I was very impressed) to video games. One year Mr. O gave up something and Miss E did not. He still brings that travesty up. I have spent a lot of time thinking about lent this year. I perused Pinterest and googled aplenty. We have made a number of changes in our everyday life over the last month and I wanted to make some positive changes to our spiritual life as well.

 

Here is what I came up with and what we are putting into practice as of today. One thing I wanted to develop was our time spent in prayer. We say grace before meals and the kids have all learned their basic prayers and we do say prayers for those we know need them. I wanted us to do more and do it with intention. We compiled a list of people or groups to pray for. I think there were over 60 & I know I have thought of a few more that I want to add into the dish. Every night we will draw out a slip of paper that will tell us for whom/what we will be praying for the following day. Today we are keeping one of our homeschool families in our thoughts and prayers. How cool is that? I can tell you that if we know you in real life, expect to feel our thoughts and prayers one day this season, I'm pretty sure everyone we know made it in the dish in some fashion, be it as an individual or as part of a group.

Another part of what we are doing is what I am calling "Blessing". Every day we will bless our home by cleaning out and getting rid of "stuff". It may be trash, toys, clothes, gadgets - whatever. When we can, those items will go to the Rescue Mission and bless others. Otherwise I suppose it will be our trash bin that gets blessed. 40 days, 40 bags. That is the goal. I wrote up a list of areas and put those into another dish. We will draw out one of those slips each night as well.

Once we have pulled out the slips I wanted to put them in a pretty or special jar or dish. While looking through my cupboards I came across a gift that Ben was given for Christmas this year from a patient. It is an antique ceramic mortar and pestle. It is both beautiful and incredibly special. The story behind it is touching and as I looked at it I realized it would be the prefect reminder of gratitude. Gratitude is also something I wanted to incorporate into this season, but had not figured out just how. The m&p was bought by the mother of Ben's patient. They were in Rome over the Christmas season of 1999/2000 and were there when Pope John Paul was giving a blessing. Daughter and Mom were walking down the Avenue when Mom slipped into an antique store and before daughter could persuade her otherwise, the m&p was bought. I will quote her letter directly as to why she gifted such a beautiful and special piece to my wonderful husband.

"The jesture [sic] on my part in gifting you, is that this be a reminder for you, of the grateful patients who appreciate not just your talents and time...but also the moments you take, with gentle words of caring, to our heart's special needs as humans, who need to know in their time of worry, that their lives have worth to someone else, other than themselves. "

Wow! What a perfect reminder for us all to take the time to care about others, to think of them, pray for them, give to them, be thankful for them. So I made the label "gratitude" and this is where we put the little slips of paper that we have pulled. It will be full of love, prayer and blessings by Easter as I hope our hearts and our home will be too.

If you celebrate the season of Lent, what are some of the things you do?

 

 

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Allowance & Chores

Over the years we have tried a variety of ways to handle chores & allowances. I have read and researched a number of different theories and philosophies and as the kids have grown and changed so have we.

Originally and for most of their lives, I have felt that chores were something expected and required as part of being in this family. I never assigned specifics chores, just expected help when asked. I had read various reasons as to why this is a good route, and at the time it made sense. Well, I did try a few different chore charts off and on over the years, but they never seemed to stick. I went with the philosophy that the kids were part of this "team" we call family and we all have to put in the effort as needed, when asked. I also wanted to teach them money management so I wanted to give them an allowance.

How much to pay was something I also had to research and figure out. Most recommendations I came across said $1 for every year old they are per week. $7 for the 7 year old etc. This seemed do able and reasonable...when they were all under 10. I do regret not capping them at $10 or so. With 4 kids it adds up fast!! Another aspect of that was actually having the money in hand to pay them. As a stay at home mom, regular trips to the bank are just not in my weekly schedule. At one point I found a "virtual" bank called Three Jars. It is a great concept and sort of worked well for us, for a while, however we soon realized that if there was a run on the bank, we might not be able to hold up our end of the deal! They did access the account online often & all knew how to see how much they had in their "spend" jar.

Overall there was a sense of dissatisfaction with the whole thing. While the kids did what they were asked, more often than not it was mom and dad who were doing the bulk of the work. Then a few months ago we were at a social gathering and had the opportunity to chat with a friend's mom who happens to be a financial advisor. She had recently given a talk to parents about this very topic, and had put quite a bit of research into the whole thing. I hope to go to her next talk, and told her as much, but we did pick her brain a bit while we had the opportunity. The biggest take home message for us was the importance of assigning value to their chore. Teach them the relationship between work and money. Pay them in cash, make it real.

Damn. This meant we had to rethink everything. We told the kids we were going to suspend the three jars account. We also let them know that we would honor what we owe them, but that we would need to do it over the next year since their combined savings alone was nearly $600 and the combined spending was around $300. (Can you see the fear we had if they all needed/wanted their money at once!!?)

 

I then started researching different methods again. I came across a family that seemed to have a good thing going. (I will link to if I can find it again). I have to say I was pretty inspired. I didn't buy their system, but I did take some of their ideas. I spent the next few weeks sketching out some ideas and trying things out. Once I had a workable plan I let the kids know that changes were a'comin. I went to Target and bought a $15 cash lock box. I then calculated how much money I would need to pay the kids for one month, if they earned their entire "paycheck". I rounded up and took out $200 (YIKES). I got various bills and quarters. I had decided that at the beginning I would round up to the nearest quarter.

Next I wrote out our chart on an old dry erase wall chart thingy (pretty sure that is the official name of it).

 

Throughout the week I would mark their chart with either a green mark or a red one. Red meant I had to do their job. The first week I was pretty brutal. I would mention to them in the morning that they needed to check their charts and do what needed to be done, but that was it, after that I would do jobs as needed in order for me to do my own chores. I always made sure they knew I was earning their money! I also dinged them for bad attitudes. Mind you, I had to be somewhat selective on those battles, because at the end of the week they could end up owing ME money if I counted every single eye roll or sassy word. However I did call them out enough on the really sassy or rude stuff. If you look at the picture you might notice the red A's by their names.

How it all works (for now, I see the need for some tweaking already)

Basically it is a point system. Each kid is assigned chores for the week. Some are daily (recycle, laundry, dog poop) some not so much (trash, dinner helper). Some are really easy and even enjoyable (dinner helper), some are noone's favorite (dog poop), others are just things that need to be done (empty dishwasher, bring laundry downstairs). Finally I also added in school accountability. They all are doing an online math program, they are all in a shakespeare class, they are in religious education and they all take piano. Now, some might disagree with this aspect, but this is part of how they get paid. They have to log into math at least 5 days, they must also do some other form of school 5 days. (As an aside, we are a very relaxed, unschoolish homeschool family, requiring them to do this stuff is very new to us all). They must also practice piano at least 6 days.

 

This last week I cut them some slack on the school stuff since they were all sick and really not able to do much for a few days. Using Emma as an example I'll explain the next bit. She had 5 chores plus school, math & piano. As you can see she did all of her chores. She did not get on piano however and she didn't do any school outside of math, which she did do 3 days worth. She also copped an attitude with me on at least 3 occasions (this girl could owe me major money if I marked her for every single sass!!)

I add up all the green or red marks (not the attitude marks). She ended up with 18 "tasks". However she didn't do 6 of them (piano & school) so she will only get paid for 12 of them. But wait! she also copped an attitude! Minus another 3! She just turned 13, so she should get $13. Before we do anything I have them put at least 10% into a savings envelope that stays in the cash box. Eventualy we will take it into the bank and start a real long term savings account for them.

We round up so Emma puts $2.00 ) in each week (in this case we rounded to the higher whole dollar). We just set the money on top of the envelope to start, so that should they want to add in more at the end of the meeting they can. Then I put out the money and show them what 100% of their take home looks like. We then calulate what percentage they actually get. First I show them how much they would get based on tasks alone. In this example, Emma would have gotten about 67% or $7.37, currently we are rounding up (this will change and become exact, I just filled the cash box with pennies dimes and nickles) so I show her $7.50 that would have gone in her wallet. However, I point out the attitude dings and we then recalucluate. This brings her to 50% or $5.50. At this point they can put more into their long term savings envelope or they keep it all to spend. During all this it has been interesting to hear all the discussion that comes up. It is usually money related, though it isn't always. This has created an opportunity for the kids to have my undivided attention, a rare opportunity in a family with 4 kids!

One change I am going to put into place soon, maybe this week, is the inclusion of a "short term savings" envelope that stays inthe cash box. I am currently thinking I may switch up the % of long term to 15% and then have them put another 15% into short term. They would have access to the short term, but not immediate. They can have a specific goal in place or none what so ever, but the money would be building up for when that irresistable item presents itself, but costs more than what they have in their wallet.

Well, that is it in a nutshell. Being in week four, I am really happy with it. There are small changes that will happen. I imagine it will be ever changing in small ways to accomadate the needs of our family as they change. As you can see I made the chart pretty and ditched the old dry erase wall chart thingy. I just used a frame we had in the closet that was lacking a photo. The chores are listed on bookmark tabs that are made by Post-it, so they will be easy to remove and change as needed. I use a sharpie to write on the glass. It is better than dry erase because it doesn't smudge or easily wipe, however with a little elbow grease or a magic eraser, it comes off easily enough.

The kids are really aware for the most part and have not needed much reminding. Some are more aware than others, but I'm finding that as one kids goes to the chart, checks what they are supposed to and announces loudly (to be sure I know they are doing it) what they are doing, others follow suit. The chain reaction of responsiblity is very cool.

Oh, I should mention the red F's you might have noticed by the boys names. They had been fighting rediculously this week, so I instistituted a "fighting" ding. Another constant battle in our house is a quiet bedtime. I may wait another few weeks to add that one in, but I am and have been very weary of the nightly interuptions of Downton Abbey because they are dancing a jig above our heads.

I'd love to hear how other's handle the whole production of chores & allowance. Especially families that have 3 or more kids. I am open to ideas, suggestions and questions. Harsh criticism, not so much. ;-)

 

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Training Notes

Did a 3 mile run, today was supposed to be 2 miles race pace. I did a 1 mile warm up then kicked it up. Was very happy with the 2 miles. However Buka did not poo at the proper time during warm up and made me stop during that first fast mile. Silly dog. As for the clutter front... got cristmas taken down out front, hope to start getting it put away in the next couple days inside. one of my goals for this month is to make a weekly trip to the Rescue Mission with a truck load of items to bless others with. We have far more than we need and I am ready to really let go and open up more space. I did put in for an extra few hours to be added to each day so that I can get more done....not sure if that request will be granted. One last goal of mine is one that I started a few months ago, blogging with some sort of regularity. Weekly would be awesome, but I'll take monthly if that is what happens. It amazes me how much time it takes to get words from my head to the screen.

Lovely early morning run! 4.5 easy miles, splits were ok- miles 1 & 3 ended up being the exact same and 2 &4 were within 30 seconds of one another (and faster than 1&3 by over a minute). On easy runs I just run at a pace that feels good, I don't look at my watch unless I happen to hear it beep - today I only noticed it at mile 3. Always interesting to look back at splits on runs like this.

I got back on track with my work out schedule, mostly. I had to shift it a bit b/c of Ben being on call last weekend, but I've got decent milage for the week and managed some great times too so I'm happy. I didn't get up in the dark for my run today. (Too cold, So Cal is not supposed to be 34*) I sqeezed in a run at a community park while 2 kids were at a friends (thanks Kari Carlin Aist) & the other two were in a class. I ran hard for 3+ miles then visited with my college swim coach for a few, that was a treat! Today was supposed to be 4.5 hard, however when I saw a car in front of his office when I got there, I knew that if I ran really hard I would have time to visit for a few minutes if I dropped the last mile. So I made checking his office my reward for a hard run. I met my time goal and in fact it was his car so I got a quick catch up which was awesome. Do notice how high the sun is in the picture... So rare for my runs!

Did my MIL's may Pilates class this morning... I will be sore. Felt good and one thing that felt really great is that even though it was hard, it was easier than when I first tried it over a year ago. I feel so much fitter than before.

Had to really squeeze in my run yesterday. It was supposed to be a 7 mile run, but there just wasn't time. (I'm still avoiding the really cold o'dark thirty run time during this cold snap). We had to be at mass earlier than usual because Evan & Olivia were being welcomed & presented for first penance, so I really didn't want to risk going before anyway. Then Evan had his first tramp & tumbling meet of the season at 2. So I was left wig about an hour. I ran a nice 4.5. I am totally sore from yesterday's Pilates class, but it is just enough that I am aware, not so bad that I can't move. Official marathon training beings in 2 weeks!

Brrrrrr! With many layers I made it out at 6am and did my 4.5 miles (easy pace). These ducks and other water fowl hang out at this spot every day waiting for the Vons folks to feed them.

‎4 miles in the cold, but not quite so cold as yesterday. Barely. Sunrise was quite lovely though, I did stop a few times for photos. Now I'm showered, filled with a healthy breakfast (Greek yogurt & whole grain toast) and coffee, all tucked in to my couch under the electric blanket. Going to tackle a couple of my kitchen drawers in a few...

Went for an easy 4 miles yesterday and I decluttered two drawers and two cabinets. (This is a before/after of one of the drawers, more to come).Today I will be doing a few (4-5) hill repeats today at the park and I am going to try for a couple more drawers.

Did some hill repeats at the park yesterday. I meant to grab my phone to get a photo of the Damn Hill I am trying to defeat. I did 2 more than last week plus I walked one time up to the first plateau. I got my GPS watch out for that just to see roughly how far I'm going. (Not far). This morning I was out in the dark. This was after my run and I was walking back home. Felt good, though I don't feel like I ran as hard as I should have. Too many pee stops for the dogs- it was making me crazy! I somehow toggled my watch not to save my workout, grrrr, however, I did use the app Runmeter, which seems to be pretty accurate. So I have an idea of my pace anyway. Hope everyone has a great day- do something that makes you feel happy!

~I'm tired

~I was up until 2am with giggling little girls at a slumber party, isn't that enough of a workout (mentally anyway?)

~It is too hot (82* according to my backyard thermometer)

~It is too windy

~It is too late in the day (2pm)

~I have a sick kid

~ I just don't want too.

I pushed all those thoughts out and went for a run anyway.

 

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Happy New Year

We had a perfectly lovely holiday. Ben was off and aside from a one night get away for just the two of us we stayed home and just enjoyed being home. No sports, no classes, no working, some working out, lots of homemade yummy leftovers and lots of down time. This was very needed. Whatever bug we have all had this last month has hung on tight. Everyone still has a bit of cough or snot or both.

I have decided I want to try and keep a running log the old fashioned way. I used one years ago when I briefly worked out with a cross country team during my college years. I finally got the computer program that works with my GPS watch to work so I can also download all the data that it collects and look at what I am doing in the form of pretty graphs and lots of numbers. I also have a running log app on my iPhone that in have used for tracking both my walking and running milage for the last 3 years... So there's that too. Overkill? Yes it is, but it does keep me inspired to keep doing more.

During this time off I still trained. I just didn't get up in the dark to do so. There are pros & cons to this. The biggest pro being that we slept in late many days and it just felt good! The biggest con being that there were way more people out with little dogs. They are well intentioned folk, but not helpful most of the time. They don't get that it is far easier for me to put my two 80lb dogs in a sit and have them carry little 14 lb Fifi past then it is for them to leave Fifi on the ground barking and straining with every ounce of their 14 lbs to get at my dogs who I am trying to run with as fast as I can while they now straining to go say hi. I can hold them in, I have control of them, but it is hard. They are 160 lbs of dog pulling in a sideways direction. And I try and try to convince these lovely people to let me be the one to sit the dogs. I go off to the side, I tell them "go ahead!" But they smile nicely and say no. Maybe I should be more insistent, but I don't want to spend too much time talking when the clock is ticking. Plus it ends up making me feel grouchy and that is the anti-endorphins feeling I am going for.

 

 

Homemade pierogies & homemade tamales...I ate this for breakfast, lunch & dinner for days! Healthy? Nope. Yummy? Yep! Won't happen again for another year so I savoured every single bite!

Speaking of grouchy, one of the other pluses of the later time is that folks are much more pleasant. They all smile and say hi, even if they make me drag my dogs by. This morning I did my first o'dark thirty run of the year, and it was quite nice. Except I did pass that stupid couple that is so rude. I was all resolved to continue my "smile say hi approach". Be the better person. Blah blah blah. Then, as they approached and both looked like a sour old couple who'd had their Cheerios pissed in, I gave up. I didn't smile, I didn't say hi, I didn't do anything but keep on keeping on. My lab may or may not have gotten in their way. The good soul in me wants to care, but I just don't. I know that with those two it is clearly a wasted effort so I give up. I'll save my happy energy for other happy people and ignore the sour puss grouchy Adam Henry's. So there.

 

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Merry Christmas!!

 

Merry Christmas!

 

(Who is not surprised that Evan added his own enhancement to the photo?)

 

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Potpourri

Now that I am looking back at the photos I put here to help me remember what I wanted to share, I realize just how long it has been since I last blogged! It is pretty random, so I will apologize for that now! So first I will go though and comment on the photos, then see what else I can say to get everyone all up to date on my version of reality.

I made my first brined turkey for Thanksgiving.

!

Every year I make both cranberry sauce & cranberry relish. The relish is the family favorite- so yummy!

I made a batch of pierogies. This is the heart clogging goodness that those bits of heaven get smothered in.

 

I managed to keep my training going on cold foggy mornings. Actually, I kinda like running in the fog, though I had to laugh at the dogs, my lab would see a post or bush emerge from the fog and his fur would rise and he would prepare mentally to either protect me or pretend to be tough enough to do so, until he'd realize it was a post or a bush and pee on it.

 

We were lucky enough to have good friends stay the night with us the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Our boys have hot sauce eating contests every time they get together. This is the aftermath.

Love me some friend time. 5 hours away is just too far.

My pretty turkeys. (The brined one is in the front)

My handsome husband.

Getting the group shot on Thanksgiving. Thankfully he was able to hold the wall up at the same time.

I have the bestest running mates. They are very unimpressed with the continually grumpy Mr. Cranky Pants and with the boorishly lame couple that begrudgingly says hello. (Well, he has yet to, and she is not happy about it but does so anyway).

Sunrise on my long run.

Beach people are funny. Funny weird, not funny haha.

Love seeing all the holiday decorations going up.

 

Mr. O had some fun editing photos.

I have discovered the joys of ice baths. This was my first, and far too cold. After a bit more reading up on it, I switched to a full tub, cold water bath,with a small bucket of ice added once water was filled enough to cover my legs. Brrrr.

I love the kids feet during piano. Everywhere but where they should be.

The kids made felt Christmas trees for our December nursing home visit. Unfortunately, I was begining to get sick so I could not go inside with them. They went in with friends though and gave them out, sang some songs and played the piano.

I thought I was getting a bit of a head cold, no big deal...

Then Thursday rolled around and I was feeling a bit worse. I was pretty sure Pasole would help, so using my best Jedi mind control I managed to get my mother-in-law to invite me over to learn how to make it. :-) It was very yummy, very easy and did make me feel better. Unfortunately I didn't get any better. As a matter of fact, I got worse. Friday I lost my voice completely. I really didn't feel bad, just had no voice and a little bit of a cough. No big deal.

Meanwhile, we had our first real run inthe rain. It was lovely.

Our friend Franklin came over for a visit one night. Reina has a very strange small dog/animal anxiety problem. We have to keep her on leash and we have even sedated her to help calm her. This is something we are working on. She did pretty good on this occasion, crying a bit if Franky moved about too much, but all in all it was a good visit. :-)

This was from earlier in the day, its hard to really tell, but the surf was huge. The tide was just right for me to get some running in on the sand. This was my last long run before my half. 10 miles & my longest continuous run to date. I felt great (aside from the no voice, head cold, sorta coughing thing).

Started my Christmas cookie baking.

Is anyone else confused by this??

The best early Christmas gift ever! My husband is the best!!!

Playing with my new camera with all my balloon animal friends.

The Big Day!

What a great race! I started in the back of the group. I should mention here that I was on my 4th day of antibiotics. Ben had decided I had bronchitis. I was feeling significantly better and had made all sorts of promises to all sorts of people aboout taking it easy on the race, stopping if I had to. As it turned out, I hardly coughed at all and I felt really good throughout. I did have to stop at mile 7 to pee, that was my worst time split. I managed to pace myself at a very consistant 11:01 min/mile pace. I even caught up to and passed the 2:30 pace group. Honestly, when I started training, my goal was to start (and finish) with this group, but when I ended up with bronchitis I just hoped to come in under or around the 3 hour mark. My finish time was 2:24:15. I didn't negative split the first & second half, but I blame that on my mile 7 pee break- I had a slight headache before the race and realized I was under hydrated so I made up for it by drinking lots of water before the start. oops. That said, the first half was 1:11:46, the 2nd 1:12:29. I was 88th out of 132 in my age group and I was 995 out 1473 overall. Yay for being in the top 1000! LOL!

Now, let me tell you about the awesomeness of this race. The organizers did a superb job making sure that we had support thoughout. There were commuity/neighborhood cheering stations, plenty of water stations, bands, and then there were the runners. Costumes were fantastic, fun and festive. The people were friendly and happy to be there. I talked to a number of friendly folks along the way, gave lots of kids high fives and thanked just about every police officer and volunteer that kept traffic at bay and made sure we were safe. Oxnard PD was fantastic. If ever you want to run or walk in a well organized, local event, this is for you! It was amazing. I will be there again next year! I am already thinking about my costume :-) Pancake tutu? I think so! I know a fantastic designer that I plan on brainstorming with this summer. If I am not gonna win the race I am all for winning the costume contest!

Ben and Evan ran the 5K. (Evan had already left by the time I finished). They both did great and had fun. Ben was 2nd in his age group and 15th overall. Yay Ben!

Just a few days before the race I had stopped by one of 3 local coffee shops that I frequent (depends on what end of the county I am in when I am in desperate need of coffee, but I have found 3 locally owned, independant, shops that have great coffee, great service and make me feel good about supporting local business). Latte 101 is one of the 3 and as it happens they have peanut butter syrup. If you have never had a peanut butter latte, I suggest you go out and get one. Now. They are that good. But then again, I am a peanut butter freak. I mentioned that I was doing the Santa to the Sea and it turns out they were one of the vendors. The owner (I am making an assumption here, I don't know for sure that he was the owner, but I am prettty sure) said that he would bring the PB syrup just for me! :-) Only a local business would make that kind of effort! Both Ben and I had one and it was awesome).

Now, have I also mentioned to you that the race also happens to fall on Nutcracker weeked? For me this means that the week before the race is production week at the theater. I have the unofficial/official job of taking backstage candid photos. I absoultly love that I have the privledge to do this. I take photos through out Satuday rehersals from October until the production. I think this is my 3rd or 4th year doing it, I'll have to go back and look at my photos and see. It has been so fun seeing the dancers grow and change.

Saturday we go to the show as a family. We have been going to this particular show since Owen was 18 months old. We had no idea that when our girls started ballet, they would be with this production company. To be a part of it from both the front of the house and the back is just awesome.

Sunday (raceday) is the day that I voluteer and hang out backstage. I was a little worried that it would be really hard this year, but let me tell you, the runner's high you hear about is the best! It was 10 times anything I've felt before. I was flying high for at least 4 hours post race. The last hour of Nutcracker was where I was starting to feel tired, but the really amazing thing that happens duing the last hour of Nutcracker on the last day of production, is that all the tension, anxiety and nervousness that the girls have starts to drift away. The smiles get bigger, the laughter backstage increases, the happy energy flows. So as my runner's high diminished, my Nutcracker high increased. Such a perfect pairing. I am already looking forward to next year.

The week after Santa/Nutcracker my two eldest children had belt testing. My big girl earned her 2nd degree yellow belt! She is transitioning from ballet to tae kwon do. I think it is a great fit for her. She still loves ballet, but it has been over a year since she has been able to take a technique class, the schedule just hasn't worked in her favor. She does take a floor-barre class once a week though and loves being involved. TKD will have it's challenges for her, but she is definately up to the task and our school is incredibley supportive, from the instructors to the families. She is having a great time and is very dedicated to trying her very best. She is also quite lucky to have a black belt as a brother! He has been very helpful in working with her.

Speaking of Owen, he also had to test. He is on track to earn his 2nd degree black belt, hopefully in May 2013. The 1st degree black belt students have to take 3-4 "credit" tests in order to qualify to test for their 2nd degree. Owen just earned his 3rd credit. We just watched a video clip of him taking his 2nd degree yellow test, my how he has grown!

Buka and Reina wanted to be festive since we finally started decorating for Christmas. They are not embarassed at all. Really.

The kids little tree :-)

No sooner did I get the tree skirt in place, did Buka make himself at home under the tree.

Owen wanted to try and put our angel on the tree this year.

It was more challening that usual. In the end we had to put her up as a decoration off to the side. We had to buy a smaller angel to work with this tree. This is the first time she has not worked. We have a different type of tree this year, we usually get a noble, this one is something else that starts with an "N", but I can't remember what it is. It looks a lot like a noble, but is a brighter green. The branches are as thick, but a bit softer somehow. The top was just not strong enough to hold our angel. I need to get a picture of our alternate angel.

The kids, ok honestly just the girls, helped make pretzels for our cookie bags. The boys made a few, but were just not really into it this year.

I am really into ginger right now. From Moscow Mules to Kumbatcha to adding it to my morning smoothies, I am loving it. So I really wanted to make a ginger snap type cookie to add to our cookie bags. (The standard for our bags consists of chocolate chip cookies, russian tea cakes and peppermint chocolate dipped pretzles). It took a bit of experimenting, tweaking recipies from the internets, but I did come up with a variation that I quite like and hope to put it into the bag from now on. I even wrote down the recipe so I can make them next year.

My cranberry infused vodka is done!

Because I have not used cranberries enough this season.... I made sugared cranberries a couple nights ago. Sooooooo yummy!!! Today we had them with water crackers and brie. Pretty much amazing.

 

So there you go. Almost all caught up with my crazy life. A few more bits about running, then I'm off to bed. Remember The Nag. Well, MapMyRun pulled a fast one on their users. The voice feedback feature they rolled out in October became a monthly fee feature in November. In the update notes they did not indicate that the paid features would be ones we were already using for free. I felt th price ($6/month or so) was a bit high, but did a 3 month subscription because I was scared to let go of a training tool that was really working for me. In the mean time I dug out my GPS watch and looked into other free or one time only fee apps that did what MMR was doing. One of the things I discovered was that MMR was way off in tracking true distance. Really off. I was not happy! I have found another app that is much more accurate (Runmeter), but I still have another month of MMR so I am alternating using it and taking my actual milage off my GPS watch. (More on all this in a future post).

I have also continued to pass the lovely cranky people off and on and they continue to be lame. I am pretty sure that the cranky couple have their own inside jokes about me- the Crazy Running Lady. I quite literally laughed out loud at them one day. I was near giggling as we approached one another, then I said my cheerful hello, he of course did not give me the slightest look or indicate that he heard me, she scowled and said hello. I couldn't stop myself, I burst into laughter. When we crossed paths again, they both smiled and said hi. So yeah, they must have a joke, but I don't care, I won a round finally- he looked and she smiled. So there.

Of course that was a few weeks ago. This last week when I saw them I happened to be the one feeling a bit cranky. I managed to get myself irritated and worked up about these Not Friendly Morning People long before i saw them, so when I saw them coming I decided I was over being the nice one. I brought up my most lovely post bronchitis cough as they approached (into my elbow of course) and then looked at The Lady with no expression as we passed. She did the same. I was all geared up and ready to scowl openly at them the next pass, except I haven't seen them since. Oh well. I really should go back to being friendly, but after 4 months I guess I'm a little tired of being the one that has to try, then that optimistic person in me wants to play nice, because surely it will make a difference. Then I get cranky and worked up and plot all sorts of diabolical plans about how to Show Them. I'm pretty sure I have issues. And maybe alternate personalities that should have their own names.

Ok, as much as I would like to share more fantastically weird stuff about myself with you all, it has taken me over 3 days to get this all written out and hopefully properly edited to make sense. There are more bits about running that you all must know and I am sure I have many other fascinating stories to share that I just don't have the time to write, however I am going to post this and move on!

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3 weeks to go!

 

Another week of training done, 6.2 miles into the new week! I am happy with my training, aside from the one bad day, I have felt pretty good. My legs are non-stop tired, but it is a feel good kind of tired. I think I have found a way to tape my left foot that works. I ran a 10k this morning, and felt no pain at all. I was supposed to try and run it at race pace, which I always find hard, when I am not actually racing. However I set The Nag to encourage me to run faster than 10:45/mile. I really don't know what kind of pace I can do for 13 miles, that is what today was supposed to help with. I ended up with an average 10 min/mile pace. I was really happy with that! Unfortunately Mapmyrun decided my device was not capable of capturing data for graphs etc. Weird since it is the same device I have always used and been able to see my splits. I like seeing where my slower splits are and seeing if I can negative split my last mile. Oh well.

 

I managed to see some pretty amazing sunrises this week, and somehow missed running in any rain. I have no interesting stories of random people this week. It seems as though we don't really have any "regulars" that are consistently regular. Oh wait, I did see one interesting thing on Tuesday I think it was. There was a young couple, maybe in their early 20's, on the public access dock. It was 5:30am. The guy was in shorts, no shirt or shoes. The girl was properly dressed in jeans and a sweat shirt. They were wrestling. Pushing, laughing & clearly having fun. At 5:30 in the morning. In the dark. On a dock. Over the cold water. On my 2nd pass they had brought it up to the grass, and he had put a shirt on. They said hello, so there was at least that.

 

I am proud of Reina, this was her longest run to date. Also the fastest. She was a trooper. My mom sent us a set of dog shoes for Reina. In Vegas they have to put shoes on their dog in the summer when going out for walks. She had two sets, so we are borrowing one set to see if I can get Reina's feet healed and allow her to run with us still. They worked beautifully! Her pads had no extra wear on them and she didn't seem bothered by them in the least. Yay! Once she has healed I will take her out on shorter runs and walks without them, hopefully getting her to the point of not needing them on the long runs.

 

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Hitting the Wall & The Ending of One Part of a Journey

I'm pretty sure I have hit the proverbial wall in my training. The run that should feel easy and almost effortless, hurts and drags. Today was an "easy" 5 mile run. I was quite happy to get up and go. I should have known that it was going to be an ugly run the moment that I let the dogs outside and realized that the TWC's version of 56* was much colder than reality. I mean it was supposedly 16* warmer than the last few days, surely I could wear my arm warmers and a tee. Ummm no. It was too cold. As I've mentioned I am somewhat lacking in the Proper Attire For Running in Cooler Temps department. Moreover, I get all my stuff out the night before so that I don't have to search around in the dark for anything. Now I needed a jacket, or something. I finally settled on a fleece pullover. It was ok, but was far from ideal.

 

I was worried about Reina's feet, they still had not really had time to heal. At one point I had bought little booties for her, but I think I must have given them away. I spent a good half hour looking for them last night to no avail. So I improvised. I have these elastic reflective bands for the dogs, but I rarely put them on their ankles. I do have a few looped on to their collars though. So I dug into the lonely sock bin and found two socks and put them on Reina, held in place by reflective bands. Really I should have taken a picture, but it was really embarrassing for her. The first on came off at around mile 1. I had decided to run to the beach today- mostly for Reina's sake as well. I thought being on the sand would be gentler on those tootsies. Once in the sand I ended up taking off the other sock, it was just getting mucky and wet, and probably would do more damage than good. Running on the sand is hard. Especially when the tide is such that the only real choice is to run on the soft sand. After what was surely a mile I pulled out my phone to check how far I had gone. One. Half. Mile. I think I may have cursed at this point. When all else fails and I am not happy, my MO is to look for something to take a picture of. In this case it served a duel purpose in that I got to stop and rest.

 

 

Fortunately one of the dogs pooped, so I had to leave the soft sands and find a trash bin. Then I had to find a bench to sit on and dump the and out of my shoes. I'm pretty sure that is why my 3 mile split was 20 min.

Everything seemed to hurt on this run. We've been playing with various KT Tape applications on my left foot. If ever I feel any discomfort running it is usually on the bottom of my left foot, precisely where the tendon tore two years ago. The most recent variation seems to be good. I can feel the tape, so I am aware of my foot, but I dont really feel any pain. I even remember thinking about that somewhere during mile 2. I was thinking how cool it would be to be completely unaware of both of my feet. I briefly marveled at how unaware in was of my right foot. Reality soon set in. Mile 4 was all about my right foot. And my hips. And my lower back. Oh and the top of my right foot. None of this was at the same time, but it was as though all my parts and pieces wanted to be sure to make themselves known. Eventually I made it home. I think my average pace was around 14 min. It was long & slow and felt horrible. I am pretty sure this is supposed to happen. Every once in a while anyway. I remember the swimming version of it anyway, so the former athlete in me knows that this is now a mental game to get through the physical. I know I can do it & I will. Tomorrow is a 3 mile easy run. I do hope that those 3 miles are as easy as Last Friday's 4.5 hard.

 

On to a totally different topic now. I have been on one heck of a journey for the last 3 years. It was in October of 2009 that I first consulted with my surgeon and subsequently made a life changing decision and embarking on a sometimes painful, often uncomfortable journey. The first part of that journey began Dec 22, 2009. On that day I got my braces on.

(I will insert a photo here, but I have to get to my desktop to get the proper one)

I do have a blog that I started but kept private when I started this whole thing. I will open it up soon and link the handful of posts at some point. This photo is not quite accurate though, I was pulling my lower jaw forward in order to show my bottom teeth. My natural bite was such that my upper teeth covered my lowers.

Anyway, this is where I started. By March of this year my bite looked a bit different.

 

 

Better, but still not done. Major upper & lower jaw surgery on March 21, recover, recover, recover. And now here I am. 8 months post op. Still in recovery mode, but I get to complete one part of the journey.

My last photo before heading in to the office.

 

I actually got my lower braces off 3 weeks ago, but that is not as much fun to show off, plus, those uppers were still there, so I still had braces.

 

When you are a grown up getting your braces off, you get to choose, water bottle filled with candy, red, or white wine. That was an easy choice!

 

I admit I was having some fun taking these pictures so I could tease Ben.

But finally, here I am. And I have to say, I cried. As soon as Maria (the assistaint who has been mine through out this whole process) took them off and sat back and looked at me. Before I had even seen myself, she smiled and told me how good my smile looked, and I cried. I can not even begin to say how good it feels to be at this point. I can breath, my teeth all meet and touch where they are supposed to and it worked. Surgery worked.

 

So despite hitting that wall & feeling every aching muscle from the waist down today. I am so incredibly happy and so very thankful that I am now that much closer to the finish line!

 

 

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