M+B=E2O2

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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Maybe I'm the Crazy One

The other day I posted about people who don't smile or say hi to fellow morning exercisers. I don't know why it bothers me so much, but it does. When I was in college, I remember noticing a huge difference between the general friendliness of people in Northern California verses Southern. Maybe it was because I was in a college town, or maybe it is just the case that northern Californians are friendlier, but in Chico, everyone said hello to everyone when passing on the streets. Or at least made eye contact and smiled or something. This was over 15 years ago, so maybe times have changed, maybe there are just more Mr. Cranky Pants out there. I don't like it though. I like saying hello, I like connecting, even if it is for just a brief moment with other people. So I smile, I say good morning, I try to connect & yes, get annoyed when it is not reciprocated. I haven't seen Mr. Cranky Pants in a few days. I hope I haven't scared him off. I wonder if he goes home and says to his wife "Man, there is this crazy lady who runs with two giant dogs and a flashy thingy who is always yelling and talking." Or maybe he is just trying to work out the time change and will be back soon. I kinda think that all of us who are getting up in the dark and cold to raise our heart rates are a bit on the crazy side. That is the thought that goes through my head nearly every morning as I get out of my cozy, warm bed. But then I get out there, and I run, or I walk and I feel good and not so crazy. Plus I get to talk to the blue herons. Sometimes I scare them off too.

 

Today I had some interesting experiences. I will often go around the block before heading over to the harbor for my run. As I rounded the corner today I came across a man. He was not a fellow exerciser. He was in his bathrobe. Barefoot. Seemingly coherent and awake. And he said good morning. So how could I be annoyed? It was weird though. Very weird. Kinda creepy actually. Not sure where he was going or what he was doing, but he disappeared around the corner and I continued on my way, thankful for the 80 lb German Shepard, 75lb lab and big bag of dog poo in my hand. It is no fun to carry poo on a run, but in cases like this, when meeting strange men in bathrobes at 5:30 in the morning, a bag of poo is way better than mace.

Since Mr. Cranky Pants was unavailable to harass encourage friendly manners, I found someone else. Well really, they were just there. I've crossed paths with them before, I think I've mentioned it. It is a couple, maybe 5-10 years older than me. The lady begrudgingly says hello or good morning, the man, well, he might be Mr. Cranky Pants younger brother. He looks down or straight ahead, aways wears a baseball cap and is always the one talking. Maybe that's why he doesn't say hi? Today on the first pass, I got a "good morning" from The Lady, nothin from Baseball Cap. Then I passed them again. She was not happy about having to say hi again. As I approached them for a 3rd pass, I couldn't help but think of Shakespeare. Macbeth, more specifically.

"When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightening or rain? When the hurleyburley's done, when the battle's lost and won."

I was seriously giggling to myself as I got closer. Neither one said hello this time. I ended up sharing the quote with the dogs instead. I don't think they were impressed. I did end up passing them a fourth and final time, but this time I was coming from behind them. The sun was up by this time, maybe that makes people friendlier. Both turned back to see who was coming up behind them. Both said hello and both smiled. Baseball Cap even made eye contact. Score 1 for me & the dogs!

 

One of the training tools I am using to help me make it through this half marathon safely is a feature on Mapmyrun (app) called "Voice Coach". I just think of her as "Coach", or "Naggy Lady". I tell her what my intentions for the run are and she keeps me on track. For example today was an "easy" day with a distance of 4.5 miles. According to my training guide, "easy" means I should be able to have a conversation while running. (Good reason to say hello to everyone I see, I need to know if I'm going easy!) I'm still kinda figuring things out as far as pace and such, but it seems as though "easy" for me right now is around a 12 min/mile pace. I forgot to tell Coach that though. She thought I wanted to go 11 min/mile pace. She nagged me every 2 minutes about this. Most of the time telling me I was going too slow and to speed up. She has a one track mind though and I couldn't change it without starting over, and I wasn't about to redo those first two minutes, so I let her nag away. I managed to keep a 12 minute pace average throughout the 4.5 miles, mostly ignoring the nag.

 

 

My lower half is definitely feeling the increased mileage. It feels good, but my legs are tired! I have a 3.5 mile run tomorrow, hopefully I will remember to tell Coach the proper pace!

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Long Run

Today was my "long run" day. I think I really like these longer runs. I went 7 miles today. Long and slow. I took both dogs for the first 2 or so miles. I started late, well, with the time change, I don't know really-late?early? What I do know is that the sun was already on its way up and there were way too many people out. Good news is that I did not come across Mr. Cranky Pants or anyone else against saying hello.

The half marathon that I will be doing encourages the participants to wear costumes or dress up in fun, festive ways. I'm not entirely sure what I want to do, but I do know that I want to have a little fun. Also, not knowing how the weather will behave I want to have a few options. Lately my morning runs have had a nice chill in the air. Nothing impressive, but cold enough to want to cover my hands and ears.

Once upon a time, when I was living in Colorado and running with (NOT ON) the Western State College cross country team, it was truly cold when we'd run. As in, anywhere from -25* to the nice warm 30's. One thing the coach always insisted on was that his runners covered their hands and ears. I don't remember much from those days, but the coach hollering "hands and ears" to everyone as we came out of the locker rooms is something that has always stuck in my head. Not sure why since I am a California girl and it really doesn't apply all too often. However we are coming into the time of year where there is the potential. I have plenty of knit gloves (thank you Target 75%off section for the .$39 two packs). But my ears have been cold every so often. I have ski caps and headbands, but that is just too much, so I went on the hunt for a light-weight headband that I could either push back off my ears as needed or loop on to my waist pack. One of the first sites that came up in my google search was a company called One More Mile. Once there I recognized them from my friend Kris posting about them. 10 minutes later, purchases were made and I eagerly awaited my new stuff. I copied Kris and got the shirt she had blogged about. I also went with "berry" color so that I could wear it to Santa and be festive. I got a matching headband as well, but felt I had to pick a different saying. I also decided I really needed arm warmers, that way if it gets too warm I can just take them off and still have my awesome new shirt showing. Plus I wanted one other saying. They arrived yesterday so I had to test run them all today, despite the slightly east wind blowing and lack of chill to the air.

I have also decided that I want to wear the socks we bought at last year's Santa 5k. They are too awsome not to wear, so they are officially my "long run" socks.

 

The bottom line and moral to this whole post is that if I can't be fast, at least I can be funny and festive.

 

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Morning training and the people you see

37 days and I will run my first half marathon! Really enjoying the training that I'm doing right now. Getting up at five is not my favorite thing but once I'm out there feels really good I love the cool crisp air. My new running shoes seem to be breaking in really well. This is the first time I've used a shoe aside from Nike in over 20 years. Aside from being totally cute and very comfortable and they seem to fit I would say as good if not better than any Nike I've ever worn. Today's run was 4 1/2 miles. It was meant to be at a hard pace. My goal pace was around 11 minutes per mile, which is 30- 60 seconds faster than I think I might be able to do the hal,f but now I'm not so sure. My splits were: 10:55, 10:33, 9:38, 9:18. I don't have a split for the half-mile. I'm pretty sure 9:18 is the fastest mile I've ever run and that includes when I was regularly running 5ks. I wasn't wearing my heart rate monitor so I don't quite know where I was at in that regard, however I felt pretty good and didn't feel too terribly taxed. I came home and dutifully used my foam roller and spent a good 10 minutes stretching. Tomorrow is a rest day for me and then Sunday is a long slow 7 miles. I'm not sure where I'm going to do that run or if I will take the dogs. Buka seemed to do pretty well and was still ready to keep moving when I got home. However Reina was definitely tired and I think ready to be done so I think 4- 5 miles is her max right now.

One thing I love about morning walks and runs is the people you come across. Most people say "hi, good morning", or at least give a quick nod or wave. I'd say at leat 90% of those I come across do, maybe more. I'm always sure to make eye contact with people when I see them. Especially men. I want them to know that I am able to identify them in a lineup if I should ever have to. Mostly I see other runners and walkers, no one I'm really all that concerned about. A few weeks ago, when I saw a cholo at 5:30 in the morning it did give me a little pause for concern. Didn't quite fit in with the neighborhood I was running in; a private, gated, albeit public access walkway. But the classic uniform of white socks pulled all the way up to the knees, khaki shorts hanging down, white T-shirt and dark blue dickies jacket, he just didn't fit the M.O. of your typical morning exercise kind of dude. However he smiled said hi and made eye contact with me when I passed by. I haven't seen him since, so I don't think he's made a routine of this morning thing.

Then there is Mr. Cranky pants. I've seen him at least 3 different days. He is a walker not a runner and he stares straight ahead the entire time he's walking. The first time I said hi I thought maybe he just didn't hear me. I happened to pass him again in that same morning. This time I made sure sing out "good morning" as loudly as I could. He didn't flinch, he didn't look my way, he didn't even remotely acknowledge that I was existing in the same space. Hmmmmm. That wouldn't do. I didn't see him again that morning but had already decided that if I did come across him again I'd be sure to try a little harder. Sure enough, two days later I saw him again. So again I called out as loudly as I could "good morning sir", and he again did not look my way or aknowledge me in any way, shape or form. So I added in a much too cheerful "have a great morning!". I passed him twice on this occasion, both times trying my very best to get him to, at the very least, flicker his eyes in my direction or down at my dogs or even completely away. Something different than just the staring straight ahead blank look on his face. Score 4 Mr. Cranky Pants 0 me. Didn't see him for about a week but this morning I saw him again YAY! Another chance. One of my dogs was actually peeing as he approached us so I was at a standstill as he came up to me. I gave it a good hearty try, lots of "good morning" and other cheerful words as he stared straight ahead, never flinching, never changing his pace, never turning his head, just walking straight on past as though we did not exist even a little bit. I even had a very cool flashy, blinky, seizure inducing button light attached to the neck of my shirt, He had to look at that! Nope. *sigh*. Since I was nearly done with my run at this point I didn't have much hope of passing him again and having a second attempt. However as I came around the corner I looked across the harbor channel and there he was. I think maybe he was glancing my way but I couldn't be sure so just in case I raised my white gloved hand and cheerfully waved across the channel and called out "good morning!" He didn't look. Ah well, I have at least 3 early morning runs next week, I won't give up!I may be down by 6, but I am not a quitter!

Big Bear Birthday Fun

We spent another 4 days in Big Bear.  This was our second trip up there, last year we went mid April.  There wasn't much snow that trip, but it was a peaceful & fun-filled and had us eager to return.  This time we really wanted to go when the mountains were snow filled so that the kids could really have a chance to *know* snow.  It ended up working out that we were able to go the weekend before my birthday- not a bad present!  We were able to leave Friday afternoon, however it was not quite early enough to miss LA traffic.  It got dark before we got to the bottom of the mountain, so we opted to just spend the night in San Bernadino, there were a few sections of 18 that had snow showers, and being non snow drivers it just seemed like a good idea.  The kids are always up for a hotel sleep over so they were happy to stop. We had dinner at Denny's and were seated next to two nuns.  My kids love to eat, so restaurants are not much of a chore for us.  They are well behaved more often than not which is nice.  As we were leaving the nuns stopped me and complemented our family.  It really just made my day.  (After 4 hours of driving in LA traffic with them- well- sometimes it is nice to see them through the eyes of others!) 

Saturday morning we hit up IHOP for breakfast then hit the road.  Olivia tends to get a little green after a while if the road is too curvy.

She asked for some sunglasses as we got further up the mountain.  I couldn't resist taking a picture of her.  Not too long after this shot we put the headphones on her and she fell asleep, thereby skipping out on motion sickness. (FYI if you didn't know, listing to music on headphones can help out). 

We had the privilege and honor of using my friend's family cabin for our stay, it was home away from home without a doubt.  More on that in a bit.  We got our stuff in the house, shoveled the icy snow off the driveway and had some lunch.  After lunch we went on a mission to find someplace to do some sledding.  We found a little spot with some little hills and had some fun.  The snow was soft enough to make some snowballs (if you look close at the photo in the top right corner of the collage you can see Owen throwing a snowball- Daddy and boys had a grand time having snowball fights!) 

Evan 's primary objective was trying to fall or crash, he is such a ham!  Olivia loved the sledding, as evident by the look on her face.  Emma made friends with a mom on the same little hill as us. She is the owner of the green and yellow inflatable Evan was using and the snowball makers that Emma is using.  She spent quite a bit of time making the snowballs, but she didn't throw any of them, she just wanted to make them! All and all the kids had a blast and could hardly wait to go to the "big" hills for some snow tubing!  Saturday night we ordered some pizza to be delivered and just had a quiet night in.

Sunday we had breakfast at the house then went to Church.  It was a beautiful, beautiful church, really lovely.  The service, however, left us missing our home parish!  By the time Mass was over it was lunch time and my parents had arrived for the day.  We had some lunch with them then Ben & I went and got some stuff we needed from the store while the kids hung out with Gramma & Poppa.  My Mom had also brought a dinner for us all so we got to enjoy another nice evening in. 

Monday we took the kids to "Snow Play".  It was next to empty which was awesome!  The kids had an absolute blast on the hills.  Evan and Olivia were required to ride with Ben or me, but they were ok with that and were just fearless.  We were there for 2-3 hours I'd say.  Even though they have that "magic carpet" lift it was still a lot of work!  The kids were hoping to go back Tuesday, but that was our departure day so it was just not in the cards for them.  I can't wait to have them try skiing or snow boarding! It has been years since I have done either and I look forward to getting a chance to go again.

I put squirrel food out the very first day we arrived, but it took the squirrels a couple of days to figure it out.  The blue jay's found the peanuts right off though!  This little squirrel cracked me up, he finished off the seed in the other feeder first, one that didn't require him to put his head all the way in.  The kids got a real kick out of him sticking his head inside the bird feeder to pilfer food.  It was too cute and so much fun to watch.

The Home.  There is just not enough that I can say about the home we stayed at.  A few years ago my friend had mentioned that her family had a cabin in Big Bear and that should we ever want to use it to let her know.  I knew that a few other friends had used it and just raved, so when we had decided to use Ben's days off to go play in the snow I contacted my friend and as luck would have it the cabin was available.  The family does not rent the cabin out, it is just for family and friends of the family.  I can not tell you how honored I am to be included in her circle of friends.  When we arrived the kids were thrilled to find a few sleds in the garage and a small  pile of snow on the side of the driveway to slide down.   Let me just tell you about my favorite things.  First I have to say, it felt like we left our home only to come home.   There are knick knacks and photos, personal touches that clearly let you know you are in a loved place.  In the above photos are some of my very favorite things.  Cross stitch samplers done by my friend's mom.  The village that overlooks the kitchen, and of that my very favorite were the nuns coming out of the photography studio! The picture that was above the TV (bottom right corner). That picture just made me smile every time I looked at it.  I also just loved the arrangement of crosses that greeted you as you came up the stairs into the family room/dining room.  My favorite cross is the one singled out above.  I loved lighting all the candles each night, I don't do it enough at home and I now want to figure out just where I can put lots of candles to enjoy.  There were so many little details in the decor that just made the house so special, such a home.  Best of all, rather than take any payment to offset any costs to the family, they ask that if you have enjoyed your time that perhaps you'd like to like to make a donation to Habitat for Humanity.  We had the opportunity to spend time together in this amazing home and we get to help others achieve the dream of owning a home.  Nothing short of inspiring.  We have dreams of owning a cabin in Big Bear someday and I am more inspired now than ever.  What they have done, what they are doing is exactly what I would love to be able to do as well.

And finally my birthday.  We left Big Bear on my birthday.  Kind of sad in a way, but it was nice to come home to family.  I'm not really a cake fan, however I do love angel food cake with strawberries.  So that is what Ben got for me.  The gift of spending 3 days with my family in such an inspiring and beautiful place was the very best gift I could have received.  I am blessed with 4 beautiful children who inspire me to be a better person every day.  My husband is my best friend, I don't know  how I got so lucky.  I have a circle of friends that grows continuously. One thing Facebook has shown me is that good friends are always there- even if nearly 20 years has gone by since we last connected.  I love that. 

We Wii, We Twitter & We Twirl

I know I know- I still pretty much am sucking at blogging.  I got issues  what can I say!

Last week Ben got us a Wii.  It is the first game system we have bought- apart from the V-smile and a leapster L-max.  Both of those game systems go in and out of fashion around here, and both have gotten quite a bit of use.  Both Ben and I have shied away from the big game systems-  we both love to play video games and know that we'd get sucked into a world we really don't have time for right now.  I have a hard enough time staying away from the computer in order to get things done around here (So you'd think I'd blog more huh?).  Any who, we both have been tossing around the idea of the Wii, mainly because it is a get up and move kinda thing.   Upon returning the birthday bike that never was (Got it put together only to realize it was defective) Ben had to return it to TRU first thing in the morning and it just so happened that they got a Wii shipment in the night before- so he was third to get one from them. 

I have to say it has been pretty darn fun!  I was sore for 3 days after the first night of boxing.  Seriously.  I've also discovered I am much better at Wii bowling than in real life bowling, and even better when I bowl lefty.  All the kids but Olivia can play it with some degree of competence, and it is easy enough to fake Olivia out since we have two remotes.  We have had so much fun creating Mii's ( the Wii people). We have made characters for every family member and several of our friends.  I even made a Severus Snape. (because you need an evil looking fellow wandering in and out of your games)  Making the Mii's is almost as much fun as playing a game.    We haven't pre-ordered the Wii Fit yet, but I am seriously considering it.  It looks pretty darn fun.   I used the boxing game today to complement my workout.  I walked 2-3 miles, then got on our spin bike for 30 min and since my heart rate was up (I wear a hr monitor) I thought I'd see if I could keep my hr in fat burning range while playing wii boxing.  Oh Yeah I can!   I boxed for 15 minutes and was truly sweating!  The kids got a kick out of seeing me use the game to "work out" too.  All in all a great purchase. 

As for the Twitter and twhirl- well if you take a gander at my side bar there is something labeled Twitter Updates.  I had heard of Twitter a while back but never got around to actually looking at it.  One of the blogs I read regularly (Just Enough Nothing More) recently posted about it and that was all it took to get me looking.  (in the past I heard about it on the radio, no where near a computer).   So now I have something else to get addicted to use regularly.  What I like about it is Twhirl- I can keep Twhirl on my desktop and jot lame quick thoughts without bothering to log in and all that fuss. 

So if you haven't already looked into it go have a Twitter and Twirl and look me up- I'll follow you!

White It Is

Owen started Tae Kwon Do 3 weeks ago.  They have a special where you get 25 classes for $25 and a free uniform.  His age group has classes available MWF and for the most part we have made all of them.  It makes Mondays fun because we go from our piano lessons that are waaaaaaay out at one end of the county (the only Suzuki piano teacher taking student in the area) straight to TKD at the other end of the county, though not waaaaaaaaaaay out there but still it takes, with no traffic (ha)nearly 45 minutes to get from one to the other.  That said, the kids don't mind too much.  The little ones nap on the way to piano, and if I'm lucky straight through the lesson or most of it.  Owen catches a nap on the way to TKD and even Emma does occasionally and that girl never naps so that alone makes me feel ok about this.  I don't think she gets nearly enough sleep, but that's a post for another day. 

Back to TKD.  Today they were upgrading belts with black stripes or a new color.  The way they do the 7 & under crowd is that they have several levels of the white belt.  So they still get to move up in color and feel like they are going somewhere.  Newbies have no belt.  Today was the day that Owen got his actual white belt.  It was very cute all the kids clap for one another, the instructor asks the parent how they are behaving at home and if they are keeping up their end of the deal at home.  Boy it is so tempting to say "no he's been a little turd more often than I'd like" but wouldn't that be mortifying.  I would never do that in front of the class and other parents. 

He is so darn proud of himself now.  You couldn't wipe the smile off his face.  Last week one of the Masters wrote his name in Korean on his gui (gee?) uniform- he thinks that is pretty much the bomb too.   He kept telling me "I've been waiting my whole life for this!"

This is how they rope you in you see.  Next week or the week after our 25 classes will be up.  Then we get to pay the actual tuition *gulp* for this thing.  I just look at it as money we would have spent had we put them in private school. If we had done that they wouldn't most certainly not be doing piano, gymnastics, art (Emma) and TKD (Owen).  All I can say for now is Thank God we only have 2 kids doing all this.  I need to start saving now to be sure we can offer some of the same opportunities up to the other two monkeys.  yeesh.  Maybe they'll be introverts and just want to stay home a few more years.  The way they both cling to me in public places gives me a little hope of that anyway!

Sailing Sailing Over the Ocean Blue

We are the proud new owners of a very used sabot.

The yacht club juniors program is getting rid of a few of their older sabots that don't ever get put in the water.  I went down and looked at two of them, called up the director of the program and gave him our choice.  I think it is the better of the two-  both were sailed hard over their life, and I really don't know much more about what to look for than any of you.  I shook everything, looked for big holes and cracks, walked around it  trying my best to look like I knew exactly what it was I was looking for- in case someone was watching. 

The best part about it is that it is free- and it looks like it has just about everything  we need to put it in the water.  We are hoping to get a dinghy storage space at the club, but if not we can put it in the suburban- but I think we'd end up having to make two trips since we'd have to put the seats down.

The kids are over the top about it.  A sabot is the perfect little boat for learning to sail.  It is a bit cramped for an adult- but they respond well and are fun.  I spent 2 or 3 years in one.  I had one bad experience in one that helped me make the leap onto the big boats. 

I was 9 or 10 and it was a breezy day.  I was participating in the youth day Funday Sunday.  I had just finished racing and was heading back to the dock.  I was maybe 10 feet away and I must not have been totally in tune with how to handle the boat.  I headed up into the wind a bit more (I was on a "reach") and because the wind was going pretty strong- and I weighed less than a grain of rice, the boat began to heal over pretty quickly.  I knew what I needed to to- let the wind out of the sail - I even knew how.  I don't remember why I didn't, maybe it happened too fast- or maybe I didn't really now how to do it I just tell myself that now, but whatever.  The bow of the boat began to submarine- that is it started taking a nose dive and I went in the cold harbor.  One of the older teen boys dove off the dock to "rescue" me- I was in my life jacket, but freaked out so I guess I needed saving. 

I think I did a week long sailing clinic the next summer- but pretty much stuck to my dads 30 foot boat after that.   I don't think  I'll be sharing that story with the kids for a few years!

Ahhh well, what can I say?

We were on vacation.  Never mind the fact that we didn't leave the county but once, and that was just me and the kids for the day.    What a lovely vacation it was though.  I'll spare you the blow by blow, but I will touch on a couple of the highlights. 

Monday we headed south for a visit with the Pixilated Family and Jenny's crew.  What a great time we had.   Socialization was a bit of an issue- oh wait, no it wasn't-  those kids were off and playing right from the get go.  We moms were the ones with the awkward pauses and strained words.  Oh wait- nope, we got along grandly as well.  Socialization a problem for home schooling kids?  Bah!  Really that is such an absurd argument! 

Another of the highlights of the week would have to be the painting of our guest room/kids computer/TV room.  Ben did all the hard work, I just picked out the colors.  I have to say I did a great job! LOL!  So did Ben.  The room looks fabulous in the two tones of brown.  The room has a very cozy comfortable feel to it.  The walls were previously a pale yellow- as is the rest of the house for the most part.  The earthy darker tones just give the room a sense of calm.  He also stained the unfinished pine TV cabinet that is in the room.  It is a darkish walnut now and really looks amazing.  Once we get Emma a bunk bed we'll bring her day bed down here again- (it used to be in this room originally)  and match the stain to the TV stand.  Makes for a very nice room for our friends  and family to stay in methinks.  All that is left to do in the room is hang some schoolish stuff on the walls (maps and the like) and I am going to clear out the closet and put it back together in an ORGANIZED fashion.  I am inspired by Maria's homeschool cupboard (go ahead- just ask Jenny,  I think we both had to pick our jaws up off the floor when she showed us!- Maria- show a picture-  you really are an inspiration!)  I am going to take a leaf out of Maria's book and get this space working for us. It seems to be a magnet for clutter as it is. 

Other than that we really just spent time together.  We had Ben's mom over for dinner on several occasions, she had us over at her house in return.  Ben's bro also made his way over here for dinners and just to hang out.  All in all it was  a great week. 

Oh and me- me me me-  Today marks 14 days- 14 days of spinning.  In a row.  No less that 30 minutes a day.  The average is creeping up to 45 minutes.  Today I rode for an hour.  Next Monday will be 21 days, my goal.  I feel pretty darn good about it. 

Speaking of fitness, I happened across this blog- I'm gonna need to spend a bit of time looking over it- but for any of you looking for a fitness program for kids, it looks like it might be worth checking out.

Oh and Maria- here is the link to the blog that posts menu's every Monday.  And here is the link to Saving Dinner where I got my freezer menus- which by the way have been a big hit and I've decided that the payoff is well worth the 2-4 hours of prep it took.  I still have 5 meals or so in my freezer and so far the ones we've had have been fantastic and even more important- EASY!

Well, much as I'd love to post more of my amazing links and thoughtful prose, I think I'd love to sit on my comfy couch more! This week holds the promise of newly a turned 6 year old boy, park day with fellow homeschooling families, gymnastics fun, maybe a date for Ben and me, and Father"s Day.  I will also get pictures into my computer from our Pixilated play date, my garden ( oh my is it GROWING!!) and anything else of interest that happens to be in the camera.