The Survival Race Recap

Saturday was the Survival Race - which is basically an obstacle course with mud. Lots and lots of mud. My sister and I had planned on doing it together, but her ankle/heel is still bothering her to run on (she hurt it during the Rock N Roll Dallas half marathon), so she decided to listen to her body and not do the race. I missed her, but still had a good time.

I always laugh at the people who go into this race and say, "Ew! I don't want to go through the MUD!" or who go around obstacles instead of doing them (and I'm talking about the easy obstacles, not the hard ones). Isn't that what you paid for? And really, didn't you know what you signed up for??

My shoes *after* they were cleaned off

I survived the Survival Race!

Anyway, overall the race was fun and I did indeed feel slightly challenged (both physically and mentally - wading through waist deep brackish water was definitely a mental challenge for me!) - and I ended up completely muddy. I would say, though, that this was not as well put together or as challenging as the Warrior Dash I did last year in Seattle. But it did have a more 'down home' feel and was a lot less commericalized than the Warrior Dash.

I ended up losing my shoes in the first obstacle. It was a pit of mud that you had to run through, and I felt my shoes getting sucked into the mire within the first two feet into the mud pit. I did everything I could to get free, but every time I did, I would end up stuck again. After struggling for what felt like an eternity, I just took my shoes off, dug in the mud for them and walked out in my socks. Then I put my shoes back on and mud just squished everywhere. I tried running but it was SO slippery. Like insanely slippery. I half-ran, half-stumbled to the next obstacle. The first obstacle and one other obstacle really stood out in my mind.

It was a big wooden slatted climbing wall that you had to climb up and over and then back down. I made it up to the top, and swung my leg over to the other side, and realized that I was terrified. I am not a "heights" person and I especially hate climbing down ladders. There was a guy there who helped his girlfriend/wife down and he saw that I was stuck so he offered me some help. Really he just came over and stood next to me and encouraged me and I was able to do it on my own - but, I don't think I could've done it without him! So glad he was there and offered help! So many people were just going up and over right next to me without even glancing my way. I felt really alone at that point so him offering to help was very, very appreciated!

There were a few water obstacles too - wading through a little lake, wading/walking up a creek (about knee to waist high water), and swimming in a little pond. It was really brackish water and the bottom was all scummy. I cannot imagine going into that water on my volition. It was really hard for me to do it for the race. I just kept imagining snakes or bugs biting me. And when you are tripping over submerged tree branches and roots, it really feels like something has got you!

After the race, they had an older farmer hosing people off - literally. They had showers set up, but someone said that there wasn't water coming out of them. I didn't stick around to try them out and instead just got hosed off by farmer joe and looked like he had about 8 million other things he would rather be doing. The t-shirts they gave out were nice and they did have a little necklace/medal. Again, overall, a pretty fun event.

McDonald's Fail

I've been feeling a little funky today. It may have something to do with consuming 23 points (when I only get 29 for the whole day) at McDonald's at lunch time. I ordered a hamburger and small fries and didn't realize until I got home that I had been handed something completely different. When I looked at my receipt, turns out, the cashier had rang me up for a grilled chicken BLT sandwhich and medium fries. Which I of course devoured. And then tallied the points up. 23. Luckily, I had only had toast and coffee for breakfast. But that means with breakfast and lunch, I've already reached my point quota for the day. And I don't have any 'extra' points left over because I finished those off last night. I guess next time I'll check the bag (and have them repeat back my order!) before I take off from the drive thru.

So tonight my challenge is to eat 5 points total. My sister is bringing me an iced coffee, so that really leaves me with 2 points. I think I'm going to grill up a veggie burger and steam some asparagus and have some delicious watermelon. That should be a good meal that will fill me up and still be low point. Hopefully I won't show a huge gain tomorrow.

I did an hour on the bike today while reading my new book, "The Outlander." I really enjoyed some quality book time and wanted more, but I was starving so I left. I still have my 30 Day Shred to do today too. So far, I've followed through and done it every single day. I'm proud of myself! I think tomorrow I'm going to try to do it first thing in the morning so I make sure I do it and don't talk myself out of it after my race.

Anyway, I'm going to go snuggle up with this girl. She still is feeling a little cruddy and her nose has been running all day. Just gave her some tylenol to make her more comfortable. Hopefully it'll work.

Joy

I'm currently sitting in-between both of my kids, while they rest and watch Finding Nemo. We are all cuddled on the couch and it is THE BEST! I love my kids!! The past week or two, we've all been struggling with colds and I think it has affected all of our patience, energy level, and ability to breathe :) The kids seem to be doing a little better, and my cold has moved on to just being a running nose. Woo-hoo!

Breathing was really hard this morning on my run. I made it 8.25 miles, but it was rough. Running with a runny nose is difficult because it messes up my breathing. I ended up sucking wind about 3 miles in, and had a hard time regaining my breathing cycle. It was also about 9 million degrees inside my gym (when I stepped outside though, it was about 20 million degrees - or 82* - , so I guess it was better than running outside!). So I was a sucking wind, hot sweaty mess. But I did it :) I used my Garmin to keep my pace as close to my last half-marathon pace as possible. I figure, if I can train at my previous half's pace, then on race day, I can pick up the pace a little more and cut down my time. Works in theory, right??

Feeling good about going for an 8 miler

As a reward, I got me and the kids Sonic drinks. They got a small Cherry Limeade (one of my all-time favorites) and I got a Diet Dr. Pepper with diet cherry and vanilla. OMG! It was so incredibly good. Lunch was a quesadilla with a little leftover ground beef and salsa. It hit the spot. Now I'm ready for a nap. Seriously. I'm really tired. I've got my compression sleeves still on, hoping my legs will fill up to a 30 Day Shred workout later. Yesterday I did my Shred workout and then about an hour later, did my Body Pump class. It was killer, but I felt so good this morning when I woke up. Next week, I'm going to add more weight at my Body Pump class.

I didn't want to overdo it this week, though, because I have the Survival Race on Saturday. Last year, I did Warrior Dash and was freaking exhausted and sore afterwards. I had gone with some friends, though, and they were faster runners than me so I ended up running the whole course (obstacles included in 45 minutes). I don't know if I'll keep up that pace this year - especially since last year I did it in Seattle in rainy/misty 70* weather, and this year I'll be doing it in Forney in 82-85* weather. Danny had a birthday party in the morning, so I switched my wave time to 1pm, which means, running in high heat. I'm going to take it easy and just run for fun, not a time. At least this year, I won't have to change muddy clothes for clean clothes in my car and then drive 5 hours back to Spokane! I got some strange looks from people when I got gas and had mud still all over me :)

First Woman in Boston Marathon

I came across this  video on Facebook earlier, and wanted to share. It's the story of the first woman runner in the Boston Marathon - and how she had to crash the marathon in order to gain entry. I sometimes can't believe that stuff like this happened. Really, I feel very fortunate to grow up in a world where women are (mostly) equal to men. I still feel that there injustices, but I do feel like we've come a long ways ladies! This made me want to get out there and run Boston...but I'll never be that fast...and I'm okay with that. I'll just cheer on all you super fast ladies who can meet the Boston requirements :)

Pay Attention

Plans for an 8 mile run yesterday pretty much went out the door as soon as I posted my last blog update. Danny was being an extreme pill (stealing his sister's lovie, throwing things, screaming fits, etc) and I was just not up for taking him out in public. So we stayed home and I made supper and we had a pretty chill night. I don't know why Danny has decided to be a little pill, but I'm taking measures today to resolve the issue. I'm going to do some activities with him and hope that keeping him entertained will make him behave better. I've been kind of engrossed in work and doing my own thing (when I don't feel well, I really just want to sit and read books - which I've done a fair amount of) and maybe he's just trying to get some attention and being naughty is the way to get the attention. So today, he is getting showered in attention. Hope it works because my nerves are shot!

I did do my 30 Day Shred yesterday and I'm planning on doing it as soon as the P goes down for her nap this afternoon. I'm debating going to my weight lifting class tonight just because I'm already doing weight lifting and I still want to get my long run in. Maybe I'll lift today and then skip my spin class tomorrow for a long run?? I was a little disappointed this morning when I weighed myself and saw a slight gain. I thought for sure I would be down since I've been eating well and lifting my weights. But, really, from other posts I've seen, the 30 Day Shred takes off more inches than pounds. Which is fine by me :) I did take my measurements before I started - just haven't posted them yet. Sometime soon I'll do that. For now, though, I better get off the computer and go love on my boy!

Well, You Have to Start Somewhere

I am embarrassed to post these pictures. But, we all have to start somewhere. And this is where I'm starting. I look at these pictures and do not feel happy about them. Maybe they will serve as motivation to keep going on days when I'm really struggling?? Someday I'll have to dig out my pictures from my heaviest (non-pregnant) moments. At my heaviest, I was 205. And I was incredibly un-happy with that number. Sometimes, it's hard to think back to how miserable and unhealthy I was at that time. Now at 174, I am still not at a healthy weight, but I am so much healthier than I ever was. I take care of myself more and I actually like myself. I still can't wait to get rid of 30 pounds though. Anyway, here are my "before" pictures. I can only improve, right?? I do think my legs are starting to look good - like runner's legs :)

Today I did my second day of the 30 Day Shred. Danny even did some with me. He wimped out after I started the push ups :)

Danny doing stretches with me. 

And so far I've eaten well. Tonight, I'm making boiled eggs, bacon, and the Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Toast for supper. I can't wait! Lately, I've been craving bread like crazy. Toasted with a little butter is my favorite, or toasted with a laughing cow cheese wedge. Makes for a good snack! I'm going to the gym tonight and going to aim for an 8 mile run. I'm hoping I can do it!! Tomorrow I'm still going to try and make it to my weight lifting class and then Thursday is a spin class. I'm hoping to do short 20 - 30 minute runs on those days. Friday I'm taking as a rest day and then Saturday is the Survival Race. I moved my wave time from morning to afternoon so that I can go with Derek to take the littles to one of their friends' birthday parties. Should be an eventful day! 

Day One: Success

I posted earlier about my weekly goals, and I'm proud to say that I was successful! For one whole day! I did my 5.25 mile run this morning, ate healthy, and I did my 30 Day Shred video. Success :)

One of the blogs I read, Mama Laughlin, started doing a Ripped in 30 DVD so I had decided to dig out my 30 Day Shred DVD. And then I saw that the author of another blog I read, Miss Madison's Charmed Life, was also starting a DVD workout. It's kind of nice to know that we're all doing this together. And maybe all three of us will see some good results! I'm taking measurements tonight and some pictures (although, I'm not brave like them to take pics in my sports bra and shorts!) so I have official 'before' shots.

Weekly Goals

Today has been an interesting day so far. The kids seem to have the beginnings of my cold/sore throat and have been super crabby/needy today. Piper actually threw a full on temper tantrum when I wouldn't let her ride in the shopping cart with a car in the front at the grocery store. She was on the floor, screaming, kicking. Oh yes. It was awesome. I know they are just sick, so I decided we would just stay home for the rest of the day and take it easy. Maybe tomorrow too. We'll see.

I did manage to get in a gym workout this morning, though, so that was nice. I did 5.25 miles and could have done more, but the gym daycare was closing (plus I was STARVING!). So back home I came (after my grocery store trip and a quick stop at Taco Bell for some soft tacos) and started reading my blogs. There seemed to be a common theme today: setting goals.

I think for the past two or three months, I've been focusing on the BIG picture and getting frustrated with myself. I want to lose 30 pounds, and looking at that big number makes me feel like I'm never going to do it. Maybe what I need are some small goals. Some mini-goals to help me get to the bigger goal of a 30 pound weight loss. I thought long and hard about my goals and this is what I came up with for this week. Yes, I am doing weekly goals:

1. Do the 30 Day Shred DVD for 7 days. In a row.

2. Run 5 days a week. One of those will be my long run of 8 miles.

3. Don't mess up the eating plan on the weekends. Stay within my points range ALL 7 DAYS!!

I did my measurements last week, and instead of going down, my measurements had stayed the same in some areas and increased in others. Not exactly what I wanted. I'm hoping that the 30 Day Shred will get those inches back down a little. I would like to the whole 30 days, but right now I am committing to 7. We'll see where we are next week :)

It has officially been two weeks since my doctor's appointment where he told me take my running easy. I now have the go-ahead to run my heart out. Especially since my legs have not been hurting! So I'm going to keep my runs up and do one long run in order to start upping my mileage for my half marathon on Memorial Day. Only like 5 weeks away!! I'm hoping to shave off 15 minutes from my 2:57 Rock N Roll time. I'm not really sure if that's realistic or not, but I'm hoping to be in better shape and be able to rock the Patriot Half Marathon. We'll see!

And my last goal: eating habits. I have been doing awful. Like bad, bad, bad. I'll do great for 4 days during the week, but then Saturday, Sunday, and (for some weird reason) Monday roll around and I just eat myself silly. I hate it because I ALWAYS feel bad afterwards. I'm always disappointed in myself and that's an awful way to feel. Because really, I'm pretty awesome and I should love myself. And, really, I wish I was not insecure about my weight, but, I've said it before...that's just the way I am.

Hopefully I can really reach my goals. I'll let you know how things are going. Oh, and I have The Survival Race on Saturday! Can't wait :)

Rock the Vote (for health)

My work submitted a grant to Prevent Cancer Foundation on reducing colorectal cancer rates in Eastern Washington - and we need your vote! There are 19 organizations vying for the grant money, and only 5 of them will move on to the next round. In order to move on to the next round, we need votes from people like you. Voting takes place until April 30. Even if you don't live in Eastern Washington, you can still support the work my organization is doing and vote for us. You can vote here.  They do make you sign up for an account, but it takes like three seconds. You can count it as your humanitarian good deed for the day. My work's grant is titled "Reducing Colorectal Cancer Rates with 85210" and focuses on preventing/reducing obesity rates and getting people active to help prevent colorectal cancer.

All the grants up there look pretty interesting, and all serve the greater purpose of reducing colorectal cancer rates. In case you didn't know (and since I'm a health educator and I'm all about educating folks on health issues), colorectal cancer is largely a preventable cancer. Eating healthy foods like fruits and vegetables, and reducing your red meat intake, being in a healthy weight range, and exercising regularly help reduce your risk for colorectal cancer. Getting a colonoscopy once you are 50 (or earlier if you have a family history or are African American) can literally prevent cancer. How is this done?? When you are getting the colonoscopy, the doctor can remove pre-cancerous polyps and get rid of the cancer before it even becomes cancer. How cool is that?? If you are 50 or older (or if you have a family history of colorectal cancer or are African American), then make sure to talk to your healthcare provider about getting a colonoscopy to screen for colorectal cancer. There I did my educatin' for today.

Please share this with your friends and make them vote as well. This is an important cause - colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer, and the third leading cause of cancer death in the US. Make sure to vote! If you want to share with your friends, you can send them here to this site directly: http://screeningsaves.org/entry/reducing-colorectal-cancer-risk-with-85210/

Past my Bedtime

On Friday, I ended up going out with my sister to see 21 Jump Street. It was SO funny! Seriously, I laughed pretty much the whole movie. I had kind of expected it to be an action movie, but was pleasantly surprised that it was a comedy. We had gone to Studio Movie Grill, and I had eaten a 97% fat free hot dog and enough watermelon to feed a small country before I left, but there food sounded soooo good. So I gave in. After I ordered it, I immediately started kicking myself. Why did I order that??? I ordered four mini sliders; with the intention of eating two. But I had also ordered a SMG Tea (alcoholic), so that clouded my judgement. And the I ordered another one, and my evening of healthy eating was shot. I ate all four sliders AND the fries. Sometimes I just feel like I am completely sabatoging myself and it makes me so incredibly frustrated and angry at myself. It's so easy to slip back into old habits. And it usually happens on the weekends. I saw this on HungryRunnerGirl and thought it was pretty spot on.

Anyway, after the movie, we went back to my sister's house (her friend had come out with us) and played Scattegories for hours. I mean HOURS! I ended up heading home around 2:15 am. About 5 hours past my normal bedtime. It was also one of my best friend in Spokane's birthday, so I was getting text updates pretty regularly from my friends giving me a play by play of the night. I was very happy to be included - made me feel like I was right there!

The bad news about staying over at my sister's house until 2:15 am, was that I didn't get back to my house and in bed until close to 3am. And then Thing 1 and Thing 2 woke up at 7:15 am. I was pretty much exhausted the whole day yesterday and just lounged on the couch. I know. Exciting. I was also feeling pretty miserable with a sore throat and cold that my husband passed on to me. It was probably a good thing I was tired because normally I would have been up and doing things even though I felt bad. This made me rest. Plus, as a bonus, my husband cleaned out my front closet (had become a shoe dumping ground - seriously, he probably took out 15 pairs of my shoes that I wear only occasionally), did the dishes, took out the trash, and picked up the kids' toys. My sister came over after supper and her and I (mostly her though), cleaned up the kids' rooms. It's nice that even though I was laid up on the couch, my house is pretty clean. Yeah!

My sister had come over to watch the new show Girls. We both liked it, although I honestly don't know what all the fuss was about. I had ready some articles about lewd scenes (well, hello, it's on HBO for a reason) and how inappropriate it was that one of the main characters had said she could be the voice of her generation (the article I read wanted to know how a white, upper middle class woman could be the voice of a generation; really? Can't ANYONE be the voice of a generation???). I thought it was an interesting show, but really I'm going to give it a few more episodes to see if I really, truly like it. The first episode seemed short and unresolved. I like nice, clean endings in shows.

Anyway, it's hockey play off time at my house, so my TV will be taken over today. I've been debating going to Hobby Lobby to get some supplies and doing a few decorating things I found online. I sometimes feel like my house is decorated like a bachelor pad. I've been getting very, very bored starring at my white walls every day. One of the bad things about a six month rental is that we can't paint the walls. It. Is. Killing. Me. Our house in Spokane was bright and colorful. Piper's room had a mural in it that Derek had hand-drawn on her wall. Danny had blue sky, green grass, and a road painted onto the walls so his cars had a place to drive on. Our bedroom was a soft green that was so incredibly soothing. And our living room was a Red, White, and Blue room with blue walls, a white couch, and red accents. We started looking online at rental properties yesterday in the Allen area. They were gorgeous. And about $400 more than we are currently paying for rent per month. Derek won't have to spend a small fortune on gas and tolltags though to get to work, so that'll help cover some of that gap. He's looking at cutting his commute by 20 - 30 minutes.

Well, I'm going to sit on my couch and read blogs and eat toast with homemade pepper jelly (thanks to my Granny who brought me some of her yummy, delicious, home-farmed, home-canned goods - pepper jelly and bread and butter pickles). Hopefully at some point I will feel up to getting off the couch :)

Safari

I am feeling so completely and utterly exhausted. Like I could just curl up on the couch and sleep. And sleep. And sleep some more. I have had a couple of busy days and a couple of hard workouts that have my body just aching. Plus, I woke up this morning with a sore throat and I'm pretty sure the hubs infected me. I love my husband; not his cold.

Yesterday I was pretty lazy in the afternoon and then had an energy surge and decided to go to the gym for a 7 mile run. When I got there though, I discovered that there was a spin class in 45 minutes, so I ended up running 3.5 miles and then doing the spin class (which was a 45 minute spin class). My legs were so freaking sore after that! I was literally hobbling out of the spin studio. After a few minutes of walking though, my legs were sore, but manageable. After I got the kids out of the daycare area we went home and FINALLY made our spicy honey chicken. Oh man! It was delicious!! We had watermelon and steamed broccoli with it too. So yummy.

I had every intention of doing some work after supper, but I put it off until the kids went to bed. Then I discovered that my computer had no juice. So instead of plugging it into the wall and working like I should have. I watched episodes of Awake with Derek. I'm only caught up to episode 4, but it is shaping up to be an interesting show. And MUCH better than working!

This morning we got up and went to the Indoor Safari Park in Plano with my mom's group. I had a Living Social deal from there so we got in pretty cheap. Although, parents had to pay $1 to get in (lame) and then the lady didn't have change for a $20, so I had to use my card - at which point she told me I would be charged extra because I hadn't met the minimum $5 purchase. She let me know I could buy something else to get my purchase up to $5. I called BS and she didn't charge me the extra money. It didn't really leave me with a good feeling about the place. The kids liked the climbing areas/jungle gyms and ball pits. I don't think my kids have ever really been in a ball pit before - they both really liked it. They both rode on a little train they had and then Danny rode this crazy animatronic zebra thing. Piper was not about to get on that craziness - she screamed as soon as I put her on it. Overall, the kids enjoyed it, but it felt a little dirty and unkempt. I don't really know if we'll ever go back.

After that, we headed over to my sister's for some lunch. We ended up going to a place called Potbelly. I'm sure with a name like Potbelly, it has to be real nutritious..... I had a skinny pizza sandwhich and a cup of chili. It was a cold-ish day here (in the 60's) with rain, and with my sore throat, chili certainly hit the spot! We played with Kristen's dog Jacoby for a bit and then headed home so Piper could nap. Danny is now watching his favorite movie ever: Wall-E. And I am going to do some work before heading back over to Kristen's for a girls night out at Studio Movie Grill. You can order food and drinks at this movie theater. It reminds me of Germany a bit (my family was stationed there from the time I was 12 - 16). I just took some Dayquil so hopefully my sore throat and achy body will get some relief soon and really enjoy my night out sans children. I was trying to think of an alcoholic drink that would be low calorie and soothing to the throat. Any suggestions?

We're here to PUMP - you UP

I made it to my Body Pump class last night at my gym! I have been trying to make it to this class (on Wednesdays and Saturdays) for about 2 months, so I was glad to finally make it to class. The instructor was really nice and showed me what kind of weights/gear I would need for class and then we began. Holy God! About five minutes into class (and what turned out to only be the warm up!), I was hurting. My legs were screaming and shaking. I couldn't believe that. Six months ago, I could hold my own in a weight lifting class. It's not like I was a body builder or anything, but I could go through class without having to take major rest breaks. Not so this time! I had to rest three times and let my muscles relax. I knew my muscles would be weaker, but I thought I would be a little stronger than that. Just goes to show what six months and no weight lifting will do! I'm glad I did the class, though, and feel better for it. I just hope that Saturday's class goes a little better :)

I had some grand plans to grill this for supper, but seeing as how the Body Pump class was an hour long and started at 5:45pm, I quickly discarded that plan. Instead I got some spicy chicken nuggets and a small chili from Wendy's. I avoided the fries, but still felt slightly unhealthy after a day of healthy eating and working out. There was just no way the kids were going to last if I tried to cook - they were hungry!

Derek came home from work yesterday afternoon (he came in early and completely scared the dirt out of me - I thought someone was breaking into our house!!) with a bad cold/cough. Derek and I were married for six years before we had kids, and Derek was sick exactly one time in those six years (plus the 1.5 years we dated before getting married). Now that we have kids, Derek gets sick probably once a month. I swear sometimes he's sick more often than the kids! Hopefully he'll be feeling better soon and will get to enjoy the weekend. This is the first weekend in almost a month (or maybe more??) that we haven't had out of town guests staying with us. I love company, and I love my family coming to visit, but it'll be nice having the place to ourselves this weekend! I might just sit on the couch and watch TV all day to catch up on some shows. If Piper will let me watch something. She's developed a little girl crush on Diego (Dora the Explorer's cousin) and demands Diego at all times. It's cute, but that show is a little annoying....

Today the kids and I went to Celebration Park again. I really do love that park! We met up with a friend whose husband works with Derek. She is also a stay at home mom with two little ones. We didn't get to talk much because we were each chasing kids and she has a 4 month old who is still nursing, but it was nice just to go somewhere and know someone else. The park was getting new bark put in, and Danny was fascinated with the tractors and front loader. Little boy Heaven. Unfortunately, he kept getting in the way of their work and by the end of our hour and a half there, the construction team was calling out, "Where's Danny?" before they backed up the tractors. I'm just glad they didn't get annoyed - they seemed like they understood that I had two little ones - who of course wanted to go in opposite directions - and couldn't keep Danny out of their hair at all times because Piper was busy climbing parts of the play structure that I'm sure were about 3-5 years out of her age range. She would climb up, pull herself up, and then say, "help mama!" as she dangled from a ladder or some crazy climbing thing. Cute, but made my heart skip a beat or two. Here are some pictures from the day.

The animals at the Zoo

My Dad and Granny went back to Nashville yesterday, and I have to say...those two exhausted me! They got in around supper time on Saturday, so we just sat and chatted. The last time I had seen my Granny was at my Grandpa's funeral in December 2010. We had a lot of catching up to do! I was so happy that my Granny had decided to come with my Dad since she had two back surgeries very recently (she cleared it with her doctor before she sat in the car for the 10 - 12 hour drive), and she's still a little hesitant about doing things.

Sunday, my Dad and I had our indoor triathlon in the morning and then we had some delicious Papa Murphy's Veggie DeLite pizza (love, love, love that pizza!) before heading into downtown Dallas. On the way down there, we had to stop at a gas station because Danny had to go to the bathroom. If you've ever stopped half-way between Rockwall and downtown Dallas (along I-30), you probably know that it's not the best area to stop in. Let's just put it this way: there was a guy "working" the corner of the gas station and I'm pretty sure we saw multiple drug deals going down. Great place to take your kid to pee, but there wasn't anywhere else and Danny was getting desperate!

We stopped at the Convention Center and hung out with some cows and cowboys. And then made our way to Highland Park area. Beautiful homes through there! We found a cute little park with running trails and took the kids to play for a bit. The kids loved their little adventure. I was pretty tired from the triathlon still, but had a great time. We stopped for Chinese food on the way home (it was about 8pm by the time we started eating). Danny had fallen asleep in the car at about 5:30 pm and he stayed asleep for the rest of the night. Until about 3:30 am. When he woke up.  I tried everything to get him to sleep, but it was a no-go. So he and spent the (early, early) morning on the couch watching Wall-E.

We decided that we would spend our Monday at the Dallas Zoo. In Spokane, we didn't have a zoo, and here in Dallas, there are TWO! There is the Dallas Zoo and the Fort Worth Zoo. Everyone keeps telling me that the Fort Worth Zoo is a million times better, but we haven't checked that one out yet (my mom is taking the kids there in May; which is why we didn't go there this time). I wasn't even sure if the kids would like the zoo, but man, they LOVED it. We were able to rent a wheelchair for my Granny so she didn't have to walk so much, and Piper hopped right on and toured the zoo from her lap.

Danny was stuck in the double stroller, but I let him out at pretty much every exhibit.

They had lots of cool animals and a fantastic kids area where Piper went down the slide about 30 times and Danny splashed in the little mock-river they have set up. It was great! We stayed until about 1pm, when the kids started to meltdown (especially Danny - being extra tired and hungry was not a great combo!). We went to the McDonald's by the zoo - which was decorated like a zoo and was incredibly cute!

After that, we sat out in the sunshine at my house and just talked, drank a few beers, let the kids play, and grilled some ribs. It was a great day and great trip for my Dad and Granny. I wish it could've been longer, but my Dad has this crazy thing called work that he had to get back to. My Dad and Granny left early the next morning and made it back to Nashville in a pretty good time. I spent yesterday getting my car fixed (oil change, new timing belt, and some other things that I'm not really sure what it is but it keeps my car running!) and being incredibly lazy. I was so sore and tired from the triathlon and pushing the stroller all around the zoo.

Today I'm going back to the gym and doing a weight lifting class. Can't wait to try it out - if I can make it to the class on time! But before I do that, I need to do about three hours of work. I better quit procrastinating and do it!

Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon Recap

Let me just start this post off by saying, YES, you can in fact complete a triathlon by doggie paddling in the swimming portion. You'll go really slow, but you can do it. And it doesn't matter your shape or size - or age for that matter - triathlons are for everyone! Here's a pic of me and my Dad after we finished our first ever indoor triathlon! Sorry it's a little blurry.

We made it to Lifetime Fitness out in Allen, TX right at 8:15 or so, which was perfect for our wave start of 8:40. My Dad and I were awestruck by the enormity of the Lifetime Fitness. For real - this place could have it's own zip code! It had a salon, three or four class/yoga type studios, an AMAZING spin room, a juice bar/restaurant, an outdoor pool complete with an awesome looking slide, and an indoor pool that I think was Olympic sized. And that's just what I saw as we breezed through. Seriously, if I didn't already belong to a gym, I would join this one. And no, they are not paying me to say that ; )

Instead of a race t-shirt, they gave our swim caps and running hats - "if you wanted them." I pocketed my running hat, and threw my swimming cap on for the first leg of the triathlon: swimming. This was the portion of the race that I was dreading. Mainly because I hadn't swam in over a year, and my swimming "skills" are somewhat lacking. I remember taking swim lessons where I learned all the fancy moves, but I was a little fuzzy on the details. I'm more of a doggy paddle/tread water type of gal. My Dad thought the swimming would be easy since he goes to the pool for 30 - 40 minutes at a time when he goes. Turns out, I was right - swimming is HARD! We had to swim laps for 10 minutes and a lady at the end of the pool counted our laps. I did 12. My Dad did 11. The guy next to us did 24. I was in awe. My Dad decided that when he goes to the pool he is probably more like me: a water treader.

After the swimming, we had five minutes to change and meet in the spin room. I'm horrible with time and am always late. So I was worried that I was going to be late. I changed out of my swim suit in record speed. And tried to put on my sports bra. While I was still wet. I ended up with it stuck in a very awkward position and totally wrenched my back. It was awesome. And I was the first person to make it to the spin studio :)

The spinning went by pretty fast. It was 30 minutes of spinning on those super uncomfortable spin bikes. But I made it a little over 13 miles in the 30 minutes. For some reason, I thought I would go further than that, but oh well. That's what I did! Running was next, and I busted out 1.88 miles in 20 minutes. I was pretty proud of that. I'm a slow runner and I was super happy with my fast-ish run. My Dad did a little over 12 miles on the bike and 1.5 miles on the treadmill. My Dad rocks! I'm so proud of him for his race accomplishments this past year. And myself for that matter. Getting fit and healthy is sometimes such a challenge. But when I can push myself that little bit further and test my own limitations and endurance and will power, it makes it all worth it.

Sink or Swim!

Triathlon day is here! I got up early thinking my Dad (who thinks getting up at 4am is a "normal" time to get up) would be up, but he's still fast asleep. So, I of course decided to blog a bit. I can't wait to see how this triathlon goes and if I'll be a convert. We were joking around last night and I said I was going to be a 'triathlete' and my husband said, "Your going to try to be an athlete??" Which I thought was pretty funny. But maybe that's just me because that's what I feel like sometimes. Like I'm really trying to be athletic. Before I took up running, I would never have thought of myself as an athlete. But now.....am I a runner? An athlete? I don't know. I just know it feels fantastic when I run and I'm training for my third half marathon in one year. That just sounds crazy to think that my first half marathon ever was only last year, and now I have set a lofty goal of completing a full marathon in December and possibly doing a sprint (outdoor) triathlon sometime this summer. I feel athletic...so maybe I am!

I still haven't cut up my veggies for my breakfast salads, so I decided to try something that Monica over at RunEatRepeat makes. And OMG! Now I know why she eats it so much. It's so incredibly good!! Here is what I did:

• Warm up a 1/2 cup of pumpkin in the microwave for about 30 seconds. 
• Add a little Splenda to your taste. 
• Add pumpkin pie spice and vanilla (I just shook some in; didn't measure) 
• Add some granola (I did a 1/4 cup of vanilla almond)
• Throw on some Chia seeds (which are actually pretty good - a little expensive - but pretty good)
• And the best ingredient: 1 tablespoon of creamy peanut butter 
• Mix it all up and enjoy. You'll thank me! 

It kept me full until about 1:30 pm when I ate it at 8:30 am yesterday. I'm doing it again today for race day. It's a little high in points, but it was so good and filling, that I'm going back for more. Now I better go get ready for that race!

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink

I've been getting some gnarly charlie horses in my right calf. Like BAD. Like when I was pregnant bad. And don't worry, I'm not preggers. If that happened, I would start to think God had something against me haha. Anyway, I'm trying to figure out why for the last week or so I've been getting these charlie horses/leg cramps. And my only conclusion? Not enough water. The past three days, I made it until about 3pm and realized I hadn't drank anything other than my morning coffee. Yikes! So, today, I'm going to pile on my water and see if it changes. I think part of the problem is that I'm not a real big fan of Texas water. It tastes like it has dirt or clay in it to me. I miss the Spokane Aquifer! When I drink water here, I put a Crystal Light on-the-go thing in my water and right now I'm out of them. Ergo, I cannot drink water. I *do* have a whole case of bottled water in my laundry room, but let's not talk about that now :) I have been drinking obscene amounts of Cherry Coke Zero in the evenings too, so that might have something to do with my leg cramps, but I would prefer to leave the glorious Cherry Coke Zero out of this.

I weighed myself this morning and I'm back down to where I was before I ate massive amounts of food at Chuy's. Woo-hoo! I was looking back through my food journal (I write down everything I eat) this morning and noticed that I"ll have about 4-5 weeks of good eating followed by 1-2 weeks of BAD eating where I just about blow all the work I'd done in the last month. My new eating goal is to try to not have those two weeks of  bad eating and really buckle down. If I'm ever going to make it to my goal, then I have to eat better. Exercise only gets you so far. I can workout for hours, but if I follow it up with three hot dogs or a whole medium pizza, I kind of just wasted all my hours on working out. I have to put good things in my body!

I've been reading "Born to Run." It's a very interesting book and I'm loving the information on ultrarunning and discovering how our bodies really were made to cover long distances and to run. Right now I'm at a part where the author is getting some nutritional advice. He was told to try salad for breakfast. My first thought was a breakfast salad??? Eww! But really, I'm not a huge breakfast foods person (my sister can attest to me cooking asparagus for breakfast as a kid!), and salads are yummy...I think my next thought was how much work it would be to make a big salad every morning. All that chopping! But the more and more I think about it, how nice would salad be in the morning?? Maybe I should just prepare a big weekly salad on Sunday and eat it all week. I did that years ago when I lost all my weight, and it helped me get my veggies in for the day. Why not do it again, and just eat it for breakfast?

So now my mission for today is to go shopping: buy some Crystal Light so I can drink gobs of water, and get some salad fixings. Oh and my Dad and Grandma come tomorrow(!) so I better get them some food and do some meal planning for their trip too. And my indoor triathlon is Sunday! I'm so excited :) And a little nervous. Mostly about the swimming part. Can you doggie paddle in a triathlon without getting laughed at?? I'll have an answer for you on Sunday.

Cat Tails

My plans yesterday kind of went out the window. I was supposed to go out with my mom's group, but life got in the way. As always! But, the good news is, I did still make my oven hot dogs. And BONUS - my sister Kristen came over to hang out with me and kiddos and eat the yumminess that is oven hot dogs. Danny and Piper were going crazy bananas so we let them loose outside and they 'mowed the lawn' and searched for geckos. Oh to be a kid again! After that, the kids went to bed and Kristen and I sat up talking about old times. We were some wild kids - oh how I hope that Danny and Piper take after their Dad when it comes to their teenage years...

Today was a busy day. We did a playdate with our meetup group at a Chik-Fil-A toddler time. It was really cute and the kids had fun. It was a little crowded, but the kids still had fun. And they gave out fresh fruit as a snack, which was a nice touch. My kids gobbled one of them up and we saved the other serving (having two kids is really good for getting an 'extra' for later) for lunch.

Just as we were heading home, I got a text from my work asking to do some work-ish things, so I spent the next 3.5 hours creating itemized budgets for a big ol' grant. I just feel like my head is swimming in numbers. But I've put in a bunch of extra hours working on this grant, so now I'll have a nice paycheck to spend on lavish spa days, a vacation in Tahiti, and an Audi TT. Oh wait, that's in my dreams. Really, we're using my extra moolah to pay down some credit cards. Someday I hope to be truly debt free..right after I pay off all those student loans from both undergrad and grad school.....

Anyway, my cats are all piling on me now that the kids are asleep. And they are helping me type. They are really good blogger cats. If I could take a picture I would. But I am using all my energy to keep them off the keyboard. Just picture three LARGE cats putting their tails in my face and stepping on the keys. I love my almost 10 year old cats :)

Bullet Point Wednesday

My mind is a bit here and there today. So here are some bullets. I should call them bullet-graphs because they are kind of long....

• Danny was punished this past weekend by not being allowed to watch his current favorite movie - Wall-E - for 4 days. He didn't mention it AT ALL for those four days. This morning, he woke up and said, "Mommy, can I watch Wall-E?" Is my son a genius and really count down the days until he was allowed to watch it again, or did he just forget about it until today?? 
• Ran a 4.3 mile tempo run today. Felt AMAZING! I would have kept going, but I remembered that I have my indoor triathlon on Sunday and I should probably be mindful to taper a little for it and not wear my legs out. Oh, and that pesky muscular injury thing....
• I am making these for supper tonight. Put these on the kind-of unhealthy list and make them anyways. I'm using my 97% fat free hot dogs and only a little, itty bit of mayo and cheese on mine to lighten them up. And I'm only having one and adding green beans and salad on the side to fill me up. And then I'm leaving the house. Because I *will* eat the whole pan!
• Tonight is Mom's Night Out with my mom's group. Can't wait! I'm limiting myself to only 2 drinks and no appetizers though so I can a) make it home in one piece and b) not gain 45 million pounds. We're going to a Mexican place (can't remember the name), so it's going to be hard because you just know that there going to put a basket of chips and salsa down RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! I just have to remind myself that I am not meeting up with people to eat and drink. The purpose is to go out with other moms and have fun - without the kids!
• I was reading this and found myself seriously wondering if I should be vacuuming more. I usually do 1 - 2 times per week, but according to her findings, I should be vacuuming about 4 times per week. Crap! Just when I was starting to feel like I was ahead of the curve by vacuuming twice a week. 
• I am so happy that it's almost summer because this means fresh fruit! I have already eaten two pre-cut bowls of watermelon this week, and I am hungry for more. Why oh why is watermelon so delicious?!? I also can't wait for cherry season! I think I might go to the farmer's market this year and buy lots and lots of tomatoes too. I used to eat those all the time fresh off the vine with a little salt. Yum!
• I am really looking forward to moving again! Our rental agreement is up on our current house at the end of June and we are hoping to move closer to my sister's house and Derek's work. I'm guessing we'll be in Plano/Allen area. Right now we take the tollway everywhere because it's so freaking convenient and we live so far out, but it costs almost $5 roundtrip to my sister's or Derek's work. And that's just insane! 
• I'm really interested in doing the White Rock Racing marathon build-up series (the timing would be PERFECT for my 12/31 marathon), but they are currently upgrading their website and everything is kaka. They list out the events, but don't say how much they are or how to register. Very frustrating since I am planning out all of my end of year races (doing one race a month for 2012) and want to pay before prices increase - especially if I choose to go with other races for September, October, and November. I lack patience...
• I want to do a sprint triathlon sometime this year. I don't have a bike (although my sister said I could borrow hers) and I don't have a pool to train in (although, my sister does have a pool at her apartment complex....), but I still want to go for it! I was looking at one in June, about 2 weeks after my half marathon on Memorial Day. The only problem is that it's $50. And that's a cheap triathlon. $50 may not be much to some, but since we'll be moving at the end of June, we are having to save up for new deposits and moving expenses (as well as having to replace the timing belts on BOTH of our cars). I wish my hobbies were cheaper! 
• My friend from college, Erin and her husband Tim, are going to Africa NEXT WEEK to go meet their little girl and attend a court date to begin the actual adoption process. I'm so proud of Erin and Tim! I really do admire them for committing and following through on this adoption. After they get to meet their little girl, they will have to go back home to Washington and wait until the end of summer to actually go get her and bring her home. It breaks my heart to know that Erin will get to meet and love on her little girl and then have to leave her in an orphanage for months before getting to bring her home. I can only imagine how hard that will be : ( Erin and Tim were fortunate enough to receive a grant for this trip to Africa, but are still looking for funds for their return trip to Africa when they get to bring Harper home. If you want to donate, please do so here. They are also trying to get together supplies to take to the orphanage in Ethiopia so I'm sure if you messaged Erin, she would tell you how you can help with that. They are taking supplies next week and then again when they go to pick Harper up. 

It's a Celebration

Yesterday my Mom's group met up at Celebration Park where my marathon (in December) is going to be. That is an awesome park and I'm totally stoked that my first ever marathon will be there. Hopefully there will be kids playing on the playground on the marathon day to keep my mind off of the fact that I'm running 26.2 miles! Yesterday, we just let the kids play on the playground and talked whenever our kids were playing near each other. The playground there is pretty amazing. It was a huge play structure with multiple areas that all different age groups could play on. Of course, Piper wanted to chase her brother and try to go down the super tall spiral slides just like Danny. And of course, I was officially the meanest mom ever and didn't let her go down them (she's just so *little*). Danny did pretty good too. He has this nasty habit of seeing open fields (soccer fields in the case of Celebration Park) and wanting to just run the length of them - without me knowing about it. He really only made one or two attempts to run off, so I was happy for that.

I had totally planned on going for a walk around the park after the kids played. BUT, it was 6pm, and the kids were completely red faced and downed the juice I brought for them in about 4.2 seconds and started asking for more (guess I should start bringing juice AND water as it gets hotter out). So, I packed up the kids and convinced my sister that we really, really needed some Mexican food. I had been so excited to move to Texas because of the food: BBQ, brisket, Mexican deliciousness, sweet tea....Really, though, we haven't had too much of those things since we've moved here. Something about being on a budget and not being able to eat out as often as we did back in Spokane *sigh* Anyway, we swung by her place and picked her up and went to a place called Chuy's. I ended up getting the Boom Boom Chicken and a Texas Martini (complete with olives stuffed with jalepenos). It was spicy and oh so delicious!!

We made a pit stop at my sister's and played with her dog (my kids are nuts about dogs) and then headed home. Piper asked to go to bed as soon as we got home, but Danny, of course, wanted to play. If I had just one ounce of that kids energy.....! I ended up putting them to bed and then crawled into bed at 10pm. I was so exhausted!

Today has been a day busy cleaning. We've had pretty much non-stop guests for the last two weeks, and my Dad and Grandma are coming into town for a visit on Saturday. I have cleaned for every person as they get into town (vacuuming, washing sheets, picking up kitchen, etc), but my house is still getting messier and messier and messier. I think every grandparent has brought a suitcase full of toys and treats for the kids, and then we had Easter too. Plus I worked a lot last week. Long story short, despite all my best efforts, my house is trashed and has toys everywhere. I vacuumed the whole house, and washed everyone's sheets, and did all the dishes like normal, but today I went a step farther and cleaned out my fridge and freezer, did some meal planning, *folded and put away* all the laundry I've washed and put into laundry baskets the last two weeks, and even washed the kids' lovies. I'm going to tackle the kids' toys in a little bit. They are out of control!

And my weight watchers has not been going that great. My supper last night was beyond delicious, but when you add in the points that I already had eaten for the day, I ate approximately 91 points. In one day. Yikes! Today, I have done SO much better and am not going over my allotted points, but it's just a little dissapointing to know that I screwed up so royally. Oh well, the past is the past for a reason. You can't change it; just learn from it and move on. Luckily, as I cleaned out my fridge and freezer and cupboards, I discovered quite a bit of fresh fruit and vegetables that need to be eaten before they go bad. So I am planning my meals around those items. And I found a whole loaf of cinnamon brown sugar swirl bread. It is the best!! Especially when you toast it and put a 1/2 tablespoon of peanut butter on it. Man! Totally worth it and reasonably low-point and satisfies a sweet tooth as well :)

Doctor Visit

The doctor agreed that it was probably the shoes I was wearing causing my leg pain, and possibly overuse. He said it seemed like it was muscular in nature rather than a bone or tendon injury. I was very relieved about that. I was fearful that he would tell me that I needed x-rays to rule out stress fractures. But, it wasn't that. Woo-hoo!

He told me to take some Aleve, to run a little less for the next two weeks and try more cross training. And no weight lifting that would put any strain on my legs. I'm also supposed to use compression sleeves and ice after working out. I'm hoping that my new shoes do the trick and makes my legs feel fresh and new too.

We're going to a play-group meetup at Celebration Park in Allen, TX later today. I'm really excited about this, because this is the site of my full marathon in December. I think I might throw the stroller in the car and take the kids for a walk before we meet our group; just to get a feel for the location. I'm not sure if I'll get a run in today because my doctor's appointment was smack dab in the middle of the childcare morning hours at my gym and our play group is in the middle of the evening hours. So a walk might be the only real exercise I get today. And so far today I've eaten about a gazillion calories (okay, I had a leftover slice of pizza, coffee, and Cheddar Peppers from Sonic), so I need to do something active. A walk is a good cross-training too.

Spending Birthday Money

I'm so excited! Yesterday I went to Run On (my new favorite running store) and spent some birthday money that was burning a hole right threw my pocket. I showed up in my old running shoes and the guy helping me went crazy. I guess my old-favorite running store back in Spokane sold me shoes meant for someone that has flat feet with NO arches (I was running on Brooks Addiction 9's). They had like 5 running shoe salespeople look at how I walked/ran and decided that I had fairly normal arches and in no way, shape, or form did I need shoes for flat feet. Also, running on the wrong shoes (especially the ones that I was running on which had a thick, hard foam core thing in the arch area) can cause leg pain and injury. Huh....maybe that's why both of my legs hurt in the exact same spot??

Here are the beauties that I ended up going with. Asics Cumulus'. Super comfy - although I haven't taken them out for a run yet (today was my resting day and I'm really trying to rest my legs).

I also bought a Garmin Forerunner 210. It's so cool!! Again, I haven't had a chance to really take it out and play with it, but so far it's been fun. I haven't had a watch in a good little bit because my battery ran out, so knowing what time it is has been phenomenal. I'm kind of a nut about knowing what time it is, so I love that I can use it as a watch as well as a GPS unit. I am so excited to use this! If you've been thinking about getting a Garmin - read this review of the 210. It's what sold me on the 210.

I also stopped by and got my eyebrows threaded. That seems to be the big thing here in Texas. Forget waxing your eyebrows, threading is the new hotness. But holy crap! That hurt!! I was literally crying. It was bad. I've done pain-medication free childbirth twice. Both times having been induced with pitocin which brings on crazy huge contractions. I didn't cry then. Well, maybe a little. But eyebrow threading? I don't know if I could do this again. It was really, really painful. I did need to get my eyebrows done because they were outta control. But that was probably the most painful birthday present I've ever given myself - it even hurt worse than getting a tattoo. Maybe I'm just a baby though :)

Peace

I'm officially feeling much less stressed than I was earlier. I have even more work on my plate (this is a good thing though!), the kids were super wound up all night, my house is a mess (really it's just the dishes that need to be done and the trash needs to go out, so it's not TOO bad), and the husband is STILL at work. BUT, I went for my run. And it felt awesome! Every time I'm feeling frustrated and angry and just overwhelmed, I just need to remember to put on my running shoes and get out of the house. It really made a big difference in my attitude.

I got in 5.3 miles. I'm trying to up my speed, so I did some faster running mixed in with a little more walking than usual. Since I now know I can pretty much run a half marathon, my next goal is to run the whole thing - and do it faster! Tomorrow I'm hoping for a 7 - 8 mile run. It felt so good today; hopefully I'll feel this motivated tomorrow too. On Saturday, I'm hoping to do my first weight training class. Before I had Piper, I lifted weights twice a week by myself and once a week with a personal trainer. I was so very in shape. It was awesome. I'm really crossing my fingers that the weight lifting will re-shape my body, help me shed some of this my-husband-just-got-laid-off and the we're-moving-out-of-state-for-a-job weight, and make me stronger to go further with my running.

Anyway, just wanted to give a brief update and let you know that I am no longer frustrated. Although, when I went to pick up the kids from the gym daycare, the daycare worker told me that Danny was absolutely wild. So, I guess it's not just me that thinks he's being disobedient. He better get out of this disobedient phase soon. It's making me a little crazy!

Frustration

My father-in-law is in town for a work meeting this week and he is splitting his time doing work-ish things and hanging out with the kids things. Last night, he had a meeting (and today an all day conference), so I took him downtown to the hotel where he had a meeting and stayed the night (for his conference today). On the way there, D, my newly potty trained 3 year old, fell asleep. He had been acting out all day, so I was kind of happy he was getting a nap in since he will not willingly go down. I dropped my father-in-law off, and headed back home. I got lost MULTIPLE times. My GPS kept calling I-45S, 75S, so I was completely thrown off. I don't know if 75S really is I-45S or not, but I must have gotten lost about 5 times. I don't do well with getting lost. I'm pretty sure I was saying a slew of curse words under my breath. Little P didn't mind though because she was watching Dora the Explorer and was completely oblivious that we were circling blocks and cutting people off to try to get to exits.

I finally ended up on the correct Interstate (man! I wish Spokane with it's ONE singular Interstate!!!!) and got off at our exit. Whew! We made it! That was when D woke up SCREAMING. He couldn't tell me what was wrong; he was just screaming and crying. We were almost home, so I made the decision to just listen to the crying for a little longer and continue home. P is a sympathy crier, so she started crying too. It was ever so much fun! I pulled in, and jumped out, and got D out of the car. Turns out he had an accident and had wet his pants. I told him it was okay, gave him cuddles and took him (and P!) inside. I cleaned him up and we were good to go.

But my mood was FOUL. I was tired, hungry (it was 7pm by the time we made it home), and ready for little kids to be in bed. I made Hebrew National 97% fat free hot dogs, creamed corn, and a banana with a dash of cinnamon for supper. The corn was pretty good. I think next time I make it I'll add in a can of green chilles or a can of rotel. Or even some roasted red peppers would be good. After supper, the kids and I played trains and then I got them ready for bed. Of course, D and P wanted nothing to do with bed. After a big tantrum, I got P into bed, where she fell back asleep. D, on the other hand, was up every 10 - 15 minutes. He ended up having a bad tummy ache too, so he was in the bathroom about 5 times - poor guy! I was just TIRED and ready for him to go to bed so that I could go to bed. My patience was wearing thin.

The hubs came home about this time, and commented on my parking job. I think that was the straw that broke the camel's back! I *know* I'm a bad parker, but I was dealing with two screaming, crying toddlers and trying to get them in the house and honestly didn't care how I was parking. That was about the last thing on my mind. I'm just glad I didn't just keep driving into the laundry room. I at least put it in park. AND the hubs could fit his car into the garage. Those are the things that matter: didn't crash into house and hubs had plenty of room to park. I guess I pulled forward too much though and made it hard to get into the house. Which, looking at it this morning, I did pull in pretty far. But last night, I was fuming. I decided at that point to just go to bed. Maybe I would wake up in a better mood.

You would think that getting 8 hours of sleep would help, but it really didn't. This morning, the kids were both being super needy. And I had a work deadline. So of course D was antagonizing P (stealing her toys, her blankie, her sippy cup; pushing her over; throwing blankets on top of her; etc; etc; etc), P was crying, and neither of them were listening to me at all. I tried talking to them, I tried time outs, I even ended up spanking D for pushing P into the brick fireplace ledge. No avail. Didn't matter. They were just being WILD! I know they just wanted my attention, but my goodness! It's beyond frustrating when you are trying to get something done by a certain time and the kids are not playing nicely together - or even by themselves - and not listening to you. At all.

The good news: I got my work done. The bad news: I'm still in a funky, foul mood. I had to wash D's carseat cover where he peed on it, but as soon as it is dry, I am putting in on and we are going to the gym. I have so much pent up frustration and anger, I feel like I could run 20 miles today! And maybe that's just what I need: to run. It's amazing how good it is for you mind and attitude. After a run, I feel accomplished and like I could take on the world; rejuvinated! Here's to hoping it works!

I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore!

We survived! In case you haven't heard, Dallas-Forth Worth was rocked by some big ol' tornadoes yesterday. And the storms started rolling in right smack dab in the middle of P's nap. With the tornado sirens going off, I grabbed D, woke up P, and put both of the kiddos in the bathtub. I then grabbed D's mattress off of his little toddler bed and put it in the tub, and grabbed the kids' lanterns and my big lantern with the AM/FM radio on it (and cell phone charger!). *There* We were tornado-proofed.

I spent the next 2.5 hours going back and forth from the TV to the bathroom tub, where my two VERY restless toddlers were camped out in the tub. We ate oreos, had milk, read books, played Mobigo, watched Team Umizoomi on the laptop, played Ispy....anything and everything we could do to pass the time. Two and a half hours is a long time to keep little kids occupied and happy. Especially since I was a little scared myself! 

There was some BAD damage in Arlington and Fort Worth, but it seems like my small little town was spared any damage. A tornado did touch down about one town over, but that was as close as it got. I guess tornadoes and thunderstorms and flash floods are something that we're just going to have to get used to living in Texas. 

Today the weather was back to normal and was actually quite nice. We went outside and played for about an hour and a half. It was gorgeous! Back in Spokane, they are getting snow. I guess I can handle 2.5 hours with tornado warnings instead of days of snow and snow and ice packed roads with the potential to crash at any moment. I guess each region has it's own weather problems. 

Catch Up

I feel like I haven't been on here in forever when in reality it's only been like 3 days. I've just been super crazy busy and had taken all these pictures that I wanted to incorporate into my blog. But I've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to dig through pictures and decide which ones I like/don't like, and which to put up here. I know, big decisions, right? I was starting to miss blogging though, so I decided I would post now and do a picture post later.

So I'm officially 30 now. I used to always think that 30 was old. Now that I'm here, though, I'm starting to second guess that. I feel so much more alive that I did in my teens - so much happier! I had a lot of 'stuff' going on in my teen years that contributed to me just being unhappy. I was overweight, depressed, and listened to way too much of The Cure than is good for any one person. My 20's I was still trying to 'find myself' and still felt VERY shy. While I'm still trying to discover who I am, I feel a lot more confident with myself, my body, and my choices. I have a great husband and two amazing children, and I feel like I've found my place in the world. Plus, I am much more active and healthier, which I think affects so much in your life. I'm happy!

Speaking of being active, I have gotten a few runs in. Although, they've been pretty quick! Yesterday, I only made it 1.5 miles. For lunch yesterday, I made Pioneer Woman's jalepeno poppers (got from her cookbook), and OMG! They were SOOOOO good. So good, in fact, that I ate 22 of them. They were really low weight watchers points, and so incredibly delicious that I just kept eating until they were all gone. Awesome. Anyway, after putting it off for most of the day, I decided to get out there and run. So off to the gym I went. And discovered that eating 22 jalepeno poppers was NOT the best "fuel" for running! My stomach was twisting in so many knots that I had to stop. Lesson learned. If I'm going to eat 22 jalepeno poppers, I should do it on a non-run day!

Other than running, I've been working and cleaning house. Yesterday I got in 4 hours of work (go me!), and then cleaned like a crazy person. My father in law found out that he was going to be attending a training in Dallas, so he is coming in tonight and leaving on Saturday. It's been almost a year since he's seen the kids, so I know he's excited to see them. After he leaves on Saturday morning, my mom is coming into town to celebrate Easter with us (she arrives Saturday afternoon, and will stay until Sunday afternoon). Then, next Saturday, my dad and grandma are driving from Nashville to Dallas to spend a few days with us. It's total parent overload - and I love it! It just makes me so happy to have family around, and for the kids to be able to interact so much with their grand-parents (and great-grandma!).

My Dad is coming in late Saturday night, and then we are turning around and doing a super-sprint triathlon on Sunday morning. It's a 10 minute swim, 20 minute run, and 30 minute bike ride, all indoors at a gym. I think I got everything down except the swimming. I can swim, but I'm not the best at it. So, 10 minutes is going to feel like forever. My friend in Virginia wants to do a half-Ironman (70.3 miles) and I said that I was interested in doing it as well. We are shooting for October 2013. I really need a bike to be able to do the triathlons though. My sister said she would loan me hers, so I might get that from her and start training. I honestly haven't ridden a bike (non-stationary) in years, so I'm curious to see how that will go!

Anyway, better head off of here. Just wanted to stop in and say hi. I have to a lot more cleaning/picking up I want to do before the father-in-law gets here tonight.