Uh Oh...

...my happy place has arrived. *sigh* So if I run ten miles can I justify eating twenty of these in one sitting?

I will melt your ice cold heart.

Speedy...it's all relative.

I ran my second half marathon on Saturday in beautiful Savannah, Georgia. By some miracle of all miracles, the course was flat, the weather was perfect, and I ran a 1:59:58 half marathon. That may not seem like much, but for me, that's well beyond what I ever expected I'd be able to do. I held my pace for two hours...and managed to just *barely* beat the clock. I felt so amazing while I was running - I definitely had a high and I was running along the edge and giving everyone high-fives; yes, I'm that dork.

My parents flew out from Texas to join us on the trip - they really just wanted to visit Savannah and the race was a convenient excuse. The condo I booked was very close to the finish line, so everyone came down to wait for my finish. They were somewhat surprised as they expected me five to ten minutes later than I actually got there.

No hands!


Harper and Grandpa. The kids absolutely loved spending time with their grandparents.


'Twas a bit chilly that morning!


Go curvy girl! I always feel kinda self-conscious at these events because I don't have a typical runner's build/physique/whatever. I'm short, I'm solid, and I have flab when I wear my fuel belt.


A little old man tied the thermal blanket around my neck, so I had to leave it like that.


Three out of four looking at the camera ain't bad.


With my mom.


Gotta stretch out those muscles!



The next half marathon is on Thanksgiving Day here in Atlanta. It will be very laid-back, though, because I'm running with two other women from my neighborhood (aka the Westview/West End Vertically-Challenged Ladies' Running Society.) After that, a break from racing until the holidays are over.

Birthday girl.

This is what Juston does when he has too much time on his hands and a really uber cheesy song.



In truth, though, Harper is one super awesome kid and we are so glad that she's in our family. She and Frankie are great friends who love to play together and she's rougher and tougher than just about any other two year old I know! She's extra sassy and knows what she wants; don't even try to put a pair of shoes on that girl unless she's given her approval. She's a diva, yes, but no princess. We love our Harps!

Pups in Atlantaland

We got a new baby this week. :)



Butterball (for the time being) is a French Bulldog. She's pretty dang adorable if I do say so myself. Bridget is not so sure about the whole puppy thing (I'm not even 100% sure I'm sold on the whole puppy thing), but I suppose we'll all adapt to our new family member. She definitely wins the 'best ears' contest.

Time Flies.

Wait...at one time this tiny boy lived in my house? I cannot believe how fast he is growing up. The sap-factor of my blog just increased, didn't it?

New Digs

We're completely re-arranging our house and as part of this shifting of furniture, we acquired these little 'coffee tables.' I think the kids like them, perhaps a little *too* much.


New hair; I just couldn't hang with the blondes anymore, so I defected back to the red team:


(p.s. This is the best photo I got. Don't worry, I won't subject you to many more images of myself in the near future!)

Because I can.

I decided to copy and paste my journal from today onto my blog - for accountability's sake. That, and because I can since it's my blog. I apologize in advance; you don't have to read this. It's more for me than for you (and I mean that in the nicest way possible.) Did I mention that I'm full-on ignoring my kids right now?

------------

So here I am again, staring at a blank page. I suppose I shall will my thoughts here. I spent a few minutes this morning reading through some journal entries of mine from 2004. Last night, we were babysitting a one-year-old and he somehow unearthed my old journal from the bookshelf, so when I went to clean it up this morning, I flipped through it for a minute and had a realization: I’m a really good writer. I’m not trying to say I’m better than anyone else – it’s more a matter of being able to clearly relay my thoughts on paper in an engaging way. Why did I quit? What happened? It’s been over seven years since I wrote those journal entries detailing the process of applying for graduate school, getting rejected and accepted, working with men that displayed body-disordered thinking, musing over my personal reaction to fad diets, my relationship with religion and its trappings and transcendental moments. While I’ve definitely had experiences in the last several years that have changed me from that person, I don’t want to lose that person completely. That person was a writer, a writer that had hours each day to do nothing (administrative assistant for an office with bosses that spent most of their time at another office) and – this is the big part – no kids. Love the kids, but they really are destroyers of time. My life has turned into a whirlwind of events that I can only summarize in Facebook status updates. Nothing seems important enough to really detail; it’s all insignificant. The three part-time jobs, the poopy bottoms, the peed-in bed sheets, the dog vomit, the bug bites, the open wounds and bloody mess. It’s like my life has evolved into a tangle of bodily fluids mixed with lots of driving (LOTS of driving) and trying to explain big words to someone who simply cannot fathom the meaning. In fact, I learned a lot of big words in grad school, words I’d never even heard before were thrown around as if they were common vernacular. When’s the last time I used the word ‘hubris’? ‘Oeuvre’? Yeah. Can’t remember. ‘Rubric’ does come up a lot since I’m a teacher, but I’m not even sure what it really means anymore.

Right now I can’t run and it’s killing me. I like running because I get to spend glorious hours alone and I can compose manifestos about body image and gendered politics in my head. Once someone cat-called me from a car (me? Seriously? Overweight, sweaty, white girl? Um, dude has bad taste) and it sent me into a spin of thoughts. As I carry my 150-pound, very dense body mile after mile, I have reason to thumb my nose at all societal outlets that tell me that I’m not good enough because I’m teetering close to obesity on high-for-weight charts. And then I go home and eat a piece of cake. Not really. The problem is that by the time I get home, I’ve lost sight of the revelations due to exhaustion, having to pee, needing to nurse a screaming toddler (she finally self-weaned about a week ago,) and then they are gone, or at least the eloquence behind them has dissolved into a mush of simple words that don’t sound impressive any more.

I need to feed the habit. I need to write. I need to find somewhere to get ideas and get inspired. I suppose that life is the best place to get inspired – certainly I can take offense to something in a television ad if I try hard enough. I don’t think anyone will read what I write, and that’s not the point. The point is to capture myself at a point in time. To remember that I actually thought valid thoughts and that I seem to have this overarching sense that they are important, at least in their current context. But how? Where’s the time? Where’s the energy? Why do I have to grade so many essays? Why are there so many dirty towels to wash? Another milk bomb? Can’t you people wash out your stinky milk cups so that I don’t have to encounter gelled chocolate milk on a regular basis? This is my challenge – to make the time and to make it count.

I got nothin.'

So here we are....I'm face to face with this blog again. I try not to think about it very often, hence, it gets ignored about 98% of the time. The other 2% of the time, I think about it in passing or use the links on my sidebar to see what other people are up to these days. I've read less blogs lately because I'm busy and because I get crazy jealous of other peoples' fabulous vacations. How is it that everyone else in their late 20s/early 30s can afford to go to foreign countries, beach houses, Disney World, resorts, on cruises, etc., etc., etc.? They must be making the big bucks or they have rich relatives that like to pay for them to go on big trips, because it's totally not how we roll. Anyway. Onward...
I'm teaching an 'overload' load again this semester, which means that I'm working the load of a full-time person but only getting paid as a part-timer (aka I get a flat rate for each class I teach.) It's the joy of working for a state institution during a recession - enrollment is up but funds are down. I only complain on the surface, though, because deep down, I'm very grateful for my job and the fat paychecks I'll be getting this summer (well, fatter than I'm used to getting due to the extra work.) Good thing because I've discovered the joy of running gear and let me tell ya, that stuff isn't cheap!
Bridget is getting fat. I got reprimanded at the vet because she's gained two pounds in the past six months. When you only weigh around 20 pounds, 10% of your body weight is pretty significant. I feel like a bad parent and she's now on a diet. I've also taken her out for a couple of jaunts around the block and she protests with panting and snorting.
The kids are on the express train to crazy town. I can't believe that we have less than two months until Frankie starts the kindergarten. Crazy! The other day I had my first 'oh crap, my kids is actually growing up - it's happening' moment. I'm sure it won't be my last. Harper is into everything and onto everything. She's now speaking in simple sentences. She's also had her first ER visit; she fell face first onto a tile floor after climbing onto a stool at Frankie's swimming lessons and got a concussion. Hanging out in the ER in your bathing suit because a toddler has vomited all over your cover up is not the best way to spend an evening, just an FYI. Of course she is fine and was right back to doing the chicken dance and eating markers within a couple of days.
Last week Juston's older sister and nephew came to visit for a week. It was fun to have some company out our direction for a bit and we had a good time seeing the one or two interesting sights in Atlanta.
I've harvested a single cucumber and one carrot from my garden. Grow little veggies, grow!

Normally I try to include 'unique' content on my blog, but since I really need to get back to the grading, I'm just going to dump a couple of pictures from Facebook on here. It's just easier to send pictures from the phone directly to Facebook. Sorry, blogspot.

The pool is open!


We went to World of Coke and sampled coke products from around the world. Cheers!


Brandon, who is 14, had never been to an aquarium, so we took him to the world's largest. There were a boatload of daycare kids there, but we still had fun dodging children and viewing fish.


We took our out of town company to sample the world's largest peach cobbler. It was 11'x5' - it was big - but big doesn't necessarily mean 'good.' However, the peaches we bought there were ah-mazing.


Happy June. Perhaps I shall return in July with an update from our vacation - we actually are going to the beach, so I'll try to talk it up big and make other people jealous. That's the goal, anyway. I'm also missing any photos from our weekend trip to Chattanooga over Memorial Day. Maybe I'll get around to that sometime. Back to work!

Found Item

Proof that someone in the Atlanta library system has a decent sense of humor. Juvenile easy reader, check!


(FYI, the vampire meets a nice goth lady at the end of the book and everyone is happy, happy, happy!)

"Feeling very protestatious"

I got some pretty good face time in this news bit. I almost missed my giant head early on, but it's there!

Women Hold Nurse-In To Fight Breastfeeding Restrictions

The Graduate

- minus Dustin Hoffman & Anne Bancroft. And a whole lot less Simon & Garfunkle.

Today was Frankie's Pre-K graduation. I'm not exactly sure what the standards are for Pre-K graduation, but I'm assuming he knows enough letters and numbers for it to have been considered a successful year. Contrary to popular belief, I did not cry, although I did get a little teary while the kids were singing. We've been really happy with Epworth Day School and I feel as though Frankie's had a really wonderful experience there; the only problem is that it isn't in our neighborhood, so almost all of his classmates (save one other, who will be home schooled) will attend a different elementary school. I am, however, thrilled that he's signed up for Kindezi, and I know he'll thrive there. (Did I mention that *every* child at Kindezi is performing above grade level in reading and math? It seems as though 6:1 is working. But I digress...)

Tip 'o the hat to ya!


F and his teachers. One of the bonuses of being the first 'graduating' class is that the kids picked out their own cap & gown colors. Blue isn't one of his favorites, so I'm kind of surprised he chose blue, but hey, when you are four, you are allowed to change your mind time and again!


Once again, this is the best we could get. Oh well.


Videos...for family that could not attend (aka everyone but us.)

Lots more words.

I figured I'd better update at least one more time before I have to dive head-first into a cesspool of undergrad essays, many of which are borderline indecipherable and others that are written on Tyler Perry films, which is almost as bad. But I digress...


First of all, you are probably not curious about the running, but I will tell you about it anyway. It was *so* hard; I crossed the finish line, walked over to where Jason - who had finished the marathon almost an hour earlier - was waiting for me, and said "I am never doing that again", apparently with a huge scowl on my face. Jason is my brother-in-law, who told me he'd pay me $100 for completing a marathon (he's a high roller.) After a particularly good eight-mile run in December, I signed up for the marathon and the regrets started the next day. I made it through the 18 weeks of training, only got badly sunburned once, only missed two runs (both of them five miles), and developed some seriously awesome calves. I wasn't nervous until about mile 14 of the actual race, when it started to get really hot really fast in Nashville. By mile 16, I was getting weary. By mile 18, I was cursing myself, swearing I'd never, ever run again. I somehow made it to mile 23, where I got a second wind and I managed to finish pretty strong in spite of my multi-mile struggle. I started out with a 4:30 pace group, but the pace leader started out way too fast (sorry, but 9:30 min miles are unsustainable for 4.5 hours when you should be running 10:18's) and by the end, I was passing other folks who started out with the pace group who couldn't keep up, either. I finished in 4 hours 53 minutes - I'm not proud of my time at all (in fact, I'm a little embarassed that it took so long.) Sadly, I'm now trying to figure out if I can train to do it in 4:30 next year. I have no aspirations of qualifying for Boston, I just want to reach my initial goal! In other news, Nashville is a pretty cool place, even if it is the home of Ke$ha.


Juston closed on the Willard house today, which means we now only own two houses! It's a huge stress off of our family to finally have sold the house, and we didn't lose too much money on it. Now the focus is to finish our current house; we are still toying around with the idea of moving but nothing is set in stone, and after some of the events of this spring I'm kind of happy just to stay put. I'm working on Frankie's paperwork for kindergarten registration, Harper is enrolled in preschool, I've got my 3 jobs, Juston is still at Cartoon Network - things are nothing if not consistent and fairly comfortable. Oh, and I'm a blonde now. :)


Blogger is being stupid right now and won't let me upload any pictures, so images of cute kids - consider them forthcoming.

Almost there...

...and you can tell that I was really happy to be finished!

Shrocky

Our newest family member. That makes us humans - 4, animals - 3. If we aren't careful, they might take over. P.S. the fish was named by a 4-year-old, hence the name that isn't even a real word.

peekaboo

mas huevos!

It's been a long time. I admit it. I've been busy, sometimes, anyway. I thought about stopping, but I can't shut the blog down - that would be like giving up on an ongoing project that is on the train to nowhere or something like that.
So what's new? Things have been down, they've been up, we've been digging in the dirt, getting all spring-ed-out. I'm still set to run the marathon and still would be considered for the fat girl category in that Salt Lake marathon. I went running with a friend this morning and she, who is terribly thin, thought it was very offensive that they would even separate out those categories. Next week we will see if 26.2 miles kills the fat girl. If it does not, I can write my manifesto on the topic - which I composed over about eight miles of speed drills a few weeks ago. Until then - run, fatty, run! :)

What have we been up to? We've been to the park, zoo, museum, doing renovating at our house, working in the garden (growing peas, tomatoes, basil, and cucumbers this year), working, working and more working (tons of freelance lately, picked up a fourth class this semester, and an extra day at drop-in - I have no idea why), and playing at the house. F got bunkbeds because, you know, he's a big kid now. He loves to climb up into his bed and listen to audiobooks (thanks, library!) He's had some adventures in dressing himself, with the wardrobe staple of choice being sweatpants because, as he says, his legs might sweat. *sigh* We toured the newly remodeled Atlanta Mormon temple and F's comment was "I don't like this because I'm a kid! When I'm a grownup, I will like it, but it's boring and I'm a kid!" Yup, he gets it. We also got our kindergarten enrollment packet, which is kind of surreal. Both kids in school next year - huzzah! Dedicated work time for mommy.

This year we had the 'annual' egg hunt, which is basically a great egg pick-up, where the eggs are littered about in the park and kids go crazy. I estimate that we had about 1000 eggs and roughly 50 kids, so a decent turnout, although I will admit I was hoping to improve on last year's numbers. Maybe next year! Overall it was a success and I'm pretty sure that everyone had a good time.

Meh.

I've just not had the desire to blog lately, and it seems as though most everyone else out there has felt the same sentiments as I find that most of my friends and family have given up on this medium as well. Trust me, I still have lots of useless questions to throw out into the universe, like, what am I going to do when I grow up? Should I be offended that, if I were to run the Salt Lake marathon, I could qualify for the fat girl category? Why won't Frankie sleep at night? And I still have lots of strong opinions, but I'm learning that they aren't as important as I maybe once thought they were. Plus I'm too tired to care as much as I once cared.

We are still trying to sell the flip house. We are still both working at the same jobs. Frankie is still in Pre-K and doing well. Harper is still growing like crazy. Life is consistent, which isn't a bad thing. That doesn't mean that things won't change drastically in the near future, but if they stay the same, I can't say I'd be upset, either. That's all for now. I've got stinky dishes to clean up before I go to bed.

Frankie's got the fever...

...Bieber fever!

Everybody wants a...

...banana.


...in the bathroom.


...to share with a dog.


...with whom you will then share a bed.

Grandma Bait

Here are some videos for grandparents and those with a blood or by marriage relation to me and my children. I would give myself too much credit if I were to think that other people are interested enough in our mundane lives to actually watch videos of my children. But here they are for your viewing pleasure - my children dancing, once again, and Harper saying 'doggie' over and over followed by blowing a kiss. Adorable to the mother, tolerated by the rest.

Ruffles

Yep.

More Ice Capades

We're no longer iced-in, but I figured you wanted to watch more videos of my kids riding in the laundry basket last Monday. :)





We forced Bridget to take a ride. She hates us.

Update.

We're still here. We ventured out on the roads yesterday to the grocery store, which was in a pretty sad state of low stock. Things seem to be improving today, although schools are still closed and we're going a little crazy. Juston finally went to work, even though he's not sure if it's open or not; he's ready to get back to normal. And since you've all been dying to know, the gym is finally open and supposedly the babysitting will be open this afternoon, so I won't have to miss another training run this week. Hooray! The college has bumped the semester start date to next Tuesday, which is lame since I had a beautiful syllabus and schedule all designed up that now I have to butcher. Oh well. Go snow!

Snowpocalypse, Snowmageddon, Snowtopia, Snowed in.

It snowed here last night. A LOT. In many parts of the world, the governments are prepared for snow and have plows, salt, etc., in order to keep things moving along. Not in Atlanta. The entire city has been crippled for over twenty-four hours. School was cancelled today and is closed tomorrow. Juston's work shut down, so he got a grownup snow day. We watched one of our neighbors spin his tires while trying to back out of the driveway. The freeways are giant sheets of ice. Needless to say, we went nowhere today. We did, however, involve ourselves in some cold-weather mayhem.

We forced Bridget to wear a sweater. And then Juston thought a bib would be a nice addition (edit: i can't believe i put "edition". smh.) to the ensemble. I'm pretty sure she hates us.

Here's a bad, low-light photo of the early stages of the snow at around 11 PM Sunday night.

Snow on the trampoline!

My face is half-frozen. This is my "I missed my first day of marathon training because of this stupid snow" expression.

Harper just wanted a wagon ride. I eventually gave in and pulled her along the road, which was basically a bunch of ice. (That, and she whined and gave me some stink eye until I caved in.)

The rosemary never dies!

We used a laundry basket as a sled. We make do!

Since we are low on milk and bread, we might have to pull the wagon to the grocery store tomorrow; it's only about half a mile away. Juston's work has already issued an announcement for employees to call in at 10 AM and find out the final status for tomorrow, so it looks like he at least gets another sleep in due to the weather. (Maybe he'll get the priviledge of staying home to finish insulating the floors.) And that's day #2 of marathon training shot since I'm not about to run on solid ice and I can't drive to get to the gym (not that it's open anyway.) Oh well! Might as well stay home and eat cookies. :)

New Year's Noms!