Manic Monday

Good Monday Morning! It feels so amazing here this morning! Crisp and cool, just the way I like it. A far cry from yesterday when we had 60 mph winds gusting and rain falling, at least in the morning hours. The remnants of Hurricane Ike left a lot of down power lines and trees here...several schools in our area are out today because of power outages. Much to the boys' disappointment, ours was not one of them. Our power went out yesterday morning for about 30 minutes, then came back on. We (I) spent yet another day relaxing. With no more pain, I decided I would walk (!) on the treadmill for a little while. Well that didn't last long, before you know it I was jogging, and then all out running. I knew that would happen! Oh well. It felt good to stretch my legs...for 7 miles! I took it easy, though. The dr. said I could run Saturday if I wanted to, just wear 2 sports bras, but I think he just told me that because he knew that there is no way I would feel like going for a run on Saturday! He was right. I didn't. But I DID feel like making a new playlist on my iPod, I named it "Childhood's Calling." I downloaded 12 songs that I remember so vividly from my childhood, dancing around with my girlfriends at slumber parties, and hearing on the radio. Here's my list:

• Bop by Dan Seals (this was our skating rink song...a fave on the jukebox, I remember!)


• Meet Me In Montana by Dan Seals and Marie Osmond


• Everything That Glitters by Dan Seals


• Fishin' In The Dark by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band


• Redneck Girl by The Bellamy Brothers


• Hold On by Wilson Phillips


• Release Me by Wilson Phillips


• You're In Love by Wilson Phillips


• Manic Monday by The Bangles


• Let Your Love Flow by The Bellamy Brothers


• If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body by The Bellamy Brothers


• One Friend by Dan Seals

Can you tell I was raised in the Midwest?? Yes, much country goin' on here! Country music is still probably my favorite type of music, closely followed now by pop/rock. But I have had so much fun listening to these while running these last two days! If you are having a hard time getting out of a rut, I highly recommend finding songs you haven't heard in forever and adding them to your playlist. I had no idea how much it would add to my runs! I plan on finding more songs from my youngster-days and making more lists...I'll let you know what I choose!

This morning I was up at 545am. Made coffee, layered up my sports bras, put on my childhood playlist, and ran 10 miles. I hadn't intended on going this far, but I got in a rhythm and kept on going. With those 2 bras on, I.don't.move.a.milimeter. lol I guess that's the point! The incision was about an inch long, and there are stitches on the inside and dermabond on the outside. So I'm superglued together. Good to know. But it looks really good, it's neat and clean, I don't think it will leave much of a scar at all.

Breakfast was 2 Kashi waffles with Barney Butter and a bowl of strawberries. On a sad note, I wasn't chosen as one of the winners of the Barney Butter contest by Carrots 'N' Cake . I was sooo hoping to be chosen to get some free Barney Butter, but it was not to be. After looking at the winners, I see why! The entries they chose were great, and hilarious! My puny poem paled in comparison. :-( Congratulations to the winners!

So today looks pretty manageable, not "manic" like my title suggests! I have some banking to do, invoices to get out, and let's not forget, blogs to catch up on! Yay! I am hoping to hear from my dr. today or tomorrow about the results of my surgery. Funny, I wasn't even concerned about it until I just typed that just now! Praying for, and expecting, completely benign results! Hope you are all having a fan-tabulous Monday!

A Late Start!

I feel like I'm running behind today! Well, I guess I kind of am. We are going to go to Cape tonight for my "procedure" tomorrow morning so today has been a whirlwind of scheduling, mail, bills, payroll, etc...all the typical Thursday/Friday business stuff that is normally spread, manageably, over the two days now must be done today. Whew!

I got up at 530 this morning and started running. I ran, and I ran, and I ran. I don't know what came over me...I normally do one long run a week (long being 10-12 miles) but today I just kept going, for 10 miles! Maybe it was in the back of my head that I probably won't be able to run for a few days? I dunno. At any rate, things are getting done and I'm crossing things off the list. I still need to finish payroll when my hubby gets home, and pack our stuff and the kids'. Geez, that's still a lot. :-(

Breakfast was: vanilla Greek yogurt, mixed berries, and an english muffin with Promise butter.

Now as for yesterday, I got the boys from school at 1230pm and we headed to PB to the dr. for Tyler's heel/leg. Found out that everything (muscles, ligaments, tendons, bones) look perfect, but the growth plate that is on the heel hasn't fused yet, which is what is causing the pain with activity. When the plate has fused completely the pain goes away. Apparently this is very typical and common is 11-13 yr.-old boys. He said he can tell by the xray that it is just starting to fuse (which also means a big growth spurt is coming) and within the next year it will all be ok. So we got inserts for his shoes to help cushion his heel, he prescribed Tyler ibuprofen to take and stretches to do to before practices and games. It was a good visit and we really liked the dr...worthwhile trip definitely. After that we headed to buy basketball shoes, I forgot how expensive those are, but we got $125 shoes on sale for $60! Score! And Katie needed new tennis shoes too, but when got home we found out that they forgot to put one shoe in the box, so she was very upset that she couldn't wear her new shoes today. We will just have to pick the other one up tomorrow on our way through. Needless to say, she was not happy! Poor Zachary got the hand-me-down yesterday. He needed new gym shoes, so he was the ahem...proud...recipient of Tyler's basketball shoes from last year. They look brand new! He wore them for a dozen or so games and only on the gym floor...they practically are new. But I did feel bad for him yesterday! Nothing in particular sounded good for me to pick up dinner and bring it home last night...nobody was being easy on me! So when we got home I made a big pot of taco soup. It was very tasty. I had mine with wayyyyy too many scoops and cheese though! And several snackies made their way to me last night too! But I was in bed fairly early, 9pm and asleep not long after that. So tomorrow is the "big day." The lady from the surgery center called this morning and gave me all the details and RULES. No eating/drinking after midnight (it's not until 1030am! I'll starve!), no makeup, jewelry, gum/breath mints (that will be lovely), and I have to wear my glasses, no contacts. Now won't I be a pretty picture in the morning! Glasses on, no makeup, and, my teeth will be brushed but, the nervous, after teeth-brush breath. Ugh..... Sounds wonderful, huh?? But I guess I have to look at it from a positive standpoint: No more ultrasounds, checking, worrying, wondering, etc. It will be gone and done with. Now that's what I'm talking about. Have a great day! I'll post when I can! Maybe tomorrow when I'm on my way home but still loopy...that would be fun!

Keepin' The Wheels Turnin'

It's Wednesday, already?? Well, yay! It's all downhill from here, folks! It has been such a crazy week. From Monday being Tyler's birthday, to Dr. appts. it has just been plain busy. Today is a Dr. appt. for Tyler. Back to the Dr. means yes, more driving. Yesterday was a 2 hr. trip to the breast center in Cape Girardeau and then TONS of driving around while Jack did his thing: looking for a specific tool he had to have, checking on the jobs, crew, etc. No telling what we spent on gas yesterday! Tyler's appt. today is for his feet - SHOUT OUT TO JENNA! - It hurts when he runs! Yikes! He has been having basketball practice every day but it didn't really bother him until he went in early one morning last week for Cross Country practice. (He's not running CC this year because of a conflict with the basketball practices for the Jr. High.) But it did bother him the last 2 season running CC, just not until late in their schedule of races and I just assumed it was an overuse thing. It didn't hurt all the time and went away when he wasn't running. But now I think it's time to get it checked out. It's starting to get irritated with all the basketball practices; he says the line drills about kill him! So today we are going to the orthopedist/podiatrist to see what's going on. Hopefully it's a shoe insert/new shoes deal...I have a sneaking suspicion it is. But he is also complaining of his knee bothering him, too sometimes. So we'll go get it all checked out. Seems to be a good week for this!Breakfast was a bowl of Kashi Hearty Oatmeal and my typical yogurt and fruit combo. Then Katie and I filled some time taking self-portraits. Here is our favorite:

So hopefully Tyler's appt. will go smoothly. I need to do some running while I am in Poplar Bluff, prescriptions filled at Wal-Mart, dropping off stuff at our CPA's office, etc. There's always stuff that needs to be done in PB. Oh, and Zachary informed me last night that he needs new shoes for PE. What?? He said he got recess detention yesterday for not having new shoes for PE. That sounds a little crazy to me. I can understand if you wear flip-flops or boots to school that you need to bring tennis shoes, but to require students to have ANOTHER pair of them just for PE?? Sounds ridiculous. I don't know about that one. I'll have to check it out. Could be a tactic for a cool new pair of shoes, or a cover for the real reason he got recess detention, or maybe it's completely real (in which case, I will be talking to someone)! I can get him another pair of shoes, but what about the families that can't? I dunno...we'll see.

Almost forgot about my run this morning: 7 miles of hills on (of course) the treadmill. 63 minutes, felt great!!

I am completely jealous of Sammie's weather...cool, crisp, and fall-ish! Makes me want to run outside. So I will hope that everyone else's weather is just as wonderful!

It's Official

I have a teenager. I can't hardly believe it. Seems like only yesterday I was holding him in my arms thinking, "Wow, I'm a mom!" I was only 17, Jack was 19 and we were so happy and proud...and scared. But as I have come to find out, through the joys of having more children, that this feeling really doesn't change no matter how young, or old you may be. Whether you are 17, 27, or 57, the simple fact that God has given you this life to nurture and love is an overwhelming concept, but at the same time completely wonderful. I believe all babies are a blessing from God and Tyler was not given to us in our time, but in God's time. God blessed us with the greatest gift and in doing so, entrusted us to bring Tyler up a way that brings glory to Him. I hope we are doing a good job...I think we are doing ok! He's a pretty good kid!

But unfortunately for our little teenager, he had to go to school today! At least basketball practice is after school this week, so he did get to sleep in a little. Good thing, too, because I gave him Benadryl last night for the tons of chigger bites he got while playing around in the woods on Saturday night. They were itching so bad! For those of you who don't know what chiggers are, they are an almost microscopic bug, that leaves little bites similiar to mosquito bites, just smaller...and itchier! They are horrible. They always seem to congregate where waistlines, socks, and seams of clothing are. So Tyler and Zachary's ankles, waists, and armpits have little red itchy bites. The Benadryl helped immensely, but left them a little medicine-headed this morning! I sent them to school with Benadryl spray this morning, hopefully they will feel a little better today! Poor kids!

He still didn't know what he wanted for his birthday dinner, so my hubby suggested that we just grill steaks. Sounds fantastic to me, because that is less mess in my kitchen! Woohoo! Another night "off!" Tyler (with icing smeared on his face!) with both sets of grandparents; my parents on the left, and Jack's on the right.

Although Tyler didn't have to get up early, I still did. I was up at 530am. I did the usual, made coffee, unloaded the dishwasher, and went for a run. I did 6 miles this morning, kinda easy pace. I picked it up several times to a sprint but because I went 10 miles yesterday, I dropped right back down. I didn't want overkill. My legs were a little sore today.

For breakfast, I had a new ingredient! Yay! Shakin' it up! I made myself a sausage and egg white english muffin; I used a Morningstar Farms sausage patty, cooked an egg white and put them on a Thomas' Light Whole Wheat English Muffin, and on the side I had my yogurt and fruit. I just can't stop with the yogurt and fruit! But it was very good. Definitely a repeat and a great way to start the day!

Party Hard

Well I survived...barely. I was SO exhausted last night, we didn't get to bed until midnight. That's late for us! Tyler was so surprised last night! My hubby brought him home around 630pm and most everybody was already there. When he saw the SHUND sign at the bottom of the hill, it began to click. But when he got to the top of the driveway, he was so excited! It was quite a time! An hour after they got there he was still saying, "How did I NOT know?? I can't believe nobody told me!" Truthfully, I can't either! Half of our Jr. High knew about it, but somehow they all managed to keep it a secret. I'm surprised, and proud.

We grilled hot dogs and had chips for dinner. And of course birthday cake and ice cream! It was huge and Lisa, a lady here in our town who decorates cakes on the side, did an amazing job! And it was good, too! teehee I had 2 pieces!

After the band finished their set (they played for about an hour), everybody hung out and visited. Kids played outside, inside, and everywhere; they had so much energy and couldn't care less what time was! The boy/girl "thing" went very well, I think. 7 boys, 4 girls and they had a ball.

I think he may be the cool kid when he goes back to school tomorrow. You know, the one who has a rock band for his 13th birthday party. Does that make us the cool parents?? *lol!*

Tyler when he first got here! He couldn't believe it!

SHUND kicks off the night!

Our very good friends Michelle and Adrian and their 2 kids, Hailey (Tyler's age) and Spencer (1 yr. younger than Zachary), were the last to leave; they stayed until 1130pm. We always have so much fun with them! We all went to school together. Michelle and I were in the same class in school (Class of '96!) and ironically we were both cheerleaders all the way through school except our sr. year because we were both pregnant. No pact, believe me! But it was kinda neat to have someone to share it all with, we got married 5 months apart, and Tyler and Hailey are 5 months apart. It's sweet because they are good friends now, although I think they're starting to "spark" a little (but they'd never admit it!), and we are still very good friends too. Michelle just finished up her Nurse Practitioner last month, and I am very proud of her. And they just built a new house...they've had a busy summer!

Tyler and a few of his friends listening to music. That's Tyler in the red Hollister shirt. The cute, blonde one! I can't believe he's 13 tomorrow!







See the Christmas lights my sister and I hung on part of the porch? We hung those up all around the railings and on the porch overhang. They looked really cool when it got dark!





My sister, Jessica, and my Mom listening to the music. Jessica is a Kindergarten teacher and she and her hubby, Jason, are stock contractors for PBR and bull-riding events. They raise and breed bucking bulls. They have been married 2 years. I'm trying to get her to give me another neice or nephew! My Mom is CEO of Missouri Highlands Healthcare here in Southeast Missouri. She is a RN, with her master's in Public Health. She's awesome...and one of my very best friends!

I will post more pics later, they are on my Dad's camera and I'm waiting for him to email them to me. Hurry up, Dad! Anyway, the party was a great success, but I'm kinda glad it's over...we pulled it off and now we can collapse! His actual birth"day" is tomorrow so I'll cook whatever he wants for dinner, he'll probably say chicken and dumplings, so I'll prepare myself. As for today, I got up this morning at 830am. By far the latest I have slept in probably 3 or 4 weeks. I went to bed with a splitting headache and woke up with one too. Nothing that a couple ibuprofen couldn't handle, though. I took down all the lights, threw away the trash and put away all the chairs and came downstairs to run. I put on 2 episodes of "Desperate Housewives" and sat my pace and just went. It felt so good. I could've gone further, but I ran out of show! I'm going to enjoy my peaceful afternoon (hopefully), and look forward to watching the Colts play tonight on tv. Yay! I hope you all have a peaceful afternoon, as well!

TGIF!

So, I was up WAAAAAY early this morning. And I didn't have to be! Tyler didn't have basketball practice this morning, so I didn't need to get up until 630 or 7am. But I woke up at 430am and couldn't go back to sleep! I watched the news, drank a cup of coffee, unloaded this dishwasher (Tyler said, "Did I hear you unloading the dishwasher at 530??" Unfortunately.), and went ahead and ran for almost an hour. I did 6 miles. It was still not even 7am!! So yeah, got the boys up and at 'em, read some blogs, wrote a check for Tyler's Jr. Beta dues, made sure Zachary had his snack for his Good Behavior Party today and out the door we went! Oh yeah, somehow in all this "extra" time that I had, I forgot to wake up Katie...so she went in her pjs! Geez. You know that joke about your mom wanting to make sure you were wearing clean underwear in case you're ever in an accident?? Well poor Katie would have been the child that her mother forgot to dress! *lol*

Breakfast was a Thomas' Light Whole Wheat English Muffin with a packet of Barney Butter and fruit and yogurt. Yummy!

I guess it's a good thing I got everything done early, because I had to go the imaging center, yes you guessed it-45 miles away, to pick up a copy of my ultrasound for the biopsy on Tuesday. So I did that and came straight back home. I didn't even go into town.

I was hungry by noon, so I had leftover stir-fry...again. It was delicious but I didn't take yet another pic of the stir-fry. I figured you knew what it looks like by now. But good news is, it's gone! And I didn't waste any food...yay me! I also finished up the strawberries and cantaloupe...and Katie's leftover shells n cheese! Oops! And as if that wasn't enough, I baked cookies!! But I haven't eaten any............yet. :-)

These cookies are soooo good! They are the Skinny PB and Chocolate Chip Cookies from Carrots 'N' Cake. Delicious!

And you can thank me later for the close up! Couldn't you just eat it right off the screen?! The recipe is so easy and these are not bad for you - believe it or not!

My hubby's sister is coming to pick up our children around 4 for them to spend the night at her house. We are going birthday shopping for Tyler. And just like everything else, the closest mall and shopping area is 2 1/2 hrs. away. Yeah sometimes it sucks. But we are getting up early in the morning and coming back home because we are having the biggest surprise party for him tomorrow night! Well the party isn't a surprise, he knows we are having a BBQ and birthday cake, but the entertainment is! Our nephew Brad, who is 20, is in a rock band and Brad is Tyler's idol. His band SHUND is going to play for Tyler's party. We have invited a ton of family and friends over that he doesn't know about!! It will be a ball! The weather is supposed to be beautiful and it should be a wonderful night. I just can't believe he will be 13! Hard to believe! OK, well I better get payroll finished so I can go pick them up from school and we can go shopping! Hope everyone is having a great day!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Ugh. That pretty much describes the weather here. We are suffering from the effects of Hurricane Gustav, sitting and spinning right over us. So it has rained here for 2 days straight and I'm ready for it to pass!

I got up at 545am and ran 7 miles in an hour. I did a Nike Speed Training interval workout that I downloaded from iTunes a year or so ago. It has sprints ranging from 1 minute to 4 minutes, then afterwards I just kept cruising at a good pace while I listened to Gayle King on xm. I hadn't intended on going quite that far, but I just kept going!

I was very interested in hearing what Gayle was going to talk about today, in particular about R-VP candidate Sarah Palin. I was upset about some things she said on yesterday's show and was curious if she had anything else to add. She didn't. On yesterday's show, Gayle was talking about the news that Gov. Palin's 17-year old daughter was pregnant. Gayle made the comment that if had been her daughter, who's now 22, she would have encouraged her to get an abortion. Then she said, referring to the statement made by the Palin family that they were "excited about being grandparents," that they were lying and there was no way they could feel that way. That they couldn't possibly be excited that their 17-year old daughter was going to have a baby. Well I am drawing from personal experience here, from the daughter's position: I was that 17-year old, pregnant and in love. And no, my parents were not thrilled or even the least bit happy when I got pregnant with Tyler, but they quickly moved forward and began to embrace the idea of being grandparents because like it or not, that was what they were going to be. So I think Gayle's statements regarding the Palin family were a little harsh and unnecessary. And as my mom said this morning, "We embraced the pregnancy because that love and support was what you needed at the time." What great parents!

*Steps off of soapbox*

Breakfast was a familiar Oatmeal and Egg White Pancake, mixed fruit and a vanilla yogurt. Yum-O!

Up And At 'Em

Wow! Does my breakfast look a little different this morning?? Yes, just a little...I had a Thomas' Light English Muffin with a single-serve packet of Barney Butter...OMG, yum! (Even if I did have to pay $10 for 10 little packets of it...it was like $3 plus $10 shipping, or something close. My credit card statement said $13!! Crazy! I hope my hubby doesn't see that one!) And then I had to have my Dannon Light n Fit vanilla yogurt with mixed berries. I couldn't go completely off-the-wall! It was all delish!

I was awake this morning at 530am. I wanted to go back to sleep so badly, but I knew if I did it would be even harder to get up at 6. So I turned on the news and drug myself out of bed. I took Tyler to basketball practice and came back and had just enough time to run 8 miles. I took Zachary to school at 8, and got to take a shower as soon as I got home. I had plans to pay bills this afternoon, but a trip to sign papers today means that I have to adjust my schedule a little. So I came downstairs and paid bills first...before I ate breakfast. By the time I was done it was almost 10am and I was starving! Breakfast was extra good because of that I'm sure! And because of that darn Barney Butter...I'm going to have to ration it out though, because I can't afford to make that order very often. :-(

So we are leaving to go sign papers as soon as my hubby gets his office work done. He's been wheelin' and dealin' all morning (well actually drawing plans and putting together estimates). I am taping "The View" because I don't have time to sit down and watch it this morning and it's a whole hour of hot topics. Those days are my favorites! Well I've gotten so much done this morning that I can relax for a second. I'm just going to catch up on my blogs until he is ready to go. Hope you all have a great day!

Take A Little Time To Enjoy The View!

I've had a very busy "start" to the week already this morning! I got up at 6am to take Tyler to basketball practice, came back and was running on my treadmill by 630. I was right...it had missed me! And apparently I had missed it, too! I set out to do an iTREAD workout that I have downloaded on my iPod (if you haven't tried these, you should 'cause they are awesome...quite the boredom buster) and I usually do about 7 miles during the 60 minute one. I love the iTREAD workouts because, as I have told you, I am a treadmill runner mainly and sometimes it's nice to not have to think about what "different" thing I can do next...the 60 min. one has hills, flats, sprints, and intervals. Very cool. Anyway, I finished that then took Zachary to school at 8 and came home and did 2.7 more miles! And I felt like I could run forever! I don't know if it's because I've been running in the heat and humidity for 3 days, or the fact that it's just easier on my joints or what, but I enjoyed my run this morning so much.

Breakfast consisted of a familiar favorite of mine...mixed berries with a ff vanilla yogurt and my oatmeal and egg white pancake. It's hard to go wrong with this breakfast because it fills me up forever. It seems to take a long time before I am hungry again...so this is good.

I ate my breakfast while I watched the season premiere of "The View" this morning! I LOVE "The View" and if I can't watch it, I will DVR-it so I can watch it later...at least the "Hot Topics!" In fact, this morning I had to pause it while I took loads of clean laundry up the the boys' rooms which turned into a massive bathroom and bedroom cleaning in both rooms. I was so disgusted! I was throwing piles of dirty clothes down the chute and mumbling under my breath the whole time something about how they are going to be grounded for the rest of their lives. Good thing they were at school! Actually, if they hadn't been at school, they would have taken their own clean laundry up to their rooms and Mom wouldn't ever have seen that apparently Hurricane Gustav had made a direct hit on their rooms over the last week. Ugh. So I have calmed down now and I don't think I will ground them for the rest of their lives, but maybe from the Wii this afternoon! Maybe I should let them sit in their sparkling clean rooms and think about it for awhile...naw, they'd probably just mess them up again. We'll see. It almost seems appropriate that after I was all fired-up about the condition of my boys' rooms that I went back downstairs to watch the rest of "The View." (It had been paused for 45 minutes! Told you the rooms were a disaster.) Those women can certainly get fired up! I don't know whether to cringe or watch while holding my breath when they start talking about politics. I love them all and their opinions are so diverse; sometimes it makes me think twice about an issue. But if I had to pick one I probably identify most with Elisabeth. It was when she was on "Survivor" when I first knew that I liked her! In fact we got the spelling of Katie's middle name from her...she is actually named after my sister, Layne, but Layne's middle name is spelled Elizabeth and I just liked it with an "s" better. But Elisabeth is a young, conservative, Christian, Republican with young kids, and enjoys fitness and fashion. Growing up in the Midwest, I share many of her morals and ideals, and I identify with her most often.

Well I am going to try to enjoy some computer time this morning, catch up my blog reading, maybe look for a yummy dinner idea! Here's hoping everyone takes a little time to enjoy their view!

Stock Photos?

I AM HOME! We had a wonderful weekend at the cabin. We layed in the sun, swam, took boat rides, and had lots of BBQ! It was a great holiday weekend, but I am glad to be home! There's something about being gone, even if for just a couple of days, that makes you appreciate home even more.
I decided not to post breakfast and lunch today because I was afraid you would all be wondering if I was using stock photos! Literally the same thing for breakfast this morning, oatmeal, ff yogurt, and strawberries, and lunch looked eerily familiar to the wrap and fruit and yogurt that I had TWICE last week! So I decided I'd rather not bore you! I'll try to do better this week...I promise!
I had the best runs that I have had in awhile this weekend. I got up and ran every morning, 4, 6.3, and 6 miles. This is outside, gravel road, Ozark hills, Missouri humidity runs. It felt great! I just pumped up my iPod and took off. The music drowned out the ideas of any critters, large or small, that may hamper my run and I only met one car on Sunday and another car this morning (and it was just our river-neighbor). I can definitely tell a difference between outside and treadmill running, though. My calves were barking this morning when I got up, but I took some Motrin and went back out. I knew this would be the last morning for awhile I would get this chance! And my treadmill actually looks good to me today! I even thought about hopping on while ago to go for a mile or two...but I'm not. I'm going to give my legs a break. But I know it missed me! lol

Let The Weekend Begin!

Well my weekend officially begun last night! My in-laws came in last night for the long weekend and we met them at their new cabin. My hubby just finished putting the finishing touches on it yesterday and it is BEAUTIFUL! They hadn't seen it in a month, so they were very excited...so were we. My mil had bought a beer tap that got built into the cabinet to surprise my fil, he's a beer drinker :), so my hubby and his dad has their first icy mugs of beer as soon as they got there. It was a cute moment.

This is a pic taken inside their new "cabin." I call it a cabin because it is on the river, and it's log (our specialty). But it's beautiful and I think my hubby did an amazing job! I'll get a pic or two of the outside this weekend.

So, needless to say it was a busy evening. We didn't have the greatest dinner choices...there was fried fish, chicken strips, and chips and dip. Ugh. I did actually find a pre-made garden salad that looked like it had been made a couple days ago, so I got it hoping it wasn't all soggy and gross. It wasn't, but I got it back to the cabin and didn't have a fork! Geez! Was that a good excuse to not eat it and have the other stuff instead?? Probably not. But I did! I didn't take pics of anything because I'm still a little self-conscious about taking pictures of my food when I'm around a lot of people. That's a question...

Do you feel that "everybody's looking at me and thinking I'm weird" when you whip out your camera, or phone to take a picture of your food? Maybe not. Maybe it's just me! Or maybe it's just something you get over. But nobody except my hubby knows that I'm a writing on this blog. And he really doesn't care as long as it's not costing us money *lol*, no really that's what he asked, "Is this costing us any money?" *lol* He is too funny! Isn't that just like a man?!? But anyway...I'm not sure how to handle the "situation."

So we came back home last night because the boys had school today, and school pics, and we still needed to finish up a little payroll and office work. It's almost done now. I'm glad I got my run in uber-early this morning. 5 easy miles, just a nice easy pace...9 minute miles. My legs were thanking me for not sprinting or taking hills! As soon as I pick up the boys at 3, we will be headed to the cabin for a weekend of R&R. Sunshine and river time, here we come!

Early To Bed...Early To Rise

I took my own advice and hit the sack a little earlier last night. I was in bed at 9pm, but my hubby and princess soon followed and proceeded to talk and carry on for a little while so it was probably 930pm before I actually fell asleep. It was ok though...I felt very rested when our oldest son woke me up at 545 this morning for me to take him to basketball practice. So, yeah the rest of the early morning went off without a hitch. I ended up walking 2 miles last night after dinner; then ran 6 miles with hills this morning. That puts my total for the week at 41.
So the checkup yesterday went ok, I guess. You know, the tech sends the ultrasound to the radiologist who reads it then sends the report to my dr. and hopefully the information will get back to me today...hopefully. They said it could be today. I think the last night I did it, it took 2 weeks...but it was Christmas/New Years last time so that could have been the delay. At any rate, I hope it doesn't take too long. The tech said it still looks like a fibroadenoma (a hormone-driven cyst, basically), but they will compare it to my scan from last time and see check the rate of growth, if any, and determine what to do from there. Could be that we do nothing...I hope that's the case. :) But we'll see what he recommends and go from there. It stresses me out a little, though. And boy did that show up in my appetite last night.
I am TOTALLY an emotional eater! Now during the day my stomach was in a knot because of the appointment...I had my usual breakfast but it went downhill from there. I got a protein shake afterwards, at the fitness place where I meet my sister and had half of my Kashi Honey Almond and Flax granola bar. Pre-dinner I had an apple and piece of string cheese. And it all went downhill from there. I had 2 pieces of leftover pizza, then started to cook dinner which was a baked ziti with whole-wheat pasta and extra lean ground sirloin, had 2 helpings of that. Then took a bath and tried to put my day out of my mind and came back out into the kitchen and the boys were whipping up homemade shakes! Oh boy, yeah so I had some lf vanilla fudge brownie ice cream then finished up what they had left of their shakes! At least their ice cream was 70 calorie vanilla! Hmmmm....two things happened here that I can see. 1) I didn't eat enough midday and was ravenous when I did start to eat. And 2) I was stress-eating! I should have went and brushed my teeth and just went to bed. But oh well, another day is here!
Today shouldn't be too complicated. It is payroll day for our employees (our weeks end on Thursdays) so I'll be doing that later, but it's pretty cut-and-dried this week...I LOVE those kind of weeks!
And my in-laws are coming home later today from a job they are doing in Kansas. My father-in-law works smokestack/chimney construction, he is a superintendent with a company that does everything from builds to repairs to tears down industrial smokestacks. While they have been gone, my hubby has put the finishing touches on their new cabin on the river about 45 minutes from our house. We own a log home company, and so they will be coming home to a beautiful new log home on the river. That is SO where we are going to be all weekend! I will post pictures when we get back! Or maybe my mobile blogger will let me...I'll try that, too. I hope everyone has a good day!

Need.More.Coffee.

OK, I think my early mornings are catching up with me! If I'm going to continue to get up pre-6am then I need to make my nights a little earlier as well. But there I was this morning, up and at 'em, making coffee, putting on workout clothes: By the way, I highly recommend putting on your workout clothes first thing in the morning. Not only does it make me want to do it, but if something does come up that I can't get right to a run, it's ok, I'm ready when I can. So took my oldest son to basketball practice at 615am and came home, chugged some coffee and chugged along on the treadmill. I know I said yesterday that I needed to shake it up a bit. So I did. A bit. I did 7 miles of speed intervals, again, but every 10 minutes I stopped and did a strength move, squats w/ dumbbells, tricep extensions, pushups, etc. So the whole workout took me well over an hour but the treadmill time was only 60 minutes. I guess I'm getting faster as the week goes on! My leg didn't twinge this morning at all, and I was sprinting at 8mph. Fastest so far since my leg started hurting. Yay! My total mileage this week so far is 33 miles. I did 12 on Sunday (my long run). I shoot for 30-40 mpw, but last week did 47, week before that 45. It really just depends on what I have time for.
So today I have to go back to dr. for another checkup. Which means, yes, more driving. Oh well, at least I can go to Kroger for dinner groceries. Yay...something different! But I have a 6-month repeat breast ultrasound today for a fibroadenoma that we are watching. Probably no big deal, but my ob-gyn wants to keep an eye on it for changes, etc. But it still means a day out an about...and I am just feeling like I need more coffee!

Yesterday & A New Normal?

Wow. What a day yesterday turned out to be! I didn't get home until 8pm, after the orthodontist appointment, the dr. check-up, and a quick Wal-Mart run...I was exhausted! I should probably also tell you that none of these things are just down the street or across town for us. They are 45 miles away! See, I TOLD you I lived in a sub-small town! All of our doctors, dentists, the closest hospital, and yes, Wal-Mart, are a 35-40 minute drive. I had to throw the 35 in there for myself; it rarely takes me longer. I have a bit of a lead-foot issue. The slowest I have driven there is when I was setting my cruise on 55 as a gas-saving experiment. I drive a Suburban so I definitely noticed a difference in miles/gallon...but that was short lived. My need for speed got the best of me! So, home at 8pm means I did not cook dinner...we ordered pizza! I tried to make myself feel a little better by ordering the whole-wheat crust (Papa John's), but 4 pieces later (Hey, I was STARVING!) I'm thinking it probaby didn't matter a whole lot! But oh well, I have to tell myself that's why I exercise...to allow myself a little leeway once in a while, and that tomorrow is A NEW DAY!

So yes, today...basically a repeat of yesterday morning. Crazy. Is this going to be my new normal?? Waking up at 545, making coffee, doing small chores, and getting my sweat on before the sun is fully up?? Maybe. Today I did 7 miles of intervals. Since I was doing speed intervals (but not too fast because I'm almost fully recovered from a mild calf-strain), I knocked a little off my time from yesterday and did the 7 miles in 63 minutes. I didn't set out to run that far today, but I got to listening to Michelle Obama on Gayle King on OprahXM and I just kept going. Tomorrow I'm going to have to shake it up some, I think. I did do 100 squats and 50 kickbacks last night as I was watching, again, Mrs. Obama speak at the DNC. What is it about her that motivates me to keep going?? Hmmmmm...I'll have to think about that one.
For breakfast I tried something new, steel cut oats. I bought them a while ago, but had never taken the time to make them. I'm actually kind of excited that I made the four servings and was able to portion out the other three for later...and now they are already ready! But I mixed it with a Oikos Vanilla Greek Yogurt, blueberries, and one packet of Splenda. I really like the greek yogurt. Wal-Marts in this area just recently started carrying it, and Oikos is the only brand they carry.
We are a little behind the times here where we live...no Whole Foods, Trader Joes, or any of the other wonderful grocery-shopping meccas that I read about in many other blogs. So jealous! We also just got almond-butter. Yeah. A.little.slow.here. But that's not always a bad thing. We have very little crime here. Of course with a population of 850 if someone did commit a crime, whoever did it would be the talk of the coffee shop the next morning. And yes, in a town this small, they would KNOW! I would feel very safe not locking our doors, although we do, and I remember growing up that we didn't always. Not quite Mayberry, but close. Like I said, living in a small town has it's ups and downs. I really don't know anything else, I was born and raised here. Same with my hubby, although he moved away for a brief time during elementary school. We have a beautiful spring-fed river that we hit every weekend with our families and our boat, we go to high school basketball games, and hang out with friends. Now if we really want to have some fun, we head out with a few close friends for a grown-ups weekend to St. Louis to shop, probably see a Cardinals game (our fave), and sometimes go to a club or something. As far as the downside goes, it's pretty much what I've already said-not much mainstream available (unless you're willing to drive-and we are!), the kids may not have the same opportunities that other children in city-schools have (but I feel they are safer), and the gossip mill employs more people than you can imagine! lol But all in all, it's home. And sometimes now matter how badly I want to get away or leave for a little while, it is always good to come back home. It feels good. Comfortable. And yes, sometimes as much as I hate to admit it...it feels like me.

Treadmill Girl

Happy Monday! I can actually say that this morning because it is only like, 940am, and I have gotten sooo much accomplished already! Thanks to my hubby's early morning alarm, I got up with him at [ahem] 545...yeah well that's why I have so much done already, I've been up since the butt-crack of dawn. Got up, made coffee, unloaded the dishwasher, and sat down to drink my coffee and it was only 615. I thought, I should get up and go exercise now and I will be all done before I have to take kids to school...yes! Early morning exercise is my favorite thing! I LOVE to get up and get it out of the way early. I have been known to get up at 430 in order to get a workout in before we have to leave early for something or another. That doesn't happen very often, but when it does, I feel SO good when I get it done. Accomplished.

So this morning I ran hills for 7 miles. Took about 66 minutes. Another thing you should know about me is that I'm a treadmill girl. I would love to be able to run outside more often, but there a several factors that stand in my way: 1) 3 children who aren't old enough to stay at home by themselves, 2) a hubby with a crazy schedule that includes some early mornings/late nights, 3) the scardy-cat in me (strangers, wildlife, dogs, etc.). That pretty much sums it up. The only extended non-treadmill time I've had was 2 years ago when I was training for the Kansas City 1/2 Marathon. Didn't touch a treadmill for about 2 1/2 months. It was a record. But the scheduling it took to get it done was enough to make me say that I wouldn't do it again until my children got older! So it's just me, my iPod, my treadmill, and whichever children decide to pop in to say "hey" to mom while I'm running in my home office for 30-40 miles per week. I must say that I am also addicted to the "entertainment factor" that is available with the treadmill. Besides my iPod, I also listen to Gayle King on Oprah's XM channel (she's on from 7-8am, and 1-2pm here), and I will also watch Desperate Housewives on abc.com or just put in one of my Girls Next Door DVDs (I have the collection...love it!!). I've heard many runners say that they love the peaceful, serene calmness of running in solitude; when all you hear are your feet hitting the pavement and nature all around you. To feel as one with the world. Well, personally, when all I hear is my feet hitting the pavement all I can think about is, "How much longer? Ugh. Am I almost done?? Ugh." I NEED distraction. Every once in a great while, when I do go to the park in our area to run (probably no more than once a month or so), I will turn on the Praise and Worship on my iPod and feel very close to God...but not to nature..ha!

Well after my run, I took my middle son to school with princess still in her jammies, (oldest son was taken to basketball practice by his dad, thank goodness!), came home and reheated my cup of coffee that I hadn't gotten to drink, and headed for the shower. Then was breakfast! Yay! Food!! I love food! I was thinking last night while I was trying to go to sleep what I was going to have for breakfast! I'm weird that way! So I decided on:

Oatmeal and Egg White Pancake

and

1/2 cup Mixed Berries w/

a single-serve size of Light & Fit Vanilla 0% Plus Yogurt.

I found the pancake recipe on another blog...not sure who's it was...oops! But it is so EASY! And I love easy and quick when it comes to breakfast. It also has a good amount of protein so that's another plus.

Oatmeal and Egg White Pancake

1 packet Kashi Creamy Vanilla Oatmeal

2 beaten egg whites

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Beat the egg whites and add other ingredients. Pour onto hot griddle and let cook approx. 4 minutes on the first side, and 2 or so minutes on the second side. Even good if it gets a little crispy! You can do a variety of toppings, I like mashed banana on top, maybe some almond butter, or even lite pancake syrup. Many times I just eat it plain!

So now I'm fueled up and ready to start another day. I should go take a quick peek at my kids rooms, but I'm slightly afraid to! I haven't been upstairs in a while...that's never a good sign. I'm sure their floors are covered in dirty clothes (even though there is a laundry chute right outside their doors) and their bathrooms probably need a good cleaning, especially the boys! :-S I do need to get it done, though. We have orthodontist and doctors checkups this afternoon after school. I hope you have a good start to your Monday!