First Day Done!!

I'm so happy that the first day of this semester is over. I always get so worked up about getting started then when I finally get started it's really just great! I'm anxious to see how my power point lectures go tomorrow. I'm hoping that I will get the chance to get to the lecture room early enough to get completely comfortable with the equipment. I've never used power point to lecture before so it should be fun!

Winks starts first grade tomorrow. I can hardly believe that it is happening! He's much more excited now than he was a few weeks ago. He found out that his best friend will be in his class again so he is happy about that. He has 2 very loose teeth and I'm a tad bit nervous that they may come out at school this week, and that may be an issue. He has vaso-vagal syncope, which basically means that in times of stress or anxiety he faints. It's a neurological response that you never see coming, just have to know when it might happen. Seeing blood is definitely one of those times that are chancy for him. Best I can do is prepare his teacher for it and pray for a soft landing!

The Bug starts second year of preschool next week, and she remains clueless about the whole thing. I really am concerned that kindergarten next year will be a huge shock because she is the most social little thing I have met! She just loves to talk and to make friends. She knows that she is going to school, and her thoughts are just on making friends. She practiced shaking hands with me at the dinner table last night, "Hi my name is Ali, what's yours?" Too cute, the first time. Then it got old. I'm thinking her teacher may think the same thing!!! I took her for a hair cut on Saturday and it is just adorable! Think, 4 year old Victoria Beckham! Very cute!!! Daddy was in shock, and I think still is, but it looks so much healthier and thicker. She should be able to grow it out long without it looking too scraggly now. Let hope, 'cause I think daddy will not allow another major cut!!

So life continues to snowball and run forward like a semi-truck on a 45 degree angle with no brakes. I'm so surprised to be almost to Labor Day. I saw Halloween costumes and candy at the store the other day. Please people.............you cannot tell me that people buy their halloween candy this early! If they do, you know it's not the same candy they will give out at halloween! They will have a waistline to prove it too!!! Come on, slow down!!

I've been following some folks who did Ironman Kentucky on Sunday, and once again am tempted to push myself to that. I want it, but don't know if I have it in me. I guess I won't know if I don't try. But, I'm just not there yet. I really think if a do a 1/2 iron distance I would be happy at this point. I can wrap my head around that pretty easily. I'm continuing to think about it and think that next fall may be a good time to do that. Ceito has yet to hear this information, so I will discuss with him before making a committment. The Columbus 1/2 marathon training is going well, so I think the outcome of that race will weigh into the decision as well.

Out for now!

Hillbilly loses her mind!!

Along with the computer stuff came digital cable. Gotta say............wasn't crazy about the idea to begin with but boys and girls digital cable is well...........stunning!

I feel like I've been missing out on something I didn't know existed. You know, when you're a kid and don't have cool stuff, but really don't know that you don't have the cool stuff and so it's okay............well, I just wasn't cool until I got digital cable kids! Okay, so I'm still not cool, but I'm gettin' closer............ay??? Ain't I??? Humpf!!

I know most everyone reading this will say I'm wacked because I'm 36 years old and I'm all happy about digital cable. But, this is the Big-O..............no not that one............an O-asis! I just did 90 minutes of cross training and abs on the exercise TV free on demand! I'm tingling with excitement.

Warning...........this is what happens to someone after they have kids, get all wrap up in training and taking care of kids and husband and house and just forget about what cool stuff there is out there because you're also wrapped up in the finances of your 2 teacher bank-account and just can't manage any "extras"!

Okay, I'll come down off of my hillbilly-just-got-running-water high. But think of me and Ceito sitting in front of the TV watching diy network planning our new kitchen..........oh, yeah digital cable............much more expensive than the monthly bill from Time Warner. I'm bettin' I can rack up a huge kitchen project at about 30,000 smackers watching one episode of kitchen renovation!! No prob. at. all.

It's been raining for 4 days now. Ran 5 on sunday in the rain. It was very slow mostly due to the rain in the face discomfort, but also slow due to the fact that well, I'm slow! It was actually 5.5 door to door and ran it in 50, so that's okay for me. I'm enjoying the 1/2 marathon training much more than the full marathon training. It affords more time for strength training and cross training which yes I have been doing more of the past 2 weeks. Weight training, biking it's all good! The pool awaits me on Thursday where I hope to get in 1500 before doing aquatics for rehab patient's (yeah a new thing that I just couldn't say no to!)

So, this is my question of the day.................how do I teach my kids to cook lunch for themselves so I can watch FitTv and Gilad...............oh Gilad..................Gilad....................G-ilad!

Just kidding, about the Gilad part anyway!!

Some summer pics

This is the best picture from our summer vacation road trip. This was taken minutes after leaving the parking lot of Semame Place. This child was begging to go to sleep and we just kept pushing on and pushing on. We all had a great day but she and Elmo just couldn't keep it together any longer. Wow.......she was out cold!!
One of the best places to ever go to with kids............Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, N.Y. This was our last day of vacation and we were all tired but this stop was so worth the fatigue. Bug is shopping in the miniture Wegman's grocery store complete with little cash registers, carts, bakery, and deli. The entire museum was all about kids and it's an awesome place.

A huge magical harp that plays music without strings. Check out the enourmous connect four in the background. You gotta get to this place if you have kids. I could download cool pics from this place all night, just take my word for it, it's over the top!!

The King and Queen of the Play Mueseum!!

This is day one at Sesame Place on our summer Road Trip. It was nasty that day. Cold, wet, and miserable. We stayed as long as we could and were able to do a few things like seeing some shows and some characters, and rode some of the rides like below. We were able to get a "sunny day pass" which is a cool perk for this park (rain more than 2 hours and you get free admission for any other day) so we went back the next day extending our vaca. by a day, and it was worth it..............very cool theme park.

Day 2 at Sesame.......hot and fun!!

Another road trip stop in Amherst, Mass. This is the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. Winks loves books, and art and Eric Carle is his favorite author/artist. It was a fun stop.

Winks during a heated t-ball game. Serious stuff that t-ball!!

"Don't take pictures of him, look at me!!"

Washington D.C. during our summer vacation road trip. I'd never been to D.C. and I thought it was great. The kids loved putting their feet in the new WWII memorial which was absolutely beautiful, and emotionally moving.

Winks......AKA Thing 1 is enjoying his new hershy ball. We went to Chocolate World in Hershey PA during our road trip and the kids chose balls as their purchases instead of chocolate.........now that's impressive!

Another stop on our trip........Crayola Factory in Easton, PA. This place was really cool. The kids really enjoyed all of the craft areas and the crayola shop was fun too.

The Bug's Ballet recital. This was too cute I'm tellin' ya!! She really is a true little ballerina!

We won these chairs at the raffle at Bug's recital. Winks thought they were pretty cool!

Lake Erie in the summer is really beautiful. Not so pretty in the winter, but gorgeous in the summer.

This guy is growing too quick for my taste. Looks more like a boy than little guy every day.

Always the poser! Gorgeous isn't she????

We had a great summer. These pictures are really going to be forever some of my favorites. Seeing my children happy and content is such a blessing. I'm so thankful for their health and the wonderful characteristics they are beginning to show. I'm just floored everyday by their growth and their spirits! Mental postcards.............all of these moments........forever will remian in my mind and my heart!!!

Head Games

When out for my run this morning I concluded that I'm never more physically happy or mentally disastrous than when I am running. I think of it as runner's bipolar disorder! After 4 years of running pretty regularly I'm absolutely amazed by the mental components of running. I don't seem to feel this way with swimming or biking it's the running that gets me. I'm almost never in the "bipolar" swimmer's or biker's world..........it's the running!

Example.............before my run this morning I stretched and laid on the living room floor and thought about the route I was taking which I was excited about doing since it's my original 5K route that I started running on 4 years ago! Fun, back to my roots so to speak. I wasn't thinking about anything being hard, it's my shortest run this week and it's a 5K for cryin' out loud..........Curly Su told me in the last 5K of Wildflower in '06............."Anyone can run a 5K" and that helped on that day even though I know it's not entirely true!!............so anyway, I wasn't thinking about the distance. I was thinking about music. To take or not to take that was the question. I've been struggling the past 3 weeks to block out the negative thoughts on my runs so I've been going with music. But, during my run on Tuesday the music annoyed me. So, I went without it today.

First mile.............felt good (8:50, not fast but comfortable), happy to be out of the house, happy to be able to use my body this way, happy to see the sun......all of this even though the street I was on is being re-paved and is currently in the "gotta get really bad and torn up" stage. 2nd mile still good, but my head was playing games with my legs. My legs were listening to my head too....that's bad! I just wasn't feeling the second part of the run. It's ridiculous that I can't shut up my negative thoughts for 26-28 minutes to run a stinkin' 3 miles!

My favorite thought to ambush the negative stuff is............"if this was easy, everyone would be out here doing it". That thought along with the Josh Grobin version of "You Raise Me Up" playing in my head worked today and I finished up pretty strong, but was still reeling with the negative thoughts even when I ran up the driveway home.

That easy button is not just elusive to me, it's elusive to anyone who is pushing themselves to become better in whatever, not just endurance sports. I want this peaceful mind when I'm pushing myself but I know that in order to grow and become better it's going to hurt physically and mentally. I keep on keepin' on when it hurts and that truly is what makes you stronger. It's when the negative side of your brain is telling you to stop and you give into it that you become stale and complacent. I don't want that, and really just won't tolerate it! So, I keep telling the dumb thoughts to shut up and I tell my legs to keep running.

I was happy after the run was over, thus completing the runner's bipolar disorder cycle! Ahhhh, life is good...........and crazy!

I'm baaaaackk

Okay hold onto your hats, drawers, panties, whateve........You just won't believe it!!!

I have stepped into the 21st century.

I am right now typing this on my very own computer in my own home! Yep, you heard it she's finally gone and done it! I have plopped down a considerable amount of cash in the past 3 days! And it's been all worth it soooo far!

Although, I did have a teensy bit of buyers remorse earlier today when I was taking my shower and saw the wallpaper and ceiling that need to be re-done! But, hey I did it and I am happy kids!

So, what's been up with me? Well, not a whole heck of a lot!

This summer has been way too fast for my liking and I'm just not liking that school starts in less than 2 weeks! Training overall has been blah! I haven't been in the pool to do anything other than throw Winks and The Bug around for over 2 months. Running is going okay........I'm training for the Columbus 1/2 marathon.......yeah I know 1/2 is not a full............but I'm really feeling like that's going to be a good day, not an I'm gonna puke and be miserable when I lose my toenails kinda day!

Biking has been nil outside of the occasional cross training day on the stationary bike at the Y! Pretty sad isn't it??? Nope, it's not! I've been JUST RELAXING all summer! My kids have had a blast! We went on an 1800 mile road trip to many, many kid fun places! Once I get the kodak software loaded I'll post some pics. We just had a great time this summer, and I'm sad to see it end................just kidding.................get back to school you crazy kids!!!

Really, I'm looking forward to starting my 6th fall semester (WOW) And, I'm looking forward to the routine of the school year. I work well with routine and plans, I can only handle the lazin' around kinda schedule for so long.

So, it's good to be back and I'm hoping the someone is reading this.........because really I bet you all thought I just quit, but really I just used pen and paper, now I can tell you all the crazy stuff I've been thinking about!