A Teenager

13 years ago today I was blessed with a sweet little baby boy. He was 8 days late, hated sleeping in his bed, cried about every tooth that he cut and refused most foods until he was 4. Some where along the way he grew up. Now he is a teenager. He has a wonderful personality that shines. He sleeps in his own room, pulls his own teeth and eats nearly everything I cook. :).  

I know that this is long, but I wanted to share the video I made for Alec for his 13th Birthday. You won't regret taking the time to watch it (I hope anyway). I adore this kid and can't believe how much I love him :)

Happy Birthday A-Dog!

Motivator or Procrastinator?

I know you have all been anxiously wondering how my 5k training has been going. Probably keeping you up at night, pondering what week of training I'm on...if I've been cheating, skipping runs or anything like that.

Or, maybe you haven't.

You see, if I were to describe myself I would say I'm more of a Procrastinator than a Motivator.

I am a GENIUS when it comes to finding any reason in the world to NOT do something I DON'T want to do. Seriously. It's sad.

For instance, I really need to file the stack of paid bills, financial reports, report cards that have been accumulating for the past 6 months - but I have replaced that with posting this blog.

See how that worked? I don't want to file, so I found something else to do :). I am very adept at aversion techniques. (let me know if you need tips-I can totally justify anything!)

I have a list a mile long that needs to be done and a secondary list that replaces those tasks that may never be accomplished.

So, that leads me to my 5k training. You can imagine how that might be going....

I've been training for about 8 weeks I think. I say I think because I can't actually remember. Since getting my new phone that "has an app for that", I'm keeping better track. But, according to my 8 week training program (remember? Couch to 5k? Did you even look it up???) - I'm actually on week 5. I'm using it as self-paced program, like an online college course. It's my pace or none at all :)

(I don't know why I'm telling ya'll this - but let's say it may help motivate me and call it good).

So, on week 5 after 8 weeks should have me at week 8 in the next 6 weeks. Geez, did you follow that? In summary, I have 6 weeks to get thru 3 weeks of training. OK, that shouldn't be too hard right?

The problem is that I need a 'Motivator', and I'm not one. Remember, I find reasons NOT to do things. It takes a lot of mental preparation to run 3 times a week. I seem to spend more time preparing than actually jogging.

Any one have some motivational ideas for me??? Satisfaction of exercise is not one, so don't even try that. And even tho my phone app tracks distance, average speed and calories burned - in the midst of torture, I JUST DON'T REALLY CARE.  You can also skip weight loss - that hasn't really happened either. Try harder.....I need something GOOD to motivate me :)

Just Shopping With Mom

Have you ever read a Mercer Mayer book? I just love these books! There is one called "Just Shopping with Mom" about 'Mom' and her 3 'critters' going to the grocery store.

It's totally unrealistic because at one point 'Mom' takes the baby into the bathroom to get a fresh diaper (I guess...it doesn't say, I'm just assuming). She leaves the other 2 to their own devices. They are probably 5 years and 3 years maybe. I don't know. It doesn't say, again, I'm just assuming. 

There is NO WAY in TARNATION I could take 1 little person into the bathroom and leave the other 2 to their own devices. Seriously. I have to drag every last one of them in there. And now you are agreeing that toting around the mini-potty in my mini-van is pure genius! Close your eyes for just a moment and imagine what it is like to take a 5.5 yr old and 2 almost 3 yr olds into a bathroom. AAAHHHHAHHH!! See - scared you didn't it?

I won't EVEN talk to you about what they say in the bathroom.

So, yes, in the story, Little Sister gets in trouble. DUH, but what was Mom thinking??!?! That's just not smart parenting.

But it gets better.

She then puts all her groceries in the car and proceeds to go shopping for a new dress for Sister. Honestly. Where on earth does she live??? Obviously not where I do. There is never a time that I could leave my groceries in the car to continue shopping. They would melt by the time I got back to them. And they aren't wearing jackets - so it can't be winter.

I'm just sayin'. Not realistic.

Anyway, A-Dog got to go Shopping With Mom.  Just MOM. No siblings. That alone is a true treat! His birthday is in 10 days and around here, we have to take advantage of our birthdays by squeezing as much out of them as we can (or, at least I do...). Plus, this is the big 1-3 (13) so we are making it special.

I have been struggling lately to purchase the right items of clothing for him. He has gotten more selective and I am no longer able to pick the perfect things. Sad I know. But, (ok, sit down for this) he has never really gone shopping for clothes. Here and there maybe, but never like we did on Sunday.

He got to pick out his own clothes, try things on, decide on what he wanted, regardless of whether or not it was on sale. (I know, I'm still amazed his mom let him do this!!! I think he knew what he was doing when he picked my favorite food place for lunch!).  AND, he even begrudginly admitted that he had fun. Of course, he needs to be trained on "how to put the clothes back on the hanger", not just throw it all out to me. But I loved every second of it!

But he got some nice stuff and I approve of his taste. The boy does have expensive taste in shoes though. But once we got to that point, I talked him down off that ledge and pointed him in the direction of some more affordable ones.

I can't believe my 'baby boy' will be 13 soon. He is honestly one of the greatest people you will meet. I love hanging out with him, chatting with him and spending time with him. He makes me laugh. And I do love to laugh!

I skipped some things...

I think I may have skipped a few things that we have done recently.  I would never have noticed had I not downloaded some pictures off my camera today for A-Dog.

I will digress for a moment because that is what I do best. I had to get the pictures off that he took for his science fair project and let's get something straight. I HATE THE SCIENCE FAIR PROJECTS. I promise, I am not holding back my feelings about this task. It is awful and frankly I feel it is a project that parents end up doing most of - at least for the first 4 years. It is mandatory starting at 3rd grade. Count them friends - this is our 5th year. I make my sweet husband do the projects. Seriously, I can't stand it. There. I can move on now :).

So, I found some photos from when we went to pick apples and vegetables. I was unable to pick 100 apples this year because I was slightly distracted by my almost 3 year olds picking everything they could possibly touch and putting it in our buckets. I did get a lot of bell peppers, green chiles, tomatoes and pears.

SO glad we are keeping our hands to ourselves! It warms my heart when they really listen to what I say.

I got some green chiles so that I could roast and freeze them. Usually each row of veggies is marked to tell people what they are. Just in case you don't know what a tomato is I guess. I count on that marker to tell me which green chile is mild, medium or hot. This is the conversation I had with the teenager who was working that day.


Me: The rows weren't marked - do you know if the green chiles out there are hot or mild?
Her: Someone else mentioned they weren't marked, they should be.
Me: Yes, but they are not - do you know what was planted there? If that section is hot?
Her: No, but you can figure it out by sampling them before eating the whole thing.

Yup, that is exactly what I should do. Lick each and every one of the 70 green chiles that I purchased and roasted. That is the most logical thing to do. Needless to say, I did NOT do that. I just take a risk everytime I thaw them out. Last night 3 out of 4 were mild - of course the hot one was on MY chicken sandwich. Figures.

The kids discovered that they like to paint on paper and other items.  I had refrained from introducing paint due to my inability to retain my sanity while 3 kids waved paint brushes in the air and around each other. But, they proved to be capable little painters and really enjoyed it.



making caterpillars



Painting OUTSIDE! Much better idea!

I have to say tho, Monkey really doesn't like it on his fingers and I have to keep a paper towel handy to keep him clean. Once he starts freaking out, more paint gets on him and it is a vicious circle. Easier to just wipe the little dab off his finger than a whole mess of paint off his face and whatnot while he panics about the itty bitty dot he started with.

Like the smocks? IKEA. Love them!  Fit perfect and wash easily. Not sure why I told you that, I suppose I got the sense you were curious :)

There. Now you can see we've been busy. All 2 things we've done. Or, really, all 2 that I blogged about today! 

PS - does anyone need about 75 pages of art? I can send you some....cheap!



This photo wouldn't rotate, even tho it was saved rotated. Whatever. It's all in how you look at it anyway!

5k

Boy I wish we were talking about money. But no. We aren't. We are talking about running a 5k.

Answers.com says:

5 km is exactly 3.10685596 miles (don't forget that extra .00685596 of a mile, it could cost you the race). That comes out to be 3 miles + 564 feet + 2.4 inches. :)

How hard can that be? (to run people, not to drive).

Well, it's actually harder than you think. Or maybe it's not. Perhaps you already know that you have absolutely NO DESIRE to EVER run a 5k.  EVER.

About 4 weeks ago I got a wild hair. I decided that in my lifetime, I wanted to run a 5k. Don't ask me why, we will be evaluating that shortly.  So, I "Googled" it. Anyone who knows me, knows that is a standard answer for anything - "did you Google it??". Truth or not, you will always find something when you "Google".

I decided that I would do 'Couch to 5k'. Go ahead, Google it. Or Bing it, or whatever you want. I am on about week 4ish. I say ish because I'm not good at standards. I am more of a "work outside the box" kind of girl and frankly, I have a hard time sticking on a schedule for something I would rather procrastinate. Of course, that is beside the point.  But I am trying to be honest here.

I know, your first question after WHY is "do you like running". Um, that is easy - BIG FAT NO (see? Being honest). But, since I am spending my final year in my 30s, I thought I'd better do something. In my 20s I hiked the Grand Canyon - down, across and up - 18 recorded miles in about 8 or 9 hours. Yes, totally and completely insane and I paid for it dearly in my leg muscles for weeks :).  Those switch backs were the death of me. Seriously. I still remember them. The horror.

Sorry, got off track.  (what is new).

So, while Googling - I found a list of runs in my area. The one I decided to plan for is the 5k thru Winterhaven with all the neighborhood lights on. That is if they all decide that they can afford it this year. Apparently it takes quite a bit of city funding to put it on as well and frankly, our city officials forgot to take Budgeting 101 in college.

The run is in December and since I started this in September - surely I should be close to prepared to run it, right? RIGHT? Geez, I really hope so.

Shall we ponder the WHYS of this? Perhaps. But I think you've had enough shock for one day. I will let this settle and maybe in a few days we can discuss why on EARTH I would do this to myself.  Well, by putting it out there, I'm committed. I know you will now all be sitting with baited breath until the run presents itself. All 3 of you. :)

Make-up

My kids all know I wear make-up. I wear it so I don't scare people off. I don't wear a lot, just enough to look decent and ya know, awake. I don't like to spend a lot of time fussing with hair and make-up only to have my kids mess it all up anyway. This is totally not the point of this post. At all. I'll get to the point...

The point is that Agent P has been taking gymnastics now for about 6 weeks. The intent of the class was to wear him out. The boy has more energy than is necessary for any one person to possess. I keep waiting for the exhaustion to set it. And waiting and waiting and waiting....

Anyway, keeping to the point, they were closed on Labor Day and since his class is on Monday - he had no class. Now he has a class to make up. After class the other day, our conversation went something like this:

Me: You know, you have a make-up class we need to schedule.
Agent P: (after a pause) Is it just for girls?
Me: Nooo, why would it be just for girls?
Agent P: (another pause) Well, do I have to wear make-up?
Me: It's not a class about make-up - it's a gymnastic class that you get to go to, an EXTRA one.
Agent P: Are they going to teach me how to put on make-up?
Me: No sweetie.

And I ended the conversation there. I mean really...where else could I go from here? I was not successfully getting thru to him, so I quit talking and turned up the radio.  Music solves most issues in my vehicle :).

I know...

I've been a blog slacker.

Again.

 Like that is new. I mean, let's face it, it happens a lot around here! Or at least, I slack off of my blog...trying to keep up with stuff around here!!  (school, activities, colds, strep throat...)

But we did do something...we got rocks laid in our driveway. What was once bare, is now 'rocked'.

And there was lots of help with tractor driving...

But, you have to make sure you look good while you are driving the tractor...

And it 's a lot of work, so we made the kids do some clean up!

Hoping that your week rocks!