Category Archives: observations

Done!

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Done!

I am done with the half marathon.

Praise the lord 0 Hallelijah!

I’m happy to report my sisters and I all completed the race.

In case you don’t remember, my sister Kelly asked me and our sister Amanda to run a half marathon for a sisters’ weekend.

Amazingly, we agreed.

Here’s a quick look at our race.

Hi hotel lady – Would you mind taking our picture? Yes, we know it’s 6 AM and 40 degrees outside but we are dreading eagerly anticipating our run this morning.

Kelly, me, Amanda

(You may notice the stained shirts – during the race, as you get hot, you toss your outer layers to the ground – the race director stated that all the clothing collected from the ground goes to a homeless center – How wonderful for the homeless to receive stinky clothing, snot covered gloves, and dirty hats )

Look how freakin’ dark it is! We are insane!

This is all your fault anyway. You’re the one who wanted to do this.

Thank you for pointing out that fact for the millionth time Jennifer.

Good times. Good times.

It was quite cold at the starting line so I felt justified in complaining until I noticed the soldier who planned to run the entire race in his combat boots. Hmmm, perhaps I should just be grateful I can choose to do this run. Yes, I’m thankful but I’m still freezing.

Once the gun when off all three of us stayed together for a total of four minutes. Amanda took off and left us in the dust. Keep in mind she didn’t even train a total of 13 miles for this race and it’s all the more impressive. I ran over 140 miles in training and was tired at mile nine. Amanda kept telling us she would die but we never bought it.

My sister Kelly and I stayed together for the first 5 miles but then separated after that.

I hate this song, not motivating at all, why did I put it on here?

This song isn’t helping either.

I’ll just pretend I’m listening to music and eaves drop on theses other runners for a bit.

At mile six I stopped at an aid station since my hands were swelling. I made the mistake to leave my gloves in the hotel and as a result my hands were painfully cold the entire race. I asked the nurse at the aid station if it was okay that my hands had turned into giant man hands. She seemed to think it was perfectly fine so I went on my way. After all, only 7 more miles to go.

The race was extremely well run with water stops, cheer groups, and plenty of support. The cheer groups had signs that said, “You did this to yourself,” “Beat Oprah,” and, “Pretend you’re a Kenyan.”

I was able to give those cheer groups something to laugh at as well.

When asked what name I would like to show on my bib number, let’s just say I didn’t write down Jennifer.

At the eleven mile mark the lead marathoner passed me. In the same time it took me to run 11 miles, he had run 24 miles. 24 MILES! It was unbelievable to watch. Of course, I only watched for a minute since he was quickly out of my sight.

I was incredibly happy to see the finish line when I rounded the final corner.

Many people report having a runners high when completing a long run.

Not me.

I was just relieved to be finished and was desperate for a pair of gloves.

I need a picture of us at the finish line.

This is not going on your blog.

Oh yes it is.

Can’t we go back to the hotel and change first?

No, the final picture has to be us at the finish line. Now let’s take the picture.

Fine. Let’s put our hands on our hips so our arms will look less flabby.

Amanda (2:17), me (2:40), Kelly (2:45)

Amanda and I have informed Kelly that we will be planning the next sisters’ weekend and there won’t be a tennis shoe insight.

 So for now I’m hanging up my sports bra and calling my running career over.

At least for now.

After all, you never know when a sister is going to need you.

7 Years?

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Studies have shown that owning a dog can add as many as 7 years to your life.

Apparently, owning a dog helps lower your blood pressure and relieves stress.

I think those scientists must have been on crack.


Thank You

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My husband and I are trying to raise our children to be well mannered, considerate, and respectable young people.

Emphasis on the trying.

They’re not walking around wearing white undershirts and smoking but some days I worry if we’re making any progress.

Thank you cards are big in our house.

I believe it’s important for kids to learn how to write them and send them each time they receive a gift.

So everyday for the past week, our kids have written a thank you card to someone who gave a present to them over the holidays.

I’m fairly sure my 6 year old’s thank you card proves we’re not succeeding in our goal.

 

Christmas Stress

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My kids are thrilled with the new addition to our neighbors’ Christmas display.

Me? Not so much.

Thanks to them, I’ve been stressed since the day after Thanksgiving.

Every time I drive by their house I am reminded of the six thousand tasks I still need to complete.

You can rest assured  I will NOT have a cup of sugar to lend her when she comes asking.

 

Meeting

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I’m not sure but I think I just attended a cult meeting.

There were adults in matching uniforms, teenagers in costume, a rustic bridge, the passage of young boys, and ceremonial rules which required silence during a ceremony.

I just attended my first Boy Scout meeting with my nine year old and frankly, I’m more than concerned.

As I sat there tonight I thought, “I actually encouraged this. I’m the one who suggested Alex be a scout.”

Scouting? Must be all about camping and derby car races, right?

No, there’s more, so much more.

The meeting tonight focused on the bridging ceremony of two weblo scouts going into an  older boy scout troop.

The ceremony started out with the den leader telling the audience that this was one of the few solemn ceremonies in boy scouts.

Super. My two year old is with me and it’s the one night of a quiet ceremony.

Three high school boys then begin the ceremony dressed in Indian gear. I mean, leather pants, freaky looking colorful shirt, and a full on headdress. Not to be out done, the fourth boy wore a wolf on his head.

Then they began speaking. It was like a second grade play. No one knew their lines. As if all of the”uhs” and “ums” weren’t enough, there were several painful humming interludes.

It was weird.

I mean what teenage boys do you know want to play dress up and hum into front of a hundred people?

We left about twenty minutes into the ceremony.

I took my daughter’s, “I poopy,” as a cue and ran out of there as quickly as possibly.

This was my first boy scout meeting and quite possibly my last.

After all, I’d still prefer to think of boy scouts as more camping and less Village People.

The Slide

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“This is going to be so exciting kids.”

“Let’s race, Mom.”

“OK, but this is just for fun.”

Here we go….

I’m ahead right now, yes!

Nice tactic Alex but leaning will get you no where when you’re racing me. You might as well pack it in right now suckas’.

Man, I’ve got skills – I might have been a professional luger had we lived in the right climate.

Ha! They are slowing down and my body keeps going – God knew what he was doing when he created this winning machine.

Oh, oh, oh, my legs are clearly across first.

Yes! I AM THE WINNER!

I mean, wasn’t that so much fun kids.

 

Running for Pie

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If you’ve read my blog anytime in the last 3 months you know I’m training for a half marathon and pretty much hating every step of it.

Regardless of this dislike, I am committed and will push on for two more weeks.

One big hurdle in getting to race day is over for one of my sisters and me.

On Thanksgiving we ran 9 miles. Definitely an accomplishment for us.

We ran 4 miles before a 5 mile Turkey Day run.

I use run loosely for myself but Kelly truly rocked it on the run.

7 AM before our run, about fifty degrees outside, apparently Kelly had some dribble issues that morning

Since we were running on Thanksgiving morning I felt I had a built in dangling carrot.

Mile one, I was running for turkey.

Mile two, I was running for stuffing.

Mile three, I was running for gravy.

Mile four, I was running for mashed potatoes.

And mile five, I was running for PIE!

My strategy worked for awhile but around mile four (really mile eight for us) is quite working. Right along with my Ipod. Now, I could hear my huffing and puffing along with everyone who was passing me by. Instead of mashed potatoes and pie I thought about pain and more pain.

Despite my negativity, I finished the race. I might add that I finished immediately ahead of a woman pushing a triple stroller containing two year old triplets.  Some would be ashamed of that fact but I’m focusing on the AHEAD OF A WOMAN part.

It took me just under one hour and two minutes to complete the race while Kelly finished right at one hour. What can I say, her entire five miles were devoted to wine.

Always Be Prepared

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My son just walked in on me in the bathroom.

His face was a look of horror.

But it’s not what you think.

I was using his old baseball shirt to wipe my daughter’s rear end since there was not a proper wipe to be found in our house, our car, or her school bag.

I really don’t know what he’s so worked up about.

After all, he’s a boy scout and you know their motto.

“Always be prepared.”

I was.

Later while flipping through his Boy Scout book I realized my diaper changing skills earned me the Home Repairs, The Pioneering, and the Plumbing merit badges.

It’s a Blogiversary!

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Exactly one year ago today I published my first post.

This is my 239th post.

I never thought I would be a blogger in a million years. What do I have to say? Turns out I have a lot to say. Sometimes the words were kind, sometimes painful, sometimes humorous, sometimes judgmental, and sometimes sarcastic.

When I started pondering a blog,  I assumed my blog would focus primarily on crafting projects. Along the way I discovered I enjoyed writing about life and it’s ups and downs. There have been many wonderful moments and a few sad. I never imagined opening up as much as I did in the spring but I don’t regret it. This blog gave me an outlet for my feelings and I thank you for encouraging me along the way.

When you write a blog there’s really no way of knowing if anyone else really benefits. Sure, people are nice and leave comments but did my post really add anything to their day?

I received this email last week and felt it was the perfect exclamation on my first year.

Thank you so much for the Lego bingo game!!! I printed it out; then laminated it all so that we could play it over and over again using dry erase markers. We had to come up with a super fun birthday party for my son, for obvious reasons, but also because he had a bone marrow transplant and isn’t allowed to be around other people (only close family). This is one of the components that made his birthday so special and so much fun that I don’t think he even realized there weren’t any other kids there… Anyhow, THANK YOU so much, I am very grateful! –  Jenica

Jenica – Thank you so much for your message – it made my day, in fact, it made my whole year – sometimes I wonder if anyone really benefits from my blog besides myself so this was great to hear. Best of luck to your little guy and your whole family. I’m glad he loved his birthday – let me know what you decide to do next year for his birthday – I’d be glad to make another game for him. – Jennifer

Jennifer, I just wanted to let you know that the benefit of your blogging is going to extend greater than my family. I am planning on printing more copies of Lego Bingo & laminating them to bring to the Seattle Children’s Hospital cancer floor. This children’s hospital does not have a play room, so children are hoping for things like this to fall into their hands. I know, because we were there… for way too long. We would have LOVED to have played this for hours. It is great because it doesn’t require much thinking- a major bonus for a child going through cancer treatment! The lamination will make the games easy to sanitize, which is huge! And I plan on making smaller versions of the game (by setting aside some characters & playing mats) so it would be easier to have a two or three player game (often times a child is alone with one parent). This might be more information than you wanted… sorry. But I do want you to know that you are going to make a lot of little kids very happy. Seems like such a small thing right? I guarantee, it is not 🙂 Again, thank you.Jenica.

Something I created made a difference for a little boy. That’s it. I’m completely satisfied with my first blogging year now.

I truly don’t know how long I will write for but thank each and every one of you who have taken a seat on this crazy ride I like to call Big D & Me.