doesn't it feel good

To file/delete 10,000 emails and clean out your inbox to a mere 26?

Unsubscribe from about the same amount of emails?

Clutter tends to overtake me - my house, car, desk, bedroom floor and I constantly find myself overwhelmed and ignoring the pile.

Today, I had a few extra minutes so I finally tackled the piles of paper on our kitchen counters. Pre K information, catalogs, bills, junk mail. It just make me feel so much better.

I have some friends who clean a room in their house every night, or those who won't go to bed unless everything is put away, pillows fluffed, sink shining. I commend you. I wish I were you, but sometimes the power of my bed, or the thought of a 4:30 alarm clock is too great and the papers, baby dolls, dog hair tumbleweeds win.

But for now, I am happy with my relatively clean counters and inbox.

September

So, we are only 4 days into September and already I have witnessed the following Facebook status updates/ads/notices of fall:

1. Pumpkins are available at the local grocery store!
2. Bought by first pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks!
3. An ad popped up showing tall wedge boots that had me on Zappos to see if I can finally find a pair I love this year.
4. Target is making room for their Halloween merchandise!

I am ready. I love fall.

I want to wear my most favorite Gap blue jean jacket, wrap a scarf around my neck, watch the leaves turn shades of gold, and sip a mug of hot coffee (sorry, pumpkin spice lattes doesn't do it for me), however, I will take that pumpkin chocolate chip muffin/bread/scone/cake, please.

I want to decorate glass containers with mini pumpkins and gourds.

I want to drink red wine with friends on a patio with a fire pit blazing. Oh, who am I kidding. I want to drink red wine with friends on a patio pretty much any season, but it's even more perfect in the fall.

I want to snooze on the sofa with a book while football blares in the background.

I want to make a big pot of chili with a side of fritos, sour cream, and cheddar cheese.

I want to eat grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup.

I want to have a real reason to buy bags of miniature-sized candy.

I want to run in long sleeve shirts.

However, our pool is still open for a few more weekends, my shoulders are still tan, my daughters are still wearing sundresses, I really don't want to put away my white jeans and Bonannos, plus it's still 80+ degrees with 80%+ humidity.

So what's a girl to do?

Question ...

I'm sure that most of you have seen those magnets on cars with various numbers: 13.1, 26.2, 70.3, 140.6

No, they aren't bible verses, they are distances.

Half marathon = 13.1 miles, marathon = 26.2 miles, half IronMan = 70.3 miles, IronMan = 140.6 miles

And, yes, we will tell you that the .2 matters.

Last night while on a run, one of my running buddies mentioned that she had placed her 26.2 magnet on her car and her husband was giving her a hard time about it.

We haven't actually completed the 26.2 yet.

She said it doesn't matter, that she's training for it.

So, what are your thoughts on the matter? Is it ok? Bad luck? Does it need an extra "in training" magnet to go with it?

Would you 26.2 before you 26.2'd?

It's helpful

To have a hubby with crazy sleep habits when you wake up at 4'ish due to coughing and hearing yourself wheeze, and you finally decide you can't go back to sleep after plumping pillows, reading Facebook, answering an email, and rolling over a dozen times.

Because when you go downstairs for a cup of granola and milk, you will find your husband lying on the sofa watching a movie.

So, I joined him to eat my granola and watch a good 1.5 hours of Love and Other Drugs. 2nd time seeing it and I love both Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway in this movie.

It's also helpful that when you do fall back to sleep on the above sofa, Hubby makes coffee and reminds you to wake up. At least I didn't get his annoying interpretation of an alarm clock: Ennnnnn/Ennnnnn/Ennnnnn in your ear.

I may need to remember that going to bed at 8:30 isn't always a good idea.

Random thoughts during marathon training

My running shoe PSA for everyone today ...

I have been wearing Brooks Adrenaline's for as long as I can remember. Love them. Well, two weeks ago, I bought a new pair (pink!), ran on the treadmill at the store, determined they were fine & off I went.

Two weeks and and 50 some miles later, I finally decided that they just didn't fit right. First couple of runs, they felt too tight across the top, but on my last long run, I felt like my toes were being squeezed.

Sure enough, they had rubbed callous-y blisters on the sides of my two big toes and the end of my second toe. Ick.

Luckily, our wonderful local running store exchanged them no questions asked. Apparently, these shoes have been running differently as of late, so I am now in a size 8. (Full size bigger than my regular shoes & half size bigger than my old pair.)

So, if you are in the market for shoes, ask about return policies, if any of the sizing has been off, and test them out if possible!

Other thoughts ....

It probably isn't a good idea to go grocery shopping after church, while hungry, and when driving home proceed to grab the industrial size bag of animal crackers and put it in the front seat. Can't get enough. I have reverted back to preschool.

Ice-baths are your friend. I have now taken two in my life and they honestly aren't all that bad. Saturday, I tried the get in the cold water first, then dump the ice in. Definitely easier in my opinion since you don't have to dodge ice cubes when sitting.

So .....

Did you go see it this weekend?

I don't know about where you live, but it seems that 99% of my female Facebook friends have been posting all weekend about MAGIC MIKE.

So, my friend, E and I went this evening. Armed with popcorn, water, and contraband vino and candy, we were the first ones in the theater. OK, so we kind of felt like losers for doing that. The being early, not the vino, but we really just got there early and it was not intentional. Even though, all afternoon, I kept texting E, asking if we should pre-buy our tickets, or arrive 30 minutes early, but I promise ... not intentional.

As people started coming in, I noticed two themes of movie-goers. The first was young to middle-aged women in groups, dressed up in what I would call "going out shoes", tight jeans, and "going out shirts." Kind of curious for a movie, right? I'm usually going in with a shawl or sweater because I always freeze, even when it's 102 degrees outside. The other theme we noticed were small groups of gay men. I'm assuming, just to see the action.

All in all, it was a decent movie. There is actually a story line people and for the woman in front of us who muttered "I'm disappointed. There was too much story to that.", what do you think you are going to? A strip club? 2 hours of videotaped stripping?

It's a movie. The last time I went to a movie, you can't touch the actors, you can't get sweat flicked on you by the actors, and you can't even have a drink unless you have an awesome friend who packs her own. Even with your fancy 3-D glasses on, the most that will happen is you move out of the way of flying knives or something.

So, it's not going to win in any Oscars, but a fun couple of hours. Definitely comical to say the least, I left confirmed that Matthew McConaughey is the perfect actor to play Dallas in this movie. He has the accent, the swagger, the confidence, and the ability to wear leather pants, have a marble bust of his likeness, and still somehow be lovable and have women screaming for him.

A little insomnia

will get you ...

Two organized kitchen drawers.

A pot of coffee.

A few returned emails.

Edits to a weekly e-newsletter.

Bad drawings on DrawSomething.

A little Facebooking/Blog reading/online newspaper reading.

Calendar updating.

A found tax letter that wasn't in our file to go to the CPA.

Feeling somewhat productive, sleepy, but not enough to fall asleep.

Princess shoes

Make everything better.

Fall

These past few days have been perfection in my opinion ... the crisp temperatures, the bright sun warm by afternoon, falling leaves, and Halloween decorations on nearly every house in our neighborhood.

I've also been fortunate to have my days filled with many of my favorites:

a great early morning 13-mile run with my favorite running girls, an early evening date with my Hubby that started with a great Cabernet, much needed adult conversation, and ended with a mushroom swiss burger, pumpkin patches, cow trains, and a huge jumping pillow with the fam, coffee breaks, skirts and boots, a quick afternoon run, Halloween candy, new running tights, a new book on my Nook, and two mornings where I slept in 'til 8.

Feeling blessed and loved.

Sometimes I listen, sometimes I don't

Love this.

Saw this in Swoozie's yesterday and can't stop thinking about it. Where could it go? Bathroom? Kitchen? Small wall near the stairs. Hmmmm.

June 12

Today was our minister's last day at our church. It's hard for me to wrap my mind around how someone who you may only 'think' about once a week is so ingrained in our lives. I'm assuming because he serves as our portal to God, if that is a proper description for a minister.

As I listed to his sermon today, I cried. I thought about hearing him preach for the first time, meeting with him during our pre-marriage counseling sessions, the night of our rehearsal dinner, the beautiful sermon he gave on our wedding day, how we consoled us and prayed with us when Maddy and Libby were in the NICU, and provided us with uplifting messages when we needed them and when we thought we didn't.

Everyone around us was crying and it was almost surreal seeing grown men sob over what so many would see as a promotion and a time of congratulations.

He told us to always remember the mission of our church and that did ring true with me. You have to always go back to the basics and that is true for so many things. Relationships, parenting, houses, exercise, clothes, food, etc.

Yes, our church won't be the same without him, but his twelve years of service have made so many remarkable changes, but I will remember the basics.

Still here.

I've heard from a few friends wondering what happened to the blog. Well, it's still here, I'm still here, just haven't made the time to write in the last, oh, six weeks! How did that happen!?

Life in a nutshell ...

Busy time as President-Elect for the Junior League: writing a speech, giving a speech, preparing a board retreat, lots of meetings, burning up the phone, traveling to Philly, and trying to make time for some strategic/big picture thinking.

Working part-time ... from home, thank goodness.

The girls are amazing. Growing up. Almost 3. Independent, funny, sweet, communicating, lots of pretend-play, hugs and kisses, tantrums and foot stomping. Typical almost 3 year old behavior.

We had a busy weekend ... pool, yard work, church, coffee, run with friends, burgers on the grill, seasonal summer beers, popsicles in the freezer. Lots of fun and much needed.

Hopefully, I can get back in the swing of this soon. I miss writing, but often find myself with nothing to write about, so I just read more blogs.

Thankful

Today, I am thankful for

Starbucks grande skim vanilla lattes
Mucinex
Neti Pot sinus relief thingy
Daffodils blooming in my yard
Two two-year-olds that napped from 2-4:30pm
Returned phone calls

Jelly beans in Hubby's grocery bag

A favorite sitter with availability

A meeting free evening and dinner plans with the fam

Blog, neglected.

I'm still here and still checking your blogs ... just not updating mine.

I'll fill you in on the latest. I feel like this post is one large whiny rambling, but maybe I'll just hit publish instead of save and be done with it.

I've been busy feeding hungry children and helping adults learn to read through my position with the Junior League. Oh, ok ... so I'm not single-handedly doing this, but our organization is. Doesn't that sound better than saying I'm going to meetings every morning and night? Is handedly a word? I'm not complaining ... it is all very rewarding, but my schedule has been a bit crazy to say the least.

I've also been thinking about my personal vision statement. This could be an entire post, but it all relates back to a seminar I recently attended and the speaker asked if we had our own personal vision for our life. I could hear the crickets chirping in my head. Do you have one? I truly had to joke my way through that seminar, even when I'm sure I should have been taking it seriously.

Maddy and Libby have learned to open our back door, and while they haven't escaped just yet, the dogs are certainly enjoying this new skill.

I have a knot on the back of my neck ... does this mean I need a massage, or is it a tumor?

I also have a cold. Boooo. It's definitely not making me feel like doing anything that I need to do and I've been injesting large amounts of Vitamin C, cold medicine, saline nasal spray, and graham crackers. Not that graham crackers will cure a cold, but for some reason they taste pretty good.

It's 9:28, off to refill my water bottle, put the doggies to bed, take some more cold medicine, and go to bed. Night-night.

Blah, Blah, Blah

My rambling Thursday thoughts ...

• I have become slightly obsessed with making smoothies. I'm back on ol' WW, and for 1 cup of milk, 1/2 cup frozen strawberries, 1/2 a banana, and 1/2 cup ice, it's only 2 points and yummy ... plus, it's dairy and fruit! Yes, I realize that it's 34 degrees outside, but I seriously want one everyday. I feel like I should be adding protein powder, or whey powder, or something to it. Do any of you use protein powder? I know it would make it a little more filling.
• I'm trying a new Cooking Light recipe tonight ... slow cooker meatloaf . It smells really good. I'm just hoping that I didn't screw it up by using cremini mushrooms instead of shiitake.
• Our schools have been closed for 4 days due to the snow that we had on Monday. I think everyone is a little stir crazy and ready for kiddos to get back to a normal schedule. Even Libby has been asking if she was going to get to see one of her classmates today.
• I realize that when I'm driving the huge double-seater shopping cart at the grocery, I look very large and in charge. I promise you that I'm not trying to run you over. Yes, that is directed at you, woman in the soup aisle with the big 1980's eyeglasses.
• My running shoes miss me, or they miss running. I've been working out nearly every day, but have only run 4 miles in the last 2 weeks. I'm hoping to change that soon.

Merry Christmas!

Twas the day before Christmas and all through the house; not a creature was stirring not even a mouse. The girls were both napping, and Hubby was out; buying a few presents that we had forgotten about. The dogs were at camp, frolicking around, and Susan D. was baking

and eating gum drops.

Merry, Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Just remembering

I hope that I will always remember mornings with my girls like the one I had today.

We were supposed to be meeting up with friends for Story Time with Mrs. Claus and lunch following. Unfortunately, one of my friend's daughters was sick, so they had to cancel. Since we were ready to go, we headed over to Barnes & Noble.

There were quite a few people there, mainly a couple of years older, but we sat down and waited. They weren't perfect, but they managed to sit still and listen for most of the time. Maddy had spotted an Elmo with book so as soon as Mrs. Claus was finished, we made a bee line to look at it.

Not that we need anymore Elmo's or books, but it really was cute - the book has 3 Christmas songs, plus it had an Elmo. I told the girls that they could pick out one book as a special treat. Maddy obviously had her choice and Libby found a set of Corduroy books.

We checked out, held hands in the parking lot without fussing, and headed over to pick up bread to make french toast casserole. They nibbled on cookie samples and were enthralled by the bakery. We walked down a few shops and had lunch at Subway. They were so good and ate their lunches, told me they were "careful" when holding their milk. They did pull a few bags of chips down that I had to replace, but other than that, I couldn't have asked for much better.

I guess it's these days that you want to remember forever when you can look at your children and just smile. They were so cute and sweet, and other shoppers said hello and asked about them. This is so much better than days with hitting, biting, screaming, or crying and it just seems like there have been a lot of those lately. Those are the days that I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing as a parent. Today was one of those days that I'm like "Yeah, I can handle this. I took two 2.5 year olds out in public to several places and didn't need my husband or a friend with me to do it. Go me."

Trying to get back on the horse

After a couple of friends who read my blog, and even Hubby started asking me why I haven't been blogging, I figured it was time to check in.


I'm still here ... just haven't been writing. I didn't really mean to take a break, but it just happened.


I'll blame it on travel-work stuff-holiday preparations-cold/sinus thing-writers block-reading a good book-telling Maddy and Libby "don't touch that" multiple times a day, etc.


So, what is on my mind?

It's December 9 and I still can't find the candles for our windows.

My tree is half-decorated. Partly to keep ornaments out of two year old hands, but partly because the boxes are still in the basement.

I'm making a soup with Velveeta for dinner and I had to ask where it was at the grocery. It's not refrigerated and that kind of grossed me out. What is Velveeta, because it sure as heck isn't cheese.

Fifth half marathon for the year isn't gonna happen. The above cold/sinus thing has kept me from running since Thanksgiving, so I'm giving myself an extension and trying to run 5 within 12 months. My goal, my rules.

My cousin sent Maddy and Libby a Jingle Bell Elmo and I have heard Jingle Bells via Elmo about 10,000,000 times a day.

It is freezing here in NC. It snowed on Saturday and the snow is still lingering. It's just unheard of for here.

I am loving all of the holiday crafts that M&L are making in preschool. Mitten shaped paper ornaments, popsicle stick stars with paint and glitter, red poinsettias. Cute.

Oh, and did I mention that I lost my job? Yeah, not I what I needed/wanted/expected to happen, but I'm wrapping up a final project and will be finished by Christmas. I try to keep things happy and full of rainbows and sunshine here, but I just feel like it's not being truthful if I don't mention it. My new mantras include "everything happens for a reason, put on your big girl panties and deal with it, and don't forget to take those happy pills."

But, life does go on ... Hubby and I celebrated 5 years of wedded bliss in November, we are healthy, our children are healthy, I enjoyed a much-needed girls trip to New Orleans the weekend after I found out about the layoff, and I do believe that everything will work out.

So, that's it in a nutshell.

And just so I'm keeping this full of rainbows and glitter ...

"Keep your face to the sunshine, and you cannot see the shadows." - Helen Keller

Thinking about ...

Thinking about ...

My friend, K who was put on bed rest yesterday. She is almost 25 weeks along with boy/girl twins. Please keep her in your thoughts and feel free to send her entertaining blog posts.

Running. Why is it that you take a week off and it feels like an eternity and that much harder to get back in the groove? I ran 5 miles on Tuesday and plan to go tonight. Hoping for a longer run this weekend, because #5 will be here before I know it!

The fact that when it's time to give Maddy and Libby their medicine (antibiotic - ear infections), Libby will blurt out "Maddy turn!" and put her hands over her mouth. After a couple of days, we figured out that bribing with Elmo or a special snack is the way to go and we don't have to deal with crying/flailing arms. What is funny is that Libby still takes it better than Maddy, but she still tries to get out of it. I guess I can't blame her.

I also wanted to share a picture of M&L's preschool class. I think I can safely say that I could never do the job of a preschool teacher. I'm still amazed that they were able to get all of these kids lined up and stand still long enough for the parents to snap a few photos. Plus, they dressed up in costume and had fun. Oh, yeah ... no idea why M&L are the only ones NOT wearing their spider crowns.

All for now ... happy Friday, everyone.