Life as a Convert

Little boy funnies

2012-02-14T16:05:00.001-06:00

One of Kaias school work questions last night said “Was Larry right?” Kaia answered “No” Then it said to explain so Kaia answered “Cause he was wrong”

And then… He was arguing with my Mom and told her “You eat too much Twinkies” Bwahahahaha

And these kids eat too much chocolate:

Abby wouldnt smile. Instead, she kept saying “Happy Valentines Day” – Losh on the other hand, cheesed like a fool – and then they both went back to eating candy.

Happy Extra Calories in the form of Chocolate day!

This little piggy…

2012-02-12T23:08:00.001-06:00

At first I thought the bike trainer was similar to the treadmill in that you feel like you have been riding for a long time and realize you have only gone a fraction of what it feels like.. But then I realized there is a reason for that! I earn every single mile ridden on the trainer. I cant “coast” along on the trainer like I can outside. If that wheel is spinning then its because Im making it spin. I guess thats a good thing.

My plan for today was 4 miles on the treadmill followed by something on the trainer.

The trainer wasnt a priority – running was, but I thought it would be nice to do some extra calorie extinguishing if I had the chance.. and I had the chance. My 4 miles on the treadmill were just my regular “as slow as I can go without walking” miles. 57 minutes later I hopped on the trainer for 40 minutes (enough time to watch an episode of Lost on Netflix). I barely made 4.33 miles on the trainer! Incredible how I did 4 running in 57 and only 4.33 riding in 40, but I did “stop” a few times to give my poor legs a rest. I forget how different riding verse running is. Hello new muscles!!

I was a sweaty mess afterwards.

Thank God for showers and actual clothes! – The shower part should count as a swim, thus completing my TRI-athlon today right?!?! Right?!?!

Then I was bored this evening so instead of finding a normal person activity I hopped on the trainer again for 15 minutes (2.21 miles) and then half a mile on the treadmill (6 minutes). That left my total miles for this week at 38. - 17.5 of those were running. I was 1/2 mile over my plan for running.. This week was a cut back week so my miles were lower. Next week my running miles will be higher again.. and I should come close to 50 miles total for the week (including biking!!) Im so happy to be increasing my miles again (PAIN FREE!!!) Im not having to ice my poor shins after every single run.

I told my friend that if I lost 5 pounds in the next month Id marry him… Guess what? Im more likely to gain 20 pounds than lose 5. Ugh. ‘Tis the life. – But with the trainer now on top of the running.. who knows. I may be engaged by the end of the month ;)

Super-duper-awesome-news here.. My mother got her car back this evening! Still some slight issues with it, but hopefully nothing that will keep it from messing up. That means we now have a way to therapy and church again. Kaia will be especially happy about the Church part. He has been praying and asking me to pray that we can go to church again.

And thats all I have. Setting this to post and Im going to bed!

P.S. Katt Williams wants to give a shout out to my Sibling of the Female Persuasion.

What the heck am I doing here? – All the pictures I havent shared recently

2012-02-11T22:38:00.001-06:00

Im working on eating healthy.. Massive amounts of it.

My workout calendar – All filled out for January. I mentioned it a few times, but this is what it actually looks like. Hopefully at the end of the year my long runs will be even longer. Click to enlarge.

And days at a glance.. I dont record too much info.. Just splits on the “important” runs, and distance and time. Sometimes I will write what my HR was, but all that info is kept on the Garmin software.

This is my P90X Pose..

Or whatever…

Wear all black. It makes you look skinny!!

I took some “before” shots so when I get to my “after” I can compare.. But Im not sharing those pictures here. Thats the most I will share here :) – FTR Im not doing P90X.

Im too dumb for adult books so I read mine from the Juvenile section.. I havent even graduated to the Young Adult yet. Its pathetic, I know, but I hate spending days reading a book.

A new restaurant opened in town.. Mum picked some up for dinner the other night. The rice and tamales were dry and the beans tasted like chorizo. I gave it a “Meh” out of 5 stars. We shall try it again once they have been open longer and worked out their kinks.

The appliance store got a shipment of washer and fridge boxes so my children now own their own houses. Too bad they were poorly built and are already falling down.

See these boots?? And be proud of me for actually putting some clothes on today!

Well, they are my riding boots.. My bike riding boots. –

Today I rode my bike for LESS than a mile to go pick up a truck so I could go to the bike shop. LESS THAN A MILE FOLKS and my fingers were nearly frozen. I had to hold them over the stove and then run them under water just to get the feeling back. Holy cold batman! – I picked up the truck that I was borrowing, threw my bike in the back and went back home to get my purse and stuff… Then I went and picked up this using my mothers life savings:

And a bike computer.. Kudos to you if you can actually spot it in this picture.

I use my Garmin outside and only needed the computer for the trainer inside.. so it didnt matter if I couldnt see it while on the trainer.. I just want to know at the end how long and how far.

Backing up..I dropped the trainer and my purse off at home so I could go drop the truck back off to its owner.. When I was at my house I made sure to grab some gloves and a beanie hat to cover my ears from the torture of the 1 mile ride back home.. I dropped the truck off, hauled cold booty on my bike back home and then this happened…

60 butt hurting minutes of Lost.

YES!!!! THANK YOU MOMMY!!!

Ramblings about running..

2012-02-10T13:28:00.001-06:00

When I was getting ready to run and gun the other day Kaia wanted to go with me. Being the horrible mother that I am, I told him no*. He decided to just run on the treadmill instead while I was running outside. I challenged him to run 1/2 mile when I was gone. I was only running 2 and figured he could go 1/2 mile easily by the time I ran 2.. When I got home he informed me that he did NOT go 1/2 mile. He went 1 mile. Go Kaia!!

Then last night as we were laying in bed deciding which episode of The Fairly OddParents to watch he asked me what a mile was (meaning how far) and I explained to him in kid terms what it was (the distance from our house to X is 1 mile). He said “Holy Cow, So I ran to X the other day??”

If this kid had a pacer he could be a future ~~Kenyan~~ Olympian.

*Sometimes I will let him ride his bike as I run, but lately we havent been able to because the roads I let him ride on are filled with loose dogs.

---

This week is a cut back week for me so Im taking it easy. I decided to go for 4 miles today.

My plan for the week is around 17 miles total. So in order to keep my 4 miles “easy” I made up a plan as far as “pace” goes. I like how structured this workout was. Im thinking of writing some speedwork plans similar to this, but of course at much faster paces. The majority of this was just walking.

This is what my plan looked like for today:

1 mile @ 3.1
1 mile with 2/10 @ 3.1 then 1/10 @ 4.1 repeat until mile is up
1 mile with 1/10 @ 3.2 then 1/10 @ 4.2 repeat until mile is up
1 mile with 1/10 @ 3.2 then 2/10 @ 4.3 repeat until mile is up

My splits:
19:50
17:58
16:34
15:50

AVGHR 135 - MAXHR 168

Pretty slow paces overall, but I worked up a small sweat, added some miles, and burned some calories so it counts for something. Ive been wanting more structured speed work, but 400 or 800 repeats at a very fast pace seems too intimidating for me. I think I may start small (with an actual plan) and see how it goes.

Do any of you have structured speed work plans? Besides Fartleks?

Team Losh Virtual 5K WINNERS!

2012-02-09T11:09:00.001-06:00

First of all I want to give a “Shout Out” to those who entered and ran the Team Losh Virtual 5k.

Your support for this fundraiser is greatly appreciated. To date you have raised over $3,000 for Aloshua’s medical fund. That is outstanding! For those who were unable to run in the Team Losh Virtual 5K, you can make it up! Shut up and Run is hosting a Virtual 5K for Sherry Arnold, the runner in Montana who lost her life due to a senseless act. On February 11th, at 9am MST Beth is asking everybody to pin a bib on and run in honor of Sherry. I hope that you will all take the time and run in honor of Sherry.

Now that the tough part is out of the way, lets get to the winners. Each winner was chosen via a random number generator. Too bad I couldnt add a number for myself, because these prizes were awesome and I wanted them for myself! ;) If your name is listed as a winner I will be contacting you for more information on how to claim your prize. Congrats to all of the winners and THANK YOU for helping support Team Losh.

JS and CL were the Category Prize Winners for the slowest and fastest time. Each of them will receive a Team Losh keychain.

BIC Bands donated 2 of their no slip headbands.

Courtenay over at I Swear My Legs are on Auto Pilot is the winner of those.

Kiley from Daily Vitamin F donated a Running Sucks T-Shirt.

James R is the winner of this and will get to chose what shirt he prefers.

Emily from Little Slice of Awesome donated a Noodle Hugger

Melissa R is the winner of the Noodle Hugger and she will get to pick the style.

The fabulous people over at Click espresso Protein Drink donated a sampler bag that includes all of the items shown below.

Michael S is the winner of the Click Sample Bag.

The moment you have all been waiting for – The winner of the Grand Prize drawing, and who will receive a Team Losh T-shirt, Team Losh Keychain, and Team Losh Sticker is Erin R from The (mis) Adventures of a Proud Penguin.

Random for the Day..

2012-02-08T16:53:00.001-06:00

I always wear shoes around the house. This morning I woke up and could only find one shoe.. So until I found my other one, I wore a single shoe. - Thats how we roll ;)

This week is a cut-back week on mileage. Ive had high numbers these last 2 weeks. Id like to continue with the high numbers, but I want to take it easy to have “fresh” legs for next week… So Ill run around 17 miles this week. 3 down – 14 to go! – Rode my bike almost 6 miles today and Ran 3. The last time I rode my bike was October 6th. I had to air the front tire up before heading out. I desperately want to get a trainer for it.

Last night – in the sweetest, most serious, most girly voice ever – Aybra called Kaia a butthead then said “No, I mean snot-nosed” – Cracked me up. She was so serious.

I nearly lost my sunglasses when riding today. I went back to the first place I took them off and they werent there.. On my way back down the road I saw them laying on the ground. *wiping worry from my forehead* Phew! So glad they were safe!

I have a workout notebook/calendar that just so happens to start on the day that my streak began. Ive got it all caught up with my workouts and it looks nice all filled out. I like being able to see the entire month at a glance with the miles for every day on there, but then its also got larger slots on different pages for each day so I can record my splits and time. LOVIN IT!

Do you keep a workout journal? What do you record in it?

Ive been logging my stuff on dailymile since I started running in Oct 2010, but Ive wanted a way to keep track of my stuff on paper for future reference. This is my first journal. Im recording my miles, time, splits, and weight.

Running and Gunning

2012-02-07T15:28:00.001-06:00

So...

I ran today..

But moreso - I ran with a gun today. In my hand - through the busiest street in my town. My turn around point was the police station. Smart, right? I passed 1 cop three times, saw the water meter guy (who works in a building attached to the police station), and saw another cop. Im not sure if anybody called the police on me or not, but I never got stopped. I even smiled at one of the police officers (the one I saw 3 times) as he made a turn right in front of me, but they never said anything. Hmmmm Obviously they werent too worried about the crazy chick with a gun in her hand.

The backstory? I used to run around streets in the neighborhoods beyond the main road but they became overrun by loose dogs. I started running up and down the main road to avoid the dogs and guess what? MORE dogs. Im sick and tired of getting charged by dogs every time I run so I went and bought a BB Gun. Ive been carrying mace for many months now but it only shoots a stream instead of a larger spray and its very small. Im worried it wont be effective and Ill miss and run out of mace. So I bought a BB Gun.

Today was the first day carrying it and I need to figure out the best way to do it. Im worried if I carry it in my fanny pack that Ill accidently shoot myself because the way stuff shakes around in there..

So I put it in my waist band thinking my tights would be tight enough but I didnt even make it 1/10 mile before it started falling, so I just carried it in my hand.

I want to go to the police station and let them know that until I can feel safe and not have to worry about dogs that I will continue to carry this bb gun. Or, Ill go get a concealed gun permit and carry the real deal. Either way if a dog comes near me Ill shoot it*.

Splits:
1 mi x 12:52
.96 mi x 12:18 (12:53 pace)

And well, the rest is history.

*For the record, I love animals and would never harm one just to harm it, but if my life is in danger then I will do what I must in order to remain safe and if that means shooting a dog then so be it. The dog wont die from the BB gun anyway.. just hurt enough to make it run away.

Im getting old..

2012-02-06T19:44:00.001-06:00

Im forgetful, but the good thing about that is that when I do forget something it generally comes back to mind - at an inconvenient time - but it comes back. Today that was no different. As soon as I hit “Publish” on my last blog post I realized I totally forgot to answer the questions from Courtenay. Woops! So, please forgive me.. Ill add them to the end of this post ;)

Today was just as random as my blogging. While the children played games and watched cartoons on the GIANT TV*, I went and ran errands with my mother and she bought me lunch. Thats always a plus when tagging along somewhere with people in my family. A meal is normally involved.

We had Which Wich and I got the Chicken Teriyaki with avocado, olives, mushrooms, provolone, lettuce, and hummus. Sounds weird, but it was great. And for both of us to eat for $9.00 it was one heck of a deal.

*The GIANT TV is the only reason the children like going to Papas house now.. They think its awesome that their games are life sized.

Anywho… I left the house looking like this:

That means as my hair dried it became way too frizzy to manage. See it starting?

Lotion to the rescue! I cant be the only person who puts lotion on the ends of their hair. I only do it on the ends.. if I did it near the scalp Id look like I swam from a tub of Crisco.

I had some stuff to drop off at the consignment shop I use.. I took it, and looked around. I had $17 in my pocket.. Im a big spender. My stuff came to $20.38 BUT I had enough credit in my account to cover what I bought plus I have some left over in my account. Yippie!! I love free clothes. Plus, I kinda need them. If you havent noticed on my 365 Picture Post lately Ive been wearing the same clothes over and over because all of my others ones dont fit :(

Heres pics from a dressing room. – First up trying on a new shirt… The pants hanging up beside me were too big (WOWERS I love vanity sizing) so I put them back.

Here are pants that did fit though.

and what I went in wearing.. Frizzy hair and all.

So the shopping was a success. I now have pants that fit my booty!

And I stand corrected.. I vowed to NEVER wear skinny jeans.. and what do you know?!?

This is actually from last night but I had to include it.. Losh was playing with a bag of Reese’s. He is so anal about stuff and insisted on lining them ALL up before eating one. OCD tendencies start early around here.

Courtenay’s Questions

1. What was the turning point in life that lead you to a more active/healthy lifestyle or has it always played an important role? - I like to think Ive always been fairly active and leading a healthy lifestyle, but seeing my weight increase after having children has been a big turning point for me. Also, just having children is a motivating factor for being healthy and having them grow up living a healthy lifestyle

2. What is your career and is it where you want to be? If not, what would your dream job be? - My dream job would be a trauma surgeon... Right now I am a mother and that suits me just fine.

3. What was the best day of your life so far? - Too may to chose from.

4. Who in your life has had the most positive influence on you? Why? – Hmm Tough choice. I would have to say Losh. Seriously, he has been through so much and he always remains positive about everything. I learn a lot from him.

5. Are you a picky eater? If so, what foods absolutely disgust you? If not, what’s your favorite food that you never get sick of? - I am not a picky eater, but I dont like slimey things.. I could eat salad all day. Or Bread.. There are a million different types of bread; Id never get tired.

6. Chocolate? Vanilla? Neither? - Vanilla or other.

7. What’s your favorite form of cross-training? – Cycling :) I love it. Though, I am not as intense with cycling as I am with running. I want to put more effort into cycling in the near future.

8. If you run races, what’s the best race experience you have ever had? - Ive only ran 3 races. Its a tie between my first race (a mud run) and a relay marathon I did. I loved nearly everything about the first race, though I was sorely undertrained.. The relay marathon was great, but there were issues with a runner on our team (who walked instead of ran) which meant I stood in the freezing cold for hours before even getting to run. That wreaked havoc on my body and mentality and made the run tough. When my time came to run my body was so tight from being cold it was hard physically, and nearly all the street support was gone because I was the second from last person to start. It was terrible, but the support that was there was awesome and that made it worth it.. Im looking forward to going back and doing it again (on my own this time) so I dont have to wait around and I can experience the whole effect.

9. What was your very first job? How long did you work there? - Fast Food. Not very long ;)

10. Favorite TV show or movie? - Right now? Lost. Im hooked on it.. Working my way through Netflix.. Im on Season 4, but about to begin 5

11. Have you ever met anyone famous? If so, who?? – No. Not really.

And well, thats all – Time for more Lost!

11 Random Things

2012-02-06T10:36:00.001-06:00

I was tagged by the amazing Lauren over at On the Run. If you guys dont follow Lauren then you are missing out on some great trail experiences. I like to live vicariously through her and her mountain/trail adventures.

I was also tagged by Courtenay over at I Swear My Legs are on Auto Pilot. Courtenay is awesome because we almost have the same name (Did you know my name almost was Courtenay?) and I wish I was as fast as her.

Rules:
1. Post these rules.
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post.
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
5. Go to their blog and tell them you've tagged them.
6. No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people.

My 11 Random Things

I was the youngest child for 20+++ years then *POOF* all of a sudden, Im the middle child.
As long as I have the ingredients I can eat salad every.single.day for lunch.
I wish I had Lauren’s guts to run trails by myself. Im too chicken to even run the local paved trail by myself. I see all these trail runners and wish I could go. Now, I met a lady from church who is also a runner and runs trails and I cant wait to get the chance to run trails with her.
When I blog I always have in mind what I want to blog about, but then I get started and talk about something else and THEN finish squeezing in what I originally planned at the end.. So folks, just because something is at the END of one of my posts, its normally the whole reason for the post :)
Im not really a fan of pizza. If I had to take it or leave it – Id leave it.
I think the Duggar’s are a very inspiring family. I hope my kids grow up to be at least 1/2 as good as their children.
I forget new things very quickly. If I dont write it down, or do it immediately, chances are it wont get done.
I can talk about myself and tell you random stuff ALL.DAY.LONG, but when I *have* to make a list of only 11 things I appear to get stuck (Ive had this blog post in the works for DAYS now)
When my “preemies” were younger I was very much involved in the “preemie” community, but now I cant even peek into it without having all sorts of ugly thoughts and memories. I want to help other parents and caregivers of preemies, but its too hard re-living the memories.
Growing up I wanted so badly to be a Paramedic (dont get paid enough), Trauma Surgeon (too much school) or Police Officer (too dangerous once I had children).. Now, Im settling on fraud investigator for the IRS.

Lauren’s 11 Questions

Short shorts or long shorts? – Running? Short.. Day-to-Day? Longer
How do you recover from a tough long run? – I sit my butt on the couch, watch tv and eat whatever I can find. Im not a chocolate milk drinker post long run.
Favorite brand running shoe? – Mizuno – Its the only ones Ive been in, but trying to venture out
Longest distance ever run? – 10 miles on a treadmill.
What would you do if a rattlesnake coiled up to strike a couple feet from you? – Crap my pants – SUAR style
For women – do you wear make-up? For men – do you remove hair from anywhere other than your face? – I dont wear make up daily. When I do wear makeup I just wear eyeliner, mascara, eye shadow and lip gloss.
Do/did your parents, guardians, siblings, children run? – No. Im the first. Kaia (my oldest boy) likes to run and I think he may pick it up some day
How many days is your longest running streak? – Now – 35 Days Straight. 4 WHOLE Weeks. Yippie!
Would you rather run in extreme heat or extreme cold? – Extreme cold for sure. I cant catch my breath in the heat, but then again I live in the South and with the heat comes extreme humidity.
If you had to watch the same movie ten times in a row, what would it be? – Umm Repetitive? ;) I would pick some sort of fun action flick with some drool-worthy guys.
Vanilla or Chocolate ice cream? Vanilla with lots of toppings

My NEW 11 Questions

Are you more of a night owl or a morning person?
If you could sit next to Oprah or Obama on an airplane who would you pick and why?
Have you ever been hunting? If so, what were you hunting?
What was your favorite toy growing up as a child?
Would you rather only run short and fast distances, or long and slow distances?
Whats the first website you visit when you get online?
Do you like the picture on your drivers license?
Why did you start your blog?
Have you ever taken a road trip just for fun?
What is one food that you cannot stand to eat?
For the girls, how do you keep your hair secure when running? Rubber-bands? Regular hair ties? What do you use? For the boys, and non runners, what is your current background picture on your computer?

My New Tag-ees

Jen at A Lover of Words
Erin at The (mis) adventures of a Proud Penguin
Michael at Will Run for Food
Jena at Life is Beachy Keen
Mikki at Firelein tomFoolery
Krissie at Questions for Dessert
Jenna at Jenna’s Journey
Stacey at Finding My Way (Is it a secret blog Stacey? Can I link it?!?!)
Nancy at Because Miracles Happen
Pam at Troop Petrie
Mike at My Wacky World of Training and Technology

I am redeeming myself..

2012-02-04T16:50:00.001-06:00

I know you guys just absolutely adored my outfit from yesterday, but Im here to tell you that trends dont last long. I actually put some effort into getting dressed today.. Hooker Heels and all.

Im sure those who have to see me today will appreciate the effort.

Maybe next time Ill even fix my hair ;)

Shirt from Rue 21 $3 or $4
Pants from Rue 21 $7
Shoes from Rue 21 $7 (HECK YES!)
Poor Target belt $16.99

TOTAL: $34.99

Im stronger than that!

2012-02-03T22:24:00.001-06:00

I honestly didnt think Id make it through the end of January taking my picture every.single.day, but guess what? I did.. Apparently Im stronger than failure.

Here is todays gem. You can thank me later ;)

You can see the rest of the 365 Self Portraits here.

I stayed (bra-less) in my PJs all day.. The only attempt at changing I made was putting on a bra which resulted in turning my shirt inside out.. I had to get my 30 minutes in for the day.. After that I took a shower and put on those lovely clothes up there.. – Im starting a fashion trend here. Im sure it will catch on soon. Y’all just wait!

In other “Im stronger than that” news – My ~~running~~ workout streak is STILL GOING. Yes folks, Ive not managed to kill myself (or anybody else) yet. Today was day 40. Ive taken the last 2 days very easy with just 30 minutes of walking, but I did manage to add in some short running spurts today. The only issue Ive had thus far is the sickness, but its lots better today (perhaps because I have had my butt perched on the couch all day resting).

Now – not to get all bitchy and whiny here, but I have a complaint. All this running, and eating healthy has done nothing for my weight. Im sure Ive lost some (bad) weight, but the scale is only going up and that does NOT make me happy. I want to know just exactly how much muscle vs fat weighs. I can tell Ive lost a bit of fat, but Im a numbers girl and until that number on the scale goes down I wont be happy. – I guess I need to make that number of calories go down too. Ive been watching what I eat meal-wise but snacking is my enemy. Looks like I need to invest in getting a measuring tape to actually take measurements and maybe *those* numbers will shrink.

*blah blah blah*

Heres my kids (well some of them) getting ready for bed.

11.25 miles in Saucony ProGrid Mirage :)

2012-02-02T22:56:00.001-06:00

This was yesterdays run in the new shoes** (2-1-12)

I started out wondering how far I could even make it. I just wasnt feeling well. I felt slightly febrile, but never actually checked my temp. My silly Garmin reset itself after the first 3 miles so the times are split up. I was much stronger those first 3 miles, and actually surprised I wasnt quicker those next 4. I was taking it easy and had to walk a lot, but I didnt think I had slowed down that much.

Outside Splits:
3.18 miles
1 mi x 13:28
1 mi x 13:27
1 mi x 13:55
.18 mi x 2:52 (16:19 pace)
13:46 average pace

GARMIN RESET

4.82 miles
1 mi x 14:39
1 mi x 14:37
1 mi x 14:52
1 mi x 14:39
.82 mi x 12:46 (15:38 pace)
14:52 average pace

Treadmill Splits:
3.25 miles
.25 mi x 5:18
1 mi x 19:56
1 mi x 22:54
1 mi x 26:21

I was really having to tough it out for those last 3 miles on the treadmill. I could have done them much better outside, but I was tired of running into dogs. Im glad I took it inside because I started feeling lightheaded*.. I thought it would go away, but it didnt. Perhaps stupidly, I pushed through some of it, but when it took me nearly 30 minutes to complete that last mile I quit. I knew I only needed 12 miles to make it to 100 for the year so that was one of my goals.. my first goal was 10 miles, then the 12, but I figured if I made it to 12, I might as well add another 1.1 and make it a “Half”. Im sure I could have pushed for that last little bit, but I didnt want to risk passing out or something. On a “normal” day I would have pushed through even with 30 minute miles ;) Yesterday, it wasnt worth the risk.

- I had a nice ice bath followed by a rest on the couch and then nearly passed out when I tried to get up and walk. I think the light headedness was due to blood pressure issues or something and related to the cold* not the running. My heart rate was fine. Next time Ill make sure Im 100% well before I attempt another double digit run.

Fuel Consumed:
1/2 Bottle Powerade
1 GU
1 Powerbar Gel
1 Fruit Rope Twist
and 3 cheesesticks at the end :)

* The lightheadedness was not from running that many miles per se. I was sick going into the run, but thought once I got going that I would feel better. I felt ok outside (not great, but not terrible either). Besides the light headedness I felt great physically. My legs and lungs were fine. My heart rate was spectacular. Today (the day after) I feel fine. Slight headache from the cold, short bouts of light headedness, but nothing left over from the run. All of my symptoms are just related to the yucky cold inside my head. My legs dont even feel sore. It feels like another day… I dont know if its because of the ice bath or that Im getting used to running so much because of the streak, but Im not complaining!

** I wore the new shoes the entire time outside. I felt no pain from them. The fit was very similar to my old Mizunos. They even felt “broken in” right off the bat. I didnt get any blisters or anything. I did the first 8 miles in them outside, then did 2 more inside before changing to my old shoes “just in case”.

Larry’s Pizza – Homeschool 4H Fundraiser

2012-02-02T22:31:00.001-06:00

Tonight the local Homeschool 4H hosted a fundraiser for Team Losh.

From 5 until 8, Larry’s Pizza was the place to be.

Losh was quick to find the games and proceed to plant himself on top of the skee ball table where he insisted on playing game after game.

There were quite a bit of people there. I knew many of them, but saw a lot of unfamiliar faces as well. I was not involved in any of the planning of this event and wasnt really sure what their goals were or how it was going to work. I was simply informed they were doing this as a fundraiser for Losh (I told you guys the community is awesome), so we went.

Losh had a blast, ate lots of yummy pizza, and played as many games as he could.

Fallon told me to be sure to take lots of pictures, and I tried, but that up there ^^^^ is the extent of what I got.. except for me in the bathroom.. and a lot of ugly pictures of people eating and Im sure they dont want those posted.

Larry’s Pizza donated $1.00 for every buffet sold. Members of the 4H were “working” the event, and all tips made went to Team Losh.

The grand total for the night was $503.00.

THANK YOU Larry’s Pizza and Searcy Homeschool 4H for helping to raise money for Team Losh.

They are here!

2012-02-01T11:12:00.001-06:00

For the record – I got BOTH of these shoes for LESS than what I paid for my current pair of shoes.. so Im kinda sorta hoping that at least one of them works so I can save money on shoes. And Im kinda leaning toward the Sauconys because they look awesome and they seem to be made closer to my Mizunos.

Brooks Glycerin 8 on the bottom and Saucony ProGrid Mirage on the top.

The Brooks is a Neutral Shoe – The Saucony is a Stabilty shoe

Im already not sure of the toe-box on the Brooks. The Saucony looks like it has more room for my toes to spread out. Even though they are the same size, the Brooks appears to be a bit longer.

Now to go shoo my kids out the door to the sitter so I can test these suckers out.

Best news today?!?

2012-02-01T09:35:00.001-06:00

I cant wait until my new shoes arrive so I can test them out.

Yesterday we returned books at the library, but they were closed while they are remodeling their floors, so instead we hung around outside for a bit.

We call this “The Sun Face” – Losh has a coloboma in his right eye (the one that is squinting) which basically makes his eye “dilated” 24/7. When he goes outside he makes this funny squinty face, hence the name.

The brightest shirt I own – Seriously, after this we went to Lowes (in another town) and some random guy came up to me and asked me if I was just taking pictures at the library because he saw me. Small world, eh.

Did a little work outside..

Had lunch with the Madre at Chick Fil A.

Then we went to TSC.

I love how they have a “Lady” version.

It gets better:

This was our only purchase though:

Coyote Pee – We needed it as a lure.

And then we had Fro-deo – Its a Fro-Yo Rodeo for my mouth.

Back home to burn off a slight amount of calories to keep the streak alive. My shins were hurting yesterday, so I broke the run down into two shorter runs, for a total of 4 miles.

Total January Miles: 88

Thats my highest month EVER.. Only 12 miles short of 100 for the year.. Since I (will) have new shoes to test out today I may just tempt to run them all today at a deathly slow pace.

Chocolate Cake in a cup? Yes please!

2012-01-30T16:09:00.001-06:00

I questioned on facebook (because – you know – its faster than google) if I could make brownie mix and put it in the microwave and it turn into brownies.. Kinda like those delicious Betty Crocker individual brownie bowls. Apparently my friends are as chocolate obsessed as I am because somebody said I COULD make cake in the microwave.. So the next day I had to attempt it. This is what I ended up with:

Kaia ate it and said it was good.. It looked a little spongy to me and didnt quite have enough chocolate in it, but it was good. A BROWNIE (instead of cake) would have tasted much yummier though. So, once I perfect a recipe for HOMEMADE BROWNIES IN THE MICROWAVE Ill share it :) The recipe is all I will share though, so dont expect to get a fork and share the brownie with me.

See the blue med? Second up from the bottom? I HATE that medicine.

Yeah. ‘Tis true. It makes Losh run fever and insurance is a pain in the butt all because of that one medicine. The liquid version (seen there) is no problem to get. But the side effects are horrible.. The patch version has no similar side effects and Losh tolerates it much better, but insurance has a fit over it. THANK GOD they finally got all that mess sorted and I got his prescription today – which Ive been trying to get for a month now!

Not having a car means not having anything to blog. Who would have thought that the two would go together, right? But unless you want to see pictures of my kids doing school work, playing the XBOX, me cooking the same food, or watching Lost then I have nothing to blog lately. No therapy. No trips out of town. No random park visits. Nothing. It sucks. Ill be so glad to have transportation again.

We are working on finishing up the last worksheets in all of those books so we can move on to other stuff.

The latest Team Losh news is on the blog. The local Homeschool 4-H club is hosting a fund raiser at a local Pizza joint for Losh. On Feburary 2nd you can eat Pizza for a cute cause. Larry’s pizza will be donating $1.00 per every buffet sold from 4:30 to close as well as tips made to Team Losh. Isnt that sweet? Im so blessed to have a caring community and good people in the world. Thank you Homeschool 4-H and Larry’s Pizza!

Gapped hair cut..

2012-01-30T15:48:00.001-06:00

I cut Loshies hair today. Check out the huge gap I cut in it:

Ok, I didnt really cut a gap in it.. thats just his shunt scar :)

Isnt he adorable?!?!

Heres a little before:

I love this little guy.

Long SLOW Distance..

2012-01-27T18:17:00.001-06:00

Im particularly good at running long distances – long SLOW distances to be exact. Let this be your proof:

Thats 6.74 miles (hardly *long* compared to some) but its most certainly SLOW. But it is a pace of 3 seconds faster than my long run last week. Im still about 1 minute off of my old time long run pace, but Im getting there. – Dont pay attention to the wonky laps from the Garmin.. I guess I had it paused too long and it reset my laps. I HATE when it does that.

I started my run in the new shoes today. They rub the back of my ankles, especially the right one. I thought it was just because they needed breaking in more, but after about 5 miles of breaking them in Im calling them useless. Today was the first real test in them. My other short walks and runs didnt really count because I couldnt tell much.. But now I can. They hurt too much and today I came home after 3 miles and changed into my old shoes. The blister was bad enough on its own, but my knees started hurting too. My knees never hurt in my old shoes, so perhaps I *DO* need stability shoes?!?! Or maybe Im just used to running in stability shoes?!?! Its all too much to figure out on my own, but for now I think Ill order a pair of Nirvanas and wait to get into a newer brand/style of shoes until I can have a proper gait analysis and fitting.

Bummer – I was looking forward to “NEW” shoes, but Id rather run in ugly shoes that work rather than cute shoes that hurt. -

Either way I need new shoes now because my old Nirvanas have way too many miles on them.. like nearly 600 miles.

Back to todays run.. Im actually surprised my paces were that good and consistent. Like yesterday, I just wasnt into it. I went out the door today knowing I had to get in at least 5 miles to make myself happy, but felt like I couldnt even make it to 3. Im not run down physically. I feel great physically.. It was just a mental struggle today – 5 miles felt like a lot to accomplish.

So I set out and ran straight to the pharmacy to talk with them about some issues with one of Loshies meds. Ive been trying since the first of the month to get it filled, but we are having (guess what) insurance issues UGH! Long story short – insurance has to authorize this certain medicine before the pharmacy will fill it and the regular insurance people cant do it, it has to go above their heads all the way to the head honchos because of some previous issues we had with this medication and the authorization. So, the doctor has to send in clinical notes and stuff. Such a freaking hassle. Normally if the patient is between the ages of 6 and 18 and has spina bifida they will just approve it, but guess what? They wont for Losh because of the previous issues.

Anyway, I got that taken care of, and carried home a medicine to drop off, took some drinks of water and set back out.. Around the 3rd mile my feet and knees were hurting (especially the blister) so I went home, drank some more water, changed my shoes, took 1/2 pack of stingers (delicious!) and set out again. My feet/knees were instantly feeling better. I took my time and finished my 6 miles. It was slow – but I got it done. – Im looking forward to being able to get my paces back down to what they were this time last year.

Long live the streak…

2012-01-26T23:11:00.001-06:00

Barely and Begrudgingly, I kept the streak alive.. and only NOW as I write this am I amazed at myself. Today was a struggle.

First, I got up super early to take my sister to work so I could use her car. Then after getting myself and the kiddos ready, me and this boy went to the doctor..

Yep – He really does go that much

We made a stop in the bathroom because my bladder was on the verge of exploding – and of course we had to take our traditional ACH Picture.

Then we made a little stop at the gift shop so he could get some “treats”. He ended up with a small bag full of various candies.

He had a swallow study first, followed by ENT. The swallow study was to help aid in getting insurance to cover his Scandi Shakes. – He kinda sorta failed it. I went in thinking it was going to go quickly because he was going to do so well, but guess what? He didnt do well. He failed the first consistency (thin), barely passed the second consistency (nectar) and then did ok with the third (honey). He had no problems with the solids. And guess what? It was silent aspiration. – He has been drinking NON thickened liquids for about 3 years now with (seemingly) no problems. He hasnt had aspiration pneumonia or any increased coughing or secretions from feeding. Rarely did he aspirate enough to cough and choke, but heck, even I sometimes accidently swallow something and it goes “down the wrong pipe”. So, this came as somewhat of a shock. Sure, he has “failed” all of his other swallow studies, but he actually showed signs of aspiration then – And he has made HUGE progress since then.. Now, he showed nothing. No signs of aspiration (besides the occasional choke up). They seem to think its just because he is so desensitized in his airway/throat/mouth. Who knows… All I know is the poor guy has to go back to drinking thickened liquids. Gross!

And then…. The most ironic thing happened when we left the swallow study and was waiting in the ENT clinic for the doctor.. Losh was eating the rest of the Reese’s Cups he had and guess what? He aspirated a piece! Silly Losh! He coughed it back out of his trach, along with peanut butter smelling secretions, and all was well with the world. Yeah! Im glad he didnt do THAT during the swallow study.

-- ENT was to discuss MRSA infection in/around his trach.. They felt that since Pulmonary was treating it (they called in meds today) that they would not do anything. They went ahead and ordered his new trachs and said see you back soon.

Same crap different day..

-- So I went home and somehow forced myself to get on the treadmill. It was late. I was tired. I could have made a million excuses not to do it, but I did. I told myself in order to keep the streak alive I had to at least stick with the rules – at least 30 minutes walking or at least 1 mile running.. Well I started out walking as a “warm up”… I was just going to run and aim for 2 miles and get it over with fast by doing sprint intervals. –I even took a GU beforehand to help me feel better. I started the first sprint after a few minutes walking and barely made it 45 seconds before I quit. No running for me! I just wasnt into it today. So, I turned the pace down – WAY DOWN and I walked for 2.5 miles.

Yep – Glad thats done! And glad tomorrow is a new day.

Have you ever tasted thickened liquids? Good or Gross?

New shoes and un-amused..

2012-01-25T10:06:00.001-06:00

Bad news first: I got blocked from my school a few months back because I owed them money. I literally had 4 weeks.. FOUR FREAKING WEEKS left until I graduated. Heres the deal: I maxed out financial aid. My last 2 terms were not covered because of it. Instead of owing around $700 which I thought, I owe a crap ton of money instead and before I can get back in to finish my FINAL freaking class I have to pay them. (over $3,000) Boooo!!! It would have been nice to get a notice or something saying that my financial aid was nearly depleted.

Good news: I have cute kids. Remember this?

And I got new NEUTRAL shoes yesterday. Mizuno Wave Rider 14 –

HELLO MAJOR MARKDOWN!

The store has a 30 day *sellable* return policy (Not sure if it applies to markdown items or not). They literally only had 2 Mizuno styles in stock.. These Wave Rider 14s (which were on clearance) and a wave creation 12. They didnt even have the Rider 15s. I was disappointed in their selection for sure. Last time they had a lot more to chose from. I went in with a few shoes in mind and the 14s were the only ones they actually had. Again, disappointed, but, I like to try them on before getting them so I stayed. These Wave Rider 14s are much more narrow than the Wave Nirvana 6s - which is what I am coming out of. One of the big selling points for the Nirvana for me was how wide they are. My feet are wide especially across the toe area so having the larger toe box was nice. I had plenty of room. Im not sure if the 14s are going to be comfortable in the toe area for me, but for getting them with such a big markdown I cant complain. Worst case scenario Ill have to keep them as “fashion” shoes and invest in a different running shoe. I do know that I do not need the extra stability that the Nirvanas gave me. When I got the Nirvanas I didnt even want stability shoes. I wanted neutral shoes, but the Nirvanas felt the most comfortable. Looking back I probably should have just went up a size on the other shoes.

So, as soon as I got home, I did what any dedicated runner would do. I put them on and walked around in them to help loosen them up a bit. Then I ran a mile on the treadmill to test them out.

I thought my toes were going to be super bunched and cause problems, but wearing them around I didnt have any pain and no pain when running either. I actually felt like my toes had just enough room to spread out. But, then again it was only a mile. I want to use this handy dandy shoe lace guide and re-lace the shoes so that I can give a wee bit more room in the toe box incase I do run into problems.

It felt a little funny having to re-adjust my strike for these shoes, but it felt more natural than the stability shoes. Also, the front/toe of the shoe seems to be much more grippier (we are going to pretend thats a word mmmkay?) than the Nirvanas.

Overall, nothing bad yet. Im sure Ill have more to talk about once I actually run more in them. Im probably just taking it easy today with a slow 2 miles “resting” pace – which means walking. ;)

What kind of shoes do you run in?

He’s Sexy and You Know It…

2012-01-24T22:35:00.001-06:00

(Please ignore the “We hadnt planned on going anywhere” clothes)

A quick Numbers Post

2012-01-24T16:22:00.001-06:00

Total Days Streaking: 30

Days Streaking in 2012: 24

Miles run in 2012: 60

Average number of miles per streak day in 2012: 2

Miles ran today: 4

Todays miles broken down:
1 mi x 16:45
1 mi x 15:44
1 mi x 14:45
1 mi x 13:40

Miles to go to reach my minimum goal for the year: 440

Miles to go to reach my "YES!" goal: 640

Miles to go until I die from amazement: 940

Average Hear Rate on a Run: 175

Number of beats per minute Ive lowered my average HR: 10

Average HR for Todays Run: 152 (notice the increased effort as the pace increased)

Number of Long Runs since streaking: 2

Post to go until I shut up about my streak: 1,000,000

Happy Ka-ra-tay Day Ninjas!

Skate for Losh – Team Losh Fundraiser

2012-01-23T23:33:00.001-06:00

My mother happened to get this one

WARNING: You have never seen so much cuteness crammed into 3 seconds ;)

Just a quick update.. The fundraiser was a success and I hope we get to do it again, but with a bit more notice this time. The children had a BLAST. More updates, images, and totals will be posted to the Team Losh blog.

Thank you all who came out and supported Losh. It was great seeing you all there.

And a big THANK YOU to Thrills on Wheels of Searcy Arkansas for hosting/sponsoring the event.

Things Im especially loving right now

2012-01-21T12:18:00.001-06:00

staying in my pajamas all day
hot chocolate turned iced
being home with my children
people who care about us
my children playing together nicely
my favorite shows on netflix
easy dinners
streaking instead of striking
birthday celebrations
HEALTHY children
Church family
My music :)
TWITTER!!!!!!!

A-N-D

ME ;)

*SPAM* – Team Losh has new buttons. Get one before they are gone!

Thanks Stacey!! + More Med Updates

2012-01-20T22:15:00.001-06:00

Losh is the proud owner of a new bed.. This is the bed he was in

And this is the new one.

Him and Abby are thoroughly pleased with it.

Thanks Stacey for thinking of us!

In other semi-important-nothing-changed-and-Id-rather-be-sharing-something-else-news – Back story: Losh was born with a diaphragmatic hernia. Over time it grew bigger and bigger. His stomach worked its way into it and stayed there for so long that it (his stomach) grew into his esophagus. It wasnt causing any problems so the doctors chose to wait, watch the hernia, and do something if it started causing problems. One night it caused problems. BIG problems. Losh nearly died problems. So he had emergency surgery and fixed the hernia, etc. Well the “repair” they had to do it on had a high chance of coming undone simply because of the way they had to repair it because of his shunt. – And guess what – It came undone within 4 months of being repaired. Again, the doctors are watching it and if it starts causing problems they will then operate, but for now they are just waiting. – Pulmonary noticed it on his X-ray and referred him to surgery. Surgery compared this X-ray with the last and said no real changes and to keep watching it but if he has ANY stomach issues to call them immediately to get it checked out. – Pulmonary also said his blood work came back ok, slightly anemic and that I should give him iron. Guess what? His Multi-vitamin has iron. He had this issue before and had to take additional iron. But, they think this time he might have just outgrown his old MVI dose. – They were surprised that his trach culture did not grow back MRSA yet and said his past few ones havent either.. Surprising? Yes - but happy news I suppose. Of course its still growing pseudos. Cant win them all I guess. – Ill find out the rest of the results later.

Dont forget - SKATE FOR LOSH is this coming Sunday!

Hello – Its me!

2012-01-20T13:34:00.001-06:00

Two Halves of Kaia – Doing his schoolwork on the kitchen counter

I didnt feel like going through the whole song and dance of getting dressed to run on the treadmill so I just threw my shoes on and ran in my pajamas. – it worked. I got the job done.

Went and saw my brother last night.. Havent seen him in over 6 years. The kids had a blast meeting him.

Like the hat I stole from my sister?!

I have had so much going on, but nothing really to blog. Ive been super-dee-duper (love my Barney reference there?) busy and the busy-ness just keeps coming. Ive kinda-sorta neglected blogging here because I posted blogs on another place – Sue me! – Ill get back in my routine soon. Im still streaking and still got my pictures going for the 365 thing – but I havent posted them lately. Perhaps I should do that today.

-- celebrating Sisters birthday tomorrow out of town and only realized today that Id be missing teaching Sharing Time because of it. AHH!!! – sorry to whoever is going to have to sub :/ Im a sucky teller-ahead-of-timer. – And then Sunday evening is the Skate for Losh event. --

Not a whole lot else going on – Just filling out TONS of paperwork and its all Losh related – figures, right?

Anyway, not much else going on. Leave me a comment if I havent been by your blog in a while and Ill hop on over. My reader only shows the most recent 20 (and I read like 20 million) so often times they get buried!

The shortest medical update ever (from me anyway)

2012-01-17T22:43:00.001-06:00

I woke for an early-ish morning run.. I ended up doing 1.73 miles before having to give up because of the wind (and then rain). But 1.73 is better than nothing and kept my streak alive. The clock on that microwave is off BTW.

Pre-run fuel was a yogurt cup and a glass of orange. I should have drank more water, but, whatever, lesson learned.

This little boy had a doctor visit to attend

We had time to kill before so we cruised around Target and then got lunch at the Mall:

We posed by headless mannequins

And then it was off to the new “annual review” as part of being ACRTDC patients. It included the whole works – kinda like spina bifida clinic where we see every freaking doctor/specialist in the hospital in one day.

Todays visit included an EKG, X-Ray, Blood Work, CBG, RT, Speech, Social Work, Pulmonary and nutrition.

Heres the details in briefest format ever: He gained weight, He is scheduled for a swallow study so he can “officially” eat and hopefully get the Scandi Shakes covered. He has to have a bone density scan. Acidosis in blood – thinking its respiratory related. X-Ray was normal as far as I know. They will call with results of the blood work. A culture was taken from the trach and they will call with results (if its bad). An ENT visit was scheduled to (RE)check out the pseudosmella coming from the stoma. And it feels like Im forgetting something but I dunno what.

Figured out today the possible reason why they have always been anal about his feeding.. Apparently they think he hasnt been eating much by mouth so what “little” I gave him by tube was what they thought he was taking total. Aye yi yi!! . I swear he is my child that eats the most. Kaia barely eats. Losh out-eats Kaia, yet Losh remains skinny. I often say (seriously) that I dont know how Kaia survives on what little he eats. Losh eats more than him and doesnt gain weight. Funny how that works. – And again I will say the only time Losh has been “fat” was when he was on the vent many hours a day (and night) and its seen by looking at his pictures in the past. The first week he was on the vent he gained 2.5 pounds!! So anyway, that is nearly cleared up. The swallow study depicts where we go from here.

So then we left and this happened:

GOING….

GONE!! - I caught him *just* in time. This was the 2nd heart attack of the day. (The first was when he got too close for comfort to the escalators in the mall)

I ate my somewhat delicious cookie in the car.. It kinda tasted like pecan pie, but then it had some weird taste to it too. If I had to name 1 cookie I didnt like, this would be it – and Ive never met a cookie I dont like.

And well then I came home, un-packed the important stuff like the vent.. Stuffed my face and played XboX with Kaia before getting the kids in bed and laying in bed myself typing this.

Now, its time for me to go to sleep and work on that beauty stuff everybody seems to love.

Goodnight'!!!

Before we go..

2012-01-16T15:13:00.001-06:00

I got my first “long” run of the year in today.. It feels funny saying 5 miles is long, but Ive only been maxing out at 3 or 4, so 5 felt like an eternity.

1 mi x 13:23
1 mi x 13:11
1 mi x 13:40
1 mi x 14:27
1 mi x 13:23
312 ft x 00:59
Total time: 1:09:05
Total distance: 5.06 mi
AVGHR: 176 MHR: 189

That little dip in my heart rate right past the 3 mile mark was because I stopped at my house, grabbed 1/2 a bottle of water and a gel and walked while eating my gel. I took it easy today with no real effort. Just a nice, relaxed pace listening to some slow songs (and of course singing along). I got a few weird looks from people on the street, but I imagine many are used to this singing runner passing by now.

I saw a little pink ribbon tag on the ground today – I actually saw multiple of them, but one really stood out. It made me think of those red ribbons that people have to put on the back of items in their vehicles if things are hanging out (like lumber and stuff). I thought about picking the pink tag up and wearing it around my arm but then the red tag thought came up and I figured I should just hang it on my butt since my butt sticks out so far. – THEN I had an AHA moment.. You see, in the beginning of 2011 I weighed less than I do now. I also ran faster (like 1-3 minutes per mile faster!). Ive been working my way back down to that pace, but its hard. I *finally* realized today that my weight has a lot to do with my pace. In order to get faster I need to weigh less. I mean, look at all the Olympic athletes, they dont require the red tag on their butt since they are all small. And I dont want to be Olympic small, or Olympic fast, but I do want to be back to where I was.

And now I better go finish packing, putting clothes away, and showering so I can get my hair looking decent for tomorrow. Losh has a doctors appointment to go to and I need to make sure all the essentials are packed – like my running clothes! Depending on the weather, Losh might go with me on my streak run tomorrow.

Why am I (run/workout) streaking?

2012-01-16T09:38:00.001-06:00

I guess some of my non-running friends may think its odd that Im streaking, but heres my reasons behind it.. or at least some of them.

It is the ultimate test of will power
I need the time on my feet
I want to lower my heart rate and control my breathing more
I hope to get faster
I hope to gain better form
I really really need to learn to love the treadmill
I want to get more long runs in
The mileage boost is nice
Maybe Ill inspire some others to start their own streak
I would like to burn a few extra calories, but that ones not working out in my favor yet ;)

So, I know you may be thinking thats a lot of stuff I want to accomplish while wearing my body down and that Im insane if I think I can reach those goals, but you will be surprised to know that I feel fantastic when I run, even if Im feeling quite crappy beforehand, I always feel great after a run. The pain sometimes I could do without, but it is what it is. – I have not felt tired from any of my streaking and the only “soreness” Ive dealt with is shin splints immediately following a hard run. Im taking easy days where I *only* do 1 quick mile, or 30 slow minutes. – Its working out brilliantly.

And that, my friends, is why Im streaking.

Yummers + Team Losh Updates

2012-01-15T16:56:00.001-06:00

Me and the sister went and postered our local towns with fliers for the Skate for Losh event that is being sponsored by Thrills on Wheels in Searcy, Ark. We are hoping for a good turn out, but havent done a whole lot of advertising. We have only had the date confirmed for about 10 days now, so we are hoping for the best. A few local radio stations have been airing details – – Im nervous that its going to be a total flop and that nobody shows up :/ Every little bit counts though, right?

The same could be said for calories – No trip to Fro-Yo is complete without actually getting a Fro-Yo – loaded with calories, I mean toppings.

Have you noticed how eerily quiet my blog has been lately?? On top of the Team Losh stuff, Ive been working on other stuff.. like making more freezer meals. In 5 hours (start to finish including clean up) I made 18 breakfast burritos, 10 chicken and bean burritos, 2 enchilada bakes, 2 lasagnas and 4 crock pot meals. I am loving the ease and convenience of having freezer meals on hand.

And Ive been eating lots of yummy food. – Thats roasted/baked sweet potatoes topped with cheese, and then later smothered with sour cream.

Skipping back and forth here…. Back to Team Losh stuff.. While Sister was here we worked on display boards with pictures of Aloshua’s journey. The red board is just a random collection of pictures then going in order from left to right its Birth to 1, 2 to 5, and then 5 to 6. We printed out over 200 pictures and it was so hard to narrow it down just enough for the boards. Im working on captioning some of the pictures so people will know what they are looking at. Ill share the completed boards once I have them done. We will be using these to display at the local events so people who werent around Losh when he was little can see what he went through and how much progress he has made.

And to help people better understand what life is like with Losh I have enlisted the help of Kaia and Nanny Fallon to shoot some videos of Aloshuas daily routines. Because his daily (morning and night) routines take so long I cant shoot it all at once, so Im breaking it down into each part of the care. – He is shy when it comes to pictures, but turn on the video and he is all smiles.

Here is our first video (which was actually shot 3rd). I used the tripod before Sister arrived to shoot it in the morning, but Aybra interrupted the video (completely naked) and then started moving the camera so my hard work was for naught. Nanny Fallon helped me re-shoot it and Kaia was wanting *so badly* to tell the camera about the previous experience shooting the first version of it (where Aybra was naked) so that is what he was whispering to me that made me smile.

This video shows “Trach Care” which is cleaning around the trach and changing the “trach ties” which are the ties holding the trach in place in his neck. Ill do another video of a trach change so you can see what the trach actually looks like outside of his neck. – That only happens once a week though. –

So, excuse me while I take somewhat of a mini-vacation away from blogging.. Ive got a million things going on. Im trying to stay caught up on others blogs that Ive come to love so much, but lately have been focusing on the ones that return the favor ;) - And Im still streaking.. today is day 21!

Be back later..

2012-01-13T12:20:00.001-06:00

Ive been busy red-necking it around here.. Yes, thats duct tape on my freezer bag..

Be back later with more genius ideas! :)

Problems piling up..

2012-01-10T10:38:00.001-06:00

As if Team Losh wasnt already working for enough for my little man, I got a phone call today saying that his “sole source of nutrition” was no longer going to be provided because it hasnt been covered by Medicaid. As in, the entire time we have been getting it, the company supplying it has not been getting paid for it. The company supplying it is going to write off everything they have sent so far (which I imagine is a heck of a lot), and they wont be sending out anymore. And guess what – He was supposed to be due for a shipment soon. That shipment will not be taking place.

We are hoping that with a few choice words (and I dont mean bad ones) that an appeal will hopefully get it covered.. In the mean time Im lost as to how to get extra calories into him after our supply runs out. Medicaid will pay for formula, but I refuse to have my child (who can eat well therapeutically) to be put on some crap like pediasure. So that lands us back on Neocate, which Im sure medicaid wont pay for either now since he has been doing well on something else.

Therapeutically he eats by mouth like a “normal child” – Only, he doesnt take in enough calories to sustain nutritional needs, therefore MUST get his “sole nutrition” through another source.. the therapeutic feeds are considered extra to keep him wanting to eat by mouth as to avoid any oral aversions. The way they word it makes it seem like he is taking only 2 to 3 bites of food per day. If any of y’all know Losh then you know that he can put away food!! But since he doesnt take enough calories in to thrive by mouth it isnt considered nutrition. – If we can somehow say that his therapeutic feeds are his nutrition source and the Scandi Shakes are supplemental then insurance may pick them up. Otherwise he may have to end up back on nightime feeds in order to get enough calories.

But, I met with a lady from the Spinal Cord Commission today and she is working with a man from the Arkansas Disability Rights center to try and help get us what we need. The Spinal Cord Commission has a newsletter that they put out and she said maybe they can put something about Team Losh or other fundraisers in it to help get the word out. Right now, any little thing helps, especially something as simple as spreading the word. For anybody that thinks them spreading the word doesnt help, you are wrong. – Some of the most valuable resources and aid has come in from others who have spread the word. So folks, please help us get the word out there. – Even if you are 15 states away. And a huge THANK YOU for those who have helped. It is much appreciated by everyone working behind the scenes at Team Losh and those annoying people like me who are not so behind-the-scenes.

In happy news though Im still going strong with the 365 picture thing – but I think eventually Ill figure out 2012 is a leap year and actually has 366 days or something like that.

Heres one of my recent favs. I love how Aybra always wants in on my pictures.

Alas, folks, if you could, please offer up a few prayers for this new crappy development.

Streaking + Pictures

2012-01-09T23:11:00.001-06:00

Day 15 of my streak and going strong.. today was perhaps the best run Ive had in a while.. Decent pace (for me lately) and I felt great. I miss the days of being a little quicker, but obviously I have to work to get back there again. – More speedwork on the treadmill will hopefully help with that. As for my streaking..It is not JUST running, because I *have* to take rest days or I turn into a total bi-atch. So far Ive been running and walking.. On my “walking” days I go for at least 30 minutes and running I aim for at least 2 miles.. Its working out great for me so far. Im not too sore or anything. I would like to add biking or something else in there, but need the motivation to get it started. I havent actually got on my bike in a very long time. Its embarrassing. Oh and not to be dorky or anything, but Ive been trying to walk with Kaias little hand held weights when I remember and do some arm stuff as a two-fer. I need some heavier weights though. 2# isnt a whole lot to work with.

But anyway on with some pictures… I told my mother Im going to start a new streak and take stealthy Ninja pics of her when she isnt paying attention.. I wonder how many I can get (and post) without her knowing?!?!?!

Me + Kaia = Lego Indiana Jones

This is my monster breakfast from this morning.. Isnt it cute?!?!

This is not cute.. I got out of my pajamas and into my running clothes so I could run OUTSIDE today.. Im wearing this, in Arkansas, in JANUARY to run OUTSIDE?!?! – Crazy! – FTR Kaia thinks this is a nice picture..

And this is even worse… Check out that rats nest.. Can somebody please bring me some shampoo and a shower?!?

Somebody texted me and said it was cold outside – so before I actually ran I ended up switching shirts to one with sleeves and adding some leggings.

Tacos for dinner.. Or more like sour cream and some salad in a shell.

Too lazy to re-take a non-blurry pic because I was on my way out the door.. Dressed like this.. You know you are totally jealous of my adorable fashions. Its like high class white trash. The blazer just adds the final touches. – and the cell phone in the bra – Classy!

And yes, I seriously went outside like that.. I had to pick my grandmother up from work since my mum had her car and then she dropped me back off on her way home. – Dang my family is lucky to have me.. or maybe the other way around – Im lucky they claim me?!?

Have you ever done a run streak? Or a workout streak? How long did it last?!

A lot can happen in 4 miles…

2012-01-09T22:47:00.001-06:00

Heres how the story begins… Mommy gets on the treadmill for a few miles and leaves the children to fend for themselves..

This little lady found the camera. I make no apologies for the state of the house. The messes are the small prices I have to pay in order to get a run in.

You have been warned!

After I ran:

And after that: *mmmm* – too bad I didnt run enough to burn them off :/

And a bonus pic of my sweet boys. :)

Until next time……

How to lose weight and get healthy – for real..

2012-01-09T12:04:00.001-06:00

I find it insanely frustrating when people go on fad-diets or think that taking diet pills will help them lose weight.

Sure, its not healthy to constantly eat high-carb meals, but eating no carbs isnt healthy either. So I will share with you the two secrets that you need to know in order to lose weight and get healthy .. Are you ready?!?!

……………

1. Exercise More – Shocking right?? There is no secret diet that will magically let you lose weight without having to put effort in. Effort = Results. Simple as that.

2. HEALTHY Portion Control – Its not enough to watch your portions if you are eating junk food.. Combine portion control with HEALTHY choices and you will lose weight.

And there you have it folks – the only two secrets you will ever need to know in order to lose weight.

Wow – Maybe I should write a book on this..- Shortest Book Ever!

My 2012 Reading List

2012-01-07T14:46:00.001-06:00

One of my goals for this year is to read at *least* 12 new books.. And well, Im not into the “new” books, so this might not be the best place to look for new recommendations, but I thought Id share the books I read here – you know – just in case somebody wants to read one of them.

Starting out with Legacy of Lies by Jill Elizabeth Nelson

Its all fun and games..

2012-01-07T14:33:00.001-06:00

... until SpongeBob gets hanged :/

Last Night….

Abby likes to play with small things that she can hold in her fingers/hands.. and well she found SpongeBobs legs.. The rest is history.. She insisted on posing by SpongeBob while me and the boys played Yahtzee (because I knew better than to let her get near the “small dice” or she would have them as her toys)

She is secretly thinking “When you turn your back Im grabbing those toys and running”

YAHTZEE!!!! Losh was so excited and proud of himself for getting Yahtzee – Nevermind that it takes him 1 hour just for one turn. He is the slowest roller ever.

Once the babies were in bed Me and Kaia played Hangman – SpongeBob style.

I dont think either of us won. Kaia is such a phonetic speller/reader – He couldnt guess what I was spelling and I couldnt guess his either.

Sooo today..

I prepared some little plates for a lesson in Church.. The idea is to pick the plate with the best consequences.. I think like children though, and that plate of candy is tempting!

I know you are excited to see this: I cleaned my fridge out. – Finally! – And then I stuffed about 10,000 more things in that bin before taking it out.

I really hate throwing food away/wasting it, but some of those things were out of date. – I do love having a cleaner(er) fridge.

Lunch was a salad with some left-over meat from last night.

Mother: Do you eat salad every day for lunch?
Me: Yes
Mother: *silence*
Me: Its never the same salad
Mother: Id get tired of salad every day
Me: Oh yeah? Well I get tired of your face!

Ok, so maybe I didnt say that last part, but thats how the conversation went.

And just to be a biatch – Im making meatloaf tonight.. WITH SALAD.. HAHAHAA

This and That..

2012-01-06T16:24:00.001-06:00

Im still mourning the loss of the pictures that Losh deleted from my camera :( Boo-Hoo for me.

This particular part of the application cracked me up where it says “Please return your application and letters of recommendation” – Me? Letter of recommendation? The only place Im going to be recommended is the looney bin…

Or the whore house.. Cos these slutty brownies are delicious!! So delicious in fact that I sent all but 2 huge chunks of them away. I knew I would eat them all otherwise. So Ive changed my resolution to “Make everybody around me fat” that way Ill just look skinnier ;)

Im still doing the picture a day – I just never said they would all be cute -

Or non-blurry.. This one didnt look blurry on my camera and Im too lazy to re-take it today because (most importantly) I look skinny in it and (second most importantly) I dont feel like taking the time to re-take it.

I had the privilege of getting up butt-crack early today to take my grandmum on a trip to visit the doctor. Her appt was at 10am We were in and out of there before 10 with a few minutes to spare. – Score one for the early birds.

This picture was on the wall – I want to re-create it. Isnt it gorgeous?

We left the doctor and went to the most senior place I could find – Golden Corral. I sufficiently gorged myself on a breakfast buffet – Who the heck goes to breakfast buffets?!?! Picture me raising my hand here. This girl! And it was dern-good (Cos here in the South people say “dern” instead of “darn”)

My sweet grandmother :)

And well I was still kinda feeling yucky so when I got home I got a blanket and laid down on the couch.. Ended up falling asleep for I dont know how long. But Im feeling a wee bit better. I MUST continue my streak and get in at least 30 minutes of a workout.

Have you ever been to a breakfast buffet?! Did you get your moneys worth?!

Just a wee bit busy

2012-01-05T20:57:00.001-06:00

As I look at this picture now I see that I missed adding a few things on there :(

Feel free to take over my todo list!!

Im streaking!

2012-01-05T10:33:00.001-06:00

Ive still got my Dailymile/workout/running/walking streak going on. Today Im feeling a little under the weather. My throat is beginning to hurt and I feel like Im getting sick. Im going to be loading up on some vitamins and hope to kick this before it gets worse. Ive got a streak to continue. Today will make the 11th day. Ive completed 24 miles so far.

And today will make day 5 of my 365 day picture streak. Everyday I am taking a picture of myself and adding it to that link. So far Im on track, but its not even been a week yet ;) I havent updated todays picture yet, but Im still sitting here in my pajamas waiting on the world to move.

Kaia says my pajamas look like “clothes”

Yesterday I worked on cleaning our shelves back up. They got barfed on by Christmas.

I cant wait until the doors are on them and the decorations are all finished. Its going to be glor-eeee-us!

My two babies were all up in Batman Lego while I cleaned my booty off yesterday. Thank God for a babysitter, I mean television!

I went through their toys and got a bunch to sell/giveaway. Those brown cabinets that the bags are sitting on were FULL of toys. I organized them and put away the toys from the shelves in the dining room – FINALLY! It feels great to have some room back.

On the list for today is filling this paperwork out – I meant to do it yesterday, woops!

And I have to school these kiddos:

I do.

2012-01-04T10:03:00.001-06:00

Guess who made the paper?!?

2012-01-03T10:45:00.001-06:00

You can go to http://thedailycitizen.com to read the article (It requires you to pay for a one day subscription at the cost of 75 cents)

Abby-Who and Loshie-Who

2012-01-03T06:50:00.000-06:00

These two remind me of The Whos from “Horton Hears a Who”

- they constantly let me know that they are here -

New Closet Shelf – Hall Closet

2012-01-02T18:45:00.001-06:00

Today I spent some time cleaning up a mess of clothes in the closet Losh and Abby share. I moved Abbys clothes to the Hall Closet.. The re-model of this “closet” is still on my list of things to do

BEFORE and AFTER

I also tidied up the closet containing Loshies clothes – Basically it looked the same before, just stuffed 10x fuller

Painting and shelving these closets will happen in 2012 :)

365 Pictures??

2012-01-02T18:36:00.001-06:00

I know a lot of people have done the whole “self portrait for a year thing” or picture everyday.. So I decided this year Im going to try and do one every single day – because I take a picture of myself normally everyday anyway – Plus it gives me an extra reason to get dressed on those days Im being lazy.
Click on the pictures to see them larger. – Ill add the pictures to this post as I go along.

Jan 1st, 2012

Jan 2nd, 2012

Jan 3rd, 2012

Jan 4th, 2012

Jan 5th, 2012

Jan 6th, 2012

Jan 7th, 2012

Jan 8th, 2012

--

Jan 9th, 2012

Jan 10th, 2012

Jan 11th, 2012

Jan 12th, 2012

--

Jan 13th, 2012

Jan 14th, 2012

Jan 15th, 2012

Jan 16th, 2012

Jan 17th, 2012

Jan 18th, 2012

Jan 19th, 2012

Jan 20th, 2012

Jan 21st, 2012

Jan 22nd, 2012

Jan 23rd, 2012

Jan 24th, 2012

Jan 25th, 2012

Jan 26th, 2012

Jan 27th, 2012

Jan 28th, 2012

Jan 29th, 2012

Jan 30th, 2012

Jan 31st, 2012

Feb 1st, 2012

Feb 2nd, 2012

Feb 3rd, 2012

--

Feb 4th, 2012

Feb 5th, 2012

Feb 6th, 2012

Feb 7th, 2012

Feb 8th, 2012

Feb 9th, 2012

Feb 10th, 2012

Feb 11th, 2012

Feb 12th, 2012

Happy New Year!!

2012-01-01T20:29:00.001-06:00

I began the first day in the New Year with a mouth full of Krispie Kreme

Already the score looks like this

New Years Resolution: 0 – Krispie Kreme: 1

and I ended the first day in the New year with a 1.5 mile run on the treadmill.

Yes folks, I ran everyday this week. You better watch out. Pretty soon you will see me in the Olympics. If dailymile can round up with my mileage then I should be able to round down with my paces, right?!?!?

My sisters boyfriend cooked dinner and the whole family went to her house and chowed.

Losh was all up in the camera

Abby was all up in the fish tank and probably talking about it here. – She never shuts up, so who knows what she was talking about at that particular moment

I had other awesome pics but Losh got ahold of my camera and deleted a crap ton of them! So sad :( My New years Eve pictures were on there. :( :( :( Does anybody want to cheer me up with some cheese while I whine??

Two funny things happened but I can only share pics of one:

-- The other one was hilarious. Abby got out of the shower and brought me a pair of thongs.. So I put them on her. They were way too big and she had to wear them like suspenders.

Funniest.Thing.Ever!

Hope you all enjoyed your New Years Eve celebration. – I did!

Happy 2012!!!!!

2012 Goals – Its that time..

2011-12-31T03:02:00.000-06:00

Im setting the bar low here so when I jump higher it will feel even better. Im sure Ill probably add to, or change some of these as the year goes on, but heres the rough draft:

Run at least 500 miles – + 1 long run a week
Run in at least 3 races (1 HALF!)
Become a morning runner – eh, maybe
Do 50 pushups in a row
Hang curtains
Finish Closet & Dining Room
Add bedroom doors!!
Strip Kitchen Cabinets + Redo them
Tidy up Life as a Convert and remove old (useless) posts
Build a gingerbread house ;)
Drink more PLAIN water
GRADUATE!!!
Get my van running again :/
Have more picnics with the kids
Go to at least 2 Museums (with the kids)
Ice skating!!
More frequent Family Scripture studies

Running: 0 Self: 1

2011-12-30T14:50:00.001-06:00

Normally running defeats me, but guess what? Today I defeated running. It wasnt anything huge. It wasnt fancy, but it felt good! Score one for myself! Now I still need to master defeating myself.

See:

I think that in order to defeat myself I need to defeat my “cant do” attitude and REACH my goals next year.. Not only reach those “the bar is low” goals but pass them. Yis Sir-ee!

Dear Friends, I hope you can find out how wonderful your life is, even without running, because some of the most wonderful people I know are not runners. – but I know some pretty darn wonderful runners as well.

Happy (almost) New Year!!

The cost of A Year in Running – 2011 Totals

2011-12-30T07:21:00.000-06:00

Shoes: $130
Mizuno Wave Nirvana 6 - $130

Fuel: $52
This is just an approximation.. My average fuel is $1.00 per pack. I tried to do 1 long run per week and used 1 pack of fuel each week per long run. I didnt do long runs every week, but some days I used more than one pack of fuel so it kinda evened out.

Clothes: $51.50
Nike Tempo Shorts: $25
Dollar Store shorts: $4.00 x 2
Consigned Compression Shorts: $3.50
Various Consigned Shirts: $10.00
Compression Socks: $5.00

Race Fees: $100
Little Rock Marathon
$50 Fee + $25 Shirt

Stride for Suicide
$25.00

Gear: $30.00
My Garmin was Gifted to me
1 Nike Arm Band: $10.00
1 Cheapo Arm Band: $10.00
Hair Ties: $8.00
Headbands: $2.00

Treadmill: $600

TOTAL: $963.50

Crazy lady At Work..

2011-12-29T15:46:00.001-06:00

I need one of those “Men at Work” signs only to say “Crazy lady at Work” and have a picture of me in my natural state – frazzled.

Ive been working on the Cooking with a Convert blog

It wasnt much work, but it was kinda time consuming.. Im making it a mission to ONLY update recipes when I have the time to add them to the proper category as well.. Thats what I did today – added recipes to the intended category. I changed some of the categories again. I added the Main Course + Freezer Meal Options as its own tab because many of the main courses are Freezer Meals and it was going to be redundant to add them twice.. So, check it out ;) Now that I finally have those organized I can add some more – and trust me, I have TONS to add..

So far, Ive realized a theme – I tend to bake desserts that include chocolate

Im a genius

2011-12-29T07:16:00.000-06:00

Dont zoom into my legs*, but check this out:

I ran HARD last night.. my first mile was blazing fast (compared to what Ive been running lately).. the first half of the second mile was quick too… Then I stopped and checked the post office box and that last 1/2 mile home was a killer. It was 2-3 minutes per mile slower than my first mile. Yikes! – I was hurting from running so hard in bogus shoes. I came home and iced my shins, but had to do something outside and needed to get it done fast before it got dark, so I literally duct taped the ice packs (and Arctic Ease) to my shins and went about my business. It was the best plan ever. I was actually above to move around AND feel better at the same time!!! I didnt have enough Arctic Ease for all the spots I needed covered so I did the best I could and used the packs for the rest.

If you need an inventor you know where to find one!

*My foot seems to be doing its own thing.. For the record I was in the middle of scooting over when the picture snapped and my shoes arent really “that” bad of a fit that my feet underpronate (or is it over?) that much.

The weight issue.

2011-12-28T23:04:00.001-06:00

Lately the treadmill has been my only option for getting in a run. In the mornings (before my mother goes to work) I am way too tired from having stayed up late working on stuff to go run. And in the evenings when my mother is off (to watch the children) I only have about 1 hour before its dark out and that hour is spent eating dinner. – I hate to always complain about the treadmill because I am grateful to have it and it does benefit me, but the drama of actually running on it is hellish at times. Since I have not been running as much, I have gained weight. It wasnt a lot of weight, but its enough to make my pants too small. – I dont mean “a little tighter” – Some of them that I was wearing 1 or 2 months ago I have had to put up because I cant fit into them any longer. That sucks! – My diet when Im running regularly is certainly much better than when Im slacking. If I get a workout in early in the morning, then the rest of my day goes better and I eat better. I think to myself “Well I only ran X miles so whatever I eat needs to reflect that” Whereas when I dont run until later in the evening I think to myself “Ill just run longer and burn it off” and we all know that eating 2,000 calories is a lot easier than burning 2,000 calories off!!

Couple the lack of running and eating good with the lack of therapy/karate activity and you have one giant recipe for one giant Khourt.

So, as part of my New Years Goals I am adding weight loss to it.. And as part of the weight loss and exercise more bit, I am starting a workout journal. Ive been wanting to for a while, but what better time to begin than the New Year?! I bought a small book to keep track of my weight and workouts. So far Ive only been tracking them on Dailymile, which is nice, but Id like to have record of them when Dailymile goes down and I like the idea of having the physical copy of it.

Each week I will write down my workouts and weight and hopefully see an improvement in the new year :) And since its time to begin thinking about other goals I am writing up my 2012 Goals post and will have it ready soon.

So… here are some “when my pants fit versus I can barely squeeze my butt into them now” pictures

Here on top we have “A little room in the legs and the waist is a bit loose”

And here (same pants) we have “Holy crap the seams are about to bust!”

And here we have “crease wrinkles in the leg providing extra wiggle room”

Versus “One more movement and the buttons will pop off” – even the poor shirt is being stretched to its max :(

So long yummy delicious brownies.. Hello Popcorn :/

The Great Blogger Survey

2011-12-28T22:26:00.001-06:00

Vanessa over at Gourmet Runner created this fun survey

How often do you update your blog? I try to update every day, often times multiple times per day, it all just depends on whats going on. If I know I wont be able to update (being gone or something) then Ill schedule updates to post in my absence.

How long do you spend writing each post? Some posts I work on for days or weeks, others take just a few short minutes, but generally about 15 minutes to 1 hour per post.

How long do you spend reading blogs each day? Too much time?? I follow a lot of blogs and I cant always keep up, but reading blogs is a hobby/passion of mine :) Its what I do in my spare time.

What other social media sites do you use? You can find Life as a Convert on facebook and on Twitter as LifeAsAConvert - My facebook updates everytime I post a new blog and occasionaly I will post something else on there.. My Twitter is pretty random.

What is the first blog you started reading? Its been a very long time. I think mboffin might be the first one I remember reading and that had to have been in 2001 or so.

How do you read blogs? Good old Internet Explorer, mostly because thats what came with the laptop and Ive never downloaded anything else.

How many blogs do you follow? I "follow" probably 300 or more, but thankfully most of those dont update often. Some of them dont update at all anymore.. Daily I have a list of about 20-30 I read.

You're on a week-long vacation. Do you a) pre-set posts for the time you're away, b) blog every day on vacation, or c) organize guest posts in advance? - I would try to pre-set posts for when Im away but would probably throw up a quick post or two if I had time.

Have you made money off of your blog? Yes and No... I do have Google Ads on my site and that is the ~~main~~ only source of "income" from the blog, but Ive yet to even make enough for them to send a check out - Ive been blogging for many years so you do the math ;) - If I were to receive a check every month I would get around $2 or $3.. I do it big around here ;)

Would you quit your job to be a full-time blogger, if it meant cutting your salary in half? Moot point? Im a SAHM, but if I could make money blogging then Id do it for sure!

Thanks (Just) Trying is for Little Girls for the heads up on this fun survey.

The Treadmill Sucks!!

2011-12-26T20:39:00.001-06:00

Please excuse the bitch fest that is about to happen..

I hate my treadmill. Hate it. Its a struggle to run on it.. It takes more effort for less results. I hurt when I run on it.. It just sucks.. Tonight was the worst suck of them all.

I set the treadmill for 2.5 miles.. 2.5 painful, hellish miles. And of course they were slow.

In the time it took me to run those 2.5 miles tonight I could have ran a 5K!

I dont know what was up, but I hurt*. I was fine mentally, fine emotionally, but physically struggled. Ive never struggled so hard before. I dont know if it was from lack of proper fuel or what, but I cant imagine a run any worse.

But, I finished it. I kept telling myself “You can do anything for half a mile” followed by “You can do anything for 5 minutes” and then “You can do anything for 1/10 of a mile”. The last 1/4 mile was the longest ever. I wanted to get it over with so I sprinted hard the last .15.

It hurt*, but damnit Im done. Ive never finished a run before (especially one this short) and just wanted to collapse from exhaustion. But I couldnt be happier to be able to say “I finished what I started”

I may not have been great tonight, but my greatness will come!

*The pain was not a “Im about to injure myself pain”. It was just a “This sucks” kinda pain. My right foot was achy and I had shin splints.. I think Im due for new shoes, but the shin splints are just a treadmill thing for me. – Average heart rate was 158.. Thats extremely low for me. My max was 186 which is normally my average.

Goodbye life as I know it :(

2011-12-26T18:42:00.001-06:00

I woke up this morning and tossed alllll the good stuff in the house. All the pastries and cookies and bread went out with the trash.. No more Christmas goodies for me.

And then I went to the store and bought this:

It was *supposed* to be my last treat but then I baked some cookies. I might have ate a dozen of them.

*Woops!*

My window-sill looks like this because somebody *ahem FALLON ahem* forgot to pick up the pop tabs for Ronald McDonald House – One can assume somebody either drinks a lot of soda or beer… and Im here to tell you it wasnt soda. – And it wasnt from me! The donor will remain anonymous.

---

I got this fancy shirt for Christmas from the children. It says “Best Mom Hands Down”. Cute, eh?

Abby is a blogger in training

Isnt she cute?!? – Now - Imagine her mad.. Like REALLY REALLY mad..

It looks something like this, only 10,000,000 times madder.

I told her today that she is a baby and NOT a big girl cos she still pee-pees in her pull ups. I told her if she didnt start going pee pee in the potty that I was going to take ALL her big girl toys away, make her drink from a bottle and only play with baby toys – She was FURIOUS. She cried.. Arent I horrible??

Anyway, since then she has been going pee pee in the potty. I told her every time she pees in her pull up that Im going to take 1 toy away.. And I promise this isnt as mean as it sounds because she could dang well use the potty if she wanted to, but she doesnt. Is driving me nuts. Im not one to push my children to use the potty.. I think they will use it in their own time and they wont be peeing in diapers forever, but Im beginning to wonder with Abby!!! (A lot of her issue is she still sees Losh in diapers). So, this is my new horrible tactic to get her to the potty.. Positive rewards havent worked yet.

We shall see..

Losh with a hand and mouth full of pop-tarts.. And half of one of his new outfits on.. he lost the other part cos his booty is too little to hold the pants on (They were a size 4T and even a 3T falls off him).

Dinner was another meal from the freezer: Hamicotti – It was good.

- The End

Thank God for Reminders!

2011-12-25T22:16:00.001-06:00

Its Christmas night and here I sit in bed.

The house is dark. The children are sleeping.

Ive got that list ^^^^ up there to finish up before I can lay my head down for the night. – Thank God for Reminders and Sticky Notes, otherwise Id forget everything I had to do. Lots of exciting things coming up for Team Losh. You can see some in the sticky notes ;) = Check out the Team Losh blog for more updates and to see what has been going on.

Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T17:50:00.001-06:00

Christmas Eve was spent with the fam-damn-ily. We had a lunch at my grandmothers followed by a mad cleaning session at my house and then presents with the immediates. – I brought the whore.

This needed to be on a Christmas Card:

*nom nom*

Happy 4th of … errr.. Christmas?!

Getting candy from their Uncle.. The *entire* bag.. And Losh got a new hat (2 of them). He wears them both at the same time.

Moi ;) – The many faces of me.. and hats!

Back at home Christmas Eve – I got in a run in after lunch but then put my other clothes back on.. just in case somebody took a picture of me ;)

We opened presents amongst the immediate family

This is the before and after Santa came…

Santa-damage up close

Losh

Kaia

Abby

Santa left foot prints all the way from the front door into the living room

Christmas Morning..

Abby wasnt too amazed. I think she was tired.

Losh loved everything.

Abby found her stocking and dug right into the candy.

Kaia messed with everything.

Still eating the candy

Losh happy as could be with his new Mickey Mouse pillow pet

Santa put Kaia’s big gift (Nintendo DS) into the very bottom of his stocking.. Kaia refused to look through his stocking. He saw DS games and stuff around the stocking and thought Santa messed up and brought him games. He was a little disappointed that he was going to have to give them to my nephew who has a DS. And then he found the DS that Santa left :)

He was happy

The kids *love* those Krabby Patty gummy candies.. So I found this big one on a stick and got each of the kids one..

I was taking it out of the package to get a better picture and this happened:

All done with the Santa gifts.. Chillin’ on the Mickey Mouse Pillow Pet waiting on the wrapped stuff

I love this expression

Abby makes some of the funniest faces – She was holding up a doll, but looks like Mommy is a bad photographer

Anyway the kids had a fantastic Christmas. Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Thanks to all who helped make this Christmas special. Hope yours was as special as ours.

Guess who visited last night?!

2011-12-25T11:27:00.001-06:00

I bet you cant guess who came and visited us last night:

This face pretty much sums up the Christmas excitement around here:

Ill do a full Christmas Recap later ;)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! – HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!!

Holiday Cheer

2011-12-23T21:36:00.001-06:00

I got this comment on YouTube today:

My granddaughter will most likely be coming home with a trach when she comes home.
She was a Premie. She is 6 weeks now but she will not be full term until Jan.
She does not breath on her own or swallow. Thank you for sharing. It is so important to treat you’re loved ones just as you would otherwise, except of course for the care that is so important. Bless You.

Do you know how rare it is to get a comment like that?? Normally its from some stupid immature person saying stuff like “Your kid is ugly” or something equally appalling. – I always ignore or delete those mean comments. They arent worth my time replying, but today I replied to this lady. Ive been in her shoes (as a parent instead of a grandparent though) multiple times and I know how tough it is. I hope that she (and her family) can find some peace through the holidays and get the enjoy bringing their wee one home. :)

Today was a busy day for me. I went to bed last night with dirty hair because I wanted to wake up this morning, run, and then do my Christmas Eve cooking since we are doing a Lunch on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas.. Well the run part didnt happen, but I spent my day in the kitchen. My contribution for the dinner (thats going to serve like 1,000,000 people) is 5 loaves of bread, green bean casserole, chocolate pie and some adorable melted snowman cookies.

I made nearly 2 dozen of them but already gave some of them away.. I ONLY ate 2 of them – Its hard to resist them!! And Im taking the rest to the dinner so I wont be tempted to eat more – plus I know my kids wont eat them all anyway. – They each had fun decorating one.. Kaias is on the left – Loshies on the right.. Abby’s just looked like a giant tye-dye and she ate the head so I didnt get a picture of it.

My pie PRE-topped:

-- I even made some of these adorable chocolate gravy mixes

Heres my bread – pre-baked:

I was surprised I actually had that many loaf pans. I was thinking I only had 2 and was going to be baking all day or borrowing some pans.. I ended up making 1 loaf in the round pan and turned it into a bread bowl with some dip as an appetizer. I hope 5 loaves is going to be enough!

I used this recipe for the bread bowl dip – I added a splash of Jack Daniels BBQ Sauce and love how it turned out

Im not a fan of marshmallows unless they are in hot chocolate or s’mores so I took the marshmallow off of the second one I ate and drew a face on the empty spot. I like the way it turned out.

I know its late to be posting a snow-man/Christmas recipe but Ill add the cookie recipe to the Cooking with a Convert blog later on.

If you have read this far – Congrats!! :) I have exciting news.. Here you see me talking on the phone with a reporter. A local paper (in the big city next to us) is writing an article about Team Losh.. It would be awesome if it was front page news, but Im grateful for any press. – If you look on the counter over my right shoulder you can see 2 loaves of bread done :) So hard not to eat them!

I finished all my baking and stuff around 5. Dinner was hot dogs and chips. THEN I got my run in .. 2 progressive miles on the treadmill. It was horrible.. I felt great mentally.. I felt great physically except for my stomach. Running right after a meal has never worked for me. I was trying to hurry up and finish but kept having to stop because I thought I was going to vomit. I reasoned with myself that if I did vomit it was ok because I had just eaten and I was pushing myself. Im not sure if Ill be able to fit a workout in tomorrow so I want to try and get up early to get a run in before Christmas Eve Lunch.

-- Im sure some of y’all are thinking how the heck did I have time to do all this and watch my kids? The short answer? I didnt ;) I let them roam free all over the house and Oh Em Gee, I paid for it big time. They had toys everywhere.. dumped the rest of the marshmallows out.. ripped up paper plates and just destroyed the house. LUCKILY they kept it confined to the kitchen and living room. Mostly though they hung around at my feet bugging me “CAN WE DECORATE COOKIES YET!?!?” or they played on the computer (as see in some images above). None of us got dressed today besides my change into running clothes. I planned on running when my bread was rising - before baking - but it rose too fast and I didnt have enough time.

Whew! Enough about me. Time to catch up on YOU!

Christmas Questionnaire

2011-12-23T07:44:00.000-06:00

1. Eggnog or hot chocolate? –

Hot Chocolate of course :)

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
Santa’s presents are sorted into neat piles according to kid.. When they come in Christmas morning its obvious which stack is theirs. They are left unwrapped. All other presents are wrapped

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
White – But I kinda like our colored lights this year

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No.. Never have.. I dont find it appealing.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
ASAP? I love decorating for Christmas.. Usually around Thanksgiving or the day after.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
Green bean Casserole *mmm*

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?
Most of the Holiday Memories I have are of the bad moments so I guess I would have to say the one memory I remember as good was around 9 years old when I was totally surprised with a bike that year.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I was 5 or 6.. Pretty young.. It was a combination of school, my older sister, and seeing the “Santa” present.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Yes – Pajamas.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
I love themed trees, but I dont have one. My tree houses every ornament ever gotten (pretty much) and most have special memories. I buy the kids a new one every year and buy a “family” one every year. This year though our tree remains undecorated besides paper decorations that the children made from a few years ago. – Lame I know, but this close to Christmas I dont even want to bother. Im scared some will get broken.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it?
Love it for about an hour or so. I *hate* the cold that comes along with it though.

12. Can you ice skate?
Yes… Im not great, but Im not poor either

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
The bike from above? – or the baby doll I got the year I learned the truth about Santa.

14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Being with family

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
3.14159

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Reading the Night Before Christmas – Opening the PJs Christmas Eve – Looking at decorated houses – and making yummy Christmas cookies

17. What tops your tree?
Nothing right now.. Usually a star

18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving?
I love giving. I

19. Candy canes: yuck or yum?
Both. I like them sometimes and I like them in my hot chocolate sometimes, but they get old fast.

20. Favorite Christmas show?
Dont have one

21. Saddest Christmas song?

22. What’s your favorite Christmas song?
Tough call.. I like so many depending on the rendition I like Little Drummer Boy – Mary Did You Know – Do You hear What I Hear – and Carol of the Bells – (Each of those is linked to renditions I like)

Now you answer and link up with Jenn at Jenn's Adventures!

Catching up on Random..

2011-12-22T23:09:00.001-06:00

Remember that time my picture was in the magazine? Well guess what – they are at it again:

Who knew that I had such a hot body?!!

P.S. If you want to hire me for Photoshop skills Im totally available!

Im from the South and down here its considered Socially Acceptable for girls to wear t-shirts advertising fishing or something. – And to pose ridiculously dorky with their kids ;)

Happy Early Christmas to me!

I stopped at GNC the other day to get more long-run fuel I typically only use gels or shot blocks on my long rungs and I was running very low. As usual, I picked up a variety. The Honey Stingers are new to me. I figure if they are good enough for all those cool tri-athletes then they are good enough for me.

And the lady suckered me into getting a “NEW GEL” Its called 2nd Surge and the *only* flavor they had was chocolate. I HATE chocolate gels. They taste like poop. But Im anxious to try it out. For one, I want to get it over with and for two Im curious to see if I may actually like it.

Happy Early Christmas x 2 to me! Cosmo script in the mail. I feel like a whore and I havent even read it yet.

My sister came today to take my on a wild goose chase for the FINAL Christmas present – I posed like a dork in my Janet Jackson outfit before dropping the kids off and heading out with her.

I was on the hunt to find a skateboard for Losh.. And before you judge me for getting my wheelchair-bound kiddo a skateboard, let me explain. He has a miniature skateboard that he lays on and pushes himself around. He has a blast and he calls it his “Scooter board”. The other kids each have a scooter to play with. The only problem with the skateboard for Losh is the size of it. Its pretty darn small. I had looked at every shop (except the one) that has them near me and no such luck. The closest I came was taking a Tony Hawk Shred board to the checkout at Big Lots before realizing the stupid thing didnt even have wheels – It was for the XBOX. GRRR!!!

So after picking up some stuff today we headed to Wal-Mart in a town nearby.. I was happily surprised to see this:

Its a Pet Department with fish! Wowsers. I hadnt seen one of those in a long time.

But I found what I needed and brought it home to this mess:

Apparently my sister thought we needed all of her presents under our tree too. I cant wait until Christmas is over so I can re-claim my living room. FWIW That is not all presents for my kiddos. That is presents for the entire dang family. I had already rearranged the tree and presents once to fit it all and then I moved the tree onto a table to make even more room and I ran out of that room too so I had to bring Aybras tree in and put presents around it and then I gave up on it looking nice.. Now everything is just shoved in front of the tree. I think my mom found the biggest boxes she could find to wrap the kiddos presents in.

Kaia is growing up too dang fast. And he needs a hair cut, which is totally un-related but just thought Id mention it ;) I do believe this is the very last year he will “believe” in Santa.. He is on the verge of not believing anyway but I think Im going to tell him for sure after Christmas. I just dont want him to ruin it for him or the babies yet. – And yep I call them “the babies” still

‘Tis the season

Other random things:

I havent ran since the 10 miler
After months of being polish-free I finally painted my fingers and toes
My date went well. We have tentative plans for New Years.
Abby is driving me nuts with the potty business
The squirrels in the attic and driving me even more nuts
And Kaia punched me in the “nuts” the other day – True Story.

Travel Safe – Avoid the Lines – and Merry (almost) Christmas!

New Distance PR – 10 Excruciating Miles on the Treadmill

2011-12-20T16:37:00.001-06:00

Yes, folks I ran 10 MILES on the treadmill today..

2:53:05 – 17:XX Pace

Ok, I wouldnt really say I ran them all because I walked.. a lot… but I finished 10 full miles.

For those that are close by – thats how many miles it is from Bald Knob to Searcy!

Ill let the pictures do most of the talking:

Starting out smiling

I need a longer cord to be able to hook my laptop into the treadmill so I dont have to prop my treadmill on some stacked up boxes.

This is around half-way through.. Despite the facial expression I was feeling great. The pain had already come and gone. I was watching Spirit of the Marathon on the laptop – Fitting, right?

And finally finishing up.. still smiling.

DONE!!! Burned a decent amount of calories too!

The worst part came AFTER the 10 miles.. Prepping for my first ice bath – If you dont know me I am NOT a fan of the cold. This was like torture.

I left my socks on because I thought it wouldnt be so cold – BWAHAHAHA – It was freaking freezing just having my feet in the water and that was WITHOUT the ice.

Here I am thinking its not too bad..

And then I poured the ice in.. YOWSERS!!!

I didnt have any bags of ice so I gathered all my techni-ice and freezer packs and what little ice I did have.. As soon as I dumped it in Abby got excited. Notice she dumped the toothbrush in the bath

She started playing with the ice instead.

Once all the ice was melted (about 30 minutes) I got out – got some fuel and then warmed up with a hot bath but no pictures for that ;)

Losh thought it was awesome that I took a bath with my clothes on. – Just for the record I would have left my clothes on even if I was not taking pictures because I somehow thought my clothes would protect me from the cold. I was so wrong. – Everytime the kids splashed me I jumped and cried like a sissy. I had enough water to cover the parts of my legs that I needed iced and the rest I didnt worry about. In the pictures it doesnt look like the bottom parts of my legs are covered but they were. It worked out nicely, but I may ice my entire legs (top too) next time.. My feet/toes were freezing. I tried to keep my feet out of the water. The socks held onto a lot of cold so it kinda “iced” my feet without the whole freezing my feet thing. When I got out my feet were numb.

-- I cant wait to do it again --

Im looking forward to smashing this PR out on the roads.. I know I can knock at least 2 minutes off each mile outside.

Counts:

1 pack of shot blocks consumed (2 before starting, 2 at 60 minutes and 2 at 1:45)
2 kids fighting - beating each other up *sigh*
7 or so bathroom stops (I couldnt stop peeing!!)
1 ice bath
1 goal met :D

Diego, Johnny Test, and Curtis Stone?

2011-12-19T22:01:00.001-06:00

What do these three have in common?

According to Netflix, a whole lot:

They recommended Take Home Chef because of my interest in Johnny Test, Go Diego Go, and 30 Days WTF?

How to Make Gummi Bears On a Stick

2011-12-19T21:23:00.001-06:00

Simple – You stab a stick in a Gummi Bear ;)

All you need is this: melted chocolate, gummi bears, sticks, and sprinkles.

Please ignore my dirty stove :/ Ill get around to that soon.

- I didnt do much today -

Went for a 2 mile run – Notice the cute penguin stack by the door? Its new.

Ate some delish post-run goodness

- Had a visit from my Visiting Teacher – Felt bad cos I was still in my running clothes – but life must go on -

- Ran some errands with my mother and the kids -

And then did nothing around the house.

- Im putting my kids to bed now and then me and this big o’ cup of hot chocolate is going to get busy with some work.

- Last night the heaven in my oven ended up in my belly -

I made 2 kinds of peanut butter brownies with chocolate chips. One had a chocolate ganache topping. Recipes are on Cooking with a Convert

Heaven in my oven ;)

2011-12-18T18:50:00.001-06:00

Alternate Title: Bake of Shame

Yep, thats the same clothes as last night. I ended up getting dressed and going to the store for peanut butter and heavy cream.

And now I have heaven in my oven :)

The top is Peanut Butter brownies with chocolate chips and the bottom is peanut butter brownies with chocolate chips and will have a chocolate ganache topping it. YUMMY!!!

Hello from my bed

2011-12-18T16:45:00.001-06:00

Guess what folks. This is me – right now:

Cold
Tired
Still in PJs
Hair un-touched
Makeup smeared
DRAINED!

Its only 5pm and Im ready for bed.

Its all fun and games until the nail polish gets broken.

2011-12-17T14:57:00.001-06:00

As soon as I got ready to go on a date:

Abby spilled nail polish. AHH!! Apparently we were so caught up dancing around that I didnt even notice she had not one, not two, but THREE bottles of nail polish.. How the heck did she get them and WHERE did they come from??

Oh, right I said DATE – Somebody agreed to go on a date with me.

WTF?!?

He must have been a crazy guy.

I got the new facebook timeline:

Yeah, baby!

(Insert totally random self portrait here)

The kids were playing around last night.. Losh crawled on top of Kaia and pinned him down.

- Then he started head butting him and licking and kissing him. It was hilarious :)

Tis the season.

Peace out girlscout!

The Lovely Rock Wall has been Demo’d

2011-12-16T18:16:00.001-06:00

I guess you can say this is Part 1 of the Front Door Remodel which is also technically still part of the Dining room remodel..

Here is a before shot:

Here she goes starting the Demolition..

Already a nice/strange surprise:

Who the hell covers up a light switch and an outlet with a crazy rock wall?!?!

I swear the people that changed this house must have been smoking something.

Taking off the final pieces:

Do you see something?!?!

Lovely hole in the wall + Scratches all over my white wall!!

And now for an after/Progress pic:

Its funny how SOME things never change:

The next step is to get a new “wall” to match the thickness of the one above the door – Then I will carry over the white/black paint theme from the other wall (and touch up the damn scratches!!). Im still debating whether I want to trim the door in black or just do it white. Im leaning towards white.

After that wall is done, the next step (before putting cabinets on my desk/shelf combo) is going to be taking the paneling down from the remaining 2 walls and painting them white.

That feels funny..

2011-12-16T13:05:00.001-06:00

Photo Bombed by Abby:

Yesterday I went on a 2 mile run – in the rain. Hence the Before/After.

Today I did a Fartlek/Speed Run – 2 miles – on the treadmill

My daily mile post to facebook says “Courtney ran 2 miles and felt great” – Thats the funniest thing to me.

When I first started I would not say I felt “great” – I managed. The endorphins were nice, but running wasnt great. It was a struggle to keep going when I wanted to give up. Even now, running is a struggle some times. My breathing is all out of whack, I carry extra weight, My heart rate sky rockets. I dont always feel great DURING the run, but Ive never looked back and thought “Wow that sucked, I wish I hadnt done that”. Its not always going to be fun to run, but the feeling afterwards is worth all the struggles and pain and emotional dialogues I sometimes go through.

What are some things you tell yourself to get through those mentally challenging runs?

FWIW Todays (and yesterdays) runs were both awesome.. I hadnt done speedwork in a while and forgot how much fun it was – and how much more quickly the miles tick by. I need to make a habit of it, because after all, when my paces where quicker it was because I was doing more speedwork.

700 (minus 500) – Goal #2 – Success!

2011-12-15T09:51:00.001-06:00

See that 696 there?? Well at the beginning of the year I had set a goal to RUN 700 miles this year.. Despite what my dailymile says, dont be fooled. Exactly 200 of those miles were cycling miles.. So I didnt come close to reaching 700 RUNNING miles, but I got 700 total for the year. And that has to count for something.

See? – When I realized I only had 7 more miles to go until my counter said 700 I made it a point to get in those 7 yesterday. I split it up into two different runs because I had stuff to do, but I got them in. All 7 to make it it 700.

700 MILES!! Yippie!!!!!

Once I realized a few months ago that I was not going to make my 700 mile goal I kinda set a second hand goal of 500 miles, thinking I would be happy to make it, but wasnt really optimistic since Ive been slacking a lot. – But, I did it! –

Next year I will run 1,000 (or not haha)

Another busy day.

2011-12-14T16:52:00.001-06:00

I thawed one of my freezer meal potatoes so I could have a decent meal in a hurry.. I knew I would be busy today and I didnt want to put the effort into making a separate meal for myself. I could probably eat one of these every day. It was good.

While I was cooking up some more freezer meals I realized I only needed 7 more miles to go until Dailymile says 700..Granted, 200 of those are cycling miles, but that means Ive ran 500 miles this year! So I made it a mission to get those 7 miles in no matter what!

I did 3 on the treadmill and have 4 left to go..

FOUR MILES FOLKS!!

This is what I had to put up with for those 3 miles.. The kids were sitting at the back of the treadmill and would not move. Then they got this bright idea to start throwing stuff on the treadmill and watching it roll back towards them. Lovely.

This is how I felt about it. I kept getting hit with the wet wipe containers and loose wipes.

But, since they were being somewhat “good” I allowed the play-time and made sure to tell them that if I fell down they would be trampled. Kinda like a herd of elephants, only with a mommy instead. – Parenting at its finest y’all!

Gotta run!

Just Abby..

2011-12-14T11:45:00.001-06:00

Her favorite thing to do is play with any sort of toy that allows her to hold multiples in her hand.. She uses imaginative play a lot and calls her toys her “friends” – Last night she found these Chinese Checker pieces. They instantly became her friends so I had to get a picture of her playing with them. She was being so sweet and quiet. She literally spent at least an hour in the same spot celebrating with her friends and having a happy day.

Hair Extensions? + Virtual 5K Update

2011-12-13T19:03:00.001-06:00

Lets get the Virtual 5K business out of the way:

First of all, I wanted to apologize to those who have signed up but have not received your bib yet. I will get those to you TONIGHT!

Next, if you have not done so yet, there is still time to sign up. The dates were extended and the Team Losh Virtual 5k will now end February 2012. Remember you do not have to do the entire distance at one time so dont be intimidated if you are not a runner/walker. I know with the holidays coming up that money is an issue for everybody so I want to especially thank those who have already signed up. For those who have not signed up yet, but are planning on doing so, thank you too!

Finally, there have been new prizes added so be sure to check out the Team Losh Virtual 5k for more details. So far, the chances of winning are pretty high!

Now on to the other boring stuff… – Me talking about Me..

Today at therapy one of the therapists mentioned how long my hair was and that it had grew fast.. I was kind of startled at first. She has never seen me with “short” hair. Most of the time at therapy my hair has been in a pony tail, or covered with a hat. I dont usually make the effort to fix my hair on therapy days because therapy days is also Karate days and I run at therapy and then do Karate afterwards.. Its wasted energy to fix my hair just to throw it in a pony tail for a sweat session later in the day.

Anyway, the therapist thought I had extensions in my hair.. Good thought, but no.

I found it kind of funny because of how short my hair was before.. Lets look back:

First of all a picture of Aybra doing her car-seat check in the NICU because I ran across it and wanted to share ;) – Check out how small she was!

The day she came home from the hospital.. My hair had just been cut like a week prior to this.

A few weeks after coming home..

Thats around the time I started growing out my hair. I cut it again when it was a bit longer and awkward.. Then I kind of left it alone for a long time.

Heres a hard to see image of it a little longer..

Me – Christmas last year..

I got it cut this day.. This was the before:

And the after – obviously not straightened

A little longer..

And then I got bangs..

This is a pretty “most recent” with it straight..

And one with it non-straightened

Ive gotten in thinned out a LOT since the last cut (when I did the bangs). And besides the bangs and the thinning Ive had nothing done to it.. Its all natural – NO extensions :) Pretty dramatic change huh?

Happy obscenity day!!! – Whats your hair story?

Easy Peanut Butter Chocolate Oatmeal – NO BAKE Cookies – Recipe

2011-12-13T10:04:00.000-06:00

This is the only recipe I use for these Peanut Butter Chocolate Oatmeal - No-Bake cookies.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup cocoa

1 stick butter (1/2 cup)

2 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter

3 cups quick oats

Directions:

Mix all ingredients except for the oats in a pan and heat on the stove until boiling. Stir frequently. When mixture reaches a boil add in the oats and continue to stir. I prefer my cookies gooey and chewy so when they come to a boil I cook the mixture for about 1 minute then promptly remove from heat and spoon cookie sized portions onto a prepared surface (I normally use wax paper or just plain ole’ cookie sheets)

If you need to transport these cookies for serving elsewhere you can stack them on small squares of wax paper once they have cooled or pour the still hot mixture into a pie pan and “slice” cookies like a pie once cool.

So much for story time.

2011-12-12T22:05:00.001-06:00

We keep missing story time at the library, granted the kids arent all that interested in going when its time – then complain that we missed it. Really, they are just interested in picking out a million books to read at night.

Anyway this is what I did today – instead of story-time…

Losh waved a magic light bulb wand over his medicine – I guess he was hoping it would go away. It didnt.

We hung around the house until my wonderful gma beeped her horn letting us know she was outside waiting on our slow butts.

I had some errands to run – my gma was letting me use her car - and luckily the kids Pa was in a baby-sittin’ mood. I dropped them off and went on my merry way. I only had to go back to the house like 17 times for forgetting stuff.

First up, I had to go get some plastic basket wrap to wrap some stuff for Stacey the Great!

The people in the parking lot thought I was weird because I had my whole wrapping station set up in the trunk..

I got the job done though.. Ill discuss those red and white things later ;)

After we chit-chatted forever I went and got a butt-ton of groceries. It was kinda like being on Extreme Couponing – only without the extreme savings.

My goal was to make as many freezer meals as I could.. I started at 5pm and at 9pm I had 9 – NINE!! – meals done and the kitchen cleaned.

Yes, folks, that is amazing! Here was one of them:

I will be putting all of them (along with those bajillion other recipes I keep mentioning) on the other blog soon.

Good night!

Big plans today..

2011-12-12T10:13:00.001-06:00

Ok, so my plans arent all that grand, but lookie here:

I *finally* fixed my hair again.. Ive been living in a crazy ponytail for what seems like weeks.

I have plans of working on the new blog (Cooking with a Convert) today. I did manage to get a new recipe up.. Think of Reese’s Cups on some sticks.. Yeah, its something like that. – If I could turn cooking fattening food into my job Id be set for life! – Working on the new blog is boring though.. plus I always end up getting side-tracked reading other blogs.

Random note - Everytime I see a picture of my front door I cringe.. Do you notice 3 different wall colours there?? Ill get on the ball sometime and paint it.. but that sometime is not today.

Moving on.. We set transport up (and by WE I really mean the therapy company) so the boys will be able to go to therapy tomorrow. The kids Pa is coming over to watch Abby.. Thats the plan at least. I asked Losh what was I ever going to do while they were at therapy and he suggested running.. Good idea!! (Hope the weather is good)

Him and Abby are both snot-nosed kids today. Losh has it coming from his nose and his trach. He has coughed so much that he is coughing out bloody junk. One of the down-sides to having a trach is how easily it can get irritated. I know most parents would freak out if their kids were coughing up blood, but its kinda normal around here. Your airway can only take so much rubbing from from a piece of wire coated plastic before if “chafes” and bleeds.

Abby saw Happy Feet last night and she enjoyed it very much. She woke up this morning telling me that she likes to go and watch movies with her Dad. He brought her and outfit when he came. It was probably intended for Christmas, but I went ahead and gave it to her. He brought her a doll house too and I hid it from her so I can wrap it for Christmas. She is wearing the outfit today – It has a penguin on it “just like her movie”.

P.S. Losh found out last night that the patch he wears on his butt everyday is to give him medicine.. He thought it was hilarious that he got medicine “in his butt”… I love the innocence of children

P.S.S. Its really hard to blog with TWO broken mice.. The mousepad on my laptop has been broken since Abby spilled stuff in it one day and now the mouse Ive had attached is dead too. The laptop mousepad will move and right click, but wont left click which makes selecting things hard!! If only I could catch the little rascal running around in my cabinets – Id put him to good use!

Happy Story Time At the Library Day!!!!

Good night world! - Random

2011-12-11T23:43:00.001-06:00

Apparently I should do the laundry more often…

I found a hair-bow for Abby..

*Mental note – Get new bed set in 2012

It looks like I have a ghost in my house. Creepy (and perhaps the reason why Loshies sliding board fell from the cabinet in the middle of the night last night.)

There is no point to these two pictures other than Kaia wanted a picture so Abby did too.

Uhh yeah Ill get right on cleaning the handprints off the fridge – tomorrow!

I fail at life

But I bet that didnt surprise you.

And this tag lied:

He most certainly was NOT a Happy Fella today.. and I was NOT a Happy Mama either.

- FYI Losh is ok, but has trach junk going on. Tons of suctioning and blood to boot.

When I wake up Im hoping to find a magic wand to cure all my problems!

Gangster Abby

2011-12-11T19:36:00.001-06:00

This little girl went to spend some time with her Daddy.. They were going to a movie or something like that.

Now that she is away for a bit, I can get some stuff done. As you can see, having her around sticking her hand in ~~flour~~ my business isnt conducive for my productivity.

But then again neither am I.. I brought the Clothes Mullet today:

But the clothes mullet brought me some luck.. I was able to accomplish stuff. And now I better go accomplish more before Abby gets back and realizes what Im doing.

No Words..

2011-12-11T14:35:00.001-06:00

Sunday Confessions

2011-12-11T10:49:00.000-06:00

I *dislike* (very strongly) blogs who only show the first post and make me click through to other ones.. I want to see more than one on the front page!!!

As I was drooling over a certain cake this week I told Kaia “That cake looks good” – He Said “You cant resist that cake” Yes indeed dear sir you are right. I cant resist that cake.. I WONT resist that cake.. I will make it and I will make it good.. he knows me too well.

I brush my teeth in the kitchen a lot – gross, right?

Im always worried about spelling “weird” and “their” wrong

Im so excited for the New Year.. Maybe more excited for it than for Christmas.

I often think my children are going to grow up and have complexes.. like MENTAL complexes..

Happy Sunday loves – and those who hate me.

Are you smarter than a field mouse?

2011-12-10T22:44:00.001-06:00

Forgive me PETA people, but Id rather be a mouse killer than living with the nasty rodent…

Apparently Im not smarter than a field mouse though. I cant catch the bugger on a snap trap. He got out of those faster than Lindsay Lohen got released from jail. The poison didnt work, and even my smart “hide the sticky trap” idea didnt work.. So I baited the already baited trap.

And I stuck it right there above the sign that says “mouse trap” because Id forget where exactly I stuck it otherwise. – I originally had it on one of those red lids because the little guy was getting there, but Im dealing with a mouse genius because the bastard - ‘scuse the French - snuck past it.

So, after I checked my (empty) mouse trap this morning I made these:

Its Enchilada/Tamale pies.. – I made 2 of them and when I went to grab a fork this is what I saw instead:

– Use your imagination.. I drew in what normally goes in those empty slots.

I wonder how this could happen..

NOT! – I already know:

I swear she is the strangest child ever. She will take all the forks and spoons out of the drawer and play with them as her “friends”. Im glad shes imaginative, but frankly, I want my forks back.

And Im super special because I got this in the mail today:

Its a “Holiday” card… a PERSONAL holiday card. Prince Charming drew it all by himself.

Im so special I did a little dance to celebrate:

Youre wondering how I didnt throw a hip out with that move, right? – I am too.

I bet you cant guess what I had for lunch.

Somedays Im really bad about fixing the kids actual food but then me eating crappy.

At least it tasted good.

Then I donned my cute little cupcake apron and got busy in the kitchen installing wings:

I made muffins!!

Somewhere in there I ran 2 miles on the treadmill and took out the larger pan of tamale/enchilada stuff and popped it in the oven for dinner. Kaia painted some stuff, I took a shower and *gasp* shaved my legs!! Arent you so proud of me?!? And well I did other stuff too, but it was all boring (dishes, cleaning, bathing two dirty babies, etc). You can call it a premonition or something, but I was right. It didnt happen.

Time to call it a night for Church in the am and hope that Losh doesnt worsen over the night. I dont think I mentioned but hes sick :/ And yes, Im taking my “sick” kid to church, but its just trach junk and nothing contagious otherwise I wouldnt.

Tomorrow is Sunday, bitch! Until then – Happy Saturday!

It wont happen!!

2011-12-10T10:09:00.001-06:00

I woke this morning to find this lovely little note waiting on me:

She needs to read the title. Just sayin!

I popped dinner out of the freezer so I could try it out and make sure its dinner worthy. Its little Tamale/Enchilada Pies. If its not – there goes my dinner plans!

I know Im behind on this blog, so I dont know why I started this blog, but I do have a lot of stuff to get on there and this recipe will be one of them.

Time for Brunch!

THANK YOU - FROM LOSH

2011-12-09T12:06:00.001-06:00

Kaia was checking out images from the Art Gallery today.. And then this happened:

He took money from his hard earned – and saved – “secret stash” in order to pay for some artwork. I told him that since he made it (though he forgot he made it) that he could have it back for free, but he insisted on paying. Isnt he a great big brother??

And finally Losh wants to say a big THANK YOU for everybody who has helped with the fundraiser so far. He wrote this note (with a wee bit of help).