Victim Number Two

The Great White strikes again.
It's dangerous business living in our driveway.
Skateboard now joins tricycle up in toy heaven.

Trick Or Treat Aftermath

Look what I found when I went to roll the trundle bed away. Half eaten secret stashes. Are they my kids or what?!


Tonight we trick or treated. Not sure why our town decided not to trick or treat on the actual night of the 31st, but whatever.

After school we carved pumpkins. Might as well try to cram as much craziness into one day as possible. It's a good motto to live by. You can tell from the expressions how they felt about pumpkin guts. Poor, poor, traumatized Camryn.


Please don't judge me by my kitchen walls. So I filled some nail holes and never painted over them. Does that make me a bad person?

"I get to use a knife and touch this awesome slimy stuff inside this pumpkin? Awesome. This is the best day ever."

More pictures of my kids dressed up . Because it's my blog. Notice that Gemma and Jack have decided to wear something different than they did last night. The hulk costume is a classic around here. It will never die.

The jack o' lanterns, all lit up.


And finally, the loot. Oh good gracious, I can feel my blood sugar levels rising just looking at that pile. If we make it out of the next couple days without slipping into a sugar induced coma, it's going to be a miracle.


I'm going to have to run a marathon every day to burn off the amount of chocolate I'm consuming. I'm not even kidding.

Costumes Revealed

Good guesses, good guesses. But sorry, none of you guessed right.

Last night was our church's Harvest party and we pulled all the costumes together just in time.

Here we have Noelle, the garden gnome, making her most garden gnome-ish type face:


Then there was Camryn, the Geisha:


Caedmon was a caveman. See how warm he is in this photo, all bare chested and barefooted? This photo was taken before he had his messy caveman hair and mascaraed uni-brow and beard. Gemma threw on one of the many princess dresses from the dress up box. Lay-Zee Heth.




Poor Tyler, Jack, and Toby. The three kids who don't exist in photo form. Ty was some sort of an escaped convict complete with dreadlock wig, sparkly bling, orange jumpsuit, and tattooed arms. Jack wore Tyler's old Link costume. Toby wore a dragon costume. Pull it over his head and voila, dragon. Again, hooray for the kids who make it easy on Mom.

I made a couple of cakes for the cake walk. These were fun. And time consuming.


We scored on the candy again. I had my own little stash of Reeses in my shirt pocket all night, just incase. Incase what? I don't know, but just in case. The big green popcorn bowl is full of candy once again and we haven't even trick or treated yet. That's tonight.

I am fully aware that as I type this, the littlest hooligans are up in their room gorgeing themselves with candy they secretly stole from the kitchen. Am I stopping them? No, I am not. Go ahead, make yourselves sick. I've tried to hide it and this is what happens. (That is one of my most favorite photos ever.)

Now excuse me while I go pour another cup of coffee with a couple mini Snickers on the side.

Costuming

I would write something but I'm busy creating costumes one day before we need them. Does that come as a surprise to anyone? If you know me at all, you would think I'm actually ahead of schedule.

Some of the ingredients of the various costumes include:

Red Felt
Bubble wrap
Masking tape
Black tights
A wig
Rubber Boots

Any guesses?

Back to crafting. Good times.

Make A List. It's Monday

The suspense is killer. Did the cam-bolt come in the mail? Did the wardrobe ever get assembled? These are the pressing questions. How could I leave you all hanging?

No. It did not. Thank you automated customer service for living up to the low expectations I had for you. The 5-7 business days has come and gone. Your time is up. You let me down and you left me hanging. This is a job way beyond duct tape.

Also, since we are on an update theme here, let me just tell you that Randall the Amazing Salamander is thriving, thriving I tell you. He has survived a full month of living under our roof and he is looking quite plump. That is commendable. There is never a shortage of things to eat. For the first three weeks, he was brought a steady offering of worms, crickets, and grasshoppers with their legs ripped off. Yes, with their legs ripped off. When Caedmon reported that he had fed a grasshopper to Randall I was initially very concerned. What if it was still alive in his belly and would rupture Randall's stomach with one powerful kick? Caedmon reassured me "Don't worry Mom, I ripped it's legs off first." Phew. Now that it is freezing outside and all the worms are hibernating, our fridge is stocked with nightcrawlers from the bait shop. Randall, don't worry. You will eat well this winter.

Running is going great. I had a beautiful 10 mile run on Saturday morning. I had my iPod playlist all ready with the album "Counting on God" by New Life Worship. Thanks Ang. It's a gorgeous worship album. It went perfectly with the gorgeous fall landscape I ran through. A perfect run, just me and God and the trail. Sometimes He meets me when I'm least expecting it, out in the middle of a run.

That run may have been a little too much though. My knee is a little angry at me right now. I'm trying to baby it. Maybe even bribe it with a little lower mileage. This morning we ran just over three and a half. Come on knee. Please? I'll serenade it, sing with me and my almost-but-not-quite mullet:

"But don't tell my knee, my achy breaky knee
I just don't think it'd understand
And if you tell my knee, my achy breaky knee
It might blow up and kill this lady"

Geez, I better end this post. It's getting out of control.

Wheee! Haircut!

I just got my haircut yesterday. I went in with no idea of what I wanted to do, which is typical for me. I was inspired by one of the posters hanging on the wall in the salon. When she asked what I wanted, I pointed to the poster. It's a little crazy. It's a little different. I like it a lot. My hairdresser is my hero.

Life is too short to keep the same hairdo for 30 years. I want to guarantee that when my kids look back at photos of me, they will cringe. "What were you thinking mom?"

I was being brave. I was trying new things. I was keeping it fresh.

Can you pick me out of these three photos?

I Need a Do Over

My list of awesomeness:

1. I went to a meeting at the school this morning and was proud of myself for being early. Turns out I was a whole day early. Right time, wrong day. Awesome.
2. At 1:00 I got a call from a friend who was at the school, in the parking lot, with my kids. Turns out there was an early out at 12:40. I knew that when I dropped them off this morning. Forgot it somewhere between then an lunch time. Awesome.
3. I am sitting at my computer chair and I looked down at my running shoes that I took off this morning after my early morning run. Both blue, but two completely different shoes. Awesome.

I'm really knocking it out today. Try not to be jealous.

I'm Trying, I Really Am

So project "O.R.G.A.N.I.Z.E" was going really well but has hit an unforeseen roadblock. Yeah, that acronym doesn't really stand for anything, it just looks more official.

Step one was assembling that closet organizer thingy, which by the way is working out splendidly. Step two was supposed to be assembling the wardrobe. For the record, I started it. Not the same kind of "started it" as I did when I emptied the closet of all the girls' clothes and then let them lay on the floor for days. (the clothes, not the kids) This was real. I emptied the box of all the parts and was well on my way through the first step on the instructions. It quickly became apparent that there were some significant parts missing. Counting and recounting "cams" and "cam-bolts" confirmed the worst case scenario. I was going to have to place a call to customer service.

And I did.

And they are quickly approaching the dead line of "5-7 business days".

I mean, I am on a roll with the quotation marks today people!

So, the makings of a 200 pound wardrobe are leaning up against the wall of the girls' room and sadly, I have a legitimate excuse for the delay of my "O.R.G.A.N.I.Z.A.T.I.O.N". (Just keeping the quotes thing going.) Usually my excuses for my procrastination are blatantly lame, but this time it's out of my hands. And in the hands of an automated customer service department.

I have faith they will come through for me right on time. Right? Riiiiight.

Gamer

It can't be stopped, it's in their blood.

I AM The Princess

Every girl dreams of being the princess, maybe some more than others. The beautiful dresses, the glass slippers, the tiara. Sigh.

I recently took steps to attain my princesshood. I pursued my crown. But it wasn't a glamorous crown, it was a painful crown. A dental crown. Oh goodness gracious sakes alive, what an experience.

I have had my share of dental work in my 31 years thus far. Orthodontics, oral surgery, root canals, wisdom tooth extraction, etcetera, etcetera. It it weren't for modern dentistry, I'd be a full blown hillbilly. Crooked teeth, missing teeth, who knows what else. At least I could wear bib overalls with pride. And go barefoot all day with a baby on my hip. Wait...

I showed up for my first appointment unsure of what to expect. I knew it would be a long process but I didn't know exactly what would be involved. The little mouth-holder-opener was a lot of fun. I felt like a kid with vampire teeth that were permanently fixed open. They started with the grinding and grinding. I'm assuming they were chunking away at my tooth, belt sanding the thing down to nothing. At some point they took a couple molds. That's fun too. Having your teeth cemented to each other and not being able to swallow properly. Oh the sensations of suffocating.

At one point she put something in there that tasted absolutely horrific. I gagged and grasped at my chest, and tried to partially sit up with my mouth secured open, and a vacuum sucker shoved down my throat. It was a beautiful moment of dignity. Very princess-like. And then there is the looming questions of what to do with your eyes during dental work. Stare into the light and burn your retinas thereby distracting yourself from the uncomfortableness of the actual dental work? Look straight into the eyes of the dental assistant? Count ceiling tiles? Or the option I always choose, close your eyes. But that can be dangerous for a mother of seven. Reclined in a chair with mostly silence save the Muzak, it is very tempting to doze off. How embarrassing though if I would do the infamous leg-jerk-awake reaction. Not the safest thing to do with a drill in your mouth.

I triumphed. I exited the dental office with a little less dignity and a temporary false tooth. They warned me that "in case it comes off before your next appointment" I should come in to have it recemented. But until I get in, I can temporarily attach it with toothpaste. Now THAT would be classy. In the middle of a dinner out, mid bite, my cuspid goes flying across the table. Excuse me sir, but my tooth is in your soup. Just a minute, I need to fish it out and then go reapply it in the bathroom with this travel sized toothpaste I carry in my purse.

I hold fast to the truth that Sara Crewe said so well, " I am a princess. All girls are." Even if they are repressing their inner hillbilly while sporting temporary false teeth.

By the end of my next appointment, I will have my crown. I WILL be a princess.

Boring Old Updates About Closets, So Much Fun

Because of my love for overpriced coffee, I busted out the closet painting as fast as humanly possible. It had to dry so I might as well make a trip to nearby town to have a beautiful Iced Caramel Macchiato. That is one pretty coffee drink, let me tell you. I never want to stir it up, I just want to look at it.



And look at that muffin. What I wouldn't give for one of those muffins right now...

Back to the closet.

So I'm in the process of The Big Organization of the Fall of 2008. Do not confuse this with The Great Organization of the Spring of 2008 or the Let's Get Organized 2007, or even The Laundry Pile Family Attempts Organization 2006. None of those were very big successes. But THIS will be successful. IT. WILL.

I don't have a photo of the closet before. Picture it with me. Small closet with bifold door. Shelf and rod about six feet up wit all three girls' hangables on it. Two dressers side by side inside the closet, one of the dressers missing a drawer. Not necessarily the best plan. So I bought this organizer thingy with the hopes that it would be a change for the better. We want to get rid of as many dressers as possible in order to maximize space. Maximizing space is the ultimate goal at this point.

The closet was painted and I attempted the assembly of the organizer, as Gemma would put it, "All by my fel-s" (self). I did a pretty good job and put the shelving system together without help. But I consider myself a wise woman in some manner and I knew when it was time to call in the big guns. Nate finished out the job of anchoring it to the wall and installing the rods.

I give you...The Girls' Closet:


This will be complimented with a large wardrobe on the other side of the room to house the rest of their clothes. It has yet to be assembled. But that is another post for another day.

Let's summarize:

• I painted the closet in a timely fashion.
• I was able to obtain my Starbucks drink in a timely fashion
• My girls now have a place to store their fashion.

My life is complete.

Same Blog Different Purpose

This is an accountability post. Three days ago I took EVERYTHING out of the girls' clothes closet with plans to paint it a fresh coat of white and then install a new closet organizer. Three days ago. I put all the clothes that were on hangers on the top bunk. But when evening came around and the closet wasn't reassembled, Noelle had nowhere to sleep. So the clothes were moved to the floor. You see where this is going don't you?

So now their room is carpeted in clean clothes and the closet still isn't painted. The first night they asked if they could make a little bed in the closet and sleep there in their little "fort". Sure! Now they have slept there two nights and I think they are getting used to it.

I have GOT to get that thing painted. Today. Today I have to paint it. This is the day.

Please, if you see me around the internet, ask me about the closet. Ask me why I'm playing online tetris and not painting the closet. If you see me at the grocery store, ask me about the closet. Ask me why I'm buying toilet paper and not painting the closet. Wait, buying toilet paper is excuseable, we are down to the end of the last roll. That is dangerous territory.

While I was typing that last paragraph, my mom called and invited me to go shopping in nearby-town-that-has-a-Starbucks...

I WILL paint that closet today. (or maybe tomorrow)

Something To Think About

This quote really struck me today. I'm going to be thinking about it for quite awhile.

"We try to get joy through entertainment. We pay someone to make jokes, tell stories, perform dramatic action, sing songs. We buy the vitality of another's imagination to divert and enliven our own poor lives. The enormous entertainment industry in America is a sign of the depletion of joy in our culture. Society is a bored, glutenous king employing a court jester to divert it after an overindulgent meal. (emphasis mine) But that kind of joy never penetrates our lives, never changes our basic constitution. The effects are extremely temporary, a few minutes, a few hours, a few days at most. When we run out of money, the joy trickles away.

Eugene H. Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

Now What?

Can you bear another post about running?

So I'm three days past the big race and I feel a little bit of sadness. I have been consumed by training for four months. The nightly question was "what's on tomorrow's running schedule?". Now there is nothing on any running schedule. I can do whatever I want. What I want is for there to be a schedule telling me what to do.

I really liked having goals. I really liked having that big thing out there that I was working towards. Surprisingly, I really liked the discipline as painful as it was sometimes. So I've been thinking a lot about "now what". I'm not sure yet. I'm working it out with myself.

My legs are mostly better. I went out this morning and got them moving for 3 miles. It felt good. Stairs are becoming easier, I don't have to lean against the wall while I go down them sideways anymore. It took my shoes three days to dry out.

Thank you all for your sweet words of encouragement and for sharing in this moment with me. I can't tell you how much it means to hear congratulations from all over the internet. Next time I fully expect you all to be standing along the curb, ringing a huge cowbell or running along side me. Now THAT would be fun. The Internet runs a marathon.

Marathon: Race Report

I'M ALIVE!

Wow. Wow, wow, wow. What an experience. I have so much to say. Let me just give you the option of not having to read through a novel to hear how it went. I give you the short version and the long version.

Short version:

Despite down pouring rain and freezing winds, race day ended up being perfect. I much preferred it to heat. Ran it exactly how I wanted to, I wouldn't change a thing. It was an amazing emotional experience and I am so glad I did it. Finish time 4:15:32

Long version:

Get a big cup of coffee and maybe even a snack, because this is going to be long and possibly very boring. I really want to write this all out though because I don't want to forget anything.

I picked up Kelsey at 7 am on Saturday morning to drive up to the race. We wanted to spend all of Saturday at the expo and the Mall of America. We arrived at the expo, and after a parking fiasco, we made our way through the sky walks and tunnels to the convention center where the expo was held. Let me insert at this point how proud I am of myself for driving a stick shift in the big city. Small town rural girl meets skyscrapers and city driving. Yee Haw!

We met up with my Internet friends. None of them turned out to be axe murderers, so that's good. That brings my total of people-from-the-Internet-that-I've-met-in-real-life up to twelve. 100% of them have not been axe murderers. Pretty good statistics so far! But it only takes one.

Ok, so we met them and they were FANTASTIC! And I was so excited and probably talked too much and they were probably rolling their eyes at me on the inside, but if they were they didn't show it. I loved meeting them and I'm so glad it worked out.


Kelsey and I stayed at the expo for quite awhile. We hit every single vendor and got every single sample. Again, Yee HAW! We aren't newbies or anything. At this point it was really sinking in that we were here for a reason, to actually RUN. I bought a race t-shirt as a souvenir. I also picked up two Bondi Bands. They are great for bad hair days. Kelsey bought one and wore it during the race. Super fun. We headed to the mall but got a little bit lost. Not a lot lost, just a little bit. That little bit of lostness put us in a traffic jam caused by an accident and we missed hooking up with my internet friends at the mall. It was a bummer but we made the best of it and went to Ikea instead. Now THAT was good times. I love that place.

Then we headed back to the pasta feed to meet up with Michelle, my old running partner that moved away. She has run one marathon before, this was her second. We were so excited to be able to do this with her. We ate a whole lot of pasta and then headed back to the hotel. Nate and my support team (family) arrived at about 9. Nate was staying at the hotel, everyone else was up at my brother's house. Now it was really sinking in. Big race tomorrow.


I laid everything out and made all my lists. Then I tried to sleep but I was so excited, I didn't doze off until after midnight. As soon as the alarm went off at 5 my first thought was "Wow, I was just sleeping really, really hard." I felt refreshed, excited, and ready to go. We met up at 6:30 and walked the few blocks to the start line. The forecast was rain. Great.

Once we got to the start, we met up with the internet crew again and hung out until it was time to line up. We all kind of went our own ways at that point. We dropped our sweat bags at the sweat check. (You can put warm clothes and cell phones and keys or whatever you need in a bag and they bring it to the finish line for you) Then I headed to the start line by myself. It was insane. Remember, the biggest race I have ever run in was 500 people. This was 11,000 people. That's a lot of people. It was so crowded and so tight, I came in at the back of the crowd and was trying to make my way to the 4:30 pace group. I knew that was the general area I wanted to start in. The closest I could get was the 5:00 marker. I felt so rude trying to weave through the crowd of people, but I did it anyway. Heck, I'm a first timer, I don't know any better!

This is me at the start. See my rock hard abs? See how everyone else is giving up because they know I am going to win? Oh wait. That's not me. That's the elites...




Back to reality. I heard the gun go off somewhere up there in front of me. We all just stood there waiting for the crowd to move. Initially we were walking, I'd say it took at least five minutes or so to get to the official start line. As we crossed the start everyone began to jog. There were so many people. Can I just keep saying that? I hit the start button on my Garmin as I crossed the start line. This is me at the beginning of the race. I'm in the green long sleeved shirt. I ditched it shortly after this photo and then was wearing a blue tank top.



Initially we ran through downtown, skyscrapers and buildings surrounded us. My garmin kept losing it's signal and it was already off by the first mile. It beeped "one mile" at 8:30 something and the one mile mark wasn't until later, more like 10:29 or so.

As we ran under a tunnel in the first mile, every one yelled as they went through. I could hear them doing it before I got there and sure enough, as we approached, all the people around me yelled and cheered. At that moment I became so overwhelmed. It was like it finally became real in that very moment. I was running a marathon. I teared up and then quickly pulled myself together and tried to focus. There were a lot of miles ahead of me.

I really wanted to keep it slower and closer to 10 minute miles for at least the first six miles or so. There were a few small hills in there and I played it safe. But the weather. Oh, the weather. It wasn't raining at the start line. In fact I don't really remember when it started raining. It must have started as a sprinkle and then increased from there until it was a full blown downpour with crazy freezing winds. I wore that green long sleeved shirt and threw it to the side once we started running. Now we were at mile 4 and my hands were almost numb. I was wearing a tank top and skirt. I took a Gu our of my pocket at 4.5 and tried to open it. My fingers weren't cooperating. I did finally get it open and it was fine but boy were my hands cold. I think if I would have had that long sleeved shirt on though, it would have been heavy and cold anyway. So I was fine in my tank top.

We dodged puddles as much as we could but it was so crowded and the road was so narrow at some points that it was unavoidable. I'm not in this photo, but see how narrow it was? Geez!


I wasn't expecting to see any of my family or friends until mile 11. All of a sudden, out of the blue in the middle of the down pour at mile 7, there were Nate and my dad. It was awesome to see them at that point. The photography conditions weren't ideal, but this is me going by at mile 7.


It was around that time that I cam up on the 4:30 pace group. There were a lot of people in that group and it was so narrow that they were really congesting the trail. It took a lot of weaving and even going up on the curb and the grass, but eventually I got by them and then it really opened up. I stayed at 9:50-10:00 miles through that time and took another Gu at mile 9. Then I knew it would be flat for awhile and that this was the time to settle into a good pace. I dropped down to the lower nines and held a 9:12-9:20 for miles 9-20.

There were some really fun moments along the way. The crowds were so amazing. I couldn't believe how many people came out despite the weather. There was music from string quartets to "Eye of the Tiger" to some guy playing a tuba. Everyone was great, cheering for all the runners and calling out encouragement. I was so glad that I had written my name on my left arm. A lot of people cheered for me. My favorite "spectator" wasn't a spectator at all. It was a runner. Some guy that was right around me for quite awhile during the middle of the race, kept randomly singing songs when there weren't many spectators. He would bust out into "EVERYBODY.....ROCK YOUR BODY!" It was hilarious. I couldn't help but smile.

The middle miles were my favorite. I fell into a great pace and felt really strong. It was really, really fun. I had held back enough at the beginning that I was passing a lot of people at this point. That was a great feeling. I was expecting to see my family at mile 11 but they didn't make it to that mile marker. I was a little disappointed but then out of the blue I saw Gabe's girlfriend, Naomi. Her sweet smile was such an encouragement. Then around mile 16, I saw my dad. He was holding up my green shirt from the start and asking if I needed it. It wasn't raining anymore so I stuck with my blue tank top, I was warmed back up by then. Then a few steps later I looked up and saw my kids' faces. Here was the whole fam. My mom, brothers and sisters, Nate, and the kids. I immediately started sobbing. This race was turning into such an emotional event for me. I totally did not see that coming. I wiped away the tears and hoped that they didn't think I was crying because I was "hitting the wall" or something. I was having a great race and seeing them at that point was perfect. I'm sure the runners around me were wondering what was up with the crazy crying lady in the blue.


The miles all began to blur together and I just focused on keeping the pace until mile 20. I knew at mile 20 things were going to get hard. And they did. There was a slow and long hill all of miles 21-23. It didn't even really LOOK like a hill, it was that gradual, but boy could you feel it. Thankfully, the crowds were so, so thick all along that part of the race. I was getting really tired by this point and I could feel my legs really getting sore. This was new territory. This was further than I had ever run before. This was when I really started to pray. I thought of the verse in Hebrews about running the race with endurance. I realized that this was the part where the endurance needed to kick in. I knew there were friends and family following me online and praying for me. I focused on putting one foot in front of the other and not walking. I had been walking only enough steps through the water stations so that I didn't spill all over myself and so that the water actually made it into my mouth, so just three of four steps. Now towards the end it was more tempting to walk as I saw those around me walking more and more. But I never entertained that option. I kept plugging away trying to maintain a decent pace even when my legs didn't want to.

I saw my family again at mile 23. They were all wearing shirts that my sister Holly had made as a surprise. The back had "Team LaundryPile(it actually said our last name)" and the front said twenty-six miles.2 miles (of spectating). She even made them for Toby and my little nephew baby Austin. So cute. Here are the shirts at the finish:

The last miles are a blur. I met up with another first timer somewhere around mile 24.5 and she had no garmin or no idea what the course was like. I was able to give her a heads up on the hill near the finish and we ran together for a little while. When we hit the last water station, she stopped for water but I decided to just keep going, we were so close. As we came up the hill at mile 26, I could hear the crowd and I saw the cathedral. It was awesome knowing that the finish line was just over the hill and that it was all down hill from there on out. I let gravity do it's work and tried to go as fast as I could down that hill without tripping on my unreliable legs. There were people flying by me who had a lot left in them but I had given it my all. I had enough to do about a 7:45 pace down that hill, and I focused intently on that finish line. There were crowds lining the left and right sides of the road but I didn't even look for my family or anyone. I zoned. Sara was at the finish line and got the only photo of me coming down that last stretch. Sara, you are awesome.




I crossed that line, got my medal and shiny blanket. Then I heard Nate yelling at me from the side. I walked/wobbled over to him and again burst into tears. I was so, so happy. I did it. I couldn't believe it.


I ate some stuff and got my warm clothes on and then went out to meet my family. I was so glad they had people there to help us step up the curb. I was questioning the sturdiness of my legs at that point. I made it over to where we were going to meet and we took lots of pictures.

"Wait a second, I just ran a marathon. Oh my gosh!"

We stayed and met up with Michelle and Kelsey. Michelle ran a 4:08:17 and Kelsey ran a 5:03:06. We were all happy with our times and were so glad that we could share this day with each other. It was surreal.



You know, I don't think I would have changed a thing. This was one of the most defining moments of my life. It was so emotional and such a time of growth for me. I am so glad I did it.

I ran that race exactly how I wanted to and my body held up for it. My knee could have gone out on me but it didn't. The weather wasn't perfect but it turned out to be just fine. I am awfully sore today. I'm hobbling around and I look ridiculous. My legs hate me. But I saw Kelsey this morning and we both said that we so enjoyed the whole experience that we definitely want to do it again. Maybe next time we'll pick a little flatter course, but there will for sure be another marathon in our futures.

This could possibly be the longest post I have ever written in my life but isn't that fitting? A marathon post about a marathon.

And you deserve a finishers medal for sticking it out to the end.

Marathon Training: It's Over

This morning was our last training run. We ran two stinkin' miles. By the time we had started it was over.

How am I feeling? Mostly in denial. It doesn't really feel like I'm really going to run a marathon on Sunday. Training has consumed my entire summer and I'm going to miss it.

You know, it kind of reminds me of being pregnant. Stay with me here. Maybe no one else ever felt like this, but as I approached the end of each of my pregnancies and anticipated the birth of a new little baby, I always had mixed feelings. I felt like it wasn't every REALLY going to happen. I was probably just going to be pregnant forever. At the same time, I knew it would be over soon and I knew I was going to really miss being pregnant and feeling that little baby kicking all the time. Looming over all of that, I felt scared out of my mind of labor. I always hung onto the hope and joy of that wrinkly little newborn that would make it all worth it. End of analogy. Figure out the parallels for yourselves.

So now I'm packing. I'm trying to sort out who is going where and what each person needs in their suitcase. Three of the kids (the littles) are staying here in town with friends. (Thanks Mel!) The oldest three plus Toby are coming up to watch the race. In an amongst that we have all of them, including Nate, going in different directions at different times. I need a pre-race coordinator. But packing and getting ready for trips always stresses me out to the point that I want to cry and wonder if vacation is really worth all the work. Then I get it all done and we get there and it IS worth it. That's kind of where I'm at right now.

We leave tomorrow morning early. Kelsey and I are going up alone and early to check out the expo and to meet up with running friends from all over the country. I'm planning on trying to soak up the whole experience and enjoy every minute of it. Even the last 6 miles of the race.

I probably won't post again until after it's over. I've trained for a marathon. That in itself is an accomplishment. And if you don't ever hear from me again, then the marathon won and I am dead. If I live, I'll have a story to share.

How I beat the marathon.

I Need Some Serious Proof Reading Help

Someone needs to save me from myself. I have admitted to my punctuation problems. I'm not ashamed. That isn't my only problem though. Apparently spell check isn't enough. I need grammar check. I just read back over my last post and while I spelled all the words correctly, I missed something huge.

Assess and asses. Two different words. Two different meanings. What a difference one little S makes.

I thought about going back and fixing it.

I thought about just letting it go and not pointing it out.

But then we couldn't laugh about it together. Aren't you glad I'm here to humiliate myself on the world wide web?

Aftermath

As soon as I shut off the video camera yesterday I ran upstairs to the kids' room to asses the damage.

It didn't take me long to figure out that the kids hadn't really eaten all of the marshmallows. I collected this from amongst the "kitchen set".



What kind of lightweights am I raising? Can't even down a bowl of marshmallows? Clearly these are not my children.

A Laundry Pile First

I have made the very difficult and agonizing decision to join in on Linda's little video extravaganza. Last minute decision. Mostly I was just waiting to see if the zits on my forehead were going to be gone before the big day. They weren't. I proceeded anyway.

I must warn you. This could possibly be the most random and pointless 4 minutes and 2 seconds of your life. Things you need to know before you watch this:

• I cannot, for the life of me, maintain eye contact with a video camera. It's hard enough with real live people. With a video camera, I'm all over the place.
• Toby still wears 12 month clothes. Today I had 18-24 month pants on him. The poor kid cannot keep his pants up.
• My house really is a mess.

Ok, that's enough stalling.

Internet, meet Heth. Heth, meet the internet.

Marathon Training: Five Days Away

5 days.

Oh my gosh it's only five days away.

I'm walking a tightrope with blissful denial on one side and crazy-lady panic on the other. Of course there's a whole heap of excitement thrown in the mix.

It's only 5 days away. ACK!