Wordless Wednesday-the Thankful Edition

Nuff said.

Norcal Running

Just yesterday I was wondering how else to find blogging runners in my area. I mean, it's great that I get to know you guys in Colorado, Wisconsin, Washington, and Michigan and all but.......y'all are too dang far away!! After our spectator-less first half-marathon last month, I realized that I really need to hook up and get some runner buddies around here. Someone that will WANT to come stand on the sidelines and cheer us on or someone that will WANT to join us running. I have to admit, I'm a little jealous when I read blog posts from friends where other bloggy buddies have met up for runner shenanigans while carb loading beforehand or created several personal cheering sections. Man, that must be AWESOME! So far, I have one buddy that lives actually just a few miles away from us. Hopefully once he gets all better from his recent injury and we hit race season again, we can help support each other. (**Hi Jose!!**)

So imagine my surprise when I got a comment from someone at norcalrunning.com telling me that they added me to their blogroll. Say what??? A blog completely dedicated to running in NorCal?? A blog with other running bloggers in my area?? OMG it's an answer to my prayers. Today that's what I'm thankful for. A look into my local running community. I'm super excited. I hope that soon my running blog includes more running and less prattling on about life in general.

Speaking of life in general, my birthday happens to be this Friday. So naturally I am in full-swing deep cleaning mode. See, nobody comes over to our house. We're kinda homebodies like that. Our house is small and therefore we run out of places to creatively store and hide all our crap. Said crap winds up tucked around the house until I have the time/motivation to run around and find it a proper home. School papers, mail, books, kids toys- you know, things like that. So I am getting things organized and prepared for company this Friday for my birthday celebration. It's just going to be my family and probably my in-laws, just a few people, but in our house just a few people makes a crowd which makes any little out-of-place thing feel like it's crowding people in. Jacob is planning dinner and I assume cake...

Our conversation on Monday:

Me: So I planned our menu for the week and I'm ready to go shopping. Uuuuhhhhh, I'm going out on a limb and didn't plan a meal for Friday since I HOPE I'm not cooking on my birthday.

Jacob: *laughing* No honey, you won't have to cook on Friday.

Potentially this will be a pizza night. We'll see.

What do you usually do for your birthday?

Thankful Monday

Hello y'all! This weekend I had the pleasure of standing by my son while he volunteered for the VFW handing out Buddy Poppies in front of our local Wal-Mart. He was soo cute in his little Tiger Scout uniform saying, "good morning!" to everyone that walked past. I wish I had brought my camera with me; it was truly something I was proud of. And he was so proud of himself too. When our relief showed up, a veteran himself, Isaiah was very excited to show him our cash container full of bills. I think our shift pulled in quite a bit to go towards the support services for injured veterans. Sunday was a lazy lazy day in our house, we mostly laid around, watched movies and read books. Still no running in, although I really should have yesterday. I kick myself today for not going yesterday. The weather was gorgeous!

Today I am thankful for Visine. Random, I know, but seriously. Something in the air these past few weeks has caused my eyes great pain. They constantly feel like there is something in them, and they are red and itchy all day long. A dad at the bus stop actually asked me if I was high last week. How dare he? I guess you never know about a person. Anyway, so needless to say, after that question I decided to get some Visine and I have been using it every single day.

That's what I'm thankful for today. Hopefully tomorrow is more interesting haha.

PS- 47 days until 01/01/2011!

Thankful on Friday

Did anyone else feel like today was MONDAY? I did. Yuck. Isaiah had yesterday off of school, but he had school today. Just for one day and then of course he's off for the weekend. Strange. I think it threw everyone's schedule off. For whatever reason, I assumed that since he didn't have school on Thursday he wouldn't have homework on Wednesday. And then assumed that since he didn't have school Thursday, there wouldn't be homework. Actually I didn't think about homework at all yesterday. It's been such an off week. So imagine my surprise this morning when I opened up his backpack to make sure everything was in there only to discover two days of homework incomplete. Unacceptable. Bad mommy. So he did the two days of homework this morning and I drove him to school instead of him hopping on the bus. Like I said, it's been a really off week.

Today I am thankful for teachers. Yes, I said it- teachers. I came to appreciate teachers while I was in high school. Elementary school, I just thought of them as teachers. Middle school, I thought of them as the bane of my existence. But in high school, I really got to appreciate what a teacher does for a child and a parent. I looked at the punk kids surrounding me and saw what the teachers were putting up with. I promise you I would probably smack the shit of at least three kids a day if I were a high school teacher. At least.

Last week I met up with Isaiah's teacher for his parent-teacher conference. Unfortunately, it was just as I expected. The high points: Isaiah is very intelligent and driven. He is engaged in class and likes participating in discussions. She showed us his testing scores for his writing, spelling, and math and he was off the charts in all three areas. Then she got to the low points: Isaiah is very easily distracted. She thinks he is bored during carpet time when they are working on blending letter sounds. The reason she thinks this? He tells her that he is bored. (haha, that's his dad, all the way.) The mixed points: She wants to send him to a second grade class for reading. BUT she hesitates because she doesn't know if his misbehavior and inattention is solely due to his boredom or if he will continue to be a distraction in the second grade classroom.

As I watched Isaiah interacting with her during the p-t conference, it was pretty neat. I don't get to see him interact with non-family adults very often. She must get very frustrated with him. I certainly know that I do. And compared to some of the other kids in his class, he is mild. How does a teacher go throughout the day and not completely pull all of his/her hair out? It takes a certain type of person to handle that. I am not one of them, but I certainly give props to those that can. Thank you to all teachers, for shaping the future of the world!

Thursday thankful tidbit

Almost missed it! Actually, for those on the East Coast, it's already tomorrow so I technically dropped the ball. Good thing I don't live on the East Coast. Today is Veteran's Day, so it's only fitting that today I am thankful for all the veterans. Last week, a representative of the VFW came to Isaiah's pack meeting to talk about the Buddy Poppy program. I couldn't stay in the room to listen to him talk because our two year old decided she had to go pee about five times so after the second time, I just hung around outside and watched the guy talk. As I watched his mouth move silently, I wondered about the things that he has seen in his lifetime. I wondered about the things that he has burned into his mind that he doesn't even talk to his family about. I wondered about the things that he dreams about at night that aren't dreams, but repressed memories.

I know lots of veterans. My husband is a member of a Masonic Lodge, and we have a lot of members that are Vietnam vets. I had a conversation with one of them a few weeks ago, and he really opened my eyes. Without going into very much detail he let me know that there are things that my naive little mind could never even imagine that he saw on a daily basis. A little closer to home, my brother-in-law is a veteran as well. It's strange to look at this "kid" lounging on my couch with unkempt hair, scruffy face, and odd choice of clothing and think that he has had a type of experience that neither I nor my husband could even begin to grasp. He is all smiles and jokes most of the time, but I know that the things his brain holds are unimaginable for most. He gave up the innocence of his youth to fight in honor of our country.

To all the men and women out there that have put their lives on the line, I am thankful for you.

Thankful booty bustin tidbits

Today I am thankful for the blogging community. I have connected with so many different people that have given me so many fantastic ideas, input, and inspiration. Whoever would have thought that someday I would have 'friends' scattered throughout the continent? Not me. Through blogging I have met runners, non-runners, moms, single gals that I can live vicariously through, people nothing like me, people everything like me, funny people, serious people, and everything in between. You guys are my link to the world while I am home with my kids and dog. The entertainment in reality that reality TV just doesn't offer.

I'm SUPER thankful for challenge that I finally signed up for today: Bootie Buster Challenge. Yeah buddy!! Check it out!

With all of the holidays coming up and my family in full birthday season, I have never been able to keep clear of cake, pie, cookies, and all the other goodies that have become synonymous with the last quarter of every year. This is of course in exception to 2007 where I displayed commendable willpower against the mass of pies at Grandma's at Thanksgiving and steered clear of three birthday cakes. Granted, this is only because I had gestational diabetes and my doctor would yell at me if my blood sugars were all out of whack. (Yeah, testing four times a day and spending a half hour at the end of the week going over the readings with the clinician was not fun.) I am hoping that this year with fairly clear cut goals fitness and health-wise, I will be able to keep myself in check, but at least if I can't, this challenge will provide the motivation that I need to keep moving and maybe burn some of those excessive calories off.

Two pounds lighter, twenty more to go....can I drop ten before 01/01/2011? We shall see.......

Behind. I hate being behind.

Grr. I haven't blogged since Thursday. It makes it difficult to blog when my husband is home, like he is for the weekends. I have no excuse for the lack of blogging the other days. So here's what I thought about being thankful for in the days that I was missing.

Friday: I was thankful for coffee. Oh man, am I thankful for coffee. I drank a cup every day when I first arrived at the office. Sometimes one in the afternoon. Sometimes, walking to Starbucks was my excuse to leave the office for a break. It almost seems that I drink more coffee now as a stay-at-home-mom than I did before! It makes no sense, but it seems like I do, especially now that the weather is (finally!) getting colder. Also, I've read a lot of articles about how the caffeine is helpful in weight loss so now I view it as something that is helping me in more ways than one.

Saturday: I was thankful for means of electronic communication. I love email and Facebook, probably to an extreme. I get all of my updates from my friends, even the ones I talk to semi-regularly, via the magical internet. If it weren't for the internet I wouldn't talk to anybody. I hate talking on the phone (there are a few people I make the exception for), and usually have a very difficult time with it when the kids are awake. They view Mommy on the phone as time for them to cause all kinds of destruction and I can't yell about it at all.

Sunday: Thankful for the RAIN!!! And boy, did it rain. And rain. And rain. All night and all day. We woke to a very wet and gray day, which I loved. I got to head out shopping by myself and immerse myself in the racks upon racks of shoes and clothes at our local Ross. It poured all the way out to Woodland from our house and then again all the way home. On the way home, we saw the most beautiful rainbow which appeared to originate from the river. It reminded me of my favorite non-running quote which relates very well to my life in running/working out and inspired my blog title- "If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain" (Dolly Parton).

**Not the actual rainbow we saw, but it's gorgeous, right?**

Monday: Thankful for pain? Sounds off, but think about it. After a long, hard workout, one of the most satisfactory feelings is that tightening and soreness in your muscles that let you know that you made some progress the day before. We worked out hard on Sunday afternoon and I pushed through every rep. Monday morning when I woke up I felt that all too familiar ache that reminded me that we worked out our chest and triceps. The burn was uncomfortable but what it meant felt wonderful.

Tuesday: Thankful for magazines like this and girls that look like this that grace their covers. From one aspect, I am not thankful for them because they remind of something that I am certainly not. But then on the other hand, they give me something to look at and be driven toward. I would love to be in at least half as good shape as any of them are. I love reading about things that can make my efforts in the gym even more effective. I also love cutting their pictures out and putting them on my motivation board.

I'm sure right now that my friend Denise's baby girl is being born, so I'm off to check on her status (via Facebook of course). Hope everyone's day is going lovely!!

PS- 45 days until Christmas! 52 days until 1/1/2011!!

Thankful tidbits 3

Let me start off by letting you know that Jacob's knees are injured for sure. Not just a pain anymore but a full blown, physical therapy requiring injury. That's what the doctor says anyway. Patella something-or-other. I will have to pump him for more info when he gets home, we could only talk briefly before heading in to Lodge. Doc says no running for eight weeks at least and he will have to go through some physical therapy. I'm sure the cost of co-pays for this will be a small fortune, but whatever. If he can run again at the end, it will be worth it. One of the things the doctor said was "this is a typical injury in long distance runners". I dropped my jaw when Jacob said this to me. Holy cow, we're considered long distance runners? YES! I guess relatively speaking- we are long distance runners compared to those who don't run at all, or those who run 1-3 miles. However, compared to the ultra-runners out there that slam out 50 mile weeks, we bow to you as we are small potatoes. Needless to say, I will need to find the time and opportunity to run during daylight hours, by myself. I guess I could always hit up one of my unemployed sisters to help me out for a half hour so I can get some miles under my belt.



Today I am thankful for friends. I was recently asked to sing at an Installation of Officers for a local organization. I was stoked, and gladly accepted. I put up a posting on Facebook, and within a few hours one of my best friends called me, concerned. She started off gently..."So I see you're going to be singing at something?" I got all excited and started telling her all about it. She was quiet for a moment and hesitantly said, "well, when was the last time you sang in public?" Thinking that she must be concerned with the fact that I haven't had any training since high school, I assured her that no, no I sang at Jacob's installation last winter. Mid-sentence, I realized that that was not the reason behind her call. See, there was this incident during our senior year of high school. I won't go into too much detail but it involved a talent show, singing, and me walking offstage in tears. Terrible, really. I was supposed to sing at graduation and decided to back out of that at the last minute, concerned that I would have the same problem. As it dawned on me why she was calling, I was so touched that she was concerned about this and how I was going to handle this upcoming performance. We had a good laugh about it, and went on to chit-chatting about our lives and the things we had going on with our crazy families and ourselves. She lives in Texas, and we only see each other a handful of times a year for a few hours, but I still consider her my best friend.


**I don't know how she feels about her picture being on here, so here's a picture we took of our feet during a recent visit. Don't ask, it's one of our 'things'**




I am so thankful for everyone that I have in my life that I consider true friends. Friends can truly hold us together when everything around us is crumbling. People that we can vent to when our families are driving us insane, people that can laugh at us and with us, cry with us and for us. I love all of my friends, and value each and every one of them. That is what I am thankful for today. =o)

Thankful tidbits 2

Hello out there to bloggy land, and welcome to the second installment of 'What Daphne's thankful for'. Today has been a rough day. See, it never fails. It's the first week of November, and already the fighting has started over what we are doing for Thanksgiving. Not fighting between us, but fighting between my husband and his mom. Every year, the holidays turn into a struggle over how we will be spending them, where will we be going, and who will get to see more of us. If any of you are from a split home, you understand what I'm talking about. This year though, we have decided that instead of fighting and trying to shove everyone into our house so nobody feels left out, we are leaving town. We are packing up and heading out. This has lead to more drama than I expected. But I am vowing that I will NOT spend another holiday season stressing out with high blood pressure, ready to drink myself into a coma. I refuse. So with that, I am thankful for the happy things of the season.

I am thankful for the leaves, the millions of leaves that look absolutely gorgeous on the ground. The leaves that as a family we will rake for hours on end, jumping and playing with them, squishing into the green waste containers. I am thankful for the colors. For my Uggs which I love to wear and it is finally cool enough to pull it off. For the smells- cinnamon, honey, warm apple and pumpkin pies. For the comfort food- roasts and stews cooked all day long in the slow cooker. For seasonal flavors of coffees and creamers. I am thankful for the festive holiday displays. I am thankful and a little embarrased that the Christmas decorations at the mall still to this day catch my breath and I look in amazement at them just like a little kid. I love the hustle and bustle at the malls during the holiday season, but only when I'm not trying to buy anything on a deadline myself. I am thankful for FALL and the beatiful, wonderful feelings, smells, and sights that it brings.

Finally, a RUN! (and Thankful tidbit 1)

Last night we did it! We finally did it! We laced up our running shoes and pounded the pavement. For 2.7 miles to be exact. Now, it wasn't the longest run we've ever gone on, but I think it was a great starter to get our feet wet and back on track. It actually felt pretty good and we maintained a decent pace at about 11.5 minute mile. I am so glad!! We followed this up with some squats, split squats, and calf raises along with some ab work. I am walking a little funny today, but totally, totally worth it. =o)

While meandering through bloggy land I discovered this awesome idea from One Crazy Penguin. She has decided to blog each day between now and Thanksgiving, each day dedicated to something she is thankful for. I think in this day and age, it's so easy to get wrapped up in what we don't have that we forget about the things we should be thankful for. Those things typically aren't the types that can be measured, the things that really count in life. Let me kick this off by being sappy. Honestly, all of these could potentially be really sappy, but humor me.

The first thing I am thankful for is my husband. See, sappy, I told you. But you don't know the half. I could type for five years and you still wouldn't grasp it. But I'll try to give you a snapshot. When we first entered into our relationship twelve years ago, I was seriously damaged goods. Soul shattered and broken, I was in an abusive family situation and was a wreck. Even after seeing what a true mess I was, he still stuck around to pick up the pieces. Even after my stepdad was out of the picture, I struggled with emotions that I didn't know how to control. I cried. A lot. I manage to keep the waterworks under control for the most part now but he says that for a while he wondered if I would ever get a grip. To this day, he tolerates my odd moodiness and my forgetfulness, my occasional temper and irrational arguments when I'm just being stubborn.

He has shared in the joy of marriage, and having two children. We have shared the pain of losing family members. We have spent hours debating on the most ridiculous topics. We are the perfect match for each other, and I am thankful. Thankful for him, thankful for the life we have.