Of senior pictures, college applications, races, detox and anniversary plans

I have so much to talk about. Work has been crazy since June, but I finally feel under control with all the new stuff I was given and the increased work load, so I will be catching up with my "online journaling". Our new motto at work seems to be "to do less with more until we are doing everything with nobody".

Anyway, FAFSAs done, college applications to two first choice local colleges done, second ACT scheduled, transcripts sent, countdown in place (12 weeks to go).

Senior pictures taken by the always awesome Melissa Dinsmore, friend extraordinaire from Newspring, we have another session scheduled in casual clothes with Belle. Ought to be fun. Here are my top three (I think) favorite pictures.

I signed up for a 5K next week, Rosstoberfest 5K. Rosstoberfest benefits Muscular Dystrophy. Ross of Rosstoberfest was the manager of the Heights baseball team Nate's senior year of high school. Nate has volunteered to help at the race. In honor of Ross. Running with the sweetest lady on earth, Meredith Gannon. We ran the color me rad 5K together in April, cold and rainy. Guess what? In a startlingly expected turn of events, the high on Saturday is going to be 66 degrees. Which means a much cooler start to the day. But it will be fun!!! Anytime spent with Meredith is fun.

Marquis wants to put together a 21 day detox plan for his clients. But he wants to work on the recipes and a way to add salad, protein, etc. and make it all taste good and I have been volunteered to be his guinea pig and blog about it on his website. You all will be kept up to speed on it as well. Will have to see what happens. Fortunately I can afford to do a 21 day detox after my lack of exercise due to the knee surgery.

My parents 50th wedding anniversary is this December. We are planning a surprise reception. SHHHHH! Don't tell them. They are computer illiterate, and even after all this time, don't know what a blog is and don't know I have one. Anyway, 50 years is a big dang deal!

Chips off the block

Went to my happy place Barnes & Noble this weekend. Took my offspring. This is one of the few places where I know we definitely share DNA.

We each left with a book.

Makes us look pretty cerebral, right? Except you didn't see us laughing hysterically over the ghost book. I mean a small book with pictures of ghosts on one page and on the other page a description of the ghost. Emo ghost. Swiss Cheese ghost. You get the idea.

Does that make me crazy?

These smell equally good.

One tastes better, but one is zero calorie.

Finish the course.

Acts 20:24
"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race (course) and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace."

Steve finished his race last weekend and made the comment that not everyone "ran the same course".

I found this interesting, because it was the same loop for the marathon, the 50 mile and the 100 mile. The marathon was one loop (one extremely tough brutal loop, I ran it last year), the 50 mile was two brutal loops, and the 100 was 4 brutal loops.

Steve said that even though it was single track (single file running), a narrow trail, people still didn't put their feet in the same places. Some weaved around rocks, some went over them, some walked over them.

Whether it was avoidance or straight through, it had a lot to do with knowledge of that trail, experience, and training.

There are people who run that trail weekly. There are people who have never seen it before.

There are people who train on like terrain. There are people who never train on this type of course.

What happens for those that are successful, they run it to their strength. Whether its familiarity, similarity, or just bulldogged determination, those that finish race all have this thing it's hard to put into words. The emotions the runners have when they finish is worth a case study.

One girl came in and said "I just want to sit down". One guy had to be helped to his lawn chair and his girlfriend took off his shoes and he rehashed the night hours with his friends and family.

Steve came in and sat down and wolfed down his Egg McMuffin and wanted a shower. His feet were blistered and sore. He was emotional after being up for 30 hard hours. But after his sandwich and shower and fresh clothes, he was a whole new person. Planning the next four races.

Whatever your course, you may choose to step in different places on the path.

But my biggest challenge right now in several areas is to finish my course. Some are marathons, some are sprints. I fail, I start over. I'd like to quit failing and finish.

Hawk 100

I did it! I sat through another 100 mile race of Steve's. And I enjoyed it, just like every other one.

He did amazing. And we went and worked out tonight and I watched him push the prowler and do tuck jumps and run the track and he's already 100% three days later. So proud of him.



You can read all about his adventure here.

I sat in my reclining lawn chair with a book and a cooler of diet coke. And had a thoroughly enjoyable weekend. No adventures, so human interest stories, I was a hermit and I loved it.

Post knee surgery

I got to run this week!!! Two miles. And it went surprisingly well. Wanted to run more than I did but work has been insane. (Unfortunately they don't consider me getting my feelings hurt a safety concern.) So next week full on training time.

Steve ran it with me, let me walk when I wanted to, pushed me, encouraged me, it was really great to get that first run back under my feet and realize I haven't lost it. At least lost what I actually had.

The last two weeks with Marquis I've been able to go full steam as well. We now work out 5 days a week, and he has once again "taken us to the next level". This one is apparently one step closer to death fitness.

We did one circuit that was pushing the prowler, then suicides, flipping the tire, then more suicides, than hang cleans, and yes, more suicides. There was a time where flipping the tire was suicide. I love his workouts, I love him. He's been a wonderful addition to my life.

I am "training" for a 5K (running with Meredith and Sheila) and then the 10 mile Turkey Trot the Saturday before Thanksgiving. After that, will see what I feel up to. No long term goals right now except to get back to running. Since I was mildly envious of Carrie telling me tonight at dinner about her half marathon this Saturday. She showed me the route, it's all by the river on the bike paths, my favorite place to run in town. Thrilled for her, just wish I was running it too, so yep, half marathon/marathon will be in my 2014. Anyone wanna come along?

Anyway, race weekend for Steve, 100 mile time. I love watching him run, and this is fairly local so I get to see lots of runner friends that I love so I'm looking forward to crewing/cheering and sleeping in the great outdoors. I get to try out my new reclining/rocking lawn chairs.

My Goat Knows

There is this song that goes through my head on occasion. Weird occasions.

Sung to the tune of "Michael Row Your Boat Ashore".

"My goat knows the bowling score hallelujah"

If I sing this around my brothers we all laugh. Just like saying "two penguins are sitting in a hot tub". Family jokes.

"I don't have your stupid donkey" favorite text I ever got from Nate

And those inside jokes with friends. Sheila and I can start many conversations with "you remember that one time you almost died". Our workout group went out to eat before the college kids left and Sheila and I sat together (of course) and laughed till we cried. Whitney and Emily kept looking at us, thinking we were talking about them, but what they don't know is, WE HAVE OTHER STUFF TO TALK ABOUT!

Steve and I have code words for things. We can talk about stuff and no one else knows what we are talking about. Some of our codes are things that are so mainstream that we can talk about them in public and no one would be aware it was code.

Shared memories. Inside jokes. Secrets.

It's so good to belong. To be part of the crowd, to know the stories and the jokes.

It's good to be part of community.

It's also good to meet new friends and make your community bigger.

It's also good to be alone.

But mostly, it's just good to laugh.

You know, remember that one time I almost died????

Lion Fighting

II Samuel 23:20 "Benaiah chased a lion down into a pit. Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it."

A one verse story in the Bible.

Marquis made me think of this today talking about fighting lions.

There's a lot more that can be said about Benaiah. He was one of David's "mighty men". He was one of David's generals in his army, he was one of David's bodyguards. He was also known for killing an Egyptian with the Egyptians own spear. You know, kind of like the modern day having your own gun taken from your hand and getting shot with it.

All that to say Benaiah was tough.

If I was telling this story to a Sunday School class, I'd certainly hit on all the other parts of his life to set the stage for what a man he was.

But this one verse, he CHASED the lion. He wasn't napping in a cave when the lion came in. He wasn't thrown into a den of lions where God sealed their mouths (which is equally awesome). He went after him. And it said he went down into a pit. Despite the snow and slippery ground. Bad conditions. Caught it and killed it. I really wish we had more of this story. GIVE ME DETAILS!!!

That confidence. That faith in yourself. I'm scared to walk on the snow and slippery ground, even without the lion around.

I think it might be time to go after it.

Conversations with Whitney

"Two of my three sisters are married yet I have never been a bridesmaid. This troubles me greatly."

"If you are ever having trouble on a test, just write "Jesus" for the answer because Jesus is always the answer".

"Well, I was in a good mood today for like an hour"

"Your phone takes the most awesome pictures of me ever"

Dumbest Decision Ever

Steve and I were talking the other night and he said "that was the dumbest decision I ever made". While I was thrilled about the situation he said was his dumbest, it made me start thinking about my dumb decision.

There have been a lot of them.

The gray sweater mini dress, the hair cut when I was 22, that one job change, that one guy I dated, the one night in Indianapolis, those words, that friendship, I could go on (and on and on).

At work today someone said they wished there were do overs.

You know what? There are.

Lamentations 3:22-23

"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."


Do overs. Thank God. Cause I need them.

back to school

I went to parent swap day for Whitney. I went Nate's senior year. That was 4 years ago.

I would rather work my 10 hour day then go to school for 4 of her hours. Government was interesting, we talked about Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood and religious war and why American was in Syria yet and read part of the Constitution. Very cool. But the rest?? Snoozers. Boring teachers, some tried too hard, subject matter, but it was my last one.

It's not been a great weekend, it's a holiday weekend, I have extra days off from work, but just a lot of stuff happened this weekend that drug me down. Way down. Ruined the weekend I was looking forward to. And I'm pretty protective of my time away from work and how I spend it and I get pretty childish when someone else determines how I will spend it. Not very flexible like that. I want say in my life now. For 21 years small people have held me hostage and I want control at least partially.

So I'll look forward to Thanksgiving break.

This is what happens when I say I had a good day. The rest of my week goes downhill.