Week 5/Day 3

The alarm went off at 5:15 this morning and I was sooo not happy about that.  Hannah and Kali had come into our room around 3:00 and they were all snuggled up in bed with us.  Why on earth would I want to leave that?!?  I smacked the snooze and stayed there for about 10 minutes.  Finally I argued with myself enough and got out of bed.  Brrrrrrrrrr.  For some reason we seem to have the coldest room in the house during the winter, and Mary has the hottest room in the house during the summer. 

I got dressed, brushed my teeth, and headed off to the kitchen.  I grabbed my morning usual - water and raisins.  How exciting, right?  I read my email, stretched for about 10 minutes, and then warmed up the car.  Brrrrrrr.  Really, shouldn't I just go back to bed?! 

There was no one else at the park when I got there.  I started up my iPod and listened to Robert on my couch-to-5K podcast.  I walked for 5 minutes and then he said to start my 20 minute run.  Who was he kidding?!  The first 5 were killer; it was so chilly that my muscles immediately were pissed off at me.  The second 5 minutes were getting a little better.  Robert proclaimed me 1/2 done at the 10 minute mark.  By this time I think I lost all feeling in my legs, though I had finally found my lungs.  By minute 15 I lost my lungs again and regretfully felt my legs.  I was not going to stop though.  The last 5 minutes were pretty good but I knew I was running out of steam.  Heck, I run slow enough as it is that people walking could possibly pass me up! 

But I made it!!  I did all 20 minutes!  Holy heck.  Who would have guessed, right?!  I got home, started up some coffee, and hopped in the shower.  Ahhhhhhhh..............

Week 6 starts on Tuesday for me.  Wish me luck.

Week 5/Day 2

I woke up to freezing temperatures this morning.  Brrrrr!!!  When I went out to the car, I turned on the wipers to get the "fog" off the windows.  Yeah.  Not fog.  FROST!  My windows were iced up!  So I sat in the driveway for about 10 minutes while the windows defrosted.  FROST!  Not a common occurrence down here in November. 

I got to the park and realized I was the only one there at the moment.  Hmmmm...could it be because it was FREEZING?!  I did my warmup walk with my hat and hood on, silently cursing the freezing air.  My warmup walk ended and then it was time for my first run.  8 minutes.  EIGHT minutes.  The first 3 minutes were killer and then I finally caught my breath and got the feeling back in my legs.  I finished the entire 8 minutes.  Go me!!  Then I walked for 5 minutes.  The last run was another 8 minutes.  Ugh.  At first I thought there was no way in hell I could do it.  The first 4 minutes had me swearing, the little hills were killing me, but I gave them attitude right back.  The next 3 minutes were okay, and the last minute could have done me in but I wouldn't let it.  Phew.  I made it!!  I was fairly amazed with myself as I huffed and puffed for my 5 minute cooldown walk. 

Saturday's run (or it might be Sunday this time) is supposed to be 20 straight minutes.  Twenty.  Wish me luck.

Week 5 - Day 1

I was supposed to go running yesterday, but it was super cold (for us Floridians) in the morning, and couldn't rouse myself out of my nice, warm bed.  Baaaaaad me.  So I went this morning, and dang it, it was colder!!!!  But I went because that's what I had to do.

This week is a bit different. 
Day 1 is warm up 5/run5/walk3/run5/walk3/run5/cool down walk 5
Day 2 is warm up 5/run8/walk5/run8/cool down 5
Day 3 is warm up 5/run 20/cool down 5

Holy shit.

The first 5 minute run was horrid.  I was frozen, my muscles were not happy, and my lungs were pissed off.  I was thankful for my 3 minute reprieve.  The second 5 minutes I slowed down a bit.  My legs felt better and my lungs were much happier with me.  By the time my 5 minutes were up, I still had some gas left in my tank.  Interesting.  The last 5 minutes were neither as bad as the first 5 or as good as the second 5.  I finished with air still in my lungs and feeling in my legs.  :)  Hopefully on Thursday I'll be as happy with those 8 minutes as I was with the 5 minutes. 

Week 3 of Week 4/Tuesday

I was supposed to put this update in on Tuesday, but life got a hold of me first.  Today is now Thursday, and I was back at the park at the butt-crack of dawn, also known as 6am around here.  It was also a very strange 74 degrees this morning.  Blech.  The humidity nearly filled up my water bottle! 

Hopefully on Monday I'll be back to my regularly scheduled schedule (!) and on day 1 of week 5. 

I'm starting to work on some Christmas projects and on the hunt for inexpensive gifts.  Think I can get Ford to donate a car?!  ;) 

Hope all is well with everyone......here's my original, unfinished, outdated update!

Okay, so there have been a few hiccups in my training.  First there was that horrid thing called daylight savings.  Then there was that other horrid thing called Mary's accident.  I hate, hate, hate going to the park to run when the sun is up.  I so love when it's still dark and I can enjoy the peace and quiet that it brings.  Of course, the time change killed that since the sun was up at 6:15 now.  I tried running at my normal time and hated it; I tried running at night and hated that, too.  Gosh I'm such a whiner!  So I decided the only thing left to do was to get up at 5:15 so I could be at the park just as the sky was started to get light. 

Of course, then Mary got in her accident and that put me a few days behind schedule.  Thankfully that's all it was, right.

And on a lighter note.....

Here's a few recent pictures......




Hannah and Kali in their new jammies.  :)


More jammies


Goofy Kali


Who are these people?! 


Now for my latest shopping trip reports.  :)  Gotta love The Grocery Game at cruddy economic times like these.

I went to CVS last week; they had great sales on a few things that I needed.  And you know, that is the whole point of this thing, is to buy stuff you use all the time.  It wouldn't be saving money if you bought stuff you wouldn't use.  Anyway, I went to CVS twice last week.  The first time I spent 29.44 and saved 8.40.  I then went back to CVS with the Extra Care Bucks and other coupons I got......I spent 1.10 and saved $30.00!  Go me.  I went to Publix - spent 76.41 and saved 46.61.  Target was fairly good, too.  Spent 18, saved 11. 

I think if I ever forgot my coupon binder, I'd have to leave everything in the store and go home and get it.  Yes, definately. 

Holy hell......

First things first.......Mary is fine.  However, "little Bessie" (the van) is not.  A car stopped fast and short in front of Mary and she whacked them.  Thankfully little Bessie did what she was supposed to do and sacrificed herself for Mary.  Long story short, we are down to one car once again.  Mary's fine; a bit bruised and stiff, but fine.  The car will be released to our insurance company so they can declare it totaled.  (hey, is that with one "L" or two?!)  If anyone has a spare car taking up some room, feel free to send it our way!  lol  What else can you do in this situation but be extremely glad that your child is fine and find lots of humor.  Laughter can get you through anything, right?  The police officer saw the car and told her she was extremely lucky to walk away.  I'd write more, but my mind is fried at the moment.

Who wants to come watch a comedy with us? 

Our new President

Okay, we all know I'm not the best at conveying what's going on in my little head.  Somewhere, the words get all jumbled up and come out sounding something like this.....blah blah blah blah bleh blah bluh bloh blugh.  :) 

I woke up this morning in awe of what transpired last night.  What an amazing night it was.  I can't believe the election was called as quickly as it was. Heck, they were just about to call Florida and bam - the whole thing was over!  We all just sat there, in stunned silence, wondering what the hell happened!  I ran to go wake up the girls (who just wouldn't budge) and then it hit me.  I stood there whispering to Hannah (in my lame attempts to wake her up) "Obama won! Hannah, Barack won!!" 

At no time during this whole election process did I give a rats ass what color he was.  Color is something we don't see in my house.  I didn't care if he was black, white, purple, pink, yellow, or blue.  What I cared about is what he brought to the table.  But whispering to Hannah last night "Barack won!"........wow, what an amazing time in our history.  I've always told my girls that they can be anything they want to be, as long as they work hard, study hard, play hard, and be honest, upstanding people.  Don't lie, don't cheat, and don't be an ass.  (Remember, I'm not the most eloquent of people!)  But now, now I can say it and really mean it.  My girls, all of my girls, can grow up and be whatever they want to be.  That was an amazing moment.

I watched Barack's speech from Grant Park last night and cried.  Cried for the people who were there crying tears of joy, crying for my girls, crying for a nation that will hopefully come together, and crying for those of us in this house that feel hope.  Hope that things can get better, that they will get better.  I told Alex that for years I felt like the last little puppy that didn't get picked and had to stay in a cage.  No one wanted me, no one cared.  All of us "puppies" just got left behind.  But last night - last night I felt that someone heard me, someone cared, and now we'll at least have hope.  Hope that some day we'll get out of this shit hole that we were lead into over the past 8 years. 

I'm not expecting a miracle come January.  I'm not expecting that things will turn around in a year or two or maybe even three.  But we'll get there.  We'll get there because now we have hope.  Hope that our new Commander in Chief won't leave us to fend for ourselves while he lines his pockets, and his friend's pockets, with tons of money, while more and more of us lose our jobs, our homes, and our hope.  Hope that we will all come together to work hard and rebuild what has been destroyed.  Hope is a wonderful thing that can pull people through to the other side.  I have hope.  And right now, that's a lot more than we've had in a long time. 

Yesterday was a wonderful day.  My oldest was accepted to UCF, and now we have a new President.  And hopefully now our tomorrows are a bit brighter.

So to end my less-than-eloquent update, here's a quote from Obama's speech last night.....

"America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so
much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children
should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky
to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What
progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer
that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people
back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore
prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream
and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one;
that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and
doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that
timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can."

YES WE DID!!!!!!!!!!

OMG. Yes, we did. :)

9:00 update

So far - Obama - 174
McCain - 49

There's hope. I am hopeful. The fat lady hasn't sung yet, so I'm waiting. But I'm waiting with hope.

Pour me a drink, please!

This election stuff is making me insane. I swear I'll be drunk by the time the night is over. Or just overloaded on Halloween candy. Either way, this is so nerve wracking! I hope you all got out to vote today.

And now for the good news..................drumroll please.....................................
..................................................................................................................................
MARY GOT ACCEPTED TO UCF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Go Mary! Go Mary! Go Mary!

I'm oh so freakin' excited for her. Uh oh, I'm feelin' a few more grey hairs sprouting. I'm really, really proud of her.

I'll update as the night goes on.....I hope it's all good.

Halloween Pictures, sewing, and general Monday night ramblings

I am the queen of rambling, aren't I?  I could go on and on about stuff if I had enough time to just sit here and didn't get interrupted every 2.5 seconds. 

Here are some pictures from Halloween.


Time to go Trick or Treating!!!


The houses by us just go nuts with the decorations.  Halloween rocks!


Hannah and Kali had been out walking for 2 hours before I took this picture!  Mary was at home with Jordan watching scary movies.  The little ones kept saying "is it time to go to sleep?!  We're tired!"  But don't they look so darn cute?!


Holy cow, I have finally sewed something again!!  Go me.  I finished these up earlier today.  Excuse the stuff stuck on the front of the shirt; I still need to get some stabilizer off.  These are pj's for Hannah.  Sure, it's a little, little kid print, but it's cute and she's still little.


She liked the giraffe.  I'm just glad my machine is working right again.  It was giving me issues after I had taken it in for servicing. 


Here's Kali's.  Yes, they look miniature next to Hannah's.  I swear Hannah grows every day. 


Here's Kali's elephant.  I'll try to get some pictures of them wearing them later on. 

Speaking of Kali, she's doing a wonderful job learning how to read.  We do one lesson a day and stop when she starts to lose interest.  Hannah was the same way (lost interest in about 10-15 minutes) and now reads books on at least a 4th grade level.  She's a book-reading fool. 

The rest of their schoolwork is going equally as well.  They both love math.  So much so, that Kali gets mad when there's no math on the weekends. 

Tomorrow is election day.  I hope you all get out there and vote, though I will hope that you all vote the way I voted!  I'm soooo nervous and wish that it was over and we knew the results. 

That should leave no question as to whom I want to win.  :) 

Alex and I took the girls to early voting on Saturday.  I'm glad they were able to go and I'm hoping that they'll remember that day, because no matter what the outcome, history will be made.  We'll be having chili for dinner tomorrow, served over rice.  I hear Obama likes his chili that way, so I'm hoping to send some good mojo his way with my chili.  ;)

I have yet another nasty migraine brewing, so I'm going to end my update for now, hit the couch, and hope for some relief.