National *Fill In The Blank* Day

Did you know today is National Chocolate Chip Day? If you didn't, consider yourself informed. This revelation comes on the heels of my new found dedication to fitness. Honestly, I love the idea of National, well, Anything Day, but I just can't get behind this one.

Here's something that will probably make me lose some friends: I don't really even like chocolate all that much...

As it is, my daily exercise routine has caught a snag, I don't need National Chocolate Chip Day to make it worse. I discovered that not only do I have bursitis in my hips (ouch!) I apparently have bursitis in my ankle (double ouch!) and can barely walk, much less the mile+ that I was doing in the mornings. 

Here's hoping my doctor appointment this afternoon helps things!
  
I have, however, found an awesome online diet and exercise journal in which to log all my calories and exercise time. It tells me how many calories, fat, carbs, etc. I have left to consume in the day. Talk about a real eye opener! If you are just getting started with a nutrition change, I recommend finding a journal/tracker like SparkPeople or MyFitnessPal and really seeing how much you consume in a day. 

It's mind boggling! Even if you aren't trying...DO IT NOW! You will be shocked!

 So, even if my exercise is a bit affected with my body being moody and lame, my eating habits will be on the straight and somewhat narrow. A little motivation goes a looooooooooooong way, and believe me, this is motivation to change. 



Now...go eat a chocolate chip cookie for me :)

New Chapters, Old Habits

Hello my dear readers! It has been awhile since we last chatted...or interacted in any way. I realize I have the habit retention of a nine year old sometimes and never pay attention to this poor blog, and for that I apologize. But, so many things have happened since January!

Of course a lot has happened...it's been like what? Five months? Ok, maybe only four, but still.....

The school semester has ended, and the library is once again completely empty. Oh, don't worry, it will pick up again once summer session starts. I am happy to say that I am finally entering my Senior year of college! Exciting stuff right there....

And it only took 13 years to get here!

Oh, don't get me wrong, I haven't been going to college for thirteen years. I took classes here and there without really committing myself to finish. This time I started in 2010 and changed my major last year, so to actually hit Senior status is epic. I will be graduating with a Bachelor's degree in English.

WHAT are you going to do with a degree in English? Or, What ARE you going to do? Or even. What are you going to DO as an English major??? As a phenomenal professor once said, I am going to critically explore the human experience with my English degree. I realize it doesn't pay well, believe me.

I don't recall if I have mentioned my love of libraries, or books, or words, or language. If I haven't, I should have long ago! Yeah, I am going into Library Science.

OH! I also have signed up for my very first 5k run! I have nineteen weeks to train...and boy am I out of shape. But, I am determined to do this and get myself where I need to be physically. It is amazing how extra weight in my middle age can slow me down. I am sick and tired of my joints hurting and being..well, tired, all the time.

I know I was going somewhere....This post jumps around more than a flea with an attention disorder.

I really didn't come here to just talk about me, but I want to be an encouragement to all of you. No matter your age, your fitness level, or your status in life, you can do whatever you put your mind to! 

It is easy to quit when things get hard, but more rewarding to follow through.

 (I never got around to that clock, but I still would love to!)

Don't give up my friends, there is so much world out there! We can only see, not experience, from behind the computer screen.


Want to join me in The Color Run 5k? I am in the process of forming a team right now! Just click here
to register. If you would like to join our team, leave a comment and I will give you the team information!

Time Goes By: Clocks and Other Reflections

I have been inspired. Inspired to do more with the time I have been given in this life. Oddly, this inspiration began with a clock. This clock to be exact.

If you are wondering what this clock inspired me to do....I must go back to a bay window.

I know, I know. It sounds like a bad joke. A clock, a window and a picture walk into a bar....
 
This beautiful yet utterly dysfunctional bay window that takes up an entire wall in my living room was a source of frustration and subsequent frantic Googling for ideas. You see, I had this window decorated for Christmas and while I had taken all of the holiday decor down, I hadn't yet washed the window. As I was washing them this afternoon I was contemplating what to do with this awkward space next. My four year old son makes pretty.....un-pretty and well placed decor items, well, they walk away.

Or maybe they run, I don't know.

 Sooooo anyway, I ended up moving a large inexpensive picture (whose glass had already been broken) into this window just for filler until I decided what to do next.

Believe me...it looks awful from the outside if it is just left empty. Just trust me when I say it's better this way. Or maybe not, I stink at decorating.

And now, I have a completely blank wall in my dining room. I'm not sure, but I think I just moved the problem from the window to the dining room. 

Sigh.......

I had this idea a few months ago that I would get one of those over sized wall clocks and make it the center of attention in the room, but I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for a good one. Then, it occurred to me I could get a vinyl wall clock with a clock kit and put it there. It would be cool....right?

I loved the idea until I found the price of one of those was about as expensive as buying a real one. And let's face it, although they are cool, they aren't as nice as a real solid clock.

Next came the idea of stenciling the numbers and just getting the clock kit. You know, like any one of these that only cost around $10. At this point, I was kind of annoyed. I began thinking that cleaning my window had evolved to redecorating my entire house. I am notorious for doing this. I rearranged my living room five stinking times to put up my Christmas tree, which is only three feet wide by six feet tall.

So you can imagine what this window has done to my brain.

Then I ran across that clock. That handmade, based on a expensive designer, only cost $15 to make, clock.

I fell in love. Oh, no, I didn't fall in love with that clock, per say. I fell in love with the idea of making one myself. I had one idea...then another and another. I know if I don't write them down I will not remember them later. I wish I had the stuff to make one right now, but unfortunately my brilliant ideas are just going to have to wait until tomorrow.

I have this bad habit of not getting around to projects because I have so many other things going on in my life. In fact, I have a whole Pinterest folder entitled "Crafts I might get to...Some day" So this may not go very far. We shall see.

I'll leave you with a piece of advice: Don't muse too long on the concept of time, it slips away into the deepest regions of your brain and before you know it, you've lost track of it.

Morning Musings

It's a cool, crisp morning in Colorado. Up early like usual, made my chai and took the dog outside to do his normal business. It was a rough night for sleep. Two children and myself in a queen size bed just.....doesn't work.

Trust me...the little one takes up most of the bed, I don't know how, but he does.

It has been awhile since I have posted, mainly because the Fall semester of college classes started up and my days of classes and work are pretty full. So here I am trying to not look like a complete blogging failure.

Just a partial one, it kind of works like an eclipse...

I have nothing in particular to write about, like usual, but I woke up this morning feeling the urge to be creative, to write whatever my soul decided to spill out. So I am going to share with you the imagery and words that came to my mind when I decided to write. Maybe one day it will become a story, but for today...just see it in your minds eye and take a mini trip around the world.


I had a vision this morning. One of open air markets, spices and teas. I have never had the chance to wander through an exotic foreign land but my mind is there. The shops with rugs and tapestries that scream look at me, with their brilliant hues of blue and pink, are lined up along a dusty street. The nondescript buildings behind them do nothing to add to the scene and are barely noticeable as you walk.  A smell hits your nose as you maneuver through the throngs of people. It is a spicy, almost acrid smell and makes your eyes water until you adjust to the smell and forget it altogether. You come across large bowls of spices; bright yellows, adobe reds, deep browns and pure whites fill the clay colored pots that are lined up in perfect rows on a makeshift table. As you linger, an old woman narrows her eyes at you, and watches your every move. The next shop has fresh tobacco and hand rolled cigarettes, and further down are baskets and woven mats. This market isn't large, but it has it's fair share of junk merchant's as well. One man calls out he will sell you two watches, one for parts because it doesn't work, but the other works. You come to the end of the block, and a new sweet smell hits your nose: tea. The last merchant on the block has bins of tea, each fragrant and fresh, some being brewed in pots and some being dried in the hot sun. The tattered sign that hangs in the back of the stall reads in faded blue lettering, East India Tea. The sign looks well over a hundred years old and adds to the nostalgia of the market.....


But like always, reality calls. Children are waking up, calling out to play and eat, so my friends, have a wonderful day, full of your own beautiful visions....

Whether they be real or otherwise.

What Dreams May Come, Both Dark and Deep

The act of sleeping did not go well last night.

I woke up three hours after going to bed and just...laid there for an hour. When I finally did get back to sleep I had nightmares. Not gruesome, scary ones, but the ones that seem so real that they would tear out the heart of any mother. Or father. Or sister or brother.

Pretty much anyone with a soul...

Now I won't go into detail, because I don't want to be emotionally attached to that again. Just know that having to save your kids from physical harm is scary...even if it is only in a dream. Why are social norms non-existent in the world of dreams? At least they would be less scary. Geesh.

At least at the end of my dream my son turned into a burrito and brought the fear and dread coursing through my sleeping body to a sudden halt. After all...people don't just turn into burritos.

Even in my sleep I know that....

It took another hour or two to fall back asleep from that one, but when I did I slept deliciously sound and woke up refreshed around 4:30 am. When I did, I had the lyrics of an Eric Whitacre song coursing through my head..."What dreams may come both dark and deep, Of flying wings and soaring leap..." 

Appropriate I suppose.

Now I know I don't tend to be very serious in my blog, but today I feel the need to be. I woke up to the realization that even though things get rough that there is always a place of perfection. I found it this morning in the peaceful face of my sleeping little boy; that just hours before had been the subject of one of the worst dreams I can remember. I found it reveling in the crisp, cool air outside as I took the garbage to the curb. I found as I washed the counter top when I finished the dishes. I found it in the book of Romans as I read my morning devotion. I found it in the hugs and kisses my daughter gave me as she went off to day camp. It is everywhere.

It isn't always easy to see. In fact, more often than not, you have to look hard for it and even then you may not realize it. I remember reading an article or blog or something about a man who lost his job and was in financial ruin not knowing where to go next. When he got home that night he was greeted by his enthusiastic, drooling dog, and for just one moment, the stress was gone because all that existed was a man and his faithful dog. The dog didn't know the stress the man was under, all he knew was that the master he loved had returned home.

It may not seem like much, but those moments are everywhere. 

Look for them. 

Find your perfect moment, find your joy.


It really is everywhere.

One Sugar Lemon Facial Away from the Loony Bin

They were there when I woke up. I don't know how they got into my house....again. They were taunting me. All of them jeered at me from their metal holding space. And if they weren't jeering, it was only because they were behind another and I just couldn't see it. I ignored it for as long as I could, but I knew I would have to address them sooner or later. I ran into the bathroom to get away, but there was certainly no denying they were out there. There were fourteen of them; five spoons, three cups, three bowls, two water bottles and a measuring cup.

That's right. They are dishes.

 My morning routine is always the same. I get up at five, do the dishes, throw laundry into the washing machine while *sometimes* folding yesterdays laundry, then I shower and get the kids up and ready to go. Well this morning when I got up I didn't want to do the dishes. After all there was only a small sink-full. So I made my weekly sugar lemon facial scrub and tried to drown out the noise in my brain that was yelling at me to go wash dishes. Then I hopped in the shower and when I was done I felt like I could take on the world. (Funny how a little pampering can make you feel so good.) So, really I could just leave those fourteen dishes until tomorrow, no harm done...right?

WRONG!!!

 There was just something so mind-numbingly wrong with trying to change my routine this morning that I just.....couldn't....take....it....anymore. So it was either off myself because I couldn't live with my routine being messed up for the rest of the day...or do those taunting dishes. I guess you know how that turned out, since I am still here.

There. I am done. And just to get even I made three of them suffer by using them for my breakfast.

Now if only my laundry would scream at me the same way, but it's lazy and just prefers to lay around in the bedroom. 

I know you are probably saying, "Really? All of this for five minutes worth of dishes?" It isn't just about the dishes, because I let them know who was boss. It was the whole of my routine being off, thrown into utter disrepair all because I didn't want to do something. It takes something like thirty days to create a routine and all of four to break it. How unfair is that.

Okay, okay. I am done now. I will be back with a very special Ted for you later today.


Happy Thursday morning readers!

Sense, It Does Not Make

When one logs onto my blog and reads the heading, they may find they are confused. After Monday's brilliant heading, "Tormatoes a la Ted", brought about a few questioning readers I figured I had better clarify.  No, I didn't mean tomatoes. Yes, I do know how to spell tornadoes...most days.

My headings usually have absolutely nothing to do with the post. Usually. However, yesterdays did have something to do with it, but you, my wonderful readers, would not know this unless you really  knew me. Which some of you do. You know that I can be utterly crazy and make no sense at all, so really it should be no surprise when my writing can be utterly crazy as well. 


I have included a few translations for those of you who don't speak toddlerese, just to further complicate clarify the matter

Tormatoes: A Daniel (my 3 year old) way of saying tornadoes. Why he says tormatoes is beyond me, but it is epically (epicly...ecpicaly? is it even a word?) cute.
Why...why is my computer trying to change the word 'cute' into 'cut'???

Glamma: I know this might seem like a particularly glamorous mother, but in fact it is a spin off Grandma and is the preferred pronunciation of my precocious child.

Hideous: Barney the dinosaur. 
Don't ask...just nod your head and move along. There is nothing to see here.

Regardless, if it sounds like something a three year old boy or a (now) nine year old girl would say...chances are they did.

There are many, many more words I could share, however, like normal, my brain does not want to recall anything else at the moment. Maybe it is because I am too busy researching the questions my 3 year old likes to ask. Seriously. He is asking things that many kids don't even know about until high school. Like brain function. And atmospheric conditions and changes. And I really wish I were totally joking here, but I'm not. 

Oh well, the biography of me trying to raise a gifted child will be left for another day. 

I know I run the risk of sounding like Yoda, but believe me, it is how I feel many days...Sense, it does not make. 

So for no apparent reason, here ya go. A weird attempt at a chameleon.

 Happy Friday!