7 quick takes Friday.......

1. My pastor told this incredible story Sunday and I thought that I would share it with everyone....Hope it makes you think about the gift that Jesus is to us.

A young husband loved is his new wife very much. They had not been married for long when she shared with him a desire of her heart...When her grandmother died a few years back she was supposed to have received a special ring from her grandmother but it could never be found. It turns out that her grandmother's father fought in World War I and right before he was killed in battle he sent her grandmother a beautiful diamond ring. Her grandmother cherished this ring her whole life and always promised it to her beloved granddaughter. But when the grandmother died, the whole house was searched as family when through all the belongings...the ring was never found.

This husband listened to his young wife's story and decided to go on a quest to find this ring for his wife. After much investigating and interviewing, he found out that a distant cousin had taken the ring from the house during the funeral. He explained the importance of this ring to the cousin, but she was unwilling to give it to him. She made him purchase it from her for an exorbitant price. The husband was sad...He had anticipated giving it to his wife for Christmas, but he would have to save money for a long time.

Several years went by. The husband saved money and finally had enough to buy the ring for his wife. He went and got it....He put it in a box and wrapped it. He put it under the Christmas tree and waited for his wife to open this ring...He knew that this would be the best gift he would ever give to her...

Well, if you haven't guessed by now, here is the point of the story.......God felt the same way this young husband did the night that he gave us Jesus. He was giving us the greatest gift ever, and even though later there would be suffering and His Son would take on the sins of the world, God still felt so much love and anticipation as He gave us this most wonderful and saving gift. This story really made me think about the birth of Jesus and God's gift to us this Christmas....I am so loved by GOD! So loved that He would give me the most precious gift of my life......

2. We are actually having having Christmas with my family tomorrow!! AAAHHHHH! How did this sneak up on me so fast....So much to do before we travel this weekend...Hope I can get it all done!

3. I am thankful for my best friend today. Yes, Beck, I mean you. Her family is so sick and I just want them to all get better for Christmas.....Who wants sick kids for Christmas? I don't ever remember being sick on Christmas.....Get better soon my sweet friend!

4. I noticed that Jen at http://craftbugjen.blogspot.com/ asked what everybody's favorite Christmas song was! Wow! I had to think about this one for a while......But I think that it is "Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel"....at least that it is my favorite hymn. I really love it when Bing Crosby sings "The Christmas Song" too....

5. Jen at http://conversiondiary.com/, the one who hosts all these great quick takes, wrote in her blog today that she was scared of carolers coming. I just had to laugh at this because I remembered back when I was in college and Christmas carolers came to our apartment. It was about zero degrees outside and we were standing there with the door open with these silly grins on our faces while they sang, and sang, and sang.....We didn't think that they would ever leave!

6. OK, I am NOT a Starbucks junkie and I do not go there very often, but I just have to share this one little tidbit. I got a White Chocolate Peppermint Mocha there this morning, and seriously people, it tastes like Christmas in a cup. Yummy.

7. I hope that all of you bloggers out there have a really, really wonderful Christmas!

Trim the Tree Thursday....No. 3

Well, I worked on my dining room this week. Also just had to show you guys a picture of a cupcake that this sweet woman who I make hairbows for made for my children. Have you ever seen a cuter cupcake in your life? Let's see, what did I get done this week? Put some beautiful green ribbon on the lights in the dining room (which I may leave up all year?), put out my extremely whimsical dining room placemats and napkins, added some santas and snowmen to the decor, and got my Christmas dishes out which are Santa, Snowman, and Reindeer. I love to get these out every year....It is so fun to go through your Christmas boxes and feel like that it is new to you just because it has been packed away for 11 months! Can't wait to look at everybody else's wonderful decor, too. Have A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!

7 Quick Takes Volume 3

Well, the most wonderful blogger, Jen at http://conversiondiary.com/ has gotten me addicted to Quick Take Fridays. So fun just to read the random stuff that is in everybody's heads and hearts at the end of each week! Go to her sight to see all the Quick Takes fun.

So, here are my Quick Takes for this wonderful Friday, December 12th! Only 13 days to Christmas ya'll. You have to imagine me saying the 'ya'll' with an East Tennessee twang or it doesn't work....

1. OK, so I already knew this but today it hit me in the face like a ton of bricks for the 2nd or 3rd time in my life....I AM HORRIBLE IN EMERGENCIES. I saw a horrific car accident today.....a tractor-trailer took out a small pickup right in front of my eyes....I was the only one on the scene so I had to call 911. I have had to call 911 several times in the past as well, and let me just tell you, I feel sorry for those 911 people. I was yelling at her "There's been an accident; there's been an accident" over and over without giving her the needed information. And I never know where I am. When she asked me what road I was on, I had to sprint out of my car in the torrential downpour and look for signs. Luckily I was at an intersection where the highway numbers were clearly posted or we would have all been screwed. I was running in the rain back and forth between the two vehicles....Luckily I think that everyone is going to be OK but that is no thanks to me. I think they probably ended up listening to a more rational 911 caller that arrived on the scene a little later.

2. OK, so the most annoying Christmas gift that I am trying to find right now is for somebody that I don't even know. I grabbed one of those Angel Tree angels off at church and got a 13 year old boy who wears size 11 (men's) shoes. The only thing that he really wants is velcro tennis shoes. Well, they don't really make velcro tennis shoes for men. I am afraid I am over thinking it......I can't help but wonder if there is some cool trend that I am missing and maybe just the really really expensive shoes are velcro....or if he can't tie his shoes for some reason and needs velcro....... or if some clueless adult wrote that down and he really doesn't want velcro and if I get them for him he will be mortified. Doesn't really matter though because I can't find them anywhere.

3. I want it to snow so badly!! SNOW, SNOW, SNOW!!!!!!!

4. I have realized that I have a lot of people in my life that are constant complainers. So, the only thing that I can deduce from that fact is that God must want me to have more patience with people that complain, right? I mean, they have to be here for a reason......

5. I have been going through all of our digital pictures on the computer trying to find some really cute ones of the kids to put in some photo calendars I bought for the grandparents for Christmas this year. After going through at least 600 pictures I realize that there are about 7 pictures total where I appear. Out of those 7 pictures, 5 of those are either the side of my face or back of my head. And the two that are actually purposeful pictures of me where I am looking at the camera are really depressing. I look fat, haggard, and all red in the face. I really don't want my children looking at these pictures from their toddler years and remembering me this way, but what can you do?

6. So, somehow I got on to the Victoria Secret catalogue mailing list back in the summer. And the first catalogue I got had sweaters that they were trying to get rid of from last winter. I am a sucker for a deal so I spent something like $13.00 and got two sweaters. Well, it is winter time now and I got them out to wear the other day. I put them on and realize that they are really funky. They have huge cowl necks and sleeves that stop at the elbows. And they hit somewhere between bellybutton and boob. Now, you are supposed to wear a long sleeve shirt under them of course, but I put it on and felt self-conscious the rest of the day. You know how sometimes you just know that you are not pulling something off? So, essentially I have wasted $13.00.

7. I am really getting excited about Christmas. My friend Gina and I decided today that we are going to start a new tradition together...We are going to get our kids dressed up like somebody from the Nativity and throw a birthday bash for Jesus! We are going to act out the Christmas story with the kids and then eat birthday cake and sing and everything. Before we have the party, we are going to have each kid make something for Jesus so that they have a gift for Him at the party! FUN!

Have a blessed Friday everyone! May God bless you and your family!

Trim the Tree Thursday II

Here I am again for Trim the Tree Thursday! Time is flying by. Where has the week gone? I didn't get as much done this week but hopefully by next Thursday I will have more to show...I did put some things in the entryway bathroom, got the kid's Little People nativity out, got my Jim Shore nativity put in the hall, and made a floral arrangement for our breakfast table! Hope you like the pictures! Go to http://thesouthernhostess.blogspot.com/ to see everyone's beautiful Christmas decor!

Christmas Lessons from the Grinch

I watched the Grinch tonight with my children. It is one of my favorites. I love the part where the narrator says that the Grinch realizes that "Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store." As I watched it I was thinking....What if we as a family didn't have any presents? What if we didn't have any food? No Christmas decor? What if some green monster snuck into our house in the middle of the night and took it all away? What would we do on Christmas Eve and Christmas day without all of the mayhem of opening gifts? Would we sing like the Whos just for the joy of Jesus's birth? I hope that through the next several years of my children's lives I can help them to understand what Christmas truly is. That even if we don't have all the trappings, it is a day of celebration no matter what that looks like. Watching that show tonight made me think seriously about what traditions we need to form as a family that will honor Jesus no matter what our circumstances. That way if there is ever a time when we have nothing....No presents, no decorations, and no "roast beast", we will still have a meaningful Christmas together where Christ is honored.

My 7 Quick Takes for This Wonderful Friday.....

Well, today is 7 Quick Takes day but I am probably not going to put myself on http://conversiondiary.com/ just for time's sake. But you can go to this website and read everybody else's 7 Quick Takes if that floats your boat.
1. So my children are spending their first night away from home tonight. Without us I mean. They are at the grandparents scarfing down cookie dough and candy like no tomorrow. The problem with that is that there is a tomorrow and when I get them back then they are going to be exhausted and full of sugar.
2. Since we are minus the children, Matt and I actually got to go see a movie together. Probably haven't done that in at least a year and a half to two years. We saw 'Four Christmases' and it was so funny. We laughed and laughed. It was much better than I guess I thought it would be, so I recommend it. Go see it! If you are able..........
3. I am doing a craft fair at church tomorrow for 6 hours. The fun part is that I am doing it with my friend Katie so we get to hang out and talk the whole time. The bad part has been that I really procrastinated and made most of the bows this week.........It is a lot of work and I am very, very tired right now of little girl's hair bows. I may just rebel and never make any again.
4. Also because my children are gone, I was able to go out this afternoon and run in the daylight! (I usually run in the dark...after Matt gets home from work.) Even though it was 3:30 in the afternoon, it was my coldest run yet. My hands and feet were completely numb when I got back in the house. It is a very weird feeling to be really hot and really cold at the same time.
5. We got a new digital camera this week. I am really excited about that because now maybe we will be able to take some good pictures at Christmas. Our old camera was getting really bad....It just stopped taking the pictures fast even with new batteries. When you have to wait 15 seconds for the pictures to take after you hit the button, you know you have gotta get a new camera. Especially with kids. In 15 seconds they are already in another room.
6. So, my husband is going to pick up the kids tomorrow afternoon by himself. My craft fair is over at 3:00 so I will actually have about 5 hours tomorrow completely by myself. I really have to say that I don't think that has happened in probably the past year and half to two years either. What will I do? The possibilities are endless. I really don't know what I will do with myself.
7. I am so excited now because some of my old Greensboro friends are getting on Facebook. It is so great to talk to them......We have been in Knoxville for about 3 and a half years now so it shocked me a little bit when after I talked to them yesterday I felt really homesick. For Greensboro. I loved it so......And I loved my life there. It was such a different life than the one I have now. I think I just really miss all my friends and my old job. But I know that I am also really having a great life here in Knoxville too.....It is just as fun but just so different for me being a stay-at-home mom and not working. I think that God really blessed me then in my life as much as he is blessing me now.......I am so grateful that I have been able to have been so fulfilled by a job and just as fulfilled as a mom.
Happy Friday!

Trim the Tree Thursday....The Timbs Family Christmas Decor

I am so excited that we got all of our Christmas trees decorated! They make our den feel so cozy and colorful. A really cool blogger, http://thesouthernhostess.blogspot.com/ is having a really fun Thursday entry where everyone shows off their Christmas decor, and I thought I would participate the month of December. Maybe by next week I will have some more decor to show off, but for right now I am just glad to have gotten the trees done. We have a very whimsical Christmas style at our house......I love all ornaments and don't ever want to leave any off! By the time I am old and gray the tree will not hold them all because I just love how they bring back Christmas memories from my childhood and remind me of the things my children have loved for the past 5 years.

Oh, the joys of motherhood.....

Today was a little crazy at our house. I overslept majorly and was trying to get Caleb out the door to preschool in a record 45 minutes.....Getting me, Abby and Caleb all ready to get out the door in 45 minutes is impossible and that was clearly evident today as it did not take me 45 minutes but and hour and 20 minutes to accomplish the feat so he was 20 minutes late to preschool. Anyhoo, had a crazy time at the grocery store afterward with Abby......She kept standing up in the seat of the grocery cart everytime I would reach out to pick up an item and some little old lady (bless her!) came over to me and said "Honey, that child is gonna bust her noodle open!" I was also afraid she was going to bust her 'noodle' open so I continually fussed at her down every Kroger aisle.

We went back to pick up Caleb after lunch and his teacher gave me his preschool report card. They get it at the end of every semester...Then you can choose to have a teacher conference if you want to. I may be doing that. Bless his heart, it seems that he has lots of things to work on. Not doing so well in the hygiene/self-help department or the social/emotional skills. His sweet teacher wrote things like "Has to be reminded every day to clean up after himself at lunch", and "Never waits to hear the directions." These were actually strangely comforting to me because at least I know that she knows my child well. And these are the things that I try to teach him day in and day out. Too bad they haven't stuck yet. On the upside, he has good gross motor skills. But I knew that already. The boy can run like a gazelle.

And then Abby.....Oh Abby. She is such a mess. I had decided that "Santa Claus" was going to bring her the Cinderella princess dress from the Disney store. I had gone and gotten it the other day when Matt was home to keep the kids and I could actually shop by myself for a little while. I felt so good about it....I knew that it was something that she really wanted because she has talked about it for months. So, what do I do? I bring it home and hang it in the very back of her closet, behind all of her other clothes. Now, this may sound stupid to you but all of our Christmas presents have to be hidden in her closet because we have no other storage in our house...I just knew that since it was hanging in the very back that she would never see it anyway because it was covered up behind all the other clothes. All the other presents in there are hidden in bags and boxes, and I have been keeping the closet closed with a childproof closet lock on it anyway. Well, today I forgot to use the childproofing gadget so her closet was open.....I was downstairs working on supper when I heard her little voice say...."Mommy, I just did pee-pee in my pants so I am going to put on my Cinderella dress instead of new pants, OK?" I realized that she had must have had an accident and had opened her closet to get new pants all by herself and somehow spotted the one-half inch of Cinderella blue that visible in the back of the closet. By the time I ran upstairs she had pulled that dress off the hanger and had it halfway on. DADGUMMIT!!! I guess Santa is not bringing that one after all. I will just have to wrap it and stick it under the tree and tell her it is from Mommy and Daddy. So much for Christmas surprises. I am sure that for the next 23 days she is going ask me where that Cinderella dress is.

My Sweet Babies

My kids have been so precious lately I just feel like I need to write this all out today so that I won't forget it! This is one of the reasons I wanted to blog in the first place, to use it as a diary in a way and write down the things that I want to remember. Abby asked me two hilarious questions today....The first one was "Mommy, if I get gum on my favorite night-night(what she calls her fave blankie), will the workers at the hospital be able to use scissors to get it off?" I had to explain to her that we don't take blankies to the hospital, just people. Then later on in the car she asked me why we had to have a sky. I just told her God made the earth that way...He wanted us to have something to look up to I guess.
Caleb was funny last night......Right before bed he asked me if Matt and I first met on the day of our wedding. I told him that we met way before that and had to decide to get married after we knew each other for a long time. "Why did you get married?" was the next question. I told him that we loved each other and that someday he may find a girl to love and that he may get married when he grows up too. I could tell that this idea was not thrilling to him.......He went to bed and I heard something from his room...At first I thought he was singing but then I realized he was sobbing! I asked him what was wrong and he told me that he did NOT want to get married, did NOT want to leave his mommy and daddy, and was so afraid that when Abby grew up that she was going to live in a different state and not be with him. Bless his little heart; he loves his little sister so much right now. Little does he know that in a couple of years he is probably gonna want her in any state but the one he is in!

Em's 7 Quick Takes Vol. 1

Well, I am loving everybody's 7 Quick Takes on Fridays. What fun! A wonderful blogger, Jennifer, at http://www.conversiondiary.com/ has started a really cool trend where on Fridays you just blog about 7 random things on your heart and mind. They can be silly or serious, and I love reading everybody's thoughts! So here goes...

1. So today was show and tell at Caleb's preschool.....Several weeks ago Matt found our old digital camera in the attic and we gave it to Caleb to play with. He loves to take pictures and decided in the last minute rush of the morning to take the camera to school. After I took him in and dropped him off I realized as I got in the car that I had not gone through and deleted the picture that he took of me sitting on the potty the other day. I don't think that it showed too much but I am going to be mortified if his teachers look through those pictures. Maybe they won't. But I probably won't know if they do.......Yikes.

2. So, I really need to clean out my refrigerator. A last year when we bought it new the guy that delivered it told us to clean all the shelves with baking soda to get rid of that "new fridge chemical smell". Well, I tried it and it just ended up leaving this really bizarre residue all over the shelves that I couldn't get off. I was looking in there this morning while I was putting away groceries and am annoyed with myself that since that point I have not taken the shelves back out and tried to scrub them. And now there is just the normal fridge junk on top of that....Yes people. I am saying that I have not cleaned out my fridge since we bought the thing. Shocking and disgusting to some of you.....Strangely comforting to others of you who let things go like I do!

3. So the FOCA thing has really been on my heart and mind this week. I don't think that I have ever been so worried or fearful of a law being passed in this country. I really think that God is telling me to step it up a little bit......It is time to get serious. I just can't believe that my tax dollars may fund late term partial-birth abortion.

4. So, I don't think I want my kids to watch 'Higgley Town Heros' on the Disney Channel anymore. For a very long time I was greatly annoyed with that show but really couldn't put my finger on why. But as I have prayed about it, God revealed to me why I am annoyed. The show makes heros out to be average people doing average things. But the Bible shows us the real heros are average people doing extraordinary things! Because God uses their lives and their circumstances to glorify Him! That is why David was able to defeat Goliath, why Joshua was able to bring down the wall, why Daniel was able to sleep with the lions! Heros are not people who do the average....They are people who accomplish great works for God. I want my kids to really understand what a true hero is.

5. So, I went to Walmart today to buy a random family in need a complete Thanksgiving meal. Our church is doing that for a service project and I thought it would be really fun to participate. Ok, so this is what I bought.....A big ham, gravy, corn, green beans, fruit cocktail, sweet potatoes, cake, stuffing, etc. And some paper plates, napkins and a table cloth....And a big laundry basket to put it all in. This all cost $110.00. I was a little shocked. It is not that I don't want to spend that on a family, because that is fine. It is just a little shocking to me that one meal for a family of 6 costs that much! And at Walmart!

6. I am getting really excited about Christmas!!! I think I will try to decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving. I just need to clean, clean, clean first. It makes me feel better to know that I am decorating a clean house. I will just have to make the kids buy into that......."Listen kids....You can't scatter Legos all over the floor or get your Thomas trains out or play with your Little People downstairs because it's time to get out the Christmas tree!" I don't think they will go for that...

7. So, I am enjoying blogging a lot. And I am enjoying reading other people's really insightful blogs even more. Go bloggers!

Abby's Wreath

My three-year-old little girl, Abby, has a fascination with all things 'sparkly'. She loves the glam and the glitz. Everything that is anything to her has to be sequined, glittery or bedazzled. So when we went into Michael's today to get her some new stickers for her potty chart, her little eyes were as big as saucers taking in all of the Christmas decorations. Every single Christmas item in Michael's has at least one layer of glitter, so it is all right up her alley. As we passed the wreaths, I realized that they had all of their 'wreath decorating' stuff on sale.....They had the plain green wreaths for about $3.00 and then all of the floral items for around 50 cents. I asked Abby if she would like to pick out some things to help Mommy make a Christmas wreath and she got very excited. She stuck her little hands in the bins and to my surprise actually picked all these beautiful items in various shades of pinks and purples. Now, pink and purple is not really my style, but it is definitely hers and I was excited that we would get to go home and make a wreath that would really be all hers. We came home and I helped her arrange it all....She went to play while I did the hot gluing. When we were done, I was actually really thrilled with the result...I now have a Christmas wreath that I can keep for a long time that really reminds me of the sweet time I am having with my daughter right now.....A time of pinks and purples and glitter and glam.

Material Girl

Ok, so I learned several weeks ago that Madonna is getting a divorce. And yesterday in the Target checkout line I learned that she is in custody negotiations with Guy. She is making bizarre demands about what her children can eat, what they can watch on TV, etc. One of the reasons that she doesn't let them watch TV is because she says that TV is just crap and there is nothing on there spiritually edifying for her children. Let's see, maybe crap like Madonna rolling around on stage touching herself in her white virginity garb? Or maybe the Pepsi commercial where she burns the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ? Or perhaps she doesn't want them to see what the rest of the country has been subjected to a million times......her kissing poor Britney on the VMA's with tongue.

The bottom line is that I am tired of Madonna. Very tired. Bone weary if I have to hear any more about her life I may scream tired. I realized the other day that Madonna has been part of my life for 25 years. That is a quarter of a century. A quarter of a century of her shenanigans, of her trying to 'reinvent herself'. Ever since I was nine years old and heard 'Lucky Star' on my parents radio, she has been a part of my life. Her and lots of other celebrities.

My question is, why do I know the things I know about celebrities? Why do I know that Suri still takes a bottle? And that Britney has a new nanny? Or that Nicole Ritchie breastfeeds? Do I want to know these things? My brain just sucks up these facts while I am standing in the grocery line or while I am flipping channels on TV. It actually scares me a little to know that I have thousands of celebrity facts floating around in my cerebellum.

Americans love to worship celebrities. They are our royalty, our gods. I believe that people were created to worship. It is as much a part of us and encoded in our DNA as much as breathing, eating, loving. It is how God designed us, except that He wants us to worship Him. My prayer is that I do not put anybody or anything else in His place. So God, help me not to worship money, food, stuff, or celebrities. Because I know that Madonna is a very poor substitute.

Running Like the Wind

Well, in April I started running everyday. I had a goal....that by October I would run the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. I had remembered that the year before someone had challenged me to walk it and I had wimped out. Pretty sad. But at that time I really honestly didn't know if I could walk a 5K. Sounded long to me.
But last spring I was changing my tune. I was getting tired of being pleasantly plump. Christmas of last year I weighed the most I had ever weighed (except when I was pregnant, and it was getting dangerously close to pregnancy weight for a while there) and I knew that I needed to stop the madness and the shoveling in of oatmeal cookies. But, after the Christmas goodies were over and January rolled around, I had lost five pounds. Five pounds! Halleluiah, the weight was just going to fall off because I wasn't stuffing my face with pumpkin roll, right? Wrong. I leveled off quickly and still continued my love affair with raw cookie dough.
But there is just something about spring....Knowing that you are getting ready to be hot and knowing that you have to wear shorts or you will melt. And trying on your first pair of shorts of the season. I remember looking down at my legs and realizing that even the front part of my shins (down the bone I tell ya!) had fat dimples. Good grief.
So, I knew then. I knew that it was time. Time to do something. Time to start taking care of myself without the mommy guilt seeping in. Time to move, time to groove, etc. Time to come up with an effective exercise plan that will fit into stay-at-home mommyness.
I have to say I have never exactly been what you would call athletic. I played outside when I was a little girl and rode my bike a lot. My mother always weighed 102 pounds, so I can safely say that she really had no reason to exercise or worry about poundage. Our family had an aversion to sports....It was called the "I don't really want to pay for this or take you there" aversion. The best I can remember about my childhood foray into sports was trying out for cheerleading in third grade...Let's see, I was the only girl in the 45 tryouts who could not do a cartwheel. And there was the fourth grade basketball team which to date has been my one and only organized sports experience.
That basketball team thing was a hoot. My dad was proud....Until he realized half-way through the season that he was carting me to the elementary school so that I could sit on the bench in every game. Bless his heart, I do remember that I made one basket during the whole season. It was during a practice, so it wasn't even in a game. But that did not stop him from grinning at me cheshire style while he was driving me home. I still remember sitting in the back seat of the car and him turning around to say "Em, that was real good. Real good."
Middle school was a nightmare sports wise. PE was a horrific experience. Same for high school. I remember playing dodge ball when I was a junior and thinking "if I can't do this by now....."
But lack of sportific ability wanes in college. There are other pursuits and people don't really care if you can't serve the volleyball. That is the time that I just revelled in the fact that I didn't have to do anything physical for 4 years....except that darn PE credit again. One semester of badminton. Which I made a C- in by the way. Lowest grade of my college career.
There is a point in our adult life where being athletic kinda goes by the wayside....and it all becomes about 'working out'. People ask each other "Do you work out?" All the old sports heros of yesteryear are on the treadmill with everybody else. So, adulthood brings a more even playing field in that respect. At least to me!
So, what were my options? Going to the gym and elipticalling myself to thin, or doing the weight machines that I can never figure out how to use correctly. Or I could work out to my superduper workout DVD's in front of the TV downstairs while trying not to slip on toys or kick my children in the face. Or I could run....
I chose running. The first thing I did was download my training schedule off the internet. 'From Couch Potato to 5K' it was called. The couch potato part was certainly appropriate. My friend Gina and I made a pact that we really would run the Race for Cure in October......and I was off and running. Ha! Well, I was actually more like off and jogging for 30 second increments.
There were some rough days ahead. There were days when I really wondered what the heck I was doing....There were days when my legs and my feet and my back hurt so bad that I took 3 ibuprofen instead of the 2 that the bottle recommends. There were days when I barfed, days when I would almost pass out, and my favorite...the days when I really did feel like I was going to have a heart attack because that little vein in my shoulder was pulsing and I felt pain down my arm.
I made my goal...And not too shabbily either. I ran two 5K's in October. Ran both races at about a 10-minute mile pace. I have to say that I was really proud of myself for making a goal and sticking to it. And I was proud of myself for another reason too.....I can actually do something physical that most other people can't do. For the first time in my life. And I am proud of myself that even though my races are over and it is cold outside, I am still running.
Running itself is a beautiful thing. It is a mental exercise as well as a physical one. Some runs are so hard it feels like you have a snow plow tied to your back. Other runs, like my run tonight, are spectacular.....energy courses through your veins and you really do feel like you can run like the wind.
Am I really running like the wind? Absolutely not. And in all actuality, I am probably more jogging than running. But this girl feels better and is 20 pounds lighter than the pumpkin roll Christmas of last year. Sure, I could be upset that technically I am probably still considered clinically obese by health insurance standards (just ask my husband...he just changed jobs and is downstairs wrestling with health insurance papers right now!) but I am not going to let that get me down. I am just going to keep running. Running like the wind.

A Death in the Family

Almost 9 years ago Matt and I decided to get a dog. Well, it really wasn't as cut and dry as all that; we were actually gently conned into getting a dog by one of my friends and coworker, Tara, who had gone to the pound for a service project. She found the sweetest little female mutt and took her to the nursing home for the day; everyone there loved her and Tara fell in love with her too. She loved her so much that she even took her home to meet her beagle, but her beagle was not too keen on the newcomer so Tara took her back to the pound. She came into work the next day full of love for this dog, bound and determined to find her an owner. On our lunch break a week later she dragged me to the pound and the rest, shall we say, was Timbs family history.
I wish that I could say that the first moment I saw her I fell in love with her, but that is not really the case. She looked a little ragged around the edges. The pound said that she had just had puppies...in fact, one had come in with her but had already been adopted. She really was a mutt....The Good Lord only knew what genetic material this dog was composed of. But she was sweet and calm, which went a long way with me. I was not into yip-yips and hate it when dogs are all crazy and jumpy. I brought Matt in to see her and we decided just to go for it...You only live once, right?
We adopted her and they immediately sent her to a local vet to be spayed. I had a crazy job where I was out of the office most of the time and did not receive the frantic calls from the vet the day of her surgery....It turns out that she was pregnant and that when they went in to spay her they were really performing an emergency C-section. At the end of the day when I got these messages I completely flipped out. I knew that we could not have more than one dog in our apartment and I felt lied to by the pound....She had not already had puppies....They were in her tummy and had not made it to the world yet! The vet ended up saving the puppies and keeping them at the office. Various people adopted two of them and one lived (and may still be living) at the vet's..He became their mascot.
We get this poor dog home who has just had a horrific month....Too much pound, too much puppy trauma, etc. But after the first couple of days she shaped up to be an incredible dog. So sweet and loving. Very calm. Very good. And already house trained, which was a huge bonus and pleasant surprise. We decided to name her Ivy. I have no recollection of where we came up with this name or even who thought of the name first; for some reason it seemed to fit her and we loved it.
Ivy dog was precious to us. We loved coming home from work and spending time with her. We loved cuddling with her after a long day and taking her for walks in the park beside our house. She was practice....something to be responsible about and to before we took the plunge of having real babies to take care of. And when it was time to take the plunge into realy baby world, for some reason we thought that we would still love Ivy the same and that Ivy would love the new baby as well! But it really didn't turn out that way.......
Ivy did not like the new baby at all. She always acted slightly disgusted around him; he had infringed on her territory I guess. And then several years later when baby number two arrived it really sent her over the edge. She was still the same sweet loving dog, but she did a lot of things to let us know her displeasure over the children. Lots of sighing. Lots of whining. And lots of peeing in the house, which she had never done before.
I guess that after having kids my views changed a lot on Ivy as well. I still loved her and knew that she was a rare jewel among dogs, but I realized that back when I thought I loved her like a baby, I really did not. The love for the dog paled in comparison to these little precious people I had birthed. Maybe Ivy sensed that as well, she knew that she had been demoted in our hearts.
Last Saturday we had to put Ivy dog to sleep. It was a horrible time, and a hard time for our family. We didn't want to do it, but who does? We knew that she was not going to get better...we had been treating her for a fungus for over 4 months and nothing had helped. She was old and her immune system was not fighting the disease. She was miserable and suffering.
I think that one of the hardest moments of life is when you have to say a final goodbye. To pet and human alike. Knowing that you won't ever talk to that person again, or see someone gesture, or catch a smile on their lips as you glance at them. Or knowing that you won't hear that long suffering sigh when a three-year-old pulls a tail, you won't hear whining to go outside, and you won't be cleaning up pee off the rug. Goodbye Ivy dog. It was a great 9 years.

I can't believe I am blogging.....

Well, my best friend Becky has conned me into doing a blog. She says that she wants to be able to know what is going on in my head more and I am actually a little stunned that anyone would want that. Ha! But, I do think blogging might be a really good thing for me......I think I have a little bit of a writer in me somewhere and I do get the urge at times just to have a place to put down some thoughts, etc...so this may work for me. We shall see! Today is Halloween, so Halloween 2008 is my first blog day. The kids are so excited....Caleb and Abby are both going to be pirates this year. They will match in their cute little pirate costumes. I don't know what we will do with all the candy....One of my friends on facebook said that October, November and December are the worst months to try to lose weight. I am thinking she is right. Last night while I was watching TV I ate 3 KitKats and 2 BabyRuths. I am sure that tonight I will have a whole buffet to choose from........YUMMY!