In honour of having just registered for my first half marathon (13.1 miles), and it being so close to the New Year, I'm here to write up some goals of mine for the new year.
In no particular order:
1. Running a half marathon.
I started running last summer for the first time since middle school (track: hurdles, 100m dash, high jump) or whatever conditioning we would do in soccer, but that was all short distance stuff. A girl at the bootcamp I was going to needed another team member for a 12 girl relay team that was going to run 185 miles in just over a day. Crazy, right? I figured it would be a good way to make some possible friends since I don't get out much as a mom, and I was right.
The race was grueling and I don't think I had conditioned for it as much as I should have, but I've done 4 or 5 more races since, but all 10K and under, so this year, I'm kicking it up a notch. I'm registered for the Snake River Half Marathon on March 5th.
2. Time Management.
Like my sister-in-law, Joanna, and probably most mothers, this is something I struggle with. I spend a lot of time online, and need to take a look at my priorities. Somewhat along these lines, I'm also determined to try and keep my house cleaner this year (and build good habits that last) and stay on top of chores instead of letting them pile up during the day, or week, or whatever.
3. Eating healthier.
I graze a lot during the day, and while I'm certainly not overweight, I would sure like to lose those extra few pounds around my middle. Also, drinking more water.
4. Exercising regularly.
I stopped going to bootcamp due to cost and that it didn't fit into my schedule very well, and need to start doing my own workouts at home.
5. Finishing projects.
I have a horrible habit of starting these wonderful projects, but then getting bored halfway through and quitting. Or sometimes I just really don't have time for them. On the projects list: my dollhouse, my quilt, a painting I did for Phil, and my children's book.
6. Being a more patient/interactive mom.
Some days when I'm tired or the kids are driving me crazy, it's so easy to just pop in a movie and let them entertain themselves for a little bit. Which is fine some of the time, I think, but I'd like to work harder at doing stuff with my kids. And being patient. I have a bad temper, which only gets worse if i don't sleep enough. I'm going to work (and pray about) not using my "bad mommy voice" Not that I scream at my kids, but it's not the gentle, loving way I should be talking to them.
7. Reading my Bible/Praying more.
My walk with the Lord is pretty sad right now. I am a Christian, but apart from going to church/meeting on Sundays, there isn't much evidence of it.
This list is getting pretty lofty, and it seems unlikely that I'll be able to fully accomplish everything on it, but there it is. I'm going to try. And I'm going to go off right now and work on some chores before Phil gets home (#2!) and then start making decorations for Oliver's birthday party and planning his cake.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Home, Sweet Home!
Home at last! We got home yesterday, but I was restraining myself and put off getting out my laptop and getting online until this morning. So much catching up to do!
Okay, first of all, let me tell you that we thought the drive down would take about 15 hours. A long time sure, but we planned on doing most of the driving at night while the kids were asleep, and compared to having to buy four plane tickets (plus whatever extra fees they decide to throw at you) and renting a car when we got there (add extra fees since Phil and I are both under 25...) driving was much more affordable.
Well, everything was going according to plan, we left around 6:30 p.m. (Sunday, December 19) got snacks and gas and headed out. Enter Montana and it's blizzards. We couldn't go much faster than 45 mph, which slowed the trip down to about a 24 hour drive instead of 15. We got there safely though, and Phil's Grandma was just happy as could be to have all her great-grandchildren visiting her.
Tuesday, we went and got a few groceries early in the morning (I wish our Target was a Super Target!) and in the afternoon went to the Aquarium. It looked pretty small from the outside, but the inside was huge! Plus, they had a random tiger there, so that was cool. The boys had a blast there, and if I weren't so tired/lazy, I'd upload the pictures now and add them to the post, but that will just have to wait.
Wednesday we went out and did some Christmas shopping at the Colorado Mills mall near the grandparents' house. Although, we had to make quite a few stops there, so Phil thought of it as a second home) We found a super cute neon orange vinyl giraffe for Oakley that he loves (and was on clearance!), a book for Elliot, (Oliver had gotten a train that morning at the Target), I got some new bras (ones that fit! but that's a different story....), and a super cute pair of heels that were a ridiculously good price. Brian, my brother-in-law asked me how many pairs of heels I own.. I didn't know, so I'll have to count them soon.
Thursday we took the morning slow, and went to the zoo in the late morning. This was not really great planning on our part, since the kids were cranky and needing naps not long after we got there. Also, the batteries in my camera were dying. Not my favourite. This happened last year when we went to the Seattle zoo, so now two years in a row, I barely have any pictures of the kids at a zoo, but whatever. Also on Thursday, we got something fixed on our Jeep. We are so grateful that we bought the extended warrantee, since the part that would normally have cost over $1000 cost us only $100 including diagnostics and labour. Something about a control module or something? I don't know much about the car parts, and I doubt any of my readers do either, but in case you were wondering. That night, after the kids had gone to bed, Phil and I went out with his sister and brother, and got ice cream at ColdStone, shopped a bit at Barnes and Nobles (note: a rewards card for Borders will NOT work here, my mistake.) and then I got a pair shoes at DSW, and we shopped at Old Navy since they were staying open all night for the holidays. I'm not sure why, but since I got a bunch of stuff that was priced $10 or less, I was okay with it. :)
Friday, poor Oakley woke up sick and throwing up. We didn't do much but sit around reading (which was fine with me since I got a new book for Christmas) but Oakley slept most of the day, looking so pitiful, and waking up basically only to vomit. Gross. I stayed home with him while everyone else went out to go to the bookstore or something, I'm not entirely sure where they went, but I don't blame them for wanting to get out of the house. While they were out, Phil's grandparents found out I am Canadian. Luckily, this occurred right after I was looking through a book on New Brunswick they had, and grandma Dorothy was telling me about a trip they took to New Brunswick/Nova Scotia, and I was telling her I had family in Nova Scotia which she found odd until she found out I am Canadian and most of my family is on the east coast. Friday night was spent sleeping partially on the floor of the living room, which wasn't any better than the floor of the room I'd been sleeping on before until Oakley almost threw up on me from the couch. After I cleaned him and the floor off, I went to sleep on the the tiny love seat, which wasn't very comfortable either. Not much sleep on Christmas Eve.
Saturday, Christmas, wasn't very eventful. We opened most of our presents in the late morning, but Oakley was still not feeling great (but some better) and was asleep, and so was Elliot. We saved some of their presents until that night when our last traveler arrived and then did her presents and the remainder of the kids' stuff. I found a book (that I gave to Phil to give to me for Christmas) with the Starbucks' Cranberry Bliss Bar recipe.... We'll have to see how that works out. Phil, Oliver, and "Aunt Carrot" a.k.a. Phil's sister made dinosaur sugar cookies while I took a much needed nap, and by dinner, Oakley was almost back to his regular self. Oliver and Oakley finally got the hang of unwrapping presents this year, so it was fun to watch them tear into stuff with excitement.
Sunday, we hit up the day after Christmas sales. I love Denver's malls. I am so jealous! The Cherry Creek mall is awesome, and it's probably a good thing I don't live so close to it. I didn't get to explore it as much as I would have liked though, but I did get four new pairs of jeans at Macy's since they were having a denim sale, and all of my jeans fit very, very poorly (in a good way!) Plus, not only did I get jeans on sale, but I found jeans that FIT on sale. I have trouble finding a good length, and I have smallish thighs, so jeans are hard for me to find a lot of the time. But I got four pairs! I need to clean out my jean drawer now, but that's okay. We headed to REI afterwards and let the guys shop around while I hung out in the car (the kids had fallen asleep) with my book.
We got back to the house around two, I think, and since we'd planned on leaving around four, got right to packing. I'm proud to say that we got everything packed and in the car in under an hour. So far, the only thing that has been found that we forgot was a pair of p.j.s.
We headed out and stopped in Loveland, Co at a P.F. Changs for dinner. They said the wait was about 30-45 minutes, so we waited. About a half hour and our buzzer goes off. Hooray! We get to the table, and the waitress notices that there are five of us, not four, even though I told the hostess five. This table won't work for us, she says. It'll only about about ten more minutes for a table for five though, she says. Another half hour goes by, we're very hungry and just want to eat so we can get back on the road before we get too sleepy. We finally get a table, order as fast as anyone ever has, I think, eat, and head back out. The weather was considerably better on the way home, thank goodness, and we made it home in about 20 hours (including the two hour-ish stop at P.F. Changs, another hour at a Burger King for breakfast, and getting gas, etc...)
We got home Monday around 1 p.m. and starting doing chores we hadn't had time to do before we left. We reorganized the entire playroom to have room for all the new stuff, plus we moved the train table in there, did laundry, dishes, a quick trip to the store for milk and other essentials....
It's good to be home. I've missed my bed, my shower, my laptop, my kitchen with it's regular food, and not having to constantly wonder if the kids will actually eat "that". Denver has things I will miss too, though. Having Phil's grandma, sister, brother, and uncle in the house with us was like having a bunch of nannies for my kids. I had to change very few diapers, and the kids were entertained pretty much the whole time, Elliot got spoiled by being able to be held most of the time, which I can't do when I'm at home alone with all the kids, and Phil's grandparents are fun too. His grandma is convinced that Oakley is some sort of genius because he can do jigsaw puzzles, and that Oliver is a genius because he is fully potty trained, LOL.
I doubt anybody cared to have this much detail about our trip, but there it is.
Okay, first of all, let me tell you that we thought the drive down would take about 15 hours. A long time sure, but we planned on doing most of the driving at night while the kids were asleep, and compared to having to buy four plane tickets (plus whatever extra fees they decide to throw at you) and renting a car when we got there (add extra fees since Phil and I are both under 25...) driving was much more affordable.
Well, everything was going according to plan, we left around 6:30 p.m. (Sunday, December 19) got snacks and gas and headed out. Enter Montana and it's blizzards. We couldn't go much faster than 45 mph, which slowed the trip down to about a 24 hour drive instead of 15. We got there safely though, and Phil's Grandma was just happy as could be to have all her great-grandchildren visiting her.
Tuesday, we went and got a few groceries early in the morning (I wish our Target was a Super Target!) and in the afternoon went to the Aquarium. It looked pretty small from the outside, but the inside was huge! Plus, they had a random tiger there, so that was cool. The boys had a blast there, and if I weren't so tired/lazy, I'd upload the pictures now and add them to the post, but that will just have to wait.
Wednesday we went out and did some Christmas shopping at the Colorado Mills mall near the grandparents' house. Although, we had to make quite a few stops there, so Phil thought of it as a second home) We found a super cute neon orange vinyl giraffe for Oakley that he loves (and was on clearance!), a book for Elliot, (Oliver had gotten a train that morning at the Target), I got some new bras (ones that fit! but that's a different story....), and a super cute pair of heels that were a ridiculously good price. Brian, my brother-in-law asked me how many pairs of heels I own.. I didn't know, so I'll have to count them soon.
Thursday we took the morning slow, and went to the zoo in the late morning. This was not really great planning on our part, since the kids were cranky and needing naps not long after we got there. Also, the batteries in my camera were dying. Not my favourite. This happened last year when we went to the Seattle zoo, so now two years in a row, I barely have any pictures of the kids at a zoo, but whatever. Also on Thursday, we got something fixed on our Jeep. We are so grateful that we bought the extended warrantee, since the part that would normally have cost over $1000 cost us only $100 including diagnostics and labour. Something about a control module or something? I don't know much about the car parts, and I doubt any of my readers do either, but in case you were wondering. That night, after the kids had gone to bed, Phil and I went out with his sister and brother, and got ice cream at ColdStone, shopped a bit at Barnes and Nobles (note: a rewards card for Borders will NOT work here, my mistake.) and then I got a pair shoes at DSW, and we shopped at Old Navy since they were staying open all night for the holidays. I'm not sure why, but since I got a bunch of stuff that was priced $10 or less, I was okay with it. :)
Friday, poor Oakley woke up sick and throwing up. We didn't do much but sit around reading (which was fine with me since I got a new book for Christmas) but Oakley slept most of the day, looking so pitiful, and waking up basically only to vomit. Gross. I stayed home with him while everyone else went out to go to the bookstore or something, I'm not entirely sure where they went, but I don't blame them for wanting to get out of the house. While they were out, Phil's grandparents found out I am Canadian. Luckily, this occurred right after I was looking through a book on New Brunswick they had, and grandma Dorothy was telling me about a trip they took to New Brunswick/Nova Scotia, and I was telling her I had family in Nova Scotia which she found odd until she found out I am Canadian and most of my family is on the east coast. Friday night was spent sleeping partially on the floor of the living room, which wasn't any better than the floor of the room I'd been sleeping on before until Oakley almost threw up on me from the couch. After I cleaned him and the floor off, I went to sleep on the the tiny love seat, which wasn't very comfortable either. Not much sleep on Christmas Eve.
Saturday, Christmas, wasn't very eventful. We opened most of our presents in the late morning, but Oakley was still not feeling great (but some better) and was asleep, and so was Elliot. We saved some of their presents until that night when our last traveler arrived and then did her presents and the remainder of the kids' stuff. I found a book (that I gave to Phil to give to me for Christmas) with the Starbucks' Cranberry Bliss Bar recipe.... We'll have to see how that works out. Phil, Oliver, and "Aunt Carrot" a.k.a. Phil's sister made dinosaur sugar cookies while I took a much needed nap, and by dinner, Oakley was almost back to his regular self. Oliver and Oakley finally got the hang of unwrapping presents this year, so it was fun to watch them tear into stuff with excitement.
Sunday, we hit up the day after Christmas sales. I love Denver's malls. I am so jealous! The Cherry Creek mall is awesome, and it's probably a good thing I don't live so close to it. I didn't get to explore it as much as I would have liked though, but I did get four new pairs of jeans at Macy's since they were having a denim sale, and all of my jeans fit very, very poorly (in a good way!) Plus, not only did I get jeans on sale, but I found jeans that FIT on sale. I have trouble finding a good length, and I have smallish thighs, so jeans are hard for me to find a lot of the time. But I got four pairs! I need to clean out my jean drawer now, but that's okay. We headed to REI afterwards and let the guys shop around while I hung out in the car (the kids had fallen asleep) with my book.
We got back to the house around two, I think, and since we'd planned on leaving around four, got right to packing. I'm proud to say that we got everything packed and in the car in under an hour. So far, the only thing that has been found that we forgot was a pair of p.j.s.
We headed out and stopped in Loveland, Co at a P.F. Changs for dinner. They said the wait was about 30-45 minutes, so we waited. About a half hour and our buzzer goes off. Hooray! We get to the table, and the waitress notices that there are five of us, not four, even though I told the hostess five. This table won't work for us, she says. It'll only about about ten more minutes for a table for five though, she says. Another half hour goes by, we're very hungry and just want to eat so we can get back on the road before we get too sleepy. We finally get a table, order as fast as anyone ever has, I think, eat, and head back out. The weather was considerably better on the way home, thank goodness, and we made it home in about 20 hours (including the two hour-ish stop at P.F. Changs, another hour at a Burger King for breakfast, and getting gas, etc...)
We got home Monday around 1 p.m. and starting doing chores we hadn't had time to do before we left. We reorganized the entire playroom to have room for all the new stuff, plus we moved the train table in there, did laundry, dishes, a quick trip to the store for milk and other essentials....
It's good to be home. I've missed my bed, my shower, my laptop, my kitchen with it's regular food, and not having to constantly wonder if the kids will actually eat "that". Denver has things I will miss too, though. Having Phil's grandma, sister, brother, and uncle in the house with us was like having a bunch of nannies for my kids. I had to change very few diapers, and the kids were entertained pretty much the whole time, Elliot got spoiled by being able to be held most of the time, which I can't do when I'm at home alone with all the kids, and Phil's grandparents are fun too. His grandma is convinced that Oakley is some sort of genius because he can do jigsaw puzzles, and that Oliver is a genius because he is fully potty trained, LOL.
I doubt anybody cared to have this much detail about our trip, but there it is.
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