Ode to my bike ride

I will do anything to get out of running. Yes I love it but I only love it when I am done. So today to get out of running I went on a bike ride and if I can get off the computer, I will do a DVD too.

-To the City of Chandler - unless you want to see my guts all over the street from getting hit by a car, please sweep your bike lanes.

To bike short makers - can we have a little more padding please or at least make it a little differently - girls have delicate parts

To those parts - I am sorry, you will be sore later on

To Eastern Mountain Sports - your water bottles suck much

To the Ill Eagles who got the wet t-shirt contest for free - thank Eastern Mountain Sports

To the 18 wheeler who drove REALLY fricking close to me - a$$

To the old guy who about took me out in the white Nissan - I hope your oxygen tank doesn't leak

To the other old guy who was going to race me at the red light - I totally would have had you if I could have clipped in quicker

To the guy in the white truck - It is seriously not cool to keep rolling forward when you CLEARLY see I am not stopping

To my friends and family - if you ever need to find anything small such as an earring, a nail, a screw, a piece of glass, a tiny rock perhaps....just call on me. Lord knows I can run it over with my bike tire.

Finally to me - You seriously have to learn how to look backwards without weaving the way that you are checking, you are going to get hit.

My life long dreams

So anyone who knows me (all 2 people that read this blog *hi Mom!*) know that I have struggled with my weight. Throughout school, college, the first move (really bad) and now this one. My brother on the other hand, can't gain weight to save his life.

In high school, we used to make our lunches in the morning while my mom loungfully (if that isn't a word, it should be) laid in bed (ok, that isn't true, but I am not sure what she was doing though). My tall thin brother would make (and I kid you not) 2 regular full fat bologna sandwiches with full fat cheese and full fat mayo on whiter than white bread, cookies, chips, and regular pop (soda to those on the east coast). Me, the vertically challenged one, I would pack a half of a leaf of lettuce, half cherry tomato, and water. I was always the fluffier one of the two of us. I am sure that him playing basketball all the time and me getting my exercise by grapevining in choir had nothing to do with it but whateva.

I started working out in college (of course it was right before the wedding) and really fell in love with it. Not running at this point but the sitting down exercises....the bike.....sit-ups....the massages afterwards. You know, the strenuous stuff. Then I moved...

Now I am not blaming anyone for be gaining 50 pounds (and unfortunately that isn't a lie) but when we moved to MA, it was very hard for me. I didn't have a job, I was so scared to go out for runs (and again, didn't love it yet) and we couldn't afford a gym. Eventually I got it under control and then WHAM! we move again. Only this time, I seriously love working out. My absolutely favorite activity is boxing. Now, I am not talking about girly sissy kick boxing. I mean give me the huge a$$ gloves with a bag in front of me and let me at it. I found this love when I was at the gym in MA. It is funny because I don't' feel that I could ever seriously punch anyone in real life. Actually that is not true. The only person I could ever punch with my fu, -er - half strength was my brother.

Why? What did he ever do?

He was the only one I knew I wouldn't ever hurt :-) That and I really haven't had the opportunity to hit anyone else. I do hope that all the practice I have had would come in handy if I ever were attacked (although if I am running, see the post below).

Anyway, my whole life I always feel like I have been a step below D and I just have to say. One of these days I am going to be able to run farther, do more push-ups, and hell, even play basketball better than him. I may have to wait until he is 75 and all arthritic but it will happen....one day dude, I will do it.

So thanks for the motivation to keep going and not gain another 50 ;-) Lord knows I need to lose the first 50 ;-)

I'm feeling good from my head to my shoes

So I dropped the kids off this am and watched them walk across the street, I plugged my ear phones in (actually John's since I can't find mine as of right now), and started my run. I didn't give myself a chance to talk me out of it cause I am good at doing that.

I was almost done with my run when a thought just popped into my head when I saw what I thought was a young man walking his dog......I am running at such an intensity that I don't know if I would have the energy to fight someone off. See, here is the thing, I look really attractive when I run. The way the sun glistens off my sweat filled hair or the way it bounces off my redden cheeks. Oh, then there is the way my chest looks when I am gasping for any amount of extra oxygen in the air.

It's hot I tell you.

So when I reached the old lady who was walking her little mutt (yeah I know.....I was WAY off) and picking up a pile of poo, I realized that if I did get attacked, wouldn't that somewhat be a blessing since then I wouldn't have to run for a little bit?

Running quietly? D-12 all the way....kinda

I don't think so. My friend that I mentioned in the previous post suggested that I run without my earphones blaring in my ears and that I listen to my body. I was going to try that today when I realized that my body was telling me to take a nap, that i deserved it.

Instead, I went on a 2 mile jaunt around my neighborhood with Eminem blasting profanity in my ears. Apparently, that is what motivates me to run since I ran the whole time. Something about White America and he could be one of my kids. It seriously struck me as funny that on one of the songs of his, they bleep out the word balls yet keep in the f word. and Funny isn't the word they keep in. I have to tell you though, that man has gotten me through so many of my runs I have lost count! It doesn't hurt that he is hot.

Tomorrow is my 3 mile traipse around the subdivision. Let's hope my butt doesn't get lost. I think I got it but you never know....

I have a lunch date tomorrow so yippee for me!!! :-)

Not my usual happy post

Today is a very sad day for me and my family. My furry nephew has passed. In honor of Nozzle, I wanted to post about the first day that I met him.

I was still living at home (along with my brother) and I got a call from my brother. My mom and I were sitting in the dining room when the phone rang. My brother said "hey Hol, I picked up a dog today and his name is Nozzle. I was so excited. I said "oh I can't believe you got him, let me talk to him!" So Dan put him on the phone and I talked with my nephew. (this was a while before he met his wife and this was the closest I was going to get to having a nephew for a while). I started talking with Nozzle on the phone and when I hung up my mom thought we were just teasing her (Lord knows we tried to do things like this all the time to her.....no wonder she didn't believe us).

She ended up believing us when the little munchkin walked into his new domain. He was the most interesting dog I had ever seen. He was grey/black/blond/brown all rolled into one. His attitude and personality was my brother. Fit him to a T. It's like my brother had found his soul pet.

I know that he is in a much better place chasing after my cats and sitting at the feet of my Grandma, but that doesn't mean my heart doesn't ache for my brother or his family.

I love you Noz.

Duh

I realized that I didn't blog about the Friday night incident:

On Friday night the whole family went out and biked for a little. Mad did a little move with her foot and was fine, did it again and I saw her go over her handle bars. John quickly tried to stop and ended up just toppling over. He couldn't unclip his shoes from the pedals fast enough and just went down. I laugh now knowing that they are both ok but.....she bruised her hip a little and he was bleeding from his leg. I am laughing as much as I can without ticking John off but it was funny :-) I know that if it were me that fell over, I wouldn't have been any help to Madison as I would be laughing too hard to get up to help her :-) That was one of my biggest fears with getting clips on my bike. But everyone is ok today.....a little bruised but ok...

So now you see why I am so proud of her for getting back up on the bike!

Procrastination?

I was scheduled for another run yesterday. I did *EVERYTHING* in my power not to go. I had the cleanest floor, the cleanest clothes, hell, I have the cleanest garage. I was trying to get out of it again when the kids wanted to go to the park but I was selfish enough to just go.

And go I did. I ran the 2 miles only stopping when I realized I didn't know which road to take. That's right, I got lost in my own sub-division. I had mapped out my new route only to not remember the road names in my head. It doesn't help that they were so stupid in naming the roads out here. There are 15 E Ashley and 24 W Amanda's! I honestly think the *guys* who were responsible were drunks.

I ended up making it home in good time to John cooking dinner. It was the best salmon on the grill that I have ever had! It was awesome!

We are off to find a new bike trail today. I am so proud of Madison getting back up on the bike! Hopefully she saves the theatrics just near our house.

Next time I see that little girl down the street

I am going to push her. I don't care that I am an adult and should know better, I am going to push her down.

"All this hostility to a 4 year old Holly, why ever would you feel like that?" (see, since only Kathie comments, I have to talk to my damn self....nice, real nice)

So let me go back to the beginning.

My plans changed this morning and there was no shopping trip. Not a big deal. John finally went to work and the house was mine again before the weekend and all was good. I started picking up things around the house and decided to head to Sprouts. It is this granola crunchy place that I think I have mentioned before but I can't remember. It is Trader Joe-like only better. So I come home and decide to quickly change into my workout gear and go for a run before my body realizes what I am doing. Sometimes you just have to do it (Go Nike!). So about a mile into the run my body wakes up and goes "WHAT THE HECK!" and I mentally said OK, let's walk for a bit. I am being hard on myself because it was literally me crossing the street and then I ran again.

Well, if you have ever stopped yourself while going forward the first time, then you know that times 2 and 3 were just as easy to stop for. I mean, had I not walked across the street, I could have been run over by one of the golf carts that we see driving around here. You know how those old people are ;-)

In any event, I was going to run the rest of the way to make up for my walking until my street and then do my cool down on the street.

I turn onto my street and there are a 4 year old and her mom watching me run. Well dang it to heck, I can't look like a wimp and start walking. So I picked up the pace so the girl wouldn't beat me to my house and won. Next time, I am pushing her down.

So in a nut shell, day 3 of training is done and went well. Didn't get arrested yet.

left right left right

So, once again, my workout plans had to change. My "on his death bed" husband came home from work today because he was too ill to sit in his cube and pass his nasty sick germs to his co-workers. Nope, he had to come home and share them with me all day. In case you haven't been counting, he has been home since he left work on FRIDAY! I am going insane....I mean I insanely love him. Yeah that is what I mean.

So I asked for my TV to work out with Jill at 2pm (trying to get into a routine and all) but of course, that time came and went so I opted for a bike ride. I went about 6.5 miles today. It felt great. Although I have to admit, my stomach decided to be lazy this trip since I had to keep sucking it up off my legs!Not the prettiest sight by far.

Oh well, I am off to shop tomorrow with John's bosses wife. Should be fun! I guess someone has to make sure John has job security since he hasn't been working :-)

You're the meaning in my life...you're my inspiration

Ah. An 80's classic.

I started my half marathon training today. I was actually supposed to start it yesterday but John is home sick and I used that as an excuse to not start. I have a friend who really helped me get my inspiration today.

I decided today was going to be the day and with the help of John's foot kicking me out of the house, I joyfully bounded out the door to my 2 1/4 run. It was supposed to be a run/walk but I decided that since I *used* to be able to run 5 miles I could pull 2 out of my behind. I started running and when I was going to stop, the vision of my friend came into my head. I am so impressed with what he has accomplished within the last year. He lost at least 3000 pounds and has become a tri-athelte, bike riding fool, and karaoke king all while dealing with some really tough issues. I figure if he can overcome what he has and still come out on top, I can deal with a whiny husband and 2 little miles. Thanks Skata.

I didn't start out with the plan to run the entire time but it just felt right. I did it in great time for me. Better than when I was running regularly. I am by no means fast. The old man that passed me can attest to that but I think the wheels on his walker gave him an advantage. I swear the next time he smirks at me the way he did when he was passing me, I will push him down. I run on a lightly traveled road so the odds of someone seeing me are slim.

I have somewhat officially signed up for 2 exciting races in my new neighborhood. I say somewhat since I printed out the registration form and wrote them on my calendar. I am planning on doing that later today. I swear. Honest.

So please feel free to email me or call and ask me how the training is going. I won't lie. I swear. Honest. ;-)

This is what happens when your kids get your camera

I either get shots like this or of butts. This was of the former...

Just to clear the air

I often reread what I have written cause I have a friend that has ruined a few too many monitors correcting my errors on her screen. In doing so, I realize that I may have come across as a *gasp* uncaring b*tch to my husband.

Ask my kids and they will tell you that they like getting sick because Mom waits on them hand and foot while they perch their butts on the sofa calling for this and calling for that. They actually listen to me and say "mommy, what will make me feel better?" and then they *double gasp* do it! Do you want to know what happens?

They get better.

Oh I know what you are thinking. I don't have magical powers or any thing like that. There is no magic wand or pixie dust. I swear. They just listen to what I say and do what I say and they improve.

Now I am going to keep a positive spin on this email so that I don't go getting any hate mail from certain parents in law but someone in the family (notice me not naming names) doesn't listen to me and therefore......doesn't get better. (can you see me smiling with positivity?)

If only the whole world would listen to me, it would be a positive happy cheerful place for us all to live in. :-)

P.S. No drugs were consumed during the making of this blog :-)

Things that I don't like

I often find myself in the shower thinking about something and say "dude, that totally needs to go in my blog". Then life happens and the thought escapes out my ear. I think there is a passage that crawls out from my brain thought processing area right out into the universe. It all started when I got a bigger house and no job. Give me a littler house and a job and I am one heck of an organized person. (Although I did organize my closet *finally* and it looks awesome. I will take a photo and post it tomorrow)

Feeling a little uninspired on what to write about, I thought I would focus on good things that are going on and then to balance out the ying and the yang of this email, the not so good things.

Good: It is Tuesday tomorrow and my kids are going back to school!
Bad: John isn't feeling 100% and heard him mention about staying home.

Good: I have Madison signed up for gymnastics and a painting class and Ant signed up for soccer.
Bad: John isn't feeling 100% and heard him mention about staying home and I really hate when he is sick

Good: My kids get 2 weeks off in March and on the second week, I signed them up for softball/soccer camp for the morning.
Bad:John isn't feeling 100% and heard him mention about staying home and I really hate when he is sick because even though I have given birth to two of his big headed children, I don't know the pain he is going through.

Good: I have signed up for 2 races and I am looking for a half marathon to race in about 3 months.
Bad: John isn't feeling 100% and heard him mention about staying home and I really hate when he is sick because even though I have given birth to two of his big headed children, I don't know the pain he is going through and he stays up too late and doesn't listen to my advice on how to get better.

Good: I am feeling healthy and good about things in my life right now
Bad: John isn't feeling 100% and heard him mention about staying home and I really hate when he is sick because even though I have given birth to two of his big headed children, I don't know the pain he is going through and he stays up too late and doesn't listen to my advice on how to get better (jeez, do I really need to add to this?)

Weird: I often find that when I try and sign off and write "I am off" I write "I am odd" and it happens too many times for me to think it is anything but the universe trying to tell me something....

Seriously not sure what happened tonight.

Do you see my face?

Shock. Utter shock.

My husband made dinner (not that big of a shock since it was BBQ'ed pork and so reruns from the fridge and I made the corn but whateva....). It was really lovely to sit down as a family and eat. Seeing as how everyone is so busy, that is one of the things that I really try to do almost every night. We start the conversations "So Madison, tell me something good that happened to you today?" and off we go.

So we went around the table today and everyone said their thing while eating dinner.

After we were done (I was still eating), aliens took over John's body. I swear that is the only way it can be explained. I watched him get up from the table and start CLEANING UP! I am not talking just moving the dishes to the sink for me to do later. I mean seriously unloading the dishwasher and loading it back up, cleaning the oven top, scrubbing the counter until everything was:

PERFECT!

What did I do all day that it was left undone?

I spent my day at the mall....hey, a girl has to shop ;-)

Tom T loves you

I am sure he extends his love to you too. You don't know who he is? Well shame on you.

He is the guy I just got done hearing moan, he-ya, grunt and profess his love to the world for the last 45 minutes in his kickboxing special.

I have learned throughout the years of taking aerobic classes or DVDs a few things.

1) No matter how many times instructors say "one more" "little bit longer" "last time" they don't mean it. There must be a misfiring in their brains of what those words actually mean. One more to me means the next time I bust my butt doing your little combo will be it and I will be able to go sit on my sofa and eat a pint of Ben and Jerry's (what, how do you replenish your calories). No, one more means at least 2-3 more times.

2) There are some instructors that are OK with the little silences and don't feel that they need to fill every little second with verbiage. Those are the ones that I like. This guy seriously sounded like he was in pain doing his own little combos. *UGH* *HEYA* *HYI* (it is hard to get across exactly how he sounded so if you need to know, call me)

3) If you say "Feel the pain, love the pain, embrace the pain" more than once in your 45 minute show (which has commercials....how flipping cool is that)...then I am going to wish that I could "inflict the pain" more and more on your heya-ing butt. And you can trust that you will feel it, love it and you better embrace it.

Have fun working out!

MIA? no way!

I haven't had a whole lot of things to say lately. I know I know...shocker.

I did volunteer in Madison's class last week. That was cool. I figure if I go there enough, someone might just offer me a job ;-)

I went to a card making class and I was the second youngest by half. AT LEAST. I am not sure if I am ready to hang with the old crew. They usually go home in the summer so I wouldn't want to get attached to an old person just to have them leave when the going gets a little warm here. I did learn an interesting fact that you can file away in your Rolodex of a memory. Instead of the "old fashion" way of giving someone your number (got a piece of paper? Nah, I'll remember it) the people here pass out business cards. What business do they own? NOTHING! It has their address on them! Is it to pass out to friends or so they don't forget where they live? Hrmm...

I went out with John's bosses wife and son the other day. I am doing my part to try and preserve John's job as much as I can. I figure it is the least I can do. :-)

The time has come that my kids are no longer going to be in karate :-( I am very sad at that fact as we have had many a great time and experience over the past 6 years. They do a different style and I can't find a school around here (without driving 30 miles one way) to take them. I am heartbroken.

I am going scrapbooking at the end of this month. Should be fun.

I have started getting my granola crunchy feet wet and actually started to compost our family's food waste. It is kinda exciting! Although after dumping all the food into the bin, I read a book that said I should have done it a little differently. Hrmm....guess I will have to fix it next weekend. We are going to plant some orange/lemon/palm trees soon. I have purchased the seeds for the garden that I am going to start. Any bids on how long it takes me to kill the entire yard?

It's a dog's life...

Because I am such a kind hearted-animal loving-soul, I have a bird feeder. For about the first week there were no birds. I was certain that once it got out in the little bird community that I had food in my feeder, they would come.

Sure enough, they did.

There are a constant flow of birds on the feeders. They are AZ bird....little bit different. There are a lot of doves out here.

Frank is having a field day when we let him out after them. He is too vertically challenged to run fast and therefore will never actually catch one. I think the birds know this since they don't actually leave the yard, just high enough until the annoying dog goes in the house.

This morning, after breakfast, I let Frank out to do his business. He caught sight of a dove on the ground and went out running....the bird flew away without Frank catching him. Not to be made fun of, Frank did the next best thing....he went and pooed on the ground where the bird was standing.

Take that Little Dove. Take that.

Finally

We finally have a real adult bedroom set of our very own! Just a wee bit different than the set we had in MA. I don't think even the nightstand would have fit in our bedroom in MA.

Below is my dresser:

This is John's dresser:

This is my bed (John's is in the closet with Frank):

This is another one of my dressers: