A long short week!

Hope everyone enjoyed their civic holiday. Somehow the August long weekend always kicks my butt. The short week that follows always seems soooooo long.

Can't believe that we are through the first week of August already! We are off to t-ball today and then we'll see where the wind takes us. The kids are tired from spending friday at the farm and could probably use a break today. I know I could use a break today. I am tired.

I ran at lunch all 4 days this week I probably should have taken one day off atleast but if you have been reading this blog for any amount of time you will know that I am really struggling with the concept of muscle weighs more than fat.

That number on the scale keeps climbing I am almost back to where I started which after 3.5 months on running 3 times a week. Is just...well...goddamned depressing.

I know... I know... I fucking know it's not the number on the scale it's how you feel and how your clothes fit. For this I am greatful because A) my jeans look fabulous on my sorry tired ass and B) I think I came within a smidgen of the fabled "runner's high" today. All I know is I didn't feel like a dirty rotten sticky stinky gym sock with a hole in it when I came in from running today.

So life is good.

The Bugaloo is showing signs of his hamstings tightening up again and I can't seem to get a hold of the docs office to get our next round of botox booked. I have been trying to get him in before school starts so he doesn't have to miss a day of school. He's back to toe walking and complaining about it hurting when we ask him to stand flat footed. He has burned through ANOTHER pair of shoes so I will have to break in the spares and go shopping for new spares. Anyone know where I can buy shares in Nike?

The Peanut is progressing nicely through the terrible twos by being...well..what else TERRIBLE! we are on to pouting and generally being disagreeable ALOT. But when she's good she is really good and really CUTE. So we will keep her.

Friday Post - Life Balance

This post is a perfect example of Life Balance. I realized that my blog was lacking some intellectual content. I mean I'm sure my family and a few of my friends appreciated the updates but I kept getting emails asking if I was okay because the tone, and wit of my usual communication was not coming through. I do not have time to come up with a witty intelligent post everyday. I also can't rely on photos to entertain you as previously posted I have computer issues. So I sat down to decide what I could manage, and now I am trying to make that work for me. Hence the polls that have started and the topical Friday posts. Yeah for me!

That in a nutshell is Life Balance. Decide what you want to do and then figure what part of that is manageable. ACCEPT that under perfect circumstances you would do it all and do it perfectly, but because the circumstances are less then perfect you will do what you can manage and KNOW in your heart that you have contributed in a way that makes you happy. Do I sound like Pollyanna?

Life Balance is about managing your expectations. Not lowering them! Hear me very clearly! Managing them. We all want to make contributions. Many of us have been raised with the notion that we can have it all! What "they" forgot to tell us is that we will require lots of help, have to make LOTS of sacrifices and generally question ourselves on a daily basis. Great! Where does that leave us?

For me personally what does this look like I will give you a glimpse.
-I HAVE to work (I have the heath and dental benefits)
-I stay up late on Tuesdays because that is the only creative time I have
-I run almost everyday at lunch because I only have 3-4 hours with my kids after work and that is more important than my waist line.
-I run because I need to be healthy to take care of my family
-I communicate with my friends via email because its the only way for me to maintain some type of communication on a regular basis right now (this hurts me and I'm working on it)
-Local friends I try to see once every 6 weeks (this is what I can manage right now)
-Out of town friends not.so.much! (I even missed my god daughters birthdays this year and that really really SUCKS)

-My husband and I don't have date nights but we do have dinner together almost ever night and we spend a 1/2 hour together almost everynight after we get the kids to bed. This is what we do for us and yes there are some nights that I give up my creative time or Grey's Anatomy so that I can make love with my husband, because hey he's HOT and after all this time he still makes me tingly.

-I volunteer with KIDSABILITY (where the bug has therapy)
-We give one donation a year to Kidsability and turn everyone else away although I have supported other organizations who are selling something I would have purchased otherwise (ie christmas cards)

I have found that life balance for me has been about focusing on what I wanted when I started out in my twenties, (which was being a mom and having a happy marriage and being a successful person) and what that means to me each year. Trying to make that work and not get too lost in all the other images and expectations that I am bombarded with on a daily basis. There are so many things that I get interested in and want to do or participate in, but I have to ask myself if it will help our hurt my original goals of "happy family". Somethings I can make room for, somethings will only cause a temporary imbalance and will be beneficial in the long run. Somethings I just have to pass on and say no. I would have to say that these are the hardest decisions.

I don't claim to have all the answers this is what helps me. I was planning on linking a bunch of information but I am running out of time. Ahh the delicate balance. Maybe I will put this on the poll for next week.

Right now I have to go because if I don't get to work we are going to have an "IMBALANCE" if I get fired.

Have a great day! Let me know what you think?

Shannon :)

Don't forget to vote!

Don't forget to vote for a post topic for tomorrow!

Running and Buggies

Well first of all I have to apologize to everyone in the free world who is looking for the Bugaloo Baby Buggy Stroller. The word search activity on that phrase connecting people to my blog has been extreme. I wish I knew more about the stroller all I do know is that it was out of my price range and therefore I stopped looking for it.

AND THEN.... I hope instead of finding your stroller you found a little humour with a tip here and there to make your life easier.

AND THEN... for those of you who travelled here due to a search on Cerebral palsy. I will do my best to provide a few more posts on this subject in hopes of helping you out, treatment, behaviour, parenting, school, my personal feelings, fundraising,etc. You tell me what you would like to know>>>.

AND THEN.....

Running, it is going well as far as running goes... we are upto 7 mins of continuous running before we take a 1 minute break so all in all not bad. Am I losing any inches YES Ma'am. Am I losing any weight Hell NO and I am PISSED off (with a capital P) How can so much work not reap any rewards in the weight loss category. Boo Hiss. And the first person who tells me it's because I am gaining muscle mass can take a long hard suck on my lily white A$$! I want to see those numbers drop damn it!

AND THEN.... No more and then For now!

Cloudy Day

Well, it's cloudy here today, and not the big puffy clouds either, just gray and gloomy. Good thing we had such and awesome weekend to keep me going through the week.

I am hoping that I will be able to buy my new computer this week. I have been scrimping and saving. This old boat anchor has seen better days. I keep getting error messages for simple tasks. It is over 4 years old, practically an antique. I have been way too afraid to upload anymore photos incase the whole thing just goes POOF and I lose everything. So I have only been using it to check my email and blog a little bit.

I have lots of photos to upload and save and I have my new Storybook Creator PLUS software that I cannot wait to start using.

So exciting. I will probably have to wait until Friday or Saturday and then hopefully next week I can show you what I have been working on lately.

Have a great Monday!
Shann

LONG WEEKEND

Gotta love the long weekend. We took the kids out to my parents farm for our first "camping trip" We camped way in the back field so the kids would get the feeling of being out there by ourselves. We spent the evening at the barn doing chores and then had a BBQ dinner with Neena and Papa. Then time to retire to the tent so we took our long walk out to the field and dug out our fire pit and got everything ready for a fire. Then we got the kids in the pjs and blankets and sat them in the chairs to watch the fire. they were totally into it, getting the glazed look in their eyes as they watched the flames dance in the twilight.

I cracked out the s'mores because the bug was so excited about it. Only to discover that he really just preferred the raw marshmellows because the cooked ones were tooo STICKY. The peanut however that that cooked marshmellows was a treat sent to her by God himself. She really enjoyed them. So then happy and sticky we took them back to the tent and read our stories and laid with them in the tent for about 40 mins listening to the crickets and the sound of the water in the creek. The horses thundering back and forth along the fence line because they were so curious about this fire and rather large tent that had invaded their peaceful landscape.

Finally the kids fell asleep and hubby and I sat around the fire and had a couple of beers and watched the stars, which are so much brighter out there away from the lights of the city. I think my hubby got just a peak into how I grew up and why I can't stand the city so much.

I really hope someday soon we will be able to move out of the city.

The next day Bugaloo was up BEFORE the rooster for crying out loud. By atleast 15 - 20 minutes. He announced MOM MOM the sun is coming up! So he and Dad got up and watched the Sun come up and Me and Peanut we slept until 7 or so. We had breakfast in the tent screen room and then we headed up to see Neena and Papa again (because they had COFFEE). Then we spent the morning doing chores and helping out on the farm and packing up the tent. We got home and convinced the kids to have a nap (2 hours later) I thought I had better get some groceries for our house.

We had a great time with the kids for our first trip. Now we can't wait to do it again. I think this will be a great way to spend our summer weekends.

Clutter and Organizing

The votes are in and it looks like this will be a post about clutter and organizing.

What the Key? - Throw some SHIT away! kidding....

What is clutter? Everything that doesn't have a home. All the crap that you have no where to put. Ity Bity treasures that your kids find outside, gifts your kids get from the doctor or the dentist for being good patient. Magazines, flyers (ugh), the shoes, the bag of hand-me-downs that you haven't gone through yet or given away yet.

It all just piles up. After reading Peter Walsh's book It's all too much I realized that it really is a mind set. You need to deal with clutter as it happens, get rid of the flyers that you are never going to look at, for example for us right now in our lives we never look at the Nevada Bob's Golf store flyer, neither one of us are going golfing anytime soon, even if we had to play tomorrow we have all the equipment we need to get us through 1 or 2 tournaments there is no need to read that flyer. Same goes for grocery stores that I just won't go to. For me the Price Chopper is just not convenient- EVER. So I turf that flyer too even if they have cheese on sale for 50 cents I know I will never go there so forget it.

Another tip I have read from Marilu Henner is "Never leave a room empty handed" I think that has proved very useful. You would be amazed what gets picked up one handful at a time.

In our household we have found that the family calendar with a to do list and grocery list attached or posted in close proximity is a life saver. All activities nights out, etc get put on the calendar as they are booked. Items used up or requested get put on the grocery list. Anything I notice around the house that needs to get done goes on the to do list ie sweep the floor,vaccumming, laundry, dishwasher, oil change on the car. Then when me or hubby has a few minutes we review that list and prioritize those little things that keep the house running.

We try to chat once or twice a week to check in and see if we have any scheduling conflicts or if one or the other is feeling too rushed or worn out and then we may have to make some choices to cancel some engagements, this also happens if we notice the kids are getting a little out of sorts and need some down time.

When I put away laundry which is about once every 10 days I go through each child's clothes to see what fits what they haven't worn and I keep a bag going on the back of the bedroom or closet door, when this bag is full it goes to the donation holding area in our garage to be picked up with the next donation day.

A great resource for tips is Peter Walsh's website which has a Tip of the Day.

I find the best way to deal with clutter and organizing is little steps at a time. Start with the daily stuff, picking up after yourselves and organizing your family activities and time when you have that under control you will be able to carve out an hour here or there to deal with one pile at a time.

With just a little bit at a time you will begin to feel the weight lifting and the air starting to move again which will motivate you to keep going one hour one pile at a time.

Have a great long weekend! Till next time! don't forget to vote for next week's topic.