Turkey Trot, Reindeer Run and Life

Well, even though it's been a while, I want to give an update on what we've been up to the past few months. In November 2012, Thanksgiving day, Jason and I ran the Turkey Trot 8k (approximately 5 miles). I was thrilled to finish in the time that I had set for myself. I wanted to finish in less than 55 minutes. That was my wishful thinking/hope-I-can-make-it goal. I did it! I finished in 54 minutes and some odd seconds! I was thrilled!

The next week, I pushed Jianna in the stroller during a 5k race, the Reindeer Run. I hoped to make it in under an hour with her as well. It was a tough course, but I made it. Jason ran ahead and once he finished his race, he came back and helped me finish. I don't have the official time on that race, because it is a smaller race and I couldn't find my finishing time.

After those two races, we got several really cold blasts of winter air and I didn't want to take Jianna out in them, so I've fallen off the running bandwagon for a while. But this spring and summer I want to get back to it. In the mean time, I've been doing some exercise videos through sparkpeople.com. They have short videos that are easily played one after another to create my own unique workout every day. Jianna's favorite is a jump-rope interval workout. It is ten minutes long, but she enjoys marching and jumping with me. :)

For Christmas I decided to make the women in my family a scarf each. I decided to do that before I knew exactly how many people I'd be making gifts for. I also only thought of it Thanksgiving day. I was determined and crazy! But I pushed myself and without too much stress was done on time! I had fun figuring out what would be the best color for each person and who would like what style. Most of the scarves I made were my own creation. Not a single one was exactly the same as anyone else's scarf. It was fun to get creative with their gifts.

Since the beginning of the year, I haven't done much crocheting, but I needed the break. I've started back a few things here and there and am enjoying it tremendously! My goal this year is to make the gifts before Thanksgiving, so that I don't have as much last minute stress.:) We'll see how it works out.

Jianna is growing like a weed. This is my kitchen helper and enjoys helping me make dinner most nights and breakfast many mornings. She loves to dress herself and comes up with some interesting, but cute, looking outfits. :) She has started to ask me to fix her hair and help her put lotion on her hands. She hates to see anyone cry. It makes her sad when other kids or babies cry. She thinks her mommy and daddy can fix anything and tells us that a baby is crying and we need to go help. I keep explaining that the baby's mommy or daddy are taking car of it and that we can't go over and help. :) She has a very tender heart. She enjoys playing with play dough, coloring, drawing, playing with puzzles,  reading, building with blocks and legos, and so many other things. She keeps me busy.

Well I hope each of you are doing well. See ya later.

Running in September and Blessings

I've been following a 10k running plan to get ready for the Turkey Trot in November, and am excited to share that I am running faster, longer than I was before! I've been averaging a 12 min/mile and regularly running for a time in the 10 min/mile range, hills and all! This past week (I know it was the beginning of October), I had my first day that I just didn't feel like I could do the run that was scheduled. So I didn't, we went for a walk, instead. We didn't plan it that way, I just never got up the gumption to start running. Every time I tried, it was a like a mental/physical wall went up and my legs and mind said, "nope, not going to happen." So I didn't.

I've been regularly running 3 or 4 miles, 3 times a week, with a 5 or 6 miler on Saturday. I've found that I have to eat EVERY 4 hours to have the stamina when I run. Normally, I will eat a snack of trail mix or cheese or fruit or something like that. If I don't drink at least 1 liter of water a day (plus juice, and other things like milk and I take part of a powerade when I run), I can't run as fast, long or as hard as I normally do.

We've been getting some forced change of scenery on our runs, but it has been nice. We ran up near the dam this week, and enjoyed our time tremendously. They have some nice inclines and declines and it's not too terribly crowded, at the time of day that we went. The sound of the water and the scenery went from city park to country, and open. It was nice.

Jianna has been more and more talkative the past few weeks. This morning, her allergies were acting up and she sneezed. On me. :) After she realized what had happened and we laughed a second about she said, "Mommy, I blessed you!" I thought, yes, baby, you did! In more than the ways you're thinking about! It was a precious time.

Blessings... It's the Simple Things!

Have you ever prayed for something and hoped for something and wished for something that you kind of, sort of needed and would use every day, but you wanted it more than you needed it? And you understood that, so you waited. Then got impatient and started looking around for that something. Then waited (because God said, "Not yet.")... You know where I'm going with this? You (really, I) repeated that cycle several times, then one day, out of the blue, God dropped that something in your lap. And it was perfect. And you were thrilled! And you couldn't contain yourself, because you were so excited! Well, you could say that the "you" in all of the above paragraph is me. Today.

I've seen Jianna growing up for the past several months and I wanted to be prepared and have just the right furniture and just the right bed and, and, and... And God told me, "Not yet." Through circumstances, through wisdom and through Jason. But I got impatient with the waiting and prayed and looked around for what I thought we needed. And everything that I saw I wanted, but God and Jason said, "wait". Well, I wanted to finagle (is that a word?) and work it out on my own, but I decided they probably knew better than me. And I hate conflict, so I waited. Then I would get impatient again with the waiting, and start looking again. And they would tell me to wait, again. This has been happening on and off for the past 6 months or so. Sometimes on a weekly basis. But today, God provided just what we needed,  at just the right time!!

It is a beautiful bed, chest of drawers and book/toy case/bench. All white. And just right! Thank you, God! You know so much better than I do what we need and when! Thank you!

Mid July

Well, July has brought some new things for us. Hot, humid runs and a toddler who is trying to grow up. The runs have been hard, but not impossible. I am learning how to slow down so that I can run farther, longer. It doesn't seem to make much sense to my mind, but when I slow my pace down, my overall time is faster. The last couple Saturdays I've tried to run the same course, just to give myself something to gauge how I'm doing by. Last Saturday, I slowed my pace down, but I ran more than I had previously run. I knocked a couple minutes off of my finishing time! I was so thrilled! I did have to walk a couple times, but I kept them short and just until my breathing slowed to the point of no longer gasping. :-) It was an enlightening experience. Before, I would try to run as fast as I could for as long as I could. That doesn't work for me. I need to slow down and try to run as far as I can.

This month, Jianna's vocabulary has sky-rocketed. She has started putting words together into sentences, and wants to communicate almost from the time she wakes up until she lays down. She asks "why?" and "what's that?" a lot, too. It is fun to see her changing and growing.

Well, that's what's new with us so far. Not much exciting going on. Hope you all enjoy the rest of your summer!

Jianna's newest things and summer time fun

Hello again!

Jianna started singing this morning and it was precious! Recently she has started singing more and more. She sings her ABC's (A B C C E F E) :-) and she tries to count (two tree fo five eight nine). It is so amazing to hear her learning and putting into practice what she is learning. She has started counting more especially when I am crocheting, because I will count aloud so that I can keep the pattern the same.

This summer we are participating in the reading program at the library. Jianna has already earned a free pass to the Children's Discovery Museum. I can't wait to use it soon and see her responses to all the cool stuff they have!

Another thing she really enjoys is wading and just playing outside. It is so much fun to see her enjoy the outdoors!

Are there any fun things to do in the summer that are free or inexpensive that you would suggest?

Spiders don't like vinegar!

Yesterday afternoon, a rather large spider showed up on the wall in my kitchen. I don't like spiders! At all!! I didn't have any bug spray on hand, and so I ran to the cabinet and pulled out my vinegar spray. (It is just vinegar and water at a 70:30 ratio) I didn't know if it would work, but I thought maybe the smell would stun it long enough for me to kill it with my tennis shoe. I sprayed it once, it kept on going. I sprayed it again. It jumped/fell off the wall and onto the floor. I sprayed it twice more and it finally started acting like the vinegar was having an effect. I waited a few minutes, watching from a safe distance. It started to shrivel up! Woo hoo!! I was thrilled!

I decided to show it to Jason, but I didn't want it in my house, so I swept it into the dustpan and set it on the back porch. A while later I decided to sweep the kitchen floor and needed the dustpan to pick up the dirt. I went to transfer my prize to a sheet of paper. When I bumped the dustpan, the spider took off and disappeared under the porch! I guess the vinegar just stunned it pretty good. At least it was out of my house and in the great outdoors where it belongs!

Does anyone have any tips on killing spiders? Or any natural, homemade, effective bug sprays? I would love to hear about them!

Memorial Day Weekend

Thank you so much to all our armed service members for their protection and sacrifices so that my family and I can live in peace!

This past weekend to celebrate the long weekend, we spent time relaxing with family. Starting Friday night, we went galivanting, just to get out of the house. Saturday, Jason and his dad worked on a new front deck at the parents' house. They measured, cut and stabilized the frame. Then, they layed the decking.  Sunday after church, they finished the other half of the frame and layed more decking, to make a 16-20' long deck. It looks good and is solid!

While Jason was helping Dad on Saturday and Sunday, and then fishing on Monday, I spent some time relaxing with Mom. It was so nice to have an adult to talk with face to face!

On Sunday, Jianna had a bow in her hair. She kept taking it out, then giving it to me. I would fix it, then she would take it out again. After church, she told me she wanted to drop it in the parking lot. I told her no, that it would get dirty. I kept walking, and she turned to me and said, "Mommy, I drop my bow." I looked, and sure enough, she had. That is the most complete sentence she has said, to date! Who knows what she will say next!

Happy Memorial Day!