Yoga

I have to get this off my chest, because I have been careful not to say it....Hubby has been out of town the last couple of nights...but he is coming home tonight.  Whew, so glad it is safe for me to say that now, so no Blogger Stalker can hunt me down and kill me while he is gone.  I know he would hate to come home to a dead wife. 

Or would he? 

Kidding...totally kidding.  He would be sad.  So very sad.   I'm sure of it.  Well, kinda sure.  Seriously, he definitely would be devastated.  I'm sticking with that.

Wow, that was a morbid and weird lead in, wasn't it?  Just be glad you are not inside my head where all this stuff originates.  It can get pretty crazy in there!

So, the real reason I had to tell you that Hubby is gone is that I have not been able to keep up with my regular walking in the early morning hours.  AND I miss it.  Terribly. 

I most definitely needed to get some exercise done, so my plan on Tuesday was to get up at my regular time and try a Yoga DVD.  My sweet friend Sandy let me borrow it about 3 months ago and I have yet to put it in the DVD player.  I thought since I was housebound a couple of days this week that it would be the perfect time to see if the old body could do Yoga.  I might also be able to mark #34 off my 50 Things To Do Before I am 50 List.  All depending on whether I make it through the whole DVD or not!

But, here's the thing...I'm sore and stiff and kinda crippled in the morning. Who can do Yoga when they are sore and stiff and crippled?  Is anyone else out there sore and crippled in the morning?  Yoga seems like an activity you need to be a little loose or warmed up for. 

Is that making excuses or is that a valid concern? 

Please chime in if you have any expertise at all in Yoga.  This will be my maiden voyage into the world of Yoga so I am totally speculating on the need for flexibility and warm, loose muscles.  If what I see on TV is any indication you need to be a bit warmed up.

So you ask, why didn't you do it later in the day? Like, after you warmed up and got less crippled? 

That is a great question.  And I can only hang my head and say "I couldn't find a free hour in my day." 

Isn't that dumb?  I must have an hour somewhere?  I am going to find one today.  I need to find one, if for no other reason that I can't wait to write about styling and profiling while doing a downward dog or something.  I think Yoga is going to be hysterical!  

Yesterday, my limited "free time" outside of work was spent at the grocery store, tidying my house for Bible Study and being a math tutor to my darling little nine year old son.  I probably don't envision a new career path as a math tutor for myself, as my sweet student ended up in a sobbing heap on the floor.  You see, he was missing a step in the process of multiplying multiples.  I don't think it was so much the identification of his missing step as much as it was the fact that he would have to redo his math homework.  ALL fifteen problems.  I know, I know...the injustice of the whole situation.

I had to use every calming technique I possessed not to react to his "I'm so stupid. I can't do anything right.  You think I am stupid.  Math is stupid.  My teacher didn't show me that.  I hate Math.  That is not the way we do it." rant that took up a solid 30 minutes of my afternoon.  It was ugly. 

Perhaps if I had some Yoga training I could have dropped to the floor and struck a pose like this. 

That would have lightened the mood, would it not?  Since I do not have Yoga training I had to patiently wait while he got all that off of his chest and then show him how to do it.  He got it right away.  It was a small, but necessary step he was missing.  Maybe next time we can straight to the problem solving and learning and skip the wild and crazy ranting.  If not, I am going to be prepared with a signature Yoga pose.  Maybe something like this....

I wish you could see how hard I am laughing, because I can barely sit "indian style" as they called it back in my day.  These days I think it is "criss-cross applesauce" .   Anyway, I better get that DVD in and start stretching!! 

Hope your day is outstanding! 

Ten Random Tidbits

1.  It rained.  It was glorious.  I sat on the porch and took pictures.  Then a lizard jumped on my foot and I screamed and came back in the house.

2.  Harry's running shoes were lost/stolen/misplaced on Thursday.  I am going with misplaced.  New running shoes purchased. Harry got a new personal best for a 5K.  Go Harry!

3.  All laundry in my house is officially done.  I am bound and determined to put it all away today.

4.  Must get to the grocery store.  Should be heading there right now instead of typing this. 

5.  Rangers/Tigers game last night was so exciting!  A walk off grand slam in the bottom of the 11th - ARE YOU KIDDING ME??

6.  Two hours of dodgeball at JumpStreet makes your kids sweaty and smelly. 

7.  I have been taking my laptop with me where ever I go, so I can keep tabs on work.  That is not right.  Proposal is due end of next week.  Can't wait.

8.  I have no plastic shopping bags in my house.  That's weird, right?  I have always had a ton.  Even after the canvas shopping bags got popular.  Suddenly, there are none.  It is surprising to me how many times I go to reach for one.  Must forget my canvas bags when I go to the store today so I can restock my plastic bag stash.

9.  Post rain, there are ant mounds piling up all over our yard.  The rain must have flushed them to the surface.

10.  The sunrise this morning stopped me in my tracks.  It was beautiful.  I love when that happens.

Have an amazing day!

Lost Laughs

I just wrote a very witty piece about how hard I have been working this week.  How I put in an ultra, mega, stress filled thirteen hours of work yesterday getting RFPs out on the street, only to have my technical guys change gears this morning.

I waxed on and on about how it made me want to punch someone, punch something, turn over a car, draft a resignation letter, rant, rave, throw my computer out the window...but instead of taking the violent approach I was just going to fold warm, fluffy towels hot from the dryer.  It was my therapy.  My calm down. My...after twenty years in this business you should be used to this now...talking myself down from going postal. 

It worked.

However, reading back over that summary...it doesn't seem so witty. But you must trust me....it was WAAAYYY wittier than the above. 

I would be able to prove it to you, too.  Except, I somehow deleted it.  Even though I had saved it numerous times.  It is gone.  Forever.  Floating around on some Internet, cyberspace clipboard in my computer.

Sorry you missed it. 

Sometimes, I can't stand computers.

Too bad, my life is so fiercely dependent on them.

Anyway, one witty post lost and a lame summary above is all I am probably will be able to squeeze in today.

Except for this...

A Halloween Pictorial History.  It just makes me laugh.

Have a GREAT weekend!  It might rain here!  WOO HOO!!!!

Catching up....

Hello all!  It has been almost a week since my last post.  I know it has taken every ounce of my mother's restrain not to call me.  Thank you, Mom! 

Here are some pictures from our busy weekend!

 

Harry's early morning position on the couch.  It is 5:30 a.m., where is your teenager?  Does he seem tired to you?  I can't tell.

Harry had another cross-country meet this weekend and it was the biggest one yet.  Something I read said that there would be about 2,000 kids running in the meet.  I think that number might have been a little low.  Look at the next series of pictures of the herd of JV runners coming towards the camera.

Do you see the dust they are kicking up?  It was a cloud!

There's my Harry!  He said this was by far the hardest course yet for him.  Lots of rolling, long hills.  In spite of the hills, he was able to beat his previous 3.1 mile time, so it was a good day for him. 

I have to share another story with you here, just so I don't forget it AND so I can bring it up to Cindy every chance I get.

During the meet, there are several vantage points where you can see the runner's, get close enough to yell encouragement, take pictures, etc.  But,  here's the thing....you have to hustle to get from one point on the course to the other. 

So me and my girls, Martha and Cindy, are dashing all over the place, yelling for each others kids and just kids in general, because that is the best part of being at a cross country meet.  Anyway, at one point I am running up a hill and Cindy is taking my picture. I am running in slow motion...so she can get my picture, and also because that is just the motion with which I normally run.  We get to the top of the hill and I say "I love this...I'm so excited."  I was talking about how much I love the excitement of the race, seeing the kids, cheering them on, the weather was gorgeous, pictures were coming out great. 

Cindy, looks at me and says "Do you know who you are reminding me of right now?"  I say "Who?"  And do you know what she said?  She said "Will Ferrell."

I just fell out laughing.  I said "Who says that to a girl??  Will Ferrell, the giant guy with the God awful hair??  I know he is funny, but still!  I thought you were going to say "Bo Derek cause I was running in slow motion like she did, although my hair is not braided and I don't have a red bikini on, but Will Ferrell??"

She said "I just meant the "I'm so excited part!  It sounded like Will in "Elf" and we are huge Elf fans."

Seriously, giving me a complex.

So after Will Ferrell and the girls watched the cross country meet we had a little down time in the afternoon.  Chip had a flag football game early on Saturday and sadly I missed it, but his baseball game wasn't until 6:00 p.m.

When I asked Chip how he did during his football game, he said "Mom, I'm doing pretty good at quarterback.  I have 24 points.  Of course, 12 were for my team and the other 12 were for the other team."  He apparently has thrown two touchdown passes and also two interceptions for touchdowns for the other team. I thought that was so funny.

They lost their baseball game, but it was against a much older and better team.  The evening weather was spectacular and I think the kids had fun in spite of the outcome. We went out to dinner with our baseball friends and then piled up on the couch to watch the Bama game.

A special shout out to Martha who saved the DVR day for us!  We were all the way to Chip's baseball game when we all look at each other and say "WE FORGOT TO SET THE DVR".  Oh no, we were going to miss the big Bama vs. Florida game.  Thankfully, I have the nicest friends in the entire world and Martha jetted over to our house and set the DVR for us.  Much appreciated Martha!  You are the best. Eventually, you will learn to quit answering the phone when I call.

Sunday, we headed over to our local park for a day of "Camp Peggy" fun with the V family.
 

The kids started out playing on the playground.  Just looking at this picture hurts me.  Harry spent his entire 3rd grade year mastering the monkey bars.  He spent so much time swinging on these bars.  Frontwards, backwards, skipping one, trying to skip two.  Back then I worried about him falling so far down to the ground, now he is standing on the ground and touching.  Ugh.  He is growing up so fast.

Dad joined us at the park after his bike ride. 

  

Peggy's plan was for us to try our hand at a little sand volleyball and a kickball game. It has been a long time since I played either.  We laughed so hard playing sand volleyball, because basically we stunk.  Badly.  Really badly.  It was more like a game of hit and fetch. 

NOTE TO SELF:  Sand is hot.  Wear tennis shoes.

Kickball was a little better.  It was four adults against six kids. 

The kids thought they were going to beat our pants off, but they were wrong.  We dominated in that game.  It was all in good fun and the boys even posed afterward for a few pictures for me.

After grabbing a little lunch, we moved Camp Peggy to our cul-de-sac where we played outside for three more hours.

We played ladder golf.  I was 5 - 0 if anyone cares.

The boys played some crazy football game where they tried to intercept each other.  We bowled with basketballs, jumped through hula hoops, bounced balls, and wrapped up the evening with a kids versus adults touch football game.

Adults won in the final tie breaker...but it was a super close game, down to the last play. 

Champions of the Day!

The kids had a great day!  Chip has never been dirtier, I am certain of that.  Both of my boys said "We should do that every weekend, it was so much fun."

I hope our terrific weekend is just what we needed to kick off a great week!  I hope the same for you!

I Just Called.....

I have no time to blog today, but I just had to take a second this morning to write this down.

We were all buzzing around this morning getting ready for school.  Harry was dressed, his bag was packed and he was buried under a pillow on the couch waiting for his ride. 

Mom:   Harry, do you have everything you need?
Harry:  Yeah.
Mom:  What about this Chemistry Lab book?  Do you need it?
Harry:  Oh, yeah I do.
Mom:  Did you get your phone?
Harry:  Oh, I forgot. 

He gets those few things packed and back on the couch he goes. 

I come around the corner a few minutes later and see his carpool ride sitting in front of the house.  He is still on the couch.  "Harry, Ms. Martha is waiting out front.  You need to go."

He drags himself out the door. 

I yell...."Bye.  Have a good day.  Love you."

I shut the front door and start ranting to myself.  "Geez, how can he have so much trouble remembering things.  Every morning, it is something.  Ugh. When is his brain going to finish developing??""

See, I read somewhere that teenage brains aren't fully developed yet.  In fact, they don't fully develop until they are about 21.  That is why it is hard for them to remember things, get organized, etc.  Not sure if that is true or not, but as a parent, it sure makes it easier to deal with if you buy into that theory.  Trust me.

So, I am ranting as I walk from the front door into the kitchen.  Then the phone rings.  Caller ID says it is Harry.  He has been gone from the house for a total of two minutes.

Exasperated, I answer the phone fully expecting to hear that he forgot something else.

Harry:  Hey Mom.
Mom:  Yes.
Harry:  Hey, when I walked out the door, you said "I love you." and I only said "Bye".  I just wanted to call you and tell you that I meant to say "I love you, too."

And then I cried, cause that is the sweetest thing a fifteen year old boy could ever do for his mother.  He called me just to say "I LOVE YOU!!!!"   And he was in the car with other people.  Other boy people.

I'm gonna keep him.  Forever and ever, and ever, and ever and ever.

I don't care how much stuff he forgets.  Cause, if the organizational side of his brain isn't developed, I can live with that.  It seems the compassionate, thoughtful, loving side of his brain is all the way done! 

Just made my day! 

I hope something makes your day today!

Weekend Recap

Another weekend has come and gone and unfortunately, it flew right past me! 

It's Monday.  All......day.....long.

I have been working since about 6:45 this morning and decided to take a few minutes and post some pictures I took this weekend.  My parents both sent me sweet comments recently about how much they enjoy the pictures and I am a pleaser, so more pictures I will give them.  I wonder if being a pleaser is part of being the middle child.  I'm sure it is.

Here is the recap!  Saturday morning I was driving the carpool at 5:45 a.m., running the boys up to school for the Cross Country meet.  I came home, snagged a shower and was back on the road by 7:30.

When I arrived at the meet, the Freshman herd had just run past and kicked up an enormous amount of dust.  The aftermath of dust in the air was beautiful in the early morning light.

I spotted the Dragon tent from across the camp out.  It looks like a campsite.  Pillows, blankets, ice chests...there was stuff everywhere.

This course had a cool little wooded area where you could stand in the shade and watch the runners for a portion of the race.  This guy on the bike was the "rabbit".  He led the runners so they would know where to go.  The first time he went by this little guy standing by me said "OMG, you're winning.  Hurry, hurry, they are coming!"

This next series of pictures is the start of the JV Boys race.  I just hit click, click, click, click when the gun went off.  Don't strain to hard to find Harry, he is all the way on the other side.  I just thought if you had never been to a race that this might give you some idea of how many kids are running and the big rush to get off the starting line.  It is really impressive.

 Then Harry popped out of the crowd. 

I screamed "Go Harry!"  I am sure he was so happy that I was this close. 

Here he is in the shaded woods.  So nice to be out of the blazing sun.

Back out in the flats.  Almost done. 

I didn't make it back to the finish line before he crossed, but this is him in the holding area.  He doesn't even look sweaty.  However I wish I would have gotten a picture of his teeth.  DISGUSTING!  They were brown.  Dirt was all over them. Gross!

Rinsing of the teeth.  Good boy.  Oh, and get a drink too!

After that, it was a mad dash to get across town to Chip's baseball game.  I had missed the early game, so I definitely needed to see some of the second game.  During game two, Chip had his first visit to the mound from the coach. I thought it was so cute the way the catcher came out to the mound too.  Just like the pros do it.

Chip got it together a little bit, but the other team was just bigger and better and won pretty easily.  So they split the double header, won one and lost one.

Chip smashed a couple of hits and walked.   They only have three games left in the fall season.  Next Saturday we have a 6:00 p.m. game.  That might be cooler!   And the light will probably be fantastic for pictures!  Can't wait.

Right after baseball it was off to Chip's first flag football game.  Who the heck said he could play two sports?  I need a name!   Here he is directing a little traffic as QB.  His little team got beat pretty good, but Chip had fun and threw a touchdown pass. 

Whew.

I had started my early morning in jeans and a sweater cause it was chilly.  Lovely, lovely, lovely.  Chilly, chilly, chilly.  It has been far too long since we have felt chilly.  By the time we got done with football I was a sweaty mess.  Dang jeans felt like they were on fire with the sun beating down on them.   Could not wait to get into some A/C and some shorts!

We all crashed at the house Saturday afternoon and watched the Bama game.  It was a good one. Roll Tide.

I went out to dinner with some friends on Saturday night.  It was a terrific little restaurant I had never been to before with great drinks.  I had a Mexican Martini and it was served with the silver shaker thing.  I love that!  What I didn't love was the loud music.  We had to read lips half the night. Does that mean we are old?  Young people don't complain about the music being too loud, do they? 

So after all of our activities on Saturday we all slept in.  Except Chip.  He doesn't believe in sleeping in.  But he gets up and quietly goes down stairs so it is fine with us.  He used to wake us up.  That was not good.

Sunday, I had my camera out ready to capture some every day moments. This one is classic.  Harry wakes up, staggers downstairs, goes pee, then sprawls in the floor.  I do my "Hey buddy.  Good morning.  Did you sleep good?  Is your nose stuffy or do you feel much better?"  He gives me a few answers and then I start in with...

So what kind of homework do you have?

He grabbed the closest thing he could...a laundry basket.

He placed it gently over his head without a word.  If she can't see me, maybe I won't have to do homework.   I think he would have stayed in there all day to avoid me, but I made him come out. He spent a couple of hours doing homework and then Hubby took both of the boys to the pool.  It is getting late in the pool season and Chip said the water was kinda chilly.  It is going to be in the 100s again this week, so the pool should warm back up.

Dang summer...get outta here already.

I had a cross country fundraising meeting Sunday afternoon, so I missed the fun at the pool.  Then it was a trip to the grocery store, laundry, etc.  To top off my weekend, I went to book club last night.  I love book club.

So that was it.  It was a busy but fun weekend.   What did you do?  Any home improvement projects?  I am so ready to paint a wall!  I have paint swatches taped up on several walls in the house and as soon as I get a free weekend I am going to paint something! 

For the time being, I expect to be a bit overwhelmed with this new proposal for most of the week  month, so I may be MIA for a while!  Be patient Mom!  Have a great week everyone!