Thursday, May 29, 2008

Random Thoughts

I've had all these half blogs start in my head over the last few day. Concepts that are crossing my radar frequently like the living in the moment concept, still working on that one, probably will for sometime.

First a funny story, or a life lesson from me to you... yesterday I took off for my longest run, 5.2 miles, which I did and I was pleased with my accomplishment. Being cautious I brought my cell phone along, no pockets? No problem, I'll just stick this in my sports bra. My friends... sweat and cell phones don't mix, listen to me, don't do it, don't do it!

Random thought 1. My friends have encouraged me to start watching Sex in the City, so I have been renting the seasons at the library. I look at the four women and see myself in each of them, and see friends of mine in each of them. I actually really liked the last episode of Season Two where Carrie decides there are 2 types of woman, complicated and not complicated... I think I need to rent The Way We Were, I've never seen it.

Random thought 2. Change and I don't mean coins- everyone deals with it differently, but rarely is it a smooth transition. Positive or negative reaction, there is always some turmoil with that.

Random thought 3. Poop. I find it increasingly funny how sanitary we make our society, and I am no different, but with 2 cats, a dog and a small child (who has been successfully potty trained for years) I stopped to think the other day how much poop I must have scooped or wrapped in a diaper in my life. Wow!

Random thought 4. The dichotomy of life. There is sadness in the news, several famous actors passing on, there have been a couple incidents of violent crime in area, the economy. I have friends and family members who are dealing with aging parents, and cancer diagnosis. And then there is happiness, friends are having weddings and babies and are graduating and moving onto the next chapter of their lives. The balance is good, but I find it hard to focus equally on the sadness and the happiness. Why is that? Are we drawn to the sadness? Can we be happy for other people or is that a hard thing for us to do?

Random thought 5. Being magnanimous. When you are magnanimous, when you are open and accepting of people who you don't respect or who don't respect you, what does that person think? How funny! she doesn't get that I think she is a moron? Or do they get they you are being magnanimous?

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Field Trip

I got the opportunity to accompany Sunshine and her class on a field trip to a explore a beach.. it was wonderful... we frolicked in the water, climbed on the rocks and searched for shells, and rocks and animals. It was the absolute thing that I needed in my life, to attack the world with out a care in the world and take in everything in the moment. I didn't worry about work, I didn't worry about anything, I just lived in the moment, I remembered what it was like the last day of seventh grade...




Still after all these years, I love when coincidences like that happen- having the discussion about living in the moment and days later being given the opportunity to do that. Glad I got to experience both...

Just Plain Rude

You'd think that since I leave birdseed for the birds they could hold "it" until they have passed over my car instead of using my car for what looks like target practice... clearly they have not heard.. don't poop on the hand that feeds you!

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Seventh Grade

Yesterday a good friend asked if I remembered what it was like the day I "graduated" from 7th grade knowing the next day I really had nothing I had to do and if I could get to that point again. I didn't really have an answer at the time, because I thought well there is no way that I could get there, I have a child to take care of, animals to take care of, bills to pay, you know adult responsibilities.

But today I started thinking about it more, and then I remembered a few times I have actually said I wish I was back in Kindergarten playing in the sandbox, when all I had to worry about was someone taking my pail and shovel.

Not really what my friend was going for, he was approaching it more from the standpoint of living life to the fullest, living in the moment. Where my Kindergarten scenario is similar but not about living life to the fullest, more about not having so much adult responsibility.

It is an interesting conundrum, when you think about it; finding that balance of being a good parent, a good friend, a good card carrying adult human being, and yet living life to it's fullest. Remembering to take care of your children, pay your bills on time, and go to work, and living in the moment.

Definitely something that is going to bounce around in my head for awhile. What about you? How do you find that sweet spot of being a responsible adult and living in the moment?

Friday, May 16, 2008

Commute Another Way

Here every year there is a state wide challenge to commute another way for a week. The goal is to make people aware of their options for getting to and from work and this year a big emphasis on saving on gas.

Where I work we have a large contingent of people who bike into work, this year we actually had to get a another bike rack to hold all the bikes. Although I can't bike in every day, I bike a few times a month. My big reason for not biking every day is the Day Care Dash... you know it... you love it... you are driving to day care or after school care and you watch as the minutes some how tick away faster and faster... approaching that witching hour of 5:30 when it will cost you $25 a second that you are late to pick up your child.

It seems to me that there are people who's sole purpose in life is to slow down and generally get in the way of the Day Care Dashers. You know who I mean, the random people who must go 30 mph on a major highway between 5 and 5:30. The construction team who was supposed to be done by 4 but still has half the road blocked off at 5:15.. tick tick tick tick... cha-ching cha-ching cha-ching.

I can feel my blood pressure rising just reliving those moments now at 6:40 in the morning.

But I digresses... it is nearly impossible for me to leave work and do the Day Care Dash home on a bike, even though I do have a tag a long for Sunshine to ride on, alas, timing is everything.

A few months ago I challenged myself to run into work one of the days of commute another way to work week. Yesterday I woke up and said, nah, don't do it, and then I gave myself a good talking to and said, you said you would do this get up and get going! And so I did, and I ran all the way to work. It was my longest distance to date, I ran the whole way AND I felt awesome all day. No I didn't run home... that would really have been a Day Care Dash and I would have lost miserably... a friend dropped me off at my house after work so I could pick up my car to dash to day care...

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Mother's Day

First, Happy Mother's Day to all you Mom's out there.

Second, I had a fantastic Mother's Day! It started out with a 5k run, a local Mother's Day Event, this year there were something like 2200 runners. This is the largest race I have been in, and it was amazing to see the stream of people in front of me and imagine the stream behind me.

It was a beautiful day and I felt like I ran a really good race, I set my sights on someone ahead of me and would aim to catch them there were two woman who I played dose do with most of the race, my in front and then them and visa versa, but in the end, I finished a few seconds before both of them, which was great, but it was also great to have that challenge to pull on my competitive side.In this picture I am just crossing the line, you can see me to the left of the woman in yellow.

Sunshine (with my Aunt and Uncle) were at the end to greet me, which was awesome.

Later in the afternoon we had a barbecue at my house on my brand new barbecue grill (which we bought in our travels yesterday) and exchanged presents, which was part of our busy day yesterday. We bought some ceramic pots and painted them for my Mom and my Aunt and planted them with flowers for today.... all in all a fantastic day to be a Mom! And Sunshine gave me a certificate for 200 kisses! How lucky am I??

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Gymnist Sunshine

oday was an incredibly busy day, more on that later, but today was also the last class of Sunshine's gymnastics class until the fall. This is the day we get to watch, and it always amazes me to see how much she learns in the session.

The big news is the pull up to the high bar...

And the balance beam

And floor exercises...



She is a monkey! And loves it!

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Crazy Eight

Amy over at Stella and Thomas asked me to participate in this game of Crazy Eights by sharing eight unusual or little known facts about myself. I sort of feel like I'm an open book, so these may not be surprising to many people, but here I go.

1. I have an incredible memory, generally if you tell me something I never forgot it. This is both a blessing and a curse.

2. I can back up a truck with a trailer attached. When I was learning to drive my Uncle forced me to learn this ability, at the time I thought, yeah, whatever! It has however, come in very handy, you would surprised how many people don't have that skill.

3. Speaking of memory, I can still recite the Greek Alphabet 3 times fast.

4. I believe in angels, and see a psychic a couple times a year and believe that I have been around this world a few different lifetimes. I have little factual evidence to support this, but I've read a lot about it and I think there is a lot to it, and I believe.

5. I hate horror movies but I watch them, because I have a friend who loves them. I don't like to be scared, and to this day, if I am walking at night near woods I have flashbacks to the Blair Witch Project and start to run.

6. I love to run and dance in a warm rain storm. Nothing much more to be said on that one, I love them!

7. I am a home body. I like visiting different places for short periods of time, but like coming back home as much, if not more than I do visiting new places.

8. My two favorite words are ubiquitous and omnipotent.

Okay so now I must tag 8 people, but I don't know 8 people in the blogging world, so I will tag the 2 I do know.

Sketchometer
A Dog's Life

Saturday, May 3, 2008

It's 4 am... Let's Play

I have to imagine that around 4 am in my house a scene that goes something like this....

Some internal clock in the brains of the animals in my house goes off, it is 4am and we must now be on alert, we must sit quietly until we see the slightest movement from the human that gives us food.. when her eyes blink during REM.. we must bounce, if she so much as moves a foot, we are there and so, this morning somewhere around 4:45 I must have moved a toe because...

Jack the dog, asleep at my side wakes up and moves to the foot of the bed to look at the window to keep watch for general traffic and any passerby, barking ominously to scare them away from the house.

Wiley the cat who usually sleeps on the floor, wakes up and feels the urge to dance on the night table next to my bed, which inevitably causes one or more items to fall crashing to the floor (generally the alarm clock or cell phone- which in the dead of night make a rather loud boom). Once satisfied that he has cleared the night table of all dangerous and potentially useful objects he jumps full force on to my chest and proceeds to nudge me in the face, when I push him away he is content to find a spot to sleep on my legs.

Mae Mae who has either been asleep next to my head or at the top of my head sees Wiley and decides that he is way too close to me and most intervene. So she proceeds to smack him in the face and hiss and then as he moves to sleep on my legs, she plants herself squarely on my chest.

At this point, there is no turning back, I'm awake, and that means I must have to get up and use the little girls room. As I grumpily get out of bed, I say.. it is 5 am, what is wrong with you? Why can't you just let me sleep?

They of course don't answer, but like all good animals follow me into the bathroom to make sure I'm okay, adding insult to injury... oh look, she is awake, she is moving, let's go!

I try with no success to crawl back into bed and go to sleep, but they are up, Wiley is dancing on the night table, MaeMae is sitting on my chest wagging her tail in my face and Jack has found his raw hide and thinks 5:30 am is a really good time for a rawhide.

Don't they know it is Saturday and that I can sleep until like 7??? It isn't like it is even sunny out.

Would it be really awful of me to wake up at like 3 am tomorrow and turn all the lights on and throw the cat toys and take Jack for a long walk? With my luck they'd come to expect that behavior every day!