Exercising: run like you mean it.

I have been running for about 7 years now.

I love running...with my love.

Running and I have a love/hate relationship.

I love to run when  everything lines up. The sun, the moon, the air quality, a cute outfit, the right food before hand. I hate to run when I am tired, it is too hot, too cold, humid, raining, my shoes aren't cute enough, my hair is not right or the I can find anything else to do.

So, now that I am 5 weeks away from a huge race, I lam constantly fighting with Running.

Running is telling me to get my rear in gear. 

My rear is telling me sit on the couch and watch Modern Family and the newest Netflix arrival.

However, today, I am off to run. 6 miles of never ending joy. For in five weeks, I will join eleven other people in two smelly vans and run from Chattanooga, TN to Nashville, TN. 

All the way. On foot. Overnight.

This is weighing heavily on me as I am the "Captain". 

I am the weirdo who talked everyone including my meticulous business partner 

into signing up for this insane thing.

By the way "Thanks, Partner!"

So, Running and I will have to make peace.

Running will have to remember that if we eat pretzel bread we are slower. 

Running will have to remind me that when I actually get on the stick, I love Running.

And I will have to overcome the issues that come my way.

So, right now, I am off to get a cute outfit on, fix my hair, and RUN!

Whatever: The list

I was so caught up in my birthday festivities that I completely forgot the review the list!

The year is 3/4 over and I am plugging along.

I have done the typical thing and dropped the important stuff off my list.

For instance, no Bible verses. Little crafting. 

I discovered that it takes a long time for me to finish a project well. 

Spending the past few months running around like a crazy half baked women culminated in me losing my cool last night in an epic panic attack.  That lead to me having some self therapy in my car this morning on the way to work. The result was an "Aha" moment for me on my drive home.

(Thoughts have to cook awhile in my mind).

 I am the calm in the storm for my family and when I am the storm, life is not good.

My house falls apart, my temper flares most unattractively and I am not a good person to be around.

There is no calm. There is only chaos.

So I am revaluating my list:

Here it is a week early.

October's version of The List

• Less time on the computer "managing" my life
• More time in the kitchen/living room/deck living my life
• Clear off my desk 
• Finish painting the  new desk (CRAFTY alert!)
• teach E. the concept of time
• clean out my car
• read some fiction, really good fiction
• sit outside with my kids
• Hug my dog
• work in my yard 

 PS. Happy Fall, Y'all!

PPS. Fall food is calling my name. Chili, apples and fall salads are on their way!

Whatever: I am insecure

I have found out via several ways

that I have more than 8 followers.

I am really shocked!

I mean really, you read my ramblings? 

THANK YOU!

But I have to say something.

People.

If you are following me,

join my blog!

I need to constantly be validated.

And I am pretty much willing to do anything to get attention...

We were NOT at a Christmas sweater party...

My kids are getting tired of telling me how awesome I am.

Help me help them by letting me know you are out there!

Seriously!

Dirt: I 've been busy AND other things

I have been really busy working at my seasonal business.

The second one starts this weekend and my partner and I loaded a big ol' uhaul full of stuff 

and then she drove it down a mountain and we unloaded. 

I, for one, am tired!

I love our little businesses and how we work as a team, a fairly cohesive one most of the time. 

Although I am sure I drive her bonkers.

She is meticulous. 

Everything about her is meticulous. 

Her handwriting looks like type. 

Her house is always neat as a pin and she saves useful things like bags, but you never see clutter.

I am more fly by the seat of my pants...jump in and then figure it out as we go along. My handwriting is decent and legible. Not like type.

I save nothing, except useless things like one shoe of my daughter's.

She also is really positive and rarely complains.

I complain ALL the time. For sport. 

She is always engaging and kind and I love her dearly for that.

Today, we moved 1,000 racks, tables, cash registers, hangers, and other necessary items.

Tomorrow, we will work to arrange them in a lovely and hopefully, asthetically pleasing fashion.

Women will bring their lovely clothing, purses, etc to sell.

We will sell them.

My poor family suffers during these two months, as I am more scattered than normal.

I do laundry in fits. 

I forget things 

(My partner never forgets anything. Ever. She is a steel trap.) 

I slack.

I am tired. 

However, it makes me a little more smarter as
I speak to someone other than the dog.
I dress better and even bathe a lot more regularly.
I buy treats for my kids more because I feel guilty that I have forgotten something.

 I am a terrible working mother.
Alternating between neglect and bribes.
But I am also better for it.

I am busy and I love it!

Whatever: September 11

September 11, 2001

You cannot say September 11 without having a huge range of emotions run through you.

Where were you when...?

Who did you know? 

Will it happen again?

How did we make it through?

September 11, 2001 was one of the saddest days in every Americans life.

My generation lost it's naivety. 

We are not  invincible.

Many people lost their loved ones and friends. I was lucky and everyone I was related to and loved that lived in Washington D.C. was safe. 

However, the stories of loss and heartbreak were what affected me the most.

One in particular, that made the biggest and longest lasting impression on me was the person who is considered the first casualty of the World Trade Center attacks,

even though he was not the first to perish.

Fr. Mychal Judge. 

He ran into the chaos. 

Without any gear or even a hardhat.

He ran in to pray with or protect anyone who needed help or last rites. 

Mychal was not afraid. He was brave and ready.

Ready to do what needed to be done or die trying.

His story is the one that will always be September 11.

As I tell my children, who were 2 and 8 months old in 2001 about that day, it is hard. They have grown up always hearing about it, but not really understanding what happened. 

I have told them that our actions have consequences and affect not only ourselves, but others too.

That day, the actions of a few, over many decades, affected thousands, even millions of Americans.

But I also tell them that the actions of many  on that day affect  today.

Kindness gets carried like the wind.

Mychal Judge was a hero in his every day life.

He died doing what God led him to do. 

Help others.

And I, ten years later, remember a man I never met.

 

His story is the one that will always be September 11.

4-0!

Guess what?

Today is the day! 

I am officially almost middled aged 

(I plan on living to 102, so technically,
11 years from now I will be middle aged).

Today, I am 40. 

All I can say is

 BRING IT!

Whatever: End of summer

My favorite season is coming to an end...

Well, in my mind anyway. Summer's official closing is today.

The temperatures will continue to be summer like until about a month from now. 

But in my heart and the hearts of most Americans, Summer is over.

I loved this summer for lots of reasons. 

 

I took it easier than most summers and did not run myself 

and my family ragged involving my kids in too many activities.

This summer, only one child played a sport. 

We went to the beach for a very relaxing kick of to summer  the first week of summer.

The epitome of summer

We grilled or cooked almost every single day, eating things like tomatoes, salad and chicken. 

Dishes were very easy.

My sweet parents spent a month here mostly just hanging out and that was very  wonderful as we will  not see them again until Christmas.

There is something about hanging with your dad that is just very relaxing as an adult.

My sweet husband took me on a great vacation with 

some of my dearest friends to celebrate my birthday. 

Sailing with the girls

We went to one of my favorite spots. Where kooky and heat rule.

Hilarious dude at Mallory Square

One daughter earned an award for working hard at something that does not come easy to her.

 

The other daughter stepped it up in something that does.

Go! Go! Go!

I did not do a lot of things this summer that I normally when the days are long and hot.

I did not spend every waking hour at the pool. I missed that terribly.  

I did not hang out with my friends talking late into the evening. Again, missed that as well.

I did not go on a trip with my sisters and that missed event is starting to show in my conversations with them. We need our sibling time to recharge our daily lives. That I missed the most.

Still,  it was a lovely summer.

I will mourn it like I mourn all the other summers that I have loved. 

In February, when it is colder than I ever care for it to be and I cannot stand one more minute of layering clothes to keep warm, I will have a pity party for myself and Summer. 

But for now, I am sighing with contentment after an excellent summer.