I'm Bored. Sue Me.

First of all, there really isn't a whole lot of updating that needs to happen. Since my last post, the only significant thing worthy of writing about is the fact that Taylor has mastered 2 levels in Tang Soo Do. There are three levels of requirements for the white belt, and he has managed to master the first two all within a month and a half's time. Go Taylor!! Aside from that, just the normal day to day things going on around here. Nothing terribly exciting going on.




This is what I am spending my Friday night listening to:
The very active mind of a 5 year old while watching Star Wars(within about 5 minutes):
-Mom, can u make us some popcorn? in a minute.
-Mom, Ryleigh won't move her afro hair. Ry, please sit down, Austyn can't see past your hair.
-Mom, how many legs do dogs have? four, watch the movie.
-Mom where was I born? in California, watch the movie.
-Mom, can u make us some popcorn? yes, I said in a minute.
-Mom can you make us some popcorn?(yes again) watch the movie for pete's sake. i'll get your popcorn in a second.
-Mom I scraped my elbow(hours ago). I'm sorry. Are you okay? Good. Now watch the movie!
-Mom I need a bandaid. Okay, so get one. You know where they are.
-Mom I went to Richmond's house (hours ago). Yes, Austyn. I know. Are you going to watch the movie?
-Mom, can we please have popcorn? I already told you YES!
-Mom I smell farts. That's nasty.
-Mom can I play Wii? NO! We are watching a movie!!
-Mom is this how you write a 'T'? (draws in air with his index finger) Yes. it is. Can you please be quiet now?
-Mom I made a snowflake at school. (last month) Yes Austyn. I know. I saw it. Remember?


I'd ask I wonder where he gets such a scatterbrain from, but I'm pretty sure I know. :) Oh man. Like I always say, he's my pea! 

I Did It!!

This last weekend, I ran my very first 15K. For those of you that aren't unit of measurement savvy, a 15K is equal to 9.3 miles. If you all recall, I ran a 5K back in November. This is my new kick that I'm on. Its healthy, and I'm sticking with it. I've always loved running, but stopped doing it after high school. I have found my love for running once again. For me, running is a release. I do it alone, with or without music, and it gives me time to ponder the thoughts floating around in my brain; time to figure out how to conquer the world. Okay, maybe not so much conquering of the world, but definitely a lot of pondering going on. I joined a running club back in November as well. Unfortunately, I just haven't found the time to keep up with running with them every Tuesday night. Anyhow, back to the task at hand. I get distracted a little too easily these days. I ran my first 15K. My time was garbage, but that didn't matter to me. What mattered most was crossing the finish line and not being the last person to do so. I managed to do that. There were about 30 or more people that finished behind me. Goal accomplished. :) I finished running in 1 hour and 47 minutes. I took my iPod with me, which is a rare occurrence. I don't often run with music, but I'm so glad I did this time. I woke up at 4AM to get to the parking lot, find a good parking spot, and catch a bus back to the start line. There were about 80 school buses there, and I sort of felt like I was back in high school for a split second. I managed to get on the first bus, and it just so happened to have the race director's wife who was doubling as a photographer for the event. She snapped a few pictures of everyone, and she kept insisting that we were on the party bus, except no one was feeling her caffeinated pep quite like she was. The trip back to the start line was uneventful. I popped my headphones on and turned up the volume as loud as possible without hurting my ears. Once we got to the start line, we still had an hour to wait until the race actually started. Luckily, I planned ahead and was wearing sweats as well as a sweater over my running shorts and shirt. I stayed bundled up plastered against a wall, praying for a tall person to stand in front of me to block the wind. I still had my headphones in and was still head bobbing to all kinds of rock music. I only took them out when someone would talk to me. They usually wanted to know what time it was, or to state the obvious, "It's freezing out here!" Anyhow, the race eventually started, and when it did, my body went into complete shock. There was just no way to properly warm up before the race. I did what I could. When I first started to run, I thought I was going to collapse because my legs felt numb. Then I realized I wouldn't collapse from numbness, but might collapse because my muscles were tingling. They were frozen, and were just waking up. And of course, being the over-dramatic, but in a hilarious, oh my gosh, you are so stupid kind of way, I thought, oh no, what if I have a blood clot in my leg and its blocking my veins! That thought left my mind just as quickly as it entered, and I laughed. By about a mile and a half in I decided I had enough. I was ready to quit, but a great Lenny Kravitz song came on and it got me pumped. Anyone who knows me, knows that Lenny is pretty much my dude. By that point I had decided to at least keep running until I got to the first bridge. I made it, and I felt great, so I decided to keep running until I got to the end of the first bridge. Made it there too, without a problem. The inclines were hell, but I made it. Then came running through Gulf Breeze. That was a cake walk. The entire time we were running, there were school buses loaded with military personnel. They of course were yelling out the windows at us. I just stuck my hand up and extended my index  and pinkie fingers. haha. Not what you were expecting I'm sure, but that's what I did. Rock on. :) Okay, so then I made it to the second bridge and at that point, I had made it to the 6th mile marker. I was feeling like dookie, but a great Van Halen song came on, and the lyrics "finish what you started" got me amped. My left knee was in so much pain that I really wanted to give up. I stopped only to stretch my knee out. That was a big mistake. I regretted stopping, because when I did, I immediately felt the pain generate a million times more sensitivity than before. At that point, I had to do something to keep my mind off of the excruciating pain. I started singing. Yes. Singing. I'm sure the people around me were thinking, what the hell is this chick doing running up this bridge singing "Mudshovel"? I'm sure it was quite comical for anyone within earshot, but I didn't care. I was focused on the lyrics of the songs, and kept running and singing...horribly, I might add. By the time I reached the finish line, I was half limping, half jogging, but hell, I made it, and that's all that mattered to me! I am so proud of myself for accomplishing this goal that I thought was going to be so difficult. I rewarded myself with walking up 2 flights of stairs for some free post race food. The menu was quite amazing, sarcastically of course. We had rice, beans and more rice. Oh, and don't forget that one piece of baby shrimp that was in there, oh and the bread roll. LOL. It was actually good, and I didn't eat it all anyway, so what the hell am I complaining about? I then sat on the beach for about 2 hours, just relaxing. It was a cold day out and the wind was brisk, but I didn't care. Anyone that knows me, knows how in love with the beach I am. Its my most favorite place on earth, it relaxes me, calms me, and makes all of my worries fade away. I laid there listening to the waves crash in to the shore. The pesky seagulls kept hovering around waiting for me to toss them some food, but I refused. You give them an inch and they want a mile. The smell of the ocean is so relaxing to me. I love it. So, I took it all in for a couple of hours until I couldn't bear the cold a second longer and headed home. I could hardly walk by the time I got home. My knees felt like someone shoved metal rods right behind my kneecaps. It was awesome. I iced them until they were numb. The pain actually wasn't so bad once I got up and moving. The problem was sitting down relaxing and then deciding an hour later I was really thirsty. A set of crutches, a walker, a wheelchair, a cane, anything to assist with walking would have been ideal, but I toughed it out. Here, 2 days later, the pain isn't so much in my knees as it is in my quads, but there is still pain. It will subside, and when it does, I'll be getting ready for the next event. I'm very much looking forward to spending several Saturdays this year running. Call me crazy, but I can't wait. This run was a challenge for me, but I love a good challenge. It was also one of the best runs I've ever had. Running over at least 4 miles of water was not only gorgeous, but priceless as well. I will definitely be out there next year when they hold the race again! Go Me! I'd also like to give a special shout to my mom, my awesome sister, and my amazing friends who supported me and gave me words of encouragement for the race. I appreciate you all, and every single one of you is pretty freaking awesome in my book!!!

Breathe In, Breathe Out

Once again I have fallen victim to life itself and have completely avoided any blogging attempts. I just can't seem to pull things together these days. I think I'm going through a rough patch in life. Yeah. That's it. Its a rough patch, yet everywhere I turn is rough. Thus technically its more like a rough pasture and not a patch. Eventually, I will find a way onto a smooth paved road, but not with the help of a GPS. I'm lost enough, I don't need a faulty computer generated GPS to get me stranded in the middle of nowhere. (haha) Anyhow, back to the point of this blog. Breathe in, breathe out. These are the words I speak to myself every few hours. Yes, I'm talking to myself now, but not answering so there isn't much to be worried about. After having moved into this new enormous home that we purchased we've been pretty busy as one could imagine. This isn't a fixer upper by any means. Its a brand new house. But there are things that have to be done to make the house a home, and make it comfy, cozy, and welcoming. Therefore, a lot of painting has been going on. The kids' bedrooms, laundry room, office and garage have all been painted. The garage has a pretty new epoxy floor. Its actually quite nice, and Mark did an amazing job on it. Furniture has been moved in, boxes have been unpacked and so on and so forth. The backyard has been demolished and is now pretty much a blank slate; with the exception of the 3 trees left back there. Now the yard needs to be cleared of all the debris. That's going to be fun. A fence needs to be built. Shrubs have been uprooted in the front of the house leaving the flower beds stark. Enough talk about the house. Christmas as well as the New Year has come and gone. Christmas was uneventful and by far the smallest Christmas we have ever had, however the kids didn't utter a single word of disappointment. They each received a single gift from Santa in addition to 2 gifts from us. Collectively they got a Wii. Yes, a Wii. We aren't big gamers, but we finally broke down when the offer was too good to pass up. They love that thing. I on the other hand, well, I will be playing games while the boys are at school. I totally got owned by Taylor on every single game we played together, with the exception of pool. I didn't hustle the kid. I can barely play pool in real life. Now, when I was a kid and we had a pool table in the dining room, I could hustle anyone that came in the house. I'm a lot out of practice these days, but I won that game. It was so bad when we were playing baseball that I lost the game because Taylor's team mercy-ruled my team. Now that is pathetic. I got mercy-ruled by an 8 year old on Wii. Bonnie got the kids a gift that the entire neighborhood loves. A trampoline. I have to say, I was pretty stoked about getting the trampoline myself. Memories of my teen years drifted into my head, but I'm not posting those here. I've gotten on it and jumped a few times with the kids. They love it. I love it. Mark loves it. The neighborhood loves it, so thanks Gammie for the awesome gift! Mark and Rick actually put it together in the pouring rain on Christmas Eve. They had on rain coats, but no rain pants. They came in completely soaked from the waist down. It was funny, and I'm sure that is a memory the two of them will share for a long time. So, back to Christmas Eve, my grandfather passed away early that morning. I was very upset, and it wasn't the best of Christmases for me, however, I was expecting it. He wasn't doing well, and I already had my suitcase packed with funeral appropriate clothing. I was in Texas by myself for 5 days. My absolutely, wonderful, God-send of a sister took care of the kids for a couple of days while Mark worked. It was nice to be able to go to the funeral and grieve on my own. The kids didn't know my grandfather, other than very vague memories of a man in a wheelchair who couldn't speak. Explaining death to them was not on my agenda any time soon, so I opted to leave them behind. My grandfather will be so missed by us all. We all loved him dearly, as he loved us dearly. Quick anecdote: When I was about 4 years old, my grandfather had a black, mustang hatchback. Oh how I loved that car. I still love mustangs to this day, and definitely favor the older body styles much more than the newer ones. I've always wanted a mustang, and perhaps one day I'll have one. Anyhow, I loved that car. He knew I loved it, and he would take me along for rides whenever he could. I always asked if I could sit in the back up by the window and he always told me no because he could get into trouble for it. Forget about it being dangerous! LOL. I guess I pestered, begged and groveled enough because he finally gave in one day. After basking in the glory of my success for a little bit, he was pulled over. Yep. I helped my grandpa earn a ticket at the young age of 4. I will always remember that day, and I can't help but to laugh when I think about it.
Okay, enough of that. I enjoyed the time with my family, and it was great to see them all. I spent my last night there with my older cousins. We had a few too many drinks, but it was a fun time. The next day I journeyed back home. For New Year's we didn't do anything at all. We watched Up with the kids and fell asleep before midnight. haha Fast forward a few days to today. Mark is gone, again. He is back in California for 3 months. I am still looking for work, and trying to get school situated. Like I said before, breathe in, breathe out.

5K!

A couple of weeks ago, my mom and sister came to visit. Liz, nonchalantly asked if I wanted to run a 5K, and I said, sure what the hell, why not!
Anyone who knows me knows that I actually enjoy running. It clears my head, helps relieve stress and is something I consider fun. I haven't been running in so long. My treadmill has been back in California for the last four months, and its finally here in Florida with me. This means I can actually run more often, which is good.
Being that I hadn't ran in so long, I actually "joined" a running club. Okay, so I'm not an official member of the club just yet, as I have to run with them 9 more times to be a real member, but whatever. I joined their silly little club, none the less. Don't laugh, and no comments, but its with an Irish Pub down by the beach. After I run with them 10 times, I am privy to their 'world famous' shirt. With the shirt, comes a sense of pride, belonging, and a discount on beer and food at the pub. Now, you probably won't find me sitting inside drinking beer with people I don't know, and you definitely won't find me drinking and then driving home. I'm sure it will be some time before I make any friends that are already a part of the group. The run with them was fun, and it felt so good to get back out there. They run every Tuesday night at 6 PM. The route they run along is by the water, which of course is a big bonus for me. The route is 3.19 miles long, so its just slightly longer than a 5K. I hope to run with them more often and on a regular basis.
Okay, so back to the 5K. Liz totally bailed on me and didn't do it. I was really bummed because I was looking forward to doing something fun with her. We woke up before the crack of dawn, 5 AM, and we drove the hour to Orange Beach, AL. We were one of the first to arrive to the event, which made things a little less chaotic. I signed in, and picked up my t-shirt, racing packet, and timing chip. I was a little nervous, but also excited to do this. This was my first race, and surely wouldn't be the last!
The race started at 8 AM for people that were running the half marathon (13.5 miles) yikes!! Maybe next year I will have built up enough endurance to brave the run. The 5K (3.1 miles) race started at 8:10 AM. It took me 35 minutes and 27 seconds to run 3.1 miles. The track had way more hills than I was anticipating. As one lady put it, "Who knew the beach was so hilly!" I averaged each mile at about 11 miles per minute which to me is beyond awful. My focus now is to bring my time down, and work on endurance and stamina. Overall, I finished 5th out of 29 women in my age division between the ages of 25-29. And out of all of the women in the race, I finished 55th out of 241.
I am proud of my accomplishment, and I am very much looking forward to the next event. I'm not too sure what the next event is, but I am currently preparing for the Double Bridge Run in February of next year. I am going to try to complete the entire run, which is a 15K (9.3 miles). The course for this run crosses two bridges (hence the double bridge name), that lead to Pensacola Beach. These two bridges are pretty steep, and I'm not looking forward to that, but I am prepared to train for it. Wish me luck!!!!
Here are the pics from my first race!

The boys staying warm in the truck before the race.

Mark and Ryleigh staying warm in the truck before the race.

Me before the race, trying to stay warm!

Getting things started!

Starting the race off...

FINISHED!!!!!

My first bib from my first race!

I'm in Love with Another Man!!!

And his name is Tony Horton!! For those of you who have no clue who Tony Horton is, don't go getting all crazed on me! He's the guy that does the P90X workouts. :) I ordered my stuff for the workouts a couple of weeks ago, and was totally excited to get it all in the mail. I did my very first workout the day I got everything. It kicked my butt like you would not believe. It was an awesome workout, and I felt great when I was done with it. Unfortunately, I didn't keep up with it like I should have due to unforseen circumstances. . . like my evil dog ripping my toenail off, and not feeling well. I started back up with the program exactly a week ago. I actually look forward to working out. The workouts push me, work muscles I forgot I had, make me sweat and swear, but most of all, they are actually fun. I know most people don't think of the two words fun and workout in one sentence, but I'm a little crazy. lol. I have really enjoyed this last week and am super excited going into my second week. I've already done my workout for today. If you've heard of it, heard other people's stories or what have you, and you were really skeptical, I say, give it a shot! I've got another 82 days worth of workouts before I complete one round of the program. Anyway, I just wanted to rant and rave about the program. I love it, and its worth a try!!! Oh, and the kids like to stand behind me and workout too, if they are awake. :) Who knows maybe once I start toning up, I'll be brave enough to post pictures! Yeah, probably not, but whatever! lol.