Five Things Friday

I have lots of thoughts rolling around in my head today.  So here are just five of them.

1.  Evan, Rachel and I got on a Wasatch Back Ragnar team!!  So very excited about this.  Jeramie had the opportunity to join us but decided against it.  I was originally thinking that this would be a really great learning experience for me.  I was expecting to get a really easy leg.  See we (Evan, Rachel, Jeramie and myself) wanted to do the Wasatch Ragnar but it was sold out so instead we decided to put our own team together for the Las Vegas Ragnar in November (this is still happening).  Since I've never done one of these relay's before I figured getting onto the Wasatch team at the last minute would let me experience it prior to having to really pull my weight in Vegas.  Well we got our leg assignments this week and there's nothing easy about it.  Evan got a really hard leg and then Rachel and I both got hard ones too.  Apparently there are less experienced runners than us that took the easy legs.  Darn.  At least we all are able to ride in the same vehicle, which was questionable at first.  They rank all the different legs as Easy, Moderate, Hard or Very Hard.

Evan is running Leg 6 a total of 17.2 miles

6.5 miles Very Hard, 8.2 miles Very Hard, 2.5 miles Easy

Rachel is running Leg 3 a total of 19.4 miles

6.8 miles Moderate, 4.9 miles Moderate, 7.7 miles Hard

I am running Leg 5 a total of 14.8 miles

7.8 miles Very Hard, 4.2 miles Easy, 2.8 miles Easy

Yep that down there would be my 7.8 miles straight uphill on a dirt road.

I got the leg that Rachel ran her first year and she has assured me that that 7.8 miles uphill will suck really bad.  But I guess the bright side is that it's my first leg and then I'll have nothing but easy.  That is IF I survive running straight up hill.  I'm a little scared.  Or a lot.  Ultimately my only goal is to run the whole way, even if that means running really slow.  The mileage itself isn't a problem .. I can run 8 miles without much thought.  It's the straight uphill climb that has me worried.

But either way I'm still VERY excited about running it! 

2.  In my mad rush to get out the door today I forgot to grab my breakfast (a protein shake).  I thought, oh no big deal I'll stop for a McDonald's Oatmeal.  The line was SO long.  No breakfast for me this morning.  And darn it I was really looking forward to that Oatmeal. It's so good.  And so I'll be hungry today.

3.  I have only taken 1 day off of work since last year and that was for Wyland's dental surgery.  I'm REALLY looking forward to this three day weekend.  I just need some days off of work.

4.  Putting my family on a relatively strict budget 2 years ago was the best thing I ever did.  It is unbelievably powerful to know that you are choosing how to spend your money and not being stupid about it.  I love knowing that when it's time for a kids birthday I have already set aside the money to pay for their presents. I get that it's not all about what you "get" them. But at the same time we all know we're always going to buy our children birthday presents.  It makes it SO much more fun to buy them when you know you have the money to do so, you don't have that nagging in the back (or front) of your mind reminding you that you don't really have the money to do this.  But this comes with sacrifices too.  Jeramie and I don't eat out all that often anymore, frankly because it can be really expensive.  And I find that when we do get to go out to eat it feels like much more of a treat.  I know what an extra $100 today will mean for me 3 months from now.  It's empowering.  It's not always fun though .. but it's really worth it in the long run and I'm really glad that I do it.  Some Monday's (after a weekend of spending) I absolutely dread balancing the books after that weekend.  But once I do, I then put a plan into either making up for it or make other adjustments to make it work.  Once I'm finished .. huge sense of accomplishment.  And I know ahead of time which weeks are going to be tight.  And I tell Jeramie .. hey .. we have NO money this week.  We make it work, sometimes that means planning for CHEAP meals and getting the bare minimum at the grocery store.  But at least it's all under control.

5.  Dieting. Isn't it funny how being on a budget is kind of like being on a diet.  You don't get to do the fun stuff when you're on a budget and you don't get to EAT the fun stuff when you're on a diet.  Impulsive purchases and meals can really suck to have to make up for.  And being on a budget means constantly working hard, just like being on a diet does.  It comes down to good decisions and bad decisions.  I've figured out as I work to get faster at running that if I could just lose 15 lbs then I should automatically be able to shave 30 seconds off my pace per mile.  That's huge in running.  Now if only I could diligently lose 15 lbs.  It's kind of a lot and would take a lot of work.  How bad do I want it?  That's what it comes down to.  Just like with money.  *sigh*

That was a lot of randomness and ended up being a long post. I guess that could have been 5 separate posts.  Note to self:  In the future blog more frequently then you don't end up with long rambling posts that people probably can't be bothered to read the entire thing of.

What are you all up to this LONG weekend??

Exhausted.

This is probably my least favorite time of year.  Christmas is over.  We do so much camping in the summertime that I always have tons of stuff to blog about.  Plus all the birthdays and stuff.  But then January comes and I swear even though it feels like we're still busy all the time it's like we don't actually DO anything.  So there's no pictures until Easter.  We've undergone a major redecorating and construction at work, which has meant that I've been working out of a box since the first week of December.  The good news is that I got an office out of the whole deal and moved in this week. So that's been exciting.  But overall work has been DRAINING.  Don't get me wrong, I love my job.  And I love the people I work with, but man am I tired when I get home each night.

I don't talk much about work here on the good 'ole family blog.  For those that don't know I manage a team of 10 people.  The entire Customer Service Department that is.  So basically I support and help people most of the day.  As soon as I start doing something that I need to do I get interrupted with a question or someone needing help.  And more often than not, it's not someone that works for me.  It's just someone that needs help from me.  Don't get me wrong, I love feeling needed too.  But it's ALL DAY LONG.  And I have to do it with a smile of course.  Some days I come home feeling like I've just been pecked to death my chickens.  Only to get home to my babies .. who then peck at me some more.  I hate that it makes me impatient with them.  I hate that it makes me feel like I never get a moment to myself.  We forgot to do Jackson's homework this week.  I HATE his homework!!  Baylee never had homework.  Baylee still doesn't ever have homework.  Have you ever tried doing homework, while trying to cook dinner, juggling a baby on your hip, watching that your 14 year old doesn't steal some food while you aren't looking, while your 3 year old runs around yelling because all he wants is a little attention??  When all I really want to do when I walk in the door is mentally decompress for a minute (okay really like 30 minutes or even an hour would be nice). Guess I'm sounding a little whiny.  It's just been a long couple of weeks.  And we haven't really been doing anything and so I don't have much to report on.  So that leaves me with late homework to finish up over the weekend. I seriously wish that his teacher would send homework home on Friday for the following Friday.  Then we could do it on the weekend when we have more time.  And I'm just tired.

Oliver has been walking since last month.

I just think he's so darn adorable.

This is a TERRIBLE picture.  Not good iPhone.

But this was Wyland being funny the other day with my microwave potato bag.

Jackson LOVED his camo Christmas PJ's.

Here is is looking very scary.

Clearly he watches Jeramie play way too many video games!

I began my Salt Lake City Half Marathon training a couple weeks ago.

I LOVE running outside in this weather.  Last Saturday it snowed and we

ended up running on a bit of snow / ice pack. But I still loved getting out there.

And I LOVE my regular weekly long run date with my BF Rebecca.

You know what else is disturbing this week?  There was a mother/teacher/wife runner who went missing up in Montana last weekend when she went out for a jog.  Today when I was driving to work (I listen to CNN Headline news on my way in every morning), well turns out they think she's been murdered.  That freaks me out!  She just went out for a run, something I do four days a week!  I think I'm going to add a pocket knife to my pepper spray I run with.  Then listening to Van der Sloot getting sentanced to 28 years in prison for killing that girl in Peru.  Back when Natalie Holloway disappeared in Aruba I went on vacation there just weeks after she disappeared.  So weird.  Then on my way home from work they were talking about some twenty something girl who was pregnant with twins and it appears that she gave birth to them and then killed them both!  What is wrong with these people??  All these babies that keep disappearing out of their cribs in the middle of the night while their parents are supposedly sleeping and then they spend so much time and manpower looking for these kids, when it's so clear their own parents killed them.  It's so sickening.  (How's that for random?!)

As if this post wasn't random enough, here are Five Things Friday, random edition:

1.  I really love McDonald's Fruit and Maple Oatmeal.  And I allow myself it once per week.

2.  It was Zarley's birthday this week and that means her blanket that I have crocheted REALLY needs to get finished TOMORROW so I can give it to her Sunday.  All I have left is the trim, but it's time consuming and the boring part.

3.  I started reading this book, 1-2-3 Magic, Effective Discipline for Children 2-12.  I swear it's AMAZING.  I don't pride myself on having the best behaved children.  For the most part they have pretty good manners (and I am proud of that).  But they can be SO naughty, which just adds to my "I've been working all day and I'm too tired to deal with naughty children" attitude.

4.  I'm really looking forward to going to see War Horse with my mum tomorrow.  I LOVE horse movies (i.e. Seabiscuit, Dreamer, Black Stallion .. need I say more??)

5.  I swear I just did Oliver's laundry and the kid is LITERALLY out of clean PJ's. Tonight he's sporting a pair of size 3 PJ's that I just cleared out of Wyland's drawer.  Fail.