Women Living Well

I have been following the blog of Women Living Well for a while. This week she asked us to praise our husbands "publicly". The only "public" interaction I've had with my husband lately is Facebook. Sad I know! In his defense we are in the middle of a move. Any how, I've done it 6/7 days so far. Finally today the 6th day, he asked why I am putting all these nice posts on his page! I was wondering if he was ever going to react. Of course I told him all about the blog so it will be expected now but I doubt he caught all the details I was saying. He didn't have his listening ears on...I don't think! ;)

The Twilight Zone

Today was one of those weird days when you've seemingly stepped into the twilight zone. Actually, this week... Things seem like they are heading toward a less stressful season of our lives, but we aren't there yet.

From the moment dear 1 got up today, she was on a tirade. And all her pathetic subjects were at her disposal. Look out! And despite two days of no napping, dears 2 and 3 would not let dear 4 have a nap or let us have one quiet minute until we finally declared "We are going to bed!"

Now I'm sitting in the only lit place in the house...a dark hallway lit by the bathroom light so I can a few minutes of quiet before passing out for the night! I'm starting a journal; something I have felt necessary to do all of a sudden this year and I think maybe it has nothing to do with this new year but rather this new season of our life. I've never been good at keeping a journal. (Hence my blog history...spotty.). I'm good at picking out journals, planning journals and sometimes starting journals...keeping them...not so much. Maybe this is a new me...a new state, new town, new friends, new schools. Agh! I need a new pen.

Fallin' off the Wagon

It seems like my children's colds will never go away.  Between their runny noses and coughing, teething, etc I can get a good night's rest and have put off running for so long.  I think it's only been two weeks and feels like so much longer.  I'm going to have to start from square one on my training, I'm afraid.  So depressing...makes me want to go stuff myself with a chocolate cake to celebrate.  Ugh.   (BTW I don't do that, I just fantasize about excuses to go do it.) :)

A Terrific Application

I stumbled across Homeschool Tracker a couple weeks ago, thanks to my online homeschool group.  She suggested I google it and check it out.  It has been a wonderful resource.  All the books, software, movies, and games can be input and assigned daily with grades and time tracked easily.  It takes a while to put it all in but once it's in, simply print an assignment page and the child's books and directions are laid out clearly.

Before I tried using an Excel spreadsheet but it wasn't easy to follow or keep up with.  This is an access application that comes with no instructions but is easy to figure out.  You can print all kinds of reports including report cards and a journal.  You can choose holidays, sick days and school days and mark them.

Life is busy!

I've thought about writing so many times this week but it seems it has just flown by!  Between trying to run every other day and school and the kids, I can't just sit and write much. 

One morning we decided to have muffins for breakfast and I happened to have a package of Martha White banana nut mix.  It's been a long time since I used mixes because I am wholly convinced homemade items always taste better, but life has gotten even busier so we've started using them again.  This batch turned out just awful.  I don't know if the mix was molded or what happened but I know it wasn't on my end.  According to the directions, you add milk, stir it up and bake.  Hard to mess that up!  The milk wasn't bad either!  I checked.  The flavor was so chemical like tasting that the girls wouldn't even finish one, which is very unlike my baked good addicts!  Then we tried the MW blueberry mix.  It was tastier but still, sugar was the only flavor.  There's no actual fruit of any kind in it.  At least Jiffy has dehydrated apples that are dyed blue!

We also went to Mardel's this week because of their free lamination promotion.  Usually, I buy clear shelf liner contact paper to laminate our items.  The final product wasn't as thick as we're used to, but it was SO much easier!!!  And their normal price is 25 cents/foot.  That is both sides, not per side.  You just stick your papers in a roller one at a time and it presses it through on the other side into a long stream of clear wrap and you're done.  I will never laminate myself again if I can help it.  Cutting it out took a while but I would have to do that either way.

As for running this week?  I ran once.  Ugh.  I'm about to run again here in a minute.  I'm dreading it in a way since I know I haven't kept it up like I should.  So I should be on week 5 but I'm just starting week 4 now.  I'm only up to a 12 minute stretch at a time.  I have a long way to go, but I am so looking forward to being able to run that long that the anticipation keeps me, mostly, motivated.

Women of Faith 2010

I was fortunate to get to go to the Women of Faith conference. I've wanted to go many times before but it never worked out. This time I wasn't even a little excited. It seemed to be such an inconvenient time and location and took so much effort to get there. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. All the speakers' stories were so moving!

The line up included Mary Mary, Natalie Grant, Sheila Walsh, Lori Robertson, Michelle Aguilar, Marcus Buckingham, Lisa Harper, and Karen James.

I bought Marc Buckingham's book: Find Your Strongest Life: What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently. He was very funny and made a lot of sense. I wanted to buy Sheila's and Lisa's books as well but I will have to borrow them since the first book wasn't even in the budget.

I was able to run the day before the conference but with the long hours found it too difficult today. I guess I'll have to catch up tomorrow.

Celebrating week 3!

I'm not celebrating big, but I am proud of myself and thankful to God for the healthy, strong body that is able to accomplish all that I set my mind to, with His help! I can't take all the credit. My life is too full and blessed to be orchestrated by a mere man.

As I was saying...week three! I'm following a six week training plan I found on www.about.com on training for a 5k. I've always hated running in the past so I thought I should start small and work up to the larger races. I realize this can take quite some time to develop the endurance I need for a marathon but I'm determined. I don't have a legacy to follow of health nuts, athletes or any sort of good example in that area I suppose but it's something I want my kids to see me doing. I hope it will inspire them to either join me or find their own preferred sport to keep them active and healthy.