Not Enough Hours In The Day

I'm sure everyone will agree with me that there are just not enough hours in the day to do all the things "I WANT" to do. If I had my way, I would sleep 9 hours at night and spend 2 hours at the gym and take saunas and hot tubs, and enjoy a peaceful 2 hours in bible study and cook my family yummy healthy meals that we eat together at the table without rushing around. I would never have to tell my kids to wait for me while I'm doing something else that "needs" to be done. I would walk my dog more and take her on hikes every day. I would have a clean house and I would wear make-up. I would participate in every fun sports activity around town - a different event every weekend. I would go on dates with my husband to fun clubs and out to new movies and plays, I would go out with friends and golf every Wednesday. The list as you know, goes on and on and on...and on...and on...There has got to be a way to level things out...
It really makes me appreciate how much time and fun I wasted when I was in my 20s and early 30s - I could have packed a LOT more fun into my days back then if I knew what I know now.
I know I can do some things differently - it's weighing heavy on me. I need to be more organized and that's a huge part of this issue - or maybe it's just me rebelling against my new bible study (Living beyond "Myself").

Friday was a fun day for the kids - Mai had a bike-a-thon and Jack (with Mai by his side, of course) had a jog-a-thon - both fundraisers for their schools. Saturday they started Skyhawks which is an introduction to soccer/basketball/baseball. They had so much fun!! Yesterday we headed to our favorite park. The grass is still lush and green there at this time of the year, but one hill is always brown and dry and it's great for sledding so we took some snow discs and a couple cardboard boxes and went sledding. Note to self: next time dress the kids in long sleeves and pants...the road rash was not fun at bedtime last night - poor Mai got the worst of it in her tank and short shorts.

I'm excited that Tracy and I start working out together again today. We haven't been at the gym together since mid June - ackk!!

Honey Eggs

Click Pic to Enlarge.
You would not believe how many times I've driven by this sign on the way to dog park and thought one or any of the following:
Hmmm...Raw Fresh Honey Eggs, What the Hell are those?
Hmmm...Raw Fresh Honey Eggs, Mmm...those sound pretty good.
Hmmm...Raw Fresh Honey Eggs, what in the world could they be? I wonder what they taste like.
Hmmm...Raw Fresh Honey Eggs, REALLY?
Hmmm...Raw Fresh Honey Eggs, they sound absolutely divine!
And finally in a burst of brain sludge being moved around...
Hmmm...Raw Honey/Fresh Eggs...Raw Honey/Fresh Eggs? ooooooh.....I get it....

Galatians 5:22-23 Fruit of the Spirit

I am SO excited to start our new bible study at church tomorrow. We are again doing a Beth Moore study (her Daniel from last Spring was INCREDIBLE). This one is called "Living Beyond Yourself - Exploring the Fruit of the Spirit". 35 Women every Tuesday for the next 11 weeks. I believe it is going to be an incredible 11 weeks to come.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)

I decided to see what The Message had to say - here is Galatians 5:19-26 (emphasis mine, although it looks like I should have just put emphasis on the entire thing... it really struck me - REALLY STRUCK ME)
It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex, a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness, trinket gods, magic-show religion, paranoid loneliness, cutthroat competition, all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper, an impotence to love or be loved, divided homes and divided lives, small-minded and lopsided pursuits, the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival, uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions, ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.

But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard - things like affections for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good - crucified.

Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.

Goal Times

These medals have been hanging in my closet behind my jammies so I pulled them out the other day when I was contemplating what they mean to me. First, I'm not that competitive, so finishing first is not motivated in trying to be better or faster than someone else (usually) but I have this strong feeling of not having done MY best - particularly in training for these events.
I've set some time goals for each of the above: The Portland Marathon '09, Blue Lake Olympic Tri and Pac Crest 1/2 Ironman as well as the soonest event, the Hagg Lake Mud Run.

Feb 2009 Hagg Lake Mud Run
Last Time: 3:08:54 (about a 12:20 pace) Sunny & mostly dry- a first for this usually brutally muddy course
Goal for 2009: 2:38:00 (about a 10:00 pace) Terrain could be very ugly this year.

June 2009 Blue Lake Olympic Tri
Last Time: 3:11:16
Goal for 2009: 2:40:00 (I will have a road bike this year so that in itself should help my time a lot)

June 2009 Pacific Crest 1/2 Ironman
Last Time: 8:54:36
Goal for 2009: 6:45:00

October 2009 Portland Marathon
Last Time: 4:25:42 I was actually pretty happy with this particular race and my improvements over '05, but disappointed with my time because I came in with a friend who was struggling.
Goal for 2009: 3:59:59 (or 3:50:00 to qualify for Boston - Not really a dream of mine, so I'll wait and see) I have said my next marathon will be a sub 4 so I want to do this prior to the Disney Marathon because I'm running with friends and would like to actually run WITH them and I don't have any idea what everyone's pace will be so I thought I would get this sub 4 dream out of the way before the 2010 Disney Marathon.

I'll add more races next year I'm sure. I really want to do the Hulaman(tri) in August and RACC(bike ride) again as well as a couple of swim only races - Hagg Lake and several others.

My Son's a Liar, My Daughter's a Dog

I was originally going to name this post "I'm Lucid, Long Time Coming" but I decided to start with the kids.

Ok - so two evenings ago Jack refuses dinner (not unusual for this picky eater), but then he also didn't eat but a bite or two of breakfast yesterday and told me he had a tummy ache (but he seemed fine to me, ya know?). He asked me if it's true that if you go to the nurses office at school and tell them you are sick they will send you home and you can play at home all day. I asked him where he heard that and he said on the cartoon Fairly Oddparents (I HATE that cartoon!). Somehow we got away from that conversation in the bustle of everything and off to school we went. Mai and I peeked through his class window before leaving and he looked and acted perfectly fine for his teacher. I'm home only about 10 minutes when I get a call from the school nurse. I go to pick him up and he seems absolutely fine but I considered all the other times I poopood his illnesses in the past and made him eat only to have him barf on me minutes later and so I decided I better take him home. It was obvious as soon as we got home that he was trying to pull something over on us.

So we move to evening (his dad and sister and he went shopping earlier to get the new StarWars game for the Wii that they have been talking about nonstop for weeks) and I brought up the nurses office again. I just really didn't want him to get away with lying. I asked him what the nurse did for him. He said she gave him medicine (obvious lie!!) and so I asked him what she gave him ~ pills or liquid. He said liquid. I asked him what it tasted like and he said it was fine (from a kid who I cannot get to take ANY meds without me holding him down!!!). I asked him to describe the flavor and of course he couldn't, so I said "Ya know, I can just ask the nurse tomorrow what the medicine was". He puts his finger to his forehead and pauses briefly and then says, Hm...I didn't think about that. You BETCHA MISTER!!! I'm not the mom for nothin'.
Ok, so no video game for him (and it was tough for him listening at the top of the stairs and hearing Dad and Mai playing Wii).

So we start with a new day today and sure enough...more lies are spewing out of his mouth non-stop. I'm going crazy!! I was so frustrated last year when kindergarten turned my angel ;o) into a little monster but I swear these first grader bad influences are going to put me over the edge...
...another night of no Wii for him. OH, SO SORRY MY LITTLE BOY WHO CRIED WOLF!!!

Ok, on to my sweet little girl, Mai (ahem... I mean my little puppy, Butterbud)...well, I've heard nothing but growls, panting, and whimpers this whole day. I'm hoping she doesn't pull the same stunt as when she was a cat at 3y/o and start pooping in the flower beds.

OK - OK - On to my breakthrough in being lucid. I feel like I've been anything but lucid since the day I had Jack 6+ years ago. I think I had a great summer after Jack was about 9 months and before I got pregnant with Mai, but really, except for that small small period of time, I've been in a haze. This week has been different. For some reason I've been visualizing more, I've felt more calm, I feel like whatever is going to happen is going to happen and that I WILL be able to accept it and handle it and deal with it and not just handle it and deal with it, but let it become a positive point in my life.

Rather than struggling through many different aspects of my life, this week, for the first time in my entire life maybe, I feel like I'm not struggling, but I'm moving forward, taking it all in, learning, growing, accepting it all. It's good.

I've also had two deaths affect me this month. Two weeks ago my awesome, beloved swim coach (our head TNT coach) Jane lost her mother. Jane's father has been fighting leukemia for some time now and her mom has participated in many TNT events for many years. She was on a training run with TNT and was hit by a car and died. Here are Jane and her mother, fighting the best they can through TNT for her father and then her mother dies in the process. We do not know when our time here is up. There has to be something better to do with my time than STRUGGLE.

My brother's Mother-in-Law, Jan, died this morning from cancer. I remember thinking (angrily) when my mom was diagnosed with myeloma that everyone else was so lucky that they would have their moms around for so much longer than me, Jenny included. Jan was diagnosed more than a year after my mom. Now my mom is here and Jenny's is not. We do not know when our time here is up. There has to be something better to do with my time than STRUGGLE.

.

The Quality of a Person's Life

The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field or endeavor. - Vince Lombardi

I'm wondering what people think about this quote. Often we are taught "everything in moderation" which is how I've tried to live my life lately (often unsuccesfully ~ in the wrong direction ~ less towards excellence and more towards bad habits or settling) and then I come across quotes like this and it makes me wonder if moderation is all it's cracked up to be.

If I take a look at many aspects of my life lately, I have to agree that the quality IS in direct proportion to my commitment to excellence (and lack thereof). Just in the athletic aspect of my life (let's not get into the personal stuff today) ~ I love that I can say I've done two marathons, I've done a 1/2 Ironman, etc - but what I'm not proud of is the lack of excellence in those endeavors. Could I have done better? The answer is not even "Yes, with much more effort", but rather, "Yes, with even just a little more effort." Mediocrity is ok. Just ok.
Would love to hear your thoughts on this and your own life.

Thank you, Anna for your posts of the last two days! I wish I could comment on your blog, but hopefully you will see this here.

Falls and Friends

The kids and I couldn't let such a glorious day go to waste so we headed out to hike some falls this morning. I felt so guilty leaving Ki behind, but there was no way I could keep all three of them from sliding off this steep trail. The kids were so good ~ we hiked in about an hour (lots of uphill) and ate lunch at a nice spot and then even with the downhills it was about an hour back due to tired kids :o)
I love that they are such good friends right now! I think that the 24 month age difference and having the older boy/younger girl is perfect - I hope they stay this close!! Please, God!

I've decided to do Hagg Lake again this year so it gives me something to keep my mind on fitness wise. Lots more trail runs with Ki to follow in my near future...

Mai's First Day of School

We had a shortened version of school for Mai on Friday but yesterday was her real first day at 4 y/o pre-school. We have about a 1/2 hour between the time we drop off Jack at school and when her school begins so we'll probably start making it a mommy and me time at the new coffee shop between the two schools but yesterday she decided to climb trees at her school with our extra minutes. It's weird to be home with both of them gone. Weird... Good Weird. Only about 2 1/2 hours three times a week, though, so maybe not weird enough.

Jack's First Day of First Grade

BUSY TIMES lately. Work is outrageously busy and school started today. Not sure if this is good or bad on my schedule yet. I'll actually have two kids in school at the same time for 2.5 hours three days a week - different schools, though - so you have to account for car time. Jack was actually nervous this morning about starting first grade and he just doesn't get nervous. Poor boy. I think he's going to have a blast! His school was remodeled this summer so it's like starting at a brand new school. Smells better, too.

The kids have been spending HOURS upon HOURS in their room working on K'NEX projects. They built several things this week including a lawn mower (first pic) and a grandfather clock that actually moves the hand pieces (pic three). Mai showing off her new striped outfit in pic 2, Jack and Mai getting ready to take Jack to school this morning in pic 4 (I love this one of them). Jack likes the ladies, and it's a good thing as he is at a table full of 'em in pic 5. Pic 6 is my new shorter haircut - straight out of the shower with no make- up...feel like a boy. Def need to start wearing a li'l make - up. Mai got a nice close up of me -yikes and scary!