a week in the life

in the past week i...

realized i do have a spontaneous side.
and i embraced it.
told zztop to scoot a cheek, we were hopping in his ride out east.
why not?
only difference is, we used our car instead.
crossed two states off the bucket list.
delaware and pennsylvania.
cursed my ancestors for settling in boring landscapes, when they could have picked a seascape. or the mountains.
okay. i didn't actually curse.
crossed the atlantic ocean off my bucket list.
unless the gulf of mexico counts.
i don't think it technically does.
added "tour of the white house" to my list.
spoke to the president who declared I could have gotten a tour if i was with my friend, his supporter.
okay. maybe that wasn't entirely true.
or at all.
survived the stifling heat.
with five kids in tow.
with one cheap umbrella stroller.
missing the grip on one handle.
but satisfying my political side a bit.
in downtown washington, dc.
the mall. lincoln memorial. washington monument. the reflecting pool minus it's water. that's ugly. ford theatre. fave thing by far. the outside of the white house. world war ii memorial.
i'd previously been to the vietnam vet memorial and arlington cemetary and highly recommend them.
ate an olliburger that was dreamy at ollie's trolley.
even though i'm still having that contest.
however.
i did manage to eek out a total of 15 miles of workouts.
and i totally blew off the tour of the capitol i scheduled.
because i slept in longer than i planned.
oh. oops.
toured the hershey factory.
became nearly topless when i was pummeled by a wave in the ocean.
true story.
i was actually partially topless.
sorry for the visual.
i was to busy keeping my glasses on to worry about my swimsuit.
or standing.
realized what kind of hotel room $200 will get you.
and what $65 will get you.
guess which one was named "the scottish inn", yet owned by an indian woman?!
it was neat, because you could totally hear every car that passed by.
and the towels were almost big enough to cover my rear.
at least, i think that is what they were.
they may have been pillow cases.
they also have a really neat idea: if you own a motel (gram!) and people leave their shampoo behind, just water it down to make it last for the next guest.
realized that the ocean is actually closer to my house then mn is.
it's been really nice knowing you minnesotans.
came home and picked 2 cucumbers and a bunch of tomatoes from my garden.
and lived to tell you about all of it.
knucks.

Yee-haw!

I lost three poundages. Yee-haw!

My friend came over for lunch and ended up going home and getting a dog.

I never uttered a word. I'm a bad influence.

My friends back in New Mexico still invite me to all of their parties.

I think they like to rub it in.

One time I did legitimately RSVP a "yes".

I wish I could again.

Today I got locked out of the house.

With the two littles left inside.

I'm glad the story isn't any more interesting than that.

I haven't run my a/c in a few days. Yee-haw!

It's good because you can hear the kids playing outside.

At night, you can smell the skunks walking by and the coyotes howling in the distance.

It satisfies the redneck side of me.

Still running. My time is improving. Yee-haw!

The ants are taking over.

And, no. Not the relative kind.

Who will win the battle?

I will, once I am armed with the right kind of weapon.

Which is _________. (You fill in the blank)

Terro is not the correct answer.

I really love my friends. Old and new.

They make me laugh.

And listen to me cry.

And tell me it will work out.

They make me laugh some more. Laughter is the best medicine.

Spin class is a good stress reliever.

It does not, however, do anything for migraines.

And here starts another weekend. Yee-haw!

How did that happen!?

Hope it's a good one for ya.

lifeblood

Life insurance. (Blood pressure.) I didn't want to tell you because I value my life. You never know which one of my blog followers is the beneficiary... And some of you are downright scary. ;)
So now that you found out that boring reason, you are saying- "Yeah, the intrigue was so much more exciting." Not that life insurance isn't exciting. Heck. If it wasn't for life insurance, I wouldn't know my dear friend Kristy. So there's that. What? Oh. Another boring reason. We worked together at a life insurance company.

My blood pressure has sky-rocketed more than once today. If that lady was here today, there might be cause for concern. She, btw, says she always has low blood pressure. But she doesn't have kids. I plead the fifth.

*Just so you know, I love my kids. I don't even mind that my house is extra messy during the summer months. Kids being kids, they are sometimes sassy. And sassy can raise blood pressure. I will not elaborate, I will plead the fifth again. I will, however, take sassy over a quiet, empty house any day.*

dot dot dot

...and that's the end of the potted plants. I get lazy about watering them. This may be a record for length of life.
...I will water thee garden, though.
...Grow, garden! Grow!
...I was awoken at 6:30am by giggling children. They were advised that they may want to sleep in longer, lest they desire an earlier bedtime. I hope they pick sleeping in.
...My blood pressure at 8:30 in the morning is extremely low, even with kids giggling at 6:30 am. True story.
...I told the kind lady taking my blood pressure that if she gave me one hour with my kids, it would hike back into the normal range. Also a true story. (I fell back to sleep after the 6:30 incident.)
...She doesn't have kids. I don't think she appreciated the comment.
...She, however, liked my husband's Oryx.
...Now you are wondering why a strange lady who likes Oryx mounts was taking my blood pressure at my house early (to me) in the morning, aren't you?
...I like to be mysterious. The reason is 100% boring, so leaving it as a question mark is much more intriguing. You can go ahead and guess, tho.
...I Livestrong. I love strong.
...Jimmy John's Beach Club Unwitches are terrific when you Livestrong.
...
...
...Yep. Running out of steam. I guess it's too early to come up with anything else.
...Knucks to you.

Oh, whoops.

Oh. Heh. I knew that.

If you have surgery and have pins/plates/bolts or any kind of metal put in, you can't go to the dentist without being on an antibiotic first. The risk of bacteria traveling to and colonizing around the metal, thus causing an infection, is too great. With all the chaos of emotions and instruction and all that good stuff that goes hand in hand with your child's surgical procedure, some things get stuffed haphazardly in the back of your brain. Like this.

Unwittingly, I scheduled a dental cleaning for Logan and never got him on meds first. This bit of pertinent info never resurfaced as the appointment approached. And when the dental hygienist explained it to me, I was a little stunned. And then it started slowly making it's way to the surface. Oh. Heh. I knew that. Sigh. Life can never be simple.

And here I was all proud of myself for remembering the appointment- well, four appointments in- the first place. (L, Maddie, Haley and me) Lately, I've been a bit delinquent on appointments. Like four or five appointments. Whoops. When I forget to check my mostly blank calendar, things go to pot. People like me bug me. If you say you are going to be somewhere, then be there. The whole "rules are meant to be broken" thing never made sense to me.

At least this time I could play it off like it wasn't my fault...

Ready, ready, ready, ready to ruu-uh-uh-un.

I love the fourth of July. I do not, however, love sitting in traffic after fireworks for 32 minutes without moving an inch. True story, unfortunately. I'd much prefer a less than front row seat and a clean getaway.

*****

I am forcing my self to give running a try. I've always hated it. Mentally tallying each inch I ran- okay, fine- each tenth of a mile I ran until I could stop. Yesterday, however, I ran 3 miles without stopping. I'm getting there. Baby steps. I love the challenge of a new exercise and conditioning your body to conquer it. Thank you body, for what you do for me.

Oh! And I didn't tell you. See, I'm not an outdoorsy person. I've mentioned that before. I'm getting a little better, though. When I was running- well. Jogging. I was jogging and almost home. It was suddenly extremely urgent to stop and get my cell out of the stroller to check the time. (A watch? What's that?) I like to see how fast. slow. fast I go. And it couldn't wait any longer, apparently. Anywho. I was glad I did. Because a Coyote went blazing across the road right in front of me. I watched it to make sure it wasn't coming back to eat me and then took off like a shot. I did that last part of the run in record time. It's called motivation.

Shudder. I don't love (wild) animals. I don't hate them, either. I just don't love them. But I do know that the big ones are out to get me. I can tell. They look at me and think that they'd like to chew on my legs. I just know it. So that's another thing about running in the country. I'm like a dinner plate cruising down the dirt road. It isn't a comforting thought. Oh, yes. I research what kind of creatures live in my area. I like to see what I am up against. Living here is a lot safer than New Mexico, though. Think: rattlesnakes, black widows, scorpions, coyotes, mountain lions, bears, ugh. Maybe not wandering the streets waiting for runners, especially since I lived in town. But I feel more comfortable living here, where the insects are much tamer. I'm not naive- according to the Internet, there could be cougars around here. And. In the paper last week, it said somebody spotted a black bear. So. There's that. If I move to a riskier area, I'm getting the biggest dog you ever did see. He'll even scare away Woolly Mammoths. I've heard they live in certain areas. ;)

But, like I said, I prefer clean getaways.

*****

Halfway done with the Jam-athon. Just waiting on Raspberries. YUM.

*****

The HH and I are having a contest. I'm looking to lose those last few baby pounds (WHAT? MY BABY IS ONLY ONE AND A HALF!!) and apparently he thinks his six pack isn't six enough, so he's sculpting that. It goes until the end of August. I really want to eat some chips. But I am resisting. Because as Izzy put it so sweetly when she was sitting on my lap last week, "Mom! You are so comfy!" Thank you, my little motivator. Thank you. It did occur to me that maybe that's why we gain weight when we are prego. It makes us comfier for when we snuggle with our babies. Ahhh, that's actually kind of sweet. Sweet. Chocolate. Now I want a candy bar.