I am thankful because...

Thanksgiving this year has in store for the Wayne’s a visit from Nana and Papa, my husband’s step mom and dad. The boys are looking forward to getting spoiled with lots of hugs and kisses, not that they do not get that now but a Grandma and Grandpa hugs and kisses are special.

Scott has meticulously prepared a menu for the feast. The menu has my stamp of approval and items to be purchased for said menu have been logged into the Grocery app. How can you not love a man that uses a grocery app. I bet he can also provide 10 recommendations for said app that he researched prior to purchasing. LOVE HIM!

Tonight we will put the finishing touches on the house…I’ve got some planting to do and I may have to get my flashlight out in order to finish.

I’ve seen many of things people are thankful for via the social sites I follow and I thought I would jot a few of them down as well.

I am thankful for my husband. He is my love, my hero and the father of my two boys. His nuances are endearing…we are different in so many ways…to the point where either one or both of us have just thrown our hands up out of frustration. Yet that man of mine can still make my knees quiver with just one look.

I am thankful for my two sons. It is amazing to watch them both grow and learn in their boy ways. We have tickle fights in the evenings and there is nothing like a house filled with the laughter of children. Our five year old is maturing more and more every day. He is reading, writing and solving math problems. I am so proud of how hard he works at everything…everyday. Our 17th month old is in awe of his big brother and when he is not trying to beat him up he can be seen as a blonde streak running through the house, with one arm just a pumping, chasing after his big brosef. I’ve said it many of times…I never wanted kids until I had them and I am thankful God had a bigger plan and allowed me to experience and grow as a person and hold the prestigious honor of being a mother.

I am thankful for family and friends. Love and support…from family, extended family to the family I got to choose…my friends, I am thankful for them and their kind hearts.

I am thankful for the health of my family, both physically and as a whole. I am thankful our visits to the doctor’s office are from an occasional fever or checkup. I am thankful we are a cohesive unit and when there is something that needs to be dealt with we rally around each other and see it through.

I am thankful to have a job with outstanding benefits to help pay for those occasional fevers, checkup, unscheduled surgeries and emergency room visits.

I am thankful for our neighbors that have become our friends. Whether it is births, babysitting, a stick or two of butter, gasoline for the generator or a reason to get together to be adults for a night…we can always count on our neighbors.

I am thankful to God. We are truly blessed and I thank Him every day .

Christmas 2008

I’ve been dark for almost a month now…no reason in particular except time, there isn’t any. So…I’m here, in the New Year starting anew. I was pretty consumed with pregnancy last year and I didn’t make any “official” resolutions other than to have a healthy, happy baby. Done and done.

The last month has been busy with Christmas and family in town. The hubby’s mom was in town for 10 days in December. She hasn’t seen the boys since June and she was very excited. She couldn’t believe how much the baby had grown.

I worked until the day before Christmas Eve, it wasn’t too bad, it was very quiet and I actually got ahead, I didn’t get totally organized so I’m thinking I’ll do that tomorrow before I jump into work, shouldn’t be too bad.

On a sad note, my office mate and one of my bestest friends EVER has changed positions and will be relocated into another building, sad. Funny story, originally she didn’t want to be my office mate, she even went to management to request that I be moved, which they did, to my other bestest friends office…lol. It backfired because they eventually moved me back into her office about 5 years ago. Anywho our desks face each other and it going to be sad looking up and seeing emptiness there. Thankfully she is an IM or a walk away. I will miss her…just being there.

Christmas was great. Mema was here for the monkey’s first Christmas and the boys had a great time. If you recall I mentioned before we were going to scale WAY back…yeah that didn’t happen, as you can tell in this picture.

Santa was good to me I got my air compressor I wanted. Yes, I’m a girl and wanted an air compressor, mainly to manage the air pressure in my tires. I HATE going to the gas station to do it. For one thing I’m paranoid of the gas station. At any moment someone is going to car jack me, smash my window and steal my purse and heaven forbid the kids are with me…I’m a nervous wreck. So now I have my air compressor and I can air things up in the comfort of my own garage, if they only had a pink one…

Santa also delivered a fire pit. WHOO HOO!! I so wanted one. I have a vision of a seating area out back complete with a fire pit. As a bonus Santa found one that converts into a table during the summer…can’t wait to fire it up!

We had ham for dinner but nothing formal and after a late night, early morning and opening presents pretty much the entire day we all went to bed early.

Hurricanes and Snow...oh My

Three months ago we were prepping for a hurricane, today we're all sharing snow stories. A freak and I mean freak snow storm hit Houston last night, 2-3 inches in fact, it was almost 80 the day before...is that crazy or what? When I picked up the kids from school it was starting, the boy and I caught snowflakes on our tongues. The weather report was the snow would not accumulate so we went home and stayed warm. Around 2.5 hours later I glance out the front door and this is what I saw!





The boy was snug in his bed and I ran upstairs and carried all 50 lbs of him down stairs and opened the door so he could see, I thought he would immediately wake up and want to play, I was hoping anyway. Well...said boy pulled his jammie shirt down and said he was cold and snuggled up under my chin. I asked him if he wanted to go play in the snow or go back to bed...he chose bed.

So...this morning when we were on our way to school he was running around in the backyard screeching. I plunked the baby down in the middle of the grass (yes in his car seat, all snug as a bug) and had the boy pose beside him to at least document there was snow.

At school he was hoping they would get to go outside and play, I gave him my gloves I keep in my jacket pocket just in case.

Something interesting...my first Christmas it snowed, I have a pic somewhere of my Dad and I standing next to a snowman he and my mom made. The boy's first Christmas in 2004 it snowed on Christmas Eve and the monkey's first Christmas is snowed...A BUNCH. Weird.

The boy was sad he missed the snow, he told me he really wanted to make a snow angel. I told him we would go to a place one day where there is snow as far as the eye can see. Hmmm...may have to ask Dad what we have planned next Christmas. Christmas in the Rockies sounds mighty fine.

Oh...it took me 2 hours to get to work this morning...I had to take the tunnel that I didn't know how to get to...yes, I've lived here all my life. I work on the other side of the ship channel and it was rather "challenging" to get to work. On the positive side...I now have an "ice route" to work.

I hope all of the Houston peeps had fun last night...don't blink it will be 80 soon enough.

Halloween - 2008

I think the events over the past week have taken its toll on everyone, even the boy. Halloween ended up being low key. The costume he chose was Optimus Prime and for the Monkey’s first Halloween we was…a monkey. They were both too cute. We made it out the door about 6:45 and the mosquitoes almost carried the baby away. At one point I attempted to bribe a swarm of them with candy but they were having none of it. Most of our neighbors were not home, we went to two houses on our street before the Monkey and I called it a night, he was asleep before the first house. After I put the Monkey to bed I came downstairs to find the boy and the hubby were back. He really wasn’t interested in begging for candy but he was really excited about handing it out to the trick or treaters that rang the doorbell. Thankfully Halloween as uneventful and we were all snug in our beds at a decent hour without experiencing the candy overload.

To me Halloween marks the beginning of the holiday season and the stores didn’t disappoint. Christmas music was playing at Sam’s this weekend. Seriously! I am so not ready for this. But the hubby and I talked about a plan for presents for the boys. The last three years we have not been able to finish opening presents on Christmas day because there as been so many. The boy has a crapload of toys and I know there are some up there that he still hasn’t played with, almost a year later.

Here is the plan:

12 presents…one for each month of the year.
3 will be Toys
3 will be clothes
3 will be books
3 will be puzzle or something educational

Of course the boys will still get more presents from the grandparents and such but I am hoping this will reign in the over stimulation and underappreciation. Here’s hoping.

Consider yourself caught up!

Zoo Boo

We just got back from Zoo Boo and it was a beautiful day. I had a minor hiccup on the way to meet the group, I rearended a truck. Seriously??? I hit them going a speedy 10mph as we were waiting for the light. I was doing something for the boy, saw the car next to me go and you guessed it...BAM! Ah...shit.

I got out and their black bumper left a few kisses on mine but nothing at all major. The kids were fine, one even slept through it. I'm just pissed I did something so stupid. They took my insurance info...just in case. Afterwards I called the hubby,he took the news better than I expected and was very glad we were okay.

The zoo was packed. All the kids were running around in their costumes. Holy cow I felt sorry for those that had the monkey, lion or bear costumes. Those lil guys looked miserable. We are home for naps now before we go to our community fall festival.

I must thank Miss Nicole for schlepping the stroller around and Miss Jodie and Mr. Bryan for helping with the boy.

Naps rock!!

WOE - Week 1 Complete and the results are in…

Drum roll please…6 lbs!! Snoopy Dance! AND 2 inches off the waist. Snoopy dancing naked!! (Got a little over zealous there). Now I did have a challenge to overcome and that was breastfeeding. I believe my supply dipped a bit so in order to compensate I ate a tad bit bigger portion and ate two extra servings of cheese a day. I can already tell my supply is back up by making those mods. It should be smooth sailing for the duration since I get to eat me some carbs…in moderation of course but I’m so excited about my sugar free Jell-O with reddi whip tonight!! Oh…and I just made the Crispy Lettuce Wraps…YUM-O! Ok…enough with the exclamation points already.

I visited the dermatologist today and she froze a bunch of stuff that I can’t remember the name of but were brought on primarily by pregnancy and those hormones that come along for the ride. I had a spot on my face that looked like a gynormous sun spot and she took care of it. Only downside is that I get to walk around for about a week with an even darker mark on my face; worth it, totally.

I’m on the downside of week two of WOEing it; yeah…I’m a blogging slacker. Things just come up…and I’m choosing sleep over blogging. I know…and I call myself a blogger. Yeah…yeah…yeah. I bet most of you do your blogging at work and I just can’t seem to fit my updates in as frequently as I used to.

Back to downside to week two, initial thoughts not bad at all except I went a little crazy on Friday and had sushi for lunch, come on I haven’t had REAL sushi in ten months. At least it was for lunch and not dinner and I made it work by switching my carb up days from Saturday to Friday and I got my weight back down. Of course I’ve been weighing myself everyday, which I know you are not supposed to do but I had to see the damage I had done. It was very reassuring to me that I can make mid week adjustments if necessary because life happens and still stay on track. Another thing that helps is the hubby is only eating fish for the next few weeks so for dinner…my protein is pretty much always some sort of fish.

Whey Protein Story…I went to buy more vanilla whey protein powder at our local Mr. Nutrition. Two things, one…I could put the little muscle bound dude in my pocket, I think my newborn is only slightly smaller than he was; and two, the idiot knew nothing about protein powder. Well…let me give him some credit, he didn’t know ALL the things he should know about protein powder. He didn’t even know who Jay Robb was…WHAAA? Nor did he have a clue what the brands he did carry were sweetened with. Seriously. We did buy some crap and I hate it but I’m going to push through, I still have the chocolate flavor from Jay Robb that will be what I drink in my shakes and I will put this crap we bought in everything (oatmeal, crepes, pancakes) so I can hurry up and buy JR’s vanilla flavor again. Aftertaste in anything that isn’t a warm walnut and chocolate chip tollhouse cookie SUCKS. Blah! Pushing through.

Can’t close without mentioning hurricane Gustav. It looks like we in Houston will be spared however those to the east of us…not so much. The weather peeps are saying it is going to be nasty and I am hoping against all hope we don’t see a repeat of three years ago. A good friend of mine has family that lives in Houma, keep them in your prayers as well as all the others sticking around for their own reasons. Heaven help us with the media coverage. I think some of the reporters are actually disappointed it isn’t coming our way.

And finally, Labor Day, Why exactly do we have this holiday? Not that I am complaining it is just we were talking about it with the boy and we couldn’t really tell him why we have the day off; to celebrate Labor? I think we are off the hook this year but next year we really need to be better prepared.

Have a great celebration of Labor…Day!

I’m out.

Remembering...

4th of July

Today was the Monkey’s first 4th of July. I documented his blog with the event and I couldn’t help but think about my past 4th of July and the ones I have fond memories of.

I am not sure of the year but I had to be in 4th or 5th grade because my sister was still a toddler. A friend of my parents (The St. John’s) had family that had a house in Morgan’s Point right across the street from Sylvan Beach, they launch fire works off a barge in the bay. We were so close ash from the firecrackers rained down on us and my sister was so scared she screamed the entire time.

When I was in high school my Dad worked for the City of LaPorte and he we responsible for lighting the fireworks display. It was so cool seeing the fireworks and knowing my Dad was responsible for them. At the same time I was scared to death one would ignite on the barge, I think I spent more time watching those fireworks being lit than exploding in the sky.

Lake Texhoma 2002 – We had five boxes of fireworks and went to light them on the shore of the lake and a crowd of cars gathered on the opposite side of the shore and when a really good firework would go off they would honk their horns and flash their lights. It was quite a scene.

Russia 2003 – Celebrating the 4th in Star City, Russia was quite memorable, not to mention some other things that went on (everything happens for a reason babe). Being on lockdown due to a sucide bomber at a festival outside the city is something you don’t get in the good ole US of A!

This forth we kept it low key primarily due to the Monkey being so new. The hubby did pick up fireworks for the boys and we invited a few of our neighbors along for the ride as well. The boy had a great time and the monkey slept through most of them. The rest of the day we ran a few errands and the hubby and I watched Kung Fu Hussle in Blu Ray. As weird as it sounds…it is acutally a pretty good watch. Mindless.

Saturday Jod and Nic came over for a visit which was much needed. I missed ‘my girls’. We got caught up on everything and they brought the boy birthday gifts, which he loved and Jod sat with the baby the entire three hours they were here…which the monkey slept the entire time and continued to sleep until about 1:30 in the morning. Minor setback.

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful…thankfully not much to report.

The upcoming week will be a series of choreographed events, the boy goes the doc on Monday. I’m taking both boys…by myself, it’s a bit more work than it used to be.

On Wednesday I’m heading down to Clear Lake for a going away ‘happy hour’ party. All the babies will be there and adult socializing…YAY.

Thursday I’m planning on taking both boys to Taekwondo. Should be exciting.

Fun stuff huh. LOL…the life of a temp SAHM.

I’m not mentally ready for the Jodieversary challenge yet, officially. I’m working on the eating habits but I REALLY want to exercise and my body is so not there yet. The doc should release me in a few weeks. Plus the hubby is fixin to have surgery on his knee on the 17th and I want to focus on parenting this two kid thingy right now and that mental challenge is all I can handle today. One day at a time.

Looks like I missed the Houston Half, no worries…it on for Austin!

Memorial Weekend 2008

It is officially non-official start of summer. Friday I got a jump on my ‘chores’, that was nice and made a big difference on getting things done during the weekend. Saturday we went to Sam’s and the boy and I had an ok nap. He was figity and didn’t sleep long. I was soooo tired. Also, we have started having this popping noise from our a/c vent over the week and it is freakin loud. It has woken the hubby and I both out of a dead sleep. Well…I wouldn’t consider any sleeping I do of the dead kind. Perhaps a mild coma. Ya know…the kind where you can still hear everything but your eyes are shut. Yep…that’s me.

So anyway…Saturday the hubby grilled some BIG OL STEAKS and corn on the cob. We did our part to contribute to the statistic that Memorial Day is the biggest MEAT eating weekend in the U.S.

Sunday the hubby pressure washed the driveway and back patio while the boy and I went to the pool. We went early and it was nice. Hardly anyone there and the water wasn’t too cool. Needless to say we both spent a bit too much time out in the sun. Poor bug got a sunburn and Mom and one to match. After the pool we headed home for lunch and the boy was so tired he practically went upstairs to take a nap by himself.

The hubby and I watched “Before the Devil Knows Your Dead”. It was ok, I fell asleep. This one didn’t hold my attention. It was one of those where it told and retold the story from each character’s point of view. Normally I wouldn’t mind but I think I just didn’t have the capacity for a long drawn out movie. I like Philip Seymour Hoffman, but with clothes on. Marisa Tomei, I gotta give the girl credit…she looks good for her age, even without clothes which she was missing most of the movie. Ethan Hawke, he was just a pansy and I didn’t have the patience for him. Those are pretty much your highlights.

We went to visit Granny and Papa Boley Sunday night for dinner. It is always an adventure…especially when the hubby joins us; which he can only muster about twice a year. After some visiting I take the hubby and the boy with me to get dinner mostly to give hubby a break and we make our way to KFC, which I later discover no one likes but for whatever reason we ALWAYS go there when I visit. Nice. We place our $30 order at KFC, get to the window and wait about 5 minutes then the guy comes to the window and proceeds to explain the following:

KFC guy: “we have no wing, no breast and no tie”.

Me: “Excuse me, can you repeat that?”

KFC guy: “we have no wing, no breast and no tie”.

Me: “You have no what? Tie?”

KFC guy: “TIE” (because yelling at me is going to make me understand your broken English).

Me: “Oh…you mean Thigh. Um…ok…what do you have?”

KFC guy closes the window and talks to someone in the back for probably two additional minutes. Comes back to the window. “Nothing else”

Me: “You have nothing else? Do you know you are a KFC and you sell chicken?” (He just looks at me and tells me it will be 15 minutes)

Yeah…we’re about frustrated at this time. If they would have put the freakin chicken in when we ordered it and the time they took to explain and for me to understand they didn’t have any ‘tie’s’ the damn chicken would have been done. Good grief…I proceed to tell them to cancel the order and we go to Kroger and get better and cheaper fried chicken, no wings but we got plenty of tie’s. I mean seriously…this town that I grew up in is po dunk!

We make our way back home to eat our chicken and help Granny and Papa with their computer…they are almost 80…how awesome is that. No, they don’t know much but at least they are trying. The hubby is also greatful he won’t have to do this again until December. It will take him that long to recoup and be prepared for this years’ upcoming RenFest pix.

Monday was low key. Since we pretty much wore the boy out on Sunday we stayed around the house and watched movies most of the day and rested up for the week ahead. We finished the monkey’s room. Yes…I have pix!!

Christmas 2007

The holidays are here and I am not sure if it because we are leaving, being pregnant or the stuff going on with the hubby and I but I am just not in the holiday spirit. I didn’t want to put the Christmas tree up and I probably wouldn’t have if we didn’t have a three year old that would have been very disappointed.

Thankfully the hubby took care of most of the stuff for the boy. I did help with some internet shopping for his niece and nephew, the only way to go. We scaled WAY back on the boy this year but still manage to get a ton of stuff…nothing like living vicariously through your child…lol. We had tamales for dinner. We are left the day after Christmas so we didn’t want to cook a big ole meal. It was very tasty.

Christmas morning found us up and around about 7:45…late by the boy’s standards. He is usually up and around before 7. Thanks son. We opened stocking stuffers first which took over an hour. WOW! Then we had breakfast. The hubby made his French toast and I made bacon…REAL bacon. YUM-O!

With our bellies full we went commenced opening of packages. As much as we scaled back we still managed to overwhelm the boy. LOL. Whatever…this will be his last Christmas by himself so let him have fun. I gave the hubby a poster of the boy I made with different pictures taken throughout the year, an automatic wine chiller, a couple of work out shirts and best of all…drum roll please…IT’s A BOY! That’s right. I bought a boy outfit and wrapped it up. He was a bit freaked out because he really had his mind set on a girl. I had a few days to wrap my head around because I too thought it was a girl. Oh…and when we told the boy…not happy. “I don’t like boys…”. So…we will ease into that one. The hubby got me some great stuff…one that stands out was a Coach purse and wallet…uhm…WE WEREN’T SUPPOSED TO BUY GIFTS! It was awesome and they are beautiful. He is always very generous and thoughtful when it comes to gifts.

We packed the rest of the day, only to stop for tamales for dinner. We wanted something low key since we were heading out for 9 days at the butt crack of dawn. And so our trip begins…

Someone Wanted to Say Hi!

I love reading other people’s blog about their pregnancy week by week and I told myself I would be diligent in documenting my next pregnancy. Well…here I am week 15 and I’m just now starting. So…here I begin.

The hubby and I decided to try and have another baby. We have one son who is now 3 so we thought it was time. We didn’t really start trying until September when I bought an ovulation kit and dear hubby was right on target! A couple of weeks later and bam…two lines…looks like we’re pregnant.

I went to see my OB at 8 weeks for pregnancy confirmation. I was very nervous for some reason and nauseous plus the hubby and I were going through some stuff. But…we’re working on it and I’m not going to go into detail about that.

First of all I LOVE my OB. She is everything a doctor should be...personable, sympathetic, cute, knowledgeable and just an overall good person. She radiates goodness. She is only a few years older than me and it is comforting to know she has done it all…four times to be exact and she knows exactly what I’m going through.

The doc did an ultrasound and there the baby was…heartbeat a blazin. The doc said she thought it may be a girl based on the heartbeat (188). Oh man…the hubby was ecstatic. That’s exactly what he wanted to hear. I told her about my nausea and feeling tired…really tired. I just don’t remember feeling this way with my first…even though I know every pregnancy is different. The doc confirmed that ‘her ladies’ (I love that she calls them that) on their second pregnancy ‘FEEL’ everything much more than the first time. More tired, more pains…more everything. So…I must be doing it right…I guess.

Because of my age…a ripe old 35…I’m considered higher risk for a baby born with downs or cystic fibrosis and any another number of abnormalities so the doc recommended we get a neural translucency test and blood work done to analyze the growth and health of the baby and we also get an early opportunity to find out the sex of the baby through blood work. I spoke to a few co-workers that had the same test done for various reasons and they assured me it was non evasive and very helpful…just as the doc had explained so…we did it.

At 12 weeks, Dec 20th, I went in for the neural translucency test. The baby wanted to say “Hi” as shown in the pic. Everything looks good via ultrasound…everything is where it should be, all 10 fingers and toes. Now we wait for the blood work. They are going to expedite the gender testing to get us results prior to Christmas. YAY…I think I won’t tell the hubby and let him open his present on Christmas morning.

The next day I had my monthly OB appointment. I did the fun stuff that normally happens at the once of year checkup. The beauty is the doc is fast and friendly and it’s over before it begins. We listened to the heartbeat and she was happy to hear the US went well. I had more blood draws and that freakin tech butchered my arm. Gotta love when they are in the middle of getting blood from your vein and they turn the needle almost sideways. “oops” was what she said…really…oops…that’s all you can come up with. Now I have I nice purplish veiny marks on my right arm…for the next couple of weeks.

I got a call from Wendy, the lady who said she would call me about the sex of the baby around 3p and…well…I can’t tell you now…the hubby doesn’t even know yet. So I am going to the store and buy and outfit to wrap up as a gift and let the hubby find out Christmas morning. Man…it’s going to be hard to keep to myself.

I picked the boy up from school and we went to my Granny’s house to do our Christmas. We are leaving for California on the 26th and because of family tension we try to keep a low profile around the holidays. My Aunt from Tennessee is in town and I wanted to make sure we all spent some time together before we/she left.

I had told my Granny about the baby a few weeks ago but asked her to keep it to herself. I haven’t figured out a way to tell my parents since I haven’t spoken to them in a year and a half and going on six months of not speaking with my sister. I still haven’t figured it out…I guess I need to talk to my counselor about that one.

I decided to go ahead and tell my Aunt, Papa and Uncle and I showed them the US pic. They thought it was great but I hated not telling them what it was…since I knew...but I desperately wanted to tell the hubby first. We all had a great visit, I was so happy my Aunt got to see the boy and we were able to see Granny and Papa before the holidays. They all know about the issue between my parents and are supportive and hopeful we will all work it out. Ya know…I hope so too.

Busy...busy...busy. Running first then an update for the week. I ran 3 on Tuesday. I was going to do 4 but didn't "lube" up and I had to stop at 3. I thought about going on but I didn't want to be miserable for the 5K on Saturday. I was able to test the skirt performance with wind gusts and the skirt performed swimmingly. The wind was crazy! If I could have just kept running with the wind I would have had a rockin good time but been somewhere in Galveston by the time I finished. So...I stopped at three.

Wednesday of course was Valentine's day. I took off work early to attend the boy's crack Valentine party at his school. When I arrived the kid's were all sitting in their chairs trying to see each other over the plates piled high with crack sugar cookies with icing, small cupcakes, big cupcakes, cookies with more icing, and cheese. Yes...cheese.

The boy and I managed to escape with a small cupcake and some cheese...yes cheese. He didn't go to the office so we were very celebratory! He was so excited.

The hubby made a great dinner for us. Chicken stuffed with portabello and wild rice, asparagus and cous cous. It was fabulous. The roses were gorgeous and I love my "Daughtry" CD and of course chocolate. We had a very nice evening.

Not much else is going on...well alot is going on but it is more tedious mentioning EVERYTHING. I'm running in Galveston tomorrow...I will be seen in my sassy root beer colored skirt. The temps seem manageable. Last time I ran in this race it was in the sand, against the wind. Thankfully they decided to keep in on the sea wall. I even more excited about breakfast afterward. I love running but I love eating even more. I think I heard before...I run to eat. That would be me.

I'm off to Florida for most of the week next week starting on Tuesday. It's not a vacation it is work. Yes...we do work contrary to popular belief. I'm excited to have a new location for my training runs. Early mornings running on the beach seem really relaxing and motivating. That reminds me...I need to get that massage I was planning a few weeks ago.

Oh...they unrestricted access to blogging at my work...THANK GOD!

Happy racing this weekend.

"Looks Like We're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat"

Oh good grief...the day is drawing to a close. THANK GOODNESS. Changes...changes...changes...there is a change cutoff for a reason. Who cares if we pack in a day. Who cares if we pack the middeck locker next Tuesday. Who cares we have 371 pages currently in the errata. No one will care until December 7th when we lauch that big ole rocket into space! Whatever...that's all I can muster. Yes, not very articulate but it's not even worth it. Ok...moving on.

Work has been crazy and I haven't ran since Thanksgiving. I managed to squeeze in a quick 4 miler before prep for dinner. It was chilly when I started out then it warmed up really fast. I was a buckethead and wore a long sleeve freakin hot shirt. But it was nice to run around the neighborhood for a change of scenery. As I ran through the hood I could smell various turkeys cooking and laundry being done in prep for the big gatherings. It was nice and but a smile on my face.

This was the first Thanksgiving for the hubby and I to host. Several of the fam was in attendence. As hectic as the last hour and half became we had good eats and good company. It is a shame the entire family couldn't be there for their own reasons.

Friday we recovered and stayed away from the crowds. Saturday we took the in-laws to Old Town Spring. It was a nice day to walk about. Sunday was prep for the week and I still didn't manage to get another run in. I weighed myself and actually lost a few pounds. Wow...I was shocked. I ate really bad all weekend and then some. Running is taking a back seat this week. I refuse to add more stress to my already stressful days. Currently there are not enough hours in the day. One day...

"After all...Tomorrow is another day."

That day would be Thanksgiving! A day to be thankful, spend time with family and EAT!!! The in-laws made it in safely and I am sure the hubby will keep them busy with errands and shopping. The season of "the pies" began a day early. Nicole asked me to make my pecan pie for her Thanksgiving get together. It's award winning...lol. I make my own crust...I love my pies! If I could make a living at it I would. We have about 15 people coming over tomorrow. Alot to do between now and then but I don't let that stuff stress me out. It is what it is and it always ends up perfect in the end. Relax, enjoy and be thankful for EVERYTHING!

I decided not to run yesterday...too much going on. I'll try today but I may do 3 today and 5 tomorrow and 7 on Saturday, that way I won't feel so bad about all the food I plan to consume tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and be safe.