Hey there!!
Not much to post about today – going Christmas crazy, but other than that not much happening. Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and lots of presents, and comfortable pants. I’ll check in next week after Christmas and then I’m off until the 2nd of January – woohoo!!! loves me some vacation time 
Have a great holiday!!
DROWNING IN PAPERWORK!!!
TOO…..MUCH…..WORK….TO….DO!!!
AAAACKKKKK!!
Hopefully will have something worthwhile to post tomorrow
I’ve been eating a lot of crap lately. Once the power went out, so did my resolve – right out the window! My crap of choice lately? Amish Friendship bread, aka Cinnamon Heaven in a Loaf Pan. A friend gave me a starter of this and at first I was like, “oh great. Like I really have to time to babysit some mystery batter for 10 days!” But I did, and Oh Sweet Mother of All Things Good, I am so glad I did. It is moist and just a little bit sweet, but what really makes it luscious is the cinnamon sugar crust – that’s right people, the crust is sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and it gets kinda hard, but in totally good way. My kids and I ate an entire loaf of this stuff last night and I just had a slice (ok, two) for breakfast this morning. Mmmmmmmm…warm bread and coffee… excuse me while I drool. Other forms of crap I have consumed include lots and lots of chocolate covered pretzels, lots and lots of crackers and dill dip, lots and lots of hot chocolate with lots and lots of marshmallows. I just can’t seem to get a grip on my healthy eating habits anymore. It seems like it takes me a few days to get back to reality and eat healthy again after jumping headfirst off the wagon into a vat of Rotel dip and chips. Oh, and I haven’t even thought of getting on the treadmill (well, I have thought about it, but that’s about as far as I got)! I am going to try and attempt Week 3 of C25K tonight. I thought about starting over with Week2, but I really think I need to kick it in gear and get busy. We’ll see how it goes tonight. So if anyone wants a starter of this bread, let me know and I’ll send you some, although I don’t know how well it travels through the USPS. Maybe you should just find some Amish in your area and get the starter from them. You’ll be glad you did!
Yeah, I have a ton of work to catch up on today, but I sneaked a peek at the blogosphere a few minutes ago and this post and subsequently, this post got me to thinking, not necessarily about my beliefs, but about the power of an ordinary life.
When I was in college, I applied to become involved in Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America. The application process is slow and arduous, with test after test and tons of interviews to make sure you aren’t some crazy, psycho pedophile. One of the tests I had to take was a psychological exam of some sort in which you were asked all kinds of questions, I can’t even really remember the questions now, but I do remember the case worker asking me if I was satisfied sexually. That was weird, but anyway, the results of my test came back a couple of weeks later and I was sitting in this very small room with the case worker and she reported to me that my scores were all average. I think her exact words were “I’ve never met anyone as middle-of-the-road as you are. You are the most average applicant we’ve ever had.” I didn’t know how to feel about that at the time. As a young co-ed who wanted to be special and glamorous, hearing the words “you” and “average” in the same sentence made me feel, well, un-special. That should have been my first clue that I was not destined for a life of greatness and celebrity. Actually the day I realized my life was going to be ordinary came when I was in the garage standing over the dryer, folding socks, my husband’s socks and my baby boy’s socks to be exact. I was 26 years old and I remember thinking, “This is it. This is how my life is going to be for the rest of my life. I’m going to be folding socks for the next 40 years.” It was a hard realization that my life was going to be just like my mother’s life and her mother’s life and so on. It’s kind of a shock when you realize that you aren’t going to be remembered for great things, your name will most likely never appear on the cover of some fascinating novel you wrote, or your high school reunion won’t anticipate your return with a parade in your honor. Nope, I was just going to be a plain old ordinary wife and mom. I would live an ordinary life, just like everyone else I knew. Over the years, I have gotten used to ordinary life, and can honestly say I now embrace the ordinary day to day things that fill my time. This past week has taught me that an ordinary life is something to cherish. For five days when the cracking of tree limbs was as constant as gunfire, and ice sickles hung a foot off of the birdhouse, I kept saying “I just want things to get back to NORMAL.” When things go haywire isn’t that what we all say? We yearn for the ordinary, the average, the mundane routines of life we have come to depend on. When normal gets interrupted, we panic, we freak a little, and we do what we can to get back to *normal*. Normal, average, and ordinary is the glue that holds our lives together every day. We know what to expect, and there is comfort in that. It’s like having a 24 pack of toilet paper in the cabinet and a gallon of milk in the fridge – it’s security in its basest form.
So yeah, I have decided that average is good; normal is beautiful and ordinary is something to behold. There are some people who seem to attract drama and chaos to their lives, I don’t understand these people. I feel sorry for them because they just never seem satisfied with what life gives them.They are always looking for the next big disaster. How sad. There are so many real disasters that happen everyday. I could go on and on and relate this to how parents want their ailing children to be normal, or how an eating disordered person just wants to eat normally, but I’m not a prolific enough writer to convey those thoughts adequately – I’ll leave that to the real writers.
I am going to go home today and I know pretty much what’s going to happen. I think I know what’s going to happen this weekend (barring any snow storms), and I am comforted by the routines my little family has in place. We’ll do the same average ordinary normal activities we always do. And I will cherish every minute of it!
Do you have that song stuck in your head now??
Yes, the Great Dark Cold Depression of 2007 is over (for now). Driving home from work yesterday, I noticed that the Fiesta Mart on the highway had electricity. Then I noticed a porch light on a house was on. Then I saw another house with lights, then another and another. Could it be? I thought that even if my house didn’t have power yet, at least they were close. Another day or two perhaps and then we would be back on.
As I got closer and closer to my street, more and more lights could be seen. Then I turned down my road and…
Lo and Behold! There were lights!!!! Lots of lights!!!! From my driveway, I could see my Christmas tree lights in the window (we forgot to unplug them before the power went out)!
Insert Angel chorus here HALLELUJAH!!!
I walked skipped into the house and the burst of warm air hit my face and I nearly fell over from pure joy! I ran around the house flipping every light switch I could find (and them promptly flipped them back off), I turned on the TV, the radio and the computer just to make sure everything was really on. Then I sunk down into my couch and just enjoyed the privilege of having electricity coursing through my home. Aaahhhhh. Thank You God for modern technology!
So now I am happy and warm and showered and all is well – until tonight when the snow storm hits. Hopefully, it won’t knock out the power again.
Please God Please don’t let it knock out the power again!!
Well, I’m back online only because my place of employment finally has power again after 4 days without. My home however, is not so lucky. I looked at my alarm clock about 6:30 Sunday morning and thought I would just get another hour or so of sleep before I got up to get ready for church. When I woke up again, there was no time on my clock, no heat from my heater, no light from the light switch. NO POWER ANYWHERE. And it has been that way ever since. *sigh* The uber-ice storm descended upon us in the early morning hours of the 9th and it continued to drop freezing rain on us for two more days. Yesterday it finally dried out a little, but now we get to look forward to a snow storm this weekend! Yippee.
I was doing fine at first. Day 1 was kinda fun, like camping out in your own living room. Day 2 was still not bad. By Day 3, I broke. We finally went to my in-laws house and showered and watched TV and just hung out. The first thing I noticed when we got there was the big plastic container full of fudge. Or as I saw it – HEAVEN IN A CHUNK OF CHOCOLATEY GOODNESS. I don’t mind telling you, I needed that fudge. I needed that fudge like a drowning man needs a life preserver – and that’s what it was for me. I NEEDED some comfort and it came in the form of fudge, lovely warm fudge.
When we realized the schools would most likely be closed all week, we sent the kiddos to my parents’ house where they have power so at least they are warm and safe, and I don’t have to worry so much about them. It is a terrible thing to have to worry that your kids aren’t warm enough. My poor mom is probably worn out by now, but hopefully it won’t last much longer (I hope!)
We are now on day 5 and right now I would KILL for a Danish!! I have probably gained 10 pounds this week between all the sitting around and munching on anything within reach, but I really don’t care right now. I did have a dream that I ran 2 miles, so that counts right? Speaking of running, that has been put on hold for now too until we get power again. I will probably have to start completely over with Week 1, but that’s okay.
I do need to mention one thing – thank God I am married to Daniel Boone! A man who knows his way around a generator and a camp stove is worth his weight in gold during times like this. He has tried very hard to make this as painless as possible for us by hooking up the generator to the satellite and TV, and space heater, so at least we could watch TV while we huddled around the tiny little box of warmth. In the mornings while I am getting ready for work, he makes coffee and hooks up a light so I can see to put on my makeup or whatever I need. He starts my car for me and just generally tries to do whatever he can to help me. I am thanking God constantly for my husband, because without him right now I would be very cold, very lonely, and sitting in the dark somewhere!
We have heard that it may be another 10 days before we get power restored, so this may only be the beginning. This news makes me want to cry!! Seriously, I am on the brink of tears right now and if someone even looks at me funny, I may break. I’m tired, I’m weary, and I just want things back to normal. I will keep plugging along though, and when the power does come back on, I will get down on my knees and say a prayer of thanks to God and Ben Franklin. As God is my witness, may I never take electricity for granted again!!
I am going to do Week 2 of C25K over because
1) I didn’t get 3 days in last week and the two days I did do were very far apart and
2) I just found out I’ve been doing it wrong (sort of).
I was doing the 5 minute warm up and then my 90run/2min walk for a TOTAL of 20 minutes. After checking the Cool Running message boards, I realize I should be doing the 5 minute warm up, and then start my 20 minutes of run/walk. So I have been cheating myself of some running and I thought I would do week 2 again so I can really condition myself for doing this right. I don’t want to get into Week 3 and be in pain! Part of my “letting go” of my all or nothing thinking is that it’s okay to take it slow, it’s okay if I don’t do every week in succession if I’m not ready.
I realized something else in regard to my all or nothingness: for the longest time I did not do any kind of strength training because I thought I had to have a workout room complete with weight bench or bowflex or whatever huge monstrosity of weight equipment Chuck Norris told me I needed, and I thought I HAD to have an hour long routine in place before I could start working my muscles. A light bulb went off in my head one day after I read someone’s blog (I’m sorry, I can’t remember whose blog it was!) and I realized that a few push ups and a couple of crunches COULD be considered strength training as well. Hallelujah! So now in addition to my run/walk, I have added some push ups and crunches. I’m sure I’ll add more later, but for now that is about all I can manage. I’m too embarrassed to tell you how many push ups I do (or don’t do), so when I get to what I feel is a respectable number for bragging, I’ll let you know! As far as the crunches, is it still considered a six pack if you can’t see it? Not that it’s there yet, but you know just in case… J
Oh how you tempt me Cappuccino mix! You there with your French Vanilla goodness, me here trudging through my unpleasant task, I long for you to take my mind off of my dismay! But alas, I know I don’t really want you, you’re just a tasty distraction from my current state of malaise. I know, I know, you’re only 100 calories, but do I really need those calories? I’m afraid not, my caffeinated friend. I have no hunger in my stomach, only hunger for a steamy retreat away from my lonely little office, if only for a moment. So, as much as it pains me to turn you away, back in my drawer you will go, to wait another day. Farewell for now, ma café douce! We will meet again…
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