OMG!!

I was outside playing with Troy tonight. He asked to take a picture of me. Cautiously, I allowed him to hold the iPhone all by himself and he snapped away. This is blury, but it's an amazing look at how far I've come!! WOW!!!

Sunday Project...

A big part of being a better me is recognizing my accomplishments.  I've lost a lot of weight.  And I look pretty good, most days.  But every day I look at clothes that are way too big for me. Why do I keep them?  To remind myself of something that I once was.  I don't need a reminder.  And I sure as heck will NEVER be in those sizes again. 

So, today I decided to clean out my closet.  Everything that was more than one size too big was thrown away.  I decided not to donate it because I would never remember to take it to a donation center.  Garbage day is Tuesday--It can all go.  I only kept the things that were one size too big.  If I had thrown away everything that was too big, I'd have two shirts, a pair of shorts, and a maxi dress.  Yeah, that's not good.  But ALL new clothes for the fall and the winter because those all went!!!

I am really proud of myself!!!!

Weekend Ramblings...

I woke up on Saturday morning grumpily.  I didn't want to get out of bed!!!  But I forced myself to get up and do my long run.  It was a good run.  7 miles!!!  I didn't time myself.  The best thing is, I didn't think about anything while I was running. I just ran.  I actually made up a story in my head about what it would be like to live in prison.  WAY WORSE than running this little seven miles right?

When I returned home, I was so motivated to take care of some house stuff.  I am, clinically, OCD but I have to fight this disease during the week.  There are not enough hours in the day to keep my house imaculate, organized, and smelling fresh and clean (Remember I live with TWO boys!!!).  So, this weekend was the weekend.  I had some grumbles from the pit crew but I didn't care.  I couldn't take it anymore.  *Side Note*-  My house is probably immaculate to most people on a daily basis.  But I have MUCH higher standards!!

So, I started the laundry.  The funny thing about OCD is that you get sidetracked very easily.  So, while I am starting one project, I am thinking about the two others I want to do.  I scrubbed a few toilets (anyone want a picture of that???) and decided to tackle one of the projects I had thought about an hour ago.  I needed to pack away all the winter gear.

I obviously hadn't done this in a long while.  I came across sweatshirts I hadn't forogtten about.  I decided, because if youre OCD you are NOT a hoarder, to get rid of the ones that we don't wear often enough to care about.

But these three I couldn't part with even though we don't wear them much anymore.  

This is Josh's from his first boat.  He wore this on our second date.  It has all his patches from his first year in the Coast Guard.  I actually hadn't even seen it in years!  Maybe I can find something to do with it to display it.  I'll have to search Pintrest.

This was given to me when we lived in New Jersey by another Coastie Wife.  New Jersey was my first place away from home and the comforts.  I was actually excited to learn this was pretty large on me which means I am smaller than I was in 2005!!  But I couldn't get rid of it.  I think it might be the ONLY thing I own that says "Coastie Wife".  I supported my husband but I wasn't the type to wear CG gear all the time.  I think I might have two T-shirts left and that's about it.

This is probably one of the oldest pieces of clothing I own.  One of my great friends in high school went to Yale.  He brought this home for me for Christmas.  I wore it almost EVERY SINGLE DAY my Senior year of high school.  I was pretty proud to have a friend who went to such a prestigious university.  We are still friends.  Well, I see his updates on FB.  And his grandfather died when we lived in Houston and he visited.  But it's still pretty cool I have a piece of clothing from Hartford, CT.

After this little project, the boys were starving.  Off we went to lunch.  Right next door to the place we ate was a backery.  I thought I'd go in and buy Troy a cupcake.  Oh good gravy, they wanted $5.00 for a small cupcake.  I told Troy I could make him 24 cupcakes for the price of two of these cupcakes.  Off to the store I went...

And that is what I made.  I only made a dozen of them because it was close to dinner time.  Josh and Troy said they were great.

Moving on to dinner.  Troy requested spaghetti.  The bad thing about my new eating lifestyle is pasta is a no go for me right now.  But I wanted to make him whatever he wanted.  So, I made spaghetti for the boys and a huge salad for me.  I love cooking for them on the weekends.  I miss cooking for them all week long.

And that was Saturday.....

10 on Tuesday... 6-19

These are kinda fun...
Today is 10 things that can be found in my purse!

1. iPhone
-I've tried to leave this at home before. I feel lost without it. My whole life is in my phone. I love it!!

2. Wallet
-Duh. It carries my ID and credit cards. Every now and then it has some cash. But not usually! Hubby bought me this for my birthday.

3. Keys
-Can't drive or get into my house without them. I only have two keys on this ring and too many keychains. That's supposedly bad for your car but I don't care!

4. 1.50 in quarters
-So I am not sure why I like having quarters loose in my purse. I have a coin slot in my wallet. But alas, these make home at the bottom of my purse.

5. Hair tie
- It's hot in Texas. You always have to be ready to put your hair up!!

6. Pen
- I always need one. I use them all day at work so I have to have one with me at all times. My purse is the home for them after work.

7. Pepto to go
- All the cheese and meat I eat gives me some tummy issues sometimes. These help. Sometimes I have tums too. Plus.. Good calcium supplement!

8. iphone/pad/nano wall charger
- We have so many Apple devices that every room in our house has one and I carry one with me. People who spend the night at my house laugh because in the guest bedroom, a charger, an IPod, Ihome speakers, AND an extension cord are waiting to be used. I don't know anyone who doesn't carry an IPhone so...

9. Lip Gloss
- I'm a girl. Sometimes I need to look pretty and girly. A touch of gloss does wonders for your smile.

10. My Watch
- I try to take this off before work. I only like to wear it while I'm running. So my purse is its home half the time!

Monday Weigh In-- June 18

Today is my day off.  Once a month, I find a weekend and take a three day.  It's something I told my boss that I would do when I applied for the job.  I know the burn out rate in my profession is so high and I needed to find my own way of working through that.  I need this job and, really, my job needs me.  So today is one of those days...

I didn't weight in today.  And today I am choosing just not to care about food, weight, running, none of it.  I can deal with it all tomorrow and that will be okay!!!

So, off to the movies we go!!  Then dinner!!!  Hope everyone had a great day!!!

Not the only one...

I'm not the only racer in my house.

Well, I kind of am because I prefer to run races that only involve running- none of that obstacle stuff. If I see the words mud, water, foam, rope, paint, zombies after the 5k, I say "No thanks.". Maybe I'm just a purest in running.  No need to add any extra!

Anyway, this weekend my Josh ran what is called "The Hero Rush.". The 20 obstacles themed around firefighting brought him some serious bumps and bruises... He did well, finishing the course in just over an hour. He said he had to wait a full 20 minutes for one obstacle. 200 men/women in one heat causes problems like that! Yeah, so not my thing.... But he got a really cool medal!!!

Good job Hubbster!!

Ten on Tuesday.... 6-12

Since I'm in an athletic slump... I am going to try to draw some strength from other people....

Top 10 Athletes I admire....

1. Michael Jordan -  The best basketball player (and maybe even athlete) ever. As smart a businessman as he is a player.
2. Muhammad Ali - The fire in his eyes is undeniable, you can see it even now, as his body fails him. The spirit is still alive in there. He was brash, arrogant and definitely the greatest.
3. Lance Armstrong - He’s overcome so much and has never let the obstacles in his life stop him from reaching his goals, again and again.
4. Billie Jean King - Her tennis match against Bobby Riggs showed the world women can beat men at something other than knitting and cooking.
5. Jackie Robinson - He broke the color barriers in the all American sport of baseball. But that was never his intention. He just wanted to play ball.
5. The Williams Sisters - These girls brought women’s tennis to a new level. They’re strong, they’re confident, and they dominate.
6. Walter Payton - Oh Sweetness!  No one ever played football with as much heart, grace and determination as Payton. Not only that, but he was loved and respected by his fellow team mates, as well as players on other teams.
7. Tiger Woods - Singlehandedly, he turned golf into a COOL sport. Which is a pretty hard task! And he’s pretty cute, too…  I don't worry about his private life.  I wasn't married to the dude!
8. Pat Tillman - A lot of controversy was made about the media making him a hero, who died in Iraq after giving up a promising football career worth millions. He never wanted to be a hero, he never wanted the attention, he just wanted to do what was right.
9. Dorothy Hamill - I remember wanting to be a figure skater when I was a kid. Even now, no other possesses the grace and beauty that she has when she takes the ice.
10. Olympians - Apolo Ohno, Rusty Smith, Michelle Kwan, Rulon Gardner, Greg Louganis, Jackie Joyner Kersey, Mark Spitz, Mary Lou Retton and thousands who compete knowing that their medal chances are slum…they’re in the sport not for the money, but to become one of the best in the world, to compete against people from all over. Most of them don’t even get paid to train and have to raise the money themselves or get jobs. They don’t have the luxury of corporate sponsorships.

Monday Weigh In... 6-11

I forgot to weight in on Monday.  So I weighed on Tuesday instead.  I lost a pound.  Eh, I'm okay with that.  I am trying to phase myself out of the extremely strict side of Atkins and into a more realistic life style.  I'm not perfect at it.  I think I will have to stay away from the big carbs forever.  A half a tortilla will set me off and I'll want, or feel like I NEED, more.  Same way with potatoes.  I just haven't figured it all out yet.  I have been slacking on my salad intake and my green vegetables.  I eat so much meat and cheese and I just have no more room for more food.  Maybe I can add beans?

I need to Google a bit and see what other people did and were they went with it.  Obviously this is the eating lifestyle change that works for me.  I just have to make it work for me now that I have been on phase one for 4 months.

:-(

Forgive me blogger for I have not written in almost a week.  I've been inspired by so many things.  But every time I sit to write something down, I feel like my thoughts and emotions are just silly and who on earth would want to read about them and probably deal with them.

I have been extremely bad about my workouts for two weeks.  I'm motivated to do them, but once I start, I am just kind of blah about them.  I know if I continue to work through this lul in my excitment, I will see the results that I want.  I'm focused.  I'm just not over the moon, let's talk about this 24/7, I don't think about anything else motivated right now.

So, on a good note...  It's SUMMER!!!!

Work...

I don't talk about my job very often. I don't take it very seriously and I have very little pride in it. I honestly work for the paycheck it provides and half price tuition for Troy. I'm really not into teaching anymore. I'm just over it. I don't want to be other kids momma.

The thing is that even though I don't LOVE what I am doing, I work hard at being the best at it. I've been promoted three times, been teacher of the month, nominated for teacher of the year, and a whole slew of other accomplishments. I haven't even been working for my school a year.

Last week I accomplished another task. We have monthly retention goals. Meaning that our goal is to keep every single kid in our summer school program. My goal was kind of high. 70 kids!! Mine was the highest. And guess what!! I did it. I was the only one to retain every single kid and I even added two.

I was presented with a bonus and a gift card for all new toys and materials for my main classroom. Haters haters haters. I had people not talking to me. But my little voice tells me to work harder just so they can hate me more!!

Run the Rails... Part two

I miss hearing Paul Harvey. Dad and I would listen to him every Friday when I was growing up. I'm wondering if I am an old soul born in the wrong decade. I even mention "Good Day" with the annunciation that Paul had and people look at me funny.

So here is "the rest of the story".

On Sunday, I checked the website for my chip time. This was a large race and no way on Earth would I have placed. I was just curious what my official time was. Scrolling scrolling scrolling. I was starting to get frustrated thinking somehow I was lost and didn't have an official record or time.
And then I found myself. 50 MINUTES!!! Say what???? I don't even walk that slow!!! Was the sweat in my eyes causing me to see 35??? What was going on? I asked Josh again if he had clocked me correctly. He said he started his watch the second I ran across the start line. So I shot an email to the event director.

Monday I got an email back asking me to call her as she didn't understand what could have gone wrong. Phone tag later, I finally talked to a human and we figured that my chip malfunctioned somewhere. She said they could go back and watch the tapes. At that point I didn't care anymore. I ran hard and I have my own memories to prove it.

Running the Railes 5k

I can't express the happiness that I have inside of me for signing up and doing this race.  I know people run 5k's all the time and it's not big deal, but it IS a big deal for me.  I train at 3.1 miles being my base.  But actually running amongst members of my community and with people watching me is a whole different ballgame for me.

A little pre-story.  The week of the race, my school put an advertisement for the run on our marque.  This is highly unusual for us since we are a private school and don't advertise anything that doesn't somehow correlate to our learning environment.  I asked my Director why we were advertising (I thought they had formed a team without me or something).  She said the owner of the building is on the chamber of commerce and actually supported the run monetarily.  A light-bulb went off in my head.  I told my director I was running.  She then decided that I could represent our school by wearing a T-shirt.  They reimbursed me for my entry fee AND paid me my hourly rate for two hours worth of work.  So, for the first time ever...  I had a SPONSOR!!!

So, the night before the race, I used my Itunes gift card (from Christmas!!!) to download a whole new playlist.  I was tired of the same running songs.  I also uploaded them to my Ipod Nano, as I was going to clip that on my shorts instead of caring my phone with me.  The arm band that goes around my phone sweats underneath and it bothers me.  All this running and being sweaty in weird places bugs me!  Ha!  That was a chore!  I had to use the regular computer and all kinds of craziness.  2 hours later, all done!  And ready to rumble!

The morning of the race, I woke up with my alarm clock.  I jumped out of bed and took a shower.  I thought MAYBE having a wet head would keep me a little cooler.  It's June in Texas yo!  HOT TAMALES!!!!  I was totally ready to go when I woke Troy and Josh up.  They are so slow!  Must be nice to sleep in every single day!  Anyway, off we went.

This race was HUGE!!!  800 timed runners.  1200 Runners total.  I was intimidated for sure!!  I tried to keep my composure as I danced and played around with Troy.  I laughed as I saw some "hard core" runners with fanny packs filled with water bottles and shot blocks.  A shot block for 3 miles?  REALLY?  I've run 6 miles and have yet to eat one of those things.  And buy a fanny pack???  I'm going to need a few more MONTHS to work up to that!!!  I thought it was funny to see them all run geeked out!  A few last minute texts with the BFF and it was go time.

I stayed about mid pack for the start.  I was emotionally okay until the Mayor said a prayer.  I totally lost it!  That stupid little voice told me to just bow out and go home.  Who would know?  No one!  I turned on my Ipod and tried to focus on the music... Thankfully before I could sneak out, the race had started and I was moving...  Although slow because 800 people surrounded me.  But I started running the second my foot crossed the start line!

The start of the race was killer.  A HILL!!!  I was pretty excited by this point and ran up it like it was nothing. I honestly wasn't even out of breath.  Still midpack..  YES!!!

The rest of the race was run on a trail I have trained on.  I was excited about that because I knew where the turns were and what the terrain brought to my running game.  I tried to keep up with someone I scoped out at the start line.  Tried being the key word.  I stayed close.  I ran the whole race.  The only time I ever walked was during the water station.  A lot of people stopped for water and the racing staff was all over this small area.  I almost had to walk.  Everyone did.  Of course the camera man sat on the other side of the water station.  Why, I do not know!

Up over the same hill and I could see the finish.  I saw Troy and Josh waiting for me.  Troy darted across a ton of people to hug me.  But instead, I grabbed his hand and said "Let's win this thing."  I know I slowed down a little at the end when most people pick up the pace.  But it was worth it to me to have Troy share with me in that special moment.

Josh clocked me at 35:56.  I'm not sure how totally accurate that is, but I know I saw 35:00 when I looked at the clock.  I'm happy with that.