I Can't Get The Doobie Brothers Out of My Head

It keeps you runnin', yeah it keeps you running...

I must be nuts! I let someone convince me to do a 10K run that is just 10 days away. What in the world was I thinking??? That is 6.2 miles! I am in such trouble! I haven’t taken training for this seriously enough. I have been running 3 miles at least twice a week, sometimes 3 times a week for the last few months. “If you can run 3 miles regularly, you can run 6, no problem”. This is what my whack job of a friend said to me to convince me to sign up, and I believed him. The problem is I run those 6-9 miles per week on a treadmill, which I am now learning is much different than running outside, on pavement.

Yes, I am nuts!

Yesterday I ran 2 miles (on the treadmill) , then boxed for a half an hour, then ran another 2 miles (one on the treadmill and one around the track). Surprisingly, I feel fine today. I boxed again today but didn’t run because I had to watch Jane’s girls for her (Thanks for getting me out of running Jane!). I am supposed to somehow run 5 miles on Saturday and then next week a friend of mine is going to help me train so that I can run 6 miles by next Sunday. Yeah, right! I’m going to go from running 3 miles, (occasionally 4) to running 6 miles in less than 10 days.? Dear readers, you should start saying your goodbyes now. Anyone want to volunteer to help Hubby raise the Things?

The only thing that might save me is that I am on call for two mamas right now. Maybe I’ll get called to a birth! November 11^th sounds like a wonderful day to have a baby, don’t you think?

I'm In Repair...

...I'm not together but I'm getting there.
John Mayer

Some of you know that I've been working on losing weight since early March. I'm trying to get down to around 140 or a comfortable size 8.
Six months after the twins were born I weighed more than 200 pounds. I was a mother of four, 29 years old and overweight. I set a goal of losing 50 pounds before I turned 30. I wound up losing 60. The first 30 came off just by changing my eating habits. I had to get my butt in the gym to lose the rest.
Unfortunately once I reached my goal I stopped working as hard. I slowly added Oreo Blizzards back in my life & stopped going to the gym. To my surprise, the weight stayed off. Woo hoo! I could eat what I wanted and be a lazy bum (as lazy as 4 children would allow).

Then I weaned the twins. Slowly but surely my weight crept back up. By February of this year I was back up to 167 and spilling out of and over the top my size 10 jeans (I had no business still trying to squeeze into those pants).
So now I'm back to eating right, going to the gym, and doing my best to resist the call of Dairy Queen (have you seen June's Blizzard of the month? Waffle pieces, chocolate chunks and caramel, YUM!). Doing all of this has helped me drop 15 pounds and fit in my size 10s comfortably (sometimes they are even a little loose).

I've had 2 births this past week so I've been slacking on my work outs, and not eating the greatest. It's hard to eat right when you're up in the middle of the night supporting someone in labor for hours and hours. It's also hard not to give in to your cravings for ice cream when it's 110 degrees outside. I've tried June's Blizzard at least three times this month.
Today I was in a hurry and pulled on a pair of jeans. They were unusually snug and my first thought was "Ok, these are fresh out of the dryer, no big deal". As I rushed out the door I realized I couldn't move real well in theses jeans and I had a serious muffin top (more like a big ole' inner tube). I started getting seriously depressed. I couldn't believe that just a few days away from the gym and a Blizzard or two or three could make my comfortable, almost loose jeans impossibly ill-fitting.
Suddenly I remembered that some of my jeans from two years ago were in the same drawer as the ones I wear on a regular basis. I found a bathroom so I could check out the tag. Lo and behold, I was wearing a size 8! Suddenly I went from being depressed to being excited! I could actually pull on, button and zip an 8! I still have a way to go before they will be comfortable but I'm getting there.
Whew!

Snake in the Grass!

More like snake in my house!!! UGH, I'm still all freaked out by it!
When Hubby got home this evening I left the Things in his care and went off to a prenatal visit with my new doula client. After that, I had a present for Jane so I stopped by her house to give it to her and then headed to Costco. From there I went to a smaller grocery store to pick up a few items that I either couldn't find at the warehouse store or I just don't need in bulk. Hubby called me on the way home and asked me to pick up something from Wendy's for him. After doing the gathering for my little tribe I headed home, anxious to put the food away, eat the side salad I got myself and go to bed. As I was turning on my street I got a call from another doula's client. She couldn't get a hold of her doula and she just needed to talk. She was 42 weeks yesterday and she is starting to worry that her body doesn't work properly. We talked a bit, I listened to her worries, told her to drink some tea, take a deep breath and rest up tonight (I really feel that she'll be in labor tonight or tomorrow). As we were chatting I pulled into my driveway and saw what looked like a snake but it didn't concern me because Thing 1 had been playing with his sister's toy snake earlier today. I figured he dropped it over the balcony and I would pick it up in the morning.
I finished my conversation, took some groceries in the house, kicked off my shoes and asked Hubby to help me finish bringing the stuff in. As we were making our second trip from the car to our house, he stopped in his tracks and said something like "Oh Sh*t, a snake!" At first it didn't dawn on me that he was looking in the direction of our front door and not in front of his car where I originally saw the "toy". I was about to laugh at him for being scared by a toy until I saw the snake slither it's way into our home.
Of course I screamed, not caring if I disturbed the neighbors. I ran back to the car, got in and shut the door. Knowing that Hubby is more afraid of snakes than I am, I wondered what he would do to get rid of the critter. I got back out of the car to check on his progress.
Original Thing and Thing 1 were sleeping but Thing 2 and GirlThing ran out to see what was going on. Hubby ordered them to get out of the house via the back door. The more obedient of the two, Girl Thing, ran outside crying because she couldn't understand why Hubby was yelling at her to get out. Thing 2 practically walked right into the snake as he walked closer and closer to Hubby, trying to figure out why he was at the front door, in his boxers, yelling with a golf club in his hand. Finally he looked down, saw the snake, started screaming and ran out the back door too.
I gathered the two of them up and we locked ourselves in the car, leaving Hubby to slay the dragon all on his own.
Poor guy, I didn't really know how much he hates snakes until I peeked out the window and saw him pounding and pounding the reptile into the ground. Finally, using two golf clubs and a floor scraper, he killed the snake and got it into a garbage bag. Once we had been given the all clear, the kids and I got out of the car. Hubby and I finished putting the groceries away and put the kids to bed.
Unfortunately, we are both too creeped out to sleep. I keep wondering what would have happened if he hadn't noticed the snake going into our house! Yikes!
I have lived in this state for 17 years and I've never seen a snake outside of a confined setting. I'm assuming it was someone's pet that wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time. I did a little research and I think it was a Desert Rosy Boa Snake
Hopefully when/if I sleep tonight I won't be dreaming about red reptiles. I think GirlThing is going to have to get rid of her toy. Every time I see it I will be reminded of how unsafe it is to unload groceries after dark.