The End of One

I'm officially putting this blog to rest.

It was a decision I struggled with. One that I talked about with D for many hours. You see, I wrote a post or two that people at work read too much into. They made assumptions. Crazy ass assumptions, but assumptions nonetheless. Work is an integral part of my life (I spend so many hours there) but I learned that if you write about it in the veil of vagueness it leaves too much for interpretation.

So I just abandoned this blog. True, earlier in the year I tried to do a few posts, but my heart just wasn't really in it. It still stung from what I felt as betrayal. That people would make assumptions instead of just asking me directly. Oh well. Lesson learned. It was a tough decision and I took the cowards path by just  not writing at all.

But lately, I realized I missed the writing outside of work. I like to write and I need that passion back. So, I've started up a new blog: Run. Eat. Read.. I'm distancing myself from Karma (but I still believe strongly in karma and know what comes around goes around.)

So, the new blog will not touch any part of my professional life, it will stick to my passions: my family, running, eating, wellness. You're welcome to read it, if you like. I'm going to play around with the design, have some fun with writing again.

It's sort of like a mission to re-find myself. Bring it on.

Joy

Life offers us lots of simple pleasures.

• The feeling of accomplishment when you cook a nutritious meal for your children and they actually like it.
• Seeing the goofy smile on your sons' faces when one of their favorite songs starts to play and they dance their hearts out.
• The plea for one more kiss good night (even if it is to delay bedtime just a little longer). 
• Crossing a finish line ... and cutting at least a few seconds from your time.
• The taste of a perfect cup of coffee. 
• The sip of a delectable wine. 
• Laughter shared with friends - especially laughter that can't be held in. 
• Being surrounded by family who love you, who give you small and big gifts because they appreciate who you are.
• Getting a compliment when you work your arse off, so it feels even more fulfilling.
• Reading a really good book, curled up in a blanket. 
• Sitting outside with your boys as they chase bubbles in the wind. 
• Planting a garden and cultivating a healthy approach to life in your children. 

The list goes on and on ... each day I am eternally grateful for the precious gifts that I have to look forward to each and every day. 

The Road Ahead

... it's a 5-miler. Yep, that's the road ahead. As in, D's and my next race. I don't know why I registered us for 5 miles, especially when there was a 5K option available. Crazy I guess. And of course, it's been wicked cold here, so training has been near to non-existent. Except for my cross-training (plank challenge is ridiculous).

So, tomorrow begins 9 days of vacation for me ... and I hope that equates to me getting lots of time to run, yoga and have fun with my boys ... because the race is a week away. At least I have the great green socks in honors of it being a St. Patrick's Day race.

Speaking of 9 days of vacation. I cannot believe it's spring break time. Since O is still really to young for us to go on any crazy trips, we've decided on a nice plan for the week ahead. (Besides the awesome joy of just having mom around the whole week, of course.) Each day one of us gets to choose what we do. So, on O's day he gets to direct the plan. Same for K, and D and me. I can't wait to see what the boys ultimately decide to do on their day. I am thinking it will probably be even more fun than a trip ... at least for now!

Where Socks Go Missing

I'm sure you've had this happen if you ever do laundry. That random sock whose lost it's mate ... never to be found again. Well, yesterday, I learned where those random missing socks go.

I always do laundry on Sundays. I am a bit anal retentive about this. I focus on getting all my laundry done so that we can start the week with all our clothing available. No need to try to do loads during the week. I just work around any other errands and get it done. And I'll admit, folding laundry is "me time" where I get to catch up on a show that I watch by myself ... so not a bad deal. 

Yesterday, as I went in after my second load of laundry ... I discovered the floor had an inch of water. (Real nice to walk in socks and then get sopping wet.) I assumed that maybe I just loaded it wrong and somehow the door didn't seal. So, I put the next load in and started it. Then I was putting the wet load in the dryer. The next thing I know water is gushing out of where the soap dispenser is on the dryer. 

Thank you Google. I did a quick search and, of course, there were some people who had similar issues and provided suggestions on how to fix it. I called in the reinforcements and D and I set off to tackle this big machinery together. He did the heavy lifting, and I did the directing (and the additional research when we had to confirm how to remove certain pieces of the washer.) We couldn't get it done in time before K's lesson. So we knew we'd return to this task afterwards. I was not yet freaking out about not getting my laundry done in a timely manner.

D took K to his lesson as I had some work priorities to tend to. When he returned he quickly tackled the problem (after experiencing how to take everything apart the first time with me.) Within a half hour, he had fixed our washer. I learned that he called a friend during K's lesson and his friend confirmed what we needed to do. 

Now my washer is fixed, laundry was done and still done on Sunday ... and I just have more confirmation that D and I make a great team when we work together to solve a problem. And fortunately, we saved some money by doing it ourselves and not having to make a service call.

Saturday Crazy and New Monthly Challenges

Today was a crazy busy Saturday. K had his last basketball game of the season at 10, then off to a Lego event at noon (where O even won a prize!) and then K had DI at 2. Yes, it was busy, but good. I think we got two days worth of activities crammed in. And now they boys are relaxing by playing Legos ... all over the living room. Oh, well. At least they are entertaining themselves.

I am trying to squash a cold. It hit me Thursday night ... and has just progressively worsened. Unfortunately, I have a lot to get done, so I really can't afford the cold at the moment.  I've actually had to breakdown and take cold medicine. Something I rarely do.

Since today is March 1, it also means the day for new strength training challenges. I did a special cross-training challenge in the morning for February and a squat challenge in the evenings (yesterday, I capped the month with 250 squats ... yep!) But I am starting to actually see a difference in my muscle tone ... so it's motivating enough to keep it going. So this month, my morning challenge is supposed to be 100 push-ups. I am going to break it in half and do 50 in the morning and 50 in the evening. And then in the evening I am also doing the 30-day plank challenge. You start out only doing a 20 second plank and work your way to the end of the month doing a 5 minute plank. Rock hard abs are sure to come, right? We'll see ...