Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, if it is a holiday that you celebrate. We have a pretty small family, so we don't really make a big deal out of the day. Also, the kids are still small and picky eaters, so I really don't go to the hassle of cooking up a storm just to have to a) throw everything away or b) feel compelled to eat the leftovers myself. Therefore, we went out for a late lunch/early dinner at Cracker Barrel. They had a Thanksgiving dinner plate at a reasonable price and it even came with bread AND dessert!! Annnnnd, the portions were just right. Annnnnnddddd, there were no leftovers!!!

After lunch, we took the kids to run off some energy at the park and then cruised Wal Mart to scope out the Black Friday items. We were there around 4pm and there were already lines forming around the pallets they had roped off. Shane is planning on going back at 5am to try and get a TV. We're probably some of the few people left in the US without a HDTV. In fact, we don't get TV reception at all! (Sad, right?) Sometimes I think it's better that we don't. There is a lot of unnecessary garbage on TV and I don't want to waste my time on it.

If you use Swagbucks (and I sincerely hope you do), I leave you with some Black Friday specials that they have going on tomorrow:

Swagbucks has some great deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday - first, all of the Jewelry in the Swag Store will be on Sale starting Friday and going all the way through Monday. If that wasn't good enough, you get double Swag Bucks for any purchase made on Shop & Earn on Black Friday and Cyber Monday! For an added bonus, from 6am-9am PT on Cyber Monday, you'll get TRIPLE Swag Bucks for your Shop and Earn Purchases!

Halloween and the Next Race

Halloween was a busy day! I took the kids to school and dropped them off. They were having a fall festival which started at 10:30, so I had 2 hours to kill before returning for the fun. I spent those hours gathering up the necessary items for my Halloween costume. I had to scrap my original outfit due to non  fitting tights and the weather being colder than expected.

At 10:30, I went back to the school and enjoyed all of the kids in their costumes, playing games and collecting candy. Then, we had a pizza lunch and packed up to head home. 

Once home, we didn't have too much down time since I decided to take Gabriel to martial arts early. There are two classes daily and we usually go to the later class. He was very excited because he was cleared to test for his next (orange) belt!! We're so proud of him. He's been doing a really good job and I think it's been helping with his focus. He still has a long way to go, but it's movement in the right direction!

After martial arts we headed over to a friend's house for trick-or-treating. We also had a pizza dinner!! (gasp!) Trick-or-treating was a lot of fun for everyone. Well, except for my feet! All that walking around in boots will do it to ya!

We definitely have plenty of candy in the house now!

This is loot from school AND trick-or-treating.

My next race is coming up this weekend. It's going to be run when the time changes at 2am. Therefore, you finish the race with a negative time!! It's going to be cold, but fun!! I can't wait!

Also, here's a tidbit from Swagbucks:

Just in time for the holidays, Swagbucks has brought back Expedited Shipping on all of the Amazon Gift Cards in the Swag Store. Starting November 1st, all you have to do is order and verify your gift card by 2pm PT to get it the next business day, select the Expedited Shipping option and chip in an extra 50 Swag Bucks! It's super simple and if you haven't verified your account it can be done easily via cellphone.

Hand Foot and Mouth Equals No Fun

I have spent this week recovering from the half marathon. I am a lot less sore, but my left small toe is still swollen and bruised. It also hurts. I think I may have actually either jammed or broken it. The week was, basically, business as usual (without the running). I dropped the kids off at school on Monday and got some things done around the house. When I got to the school to pick up the kids, however, Gabriel wasn't running around very much and he immediately ran up to me (something he rarely does). I could tell just by looking at him that he wasn't feeling well, but I was assured that he had an OK day. I like to give them time to run themselves a little ragged on the playground so that they burn off any excess energy before going home or going to activities. Gabriel just wasn't playing. In fact, we didn't stay on the playground long because he ended up laying across a picnic table. Just laying on it. I picked him up and gathered up his sister and we headed home.

When we got home, I laid him on the couch while I went in search of the thermometer. Once I got him settled down and checked his temp, it was almost 102 degrees! I covered him up and put in a DVD. I had to tell him that he was definitely NOT going to martial arts. I had to wake Shane up earlier than usual so that he could watch him because it was Evelyn's first day of dance. I got her dressed and we took off for the studio for an hour. I'll just say that I don't know that I'm cut out to be a dance mom. They aren't terribly friendly to new people and they hogged up the viewing windows the whole time. However, she had a great time and is looking forward to going back next week. When I got home, Gabriel was lying in bed and according to Shane, had been throwing up for some time. I dosed him with some meds and got him into a bath to cool him off. It seemed to help a lot, so I just sent him to bed for the night.

Gabriel was still feeling bad on Tuesday, so he didn't go to school. He stayed home with his dad while I dropped off E at school and also when I went to pick her up in the afternoon. After that, I had to go to work. When I got home, he was feeling a little better, but still not 100%. I remained hopeful that a good night's sleep would have him up and going the next morning. On Wednesday morning, I woke the kids up and checked G's temp only to find that it was still near 100. I was told on Tuesday that one of the kids in his class recently had strep, so I checked the back of his throat for spots. It looked NASTY! I still planned on dropping E off at school and going to work. The pediatrician doesn't open until 8:30am, so I was calling them on my way in the car. The soonest appointment they had was at 9:20, so I called in late to work. We went to Chick fil A for some breakfast and he was actually hungry. Of course, I had given him some Tylenol that morning, so his fever was down. It was good to see him eat. He hadn't really eaten anything since Sunday.

When we got to the doctor, they checked him out and gave him a strep test. We waited for a long time! Finally, the doctor came in and asked us questions and did an exam. She didn't seem to think it was strep, which was good. She took one look at his throat and said immediately that it was hand, foot and mouth disease. You should have seen the look on Shane's face! He didn't know how to process that! She explained to him that it's just a virus and he was almost over it. In fact, if we could keep the fever down, he could go to martial arts that day! (Shane decided against that in the end) So, I went to work and the boys continued their day. He was still in pretty good spirits when I arrived home that evening!

He finally got to go to school on Thursday and I was off from work and Shane was awake, so I came home and mowed the lawn while he went to help a friend move some furniture. Then, we met up for lunch at one of our favorite restaurants. It was almost like a date day!! Later, we picked up the kids. I told Gabriel's teacher what he had and she told me that she thought E had brought it home to him and I agreed because she had a fever last week. Apparently, there was a child in her class with hf&m LAST WEEK and the parent JUST told the school about it. They had to sanitize EVERYTHING. I truly hope that my children didn't spread the disease to anyone else, but at least the school knows what's going on. Some parents are just irresponsible! 

We have managed to go to martial arts every day for the rest of the week to make up for Monday and Wednesday. Hopefully, life will be back to normal. I was thinking earlier this week that I would have to take a second week off from running, but I feel good enough that I believe I will commence 3 mile runs starting on Monday after I drop off the kids. The great thing is, I don't have to worry about weekly long runs and I don't have to take time off between days to recover. Now that the half is out of the way, I plan on focusing on speed and also watching what I eat again. My diet became HORRIBLE when I was training. I am a stress eater and life was really hectic for a while there. I know it is going to take some time to get back to eating well and within portions, but I have done it before, I can do it again!

Sorry that I rambled on and on tonight, but I had a week's worth of life to fit in. I will leave you with a happy picture. I ordered a 13.1 sticker for my car and it arrived yesterday!! I had Shane take a picture of me putting it on the car! I know I said I was going to get a really fun and pretentious sticker, but I opted for a very gender-neutral one to be fair to Shane, who drives the car as much as I do.

OK, I might look a little too happy in this picture!

Friendly Lunch and a Monsoon

I've been pretty busy lately. Not with anything in particular, just busy days cram-packed full of either work or home stuff to do. I will be a more consistent blogger, I swear!!

Thursday, I had lunch at a brand new Olive Garden with my bestie. I had a great time chatting and catching up and it was nice to finally have some "girl time." We hardly ever see each other anymore and that kinda bums me out. The food was pretty tasty, too! We had an appetizer of spinach artichoke dip (which came out as an entree) and the all-you-can-eat soup, salad and breadsticks (which came out as the appetizer). I learned that the gnocchi soup is pretty tasty (like a very thin chicken and dumplings), but I still like the pasta y fagiolli the best!

That evening, we had plans to meet some friends at Stone Mountain Park to take in the laser show. The weather as of late has been fairly rainy torrential in the evenings, so we were hoping for the best. Once we arrived, everything looked promising.

We brought a tent to set up on the lawn because there are usually a ton of bees swarming the grass in front of the carving. That ended up being the best idea EVER!! The afternoon went splendidly. The kids played with bubbles and we threw frisbees and played and danced. The laser show doesn't start until 9:30pm (to guarantee darkness). At 8:50pm, it started to sprinkle. Then, it started to pour. Everyone was running off the lawn to get to shelter. A few people brought tarps and were standing under those on the lawn. But WE had a tent!!! Ohhhh yeah! All 8 of us piled in, hoping it would soon pass. It let up long enough to enjoy about 5 minutes of fireworks, but the laser show was cancelled.

See? No rain. It lasted about 5 minutes before it started up again.

Of course, by the time we got confirmation that the show was cancelled, it started to pour again. The guys had to pack up the tent in the pouring rain while the kids and us ladies went to guest services to obtain rain checks. Despite the weather and the lack of lasers, we actually had a lot of fun! 

I'm still reading The Graveyard Book. I haven't really had time to dig in to it. (Haha! Unintentional Pun). Maybe this weekend.

Tomorrow's agenda? I'm baking cheesecake brownies for my boss's birthday and I am going to go for a 9 or 10 mile run (assuming the weather agrees). Not too much longer before the half!!

Too Much Time At Home

I hate not posting anything. It makes me feel like an irresponsible blogger. Therefore, although I have nothing to say, I shall blog. Be it short or rambly...here it is!

I've been cooped up in the house with the kids since Saturday and it drives me INSANE!!! I've actually had a headache the past couple of days and all I've done is snack on food when I shouldn't. Bad idea. It's been so hot outside that I can't really go out and do anything and I get frustrated at the kiddie pool because a) water costs money and b) there is not a level spot in our entire yard! It makes me wish we had a downstairs deck so that it would be on level ground. Either way, we haven't done anything and it's been taking it's toll on us.

If you look above it, you can catch a glimpse of the Abby cat!

I did get crafty yesterday and made the kids a "race track" out of masking tape stuck to the carpet in the living room. Gabriel really enjoyed it for a while. I can't take the credit for being that resourceful, it was an idea I snagged off of Pinterest a while back. I have been meaning to do it for forever, but kept forgetting until desperation pulled it up to the surface of my mind!

It's not hard-backed like my last one, but it's cute!

                                                                            I also made an impulse buy at Wal-Mart. I had to stop and get some dishwasher detergent and some white vinegar. (I use it to make my own cleaning agents) Everyone should know that July is when new planners come out in the stores. I have a serious planner obsession and I have yet to make it all the way through a planner without purchasing a new one. This year is apparently no different. I saw it and knew I had to have it! So, I spent some time today filling it out when the kids had pushed me to my mental limits. It's a love/hate kinda thing, though. I almost ALWAYS need to look back at something that happened months ago and when I change planners, that makes life difficult.

I go back to work tomorrow afternoon (yay)! I really need the time out of the house. What I really, really need to do is get my butt on that treadmill and run 3 miles. Maybe I can get that in tomorrow. Crunch time is upon me. A little over a month and a half until the half marathon.

The Run That Just Didn't Happen

I haven't posted in a couple of days. This is mostly due to lack of things to say, but also because I have been dealing with quite a load of family drama. I'm not going to go into it, but it has consumed more of my time than I would have liked recently.

On Thursday, I ran 3 miles on the treadmill. It was a pretty good run. I ditched the MP3 player and just brought my tablet downstairs and turned on Pandora to the Pop Fitness channel. I have never listened to that station before, but it was pretty good. I skipped songs a lot less frequently on it than I do on my regular player!

Today was supposed to be my 6 mile long run for the week. I didn't get much sleep last night, but we still woke up early. I was planning to run early in the day because we had a lunch date with some friends and their kids and I wanted a chance to shower before leaving for the restaurant (an hour away). We ended up running so many errands before getting to the park to run that there just wasn't time for what I knew was going to end up being an at least hour and a half run, let alone time to get home and shower to leave again.  I was a little unhappy, but I figured we'd just fit it in later. I generally have an ongoing agenda/itinerary in my mind on my days off.

We went to Papi's, a great Cuban/Caribbean grill in Kennesaw. The food is SO good!! It was fun, too because the restaurant hostess set us up so that the kids sat in a booth and we sat at a table across the way from them. The kids seemed to enjoy being at their own table and there were 5 of them to keep each other company, so it left time for the adults to joke around and eat and talk. We stayed for a couple of hours!

There were some things on the way home we needed to stop and get before we head out of town on Tuesday morning, so we got that out of the way. My plans were to come home and mow the lawn before it got dark or rained or both, but I was so full and "run out" that I decided to wait until tomorrow. Hopefully, the rain will hold out and I will be able to, not only run my 6 miles, but mow the lawn and get the house cleaned up and our stuff packed.

I'm about to head off the bathe, read and catch up on sleep. I'm sure I'll have plenty to say tomorrow!!