Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

We had an amazing trunk or treat this year!  It was so cold so most families set up inside and handed out candy to all the kids in the classrooms.  My dad built a bean bag toss game and handed out full size candy bars.  It was very fun.  

Nolen is dressed as a praying mantis and Edward is a rocket man.  

On Halloween we had school, went running, then went trick or treating in our neighborhood.  My parents got over 100 trick or treater's at their house!  We maybe had 25 kids.  We are just too far up the cultisac to get a lot of trick or treater's any more.

We had a blast!

All in all, a great Halloween!!

Santa Fe Children's Museum

So I pulled my calf muscle.  I don't think it is torn like last time, but I really don't know for sure. I went up to Santa Fe to see a doctor and have laser treatment done on my calf today.  The doctor didn't know or do anything, really.  I had to sort of beg her to use the laser.  That was annoying.  The laser is scientifically proven to help speed up the recovery process.  So here's hoping.

While I was visiting with the doctor, my parents took the boys to the children's museum.

They had a blast!

Nolen begged to stay all day, but we were hungry for lunch and Santa Fe is an hour away.

Sometimes You Just Need A Good Laugh!

Nolen, 8 years old, "Girls wear a nipple boot."

Let me give you some context.

Tonight, my parents were over for dinner.  They just returned from a trip to Phoenix and Kingman.  I was asking about how their trip went.  They mentioned their old friend, Ron, who plays golf still and how he wasn't at home to help his wife, Roxie, get dressed; therefore they were not able to visit Roxie because she was still in her underwear.

Upon hearing this Nolen stated that "It's ok for boys to be in just their underwear, but not for girls."  We all asked, why?

He then said that girls have to wear a lot of underwear and boys do not. Boys just have to put on their underwear and then pants and a shirt. BUT NOT GIRLS.

Girls have to put on long white underwear, then a white shirt, then a "nipple boot". 

We all stopped him right there because we were laughing so hard.  

Never in my life could I make up something as funny as "nipple boot" in reference to a bra.

I'll miss these days.  

I just wanted to write this down so that when I am 75 and take the time to look through my old blog books I can read this funny story and chuckle to myself.

 

Running a Half with my Better Half

13.1 

 

Today, Stephen and I woke up early and ran the Duke City Half Marathon together.  Seriously, it was awesome to run with my best friend.  He waited for me at the finish line (as he is much faster than me) and we had a BLAST!

We should have pushed our way to the front because it was tough to dodge the non-runners.  I was surprised when the gun went off that not many people actually started running!  They just walked!

Anyhow, we ran the first mile together dodging people left and right.  At one point we were all on the side walk trying to pass people.  So crazy!

I felt so great up until mile 9... then my calf seized up! I stopped for about 30 seconds and tried to stretch it but that only made it worst.  So I just decided to run the last 4 1/2 miles as fast as I could just to get it over with.  

I have been icing my calf all day.  Hopefully, I will be able to run with the XC team on Tuesday.  For now, I rest.

Anyhow, we ran with a lot of coaches from the XC team.  It was awesome to feel the camaraderie!  These people are my kind of people.  They push hard and run fast! 

Stephen ended up running the half in 1:47.56 and an average pace of 8:14!

Seriously, incredible!

I ran the half in 1:54:41 and an average pace of 8:45 per mile!

So even with a VERY tight calf I was able to go faster than my goal pace.  

What an amazing day!

It's About to get a Whole Lot Worse Before it gets Better!

It's official: 2019 is not my year.

I have bad luck.  

This is true.  

I have worked hard to change my luck over the last 20 years; however, this year it all caught up to me.  I just haven't been thinking clearly at all this year.  

I have recently made some mistakes when paying my bills.  I just can't get it right.  I am not paying attention.  I am trying to do too many things at once and I am doing non of them well.  

I hate having too many things on my plate because I can't seem to get them done correctly.  I reset my life in September but it has still been a rocky road.  

We bought a new car.  I had to make the first payment October 15th.  I thought I did.  Turns out, I didn't.  I used an account we closed at the beginning of the year to make the payment.  SO, I went on to make the payment again.  I transferred the money from the wrong account.  Now we don't have any money in our joint account.  

I am unsure what I am doing but I just can't get anything quite right.  I feel like quitting today.  I totally blew up at Stephen two nights ago.  I felt like he intentionally ignored me, but he didn't.  He was just living his normal life and I took it personally.  I wish I could get it together.  I don't know if this all has to do with this major hormone switch I am going through this year but I am going to blame it all on that event.  

I am finally losing the weight I gained but it has been a serious battle.  

This isn't the worst year of my life, but this has been a tough year.  I am hoping 2020 will just be a regular year.  We found out when our heater broke last March that they didn't replace the gas valve properly so we have to have it replaced AGAIN for another $380 dollars!  Yeah, you heard me correctly!

One step at a time.  I take this life one step at a time.  I just keep marching forward hoping that the next step I take isn't in a trap.  AND if it is a trap I have the tools to dig myself out.  Ugh.

I just wanted to record this mess so that when I have good times I will seriously rejoice.

This is me, pushing the reset button AGAIN!

McCalls Pumpkin Patch and a Birthday!

This year, since we are home schooling, we tried something different.  We usually go to McCall's Pumpkin Patch on a weekend, this year we went on a Tuesday as a home school group.  In hindsight, this was a mistake.  Mostly everything was closed.  What a disappointment!  Even all of the bouncy pillows were closed.  So we didn't get to jump.  We did go on a hay ride, we did pick a pumpkin, we didn't get root beer (which is our favorite), and we did play in the corn.

Not a total loss, but it just wasn't the same.  Also, Stephen wasn't able to come with us because he had to work. Next year, we will go on a regular Saturday and fight the crowds just so we can enjoy the pumpkin patch for everything it has to offer.

Today is also my mom's birthday!

Happy 67th birthday to the best mom around.  I am so lucky to have her living here this year.  It is going by so fast and I wish they would stay, but I know they have their own lives to live back in Kingman.  They have been such a huge help these last 9 months.  I do no know how I will do it all when they leave.  I have begun to rely on them for nearly everything.  They even make us dinner after cross country.  I am so blessed.