Meatloaf

On Thursday we had ladies night at church. One of our Shepard's wives was the keynote speaker; her subject was hospitality. Our super fabulous gift from her was a small cookbook of her favorite comfort foods to prepare for showing your own hospitality. (Is it only in the south when that means asking people over for dinner? Or is it all over? :)) Now, I'm not a huge fan of meatloaf, but we just so happen to have had all the ingredients to make it (with the exception of dried mustard). So today we ate meatloaf... and I felt all hospitable, and now am happy and full and watching my Titans beat up on the Vikings. Sunday afternoons ~ they're good stuff.

This pic of Jack was taken yesterday while we were cheering on our poor Volunteers. Is this THE epitome of a TN fan or what?!?!!?!??!?!

On the training front this week things were OK. I missed a swim on Wednesday... I'm going to have to tweak the swim schedule to keep from missing every Wed. afternoon swim! My "running" is making gains that I'm actually proud of. Thursday morning at 5:00 I definitely was not feeling gainful in any way what-so-ever! I headed out for a short 13 min trot through the neighborhood and boy was it awful! Negative self talk was coming at me from every angle. It was just a bad workout all around, but I did the time, stretched and went on with my day.

I really suck at swimming... not that I can't swim, it's the breathing part that screws things up for me. One of the ladies I work with used to life guard so she agreed to help me on Monday afternoons until I find my rhythm and balance and feel more comfortable trying different strokes.

In other news, Friday after work a couple friends and I are heading WAY up north to Fort Wayne, Indiana to the Vera Bradley Fall Outlet Sale. I am SOOOOO friggin' stoked! They recently announced the Spring patterns on their facebook site... I can't wait!

Yesterday Hadlee and I, along with several friends from work, took part in the Memory Walk for the Alzheimer's Association. They had a girl doing face painting for the kiddos so I went from having a three year old to having the HadleeCat for the day. Fun stuff! If I get any more pictures from the other girls I'll try to post them.

I double dog dare you to check out my friend, Andrea's new blog. GO ANDREA!!

Off to do my long run for the week.

Peace.

Putting in the time...

Week one of officially training for the triathlon season is over. First, the stats:

Swimming: 28 minutes, 550 yards

Biking: 62 minutes, 15.7 miles

Running/Jogging/Walking: 76 minutes, 4.5 miles

Core: 2 short workouts w/ lots of stretching

Reflection over the week:

I actually ended up missing three days in a row of conditioning due to scheduling conflicts, the fair being in town, and parent-teacher conferences. BUT, this morning I doubled up on my swim and long bike so I really only ended up missing a run. Last Sunday night I did a 5k route w/ Mach Tenn, the local run club, so the time actually came out like it was supposed to originally.

What I knew mentally preparing for this: I'm a BIG girl who is incredibly out of shape. What I know at the end of week one: I'm a BIG girl who's working towards a lofty goal and healthier life style.I have SO MUCH WORK TO DO, but I'm closer now than I was one week ago. It really makes a difference in my self image. I have a clearer mind and have needed to work out MANY frustrating events from this week. It's amazing what sweating out the emotions has done for my outlook!

Each week I'll be adding 10% to the previous week's time. I'll be interested to see how much of a difference that makes in the distance department.

This is fair week in Coffee County... that means tired students, tired teachers, conferences, and NO SCHOOL ON FRIDAY! :) Man, did I enjoy having a short week! I needed some extra rest yesterday so Bran let me enjoy a long nap with the babies and then we took them to the fair for fattening foods, freaks, fun rides and the mule races. We enjoyed seeing lots of acquaintances and friends and wandering from ride to ride. This is the first year we've let Hadlee get on anything. I really expected her to be timid and not get very excited about things. Once we got off of the carousel she was ready for every tea cup, roller coaster, tilt-a-whirl, and soaring elephant in the fairgrounds. Honestly, my pride was damaged... what the heck's up with this independent little girl?!??! Who's been raising her? :)

Later tonight we're heading to the Boro to see how much the damage on finishing out our living room and hallway in hardwood will be, getting some shelves for the laundry room and visiting MOAB to check out their road bike selection. Fun stuff!

Happy weekending everyone... and GO VOLS!

No laughing, please!

Lately I've been having some crazy thoughts, thoughts that haven't ever really come into fruition. . . thoughts of... training for triathlons and the Country Music Half Marathon. So, I talked w/ a pro (thanks for your encouragement and enthusiasm, Lana!) checked out some sites, and GOT BUSY!

I have an addictive personality... all or nothing, hot or cold, sweet or sour (as in my attitude/personality). This has been fabulous. I technically started a couple weeks ago to begin learning to run (really, you have to build, kind of like Rome) and it has turned into training for Sprint Triathlons with a focus on running for the CMM1/2 (on April 25, '09).

There, the cat's out of the bag. Now, you can ask how I'm doing when you don't see sessions and results logged. Hold me responsible, heckle me, tell me I can do it! :)

The whole medical scare w/ the baby last week got me off a bit so I'm starting a 16 week training for a sprint tri (.5 swim, 13 mile bike, 5K run) when the season picks back up early next year. Sixteen weeks from now just so happens to be New Year's Eve, go figure... I'll be hitting my goal of finishing up the training when most of the world sets new goals (and just a few weeks into being the bid 3-0!). Kind of ironic to me.

Anyway, my training guide is from http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/. It's a super cool site w/ so much info anyone (even me!) could get excited about the thought of getting physical! :P

Here are the stats for the week:

Sunday: 30 min walk/run (2.5miles)
Monday: off
Tuesday:2 mile bike (8 min.)
Wednesday & Thursday: off (not by schedule, but b/c Bran was in Memphis)
Friday: 40 min bike (8.7 miles)
Saturday: off
Sunday: Planned 5k run/walk w/ our running club, Mach Tenn.

Next week begins the cross training that includes all three components, plus weight training once or twice a week. Once I get the schedule figured out it'll be easier... b/t when the lap pool is open,Bran being out of town, and having the babies picked up by 4:30 it'll be a bit of a challenge, but nothing I can't handle.

That's it really... on the medical front babies, mommy, daddy and Gabba are all doing just dandy.

Ride in an ambulance $1,839
Yearly membership to the local REC: $300/year
Healthy life w/ healthy babies and husband: Priceless

Black, Blue & Vandy, Too

We've had a week from Hell. Isn't that a pleasant opening statement?

Last Thursday my dear pal, Vette, and I went down to the 30-A Section of Florida for a girls' getaway... we had two incredibly fabulous, sun filled days... and then stinkin' Gustav moved in. Gustav sucks.

Saturday Jack and Hadlee started getting runny noses, but we'd had rain so the hay needed to be cut, seemingly not a big deal.

Sunday Vette and I woke up to cloudy skies and by the time we got back from church, ate a sandwich and got out on the beach the water had changed from a beautiful turquoise with crabs, fish and dolphins playing to a dark green, ferocious beast. We decided it was time to head home.

Monday Jack was running a slight fever and just not acting like himself. Hadlee was having some allergy symptoms, but nothing of much concern. Monday afternoon we went to my grandparents' house for a cookout. While outside, Hadlee missed a step, fell and hurt the concrete patio. In return the patio left her with a nasty bump and her first black eye.

Tuesday morning was supposed to be the babies first day of MDO, but the first two weeks are phase-in half days and neither baby was up to par so they stayed with Gabba all day instead. Jack hadn't slept much the night before and was running more of a temp so I called and made an appointment to see Dr. B for both babies Wednesday morning, just to be on the safe side.

By 1:00 Jack's fever went from 99 to 102 in under 8 minutes, triggering a seizure. He stopped breathing and didn't have a pulse. He turned blue and after his Gabba started CPR he began breathing again. She had already called 911 and had an ambulance on the way. They were there in 5 minutes and couldn't wait on me to get there to ride with him to the hospital. 14 minutes from the time the 911 call was made the ambulance had Jack in our local ER. He captured the attention of everyone, including the main physician, Dr. Sunburn. Doc decided he needed to be admitted so after some phone calls to his pedi we chose to head to Vandy Children's... well, because that's the place to go. Another ambulance ride to Vandy (@ a measly 85 MPH, what the???) and another ER... a few hours later after getting his temp from 104.9 down to 100.7 and seeing him start to talk, interact, eat and drink the doctors say it was a febrile seizure (It's genetic, from their DADDY! Not mommy's fault!!! We went through the same thing w/ Hadlee just a couple weeks before Jack was born.)and send us home.

Wednesday morning we head to the pedi. As it turns out Jack has a nasty virus that is going around school #1 (not MDO, long story) and an ear infection. Hadlee has a nasty double ear infection as well. The are both on antibiotics and beginning to mend. Jack's fevers are down to 103 and under and continue to decline and Hadlee seems to be feeling better, but a bit jealous of the extra attention Jack's getting.

Thursday... apparently it happened because now it's Friday night.

I finally went back to work today (because my sick days are gone until October) and now we're trying to relax and not bite each other's heads off.

Never, do I ever want to revisit another week such as this.