One Run Left....

I just did my second run in Week 9 for C25K.... one run left. Usually I've been waiting to finish the week before blogging BUT this run was my best yet. I ran a total of 2.50 miles with the total work out being 3.24 miles. My average speed per mile (while running) was in the 11 minute range rather than the 12 minute range. The weather was BEAUTIFUL. 62 degrees and breezy/windy. The sun was shining through the clouds bouncing around in the sky. I felt like universe was giving me such a great gift today. When my app told me it was time for the cool down I wanted to continue and finish two more laps to make it an even 3 miles but I decided to complete C25K before pushing it.

This was my last C25K run on the track. I'll complete Week 9 on Saturday at home in my neighborhood. I plan to keep running on my lunch breaks when needed on the track but this is the last run in the program at the track. It felt bittersweet. I started in Week 1 in the middle of August and I was sweating my butt off in the hazy, hot, and humid weather - OUT OF SHAPE. Now, I'm in the middle of October in the cool breeze of Autumn. While I haven't really lost any weight I feel stronger. I decided to take pictures before leaving to track to show what a beautiful day / run it was. Enjoy.

 

My favorite

My Glass is Always Full

I saw this the other day and thought I should put it on a t-shirt and wear it every day.

Whether I'm looking at life in a good mood or a bad mood my glass is pretty much always full. I'm TRY most times to put a positive spin on something and it is rare when I let "Negative Nancy" take control of my life (well PMS is a whole other story - ask Kevin.... - Everyone is allowed a bad day....).

My glass seems to always be full with stuff to do as well. This week I met up with friends, I'm studying for a mid-term, I have to take the mid-term, finish Week 9 of C25K, prep for the toddler swap on Sunday (no... I'm not swapping my toddler for another one - this will be a separate post), I have book club, I have to finish reading the book for book club, catching up on the blog challenge AND keep up with all the other day to day things including that thing called WORK. All I can say is thank goodness for an hours worth of lunch break! <--- This is me putting a positive spin on things.

I come across a lot of different personalities through out the day, I see a lot of FB statuses and watch the news every morning... a lot of what I take in is just plain negative! There are a lot of people walking around with their glass half empty or waiting for the other shoe to drop.



So the question is... How does one pull the positive out of a negative situation? Its hard when you're in the midst of things to find the positive and its hard to admit when you need help. BUT just asking a friend so show you where the positive is can be helpful. Take a deep breath and try to visualize how you will come out of the situation without negative outcomes. AND don't surround yourself with people who put negative spins on things or put you down negatively.

Its hard at first. Being positive is like exercising. The more you do it the easier it is. Its really really hard at first BUT seeing the positive and filling your glass becomes a snap and the negative around you doesn't seem so negative anymore.

Do me one favor today... when something negative comes your way try to find that positive spin and post it here! Give others inspiration by being positive. I want more positive conversations in the hallways, more positive FB statuses and I'm turning off the news because well... there's hardly anything positive there these days.

This Week on Pinterest....

Sunday's are going to be my Pinterest Posts! This week I did a lot of what I found I've been "Pinning" lately.

Earlier in the week I blogged about how I got crafty can created Leaf Creatures and a laminated fold-up travel mat for Connor to play with when we're out and about.

This weekend I have been kicking some Pinterest butt and cooking/baking my butt off!

On Friday I remade the Mini Deep Dish Pizza's that I made about two weeks ago. They were still just as yummy.

I started on Saturday by cooking making Cheese Cauliflower Pancakes to go with our steaks for dinner. These were a tad disappointing. It was very involved to make these while trying to watch the steak on the grill and then they caused me a bunch of grief by not sticking together. After all was said and done they only tasted ok. Nothing spectacular. I deleted the pin.

For dessert last night I made Red Velvet Hot Chocolate. Can you say, "OH MY GOD"?!!! It was Ahhhh-mazing! It was the most work I've ever had to do for hot chocolate but well worth it in the end. It was a piece of heaven! Instead of little marshmellows on the top I sprinkled chocolate chips. Nom nom nom.....

My Red Velvet Hot Chocolate... Mmmmm

NEXT I steamed sweet potatoes and mashed them to prep for Sunday morning's breakfast. This morning I took the mashed sweet potatoes and made Sweet Potato Pancakes! I found the recipe Sweet Potato Waffles but we don't have a waffle iron so I adjusted the recipe and made pancakes! They were sooooo good and Connor tore them up too!

In preparation for this week's breakfast I decided to try another recipe. I found on Pinterest, Mini Frittatas. I sampled a little piece that came out of the oven and they were yummy too. I'll follow up with these once I've actually ate a whole one. BUT it was really simple to throw together and toss in the oven. I put orange and green peppers, mexican cheese and bacon bits in them. Mmmm.

Ready for this week's breakfast!

THEN....(I did a lot of cooking and baking!) I made a Chicken and Broccoli Casserole. It was a type of casserole that you make your own sauce instead of using a cream of soup. It was yummy but involved. Something that would have to be saved for a weekend and not a week night. I also left out the last step of pouring melted butter with poppy seeds over the top. I left out the butter part because there is already a stick of butter in the sauce and I left out the poppy seeds because I couldn't find them at the grocery store so I used black pepper instead. STILL YUMMY!

This afternoon Connor and I played a sensory game I "pinned" on Pinterest as well. I hid the foam alphabet pieces of a puzzle we had in a shoe box of corn flakes. He had to move around the flakes, find the pieces and then I helped him figure out where the fit. HE LOVED IT. We played the game about 6 times today. I used Corn Flakes because we have a huge box of them sitting on top of the fridge and its taking FOREVER to go through them. I figured using them for the game wouldn't hurt. PLUS we could munch on them as we played.

Enjoying the great outdoors while playing a sensory game.

Sooooo that was my Pinterest week in a nutshell. Most weeks probably won't be this involved (especially this week... I'm studying for midterms) but I hope to accomplish at least one "pinned" item a week!

Make a Wish Come True

When I became pregnant with Connor I started visiting a popular website that gave valuable information to expectant and in-the-midst-of-parenting mothers. The website also had a community feature that allowed you to join groups and talk with other mothers (and fathers) about questions, opinions and general day-to-day stuff. You can join your "birthboard" and communicate with others who are due/have children in the same month and year you are. I mainly read and never posted leading up to Connor's birth. After he was born my "birthboard" changed to January 2010. In this birthboard I started posting and I created many relationships and friendships with other mothers.

I know you're probably thinking... "But their just people in the computer that you've never met". Maybe to you... but to me... These are women I "talk" to on a daily basis. I've discussed many many many different topics with them, took in joy when our babies reached different milestones, and have even grieved when some on our board suffered a loss or difficult times. We've created friendship amongst ourselves and support each other even though most of us have never met. We've created our own version of friendship.

That being said, one of the families on our board has hit hard times. At 3 years-old their son Ethan developed a rare form of epilepsy. It was a long journey full of hospitalizations, seziuers and many tests. Now, a year later, he's been diagnosed with Doose Syndrome. According to their family blog  Ethan has "an estimated 20-30 myoclonic/atonic/absence/a-typical absence seizures every day, and a tonic clonic every 1-3 weeks". He's been showing small signs of improvement since starting the ketogenic diet. Learn more about this little boy and everything their family has done from their blog.

His small signs of improvement is has been uplifting but his this improvement has caused him to be unable to "qualify" for the Make A Wish Foundation. Prior to this improvement his one wish is to visit the beach. The family lives in Colorado and wants to put their son's toes in the sand.

I'm writing this blog post tonight to help get Ethan to the beach. I'm trying to get word out about this little boy so his one wish can come true. Please share this post with as many people as you can and if possible please donate any amount. A website has been created to collect donations for the family and can be found here.

One of my friends is need. I'm doing all I can help. Thank you.

C25K Week 8 Complete... FINALLY

I've FINALLY completed Week 8! It took me longer because of our crazy schedule and I had to put a couple extra days in between my runs. It made it harder, but nearly as hard as Week 7. Something about those 25 min runs just did me in.

Week 8 we had to run for 28mins all three runs. I was nervous because of the trouble I had with Week 7 but I had a new determination not to fail anymore. NO MORE EXCUSES.

Run 1 was a challenge BUT I wasn't struggling and cusing or huffing and puffing at the end. I felt GREAT and excited. I had to do this run on my lunch break at work and even though I took a quick shower afterwards I felt really gross putting my work clothes back on and sitting in my office the rest of the day. Its getting harder and harder to do my runs at work. Boo...

Run 2 was my best run this whole journey. Throughout the run I was getting bursts of speed and actually RUNNING instead of jogging. I was great! I was exhausted afterwards.

Run 3 I compeleted three days after Run 2 instead of one day. It sucked. I jogged most of the run and I just wasn't feeling it. PMS had a huge factor in this but again... that's just an excuse. At 20 minutes my lower back started screaming at me. At 24 minutes it locked up and an I had to stop and walk. After a minute of walking I was upset with myself so I pushed myself to run the last 3 minutes. Now I'm sitting here thinking a heating pad on my back would do WONDERS - But I'm glad I pushed myself.

Now that Week 8 is complete I'm moving into my final week of C25K. It won't be my final week of running and prepping for a 5K. I'm only at 2 miles when I hit 28 mintues and I don't see myself running that extra 1.1 mile in the 3 minutes that is going to be added this week.

Kevin and I were going to run the Turkey Trot 5K / 1mile Jaunt BUT I just found out its on a Wednesday at noon. WTF! UGH... Looks like we're on the search again. Soooo until the 5k I'm going to be adding 3 to 5 mins on to each week until I hit 3.1. Afterwards I'll just keep working on my time. I don't see myself speeding up tremendously but speed isn't my goal... finishing is my goal.

I also downloaded an app on my phone called Run Keeper. I really really like it so far. I can program my exercise into the app and it tells me when to walk and when to run. It tracks GPS where I ran and for how far. It also tells me what my pace is. My first two runs this week were 12 minutes and today's was 13.50! See I was jogging SLOW..... After you've completed your workout it emails you a summary and uploads to your profile on their website! I like it because I can track my progress... or lack there of...

Week 9 shouldn't take me nearly as long to complete as this week did. Here's to actually finishing the program!!

Soooo I Bought A Laminator...

Backstory....
I pretty much still have every children book that I had when I was a kid. They are now in Connor's room on his book shelf. Some of these books went through two children before me and some of them have my mom's scribbles in them. Some of these books have seen better days and are out of print. I have been trying to find a way to preserve some of them without re-buying them (lots of $$$$$$ due to being out of print).

Connor especially LOVES Stop That Ball by Mike McClintlock and from what I've seen its out of print. I was kinda bummed about it. UNTIL... I found an awesome idea on the blog I'm a teacher, get me OUTSIDE here. It gives you step by step instructions for laminating older books and making them more durable. AWESOME!!

My next thought was... Well... ok... where does one find a laminator?! Are they expensive? They MUST be...

I emailed my friend who I knew recently bought one and asked her if I could borrow her's or did she mind telling me where she bought hers/how much was it. I came to find out that they sell them on Amazon (duh!! they sell EVERYTHING at Amazon). AND it was reasonably priced. My Laminator

My lamintor was delivered on Saturday.


Fast Forward to Last Night....

FINALLY! I had some downtime... I took some of the farm animal coloring sheets that Connor and I used during "Farm Animal Theme Week" and laminated them to put the together as a flip book. My thoughts:
WOW! COOL! OOOOOOO AHHHHHH!

Next I searched laminated projects on Pinterest..... WOW! Lots of awesome cool learning projects came up for Connor. I spent the next 1/2 hour to 45min "pinning" ideas.


THEN.... after doing some homework for my online class I ventured upstairs to work on a project that I had found.  I made a laminated fold up travel play mat. It was so easy!

Now I'm planning out my next projects.... A weather board for Connor, a mini cookbook for a coworker, mini "quiet books" for Connor.... its new awesome crafty idea <--- aka... new addiction/obsession to feed my Pinterest addiction/obsession... YIPES! Help me! :)

Any other ideas? Are you going to run out and buy a laminator now?

Fall Crafts!

Feels like I'm creating a theme here huh? Fall Favorites... now Fall Crafts...

I've started some fall crafts for and with Connor.

Couple weeks ago Connor and I wandered the front yard and collected pieces of nature and created a collage glued onto construction paper.

Monday night I created a craft from Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/pin/274761519/). They are fall creatures created from empty toilet paper rolls. Super cute. Connor enjoyed playing with them.

Tuesday evening we made a tactile fall tree using the same fake leaves used on the fall creatures, sticks from the front lawn and construction paper.

I look forward to doing more fall inspired crafts the further into the season we get. Hopefully Connor will be able to help me with some baking. What is your favorite fall craft?

Fall Favorites

Like I've posted before I LOVE fall. Its honestly my very favorite time of year. I find the changing leaves of yellow, orange and red more inspiring, romantic and relaxing than the spring flowers coming to live after a cold winter.

The three things that I always always do... Dye my hair red, bake a pizza casserole AND watch the episode of I Heart NY from Sex in the City, Season 4 (episode 18). Let me explain....

Dye My Hair Red:
When the tops of the trees turn a bright red and then the rest of the of it follows and turns deep and warm, something releases into the air and I run out buy a box of dye and POOF I match nature around me.


Bake A Pizza Casserole:
Winter is full of baking yummy goodness that makes for thicker hips. I like to start the season for baking off with the classic pizza casserole. It was a favorite from my childhood and became Kevin's favorite when we moved in together.

Watch Episode of I Heart NY:
I Heart NY from Sex in the City is one of the first episodes that they did not film during the summer. Carrie's first line in the show is, "There is a time of year in NY when even before the first leaf falls, you can feel the seasons click. The air is crisp. Summer is gone. And for the first night in a long time you need a blanket on your bed". My favorite moment between Big and Carrie is in this episode too. It adds to the romantic feel of the season. After giving birth to Connor, I appreciate the moments shared between Miranda and Carrie about being there while she gives birth to Brady. And FINALLY my very favorite line is saved for the end. Carrie says, "Maybe our mistakes are what make our fate. Without them, what would shape our lives? Perhaps if we never veered off course, we wouldn't fall in love, or have babies, or be who we are. After all, seasons change. So do cities. People come into your life and people go. But it's comforting to know the ones you love are always in your heart. And if you're very lucky, a plane ride away".

The favorite moment mentioned above.

Tonight while blogging I watched I Heart NY. The trees haven't reached the deep red yet... but they are close. AND Kevin will be happy to know Pizza Casserole is in his near future.



What is your Fall Favorite?

Maryland Renaissance Festival in Pictures

Here's our story in pictures!

Our Cabin! The porch swing was new to us and the
mattresses were actually KIND OF comfortable! Too bad there wasn't heat!

Our family photo! Connor was able to dress up like a knight. I was a typical wench and Kevin was a pirate!

Trying on daddy's hat

Dressing up as a wench and pirate is all part of the Fall Season!

O'Danny Girls
In their own words, "We are three very nice girls who sing very naughty songs"

Wench!

Lets face it.... nothing like dressing up like a wench and a pirate to top off your fall events!

Axe throwing competition! No one won :(

Maryland Renaissance Festival

This weekend my family and I had our annual camping / Maryland Renaissance Festival trip. Every year (well most years) Kevin and I get together with my family and friends of the family for a local camping trip at the Millersville, MD KOA and attend the Maryland Renaissance Festival (Renn Fest).

The last two years we took the camping aspect out of the weekend and just attended the Renn Fest. AND last year we didn't even go as a group because our schedules didn't match. That being said, the last two years our family fun event just felt a tad off.

Once we all decided on a date that fit our schedules we decided to bring back the camping trip as well. At first we were only going to stay one night but then we changed our minds and booked both Friday and Saturday night like old times.

I must say that the KOA has done some great upgrades to the campground since we stopped coming two years ago. One of the reasons we stopped camping was the fact that they raised their rates on the cabins but hadn't done any upgrades to them. This year we found more comfier mattresses on the beds, a new swing on the front porch and it looks like they've doubled the amount of cabins they have on site. They've also added a pet policy and little dog park too.

Friday at work the clock moved slow.... The Trailblazer was out in the parking lot loaded up with our camping gear waiting for me to get off work and pick up Connor and head to the campground. FINALLY the clock read 4:30 and I was outta there!

The great thing about camping at KOA in Millersville, MD is that it is only a half hour away from our home and 10/15min from a store if we forget/need anything. PLUS... since its local we know how to get there. The campground is also only 15/20min from Renn Fest (minus the crazy traffic - I'll get to that later).

Friday evening I spent unpacking the Trailblazer (Kevin arrived late because of his Friday night college class) while my dad distracted Connor. We had a brief dinner, took Connor to the playground and then tucked him into yet another bunk bed (thankfully he didn't fall out of bed this trip!). Once Connor was in bed I was able to relax a little bit and enjoy conversation and s'mores. Kevin showed up late and we ventured to bed in the late hours of Friday / early hours of Saturday.

Saturday morning Connor woke us up at 7:30am on the dot and we found ourselves prepping a huge pre-Renn Fest breakfast by 8/8:30am. Between us we made French Toast, Scrapple, Sausage, Bacon and Eggs! OH MAN did we INDULGE! It took us a while to get ready and dressed but were finally out the door by 11. Kevin and I have been "dressing up" for Renn Fest for the last 6 or 7 years. So getting dressed requires us to get into our costumes. Also, everyone who is camping preps a crock pot of yummy goodness before leaving and its cooking all day long so we have dinner when we return for our day of fun.

The problem with leaving at 11 and not 10 was the TRAFFIC! The 15/20min ride to Renn Fest took an hour. There was a Navy Football game, the Annapolis Boat Show AND the Renn Fest going on in the general area we were driving. Add great weather into the mix and it makes for awful traffic.

When we finally got there it was perfect timing. As we were walking up to the front gate they were bringing the elephants into the festival and Connor had a front row viewing of them walking by. Once we were in the main gate we met up with Alice and started our wandering. We also started deciding where we were going to be and when depending on the shows and events.

Love this place and this time of year!

About a half hour into the day Connor decided he had played too hard that morning and needed an early nap. THANKFULLY laying him back in the stroller and giving him his bink gave him an hours worth of nap.

While he was napping, we decided to eat lunch and enjoy a beer. To me... one of the greatest things about Renn Fest is the food! Its very affordable and very very yummy! AND you can get almost anything "on a stick"! For lunch I had Mac N Cheese on a stick and a Steak on a Stake. Mmmmmm. Kevin enjoyed Fish and Chips and we also shared some hush puppies.

We started to venture where the rest of our group was located and Connor woke up in a pleasant mood. When we got where we were going Kevin and I took Connor over to see the elephants since they were right next to where we were sitting. Connor was fascinated (as was Kevin). At Renn Fest you can get yourself an Elephant ride. Last year Connor and I rode the Elephants. We didn't this year. As it would be an awesome thing for Connor again...I'm waiting until Connor is old enough to go on his own... For me... once you ride an elephant you don't have to do it again!

Before venturing over to see the O'Danny Girls, Alice and I bought some Fried Oreos. OMG. So so so good. We even shared a bite or two with Connor. We got to see the O'Danny Girls (one of our favorite acts) and Connor enjoyed dancing to their music. From there we did some walking and shopping followed buy the annual axe throwing competition between my dad and Kevin.

As 5pm rolled around Connor was getting restless and overwhelmed and we were tired from walking and pushing the stroller all day. We said good bye to Renn Fest and headed back to the campground for an awesome dinner.

We had four crock pots waiting for us! One had sausage and meatballs with pasta sauce, another had chicken stew, another had pulled bbq and mine had chili. We also cooked plain pasta to go with the sausage/meatball mixture and mac n cheese to go with chili. CAN YOU SAY YUMMY!?!

Thankfully Connor was super great Saturday evening. He settled into a camping chair and read his books by the fire. I was worried he'd want to get in and out of the chair which is a dangerous activity while near a fire but he settled in and enjoyed books with a bowl of mac n cheese. Soon enough his bedtime came and he went right to sleep from his busy day.

Friday and Saturday night was COLD. Like 40 degrees cold! The cabins at the KOA have AC but do not have heat. Needless to say it felt great to relax by the fire and snuggle under lots of blankets.

You'd think I'd have had enough food for the day BUT I ended the evening with another s'more! BUT this s'more was different... I decided to add a piece of my spicy chocolate and it made for the best tasting s'more EVER!!! OMG. Mmmmmm.

Sunday morning came too soon and we found ourselves packing up and heading home!

Overall a fabulous weekend with beautiful weather! Pictures to follow in a different post!

Inspiration

Here's a piece of my writing from June 2008. Just a little bit of inspiration to help us being our week.

Inspiration doesn’t come from someone else.

It doesn’t come from your heart

Nor from your brain or anything physical

Inspiration isn’t found in nature or a beautiful sunset

Not found in your soul and not in long journey

Its comes from beyond.

Beyond knowing.

Beyond thoughts.

Beyond love.

Beyond ourselves.

Inspiration comes from the other side.

The other side of our soul, the other side of the physical, the other side of nature.

It comes from where there is no physical.

It comes at inconvenient times.

It comes when we least expect it.

It comes making it feel impossible and then we reach the top of the mountain.

We cannot see where it comes from.

We feel it. We create it. We live it.

Best Friends and Hot Dogs

I have a very best friend named Alice. She's pretty awesome. We've been friends since middle school and since our last names (my maiden name) were very close to each other alphabetically we were pretty much always in the same homeroom all the way through high school. We also went to the local community college together and transferred to University of Baltimore together.

We've always been close whether we're spending lots of time with each other or going through a phase in life that takes us separate paths.  It doesn't matter how long we've spent not communicating because once we're reunited its like no time has passed. She's one of my non-momma friends which totally gets that I'm a mom and understands my new found mom responsibilities. She's actually so awesome that she's the god-mother of Connor.

This is my favorite pic of the two of us
Wrestling at my 24th birthday party -
Anyone who can make me laugh like this is A-OK in my book!

Now to the story at hand....

Back before I had Connor, Alice and I used to occasionally go on adventures to concerts around the area. Sometimes we would venture to DC, sometimes local and sometimes like the night we had the best hot dog EVER the Recher Theater in Towson, MD.

Many years ago we ventured to the Recher Theater in great excitement to see The Clarks. The concert was awesome and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves singing our hearts out and stayed to the very end of the concert even though we had school/work the next day.

The only problem about staying to the end of the concert is we were STARVING by the very end. It was so late out that everyone had closed and there was nothing to eat... SO WE THOUGHT! The concert was in the dead middle of winter and we were FREEZING our butts off! Hungry and tired we made our way back to Alice's car.

Just before reaching the parking lot there was a random hot dog stand selling HOT DOGS! We each ordered a hot dog with onions and other condiments. We froze while we waited for them to cook and then VIOLA we were eating the BEST TASTING HOT DOGS EVER! Even the onions were PERFECT and SWEET! They were so good to this day we still talk about them.

Our email conversation from this afternoon:
Alice: "I noticed this event because the guy has the same last name as you, but then I read what it was and now I kinda want to go. "
Me: "I'll go with you if you want. Kevin has bowling. Let me line up a babysitter and I'll buy a ticket."
Alice: "Woot Woot!! Let me know when you have a babysitter for sure - I'll wait to buy a ticket til I hear from you"
Me: "Sounds good. Let me get through this weekend and I'll make arrangements next week. I've added to my task list in Google so I don't forget. Maybe they'll be someone outside the building selling really yummy hot dogs afterward! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm"
Alice: "mmm those hotdogs were so good and it was sooo cold out!"

Best friends are truly awesome. Best friends are really awesome when you can reminisce about really awesome hot dogs together years after you've had them!!!! HOT DAMN THEY WERE GOOD!

The Help

A couple weeks ago I read the book The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I thought it was an amazing book and it was very hard for me to put it down to get housework and homework done! For me, it painted a realistic approach the way families functioned and how society ran your thoughts and actions. To this day there are still many "cliques" among grown women that are full of drama and dictate what you should and shouldn't do.

What really spoke to me was the relationship between The Help and the mothers in regards to raising the children. The mothers really gave up all child raising to the people that they judged and looked down upon! I felt like I was witnessing motherhood at it's laziness while reading.

I'm all for getting help in your home or a nanny but I felt like the moms in the book didn't want anything to do with their children. The babies/toddlers would be watched by The Help and then go off to school (to be watched by a teacher) when they were old enough. The mothers weren't active in their child's development! If the child was acting up and being difficult they were handed off to The Help.

After reading the book, the characters and the mother/Help relationship stuck with me. I keep thinking back to the relationship between my daycare provider and myself. Being any kind of mother (working or staying at home) is hard. When you leave your child in the care of someone else you need to have a good, open and honest relationship with one another.

Being a working mother, Connor is in daycare close to 45 hours a week. I am thankful we were able to find a provider that meshes well with how I want to raise Connor and enjoys seeing my child everyday. I felt like I needed to find a provider that was going to WANT to inspire my child. I didn't want someone who would plop him down in front of a TV all day long. I wanted someone I could respect and who respected me as well. When Connor throws a fit because he doesn't want to leave daycare's home I know she's doing something right!

Getting back to the book, The Help, I can't imagine mothers letting women that they don't respect raise their child! The women who were the Help were good women but their employers didn't respect them enough to even use the same toilet as them! The relationship was truly disjointed.

To me the book was an eye opener to watch how I'm talking to my child and what I am saying to my child. Children are sponges and absorb everything they see and hear. The book was also a reminder to make use of every single moment I have with him because I'm not there all week long.

I highly recommend reading The Help. Its a step back in time and a great inspirational story of stepping above what and how you should act.

C25K Week 6 and 7

I've put off blogging about Week 6 and 7 because they were a bit of a challenge for me. I didn't know how I felt about it. Well... I know how I felt about it... I was disappointed in myself but didn't want to tell the world just yet.....

During Week 6 I had a lot of stress going on. We had our vacation coming up and packing needed to be done and my homework needed to be all caught up. It wouldn't have been an issue IF we didn't have a hockey game to go to, Kevin didn't have bowling and a class to go to that week too AND all the grocery shopping needed to be done for the trip. AND AND AND! Every time I turned around there was something else added to my plate. So.... while running should have been a stress reliever, I was busy thinking of everything that needed to be done AND mentally exhausted on top of it. I  also started putting 2/2.5 days in between my runs instead of a day/day and a half.

Its easy to give up when you're mentally exhausted. In the last two weeks I learned in any physical activity you have to be physically AND mentally ready!

So Week 6 was as follows:
Run 1: Jog for 5min Walk for 3min Jog for 8min Walk for 3min Jog for 5min	Run 2: Jog for 10min Walk for 3min Jog for 10min	Run 3: Jog for 25min

We ended Week 5 running for 20min straight. I figured going back to Run 1 Week 6 would be easy. NOPE! After getting used to running for a long period of time the stopping and starting really played me and it was rough. Run 2 wasn't as bad. But with all the stress I was feeling leading up to it, I just wasn't feeling it. Run 3 was completed at Rocky Gap State Park and, as I stated in a previous post, there was A LOT of hills. The hills killed any kind of drive I had to get through the 25min run. At one point I had to stop mid hill and walk to the top before continuing to run!

Week 7 had all 25min runs. I started a day later than I should have because I wanted to make sure we got home from camping instead of running on the huge hills again. My first run for Week 7 was terrible! It was the first time I didn't finish. My excuses are as follows....

• It was unusually hotter and humid than we had been used from previous days
• Ate a huge lunch about an hour and half before the run
• Exhausted from camping and unpacking
• Body was sore and stiff from the hard bed while camping
• Stepped in a puddle while jogging and started a blister on my heel
• Tweaked my ankle in a random crack/dip in the road

At 21/22 minutes I gave up and started walking home. The closer to home I got the more pissed and upset with myself I got. I had never not finished a run. I was disappointed in myself and knew my reasons for stopping were all just stupid little excuses. I knew I could have finished and didn't.

When I got home I had that awful lump in my throat and felt like crying! Kevin kept telling me there was nothing to be upset about and I could rerun the day and that this is supposed to be hard not easy. As I was sitting in the living room cooling off and resting before hopping in the shower Connor came up to me and handed me his sippy of water and said, "Here you go Mommy". I guess I looked like I needed a drink! After my shower I was less mad at myself and more determined to finish the week.

I decided I would rerun the day if I was still struggling to reach the 25min goal at the end of the week. Run 2 was completed BUT it was a struggle. I completed it on my lunch break on the track and the sun was beating down on me. Right before walking out of my office I took a look at my Vision Board and took in the image that said "100% Committed" and I focused my energy on that phrase throughout the run. There was no way in hell I was going to disappoint myself again.

Run 3 was completed in 50 degree weather! It was CHILLY!!! The first 5 to 6min my lungs had to adjust to breathing in the cold air BUT I finished the run and felt like I could keep going! I'm glad to say I ended Week 7 on a high note instead of the low note I started it on.

Today starts the beginning of Week 8 and we'll be running for 28min all week. Wish me luck!

Rocky Gap Camping Part 3

Very early Tuesday morning I woke up to the sound of thunder. By the time we were all officially awake and ready to start the day it was raining. Booooo.... We were hoping it would hold out another day but we were destined to hang out in the cabin for a while. Kevin cooked breakfast under cover on the front porch. We had very yummy pancakes and scrapple. Mmmmmmm!

After breakfast the rain was starting to let up so Kevin took a trip on his mountain bike around the Lakeside Loop. I took Connor to the family/handicapped bathroom to give him a much needed shower. The family bathroom was awesome. It was one huge bathroom with a huge shower and it allowed for a lot of space to deal with showering a toddler.

After Connor's shower we had to wait a little while longer for Kevin to return. When he did he showered and Connor slowly but surely started to get stir crazy in the small cabin. When Kevin and I were packing he insisted we take my laptop and some movies with us "just in case". I swore up and down we wouldn't need them. "We would be camping." "We didn't take laptops and movies with us when I went camping as a kid." ........ Well...... I busted it out and played two episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It chilled him out long enough for Kevin to finish up and us to leave on an adventure for a little while.

Waiting for breakfast to get done.

Watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse... I felt like a total camping failure setting it up.

The first stop on our adventure was the Aviary down by the lodge. The Aviary had rescued birds that could no longer fend for themselves, were domesticated or could no longer fly. We figured we should check it out first before the rain returned. We saw Black Voluters, several types of owls, an American Bald Eagle and two BEAUTIFUL Red Tailed Hawks. Connor enjoyed the birds and enjoyed running around even more. Kevin was in awe of the Eagle. We actually went back to see it a second time before we left. The Eagle had been hit by a car and could no longer fly. He was big and inspiring. My favorites were the Red Tailed Hawks.

Hard to see him but that's the American Bald Eagle

My two favorites... the two Red Tailed Hawks

We took a moment for some family photos

Too cute

After the Aviary we ventured to the Country Club Mall in Cumberland, MD. We wanted Connor to be able to walk around and burn off some energy since our campsite was full of puddles. We ate some lunch and Connor got to ride on one of the little rides. BUT he had a melt down when it was over.... nap time was upon us. He fell asleep on the ride back.

Cute as can be. Makes me sad he went from so happy to so upset. :*(

Connor continued to nap once we got back to the cabin and I did some reading for my college class and Kevin got started on the afternoon fire. After Connor woke up Kevin decided to go back out for another mountain bike adventure. Connor and I were playing with trucks and dancing around. As I was taking his picture being silly on a tree stump I felt a rain drop. Before I had a chance to figure out if it was from a tree or the sky... the sky opened up and poured. I lifted Connor down off the stump and told him, "QUICK! RUN! To the cabin!" That little boy listened and off he went! I ran around the site picking up the chairs and other camping stuff and moved it to the porch.

Kevin and I realized that once we started hearing thunder in the area we had about 45min before it hit. Poor Kevin was stuck mountain biking in the torrential down pour. He said at one point he couldn't see the trail because of the rivers they had turned into, couldn't see because the rain was in his eyes and thought he might have busted his tire twice on his way back. There wasn't a dry spot on him when he finally returned.



Singing a song a little tooooo close to the edge of that stump.....

Our site was flooding!

The fire went out......

A river formed from the site next to us down the driveway and under the trailblazer

RAIN RAIN RAIN!

Once Kevin returned he ran for the bath house for a shower and I reheated the leftover chili. We ate on the front porch watching the rain come down... still.... Once Connor was in bed the rain let up and Kevin was able to start another fire.WHEW! We sat and enjoyed the it while listening to the thunder and watching the lightening in the distance. We knew our time was limited. Little drops became bigger drops and it was raining AGAIN. We moved to the porch and watched it for a little while before going to bed.

Tuesday night we had moved the coolers into the Trailblazer like we had every night previously to make sure animals would leave our stuff alone. We also would put the trash bags into the Trailblazer or run it up to the dumpster. BUT Tuesday night.... we left the trash bag on the porch. It was raining... we felt lazy... whatever....

Well...................... Good news is Connor stayed in bed all night. Bad news is we had a visitor. I woke up to the sound of a cup falling and the rustling of the trash bag. Since I was coming out of a deep sleep (how I got into that deep sleep I shall never know), I was moving slow and freaked out all at the same time. I woke up Kevin we shined the flash light and Kevin said I was hearing things.

A little while later... not sure how long later.... I hear rustling AGAIN. This time I jumped out of bed and shined the flashlight through the screen door. NOTHING! Kevin determined I was loosing my mind.

Another little while later I was back into a deep sleep BUT Kevin was awake and listening to find out if I was crazy or not. THEN he heard it and scared the CRAP out of me. He sat up super fast and shined the light at the door. I didn't even know he was sleeping with the flashlight! He said he did see something small and black. We cautiously ventured out to the porch and Kevin put the bag into the Trailblazer so we could get some sleep in peace....

Wednesday morning was mine and Kevin's 4 year wedding anniversary. We were up and packing to go early. We had ourselves one last breakfast and Kevin loaded the car up in the rain. We waved good bye and started our venture home. Connor fell asleep again and it was a long quiet ride home.

We arrived home exhausted but enjoyed the trip. Unpacking is the absolute worst BUT totally worth it. This is definitely a trip worth remembering!

Rocky Gap Camping Part 2

Monday morning we woke up to a very happy Connor. I was surprised to find him lying in bed awake waiting for us to wake up! NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! I could have swore I was going to wake up with a cute little face staring at me.

Once we were up and dressed (Connor wanted to run right outside in his PJs and socks), we started getting breakfast together. I planned big breakfasts for each morning. Nothing like waking up to a big breakfast while camping. I prepped the table and Kevin started the cooking. Connor wandered around the site again. He settled into the tent we set up to read some books while we were cooking.

Reading in the tent

Mmmmmmmm breakfast.... French Toast, Sausage and Eggs.

After breakfast and a quick shower (WHICH I was surprised to find that their showers were re-done and AHHHHH-MAZING), we ventured to the lodge to check out the trails, playground and lake. The playground was fun. Connor was the only one there to play on it. The gnats were AWFUL but I guess that is what you get when it rains almost every single day for a month...... After a while of playing Kevin and I noticed there were wasps hanging around one of the slides so we went for a walk towards the lake.

Fog trying to burn off and let the sunshine through.

My sliding fool

Connor and Kevin walking towards the lake

We made a few local stops on the way back to the campsite and Connor fell asleep a whole hour and a half early for his afternoon nap. All the outside playing just wore him out! We got back to the cabin and he stayed asleep as I tucked him into the bunk.

He woke up a little earlier than he should have but was in a good mood. We played with trucks, chalk and collected nature items to be crafty with while Kevin went for his C25K run.

Chalk and Trucks

Our leaf collage



I realized I hadn't taken a pic of me and Connor yet.... so we did a self portrait.
He looks THRILLED doesn't he?

Before dinner Connor was feeling a little restless (since he took his nap so freakin early), so we ventured to the other playground that was right next to our campsite. This also had the nature center and camp store (both were closed.... booooo), the beach, boat ramp and trail that goes around the lake. We played for a while and wandered around until it was time to get ready to prep dinner.

This was actually a pretty fun set up for Connor.

A little too chilly for the beach!



More scenery

Kevin and I teamed up to make some AWESOME chili for dinner. We had chili, mac n cheese (Kevin likes to mix the two together) AND I wrapped up some rosemary bread in foil and put it on the grill by the fire to warm. We rocked our socks off while we enjoyed all the yumminess that dinner gave us.

Connor started to melt down early that night. He was really worn out and his nap timing was off. We did one last walk around our camp loop to try and distract him but he wound up being carried towards the end. He bedtime is usually 8/8:30.... he was in bed by 7:30....

Kevin and I enjoyed another night by the fire eating s'mores and reading our books. We ventured back to that uncomfortable bed and some how fell to sleep. Of course we woke up to the PLOP of Connor falling out of the bed onto the mattress again..... at least he didn't hit the hard floor. This time he didn't even stir. I probably could have left him there but I scooped him up and put him back into bed.

My next post will wrap up our adventure for Tuesday and the ride home Wednesday!

Rocky Gap Camping Part 1

On Sunday afternoon we left for our first family camping trip at Rocky Gap State Park. We had a blast! We had good and bad weather, ate fabulously cooked camping food, played on great playgrounds, visited a beautiful aviary, saw beautiful scenery, the bathrooms were surprisingly NICE and we had ourselves a cute little cabin to sleep in and hang out in when the rain fell. Lets start from the beginning!

Sunday morning we woke up and decided it would be a great day to order breakfast and have it delivered so we could get to loading up the car. The diner near our house started delivering breakfast last year and it was like mine and Kevin's prayers were answered when we found out. Well........... I called and found out they no longer delivered. My heart broke, I cried deep down inside and then placed the order for pick up. Sigh....

After a huge breakfast it was time to try and load EVERYTHING into the trailblazer. The thing about camping with a toddler or in a place that your unfamiliar with the area is you want to be prepared for everything...so you pack everything.

Kevin spent an hour to an hour and half loading our coolers, clothing, blankets, camping gear, toys, food, bikes, bike trailer and other random "must haves" into the Trailblazer. Needless to say it was PACKED. We had room for Kevin, Connor and me....

I didn't take us nearly as long to get to Rocky Gap as I had anticipated AND Connor napped most of the way there. Woot!


Napping on route 70!

We checked in and found our campsite. It was a nice cozy one room cottage that had a shelf for your stuff, a bunk bed and a double bed. We set up camp and began to prep dinner and the evening fire. Once I got the turkey burger patties together for Kevin to cook, I went from my last run on Week 6 for C25K. The run was rough!! It was a 25min run and at Rocky Gap you're dealing with hills. HILLS HILLS and MORE HILLS!!! When we were driving around I was trying to locate the area with the most down hills. The problem about hills is there are two sides. So if you're running down one side you have to run up the other! I'll get into this run and the beginning of Week 7 in another blog...


Home Sweet Home!



Connor's bed.... YES those are Little Mermaid sheets....
YES they are from when I was a kid some how they've hung around...
They were the ONLY twin sheets in the house!
Please note the pillows propping up the mattress to help keep him from falling out!

Our tiny... very hard... very damp bed.

After my run we had a yummy dinner of turkey burgers and hot dogs. Connor continued to explore his area and next thing you know... it was his bedtime. We were nervous about bed time because he would be sleeping in on the bottom bunk and he usually sleeps in a crib. We took the mattress from the top bunk and put it on the floor next to him.

Surprisingly Connor went right to sleep after we read a book. Kevin and I enjoyed the fire and made s'mores. After s'mores we pulled out the flashlights and read our books by the fire. VERY relaxing and MUCH needed.

We decided to call it a night early after a while and crawled into our tiny very hard double bed. Sleep didn't come easy. There was little air flow even though we had the windows open and the used the screen door. PLUS because its rained and rained and rained this month it felt damp. At least it was hot and humid!! Once we finally fell asleep we woke up to a BAM... actually it was more like a PLUNK then BAM. Connor had rolled off the bed, hit the mattress on the floor and continued onto the hard floor. I JUMPED out of my skin and bed then scooped him up. He started to whine but when I laid him back down on the bed he fell right back to sleep.... silly boy!

Monday was met with lots to do and I'll continue it in a separate blog tomorrow. See you next post!!!