February 2016

Guys, nothing funny is happening in my life.

I’m not having many “Did That Just Happen” moments right now.

And, (with a worried sigh), I’m afraid I might not have many more.

You see, Mr. T has picked a college.

It is all becoming very real that the little boy I JUST HAD is growing up.

I made him stop and take a picture with me at a college visit the other day.

“Mom, we don’t need to now, there will be time later.”

“Get your butt over here and take a picture with me! Don’t make me go all mom on you!”

And you know what – there wasn’t time later!

Time is not linear for me, when I say it happened the other day, I could mean yesterday, or 6 months ago.  I don’t waste space in my brain for things like “time”; however, there is a pressure in my chest that tells me – either I’m having a heart attack – or that time is currently paying very close attention to me!

Here is the super-duper good news, though.  My son is bound and determined to expedite his college time and leave with the least amount of debt as possible.  He has saved up to take classes at the community college during the summer, and he is filling out every scholarship form there is… and… he is applying for the housing waiver.  He will live close enough to the school he wants to attend that he can commute.

He won’t be moving into the dorm (fingers crossed) in the Spring.  He’ll be staying at home.  And, while he is never here now, and will probably be here less in the future, it still gives me some peace that I’ll have a little bit longer to yell at him to not leave dirty dishes in the sink or to pick up his shoes from the living room floor because I tripped over them and almost broke my neck!

I look forward to that.

OH! But wait!  The other day I bought a new washing machine!  And Mr. T had exactly 1 hour in between Job #1 and Job #2, so he met me at Lowe’s to load up the machine (it wouldn’t fit in my car) and drive it home – and he unloaded it and set it in place for me before taking off to head back into town for work.

So, I made him some homemade donuts! 

Double chocolate donuts with a plain glaze.

Yeah, that just happened!

(and if you follow me on Pinterest, you’ll find the inspiration for that recipe, which of course, I modified.  Almond milk instead of regular, greek yogurt instead of sour cream and truvia instead of sugar… and they still turned out divine!)

Oh! One last thing – one of my SMART goals is to hit 50 miles per month with my running.  

Not only did I meet my goal, I increased my mileage from January, so #DoubleWin.  This month also included a longer run, added in an extra half mile towards the end of the month – and it was scary but it went really well!  I think I’ll work in a few more long runs now and work on increasing my stamina.  It’s been feeling good, and I haven’t always been able to say that about running!

Maybe I have a few more moments left in me yet!

January Recap

I can’t think of a catchy title for this blog… and since it will be a smorgasbord, I figured that “recap” is fine.  Okay, disclaimer over with it! Let’s get started!

One of my SMART goals this years, under “Personal Betterment” is

I welcome January 2017 in as a sharp-dressed woman, as I have made an effort to be more presentable, and accountable in my attire and stepped outside the house always dressed for success.

Honestly, I really thought this was a good idea.

And I’m not ready to abandon it yet… but…

Yeah, that happened.

This month, we celebrated my mom’s birthday with a family gathering.  Mr. T had to work, so he spent time with her and dad earlier in the day and had a pleasant lunch with his grandparents, but since I was busy, I wasn’t there and don’t have any pictures – so we’ll start with a picture I snapped of the two of them a few days prior!

They were having an intense discussion! Cassius, Lee’s boxer, came over for a visit, and if you look closely, even Shorty was taking part!

It was a fun gathering, and at the end of the night, it was time to take some pictures!

The best part was when Grammy wanted some pictures with her grand-kids.  This is what we posted:

This is the behind the scenes of what all we have to go through in order to get just a few good shots! I am sure this is something most of y’all can relate to!!

Notice how we were all jumping in to help.

Yeah.  Not so much.  We are more of a sit-back-and-laugh family!!

Remember that I mentioned being busy that morning so I couldn’t join Mr. T during his visit with his grandparents?

Boom! First 5k of the year done! *happy dance* Heroes for Hope run benefiting St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

BA ran with me, and after we had cooled down, grabbed some food and water, I checked, and they didn’t have a computer set up for us to check our official times, but they gave me the site I could log onto later – and then pointed me in the direction of the guy that had the print out!

I did not medal.

Well, if I’m not getting a medal, then we could go.  Not going to lie, there were 30 more minutes to go until the ceremony, and I couldn’t hang!

The next day I got on and checked the official time.

I did not medal, BUT…

I knocked 3 minutes off my race time!! 3 minutes y’all!!  It was insane!  I did start way too fast, and it came up and bit me in the butt at the 2.5ish mark, but again, I’m just amazed at the love of runners, I was struggling, and another runner came up beside me and slowed down, told me I could do it – and then stayed to run with me for a bit!  She and I kept together for a good bit, and it felt good.  I love the sense of community that has come with running, I really do!

As long as I was checking my time, I pulled up BA’s time.

And then I called him and asked “When I was checking the time sheet for me – did you happen to check it for you?  I think you medaled.”

No, he hadn’t checked the sheet, so I contacted the race coordinator, and sure enough, BA came in 3rd place in his group!  They are mailing his medal – it took several hours for it to really sink in with him, but all of the sudden, I think I can convince him to run with me again!