Just a minute of my time...

Still facing fears

I grew up with a mom that feared most things... obviously the loss of two children, her husband and grandson didn't help the situation, nor did the abuse she suffered as a child. But I was finding that fear creeping into my own life and that of my kids. So over the last couple of years I started saying yes to things that I feared. All the yes's have given me the opportunity to explore the world with racing, visiting family and try things a few years ago that I wouldn't have dared! And essentially changed my life...

I got to experience my sons first flight with him, and it was an emotional moment for me! While I played it cool and asked the flight attendant for his first flight wings pin. He smiled when getting the pin, but I'm hoping its a memory that stays with him for many years... he loves flying now!

Zip lining in Hocking Hills, or in those Caverns in Kentucky were definetly something I wouldn't have done a few years ago, but I'm so glad I said yes. In fact, I don't think there is a thing that I've said yes to that I regret...

Renting a car in San Diego, finding our way to Anaheim and into my Los Angeles may not be a big deal to some... but for me it was huge. The anxiety I felt when just booking my flight, renting the car and then having to drive was still there, but I pushed through it and I'm glad I did. And while I never did get comfortable driving in Los Angeles traffic, it wasn't horrible and luckily my cousin took some back roads getting us back to the airport rental drop off point, which I thanked him for over and over...

Hash house a go go was a blast, and had I not rented the car, we would have never gone... It was just outside Lo Jolla and such a fun place to eat at with HUGE portions! Was one of my favorite stops during our stay in San Diego... and the Snicker's pancake was awesome!

And how fitting, when facing your fears... a wall that you can write things you want to do before you die... perfect addition to facing your fears!

Fears of another sort... getting a tattoo. I had never found anything that I wanted on my body permanently, until spending this time with my kids, finding matching tattoos for Chel and I, and the  meaning behind them...

Spending time with my aunt is always inspiring! She is an amazing woman with thoughts and ideas that help lift your soul and always encourages you to try new things! And getting to know my cousins wife Michele was another bonus. She too was full of positive inspiration!

While the one thing I didn't fear, I should have... the work out with my cousin! He was amazingly awesome and we were amazingly sore!

Our first trip up the Santa Monica stairs I thought I'll never survive this... but we kept going and believe it or not, it got easier!  200 steps, and 1/8 of a mile jog to another set of steps down, 1/8 mile jog back to steps and repeat... 5 times! You'll never regret pushing yourself past limits you didn't know you had!

The scenery is amazing

Watching my son with my aunt knowing he's getting some great advice

Hanging out with my cousin who I haven't got to spend time with in years!

and bringing home my daughter made all the fears worth facing even more!

Adding another driver

Zach is going on 17 and ready to get his driver's license. He isn't a big fan of driving my car and preferred to drive dad's truck but that option didn't give him a lot of driving time. So when Joel came across this vehicle we knew it was perfect for him.

we still have to go for the official license but that's okay, it just gives me more time to get used to him driving now!

What makes you happy

I was reading over at Slacker mom's blog a list she created about what makes her happy and thought I would create one myself. Sometimes we need to step back and remember the little things that bring us joy and happiness in our lives, and with the recent struggles I've been facing while dealing with an ill parent I decided I should draw my attention to some happiness in my life!

10 things that make me happy...

1. My husband - wow, we've been through a lot!  So many ups and downs throughout our almost 27 years married. Always there to encourage me with my goals, keep my fears at bay and providing for our family.

2. Two kids that rock my world! My daughter who is not only my friend after struggling through those teenage years but also my running partner, inspiration and pride! and my sweet sweet son, okay most of the time, he is a teen now! His infectious laugh and talented soul brings such light to my world.

3. Reading on my kindle! It's been the greatest and I think I may even achieve my goal of reading 50 books this year! With the ability to read from my iphone to my kindle and always syncing with the last page read I'm never without a good book!

4. Ancestry.com - yep, I'm hooked and learning so much about my heritage! Thank goodness my sister was over with her dinosaur memory of family and names to get the ball rolling!

5. Oatmeal - yep its still my favorite for breakfast, though I do try and change things up once in a while. I look forward to that hot bowl of oatmeal especially after a long run.

6. Iphone - okay this was a long awaited treat and its been as awesome as I imagined it to be! Now Chelsea has one too!  The boys have the droids...

7. Modern Familly - I love this show, I love that it always makes me laugh, I love every character, every lesson... did I mention I love this show and oh yes it makes me happy!

8. Running - come on, you knew it'd make the list! It's my reset button when life gets stressful, my challenge to myself, my goal setting workout, its my latest love and it makes me happy!

9. Being creative - whether its scrapbooking or photography or sketching in a journal my craft time makes me happy, makes me who I am and lets my creative soul emerge!

10. Chobani greek yogurt! Yep it makes me happy! Have you tried it? It might make you happy too!

What makes you happy? Find the little things in life that give you a boost...

 

If you get kicked in the rear it only means your in front of the race - Joel Osteen

 

 

Deer Season

Chelsea always got the talk from her father... "watch for deer" whenever leaving the house, so often she joked about it because she said according to dad its always deer season.

On Friday night after coming home to work a shift at Giant Eagle she headed back to college.  At almost 10pm when things were quieting down at home and I was ready to grab my kindle and do some reading the phone rang...

It was Chelsea and I could hear the panic and upset in her voice, though I couldn't get enough audible words to know what she was trying to tell me.  She was crying which made me cry, something I think all parents would do when they hear the hurt and fear in their child. But I need to find out what's wrong so I can begin to help her.  Joel is up out of his chair with the anxiety of knowing something is wrong, but not knowing what.

Finally I got enough out of her to know she hit a deer, Joel then took the phone to talk to her, telling her to get out of her car and away from it.  I ran to tell Zach we were leaving and Chels was in an accident, for which he had no plans of staying home and waiting to see what happened, he was going with us.

I was urging Joel off the phone so we could call her on a cell phone and get driving.  I wanted to fly... anything to get there quickly

Finally we are driving and talking with her periodically as more police would show up.  Luckily there was an ambulance right behind her when the accident happened and some drivers stopped to make sure she was okay.  Four police cars arrived and directed traffic and had her get in one of their cars.

She wasn't shaking from being cold, she later told me, but from nerves.  They wanted her to go to the hospital, but at the time she felt fine.  I think her nerves had taken over.

It's an hour plus drive to her school and she was almost back, in that time they towed her car away and the police took her back to the station until we could get there.  Her poor boyfriend was at work and had no idea all this was going on. 

Finally we found the police station and her and were all reunited!  She started aching as they say happens to most people shortly after the accident and her head was hurting so we knew our next stop was going to be at the hospital. 

We got to the emergency room, they got her in quickly and did the necessary x-rays and we waited.  By this time Ben arrived and waited with the boys while we were already back with the doctor.  They gave her Vicodin and a couple of prescriptions and sent us on our way.

They had first said her vehicle was totaled and the tow truck driver thought for sure she had rear ended a big truck until the police told him it was a deer.  

This morning I read this article on deer in Ohio and continuing to thank God that she is okay!

 

Right now...

I'm reading a really good book called War by Sebastian Junger that my cousin told me about.  I believe there is a movie coming out soon called Restrepo 

 

While school shopping for the kids I found these boots for myself!

   Along with several comfy sweaters! 

missing my daughter who headed back to college over a week ago...

hanging out with my son who starts school tomorrow

  working on my second mini book with my Work in progress September kit!

Finishing up a candy bar poem I wrote for my dentist who will be celebrating 35 years in the business this weekend! (pictures and poem to come)

Training for my next half marathon in less than 5 weeks!

And enjoying date nights with my hubby whenever possible!

Let your mind wander

 

Do you ever just let your mind wander from one thing to the next?  Like how your thoughts can travel back in time from a single song or smell. That's been happening to me a lot lately?  Sometimes I think it's the "poor me attitude" that I can sometimes fall into and other times I'm like Oh yeah, I remember when... which if you ask anybody, I don't remember a lot of my younger days?

So whichever category these fall into, they have been some of my thoughts....

• Friendships - I am truly blessed when it comes to the friendship department.  I have friends that I could turn to at any time for any reason and for that I am thankful!
• Family - my family has been torn apart through loss for many years now, my brother has chosen after all this loss to close off his life to the rest of the family and I've finally come to a point of acceptance that there is nothing I can do and have found that happiness once again within the rest of my family!
• Fathers - Joel and I lost both our fathers within a year of each other and there's not a day that goes by that I don't think of my father or how he would help me in any given situation with sensible solutions.  The fact that my kids have not had a grandfather for 13 years, (Chelsea was 8, Zach was 4), falls under what my dad would say "life's not fair"
• Husband - We married young!  So young... I just turned 20 and he 22.  We've struggled through life, raising kids, losing a child, family troubles, job troubles and all those things that life throws at you! Seven years ago he started his own business, which he runs amazingly with 10 full time employees!
• Kids - I've probably learned as many life lessons with my kids as they have learned growing up.  I am so thankful for these two and all the blessings they have brought to my life!  I love how they continue to set and achieve their goals, love being with family and have a great work ethic!

While this was more than one days thoughts, it came over time... like during those rides in the car with no radio, or in a quiet house that lets you think or even sometimes a good book will flip a switch in your mind to help you appreciate all the wonderful things in your life!

And remember..."Out of difficulties grow miracles."

Summertime blogging

Why is it that I start out the summer with the best of blogging intentions, but somehow time gets away from me and we are outdoors or away more than those cold winter days ahead.  But whatever the reason I've been a bad blogger and I can't even say its going to change until at least school is back in session, which is coming sooner than I want!

Plus with my camera broken I don't get the pictures that I'm used to taking, I barely get any pictures and that is definitely not good for my project life!

As for our last few weeks of summer... last weekend we went bowling on Sunday with the family! It was a fun way to spend some time together and we found that Joel and Zach are the best bowlers of our group!

   
 
 The only proof of Joel being there is a shot with him sticking his tongue out!  Or the shot of our scores... which is nothing to brag about!  But oh what fun we had!

and here another whole week has gone by since we had this fun! 
 

 

Project life

and other things have lost some zest since the loss of my camera.  I haven't even heard the "professional" diagnosis, let alone how long its gonna take... I'm missing it dearly, but the cost to replace it isn't even a thought right now!  So I will try and keep up with life and project life with my Nikon point and shoot that I got in 06 before our NYC trip.

We came home to find this sweet arrangement on our front porch!

Since the wedding I've been trying to get back into the swing of things at home.  With kids doctor appointments, breakfast with friends and some shopping with my sister to fill some of my days, I've also been getting back to reading more.  

My house is being over run with my book collection and while I plan to still purchase the occasional hard bound book I really want some type of electronic reader and I'm still debating between the kindle and ipad.  The kindle I can do right now, the ipad I still need to save for.   The kindle lets you highlight words and look them up and add your own text, but doesn't have a light and I read a lot at night.  The ipad is backlit, can get the same books as kindle and does more than just store books, so that debate still continues....

As for ending the month of July, I hurt my back after lifting a case of water and thought I'd be done running for July, however today I ran 6 miles today which took my miles to 506 in 7 months!

So now I'll go back to missing my camera and stalking the mailbox as I await the verdict on what seems to be the problem and how long till it will be fixed

Mother's day...

Had such a wonderful weekend and the best Mother's Day!

The morning started early with notes from each of the kids, a card and flowers for me and both the grandmas...

 

 then it was off to breakfast at Yours truly

after breakfast we parted ways with the grandmas and headed downtown to visit the Rock and Roll hall of fame!  Which we loved!

 

then it was off to the Indians game!  Where we got to watch the game from a suite...

 and eat yummy desserts!

and hang out in this warm room while watching the Indians WIN one!

We all got fuzzy warm slippers when we entered the stadium

and I got a Brighton charm bracelet which I absolutely love!  

The sun was shining and I got to spend the day with my family, what more could any mother want?

Another week just flew by!

Time just seems to fly by anymore!  On Sunday we went and moved most of Chels things out of her dorm but she still stayed for a few more days for another final.

On Monday I got to chat with a fellow scrapper Brandy!  We did a video chat and it was a blast! She is so sweet and adorable and made the cutest album that I need to get for our camping season this year!

Tuesday flew by with Chelsea arriving home late in the afternoon, at least college is out, and what a great year it has been for Chelsea!  While we are still awaiting all her grades to be posted it was definitely a year to be proud of!

 Wednesday Deb, Chels and I  did all kinds of errands!  Well I guess Archiver's really couldn't be considered an errand but we went there too!  We also stopped and picked up our tickets for the Healthy Women's Expo and dinner with Ali Vincent (the first female biggest loser winner!)  We can't wait!

 Thursday I went to lunch with my mom, Kim and my sister Deb to celebrate my mom's birthday.  Then my mom and I headed out to Audrey's Attic and The Smuckers store.... can you say cute!

   

As for today.... Friday!  Another day with girlfriends!