Just Writing

August 5, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Sometimes it’s good for me to go back and read the archives of my blog.

I did that recently.

It brought a lot of emotions…joy, amazement, gratitude…to name a few. Oh, and there was a teeny bit of embarrassment in there, too. ‘Cause there are always those days when I share too much. Oh, well. :)

But for the most part, it was good. :)

And I also came across a few blog prompts that I’d do again.

So tonight is going to be one of those nights…maybe tomorrow I’ll start heart-spilling. There’s a lot of that to be done in the next few days, I think.

But more on THAT…later.

Here’s the random of a Sunday. And of life.

Yesterday…Oh, how I love Saturdays. I woke up in a beautiful hotel because Tobin and I went away for a night to celebrate our 10th. It was nice. We watched some Olympics on one of the two big-screen TV’s in our room (crazy!) and then went out for coffee before going home and picking up Mae, who stayed with our sweet friends across the street. The rest of Saturday was just…the three of us. It was good. Normal. Well, as normal as we are. :)

Today…Not my favorite day, but I suppose those happen sometimes, huh? I just felt like I got hit from all angles…physically (bad headache), emotionally, mentally, and even spiritually. Sleep will be good. It always helps. :)

Tomorrow…A new day, for which I am very thankful. I’m hoping (if the headache is gone) to get up and run the 5k route for Saturday before Tobin goes to work. (I’m not actually running the race on Saturday…too busy with other 5k details, so I’m going to run it a couple times this week and try to break my goal of under 27 minutes. I’m c.l.o.s.e.)

Next week…I’m guessing is potentially the week my gall bladder will come out. (Or the week after…) I’m still processing how I feel about the whole thing. I think maybe I’m NOT processing it…just stuffing all of that deep down and hoping that it won’t hit me too hard. It’s just surgery, right?

Next month…My biggest goal for fall is to work my way up to 13.1 miles. I’m not planning an official half marathon this year, but I want to see if I can run the distance. It’s going to require some major discipline and a lot of early mornings. I can do it. At least I tell myself I can. :)

Next year…About this time, I hope to be training for the Chicago. I even have a training partner already…she’s running it this year, so it will be nice to have her expert advice. Hopefully my hip and knee decide to cooperate with my plan. :)

Somehow this turned into a post about running.

Life is full of other things, too…and it’s good. Looking for the JOY in each day and trusting that my Father is always good.

More tomorrow.

Love you all.

Sig

Filed Under: blessings, just life, random, where I am

10 Years!

August 3, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

From this…

…to this…

…I. LOVE. IT.

Special thanks to our friend, Kelly, at Stick People Productions for the awesome family photos! :)

Sig

Filed Under: adventures, being mommy, blessings, family, just life, Maelie, marriage, remembering, Tobin, where I am

Olympics, Surgery, and Coffee (of course!)

August 1, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

So if we’re being honest, it’s hard for me to think about anything but the Olympics right now.

Maybe because it’s going in the background? As it always is every night from about 8-11.

We might be slightly pathetic.

Or, possibly, extremely devoted fans.

Take your pick. :)

The Fab 5 was awesome last night. That was fun to watch…crazy to think that it’s been sixteen years since the U.S. women took the gold. That was almost half my life ago, and I remember that night in ’96 very well. Time flies.

More like travels on a high-speed jet.

So it’s been awhile since we’ve just chatted, and words just come easier when there’s caffeine involved. :)

Especially since it was an early-ish morning.

Dr. appointment.

7:30 a.m.

I didn’t even know that kind of thing existed.

Sorta like 7:00 a.m. college classes…they only existed at my college. True. (I think.)

Anyway, my new doctor confirmed what I almost would have bet the farm on…

Buh-Bye, Gall Bladder. It’s been fun.

Or not.

I meet with a surgeon on Tuesday, and hopefully it will all be over with soon after that. Not a fan of hospitals or anesthetic or horribly revealing hospital gowns…so you kinda get where I’m goin’ with this. It IS interesting how I remember that pain from the other night, though…and I remember it enough to be willing to go through with this. I’m even a little more willing after this afternoon when I got to experience it all over again…thankfully for a much shorter time period. But still.

Ok, way too much info for you all, I’m sure.

Whoever knew a (just about completely useless) random organ in the body could cause so much trouble?

That might be one of the first things I ask God when I get to heaven. :)

So Mae’s vocabulary has been completely exploding lately. She’s been pretty good with complete sentences for awhile, but she threw us a shocker the other night. She was watching an episode of Strawberry Shortcake (yes, yes, judge me now…) on Netflix, and one of the characters said, We have to go to rehearsal. She looked at Tobin and said, Daddy, they have to go practice!

Say, WHAT?!?!

So not only do I have a girl I can chit-chat with all day long, I now have a walking, two-year old thesaurus.

Wowsers.

I have to admit that watching her grow and learn and become the coolest little girl is totally FUN. Best time in my life ever.

She is just such JOY, and my life is blessed beyond measure simply because I have the privilege to call her my daughter.

And, speaking of that daughter, I need to head upstairs, turn off the lights, and tell her it’s time for bed.

She stayed up, with the light on, reading.

:)

G’nite, friends. Thanks for being here. :)

Sig

Filed Under: being mommy, blessings, coffee, Maelie, random, where I am

Little Blessings (Pt. 45)

July 31, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

:) Olympics!!! Love me some gymnastics. (And swimming and diving and water polo and volleyball and…)

:) Almond Joy coffee creamer. Mmmmm…

:) Complete-sentence conversations with my girl.

:) Coffee drinking and playtime in the backyard in the morning.

:) Time (and motivation) to work on my book. Thinkin’ there was some progress yesterday!

:) A stinkin’ scary moment that turned into something we could laugh about a few minutes later.

:) Truth spoken in love.

:) Guitar-strumming and tune-belting.

:) Bedtime giggles, songs, and prayers with my favorite little girl. Hearing her say, Amen, is the best part.

:) Ten years on Friday.

Sig

Filed Under: blessings, just life, Maelie, marriage, Tobin, where I am

Monday Musings

July 30, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Which could be conveniently renamed Monday Confessions of a Stay-at-Home-Momma…

So, though I’m trying to lessen the frequency that she eats these, when I give Mae fruit snacks, I sometimes steal the orange ones out first. Really, I’m a sucker for anything citrus…the lime and lemon are equally yummy. I know, I know…

My poor child is going to grow up never knowing that there are actually citrus flavored fruit snacks in those packets. Parenting fail?

I also almost always sneak a drink of her chocolate milk before I give it to her in the morning.

Yeah, yeah…maybe I just need to adopt the diet of a toddler. :)

While we’re talkin’ about food, I might as well confess that if I open a bag of these, they’ll be gone. It’s the honey mustard…totally addicting. I can seriously eat an entire bag in one sitting. Not so good. And, yet, SOOOOO good.

Yeah…and on Amazon? You can order them by the box. Holy cow, I should NEVER do that!

I’m a blog stalker. Sorta. I have a few I regularly read and love, but I need to be better about leaving comments. One of the blog writers I read alerted me to this site. Goodness, I’m not so sure this was a good discovery. (I already sent Tobin an idea for Christmas. Hey, it IS July. ;))

So today I was actually feeling somewhat better…enough to play outside with Mae for about an hour this morning and keep up with her for the rest of the day. I even did half of a workout tonight, though I didn’t put the effort into it that I usually do…I’m just pretty wiped out.

And while I could keep confessing, I’ll just end it with this one.

I have total Olympic Fever. I can’t get enough.

Swimming is on…and totally calling my name. :)

G’nite!

Sig

Filed Under: being mommy, just life, Maelie, random, where I am

That Post Where I Talk About My Gall Bladder

July 28, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Seriously.

This time, I’m not kidding.

Which is kind of a bummer.

So it’s been a strange couple of days.

I think I’m usually pretty good at rolling with the punches…I’ve learned that in the multiple, multiple times that life has thrown me curve balls. You just kinda go with it.

And yesterday was no exception.

For the past few weeks, I’ve felt a little off. I had some issues I wasn’t particularly worried about but were still present. (And annoying.) Nausea (mostly), some abdominal/back pain. A couple times it was bad, but you know…it went away.

Thursday was especially rough. It was really hard to smile and be myself when I just felt like crap. Which was pretty much an accurate description. That night I came home from Praise Team practice around 9:15, and I was hungry. That’s not abnormal…I kinda like to eat. Hence the reason I run. 😉 I had a cookie, a glass of milk, took a few minutes to blog, and went to bed.

I had kind of an ache in my chest and was hoping I’d sleep it off. I fell asleep for a few but woke up around 11:30 with the most pain I’d ever felt in my life…back/chest pain that brought me to tears. I tossed and turned for awhile before waking up Tobin. I got up, walked around, and at one point decided to lie down on the floor (THAT actually helped) before going downstairs and lying on the couch. Around 2:30 the pain subsided somewhat, and I was able to fall asleep.

I woke up around 6:30 feeling…ok. Definitely not great and still in pain, but I wasn’t sure what to do. I had some things I needed to get done, and being a very I-don’t-go-to-the-doctor-unless-it’s-absolutely-necessary person, I had a hard time choosing that over what I felt was more important. But after several minutes of going back and forth with Tobin in an, I-don’t-know-what-we-should-do-do-you conversation, we decided I needed to get checked out. I made a phone call, got Maelie up, and we took her to a sitter before heading to the hospital, (in)conveniently located way too far from our house.

Thankfully the ER was empty…I do not handle places like that well. I also learned that when you walk into one and say the words, chest pain, almost immediately you are hooked up to an EKG machine. That was a first for me. Thankfully, that came back clear.

But I still spent several hours in a room in the ER in one of those horrible, flash-the-world hospital gowns, hooked up to a heart monitor and I.V. while the doctor asked me questions, ordered a chest X-ray, asked more questions, and finally ordered an ultrasound to check out my gall bladder and a few other organs, but the gall bladder was the suspect.

And the doctor was right.

A nasty gallstone.

UGH.

It does explain the nausea and pain I’d been experiencing for awhile, though. In all honesty, I was thankful to finally have an answer even if I’m not excited about what that means.

I’ll have a follow-up with my regular doctor this week and then will probably meet with a surgeon.

Really, I’m frustrated, but I’m kind of at the whatever point…let’s just get this taken care of so I can get on with life. (And feel better.)

It makes days like today hard when I carry Maelie up the stairs and am so exhausted I just want to crawl into bed. When the sun is shining and it’s a gorgeous day and I’d rather lie on the couch. Granted, the Olympics ARE on. Thankful for that. :)

Funny story from when I was in the ER yesterday. I seriously couldn’t stop thinking about the opening ceremonies and how much I wanted to watch them NOT in a hospital room. I guess I should have been more worried about my health, but admittedly, that thought raced back and forth through my brain the entire time. :)

I am thankful, though.

Very.

The real reason we went in is because I was worried it was my heart. I kept telling myself, There’s no way it can be your heart, Mel. You’re healthy, in shape…you’re fine. But the pain I was feeling suggested otherwise, and I was scared.

If I had heart issues, it would have meant a huge life-change. (There’s definitely a spiritual parallel there…maybe I’ll touch that again another time.) :)

Gall bladder? Definitely inconvenient, but it can be dealt with. I’ll get my energy back. I’ll still be able to run. Chase my daughter. Laugh with her. Share ice cream sundaes with her. Be my old self. :)

I’d appreciate your prayers over the next couple of weeks…hopefully it’ll only take that long. :)

God is Good.

Sig

Filed Under: adventures, blessings, just life, Maelie, Tobin, where I am

Just a Song

July 26, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Nothing deep. Though there IS some truth buried in this song.

Definitely.

Nothing I’ll be singing at church anytime soon, for sure. :)

Still good.

Just a favorite from my current morning-run playlist.

Don’t laugh. 😉 Just have a listen…it’s one of her best, I think. (And if you haven’t seen the movie, it’s worth your time.)

Sig

Filed Under: just life, music

Little Blessings (Pt. 44)

July 25, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

:) Singing and dancing with my girl.

:) Flip flop shopping. (FYI…should you be a sucker for a good deal, Target has some uber cute ones on clearance right now…)

:) Starbucks gift cards. (Thanks, mom!)

:) A swimming pool in the backyard for those days that teeter around 100. TOO. HOT.

:) Chats with a good friend.

:) Making new friends.

:) This. Hop over and watch my two best friends sing their hearts out. They’re amazing, and I’m not just saying that. Should you want to vote for them, if they win they’ll be singing the National Anthem to open the Iowa State Fair. Awesome. :) (And, you can vote five times a day!)

:) Chocolate peanut butter cupcakes. AND having friends/neighbors willing to take most of them off my hands so I’m not forced to eat them all. :)

:) A good pace during my run this morning.

:) Coffee and some time with my Father this morning. He’s Good.

Sig

Filed Under: blessings, friends, just life, Maelie, where I am

The ABC’s of Mel’s Brain

July 24, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

It’s definitely time for me to sit down and have some quality time with the blog.

It isn’t like I haven’t been here the last few weeks, but I haven’t been here.

I guess life is just like that sometimes.

So…in 26, if-I-make-it-that-long, bullet points…here’s life.

Sorta.

And by the way, I wrote part of this on a Sunday…I think I reference that once or twice. :)

  • Andre is my dog…my nine year-old boy. I love him. He puts a smile on my face even when I don’t feel like smiling.
  • Hearts that break are opportunities for God to do some major healing. That’s what I’ve been learning lately.
  • I love to create. My brain is awesome at dreaming up ideas…the following through is hard. Ish. Really enjoying painting lately and almost ready to pull out the sewing machine and learn how to use it.
  • I still want to learn to play the djembe. Really play it. Thinking about blowing the rest of my birthday money on one since it’s cheaper than a plane ticket to Africa so I can buy one in a market there. :)
  • Epic moments have made up life lately. Nothing huge, just important. I feel like I’m finally comfortable with being who I am…and not caring (as much) what other people think. Took me awhile to even get to that point.
  • F is for big failure. Feeling like that in a lot of ways. A friend said something today about Satan attacking ferociously on Sundays. I have to agree…feeling really down today.
  • Good memories. Really trying to focus on the blessings that God has placed in my life. There are so many…and I’m thankful for each of them.
  • Happiness is this picture I bought for myself a few weeks ago with some of my birthday money. I love it. I can’t think of a better thing to hang in our kitchen on our green wall. :)

  • Ice cream cake. It’s worth turning a year older for…to be sure. A week and some later, we’re still working on it. Which could speak volumes about our self control…or the fact that I sorta forgot it was in the freezer! :)
  • Goofy, but I love toast with jelly. So does Mae.
  • Mae is still talking about chasing kitties on the farm. Golly, I love her…and that she had such a good time there.
  • I am so thankful that I am loved. By friends, by my family, by my Father. So good.
  • Mae lights up my life. Every single day. What a blessing she is.
  • Thankful for a Father who never gives up on me, even on those days when I’m sure everyone else has.
  • I’ve been overtired lately…too many late nights and too much early-morning running. Headed to bed soon, thankfully.
  • Poofy pigtails on my princess of a girl. Her cutest look so far, I think.
  • Been a week full of questions. I’m more convinced than ever that some things, there will be no answers for, until I can ask my Father face to face.
  • Reunions with sweet friends…always fun. Always hard to say goodbye, too. Still worth the hello.
  • I love my Sammy, too…I never thought we’d bring home an Indo souvenir like the one we’ve got living in our house. He’s one-of-a-kind.
  • Sometimes you just gotta cry big, fat tears. Letting them fall helps. And letting my two year-old daughter hug them away teaches the beauty of compassion.
  • Sometimes we just need people who love us unconditionally. Thankful for that this week.
  • I was thinking of learning to play the violin. Just kidding. :)
  • I found this bottle of wine a week or so ago. Seriously. I thought we had topped it with Barefoot wine, but this? Fantastic.

  • X…seriously? Who can come up with anything related to it in daily life? I don’t play the xylophone and I haven’t broken any bones lately, so this one may just have to stay blank.
  • Ever feel like life is a ride on a yoyo?
  • We haven’t been to the zoo yet this summer. We talked about hitting the one in Omaha with some of my family later in August. We’ll see.

If you stuck around long enough to read all of this…thanks.

You’re a blessing, friends. :)

Sig

Filed Under: barefoot, being mommy, blessings, dogs, family, friends, just life, Maelie, random, Tobin, what I'm learning, where I am

Pickle Juice, Anyone?

July 23, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Ok, so pardon me while I get to the point of the title…the long way.

:)

There’s coffee involved tonight, so I guess we can just consider this a coffee date-ish chat. That means I can be as random as I want to be…it’s always fun to see what comes out in these posts.

It is Monday, and considering I was forced to go without blogging for TWO. WHOLE. DAYS…well, I have a mighty mongo amount of words that need to be used up tonight…

Kidding.

Well, maybe.

I just finished my Monday night workout. (Well, I did take time to shower. Gosh that would be gross if I just sat down all sweaty and stinky and started typing.) It was a sparse turnout…it’s July and people are on vacation. It’s summer and people are busy. It’s hot and people don’t feel like it. (I didn’t…I just did it anyway.) Take your pick. :)

But there were a few friends who joined, and it was a decent workout. The first part is just run or walk or whatever, and we were kind of all at different paces tonight. I did three miles of sprints because that’s what I do when I’ve already run once in a day.

So I’m trotting along…kinda bored, but not too bad. (Running is never fun alone without an iPod. Just sayin’. :)) Thinkin’ about how hungry I am…because as of two weeks ago, I DON’T eat dinner before I work out. Really wanting that burger I know is waiting for me at home.

That kind of bored.

And out of nowhere…seriously. I. Want. Pickle. Juice.

You know, the juice that comes in a jar of dill pickle chips? Yeah, that stuff!

I couldn’t believe how utterly AMAZING it sounded. And how strange I’m sounding right now…

I just wanted to drink a glass of it.

Ok, so here’s the thing. I really DO like pickle juice, so it’s not like this craving came out of nowhere. It was just odd to want it so badly during a workout. Yeah.

At least the thought made me smile. :)

And when I came home, I ate my burger (with pickles) and even drank a little of the juice. True. (And it was good, just in case you were wondering. :))

And I might be a little strange for just telling you that story.

So yesterday we stopped in the Dells on the way home from the family reunion. We had lunch with some of the extended family…all fun people. :) It was only the second time I’ve ever been there…kinda sad considering I lived in Wisconsin Rapids for a year and spent two summers working at Camp Fairwood…neither of which are that far away.

However, just driving through the main stretch on a Sunday afternoon made me decide that I don’t so much care if I go back anytime soon. (Other than to go to Noah’s Ark…I’ve always wanted to go there. Kinda hard now with a small child so it may be a while until it happens.)

As Lauren said yesterday, The Dells has two things going for it…Noah’s Ark and saltwater taffy.

I may not have partied it up on the water slides, but we did manage to snag a bag of saltwater taffy before we headed home. So, for the time being, life is complete.

At least until the taffy is gone.

:)

One fabulous discovery we made this weekend was this. (Actually there was another, but that’s another post for another day.)

Truly this thing is the best invention ever. At least for the mom of a two year-old. The. Bucket. Doesn’t. Spill. Genius! Three. Kids. Can. Blow. Bubbles. At. The. Same. Time. More genius! Three. Kids. Can. Blow. Bubbles. Together. WithOUT. Spilling! I think I’ve died and gone to Toddler Toy Heaven. Between this and the other discovery, which we will eventually order from Amazon…I’m a happy momma. Mae’s a happy kiddo.

We’re just all happy. 😀

AND…Target clearanced a lot of the summer toys already. We snagged this and a 100 oz. bottle of bubble solution for under $10. That’s a deal and a good use of some of Mae’s birthday money! :)

Well, it’s late, the coffee mug is empty, and I’ve shared enough random with you all for one night.

Thanks for reading. :)

Sig

Filed Under: being mommy, coffee, family, friends, just life, Maelie, running
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