It Happened Again

Hubs got called in for an emergency appointment today. So, I tagged along and read my kindle. A woman showed up (the patient) as well as her three sons - it was a snow day.

Near the end of the appointment, I hear the lady in the chair say something along these lines:

I can't wait to tell my boys that it is your wife with you. When my 8th grade son saw her, he told me to find out if she was your daughter, what school she attends, and to get her phone number. They were so excited when they saw her.


I could tell Hubs was speechless. He then responded, Well, you can tell them she is already taken.


And she did. As any mother of high-school boys would, she embarrassed the poor boys by telling them right in front of Hubs. I can just see their mortified looks as they found out not only that I was a wife, but that I was 26, instead of 14!

I always think this will stop happening to me, but it doesn't. As long as people think I am 38 when I am 50, I'll take it!

Worth the wait

I'm in shock. It has been over 8 months since I have bought a pair of shoes. Not even one pair of flip flops. What has Kansas done to me!!!!

But this weekend I saw the cutest patent-leather, sunshine-yellow flats. They were gorgeous. They called my name. They were on sale (70% off). But they were a half-size too big. Not to worry, they had a pair in navy and red in my size.

I didn't buy them.

Two days later, I was back in the big city and I stopped to see them again. I tried them on, walked around. Thought about it. Thought about it some more.

I didn't buy them.

This morning, I had an itch to see them again. So, I got online and looked them up. They had gone on sale even more - an extra 30% off - making them 80% off of the original price! So, I went to our local, small Dillards and they had one pair in a size 6 and they are bright red. I bought them for $14. Hey, that is even cheaper than Target shoes!

Aren't they gorgeous? They were totally worth waiting 5 days for the better price.

Now I am just debating over whether I should go back and buy the brown flats that were also on sale, not as cheap. Or maybe, I should order a couple of pairs online...

I have awakened the shoe monster within!

Splurge

What do you splurge on?

Is it a pair of shoes that aren't on sale? Or, how about that top that is on sale? Or, a latte once a week? Or do you wait and splurge on vacation by going to a nice restaurant or staying at a nice hotel?

It's fun to splurge every once in a while. If you splurge all the time, it isn't as exciting. I splurge on shoes that are on sale, but that I don't need. I splurge on those little bitty 7.5 ounce cans of coke zero. I splurge on office supplies - those bright colored post-its and fun pens. I will splurge for a Bogey's shake this afternoon if you'll meet me there. I splurge on vacation - isn't that what vacation is for?

So, where do you give in and splurge?

The Word

Hubs and I feel utterly and completely blessed to sit under biblical teaching week after week. Finding a church that teaches the Word seems to be a challenge these days. Oh, there are churches that teach lessons from the Bible, but it must go further than that.

I have thought about posting about what we learn on Sunday mornings, but I never do. Mainly because I know I can't replicate what was said and how it was said. Instead, I would rather you listen to them if you want by clicking here (may I suggest "Serious and Sound: The Word of God").

I think what we love about our church is the incredibly high view of God and the dependence on the Word of God. Whenever a decision is made or a question is asked, repeatedly our pastors turn to the Word of God and what it says. The authority of our lives and of our churches must be the Bible. Our church teaches us that.

I had to ask myself recently, What kind of passion do I have for the Word of God? It's not just a book. It's not even just a study. It is not even just a manual. It contains the Words of Life. It contains God's thoughts to us.

In that case, it should be the most precious thing in the world to me.

So the question today is not, Do you have a Bible? Anymore, most people in the United States do. The question is, Do I have the Bible in me?

A Bible in the car cannot keep me from sinning. A Bible on the coffee table cannot change my actions or how I think. A Bible, even if it is open and sitting on our desk, cannot change our lives. The Bible treasured in our hearts gives us counsel. It prevents wrong thinking. It leads our life. It relieves temptation. It encourages and strengthens us. And it can only be treasured if it is inside my heart and my mind.

If it does all of those things, why would I look anywhere else for answers, peace, or life? It's all right in front of me.

Week One

Week One
Miles: 11.5

General thoughts:
Week one was what you could call, a building week. My body went from not running ever, to running. It really was just a week to get used to the routine and the exercise because week two will be very similar.

I thought this week would have been harder. Maybe, like on The Biggest Loser, week two is the hardest.

Goals for next week:
I really need to make sure I eat and drink more before the longer run on Monday. Although I may have been extra tired due to the wind, I started getting weak towards the end and I know that I should have ate a bigger lunch and drank at least a glass of water during the day. So far, I still have not drank any water.

Other:
The long run today, pardon my language, was poopy. The wind was coming from every direction and it was gusting. There were moments I was running in place, I am sure of it.

The average temperature has been 32 degrees during my runs. Today I drove to Wichita to visit the one running store there is around here and bought some warm running pants. I had been wearing Hubs's pants and loved them. Since Hubs would like to have his pants back, and since I would like to run in the daylight and not look like I am running in my Hubs's pants, I am happy to now have a pair of my own.

When I told my brother I was running today even though it was windy and cold, he said I am officially a runner. Which is translated, "I am officially crazy!"

Improvements

This month has seen some improvements in our house.

Improvement #1. For the past 7 months, this has bothered me:

Many things are wrong. The TV stand. The accumulation of cords visible to the world. The entire blah-ness of the corner. Closer up:

Every time I cleaned (notice the dust rag), I realized something needed to be done. So in one of my organizational trips to the store, I bought a cheap shelving system to create a less-claustrophobic space and to help organize some other randoms that were lying around the house.

Though not a perfect fix, a definite improvement to the use of this space.

Improvement #2. For three-and-a-half years we have had this TV.

Oh wait until you see the side view:

Wood panelling baby. I have no doubts that this was from the 1980s, but it was free and it was larger than the TV I had at the time. It has been perfect for us, but for about a year we have been talking about making the jump to a 21st-century TV. And, we did.

Our new toy should last us for years and we are still marveling over the picture quality. I mean, really anything would have been better than what we had, but this is amazing. Come on over anytime! And, now we have a TV in the guest room...visitors are welcome anytime!

I can think of many other improvements we could make. Living room furniture. Kitchen table. A house that we own. But for now, I am enjoying these small things that have made a big difference.

Nicknames

Ya'll crack me up. On the posts where I think I will get tons of comments (by tons, I mean like 3), I get one or none. On the dumb posts that I put no effort into, I get comments.

While we are on the topic of comments, is anyone out there? I don't hear you because comments have been scarce. You must have forgotten how much I love to read your comments; how giddy I get when I see that I have some. Consider this a reminder.

Technically, I do know that you are still reading. For my sanity, I had to install that wonderful little site meter at the bottom of my page. It makes me feel loved, especially by that person in Switzerland who stumbled on my page a stayed for a whole minute and 15 seconds!

Feeling loved brings me to the point of the post - nicknames.

I love nicknames or shortened names. I love them because it usually means that the person calling you by your nickname knows you well enough to do so. It means that they are comfortable shortening your name and I think it is an act of endearment. And it isn't even that they use the name all the time; but when they do, its a reminder of that relationship.

For example, I can think of only a handful of people that shorten my name to Feath. My mom. My bf/aunt Ruth. My boss/uncle. And my other aunt. There might be a few more, but those come to mind immediately.   These people are super close to me and I love that they shorten my name at random times.

I rarely hear Hubs call me Feather. He has other names he uses - all endearing - and that I respond to. I love that he is comfortable enough to not use my formal name all the time. In turn, I rarely use Hubs's full name.

When I think about my closest friends now or in the past, I have always shortened their name at times.

So, whenever I think of children's name that we might use in the future, I always think about what I would shorten them to. I want them to feel loved in the same way I do when someone uses my nickname(s). I want them to feel comfortable and relaxed the way I do when someone says, "Feath."

So, what is your take on shortened names/nicknames?

I said I'd never do this

It was cold and I was stiff. I would have rather been in my warm bed. As I looked around me, only one thought came to mind. I voiced it to Hubs, "I don't understand why this many people would get up this early when it's this cold to run that far."

We were at the Lincoln marathon. Hubs was running the half and I was there to support by grabbing Starbucks and then biking around to various mapped out spots to cheer him on. People looked happy and excited. I didn't see anyone dreading the fact that they were about to run for about 2 hours (at least). I didn't see anyone complaining that their fingers were about to fall off. The excitement made me wish I was a runner - but never enough to do this.

In fact, I hadn't really ever run. I jogged every once in a great while, but really I was pretty out-of-shape at this point in my life. I would come to realize that all the more when I biked around following Hubs.

I had no desire to run that far.

Even as I began to run, and began to enjoy the exercise; I still had no desire to run that far.

But, I am a woman who needs goals and a schedule. In my physical life and in my spiritual life (hence 90 days thru the Bible). Without them life gets crazy, I forget things, and I'm generally unhappy. For that reason (and a few others), I have decided to run a half-marathon.

Last night Hubs asked, "So, how serious are you about running this?" I answered, "On a 10 scale, a 9."

I'm still scared that on a snowy day I won't get up and run. I'm still scared when I think of running so far when I've only gone 5 miles before. I'm still scared that I will chicken out.

But today, I am declaring that I am training for this half-marathon taking place on April 25. I have at least one other friend who is running it, and she has a baby under 1 year old. If she can do it, I can. I also know that my parents - who are turning 50 this year - are running a half-marathon in March. If they can do it, I know that I can.

And since I have now told you, I know that I am committing myself to this. I know that this will give me another topic to blog about, which motivates me. And I am excited, and scared, about this new challenge.

I found it humorous to see this quote in my inbox today:
Consistency requires discipline. Force yourself out the door.


And that's just what I'll be doing for the next 12 weeks.

Vomit, Snot, and Drool

Since I haven't posted for a week - gasp - I thought a great topic for my return would be about vomit, snot, and drool.

I vomitted yesterday. It was as gross as I remembered it; since I hadn't made that sort of trip to the toilet in over 5 years, I was hoping that maybe I would never have to experience that again. Don't worry. I am not going to describe it with any further details.

I remember having to clean up some of my brother's vomit once, though. And ya know, it didn't bother me too much. It was gross, yes. But it did not even produce the gag reflex.

Hubs experienced drool for the first time a few years ago when we visited our friends and their twin baby boys. Not only had Hubs never seen drool in mass quantities, but he had also never felt it on his skin. Drool doesn't seem to gross me out that much. Good thing. We have a dog who drools regularly at 8am and 6pm.

Now snot, is a totally different ball game. I. cannot. stand. snot. Especially the thick, green, gooey mucous. Thinking about it makes me gag. Seeing it makes me cringe and gag. And what's worse is when you wipe a kid's nose and the snot creates this long stringy glob from the kleenex to the nose. Please hold while I gag. This is going to be a major hurdle when I have children and they cannot yet care for their own noses. You might be saying, "oh you'll get used to it feather," but I don't think you grasp the magnitude of how this grosses me out. Even when a person, ya know, sniffs up their snot because they don't want to blow it out all the time. That, also, grosses me out. Especially when I can hear that the snot is at that space between the throat and the nose because now the person has to choose whether to swallow it (I'm about to dry heave) or blow it.

Please say you know what I mean.

I doubt I will ever get over this aversion to snot, but if I am watching your children or if I am caring for my own, I know I will buck-it-up and wipe the snot!

Feeling naked at the doctor

The doctor I dislike the least is the eye doctor. I would rather go to the eye doctor than any other doctor (okay, except for Hubs). This seems odd considering they get closest to my face and thus can smell my breath and see the imperfections in my skin that I attempt to hide. This also seems odd since they blow puffs of air in my eyes, which I dislike. But the main reason it seems odd, is the extreme vulnerability I feel for 90% of the appointment.

As a contact lens wearer, they make me take our my lenses shortly after arriving. Which means for most of the appointment, I can see no faces, I can read nothing, and I can distinguish only large, familiar objects.

I feel naked without my contacts. Therefore, I feel extremely vulnerable.

I find it is hard to have conversations when I can't see faces. Where should I look? Am I looking at their nose? Their lips? Their chin? I have no clue.

Today, I made it safely into the exam room without feeling too awkward, and then someone walked in to talk to me.

Please ears, work hard for me to distinguish who this is. The man stands about 15 feet away from me and begins friendly conversation. To my relief, he had seen me at Starbucks that morning and immediately I knew it was the other doctor (the one I was not seeing) talking to me. I also remembered that I went to school with his son, which had to be why he recognized me.

(By the way, I seem to feel like I have changed drastically in my appearance since high school, but people seem to recognize me easily. Maybe I just wish I have changed drastically...)

I notice the blur of magazines in the exam room. Humpf. Like I can actually read them. Really, there was nothing to do for about 10 minutes while I sat in a dark room in partial blindness.

When the doctor did walk in, he could have been a murderer coming to slit my throat. There I was sitting as vulnerable as could be. How would I defend myself? I wouldn't be able to grab anything; I can't see a thing. With the use of my natural eyes, I would never be able to tell a difference.

But, it wasn't a murder; it was my favorite eye doctor in the whole world. Who, by the way, looks older than the last time I saw him 5 years ago (I was able to see him clearly when he put the machine in front of my eyes). After a short exam, he gave me my lenses back, which I frantically put back into my eyes, and I was once again granted the gift of sight.

Back to the beginning

My very first post was about running. Two years ago I started running regularly outside. I was amazed that after about 2 weeks of pain and frustration, I was able to run without stopping and even wanted to push myself faster. Faster than I expected, I went from the slow 9-10 minutepace and was running in the 7:30-9 minute pace.

Since then, I have run off and on, but I have never had to go through that stage again.

The last time I ran was on Thanksgiving Day - 2 weeks after completing P90x. Three point one miles was comfortable and fun. Since that day, workouts have been sporadic and little to no effort has been put into them.

So today, when I saw the temperature was 47 degrees and I saw that my abs are hidden beneath a thick layer of pudge, my thought process went something like this:

1 hour before: I am going to take advantage of this weather and run. I'd really like to enjoy going out for a run again. Maybe I could even run a half marathon...that would be cool. Sorry Ransom, you are not coming.

30 minutes before: I think I will go 2 miles. Who knows maybe even further. I'm so excited that this may just turn out to be a long run.

5 minutes before: The sun is out. I am just going to put on some gloves so my fingers don't get cold. Ransom, don't look at me like that - you aren't going.

30 seconds before: Oh fine. You can come.

1 minute in: Lungs. Hurt. Air. Cold. Mucus. Gross.

3 minutes in: Ransom, GET OVER HERE. My lungs are starting to feel better. Oh, I forgot to turn on my ipod.

5 minutes in: Ransom poops. Great. I'm not carrying that (I proceed to tie it around his collar).

6 minutes in: Oh this feels okay. I wish I wouldn't have brought the dog along. My arm holding the leash is sore.

10 minutes in: Prairie dogs everywhere. Stop running so I can control the regular dog. Wow, I haven't run in a while. Maybe I won't do a half marathon.

20 minutes in: Ransom is never coming with me again. On the plus side, he is panting pretty hard - something he hasn't done since September. Feeling weak. Should have ate before running. Oh I should just walk the rest of the way. No, keep going. No walk. No go.

Home: That felt good. I think I may be able to get back into this.

It wasn't as bad as starting over again; but neither was it easy. Afterwards it just feels so good. And although Ransom is snoring right now; it isn't worth the extra expenditure of energy to take him along everytime. I think I said, "NO" approximately every 10 seconds the entire run.

The Mission, should I choose to accept it...

The mission of today is: clean and organize my mess of a desk. To get me going, I may have to go get a chai tea from Metro Coffee because, in case you didn't know, they have the best chai tea, hands down.

And if that didn't look messy enough, here's another view.

The reward to getting this done, as well as the deadline, is a wedding and fun with friends at 3pm. And oh how I love deadlines and rewards!

I shouldn't have to worry about our dog getting bored. He has become quite the lazy bum, or you could call him and lover of comfort.

Yesterday, our furnace had some trouble keeping the house warm due to the freezing cold temperatures. It was 59 degrees inside; toasty compared to the outside temps and wind chills. So we bought some firewood and have been enjoying the warmth, and the smells, of a wood fire. Since Hubs had the day off, Ransom and he cozied up next to the fire to enjoy some reading.

Weddings

We are going to a wedding this weekend. I haven't been to a wedding in a while, but don't they always make you think about your own wedding?


I think about the things that went wrong not as planned. (That reminds me that I still have more stories to tell.) The things I would have done differently and the things I really liked. Mainly, I think about how much I never want to plan another one again.


This past week, I decided to call my photographer and see if I could buy a disc of my pictures. I received all the proofs in printed form, plus I got a beautiful book of our wedding; but I thought it might be nice to have the pictures on our computer as well. Photographers should keep photos for 3.5 years, right? I wouldn't know. They went out of business.


So, at least my Pop-pop took a few photos of that day that I can still share:

The decorating of the church was quite an ordeal. I have no talent when it comes to coming up with a vision and making it happen. I think after a morning of endless questions such as, "We could do this or this..." and "What do you think?" my family realized that I was lost. Thankfully, my aunt came a few days early and make everything look wonderful.



I really dislike cake. But, I was starved at this point and gulped the entire piece down - frosting and all.



I don't remember there being a toast, but we did the whole cross your arms and drink thing. I forgot to buy some sparkling stuff, so someone filled it with punch and it worked.



This picture always cracks me up. Why nobody took the water bottle away from me, I will never know. I look so happy here, but the minute I got into the limo I bawled the entire way to the hotel. Why? Read this post.

The thought that comes into my head most when I look at these pictures is, "I wish I was still that tan!"

Starbucks girl

The Starbucks people recognize me when I come in. No, I do not go there every day. No, they do not know my order by heart - I mix it up to confuse them. Sometimes I get a non-fat caramel macchiato. Sometimes a non-fat peppermint latte. Sometimes a skinny hazelnut latte. Sometimes a hot tea. Always non-fat. Always no whip. Never anything chocolate - does anyone else dislike their chocolate?

Anyways, that was totally not the point of this post. There is this girl that is usually making the drinks in the morning who is completely familiar to me. I am guessing that I actually went to high school with her, but I have no clue what her name is or if she just has a familiar face.

A normal person probably would have either looked in their old year book or simply asked the girl what her name was. But a) I am not normal and b) my yearbooks are buried underneath other old, meaningless stuff.

Nope. Instead, I just thank her for my drink and wonder each time why she looks so familiar.

Squirrel Funeral

Although it is not often that the murderer goes to the victim's funeral, I do need to say a few words.

I did not know you very long, but I am sure that you were a daring squirrel. You saw me coming, yet you darted out into the street anyway. You raced across and as I saw you run, I knew there would be nothing I could do. I tapped the brakes, but it was too late. I cringed as I heard the thud....nevermind.

Please forgive me, squirrel loved ones. It was a complete accident. However, I do think that Mr. Squirrel is much happier that he doesn't have to live in these cold temperatures anymore.

WAY ahead of schedule

I came up with the perfect idea. Even better, I didn't forget the idea. It was perfect timing too. I could get away for the afternoon with my mom and aunt to shop. I could pick it up without him knowing and wrap it before he saw.

And I did just that. I bought Hubs's birthday present 19 days ahead of schedule. And I was so proud of the idea and the gift. Then began the hard part - keeping it a secret from him for 19 whole days!

I'm not good at keeping secrets from Hubs; I just don't think it is right to keep secrets from each other. And in general, we don't. For some reason, these fun little surprises, however, are really hard for me to keep from Hubs.

So, 2 short hours later I was ready for him to open his gift. Four hours later, I was asking him to guess what it is so he could open it. He's 99% sure he knows what it is and I'm 99% sure he is right.

He won't tell me his guess though because he knows I will just let him have it if he is right.

So, it is still wrapped. Still taking up A LOT of space in our living room (its a big gift). Still driving me crazy to not talk about it. And I still have 15 days of this.

What do you do about spouse gifts? Do you keep them a surprise all the way until the actual day?

There is a lot to be said with buying gifts later rather than early!

Freeze that smile - literally

So, what does your family do when it is 17 degrees outside and the ground is snow covered?

Well, we drive to a park. We get out of our warm vehicle and we trample through the snow. As we walk by a pond, we pass a sign that reads, "Ice is not safe. Staff off." As we near our destination, we hear a voice, "I shouldn't of done that." We see that one of the boys wandered away from the group. He pulls his foot up and we see his sock, dripping wet. He bends down and pulls his shoe from the pond. It's dripping with mud.

We are speechless. We huddle together for warmth.

Wow. That seems like an odd thing to do when it is so cold outside.

Oh just you wait. Then we take our gloves, hats, and yes, our coats off and pile them in the snow. Why? Because we are taking family pictures today. We are taking family pictures outside. In January. Frozen foot and all.

Hubs and I were up first:

After our pictures, we really started to get cold. Fingers started to ache, faces started to freeze. Smiling became an issue. But, we still ended up with a good family picture:

What you don't see is that my future SIL is standing in a snowdrift up to her knees - welcome to the family! Hubs, frozen-foot-boy, and I then ran to the still-warm car to thaw while the to-be-wed couple posed:

In our frozen state, we totally forgot to get pictures of just mom and dad and pictures of just the kids. Really, all we could think about was getting back to the warm vehicle.

I know it sounds a little crazy to do family pictures outside in January; it felt a little crazy, too! But not only did we end up with some great photos, we also have great memories.

You may be old if...

you look at the clock on New Year's Eve and sigh when you realize it is only 10:30pm and you still need to stay awake for another hour and a half.

You know you are old when everyone else in the room has the same reaction!

I did make it until midnight, however, due mostly to friends (and Hubs) that continued to make me laugh.

To start off the new year, Hubs and I are celebrating Christmas! Doesn't Christmas seem like a long time ago already? I can not believe how fast 2009 went; and am anticipating 2010 going even faster.

When we started 2009, I knew what was in store. I knew we would graduate and move. I knew we would take a vacation and have lots of transition.

I can tell you right now as we begin 2010 that I have absolutely no clue what is in store this year. I guess we'll find out.

Happy New Year