Allow the hiccups and move on

Well, I had a few hiccups last week that prevented me from doing as planned but that is life for you. I ran last Thursday with a friend. I had only planned to run 3 miles with the Mach Tenn Running club but my friend wanted to get in 5 miles so I was like sure why not. Turned out to be a good idea but I will get to that in a minute.

I just took it easy on this run because I have been so paranoid that I will get injured. I had a nice easy 5 mile run and was able to carry on a conversation which I normally can't do. Then here is where the hiccup came along.

A couple of years ago, everyone in my family got the flu and both kids had strep throat as well. I was the only one that lucked out and didn't get the flu. However, I did have it when I was pregnant with my daughter. Since then, we have gotten the flu shot and it usually turns into a family affair. The kids will go to the pediatrician's office and get theirs. Then later that afternoon, Brad and I will go to our local pharmacy to get ours.

Later that night, my daughter Peyton had a slight reaction to the shot. She was running a fever and it seemed to take forever for it to come down. Since she was running a fever, I chose against running Saturday just to make sure she wasn't coming down with something. My husband had to work and I didn't want to risk getting other kids sick if she was contagious and not just having a reaction. (My kids usually stay in the nursery at our local rec center when I run if the hubby works.)

Thankfully, she got to feeling better and was fever free for 24 hours so she could go to church. Unfortunately even though she was feeling better, I was unable to run Sunday because Brad had to work Sunday as well. So at this point, I was very thankful I chose to run 5 miles instead of 3 miles to make sure I got a little bit of a long run done.

Since this post is getting long, I will do another one on my two short runs this week and getting everything together for the race. So until next time.

A little can be too much

I am not sure who all reads my blog but for those of you that do. Have you ever just had a day where it seems as though no matter what someone said or did whether it was intentional to be mean or not just bother you? Well today has been that day for me. It seems as though when I get really tired things tend to bother me more and I have definitely not gotten my rest.  Here is a recap of the last few days that I have had.  Keep in mind that I still have to get up between 5:30 and 6 in the morning to take my son to school so there is no sleeping in for me on top of my already busy days I have had this week.

On Wednesdays, I help cook at church for our Wednesday night meal. This particular day my husband had to be at work at 5 so he got up at 4. Usually when he gets up he doesn't wake me when he is getting ready. That definitely wasn't the case for me that morning. So on top if getting up early, I was cutting potatoes to make mashed potatoes and guess what? I almost cut off part of my finger. A friend asked if I wanted to use her ceramic knife and I was like sure. Then all of a sudden she showed me what my face looked like and said that I said I think I just cut the crap out of my finger. I don't even remember saying this so I got so tickled and was laughing until I couldn't breathe. It took a good hour and a half for it to stop bleeding. By the time I went to our Wednesday night class and had choir practice got home, I was up maybe 30 minutes and then was out. Felt like I had only slept maybe 10 minutes but I was out for 2 hours.

I had thought about running yesterday morning but because I didn't fully catch up on my sleep from Wednesday that I could barely walk a straight a line so I thought for my safety and others sanity, I would just do my normal classes.  My son had an eye doctor appointment originally scheduled for Monday but they called Wednesday afternoon to let me know that they had a cancellation and they could see him yesterday afternoon.  So after school off to the eye doctor we go.  I was already exhausted and we still weren't finish with our day.  We had a home group that we started at church last night that we were going to as well.  I am getting sidetracked now.  Back to the doctor appointment.  Turns out that he has to have glasses due to a stigmatism.  Both my husband and I were hoping that neither one of our kids would have to wear glasses but since we both due the odds definitely were not in their favor at all.  I guess the fact that he is excited about wearing glasses makes it a little easier. Oh well, can't get upset because the genes due have a greater pull than you do in this particular case.

Now on to today. I originally planned on running ten miles this morning but I thought that I would just do speedwork and on Sunday get up and run 4 miles before meeting the group and I can get my ten in on Sunday since they are planning on running 6 miles. My speedwork for today didn't go so well. I am not a fond fan of the treadmill. Not even on a really cold day. Staying in one place when running is BORING!!! Then on top of that, going around the track isn't any better. I get dizzy and feel as though I am going to throw up. I have gotten so use to running outside that when I try to run inside it just doesn't turn out well.  I did pretty good but didn't quite get the miles that I wanted to get.  My first mile was a warm up then my second mile was almost a minute improvement from the first one so I was quite pleased with that. 

I am just ready for the race to be here so I looked and we have only 36 days until race day!!!  I enjoy training but I honestly think that I have reached the point that I am just ready for race day to come.  I love the feeling that I get right before a race and I am looking forward to seeing what my results are going to be.  I have a feeling that I am going to PR on this race and just anxious to see how much compared to last year.  I have put in quite a bit of hard work with my training.  There have been days that I don't want to train like today but I still get out there and do something instead of doing other things with my time when in the end, I would just beat myself up over not running at all. A little bit is better than nothing at all right?  You also have to do your homework in running and that is training.  Like I have said before, there are very few people that can run long distances without really training. I currently only know one and she ran a half when she was 5 months pregnant without any training!!!  But for me that is not an option so I work hard week after week and month after month only to prepare for a race that I hope I will only be out there within my goal time that I have set for that particular race.  I am too determined not to train and I am afraid that if I don't, I will be injured and then I won't be able to run.  That would not be good for my sanity!!!

So until next time.

Anniversary Date

On Wednesday, my husband and I celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary.  It sure does seem as though time has flown by way too fast.  We have two beautiful children now and are as busy as ever.  Since our anniversary fell on a weekend, we chose to go out and celebrate our anniversary this weekend.  I barely even saw him on our actual anniversary. He is working days so I didn't seem all day because he was at work.  I have volunteered to help cook Wednesday night meals at our church, went to our class after supper and attended choir practice.  So needless to say, we didn't spend that much time together.

Here comes Friday.  We dropped the kids off at Granny and Grandpa's house and headed off to Carrabba's.  I love this restaurant but since it is a little on the pricey side and we have to drive a little over 30 minutes, we only go for special occasions.  Either Valentine's Day or Anniversary dates.  We did call a ahead seating since we couldn't get up there till after 7 that evening.  I am glad that we did.  We got there and I am not sure how long the normal wait was but we only had to wait maybe about 15 to 20 minutes tops. 

We sit down and order our meal.  I normally always get the steak.  Of course, that is what I got this time.  When our meal was brought to our table, I cut into my steak and it was over cooked.  No big deal just sent it back to be recooked how I ordered.  I was in no way upset that it was cooked wrong.  When you are cooking for over 100 people a night, it is bound to happen at least once or twice.  Not long after I sent my steak back to be recooked the kitchen manager came to our table and apologized for my steak not being cooked properly.  Like I said before, it wasn't a big deal and I told him that.  He even offered to recook my husband's food so it would be hot when mine was finished.  Brad declined the offer because it really wasn't necessary.  It wouldn't take that long for my steak to be finished but it was nice for him to offer.

The manager was the one that brought my steak out to me once it was finished for the second time and it was perfect then.  He said that thanks for being so understanding and apologized once again.  When he left, I was more in shock over the fact that he was surprised I wasn't upset that it wasn't cooked the way that I ordered it.  Things happen and getting upset over it will definitely not help the situation.  I wasn't expected him to take my steak off our ticket but he did.  I have never been disappointed in service from here.  If you haven't been before, you should definitely try it.  Especially the garlic mashed potatoes.  Oh my gosh!!!  Once you try them, you will know what I am talking about.

Since we rarely go to the movies, we decided we would go see one.  We decided on Elysium with Matt Damon in it.  I didn't see the preview prior to going to see the movie so to be honest, I was a little skeptical about watching it.  Brad was really wanting to see it so that is what we watched.  I am glad that we did because I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.  It was such a good movie minus all the cussing.  I couldn't tell you how many times they used the f word and there was a few times that used the Lord's name in vain.  That I was not happy with but other than those few things, it was a great movie. 

It was basically a futuristic movie about how the rich felt as though they were better than everyone else.  When things went south on Earth, they were able to afford to build an escape in outer space and you basically had to be rich or you were considered scum to them.  They didn't even want you to breathe on them.  The people that were left on Earth were trying to once again bring everyone together and everyone be treated equal.  If you have a chance, you should go see it.  Other than the cussing, it was a really good movie.

Even though I really enjoyed spending time with my husband, I really missed my kiddos so when time came to get them.  I was more than ready.

Just to get away

During the summer, I enrolled my kids in the summer reading program so that it would help Bradley with his reading and get Peyton use to listening to people read her books. Well at the end of the summer, they threw a big party.

Depending on how many books you read depended on how many times you could be entered to win the weekly drawing they held or the grand prize drawing at the party. Most of the items were something that they would lose interest in quickly so they were entered each time for the grand prize drawing. Peyton won tickets to Ripley's Aquarium. So we decided that the weekend school started that we would go and have a weekend get away.

Brad and I kept it a secret from the kids a week and left when we picked Bradley up from school. Once we got there, I think the kids were more excited about the hotel room than they were anything else. They took turns jumping from one bed to the other. Well Peyton did her best. It was so cute to watch them have fun and enjoy being around family. We had to be checked out of the hotel by 11 so we went and got breakfast at the restaurant that Brad and I ate at the first morning that we were officially husband and wife. Then we were off.

Below is a picture of Brad and the kids playing at the river that is behind the hotel.  Brad was trying to teach the kids how to skip rocks.  I can't do that at all.  I tried and it wind up sinking first hit.  Peyton had no interest in it and would rather find a "baby" rock and bury it.  Everything to her is a baby.  It doesn't matter how big or small it is.

 

Up until now, the kids still had no idea where we were going and what we doing. They asked what seemed like a 1,000 questions about what we doing, if we were there yet and on and on. It was great to see their faces when wr told them while we waited to get our tickets. Now even though Bradley didn't win anything, we still played it out like he did. He read and listened to 70 books this summer and she won 7 sets of tickets. What I mean there is that on each gift cerificate it said that you received 2 free one-time admission. Yeah and there was 7 of those babies in the envelope. A total of 14 tickets!!! We can go 2 more times and either my parents or Brad's parents could go and it will be all free.

It was nice to be able to go through the aquarium without having to worry about the time. Thinking that we have somewhere we have to be. I do have to say that it was nice to not feel rushed at all. We started to go through the aquarium and I had my phone to take some pics to upload on Facebook and my camera for just "us" photos. I started to take pictures and I noticed that my good ole low battery sign was flashing at me. I was like are you serious?  So Brad went to the gift shop to get more batteries and we were off once again.

It was hard to get a picture of the kids at each exhibit considering that they were so excited that I was lucky if they stayed longer than 10 seconds at any given exhibit. Then we went under the shark tank.

It was funny because earlier they were asking how the people got down there so it made it even better when we did get there. I think Bradley's favorite part was the moving belt that you can chose to stand on. Halfway through he actually sat down and waited. Just looking up at the sharks.

Peyton was a little freaked out by it. I guess she thought that one was going to get her. Speaking of that, there was a sign on the tank saying that there was a shark attk almost three years ago. Talk about making you have warm fuzzies. I was just glad that sign was a little more than halfway through.

 

 I haven't been since Brad and I got married so it was nice to go again. Below is a picture of one of the sharks. There is also a pic of a shark and to be honest not sure what other kind of fish.

 

 

After this, we were just in time to see a diver feed the stingrays.  That was pretty cool to watch.  Learned that the bigger stingrays are more aggressive so they had to be feed differently than the little ones.  When they finished feeding the stingrays, they asked for a couple volunteers and picked a couple from the audience.  The speaker asked the lady to bang on the glass.  While she did this, her boyfriend got down on one knee and the diver asked was holding a sign asking her to marry him. It was so sweet.  I was able to snap a picture.

 

 

I have really enjoyed taking this time to spend with the kids and it just be us. Sometimes it is just nice to get away.  Until next time.

My Family

I originally created this blog to discuss the ups and downs that I have encountered while training for my upcoming half marathons for this year.  I have decided to have a record of things that my family has done and the funny sayings that my kids have said. I hope that you will  enjoy reading these as well.

My name is Melody and I have been married to my husband Brad for 9 years in just a couple of weeks.  We have a son, Bradley, who is six and a daughter, Peyton, who is 3.  Bradley is getting ready to start school this coming up Tuesday.  He is beyond excited!!  All I have heard is when is school starting?  He is a little nervous this year.  Although he is going into the 1st grade, he will be starting a new school.

Peyton on the other hand is not very happy.  She really wants to start school but she is not quite hold enough.  We had her screened to see if we could get her into preschool.  Even though she is only 3, we thought we could give a shot and see if we could get her into the preschool in the school system.  She did really well with her tests but since she is only 3, she didn't get in.  That is alright.  Like I said, it was worth a shot to try.

This week has been a hectic one.  Peyton has been sick and had to go to the doctor twice this week.  She has been running a fever off and on since Sunday night.  I thought that she was cutting her other two year molars that have yet to come in but when she was going on 3 days of a fever and it just kept getting higher and higher I called the doctor.  She couldn't find anything wrong and even sent her to have chest x rays and blood work done. 

It is funny now but not at the time.  After she had her blood drawn, she was crying down the hall saying that she wanted her blood back.  It was so cute.  About a couple of hours after the tests, her doctor called.  Everything was fine and if she didn't get to feeling better and her fever was still high she needed to come back on Friday.  We thought she was doing better then her fever spiked again last night. 

We called the doc and got her in this morning.  Turns out she has a double ear infection and had to be put on antibiotics.  We are just happy that we know what was wrong with her.  It was so pitiful to see her laying there in obvious pain and there was nothing that you could do about it.  I didn't know what to do but give her some meds to help bring the fever down and turns out, help with the pain that she was feeling from the ear infections.  I am just glad she is feeling better.  I am sure that I will have more to say next time.  So until then.