Day in Photos, pt 6,370

As a reward for reading her entire red folder, Mini decided she’d like to take her friend, affectionately called Jules, on a lunch date and an afternoon at “the jumpy place”.

If you’ll recall from prior blog posts, my experience at the jumpy place isn’t always a happy ending. What with waning pelvic control and a natural birth, it’s just best I leave all the jumping to young children and other women of ability. No need to embarrass myself further. I did mention to the kind staff how amazing it would be if they sold coffee or alcohol, but the guesstimated 12 yr old attendant didn’t crack a smile. He probably hears that sentiment all the time.

fun with chopsticks

As a mom with a twin who gave birth to a single and only child, mini is a social butterfly. However, as the day continued, it seemed she and Jules were growing disgruntled with the other. I know well the feeling. As I always had a built in playmate, alone time was rather rare…which I’ve come to appreciate immensely. I truly believe mini hits points of too much togetherness and may gasp even begin to realize how hard it is to entertain others.

Nonetheless, each girl was a good sport. Probably helps I’m an expert negotiator. Icee’s for everyone!

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I ask you –

What types of rewards do your kids enjoy?

What would your ideal date be? A bookstore and coffee date.

Tell me your guess for what Mini will request when she completes the next folder prior to school end! Probably a pony.

Final Christmas Thoughts

We finally (like it’s not only January) got snow, then the following day I had to take down Christmas decorations. But I was rewarded with nature at its finest – tiny ladybugs everywhere! It certainly wasn’t enough snow to play in; I still have plenty of hope we’ll have another February blizzard like last year.

bare feet

Belated Christmas with mini was a rousing success. We had her requested snack supper and she opened gifts until I couldn’t see the floor for all the wrapping paper, boxes, and tissue. How does one small child have all this stuff? Maybe next year we can do a one gift limit. Somebody tell Santa. I’m still sorting the gigantic plastic tub of gifts she returned with from Tennessee and her dad’s family. It never ends.

Now that I’m thinking about it…the title of this post seems a little dark. I didn’t mean it’s the final Christmas. I meant it’s my final thoughts on Christmas. Since Christmas was held at my house in January. Whatever. You’ll figure it out.

Ladybug friends

As school has gone back into session, the familiar feeling of gotta-do-it-all’s returned. From homework to reading folders to checking out her first library book, the sleepiness of holidays faded into the background. Just where I like it. Even after all these years, I still struggle getting into the holiday spirit and end up sounding like a Scrooge with my final comments…

school routine

I’m really glad it’s over. Now, where’s the spring flowers that bring May showers? Or whatever they say.

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I ask you –

Any final Christmas thoughts?

Did you get snow on Christmas Day?

A report I read stated thousands of people or more will go into debt during the holidays. I just don’t get it.

Hey, Tigger!

“Regret looks back. Fear looks around. Worry looks in. Faith looks up. The will to persevere is often the difference between success and failure.”

January!

“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision is a nightmare! But vision combined with action can change the world.”

Joyce Meyer writes, ‘I used to be a full-time sinner, and once in a while I “accidentally” did something right. But now that I have spent many years developing a deep, personal relationship with God… I still make mistakes, but not nearly as many as I once did, I am not where I need to be, but thank God, I am not where I used to be. I do not do everything right, but I do know that the attitude of my heart is right.’

What’s interesting about the three paragraphs above is this post pertains to…drumroll, please…social media. During the holidays, people (many of whom I consider actual friends) would post things ranging from the incredibly sad (missing a loved one) to the truly joyful (a family dinner with family not seen in a few years) to the downright dramatic (poor, pitiful me, my name is Eyore). Sometimes I find myself scrolling aimlessly, but I take heart in this: I was anti-social media for many years. I’ve learned I can live without it. For many, though, being connected or plugged in is a way of life they may not know a time without. I’m old. The end.

Kidding. I’m not finished here yet.

A few times a year (notably: New Years) I clean out my ‘following’ list to reflect what is important to me. For example, if I’m training or wish I was training, then I follow more running motivation sites. If I’m focusing on what I put into my body, I have more keto lifestyle sites on the home page. Make sense? But it’s easy to get stuck in the rut of wash, rinse, repeat for days, weeks, even months at a time. I’m trying to be more present and focused in what I view on social media in order to be less complacent. More books, less scrolling.

a book a day keeps boredom at bay

In trying to grow a blog and establish a brand, cutting out social media just doesn’t seem possible. And that’s a-okay. But it doesn’t mean I can’t disconnect at times when necessary. With a new year comes new opportunities to reflect inward what really matters to me (and you). Remembering – or being reminded – faith looks up is my cue; lest I become the Eyore.

Run away!

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I ask you –

Do you have a go-to quote?

What is the attitude of your heart?

Tell me how many times you’ve had an Eyore moment! Only a few I can remember – I’m dramatic, but not in the ‘my life is so hard’ way.

Gas Station Guilty Pleasures

Have I ever mentioned my fear of convenience stores? Dumpsters, yes; convenience stores, maybe not. Perhaps I watched too many nightly news broadcasts as a child where so-and-so was killed during an armed robbery at a corner convenience store, blah blah blah. My overworked imagination is a bit much at times. Even for me. Maybe it’s the fact there’s typically so many posters, flyers, window paraphanelia covering every square inch of glass where one would/could see out. Or maybe it’s the one way in, one way out design. It may even be the fact many people pay cash instead of using their debit cards. That makes no sense, Kel. Which is exactly my point. My fear makes zero sense. Nothing bad has ever happened to me inside a convenience store. And I won’t be patronizing any to test my luck.

I have seriously digressed. IF I was to frequent convenience store establishments, my guilty pleasure would be peach rings. Affectionately called “peachies”, I would most likely purchase them each time. Soft yet chewy and reminiscent of a sweet, summery peach, these sugar-laden treats beg me to sample twenty. On a related note, a whole group of kids played a game at Halloween which consisted of inserting a large popsicle stick (or tongue depressor, if you want to be specific) inside their mouth and seeing how many gummy orange slices each could stack on their stick. Since I did not play, but am a huge kid at heart, I sneakily ate 4 gummy orange slices when the game had commenced. I had forgotten how much I love those things!! Pretty sure my blood sugar went into outer space. But what a way to go!!

Yummy!

You know what else they sell at convenience stores? Lottery tickets. Or as mini calls them – scratcher offers. My parents love receiving lotto tickets. To my knowledge, they’ve never won anything big (unless they kept it to themselves which is exactly what I would do haha) so I guess it’s the possibility of winning a huge payout that keeps people addicted. On the radio show I most often listen to, one of the co-hosts spends upwards of $200 each paycheck buying lottery tickets. I don’t recall if he said he buys the scratch-off kind or plays the actual lottery, but $400/month is still $400/month on gambling. Perhaps since I’ve never been a gambler do I not understand this fascination. To each his own.

this is the only lotto I’m winning

And, on that note, my mother’s birthday is coming soon. Let me find someone to stop at that store on the corner to get her lottery tickets. Because it’s not gonna be me!

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I ask you –

What is your gas station guilty pleasure?

What do you call lottery tickets? I’ve heard the term “scratchers” before.

Name something you are unjustly terrified of.

Day in Photos, pt 9029

Christmas edition!

Mini is with her dad in Tennessee this Christmas so allow me to reminisce and smile through this year’s holiday adventures before she departed.

Obligatory hotel lobby photo! I know last year’s and 2019’s photo are around here somewhere!

Special Santa letter! She was beyond excited when retrieving it from the mailbox.

a tutu a day is the only way

Bet you’ve never seen/heard a girl squeal in joy when getting buttons in her stocking! Mini loves to craft so buttons were on her Christmas wish list. Buttons. Of all things.

oh look, another tutu

Ice skating with Aunt B! My sweet sister was such a trooper to take Mini skating the weekend of my race. She prevented me from breaking anything pre-run, only fell once, and encouraged mini to keep going through the approximately 47 falls of her own! Towards the end of the at least 2 hour icecapades, Mini was bravely traversing the ice alone. Definitely a must do again!

A school trip to the local library for a visit with the Clause’s!

And, finally, a cuddly moment for mini and I. This amazing girl is reading sentences, making friends with everyone, and has the biggest heart! She sings with her whole body and, no matter how big she gets, will always be my snuggle buddy.

a tutu – again

Merry Christmas, from Running on Fumes to all my loyal readers! Thank you for blessing my life with your friendship!

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I ask you –

Are you traveling for the holidays?

Have you ever received a personalized Santa letter?

Again, may your holiday be filled with love, joy, and a silent night!

Mom Fails, pt whatever

Narrative: mini’s class was having a movie day experience and a message was sent to parents for help acquiring small boxes of candy.

My perspective: this time, I’m not responding. I don’t have time this week to peruse for candy boxes. Too much on my plate, but I’ll check back to ensure what was needed was purchased, then, if not, I’ll chime in.

Spoiler alert: all candy was successfully located.

Credit: mommy.meds via Instagram

Final observation: a mom whom I know personally and absolutely love had the final say – to the effect of if you have the dollar general app then candy is buy three get one free. FIRST, I had no idea there was a dollar general app. SECOND, this is the mom level I aspire to…the one who knows about apps and deals and where to go for the best coupons. LASTLY, what an amazing person to share this info for those of us who flounder around in the world with no real experience in “mom’ing” and rely on other mommier moms for encouragement. Isn’t it like us to compare and see others doing it better (or so we think)? Let it be known, I don’t doubt my mom abilities, but I am very realistic about my strengths and weaknesses! Becoming a candy purchaser is not my forte – lest I buy the celery-flavored stuff.

And we all know how that turned out!

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I ask you –

What’s your favorite movie candy?

Did you know there was a Dollar General app?

Link to my celery debacle post: Rants & Raves – RoF Edition

Rants & Raves, RoF Edition

There’s a time to rant and there’s a time to praise. Unfortunately, now is not the latter. It could be, but it’s not.

Group text from school system with individual phone numbers listed: blah blah blah, your child’s order is in; report to this place between these hours

Random number: What do we do if we didn’t receive our entire order?

Me: I’ll tell you what you don’t do! Don’t reply all to this message because it’s probably a) unattended and b) unlikely to help your situation. But it will make the remainder of us who didn’t ask to be a part of this group text really angry.

If you intend to homeschool your children, then please do so. Emphasis on the school part. When your teenager can’t tie their shoes, your schooling ideas are failing. Choosing to homeschool your children makes you directly responsible for their education. You have forgone the right to blame public education for your mistakes. Shoes and all. Home schooling is not an excuse to not send your children to school. It’s a conscious choice to take sole responsibility in creating valued members of society. Not for the faint of heart, I’m sure. I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up. Note: wanted…past tense.

And if this isn’t enough to make you laugh, then you’re beyond help. Mini, along with her classmates, was instructed to bring bite-sized pieces of things to the class’s Thanksgiving feast. Parents were told to choose 3-4 items, then you would be told which of your choices to bring to school. Some followed the instructions, others not so much. When I positively told mini what she (I) had been assigned, her disdain and palpable disbelief was comical only to me. Days later, she still sounds upset whilst I giggle.

Celery. Mini had to bring celery. Apparently it’s the most hated food ever. My thought was some child will be overjoyed to see celery because it’s their favorite food! Alas, nothing could be worse than being the child chosen to bring… celery.

Final update: as I suspected, there was ONE child who proclaimed their love of celery.

Mommy: 1. Life: 8,374,150.

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I ask you –

How much do you ensure not to reply all when it’s not warranted?

Were you homeschooled? How did it work out for you?

Name your most despised food! Sauerkraut, for one.

And so it begins!

As I am in charge of feeding the Thanksgiving masses, I think I would rather run a Turkey Trot, eat some canned cranberry sauce, then take a nap! Seriously, I love me some canned Ocean Spray. And really I don’t have a huge role in the lunch festivities; mainly because I’m a better baker than baster. HaHA, see what I did there?!

Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. It signifies child-like awe at mounds of mashed potatoes and huge, fluffy, buttery rolls. Somehow things taste better at Thanksgiving.

Have I ever shared about the Thanksgiving my dad and uncles thought it hilarious to serve a giant hog as the starring dish? Complete with cherries in the eye sockets and a huge apple in its ugly mouth, it was quite the sight to behold. Clearly we are country people with very little class. I believe the photo exists to this day somewhere in a pile of long-forgotten photos. My apologies to anyone who reads this with a growing sense of appall. I, too, am appalled I even shared this memory. Nonetheless, it’s been 25 years since my dad passed. He was quite pleased with his hog-hunting and stuffing abilities.

Now that I’ve seen one house with its Christmas lights up (and on), let’s begin this season, as well. I guess. I promise I’m not a Scrooge…but I’d rather enjoy one holiday before catapulting into another. Hallmark must be so confused. Really the only mistake I made was sharing my Christmas-light sighting with the other two occupants of my home who promptly began dragging out bins and totes of baubles, bells, and bows. And the 6 Christmas trees I own. Different story.

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I ask you –

What’s your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

How soon is too soon for Christmas decorations?

Please feel free to appall me with a wild story!

When You Get Excited to Run!

I knew it! Check out this article here!

There you have it, folks! Notwithstanding it was written in a trail runner magazine, doubles really are beneficial! Now…I have to forewarn. Doubles in the article and doubles I was originally thinking of are not the same. According to the writer, doubles are what you do when you run twice in one day (separated by a few hours, of course). According to me, doubles are when you run same pace/same distance multiple days in a row when planning to run back-to-back half marathon or marathon distances. Details. Ehhh.

I’ve not yet registered for the BMW Dallas Half Marathon on 12 December. I’m procrastinating because that’s what I typically do when I want to pay last minute fees and freak out about the cost. What can I say? I’m a smart person in an idiot’s body. Maybe I have that backwards? Anyway, I’m how many weeks deep into training and still haven’t registered. There’s just so much commitment when you take that final step! Alas, I am excited to race again; my goal is within reach and my fancy Garmin says the confidence I can reach my goal is very high. Even if it does occasionally say my training is unproductive. I still don’t get that part. Unproductive is doing nothing, like literally staring at my watch whilst daydreaming about running. That’s unproductive. If I’m outside running – or even inside running – I’m being productive! You’re not the boss of me! Which reminds me…I really need to find out if my running buddy is traveling to TX.

Update: Morgan from Oregon is traveling to Texas. Whoohoo!!!

Have I mentioned my tendency toward meditation lately? I finally downloaded an app – Smiling Mind – because it felt like I was more frustrated with trying to learn how to meditate than actually meditating. The app has helped a lot. It even includes meditation practice for children and families. Mini and I have done a few together; personally I like her lessons better than mine. Smiling Starfish. Look it up! I was able to use what I had learned during a long run recently – what a difference! I felt like I was in the right headspace, I was light on my feet, and the miles melted away. Nothing prompted my lean towards meditation except for a friend mentioning she was trying to embrace it and I wanted to be supportive. On my own wasn’t working, so here we are!

Back to doubles – I’d like to complete the Texas Triple, but it just seems too risky to try to race in May. The final weekend in May. A holiday weekend in May. In the summer. Do I trust my body and train and hope for the best? Or do I err on the side of caution remembering what heat illness feels like and cut my losses? Running doesn’t matter to anyone but me, yet I still want to be smart about it. There’s time.

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I ask you –

Thoughts on doubles, double runs or double races?

Have you tried meditation? What app, if so?

Stay tuned for an upcoming list of future race options! Share yours with me!

Day in Photos, pt 75

This is more like a week in photos. Work with me.

My cherry tomato plant is still thriving, even into November! Perhaps bucket planting is the way to go next year.

Tooth fairy time, round 2. In an unexpected turn of events, she let it be pulled out by her Papa. Shocking. I was no part of any of these festivities. Teeth – when they’re not in a mouth – gross me out. $2 later, we have a winner.

There was also a week of drug-free activities, aka Red Ribbon Week. I’m still a little confused by this and I believe many memes already exist but I’m going to say it anyway…no one (I repeat, no one) has ever offered me drugs. I was offered cigarettes a lot, but not like real, illegal drugs. Maybe cocaine was too rich then. Anyway, just say no.

I digress. One of the week’s dress up days consisted of pajama day! My workplace really needs to get it together. Since I got to take my mini to school that day, we stopped for coffee first. Because no pajama day is complete without a huge coffee.

Edit: I heard, errr read, about National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo, a nonprofit that challenges writers to complete 50,000 words in the month of November (roughly 1667 words daily). So it’s like a running streak, but writing instead. If you’re reading this, then you may/may not know today is November 1st. The organization encourages writers to participate in the daily goal in order to complete a novel, but many use it to brainstorm blog posts, etc. Always up for a good writing task. Let’s see how this goes!

Thank you to https://brianlageose.blog/2021/10/30/friday-night-clam-bake-35-its-almost-the-time-of-year-when-i-do-that-questionable-thing-that-confuses-most-people/ for the idea!

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I ask you –

Are any of your vegetables still alive?

What’s the going rate for a tooth nowadays? I think I’m getting scammed.

Tell me something funny about your week!