Dance Party

The kid had a dance party at school the other day.  I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for that day.  His classmates are 9 two year old kids, including himself.  Out of the 9 kids, only 1 is a girl. 

My kid loves parties.  Any kind of party.  I think the word party makes him giggle because his face turns goofy when I talk about a party. 

On that particular morning I mentioned his school will be having a dance party.  I could see his wheels spinning in his mind.  A Dance Party!  He has been a dancing fool lately, and we'll even take parts of our day and dance around the house.  Usually we'll hold hands and bounce in place, but he thinks it's hilarious. 

So the morning of the Dance Party at school, he and I are in the car on our way to school and he says to me: I goin to dance party (the AR said like a pirate) and goin to hold friends hands and dance!  He could not wait.

Inside the classroom he's looking around, and asking me where the dance party was.  He couldn't see anything and was curious about when the music was going to start playing.  I can only imagine how long he had to wait until they started dancing. 

Later in the day, when I went to pick him up, I heard the little girl, the only girl, in the classroom was just as excited for the dance party.  I heard she walked into the room declaring she was going to 'shake her booty'.  Her mother proceeded to explain to the teachers that when the little girl is at home, shaking her booty usually ends up with her clothes off too!  I'm sure there is a reason behind that but I couldn't help but laugh when I heard that story.  Especially since this little girl is the only girl with 8 other boys. 

Week 4! The turning point.

I'm starting to get nervous with this couch25k plan.  The runs are now at 3 and 5 minutes each.  5 minutes doesn't sound like much, but gosh, I sometimes feel a train wreck could be thundering through the walls when I'm pounding on the treadmill for 3.5 minutes. 

I've learned I really need to take it slow.  Really slow.  I know my speed will advance over time.  I don't want to burn myself out in this process, because honestly, I'm enjoying the run.  It's solid, and it keeps my head clear.

It won't be long until I can take a run outside.  The weather here in NH is still chilly and I don't need to attempt any heroic measures by slipping and sliding along the icy patches in my neighborhood.  I have a treadmill sleeping in my basement, waiting, and anticipating some love. 

If you haven't taken a look at the couch25k plan, let me just say this.  It won't be long until the plan has me running for 10 then 20 minutes at a time.  I'm kinda freaking out about that idea.  I feel like someone is twisting my arm making me do this.  The truth of the matter is, nobody is making me do anything.  I made up my mind to continue this 5k journey and plan to follow through with it too.

Speaking of that, the registration that I had hoped to get in the mail over the weekend is, well, still sitting in my bag.  I have got to get that mailed, pronto!  April 2nd will be here soon enough, and of course, I'd like my free t-shirt for registering too.  Apparently only the first 200 registrants receive a free t-shirt.  Donations: $20.  Aahh, I guess I can get it done.  Tomorrow?

So in the meantime, I've made this commitment to take a jaunt on my treadmill for 30 minutes every other day.  That's 3-4 times a week, depending on the week.  I'm sort of scared to take 2 days off in a row, in fear I will lose any motivation I have now.

The bottom line is, I'm at week 4, and I do plan on continuing through to week 9.  I'm in the halfway point in this journey, and to be honest?  I feel great.  I really do.  I even have noticed pants have started fitting differently and was more ambitious the other day and bought two new pairs of pants.  In a smaller size too!  Buying clothes for myself rarely happens.  I find more joy in shopping for my son or for household items.  So I actually had a hard time shopping the other day.  The stores I used to shop at were, sort of, too expensive now considering I have a kid to support and a house to maintain.  My budget for me is very slim.  So the stores I usually browse through were left for me to browse and no buying power.  I resorted to a clearance section in a department store and found my two pairs of pants for $15.30 total!  Crazy, right?  I feel giggly just thinking about it.  Nevertheless, it was a treat for reaching my halfway point.  I deserved it.  At least I think so.

My Balance. My Run.

I've begun Week 3 on my new commitment.  I'm attempting to complete the couch25k program.  I'm actually impressing myself because just 3 weeks ago I could barely run for 30 seconds.  But as I start my third week, I'm actually running 3 minute intervals.  What?! 

The voice in my head says, Seriously, what are we doing here?  Kind of like what Randy says on A.I. as he's judging the squealing contestant.  But my body feels ready for this and I follow my gut and lace up my Asics and get moving.

I'm still taking it slow.  I don't want to go to fast and get so winded I need to stop.  That's typically how I work out.  I'm an all or nothing kind of girl and if I'm in it, I'm in it to win it.  But I know my boundaries when it comes to running.  I've learned my lessons over time and realize, I really enjoy this and want to do it right.

I met with my Dr. today and of course the question came up: Do you have time to exercise?  And for the first time I could confidently say: YES!  I was really excited to tell her what I'm doing and she was even more thrilled to hear the news.  She was so encouraging that I felt like a kid on Christmas morning.  Weird, I know.  But that's what running is doing for me, it makes me that excited, I just want to go out and enjoy the day, hear the birds, listen to the wind through the trees. 

I have to wait for all that organic noise though.  Who am I kidding, it's winter here and we have about 24 inches of snow outside at the moment, not to mention our neighborhood streets are a mess and there is just no way I'm about to twist my ankle for the sake of mother nature.  She'd be the one laughing at me anyways.

So I stick to my treadmill.  It's okay for now, and doing the job at keeping my pace the same.  I can tell I'll need to adjust the incline or increase my pace soon.  Soon.  I feel myself getting anxious on getting there.  I know this is a journey and I need to process each stride in that way. 

I throw in a DVD of S&TC and since those shows are a half hour, it works out perfectly for my 30 minute run.  Of course I have to constantly be checking the time on the treadmill because I'm still early in the program where the run/walk intervals are close together.  So every 2 or 3 minutes I need to switch the speed.  Somehow it helps make my time on the treadmill seem productive and not boring.  Not to mention I get to watch Carrie and her girlie's in NYC.

I'm already looking into signing up for my first 5k.  I've filled out the registration form, now I just need to write the check and send it in.  Eight more weeks and hopefully my confidence will be ready.

It's a Snowman kind of day

We've had plenty of snow to tide us over for a while.  30+ inches and it just keeps coming.  If you're into winter sports, well this is the year to really enjoy that activity.

I haven't done much this winter, other than shoveling and throwing some salt in our driveway.  My son wants to build a snowman but the snow we've had is so powdery, it's just not the right consistency for snowman making.  It's actually nice, I think.  But to a 2 year old, all he wants to do is make some snowballs and a snowman.

Taking a walk in the neighborhood

The small storm we got last night has sent us the gift of really wet, heavy snow.  Horrible for shoveling, but perfect for snowman making.  Oh boy, oh boy... My boy will be so surprised and happy.

Unfortunately he's spending his day at school, so hopefully they get to play in the playground and make some snowballs, or something like that.

My Earthkeepers



I bought a pair of snazzy boots through a friend's employee store, and I was first excited for the amazing deal.  But after having these wowzer boots, all I can say is WOW... what have I been waiting for all these years? Thankfully we are amidst another snowy day here in NH and I'm able to wear this boots for a 2nd day, and boy-oh-boy, my feet feel great! 

I've own a pair of snow boots since I was, say, 15 years old.  Back when my Mom would say: "Make sure you buy a size bigger because your feet are probably still growing."  And so I did, buying a size I thought my feet would someday fill. 

Fourteen years later, I still have those boots, and they're still as size too big.  So I went on a search for some decent boots that FIT and kept my feet warm and dry. 

I heard about these boots and I was immediately on board.  My feet could not be happier, especially when I'm scuffing through slushy snow on a day like today.

I hope to get possibly 14 years out of these boots, just like my cheap 'stormer' boots that I bought when I was 15.

Do you have boots that you love just as much?  Or are you still wearing old Stormers like I had been wearing.  If you are... you need to check into these Earthkeepers!  It's well worth the price!

The Friendly Neighbor

We recently inherited a new kitty.  She's a sweet little girl, about a year old.  She found our house the week of Christmas, and since then, she hasn't left.  I don't mind so much, and neither does my husband or kid.

We waited to see if a nearby neighbor was missing a kitty.  She was just the cutest thing, she must have a warm and loving home somewhere, right?

Weeks have passed and our cute little kitty has a new name.  We've named her Piper and it suites her just fine.  However she's developed another little thing... she's in heat.  Great. 

I knew this would be happening, as I had taken her to the vet a few days after she came to us.  Since we already have one cat at home, I needed to make sure things were going to be considerably healthy in our home.  Piper ended up being a very healthy cat, with some fleas, and hadn't been spayed.  So I knew this moment would come soon.  However, I hadn't really know what it was going to be like for us.

She howls and groans and moans.  It was kind of funny at first.  But we're into this a full week now and it's not so funny.  We're not sleeping much and have had to lock her in the storage room in our basement.  She's just SO loud.  If we leave her to roam in the house at night, she prefers to sit at the top of the stairs, maybe because it has the vaulted ceiling there, and howls, very very loud.  Very.  So we've taken some advanced measures and have even put her outside, just so we can have some peace.

Since she's an outdoor cat to begin with, she doesn't mind the outdoors.  So it's not a problem convincing her to go out.  But with her in heat, we're reluctant about how long she spends her time outside in fear she'll meet a friendly boy kitty.

Over the past few days she's met someone.  I've asked around and I believe he is neutered, but I'm just not so sure about that.  Piper still comes home and howls at night, so I'm hoping she's not expecting a litter.  In the meantime, she has this friend that walks her home and likes to peek into our home.

He's sort of a burly cat, with yellow eyes.  I hear he's a sweet boy... but I'm just not so sure.  I don't mind that she has a playmate, if that's what he is for her.  But I get weary about their activity.