Some things just really, REALLY piss me off

I have to vent for a few minutes, bear with me.

I have a friend on Facebook who posts frequent status updates. She also works doing a home business, which I think is awesome. She doesn't live anywhere near me, so I often get a laugh out of her updates and catching up with pictures of her and her family on Facebook.

Until today when her status update was something along the lines of "I get to have cupcakes with my daughter for her birthday at preschool because I don't have a mean boss and I don't have to take off work in order to be there for all of my kids' events" yada, yada, yada.

And maybe I shouldn't take offense to this. I mean, she is also frequently posting updates to try and get people to join her sales team, and this is most likely aimed at that as well. You know, work for me and you will only have to have 2 parties a month and make thousands of dollars.

But DAMN, I am there for all my kids stuff. I volunteer monthly in Ashley's class. Friday morning muffins for Mom at Audrey's school? I will be there. I have had lunch with Ashley so many times I have lost count (it helps that I work from home one day a week...).

I held back from responding to her post. I could have, maybe should have, but in the end I don't like confrontation. And as I said before, I don't think it was her intention to slam Moms who work outside of the home at a 9-5 job.

Okay, I think I have calmed down now.

Weekends

This was one of those weekends where Saturday I was up before 6:00am and not back in bed until midnight. Saturday was a yard sale, Girl Scout event, strawberry picking (as documented above), Taylor Swift concert.

All events were good. We made some money at the yard sale, enough that Ashley and Audrey got overly priced t-shirts at Taylor Swift. The Girl Scout event was at the Joel Lane museum in downtown Raleigh. He was the first settler in Raleigh and the girls got to see what it was like to live in colonial times. Then we had lunch, and then I took Ashley and Audrey to a local strawberry patch for some fresh strawberries. Since living in NC, I just can't eat the store bought strawberries, the fresh ones are just so much better.

We went back home in time to rest for about an hour before heading to dinner and Taylor Swift. The concert was good, although Kellie Pickler was supposed to be one of the opening acts and she was sick. Audrey was tired, so she was in my lap the entire time and kind of grumpy through some of it.

Sunday was a little calmer. I got up and ran, forgetting how humid it can get here. I did 5 miles as I wanted to end the week with 15 total. My goal is to get to 20 - 25 miles per week, so this week I want to get to 18 miles. My crosstraining for the day on Sunday was carrying a sleeping Audrey around Walmart while I did my grocery shopping. Seriously, try to push a cart while holding a four year old of dead sleeping weight. Not fun.

If I had a million dollars

The kids' guilty pleasure is to watch America's Funniest Home Videos on Sunday nights. They crack up at that show (and that show solidifies my fears of my neighbor's trampoline that doesn't have enclosures). Sunday night's show gave the winner $100,000. I asked Ashley want she would do with that money, and she said she would become a pop star. Evidently she thinks you can buy your way onto Radio Disney. Forget talent (although some of those Disney stars do not have talent, just saying).


What I would do with $100,000, taking out the need to pay off a home or cars or send the kids to college?

• Go to a personal trainer regularly.
• Run a race every month of the year in various parts of the country. Should probably hire a running coach for all these races so I don't injure myself again.
• Go to Disney Land in California with the family. Go to Disney World for a 2 week vacation with the family. What, are you shocked?
• Buy every cooking gadget I want.
• Buy one of those running skirts (I just can't spend $48 on something I run in, shoes, yes, but a skirt? Can't do it. Yes, I am cheap.) in every color.

And that would probably be all the money.

My funk just got bigger...

I had typed out a post, only to have blogger eat it. Good times.

I was bad last week, and only worked out once. Not good for me. Even on days I don't run, I normally do the 30 day shred DVD (Audrey really likes working out with me, if that's what you call it). So last night I headed back out to the gym and did hill work on the treadmill. I can no longer just run on the treadmill, I use it for intervals or hills. Otherwise I get bored and don't last.

Let me just add a side note on the gym. We belong to a Lifetime Fitness, and pretty big gym that is a nation chain. I go at night after the kids are in bed, so I see some interesting stuff sometimes. Like last night, the guy working out in jean shorts. Really? And then there are the women that I swear just come to the gym for the steam room and sauna. I never, ever see them in the workout area. Although now that I think about it, maybe they just swim. Who knows.

Last week was just crazy. Ray had something every night, and then he was gone Thursday through Saturday. Ashley entered her first science fair, so Thursday night was spent at her school for math and science night. Saturday the girls and I ran errands (Ashley is signed up for swim team and we had to go get her $50 bathing suit...) and yesterday was a birthday party for my friend's 3 year old. I also attempted to get organized for our street's yard sale on Saturday and clean the house, and I failed on both parts. I only partially cleaned and got nothing organized for the yard sale. So I guess I will be working on that a little bit every night this week.

Let's hope I get out of my funk sometime soon...

A Rare Event

A picture of me and Audrey from the zoo on Saturday...

Reason #4,295,852 why we are glad we moved from VA to NC

No offense to those still in Northern Virginia where it would take me 90 minutes to get to work 20 miles away, and here the same distance takes me less than 30 minutes. At 8:00 in the morning.

That was reason #1 why we are glad we moved from Virginia.

Another reason that we didn't even know about was how great the YMCA's were here, and the YMCA Guides and Princesses program. The Arapahoe Nation in our area is the second largest in the nation. Basically it is a program for boys and girls 1st grade through 3rd grade and their Dads where they meet twice a month for activities and such. Yes, a lot like Girl Scouts (which I am a troop leader for Ashley's troop), but it involves the Dads obviously.

This past weekend was their "spring outing" where they go camping at a campsite on a river near the coast in North Carolina. There were cabins for the kids and Dads to stay in, activities such as a zip line, archery, fishing and then bonfires and fireworks at the end of the day. I don't know all the details of the weekend, but Ray and Ashley had, in their words, the best weekend ever.

Audrey and I held up the fort just fine at home. I took her to the zoo on Saturday, and then to the movies on Sunday. I got a quick 4 mile run in on Sunday thanks to Ray's brother watching Audrey for me (I averaged 9:34 pace for 4 miles, I am getting steadily faster!!). Needless to say, both kids (and Ray) were exhausted last night. I was not and got sucked into that darn Hoarder show on TLC until 11:00pm. Tell me again why I watch this stuff?

Virginia Tech

Everyone is a Hokie today.

More events in the future

Ashley is interested in doing more duathlons and triathlons in the future. Luckily, there is an organization here in Raleigh called Kids in Training that holds events like these for kids. I am hesitant to sign her up for a triathlon until she does more swimming (I am signing her up for the swim team in our neighborhood this weekend), but I am sure we will do one eventually.

On a completely unrelated note, Audrey had the hiccups for hours last night. Seriously. I picked her up from school and she had them, and then they went away at some point while we were waiting for her sister at dance. Then as soon as we got home from dinner, they started up again (about 7:00pm) and they didn't go away until she (and I) fell asleep around 10:00pm last night. Ray was in Myrtle Beach, so I let Audrey sleep in my bed (bad, bad parent, I know) and she had them so bad her whole body shook! Luckily she woke up this morning without them.