Runner's high but inundated with pics

I’ve been jogging pretty consistently for almost a month. I haven’t upped my distance much in that time but I’ve shaved about 3 minutes off my mile time. Tonight, I am feeling my first runner’s high. Wow. It’s been years since I’ve felt that. I’d like to become more familiar with it.

I’ve also been out of school for this last month and have been doing major cleaning and decluttering. The kids are wondering who I am and what I’ve done with their real mom who just reads textbooks all the time. Closets, bookshelves, the pantry, file cabinet, the laundry, and dresser drawers have all been shaved down and straightened. I think it’s partly a reflection of healing on my part. I feel true joy and can’t put my finger on exactly why. But I think that means it’s not contingent on anything external so it can’t be easily taken away from me.

I have hundreds of pictures only about half of which are in photo albums. Do you think it’s necessary to keep every one of them? A lot of them are pre-digital and not that great. I’m thinking of winnowing them down and keeping the best ones because if there are too many, it becomes overwhelming for any of us (my kids) to look at them. We already have 10 binders worth of photos in albums. Do we really want/need 20 or 30? And now that we have scanners, printers, and digital scrapbooks/photo albums, is it necessary to keep zillions of wallet size and smaller photos from all the kids photo shoots and school pics? I don’t want to go overboard with the decluttering but it is SO nice to have empty closet and cupboard space.

Nathan is up to 117 lbs. Last October before heart surgery, he weighed 89 lbs. We went swimming today and he is so much stronger. I expected to see changes but still, I am amazed at what I see and words cannot express how thankful I am for the technology that allowed him to be “normal”. Babies born with TAPVR 35 years ago usually died. Nathan should have died and the fact that he didn’t is a miracle. Even when he was born, the surgery wasn’t as refined, and therefore, successful as it is today.

I am very blessed.

Summer so far; Unrealistic movies--or is that redundant?

July 7, 2011

My son, Spencer is here visiting for a week. Michelle didn’t come bcs their baby is due in two weeks. It’s been fun to have him around although my house is a little boring, especially with the two youngest at their dad’s. Yesterday, Melody and I voted to see Larry Crowne; Spencer and Nathan voted for Transformers 3.

So we ended up at the action movie. It’s not really my kind of movie though the demographic they’re catering to loved it, I’m sure. I don’t want to like Shia Lebeouf but I guess nothing about being a jerk in real life precludes good acting ability. (Or does good acting translate to lots of money which generates jerkiness in real life? He seems to have a lot of company in Hollywood.) In any case, his facial expressions are really great in the movie. He has one very funny, terrifying scene with his car, flying through the air above the freeway and ending up back in the car. But the plot and stunts are ridiculously implausible and the “humanizing” of the machines (features making them old, young, bad guys, feeling pain, etc.) is so fake. But I’m sure that will appeal to kids. The battle scenes went on and on making for an almost 3 hour movie. Two hours would have been more than enough. My kids liked it—Nathan thought it was great.

I have no school now until late August and it’s SO nice to have no homework; no thick books to read two or three times in the next two months. I will hear sometime in July if I am accepted in to the accounting program at BYU. I got an A and an A- in the two prereqs I took Spring term so I’m planning on getting in. I’m still working, too but not very many hours. I will lose my job at the end of August since I’m not a student at UVU anymore.

The current plan is to clean out a closet or cabinet every day while I have time off and to exercise. I made some good progress at first but it’s been slow-going this week. My house is looking much better and less cluttered. I’ve been running, jump-roping without a rope, and skating. The treadmill is drudgery and I have to force myself to go get on it but skating is better, though hard, physically. Just reporting to keep myself accountable.

Lagoon

I took Nathan, Joy and Sam hiking on Tuesday. I meant to go to the Battle Creek canyon but mistakenly went to the Grove Creek canyon which we hiked anyway. I am so out of shape! So on Thurs, we tried again. Everyone but Sam wimped out on me; the two of us hiked to the waterfall at Battle Creek. It’s not very long and fairly easy—lots of moms and kids were hiking it. At 11 am, it was still cool and there’s lots of shade on that hike. The water’s running a lot higher than last year. But the last couple hundred yards are pretty steep and I was spent so I didn’t go right up to the top; before I could stop him, Sam scampered up farther and I couldn’t see him anymore. I didn’t know what was up there besides a roaring river and a 40 ft. cliff. I am guessing the trail ends there. Thirty seconds after he disappeared, I was wishing I had some big kids to send after him and worrying that he might fall in and come crashing down the waterfall. Thankfully, he came back down after a minute or two. Raising six boys is teaching me to just stay calm. And the view up there is SO gorgeous of the valley and Utah Lake below. We are so blessed to live in this beautiful place. Next time, I’ll take pictures. Driving back home (a whole three miles to our house), Sam said, “You are the best mom in the whole world!” because I took him hiking.

Yesterday, we went to Lagoon (Six Flags-Great America-type amusement park.) Melody didn’t go bcs she went w/Alicia last Sat. and w/K’Lani on Wed. Alden and Sinda came also with their two little kids and it was a lot of fun. Sinda’s never been there before and said they would just stay three hours or so. We were there for seven hrs. I’ve never seen anyone have more fun than Claudya had at the waterpark. And Sam took her on several kiddie rides while her parents went on a roller coaster. He’s so protective and solicitous with his nieces—I love to observe.

But the interesting part of the day was going to a Vietnamese noodle house in West Valley City for Pho (pronounced like foot without the t.) It’s a hole-in-the-wall place which reminds me of some of the places my parents took us to in Chinatown in Oakland and San Francisco when I was little. The food was good and we’ll definitely go there again. Nathan and Sam loved it. During the meal, Sinda said,”See, if you just listen carefully, you can tell the difference between Laotian and Vietnamese.” I had to laugh. I said, “If YOU listen closely, you can but I certainly can’t.” When I graduate, I hope to carve out time to study some foreign languages.

June 14, 2011

Finals are tomorrow and Thursday so I am cramming. This morning I looked for my Writing & Speaking for Business text and couldn’t find it anywhere. Panic. No, don’t panic. Worst-case scenario is I will drive over to BYU and buy a new one. After wasting two hours cleaning the house in an effort to find it, and sending some desperate pleas heavenward, I got an idea. Just an inkling that wasn’t solid—the boys took my TV from the front room to my bedroom to play Xbox on Saturday (Richard, Alden, Taylor, Melody—yeah, sometimes, she gets to be one of “the boys”.) I had already looked thoroughly in my room though. Somehow, I knew there was a connection. But what? Try to think…I went over to the piano next to my bed which has a stack of music books on top because I’m giving Nathan, Joy and Sam piano lessons. I looked through the stack and there was my textbook near the bottom! Joy! I didn’t know it was there and don’t know why I looked there. Thank you, thank you to whoever heard my pleas and put the thought in my head. My guardian angels have ‘needs lots of help’ or ditzy or something similar written on my file, I’m sure.

On my break, I’ll be repenting of having stacks of papers and books around. Bad idea. If I put everything away though, I forget about it so I leave stacks of papers out so I will take care of the pile. I know, poor excuses. I do fine when I’m not in school. I’ve heard that when you are under stress, you become more forgetful because only the most important things stay on the radar and everything else drops away. I haven’t lost any of the kids yet or forgotten to take a test :-). Wish me luck on finals!

Find someone more stressed than me? Okay

June 10, 2011

Assignment: Find someone more stressed than you and do something nice for them. I’m a full-time college student with a part-time job, raising four kids by myself. IS there anyone with more stress than that?

Well, the only time period in my life that was more difficult was when I had little kids. So I have three daughters-in-law raising little kids. What could I do for one of them? Melody is babysitting for my son, Richard while he and AesaLina are on a date. It’s my son Taylor’s birthday and I overheard JAC tell Joy that they’d be picking up Tad to babysit him. So I called my son, Alden. He was at work and Sinda was alone with the two little kiddos. I asked if they’d had dinner yet and she said no and that she’d love some company. So I picked up Subway sandwiches, grabbed a little bag of Cheetos for Claudya and went over to visit.

Apparently, fit-throwing and strong-willed genes run strong in the family (which may or may not have come from me but, fortunately, it’s accompanied by charm and good looks. ;-) Just look at my grandchildren.) Claudya has been demonstrating her talents the last couple of days with a vengeance (she doesn’t want to be outdone by her cousin, Victoria—a story for another day) and when someone comes over, she’s easier to deal with than when poor Sinda is there wishing Alden would hurry home. His shift doesn’t end until 10 pm so it’s a long evening alone with demanding kids.

We ate our sandwiches and then picked about two quarts of strawberries from their little garden, more than half of which were consumed by Claudya. Sinda made a wonderful smoothie with yogurt, bananas, and strawberries and we had a good visit. She said I was an answer to prayer. I’d like to be in that position more often but I think in the past, I haven’t been “available” or listening. I guess I better start practicing.

p.s. to my friend, Kathy. I did have a nagging feeling that you fell into the "more stressed than me" category and I haven't called you yet--See? Not listening well. When finals are over, we can get together.

Need. Sleep.

June 7, 2011

Classes end Monday, Tuesday is a reading day, then it’s finals week. I feel weary. I always push myself and bite off more than I can chew and I wish I could stop doing it but I don’t know how to change my basic personality. I’m not taking any classes in July or August so that’s my effort to slow it down a little for now.

Two nights ago, Sam woke up at 3 am with a toothache. He kept me up until about 5 am. I’ve been getting up in the night with crying or sick kids for 27 years. Time to move on to the next phase, I’m pretty sure. (See biting/chewing above for how I get myself into these situations.) Then I had to take him to the dentist the next day for an emergency procedure. A baby molar chipped because of a cavity and the nerve was exposed and/or infected. I like the dentist in Nephi because he’s so good with kids and works fast so I drive 50 miles one way. Then I stopped in to see Marene in Mona, went home for 5 minutes, and went to school ‘till 6:40 pm. I didn’t get any homework done that day. So now I’m playing catch-up.

I just finished the last project for the writing class! The only thing left is to reread the entire 186 page textbook and memorize it for the final. Ha! (When is there time to clean my house, do laundry, and be a decent mom?) There’s one project left in ISys--the HTML project. I have to make a website using HTML code which we were introduced to yesterday. There will be a test on it Monday and then the final is the last thing. I really need a break because I feel mentally exhausted. Or it could just be sleep-deprivation.

Whenever I am trying to lose weight, I put different things in my shopping cart; more good protein, more produce, no chocolate or donuts. Lunch was tilapia and steamed broccoli; dinner was a baked chicken and cucumber slices which is great, except for the Haagen Dazs bars I also ate. So I need to convince myself to eat well all the time. I wish I could blame it on the stress of the last two years but that would only be partially true. The goal is to eat something raw at every meal. ‘Cause I’ve looked in the mirror and I’m not getting any younger. Youth is wasted on young people. I know I didn’t appreciate how good I looked until it started slipping away from me.

Sorry for rambling. I just need to go take a nap.

Did anyone else roller skate in the 70's?

June 2, 2011

Sam and Joy’s elementary school had a field day last week (running races). When he went to school, his pants were fine. When he came home, they

looked like this.

It was the second pair in a couple of weeks that this happened to so off we went to Target to buy new jeans. Then we meandered through the bikes and toys area and found skates! My kids are the awkward, uncoordinated ones at the skating rink so I bought them all a pair. Roller skates for Sam and roller blades for Joy, Nathan, and Melody which also fit me. So I tried them out—I skated all the time when I was a kid but I’ve never worn roller blades.

Needless to say, I don’t have roller blading muscles. I skated Saturday and Monday for about 10 minutes and now I have sore muscles. Joy and Sam are pros now and don’t understand what Melody and I are talking about when we say we can feel the muscles. She said, “Sam and I don’t use any muscles to skate.” Yeah, I remember being a kid, too. I’m not wild about roller blades because there are no brakes to drag like there are on skates. Talk about no control. But obviously, I need the workout so today, I went online and ordered roller skates. They look straight out of the 70’s. I can’t wait. In the 90’s, it would have been embarrassing to wear any such thing but now, all things 70’s have become cool. Yep, there’s something seriously wrong with the world. I may as well use that to my advantage.