NEVER NEVER THAT woman

I always promised myself that I would NEVER be THAT WOMAN who goes out in public looking a mess just "because she is a mother".  I swore I would never be her.

And then, yesterday when I walked in from pretty much the longest and worst day ever and looked in my mirror, I realized that somewhere, out in the world of Richmond VA, is a pregnant woman who saw me and thought, "I will NEVER be THAT WOMAN who goes out in public looking a mess...."

Yes, yesterday I was that woman.

ew.  Today is a NEW DAY.  I think I'll go get dressed.  In a running skirt.  Because frankly, anyone looks good in one, and I want to look nice today after yesterdays disastrousness.  (whew, spell check confirms that's a word).

Experience.

Good judgment is the result of experience and experience is the result of bad judgment.                                                            

-Anonymous

Today I signed up for the SportsBackers Marathon Training Team.  Yes, I plan to run 85% or more of my training runs with TMB, but let's be honest, she might not want to run 24 miles one Sunday morning, and since she's training for an 8K, I won't really blame her.  So, I figured a plan was better than no plan.


As far as I can tell Lady Em, SpeeDee, TMB, DeNiece & myself will be running a lot together this year, and you know what?  I'm so down with that....  

Freaky Dreams

I had a nightmare about DISNEY WORLD last night.

WHO DOES THAT?

I dreamed that my family went there on vacation, but for some reason I was at the Disney World Grocery/Toy store (yea, it was a weird dream), completely unprepared, no list and no idea what I was supposed to be buying... and B was just running around getting into everything.  The scary was that I kept losing her in the store.

ON the UP SIDE:  AT LEAST I AM SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT.  P90X is awesome at exhausting me to within an inch of my life.  Which reminds me... I need to finish my Ab Ripper workout after the kids go to bed.  More on that later...

SO...  PROBABLY... this dream has nothing to do with Disney.  Or B.  And everything to do with getting prepared for next semester and finishing ALL the stuff on my TaDo list.  Uhg.  Can we just get there already?  (one more semester until the first of many applications to Nursing School is accepted, and then... more semesters of school to go.)

3 Things Thursday

1)  Today is Thursday the 13th.  This is completely unimportant unless you are COMPLETELY neurotic like me AND plan to run the Richmond Marathon....  which is in a mere 6 months.  What I learned last year marathon training is that the last 2 months before the marathon are the shortest 2 months EVER, and at the same time, the longest two months as one freaks about about NOT GETTING THE FLU or WORSE!

2)  A week into my "school vacation" and I'm feeling rested and ... no I'm not, that's insane.  Still, I don't hate Wednesdays as much when we don't have 9887 things going on at once.

3)  Running is sort of interesting.  I'm having a little trouble fitting in my miles.  The 4th day a week run is the one I'm missing, and while it's only 3-4 miles I'm skipping out on, I think... yea, pretty much, I think I miss THAT run the most.  Because all my other runs are long miles.  (6 being the shortest).  So, at least this one will be the easiest run to add to the morning run schedule, which starts in 2 weeks.  Why in two weeks?  Well, because I quit my JOB!  And now, if I want to shower after I send the kids to school instead of before they go (or after 2pm)... I can!  Ok.  So only a MOM celebrates when she gets to shower on her blog.

Family Dance

Having out of town guests is like performing a company dance.... you prepare, you choreograph, you rehearse, you clean the stage... you perform... you offer refreshments at intermission... if you are really REALLY lucky you'll have a good supporting cast.  From right to left and back again, you tip you slip you move your hip, you wrangle and wrestle and bustle about, you pack them in, and move them out.

Yes, out of town family can either be fun or disastrous.  Fortunately for me, my supporting cast is Tony worthy.  H gets MAJOR props for handling this weekend.

So on Friday my mother arrived in Richmond for a few minutes of fun with the kids.  Or, at least that's what it FELT like!  It's complicated, when your mother lives out of the country, you tend to squeeze in a visit anytime she's in the US, even when she doesn't really have time.  Poor Mom.  But she did a good job of coming up, visiting with her grandkids, her siblings, me, my H, etc and so forth, before darting back to my brother's graduation *congratulations brother on escaping ODU.

The interesting thing about THIS visit with mom, is that her sister Sara came in from CA with her husband Dan & they figured since they were on the Right Coast that they would make the trek up to RIC as well.  I like Dan.  I haven't seen him in years.  I was a Momof2 the last time we saw each other for a few hours, and the time before that - I was 17.  So, this is not a man I know that well.  Still, I liked him immediately.  Apparently Dan liked me too because he said to my mom that "other mothers should be parenting like g, her kids are SO WELL BEHAVED."

(a quick Shout Out to the Goddess of Well Behaved Children, I am pleased that you found my offering acceptable.)

But the MOST interesting this about this weekend was:  It was C's Dance recital!  These kids have only been doing Irish Step Dance for 9 months, and they pulled off the CUTEST show.  I'm trying SUPER hard to get the video I shot to upload, but so far... FAIL.  Anyway, my family all sat through a 2 hour dance recital for a 1 minute and 40 second performance!  Wow.  Well, I guess that's what differentiates family from other random strangers.  In the meantime, you will all have to settle for a photo of her in her costume while Kodak, MAC and BLOGGER all battle with eachother....  can't we all just get along?

Here! I'm OVER HERE!!!

~GASP~

(that was the sound of me coming up for air).

Are we there yet?  No?  It's only Thursday?  Seriously?

WAIT a darned minute!  It's THURSDAY!  I LOVE THURSDAYS!!!  They're usually my favorite day of the week!!!  WHY?  Well... let me share with you:

THREE THINGS THURSDAY:

1)  Thursdays are my favorite day of the week because NORMALLY I have NO after school activities planned!  Wednesdays we have 2 scouting activities and 1 dance class and one college class.  So.  Thursdays are like a breath of fresh air.  Today though, it's the FINAL DRESS REHEARSAL for C's IRISH Step Dance.  So, not so much "Breath of Fresh Air" as "Gasping heaving breath that is drawn in as I sprint to the car after shellacking C's hair into a cement bun covered in a wig and drive 30 minutes away".

2)  FINAL EXAMS ARE OVER.  Grades will be posted next week.  YAY.  I'm really hoping for my 4.0 to stay unblemished.

3)  AND, since exams are over....  I have TWO weeks OFF!!! (of school.  It's not like "Totally" off, because I'm still working, and I'm still a Momof3, and I'm having out of town guests, and traveling on the weekends, and have a race or two on the books, and have a birthday or something squeezed in there...).   BUT 2 weeks without homework sounds like SUCH A BREAK!

Wordless Wednesday

The Girl Scout Father Daughter Dance Chaperones

Here we are, the Girl Scout MOMS who "hosted" the Father Daughter Dance.  Pay no attention to the time stamp, apparently it's off by a year!  LtoR: G., British S's Mom, my walking partner AL, Teacher Mom, and Fellow Camping Mom.  You KNOW I don't give real names that often, so I had to come up with some quick Bloggy Names!