Procrastinating....

So i am sitting here writing on my blog when my "to-do-list" for this day is staring me down. I'll get to it in good time....
Today I woke up to a great frost. By great, I mean the car was covered in a thick frost and the grass looked like it was covered by white snow. Aaah...I love this time of year. All my friends from the south think I'm cuckoo but I can't help it. I still think it's cold outside and trust me the words "Brrr" do come out of my mouth but there is nothing like that winter quiet and crisp cold breeze in the air, especially late at night or early in the morning.
More and more Christmas lights are being put up every day and I am looking forward to doing the same this weekend. I broke out all my holiday cd's and am enjoying the great variety that I have. I was talking to a friend last night and I can hardly believe that Christmas is only 27 days away. I have already bought a couple Christmas presents but have hardly made a dent in my Christmas list.
This really is the most wonderful time of the year......

Pictures from Thanksgiving Trip...

The Girls on Thanksgiving Day
The "early" birthday girl
Elaysha loves her Aunt Amy
Sweet E
Me and Mom (whoa...i'm way too cheesey)

Lots to be thankful for....

I can hardly believe that it's already Monday and I'm back to work after a wonderful holiday weekend. Here are a couple highlights from my Thanksgiving weekend back in Indiana and things that I am thankful for:

• I had safe and uneventful travels to and from Indiana.
• I got to spend plenty of quality time with all the family.
• I am thankful for good health and that I was able to "enjoy" a Thanksgiving Day 5k race with my dad. AND I finally ran a 5k under 30 minutes. YIPPEE.
• Thanksgiving day was filled with great food, football, desserts galore, games, naps, movies and leftovers.
• I managed to sleep in this Black Friday but was still able to get some great deals, thanks to my sisters who were out and about at 5 am.
• For all you football lovers, there were some pretty exciting games to watch over the weekend. I now feel pretty comfortable with the rulings for multiple overtimes.
• Thanksgiving ends and Christmas begins...this has to be one of my favorite times of year. I've already broke out my little collection of holiday music and I pray that my roommate can tolerate it for another 5 weeks. HA!

My lists could go on and on as I feel incredibly blessed by all that God has given to me.

First taste o' turkey...

So today was our Thanksgiving luncheon at work and I have one word....DELICIOUS! We used the same the same caterer as last year and once again, it did not disappoint. We had your traditional feast of turkey, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, macaroni and cheese, rolls and for dessert, we had pumpkin cream cheese pie and a red velvet cake. The only thing I thought that could have been better was more quantity. I ordered for 33 people and well it didn't seem like we had enough. I mean everyone got a plate but the boys could have easily had 2 or 3 plate fulls. The good news is that since we did not have an excess of leftovers, I did not eat myself into a coma! Yeah :-)

Another "alone" filled weekend...

I enjoyed a wonderful weekend of nothing. Well it wasn't all nothing but it was very relaxing at times. Friday night I actually worked past 6 pm because of a big proposal deadline that is due tomorrow. Needless to say, I was in need of fun so I met up with a couple friends from Sunday school class at Dan McGuinness in Cool Springs. It must be the Irish in my blood because I am really enjoying all these Irish pubs in Nashvegas. Who knew?? The food and fellowship was needed after a rather yucky afternoon at work. They even had live Irish music which I enjoyed listening to and the crowd participation was excellent. Good times!
My sister Amy came in town later that night.. We got up somewhat early on Saturday and had breakfast and then she headed home to IN. I had nothing planned and the place to myself so I cleaned, cleaned and yep, cleaned some more. Mix in a little break every couple of hours to snack and catch up on some shows online and then throw in some more closet/storage organization. It was the perfect day with plenty of "alone" time.
Sunday was church and then I actually didn't feel all that great in the afternoon. I canceled my plans to see live music on Sunday night knowing that rest was needed as there is NO time to be sick this week. I talked to a couple friends & the family via phone, finished up my Bible study for tomorrow and took a little nap. I think the rest helped as I feel much better today!

Random Ramblings

So last night when I was driving home I saw an apartment home completely decorated for Christmas...I'm talking multi-colored strings of lights on every inch of their sliding glass doors and patio. Can't people wait till after Thanksgiving??
Today makes the 4th day in a row that I literally have had to roll myself out of bed. I am so exhausted and it doesn't seem to be making a difference if I go to bed earlier or not. WHY am I so tired? Maybe it's because I went at warp speed all last weekend watching the boys and had little time to recoup before starting another work week. Its not like I'm waking up throughout the night and having trouble sleeping. My head hits the pillow and I'm down for the count. The sleep time is good just not long enough. I am so happy that tomorrow is Friday because my first priority for this weekend is SLEEP!

Back in the saddle again...

No, I did not join the local Equestrian club. I went to a spinning class at the YMCA last night. It's really not all that big of a deal except that I haven't been to a spin class in the last 5 months and I'm feeling a little "saddle" sore this morning. Ouch!
I used to attend spin class twice a week because I found a great instructor on Monday nights and Wednesday nights, but I spent all summer building up my running and training for the October half marathon so spinning took a back seat (although I must say it's a great form of cross training for runners). Anywho, I survived last nights class and this morning I'm not as sore as I thought I'd be...well...with the exception of my bum!
Oh, the price we pay to get in shape...

Pass the Cheer

To my sheer delight when I went to Starbucks on Friday morning, I was greeted by the infamous holiday cup. Whenever I see the annual Starbucks holiday cup, I know that the Christmas season is finally upon us. I anticipate each November, when the first sighting will occur and what the theme will be. In case you have yet to see the cup, this years theme is called "Pass the Cheer" which basically could be called a Cup O' Blessing. Each cup has different ideas or suggestions of how to bless someone else. My cup's little paragraph suggested to hold the door for someone who had their arms full of packages, or pay the toll for the vehicle behind you. What a great way to spread the cheer to others during this holiday season than by giving.

Final adventures in babysitting...

Well I managed to survive the final day and a half of babysitting. Everyone was well behaved when we ventured into society and saw The Bee Movie and ate dinner on Saturday night. After protest from both boys about how boring church was, I decided that was a battle I would not take on, so we stayed home on Sunday morning. We all slept in which was nice and then after breakfast, we went exploring in the woods around their home, climbed the sycamore tree and played in their tree house (a.k.a. swing set/jungle gym). We had lunch and then the parents returned and I was back to my house by 2pm. I am so happy to be back to the single life.

After unpacking and making a quick trip to the grocery store, my friend Amy picked me up and we went to a cookout with our core group of friends from our Singles Sunday School Class. I enjoyed a great glass of wine and basked in good adult conversations. The fellowship was sweet and the food was delicious. We even made s'mores over the fire pit :-) It was the perfect way to end the day.

Control Freak

So I tend to be a bit of a control freak but try being "in control" when you are running a house of 3 kids and 4 animals. Just when I think I'm in control...WHAM...something happens and I find myself on my knees, humbled and thanking GOD for always being in control.
Last night was pretty uneventful at the house. Who knew that making dinner could be such a chore...especially when you have kids that are so particular about what they eat. I was a picky eater as a kid (and some would still say I'm pretty picky) so I understand a little bit better how frustrating it must have been for my mom to make dinner each night while trying to make something that everyone would like/eat. I made a casserole that their mom had already prepared in advance along with green beans only to find out that neither one of them liked it. Their choice of words to describe how much they didn't like it was hilarious. So we found other dinner options for them and I enjoyed the Poppy Chicken Casserole and green beans. Yummy! The boys of course enjoyed staying up late because it was a Friday night but everyone was in bed by 10:15 and that included me. I could barely keep my eyes open so I didn't even attempt to read a book. I also made sure that the bedroom door was shut so I didn't have any nighttime distractions from the animals. YEAH!
So here we are on Saturday afternoon, it's been a pretty low key Saturday. The boys of course have been playing their video games and we also took a much needed break outside for some fresh air. I played a game of h-o-r-s-e with the older one and got beat of course (and not on purpose...i mean who wants to get beat by an 11 year old). I also pushed the 9 year old on the swing set until I thought my arm was going to fall off and helped create a tight-rope line with the 11 year old for an attempt that he could walk across. Fun times! This afternoon, I am going to take them to see The Bee Movie and then out to dinner. And I'm even feeling really adventurous and will attempt to get us all to the 11:00 service tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

From single girl to working mother of 3...

Yep...that's right...I am now a mother of 3 boys...well that is until Sunday afternoon. I am staying with one of our partner's boys while him and his wife are out of town for the extended weekend. The seventeen year old is pretty self-sufficient but the 11 and 9 year old are plenty to handle. My adventures started yesterday when I picked them up from school after work. About half way home, the youngest starts to complain of a belly ache. Instantly, I am thinking "please don't throw up in my car...OH NO". He manages to be the good little boy that he is and waits till we get home to get sick. I believe that perhaps he was just car sick because he seemed much better after he got sick and was ready for me to watch him play his Nintendo game. I had a small battle to win about dinner options as one wanted to eat out and one was not feeling well again so we compromised and ordered pizza. The little one got sick again, so I had to get him taken care of. So while the older enjoyed his pizza dinner and watched Nickelodeon, I played the full on part of "mom" and took care of the sick one and got him to bed. By this time, it's 8 o'clock and time to get the other one in bed...it is of course a school night and there is a bedtime of 8:30 to observe. At 8:40, I was able to sit down with a cold piece of pizza and watch the last 20 minutes of Grey's Anatomy. Mission Accomplished.
This morning began at 5:15 which is about an hour earlier than I normally start my day; however with 2 kids to get up, feed and ready for school, I knew that I had to be up and ready for work before they woke up at 6 or I would be the one not ready for the day. It felt crazy at moments and thankfully the oldest helped manage breakfast of the little ones, while I took care of the animals (oh yeah...they have 2 cats and 2 dogs too). The littlest one seemed to be feeling much better...yeah...and we got everything accomplished this morning and were out the door by 7:00 :-) After dropping the boys off at school, I made a much needed stop at Starbucks and then got to the office at 8:00. Another mission accomplished...that's 2 for 2 so far.....

Running in a storm...

No, I'm not trying to make this great analogy. I was determined to run outside, despite the early sunset and the storms that were looming on the horizon. Since the darkening skies were approaching I thought I would do the safe thing and run in the business park that I work in...just get in a 3-4 mile run. How safe can it be when those dark skies hold thunder and lightning...probably not that safe. It was a little windy but no rain. I think trying to out run a storm despite maybe not being the wisest decision sure did make for great speedwork. Or perhaps the fear of being struck down by lightning was all the motivation I needed to run fast. The storms were moving much faster than I had anticipated and i barely got in 2 miles before I decided that I still valued my life and the safest place to be was inside. It was still pretty awesome and yet scary to be in the midst of the storm.

I'm changing my middle name.....

To Clumsy. I wanted to make sure this name change was appropriate so I checked out Websters dictionary and it says that clumsy is defined as "lacking grace or skill, as in using one's hands or feet; awkward". Well after you read what happened to me this week, you'll agree with the name change.
On Tuesday, while retrieving a glass of water for a consultant, I managed to smash (and I'm not talking about closing the cabinet door and pinching my finger...I mean smashed) my pinkie finger in one of the kitchen doors. It was hard to not scream expletives as I instantly had that throbbing sensation and a great indention right across my pinkie nail/fingertip. I took a moment to compose myself, delivered the glass of water to our guest and then grabbed a cold ice cub to soothe the indented fingertip.
But this little incident just set the stage for what happened last night. I had worked late at the office last night and I was cleaning up my desk to leave. I thought I'd make a quick trip to throw away my recyclable materials in the workroom. I rounded the corner at a brisk pace when my right foot (in heels i might add) hit a spot of newly waxed floor and I glided across the mail room catching myself just shy of our cabinets on the other side. I use the term "glide" as in I felt like I was suddenly skating on ice across the workroom. I wish I could watch the playback as I'm sure it would be HI-larious to watch especially since I am not an ice skater and our workroom is not an open ice rink. A large piece of casework (something like a work island) sits in the middle of the room and yep...you guessed it...I did not clear the casework but more or less ricocheted off it. I somehow manged to keep my balance so I didn't wipe out completely but I sure banged up my right foot thanks to the pointy corner of the casework.
So by Websters definition, I think I clearly cover the basis of lacking grace & skill with regards to both my hands and feet and it obviously would have been awkward for anyone to witness.