So Far so Good

Well, Life without Aaron is still happily liveable.

I managed to drop some more lbs, according to the scale at work and will weigh in tomorrow morning again for the last 'before' Thanksgiving meal...

I met a guy named Rob.  I met him on christian cafe.com.  Well, not exactly met in person but I have talked to him on the phone.  He is a business man and works in New York a lot.  I told him being in New York on my birthday is on my bucket list.  So he asked if I would like to go to NY this year for my birthday!!  I am super excited.  He also has enough frequent flyer miles to go to Hawaii!!  He would love to go there.  Me too!!

He was so motivated by my 2 spin classes this week that he joined a gym this week.  He as gone on century bike rides.  No triathlons.  He said he needs to lose 30 lbs.  I hope I can lose weight along with him.  He has his masters and is 46.  (Yikes)

I wasn't impressed with one of his pictures of himself he sent but one that I saw on the website was nice.  He was so nice on the phone and asked me if I would pray with him before going to bed.  How sweet is that?!  He actually helped send Bibles to jails and in the inner city! 

Stay turned!!

Down 3.4

Well, this weeks weigh in helped me be pleasantly surprised.

I loosely followed the WW plan, and yet I still managed a loss of 3.4!

Next week will be tricky.  I have used a bunch of bad points already this weekend. 

 
I had a stressful week.  A big part of that is having my kids and not feeling like I can workout.  I hate to leave them.  I did manage one walk with one of my kids.

Those free veggies are a huge help!!

Life events are strange things..

Life events are strange things... with a blink of an eye they come and go. As I type I am watching a movie called Get Low, about an old recluse that wants to throw a funeral party before he dies so he can hear what people have to say about him.

After yet another emotional roller coaster for me this past month, a co-worker of mine put it best.

This is just a moment, it will past and be just a speck of your life story.

Interesting when you find out that she is going through an extremely rough time herself right now. She has been having to take furlough at work and her husband confessed he cheated on her in June. Twice.

She is the most bubbly, happy and funny person I work with. I had to ask her on a really bad day of mine what her secret is and that is what she told me.

I recently was seeing someone, but we decided to break up. We both need to work on ourselves. I knew it was the best. I still consider him a great friend. My manager from Cleveland just happened to stop by and we got to talking about it. She said "God puts everyone in your life for a purpose. Maybe that was his purpose. Now, it is time to move on." That helped.

I worked for 28 days in August. 3 days off. This weekend, I am lucky enough to get a 3 day weekend right away! And 5 more days during the month.

I am at such an important crossroads for me right now. I am looking at going back to school. I know it will be for business. I would like to work in Health Care administration.

One of my jobs is looking to make me full time. I may be quitting that one instead.

Job A (TH) is 32 hours a week.
Very flexible schedule. I come and go as I want.
My manager works and lives 4 hours away.
I have my own desk.
Less pay and benefits.
No college assistance.

Job B (TCH) is weekends only at 24 hours per week.
Must clock in and out at various times.
Will work 2 out of 3 weekends
Has better pay, benefits and college assistance.

If I would work 40 hours at Job A, then I STILL need to work job B at least one 12 hours shift a week. I will need to pay more for Health insurance, work more hours for less money and have only 1 or 2 days off a week.

If I quit job A: I would only have to work four 12-hour days. Have 3 off a week. I would have my 24 hour weekend roation but I could also pick up hours when I am off to make it 48 hours a week. I would earn at least 8 hours overtime. They are willing to cross train me for CNA and POC (point of care) lab tech. Which will give me more options to pick up hours available.

I currently have 2 dental insurances that are helping to pay for Reece's braces. We would lose about $700 on that benefit. The insurance companies work it so they pay one third up front then make monthly payments until paid. We will still have two other companies to help pay.

I have broken down all the facts and figures. Basically, I need to make a certain amount per hour to make it worth staying with Job A. I am trying to compose a tactful email, since we hardly see each other. She won't be down for two weeks now.

I checked with the government and THEY even say I make less than 50% of the population for my position.

Exciting, but crazy times right now. Oh, and I meet with my son's guidance counselor to discuss applying for college on the 12!

And this was my crazy craft day today... here is what I did today!
















These are Flower barrettes I created and l also made a hanger to display them for easy access.

Mudstach 2012: May Edition

Today was the first ever mud event for me. I loved it. The end.

If you want more than that please continue reading!

I find myself not wanting to type so much these days... hence the lack of posting.
Ok. So. Lori G, a co-worker of mine, asked me if I was interested in signing up for this little mud race. She said she did it last year and had a blast! Heck Yeah, I replied.

I got to the race about 1:20 or so. As I was walking to the registration desk I get a phone call from Lori. Her Mom, who has been dying of cancer was passing. She lived an hour and a half away, and had to miss the race. She offered to give her registration to one of my kids. (she is so sweet!!)

I tried to get my kids interested, but no takers. I think Reece really wanted to do it but he was nervous. Brock hates dirt and bugs. Zeb could give or take it. He is a bit young.

I asked Reece to take some pictures of the obstacles while he was waiting. You can see the hanging barrel's. (to the left, ) I don't think that is me running in them but we can pretend it is. Ok? (and not the big puffy inflatable dude)

It was held at a ski mountain called Perfect north. Really close to home. Only about 20 minutes away. You can see the chair lift in the first picture.



I loved the misters. I believe that is how they make snow, but since it was 90 degrees at the start of the race it was WONDERFUL to have them cool you down. Although it made some very slippery mud. But hey, it was an excuse to walk!

In this pic, you can see the slide we had to go head first on, then the dumpster looking thing was ice cold water you had to wade through! Fun! It was nice to get cleaned off before heading into the next part...


By FAR the hardest part of the event was this mud. It was SO THICK, I had to stand up in it to take a break. I tried crawling through it but my abs wouldn't let me. I was very tired and heavy

You can see me climbing out of the pit. The guys on stage were heckling us saying "We are nice and clean up here!" Someone replied, "I think you need a hug."






The last obstacle. A ladder up and over down some bales of hay.













All done. Way fun. My left butt cheek and ankle are a little sore. I landed funny on my ankle and slipped on some mud going into one of MANY mud pits on a trail run, but so very worth it!!

They gave me a $20 gift card to sign up for the next race which is a Night time run. I am so in!!
:)
You can barely tell I was wearing shorts. I was though!!!






Oh, and this is how you clean up before heading out. A quick shower by hose.

See all clean!

Back in the Saddle

I found myself lucky enough to have TWO whole days off in a row this holiday weekend. I had plans that changed mid week, finding myself alone. I didn't look at it in a bad way. I was more relieved.

I want to be alone. Since I was 15, I haven't been single more than a month. I have looked to others for my approval. Afraid to like myself. I am growing up to become who I really am and not who someone else wants me to be.

I love exercise. Great Stress reliever AND health benefits too! I told myself when my marriage was ending that I my goal is not to look for ANYONE else, but to exercise more. Focus on my kids, relationship with God, exercise and work.

I have little post-it notes all around my house that say things like "It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are"... and this...

I enjoyed a beautiful 2 mile run first thing Saturday morning, followed by the hour long Yoga session and a 1 hour trail ride on my road bike. Temps for the bike ride were in the high 60's and little wind. It was Terrific!! I had to make the ride only an hour since my bike needs a tune up and my saddle is not used to the sores yet... ha.ha.

I am hoping to sign up for a mud race called the Mud Stash on May 19th at a local ski hill. It looks like so much fun, but I am sad that I won't have a cheering section... That is my current mental block.

My kiddo's joined me that night and we had a great time talking. It felt great to get back on track with them. The feeling of letting your kids down is probably the worst part of a divorce. You hear horror stories about kids acting out but we have been EXTREMELY lucky with our boys. My soon to be ex and I are getting along very well. We are trying to show the kids how to be friends even when feelings have gotten hurt. My Ex is head over heals for a new woman and I couldn't be happier for him. I truly feel better knowing he is happy.

I am kind of picky about my new friends. I don't have a lot down here yet. I am tired of fake people. I get it. I've been there, done that. Fear of rejection, wanting to be included... I am learning to love the silence when I am alone. This past week I had to learn to enjoy it because I was out of minutes on my cell phone and worked so much the last thing I wanted to do was fire off an email to someone. I felt the panic of quietness but was helpless to do anything but deal with it.

Everyday, wait maybe every week, I am finding new things I can like about myself. Slowly, I am growing up to become who I REALLY am...

Worry.

There is not much in life we can control.

Like when the Starbucks barista accidentally puts too much peppermint and mocha in my drink, or someone decides to indirectly try to hurt you with something they post on Facebook. We have a choice. We can flip out and demand a 'do over' or we can put on our 'big girl' panties and deal with it.

I am going to worry about me. If someone doesn't like what I post, or write that is THEIR problem. They can voice THEIR opinion. Fine. That is all I am going to say....

In other news, I am now working 56 hours a week to make ends meet. I am lucky that I love my jobs. Both of them.

Thanks to the extra hours, in training, I was able to join a local gym. Super excited!! It has a hot tub and a pool!! I want to do another triathlon this summer but not sure which one. I will have to see what I can afford. The Door County Tri is over $100 to sign up, but the High Cliff Tri is half that but is during a weekend I am supposed to work all weekend. I don't know if I will have enough paid time off by then...

I have a bed. Color me excited! Now, after sleeping on the floor for 4 months, I was a little uncomfortable the first few nights but now I am loving that I don't have to get my butt off the floor in the morning! Makes my 5 am wake ups a little easier to happen.

My oldest, B. , turned 17 recently. We celebrated this past weekend with dinner at Golden Corral. He loves that place... mainly for the carbs. Pizza, French Fries and mac-n-cheese.

The middle child, R. , is heading the Washington DC this week with school. I am so jealous. I never got to do anything so fun when I was in school. They will be there 4 days and it is JAM PACKED with tours and food. He will probably suffer some PS3 withdrawl, hopefully the ipod will maintain his electronic fix.

Z., loves to come visit on the weekends, but now I will be working a 3 weekend rotation and only be off every 3rd Saturday and Sunday. Otherwise I will be working 12 hour shifts.

Doesn't leave much free time on the days that I work. I am trying to work 12 hour shifts at both jobs so I can have 2 days off at various points each week. This week I am off Thursday and Monday. Then I work for a week straight. Luckily the days fly by and no time to spend money!

I am trying to walk on the days I don't run, bike or swim. It seems when I train, I eat more... defeating the purpose of the exercises. I justify my chocolate and peanut butter ice cream cone by the fact I had just ran a few miles. I have a harder time justifying the walking. Plus walking burns more fat. Any yes, I have plenty of it left. I am still boardline 'overweight' according to the BMI calculators. Grrrr.

I am going to control what I can... I am what I am love me or hate me...