Oh, yeah, the kids!

Since the title of this blog is 'Life with Kids'... it is only fair I write about them from time to time, right?
So, Friday, we were out to eat at one of our favorite places called Beef O'Brady's. We like to call it BOB's for short. The kids really like it, not exactly sure why, it's kinda like Buffalo Wild Wings, but smaller. Anyway. While we were there, I was telling the kids I wanted THEM to write a segment on this blog about 'A day in the life of ...INSERT YOUR NAME HERE. Reece quickly said "No." He continued "Two reasons, first, because it would credit you and second, I don't want to." He is a GREAT writer, I will have to work on getting him to do it...
Such a brat, I tell ya!
Anyone need an extra 13 year old?

Fine. First we will start off with Brock, the oldest. Brock turns 16 on Thursday. Yes. That means he will be taking a written test to allow him a learners permit, to drive, with Parents. Um, that will not me be. I know better, I WILL FREAK OUT. I am not ready for him to drive. Yikes! He has a 100 page document to read up on before we are allowing him to take it. But since he is only on page 20 something, we have time.
When I think back about myself at that age and what I did, how 'grown up' I thought I was, it REALLY makes me grateful that I have such geeky kids.

Brock LOVES science and can easily drift me off to sleep with a tale of neutrons and protons or some sci-fy flick.

He is taller than me (and Duner, I think) and has bigger feet than me. Heck, he has bigger feet than Duner.

For the most part he is very passive.

He has a dresser, but prefers to pile his clothes on the side of the bed he doesn't use. It doesn't bother him that they sit there, for weeks at a time. *sigh* Until, I finally get sick of seeing them. He is currently filling a suitcase with papers he no longer needs from school just to see how many he ends up with by the end of the year.

He sleeps with a fan 12 inches from his head on one side and his alarm clock on the other. Yes, he can still ignore the alarm that close to his ears. I have had to get up and turn it off!
The other day it woke me up, I had to turn it off, then left the light on. I said nothing just went down stairs to read like I normally do. When he came down he said "Did you turn on my light?".
"Yes" I said.
"Don't do that."he said.
Um,Ok. (?) Kinda hard to turn off the alarm for me without it.??
He is currently gearing his school classes to become a pharmacist or Bio-med Engineer. He is leaning towards pharmacist. He dreads the requirement of a foreign language for college but is going to be a Junior ,gulp, next year and needs to get it done.
His school is offering college 'gen ed' college classes at a steep discount thru NKU (Northern Kentucky University. He doesn't quite make the ACT score yet, though, to be able to take them yet. He took too long on the test and left many questions blank.
He had a IEP (Individualized Education Plan) in Wisconsin and was probably using that as a crutch to get easy assignments and extra help with classes. Not here. They said he tested just fine and put him in with the rest of the fishes.
Now, he is still getting good grades. (Better than mine were, but don't tell him that!) And one of his teachers called him the 'KING OF EXCUSES' last year. LOL.. she was SO RIGHT ON!!

I have been dragging him to volunteer at a local thrift store once a month, to remind him how nice he has it. It is a bit of a challenge for him since he has a fear of bed bugs and germs. He only eats finger foods by bending his fingers and using his knuckles. (less germs?) He must inspect his plates,cups and silverware to make sure they are clean to his specifications before he can use them (after they have been thru the dishwasher, of course)... Only coffee mugs he doesn't check since the heat of the beverage will kill all germs, he says.
Yep. He is a strange one, but I love him to pieces and wouldn't want him to change a thing. He is too much fun just the way he is... even though he is awkward, shy and so scientific... But boy, he is a cutie! (of course)

Tick Tock

Dear US Government and State Governments,

I know you are a bit overwhelmed right now with the economy, protests and turmoil in various countries, but I am requesting you please send me my tax refund. I mailed it in you as soon as I could get everything together. I sent all the papers you requested (btw, thank you for keeping the paper industry going, I know they appreciate the business). Oh, and don't worry about auditing me cause I didn't hold back reporting anything since that takes WAY to much effort. It makes my brain hurt.
Could you please hold off deciding you are a broken or bankrupt Nation/State(s) until April 15. Just to make sure other people can get their refunds due to them too.

Thank you for your time.

Waiting patiently,
Rachel

Name My Bib!

May 1 I am going to run the flying Pig half marathon in Cincy. This year they are going to have custom BIB tags so the 'squeelers' can yell our names as we run by! How fun! Now, what to put on the tag???

Feelings suck. Sometimes.

But today was a VERY good day!

I gots me some flowers (from the hubby)! And a card. And a sitter for tomorrow mornin' (so I can get to my work meeting on time) and I had some chili all ready to eat when I got home from work today!!

... all together now... (Awe.)

Oh, and the kitchen was clean, and my hubby put a silly status on FB for me!

Feeling loved. <3

Maybe I can tackle the gym tomorrow!? YEAH?!
It will have to be after my meeting at work, dropping cable and canceling Tivo. Oh and we are getting rid of FOUR tv's!! And the kids are ok with it! Yes!

Gettin' out there!

After a pretty long week Duner and I decided to take advantage of some pretty awesome temps for February. It was 60 degrees, overcast but still nice! We wore sweatshirts just in case...

Located just behind our church, (hence the pic of the cemetery, with gravestones in the 1850's) the area we headed to is hundreds of acres that were donated to the public for walking, small game, or bow hunting. Horse back riding is allowed, but no ATV's.


It is not like a public park. I don't think it is exactly 'maintained'. It doesn't have trash receptacles, benches or bathrooms. Just nature. Pretty cool. Some of the 'trail's had mini water-ways running thru them. At times we had to walk around an area to avoid some mud. We noticed a few used slugs. Reece took two and made a 'floater' so he could put it in a stream and try to race it down stream.

I don't think this house was the doctors home, but it is in serious disrepair. I was honestly surprised they didn't board it up tighter, to keep people out.



All the windows are broken and it has a well in the living room... right in the middle(!!), uncovered except for a piece of metal furniture halfway over it. Graffiti, um, I mean verbal artwork, is all over the place, a drop ceiling that is seriously dropped remains in spots. An old fridge is laying flat with a huge shot gun hole in the middle of the front door. The floor has given way in spots and walls have been the targets of various body parts.


Kitchen cabinets have taken there fair share of abuse over the years too. This one has multiple trama. ha.ha.



The back deck had even 'caved' over the years.

After the house we continued to a tip of a ridge but had to turn around so I could get to a meeting at church. As we headed up Reece tried to see if his 'floater' would survive a trip through a tunnel. The boys waited a while but no luck. It got stuck somewhere under the trail. Reece was going to go in and see where it was, but there was a lot of spider eggs and given the NICE spiders they have around these parts, we figured he better not...

As luck would have it, on our way back, we began to get chased by thunder. I don't think I heard a single kid complain how tired his legs were on the way back... well, MAYBE, the fact that we began to get DRENCHED by rain about 10 minutes out from the car helped...
We got so wet, that our sweatshirts were still wet this morning when I finally put them in the laundry! (note to self: check the weather before nature walks)
At least it was a fairly warm rain!! Better than 30 degrees and SNOW!! LOL.

Starting... again...

I am forgiven, accepted, redeemed, blessed, saved, cared for and LOVED.

That doesn't mean I am free from suffering, headaches, chaos, disappointment, regrets, or guilt. Which sucks.

I have great kids. One lucky cat. And a husband that loves me so much that he is willing to have supper ready for me when I work late, not just mac-n-cheese but real food! Even Meatloaf. Life has it's ups and downs... bear with me here... this is the downs.

I LOVE Kentucky and am very glad we moved here. Love our home, the area, the wildlife that roam through our yard. I have seen deer, bunnies and Coyotes just yesterday!! So exciting!

It's time to blog more and FB less. I don't need to belittle myself with how great someone else's life is or 'how people are entitled to their opinions.'
*sigh*
After re-reading some of my earlier post's from years ago, I realized just how negative I have become. Sour, if you will.

Well... no more! Today's a new day... ok, since it is noon and I am still in my robe, I say it's still morning!! Ok, Now to hit the pool...

Now, Back to Regular Programming...

1. I am going to win a $5000 gift card from Home Depot for doing a survey on our receipt. I know it. I can FEEL it!!

2. Had the BEST spaghetti EVAR. I don't know if we will ever pop a jar of store bought sauce ever again? Let me just say how cool spaghetti squash is... really... so fun to make!

3. I had a cockroach seriously try and attack me at work yesterday. He jumped from my printer to the paper that my arm was resting on as I was typing. I swear, they are out to get me!!!

4. My cell phone is Tea and Egg white resistant, apparently. Yesterday I accidentally (now I sound like Brock) dropped the bottom of my phone in my tea I was holding. It randomly flipped through functions so I pulled the battery and let it have the day off. The next day it was fine. Then I, also accidentally, put it face first into some egg white on the counter...opps. Maybe I should take the insurance out on it?

5. Since I had to due without my cell for the day, I toyed with the idea of dropping the internet on my phone. Without it, I am half way to getting a personal trainer, which I need more than fat inducing internet... hmmm. Maybe even today.

6. I would LOVE to get rid of cable. Just run Regular TV. Especially now. No sports... well that Duner really likes right now... until April when baseball picks up... Hey! I am even closer to being able to afford a trainer, but then my kids will think they will are being tortured, requiring therapy. Ha. ha.

7. So, I have been playing with this Paleo Lifestyle/diet. A lot of it makes sense. I am not a 'carb-o-holic', so it maybe easier for me, but basically eat natural whole foods, you can even make your own condiments! (who knew) Tons of flavor. I am trying some ice cream right now... it is in the freezing process.

8. I so hate tax season, especially after a move/purchase. Paperwork gets so scattered... you know where it is at the old place then two places later... good luck chuck! It could be anywhere!! And then having to justify to Uncle Sam that you really put THAT much into your house you sold to make that much profit (if you get so lucky). And the donations, they medical expenses, moving expenses, small business, and on and on.... *sigh*

9. Had my FIRST spin class since moving to KY yesterday. I. heart. spin. Oh, how I missed it. That was the, hands down, most excellent spin classroom EVAR! First the room itself is a circle shape. Second, black lights and ceiling fans. BRILLIANT!! and third the acoustics were Wonderful!... bummer part is I forgot a towel and water, and feel like I sweated so much I left puddle. Good thing the room was dark!

10. In a little over 30 days, my oldest will be able to apply for a TEMPS in the state of KY.
*wince*... makes me a little sick to think about it. Maybe he will forget about it? Maybe?

You just never know...please believe me...

Imagine, you are 10 years younger than you are right now. Not overweight.

You were sick with a cough, so you go to urgent care...get meds for it.

You develop a rash, so you stop taking them. After two more days you go to the ER now with nausea/ vomiting/ diarrhea. Another provider, more testing,you go home with new meds.

Within 14 hours you come back to the ER, only you were brought in by your sibilings...

you are lethargic, lips turning blue and keep repeating to the first provider that sees you "please help me, please help me, please help me"... over and over.

Unfortunately, they do everything they can but to no avail...within 8 hours all systems have failed. Time of death called...

Believe it or not. This happens. People, please... make sure you hold your kids/ loved ones close and NEVER miss a chance to tell them how much they mean to you... This could happen to you just as easily as her.

If you are reading this... I just want to say how lucky I am to have such GREAT friends and family! I appreciate you all so very, very much...XO.. love you all!!

Ok. I have a confession.

Running and I are not getting along.

So about 10 days ago, I ran, or attempted 4 miles. On a treadmill. It like a few times prior was a struggle! I was finding it hard to even complete one mile.

*sigh* I sadly watched myself running that night. I seemed slow. Tired. Mentally drained. Ended that 'run' with 2 'power walk' miles in disgust.

I know you are supposed to lose more fat walking than running, so I opted for that as I mentally figured things out. Trying to get my mind right.

The next day, is when I had the personal trainer talk with me. What he said made sense. He suggested I was developing 'runners body'. Essentially, a heavier mid section, skinny legs. In Rachel's world I heard "Large butt , stick legs".
When we first moved here and I started working out again, I was 7 lbs lighter than I am now. Yah, Yah, I know , it's only 7 lbs.... You try running with a bag of flour on your thighs.... (which I believe is where it is sitting)

He told me I need to do more muscle building. I agree. It makes sense. Muscle burns more calories. I have been somewhat limited in my working out. I liked running 'cause it is the 'fastest way to burn calories. But I ended up gaining even thou I was running. So frustrating.

Before I had left Wisconsin I was taking Boot Camp, and Funky fusion, both muscle building classes at the Y. I loved 'em. Well, part of the membership at my new gym includes a Boot Camp with a REAL armed forces person. So it is REAL boot camp. Killer. I think this is just what I needed. Why?

1.His name is J.D. Six years ago he was 300 lbs. He is proof he knows what he is talking about.

2. He is way buff. He doesn't just tell us but shows us. He can do burpees with EASE!! It makes me sick.

3. After our first class he sat down with us and talked about importance of nutrition and WATER!
It was a great class. I came. I sweated. I had 12 miles on the calendar after that. I struggled with that. After 2.5 miles my bladder reminded me that I forgot to empty it before I left. By Mile 4 the bladder was ticked off. It was 30 degrees and I was cold. I had left my ipod at home, so it was all me having disscussions with God. I was ticked. I was getting sore. Crabby. Whiney. By mile 5, I decided to call 'er good and head home. My total miles was 6.5, it took me 1 hour and 30 minutes. Sad. Very Sad. As punishment for my anger at him, I believe God placed my power pooper on the 'throne' just so I was forced to climb to stairs to empty my angry bladder... then he probably had a pretty good laugh watching me sit, er, trying to sit down to use the bathroom.
Then seeing how I couldn't walk until Tuesday, my hubby is torn 'cause the Milwaukee Brewers play the Reds the weekend of my race and it is 3 hours away... I figured out I better put my FULL marathon on hold at this time. I have a half a month later, and now I have a time to build that all important muscle base, and get in the pool, and ditch those pounds for good!

P.S... I only did boot camp this Weekend and I can barely walk, again!!

To the UA!

So, I said 'Buh-bye' to the friendly YMCA this week and Helloooo to the the big box gym called Urban Active.

For half the price it has more of what I use. Treadmills, running track (my personal fave), boot camp, TV's with health nuggets randomly in cue, lap pool, nice locker rooms (that don't smell nasty), and all kinds of weight machines!

Oh, and a cardio cinema that is just like a movie theater only with treadmills, ellipticals, and recumbent bikes. It is even REALLY dark, just like a theater, which made me ask... 'Don't people fall off the machines?'... to which he replied. 'Yeah, sometimes.."

Well, ok.... but the SOUND was really cool!

So, in addition to the fun new things to try out, I got a 'complementary' personal trainer session. Lucky me. First they HUMILIATE YOU, encouragingly, then hit you with the price tag. (bummer) I would LOVE to be able to afford a personal trainer, two or three times a week! But I can't. It was nice. I agree with what they said.
I need to do different exercises to build muscle. And not machines, but plymotetric exercises. No denying that fact from me!

Well, I had the privilage of having a guy with 2% body fat, just how much fat is on my body. HAHAHAHAHAHA~ Life can be so cruel. I had to hold my arms out straight and hold tight on the handles of what looked like a giant PS3 controller. I still wish I knew the trick to cheating on that test!

Ok. So I get it, I wish I could afford it... Time to break out those Jillian Michaels DVD's and keep on truckin' with the training.

Sunday Six

6. Snow days so far this year for the boys I think is at 6 or 7 right now. We are supposed to get more next week. They only had 3 days of school last week, and the first week in January. Well, at least it saves me on lunch money.

5. My Cello player decided to try and practice, just as my husband and oldest decided to play keep away with the husbands hat. As Reece, hauled out the cello, he was bumped and landed on top of the cello. It is a Shanghai Cello. Not Cheap. Hopefully they can fix it. The woman I talked to about it, asked if we put it on our homeowners insurance. 'Um, No.' I said. I didn't even know we were supposed to. It was still in the case when Reece fell on it, too bad it wasn't a hard case, like this...

4. Well, the season job Duner picked up for the holidays, said "Thanks now leave." on Saturday. The money was nice. It will be missed... but he is on the 'good boy list', so they said they will welcome them back next year.

3. One 'perk' if you will, for endurance training is the appetite reduction. Otherwise known as nausea index. You, or at least I do,know just how hard you push yourself with the workout by how nauseated I am after the workout. Especially after a long one. I ran for 2 hours on Saturday and had zero appetite. Thirsty? OH yeah!! But I ate as much as I could anyway. Especially protein.

2. After my 11 miles on Saturday, I was pleasantly surprised that I could actually walk and wasn't stiff on Sunday like I thought. I was struggling after those miles. Especially when I thought about how that isn't even HALF of the miles I will be running! By 9 miles I thought, gee, I only have to do this 2 more times for the race. But after stopping to drink some water, feeling my legs start to hate me, I realized I forgot my energy gel and missed it greatlly. I had think about the people that do Ironman's without a leg, or pushing a child along the way...I was whining, and had NO reason to complain. Suck it up, Buttercup.


1. I am looking SO forward to the SuperBowl this year. It is more fun, to be an out-of-state fan, than an 'in state' fan. When you live near by you get pounded by the media with all things . I remember how they were in the Superbowl back in 1996, it was fun, but a bit of overkill.... but now? GO PACK GO!!!

Why I Run.

Ok. So allow me to get a bit deep here.

I hate to run. I completely, DREAD it at times. I hate squeezing into sports bra’s, putting on my cold heart rate monitor an watch. I hate to sweat. Blisters?grrr. Friction sucks. I get it. Really.

SO Why do I run?

I do NOTHING extra special, to make running easier for me than it would be for you. It simply makes me feel good, afterwards. Look better, and gives me something ‘real’ to complain about.

It is my cloudy day to let me see the sunshine better. My rainbow to my pot-o-gold. We need crap, so the rest is just, well, better!

Running allows me to get my mind and health straight. I can not begin to tell you how inter woven those two are. If you believe you are sick, or unfit. You WILL be unhealthy. Your mind is amazing. It can beat you up or it can lift you up.

And now the many reasons… why I should NOT run…

1. I have cankles. And thick legs. They are heavy. They remind me they are there with every step I take. They don’t like to move. It takes mind over matter for me to keep going for hours at a time. It sucks.

2. I jiggle. It is very much not pretty. I pity the person driving down the street having to watch me run. I hope that they are looking at the action of my ENTIRE body and not just various parts.

3. I turn bright red. Yes, not just blushing, but more like ‘quick grab your marshmallows and lets make a s’more red. Which brings me to reason number 4.

4. Woah,and the heat? Gives new meaning to the expression ‘hot mama’… let me tell you. I can not even shower for at least 30 minutes later, or else I am still sweating! Not to mention, natures cruel fate of ‘girls’ having to wear things like lotion and make-up to drip down your face or in your eyes. (D’oh, that is soooo annoying!)

5. It’s boring. If you can’t stand to listen to yourself, forget it. Why even try running. You will talk yourself out of it, EASILY. I read an article recently where the author talks about her running partners. She had 3. The first was fat, smelly and a complainer. The second was encouraging, upbeat and happy. As I read I didn’t understand WHY on earth she would keep such a crappy running partner… until she admitted it was herself.

(I LOVE the movie, Despicable Me, if you didn’t see it forget it) Ok, are you still with me?

It was the first partner on the run, asking herself ‘Why are we doing this again?’ or ‘Did you really have to eat that last night?”. We live in an age where we can not get a gallon of milk with out being bomb barded with 18 different ways ‘entertainment’. Flashing signs, news, music or store carts! Heck even the bathroom stalls have us entertained these days. TV is everywhere, on every device. Even with my ipod, heart rate monitor/mileage tracker and TV on the treadmills I STILL get bored at times. We are just simply used to be ‘zoned out’ all the time.

6. It takes a long time…. Ok. So 30 minutes to run? No. If weather is ok, yay! Maybe 1 hour and 30 minutes. But if I have to drive to the gym, put my clothes in the locker, pee, workout, ‘clean off the machine’, go back to the locker, drive home, shower… easily 2 hrs. That doesn’t include any weight workouts~

Now with all these reasons NOT TO RUN why do I still do it?

Accomplishment. I am able to give my kids a ‘hero’. It may be only for a moment… but they will be able to touch a real live person they can look up to.

Acceptance. Funny how some people treat you ‘before’ endurance and ‘after’ endurance. Like you did something awesome. So wrong they are.

To Believe. To prove to those voices in my head, during the run, that I can and WILL do it.

Excitement. My ‘events’ truly give me something to work towards to look forward to.

Wonder. I am continually learning how amazing our bodies are. We can go SO FAR with so little nourishment. (I could go on and on with that one)

Joy. Knowing that my body needs this exercise and craves it. I love going to the Doctor and after they listen to my heart ask ‘Do you run?” without me telling them!! It happens all the time! I love it.

For me, the reward is not so much in the small amount of time I put into the effort itself… but in the ever after.

Ice and Rest

Well. Yet again, it is a brand New Year and yet again I have an aching knee. This time it is the opposite knee.

I have set my mind on finishing the Athens FULL marathon April 3.
Yep.
26.2 miles.

According to my training plan, I was set to run 7 miles today.

It was BEAUTIFUL here today... ok, by Wisconsin standards, maybe. 44 degrees. It started out overcast and a slight drizzle but ended up sunny.

Just as I got my shoes on I noticed my left foot seemed to be pushing to the left crushing my little toes. I applied lube, adjusted the pad in my shoe and hoped for the best...

My run felt good. I had planned to play with my heart rate monitor a bit... push it up, then back off a bit... trying to build my lactic acid threshold. Harder to do on an outside run than inside run.

Had the wind pushing against me on the way out. According to the weather we were supposed to have a cold front come through, as I ran it felt like it was coming. After the first 20 minutes I knew I was not going to hit my '10 minute' mile run mark. I was closer to 12 minute. Being my long run, I was ok with it. 7 miles was my longest run since my 10 mile run back in October.

I LOVE MY heart rate monitor/ watch. It tells me how far I have gone, my average heart rate, max heart rate (thanks to my strap), how long it has taken me and a bunch more that I have yet to figure out.

When it said 7 miles. I slowed to a nice walk, then finished to my home. I was bad and didn't get my stretch in since we had to quickly return the rental car. I showered when I got home and sat next to Duner on the couch and crossed my right leg over my left. I only sat for a few minutes... not very long, but when I got up my knee was mad at me.

I managed to get the house picked up and oversaw the holiday decorations get put away.

Now, thanks to my HP mini, I am sitting with it propped up with ice on it. Hoping my knee is good to go for Monday, when I am supposed to run again. At least it is only 3 on Monday, part of 19 due for the week.

And now,I am shopping for new running shoes...

So long 2010!

2010 was a year of change.
Began the year in Wisconsin and ended it in 66 degree weather in Louisville, near my favorite, the KFC (Yum!) Center!! I am NOT MAKING THAT UP! How can you not like a place with Yum in the title??
Ok, so I wasn't able to get my training in while in Wisconsin so I gave up the 10 mile Hangover Run in Louisville, but I still wanted to see what the place was like... so we decided to rent a car that would ensure we actually would make the trip to Louisville and back without breaking down, while being easy on the pocket book.

I went on tripadvisor.com and made reservations for us at a place called Bucks. They said on the website, it was a 'romantic' place with prices about $20. Perfect, since the kiddos didn't want to go on a road trip.

We arrived early and tooled around the city, getting familar with it. We didn't have enough time to do much except tour the area.

Once we found the place and got seated, we had a menu on the plate... it was a 'special' night so all they had was a 'meal' for $75 PER PERSON.
I had NO idea. I wish the lady on the phone would have told me that... needless to say, we quickly took off and found a nice place across the Ohio river, technically in Indiana, called Buckhead Mountain. We had a perfect seat overlooking Louisville, just in time to watch the sun go down.

Our waitress, seemed a bit stressed out and didn't give us much time. So we quickly ordered an appetizer to get more time... a combo sampler of tater skins, cheese bolders, and fried green tomatoes. We had to try 'em... they weren't too bad.. The tomatoes reminded me of deep fried zuchini. Didn't care for the cheese bolders. They were a mix of cream and cheddar cheese battered.
After the sampler platter and my salad, I was full so I brought home my entree of ribs. (the kids loved that)

We managed to drive home uneventfully and hung out until 10pm, when we got tired and headed to bed. No need to stay up til 11pm to watch the ball drop, since we were now on eastern time so it was going to be Midnight to watch the ball drop. No way I could have made that.

Needless to say we quietly ended 2010 from our peaceful bed as we slept... party animals I know.

The Next Year

So, I have been planning, wait, I should say WE (as a family) have been trying to plan out our travel plans for next year.
I would love to do at least two far away races. Namely, High Cliff sprint Tri (cheap entry fees this year YAY!) and Outer Banks, North Carolina Flying Pirate Half Marathon in April, but ...

I played with the idea last year of running a FULL marathon.
It is an extremely intimidating thought for me. The last time I ran a half I had a side ache that would not quit for the last mile. Is it possible to finish double that? For me? Do I have the energy or time to train? Urgh, all those miles...Sigh.

I have to try right? I will need new shoes. Nice and big ones. They say your feet swell up. So my big feet will get really big. I am going to need to research nutrition and training.
A neighbor, J, is going to be doing her first full marathon, appropriately for the 'flying pig' in Cincinnati. I want to help a local friend here, A, finish the flying pig half for that one, so I want to get my FULL in before that, which is May 1.

The kids have spring break April 9 to 17 this year, so maybe we could work it in on vacation. I would like somewhere FLAT and warm. : ) I would like to be able to drive there, Duner wants to fly, but we still have to pick a race/place and Duner doesn't want to do Florida...

So our travel breakdown MAYbe... (okay, okay... so much of it revolves around races)...
January 1.... Louisville Hangover Classic (10 mile run)
Feb. or March.... Sister's Baby Shower Wisconsin
April ... Outer Banks Flying Pirate Half Marathon or maybe a FULL somewhere?
May 1 .... Flying Pig half Marathon, Cincinnati OH
May (sometime)... my sisters wedding Wisconsin
May 28 ... Coney Island Cincinnati, Tri for Joe
June 18... High Cliff Triathlon. Wisconsin
July 17.. Fit To Fight Tri in Mason,OH
August 13.... Cincinnati Mudathon!!! (Duner wants to do this one too!)
November.... Thanks/mas or Chris/giving... since we won't be home for Christmas in 2011 we are planning to stay from opening of gun season thru Thanksgiving and create Christgiving. (combine Christmas and Thanksgiving). Maybe the Turkey Trot, if I can stand the temps. lol.

I would like to do some more for fall, but maybe just some local 5k or 10k's with the family... We will see.

Our First Thanksgiving (in Kentucky)

This post is filled with 'FIRST's. We had a lot of them for Thanksgiving this year.

1A. For the first time EVER we both have off on Thanksgiving AND the day after. And they are PAID. SWEET!

1B. First time ever, we had NO FAMILY with us or traveled to be with family on Thanksgiving. Truly, it was ok. It was nice to be in our PJ's All day if we wanted. Not that I needed a break from my Parents and siblings, but it was just so nice being a small group. We were able to 'connect' today. It was nice not having to make sure the house was perfect, the food all came together at the right time, if we had enough chairs or worrying what time people were going to show up. It was just nice.

1C. Zeb offered and SET the table for us today! I didn't even ask him too. It was great!

1D. Well, it is NO SECRET that multi tasking while cooking is not my specialty, but we officially broke in the Tradition of something going wrong on Turkey day. Today I was trying to shop online AND cook beans and stuffing. It was going well until I smelt that distinguished aroma of fire. Alas, I was not a full fledged arson attempt, but Brock spent the next 10 minutes picking out the burnt beans from the pot, While I put the stuffing into a new contatiner without bringing the dark crispy parts from the pot.

1E. It has rained more in the past week than it has since we have been here in March. It has been great, just rainy. I can't believe for opening of Wisconsin gun season, I was outside running with SHORTS and a tank top on, and wasn't freezing!

1F. Got to play Wii Monopoly. After about 10 minutes Reece was looking to quit and play something else. After 30 more minutes he had forced us all into bankruptcy! (due to getting BOTH of the high cost spaces and then getting homes/hotels on them) His fees were $1400!! On one alone. Sheesh!

1G. For the first time we had NO LEGS or Wings on our turkey this year. Not that I meant to do that, but it came that way. Not sure why they would sell them that way. Didn't even know it was possible. I was ok with it. Kids were a bit bummed... but at least no one was able to fight over the legs! Right?

1H. I wish I had Bean-o in the house. You really don't wish you were me.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend Everyone!

Thursday Thirteen: The crazies are a Hunting

1. Our child, Brock, has informed us the reason he did not talk until he was 3 is he was busy listening... hmmmm. He gave us a great laugh with that one!

2. I guess I can not get enough motivation to lose weight, so I signed up for a second weight loss competition. One of our ER doc's is keeping track of our weights. We all have to pay if we gain any weight. Now, this peticular MD is a bit of a character. He is borderline 'cocky'. I personally have never met him, (since he works nights) but from my few email exchanges we have had and other co-workers experience say he can be a tad difficult. I JUMPED at the chance to beat him in the challenge, or at least give him a run for the money. So far so good, EVEN with German Chocolate Cake!! Proven that you CAN HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO!! he.he.

3. It's funny how God listens to you. If you would have asked me 18 short months ago, what the perfect job is, I would have said - one that I worked by myself, no management hanging over my head. That I was reponsible for my duties and got them done. Worked alone for the most part with my co-workers. I like people, really, just not drama or gossip. I get tired of the he said, she said, venting, back stabbing and finger pointing. Now? I have a job were I work by myself, I am a loner, but have co workers. For the most part they do not know what I do. When our co-worker died suddenly, I was informed but heard nothing else from my co-workers, not even when her service was eventually held. It was strange. I felt bad. But being that I and the physicians work for TEAMHealth, and not actual 'hospital' employees, we are seen as outsiders. Not everyone is 'difficult', but a FEW will not go out of there way to help us out. Now, I LOVE MY JOB, but sometimes it is frustrating when the few difficult are less then helpful. But otherwise I absolutely love this job! I was so used to people chit chatting in all of my jobs and now I am completely out of the loop, except for the providers, but they are so busy with patients they don't have time. Not that I am complaining, actually I feel unbelievably blessed!

4. We picked up a rental for Reece for Cello. It came with a T-shirt that says 'Got Music?" He likes it, so far, again.

5. Reece mumbled something about if he can run a mile with no problem, then MAYBE he would 'try one of those 6 mile races'. I promised not to push him into it, but that would be really cool!

6. Our crazy cat has been growling at herself again, it is funny when you don't see her sitting on a chair under the table and you are by yourself and suddenly you hear the growling, and no it is not your belly... but boy it sounds a lot like it!

7. My 15 yr old and 12 (soon-to-be 13 yr old) finally went to the dentist for a check out since we moved. Yeah, I know bad mom... Ok. So they did xrays and in, in true Ziemendorf fashion, both boys will need to have their wisdom teeth pulled due to impaction. (mine were pulled when I was 16) Brock has been obsessing about it and we haven't even scheduled any appts yet. We are waiting til we have two dental insurances after December 1.

8. Duner just accepted that part time job and then today his full time employer told him today, OVERTIME starts today! 10 hour shifts, possible 12 hour shifts...everyday for the rest of the year! So, we are not sure if he will keep the part time job, it may interfere with full time. Yes he wants to work both. We will see.

9. We booked out hotel for Christmas! Holiday Inn Select here we come December 24th! Not sure we will make it for Thanksgiving, but the kids and I will definitely be there for Christmas.

10. We would love to have visitors!!! If you come and visit we have to head over that direction, even if you do not find anything there, YOU MUST VISIT JUNGLE JIM'S international market! It is an experience AND a store!! Have you ever seen frozen Rattle snake? Kangaroo medalions? $5000 wine? There truly is something for everyone there! I don't want to give too much away, but YOU HAVE TO COME AND VISIT!

11. Zeb is in boy scouts and we get to tour the Cincinnati airport tower! How cool is that! I don't know who is more excited. Me or Zeb?

12. Indiana Gun hunting season opens this Saturday. Duner is very excited. Secretly I am hoping he doesn't do so well... we don't have the freezer space yet!!

13. Brock and I are starting to volunteer at a Rescue Misson called Fairhaven. We are going to find out what we will do exactly but it sounds like it will be working in the Thrift store.

Frightful Five - Happy Halloween!

1. On Saturday I gave each of the kids a task to do. One of them had to clean the toilets, another vacuum, another dust with Pledge. Zeb went a bit crazy with the dusting and somehow our floors got very slippery, so we had some fun running and sliding down the hall with our socks or a rug for some physical fun.

2. Duner is now employed by Amazon.com for the holiday season. He starts next week. He will work Monday thru Friday 6:30-10:30 and he is hoping for some Saturdays. We are trying to save up to buy a new fridge. We are currently using our fridge we used to keep in the garage in Kaukauna. Kinda small and I miss the ice and water dispenser...

3. This week was very emotionally draining. Last Friday my Aunt passed away, her funeral was on Tuesday. When I went into work on Monday, I found out an employee had died in a Murder-suicide. We were shocked to find out about that, but even more so when it was announced later that it was she was the one that killed her husband. We can only guess, but we are hoping it was some sort of mercy killing. They both had recently had doctors appointments, and she did not want to discuss them. Very sad situation.

4. BUT at my Aunt Phyl's funeral... I had a great time with some cousins we didn't get to see enough growing up. They were further away from our home, but though the magic of FB we talk more now than ever and we laughed and remembered Aunt Phyl with the best stories. I left with Zeb on Monday after school arrived at my sister's new home called 'Greyhaven' near Janesville about midnight. After a quick tour of her home, in which she showed us all of the 'hidden' areas (a closet and a SECRET room!) I was beat and glad to sleep that night. I LOVE my GPS, it got me right to her place! It was a good visit, wish it could have been longer...

5. I love our neighborhood, we have Great Neighbors!! As today was Halloween, Zebbie was over the moon excited to get his 'chainmail' on and scope the area for some sugar. When we were at my sister's she let Zeb try on a chain vest Uncle J had made when he was younger. He loved it, slept in it (or tried to) , he wore it at the funeral, wore it at home, to school, anytime he could he was wearing it!
So, as we went around the neighborhood, we ran into a lot of adults in costume! It was so fun! There was Sherlock Holmes and Watson, raggedy Ann, a cowboy, chicken (that freaked out a boy and pretended to be dying, hilariously!), a devil, and lots of many neighbors sat at the end of their driveway handing out candy... we met a couple that moved from Lomira,Wisconsin in July and another woman that I might go running with and is thinking about doing a FULL MARATHON appropriately called the Flying Pig Marathon...in May for the first time.. I might just join her, she invited me running with her, Zeb has played with her son, Will. AND she has never doing a triathlon before! I may just have a new partner in crime! : )

Ok, I have got to get to bed, but have a great week everyone!

We have a cat. She is quasi human.

A few weeks after we moved here she developed diarrhea, so we quarantined her to our bathroom, as she got better she was allowed into our bedroom,now she is all ok.

She is back to herself for sure. My husband and her fight all the time... he pulls her tail and ears to get her going, then plays chase the hand... you get the idea. She will growl at him and keep coming back for more. Luckily, it is only him, for the most part.

My husband HATES lights on at night, when he tries to sleep. We have a night light in the bathroom to help the cat find the liter box easier... we usually leave the bathroom door open just a sliver.

Well, the cat did NOT want to let him go to sleep last night.

Just after he turned off the lights, and pulled the door closed, climbed into bed, head on the pillow and POW, she flung the door open.... and not just once, or twice, but FOUR TIMES!! Finally, he pulled the plug on the light.

I kept giggling til I fell asleep. I consider it payback for all the times I got up in the middle of the night to feed her and he got to sleep...

Sunday Seven

1. This am I started off bright and early with a 10 mile run. It was my last long run before my half marathon on Halloween (in Chicago). It begin in the dark, with the stars, then I got to watch the Sun rise, and then finally the beautiful TREES!

2. We are getting to Peak Fall color right about now here. They said due to the dry summer the colors would not be as nice as they could be but they are still pretty sweet!

3. I found out you can buy Starbucks syrup! So,I picked up an Espresso machine, and have been a Mocha Mama. I can make my very own Dark Chery Mocha! Love it! And so do the kiddos! Every morning for the last 3 weeks, we have had to make a mocha for each kid. There is a TON of milk in Mocha's and very little coffee. I am wondering if I should invest in a cow.

4. We have been able to hang up some things on the walls. It is finally beginning to look like OUR house. I loaded up the tool belt with nails, screws, tape measure, pencil, level, drill and hammer. I was a hangin' machine today.

5. I have gotten my hours increased to 32 (hrs per week) at the hospital, so I am able to quit the YMCA's. My last day was Wednesday and I treated the crew to Starbucks VIA flavored coffees and cookies. It went over quite well.

6. Duner has been hunting on some public land behind our Church. He has seen a lot of deer. They are skinnier than in Wisconsin. We see a lot of them driing to Church too. It is a really rural area. I saw a 6 pointer the other day, it came up to some horses and it wasn't sure about them... it was funny to see.

7. We painted our office and part of our living room this weekend. Toffee Crunch and Gobi Desert were the colors. We used Toffee Crunch at our old house, I loved it so much I wanted to use it here too. The last time we painted the cat ended up getting diarrhea and didn't want to use the litter box for a few weeks. We kept her locked in a bathroom for a while and let her out from time to time, now I think she is ok... but not really sure why that happened.

Blessing's abound!

Sometimes, we think we have it soooo good. Then life crashes in on you.
Sometimes, we think we have it great. Then it gets even better.

This past year has been amazing.
Been crappy, been awesome, been better, now?

I have been unbelievably blessed.

A certain someone in my past, wrote me a note saying how sorry they were for the way they treated me. It was a sad situation, but we had lives to live. Everyone has regrets, doubts, wishes, and fears.
I wanted to hear that from them long ago. I was surprised to say the least. Completely unexpected. Really makes you go back and think.

Before triathlon, I would have melted in an instant at those words. I often wonder, if I didn't do triathlons or half marathons, would I get the respect I get from people? Would I have seen those words?

How many words have been said due to low self worth? Or low opinion of people? We all have so much to be grateful for, all we need to do is stop looking to others for our self worth.

No regrets.
No doubts.
No fears.
More love.

NEVER too late to start over. I feel SO INCREDIBLY BLESSED.

New job. New Race.

I am beyond excited to report I will soon be a one job person!!!
I do like working at the CC ymca, but boy, if I only had one job to dress for... oh boy!!! I am excited!

So I was working for the RC Durr YMCA on Saturdays, CC YMCA on Monday's, Wednesday's and Friday's, then Christ Hospital for about 4-5 hours Monday thru Friday. Whew, I am tired just writing about it!

So rewind to last month.

My job at RC Durr.
I liked that job. Until manager #1 went on leave and manager#2 took over. Let's just say I worked 2 days a month. She had issues, we will leave it at that. I gave my notice last week. Just before manager #1 gave her notice too.

My Job at Campbell County Y.
I love working with Terry. She used to be a manager until she went thru treatments for colon cancer. Now, she is just a full time employee, with a bit of anger. I get it. I really do. They basically GAVE her job to the aquatics director... who could care less about the front desk staff. We are kind of an after thought. Communication is um, lacking. But overall I like it.

My job at The Christ Hospital.
I was just informed today that I have been approved for an increase in my hours to 32 hours per week, which is the magic number that I needed for me to be able to quit the CC ymca! PLUS I get benefits!!

• 10 days PTO!
• Paid holidays, and THE DAY OFF AFTER THANKSGIVING PAID! (for those of you who know me, know I have worked that day more often than I wanted to for MANY years)
• insurance (we have a REALLY high deductible plan with Duner's work)
• workout credit toward ins! (if I workout 3x a week, I get $ off my insurance!) Sweet!!!
• I still pick my 32 hours, when I want to! I will be able to get the boys off to school, work while the boys are in school and head home when they get done and Duner comes home from work. Perfect!
  

Which is perfect, since I am training for a Chicago Half Marathon on halloween. I sure would love to dress up, but it would have to be something that can be washed and get sweaty. Up to 8 or 9 miles this weekend.

Hopefully the weather will dip below the 80's for it!

And Exhale....

Ok. So gone are the days of driving over the 'home' to drop the kiddo's off for school and then picking them up and bringing them to the apartment.

What a relief, not to worry about if we have all of our 'ducks in a row' for the mortgage people and the insurance people.

No more inspections, certifications, or orientations... we can just be. It feels great.

My job is going well, the hours may increase shortly and I will be quiting one of the Y's when that happens. I must admit, as much as I like working at the Y, it will be nice to have only one job.
I agreed to do a half marathon in October with my partner in crime and former Tri Fox, DEZ!!! (she moved to Illinois this year at the same time we moved to KY) It is called the Monster Dash, in Chicago on Halloween. We get cool swag, that is why I signed up for this one!! A shirt that glows in the dark!! I am making my family do the 5k. Yep, they are already whining... this is gonna be fun!

Brock is taking a BEAKER FULL of science. Three classes this semester, to be exact. Good thing he likes science. He has science, biology and zoology! I just about had to pick my jaw off the floor when I found out his school fees for this year. It's funny, we had to pay the other kids fee's before school started. But because Brock's school was behind schedule and under construction, they delayed the 'fee day'. Which I missed anyway, since Brock failed to mention until we were in full move mode on the day we closed on this house. So I made a special trip.

Reece is a READING STAR in his language skills class. He says his teacher likes to call on him to read a lot, 'cause he can actually read without stuttering. He is our book worm. He loves to read and it shows. He said the teacher told him he would make a great author. We completely agree. He is a great story teller. Just the other day he noticed on TV that our cable guide was not working. It just kept saying 'To Be Announced' on everything. He started cracking jokes like 'Hey, have you seen to be announced?" 'Oh, look, to be anounced is on' ... I can't do it as good as he did... it was so funny!

Zeb is loving the space we have around here. He made me laugh the other day, he likes to chase his remote control car down the side walk... um, I guess that is one way to get some exercise! Ha! He had a space maintainer put in where he had those abcess teeth that needed to be pulled. He has started swim lessons at the Y, he swims no problem with a kick board over 9ft deep water!! If you knew how he panicked just as recently as the begining of summer in 5 ft of water, you would be amazed as I am... He loves to wave and give us the 'thumbs up'. He is one very happy guy.

Duner is beyond happy with our home. He bought a salt lick for the deer. When he went to put it out, he noticed fresh deer tracks through our fresh grass seed. (we have sod in the front, sides and 10 feet of lawn in the back of the house, then it is seeded in the back). He is constantly on the watch for those deer.

Our cat, Willow, has adjusted well. I am glad that she seems to have more space to wander so she is not trying to sharpen her claws on our faux leather couch. Yay! It is funny to watch her talk to the moth's out side of our windows. Zeb wants to get her a leash.. he.he. Zeb has a birthday coming up.... I think we should get him a leash for it. (just kidding)

Well, this weekend, we are going to be installing a garage door opener and heading to Duner's bosses 'house warming' party. I am looking forward to a nice low key weekend... and my training begins.... 3 and a 4 mile run.... yipeee! (maybe I will switch out one of those for a bike ride since I now found my helmet and tire pump!!! Yes!!!

A new kind of normal

Finally, we are in the home stretch. I have the kids enrolled in their 'home' schools, I am loving my job at the hospital and in less than 3 weeks we will be H.O.M.E. I can not wait.

On a recent visit to the home, we walked up to the front door and found this dead on the porch. I can't even touch it. It was seriously HUGE. over 4 inches long!!! (for those of you that can not see the pic on the side it is a praying mantis)

We showed our neighbor and he said "Oh, I had one of those on my tree here a few weeks ago." Oh. So they grow 'em big around here. Nice. I personally can not touch it.

The kids are loving the pool here at the apartment complex. Zeb has learned how to swim and loves to yell "CANNONBALL' and jump in. Lol. It cracks me up. He also has been taking Tae Kwon Do on Tuesday and Friday nights. It also cracks me up to watch that. Poor kid had two teeth pulled this week. We finally got the abscessed tooth pulled only to find out he had another abscess starting on the opposite side of his mouth, so they pulled that one too. Hopefully that motivates him to do a better job of oral care. He is almost 8, I think he should be able to do it on his own by now.

Reece is an amazing cleaner. He loves to make his bed everyday. I know, don't hate me. I wish I knew how that happened or if it could rub off on the other kids. Hmmm. I can't wait til they each have their own rooms (and we can furnish them from Ikea!) We went to our doctor here for the first visit and found out all of the kids are squared. The are all in the 90% -100% for height and weight. Which was great. We also toured Reece's school. It is all on one floor with carpeted hallways. We met his science teacher and she shook his hand and didn't like how he did it so she made him do it over... lol.. I like her. Also I think he will like the Art teacher. She was joking around with Reece about how she throws crayons at her kids but saves the pencils for the kids she really likes. he. he. (MOM, SHE WAS ONLY KIDDING) It is perfect for him. He pays more attention to funny teachers and really enjoys school more.

Brock has found his joy. When my sister came to visit, her and J told Brock about Dungeons and Dragons. He loves it. Not only that he has found a 'group of geeks' that meet every Friday to play D&D. It was funny to see how many 'grown ups' really get into it. There is also a girl, about 12 that LOVES to look at Brock. lol. Brock could care less about her though. I am just glad he has found some people to interact with, with out using ELECTRICITY! yay!!

Duner is liking his job, and really likes seeing all the deer so close. He was drooling over a huge '18 inch spead' at least buck that he hopes will head over to our home. He is running over 4 miles now. We were trying to go for 5 today but the weather got the best of us. We have had a heat advisory everyday this week. Next week is supposed to be better which is good, since we have a 4,5, and 6 mile planned for our half marathon training. Duner made the mistake of telling the boys about a guy at work that has some abandoned kittens at his place and they are looking for a home.
Don't get me started.

Have a great few weeks everyone! Hopefully the next time I write I will be HOME!

Why Kids are better than Cats

Now don't get me wrong. I LOVE our cat. Many hours and tears have been spent in her name. We are in NO WAY getting rid of her. EVER. But, I have had some time to realize that even though our kids are in Wisconsin with relatives, my house is no way FREE from the 'messes'. I think she misses the kids dearly. She now has a new name. Sassy.

1. The litter box. 'nuf said. I love our litter, but the sassy girl, is messy.
Kids: May 'forget' to flush, or miss the target but they have ears and arms that work to clean it up themselves.


2. The knock off... or over. Don't even think about having a drink, remote, watch or ANY thing on a table or counter top. Soon when you leave it will end up on the floor. Grrrr. At least we are currently renting. I think when we move, we are going back to sippy cups for ALL OF US until she grows out of this problem.
Kids: They don't spill drinks or knock things over on purpose (generally), just to see what happens.

3. Claws. I just couldn't bring myself to de-claw her. She had a rough start, and if she would ever escape from us, I would like to know she could defend herself. Our couch, is for example, sucumbing to her. I picked her up a scratching post. Hopefully more soon.
Kids: Although my kids tend to like long nails, they don't growl at me when I cut 'em.

4. Fly-a-ways. Cats shed. Like most animals. My allergies act up when I pick her up. I always forget how my face doesn't like her hair. But she is sooooo soft!! My eyes and nose itch after a few rubs.
Kids: Have hair, but no shedding and for some reason I am not allergic. hmmmm.

5. Moods. She likes to make sure you know when she is in a 'mood'. Her favorite is to hide under the bed and attack your feet. I hate big feet. (mine)
Kids: The don't talk to me when they are in a 'mood'.

6. The learning curve. I can pick her up off the counter and put her on the floor and she will hop right back up there. Even when I am right there!! 3x in a row.
Kids: They do get the hint. It may be a tone or a grip of the arm or a tap upside the head. (ok. please note. I did not say beat the snot out of them.)

7. Misplacement. I have lost my glasses, my blush brush, and my watch. Just to name a few, due to her 'lets see what happens when I do this' attitude. Re really likes to pull open the top draw of our vanitiy and carry my blush brush to the kitchen. When I ask what happend to X. She sits and stares blankly. Go figure.
Kids: Can either a} tell me where it is or b}help me look for it.

8. Manners. Our cat LOVES to sit directly on my computer while I am typing or reading. As if to say, Your done. It is ALL ABOUT ME NOW.
Kids: Thankfully my kids, since the youngest is 7, do not feel the need to crawl all of tables or my lap when they can tell I am busy.

9.Bedtime. I LOVE ME SOME SLEEP. LOTS. Somehow she feels the need to 'tenderize' our mattress. ... paticularly directly above our heads. Oh yeah, good times. We now had our door fixed. We can lock her out at night. YAY!!!
Kids: My kids no longer wake me in the middle of the night to 'play' or 'tenderize' our mattress.

10. Begging. String Cheese can not be opened without her sitting on top of or bolting toward you.
Kids: They can get their own food. No need to beg. Ok, maybe they do for other things, but sometimes it is the simple things, ya know?

I am so glad to see them soon!! Love you guys!!xxoo

Hi- Ho- Silver!

Tomorrow. I ride.

I feel like it has been FOREVER since I used my road bike. Technically close to it is probably closer to 8 months.

My last ride was over 40 miles with my tri friend Dez. We wandered the roads near High Cliff and Wrightstown, Wisconsin. Weather was beautiful and we were fairly conditioned only months out from our hilly Olympic distance triathlon.

I used to complain, during my training, that I wanted my life back. I felt like all I was doing was biking, swimming or running. Now, I miss it.

Now, don't get me wrong. I am looking forward to this. A LOT. But the hills here are intimidating and my ego is annoyed that it, quite possibly, could be humbled.

I have been trying to find a decent place to bike.

I have found some short trails but not really made for faster speeds. I am not that fast. But wide open spaces are a bit, limited here. I am told about some converted train track in Indiana but I haven't gotten there yet.

I will be biking with the 'Head of the board of Directors' at the YMCA I work at. Her name is Becky. She is my saving grace, since I still haven't been able to find my bike helmet or tire pump. She said her basement is like 'MONTGOMERY WARD' so I will shop her stash.

We are trying to beat the heat, as it is said to be in the 90's here again tomorrow, so we are heading out at 7:30 am, that is 6:30 for you Wisconsin folk. Yep. So I should really get my butt to bed so I can muster the strength to haul it up these Kentucky hills tomorrow....

Cha- Cha- Cha- Changes!!

The weather is different here fo' sure.

In Wisconsin, systems (i.e- cold fronts, high pressure) seem to hang on for days at a time. I have been reading on Facebook how sad everyone is that they are stuck with rain. Here? Here we get DUMPED on for an hour or two and then they move on and out comes the sun! (AND humidity, thank God for A/C!)

As I type I watch the TV telling us about a storm system that is sweeping on thru the system. The meteorologists seem to be less professional here, which is NOT really a bad thing... Just interesting. People seem to be a bit more laid back down here. About many things.

We are going to have to brave the heat of our storage unit (especially the upper part) to find our birth certificates, titles of both veichles, Proof of ins and proof of residence so we can get new license plates and drivers licenses.

It occured to me today that our extra school supplies, such as crayons, are in the upper part of the garage... *sigh*... they will be interesting to see.

==========

In other news, Duner began running with me last week. It is giving him a new view of working out. He really likes the feeling when he is done. He is quiet while we are running. I know that feeling....

Brock is now where the same size shorts as Duner. Reece is there too! Needless to say, I have a hard time figuring out who's shorts are whose these days...lol. Reece has had a nice attitude adjustment recently. He has become a model kid to his brothers. He makes his bed, he cleans and picks up things without having to be told and reminds his brothers to do the same. Blink. Blink.

The kids love that school is out. Zeb's tooth is bothering him again... looks like he has to get one pulled.... bummer.... we were given the name of a pediatrician to help us with that. More anti biatics again.

I am currently working with Convergy's but I did recieve an offer at a hospital. It has MANY pro's and con's. Pro's include... flexible 20-25 hr schedule. I would need to work between the hours of 6am and 6pm, I choose! More pay. $4 more per hr than convergys.... Local's rave about Christ Hospital, I would be working in the ER of Christ Hospital as a site coordinator, I would be a go to person with many doctors and making sure health records and info would get where it needs to go. The hospital is known for it's cardiac and ob area's. The crime victims typically go to another Hospital. Some of the Con's are... location. It is within miles from the 'nasty' part of Cincinnati. It will increase in hours to 32 to 40 hrs per week in about 6 months. I wouldn't be able to work from home, I would have to drive into Cincinnati everyday (M-F). I don't know the 'benefits' yet. I am supposed to get the benefits in the mail. It is for a company called Teamhealth. Based out of Akron, Ohio. They are creating this position, so not too much is known about it.
I have asked the HR person, if she knows of someone I can take a tour with before I decide.

Duner and I drove around the Hospital. It is in a primarily Black neighborhood with older homes (not that I am saying they are bad). They were very friendly when our GPS took us a to a one way street. All of them liked to hang out on their front porches. They were not home bodies for sure. It really seems to be a nice neighborhood, just next to a bad one. IT is close to the highway, so I wouldn't really be in the area long and the Parking garage has security guards in it.

So, prayers , excellent vibes and good thoughts would be wonderful as we figure things out these few coming weeks! At least our home has a first floor today!! Hopefully we have a ROOF by the end of the week!! Yay!!!

Unexpected Weekend get-a-way!

So, I am at work on Friday. A co-worker pulled out the calendar and says to me, "So, you have off on Monday.' What? Really?? Color me surprised!! Duner wanted to head home to Wisconsin for the weekend and, now we were both off!

We quickly made some sandwiches for supper and packed a cooler to eat as we drove. We headed out about 6pm. We thought with the 'holiday' weekend traffic would be bad. We were pleasantly surprised. We have learned a few tricks, such as avoiding 'downtown Chicago' with Interstate 294 and going around the big city. We didn't have a lot of CASH on hand since we sort of decided this at the last minute, so we had almost enough money for tolls but found out on our last toll, that they do not accept debit cards. 'WHAT??' So the poor people behind us had to wait while she wrote down out license plate number and gave us a bill for $1.50 with a warning to pay our bill in seven days!!! Yikes.
Note to self: purchase an IPASS for tollways.

Ok, so we arrived and checked into our hotel by 2am and drifted off to sleep. We played the weekend by ear, as soon as I learned we were going to Wisconsin I made an appointment to have my eyes checked (cuz I needed some contacts and haven't found a new eye doctor yet). We have a great eye doc. He worked my oldest boys in behind my visit and gave us a discount. I will miss him. We headed to my parents for lunch, Duner's family for the rest of the day in their campsites. Sunday the boys got to play with there friends from Wisconsin and we visited with some old neighbors and friends. Thanks Sarah (and girls), Andrea, Aaron and Kim, Tammy (and family), Alan and Jaynie, Sandi (and boys) for letting us drop in somewhat unannounced! I am sorry for any family and friends we missed out on seeing this weekend, time goes so fast sometimes!

Today we are hitting the pool at the hotel with the boys and their friends before we drop them off and head home to Kentucky. The boys have 1.5 days left of school then they are off til August 17th, when school begins again... They would have gotten out of school earlier this year but Kentucky had so many snow days it extended the year.

I have a busy week ahead of me. My first Arbonne party in Kentucky, working extra at RC Durr YMCA and starting a new Job on Friday. I will be working part-time for Convergy's/Eye Med, answering members questions about deductibles, coverages for their insurance. After the training period, I will be able to work from home. That is what I really like about that. Plus I can get benefits and vacation time!

Have a great week everyone!

Our new healthy life!

I feel like a broken record, but I can not get over how great the weather is down here. It may be only 10 to 20 degrees warmer than Wisconsin, but it really makes the difference.

We have started to walk 3 miles every Monday, Wednesday and Friday's. It has been great. If I am not wanting to walk Duner talks me into it, we try to get the kids to join us, sometimes they walk, but sometimes they bike. Due to the hills Zeb complains easily the most. His little legs just can't do those hills. Even with the bike. We have a special route that we do each time.

Now, we live almost directly behind the Florence Mall. Sort of, like Fox River Mall. Just more hills and woods in the area. In fact, we commonly see deer behind Old Navy. It is very common to see opossum's, turtle's, racoon's, geese (they love the parking lot at the mall), bunnies , and deer. All in our 3 mile loop around our apartment. In fact, we came upon some baby bunnies that we were keeping tabs on until Friday. We could no longer find them. They had a run in with a lawn mower and one was killed, but the rest moved to a culvert and hid, some time, last week.

We have enjoyed so much more time as a family, without any electronics (!) here. I love our walks. I am secretly trying to get some runners in my family. I love to run up the hills and then walk down. (We'll see how long I can keep this up before they catch on, ha. ha.)
We also recently watched some great movies that have opened our eyes on some things that we eat without thinking, that REALLY are not good for us at all. Food Inc. was one and Super Size Me was the other one. We decided to check out our local farmer's market's and watch where we grab our fast food from.
Since we sold our microwave in our last home and don't have a built in here in our apartment, we only have a stove that has 3 burners that work decent and a fridge that can not keep keep celery fresh more than 3 days... we might as well just leave it on the counter top. But I have started to go to the grocery store daily to buy fresh veggies and ingredients that we will use for lunch or supper. I love it. It helps that we live so close to a grocery store so I do not go out of my way. Plus, I don't stock up on 'snacks'. Not sure why, but when I go to the store daily it is easier for me to stay away from the chips.
What ever it is, I hope it continues...
On another note.... we have a foundation now for our home! They poured the cement foundation on Friday, they will pour the basement and soon we should have walls!! Yee Haw! I tried to talk the family into walking from our NEW homesite to Dairy Queen for a treat (2.3 miles one way) but I failed. That will change by the time we move in!! Heck, I'll have them running for it! lol. Have a great week!

Less than Two Weeks...

In less than two weeks we will be doing what I thought I would never be doing ever again.... building our home, again.
Two Months ago, we had picked a home. Nice one, but after some questions rose up with the builder, location and over all value, we decided to back out of that home and look around some more.
Builders in the area are hurting right now with the tax credit out there, all the buyers are quickly going for the existing homes in order to close before the credit goes away. SO, needless to say we are getting a heck of a deal on a beautiful lot.

It is like a dream come true. On Frontier Drive, Deer and other wildlife in abundance will be in our back yard. The lot is almost as big as out last home, just under a half acre, and a hundred acres of trees and wilderness owned by one man that lives a bit behind us.
We love to go to the lot and just stand there. Nothing is there right now, but soon they will be kicking us off the land to make way for our home.

Our kids will get their own bedrooms, which is what they wanted. There seems to be a TON of kids in the neighborhood, hopefully we can make some new friends quickly. We will live just a short ride/ walk from a grocery store, Wendy's and Dairy Queen. Brock is excited to find a job and start earning some money. Zeb and Reece will love having a neighborhood to ride bikes and skate board in.

Until then, we sit and wait... in our apartment, until August.

Kentucky VS Wisconsin : Rachel's top 10

10. Weather. Ahhhh. I can't say enough how beautiful the weather has been. I have worn my winter coat here once, since March 6th. It is only 10-20 degrees warmer but it has really made the difference. We had 2 days of rain. It was a nice solid down pour then nothing but sunshine. We talked to a local that said "If you don't like the weather, just wait a minute". Lol. I guess it changes a lot to them. We were trying to avoid using our central air but I broke it out last night. But only for one night.

9. Please? In Wisconsin, when we don't here what someone says we say "Sorry?" or 'What?', but here... they say 'Please?'. I laughed the first time I heard that it just sounded so cute, but now I have gotten used to it. Other words that have taken a bit to get used to are 'warsher' (for washer), ya'll (for you all), and just understanding their adorable twang in some of them. Not all of them have it but, I just absolutely love the accent.

8. Apartment life. Living in an apartment makes me miss having our own home. We are counting down. I miss having a microwave. We sold our built in Microwave with the house and since we are looking at building I don't want to buy one right now. Last week, a neighbor in the next building had a party that really didn't get good until 1am, then it lasted til 4am. Needless to say we both were tired the next day and were afraid to say anything to them, but next time...

7. Schools. All the schools are very secure. All doors are locked except the one to the office. The kids are liking the schools so far. Zeb definitely has much more homework. Brock came home beaming, seriously from ear to ear, when he found out there is lots of girls that ride the bus in the apartment complexes. Reece is REALLY getting a workout in gym class for the first time ever. Reece even asked if we could go to the public library for spring break! Something is wrong with this picture... I know.

6. YMCA. Oh, so many differences. In Wisconsin, we did TONS of laundry, sweat towels and shower towels. Here, you are lucky to have sweat towels. They keep disappearing, so they just don't get more unless someone donates them. More classes are included in the membership, but the cost is $9 more per month here and the joiner fee is double but people don't complain much about it. But the classes that are not included are much more money. Non-members pay $150 for swim lessons that last 7 weeks TWICE a week. Gulp. I have not had anyone shocked by that price yet.

5. Accidents. We live near a Mall comparable to Fox River Mall. We see lots of cops around and hear sirens but we live so close to the main transportation highways that usually the cops are responding to yet another accident. For a while we had a lighted sign above the highway that told us how many deaths were on Kentucky highways. It also reminded us to 'Drive Smart Kentucky'. Oh, and apparently blinkers seem to be optional. Not a lot of people seem to use them.

4. Theme parks. Not only ONE but TWO, no THREE huge theme parks are within an hour and a half of our home! Kings Island, Coney Island and Six Flags in Louisville are all just a short drive away. Coney Island is the smallest, it is bigger than Bay Beach by about 5x, it is the closest. It is by my work. King's Island is about 40 minutes away and 1.5 hours away is Louisville, with Churchill downs horse racing, and a Six Flags theme park. Not to mention the Kentucky Speedway about 20 minutes away! Zeb and Duner are thrilled.

3. Roads. They do not have 'city roads', or many of them. They have lots of curvy narrow roads with lots of hills. Don't get me wrong, it is FUN to drive and beautiful to look at too! But forget bike riding on 'em. I will have to drive to Indiana or Ohio for those I think. But they are both 10 miles from here. It's strange how fast they let you drive on those narrow roads, but I can see why they shut down when it snows. We also heard if they issue a 'code-3' on the roads (meaning bad weather, stay off) and you have an accident, your insurance WILL NOT PAY. Yikes.

2. Shopping. They have some areas with big name brand stores like Kohls, Wal-mart, Target, Toys'r'us, Best Buy,Mejier (like wal-mart), Sears, Macy's, Dillards and of course, my favorite, Starbucks! We live really close to all of 'em. And ton's more. If we need anything it is just minutes away. I really like Mejier. They have a system that makes label reading easier. It scores alot of food on a scale of 1 to 100. The higher the number the better. It was very simple to follow and opened my eyes on some of the choices I made. Pop tarts, for example, are about a 4 or 6. I used to get those for a quick breakfast or snack for the kids. BAD!! I wish more stores used the Nuval system.

1. Taxes. Our home we are looking at building is in a county that has CHEAP taxes. 9.98 per thousand (value of the home). We paid $17 per thousand in Wisconsin. Party of the reason is ANYONE that works in the COUNTY will pay a tax for that county. School districts are divided by counties. At first it was a bummer to have that extra tax, but at least our kids are in the district.

New Schools New Job.

Tuesday's challenge was signing the kids up for school. We are living in Florence, Ky till April 26th, when we close on our home in Independence/ Walton. That is the district I want to put my kids into rather than start them in Florence schools and then change them again in April.

Apparently we are going to be in a VERY nice district and people have been known to lie to get their kids in it.

Our new home is on the border for two different counties. Boone and Kenton. One has the Walton-Verona School district, and the other has Piner Elementary, Twenhofel Middle School and Simon Kenton High School. And it is a brand new home, so no one knows the district yet.
Heck, NO ONE could pronounce the sub division. Aosta Valley. (I don't blame them.)

My youngest is in elementary, middle in the middle school and my oldest (who turns 15 today!! Happy Birthday Brock) is in High School. Needless to say, LOTS of schools involved here.

1. Ok. So I go to Piner elementary in Kenton County, because that is what my map and my spec sheet for our new house tells us they go to. They can not find us in their 'approved' list. Which is OKAY.

According to greatschools.org, they are a 5/5/7 out of 10 rating, for they elementary, middle and High Schools. That is the Kenton County schools. The district we just came from was 6/6/5 out of 10.
Boone County is the PREFERRED schools in the area. They are 7/8/10 out of 10.
Piner Elementary vice principal makes 8 calls and tells me to head to Walton-Verona Elementary. (Secretly I am saying YAY!)

2. After Fort Knox type security to enter the school. Really. I. am. not . kidding. I explain to the secretary that I was sent by Piner Elementary to sign up my child. I have to show them proof, and reluctantly she hands me the admission paperwork.

Now, don't get me wrong. They are very nice people but I was so nervous, I was sweating and shaking, I felt like I WAS BEING SENT TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE.

3. By this time the kids are starving since it took me over an hour to talk to them and convince them I am not trying to pull a fast one. So we stop by the home of the world's smallest hamburger. White Castle. The kids loved 'em, but boy are they tiny.

4. Time to try the High School. As I drive up a Boone County squad car is in the driveway. I hope that is not a bad thing. Hmmmm. I was able to walk into the office directly without a locked doorway. I explain why I am there, yes, the long version. The admission's lady said she talked to someone at the Elementary, but of course she too doesn't exactly believe me and calls in a guy to check this out too. Same paperwork, same questions, same answers. Yes, we are in the correct district. If we are not in our home on April 26th, that guy said he is kicking us out of the district. I hope there is no problems with financing. And he said he will be checking. Yikes!
Thankfully the high school and middle school are attached, so she calls over the woman in charge of the admissions for the middle school so we can get all the paperwork sorted out at once.

So, I have about 45 papers now to fill out, with which address, doctors and 'emergency' contacts I don't really know. But I will figure it out.

Now, I am printing some orientation documents for my new job at the Fort Thomas YMCA. I am most likely heading to orientation on Thursday and start after that.

Other than that... so far so good. I LOVE THE WEATHER HERE.

So,December was a long time ago and the last time I was able to post anything on this. Now, I finally have a minute to do it again! Whew.

Okay. After cramming all that we can into a trailer we headed down to Florence, Kentucky and set up are 'temporary' home. At least till our home in Wisconsin is closed and we can close on our new home here in Independence. I never realized how many E's are in that word before. Wow.

Our kids are adjusting well. Brock (the oldest) and Zeb (the youngest) are doing great. They love it here. The weather has been beautiful, I haven't even worn a coat yet! It is supposed to reach 65 here this week!!! We hooked up our computer, washer and dryer. I finally feel like I can accomplish things again. Yay for Laundry!

Today we will find out exactly what schools the kids will be going to. I am hoping to put them in the schools closer to the new home, but we will see. We have to drop off some paperwork for the new home, find the Tropical Smoothie Cafe that is in the area, (priorities, ya' know!) and find some ladies that are in the mood for foot spa and facial parties. (to get my Arbonne going down here)

I also need to get cat food. She keeps trying to squeeze in between me and this computer. I think that is a hint. I better go... have a great Tuesday everyone!

Life is fickle. It can suck.

It can be AWESOME. It can be boring. It can be exciting. I have spent the last year trying to figure mine out.

Last December, when I had my surgery to remove an ovary to make sure it wasn't cancer, I had a chat with God. I said "Ok, if this is not the big bad 'C' word (thanks to family history), I promise to get to know you more. That I did. I also learned a ton about myself. I grew so much this year than I did in the 30 plus years on this earth. And no, it wasn't cancer.

I am not watching as much TV. I don't really want to. I feel 10 times better about not being guilted in the 'missing the best reveal yet' or the 'newest hit of the season'. Thanks to TIVO, I miss all of those commercials that guilted me into checking those out. Now, I still watch my fav's. (Biggest loser, Grey's Anatomy) But I TIVO them. So, I no longer live my life by the tv schedule. Whew. What a relief that is.

I don't want to keep up with the Jones'. They are in debt. They can love you up, or trash talk you behind your back. I want to be real. I don't want to be fake. Ever. Why bother? I don't like to lie, it takes too much of my valuable mind's space to remember who I told what to. We don't have time to use it, either we are working to pay for it or doing some kind of maintenance to it. Why do we bother? I don't care what other people will think of me if a 'talk' to so-in-so.

I love the simple things. I would love to downsize. We built our house in 2005. Great house. Kids love it. In 2008 we finished off the basement, the kids really love that.... but, now we work so hard to 'maintain' it. Recently, my husband told us that he may have a job in Kentucky. They are opening a plant with his company there and are going to need senior operators. We always talked about moving somewhere far away, but we were thinking more like Minocqua,WI. Because it is so beautiful there. I would love to try Kentucky. We are checking things out, but nothing is certain right now.

I am pretty lucky, and happy. I can use my feet to travel miles in a matter of minutes. I am able to use stairs without my spouse or family worrying that I will fall down them. I am loved by a wonderful husband and some pretty great kids who actually listen when I get angry. They don't curse back (ok,yet!). I get to work with (and have in the past) some wonderful people. Good people that are so caring that they cried WITH ME when I got laid off in September. They went to bat to help me stay, which I can't tell you how great that feels. (I miss you guys!)

I am Thankful. I would have never thought of going to Bible camp as a family, if my 7 year old hadn't asked us to go. I was willing to send them for the week, but just never thought of me actually going. I am grateful I did. I have gone myself growing up, but that was kids only, not families. It was a great (albeit) cold experience for my kids and I.

As we look back at the past year, I hope you, yourself can find some great things about each and every one of you. Stop keeping up. Live. This is NOT Heaven, so stop trying to make it one. Someone will always have a 'bigger tv', or better job. But they will also have the bigger bills or more 'junk'.

I hope everyone has a great 2010!