madameblogalot

Shelly tries to post her “Hit or Miss” list every month. Many months I am so swamped I don’t have time to read or watch movies so I can’t contribute to her list. This month I was able to get some of both done! So I would like to post my “Hit or Miss” list for Dec.

Reading:

I finished reading through the Bible today. I have to say it is a “Hit”, though there are parts that are hard to read through! The particular version I read this year is the Narrated Bible which is written as much as possible in chronological order. It is a good way to read through it, though there are still some parts that are hard to get through. The particular edition I have actually has some typos in it which I hope they’ve fixed in the later editions!

Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover was also a “Hit”

Scaifaikuest November edition was a Hit for me, though I don’t think it would be regularly!

Schooled was a Hit.

The Muselings was a Hit and was recommended by my nine year old nephew.

The movie Elf was a Hit.

The new movie The Day the Earth Stood Still was also a hit for me.

The book Kneeknock Rise was neither a hit or miss for me.

The movie A Christmas Story was such a miss for me that we turned it off after about thirty minutes (or less!)

Since it’s my blog, I can cheat a little. At the end of November we watched Kung Fu Panda. It actually ended up being a hit for me and my family.

If you read my Honest Scrap post, you know that I do not make New Year’s Resolutions. My husband on the other hand has decided over the last few years that he would like to make his New Year’s Resolutions a practice in self-control. I am not talking about the general “I’m going to lose weight” or “I’m going to exercise more”. No, these are very specific and almost masochistic in my view!

For the year of 2006 he gave up ice cream. For a whole year. Now this is his favorite thing and he would eat a lot of it every night. So I guess in giving it up for a year it was more healthy for him and saved us some money too! Then in 2007 he gave up M&M’s. This is his second favorite treat and what he turned to in ‘06 in lieu of ice cream. So, for 2008, he gave up both M&M’s AND ice cream! (Trust me, he cannot wait until 12:01 am Jan. 1, 2009!!)

He was not sure what to give up in 2009. He thought about all chocolate. But that is just going a little too far. I mean, that is crazy in my book! By the time it February comes around, all that Valentine Chocolate could just do a person in! But anyway, he knew that might be going a little too far, a resolve he was not sure he could keep. So he has gone with a whole new line of thinking. One of the guys he works with at church challenged him to stop saying “Whatever!” He uses it as a standby phrase for many occasions and I guess this guy gets tired of it. So, we’ll see how well he can do with his 2009 resolution!

Many of you know that my sister is a writer. She is a good writer. She is not yet “famous”, but I will agree with what my son said years ago, “she is famous in some places!”

She was the featured poet for Scifaikuest Magazine in November. We were all blessed to receive a copy for Christmas, though some of the more special people had their copies signed! (the kids) But what I think is even cooler than that is she has been recently playing with a new poetic form. It is based on the Sudoku format using three words in different positions without repeating in any row or column. She has developed this poetic format and had an article and poem submission accepted for a publication next spring! I am always lucky to see some of her writing before it goes to print. I may not always “get it”, but I know she is really getting good at what she does!

If you would like to enjoy some of her writing, you can find her online at Shelly’s Place. You can also order a copy of scifaikuest at this link. The magazine is located near the bottom of the page.

The illustrious blogmeister Pinhole has declared me an Honest Scrap Award. Apparently, I must reveal 10 honest things that most people don’t know about me. Immediately following this offering, links are provided for my list of 7 more “Winners”. Now many of my blog readers (if there are any!) know a lot about me. But I’ll do my best with my list.

1. I am scared of heights

2. I do wish my son was still homeschooled

3. we are trying to get a budget outlined for 2009, and going to try to live by it!

4. we have been reading Dave Ramsey and one day would like to pay off our house

5. I never make New Year’s Resolutions

6. I wish that we could take three trips next year (we have invitations for three really great trips!)

7. I am not ready for my son to get his license next month

8. I would rather read a book than watch a movie

9. My ring tone is Tom Sawyer by Rush

10. I am running my first half marathon next week!!

Now I get to drag some other folks into the game too!

Marathon Bird
Jersey Girl
Redhead Rants
Betty
Sire
high fidelity
Merry

I am tired. I had too many late nights over the last few days. There were also a couple of nights when I did not sleep well. So now I am hoping to catch up a little on some sleep, especially before my half marathon next week. I tried to sleep in today, but you know how it is, I could not sleep too much later than usual, though I did stay in bed for almost an hour after I was awake!

When I am tired, it does not matter to me what my bed looks like. Mostly it matters how it feels. I need a comfortable place to sleep. I also enjoy reading in bed. When I come into my room, I do care how my bed looks. It’s nice having a neat, clean bed to crawl into. And when I see the wonderful wooden frame and headboard, I remember the early days of our marriage before we were able to afford new furniture.

But when I am tired to the bone, I don’t care much if I am sleeping on wooden beds, metal beds or even flower beds, I just want a warm, cozy place to sleep and sleep.

Today I had planned a long training run for my half marathon next week. I was planning to run 11 today, 8 on Wednesday and another 11 on Friday. My husband said that is too much that close to the race. So I was trying to figure out just how I wanted to do it.

As I was coming back towards my house around eight miles or so, I thought I would just go ahead and run twelve miles instead of the eleven. It wasn’t that much more and then I could start cutting way back before the race. As I neared my house for mile nine I decided that actually, if I was going to do twelve then why not go ahead and do 13. It isn’t that much more…I had a gel pack in my pocket so I ate that and took some more water and decided to go for 13!

As I got to mile 11 I was very happy and feeling good. I even gave myself a little clap as I turned around to head back home. That is when I realized how tired my legs were and that I was going to be running into the wind (which had thankfully died down a bit.) Mile 12 was hard, tired, legs tight, but I pushed through and when I got done with that there was only one more mile to go!

I was so happy when I came back to my house to know that I had actually run* 13 miles today!! I know now that I will be able to finish the half marathon the way I want to!!

*ok, I really did not RUN the whole thing. I used the five minute run/one minute walk method, but I was very pleased with the results!!

I love my kids. Sometimes maybe too much (if that is possible from a mother’s point of view.) But I know that I have done a real disservice to them in a matter of what could be in their best interest. We have never made a will stating who should take care of them if something happens to my husband and I. We have worried and discussed this for sixteen years now without ever being able to come to a resolution about it and without ever being able to come to the point of writing it down and drafting it into a legal agreement with a lawyer and all parties involved.

This is a scary thought, as is the thought of not having the proper Legal Documents to make things right for our kids should we both die. I know it is not the best that we could do for them, even if we feel we cannot come to a decision that we feel is the best. It is such circular thinking that it really makes no sense.

We have spoken with friends and family members about it and yet have never come to the conclusion of who is the best to raise our kids if we are not here to do it ourselves. As our kids are now very big, we know they would likely have more to say about it. And trying to come up with the “perfect scenario” in such an instance is less important as they are big enough to take care of some things themselves.

I know and believe having a will is important, even though my actions are showing otherwise. I hope that one day we will find exactly what we are looking for in arranging such Legal Agreements and will have the courage to draft it into writing.

Today I scheduled to run 9.5 miles.

Unfortunately, I had to get up early to get it done before church.

Fortunately, I got up on time.

Unfortunately, it was still dark.

Fortunately, it was not cold.

Unfortunately, I was hungry.

Fortunately, I ate half a power bar.

Unfortunately, I had no pockets to carry a key or snack.

Fortunately, there was not much traffic.

Unfortunately, my legs were getting tired.

Fortunately, I kept up my pace.

Unfortunately, it started to rain.

Fortunately, I had on my hat.

Unfortunately, the rest of me was wet.

Fortunately, my shoes were not too soaked.

Unfortunately, I had left my flashlight outside.

Fortunately, it still works.

Unfortunately, I took longer than I allowed for.

Fortunately, I still made it to church on time.

Unfortunately, I did not have time to eat more than a banana.

Fortunately, some friends took us out to eat after church.

I got up this morning to take my son to school. It was 30+ degrees…ugh! I was supposed to run five miles today. And not only was it cold, it was sprinkling too! double ugh…I was tempted to crawl back in bed after dropping my son off. But by this time I was already dressed and it was getting light outside. And what if race day is yucky like that? I knew I better prepare…

So I donned my hat and gloves and went just around the neighborhood, knowing that if it truly was too miserable I could come back in. My husband said just go to the Y and use the treadmill, but the thought of nearly an hour on the treadmill was worse than braving the weather (that’s how much I hate treadmills!) I did a mile and a half, ran back in to get another sweatshirt, and headed back out for another mile and a half. By this time is was beginning to be more than a sprinkle, but I was already damp and cold (actually just my legs were cold) and I decided to keep going for the last two miles. I remembered what my son had learned in karate, “train hard, test easy” so that kept me going for the last mile or so.

I am happy to say that I had a personal triumph today in running in such miserable weather. It was not a fast run, but I did it and completed all that I set out to do in today’s run!

I did my second seven mile run/walk today. It went pretty well. I am learning a few things as I go. My husband has suggested I wear shorts and long sleeve shirt to run. I did today and my legs were too cold for too long. So I won’t be going with that suggestion til it warms up!

I also had wondered what to do if I have to go to the bathroom during my run. I know at the race they will have Porta Potties stationed along the course. My first goal is to try to avoid that, but I doubt I can go 13 miles without having to…Today I got to practice! After my third mile, I had to go to the bathroom, but I did not want to stop. After the fourth mile I knew I could not keep putting it off. I stopped at the golf course to go. It worked out perfectly as I had less than a minute to go on that run series. When I was done I started back with a one minute walk and then into the next run. I only hated going back into the cold after the toasty warm club house.

I also learned that my regular athletic socks are not enough. I got a hole in one during my run! I think I will look at using my gift card that I won at the turkey trot last week for some more heavy duty running socks!