Back at it

So I obviously took a blogging hyatus, again.  It happened near the end of last year too.  I guess I just need a break from life by the end of the school year.  I focused on getting my thesis proposal done and turned in, potty training Trey and Caiden coming home for the Summer.  Good news I got all As and also, Caiden made it home in one piece....so proud of him for flying alone. He made it here a full week before he decided we were boring and asked to go visit his grandparents and cousins, lol.

Now I'm back at it.  I am taking 3 classes this Summer and have already signed up for the Fall 2013 semester-16 hours, eek!  I had to apply/request permission to take an overload.  Luckily, one of my "classes" is my practicum which means no assignments or tests (although I'd argue that all the lesson plans ARE assignments as they take a lot of creativity, time and energy) and another just changed from a 3 hour course to 4.

I had to stop running for a few weeks because I sprained my ankle pretty badly playing basketball with my nephews and niece.  I still got some moves and by the way, my team won!  So I have been slowly building back up, going from running only twice a week, to finally running all week this week.  It's been a grueling comeback as the temperatures are now soaring in the 80-90s and humidity in the mid- to high 70s...makes for "real feel" temps in the 90s and 100s.  It is exhausting, but I have been reading some great articles on acclimating to the heat.  I intend on staying exclusively outside for another week or two and then moving speed workouts indoors to benefit from them more (and not kill myself!)

I must say I enjoy running here, despite the almost unbearable temperatures.  There is so much beauty around me.  I love seeing the historical structures, wildlife, livestock, open fields, Texas/country pride...  Here a few images of where my feet have taken me:

Ryan, my poor baby, he burned his hand on my curling wand earlier this week.  I was taking Trey to the restroom one morning just before leaving for daycare when he wandered into my room, plugged it in and then apparently touched it to the top of his hand.  He didn't cry or scream, I had no idea it had happened.  He walked to the truck and climbed into his seat and still I had no idea.  I figured it out when we got to daycare and got this shot of it: 

I'm no expert, but we are guessing it borders between a 2nd and 3rd degree burn.  It now (3 days later) looks like this:

                                                         

That picture was immediately after I uncovered it,that's why it looks a little "wet".  I have done some reading and contacted the doctor by phone (HR just got a new job and we are having some insurance issues) and he assured me the color and secretions were typical of a burn.  A moist environment is needed for it to properly heal and the skin secretes plasma to help protect the raw skin.  We are keeping it covered most of the day, especially at daycare and letting it breathe in the evenings.  

This weekend I get to go home and visit family, my sisters, mom and I will all be together to have a little welcome party for my newborn niece - Sophia Grace.  

Bubba

Tomorrow is Caiden's 9th birthday!  NINE!  I can't believe how fast time has flown.  I still think of him as my little chunky monkey.

I'm so proud of the little man he has become.  He has always known exactly what he wants.  I know it may seem odd to refer to him as a man, but he has always been his age going on 30.  He's strong, intelligent and extremely rational.  He keeps us all grounded.  He has a keen sense for others emotions and feelings, and I've seen him lie to protect us.

I am bummed that I won't be with him on his big day, but I know he is happy.  He told me when he came down for Spring Break that he knew how hard this was for me because I love him so much and he loves me too, but that he was happy to be in California with his dad because his dad loves him too and deserves a chance to get to know him better.  He couldn't be more right.

His big wish every year: to have ALLhis family together in one place.  Maybe someday.....graduation maybe?

I love you son, I hope that you have a special day with your dad!  Happy Birthday!

Huarache Turbo

A good friend and former collegiate teammate of mine is a race director in the San Antonio area.  Her company name is Huarache Turbo.  She and her family help advertise, time and organize races for others (sister company is iaapweb.com), but she has also started to create her own races.  They are creative and fun and usually have a Mexican flair about them.  Her newest "baby" is a race here in Corpus Christi, about a half hour from where I am going to school!  The run starts and ends on the beach and is the weekend before my Summer session begins at school.

If anyone is interested in registering, contact me for a coupon code for $5 off =)

Anyway, she is my motivation for working so hard recently.  She has created 5 of her own races and I would really love to support her throughout the year.  (Visit www.huaracheturbo.com to find out about her races) Having some races to look forward to will also keep me motivated and consistent with my running.  I have been running a lot here in Kingsville, but not as much as I had hoped when we first moved here.  The amount of running I get in during a given week depends on the amount of work I have for class.  Tuesdays and Thursdays I usually don't run because I am at school all day until 5 and then have to pick up the boys, so I decided I would do bedtime Insanity after I put the boys to bed.

I definitely have to modify Insanity, at least for now.  I had back surgery several years ago and have avoided core work because I have a difficult time differentiating good pain from bad in this case.  So, Tuesday I did girl push-ups instead of regular ones because it is less weight and less work for my back.  Today's workout had a lot of squat jump.  Squats and lunges, if I do too many, send a shooting pain down my tailbone area.  So, I didn't try to keep up.  I set the goal of picking someone out in the video and doing every other one with them.  That seems to work.  My core feels tired and a little sore, but I don't feel any pain.  I'm hoping that I will build up the muscles in my core enough that I will someday be able to keep up.

Generally I would do my long run over the weekend.  Last weekend I ran 9 miles with two good friends back home.  This weekend HR won't be home to help with the boys, so if I'm not too sore, I'm going to try to run long tomorrow.

Spring Break with Caiden

My Spring Break flew by, and I wouldn't have it any other way!  I Minecrafted everything I could think of for Caiden's room.  Since we moved after he left and he never saw the place, I really wanted him to feel like this was his home too.  Trey generally sleeps in there, but I didn't tell Caiden that.  I just didn't want him to think he didn't have a space of his own or for him believe we forgot about him.  He loved it!  I racked up many, many cool points there!

Caiden arrived on Friday, May 15th, alone.  He was nervous about flying alone, but we knew that although we too were apprehensive, he is very mature.  He ended up loving it.  As he got off the plane he said, "That was so cool, I want to do it again."  His wish would come true two weeks later :/

Unfortunately because our schedules didn't coincide, I was only able to see him on the weekends.  It was hard knowing he was so close, yet still too far away.  We were able to make the most of it.  The first weekend was a lot of traveling and trying to see everyone, my family, my father's family and my husband's family.  My sister took us in that night he flew in and we spend Saturday at the playscape in San Marcos.

We played a few rounds of parkour; he beat me every time.

Sunday night Caiden read to his brothers before bedtime.  HR and I took the boys to daycare Monday, I skipped class, and we took Caiden to the aquarium, the two-story Whataburger in Corpus (per his request because it's the "best burger place ever" and there are none in Cali), and then to the beach for an hour or so before heading back to pick up the boys.

At the Aquarium

The second weekend I took Caiden and his best friend/cousin Katelyn to see The Croods in 3D.  My mom and younger sister joined us.  I normally wouldn't go to the movies, let alone a 3D one, but he really wanted to see it.  More cool points!

The 3rd and final weekend we spend with my husband's family celebrating Easter and visited with my mom for a bit before driving all night to San Antonio Saturday.

Lawn darts; he beat me yet again!

Sunday morning Caiden and I said bye to the boys and HR before heading to the airport.  As we left, Trey got emotional and hugged Caiden tightly, to which Caiden replied, "Such a harmless thing (to want to see his dad), but it hurts so bad."  He's too wise.  At the airport he saw that he would be flying with a girl about his age who was also an unattended minor.  He looks at me and said, "I guess I'll have to make the most of it."  What a ham!  Miss my wise little man.  Can't wait for Summer to have him back!!!

Minecrafting

In case you aren't familiar with the game, this is a screen shot from Minecraft.  I just want you to see how blocky everything is.









Caiden is coming to visit for 2 weeks during his Spring Break.  I wanted to do something special for him.  He is really into the game Minecraft, so I began minecrafting a green storage ottoman of his into a creeper character. Minecraft is all about square, pixelated images, I thought scrapbooking paper would be perfect for some wall art.  I printed out a Steve and Diamond Steve on photo paper and mounted them onto scrapbook paper.  From the available colors I had, I also managed to make a cow and a pig.

Then I was stuck about how to hang my art.  I didn't want to put holes in them.  I used to use a glue gun at school, but I was afraid it would tear the sheet rock.  I thought about using the tacky gummy stuff, but I couldn't find any.  Square frames aren't exactly the standard.  This morning I found these:

$6 dollar store decorative frames

They were almost perfect!  The scrapbook pages are 12x12; the openings in the frames were about 11.5x11.5.  I had to cut my squares down.  I died a little inside as it threw off my proportions slightly :(
I kind of wanted to redo them, but it was time consuming to get it right the first time around.  I'm sure Caiden will not be bothered (though he's a lot like me and probably WILL notice).

No one makes Minecraft licensed bedding. To solve the bedding issue, I bought green sheets and a brown comforter.  I pained a creeper face on one corner of the pillow.

I so wish I could paint one wall green, but we are renting.  I am now on the hunt for some bright blue curtains.  I plan on painting blocky white clouds on them.  I can't wait for Bubba to see his Minecrafted room!!!

Summer Tease

It was about 92 degrees with a cool breeze, but the sun was hot.  It was much nicer in the shade.  I thought twice about going for a run because the sun was bright and beating down on me as I walked outside.  What was I thinking?  It was a gorgeous day out.  Summers here are easily in the triple digits, even without considering the heat index.

I ran a long run yesterday, so I only wanted to run an easy 3.  I should really have taken the day off, but tomorrow is my long day + client, and it's difficult to get a run in before I have to pick the boys up from daycare. I would prefer not to leave them there until it closes.

I ran contnuously:
1/2 mile warm up
1 mi @ 9:24
1 min jog
1 mi @ 9:17
1/2 mile cool down

I ended up pushing myself a little instead of an "easy" run, but it wasn't a hard workout either.  I guess yesterdays 6.6 mile run was just the break I needed to push through.  My legs were a little tired, but my abdominal area and lower back were not sore.  It was a pleasant surprise.  (Since I had my back surgery and c-section, I have had some constant aches and pains.)

 

The Impasse

This morning I went on a long run.  I ran about 6.6 miles.  I didn't have my watch, so I wasn't sure how far I ran at the time.  The first part of my route I've run several times before, so I knew where my first 3 miles were.  My goal was to run for an hour, but I ended up running a little more.  Lately I have been stuck in a run rut.  I have been running 2.5-3.5 miles for several weeks and just couldn't get passed that 3.5 mile mark.  I think last week I finally ran about 4, but I struggled through it and had to walk halfway through.
Today I struggled for the first two miles.  I really just wanted to turn around and go back home, but I purposely set out to run away from home for about a half hour so that I would be forced to run (or at the very least walk) back.  After two miles I stopped to catch my breath and figure out what I would do about this:

At the top right of the pic is a bridge.  I quickly decided I would not be running on the bridge.  It is a two lane bridge, but two cars barely fit and there is no shoulder, not to mention it is at least a quarter of a mile in length.  I decided I did not want to play chicken with oncoming traffic.  Then I thought about running through this, if you can tell there's a road/trail on the other side of the "ditch" (aka waterless canal).  I decided against this option as well.  The grass is high and we have cacti and rattlesnakes, among other dangerous critters around these parts.  I decided to turn around and run a different route.  

After stopping briefly to contemplate crossing this bridge, I began to run again and struggled to jog the third mile.  Then something awesome happened~I got a second wind!  I was able to run the second half+ smoothly and easily and without thoughts of wanting to just get home.  It was a great feeling. I really was able to just enjoy the beautiful morning, soak up the sun to try to get rid of this bad boy:

If you look closely you can see the remnants of the RAD tattoo I had
when I ran with the grad school girls in early February!

I actually wasn't ready to stop when I did, but I had to get back to the boys.  The sitter asked that they be picked up by 9:30 am so that she could have time to get ready for church.  It was 9:15 when I got home and I had time for a quick rinse before picking them up.  I'm really looking forward to this week and the following week and having a little extra time to run.  My Spring Break technically starts Thursday 12:15 pm.  I actually can't wait for my Spring Break to be over because Caiden comes that Friday for 16 days =)