Back to Basics

I have been in some sort of rut the past three or four weeks and to be honest, I don't even feel badly about it. It was just a really long and overdue time to just chill. I kept up on the housework but did not tackle any big projects. I went for a few walks and/or runs every week but did not hit the gym every day like I normally do. I brought the kids to their games/practices but with lacrosse ending and soccer coming to an end, there's been very little of the rushing and non-stop action that we normally have every day of every week. And it has been nice.....but it just isn't us.

Which is a good thing. Because today, Rylee starts dance for the summer and Molly has a soccer game, and Cody's lacrosse stick has to be repaired, and the bikes need air in the tires before we head out on our ride later this morning, and I have a ton of paperwork I have to get through at the house today. So for me, busy seems to be the key because I had absolutely no problem getting up at 5:30 this morning and heading straight to the gym. And it feels good.

Wordless Wednesday: Opposites

Healthy

NOT healthy

Shelley's a Liar, Shelley's a Liar

So much for "IF I CAN....I WILL".

I just reread my last post and have to laugh at myself. Apparently, what should have motivated me to do more has actually had the opposite effect. The last few days I haven't even set my alarm to get up!!!!!

It seems like the more time I have to get things done, the less I get done......

If I Can........I Will

I have found that my best bet in making sure I get in a workout each day is to do it at 5:00 am. It's the only way I can be certain that nothing else comes up and snatches away my precious "me time". The fact is, if I try to plan on doing it after work or before bed, inevitably something comes up (picking up the kids from school, practices, games, gymnastics, running into someone I haven't seen and talking too much, laundry, dishes, supper, exhaustion, etc).

Every once in a while, I forget that important fact and I shut off the alarm to sleep a couple of extra hours in the morning. And at the time, it feels so wonderful....to pull the sheets up, relax, and slip in and out of consciousness. So Wonderful. But then, as the day unfolds I eventually begin to feel sluggish and wish I had just jumped out of bed and into my workout clothes.

This morning, I woke up before my alarm and started to get ready for a quick run outside before heading to the gym. Then I heard heavy raindrops hitting the aluminum roof covering the patio. Then I heard the raindrops, combined with the sound of the fan spinning in my room. Then I heard the raindrops, combined with the sound of the fan spinning in my room, and my pillow and still unmade bed calling my name. So I did the only thing I could do. I crawled back into bed, covered up snug as a bug, and let myself daydream to the sound of heavy raindrops and the fan. And I fell back to sleep.

Today, that was okay because I was able to swim during the time between bringing Rylee to daycare and heading to work. I enjoyed the workout and was in the process of getting dressed when I saw an older woman in the locker room. She had just changed into her swimsuit and was heading into the rest room before going to the pool. She had the hardest time maneuvering around things, was completely out of breath, and groaned whenever she moved her legs. Yet here she was at the YMCA getting in her workout for the day. Good for her!

It dawned on me that although I have some occasional aches and pains, I am fully capable of exercising every day. And I swore to myself that I will think of this woman if I ever again try to weasel my way out of a workout. If she can do it then there is no valid excuse for me not too (no matter how comfy that bed is)!

Wordless Wednesday: Bunny in the Bathroom

Rylee: "My bunny has to Peeeeeee."

Wordless Wednesday: Perfectly Wrapped....

Yes I Did!

Ever have a conversation with someone that changes your life? Maybe it is a quiet hello with a fellow reject that blossoms into a lifetime friendship. Maybe it is a flirtatious teasing with a boy that later becomes your husband. Maybe it is an "I'm sorry" that leads to a long and overdue road to forgiveness. Whatever the reason behind the conversation, I am sure we have all had one that has made an impact on our lives, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse; but always with a memory that stands out.

The past few days, I have been recalling a conversation I had with a woman who I am certain would have no idea who I am if I were to bump into her on the street today. A conversation that snowballed into a long, hard road of achievement for me.

In the summer of 2001, I was in the process of losing my job. A job that I enjoyed. A job that paid me really well. But most importantly, a job that allowed me the opportunity to send my children off to school in the morning and then welcome them home when they walked through the front door at 3:00 in the afternoon. A job that I was definitely sorry to be losing soon.

Knowing that the loss would be soon, but not knowing how soon, I was kind of lax in applying to every position posted in the newspaper. You see, I was being a little particular. I wanted the same things I was losing: enjoyment of the position and full time pay for full time work packed into part time hours. As expected, I was not having too much luck.

The last week of summer, I went to an outdoor wedding in New York and I struck up a conversation with a woman who was a classmate of the bride. It turns out she lived in the same town as I and was just starting her teaching career at the high school that I graduated from. She was enthusiastic and excited and it reminded me that teaching was always something I had thought about pursuing but never had the opportunity to dive into the required schooling. I mean how does the mortgage get paid if I am not working? The rest of the weekend I ran that question over and over in my head. On Monday morning, I went to the local college in search of an answer. As it turned out, I received an answer AND since I was already there, enrolled as a full time student for the upcoming semester; which started the next day. Nothing like jumping in full speed ahead.

The classes that my adviser and I chose were pretty specific. I had a broad range of interests - from computer programming to teaching - and I was on a semester by semester basis. Another words, I had no way of knowing how long I would be able to maintain full time student status so I tried to choose classes that may not be offered in the evenings. Computer programming, Intro to Psychology, Child Development, and Foundations of Education. My goal was simple: To do the best I can do in the time that I have. I mean really: full time school, full time mom, and working 25 - 30 hours per week until who knows when. My goal HAD to be simple.

Little did I know how often I would recite those words to myself over the course of that semester. To do the best I can do in the time that I have. As it turned out, the best I could do in the time that I had was a 4.0 at the end of the semester, along with a large thirst for more. More knowledge, more stress, and definitely more teaching and psychology classes. The two areas, according to my professors, that I had a natural intellect for.

And so it continued. Through the loss of my job, the loss of unemployment, the loss of my pride when I was forced to apply for food stamps and fuel assistance, the loss of a child that I had only begun to accept was growing in my belly, through the strength of my family and friends, through many seasons of travel hockey, travel soccer, gymnastics, lacrosse, etc, through the acceptance of another awesome job, through the pregnancy and delivery of another child, through sickness and many surgeries, through the loss of yet another great job, the loss of two very important people in my life, through the strong bonds of my friends, through the love of my children, but most importantly, through the tenacity to get through anything...it continued....right up until this past Saturday. When I graduated, Magna Cum Laude, from MCLA with a bachelors degree in Psychology.