Busy, busy, busy day

Tuesdays this spring have just been a bear.  Today was no exception, just busier than normal.  Let me outline.

6am - Alarm goes off.  Girls are up, so I get dressed, get decent, get them up, get them dressed, pottied, teeth brushed, hair brushed, and beds made. 
6:45am - Breakfast for all.  During breakfast, I make sure L's backpack is ready for school, I have a change of clothes for E in my bag, check email, and take care of odds and ends that need to be done (e.g. start a load of laundry, check my daily list, grade college stuff).
7:15am - Clean up breakfast.  Get girls ready to go.  Let girls watch cartoons for 15 minutes.
7:40am - Gather things to leave the house, get on shoes, help E potty (again), get water and snacks, and then out the door.
7:50am - Arrive at preschool.  Drop L off in classroom, go back to car.
8:10am - Arrive at Y's house, pick up Mrs. Y, drive her to the airport with E in the back.  E turns her head and tries to hide in her car seat the entire way to the airport.
8:45am - Arrive at airport, drop off Mrs. Y, E returns to normal with a zillion questions.  Drive back toward home.
9:15am - Arrive at YMCA for E's music class (late).  Attend music class.
9:45am - Leave music class, wander out to pool area, watch Grandpa teach swim lessons for 5 minutes.
9:50am - Walk back to car, fight about going home, load E in car, drive home.
10:00am - Arrive home.  Put laundry in dryer, let E watch a little cartoons, sort through some stuff for upcoming evaluations on Saturday.
10:40am - Start making lunch for E, myself, and L (to take in car).
10:50am - Eat lunch with E.
11:10am - Clean up lunch, put together L's lunch, fold laundry, help E potty.
11:25am - Get E ready to go, grab L's lunch, get in car, drive to preschool.
11:35am - Arrive at preschool, walk to L's classroom, pick up L, return to car, talk with another parent, load up girls.
12:00pm - Arrive home.  Girls watch 15 minutes of baby channel while Mommy downs Tylenol and checks email.
12:15pm - Upstairs to get ready for a nap.  Everyone potties, gets in nightgowns, plays a bit, gets in bed, and is put down for a nap.
12:35pm - SWEET FREEDOM.  Take shower, fall into bed for a nap.
1:30pm - Awoken by L screaming, go to comfort, come back to bed to continue napping.
2:00pm - E is awake and kicking the wall.  So much for my nap.  Get E up, bring to my bed, play.
2:15pm - L is up.  Get everyone dressed, go downstairs.
2:30pm - Snack for the girls, email check for myself.  Finish grading stuff for college students, put together my work bag for tonight, pack my workout bag, referee the girls fighting over crayons and paper, and start chopping vegetables and chicken for dinner.
3:45pm - Go upstairs to get dressed and ready for work.  Referee girls fighting again.
4:00pm - Start dinner cooking.  Call from hubby saying he's on his way home.  Help girls build block towers while dinner cooks.
4:45pm - Dinner is served and husband is home!  Quickly scarf down dinner, brush teeth, grab stuff, kiss good bye to everyone, and drive off to work.
5:15pm - Leave for work
5:20pm - Oops, I need gas for the car.  Stop to fill up.
5:21pm - Shit, I forgot to pack SOCKS in the my workout bag.  WTF am I going to do tonight?  Guess I'll have to stop by Target and get a pack on my way back.
5:50pm - Arrive at college.  Park car, go to classroom, set up, make copies, answer student questions, and get organized.
6:10pm - Class starts.  Teach.
7:00pm - Class ends.  Clean up classroom and all my stuff, lock up, call husband (hear screaming toddler on other end), walk to car, leave campus.
7:25pm - Arrive at Target.  Get socks.  Swear not to be so forgetful next time.
7:35pm - Arrive at YMCA.  Go inside, check in, go to locker room, get dressed, get ready, potty, and lock up stuff in locker.
8:00pm - Start running on treadmill.  35 minutes up-tempo run.  8:30/mile should do it.  Oh, for f* sake, why did this stinky woman just sit down on the bike beside my treadmill?!??  Ooohhh, STOP BREATHING LADY, YOU SMELL AWFUL.  Just 35 minutes...oooo, CSI: Los Angeles...mmm Chris O'Donnell...
8:35pm - Done running.  Oh, thank goodness, because I'm just about DONE with this smelly woman.  Walk for 5 minutes to cool down, stretch, clean off machine, get stuff from locker, leave YMCA.
8:50pm - Drive home.  It's dark.
9:00pm - Arrive home.  Stumble through door, find large package in kitchen, hide large package from girls in closet, tell husband hello.
9:05pm - Shower.
9:20pm - Get ready for bed, talk to husband, check on daughters, lay out clothes for tomorrow.
9:40pm - BED.  Good god I'm tired.
9:50pm - E wakes up crying.  Get up, go to her room, console, come back to bed.
10:00pm - Lay awake in bed staring at ceiling while listening to cat lick cat's crotch.  Gross.
10:05pm - Update blog.
10:30pm - BED AGAIN.  Please let me sleep.

A McDonalds trip to remember

The girls and I had lunch today with my mother-in-law's cousin A, who is living in Tucson this spring.  It was fun to catch up with her, see how things were going, and see her again.  We went to a McDonalds because I figured that we could talk while the girls ran around in the play area, which is exactly what happened.  At nearly the time that I thought we should get going, E decided that she wanted to play in the play area naked, and so she took off her skirt and underwear.  I think she was going to go for her shirt next when I caught her (thankfully) and redressed her.  After we got home, I asked her why she decided to take her clothes off?  She said because she wanted to play naked.  LOL.  I don't know how to tell her you're not supposed to play naked in public!  Silly silly girl.

Work work work

I spent the entire day working on spreadsheets, organizing stuff, and figuring out logistics for the evaluation program I'm co-chair of for next Saturday.  My head hurts, my eyes are fuzzy, and I'm ridiculously annoyed.  Good night, computer.

Alberding Amble 5K

As practice for the 5K I'm doing on June 1st, my training plan suggested I run a 5K race either this weekend or next weekend.  Next weekend, I'll be swamped with music things.  This weekend?  Seemed perfect.  I found this race via my community college faculty email and thought it would work well.  Benefits a math scholarship fund, at a park I'd never been to on the other side of town (new place!), and was fairly cheap.  Let's go!

The drive there surprised me and made me happy.  I didn't realize I'd be driving by both the Air Force base, the Pima Air & Space Museum, as well as the Boneyard.  I was like a kid at a toy store, completely in awe of all the awesome air specimens laid out on the tarmacs.  I kept thinking "my girls would love this!"  I'll have to bring them there sometime. 

The race itself was very small.  For the 5K, I think there were somewhere between 25-30 runners total.  It was a great course through the park too, with hills, turns, pavement and desert, as well as awesome volunteers.  I ran in fourth place the entire race (three guys ahead of me), so I finished fourth overall and the first female.  YAY!  I also finished in an astounding time of 24:57 for me.  My PR previously was set in December 2011 at 26:04, and my goal for today had been between 26:00 and 26:59.  Wow!  My first mile was at 7:55, which is super fast compared to my aim (8:30), so I was able to ease up a little bit for mile 2 and 3.  I did have to walk for a 30 second interval (those hills were awful at times), but I still had that time.  Imagine if I had run the whole thing!  I'm kicking myself now for that, lol.  The people were friendly, it was fun, and it's definitely a race I'd consider doing again.

There was one thing that I've been thinking about all day and trying to decide what to do (or not to do) about it.  As I said, there were three guys ahead of me the entire race, with me running in fourth.  The course (see map below) had a loop that went north and another that went south.  After I did the south loop, came back north, and started heading west (ultimately toward the finish line, see where it says "water station") at mile 2.5, there was suddenly one more male runner in front of me.  There was a volunteer standing at the crossroads of the loops directing runners, but this guy obviously didn't follow the course and skipped almost an entire mile.  He was a slower runner (11:00-12:00/mile pace), and he finished the race 5th overall behind me, 4th male overall.  His finishing time was just under 26:00, which he could never have done at the pace he was running (more like a 35:00 finish).  He cheated.  I don't know if it was intentional, but it happened.  However, it was a small race, he was the only one in his age division (male 60-69), and it doesn't hurt anyone.  But the thing I keep coming back to is the fact that he sits on the board of directors for the local running association.  A board member.  He's supposed to be one of the people other novice runners look up to and respect!  What would you do in this case?  I didn't say anything to him while there, and I'm really unsure if I should email the race director and just mention casually that maybe next year more volunteers are needed to direct runners on the course so that people don't skip portions.  I'm so conflicted - I know what he did was wrong, but I have no clue whether he did it for a better-looking time, or if he did it unknowingly.  *sigh*  Weighty thoughts.

Map of the race - start, run east, then run south around the circle, then head east toward the circled 1 (mile 1).  Then I think you can follow it fairly easily.  Mr. Cheater missed the entire section that has a 2 (mile 2) next to it.

Sign for the race at the park

Beautiful area for a race!

Crap picture, but they were fuzzy little flowers. 

I'm ready to go!

Semi-self portrait of myself with my winning medal.  YAY!

Better picture of the medal.

Boneyard picture - AIRPLANES!

L's last dance class

Since they're changing the schedule of L's dance class to a time we can't attend, today was her last class.  Despite still being sick, she bravely donned her tights and leotard to go to the YMCA for class.  She made it through warm ups before needing to go to the bathroom, then a few more things before pottying again, and then sat curled up in my lap with E for the rest of class watching her friends.  Poor girl.  I got a few pictures for her memories.

My daughter, the hooded ballerina.

Watching the other girls at the bar.

The Irony of Cinderella

L got sick this morning, so that, coupled with intestinal distress, made me keep her home from preschool.  She laid on the loveseat watching cartoons with E while I cleaned the house from top to bottom for her play date tomorrow.  As I was finishing up, she said to me, "Mama, let's play Cinderella.  You be the stepmother and I'll be Cinderella."  The irony that I had just cleaned the house top to bottom and she hadn't lifted a finger to help was not lost on me...

Splash pad

I took the girls to the new aquatics center nearby to play on the splash pad today.  It was quite fun, and I think they would have enjoyed it more had it not been windy and they got cold from it. 

E enjoying the splash pad.

L playing

The entire splash pad, shaded nicely, by the recreational pool.

L playing in a little ground sprayer.

E discovering the ground sprayers.

E got soaked here.  "Mama, I got wet."

L laid on this thing for awhile, I don't know why.  Maybe it felt nice?!?

Wrapped in towels, sitting in the sun, trying to warm up.

Interval Training SUCKS

Part of my training right now to get faster in my 5K running includes interval training.  Interval training is when you basically go fast for short bursts of time.  My interval training (in the plan that I'm following) consists of running 400 meters as fast as I can, then jogging 400 meters, and repeating this pair X amount of times.  When I first saw that I'd be doing this, I thought it wouldn't be a big deal.  Now that I've done it twice, I'm not thrilled by it at all.  Let me explain with an outline of my workout last night (keep in mind I ran at the track at the community college):

1.  Stretch.  Drink water.  Strap on music and headset.  Hope that the college track team hanging around the gate leaves so that don't watch me run.
2.  Jog a mile to warm up.  No big deal, jamming to my tunes.
3.  Stretch.  Drink water.  Dread.
4.  400 meter sprint, 400 meter jog.  By the end of my sprint, my calves are screaming at me to stop.  Instead, I jog another lap.  By the time I reach the 300 meter point on the jog, I'm thinking okay, maybe the next one won't be so bad.
5.  400 m sprint, 400 m jog, second time.  WTF was I thinking, I should have stopped like my legs told me too!  I can't do this!  Crap, this lap was slower by 20 seconds than my last one.  Jog lap to recover.  Man, my throat is parched and my legs hurt.  THIS SUCKS.
6.  Stop.  Drink water.  Moan in head.
7.  400 m semi-spring, 400 m plod, third time.  Okay, this is the third one, I'm getting through it, not too shabby.  Still slow, but...I did it.
8.  400 m fast jog, 400 m slog, fourth time.  Almost done!  Just another one!  I can do this!  Ugh, I'm so tired, it's so dark, my keys are too jingly in my pocket, and this song on my iShuffle isn't helping.
9.  Stop.  Drag self to water bottle.  Drink.  Stretch.  Deep breath, and go again.
10.  400 m fast, 400 m relief jog, fifth time.  Okay, that's it, I'm not going to do the six my plan tells me because I'm EXHAUSTED.  Thank f* sake that's done.  That kid with a laser better point it elsewhere or I'm going to kick his face off.
11.  Jog 1/2 mile to cool down.  At the end of this, I was crazy enough to consider doing that one more sprint/jog combination, but I thought better of myself and stepped into the sprinkler system nearby to cool off.  Aaahhhh, relief. 
12.  Stretch.  Drink water.  GO HOME!

Postal efforts

I think my girls and I singlehandedly keep the US Postal Service running.  Not only did we have a large envelope to mail to Japan today, we also sent letters to their friends, grandparents, and tons to their aunt and uncle in Colorado.  Maybe the postal workers rejoice when they see us drive up?  Hee hee hee!

Time to clean the living room

I was in a terrible mood this morning, so I devoted the entire time to cleaning and rearranging the living room.  At one point, you couldn't move through the space because I had things piled up and thrown everywhere.  My husband cautiously excused himself to the backyard to get away from Hurricane Me, while the girls followed in my wake like earthquake aftershocks to cause more harm.  All in all, I'm glad I did it - now the girls can use their play table again (it was buried under costumes and a dollhouse), the glider is in our room now instead of wasting space as an accessory holder, books are put away, music is organized on the bookshelves, toys are where they should be, photos on the mantel are arranged appropriately, costumes and accessories are accessible but out of the way, boxes are stacked and organized, the husband finally put away Christmas decorations, and there's space!  However, I was definitely tired when finished. 

Tada!  Organized, clean, and 100% better than it was before.

Woo hoo weight!

I think I read a statistic awhile ago that said that it takes 4 weeks of exercise for your body to start changing, 8 weeks for you to start noticing changes, and 12 weeks for those around you to notice those changes.  It makes sense - it takes time for your body to adapt and change, and then time for you to start seeing the difference on yourself, your wardrobe, how you feel, etc.  Being an impatient person, I've often wondered in the last few months whether all this half-marathon running/training was worth it because I didn't see much of a difference in myself at all.  In my 12 weeks of training for the half, I lost 8 pounds.  8.  That's it.  Most people in my position would probably have lost 20!  My body sucks.  In my 12 weeks of training, I also never saw a change in my general shape in regards to what I saw in the mirror or how clothes fit (in actuality, the circumference of my thighs grew an inch - oops).  Really, truly, I began to wonder if I just wasn't running or burning calories correctly.  Dumb but true.

In the past week, though, I've had three different people I see on a regular basis comment on how slim I'm looking.  What?  The scale hasn't changed much at all - I've gone from 8 pounds lost to 9.  My running hasn't changed much either - actually, I've gone from four days a week of training to five days a week to (hopefully) improve my 5K times.  I'm still doing a really long run on the weekends (7-10 miles, depending on what I feel like).  My diet is the same it has been for awhile too.  I must have reached my 12-week "noticing" point!  Hahaha!  So, this evening, I tried to see if I could find more issues that I might have bypassed in my general state of frazzlement lately.  Here's what I found:

1.  Most of my work pants will not stay up now without a belt. 
2.  My "small" jeans fit.  YAY!
3.  I generally wear size L in my running clothes, XL for tops when I want a lot of room in them (clothing today is generally too tight, even at my normal L size).  My size L running shorts and capris are having problems staying on me (I usually don't notice because I tie them).
4.  TMI - my underwear is too big.  Who has that problem?!?
5.  I have hips!  Oh, wow!  Hello there, hips, I've never seen you before!!!!
6.  I like my calves.  Like, a LOT. 
7.  I have really crappy tan lines for my socks, shorts, and shoes, neverminding the one of my forehead from the day I went for a long run with my visor on too low so the top of my forehead got semi-burnt.  Oops.
8.  I should really pay attention to those damn memes that point out that 5 pounds of muscle are a heck of a lot smaller than 5 pounds of fat. 

I'm happy.  Truly!  I feel good, I'm seeing progress, others are noticing, and I'm not afraid to get on the scale.  9 pounds down for the year - 6 more to go, and even if I don't get there by the end of the year, I know I'll be 1000% more in shape by the end of the year anyway!

Oh, the fun of a carousel

Since L has been asking, I told her we could go to Peter Piper Pizza on the next Friday that Daddy has off from work.  Well, that was today.  After the giant class from a local elementary left, we were able to get on the carousel for a ride.  The girls love it so much.  Sorry for the crappy photos, but I tried to capture the fun!

L with Daddy on her blue horse.

 

 

Going around on the horse.

E on her pig.  Yes, a carousel pig.  I look ridiculous.

Fuzzy E going up and down and around.

See?  Pig.

Picture posting

Pink oleander in our front yard.

Ooo, aaahh, still poisonous.

Pretty blossom.

E on the toilet paper we bought at Costco today.

What is the fascination with this stuff?!?

E was thrilled to be playing on it.

AND THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS.

Really?  I suppose rectangular rolls are interesting but...really?

Poor sick E

E is sick.  I think she has a stomach bug or something, but she woke up late this morning, promptly threw up in my hands, barely got breakfast down, and then fell asleep in my arms at 8:30am.  This never happens.  We managed to get to the grocery store today, and L was a great helper, but I still feel bad for her.  She threw up her lunch, slept 2.5 hours in my bed, and seemed a bit better in the evening.  Here's hoping it was just a 24 hour thing and that she's back to 100% by Friday!

E napping in my arms at 8:45am, with a concerned L snuggling her.

E napping in my room.  Honest.  It's not just a black picture.

Invariably

Invariably, when I make class optional for my students to attend, one student shows up and stays the entire f*ing class period. 

There goes my free time, lol!

Donut kisses

E was offering kisses with donut bits on them this morning.  Any takers?

Mwa?

E and her Dora underoos

Since E has gone two months now with potty training, and done an excellent job without accidents for a couple weeks now, we decided it was time for her to graduate from training underwear to real big-girl underwear.  We went to Target this morning, took her to the underwear section in her size, and let her choose.  Boy, it seemed to be a tough decision between Hello Kitty, Minnie Mouse, and Dora the Explorer, but in the end Dora won.  E was so excited.  L cried because she wanted to get special underwear too, but I suppose we'll have to do that some other time (she has plenty of regular AND special underwear already!  yeesh).  I can't believe both my girls are out of diapers (during the day at least).  Such growth!  Such big girls!  Wow.

An evening out with family

The in-laws came over tonight and we all went out for dinner together.  We settled on Chipotle, and then they treated us all to Baskin Robbins.  I'm so happy that they live nearby and that we can mooch off them spend normal time together.  The girls love it, I love that it works for all of us well, and I think they love having us nearby.  It's such a fun time when we all get together, but there's only one bad thing to come of it - now I've got a hankering for more Chipotle!

Dancing for L (and E)

L has enjoyed her dance classes she's taken since February, but it's coming to an end.  This month will be her last month taking them at the YMCA for two reasons.  First, she wants to do Itty-Bitty Sports again (soccer, baseball, & basketball over 8 weeks) and that starts June 1st.  Second, they're changing the time of the dance class from 4-5pm to 2-3pm.  Since that's smack in the middle of nap time, it's just not do-able anymore.  Oh well, at least she's not heartbroken about it.  E, on the other hand, is very upset that she hasn't danced yet and thinks that I won't let her now.  Not the case!  She can't dance until she's 3!  Nonetheless, I now have "dance" clothes for both girls (L's is for dance, E's is for going to dance).  I'm sad L won't get to be in the dance recital in June but there's not a whole lot I can do about it.  Sigh.

E in her "dance" clothes.  It's just a fancy pink dress, but she adores it!

E's horsey morning

E and I went for a 3-mile run this morning while L was at preschool.  We always stop by the horse ranch just north of here to see the horses, but they usually just stare at us from afar and go about their business of eating, standing around, peeing, pooping, and occasionally running around.  Today, though, our favorite horse "Ernie" (the girls named the horses, not me) came over to say hi to E.  She was beyond thrilled.  S/he was so calm and friendly.  I wish the horses would do this every time we stopped by!  Definitely worth the stop.

E loved talking to Ernie as well.

Such a gentle, kind horse!  E kept saying "so soft, so soft!"

More petting of the horse.

Happy girl and happy horse!

A non-horrible trip to the Children's Museum

The last time we went to the Children's Museum, E ran off.  I reminded the girls over and over and over this past week that when we went today, if someone wandered off again, we were immediately leaving, no questions asked.  They promised they'd stay with me and be good.  To be honest, "good" isn't the word to describe them today - they were awesome.  I couldn't have asked for better girls (aside from E's ploy of claiming to need to potty when we were leaving so that she could try to play more afterwards).  We played for a couple hours, had a picnic lunch outside with visiting birds, and they sang to me the entire way home.  Score!

Getting ready to go to the museum - nice face, L.

L in the sandbox.

E sweeping out the oven, because everyone sweeps out their ovens, right?

Building outside (E was running to get another piece).

Play in the 4-and-under room.

L and the giant eyeball.  You can change the iris's color, which she thinks is fabulous.

No, not pole dancing - sliding down a fireman's pole.

E pretending to spray the fire hose.

L driving the fire truck.

It's hard to see, but there are birds on the tree watching us eat.  L was generous with her sandwich.  : /

E eating her PB sandwich.

L eating lunch while I tried to take a photo of her and I together.  Dorky, I know.

L climbing the tree.  She only fell twice, lol!