Getting Back the Mojovation

A few favorites from around the web as I get my blogging legs under me again.

Love that word, mojovation. I didn't make it up, can't take credit, but teachers borrow liberally, so its ok right?  I heard it on a podcast by Another Mother Runner. Do you listen to them? If not, you should. Find them here.

Know another blogger I love is Rants From Mommyland. She lives in my area and I occasionally see her at Target. This is funny because Target factors heavily into some of the themes that are consistently touched on in the blog. She used to write with a good friend, who went on to get a fulltime job or some sort of nuttiness, but has carried on. And I am glad. Today one of her good friends totally altered my memories of Sweet Valley High. Did you read those books? I read MANY of them and apparently I can blame Jessica for any poor self talk I gave myself. Yikes. Even worse, the comments sections pulled out VC Andrews out of the memory bank. Something was just not right about my mom letting me read those books. Makes me wish I had the energy to read the books my kids do. *sigh*

Another thing that makes me happy? Huffington Post pulls together the best parent tweets of the week each week. I don't have to open twitter and they always make me laugh. Always good for a stress break.

This you can't go see, but I can tell you all about it. So, my son has become interested in football, as one would imagine with his dad being a big football fan and huge fantasy football player. I stick to the one pool my old roommates run where I have to pick one real team to win each week. Easy enough. Well, my son wants to join a league. Since all the leagues my husband plays in are 1. well established and 2. require money to exchange hands, he decided to create a family league. So now I have a fantasy football team. I have no idea what to do with them. I had to come up with a name, so I chose Caligirl. Not much of a football team name now that I think about it. I should have just named it "computer", as I fully intend to embrace technology and let the silly site do as much as it can for me.

My daughter has lice again. *sigh* what more can I say? I didn't listen to the warning bells in my head and put off checking her hair. As a result full fledged lice. Total mom fail. I am the only one that will take care of it though, so I kind of have payback on myself? She has a totally good attitude about it. She also has almost exclusive use of the ipad as I comb her hair out twice a day. I could learn a few things from this if only I listened to myself.

What does all this have to do with mojovation? Not much, but they were how I stayed sane (minus the lice and football) during a summer that sucked me down a giant workhole. My own sharknado you might say. So while I may not have made it to bootcamp or headed out on that run that could have/would have relieved my stress, I did take little mini vacations online. So I wanted to share, because one thing I have learned, is that everyone is better off with a good laugh.

I am here

I haven't gone away, just struggling to get out of the hole my work has so kindly dug for me over the last 2 weeks or so. I took off about a week and a half in May to just focus on sleep. It wasn't a great decision, but it was what I needed at the moment. I didn't go crazy with food, tried to keep the stress eating in check. Memorial day weekend was pretty much a free for all, but in the end I came out weighing what I went in with. So all and all, not too bad.

June is going to be about me. (again) It is a crazy time of year with school ending, spring sports winding down and swim team ramping up FAST. So I am working hard to get back to the exercise habit. June will be about squeezing in what I can whenever I can. I have a bikini to feel sexy in (goal) and the pool is open damn it! (how did that happen btw?)

So I ran Saturday and Sunday to kick the month off right. Tonight I ran a fast mile on the mill, just to convince myself I can kick up the pace and then took a 2 mile or so walk after dinner. I am playing with joining a challenge to see if I can kick things up a notch and get through this plateau I have been at for months. I am not unhappy with my weight, but a goal of losing 6 pounds over the course of the year didn't seem that daunting until I got to the 6th month of the year with very little movement.

Anyways, just wanted to let you know I am here, working out and trying to figure out my next race.

Hope you are well.

Looking Forward to Mothers Day

This weekend is going to be interesting. My son and husband leave Friday night for a Boy Scout campout, so the girl and I will be hanging together. Must think of some fun things for us to do, as that is a lot of hours! She has a soccer game and I am sure we will go to the library. Any good ideas - let me know! Saturday, we can go pick up our bibs!

Sunday we will both be running for Mother's Day. I am running a local 4 mile race and she is running the 1 mile companion race. Daddy is coming back so we can race, then he will head back out to pick up the campers. I am excited, some because it is a shorter race and because I know she is going to have such a great time. I am sad because the 1 miler starts 15 minutes after the 4 miler starts. No way this turtle will be seeing that show. Hopefully Daddy will take lots of pictures.

Today I slept in a little later as there is no bootcamp. I knew I needed to move today, but rain continued. Bummer, as I was planning to run during my daughter's gymnastics classes. She had two hours scheduled today. I ended up coming home and almost got sidetracked by a work call. I did get in the 45 minutes I promised myself and was rewarded with a sweaty 3.5 miles. Two more days to keep moving before I can take a rest day.

I also had 3 pieces of candy today. Not in the plan. Small steps.

The Month Flies By, But Some Moments You Must Grab

Today was uneventful.

That isn't true.

I got up and went to bootcamp. Circuit day. Ouch, enough said.

I am pretty sure I fell back to sleep when I got home.

Work - It was great. A project I have been working on for the last several months is finally coming together. We have a long way to go, but seeing parts of the application working was so gratifying and exciting!

Got some items off my to do list and then went to
 - pick up honey stinger chews for the race on Sunday
- get the car inspected (best part, other then passing? Being able to sit outside!)
- pedicure. Finally. I am embarrassed to tell you how much I needed it. Weather is supposed to be even warmer tomorrow, so this was a true emergency.

Came home to dinner in the oven and GREAT report cards for both kids.

Best part of the day. Hanging with my girl.

Boy was at scouts so she and I had lots of time before bedtime. I sometimes dread this, because it turns into a tug of war between what she wants to do and what I am too tired to do. We ended up just goofing off. So fun to hear the joy in her laugh and just giggle like girls. We tickled and read and wrestled and did hair....Who cares about anything else?

My cup is full. 

Balance

Today was just a worker bee/mom/friend day. Despite lots of things going on, it all ended up being surprising balanced. One of those days when you think "I can do this!"

Work: Started the day with an email that needed my full attention and basically spent the day working with spreadsheets to update 3 powerpoint slides. You all already know how much I love spreadsheets. In the end 2 out of 3 were completed. Also led a good meeting for icing on the cake.

Home: Kids were picked up and dropped off when needed, including a last minute pitch hit for hubby, who was stuck in traffic. Homework was started, but I did not feed them, that was up to hubby.

Workout: I managed 3.1 miles before emergency pick up and then came back to finish my last mile, by bumping up the incline and the pace just a tad.

Friend - Managed to meet a good friend for dinner and we were able to catch up. (and I kept my eating in check and enjoyed a lovely cup of tea instead of the usual wine.)

Whew.

Oh and yesterday I went to the mall (this happens about twice a year) and saw this.

Is this really where we are headed? Back to Jr. High? Neon?  Oh save me!

I also spent my bonus day working on my Tiana costume. Not ready for a reveal yet, but it went from tragic to maybe passable.  Getting excited for Disney!

How do you find balance in your life?