1.   Their rooms. They are atrocious and I get sick of yelling at them to clean it. I get to the point where I become passive on it and let it go, which is the wrong direction to go in.
2.    Their stuff. They always ask for stuff, especially my oldest. You get in this cycle of not even knowing what they have and what they need, not to mention there’s no time to sort through their closets –that’s a three hour project. You eventually end up buying things and it tends not to be the things they need, but the things they want. That’s the struggle and probably why my kids feel like they never have anything they need.

I saw that Katie left her diabetes kit at home, and when I got to the school to drop it off I couldn’t get in touch with her so I figured she had her backup kit with her… until I got a phone call from her. She was at her gymnastics meet after school so I had to drop everything and get her kit to her- which made me late for picking up Daniel. My other daughter forgot her soccer gear at home, so we’ll be late for that event now, too.

Give it a try- if you keep a to-do list, prioritize it and try not to finish the day unless everything is crossed off. It’s a great feeling.

I wonder if other moms have to run similar errands.. It seems never ending. My daughter’s shoes are too small so I’ve got to get her some new shoes, and drop her old ones off at Foot Solutions for the Soles4Souls program.  My kids lost the universal remote to our televisions in the house, which means none of our TV’s are working, a toilet broke while we were gone, we had a water drainage problem last year and have been fighting with the water company since last July….I’ve also got a box of pictures from our trip that I need to put in a scrapbook, I make a commitment to myself to keep up with this because if I throw pictures in a box, they’ll stay there for ever.  Where do I start?

One of my running partners is having hip trouble and she’s considering getting a cortisone shot which I’ve strongly discouraged her from doing. So she’s out for a few days and my friend Jim is out today too, so I’ll be going to do the hills at Westminster alone.  I have to force myself to keep a good pace so I don’t get caught going too slow.  For tonight, Katie has a gymnastics meet and we’re looking for volleyball camps for Madeline for the summer and Daniel might actually have a night off!

Just dropped off the kids and got a call from one of my girls who left something at home- so now I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to work my schedule… I may have to cut my run short, swing by home, and then make it to my doctor’s appointment by 10:30am.  Daniel left his sweatshirt in PE and I think the school gave it to goodwill… so I’ve got to get him another one because he’s always freezing (he also lost his coat!). Looks like another ‘last minute mom rush’

So to say the least today is my big catch up day.

Its 24 degrees outside, I’m definitely running inside today! I’m going to try and do my long run tomorrow.  I can’t believe I used to run outside on the track in weather like this-that was insane. I remember running with Steph Orman on Christmas Eve and the track was frozen over, yet we were still out there….. times have changed!

Everything is going well; I am running hopefully either my tempo run today or my long run, but hopefully not both. Last few weeks, thanks to the rain, I’ve been doing both and it’s been really hard. My long runs have gotten relatively short, they’ve been between 12 and 14 miles and they’ve been almost impossible to do, which I attribute to a poor state of mind for it, the weather, and all my hormone levels are still way off so its hard to focus at much as I’d like.

I ended up meeting my friend Steph for my run, we did 14 miles on the hills. It feels like the hills are keeping me from getting a full stride which might be why my legs are so tired.  My coach is trying to get me to run only one or two days a week on hills but I’m so committed to seeing my friends that I always end up finding my way back there. Tomorrow is the last day of the week we run together so I’m just aiming for 9 or 10 miles.

I did a 20 minute tempo today which did not go well.  I started it at only 1 mile into my run & my legs weren’t warmed up so the first mile was only 7:06 and the 2nd mile was 6:36 and the last mile was 6:00 but it was on a very hilly course and it’s only 25 degrees, so I guess its all relative.

For the family, t’s another triple header- 5pm is meet your coach night, pickup from gymnastics, and Daniel’s basketball game.  We’ll make it work somehow… Daniel’s also got a spelling test tomorrow but forgot to bring his words home to study

I ran 12 before my biopsy and 4 miles after. My plan is to meet a girlfriend tomorrow and get in 14 miles- its her long run day, so hopefully that will workout.  She typically runs a little easier so it gives me a chance to relax and do recovery at the same time.  My hope is to have an easy 6 miles on Christmas, and  another workout the day after (possibly 3 x 2 miles, 2 x 3 miles or 1x 6 miler).  Whatever it is, I’m sure its going to be tough because its coming off of Christmas night, but I’ve GOT to get it in before we leave for Milwaukee- the temperature has been very cold there, so I’m hoping I can still get in one run a day.  I do have access to some indoor facilities, but its hard to squeeze it in with family time and activities.   Like everything else, its just a matter of making everything fit in place!