Back on the RUN!

I ran today!
I could actually RUN again and my ankles didn't explode!
I am very excited about this in case you can't tell.

Yesterday I was very discouraged.
I could barely walk most of the day and I was starting to despair and think I would never be able to even walk up the stairs normally again.
Saturday we had gone to our local running store and I talked to one of the employees there who went over my stride with me and all that and he pretty much came to the same conclusions as me. He also suggested some KT Tape (which I had been researching) to help me heal a bit faster.
I was really hoping I'd come home and able to run, but not so much.
So yesterday I prayed all day and grumbled and grumbled and hoped I would feel better.

I woke up today and by noon I felt ready to run, so Sambo and I went out and my ankles were cranky, but not terribly cranky so, yay!

Yes, I'm wearing shoes for now and yes it is driving me nuts.
Yes, I want to run again right now and tomorrow and every day.
But I won't.

I'm going to not only be able to run a 5k and not die, I'm going to learn how to have a little self control and not over do it.

(Oh and KT Tape is one of my new favorite products. That is great stuff.)

The Gnoming

Sam's birthday was this past Friday.
It was awesomesauce.

I wanted to make a big huge deal over it, but Sam was Senor Fun Killer and said no.
Fine.

I like messing with Sam just as much as I like making a fuss over him.

I also knew of some friends who are always up for a good joke, so I invited a pile of them to join me in Gnoming Sam.

It was simple.
They found whatever gnome figurine they could or poster or card or whatever and they planted them in our yard the night before. Then Sam could wake up and enjoy.

You all know Sam absolutely hates gnomes, yes?
Well, he does.
Feel free to use that information as you deem appropriate.

Anyhow, Friday morning, Sam got up and the kids gave him cards they made.

They were highly inappropriate. Go figure.

Then I asked him to take the dogs out.
He found this:

Ruh Roh.
Good thing I got him a book for Christmas to help him prepare for this kind of a thing.

Sam and the kids cautiously explored outside and found all of this:

Sam found his garden gloves and gathered all the gnomes.

Then he found a few more he missed.
This is a singing gnome card.
Ozzy loves it.
Sam, not so much.

There were a few more guys at the door too.

Once Sam had them all assembled, he got the female gnome (he claims she was their leader). 

He made an example out of her.

Ouch.

Sorry girl gnome, you had to go.

Xander had the book and he of course approved this course of action.
My kids are into gnome decapitation. Sweet.

So, there is it.
Sam's birthday gnoming.

Other than the lingering nightmares, he was tickled about it.

He also knows who his special gnome delivery friends are and I am betting at some point he will be returning the favor.

Enjoy.

Oh, and happy birthday Sam! Way to turn 42 or however old you are! (I stopped counting several years back and now I'm always confused.)

Buddy Starts Pitching Machine

It is nearly summertime! That means baseball!

Sam and I have a few arrangements in our family.
They are all fairly odd, but they work for us.

One of our important arrangements is that he does all make up for Isabelle's dance recitals and I handle all sports. I coach, I take to and from games, I buy gear.. if it is a sport, it is my realm. (Except for karate. However as that is a martial ART I count it in the fancy area that Sam runs.)

This works fantastically for us.

With this in mind, I've got Belle ready for tennis this summer (and of course her clogging camps) and I've got Xander signed up for T Ball (YES! I'm coaching again! WOOOOOO!).
I'm super excited for Buddy because he gets to start pitching machine! Yay!

 He has his first team practice last week.

I learned a few things.

1. I hate cold weather. I already knew that actually, but every time I start to forget it Idaho makes sure to remind me. Blah.

2. I've coached too long and I am a terribly backseat driver in baseball. Even I was all, "shut up, already" when I heard myself hollering to Buddy the entire time. Come on, Kimber! Be quiet.

3. Buddy is pretty darn okay at baseball. He hit more balls than the other kids and when he started missing he told me it was so cold and it hurt his hands to hit the ball so he stopped. Makes sense.

It was a great practice. I'm really happy that Buddy's coach is such a nice person. And all of our games run at 6pm! Yay!

With some of his team.
There is one other lefty ball player on the team, how fun!

Batting. Once again, he had to find a helmet that fit his huge melon of a head.

Wearing his dad's POLICE hat just the way ball players wear them. Or so he tells me.

I'll be reporting to you about my coaching experience soon enough but in the meantime I'm very excited to see Buddy get going with  his baseball.

RIP Powershot

I had to get a new camera.
This one died in that fishing misadventure.
Truth. I hate the new camera and I miss my old new one.
Whimper.

Extreme nose picking?

My boys are believers in traditions.

I wish they would be more discerning about which traditions to hang on to.
Sigh.

A week or so ago I was teaching piano and Sam was with the kiddos upstairs.
Things were going pretty peacefully and I was foolish enough to be relaxing and just enjoying my piano lessons.

All of the sudden, Sam comes barely down the stairs.
In a very urgent and a bit concerned sounding voice, he interrupts my piano lessons and says,  "Kimber, I have an emergency situation here."

Of course, I'm thinking, great, the Batphone went off. He has to go to work and he'll be gone all night and I forgot to make dinner!
I  immediately shift into cop wife mode and I'm starting to figure things out in my head and it is all fine. I know how to do this.

But, that wasn't it.

Ozzy had grabbed a lego the boys were playing with and had shoved it up his nose and Sam couldn't get it out.

Seriously.

My first reaction was to laugh, but since my student and her mom were just staring at me I controlled myself. I asked Sam to get me my tweezers and figured I'd attempt to extract that lego.

That was a no go.
Ozzy wasn't in the mood to cooperate and I needed to teach my lesson and pinning down a baby while he screams and you shove tweezers up his nose is off putting to students so I sent Sam off to urgent care.

1 hour later Sam and the shortie returned home triumphant.

 Ozzy got a sucker...

and Sam got the lego out.

Well, the dr did it, but Sam helped.

It was a lego arm.
I guess that is one way to pick your nose.

Okay.

We've all participated in this fun little tradtion (see here for past stories) and I don't want to do it again.
Please boys?

Find a new way to torture me. I'm sure you will find something fantastic.
Or at least expensive.

Boys are insane. Seriously insane.

Faster than I have Strength

Did you ever hear the story about the girl who was certain she could do anything in the world she wanted to and she actually could for a really really long time but then she totally crashed and burned because she took on more than she could handle?

Yeah.

That girl is dumb. Of course, she is also me.

Let me explain with a true story about my life.

A few weeks ago I decided to take on a new hobby.

I wanted to start barefoot running.
Now, barefoot running can involve shoes, so calm down. I have these shoes for my running adventures:

I love them so much.

I did some research, talked to some running friends and decided on a program that would work.

I went on my first run and it was awesome. Hard, but awesome. I felt like I could do anything.

So, I kept running. I ran for seven days straight in fact.

That is when I got into trouble.

You see, I did a lot of reading and talking and all that, but I didn't actually LISTEN to the advice I was given. Over and over again I was told not to run more than 3 days in a week, to take a day off between runs and to take this slow or I would get hurt.

Since I felt fine on day one through six, I just figured everyone else was silly and I was smart.
Then, day 7 hit.

I ran and I was fine until I got home and suddenly I wasn't feeling so fine. My ankles were really angry with me and I was having a hard time walking.

Again, I asked for advice and was told to stop running until the pain went away.

I did that... for a day. Then I ran again.

Mistake. I could barely walk for the rest of the week.

Not being wise enough to know when to stop, I tried running again the other night and I could not even take one running step without being in so much pain I wanted to cry.

Finally I'd had enough. It was time to stop running and just rest so I could try again.

But, of course, I wasn't done. I kept telling Sam I was frustrated and I didn't know why I couldn't do this and I would try again. Finally, probably out of frustration from listening to me rant and rave he said to me last night, "maybe your ankles are just not strong enough to do this. Why don't you try running in shoes and getting strong enough to run barefoot after you are able to safely instead of taking all this on now when you just aren't ready?"

Well, that made me kind of mad for a minute!
I can do anything I want to you know! Mind over matter!

But then, that silly little voice that talks to me when I need it the most and want it the least decided to pipe up and put me in my place.

It reminded me of a scripture that pretty literally spoke to me right then (and right now).

To set it up, this scripture is in a passage that discusses serving others, helping the needy, loving people without judgement and just doing good wherever we go. It goes on and on about how we MUST help others and do good... but then it says:

And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.
(Mosiah Chapter 4 Verse 27, Book of Mormon)


Whoops. 

 Maybe I need to slow down, realize I can't climb this mountain until I learn how to walk up a hill correctly and do things right instead of RIGHT NOW.

I'm sure you are wondering why I think a scripture is talking to me about my new running hobby. Or maybe you already see where I am going.

This isn't actually about running. Running and getting injured and not knowing when I'd had enough is just what has gotten me here.

I'm a goal driven gal. I like to check things off on my list. Make a successful babywearing business and sell it, check. Homeschool my kids and everyone survive, yep. Mow the lawn better than Sam... well that was accomplished before I even revved the mower's motor. Anyhow, I like to accumulate accomplishments. I like to do good things. I like to change the world for the better. I like to know I'm helping people.

Not only that but I feel bad when I'm not helping others. If I haven't done a good deed for someone in a day I feel like I'm not very grateful to God for the blessings in my life and then I get all stressed out and have to double up on serving others so I don't feel bad about not doing nice things for people. (Don't get me started on what happens when I get all pms-y and snap at people then feel guilty about that. It isn't pretty.) In essence, I just want to do good. A lot of good.

But, when does too much good become bad?

I think I'm there.

I'm exhausted. I feel like I get up and do thing after thing after thing then I rinse and repeat. I love doing all the good, but I have reached a point where I feel almost compelled to volunteer to help with everything that needs help and I don't have enough hours in the day to do all these good things!

I'm running as hard as I can but I am entirely out of strength.

Any of you ever do this to yourself?

It isn't a fun feeling. I feel like a total wuss because I can't keep going at this pace, yet I'm starting to resent how hard I'm working when I see everyone around me enjoying these leisurely days at the park or afternoons of napping and visiting. 
I realized the other night that in order to "wind down" at night I tend to be simultaneously watching a tv show, reading a book or playing a game on my precious and holding a conversation with someone until I finally just fall asleep, utterly wiped out. 
Who considers multi-tasking winding down?

So, it is time. 
I have said I would do it.
I have even tried to do it.
But, I always chicken out.

I won't this time.

I'm going to stop. Not everything! But some things.

I'm going to stop taking new things on if they don't directly benefit my little family.
I'm going to ease myself out of activities and groups that take more from my family than they ultimately give to my family.
I'm going to stop feeling bad for not doing everything for others.
I'm going to swallow my pride, rest my ankles a short while longer and learn to run... with shoes.

Until I'm strong enough to try barefoot running again.

This is not going to be easy for me. 
I'm just now writing this and I'm already wrestling with my decisions. 
But I'm going to do this. 

I may need your moral support to stay on the wagon for this one. And please don't point and laugh to hard at me. I'm feeling pretty weak, physically and mentally. I thought I could do it all and it is a very humbling thing to realize not only that I CAN'T, but that I SHOULDN'T. 

It is time to stop running faster than I have the strength to actually run. 

Squirrels are Nuts (hee hee, that was punny)

We have a stalker.

This little guy shows up every day during school and appears to want in to visit.

Sorry the pics are so bad. My kids apparently just lick the glass. All. The. Time.

National Police Week 2012

Okay, here is the deal. The first part of this post is going to be happy and fun blah blah blah.
I may get a little ranty at the end so feel free to skip that part and focus on the happy.


This past week was National Police Week!

Since we have a new chief, I decided to be brave and ask for permission to set up a schedule to bring treats in to the officers. Our chief was nice enough to say yes. 

I volunteered to go first.
I got of early Monday morning and made 7 chocolate chip cookie pies for each of our officers.

I know, I look so fancy.

Buddy woke up early and he was my official assistant for the morning.

Barbie and Skipper made the baking go crazy fast.

Mmmm, pies.

Mama and her sous chef.

We went in and delivered the pies around noon.
The kids wrote cards to each officer and I left a little note.
I decided to be silly and I put their call signs on each pie with chocolate chips.

It was a lot of fun and I am really happy we did it. I hope our chief allows us to do it again next year.


Now, I need to let off some steam.

I'm a bit negative on law enforcement stuff right now.
By a bit, I mean, a lot. I mean, I need to get over it because I'm driving Sam nuts.

Let me just blurt it all out.
I found out the former chief's wife HATED me. Multiple sources have told me this now and I feel so bad about it. I really admired her and I thought she and I were friends. I have no idea what I did to offend her and that is the worst feeling ever.

I'm totally out of my element right now with Sam's job. I'm trying really hard to be positive, but I'm failing spectacularly. I'm frustrated because when Sam was detective it sometimes felt like he was the whipping boy of that department and he was constantly refused vacation, then ordered to go on vacation when it wasn't really convenient for him. He worked all the time and he covered everyone's shifts all the time and he was expected to keep up on his detective load. Then he was getting these left handed compliments all the time and it seemed like there were constant mind games going on and it was just frustrating sometimes.

I know Sam is a good guy because he is trying to make sure other officers don't have to do their job that way so he is being really nice about vacation and making sure they don't get worked constantly and all that, but... I wish people would appreciate how he is treating them and their family better than we received and how that is actually a bit of a sacrifice for our family because he has been the one compensating and we have been the ones who get ditched.

Instead, what little I've heard has been how "easy" the new schedules are and how "easy" the job is. I kind of want to stomp my foot and scream, "it is easy because Sam is making sure it is easier for you than it was for him!"

I realize that is petty of me. So petty.
I feel really guilty about it.
I think I'm saying that I married a really good guy and I need to be a better person. I feel like I'm one of our kids who stomp around the house shouting, "it isn't fair! Make it fair!" over this nonsense.
I should be grateful that things are easier for others than it was for us because it was HARD for us.

I think I'm also just a bit mad/sad because things are really great at Sam's work right now and we have such a good chief, but I'm upset that the former chief's wife hated me so much and never bothered to tell me. How do you air things out if you don't talk to someone? Part of me wants to track her down and make nice, but I wouldn't know where to begin because I have no clue what I did. I need to let go of someone else's problem for starters and I need to focus on how good things are at the pd right now.

Of course, then I get all upset because last week the local chamber of commerce was asked to donate a small gift to our 7 officers and their response was basically, "we don't see how that actually helps our community."

That hurts my heart.

This may seem like a quiet town and it is in a lot of ways because of these officers. They take care of the ugliness so we don't have to see it.

They are a small department so many of them work sick, through family events and are subject to call outs pretty much all the time.

The pay isn't the highest in the state. It isn't around the median either. It is on the low side.

But, they are  here for the most part because they want to serve others.

How wouldn't it help a community to thank their officers once in awhile?

Seriously bums me out.


Okay, I said things. Some of those things have been weighing me down for nearly 5 months. Please don't read anything more into it than a girl who just needed to say what she felt so she could let go of that burden and move on. I'll probably delete this after a few hours because I don't want to ruin everyone else's day, but thank you for letting me get all my feel bads out in the open.

This Seems Safe

Ozzy wanted to help cook.

Sitting on the edge of the counter.
Sticking his finger in a moving mixer.

Yeah... this will turn out just fine.

Fishtastic

I want everyone who reads this to know that I am awesome at everything I choose to be awesome at.
Don't believe it?
Read on, oh ye of little faith.

The other day Sam really wanted to go fishing, so we all piled into Angelina and off we went.

Of course, when we got there Ozzy was asleep so I was stuck in the car to monitor him.

This is not my happy face.

But it is his sleepy face.

Sam and the herd ditched me. Whine.

They found a great spot and got right to it.

It was a lovely evening.
After a bit Oz woke up and we trotted down to be with the fam.

They had already started catching fishes when we got there.
Behold.
Oooooooh.

Xander was pretty stoked about all the worms.

Buddy and Sam fishing together.

With my fishing partner ready to go, I commandeered a pole and we were in action.

Buddy was pretty happy so I had to wait a bit for the pole.
(I love this picture of him by the way.)

While I waited I took pictures of my hawt fisherman.

So, I finally got my hands on a pole.
I cast it out and Sam was shocked I knew how.
Heh heh.
I then reeled it in... with a FISH!

Woo!

We shall call this Fishy #1.

Around now Buddy decided to cry. A lot. He hadn't realized in order to catch and eat fish, they have to die. It was rough on him for awhile there.

Meanwhile, Ozzy and I caught fishy #2.
Bam.

Sam was a bit shocked.

He made some comment that he had no idea I was outdoorsy.

Um, hello. I grew up in the country. I spent a lot of time outdoors as a kid.
Just because I like to pee in a toilet as opposed to a crappy (literally) hold in the ground doesn't make me not outdoorsy. That just makes me smart too.

But. I digress.

Around now, Sam caught a fish on his tenkara rod.
That is a thinking man's fishing rod or something.

Whatever.

I kept fishing with my worms and cheapo reel rod.

Got a few shots of my Sammy and Buddy while I waited for a minute.

Then I had to pass of the camera because I caught fish #3!

Oh no she didn't!
Oh yes, yes I did!

I even touched this one since it got all floppy and scared Isabelle, who dropped my camera.
Incidentally, the camera got sand in it and while I got some more pictures out of it, that thing died. Super dead.
Sob.

Another shot of me with the fishy.

Next I helped Belle get a fish.
I love her stance here.
Think that girl took ballet for 8 years?

Success!

By now Buddy was over his fish murdering freak out and  he was all about picking up a fish.
Boys are weird.

He and Xander started climbing all over. I got this shot of them.

Then I caught another fish.

Oh, and one more after that.

So, in the end I feel it was proven that I am awesome at fishing, even though Sam has never taken me ever ever ever.
Too bad he hadn't, we would have a freezer full of fish by now!

I had to stop gloating at this point because Sam was getting a little miffed. I tend to go a bit overboard with my rubbing things in. Whoops.

Oh well.
I rock!
As long as someone else puts the worm on the hook. That part is icky.