Craftiness, RV edition

We haven't even had the camper a month yet, but I'm loving planning for and organizing it. And our home on wheels wouldn't be complete without a little craftiness. Here's what I made...

I used my Creative Memories StoryBook Creator software and digital elements to make these. The ideas came from Pinterest, so someone out there deserves credit for their ideas. I just made them my own :)

Sole Sisters

Chandra and her girls were here this weekend. My Team World Vision team also had its first group run. I'm not back to running quite yet, so Chandra walked 3  miles with me...sporting my new "sole sister" shirt she got me for my birthday. Love the shirts! (They are from Run Like a Mother.)

She and I had originally planned to run half of a half together for the Hot Mama Virtual Half Marathon (relay)...but surgery derailed that plan. I'm glad she was here to walk with me though. And it was a nice escape from the craziness of our four kids together (and a big thank you to my hubby who watched them all!).

She and I are definitely "sole sisters." We don't get to run together often (in fact, I'd guess our Vegas half was the only time we have), but we walk...or run...through life together...and that means the world to me.


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Three Thing Thursday

Chandra and Me, after the Vegas RnR Half Marathon

1. My best friend will be here tomorrow! It's going to be a crazy, whirlwind weekend, but I'm so glad she'll be here with me for it!

2. With hubby working late nights this week, this momma is in dire need of a run...and since that can't happen quite yet post-op, I need some sanity! Why is it that when you need it most, you are less likely to have/get it?!

3. I'm not sure I'm quite well yet, but I do seem to be improving slowly. I haven't taken near as much ibuprofen today...actually any...and I've been taken it to keep the throat/ear pain at bay pretty regularly this week.

Challenge 52

This week's challenge is to not focus on what you haven't done and instead focus on what you have done or how far you've come. Make a "Ta Da" list or a "Done" list to go along with the never-ending to-do list. I'm the world's worst at this, much to my husband's dismay.

So...today's Ta Da List
...got up, showered and dressed (hey, that's progress after a week of not having to do those things)
...ate a healthy breakfast
...did a few loads of laundry and the dishes
...made a few busy bags for the kids
...cleaned up some clutter
...put away clothes
...swept
...took my son (with my parents' help) to his yearly checkup...and remembered the two questions we had
...had lunch with my parents
...helped my sister organize her new kitchen
...rested (important in recovery, right?)
...played in the rain with the kids
...handled hubby's late night of working without any problems
...watched a movie with the kids
...stayed within my daily calories...and actually tracked them

Not bad for a Monday!

Sunday set up

With surgery this past week and now an upper respiratory infection, I haven't been really concerned with what I've been eating...and I can't workout yet. That means that today, I am planning for how to make this week a success in all areas.

Food
It is time to get back on track. For breakfasts, I'm going to stick to fruit and yogurt, oatmeal (especially if I can remember to make overnight oats), and eggs...but obviously not all at once.

For lunches, we usually do sandwiches or leftovers. My goal will be to have plenty of fruits and veggies.

For dinner...well, I need to plan this one out a little better. I see a trip to the store in my near future. The one thing I do want is Manwich...that has always been what I've picked for my birthday meal, but with a sore throat this past week, I wasn't able to eat it.

Workouts
I'm not cleared for running yet, but I'm thinking I can walk each morning for a little bit. I know I would feel better getting up and moving. I'm going to wait until this z-pack kicks in though before I give it a try.

House
I've been very good this week with not doing more than I should, but I think I'm ok now to resume light housework. Working for 15 minutes and then resting a few should make it manageable.

Projects
I had a huge list of projects to do this summer, and I haven't finished a single one. Sad. My goal this week is to do one, from getting the supplies to completion. Right now, that goal is to figure out a way to corral the kids' shoes. The huge buckets just aren't working. I had really cute projects in mind, but I think I'm going to have to cut myself some slack and just buy something that will work.

Kid stuff
Lots of goals for and with them...with them this week, I hope to make sidewalk chalk paint, have a sponge ball fight and play with bubbles. For learning, I hope to finish at least two busy bags for each of them.

Three Thing Thursday

As if you haven't heard enough from me today with all my catching up...here's a TTT anyway.

1. Surgery stinks. Actually, the soreness from the actually surgery part is totally bearable...but my throat is so irritated from the tubes, and in the vein of TMI, my uvula (that little thing that hangs down the back of your throat) is so stretched out that it makes me gag. Yuck!

2. Birthdays galore. Last Friday was my daughter's 7th birthday, yesterday was mine and my cousin's birthday (33 and 21, respectively), and tomorrow is my son's 5th birthday and my sister's 28th. It's a crazy month...and that's not all of them...just the one week's. I'm looking forward to getting together with the family this weekend to celebrate all of these.

3. Heart smiles. There has been a lot to make me smile here lately. The kids have been great today. I've gotten to nap. A friend brought me a birthday gift, including Twizzlers, yesterday. Another friend brought us pizza. My husband brought me an iced coffee and has taken such good care of me. My sister and brother-in-law brought me cinnamon rolls this morning. Lots to make me smile :)

Recovery begins

So I had my gallbladder removed laproscopically Tuesday. I have never been under general anesthesia before, so it was definitely a new experience. Overall, I would say it went well. I got to go home the same day and was even able to eat that day. Between my in-laws and my parents keeping the kids and my hubby staying home, I was able to have some down time to rest. If it wasn't for my throat being seriously irritated from the tubes, I'd be much happier. Oh, well.

Now, I'm focusing on healing so that I can get back on track with my running. I'll give myself plenty of time to heal, don't worry. But it gives me a goal :)


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A New Adventure

Our new home away from home...

It all started with a random question..."How much would a pop-up cost?" texted to my husband while I sat in a waiting room at the doctor's. Within two weeks, we'd looked at a few at a local lot and searched online. The day after our KC trip, we headed up to Lawton to check out in person one we had seen online...and we bought it :) After a couple more trips to Lawton, we finally brought it home last Friday and took it out for its first trip on Saturday.

We are really excited about this new addition. I used to tent camp with my family, but let's face it...I quickly realized as an adult that I'm not a fan of sleeping in a tent. Now we get to have the best of both worlds...we'll camp but get to sleep in a bed (and have the luxury of a TV every once in a while).

Our first trip was fun. It came with a few adjustments (backing up a trailer, anyone?), but overall it was a good first outing. We just took it to nearby Lake Arrowhead State Park since we just had one night to spend. Chad's parents brought their RV out and stayed in the site next to ours. My parents came out and had dinner and s'mores with us.

On Sunday, we took the kids fishing...that was the one thing they really wanted to do, which is funny, because Chad and I do not fish...at all. Luckily, JoLea could get us set up to fish with the gear we borrowed from my brother-in-law. We didn't catch anything, and the kids started complaining it was hot pretty quickly...but watching the grownups fish with a princess pole and a Sponge Bob pole was priceless!

I've spent most of last week and a lot of my recovery time on Pinterest and other sites planning ways to organize the RV, making lists for things we need, and even coming up with some ways to decorate our home on wheels. I'm really looking forward to our next trip already!

Three Thing Thursday

I am way behind on my blog. I have no idea how this works...during the school year when I'm teaching, I manage to work, take care of the house, run and blog, but when it is summer and I'm home, it's a miracle if I get anything done. Oh, well. Here are three quick things anyway. I'll try to catch up later. 1. We did go to Kansas City last week. We had a great trip, ending with me finally breaking that elusive sub-30 goal for a 5k race. It was hot, hilly and crowded, but I did it! 2. I am scheduled for gallbladder removal Tuesday, the day before my birthday. I'm hoping a little bit of down time will let me do a little more blogging and a little scrapbooking. And I'm hoping that it doesn't disrupt my running too much. I already took one break this year, so I doubt that I'll make my mileage goal this year, but as I've been saying a lot, "It is what it is." 3. We are buying a camping trailer! I am so excited! I grew up tent camping but quickly realized as an adult that I didn't care for sleeping in a tent. So we haven't. We tried it a couple of times with Chad's parents in an RV and us in the tent way back when SB was little. Now, we are just embracing that we need a few creature comforts and will hopefully take the new camper out this weekend for a quick trip. It will be my son's first camping trip...so fun!

It "runs" in the family

On a recent run, I got to run with both my sister and brother. I've run with each of them separately, but never together. It was really nice to get to catch up with them with an early-morning run. We are all a part of our church's Team World Vision team running the 13.1 Dallas in October, so I'm hoping we'll have more runs like this once I've healed.

Kansas City

A couple of weeks ago, my family and I, along with my parents, headed up to Kansas City. The trip was sort of two-fold. It was the weekend before MLB's All Star Game held there, which means my baseball fan of a husband wanted to go to FanFest and enjoy the baseball atmosphere. He convinced me to go because there was a 5K race attached to all the festivities benefitting several cancer organizations, a cause important to us after Grammy's breast cancer.

We took off early Thursday morning, stopping in Wichita Kansas to visit a museum the kids had seen on our trip there this spring. They were very excited to show Nana and Poppy everything there. We had lunch before making it the rest of the way to KC.

Friday morning, Dad and I got up for a short run to shake out the travel from our legs and see a little bit of the city. We were actually in a hotel right in the middle of downtown KC, very close to the start of the race, so it was a good way to see what the course would be like. Let me tell you, I had no idea that KC was so hilly! Yikes! We did a slow two miles, picking up another runner when we started, and then walked another to scout out a place for breakfast for the rest of the crew. We found a diner not too far away...but when we went to walk to it with everyone else, we actually found another one even closer...and loved it! In fact, we ate there the next day too.

That afternoon, we went to FanFest where we had a lot of fun doing all things baseball. Unfortunately, Ryan had some tummy troubles, so Nana and I took him back to the hotel early. Luckily, it wasn't far away. And luckily, he felt better later and we were able to go to an outdoor concert down the street and watch a video about All Star week in KC projected on the side of a building.

On Saturday, we went to a huge Farmers' Market. It was amazing to see all the booths, stands and shops there. They had all sorts of produce, handmade items, and multi-cultural places to eat.

Then Sunday finally arrived. We all geared up to run...Dad and I for the 5K and everyone else for the 1 mile. It was only a short walk to the start line, but we quickly realized how many people were going to be a part of this. We heard that over 8,000 runners were there! We worked our way up at the start line. Our goal was to finish in 30 minutes or less so we could join Nana, Chad and the kids before the 1-mile started. We didn't, however, take into account that they would make tons of announcements before the starting gun or that we wouldn't actually cross the start line for several minutes.

We ran the first mile in 8:50, probably my fastest mile ever. Then we ran mile 2 in 8:56, still fast for me. The third mile just almost got us as it was mostly uphill. Luckily, the last .2 were downhill, so we finished in 28:54! I did it! I ran a sub-30 5K! And then we found the rest of the crew and took off. However, the one-mile had started at 8 and not 30 minutes after the 5K start, so we missed the actual start. The kids really didn't care how far they ran, so we joined up with the race a block over. They loved running through the fire hydrants the city had going. It was a lot of fun to be running all together :)

I can't tell you how good that race felt!

Quick Update

This morning's run was more about being out there than getting to a certain distance or even running a certain speed. Carrie and I ran 3, walked a bit, ran a little more, and then walked the last mile to get to 5 miles. It was nice for a change.
I'm a little nervous about next weekend's 5K race in Kansas City, MO. I haven't built my speed like I had hoped I would. My plan for now is to latch on to my dad and stick with him. I know he can do a sub-30, and that's my goal...because my husband, mom and kids will be about to run the one mile 30 minutes after the 5K starts. Nothing like a little pressure for motivation to run faster.

Because this morning's run wasn't too hard on me, I'm planning on running in the morning...maybe with my brother who will be doing his first half marathon in October as part of our church's Team World Vision team. I think I'll run Wednesday too since we'll be headed out of town early, early Thursday morning. I may see if Dad wants to do an easy run Friday morning.

I'm looking forward to the Lose a Half Marathon weigh-in tomorrow morning. I'm hoping to see some loss as I've been watching what I eat very carefully. Of course, I kind of have to. I found out Friday that out of 100% function on the HIDA scan I had done, my gallbladder is working at 2%. My doctor was shocked...so shocked that she initially swapped the numbers around and thought it was only 2% dysfunctional. That means I'll be having my gallbladder removed. My surgeon appointment isn't until July 11 though. I'm worried that this will really disrupt half marathon training, but it is what it is.

Mileage:
Last week (not counting today): 13.35 miles
YTD: 330 miles