...And the Training Begins!

It's time to start thinking about my most difficult New Year's Resolution or as I like to call it, "The Hardest Physical Thing I've Ever Done!" (No, giving birth wouldn't fit that bill, I had an epidural and a C-section and although it was scary at the time, it wasn't really hard physically) Anyway...

It's time to start training for the Broad Street Run. I mentioned a couple days ago that Philadelphia's Broad Street Run is the biggest ten-mile run in the country and I don't know why but I got it into my head that I am going to be a part of it this year. I also figured that if I'm going to do a ten-mile race, I may as well train for a half marathon so that if one comes up that I want to do, I'll be ready, it's only three miles more and at that point, does it really matter?

I found a training program in "Fitness" magazine (which I recently subscribed to for $5 at amazon.com. As of today they still have this deal) I LOVE Fitness magazine, it's full of great tips for healthy living and often has a few good and easy healthy recipes in each issue.

The training program says that if you can run two miles without stopping, you can train for a half marathon. Check! I can do that! It starts with three weeks of what I would consider fast-walking and jogging so I am going to skip those weeks, I am already doing WAY more than that for my regular work outs. I'm running more than 15 miles a week and this training plan is starting with only 6 miles a week. I am going to start at Week 5 where it asks you to run two or three miles at an 11:30 pace which is on the easier side for me but I don't want to start off too challenging, as the program progresses they take you through all kinds of hills and other various drills to improve your speed and distance. The program never goes above a 10:30 minute mile so I know it's totally achievable for me.

I tried to find the link for you and realized that it's probably actually a link to "More" magazine which is evidently a fitness magazine for the 40+ set and ummmm, yeah. That would be me. ( I think More and Fitness are affiliated with each other) Anyway, here is the link to the pdf file if you're interested in checking it out yourself.

Today I am going to do a regular longer run and my shoulder workout. I got weighed yesterday and after all the holiday festivities I was DOWN .4 of a pound. Not too much but considering the average American gains 5-9 pounds over the holidays, I'm feeling pretty darn good about it! I have given myself a goal of 20 more pounds to lose by June 1, 2010. That makes a little less than a pound a week and again should be a very achievable goal for me.

Thanks to all who responded to my frenemy posts, (scroll down if you want to read them) I did end up inviting the son of The Frenemy to the party because The Son would want it that way. I haven't decided what to do about my BFF (Bitchy French Friend) yet but boy, you girls aren't a very forgiving bunch... are you! ;) Thanks again for all the support! Enjoy your Friday!

Frenemies

Have you ever had a "friend" who you just can't seem to please no matter what you do? Why do we let these people continue to hurt us, upset us and treat us badly? Do men do the same thing? THAT I highly doubt.

Those of you who are my Facebook Friends, probably know that I'm referring to a recent episode that I had with a former FB "friend" and her love of posting status updates in her native language of French, only this last time, her status update was snarky crap about me! ME? I guess she didn't realize that I could google a translation program and get the jist of what was being said or ask a friend who is a French teacher or one of my husband's Cameroonian students to translate for me. I still can't even quite figure out why I am such an annoyance that anything negative had to be said about me in the first place. The comments related to my blog and MY status updates which honestly, aren't scandalous but usually just talk about how many miles I run, what I'm making for dinner or if I get really exciting, something funny that The Son has said to me. Isn't that what social networking is all about? I like to hear that my friend Cristina in Texas just got a new running toy and realized that she's running faster than she thought or that my friend Andrea in Delaware is going to running TWO half marathons within weeks of each other or that my friend Heidi in Pennsylvania finally had foot surgery but can't get her little one to stop jumping on the bed so that her foot won't hurt as it heals... I LIKE these updates! And if I don't, you know what? I don't read them! For example, my friend Melissa who likes to post occasional Bible passages, I am NOT a Bible passage kind of girl so I just don't read those, do I let it bother me? NO! It's her Facebook page to do with what she wants!

As for blogs, I have lots of friends who have networked their blogs to Facebook, if it's an entry I want to read, I read it, if not, I don't, simple as that. No need to bitch in another language about these people or their social networking content. I still don't understand why it was done about me AND yes, I am hurt. Really hurt.

So, I get back to my original question, have you ever had a friend that you can't seem to please no matter what you do? I'm 40 years old people, I feel like this crap shouldn't be going on in my life any more and as much as I try to say, "I won't let it bother me," "I'll get over it," "She's not worth it." It still hurts.

This particular friend was mad at me months ago, during the summer she deleted me from FB, I never really found out what I did but after a couple months of not talking to me, she told me that I had said something that hurt her feelings and she didn't feel like I was a very good friend but that she missed me and wanted to resume our friendship again. I should add that she NEVER actually told me what it was that I said or did so I still don't know but I made a conscious effort to be more sensitive, considerate and thoughtful than I had before. I even invited her to attend an upcoming scrapbooking weekend with me and my cousin and sister because I know how much she likes to scrapbook and it's local and I thought she might like to get away. I am an abrupt person, I know that, I know I can come off as harsh but I really never mean to hurt anyone's feelings, it's just my manner. If someone tells me I hurt them, I feel bad, I apologize, I'd like to know so that I can fix it. Cut to a few days ago when I invited her and her family to my New Year's Eve party. It was fun, I thought we all had a great time and then a couple days later, I see these mysterious French status updates that I eventually translated and realized were nasty things about me. UGH! WHAT THE...? WHY?

I called her on the phone, she didn't answer, I left a message that I was deleting her so that she wouldn't be bothered about my status updates and networked blog anymore and I also said, "This friendship is over, I thought we were friends again but clearly, I was wrong." I told her that I was deleting her from FB and that was at least offering the courtesy of a call which didn't happen with her when she deleted me before. I promptly hung up after feeling instantly transported back to high school! I shouldn't have let it get to me so much but I couldn't help it, I feel so betrayed and taken and can't help but wonder if maybe this was her plan all along because perhaps what I said before was so hurtful to her (not that I know what it was) that she's been planning on getting back at me. Keeping with the high school feel, all I can think to say is "Whatever."

I'd like to end by thanking all of you who commented on facebook or this blog yesterday and who support me, who understand social networking and blogging and especially to those of you who I've known for 6+ years and have never actually met in person, you girls are better friends than people who I live right down the street from and see on a regular basis. I would never call you "virtual" friends, you're real friends who I just happened to meet virtually and I really hope that someday we can all meet in person because you are all special to me. Thanks.

I know it will continue to hurt me, irritate me, confuse me and I'll continue to question why this all actually happened but I have to look at the bright side and know that truly, this isn't a person I need in my life, even if she never intended for me to realize her comments were about me, the fact is that they were and for some reason she has an inner dislike for me that I will not be able to change. Lesson learned. "Au Revoir Frenemy, Au Revoir."

Tag! I'm it!

I want to start off today's post by thanking Darlene at Darlene's Days for giving me an awesome "I heart your blog" award AND by tagging me to do a 6 random facts about myself tag thing. I've never actually had an award and I've never been tagged. What fun and all in one day! 

So now I get  to give this award out to six bloggers for them to pass on as well. I have many blogs that I read but most of them have already received this award so I've searched through my blog roll to see those who haven't already gotten this award. If you already did get this, I apologize...just know that lots of people "heart" your blog. 

I'm giving it to:

Marie at Watch the Wind Blow By

Roshell at Always Smiling
Erin at Running to Stand Still

Buffy at Buffy's Bitchin' Blog

Michelle at Heart of a Runner, Body of a Mother

and last but certainly lot least, my sister Cathleen at It's Just the Little Things 

I also figured I'd make it easy on myself and tag these people to answer the six random things about themselves tag as well. I'm so efficient, don't you think?

So, here's the six random things about me:

1. I have ichthyophobia which is defined as the fear of fish. I HATE fish. I cannot even go into the fish sales area of the pet store because to me, the gold fish are the worst out of all of them! I can go to a large aquarium because The Son loves fish but even then I have to really prepare myself for it, sometimes it's difficult for me to not freak out when I'm there but I usually do OK for him. 

2. When writing in a check book, I must write in all the same color, preferably blue. I would never be happy if I wrote one entry in black, one in blue and so on and so on. It. All. Must. Be. The. Same. If I don't have a blue pen and have to write a check, I'll make note of the entry on a scrap piece of paper and enter it in the check ledger later. The check itself can be written in any color, just not the entries in the ledger. 

3. I love to peel stickers and plastic off of stuff. I was in heaven when I got all my new appliances and got to peel off all that plastic. Once on vacation, we rented a house and they hadn't peeled the plastic off of the bathroom light fixture before it was installed (duh.) I climbed right up on the sink and peeled it all off myself. It was thrilling. 

4. My favorite food is macaroni and cheese. I like it all, from Kraft to gourmet truffled mac and cheese. Delish! When I was first pregnant, Kraft mac and cheese was one of the only things I could manage to eat. Do you think it's a coincidence that it's also one of The Son's favorite foods now too? 

5. I love to sing and have done lots of musical theatre. Right after The Husband and I were engaged, I even worked as a singing and dancing waitress on a river cruise ship "The Spirit of Philadelphia." It was a really fun job. The Husband worked there too, he didn't find it as much fun as I did. 

6. I hate soda. I never drink it. I don't really even like juice. Water is my usual beverage of choice excluding the "grown-up" beverage category of course. 

Thanks again Darlene! You made my day for sure. 

I look forward to seeing everyone else's six random facts! Have a great day everyone. 

Tonight I transform...

into City Momma! Actually, I should say City Girl because I won't really even have to be a Momma tonight. I am heading back into The City to hang out with one of my bestest girlfriends (Joanie) there. I will also get to see my old house, it's construction progress and if it's worthy, I'll take pictures to post on The Blog. 

We're planning on heading out somewhere very trendy and cosmopolitan for dinner where we'll proceed to act trendy and drink copious amounts of cosmopolitans. (or Stoli gimlets which I much prefer to cosmos.) We'll live it up for a few hours, possibly attracting the eye of several eligible gentlemen who will be heartbroken and shocked to learn that I am a 38 year old married mother of one. I hate to break their hearts in this way but at least Joanie is single, I can be her "wing girl". We'll stay out late realizing as we walk home, that Joanie's handbag is bulging with the phone numbers of all the eligible men we met and that we didn't have to pay for a single drink all night. That's how it used to be when I lived in The City. Really... why don't you believe me? 

ha ha ha ha ha ha! Who am I kidding? It probably won't go down exactly like that but I do know that we'll have fun, lots of good girl talk and a few precious hours of forgetting the I am usually "The Momma" and a chance to just be myself. I'll try to take pictures if we're not having too much fun!

Enjoy your weekend my friends. 

Down by the bay... (and the beach)

I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures from last weekend when The Son and I went down to Lewes, DE to visit a friend who was renting a beach house there. We had a great time, the weather was beautiful as was the house, and it was nice to relax and just be able to hang out for a while. As I said, we missed The Husband a lot but other than that, it was fun.

The day we got there, we went straight to the beach. It was CROWDED. We usually travel to Maine to see The Husband's family when we go to the beach and it's not that crowded at all so these crowds surprised me. The Son didn't seem to mind though and had a great time playing in the sand. 

 

Remember when you were little and could just lay in the sand and not care how your swimsuit would feel later? No? Me neither, I've always kind of been a "sandaphobe". The Son, he doesn't worry about that kind of stuff though. He was so sweet, just relaxing and enjoying the feel of the sand beneath him, I loved it. 

"The sea was angry that day my friends, like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli". (Bonus to you if you know where that quote is from.) This picture cracks me up since I think The Son looks like he's trying to harpoon a whale with the shovel he's holding. The sea WAS angry that day though, and the waves were STRONG, we didn't spend much time in the ocean. I'm not really a natural body of water kind of gal anyway, if you didn't already figure that one out. 

Here's my friend Lynn and one of her sons. Aren't they cute?

After the beach, we went to the pool. It was a beautiful pool but we didn't get to spend a lot of time here as the day was quickly coming to an end. 

We went into town that evening after dinner, browsed through a few of the shops and tried on some really nifty sunglasses. This little store had some really unusual cool glasses but I was only able to snap this one quickly since I'm sure taking pictures in the store was verboten.

The next day, we went to the bay beach which was MUCH less crowded. I had never really hung out on a bay beach before and I quite liked it, I missed the sound of the waves but it was nice to have calmer water that The Son could safely wade in. I wasn't too fond of the little fish and at one point a horseshoe crab scared the "crab" out of me but all in all, it was nice. 

Here's a picture of The Cape May/Lewes ferry. You can take it from Lewes, DE to Cape May, NJ. Had we had more time, I would have loved to do it. Cape May is beautiful and I know The Son would have enjoyed the ferry ride...maybe next time. 

Our friends' kayaks. Lynn tried to get me to go kayaking on the bay but I steadfastly refused, that is so NOT my thing. (yes, I was scared, I do not like sea creatures at all...even in fish tanks but that's another whole post.) 

Here The Son wades in the bay and finds some of those aforementioned sea creatures, I was OK with the little hermit crabs and even the horseshoe crab once I knew it was there, it's the fish and the jellyfish I dislike. 

Here he is playing with a sandcastle. We worked all afternoon building this, isn't it beautiful? The nice thing about the bay is that the waves don't move in and wash it all away. 

Ok, ok, ok. I'm a liar. We did not build that sandcastle. This Momma doesn't work that hard at the beach, that's for sure! It was left over from the day before. The Son played with his truck there for a while and then decided to pretend he was a T-Rex...no more castle. I had you going there for a minute though, didn't I?

Last but not least, the only picture I have of the two of us that weekend. I like the way it came out though, even if I did have to use The Son as a human shield to hide myself in all my Bathing Suit Glory. No one wants to see that...trust me. 

We had a great weekend, and I am very thankful that my friend invited us. It was really, really thoughtful of her. I have a few more pictures of the night we went to "Funland" and I'll get them posted for the weekend. 

Have a great day everyone and just in case you're wondering. Mr. Spritzy and I are still best buddies. I heart him for real. If only he'd work on training The Son....

Mini...(very mini) vacation.

Hi All! The Son and I are heading south to the Delaware beaches today to meet up with my friend Lynn and her family who rented a house down there. We're staying overnight, I'm really looking forward to a little relaxation time on the beach. It would be nicer if The Husband could be there too but he has to work and we have three dogs to worry about, it will be bad enough that they'll have to be alone a lot for the next two days.  He might manage to join us on Friday which would be great but we'll see...

I'm responsible for dinner and I'm bringing my fabulous homemade macaroni and cheese. While I love me some mac n' cheese with Velveeta once in a while, I'm proud to say this mac n' cheese contains only REAL cheese. It's delicious if not very healthy, I only make it once in a while because it's a little time consuming but let's just say, it's worth every minute of work. Yum. I made it yesterday because it's always better the second day around. I'm also bringing hamburgers and hot dogs and all those other kind of picnicky things. I hope we can get some corn...even though it probably won't be Amish, you know how I feel about corn. I'll probably bake some brownies or something sweet like that too. Sounds good, huh? 

I have a post planned for tomorrow about the son's karate class and I'll be back with lots of pictures of us having a nice time on the beach. Enjoy yourselves everyone! 

Scrapbooking party for two.

Well, I was supposed to have a bunch of girls over last night for scrapbooking but at the last minute they all cancelled on me, all except for my friend Fabienne. She's the one from France that you're probably sick of me saying "she's the one from France" about. The two of us ended up having a nice time though. I only got a two page layout completed but as long as something got finished, I'm happy. 

Earlier that afternoon and evening the girls next door were here playing with The Son and Ziggy when I mentioned card-making and scrapbooking. I was joking with the Rachel, the older one (she's 12) that if my friends all cancelled, I was going to hold her hostage and make her do crafts with me. She actually liked the idea and mentioned that she was going to a birthday party today so she'd love to make a card. I got her my "Stampin' Up" catalog and she looked through it. She ended up picking out an idea for a card for her friend and we started to get to work. As soon as the younger sister Helen, (she's 10) saw what we were doing, she instantly decided she had a friend who needed a home-made birthday card too so we got her going on one. The Son was decidedly unhappy that his "big girls" were not paying full attention to him and were playing with Momma instead, fortunately The Husband came home soon after that and rescued him, or me and the girls, whatever the case may be.

It was getting late, Fabienne came over and the girls were fascinated with her because, did I mention, she's French? They finished up their cards and were VERY pleased  with their work. I didn't get a chance to take pictures because they were literally running out the door to eat dinner and I didn't have a chance but they did do a really nice job. I love that I'm introducing young girls to my passion for crafting. Now I have some new craft buddies right next door. Even if they are more than 25 years younger than I am! Crafting is a pass time that bridges all age gaps. 

One last thing about Fabienne, her husband is from the US and she speaks English VERY well but her spelling and reading of English is not her strong suit. She always mentions that to me. After the girls left we were talking about someone from the Y (Fabienne's a swim instructor too) and she said something SO funny in reference to another employee at the Y. (not another swim instructor) 

Fabienne: I don't like her, she's a real B-E-A-C-H. 

Me: Ummmmm, I think you mean B-I-T-C-H. 

Fabiene: Whatever. 

It just cracked me up, I love her accent and if you say the word "beach" you can understand why she thinks the spelling of "bitch" is b-e-a-c-h, it sounds just like she'd say it. She's a good friend and I hope she's never calling me a beach! ;) 

Scrapbooking is good for the soul.

I mentioned before that two of my girlfriends came over on Friday night for a Good Old-Fashioned Scrapbooking get together. We had a great time and will be making it a weekly (or bi-weekly) event. I made The Husband take a few pictures of us, it was just like having a professional photographer there. ;) 

Here we all are together. Fabienne is on the left, she's my friend from Paris, and my friend Lynn is on the right, she's the one who teaches French. They met each other at the Y because Lynn heard Fabienne's accent and then I met Fabienne through Lynn. We've become really good friends and have a lot in common. The Son and I are hanging out with them and their kids today as a matter of fact. I'm sure that will be another post soon. 

So Lynn always tells me that she's not that creative but she did a great job with two cards that she made with my stamps. I also know she had a great time because when she left, she said, "I feel so productive and so much better than when I got here." See... scrapbooking/stamping IS good for the soul! Here's her two projects: (Sorry they're a little blurry, I'm sure it has nothing to do with the wine I had) 

I realized that I don't have any pictures of Fabienne's work, she was working on a scrapbook of her son Matthew. He's now 5 and he and The Son get along great. Here's a nice picture of her working on her stuff though. 

I was finally able to complete a frame/memo board I purchased from Creative Memories. I bought it from one of my Creative Memories dealers (yes, I have more than one, kind of like my Amish Man) I wanted to be able to display my scrapbooking work and thought that it would be nice to change the pictures seasonally. It turned out to look really great. The Husband has to hang it for me but we haven't managed to get around to that yet. Maybe next weekend... 

so, here it is, it's magnetic and can be easily changed, I'm really happy with the way it came out but I also look forward to changing it. Fun! 

Lastly, here we all are, working on our stuff, it was really fun and I hope to do it again very soon. The Sister says she'll be coming one of these days too! I say, the more the merrier! Scrap it up ladies! Scrap it up! 

Birthday party fun today.

We're going to a neighbor boy's (Josh) birthday party today. It's a good friend of The Son and he's going to be five. That means unfortunately that he will be starting Kindergarten this fall and The Son still has to wait another year. I wish they could have been in the same grade but there's certainly not much I can do about that now is there? The Son will be starting next year and they'll be in the same school so that's good.

We went to Dutch Wonderland on the 4th of July with the same family, they're very nice. The father is originally from Boston so he and The Husband have a lot in common. It's nice for The Husband and The Son to have friends who live so close. I am getting to know the Mom of the family as well and I like her a lot. I have to remember to ask her if she's seen the "Sex and the City" movie, maybe she'll go with me. If we can find the time that is, that seems to be my biggest problem, actually finding someone who has time AND wants to see it.

I do have lots of nice pictures of our trip to DW but I have to ask if they mind me posting their son on my blog. I guess some people might actually care about that kind of stuff.

I made a card for Josh and I think it came out OK although it's not one of my best. I wanted to use my dinosaur stamps because The Son loves dinosaurs. I have never used these particular stamps and for some reason, making the card look good was kind of tricky. Let me know what you think. I know the photo didn't come out great. I had to put it in photoshop because it was flipping and was vertical instead of horizontal. That happens with my cards sometimes and I have no idea why. Here it is:

We got the Birthday Boy a giant Tonka truck for his present, The Son has the same one, he calls it Mr. Dump and he has a smaller one that he calls Dumpy. Dumpy rides around on the back of Mr. Dump, I guess they're supposed to be father and son trucks? Anyway, he and Josh always disagree over who gets to play with Mr. Dump. I figured getting him his own was a good idea because then they could both have one. Good thinking, don't ya think? I hope The Son didn't tell him we got it. He has a tendency to do that. 

Well, I'm going to be busy with camp for the next two weeks. I have a couple posts planned and I'm going to try to schedule to have them posted each day. That's a lot of technology though so we'll see if I can make it happen. 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone! 

Yes I know...

that my blog was set at Pacific Time and not Eastern Time but it never bothered me and I never knew how to fix it. 

Evidently, it bothers one of my friends so she sent me an e-mail about it. (Hi Kirra!) It is now fixed so that it won't annoy anyone else. 

I hope she's happy.