Happy Thanksgiving

"See, here's the thing..."
Actually, it's about 3 days after Thanksgiving, but Christmas doesn't officially begin until December 1st...even though the tree is up and there are wrapped presents underneath.

So, I thought that I would list all of the things that I am thankful for, as cliche as it may seem. Oh, and these are in no particular order...

1.) My family - I have a wonderful husband who always seems to take care of me and two happy, healthy (well, most of the time) children. I am also thankful for my mom, dad, sister, and brother...who despite what I thought when I was little, really did end up being my best friends.

2.) My friends - Especially Karen and Michelle. They are my best school friends. Without them, who would I vent to?

3.) My karate family - Sensei, Teresa, Stella, Edie, Shirley.

4.) I have money to pay my bills - this has not always been the case.

5.) My body - it is strong enough to complete 2 black belt tests and a marathon. OK - so I cried through most of all three, but I did finish them all!

6.) My camera so I can take cute pics of my kids.

7.) My Thanksgiving morning run (and my morning runs in general). They are when I can think the most and allow me to clear my head. I just don't get that running on the treadmill in the gym.

8.) The beach - it is the one place where I am truly relaxed and feel completely at ease. As they say on the islands..."No worries."

9.) My many hoodies- because I am always cold.

10.) My "technology buddies" - they have bailed me out more than once. :-)

11.) My computer - how did I EVER live without it???

12.) My iPod - how did I EVER workout without it??? It has accompanied me on countless runs and kept me from going insane many a time.

13.) Captain Underpants and Junie B. Jones - they have both given me precious bedtime memories with my children.

14.) My Mizuno running shoes - they are the first running shoes that kept my feet from hurting.

15.) My new Levi jeans - they actually fit me perfectly. (515's and 545's for those of you who might need some new jeans)

16.) Dirk Pitt - I live vicariously through him.

17.) My car - so I can run because I want to...not because I HAVE to.

18.) Sticky notes...enough said.

19.) Sonic - everything is better when you have a Sonic coke.

20.) IMing - so I can talk to my husband even when I don't particularly feel like actually talking.

So, my list is pretty superficial...and I could say that I am thankful for my family, my friends, my health, the roof over my head, and the food on my plate, but I think that those are givens. I am very thankful for all of those things, I just thought it would be interesting to post all of the "little things" that go unnoticed each and every day.

Now, here are just a few pics from the past few days that I am thankful for. The first is of my kids outside on Thanksgiving day before heading to my Mom's house for lunch. The pic shows two of the surprises that I received on Thanksgiving day - the yellow leaves and the snow. When I walked outside to start my morning run, I was greeted by a yardful of yellow leaves. Since I had had green leaves on the tree the night before, I was surprised to find yellow leaves on the ground the next morning. My second surprise was the snow. Fortunately, this didn't start until after my "turkey trot," but it snowed on Thanskgiving nonetheless (take a look at the crooks of the tree).

The second picture is of my son decorating our tree. It's just a typical picture of him - in his boxers, tank top, and a santa hat...with his extra high butt crack sticking out. :-)

Major Dilemma

"See, here's the thing..."
I have a major dilemma. OK, so it's not MAJOR...but it is a major decision that I must make. Maybe not important in the grand scheme of things either, but again, a pretty big decision.

Here's my dilemma:
Do I purchase an iPhone or go with a smartphone?

Here's the scoop behind the dilemma:
My plan ends next month...this also means that I am eligible for a new phone. I have been thinking about a smart phone for about the past year, but because I wasn't eligible for an upgrade, I just put it off. A smartphone would be great with my c-tech position, and would also work well with my general lifestyle. There are two smartphones that I would like - both made by Palm. I am a big fan of the Palm OS, thus the preference for a Palm smartphone over a Blackberry. Both of the smartphones that I want are only available through Sprint - my current cell phone provider.

But have you seen the iPhone??? I mean, have you really gone to the store and played with an iPhone? TOO COOL! I was able to play with one at the Apple store in San Francisco and it totally blew me away! If I had had $400 in my pocket at that time (OK, so I had that much with me, but we still had to eat, so I withheld my impulse) I would have forked it over right then and there. The problem? iPhones are only available through Cingular (AT&T). This might not be so bad because everyone that I really talk to on the cell phone is on the Cingular plan anyway. So my free Sprint to Sprint calls really aren't saving me any money at this point.

Ok - so now that you've heard that part of the dilemma, here's the rest. I need a new iPod...I think. While training for my marathon, my iPod kept doing weird things. For example, I would charge it and then it wouldn't turn back off. Or, it would suddenly turn off and then back on - which totally screwed up my mileage on my runs. I kept thinking it was because it was just getting old and overused and prayed that it would last through the marathon without incidence. It did and I was happy. But then, I was reading up on the iPhone and found a little article about iPods freezing and locking, etc. with vigorous excercise. Well, what do you know, since I've quit running quite as much and not so often, my iPod is fine.

So, part of my reasoning for the iPhone was to get a phone and iPod all in one. But, who am I kidding? I am NOT going to strap an iPhone to my arm and take off on a 10 miler. That's just craziness. Not only is it too big, but it's too expensive. So, I thought that maybe I should just get the smartphone and a new iPod Nano. However, if my iPod is now working ok, then I really don't need a new iPod (at least for now) and I could technically get the iPhone because I can still use my old iPod.

Is all of this making sense? I know it's a stupid dilemma to have, but it's my world. :-) So, I need your opinions. iPhone or smartphone?

Running, Babies, and Veteran's Day

"See, here's the thing..."
I went for a run this morning. It was foggy. So much so that I could barely see ahead of me. It reminded me of one of my favorite movies. It's a movie that my mom, my sister, my kids, and I like to watch...especially when we're at the beach. It's called The Fog. I'm not talking about the new remake of The Fog that was done recently, but the original version (aren't the originals always better?). Anyway, the fog comes into a town in order to kill all of the settlers in order to get revenge for something that happened decades earlier. The DJ on the radio is the only one that can see it and where it is going until it gets there because she is up in this lighthouse on this mountain. She stays on the radio and gives warnings to the citizens of the town. She keeps saying, "Whatever you do, don't go into the fog." Well, I went into the fog...and I came out alive! :-)

The fog created some pretty high humidity during my run. I was getting pretty wet even though it wasn't raining. The other thing I noticed was that the marathon sucked every bit of running strength that I had left. I felt like I had lead legs today. I kept having to stop and walk - in fact, I walked across every street that I came too. However, when I got home and checked my stats on my iPod, I found that I was right at my normal pace. That was a pleasant surprise.

In other news, I'm so excited for my sister. She had her home study today with the adoption agency. This is one of the last steps before they officially put her on the waiting list for a baby. It also makes me think about just how selfless she is. She is going to make the best mom to a lucky little baby, and if anyone can adopt a child and love it unconditionally, it is Kam. I found a quote by the great Oprah. She says, "Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother." I think that's true. And I think that any child that enters our family is going to be greeted by so much love that it will be overwhelmed.

Since today is Veteran's Day, I also thought that I would write a little about that. I didn't realize that World War I ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. However, it makes me think about all of the soldier's that have paid a price for our country. Peter Marshall, the Chaplain of the US Senate said, "May they remember how bitterly our freedom was won, the down payment that was made for it, the intstallments that have been made since the Republic was born, and the price tha tmust yet be paid for our liberty." I will forever be thankful to the soldiers, God included, who have paid for my freedom.

Nice Leisurely Run

"See, here's the thing..."
I haven't run since the marathon....until yesterday when I took my first nice, leisurely run. Really, that's exactly what it was. I only ran 3.5 miles....at a really SLOW pace. I walked when I wanted to walk, ran when I wanted to run, and stopped to smell the roses when I wanted to smell...something other than my stinky, running self. :-) It felt good not to have a set amount of miles that I had to run, or a set pace I had to go. It felt good to run without my huge fuel belt and my watch. It felt good to just turn on my ipod and run....just for me.

I also went to the gym today and actually lifted weights. I have been in an "I hate the gym" phase since about last Christmas. And even though I went to karate and kickboxing, I went through I phase where I just couldn't stomach the thought of going to lift weights, or do any sort of cardio machine. This is also what led me to my lapse in judgement when I decided it would be a great idea to run a marathon. This is also the point where I began running outdoors just to get my workouts in.

Anyway, back to the gym...Mom and I went today. We just did a short circuit....a few leg machines, a few arm machines, some ab work. You know, nothing major. Then I did about 30 minutes on the treadmill. I had forgotten how much different it is to run on the treadmill than it is to run on the street. Major difference! The treadmill is smooshy whereas on the street I get more traction. You can kind of compare this to the difference between training for a fight on your hard dojo floor and actually getting in the ring. The ring is always much smooshier because of the plywood underneath. Just FYI for those of you who have never fought in a ring before. :-)

The other thing that I realized when I ran on the treadmill was how much more relaxed I am on the street. Even though I have to watch out for cars, dogs, other people, and such, I am more relaxed. My body is just more relaxed. I guess because I am not confined to the little space that the treadmill takes up. I also tend to run right up against the bar so it's harder for me to relax my arms like I do when I run outside. Finally, it's usually just me and the road...no one else around to "spy on my stats." I hate that...I wanted to just scream, "You might be faster than me, but I just ran a marathon!!!"

Speaking of my marathon, my body is still trying to heal and adjust to my new (well, actually it's my old routine that I did before I began my marathon training) routine. I have been going to kickboxing on Saturdays again. Sensei thinks it's hilariously funny to give me more leg work or make me do double what everyone else is doing. But I can tell how sluggish they still are...or how much speed and flexibility I have lost during my marathon training. However, the grossest thing that has happened was the "surgery" that I had to perform on my feet during class this week. My blisters started to peel off...YUCK! So, I had to get the scissors and begin to cut the dead skin away so it wouldn't continue to peel. Nasty as it may sound, it was better than letting it peel and then rip skin that wasn't ready to come off yet. It has also been nice to feel soreness in parts of my body that I had forgotten about in recent months.

On to other news....
Ry played in the "Tiger Bowl" yesterday for his flag football league. They lost, but he still played a very good game. He normally plays offense only, but yesterday he had to sub for a few boys that had gotten hurt on defense as well. He did a good job - he actually knew where to go and what to do - which impressed me since he never plays that position. After the game, there was an awards ceremony. Each child on his team received a nice little plaque. Then he got to take a picture with New England Patriot David Thomas (which really isn't quite a big deal considering he's our superintendent's son and all of us have kind of followed him since he was in high school)...but it was a big deal to the kids to get their pic taken with a professional football player.

The other good news that I have to share is that I am going to be an aunt! Finally!!!! Hopefully by this time next year, I'll have TWO babies to spoil! We found out this weekend that my brother and his wife are expecting in early July. My sister is also "expecting from Russia" sometime within the next 12 months. They are in the process of adopting. I am so excited to actually get to shop for baby clothes and "little stuff" again. I can't wait to hold and love and play and spoil my two new babies (Ok, so they aren't MY babies, but it looked weird to say "two new neices/nephews"). My kids are now so much older that I can't remember how sweet babies smell or how infectious their giggles are. I'm looking forward to that...and of course, being able to hand them back to mom or dad when they don't smell so sweet anymore. :-)