Theme Song Thursday

Had a lovely coffee date with a dear friend yesterday, and we spoke of running like this.  This is a re-posted song, but still a great favorite and timely.


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May Madness

Madness - a state of frenzied or chaotic activity.

"Let me ‘splain…No, there is too much. Let me sum up. . ."  (Princess Bride movie fans recognize that Inigo Montoya quote).  After the injury which caused me to be Gimping Like a Boss, life around here ratcheted up into frenzied mode.  Thanks to all of you who prayed for my healing and recovery; the pain went away the next day, unless I tweaked the injury.  I can feel the improvement almost daily, and this is the start of week six of recovery.  I plan to hold off trying to run until after eight weeks while continuing to strengthen the injured area with toe raises and walking.  Then I plan to gently launch into running via my favorite, run-walk method.  More on that when the time comes.

While May was madness, -- our 2nd stage drama troupe's play and cast & crew party; a whirlwind 25th anniversary trip to Seabrook Island, SC; graduation celebrations; the last day of our homeschool 2013-14 year; paperwork and preparations for all things Camp Tecumseh; starting a new part-time job; and trying to finish planning the coming school year -- it was also joy and celebration and fun and change and growth. 

The group of Christ followers we have been meeting with locally since September has blossomed into Hope Church GL.  None of us actually wanted to start a church, but did want to hear and to follow what He is up to in our area.  We shall see what happens next.


 In one week, some of our family will start on our summer adventure: a sports camp outreach in Kentucky.  I have thoroughly enjoyed sports camp in the past and am very much looking forward to the upcoming one.  I do not feel prepared, but am trusting that I will be in a week.

What's been going on in your world?

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What I Need

  Kris Vallotton said something to the effect that my body, my soul and my spirit have needs.  At church, they tell me all the time about what my spirit needs.  I regularly make time for my body's and my spirit's needs, but I fall short when it comes to my soul. . .

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Tribute to Daily Minutia

  Running is a staple in my life for which I am grateful.  The opportunity to do something athletic outside is not something I take for granted.  Sox, our first family dog, and Moose, our current family

Getting It All Done

  If I haven't ranted about this before, I have to say it:  The first two - three days of every work week are incredibly crazy for me this school year. Optimistically I keep telling myself that it's a result of our much busier weekends during the soccer season.  Time will tell if that is truly the case.

  Suddenly all around us the fields are being harvested, and I can see as far as my eyes will allow me to see without any obstructions.  My runs seem more "roaming" though I run the same route day after day after day.  Perhaps these changes are part of the reason my mind has begun to excitedly and expectantly think about Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I LOVE this time of the year!

  On the Trim Healthy Mama front, I have continued to work the plan, though sometimes because of circumstances beyond my control and sometimes because of my choices I go off plan.  My clothes and my husband tell me that the plan is working despite the glitches!  When I initially started down the THM path, I followed the advice of the authors and did not attempt to change everything all at the very same time.  Recently I have begun to implement more E (energizing) meals and FP (Fuel Pull) snacks and desserts.  A couple of my new favorite recipes are: Savory Skillet Quinoa (FP, p. 231), Muffin in a Bowl (FP, p. 259) and Baked Tilapia.  Another recent food love is Fat Free Reddi Whip.

  What's new with you these days?

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Three of My Favorite Things

  1) Running between 6:15 am and 7:00 am at this time of year.

  2) The Magical Mistical Morning Mist that lies over the fields and reminds me of my beloved Camp Tecumseh.

  3) The pungent smell of corn thickly blanketing the air.

  Simple pleasures, grateful heart, experiencing the goodness of my Heavenly Daddy here in rural Indiana!


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's up?

  "Pancakes are awaiting at the end," I huffed and puffed aloud to myself at the 1/4 point in my morning run.  The oppressive humidity and warmer-than-I-enjoy-for-running temperature was threatening and berating me.  I spoke those words as a response to the thought that I could just be finished at the 1/2 point, which is our house. Thankfully, in what seemed like seconds but what was in reality much longer, I noticed by my watch that I had less than two minutes left in the run.

  The promised "Trim Healthy Mama" pancakes were filling and lovely once again, and now after having enjoyed breakfast and a refreshing shower, I am exponentially grateful that I did not wimp out of the remainder of the run.  Words are so powerful and change spiritual atmospheres!

  And speaking of THM, the salmon dip I mentioned in my cheesecake for breakfast post is most delicious.  Three of our daughters also partook in the dip and raved about it's delectable goodness.  I hope I am creating and/or increasing your curiosity about this book and new way of eating because I mean to do so.  While there are some things that to this point I do not feel comfortable sharing explicitly about, including finances and my personal weight details, I can say that I have lost some pounds and some inches already.  I will also say that my belly fat is slowly shrinking, which makes me extremely happy!

  Having said that I will also tell you that I have enjoyed several off plan treats during the month-ish since I began THM eating.  These have included homemade lemon meringue pie, a Jack's doughnut and a Kinser's Bakery doughnut or two.  Some foods are simply too incredibly tasty to pass up, especially when they are on occasion and not as a habit.  (That last sentence is not endorsed by THM, by the way.) The Kinser's Bakery doughnuts could easily become habit forming, which I readily admit and am on guard against.

  Alongside of eating, school planning is back in my focus.  Donna Young created a new version of her lesson planner, and after trying out the new BETA version I have decided to use the new planner.  Cudos and thanks to Donna for the changes she has made which make the planner more flexible and user friendly!  You can read about and view the changes she has made here.  NOTE:  I use her Lesson Planner V3, because I keep track of the grades, GPA and other records separately.  The bells and whistles on the Lesson Planner are not as slick as the V Planner V3, but so far suit my/our needs best at present.  This is a product I value highly!

  Having said that, it's time to start inputting the data into my new Lesson Planner V3.

  What's on your "to do" list today?

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Run, Walk, Repeat

  I know I said this before, but the added run-walk-repeat day of exercise energizes me and makes me incredibly happy.  You really should give it a try.

  Other things that have made me happy lately are the delicious, pampering, healthy, slimming "Trim Healthy Mama" meals, snacks and desserts I have been enjoying these past few weeks.  Salmon patties, buttery baked butternut squash, meatloaf, pancakes (twice this week), grilled cheese sandwiches, chocolate cake, rich chocolate fudge, smoothies...I am making myself hungry and really should go have a snack to keep my metabolism revving and burning up that belly fat.

  But before I dash off, I will mention one other happiness-giver to me:

https://store.ibethel.org/p7411/keep-your-love-on

  After reading the first chapter I sense that much transformation is ahead -- that's what I am talkin' about!  I am going to learn to be a more powerful person:

"Powerful people do not try to control other people.  They know it doesn't work and that it's not their job.  Their job is to control themselves." p. 25

  What do you think about the above statements?  

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  Success!  After 2 weeks of adding an extra run day, I still feel great and have no negative physical side effects.  Wow!  I am absolutely thrilled.  I believe the secret to my success came as an inspired thought 2 weeks ago and which I mentioned in an earlier post:  Jeff Galloway's run/walk method to the rescue.  I am finding that mixing it up with the run 1 minute/walk 1 minute on one of my back-to-back days is fun and energizing.  My dear hubbie had said he thought I could run 6 days a week and suffer no ill-effects.  This morning near the end of my run,  I found myself dreaming about adding a long run back into the mix (run/walk style) and perhaps a 5th day of running, also.  My biggest challenge will be to add new things slowly and patiently.

  If you are reading this thinking that you cannot relate, I'd like to challenge you to go and read about Galloway's method and then just give it a go.  There are so many benefits to running alongside of the physical benefits, like time to think, time to hear from God and much more.  If you'd like to follow my running path just click on the "running" label at the bottom of the page.  I think you will like running!

  I have made it through lesson 22 of my Pre-Calculus review lessons with 9 more to go.  Then I will need to start other home education prep for the coming school year, although I am not completely certain what is left to do.  I think it is not very much, though.

  With all the kiddos in camp, it is very quiet here.  The days still fly quickly by and so far, I am wondering why I am not accomplishing more.  

  I have a stack of 5 books alongside of my "Trim Healthy Mamas" book to read.  The majority of those books are related to serving on not-for-profit boards.  Hopefully I will glean some helpful information from those books.  I know that the THM book is incredibly helpful to me.  So far I have noticed that my emotions and energy levels are much more balanced.  I want to start taking some measurements to track my progress, as well as to finish reading the book and to insert tabs to help me quickly find what I am seeking.

  These days of change and new things that Doug Addison has been declaring are creating expectation inside of me.  I can hardly wait to see what happens.

What new thing have you been exploring lately?  What are you looking forward to most in the coming weeks of summer?


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Credit Where Credit is Due

  Because it happens so infrequently, I MUST give credit where credit is due:

   TODAY I experienced a genuine shining moment in customer service via a tech support person with American Family On-line.  As a skoshe of context I will tell you that we purchased an internet safety filter from them about a month or so ago and installed the filter on our "school" computer.  This weekend I finally tackled removing a different filter from our daughter's laptop (took way longer than necessary) and installing the AFO Firefilter.  Unfortunately something went awry in the installation, and as instructed, I called tech support; I left my phone number and a message, without much hope of hearing back from them.  I had not had a bad experience with AFO tech support, just with tech support in general.  Overall it's been about 75% bad vs. 25% good/excellent.  Early this evening I did receive a phone call from AFO tech support and within 10 minutes, at the most, everything was working!  

  Alongside of that glowing testimony in regard to their tech support, I must say that so far I am very pleased with their Firefilter.  Our kids do not complain nearly as often as they did about our other internet filter, although sometimes they are annoyed that they cannot access a web site when they try it once, and then it's accessible the next time they try to visit the site.  It seems great to me that this filter catches things on usually appropriate web sites and blocks the site as long as the objectionable material is there.  I do not believe that a filter alone is enough to protect our kids on-line, but I do appreciate a filter that does what I want it to do.

   A second recommendation:

  I've read it and am provoked; also reckoning on resultant transformation, I am.



  What recommendations do you have to offer these days? 


Minding the Minutia  


  March is rapidly running away to April.  Pondering spring weather's arrival amidst the 8 inches or so of late spring snow has germinated new goals:  run one more day plus add at least one day of brisk walking a week to my exercise therapy.  It also produced a remembrance of  uncompleted school preparation details.  Two revised assignment sheets and a weekly "to do list" later, and I am motivated and pleased with my progress.  

  A second play and our 2nd daughter's high school graduation loom large upon our spring landscape.  These relatively quiet days of early spring will give way to a torrent of events and activities as summer nears and then rushes over us.  In the midst of this future and all other minutia, because of who I am, I cannot at present see the breakthrough that I believe is coming.  I am asking for faith like Abraham when he believed God, despite his circumstances.  Though I cannot hear or see at present what it is that I "was made to do," I will continue to believe I will one day understand and will continue to do what is in front of me.  ~ Looking to Jesus for He is my peace. 
 
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Whine and Cheese

Please, grab your favorite cheese and pull up a seat -- I will provide the "whine."

Betterment

 On my desk stands a lamp similar to the one pictured above, easily one of my favorite products.  After weeks and weeks of coveting my husband's bedside lamp with 2 electrical outlets and of growing increasingly discontent every time I spelunked under said desk to plug-in my laptop power cord, I bought one.  If and when my bedside touch lamp expires, I will seek to replace it with a touch lamp with 2 electrical outlets. How lazy am I?

Titular

: of, relating to, or constituting a title

Noble November

 November is definitely one of my favorite months for many reasons.  I love that the weather is

Run & Enjoy

One of my newest Brooks running shoes

My stomach churned and burned.  I could feel my breathing become shallower and faster.  The whistle blew and off I lurched.  I sprinted to each line on the gym floor and back to the beginning point all the while complaining internally.  I flopped to the floor at the end of the circuit, gasping for air and despising that part of practice…

“Yes, you can run the hurdles,” our track coach replied to my dream request.  She continued, “as long as you also run the mile relay.”  My heart sunk, but I agreed.  I would run a race I hated for the sake of one I loved…

With so many varied interests and things that I like to do, I am seeking a way to balance it all

More running treasure

Often running helps me to hear more clearly from God

Back on-line

Hooray for the satellite repairman!  The culprits were:  deterioration of a part, which allowed a wasp to build a nest where it didn't belong and water to pool where it didn't belong.  I am so thankful it's fixed, although I have to put in a good word for Starbucks and McDonald's and their free wi-fi that allowed me to check email every day. 

This week is full again, so here's what I have been up to or will be doing:

1. Dropping off some of our kids to summer camp
2. Driving a child to work daily
3. Sewing costumes for skits we will do in Texas (including researching, shopping for materials, washing and cutting out fabric)
4. Running every other day
5. Household routine daily
6. Hosting our outreach team overnight one night
7. Attending a youth conference
8. Picking up campers; LAUNDRY
9. Packing for our Texas trip
10. Hosting some favorite camp families for supper
11. Possible trip to collect items to pack in trailor for Texas trip
12. Sleep

Creativity Catalyst

What activities set your creativity a flowing?  Running triggers many responses

Realizations, activities and inspirations

Self realizations - I am an impatient person most of the time.  I want Papa to give me what I ask for in a timely manner from my perspective and so often miss the joy of the process.  It's not how I want to live anymore!  Talking with a heart-to-heart friend last night, I also realized that fear plays into this process.  Thankfully the Kingdom reality is that I am delivered from evil and do not need to live like this!


Recent activities - Sewing a seat back cushion cover for a chair in our living room and a costume for the Becky Fischer conference that is upcoming, plus ripping out the seams in the the old seat cushion of the living room chair to use as a pattern for the new cushion, reading Julia Child's book about her time in France (which is where she found her calling), school planning and the usual day-in-day out things.  We have lots of bean, spinach and lettuce plants above ground in the garden, too!  Running in the early morning has been such a refreshing and life-giving change; a couple of other changes in my running have been using a "Couch to 5K" plan that brother-in-law has used for training and a new pair of spiffy Brooks (Ghost)!  Last night was "Truckout" at M's -- my first one.  The grilled burgers were delicious as were the casseroles and the cake.  Conversation was mostly surfacey and not very intimate, although the heart-to-heart brief connection was life-infusing!  The younger crowd has and was having a grand time; we left around 9:30 pm.  This am was an early morning run, time with Him and then breakfast of blueberry waffles and Sumatra coffee. 


What's up for today:  A quick trip to the Monticello library for another Julia Child book, sewing the seat cushion cover and HH's open house.  


I ordered Child's two volume Mastering the Art of French Cooking set.  I love to cook and am interested to at least read these cookbooks, if not cook out of them; more than that I see them as prophetic encouragement in my quest to discover my destiny, calling and identity.  I have felt inspired by Julia's story since seeing "Julie and Julia."  Do your thing, Holy Spirit!


Things still on my "to do" list - order the rest of the texts we need for 2010-2011, read through them and make plans for their usage; creating in my sketchbook and other places; more time with Him; soaking: working through my LifeMaps book; reading...ah summer!