bad blogger

ok.  that didn't last long.  :D  I'm a bad blogger for not doing it yesterday, and I don't even have an excuse!  Oh well.  Onward and Upward!  Speaking of which, I ran today.  For twenty five minutes.  Straight.  I darn near fainted typing that.  Six months ago I couldn't run around the block without collapsing into a gelatinous pile of goo.  Today?  Twenty Five Minutes People!   Seriously this is huge.  I am beyond happy.  Number one I have stuck with it.  Through crazy schedules and sick kids.  Through depression and injuries.  I kept at it.  I never gave up.  I had setbacks, but I kept going.  Because this is important.  Its important to my health.  Its important that the girls see me modeling healthy habits.  And because its MY time.  And that's important too.  So.  Ahem.  GO ME!!! 

Noob Gardener

So this year was our second with veggie gardening. I did too many different things and we didn't really get a good harvest of anything. Also I put a bunch of stuff
In the ground too late. Oh well. I love my
Garden and it's fun for me and the girls. They loved eating peas and beans right off the plant. Note to self - more peas and beans next year. My tomatoes were duds. Not enough sun. Too crowded. In the ground too late. Ditto the squash. But we did great with the lettuce and we all love salads. Heh. Boo even wrote salads and tacos as two things she was thankful for. To be fair cartoons and happy meals were also on that list!

So for next year - more peas and beans. Fewer tomato plants. More space for plants. Get an herb garden dug. Those are my goals.

Blergh

Ok - so I forgot until now, but my head is pounding and I'm tired. So - uh - have a great weekend and I'll write tommorrow !

Struggling

Some days it's easy. Things fall into place, kids are well behaved, schedules align magically and life smoothly rolls along. But some days, despite best efforts - it's hard. I want to be eloquent and verbose here, but it's too hard. And I'm tired of reading about cheery moms with more time and money than sense. So here it is. I'm struggling, and it's no fun.

It takes a village.

So, I started running this summer.  I just got sick and tired of feeling sick and tired.  And the couch to five K program seemed like something I could do.  So I did.  And it was easy in the summer to run, which I did three times a week.  I got through five weeks of the nine week program pretty steadily.  I lost a little bit of weight too, which was nice.

But fall came.  The days are shorter, and it gets dark when I have time to run.  Our schedules are waaay busier, and I am too tired in the evenings to think about running.  Luckily one of my neighbors noticed my dilemma and offered a solution.  So once a week, usually on Tuesdays but not always, Miss C comes and sits with my girls while they nap.  And I?  I am able to run.  It is wonderful. Progress has been slow though.  Illness and scheduling have eaten into my routine.   Since the beginning of October I have not completed ONE WEEK in the couch to five K.  I am STILL stuck on week six.  And ya know what?  I'm ok with that.  It's not a race.  :D  I am lowering my expectations.  My goal is to run twice a week now.  Once, on whatever Day Miss C and I come up with, and once on the weekends.  So far I've been ok about keeping up. 

Knowing that someone else is interrupting her schedule to sit with the munchkins while I run is a great motivator.  Also a great stress reliever.  The girls (maus especially) are just not at an age when I can leave them alone for long enough to run.  And it is important that I do this.  It is important to my health, and it makes a difference in my energy levels.  I look forward to the solitude and music.  I look forward to achieving that little bit extra that I didn't last time out.  Running a bit faster, a bit farther, being a little bit less out of breath or less sore the next day.  So it is worth it to carve out this time, and I'm lucky I live in a neighborhood where if you don't ask for help, people offer it regardless.  It does indeed take a village.  And what a great village I live in. 

Challenging Days

The first Wednesday of every month B has a meeting in the evenings.  It runs until after both girls are in bed most of the time, so I am the main parental unit for the whole day on those days.  This isn't really a big deal, he takes the "night shift" on days when I have rehearsal, and that's every week, not just once a month.  However, when you're staring two kids under the age of five in the face all day long, it can be daunting.  I look forward to B coming home.  Just the presence of another adult in the house is reassuring.  Yes. I know how to take care of my girls, and I do a damn fine job of it most of the time.  But this gig is draining.  And on the days when he works late?  It shows.  More tv is watched.  More junk food is consumed.  Expectations need to be lowered.  I feel like such a cop out writing this.  Single mothers around the globe are looking at me in disdain right now.  But this is how it is, and this is how it works in our house.

Take today for instance.  B's meeting + preschool day + one car = a tight schedule that takes nap time and employs extreme defenestration.  Both girls did the dreaded sleep in the car nap, which is a true harbinger of doom in our house.  Sorry girls, but 20 minutes of nap in the car while mamma's driving does not equal nap time.  Momma needs this break.  So, we unloaded the girls and gave B hugs and kisses pleaded with him to stay please for the love of god stay,   and then the girls had to have quiet time.  Boo was more than willing, tired as she was from preschool.  Maus?  Are you kidding me?  Time to partAAAYY!  She's currently in her crib throwing the mother of all temper tantrums.  Boo is probably passed out and oblivious, or playing quietly in her room like she's supposed to.  That's the difference between these two.  Boo bends to the rules or dodges them artfully so as to minimize the ill effect.  Maus?  Um.  Bull. China shop.  Brick head.  Wall.  You get where I'm going with this. These girls are as different as night and day, and while that's incredibly cool, it's sorta challenging at times.

So after the disaster of quiet time both girls will be more needy and clingy tonight.  They will both want my attention at once and fight with each other to get it.  Maus will want to play rough to keep herself awake, and Boo will get whiny and demanding.  I'm hoping to channel their frustrations into some paints time after quiet time, and maybe a walk around the block depending on what time I let them out of purgatory quiet time.  I'm beginning to learn that they and I deal with this time of day better when we have something a little more structured than TV to do.  Paints.  Coloring.  Worksheets. Walks or playing outside.  Sometimes reading books, but sometimes that backfires, I dunno why.  So we'll try some of these things and see how it goes.  Also?  I'm learning that my afternoon cup of tea is JUST as critical as the morning one or I get seriously cranky too.  And cranky kids + cranky mom = baaaad situation.  Here's hoping putting all this out on "paper" will help me actually do these things instead of opting out because I'm too tired, to lazy, what have you.

Day two and I almost forgot!

So it's day two and I almost forgot to blog.  Sheesh.  The girls are being handfuls today, and I really needed to take some chill time during nap time, which is my designated blog, crochet, practice, whatever time.  So.

I did crochet today, and I've been working on lots of projects.  I've had a spate of friends and acquaintances get knocked up recently, and I've been making baby blankets and baby sweaters like mad.  I just finished two adorable baby sweaters for my friend who is due with twins, and a blanket for a friend of my dads.  I have a baby blanket on the hook for a friend due in early January, and a hoodie for Boo for Christmas.  I try not to do too many crocheted gifts for Xmas, B is kinda weird about it, and I have eyes way bigger than my hooks for how many projects I can reasonably get done before Xmas.  I tend to start small, "oh I 'll just do Boo's hoodie" and then it escalates "oh and I'll just do crocheted snowflakes for stocking stuffers, and crocheted gift tags, and plushies for all the little kids and "  and then my brain explodes in a smoking pile of goo.  I always find just one more thing I want to make.  The girls need slippers.  The girls need mittens.  Wouldn't it be nice to make hats for everyone?  But I can only do so much, and I don't have time to crochet seven hours a day.  So.  I just finished some slippers for Boo.  I need to get white and black yarn, because I'm making character slippers from yo gabba gabba at her request.  I want to do a pair of Elmo slippers for maus, because once I have the black and white yarn I already have more red.  I might to something for B, which I'm not saying in case he actually reads the blog.  :D  But other than those things and the sweater and blanket, that's it.  I know, right?  Tons to get done before Xmas.  But oh well.  I enjoy it, its something to do that keeps my hands busy and creates nice things to give and keep.  I just finished a sweater I'd been working on for literally two years a couple months ago, a lovely blue cardi.  I intend to make a short sleeved version for myself for summer sometime after the new year.  Maybe get some lovely artisan yarn.  That's the next thing I'd like to do, start using really good quality yarns for my projects.  I'd also like to do a ripple blanket to use up some of the odds and ends I have in my stash.  Again that must wait till after Xmas.  Lots going on in crochet world for me.  Oddly I find crocheting a seasonal habit.  I ignore it in the summer and pick it up again in fall and winter. 

Can I blog every day? Lets find out, shall we?

So.  It's November.  And supposedly there's this thing where you are supposed to write or blog every day?  NaNoWriMo?  Something like that?  And I've been a total blogging slacker.  So. Uh, sure, I'll play.  :D  Let's see how this goes shall we?  First off.  I'm going to list the topics I'll blog about for the month.  As many as I can think of.  And you all can leave suggestions in the comments for any I leave blank.

1. Perfume
2. crocheting - current projects
3. dealing with the girls all day when B has late meetings
4.  running
5. busy schedules with preschool
6. what worked in the garden this year and what didn't
7. meal planning
8. crock pot cooking
9.  All about Me
10. All about Boo
11. trying to cook healthy
12. Trying to maintain healthy attitudes towards food
13. struggles with petite sizing - aka I'm short.
14. struggles with footwear and plantar faciitis
15. bread baking
16. favorite author
17. why is the list always longer than the day?
18.
19. Current Book
20. All about Maus
21. Favorite iPhone apps
22.Favorite piece of classical music
23.
24.Favorite singer non classical
25. being thankful for what I've got
26.
27. freezer canning
28.
29. All About B
30. did I do it every day?  did it change me?  how? 

OK that's what I've got.  Make sure you post in the comments for ideas about those four empty days ok?


Now on to perfume.

I read the perfume posse blog.  Its on my sidebar of blogs I read. I love the writing, and they have taught me so much about perfume.  Witty and insightful, always willing to laugh at themselves and the absurdity of life, this is a Must read in my feed reader.   And so, when they challenged their readers to committing to one scent for an entire week I was game.  Now, let me preface this by saying.  I am a perfume noob.  Total.  Noob.  I enjoy the idea of luxury fragrances, and the mystique of the perfume industry, but my budget is way more in line with B&BW than Chanel or Guerlain.  So my scent for the week is Victoria's Secret Dream Angels Divine.  I have loved this scent for awhile, and I have a half bottle of it that I'd like to use up.  I am a sporadic fragrance wearer, and I'd like to be more regular about it.  These goals are combined for this week long challenge.  And so, of course, today I wake up with allergies raging madly.  Sigh.  So here it is, two o clock, and me still in my jammies and unscented.  Oh well, I'll spritz some on in a little bit.   The notes are lotus, lily, rose, amber and blond woods.  Its a light scent very feminine, and I like it a lot.  Its one I don't have to think about. So that's what I'm wearing.  I've been ordering samples a lot, and I like that.  I like trying different scents, but eventually I'd like to pick something for my signature scent.  I have several contenders and I might end up getting a few different bottles, but for now, that's just not possible.  Plus I have lots of samples to enjoy first!