Hair update

Well, I did it. I cut my hair off. I was so ready for a change and I should have done it sooner. This really isn't the best picture of it but that's all there is for now.

The race

Well, I did it. And I realize now that I had nothing to be scared about. I don't know why I was so nervous. Even that morning on the way up to Salt Lake I was nervous. So here's the thing: I didn't even actually run it. Well, I walked it. I went with my mom and my sisters Sinika and Michelle and her two daughters and her husband Mike. I pushed Addie in the stroller. I wanted to stay with my mom so she would have some company. As we started going it was so slow at first that I actually felt a little antsy and I wanted to start running but by then I couldn't find Sinika and her running friends and so I just stayed with my mom. (Yes I could have run by myself but it's just funner when your with other people.) There were so many people that you couldn't even walk fast you just had to walk the pace of everyone else. By the time we passed the actual starting line the race had been going for 15 minutes or so and the first (really fast) runners were actually coming back. Every so often there would be an empty pocket with no people and my mom would run up into it and me and Stacey would follow. Anyway, it was fun. Elli really wanted to come but I discouraged her because I thought it would be too hard and long. But now I know that she would have loved it. I guess we'll have to go again next year. Here are Stacey, my mom, and Addie - my walking buddies. No, I don't know that man on the right.

This is just a picture to show how many people there were. As far as you can see - to the skyline - was all people. It looked like that in front of us and in back of us. Sooo many people!

Left to right in the back: Stacey, Michelle, Anikka, Mike, Me, Sinika and my mom in front

After we all went out to breakfast to Mimi's Cafe. It was so yummy! I probably added more calories than I even burned in the race with my cream cheese stuffed french toast. But it was fun to hang out with the fam.

A third of life

Lately I have felt so blah. Like I'm not doing enough in my life to make any kind of difference. I feel like I'm just trying to get through another day and another. I feel like when I'm 60 I'll look back on my life and just see a messy house, forcing kids to eat their dinner, paying bills, and bad hair days. Is this what a mid-life crisis feels like? Do people have those at 30? I don't know. Maybe it's this forever long winter we've had. Maybe I need to get outside more now that the weather's getting nice. Maybe I need to go and do some kind of service. Maybe I need a new hobby. Maybe I just need a new hairdo. Seriously doesn't hair make the biggest difference? Usually the 2 times per year that I get my hair done I feel pretty good for a while after. Maybe when schools out and every day isn't just a re-run of the day before, then I can be more spontaneous with my kids and it will be different.
Sorry for all the 'maybes' in this post. Maybe I need to start using a thesaurus.

Procrastinator

I am so scared. I have signed up for the Race for the Cure 5k on Saturday May 10. I haven't been running. I am in so much trouble. I need to just get myself out and start running. Tonight I will. Now that I have said it out loud (or typed it quietly) it means I have to do it. Even if it is freezing outside today and it's snowing. And then I will keep doing it every day until the race. I have only run 1 other race in my adult life. It was a 5k too and I hated it. It never ended. Why did I sign up for this one? I don't know. Maybe it is from my inablilty to say 'no'. When I was asked if I wanted to do it, I couldn't think of an excuse not to so I said 'yes'.
No really, I want to get in shape, and this is just the thing to kick me in the pants and start doing it. But I really am scared that I my body is going to give up at 1 mile. So why did I only run once last week? Because I am the biggest procrastinator on the planet.

Time for Spring Cleaning!

The last thing I do when I am getting ready in the morning (or the afternoon) is put on my mascara. So many times right after I put it on, I sneeze. It is so annoying! The mascara is still wet and it gets all over my cheeks. Sometimes I even feel one coming and I try to open my eyes so wide so it doesn't get all over but we all know that doesn't work. You can't sneeze with your eyes open. Or even closed lightly. They squeeze shut so tight. I don't know why that happens so much but then I have to get out the makeup remover and clean it all off. Another weird time that I sneeze is at night when I'm falling asleep. Everything is so quiet and here comes a sneeze. Poor Brian! Even when I do a stifled sneeze it's loud in the quiet of night. Sometimes it's two sneezes and I rarely do more than one sneeze normaly. I must have a dusty house.

Joys/Fears

So Sinika tagged me and I need to do 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 obsessions/collections, and 3 random suprising facts about myself. Here they are:

JOYS:
1. Baby giggles
2. Going out to eat - I get yummy food and I didn't have to cook it! (or clean it up!)
3. Reading at night when the kids are in bed. I have hours of perfect quietness with no interruptions.

FEARS:
1. Having my house broken into
2. Losing a child through death or in a crowd
3. Big, fat, hairy, fast spiders - they scare me when they run fast or jump because I don't know where they are going, they scare me when they walk slowly because that means they are big and fat, and they scare me when they are standing still because I just know they are staring at me with their crazy 8 eyes!

GOALS:
1. Start running again
2. Be fluent in Finnish
3. Be a better housekeeper, I'm horrible at putting things away.

OBSESSIONS:
1. Kitchen supplies and office supplies - I could spend hours just drooling over these areas in stores.
2. My part. Yes in my hair. I am always trying to make it just right and it probably doesn't even look very good. I always look at other peoples too to see what makes theirs so cute.
3. Candy! I cannot pass the 88 cent candy bin at Wal-Mart without grabbing a few boxes.

RANDOM SUPRISING FACTS:
1. I love maps. City, state, country, world... I could just stare at them for ages. I would love to go to school to become a cartographer if only it didn't require so much math.
2. I like to eat lots of small things instead of one big one, like: lots of mini snickers but not one big one, lots of mini pickles but not one big one, lots of mini carrots but not one big one. I swear the mini things taste better!
3. I love watching The Hills and The Real World on MTV. I know, I'm 16 years old.

A day in the life

I thought it would be fun to track one whole day. Sorry it's probably boring but I'm doing it anyway.
8 AM - wake up, take a shower
8:30 - feed Addie. Brian already has Elli and Ben dressed and had them eat breakfast. Yay!
Do Elli's hair. Make sure everything is in her backpack. Get shoes, coat, and backpack ready.
9:10 - carpool comes to take Elli to school. Blow dry my hair. Put Ben's shoes on, get coat and backpack. Buckle Addie in her carseat.
9:25 - take Ben to preschool. Drive over to the church to help set up for our Relief Society Enrichment tonight. I am on the committee. Put up tables and chairs, set plates and silverware.
10:30 - come home. Addie falls asleep on the way. Whoops - I forgot to eat breakfast. Pour some cheerios. Start cutting banana on top but half way down, it's bad. Try another one. Half way down, it's bad too. Must have been on the bottom of a box. Pour milk and eat. I need to bring some brownies to Enrichment tonight so I start making them.
12:00 PM - Pick up Ben from preschool. Get home just in time to take out the brownies. Talk to Ben about school while he licks the brownie beaters. Make him lunch. Dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets and V8 strawberry-banana juice.
12:30 - start a load of laundry (normally I do laundry on Wednesday and Saturday but I didn't do any last Saturday so we're way backed up.)
12:45 - Addie wakes up. Feed her. When she's all filled up, she's so happy and Ben comes over and talks to her for a while. He keeps kissing her cheeks and I keep looking to see if the brownie mess on his face gets transferred to hers.
1:00 - I eat lunch. Mini corndogs and peach yogurt. I know, the corndogs sound gross but doesn't the yogurt balance it healthily out? Addie sits in the Bumbo and gurgles.
1:15 - Put in a children's music CD. Uh-oh! Diaper blowout! - change Addies outfit. When she's all clean, me, Ben and Addie dance and sing some songs until the CD ends.
2:00 - Make frosting for the brownies. Let Ben lick the (different) beaters. Okay, I lick one.
2:15 - Put Addie down to sleep. Check e-mail. Ben comes over and wants to draw on the computer.
2:25 - change laundry loads. Clean up kitchen from brownie mess.
3:20 - check on Addie. She's awake! That was too short of a nap but I needed to get her up anyway. Buckle her into her carseat and drive to the school to pick up Elli's carpool group.
3:45 - come home. Get snack for Elli and Ben. Yogurts. It has to be the 'whipped orange cream' flavor for both. I'm not a fan. Feed Addie.
4:15 - sit down to watch some Oprah. Dr. Oz is talking about eating healthy. I really enjoy my Skor candy bar as I watch.
4:45 - call my friend Leslie while I start cutting up some strawberries. Have a short conversation; it's dinner time in Texas! Cut up more strawberries, oranges, apples and nectarines for a fruit plate to take to enrichment tonight. Of course Ben and Elli have to sample some of the fruit.
6:00 - feed Addie. Play for a while. Watch her play her toy piano.
6:20 - Brian comes home. Change into a dress and put makeup on to look cute. Put my glasses back on and look un-cute again.
6:40 - load up the brownies and fruit plate into the car and head over to the church. Help get last minute things in order. Wow, there are a lot of brownies and fruit being brought! We have dinner: baked potatoes, salad and fruit. Next is dessert: brownies and ice cream. We have a guest speaker. Lynde Mott, an LDS artist, talks about fashion in the 1800's and how she makes her paintings historically correct. She likes to paint pioneer women. It's pretty interesting.
9:15 - help fold chairs and tables. Go into the kitchen to get my things. My fruit tray is loaded up with other people's fruit, along with some of mine. I only wanted to take my leftovers. Oh well. I find my brownie tray. ...ONLY ONE BROWNIE IS GONE!!! I am never making those brownies again. From now on I am making the box kind. Those are the ones that got eaten. They have about 50 leftover potatoes and they want everyone to take some. So I load up my full cookie sheet of brownies, my full tray of fruit and my baked potatoes and head home.
10:00 PM - Brian has Elli and Ben in bed. He has also folded and put away all of the laundry that got washed. He is my hero of the day. I try to find places in my fridge for all the food. Addie is just waking up for one last feeding. Feed her. Come back to the kitchen and tidy up a bit. Sit down and reflect on my crazy day. It's not usually this busy during my day but when it is, it's like a whirlwind.