Warrior Dash

3 Miles of Mud.

Fire.

climbing walls.

More mud.

barbed wire.

Neck high mud water.

Mud.

Junk yard.

And mud.

Most of which was uphill.

 

IT ROCKED!

We did pretty dang good too.  After falls in the mud and waiting for each other on certain obstacles we actually crossed the finish line at 34 minutes.  That’s just about normal for a casual road 5k for me, averaging about a 10 minute mile. We will definitely do it again hardcore and see how good we do!

We learned three things:

1. Wear shoes with LOTS of traction

2. Wear knee pads! (It’s probably more ascetically awesome to disguise these as part of a uber cool warrior costume)

3. Sign up early and run the first wave on the first day.  We ran the last wave on the last day and that mud and mud water was stanky-fresh!  And by fresh, I mean stanky…seriously…like poo.

I am now on the road to train for my first half-marathon coming up in October.  By next year, I should be ready to tackle the Tough Mudder, which is like the Warrior Dash with a death wish.  I bet Tony will do it too.  Muahahaha!

First day at the park!

The sun came out today, Max is no longer sick, and it wasn’t too super cold out!  So, you KNOW we had to get outside and enjoy it for at least a little bit!

We are lucky enough to live next to a nature trail, part of which leads to an open field and children’s park.  Max, Jessie, and I loaded up and walked the half-mile to the park in the gorgeous sunshine with all intentions of swinging!

Swings were always my favorite thing at the park AND they get to be the first thing Max experiences there.  He’s too young for any of the other stuff, since they require the ability to at least walk!

Can you tell he’s really enjoying himself? lol

Then, a little spin action…

So fun ^_^

 

We attempted the slide, but like I said, some things require a little more motor skills and balance.

 

Jessie was in charge of the stroller.  As you can see, she’s still in training, haha!

 

And finally, just us.  We missed daddy a whole lot.  But, soon the sun will be up longer, the days will be warmer, and we can have fun after work!

In The Works

I am taking a knitting break and moving into the realm of interior decorating.  All you who know me know how bare and purely functional my home is.  Six years of moving with the military caused me to develop an attitude toward home decorating of “Why bother? We’re just going to move anyway!”.  So now, after 7 years of marriage and no longer tied to the military, our house is still just a house, a temporary living space.  Not the most homey or welcoming place as far as aesthetics.

I am excited to announce that I am finally going to do something real about that.  I’ve saved up a decent amount of cash and I’ve spent the last couple months tearing out pages of home mags of ideas, rooms, and color schemes I really like.  Now, I am NOT talented in the area of home decorating AT ALL. But, flipping and collecting magazine pages has helped me immeasurably.

What I’m really looking forward to is not just going out and buying the necessities, but also making or recreating most of this stuff.  I’m excited to see if I have any hidden re-purposing skills or thrifty talent.

I’ve changed paint color ideas, I’ve bought two rugs and taken them both back, and I’m still on the search for the perfect curtain fabric.  I have an antique hope chest I’m going to refinish for a coffee table and I’m looking forward to scoring some awesomeness at garage sales and flea markets this summer…if I can hold out that long.

This is all for the living room, plus, I’m also gearing up to plant a beautiful veggie garden on the patio.  Again, I’m going to be taking what I have and fixing it up.  I have some cute little patio furniture that needs some TLC and color, Tony is going to build some garden boxes for me, and I have a half-barrel I got on sale last fall.  Happily, I know a woman at church whose husband owns the states (perhaps America’s?) oldest seed company.  It’s been in business since 1825 I believe she said.  She’s going to help me out with when and what to plant, soil stuff, and all that jazz.

So, I am uber excited about all that.  Plans for both the living room and patio garden are running through my head, some schematics are even drawn, and several lists are made.  I did mention in another blog that I’m a planner, didn’t I?

Not only is this tons of fun for me, but it’s also part of this whole living-on-purpose thing.  This “home-ifying” will bless my family by creating a happy and relaxing atmosphere and a pleasant place to just be.  I hope to use it to bless friends, family and strangers too.  A garden will also provide tons of opportunities for my son to grow and learn about not just planting and caring for plants, but about God and the world.  Good stuff, ya’ll, good stuff.

So, lots of fun coming soon!  I will be posting before and after pics

Missing 22nd Signal and Germany

A friend’s husband just left for basic yesterday.  Their chances are good that they will be overseas first, perhaps Germany, and all her army questions really brought it all back for me.

This early morning after feeding my son instead of returning to sleep my thoughts went on and on about 22nd Signal brigade and our time in Germany.  Oftentimes, it’s the negative memories that can take president, but this morning I could remember only the good.  A flood of fondness.

I really miss those days a lot.  I loved the people in 22nd and experiencing Europe was wonderful.  Not to mention I was a newlywed! I wish I could go back as I am now, knowing what I know now.  I was so very shy then, and rather selfish really.  I can’t help thinking what an idiot I was sometimes, too.

If we went again, things would be so different.  A lot has changed since then and if I were to describe those changes in a word…God.  Christ.  If I could copy and transfer my life in Texas to Germany I could have made such a difference.  I would have loved more, been selfless more, and SMARTER.  Scripture says in Psalms and Proverbs that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  So true.  I wish I hadn’t been without God in Germany

…but that’s the way it goes isn’t it?  I think anyone who has a relationship with the Almighty wishes they knew Him all along.

For the first time since, I actually long for Germany.  I know what I could do now.  Love more, reach out more, and have even WAY MORE FUN on the economy than I did before.

I miss everyone in 22nd.  It was the BEST unit I experienced.  I miss all you 22nd people!  Roxanne and Gary, Eran and the kids, the Wings, Quenga, Alissa, just off the top of my head at 4-something a.m.  I also miss the free gym!  Ugh…having that was pretty nice.

However, I am where I am now.  This is where God has me, so I’ll just be shiny here ^_^

Needles, Drills, and Sweet Pain Pills

I got some wonderful news last week, and by wonderful I mean the kind of news that leaves you feeling shocked by how bad it is and helpless at the fact that the bad news is, in fact, true.

That’s right…I visited the dentist last week.  My X-rays showed that a root canal done almost 10 years ago never healed and therefore there is a deep chasm of rotten flesh and disintegrated bone in my jaw and, if left unchecked, will lead to more bone loss in my jaw and the infection will spread through-out my mouth until my entire face is consumed and my appearance becomes that of Freddy Crougars sister…

My dentist is such a good dentist that she said all of this with such a cheerful spunk that I nearly missed that fact that this is all very bad and very serious news.

Therefore, doomsday had to come and this morning I had my face drilled.  It began with a wonderful acid trip to la la land as I passed out in the dentist chair after having anesthetic administered four times with very long and very sharp needles.   I can’t do needles.  After I was brought back to reality I spent an hour with my mouth open wide as a hippo as my endodontist spent the next 90 minutes drilling and scraping 10 years of regrets-from-not-regularly-seeing-my-dentist out of my old root canal.

I’m fine now.  I have some follow-up to do but my endodontist is confident that my tooth will do fine and, being young, my bone should return as well.  The numbness has worn off and so far I’m feeling no pain, although I’ve been warned that I may feel pretty bad later on.  He went so far as to say, “If you experience some incredibly horrific pain that makes you want to chew your leg off or jump out the window of 20 story building don’t panic.  Nothing is wrong, that’s totally normal”.  Well, he didn’t say all that but he did say that he’s basically stirred up the pot, my body will react, and not to worry about something being wrong if the pain is spectacular.  I’m looking forward to it   -_-

But, my sweet honey bought some old-lady-with-no-teeth food for me today, not least of which was Scooby Doo shaped mac n cheese just to make me happy ^_^  (For those who know me well, I want to hear NO comments about what a hypocrite eating boxed mac n cheese makes me).

The best part is Chicks with Sticks is tonight and this whole day totally justifies having a deliriously delicious hazelnut mocha frappuccino from Starbucks for dinner!

Max’s First Adventure Weekend

Max took in a lot of the outdoors this past weekend.  Saturday we hiked through Old Man’s Cave with a couple friends, Orry and David.  Max checked it out for maybe the first five minutes, but then slept the rest of the time in his carrier.

Our pup, on the other hand, was much more adventurous…or is the word “stupid”? I think our cliff jumping days have taught Jessie that heights are nothing to fear.  She’d trot dangerously close to the edges of the cliff with this very oblivious grin on her face.  I swear that dog isn’t going to live very long.

Sunday we headed down to Waynesville to canoe with Tony’s family.  He and I got a raft reasoning that it would probably be safer with Max.  The water is very slow and shallow, but canoes can be tipsy.

While everyone else headed down river in their canoes and kayaks, Tony and I floated along Italian style.  I held Max up front under an umbrella while Tony rowed.  I felt as if I were in a gondola.  All I needed was an old-fashioned dress, a guy playing a violin, and Tony reciting poetry, haha!  Too bad nobody had a camera that day!

Once again, Max slept a lot, although not as much as he had at the caves.  He found the scenery to be quite interesting and he really enjoyed all the attention from his grandma Lisa, aunt Ariel, and uncles John and Jake.

He’s going to be my little outdoor adventurer yet!  Perhaps we’ll take him cliff jumping next weekend?  jk ya’ll.