C'mon Hokies!!!

Okay - Hokies - you gotta win this weekend - beat GA TECH!! I put up a Hokie Flag outside and I have already recieved several negative comments within 12 hours. If you win - I am leaving the flag up for the rest of the season and I hate having flags (other than the American Flag) up outside the house. Although, I do have a large selection of seasonal flags from the MIL, that include leaves, snowmen, hearts, birds and a beach scene. If anyone is interested - i will gladly send them your way!!

Right now, I am babysitting three extra kids in addition to my own two! And I have found time to blog - can you believe it? The kids have been so busy playing I think they have forgotten that I exist - but you know that now I have written this I will be bombarded with sticky fingers!! But I have been inspired by Kel's blog and now I feel as if I should go and clean something - hum - maybe I'll just empty the dishwasher. I need to rest up for tomorrow's long run, yes, that sounds like a wonderful excuse!! Karen OUT!

Gallons of Sweat!!

Whew, I just finished a 6MILE run this morning. I am so sweaty!!! I didn't even think you could look like you just stepped out of the shower after running! We also tried a new running trail this morning that was a 1 mile loop. In each loop there were 2 hills. When we started those little hills felt like nothing - but let me tell you - after mile 3 they became mountains!! They felt like the himalyas!! But i made it - i am alive!! Okay, so I did take a break at three miles and walked the last hill - but if i hadn't I wouldn't be here to write this blog and then you would miss me - hehe.

It was nice when i came home b/c dh has taken the kids to the YMCA with him this morning and the house is empty and quiet. Although, unusual to have the house to myself it is really nice!! I got my own water without filling a sippy and ate an orange without sharing 1/2 with the little people in the house - Goose did beg a little- but I can handle him!! Anyway, short entry - just wanted to share my new long run distance!! YEAH 6 MILES - and now it is 10:00 AM and i can start my day!! (welcome back Kelli - I can't wait to hear about your trip!!)

FYI

I just read this on another blog and I had to chuckle b/c maybe your neighbors really don't like to read as much as you thought they did!!!

Amazon quietly cashes in on sex toy marketUnder the heading of Sex and Sensuality, discreetly located under the Health and Personal care section of its US site, Amazon is offering more than 40,000 products, including over 9,000 vibrators and more than 5,500 “sex-enhancers”.

The items are being sold through Amazon under its increasingly important third party retailer business, which accounts for more than a quarter of the items it sells, and which includes mainstream retailers such as Macy’s and Toys R Us.Amazon says that it reviews the images that third party merchants place on its site, and that they cannot contain nudity, even on product packaging – although a survey of the site indicates that this policy does not extend to realistic representations of body parts. “Descriptions for the various products cannot contain profanity or graphic adult language,” Ms Smith added.

The pages carry some regular Amazon interactive features, such as lists of items recommended by other users, and the opportunity to review and rate products or to write users' guides.But they do not include the “share your own customer images” feature that appears on Amazon's house and kitchen ware pages. And unlike other pages on the site, they do not send personalised recommendations to the homepage the next time a customer logs on.

My Rant

I hope that I don't offend my reader (s?) here, but I just wanted to vent about people (not Kelli) who shelter their kids so much it becomes detrimental to their family. After working with kids that struggled with disabilities I really want to make sure that my two kids have the skills to independent and able to interact with others around them. But, I know too many people that keep their kids at home and feel as if their kids should run their lives.

They say-

'I can't do that - my kids don't like to go there,'

'I can't handle him in public,'

'I don't need to meet other mothers b/c we are fine by ourselves,'

'I can't leave him with a babysitter or Grandma - he might need me!'

AAGH!! I think that kids should become a part of your life and not vice-versa!!

I also believe that mothers need other mothers. I know that people are fine being by themselves. I can do fine being with my kids for awhile. My girls and I spent the first two winters inside together b/c they were preemies and we wanted to avoid RSV. But I still found stuff to do with friends outside of the house. I may have been the newbie in some social circles but that only lasts as long as you let it. People need people. Not just their child and their husband.

So my rant for the day - is get out of the house if you stay at home - meet others, do different activities - heck, go shopping, so that you can keep your own identity. Thanks for reading!!

CHEERS!

Last night while I was out buying beer for my tennis match today, I saw a six pack of Woodchuck cider. I was so excited to find it!! Of course I had to drink one last night, so I raised my bottle and said "CHEERS to my friends (who love to drink Woodchuck with me) and to the HOKIES!" We used to love drinking Woodchuck in college and for some reason it can be pretty hard to find - but last night there was a large, well, medium display of it right there in my neighborhood Publix!! GO PUBLIX!! And look at the Woodchuck link, b/c they sell Woodchuck Wearables :))

And I also must gloat about the shutout that VirginiaTech had over Duke last night! GO HOKIES!! Now, I am not one that likes it when teams steam-roll rudely over teams, but I was so glad that Duke didn't score one point on us!! YEAH!

Volunteer!!

Yesterday I volunteered at one of the three Red Cross Mega-Centers here in Atlanta. Wow, I am so glad that I helped out – it was an amazing experience. I just thought that I would share a few of the images that will stick with me. I drove up to the center, which is housed in an old Walmart building, an hour and a half before it opened. And there was already a line of evacuees looped back and forth in front of the building. There were 3 or 4 tour buses unloading into the line. I was shocked, here we are two weeks later and these people are just now getting connected with the Red Cross. (Which by the way is a fantastic organization - totally based on dontions with no goverment money!)

After the initial shock of the enormity of the line, I went inside and saw an amazing setup. There was the public health area (in the old optometry section,) a childcare section (in the old customer service area,) labor department, department of education, mental health, family services, FEMA (with two people working) and lots of different rescue missions and donation sites. It was phenomenal.

So I snuck into training, really. They called my name for the time, but I hadn’t trained, so I joined a group of sneaky women and we just casually walked into a training room. It was sneaky, but we really wanted to help and the volunteer process was a little disorganized!!

Then they threw us out onto the floor as caseworkers. We distributed donated money to the clients. Some of the people were so grateful. They praised GOD and just really had faith that he was still in control. Amazing. Some of the mothers looked really tired, they were living in a hotel room with their whole family, or even their cars still. But at least I was at the end of the line – so I got to give the people what they wanted and had waited hours to receive.
I had one women in labor go through my line. LITERALLY!! Standing outside in the line and then waiting to go through all the other lines in the building she had gone into labor!! The public health nurses were with her and she was having contractions while she answered my questions, it was a little unnerving!! But we got her some aid and sent her off to the nearest hospital!!

It was an amazing experience. I heard stories of water, fierce winds, and loss. I cannot even fathom what these people have been through. I have three more shifts this week, there are 15,000 more people expected to go through the center this week.

The People in My House

The second day of school went really well today. Both A and B were excited to go and they went right in to their classrooms!! YEAH! When went to pick them up A's teacher told me that they talked about the people in their houses and that some of the kids had added some extra pets to their houses. I thought, A knows we have a dog so she wouldn't have to make any pet up. But when I looked at her 'house' there was a cat in the yard saying 'meow.' Now, our dog, (as my one reader actually knows,) GOOSE looks nothing like a cat. His bark - is nothing like a meow. So when I asked A about the cat she smiled and told me that the sound that dogs make is 'meow.' OH BOY, I feel it is time for remedial animal class 101.

I didn't run in my new shoes today I just walked. Since the shoes are helping control my arches rolling - it felt a little weird. So I just walked about 4 miles - and it felt good - but Slow!!

Tomorrow I am working a couple shifts at the Red Cross center here. I am looking forward to volunteering and giving back to the people from the gulf that have lost everything!! I love volunteering - so I am looking forward to a marathon day from 8:30am to 9:00pm - yikes - no running needed tomorrow!!

Remember - Enthusiasm is Contagious!!

My babies become STUDENTS!

Yesterday my little girls went to School! Well, okay, its just mothers morning out -but it feels like school! I get 4 HOURS off!! It was so nice yesterday!! We put them in seperate classes (they are identical twins) and it was amazing how little they missed their 'sissy!' They just walked right in to their classroom and didn't look back!! Then when I picked them up - they walked out and hugged me and asked when they could come back!! So now they begin their journey to preschool, elementary, middle and high school!! WOW!! (overly Dramatic - i know!)

While they were at school I went running! We (my running friend and I) just did a quick 3 miles. (Okay , quick for us, and slow for the rest of the world) Then we went to Fleet Feet, our local running store, and got fitted for new shoes. They put us on the treadmill and videotaped our feet as we ran - pretty cool! Then we watched the tape to see what kind of support our feet might need or not need in a shoe!! I tend to roll my chubby ankles in - so I got some shoes with good arch support!! They are AMAZINGLY comfortable - i want to wear them everywhere!! For anyone that is interested in shoes - they are Saucony trigon 3 Guides!!

We are trying to train for a 10k on October 1st! So that is about 6.1 something miles and our long run so far has been 5.5. So with just a month left to train, I am thinking that the 5k is looking better and better! Oh well, hopefully these shoes will make my feet fleet and my steps light!! ENOUGH for today - have a great day!!

Take a Seat - this may take a while!

Well, so much has happened since our encounter at the beach - I have tons to write!! So I will start at the end of the beach trip - leaving off with the neverending battle against the sand. That battle is still in progress but DH and I actually had a night and a day off while my dear mother watched A and B!! We went to a really nice restaurant - ordered without ordering a kids meal, and had adult beverages!! No sippy cups!! Then we played putt-putt which is a tradition - and as tradition goes my dh won!! Okay - but only by one!! SOOO, I demanded a rematch!! We got out the next day during naptime (which of course didn't happen b/c Granny spent some quality time the girls.) Anyway, back to the exciting conclusion of the putt putt playoffs - it was really close until my dh hit his ball off the course!! And he lost it after that - he wants to know where his mojo went - and I won by 3!!! The first win ever in the many years we have been playing putt putt at the beach!!

Then we had to leave the beach :( The girls wanted to stay at the beach house and they didn't understand why we couldn't stay there!! It was cute. Then they wanted Granny and Great Granny to get into the car with us and come back to our house - but the car was so full of sand they couldn't fit! Just kidding!

The drive home was uneventful - YEAH! Except for the 25 pee stops and the 1 1/2 hour long lunch stop!! For those of you that have potty trained kids - FLY!!