S Club Mama

Brr! It was cold today in Peru, Nebraska home of my alma mater. I love going back to Peru, truly; it just feels like home. Today it was a cold home, but home nonetheless. Big A and I decided to register again for the Nebraska's Toughest Mile competition and I'm fairly certain the hills were steeper this year. Ugh. My time went from 9:25 last year to 10:06 this year. It was colder, I'm less trained (I was primed from a half marathon last year), and it was cold. But I finished with lungs burning and the taste of blood in my mouth (not sure why this ONLY happens when I run this race, but weird). I sat myself in one of the restroom stalls in the Student Center sure that I was going to barf, but luckily, that didn't happen. Phew! finishing! Seriously, people, one mile seems so simple, but this is uphill almost literally all the way. And not just up hill but UPHILL. Yuck. We had our friends G and L ride up with us so that we could spend time with them (it had been ...

I can't remember the first time I heard about Yurbuds - possibly on a running blog or magazine. I'm not really a tech-geek so I don't really stay up on what's new in the techy world. I don't text so obviously I'm not into the iPhones. My iPod is older and a hand-me-down. We don't own an iPad or any other tablet (although our kids do have a Leap Pad). Cutting to the chase, I don't care about gadgets - much. I don't know if you really consider headphones to be gadgets, but they go with electronics, so I do. I knew from the moment I saw their sweet ads that I wanted Yurbuds. Their price tag was a little out of my range ($29.99 - $50) for headphones. It's hard for me to recommend buying something so expensive that's so tiny. However, once I tried these Yurbuds Inspire sport earphones out - they are worth the money! love all the colors! What color would you choose? Why? 1. These earphones were "developed by women for women" ...

I grew up in virtually the same home my whole life. We moved in when I was younger than 5 and my parents are still there. I cannot imagine being a migrant worker. I grew up with 2 sisters. I cannot imagine being one of seven children. I grew up knowing that my parents loved me, even when I didn't think their discipline was fair (it probably was at times and wasn't at times, same as most parents). I cannot imagine being abused, especially sexually abused. Cruel Harvest by Fran Elizabeth Grubb is a memoir about those unimaginable things. The first two of those things are not necessarily bad things, although not being allowed to go to school as a migrant worker would have been very hard on me (as it was on the author). In Cruel Harvest, Grubb describes her life of fear. Her father was a cruel, cruel man who reigned over his family with an iron fist of abuse, a brick of sexual abuse, and the fear those things brought out. They traveled from farm to farm as migrant workers...

My boys, especially Squirt, are into superheroes. That's what Squirt wants to be when he grows up (aren't 3-year-olds sweet?). That's what Squirt dresses as daily. He and I argue over one thing: whether or not he can wear his Superman t-shirt (most frequent answer is no because it's dirty. Now he calls it his "dirty Superman."). I want my children to know the Lord. I want them to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We read Bible stories, we memorize weekly verses, we go to church, we talk about God and Jesus. None of those things guarantee a personal relationship with the Lord, but I figure they definitely don't hurt. I like the things we read about Jesus to be on their level. Veggie Tales is a big part of my kids' lives, too (especially Squirt) - I think Larry Boy has a big part of that (superhero!). Anyway, that is why I was thrilled to hear about Captain Sun. Bryce Morgan wrote and Mitch Martin illustrated "Rescue Me!: What Su...

I love to pin! I'm not talking about wrestling...but the new pin - Pinterest. I am very organized in my pins and I actually even do some of them! I even love some of the workouts I've found on there: I even love some of the tips I receive via pins like paying yourself for working out. I do love the inspirational pins about how a 14 minute mile and a 7 minute mile still both cover a mile. Things like that are encouraging and motivating. What I don't love about fitness stuff on Pinterest is this: found via   found via found via These images, while perhaps trying to be encouraging, are discouraging. My body is NEVER going to look like these images without extensive surgery. I've had two large children in my short frame. My skin is never going to shrink back to normal; my stretch marks are here to stay. I've lost 50 pounds, ran several half marathons, continue running and working out almost daily - and I don't look anywhere near t...

Get a calendar. I'm not talking about scheduling your workouts, although I've said it time and again how important that is. Get a calendar to mark down what you have accomplished. I keep track of my workouts (Insanity, run 3 miles, etc), my time (30 minutes or I'm more specific 31:41 for runs), and my weight (NOT daily, not even weekly anymore). I did weigh-in every 2 weeks when I was purposefully losing weight. I also keep these calendars. I like to remind myself of how far I've come. I started out 193 pounds after Squirt was born. I was down to 179 when I actively started pursuing weight loss at the start of 2010. I was down to 143 in October 2010. My brain can't actively remember these things but I can look back and see! It's good to pat yourself on the back. Remember, there's always more work to be done but you have done so much for yourself! Smile! Remember! Lately I've been feeling a little snug in my jeans. I know I've put on a few p...

Oops! I'd forgotten I read this book to write a review over rather than for fun. I'm sure you were all on the edge of your seat - all of you that comment, especially. Ha. How We Love Our Kids by Milan and Kay Yerkovich was really interesting. The jist of it is that perhaps your children aren't the problem, like many other parenting books suggest. Perhaps not problem but if you change your children, then the problems go away. How We Love Our Kids suggests that perhaps we parents are the problem. It discusses five love styles (not to be confused with The Five Love Languages): avoider, pleaser, vacillator, controller, and victim. I leaned toward the vacillator . I have a push and pull with my children. Either I'm distracted or preoccupied OR I work toward closeness. Not necessarily a bad thing but I must be careful that when I'm distracted that I don't lash out at my children for wanting my attention. Also, I need to realize the consequences of such a push and...