Monday - Here We Go! becomes Starting with a Thankful Heart!

We took our first vacation in ages last weekend - 4 full days in Palo Alto, CA with my husband's brother's family. It was a fantastic, sunny adventure filled with trips to multiple parks, the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and lots of walks through the streets of Palo Alto - just lovely. The beach photo is from our stop at the beach before finding lunch and rides on the boardwalk.


As you can see from the photo of my daughter (dressed in her big brother's shorts over the top of her own - oh, and those are his shoes, too), we had a great time and everything was fun and smiles! I just had to include this photo - it cracks me up because it captures her personality so well. She's a ham!

We returned home late last night to find that we missed a heat wave in Seattle - 3 days in the 90s. Today is cool and rainy, which is fine by me. We're getting unpacked, doing laundry, and falling back into our normal routine. No worries about the outdoors calling to us to come and play. I can just dig in and get things off that pesky to-do list!

In all of my organization for my new blog daily topics, it didn't dawn on me that my Sunday and Monday plans were quite similar. SO, I've decided to change Mondays from "Here We Go!" to "Starting with a Thankful Heart!" Mondays can get bogged down with negativity as people leave the carefree fun of weekends behind to return to work and obligations (like that post-vacation to-do list!). Maybe if we can start Monday with a sunny outlook (there's my yellow hat again!), Monday won't seem so blah.

This new topic makes me think back to my elementary days when I was going through a negative patch. My mom was fed up with my black hat and wanted to help me discover the good things in my life (of which there were many). Before bed I had to write a list of 10 good things that happened that day. Some nights I would have much prefered just going to bed (which is crazy for a kid, right?!), but I made my way through the negativity and cranked out 10 good things. And really it wasn't too long before I found it easy to stretch the list beyond the mandatory 10 things - sometimes even making it to 20.


I'll keep things simple and list out 5 things I'm thankful for on my Mondays. In your comment (PLEASE COMMENT!!!), you can feel free to list anything you'd like to share - big or small, simple or complex.


Today my heart is thankful for:

5. A safe trip back and forth from California
4. The warm greeting from our dog, Albus, upon our return (dogs are great, aren't they?!)
3. The kindness of my parents for the taxi service to and from the airport and for letting Albus bunk at their place for 4 days
2. The plethora of public parks (and that my kids' fabulous Aunt & Uncle knew how to find the best ones!) available to kids in the Palo Alto area (and one kickin' water play park in Redwood, CA)
1. The partnerships and friendships that develop between fellow authors/small publishers

BONUS gratitude for the readers of the 75 books ordered today!!!

I'm feeling sunny already (despite the rain, which really does feel nice). How about you? What makes you thankful today?

Monday - Here We Go (it started with a run!)

My sleeping for the past few months has been shotty at best. Most nights I end up reading from about 10:30 - 11:00 to have some down time and then lie awake until about midnight or later. More often than not in the last month you'd be likely to find me engaged in my yoga practice around 2:30 in a desperate hope that it would focus my mind and stretch my body to be relaxed for sleep. Sure enough, that worked, but the kids are up at 6:45 or 7ish, so my sleep was inevitably cut shorter than I'd like. Vicious cycle. Over and over. And over and over and over and over and . . . I think you get the picture.

One cannot function this way with two kids at home and a career that needs nurturing. Not to mention the lack of SANITY that ensues! And you've certainly seen how it has affected my blogging (2 posts/week - at best), because blogging is pretty close to the bottom rung of what needs to be done in life, as fun as it is.

Saturday night I made a firm stand that my sleep would get back on track. I took some melatonin (smallest dose available) and my husband got up with the kids yesterday morning so I could get a full night's rest. It worked! I was asleep around 10 (much better time!) and got up around 8:30. Granted I didn't get out of my pajamas ALL DAY (really, I changed right before bed . . . something that's probably only happened 1 or 2 other times in my entire life - not counting my bout with mono . . . ), but the result was a better-rested and more patient woman. Whew!

Wanting to go for my runs in the morning instead of evenings like I've been doing all summer, I made a plan a few weeks ago to get up at 5:30 or 6:00 so I can run before my husband leaves for work. This is also good in theory because I'm happiest if I can get in a morning shower and feel clean all day. With night running, I've been showering at night. While it is nice to go to bed clean, I've spent the summer craving my morning shower and I just can't justify 2 showers/day. I'm trying to be environmentally conscious, people!

So I took a melatonin again last night (but won't tonight - I'm just trying to jump start my natural sleep rhythm again and don't ever like to rely on chemicals). I was alseep by 10 again and when the alarm went off at 5:45, I was able to open my eyes and think, "Today's Monday. My running clothes are out and ready. Cool!" My husband grunted some sort of greeting and I threw on my gear, leashed up the very happy Albus dog, and headed out.

Though my eyes may not have been totally open until I hit the top of the hill (a good 3 minutes into the run), it didn't matter because mornings here are ultra foggy and there was nothing to see until I reached the top anyhow. And, I had my trusty guide dog.

It was a 25 minute run with a few little walk breaks (and a little potty break for Albus because he was too excited to pee before we left), but it averaged out to be 10:00 miles for 2.5 miles. Not bad for the first early morning run in months! And my mind is alert and clear - woo hoo!

So, now I'm home, showered, dressed and blogged and it is just now 7:02 and the kids just came scampering in to see me. THIS is how to start the week - with accomplishment! I can get used to this.

Wishing you a great week filled with happy running!

Monday - Here We Go (it started with silliness)

Somehow there WAS balance to the day, though if you had asked me how the juggling was going at 1PM I might have thrown a few balls at you (but don't worry, my aim is terrible, hence my gravitation toward running and not something like softball or ultimate frisbee)!

The day started out with a big laugh and confirmation that I HAVE been working hard at this book publishing thing and that it IS getting some notice around the house. A bit of background knowledge for you non-publishing world readers: Baker & Taylor is one of the largest (if not THE largest) book wholesalers in the world - that is, publishing companies sell their books to them and they in-turn sell them to bookstores, libraries, etc. We discovered that if you are to sell a book successfully you need Baker & Taylor on your side (though I'm sure it IS possible to do without them, but I wouldn't!), as well as the all powerful Amazon.

Anyway . . . yesterday was the education day, so I'll fast forward here for you to the nearly verbatim conversation at 7:15AM after both children pitter-pattered their little selves into my cozy, cave-like room:

Mr. Music: Good morning, Mama! What a sunny day. It's after 7, let's get up!
Said Mama: Good morning, Sweet Boy. You're looking happy this morning.
Little Sister: Me. Me. Me. (nods)
Said Mama: Oh, yes, you, too, Little Girl. Good morning.
Mr. Music: Can we turn on Baker & Taylor and dance around the playroom before breakfast?
Said Mama: (surpressing full blown laughter) I think you mean JAMES Taylor.
Mr. Music: Yeah, that's what I said! Baker & James Taylor!
Little Sister: Me. Me. Me. (nods)
Said Mama: Sure, Baker & James Taylor it is.

And in our pajamas we proceeded to dance ourselves silly for a good half hour before breakfast to the fabulous tunes of music great James Taylor, who shall forever more be known in my house by the longer, book related name.

The morning really did progress nicely and we got my mom to the dentist for the first part of her root canal (which went well). The afternoon was more stressful with the full-blown "I don't want to take a nap now, even though my behavior CLEARLY indicates that I need a nap and if I were to give in and put my head on the pillow I'd be instantly asleep" tantrum from Little Sister. But, she did finally give in after 40 minutes of back-and-forth (mostly me just ignoring her - the best I could). Have you had these at your house? I'll be glad when we finally get this new single long nap at 1PM set in the routine.

We had a similar, but much more mellow, experience at bedtime with Mr. Music who just lurks about trying to be noticed after we've said our good-nights. I managed to dodge that one for a bit tonight because I headed out for a 20 minute run with Albus (dog runner) and my new Garmin. I was blown away that once I get in my groove I really AM cranking out close to a steady 8:30 mile. Because it was a short run (after an hour long bike ride yesterday that I can still feel in my glutes), everything averaged out to 10 minute miles, but now I know what I can do . . . there's power in that!

Mr. Music was still peeking around corners when I got home, so I gave him an ultimatum: Go to bed or I'll get in it and wipe all my sweat on the sheets first to make the bed stinky.

I believe his last words of the evening were, "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwww, Mom - NO!" And I'm happy to report that we haven't seen his cute self since.

No, I wouldn't have REALLY done it, I just wanted to see if the idea of it would catch his attention. And it did. Better than I could have imagined. And tomorrow we'll debrief and laugh about it so he doesn't have nightmares about his sweaty runner mom who tortures young children with her stinky post-run sweat!

Ah, life balance!

Monday - Here We Go!

Yesterday my son (Mr. Music, for those of you who "know" him) turned 4. I'm in disbelief that we've been parenting for 4 years! He danced around the house all day singing, "Today's my birthday! Today's my birthday! I'm 4 years old. It's my birthday!" to no tune in particular, dancing all the while. It was very cute. There's a definite difference in awareness from last year's birthday and this year's.

Today my husband took the day off work and we had a birthday party for him at the local watershed preserve to go on a hike. What a site seeing 25 people walking in line down the trail, looking at the plants, picking huckleberries and watching for birds with the 3 pairs of kiddie binoculars our son shared! We hiked a 0.6 mile path to get started, took a break with snacks and water and then they hit a second loop for a 0.3 mile trek while my mom, aunt and I got the food out and ready. It was the perfect arrangement for 13 kids (ages 18 months - 6), their parents, and one happy dog. I was also happy to see that the crew was armed with hats, sunglasses and sunscreen so we didn't have to worry about any sunburns - do you remember the days when sunscreen use was NOT the norm?





A hiking birthday party turned out to be a great idea - several families were even thinking of returning to the park for some family exploration another time soon since the trails are so young family friendly. Picnic blankets were the perfect landing places for lunch and relaxation after the hike and the dirt cupcakes topped with crushed oreo cookies and gummy worms were the proverbial "icing on the cake" for the event. As a surprise ending for the party, a gentleman walked over 2 HUGE horses for the kids to see (there are horse trails that start at the park, too). I couldn't have PLANNED for that excitement!





We did our best to inject some "green" practices for this birthday.


- I included a carpooling suggestion on the invitations and was happy that 2 families made the drive together!


- Instead of plates for snacks, we used cupcake liners (much less paper waste!). I usually use the reusable plastic ones for snack at home because they really are the perfect size for snacks, but didn't have enough of those to go around.


- My mom made cloth napkins for everyone out of a pinecone print fabric that became party favors (a few families even ended up with a family set!).


- I resisted the urge to get cute junky stuff from Oriental Trading Company and instead made bean bags for the guests out of tree and footprint fabrics that went with the theme of a hike


- his birthday presents from us yesterday were "wrapped" in pillowcases (bright kid-happy ones, no plain ol' white ones - we're not THAT boring!) and my parents liked the idea so his gifts from them were wrapped in fabric from my mom's sewing stash.



With the party under our belts now, I'm looking forward to having some more laid back days this week. Tomorrow I'll return to the grindstone of publicity and squeak out my first run in a week (*gasp* how did I go a week without running???!), unless I get in a run this evening and then tomorrow's run will be my second, which sounds like an even better plan.

Do you have any big plans for the week? Have you included any environmentally friendly practices into your celebrations?

Have a great week - and happy running!