Lately...........

I feel like this picture is an accurate representation of my life lately. It is hard to know where to begin. All I know is that a lot of things are in a mess.

My house is a mess, my desk is a mess, my vehicles are a mess, my yard is a mess, my schedule is a mess, my build project....you guessed it......a mess.

A couple of weeks ago my principal showed this video at staff meeting of this kid in a cross country running race. He was about 20 meters away from the finish line when he collapsed with exhaustion. The coach rushed to his aid, but he waved him off and indicated that he would finish the race unassisted. Summoning all the strength he had left, he began to crawl. Runner after runner passed him by and finished the race. He fell several more times, but kept getting back up and crawled across the finish line. I was in tears as the video played because that was me. That IS me. I'm still crawling. I hope I make it across the finish line in four days time when school ends.

I haven't blogged lately because I been struggling lately and was afraid that a blog entry might release a tidal wave of self pity. I'm trying to stay positive, so I've stayed silent. I can feel that tidal wave emerging now so I'm going to just post a few picts of some fun things in the last few weeks and call it good.

The kids and I were asked to be the torch runners for the Cardston Kids Marathon. So fun! 

Reg, Coop, and I all ran in the Cardston Family Fun Run 5km race together. Amazingly, we all got first in our categories, and Reggie (AKA the MACHINE) was the first one in overall. It was my first run after the broken toe incident so I felt pretty good about it.

                                                                                                                                  

Presented the 2012 Cam Williams Memorial Award to Savannah Hunter. What an awesome kid.

Team Orange went UNDEFEATED at the final tournament!

Walls, upstairs rooms, and some downstairs rooms are framed.

May Long and Other Adventures

I did a really dumb thing last week. I broke my toe. Really not the smartest thing to be doing when you are training for a half marathon that is a week away. I wish I'd broken it in a more glamorous way like booting a soccer ball, or getting stepped on with a cleat, but no, it was pure clumsiness. In the middle of the night I got up to close a window. Instead of walking around the bed to get back in I thought I would do this flying leap over to my side of the bed. Seemed good in theory. I guess I'm not as limber in the wee hours of the night because I whacked my toe right into the corner of my hope chest at the the foot of my bed. The pain took my breath away and it throbbed for the rest of the night. I hope that it was just a bad bang but when the next couple of days revealed swelling, a black toe, and no ability to bend it, I knew my half marathon hopes were over.

I could just kick myself. Just four days before I had done a 12 mile run with my running partner and we were really feeling ready. Instead I ended up running an aid station and wiping away tears as I watched my running partner zoom by. I don't do very well as a spectator. It killed me to not be in that race with so many of my colleagues. It just sucked. PERIOD.

I've been really careful with it and I'm hoping to be in good form for the upcoming family fun run in mid June.

Reggie kicked at his track meet this year. He finally has figured out where his talents lie, and was smart with his event choices.  Last year he signed up for shot put. Yup, that's right SHOT PUT. Reggie and I are pretty much built the same. I told him, "Reg, have you looked at our arms? People like us don't do shot put." To spite me, he still got fourth, beating out kids who outweighed him by 40 pounds.

This year he went in long jump, triple jump, 800m, and 1500m. He got first in all of them. The best moment was when he did his last long jump and beat my standing school record. He was so happy and so was I. It was a memorable mother-son moment. (Technically, my record still stands because he is a boy ; )

For the May long weekend we braved the weather and decided to go camping in Waterton. There were a few sunny moments that we took advantage of. The kids love camping no matter what kind of weather there is.  We did a short hike to Bertha Falls. Another dumb decision on my part. I wanted to test out my toe, and it killed afterward. My sister and her family, my mom and dad, and my brother in law and his family were there as well. It was a nice change of scenery.

 

 

House progress has been non-existent, as I have been at the mercy of my contractors and the weather. I don't really like to talk to much about it, because it makes me too mad. They say they are coming to start framing Wednesday. I'm not getting my hopes up though. I'll only get excited when there are actual hammers and nails flying up there.

All three kids are playing on the summer games soccer teams. It has kind of spun our schedule out of control. My calendar has no white space left to write in. I suppose it is a good thing though. I would rather having them super busy than sitting at home vegetating or bugging each other.

June go quickly!

Mother's Day

I've never felt like I've been a very good mother. Parenting weaknesses abound and patience often runs thin. I distinctly remember saying to Cam, "I could never be a single parent. I think I would check into the nut house in no time flat." Well...........about that.............It is pretty scary to think how close I have come to checking into the nut house sometimes. There is definitely a reason families are supposed to be made up of a mom and a dad.

When half of the equation is cut out it is hard. Very hard. I don't really have the skill set to be a successful single parent. However, some compensatory blessing make it possible to keep going when the slogging is tough. One of these bonus blessings is the children I have been given to raise. Although they are far from perfect, they are perfect for me. They teach me so much. I feel so lucky to be a mother to THEM.

Cooper sneaked into my bed at about 2:30 AM as he often does. Usually he continues to slumber while I get up and get ready. Today though I heard him awake and check the clock. After seeing it, he leaped from the bed and began dashing out of the room. He thundered downstairs organizing the rest of the troops and shouting orders. Although the attempt to keep the noise to a minimum was duly noted, there was a lot of pot clanging, drawers slamming, and timers dinging, interspersed with a lot of SHHHH BE QUIET! SHE'S GOING TO HEAR US!  The breakfast parade then descended upon my room with Coop leading the way, beaming. After making sure I ate every morsel of my food, they begged to bring in the Mother's Day gifts before we started getting ready for church.

The high point of the day for me was Reggie's talk in church. He did it all on his own last night while I was out watching 'The Avengers'.  (Didn't really like it, but that is a post for another time). It is so weird to see your kid standing in front of a large audience competently speaking about you. I tried not to get emotional and make a fool of myself on the stand, but it was hard to hold back tears. I had the revelation that maybe I am doing a couple of things right and the sacrifices I make are noticed.

Motherhood is often unsung, less than glamourous, and very, very exhausting, but the rewards are out of this world.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you!

Missing in Action

Well, I guess I deserve the prize for the most inconsistent blogger ever. Life has been so crazy that I just haven't found a moment to jot anything down. The other annoying thing is I think my phone was stolen, so all the fun pictures that I would have had to post are POOF! I was pretty ticked at first, but I am loving the new iphone I bought.

Where do I begin............How about with some categories?

House

Basement is done!  It is all completed and ready to begin framing. The problem is my framers got behind on their other job and now my framing job can't start until May 23. Boooooo! So frustrating. Road is done, and not without some major miracles. There as been a long standing disagreement with the Town of Cardston and I about this road. I thought they should be contributers, as it is a town road, and they thought I should foot the whole bill. Finally, I called up the mayor and the town admin and had them meet me and Dad up at the build site. We emphatically explained our case and asked for some concessions. They said they would see if council would pass them. A few days go by and I was standing there teaching my grade 7  class when I looked out my window and saw dump truck after dump truck heading to my property. I dashed up there after school to find out that the town agreed to pay for the grader operating cost, donate 26 truck loads of clay, and haul it in to boot! Miracles I tell you! Soooooo happy about that. That being said I do need to say that general contracting my own house was pretty much the stupidest decision that I have EVER made. Definitely over rated my abilities on that one. Basically, I have aged at least 10 years since the process started , taking at least that much time off my life span.  I just want a break from being in charge of every little thing. It would have been so nice to share this process with my best friend.

School

I have had some very stressful decisions to make in the last few weeks regarding school. First the vice-principal position came up at my school and several people encouraged me to apply. I hmmmed and hawed for many days and then decided it was not my season to do that kind of thing.

Then another opportunity presented itself to transfer to the High School. It is so hard to make a decision when both options have positives. I decided to stay put, which will have me teaching something completely new--grade 6 and a choral class. Big time stretching for me as I have been in a comfortable place for several years.

Other Stuff

Soccer season is in full swing. I decided to coach Marin's team this year, which has me coaching two nights a week. All together we have soccer three nights a week. The kids are loving it, but it a is mach speed life. I finally got my favorite color (orange) for my team color this year and I think it is a good omen. My players are trying to convince me to call our team the School Bus so that they can yell a chant at the other team each game, "We'll take you to school!" They are so funny. Today we were able to get outside and play some ball. I bet I pitched at least 100 pitches in the back yard. The kids never tire of it. Then it was on to some kids against mom soccer. After taking the lead, Mar says to me, "Mom, if you are going to play adult soccer you'd better step it up. I mean, you've got to me able to beat kids,". Touche!

Pinch Me!

As you may have noticed, I have been a terrible blogger lately.  My general contracting "job" has been taking over MY ENTIRE LIFE AND MIND SPACE.  Seriously, it has been pretty stressful. I probably wouldn't do it if I had to do it over again, but I am committed, so I am going to see it through.

Us trying out our new living space

 

The view from my future deck

The events worth celebrating this week are the excavation and the pouring of the footings which were done today. It is finally real. It was hard to believe I was really doing this until I saw those footings.  My biggest job right now is to pray away the rainy weather that is supposed to be coming at the end of this week.

In addition to all the house stuff, Marin had surgery on Wednesday.  She had to get her adenoids out as well as tubes put in her ears. Both of us hate hospitals for obvious reasons. I hate how they all smell the same, no matter which one you are at. I hate that smell is the strongest evoker of memory.

She was so terrified. It is so hard to see your kid like that. At one point as we were walking down the hallway to the surgery waiting place she said, "Mom, I'm not doing this," and started to run away. Luckily, I am quick on my feet.  I had to keep a firm arm on her for the rest of the trip to the waiting room. Oddly, once she found out that she could get her IV after she was put to sleep she was totally at ease. Everything went well and she was out in no time. The recovery from the anesthesia burned up the rest of the day though.

 


We are glad it is all over to say the least. We aren't going anywhere for Easter break this year. The kids were a bit bummed but they understand that we have to sacrifice a bit for the new house. My sister and her husband are in Hawaii so helping my mom and dad take care of her kids is breaking the monotony up a bit.

I'm just grateful for the sleep in days. I have been running on empty way to long.

Pictures of the footings are below:

 

Rocket Speed

I think I have finally come to accept that my life only operates on one speed, and that is ROCKET SPEED. I need to stop expecting it to slow down. I need to stop expecting free time and just deal with the fact that there is always something major going down, or a whack load of minor things going down, all at the same time. This week was no different.

Highlights:

* 5 suits all in my classroom at the same time. The superintendent, the deputy superintendent, a big wig professor from the U of L, the principal, and the vice. Nice, really nice. Of course the kids and I act completely normal when they are wandering around the room. Ha!

*More house problems. Site plan had to be tweaked. The person I never thought I would be dealing with again........yep, will be dealing with him again this week to get the tweak approved. Lumber quotes still not done from the people who said they would have them done. Still waiting for three contractor quotes, and hoping beyond all hope that I don't go over budget. My awesome cousin Ty helped officially stake out the house for excavation. So grateful for his help, time, and expertise.

*Early mornings. Monday- Marin early morning choir. Tuesday- Coop early morning choir. Wednesday- Marin early morning choir. Thursday- Reg early morning badminton try out. Friday- early morning staff meeting. Did I mention I'm not really a morning person?

*Badminton tryouts. Reg kind of had a major meltdown during one of the try outs and left before it was over. He has kind of of a bad temper at times when it comes to sports, which he probably got from me. I told him that my kids would not be quitters. I made him apologize to the coach and beg to come back to the next try out. He was pretty ticked at me but now he is glad he is continuing. Why can't kids realize that mom is ALWAY right ; ) ?

*Went and saw the Lorax with the kids on Friday night. It was the only way I could convince them to come to Lethbridge with me while I sneaked in a visit to Challenger Building Supplies. It was pretty good. 3D movies are not my favorite. Too much going on for me, but the kids loved it and recited lines and laughed all the way home.

*Saturday morning we did some more fence removal and house staking. Then, in the afternoon I took the kids and my two nieces snowboarding. Conditions weren't the greatest, but man was it warm. Sure hope that was not the last run of the season.

*Daylight savings kicked my butt. Going to church at what feels like 8am is not the most pleasant thing in the world, especially when you waited until late Saturday night to prepare your Young Women's lesson.

Blast of to a new week of adventures in T minus 8 hours!

Yeah, My Dad's Awesome Like That

Two of my favorite guys

I know maybe I have sung my dad's praises before, but I just can't stop from doing it again. My dad and I have always been tight, but lately we have been best buds. This house thing might have something to do with that. I mean, who else could enjoy talking nonstop with me about the price of drywall, lumber package quotes, and traditional heating vs geothermal?

The kids are getting a little perturbed because every time we get together we get into hours long conversations about the above mentioned topics. Obviously, the world doesn't know how freaking awesome he is or he would hold special status, or at least have a holiday named after him. Remember how when you were little you thought your dad knew about everything and could do practically anything? Well, I'm 36 and I still believe that because it is true. You just won't find a person as kind, selfless, hardworking, and humble as my dad. Here is a recount of his awesomeness this week:

*Helped Coop build his cub car.
*Came over several times to talk house.
*Took off work early to Lethbridge with me to meet with the geothermal guy and price out lumber packages.
*Made the most delicious chicken noodle soup and let us have some.
*Worked with me to take out fencing on the building site.

Love my dad!!!!!