Friendship

I don't see my friends nearly enough. I realized that yesterday. True friends are hard to come by and I realize more and more that you really need to nurture those relationships and prusue those people. I am so fortunate that P is my best friend and that he is someone I can pour my heart out to. I am also fortunate enough to work at the same school as my college roomate. Plus, P and her husband are really good friends, so it is always so much fun to hang out with them.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to work with about 20 of my friends, many of whom travled hours to come and work for a weekend. It was so much fun to see friends that I have not seen in months. Whenever I walk away after being around friends, my one wish is that everyone I love could live in the same town. It would be so much fun! We would just hang out and play all the time! How great would that be? But then reality hits and I realize that everyone has their own lives and their own familes, and work, that they need to get back to.
That is why I decided that I am going to reach out to 1 friend every day for the rest of the year. It does not have to be anything big, but everyday I am going to try and contact a friend or family member. It can be a call, text, email, facebook message, letter, note, or converstation. I just want my friends to know they are important to me and that they are loved.

Running

"Something inside of me just said 'Hey, wait a minute, I want to beat him,' and I just took off.
You have to wonder at times what you're doing out there. Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement."
-Pre

It seems that life revolves around running right now. We are in the middle of track season and I spent the entire day on Saturday at a track meet watching my students compete. It was so much fun, and it made me really miss competitive running.

Early Saturday morning, as I got out of the car, I held my breath for a second, because I knew something was coming. As soon as I opened the car door, a faint breeze blew and that ever so familiar scent sent memories rushing to my mind. Anyone who is a runner will know what I am talking about, it is the smell of the track, that potent mixture of rubber and tar, that brings both fear and excitement. I was suddenly no longer a 27 year old coach, I was a 17 year old girl with a brick in my stomach because I knew that the next few hours would bring sweat, aches, and pain. I suddenly remembered the day of the state track meet, 5 A.M. practices, and running in the cold while my coach watched from the car. Whenever I smell a track, I can not help but remember all of the pain I went through on that surface to reach my goals.

I have had a love/hate relationship with running most of my life. This is because as a competitive athlete whenever we got in trouble, our punishment was running. After I got done playing college soccer, I had no desire to run at all. I was done with running. Eventually, I got back into running and would run sporadically. However, last year, I began to run regularly again, and I have rediscovered my passion for running. I am now in a place where I look forward to running in the afternoon. It is such a great release. It is a time to unwind, or to take the frustrations of the day out on my run. When I finish I feel so great. It is such a fun way to end my day.

I Love You more than Applesauce

I love you more than applesauce,

Than peaches and a plum,

Than chocolate hearts,

And cherry tarts,

And berry bubble-gum.

I love you more than lemonade,

And seven-layer cake,

Than lollipops,

And candy drops,

And thick vanilla shake.

I love you more than marzipan,

Than marmalade on toast;

For I love pies Of any size,

But I love you the most.

By Jack Prelutsky

I like this poem so much. I like how sweet and simple it is. Hope everyone has a great day!

Rally

I did something today that I have never done before, I went to a political rally, the San Antonio Tax Day Tea Party.

I really like politics and I follow what is going on pretty closely, and today I decided that I wanted to go to the Tea Party and support the cause. (Picture me punching my fist in the air!)

I know what I believe and I know that not everyone agrees with me politically, and I have to be ok with that. Even if we don't see eye to eye, I want Americans to be proactive. I want people to go out and let their voice be heard, and I did that today. This is America and people died so that we could have the right to gather and express our views and let the government hear our voices.

One thing that was so great about the rally was that is was a really positive experience. It was not about being a Republican or Democrat, it was about letting the government know who they work for and to whom they responsible to.

Right now our country is going through some really tough times. Many of our families, neighbors, and friend are hurting right now. Many are scared that they will walk into the office tomorrow and it will be their last day on the job. As Americans, we are tightening our belts. We are cutting back on our spending, and socking money away, which is great! But, the government needs to do the same thing. They need to be fiscally responsible. They need to remember that for the most part, we Americans work really hard, and many of us are trying to save for our future. Many of us work hard because we don't want the government to pay our bills or buy our food. We work 2 or 3 jobs, we get up crazy early everyday and we sacrifice to make ends meet.

And I believe that the government needs to do the same thing. So here are a few pictures of the rally and it felt great to be surrounded by 15,000 people in front of the Alamo, and say the Pledge of Allegiance, and sing the National Anthem, and pray together for our country. It was an amazing experience and I hope that you will join me tonight as I pray for the future of our country.

God bless America!!!

I saw a sign that said "Send Dave Ramsey to Congress!!"

Working

For the past several weeks I have been thinking about getting a job for the summer. I could teach summer school, but I really don't want to. I think a break from the kids/teaching/and the commute makes me a much better teacher. Plus, after I have been away for a few months, I really start itching to teach again, which is great for my students and me. So I had a delima, what was I going to do for 2 whole months? I know myself, and a week of no plans or no schedule is my limit. After a week I get bored and grumpy.
So I found a job. I live in a tourist town and there are a ton of hotels, parks, and fast food restaurants for tourist. I found a job at a small bed and breakfast as a housekeeper.
I know to some people that does not sound very good, but to me it sounds great because of the schedule. My schedule will be from 9-3, which gives me time to sleep in and work out in the morning, work midday, and then be home early in the afternoon to hang out with P.
For me, it is an ideal schedule.
Plus, the money that I make will go to fund our emergency fund--thanks Dave Ramsey. Part of me wishes we could take the money and go on vacation, but P and I decided that we need to get our emergency fund fully funded. Plus, we have had 2 vacations in the last year. We went to Colorado for a week this summer, and then we went to South Carolina over Christmas for a wedding/mini vacation.
I know that when people hear what I am doing they kind of laugh, or think it is beneath them, but I always try to remember a saying I heard once, "Our grandparents did not call flipping burgers beneath them, they called it opportunity." And this is a great opportunity for us to help build our e-fund.
I keep telling myself, life like no one else, so that one day I can live like no one else.

Lazy Day

Today I have done almost nothing. I woke up this morning about 9, which is pretty late for me. I grabbed the computer and sat on the couch until P woke up. Then we put on a movie and sat on couch and watched and I fell asleep again. That is a big deal for me because I almost never nap. It is super hard for me to nap because there are so many other things that I could be doing. I could be cleaning, hang out with friends, or being productive. But I napped, woke up and then P and I watched another movie. Finally, about 4 I got up and went to the gym and worked out for an hour. I came home, took a shower and now I am back on the couch, and I feel like I could go to bed again. P is making dinner and we are going to watch yet another movie, and I will probably fall asleep while watching it.
Every few months or so life catches up with me and I just need to stop, and rest. I feel tired, but I know that this is good for me. I laugh because when I do this, P will say "good job." I think he enjoys it when I stop and slow down and just be lazy.
I usually have so much energy and want to be up and about, but I am so glad that I got this rest.
So here I am curled up in my blanket feeling nice and relaxed, ready for some yummy sleep here in the next few hours, I say goodnight!

This is how our garden grows

Here are a few pictures of our garden. Everything is growing very well and lookng really strong. We had a few really cold nights and there was a chance of a freeze, but it stayed above freezing, which is great for the garden. Things are looking good and we should start seeing some fresh veggies popping up soon.

I am fading fast

In trying to write this post I have started, erased, started, and erased about 4 times. Nothing I write seems to be very good, or clear, so I just need to stop. I need to stop and simply be honest. I am fading fast. I am tired. I am worn out. I am done. I like to think that I can do it all, but I can't. I like to think that I can handle anything, but no I can't.
I think that playing collegiate soccer made me very disciplined. We had a coach that made us run 50 yard sprints for each "administrative mistake" someone made. For example, if someone wore the wrong colored socks that day, it was 2 50 yard sprints for the entire team. If someone was 5 minutes late to practice, that was 5 50 yard sprints for the entire team. If there were girls who skipped class, it was that many 50 yard sprints for the entire team. This was after practice and our normal conditioning. Once during 3-a-days we had 2 freshman on our team who went to shower before dinner, and they were 30 minutes late to our team meal. The next day, we had 60 50 yard sprints. Our coach let us break it up into groups of 20 at a time. (He told us he was being nice.)
So, as a result of that, I became very disciplined. I rarely forget appointments, I am hardly ever late, and if I am, I get very antsy. Because I am so disciplined, I tend not to forget things very often.
Well, my can do-I got it-its no big deal-I can handle it attitude has fallen to the floor. These past 2 weeks have been so crazy and busy that I have been forgetting everything. I have let people down, and because of my error they have been both upset and disappointed with me. This has happened both on the work front and in my personal life.
And today to top it off, is a co-worker/good friend's birthday. She does not like cake, so I was planning to make this sugar cookie pizza. It is a sugar cookie rolled out like a pizza, and after it is baked you make a mixture of cream cheese, vanilla and sugar and put it on top. Then you top the pizza with M&M's, fruit, or anything else the birthday girl likes.
Well, yours truly dropped the ball, and realized that when I got to school I forgot to make it. I arrived at 7:40, realized my mistake at 7:50, went to the store and got back by 8:05. The ladies in the cafeteria made the cookie cake for me. Well, in transit the cookie broke and the cookie pizza did not work out.
Thankfully she laughed so hard when I told her the story and apologized to her for my mistake. She laughed it off and our team had a great party.
Despite being busy and dropping the ball, I am trying to make lemon aid out of lemons. I just say I am sorry, and I am thankful to my friends who love me and forgive me and laugh at my mistakes.
I am looking forward to this weekend. I need some much needed rest. I have to teach today, and then a track meet and will hopefully be home around 9. Just 12 more hours!!!

Solitude

I like my alone time. I like to be all by myself. I think that I am an introvert and an extrovert, but I also realize how much my alone time means to me. All day long I am surrounded by people, and that is not a bad thing. The only time I have to myself is the 45 minutes in the morning before I leave, and my 10 minute drive to my carpool. From 6:35 A.M until bedtime, I am around people. I am a teacher so I am talking all day long and I am ON all day long. I don't get a chance to zone out for an hour during the day, nor do I have the ability to take a 15 minute "coffee break" (I don't drink coffee, me on caffeine is a deadly combo) to recharge my batteries.
I did not realize that I was introvert until I started to teach. Prior to teaching I was in grad. school living in my 1 bedroom apartment by myself. I was alone for really long periods of time.
Today as I was running, I kept asking myself why I like to be alone sometimes? I don't have an answer to that question. I just know that I enjoy it.
I have a friend who says she has social anxiety. Except she says that rather than getting stressed out about being with people, she gets stressed out about not being with the group when there is something going on. For her, being with people is thrilling, exciting, and refreshing. For me, that is not the case. I like getting to hang out with friends, and I like to talk to people, but I really cherish time by myself.
When I am alone it is not like I do anything bad, I just dink around my house. I clean, pick up clutter, I listen to music, watch t.v. and read.
When I first got married, I thought this was a bad thing. I thought that I should not want to be alone or desire to have alone time. But, I realized that is not the case. P married me because of who I am. And part of me is at times a quiet introvert who prefers to eat dinner sitting on the counter than anywhere else. I know that at times, when things get hectic and rough, I need to be alone. I need that time of solitude to think and process and reboot.
So tonight I am alone. P went to play in an indoor soccer game, and he will be back late, past my bedtime of 9p.m so I decided not to go with him. Here I am alone at my house enjoying the 1st peace and quiet I have heard in 13 hours. It is soothing to my soul.
But, there is a big part of me that can't wait for P to get home and tell me about his game. One of the greatest sounds I have ever heard is P's voice and laugh. It is music to my ears. His voice can be so calming and soothing, and at other times it can be commanding.
Tonight, I will get a few things done tonight, enjoy my quiet time and eat dinner sitting on my kitchen counter.
I guess I am the type of girl who wants her cake and to eat it also.