A storm pops up, are you ready?

I loved storms until we moved into this house, 2.5 stories on a hill. I guess I still love storms just not those that pop up during the early morning hours... waking us from our sleep with hail, wind, and LOTS of lightning. I woke up but I thought I was still dreaming, sat up and looked at Jake and said, "so do we need to get the kids downstairs?" We popped up and as pre-planned I grabbed Taryn and the dog (in her crate), Jake got the boys up and we took them down the stairs to our safe spot. Sadly, if it had been a real tornado we would not have made it. By the time we got everyone out of bed a down two flights of seven stairs we were at the front door as the hail stopped. We still had to walk through the ping pong room and down one more set of seven stairs to get to a safe place. There is no faster way to get down there.

I had never heard a storm like this one so this morning when I took Alana outside I expected to see wind or hail damage but there was none. The storm shredded green leaves and plastered them to the sides of our house and cars and all over the road and that was it.

I am so glad that nothing really happened but all of this is a great reminder that our home and possessions could be stripped from us at any moment. I always think I am fine with that, as long as the family is safe, but I really don't want to ever have to find out. I think it's time to re-evaluate our priorities and our stuff. Time to purge things in life and possessions that get in our way. I won't go into details of everything that has happened over the last couple of weeks but we have seen and heard to much... sadness, loss, unexpected events. Life on this earth is temporary. Are you ready for what comes next?

Some families have another baby... we got a dog.

We have a new member of our family. She was a birthday present for Taryn's 5th birthday. Everyone meet Alana...

This picture was taken a couple days after we got Alana. We went hiking with my parents to Hemlock Falls near Moccasin Creek State Park, Clarkesville, GA. This trail is a great one for kids our age. My parents said it's a 2 mile trail. My husband thought it was more like 3 round trip. Either way, Taryn, our youngest was able to walk the entire trail without complaining of being tired. This was her dogs first hike and she LOVED it! She wanted to smell and see everything as she pulled us down the trail. When we reached the falls it really looked like she was just standing there admiring it all.

Now about Alana. Alana was Lana but for some reason we were having trouble saying her name. Somehow adding an A to the beginning made it magically easier. She was rescued by the local humane shelter from the pound. She had already been tagged to be put to sleep so the wonderful people from the shelter made it just in time to save her. They told us she is probably a chihuahua/rat terrier mix and around 2 years old. She has very soft fur that does not shed* and she was already housebroken and crate trained. She is a big cuddler. For the first few days that is all she wanted to do. She would barely eat and she was not thrilled with treats or toys. Our first thought was maybe she was never played with before but now I think she was just nervous. She was obviously a very loved, well taken care of, played with dog. According to the shelter her previous owner dropped her off at the pound to be put to sleep. She said that is what people tend to do when they move and can't take their dog. It could have been very bad for cute little Alana but thanks to the Humane Society Alana is now one really happy and well loved dog.

*Edited to add... does not shed... hahaha!!! She sheds, just not in the month of March.

My Boy Runs

Our 9 year old son is training for a 2k.  Jake took him with him for his half-marathon training today. It was a 4 mile run, with hills, and they finished in 45:16!! Jake said he kept the 11 min pace the whole time and then sprinted it out in the end. When Jake asked him about the 2k he replied, "Yea, I should be able to sprint that one." hahaha, we shall see!  It's hard to face the fact that my 9 year old is faster than me but I am SO proud of him!

Eating Healthy

I thought I would share a couple of things that I have been eating since I started this 2012 journey to better health. Last night for dinner we had salad. Yum! I LOVE salad.

Salad:
- Green leaf and iceberg lettuce (I forgot to put my spinach leaves)
- Chopped Carrots
- Just a little shredded cheddar cheese (maybe 1 Tbs)
- About 1/2 Tbs of turkey bacon pieces
- Chickpeas
- Honey Mustard Dressing (I put just enough on my salad for taste)
- My family put grilled chicken on theirs. I opted to leave it off.

A new favorite for me is a green smoothie. I make it in a magic bullet cup so I am not 100% sure on the amount of stuff I add but I will guess for you.
Green Smoothie:
- 2 handfuls of spinach leaves
- 1 banana (peeled of course)
- 1 handful of blueberries
- 2 Tbs plain greek yogurt
- 1/2 Cup pineapple juice
- 1/2 Cup water
Blend until everything is pureed! Super healthy and you can add whatever kind of fruits and veggies you would like.

I will try to remember to take pictures for some of my future posts about food. I love easy recipes and I prefer healthy stuff but you just never know what I might serve up.

But it's to cold...

I knew it was going to be cold so I threw on my sweatpants and a long sleeve t-shirt. I stepped outside and thought this won't be so bad. Then I got out of the car at my daughters school and the wind hit me, burrrr. That's it, I am not running today!! So I get back in my car and start to drive home. But something made me get over in the other lane and pull into the park. I get my mp3 player, ready my watch and off I went. I kept telling myself, "just 1 mile, just 1 mile". I finished my mile and I thought just 2.5 more laps and it's 2 miles, I can do it. So I kept going. The wind chilled my face and made my eyes water. My hamstrings felt like they were burning and for the first time, in a loooog time, I felt my calf muscles (maybe that was muscle forming... because if you have seen my legs I have thighs and then bone down to my feet... it sure would be nice to put some muscle back there!). Feeling my muscles means that my legs are working. I began to think of the pain as something special. The pain means my body is getting stronger.

Feb 28th 2 miles in 26:21:05
Mar  8th 2 miles in 24:40:38
Mar  9th 2 miles in 23:43:05

Do you see what is happening with my time? Yeah!! Even though I took a week off, because I am lazy, my time is still improving. This does not mean that every workout will be faster than the last but it means I am improving. All of these runs have been at the same park with a nice flat surface so when I do get back to my favorite park with the hilly trail run I expect my time to go back up some. Or maybe it won't because I love running on trails... I despise running in circles on a track. So why don't I run on a trail everyday? Good question. The park I run at is convenient. I have to pass it every day after dropping my daughter off so it guilts me into stopping and running. If I can run on this surface then when I do get to run somewhere else it will feel special and fun... right?