Sep
2013

I’m In: WDW 10K & Homes For Our Troops

categories: background, help someone, running

I’ve been running, off and on, for about five years now. My biggest obstacle to improvement and consistency has been getting pregnant and having two more babies! I’ve started running again during every maternity leave, only to get lazy and complacent … and then eventually ended up pregnant again and couldn’t keep running. It just didn’t feel good.

This summer, with my work stress levels about to make my head pop off, I decided to start running again. No matter what, I would get out there and go. I’ve been sticking to a Beginner 5K training plan on RunKeeper – which I’ll finish next week! It’s time for the next challenge …

I’m joining Team Homes For Our Troops at the Walt Disney World Inaugural 10K during the January 2014 WDW Marathon Weekend!

On January 10, 2014, two of my friends and I will run the first WDW Marathon Weekend 10K. The course runs through Epcot, and I’m super excited to have my very first RunDisney experience. (I’m pretty sure it won’t be the last … )

We’re part of a charity team, each raising at least $500 for Homes For Our Troops (HFOT). HFOT is a charity committed to helping those who have selflessly given to our country and have returned home with serious disabilities and injuries since September 11, 2001.  From their website:

We assist severely injured Veterans and their families by raising money, building materials and professional labor, and by coordinating the process of building a home that provides maximum freedom of movement and the ability to live more independently. The homes provided by Homes for Our Troops are given at NO COST to the Veterans we serve.

I want to blow that $500 goal out of the water!  I have so many personal connections to the armed forces – father, grandfather, uncles, friends … Our Vets are treasures. A home is one of the most important assets anyone can have, and I’m excited about this opportunity.

So here’s where you come in … 

It’s a Disney race. Half the fun, apparently, is the crazy costumes that people wear. So I’ve decided that if I meet my fundraising goal, I’ll run in costume.

For every $10 you donate, you get one vote toward choosing my costume character. (Alice in Wonderland, Cheshire Cat, Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast, Daisy Duck, Mrs. Incredible … I’ll come up with some fun options!) If you donate $30, you get three votes. $50, five votes. Like that!

If  you donate $25, I’ll send you a HFOT support sticker (10 available!) … and you get two character votes!

If you donate $50, I’ll send you a HFOT “We Support Our Troops” car magnet (5 available!) or lapel pin (5 available!) … and you get five character votes!

If we somehow get to $750 total, I’ll let my three-year-old have final say on putting together the costume for the character who gets the most donor votes. Yes, this girl:

IMG_2686  IMG_2298

Oh yes, this could be interesting. You’ll vote on the character, I’ll give her three costume options, and she’ll choose the one I actually wear.

Are you in?!

In the meantime … other suggestions for characters? I’ll start building and posting potential costume ideas as they come to me …

If you donate and would like one of the thank you gifts, please be sure to leave your contact info in the donation site’s options! 

For more info about Homes For Our Troops, please visit their website: http://www.hfotusa.org/.

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Jul
2013

Owie

categories: background, rambling

The eleventh day (on this, the 22nd day of July) prompts: What’s the worst injury you’ve received?

It may have been the time I sliced open my hand in the 5th grade. I was slicing an apple with a very long knife (first mistake). It got stuck, so I picked it up to get the knife through (second, major mistake). The knife went through, all right, then went right into my hand. Ouch.

Then there was the time I got stung by a jellyfish and ended up in the ER with shots of demerol and benadryl. Woooo!

Once while I was in high school, I was walking out of my bathroom and trying to pull my hair out of my collar. I caught my elbow on the doorframe, didn’t realize it, and kept walking. Unfortunately, my elbow stayed with the door, pulled me back, and jacked up my shoulder. My orthopedist (who I had on speed dial by the time I was 21) said I was lucky I was so flexible or I’d have torn everything in my shoulder.

I went skiing once. I fell getting out of the bus and messed up the ligaments in my left knee … which had healed about six months earlier from a surgery to get rid of another injury’s effects. Orthopedist’s comment: “What made you, of all people, think you could go skiing?”

Or how about the time I was in three car accidents within six months and wrecked the same shoulder I’d hurt in high school.

Then I went and had three kids and I’m not even going to talk about that adventure.

Moral of the story: okay, so I don’t really have a moral to the story, but it surely can’t be a good sign when you’ve got an orthopedist on speed dial.

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Jul
2013

Inspiration

categories: rambling

Day 10: Someone who inspires you

There are lots of people who inspire me, so I’m going to do a bulleted list. That way I won’t get overly mawkish (vocabulary word!), maudlin (seriously, vocabulary word from the 8th grade), or rambly.

  • My husband – he has dreams and plans, and he puts his family before everything else. I may not always see it, but I know it’s true and that reminds me to re-think my perceptions of a situation.
  • My parents – they’ve both done things that may have seemed impossible at one point or another in their lives. They both love their families and do whatever they can for them. I love the examples they’ve set for me (and each of my siblings).
  • Stay at home moms – ladies, it’s hard to do. As much as I wish I could do it, I don’t know how good I would actually be at staying home.
  • Moms who work outside the home – ladies, it’s hard out there. Having sisters in the trenches keeps me working and (mostly) from going insane.
  • Corrie Ten Boom, Tina Fey, Ellen Ochoa – women who’ve done awesome things and share wisdom, vision, and humor. (Varying degrees thereof.)
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Jul
2013

A “food philosophy?” Are you kidding me?

categories: cooking, on a soapbox, rambling

Okay, this question (Day 9 – what’s your food philosophy?) is just stupid. A philosophy about food? Really?

Okay, okay … I’ll expand on what I personally mean by stupid and why this irritates me. First of all, it bugs me that we as a culture are so obsessed with food that we have to have philosophies about it. It’s food. It’s important, but not that important. How about my philosophy on civil rights in the current age? My philosophy on gender bias in toys and education and the way we as parents talk to or about our children? My philosophy on Christian missions and the changes I’ve seen and hope to continue to see?

Here’s my food philosophy:

  • Eat healthfully and mindfully.
  • Avoid pre-packaged and processed foods when possible, but don’t become a slave (held captive) to food and food planning.
  • Enjoy what you eat, eat what you enjoy.
  • Eat with people you love, and enjoy the time with them.

I’ll rein back in now that I’ve had my soapbox moment. There are people who have food philosophies that are meaningful, thought-out carefully, based on their personal ethics, etc. I respect that. I just think we’ve generally started putting too much emphasis on food in ways that really don’t matter.

Also: paleo brownies? Are you kidding me? There were not brownies in the Paleolithic era. Argh.