Mom On The Run

Last week winter FINALLY decided to show up here in Toronto! Yay! Hubby was away in LA, so the kids and I spent 2 nights and one day of his business trip sledding. It’s been AGES since I wrote about the kids or even shown you pictures of them, so below are a few that I took (yanno, in case you were in Sierra & Brooke withdrawl):

Sierra & Brooke's Big Ass Snowball

Brooke & Her Sled

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This morning got off to a scary start. I woke up in my daughter’s bed still in my work clothes from yesterday at 6:20 am. She and I looked out the window at the beautiful, fresh fallen snow, and my hubby’s car tracks in the driveway. He had already left for his business trip to LA. Sierra went downstairs to watch TV while I stayed behind to check in on Brooke. I looked first in her crib – no Brooke. I looked in her “big bed” – no Brooke. I looked in the master bedroom – no Brooke. I called down to Sierra – no Brooke there either! My heart began racing and I frantically began searching the house. I looked all over the main floor, then down in the basement – no Brooke. I ran back upstairs to Brooke’s new “big bedroom” and kicked our Rottweiler off of Brooke’s “big bed” fearing that Molly was laying down on top of her and suffocating her. Thankfully, Brooke wasn’t there. Where could she be? Fearing the worst I began screaming her name; “Brooke, Brooke”! Then out of the play tent in her new “big bedroom” I heard a tiny, sleepy, voice cry out “Mommy?” I swear, that will forever be the sweetest voice I have ever heard in my life, and I pray this morning will be the scariest morning of my life.

What’s the scariest thing your kids have ever done to you?

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As you’re all well aware, I’ve been trying to eat healthier and to influence my family into making healthier food choices.  It hasn’t been an easy road because my husband just doesn’t naturally gravitate towards fruit, veggies, dairy etc… The more processed it is, the more likely he’ll crave it, buy it and bring it into our house to tempt me.  Burgers, hot dogs, fries, pizza… He doesn’t go out of his way to sabotage my efforts, in fact he’s being as supportive as he can given my lack of cooking skills.  He’s put on a brave face and tried everything – though I have caught him making a burger at 9 pm to fill himself up.
I have tried lots of things these past six weeks – some things were a big hit (ie: green beans sauteed in bacon fat) and some things were a big miss (ie: Tofu and veggie stirfry in a peanut sauce..).  This has lead to my new nick name:  “Captain Janice, guardian of good eating” and all of my cooking efforts have been nick named: “Adventures in nutirition”… (This may sound familiar to you because of the Playhouse Disney mini-show Captain Carlos).
My adventures have been fun and frustrating.  I’ve been trying some exotic meals but have found that all in all my kids actually like nutritious food and will eat it if presented as an option.  Sometimes they have even chosen it over junk!  When I really started paying attention I realized that they do eat pretty healthy – as long as it’s fruit or dairy abnd they prefer raw stuff over cooked veggies, so maybe I should just stop trying so hard?

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This blog has typically been my place to vent, to whine and complain about life.  I come and go based on how happy I am in my life, which is why I haven’t written much here lately.  These days I’ve been a happy, happy girl!
I wish I could say I was happy because I won the lottery, quit my job and now live in a mansion with my own housekeepers, cook and personal trainer, but sadly that hasn’t happened.  Quite the opposite actually.  I’m happy because I’ve decided to take control of my life – training for a half marathon and learning how to cook.
The half-marathon training has been going incredibly well.  I’m getting faster and my long runs are getting easier.  I’ve also lost 3lbs (maybe more because I haven’t weighed myself in a week).  I’m only 3 weeks into my 19 week training plan, but so far it’s been ging well.  I’ve even found a group of runners at work to run with on my lunch hour.  I love the new companionship and I’m looking forward to having that support when ever hubby travels (ie: next week when he’s in Ireland).
This year I’m also learning how to cook (by trial and error).  I don’t really have a lot of time to cook, so my “cooking” really means cutting stuff up, and throwing it in a slow cooker with some spices and water to create an amazingly tastey meal that’s also nutritious.  NUTRITIOUS!  I’m trying to eat less processed foods this year.  The amount of sh*t in processed food stuff is disgusting!  And the things they do to the animals we eat is atrocious!  It’s nasty to think we’re eating all of those hormones and antibiotics – yuck!  I’m reading Skinny Bitch and it’s scared me off of coffee, junk food, and soda.  It’s also doing a good job of making me consider becoming vegan – my pal Cheaty is happy about that.  Truthfully the book should be renamed Healthy Bitch because I feel you should be eating well to be healthy not skinny.  Healthy Bitch propably wouldn’t sell as many copies as a book titled Skinny Bitch.
Now because I’m happy, running, and eating healthy doesn’t mean I haven’t been blogging – quite the opposite actually.  I’ve been writing a TON… just not here.  I’ve been fitness blogging over at The Fitness Cheerleader (I renamed Lazy Mama Fitness because the site name really sucked a$$).  I’m having a blast writing about something I’m passionate about – health and fitness.  It’s amazing how naturally that comes to me and how quickly I can whip up a post compared to here where I struggle to put my thoughts into typed written words.  I’ve written over there almost every day and if you’re interested in checking out the recipes I’ve tried I urge you to come by and visit, yanno say “Hi”.
I’ve rather missed y’all and I really should stop by and comment on your blogs, though I want to tell you that I have been reading all of your posts in an email that I get from FeedBlitz that combines all of your RSS feeds into a daily newsletter of posts, I just haven’t stopped by and left comments.
Have a great day guys!

All the best,
Janice

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My goodness!  What a difference a week makes!  Now that I’ve fully recovered from my cracked ribs from my fall, I’m back running regularly again.  I’m amazed at what a difference being active is making on my outlook on life.  Weren’t my posts from October, November and December so depressing?  Holy crap!  I was such a downer – no wonder no one called me, no one else wanted to be brought down!  But I’m back now! 

Work is busy – it’s so awesome!  I love being busy, setting To Do lists, and game plans to accomplish all of my work.  My running is really helping with my feelings of being alert too.  My body is in pain (delayed onset muscle soreness – DOMS), but I like to think of it as the pain of fat melting away.  A gentle pain is good – it tells me my workouts have been hard enough to illicit an adaptive response.  The running has motivated me to eat better too – recovering from my workouts is so hard without the right fuel – I can tell when I haven’t eaten well enough, or rested enough by my running pace.  And my house… is cleaner!  I have more energy and motivation to clean!  The surprising part is that planning and preparation actually leaves me with MORE computer time.  I love my evening computer time – with the exception of Glee, I don’t watch TV.  I hate sports announcers yelling at me, whiny families mis-treating each other, reality shows have lost their appeal… The list goes on.  My favourite shows were the reality shows that had people preparing for an athletic event – the trials and tribulations of training – something I can totally relate to and I haven’t come across too many of them lately.

So I’m starting my own little virtual reality show…. I’m going to be coaching a virtual “Learn-to-Run” program.  My intended audience and participants are the Mamavation Moms from www.bookieboo.com but I’ll set it up so you can also follow along through my health and fitness blog www.lazymama.com if you so choose. I haven’t decided if it’s best run as an email newsletter to participants, or as a forum, a combo of both or what.  Maybe a Learn-to-Run Ning community?  I dunno – I want to find a way to implement it that really minimizes the technical work required to run it, freeing up time to spend motivating and educating.  I have to research the technical side of things before I set it all up.  Basically I want to inspire people and since I love running, and know running and have a Kinesiology degree, what better way is there for me to inspire?  I love the enthusiasm of beginner runners – watching their surprise as they learn what their bodies are capable of doing.  It’s amazing!  Watching Chelle discover running last year was really inspiring. In her words… Woot! Woot!

So yeah – that’s what’s going on with me…

In other news: My mom is doing WAY better!  She’s still in the hospital but is out of critical care and is now in a ward.  She called me from her cell phone that my dad had brought in to her.  Apparently they don’t have patient phones?  I think my dad is just too cheap to pay for the patient phone He didn’t want to pay $0.50 to leave a message on my voicemail from the payphone when my mom was admitted, and instead had my Aunt call me.  LOL!  This apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree… Anyways – my mom and I had a good conversation but she had to stop to catch her breath a few times. Pneumonia is NASTY!  But in a way it’s been good because she hasn’t had a cigarette since Friday and she’s even talking about quitting smoking!!  Which is awesome and I totally support her.  After seeing her on Sunday I truly believe that the Lord didn’t give her a warning, he gave her a second chance.  I really want to support her in any lifestyle changes she decides to make as a result of all of this.

Gosh – I don’t know how to conclude this post – conclusions and closures are always something I have a hard time with.  I hate sayign goodbye at parties – I often just leave.  Not because I don’t want to wish my friends well – it just seems so pessimistic, here’s a hug goodbye in case I never see you again… I don’t like saying goodbye – that’s what funerals are for.  So don’t look for good conlusions and closures on posts, ‘cause you won’t find them J

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Just a quick post written on my iPod to ask everyone to say a prayer for my mom because she’s in critical care with pneumonia. She was admitted yesterday morning and I was able to visit her yesterday night. My dad and brother say she’s doing better today than yesterday which is great, but she has to stay there for another few days.

Thanks in advance for keeping her in your thoughts and prayers,
- Janice
XXXOOO

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