Chapter One

Eighteen or Nineteen years ago, I made a choice to love a little boy unconditionally. About four days ago, I saw for the first time the truly grown up man that he has become. I saw a man in a suit, about to pledge his life and love to a beautiful girl. I saw his jaw clench as he waited for her to walk down the aisle, through the pastor's speech, and the vows. I saw the hope and the promise of young and impetuous love. I saw the passion of youth. I saw a new life being born, a twain life of two lovers, best friends, husband and wife, and eventually mother and father. In the breath of a moment, I saw jokes, fights, births, joys, losses, closeness, and distance. I saw the birth of a lifetime which will overshadow their childhoods, their adolescence, and their young adulthood. I saw the potential of anything and everything, the world at two people's feet, and the ability to make dreams come true and bring wonderful people into the world. God bless you, Daniel and Hannah.

The World Takes Everyone

Tonight we were at the dinner table and the subject of school lunches came up. As we were talking, Brad mentioned that they must have to use all different types of ethnic foods. I said, sure they make all different foods like, " pizza, tacos, spaghetti, hummus (just kidding) chili, hot dogs..." and to this Ethan chimes in... "...and cake, and cookies, and sherbert..." Brad and I shared a private smirk, and Brad asks, "So, Ethan, which country do you think cookies are from..." and without a pause, not even a fraction of a second, Ethan replied, "Texas."

Deep Thoughts on Humanity

Yesterday after school, the kids climb in the car and as soon as they settled, the following conversation between Ethan and me ensued:

Him: Mom, can boys have babies?
Me: Nope.
Him: Never?
Me: nope
Him: Oh GOOOD. WHEW.
Me: Why?
Him: Cuz I don't wanna have a baby when I grow up
It just tickled me so much that I kept laughing because I kept thinking about him worrying about it all day, biding his time until he could ask me.

Today the topic was boobs. He was asking me why the body that I use to take pictures of my necklaces has boobs. I told him to make the shirts fit right and he said, "But you don't have boobs..." I said, "Why yes I do!" Then he commented that he sure hoped he never got them. I told him no way would he ever get them, he's a boy. I could tell this news was quite a relief. Then he pulls his shirt up and points to his nips and says, "Then what do you call these?" I told him the typical, "Those are markers of where you would have boobies if you got them." Then he said, "Do you have these underneath your boobies?" I told him I used to have those, and they turned into boobs. He had no more questions after that, he seemed satisfied

She's a Good Girl

So I have an Australian Shepherd, and not surprisingly she is extremely intelligent. :hug: In fact, she learns behavior sequences very quickly, i.e., "I pick up something I shouldn't have, I give it to Mom when she says 'give', I get praise." So it's been my concern that she isn't learning not to pick things up that she shouldn't have in the first place. Anyway, I was sitting here at the computer as usual, and I hear something fall on the floor at my feet, and then feel a warm chin resting on my leg. I look down, and there is a lego laying in the floor and my dog is looking up at me with that look in her eyes that says, "Love me, I'm such a good girl." :laugh:

Brownie Delight

Tonight, I was chatting with a friend, and my son ran in with bits of chocolate on the corners of his mouth. I asked him if he had chocolate, to which he replied by running his tongue across his teeth, making the "MMMMM" sound and nodding his head in rapidity. He said he had a brownie. I asked him where he found the brownie, and he said, "under the couch." To this he added that it had a lot of hair stuck to it, and a leggo embedded in it. I briefly had to hide because I was falling into fits of uncontrollable laughter as he was telling this in front of my friend. So I stepped into his closet for a bit of alone time, and when I came out, I asked him, "Seriously, where did you find that brownie?" He replied, "I found it in a plastic bag." I asked, "Where was the plastic bag?" He said, "I found it in the pantry."

This little jokester really got us tonight. I really beieved that he had found a stale brownie under the couch with dog hair and leggos stuck to it and had eaten it. You can't trust these little boys!

That Funny Boy

I like to make the return to school kind of an exciting time for the kids, so this year, I decided I wanted to get a mani-pedi for Abby as a little fun thing. It's not something that I have ever done with her, and certainly not something that I plan to turn into a regular thing, but it was fun.

I picked out an iridescent green polish for my nails, and Abby picked out an iridescent blue and had a tiny flower done on one finger of each hand. After the manicure was done, I was sitting by Ethan and he said, "Hey, let me see your nails." I obliged, and his comment was, "Greeeeeeen???!!! *giggle giggle* What kind of mom ARE you?!" more giggles....

Who is this?

Little white pony tails stick straight out from her head.
Perennial mischievous glint in her sparkly blue eyes.
Likes to wear her Cowgirl boots.
Walks with decided purposeful bounce.
Not going to let you down easy.
Sticks her tongue out at you when no one's looking.
Will chew as many pieces of bubble gum as she can get in her mouth.
She doesn't have little feet, she has big feet.
She was once the youngest, but is no longer.
She could hang with the biggest and work the longest.
She'll starve out for ice cream and the dogs know to lay by her chair.
If she's on your side, she always will be.
Her loyalty and sense of fairness go before her.

My Review of Hind Pretty Speedy Support Bra (For Women)

Originally submitted at Sierra Trading Post

Closeouts . Hind's Pretty Speedy support bra has a wide comfort band that's smooth in front and on sides to help avoid chafing. Bra has ultra moisture-wicking properties to keep you dry and comfortable while exercising. Mesh fabric for racerback and bra lining Smooth fabric in front UPF 40-50+ Ex...

Hind Pretty Speedy Support Bra (For Women)

Love it

By Stealthy the Runner from Arkansas on 8/12/2008

 

5out of 5

Fit: Feels true to size

Pros: Lightweight, Moisture Wicking, Comfortable, Snug Fit, Modest

Best Uses: Gym, Warm Weather, Competition, Running

Describe Yourself: Competitive Athlete

The qualifications for being my sport bra are: 1. comfortable, 2. Supportive, and 3. Modest and this sport bra fits all 3 requirements. I wish I had about 10 of them.

(legalese)

A Golden Boy

In February of 1987, my mother was pregnant with (according to her doctor) either "a great big boy or tiny twin girls." The baby/ies was due in the latter part of February. (Forgive me for having forgotten exact dates as I was only 9.5 years old at the time.) Dr. Kerr told Mom not to worry, in either case, she had already given birth to 3 good-sized babies, and he wasn't the least bit worried that she could deliver an even bigger baby or twins.

Mom started going in and out of labor and made a few trips to the hospital only for labour to peter out and quit. She was completely exhausted and ready for the ordeal to be over with when on or around the 4th of March, she finally went into labour for the last time and the doctor decided that she was really not going to get this baby out.

On the 5th of March, 1987, Daniel Lupton Herbert joined us in this world by way of C-section, weighing in at a whopping 11 lbs., 5 oz, there was no question why Mom was unsuccessful in her many VALIANT attempts at extricating my brother.

We other children were not allowed to see Mom and baby in the hospital, though I clearly recall creeping around the outside of the building and peering in through the window, to no avail, as I have always been "smallish."

The first time I saw my Golden Boy, they brought him out of the front door of the hospital and strapped him into the car seat next to me. His head was covered with light coppery golden curls, and he looked to be 3 months old, with rolls of pinchy baby fat curling out under his chin and and arms. It was a warm, sunny day and the light caught in his golden hair and charmed me to the core.

From that very first day, he was my little charge. I hauled him around everywhere I went, even when I broke my arm. He's all grown up now, serving in Iraq, but his hair is still golden, and I can still see him clearly as he was on the day we brought him home.

I'd Like a Little Cheese with this Whine.

Lets talk about running for a bit, shall we? I have made my share of mistakes in my training, and have paid the price for those mistakes this year. Started the year off with a fantastic race, followed by a friendly little stress fracture, once that healed, I have had a nagging little tendonitis inflammation problem that has caused a whole host of emotions, top of the list being anger. I've been angry when I see other runners training hard and looking strong. I've been angry when I've planned races and not been able to go. I've been angry when my training starts to pick up and my fitness starts to improve, and the nastiness strikes again. I've racked my brains, blamed it on compensation, muscle imbalances, shoes, yadda yadda yadda, but I'm sick of it really. It's quiet now, and hopefully gone. I've finally come to a more positive mindset, and feel quite a bit like this is really the end of this. It's embarrassing and humbling, frustrating and depressing. I really can't attach enough negative words to the struggles I've faced with returning to the runner I was, and hopefully beyond that. To have once been a strong, consistent runner, and now be the flailing, grasping, hurting runner is the most embarrassing thing I can imagine. I remember so many great runs, so many strong workouts, so much sweat and pain, and I want to be there again. I'm willing to take it slowly, but it's where I want to go - without hobbling.

What Is A Turd?

Ok, I am here with my kiddos in sunny Colorado, for an extended stay, really enjoying myself. Well, sis and I made a rash decision to gather up this herd of kids and go "out" today. Oi. Seems like we got into the car about 10:00 a.m., not bad for 2 moms vs. 5 kids. We went multiple places, and all in all, the kids were great, you know, trailing along behind us dragging their fingers across everything in their path. It was good.

Towards the end of this adventure, the melt down had begun with the littlest one, so there was a feeling of frenzy to get back to home base. Lo and behold, there was a train, parked, or nearly parked across the "short cut" to get back to the house. So we do a U and zoom down to the nearest crossing, and we have about 30 seconds to cross the tracks, but this car in front of us seemed rooted to the spot. The cacophony of screams whines and cries was nearing a crescendo when Sis says, "WHY WON'T SHE MOVE??" and I say, "Because she's a TURD!!" The following exchange could be heard above the din between Abby and her cousin:
Abby: "Hee hee, did you hear my mom say 'turd?'"
Eden: "What is a turd?"
Abby: "It's a tiny green slimy thing that comes out of a frog's butt. At least that's what my Uncy Duncy says. Personally, I think it's just little pooplets."

Alas, all of the young innocent children in the minivan are now somewhat versed in the "ins and outs" of life. Bwah.

What's the Frequency, Kenneth?

Dude. Seriously, I cannot believe the level/s of technical difficulties that I have experienced in the past month. If you are acquainted with me via the Internet, real life, over the phone, or really in any way at all, you will know that I have had multiple failures of the technical nature. Of course, I really cannot even complain about Hotmail locking me out because ---- I was warned, by multiple people, "Get G-Mail" they said, "You won't regret it..." "Trust me. Hotmail sucks, you'll be sorry..." Many people, many different comments, same content. And yet, I was accused of... "being involved in illegal activities" via hotmail. Nice. What do they think I was doing? Oh. Yeah. I forgot about my online strip tease business, and my pyramid scheme business, and my Spam Business, because God knows there is so much money in spamming and so many people are such dumb asses to click on the link because "your Paypal account has been locked..." Puh-leez. duh.

Hotmail aside, my computer also crashed. My new Moto-Q crashed. Maybe I played a little too much "bubble breaker." Who knows? And the latest? This is a new one. Sprint turned off my phone number today. Yeah. They TURNED OFF MY PHONE NUMBER. I've had this phone number 5 or 6 years, and today, they decided to turn it off.

So, this age is supposed to be so convenient. I'm thinking it might just be easier to move to the Arctic Circle, forget about cell phones, the Internet, computers, e-mail, and get back to nature? nah. ha.

A Chicken Life Partner?

Ok, I know that to most, chickens are quite boring, but I find their mindless stupidity quite entertaining. Recently, I had two hens decide to "go broody" (want to become moms) at the same time, so I set their eggs on the exact same day, knowing that all of their offspring would hatch within hours of each other. Weeks passed, and hatch day arrived. One lucky hen hatched out 9 fluff-balls, and the other only hatched 2. They both led their little broods down into the chicken house and proceeded to teach them that they are indeed chickens, and how to act as such. A minor problem developed in that none of the chicks really knew which one was their mother, and would all scurry over to whichever hen was clucking "Come see this." That night, one of the hens flew up to the 2nd story nest for bed, while the other hen stayed on the ground with the chicks. Next morning, both hens arose and continued to dual-mother the 11 chicks together. This pattern developed into quite the alternative chicken lifestyle in which we have the true "hen" chicken and the nifty addition of the "chicken life partner" or "assistant hen." Hen sleeps on the ground with the chicks, and takes care of them all night in true mothering fashion while the Assistant Hen sleeps in a toasty nest all by herself - undisturbed. Each morning, Assistant Hen, flies down to help raise the chicks. Aside from fertilization, Rooster is completely out of the picture.

Under Pressure

Some people, who will remain nameless have been giving me grief about not posting to my blog. Here we go, I'll try to make this as painless as possible for the readers. I ran good for a month or so after my 1/2, and then became injured, so I really haven't been in the running mindset. I did start back running 2 weeks ago, and I THINK we have figured out the reason for my little injuries, so hoping to just move forward w/o injuries now. So actually this last one wasn't a little injury, but that's a long story.

During the time that I had off running I did many things such as be lazy, get out of shape, and also have started a new store online: http://hyenacart.com/Who/index.php?c=0&p=32819 as a means to sell my creations. I had no idea how much time it consumed to create a website, and at the same time try to make things to sell! WOW, just a perfect running diversion, if you ask me. But it's been a ton of fun. :)

Thank goodness school is almost over. Just watch, in August I will be saying, "Geez, I can't wait for school to start."

In three short weeks, I'll be headed to Denver for three short weeks. It's awesome that the kids are old enough to go and enjoy a trip like this as well as actually go do some sight seeing without any bottles, bare boobage, milky shirts, diapers, pee pee pants, multiple mad rushes to the bathroom, the dismal discovery of NO EXTRA CLOTHES, sleep deprivation, the list goes on. The new list includes: deceitfulness, blatant disobedience, sullenness, self pity fits, refusal to eat what's in front of them, you get the picture. Hmmm. It just doesn't seem fair to list someones faults without posting a picture so you can see how beautiful they are and trust me to say that they are wonderful kind-hearted PEOPLE too. ;)


My kids. :)

Success in Texas

Gosh, looking back, it has been a long time since I have posted anything and anyone who was reading this blog has probably given up on any new posts.

We, The Lantz Clan, have just returned from a trip to Texas which was successful on many fronts. The family had plenty of fun going to visit Brad's friend, Joey, and all made new friends with his lovely family.

While there, we visited the Alamo which for me was just too cool, having seen the old movie so many times I have lost count. We also visited the River Walk in downtown San Antonio, which was just as cool, and I will attempt to post a picture.

We arrived at Joey's house on Thursday night, spent Friday at his house, Saturday in San Antonio, and then left for Austin and the big race for which I have been preparing. Both Austin and San Antonio are just great places, and I would love to have more time to go back.

Before I left, I printed out all pertinent information to the half marathon, maps to the hotel, the race map, a map to RunTex where I was to pick up my packet, etc., but failed to bring said papers with me! How annoying! I am such a list person, and tried to tell myself that I did not need a list for this trip. Boy was I wrong. Much to my chagrin, I also forgot swimsuits and the hotel had a hot tub. Here is a pic of the 3M Half Marathon goody bag, I know you will all be jealous:

To my relief, Joey was kind enough to let me use his Internet access and write down phone numbers and directions to my destinations, so all was not lost and it was beginning to look like I may still be able to run my race.

Thursday and Friday, I will say that my runs did not feel good. I did not feel like a fast person at all. I think my pace for those runs were in the 9:15-9:20 range as I did not push it at all, but I just felt so tired and slow and stiff. The battle of the negativity was on. Every little demon of negative thought I discarded and replaced with a different though --- or a song --- or a glass of wine ---- or just about any distraction I could think of that would keep me from talking myself out of a good race.

Our plan once in Austin was to pick up the packet, and then for Brad to drop me off at the hotel to put my feet up and then take the kids to do something that they would enjoy. Instead we ended up going to REI and a bookstore. Ha. It was actually fine with me because a race to me feels like such a self-serving event, and there are all manners of feelings of guilt associated therein as a mom, so I did enjoy just spending that time with my family. Once we got to the hotel, I did lay out my race stuff, make sure I had chip, bib and pins, socks, sport bra, shoes, gloves and shorts. I am a minimalist. After this I did lay down on the bed and put my feet up. I kept my phone handy for a few text messages coming in.

After a great dinner with a bunch of really cool people who I have only ever met online, I was ready to just crash, as the weekend had already been pretty full and taxing, so after a hot bath I was a goner. I never sleep well the night before a race, it is not going to happen. I had not really gotten any quality sleep in 4 days, but once again just trying to ignore the negatives in the matter, and focus on the positives, which all seemed to boil down to one thing - I was trained.

It was quite unusual but the morning of the race dawned 42 degrees, quite chilly, but I maintained that I would only run in a sport bra and shorts. It was a good choice. I never even felt the cold, and by mile 2 I was flying down those hills just enjoying the breeze. I was thankful for the gloves, and thankful for not wearing anything that I had to take off and carry or worry about. It was just me and the road, and running, and that's how I like it. The first mile was congested and slow, but the next 3 miles flew by and before I knew it I was halfway through. There were about 3 times that I briefly had thoughts that I couldn't hold the pace and I should just slow down, but I tried my best to dispel them and just keep moving. I was quite surprised to find a pretty good uphill at mile 10 and it was a difficult thing mentally. Everything I had heard was that the last 4 miles were flying downhill. There is nothing for it though, it's you and the course. You really can't depend on what you hear, you have to just use it as a gauge. The last time that I had a PR race, my last 2 miles were close to 7:00 flat, but I just did not have that in me this go-round. I suppose I wasted those on the 6:45 5th mile, and the 7:06 8th mile, but that is in the history books now. It never ceases to amaze me how long you can see the finish line clock and how slowly the seconds tick by as you come down the chute. I remember seeing the clock at 1:34:XX and thinking it was so cool, but it was 1:36:15 gun time by the time I crossed, and 1:35:49 chip time. A great race for me, though I know I could have run faster last Spring. This is the first 1/2 marathon in which I did not run a single split over 8:00.

I'm happy. I did not have any emotional fits because it wasn't a huge surprise according to my fitness, but I am happy to have returned to this place and feel confident that 2008 will bring great things in the running aspect and fond family memories.