All Hail the Moms of the world!

Mother's day. The day we all say thanks to mom.  Lately I have been thinking about motherhood. Not so much for me but more in the sense of "I don't know how you mother's do it!"  I am not a mother (except in the eyes of my cats Felix and Duncan)  and I still often struggle with fitting in all the things that need to get done in life!  My question to all mothers is How the heck do you do it???????  Let's face it, Mom's tend to be the ones who really keep it all together. No offense to the Dad's!  I know many fathers who are fantastic.  But as I have conversations with many women in my life who are mothers they seem to be the ones who are keeping track of the schedule, carting people to and fro,  making sure there is food in the house for all the picky eaters,  getting clothes and supplies everyone needs (sometimes including the husbands!)  making dinner, keeping up with the laundry, getting everyone to the doctor when they need it, etc the list goes on and on and on. 

So I say to the mother's of the world,  I take a bow to you, because this childless individual does not know how you fit so much into one day.  I of course thank my own mother for all her time and love in doing these very things, but I also say to you, mothers I know and those that I don't,  YOU ROCK!


A bit off the subject, but  somewhat mom related:

This morning I had the sliding glass door open in my living room to let in some fresh air.  The screen was closed but sometime back the lock broke.  Now I have some rather smart cats and at times they have figured out how to open screen door (the jump up on it a few times until it slides over a bit each time).  I left the living room for just a few minutes to get something and when I came down the stairs I saw the screen door open just enough for a cat body to get through.  At first I was be a bit frantic, but I was amazed to see not only was one of my cats (Felix) still in the house, he was staring up the stairs at me as if he was waiting for me to come down before he would attempt to go out.  Even more amazing was that Ducan, my black cat, was just outside the screen door staring in at me as if he was waiting for me to come and join him.  He saw me coming and still when I stepped out the door he just meowed as if to say " Its about time mom, lets go!" 

I don't know if they were waiting or me but I have noticied that they don't really like to go outstide without me so maybe they didn't think it was okay unless I was there!  Or could they just have been behaving because it's mother's day? 

Girls just want to have fun

"Oh girls just want to have fun"  That is what this girl got to do this past weekend.  I hopped in my car and drove two and a half hours north of Chicago to the Wisconsin Dells to meet up with my childhood friend Sonya, her daughters, two of Sonya's adult friends and their 4 daughthers, That's right 10 females together ready to laugh, eat and spend time on a waterslide.

I started the weekend by first meeting up with a friend from work as she lives nearby the Dells.  We had a nice lunch and then decided we needed to check out the local Casino - Ho-Chunk.  I did pretty well actually.  At least I always say I do well when I come home even or a winner. In this case,  I broke even.  Good enough for me!

After the gambling my work friend heading home and I headed to the Wilderness Territory Hotel and Resort to meet up with my friends.  Upon arrival we promptly headed to the indoor water parks.  There are 3 of them and plenty to keep us happy.  We had a great time. 

My friend was lucky enough to get a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom two story condo equipped with a full kitchen, washer/dryer and a nice screened in patio for our group of ten and we used it all.  We brought our own food to save on money and all took turns cooking and cleaning.  Such a great plan for a big group!

On Saturday we started the morning with a visit to their in-house pottery place and made our own pottery creations.  Here is a photo of mine BEFORE it got painted:


After we finished our creations we headed back to the waterparks.  Then in the afternoon it was time to get out of those suits to see the real reason the Dells exsist and take a boat tour of the Wisconsin Dells themselves. For anyone who might not know what the Dells are here is a brief history lesson :  The Dells (term used in the singular) was formed during the last ice age approximately 15,000 years ago. During the ice age it was part of the large Driftless Area that was bypassed by the ice. The melting of the glacier formed Glacial Lake Wisconsin. The lake was held back by an ice dam of the remaining glacier. The eventual bursting of the ice dam unleashed a catastrophic flood, dropping the lake's depth to 50 feet (15 m) and cutting deep, narrow gorges and unusual rock formations into the sandstone.

So  you can understand what this says here are some photos from the tour.  The one with the walkway was part of the walking tour. It was really amazing to walk through these tunnels of cool looking rock formations.  I highly recommend the tour if you are ever in the Dells!

One part of the tour has a very special part in that one of the rocks formed in an interesting way, like a tower on its own.  For many years people of jumped from the main rock to this tower and back.  So now they have dog that jumps it ( no worries it was a cinch for the dog and they had a net) So I caught of picture of the dog in the act:
 
 

And here is a photo of the whole group of us enjoying our tour:

After the dells tour we spent some time browsing the local shops and stopped for some yummy chocolate. Then it was time for dinner and one more trip back to the  waterparks. 

On Monday we packed up and headed back to our homes. I had a great time and met some wonderful people.

Walking in Wonderland

Recently I had an unexpected injury and I popped a muscle in my calf.  I checked in with the doctor and she suggested taking a break from running for about 2 weeks.  Thankfully I was still able to get in some exercise using the elliptical at the gym but tonight I headed out for my first trek on the trail since the injury.   Sadly, this time period definitely affected my ability to run without becoming to winded so I mostly walked, but I can tell I should be able to hopefully get back to where I was in a week or so. 

It was a beautiful day today, cool but sunny and just right for being outdoors.  I decided to head out to a local forest preserve for my walk/run and found some delightful sights.  First, I encountered a beaver!  He was cute! I didn't see much of him but it was still a treat.  Spring has provided sprouts on all the trees, baby flowers popping out of the ground to reach the sun rays and the grass is pretty much green everywhere you look. 

One especially cool sight was some mushrooms I found, though they weren't where you might usually find them.  They were growing from a tree!  This is when I thought maybe I had visited Wonderland (only I could not find that rabbit with a vest on screaming "we're late for a very important date! ")  It was really cool to see these large mushrooms growing sideways out of the tree.  Thankfully I had my phone with me so take a look:

After I saw this I thought sure the Mad Hatter would come around the corner to offer me Tea.  Alas, he did not but maybe I will catch up with him next time  ;-)

Dreaming of an Education

I have been thinking lately about how many things I would like to learn to do.  There is quite a list actually.  Take a look:

1. Learn to play golf
2. Learn how to keep this webpage looking the way I want it to without getting so frustrated I could scream
3. Learn to play guitar (i.e. learn web languages)
4. Learn how to do home improvement projects myself (mostly because I am annoyed about how much it costs to have others do them!)
5. Learn how to save money with coupons the way some amazing people do ( I went to the grocery store and got 6 bags of grocerys for 8 dollars - really?)
6. Learn to read music (it is just stupid that I don't know how to do this already)
7.Learn how to latin dance
8. Learn how to eat healthy meals without missing things like McDonalds, Pizza or The biggest Cold Stone Creamery ice cream you can get :-)
9. Learn what it takes to audition for a local musical play
10. Learn how to get up the courage to actually audtion for a musical play
11. Learn how to bake yummy deserts (hmmmm  - that may not work with #8)
12. Learn how to play tennis ( i don't get the scoring at all)

That is all I can think of tonight,  But I am sure there is more.

The problem is it seems all of these either take time or money.  I can't seem to figure out how to fit either one of those things in (especially the money part)  I am currently on plan for financial improvement and there is not much room for extras at all.  So ho hum, it stinks to think about all the things you want to learn and can't quite figure out how to fit them in.

The one thing I do know is that eventually I am going to fit some of these in. Like Tennis for example, I just bet if I really wanted to, surely I could get my mom to show me the ropes in Tennis. The only problem with that one is time. It is hard for us to ever have time to spend on something like this. 

Another would be Guitar.  Surely if I really tried I could learn to play the guitar just by practicing at home on my own.  Again time is part of the issure here and actually a second one is when it comes to things like this for me there is just no stubstitue for learning from someone.  I have found that I dont learn things well just by reading up on something. I need to be shown how it works etc, at least at the beginning. Which is really what I need, I need that beginning instructions to make sure I am holding the guitar right, hands right, strumming right etc etc. 

One day I should be able to fit all this stuff in.  I hope sooner than later.  Maybe I will keep you posted when I actually do :-)

Trying to get back on track

It always seems to be something, right? 

I have been working out like crazy these days.  Running, walking yoga, all kinds of things. But unfortunately I have fallen off the wagon of following my appropriate diet for about a month now.  One would think with all this exercising it might not matter and I would still see some weight loss BUT OH NO NOT ME.  ARRGH.  Thankfully I have not gained any weight but it just goes to show that my body does not allow me to LOSE weight unless I do it all the correct way ****sigh****

So I am trying to spend the time to put together meals and plan ahead for the rest of my week because plannig out what you eat really does seem to be the key. It keeps you from the "grab and go" mentality of eating. 

In other news, I had a major car repair pop up.  I think it is very interesting how this happened right when I just happened upon enough money to PAY for the repair. Isn't that a little interesting?  I think so. Nevermind that I had big plans for the money, I suppose there was another plan in place I was not aware of.

Not much else to report.  I am already looking forward to my next trip home to visit friends and family at the end of May just really sad it will be nearly two months from now.  I wish I could visit sooner but its just not possible. 

Happy Easter all!!

A new goal?

It is hard to remember to post a blog and keep up with it all. But its been a while and I felt it might be time for an update. 

In Feb I had a wonderful trip out to CA to visit family and get away from some winter. It was absolutely grand and I couldn't have asked for better weather. It was wonderful to see the family and take some time to relax. 

While I was in CA,  I borrowed a GPS my brother had so I could track the walks I have been doing.  I have been walking pretty regular now for more than two months and I had always wondered, how far I am actually going.  I was surprised to see that I was making it about 2 miles. Not bad!  I also noticed maybe I wasn't feeling as challenged these days. Maybe it is time to up the ante. 

So I got myself an attachment for my ipod that tracks my distance.  Now I know how far I am going and how fast.  I have also started doing a run/walk combo.  I can't believe I am doing it but I am! 

So the next thing is to make a decision.  Do I sign up for a race?  I have almost reached a decision, but I am not quite there.  I really do not want to commit to something unless I KNOW I can do it.  And when i say do it I mean actually run the entire race.  My speed makes very little difference to me because honestly just running for any period of time is an absolute miracle. 

The other concern is making sure I know I can fit in the proper amount of trainng time.  I think I have the motiviation and drive now but I have not yet decided. So in the coming weeks I will make a desicion.  Am I a runner?  Can I run a 5k ?  Only time will tell.

And I ran

At the gym these last few days I have started out with my normal walk around the track. I have been trying to walk for at least 30 min each time I go.  I have determined there is a particular heart rate I need to reach and stay at to burn fat the best.  These last few gym visits I have had trouble keeping my heart rate there. I actually had to RUN to to keep it right.  That's right, I said run. Me - Kristal - was running.  I don't run, I have never run.  I can't even believe my legs do that actually.  Well I guess that means I am actually improving my health. Must a be a good sign.  I still can't sustain a run for long but I am just amazed I was actually running.  Maybe I should consider a race in the future?