All by myself.

This past weekend was crazy!  My husband was out of town on a much needed vacation with his buddies and I was home managing our family and the start of a busy Fall.  We had a soccer game, football practices and game, a birthday party, a fundraiser event, concession stand duty and in the middle of that, my race.

I have been on a quest to complete the Seacoast Race Series.  The Fox Point 5 Miler is a race that is on my list to complete.  It didn't matter what else I had going on this weekend, I needed to run that race! 

I have never gone to a race alone.  I have always had a little entourage off cheering, snack searching, and encouraging people to cheer me on in all my races.  This time I was all by myself.  This may not be a big deal for most people, but I am new enough to running that I am a little chicken to go alone.

I did it!  It was different but I did it!  I got myself there, ran the race and got a 5 miler PR.  (It was my first one!)  I know it is silly but I tell myself I can't do stuff all the time without even trying.  I had no choice this weekend but to just do it.

While this weekend was exhausting, it was also empowering.  Whoo hoo!  Now to keep going....and going....and going.

Two Years Later......

So life got busy.....

Here I am two years later reading my own blog and thinking, "Wow, life is different."   I enjoy writing little things down, mostly for me.  I am amazed at how fast those two years went by. 

I turned 40 this year.  Both kids went to school and I actually have had time to rest, exercise and figure out how to manage my house.  I have made some new friends and reconnected with some old ones and most of all, I have decided that I like where I am in life.

Maybe I will keep blogging.  So many things demand my time.  We'll see.

Vanover Family Trait

For as long as I can remember, making faces has been part of our family history. I think we can probably blame my Dad. He likes to make people laugh and one of his talents is to make cross-eyed funny faces. Of course, we all laughed, so he kept doing it. Sometime last week I received an email from Daddy with a cross-eyed face picture attached. I laughed, of course.

I also can cross my eyes. So can my Mom and my brother. We don't really do it very often but I have discovered it is a talent that runs in my family and not everyone can do it. So one day, I don't even know when it started, but I looked at my 3 year old, Sophia, and she is sitting there crossing her eyes at me. Clearly, she is doing it for a laugh because she is waiting for me to look at her. Of course, I laughed. It was such a surprise that I couldn't stop laughing, therefore, the reinforcement was made. I am intrigued by the fact that no one taught her how to cross her eyes but she just did it. It must really be a family trait.

Where did we go wrong???

Tonight Brayden came home with a lot of homework to do. He was pretty sad about it too. He wanted to go outside and play. The funny thing is that he blew through the math pages and even concentrated and got his reading homework finished. The problem came about when he had to put together the turkey. A construction paper turkey!!! How annoying! I mean, that's supposed to be fun work at school, at least in my opinion. Most kids like art projects but he wasn't having any of it. He didn't want to cut and paste together the turkey. Maybe it is because it was not coming from his brain and someone was just giving him something to keep him busy. For a second, I was watching him and wondering what this meant about his personality and what kind of work he would gravitate towards when he grows up.

So I asked him. "Brayden, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
He replied, "A Robber."

Uh oh. I think we have some more work to do.

Therapy for the Overstimulated and Overscheduled

Don't get me wrong, my life is good. I have a great husband, sweet kids and good friends. I am just TIRED. Maybe it's because our world is so fast paced and plugged in all of the time. I find myself unable to rest and be quiet. I have to give myself permission to take a break and not be "on" for everyone and everything that pulls me in all directions. When I look at my calendar it is a plethora of details written in different colored markers. It is a little ridiculous.

It is no wonder I finally caught a cold. So today, I am on the couch. I am still doing laundry so that the family won't go naked but that is all I am doing today. Norm took Sophia with him and Brayden is at school so I can rest and recharge. I need this. I have music on and I am just on the couch, my own couch so I don't end up on the Therapist's couch. =)

The Blur that was September

Holy Cow! Is it really the 12th day of October!?!

I love Fall but I am about to miss it! September came and went before I could turn around twice. Mostly due to the start of school and all the activities that go along with that.

Brayden started 1st grade. He came home after the 1st day to tell me that it was "boring" Uh oh. Regardless of that comment, he is reading like crazy and learning math fairly easily. He also enjoys letting the girls chase him on the playground. (what boy wouldn't, right?)

Sophia is back at preschool. She is learning how to be more independent and take on responsibility. It is difficult for her. I find that even when I try not to, I do things for her that she should be doing for herself. She went head to head with her teacher, a move I did not expect from her. Obviously, her teacher, was not manipulated by her meltdown and she realized that if she wanted to participate, she had to act like a big girl! She is better now and learning to write her name and learning a lot of songs that she sings at home while twirling around.

Brayden started soccer while Sophia started dance lessons. We went for a visit to Rhode Island to see family and we went camping for a weekend with friends. We have worked our jobs and visited with friends all while adjusting to the new Fall routine. I am tired just typing all of it!

We are adjusting. Every season is like that. I just have to talk to myself and remind myself to stop and enjoy the moments in the madness.

It's not about me...

In my last post I was feeling pretty rotten about missing that legal draw. I couldn't stop thinking about it and it was in the back of my mind all weekend. So when I headed to work on Monday I needed a little redemption.

I was determined to visit down in the Outpatient Lab and draw a few patients there. When things got cleaned up some in the Main Lab, I went down. I chatted with the main phlebotemist down there. I didn't know her and it was fun to learn a little about what she does and how she interacts with the patients there. I discovered that these patients were names that I recognized through testing but I had never met them. We saw three different patients. They come and chat and talk about their lives. One lady comes in for frequent draws. She had just lost her husband to a sudden heart attack. She wanted to talk about it a little while she was there. Another was a little elderly lady and her caregiver was there with her. She was very ill and had hardly eaten in days. Finally, the third was a little man. He was very slight in stature. He sat down in the chair and waited for us. He had great veins so I asked if I could try. I explained that I am practicing and he was okay with that. I fumbled around a little and I missed, AGAIN.
My phlebotemist asked if I wanted her to do it and the man said, "No, she should try again. That's how you learn, right?" So my phleb gave me some very valuable pointers and it worked like a charm. I got it. The man was very gracious and even complementary. He said,"You are good and you just don't know it. I didn't even feel the needle." I thanked him for giving me an extra shot at it.

Later, when I was back in the lab and running the tests, it dawns on me. I knew that man's name for a specific reason. A Doctor had called me last week and asked that I check on some ordering for one of his patients. It was this man that I had drawn. He said that this man had terminal cancer and he didn't want him double charged for some testing he ordered. I took a minute to dwell on the fact that this man is dying and he could have been grumpy and feeling sorry for himself and justifiably tired of people poking at him. Instead, he was gracious, encouraging and even complementary of me. It's really not about me.