THIS Kid.

If you loyal blog-readers will recall, there have been a few posts about my challenges with parenthood. . .In particular, challenges with our eldest son. . .

May 2013
July 2013
July 2013
December 2013
March 2014

Just to list a few.

Still, to this day - this actual day - when the phone rings from the school, I still feel a pit in my stomach about bad news.  Did he have a meltdown?  What has gone wrong now?

So, bright and early this morning, I get a call from our eldest's teacher, and my heart starts racing, and I am already reaching for my car keys to head to out the door, and she tells me -

He did so well on his quarterly assessments.  Not only did he make HUGE improvements with the actual score - he almost finished one of the tests in the allotted time, and actually finished the first test within the recommended time frame.  IF you recall anything about my son - you know this is a BIG DEAL.

My heart is bursting with happiness and pride.  I want to rent a billboard.  I want to take out a page in the New York Times.  I want to get a fly-by plane banner.  I want to scream this from the rooftops for all to hear and know - that I am so proud of my son.

When I picked my son up from school today, I asked him, "Did Ms E tell you about your test results?"
"Yes," (hey, he's a teenager, sometimes one-word is all I get).
"You worked hard, took your time, and improved.  What do you think about it?"
"It's because I'm in the right school for me," he replied simply.

I am glad he recognizes that truth.  He is in the right school - which is a whole different story.  It does make a world of difference.
However, we are also standing on YEARS of hard work, therapies, therapists, doctors, strategies, conferencing, planning, behavior charts, lists, and. . .our amazing school from K-7th grade:  Community School of Davidson.
We had incredible educators every year - our son was surrounded and scaffolded by caring, highly qualified teachers and support staff.  They got us through a lot of very rough times to get to this point.

We also know that this is not the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow - but it is most definitely a mark of success along the right path.  There will be more downs, and hopefully a lot more ups.

We absolutely recognize that our son is in the right school for him and again, he has amazing teachers.
And most importantly, he is doing the work.  He is applying the strategies that we worked on for years.  He is an incredible, hard-working, kind, thoughtful teenager - and I had been fairly certain, early on, that days like these would never happen.

This.  Kid.

Easy As Pie

We are slowly settling into our new home town.  I won't say home, as we are still in the midst of remodeling construction, and there will not be any unpacking or getting settled into our actual home for at least another month.



I had decided, prior to our actual move here, to use this move as an opportunity to stretch my anti-social wings.  Our home is located very close to the downtown area of our new town - walking and bike riding distance.  During one of our early morning weekend walks downtown with my husband, I noticed a flyer at a restaurant - local community events and classes - as a way to meet new people and get together.   The particular class I was interested in, had only one more spot available AND it was for that upcoming Tuesday night.  I joined the group, and registered.  I was in - easy.

The class:  Pie Make and Bake!

There is a local shop downtown, called The Pie Chest.  I had not been yet, but had heard really great things about it.

Those who know me well, know I love to bake:  brownies, cookies, donuts, cakes, muffins. . . Interestingly, when I am stressed, I want to run.  It is like an itch, that must be scratched.  However, with my health issues this past year, and not being able to run - baking became my new relaxation strategy.  Luckily, I took my recovery seriously, and am now able to run again - only up to 3 miles, and not very fast, but it is better than nothing - and helps to offset my baking/sweet tooth addiction.

However, now that we are moved, but not unpacked, I cannot bake.  We have no kitchen.  This remodel is stressing me out AND I CAN'T BAKE.

One thing that I have not attempted, due to being totally intimidated, is Pie.  My husband loves pie.  It is his birthday request every year.  Pie.  My mother-in-law came to visit us once, and she baked two pies, from scratch, and made it look so easy.  My stepmom is phenomenal cook and baker.  Her pies could be award-winning, and again, she makes it look so easy.  But she bakes her pies very different from my mother-in-law.  Which way is the right way?  They both make them delicious, but is one way better?  Easier?  Healthier?

So, I signed up for the Pie Make and Bake! class, and figured, I would just give it a go.  The idiom Easy as Pie had to come from somewhere, right?  How hard could it be?

Making pie is not easy.  However, it is not has bad as I had built it up in my mind.  I think part of my success, and newfound desire to make pies, is because our instructor was fabulous.  As an educator myself, I feel pretty confident in saying that our Pie Instructor is an excellent teacher.  She was patient, clear, and personable.  I loved her introduction story of how she got her start.  She answered all our questions.  She worked at a front table, while us students worked at our own tables, facing her.  We could see exactly what she was doing, and she watched us carefully.

It really helped to be in such a small group.  Our instructor was able to come check our mixture and dough consistency, which is very important.  I really liked her visual comparisons (our dough mixture was supposed to look like a feta consistency).   The technical terms helped too - "smooshing" the butter into the flour mixture.  It helped to see my classmates working too - we could compare and share. Honestly, it was a perfect intro class for learning how to make pie!

 MY pie dough that I made during class.

The biggest indicator that it was a success was that as soon as I left, I wanted to come home and practice!  That will have to wait a month or so, in the meantime, I will just have to go to the The Pie Chest and try all the pies - you know, research.

Easy as pie.

2016 In a Nutshell

From fall 2015 through summer 2016 I suffered from plantar fascitis.  It started in the early fall, and yet I kept pushing.  I didn't listen to my body, and by Christmas 2015, I could barely walk.  Three doctors and 1 physical therapist later - 3/4 of my medical team declared that I should not ever run again.

I've never smoked, but quitting running felt like what I imagine quitting smoking feels like?
It was a constant ache.  I would wake up, and want to run.  I would be out driving and see runners, and want to run (or run them over - jealous much?).  It was a weight that I couldn't shake.  Nothing was the same - I picked up my cycling (no impact), but still missed running.  Yet, at this point, I was still struggling with walking.  Running was out of the question.

By summer 2016 my heel was not hurting, but I was also not running.  However, I could barely do anything.  After months of blaming the southern heat for my constant exhaustion, addiction to chewing ice, and sky-rocketing heart rate I was diagnosed with severe/critical anemia.

I won't go into the whole story with this post -
there is an entire separate post about that ordeal, that I have not decided if I will publish. . .
interested?  Let me know, and I might publish - butt (that's on purpose), careful what you ask for.

Short version is that 3 doctors, 1 surgeon, 1 surgery, and 5 months later, I am now fine.

This is the condensed version of why it has been over a year since I've blogged, why I haven't run, and why my 41st year was a health disaster. . .

Luckily, I am now in my 42nd year and all I have to do is navigate 2 kids and myself through a new state move. 
Should be a piece of cake.

Long story short. . .

We are mid-move from NC to VA.

I've not blogged in over a year.

I have not run a race in over a year.

My 41st year was a health disaster from beginning to end.

My kids and husband are awesome.

Where to start?

Stay tuned. . .

Cycle-ogical

It's Spring!  The temperatures are warmer, and the sun is shining longer.


It's the time of the year, when I hop back onto my bicycle after taking the winter months off.  In preparation, I had my bike tuned up and cleaned a month ago.  Then, I just needed to find the time.  This past Friday, a friend, who had not ridden in a long time either, had a morning free.  So we agreed that our first ride should be together.  We'd take it slow, to reacquaint ourselves with being clipped in, and riding.


I had new bike shoes, so my biggest concern was getting clipped in and out smoothly at stops.


That should not have been my biggest worry.


My friend and I left from a local YMCA.  Just leaving the parking lot, I was dying.  She was leisurely cruising ahead, looking effortless on her bicycle, while I huffed and puffed up the short hill to the main road.  Good grief!  I had thought I was still in good shape - I'd been running and doing bootcamp, after all.


No luck.


As we continued to ride - her, not sweating and breathing normally. . .me, about to have a heart attack, and having to stand up to pedal on relatively flat roads, I kept messing with the gears on the right hand side of my bike, trying to make it easier, and not succeeding. . .


Until about 15 minutes into the ride - when I remembered. 
There are gears on the left side of the bike too. . .

Really, if people needed a license to ride a bike, I think mine would be revoked.


I'm blaming this on turning 40.

Mommies Need Playdates Too

This time, two weeks ago, I was in Mexico. . .

Hotel Entry

Every year, I get together with two of my best friends, from high school.  Normally, they fly to NC and we hang out for a mellow weekend.  This year, however, we are all turning the big 4-0, and we decided that milestone warranted a big trip.

After much discussion and research, we decided on Mexico.  6 days, 5 nights.  All-inclusive. Sunshine.  Ocean.

Coordinating and planning was relatively easy (thanks AAA).  Having this trip to look forward to during the long winter months was wonderful. . .especially for my New England residing girlfriends. I think they were more than ready for sunshine, sand, and no snow.

We met up in Charlotte on a Tuesday in mid-March.  Being the spatially challenged person that I am - I only got lost twice trying to find airport parking (thanks CLT construction).  Whew!  We were together at last. . .
One of my girlfriends informed me, that before leaving for this trip, she was snuggling with her daughter, and her daughter said that while she'd miss her, that she understood that "Mommies need play dates too."

When we got to Riviera Maya, Mexico - it was everything the brochure promised.
Our room was perfect (with a hammock on the balcony).
The resort was spotless and efficient (a massive amount of staff on site).
Unlimited adult beverages (helllllllo pina colada. . .and mojito. . .and margarita. . .you get the idea).
And, hammocks everywhere - by the pool, on the beach - I really think this was heaven.

Pool Area

As always, my friends and I picked right up, as if we hadn't been apart for hundreds of miles, several months, and numerous big and little life events. . .we are comfortable chatting up a storm, or sitting quietly for hours, reading, and not talking.  We did both.

Beach Area

This trip was fabulous.  I loved hanging with my friends.
We went to Tulum - and had a fabulous tour guide.

We went snorkeling and saw stingrays, beautiful fish, and amazing caves.

We sat by the ocean for hours, just reading.

I went for runs along the beach, and saw the sun rise. . .

I honestly felt more relaxed than I had in a long, long time.
I came home renewed.

Mommies need play dates too.  It's true.

Relaxed Momma in a hammock

Tea Parties, Barbies, and Rainbows - Oh My!

Last week, I ran an 11 mile trail run, in the mountains.

It was the first race, in way too long, that I enjoyed.  Honestly, I was not sure I was ready for an 11 mile trail race.  I had run a 9 mile trail race in mid-January that was depressingly difficult and slow.  In fact, about 4 miles into that race, I was ready to be done.

This 11 mile trail race though - I don't know what was different.  It was early - I had to get up about 5am, to drive 45 minutes.  It was cold - 16 degrees.  It was in the mountains (how hilly was this race going to be??).

The race started promptly at 8am in a State Park.  It was predominately on a trail, with a few small stretches of pavement.  It was beautiful - sun coming up, along the lake, cold - but green sprouts coming out of the ground along the way.  It was not a technical trail, like the January race, and it was rolling hills (nothing too outrageous).  The miles were not marked, and I did not wear a watch, but about mile 6, I realized I felt really great.  I wasn't exhausted, my body didn't hurt, and I felt really - really good.

I needed this.

Because the coming week was not really - really good.

Every now and then, my husband and I will look at each other and say, "Tea Parties."  This is what we imagine life is like when one has daughters only. . .tea parties, barbies, and rainbows. Calm.  Peaceful.
We usually say, "Tea Parties" after the boys have flooded the bathroom (again), broken the dishwasher door (again), left hand (and sometimes foot) prints on the walls (and ceilings). . .you get the idea.  I know that this is just a Grass is Always Greener mentality.  There are daughters who are probably just as destructive as our boys.  And, don't get me wrong, I LOVE my boys - but I am constantly amazed at some of the issues that I deal with having my boys.

Mother Nature decided to share some of New England's winter weather with us this week - so we did not have school the past few days.
Being trapped in my home, I decided was a great opportunity to look for a missing Science Book.  My son's 5th grade teacher had mentioned it was missing about a week ago - and while I had done a cursory glance through the house, and not found it, I decided to to don the Hazmat suit and dig into the disaster that is my house.

I did not find the science book.

BUT, I did locate 18 books that belonged to the school.  Have I mentioned that my eldest son is a hoarder?  I don't use this term lightly - he really is a hoarder.  I found these books in various nooks and crannies in his room - all belonging to the school. . .but not the Science Book.

It was really bugging me that this book was lost.  However, it did not seem to faze my son in the slightest.

First day back at school today - and I was tearing apart his cubby looking for said Science Book.  I vented to a coworker about it, and she suggested looking between car seats.  I did not find the Science Book - but I did find missing book #19.

Later in the afternoon, I got a text from the teacher - the Science Book was located - in the classroom!  Relief.  Satisfaction - I had torn the house apart, and it was truly not in the house, so I wasn't going totally crazy. . .yet.

And, a little later in the afternoon, a call from other son's teacher about his vocabulary. . .No, she was not complimenting about his amazing and correct use of words like:  irk, tremulous, boustrophedonic, or disquisitionary.  No, he was flexing his vocabulary muscles with inappropriate words for school.

So, while I sit here and figure out how to help teach my son about inappropriate words (again), I find my mind wandering to. . .tea parties. . .