Running, Recipes, and Real life adventures!
We took and extra day off to take care of some personal things around the house that are hard to do on the weekend, and managed to get several loads of laundry done, as well as some food prep for the week. While we are preparing for #hurricaneelsa I did manage to get a good core workout and my plank done. How was your day? Are you in Elsa’s path? Stay safe everyone!! 🌀🙌🏻🙏🏻
Cheers!
Michelle
Hey everyone!! Last week was a bit of a blur and all for me, you know with the CUBS WINNING THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, sorry…I was just so excited to see our Cubbies bring it home. Sammy enjoyed the series as well. 🙂
Overall my week was pretty good. I did my best to stick with my winter goals and felt pretty successful in my first week.
Highlights were my five mile run on Sunday after a very long weekend at work and the Cubbies winning! Even better, my hubby texted me during the game. He and his guys woke up at 2:30 am to watch!!
Lowlights were my mini fell and hit got a pretty good sized goose egg. Thankfully the swelling has gone down and she’s feeling much better.
Also, I’m still planking daily. I haven’t missed a day since May 1st. This week’s longest was 7 minutes, for the 7th game of the series, naturally…LOL
I’m linking up with Holly and Tricia for the Weekly wrap! Please head over and check out these awesome ladies!
What was your highlight/lowlight last week? Did you watch the World Series?
Have a great week!
Michelle
Well gang, we are just about at the half way point of my husband’s deployment. Sadly, keeping up with a career, a home, 2 kids, a dog, and everything in between has left little time for blogging. But, I’m still here!!! If you’ve been reading here lately, I’ve discussed that I am keeping the faith for a career change in the future and that hasn’t changed. Nothing has transpired as of yet, but the magnetic pull I feel every single day that there IS something more is so strong I find it’s tangible.
I HAVE started running a little again, just a couple 2 milers last week, but it’s something. I’ve also started cooking again, which makes my heart just happy. Moving forward I am going to try a new recipe that will challenge my skills-every week-and I’ll highlight what I made for you as well as critique how the dish turned out. I’m a huge collector of cookbooks and cooking magazines, so it’ll be fun to try out some new recipes! I figure it’s a good challenge for me, and it will keep me accountable here in blog land. More to follow on that…
With that, I think I’ll just give you a snap shot of my week in pictures which include my beautiful daughters, (S is starting 5th grade and had band camp last week, and J is going to be a JUNIOR…sigh) some of the dishes I cooked, and a couple of my work outs.
I am linking up with Holly @https://hohoruns.blogspot.com and Tricia @http://www.misssippipiddlin.com (Will WordPress EVER let us link anymore?) for the weekly wrap. Please make sure to check them out! ❤
How was your week? What is the longest distance you’ve ever been on your own with your kids (if you have them, dogs/cats count too!)? Have you been cooking anything interesting lately?
Hope you are all doing well! Cheers!
Michelle
It’s been a while since I’ve done a weekly wrap up with Tricia at http://www.misssippipiddlin.com/ and Holly at https://hohoruns.blogspot.com/ so I thought, why not?! Although I haven’t been running consistently, I have been very busy! We’re narrowing in on 17 weeks into this deployment, and there’s never a dull moment. The blog is a fun way to journal what I’ve been up to, so here goes.
Fitness: I worked 6 days last week, so to say I am tired is an understatement. There are no breaks for a single Mom, and some days I feel it more than others. But…we are keeping busy and doing our best to keep our chins up. I’ve been consistently planking every day for 2 months now, and achieved over 5 minutes last night. I did 2 minutes of straight plank, 30 seconds each side planks, and another 2+ minutes of straight planking. YAY!
I also did Hard Corp 22 twice last week, weight training twice, and did quite a bit of walking so it’s all good! I do miss running, but spending time with my daughters is more important.
Food: Gosh, I have been terrible about cooking anything worth posting about. We do pretty easy meals during the week, and often time have simple things like chicken sausage with sweet potatoes or quinoa and a veggie. On the weekends we splurge and this past weekend I took my youngest to a place called “The Patton house” in Geneva. We had amazing outdoor seating on the deck, and my youngest and I shared Oysters Rockefeller for an appetizer. They were simply amazing. I love the fact that my 9 year old chose these as an appetizer, LOL! I’ve created a foodie for sure! LOL!
She then proceeded to order the 16 ounce Rib eye steak. yup. She ate nearly all of this food minus the cheesy potatoes.
I opted for a lighter dinner, and had a blackened creole shrimp salad. And a few bites of her steak LOL!
Facts: Big news everyone!!! My daughter got her license on Wednesday. Because of my crazy work schedule it was a battle trying to get her to the DMV, so my awesome friend and neighbor took her on Wednesday because she’s off during the summer. I loved getting the play by play text messages, and when I saw this picture I cheered!! While it’s a whole new level of anxiety, it’s nice that she can get out and about without me having to taxi her everywhere after working all day.
We’ve also started tackling updating the girls bathroom. My daughter did the painting again, and I plan to start redoing the cabinets this week! So far it’s looking great and I am super proud of how well my daughter did painting!!!
Speaking of my daughter, I was also extremely thrilled when Deb from Deb Runs – http://debruns.com/ asked to feature my daughter’s poem she wrote a couple months ago titled, Pride. Please run over and check it out.
*the blog isn’t letting me add links, so I apologize for that!
Do your kids like to try new foods? Do your kids drive yet? What type of projects are you up to?
I hope you all have a Happy 4th of July, and a great week!!
Cheers,
Michelle
Hey y’all. I’m still alive, I promise. But with a teenager with an active social life yet no license quite yet, and trying to juggle work, housework, and keeping my youngest daughter happy I’ve had little time to write. But I wanted to pop in and say hi, and say that I hope everyone is doing well. My running is pretty much nill but I’ve been daily planking and strength training a few times each week.
My biggest milestone this week, was that I let my oldest take the train to the city today with her group of friends for an afternoon at the beach. Those that know me well, know I’m a spaz when it comes to my kids. So this first step of letting my junior find her way in life was huge for me.
Other than that were plugging along. Each day is one day closer to my hubby returning home. Today was beautiful weather so I sidelined the housework for a couple hours on my deck. I also cooked an amazing pork loin for dinner.
I can admit while I’m not looking forward to returning to work tomorrow, I can say it’s one day closer.
How was your weekend?
Cheers!
Michelle
While I didn’t get a whole lot of running in due to tweaking my knee early in the week, I am happy to report I managed to maintain my plank-a-day challenge, and finished up strong with a 4 minute plank tonight. YAY!!!
I was supposed to be running a marathon today, if you remember I signed up for a full last fall before we knew my husband was deploying. It stung just a touch seeing everyone post up their pictures today, but I had to remind myself that my time will come and that right now I am doing my best with my situation.
So here’s my week in pictures, with 2 very amazing friends, and lots of planking, LOL!
My last load of laundry is in the dryer, and I am ready to retire on the couch. I am linking up with Tricia and Holly for the weekly wrap!
How was your week? Are you still planking with us? Here’s to almost 3 months of my husband’s deployment under our belts, and to a new week. Tomorrow I will be honored to see my daughter perform her poem about deployment and military families. Be sure to check it out if you missed it the other day!!
Have a great week, y’all!
Cheers,
Michelle
So I’ve totally failed at regular blogging. Guilty as charged! I’ve been terrible at commenting on people’s blogs. Guilty again! I truly apologize, because I really do enjoy blogging. Please don’t give up on me! LOL!!!
But I am pouring myself in to my job, my KIDS, and improving my home right now, and that means some things have to give. First being, blogging 3 times each week. It’s rough finding spare time as we all know…so I’ve decided that I’m 99.9% not running the Rockford half marathon on the 22nd of this month. (I originally signed up for the full, and that’s a definite NO). I haven’t trained, because that would mean taking far too much time away from my kids. I’ve never not ran a race that I’ve signed up for, so the pride thing is still nagging at me a little, but I think I am ok with my choice. Who knows, maybe I’ll wake up next weekend and change my mind. Stranger things have happened.
So instead of marathon training, I’ve really jumped in with my weight training while maintaining cardio by running on the treadmill at least 2-3 times per week. I can do this from the comforts of my own home, and that alleviates the guilt of having my 16 year old constantly babysitting her sister. I’m in week two of weight training and am really seeing early results that please me, and make me smile. It’s nice to feel proud of ourselves from time to time, and while running will always be a love of mine, I’ve been lifting weights nearly just as long in my life and it feels good to feel strong again. I’m also planking daily this month still, and I’ve started doing more core work every day.
So while I started this deployment with high hopes and plans, I am realizing I just need to take things one day at a time. Because you just never know what life will give you on any certain day. And accepting that is tough for someone like me, because I plan…well…everything. Here’s to flying by the seat of my pants! LOL!!!!
Highs for the week are highlighted in photos:
Lows for the week were a little all over the place. Without disclosing details I’ll say that the communication with my hubby has been minimal, and I had a really hard time after the kids went to bed on Mother’s day. A good cry fest, and I was feeling a bit better the next day.
I will say, I can proudly add the title of “Plummer” to my list of titles, LOL. Yup, gotta love the deployment curse!!!
Are you a planner? For the Moms, did you have to work on Mother’s day? Do you enjoy weight lifting?
Thanks for your awesome love and support, and patience during this crazy time. I’m with y’all in spirit, I promise, and I will make a better effort to hang out with everyone! ❤
Cheers,
Michelle
A lot of people have asked me how things are going in regards to my husband’s upcoming deployment. At work, I keep on my game face most days, and I have really learned to hold it together for the most part. At home, I can’t always say the same.
The truth is, the pre-deployment phase is almost worse than the deployment itself. A million thoughts go through my head as I watch my husband mentally exit more and more every day. I see the worried look on his face as he stares off in to space, and I see the tiredness compounding in his furrowed brow and blood shot eyes. We’ve got just shy of 6 weeks to go, and just yesterday it seemed like I was saying he was leaving in 4 months. Will the time go by just as quickly when he’s gone? Probably not, but I sure can hope.
I question whether or not my teenage daughter and I will get through this year, to be honest. For the last few weeks, things have actually been pretty great…and in honor of her privacy, I’ll just say last night we had one of our infamous blowouts. You know, the kind that leave you feeling like you’ve been punched in the throat? Yup…one of those. But my husband was there, as always, to mediate. He’s always been so great at being our middle man, our “let’s hash this SH&%!” guy…what will we do when he’s not here, and hormones are flying? Lord help us, truly.
Despite the fact that I know I am strong, and I know I will get through this, I honestly don’t want to hear that sentence from ONE MORE person. I really don’t. I’m sorry if that sounds mean and I appreciate the fact people think I am strong, but instead let’s sit down and talk about how bad this freaking sucks, or as my husband admits, “I’m sorry for the hell I’m putting you through.” Let’s share a glass of wine, and talk about how we’ve got each other’s backs as friends/family and a reminder of “I’m here for you” would be wonderful. Because isn’t that what friends and family are for? To get through the hard SH&%# together? I sure think so…
What am I going to do about the fact that this truly sucks? I’m going to take care of ME, so I can better take care of my kids. I’ve started taking more time on my physical appearance, actually taking time on my make up in the morning, picking out nice outfits to wear for work, etc. I started doing this a few weeks ago, and it’s amazing how much of a difference it makes I’ve found. Even my coworkers noticed, asking me why I am dressing up more…I smiled and said, “If I look pretty on the outside, maybe it’ll cheer me up on the inside,” and I think it’s working, a little…
So this weekend I will (I hope) get out on the roads/trails and get my first official long run in of 6 miles. To keep mentally sane through all of this, I’ve been working out a lot at home (Tracy Anderson Transformation videos) , planking, and treadmilling when needed. I can happily report that between stress-haha, a healthy diet, and consistent working out, I have lost nearly all of my marathon weight from last year. My goal this year is to NOT gain weight during training, if I do decide to stick with the full.
Third work out this week!!!
Thank you all for your kind thoughts and words during this difficult time. I am so glad I decided to keep the blog going while my hubby is gone, and appreciate the support and prayers. And guess what? My teen just came up to me and gave me a hug, saying she was sorry for yesterday. I hugged her tight, and told her I was sorry too…#allthefeels
❤ Michelle
Not a lot makes sense lately. So while grasping for straws trying to hold on to some semblance of normalcy I give you the last two days of truth in pics.
My baby girl isn’t a baby anymore. We’ve been practicing her driving in hopes she’ll get her license before my hubby leaves.
My amazing friend Jitka who invited me out for a run tonight.
Because running at night is fun with friends.
Seven minute plank-whaaaaaa? Yeah. My goal for 2016 is to keep. Getting. Stronger.
And that my friends. Is a wrap. With my husband’s deployment getting moved up constantly, hanging on to little truths is all I can do!
Hope everyone is having a great week!
❤ Michelle
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