A Trip to the Park

I had the day off of work today so we took a little walk to the park in our neighborhood.  Owen just loves climbing all over the play structure and going down the slide.  He is such a big kid.  Lindy is more cautious and doesn't get up on the play structure, but she still has fun running around and cheering her brother on.  Enjoy the pics!

Sickies!

Since the week before Christmas, we have had some sort of illness in our household.  I am so tired of it, and I think it's part of the reason I seem to be in a funk.  Either I've been sick, my kids have been sick, or Ryan has been sick.  Here's a pic of my two little sickies watching "Barney" and drinking their Pedialyte.

With all that being said we have begun to discover some remedies that have actually helped:

Drink a lot of water - I know that water is the last thing you seem to want when you are sick, but I feel like it really does help flush all of the sick toxins out of your body.

Get some darn sleep - It's hard to actually say enough is enough and it's time for some sleep, but it really does help to stop and rest your body.

Enjoy the snuggles from your kids - My kids are pretty much past the phase of just wanting to sit and snuggle when they could be playing instead.  Yesterday, though, I got to sit with Owen for about an hour and half with my little tender guy.  It was pretty sweet.

Zinc Lozenges - These are supposed to lessen the length of a cold.  I feel like they have helped me out.

Remember the power of positive thought - I know this sounds kind of hippy-dippy, but I just think about my family all being healthy and happy again at the same time.  It will happen, and focusing on that instead of the fact that we are all sick can help me out tremendously.

Wash your hands - This one doesn't need much explanation, but a good hand washing can go a long way in  preventing the spread of germs.

Do you have any other tips you'd like to share?  We need all the help we can get here at out house.  :)

Running Update

I am in Week 9 of Half Marathon Training, and I think that's kind of crazy.  I gave myself 17 weeks to complete a 15 week plan, and as you may remember I had to skip a week of training right at the beginning because of a stomach bug in our house.  This means I will be more then halfway through my training after this week.  If I get enough runs in to count this week (because of a cold that's working it's way through our home and a Music Ed. Conference on Friday and Saturday).  Luckily, this is supposed to be a fairly laid back week without any hill or speed intervals.  If I can get in three runs I will be able to call it good.  Here's my plan for the rest of the week to make this happen:

Week 9 of Half Marathon Training

Monday, 2/11/13 - Rest

Tuesday, 2/12/13 - Rest (because I was sick)

Wednesday, 2/13/13 - Rest (still sick)

Thursday, 2/14/13 - 4-5 miles easy run

Friday, 2/15/13 - 3 miles

Saturday, 2/16/13 - At a conference all day.  Try to go on a walk during a break.

Sunday, 2/17/13 - Long Run 9 miles

Hopefully, I can get three runs in so I don't need to make this my other "freebie" week because I'd like to save that for Spring Break.  We'll see . . . . 

Motivation

My motivation has been low lately.  My motivation at work, my motivation at home, and my motivation with my running.  I am not sure what is causing this, maybe it's just the general manotiny of life (which really is a good thing, don't get me wrong) or maybe it's the weather (cold and generally blah).  I'm not quite sure, but there have been a few things I've been doing to try and break me of this lack of motivation.

In the running world, I ran my first 12k race on Sunday (Feb. 10th).  A 12k race is equal to 7.5 miles.  The race was the 9th Annual Fanconi Anemia Run/Walk  This is a great race that I also did last year.  Last year I did the 5k, and I remember talking to a lady who was doing the 12k, and I thought to myself, "Wow, I'd never be able to a 12k."  What did I know?  This race follows the Portland Waterfront right along the Willamette River.  It's just absolutely beautiful, and it's put on by some really great people who really are passionate about finding a cure for Fanconi Anemia.  My race went great.  I ran at 10 min/mile pace, and I was ecstatic about that.  After the race I ate a cinnamon role at the finish line, and then continued on for another mile so I could get my 8 miles done for that week.  Now I just need to hold onto my momentum gained from this race and keep on chugging along.  I think I'm halfway through my half marathon training, and I'm feeling really good.

In the working world I'm in the middle of preparing my 8th grade group for their District Festival Performance.  This is on March 21st, and I really think we are going to do great.  This group of 8th graders is pretty stellar.  They are all awesome musicians, and they are all really fun kids to teach.  I've been really motivated with them, but in my other classes I'm feeling a little worn out.  We're working toward our concert, but I'm just not feeling really excited about it.  I think I just need to start picking out some music for our final concert of the year, so I can keep moving the mind forward.  I really shouldn't complain, though because I love my job.  I work at an awesome school, I finally got some more hours this year.  I feel like things are on the upswing in my career so I just need to keep chugging along.

At home, I've just had very little motivation to keep the household running smoothly.  Being a Mom is so darn tough (as all Mom's know).  Sometimes all of the cleaning, organizing, book reading, food cooking, lunch packing just gets a bit overwhelming and boring all at the same time.  So I've been trying to get back into list making.  This makes getting the last piece of clothing put away a little more gratifying when I can cross it off the list.  I've also been up to my usual recipe hunting.  I find that cooking the family different meals throughout the week helps me stay happy about my job as Mom.  Hopefully these two things will help me get excited about my Mom job.

So is anyone else out there having a hard time staying motivated?  Maybe it's just a January-February thing.  We are all just trying to keep our heads up until Spring arrives.

Meatless Monday? Pfft . . . Meatless Everyday!

Over the last year, I have been gradually transitioning to a vegetarian diet.  This all started when I watched the movie "Forks Over Knives"  I innocently rented this movie from Netflix thinking it was just going to be all about how our overly processed diets were making us unhealthy.  This is indeed what the movie is about, but it is also about how eating a whole food plant-based diet can enhance your health in unimaginable ways.  So Ryan and I began to incorporate more vegetarian meals into our weekly menu.  It started with one dinner a week, then  2 or 3, and then 5.  Eventually, after reading a lot more on the subject, I decided to adopt a complete whole foods plant-based vegetarian diet.  One book that really altered my thinking was The Food Revolution by John Robbins.  If you are at all curious about the benefits of cutting animal products out of your diet then I highly recommend this movie and book.  

As of January 1st, 2013, I became a full fledged vegetarian.  This does not mean I plan to start writing a million posts about how being a vegetarian can save the world, and everyone must do it.  I am just pretty darn excited about this change and wanted to share it with all of you.  It has been a long transition for me, but I really do feel healthier and happier ever since I have made this change.

So now without much further adieu, here are my answers to a few of the many questions I receive when I tell people I am a vegetarian.

1.) Where do you get your protein?  Actually, humans need very little protein to have a healthy balanced diet.  They only need 2% of their total calories to be from protein.  In addition to this, I am sure to eat lots of green vegetables which actually have more protein per calorie than a steak.

2.)  Are you constantly starving?  No, and believe me this was actually a fear of mine when I first starting incorporating meatless meals into my diet.  I am actually very satisfied throughout the day, and when I do get hungry, I eat.

3.)  Are you doing this for health reasons or ethical reasons?  I first started cooking meatless meals for the health benefits.  As I have started researching more in the subject I have started to find some ethical reasons to have a diet free of animal products.

4.)  How can I start incorporating more meatless meals into my diet?  Just start by making one meal a week meatless in your weekly meal plans.  You don't have to eat anything "weird" like tofu, you can make a big salad, or a yummy pasta dish, or chili with chopped up mushrooms instead of ground beef.  You can also find products that you don't mind replacing with animal free products.  For me this was replacing cow's milk with almond milk.  For you it may be replacing butter made with animal fat with butter made from plant based fats.

Well, there you have it.  I feel like I've really gotten a lot off my chest.  :)  Now, if you feel like it, go out there and make a vegetarian dinner for yourself.  

Dancing Machines

Here is yet another dancing video.  I just find all this singing and dancing so adorable.  It just warms my music teacher heart (and dancing in a diaper, for some reason, warms my Mommy heart).

Quick Running Post

I just wanted to post a short running post.  Training went great last week.  I just did 6 miles for my long run instead of the 7, but that was the only adjustment I made.  It has been so dang cold here, and it has been hard to drag myself outside to run.  Fortunately, it's supposed to warm up this week.  Unfortunately, it's supposed to start raining.  I'm note sure which is worse.

This week's plan doesn't have any intervals or hill runs, and I'm happy about that. 

Week 6 of Half Marathon Training

Monday, 1/21/13 - Rest

Tuesday, 1/22/13 - Rest (because I didn't want to get out of bed)

Wednesday, 1/23/13 - 3 mile run with strides at the end

Thursday, 1/24/13 - Weight Training

Friday, 1/25/13 - 3-4 miles

Saturday, 1/26/13 - Weight Training

Sunday, 1/27/13 - Long Run (total of 8 miles)