Day 89 - Hot Yoga

I went to a 'Happy Hour' yoga class tonight. After a long week of Matt being gone, I totally expected a chance to unwind, relax, stretch, and release all the week's tension. I got a lot more than I bargained for. This was hot yoga and there was no relaxing about it. I have never worked so hard. I very much understand how people can really get in shape with yoga, and it is NOT the yoga I've been practicing up to this point. My muscles were shaking intensely several times as I tried to keep up with all these crazy hippies!! And I was real sweaty. We all were. And then at the end, we relaxed. A few minutes laying on our backs in the dark with our eyes closed. Then she opened these mega windows and let the fresh air in along with the sound of rain drops. It was absolutely amazing!!! I felt so good, and strong, and refreshed!!!

Day 88 - Back to Normal

Tonight my joy is knowing that tomorrow night Matt is home again.

Day 87 - Is It working?

I have been 2 weeks behind on my blog. About a week ago, midway through my very overdue spell, I realized that I have been really successful in finding the joy in my life. It's at the forefront and not something I have to seek out. I am very happy to feel this way. Not that I don't complain about life, a lot, but it's also really easy to see all the great things going on around me. I realized that this focus has really helped turn my outlook. I considered stopping the blog because I'd arrived at my goal. Well, tonight was bad. So tired and 3 cranky kids, and hours and hours of chores after a long hard day's work. And I started to try to think about the joy, the positive, the happiness in my day. It's a struggle. Even knowing how behind I was on the blog brought me down. So, here I am, when I'd rather be in bed, getting caught up. Getting one thing off my list and pouring over my memories of the day and noticing that it really wasn't all that bad. My day is punctuated with bits of happiness, even when it's bad. It's all about perspective and that's the purpose of my project. So, I won't quit, I will see this through, and see what happens to my perspective after a full year of focused shift.

Day 86 - My Bed

Matt's out of town, again. This was my scheduled night for free time and rest. Didn't happen. But at the end of the very long night, I was able to curl up in my bed. Joy.

Day 85 - Easy Dinner

Tonight we were busy. Another appointment to see another house. So I was happy to have an easy dinner to whip together. And frankly, kind of proud of myself to be able to pull together a quick healthy yummy dinner without much time.

Day 84 - A Good Hard Run

I haven't been out running in a long time. Most of my workouts have been inside and include burpees and jumping around and cardio/weight full body torture that's awesome. Today the sun was out in full force and I needed to get some fresh air and some sunshine and some burning lungs and legs. It worked. And it felt awesome.

Day 83 - Swimming

We took the kids, all 5 of them, to the pool for our activity today. Wes loved splashing. Will didn't get a chance to get in the water, there were too many babies:adults and he didn't even notice, but he had a nice nap on Grandma. Paul, Olivia, and Henry explored the water and learned some new tricks. Matt, Andy, Mark, Paul, and I all got a turn on the waterslide. Family fun.

Day 82 - Applecup

COUGS WON!!! I can't believe it!!! So fun to watch with the family and yell so loud we made Wes and Will scream!!!

Day 81 - Thanksgiving!

Kathy hosted Thanksgiving this year. So I had no cooking to do. Turns out I REALLY like the cooking and the rush of getting everything done. So I created several baking projects for myself. Me and my team (Dawn and Lara) made pumpkin pie, mini cauliflower cheese pies, stuffing (made with a homemade loaf of bread, and fancy green bean casserole. All Paul Safe. We had fun spending the day cooking in the kitchen and even had the thrill of panic trying to get everything done on time.

Day 80 - Holidays

Our first company of the holidays rolled in, Mark and Dawn. I love this season and all the fun!! It's so exciting to get started!!

Day 79 - Babies

I'm so far behind I have no idea about this day. But I'm sure I got some joy out of my babies this day. Positive.

Day 78 - Racquetball

Today I didn't have to work, so I ran a few errands in the afternoon while Lara watched the kids. Then I met Matt for an hour of racquetball. We had to look up the rules before we started, because although we've both played tennis in our lives, racquetball is a new concept. It was so much fun. For an hour we ran around the court and smashed the ball into the wall. We ended the hour tied 1-1. It was so much fun, I can't wait to do it again!

Day 77 - Hanging out

We went to Dustin and Becky's for the day. I had some baby stuff to drop off and Paul's been asking to play at Nathan's for over a year. We spent the day lounging on the couch, eating pizza, talking, and occasionally seeing a child. The kids had so much fun playing together and it's really wonderful to be able to just relax and let them play!

Day 76 - Breakdown

I had an emotional day. Not quite sure why, but I finally broke at about 5:30. Afterwards I felt so good. And I was able to calm down and just enjoy my family. We ate nachos and watched a movie. It was absolutely perfect. The peach that comes after a breakdown is so refreshing.

Day 75 - Friday

It's Friday. That's all.

Day 74 - The Gym

Tonight I went with Rhea to the new YMCA in Silverdale. I haven't been to a gym in probably 7 years. That doesn't mean I haven't been exercising... I've just been running outside or on my treadmill, or doing other exercises in the last few years. Getting back to the gym was so fun. I miss being around all the active people, the buzz of all that energy, and so many different, fun options for exercise!!! It doesn't make geographical sense for us to belong to a gym. From Indianola, any gym is at least 15 minutes. I can be done working out in the 30 round trip travel minutes it would take getting to and from the gym. So for now, I'll visit occasionally... and enjoy the newness of it all again!

Day 73 - Help

We needed to take a trip to Walmart tonight. When I got home, neighbor Kierston (8) was playing with Paul and Olivia. I knew all 3 would be disappointed if I took Paul and Olivia away to the store. So I invited Kierston to go with us. I was a little worried about the added stress I would be taking on to bring 4 kids to the store rather than 3, but I was so pleasantly surprised to learn that 8 year olds are awesome little helpers at the store!! Kierston pushed the cart while playing red light/green light around the store. I had will in the front pack and we just trudged around collecting our things. It was so stress-free and fun!! I may invite Kierston to go with us every time!

Day 72 - Limits

Last night bedtime was awful. Both big kids ended it with screaming tantrums, staggered 30 minutes a part. What a mess. Tonight, Matt's in Rhode Island and I couldn't handle a repeat of last night on my own. So we (Paul, Olivia, and I) set the expectation early and set a limit on how much I would put up with. This (so far) seemed to work very well. I gave a 3 strike rule. After 2 timeouts, the 3rd would land you in bed for the night. Paul used his first 2 within 10 minutes, but then he seemed to grasp the concept and straightened up. I'm hopeful tonight's bedtime will be a happy one. Sometimes limits are a great thing. Fingers crossed.

Day 71 - Waiting

I had a phone interview for a new job. It went well, I think... But it's the first time in my life that I've applied for a job and not been offered it at the end of the interview. I realize I'm spoiled in that way, and also had some very good help in getting several of my jobs. But still, this waiting is killing me!! I don't even know if I want to take this job, but I want them to want me!! Also, we put a very low ball offer in on a house that we're pretty sure is nearing foreclosure. It's a super long shot, but if we get it, it will be a great deal... So we wait again.

Day 70 - Anniversary

My parents came down after celebrating Henry's birthday to stay with POW for the night so Matt and I could celebrate our 7th anniversary (which was actually the next day). We didn't go crazy, but we did get to spend the night away. In Silverdale. It was so nice to spend time doing whatever we wanted to do. I still wasn't feeling great, so we didn't do much, but it didn't matter. We had the freedom to decide. Including the freedom to sleep all night!!!

Day 69 - Birthdays!

We made a trip to Bellingham for Henry's 3rd birthday party. Matt and I were sick and tired, but it was so worth it for some more cousin play time and birthday fun! I also love to remember to appreciate that we now live close enough to make day trips to see our family. It warms my heart.

Day 68 - Stockings

I've been working on Christmas stockings for the past year. Today I finished my 5th one. Now everyone in my wonderful little family has a Christmas stocking of their very own. I'm a little proud.

Day 67 - Girlfriends

The first (hopefully) in a series of nights out with some ladies. In an effort to lock down some more lady friends I set up a monthly ladies night. Tonight was the first one. I was totally sick, but I went anyways. No way was I giving up a chance for some regular socializing. We had fun. And I lost my voice. Totally worth it.

Day 66 - Bottles

Will is eating more bottles these days. The part that really makes me happy is that he seems perfectly happy to do so. We had a bit of a fight in the beginning, but now that we're almost exclusively on bottles, it makes me so happy to see him happily chug some formula.

Day 65 - Election Coverage

This was my joy today for slightly different, less mature reasons. Matt was sick in bed, so after I put the kids to bed (and was puked on by one of them, but we won't name names) I headed to the basement to see what was going on with this Presidential race I've had to hear so much about in the past few months. Lara was down there watching the coverage. I really like watching TV I care about a little bit, but not a lot, with a friend. That way, we can analyze, chit chat, and make fun of stupid people or funny looking things on TV. We laughed a lot. And it was great to hear about American politics from an outside perspective. Ironically, actually sadly, Lara knows a lot more about our political system than I do. In her highschool English class, they studied Presidential speeches. Can you believe that? Hey America... take a hint from the Germans!! We didn't even study that in our American English classes. I can guarantee you that most American high school students (and adults) don't really understand what most of these speeches are about. Wow, that was a rant. Really I was just happy to make fun of the things we were seeing on TV.

Day 64 - Poop in the Pool

This may seem like a weird place to find joy. But when you laugh that much there’s got to be some joy involved. We were just winding down at the waterpark and thinking about heading home. Matt, Paul, and I met back up with the group after a few big boy slides. When we walked up, Lara shouted, “Lisa, Olivia pooped!!” Come to find out, she actually pooped while playing in the kiddie pool. They evacuated the pool for cleaning while I rushed Olivia off to the bathroom to get rid of the evidence. We had to walk right by the pool to get to the bathroom and I was avoiding stares from the parents of other toddlers who were now screaming because they couldn’t play in the pool. We got all cleaned up and decided our time at Great Wolf was done. We made our graceful exit and I even warned another parent that *somebody’s* kid pooped in the pool. At that, we laughed some more. It’s the little things in life.

Day 63 - Water Park

We went to Great Wolf Lodge for Grandma Dawn’s 60th birthday celebration (her idea). This place was crazy!! So many people, so many slides, so much to do!!! It took us all a bit to get acclimated and comfortable, but soon we found our groove. We played in the wave pool, played in the kiddie pool, slid on some adult slides, and just had fun. Our kiddos were a little young to do everything, but what they could do, was really really fun. And I got to spend about 30 minutes with sweet baby Will asleep on my chest. Heaven.

Day 62 - Cousins

I love that these kiddos are all in the same age group. They are going to have so much fun growing up and I really love to see their relationships develop as they get older.

Day 61 - Crazy Fun

We went out tonight for Grandma Dawn's birthday. It was rad. Lara watched the kids. We had a delicious dinner, followed by dancing and gambling at the casino. So much fun. See...

Day 60 - Teeth

When I got home from work today Lara was more excited than I've ever seen. She was holding Will and visibly thrilled. I asked what she was so excited about and she squeeled, "WILL HAS A TOOTH!!!" It's very fun that Will has his first tooth, but totally awesome how excited Lara was.