It's Monday, I'm diet coke free and ticked!

Let me just start off my saying I HATE MONDAYS! Really, I hate them. The whole day is spent catching up from the weekend. Laundry, dishes, housework! I've vacuumed 3 times already today and need to again. I'm on laundry load #3 and still have more. And did I mention it's early out day? I have a whole 40 min after Millie and daycare kids leave until the boys are home at 1:30. Then there's Millie's carpool at 2:30 and dance and UGH! I feel so overwhelmed. On top of it all I decide I should stop drinking diet coke. Why you ask? I don't even know. I just thought it would be better. So today, on the dreaded Monday without diet coke I venture to the post office. I unload the kids and notice Owen's shoes are off. Any of you that know Owen know that anytime and every time he is buckled into his car seat he exposes his little piggies and lets them run free. It's a nice day, I think to myself, I'm not going to wrestle him back into his shoes, I'll just carry him. I had seriously been in line two minutes when the guy behind me says "it was really cold this morning; he should really have shoes on, he's going to get sick!" I'm thinking, um, it's 73 degrees outside and I'm holding him, I think he's OK. So, that's what I said, as nicely as I could. But what I really wanted to say was "Shut up and mind your own business!!" Seriously! Even if I was being neglectful, which, I don't believe I was, was it really his business to tell me??? Am I just being over dramatic? Is it the lack of aspartame and carbonation? Whatever it is, I saw the same guy with his shorts and black socks later at Macey's and almost ran him down. Don't mess with me on Mondays.

Pretty in Pink

If you've driven by my house lately you might have wondered where that pink glow was coming from. After several months of deliberation and a couple of weeks of hard labor, Millie's room is finally complete! (well, almost, still working on some shelves) It is very pink but I love it! We needed some pink to help level out the testosterone in the house and I can't very well paint my room pink. Anyway, I've very proud of my project so if your in the area, stop by! I can't promise anything will be clean but I'd love you to come by anyway!

Did you Know?

* One in 150 children in the United States are diagnosed with Autism?
1 in 94 are boys. Five years ago, 1 in 2500 were diagnosed with Autism

*Almost Every 20 minutes a child is diagnosed with Autism, 67 children are diagnosed a day.

*More children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with AIDS, diabetes and cancer combined .

*Autism is the second most prevalent developmental disability in the world today.

*Autism costs the nation over $90 billion per year, a figure expected to double in the next decade

*Autism receives less than 5% of the research funding of many less prevalent childhood diseases

*Boys are four times more likely than girls to have autism

*There is no medical detection or cure for autism

Incidence vs. Private Funding
Leukemia: Affects 1 in 25,000 / Funding: $310 million
Muscular Dystrophy: Affects 1 in 20,000 / Funding: $175 million
Pediatric AIDS: Affects 1 in 8,000 / Funding: $394 million
Juvenile Diabetes: Affects 1 in 500 / Funding: $130 million
Autism: Affects 1 in 150 / Funding: $15 million

All information taken from the www.Autismspeaks.com

My training blog

Alright, so I don't absolutely bore all of you, I've decided to follow my friend Jen's lead and start a different blog for training. I haven't completely started marathon training yet so It's kinda a pre-training log right now. It's more for me to keep track of my training and record my feelings about running more than anything else but you can check it out if you want!

Race day dilemma

Ok so here the newest dilemma in my life. My fabulous friend and race partner Micheale is now registered for the Top of Utah Marathon on Sept 20. She has also registered for the St. George marathon on Oct 4. Um...I don't think she'll do both. Here is the dilemma. St. George is by far and large my first choice. Problem is that is is based on a lottery and there is no guarantee of getting in. To make sure we were able to race together I was going to sign up under Micheale's email. Now she is really hoping NOT to get into the SGM. So, do I go ahead and sign up anyway and hope we both get in? do I sign up under my own email and hope I get in?(I don't really want to do it without her and watch, she'll get in and I won't!) or I just say heck with it all and sign up for the Top of Utah marathon? Her husband signed both of them up not knowing she has already registered for St George. It would be a fantastic thing for her to do with her husband so I am thrilled for her. I'm just not really sure which route to take. There are many pros and cons to both but it really boils down to the fact I kinda had my heart set on St. George first, Top of Utah as a back up. Jen? What do you think? Wanna do the Top of Utah?

Holland it is

Not long after Ian was diagnosed with autism someone gave me this story

Welcome to Holland
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this…
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum, the Michelangelo David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!" you say. "What do you mean, Holland?" I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy.
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to some horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy a new guidebook. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
The pain of that will never, ever, go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.
But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.

Written by Emily Perl Kingsley
Well, yesterday was one of those days that I wanted back on the plane, I wanted Italy. I don't know what is going on with Ian but he has become increasingly difficult. His screaming is what is getting to me the most. He doesn't talk, he doesn't cry, he screams! I finally had to lock him in his room for my sanity and his safety. He continued to scream from his bedroom "don't lock me up!". Yep I instantly felt guilty. What am I suppose to do? After it was all said and done and I was lying in my bed with Ian in my arms I asked him "why? why Ian? why can't you be my good boy?" He lovingly responded in his classic Ian way "yes I am your boy! yes you are my mommy!" and that said it all. Welcome to Holland.

Finally!

Our new computer is up and running! A few weeks ago Adam was given a new HP workstation from work. When he tried to set it up we discovered it didn't work with our monitor. Our new monitor finally came Monday and it's up and running! Yay! I really hated typing anything on Adam's laptop. It was such a pain! Now if we could just get rid of our dial-up Internet connection...yes, I know...we are so 20th century!

Back from Saint George!

And over all it was pretty fun. We had some good, quality family time. We fished, swam, hiked and played lots. According to Ian however, we fished, moved, had a baby, got a puppy and bought a car. (this is what he told his bus drivers we did over spring break)
Thank goodness he made most of his up!

Saying it Simply

You absolutely have to check out my wonderfully talented friend Kris's business Saying it Simply. She and her sister have the most amazing home decor and seasonal items. Right now they are having a give-away so leave a comment and you're entered to win.

www.sayingitsimply.blogspot.com

Mama's got a new pair of shoes

Can I just say that I LOVE my new running shoes? Seriously, I love these shoes. I wouldn't even know I was wearing anything except I can see a red glow coming from my feet. I do wish they were pink like the Saucony's I tried and liked and not red. But, I'll trade style for comfort any day, especially when it comes to running shoes.

On a side note, I took Owen shoe shopping with me to buy these. If you've ever bought running shoes you know this was my first mistake. Each time I tried on a new shoe I had to haul Owen outside, sit him in the car and run around in the parking lot to see if I like the shoe. For those of you who don't know, when you are trying on running shoes they generally put one brand/style on one foot and another on the other foot and have you run outside to see which you prefer. After my 10th or so shoe I put Owen in car and ran down the parking lot a few yards when I heard the "beep" of the car door being locked by remote. I didn't worry too much since the door was open but I picked up the pace back to the car to prevent an imminent disaster. I was too late. As soon as he saw me heading toward the car, he reached out and shut the door. I barely reached the door but it had already latched and so there sat my baby, keys in hand and the door locked. I wasn't quite sure what to do. My phone was in my purse inside the store and I couldn't just leave him in the car while I went in. Surely they would wonder where I had gone with two different shoes and come looking for me. So, I tapped on the window and told Owen to unlock the door. He laughed and smiled and tried to unlock the door but he couldn't do it. Ten or so minutes passed and no one came looking for me but I still didn't dare leave Owen in the car. Finally a cute little Australian women and her parents came to my rescue. They grabbed a phone book from a nearby store and the older lady talked to Owen while I looked up Orem City police. As luck would have it, Owen unlocked the door with the remote just as I was dialing the police. The funny thing is that no one from the store came looking for me. Guess they thought if I was nutty enough to steal two different shoes they wouldn't mess with me.

Pain in the...

Knee. Yep. It's back. Last week when I ran in the Provo city 5k my knee started hurting around mile 2 but only lasted a few minutes and went away. Well, now I'm barely getting a mile before it starts in again. What a pain! (no pun intended) Half marathon training for the July race starts Monday and marathon training starts in May. I took a five weeks off and tried several alternative treatments and I'm not really sure what to do next. Guess I'll make a Dr. appointment Monday and hope he can figure it out.

Taking flight

Well, here I go, flying into the world of blogging. I’ve wanted to for awhile now but really, who has the time? I certainly don’t. But still, I’ve been eager to find a way to document my thoughts, share my crazy life and maybe find myself along the way. So, here I go! Fasten your seat belts and prepare for take-off! This should be fun...