Caring for Clinton

Today I cared for Clinton, the City of Clinton, that is. 

How, you say?  I'm so glad you asked!

Once a year, my church designates Sunday and encourages our members to get out in the community and give of their time and energy to help our city.  It can be anything from helping someone with yard work, caring for a family in need or picking up trash on the side of the road.  This time, I wasn't sure how I was going to pitch in.  There were several different opportunities and I had planned to fill in where needed. 

Plans changed when we woke up this morning and Caroline did not feel so well.  Working outside or away from the house would be out of the question.  I started wondering how I could help from my house.  Quickly, I thought of my closet.  I had been meaning to get in there and clean it out, but had put it off.  Until now.  Today was the day.  I set to work and spent the majority of the day sorting, folding and packing.

The picture above is what I gathered and I don't even have a walk in closet!  Wow!  It totaled 3 bags to give away and 1 bag of trash. 

Then I started on Caroline's closet.  That amounted to a couple more bags.  It struck me how much stuff we accumulate over a short period of time.  We have so much and easily forget this fact.  I hope that this overflow will help others in one way or another.  It was an easy task that I hope God will take and multiply many times over.

Feeling overwhelmed? You're in luck - I'm a pro!

Isn't modern technology wonderful - at times?  Today it's wonderful, because it not only enabled me to talk to one of my daughters, but it enabled me to see her, too!  What a treat! 

We talked for a while about this and that, but mostly about all of the work that is piling up on her.  It's that end-of-semester build up when all sorts of projects come due, quizzes pop up and final exam preparation is looming.  Needless to say, she is overwhelmed. 

Like most of us, she is overwhelmed with all that she needs to accomplish in the next few weeks.  I am all too familiar with this feeling and I'm sure most of you are as well.  Because of this common challenge, I decided to focus my blog on it today.  I want to share what I do when I get overwhelmed with life.

1.  I reach for a good dose of perspective.  The fact of the matter is, time will pass regardless of whether I get the "stuff" done or not.  Life will go on - Lord willing, that is.  And if He doesn't, then who will care?  I won't.

2.  Make a list!  We've probably heard it a thousand times.  There's a reason for that - it works!  I make a list of EVERYTHING that needs to be done.

3.  Break it down.  Prioritize.  I write down a "due date" and organize tasks like that. 

4.  I cross things off as they are accomplished.  This feels so good!  I can see that I am getting something done.

5. I revise the list each night before going to bed.  This helps clear the mind. 

I don't do this perfectly, but over the past several years of juggling kids, husband, work and other stuff, I've learned a few tricks that work.

I hope this helps!

How loud is your happy?

I just heard a great line in a movie that we're watching.  A little girl can't sleep because the neighbor is having a party.  There's loud music, lots of people and a lot of laughing.  She says, "Their happy's too loud."  Wow.  I like that.  It brought me to question, how loud is my happy?  Does it overflow and affect others?  I hope so - at least some of the time.

Today, my happy is pretty loud, I think.  I've had a good day from start to finish, but I have to admit, the best part of my day came this evening when my Anna and I set out for a nice, long run.  Here are a few pics -

This is our turnaround point.  We didn't take any pics for the first half.  We started off with tight, tired muscles, but by mile 5, we were feeling good!  Here's the proof:

On the way back, we turned around and caught a glimpse of a beautiful sunset.  The picture doesn't do it justice, but hopefully you get the idea.

There's nothing quite like the feeling of finishing a long run.  It is an amazingly effective way to rid yourself of stress and give you perspective.  We finished well, came home, enjoyed a spaghetti supper and are watching a movie with the family. 

I must say, I'm feeling like my happy is quite loud right now.

Check out my new ride!

Yet another tactic to get your attention!

However, I did take a ride on one of these little motorized scooters, provide by your local discount store to those who cannot walk without some assistance.  If you happened to see me rolling into the store, no worries, I am not injured or impaired.  I am sore, though, from my 2 days of Insanity workouts, so it did cross my mind to stay in the scooter to continue my shopping....

Here's the story:  As I was driving into the parking lot this morning, I noticed this little lady heading down the parking lot with her groceries in tow.  I noticed her because she was not too much on the side, but heading towards the middle.  I circled around to a spot on the other side and saw her again as she headed down the next aisle.  By the time I parked and got out of my car, she was on the next aisle.  At this point, I decided she had lost her car. 

After noting where I had parked, I headed towards her to see if she needed some help.  She was already 3 lanes away (apparently those things can go pretty fast!).  I finally caught up with her and asked if she needed some help.  She had, indeed, lost her car and did not know where she had parked.  After asking a few questions, I determined that she must have parked on the other side, towards the front and had just overlooked it.  By now, a lady from our church had also spotted her and came to help.  I got a description of the car and we headed to the other side of the parking lot to find the car. 

When we got to the other side, we found a car matching the description - small, 4-door, green nissan.  It was a strange green, so we figured it had to be it.  Once again, we set out to find the lady.  Uh-oh.  Where is she?  We didn't see her anywhere.  Another lady stops (apparently we looked like we were up to something) and we asked her if she had seen the little white haired lady on the scooter.  Yes, she had, she thought a truck was about to hit her, but it didn't and she kept on going.  She pointed us in the right direction and lo and behold, there she was, 2 more lanes over almost at the end of the row, standing at a small green Nissan, identical to the one on the OTHER SIDE of the parking lot.  At first, I thought she had just found one that looked like her car and we would have to figure out how to get her way back to the other side of the lot.  Nope, it was her car.  We asked if she was sure and she pointed to the tag and read the letters and numbers on the license plate (apparently this happens quite often, so she had memorized her tag).  Yep, it was hers.  She also knew it was hers because she had scratched off the first name of the place where she'd bought it because "she didn't like him".  Ha!  Funny.

As we are putting her groceries in the car for her, I notice how very far she is from the door.  I know that scooter has to be returned and, somehow, I know whose job it will be to take it back up there.  They both turn and look at me.  Yep, my job.  Off I go, but not before telling her that next time, she needs to park closer. 

I admittedly felt more than a little silly as I rode my way back up to the store.  Especially, when I got to the door and someone was just standing there, blocking my way.  I sat there a minute, knowing that she would certainly notice me on this scooter thing and let me pass.  Nope.  My ability to be invisible to those around me even works when I am on a scooter.  Do I say,  "Excuse me..."?  Nope.  For some reason, I feel the need to say, "Beep, beep." and then, of course, explain that I was just returning this and didn't really need it.  Ugh.  Just say excuse me, thank you and return the scooter, Robin!  When will I learn?

There you go - the explanation of how I ended up in a motorized scooter - just trying to lend a helping hand.  :-)

Laundry for one!

I had no other choice for my picture of the day today.  This is Anna, one of my college girls, and this is her laundry.  Just hers, spread out over the bed. 

We had plans to shop a little today and we were each getting ready to go.  I stuck my head in to see when she would be ready.  With a heavy sigh, she said, "I can't get dressed because of all of this laundry!  If I leave it here, it will wrinkle, so I have to fold it before I can get ready."  So, I did what I am ever so happy to do these days, I stayed a minute and helped her fold.

As we were folding, she said something like (drum roll, please), "This is just for me, how did you DO this for ALL of us for 20 YEARS???  I would've gone CRAZY!!"  Priceless.  Absolutely priceless.

Marathon Recap

Last Saturday I ran my fourth marathon in Jackson, TN.  It's been a few years since I ran my last, so I thought I'd give it another try.  I'm thinking about taking on the Goofy Challenge, and thought I'd see how I'd do with another marathon first.  You see, the Goofy Challenge is a 1/2 marathon on Saturday and a full on Sunday.  Why does someone do the Goofy Challenge?  I suppose just to prove you can.  Hmmmm...I'll have to think a little more about that.

Let me move on to the recap. 
This was a very small race.  That's one of the reasons I chose it.  I thought it would be interesting.  It did not disappoint. 

The above picture is my running bud, Pam, and I at the start.  We were happy then.  As we moved toward the start and heard some words of welcome and instruction, I heard the person say,  "Please pay attention out there.  There will be no closed roads.  Pay attention to the arrows on the street, because we can't trust that the directional signs will be there."  Uh-oh.  Now, I didn't expect them to close roads for this race, but I did expect some cones.  Nope.  Also, I was a bit worried about missing an arrow along the way and running more than necessary.  Luckily, the course remained pretty well marked and we found our way just fine.  To the right is a picture of the first group of horses we came across.  They were absolutely beautiful, as was the country. 

In addition to finding my way and staying safe, another concern I had that day was for my foot.  Two weeks prior to race day, I had started having some pain in the bottom of my foot, which I felt like was some tendonitis, that later started acting like plantar fasciitis.  I got off of my feet and did not run for two weeks prior.  I stretched, iced, etc.  I rode my bike and did my strength training and hoped that that would suffice.  It did.  However, about a mile in, I knew that I was going to have to endure the foot pain for as long as I could or not finish the race.  Ugh.  That is not fun.  I resigned myself to suck it up and do it, so on we went.

Here is a pic I snapped of Pam - doesn't she look happy?  We were still happy at this point.  It was a beautiful day, although warming up quickly.  This was almost at the halfway point and we were doing pretty well.  Having a running buddy to get through the miles with is a great help!

Here's the reason I had my phone out to take pictures.  We came upon these beautiful horses and just had to stop!

Sometimes, you just have to stop and smell the roses, you know? 

After we left, the horses took off running - it was a beautiful sight.  We took off running, too, though not as fast.  :-)

On with the race...it was getting pretty hot and the tough part of the race was approaching.  I know to expect a challenge somewhere between miles 16 and 20.  The challenges that day were the heat, my foot and the fact that, at some point, I was going to have to leave my buddy. 

In training, we usually stay together.  Our agreement for a race, is for each of us to do what we need to do.  She needed to slow down and I needed to move on.  I knew that if I slowed down, my foot would only hurt worse. I needed to keep running and get this thing done.  So, finally, I went on and continued my race.  This was definitely the hardest part of the day.  This is the dig deep part.  I knew I had about 11 more miles to go.  I was hoping my foot would hold out.  I was hoping that Pam was ok.  Did I mention I saw no sign of medical help, should we need it?  I knew that Trina, who came with us and was not running the marathon, would be checking on us, so that put my mind at ease a bit.  At about mile 17ish, I think, Trina came along.  Was so glad to see her!  I had packed an extra pair of shoes in the car and quickly changed into a fresh pair.  Ahhh....those fresh shoes felt so good and helped me get through the next few miles.  I moved quickly, said "thanks" and "bye" - I knew if I lingered, I would hop in that car and never look back!

I have a shirt that reads,  "The race begins at mile 20."  Yep, it sure does.  That's when it gets hard.  That's when your mind takes over.  How well you do depends on what you tell yourself.  I kept telling myself things like:
"I can do this!"
"It's just a 10k..."
"Just keep going."
"I have to finish or start over...I'm not starting over."
"Just go."
"See that person up there, catch them."
"I so have this."

I did have it.  I did have what it took to finish.  It was tough, but I was tougher.  I was tougher than last time.  It was easier than last time.  I am stronger than last time.  That feels good.

I finished.  I didn't have the finish time that I wanted, but it was better than my last.  It was good considering the obstacles I had to overcome that day.  I won because I finished.

And because I finished, I got a treat!  A little bit of Coke and some Belgian chocolates!  Yum.  The night before I left, I went to Bunko.  My friend, Francie, had been to Belgium and brought us each a box of chocolates.  It is hard to express just how good that chocolate tasted.  It was a wonderful reward for a really tough day.

 Here's another tasty reward - onion rings at Red Robin....

And here we are, Pam and I, post marathon - cleaned up, happy again and ready to go eat....again.  ;-)