Ahhhh.

Few things in life are better than a glass of good whiskey, a hammock on a cool, breezy night in May, and a couple of pillows and blanket. Wonder how long I'll be able to stay awake...

The Exercise

Four mile run tonight. I'm not sure it felt "good" while I was running, but it feels good to have it done. Perhaps the seconds and ice cream I had at dinner interfered with any "feeling good" on the run, but again - it was a run, and it's done. And I didn't puke - bonus!

Add No More

I picked up the book Getting Things Done probably more than a year ago on the advice of a friend.  I got about 10 pages in, and apparently got distracted (hah, that's kinda funny) and didn't go back.  The last few weeks have been a little slow at work, but there's been a ton of stuff going on that needs doing outside of work (A/C upstairs going out, coordinating the hunt for the brown recluse(s), yard stuff, life stuff).  In light of all the things that need doin', I decided maybe I'd give the book another go this week. Fortunately, it's gotten more interesting, and I've made it to page 20 I think...progress, people.

I've also been thinking about different approaches to life, different philosophies, different ways to ascribe meaning to your life.  Part of that comes from the frustration I have with feeling I just don't have enough hours in the day. 

Somewhere in the reading I've done in the last week or two (GTD, Zenhabits, etc.), the suggestion was made that "stuff" and "clutter" take away energy from your life.  This hit home because, ya know, some days I hardly have enough energy to make it to bed time.  See also: last night, where I crashed on the couch for half an hour while the kids played, then wandered off to bed around 10.  I'm not sure what triggers days like this, although last night I'm fairly certain it was a pain in the ass stubborn headache that won't go away, combined with sitting in 95 degree weather for the girl's softball game for an hour.  But those reasons aside, there are STILL days where I just have no energy left at the end of the day.

I like the idea of things being streamlined, I like the idea of little to no clutter in my living area.  When we were visiting relatives this weekend, their house was amazingly clear of extraneous crap.  As J later pointed out, they have no kids.  This is, of course, true; they are grandparents, retired, and they have pared down their belongings.

But I think it is possible to live with little to no clutter, even if you have kids.  And it is possible to get things under control - or so I hear. I spent most of the day on Monday cleaning things out - one small area at a time. A large junk drawer in the kitchen (the coffee maker has a new home), the "toy bins" downstairs (hello large box to Goodwill), and the craft boxes in the kitchen where Halloween candy and old paper scraps go to die (trash trash trash).  All in all, I nearly filled up the trashcan, which practically never gets filled.  This is a start.

My goal at this point is to just "not add."  And tackle little areas, bit by bit.  Maybe by the end of the summer I'll have things where I want them... 

Enough Already.

I'm about over the headache that came with the spider bite and has yet to leave. Enough already!

Slower

I woke up around 6 this morning, unable to get back to sleep. Considering that I went to bed at 10 last night, I think it might mean that I'm finally finally rested. A memorial day miracle...

Saturday morning, I made a to do list that held about six or seven items. By the end of the day, I'd accomplished only one of those things, but when your day includes throwing a frisbee at the park with friends, spontaneous margaritas on the back porch (which is slowly being whipped into shape), tiki torches, and teaching the kiddos the joy of a late might trip to wal mart when you don't have to be anywhere the next morning? I'd say it was worth it.

Yesterday we hung at the lake with my sister in law and her family. Her husbands' parents have a house on a lake nearby, and with just an hour drive, we can make a pretty good day trip of it. On the down side, I have exercised hardly at all and have eaten far too well. That's what the holiday is for, right? Tomorrow will come soon enough.

Reclusive Behavior

Last Friday morning at work, I noticed a small painful spot on my leg, on my right shin. At some point that morning, something had bitten me. Since bug bites don't usually bother me too much (mosquitoes find me unappetizing), I noted it and then ignored it. But as the day went on, the bite spot went purple in color, got more painful, and a red ring started spreading around it.  Huh.  That's a bit unusual.

The redness around it spread out quite a bit as the day went on, despite my best efforts to ignore it and not touch it.  By Saturday morning, the purple color remained, the redness had spread, and I had a terrific rash as a bonus.  On the plus side, the awesome bonus rash was entirely covered by shorts and a t-shirt, so I didn't look like a leper.  But the bite site itself was pretty damn painful, as was the rest of my leg, and I'm pretty sure my leg might have looked a bit leper-like.  Grrrr.

By Sunday morning, the redness had quit spreading and the bonus rash was receding. At that point, I figured the worst was over.

Fast forward to yesterday.  By the end of the day, the place where I had gotten bitten a WEEK ago - and the entire surrounding area - itched like a sonofabitch.  Seriously, I'm pretty spoiled in this area.  Mosquitoes don't like me, and my skin rarely reacts to anything, so I don't typically get 'itchy' spots.  By this morning, an area as large as my entire hand (base of palm to tip of fingers) was raised, red, and itchy as hell.  Let's not even mention the fact that the itchiness woke me up multiple times last night.  Not cool. 

I threw in the towel and managed to get an appointment to see a doc this afternoon.  Diagnosis?

Brown Recluse Bite, of the mild variety.  Apparently I managed to brush him off before he got a good hold.  There's nothing to be done, which is fine by me.  I'm just glad the sucker didn't get a good bite; I can't even imagine how bad that must be.

Always Learning

Yesterday, my mom took the boy to the batting cages.  I was coming home from work right as they were getting there, so I dropped in to help out and watch batting practice.

His hitting has drastically improved this season, mostly in terms of consistency.  His power isn't there yet, but his hand-eye is great.  His form, just like anyone's, needs some help.

So my mom fed him balls, and I stood behind for the first bucket and watched him hit, giving suggestions and directions.  Shoulder up, step back from the plate, swing quicker, harder, etc.  At the end of the first bucket of balls, we nearly had World War III.  He didn't want to hit any more, he wanted to throw the ball instead, but we can do that in our yard at home, not necessarily at the batting cages.  He wanted a drink, so I told him to hit the water fountain, and we'd just go home.

After a drink and a rest of about 5 minutes, he was ready to hit again.  This time, I told him I wasn't even going to watch - I was just going to sit in the background and take care of other stuff.  He was JUST FINE with that.

So I sat back for about 10 minutes and just let him do his thing.  He seemed to be hitting well, so I got up and stood behind him again and watched him hit. He was hitting some good balls. I didn't say anything this time, and after about 5 minutes, he realized I was there and gave me a dirty look. I promised I wouldn't say anything, and I just stood and watched and told him "good hit" when he hit a really good one. 

He hit really well, but more to the point - he enjoyed it a hell of a lot more when I kept my mouth shut.  He didn't need my input on every single ball, nor did he need it most of the time.  He had a great time just swinging at the ball, and his batting improved over the time we were there.  In the end, he hit 5 or 6 buckets of balls, and had a great time.  And I remembered that sometimes, just watching and cheering is all that is necessary from me. 

Sometimes, it's better to be still.

Graduation - Finished!

Ok, ok, I know it's just kindergarten. But they all take it very sewiously, so I am too. Here's my girl, a prelude to pictures that will be taken 12 years from now.

Graduation

Alyssa graduates from Kindergarten tonight.  Wow.  We are out of the K years, and now officially in grade school.  It seems almost unreal, but totally awesome - self sufficiency is a good thing. 

Eatin' Well on the Weekend

If I ate like this every weekend, my ass would be in danger of some serious expansion.  We spent Saturday in Jonesboro for my nephew's birthday and were able to talk my relatives into making us some chicken fried steak before we left town.  That stuff rocks. 

Last night, we made pizzas and had some friends over for dinner.  The last few batches of pizzas I've made have not been all that great, but I think I've figured it out - I just can't shortcut on the sauce.  So no more canned pizza sauce, period.  It probably didn't hurt that I had fresh rosemary, oregano, and basil to throw into everything.  Fresh herbs just make things so much better.  But pile on top of that the homemade ice cream that our friends brought over, and I feel like I need to go for a 10 mile run just to get back to normal today. 

So this week, Alyssa graduates from kindergarten.  And the kids get out of school.  And we have three softball games (last ones for her) and one baseball game (next to last one for B).  And ask me if I've got the kiddos' summer care lined up yet...um... yeah.  That's on my list for this week.  Nothing like the last minute, right?

Testing

Testing out the blogger app this morning, so please to ignore any funkiness that might show up with this post.

Busy weekend as ever around here, trip to Jonesboro for our nephew's birthday party, and maybe some chicken fried steak or other fantastic dinner that leave us all hurting 'cause we're so full. This is never a bad thing.

I managed to get a tennis match in last night against one of the better singles players on my team last year. We slugged it out for well over an hour, and I have to say, I feel more relaxed today than I have in awhile! I need to remember that running helps, but there really is no substitute for hitting the shit out of something.

I read an article yesterday about physical pain and how athletes may not have any different sensitivities to pain, but have better coping mechanisms and are therefore not as likely to be affected by it. As I was hauling ass around the court last night, that article came to mind and I wonder if it's not true. It's a mental game, after all, getting through temporary pain. You put it to the back of your brain, you focus on the task at hand, you ignore what needs to be ignored. Someone I am just getting to know recently told me that he could tell I was a "strong" person. I think it comes back to how you handle pain - you know you can get through tough stuff, painful stuff, and you just ... Do it. There's no other explanation, really.

Anyway, off to get ready for the day, embark on whatever the calendar says is next. My fingers are crossed that the app is working and this posts correctly. We shall see...

Persistence Pays Off

Tonight, B's baseball team played the Cardinals. This is the third time they've played them this season.  The Cards are in 1st place, B's team is in third, and B's team may be the only one that has beaten the Cards this year.  At the beginning of the year, I wrote about how frustrating it can be to watch your kid play a sport when he really wants to do well and just ... struggles.  Part of it is my fault - I don't have as much time to play, and even when I do have the time, I haven't been great at getting out there with him.  Lots of these dads have been grooming their kid since birth in terms of throwing the ball around, batting, etc.  We haven't done that, and B pays a bit of a price for that. 

B played catcher in the game tonight.  Until this season, his position has been firmly rooted in right field.  If you are not familiar with youth baseball, right field is typically where your weakest player goes.  He started this season in right field, then graduated to left field.  There aren't a lot of balls in the outfield at this age in baseball, but even a shift from right to left field was a good thing.  Then he started bugging his coaches about wanting to play catcher.  He was bored in the outfield, and I can't say I blame him.  There was literally nothing going on out there.

So his coaches, to their credit, put him in here and there as catcher.  His first several innings were painful to watch - he hardly touched the ball, let alone 'caught'.  The balls sailed past him and he just sort of ... watched.  It was frustrating, and a bit embarrassing, but he was much happier behind the plate than in the outfield.  After awhile, my dad started coaching him a bit, and I started spending the innings he caught standing directly behind him, trying to give direction where I could.  His coaches also started giving direction, and he took it.

The last couple of games, he's gotten more time behind the plate, and tonight, he caught the entire game.  During one rather excruciatingly long inning (that team had some GOOD batters), he let only three balls get past him.  In previous games, it was good when he actually BLOCKED three balls an inning.  Somewhere along the way, something clicked and he started playing the position.  He's always played smart - he knows the game pretty well, and he doesn't make stupid plays.  But tonight, he played his position and he played it well.  It was awesome to watch him sink into that role and perform well at it.  He persisted at this position, bugged his coaches about it, and in the end, showed he could do it and do it well.  No, he's not the best catcher out there - but the improvement he's shown over the season makes me incredibly happy for him.

And incidentally, he's turned into a damn good hitter.  He's not the strongest one out there, but he manages to get on base just about every time he's up to bat.  He's settled into leadoff hitter, and one of his coaches asked him tonight if he's even struck out this year (yes, he has, twice I think).  He loves this sport, he loves to play, he has a terrific attitude, and it's so awesome to watch something good happen to him after several seasons of playing right field and landing at the end of the batting order.  This season, he also has a couple of good coaches who have spent some extra time with him, and have worked with him.  To his credit, he's taken instruction very well, and everything seems to be coming together really well for him.

He's been bugging me for the last month (maybe longer) to get him some catcher's gear.  I told him that I didn't want to get it for him until I saw that he was committed to playing that position and it wasn't just a whim.  I do believe his request will be answered in the very near future - he's earned it, and earned it well.  I'm just super proud of my little dude.

By the Numbers

Yesterday we had a health screening at my office.  It has been many years (pre-kiddos) since I've done a fasting cholesterol test, and considering the amount of butter, cheese, cream, and chocolate I eat, I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to see if I needed to cut back or at least aware of any issues. 

Although they had to stick me twice (apparently the machine didn't like my first blood sample), all the numbers turned out great.  Except blood pressure - the reading I got for that was the highest I've ever seen it.  Of course, the fact that I had a mediation in less than an hour and the screening folks were running late probably didn't help that measurement - I WAS stressed.  Running late/making people wait on me will stress me out more than almost anything.

But it's very nice to know that the exercise and (mostly) decent eating I'm doing is paying off.  That's one of those things that has been hanging over my head for a few years now to get done, so it's good to scratch that off my list.  I'm also quite happy that I can continue to enjoy my butter-with-a-little-popcorn snacks every now and then.  I mean, the hours spent running, tennising, etc., have to be good for something, right? 

Dropping into Place

I requested one thing for mother's day this year - a new Ipod.  If you've read here long enough, you know my old one died after somewhere around 5 solid years of use. 

J gave me his old one, but it never really seemed mine.  Maybe it was the fact that the inscription on the back read "Jimbob's Ipod." 

Then I managed to drop it on the hard wood floor in Alabama soon after he gave it to me, and even though we got it fixed, it was never quite the same.  A few months ago, I realized that I was no longer able to load new music onto it. It would charge just fine, and had no trouble playing music that was already on there.  But it no longer played nice with Itunes, and my computer wouldn't even acknowledge its existence.  Not cool.

Yes, I know that there are several other outlets I could use to play tunes in my car; however, none seemed to work as well.  I don't really want to burn multiple audio CDs to play in the car (my 2005 era Nissan has no data port), and I didn't want to overload my phone with a bunch of music.  Not to mention that the interface on the phone is a bit more difficult. 

So on mother's day, I got to open this:

. 
J and the kiddos did good, don't you think?  Driving to work this morning, it sort of felt like something in the universe had dropped back into its proper place.  I have my tunes again - this is a good thing for a musicophile.

Mother's Day Recap

I got to start my day with a 19 mile bike ride this morning - woo hoo!  My mom took the munchkins last night, so J and I spiffed up the bikes last night and took to the trails this morning after loading up on a couple of bagels.  My bike has been around for about 11 years, so while it's a good bike, it's nothing like the newer, lighter bikes that a lot of folks have (J, I'm looking at you).  But it gets me through, and I managed to not even fall today.  I know that sounds strange, but if you've never clipped into pedals before, there's no way you can understand the fear of forgetting to unclip or not having time to unclip and basically tipping over on the bike because your feet are attached to the pedals.  Exercisewise, it makes sense - you can use your legs on both the downstroke and the upstroke.  Stresswise, most of the time I think I'd prefer the old fashioned pedals, but I'm afraid I'd fall too far behind with those. 

The last time we did a ride, I was pretty happy with where my cardio was; this time, I could REALLY tell that I've spent some serious time on my cardio.  My legs didn't get all that tired, and I hung with J a good bit of the time.  Of course, we'll ignore the fact that his super fancy watch told him that he'd only put forth a "maintaining" effort for the ride, and I'll just live in fantasy land for a bit longer.  And besides, he dropped me enough for me to know I'm nowhere near his speed.  Ah well. 

Anyway, it was a beautiful day for a ride, and we ended up riding a good bit of the distance out towards Pinnacle on the River Trail.  The scenery was amazing - I sort of felt like I was on vacation, out for a biking jaunt.  I forget how beautiful it can be here.  At one point we were riding along the road with the ridge to our left, the river or some other body of water to our right, and beautiful lawns and forests all around.  It was pretty fantastic. 

So we wrap that the ride around noon, pick up the kids, and hit the tennis courts right after lunch.  J's tennis team is going to state this year, and a few of them wanted to play doubles but couldn't find a fourth, so I joined in.  It's been over a week since I've hit, so it was nice to get my strokes back and find some timing.  The kiddos were amazing while we played a couple of sets (gotta love Sonic Oreo blast bribery), and then we finished the day by cleaning out the girl's closet.  I don't even want to talk about what a disaster it has been in there since probably before Christmas.  I hauled out two large trashbags of clothes that she no longer likes or can wear.  Ahhhhh. MUCH better, and much less stressful in the morning.  She crowned the organizational fest by hanging her clothes in her preferred order - school shirt, school shorts. School shirt, school shorts.  She doesn't even have to think about it in the morning. 

There's still a ton of stuff that needs doing, but I pulled the mothers' day card and asked J to go pick up Carinos for dinner.  I don't feel too bad about that - after all the activity and stuff that still needs doin', the last thing I wanted to do today was cook.  And I just might break out some of J's Mac 18...after all, it's my day, right? 

Finally Friday

I'm not sure I've ever been happier to see a Friday.  Period.  No qualifications.

Curveballs

And sometimes...life throws you curveballs that you didn't really see coming.  And whatever you were feeling before is completely irrelevant to how your life is now.

Overwhelming

Why is it that some days more than others feel particularly overwhelming? Sometimes it feels like it doesn't matter how hard I run or what I get done, it will never be enough to stay on top of things.  Even though things work in our house, they don't work smoothly.  Maybe that's just life with kids?  Or maybe that's just life.  Thinking ahead and organizing a house with kids is a full time job, I suppose, along with other full time jobs.  And it's not like I do it all myself - but sometimes it just feels like it's too much, and something needs to go.  Maybe it's time to throw some crap out and pare down...simplification sounds really good this morning.