Like A Snowball

Ya, today was one of those days that, once I got going, I had no time to just stop and breathe! School started yesterday for Mikayla and today for Tyler. So 9:00am came and I started my 3 hour errand run (3 hours is the time Tyler is in preschool). The day began with my son being over-emotional about everything, including leaving him a few feet behind on the walk to drop off Mikayla at school and continued when I asked him to choose a smaller stick that had fallen from a local tree instead of the mini whip he had chosen right off the bat. *gasp* the horror!

So I went directly from preschool to our local running shop to pick up a new pair of running shoes to replace my new pair of running shoes. Yep, you read that right. New to replace new. This shop is supposedly the best at choosing shoes for you so I was pumped to go last week and choose my new pair of shoes. The price came to about 1/3 of my mortgage payment (but, hey, you've got to have good running shoes to run 13 miles, right? If you don't, you may end your running AND walking career at the end of the race). Anyway, after running in them for 7 miles the other day, mile 5 told me that these were the WRONG shoes for me. You know, I've never been one of those people who get really vocal in the gym. I usually don't act like the heavy weight I've chosen is about to kill me or that the treadmill is zapping away all breath of life but that day, things were a little different. I pushed myself...and my shoes... far beyond the comfort my shoes could provide and yes, you could hear me saying (albeit quietly) "ugh" and "aaaaahhh!" I was the Monica Seles of the running world. All you tennis fans know what I'm talking about. After that little "trial session", I decided to take my fancy, expensive, worthless shoes back to the store so that I could end up buying an even more fancy, more expensive pair of shoes to replace them. I could hear my toes thanking me. I could even see it. They were blushing with anticipation...

Flash to this morning. I went back to the running store and told them that I thought I needed a bigger shoe. Now this was hard for me to say. I've lived my life at a size 8, swelled and stayed at a size 8 1/2 once I had all 3 of my kids and got my first expensive running shoes at a size 9. After trying on several pair, I finally settled on the perfect shoe. What size did I end up getting? *sigh* A size 10. TEN!! I've never been double digits...EVER! I feel like I'm wearing flippers! But let's face it, they're comfortable. A whole $10 more comfortable than the last pair. I think the salesman laughed when I said they were more stylish as well but that's important, right? All this to say, I'm quite happy with my purchase. It'll all be worth it in the end. So, without any more pomp and circumstance, here are my new "mortgage shoes." Aren't they pretty?

As a side note, I ended up bringing Lynnea with me and she actually said that my last pair looked like a man's shoe. Yes, my 3 year old. She says a lot. She was singing the alphabet as I tried on shoes. I think it made the young man helping me relieved since he didn't have to say much. Lynnea was doing all of the talking for us.

So, on to my next stop, TJMaxx, where I picked up this gem...I love my hot cocoa. Every night. I know it's high in calories but it's so relaxing (and great for raising that good cholesterol) and very needed after a day with Lynnea...I mean...all 3 kids. Can you believe that Lynnea actually told me how to hold my hands on the steering wheel as I was pulling into the parking lot? She actually put down her crackers, held her hands at '10' and '2' and said, "no, mommy, you drive like this, see? like this." This actually came out like, "no, mommy, do drive dike dis." Every consonant sounds strangely like a 'd'. So, to continue, I rolled my eyes with great enthusiasm (to myself), said, with a great, big, mommy smile, "OH, thank you Lynnea. Mommy really needed help knowing how to drive," and she smiled, knowing that she had given mommy some really great advice.

Well, my son just brought me a book, basically telling me to get off the computer and read to him so I'll have to bid farewell for today. Stay tuned for some serious room changing. I just realized I didn't take a "before" picture of the girl's room. Oh well, I'll just show you the "after."