Dear Juneau

Dear Juneau,

This week marks the first year of your passing (actual day was August 24th). We knew it would be a year of bittersweet memories and for some crazy reason, we thought the sense of loss would be more manageable as time continued on. But how is that possible when we often refer to you in the present tense.

We chose not to have children but the day that you and your siblings danced and sang into our lives was the day our "family" was complete. You showed us an unconditional love that only a "child" can have. There were days we thought we would never get passed the anger (like chewing door frames of our apartment), days we wondered about your iron stomach (remember when you ate the ant trap and we actually tracked down the manufacturer to see if we needed to rush you to the hospital), and then there were the days we thought you would be with us forever. We yelled and punished (which never lasted longer than 15 minutes before we gave in), we worried, we comforted, we laughed, we hugged and most of all, every day we loved you! Now who can argue that we don't have children.

Nakita misses you most of all I think. You were her soul mate. She had nothing to do with other dogs before you came along and the very second she met you, she accepted and loved you. You showed her tolerance and how to be social with your laid back style. You were the one that literally found her voice. You know, since you left us, we haven't heard her say much. I think she's saving it all for when she gets to see you again. You better be ready, because she's got a lot to say!

Gretchen misses you a lot, too. She loved playing and talking to you and getting you all riled up just for fun and then laying next to you when you showed her it was to time to rest. You know, she went from last to middle child...you would be very proud of the way she is handling herself. She took on your job and she's serious about it. She keeps Nakita feeling young and she keeps Cash in line and reminds him (often) of his place.

Cash...you would have really liked Cash. He shares a lot of your qualities. He loves the sound of his own voice and he talks a lot and loud. He plays with a bit of a mischievous manner in his own sly way, and even though he is all boy, he plays nice with the girls. So many times we look at him and we see a spark of you...you put him in our lives, didn't you?

While we could go on about all the things we miss about you, all we really want to say is:

We miss and love you everyday, Sweet Boy!

With absolute and total love,
Forever Your family
Gayle, Michael, Nakita, Gretchen, and Cash

A New Place To Spread My Wings

No...don't panic! I haven't left Hope House or moved anywhere. Well, actually, I did make a major move but not with a change of address. After 13 very interesting years with preschoolers (3-5 year olds), I was offered a different age group. While I am still, and will always be, The Queen Bee, I will be buzzing with the Honey Bees instead of the Busy Bees.

My new hive has Bees that range in age from 6 weeks to 15 months. That's right friends, I get to mold little minds from the earliest age possible. Did you know that from 0-6 years the brain acquires 4x more information and fires 10x more synapses then 6-14 years? And after 14, the activity decreases by half! So to say I am molding little minds is an understatement. A few of the greatest things about this age: I get to witness their first steps and hear their first words and so many more firsts!

Now, this was not an easy adjustment or task to take on!! Creating and maintaining a routine/schedule that will benefit a more inviting learning environment was bit daunting and getting the Honey Bees on board was exhausting...at first. Having never worked with this age, I had a lot of homework to do. Once I learned what milestones are developmentally appropriate at each month, I was able to put together a meaningful and interactive schedule where EVERY activity contributes to the constant learning and growth. And after 3 weeks, the Honey Bees and I are all on the same page! Now, if we can all nap together...

A Dog's Life 7/31/10

A test montage of a few favorite pictures of our four legged family.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A BEE-utiful Day!

Adasia and I spent the day together and I took her to the Memphis Farmers Market and to "My Big Backyard" at the Memphis Botanic Garden. It was a hot June day but we had tons of fun. I found an awesome blog to follow called Peace Bee Farmers and picked up a couple of their home-made honey products and talked to the son of the owner about taking the Busy Bees out to their bee farm to see why they are so appropriately named. Feeling bee-ish, I was able to take a few pictures of the flowers at the Garden with a few of my winged obsession. Oh, I did see a few flowers without bees, too.

Where Did The Time Go?

Dear Lord!! Has it really been a month? Well, at least I know I've been a busy bee. However, I never did make up to the attic to clean it out..., or the spare room..., or the closet. BUT I did start a new endeavor that took me a bit outside of my box.

A very good friend introduced me to some fabulous skincare products from Arbonne two years ago and I LOVE them. So what to do with this love and knowledge? Why, share it of course!! So last month, I launched my own Arbonne business. And I have to say that as a second income to help supplement what we lost when Michael lost his job 6 months ago, it's been awesome.

This venture has shown me several things: 1) How to put all this extroverted energy to good use, 2) That "NO" is merely a stepping stone not a wall and that applies to EVERYTHING, 3) I have an outstanding support system in my friends and family, and 4) I am a great communicator about ALL my passions. I'll be honest, this most certainly started as a way to make money but I have gained something more important than anything that has a monetary value...I found a certain strength in me that has given me a boost of self confidence. I have big plans for myself and I am looking forward to continuing.

So, off I go to grow and learn with Arbonne. Wish me luck...better yet, call me and lemme hook you up with "the Stuff"!!

Spring Break...What Really Happened!

Yeah...about that "To Do List". I didn't do diddley squat as far as projects or spring cleaning. I had far too much fun buzzing about Memphis and spending time outdoors and with friends.

I went to the Dixon Gardens (which I only do about once a year) and got to see most of the 20,000 tulips. It made me really miss the tulip farm in Mt. Vernon, WA which was about a 20 minute drive from my childhood home. But I did enjoy myself all the same.

I also got a chance to hang out with a friend and we went to the Memphis Zoo. I hadn't yet seen Akili (the newest addition to the growing giraffe family) and I was lucky enough to say goodbye to Cranberry (one of the polar bears) before she left for the Denver Zoo.

I made sure to fit in some time to walk with friends at Shelby Farms as well. All in all, a great Spring Break...all of the fun and none of the work!!

Spring Break!

Spring break has begun and while I have long list of spring cleaning projects, I'm not wasting anytime getting out to enjoy it. Over the weekend, I went to the Memphis Botanic Garden and tip-toed thru the tulips and gazed up into the magnolia trees. This week, a trip to the Dixon Gallery and Gardens for more tulips is in the plan.
And then eventually... the attic and spare room will be cleaned and organized.

I'll post some pictures of my before/after shots of my "To Do List". In the meantime, Happy Spring, Peeps.

Change Is Good

Well...the time was bound to come. Gotta say goodbye to you, Old Man Winter. We loved visiting with you; catching up in front of a cozy fire and sharing cups of hot chocolate. But like a great friend, you know when its time to go. You will never be forgotten and we will remember our coolest memories. We will miss you, dear friend...til next time.

Hello Lady Spring, how excited we are to see you again. Thank you for the flowers you sent to let us know of your arrival (a tad early but we are NOT complaining). Please feel free to stick around for awhile and make yourself at home. We will be out and about enjoying your company as often as the schedules allow.

Let's raise a glass of our favorite spirits and toast to a change in seasons!

Mr. Man

After throwing Mr. Man under the bus earlier this week, I felt is was only fair that I point out how much I appreciate the things he does to help me out.

Since he's been out of work, I've had it pretty easy around the house. The MOST I do is cook dinner and go grocery shopping. He always has the kitchen cleaned up and most times has the house vacuumed before I come home from work. He's completed a few home projects in between computer failings and even shampooed the carpets. All in all, a great stay-at-home husband.

Let's Eat In

I never thought it could be done, but it was. We, Mr. Man and I, ate in every night for a week. A WHOLE WEEK!! I cooked dinner for 6 nights in a row...a MAJOR accomplishment for me. And after much deliberation, we determined that it was the most consecutive nights in our marriage. We never realized how much our lives revolved around socializing and events.

All this came about as we started the Financial Peace University with Dave Ramsey (which coincided with Lent and my giving up eating lunch out for 40 days) . The month of March will truly be a test of our resolve as we made no allowances for eating out or outside entertainment as a way to build our emergency savings quicker. This has already created a tsunami wave in the Hapner House. Ask Mr. Man...I still haven't let go of his "lunch" from February yet and actually yelled at him for spending $9! Then, in our class, I threw him under the money bus! Poor guy. I may be soon singing "All The Single Ladies". (But at least I'll be $9 richer!!)

The irony of all this...? Of the two of us, I am...no, was...the worst when it came to money. I was the first to encourage eating out, meeting friends and spending money I/we didn't have. And I may as well confess, Mr. Man lost his job in October and we've been ok with his severance, unemployment, and my income. But after 5 months, its getting really tight and we really need a Dave plan.

And there ya have it. So, I'll keep cooking (need to dust off the cookbooks) and we'll keep saving (need to dust off the savings account) and hopefully I'll get to stay cuz he "...put a ring on it"!

Making Peace

Well....I'm starting a new personal journey that is going to require me to do A LOT OF WORK! While I haven't been staying on-task with my running (wow, big surprise), I think finding Financial Peace is going to be so much harder than any half or whole marathon. However ironically, a quote that Dave Ramsey uses is "Saving is a marathon, not a sprint."

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Hope House is offering a 13 week class to better educate our staff and families about finances. We're using Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University and the teachers of Hope House are the "guinea pigs" before presenting to the clients. There are several steps that are used, in the correct order, that will bring financial freedom for anyone no matter what income level.

I already know that my biggest obstacle is going to be...wait for it...its gonna shock you... DISCIPLINE. Yeah buddy. The first step of the program (seriously, there should be 12!!) is to save $1000 for an emergency fund as quickly as possible. Did I mention THAT I'M BROKE?!?! (hence the program, of course.) Did I mention this was going to take discipline? Did I mention this was going to take some serious work? I did? Well then I must be trying to convince myself. I know the sacrifices I will have to make and I know that I am gonna have to be truly and brutally honest with myself and only I am accountable for my failure or my success.

I also wanted to point out that our first class was on "Fat Tuesday" and as a non-practicing Catholic, I can't help but wonder if I just created my Lent project. The class is 91 days and Lent is 40, so I think I will look at it as giving up spending for the first 40 days of Lent, I mean class. So my goal will be any money intended to spend on eating out will go into my emergency fund. There...I said it out loud!
~No, Libilibis I cannot go to lunch. No Libilibis I cannot go to lunch. Well, Libilibis...(Dear Lord, please give me strength!) =)

I have a very long road ahead of me with a few tough truths and owning of mistakes that I need to take care of to clear my path to a road to financial/personal peace and freedom. I also believe that this will be a task that will reconnect my spirituality as well, a part of me I lost thru my adult years.

Dave Ramsey refers to his steps as Baby Steps...and so I begin, one small step at a time. Now, to work on that running schedule again. (Dear Lord, please give me strength!)

By the way, for more info about Dave Ramsey's FPU, click on his name. I will also add it to my link list.

Dipped In Love

I hope everyone had a warm and romantic Valentine's Day. I had fun creating and receiving a few happies myself. My valentine and I made the most of the weekend even though he had thrown his back out and I ended up with a bad cold. I was also able to share the love with my aunt by dipping these gigantic strawberries in chocolate and adding a dab of love who then shared them with her sweetie and friends.

Now here it is President's Day, I'm off work and curled up nursing said cold. I think tomorrow I will incorporate a dip in a vat of sanitizer into my curriculum. Now that's sharing the love, right?

Snow Day....AGAIN!!

We got for really real snow! 4" of pure fun packing white stuff. And since I don't have any 2 legged children, I took lots of pictures of my 4 legged ones. They had so much fun chasing snowballs, eating snow, and finding treats in the "Dirty Ol' Snowman". Of course, I had lots of fun too. I haven't made a snowman in sooo long. This makes our third snow day in four weeks. I LOVE being a teacher.

SNOW DAY!!

Well, it wasn't really a snow day, more like an icy mess...but a day off none the less. This is our second "Snow Day" and its rare here in Memphis much less to have two in the same month.

Our first one was a complete bust when we barely got a dusting of snow. But funny thing about that was they closed the schools the next day because it was simply too cold not because of road conditions. Then, "White Death 2010" came two weeks later. For two years in a row, we have gotten a slippery mess of this stuff just after my birthday and I get the benefit of enjoying a few more days off. This time, it was not horrible but enough to cripple this poorly equipped town that almost kept us in. (When one has a 4x4, one tends to want to "play in the snow".)

Speaking of my birthday, Michael and his family gave me a new digital camera. There is a long and funny story as to why this is so auspicious (I'll save that for another post) and I thought this was a great opportunity to check out what the camera can do. The pictures at the top were taken the day after all the sleet/rain/snow descended upon us and just before it started melting. Not too bad for a little point-n-shoot. When I grow up, I hope to have my own DSLR to play with.

I do hope everyone else has survived their winter storms and are getting ready for the spring. Now that I have a new digicam, I'll find all kinds of things to post!!

A Giraffe And A Half

In honor of Akili, the newest addition at the Memphis Zoo born January 28th, I wanted to share my giraffe experience with y'all. This was taken about 18 months ago. Having a chance to meet such a majestic family was one of the greatest moments of my life.

The Run That Almost Wasn't

Ever have one of those days where you start with your road paved with good intentions and by the end of the day the only thing you want paved is the pathway to your couch or bed? I was so there. I postponed a run that should have been done on Monday and told myself and others on Tuesday I have to get my miles done. Still had myself convinced even at the end of the work day and in the car on the way home.

And then...it happened. I walked in and put my stuff down. And then... I sat down. And then, I put my feet up. Yeah, there would be no running at this point. We had dinner plans for the evening and I was already hungry. So my now soon-to-be-ex husband (just kidding dear) announced that we should go to the gym to get it out of the way before our friendly rendezvous. In my mind he was stabbed at least 25 times with my dagger eyes. He goes to properly prepare for the gym and I stood in the doorway protesting. And then I actually thought I could prevent him from walking thru the door in an attempt to thwart his evil plan! Damn man was entirely too persistent and then I lost the battle with a case of the giggles.

So begrudgingly, I get myself together and in the car. And trust me, there were no nice words coming from my mouth for the entire 2.3 minutes it takes to get to the gym. I got on the treadmill while that man ran on the indoor track upstairs. For every lap he went by me, he gained a new imaginary wound and was the recipient of several dirty looks.

All this drama was for 3 MILES! That's it. That's all I had to do. Got it done and actually felt satisfied at my completion of a scheduled run and was even glad to have gotten it done. And do you think I would give that man the satisfaction of knowing that he had anything to do with my sense of accomplishment? OH HELL NO!!! But, I guess I gotta love him anyway.

Geared Up

Ok, 2 out of 4 runs for my first week. Not great but not bad either. With the incredibly frigid temps this week, I hit the gym for my long run instead of outdoors (again)....crazy, not stupid! My long run was supposed to be 7 miles but with only a single 2 mile run logged for the week I decided on a shorter run. I woke up thinking to myself, "Self, let's do 3 miles at a faster paced then scheduled". I got myself ready and thought, "I'm gonna do 4...yeah 4 would be good". Got to the gym and on the treadmill (not my idea of a good time) and pushed it to 5. Yeah, I patted myself on the back, and then I took an hour long bath.

Tomorrow starts week 2...oh what fun...I can't wait...can you? =)

Baby, It's FREAKIN' Cold Out Outside!!

I picked a fine week to start training for the Germantown Half Marathon with only 11 weeks til race day. The temps have to be the coldest here in Memphis since I moved here in 1992. Holy Cow!! I can handle some cold weather but my face is so frozen while I'm running that I couldn't feel my lips or nose, or the snot running down for that matter.

It was supposed to be any easy run...2 miles at a 14:30ish pace. It had to be the most painful run I have ever done. I swear my lungs grew icicles that refused to melt. It took the better part of the night and a 20 minute circuit workout to thaw. And I have so often said that winter is my favorite season...OY! (Sad part is, it still is and always will be!) Tonight is a 5 mile run with speed work. You can bet your long underwear I will be doing it inside the gym since there will be a whopping 1" of snow coming to Memphis!!

To break things up a bit and not burn out on just running (4 days a week according to my handy dandy Runner's World training schedule), I plan to have 2 days of swimming and at least one Spin class each week. I also decided to try my Aunt's "Warrior XFit" circuit training class 2 days a week. It's a very intense and fast paced 20 minute workout that leaves all your major muscles groups screaming "What the @$%#". I survived my first workout and enjoyed my first "win". I posted the link to the site in my list, so check it out.

Well, those are my objectives and psychotic moments of the week so far...check back to see if I survived the first full week of exercise or if I have become frozen in time...or in the middle of the street.

New Year, New Decade, New Beginning

First things first...Happy New Year to you!! I do hope last year was good to you and may this year be better.

I originally started this blog as a way to keep y'all updated on my adventures and endevours (mostly the running thing I was gonna do). Then life got in the way.

We've suffered some losses in 2009 that many of you know about and we've had some moments to celebrate. Our saddest moment was having to say goodbye to our sweet boy Juneau who was laid to rest in August from a very sudden illness. He was a beloved part of our family for 11 of his 12 years. While the sadness gets a little less, he is greatly missed everyday. We were given some more bad news when Michael was let go from his job in October and he's had a difficult time finding work in his career field of Architecture. He's even been looking in other cities outside of Memphis so I'm not sure if, or when, a move will happen for us.

Well...enough of the unhappy stuff and on to the celebrating. We added a new member to our zoo. His name is Cash and I posted a new picture of our revised family. He has made himself comfortable in his new home and the girls (Nakita and Gretchen) get along well with him. He and Gretchen are both 2 turning 3 soon so they help to keep Nakita, who's 14, young.
We also have had some firsts in our house. Michael trained hard and completed his first full marathon (26.2 miles) and I, with little to no training, completed my first half marathon (13.1 miles). We were both a bit disappointed in our results but proud we finished.

Which brings me back to my original objective with this blog. I'm not that into making resolutions (only cuz I'm not so good at the dedication of keeping them) but I decided I would like to work on some improvements.

So here is my plan (not necessarily in this order):

• Budget Better- we've been working hard together to make that mighty dollar stretch and I have finally learned I can be good at this!!
• Follow Thru- I plan to train (starting Jan. 4th) for another local half marathon in March which will lead up to my first possible full marathon in October in San Francisco.
• Weekly Blogging- I am taking a cue from my friend who just had a baby and is documenting each week with updates and pictures. (I just know y'all are dying to know ALL ABOUT MY LIFE!!)
  

So there ya have it. I will post pictures as I see fit and pester you with emails to check me out. Hey, if "Libilibis" can do this, then I know I can!!

Love to y'all in the new year. Now...hold me accountable for my said actions! =)