This weekend, I'll be walking in two different 5K races.
The Color Run is just for fun. It's The Happiest 5K on the planet! Priscila and I will walk with a group of her friends. You walk, run, dance and at each mile marker you get colored.
The Walk to Defeat ALS is for real. We will all walk this one - kids, parents, grandparents, friends. Many people are collecting donations to help fund research so someone can find a cure. Some are walking it to honor a loved one. Some are prayer walking it. Some are walking or riding because they have ALS.
This morning, while I was pushing Claire around the ponds, I was thinking about the races and why I was walking... I’m walking because I can. Because my legs still work and my lungs still work. Because I can still talk and swallow and breath. My grandfather, Don Couch, and my mother-in-law, Delight Petersen, couldn't do those things. So I walk for them, in defiance of a disease that slowly deteriorated their body and trapped their fully functioning minds inside. I walk for them, because they couldn't.
I’m walking for their beloved caretakers. My grandmother, Nell Couch, and my Father-in-law, Bill Petersen. I want to honor their sacrifice of love, time, energy, tears and heartache. They couldn’t fix it. But they gave all they had to the love of their life while their best friend withered before their eyes.
I’m walking for those who are struggling through this disease right now. They will be there, walking and riding along side us. Holding on to precious moments that are slipping away faster and faster than they can see. They are still holding on to a thread of hope… that somehow this is all a nightmare and they will wake up soon.
I’m walking for us. For all the loss we’ve felt. For all the times we sacrificed and begged and pleaded and cried and hoped and someone died anyway. And our broken hearts haven't recovered yet – but we still make it through our days. We are in this together.
If you were lucky enough to make it to our house during the holiday - Amanda probably already showed you Emily and Becca's newly decorated room. But if you missed it ...
Here are a few things we learned on this group project...
It goes faster with scratchers and scrapers than picking at it on and off for a few months or so. (But they did enjoy listening to Adventures in Odyssey over and over and over ....)
Here's what everyone else was doing on October 19th...
I didn't realize how long we had been working on their room!
Apparently, Katy likes to bake when she's frustrated...
yummy for us.
If mom doesn't really like mint green walls as much as the girls -
you'll probably have to repaint. Probably.
Having the right music is always important.
Plus notice how mom is letting them put the circles wherever they want....
not necessarily where mom would have put them.
FYI -The triforce CAN be represented with polka dots.
******
For Christmas, we gave the girls bulletin boards and the promise to finish their room over Christmas break. With one more trip to IKEA for the little shelves and 2+ hours of hanging things... I think we are done.
Becca's side
Emily's side
Well, we still need to repaint the chairs... that red just doesn't go with our color scheme.
But that will have to wait until a drier, warmer month.
There I was, stalking someone on fb and they responded to a wonderful idea... one I might not have thought of on my own, but one I now consider my own. An easy way to sort through your hanging clothes.
1. Go to your closet.
2. Turn on the light.
3. Turn all the hangers (with clothes on them) the wrong way (opposite way, backward, etc.).
4. As you wear and wash the clothes, hang them back up the regular way (the way you always have).
5. In six months, any clothes still hanging on a backwards hanger means you haven't worn them... and you probably are not going to.
6. Remove the clothes from your home, quickly.
7. Repeat.
Feel free to do this to your spouses and children's closets. They will think you are weird for turning them all around, but most will not take the time to turn them back to normal... and in 6 months you'll know what they've been wearing and what they haven't.
And what shall we do with all the extra coat hangers we will be getting rid of?
Today, Claire and I were at Winco, where you bag your own groceries. As I was busy throwing a basket full of yummies on the little conveyor belt, Claire was contemplating the gender of our cashier.
"Are you a boy or a girl?"
Oh no, did she just say that out loud.
"I said are you a boy or a girl?"
Maybe I can head this off at the pass... "Claire, she's a girl. See her pony tail and her pretty earrings."
I can see her thinking while I am busy tossing the last of the produce on the belt. "Am I a boy or a girl?"
"You are a girl, sweetie."
"Are you a boy or a girl?"
"I am a girl, too." I am glad she is asking about me and her, maybe it will seem like she is unsure of gender identity in general. She's just a little kid, asking a basic question. Except, she knows the difference between boys and girls... and has for some time.
Then the lady says "I can see her talking to me, but I can't really hear her."
Oh no. Am I supposed to say the exact thing I was hoping we could just let drop. Maybe I could just make a politically correct summarization?
I tell the nice lady that Claire's asking if we are girls or boys. "Oh, I'm a grandma." Good answer, as I am quickly changing gears to repack the shopping cart I just emptied.
Normally, I enjoy this part. I've always loved Tetris and feel like I can actually use it when I fill paper bags with boxes of cereal, crackers, cake mix and jello. I am even up to the challenge of tuna fish, tortillas and frozen pizza bites. And it's a race against the person in the other lane... even if they bought less stuff.
As I start to fill my first bag, Claire says "Then why does she have a mustache?"
I wanted to stop right there and laugh out loud! I understood the whole conversation a little better, now. And I wanted to laugh. I was tired and Claire was being observant, making "connections" in her little brain.
I chose the easy answer - "Shush, I'll tell you in the van." But she never brought it back up.
As I was telling Darren about our trip this evening, she piped up and said, "Well, she did have a mustache."
A family friend offered Emily and Becca a chance to meet her horse, Levi. It took about an hour to get there, so I had lots of time to go over the "mom rules" with them.
#1. DO NOT EVER walk behind the horse. They are large, strong animals and will kick you. Hard.
#2. Again, do not walk BEHIND the horse. I don't want you getting kicked. Walk around the front
if you need to get to the other side.
#3. Remember to use a soft voice,
so we don't spook the horses.
#4. Walk in front of the horse, NOT BEHIND...
or you will get kicked.
Before we could meet Levi, we got to muck out his stall.
The girls were so excited to wear boots and use a manure fork!
While Mrs. Debbie went to get some wood chips, the sisters waited patiently for her return.
It's hard for these sisters to stop dancing even when they aren't excited...
But we finally got to meet Levi. Mrs. Debbie showed us how to brush him, she showed us how to clean out his hooves and she taught us to keep our hands on him and talk to him,
even when we walk behind him.
What? Did she just tell my little 8 year olds they could walk behind this huge animal! "Keep your hand or your arm on him, so he knows where you are. Talk to him, so he knows where you are. Stay close to him, in case he kicks it won't hurt as bad... as if you were farther away."
NO! No she didn't just tell them to do the exact opposite of my years of watching television horses had taught me. You NEVER walk BEHIND the horse. And here was Mrs. Debbie, so patient and kind with the girls. Answering all their questions. Telling them what she was doing and why.... and she broke the only rule I knew!!!!
I kept my mouth shut. Obviously, I didn't know as much about horses as Mrs. Debbie and I trust she knows what she's talking about. So I kept quiet and wanted to walk in front of the horse to get around... but the way he was tied - I couldn't.
Unbeknownst to the girls, I made a pact with God. Do not let this horse kick me and I'll honor Debbie's directions. Fair enough?
So I kept my forearm on Levi's side and bravely walked towards the back end. Then another question popped into my mind. How much bottom contact was I to have? Did I have to slide my hand across the whole thing (like I was innocently doing on his side) including the "business" part or could I just touch one cheek and then the other? Remember, I have always stayed far away from the aft end of a horse... we'll especially when the horse is on TV. They don't usually do close ups from that end.
It worked. All my bones and internal organs stayed in tact. Levi did not kick me. Yeah, now we can ride!
As the girls used a stool to saddle up, I was so happy for them. The only thing an 8-yr-old girl would have loved better was if this horse had sprouted wings and flown them to a unicorns field in the sky.
Becca and Mrs. Debbie
Emily's turn
Even mom had a turn. A short turn. As I used the stool, I realized how tall Levi was. As soon as I got on, I was sure the saddle was slipping to the left and I was about to be hanging upside down - like in the cartoons, on TV. Mine was a short turn.
Then we headed back to the stable to take off the saddle and brush Levi some more. There was even talk of braiding his mane and tail... wait his tail. Like the tail that is BEHIND him?
Surely that means you take the tail and pull it to the side and braid it. Surely that does not mean stand behind the horse (without a hand on his bottom) and pull his tail... I mean brush and braid his tail. Surely the only rule I knew must be enforced with tail braiding.
Nope.
Emily brushed, braided, then unbraided, brushed and braided again. Look how brave she is. Doesn't even know she's in danger. I am so proud of her. But I did not braid the tail....
um, Becca needed my help up at the mane.
Thanks Mrs. Debbie - We had a great time with you and Levi.
