So very sad

 I am at  loss for words.  I lost someone very special to me this week very suddenly.  I was in disbelief when I heard, so much so that I texted him and waited to see he read the text.  I am broken, I cry every day and every night.  He was my protector, he always held space for me, and was the first to always go to what bar I wanted to go to to have a beer.  HE is the only reason I stayed on the board for another term, because I always knew he would be there to help me with rules or questions.  I am gutted.  I feel so very horrible for his family who have lost a dad, a granddad, and a husband.  He was one of the few who took time out of his busy schedule to visit Tony in the hospital when he was stuck waiting for his brain surgery.  He was one hell of a mechanic and always had his nephew's car ready to hit the track.  We are all stunned and sad.  The club and the track lost one amazing person this week.  Pray for his family as they navigate this loss.  He will be missed so very much.  

While I really don't want to write more, there was more to write.  I did get three runs in, two three milers and one 5 miler.  There is SO much mud.  I tried to stay out of it as much as possible but we still got yucky just running on concrete.  Our gravel may never dry out enough to run on it again.  I also did two strength classes.  Yea me:)

Stella also got a spa day.  She wasn't a fan.  0 out of 4 stars.  I do think it made her feel a lot less itchy though and we are going to continue once a week baths to see if this is helpful for her allergies.   

Saturday was my first metaphysical fair and it was in the Columbian in Wamego.   I volunteered all day and loved it.   I spent way too much money, but that is okay, I don't go to many of these.    I also had a reading from a healer and she read  Tony and Andrew as well and she was SPOT ON.  I don't know her at all, but she nailed each of us.  I also did my first medium gallery reading and of all the people that came through, my Grandma Gordon and my dad came through.  It was very interesting and I can't wait to do it again!   I am going to do a live video talking about it because it is TOO much to write but it was amazing.  

I also lead a group for the ghost hunt that went from 7 until 11 ish and we had some great activity as always.    Bonus, I won a HUGE basket of ghost hunting equipment in a raffle and I can't wait to use it!

I just need to get something to put all of these goodies in!  

That is about it for writing.  I am not in the writing mood, so this is short and sweet.  Excited to have the Chiefs back in the super bowl.  Have a great week y'all!

New week, new me?

Sigh.  This winter.  We were due for a bad one and boy are we getting it.  We had yet another week of crazy lows in temperatures, frozen pipes no matter what we did, and ice and snow.  And because we had snow on top of ice, Tony fell getting out of his truck but luckily did NOT hit his head.  Thank you baby Jesus!

Monday was a holiday and a day off from school,  so Robin and I took advantage of it and went to the gym together to get on the mills.  I am still battling feeling like I am going to fall, but at least I have found that one mill out of the four is at least sort of doable for me.  Weird note, I have found if I run under 5 mph, that this sensation isn't as bad and I can actually watch the TV some and not get that falling feeling.  However, running less than 5mph means longer on the mill just to get 3 miles.  Sigh.  We did get two puzzles worked on at home, which is my favorite winter activity.  I love nothing more than a good hard puzzle and a good hard hitting podcast.  Yeah, I'm fully a weirdo.

My kiddo eventually got both Monday and Tuesday off.  At this point I don't think he knows what school is anymore.  I am not complaining because honestly trying to help him maintain a routine is so freaking hard with his ADHD.  Mornings are rough, as he hasn't had medicine and can't focus to get ready in a timely manner.  Nights are rough because we have nightly fights about homework and getting into bed as the meds wear off.  It adds layers that yes, as a mom I need to buck up and deal with but yet, I am always so exhausted and it's nice to only have to deal with getting myself up and out of the door in the mornings or into bed at night.  He was back at school Wednesday, so back to the grind for the rest of the week.  I am praying they don't cut spring break short this year to make up for snow days already used, because we have our trip planned and flights booked, I don't want to change it at this point.

I did end up with two runs on the mill at the gym, one very good work out class with Rockin Robin and Aubree, and one outside run that was suppose to be a long run that turned into a short run.  Nothing makes me madder than entitled people who let their dogs run lose in public areas that have signage very clearly stating that dogs MUST be on leash.  We had planned on 6, but when he showed up and just let his dog run lose, we loaded up and left.  It isn't worth the fight of OH MY DOG IS FRIENDLY.  Well, my dog isn't a fan of friendly dogs in his face yet if there is a dog fight due to your dog, my dog will be blamed.  Sigh.  

Probably wasn't the worst of ideas to cut it short though as it took me a few hours to warm up even with hot coffee and warm snuggies.  I loved the ice on my eye lashes and Boom got a really great beard- cicle.  We tried his boots that I got him last year to make sure he didn't have any cold injuries to his pads and it's a miracle because they stayed on and worked well.       

Sunday we had our home wrestling tournament.  We had told Andrew at the beginning of this year that he was doing wrestling to better his football playing skills, so our focus would NOT be on tournaments this year.  He moved up to 12 U bottom side which is a tough, tough place to be, especially when you are only 11 and most of the kids you are competing with are older 12s and young 13s.  He originally had 5 matches which dwindled down as scratches came in to two matches.  He lost both with very quick pins by his opponent, which doesn't surprise me at all.  He has no confidence when it comes to wrestling in tournys, even though he is actually pretty decent in practice.  Both of his practice partners got pins and for that we are very proud that he is helping them get better and improve.  Sometimes the smallest of victories is what it is all about.  I worked the tournament from start to finish and look forward to helping in the future when Andrew isn't wrestling kids club, as much as I can.  We have a girls tournament only coming up and I am SO pumped.  I love seeing wrestling for girls explode and can't wait to support it in the future as many of my former girls on the run girls wrestle.  

To end on a good note, well a good note if you are a Chiefs fan that is, we WON!  I honestly had really doubted that the Chiefs would win on the road IN Buffalo with the amazing Josh Allen at QB, but we did and I am still in shock!  I am happy for Mahomes to get that monkey off of his back and I LOVED the shots of Jason Kelce shirtless cheering for his brother.  

Have a great week y'all!  We are suppose to get ice and rain this week so hoping to get 2 classes and some treadmill running under my belt.  

Snomagedon

 

Cue the panic!  If you have read my blogs over the years, you know I am a huge winter weather wuss when it comes to driving.  No amount of practice or time in the seat has changed this.  Over the years I have been super lucky to have super understanding bosses.  Now I live and work 3 minutes apart so BONUS, it's not as big of a deal AND Tony can me to work since we both work in the same town.  

The had some pretty big predictions of snow in our area.  We lucked out and didn't get as much as they thought we would, but what we did get caused major issues.  We had rain first that, you guessed it, turned to ice under snow, which meant  the combo of both is a no go for me.  I had already decided I was probably taking a week off of running anyway because my favorite race of the whole year, the Chili Bowl was on Flo racing every night and every night had some amazing A mains to watch.  Schools canceled for three days and our work out class got canceled on Tuesday.  

It's kind of nice not being the one that isn't commuting.  While others couldn't make it in, we could being local, so we headed in to get work done and make media just in case we were going to be able to do more work the rest of the week.

It was a beautiful snow, but the winds were howling and the ice underneath was scary.  

Since running mostly didn't happen, we were able to go to Bingo one night (and miss one night of racing).  Our local theater downtown does bingo occasionally to raise money for not for profits and we had work out class anyway, so why not go directly from class to bingo???  Spoiler alert: neither of us won and we honestly didn't really know what the heck was going on till a few games in but they had beer and it was fun getting excited about ALMOST winning.  

Saturday started out in the -20s so running outside with the ice and new snow that fell Friday and that morning were just not what I wanted to do.  Call me a wuss, but I am not into falling anytime soon and we had so many slick spots.  I thought about heading to my normal gravel route and just being dropped off there, BUT they had major drifting thanks to the hellacious wind and many of the roads were drifted over.  Again, I could screw my shoes or use my yaktrax, but let's face it, also taking a week off isn't going to completely derail me.  I headed to the gym with rockin robin and attempted to get on a mill and do a short run.  I tried several times to start running, but the large screen and the fact that their mills face huge windows that look onto a highway messed with my balance and made me fell like I was going to fall again.  I went and did some rowing, took a break, and hopped back on and was able to get three with a death grip on the handles of the mill.  

We also went back Sunday for again a super short run.  I tried several times to either look at the TV or out of the windows yet my body just wouldn't allow it and I had to stare at the blank screen with the stats the ENTIRE time.  Loud random pop music on my headphones helped me get through it though with me lip syncing to the songs that played. I am sure if anyway walked in and saw me probably thought I had lost my mind.  

I will end this blog with a blurb about stepping out of my comfort zone and doing something totally new.  The ladies that run the coffee shop have a sister that does esthetician stuff and I had thought about getting a facial but honestly was a)kind of scared as I have sensitive to new things skin and b) also didn't want to really pay that much money for my face.  Our work place has a 400 dollar life style spending account that you can use anything for and many people were using it for things like facials and massages, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to try it. PLUS, I love supporting local business owners.  While I was a little nervous a few times and didn't like the smell of some the things she was putting on my face, overall it was a very relaxing and fun experience.  She made lots of recommendations of things I could do and said that my skin was actually in every good shape.  I was shocked as many years that I didn't use any moisturizer or sunscreen.  While I still have jowls and I still have lots of wrinkles, as of writing this my face feels 1000 times better.  I would highly recommend if you have extra money or your work does things like this for you, take advantage!

Have a great week y'all!  We are suppose to get more snow and more super cold weather which means I will probably be milling it with super short runs and taking my new classes that I am really enjoying.  Find what brings you joy and DO IT!

  

New Year, New week

Monday holidays are weird, am I right?  We had fun at our little celebration with our friend group Sunday night/Monday morning.   

I got a run in both New Year's eve and New Year's day so I got both Garmin badges #overacheiver. 

 

I don't make resolutions, I make goals.  My two main goals for next year:  Drink more water whatever that looks like and get back to strength training, whatever that looks like.  My co worker had started taking classes at our local gym taught by one of my friends actually and was loving it.  She was trying to go 5 days a week which I can't commit to.  I did think that two days a week was doable though.  We had our first two classes and they both were killer but exactly what I wanted and needed.  I enjoyed both teachers and was equally sore from both.  I loved the combo moves that worked both lower body and upper body and I loved the incorporation of cardio with strength moves.  I don't need cardio but I don't count things like squat jumps and plyometrics as cardio per say.  Plus bonus, Rockin Robin joined the gym so we could both go to class since we both need to do more than just run, AND neither of us have treadmills anymore so we can use the gym's treadmills if it gets icy outside.  

I did get some runs done this week.  I am thinking I will have to shift my runs to Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday or Sunday if I want to run four times a week.  I loved the night classes on Tuesday/Thursday!  I was prepared to have to start getting up at 4:30 am to do the 5:30 class, but this works just as well, as long as we can get done with work on time.  Snow running is fun till it isn't!  I decided my long run would be 7 and I had my hubby drop me off on the gravel to avoid the mess in town. The flat prairie had several inches of snow, and it made running challenging with my dang road shoes.  I honestly didn't think that we got that much snow but we must have.  I fell once completely due to a slick spot and then once partially.  I was trying to keep one foot in the deeper snow and one foot in the slicker snow and my body was not happy with everything being slightly off.  I got it done but i was one tired and sore runner post running JUST 7 miles!

And let's end on this.  Manhattan got another new brewery, this time complete with food.  The location is more on our side of town which is nice and convenient for us.  It was super busy since they just opened and while they told us an hour wait it only took maybe 30 minutes.  They didn't really have a ton of seating and overall the place seems pretty small, but the beers were VERY good.  We all got a big beer and then picked out a flight to share.  My favorites was the dark lager, the pub ale, and the smoked Porter.  The fruity IPA was also very nice for an IPA.  The food was eh.  My pasta was very, very good, Andrew's burger had a weird texture and they put sauce on it even though I told them no sauce, and Tony's grits and shrimp were pretty good.  We kidnapped one of my co workers to come with me and she got some sort of street tacos that she said were decent.  Overall, we will be back for sure and are excited to see the patio open this summer.  

Have a great week y'all!  We may be in for a huge snowstorm or it may do nothing!  Batten down the hatches and hold tight!

 

Happy New Year 2024!

 Goodbye 2023!

 I usually do a big long post with all of my favorite pictures of andrew and of the year but instead to save time (HAHAHA) I did this on Canva this year and it gave me a link to share!  Click on the link above to see our year in pictures, all of us :)  I guess I will probably need to buy the pro version to really get the best features out of Canva and it ate this slide show several times before I had to restart, but still I think easier than making a big long post!

Happy New Year from the Coleman family!  May 2024 be much kinder and gentler!