Searching for the Old Paths and Keeping Memories Alive

If anyone knows me well, they know that I love to garden, to make food from scratch, to preserve food, and to try to live simply and within my means. This thought really struck me this evening as I was talking to my 16-year-old daughter.

It struck me that most of my great-grandparents, grandparents, and even parents lived on a farm growing up. Some still do in fact. Our goal is to one dayย  live out in the country on a few acres, raise some chickens, maybe a cow, and have a Hugh Jass garden that grows plenty of food for our family that I can dehydrate, freeze, or can.

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Cute Chubby Babies and Hickeys…

Our baby is two weeks old today! We are over the moon over this little guy. He is a cutie (not that I’m biased or anything). One thing we have noticed is that he pretty much likes to suck on anything fleshy, to include his chubby little forearm. In fact, today the kids pointed out a small, dark bruise on his arm. I was shocked, thinking maybe they handled him too roughly. What I learned was that Samuel gave himself a hickey! He was sucking on his arm so much today while the kids were holding him that his little arm has a nice little purplish-red spot on it. It’s pretty cute just thinking about it. I knew he liked to suck but I wouldn’t have thought that he would do that!

Delivery Meditations, etc.

So…I’m here again! Apparently, I was missed. ๐Ÿ™‚ But no worries, I am back. I’m not sure how long I will be back since our baby is due any day now, but as of today, I am still quite pregnant and quite whale-like. In fact, much to my horror, the nurse at the birth center this morning blurted out my weight…in front of my dear husband! I hope he wasn’t too traumatized. ๐Ÿ™‚

Anyway, with the upcoming birth of our baby boy, I have been encouraged to pick out some verses to meditate on during labor. The one that most frequently comes to mind is from Psalm 70 out of the Scottish Psalter which reads, “Lord, haste me to deliver.” That verse has kind of taken on new meaning for me these past few days. I know King David was not speaking of the kind of deliverance that I am looking toward, but I think it can very much apply to my situation. What do you think may be some other verses that would be helpful to me to think on during labor? I’m thinking specifically Psalms, but they could be from any book of the Bible really.

I know this post is rather short, but I need to go put my feet up. They are pretty puffy and I am exhausted. ๐Ÿ™‚

Time for a New Postโ€ฆ?

As a longtime husband, sometime reader, friend of friends, and family of family, I would like to advocate for all of those out there who would like to see you post before you go into labor and don’t post again for months, yea, maybe a year. The baby is coming soon. If you don’t post now, you may not post for a long time. There are people out there that need to know, “What is Lisa doing now?”

So, for Caras, Hollys, Elizabeths, Moms and Aprils everywhere, the Putz says, “Can we get an update?” People need a good, hearty, belly laugh. Get it? Belly laugh! Man! I kill me. ๐Ÿ™‚

I Came, I Saw, I Got Intimidated, I Was a Wuss, but at Least I Ran

Let me just say, Exercise really kicked me while I was down today. And again, I really don’t know how I ran those 2 miles before. I ran 1.5 miles total today following the training schedule and wow. It really wiped me out. It felt like it was the first time I ever ran. I was sucking air just wishing it were all over (the run that is; life isn’t that bad). I had a stitch in my side; my breathing went out the window; and it was just plain hard. I had visions of this slim and trim Lisa in a fancy black dress running in front of me, telling me to hurry up if I wanted to look like her (rather cheeky, but she looked great. And yes, I have a slight obsession with this vision of Lisa in a fancy black dress. What can I say? I have issues. At least I don’t talk to her. I only talk to Exercise, but he’s mean and someone’s got to put him in his place).

Tomorrow’s run is kind of freaking me out a little since I have to run 3/4 of a mile twice! David offered me some words of encouragement though. He said when he was in the military, one of his sergeants told him if he wanted to improve his run, he should work on steady breathing and also push hard at first and then you can ease off as you get into it more*. David said he probably shaved two minutes off his run by working on his breathing and another two minutes by pushing hard at the beginning. Wow, really?! That’s kind of what I did today. In the spirit of pushing myself, I, uh, pushed myself. Because I wanted to work on my time, I ran faster at the beginning. David said that is probably why I was so wiped out afterward. He said if you feel full of energy when you’re done running, you’re doing something wrong. So, tomorrow I’ll see how it goes. ย I will keep you all updated. In the meantime, hang in there! You can do it!

*Of note, after further talking to David, it appears I misunderstood slightly what he was getting at. He said if he wanted to “kill” himself on a PT (for all you non-military folk, this means Physical Training) test, then he would push hard at the beginning and then ease off. However, if you are not seeking to “kill” yourself, he recommended running at a pace in which it is comfortable enough to talk.

4.5 Miles in 30 Minutes…Sort Of

Yesterday, I didn’t end up running outside because it was pretty cold and it was flurrying pretty badly. ๐Ÿ™‚ So, I ran 4.5 miles inside…on the Wii…in place. Unfortunately, there is a pretty significant difference between running and actually going somewhere and running in place. But! It was something at least. The other night after I finished flipping my pancakes (which were NOT a flop, by the way!), I did Billy Blanks Ultimate Boot Camp. Surprisingly afterward, I was not as sweaty and tired as I usually am. I told David I should do it again because I felt cheated. ๐Ÿ™‚ The next day, I felt a little sore but decided to do it again and oh my ouchness! I didn’t get much done the rest of the day and had to take a nap. When I woke up, it hurt to move. My skin itself felt sore. So, anyway, that whole part about me not really feeling like I worked out very hard? Yeah, you can ignore that.

Today, the flurries have let up a bit, so I’m planning to run outside.ย  Not 4.5 miles though. That would probably take me quite awhile. I still plan on doing week 4 of Couch to 5K. It’s just stinkin’ cold out there. To all you runners in cold climates, my hat is off to you. I guess I better quit whining and go tough it out. Before I do that though, I just remembered a dream I had Saturday night. I dreamed I ran, not 3, not 4, not 5, but 6 whole miles, and I did it without stopping! When I told David, he chuckled and said, “It’s just a dream.” Grrr! The nerve! ๐Ÿ™‚ I would love to be able to run 6 miles without stopping (hey, I’d love to run a mile without stopping!), so I better get off my duff and go practice. Ciao!

Where Oh Where Has My Little Blog Gone?

You may have been thinking it was going the way of the dodo. I was kind of thinking that too. Lately, I feel that my blog needs some direction. I’m tired of talking about working out. And I’m tired of talking about my garden (by the way, if anyone wants roughly 150 jalapenos, please, please come over!).ย  Now what? I could turn this into a blog where I talk about food, which sounds yummy. But there are so many blogs where ladies talk about food (they sure are fun to read though). Should I jump on that bandwagon? I don’t know. Maybe my lack of posts of late has been due to my lack of focus here.ย  It would be really neat to talk about something innovative. I really don’t want to stop blogging. I mean, I finally have my very own domain now and don’t you think my little mobile home with the smiley face is just so cute? So, all that to say, I will continue to blog. I just don’t know what about just yet. It may continue to be a hodgepodge of different things. Or not…Maybe you should come back again so you can find out! ๐Ÿ™‚