A Jog Thought

Finishing my 16th mile yesterday was easy, finally. After 3 weeks of logging miles, starting sloooow since cooking Lachlan for 9 months then nursing him for 6 weeks, I am back! Now on a scale of Kenyan to Sumo wrestler, I am no longer a lumbering Tricerotops as I pound the pavement. Nor am I that gazelle, but I am definietly lighter on my feet and the movements feel smooth again.
The last two runs I've managed to misplace my iPod or it was just not available at that moment, so I ran without music. In the past, not having my iPod would mean not running that day, an unbearable torture- running in silence. But my last two runs have actually been my best.
I can think without music; I make myself go through each moment of my day with Sunny and Lachlan and decide what I need to work on (patience! They're only little once!) I also spend lots of time thinking about my marriage and ways to... just be us again- like nights out ALONE together (something we did Friday night and it was similar to The Notebook- Jason remembered who I was and how much fun we can have together-- how we used to be in Noosa when we first met, and it was great).

After my runs I am recharged and I usually reward myself with a beer (icey can of Coors Light, yum!). I am ready to face the kids and husby again. I've decided since the in-laws have been here that mommy-time is important. Its something I am totally going to keep up, long after the original Gligorovs have flown home. Even though the Mommy Guilt is always there when I leave the house without the littles in tow, even if I'm going to Publix, for them, I ignore the guilt as much as I can. Screw it, mommy's need alone time too!

Upcycling

We've had more-than-usual events this year, plus a family that loves to send cards. After staring at them on my corkboard for 4 months, thankful someone cares about the Gligs, I wondered what I would do with them all (and the ever-present question in the back of my stay-at-home-mom brain, How will I save money today?)

Some of these will go into Lachy's baby book:

Someof these will go into me and Jason's... file in the filing cabinet

(hmm, note to self: make this memory file more romantic somehow):

And then my favorite idea, recycle them! Not in a throw-in-the-right-colored-recyling-bin way, but upcycle them, a new term that means taking the original product and turning it into a different functioning product (maybe I'll submit my definition to Webster, see if he likes it for his book). Its not a word I came up with, I see it on ETSY and so I just copy the concept. Also, I've got upcycled items here:

(made by Brooke for Lachlan from a mens tee)

And here:

(made by my mom for Sunny from a pillowcase)

This is what I did with the cards I wanted to keep to make

into new birthday cards for my family and friends.

Take the cards that you like the front of, without writing on the inside cover of the front:

Then cut off the fronts, leaving the inside with the messages to... be thrown away.

Aw... so sad. I used my scrapbooking cutter thing to make straight cuts:

& I didnt take a picture of my finished product, but I wrote a simple message on the

back of the new card/postcard and Sunny & I made a trip to the mailbox and sent it away
 in an envelope that I've had saved in this box, where the rest of my new upcycled cards now rest,
 waiting for birthdays:

I know, right? Check out the organizing! I'm not Jenalee/Katrina organized, but parts of my life are...

Just know that if you recieve one of these upcycled cards, that I do love ya, I just dont have much $$$

Not Quite a Gazelle

I finally got around to running Monday afternoon. Its been 10 months since my last run which was a July 4th 5k (I was pregnant then and didnt know it yet!)
I've put off running long enough, I think Lachy is at least 6 weeks old now!
I lumbered along my route feeling heavy; on a scale of Kenyan to Sumo wrestler, I ran somewhere in the middle, like a rhino maybe. Or a triceratops. It was as difficult as running ever is, I had to push myself.

But it felt nice. My muscles in my legs burned, my hair flew around free, my music was amp'd up. I cruised into the driveway havent not walked a bit, 2 miles and 24 minutes later, the Scissor Sisters cheering me on through my iPod.