Christmas 2013 Continued

    We did it! We spent the holidays on our own in the trailer. I was skeptical of it myself, but we pulled it off! We were lucky enough to have both sets of grandparents visit us during the season, but I was still worried it just wouldn't be the same. It wasn't , but it wasn't bad either, it was a good kind of different. Every phone call I made the week of Christmas I heard people saying" it's just not the same" to which I replied, "that's right, every year is different." We still weren't back in the Clear Creek RV park by Christmas, the evacuation order had been lifted but we hadn't had time to move between Ian's work schedule. This gave us a fortunate opportunity to meet some more line families and what better way to get to know one another, than over Christmas cookies! Christmas eve came and Ian got off work early, we had been watching the Star Wars Saga over the week and we only had two more movies to finish it off, so that's what we did. I made a nice big home made lasagna and we watched Star Wars. It was a very testosterone filled Christmas. Our middle child set out cookies for Santa, and everyone went off to bed. A quiet Christmas, but filled with family bonding. I was kind've in a pickle with the whole Santa thing. One of our boys wrote Santa this year and told him what he wanted. We never did the Santa thing with the oldest, but thanks to our ELF on the shelf, some of the boys over here were expecting Santa. That's great and all except I had already put all the presents under the tree, there was nothing else up my sleeve.... so when my son woke up he got this letter in his stocking...

 

My son was a little confused. He said "what does he mean, I got everything I  asked for?" So I reminded him of what his grandparents, uncles and parents got him. He didn't really ask any more questions after that. We had a really good Christmas , the boys got an xbox 360 with kinnect, this was a huge upgrade from our wii and now everyone has access to netflix. Ian got a new guitar, which was a huge upgrade from the one I bought him 11 years ago and I got some awesome, made in the USA, snow boots by LL Bean. Score!

Christmas day , I made twice baked potatoes we heated up a honey baked ham and watched Tommy Boy. Low key but a great day. 

We've been winding down the holidays, I showed the boys where to put all of their new loot. I asked them to clean their room two days in a row and then I exploded. Anybody else with me on this? I went into their room yesterday morning, to put on a workout video and there was stuff everywhere. I couldn't even pile stuff on their beds, because stuff was already piled there. So another tradition was displayed for my kids. The Italian tradition where mom takes out a hefty bag, and bags up all your stuff that wasn't where it belonged. Believe me we had tears. I felt like a big meanie. But they had so much warning. They even had space to put stuff away, I had thought it out so carefully. Every new present had a spot and it was not under their pillows. So reality has set in and everyone is trying to take care of their belongings and earn back the stuff they lost. I'm sure this seems a bit harsh to some of you. The truth is, I don't want to raise children who think they are entitled to stuff and once they get it,  treat it like crap, because we will replace it. I'm torn because I want to shower them with presents but I want them to be responsible. We, who have so much in this day and age, how do we teach our children that possessions are not a right but a privilege? I know this morning when I woke up, their room was already cleaned and they couldn't wait to show me. I'll keep you posted on the rest of the week.

 

---UPDATE-----   So the boys cleaned their room everyday that week. Everyday , when the room was clean, I let them take out a toy from the trash bag. By the end of the week , I brought it all back and they decided they didn't need all of it anyway. So they tossed some of the clutter. I have to say a month later, their room is a mess. Such a work in progress....

Marathon training, Majors and more cold weather!

          It's been a while since I've written an update. Sorry about that. Lots has been going on over here so I'll just fill you in on the last week or so .

    It was really cold here the weekend before last . One of those arctic blasts where it's below Zero. We were pretty much prepared for it  except, the refrigerator went on strike. My first clue was upon opening the freezer, the usual icicle in the back had thawed and puddled up. It got progressively worse. We had encountered a similar experience last year , so we broke out our blow dryer and tried thawing the canister of ammonia in the back of the fridge. No luck. I called a repair man and he said to keep a light bulb on the ammonia canister which can be found by taking the rear vent off the fridge  (look for the canister like thingy) and keep the refrigerator turned off! Keeping the fridge off is important because the ammonia in the canister can gel up in the cold. As you attempt to thaw it, the unit will try to start its cycle and if it's not completely thawed there will be a bubble in the gel. So turning it off hopefully allows the ammonia to thaw completely before you turn it on. This is the common cure, however it did not work for us.  We were trying to thaw it out for four days but the outside temps we're not about the 40s . From Sat to Friday we had no fridge, so you better believe I called him back on Valentines day to look at the fridge. He decided the bubble was still in there so he took my fridge out of the wall and turned it upside down three times and pop! Bubble burst, fridge works! Apparently we might have been able to fix it by driving around and stopping suddenly. However ,when you're all skirted up and dialed in for the Winter, this didn't seem likely for us. So it was a long week of feeding a family of five out of an ice chest, but we survived. Nothing like having something not work to really appreciate it once it's back again. I think that really sums up living on the road. Everything is dandy until your water freezes or your fridge is on the frits, then it comes back on and you're doing a happy dance for something normal like running water!

      So, what has kept me from writing my blog? Well! I took up a challenge to run 100 miles by Valentines Day and that took some commitment. If you recall I started running last year, you can read about it here .
http://linewife.blogspot.com/2012/11/putting-one-foot-in-front-of-other.html
Well with all the moving around I stopped running from Sept to Dec. There's just to much to do with homeschooling and moving to new neighborhoods. I hate that I never really know if I'm in a bad neighborhood when I run until it's too late. you know what I mean? Our last RV park in Denver had a trail next to it and some parts were nice and others were not. Nothing like catching your breath and realizing you are in a creepy neighborhood with no one normal around. So we moved into probably the best place to run "the city of Golden " but I was just discouraged and busy and I have many more excuses. So, my brother sent me a new pair of running shoes for Christmas and I decided to run 100 miles by Valentines Day. Not an impossible goal. Figure average 2.2 miles a day and you've made it! I also joined the rec center which is a stone throw away and they have an indoor track, perfect! This is how many miles I actually ran by Valentines Day.

 128.  I really wanted to run a half marathon this year , but somewhere along the line I got really motivated and decided to run a whole marathon. I must have been feeling really good about myself that day. So I found this  training program and started and I am on my way to running my first marathon May 18th.

page 2 got cut off but it tapers down in mileage before the marathon on week 15 for more info go here http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51135/Marathon-Training-Guide

This sounds all hunky dory but it is actually mind boggling for me. I am the girl who got a "B" in PE for lack of effort. I love cupcakes, I'm not a typical marathoner. Every Sunday when my mileage increases I get super nervous. So far I haven't passed out, so I'm pressing onward. Also, I bought race insurance for $7 so in the event we get moved before the race I can get my money back, but that would be super disappointing.

In other news, maybe you'll recall that we try to play sports in whatever town we are in. Well baseball season is upon us. Our eldest child loves baseball. Last year we came across a baseball team and asked if we could join. We had missed tryouts for AAA so we played on AA. If you're not familiar with little league it builds up like so ....t-ball, AA , AAA,  Majors then High School ball. We've never been concerned with pushing the kids to be competitive. They either are or they aren't and whatever will be will be. So we've always ended up on AA teams which has been great because he always gets plenty of time to play, which is what we are mostly concerned about. Well we tried out for the Golden Jr Baseball Association. We got a call back from a Majors coach asking us for another tryout and sure enough, he landed on a Majors team this year. He is so excited and I can't help but get that feeling like "what have we gotten ourselves into?" This coach is talking about heading to tournaments and I'll have to keep you posted how that goes. Right now we just need to get to practice, right? Anyway. That's what we're up to. Hope all is well in your neighborhood. Talk to you soon.