August 4, 2018
Goals
Today I ran for the first time in a very long time. I am not a competitive person by nature and in the gym I lift just enough weight to feel some resistance and as soon as the timer goes off on my cardio I am out of there! I hate the gym. However, when I run outside I tend to wildly overestimate my athletic ability. Should you push yourself? Yes! Should you set big goals and really strive for them? Absolutely! But should you take a year off running and then set out to beat your 5k PR? Maybe not. So this probably hurt more than it needed to, but I'm not sorry I did it.
I purposely picked the hardest trail with a wickedly steep hill knowing that I literally COULD NOT run up it.
But I will.
I wanted to do the hardest thing I could so that when I conquer it I can look back to remember and appreciate how far I've come.
Also, really REALLY looking forward to fall!
Since the girls just started school again I decided to make some "new year" goals for myself:
1. Exercise in some way every week day. Even if that just means taking a walk around the neighborhood.
2. Keep the fridge cleaned out and stocked with healthy snacks for the girls and myself...this will be harder than running the dumb hill.
3. Run a race, 5k or longer.
4. Finish my 2018 reading goal of 57 books and start working on at least that many for next year.
If anyone actually reads this, I'd love to hear some of your goals or how you've crushed some huge goals in the past. I tend to get really excited about one thing and then find something else to get excited about and bail. How do you keep your motivation?
February 17, 2010
Thanksgiving
When we first moved here someone gave me a guidebook with a picture of Llangollen (pronounced Thlan-go-thlen... I think... Welsh is a strange language) and I've wanted to go there ever since. So we drove out to the hills of Wales to visit this little village. November isn't exactly tourist season so we were pretty much on our own =)
Just down the road from the town center is the Llangollen Canal. In the spring and summer you can take a ride in the long boats, some of which are horse-drawn.
This is the Pontcysyllte Aquaduct. It spans the Dee River Valley at a height of 126 feet and is over 200 years old, 1,000 feet long, 11 feet wide and 5 feet deep. You can also take a boat across it in the warm season which I will definitely do! It is the longest, highest aquaduct in Britain and was inscribed to the World Heritage List in 2009. If you would like to read more and see more pictures, click here.
We also took a tour on the Chester Old Bus. It's a double-decker bus that goes all around the city with a tour guide pointing out important sites, buildings and symbolic meanings. I learned so much about the things I see everyday and usually don't think twice about.
Our traditional Thanksgiving dinner was postponed until Saturday because MDH was in London all week. While the turkey and mashed potatoes were pretty much exactly the same as I would have made at home, some substitutions had to be made for the rest of the dinner. No condensed cream of mushroom soup for the green bean casserole, no pre-made pie crusts (and no way was I making my own!) and no canned pumpkin. But I think everything turned out well in the end.
This year I was thankful for so many things and I'm so glad my parents were here to start the holiday season with us.
November 6, 2009
School Assemblies
And Peanut earned a merit badge this week for academic achievement.
Also this week, Form 1 put on a special assembly for Guy Fawkes day, 5th November. In case you're not familiar with the story, Guy Fawkes was a Catholic who was fed up with the Protestant king and became part of a plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605. He was caught before the plan could be carried out and now Britian celebrates the Houses NOT being blown up every year with a big bonfire and fireworks. If you would like to read the whole story, click here.
Princess's class made bonfire pictures.
This is a poem the class learned for the assembly...I missed the first part but I will post the whole thing below.
Gunpowder Treason & Plot
Remember remember the 5th of November
the gunpowder treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes guy was his intent
to blow up king and parliament.
Three score barrels were laid below
to prove old England's overthrow.
By God's mercy he was catched
with a dark lantern and lighted match.
Holler boys! Holler boys! Let the bells ring!
Holler boys! Holler boys! God save the king!
November 3, 2009
Half-Term
Before MDH headed to London for month-end closing, we carved pumpkins that the girls designed. MDH had NEVER carved a pumpkin before! I think these are my favorite pumpkins ever =)
Peanut coughed all night after all the fresh air so Tuesday we had a quiet day inside. Board games, crafts and grocery shopping were all the excitement I felt she could handle until we got the cough under control.