40 is the New Cheerleader

Looks like I turned 40 just in time to be cool. I remember thinking how old my parents were when they were my age - but suddenly it is hip to be 40! TV Land is unleashing a reality tv show about people celebrating turning "the F word."





After two months of living in this 40 year old skin, I have found 40 to be great. It has motivated me to actually do things I had put off for years. I feel like I am accomplished, successful in my career and family...and I really don't care what others think about me. I am very comfortable in speaking my mind, but I also have learned that speaking my mind isn't always a good thing.


Downside of 40: in most of the race stats that I have read, women in the 40-45 age range kick ass over women in the 35-40 range. Guess I'm not the only person the birthday has motivated. Darn, I'm going to have to train harder to get a good finish placement!

Random Thoughts of a Blue Day

I haven't been in much of a mood to write the past few days, bad weekend. I am happy to be at my office today, which is kind of weird. I usually dread Mondays.

Funny thing, I worked all last week on a cash flow report for my bosses companies - ready to present at a 10 am meeting this morning...he comes out of another meeting about 5 minutes before our meeting and says we need to transfer bocu bucks overseas...totally changes my report! Aargh!

Friday I was down 5 pounds after two weeks of no wine, and a month of no Diet Coke....but Saturday was rough and I caved on both the wine and Diet Coke front. I'll be lucky to maintain this week, but we will see. I feel back on track now, so I might be able to pull a rabbit out of the hat.

I need to gear up for my run next Sunday and get my head in a better place.

Nike Women's Marathon

I did it....I put my name in the hat for the Nike Women's Marathon's random drawing. Wish me luck, I'd love to have this be my first marathon.

I'm also have a call into Team in Training, which if I do that I would be guaranteed a spot. The kicker is I would need to raise $3,000....a little scary to me.

One thing is for sure, I need to get my chafing under control on my long runs....ouch! I'm planning on picking up some body glide this week, but I chafe in a new spot every week!

Rocky Horror Meets High School Musical

Sometimes the imagination of children can really take you by surprise. Today I discovered this:

Delaney's Troy Bolton doll that she got for Christmas, dressed in a cute little Barbie nightie, sitting on a lounge chair. FREAKING HILARIOUS! She even put his hand up in the drama pose.

Since I was a tornado cleaner chick last weekend, I ended up missing my long run on Sunday. So I did a 4 miler yesterday and my long run of 11 miles today. Today my first 6 miles came in at 62:30 (10:25 pace), and the last 5 came in at 50 minutes on the button (10:00 pace). I'll take it.

A View of My Run

I frequently run at the reservoir up my street because it is safe, no traffic and close. It does involve running "laps" which can be tiresome - but I'm still enjoying running in this spot. I took my daughters for a nature walk up there the other day and thought I'd share some pics.

Daffodils on my street (for Nancy - I'd send them to ya if I could)!

My street dead ends at this pistachio field. There is a dirt road that I take around it that leads to the reservoir.

The reservoir....where we find lots of fun animals such as ducks, geese, turtle, and beavers.





Wooded trail along the backside of the reservoir.


There are also the lovely, rolling hills that surround to look at.

The Reveal

Okay, here we go. I still have the doll house in there, but I was able to make space for it against the wall so everything is much more open now. I am so happy! I feel like I have my space back. The amazing thing to me in this process was how once dysfunctional space in your house really effects so many other areas in your house. I was able to clear out a lot of other areas once I got my office organized and made space for everything.


When I pulled this picture up on my computer, I looked at the floor and said "oh crap, I need to mop!" Not today though, too tired I need a nap. So avert your eyes if it bothers you.




Still some toys in the room, but it is much more organized now - I thinned out a bunch more. After this weekend I have another Salvation Army call to make!

And I have my dining room back - yeah! Thank you Mrs. Furious!

An Embarrassing Before

Today Mrs. Furious issued an organizational challenge, and since I have been afraid to step foot in my office for the last few months I decided what better time to tackle the disaster. Especially since I'm not one to pass up a challenge. I don't know what is harder, posting before pictures of my house or before pictures of me.....must be me, because I haven't dared to do that. So this is my shame, the worst room in my house, the place where I am suppose to conduct business....pretty pathetic, huh? What is really scary is my entire house was spotless last June....we had the house on the market but then decided we would just remodel instead. The remodel did throw our house out of sync quite a bit, we were sleeping in the living room, moving furniture from room to room. Really though, this room just got out of hand and I have been too afraid to tackle it.



Part of the problem here is that not only is it my office, we also use it as a playroom for the girls. So all the toys and playthings that there isn't room for in the girls room overflow into here, and they have way too much stuff. Yes, that is a giant dollhouse in the center of my office. The girls got the dollhouse from Santa (aka Costco), and it has engulfed the office. It is four feet high, and three feet square. Yes, they are spoiled.


Compounding things, I recently changed jobs and will be operating a business out of my home office too....yes this one (really time to get this under control)! But I haven't unpacked all of the boxes or hung my diploma and certificates on the walls. They have been sitting there for 3 months!

More Toys!

Yes, I know it is horrible. My life is chaotic and my house reflects that. I am a slob, and every member of my family is too. No one can put anything away! No one seems to know where the garbage can is.

But where do I put all this stuff? In order to get my office organized I really need to get my girls room organized, so I can move SOME of their toys to their bedroom.....thus my second set of before pictures - The Girl's Room.

The beds aren't even made.

This is the worst!

We even have The Berenstein Bears "A Messy Room" - guess we haven't read that one yet.

Once I get these two rooms cleaned, I may be able to reclaim my dining room. This is where I have been working since I am afraid of my office, and it was also a primary storage area during our remodel. Third set of befores - "The Dining Room"

Needless to say, we don't eat in our dining room.

AFTER (partial):

So after working 8 HOURS today, I did manage to get the girls rooms organized and clean, and I put a pretty good dent in the office. Here are the after of the girls room, I will post the rest of my afters tomorrow.