New Job, dead frogs, and life lessons

                         Well my lovely readers, it has most definitely been a busy week. Marathon training is going well, I did my long run up at my parents house again, which you all know I really enjoy. I am inspired after some comments from my blog last week to share a childhood memory. Around this time of year every year the frogs spawn or mate or whatever frogs do. Down the street a bit from my house was a little creek and pond area where the frogs were plentiful. And let me tell you, when I say plentiful I mean it. You could hear these things croaking for miles, they were everywhere. It is the best sound of the summer in my opinion. I remember sitting outside my room on the swing and reading books while listening to the frogs croak on and on all night. But I digress; the frogs were plentiful and I walked home from down there every day from the school bus. Almost immediately after getting off the bus Dusty and I ( the boy who lived down the road and arguably my only friend growing up) would run home, get our dads giant mud boots on and wade into the muddy stinky swamp and catch frogs. On one of our expeditions we decided to see how many we could catch. We were down there for hours, catching away with our big boots and five gallon buckets. When we got home and counted our bounty, and decided (or maybe it was just my decision since I wanted to keep everything as a pet) to keep the frogs over night. So Dusty took his home, and I spent hours painting the toes of each of my frogs with finger nail polish ( so I could prove later when we released them which ones were mine) and then putting them in a old fish tank for the night. Needless to say I had not yet been educated on the breathing habits of amphibians, otherwise I would have recalled that they breath through their skin and therefore promptly "croaked" from the nail polish. Naturally I was upset, I don't remember what I did with them all  but knowing me I probably did everything I could to hide this event from my dad. I don't recall ever catching a frog again in my entire life.

Luke is really excited about my running. While I do my long runs once a week at my parents house he gets to hang out with my sisters, my mom and dad and of course, the pigs. He loves spending time with all of them, especially the pigs. Since he loves to run just like his mom Tysons mom bought him some "running shoes" which he adores and hates taking off.

This weeks training included some awesome runs down at the old cemeteries in Spokane. I am a huge Spokane history lover and the cemeteries down there are amazing. They have all these historical markers marking the graves of the people who founded our city. Its quite amazing and I loved running down there. They are nicely paved roads, no cars to get run over by, and an overwhelming peace that I find very calming. Some think I am a weirdo, but you must remember I grew up down the road from an old cemetery which I played in and loved visiting. Maybe I am weird but it makes me happy and I enjoy it so, shush.

 I brought my mom along on one of my runs, she and Luke rang the bell at the cemetery. My running buddy Kristina and I want to see all the old cemeteries in the country and run them all!

The CDA store is beautiful and the people are lovely and nice to me. They want me to stay there are work. Its very refreshing and positive. Too bad the drive isn't refreshing, lovely or positive. Oh well, i gotta do what I gotta do to climb this ladder. Not really learning too much, I do everything already, but I am doing all that I can to learn as much as I can. I do miss some of the people at the Sullivan store already!

The grandma has me thinking about going back to school, I looked into it today at work and found what I thought. . . Kroger pays for school but its hard to find online classes, And since I am required to have a totally open schedule I cant go to regular classes. And you have to pay for it all up front, if you pass they will reimburse you. Something to think about I suppose.

Now on to the life lessons part of my blog. Watching myself and my friends and love ones struggle through life is challenging for me. But I have come to the conclusion that most of the challenges life presents to you are a direct result from your own actions. Maybe you are single not because all the guys you pick are dicks, maybe you are single because there is something wrong with you, the way you treat others, the way you act. Maybe people don't spend time with you because you make them feel bad about themselves and really, who wants to be around that? You cant fit into any clothes these days not because fashion has changed, but because you made the choice to eat out five times a week and never move off your ass all day. You are unhappy with that relationship because you dont trust him anymore, he treats you like crap and that if hes not ignoring you. He is probably cheating again so you should really just accept that and get out. You are unhappy being alone because you took them for granted and forgot how lucky you were to have such an amazing person in your life and now they are gone.
       These things happen because of our direct actions. If you want a different life, a better relationship or a better body, go get it. Stop wishing it upon yourself, stop with the positive thoughts and ridiculous "will power" belief. If you have will power it doesn't mean you will be successful. Just change. Im tired of the excuse, "you have more will power than me, I cant do that." B.S! Will power is like holding your breath, you can only do it for so long. Its like a band aid that is eventually just going to fall off. Don't think about change, do it, or don't. Maybe you should just be happy with who you are and live your life. Either way, stop being unhappy. Either accept life or get on with the changing because we don't live forever.

Family, memories and of course, running!

          Today I have started my second week of marathon training, its been going pretty well. I do my long runs at home (I suppose now its my parents house) but nonetheless its out where I grew up in the country. Its relaxing and comforting for me to run out there and I enjoy it immensely. Week one only had a long run of three miles so I completed that pretty easily in 30 minutes. I love running out there. I cant help but reminisce about my childhood. As i run I remember things.. This is where Dusty and I used to catch frogs. This is where I crashed my bike. This house is where my best friend lived, we used to walk on this crack in the road and see who could make it the furthest with out losing balance. I am so grateful for my upbringing. Although I was  a pretty lonely kid, being the oldest kid and having only one friend who was a boy who lived down the road... I still went outside and had an adventure every day. It was great. Anyways...  this week's long run is four miles plus my usual four runs during the week. I was forced in doors last week for a run on the treadmill because apparently mother nature is confused and is giving us April weather in June. I hate hate hate the treadmill and struggle to complete my 35 minute run. It is so boring and it drives me nuts.
         My little sister graduated from high school this past weekend and we had a big party at my parents house for her. Since it was so cold you could see your breath and pouring rain we made it a barn party and it actually turned out pretty awesome. Of course I helped with the decorations. I don't know why we never had a barn party before this. It was nice to spend some time with the family, grandparents are not cherished as much as they should be, and I am begining to realize the importance of family history and the imprtance of preserving it. Perhaps I shall write a book.

 I volunteered to climb up into the loft and hang the lanterns and streamers.. which was gross and dusty. But, I had to make sure it was right!

 Luke always enjoys himself at the farm. Although my parents just have pigs now, Luke still found the old chicken coop and proclaimed it his new home. He told us all to leave because this where he was living now... that kid cracks me up.

       Nice little trail I run behind my house. I run a few miles, then run on this trail that cuts from my neighborhood to the gym behind my house. Then I usually do some weights and ab work and then run home. today I was blessed with a pretty morning and it was a great run. P.S. didn't lose any weight this week at my weigh in, which irritates the heck out of me. I am working hard and not losing. Very frustrating.

      This Thursday is my last day at the Sullivan store in the valley. Sunday I start work in CDA Idaho to learn how to be a 3rd... for a month. Then they will place me in another store. I am thinking they will keep me at Sullivan or send me to Wandermere, but there is no telling with the corporate guys. They always surprise me. I am not looking forward to the drive to Idaho every day, or the gas bill that goes along with it, but I am looking forward to a change.

      This week in my crazy book, "This book will change your life" Which I mentioned in the last blog, I have some interesting tasks to complete. One of them is to eat as much asparagus in one day as I can... another is to kill something ( I plan on finding a spider). And I still have to write that letter to Charles Manson. I still don't know what to say! One of the cool things that happened because of this book was that I got to meet don Kardong.. If you know him he founded bloomsday and he was a marathon runner in the Olympics. Anyways he gave me an autographed book that he wrote, all because I saw him at runners soul and went up and talked to him. The book told me to introduce myself to as many new people as possible that day and I did and that happened! Pretty cool.

Write a letter to a mass murderer

              In my quest to live life to the fullest of my abilities I have been working on completing this book, "This book will change your life". And I highly recomend it. Its kind of crazy, but if you know me then it fits. Every day you are assigned a different task. Could be anything. One day I have to give as many compliments as I can, another day try a food that scares me ( I tried calimari). Other days are a little more extreme... for example, call the white house and ask to speak to the president (They give you the phone number), or eat nothing but asparagus for an entire day to see just how potent your urine will become. But one assignment coming up really has me thinking. Day 13: Send a letter to a mass murderer." Included in the list of adresses you can chose from is Robert Yates, Charles Manson, and pretty much every other mass murderer who lives in the US. Included is their prison adress to which you can send a letter. I fully intend on competing this task, I wonder however what I am going to say. Part of me just wants to send a paper stating, "There, I did it!" and the other part of me wants to research the guy, see what kind of life he had before the crimes. send him a letter asking him about his former life. But I have a week to ponder.
        Moving on... Last week my friend Lynsey took us down town to river front park to ride the gondola. Something I have had on my list to complete for a while. It turned out to be really fun and Luke loved it.

 Also last week after doing a run down town Tyson and Luke met me down there to ride the train. Another thing none of us has done. It was really fun until The train operator started blurting some false and skewed facts about the history of Spokane. If you know me at all you know I am a Spokane history buff, it annoys me when people mess up facts. Especially about the natives. But, we were having a happy family day so I kept my mouth shut.

Luke thanking me for the train ride

Feeding the geese that ended up attacking us after we ran out of bread

The running is getting challenging. As many of you know I have officially signed up for the Leavenworth half marathon in October. I have started a training program to slowly increase my milage and work on my speed and form so I will be ready. Its hard for me to find the time right now to get all 5 runs in, one of which is a long run. But I am very goal oriented and I am really set on finishing that half marathon. And I am super excited because I found out that Davenport Washington does a 5k fun run in July. My family on my dads side is all from Davenport and much of my family is still there. My grandma runs it every year and always medals. So I am hoping to medal too, and get a picture with both of us holding our medals. Might be a funny dream but I want that thing framed. We will see how that works out.

I go to the CDA store here in about two weeks. Deffinately not looking forward to the drive and the time away from Luke. Work is going a bit better, a key player in my stress is on vacation so I am a little more happy. Hahaha.