updates

So, January was quite a month! Sami didn't go to school for what felt like weeks. Probably felt like it because it was! She is 1:2 this week and tomorrow is not looking good. It has been forever since we have had a winter like this.

In the midst of all of this, I got a wonderful gift. I need to get permission before I write about it here, but it was the kind of thing that gave me chills all over & only reinforced my belief in what is coming next. If you can't wait to know, call me - I love telling this story!

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Updates:

1. Run/jog/walk 1000 miles. Current status: 110.1
 

2. Read 100 books. Current status: 13/100

The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks; Running with Curves: Why You’re Not Too Fat to Run, and the Skinny on How to Start Today; Smoothie Recipes for Weight Loss - 30 Delicious Detox, Cleanse and Green Smoothie Diet Book; The Dinner by Herman Koch; Denial: A Memoir of Terror by Jessica Stern; Weight Loss Motivation: 7 Essential Tips for Permanent Weight Loss Success; Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh;

3. Lose 25 pounds. Current status:-3.6/25

4. Get more organized. Working on it!

5. Make one new recipe per week. Current status: 4/52

6. Donate blood 4 times.

7. Try one new sport/physical activity.

8. No soft drinks so far & not tempted.

9. Charitable activities. Have a couple of ideas in the works.

Until next time,
Lori

It's been a while.....

It's been a while since I got to clean vomit out of the carpet at 2 am.
You know what? I didn't miss it! At all.

So, you've probably guessed that Sami got the stomach bug. As usual, she passed by a bathroom to descend a flight of stairs to appear by the side of my bed. She woke me, then ran back up the stairs only hitting a few of them. Then, she vomited all over the foyer. Including my new boots that I should have put away but didn't. Including a basket of clean laundry that also did not get put away before bed. Including the tile floor in the bathroom. Not including? The toilet. It has been a long day. Fortunately, she seems fine now. I hope to be lights out by 8:00.

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Updates:

1. Run/jog/walk 1000 miles. Current status: 45.26.
 

2. Read 100 books. Current status: 5/100!

Memoir of Mourning: Journey through Grief and Loss to Renewal by Claudia Chowaniec; Going Home by Jamie Yeager; 20  Quick Exercises to a Toned Body by Adam Eastman; Sycamore Row by John Grisham; & Olive Branches Don't Grow On Trees by Grace Mattioli.

3. Lose 25 pounds.

4. Get more organized.

5. Make one new recipe per week. Current status: 2/52

6. Donate blood 4 times.

7. Try one new sport/physical activity.

8. No soft drinks so far & not really tempted. Got a fancy new naturally fruit infusing water bottle & loving it!

9. Charitable activities.


Until next time,
Lori

"The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."

Happy New Year!!!!

& so it is time to set some 2014 goals. These may look familiar as they are mostly a repeat of last year. I didn't actually meet any of my goals; however, as my recent fortune cookie revealed it is better to set a goal and not reach it then to not set a goal at all! (wonder if that Chinese food had anything to do with me not reaching my weight loss goal??? :) )

Anyway.... here are my 2013 failures:

1. Run/jog/walk 1000 miles. End of the year result: 914 

2. Read 100 books. End of the year result:82

3. Lose 25 pounds. End of the year result:No comment. I guess the good news is that I didn't gain any weight!

4. Get more organized. End of the year result: Closet/dresser are organized, make-up cleaned out & organized, couple of closets done. Still lots more to do!

5. Make one new recipe per week. End of the year result: 38


So, I am keeping all 5 of these for 2014 & adding a few more to it.

1. Run/jog/walk 1000 miles.

2. Read 100 books.

3. Lose 25 pounds.

4. Get more organized.

5. Make one new recipe per week.
6. Donate blood 4 times.
7. Try one new sport/physical activity.

A couple of difficult to measure goals include giving up soft drinks (this means more wine right????) & increasing charitable activites (not just donations!).

Until next time,
Lori

"It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not."

New territory

Samantha turns 10 years old tomorrow!

 

 

I've never had a 10 year old before.....

They lie.

They do. You know them. The all-knowing, arrogant, advice givers. They say "time heals all wounds." They say "you just need to give it more time."

You know what I think? They can kiss my ***.

Time has not healed my wounded heart. Time has not made any of this easier. In fact, five years later, I still feel like this most of the time:

 

 

My hero

Light the Night

For the first time ever, we are participating in the central Ohio LLS Light the Night walk for leukemia awareness. Please consider joining us on October 12th!

http://pages.lightthenight.org/coh/CntlOhio13/calebscrusaders


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Updates

1. Run/jog/walk 1000 miles. Current status: 687.31/1000.

Still behind, but optimistic!

2. Read 100 books. Current Status: 50/100

Since the last update I have read: Honey, Do You Need a Ride? Confessions of a Fat Runner by Jennifer Graham; Heaven's Child, a mother's journey from heartbreak to healing, second edition;  Surviving Schizophrenia: A Memoir by Louise Gillett;Rain on Your Wedding Day by Curtis Edmonds; Don't Call Me Mother: A Daughter's Journey from Abandonment to Forgiveness; Summer Solstice by G. M. Frazier; FAITH A Secret Life by Chub Yublinsky; What it's Like to be Married to Me? And Other Dangerous Questions by Linda Dillow: My Butterfly by Laura Miller; Bite Me by Mike Faricy; If the Shoe Fits by Sandra Bricker; The Book of Maybe by Allison Carmen; Old Before My Time by Hayley and Kerry Okines; Bittersweet by Noelle Adams; Cracks in the Sidewalk by Bette Lee Crosby; Intrusive Memory by Leonardo Anthony Noto.

I am afraid that I am way too far behind to make this one. Going to keep trying though.

3. Lose 25 pounds. No comment.

4. Get more organized. No comment

5. Make one new recipe per week. Current status: 27/52

Until next time,
Lori

So much has happened

So much has happened in the couple of weeks since I was last here!

 

We worked hard preparing for the 3rd Annual Cam & Sue's Cancer SUCKS 5k! Sami trained on my treadmill. Her goal was to beat her time from last year.

 

 

Next to the registration table, we have always had a table for people to write in the names of family members and friends who have battled cancer. People generally spend some time there reading, adding names and talking to each other about the people on the posters.

 

This is why we run.

 



 

We have such a generous and involved community! We had over 220 participants this year! The weather was wonderful. The called-for rain passed around us. The sun was shining and our awesomely orange shirts glowed!

 



Sami did not meet her goal.....

 

She did however do several cart wheels and spent about 10 minutes petting some horses along the route. She had fun which really is the most important part.

 



 

The next weekend some friends & I headed to Columbus to participate in the Color Run. Apparently there was us & about 12,000 other people!

 

We started out so clean.....

 



& finished pretty gross! I gave up on that formerly white shirt & I just threw it away. The race was low pressure - no timing, lots of slowing down for color to be tossed on us.

Glad I did it. Won't do it again!

 

 



Also in July, we passed a milestone. One that I have been counting down for over four years. One that I have prayed for. One that broke my heart again.

Samantha turned 9 years and 8 months old. She has now officially lived longer than Cameron had the chance to live. It feels so weird to look at her and know that she is now older than he ever was. He was always the big brother. But he never got to be 10.

Until next time,
Lori