Running Away

Recently I've decided I want to be a runner.  It doesn't matter that I've never been able to run more than one minute straight my entire life.  I've seen all sorts of my friends pictures on Facebook of them running in races and I wanted to do that.  So my mind was made up and I download a couch to 5k program and started.

The first day I had to run one minute stretches about 6 times with walks in between.  I thought I was going to die.  Literally, right there...in the gym...on the treadmill.

But I was determined.  So I kept going and discovered I liked running outside lots better than on a treadmill.  I also found a podcast I loved to listen to and looked forward to my runs because I got to learn all sorts of useless information.  The podcast is called Stuff You Should Know.  If you ever wanted to learn about everything from how the Autobahn works to how acne works give it a listen.  I would come home every day and enthrall my family with new information.

And before I knew it I had finished the couch to 5k program.  I was running for 35 minutes straight. (Go me!)

So I signed up for a race.  Which I ran a couple weeks ago.  My goals were to run the entire race and not come in last.  Both of which I accomplished.  Although the 60+ race walker left me in her dust.

The big race was on a Sunday and Tuesday was the next day I ran again.  (Us runners need to take a rest day after the big race you know...or as in my case I was too busy to run Monday).

I've decided to train for a longer distance so I ran about 4 miles.  I could have kept going but I had to pee something ferocious.  So I ran to the house.  When I got close to the house the need to pee intensified greatly.  For some reason our bodies say, "hey, we are about to get to a toilet...lets see if we can make our human pee her pants instead."  I get to the door and it's locked.  My oldest had left for work and locked me out.

No worries, we often leave the back door unlocked.  Nope...for once we were on top of security and it's locked too.  I glance around at my back yard wondering if I'm desperate enough. 

Nope not yet, I go to my neighbors house.  No answer.  I'm dancing like it's 1999 and must look pretty silly.  They probably didn't answer the door because they saw some crazy dancing chick doing the I have to pee dance on their porch.


Then I realized my friend across the street was home from work today becuase she had two sick kids.  I bolt over there and ring the doorbell not caring that I am probalby waking up her sick children.  No answer, but I know she's home so I start pounding on the door.  She calls out a little freaked out that she will be there in a minute.  I don't have a minute, so I yell to her that it's just me.  She answers looking like I had awaken her from a deep sleep, for which I feel very guilty, but I almost trample her over getting to her restroom.


Finally sweet relief.

Now to tackle the next problem.  I have exactly 45 minutes to get myself presentable for a job interview.  I'm currently a sweaty mess and my daughter is at work, luckily only a half mile away, but I'm not figuring out how I am going to run over there quickly (after just finishing the longest I have ever run in my life) and get back and shower and get ready for this important appointment.  Luckily I have an awesome friend and she offered to let me use her car.  Her exact words were, "I trusted you with my child (I watched him last week for all of 30 minutes), I certainly can trust you to use my car."  I thought that was really sweet.

I run into the big box store that my daughter works at and I'm all sweaty and such and ask everyone where she is.  They eye me suspiciously like I'm a crazy person but they tell me where she is at.  At the far end of the store of course.  More running and I'm able to get the key and get home. 

Luckily this story has a happy ending, I got to the interview on time...got the job and lived happily ever after...The End!!

Game Night

Our family loves to play games.  Let's see if there is anyone else out there that enjoys the same type of games we seem to.

We love to play Stack all the Dishes as High as Possible in the Sink Until they Fall Over game. 

The rules go something like this...
-If dishwasher is full of clean dishes, put dirty dishes in the sink.
-If dishwasher is full of dirty dishes, put dirty dishes in the sink.
-If dishwasher is empty, put dirty dishes in the sink.

Keep piling up the dishes until something breaks.  First one to give in a put them in the dishwasher loses.


Another game we like to play is Drop Everything on the Floor the Moment You Walk in the Door. 

Here is how you play this one...

-Walk in the house...immediately drop everything on the floor. 
-Get a point for normal items dropped including backpack, jacket, and shoes. 
-Get an extra point for unusual items such as baggies full of smashed goldfish crackers, notes from mom to the school that should have been turned in last week and collections of acorns gathered from the playground.
-Bonus points awarded to the person who can make mom trip over their stuff the most times in a day.
-Person with the highest number of points when mom flips out and demands the floor be cleaned up wins.


And our favorite game which is Walk Around the Cat Puke and Pretend You Didn't See it so You Don't Have to Clean it Up. 

The way you play this one is:

-Notice cat puke on floor
-Walk over or around it
-Person who finally gives up and cleans it up loses (I lose this one every.single.time)

So what is your families favorite game?

Time

I have an on again off again relationship with time.  I think it's a combination of my ADD mixed together with my upbringing all stirred together in a complicated time soup.

I know for some people with ADD/ADHD they cannot get to a place on time ever.  My oldest daughter for example really struggles with time.  If you say we need to leave at 4:00, she interprets that as maybe she should start getting ready at 4:00ish.  She doesn't do it to be rude...it's just how her mind works.


For me it's more complicated than that.  I learned early on in my childhood that being on time was life threateningly vital...if I was late to something, humanity as we know it would be lost forever. 

So, as you can imagine, my family was very early to a lot of things.  I have lots of memories of helping to set up events.


Fast forward 30+ years and you can imagine the struggles of a mom who had an animal like instinct to being early and a daughter whose idea of early was not missing the entire event.

Then add a couple more kids to the mix and my general dislike of setting up and the idea of time gets more complicated.  I'm always trying to figure out things like:  What time to I need to leave in order to get there after several other people have arrived so I don't have to set up.  How long will it really take me to drive there (for some reason I always forget I don't have a flying car and traffic could be an issue)?  If I say I want to leave at 4:00 what is the likelihood of everyone coming with me being ready at 4:00 and did I take into account the time I would need to go back in the house several times for items I forgot.

You put this all together and I started being late to events which triggered anxiety deep within me.  All the way to the event I would stress and yell at traffic and generally not be very much fun to be around.  I'd arrive all stressed out and be mad at myself for being late.

So I have learned to adapt over the years.  But one thing I still do is manage to pack my schedule too tight on some days.  I'll have an appointments throughout the day and someone will ask me to do something and I'll say, yes, I have 35.6 minutes free, sure I can do that.  And then it will take 41.2 minutes to accomplish and I'll be a ball of stress because the rest of my day is thrown off.  A perfect example of that would be my wedding day which I will put into it's own post...simply because I think it deserves it :-)

The last ingredient that goes into my time soup is distraction.  I will have a schedule, I'll have planned out the time I need to leave the house, I'll plan out the time that I need to start getting ready in order to leave the house, I'll see I have a few minutes to kill until that time and I'll sit down to the computer.  Next thing I know it's 5 minutes after I was supposed to be leaving and the stress begins.

This happened a lot when I was having to pick up kids from school every day.  Thank goodness for the bus...I no longer have to be that late mom.

Bowling Mom

So I gave myself a new title this weekend...I am now an official bowling mom.  What is that you ask?  Hmmmm....I'm quickly figuring out it means I drive a lot and sit in bowling alleys 100% more than I used to.  (And why is it mandated that bowling alleys must be cheesy?  And is it bowling allies or alleys....Googled it...it's alleys.)

So some quick background information.  I'd like to equate being a bowling mom is a lot like being a soccer mom, but I have never been a soccer mom before.  I've only been a basketball mom, t-ball/baseball mom, swim team mom, gymnastics mom and tennis mom before.

And allow me to clarify, when I say I have been a sports mom, it means I have driven them to every practice, cheered for them at every competition, and bought them all the paraphernalia associated with those sports.  I was not however the awesome mom that organized stuff, sent out emails, watched the kids while sitting on the bench or any other such gung-ho activities that some moms are capable of.  In my head I was that awesome organized mom, but luckily I knew that keeping up with their schedule was all I could handle and I kept my mouth shut when it came to volunteer.

So I've had some time off and a new school year has started and I got a lovely little email that stated that my high school son could join the bowling team if he wanted to.  I asked him about it, expecting him to say no, and to my surprise he said sure, he would like to try bowling.

I thought bowling would involve throwing a ball down the alley at some pins a couple times a week and possibly having to buy some new shoes.  I also secretly envisioned that the fancy schmancy high school my son attends had a couple of bowling lanes hidden deep inside some dark corridor.  (It's a public high school, but new and overwhelmingly large.)

I have been a bowling mom for 3 days now and my head is spinning.  We can practice on this day for free, but on this day we have to pay at one alley.  We should join a league at another alley for extra practice (and extra money).  We need to buy shoes, and a ball, and by the way, only expect the ball to last about 6 months.  (Really, a bowling ball wears out?  What does that look like?  Does it start to get square and stop rolling?)

Also we might need to buy a little bowling toolkit and a bag to put everything in.  The team must have tryouts, but everyone will get on the team (and shockingly the tryouts cost money).  Oh and once he makes the team we have a fee we will need to pay.

Needless to say my head is spinning and the dollars are rapidly flying out of my wallet.  All this because of a casual, "Hey, would you like to bowl?" question I threw out there last week.

Now before anyone thinks I'm complaining, I'm really not.  I love seeing my son involved in something.  My husband and I enjoy a little bowling ourselves and this will end up being fun.  It's just making my brain hurt right now is all.

Time passes quickly

As the title suggests, time has passed me by very quickly lately.  While I've been away from my blog...I wish I could say I was doing this:

But unfortunately it has looked more like this:

When school starts, mom's chauffeuring service starts as well.  Every time I had an idea and sat down to blog this happened:

Unfortunately I have not figured out a way to blog while driving.

Another event going on in my life is my starting up a career.  I have spent lots of hours on the computer making things like forms and editing my new webpage, but none of that involved stick figures and pseudo-funny commentary.  (Although my daughter did put some cool stick figures on my webpage, but I didn't get to draw them so it doesn't count.)


Lastly, I would like to say I blog for myself, that it is okay if no one likes my blog because I do and I'm okay with that.  But....I'm not okay with that.  In my head I'm super funny and tons of people love to read my blog and comment how much they love it.

 My reality is I write a sometimes mildly amusing blog that about five people like to read (most of which are in my immediate family making sure I'm not embarrassing them) and no one has missed it while it's been on hiatus.  So every time I go to blog I think about how no one really likes it and so why bother.

Then something changed.  Yesterday someone I have never met, liked my Facebook page.  That was huge for my self-esteem...that someone who isn't just supposed to support me pushed that little like button on Facebook.  So I'm going to give it another shot.  I'll work on staying focused (and I know you are saying "good luck with that Jen") and post twice a week.  I figure that is a reasonable goal with how busy my life is right now. 


But you have a job too.  If you find me at all amusing, please comment every once in a while.  Give me that extra boost I need to keep focused and keep going.  If you find me boring and not worth your time, I understand completely....but why are you reading this then?

Okay...so off I go...I will start working right away on a post that is supposed to be funny (unlike the boring commentary that this post is) and see how it goes....right after I take a shower and feed the cats.

Paper

Monday of this week was the day that every kid in the nation started back to school.  I guess not exactly every kid, but from the pictures on my Facebook it appeared to be every last kid.  Of course my kids were in that group and started school on Monday as well.  (I was lazy and did not post their picture on Facebook so I will include a picture of what they looked like on Monday right here.)

With school comes paperwork.  Mounds and mounds of paperwork.  An ADD mom, with 2 ADD kids in school and a mountain of paperwork equals a mess, frustration, and an overwhelming feeling of inadequacy.

Luckily for me the usual paperwork sent home on the first day which includes health information and the need for you to write your name address and phone number 16 times is done online at our school district.  I still have to type my name at least 16 times per child, but it's so much better than the actual papers coming home.


My daughter is starting 4th grade and has a wonderful teacher who seems to believe in only sending home one piece of paper at a time for me to sign.  We can do that.  She is organized enough to bring home one piece of paper that the teacher asked her to put in her binder, I can sign it and it makes it back to school.  (He did send us home with a packet of papers to sign at meet the teacher night which I promptly lost and finally found in time for her to bring them in the second day of school.)

My son is starting high school.  They are not so understanding.  He has 8 different teachers who all want something signed.  No one is asking him to put the piece of paper neatly in a binder.  So this is how last night went.

Finally he dumped out his backpack (which still had stuff from a class he took over the summer in it) and found the piece of paper I had to sign.  But it was actually around 10 pieces of paper and he had them all nicely shoved into the front pocket of his backpack.  And in the process found a paper that outlined a project due tomorrow.

And then the papers start coming home from school.  All the drawings, test grades, handwriting samples and on and on.  And my children want everything kept.  I have to sneak while they are asleep to throw any schoolwork away, so it sits and get marinated on my counter for weeks.

Paper stresses me out.  Completely.  I constantly have a bunch of receipts in my purse.  Can't they just start emailing me that info.  Do I really need that piece of paper that says I bought something.  Can't someone make an app for all my receipts so I never have to actually touch the paper one?

Mail is another problem.  I get about 3 pieces of mail per week that I actually care about.  The rest goes straight to the trash.  But first it too must sit on my counter and marinate for a few days.  Then it is worthy of the trash can.

I'm drowning in paper and information overload.   And I know my kids are too.  I think I'll go find some chocolate.  I'm sure it will make everything all better.

Now what...

So the Olympics are all finished and I am all graduated.

Now I have lots of time to catch up on things like posting to my blog.  So on my agenda for yesterday was write a new post, make my Distractibility Facebook page look presentable so I can ask people to like it.  Work on my bio for my new job.  Get my ideas together for a website for my new job.  Work out.  Do some laundry.  Clean up the house.  And spend some time with the kids.

What I actually did yesterday was spend the entire day figuring out how to backup my massive amount of photos to my new laptop I got for work.

I seriously sat down to try and move the photos for a minute, and then several hours later I realized I was downloading some software that I had no idea what it did or why I needed to download it.  I just had been following links and trying to make things work.

At that point I did pop out of my trance and make my daughter some lunch.  But the break was short lived.  I was determined to figure this out.

Did those photos need to be backed up yesterday?  No they did not, but once I started I couldn't seem to let it go.  There had to be a way to copy 100 gigs of photos with all the technology available in this house.  And after I finally got them all moved over I decided I needed to organize them so the files looked pretty on my new laptop.  This project started at 9:30 pm.  Luckily I got tired and gave that project up for the night.  But I'm itching to work on it more today.

But first I'm posting this blog update.  And if you would be so kind, please like my Facebook page.  Even though it's not anything special yet.  I promise to work on it soon...really I will :-)

Focused Friday: Graduation

Today is a huge day for me.  It's my graduation day!!!   I am graduating from college today with my masters degree. 

And it isn't just any masters degree.  It's the one I have always wanted to get, but I thought I wasn't capable.  I am now officially a counselor.  Or at least I will be in a few hours.  Technically I won't have my license for a few weeks even, but you know what I mean :-)


And I am the first one in my family to get a master's degree.  (If you don't count my incredibly smart sister-in-law who has her MD and PHD.)  But I'm just counting my family of origin.

This is the most focused I have ever been.  I stayed focused for 2 1/2 years in order to get to this goal.  How does someone with ADHD do that?  I think for me it goes back to when I was a little kid.  My mom made us kids eat our vegetables every night for dinner.  And there was no getting out of it.  I don't remember how she made us do this (I certainly have not been able to pass this onto my own kids), but the vegetables were to be eaten.  I did not care for vegetables.  So I came up with a strategy.  It was really complicated, here goes....I ate them first.

How is that a strategy and why does it pertain to graduation?  I'm glad you asked.  It's a strategy because I figured if I had to eat them anyhow I would rather get it over with and end my meal with something I liked such as mashed potatoes, rather than dreading the veggies the whole meal and having to end my meal with them.


How this pertains to graduation is how I got through school.  I knew I had to do the homework and the studying, I wasn't getting out of it if I wanted a good grade in the class.  So I always jumped in and worked as hard as I could during the week so I could have fun and play on the weekend.  As soon as something was assigned I tackled it.  I figured I was going to have to do it anyway, so I could put it off and stress it for a few weeks, or I could get it done.

The other factor that helped me get through school is I was getting a degree in something I really liked.  I enjoyed most (not all, a few were terribly boring) of my classes.  And I knew if I could get school out of the way as quickly as possible I would be able to do what I enjoyed which is being a counselor.


So now my vegetables are eaten and it's time for me to get to the mashed potatoes.  But first I must wear the incredibly flattering cap and gown and wait for my name to be called to be handed a piece of paper that isn't really my diploma. 

And being a master's graduate I also get to wear this cool cape. 

Perhaps I get super powers with that fake diploma piece of paper thingy.  Hmmm...what super power would I like to have?  I wonder if I get to choose.

Jumpers and Runners and Swimmers Oh My!

Maybe you have noticed, (or maybe you have not because you have been distracted like I have been), but I have not posted in over a week.  I have been distracted by this little thing on TV called the Olympics. 

We never watch TV, but my wonderful husband figured out how to adjust the antenna just right so I could watch the summer Olympics.  Santa Claus brought us this awesome TV last Christmas, but we have never watched TV on it, only movies so we had to figure all that out.  For a little bit I thought my husband was going to have to stand holding the antenna for me for the the next two weeks. 

But lucky for him he figured out a way for me to be able to see the Olympics and and he could sit beside me.

I was wondering why I loved the Olympics so much.  I hate watching sports.  Any sport.  But I love seeing people win and cheering for the Americans or anyone else I feel like cheering for at the moment.  And the Olympics provides me with that in nice short segments so I don't get too bored.  In fact I get frustrated when they show the entire water polo match.  Just give me the highlights please.

I think my favorite is track and field.  I love it because there are so many short contests.  I can watch a race that takes 10 seconds.  I love that.  And then it switches to hurdles or jumping or throwing.  They are always doing something different. 

I really want to see more events though.  Because I do not pay for my TV programming, all I get is the actual NBC station.  So I get to see swimming, track and field, gymnastics, water polo, and volleyball.  Every once in a while if I'm lucky I get to see a snippet of kayaking or something else.  But I'll take it and be happy with it.  Although if the truth be told I am sick of swimming :-)  Unless it were to be synchronized swimming, I would like to see that.

The other day they were showing a segment on some gymnast (sorry I don't remember who) and stating he had crawled up to the ceiling in a department store when he was little (Too bad youtube wasn't around then...I would love to see that video)  so his mom put him in gymnastics.  I started to wonder, how many athletes in the Olympics have ADHD?  I know Michael Phelps does.  And I was guessing that gymnast might as well.  I got to thinking, kids with ADHD tend to have a lot of energy so their parents might be more likely to put them into sports at a young age.  Exercise is great for people with ADHD so that might contribute as well.  And if a person with ADHD loves something they are able to hyper-focus on it.  I'm thinking the Olympics might be the perfect storm for ADHDness. 

I really want to attend the Olympics in Rio.  How about I be a counselor to the athletes.  If they are ADHD they might really need my specialized counseling.  Right?



We were trying to come up with new Olympic sports the other day.  Like why don't we see who can hold their breath under the water the longest? 

Or speed tree climbing. 

How about an event I could participate in like crochet racing. 

I want to hear your ideas for Olympic games they should include next time around.  But I just heard pole vaulting might be coming up next so I gotta run!!