This and That

I have not been blogging for awhile because I feel as if I have nothing to say. My blog mostly revolves around running and I am still on the no running plan. In bullet style here is a list of what has been going on in my life.

• We went to Kansas for Christmas to visit my mom and dad, and my sister and her family. It was a long car ride but we had great weather and the girls were wonderful.
• Both sets of grandparents totally spoiled my kids - but they are worth it.
• The girls were wonderful while we were in Kansas and now I know they can be perfect little girls.
• I am still dealing with plantar fisciitis and right now I am at 2 months with no running and my problem is now is that I am gaining a few pounds. I gotta get running again.
• While we were in Kansas my mom took me to a store called Ideal Feet . Their inserts are suppose to fix my plantar fisciitis. They will also fix back pain, low arches, high arches and what ever else bothers you. They claim that after walking in their inserts for 7 minutes you will be pain free. Well I am not pain free but I am using the inserts and right now I do not have an opinion if they will work or not but I will give them a try.
• Also, in regards to the plantar fisciitis I also cannot go cross country skiing. I have tried this twice and each time I am sore for a couple of days. This really bums me out because I was hoping this winter since I am not running I could at least cross country ski.
• I am still doing yoga and love it. I am ready to get back into it since I was out of town for a few days.
• It started snowing at 7am this morning and now we have about 6 to 8 inches of snow. And all I can think about it I want to go cross country skiining.
• This year I signed on for Tall Mom's 1000 Mile Running Club. I came up short. My last day of running was October 22nd and my year to date mileage was 552.65. Now Tall Mom is going to challenge everyone to run 1100 miles in 2011 - see what is going on. In 2012 it will be 1200 miles! I think that once I get ready to start running again I will have to set a goal for myself maybe 600 or more in 2011. We will see.

That is all that I can think of. What has been going on in your life?

Giveaway from Crayola

Head on over to Amy's Finer Things for a AWESOME giveaway from Crayola. Also, take the time to check out her blog because it is a great one and I love reading it.

Mikaya's Adventure

In our small town every winter a very large (2 or 3 story) tree is put in the middle of the street for Christmas. It is decorated with lights and with ornaments that the elementary school kids make. One child from each class is chosen to go downtown, go up in the cherry picker, and hang their class's ornament on the Christmas tree. Mikayla was chosen to do so.

She was so excited! I was worried that she might freak out while being up so high but she didn't. She could only see out of the cherry picker if she stood on her tip toes and looked over.

Here she is waiting to go up.

Climbing into the bucket.

They won't take her very high, right?

I can't believe they took her all the way up there! She was up at least 20 feet high.

She had a blast and loved every minute of it. That night we then headed downtown for the light festival and the lighting of the tree. We all had a blast.

I'm Still Here

Sorry I have not blogging lately. I just feel as if I have nothing to say since I am not running right now. I am still dealing with a lot of heel pain and waitressing has also been causing me TONS of pain. Lately, the heel pain has hurt so much I have decided to quit waitressing. Hopefully by not running and not waitressing the pain will go away. If the pain is still bothering me in about a month I will be calling the doctor.

Also, by quitting waitressing I will be able to spend more time with Lily as well as Mikayla on her Christmas vacation. Maybe I will spend a day with her in kindergarten.

I have been trying to swim more as well as lift weights and I also started yoga again. I have forgotten how much I love yoga. The teacher that I have gone to for years pushes me exactly how I want to be pushed. In her classes she really makes you work. I have taken yoga classes that have been too easy on me and more stretching rather than a a workout as well and I have never enjoyed those classes. I like a teacher who pushes me.

On Saturday we headed up to Crested Butte so Joe and Mikayla could go skiing. Mikayla really started skiing last year and we want her to keep it up. Luckily, 6 and under ski free so that means she is free this year and next. We just have to rent her skis for the season and her skis are nowhere as much as an adult ski.

While Mikayla and Daddy did a ski run Lily stayed with me and had a blast playing in the snow. That is until her gloves were soaked and wet.

Tom's of Maine Wicked Fresh Toothpaste

I am a Bzz Agent and that means that I get to try out new products. Recently I was sent Tom's of Maine Wicked Fresh Toothpaste in Cool Peppermint.

Tom's of Maine Wicked Fresh Toothpaste comes in Cool Peppermint and Spearmint Ice flavors. It contains fluoride to fight cavities. It does not contain any alcohol or artificial ingredients.

I LOVE it. It is so fresh tasting and it keeps my mouth feeling fresh for a very long time. I work in a dental office so I get to try many different kinds of toothpaste and so far this is my favorite. I love how good my mouth feels after brushing my teeth.

I would recommend everyone checking this out. It you do not find it in the toothpaste aisle look around and see if there is a natural section. My grocery store has an area with organic and natural personal care products and that is where all of the Tom's of Maine products are found.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Taking Time Off - Plantar Fasciitis

For a very long time I have been dealing with what I am assuming is plantar fasciitis. When I say a long time I really mean almost 2 years. By dealing with it I really mean ignoring it. I have stopped running for about a month, in the past, to try and get it to heal but that did not work and it was probablly because the shoes I was wearing were sandels and basically they were like wearing no shoes at all.

Now I am going to get more serious about it. I am going to stop running for a month and I have not run in about 12 days. I am stretching my heel and icing it at night. I have also noticed that waitressing is not helping and in fact on the days I waitress it bothers me a lot during the day. But since we really need the money I cannot stop waitessing. If resting my foot by not running, icing and stretching do not help I think I will have to go see a doctor and get serious about this.

Let's hope that a month of rest, ice and stretching will help it go away.

Curtis Stone's 100 Calories Cupcakes

I posted a blog post on Curtis Stone's 100 Calorie Cupcakes over on my food blog. Check it out.

Pumpkin Pickin'

Saturday we headed down to Devries' Buffalo Ranch in Montrose, Colorado to pick pumpkins. We did this last year and had a blast. They have a HUGE corn maze that you would get lost without a map. It took us 30 minutes to get through the whole thing and we were moving quickly and using the map so we would not get lost.

We went down with friends of ours who has a son 6 months younger than Lily. Sam and Lily have been forced to be friends since they were born because his mom and I are best friends. They even got to the same daycare.

Lydia is Sheri's daughter and she is 3 years older than Mikayla but they get along great.


At the Buffalo Ranch they were Chuckin' Pumpkin's. So there was a lot more going on than normal. They had a bouncy house that the kids loved playing in.



Overall this was a great weekend with lots of family fun time. I had a blast and since my birthday was on a Friday it seemed like a birthday weekend.
Saturday we headed down to Montrose to go pumpkin pickin'

Birthday

Friday, October 15th was my 32nd birthday. Our babysitter is out of town, Mikayla was on mid-fall break and the dentist I work for was out of town so I had the day off. We decided to hike Old Monarch Pass. We have passed the turn of to this road many times but have never taken it.

We were just getting ready to go up Monarch Pass (the paved one) and Lily had just fallen asleep. We decided to go and see a town called White Pine in order to give Lily time to sleep in the car. Also, during our little detour we saw where Old Monarch Pass comes out. Instead of starting it on the other side on Monarch Pass we decided to start up Old Monarch Pass from the west side. The road was great. There is logging on the road so it is narrow but well kept. The drive up was beautiful. Lily woke up shortly before we started up Old Monarch Pass and kept giving me dirty looks like she was going to scream and demand to get out of her car seat but she wasn't fussing so we kept going.
We were up so high you could see Tomich Dome and the snow covered San Juans.

The Continental Divide Trail crosses the top of Old Monarch Pass so we decided to hike a little bit of it. After all we came up here to go hiking.


You might be wondering what Lily is wearing. Earlier I mentioned Lily giving me dirty looks in the car. Well, she was getting car sick and eventually she threw up everywhere! Oh boy - I told Joe to stop the truck and we got out. I am just looking at Lily thinking - I don't want to touch her - it is everywhere! Then Joe's cell phone started ringing with work calls. The only place the last 30 miles where he could get cell reception and I had a sick kid - what are the odds?

I finally pulled Lily out of her car seat and stripped her down right in the middle of the road. Good thing there was no other cars. Lily is recently potty trained and therefore I had no spare clothes, no wipes or anything so I cleaned her up the best I could then I gave her my sweater to wear because it was cold up there.



We found snow up in the high country and the girls enjoyed playing with the early season snow.






The paved road is the current Monarch Pass.


As much as I complain about living in Gunnison I gotta admit most people would be showing these pictures as their vacation pictures and just another day in our lives. I had a wonderful birthday. After our adventures we went out for a couple of birthday drinks and appetizers with friends and then they came over for a birthday brownie sunday.

Time to get back in the game.

Well, August and September were tough months but now I am moving forward. I lost a few pounds in August and September due to stress but now those pounds have come back. I also have not been sleeping well so it is time to start working out again. Normally at this point I go overboard which lasts a day or two and then I give up but not this time. My goals for this week are going to be the following:

1 - Monday, Wednesday and Friday get up at 5:30 am and do a weight workout.
2 - Monday, Wednesday and Friday go for a run during my lunch break.

At my old job I use to run almost everyday during my lunch break because I had a full hour and I was excepted to use my lunch hour unless I was super busy. Now at the dentist office it depends on our schedule but I normally get 45 minutes or so. I do miss running so it is time to get back in the game.

You know you need a break and need to read something funny.

Thank you sooo much Brilliance Wasted for leading me to this link.

We all need a break and we all need to read something that will leave you laughing outloud. I just wish I was the only one in the room and the dentist was not sitting less than 10 feet away so I could laugh louder! Go ahead and click the link - it will leave you laughing.

Things I do NOT do:

I got this idea from Kristen at Green Style Mom. I work two jobs, I am a mommy, I am a wife, I am a runner but there is still a list of "mom" type things that I do not do and that I do not feel guilty about.

1 - Scrapbook. My mom gave me a scrap book of Lily - she started it and expected me to finish it. Did this ever happen? Nope! Hey mom an idea for Christmas would be for me to mail this book back to you and have you finish it - ok?

2 - Bargain shop. Living in a small town without a lot of options leaves no options for bargain shopping. I do hit the local second hand store for the kids so does that count?

3 - Clip coupons. I have noticed that coupons are for name brand products and if I am only saving 35 cents my money is better spent on the generic brand instead.

4 - PTA

5 - Sew cute clothing for my children. This will never happen. My mom (sorry mom) forced me to learn to sew and I hated it. I do wish I had a sewing machine to fix a few small things but I really don't even want to try.

6 - Hand make everything in my home.

7 - Decorate extensively for any holiday.

8 - Iron. I do have an iron and an ironing board and if you want something ironed you have to do it yourself. The dryer works pretty good on getting out wrinkles anyway.

9 - Send cards.

10 - Comment on every blog post I read. I try to comment but if I don't have anything to say I don't.

11 - Make salad dressing. This is Joe's department and sometimes he does and sometimes he does not.

12 - Mow the lawn. Joe's job.

13 - Cook Dinner. This is Joe's job as well. He is so much better at this than I am and he enjoys it. Unless I am planning a big meal this is a task I would rather pass on.


What do you NOT do and do NOT feel guilty about?

Nurse

If I had the money I would like to quit my job and go back to school and become a nurse. Well, yesterday I had second thoughts about that yesterday at work.

I am now an office manager for a local dental office. I really enjoy my job and everyone I work with. Part of my job description is helping the dentist when everyone else is busy. Yesterday we had an emergency scheduled and we had to pull two teeth. Yesterday was my turn to turn to help out. I was helping and watching all of this going on and I almost passed out! I think it was watching the tooth being pulled out but it was not that gross or anything but still I came close to passing out. I walked out of the room and the other girl saw me and said that I was white as a sheet.

The dentist finished without me and later when we talked about it he said he would give me another chance which is what I wanted. Let's hope next time this does not happen!

For all of you in the medical world has then happened to you?

Stuck in a Rut

I have not been blogging much lately because I have not been running. I am not interested in running lately. During the last 8 weeks of stress I have dropped a few pounds - yea! But I cannot seem to get my head into the running mode.

Soon I will return to running and blogging much more regularly. I will try to post something at least once a week over the next few weeks but it might be mostly family stuff. I tend to be on facebook a bit more now that I am not blogging as much. You can always follow me on facebook - just find me I am Tiffany Ziegenhorn O'Connell. If you want to be my friend on facebook look me up and send me a quick note as to you who are - "I follow your blog" works just fine.

Homemade Applesauce

Check out my food blog here for an easy homemade applesauce recipe.

Awesome Giveaway

Check out Tall Mom's Blog here for a super awesome giveaway! It is worth your time to check it out!

Question - Help Me Please

This is a question for anyone in a hiring position in corporate America.

Should resume's be one page or two?

When I first started creating a resume the standard was one page but now it seems as if it is moving to two pages. I have been under the assumption that two pages in just fine but today at work I was involved in a debate where this person was always instructed to throw away resumes if they were more than one page. So what do you think - 1 or 2?

I'm Back and Boy What a Month

So the last 6 weeks have had its up and downs. It all started at the beginning of August when my hubby left his full time and his full monthly paycheck job and took a commissions only position with another real estate company in town running the property management side of things. I was worried about finances but since our house was under contract I figured we could make it work since I was making good money at a local law office as a paralegal. On the upside of this move my hubby is much happier and really enjoys the people who he works with.

Then a couple of weeks later I was let go at the law office. Things have been really slow the last few months and I made the most money of the three office girls so the attorneys decided to let me go. Now I was really worried and I felt awful. I really enjoyed my job at the attorney's office and I really enjoyed who I worked for. It was an awful blow and I was miserable. Gunnison does not have a lot of available jobs since we are such a small town and nothing available close to what I was making.

During all of this time the contract on the house was moving along smoothly. We thought about moving to Boulder and even went to Boulder to look around. Ultimately we decided to stay in Gunnison since we had to decide NOW and we had no jobs in Boulder. After we made that decision we both felt as if we had a huge weight lifted off of our chests. Maybe we just belong in Gunnison - after all we have been in this valley for 13 years. One more year of living in the Gunnison valley and I will be able to say that I have lived here longer than Kansas.

So I have been unemployed for about 3 weeks. Thankfully my parents helped us out because we needed to pay money to close on the house - not much but with neither of us working it was too much for us to handle. I started waitressing at a local restaurant where the normal tip is 10 or 15%. I have a little trouble with this because I have always been a standard 20% tipper because I know how hard waitresses work - I knew this even before I became one. Oh well, it is a job that is needed.

On Thursday of last week I interviewed for a great position with the ski resort in Crested Butte. I would love that job, but the only or biggest downfall is the drive. This is a problem since we only have one car but I could probably make things work and the pay is what I am looking for. Also, on last Thursday a office manager type position was opened in a local dental office where I knew all of the staff except for the dentist. His dental assistant and hygienist are the nicest people you could find. I interviewed with him and he hired me. It is about $4 a hour less than I was making at the attorney's office and not quite full time but I am able to waitress two lunch shifts a week and a shift on the weekends.

So I was hoping once the house sold finances would be much better but they are starting to look like they are going to be just as tight as they where. But I am still looking for work and we will do our best to make things work out. We have rented a very nice 3 bedroom rental. I also love living in town where I hardly drive. I would rather ride my bike everywhere and everywhere is less than five minutes on a bike - PERFECT! I can even run home on much lunch break and take Sky for a run with me and still have time to get back to work. The only downfall of where we are renting in not having a fenced in yard but at the same time I have been taking the dogs for lots of walks. Exercise for me and with waitressing and a stressful and busy past few weeks I have lost almost 5 pounds.

Back in a Little While

I have not blogged in a while now. I have a lot of stuff going on and I am not ready to discuss it. Let's just say that I am hoping September is a much better month. I will be back when I am ready to talk.

Major Freak Out

Today before lunch I went to start up my Garmin and it would not come up. It was dead and nothing would make it turn on. I even put it on the charger and it would not come up. I started really freaking out. I run much slower without it and how on earth am I suppose to do a 16 mile long run this weekend without? If you follow me on facebook you will see the freakouts I dealt with earlier.

But I had my lunch hour and I was in my workout clothes so I was going to workout. I was not in the mindset to start running so I did about a 30 minute bike ride and then a 25 minute run. I was much calmer at the end of the workout. My sister told me to go to their website and look up warranty information. I did this and I found out who to re-set it and now I am back in business - yea! Thanks Sis! My husband did make the comment - Now I see where your priorities are in life!

The Garmin is now working, and it will be ready for my long run Sunday morning.

On the house front - let's just say I never want to sell a house again. This house has been so stressful. The appraiser screwed up and said it was worth about $15,000 less than it was under contract for so I started crying and freaking out and called the bank regarding a short sale just to get this deal done. Then we saw the appraisal and saw that he had the wrong sales price so we got that issue fixed. Today was suppose to be the big deadline deal but the buyer's do not have loan approval yet. So we extended the loan approval deadline for another week but we were also able to move up closing a week. So keep your fingers crossed that everything goes to plan. We have started to look for a house but not too hard yet. I have not started packing anything just de-cluttering and cleaning out cabinets.

Life in Colorado

Yep - It is that time of year. When I start complaining about the cold and it is only mid-August. I know a lot of you are dealing with a heat wave but you could just come to Gunnison and cool off. On my bike ride to work I was thinking gloves would be nice!

Changes, Changes, Changes

I have not blogged in a little while mostly because we have had or are having many changes in my house and I am still not quite sure what to think about them.

The first change is that my husband is no longer with his employer of the last 5 years. He has moved to a new real estate agency in town. This change was much needed and he is very happy with his new office. The downside of this change is that he went from a nice paycheck every month to commissions only. Money has always been tight but now it is tighter than ever.

We are selling our house. Our house has been on and off the market for the past few years. We would love to be able to stay in our house but we cannot afford it. The house is under contract. I have not blogged about the house being under contract before because I was waiting for us to pass inspection objection - and now we have done so. We have to fix some items with the roof but nothing that is too scary or that will cost too much money. I want to sell the house but I don't. It is too expensive but it is an old house with a huge beautiful lot on the water. When I really think about selling the house I think of all the memories it has in it. We have owned it for almost 6 years.

Here is a link to see pictures of our yard this spring when snow fell in May.

Here is a link to see some general pictures of our house and yard.

Here are some really pretty pictures of the yard that Joe put on realtor.com.

Yes the yard is big, beautiful and private but as we like to say we just bought our dreamhouse too early in life. One day again we will have a wonderful house and property.

I have slowly been running again. I want to do the Mountaire Marathon on September 19th here is Gunnison. I don't know if I can but I am gonna do it. I might have to take the next day off since I might not be able to walk! I did 14 miles yesterday and it felt good. The last 3 miles were tough but I "got er' done"! I have four weekends left so I am hoping to get in 2 more long runs, 16 miles and 20 miles and rest two of the weekends and then I am doing it. Wish me luck!

Morning Runner - I am not

Lately it has been pretty warm and humid during my lunch runs or I have been needing to use my lunch hour for other things. I have been getting up around 5 in the morning, having breakfast and then trying to head outside for a morning run. First I have to walk the first mile or so because of the morning pain in my heel (I know plantar fasciitis - but I am ignoring it until after my first marathon in September.) and then once I start running my head is just not in the game.

I have always wanted to be that runner who gets in a 10 mile run before work but that is just not going to be me. Oh well - it will be in my dreams.

Crested Butte Featured on MSN

Check out this link on MSN. It features a house for sale in Crested Butte, 30 minutes to the North of Gunnison and where I lived for about 5 years. I wish we could afford to live in Crested Butte instead of Gunnison because it is just beautiful up there and you are truly in the mountains.

I just get excited when ever my neck of the woods gets featured on things!

Running Update

I have now run 14 days straight. Today was my shortest run with 1.32 miles but I also have determined that I hate running in the morning. It is just not my thing. It takes me a good mile to get all of the aches and pains to go away and then I finally start enjoying it. I do enjoy the coolness of the day and the early morning feel to things though. I have always wanted to be that person who gets in 10 miles before work. I don't think that will ever happen, at least not until I do not have to be at work until 9 or 10 in the morning.

Even though it is hot right now I think I am going to walk in the mornings and really run at lunch.

Long Run on Lower Loop

Last Sunday we headed up to Crested Butte. I did my "long" run on the lower loop. It was a struggle to get it done and I should have taken the time to stop thinking about how bad I felt and to look around. Joe and the kids waited for me to finish at the bottom of Gunsight Pass where the trails ends up.



The girls had a blast playing in the river. They did good about not getting too wet until Lily lost her balance and sat down in the water!

I am so done!

Land of Make Believe - Vacation - Part 5

On Thursday we went to the Land of Make Believe in Hope, New Jersey. I really enjoyed the drive to the place because we took a lot of back roads and two lane highways to get there. It was beautiful. I never knew so many trees and farms existed in New Jersey. It was like being in Pennsylvania - well we practically were since PA was only a few miles away.

The Land of Make Believe is made for little kids. There is one section with a bunch of kiddy rides and another section with a pool, lazy river, and slides.

Here is my niece, Alexa.

Don't I have the cutest kids?

Mikayla loved riding all of the rides. This place was perfect for her.

My sister in law, Sue and Alexa.

My brother in law, Chris and Kyle.

Having fun in the pool.

Can you believe this lady gave birth to twins 18 months ago? She looks great!

Kyle - You gotta love his facial expressions and his "talking"

Mikayla was able to see Santa in July!

Lily wanted nothing to do with Santa.

When I saw this picture the first thing I thought was, Why is Sue holding Lily? Then I looked at the outfit and said to myself, that is not an outfit that Lily has. Oh wait - that is Alexa. It is those blue eyes.

Lily wanted to go on a ride but as soon as it started quickly decided that was the wrong decision.

Mikayla of course had a blast.

We had a great time at the Land of Make Believe and I see us going back next time we are in New Jersey.

That is my last post on New Jersey - it took me awhile to get all of them in. I am glad Joe took so many pictures because I am horrible at remembering the camera and then if I do remember it I forget to take pictures.