Unusual inspiration

Sometimes inspiration for writing comes in the most strange and unexpected ways.  And at the most strange and unexpected locations.  This morning I was trying to find something to write about and I tried several different starts without success.  There are a bunch of drafts stored on our blog from my futile writing this morning.  Anyhow, I tried writing about how I am turning from an early bird to a night owl.  It didn't work.  Then I tried writing about running which usually goes well for me, but surprisingly it flopped too.  I tried writing about winter, sports, friends, religion, traffic and they all failed.  So I turned the computer off and cleaned up the house in preparation for our new refrigerator and a visit from the plumbers to determine why we don't get hot water in the kitchen sink or the downstairs shower.  Then we headed to McDonalds to our rendevous to pick up Aven and as the kids started playing I was inspired. 

I don't care how many germs are harbored on these playland surfaces or how disgusting some claim playlands to be; McDonald playlands are still priceless to me!  I know these playlands get all kinds of bad press, but I am here to tell you they are great. If I am not mistaken, some crazy lady actually staged some kind of sit in trying to get one removed for its uncleanliness or something.  Well I am hoping that these little playlands are around for a very long time, at least until my kids have outgrow them, because they do have the best time playing here and I think that despite their bad reputation they are a great invention.  A wonderfully fun place for kids to be active, learn to play together with others and practice being creative.  And my kids have never gotten sick after spending an afternoon here.

Plus we got lunch for all of us for under ten dollars.  Now granted it is not the healthiest meal, but every once in awhile I don't think it is a bad thing.  Plus we smuggled in bananas to eat for dessert.

Anyhow, I am absolutely loving this time here.  I can relax while they play. Or I can play if I feel like it and they get so excited when I do that.  This is way better than watching any television show although last night I did spend about an hour watching a variety of different clips of shows (Jeff loves to channel surf).  We caught glimpses of Antiques Road Show, Two and  a Half Men and Mike and Molly.  I was just exhausted from running and dancing so as I half heartedly worked to unpack more boxes (which for the record seem to reproduce asexually because once I think I have finally finished more magically appear in our garage) and I saw Jeff relaxing on the couch, I decided to join the recliner in its mission to hold down the carpeting. I will admit this time with the recliner was just what I needed even though it did include television watching.

Vern Out  

Productive snoring

I never thought I would find myself describing snoring as productive, but today I would say it applies to my current state of affairs...So I am totally sitting on the bathroom floor at the City Flats Hotel wishing for a roommate of the non-snoring variety.  I just can't sleep when people snore so when the unfortunate snoring awoke me at five this morning, of course I took it as a sign from God that I should get my early morning run out of the way since the rest of the day is going to be spent at our retreat being filled by the words of God and then once I return home dealing with the fall out from being gone for the past 24 hours .  I suited up and hit the road.  I returned a few moments ago and the snoring has not improved if anything it has gotten louder.

To share the story of the run as I so oftentimes do, it went something like this:  First of all, I nearly went for the run at midnight; I've been wanting to do so since I started this silly streak, and someday I will but, all the Evergreen Ministries women were so much fun to hang out with that I didn't want to miss a minute.. I ended up playing games and chatting well after I turned into a pumpkin.  I literally fell asleep while midsentence in a conversation with my roomies.  When the snoring awoke me at five I decided to take advantage instead of getting mad so I used my indiglo Timex light to search for my running clothes. 

Once I found enough clothes that I felt I would effectively ward off frostbite, I headed to the bathroom. I once again used my watch to locate the toilet because the light switches here are not exactly normal and I can not for the life of me figure out how to turn the bathroom light on.maybe that is how this place maintains Gold level LEED standards; they just make anything that takes energy too complicated to use.  Once dressed and with an empty bladder I headed to the streets of Holland. Due to my uncanny ability to get lost, I stuck to eighth street and ran up and down it as far as I could in each direction.  I ran for 25 minutes and I am calling it 2.5 miles for the day since I was running at a pretty slow pace.  While running the only people awake and outdoors were the plow guys.  The plow guys working on the Pizza Hut parking lot hollered at me that it was "too cold to be out running!"  I just kept on running. I mean they did have a valid point, but given the snoring situation here at the hotel running in the wintery cold seemed preferable.  So this morning I can honestly say that snoring has made me more productive it is only 6AM and my run is done and I have published a post on my blog!

Here at the hotel no television has been used, but I fear that the homefront may be a different story.

Vern Out

Mom's going away!

I am super pumped for a Women's Religious Retreat that I am attending tonight with my best friend, Brandi!  We are staying at the City Flats Hotel in Holland and there is a dynamite line-up of speakers for us.  I can't wait for the fellowship and fun that it will undoubtedly bring.  Jeff is in charge of the kids for his first time (since we joined the world of 3), unassisted, overnight so we will see if everyone is still alive when I get home tomorrow!  Since Jeff is in charge, I am guessing that tonight and the better part of tomorrow will be spent in front of the television, but at least if everyone is safe I guess I can't complain too much.

Yesterday in order to get my running in I ran wind sprints up and down our road for 12 minutes while I waiting for Kara to get home on the bus.  This experience totally took me back to the high-school volleyball practices with my then best friend, Mandy.  We sure rocked those practices and Mandy you'd be proud of my running yesterday if you'd been there.  Too bad I didn't get to play pepper afterwards. Anyhow the wind springs took place in the middle of the snow storm so I am pretty sure my neighbors all suspect I'm crazy now too!  Oh well at least the streak is in tact!  I am up to 41 days of consecutive running!

Other than that I have no books to read right now, because our next book club book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, is apparently extremely coveted and incredibly popular right now and has 39 holds on it at our library and I couldn't find anything else that looked great right now.  It is probably just as well because this weekend is very busy and we still have a lot to do around the house.  Sunday we are throwing my new niece, Breslynn, a super cool baby shower at our house so hopefully Jeff and the kids don't do too much damage while I am gone.

Vern Out

Does anyone know a good lawyer?

The negotiations are getting tense on the notv homefront and I fear our marriage may be in jeopardy over the whole thing.  I am mostly kidding, but seriously it is getting pretty ugly.  I may have to consult with a lawyer so if you know a good one pass the name along.

The other night I arrived home late (with the kids) after doing a dance class to find Jeff watching television while working on various projects around the house which in and of itself is not such a big deal.  However, he had Two and a Half Men on and there happened to be a steamy bedroom scene unfolding as we sat down to our late dinner.  I shut it off immediately and he seemed irritated with me that I turned it off.  I was definitely irritated with him that he had such an inappropriate show on so early in the evening. 

I watched Water for Elephants last night with the bookclub girls.  We read it a few months ago and the book was much better than the movie which is pretty much always the case as far as I can tell.  We basically sat and picked the movie apart as far as not being up to the standards of the book.  Other than that and the few seconds of Two and Half Men that I caught on Monday night I have still been living television free and I am still running everyday as well.  Today was day 39 (I think. I will have to confirm when I get home.

Vern Out

Read, write, run and relax

I do realize it's 2012.  But I am going to keep writing on my 2011 blog because I have no idea how to make a new one and I don't have the time to research it and figure it all out.  Maybe someday I will, but right now I am just too busy.  If I do start a new one it will be after the house is all settled and I already have a name for it;  Read, write, run and relax!  That is basically all that I do these days and lately I have not done nearly enough relaxing, but with my sweet bath tub I hope to relax soon.

 Anyhow, one serious omission that I had back when I decided what 2012 would be all about was my writing.  In 2012 I am going to make it my mission in life to continue writing and to seriously work on getting my book published.  Please keep me and my writing in your prayers.

Jeff and I are still busy negotiating the terms of television use in our house now that the year of NOTV is technically over, but to be honest, we may need to involve an arbitrator because it's not going so well.  This weekend with football playoffs on it was easy to follow the old rules so that is what we did, but I do realize this is not a long term sustainable solution.

Anyhow, I am now reading my second book of the year, "Black Heels To Tractor Wheels" by Ree Drummond.  It is a fun, easy and very romantic read. I am really enjoying it.  All of you ladies out there should check this one out!  I also still read to the kids a lot, but tonight they didn't get any books before bed because we were too busy on the fashion runway!

Tonight Kara and I held a fashion show.  It was her idea, but I did go along with it.  I was her model and she was in charge.  That girl loves to be in charge! If she is not a CEO or President of something someday I will be surprised.  She is so the first born stereotype.  I was a good sport. As a middle child, myself, I have always been good at being a good sport. 

I actually wore each dress in my closet, all eleven of them and paraded around our new house like a Victoria's Secret model.  Okay maybe not, but I did act like a pro. The line-up even included my wedding dress.  Each time I put on a new dress Kara had to do an announcement for the crowd (consisting of AJ, Hazel and Dad) about the wardrobe and the model (mom).  Then I had to dance around the room showing off the dress.  I am not really a girly girl, but I tried hard. And sometimes effort is everything!  The good news with all of that was that my dresses are all slightly loose on me!!!  All of the running I have been doing must be paying off after all!  Praise God!  My work is not futile.  Stan and I hit the trail again tonight for day 36 of my running streak. We enjoyed the incredible full wolf moon that is out there and spent about forty minutes wandering on the trails out back!!

I am heading off to get in some relaxing before bed!

Vern Out

Hanging Tough

So far so good...My plan to read, write, run and relax (in my sweet new bath tub) my way through the year seems to be going smashingly well!  I really am blessed to have this nice new home, great friends and family and a growing relationship with God.  I thank Him each day for all of this and for a recent television watching moment that I enjoyed so much. 

The recent MSU Spartan victory in triple over time at the Outback Bowl was INCREDIBLE.  That is one moment in television history that I am certainly glad to have witnessed firsthand.  However, the watching of the MSU game is the only television watching I have done in 2012 (other than the tail end of the Lions game which was a sad one and which I could have definitely lived without). 

We have been too busy packing, moving, unpacking, cleaning, and otherwise playing house to watch much television of late, even sports.  Technically the NOTV deal ended when the clock struck midnight on New Year's Day; I guess the whole thing turned into a pumpkin or something like that. But I have decided to adopt my personal habits as permanent ones so during the day the TV is off. So far the kids have not raised the question about television (fortunately I don't think they understand the concept of a year) so it has been relatively easy to continue living TV free; I have not reached a point where I feel acceptable turning on Ellen so I have not spoiled myself that way...yet.  Maybe by March or April I will have the house together enough to splurge on an episode although I am not entirely sure how to operate our television anymore.  Details, details.  I just hope the kids don't figure out years or that 2012 is a New Year anytime soon because that would make my continued NOTV life much more difficult.

On the reading front, I just read my first book of this year entitled "If I can't be at your feet".  It is a great easy read and for any dog lovers out there you MUST get this and read it.  Also notable about this one is that the author is a local Fruitport resident and her son goes to school with Kara.  It really is a small world.  You can pick a copy up at Orchard Market stores if you are interested.  Next week is book club where we will finally discuss Thornbirds.  It seems like an entire lifetime ago since I read that.  When it comes to writing, I am trying really hard to work on my book stuff more, but I am struggling right now.

Anyhow, I am still running everyday, God willing, until at least April and it does make me feel really great to hit the trail even in this cold, snowy weather.   As an added benefit Stan is LOVING it and I am sure he benefits from the exercise as much as I do.  I take him with me each night and we head out on the trails behind our house.  I must look really bizarre because I have a head lamp on, various out dated pieces of winter clothing, none of which match whatsoever and I run when everyone else is heading to bed.

So I am in the wise words of the New Kids on the Block, "hangin' tough" with NOTV, lots of running, reading and writing.  Hopefully soon I will get in some more relaxing in my sweet tub although with all the work involved with moving to the new house I am not sure this will be the case.

Vern Out

I'm going streaking!

I may have to reconsider this whole streaking thing at least in the naked sense of the word.  Maybe running around naked would be fun?  I ran tonight in an oversized carhart with a headlamp strapped to my head, no IPOD and our faithful dog, Stan, by my side and that was so much fun. So maybe running stark naked would be fun too.  Not during a snowstorm of course, but maybe on a hot summer's evening it would be invigorating. I don't know though; the way I see it, there are two things I can't get passed with the whole running around naked thing; first I just don't look that great naked and secondly my new next door neighbors are my in-laws so I would have to do so elsewhere and that just seems to add a lot of logistical difficulty to the whole thing.  It makes it rather complicated.  Anyhow, just some food for thought about the other kind of streaking, now about the real streaking I have been doing lately.  Now for the good stuff!

If it weren't for the nonstop football on television today, I would have no idea what day of the week it is. Life has been so completely frazzling-so incredibly busy- the past few days that not only do I not know which way is up, I also have no idea where the toilet paper is, but I do have a kiddie potty residing in my living room. Without toilet paper, I have no idea what I would do if a Kiddie decided to use it, but it is there nonetheless. The point to all of this is when life gets so busy it is easy to lose sight of other priorities because you become consumed by the here and now, by the current crisis.  I nearly succumbed to this a couple times this weekend in regards to my running streak commitment, but I didn't and the streak is ALIVE! 

Friday I planned to run first thing in the morning, but sometimes plans don't go as planned and before I knew it the day had flown by and it was nearly dark out, I hadn't run and we were expected at a party in less than two hours.  I decided after much consideration to just go and run 2 miles, the minimum according to my little running streak rules.  So if you happened to be driving down M-104 or 130th around dusk Friday night you may have been witness to what you perceived to be a crazy lady out running in the wind, rain and mud during crazy rush hour traffic that was me.  If not, I am glad you didn't see me in that moment of craziness.  It was pretty ugly.

Saturday I had a plan to run with a bunch of my running buddies and this time the plan did go as planned!  It was splendid!  Before Jeff showed up with the moving van at nine, I had already logged 5 miles in Grand Haven and drank a cup of celebratory coffee with friends.  Sunday, oh wait that's today, was a different story.  Yes today was another story, another plan gone awry.  I was supposed to run the Sargeant Preston 6 mile run in Muskegon this morning, I even registered and paid for it a couple months ago. But when the big move finally happened this weekend instead of in November like we had "planned", it didn't work out for me to leave home to run.  I was completely disappointed to miss it, but still completely thrilled to finally be in our new home.  All day long I kept thinking, if I miss running today I have to start over at zero.  This line of thought ate at me all day long. Seriously I could think of little else.  When Jeff insisted I go bring a load of stuff from the old house here, I saw an opportunity to squeeze in a run.  Finally at 6:30 tonight in the pitch black darkness that fills the forest separating our old home from the new one, I ran what I figure to be roughly 2 miles of the Brainy Day trail during this blessed storm that is blowing around out there.   And the streak is alive.

Tomorrow I plan to return to the Aquatic Center for a run in the morning.  I realize it is really snowy, but I don't mind the snow for running.  I just hope the weather doesn't get in the way of my plan, but if it does I am sure I can think of some way to fit in a short run. 

Happy New Year and if you are still wondering about the television.  We are sticking with business as usual (that is NOTV 2011 rules) for the short term until we can reach an agreement about how to properly use our television which means that today the telly was on a lot because there were a bunch of football games on.

Vern Out