Apple, Lemon, Sunset & Flips

Last week was a do-over. Do you ever have those?  It was actually the month of January, the first month of 2012, where I kept thinking, "I am in the movie Groundhog Day".  The hope is with waking up everything is going to align and the goals for the day will get accomplished.  Or maybe the point I continued to face was, "Will they ever??".

Last week I had to go to Apple in Emeryville...5 times out of 7 days. Yep, no joke, for some reason my sweet MacBook wanted to go play again and again with his "Genius" friends at Apple.  So I let him, hung out at the Apple store and enjoyed some time chillin' in Emeryville.  While browsing through Barnes & Noble waiting for one appointment, I grabbed a stack of magazines including Sunset. Don't you ever peruse the pages in Sunset and envision having 5 different houses with gorgeous interior design, full of walls and angles that make you want to hug them? I do. I truly do, I look and close my eyes, dreaming that I can click my flips and hop into the pages to live in some of the coastal homes. Then I open my eyes and realize I don't, like I did when I was waiting for Apple.

Now with Apple it wasn't just the juggling to go there for hours at a time, but that our sweet little Lemon, aka our VW Pasaat Wagon, was in the shop again. We laugh how we are more used to not having her then we are to having two cars. We know we've paid for two cars, that we should have them parked in front of our house for when we need them, but for some reason little Lemon has enjoyed playing with her peers at German Auto a bit to much.  To the sound of one year of College tuition.  But she just decided to finally come home and is hopefully now fixed this time. We cross our fingers and sprinkled Pixie Dust throughout her when she returned. 

Each day I kept thinking, "This is it!  It will change today, I can feel it". Then I came to the realization for some reason that week was just stuck in a warp and there was no choice but to roll with it. What else can you do? If you whine ALL DAY you are annoying to everyone including yourself. If you complain every hour about things you can't control, you are wasting energy. Sure, it was a challenge but fun too. I had to race the clock walking like Jane Fonda pumping my arms and tucking my butt under to get E to school on time (2.5) miles away. It wasn't my norm running E to school since I'm post surgery, but I felt like I was a in a 1990's video and should have worn a sweatband and leg warmers.

I seriously had to downsize my to-do lists for the week since my time was "to be spent getting the computer ready for taxes". But in the upside down week, I was out of my own post surgery daily life of physical therapy and training day in, day out. I got to chill in Emeryville, hang out in Apple and people watch.  The opportunity to venture off the "island", oh H$&L to the yes, to go hang out with computer kids of all ages.  The reality that, "It's a great day if only one eighth of the errands got done. If walking E to preschool so she could be ON TIME and enjoying coffee while responding to 45 emails are the biggest feats of the day, it rocked".

For some reason these weeks have to happen; that reason is called Life. We ALL have weeks (and months) like mine. Everything you map out gets turned upside down, just like your kid pouring milk upside down on a freshly mopped floor. It happens and while frustrating you just gotta go with it, laugh, and ride the week out. If you don't laugh and get mad, it only makes it worse.  While I have great hope that February will bring only joyful perfection rollin' in love and daisies, I know if it doesn't I can just flip through Sunset Magazine and click my flips to escape.

Why to push it on Saturdays? Blog from single-parenting Saturday, April 23rd

At the Railroad Revival Tour- 

4.21.11

Today at spinning I nailed it. Truly, wanted to have my own ars handed to me and it was.  I pushed it, I made a choice to go outside my comfort zone, and I sweated like a pig.  I didn't care and it felt incredible.  What is interesting is how on my Saturday morning spin class, I have made a point to give it my all each week.  It is one of my last workouts of the weeks, and can set the tone for how I feel for the day.  Today, the class gave me a sense of challenge, determination and eagerness to make the most of my own day that started off crappy. Why, you ask? Because while each moment being "home out of the hospital" is great, being a single parent with Jack away and having two very spirited and determined girls can pull every ounce of my patience. And the reason is I try not to lose it best I can since there are reasons to lose it; E's huge tantrums or M's determination to not take cold medicine are not them.  But they do push my patience and limits.

Thus, it made me think. What is it that pushes your limits with your kids?  When do you realize you need a 20 minute quick run, to lock yourself in the basement, or to grab a glass of wine and sit on the back deck? What puts you over the edge?

On this element of challenge and determination, it is hard to be a fitness professional as others see it always easy to train and that workouts are easy for you. While working out and training is definitely my passion, and I have a high tolerance since I love it, there are still days when it is hard to be on no sleep and I have to make myself push through the first 10-20 minutes before I can stop. I don't allow myself to quit or complain as I know when I can really complain-when pushing my heart rate to the max and feeling like I will flop over with depletion. Truly though, every Mom has to juggle and every Mom has days and limits.  I think if we can all understand and pat each others' backs for efforts well done, instead of being quick to whine (or wine!), the long days would be a bit easier. Especially when you have your running shoes, iPod, and a sunset to run towards...