R&R

What a great relaxing week it has been so far! We arrived in Colorado last Tuesday, and have spent the week fishing, shooting, hiking, and just enjoying the fresh air outdoors.

We're headed back home to Texas tomorrow, which makes me a little sad. I didn't realize how much I missed Colorado until we got back here.

I have much to report, though! Hopefully I can spend part of or long drive home writing some posts! :)

Hurry up and wait

If there's one thing I've learned in my limited Army-mom experience, it's that "hurry up and wait" is common.

Baby girl's ship date just got pushed back to late July.

Hooah.

Warp speed!

Wow. I've let two full weeks go by again since posting any kind of update. Yet it seems like just yesterday.

I've been so busy, but I really just kind of want to stop time for a little bit.

My baby girl graduated from high school yesterday. It's so bitter sweet. She is my only child, and I'm SO proud of her, but in just a short three weeks, she will be shipping off to basic training, and will be gone for almost nine months.

The graduation ceremony was wonderful, the party afterward was precious time spent with family and friends.

I am feeling very blessed. <3 But also a little sad.

I have some gun related stuff to report too, so look for that soon!

5K Race Day Recap

What an amazing experience this was! It was really more about the people and the cause than the actual running of the race, but it was my first 5K!

Saturday was overcast and cool. The rain held off until after the race, but we got wet during the award ceremonies. It was a drizzle, not a downpour, so we stayed put until the awards were all handed out. I'm getting ahead of myself, though.

We arrived onsite at about 645AM to set up. We put up our team signs and our banner so that our other team members could find us. We handed out race packets, bib numbers and team t-shirts as our team members began arriving. Before long, we had an official looking team of walkers and runners. :)

Just before 8AM, everyone started crowding in at the starting line. And when I say crowd, I mean it. There were almost 2000 participants at this race! I am still in awe at how many people came out to support this cause.

At about 805, the race began, and I was quickly left behind by my daughter and my husband. LOL
My daughter wasn't letting anyone stop her, as she had a stern warning from her personal trainer that if she let my husband beat her to the finish line, she would get an ass kicking at her next training session. (Her trainer is ex-military, a Marine. I almost said ex-Marine - but once a Marine, always a Marine, right?) Anyway, she wasn't waiting for anyone.

My husband got caught up in the excitement of the race, and didn't even realize he'd left me behind. I didn't care though, I was just enjoying the experience of it all.
Unfortunately, about a mile down the course, I come across my husband - walking. Uh oh. So I fall into step beside him, and he tells me his knees are hurting pretty bad. He had double ACL reconstruction in late 2010, and he suffers from patellar tendonitis now, and he was hurting. I could see it on his face.
So I walk with him until he's ready to run some more. And then we run. For maybe 1/4 mile. And then we walk some more. See where this is going? The whole rest of the race was like that. LOL

But it gave us an opportunity to chat with some of our team members, as well as some of the other participants who were walking.

When we got to about the last 1/2 mile, my daughter showed back up to cheer us on, and we started running again. My husband took off again, leaving me behind, but my daughter ran with him across the finish line, and I was right behind them.

So we all finished the race, but our time sucked (51:32). Well, not all of us. My daughter finished in 34:19. She's not super happy with that, but I know she will run faster when there are drill sargeants yelling at her. LOL

I would have loved to have run the whole thing, but I was more concerned about being by my hubby's side at this one. There will be other races that I can run.

We did beat hubby's time/place from last year - which wasn't too tough, since last year he was just coming off chemo, and it was only a few months after his knee surgeries.

We're already talking about next year's race, as well as maybe traveling to run this same race in other cities. We made some great new friends, spent time with friends there to support us, and in general had a wonderful time. I wouldn't have done it any different. <3

A Word on Fitness

The GunDivas posted about the importance physical fitness, and it fits right in with the ass kicking I went through last night, so I figured I'd post about it too. :)

My main goal in working out was to prepare for a 5K event (happening this Saturday, yikes!) and see if I could add some weight and muscle mass. I've mentioned before that for years I have struggled with my weight, but in keeping it on rather than trying to lose. I'm only 5'2", so a comfortable weight for me would be 120. But for the longest time (due to an autoimmune condition) I would weigh in just shy of 100#. I hate the way I look at this weight, so I finally began to do something about it. 

I hear some of you ladies now "Oh what a tough problem to have" in your sweetest possible snarky voice. I've heard it MANY times before. Other people always tell me "Oh that will catch up with you someday and you'll have to fight like the rest of us to keep it off." I don't think so. I truly believe, that due to the autoimmune condition, it will always be a fight to keep the weight ON. So cardio and pumping iron, and eating healthy and often are keys for me.

Well I'm pleased to announce I finally surpassed 115#! And I'm starting to like the way I look - a huge accomplishment for someone that has struggled with self-image issues for....oh, ever!

I'm beginning to see muscle definition, and I feel stronger, and I can do more in everyday life than I was previously capable of doing. I have more endurance. 

I'm not sure how this will play into the 5K this weekend, since I crapped out on my training for that, but as long as I cross that finish line, I don't care how long it takes me to do it.

Now on to the ass kicking I went through yesterday. I've been working with a personal trainer, and last night was our last session for a while, so I guess she decided to torture me a little bit.

We did (and by "we" I mean "me" - she didn't do them with me LOL):

Seated Rows 
Shoulder press
Crunches on Stability Ball 
Chest Press 
Squats

Doesn't sound too bad, right? What if I said we did 4 sets? And that those 4 sets were 25 reps each?

I thought I was going to die, but it feels so freaking awesome to say "I just did 100 reps of five different exercises." Effectively, 500 reps, moving over 4500 pounds of weight in right at 40 minutes. 

Say WHAT?!? A year ago, I think this would have killed me. Six months ago, it would have seriously crippled me. Today? I feel fantastic!

It's good for my self-image. It puts me in a great mood. It's making me stronger.

But it will also give me more of a fighting chance against a bad guy should I ever need it. 

Believe me, that is not the least important point here, but I wanted to point out how physical fitness is important in many ways. :)

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

My daughter says some funny stuff. There isn't a day that goes by where she doesn't make me laugh.
Now that she's a "Soldier In Training" - there's a fair amount of cussing coming out of her mouth.
I've always told her "I don't care if you cuss, just don't cuss at me, and be mindful of whom you use that language around (teachers, grandparents, etc.) I'm not sure why, but I find it absolutely hilarious when she cusses. I mean, I literally laugh out loud.

One example. We were on our way home after a long drill weekend, and we stopped for refreshments at a fast food place. She ended up getting one of those ice cream mixed up things with m&m's in it.
As we're walking out the door to the car, she says:

Now I remember why I don't like these things. The m&m's bleed and I end up shitting rainbows like a unicorn.

I swear I laughed all the way home (a 30 minute drive).

But the army isn't only teaching her to cuss. She's learning useful things too! Like this weekend at drill.
She comes home and says "I learned how to search a detainee."
"Oh really?" I say. She says "Turn around I'll show you."

So I played along. She tells me to raise my arms out to my sides and she begins patting me down. She gets to my waist, where she locates my pocket knife. She says in a business like manner "Please remove that from your pocket and hand it to me." So I remove it from my pocket - only it's one of those that has open assist, and does it automatically when it catches on the inside of your pocket. So by the time I have it out and I say "You mean this?" (I should've spun around, but didn't think about it til just now - hey, I was in the middle of grilling steaks! LOL) she's telling her imaginary soldier buddies "She's got a knife!" and yelling "Get down on the ground!" in a low pitched voice like there's someone else there with us.
The whole thing had me laughing really hard, but then I realized, she had my knife in her hand. She flipped the blade closed, and stuck it in her pocket.

I had to get mean to get it back from her.


 Little twerp.


I need to enjoy these crazy moments while I can. She'll leave the nest soon. <3

Moving At the Speed of Life

Holy moly.....I can't believe it's been two weeks since I last posted. I guess now I get to play catch up again!

Life has been moving incredibly fast as of late. My daughter has just a few weeks of school left, and we're trying to wrap up Senior Year stuff - graduation announcements, invitations, party planning, etc. as well as a family vacation, and then getting her ready to ship to basic training.
PLUS, I'm more than a little overwhelmed with work at the moment.

Sadly, this equates to no range time and no training classes, but we did squeeze in a gun show. :)
And we brought home a new family member.

A 1934 Mosin Nagant. She's beautiful in every way, and with the bayonet attached, she's taller than me! Hubby promptly ordered a new stock for her, which looks nice, but I feel like he bastardized a piece of history. :(  Because I complained that I didn't even get to take pics of it, he put it back together the way it was when we brought it home, and told me to hurry the hell up. LOL
We haven't taken her out shooting yet, but I'm really hoping we get to soon. (Pics coming soon, before he gets tired of waiting and puts the new stock back on it.)

A little update on the holster front: I contacted Old Faithful about my ginormous holster, and lo and behold, my kit had come with the wrong size leather piece. What I received was 10" wide, which is for larger guns. What I should have received was a 9" wide piece, which is intended for smaller guns.
Thomas, the owner, communicated with me personally, and offered to send me the new, smaller piece of leather to see if that helped. It arrived in two days time! Great customer service, if you ask me. :)
Sadly, however, I haven't had an opportunity to swap out the leather pieces to even try it to see if it's better. It's high on my priority list though, and I might be able to get 'er done today and try it out.

Here's a little comparison of the two leather pieces. I'm not sure how much difference the smaller piece will make for me, but we'll see! If it isn't small enough, then I will be trimming it down and re-fashioning it into something even smaller.

I'm still eyeballing something like the Betty holster too....just need to make a decision and buy. :)