Accomplished!

Sadly, my major accomplishment wasn't one of my 40 goals by 40.  It was, however, one of my goals for 2015.

I completed a half-marathon.

I vacillate between being really freaking proud of myself, because 13 miles is a long way and 2 hours is a long time to run. and feeling like kind of a wimp because A)it was half a marathon not a full (kind of feels like that was a race invented for the not-quite good athlete) and B)I was not fast. I didn't take walk breaks, but I was not fast. Below 50% for my age.

But I did it, dang it!

So, because this is a blog, I get to indulge in some self-satisfying play-by-play.

Since this was, in fact my first race of any kind, ever (not recommended by the running magazines btw. But I couldn't bring myself to pay money, then drive several hours to run the basic equivalent of going from my door to the base gate and back. ) I decided to pick a set of pace runners and stick with them.  I figured I could do 2:30 easy so I found the 2;20 guys to push myself. (Side note, there were two of them, the guy was obviously a weight lifter who did NOT skip leg day. This guys calves were huge.) I'm glad I did. For one, the pace ended up being about what I could maintain over the distance, but if I had had to run an extra 10 minutes I don't know if I could have done it. In the beginning I wanted to go faster, but everything says don't sprint out the gate, find your pace and stick to it. So, I did.

Things I learned:

• Body Glide is awesome. Drizzly rain the whole time, 0 blisters anywhere. 
• Podcasts are great, so long as they are interesting. One came up in my list that was an interview with Ben Bernanke.  Very dull. Not good running. I can't actually remember what the last one I was listening to was. It was background noise to my brain convincing my legs to keep going. 
• Those people who hand out gatorade deserve medals.  They must have been freezing. But that stuff was a life saver. 
• If you are going to run in cool, cold, or chance of rain, bring something to wipe your nose.  They handed out soft swag caps at the start.  It became my hanky and I grateful for it. 
• Related, if there is a chance or rain, make sure to seal opening in your phone case. I forgot and ended up running with the case shoved up my sleeve. Still got some water under the cover. The phone is fine but it made using it a pain since the touch screen thought the water was a finger.
• If people are going to meet you and the end, have them figure out where they will park before they go do their thing. This was the one major bummer of the day. Jared and the kids wanted to meet me at the end, but we forgot that they have to close a bunch of roads for the race. There was NO parking near the finish line, and since we're not familiar with the area they couldn't find a way to get down there. (Had we been familiar with the area, we would have realized that the end only looked a long way from the beginning and there was a parking garage near the start that would have worked fine)  Also, we had gotten the kids up waaaay too early so poor Jared had been trying to keep super tired children happy all morning. It was cold and wet outside so the walk to and wait at the finish would have been miserable for all of them. Overall, I chalk that one up to rookie mistake. I was looking forward to happy kid faces when I got done and I missed them. Like I said though, they would have been wet and cold, so I don't know how happy those kid faces would have been.
• It really is a mental game. Around mile 9 I was ready for the rain to stop. Around 10 I wanted to be done, but at that point there's nothing to do to make it shorter, you just have to finish.  Miles 11-13 I was tired, and getting annoyed at still having to run when I was tired. But I just accepted that I was finishing the stupid thing so I better keep going. 

As for weather, it was wet and rainy and I stepped in puddles. It probably would have been a lot more pleasant had the bay not looked like this:

Oh, final finishing stats: 2:18:34 chip time (the chip that times when I cross the start, till when I cross the finish) for a 10:35 mile, (pretty much what my long runs have been) 34th for my age group. I finished 336th of 663. (I case you're wondering the first place finished did it it 1:15 with a 5:43 mile and is 31. When he passed us on the way back (an out and back course) he looked like he was in a whole lot of pain.)

Other cool things of note, I did meet my reading goal for the year. I finished book number 50 sometime last week (2 weeks ago?) and then finished two more long ones I've been working on earlier this week. I think I might get through another book or three before the year is out, but I'm not pushing myself.  I like Netflix too.

I am starting to think about what I want to accomplish next year. I'm thinking about books to read, physical goals, a scripture study plan, professional development and keeping my family close. 

I'm not sure I want to pursue another running goal right now (if I do another half it will be spring or fall when the weather might cooperate more.) I'd like to do some more over-all fitness and strength training, but my work out time is in the morning when I have a kiddo in tow. I hate parking him in front the TV while I work out and then shower. 

Oh, and the CPR course. It was yesterday, at the same time as the race.  I'll have to do that next year, I suppose. :)

Churchy stuff

It's really later than I should be up, but there are a couple of things swimming in my head I wanted to get out.

The scriptures sure are wonderful.  I haven't been great about getting up and reading them.  4-5 mornings a week instead of the 7 I should do. I blame sun not coming up until 7:30. Anyway. On days when I read with purpose I always find something to make me stop and think a little. Days when I don't read with a purpose (that is, on my phone in order to check it off my to-do list) I don't get much of anything. I'm learning that, for me anyway, I have to study the scriptures differently than I read other book. It has to be and event. I spend so much of my time reading thing, on the internet, leaning against the counter while the microwave boils water, whatever, that if I don't make it special, it doesn't register as something different. When I make it something special, then the Lord really is able to speak to me.

One of the things He has been telling me over and over for months and months is that I need to focus on my kids more. It is really hard. Partially because I have things to do. Partially because sometimes the games they play are just boring. But these are my heritage from the Lord and I need to treat them as the sacred trust they are.

So, I turned to technology.

I found an app called Forest. You set a timer and it plants a little graphic seedling. You now have to leave the app open until the timer runs out. If you take your phone away from that window before the timer is done, it kills the tree. Dumb psychology. But it works. I set a timer for 30 minutes with each of my kids. I don't think they know I do it. But then I play with with them. A few days ago I played cars and blocks and legos and puzzles and army men and clean up all in 30 minutes. Part of that time I was just handing my 2 year old blocks so he could stack them.  And he loved having me there.  I played dolls and colored with my 5 year old. And we had a lovely time.  The really amazing part was that when it was time to be done and move on to my next project, they were ok with it. Their little love buckets had been filled and they were willing to play by themselves, or even together, without me for a while.

It's still hard. It will take a while to soften my heart to the point where I look forward to princesses (not everything is about being pretty, Sweetheart!) but it's at least pointing me in the right direction.

Back in the Saddle

So, I took a month off from blogging. Not on purpose, I'm just a slacker like that.

I feel kind of stuck as far as these goals go. There are a few things that I can pick at, but not much that I can really dig my teeth into. That's really how life works.  The planning stage can be so exciting because you get to look at the big picture and see how cool things will be with the project is done.  But the actual building process is much less...fancy.  Kind of like how at a ground breaking ceremony a bunch of people in situationally-inappropriate clothing dig up a little dirt from a pile that was already turned over by a back hoe.  Sure it's nice to feel like you've officially started. But the workers are just wanting the pomp to be over so they can do the real work. And problems come up. Permits get delayed. Someone misunderstands directions. There's a storm in the Pacific Ocean that delays the steamer carrying that one brace that's on back order but HAS to be used to keep the roof up to code.

Such is my life right now.

I have done more looking into getting my teaching credential.  It looks like the best way to do this is A) go back to school to get a second bachelor's degree in Music Education (my original major before the whole mission-marriage-babies thing), or B) find a private school that is willing to hire me with out a teaching credential. If I do that there are ways to get a credential once you have been hired in a position. Total Catch-22. But backwards.

The bachelors will be the cleanest way to do things. But the best school is a 2 hour commute a way, and I still have two young kids at home.  Sure, it is do-able and we would find ways to make it work. But is it worth it?

I pretty much go in mental circles a couple of times a day trying to figure out the right thing to do.

I have been back to reading some books again, after a week or two of burn out.  Couple of good ones, couple of not so great ones.  Honestly nothing that I feel like I need to recommend to everyone.

I've been preparing for a half marathon next month.  I'm actually really proud of myself.  13 year old me couldn't run 2 laps around the track on run-the-mile day in gym without needing to puke.  Yesterday I ran 8.25, at a 10:15 mile.  It actually might have been a little faster, because I did need to stop and wait for some cross signals.  AND the wind was blowing in my face pretty hard through part of it. I tried to take some pictures of the the waves in the bay, but I taped over the openings in my phone so it wouldn't get rained on, so pictures were a no go.

On a side, those who recommended Body Glide THANK YOU. 8.25 miles in Washington not-sure-if-it's-really-going-to rain dampness and sweat and nary a chaff in sight.

Other life lesson from running I learned this week. I still don't like running on treadmills. Really don't. But when I run in the neighborhood, especially pushing a stroller, I settle into a very easy jogging pace. That pace has been steadily slowing down. This week my 2 year old asked to go to the gym instead of run in the stroller (he prefers to watch Daniel Tiger and play with toys rather than sit inert and chilly watching our streets go by). I gave in and set up a treadmill for myself. I was so bored I pushed myself faster than I have gone in ages just to get it over with sooner.  I can't be sure, but I think that greatly contributed to a much faster pace on this week's 8 mile run than on last week's 7 mile run.

So, life lesson: the things you hate might be the ones you need to help you grow the fastest.

I was trying to find something new that I can work on this week. Still want to get in touch with UW to figure out exactly what I need to do to start school there. (I looked into a closer private school, but tuition was insane.)

As I looked through my original list I found it: my CPR training. I'm sure I can find one Saturday to take care of that, right?

OK. Here's what I'm looking at for the week:

1. Call UW and discuss options/requirements
2. Continue training for Half Marathon
3. Sign up for CPR training. 
4. Finish books currently check out from the library. I have three right now. One paper, one ebook and one audio book.  A good audio book makes runs easier.

Yee-Ha.

About the only thing I'm checking off my list week.

Soooo, I haven't wanted to be productive this week. This is the point in goal reaching where I usually decide I don't really care about this stuff after all.

Working is hard. Working toward things is hard. I don't want to do hard things right now. I want to be left alone to watch TV and eat junk food for a few days.  Not that that will make me feel more like being productive, but that's what I want.

Why is it that the things I used to do for relaxation have become have-tos instead of get-tos?  I read for relaxation most of the time. But trying to keep caught up with my reading goals has turned it into something I have to get done, not something that I'm doing because I want to. Running can be very cleansing and cathartic, but when I've set a goal to run so-many miles it becomes something I need to do, not something for me time. Flute playing is fun. But when I set a goal to do it a certain number of times I feel like a failure when I don't do it.

I need to give myself some more space.

Cut myself some slack.

Remember that I set these goals to keep me from wasting time and help me feel better.

I think I need to give myself more time with less input. Unplug, as it were. I like listening to podcasts when I run, and I like the podcasts I listen to. But maybe a run without headphones would be good for me. I also tend to put Netflix on while I clean. It gives me something more interesting to pay attention to than moping and wiping counters. I wonder if doing it without Netflix would let me get it done faster and have more time when I feel like I'm actually relaxing, instead of just putting off cleaning.

I guess I haven't really spent much time with myself lately. Has anyone noticed how much we seem to hate being alone with our thoughts now? As soon as we don't have active input from other sources, (people, situations, or media) we find ways to get input. We crave it. We hate being left alone to just think about things. When I was newly married I was put in the Young Women's organization at church (cause that's just where they put newly weds...). I mentioned how one time I was driving back to school in Rexburg, ID from my parent's house in Orem, UT. and I got a prompting to turn off the music. It was a strange thing. But I did it. FOUR HOURS I drove, just me and my thoughts. It was one of the most cleansing drives of my life. My young womens' jaws dropped.  I totally got why that was a foreign concept. But I think we need to do it more often. I think the Spirit might have a hard time speaking to us when we are constantly seeking out something else to listen to.

Conference is coming up next week. (Read about what that is here.)Because of family matters I didn't get to listen to any of last conference live and I kind of felt the loss. We had Stake Conference last week. It was good, but I was somewhat distracted and didn't get as much out of it as I might have. Today N had a nursery-prohibitive cold (nothing bad, just didn't want to spread it around the ward) so I stayed home from church with him. I think I'm feeling a little spiritually drained. I need to refill my lamp. I want to make sure I get something worth while out of Conference.  I want to feel lifted up and be given that wonderful desire to repent. I had a great companion on my mission, - many of them, actually - Hermana Gill, who would frequently leave training meetings with a smile on her face, and an excitement to go repent. She was a wonderful example of a humble servant.  Repentance is not a slap on the wrist for misbehavior but and loving opportunity to improve and progress.  I need some loving reminders to repent.

Hermana Gill would also frequently quote that it is better to be reminded than to be taught.  I love how in General Conference there is very little, if any, new doctrine put forth. Instead the speakers are inspired to teach us things we probably know, but need to be reminded of. And they do it in such a way that we feel the Love of the Savior and a desire to do what's right. I think it was the people of King Benjamin (in the Book of Mormon) that said, after they heard his words, that they had no more desire to sin, but to do good continually. That's the kind of feeling we get, for however brief a time, after General Conference. We are reminded of the glorious Plan our Father in Heaven has for us. We see our potential more clearly and that gives us the strength we need to start working on it again.

Also, three new Apostles? Gotta watch that.

So, my brief recap of last weeks goals:

1. I did email teachers. We actually have an appointment tomorrow to clinic a middle school. That should be fun.
2. I finished Make It Stick. Everyone should read that book. Everyone should make their middle schoolers read that book. And again in high school. Seriously. I also started a nice, fluffy youth book for a brain cleanse.
3. Only practiced once. Uninterrupted time is hard to come by.
4. Did not contact any music departments. I'll work on that tomorrow
5. I ran 7 miles yesterday. I was proud of myself. I didn't even feel like I was going to die at the end. Here are couple of pics from the run. I live in a pretty place. 
   
   
   
   
6. I looked up Vit. D amounts. But a friend says we might be able to get them via rX, so I need to look into that. N is overdue for a check up anyway. And I need a flu shot.
7. Didn't sign up for the half marathon yet. It's something I want to have done, but the idea of training for one right now isn't super appealing. Anyone in Washington want to train with me? Or at least run the thing with me?

This weeks goals are much more brief.

1. Email about teaching credentials.
2. Prepare for Conference. Think about what I want to learn and try to be prepared to find out what the Lord wants me to learn. Be ready to repent and give up somethings if need be.

That's it. I'm going to continue to exercise, for me. Practice when I can, for my joy. Read, because I want to. But I need to step back from all the half tos and need tos and shoulds. 

Not on Mobile!

Ha-ha! I'm not on mobile any more, so now you get a very long post about everything I've been working on.  Not that there's THAT much to discuss. But, I babble so you'll hear more than you want. Or, you could just skip ahead.

So, I've been thinking about this whole take an econ class idea, I think I may have rushed into it. I have a lot of irons in the fire right now, and I don't think I really want to have one more thing on my to-do list every day. I think this is one that really needs to be put on the back burner until I'm not working on so many things. As a mom, I sometimes end up in ruts where I feel like I'm not progressing on much. Like I'm in a holding pattern and not learning anything, just taking care of other people. I'm not in one of those right now. I feel like I have a lot of things to work on and I'm really enjoying those things.  I think that the extra classes might be something to hang onto until I need to get out of a rut. So, we'll put that away for a while.

I spent some time sending emails about teaching credential programs. I had great hopes because there are a bunch of programs designed to help people who already have a college degree get a teaching credential in about a year. But these programs work with programs where you know a bunch about the subject material, and just need to take a few education courses.  Music doesn't work that way. Teaching music is kind of a different beast. Even wanting to focus on elementary music, there are choral methods courses, additional conducting classes, practicum classes before you go to student teaching, elementary music methods, etc and the education courses you take from the education department.  So, what I was hoping to be able to do in one year will probably take two. And I probably won't be able to get a master's degree doing it, just a second bachelor's. But, again, we'll see.
The program at University of Washington is a three year program if you want to get the master's degree, and I just don't feel like I can commit to that. We only have three year order's here, so there's a good chance we could be transferred before I could finish. You can put in for special circumstances to stay an extra year, and we know people that have been in one place for 10 years, but I'm not willing to risk it. But the second bachelor's degree is still an option there. I don't like that idea as much because it is a 2 hour commute. It might not be too bad, because most of that would be on the ferry and the bus, so I could do school work during the commute, but it still means that any time I need to go on campus it's at least 4 hours of my day. One class? 5 hour day.  Lesson today (if I need to take them)? 5 hour day. That's a lot. But the other option is a smaller private school in Tacoma. It would cost more, but it would be a much shorter commute and the fact that it is a smaller school might mean that they would be more willing to work with me. It might still take me two years, but I may be able to start sooner and still get a master's degree in the end. I don't know what the master's degree would get me as far as employment is concerned, and it might even be a detriment, but I kind of feel like if I'm going to go back to school I would really like to have an advanced degree to show for it. (I find this this particularly interesting considering the fact that everyone in my family that has an advanced degree, aside from the MD's, have told me that it's a trap to get my money.)

I've sent my transcripts to the people at these schools who know what they are looking at and I hope to hear back from them this week about what we can do. I know there will be classes I have to re-take and/or test for, but I hope that's limited. If I end up needing to completely redo my bachelor's degree it's just not worth it.

Something I did this week that I hadn't mentioned wanting to was I was able to practice a little.  Practice time is really hard to come by. I end up practicing in short bursts in between times when short people need me to help the get something to eat, or drink or wipe. It's not the best, but I feel like at least it's something. I collected a pile of repertoire, and I'm working through it, remembering what I've learned in the past and what I need to spend a little time learning. It's kind of fun. I want to take some lessons, get a little guidance and what not, but first I need to teach some lessons.

• Which brings me to the first item I did not do from my goals for the week. I still have not contacted any of the local teachers.  Turns out I hate making phone calls to people I don't know unless I absolutely have to. So, I'm going to adjust that goal and send an email instead. If nothing else, it lets me write one email and then copy it out to a bunch of different teachers. (By the way, reporting my slacker-ness in public every week is making me very self conscious of what a flake I can be.)   

• I did send emails about a teaching certificate. See above.

• I got Make it Stick, about how we learn and how to learn more effectively. It is really good, but for some reason I'm moving through it really slowly. I'd complain that they didn't write it to read very easily, but as I read the book I think they did it on purpose.  One of the things they've mentioned is that information you have to fight to understand is better retained than information you understand readily. There's this myth of learning that makes us think we understand concepts when we understand all the words used to describe the concept, but it doesn't work like that. So, I'm going to take the fact that I'm moving through it more slowly to mean that I am understanding it more. I highly recommend the book by the way. I think it may be one that I purchase further down the road.  I haven't gotten to Rough Stone Rolling yet today, but that's next on my list after I finish this fine post.

• Still haven't been blitzing. J got home this week, but the bug that chased him while he was traveling caught up to him so I'm still kind of single-parenting it. (I hesitate to use that phrase because I know there is a big difference between having no other parent around and having one that is temporarily unavailable, but I'm not sure how to phrase it.) And J is helping, the kids like his bedtime stories better than mine so I get a little extra time, but I can't seem to deal with the whining that comes with calling them in from playtime to clean up the house. 

Also, we had our first mostly cloudy week this week and I think I kind of understand better what we're in for as far as Pacific Northwest Weather is concerned. With the clouds I just didn't want to do as much. I just wanted to be left alone to read or watch TV or take a nap. So, I need to figure out how much Vitamin D I need and pick up some supplements. I know we're going to need them later in the winter so we might as well get started on them now. (Don't worry, I'll be careful not to take too much.)

So, things I will be working on this week:

1. Write emails to local teachers. I will write the emails tomorrow.
2. Finish Make it Stick and read something light.
3. Practice three times, working on scales, etudes and repertoire
4. Contact music departments in Seattle and Tacoma. This one will wait until Thursday or Friday so that they have time to look at my transcripts before I start breathing down their necks.
5. At some point run 10 Kilometers.
6. Find out appropriate dosage of Vit D for each family member and purchase the pills

Oh one more thing. I found a half marathon I can run in December. I don't run on Sundays and it is really really hard to find races that are not on Sundays. But, there is one in Tacoma on a Saturday in December, so I think the timing will work out well. It give me enough time to train comfortably, with out being too far away. The one thing that I'm worried about is that one blog recommended that you not do a half marathon as your first race. This will be. But, like I said most races are on Sundays and that is my day off. I found a couple of 5k's between now and then on Saturdays, but they were a few hours drive away, and it just feels silly to drive for longer than I'll be running, just to get the experience. 

Runners, what do you think? Worth the experience to know what is going on? Or should I just not be afraid to ask questions the day of and look a little like an idiot?

So, no. 7 is register for aforementioned half marathon. It doesn't sound super appealing right now as I've discovered Blue Bunny Peanut Butter Panic ice cream, which is incredibly good, but the next morning I don't feel like I really want to get out of bed and run. So, maybe take a break from the delicious ice cream, then register for a half marathon. 

That's kind of a lot to do this week. :/

Another quick one

Again, I'm on mobile, so this will be super brief:

1. I did not contact any music teachers. My husband has the laptop and the file for our fliers, so it seemed silly to make contact when I would just have to put off actually going there. He gets back on Wednesday, so I should be able to go drop things off on Thursday or Friday.
2. I have been getting up at 6:00, but I really stink at going to bed before 11:00. Part of this enjoying the quiet after the kids go to bed. Part of it is reading before I go to sleep.  But most of it is that I don't like going to bed when my husband isn't home. Like, I just don't feel like going to bed. Sometimes not even tired. It's an odd thing, but from what I understand deployment insomnia is a fairly common thing for military spouses.  Thank heavens this isn't a real deployment, just a trip.  
3. I did pick and sign up for n Econ class. It's through a system called Coursera, which I've heard good things about. I think I might have been a little hasty in actually signing up for a class, just because of some other things that may be coming down the pipe, but I don't want to base plans on the unknown so... Yeah.
4. I finished both the Lightning Thief and Outliers.  The Lightning Thief was fine for what it was. Definitely a hit for its target audience.  Outliers was pretty good. There were somethings I think he didn't look at from all the possible angles, but it was still cool to thnk about things the way he presented them. I decided to finish up Harry Potter 4. I have a book waiting for me at the library called "Make it Stick" about how we learn and internalize learning. I'm excited to read it.
5. We didn't blitz at all.  The weather was soooo nice this week that I let the kids play outside right up until bath time. (Not that they were happy to come on when the time came.) But I don't think we have many nice weather, well lit evenings left so... We'll clean later.  The mess got annoying, but like I said, the kids needed to play. 

So, for the week coming

• Take fliers to local schools and get started looking for flute students.
• Send emails about getting  teaching certificate. There is a lot more to tell about what I've learned about this, but it' stood much to tell about in a mobile-typed post.
• Read Make It Stick and read a chapter in Rough Stone Rolling.
• Get started on the blitz and make more of an effort to clean up messes as they happen.

A slow week. But not every week has to be a big one for progress to be made. :)

Mobile update.

I'm mobile today so this will be brief:

1. Still didn't look at an Econ class.  I just put that in my to-dos for Wednesday.  I totally forgot about it, so this will keep that from happening again. 
2. I sent an email to Lisa, and she game me some good information about the program at UW.  It is a brutal commute, 2 hours each way (!). I thought it was 1 year, but it looks more like 2; the first year is classes with part time teaching and the 2nd year is full time student teaching.  That's a long time being away from my young kids for a lot of hours a day. But Washington's credential is accepted in more states than any other, so this would be the place to do it. *Sigh* I still need more information,  temporal and spiritual.  This is a very big and very difficult decision.  Also, a kind of expensive one, but that's something to worry about after a decision is made, not something to make the decision for me.  Still  I would be lying if I said I didn't look at costs.  Education is expensive, yo.  
3. I felt much better about running. I think the thing that made the biggest difference was actually how I ate at night.  I love ice cream. And Reese's Puffs. And Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  But eating that kind of junk at night makes me groggy in the morning.  So, I found other things to eat before bed and I felt better in the mornings. I still had to do my long run on a treadmill yesterday, but I felt better. I also watched West Side Story while I ran. Turns out Bernstein is kind of fun to run to.  Aaaaaand now you know what an incredibly big dork I am.
4. I did make time for my scriptures this week and it was really great.  I found some good stuff in the D&C that made me think about I how I approach the Gospel and General Conference.  I'd love to share more, but this keyboard is annoying so I'll do it later.
5. I finished Misquoting Jesus, which I enjoyed.  I started reading the Lightning Thief.  For what it is, it's pretty good, but I do kind of tire of the "misfit preteen discoving they have supernatural powers" thing.  But I like the Greek mythology angle.  Not sure if I'll read any more of the series though. 

So, for the week.

• Call/visit local schools to give them our lesson flyers.
• Continue reading scriptures in the mornings. Especially work on getting up at 6:00. If the kids are up before me than I have to wait until much later in the day. Part of this is going to bed on time.  I need a full 8 hours, which means 10:00 every night. And I like my quiet time after the kids are in bed. My husband is out of town too, and I have a really hard time going to bed when  he's not home.  
• Econ class. Pick one by Wednesday.
• Finish the Lightning Thief, start Outliers. Maybe some thing else too. Not sure yet.
• Do a 10 minute blitz with the kids every night at 7:15. Getting the house picked up makes for a more restful bedtime routine, and I have less to do after the kids are in bed. Also, it gives us something to do in the rough time between dinner and bath. 

Like AA, but for people with no follow through

I did things! Not big things, but some steps were made.

First for my weekly goals.

1. I did make my flyer for private lessons! It looks pretty good too. My husband also made a flyer for his sax studio and put together a list of the secondary music teachers our area of the county. 
2. I did spend more time with my kids. I don't know that they noticed, but I did. The problem here is that they have never had "enough" mom-time (or dad-time, or friend-time.)  My daughter especially has a bottomless need for playmates. So, in addition to spending more time playing with her myself, I made sure she had more time to play with other kids in the neighborhood. We need to be more strict about bedtime, but we'll work on that this week.
3. Cleaning! I actually did ok with that this week, up until Friday. On Friday I had a day when I was done.  I can't be the only one who's ever felt like this, but I didn't want to be productive, nice, motherly, or tidy. I was tired of being touched, called for, and being needed to mediate between a 5 and a 2 year old. So, Friday night I quit. Luckily, Friday is the easy day when I iron. Unluckily we had a storm come through yesterday, when I was supposed to catch up, and we lost power for about 8.5 hours. So, the ironing is still hanging on a rack in my den. Maybe during tomorrow's nap time. 
1. I would like to note that I did feel a lot better about things. There were still messes to be cleaned. We had some confusion between washable marker and dry erase marked that resulted in me scrubbing some paint off a door near the kid's play table, but there are enough layers of paint on that door that I don't think anyone will notice.
4. I did finish The Neverending Story.  And it was good. I liked the second half better than the first half.  The first half was pretty closely aligned with movie (visa versa, I guess) but because it was so close to the movie I was a little bored with it. The scene with Artax in the swamp of sadness wasn't as moving in the book (seriously, that was the saddest part of any movie, ever when I was a kid. See.) But the second half of the book was much better. The movie ended about half way through the book. In the second half Bastian comes to Fantastica (Fantasia in the movie) and has some cool adventures. It bears a passing resemblance to the second movie, but the book was better. In the movie there is an actual bad guy (lady) but in the book, while she makes an appearance, the conflict is much more within Bastian and a lot more thought provoking. If you stumble upon it in the library (which is how I found it) and you're a fairly fast reader, it's worth a few days. If you're a slower reader, while it was good, I think there may be other books more worth your time. 
1. Also I read The House at Pooh Corner including reading a chapter aloud to my kids. They seemed to like it more than I did. I still liked it, but maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it. I'll hold on to it, maybe renew it, and read a few more chapters to them.
2. Started Misquoting Jesus, which is a fairly interesting read. It talks about how the Bible, specifically the New Testament, has been changed over the centuries. Nothing that I didn't understand the basics of before, but it's interesting to get some specifics and learn about how the historians go about determining the most authentic reading of a text. (Most authentic because we don't have a single original document. From what I gathered the best we can do is about the 2nd Century. That's like reconstructing the Declaration of Independence based on what we all remember from 7th grade, when only about 5% of us can actually read. Yeah, really) 
5. Got behind and didn't pick an economics class yet. I'll put that on my to-do list for tomorrow, along with the ironing.

So, one cool thing, which I haven't had a chance to follow up on yet, was a step towards a teaching certificate. On Tuesday night my husband had a gig about an hour away and ended up driving the van with the Boss in it. During the two hours of driving my situation came up and J found out some cool things. The Lt.'s wife is also a music teacher, prefers elementary music and is currently working on her Master's degree. She commutes to the University of Washington via ferry (holy long commute, Batman), but apparently there are a lot of people there who are in about the same situation as I am. That is, a bit later in life and wanting to supplement an existing degree with a teaching certificate. So, it can be, and is being done. This week I'm going to try and get in touch with her somehow (I'm not sure about the protocol on this) and see what she can tell me about the program. If it's something that some of the classes can be done online, or a couple of days a week commuting we *might* be able to swing something. I hope so. 

I'm continuing to prepare for a 10k at the end of September, but I've gotten to the point where I'm kind of bored with running. I need to change it up somehow, but I'm not sure how to go about it. On Saturday I needed to do 4.5 miles, but because of the weather I had to do it on a treadmill at the gym and got so bored I could only do 3.5. (Also, this was a weird ol' treadmill and I don't think it was reading things properly, because by the end of 3.5 I was totally beat and it had me running really, really slow.) Running friends! Any ideas?

Another thing to work on this week in being more steady about my scripture reading. Because I'm working on finishing the Doctrine and Covenants before the end of the year I have daily readings in my to-do list. But lately I end up missing a day or two, or three, and then spending a bunch of time reading in one day. And then I miss the next day and the process repeats. The daily readings help keep me on track and remind me that it's been a while (other wise I've been known to go back and realize it's been weeks and weeks since I've read the scriptures) but I need to make it a daily habit. So, this week I will try to set aside time everyday just for scripture study. (I will note that I have found a HUGE difference between reading my scriptures and doing scripture study, but that's a soap box for another day.)  I'm not sure when that time will be. First thing in the morning I'm pretty bleary eyed and when I get back from running (when I run the am) the kids are usually awake and hungry. By afternoon nap I need to do the cleaning project and by evening I'm just ready to check Facebook and go to bed. But! There is time there. I have the same 24 hours everyone else has. If it matters I'll make the time. So, we'll go with first thing in the morning. Before or after my run I'm not sure, but it will be in the am. 

So, in summary, for the week to come:

• Pick an Economics Class
• Talk to the Lt's wife about UW's teaching certificate program
• Find something to reinvigorate running
• Daily scriptures first thing in the morning.
• Finish Misquoting Jesus and read... something else. I'm up next for The Lightning Thief and I just checked out Outliers.

Pithy cheer to keep me motivated!

Bummers

The big thing that happened this week was a set back.  On Monday I finally heard back from the school about the music teaching job I interviewed for. I didn't get it. The principal said I was at the top of their list, but because I don't have a teaching credential HR wouldn't go for it. Honestly, I get it. The school has to show the State that they are hiring people who are "highly qualified" to teach. The bummer is that the principal, the one who actually interviewed the applicants, thought that the best choice for the job wasn't necessarily the one with the right piece of paper. So, I need to figure out a way to to get the magic piece of paper. That's harder than you might think.

Actually it's not THAT hard, there are just more obstacles now then there would be if I were 8 years younger and didn't have kids. Had I just graduated with my undergrad and could spend the time student teaching it really would be no problem to jump through the hoops. But student teaching, maybe especially for a music teacher, is more than full-time work, and it's unpaid. I need child care for a two year old for the full day, and for a 5 year old after school. And my husband's work schedule is kind of erratic. Not awful, but the band he's with now will be traveling a week or two a month, and not all at once. It's more like 3-4 days out and some time at home, then a week out and a week home, etc.  If I student teach at a high school I'll have to work with marching band and jazz band, which are often taught outside of regular school hours, as well and put together lesson plans and practice conducting. I'm not sure any other teachers actually have to rehearse teaching...

Actually though, I don't want to student teach at a high school. Mostly because I don't want to teach at a high school.  While I love making good music, I don't think teaching high school is where my skills lie. What I'd really like to do is work with elementary school kids to give them a firm foundation of musical basics. I think I can do cool things to help them understand rhythm, beat, pulse, melody, and the joy of music. I'd like to introduce them to some of the great works of music so that they understand how cool it. I think I can get them ready so that they understand how to count, subdivide and read music. Then I can send them up to a good middle school teacher where they can learn fingerings on an instrument, but they'll integrate that into what they already know. They'll learn so much faster if they don't have to learn everything at once.

But, I have to figure out what to do. There are some programs where you can do the coursework over an intense summer semester and then student teach the year after that, but you have to have district that already wants you to work for them. And there's still the problems of child care and a traveling spouse. Essentially there is very little I can do about this for about a year.

So, I decided to reassess (there's a word that just doesn't look right) and figure out somethings that I CAN do. So, some plans for this week:

1.  I want to get started on looking for some private students. This doesn't actually help reach any of my goals, but it does help with the money thing, and it might help me get to know some of the local secondary music teachers in the area
2. I need to spend more time playing with my kids.  This is something that is strangely hard for me. I'm not good at playing little kid games. Sometimes they just bore me. But my kids NEED me to play WITH them. Seeing me productive and interested in the world is important for them, but it is also important that they see me interested in them.
3. It's time to get back on track with my cleaning schedule. I know it sounds super dorky, but a cleaning schedule really frees me up in the housekeeping realm. Here's the thing: I like a clean house. I don't even mind cleaning most of the time. But I can't keep the whole house clean all the time. And when I try to I get annoyed with my house of 4 mess-makers, and throw up my hands and ignore it all. We end up eating macaroni or PB&J and sitting in a pile of half folded clothes, mixed into which are the kind-of-dirty socks that none of us like to keep wearing once we've taken off our shoes. So, I have a cleaning schedule. One room or set of rooms (bathrooms, bedrooms) gets cleaned everyday and the rest of the house tidied. Apart from that I can do as little or as much cleaning as I want with no guilt. But I haven't been on schedule lately, and I'm feeling it, mostly in my apathy toward clutter. And clutter actually makes me apathetic and grouchy.
4. Finish The Neverending Story and start The House at Pooh Corner, and perhaps move on to Misquoting Jesus. I love the Library. I may start  The Lightning Thief,  but it depends on when the ebook becomes available. Again, I love the library.
5. Decide which free economics class to take. MIT has some, but you don't get the lectures just the lecture notes. I kind of feel like if you can get the whole lecture from the notes than your teacher is worthless and MIT should be able to offer better than that. But, maybe not for free. There are some lectures available from other schools, but they don't include any readings or quizzes to test yourself, so that's just running ear-fodder. I guess education ain't free huh?But I will pick which one to take and get things set up so I can get started once E starts Kindergarten in a few weeks.

Onward! Forward! Hurrah!

Pruning

I noticed a theme as I studied the scriptures and *gasp* actually got to listen to a sacrament meeting talk this week. The theme was pruning.

In Doctrine and Covenants 24:19 Oliver Cowdery is told "For thou art called to prune my vineyard with a mighty pruning, yea, even for the last time."  The phrase mighty pruning got me thinking about this video about a currant bush that gets trimmed back. The tough part about trimming a plant is that you have to trim good growth. Or, at least, it looks like good healthy growth. When you get done you wonder if the poor thing can survive with what you've left. But to one who understands, we can see that when we have too many branches, we can't grow good fruit on all of them. Oh, sure, there are some people in the right season that will get a bumper crop, but most plants, in most seasons, need to be trimmed and thinned to give the best results.

Then I was reading in D&C 25, which is counsel to Emma Smith. She's given some pretty big duties; acting as a scribe, expounding scripture, exhorting the church, giving her time to writing and learning, comforting and consoling a young and inexperienced prophet, compiling a collection of hymns to delight the Lord's soul. She is also counseled to "lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better."  Poor Emma didn't have many of the things of this world. I think at this point she and Joseph had barely lived in their own house, mostly they stayed with others while Joseph translated the Book of Mormon. Even the short time they had their own house it was borrowed from her father. And here she was being told to lay aside the things of this world. I started to think about all the things of this world I have been seeking after. These things are not necessarily bad. Some of them are even good. They are branches that lead to good fruit. But they may not be the right fruit for us. Sometimes we have to lay aside some of the things we are spending our time on because the important things need more attention.

Then during sacrament meeting the speakers both spoke about using our time the best we can. (At least that's what I got from it. The guy that gave the closing prayer was apparently in a different meeting than I was. He mentioned the great counsel we received on serving others. I guess the Spirit tell us what we need to hear.) Once again I was told that I need to make sure I am using my time the best I can. Which has led me to do some pruning on what I expect of myself.

There are soooo many things that I want to do. Things that will make me a better person. That's mostly what this goal list is about: who I want to become as a person. But more important than what I want to become is what the Lord wants me to become. Our High Councilman (local leader) spoke today about a missionary companion of his named Chad Hymas. (Check him out here) He said he recently had a chance to talk to Brother Hymas about his accident and what has happened to him since then.  The High Councilman (don't know his name, sorry) asked him if, if he could, would Brother Hymas trade the opportunities he's had because of his paralysis for the chance to play with his kids. Brother Hymas said that would be tempting; he would love to tickle his daughters, or play basketball with his sons. But he wouldn't do it. Because of his paralysis, he as become who the Lord wanted him to be. He had to trim some good, worthwhile, most would say necessary things from his life, but he has been able to do things he never would have been able to do otherwise.

So, I'm going to look at how I spend my time. There may be good things that need trimming. This week I took Facebook off my phone. Not that Facebook is bad. I like it. But it was taking too much of my valuable time. To put it in perspective, I was charging my phone at the end of the night with about 5% battery. I've now been two days without charging and am only at 28%.

I'm sure there are more. Some of which I will want to keep. But it's not about what I want to be. It's about what the Lord wants me to be.

Week 2 or treading water

I didn't get much done this week. I finished I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings which was very good, and started on How I Killed Pluto and Why it Had it Coming which is very entertaining. Either this is an astronomer who has some killer story telling skills, or he got a good ghost writer, (I'm guessing the later). Either way, it's a very entertaining read, especially for non-fiction. 

I heard back from the HR department about the job I applied for. She was wondering where my teaching certificate was. I explained I didn't have one, but the principal in question was totally aware of this. The fact that I got a call means the principal probably wants to hire me. The face that I haven't heard back means that HR is probably pushing back about my lack of certification. Well see who wins. We go in to register my daughter for kindergarten tomorrow, so I'll ask while we're there. 

That's really about all I did in goal-land. I am still working on doing a 10k in a few weeks. I'll keep you (Hi Mom!) posted.

 

Update 1 or a Week of Exploration

One week down! No check marks yet, but some progress in a couple of areas.

First and foremost, I had a job interview! Kind of a big deal for me. First, because it was my first job interview since before my daughter was born. (And that interview only sort of counts because the guy that interviewed me was the one that recommended I apply for the job in the first place, so I would have had to totally blow it to not get that one.) The bigger deal was that it was the first time I've applied for a job as a music teacher. I started school in 2003, left in 2006 for my mission, came home in 2008, got married, moved to California, had a kid, moved to Utah and finally got back to school part time. With some persistence and ingenuity I managed to finish a degree as a Bachelor of Science in Music in 2013, two moves later and about 2 months before my son was born. Upside: A degree! Downside: You can't student-teach over the internet, so I don't have a teaching certificate. But, all is not lost! My current state has a sort of emergency certification they can use if they decide they want to hire me anyway.

A little about the job I interviewed for: It's part-time, elementary music, and I would be working with a full-time teacher who really seems to know what she's doing. She's been working at the school for a couple of years and has a well-established program.  I would take all of one grade level and half of another, filling in where she just doesn't have the hours.  This would be perfect because I would only have to find a babysitter for a couple of hours each day, and because it would allow me to work with someone; sharing ideas and getting support where I, as a first-time, not-100%-sure-what-I'm-doing, teacher will need it.   I can totally rock the job, but I know I will have days where I won't be so sure about that.

I'll hear back about it sometime this week, with any luck by Wednesday. So, good vibes please. :)

I checked into a couple of other things on my list, some of which turned out more promising than others.  Red Cross offers CPR classes on base about 6 times a year (there is a fee.) The next one is next Saturday and after that there is one in October.  I think I'm going to sign up for the one in October, partially because Friday is our anniversary (7 years, no itch in sight :) and we want to go out on Saturday. But the option is there so I can sign up whenever I'm ready.  Yea for military perks!

I also looked into Orff Certification. I got started on that a little late, which is a bummer. The Washington chapter actually had it's Level 1 certification class this week. They only offer them once a year, in August, so teachers can take them during the summer. It's nice to know that it is there and they have other workshops and what-not, but I won't be able to work on the certification itself until next summer at the soonest.  This is also a bummer because I was hoping to incorporate the Orff material into the elementary job, if I get it.  But there are workshops, so I might be able to get my feet wet with those during the school year.

So, since very few people know what Orff is, here's a link to the website http://aosa.org/. Basically it's a school of music-educational thought that incorporates a lot of movement, percussion, dance and improvisation into elementary music. I like the concepts because the more ways you can present information the more likely it is to be internalized by the students. When the students get to dance, hit things and make up what they want, the learning process becomes much more like play, which is the way it ought to be.

That's about it for goal progress. I did finish a book about pirates this week. It was surprisingly dry. The author wrote much more like a researcher than a story teller so even the sections about sea battles and mutiny ended up being kind of dull.  Up for this week is I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.  I decided I needed to read more books not by old white guys, and this seemed like a good place to start. Also, I'm trying to work my way through Rough Stone Rolling. It's actually really good, but a bit of a beast.  I feel like I need to keep checking the references section in the back to see if he put any good clarifications in there. But it is great reading.

Other minor things: Started training for a 10k. Not a specific race because everything is on Sundays up here, but I found the route for one so I think I can just run it on my own and still count it. And, my daughter started swimming lessons this week. Since now I spend half an hour, four days a week watching people swim laps while I wait for her lesson to finish, I really want to go get a suit and goggles and start swimming on my cross training days.  We'll see.

Turns out goals can be a lot harder to work on when you have little people that keep wanting things like food, love, attention, snacks, hugs, naps, clean clothes, food, rides, stories, games and food. But, I have to remind myself that the goal is not to completely focus on me, but to give me something to work on so I don't completely lose me.

My 40

I have a Facebook friend, (Ms. Rhan over at elrahnsideabox,) who has been an amazing inspiration to a bunch of us for setting and working towards goals.  I've always been one to give a lot of lip service to goal setting and what not, but not much for following through.  The last little while though I've been working more on actually acheiving goals instead of just setting them.  I read the entire Bible last year and I'm working on the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants for this year, which means I'll have read the LDS Standard works in 2 years. I'm working on 50 books this year, but moving has put me behind on that one...as well as trying to complete a 10k and a half marathon by the end of the year.

Anyway, what I'm trying to get at is that I'd like to set some more long term goals. Since human being find repetition attractive, 40 before 40 sounds pithy and do-able. So, 40 goals/things to do before I turn 40:


Academic

1. Become certified in Orff and/or Kodaly teaching methods (update 3/23, not sure I care about this any more.)
2. Get and stay CPR and First Aid Certified (has to be redone every 3 years)
3. Take a class in Macro Economics
4. Take a class in Micro Economics
5. Take a class in Statistics
6. Take a class in Chemistry (These are so I can talk to my siblings and kinda, sorta understand a little about what they do at work.) (Kind of completed Spring 2021, Does high school chemistry count?  Wait, this is mine.  I say it counts.)
7. Read 400 books, or about 40 per year.  Re-reads definitely count, as well as any chapter books I read with the kids, as long as I read them in their entirety.  Picture books do not count. ( update 3/23 - 100% sure I have done this, I started reading MUCH more because of this goal, and I average about 60-70 books a year now)
1. As a sub goal I may put together 40 books to read before 40.
8. Get a job that utilizes my degree (Completed 7/22)
9. Read Don Quixote in Spanish
10. Read at least one other Spanish classic in Spanish (any recommendations?)
11. (Added 12/13/16) Get a teaching Certificate, to allow me to teach in public schools (Completed 2/23)

Spiritual

1. Spend one year of scripture study focused on Preach My Gospel
2. Complete the requirements for a Faith in God Award (They did away with this and focus on personal goals now, which is better)
3. Complete the requirements for a Young Women's Medallion (Ditto the above)
4. Make a habit of having personal prayer and scripture study every day 
5. Memorize the Proclamation on the Family and the Living Christ

Family

1. Visit Hawaii with Jared for our 10 year anniversary (Fun story, we set aside the money, but weren't able to go because I needed a tooth extraction and dental implant. Turns out those cost about as much as a conservatively priced trip to Hawaii)
2. Go Camping with the kids
3. Be done having kids (is this a terrible goal? I want more, but I'd like to be done with the whole pregnant thing by the time I'm 40) (No way to be sure, but as of 3/23 we have 3  and I'm done being pregnant.)
4. Set family Goals every year
5. Get a dog that can be a running buddy (Completed 2016)
6. Spend a weekend away with each of my kids
7. Buy a house (Completed 3/17 and again 9/21)

Personal/ Misc.

1. Do some sort of triathalon
2. Plant a garden and get a somewhat respectable harvest from it (Slightly completed 2016, will continue in 2017 with more space.)
3. Visit a moor. I know this sounds odd, but as I kid a read about moors all the time (why do all 19th century British books take place on or near a moor?) and I'd really like to actually see what one is.
4. Take a 1 month break from junk food to cleanse my palate and refocus on whole, not sweet, salty, fatty foods (Completed Lent 2016)
5. See the Statue of Liberty
6. See a play on Broadway (apparently I'll ha)ve to make it to New York at some point)
7. Make a real cheese cake (as of 3/23 Do it yearly now, never regret it)
8. Visit the Grand Canyon
9. Skydive - See that Jared?! There's a deadline now!
10. Read every book I have chosen to own (added 3-Jan-16)

Now, if ya'll have done some math (and I know you have) you'll see that this is only 31 goals  I decided to leave the rest blank because I hope to be smarter each year and come up with at least one big thing I want to do in the year to come.

This kind of seems like a big list, but I do have 10 years (minus 3 months) to get it done.  This week I'll break things down a little and decide what I want to work on first. I'll also break some of the larger goals down to see what I can do in the near future to work on it.

Wish me luck! and dedication...