A time to breathe

Saturday's early AM 13-miler with the mom squad. Sweaty as heck, and rocking cool-looking head lamps, reflective vests and blinking lights. We stop for pee breaks, water breaks, surf forecasts, dying toenails and stretch time for the wounded...but it's a million times more fun to run with positive, kind and happy people than solo!

What a week. I cannot remember a time in my life ever being this busy. I'm doing my best to take it day by day, but it seems like everything is colliding. Barely treading water isn't really my comfort zone, as I tend to be pretty methodical. Rushing is...ick? ;-) In the last seven days...

• I've had multiple chiropractic appointments, my annual OBGYN appt (always fun!) and a sports massage for my injured butt/knee. It was all pain, no pleasure though, as the goal was to break up the fascia congestion in my quads/hamstrings. It huuuurt/bruised, but...it worked! No more twinging-pain in the butt!
• We had a 1/4 inch layer of fine dust covering every surface of our home, inside and out from Rich removing tiles/grinding down thinset on our lanai. It was like it snowed drywall dust, and we had to clean every speck of it up. Uber overwhelming, messy and hot work.
• There were various school board duties- a 5am pancake breakfast wake up call, a board meeting, and more Pig Hunting Concierge duties (but this time, for our school). 
• A few runs and a walk, but not nearly what my training schedule called for. Days were so packed/crazy that I had to miss a few workouts. It's early enough in the schedule that I can get away with it, but it still stresses me out to miss my critical speed, hill and gym workouts in the same week! Argh.
• Got to visit my childhood BFF who's in town and inhaled ramen with her. It was a deja vu of our last get together a few months ago (she's in town roughly every quarter these days).
• I started my not-so-new per diem job, and spent 3.5 hours on the road commuting yesterday. :-( I was nearly late to pick up Ryan, which had me cold sweating the last hour of sitting in traffic.
• I had a rough day (sub teaching) in second grade, and will spend tomorrow in 5th grade.
• Gutters are done, and we're almost done with the drywall, which means we can paint, finish the electrical, and start the railing/tiling the following week! 
• I hosted a family BBQ (we're purging the freezer of remaining meat), and enjoyed a beach day with the family.
• Coordinated a fun surprise for my niece. ;-) Promised her we got her a super special early birthday gift, and told her it could be anything- a tomato, a pencil, a chair or even cooking spices! (I love to mess with 'em sometimes...it was a play house.)
• I have a newly sick child and husband. Ryan is hacking and missing school, so I've had to cancel all our swim/karate carpooling, an excursion I was going to help with and a visit to the fair. :-( It's his second cold since school started less than a month ago, so we're definitely on track to win a number of parenting/attendance awards.
• We bought, sold and shopped for a car. Totally unexpected, totally necessary. Everything happened quickly, which made it super stressful. 

My reward for surviving?

• A few small, extra paychecks, but a much larger sense of purpose (vital to those of us who don't earn what we once did)
• A beautiful, transforming lanai that doesn't leak (or scald our feet)
• A fresh purple lilikoi on the vine this AM, with a hundred more to come
• A great Saturday run with the mom squad
• I got to deliver a windfall of products to 8-9 friends/family (that I scored from a company I'm helping). I felt like the Easter bunny! 
• Knowing I have the most caring, helpful husband (and parents!) on the planet, maybe even the universe
• A bag full of banana lumpia from a friend, fresh papaya from a neighbor and bananas from a new coworker
• Gorgeous September weather...blue skies, sparking water, cool tradewinds, reduced humidity (a HUGE friggen' deal to those of us with overactive sweat glands)
• A new(ish), safe, working car...the fourth my father has selected/negotiated for me to buy in the last 9 years, that I have bought, sight unseen. ;-) You can see how much I love the car buying process...I outsource it!

And lastly, a few pics of the week in passing...

The ever evolving lanai...we're getting closer to the finish line!  

The next generation...they keep us on our toes, but they also fill our hearts!

The family surprise for the niece. Since my brother in WA couldn't see it, we staged this fake 'surprise face' shot for him. It looks more like 'horrified face,' but she's only 2 so we'll take it!