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Coach

The coach is first of all a teacher. — John Wooden

T-ball season #2 ends tomorrow....already. 

I'm finding myself excited at the thought of sleeping in on a Saturday morning again, but a bit sad to be done with this amazing group of kiddos. I also can already catch my brain occasionally planning for next year's baseball season. This season was so much fun because I didn't take it seriously. I hung out with a great group of kids every Saturday morning and taught them a thing or two about fun, sports, teamwork, and baseball. Or I guess I hope that's what they take away from this season anyways. 

Do you remember a great coach or teacher who inspired you in a way no other leader could?

It didn't rain today!!!!!!!!
I took advantage and headed home with the sunroof wiiiiide open!!!!

In other news.....I've been pretty busy lately.....

Going to concerts like the Goo Goo Dolls :)

and Chris Young

and this is what it looks like when
MandGrenade goes to a baby shower

  Hanging out with my favorite person on the planet!

is this not a picture of everything awesome!?
kiddo, ice cream, and a Camaro at a baseball stadium...perfection!

getting a new table!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hanging out with my amazing furball!

taking advantage of the casual dress code at my new job!

....and taking far too many pictures of my feet....

Ignorance is Bliss

For those who don't know, we lost our beloved Jack on Monday. It went down in a sad way, so if you're eating or are easily grossed out, maybe don't read this.....

Late Sunday night (or I guess, early Monday morning) poor Jack woke us up having his issue of sneezing blood. He had started to have some other issues on Sunday of no longer being able to control himself, for example, in his sleep. And he just wasn't THAT kind of dog...Jack was totally house trained and extremely well behaved....just an all-around great dog. So I went back to sleep with the decision that after work on Monday, I'd take him in to the vet and say goodbye so he didn't have to hurt any worse. But as I got ready for work Monday morning, things changed completely.  I came out of the shower and it looked as if someone had been stabbed and ran through the house getting stabbed repeatedly. Poor Jack thought he was in trouble and Lucy followed him around almost like a kid asking "are you okay?" and looking at me as if she was yelling, "Mom, HELP!" Lucy typically kept her distance from Jack, and had only started playing chase with him in the past couple of days. I frantically tried to clean and comfort Jack and wipe his face off while repeating to the dogs "You're okay. It's okay." A few more sneezes and I lost it...

...there I stood, in my white work pants splattered with blood, cleaning rags in both hands, balling my eyes out like a lost child. I called my husband and incoherently uttered some words into the phone that triggered him to come home after PT. Being at the new job, missing a day of work wasn't really an option....I was already going to be late as it was. So, dear husband enters and immediately drops his jaw...."the whole house is ruined!" I told him it didn't matter now, and we could only let Jack know we loved him and he hadn't done anything wrong. Luckily our vet is within walking distance so he took him in without destroying one of our cars too. 

My sweet husband stayed with Jack until the very end, without me even suggesting it. I didn't want Jack to die alone. Jack spent enough time alone. If you remember his story, he was a shelter dog....a two sentences shelter dog. He had been abandoned and alone too many times, and I wouldn't want him to go out that way. Thankfully my husband loved Jack enough to stay right by his side the whole time. 

the house is pretty quiet without him here

We had Jack for not even two months. Am I mad? Do I feel ripped off that the humane society sold us a sick dog? Absolutely not. If they had found out what was wrong with Jack, rather than their crummy notes about a possible sinus infection, we never would have experienced the joy of having him in our family for a few weeks. Am I mad we forked over hundreds to try and make him feel better?....and hundreds more on replacing the items damaged when things went down? Not at all. In our case, ignorance brought Jack into our lives to open our hearts and teach us some of the most valuable lessons of life...

.....pick someone to love and love them with all your heart...

...be a good friend...

...be brave and cheerful no matter your circumstances....
(notice his wagging tail inside the vet's office)

...stay quiet during nap time...

...and take lots of naps yourself...

...lots of them...

Love you, Jack. Miss you bunches.

  

gymtimidation

For those of you who dread going to the gym due to the cologne-ridden muscle heads, the elitist paleo dieters, the ladies with perfect hair and makeup to go along with their coordinated outfit, or because you're saving up to afford a month or two of crossfit....for whatever reason, this post is for you!

I've noticed a lot of people chastising other people for how they look at the gym, what foods they're eating, what they're doing at the gym...and I'm sure there's a long list of other self-righteous accusations floating around in the locker rooms or on social media. ( for example, videos of people at the gym doing a maneuver wrong...rather than whip out your smart phone and giggle along with your friends on Facebook, Johnny Fitness Genius, maybe go kindly suggest to the person a safer way to do things, since you know everything and all...)

Well, I have some advice for those of you who may be letting other people's judgement get to you while you're on your path to a healthier you.....

....stop caring about what the haters have to say!

It's nobody's business what you're doing at the gym...unless you're putting yourself or someone else in danger. It's also nobody's business what you're eating!

You want to know the number one reason why I love my Globo Gym? Because no one there chastises me about what food I put in my mouth! If I'm eating Twinkies for breakfast and complaining about being fat, go ahead and lecture me about macronutrients and the dangers of processed foods. However, if I go buy a smoothie at Jamba Juice,  don't lecture me about how it is not healthy. I don't care if it's "not healthy" by your standards.... it's better than a milkshake, am I right?

Did it ever occur to you that maybe I don't  drink smoothies from chain stores or eat at Chipotle because I think they are the healthiest choices?? Maybe I eat things like that because they're better than the crap I used to eat, they taste good, they're convenient, and sometimes I'm pretty unorganized and don't have a perfectly-portioned paleo-compliant meal stored in my <insert name brand> gym bag.

And I think some of you know what I'm talking about.....Just when you thought you were doing good, you were on the up and up...some elitist rides in on their airdyne and tells you you're oblivious about fitness and nutrition.

So, I leave you with this. The next time you see the "fail" shirt with the silhouette on the elliptical machine, ignore it. The elliptical is better than the couch, and don't ever let anyone convince you otherwise. The next time you're sweating your patootie off in your high school gym t-shirt next to the gal in the brand new LuLu gear,  wipe your brow with the torn and tattered sleeve with pride......And a subway salad is not just as bad as a mcdonalds combo meal...don't let anyone ever convince you otherwise.

double fail! Way to be a judgemental prick....
source

doing my part to keep the level of "gymtimidation" down
stained (but clean) t-shirt, Red Wings shorts I've owned since middle school, and shoes that don't coordinate at all...
I for reals always look this sloppy at the gym, but hey, it's 5am so who cares!?

I eat these foods because they taste good.
I know they are not "paleo" and are labeled by some as "treats"
I label them as "yummy and convenient"...I got $hi+ to do!!!

I'm sure I could get chastised for these as well...spinach pancakes, but made with potato starch and such instead of coconut flour....because coconut flour tastes gross, bottom line. Oh yeah, and that issue of the cream cheese on top....

and sometimes I get crazy and eat total non foods like this...shame on me

See, if you listen to people long enough, you can convince yourself that you're a horrible fat load who eats nothing but junk. So just stop listening to the haters. Unless you've paid someone for their expert and tailored advice regarding nutrition and exercise, let the talkers talk...they don't know what it's like in your shoes.....which, by the way, are probably not <insert expensive brand name> weightlifting or minimalist shoes...shame on you! ;)

The Best Thing I've Learned in College

One semester, I had the pleasure of having an Okie for my professor. He cared for us students and instilled information and ideas in us like no other professor I've ever worked with. I don't remember his name because he had us students call him "Woody." Of all the knowledge I've stuffed into my brain over the years with college and licensing exams and certifications.....Woody shared something with us on the last night of class that will forever stick in my brain. He told us "other people will gladly plan your life for you if you let them."

let that ferment for a moment.

It goes along the lines of "we treat people how to treat us." So if you let someone run your life and control your schedule and consume your energy, they will. And to some, it may feel like a selfish act to stand your ground and look out for yourself (that's the case for me) but some things have really opened my eyes over the past two days and I'm taking control of my life...now...right now...ooohhhh yeeeaaahhh. (Thanks, Tom Petty) This week, don't be a pushover. Control your own resources.

Meet Jack

I am Jack

Jack joined our family just over a month ago. 

This is Jack's fourth home.

......I am Jack's inflamed sense of abandonment.

I am Jack's shadow ;) 

Wherever I am, he can be found nearby. 

I am Jack's deep appreciation for sleep. 

The M&M is a good place for sleep appreciation..

I am Jack's raging nasal cavity. 

Jack has something wrong with his nose, it is possibly cancer, and it is likely the reason why we are Jack's fourth home. We haven't pinpointed and confirmed the issue yet. But we have tried a few remedies to no avail. So, we've made the decision to fix what we can afford, and if there is something we cannot, we will love him for as long as he lets us. Unlike several previous owners who we think maybe saw Jack's symptoms and bolted the other direction (BUT, turned him in to the humane society rather than leaving him in a field, so I give them credit for that) we will either help him or let him spend his last days here at the M&M. 

...it's not so bad at the M&M...

I can see God teaching me through Jack. I have to take extra care to be patient because he's scared, fair between the two dogs, gentle because he's ill, and cautious since I don't know everything about him like I do Lucy. That's all challenging for a MandGrenade ;)

I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak. ~Ezekial 34:16

Things I wish I had done while my husband was deployed

Wait....what? Yes... I am about to talk about things I wish I had done while my husband was deployed for a year. This is not a list of cute themed care packages I wish I had sent him, home improvements I wish I had made, letters I wish I had sent...blah! 

If you listen to enough people, you can totally convince yourself that you are, in fact, a crummy military spouse because you didn't send your husband a boudoir photo book, or thematically categorize, coordinate and decorate all of  his care packages or throw him a pinterest-worthy homecoming party while showing off your now perfectly-toned arms in your new dress. truth is, none of us will ever do all of those things good enough....well I'm sure someone out there has and she's blogging about it. Someone will always have a cuter idea, a better complexion, a more poetic way of describing her love for her guy, or a cuter dress. 

You know what your husband really  wants while he's deployed? Pictures of your boobs and an ice cold beer. He wants to sit at home in his boxers watching TV without anybody around in his space. He wants to drink milk straight from the carton, eat something cooked on a stove that did not come out of a sealed package ready to be heated, and go to bed with his wife at the end if the day. 

So since I now realize that I'll never compile the perfect care package, and he'll never even remember what I wore the day he came home...

..here are the things I wish I had done for ME while I had a year to myself and excess time to do things just for me. Selfish? Look at it that way if you'd like...we can't change the fact that they're gone...so why not take advantage of moments we do have during that time when we don't have to cater to any one else wants or needs and do something out of the ordinary to help ourselves grow and fulfill and maybe become better people for when our spouses return? Maybe my list will give you some ideas to spark your creativity for when your spouse deploys. 

I wish I had gone to play a round of golf by myself. Because if I go do that now, he's going to want to go with (which is awesome too, but...) or he's going to be suspicious. I wish I had gone to see a movie by myself...shoveling in the entire jumbo tub of popcorn because there's nobody there to witness (not anyone who knows my name anyways). Taken more trips by myself. I took a road trip with my dad and one by myself during the year he was gone. I should have taken myself to the mountains for a weekend, not visiting family and not being tied to any agenda or schedule. Many of us do not spend a great deal of time alone, and I think that is why deployment is such a scary concept to some people. I used to hate being alone too, but as I've grown and learned to not hate myself, I know now that time to myself is precious and instrumental for mental health, peace, and growth. So if you find yourself sitting idle during deployment, letting the "woe is me" thoughts steal your joy...go instead and venture on your own for a bit and do something alone that you might not normally do alone.

And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.”

~Mark 6:31

Running buddies

The good news is...
I got my 76 running buddies back!
Went back to the Reebok RealFlex cuz they're oh so comfortable! :)
The bad news is...my knees still hate me from all the years I was mean to them in roller derby.

It's nice having our weekends backs now that the little league season is over.I loved it, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. T-ball season #2 started yesterday but it is WAY less involved in the other league, plus the kiddos are younger so it's far less intense. I'm coaching my nephew and he ROCKS!!! Afterwards, the hubs and I went to Costco...cuz that's what suburbanites do on Saturday. All in all, it was a quick, painless, and pretty healthy trip! :)

I've become slightly addicted to Jamba Juice.....the Berry UpBeet smoothie is phenom! :) Anyone else a Jamba fanatic???? ...Anyone? Buehler.....?

Why would we just sit here until we die?

God is so good.

An opportunity for new employment has presented itself and it is now official. I'm leaving my current job that I've been at for over 5 years, and I;m so thankful that God has given me an open door to a new path.
It's somewhat scary but oh so refreshing! I feel like some chains are being shed and the load on my back is getting lighter by the minute! Thank you, Lord, for hope and courage and possibilities!

"Why would we sit here until we die?"

2 Kings 7:3

fiery red sun in the west...ColoRADo is on fire

In other news, marathon training is not the best hobby to have in Colorado right now because, well, the state is on fire which makes the air quality, well.....suck. Meh. Tonight's coaching training was cancelled (bummer, I was actually stoked to go) so I took advantage of the bonus time and went for a run. I FINALLY added some distance and have picked out some specific areas that I know I need to improve. ~tangent: I subtly asked God for a couple spare hours this week as I was changing from work clothes and heading out the door for coaching training. And, low and behold, the training was cancelled and I was able to run, do a load of laundry, blog, water flowers, and take care of myself a bit. God is listening folks, never doubt that he is in fact listening.

Marathon tip #1- the best way to keep yourself from stopping or slowing down is to take a few wrong turns until you no longer recognize the street names and all of the houses have cars on cinder blocks and half-busted fences with angry dogs barking through the holes in the rotten wood. I won't say ghetto, because I have been to the actual ghetto before and it does not exist here....I'm just saying I ended up in an area where I didn't want to be by myself with jello legs after the sun went down, so I hurried it up a little bit.

Let's talk about muscle tremors. An after or during workout occurrence that is a warning sign for a few things. A) Breathe, silly! B) Hydrate, silly! or C) Eat, silly! Tremors typically mean you are oxygen-deprived, malnourished, or dehydrated.....or a nice combination of the three.  *Please remember that hydrate means WATER and eat means REAL FOOD- veggies, protein, fruit 

G'night all!

Hydration and homework

I have been busy enjoying one last weekend without t-ball running my schedule.

Don't get me wrong, I love coaching, but I also enjoy having my own time to take care of myself, my husband, my dogs, and our home. 

my big girl dining room :)

We went to the race track in Dacono last night, and it gave me a chance to wear my awesome new sweatshirt I bought from Down With Detroit! But the only food option available (one day my chauffeur will learn he needs to STOP to get me real food) was a bag of peanuts. Peanuts...mmm, it's what's for dinner.

Marathon progress is um, not so much progress...I tried to runt his morning but my stomach was upset (too many peanuts i assume) I'll give it another go tonight.

But for now I'm wrapping up some homework and hydrating, hydrating, hydrating!!!

Lucy digs it.

So you're going to run a marathon...

In an effort to NOT let myself fall into the "I'm almost 30 and blah!" slump, I've decided to run a marathon. Yesterday I made the decision, registered and paid (before I could change my mind) and committed to a training plan.

Baseball season left me tired, stressed,depressed, angry, eating junk food, and skipping workouts. It was a vicious cycle of getting to bed late or eating junk for dinner due to lack of time and missing workout and feeling guilty about it...and so on. Two and a half months of that has caught up to me. I'm sore, cranky, tired, and fat.

Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.

~Hebrews 12:1

So here it goes. My second night of training looked like this though:

June+Colorado = fire. Remember last summer?

To track my progress I'm going to write some stuff down here, officially (as embarrassing as it is):

Starting weight at the beginning of marathon training= 124 (last time I checked, about a week ago)

Starting pace at the beginning of marathon training= 12:24 avg mile time

Wow. Lotsa' work to be done.......Syonara!

The world needs more baseball

People often criticize baseball and say the sport needs to catch up with the times. It is too slow,  there are too many games,  the season is too long,  it has not progressed like every other sport in this country...and so on and so on.

There's a constant push in this country to make everything faster.  Make it more convenient,  make it brighter,  make it bigger,  louder, better. I think we need to keep it real. 

The NFL is action-packed game play. It's clip after clip after highlight clip, with dancing girls after commercials, the avatars crushing the logos after the breaks, and loud music and half time shows. It's an in your face, all out,  Go Go Go! experience. And that's great. 

But I think we all need to adapt the baseball pace every now and then. 

What happened to the days when kids would grab a ball and their glove and head to an open space and create their own entertainment? Every moment of our children's lives are structured and scheduled, and we don't dare let them go to the park unsupervised, because there are far too many crazies out there.

What happened to our seventh inning stretch? We've become a society that works through lunch, crams in a few more minutes of rushed task completion. We multi-task, we conference call on the bluetooth on our way to the meeting for such and such. 

This week, let's focus on taking life one pitch at a time. 

So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries.

Today's trouble is enough for today.

~Matthew 6:34

Celiact day 6

Finally :) I'm to a point where I can say I'm noticing progress,  improvement,  and I'm feeling better than I did the day before.  It's obvious that food is the #1 item that must be kept in line and I've finally gotten to the point where I can stop myself and say "if you have to research THIS hard to see if it's gluten free, just don't eat it."

This week's motto

Gut Under Construction

So, I clued you in that I have started a serious road to gut recovery. Quite frankly, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. I am in no way, shape, or form recommending, endorsing, or being paid by anyone to tell you these things. I just want to share my experience on the interwebs so that maybe someday some poor thing with a seemingly incurable skin disease can find some insight from my frustrations.

A) I started the Celiact supplement Sunday, Feb 3rd by taking one pill before dinner.
2) Since then, I have taken one pill in the morning after a workout and then one again before dinner
C) That is, until today. Today I took two pills both in the morning and at dinner. I have heard it's best to ease your body into supplement regimens. Tossing six pills into your system out of the blue might make a few things angry.

So...what is this stuff? First off, it contains dairy, so if you're lactose intolerant don't go order it. They've placed a warning label nicely on the lid (THANK YOU!) so you don't miss any fine print and pay for it later on. It's basically a mix of vitamins, proteins that your gut uses to repair itself, and probiotics that can be found in yogurt...it's all conveniently rolled into one. Pretty cool, huh?

Since Sunday, I have successfully accidentally unknowingly contaminated myself every single day. Yes, despite my best efforts, there is wheat in nearly everything in this country. Sunday was the Superbowl and I wasn't about to turn down Dad's chili after he especially changed his recipe so I could eat it. (A lot of canned chili beans contain wheat y'all)  Who knows what I reacted to, but it was something.  Monday was great, actually, until I popped a gluten free waffle into our toaster that my husband mainly uses. My husband does not have food intolerances.  'Nuff said...yet another lesson in cross-contamination. Tuesday I managed to stay away from gluten COMPLETELY, but it turns out I'm one of the many who also reacts to a preservative called BHT.  BHT can be found in things like cereal and gum. Don't just accept the gluten free label, folks, turn the package over and do some reading. The BHT reaction is fast and furious. I popped a piece of gum in my mouth in the morning and just a few chomps in.....

I hope you can see the red splotches on your screen. It was crazy.

So, yeah, BHT.
Wednesday I grabbed my old faithful chewable vitamin C and took one in an effort to keep avoiding the crud.....oops. turns out the brand of chewable Vitamin C I've taken for years is NOT gluten free. I'll say this, the gum producers and the vitamin manufacture both made it VERY easy to find nutrition information on their websites, and didn't claim to be gluten free anywhere on the package...but there were also no ingredients that looked harmful. Which leads me to my point (finally) that we're just better off eating real food. If it doesn't need a label, i.e. spinach and oranges and carrots, it's probably safe to eat! (seeing as how we don't grab handfuls of wheat and chew on them like animals, don't even try that argument with me)

By now reverting back to my "eat real food" know how, I hope to make some serious progress with healing my gut and my body. I've noticed an increase in energy, and can tell that I need to take the supplement with food or else my belly starts feeling pretty eleven o'clockish. So there you have it, 4 days of Celiact and I've only managed to not screw myself up on one of those days.

More on my gluten free journey

I'll come back and explain the science-y stuff later but I want to document (here, because it won't get documented if I try it elsewhere)  my new found aide for healing the celiac gut. (Again, more on the science later, I have stuff to do tonight) I have taken a picture of the rash I've fought for years as it looked Sunday Feb 4th. I started taking a supplement called Celiact that day because my gluten free diet isn't healing my rash, it's simply stopped it from getting worse. The rash is called dermatitis herpetiformis and if you google it, maybe I'll get a little sympathy ;) I took a picture only of my back and side but the rash is also on my elbows knees hips and scalp. (Ain't I a sexy beast)  Here's Day 1 pictures with better, more informative posts to follow.