The story of the Wagon

So, last month  ( January) Brett was gone for a lot of the month. Its kind of a blur really but I definitely remember a few low points, but we got through them, he came home and February has been a rather Brett-full month! This is nice because in the next few days he'll be gone again for a month. 30 days straight ( not 31, because then Army would have to give him extra $$ and they wouldn't want to do that now would they?!?)...Annnyway, you may remember my post about how my ankle is hurt...well, it turns out its my foot...and they don't really know what's wrong so I've got to get a bone scan which... *Sidebar for a little rant*

UMMMM...have you EVER heard of anything so LAME ( pun) as to have a rule that anyone getting a bone scan has to COME DOWN to the hospital to make the appointment?!?! SERIOUSLY?!?! SERIOUSLY.
I had to pack my kid into his carseat, with a snack, a book and a sippy cup, drive to the hospital, drive around to find a parking spot, park the car, get out the stroller, put my kid, his sippy cup and the book into the stroller, walk a MILE ( huge parking lot...) to the hospital....walk to radiology where I had to wait in a long line ( WHERE A WOMAN CUT ME!!!!) and then have them say, "would March the 9th work at 8:30?!"
Done.
THAT SHOULD SO HAVE BEEN DONE OVER THE PHONE..

*sidebar completed*
so the bone scan will take "several weeks" to get the results from and who knows how long they will take to actually do something about those results...*sigh* All this to say that I've been in serious mourning not geting to go for my runs in the morning. And today I realized I was boarding on more than mourning when I realized that my MAJOR coping mechanism when Brett is gone is to put Ransom in the jogging stroller and walk...and walk...and walk. He loves the stroller and we can both just clear are little heads. Some how being out of the house and in motion makes loneliness easier.
But not this month.

I'm so sad.
But tonight I'm claiming something. I went to my bi-yearly consignment sale where I score awesome finds.  However, this year I was late, because I had another engagement. But, I was ok with that because really all I needed was clothes. However, in my heart of hearts I wanted a wagon. You know one of those awesome Red wagons that I can pull Ransom and half his toys around in?! A wagon we can take to the beach, or to the zoo?! YESSSSSS one of those...Ok, so anyway, I was pretty sure that getting such a wagon would be a long shot since usually all the big items are gone in the first 15 minutes of the doors opening. But I wondered in 20 minutes late and if my eyes had been closed I would have tripped right over the most wonderful Radio Flyer red wagon you ever saw...I looked around, no one was near it or looked like it was theirs...I looked all over the wagon to see if it had a "sold" sign on it. No sign. I looked at the wagon more closely to see if it was defected. Nothing major. And then I looked at the price.
$20.

That's right. I scored my perfect wagon for $20 ( these things run around $80 on average)....WOOO HOO!

Anyway, I went and got all of Ransom's summer clothes ( and some awesome boots for me...it pays to have tiny feet...) and was heading home when I started to think about my Wagon. Now, you might shake your head at me and tell me I'm stretching a bit, and that's totally your prerogative. But I for one believe my wagon was a little gift from Above. A reminder that He knows my heart. He knows my secret and not so secret desires. And even if I'm not healed enough to walk the block a million and one times I know Jesus will be with Ransom and I ( and Brett too for that matter) in the coming month away from each other.
He is the giver of perfect gifts.

Cookie of the Month

This month I killed two birds with one stone and made Brett his "monthly cookies" for "Valentine's Day".... I put Valentine's Day in quotes only because we put in a lot more effort on other holidays such as birthdays and anniversaries.....Buuuut V-day cookies seemed like a good idea and Strawberry Nutella thumbprint cookies seemed like an even better idea. 

I got my recipe from this site: Sinfully Spicy  and go ahead and do a compare and contrast on my cookies and her cookies. Yeah. Her's look better. But, since I always say presentation is not as important as taste I was not deterred. However, I really wish I'd read all the way to the end on her recipe because I think in the long run I would have gone with the original recipe rather than her adapted one. Mostly because the cookie itself ended up being super bland. And come on....anyone who's ever had a spoon full of Nutella knows that stuff is NO JOKE.  While, I admit, I'd eat an entire tub of that yummy goodness all on its lonesome with no reservations, when I am pairing it with something else I probably need something with a strong enough flavor to stand on its little lonesome. So next time more strawberries, and more sugar and I think it'll be really A-mazing cookie. 

A non-runner

So, I've never liked running. It was boring and it hurt my little bitty lungs, and besides swimming was soooo much better.

BUT after Ransom was born and after childcare at the gym went up in price by about a million dollars, I decided running was for me. Besides, I had a really great running partner-which if you know-can make ALL the difference in ALL the world.

So, Ransom would get all comfy in his jogging stroller, I'd put on my heart monitor ( now that my running partner moved to Hawaii...tears...its the only way for me to really know how fast I'm going), plug in my route on my iRun app on my phone ( best App EVER!) and off we'd go....things were grand, and I'd even planned to run a little 5k with my friend Melissa when our Hubbies were gone next month...and then....TRAGEDY STRUCK.

Over Christmas I got some new running shoes...Asics. Apparently they were the best. But as soon as I started wearing in them I started getting KILLER shin splints. So, I made the terrible mistake of going back to my old shoes ( shoes that I hate to admit this...but I've had them since before Ransom was born...shudder.) Anyway, I went back to them and every thing seemed fine. Until, I did *something* to my ankle last week. It didn't hurt during or even after my run but it hurt like the dickens the NEXT day....but I decided to walk it off ( yes, I realize this post is riddled with hand slapping to the forehead moments...) and took three days off, bought some sole inserts for my shoes and I ran again on Friday.....of course, all of you are shaking your heads at me at this point. Especially since I've been literally hobbling around ever since.
So, I promised Brett I'd take a week off ( at least...meeh!) from running and I've got a brace on my ankle and I'm icing it whenever I have a few moments to do so....but let me tell you. THIS my friends is IRONY. I finally decide I like running and now I can't even do it. :-(
Boo.

P.S. I really, really need to be able to run....it is literally the only exercise I can do WITH Ransom that we both seem to enjoy. *whimper*  I am begging God to give me another chance with my ankle. I promise to treat it better this go around.

In lue of a picture...

So, I guess a picture of Ransom does not constitute as a blog post, huh?
Ah well, you can't blame me though, life has been busy ( but what's new?) and I've been writing never-to-be-published blog posts in my head for weeks now...So, I'll take this Sunday Ransom Nap Time While Brett Is At Work time and write a real life honest to goodness post!

For Brett's birthday my parents sent him a box of goodies. It was totally and completely a wonderful gift because it was so very them and yet it also was perfect for Brett because he just so happens to like similar things ;-). Anyway, it was a combo of random household things that one can't live with out...and then books. ( We allllll love books) And since Brett works all the time and therefore has little chance to read, I decided that it wouldn't hurt anyones feelings if I read one of the books my parents sent.
Its called Son of Hamas and its the most incredible true story of Mosab Hassan Yousef "Joseph" the son of one of the seven founders of the Palestinian group Hamas that we, in the West, all know so well from its many terrorist attacks against Israel, it is his jaw-dropping tale of becoming a Spy for the Israelis to help bring down Hamas from the inside and how he step by step, piece by piece became a follower of Jesus.

I don't know what kind of books you like to read, dear readers...but I'm not even kidding, I could barely put this book down. I read it while Ransom was playing, I read it while he was eating, while he was napping, I read it while I was waiting for Brett to put on his PJs and get into bed, I read it while he went to the bathroom in the middle of watching a movie...basically any second of my day I could squeeze in a few seconds, I did. It was part spy thriller/ part biography of a modern day muslim/part love story to the Lord.... It was truly one of the clearest reminders of what Christ's Love can truly do and the Hope that it brings to this world that I have had in a long time. Read. This. Book.

I should really post...