10 for February

This may be a 10 list....or ten things in a list.  We'll have to see...

1.    No, I didn't fall of the planet.  I've just been working. Three out of the four weeks in February I got overtime.  Coming from a girl who usually works a max of 24 hours, 41 is a lot.  Especially when you consider all the extra hours were from home.  My family got really tired of seeing me in the recliner.  But we are done with our February project, and life is back to normal.  Whew!

2.    The thing about working a lot: for me, it becomes kind of like a contest.  In the 9 years since I've been part-time, I haven't once gotten 40 hours - much less 41 - of work in a week.  After I did it once, I kept trying to do it again.  I think I got a little obsessed.  But it was nice to pay some things off that had been lingering.

3.   I'm still having fun with Jillian Michaels and her Yoga Meltdown/30 Day Shred.  Shane likes to call her a Shim.  She is sort of manly, isn't she?  But that girl has done a lot to whip me into shape.  I can do push-ups now.  I've spent so much time allowing running to be my only sort of exercise over the past years that I've let my upper body go a lot.  I guess they mean it when they say you have to do strength training as well as cardio.  I feel stronger, which is really exciting.  And, these videos have kept my attention much better and made more of a difference than a lot of the others I've tried over the years.

4.  Back in January, when I was feeling horrible emotional changes from my asthma medicine, I went shopping for flannel for some of the myriad of blankets I will be making this year.  I went to one of my favorite fabric stores expecting to get 30% off of any sort of fabric I wanted (they have an awesome sale every January that I wait for.)  Well, I walked in, expecting a discount, only to discover the sale had ended 2 days prior.  To say I was nasty is an understatement.  I hadn't put all the dots together to realize that the world wasn't against me but I was against the world.  So, even though I had picked out some adorable flannel which I knew I would be sad if I missed out on, I left, empty-handed.  It sucked, but I just couldn't deal emotionally with not getting my way (lame, I know!)  (I'm getting to the good part.)  One February day, I headed back to the fabric store and found a singular yard left of the very fabric I wanted and had left behind the previous trip.  I was having a much better day, so I bought it and brought it home.  I was so excited; I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it and who I wanted to have it in the end.  I hope she likes it as much as I do when she gets it!

5.  My kids started taking tae kwon do in January.  They did their first test in February, and they both did well on their test.  I like the studio a lot.  It is only 2 miles from our house, which if you know where I live is not much short of miraculous.  The teacher/owner is strict but kind, and that goes a long way in my mother's heart.  I'm glad they are learning to discipline not just their wills but their bodies as well.  Thomas went to the sparring class for the first time last Thursday.  It was so cool to watch him engaging others in friendly combat.  I'm not much for violence, but I'm all for him having the confidence to defend himself in a conflict.  I'm liking our choice to allow them to start lessons.

6.  We entered the world of Netflix.  It's been fun to have different stuff to watch.  And though I threatened to cancel my satellite TV, I have yet to do it.  I'm just not ready to be in a 100% user-driven television environment yet.  I need to let go, but but but.  Yeah, I haven't.  I did get them to drop the price by $10 and give me free HD.  Big deal.  I should just kill it all together.

7.  I finished 2 books.  How sad.  And I finished my love and logic class.  (Writing the sentence "how sad" made me remember the class.  It's what I'm supposed to be saying when my kids make a bad choice.  I forget most of the time.)  I wouldn't say it changed my life, but it did give me some insight into my kids and what drives them that I don't know if I would have realized otherwise.  It was worth the $10.

And that folks, is it.  I didn't even get to 10.  But I'm glad to be back to the land of blogging again.  Was February kind to you?