I can't even express how grateful I am to all men and women in uniform fighting for our country and for our way of life.

Thank you for allowing me to walk around safely. I can't express my gratitude enough.

40!

Yesterday I turned 40. Being forty doesn't bother me. What bothers me is all the hoopla surrounding turning the big 4-0.

No hoopla yesterday was perfect. Spent the day like any other day. Got to go get Dairy Queen with my menfolk. No opening presents, no obnoxious balloons, no cake. Perfect.

I really dislike getting presents. Really. What I hate more is when people asks my husband what he is going to do for my birthday. This is even more annoying.

I like celebrating other people's birthday. I'll put on a party for my kids and hubby because they like it.

As for myself, a perfect birthday is just not celebrating it. It's not about getting old-I just don't like the attention. It makes me very uncomfortable.

Running and Top Shot

One nice thing about running on a treadmill is catching up on your TV shows via hulu.com. I am almost done with season 3 of Top Shot.

Oh, you don't know about this show? It's cool. It's a reality show and it's a shooting competition. I love it.

On the whole, the men and women who've competed are ex-military. It's a pretty good show.

The show runs 43 minutes and I run for that amount of time.

What shows have you been watching that I need to tune in to?

So dorky but I did it. I am commiting to a Bob Harper challenge. He has a website called mytrainerbob.com and he asks all his viewers to commit to some healthy change.

I feel what's doable for me right now is 30 minutes of exercise and portion control until the end of the year.

My portion control has been out the window as of late and I've been supersizing, supersnacking, superlazy, and getting super numbers on the scale. I need to pull back and remember I don't have to eat like I'm Paul Bunyon.

When the season starts to change and I am stressed, I eat. and eat. and eat. It's a real and embarrassing moment for me in blogland-but that's where I am at.

Anyway, what commitment would you like to challenge yourself? I'd like to cheer you on.

What to do in case of fire?

Today was S.E.'s cub scout meeting. They learned about fire safety and what to do in case of a fire. They crawled, they climbed, and were quizzed on how to get out of your house.

I guess I take it for granted that a fire can happen to anyone. At dinner tonight, S.E. explained what to if you are in your room when I fire is on the other side of your room-"you open the window, kick the screen door, and climb out...oh yeah, before you kick the screen out, put on socks...but if you don't want to put on socks you don't have to".

S.E. loves being a part of a club. I think it's good for all to join something and while he's been in swimming lessons, soccer, AWANA, and various parks and rec programs...he LOVES cub scout.

I think I've found something noncompetitive, independent but still being part of a team activity that fits a thoughtful boy like my S.E.

It's that time once again where I b@!#$ and moan about what I have no control over except my attitude but I do it anyway.

Time change. I dread this time when we pull back an hour. I hated when I was single, hated walking to the bus stop when it was dark. Hated coming home at 4pm and it's dark. And whatever light we get, it's usually a grey and overcast.

Now, with kids. I hate it even more. I hate that they are grumpy for a solid week while they adjust to going to bed at the new 8pm(7pm) but still waking up at the old 6am (5am).

They can't tell time so I think it's my grumpiness rubbing off on my mini-mes. Oh well. If you see me next week and I'm more out of sorts than ever-it's because not only am I in my 40's but I have to deal with no light.

But I'm a big girl, I'll get over it say by Thanksgiving because really inside I'm really thankful.

Do you all have the time change blues like I do?

Short Housewife

Take one short 4' 10" housewife. Take one monster truck with a bed when laid down measures to my shoulder.

Take one hubby this short housewife has a hard time saying "No" to ask "can you help me load up this transmission (weighing at least 300 lbs)...

You do it?!

So for the past week and a half you have really bad backpain and when you try to run you get shooting pain up your back.

This short housewife couldn't figure out why her back hurts...

Once she figures it out, she goes see her magic Chiropractor and with a lot of twisting, pop, snapping of your short body (which she exclaimed excitely b/c you are like a little doll for her). She informs you when you lifted above your waist, you tweaked your pelvis, jacked your back, so your body is not aligned anymore so hmmmm...go figure you have pain from knees to shoulders.

Today, this short housewife got herself back on the treadmill with trepidation.

The short housewife had no pain and she rain. She did hills and speed ladders. She did it with a grateful heart and thanked God for a painfree run.

This short housewife will not be moving anymore motors, headers, cabinets, or whatever else her lovely hubby asks her.

She will skip to her kitchen, whip up a dessert, and take it to a neighbor and ask him for help.