Monday, December 13, 2010

Pure and utter chaos

I am behind reading blogs, I am behind with holiday tasks, I am behind with work and my exercise routine is in the toilet and I may be getting sick........Right now I either need to laugh or I will cry........

To back-up.....I have been traveling a lot for work and it has taken its' toll on me in many, many ways.  I generally really love to travel for work because that is the "fun" part of my job; working with customers, doing system implementations and integrations. etc.  My normal time in the office is necessary, challenging but not the part of my job I like the best.  I was in Chicago two weeks ago and Reno last week.   I'll be heading back to Chicago in early January, Orlando near the end of January, Washington DC and New York in February - my husband HATES it so that makes it that much harder.  As many of you know it can be difficult to maintain an exercise regimen on the road; my training is in the toilet and Boston is looming on the horizon.

Kick in the gut #1:

My step-son's girlfriend is pregnant; I haven't even met her.  Meg has been through this situation and I hope I can muster all the support and courage that she did.  This is not something ANY of our kids are ready for; we're heartsick, but will be as supportive as we can. I can't even begin to process all of the emotions I am feeling right now.

Kick in the gut #2:

Our home flooded last Thursday night; luckily we have flood insurance.  We live adjacent to a "small" creek and it rained close to 2 inches in a little more than an hour; the creek just couldn't contain the volume of water.  Parts of our home had 6 inches of standing water; other parts 2-4 inches.  The entire first floor of our home is basically uninhabitable right now.  We're STILL waiting for the insurance adjuster so come out, so we can't move things out, clean-up and try to settle in.  We may be able to get displacement assistance, but it is not usually covered with flood insurance claims; it is covered with home owner's claims - isn't that weird?  This flood could have been much, much worse; thankfully our family and pets are safe and sound, no one was injured.  On a positive note, I had been wanting to replace the flooring in my bonus room; I will get to now :-)  Unfortunately, we also will have to replace our less than one year old hardwood floors; along with four bedrooms of carpet; three tiled bathroom floors and I'm sure many more things that we don't even know about yet.

Both of these priceless little items happened during my business trip to Reno so my husband had to deal with most of it himself; he is a saint.

I had been registered for a half marathon yesterday; even though my life was in shambles and my training less than stellar I decided it would be good for me to go run the half.  It turns out it was a great decision; I took it really easy, saw a million friends and got out of the house & away from reality for a few hours.  I treated this a a long, slow weekend run and it felt really good to get a few miles in.  Isn't this logo and medal cute?  Don't you just love my race number too......


Have an awesome day everyone!

14 comments:

  1. I'm sorry you've been having a rough time. I'm glad you were able to get out and have some "me" time and run the half. That is an awesome finisher's award!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh gosh, sorry to hear about the struggles... wishing you the best of luck moving forward and dealing with things!

    Congrats on the half marathon!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sorry for your struggles. I will be praying for your Step son and his girlfriend. If they truly are not ready for a child at this time there are good options. If they choose to parent it sounds like they are at least close to family that could help if need be. I'm sure it's a lot to handle right now though.

    That's a fun finishers medal... wish we had something like that around here. Congrats on the half!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. wow. i can't believe all that has been going on in your life. i'm so proud of you for taking the time to go run and work out some of that stress that has got to be weighing on your shoulders.

    you and your family are in my prayers!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Kathy,
    Welcome to my world! I know that life sure gets nuts every now and then...always around the holidays. I am sorry to hear about your stressful news. You just have to keep the faith and know that everything is going to work out.

    Take care of yourself! Love and hugs:)

    I love that cow-bell medal....I want one of those:)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hang in there! It will get better! Glad you decided to run - that bit of normal is probably just what you needed! Hope your week goes better!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow you're having a tough time. Why is it that it all seems to happen at once? It was great, though, that you could have such a good time at the half.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sorry to hear about the chaos in your life right now. It's good that you were able to take the time for yourself to run the half. =o) I love cowbell finishing medals, we got one last year after our first half.

    ReplyDelete
  9. WOW, how much can go wrong in such a short amount of time.Hope all improves soon. We are so lucky hey that we are able to enjoy the peace and solitude ( and pain ) of a long run.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow, the world just took a few swings at you Kathy! Way to post this on the 13th, too :-)
    Gut kick #1 is tough, beyond the relationship thing because babies are alot of work! (Like that needed emphasized.) But, I've found that when the kiddo pops out, there's more love around then you could ever expect, so I wish you all luck.
    As far as piling on gut kick #2. Yeah, your poor husband!
    Hoping the sun starts shining for you again and it's cool that the 1/2 marathon at least was a bright spot.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Very nice and unusual medal. Sorry for the struggles but I am sure you will solve all the problems. About the business trips, I know very well all the troubles leaving the family for many days. Best wishes from Italy-

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Kathy!
    I just discovered your blog and love it. Sorry things have been so tough. If it makes you feel any better, my diesel stove leaked diesel fuel across my living room today. The stove is now out on the deck and I'm left trying to get the smell out of the carpet, which I think is impossible (I'm writing this from the bathroom, the only room in the house that doesn't reek of a gas station. I might even sleep in here, lol).

    Hang in there. Glad you got a chance to race. Love that it was number 13 and that you posted on Dec. 13.

    Cheers and take care,

    ReplyDelete
  13. That is the cutest medal. I really like the unique ones.

    Sorry to hear about the challenges and having the house flooded is horrible. I had a washer overflow for hours before (roommate turned it on and left the house, the hose detached, and water poured out the front door.) THat is nothing though compared to 6 in of water. I did get new kitchen flooring and new shoes out of it.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I was at the Holiday Half too! So glad you decided to run it, in spite of all the crazyness at your house.

    ReplyDelete