The Moolah

As of this week Swim For The Border has raised $6500 for enriched after school care for  500 youngsters in Nogales, Mexico.  This is a great accomplishment and I want to say thank you to all who have been involved.

I am struggling to come up with another project and a focus for this bloog.  I plan on an epiphany very soon.  That's how epiphanies happen right, after you plan for one?  Please stick with me and check back occasionally.  Suggestions are welcome.

Much love...

Last Day

My last walk took place with the whole tribe at Raccoon Creek State Park  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raccoon_Creek_State_Park  We walked the wildflower preserve trail.  Emma and I took a lot of pictures.  It was  misty and lightly raining for most of the walk and a lovely and fitting way to end SFTB. I struggled a lot with the weather on my walks.  It has been a very wet spring.  But what I learned is that what is happening externally, be it with the weather, my family, my obligations, the time that I need for myself does exist, so long as I create it.  That hour is always there for the taking.  And I hope that I can always be grateful for that.

Day 45

53 minutes
4,425 steps
190 calories spent

This morning the girls joined me on my walk.  It was lovely.  The weather was breezy and overcast this morning.  Maeve tried to quit after 20 minutes but a little redirection worked magic.  They found a fallen birds' nest.

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Tomorrow is the finale!  That seemed to fly by.

Day 44

Yesterday my husband was out of town and I kept the kids home from school.  They had a half day, which in my experience is usually a throw away day.  I decided that on this day I would give my kids my undivided attention.  As many of you know this is not always easy.  This world is oh so distracting.  And recently we have had a string of house guests and Chad's work has had him traveling on three separate occasions in as many weeks.  There were a million other things I could have been doing.  But I chose not to.  I did this as a way to honor my close friend whose children were killed two years ago in a car accident.  Thursday was supposed to be her son's 7th birthday. 

We woke up and shortly thereafter died Easter Eggs.  We then went to Highland Park super playground  with some friends to play in the sunshine for two and a half hours.  Afterwards, I took my kids out for dinner and ice cream sundaes at The Red Robin.  We stopped at the redbox and rented a delightful kids' movie (read animated piece of crap) and wound the night up under the covers on the couch.

Today the sunshine has proved elusive and Emma woke up to a diagnosis of strep.

 I continue to be humbled by how fast my children grow up and all that they have taught me along the way.

My walk was a  comcast walk/exercise video after the kids went to bed.

43

Today I decided to walk in a different neighborhood than Greenfield.  I chose Point Breeze.  It is close to the kids' school and very pretty.  It was the quickest solo walk I've done yet.  Quickest meaning the time seemed to fly and the walk was easier than most that I've done.  The streets are tree lined, manicured and most of all, flat.  I found myself becoming a bit envious.  No trash lined the streets.  No house appeared as though a dump truck of lawn ornaments crashed into it.  According to Pittsburgh Magazine, the median income is $93, 000 a year.  That explains a lot.  I sound petty here, of this I am well aware.  I live a life of immense privelage.  Americans on the whole are living pretty well.  But sometimes I just like to wallow in it.  Wallow then purge.  Above is one house I in particular coveted.

Otherwise, I just admired the more varied choices in landscaping.  I used to work at a greenhouse and do miss those days.

 5,428 steps, 59 minutes, 233 calories.

Days 40, 41 and 42

I was able to enjoy a nice long walk with my company.  My step mother and her husband came to visit me.  We walked the neighborhood and reminisced a bit about my dad.  (more on that later) It was fantastic.  I missed my walk yesterday (day 41).  But today I assisted my daughter's 3rd grade class on their field trip to the Fern Hollow Nature Center. http://fhnc.org/ We did this in the pouring rain.  The Environmental Charter School kids are tough like that.   We were able to explore the outside areas including Little Sewickly Stream.  The kids found crayfish, salamanders, may flies, and aquatic insects of all sorts.  That was more than an hour's worth of walking for sure.  And tonight I will do a one hour walk video after the kids go to bed. badabing badaboom

39

The light outside this evening was gorgeous.  And the clouds were gorgeous.  The moon appeared almost full but my camera phone isn't good enough to get a good shot of it.

 Lovely little hill side civered in grape hyacinth.  I wish I could upload the smell.

5,584 steps 58 minutes

I Tunes picked out another winning mix for me, the highlight was this Van Morrison song which I think of as my Dad's theme song.