If you buy a running picture, you'll probably want it framed

I never buy race pics. I usually have someone with me who's taking pictures and after spending money on races and running clothes and gear I usually can't justify spending money on pictures. But  how often do you cross a finish line holding hands with one of your best friends? So after Wineglass, Jen and I decided to order one of the pics and split the cost. 

And then I started thinking. Which usually isn't a good idea. 

What if I framed it for her (us)? From there it went to, what if I get a silly race-specific frame? I almost bought a Sole Sister frame but it was vertical and the picture I ordered was horizontal so that wouldn't work. In the end I decided to get a plain silver frame and have it engraved with the name and date. Cheesy, but classy. 

The frame came before the pictures. I excitedly opened it up... and it was vertical. Yup, the picture of the frame on the website was horizontal but I didn't check the tab next to it, so I ordered a vertical frame. Ack!! I researched how to "sand off" engravings so I could just get it re-engraved. I researched anything I could think of to repurpose the frames. 

I quickly realized I was stuck with the frames. So then I thought about the picture. I could scan it in and make it vertical, right? I *could* do that but while my printer is decent, it's not top of the line. So, I did what one always does when one has a problem of this nature. 

I emailed my Daddy. 

I still didn't have the prints but I decided if I wanted true high-quality I couldn't just scan them in. So I bought the digital version and sent it to my Dad to work with. He was able to convert it but because of the nature of the picture the cropping was just too tight. He suggested adding text at the bottom--like the race name and date. Which was exactly what I had engraved on the frame. So, I decided to just suck it up and buy new frames. 

Except the horizontal frames were out of stock.

So, I went back to my Daddy. He filled the bottom with purple--a favorite color Jen and I have in common--but it needed something else. Then I figured if you're going to be cheesy, be cheesy. This entire year I've focused on one word. I had just bought Jen a mudlove bracelet with that word. It's as cheesy as you can get. So, after all of that: 

Center stage of my "running" desk.

The moral of the story is two-fold. Always double-check before you order. And you're never too old to have your Daddy save the day.

Mondays or how time works differently with kids

This is not a running post. I have a few of those on the back burner, but today I need to just mind-dump. It's been a long time since I've done that here. I've been caught up lately in the "busy" trap & thinking there's not enough time to get everything done. I reread my There's Totally Enough Time post and that helped me a bit, but I was thinking about it more today when at 1 pm I felt like my day was over and all I had done was gone food shopping.

With a 3 year old.

And there's the rub. There's the normal time-space continuum that civilized people have agreed upon and then there's the one that happens when you throw a kid--a toddler/preschooler--into the mix. Time doesn't work the way it always has before. This is my day thus far:

• Wake up around 5ish to the sound of the treadmill. Barely fall back to sleep before waking up to kids in the kitchen and husband shaving his head. 
• Hear alarm at 7 and groan. Lay awake and contemplate ear plugs. 
• Groan more when 3 year old jumps on me--and my full bladder-- and kicks me with his cold feet. Argue over taking off his pull up. Finally get out of bed at 8.
• Make breakfast for myself while 3 year old cries over yogurt that does not magically appear in the fridge. Offer him yogurt we do have. Finally accepts. Sit down to eat my breakfast & 3 year old cries because he wants mine, not a little of mine in a bowl, but all of mine. Muddle through breakfast and wish I liked coffee. 
• Do the dishes left from the early people who think dishes magically get done. 
• Remember to go through the coupons and the shopping list. Listen to 3 year old yell to stop cutting the paper. Pick up all the coupons the 3 year old stole. 
• Get dressed. There's no showering with crazy 3 year old.
• Argue with 3 year old over which toothbrush is his, which toothpaste he can use, and whether or not I can even brush his teeth. Wipe the yogurt off his face while he cries at the injustice. 
• Attempt to get him dressed. He manages to simultaneously have jelly legs and yet also be completely stiff and unyielding. How is that possible? 3 days later I finally have him dressed. Now we argue over shoes and jackets. It is after 10 am. 
• Go to first store for just a few things not available at main store. Turns into more when 3 year old flips out over needed totally unhealthy smoothies because of the cool picture on the bottle. Screw you world. 
• Go to second store and argue over whether or not he should get out of the car. Reevaluate getting groceries delivered. 3 year old desperately wants to go to Panera for lunch. We are not near Panera, nor do I have the money to keep taking him to Panera. Finally convince him we need to go inside and finish food shopping. Manage to get all of our stuff without further incident. It is now 12:00 pm
• Get home and have panic attack when I can't find house keys. Realize the last person who had them was 3 year old. Have bigger panic attack. Luckily, the keys are in his pocket. Unload groceries while he steals the change from my car. Get everything put away so we can have lunch. 
• 3 year old needs the ridiculous smoothies for lunch. I don't even care. Helps himself to two, sees my english muffin and needs one. I make him one. He sees my yogurt and he needs yogurt now too. I make him a small bowl. He rips the english muffin and while banging on the island, all the pieces fall on the floor. He cries that he needs a new english muffin. He gets them himself and nearly grabs two before I can intervene. I relent and let him have a new one. He eats neither the english muffin nor the yogurt. 
• I do the lunch dishes and he helps himself to cereal. 
• Realize I still need to make bread so I get that going in the bread machine while he runs to the bathroom and tells me he's pooped. Argue over washing hands. Argue over whether or not the safety flashlight is a toy. 
• Decide I need to blog while he helps himself to tomatoes. 2 minutes until the big kids bus is here and then it's homework and refereeing and snack time and then I have to think about dinner before basketball practice. 

And just like that my day is over.