Running Like the Wind...

...Or maybe just like a very, very mild breeze from having the window open a crack.

Lucas and I have taken up running, in the most liberal sense of the word. We both got new running sneakers, and one of us just bought a new pair of black yoga pants that I thought would be perfect for running due to their completely awesome feature of being virtually tag-less and seamless, which in reality just means there's no drawstring to hold them up if and when I manage to go faster than standing still. We only manage to make it around the block to the apartment unit's mailbox before we have to walk it out a bit, which means we are both out of shape and that I have the endurance of a four year old that's totally not on board with running just for runnings' sake.

Which is to all to say, I dream of running with the wind whipping through my hair and heart pumping, but the reality is that I don't burn enough calories to eat a popsicle by the time we're done.

I need help...any suggestions on how to make this running thing stick? I want Lucas to get some exercise, too, so I don't want to throw him in his jogger, but we need to get further than our apartment complex. My big booty is depending on your good ideas... ;-)

X Marks the Spot

We took a trip through our local farm's corn maze yesterday and it was loooooooooong. Even the smaller half of the maze was loooooooooong, so when we came upon this X drawn in the dirt I exclaimed that "X MARKS THE SPOT! We won! We finished the maze!!"

And all the little kids bought it and headed for the exit and the cider donuts. And fudge. Ummmm...fudge.

Road Trip!

Shot Gun! What? Wait a minute...I'm always the only adult on road trips...guess that guarantees me a front seat. Oh well! Good enough!

We, the boy and I, are going to visit a friend tomorrow in another state. And while we're there we'll also visit my best-buddy Target and my BFF Coldstone. For the record, it is HIGHLY unfair that I need to travel out of state to see any of them: Jenn, Target OR Coldstone. But, that's okay, it gives us a good reason to get out dodge for a day or two.

ALSO? I'm looking for ideas on a birthday gift for my mom. Throw me anything ya' got...I'm at a loss and she does SO MUCH FOR ME (and even the words SO MUCH FOR ME are an understatement...trust me.) She's not into girlie things...no spa days for her. She loves to garden but I get her a gift card to our local greenhouse for every holiday so I'd like to try for something else this time around. Any ideas? Anyone?

Awwww

I just got this lovely badge for my blog from Ms. Single Mama. My very first one! Thanks a million!

Single Parent Blogs Kick Butt

Yesterday's Post in Pictures

Oh, what a beautiful day to snap a photo or fifty.



Too bad the bottom branches of this tree were almost five feet from the ground. I could barely get near those beauties.
Oh look! Something purple! How pretty!

There's my little helper, now. That apple in his hand will be the only one he picks that day.

Still munching...

Looking down because I asked him to look up...and smile. You'll notice he's not so good at following my high-pitched commands.

He's lucky he's cute.

The ill-fated bag of apples that will soon meet their maker on my car's unforgiving floor mat. They did taste mighty delicious in that apple crisp, though.

Yummmm...Apples...

So. Wednesday I dressed us in fall colors and cute mud boots and grabbed my camera and off we headed to the apple orchard. Because apple orchards are prime real estate for picture taking, not just for picking apples. Lucas and I chose the very biggest bag and the nice little old lady at the register explained to us where to pick and why all the apples had funny looking spots on them, which honestly made me want to chose a smaller bag but it was too late...we were committed to the 1/2 bushel. Off we trucked through the orchard to the far end to find the very best apples. The little old lady was right, every apple was damaged from a hail storm early in the season. Lucas was helpful for about a millisecond, long enough only to pick an apple for himself to eat. But not with the the skin on, heaven forbid he might choke on the skin, and so I (gross) peeled off the skin with my teeth (which of course lodged the apple skin in between my teeth, even more gross). So while he gazed off into the sunshine whining about how HE WANTED TO GO HOME NOOOOW!! I very gently picked the most perfect apples from the center of each tree, hoping they would be less damaged than the ones on the outside. Once our ginormous bag was full and I had snapped a few pictures of Lucas eating his apple and swatting at gnatty-bugs, we headed back towards the farm stand to pay; me carefully balancing our precious bag of apples and my camera equipment, him complaining that the WALK WAS TOO FAAAAAR!!

Ah! But the fun doesn't end, because the nice little old lady told me we couldn't pay there, we had to drive down the road to another stand to pay, and if I were a dishonest person, I would have taken that as my cue to head straight home. But no. We schlepped over to the next farm stand to pay there, and wouldn't you know it!? They also had a TRAIN TABLE! Which means I was stuck there for another twenty minutes while Lucas flitted around a dusty broken train table that is ever so much more interesting than his own fully loaded train table at home, don't you know? We were finally back on the road again grooving to the Jonas Brothers (don't make fun...we're hooked) and we were about a block from our apartment when the garbage truck ahead of us slammed on it's brakes, which in turn made me slam on my brakes, which in turn made all those apples that I had just lovingly picked fall to the floor of my car in a sad bruised heap, which in turn made me swear.

All that is the very long version of: We went apple picking and Lucas got to play on a train table and I now have Macintosh apples growing out my ears. Pictures to follow.

If Only Every Day Could Be This Easy

• *We woke up at 9:55am. It turns out I am a much happier person in general when I've woken up at 9:55am.
  
• *Went to Walmart where my son didn't beg for anything and didn't insist on riding in/on/under their filthy carts. Got everything on my list including a valance for over the kitchen sink which I decided had to be hung before I left for work so I grabbed a chair and hung it up dressed only in my underwear which wouldn't have been a big deal if my neighbor wasn't out smoking on his back deck. Oops. And also, why wasn't he at work.


• *Went to Toys R Us because I'm the best mommy ever and realized all their Halloween costumes were out on display. We started trying them all on and Lucas decided for the billionth time what he wants to be for Halloween...drum roll please...
I think it suits him, don't you? Fortunately for me Unfortunately for him, all the registers were down at Toys R Us so we couldn't make any purchases...so he still has time to change his mind. HA!

*We drove home from Walmart with the sounds of the Jonas Brothers blasting from the car stereo. If you're rolling your eyes at me now I dare you pop over to You Tube and watch their VMA performance. They are cute as a button and wholesome as can be. The boy also ROCKED OUT on the air guitar during the entire song, which, if you haven't seen it in person, is pretty damn cute. Also? The bullet feature on blogger doesn't seem to work...guess I'll have to bullet this thing myself.

*And finally, my mom bought him a harmonica and he's been playing me a wide variety of lovely ballads on it ever since. I say wide variety because no two songs sound the same. On the way home from all our fun he put the harmonica down long enough to remind me how lucky I am to have him, and you know what? He couldn't be more right.