10 random things you maybe did or didn't know about me

• I have been held at gunpoint, suspected of being a mercenary come to assassinate a President of a small island nation. - Nothing like a group of teen soldiers pointing AK47's at you to make you realize how quickly things can go wrong.
• I have dived with Sharks, dolphins and a lot of fantastic people!
• I hitchhiked as a teenager in South Africa, with a little pocket knife as protection! - I think I had a guardian angel as a teenager ;)  - If I had to put all the stupid things I did on here, my family would no longer talk to me and the list would be way too long.
• I was known as coffin kid as a teen, cause I used to do the whole goth/all in black thing - yep even wore a mohawk a few times.
• I have been in two car accidents, once as a driver (not a very serious one, and involved a highly inebriated old lady), once as a passenger (wrote off the car totally - not a fun night), and one boat accident when we flipped a dive boat in the rough surf.
• I once divemastered/assisted training for a platoon of British Army guys (Queens Guards) for their Openwater diver certs. 
• I don't drink tea.  My Mom used to make us have tea with nearly everything, and I rebelled, so my hot drink of choice is pretty much coffee, since hot chocolate does bad things to my thighs ;)
• I am the youngest of 4 children,  I grew up with three older brothers.
• I love saving money, especially when I have to spend to save....ok, yes I love shopping and getting a good deal.
• I really need to join over planners anonymous, as I over plan and speculate about everything, and yet some of the best and most amazing things I have done have been on a whim with little forethought.  

10 things I am thankful for

Firstly let me start by saying this 10 things series is hard...hence the reason you have not seen any posts.
I have a couple of posts started, but I cant seem to come up with 10 things to say on each topic...how sad is that?
Anyway this should be an easier one to complete, after all being thankful is easy, and always helps to put you in a good mood when you realize how much you have to be thankful for.

I am thankful:

• for the fact that my children can play out on the street without me having to be out there with them the whole time.  I guess that boils down to also being thankful for the great neighborhood I live in.

• that I have the ability to stay home and raise my kids myself.  As much as some days I would far rather be at work with adults,  I am glad that even though I am not going to win any mother of the year awards, they can come home and be with me.

• for technology that allows me to stay in touch with family and friends so very far away....I would be so lost without you.

• that the monster dog has finally stopped eating my shoes

• that spring is here and we will soon be camping

• that the taxes are done and we are getting a nice refund.

• that I have the most amazing mix of friends ever

• that this weeks spelling tests are over and I  no longer have to try and teach my kids the abysmal words that were on their list last week.  

• that I actually lost weight last week even though I went out to lunch once and dinner once and ate desert that was about 10000 calories.

• that the kids are now in bed and I can relax and watch some tv and read.

There that was not so hard....yay, now I am also thankful that this is done!

100 Things Blog Challenge

Over at Livejournal, another blogging community I read, they have a challenge going to help with inspiring writing.  Well I need inspiration, right?  So I figured hey maybe I will try this.  Its called the 100 things challenge.   Now you can interpret it any way you want, and you can break it down into a couple of posts, you don't have to post all 100 things at once (I would not want to put you all to sleep in one go too!)

I have decided I am going to do 10 posts of 10 things.  10 things I never...., 10 things I did...., 10 things no one would ever believe about me, 10 time I....etc.  So if you have something you think I should add to my 10 things list, let me know and I will consider it.  I am saying consider, as I know some of my friends and their senses of humour.  So, feel free to ask away, otherwise I have more than enough info to get working on the first few posts, and we will see from there.  Now to just find the time to sit and type them out.....can't blame the taxes any more, they are done!!

I did it!!

Yes I did!  Its over and I survived.
Let me start at the beginning!
The night before, I had an awful nights sleep, it consisted of me having absolutely bizarre dreams, about races where people kill each other, there were beheadings and a bunch of other disturbing stuff.  I was too hot under the duvet and combine that with stomach cramps and hey ho....what a fantastic way to start.  I woke up at about 4am with cramps (a possibility I had thought may happen right at the wrong time!)  Damn sometimes being a girl sucks!  Anyway the alarm went off, and I dragged my weary ass out of bed, downed some Tylenol Extra Strength and got dressed.  The kids were a little hyped up but we all got ready and headed out, only to get outside the house and find......light snow flakes drifting down from the sky!  So much for the lovely sunny, but cool running weather we were promised, it was cloudy, snowing, the wind was blowing and it was freezing!

We got to the race site, met up with the girls I was running with, collected our chips and waited while we froze!
Eventually it was time for us to start.  I felt good, we set off down the road and after about 40 meters headed into the woods on the trails.  Well about 30 meters in I stood on a root and rolled my ankle.  Fortunately it was my good ankle, not my ankle with the pins, screws, nuts and bolts holding it together, so I hobbled, hopped and swore a little until it eased up and I basically just ran through it.  There was no way in hell I was giving up now!

Now as I posted in my last post, it was hilly!  I hate hills!  And the hills were brutal!  Some were so steep that even walking up them (and yes I did walk them!) my legs were burning and I was praying to get to the top.  But at the 3km mark we hit the golf cart trails and the downhill and things improved!  Overall, it was not a bad race, the pain pills probably helped with the ankle injury too, and I made it in under 40 minutes (just) - 39:34s to be exact.  I was hoping for closer to 35 minutes but considering the hills sucked and all the other issues, I am not going to complain.  And as Diggle said..."I am proud of you Mommy, you didn't come last"

I even got some photos (thanks to DH) that I don' t hate.  I saw him standing at the end with his camera and managed to flash him a half smile half grimace, so I don't look like I am about to die.  I was considering flipping him off, but there were children and other adults who looked like they may not approve so I refrained.  

Would I do it again?  If someone had to ask me to run with them again, yes I probably would, but I would probably be more selective about trying to chose a flatter course....I think I may be crazy?  However, today I have no intention of running anywhere!

Ideas and help please

Well I need help....yes I am not denying I may need that kind of help too, but this is about writing help.  I have run out of ideas for my blog.  I need some prompts.  What would you as my readers like to read about.  Any facet of my life?  My take on  a fascinating topic?  French fries.....ok I may be clutching at straws here, clearly my mind is blank....except for french fries.  Maybe I should have eaten more for breakfast since its only 10:30am and I am thinking of french fries....or oooh even better that Mars Bar that Diggle left on top of the fridge.  Damn, now I am going to have to lock myself upstairs until lunch time!

But I digress.....yes I know I do that rather easily!   - I think my writing block may be due to the fact that at this point all I can think of is "oh crap - why did I say I would run that race on Sunday"  Its suddenly very real and I am not sure I am ready for this.  I went and looked at the route (which they had not published when I signed up for this) and the 1st 3K are hilly.....I am pretty much fucked...I hate hills!  But lets think on the bright side, the last 2K is mostly downhill.  At least that will be when I am tired...and I like downhills.  Next post I will let you know if I survived.  If there is no next post, can someone please come and scrape me off the trail!

Random Observations

• I got notified by Google this week that my blog ranks number 1 in the search "m40 porn" I bet the poor sod who searched that term never expected to end up on my blog page!

• Its nearly tax deadline and I have still not even looked at my taxes.  I hate doing them so I procrastinate....I would rather clean the house.   - But seriously there are much better things to do than even cleaning the house.  Besides I put DH's tax form somewhere safe a few months back when I was cleaning the house and now I cant find it....see nothing good comes from cleaning!

• 1 week to go till my run, I am starting to feel a little more confident....have also informed DH that any photos he intends to take have to be converted to black and white so no-one can see how bright red and splotchy I am after running.  

• I had a really bad week eating Easter chocolates....I deserve to gain 10lbs!

• I finally have the chocolate situation under control. I took all the chocolates down to the basement and put them in the cold room.  This works for me, as even though I am greedy and cannot control my chocolate eating, I have realized I am far lazier than I am greedy.  I don't have the motivation to get off my butt and make the trip down to the basement to get the chocolate.  I am not sure which is worse, being lazy or a glutton, but in this case the laziness is working for me, so I am going with it.

• DH took a bunch of photos of me last weekend, while he was playing around with some lighting and flash stuff. Some of them turned out really well....I still think my face could look thinner, but that will come, unless I keep eating the Easter chocolates that is! Of course I will say he took LOTS of pictures of me to get just a few that looked good....I am not very photogenic....so to me its a major thing to get some that looked good.  If you are my friend on Facebook I am sorry if you got your fill of my pictures...its just so rare I had to share.

Creme Eggs are Evil

Yes they are!  Oh and I feel kind of ill right now.

Let me start at the beginning.  Today, being the Thursday before Easter I went shopping to buy the kids Easter eggs.  I left it this late for a reason, namely if there is chocolate hidden in the house I eat it.  Anyway I got home with the stash and decided that those bags of little mini creme eggs could do with having their load lightened.  So I ate a few.  I stopped after just a couple.  Really, I promise!

Then later DH came home from work, he stopped at the store and bought more for him to eat over the next few days (he knew I would not divulge my hiding spot for the kids chocolates).  Anyway after dinner he offered me one of the large creme eggs.  Who was I to say no.  I may have whimpered, but I am weak,  I have no willpower so I took one.  I bit the top off and proceeded to lick the inside out with great gusto.  It was pornographic....but oh so lovely.  ( On a completely separate topic, DH tells me I have a freakishly long tongue but I reckon he is just jealous.)

Anyway what this has all led to is my current state of affairs....me feeling ill and trying to drink a large bottle of water to wash this feeling away.  What happened to the days where I could eat chocolate after chocolate without feeling ill?  I suppose its a good thing that I can't anymore, but still. it kind of sucks to feel ill after such a little.  Now if someone could just hide the kids stash from me I should survive the next few days.