Today, I returned to my exercise class…

It has been quite some time since I have been there…I am ashamed to admit since around the holidays…gulp. Now that is not to say that I have not been exercising. Quite the contrary…I have racked up a ton of miles walking over the past several months. But in my hiatus from my class, my muscles have grown reluctantly wimpy and pathetic. So, I decided it was time to shake out a few cobwebs.

It has been so long since I have been there, that the child care worker, when she caught sight of me, croaned down the hall “Now where have YOU been?”. Everyone glanced over their shoulders and stared. Can I say embarrassing? I quickly made up some lame excuse for my absence, shuffled my kids into child care which was brimming with rugrats now that summer is here and filed down to the big gym.

Now I couldn’t tell if the instructor worked us out particularly hard today or if I was just incredibly out of shape. The latter, I am sure. Even though my muscles and bones whinced and moaned at the positions that they were being stretched into, they also were able to somehow find some sense of familiarity in the routine. 

As sweat poured, my body found its’ way into an old natural rhythm…one that was full of energy and vitality. It was like paying a visit to a dear old friend. One that would take you back no matter how much you neglected her.

One that would smack my ass and tell me to giddy-up…

It is going to be one sore morning.

So it is the last day of school today…the unofficial start of summer.

And though I am thrilled at the prospect of not having to get up early to catch the bus, pack lunches or do homework anymore…I also have a little dread in the pit of my stomach on this day…as I do every year. You see, our family does MUCH better with structure. We are rather laid-back people which means that with even the tiniest break of routine, we can be sent into a tailspin of destruction.  Pretty much all or nothing….anybody else like that?

We can easily slip into a pattern of waking up at a leisurely 9 AM and then move at a snail’s pace all morning long until we go to lounge poolside all afternoon long. Very easily, I can forget about routine grocery shopping, order take-out and let the laundry form into a pile the size of Mount Everest. My kids have no problem not doing school work, allowing their little brains to evolve into a ball of mush. I can go from a pretty regular excercise routine to total neglect all summer long. Like I said, pretty much all or nothing with us.

I really, really, really do not want that happen to us this summer. We are in too good of a groove. Though just like everyone else, we have a ton of fun things going on this summer…I am determined to stay somewhat disciplined this summer. Distinct goals have been set for all of us…a loose “Super Nanny” schedule if you will. Nothing too formal or rigid, but just a framework to keep us all on track so that we don’t derail our family train.

Time will tell.

And before we know it, we will be at the last day of summer. Which we all know that for adults has the same excitement of a child on the night before Christmas…

What’s with all of this blog rage?

Today, while killing time in Chick-filet while all of our kiddies played (What?? Don’t all stay-at-home moms basically kill the day away much of the time…secretly pining for the precious moments when you read that final bedtime story and then plunge into the stillness of the evening that is ALL YOURS….peace and quiet at last…hands down, best time of day!) a friend of mine says to me “By the way, Shelley, I read your blog. And I got goosebumps with your last post”. I always like when people tell me that they are reading my blog…not in a narcissistic kind of way, but out of sheer curiousity. With the blog template that I built my blog in, you have the ability to see your blogs’ stats….you know…if anyone is spending their time reading your personal quips. Don’t worry…if you stalk my blog I can’t tell specifics of who is reading my blog (I always feel shy about that with blogs that I stalk…wondering if the blog author can tell that there is a nutjob in Collegeville, PA who visits their site every day…yes, folks…everyday. You all may have coffee or chocolate as your addiction, well, I have my blogs.) Rather, I can only see one general number as to how many people read my site each day. I looked at my stats one day and saw that over 450 people had read for that day. I turned to Sky and shook my head. “Who are all these people and what do I say that keeps them coming back for more?” We kind of sat there dumbfounded…thinking that the people that read my blog live somewhere out in cyberspace…virtual strangers.

But what I have come to find is that many of the people that I rub shoulders with on a daily basis are my faithful readers. Some friends and some just friendly strangers…who know more about me than I know of them. 

My blog-novice friend innocently asked me “Why do people write blogs if they didn’t think that people would read them?”.  The answer varies for everyone I am sure. For me, my blog began in my mind last fall, when I stumbled in the world of blogdom on a whim…or not so much…I really feel that God’s hand guided me to places where I needed to be. I am always perusing photography sites for inspiration to improve my craft, and found my way to one amazing photographer, Tara Whitney of Orange County, CA. If you want to see some downright spectacular, authentic work, visit www.tarawhitney.com/justbeblogged/ . She led me to the lovely, cjane and her nothing less than incredible sister, NieNie, both of Utah. If you are ready to be moved with their jaw-dropping story of courage, endless love and groundless faith, visit www.cjanerun.com and www.nieniedialogues.blogspot.com. They pointed me to the likes of Carol Decker, nestled in the State of Washington. For her heart-wrenching, yet heart-warming story, visit www.sccsdecker.blogspot.com.

I warn you…if you find your way to these sites, and you are anything of a reader with heart, you will find yourself scrolling back to their day one posts and reading their individual lives as if they are a really addictive book. I have been following these ladies, as has much of the half the world (you will know what I mean if you start to read them) for the better part of a year. And they have unequivacably changed my life. I feel as if they are my good friends and yet, we have never met. And I am not the only one that shares these same sentiments…many parts of the nation have tuned into their cyber world and nestled into their daily lives, picking them up when they were slipping.

After reading their posts, I knew that I too, had something to say about the quirky little haps and mishaps of my life. It has always been a life-long dream of mine to write a novel…someday I am going to see to doing just that. Writing has always been a medium of expression for me…a form of creativity if you will. I originally wanted to start blogging as a marketing tool for my photography clients. But so many of my clients are my friends…so it has become more than that to me. It is a way to express myself…something for me in a world of stay-at-home momhood when so much is about your little ones. I hope that my kids can someday read my little stories and quips and discover a piece of their mom that they didn’t know…a diary of sorts…just a very public one. 

But as with every diary, you have to sign the secret book to let the author know just who you are…who’s lurking around…sharing in my thoughts. So give me a shout out and let me know who you all are…so we can get to know each other.

I promise, I don’t bite. Pinky swear.