tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210228322024-03-05T11:37:19.194-07:00Oh, For Heaven's Sake...Come with me and I think you'll agree: My life is proof of God's sense of humor.Skerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.comBlogger536125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-7505614804186095952020-07-06T14:15:00.002-06:002020-07-06T14:15:47.238-06:00Well Hello There Stranger...I thought I might be done with the old blog there for a while. Life ramped up and suddenly there were truly too many things to make time for and, this time anyway, work and running and a few other things won out over blogging. I still think I might be done with the old blog, at least mostly. I have zero coherent thoughts at this time, certainly nothing I'm going to try to monetize, and as Skerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-874474393236935822018-03-07T14:20:00.001-07:002018-03-19T11:49:14.919-06:00A Tummy Bug Observed...
There will be times you will watch a tummy bug work its way through your children, and you will keep pounding down your vegetables, washing your hands like gangbusters, and getting a reasonable balance between exercise and rest, and you will think just maybe you have dodged it. And sometimes you will be right.
But other times, throughout the course of the following days you will take noticeSkerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-7883123559916174282018-02-24T04:40:00.000-07:002018-02-24T04:40:07.875-07:00Springtime, But Not Really, and More Podcasts...Today (Wednesday) in beautiful Massachusetts we are hitting 74 degrees. Everyone is out in their short pants, enjoying the sunshine and pretending it is actually springtime while we have it, because we are due for 1-3 inches of snow tomorrow.
That is what everyone is talking about here, but I want to tell you about the things I'm digging lately, mostly in the form of podcasts.
Podcasts are someSkerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-56871614276064674632017-12-01T04:46:00.002-07:002017-12-13T12:07:04.576-07:00The Biggest Holiday Surprise...
Well Kids, it's that time again--Season's Greetings.
Today I want to talk about what is probably the biggest surprise realization of my adult life, or at least my parenting one. Providing food, clothes, shelter, and love/belonging, blah blah blah...that stuff is important for sure, but the responsibility for another person's life wasn't as much a shock to my system as this little point:
Skerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-7267848095547783122017-11-13T04:52:00.004-07:002017-11-13T04:57:26.279-07:00One Cup Sugar and One Cup Ambivalence...You guys. We have to have a talk. A quick one, because kids and school and all that other stuff, but I need to put something out there. Sugar.
Sugar is what I have to put out there. I've mentioned in a couple of posts about my ongoing nutritional odyssey, and how I've realized that sugar does not have my best interests at heart, and all that. Well, I've been sort of motoring along until Skerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-90532878764791911352017-10-11T08:09:00.001-06:002017-10-12T11:19:35.537-06:00Why I Wore Jeans to Work Today...
Parents in the civilized world are familiar with the sort of
day I’m having today. It’s not a bad or good day (yet). It’s not even a
particularly frenetic day. But it is a FULL day.
Wednesdays are great because they are my short day at work.
For some reason, I tend to have a lot of meetings on Wednesdays, but that works
alright because I can have meetings all morning and then cut and run for Skerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-2665595904055864842017-09-28T20:19:00.000-06:002017-09-29T10:39:24.381-06:00Things I'm Stoked About...There are lots of things I'm excited about lately. Some of them will resonate more than others...
--His Highness is running cross country on his middle school team this year. He is having a GREAT start, and he is hitting times at 10.5 years old that I never hit at my fastest in high school. At least part of it is that he is tall for his age and has legs for miles (<-----see what I did there??Skerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-10539659032073281802017-09-21T10:32:00.001-06:002017-09-21T10:32:34.188-06:00Brain Crowding...Is anyone else's brain full to the point of overflowing? Is it just me?
I don't think it's just me. In fact, I KNOW it's not just me. The bulk of discussions at school last year were about how His Highness clearly has so much going on up in his big, bright brain, and how we all could help him learn to focus a little, and how some of the teachers felt they would be exhausted to be in his head forSkerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-10363102381489105322017-08-16T18:52:00.000-06:002017-08-24T14:24:14.918-06:00Camp Wisdom...We went to family camp a couple weeks ago. Last year we had such a good time that we re-booked before we even came home, and THIS year we did the same thing. Family camp is becoming our summer thing.
The reason it is so great is that at family camp we can truly relax. Several families from church attend the same week, so there are friends for ALL of us to play with. The kids revert to a Skerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-51983988610627731772017-07-15T19:39:00.001-06:002017-07-16T14:20:22.281-06:00Long Run Wisdom... I tend to think I have about 25% more thoughts than average, floating around in my mind. So I love my long runs, because they give me a lot of time to sift through some of the stuff that gets built up in there.
This week I was thinking about where I am at work, and home, and in life. That is, generally a season of high joy and life, but also a season of work and growth. One of my favorite Skerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-52833230500510319162017-05-27T06:02:00.002-06:002017-05-27T06:05:08.854-06:00Naked Food...You guys, there's no pretending I'm posting for any reason other than to tell you that I had the chance to do a guest post over at Ellie's blog. YES I jumped for joy at the opportunity, and MAYBE I was so excited I piddled a little. Or maybe not; you'll never know for sure. Ellie is doing a series on Breaking the Cycle of Blah, and I got to discuss my experiences with unpackaged carbs as part of Skerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-18737593949205132802017-04-27T09:20:00.003-06:002017-04-27T09:20:59.124-06:00Runaway Thoughts...Yesterday we had a day, and by the evening I had some bite marks on my arm and a whole lotta fatigue, so I ran away for 90 minutes. I ran some errands, and had my own dang dinner all by myself, and I forgot my phone so I was alone with my thoughts and my bullet journal, so I put some thoughts down in my bullet journal. The final one was my favorite, I think:
"Sometimes I think my kids are [rat Skerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-65569624946199419292017-04-05T04:48:00.000-06:002017-07-15T18:05:52.992-06:00NAILED It...There's lots more to write on this later (when it's not 6:30 AM and time to get ready for the day), but I want to share right now the good feeling of a plan well-executed.
The last (almost) year since starting heart rate training has taught me a lot about what running success can look like. Our coach hammers into us that, for the most part, pace truly doesn't matter in heart-rate training. It's Skerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-371934496898067912017-03-27T18:56:00.001-06:002017-07-15T18:06:34.274-06:00Skerrib's Health(ier) Eating Update...Well kids, here we are and it is late March already. The equinox was a week ago, but since New England tends to be a late bloomer we had a snowstorm instead of, like, leaf buds on trees or something equally spring-ish in nature.
I've been keeping up with my new healthier eating habits, and working with Ellie, so I figured it was time for an update (in bullet form):
-The gluten/corn/Skerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-71111830879461859782017-02-09T14:21:00.000-07:002017-04-15T15:36:54.570-06:00Skerrib's Guide to Health(ier) Eating...OK kids, big things going on here at the Skerrib house. Yuuuge things. New Years resolution-type things. Really fantastic.
I've been working with a dietitian for a couple weeks now. I know a good amount about healthy eating, and I've made some gradual changes over the last year, and I have a good sense of our family philosophy on food, but I needed some guidance on implementing things and Skerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-47587416195596739682016-12-06T19:23:00.000-07:002016-12-09T11:46:46.538-07:00Achievement Unlocked: Marathon...Have I talked yet about how I ran a marathon? I know I mentioned I was going to, but I don't think I've completed a post about it.
Here's the nitty gritty: I did it. I ran a friggin' marathon before the age of 40. With 11 months to spare, as a matter of fact. It was a beautiful autumn day, and I was well-trained, and I was ready, and I did it.
Plenty of things went right. Most of the Skerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-31356672305543382562016-11-17T09:01:00.001-07:002017-07-15T18:06:56.465-06:00The Littler One's Foot-Freezing Adventure...The Littler One knows I like to tell stories, so he demanded that I gave me permission to write about his adventure today.
It started with a wart on his foot this summer. We were at the doctor's for his checkup anyway, so we asked her about it. She said we could bring him in to have it frozen off, but we might want to try over-the-counter options first. I had used similar things in the past for Skerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-86406432635745760042016-11-11T08:40:00.001-07:002016-11-11T12:08:35.169-07:00Poppin' Fresh...So, the Pillsbury pop cans.
I remember growing up, my parents would peel the paper and then whack the can on the counter to make it pop. When I was old enough to open them, I found that the pop startled me a little, so every time I opened them I would get a little freaked out in anticipation. Whack! Pop? Nope. Whack-POP-Aaah! There it is.
Somewhere along the way I started getting the Skerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-27895859313473851182016-11-06T14:00:00.001-07:002016-11-06T14:02:09.774-07:00A Little Extra Autumn Slumber...I had a moment today, driving to church and noticing the morning. We had rain overnight, and the sun was peeking its way through the clearing clouds, lighting up the leaves (or at least what is left of them). I was struck by the beauty of it, remembering how green and full the trees and bushes were just several weeks ago, and knowing how stark and bare and brown they soon will be.
I love Skerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-27478214973507025652016-10-01T06:25:00.000-06:002016-12-06T19:36:16.490-07:00Two Weeks Out In the Rain...Good morning, everyone.
I'm poking my head up above the beautiful mess for a moment to share some perspectives I found this morning. As a result, I present to you a list of pros and cons of today's long run, versus the predicted conditions of my race in two weeks:
--Today it was raining. There were moments of pleasant drizzle, but they were interspersed between heavy showers and cats & dogsSkerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-30701878611807105582016-07-14T13:27:00.000-06:002016-07-14T15:22:34.204-06:00Calling All Benevolent Subversives...Like probably mostly everyone else, I've been mulling over the recent violent events in the US. I noticed folks tend to lighten the language when talking about it; see how I didn't say "shootings?" At first I was annoyed by this because it feels like folks are trying to dance around the topic, or be more PC, or something.
But the more I think about it, I've decided I like the more generalized Skerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-79255913429337868002016-06-18T13:15:00.000-06:002017-07-15T18:07:40.463-06:00I Run With My Heart...Through the years when folks have talked about "witnessing" at church, one of the big questions is how to talk about Jesus without making it awkward and/or sales-y. And one of the more preferable (to me) answers is that you get excited talking about things and people you love, so treat talking about Jesus in a similar way.**
I like that approach for a lot of reasons. First, I'm not going to try Skerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-86077066123011534212016-06-09T09:13:00.000-06:002016-06-09T09:16:12.884-06:00Made-Up Terms Defined: Semi-Plausible Deniability...A little blurb I wrote on my Facebook page, complete with my favorite Gilda Radner sketch of all time...
There are times when you're mobile-working at the cube farm for the day, and cell reception is out in the hallway, and your phone rings with a work call so you're rushing and concentrating on getting out into the hall so you can pick up the call before it goes to voicemail, that youSkerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-11539320362473565342016-04-18T13:16:00.000-06:002016-04-18T13:16:06.790-06:00Playing Favorites...Today I would like to talk about which of my children is my favorite, and why. I'm aware that it's uncouth to admit to such things, but I think when you hear the whole story you'll agree with me.
Now, when talking to them separately, I tell each that (s)he is my favorite and why. His Highness is most like me in personality, so we relate on many levels. Plus he is the oldest, so he can physicallySkerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21022832.post-65522858035472576542016-04-04T19:10:00.001-06:002016-04-04T19:10:54.279-06:00Scissor Safety...
All that glisters is not good for actually cutting things.
Today I'd like to rant a little bit about the dangers of childhood. On the left is one type of children's scissors. While they have a rounded tip, they have real metal blades. On the left of course is a pair of plastic scissors. They're really interesting because while they will cut paper, the blades are plastic so as to merit the Skerribhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026979963890242140noreply@blogger.com2