i have been debating my second half marathon for over 6 months now. here’s my problem: i am competitive with myself. i want to run my next half marathon under 2 hours. i believe i am faster than i was six years ago, and i want my race time to reflect that. this is definitely my running ego talking.

i have determined that to achieve my goal, i need to run under 9:06 minutes per mile. yep, this means around 30 seconds less per mile compared the last race.

shaving several minutes off a race goal is no small feat. the good news is that i have had essentially six years to get ready. ha! plus, i have an amazingly supportive husband who will do whatever he can to make sure i get all my training time in. the bad news is that my knees are not top of the line. plus, training for the last race, i developed plantar fasciitis which requires a really fashionable boot to correct. i have to be cautious and diligent with training so that i do not injure myself – or end up wearing corrective gear that makes me look silly.

to top it off, i don’t like to run in races. it’s not my running mantra. first and foremost, i like to run for the peace and quiet of the road and how good it feels physically and mentally. i run on a treadmill in the winter to avoid injury and it’s not nearly as relaxing but i do it to keep my fitness level up. secondly, i am a cheapskate and do not like to pay someone else in order to run.

i also struggle with the idea that training for a 13.1 mile run, where i could potentially injure myself thereby taking away one of my great joys, conflicts with wanting to run for the next 20-30 years of my life. the need to run and be active is vitally important to me, yet i want to prove to myself that i can do another 13.1m – and do it better than my first.

here is where you come in. if you’re reading this, you’re probably a friend, a former colleague, a former classmate, or someone who reads every blog in the stratosphere and stumbled upon mine. regardless, i need your help. it’s difficult for me to coordinate training with anyone since it’s a constant juggling act to find the time to train just by myself. as a result, i am lacking camaraderie and motivational running spirit in my training. this is my official request for support and encouragement: please. i need it and will take any ounce of it you throw my way. thanks in advance.

i *feel* like i can do this. i just registered for the race and paid 70 bucks saying i *think* i can do this. now i just need to actually do this, and train hard enough to lose. wish me luck.

the first year after i was laid off was all about survival: could we pull off living happily on one salary plus my part time meager income? once i knew the answer was yes, i knew i needed to challenge myself. in the absence of goals, i tend to lose focus on the bigger picture. to combat this, last year i set a few financial goals, never even sharing them with anyone but my husband. i was thrilled that by december 1, 2010 we had met all goals!

for 2011, i needed to change it up. i stumbled upon a simple organized living article in november which spoke of items a certain frugal family never pays for. i was intrigued. click here to read it. subsequently, i spent time over the holidays reviewing our 2010 budget. specifically, i was curious which categories we spent the most in and where we might have room for additional savings.

let’s be serious. i wasn’t willing to go to any extreme. i refuse to cut out diet coke, a margarita here and there, 1-2 monthly restaurant outings, my iphone, running shoes, gutter cleaning, or the rare trip to the dollar movie theater with the kids. first, i made a decision to not renew any magazines during 2011. this is no biggie since i have ZERO time to read them anyways. plus i know i can find the same, if not better information, online.

next comes the second and much larger goal. during 2011, my husband and i will refrain from purchasing clothing and accessories for ourselves, with the exception of running shoes. although my husband would probably survive given the +15 pairs of running shoes he has around the house currently, i am not willing to injure myself in the process of meeting this goal!

in the 31 days since 2011 started, this goal has already not been easy – for me. my husband will probably not notice that the year has passed without new clothes – men!! me on the other hand, i have been eyeballing a more functional winter jacket and have gotten ticked off at the lack of water protection on my current winter boots. yet, almost daily i remind myself that they are perfectly fine and i do not need anything.

on the plus side, i am looking very closely at everything i wear (and don’t wear) and already have a nice pile of items to donate. i am fairly certain that by the end of this year, i will know exactly what items i truly need and will be much more conscious about clicking “add to cart” and “submit order” in the future. i also hope to sock enough away in our family vacation fund that we can actually go somewhere this year and pay for it all up front –  maybe even disney!

i can now say that – whew – i made it through one month. only 11 more to go. wish me luck.

considering my 4Y son is enamored with dinosaur bones, i thought it would be fun to check it out with him. click here to read part 2 of my museum day guest post on the cbusmom blog!

it was a fun but long day. thankfully, the most expensive thing about the day was taking the kids to red robin for dinner… but the unlimited french fries always have a way of perking me up! YUMMMMMM!

a few days later, i learned that she writes a major columbus blog for parents! yay, new ideas AND a new friend! amazingly, she asked me to write a guest post for her – my first! i am thankful to her for reminding me that i have a blog. i had almost forgotten.

if you haven’t already checked her out, Cbus Mom is a great local site offering first-hand information on where to go and what to do with kids in columbus, ohio. today her guest post is part 1 of our recent trip to visit two museums in cleveland. Click here to read it!

i typically don’t make resolutions, but i do believe in learning new things. this year, as a family we have decided that we will read new books, go new places, try new foods, play new sports, and continue to learn new things. with a 4Y and 2Y, and an insatiably curious husband, i have no doubt i will learn a lot this year too, probably without trying too hard.

some people might think we’re crazy, but doing a monthly meal plan has actually reduced my daily/weekly stress about meals, simplified planning around weekly shopping, reduced food expenses and also contributed to greater variety and enjoyment around cooking in the house.

taking into account the stockpile concept, monthly meal planning is actually not too ridiculous. tp be honest, it does take 1-2 months to build up a stockpile big enough to even think about a monthly meal plan. but once you have the stash of dry goods and enough go-to recipes, you realize how much flexibility it can offer.

most weeks when i shop, i am only after produce and dairy to accommodate whatever is on the meal plan for that week, then i stock up on any great deals that are available.

i admit that we flip the plan around a fair amount during the month. i am human… and often forget to thaw pre-cooked dishes, run out of key ingredients, or decide to run errands in the evening and stop somewhere for dinner instead. the beauty of the monthly meal plan is that it’s soooooo easy to swap a planned future meal for tonight’s meal. when this happens, i also make sure any missing ingredients get on next week’s grocery list!

and yes, we do repeat meals. 3 of 4 family members eat pizza happily and we plan that for 1-2 times a month. one day, we will all eat pizza – i just KNOW it! also, when one parent is gone for dinner, which is at least once a week, the remaining members usually have cold cereal (with 20 boxes of cereal in the stockpile, you would too!) finally, my kids love pancakes. if everything else goes out the window, we make pancakes, turkey sausage and fruit. i can only hope that one day my kids will eat eggs!

a monthly meal plan works for us and i plan to stick with it. i love how organized our meal planning is and how little i worry about feeding my family of four. we do this on a small budget which is pretty amazing to me. however, what would be even more amazing is if the meal cooked itself. if anyone has a tip on that, i am all ears.

yet lately, i see all the spring dresses coming out and i long for a beautiful dress. i have no idea why.

my brother is getting married this year and i am thrilled for him. he also asked me to stand up for him which in the world of siblings is pretty amazing and wonderful. this is especially true for us since we used to beat the crap out of each other. we had a love/hate thing going on for most of our young lives. when he moved within 20 minutes of my family a few years ago, it was nothing short of fabulous.

i have decided that his wedding and the reception (which will be held in another place on a different date) are the perfect occasions to buy pretty dresses.

for me.

wow – does that mean i will get two dresses this year? i am chomping at the bit to start looking.

and the shoes? i am salivating at the thought.

i have already decided that i will be saving my pennies for this. i will focus on design and fit versus cost and coupons. this will be hard considering most days i am laser locked on savings.

secretly, i have a feeling it will be very easy to spend a lot of money, even just for a moment.

but i can do it. i am up for the challenge.

then it hit me. when was the last time i left the house and spent time alone with a friend? TOO LONG. in fact, when i realized it had been a long time, i looked at the calendar and noticed it had been almost 6 weeks. SIX WEEKS without quality time with a friend. how had i let it happen?

oh, but life got in the way.

being the type A that i am, i knew if i didn’t schedule/dedicate a time to getting out, perhaps once a week, i would never do it and time would continue to pass me by. i love being with my family – the four of us. but i was torn by the need to breathe, slow down, be with friends and feel like something other than a mama for a few hours.

i picked a day that seemed good for my husband’s schedule. for planning purposes, we agreed this would be “daddy-night” every week: he would take care of the kids and i would leave sometime after 5pm to either have dinner or coffee with a friend, run errands or just go somewhere and relax by myself. in my excitement, i immediately sent a few emails to get some “dates” on my calendar. i never looked back.

it’s been over three months and i reflect back on the time i have spent with these amazing friends with a great deal of happiness. they make me laugh, cry and keep me connected to the world with something other than facebook. everyone is busy and i appreciate their friendship and time now more than ever since i am a bit isolated in my new world. however, i am a better mom when i can make the time to do something for myself.

i have some sahm friends who never get away from their kids and rarely take time for themselves. to each his own, but that is not me. not only do i want my kids to see that it’s alright for me to go spend time with friends, but i also want them to know that their daddy is fully capable of caring for them. he seems to enjoy this time with them an enormous amount which makes me love him even more, if that’s possible.

sahms don’t get a break: we’re always on. we also have the same challenge as moms who work out of the home in that there are never enough hours in the day. i never understood this until i became a sahm after working outside of the home for several years. even now, i am NEVER caught up on EVERYTHING, but i don’t know many moms who are. such is life with little ones.

however, later this week when i go out, i will have dinner with a good friend whose company i really enjoy. thankfully, i will forget all about the things i am behind on… at least for a few hours.

putting the damn thing together was a big time investment and medium cost investment: searching for and buying materials, creating categories and labels, and finally, getting the coupons in. i spent about 3 hours and $50 completing these tasks before i was pseudo-functional.

now comes the maintenance: i try to take 45-60 minutes every week to maintain the binder: pulling out last week’s ads, reviewing the new week’s ads, removing expired coupons, sorting and filing any new coupons, and finally making my list. if i have time, i go back and look for price matching opportunities for items on my list. most weeks, i am lucky to get these tasks completed prior to my shopping trip. usually my daughter is belly-flopping on the coupon stacks or my son is asking which coupons he can have. i want to scream, “NONE!” i do restrain myself and typically give him a few expired coupons to play with, which he loves.

overall, i do the best i can with the time i have. what i have learned in almost 9 months of living with a coupon binder is that the most important thing is coupon intimacy. if i have only a few minutes, i have to know my coupons. if i don’t know what’s in that binder, i cannot save.

at a minimum, this means that i take the time to see what coupons i have (plus the ones that just came in the paper) and compare them to what is on sale in the store ads. when making my list, i aim to purchase items that fall into the sweet spot: where they are on sale and we have a coupon. over time, i have been able to build a mental list of “buy prices” for every item. often when i get to the store, i stumble on unadvertised sales. if i know what coupons i have, i can easily determine if the cost is at or below my buy price and make a quick decision on whether to buy.

the beauty of the coupon binder is that you can drop it entirely for a few weeks if you run out of time (or just need a break) and pick it right back up when you’re ready to invest the time again. i have not had to walk away yet, but it’s nice to know it’s possible.

also, my husband is verbally appreciative of the time i invest with the binder. i know he recognizes the financial benefits and reaps the rewards when i stumble on a good deal for him (usually peanut butter or gatorade). however, he would prefer that i keep the binder out of the bedroom… too much competition.

when i was laid off last year, i quickly sought out a preschool for my son to try to keep him socially engaged. however, i could not find one for kids under 3. i found an “early 3″ program but he couldn’t start until january 2010… so i completed an early enrollment in my excitement and wondered where life would lead us in 2010.

since then, i have grown quite fond of spending the days with my two kids. i like our slow, easy mornings. i also like our playdates and new friends. i like letting them relax and explore whatever appeals to them on the days where we have no plans. as the snow fell this morning, it was stamps and ink pads followed by building the tallest cushion tower ever (which of course the kids had to tumble down)!

when november 2009 rolled around, i had to make a final decision on enrollment. i hemmed and hawed. i cried to my husband: i could not imagine being away from my son and would miss him too much! my husband reminded me that it was only two hours, two days a week. plus, it would give our son a chance to learn new things and give me solo time with my baby girl. i took a deep breath, signed all the papers and mailed in our payment.

next week is his first day. guaranteed, i will be the one crying.

the big difference to me is that he is now a walking, talking, potty-using preschooler. he has grown into an observant, loving and articulate little guy who i love spending the day with. i have to remind myself that preschool is not daycare. yes, he will learn new things but thankfully in a small class with a low key setting. also, he will still get to share the majority of the day with his sis and i – for which i am extremely thankful.

he must know change is coming. tonight as i carried him into his room, he whispered, “thank you for taking care of me, mommy.”

i miss him already.