Getting there

Good morning! The sun is out and it is so good to see. (it's been cloudy for a few days here in Minnesota.)

I am feeling pretty strongly about something this morning so I thought I'd come on here and get it out.

Potential - full potential. Whatever that translates to you will be attainable if you want it bad enough. I am under the impression that very few of us even realize a fraction of our full potential. So often we are bogged down or reminded that all we're currently doing is enough or maybe even too much. Everyone seems to have limits but I am certain that many of them are just put there in our minds as a roadblock to full potential. I want to point out that I have many goals. To maintain a healthy relationship with my family, to keep myself and my husband happy and healthy for the rest of our lives together. To raise a small handful of happy, well rounded and smart children into adulthood and to buy a house that we can thrive in. I would also want financial liquidity, not wealth but I would like a job that validates my education and with the resulting income could help our family live well.  These are my goals and they are always there and always a priority with me. They never go away and these goals are chiseled into the back of my cerebellum, dictating my every move throughout everyday.

I do not have all of these goals accomplished, many of them are in motion. I don't have to complete them to achieve happiness because I am already happy and already okay with that. But I have an inner desire to strive for more and that is what my goals are about. putting them down here just solidifys them even more for me. to read them and know I am making them happen is a powerful thing for me to do and I recommend it to anyone.

Speaking of writing down serious inner desires. Even If and when I complete all of my above mentioned goalage -- I don't feel that I will be at full potential. It will be like when you go for a ten mile run and you get back to where you started like your car or your house and you know you've got more to give. You don't want to just stop there- you want to use it all and not waste any of your energy. You're already out here your already dressed and sweating. You may as well give it all you've got cause your gonna have to wash these clothes anyway.

I want to announce that after I have our daughter I want to train to become a faster runner. I love running. I will always enjoy it. I want to get faster because There are some amazing races that are a once in a lifetime experience that I want to do before I turn 30  These races have very strict qualifying times and you have to be fast. One of them is the Boston Marathon, the other is the New York City Marathon. After I do those I want to run - swim - bike a full Iron man triathlon before I'm 35. I'm turning 27 next month. I will use this blog as a medium to showcase my training and it probably won't be pretty but it will serve as a reference and hopefully inspiration for my son and daughter should they ever want to do something similar.

Josie Evans getting to Boston, New York City and Iron man will prove that absolutely you can shun the non believers in your life and maybe even in your own head. Its October 26th 2013. I'm 26 years old, one time slow marathon runner. currently obese (stats to come after baby is out), currently 7 months pregnant with what they tell me and I'm sure will be a beautiful Adeline. Looking at my gorgeous 4 year old son Dominick and just trying to freeze this moment in time. I know I will succeed because I can see it in my mind.
People have done much more amazing things than running fast.
Running isn't even really amazing, I think its funny when people describe it that way. It's really really great. Not amazing. :)

I hope you are all ready to see some serious things happen.(and hopefully it can spur goals of your own to surface) Once Addie is born I'll get all the starting stats and we will go from there. I'll show you that when we get there.

Until then friends, go kick some major ass, you have about a 2 month head start. I can't wait to catch up :)

hugs and kisses
-Josie Evans

K

I had a Daughter once - It was you. I knew you when you were still a baby. I watched you blow out the candles on your second year birthday cake. I helped you conquer your fears, you were afraid of walking in the super market, you didn't want your feet to touch the ground. You were afraid of the water, the beach, the vaccum cleaner, and many other things. I read and sang to you every night. Brought you everywhere with me, you called me mom. I defended you from quack doctors and therapists, taught you how to plant flowers, put you on the bus to pre-school and cried. I would have jumped off a cliff for you in a second. You may never read this. But it broke my heart to leave you, I think when your are older we will be able to talk about it. I wish I could have taken you with me but that was not possible. I saw you this year after almost 4 years of absence. It thrilled me that you remembered me and were happy to see me. Every day I miss you and every day I think of the future- that you will grow up and may want to know me. I know that you are happy where you are. But I know you will not be a child forever and when you get older no one will be able to hold you back if you want to seek me out. I will be here. I will be 100% percent ready for you and there will always be room in my heart for you. Ive allways loved you and will never stop. :) -Josie

Cut the line

Hello Everyone. I hope the week as been good to you. Every day is a new start. I had a moment today I'll share. I have had increasingly negative experiences with a person who i used to be friends with. Basically I've always known this person is a negative source of energy. But for some reason I've always assumed that the person would turn around one day and be different, nice maybe. Today I deleted them out of my phone and to me that’s a symbolic thing. Every day is a gift to me and every day I will improve. Today is no different. I don't wish any unhappiness on anyone but I refuse to be less happy because of my interactions during the day. I know only I can control how I react - no matter what happens to me. The air feels fresher when you let go and cut the line from someone that can't control you anymore. It may seem silly but my life is mine and I won't allow anger or even negative feelings I had for someone control me. Just taking them out of my phone eases my mind. A very small step to many but to me it’s the midst of a glorious revival. :) They who anger you - control you. And it is the truth. Don't be afraid to let it go. Sometimes there is nothing to gain by hanging on for no reason. If someone or something doesn’t improve the quality of your life. Let it go- life is not long enough to harbor ill will and when its directed at me I am now more than happy to move on to people that are a benefit to me. One person can't fix it. It takes two. I am happy to learn that. Free it up people. -Josie

two beautiful women

Two beautiful women

Galloped up a hill

Their red manes flowed in unison

The beauty that surrounded them was absorbed into their skin

Green grass, still water, warm sun and cool breezes filled them with each step

They ran because it was what they felt like doing – there is nowhere to be but there

When they had their fill of nature’s beauty of trees and their new air- they retired for awhile

A welcome rest follows and will undoubtedly repeat itself once again

Delving into my childhood

Even though I'm about to be a mother of two. I usually feel like I'm still a kid myself, when I'm not working, getting my education. paying bills/rent and making sure that actual kids are fed :)

I fell asleep last night thinking about how awesome yet maybe unconventional my childhood was.

My family never went to Disney world, or Wisconsin Dells or took a trip to the ocean.
our first (and only, so far) family vacation was when I was 18 years old.

We did kick a ton of ass though. We played basketball all evening until the sun went down. When one of the kids got hurt we knew we couldn't leave them, we'd drag their limp body home for inspection.

I could operate nun chucks, wrist rockets and butterfly knives before I started middle school.

We used to shoot icicles with wrist rockets.
we rode everywhere with my dad on his motorcycle.
we climbed every tree, explored the woods, watched out for each other, caught a million bugs, toads, tad poles, frogs, snakes, turtles and crayfish.
We filled fanny packs with frog eggs and forgot about them.
It was dog eat dog in our house - nobody had to make you come home on time to eat dinner. get home on time for dinner, because it’s on the table at 6, if you aren’t here to speak for your food no one will do it for you.
Punishment was fairly sentenced and you deserved it. We didn't run the house, our parents did.


We kids were strategists first. No matter what we had a plan and even if it worked or it didn't we HAD a plan.

Most peoples' childhoods ready them for a normal functioning adulthood.
My childhood had no Disneyland, sailing expedition or grand canyon. But, if a plane went down with all four of my brothers and sister in it, there would probably be four survivors. We could survive nuclear holocaust, maybe even a zombie apocalypse if we had to.

Regular adulthood has been pretty easy so far. I don't know what we trained so hard for. :)

Escape from Facebook - riding the blue pony.

Gooday to you. And also to you.

I had a few funny thoughts today so I think I'll share them.

Last month I deactivated my Facebook account. No big deal, I just didn't enjoy it and I thought it was taking up a lot of my time I could be using to do other things. So I deleted it. A lot of good and expected things happend after I deleted my account and one surprising thing. I'll share them with you now, as they all make me smile.

* I use my free time for getting stuff done, and when I'm done with that I actually relax. I don't incessantly scroll and check up on other peoples lifes

* I feel free to partake in any activities I want without have to take pictures or other wise document what I am doing or plan to do to gain attention for whatever I'm doing.

*"keeping up" with Facebook doesn't matter any more.

* I have my cell phone put away and its not dinging away with a notification every four minutes.

* I talk with my Husband about things that we want to talk about, not just about whats happening on Facebook.

* I don't have to read about people who have it pretty good complain about their lives every single day or sometimes multiple times a day. People are never that brash or annoying in face to face or phone contact. Common sense kicks in when they would actually have to verbalize the ridiculous shit they post on a news feed 100's of times a month.

* The best expected things are that I am less stressed, my life is simpler, happier and its pretty darn good. I complain less and enjoy more. There's no one to really report to so I find myself living more in the moment.

An unexpected consequence of getting rid of my facebook account is the countless angry mean looks and awkward encounters I've had with NUMEROUS people. Its funny really. I was wondering "Why is that person being so weird, or looking at me all mean?" This after a friendly approach on my part. It was hilarious when it dawned on me that they thought I had deleted them from my friends list or something. when actually I disappeared because I deleted my own account. Pretty much the weirdest and funniest thing of my day. You'd think there would be more important things to get riled up about!
Don't get cancer over it. :P
Peace out.
Good day babies - may the force be with you. and also with you.

Life is like a box of chocolates.

I'm starting to become convinced that ingenuity is a lost logic or art form. It’s becoming extinct because we have a tool for every task and gone is the way of one tool with many uses.
Sometimes we don't have all the tools for all the jobs. We need to realize that job A requiring tool A isn't the only solution. Thinking outside the box is what made us human. Imagination, inventing new uses for old things. These things sparked our entire evolution as a species. Think about that for a moment and translate it into your own life. Maybe you don't have all the tools, Maybe nobody gave them to you. you can't find them all, or your missing one. Maybe someone you know has all the tools and they aren't even using them! You don’t NEED all the tools to get your jobs done. I bet you already have a few things at your disposal that you don't even use right now. :) Whatever it is. don’t wait for the perfect tool to get your work done. You might never get it, or it might be a long way out. go a different way around, use whatever else you've got and you might just find what you only had to work with worked much better than the things you wish you had.

My husband is my prime example.
This guy was playing softball and slid into third while running full kilt (seems silly I know but he couldn't help it, he was so excited). He busted open his leg pretty good and I patched him up on the field so he could finish playing. I knew he needed to get cleaned up once we got home or he would get an infection. After his wound was clean I tore apart our linen closet looking for the biggest band aid we had, we had to cover his owie otherwise sleeping for him would be difficult. So we had little kid band aids and grown up band aids, I would need about 30 of those so that was out. and there I saw it, a box of big ass maxi pads. I mean, what’s a pad really than just a huge band aid? so with some Neosporin and athletic tape here is how my husband slept his first night a softball legend:

Sometimes we think we need a wound care kit when the whole time we could have used a maxi pad to get the same effect.
Thanks Jon.

<3