Don't over-do it

ByLisa Moorhouse

So, I was getting overwhelmed about trying to blog post daily, and then I stopped posting all together. Even blogging is hard for me to balance! I find that I do this fairly often in my life, and I can’t be the only one, so I might as well open up about it.

I feel like everything I get in to I want to do the best I can, but I have super high expectations of myself and easily become overwhelmed. I started running, did a few 5k runs, that wasn’t enough, did a 25k, and still wanted more. I’m proud of my marathon, but training etc took a lot away from my riding which is supposed to be my main drive. I need to constantly remind myself that my best isn’t always what I could accomplish given the perfect circumstances, but what I can accomplish at this point in my life with the tools/time that I have. I can’t devote my life completely to rocking out one thing without letting the rest of those things in my life fall to the side. Obviously because of my family situation and the responsibilities that I have, this is not an option, ever. My daily goal is going to have to be constantly reminding myself of my human limitations and being proud of the progress I make!

The seasons are changing, I’m happy that the sun is shining, but at the same time I instantly get this weight knowing all that I have to do throughout the warm seasons to be where I want to be. Maybe I should start a group for all of us who struggle with this to remind each other daily that it’s ok not to be able to reach perfection. Being a perfectionist, an idealist, isn’t always a positive thing. I will survive, I am going to schedule time aside to Blog weekly. Hopefully I can be consistent without being overwhelmed, and I can blog more when something exciting happens without feeling like it’s too much.

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  • Sick of winter

    ByLisa Moorhouse

    Tonight we prep to get hit by another winter storm. I think everyone in Michigan is sick of it at this point. Bella is home from school with a headache that wouldn’t go away, had her drink a bunch of water and take a nap. Could we all just hibernate until spring? It’s cold and windy, I want to be outside riding the horses! Thankful at least for round bales as it makes our daily chore load a lot less when it’s 20 degrees.

    Shane was very full of it after being stalled overnight on the worst day.

    I’m struggling personally with the cold and lack of sunlight, fresh air! Just the thought of going out right now is depressing. I find that mostly these days people don’t care about others as much as they say they do, but sometimes sharing our struggles helps other people to know they aren’t alone in theirs. For all those struggling with getting through the last (hopefully) and hardest part of winter, I feel you! My horses feel it too I think. I love watching them play, even in the snow, but I know how much they love to run the big pastures and graze. We all are looking forward to the freedom we gain in the summer, long miles on wonderful trails, longer days and green grass. We can get through this. I have to do the self talk daily, “I will get through this, spring is close”. We’ve got this!

    Frodo with a snow blaze.

  • Brand New Blogger

    ByLisa Moorhouse

    I’ve decided to try my hand at blogging. Since I’m brand new to this I’m totally open to constructive criticism! Feel free to comment or email lisa@notbalanced.com

    So, why Not Balanced? Well I’m a busy mom who is doing her best to balance family, sports, farm, health & fitness, business, etc… Honestly it’s a struggle daily, so in my search for a catchy website name I thought Not Balanced described my life perfectly! Yes, I am attempting daily to find balance, but reality is that even if I get close, I have to start all over again tomorrow!

    Some basic info on me for those who don’t know me:
    I’m a mom of 3, Eli is 8 and Abigail and Isabella are my 5 year old twin girls. I have an amazing husband Corey, who I married in April 2012 (after I was widowed in March 2010). We have a 6 acre farm in Hudsonville, Michigan and at this moment we have 6 horses, 2 dogs, 2 indoor cats, 4 barn cats, 2 finches, 17 laying hens, a rooster, and some fish. 5 of our horses are Arabians, and we have an adorable weanling pony that I’m hoping my girls will love raising. Our dogs are a Doberman we just adopted in November and my son’s daisy dog who we’ve had since he was a tiny puppy. For the most part I’m a stay at home mom, but I also am part of a network marketing company that sells health care products (skin care/vitamins/supplements). I don’t have to work but the extra money is nice and we love the products ourselves so it’s a win-win.

    I’m a dreamer, and a goal setter. I race my horses in endurance and push myself athletically, I’m currently training to run the Houston Marathon on January 18. My first and likely last marathon, it’s grueling, but I’ll be glad to say I did it! I used to love to write, still hoping someday to be able to finish a novel but thought blogging would be a good outlet for my writing needs while everything is so busy at home.

    Looking forward to blogging some of my experiences with attempting balance in my life. Hopefully it’s entertaining/informative and enjoyable to read for you all.

    lisasolace
    My mare Solace and I at AHAM endurance race in July 2014

  • Corey's Birthday

    ByLisa Moorhouse

    Yesterday was Corey’s birthday! Hurray for 34! 😉 He thinks he is getting old but I’m convinced old is not a number but a state of mind. I fully intend to be riding my horses competitively into my 70’s.

    It was a super busy day for me, Corey loves a clean house so I did my best to clean up, but it’s a huge chore when the kitchen/front bathroom is under construction! I didn’t sit down for more than a few minutes the whole day! I spent the majority of my time working on getting the wallpaper border off of the bathroom so that we can hopefully paint soon, and wow is that a pain! There is even some of it still left to get off today.

    I had the kids make homemade birthday cards when they got home from school. They had fun drawing on them and using stickers to decorate. I probably spent the same amount of $ I would for 1 card from all of us, so I really liked this idea better. We had a yummy dinner and cake, of course! Since it was a Monday, Corey went to men’s group for church after dinner and the kids and I played a few games of Uno (or 1 really long game as when they won I let them come back in and play more). It was fun. I wish sometimes we weren’t as busy and we did stuff like that more often. It seems like there is always something going on, sports for me or the kids, errands, chores, construction projects, etc. It’s really nice to just say “that doesn’t matter” every once in a while and sit down and spend some good quality family time together. I love my kids! They were laughing and joking around, I can’t believe how much my girls have grown, playing Uno without much help and reading like rock-stars! Man has kindergarten changed them. <3

  • Who did it?

    ByLisa Moorhouse

    Corey and I passed on going out for NYE this year, instead we opted to go out on New Years Day. We got a great deal on a movie mystery dinner from living social and a friend that was also supposed to go got sick so we were able to get their tickets and my parents got to join us. It was a fun night and our first murder mystery dinner experience. We did go to a murder mystery Halloween party this year and it was super fun, but played out a lot differently than the dinners, it is what sprouted our interest in the dinner though. 🙂

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    We started off getting our photos taken, then we were seated with other couples at a table and that became our team. One person at each table (at least) got picked to be a suspect and play a role in the game, thankfully that was not me! The game got started and we ate our dinners in between times of “interviewing” where we would use play money and interview/bribe other suspects for secrets (clues). Some of the people dressed up for the theme, a 1950’s prom, but there were quite a few like us that just wore nice casual attire. It was a fun experience even though I’m a fairly big introvert and it was very out of my box to be talking to so many strangers in a group. Sometimes I think it’s great to step out of your comfort zone, and we met some very nice people. There are times when I wish I wasn’t so introverted, but it really is a struggle to step out of my comfort zone when it comes to that and I think those kinds of changes are done over a lifetime.

     

  • Marathon Recap

    ByLisa Moorhouse

    I had an AMAZING weekend in Houston! Sorry to have such a delayed post, but recovering from my race/trip has been easier in some ways than I expected and harder in others. I was only there for 3 days, but there was sunshine each day and it was beautiful! I am a sun girl, I’m happier and have way more energy and motivation when the sun is shining. I’ve had a hard time adjusting to not seeing it since I got home.

    The marathon was great, it hurt, but I finished! I didn’t get the time I wanted, but on your first imagemarathon, any time is a PR! 🙂 My official time was 5:47:58, finished with not much time to spare. I actually started off with a very good finishing time, but it was a bit faster than I usually can maintain and my joints definitely paid for it. I did do some walking at the end, and I got pretty upset with myself for it, but it’s ok! I had a really good team of motivators, and I don’t think I could have done it without them.

    My bff Allison lives in Houston with her family, her and her husband Charlie were my super fan club. They raced around and met me at different areas during the race. At mile 18 she had a poster they printed off of my kids holding a poster and I was crying, it was totally unexpected.image Even though I don’t see her often, this girl has a huge piece of my heart. I think you get few friends in life that mean as much to you as Allison does to me. If she needed me I’d be there for her in any way I could, even with all the miles between us, and I am sure she feels the same. Sometimes you get lucky, and you have a friend for life, even when the world separates you. 🙂

    I got to run with 2 awesome distance runners, the marathon was like a training run for them. One ran with me until about the half way point and the other got me across the finish line. On Saturday I met Kevin, the man who got me across the finish line, and Sunday morning I met Jean. It’s amazing to me to have 2 people, pretty much strangers, be so uplifting and motivating. They really made me feel like I could do it, and like I was a person who mattered. They took time to run with me, and lift me up and it made a huge impact on me.

    I was also hugely impacted by all the true strangers cheering along the entire race course. Wow! I told everyone I am going to have my kids make signs and we will go to the next big race locally and just cheer for strangers because it made such a huge impact on me! If you ever feel like you want to help others, an easy way to lift people up is to just go stand around mile 18-24 of a marathon and cheer!

    I was pretty resigned that I wouldn’t run another marathon again, but now I’m having second thoughts. My biggest worry is that it will impact my racing/training schedule for my horses, so we will see how it goes. My joints do not like running past mile 20 or so, but if I lost a little more bulk they might be ok. Only time will tell. I really like my medal, and honestly I was only really sore after the race when I was sitting around and on the flight home. I took Kevin’s advice though and wore my medal on the flight, it was kind of an explanation I think to those looking at me wondering why I was walking so funny. 😉

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  • Crock pot Mac'n'cheese

    ByLisa Moorhouse

    Busy mornings usually leave me feeling lazy, so dinner is crock pot mac’n’cheese. Up with the kids, got them on the bus and horses fed, then an appointment with the chiropractor, the grocery store for dinner supplies, stopped in and helped Corey out with a project at work and then hit the gym.

    I had a light workout today. I ran for a mile at a much faster pace than normal to get my heart rate up, then I did some weight training and decided to come home. I don’t like overdoing my workouts after going to the chiropractor, something about the fact that my bones just got rearranged makes it not seem like a good idea to me.

    My afternoon will be filled with laundry and cleaning up the house. When the kids get home I’m going to go get our babysitter because we’re having her over for dinner and I am gifting her a couple of wonderful It Works skin care products for Christmas. She’s one of the best baby sitters we’ve ever had, she plays with the kids rather than just “watching” them, she doesn’t charge us a fortune so we can afford to go out more often, and my kids LOVE her. I believe that having a good solid babysitter is one of the most important things in my life right now, because honestly I don’t think my hubby and I would be able to make it without our date nights! We try to take at least 2 a month, and sometimes we will have lunch together. When life is crazy and stressful it’s good to be able to take some time out with your partner and remind each other that you are on the same team. 🙂

    I figured I would add the recipe for our dinner tonight as well in case anyone wants to try it out. I haven’t had the finished product yet, but I’m sure it’s delicious! I’ll update with a pic after.

    Crock Pot Mac’n’cheese

    8 oz elbow macaroni, cooked and drained
    4 cups (16 oz) shredded sharp cheddar (I used a couple different cheeses)
    1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
    1 1/2 cups milk
    2 eggs
    1 teaspoon salt
    1/2 teaspoon black pepper

    Spray crock pot with nonstick cooking spray. Put cooked macaroni in crock pot and mix with all remaining ingredients (set aside 1 cup of cheese). Sprinkle remaining cheese over top and cook on low 5 to 6 hours.

     

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    Doesn’t look like I expected, but was delicious.

     

     

     

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