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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  • Sold!

    ByLisa Moorhouse

    Sold my husband’s horse today. It’s sad in ways, he’s a great horse and it’s hard not to get attached, but my husband doesn’t have the time or the urge to ride often enough to make it worth him having his own horse. With 4 riding horses I’m overwhelmed with needing to ride them all to keep them in shape, and since I’ve been training this year (end of summer until now) for the marathon I haven’t been riding nearly enough.
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    Bobbi used to be a show horse and now he’ll go back to that lifestyle and it’ll be good for him to get all the attention and work. While I don’t show myself, I know showing means your horse’s image matters and unhealthy horses don’t look good, so I won’t have to worry about him being taken care of. Also, he’s going to a little girl whose mom is buying him for her for Christmas. What an awesome Mom! So exciting, I have bought ponies for my kids before, but they don’t have the urge to ride yet and I’m waiting patiently for them to decide they got the horse bug! I’m excited to go see Bobbi and his girl when they go to fair next summer, Corey will pull out his big camera and thoroughly enjoy photographing the event I’m sure.

    He is still with us now but he’ll be leaving Monday. I’m glad they didn’t want to just take him today because my husband wouldn’t have gotten to say goodbye. He really did enjoy Bobbi and I’m sure he will miss him. Bobbi taught him how to ride and I love that.

    After Bobbi’s new owner left I did get to ride my mare Solace as well. It was a nice sunny day and not unbearably cold (this is huge for me!). She’s 6 and can be a pistol when we go to an endurance race, imagebut she hasn’t been ridden much this fall and she was an angel in the bosal today. I love how smart and trustworthy my Arabians are, they’ve had no special training, but at any age they seem to be able to retain everything they’ve learned even when they aren’t using it. This could also be bad obviously, if they’ve been taught bad manners, but mine have all been great fortunately.

    We only rode in the arena a couple of miles worth, about 20 minutes, because I didn’t want her to get sweaty. After we finished I let her eat some of the grass that we’re so fortunate to have still. This December has been warm, and while the mud was really bothering me, it was nice to not be shoveling snow and freezing the last few weeks! It’s almost as if Michigan was trying to convince me that it’s not so bad here.

     

  • 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

  • Christmas 2014

    ByLisa Moorhouse

    I missed a few days in the Christmas rush! Corey was off Christmas Eve through Sunday, which was a huge blessing for our family, but it also meant a lot less downtime for me to get on the blog! Christmas Eve we brought our dog home from the vet after getting spayed and then we went and picked up Corey’s daughter that he hasn’t seen since September (insert long dramatic story). We went to lunch with my parents since her mom now lives over close to them, and then we went into Grand Rapids and let the kids play at Catch Air. We had planned something more exciting but plans don’t always go the way we want. Catch Air worked out great for the kids as they got to run around and play as much as they wanted until it closed at 4 and Analise’s mom picked her up from us. We got her a couple Christmas presents to take home, stuff she could use like a box set of young reader chapter books and a cute outfit. All the kids got along really well the whole day, which was huge, seems like with Analise not coming over as often it’s more like having a friend come play for the day.

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    Abby, Analise, Bella, and Eli on top of the inflatable slide

     

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    They were so done with shopping.

    After Analise’s mom picked her up we went over to the mall to get my iPhone fixed, somehow the center button had broken and fallen off during the day. We got my phone fixed, the kids got to play again in the play area at the mall, and we walked around and did some shopping. It was a really long day, but fun for the most part. I decided to try to get a cute holiday photo of the kids in front of the giant Christmas tree, but they were tired and not thrilled about getting their photos taken! Eli seems to be my most difficult photo child lately, can’t seem to get a good shot of him to save my life. He is definitely my son although most of the time he is a clone of his father.

    When we got home we opened our family presents and then Christmas morning the kids got their gifts from Santa. We spent Christmas day up in Big Rapids with my Sister’s family and my parents and it was a nice day even though my sister’s family has been a bit under the weather.

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    Abby and Bella with their Build A Bear buys.

    Fast forward to Sunday after church, more shopping! The girls each got a $10 gift card to Build A Bear in their stockings and Eli got $10 to spend so of course we had to spend it right away. 😉 It was another long morning of shopping (honestly not my favorite thing to do), but I think everyone was pleased
    at the end of it.

     

  • Catching up with Summer

    ByLisa Moorhouse

    I always think Summer is coming, I’m going to get so much done, etc., but that just doesn’t happen. My kids have been brutal so far this summer. My house is filled with the sounds of arguing sisters and bullying of their brother. Thankfully he loves to read so he can escape to a quiet place and avoid them. Even when we are outside they always seem to find something awesome to argue about like “she’s going down the wrong side of the driveway on her bike!”. Yikes! I know other moms out there understand this, but it just seems like this is the worst summer I’ve had for it. I am blaming them being at school all day long last year for making me not used to the constant noise, arguing, crying… and so on. As much as I hate the onset of winter and the cold that comes with it, I can’t wait for the start of the school year and hopefully my much happier kids!

    While my kids driving me insane is no excuse for not posting often, I will admit that by the end of the day, I just don’t want to. When the quiet comes I want to relax and just shut my brain off. Every time I get a good idea about something I want to post/rant about, I get sidetracked doing something else and never make it back over to my computer. The joys of being at home with your children, you very strongly resemble a person with severe ADHD.

    I feel bad when Corey gets home and the house isn’t shining in an extremely clean state, but deep down I know this is the real world and while some homes may seem that way (when people know you are coming over to visit), the reality is no one’s house can be that clean all the time and have children and pets (lets not forget the farm!). Speaking of, mowing 6 acres of pasture is a lot of work. Lazy work right, sitting on my butt, but it hurts my back and it’s sooo time consuming. An hour here and there at night when I can leaves me a lot less time for riding. My sanity is largely connected to my large herd beasts outside and I really need to up them in my priorities! Their care of course is at the top with the care of the kids, but riding requires another adult on location or else I’m stuck doing circles in the arena, which we’ve been doing a lot of lately.

    So yea, our summer has been good so far but I just don’t feel like I’m where I should be by now. I haven’t been running, not enough riding in my eyes, and the things around the house that I feel should be done just aren’t. Such is life I guess!

    Here’s hoping for more sanity, and updates to those who actually stop by the blog.

     

  • 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.

     

     

     

  • 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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