Finding Krissi

My husband thinks I hate my swimming job. Which is not the truth. I really don't hate my swimming job. What I hate is getting wet. The whole getting wet is annoying. Getting use to cold water, getting chlorine in my hair and on my skin, getting out of the water... That is what I hate. I know I'm a weirdo. Most days once I'm wet I kick back and enjoy my job. I get to spend a few hours playing with little ones and as my little ones are no longer so little I am really enjoying the hugs and the cute little giggles. So really if I could do my job and not get wet I would think it was the best job in the world. Currently, in addition to my normal classes, I am working with two special needs kids. Both kids are mentally high functioning it is there bodies that have special needs. The more I work with these kids the more I just want to cry. How many times on this blog have I said something wasn't fair? Well I take all of those back. Working with these kids I realize that the one...

Working at a swimming pool a strange thing starts to happen to you. You become less aware of the fact that you are wearing a swim suit. You become less aware that people around you are wearing swimsuits. Really in most instances you don't even notice the swimsuits. Which is ironic sense most people are so uncomfortable in what a swim suit discloses about their bodies. However, the truth is not that many people have fantastic bodies. It is an exception to the rule for a swim suit model to walk into the pool. Most people who come to the pool are everyday people with everyday bodies. That being said there are things us pool workers do notice. Things that I feel as your friend I must share. Things that have left young men scarred and us older ladies just plain grossed out. So here it is my first what not to wear swim suit addition. Rule Number One. Wear a swimsuit that fits. I see more women do harm to their figure wearing a suit that is two, three, four sizes to small then...

It turns out that I am pretty much incapable of taking pictures of my swimmer.  Mainly because the race does not last long enough and biting your nails and snapping pictures CAN NOT be done at the same time. Here is what I got! Blurry but still cool! S. is the one with the black suit and green cap. Never hurts to see your name with a #1 by it. Way to go S!! By the way, the reason all the other times are the same, none of the others had touched the wall yet the clock was still going. :) I'm always curious at just how exciting it is to be a life guard at a swim meet.  I think it must be the most boring job ever.

Last week our weather was beautiful. Sunny skies, warm temperatures and very spring like days. It was bliss.  Today it is snowing.  Falling to the ground and sticking snowing. I'm not going to say what I think about this because you already know what I feel about this. Additionally, if mother nature is throwing snow at us just to get her jollys I am refusing to react. Maybe if I quit throwing hissy fits every time it dares to snow she will just stop. Do you think that will work? Maybe? Possibly? Right now I am sitting here dreading the fact that I have to go to work in a couple of hours.  Go to work and get wet.  Go to work get wet while it snows outside (said in a calm voice because I am not angry about the snow)(So take that Mother Nature). Do you think she is buying that I'm not angry? Any way on another note at the gym this morning the following song popped up on my IPOD. I laughed and laughed and giggled and got all kinds of strange looks from my neighboring treadmillers. ...

As of today there is 80 days until the kids last day of school. This year is passing so quickly. This is the only year that all my children are attending the same school. Starting next year my oldest will be going to Junior High. I shutter and stutter when I think about how much things are changing around here. With the summer quickly approaching we have started to plan. Who wants to do what, how are we going to spend our days, what activities will we be involved in? S. has wanted to do Jr. lifeguards since she was tiny and is excited that this year she will be able to do it. She can hardly wait until the summer she is 15 and is able to be a real lifeguard. A. and H. want to start running every morning. We did it a little bit last summer and they want to do it again this summer. Al hated running down the trail and is hoping we don't do it again. However, a friend of ours runs a basketball camp and she is hoping that she can do that. We will probably try to do another 5k ...

A few weeks ago the little girls across the street from us brought a girl scout cookie order form over. I was busy peddling away on my bike and Brent was left on his own. Not only did he have the cookie order form in his hand. He had standing at the front door the two cutest little blue eyed, brown haired, girls. He lost the battle before they even asked if he wanted to order cookies. I could call him a sap, I could call him a push over, but I wont because they were girl scout cookies. Honestly, who can resist girl scout cookies? Add to that the cute little girls selling the cookies and how could you possibly say no? You can't! Well a few days ago the cute little girls brought the cookies over. They were tore into and gobbled up at a faster than the speed of light speed. The probabilty of opening the package and eating only one is certainly 0. I can't prove that but I challenge anyone to prove other wise. When all is said and done this is what I have concluded about Girls Scout...

Back to work! My work schedule is a bit funny. I work two to four weeks in a row and then I get a week off.  I love my weeks off it is like getting 12 extra hours in my week.  I start off the week feeling all kinds of productive. I cleaned and organized two closets that had officially gotten to the shove the door shut and when you open it watch out for falling objects stage.  I love cleaning out closets. They look so pretty and clean and productive when your done.  I wish I could figure out how to keep them that way. I began five books, one was horrible gave up on it, one I had already read (only took a chapter before I figured that out), two were awesome if you would like to know what they were click here or here , one was okay. I love reading! I finished four scrapbook pages! Pulled off a New Beginnings, (A program for the Young Women of my Church) rode 45 miles on my bike, (Go ME!) and last but not least ran around getting all the kids to all the kid things. Now if I close my eyes ...

I grew up in Utah. I lived in the same town that my parents grew up in. I lived in the same town that my grandmother grew up in.  My sophomore year of high school I went to the same high school my parents went to. My junior year of high school my parents both faced very difficult job decisions that meant we had to move. So at the end of the first quarter of my Junior year we moved to Kansas. At the end of the school year we moved to California. In three years I attended three different high schools. A couple of months ago at the request of a friend I joined facebook. I wasn't really sure what to expect, I went through the steps, signed up, posted a pictured filled in a bit of info and I was done.  I didn't give it much thought as I began to add friends. They were the people that asked me join so it made sense to me. Then suddenly I had a request to add a friend from high school (my first high school).  Which made me chuckle, and giggle and think, "Wow, I haven't seen h...

Most of the time I ramble on and on with very little clarification of why I am theSwimMom. Like most mom's that is only a portion of what and who I am. So you get a lot of the other and very little of the actual "Swim" part. However, when it comes down to it I do consider myself a swim mom. I drag my children to the pool on a daily bases. I spend my weekends driving all over to attend meets. I know what a heat is, I know what an event is, most days I even know the order of an I.M.. I know what I.M. stands for. Being involved in the sport of swim has opened many doors for myself and my children. Including, leading me to my job as a swim instructor. I love swimming and I try not to bore the world in general, though I'm sure I do, with the swimming details of my life. But I am a swim mom. Last weekend we attended a swim meet where I watched two of my children compete. The best thing about swimming is every time your at a meet there is only one person you are trying to be...

Would you like to know the one area of my marriage that struggles above all others? Well more then likely it would have to be the issue of personal space. From the time I was young I have had issues with people entering my space. My mom will tell you that I have been this way from birth. Hollering until I was put down and left alone. I have often thought that the use of a bubble that restricted contact within so many feet would be an awesome invention. On Saturday, after I finished my bike ride for the week, the kids asked to go swimming. Since all of them can swim on their own, and after a 40 mile bike ride I did not want to swim, I decided to do a little writing while they swam. At the pool we swim at, and I work at, there are two long cement benches. They span the entire length of the lap pool so they are 25 yards long each. As I sat down, the kids ran and jumped into the pool, and I went to work writing. Looking up now and then and making sure every one was accountable for. After a...

While I am not the biggest football fan, I have to admit, that the Super Bowl was an awesome game.  I love watching games that are close, one minute one team is winning the next minute the other team is winning. It creates all kinds of fun suspense. Honestly though, the number one reason I watch the super bowl is the commercials.  Every year companies bring out the big guns and hope to capture our attention and hopefully our bucks.  I did a little research about this years super bowl commercials. Turns out that one second of commercial time, during the super bowl, cost 100,000.00 dollars.  Meaning a thirty second spot cost three million dollars.  That is the cost of the spot, then there is the cost of actually making the commercial.  Turns out that companies make a bunch of commercials then using a test market find out which ones will get the best response.  The amount of money this all cost baffles the brain. Hard to believe that companies are suffering cutbacks while they shell that ...

It is early, as I write this it is 6:30 in the morning early.  Which means I have already been up for about 2 hours.  It is crazy to get up that early in the morning but you do what you have to do. Most weekdays I am and out of bed by a quarter to 5. I do this so that I can go to the gym and get a workout in before the day begins.  Raising four kids and working a very part time job does not leave a lot of time to routinely get a workout in.  That is unless I get up before 5. I think I have said that now at least 12 times.  Kind of lets you know it is not my favorite thing in the world to do, right? Well, as I was walking on the treadmill this morning I noticed the number of fellow gym rats had dropped significantly.  The first of January always brings a wave of new people into the gym.   Being as I am a person easily annoyed, this annoys me.  Mainly because I have a hard time getting on the machines I want to get on and get into the classes I want to get into. The gym has filled with p...

Tonight I will be teaching my very first adult.  While I'm excited to teach an adult I am a little nervous.  I don't want to sound like an idiot and I want to help her achieve her goals.  I feel stress. So I spent a little time doing research and making a lesson plan.  :)   One of my favorite places to research swim strokes is YouTUBE.  I am amazed at what people post on that site.  While researching I found the below video which I found entertaining a great overview of swimming. Not to informational but fun.  If you don't like hard rock I suggest you hit mute now.  Enjoy.

January is quickly becoming a month of learning for me.  First, there was the science fair projects and book reports.  Now I am taking a walk through history. Last night I attended a fireside at my church.  The topic was on our ancestors, particularly the ones, who crossed the country pushing a handcart. This summer the youth in our church will reenact 40 miles of this trip.  In three days they will walk nearly 40 miles pushing a handcart.  During this time they will learn some of the trials, some of tragedies, some of the miracles, and hopefully have their hearts turned towards the past and the ancestors who came before them. As a current leader of the youth I have the opportunity to go.  When I very first heard that I would be making this trek I was focused on the physical task.  40 miles in three days is not going to be an easy.  Especially in July and especially with over a 100 youth ages 14-19.  I have been so focused on the physical aspect I hadn't given much thought to the r...

Our house is a bustle.  There are bits of cardboard, wires and wood everywhere.  There are jars, microscopes, glass slides, bits of information everywhere. My clean office is cluttered with hypothesis, procedures, and results. There are books piled by the computer and papers flying out of the printer. All because of the rapidly approaching end of term. Which means a book report for each of my older children. Visual aids to go along with the book reports. And Science Fair projects. Two of them. All I have to say to that is, "When did I get sent back to elementary school?" Humph, Grrrr and any other grumpy noise you can think up. I'm sure, in a couple days I will breathe a great big sigh of relief, as the projects reach a completed stage. However, right now all I can do is grit my teeth to the mess that surrounds me.  Also, wonder why I decided to have four children in six years?  What part of me did not foresee into days like this. Admittedly, it has me a bit freaked of th...

First, a word of explanation. I know a few of you have checked out my blog a time or two over the past week, and found that my ADD is out of control. Each day has seen a new template, a new layout, and some crazy programming. I'm done! Well I'm not really done. I'm just going to leave things well enough alone, UNTIL, I design my own layout. Right now I'm working on figuring out a program that will give me the ability to design my own layout. That way I can design things the way I want and quit driving you crazy with a new design daily. However, now I'm thinking about it.. from your stand point ... there is a possibility... that you haven't noticed or cared. Hummm? All right, all right! On to the far more important events. Today on the "SwimMom Question," we are going to be talking NEW YEARS RESOLUTION! Did you cringe? Did you think of closing the page? Did you roll your eyes and think, "She can't do better then that?" "She is SOOOO n...

HAPPY NEW YEAR! The countdown has began. Soon 2008 will end and 2009 will begin. Do you have an exciting New Year Celebration to attend? It looks like we will be attending a neighbor hood party. Actually, it is what we have done the last few years and it is always fun! It is nice to tie up the old year with friends, conversation, games (I think this year I will bring twister) and we can't forget the goodies. We had a nice Christmas around here. I hope your Christmas was all that you wanted. Speaking of Wanted, this week I just have to know, "What did you get for Christmas?" These goofballs made out pretty good. Most of the grandparents, gave them money. The conversation around here is gearing towards using the money to buy a dog. "We have a dog!" "We want a dog that we can hold." "But, you can hold Izzy." "No, we can't" "You can lie on Izzy." "Mom, we don't want a dog we can ride. We want a dog that we can...

Today's "the SwimMom" post promises to be short and to the point. Mainly, because in a few hours my home is going to be filled with children. Our book club is having a little family get together and between the few of us there are almost 30 kids. Take a peak here to see them . Aren't they cute monsters? I asked a group of girls/women this question yesterday and was amazed at how quickly they each answered. My curiosity is peeked and I just have to know. Are you a Snowman or a Santa person? Me, I'm a snowman person. Most of my Christmas decorations are snowman. Most of my beloved ornaments, Snowman. I don't really have an issue with Jolly Old St. Nick. I just prefer Frosty. (One of my Favorite Snowman because he is holding 4 little snowman. :)) Really, I think it has a lot to do with growing up in Utah and then moving to California. I missed having a white Christmas. So I compensated with a house full of snowmen. Now that I live in Utah again, they a...

One thing that you may not know about me is that in my senior year of high school I worked at Baskin Robins. I scooped, dipped, mixed, and created ice cream concoctions for almost an entire year. It was the best and worst job I ever had. My favorite ice cream desserts were malts. Ummmm!!! That is why when I came across this recipe a few years later I couldn't wait to try it. That is why after I tried this recipe it became one my favorite cookie recipes. Below is the recipe for: "Chocolate Malted Cookies" 1 cup butter-flavored shortening 1-1/4 cups packed brown sugar 1/2 cup malted milk powder 2 tablespoons chocolate syrup 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 egg 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chunks 1 cup (6 ounces) milk chocolate chips In a mixing bowl, combine shortening, brown sugar, malted milk powder, chocolate syrup and vanilla; beat for 2 minutes. Add egg. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually...

Over the last couple of weeks I have spent A LOT of time over at the kids elementary school. One of the things that has happened as I have been at the school is I have heard the buzz of Christmas. What do you want for Christmas? What are you doing for Christmas? I can't wait until Santa comes? Do you still believe in Santa? (Said with amazement and jealousy) It would make a great Christmas story all of these kids questions and answers as they look forward to the most favorite of children days through out the year. One of my favorite questions has been, "What do you put on top of your tree?" The answers have been many. Angels, stars, bows, and a weird thing my mom calls a star. That one made me laugh because that was what was on my tree growing up. I heard this whole conversation last Monday as I drove Al and her friend to basketball practice. Al's friend asked, "What is on top of your tree?" Al answered, "An Angel and all the flowers my mom sticks aroun...