Prayer, Exercise, and Self-Improvement

I was not nice this morning.  My 10-yr-old daughter was leaving for school and I asked if she had her snowpants with her.  She didn't.  We had a quick conversation about why - none of it was very important - but I ended up saying something snide intended to make her feel guilty.  Why did I do that??  Completely unnecessary, unhelpful, and just not nice.
We had a few more words before she left - - I was trying to lighten the mood without actually apologizing for being a jerk (again, not very nice) - - we said our "I love you's" and she went out the door.
"What kind of crappy mother had I become?" I immediately asked myself.  Seriously, I'm constantly wondering - usually out loud - where my kids get their bad attitudes, and I don't need to wonder.  I have a bad attitude.
I pictured Mary talking to 10-yr-old Jesus and was sure the conversation would have gone a little differently.  (Ok - it's a little comical to imagine - but this really is how my brain works.)  Suddenly, I felt like such a slimy troll.

"Here you are given these beautiful children to love and take care of and you treat them like such an annoying inconvenience!"  (That's me talking to myself.  Mary would, again, probably have nicer words to say.)
So I decided I needed to start praying; praying merely to be a nicer, gentler mommy.  I decided that I will say one whole rosary a day asking for assistance with this.
Not long after I made this decision, I received a Facebook invitation asking to join others in an 18-day rosary novena praying to overturn the recent HHS mandate.  So I decided to piggy-back the two.  A rosary for "nicer Mama" will double as a rosary for overturning the mandate.  That's two birds with one stone!
And guess what? I have all the rosaries on my ipod.  I decided to kill three birds with one stone.  I plugged my ipod into my treadmill and added exercise to the mix!  Walking & running and praying - excellent cardio!  Good for the heart and soul.

They have the Couch-to-5k running program.  I highly recommend C25K to anyone who, like me, is NOT a runner.  It gets you running a 5K by the end, and it pushes you just enough outside of your comfort zone each week to show you what amazing things you can do.  I'm going to create the C25D (couch to 5 decade) running program.  Start out by running only during the Our Fathers and by the end, you're running for the entire rosary!  Ha-ha! I'm joking. Kind of.