Too cold to swim today!

 
 

I was helping my mom learn to upload pictures from her digital camera. Look what we found!

Snow Day?

The kids all came home from school with ideas on how to make it snow tomorrow. It IS Chris’ birthday after all & it usually occasionally snows on his birthday.

• Wear your pajamas inside out.
• Wear your pajamas backwards.
• Put ice in the toilet.
• Put a cup of ice on your bed.

Let’s see what happens…

Gingerbread House, part two

 

The house is completed. Do not worry about the other one. It is still undecorated & may remain so. Much of the candy has been nibbled & interest has died down considerably. I love the roof that we all came up with together.

Boredom Busters

This is my workout room in my basement. Scott painted the cute stripes on the wall about 5 years ago. There’s a small TV with a VCR, a DVD player, & DISH with DVR. It should be easy to workout – cute room, lots of fans to keep me cool, all of Scott’s trophies from his childhood to inspire me to accomplish great things. And yet, I am still pretty uninspired whenever I hop on the treadmill.

You may or may not know that I am not crazy about running outside when it is below freezing & windy outside… or raining… or too hot… or … you get it! I tried running on the treadmill the other day. I had a little snack, wore cute clothes, took my iPod with me, & settled in with last week’s Biggest Loser episode. They were even running a marathon – inspiring, right??? Eh, not so much! I lasted for 3.5 long agonizing miles before bolting out of the house to run the final 2.0 miles on the road.
It was not so many months ago that I did almost all of my cardio workouts indoors. This is just a small blip in the road – spring will be coming in a month or two – but I need to prepare for next summer when the blast furnace gets turned on again outside! I collected a bunch of different workouts online & have linked them here so I can remember them when I need them, & so I can share – maybe you will do some & let me know your favorites. Most of these workouts include interval training – alternating bursts of higher intensity with lower intensity workouts. Interval training burns more calories, improves aerobic capacity, and alleviates boredom. Great benefits!!
Here are a few workouts to try:
The bike, elliptical & treadmill cross training event
The 2000 calorie workout (treadmill, one week, assorted workouts)
Run/Walk: The 20-Minute Treadmill Hill Workout
20-minute 300-calorie workout
Lindsay Price’s Treadmill Workout
Burn 500-calories with Treadmill Intervals
And Fitness Magazine’s 25 Best Cardio Routines including a couple of the above
Running Planet’s Treadmill Hill Workouts
Runner’s World Treadmill Workouts
And from the vaults of my memory, here’s a happy workout that will let you know you’ve torched a ton of calories. Walk at a comfortable & brisk pace. At 1 minute, increase the interval by 1.0. Add 1.0 for each minute until you reach 10.0. Then decrease by 1.0 each minute until 5.0 & then start back up & then all the way back down again. Walking at 10.0 is difficult enough for me that a walking workout is plenty for me.
And after we have done all of this running we can stretch - http://www.runningplanet.com/training/dynamic-flexibility-stretches.html.
Happy running, jogging, or walking! My next adventure is the Tybee Island half marathon. It  is just two months away, not that I am stressing out or anything!

Mud Pie Heaven

 

I wanted to make a special Christmas dessert for family night, so I tried this one from Sister’s Cafe. While you’re there, notice how beautiful all of their food photography is! My piece looks half eaten. This recipe is definitely not DJ-the-trainer-approved. But it received two thumbs up from all five members of the family!

Mud Pie

1 package Oreo cookies

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 gallon peppermint ice cream (we used Publix Peppermint Candy), keep frozen

1 jar hot fudge

1 container Cool Whip, mostly thawed

Crush Oreos (I used the food processor) – mix with melted butter. Press into bottom of 9x13-pan. Slice ice cream into 1-inch thick slices & arrange in pan. (This is such a great idea! Even layers & you don’t have to melt the ice cream!!!) Smooth out with a butter knife or frosting spreader. Add layer of hot fudge (unheated). Top with Cool Whip & crushed Oreos. Keep frozen unless serving.

I had problems cutting the pie without making a mess. I started dipping the knife in hot water before each pass & it was MUCH easier. Enjoy!

Calories? … do you really want to know? 24 small servings or 12 large servings.

12 large servings, 525 calories, 29 g fat, 75 g carbohydrate, 6 g protein. If you want to work it out, you have to go to a spinning class & sweat everything out for an hour.

It sure tasted good though…

Gingerbread Houses… a lesson in patience?!!!

In an effort to have a more meaningful holiday season, we asked the kids what traditions they like & what doesn’t matter. The only thing they mentioned was gingerbread houses. We have done this once! Funny, huh? Reading the scriptures & other meaningful stories, going to see the lights, baking goodies for family & friends, singing carols, and everything else – and they remember the gingerbread house that we made last year. OK.

I took Jared to AC Moore (craft store) with me & picked up a kit. The kids expressed that they wanted the biggest house possible. (Of course (boys) would we expect anything else?) We bought the kit & unveiled the pieces. It was too small. So while out & about today, I saw another bigger kit (with fondant!) and brought it home. I found my Wilton cake decorating kit that I’ve only used 3-4 times in a short period of time. (yes!) I made the icing & carelessly schlopped it into the pastry bag. (Have I mentioned that I hate having sticky fingers???)

The directions said to assemble the house. (Wait? Did I assemble last year or just decorate?) I don’t remember ever doing this before but okay … the roof broke in half so I repaired it. House number one is structurally sound.  My fingers are gooey & the icing is oozing out the top of the pastry bag onto my hand & the counter every time I use it. On to house #2 … Put the walls up & let them set. Check to make sure the roof fits… too small! Try to make it fit. Break the back in half. Glue it back together. Let it dry. Wash hands. Try putting the roof on again. Break the back in half…

Did I mention that meanwhile Christopher & I tried (successfully) to charge the van’s battery after the interior lights were left on all night? Luckily, the van starts fine now.

And I am resting… and contemplating going to Publix & buying a preassembled house from the bakery department.

Why am I doing this? Because most of the magic at our house has died down, except Jared is so excited that he has been carrying the box around & talking about the gingerbread house & how he’s going to decorate it for days and days. I guess this is why I do a lot of crazy things … because I love to see my kids’ delight.

Finish It Friday!

I love this concept from Aby Garvey – I don’t know her personally but have taken on-line classes & learned lots. Each Friday she posts some of the things she plans on doing for the weekend.

 

To Play:

• Plant pansies & daffodils so next spring will be joy-filled & not guilt-filled.
• Go on a nice long run with my husband.
• Rough draft of Christmas card/letter.
• Go out to lunch somewhere fun with the kids.

To do:

• Check on refrigerator prices & make a decision. (Did it!)
• Go through office/garage/scrapbook room & find more things for the "come & get it" sale.
• Find out how I can help with Thanksgiving dinner.
• Laundry.
• Pull out Christmas planning book & make some decisions on gifts & travel arrangements.
• Blog about the half marathon.
• Backup photos onto hard drive.

Silly Challenge

What are you listening to these days? I am going to hit shuffle on my iPod & let you know the first 15 songs that come up. Do you want to play? … probably not, but just in case, here are my first fifteen here are a random 15 songs from my running playlist.

1. Say (All I Need) – One Republic
2. Feels Like Tonight – Daughtry
3. Say Hey (I Love You) – Michael Franti & Spearhead
4. Kite – U2
5. Crayola Doesn’t Make the Color for Your Eyes – Kristin Andreassen (LOVE!)
6. Goodbye, Apathy – One Republic (love the shuffle-sound for running!)
7. I’m A Believer – Smash Mouth from Shrek
8. SOS – Rihanna
9. Mercy – One Republic
10. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) – Green Day
11. Bad Day – Daniel Powter
12. Goodnight, Goodnight – Maroon 5
13. Steal My Sunshine – Len
14. Swallowed in the Sea – Coldplay
15. From Where You Are – Lifehouse

 

Okay, so now you know. TMI? If you would like to hear a sample, you can click each song title. The hyperlink will take you to the Amazon MP3 sample. I think #3, 5, 10 & 15 are my faves of this bunch.

Spinx race day report must be coming soon – only good memories remain so I won’t whine!!! ;)

An announcement…

Ryan is “on one” lately – he is just doing & saying a lot of funny things.

Run Chris Run!

       

Saturday, November 6, 2010 was the South Carolina state cross country championships in Columbia. All the cross-country runners from all the schools throughout the state come to the Sandhills Research Facility & run as fast as they can. Chris attends a small charter high school & runs in the 1A division. The weather was SUPER cold (low 30’s) in the morning – Chris ran really well! He missed beating his best ever time by only 20 seconds. The winning time was 16:24 (just over a 5-minute mile!). If you look at the “guess who won” picture, you can see that the red-haired boy was off like lightning from the start. He stayed about 10 feet ahead of the next runner for the entire race. After seeing the awards (Chris’ high school took 10th place overall), we went to Cici’s with our long-time friends to finish out the fun.

My blog Wordle

A Wordle is a graphical representation of a bunch of words – the program took all the words off of my blog & generated this little picture. Now we know.

Voting Thoughts

Today, my 12-year-old was asking why we need to vote. After all, it was a day off of school (seriously) & there were lots of other fun things to do. My kids wanted to know why it mattered if I voted. I explained that sometimes an election was decided by one vote. I was watching TV on election night & looked up to see that indeed, the candidate that I had voted for had one vote & no one else had any. (All other results were still uncounted.)

Tonight as I was watching the results, I realized that I should have helped a friend. He is the father of a boy on Ryan’s baseball team & he is a man of great moral character. I saw his signs around town, but I never took the time to tell people about him – I know him & that he is trustworthy, etc. I really & truly HATE talking about politics, but I like it when good people win & work for my family.

When I got home from voting, Chris wanted to know whom I voted for & then proceeded to tell me why I should not have voted for them. The best thing? He is entitled to his opinion & I’m entitled to mine. And every single person in the United States can do the same thing. Hooray for democracy!

What does math have to do with praying and Halloween candy?

Let’s review:
Even numbers can be divided by two.
Odd numbers cannot be divided by two.
Prime numbers are only divisible by one & the number.
My Grandma Jean used to take me to church with her. My eyes were not conditioned to staying closed for an entire prayer, so somewhere in the middle of the prayer my eyes would pop open. I would then make sure to open & close them again so that I would be even. (I can’t make this up!) If I had opened them three times, I would open & close them again so that the even would cancel out the odd & so on. I am happy to say that I can keep my eyes closed through a whole prayer now.

BTW Isn’t this picture great? I am sitting highest in the tree & my Grandma Jean is at the far left. My sisters Julie & Jennifer are there, along with Aunt Elanor, my great-grandma Madoche, & my stylish mom & dad.

Okay, so what does this have to do with Halloween candy? Today was trunk or treat so I went to Costco & bought two big bags of candy. The good stuff. Chocolate. Sour Twizzlers. Nerds. Lemon Heads. Skittles.
I opened the bag for just one piece.
I ate a second so that it would be even.
It tasted so good that I had three, but then I was at an odd & prime number.
I had four, but it didn’t feel right to leave it at just four.
Five! Five would be good – odd, prime, & a good place to stop. My family has five people. I ate one little candy piece for each member of my family.
Luckily, my clean eating body rebelled at some point & helped me realize that I felt like crap when I eat S.P.C. (sugary processed crap)
I only ate one type of candy (Milky Way Midnight) because then there would be a competition between the flavors for who got eaten the most. I finally quit counting because it just wasn’t helping things much.
Happy Halloween!

I missed Jared’s picture at the church tonight – it was sheer & utter chaos!!!

Right this minute…

Well, right this minute everyone except me (& maybe the frog) is asleep! But about forty-five minutes ago I walked around the house & snapped a few pictures.

   

The story that goes with the pictures:

A few days ago I made the boys all pose & flip their hair for me. None of the pictures turned out, but they did all get haircuts.

At 9:15 tonight:

Jared was working on his homework. Every day it’s the same routine. Come home from school. Get a snack if you’re hungry. Sit down & do your homework. Then, play play play! Today was a bit crazy & it somehow slipped his mind.

Isn’t his smile cute & quirky? He had four teeth pulled a few weeks ago & now there is major movement happening in this little mouth. His teeth are definitely bigger than the space available & the orthodontist is planning his next Caribbean cruise paid for by us.

Scott is talking to his mom on the phone in our room. He has been up since 3:30 a.m. so he could run before working twelve hours today. I am so grateful that he is so hard-working & dedicated. He is a super-fast runner too. Saturday he will be running the marathon & hopefully get a super-fast time. (3:15 if all goes well)

Ryan is busily trying to enter all 10,000 password combinations possible on his iPod touch. I would just hit restore but my computer is being stinky lately & it is more than I can reasonably do right now.

Chris is working on homework. His work load is heavy this semester & he has a major project due every other day. Tomorrow is the regional cross-country meet & his team had a pasta dinner tonight. He ate four huge plates of spaghetti & was (of course) the kid who could claim that he ate so much that he puked. Really. My fancy spaghetti sauce recipe will not be on the recipe blog – it was simply a jar of Prego, a can of tomatoes, & some garlic salt.

I am taking pictures. Ryan took a posed picture of me taking pictures. :) Someone recently asked me how many cameras I have & I really don’t have a definite number. Plenty though.

Just so you know that everything is not perfect in our world

• Groceries are still sitting on the counter because the coaches moved the cross-country team’s dinner up by forty-five minutes & rocked my world. (Did you notice that Trader Joe’s came to town? Lots of fun & exotic ingredients. I am most excited about mahi-mahi burgers.)
• Dishes are on the counter because we have no sink or dishwasher because the pipes are not connected correctly under the sink.
• Ryan & Jared were running around the house like banshees yesterday & the light cover over the basement stairwell fell & shattered into two million pieces.
• The freezer is not freezing perfectly so we can have soft-serve any day of the week.
• If I don’t send in my ecclesiastical endorsement to BYU by Friday, I will be kicked out of my program.
• We are out of crickets & Pacman the frog is most likely a little hungry. He is warmer though & looks much more content. I don’t know what has authorized me to be the judge of a frog’s happiness level, but he really looks happier than he has for a while.
• I had a massage today that was truly awful. My hip popped in my sleep on Saturday morning & I have been very uncomfortable. I should have gone to my regular massage guy instead, but I had a credit at ME.
• I want cheesecake!!!!! Rich, decadent, creamy, yummy cheesecake. Maybe Saturday night after the race.

But I am really & truly happy. I have a great husband & good kids. We have great family & friends. We are healthy enough. I have learned that I need to eat relatively “clean” (not a lot of chemicals in my food) & my body & my mind feel a million times better. I hope you are well too.

Running Notes

Last week I was able to run eleven miles. My friend Monica & I met downtown at the stadium & had a map of 10.5 miles that we wanted to run. I was the navigator & take personal responsibility for getting us lost several times. We ended up seeing 11+ miles instead. It was a great run – I was tired in the middle (miles 6-8) but the rest of it just flew by. It was so nice to have someone to talk to & commiserate with. Running this far has made me realize that many of the limits that we think we have are in 0ur brains. Sometimes the body cannot do it, but sometimes it really can!

 

Whenever something in life gets hard, I think about how much further I can run now than I could six weeks ago. Running even two miles was nearly impossible. Now, in good moments, I feel like I can run and run forever. My feet are pretty good & my hamstring is getting better. I think that I am even getting a little bit faster. It’s amazing that just hanging on for dear life & keeping going helps get through the bad stuff & onto the other (better) side.

My toenails & toes are not happy with my running progress. Even with frequent pedicures, the nails are black & ugly. My middle toe (the one with two blisters) also had a bigger, more extensive blister beyond the two smaller ones. It feels much better just a few days later. (Tip: Don’t use a match to sterilize a needle. Instead use rubbing alcohol. Gently poke & drain the blister without removing the top skin. All better in just a few days.)

Boston Marathon registration opened (and closed) yesterday. Scott has been training three times a week forever, even through a very hot & miserable Southern summer. He qualified last March in the Snickers Marathon with a time of 3:27.00. Needless to say, he is very disappointed. He can do fundraising, but he must commit to raising over $3000 & more like $5000. That is a lot of money for one little race.

 

And finally, GU is running a deal at their website – if you buy any energy product, you can get 6 Island Nectar Roctanes for free. It was about $12 with shipping for a 6-pack of strawberry-banana gels & a 6-pack of Roctanes. Here’s the link: http://store.guenergy.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=063&CartID=2

Fish Tacos

Every day Martha Stewart sends me a text! She tells me what’s for dinner. I usually ignore her & she never gets offended. One day she sent a recipe for Baja Fish Tacos & it has been on my yummy list since. One day she was late sending a note & Jared said, “She must be having a hard time deciding what’s for dinner!” Cute.

 

1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream (or Greek yogurt)

2 tablespoons lime juice

Coarse salt & ground pepper

1/4 small red cabbage, thinly shredded (about 2-1/2 cups)

4 scallions, thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1-2 pounds tilapia fillets, cut into 16 equal strips OR lightly breaded fish sticks (green bag @ Costco)

8 uncooked tortillas (at Costco in the fresh section)

 

Mix sour cream, lime juice, salt & pepper. Refrigerate until serving time.

Brown tortillas on both sides in pan on medium-high heat. Oil helps but is not necessary. (There’s PLENTY of fat in these yummy tortillas.) Stack together.

For fish stick variation: Cook according to package directions. There is very little breading. There’s enough fish if you cook three fish sticks per taco.

For tilapia, cook on an indoor grill until just cooked. (5-6 minutes? Fish should flake easily with a fork.)

Assemble tacos with tortillas, cabbage, scallions, fish, & sour cream mixture.

You know you are in the South when...

What’s Up? The September edition (an epic tale)

 

Here are (more than) a few thoughts on the month of September. If you don’t want to read everything, the pictures do a great job of summing everything up.

 

Jared …

• still loves his pet frog Pacman. We found a place to buy bigger crickets but they die a lot faster.
• is still happy & smiling a lot. He had to get four teeth pulled – all on the same day. The roots were very long & not going anywhere soon. His bottom teeth are very crowded so it had to be done. He had happy gas & when we driving home he said, “That felt funny! It was like Tom & Jerry were REAL!” It reminded me of  the youtube video of David at the dentist.
• is very thoughtful about the hows and whys of everything. I will add an example if I can think of one…
• involved in Cub Scouts at church. He loves completing the requirements & his friends.
• taking piano lessons & gaining finger strength when he remembers to practice. He loves music & singing. His favorite songs are popular songs that he hears from his brothers.
• playing baseball on a fall ball team. (Fall ball is a more relaxed version – they don’t officially keep score (thankfully!), only one practice & game a week, more instructional & less competitive.) Jared is much, much better since spring. He likes to play catcher & hits the ball pretty well most of the time.

  

 

  Ryan …

• is so good with little kids! I gave my friend’s kids a ride to church one Sunday & they asked him to come sit in the back seat by them. He played & colored & was their friend. It made my heart happy.
• plays baseball for a travel ball team. He has been very blessed & is able to only play on Saturdays! (Travel ball is a more competitive level & usually means two games Saturday & two games Sunday.) Today, while up to bat in the top of the last inning, he was hit by a crazy pitch in the chest. He has two practices per week & then games on a few Saturdays of each month.
• is the deacon’s quorum president at church & working on his scouting requirements. He loved scout camp this summer & earned seven merit badges in a week.
• takes piano lessons & is starting to sound really good. (The hoe-down song is getting a little old though!)
• works hard when he wants something. He wanted a little electronic gadget & saved & saved for over a year to get it.
• loves to run. He is participating in the running club at his middle school. One day each week they run around the track for thirty minutes. He currently holds the record for running around the track the most times in fifteen minutes. (9.75 times – only whole numbers count – so 9) He is hoping to run at the kids’ marathon at the end of October but has developed knee pain in the last week or two. :(
• has a goal to get all A’s for the year. He is great about getting his homework done, pacing out assignments, and turning things in. Last week, he was accused of not turning something in & I knew for sure that the teacher had forgotten that he had turned it in.

 

 

Chris …

• has two college classes in addition to his high school classes this semester – world history and college algebra. The reading list for world history gave me nightmares for a week! He attends a very small high school (under 450 students) but is given great opportunities.
• is on the varsity cross-country team. He can pretty much run forever. Today, he decided to run twelve miles & ran around the neighborhoods until he was finished. After running nine miles last weekend, he shaved 30 seconds off his best time this year. Last week, he was the fastest runner for his school.
• loves the social life (=girls) on the cross-country team and high school in general.
• loves to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. He frequently has opportunities in his high school classes to explain what he believes and why. He is not ashamed to speak up & tell people what he believes.
• has recently discovered the joys of text-messaging.
• gets up at 5:30 a.m. every morning, showers & gets breakfast, makes his lunch, and goes to early morning seminary.(starts at 6:30 a.m.) He does this cheerfully & willingly every single day.
• loves to help people – either with their homework or their running. Sometimes, he slows down during a race to help someone who is truly injured. (I feel bad telling him to not stop to help – but it’s a race!!!)
• is down to the fine-tuning part of his braces. He will have a retainer for a few years & then get implants where he has a peg lateral & a missing tooth before his mission.
• does not really hop into photographs very often… or else he’s just not home much. I will take more pictures in October!  (And just added the post-priesthood-session photo!)

   

Scott  …

• had his birthday at the end of August. The number may be getting bigger but he is still as fun & energetic as the day we met. He loves to play & run & makes life fun.
• is running & training for the Greenville marathon at the end of this month. Some runs are good & some are not. Today was 21-miles & a great run! He ran negative splits – he got faster as he went along.
• works hard every day. Business is slow right now, but his job should be fine.
• helps Ryan’s baseball team as the first base coach or whatever the coach asks him to do.
• still on the high council with YSA, seminary, & institute responsibilities. Next weekend is the HUGE YSA conference & he’s doing the activities on Saturday afternoon.
• I do not know how he manages to get everything done that he does in a given day!!! He works circles around me & smiles almost all the time.
• runs with me (much slower than his pace) & encourages me along the way.
• takes me out on a date every single week.

Jenna …

• drives and drives and drives and drives. Three kids, three schools, three teams, cub scouts, boys scouts, and piano. Have I forgotten anything?
• is eating healthier and exercising a lot. I started working with a  personal trainer back in June. I say he is the real deal. I write down everything I eat, record it in LoseIt! and then take the print-outs to DJ to look at. I stand on the scale & then we work out for an hour while he teaches me whatever I need to know. I had Ryan take my picture last week with the sign at the grocery store because my trainer says, “You have some sweet tooth!!!” (Um, yeah, we were going to buy ice cream for family night!!!) I still have more weight to lose but I am making steady progress.
• is running more. Last Saturday Scott & I ran downtown for over seven miles. Then I went back on Thursday and ran nine miles. I am training to do the half marathon at the end of October. I am hoping to break 2:30 but I am not going to hold my breath. My toenails are very battered, bruised, and oozing.
• loves Spinning! It is a cycling class at the gym, can burn >600 calories per hour, & is just fun.
• is still amazed that I have such a nice husband, good kids, & a great life! My life feels mostly out-of-control and chaotic every day & I am behind on almost everything (except the mortgage payment) but it is still pretty great.

OK, thanks for sticking with me. Hopefully I can shorten this next month (if anyone still reads my blog by then).