Random super exciting stuff

Ok, maybe with that title I lied just a teensy bit.

What I’ve been eating each day for lunch…canned soup with a handful of spinach thrown in.  Minus the pretzels and jalapeno jack cheese stick.

This is the best blurry salad ever…or was, until a few days later I had the new and improved best salad ever.  This one is pork loin, cilantro dressing,  cucumber and avocado.  The new best one?  I ate before I took a picture.  That one was chicken marinated in a teriyaki sauce, with cucumber, strawberries and a shitaki sesame dressing.

One of my coworkers that went to his “happy place.”

My new kicks!  Or newer as I have had them about a month.  It will be a sad day the first time these have to see the inside of a porta potty.  I will feel sorry for them. 

Lastly, I take pictures of recipes on my lap top cuz I’m too lazy to make a shopping list I’m cool like that.  These Turkey Meatloaf Muffins are in my freezer and are an awesome go to meal when there’s nothing else around to eat.

And for reals lastly, I laughed out loud when I saw this.

Do you drink coffee?

How do you drink your coffee?

Black, with no flavorings whatsoever for me!

How many cups a day for ya? 

Me? just two.

Did you know that spell checker knew how to spell cilantro but not teriyaki?  Hmmmmm......

Running from bears

I just can’t seem to bring myself to blog.  Part of me has been waiting for the perfect time to write the perfect blog.  I do have a few brain cells and I know that time nor that perfect blog will come.  Then part of me thinks that I really haven’t been doing anything fabulous or noteworthy enough to share.  And while the part of “fabulous or noteworthy” is true, it’s rather negative to think it doesn’t need to be shared.  And really, I’ve been quite selfish in not sharing all the mundane that has been going on in my life.  I ask for your forgiveness.  Please and thank you. J

I have been whining for a long time about wanting to join a running group. The one group that runs weekly here as part of our local running/walking group…well it was always at a time that didn’t work for me.  Then there was the day when I discovered that the pace they run is ridiculously faster than what I run, unless I’m trying to prevent myself from getting eaten by a bear.   Not that I’ve had to run under that kind of duress, but I do think I could out run a bear…a small bear, with three legs, and the bear is blind, and has lost it’s sense of smell.  Yes, I have thought this out.  And no, keep your phone number for the therapist you were going to recommend.  Do not want.

Finally, a glimmer of running light appeared when there was mention of starting another slower paced running group.  We met for the first time a week ago and then last night.  My 12 year old daughter, who has been showing more of an interest in running (TRY NOT TO GET TOO EXCITED MOM!) tagged along too.  We got out of the car the first night and approached the small group of runners gathered.  First thing out of my mouth was, “Hey, I recognize you guys and you are NOT the slower runners!”  They were there to meet and greet and take us around the 2.6 mile trail.  They had already run 13 miles or so, ran three to meet us, and would run 21 miles back to their cars.  Or something like that.  No big deal.  One other lady showed up and I was soooo happy to see her.  I hope I didn’t scare her when I pleadingly asked if she was going to come next week.  My hopes for this running group are purely social as I will still be getting in my 4-5 three miles in the morning.  I’m excited.  More people will come.  I’m sure of it!

So um, to sum things up, I have been running and doing stuff.  I can’t believe May is here.  I should be counting the times I hear today, “I can’t believe May is already here!”  Can you believe it?  This month is my last month before I officially start my marathon training plan.  My focus this month is to beef up the weights in hopes to shed a few pounds before June.  I just don’t like cutting calories during marathon training.

236 days left until Christmas.

You are welcome!

Yeah, this is more like it for me.

Sayonara March! Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Do you ever have one of those months where you want a do-over but then when you put a little thought into it, you just never want to see that month of your life again?  No?  Me either.  I mean…well, now that I put it that way, I make it all out like it was horrible and horrible things happened and yadda yadda yadda, there’s an uprising and the Capitol was overthrown.

 

 

So March just kind of sucked for me.  Nothing bad happened except for my bad attitude.  Could I claim that I’m sick with Spring Fever?  Yep, I’m just going to blame it on the crappy weather.  Yesterday, I sucked it up…literally.  I ran into a headwind that was so strong, I fought it for the first 2.5 miles until I turned around.  Then it was pushing on me so hard…had I been going for a world record…it wouldn’t have counted.  Check out my splits-only impressive to me in the negative splits department:

1: 11:09

2: 11:24

3: 11:06

4: 10:41

5: 10:44

Not too shabby for using my normal walk/run style (style, when I run.  I know, I'm too much!) and barely being able to breath. Five miles in the books when the running hasn’t been stellar…I’ll take it.  Sucky wind and all.  I made that wind my beach.

So to sum things up, and to catch you all up on what March was like or wasn’t like for me:

• Volleyball ended.
• Daylight savings kicked my butt.
• I diagnosed myself with Morton’s Neuroma.  Basically, unless I have arch support, I get a shooting pain between my 3^rd and 4^th toe on my right foot.  I am now all grown up and am forced to now wearing “sensible shoes” that don’t crowd my toes.  I can’t even walk around barefoot at home. Lurv me some arch support!
• I watched The Hunger Games. 
• I downloaded the trilogy on my phone.  I have read the first two books in less than a week.  I console myself and tell myself at least it’s not Twilight.

 

• Dignity?  I gots it! Oh and then I watched The Hunger Games again...as in we just got out of the theater less than an hour ago.

 

• I made healthy brownies with black beans in them for a potluck at work.  I redeemed myself with party bread last Friday.  I don't have pictures of either.  Just picture in your head hum drum brownies...and then a rockin' all nighter type of sourdough party bread that stays in Vegas if you know what I mean.

 

 

The end!

PS April…let’s you and me be besties?

Insomnia is so last night

Not my sheep.  Not my photo.

I’m not sure how it happened, but I didn’t sleep last night.  Ok, I maybe slept for 5 hours straight and then was awake for a solid 1 ½ and then …well we don’t have to get all technical or anything.  We’ll just leave it as I’m rather cranky today.  Oh and my eyes feel like they are filled with sand.  I’m trying to find a positive way to spin this and the only thing I can come up with is that there are much more worse things that could have happened than to lose a good night of sleep.  Now if I can just make it through the day….(I did make it, but just barely.)

Not me.  Not my photo.

Last weekend was the first for me in months that didn’t involve a volleyball tournament.  I almost didn’t know what to do with myself and all the free time.  Except that a good chunk of Sunday was spent in the car, picking my girls up from their dad’s house. 

Not my tunnel.  This IS my photo.

A six hour round trip…too bad the scenery stinks.

Oh, today was supposed to be my big comeback at the gym.  At 4 am this morning, I gave myself permission to skip since I had been up and awake since 2:30am.  I think that’s finally what allowed my mind to drift back to sleep...giving myself permission to skip.  Then I woke up at 5:30am instead of 6 because I was mad at myself for letting myself skip.  Had I gotten up to run anyway, would I still be this cranky?  WE WILL NEVER KNOW!!!

Movin’ on!

So check this out.  I bought this really awesome book called “One Yard Wonders.” And in an effort to USE the book (rather than let it just collect dust) I have challenged myself to making something out of it each month.    This month, I kind of cheated.  It WAS in the book but it didn’t involve any sewing. 

This used to be my tv stand way back when.  That hole was for the card.  I was such a handyman!

Awesomesauce!

So, a yard of fabric, adhesive spray, some poster board, and some packing tape.  I'm pretty happy!  It wasn't rocket science and was a super easy and quick project that had I not challenged myself to complete....I'd still be looking at that stupid hole.

The end. ZZzzzzzzzzzzzz

A round up of pins!

I’m glad that I finally went running on Saturday. It was just one day before I was about to change the name of my blog from “I do stuff and I run rarely”. I intended to run with my Garmin but I forgot it at home. I had my chest strap on though. Genius! So I made my hubs carry his cell phone so we could at least know how long it took us. After not running for, what?, two weeks? I’m not going to tell you how long it took. So sue me!

Since the weekend is not quite over and because I expect much more fabulousness to happen, I’ll save those hijinks for tomorrow’s post. Mainly, I want to pop my head in, brag about running and share a few things that I’ve pinned recently.


For starters, don’t these roasted chickpeas look so amazing?!?

Source: cupcakeproject.com via Amee on Pinterest

 I love this and have finally given in to stripes and blue. In love. My fear of the maxi length dress is that can easily hide a multitude of eating sins.

Source: Uploaded by user via Amee on Pinterest

I was in love with chandeliers long before they became trendy. I'm such a trendsetter...if you can be a trendsetter when you don't have the trendy item.   And I think this one is quaint. And just maybe I might get around to making this? Or at least setting the house on fire.

Source: sunset.com via Amee on Pinterest

For when you're feeling a little fluffy and need to hit the lunges and squats a little harder

Source: ffffound.com via Amee on Pinterest

And lastly...a big fat duh slap in the face.

Source: someecards.com via Amee on Pinterest

Have a great rest of your Sunday and don't forget that you will be exhausted an hour earlier than norm!

Dumbing it Down

I have exactly no clue what happened last February.  I’m too lazy to go back and read through my blog to find out.   My goals from February:

• Track allllll of my food.  (I use Sparkpeople! And by tracking I mean, count my calories and keep it within my range.  Which we can talk about in a separate blog.)
• Exercise 30 minutes for 29 days straight.
• Finish Unlimited - only seven more chapters to go.

Oh holy HECK that’s funny.  I read through my list and fell off my chair in a fit of laughter.  Ok, that was a lie.  As I type this, I’m hunkered down in the basement of a building somewhere I won’t tell you.  There’s one other person here too, and I won’t tell you who that person is either.  BUT, if I really did fall out of my chair laughing, I really don’t think I could ever face this person again…without wetting my pants in embarrassment.  And the pants wetting would only increase my embarrassment.  So there.  I lied. Except for the part about being in a basement with one other person.

I DID however raise my eyebrows at myself.  I hesitate now to set goals for March.  I mean, if I didn’t keep any in January or February, then maybe goal setting just doesn’t work for me?  WRONG!  It does.  It really really does.  My past success with goal setting was achieved when I was consistently using my day planner, keeping a to do list, and marking things off my list.  My goals were always in front of me.  It’s easy to forget about your goals when you don’t see them every day, a couple of times a day even.

I think for March, I’m going to dumb it down.  For me, not you.  So my goal for March is to write a to-do list, every stinkin day.  I still really want these too.

The question is HOW BADLY do I want them?

Microwaved elephant

Boy do the weekends fly by or what?!  We had our last volleyball tournament of the season and headed over the mountain the day before as a special treat.  It was really nice not having to get up at the butt crack of dawn to drive an hour and a 1/2 to get to our destination.  Somehow my little stadium chair found its way out of the minivan and boy howdy do those bleachers get hard.  Our “ladies” did a great job and it was sooo much fun to watch them play and improve over the season.  I’m sad that it’s come to an end.  How will I ever get used to sleeping in on the weekends?  (Not that that’s going to happen. Ha!)

Here are some snippets and tips from the weekend:

When leaving the mall, at night, make sure your headlights are on.  Thank you officer for not giving us a ticket and believing us that we do have current car insurance.   (Now to find the current cards.  I swear I didn’t get them!  Come to think about it…doesn’t that mail go to the hub’s P.O. Box?)

Yotopia, I love you for having coconut flavored frozen yogurt.  I thought you would disappoint me and make me wish I had gone to Yogurt Hut.  It will be a sad day if you ever run out of coconut and make me drive all the way over to Yogurt Hut.

Turquoise and Caicos Essie nail color…very trendy and cool for weekend wear.  A little out of place in the office?  Maybe it just says, “I’m edgy and current …now let me tell you what you should do with your money.”  Yeah, that’s what it says.

I should be a hand model huh?

Don’t eat a whole bag of snap peas in one sitting.  Two and ½ servings is too much for one person.  You will be very unhappy the rest of the evening. 

“Anonymous” the movie.  Have you seen it?  I enjoyed it.  Now I’m wanting to go watch some Shakespeare like right now.

Oooh hey....do you remember when I said I wanted to try the chocolate "cupcake" recipe?  Yeah, well it was a huge flop of a portion of an elephant's trunky looking flop. I mean serious.  Flop.  I almost cried.  Sort of.  Both my daughter and I double checked the recipe and I followed the recipe to an awful T.   Anyone know what I might have done wrong?  Maybe my microwave is too powerful for it's own good?

Do you see to the left in the picture what it was "supposed" to look like?



Cross section of the elephant's trunk. Or I just figured out how to make stuff that looks like brain matter.  Go me!



It tasted mildly like a chocolate flavored egg that you scrambled to death in the microwave.