Running Rain-Out

Supposedly Hurricane Irene was going to suck out all our moisture in order to dump it elsewhere.  I was pretty surprised Sunday morning when I could hear it pouring outside, complete with lots of thunder, before my alarm went off.  I convinced myself that it would stop in the hour I had before the 6am alarm.  And it did!  So when I got up and all was quiet, I scrambled quickly into my clothes.  I was kind of excited...  Colin bought me a headlamp, and this was to be my first pre-sunrise run using it.  

And then it started pouring again.  I was so bummed!  Lots of thunder and lightning.  I turned on the TV and there was a thin, but steady, line of storms that would be heading over us pretty much all morning.  So I resigned myself to just doing a workout DVD.  I did my DWTS Latin Cardio Dance instead, which is not the most challenging cardio-wise, but comes with a lot of toning exercises at the end that are fun to do.  In fact, I'd actually like to just do that on a loop for some toning.  :)

Even though it did clear out later in the day, we had plenty to do, so I didn't bother trying to run.  I'd already gotten a workout in, dancing with Maks on my DVD.  I'd hoped my August miles would be more than July, but I just don't think that will happen.  Oh well.

Lasagna

You are probably going to laugh at this, but until recently, I have never made my own lasagna.  Ever.  I know, I'm this old, and just hadn't done it!  I'm lazy, I guess. 

My family loves lasagna, but we often bought Michael Angelo's...  until they changed packaging, reduced product size, and jacked the price simultaneously.  Fooey on them.  So we tried Stouffer's, but their sauce is blah.  Moving on, we also experimented with Marie Callendar's, but it has too much spinach for the girls' liking.  Makes it too bitter.

Not able to get a good lasagna anymore from my grocer's freezer section, I knew what I had to do.  Suck it up and make it myself.  Thank goodness for Ronzoni oven-ready lasagna noodles!

Before

After!

While it was more effort, obviously, than throwing something in the microwave, doing it this way has a lot of benefits:

• Fresher ingredients
• I can control the ingredients used, including type of sauce, and would never put spinach on lasagna (I'm looking at you, Marie Callendar!)
• I can control the quantities used, meaning, for us:
• Less meat
• Less sauce
• MORE CHEESE!
• Easy to make ahead of time and bake later
• One pan makes 2 whole meals for our family, as well as a couple spare pieces for Colin or I to take for lunch
• Tastes DELICIOUS!

OK.  So now I'm sold.  I don't think I'll ever go back to microwave lasagna again!

Pre-K Adventures

Our big girl Natalie moved into the pre-K-4 classroom this week.  She's still 3, so this was a big deal, to move her up with some of her friends that are already 4 and will be going to kindergarten a year before her based on when the birthdays fall. 

We know she's ready, academically.  I was so pleased that the teachers think so, too, and I was thrilled when they called to ask me if it was OK to move Natalie at the beginning of the school year.  She's mastered everything in the pre-K-3 room and has started to get a bit of an attitude about it, too.  We often hear, "I know that already", with a dismissive hand wave, when we try to teach her something new.

I did second-guess myself a little this week, though.  Maybe she's not mature enough yet for the 4-year-old room?  Natalie did have some rough days and is having a little trouble adjusting to a different teacher instead of her beloved 3-year-old instructor.  I talked to both of those ladies, and they think she'll be just fine.  Natalie just needs a little time to warm up to her new environment.  I can't wait to hear about all the things she'll learn now that she's with the slightly older crowd.  :)

First Day of First Grade

It's back to school time!  Katie is in first grade now and started the year off with some razzle-dazzle.

Katie, Penguino, and Natalie

Even Penguino buckles up!

After we dropped Natalie off at pre-K, I took Katie in to school.  We'd visited her classroom and met her teacher at open house last week, so it was nice to know exactly where we were going.  We saw a few of Katie's friends on the way in, and even stopped to see her kindergarten teacher and give her a hug before settling in to first grade!

In the first grade pod

Getting organized!

Katie and I were both a little surprised that her teacher was letting everyone pick out their own desks.  He must think they are very responsible.  :)  They had music playing and coloring pages for everyone, so it was a great morning.  I was so happy when Katie came home tonight, overflowing with excitement to share everything about first grade.  It's so great to us that she loves school, and we love hearing about it!

Fun with Pipe Cleaners

The girls often do crafts with their grandma on the weekends.  Recently, they've made a lot of pipe-cleaner art. 

Natalie sports a pipe cleaner mustache

Katie made a tiara and magic wand!

They've made so many other neat things, and also used pipe cleaners in collages to make pictures of my dad to send to him.  He's got the most famous mustache they know, so it was pretty fun to see their portraits of him.  I'm sure he'll love them when they arrive in the mail!  We had to include photos of both girls with the pipe cleaner mustache, of course.  :)

I Shouldn't Have Said That

...because all through my treadmill runs Wednesday and Thursday, my brain obsessed over the motion of my right leg.  It was terrible.  I even cut off slightly early today because it was all I could think about.  I don't care about the heat.  I'm running outside over lunch next week, by hook or by crook!

Until then, if you have any thoughts or suggestions, stretches, exercises, tips, etc, to help me feel more aligned, please let me know!

Sooo Over the Treadmill

It's still hot and sweaty summer here, and since I can only run over lunch on the weekdays due to my work schedule, I'm still inside on the treadmill.  And it's getting old.  So, so old.

Over the weekend, I had great outside, morning runs on Saturday and Sunday both.  And it was glorious!  How I wish I could get back to outside running during the week when it's not a gazillion degrees at noon (OK, maybe that's an exaggeration.  It is more like 95 with a heat index well over 100.).  I am seriously counting the days to when it's about 89 at noon.  I think it will be tolerable then.

My main beefs with the treadmill, besides the fact that you don't go anywhere, are this:

1.  I think I am going faster than what the treadmill display tells me.  Seriously.  I have enough good, outdoor routes where I know I am running 9:45/mile or less.  However, on the treadmill, running 9:45/mile makes me feel like I am careening out of control.  I have to set it to about 10:10/mile so that my whole body can keep up, and that is slightly demoralizing.  I know I'm faster than that!!!

2.  The fact that the treadmill is so constant means I can't have any little variations in my pace, like you would feel on little hills or going around obstacles outside.  I suppose I could get fancy and put in inclines (I do sometimes do speedwork), but often, I don't.

3.  This is such a mental game for me, too, because after about 2 miles on the treadmill, I feel like my right knee is a little loose, for lack of a better term.  This probably sounds silly, but it's like I have trouble getting my right foot to strike properly 100% of the time, and I feel like if you were to watch me from behind, you would see my right leg from the knee down flapping out of control.  I'm sure that's another exaggeration, but it makes me self-conscious that I feel like my leg's out of control, and then I spend too much time worrying about it and I hurt my brain.  You may be telling me that for Pete's sake, I just need to slow down the speed!  Well, see #1 above.  I don't want to.  And I am stubborn about that.  Mostly because I never get that feeling when I'm running outside.

So that (along with some field work I had to do) is why I haven't been on the treadmill yet this week.  I need a mental break from it.  But I'll be back tomorrow.  And Thursday.  And hopefully my brain doesn't hurt as much.  But honestly, I can't wait to get out on Beautiful Bayshore again and leave that dreadmill in the dust!

Summer's Almost Over

Well, there's only 1 week left in summer vacation.  Where has the time gone!?!  I can't believe that soon Katie will be starting first grade.  We didn't have a huge extended vacation this year or anything, but we've sure had a lot of fun.

The girls finished up the spring soccer season, then took the summer off from organized sports.  It was so nice to not worry about juggling basketball games and swimming on Saturdays.  They'll both be playing fall soccer, though, which starts in September.

Katie had a successful dance recital but has truly been missing her weekly class during the summer break.  Lucky for her, dance starts again soon, and this year Natalie will be taking class as well.  Their class times are back-to-back, so it shouldn't be too hard on our schedule.

We had a lot of fun attending different birthday parties this summer.  The girls are both blessed with many good friends, and we were glad we were able to have fun with some of them on their special days.

Katie has been reading and doing different homework-type activities all summer long.  She wants to be ready for first grade!!!  Katie also likes to watch Wheel of Fortune on TV, almost every evening if she can.  She's discovered she likes playing Scrabble, too.  As she says, she likes to practice spelling words, and she likes to see what kind of words I can spell, too.  I love Scrabble, too, so it's fun for both of us.  :)

And, of course, DISNEY WORLD!  We had such a fabulous time.  It's only been a few weeks since we were there, but there are some days when I'm just ready to go back.  I like the magic.  :)

Is it just me, or did the summer seem too short?  Is everyone else ready for the new school year to begin???

Not a Mistake

We had a great sermon at church by Rev. Mac on Sunday about how our being there that day wasn't a mistake.  We were all there for a reason, a part of God's overall plan.  It was such a good message.  To keep it light, in traditional Rev. Mac fashion, he also told a bunch of stories about things that happened at church that were mistakes.

When performing his first-ever baptism as a newly ordained minister, Rev. Mac had his bookmark in the wrong spot and started going through a funeral service instead, much to the horror of the teenage girl he was baptizing.

Rev. Mac has also broken his favorite communion challis several times.  He didn't mention it, but it reminded me of a time when he tripped on the church balcony stairs and fell on his bottom, miraculously not spilling a drop from the challis, or breaking it...  that time.

And, the one that kept me giggling through the entire service...

This didn't happen to Rev. Mac, but one of his friends.  He was performing a wedding for a young couple, and since the bride was pretty nervous, the pastor wanted the best man to read 1 John 4:18 at the service, kind of an additional special message to calm her down.  Not knowing the difference, the best man read John 4:18, confused as to what that passage had to do with the matters at hand. 

1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

John 4:18
The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.

So, yes, mistakes happen, even at church!  But our being there was not a mistake.  Our being HERE, part of God's plan, is no mistake, either.

Another Special Birthday

Colin celebrated his birthday today -- isn't it great that the 2 most special guys I know have birthdays in the same week?

The girls and I got him some new shirts, a board game we can play together, and a new hedge trimmer.  We had a nice dinner out at Applebee's and a relaxing evening at home.

Can you believe I didn't take any pictures?  Though I anticipate I will when his parents come over tomorrow for dinner and cake.  So, in lieu of a birthday picture of the birthday boy, I will re-use this one from Disney World a few weeks ago.

 

Happy birthday from your princesses!!!

Sweat IS Beautiful!

For the past few weeks, Jen @ PriorFatGirl has been posting photos of women, post-workout, in all our sweaty glory.  I submitted one, and I made this week's list!  Check me out, along with all those other healthy, glowing women here:

Sweat is beautiful.

I think it's awesome that she posts these photos.  I love the good feeling I get after a nice run or a tough workout, and I love that Jen recognizes that!!!  Thanks for helping us remember that there's no shame in getting a little sweaty with hard work.  :)

60

Can you believe this guy turned 60?  So youthful, sledding with his grandkids this past Christmas?

Happy birthday to one of the greatest guys I know.  We love you, Dad!!!