Misc – Page 11

January 25, 2011May 19, 2011

Slacker Weekend

Monday was OK, but I’m glad it’s over. Tabby was (still is?) under the weather. Her eye was itchy and Matt ended up taking her to the doctor. The doctor doesn’t think it’s pinkeye or an infection AROUND the eye, so they suspect allergies. Tabby was mopey and whiny and rather pathetic, poor kid. She went to bed around 7 … I probably should have too. But I did get some stuff done. Hopefully I’ll get more done tonight.

Anyway, back to the weekend. It was a really really nice weekend. We went to visit my grandma on Friday night. I made up a double batch of broccoli-cheese soup that was a hit as well as a batch of chocolate chip cookies. It was a very low key evening and it was very nice to see my grandma. The kids were particularly sweet with her.

Saturday we wound up going to the zoo and then out to lunch with some friends. It was chilly and the zoo wasn’t too busy, but we saw some really cool stuff. We saw FOUR tiger cubs (half grown) hanging out with their mom. They were really really cute. We also saw a lioness up close and personal (through thick glass, thankfully). She was incredible! Then we got to have a low-key Saturday evening that is very rare for us.

Sunday I went for a run with the girls and then met up with Matt and the kids for brunch and then a short trip to the gym. After that we went back home and hosted our siblings to watch the final playoff games. It was a long nice day of food and football. I did a ton of laundry … most of which still needs to be put away.

January 24, 2011November 30, -0001

Today

• is Monday
• my stairwell and my bathroom are getting painted
• I left the house a complete mess
• I could not get out of bed to work out
• I owe a client a completed revision of his pages (and no idea when I'll get to this)
• we are having Parmesan chicken fingers for dinner
• I am missing my kiddos and my husband
• I need to handle about 101 little annoying things
• I will consume at least three cups of green tea
• is the day I'm paying for yesterday
• is a rare Monday when I'm already looking forward to Friday!

January 19, 2011May 19, 2011

Dis and Dat

No rest for the weary/wicked. Here’s what I’ve got going on this week.

• Matt stood in line for almost two hours seeing if we can get Tabby into an all-day preschool for next year. We’re not even POSITIVE we want to go that route, just wanted the option. She’s #4 on the waitlist … the line apparently started at 4 AM. Oh the insanity/humanity!!

• I am doing a 30 miles in 30 days challenge on MapMyRun … I need a kick in the arse … I’ve been a real slacker lately.

• Our old carpet is being hauled away tomorrow to the tune of $104 … it seems ridiculous to PAY SOMEONE to haul away our junk, but its getting recycled at least. No eco guilt. And the places that would just take it to the dump wanted about 50% more. Crazy!

• We have done awesome with cooking this week. I made Baked Ziti on Sunday, Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches on Monday, Berry French Toast Tuesday and tonight was Turkey Bean Chili. Tomorrow we’re having easy burritos since its gymnastics night.

• I don’t want to do ANYTHING this weekend except spend time with my family and play a little bit of Roads of Rome II, my newest quickplay game obsession. I will likely, however, have to (at bare minimum) do some laundry and grocery shopping. The family is in favor, apparently, of clean clothes and a well-stocked kitchen.

• Car needs new tires. I apparently have a very unusual tires size (thanks, TOYOTA!) and there are like 4 different tires available for my car and none of them in town (keep in mind, this is DENVER, not the middle of nowhere). So Matt had to buy them off the internet. They’re coming UPS, for real.

December 28, 2010November 30, -0001

In the Fog

Endure. That is the name of the game I'm playing this week. I've got some sort of funky not-quite-a-cold thing … it's sort of lingering in my throat and upper respiratory area. Just a bit of a sore throat and some throat-clearing coughing. But I'm not stuffed up … knock on wood.

Thank goodness, because we're packing up this week. Happily, the holiday on Friday means my 10 hour days get turned into 8 hour days so I can sneak in some extra packing before the kids get home. I did the dining room and living room as well as the kids' closet (filled with puzzles and DVDs and coloring books and trucks) last night between my extra hours and Matt and I working in the evening while my sister played with the kids. I need ferret out more boxes today and then we'll attack some more areas of the kitchen and family room. If any floor has to be packed up, this is BY FAR the easiest one, so I'm grateful for that!

So I will happily endure this week of fuzzy head and less-than-thrilling objectives to make it to next week when I get to have a whole week of fresh air and (hopefully) sunshine while we ski in Vail and take a much-needed break. And when that's all done, the madness can start again.

December 16, 2010November 30, -0001

Making a List and Checking it Twice

Here's what I've been up to. Wonder if I've been more naughty or nice?

• taking Tabby to 2x weekly swim lessons (last one tonight!!)
• sending off our holiday cards
• watching Tabby perform at her Christmas program (soooo cute!)
• neglecting laundry
• sneaking out for a nice dinner with Matt
• neglecting the concepts of a clean house
• listening to Ben talk up a storm
• trying to get packages ready to take to the post office
• running on my treadmill
• to make up for eating lots of stuff I probably shouldn't (who keeps leaving fudge in the office kitchen!??!)
• closing on our re-fi (3.75 BOOYA!)
• ignoring the fact that (Santa and) I have about 50 packages to wrap
• not sleeping enough
• counting the days 'til Christmas (9) and my vacation (14)
• making myself crazy thinking about having to pack up our house before vacation
• contemplating (but not actually executing) a site redesign
• gluing glitter to anything that will stand still

What's up with y'all?

December 2, 2010November 30, -0001

2010 in Review: Running

I decided to do a series of posts all about 2010. Since I love running (and most everyone else seems to hate it) I thought I'd get it over with first.

2010 was a great year for running. I felt like I really made some great strides (pun intentional) as a runner. I'm faster and more confident and also quite a bit leaner. I really enjoy the sport and I'm never sorry I went for a run, even when they start before 5am.

Miles Run: since I started logging miles on Daily Mile back in May, I've run almost 400 miles, averaging 55/month. I will probably run 50 more before the end of the year. I'm guessing I probably logged between 150 and 200 miles the first 4 months of the year (I was training for my 1st Half Marathon), so I put my estimated mileage for 2011 at 600.
Races Run:
Nashville Half Marathon (13.1 miles, 2:48:33)
Title 9k (acutally 9.9k or 6.1 miles, 1:14:34)
Bolder Boulder (6.2 miles, 1:15:09)
Apex Father's Day 5K (3.1 miles, 33:10)
Heart and Sole 10k (10K/6.2 miles, 1:15:05)
Disneyland Half Marathon (13.1 miles, 2:31:00)
Denver Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon (13.1 Miles, 2:29:00)
Turkey Trot (4 miles, 42:00)
Best (Running) Moment of 2010: finishing my SECOND half marathon and realizing I'd run virtually the whole thing.
Worst (Running) Moment of 2011: the day I found out they were closing my gym
Favorite Race: hard … a toss up between Disneyland Half and Denver Half. Disneyland was a great setting and Denver was too … and I had lots of friends and pre-race fun in Denver.
Best Swag: Heart and Sole Half had the best swag, especially for the $$ … hat, t'shirt, awesome water bottle, even socks! Their post race event was great too – no stale bagels here!
Best Running Gear: no slip elastic headbands!
Favorite running tech: I dearly love my Garmin watch, but I never would have run nearly as much with out my treadmill + Tivo combo
Best Running Buddies: I logged a ton of great miles with my darling hubby as well as with my girlfriends, K&J … they all kept me going through long miles
Running Inspiration: I'm blessed with loads of great inspiration: my family, particularly my darling kids, my great friends, especially my running buddies, and awesome running blogs like RLAM and Racing with Babes and of course other bloggers who run, like Liz and Kristi!
Favorite Workout Tunes: California Gurls, Party in the USA
Favorite Running Website: Can't pick. Aside from the aforementioned blogs, I love Daily Mile, Garmin Connect and EarndIt (I just won a Free Road ID from them!!!).
Goals/Plans for 2011: I want to improve my speed and my stamina on hills. I would also like to drop a few more pounds and work more on my core and strength. I'd like to log 800 miles next year. I don't know for sure which races I'll run next year, though I anticipate running most if not all of the local ones I ran last year.

December 1, 2010November 30, -0001

The Advent of Christmas

I'm here to talk to you today about Advent. Of course, as a proper nerd, I could not write a post about Advent before properly researching my topic and by that I mean reading a couple of Wikipedia entries. I love Wikipedia. *sigh* Anyhow, in reading these articles, I found that religious advent starts anywhere between Nov 27 and Dec 3 (4 sundays before Christmas) and is the liturgical start of the year for most western Christmas churches.

Since we're not big church-goers, we put meaning in our advent the same way we put meaning in the Christmas season. Christmas to us is all about family and service. Since my kids are so little. I wanted neither an advent that was wholly about candy or filled with so many activities that my kids would be exhausted …. so we came up with a nice mixture. We'll do activities about half to 2/3 of the time and on the other days, the kids will just get a hershey kiss each.

The planned advent activities so far are:
• make more paper snowflakes (one window is bare)
• go for a walk in our 'hood to check out the Christmas lights
• go shopping as a family
• watch a Christmas movie (will probably do this one twice)
• pick out a Christmas tree with Grammy and Papa
• wrap gifts
• shop for our Angel Tree kids
• go out for Fish & Chips
• make a dutch apple pancake
• write/decorate letters to Santa
• decorate cookies
• Feliz Navidad festival – i.e. we pick up tamales from our favorite tamale vendor and make guacamole and have margaritas (Christmas Eve)
• discuss family donations
• decoupage candle holders

How about you … do you plan to celebrate Advent?

November 30, 2010May 23, 2011

Oh Tannenbaum!!

On Sunday we put up our Christmas decorations, including the tree.

Tabby got the honor of putting the first ornament on – it is one we got in Disneyland and has a photo of all of us just after the half marathon.

As is tradition, we each got a new ornament.

Unfortunately, Ben’s got damaged on the way home from Target and couldn’t be put on the tree (it’s a cute baby-grand piano for our little Schroeder) but it has been replaced and he got to put this stuffed bear my mom got him last year on instead … well as much as he gets that concept, anyhow.

Tabby got a tiara (though she was also quite smitten with a Mr Potato Head)

Matt got this great pirate dog (notice the hook-paw).

And I got this great mixer.

With all new business aside, we turned to our old friends. We have a lot of ornaments, but they’re all special and I know where almost all of them came from.

Some of them date back to my childhood. The gold one (left) is from my first Christmas. The apple one is from my second. Apple was one of my first words aside from the mama dada stuff.

These two date back to when Matt and I first celebrated Christmas together in college.

Quite a few have been given to us.

My mom always finds great ones. She gave Tabby the pig one the year she was born (year of the boar) and Ben got the bear one last year.

My maternal grandma, too, gives us beautiful ornaments … everything from the gorgeous Cloisonné ones to the borderline-tacky weiner mobile – both of which we love!

And some of my favorites are the ones people have made for us.

At our wedding shower, my Aunt Peggy, who is a ceramicist, had people create ornaments for us out of clay which she then fired. So we have about 30 various cookie-like ornaments made from clay that various family members crafted for us. They’re some of my favorites.

These are the ornaments I made for my kids last year. It’s a tradition I hope to keep every year, and hopefully one day include them in.

This bird-feeder ornament that my maternal grandma made for me when I was a kid (my sister has a matching one) is another favorite. There is a similar style mailbox one as well.

These beautiful, delicately crocheted snowflakes aren’t really ornaments so-to-speak, but they rest easily on the Christmas tree and look beautiful. They were handmade by my paternal grandmother who passed away just before Tabby was born. They always make me smile when I bring them out.

November 23, 2010May 23, 2011

Let it Snow!

Since we haven’t had any snow to speak of (not that I’m complaining, Mo Nature .. you can keep it in the mountains – that’s fine with me!), we had to make our own winter fun last night. Tabby has been begging for hot chocolate so I made up a batch and then we got down to the business of making snow flakes.

Tabby is doing pretty well with the cutting, but she needs some help getting through the layers of paper. More often than not, she drew lines and I did the cutting for her. But she had fun trying.

Ben mostly watched on from his highchair with amusement. He was OK with the hot chocolate but really got into the marshmallows and signed for more (peeeease!) multiple times.

November 17, 2010November 30, -0001

Biznasss

• Thanksgiving is coming up. It is the only time of the year (besides possibly Christmas) that I get to make Cranberry Cornbread Dressing and Sweet Potato Spoon Bread … so of course, YAY!
• Not to mention THREE short days of work followed by FOUR days off.
• Christmas shopping has begun.
• Unfortunately it has not progressed very far.
• I am super excited to see the rest of our family photos because it means that I can then start on our … Christmas card! Yay!
• We are getting the tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving. Can't wait!
• We are Turkey Trotting on Thanksgiving Day … 4 miles should go a ways to burning off the aforementioned spoon bread, right??
• I bought us these awesome t'shirts to run in. And possibly wear to Thanksgiving Dinner.
• I just finished Happy Ever After, the last (*sob*) book in The Bride Quartet. It was really good.
• I recently found out there is a Law and Order UK that they show on BBC America. You better believe I tivo'd that!!
• I also may or may have not tivo'd some cheesy Lifetime Network Movies. I'm not sayin.
• I am thinking Tabby and I need to get the glitter out and create some Thanksgiving Crafties for the table … hmmm.

What're y'all up to?