Free For All Friday

Happy Friday!  I thought this day would never end! I wrapped up another 9 day work week and it couldn't have come soon enough!
I have actually stuck to my running plan this week! Shocking, right? I heard you gasp all the way from here.

Walked 3 Miles on Tuesday

6 miles on Wednesday

Thursday 3 miles

I am so physically exhausted.  Running those miles and working about ten hours every day really takes it's toll, especially when I am literally running around the whole time I am there.  I get home and just collapse into bed.

Today, after work Kevin and I got a Papa Murphy's pizza.  We had a coupon for an $8 large pizza.  I really liked it.  They must use fresh oregano or something, because it has a really great taste.  And I really like their crust. Yum!

After supper, we put up the Christmas tree.  This is going to be my only free day until Christmas, so I figured I better get it up.  Last year the tree didn't get up until about a week before, because I was so busy with work and school.  So, this year I get to enjoy the tree for almost a whole month!

Kevin and I watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation while putting the tree up.  It's both of our favorite movie.  I put in White Christmas after that and Kevin disappeared.  It's not really his cup of tea.

Here's the tree all set up.  Eggy loves having it up.  He hides under it and shoots out when I walk by.  And there's ornaments he likes to hit off that we keep on the bottom for him to play with.  

Eggy is waiting for Santa

I'm surprised he let me put this garland around him.  He usually freaks out if I try to do that.  He was pretty exhausted though after playing for about two hours straight.  He is already in bed sleeping on his electric blanket.

Did you put up your tree already?

Have a great weekend!

Who Doesn't Love a Before and After?

Well, almost after.  I still have a bit to go...like 40 more pounds, but it's fun to see the progress that I've made.  Sometimes I get caught up in the here and now that I forget that this weight loss and healthy life style has been a slow and gradual process that I will continue to do forever, not just until I reach my goal weight.

I have been maintaining for the past year and really want to jump start my weight loss again.  I made a pretty aggressive weight loss goal of ten pounds by December 31.  Not to be a negative Nelly, but I probably won't make it.  I will however, have made progress.  And that is better then nothing.

The really cool thing is all of the muscles I've developed.  I have crazy muscular legs, especially my quads, calves, and butt (true story).  Even my upper body is getting stronger from holding myself up all of the time durning my long runs!  (I am adding weight lifting to my New Year's Resolution so I can be ripped!)

Left is from 2009. Right is from a few weeks ago.

It is so easy to get frustrated with lack of progress, but always remember where you started, where you are now, and where you are going. When in doubt, run it out!

Love this quote.

This is one of my favorite running quotes.  It really sums up everything.  Running is about the battle with yourself, your journey, your demons.  You are your own worst enemy.  No one will judge you or make fun of you for trying.  The important thing is to try!

Happy Running!

Make Me Something Good to Eat

I had a lot of baking and cooking to do today.  As soon as I woke up I started in on it.  I made some chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cookies.

Eggy loves helping with dishes...minus the water.

Quick breakfast of green tea and banana toast.

I tried out this cookie recipe I found online.  I've had a can of pumpkin in my pantry for at least two years...amazingly not expired yet.  I've been trying to find an easy recipe to use it in.  I found this one somewhere.  All you need is yellow cake mix and the can of pumpkin.  It comes out really fluffy and light.  

After all the baking, Eggy was exhausted and had to go take a nap in his electric blanket.

I made an apple pie for Thanksgiving.  I've made it before, but for some reason I was having a really hard time with the crust, hence the raggedy look of it.  

While I was baking everything else, I was also boiling the black and white beans that I had soaked over night for my chili.  I cooked them for about an hour, then rinsed them off and let them sit while I started on the chili.

Looking for cumin, apparently I always think I'm out.

Chili with Rice

Chili Recipe

6 cups cooked beans, any kind you like.  This time I used black and white because that's what I had on hand.

2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1 onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, diced

2 carrots, slice thin

24 oz tomato sauce

6 oz tomato paste

5 c. water

1 Tbsp cumin

1 1/2 Tbsp chili powder

1/2 tsp salt

dash of pepper

3 c. rice, cooked

Heat a large pot on medium heat.  Add the EVOO.  Add the onion and cook until they are soft.  Add the garlic and cook about 2-3 minutes.  Stir in the carrots and cook them for about 5 minutes, just until they've turned a bright orange.  Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, and water. Stir until combined.  Mix in the chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper.  Bring the chili up to a boil then lower to a simmer.  Add in the beans.  Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.  Add the cooked rice at the very end.

Off to craft night.  Hopefully I can make some progress on my sweater that I started.

Pinterest

Like many people, I am mildly obsessed with Pinterest and may have a pinning problem.  I have managed to calm down on my pinning a bit.  Instead, I just search the categories and send pictures to Melissa.  She's the only one I know who is up in the middle of the night like me.  My favorite category to browse is the Humor.  I just laugh and laugh.  Here are some of the pics I sent Melissa over the past couple of days.  Some might be a bit weird looking, but that's because I took the picture of my computer and texted it to her.

I can read those for hours...in fact I have.

What's your favorite Pinterest category to search?

Take It As a Compliment

Oh, Monday!  How I did not miss you! Had to work bright and early.  Got up and had some coffee with Eggy.  He is just like me and can't do a thing until he's had his coffee!

Nom nom nom

Don't freak out.  He just licks the cup and will lick the spoon that we stir the coffee with.  And no, I didn't use this cup afterwards...especially since he sneezed in it while he was licking it.

After work, I went to Melissa's.  She made some lasagnas yesterday for a birthday party and had part of a veggie one left over.  I've had her lasagna before and it was delish, so I was not going to turn down this dinner invite!  And it did not disappoint!  I may or may not have had three pieces.

Source  Accurate depiction of me eating.

I stopped at Aldi's afterwards to pick up a few things.  I want to make chili tomorrow and didn't have any rice.  Yes, rice.  I make the best chili according to everyone me.  Some people put in elbow macaroni, I use rice. It's something my mom use to do and I've always really liked.  I am soaking some black and white beans tonight so they will be ready to cook tomorrow.

Randomness
I really want to eat an orange, but my cat freaks out when I peel it.  He will not come by me whenever I eat an orange, grapefruit, or clementine.  I don't know what it is about citrus fruit, but Eggy is not a fan!  So, I will just keep thinking about that orange I want to eat.

More randomness with a little TMI
I find it weird and gross that my fiancé's friends always have to use my bathroom.  You know, "USE" it.  It doesn't bother me when my friends have to take a poo.  I guess I find boys completely dirty.

Do your animals have any irrational fears?  

Running is Fun!

Words I will not say while running.

Since I've already had a post titled, "Running Sucks" I thought this would be a nice change.

I had three alarms set for this morning: 6am, 6:30am, 7am.  I slept through my first two.  I woke up before the 7am one.  Kevin was in the kitchen blasting his music, drinking coffee, and looking for jobs on the computer.  Doesn't he know I have to check my Facebook and Twitter right away?  What if something important happened?!?!

I had my customary cup of coffee and even ate a breakfast of brown sugar oatmeal.  I read through the paper, skipping all of the sale papers.  My first reads are the weddings/engagements and the comics.  Yes, I am 10 years old with my choices.  

I texted Becky telling her I am bringing my ipod and headphones on our run so I don't have to talk to her to to get me through the tough run.  She said she was planning on doing the same.  Great minds think a like.

There was frost covering the ground this morning.  

I took off in my gear; skirt, capri tights, compression socks, light long sleeve shirt, and my water belt with a GU.  My compression socks are too big and I had to fold them over to keep them under my knees.  I think it made the pressure on my calves too intense, because they were pretty sore while running and they are still sore now.  I don't usually have this problem, even on long runs.  Next time I get some compression socks, I am going to get the calf sleeves.  I don't like how the sock part feels on my foot.  I feel like it makes my foot sweatier than normal, since my foot was squishing in my shoe towards the end.  

The last three miles were really tough for me.  I didn't want to complain about the pace, since Becky seemed to be going at a pretty good quip.  It was mostly downhill on the way back too.  So I was a couple of steps behind her, but kept my mouth shut.  My darn calves were just killing me and it just seemed to be really draining all of my energy. And of course we got all of the green lights on the way back so I didn't have a minute for a break.  The last half mile, I really fell behind her, which was fine.  We were almost done and Becky likes to sprint to the end.  Somehow her watch got off with the mileage, because my time was a few seconds faster then hers and she was a good tenth mile ahead of me at the end.  

Yup, it's sideways.

My goal was to finish right around two hours, which we did.  It was a nice change after the few tough long runs we've been having.  I think the different route helped the time go faster.

Garmin splits

After entering my workouts in all of my websites, I took a nice HOT shower.  I get so cold after runs.  I realized I hadn't eaten yet after my run.  I was pretty wiped.  I had some of my Potato Kale Dish that I made yesterday.  Find the recipe here.  

I talked to my mom for a bit and read some blogs, watched some Christmas movies on T.V.  I ended up dosing off until about 5:30pm.  I woke up starving!  I had 5 pieces of bread, each with a piece of cheese <---that is a true story.  Two of my favorite things, cheese and bread.  I also ate the last pickle from the jar my mom made.  Oh, and a bowl of Fruity Pebbles and almond milk.  I think I'm good now.

*Things I had to Google while writing this - the difference between colons and semi colons.

What is your favorite post run pig-out food?

You're Not the Boss of Me!

My day started out pretty slow, drinking coffee, reading blogs and Facebook, and snuggling with my cat.  I was reading all the Pile on the Miles twitter updates and guilt set in...so I decided to go for a leisurely walk of 3.5 miles.

Seriously, I couldn't get a pic with no double chin.

There was nothing interesting that I saw, except two squirrels that scared the sh#* out of me.  I did see two guys running on my way back.  I felt a little jealous and wanted to shout after them, "I run too!  Just not today!"  But I guess it didn't really matter.

On my way back home I realized that I hadn't eaten all day.  WHAT?!?! Me, not eaten?  I make fun of people that do that.  So the last mile home I fantasized about all of the things I could eat when I got back.  

Kevin's friend brought some soda over here.  I tried a Mello Yello Zero.  Not a fan.  I like regular Mello Yello, but this stuff tasted almost syrupy.  

Then, I ate a banana and a pear while deciding what to really make to eat.  I remembered I had some kale in my fridge from a week or so ago that my brother had given me.  He bought it for a recipe and said he would never use the rest.  So, I decided to adapt one of my favorite soup recipes into a quick non-soup recipe.

Quick Potato Kale Dish

Quick Potato Kale Dish Recipe

5 boiled potatoes cut into inch size cubes

3 cups kale

1 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 cup vegetable broth

1 onion diced

3 cloves garlic diced

1/2 tsp. fennel seeds

1/2 tsp. sage

1/2 tsp. thyme

Heat pan on medium and add the oil.  Heat the oil and add the onions.  Cook the onions until soft and yellow.  Add the garlic.  Cook until soft, about 2-3 minutes.  Add about half of the vegetable broth and heat to boiling.  Add the fennel, sage, and thyme.  Let boil for about a minute.  Lower heat and add the potatoes and kale.  Pour the rest of the vegetable broth over the top.  Cover and cook for about twenty minutes on medium low heat.  Ready to eat!

*I don't add salt since the vegetable broth is loaded with it.  You can also add pepper for flavor, but I'm not big on it.  

It really hit the spot on this chilly day.

What is your favorite winter/fall recipe?

What Happened Was...

I have skipped three runs so far this week.  My speed workout, my fast 5 miles, and another three mile run.  I was going to go out today for my 5, but my tummy is not agreeing!  I did have Taco Bell last night, so....that'll do it.

Me Today

I had a couple of firsts yesterday.  I went to a Heavy Metal concert at the Rave in Milwaukee.  Never been to the Rave.  Never been to a Heavy Metal concert.  The bands playing were The Black Dahlia Murder, All That Remains, and Dethklok.  The second band was definitely my favorite.  There was actual singing mixed in with the scary screaming.
Dethklok has a cartoon on Adult Swim, Metalocalypse.  When they played they had animation going behind them, which I liked.  It definitely added to the show.

All That Remains

Dethklok - pics all sort of suck from the bright lights behind them.

Watching the audience was also fun.  We were up in the balcony so could look down at everyone standing down in front of the stage.  There were crazy mosh pits.  Towards the end, two guys carried another guy to the door and threw him out, then high-fived each other.  There were tons of people crowd surfing and were caught by the security at the front.  It was sort of like watching a gymnastics routine with the summersaulting dismounts out of the crowd.  There was also a girl I saw go crowd surfing twice.  She had some crazy high heels on, fishnets, and a boustier type top.  The second time she was going through she got dropped.  Then, after she popped back up to standing, some guy lifted her back up onto the crowd to make her way back to the front.  I would have been pissed if I got hit in the head with one of those shoes!
Another first was that I drank a whole beer!  I am not a beer drinker, but I wanted something simple to drink.  I tried a 312.  It was really good.  No gross after taste like Miller Light, which is what everyone here seems to drink.  I would definitely drink it again.

Source

The beginning of the day was spent taking my mom to the library and returning a few things.  I found a new series of books to read.  They are mystery books and the main character knits.  One of the books is called Skein of the Crime.  I love puns!
My mom also made some sort of oatmeal chocolate chip bars.  They were still warm when I got there. Yum!

My cat has also been cuter than usual lately, if you can even imagine that!  He loves sleeping completely covered in a blanket!  Sort of like being in a cacoon.

Eggroll sleeping.

I have to go get ready to go to work for two hours for a meeting.  Seems like a waste of a shower since I didn't even run, but I have ALL weekend off. Yes!

What are your weekend plans?

They Say It's Your Birthday!!

Today was a short day at work.  I just had to work on some things for a meeting we are having at the end of the week, so I was gone by noon.  I made oatmeal to eat for breakfast, but forgot about it and ended up with a banana and coffee.  I tried this almond coconut milk by Blue Diamond Almond Breeze.  I don't know if it is supposed to taste like that or if I got a bad carton, but yuck.  It was a very strong flavor, sort of sour.  I am going to email them and let them know.    The only reason I tried it was because it had a lot less sodium then the other stuff.  I ended up buying regular unsweetened almond milk today.  I can't bear to think of drinking the other stuff again!

After work I had to run to O&H Bakery to pick up my mom's birthday cake.  She wanted a Danish Layer and while I am usually about making my own stuff, I just didn't have the time to make that fancy thing.

I called my mom to see if she still needed me to take her to the doctor's at 1 to get her stitches out.  She said my dad was going to get up and take her.  I think he wanted to spend a little time with her on her birthday and since he works third shift that would be the only time they would really get.

I got home and had to run 3 miles today.  I was not looking forward to it, and no, I never really am.  I decided to see if Becky had gone yet since I know she had a 3 miler to do also.  She said she hadn't and was in her running clothes waiting to go.  So we met up just after 1.

We started out at a pretty brisk pace, around an 11:30.  I was surprised since I was whining in my head about how tired I was.  We kept it up pretty well, too.  We passed a lot of time just talking.  We hadn't seen each other in a couple of days so had things to catch up on.  We finished in 34:40 which is definitely one of my faster ones.  I am a bit sore now though.

Tomorrow I have a speed workout.  It will be the second one I've ever done.  I have to do 8x400's.  I know I will definitely be sore after that.  I will keep you posted.

After my run, I went over to my mom's to take her to work so she could drop off her doctor's excuse for yet another month off.  We also stopped at the Dollar Tree so she could pick up some puzzles to do.  I made her take a cart so she had something to lean on.  The carts also have this really long pole on them so you can see where people are.  I told her then I would be able to find her if she wandered off.

When we got home, Kevin came over and we had cake.  Kevin actually ate some.  He does not like any fruit or any fruit related products.  My mom told him that she could not even taste the raspberry jelly, because there was so much custard.  He had a piece and then said yes to taking some home when my mom offered.  He also took home some home made au gratin potatoes with ham.  My mom feels so bad for him since I really don't cook meat for him.  She doesn't find my argument of him not cooking meatless for me as a valid argument. She's old school.

Kevin chowing down on left over cake.

Scraping the frosting off the tinfoil.

 I haven't really been watching much T.V. lately.  We got rid of all of our extra cable and just have basic now.  I convinced Kevin that if we do that and join a gym, we will still be saving money.  Those are two words he likes to hear together.  I'm sure it will be a bit before we join now though, since we had to buy a new water heater, but it will be soon.  Time really flies when I don't have a constant stream of shows playing in front of me. At 9:30 I was thinking about how I want to watch Chelsea Lately then looked up at my clock and it was almost 11!  Where did the last hour and a half go?

What are some of your non-T.V. related activities?