Who Am I?

has it really happened?

okay, so they say if you do something for 28 days it becomes a habit....

well exercising isn't something I can do EVERY day...but I can try to do it at about 5 times a week...

so I had a vision last January that I shared with you guys...
a vision about the woman I wanted to be...
that I never saw myself becoming...

so maybe my vision has changed some...
I wanted to be the woman that got up early and went running...
well I'll get up early and run on a Saturday...
but school mornings are just a little too crazy...
and this summer I would take the girl to her swim team practice
     and run the track while she swam laps...

I wanted to be the woman that ran in all different types of weather...
and I can say I've ran in the ran...
...the POURING rain....
pouring so hard my pants were being pulled off by the rain....
and I've ran in the heat...REAL honest to goodness HEAT
     I live in Redding, CA...don't think I need to say much more on that!
haven't ran in the snow or fog...but that's just because as I said...I live in Redding.

I do grab my cell phone...not sure you want to know where I 'hold' it while I run...
I also...
when I remember...
which I'm getting MUCH better about...
grab my inhaler...I 'hold' that on the other side...

haven't ran past the doughnut shop, but that's not in the direction I run...
I do run past a school
and a park
and a dog park
and an airport...a very small airport...but it counts
when I'm running in my neighborhood...
but I really really love to run the river trail near my home...
yes...I drive to a place to run...but it's beautiful...

I don't run with my ipod...but I do have a MP3 player and when I can figure out how to make it work and not keep repeating songs and driving me crazy I do run with it...but only with one ear bud in...don't want no cars or bikers hitting me!

I learned that I can run on a treadmill if it's 110 outside...
I don't like to run on the treadmill but sometimes it the only option when you live in Redding...

I have learned that when I run I should probably eat a banana or yogurt before I go and NOT to pound that cup of coffee otherwise I will have to pee before my run is over...and if I'm running in my neighborhood...well there's no place to stop to pee...and if I'm running the river trail it's a nasty out house!

and guess what happened...something that I didn't envision when I had the vision of this woman I was hoping to become...
I never thought about how I would feel about doing all of that...

not sure when it happened...
it wasn't that long ago...
maybe a month...
I stopped doing all of the running...
and biking...
and swimming...
because I was training....
I started going out because I wanted to run...
needed to run...
had to run...
I haven't ran all week...I have had a crazy busy week with too many things to get done and not enough hours...and I haven't ran all week...and every morning on my drive back from dropping the kids off at school I have been sad knowing that I can't just go home, put on my running shoes...grab my cell phone and inhaler and hit the pavement...

I never realized that the woman in the vision needed to run...
I figured that she did it because...
well...because that's what the skinny girl does, she runs

but now I get it...now I know that she needs to run....

her kids were driving her crazy and fighting and annoying...so she needed to run

she had no idea what she was going to make for dinner because she hasn't had time...or the money...to grocery shop for over a week...so she needed to run

she had a frustrating thing happen at work...so she needed to run

she had way too much laundry to fold and put away...so she needed to run

she needed to just have an hour without thinking of anything else...
breath in...breath out...breath in...breath out....

I need to run
I have to run
I want to run
I like to run....

A Book Club Welcome

just wanted to share the wreath that I  made really fast this afternoon...

I'm hosting book club this month, and it was time to update my door wreath
...
(um, yeah it was still the "spring" wreath)....

so anyways, pulled out all the spring flowers

and shoved in some pages from an old book and reused some of the white and green flowers from the spring wreath....

important facts about today's blog
* the book was "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair
* YES, I did tear the pages out of a perfectly good book
*YES, I've read "The Jungle" and think it's a must read
*No, this was not this months book club book
*Yes, I have another copy of "The Jungle", I destroyed the paperback version and kept the hard back one
*our current months' book was "Lord of the Flies" and I figured tearing pages out a a book was the least violent thing I could do to capture the feeling of "Lord"....

A Fin to What....where's my Triathalon?

So, many of you might know that I was planning on competing in my 2nd Mermaid Sprint Triathlon yesterday...

Well, that wasn't the case...
CHP notified the Mermaid officials last week that due to the state of California's budget they were not going to be able to provide Mermaid with the required 15 CHP officers needed to help keep the bikers safe on the bike route.  Mermaid tried everything they could to figure out a solution and keep the tri and duo going, but things were out of their control and they had to cancel the bike portion...so now what?

They decided to make it a "Fin-to-Foot" race and increase the run from a 2.5 mile to a 5K...(3.1 miles, so about .6 more miles...not bad)....the Duo was changed to a 10K...

When we all got the email (or call from a fellow Mermaid) on Friday evening..and some not until Saturday Morning...about the change of plans we were all very frustrated...
angry...
sad...
disappointed...
...relieved that the scary "challenging hills" course was a NO GO....

I have to say I was all of the above...
I really wanted to finish my second tri
and was really excited for the group of ladies I was going to be doing this with...
and then I saw the bike course...
THE dreaded "challenging hills" was even worse than I had imagined!
...and I was more than a little relieved that I wouldn't have to be facing those...
not yet anyways...
maybe if I change my training for next year...
maybe not...

I was also so proud of all the ladies in our group that had signed up and planned to do either the Santa Cruz Sprint Tri or the Duo-athalon all decided to go through with the change of plans and just go for it...
(amazing for our one and only Duo-athalon Jennifer who was informed that rather than a run-bike-run she'd be doing a 10K...a 10K...she hadn't even trained for a 5K let alone a 10K...she rocked her first 10K and had us all doing the ugly cry in tears when she crossed that finish line!)

So...

now that we know the bike portion has been canceled and wrapped our brains around the change of plans...

the family and I go and check out the location for the swim and run...

a beautiful beach with sea lions hanging out at the end of the pier and ship that we were swimming around (the cement ship at Seacliff State Beach in Santa Cruz)

...

"Are our mommies REALLY going to swim out there?"

Brandi's son Sammy on the left and my son Wilson on the right.

wait...
did you say sea lions....
as in the lions of the sea....???
swimming with large lions????
not sure I signed up for THAT!

oh, and wait...
what is that hanging out a few 100 feet off the pier?
a whale...a full grown WHALE....
yep...
okay so the morning of the race the whale was no where to be seen, but she'd been hanging out in the area for the 3 days before....

the lump in the water to the right of the cement ship is the whale

oh, and what is that?
There's 7 flights of stairs from the water to the transition zone...okay so I know that I live in a stair master, but I was not prepared for THAT many stairs after just swimming 1/4 mile with sea lions!

from the top looking down the stairs, you can see the pier and cement ship too

 at the bottom of the stairs...you can see them in the background...that's just the 1st "flight"

OH...AND now I have to get to run a 5K
and so cool...the finish line is at the TOP of a killer hill!...
yep a hill...
how fun, I get to finish a race running UP a hill!

me smiling at the top of the killer hill

so lets recap....
*bike portion of my tri canceled
*running portion turned into a 5K
*sea lions
*whale
*7 flights of stairs (150 stairs to be exact)
*5K ending at the TOP of a hill

a few months ago...or maybe a year ago...
all of this would have been more than I could wanted to handle and I would probably have opted out of the whole race, blaming it on the fact that the bike portion was now canceled...

and I will say there was a few minutes during the drive down (we got the call at the half way point of the 5 hr drive) that I was considering turning the car around and heading home...
it would save of us $ if I just opted out...
still haven't paid for the hotel
and the remaining gas
and all the food that we would not have to buy...
etc...

but I've said this before and it's SO true...when you train with other ladies...in person and via facebook...you are part of a team that you know you HAVE to do this...and I know that anyone of us had lots of reasons why we should, could, and would have decided to not compete in this Mermaid event...
but EVERYONE that was planning of doing the race as of Friday morning (before we learned of the change of plans) all bucked up and took the change with a great attitude...
I was praying about my attitude during the drive down
praying that I would have a decent attitude about the new plan.

a few of the ladies early on race day cold and nervous about the swim

lf-rt Me, Diana, Michelle, Yanna, Rayna, Gail

more ladies...sun is up and the swim is getting closer...

lf-rt back row-Amy C., Rayna, Me, Leslie, Michelle, Yanna, Riki, Amy B, Maddy, Kerri

front row-Diana, Brandi, Gail

and I have to say that not only did God give me decent attitude, he went above a beyond and by Saturday afternoon I was just so excited that we were doing this new adventure...

at first I was angry at Mermaid for not letting us know sooner (they were notified the beginning of the week)
shouldn't they have told us then...but maybe just maybe they were trying to find a different solution...(okay God)

I was upset that I had put out all this money...(hm...I got this race for free and I didn't buy a new bike like a few other fellow Mermaids did...)...and then Mermaid sent out an email saying that they would give us a free...FREE...race in the future...(okay God)

I was mad that we had these CRAZY scary stairs at the end of the swim that were going to mess up my swim time...I REALLY wanted to beat my Alameda swim time and NOW I was going to have to add a nice little climb up 7 flights of stairs to my swim time...SO NOT going to do better now...maybe Mermaid had thought of that and the stairs would be timed separately...(okay God)

I prayed that God would change my attitude and he did...
...and it's almost like he knew all my fears and frustrations BEFORE I did and helped me see thru all of them...

I had the most amazing time for my FIRST 'Fin-to-Foot' race...
I swam out in the ocean...next to sea lions...and I took it all in...
I kept saying, "wow ladies, look around, look at what we're doing!"
I was so much more relaxed during this swim...I was down right chatty!
I didn't break any swimming records*...expect my own from Alameda!  But I enjoyed the whole swim it was so amazing for me...okay so the slight smell of dead fish at the end of the cement ship I could have done without, but the rest was just so fun!
and I LOVED my 5K...I did better than I thought I would and I even held myself back because I was scared of the killer hill at the end...and boy, it was a killer hill...but it felt good to reach the top and run across the finish line.

a few of us at the finish line

lf-rt Jennifer, Becca, Rayna, Michelle (front), Amy (back), Me, Yanna, and Brandi!

showing off our ages on our legs...

lf-rt Yanna, Rayna, Gail, Maddy (she's 12!), Kerri, Me, Brandi, Michelle, Jennifer

and I couldn't do races like this without my husband and kids supporting me...love them!

*two of the ladies on our facebook Triathletes-In-Training group came in 2nd (Amy Brown) and 4th (Riki Copeland)...

Am I REALLY Doing THIS Again?

Okay so today's the day...

I'm doing my 2nd Tri...

and I am thinking that with these two things I might shave a few seconds off my time

yep...do you see that I got Adult goggles this time...
I was using the girl child's goggles last time and these are "hydrocurve" and "advanced"....
so, not sure what hydrocurve means but sounds fancy, thinking this might shave like 2 seconds off my time...
and then really important...I'm planning on ACTUALLY using this

my handy dandy inhaler....lets see if that improves my time any...

I'll keep you posted on if either of these actually help my swimming...
because I, "look like I'm swimming in Jello when I swim"...an actual quote from my loving husband!

Pork...it's what's for dinner

Here is the easiest recipe that you'll ever make...my entire family LOVES it and it's also really easy to take to a potluck or to a family with a new baby...it has 3 ingredients...yes you read that correctly ONLY 3!

BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches
pork roast
bbq sauce
sandwich rolls

place your pork roast and bbq sauce into the crock pot, how much sauce...until it covers the roast, you can't have too much...and you can also add more at any time...cook on low for 6-8 hrs or high for 4 hrs...

pull the pork with 2 forks until it resembles shredded pork (aka pulled pork)

serve on sandwich rolls...

couldn't be easier!

Menu for Sep 20th-Oct 4th

okay, so here is a really fast menu...hoping to stick to it...
and why the odd dates of the menu you might ask...we get paid on the 20th and the 5th so I'm trying to stretch our menu/grocery shopping from payday to payday...


Monday -Sep 20th
(yes that was yesterday, but I made dinner and it was good and the family sat around the table and we talked and everyone finished their food...so I'm putting it on the blog menu!)
...Meatloaf, smashed potatoes, steamed broccoli...
Tuesday, Sep 21-Breakfast for dinner-French toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, country potatoes
Wednesday, Sep 22-Black Bean Soup

Thursday, Sep 23-BBQ pulled pork sandwiches

FridaySep 24--Sunday, Sep 26...the weekend will be sandwiches, crackers cheese & lunch meat, rotisserie chicken and other other meals like that since we're heading down to Santa Cruz for my 2nd Triathalon!

Monday, Sep 27-Orzo and Black bean salad similar to the Spinach Black Bean Rice Salad  

Tues, Sep 28th-Pecan Crusted Chicken breast (recipe from my friend Kristen...can't wait to try it and post the recipe for you guys!)
Wed, Sep 29th-Baked Potato Bar
Thurs, Sep 30-Shredded Beef Tacos (EASY recipe that I will share once I make them and take pictures!)
Fri, Oct 1-Calzones
Sat, Oct 2-Nachos
Sun, Oct 3-Breakfast Burritos
Mon, Oct 4-leftover buffett


now off to grocery shop!...good times

Oh, Yeah...I signed up for that didn't I...

okay, so I'm a total planner...
so very organized that it's ridiculous!

okay, so I lie...

I'm one of those people that agree to do something and then forget until like 5 minutes before and then rush to get it done and usually stress my family out in the process!

so anyways, I signed up to bring a salad to a baby shower this past Saturday...
easy peasy....

Saturday morning...
doing a mini tri run thru
(oh, yea signed up for another one of those things and it's less than a week away now!)
and then the baby shower...that I signed up to bring a salad to...

hmmm...no lettuce in the house and no time to go to the grocery store...
how do you make a salad without lettuce...
what DO I have in the house...
a little spinach (very little, not even enough for a personal salad let alone a pot luck salad)
some onions...
can of black beans
and rice...

I posted on facebook that I was looking for a cold rice salad...and had some great friends post a few different recipes...none of them with what I had on hand, but with enough ideas that I was able to make a really delicious rice salad, one that will now go onto our dinner menu list...

I really don't have great measurements for this, it's all about taste and what you have on hand...

Spinach Black Bean Rice Salad
1 cup rice (uncooked)
1/2 cup onion chopped
1 clove garlic (grated)
2 cups water with chicken bullion or 2 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbs butter
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1-2 handfuls of spinach leaves chopped
1/2-1 cup of chopped red or yellow peppers
lime or lemon (zest and juice)
mayo
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts or chopped almonds

1.  Sauté rice, onion & garlic in butter for about 5 minutes stirring constantly.  Add water and chicken bullion and salt and pepper, stir.  Bring to boil, simmer with lid on for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool

2.  Once rice is cooled, toss in beans, spinach and chopped peppers.

3. Mix juice of one lime or lemon (or more per your taste) and about 1 tea zest of same fruit and about 3/4 cup mayo, blend well into rice mixture.  Add more mayo and lime juice per taste, and salt and pepper.  Top with toasted nuts.

...so this is the recipe I used...I would have loved to use lime but only had lemon, and also wanted to add chopped cilantro but also didn't have any of that...
other things to add that would be good...artichoke hearts, broccoli, asparagus, cherry/grape tomatoes, feta cheese crumbles, crispy bacon pieces....

I was actually surprised how good this was, and the little that came home from the shower was devoured by the husband...

could i feed them cookies for breakfast?

YES...
Yes...
yes I can...

I NEEDED to make some cookies for a meeting at my house...
a meeting of triathletes...
and I was thinking just regular ol' cookies aren't the best thing to serve triathletes...
hmmm...so I got to thinking...
I have a few bags of shredded zucchini in the freezer (like a few 100 bags)
and then thought some more...
what if I added oatmeal to it?
...hmmm this is sounding healthier and healthier and more like something that should be served to triathletes!
so I hopped onto the world wide web and goggled "zucchini oatmeal cookies"
and thru the magic of the internet I found a few 1000 different recipes for zucchini oatmeal cookies

they turned out so very yummy and even better than serving them at my triathletes meeting was giving them to the kids for breakfast the next morning...
hey don't judge me...they had both oatmeal (a morning food) and zucchini (a veggie) in them...that is totally a breakfast cookie!


Zucchini Oatmeal Cookies
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
3 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour (whole wheat or white)
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups zucchini, grated
3 1/2 c. oatmeal
2 cups dark chocolate chips (optional raisins would also be good)

Beat shortening, butter and sugar together well. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients together and add creamed mixture. Stir in zucchini, oatmeal, raisins and nuts. Drop onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes.

blog edit...
just FYI...these cookies are so thick that they hardly change shape when you bake them....I'm totally okay with that, makes them nice and chewy...but you can squash them down if you'd like!

I made these again and served them at book club...I also put in dried cranberries, along with dark chocolate chips and raisins...they were loaded and YUMMY!

They Grow Up So Fast...

So my little girl started 4th grade this year...

Forth Grade...

....that's like a major big girl...

first day of school picture

and my little boy started kindergarten...

and starting week 2 he wasn't going to hold my hand on campus anymore...

the girl child, she still loves her mom, she will hold my hand all the way to her class and give me a hug at the door...

the boy, just a little too big for the hand holding, he will hug me good bye, just no hand holding...

but when I pick him up in the afternoons...

that sweet blue eyed lady killer

...(seriously...those eyes will stop you dead...and those hussy little 5 year old girls are noticing and always trying to sit next to him at carpet time...BACK OFF girls)

see what I mean...lady killer eyes!

...anyways that sweet little boy will run up to me when his teacher leads them out of class and throw those sweet little arms around my neck and squeeze me good...and then he runs back and hugs his teacher...

...he HUGS his teacher...how does that not melt your heart!

so now...now my little big girl will walk her brother to class some mornings...

and that little boy that is too big to hold mommy's hand as he walks across campus will reach out and hold big sister's hand as they cross the street and walk to class...

my heart melted right in two...

my 2 babies walking off to the great big world...

but not too big to hold each others hands...

place picture here of sweet kids walking away holding hands...

YEAH Right!...I couldn't get them to pose for that picture!  they both looked at me like I was crazy and laughed