overheard

Some of the exclamations I've overheard at my house this month:

(Referring to St. Patrick's Day) If Jane doesn't have on green tomorrow I won't pinch her. She's too little to understand.

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How much is one two one? 121, that's a lot! That's more than Dad! That's probably as old as Nanna and Pap!

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My cup is sort of like a dementor; when it gets close to me my skin gets all cold.

Bellatrix Lestrange for Book Character Day at school

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I've got a bruise right here. My grandma and grandpa... they call it a strawberry.

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Julianna: Well, you have to be nice if you want to go to heaven, Josh.
Me: Actually, that's not exactly correct. God wants us to be nice and do the right thing all of the time but since we can't He just wants us to pray and ask Jesus into our hearts and save us from going to hell because we do awful things.

Josh: What does that mean, Jules?
Julianna: You have to talk to God with your heart and say you believe in God.
Josh: I want to do that! How do I do that?!
Julianna: You just talk to God and He can hear you.

marathon update

Last Saturday marked the end of my "real" training for the marathon. The plan said do 22 miles for the long run so I did 22 miles. It was the best run I've had yet.  It took forever, but I never promised to be fast. I just didn't want to quit and I only walked a couple of short hills. It felt great.

Then earlier this week I did Yasso 800's for speedwork and was surprised that I was able to do them in 5:00.  (For you non-runner's who are still reading, the theory is that if you can do 10x800m in 5:00 with a 5:00m recovery in between then you should be able to complete a 5 hour marathon.)  Since I don't really have a goal for the race except to finish, I was assuming all along that I'd probably finish somewhere around 5:20:00 or 5:30:00, a little more than double my half marathon time.

All of my recent long runs have been horrible up until this past one. A couple of weeks ago when we were supposed to hit 20 miles for the third time, I walked more than ever before (about 4 or 5 miles, I think?) and it's been really discouraging but it's part of the training process to go on that up and down roller coaster ride of "I can't do this" ...  "No wait, maybe I can do this." Saturday's success made me feel like the race is already over. I already feel like I've accomplished my goals and no matter what happens on race day I know I will tell you that I'm glad I did this.

There's no doubt that my family has made great sacrifices for me to train for this race. My mom and husband especially have pulled a lot more weight with my kids than I have over the last few months.  I think they both deserve a medal at the finish line. My sister has picked up my kids from school a couple of times so that I could squeeze a run in before their evening activities. It's certain that I couldn't have done this training without my family's support.

My dad has trained with me and while my friend Michelle wanted to train for the same race, she ended up getting injured and not being able to run for the last three months.  Another friend, Kristine committed and she has met my dad and I for many an early Saturday morning long run. Without the two of them, I would have spent plenty of hours on the roads out there going insane.

It has been incredibly rewarding. The challenge of it has made me feel strong and the amount my body can handle has amazed me. I know it's not over yet, but I really feel like God has blessed me immensely throughout this whole process.

I've given a lot of thought to whether or not I'll do another one and at this point it's still totally up in the air but one thing is for certain and that is that I'm not going to fail.

(Plus, let's be real. It's a lot of fun to eat an extra 2900 extra calories on weekends.)

then and now

March 2014

March 2013

March 2012

March 2011

March 2010

March 2009

March 2008

March 2007

March 2006

things i love [plus giveaway]

Some random things I'm loving lately:

Chapstick's Special Edition Peppermint/Candy Cane in this cute little ornament tin

Coconut M&Ms
just enough subtle coconut flavor

Lubriderm Advanced Therapy
Extra Dry

My friend has started making and selling those no-slip headbands. They work well and are fairly inexpensive. You can check out her shop here:

It's been a long time since I've done a giveaway and I bought some headbands for Christmas gifts and have a couple left over so I thought I'd share the love. Leave a comment and I'll pick a winner on Friday!

eight

Julianna turns eight this week and as it turns out, Eight is

• a quarter collector
• moody
• sometimes exhausting
• perceptive
• emotional
• an excellent reader
• responsible
• tall
• a people-pleaser
• a great softball hitter

My eight year old loves to

• play Nintendo DS especially Pokemon
• wrestle with her brother
• jump
• eat Japanese food
• pull for Duke
• stay home
• watch Pokemon and Diner's, Drive-Ins, and Dives
• wear make-up and heels
• try to solve multiplication problems in her head
• sit on the couch under a blanket (especially with no pants on)

welcome to Spring!

My kids have started playing baseball.  Well, Jules is playing softball and Josh is actually playing t-ball but nevertheless it's keeping us totally busy. Once the adjustment period is over it will get better but right now we're still trying to find some balance.

The cool thing is that it's brought great joy to us already. The kids loved going to get their new equipment and have really enjoyed telling everyone about it.

The 1.5 hour practice is a bit long for Josh, but it has provided so much entertainment for the crowd watching.  The coaches started by letting Josh just swing to see which side of the plate to put him on and so it's ended up being a little bit crazy that they're having hit bat left-handed now.

overheard

Josh to Julianna: Can I put my hands under your butt where I've already got my feet?

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"We've gotta get some of that OxiClean. It takes the spots right out! We need it for the silly putty on the carpet!"

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At the WS Symphony's Discovery Concert Series for Kids the orchestra began playing "Oh Susanna" and Josh loudly sang along, "I'm comin' from Atlanta with a banjo on my knee!"

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"Dad, the only time I've ever touched a boy at school..."

long pause

"Was last week when G--- and I paired up for knee reading."

"What's that?"

"It's where you both sit criss-cross-applesauce facing each other and read to each other."

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Josh to no one in particular: "Ugh! Why do we have to keep hearing about Kristy's story?! There are 50 other people on this commercial but they keep telling us Kristy's story over and over again!"

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"I'm as hot as a bagel in an oven!"

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recipes from instagram

I posted this picture on Instagram and someone asked me to share the recipe. It's easier for me to type it here so there ya go! I made this up and they were delicious. Everyone in my family enjoyed them and I used a mini-muffin tin so we had 24 of them that we were supposed to be able to heat and eat for breakfast all week. It's Monday and I think there are only 4 left. Oops!



8 reduced fat Crescent rolls torn into thirds
3 large eggs
3/4 cup shredded cheese
1/2 large purple onion, chopped
1/3 c bell red pepper, chopped
1/3 c bacon crumbles
1/2 c baby spinach, chopped
dash of black pepper

Press Crescent roll dough into the bottom of muffin tin. Mix everything else and scoop a spoonful on top of the dough. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes (or until tops begin to brown).

Enjoy!

what comes AFTER the marathon

Over the past couple of months I've found myself saying one phrase over and over again.  When you're running 10 hours or more in an average week you begin to miss what you'd usually do with that extra time. (I know in the grand scheme of a full week, ten hours doesn't sound like a lot but trust me when I say that the biggest challenge of marathon training has not been the physical demands but rather the huge time suck.)  I've told many a running partner, "After this marathon I'm...." and my husband has heard, "I'll do that after this marathon training is over..." more than he'd like.

Sooooo I'm going to make a short little list of things I'd like to remember that I had a longing for while running more than a half marathon every weekend for several months. And no, I'm not going to put eating lots of doughnuts and bacon on the list despite the frequency of that thought popping into my brain during a long run. 

A list of things I'd like to do after the marathon:

• Read. A lot. 
• take the time to shave my legs. Ha!
• spend quality time with my family (I've missed so much of it lately)
• sleep late on Saturdays
• crochet a blanket
• finish some scrapbooks
• ride my bike (all other areas of recreation and fitness have fallen by the wayside)
• bake something delicious (and then eat it without worrying about how it will affect my run)
• go to the beach
• perhaps clean my house