Sunday, September 12, 2010

Marathon Missed :(


Well my cough has turned into a nightmare.  Still sounding like I've chain smoked for the past twenty years (I don't smoke), the pouring rain, and Hubby's sleepless night were all indicators that a half-marathon was not in the day's destiny.  We wound up going to early mass, eating eggs and whole-wheat toast, and calling it a morning.  

Between the rain and the missed marathon, I'm feeling pretty blue.  Top it off with a bit of guilt ($150 spent to enter the race), it's shaping up to be a glum day.  But Hubby, my favorite person in the world, spins this into a positive.  He said, "if it took $150 and the prospect of a race to keep us faithful to our training for 11 straight weeks, then this race was still worth it."  And he's right (again).  We have been doing so well at keeping up with our training, we've both remarked repeatedly how much better we feel.  In turn, we've used our training to help us make better food choices at the grocery store.  Definitely worth the entry.  Not to mention the fact that it supports our local hospital network.  Another positive.  

So I'm turning the glum into some fun.  We are celebrating my sister's birthday this weekend and I'm excited for Sunday family dinner.  The priest this morning gave us homework during his homily.  We are supposed to think throughout the week of the handful of people closest to us.  Then we are supposed to think of all of their positive traits.  In doing this, it will inspire more positive thinking in our day-to-day lives while also helping us appreciate those closest to us. I thought it was a lovely message for the day and I will actually do this homework! (I have been known to skip homework at times.)  

Last night I fell in love.  I fell in love with the most adorable kitten on the planet.  A little kitten from a dairy farm and no one knows exactly what happened to her…the top theories are that she was stepped on by a cow or caught in some milking machinery.  Either way, she has two broken front legs (hence the bright yellow casts).  Her temporary name is Bobo (which the name won’t stay if we keep her).  One of my best friend’s mom is her foster owner until someone can adopt her.  When we were over last night to visit, it was so hard not to love her!  We are taking the week to decide if we are capable and ready for a kitten.   I’m typically anti-pet owning, but I’m sure you can see why this little is having me whistle a different tune!  Here's Hubby with the cutest kitty...her casts matched his T-Shirt! (a sign?!)


Hubby with the world's cutest kitten!




Some house pictures!

My Target Chairs...I'm obsessed :)



Fresh Bread (the yellow) and Vino (the back wall)


Thursday, September 9, 2010

Ham Bake Beginnings ...


A few posts back I mentioned that I downloaded the iPhone APP, “Tasty Bytes” from my girl, RR!  Of course, in all of my no-time-ness, I haven’t really used it….

Until last night!  I was in the grocery store, thinking, Wow I really should have made myself a list…I have no clue what to make tonight.  Then, I remembered her app!  I quickly (and easily) searched by ingredient for something different.  I came to:

Broccoli, Cheddar, and Ham Bake.
Yum-O!


In the words of RR, Yum-O!  This was one of the easiest things I have ever made!  It was the first time I tackled a “rue” and it was way easier than I expected!  No more passing on ‘rue –ified recipes!

It was delish!  Now not exactly the healthiest thing I’ve ever made, but it hit the spot.  Well the week has ended and so has the painting.  All the touch ups are done and the decorations back on the walls!  It finally feels like home!  Will post pics as soon as my camera make up! :) We are still fighting!  Here's a teaser...the kitchen reminds me of fresh bread and vino! (Probably because those are the paint color names...)

Sorry about the iPhone picture, he's my friend with benefits I shamelessly use while my camera plays the diva role!  Anyway, the half-marathon is in 3 days and we could not be less prepared.  It certainly will be interesting!  We made an executive decision to wear our headphones and blast music (typically race days we don’t to small chit chat, make sure the other is still breathing, and focus on not quitting!)  We will see how it goes!  Any tips for a good / new super healthy pre-race dinner?  What about morning of?  I’m going to need allll of the help I can get! 

Monday, September 6, 2010

Paint and Parm

This holiday weekend was a busy one!  We are FINALLY painting our house!  It’s new construction so up until this point we have had nothing but ugly (and cheap) white builder’s primer.  Yuck!  But we had to wait for the house to settle, then the builders to come back and fix those nasty nail pops.  That finally happened last week so Super Hubby (as I like to think of him these days) hopped right to….we were at Lowe’s Friday night and he already started that night!  He finished half of the downstairs by Saturday night and a few swear words and more than a few beers later…was sick of painting.  Poor Hub!

BEFORE (Boring White)

AFTER Sky Blue with a Dark Blue/Gray Accent Wall (won't rotate image grr)


Hubby did the blue side of the house :)  It's a blue sitting room and dining room.  The back dining room wall is a cool (I think) darker blue accent wall.  The room looks silly because the other side of the house's (kitchen and living room) belongings are all crammed in there while they work on those rooms!  Anyway, Hub took a day off and recruited my Ultimate Hero, my dad, and my younger brother to join in the fun.  They have booted me out and reduced my role to beer refilling and pizza ordering (fine by me!) and are almost finished the downstairs!  Hooray!  The remaining projects include: painting the powder room, painting the foyer, painting the hallway and steps, painting the upstairs.  Still a hefty list but I have faith in my crew!  It sounds like not much was done, but that is NOT the case! 

Check out that Tuscan Yellow...

And the wine inspired kitchen accents...
Bass Ale = Painters' Beer of Choice :)

Last night required a quick, comfort-food of a dinner to nourish my weary Hubby.  I skipped using a new RR meal and went to the trusty chicken parmesan (served with whole wheat penne). Yum!  What took this typical 7 or 8 ranked dish up to a 10 was Hubby’s homemade sauce!  Double Yum!

Chicken Parmesan & Penne


A co-worker gave him a HUGE box of tomatoes, so last week Hubby spent all night making his famous “Roman Marinara”…I would offer you the recipe, but he’d kill me!  (But I will work on him for you, Blog Friends!)  Let me know if you want me to bug him!


How do you spend summer holiday weekends?  As we celebrate the last one, I’m thinking back to all the other great summer 3-day weekends, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, etc….we tend to do one function (picnic/BBQ) and fill the rest with house projects. 

What is your go-to always easy, always tasty meal?
HAPPY LABOR DAY!

Friday, September 3, 2010

Slow, Sluggish, and Scared!

The knockout from the 10K persists!  Being the workaholic that I am, I was still going to work and trying to keep up with all of my homemaker duties.  But when my fever reached 101.2 degrees, Hubby made an executive decision and put me on the couch.  So for the past week, I have been getting up, working, returning from work to my place on the couch in front of the TV.  I have watched more TV than ever.  Too Fat for Fifteen, Jersey Shore, Keeping up with the Kardashians, Real Housewives (DC AND JERSEY)…you name it, I’ve seen it!  Quiz me on my pop culture, I know it all!  I could write Joel McHale’s jokes for the Soup…I’m that ready!  I’m like a walking US Weekly encyclopedia!

This morning I was so excited to go to my doctor to get some real medicine. You know you are really sick when you are EXCITED to go to the doctor! And you aren’t working on a Friday! The Dayquil and Nightquil combos were not enough to beat whatever this is and it was time for some real meds!  Another clue to help you realize that you are in fact really sick is if you exit the house in a purple t-shirt, navy shorts, and lime-green flip-flops and you don’t even notice it.  It took me about ten minutes in the waiting room to realize that I was a walking Gay Pride Billboard.  I had to laugh.  I am all about Gay Pride (everyone should be allowed to love anyone I think), but this outfit would have had me on Joan River’s worst list for sure!  And I know the Gays would hate it!  Hubby of course, didn’t even notice!

I was feeling pretty bad about myself, thinking of all the bad food I’ve had and the no exercise (and my horrendous style as of late)…Hubby is an amazing help, but he’s not exactly health-conscious.  He turns his nose up at all of my low-fat labels in the fridge.  Many times in the grocery store he’ll plead with me, “can’t we just get the regular strength.  Just this once?”  Ha-ha.

But my doctor was very reassuring.  He told me that the average person burns 2,000 calories a day.  A sick person burns 6,000-10,000 calories each day, as the body works to fight the sickness. Whoa!  Who knew??  He told me that I should definitely be resting and NOT pushing it.  Still, the (half) marathon NEXT SUNDAY and all I can think is, what if we can’t finish?  We have to finish!  We’ve been training for 2+ months for this!  I am going to try in three days to jog a light 2-3 miles, to get loose.  I’m going to keep the mileage light this upcoming week, and hope (and pray) for the best on Sunday.  Please blogworld – pray for me! 

Here’s hoping I’m back in action soon!  Forgive my picture-less post, I’m too groggy from my new strong meds to add any!  Who takes care of you when you are sick?

Thanks, Hubby!