Happy Thanksgiving!

I've baked two pies, a pan of cornbread for the dressing... gathered up everything that doesn't have to stay in the fridge... I'm ready to go to my parents' house for Thanksgiving!  I'm in charge of the dressing (because I'm really the only one who cares about it - for shame!), fruit salad (the world's UNHEALTHIEST fruit salad - I really must post the recipe one day so everyone can think "oh nasty!"  LOL), and chocolate pie.  I only had to make one pie, but  I really wanted to try a cinnamon roll crust and I wasn't sure how it would go over, so I made a safe, normal crust one as well.

Source: taste-for-adventure.tablespoon.com via Heather on Pinterest

That is a cinnamon roll crust.  Now, the name is a little misleading.  You can't use cinnamon rolls.  You just roll out your pie crust, brush it with butter, sprinkle cinnamon on it, and roll it up.  Cut it into thin slices and press into the pan.  I love cinnamon and chocolate.  I hope it's yummy.  =)

I'm very thankful this year... there are just so many things to be thankful for.  I'm thankful for the people who are reading this.  It's always nice to know someone is listening to me babble.  =)

I've definitely broken through my creative block lately.  I made each of the girls a Christmas-y hat.  Here are two of them...


Zoe's Polar Bear


Izzy's Penguin

Olivia has an elf one... same style (they are all from the same pattern from SnappyTots - I love her patterns)... but the elf's hat won't stay put and I have to fix it before Miss Ungrateful will deign to wear it.  Such a brat sometimes.

I started some mittens, but Isabelle ran off and lost the one I finished, so I'm not sure I'll even mess with making the other 5.  Then I started a sock (for me) but adjusting it for my big feet is proving a little more difficult than I thought.  I may frog it a bit and try again.  But I've been finding more and more things I want to do, where for a long time I didn't even bother looking at crochet stuff.

The problem with that is that I have a very delicate balance going on.  The more into crochet I am, the less I am into working out.  I have to be careful not to slip up too much.  I've cut myself some slack this week... but no more after tomorrow.  No sitting down after the girls go to bed until I'm sweaty.  Or showered, rather.

My foot is better, by the way.  It felt much better on Monday, my ankle was still a little sore on Tuesday, and yesterday it was fine.  I need to be more careful about stretching before my long walks.  Maybe even do a little mid-way?  I planned out a different route today for this weekend's 6-miler.  I am such a bad judge of distance and was shocked at how far 3 miles took me from the starting point.  I will walk over two pedestrian bridges.... I was sure the second bridge was so much farther away.  I'm excited.  And a little anxious.  I don't want a repeat of my foot problem.  If I can't walk 6 miles without having issues, I won't be able to do 13.1. 

I hope you all have a wonderful day, full of good food and loving family!

6 Miles

Today I walked 6 miles for my half-marathon training.  On my previous walks, my pedometer app was all wonky, so I downloaded a new one and planned my route ahead of time so that I knew where to turn around even if the new app freaked out on me.  And I discovered that I didn't need an adapter for my earbud jack - my phone takes a normal sized jack - so I could have some tunes!  The trip felt much faster with music. 

I walked 6.2 miles in 1 hour 40 minutes... about a 3.8 mph average.  I was aiming for 4mph, but 3.8 is good, and it's the first time I've walked 6 miles, so I could get up to 4 mph in the next week or two.



It was a perfect day for a walk.  The temperature was just right.  That's one of the things about Arkansas that I love.  Even in November, you have nice days where you can wear short sleeves.  =)



The girls had messed with my filters on my camera, so I ended up with a few pictures like this.  Looks creepy.  My route took me over the Big Dam Bridge.  We have a very large trail called the River Trail here... it's 17 miles (I think)... and my route was along that.  It was so pretty.  I think one day I'd like to walk the entire trail.  It would take alllllll day. 

Unfortunately, I think I hurt my foot.  I mean, it's hurt, but I'm hoping it's nothing serious and I'll be fine in the morning.  Almost as soon as I finished my walk and hit the parking lot, there was a pain in my right foot and it's still pretty painful.  I hope I didn't do anything that will keep me from walking.  We will have to see.

In other news, my kids watched Brave this weekend.



I got back from my walk to see that Isabelle  had fashioned a bow out of a stick and duct tape.  It looks really good.  I'm just glad she didn't make any arrows.  And Mr. Bill was changing the brakes on the Old Man Truck... he doesn't just run around wearing latex gloves.  (Although I wouldn't be surprised if he started to one day.  He's getting more and more OCD as he gets older)

The Color Run

A few months ago, I started a board on Pinterest for my "Fitness Bucket List".  It's mainly fun races and workout programs that are pretty much out of my league just yet.  One of the first things I pinned was The Color Run.  What's The Color Run?  Here's a video...



Shortly after that, a friend of mine posted on facebook that she was going to do it and was looking for people to do it with her.  I mentioned that I'd love to, but I would probably wait until I could actually run it (she's a runner).  She said she'd walk with me if I did it... and that was all it took.  We gathered up a small group and signed up.

It was the first year they've held it in Little Rock, and from what I can tell, the first time any kind of fun race like that has been here.  I hope it's the start of more of these things coming our way, though.  There are a few I'd love to do, and I'd really rather not travel to do it.

So, here are the pics...


My little sister and her husband.  My sister's friend was with us, too, but I'm really weird about taking pictures of people I don't know very well, so I didn't end up with many of her. 


My friend's friend, my friend (she was one of my best friends in junior high and we hadn't seen each other in probably 20 years!), and - of course - me.


Every kilometer is marked with a different colored station, where you are pelted with a color powder.  I thought it was so funny how the workers were covered head to toe.  The blue was actually kind of difficult to wash off, too, so I imagine that poor woman was blue for a few days.


The powder was everywhere.... on buildings, cars.  My sister wrote that.  Cracked me up.  One of the funniest things, that I didn't get a picture of, was when we passed a police officer who had obviously been hugged by a runner.


In our race packets, there was a little pack of the color powder.  You could also buy extra packs.  At the end of the race, every 15 minutes, they do a huge color throw.  We didn't feel like waiting or getting into the huge crowd, so we did our own little color throw.


It was pretty fun.  =)


Me and my sister, afterwards.  Unfortunately, even following their directions on how to keep the most color in  your shirt, most of my color washed out.  =(  And yes, the powder got in our teeth.  My brother-in-law's tongue was blue.  We blew blue snot for a couple of days, too.  I'm sure you REALLY needed to know that, but I got texts twice about it, so it was definitely newsworthy at the time.  LOL

It was definitely a great time.  It was a family-friendly race, but I didn't take the girls.  It's kind of expensive and Olivia and Isabelle are old enough that I'd have to register them.  But I'm going to set aside some money to be able to take them next year. 

I've been planning more 5Ks coming up and I'm going to try to take them on as many as I can.  That's the plan anyway.  Zoe hates walking, so we'll have to see how she fairs.  3.1 miles is a long distance for their short legs.  But I really want them to be involved, too, and most of them are charity walks and it will be a good lesson for them, as well.

Have I mentioned my crazy goal of walking a half-marathon in March?  I can't remember.  I've already started training for it.  Tomorrow I'm doing my first 6 mile walk.  I don't think I've ever walked 6 miles at once, so it will be a good learning experience.  I normally walk about 4mph... which is good.  I have to be able to complete 13.1 miles in 4 hours, so 4mph is a good pace.  Tomorrow I'll see if I can keep that pace for longer than an hour.  6 miles should take me 90 minutes at that pace.  Now if only I could find my MP3 player....

WOMAN!!!

My husband loves The Muppets.  Loves.  Unfortunately, not enough to wear what I just finished today.

Yes... I finished a project.  I probably should have warned you.  Let you sit down first.  (well, you're at the computer, you're probably sitting anyway)

You know Animal, right?  Surely you do.  If not... get out from under your rock.  Even *I* know Animal.  But, here's a video to refresh.... The Muppets do The Bohemian Rhapsody.  Animal is the best part.  MOMMA!!!! 



I know I shared before about the pattern I bought for an Animal hat.  I decided to just do it.  I have a bunch of unfinished projects, but I really wanted to do this.  So I did.  It was so much fun.  There's probably much to be interpreted by the fact that I got a kick out of crocheting chains and spiked collars, but I did.  Want to see him?

He's so funny!  Of course, I can critique several things about it, but still... I love him.

The pattern was great.  If I ever make another one, I'd probably use a bigger hook for the gray collar... it's way tighter than the rest of the hat on my head because it's single crochet and the rest is half-double.  And use a yarn with more pink in it for the hair.  But man, I love that thing.  It makes me want to improvise other Muppets.  Like Beaker or Janice (the girl from the band).  I could do the whole band.  Or even make a big amigurumi Animal.  That would be awesome!

All I needed was the right project to get me going again, I guess...

I've already started another project, too.  It's not as exciting.  I promised the girls some Christmas-themed beanies.  I also need to post pictures from last weekend's Color Run.  I haven't forgotten, just got too excited about this to take the time to blog.  =)  Stay tuned....

Confession Time...

I have to make a confession.  As a crafty-sort of mom, I'm sad to say this... but I must...

I bought the girls' Halloween costumes this year.

Oh, the horror!

Actually, it was pretty horrible.  From dishing out the moolah, to realizing what pieces of trash I dished out all that moolah for.  It's crazy.  I could have made some pretty kickin' costumes for that dough.

But I was too lazy.  Too uninspired.  Too busy.

They didn't care, so whatever.  I still have to show them off, because they're still cute.  =)


Trick or Treat!!


Mermaid (not sure what she's doing here....)


Her fish face


Fairy in cowboy boots and upside down wings...


She was not into pictures


My Cheerleader


Definitely into pictures.


Copy cat LOL


Improved Fish Face  (damn, she's gorgeous)


My imp-girl who needs to remember she's 8, not 16.

So, in other news... I'm down 25 lbs as of today.  I had hit a plateau, a very frustrating plateau.  But I busted that plateau out of the water and I'll tell you how.  I don't recommend it.  It's called.... STREP.

Good grief, I wanted to DIE.  I lost 10 lbs in like 3 days.  Seriously.  It was awful.  Running a fever for 36 hours burns some serious calories that not being able to eat wasn't replenishing.

I woke up Sunday feeling OK, except for a scratcy throat, but everyone at work has been sniffling and snotting everywhere.  I figured it was just my turn.  We were going to go to my parents' house, so I took a shower and was nagging Bill to get ready to go.  I layed down on the bed to read and after a while thought, "I don't really feel that great."  Bill ended up getting called into work and I decided we'd stay home since I was starting to feel icky and didn't want to take my germs to my parents' house.  By the time I put the kids to bed, I was wallowing on the couch with fever.  Woke up in the middle of the night with my throat on fire.

My throat caused my doctor to say "Oh, God!  I'm not even swabbing that!"

A little advice... if your doctor ever prescribes a lidocaine rinse for your streppy throat, just leave it at the pharmacy.  Go get some Milk of Magnesia instead.  The lidocaine rinse is super thick and gagged me so bad I actually threw up - which you don't EVER want to do with a streppy throat.  Just trust me there, OK?  Gargle the MoM, it numbs you up a bit without gagging you.  Tastes better, too.

I'm feeling almost human today... I was able to work half a day, take a nap, and do Halloween.  I might feel almost normal tomorrow.  Hopefully.  I'm still having trouble eating.  Not because of my throat (not that it's all better, just a little better), I just have no appetite and everything tastes terrible.

So...

That's about it.  Hope you had a fun, fabulous Halloween!

Punkin Patch time! (and other miscellaneous news)

Today we made our annual excursion to the pumpkin patch.  The past 5 or 6 years, we've gone to the same pumpkin patch, but this year I decided we'd mix it up and go to a different place.  We went to Bobrook Farms, which is out in the area where I pretty much grew up.  I love it out there and it seemed like a good excuse to drive out there.  It's kind of odd to feel homesick for a place only half an hour away, but I do sometimes.  We wouldn't mind moving out there, but property out there is really expensive now.  And it would be a killer commute, gas-wise.

This new place had a lot of fun things to do...

A hay bale maze, which Zoe kept getting totally lost in.

A corn pit, which they would have stayed in the whole time, I think.



A sunflower maze, which was so crazy beautiful.



They also had a hay ride, but I think it's the one thing that I prefer at the other place we have been to.  This was just a 15 minute ride as opposed to 30 minutes, and not nearly as pretty.  But, overall, it was a nice change.







Afterwards, we went to the Visitor Center at Pinnacle Mountain State Park and went to the overlook.  It's actually about a mile from the park itself, but the view is really pretty.  Isabelle, my little yogini, tried out a few yoga poses...



That's Eagle pose.  Kinda.

So... what else is going on? 

I went to the doctor on Friday.  I've been a terrible patient and haven't been in 2 years.  Not since being diagnosed as being diabetic.  Back then, my A1C (kind of like a 3 month snapshot of my blood sugar levels) was 7.9.  4.5-6 is "normal" and 6.1-6.5 is "prediabetic".  I was well into the diabetic range.  But apparently, what I've been doing has been working because I was at 6.4 on Friday.  =)  Without medication.  I have to go back in 3 months, so hopefully I can knock it down a little more. 

I am thinking about doing something pretty big.  And scary.  I actually was thinking about it a few months ago and just kind of pushed the decision off, but I was reminded of it again today.  I think I want to walk the half-marathon at the Little Rock Marathon in March.  And the weird thing is... when I looked at it today and checked out their suggested training schedule - it begins tomorrow!  13.1 miles.  Eek!  And it has to be completed in 4 hours.  Eek!  I think I could do it.  I do Leslie Sansone's Walk-at-home videos all the time and they go upwards of 5mph.  Yes, I know there's a HUGE difference between walking a race course and walking in my kitchen (yes, I workout in the kitchen).  I did 5 miles with her video just Friday night.  My only real concern is figuring out the long walks on the schedule, because my alone time is pretty limited.  It will definitely require some support from my husband and possibly some occasional babysitting from my sister.  During the week, I'd only be doing 3-4 mile walks, but they go up to 10 miles towards the end of the training on the weekend.  I also have to come up with the registration fee, but I can start training before I actually register.  It's kind of scary, but I can only imagine how excited and proud I'd be to finish half a marathon!  Plus, the medals are stupidly big, so that would be nice.  =)

Other than that... I can't really think of much going on that's newsworthy.  Just working, working out, homework.... lots of work =)

Olivia through the years...

It's hard to believe I've been a mother for 8 years already.  It's every mother's right to get all sappy and sentimental when her kids have a birthday, so I'm going to inundate you with pictures of my Livilu Who.  And I uploaded this pictures to Blogger instead of Flickr, so my spacing is going to suck.  Sorry.

The one thing everyone commented on when Olivia was a baby was her cheeks.  She had such big chipmunk cheeks.

Well, this picture doesn't really do them justice, does it?  Let's see...

Yeah, that's more like it. 

Not sure exactly how old she is here... I should keep better track of these things.

 Around 2 years old, with her curls still intact.  Why can't they keep those curls?  Oh, because their best friends cut them off.  =/

Three year old Miss Priss.  She's always been such a good model for me... when she's in the mood.

Four year old fairy princess.

5 years old... it was pretty chilly that day.  Kind of like today, only it was rainy today on top of the cold.  It's always pretty iffy on how the weather will be on her birthday.  Some years it's hot... some years it's cold.

6 years old, after a haircut from her sister....  She had her party at the pumpkin patch that year.

7 years old.... no longer looks like  a baby.  Which is sad.  But she's so pretty.

And now.  8 years old.  Second grader.  Snaggly-toothed and sassy.  Straight-A student.  Sweet and Sour.  I don't even want to think about how grown up she'll look next year.