The Ugly Sweater Dash

This morning we set out to go run the Ugly Sweater Dash!

We donned our ugly sweater attire and had Trevor snap a picture of us.

We were running a little bit behind, but it I was driving so we were sure to make it there in time. AND THEN the traffic STOPPED. Like dead stop. 

It's ok we still have half an hour I said. FORTY MINUTES LATER we finally passed the accident. Ugh what to do?

With a hopeful heart and an almost empty gas tank I decided we would just drive over there and MAYBE it started late. When we were driving in there was already some people driving out. Not a good sign! BUT I could still see some runners and walkers.

We walked over to where people were running and I asked a security guard if she knew where the race had started? She said that it was "over there" and this was the finish. So we walked in the finish (and I got a cool Ugly Sweater Ornament) and then debated on what to do. 

I told Scott what the hell, let's just go do it! So we found the starting line and did a little run/walk (he can't run very much still) and there are all these cones all over the grassy area and they are guys in a golf cart picking them up. Um ok so that's not going to work. There was a guy at the end of the road part and he said we could go to the right and it would take a bit off the course but since the "go to the left" was disappearing as we were watching we decided the right way was the way to go. 

There was more random cones all over another grass area, but it looked really confusing so we just stayed on the road part and ended up with a bunch of walkers. We ran/walked along with everyone else on the path and finished the run in 1.6 miles. 

Hey it was half a 5k! Better that than nothing I guess haha. Scott got his sweater ornament (he didn't want to get it if he didn't finish) and we went over to get our cider which was apple juice poured in a little mason jar. Hey what the hell, more swag! 

We took a couple pictures 

and then got some gas and hit the road. 

We took the back way home (I was so done with the freeway) and stopped at a Starbucks for some coffee and a bagel.

I told Scott I don't think that really qualified as a race for the month so I think I might do the Double Road Race in a couple weeks. That my friends, is a big freaking challenge. I did it last year, in the rain, and it was hard but I felt very accomplished when I finished it. Maybe I could beat my times?

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Catching Up On The Week

Somehow I haven't blogged all week! What the heck? I'm fired!

Or not, I can just play catch up, right? Beware, probably a super long post coming up!

Ok ok so last I left you Monday night I was making some turkey enchiladas. Which turned out way too spicy because I forgot I hate this canned sauce I bought. 

Mild my ass. The kids didn't really even eat any because it was too spicy. I just got heavy handed with the (light) sour cream. They were pretty though. I used this recipe. 

After dinner I went out and ran for my #rwrunstreak and ended up running a pretty fast 5k! I had turned on my pace audio cue for ever half mile on my Runkeeper and oh what a difference that makes for me when I run. Plus my knees aren't hurting as much. Probably because I finally got new shoes. 

Tuesday morning we had a storm blowing in. COLD wind. Well cold for us Northern CA people!

After work we went to go pick up Scott's disability extension form from the doctor's office. We are a whole month behind on the disability payment because they make it so difficult to get the form. It took about three weeks to get the form we needed in the mail and another week to get the doctor's office to fill out out.  

Since we were in town we ran a couple errands, one of which was to get a set of drum sticks for Trevor. He's going to take a 2nd music class at school and do the drums. Cool that he can do that but not so cool that he is now drumming on everything! I find myself just yelling "STOP IT!" without even realizing I'm doing. it. Such a great mom. Anyhow, I'm sure he'll be great at it because he is always tapping on shit just like his dad who also played the drums in high school. 

So anyhow, check out my new husband. I traded in the old bearded guy for this clean shaven young man. 

His coloring looks so much better now too. On his way back to fit and healthy! (and back to work on Monday)

I may have ate bad food for dinner. 

Bad food that just tastes so damn good! 

After we ate we stopped at the store to get a few things. I had to the bathroom so bad and someone was hogging the one woman's bathroom so I ran into the men's. I don't know about you,  but I do that all the time. I KNOW it's the men's room but does that mean they don't have to clean it? 

What if I sent my son in there. ICK disgusting. That floor hasn't been mopped in weeks I don't care what that clean up sign on the door says. At least they had soap in the dispenser.

When we got home I did one mile for the runstreak. I ran down the street for half a mile and then ran back.

Wednesday I tired out this recipe, yet again, to make mini pot pies. This time I decided to use these little pyrex dishes to make the pies in since my cupcake tins are too small for the recipe. They worked a lot better, but I still had extra filling and it was too doughy. Which seems to me like the pies should be bigger and the dough would be stretched out farther. They were still good though and I was proud of myself for making them! AND using up more turkey!

After dinner I went to the gym and ran one mile on the treadmill. I started at 6 but pushed it up a couple towards the end. Longest 9:55 minutes of my life. I hate how my gym has the tv's at a weird angle too close to the treadmills. You have to look almost directly up to see them and they have no closed captioning on so it's just the screen. Dumb.

After doing the run I did a little weight lifting. I was there earlier than I usually go and there were a lot of people there. I wore a t shirt over my tank I always wear and it was clinging to my stomach and all I could think about was how fat I looked. All the people and then I was feeling insecure so after half an hour I left. I decided on the way home I need to make up a work out plan before I go instead of just kind of walking around looking for what doesn't have a bunch of people working on it.

Last night we had a hard freeze. The first one of the season. When I got up we had no water. Our water is frequently "out" when they are working on something or something breaks somewhere. Six am is not the time for the water to be out though. I really needed to take a shower but just pinned my hair up and got dressed. The water came on at 6:30 so I quickly UN did my hair and washed it real quick. At least my hair looked ok right? haha

So driving to work, I had to hit the brakes and back up so I could take this picture. How awesome is that?

Their whole fence was like that all the way around. 

After work I vegged out for a bit and then went and did a one mile run before dinner. I wanted to go before it got dark out and colder but the sun was already going down. 

It was cold but I was feeling pretty good and I ran my fastest mile EVER! How exciting is that? I'm kind of liking this only running one mile trying to beat myself all the time. 

It makes me wish I could hang out with my 8th grade gym teacher and be like eh, I can do that, no problem. I was thinking about how we had to run (I swear that's scarred my life!) and how they used negative things to motivate us. If I was a gym teacher I think I would work more on  positive reinforcement. 

After I thawed my finger tips out (must wear gloves next time I run (and buy some that I can use my phone with) I made dinner. 

The last of the turkey! Turkey noodle soup. I started it the same way I make my veggie soup (onions, garlic, celery and carrots), and then threw in the turkey stock I had from the turkey (still have one big bowl left of it in the freezer), some water, a chicken bouillon cube for good measure, basil, oregno, the left over turkey and when it was almost done some macaroni noodles I had up in the cabinet. I could have used a bit more liquid but it turned out really good. There is only a little bit left, maybe enough for lunch I still have to get up and put it away. That's the last of the turkey and I used the whole thing. ::pats self on back::

I also made these Garlic Cheddar Biscuits off Pinterest (minus the onions, I knew the kids wouldn't like those) and they turned out really good too. I just made the dough a bit too thin and should have used a smaller biscuit cutter (I used a glass). All 13 are gone so they must have liked them. 

Melissa and Trevor are decorating the Christmas tree. Guess that means I should start deciding what I'm going to buy for Christmas gifts. 

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Long Weekend

Well that long weekend was nice and relaxing. I paid bills so after that all thoughts of going out and having fun were over. Who doesn't like to have a nice relaxing weekend at home right?

There was a lot of laying on the couch with my rock star puppy. Cracks me up that he can sleep like that.

We ended up having Little Caesar's for dinner and then I felt like crap so I went for a run. I didn't know how far I was going but I knew I needed to burn about 600 calories to feel better with myself. 

Mission accomplished. Not too fast and some walking but I got it done. I'm still having a bit of runner's knees. Sucks.

Saturday I sat on the couch for awhile before I got sick of myself and then got dressed to go take my running shoes back. Scott and Trevor decided to come too and they needed to get ready so I took Rusty out and did a one mile walk to do the #rwrunstreak. What is that? It's running (and I'm adding or walking) at least one mile each day from Thanksgiving until New Years Day. I figured I had the first 2 days down, why not join in?

When I got back we were off to the shoe store. I was able to exchange them with no problems (even though I wore them 3 times). That's the good thing about running shoe stores. I found my old shoes in the updated model and ended up getting those. I tired on several other pairs of shoes too and ran around the outside of the store and parking lot. I swear these shoes fit so much better. Maybe it's all in my head? Maybe not.

Next we went across the street to the bike store. I had to use the potty so I went in and was greeted by a singing fish. The whole time I was peeing it was singing. Guess that's one way to not  have your employees hang out in there haha.

We went to the grocery store on the way home and picked up some food to make dinner and I got a bag of Pirate's Booty to snack on on the way home. I thought Trevor and Scott would eat some too but they didn't want any and I ended up eating the whole bag. Darn it! That was a lot of calories. No lunch for me thanks. Not that I was hungry after that anyways.

Scott made his recipe for slow cooked ribs he found somewhere on the internet. I will never ever make ribs again they are so so so good. We never have any left overs because it's so damn good.

Bad picture but YUM. Good thing I walked a mile right? (should have ran a few too).

Sunday morning Scott and I decided to go ride our bikes. We weren't sure how far to go since he has not really been out on his road bike since the blood clot. We decided to ride to the school in back since that is about 4 miles there and not too far from home. We made it there and back without dying but I could tell he was pretty worn out. Nice to get out on the bikes again! 

Oh and it was funny when we first left. We got down the street and both decided we were freezing and came home and put more layers on.  Brrr

I wanted to take some pictures but I had put on my cheap gloves under my bike gloves and couldn't operate my phone without taking them all off. That was kind of dumb. I need to get some warmer bike gloves that have the finger tip thing that works with your phone.

After our bike ride I came home and put a turkey in the oven (gotta love the cheap turkeys at Thanksgiving time, I got 3 over a few weeks at about $7 each). 

And made some veggie soup for the week (with some turkey broth from the last one I had made). I finally bought some canning jars a few weeks ago to put soup in because every plastic container I own leaks soup on the way to work. I've looked at Thermos containers and they are way too expensive. Here we go 12 jars for $6? That's more my speed. 

They work great too! So far no leaking. Plus you get the portion control if you divide the soup up.

I spent most of the day washing clothes. Lucy helped. (I got the last load in the washer before I went to bed-yeah for almost being caught up!)

Before dinner was done I put on my new shoes and Scott, Trevor and Rusty joined me for a one mile run. 

Day 4 done!

The turkey turned out really good (it's not real dark because I took the foil off and then took it out of the oven a little bit before I had planned)

We had a full on Thanksgiving dinner (minus the desserts & bread) with it (sweet potato pie is left over from Thanksgiving, not making more of that it's too good)

Tonight I'm making some turkey enchiladas so that we use the turkey in a different way other than just sandwiches. I'll let you know how they turn out :)

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Gobble Gobble

Well one holiday down one to go.

We got up early yesterday and did the turkey trot and then came home and Scott made us breakfast.  We should have planned a light lunch too so that we wouldn't be starving when we got to my brother's house for dinner.

I may have eaten 4 deviled eggs. I forgot to count. AND some salami pepper things and yeah.

Also my idea of not drinking went out the window after about 10 minutes. So much for that.

This little one may have stole quite a few marshmallows off the sweet potato pie!

My fashionista

My niece totally liked me for 2 whole seconds!

Scott totally does not like hard boiled eggs but he decided to try a deviled egg. He didn't throw up, but it was close.

Dinner time!

and dessert

Then I exploded and came home and went to bed.

Well actually first we washed the dishes, then we drove home past all the stores with crazy people out shopping. Which for some reason pisses me off. The only good thing I can see about it is that the people working will have more money for Christmas.

Maybe it's because my kids are older but the idea of going out and buying so much "STUFF" just kind of makes me sick to my stomach. Why do we all think we need so much? 

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Happy Thanksgiving!

I started my morning by joining friends, family and one neighbor to do a turkey trot around the club! Next year I will start earlier and try to get more people involved. It was great to have my friends drive out here to join me!

On Facebook I started late but I did the "things you are thankful for". I figured I'd put them on here too :)

1. I'm thankful for my husband. He's aweseome.


2. I'm thankful for my mom, she always drops whatever she is doing to help me out if I ask her.


3. I'm thankful for my job! Not having it for two weeks reminded me of that 


4. I'm thankful for my health.


5. I'm thankful for my community. I live in a wonderful place. I'm so glad I moved there and the great friends I have made.


6. I'm thankful for my kids. They are my life.11. I'm thankful for lazy Saturday mornings!

7. I'm thankful for my step mom Denise. She taught me many things like embroidery and other crafty things. Gardening, scrapbooking and now running! She's a great mentor to me 

8. I'm thankful I've never been wealthy. While that may sound weird and the opposite of many people's dreams, I've never desired to be rich. I think being able to be "creative" with what money we have/had has made me a better person.

9. I am thankful that Traci introduced me to beautiful sunsets. I never really paid 
attention to them before until one day I saw her run out of the club hall and stand on the porch and marvel at the beautiful sunset. Taking time to enjoy the simple things in life like the sunset with friends or even in a quiet moment by yourself just gazing at the beautiful sky. Ahhh life doesn't get much better than that!

10. I am thankful for Pinterest and all the mom's that come up with great recipes and share them on the internet. Dinner is so much better now 

11. I'm thankful for lazy Saturday mornings!

12. I'm thankful for my buddy Rusty. He is always by my side 


13. I'm thankful for Girl Scouts because that is where I met my great friends Carolyn and Deanna. Can't imagine life without them! 


14. I'm thankful for the website Lose It. 


15. I'm thankful for coffee 

16. I'm thankful for my brothers and their wives and kids, they bring joy into our lives 


17. I'm thankful for books


18. I'm thankful for having not one but 2 Dads, how lucky am I?

19. I'm thankful that this old heater in our house still works. ::knocks on wood::


20. I'm thankful for the nice breakfast Scott makes us every weekend.

21. I'm thankful I got 
to see my soul sister Sarah today! No one makes me laugh so hard!


22. I'm thankful for margaritas and Mexican food 

23. I'm thankful I get paid to stay home for Thursday and Friday


24. I'm thankful we don't have to worry about not having enough to eat for Thanksgiving


25. I'm thankful that all my family lives close by


26. I'm thankful that I enjoy being with my family (most of the time ;))



27. I'm thankful that I am caught up on being thankful 

28: I'm thankful for all my online fitspiration peeps! You keep me motivated!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, don't let your family drive you too crazy :)

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One Step Closer To Death, With FRIENDS!

In classic "do something that scares you" form I decided I need to not be afraid to run another half marathon and signed up for this exciting one.

I will fly to Las Vegas (flights are super cheap from our little airport here and takes about an hour) and meet up with my friend Sarah and her husband and then we will go in a rental car to Utah! Scott was all for going to Vegas but I think we will be mostly in Utah so we'll see if he decides he wants to go too or not.

So I have 4 months to do some hill training so I don't die!

Today is also my friend Sarah's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLD LADY!! Oh wait I'm older dammit.

Monday I actually got to see my Texan BFF. Her mother is moving to Texas next month so she came over to help throw stuff out when she wasn't looking  pack. I drove to her Mom's house in Los Banos after work. I've never been to Los Banos but now I know why it is called that. It's not because it's full of bathrooms! It's because it's like one giant marshy wetland.

Her mom's house is the basic old farmhouse. I just LOVE this built in cabinet.

 One of the houses we lived in when I was little had a similar cabinet. The houses were probably built about the same time period.

I may have brought home a few things they were getting rid of. Some puzzles, some of these cool German beer coasters for Scott

and some old dolls. I tried not to look at the stuff they were getting rid of. DANGER DANGER YOU HAVE A SMALL HOUSE.

Anyhow, the two of us eventually got to go out to dinner together. We went to this place called Espana's. It was a pretty fancy looking place! I had to try and forgive the Christmas music and decorations and this GIGANTIC margarita helped with that. 

Sarah had one too.

The waitress was nice and took a picture of us.

We sat and giggled talked for a couple hours. 

Oh and I kind of broke my rule of no fatty food until Thanksgiving. 

Hola Chimichanga

We attempted to take a better picture haha when we got back. 

YES, we totally rocked it!

So great to see my buddy. Now I now if I don't see her again soon at least I'll get to see her in March! We can both die together in a beautiful park. 

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