Garden Planting!

We have peas in the ground...just a minor obstacle to work around, but we have about a 1/2 pound of pea seeds in the ground!

I had three little boys helping to plant - one that is over for a play date. They helped without too much complaining and are now waiting for me to cup up apples with caramel dip!

My obstacle? The boot that is on my foot because of a broken toe! Yes, my small fall down the stairs two weeks ago did end up in a broken toe. I kicked the door jam of the door going to the basement. I really thought it would get better, but after two weeks it was not so here I am in a boot. I have a check-up in two weeks, I don't know much more than that. No signing up for any 1/2 marathons for me right now.

Positive side - I am allowed to ride a bike so hopefully I'll learn to shift gears properly.

It's March!

If anyone reads this and wonders what is happening in our lives, I'll give you a short run down!

Today was like Christmas for me! I had a Pampered Chef Party last month and the order arrived today. My friends were very generous and therefore I was able to get lots of free/discounted stuff! I bought somethings intending them to be gifts...we'll see if I can keep my paws off! (So far, I've not had that thought of why in the world did I put myself through this...) My new mixer is supposed to arrive tomorrow! Wow, kitchen heaven for me.

Tomorrow I'm going to see a podiatrist. I slipped down the stairs two weeks ago and banged my foot against the door jam. It hasn't felt too good since even with magic Nikki fingers. I'm really afraid of leaving the office in a boot tomorrow, but I do really want to run again so I need to do this. (How am I going to deliver all the Pampered Chef stuff if I can't drive???)

The boys finished basketball this past weekend! Upwards was a lot of fun and the closing awards ceremony was surprisingly great - only an hour long with quality entertainment! I'm trying not to say this around the boys, but I'm thrilled that we aren't doing spring soccer. I was thinking that we aren't doing any sports until baseball this summer, but three weeks of swim lessons, four days a week almost counts as a sport! The boys were very blessed to have grandparents come to every basketball game that they played.

My husband has been working really hard. This week seems to be better than the last two - one he was home but worked a ton of hours followed by a week of being out of town.

I think I sealed the deal with the cookie contract tonight. I succeeded in making the cookie the way that they like them! We'll see if I can do it consistently or not, but tonight was good.

I picked up a weekend job in April working for a curriculum company at a convention in Kansas City. I'm really hoping that it is fun and interesting. My husband did remind me that I don't like to go on vacation without him but I'm trying it yet again.

Hopefully tomorrow I can manage to plant some peas in the garden between piano lessons and doctor's appointment. As I was digging in the garden on Sunday, I found most of my perennial herbs coming up and some parsley growing too. I picked something in my garden in December and I have thyme that can be picked right now too. That's really pretty incredible that it's only been three months that the ground was not producing! I'm expecting to only be gardening at my house this year so I will be working to maximize my space.

Our new cell phone only option is working well. I love having my personal e-mail on my phone and all of my contacts there too synced up with my gmail. It's still weird to not have messages when I get home or have a bunch of e-mail to go through because I've looked at it through the day.

For Lent, I'm fasting from Facebook. I do miss it some, but it's good to take a break. It's not always a good place for me and gives me some of the same vibes as high school popularity. I have really amazing friends that I can communicate with outside of Facebook!

That's a summary of our world! I hope that you are enjoying more light and are being blessed by our amazing God! (Pictures to come soon, I'm still not smooth with the picture uploading.)

Contentment

I haven't been blogging much lately because I have had some inward struggles with contentment and self-importance. Here are two passages that I have thought about this morning.

Philippians 4 10I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Ephesians 3:14-19
14For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

I'm working on being content and giving God the glory!

Imagine all of Rolla running

Sunday, January 31st, I ran in the ING Half Marathon in Miami, Florida! There were over 18,000 people registered for the race which is about the equivalent of all of Rolla running 13.1 or 26.2 miles! Wouldn't that be a crazy and pretty incredible thing. Races are very inspirational! There are people of all ages and sizes and fitness levels running and you NEVER can guess how well someone can do. Someone who looks overweight and has horrible form and be way faster than you and someone who looks extremely fit can run really slow! If you like people watching, this is a great place for it. There was a group of people who were running for a group called Lifeline. There were lots of charity runners, but the unique thing about many of these girls is that they had long skirts and head coverings on and were running and many faster than me.

I had a fun weekend with cousins and a sweet 5 month old cousin. It was very refreshing to get away for a few day. The warmth felt pretty good too! I missed my family though because I love them and like to share fun things with them!

The run was good. It was very humid through the whole race and there were two small rain showers that felt good. I was trying out the run 5 min, walk 1 min training program for the first time in a race. (Jeff Galloway) I had NOT trained to do my ultimate goal of a 2 hour half marathon. (about 2:05 is the closest that I've come.) I had only trained to finish and had started this 5/1 thing. There were some definite interesting Miami spectacles on the run like the two drag queens. At about mile 12 I caught up with the person that I met in St. Louis waiting for our flight. She was running the whole marathon so it was just in time that I caught up to her.

My end chip time (my time from the start to the finish, not the fun to my finish) was 2:08. I felt good about that. It was a good time...and the bigger deal, it proved the training methodology. I can go just as fast with walking every minute as I can with running the entire time. The biggest benefit to me, is that my recovery is much much better!

Here are some pictures of the race - a lot of me and then some in general.

I left my cousins after the first 1/2 mile because I wanted to go faster than they were wanting to go. It was a very crowded race. I felt like I was jockeying for position all of the time and trying to find some place to run. Not a bad thing except when you have to slow down to find somewhere to go.

Walking the first time - after 5 minutes of running was HARD. It was hard because I was excited. It was hard because I was afraid of what people may think of me walking so soon. I passed all those people in the end so it wasn't that big of a deal. The second walk break wasn't so bad and by the third walk break I was very much in the rhythm.

I'm ready to sign-up for my next race...more discussions will need to happen with the family before that though. I was nice to have a few days away, but vacation really isn't so much fun without my husband.

Anyone ready to join me?

Garden Bounty - December 2nd

Wednesday, December 2nd, I picked a vegetable from my garden in Missouri! Yes, Missouri in December, pretty incredible. (Sorry the picture is blurry.)

Isn't it pretty?

I also picked some thyme. There is some rosemary and parsley out there too but herbs this time of year isn't that big of a deal.

So, yes my cauliflower is lovely. Here's another shot of it.

My friend Martina called me from her vacation and told me to plant the cauliflower plants otherwise they would burn up. This plant was in the ground since June and by December and our killing frost, this is what it produced!

Twilight

My sister-in-law gave me a copy of Twilight before our two week vacation in October. Me being out of the loop in pop culture, didn't know much about the book series except that it had something to do with vampires.

I read the book. I was somewhat engrossed into it, but not totally obsessed with it like I have with other books. (I didn't finish it on the trip, I could pull myself away from it and do other things. My kids didn't get ignored while I read it, though there were some extra long bathroom breaks.)

It was a pretty easy read. Every couple of chapters there was a word that wasn't in my common vocabulary but nothing like Swiss Family Robinson which I had read to the boys. The words were big and so the pages turned pretty quickly. There were very natural breaking points in the story and easy places to stop.

After reading the first book, Twilight, in the series, I have no plans or intentions of reading the other three. I was actually impressed that the book was clean. There was not foul language, there wasn't really violence and there wasn't any sex. It's a love story with a "twist".

Coming out of reading the book, I can see why some people like it. Someone falls head over heels in love and he's totally bad for her but she still so much wants to be with him. It's a romantic story. He's totally obsessed with her, and it all sounds really great...why wouldn't you want someone to be so into you and want to be around you all of the time? He says that she should run away from him, but there are really no bad reasons given for being a vampire except that maybe he'll want to drink your blook. So, I'm not sure why everyone wouldn't want to be a vampire except it's painful for a few days for the process of getting there?

Why don't I want to read the other books? I felt there was a very much a god metaphor happening in the book. I want a bigger god than someone who has super human physical traits. I want an infinite God and not a god who is finite - vampires can be finite even though it's hard. I want my God to always be good and not some exactly like my god to be bad.

I felt that the main human character in the book was looking to the vampire guy as a god. I put my faith, trust and hope in Jesus and not someone who happens to come into my path impersonating a human. I trust Jesus to be my savior and I don't have to scheme anything on my own to be saved from the bad guys. I can always trust in HIM and not feel like I have to do something on my own. (This may make more sense after reading the book.)

That being said, I wouldn't necessarily discourage anyone from reading the book. I've read much worse in the past year for sure - an Oprah book club book. If anyone would like my copy, let me know and I will happily give it to you. I'd be interested in your thoughts as well.

Another Deal of the Week

So, I'm in a rut about posting about grocery deals. But today was another fun shopping adventure. I even got one child to go along with me just because Kroger was having their holiday open house and there were tons of snack stations.

Anyway, Kroger is doing another buy 10 get $5 promotion. No mac & cheese this time BUT there are a lot of great things on their list especially if you have other coupons.

I used cheese (buy 2 pounds get 1.50 off), Welch's Juice, Steamfresh Meals, and Chex Mix coupons from here: http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2009/11/hot-another-1502-cheese-coupon-and-more-dairy-coupons.html.

All of those products were on the list for the buy 10 get $5 off. I did manage to just get 10 items to maximize my savings. They were out of a few things so I'll go back later in the week to do this again using my other cheese coupon!

Half Gallon Welch's Grape Juice
Regular Price 4.94 (which would not normally be on my shopping list at this price)

Kroger Sale Price 2.99 (1.95 savings)

Coupon 1.00

Buy 10 get $50 .50

Total Cost 1.49

One Pound Block of Kraft Cheese

Regular Price 5.99

Kroger Sale Price 2.99

Coupon (1.50 off 2lbs) .75

Buy 10 get $50 .50

Total Cost 1.74

Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate Mix was on sale with the same deal. Kroger just sent me a coupon for two boxes .40 cents off...and then they doubled it when I checked out. Each box then cost: .39...great deal for the start of winter!