Pie

It turned out pretty much like the picture I posted yesterday, eh? It is now gone. Eric and I devoured the last bits tonight. I was sad to see it go....

Blueberries!!

This morning I woke up at 5:00 so I could get my run in before going blueberry picking. I went with Melyssa and my Mom. We went to a lovely little private farm in Remlap and each picked a little more than a gallon. They are plump, sweet, organically grown berries, and were a fraction of the cost of the supermarket blueberries.
I froze most of mine, but plan to make the following recipe today or tomorrow--I've made it in the past, and it is delicious!

Blueberry Cream Pie
1 (9-inch) unbaked pie shell
21/2 cups blueberries
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten

Topping:
1/2 cup Honey Bunches of Oats cereal, crushed
or other granola-type cereal
2 Tbsp. butter, melted

Beat with electric mixer: sour cream, flour, sugar, vanilla, salt and egg. Fold in blueberries and pour filling into pie shell. Bake 400 degrees for 25 minutes.
For topping: mix ingredients together using a fork. After pie has cooked, remove from oven and sprinkle with topping. Bake at 400 degrees for an additional 5-10 minutes. Refrigerate. May substitute sliced strawberries (also delectable!)

Just typing that out made me want to have it. I've used light sour cream, and it still is yummy. I didn't take the pic above, but that is basically what it looks like. Mmmm-mmmm!

This week I've had some great workouts. Tuesday morning I biked just over an hour. I tried a new route down Happy Hollow to Advent Circle. It was a hilly course, but felt good. I did weights when I got home (pushups, lat-pulls, triceps, military, bicep curls).
Wednesday I ran towards the track and began some 1 minute intervals about 5 minutes before I got there. Then I did four 400 repeats, walking a 200 after the first and a 100 after the second and third. I averaged about 1:25-1:27/ 400. I felt like I was going to puke during the last two. This workout made me realize a couple of things: 1) I am not as fast as I was in highschool, and 2) I need to do more track workouts because they kick my bootie. I was sore the next day.
Thursday I ran an easy 1:07 through the trails. I just turned around after about 34 minutes and did the same trails twice instead of looping back around.
Friday Melyssa and I biked basically the same route I did on Tuesday, except we came back down Hwy 11. It took me 1:14. I'm still loving biking. Melyssa found a sprint tri she wants to train for in September. It's up in Huntsville. It sounds great, I just need to figure out when and where to swim to be ready for it.
Today I ran 1:21. I started out on the trails and added in the Sherman Oaks loop, but when I got to the other side of the Sports Complex and off the trails, I turned on my tempo gear. I was very happy with my body's ability to respond after about 48 minutes of running. I read in Runner's World about doing fatigue training to help with still having juice left at the end of a race. I hope this kind of workout will help me with that.
I did upper-body weights and ab-work after lunch today. Il look forward to a day of rest tomorrow.

Pensacola Beach!

We had a great time on our family trip to Pensacola Beach. The water was crystal clear, the sand was bright white, and the jellyfish were stingin'. We got pretty good at watching out for them, though, and most of us only got stung once the whole week. I buried about 8 or so that I caught all in the same place throughout the week. The ant population seemed to be growing exponentially each time I brought a new jelly to the graveyard. hmmm... interesting....
Eli and Brandt both learned to catch waves and ride them in on boogie boards/floats. Asher LOVED just crawling around, chasing waves up and down the shoreline.
On Wednesday we went to the Naval Museum of Flight in Pensacola and to a watch the Blue Angels practice. WOW!! I had no idea how exciting that would be! Watching these super-fast jets fly right at each other then turn in opposite directions at the very last second--all directly above a crowd of 1,000 or so spectators--made my heart stop more than once! They boys loved it, too. The museum was also impressive. Eli especially liked the huge engines and the air-craft carrier models on display there.
We went out to eat at Peg Leg Pete's after the air-show and museum. I don't think I've ever enjoyed shrimp so much. It was a great place to take a family. They kids meals were served in sand buckets.
On Friday Mom, Melyssa, Sarah, and I rented some sidewalk cruisers and biked to Fort Pickens. I mentioned this in my workout log post. It was a great excursion. We were all hot and tired when we got back. We all got icee's at a Circle K; it was the best Icee I've had--EVER. After riding/walking our bikes through sand for 3+ hours in shade-less heat, we definitely earned a treat!

Eric and Asher Dad catching some rays in the "tanning bed" the little people dug. They only charged a clam or two to lay for as long as we wanted to. And they offered massages--what a deal!

Brandt and I waiting to catch a wave.

Asher on the roof deck of our house.The Blue Angels

Eli with a sick engine!

Brandt and Eli

Asher taking a break from the sun.

workout log for 6.14 to 6.23.08

• Saturday 6.14.08: I biked down Happy Hollow, crossing Deerfoot and continuing on to Mary Munger then to Hwy 11. I turned left on Hwy 11 and went to Old Springville Rd. It was a total of 20.6 miles and it took me 1:14 minutes
• Monday 6.16.08: I ran from our beach house East down Pensacola Beach to where commercialism stops and then came back. It took me about 52 minutes. I did pushups, chair-dips and ab-work.
• Tuesday 6.17.08: Instead of feeling fresh, crisp air at 6a.m., I walked out to stale, hot, humid air. I knew it would not be a good day for a long run, so I did some speed work. After a 10 minutes warm up, I ran 1 and 2 minute intervals with rests that were 50% of the time of the previous interval between. I did this for about 18 minutes then ran back to the house. I went west from our house and turned around at the bridge that connects Pensacola Beach to Gulf Breeze.
• Wednesday 6.18.08: I played tennis with Melyssa for about an hour. We had trouble locating the balls that someone had brought, so we bought some from a convenience store. They were actually pieces of hard, dried poop with yellow fuzz around them. They bounced about 2 inches off the ground when dropped. We suffered through them, though, and still had a good time.
• Thursday 6.19.08: The air was MUCH nicer today. I felt rested from not running yesterday, and ran east to gate for Fort Pickens State Park at the other side of the island. Round trip, it took me 1:04.
  
• Friday 6.20.08: My mom, Melyssa, Sarah, and I rented some sidewalk cruiser bikes and biked to Fort Pickens. Because of damage caused by Hurricane Ivan, the roads within the park are not opened to the public, except via bike or foot. Parts of the road are completely gone, replaced by sand dunes. We had to walk our bikes for a mile or two of the approx. 19 mile round-trip. And let me tell you--walking a bike through sand dunes is no picnic. On the way back we found some harder packed sand, which made the going much less tedious and faster. However, we disturbed some birds whose nesting ground is protected by law around there and they attacked. Melyssa was the only one to actually get hit (on her shoulder and back), but all of our hearts were racing pretty good as these birds swooped around us. I think they were some kind of migratory tern, but I really am no bird expert.
  The Fort was really something to see. I'll post pics once I get some from Sarah. It was built in 1834 and was a cool representation of what homeland security used to be. When I got back I did push-ups and chair-dips. I did 50 push-ups for my last set.
  
• Saturday 6.21.08: I ran after we drove back home. I just went to my parent's house and back (to deliver some medicine for Eva that was in our cooler). I pushed the pace for the middle part. It was hot and muggy. The run took me about 42 minutes.
• Today (Mon), I ran 1:04, through the trails and one lap around Sherman Oaks. I hope to do some weights later tonight.
  

hands off!

I realized I hadn't documented our new small addition to the family-- our small flat-panel for our little tv room off the kitchen. This is the room most of the non-sleep relaxation happens in our house. I love having a tv that the kids can't easily touch. However, as you can see from this picture, Asher loves climbing on the couch and getting into the dvd's that are there on the shelf in the corner. That shelf has been emptied more than once. I'm hoping that piece of furniture will "become furniture" to Asher soon, and he won't bother it anymore. I believe in childproofing, but I also believe in my kids learning there are certain things they just do not touch. They will push their limits, though...

I biked outside this morning for the first time in years!! Eric got my bike mostly working--I can't go into my climbing gear, but that is mostly just needed for the steep, off-road hills I'm not doing with slicks on my bike anyway. Clicking in and out with my shoes isn't completely second-nature again, yet. I'm still kind of unsure of what roads are good and biker-friendly, so this morning I was kinda checking out different roads around here. I learned one NOT to go on at 6:30am--Old Springville. Deerfoot, Happy Hollow, and Trussville-Clay were pretty nice, though. I just don't like narrow, winding, busy streets with no shoulder whatsoever. I rode about 14 miles. It took me about 55 minutes. I was kinda disappointed in my pace at first, but the route I did was VERY hilly, so I cut myself some slack. I did push-ups, chair-dips, and sit-ups after I got back.
Yesterday I ran 58 minutes. I went on trails and did one loop around Sherman Oaks. I pushed the pace for most of the run. Tuesday I biked downstairs for 50 minutes. Monday I ran pushing Brandt in the stroller for 45 minutes.

plans

I have all kinds of plans in my little head, some of which reach fruition, but many which either dissolve or continue to become more and more elaborate and less and less attainable. For instance, I have a plan to do a painting for my home this summer. I have a couple of places I'd like to put a new painting, but I haven't even bought a canvas yet. I've wanted to do one with lots of different mediums involved--maybe sewing some textiles and gluing other relief onto the canvas. Some good examples of this are the art of A.G. Hansen and Carole Choucair Oueijan.
I also have been planning for a couple of years to start biking outside again. I don't own a road bike--in the past I've just ridden my mountain bike with slicks. It worked well for the two tri's I did in AZ. The derailer needs some adjusting, and I've asked Eric to do it a few times--and he's worked at it once or twice. I even tried once, but I think I just made it worse. This plan, however, IS going to come to pass SOON. Melyssa wants to start riding, too (I think our sis, Sarah, inspired us with her century ride), so I gave Eric his ultimatum--if he isn't able to get it fixed, I'm taking it over to Cahaba Cycles later in the week to get it done. I'd like to have it going by Thurs, but we'll see.
We are also planning to do a race and a hike when we're in Washington next month. I hope we get to do both. The race is a 10k that is mostly one big hill, so that gives me something to train for. And that training should help prepare me for the hike, which is to the base camp of Mt. Ranier (also won't be a picnic of an outing).
Today I was glad to take a day off from exercise--and I thoroughly enjoyed my piece of strawberry-lemon cake at my parents' house. Thursday I biked 50 minutes and did the most complete weight training session I have in a while. Friday I ran 39 minutes at an easy pace. Saturday was heinously hot. I ran from my house around my parents neighborhood a while then on to Trak Shak to meet up for the group run. I ran with them for about 4 miles then came back home. I was SOAKED with sweat. I went 10.2 miles in 1:20. Here's a link to my course.

Hot diggidies

Brandt is my snacker. He eats all day long. Yesterday he came in and showed me his "snack" which was an entire hot-dog he fit into his mouth. I don't normally allow him to just grab hot-dogs out of our fridge like that, but I started laughing too hard when I saw him to get angry. He did get a reprimand and can't have hot dogs again till Friday--he'd live on hot dogs and Cheetos if I let him.Eric gave Asher a haircut on Saturday while I was on my run. He was starting to get a little mullet in the back, so Eric just buzzed it all off. We may be in Alabama, but we don't go for the whole "business in the front, party in the back" look.

Yesterday I biked 52 minutes and finished "The Host" in the process. Loved it! Highly recommend that book. I did some ab-work last night. This morning I did a hard tempo-hill workout. I ran through the trails to Sherman Oaks and did two laps around that subdivision, then back on to the trail loop and back home again, home again jiggity jig. I really pushed the pace from about 10 minutes on. Sherman Oaks has some monster hills. I ran for about 68 minutes. My clothes were SOAKED with sweat and I think some got into my ipod b/c it started cutting out over and over again at the end of my run. I have the old stick-style shuffle and it sits right against my body. Hopefully it will work again...

Swimming, running, aliens, etc...

Today the boys started Red Cross swim lessons at a city pool in Birmingham. They go for 1 hr each day for 2 weeks (Mon-Fri), and it costs $3/kid TOTAL. "Unbelievable!!" you say? True story. They both are excited about it. Eli was feeling really good about himself b/c he is the youngest kid in the "Level 2" class. I was really pleased and relieved that Brandt seemed to listen and follow directions really well. It gives me hope for how his behavior will be when he starts kindergarten in the fall.

My workouts the last few days: Friday I biked for 35 minutes on the stationary and did triceps work, bicep curls, military press, lat pulls, and leg extensions. Saturday I ran 1hr 33 minutes. I didn't plan to run so long, but I stopped to use the facilities at my parents house and accidentally left my keys there. I was almost back to my car when I realized the blunder, so I had to run a bit further. I ran with a man who was at Trak Shak for the group run for 40 minutes of my run--that portion of it I kept a pretty good clip. The rest of my run wasn't slow, but not at a "tempo" pace either. My legs were VERY tired the rest of Sat. and Sunday. Today they felt pretty stiff, so I eased into my run and did an easy 52 minute run on the trails. I'm going to do weights with Eric tonight.

I've been reading "The Host" by Stephanie Meyer. I'm really enjoying it--much more than I expected to after the first 70 or 80 pages. It's a sci-fi, which I haven't cared for in the past. She is such a compelling author, though--I think I'd enjoy pretty much anything she writes, regardless of the genre.

Break-dance Baby

Asher is walking more and more every day. Crawling is still is main way of getting around, but he's rapidly becoming a biped.
He's also started doing this little "break-dance" thing when he gets really excited or happy. He goes right into it after he walks a long way--kind of a celebratory dance.