Festivities

"With the kids jingle-belling and everyone telling you be of good cheeeeeer! It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

__________________
(workout log)
Tuesday: biked 50 minutes, full body weights
Wed: Ran 7.5 miles and did 3 hill repeats
Thursday: Ran 5 miles, 3 at tempo (7:30) pace
Friday: Full body weights

Frisbee Goof

So I consider myself an athlete. Not a pro, but a decently conditioned, somewhat coordinated sportster. At least I did.

A few days ago my parents had "Grandma Day" which involves all the grandkids having a Christmas party with my mom and dad. (not sure why my dad didn't get credit for his involvement in the title of this momentous occasion, but he didn't). So as has become tradition, all the non-children (teens on-up) go play Frisbee golf during this time. This was my second time to play--but I played like I was not only new to this sport, but new to the Frisbee. In highschool I used to throw frisbee with friends between classes. I was pretty good at it. I even kept one in my backpack. Apparently, for me, frisbee throwing is NOT like riding a bike. My throws went every way except where they should have. One time it took me three throws to move about 10 feet from the start of the course. Really. Sad.
So, I guess I need to practice more frisbee throwing between now and next Grandma day to redeem my reputation among my siblings. They can laugh at me behind, beside and in front of me for a year. I make no promises, though. I'm the only of 8 who can't carry a tune. Maybe the frisbee golf gene passed on by me, too.

workout log

Monday: Ran 1:06 at an easy pace.
Tuesday: Biked 50 minutes. Eric repaired the bike downstairs, wonderful man. Weights.
Wed: Ran 1:03 with Ashley. It was about 65 or 70 degrees. Monday and Wednesdayt I went to a new path in town that goes for about a mile by the river. It has a fine gravel surface, is flat, and is about 3 feet wide. I LOVE it, but wish it was longer.
Thursday: Biked 50 minutes and did weights.
Friday: Ran 1:03. Went about 5 miles with Sarah, then went 2 more miles at a tempo pace (7:25/mi.).
Saturday: Biked 24 miles on the stationary in 1:14.
Sunday: rest
Monday: Ran 55 minutes on the trails. It was 17 degrees with a windchill of 6.

Christmas Around the World

I'm one of the room moms for Eli's second-grade class. He has an excellent, kind teacher. She keeps the kids engaged with academics, but really makes it fun along the way. For their Christmas party, rather than do the traditional cupcake and candy cane party, she wanted the kids to learn something, too. She had them work on researching 8 different countries' holiday traditions, and for the party we had food from those countries for them to try. Not all foods were authentic, but I think we had a pretty good spread:

• South Africa/Ghana: Chicken Nuggets (they traditionally have chicken at Christmas)
• Israel: Latkes (these are potato-cakes that I learned to make just for this. They were a hit!). We served them-according to tradition-with sour cream, applesauce, or fruit preserves.
  
• Russia: Star-shaped biscuits
• England: "Plum Pudding" (in quotes because we served Yoplait's prune yogurt.)
• France: Yule Logs (Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls)
• Switzerland: Swiss Panetone Cake (available, truly imported from Switzerland, at Sam's Club)
• Austrailia: Ice cream (it's summertime there in Dec.)
• Mexico: Mexican Wedding Cookies ( We had neighbors from Mexico in AZ who brought us some of these at Christmas, so I know these are truly a traditional treat!)

The kids also got to decorate gingerbread houses, and we were able to use our budget to get each child a beanie with "Huskies"(the school system mascot) embroidered on it. We made a photobook for the teacher with pictures of the class and little notes written by the students to the teacher as the text for the book. It was so fun to see the kids so excited for their teacher to see the gift they had a part in making!
This party was DEFINITELY more work than a typical grade-school Christmas party, but having an excited child come up to me to say " I researched that country! That's what they eat at Christmas," made it really worthwhile.

Mi Amore

I have never much cared for the term "hubby" to describe one's husband. I didn't like it as a child and made a personal pact with myself not to use it. Now that I have a husband, I feel every bit as strongly that "hubby" does not describe Eric. Plus, if it is supposed to be a shortened version of "HUSband" wouldn't "hussy" be more appropriate? I have called Eric "HUBsand" on occasion, and he doesn't seem to mind. Heehee.

Whatever a "hubby" is (other than a sorry name for husband), I think Asher looks much more like one in the picture above than Eric does. :)

Workout log:
Monday: I ran 1:02 at an easy pace.
Tuesday: I biked 45 minutes.
Wednesday: I did weights in the morning and then pushed the stroller for 54 minutes. I think I went about 6 miles.
Thursday: I did speed work on the treadmill. 10 minute warm-up then several 1 and2 mi. intervals (at 9.5-10mph) and one 6.5 minute interval (at 8.8 mph). It wore me out.
Friday: I biked for about 35 minutes but had to stop when the stationary bike started a grinding noise. I think it may have bit the dust. I finished with a weight workout.
Saturday: I met a couple of guys at Trak Shak for a run. I warmed up for just over a mile before meeting them, then we ran about 7.3 miles. A good portion of the run was at about 7:10-7:20 pace. It was a HARD run for me. But good. I ended up running 8.4 miles in 1:05.

These are a few of my favorite things....

Yes, you should sing the title. Especially since it is a Christmas song (which I have always considered a bit of a stretch.)

Since my degree is in marketing, I thought I would put it to good use by promoting a few of my personal faves right here on my bloggle.

• Snapfish photobooks. Thanks to a friend who watches Oprah for putting me on to these. Oprah did a segment a few weeks ago where she gave all her viewers (and in my case, their friends) a free photobook from Snapfish. I took advantage of the deal, and was VERY impressed. So much so that I have ordered two more. One was actually from Sam's Club, but I wasn't as pleased with their website useablility. These are real, substantial, hard-bound books that you can put pictures and words into. I just finished one yesterday that is going to be the Christmas gift to Eli's teacher from his class. It has about 70 pictures of the kids along with short writings by them of things they love about their teacher. And they are reasonably priced. Go to www.snapfish.com to make your own!

• Hulu. This is truly a beautiful thing. I'm not a huge tv watcher, but I do enjoy a few shows. One being 24. Another being Heroes. These, and many more movies and shows are on this fabulous site, free of charge and almost free of commercials. A 40 minute show has about 1 minute of commercials (versus the 15-20 minutes when you watch it on TV.) Burn Notice, the Simpsons, SNL, The Office, and many old classics like Leave it to Beaver, and The A Team are also on there!

• My WIGWAM socks. I like my feet to be warm and toasty. And I like alot of cushion in my socks. And my feet tend to get sore when I go bare-footed around the house. And they get sore from exercise. If you share these preferences and tendencies, do I have the sock for you! The Wigwam Gyro Dry-release sock. It is cushiony, warm, and wicks away moisture so your feet don't sweat. Ahhh, the simple pleasures of life. (My pairs are the grey version of the picture I found.)

• The Carpenters Christmas Album. Karen Carpenter has one of the few voices in this world that I never tire of. Her singing is so rich and never sounds strained. Even some of the so-called great divas often sound like they are really working to hit high notes or hold out a long ending, but Karen never does. (yes, I'd like to think if I could know her today we'd be on a first-name basis). I have to confess I like her not-Christmas music, too.

• ModPodge. This is one of those crafty things I have known about for a while, but never personally used until recently. It is a great adhesive, and also a way to "decopage," which is where you put several layers of a clear sealant over something to make a kind of plastic shell. I love the stuff. It was what I used to make that funky lamp I took pics of a few weeks ago. The boys and I made their cousin, Madylin, a collage of hundreds of M's on a wooden board for her birthday. It was a simple, inexpensive gift, and it turned out looking pretty dang cool.
  

Well, I'll stop here. I know when I'm laying in bed in a few minutes, about 12 more favorite things will pop into my head, but I will save those for later.

Here is my workout log for the week:
Monday: I ran from Melyssa's house. She has one hilly subdivision. I went a total of 5.5 miles. The first half was in the hills, and the last half I found a long flat stretch and ran back and forth on it to avoid steepness. I ran for 47 minutes.
Tuesday: I biked 40 minutes.
Wednesday: I ran 1:03 at a comfortable pace. I also did pushups, dips, abs, and squats.
Thursday: I biked 50 minutes and did weights.
Friday: I did speedwork on the treadmill: 12 minute warm-up jog then 28 minutes of 2, 1.5, and 1 minute speed intervals with 1 minute and 30 second rests between. I ran the speed intervals at 9.5-10 mph.
Saturday: I ran 1:12. I wore my GPS, but I still dont keep a signal in the woods, so I'm not sure exactly how far I ran. I kept under an 8 min pace when I was on flat road, but on the hillls and on the trails I slowed some.

Simplicity and Thanks

We had nice Thanksgiving. We spent time with family and ate yummy food.
In many ways, Thanksgiving is like Christmas without the shopping and commercialism--which kinda makes me enjoy it more. Most Christmas seasons I don't really enjoy shopping, I worry about it--which is a shame. This year I have been trying to simplify things so I don't have as much to worry about. I can't completely eliminate the need to shop, but I can cut out some non-necessities. For instance, I think we may be sending an email Christmas card this year. I have always frowned on doing this in the past (when Eric has suggested it) , but it will save me a lot of time and money--both of which are in shorter supply during the holidays. A few non-emailing relatives will get "real" cards, but everyone else will get a virtual greeting. Today as we decorated our house for Christmas, I tried to think about what we really enjoy seeing, and left the rest in storage. With a busy toddler, I'd be a glutton for punishment to have some things out. If anyone has suggestions for simplifying the holidays, I'd love to hear them.
Taking my sister Sarah's lead (she did this on her blog) , I'd like to list a few of my blessings for which I am most thankful right now:

• My knowledge of my Savior Jesus Christ and of His plan of happiness for God's children.
• My dear husband Eric who works hard as a provider, a spouse (I keep his nose to the grind!), and a father. All of our boys are "daddy's boys."
• Eric's job. We aren't the most wealthy people on earth, but we have sufficient for our needs and for many of our wants.
  
• This free land I call home. I have mentioned this previously, but in reading about Germany during and after WWII, I have felt increasingly grateful for the U.S. Constitution and feel a strong need to elect leaders who will protect this inspired document.
• My home. I hope we never have to move. It is a work-in-progress and probably always will be, but we have room to spare and are surrounded by beauty.
• Friends. I haven't had as active a social life this last year because of spending so much time up at school volunteering and with my kids' sports, but I still love talking to dear friends in person, on the phone, or on Facebook.
• My mom, dad, 6 sisters and 1 brother. I love my big family. We grow closer as time goes by. I can say or do anything and know they will still love and accept me.
  
• My health. I feel an obligation to use my health to bless others. I believe good health is like a talent that God doesn't want us to bury or waste. And we never know when it could be taken from us, so we should seize the day!
  
• And last, but far from least, my children. Though they each frustrate us daily, they also bring so much joy and focus to our lives. I'll share one little jewel about Brandt: He had some intestinal issues for a couple of days and his bottom became broken out. He would barely walk because of the pain. I had to put some Desitin on his little buns.This morning when he first woke up, he came down to our bed wearing a big grin. Then he annonced, "Mom, that medicine you gave me made my bottom happy!!"

This is the GIANT card that was on the table on the morning of my birthday.

Workouts this week:
Monday: I ran 5.85 miles in 49 minutes. I kept a really good pace on the flats, but I started pretty slow and slowed some on the hills.
Tuesday: I biked 52 minutes and did weights.
Wednesday: I did speedwork on the treadmill: 13 minute jog warmup. 20 minutes of 40 seconds at 10mph, followed by 20seconds of rest. Then I jogged to cool down for about 10 minutes. This was a tough workout for me. That afternoon Melyssa and I took the kids on a hike in the Sports Complex. I was thankful for the chance to get some of the lactic acid out of my legs.
Thursday:I ran 1 hour 2 minutes on the trails. I'm not sure of the distance--I think close to 7 miles. I love having trails so close--something else I'm very grateful for.
Today: I biked 46 minutes--15 miles and did weights. I stayed up too late last night, and I could feel it during my weights. They were much harder to get through than usual. Maybe some of that triptophan from the turkey, too.