Terrific Tuesday

Two year old E, mixing her mom's birthday cake.

Well, today seemed almost as busy as yesterday!  I had promised E that she could help me make her mom's birthday cake. She takes her job seriously (note the blue polka dot apron).  When we've cooked before,"helping"  meant washing hands, wearing an apron and dumping things in a bowl after I'd measured them.  Well, I'm here to tell you that she wasn't having that.  No, she wanted to do the measuring.  She wanted to crack the eggs.  And she wanted to wield the electric mixer.  Did I mention this is a chocolate cake?  I gave her an extra reminder NOT to lift the mixer and stepped back to take her picture.  She was great!  And the cake turned out wonderfully well.  I had a very thin sliver (DH noted it was  about 4 crumbs thick!).               

And there were more sweets in my day, too.  Cupcakes with a Cherry on Top!  This one is a blogger award from Deb at Deb Will Be FREE.  Thank you Deb!  And there's no calorie expenditure for this sweet treat!  Even better.

The Rules for Eligibility are: 1. Answer the question, "If you had one chance to go back and change one thing in your life, would you and what would it be? 2. Pass on to six people and inform them of the award. 


I'm going to follow Deb's lead and do part 1 today and part 2 tomorrow.  So, what would I change?  At first I thought, duh, I'd learn these things I'm learning now soooo much earlier in my life, but then, no, I don't think so.  I've actually loved my life.  I've never been one to wish myself younger--I've lived a great life and had some wonderful relationships, friendships and experiences. I think all my experiences, through thick and thin, have worked together to make me who I am.   What I'd change is I'd let my young self know is that I was eventually going to get the hang of living at a healthy weight.  




I changed my plan from last night and decided to make two pans of lasagna--one traditional and one seafood (instead of the lasagna roll ups).  The traditional lasagna is one I've made for 30 years.  It's an old WW recipe and my family thinks it's the best lasagna ever.  I made it for some Italian friends when we lived in Rome and they asked for the recipe, too.  It was good, but the seafood lasagna was AWESOME!   DIL loves seafood and doesn't eat ground beef, so I made it for her, but everybody else liked it, too.  That's the one I ate.  It had a few more "extras" than I usually eat (cream cheese, 2% milk, parmesan cheese, and mozzarella)  but I had a small piece and it was certainly within my calorie target--<350 per serving.   I've linked to the recipe, it's from a Cooking Light cookbook, but most of their recipes are online, too.


I did my gym workout after dinner.  There were only three of us in the workout room (such a nice change from the crowd at the beginning of January!).  I listen to a book on my ipod while I work out.  It really passes the time nicely and has the added benefit of keeping me going to the gym, because I don't allow myself to listen to that book except when I'm at the gym.


I'm hoping to knock off some more sticks o' butter at my WI tomorrow.  I'm going to get up early to run and I have my first BSF (Bible Study Fellowship--an intensive, year long Bible study of the book of Isaiah) before my noon WI.  My BFF (Best Friend Forever!) and I will go out for lunch together and then shopping.   Another full (fun) day.

Non Caloric Cupcakes!!

A big thank you to Patrick who gave me a sweet award yesterday.  DH spent a little time reading some of my past posts last weekend.  At one point he called to me from the office "Just who is this "Patrick guy, anyway??"  I think we can safely say that having been married for 37 years we're pretty confident in our mutual love, but it was funny.  I had him "meet Patrick" on his blog.  And I'm not telling him Patrick sent me cupcakes yesterday! OR that his post today was titled Fit to KISS. ;)

Okay, the Rules:

List Ten Things I LIKE:

1. Snuggling under the covers with a new book by a favorite author, a CD on the player and a pot of hot tea on the bedside table AND nothing I have to do for at least 3 hours.
2. Singing with DH in our choir's annual performance of Handel's Messiah, complete with orchestra and 30-50 singers from the community.
3. Inviting all my grandkids and various other youngsters to an annual Christmas tea party--real china teacups, angel tea, homemade iced cookies, hand crafted decorations, chocolate dipped apricots, finger sandwiches, party favors, singing and fun.
4. Getting to see my BFF every week at WW and going out to lunch together afterwards.
5. Riding bikes through the neighborhoods with DH after dinner in the summer.
6. Canoeing in a small canoe.  My grandfather had two Panamanian Indian dugout canoes and I canoed every day when we visited there.
7. Playing the piano when I'm alone in the house.  I took for 12 years and play fairly well, but I get nervous playing for other people--I hated recitals with a passion!
8. Playing board games with my grandchildren.
9. Running along the river trail, especially on the boardwalk over the marshy part, and seeing the wildlife and plants.
10. Getting comments on my blog posts!

Ten bloggers with whom I'd like to share this award (It's a very pretty one for your sidebar with non-caloric cupcakes!)

Michele
Jessica
Sarah
Siobhan
Alan
Arlene
Cammy
Tami
Sharon
Vladdie

Hurricane Earl is doing his thing, but we're going to do our best to do OUR thing this weekend.  It should be okay. We've got two long-ish routes mapped out--one route goes through 3 or 4 of the cute Eastern Shore towns with a 25 minute ferry ride, the other is billed as the Shore ride. 30 miles along the ocean on flat, non-busy roads. Our bikes are back from their day at the bike spa and mine is sporting a new computer!!  We're going to pick up some good bike locks on our way to the gym (Lori, I'm thinking of you!) and we'll leave around mid-day tomorrow.  I'm definitely an optimist, but I was also a Girl Scout, so I'm packing some good books, flashlights, umbrellas and extra batteries.  I'm knee deep in laundry today--my standard mode for the day before a trip.

I think we have wi-fi at our Inn (unless Earl disrupts things) so I'll be checking in this weekend.
Be Good!

Monday, Monday

Is it really Monday already?  I had a full weekend. I ran 4.5 miles on Friday and 5.9 miles on Saturday. Our weather was fantastic (on the hot side, but relatively low humidity) and I wanted to take advantage.  My older brother (who lives in Tokyo) arrived for a 10 day visit on Friday.  He's a pretty easy guest.  He's very interested in eating healthy food and so whatever I fix is appreciated.  We went to visit our Dad  in his nursing home.  Dad knew him and greeted him by name and said "long time no see," which is true since my brother can't get here very often.  


DH and I are thinking of buying a second house as an investment. On Saturday, our realtor showed us one that pretty much meets all of our requirements, so we're thinking about putting together an offer.  Yesterday,  my exercise was biking. to that house (5 miles away) We biked through that whole neighborhood, getting a good feel for what it's like.  


After church yesterday, I fixed a fantastic roasted tomato and corn soup.  My bumper crop of basil (it loves this weather!) provided the perfect garnish and a wonderful aroma and tang for the top.  I should have taken a picture.  I am working on getting together some of the recipes that folks have requested.  If you use Blogger and have any technical advice, I'd be obliged!  The request for my brownie recipe almost tripped me up.  I went so far as to go to the store to buy butter (a key, necessary ingredient for my recipe) thinking I'd make a batch so I could add a picture to my recipe.   That's a "primrose path" if I ever heard of one!  What do you suppose might have happened to those photo props after the picture was taken???   (hint:  I probably would have made them when there were no other adults in the house . . . !).  But I didn't.


My brother and I went to a funeral this morning.  A good friend of our parents (her husband was a West Point classmate of our Dad's) had her service at Arlington Cemetery.  She had a wonderful, full life and was a loving, vibrant person and was 89 when she died.  It's sad, though, when someone lives so long that they outlive their generation.  


I was able to wear a favorite, Ann Taylor LBD that hasn't fit me for a while.  I paired it with a linen jacket, formerly size 14, that someone thoughtlessly ran through the washer and dryer with all his gym clothes. (hint: his initials are DH and he's forbidden to ever do laundry again chez-nous, and I'm not telling him that it fits me even better now that I'm much smaller than I was.)  Wearing that dress helped me stay away from the carb-heavy buffet at the reception.  I talked with people and had a very nice stemmed glass of ice water.

My friend Patrick, Responsibility 199, presented me with this in his post yesterday!  Thanks, Patrick!

Only two rules for this one:

1. Sum up your blogging philosophy, motivation, and experience in 5 words:

Hopeful, Inspired, Community, Available, Amazing

2. Pass it on to 10 other Amazing blogs:  Check out these amazing bloggers and their amazing blogs!


Arlene        Adventures in Weight Loss, Cooking, and Life
Julia          Jewlia/Goulia
                 Diet buddy Daily - From Frumpy to Fabulous
Tonyne     The Unlikely Success Story - My Journey to Health and Wellness
Mel           Diet Naked
Sarah        Low Stress Weight Loss
Tami          Nutmeg Notebook
Jessica       See How She Runs
Cammy      The Tippy Toe Diet
Karen         Waisting Time


Thanks for all your advice on the ant war.  They are pretty much gone, now, my ant cocktail having done the trick.  


Want to see a cutie pie?  This is little J, with his kitty.

Thank You

When I opened my blog today, I was greeted by an award from Michele (Ruminations and Uncovering:  Toward a New Me).  Thank you, Michele!  Not only did I discover a new friend with whom I have a lot in common, but now I have a topic for today's post!  Here are the rules for the Versitile Blogger Award:

1.  Thank the person who gave you the award

2.  Share seven things about yourself

3.  Nominate 15 newly discovered blogs

4. Let your nominees know about the award.

Okay, 7 more things you might be interested in knowing about me . . .

1.  I love cookbooks.  I collect them and have since I was a teenager.   Lately though, I've gotten a little more selective about my cookbooks.   I like to have a beautiful color picture of the food for each recipe.  I also want to have the nutritional information at the end of the recipe.  And, of course, there's the food.  I want food that fits my life plan of eating.  I have multiple cookbooks from Cooking Light, Eating Well, Weight Watchers and Williams Sonoma.  Then there's the index--I want a really good index.  The WW cookbooks, which I love, used to have terrible indexes.  They've gotten a little better.  I use the index to circle the recipes I love.  If I want to make roasted red potatoes with rosemary, say, I'll end up flipping to the index of several cookbooks to find the recipe I want.  I've started getting rid of cookbooks that don't meet my needs.  I've probably given 60 of them away over the past year.  I try to copy my favorite go-to recipes to my computer as my friends and family often want the recipes for foods I make.  

2.  I'm the youngest of four kids.  Even though my older brother is 10 years older, my sister is 7 years older,  and my younger older brother is 3 years older,  since I became an adult I've always felt older then all of them.  Older in a good way.  Older as in wiser, more responsible, more in touch with the ways of the world.  

3.  I like to run.  I prefer running alone.  I like to set my own pace and not be slowing someone else down.  I like listening to my playlist (60s classic love songs with some classical mixed in), but if I'm with someone else, I feel like we should chat.  The best thing about running with someone else is the added impetus to get out the door, but, it can also be a bad thing if that other person convinces me to wimp out of going when I sorta really felt like going.  

4.  The only recipe I know absolutely by heart is the recipe for my mom's brownies.  The best brownies in the world.  I used to make them at least once a week.   Actually, it's been about six months since I've made them and maybe I'd better take a peek at that recipe before I make them again.  They're only for very special occasions now and only when there'll be enough folks around to get a sensible brownie/person ratio.  Gone are the bad old days of making a batch, nibbling all day, and then making a replacement batch so no one realized that I ate the whole thing.  (Unless, of course you consulted Mr. Scale--he realized it.)

5.  Our oldest, Laura, is a wunderkind.  She learned to read when she was two.  She was very shy.  She's beautiful.  She chose her college partially based on the caliber of their Ultimate Frisbee program (she went to Stanford).  She and her husband live near Seattle.  She is a children's librarian, but has chosen to homeschool her three children.  This is a picture of Laura with her youngest.

6.  I'm a chronic re-reader.  I read a lot.  I usually have a CD book in my car, an audiobook on my ipod, a paperback in my purse, and at least two books (a novel and a non-fiction book) by my bed.  I love to discover new authors  (M. C. Beaton's Agatha Raison series,  Dana Stabenow's Liam Campbell series, and Adriana Trigiani are among recent finds) and I tear through all their books until I'm waiting impatiently for the next one.  I love historic fiction.    My all time favorite book is Here Be Dragons (Sharon K. Penman).  I have reread this one at least once a year since I discovered it in 1985.  A library patron kept recommending it to me and finally put a copy on my desk.  I was put off by the title (I don't care for fantasy), but I decided to read 50 pages to give it a try. I was totally hooked.  It's not fantasy.  Anyway, I re-read this often and love it.  Other books I re-read are Gabaldon's Outlander series, Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear series, Francine River's A Voice in the Wind series.  All really well written.  BTW, for that book in my purse, it's usually a re-read.  A paperback of one of my favorites so it's easy to get right into it when I have just a bit of "found" time.

7.  It sounds like a cliche, but I knew the very day I met him, that I wanted to marry DH.  We met our senior year in college, at a birthday party for a mutual friend.  We were singing and he was standing near me.  He complimented me on my voice and we started talking.  He called me that night (just as I was telling my roommate about him) and invited me to go dancing in Sausilito the next day.  That was January 27, 1973.  He proposed in April and we were married the day after graduation.  Thirty seven years and counting.

Hmmm, 15 Newly Discovered Blogs--I'm going to fail this one.   If you haven't gotten this award yet, please consider yourself awarded!

Just curious, what's your favorite novel?

Friday Surprise!

Happy Friday! I continued my new-found habit of getting up early to run and was rewarded with a great run in perfect weather. Today I started week 9 of the C25K and I'm feeling like a real runner again. That's a good feeling. I'll never be speedy, but I'm enjoying watching my average pace per run decline steadily. You can always check out my progress with my little Nike+ Mini just to the right of this post. If I don't run for several days in a row, she'll start dissin' me.

I was surprised and delighted this morning to see that Karen, at Waisting Time gave me a blog award! My first blog award ever. I was so excited that I ran up stairs to show my husband. Thank you Karen!

The award requires me to list seven things about myself that you probably don't know. I'm fairly new at blogging here, so my job is a little easier.

Here goes: Seven Things you Probably Don't Know about Me.

1. Although I don't think of myself as a picky eater, my daughter pointed out to me that I don't like any fruits starting with the letter B. That's right--bananas, blueberries, boysenberries, bilberries--not my cup of tea. The only other fruit that I don't care for starts with an R (raspberry).

2. I have a long middle toe on my left foot that, combined with my running, caused me to have a purple toenail most of the time. I did buy a size larger (and longer) running shoe on the advice of my running store friend, so the toenail now only turns purple when I run longish runs with hills. I usually paint my toenails in summer for this reason.

3. My mom was my #1 cheerleader. She died 17 years ago, but I always wear her ring (a West Point miniature that was her engagement ring) if I want to feel her there when I'm doing something important. Like my first day of teaching, or my 10 mile race last year, or when our children got married.

4. I'm a bit of a statistics nerd. When I saw the Site Meter gadget on blogs I read I signed right up. Of course I love comments (thank you, thank you), but I also love checking out who's checking my blog out. I set it so it didn't count my own visits to my site. When we were on our vacation, I got rather worried because I noticed one person kept checking out my blog all day long, with lots of page views and hour long visits. Was someone stalking my blog?? Only after I read the description carefully did I realize that it was me-- using the hotel's wifi IP address!

5. My third grade teacher, Miss Shelly, told my parents that I was "not college material." Fortunately, I was the fourth child and they didn't take her opinion as Gospel. I was a National Merit Scholar, did well at Stanford, was top of my class in Law School, and have two Master's degrees (Library Science and Education). I'd like to meet her some day.

6. When I get a greeting card, I tend to read it and take everything it says literally. You know, 'you are a beautiful, thoughtful, intelligent, fun . . . . person.' 'Yes,' I think,' they chose this card so carefully and it describes me perfectly.' This 'Beautiful Blogger' award had me looking in the mirror!

7. Probably one of the reasons that teacher said that to my parents is that I got D's in Penmanship and Reading until I reached 4th grade. Well, I still got pretty miserable grades in penmanship (love, love typing). I became a reader practically overnight when my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Heckman, read to us for an hour every day. I discovered the public library and checked out the book (Misty of Chincoteague) so I could read ahead. And so began my lifelong love of reading. I read voraciously. I re-read favorites once a year. I love a well written book. And I love being a children's librarian and seeing children discover a love a books and reading. Thank you, Mrs. Heckman.

The second requirement of the award is to pass it along, and so I'd like to pass this along to a lovely list of Beautiful Bloggers. Please check out their blogs and enjoy!

1. kimert @ Just Another Mom on the Run

2. Mary @ A Simple Twist of Faith

3. Sarah @ Round

4. Barefoot Jax @ Fattie 2 Fittie

5. Diet Buddy Daily

6. Tonyne @ The Unlikely Success Story

7. Lori Lynn @ Sunflowers and Daisies

If I don't wrap this up soon my computer's gonna turn into a pumpkin and it'll be tomorrow. But I wanted to mention the wonderful Spinach Strawberry Salad I made to go with dinner tonight. I bought a Costco container of strawberries and wanted to made an start on using them while they were at their peak. I made over an old, non-WW friendly recipe to fit my plan and it was de-lish. The salad disappeared before I thought about taking a picture, but the recipe may get an encore appearance in the next couple of days.

Lots of thank you's in this post. I want to thank all of my readers for coming by. You have to know I still get excited when I get comments and even when I just see you've been browsing without commenting.