M+B=E2O2

Potpourri

Now that I am looking back at the photos I put here to help me remember what I wanted to share, I realize just how long it has been since I last blogged! It is pretty random, so I will apologize for that now! So first I will go though and comment on the photos, then see what else I can say to get everyone all up to date on my version of reality.

I made my first brined turkey for Thanksgiving.

!

Every year I make both cranberry sauce & cranberry relish. The relish is the family favorite- so yummy!

I made a batch of pierogies. This is the heart clogging goodness that those bits of heaven get smothered in.

 

I managed to keep my training going on cold foggy mornings. Actually, I kinda like running in the fog, though I had to laugh at the dogs, my lab would see a post or bush emerge from the fog and his fur would rise and he would prepare mentally to either protect me or pretend to be tough enough to do so, until he'd realize it was a post or a bush and pee on it.

 

We were lucky enough to have good friends stay the night with us the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Our boys have hot sauce eating contests every time they get together. This is the aftermath.

Love me some friend time. 5 hours away is just too far.

My pretty turkeys. (The brined one is in the front)

My handsome husband.

Getting the group shot on Thanksgiving. Thankfully he was able to hold the wall up at the same time.

I have the bestest running mates. They are very unimpressed with the continually grumpy Mr. Cranky Pants and with the boorishly lame couple that begrudgingly says hello. (Well, he has yet to, and she is not happy about it but does so anyway).

Sunrise on my long run.

Beach people are funny. Funny weird, not funny haha.

Love seeing all the holiday decorations going up.

 

Mr. O had some fun editing photos.

I have discovered the joys of ice baths. This was my first, and far too cold. After a bit more reading up on it, I switched to a full tub, cold water bath,with a small bucket of ice added once water was filled enough to cover my legs. Brrrr.

I love the kids feet during piano. Everywhere but where they should be.

The kids made felt Christmas trees for our December nursing home visit. Unfortunately, I was begining to get sick so I could not go inside with them. They went in with friends though and gave them out, sang some songs and played the piano.

I thought I was getting a bit of a head cold, no big deal...

Then Thursday rolled around and I was feeling a bit worse. I was pretty sure Pasole would help, so using my best Jedi mind control I managed to get my mother-in-law to invite me over to learn how to make it. :-) It was very yummy, very easy and did make me feel better. Unfortunately I didn't get any better. As a matter of fact, I got worse. Friday I lost my voice completely. I really didn't feel bad, just had no voice and a little bit of a cough. No big deal.

Meanwhile, we had our first real run inthe rain. It was lovely.

Our friend Franklin came over for a visit one night. Reina has a very strange small dog/animal anxiety problem. We have to keep her on leash and we have even sedated her to help calm her. This is something we are working on. She did pretty good on this occasion, crying a bit if Franky moved about too much, but all in all it was a good visit. :-)

This was from earlier in the day, its hard to really tell, but the surf was huge. The tide was just right for me to get some running in on the sand. This was my last long run before my half. 10 miles & my longest continuous run to date. I felt great (aside from the no voice, head cold, sorta coughing thing).

Started my Christmas cookie baking.

Is anyone else confused by this??

The best early Christmas gift ever! My husband is the best!!!

Playing with my new camera with all my balloon animal friends.

The Big Day!

What a great race! I started in the back of the group. I should mention here that I was on my 4th day of antibiotics. Ben had decided I had bronchitis. I was feeling significantly better and had made all sorts of promises to all sorts of people aboout taking it easy on the race, stopping if I had to. As it turned out, I hardly coughed at all and I felt really good throughout. I did have to stop at mile 7 to pee, that was my worst time split. I managed to pace myself at a very consistant 11:01 min/mile pace. I even caught up to and passed the 2:30 pace group. Honestly, when I started training, my goal was to start (and finish) with this group, but when I ended up with bronchitis I just hoped to come in under or around the 3 hour mark. My finish time was 2:24:15. I didn't negative split the first & second half, but I blame that on my mile 7 pee break- I had a slight headache before the race and realized I was under hydrated so I made up for it by drinking lots of water before the start. oops. That said, the first half was 1:11:46, the 2nd 1:12:29. I was 88th out of 132 in my age group and I was 995 out 1473 overall. Yay for being in the top 1000! LOL!

Now, let me tell you about the awesomeness of this race. The organizers did a superb job making sure that we had support thoughout. There were commuity/neighborhood cheering stations, plenty of water stations, bands, and then there were the runners. Costumes were fantastic, fun and festive. The people were friendly and happy to be there. I talked to a number of friendly folks along the way, gave lots of kids high fives and thanked just about every police officer and volunteer that kept traffic at bay and made sure we were safe. Oxnard PD was fantastic. If ever you want to run or walk in a well organized, local event, this is for you! It was amazing. I will be there again next year! I am already thinking about my costume :-) Pancake tutu? I think so! I know a fantastic designer that I plan on brainstorming with this summer. If I am not gonna win the race I am all for winning the costume contest!

Ben and Evan ran the 5K. (Evan had already left by the time I finished). They both did great and had fun. Ben was 2nd in his age group and 15th overall. Yay Ben!

Just a few days before the race I had stopped by one of 3 local coffee shops that I frequent (depends on what end of the county I am in when I am in desperate need of coffee, but I have found 3 locally owned, independant, shops that have great coffee, great service and make me feel good about supporting local business). Latte 101 is one of the 3 and as it happens they have peanut butter syrup. If you have never had a peanut butter latte, I suggest you go out and get one. Now. They are that good. But then again, I am a peanut butter freak. I mentioned that I was doing the Santa to the Sea and it turns out they were one of the vendors. The owner (I am making an assumption here, I don't know for sure that he was the owner, but I am prettty sure) said that he would bring the PB syrup just for me! :-) Only a local business would make that kind of effort! Both Ben and I had one and it was awesome).

Now, have I also mentioned to you that the race also happens to fall on Nutcracker weeked? For me this means that the week before the race is production week at the theater. I have the unofficial/official job of taking backstage candid photos. I absoultly love that I have the privledge to do this. I take photos through out Satuday rehersals from October until the production. I think this is my 3rd or 4th year doing it, I'll have to go back and look at my photos and see. It has been so fun seeing the dancers grow and change.

Saturday we go to the show as a family. We have been going to this particular show since Owen was 18 months old. We had no idea that when our girls started ballet, they would be with this production company. To be a part of it from both the front of the house and the back is just awesome.

Sunday (raceday) is the day that I voluteer and hang out backstage. I was a little worried that it would be really hard this year, but let me tell you, the runner's high you hear about is the best! It was 10 times anything I've felt before. I was flying high for at least 4 hours post race. The last hour of Nutcracker was where I was starting to feel tired, but the really amazing thing that happens duing the last hour of Nutcracker on the last day of production, is that all the tension, anxiety and nervousness that the girls have starts to drift away. The smiles get bigger, the laughter backstage increases, the happy energy flows. So as my runner's high diminished, my Nutcracker high increased. Such a perfect pairing. I am already looking forward to next year.

The week after Santa/Nutcracker my two eldest children had belt testing. My big girl earned her 2nd degree yellow belt! She is transitioning from ballet to tae kwon do. I think it is a great fit for her. She still loves ballet, but it has been over a year since she has been able to take a technique class, the schedule just hasn't worked in her favor. She does take a floor-barre class once a week though and loves being involved. TKD will have it's challenges for her, but she is definately up to the task and our school is incredibley supportive, from the instructors to the families. She is having a great time and is very dedicated to trying her very best. She is also quite lucky to have a black belt as a brother! He has been very helpful in working with her.

Speaking of Owen, he also had to test. He is on track to earn his 2nd degree black belt, hopefully in May 2013. The 1st degree black belt students have to take 3-4 "credit" tests in order to qualify to test for their 2nd degree. Owen just earned his 3rd credit. We just watched a video clip of him taking his 2nd degree yellow test, my how he has grown!

Buka and Reina wanted to be festive since we finally started decorating for Christmas. They are not embarassed at all. Really.

The kids little tree :-)

No sooner did I get the tree skirt in place, did Buka make himself at home under the tree.

Owen wanted to try and put our angel on the tree this year.

It was more challening that usual. In the end we had to put her up as a decoration off to the side. We had to buy a smaller angel to work with this tree. This is the first time she has not worked. We have a different type of tree this year, we usually get a noble, this one is something else that starts with an "N", but I can't remember what it is. It looks a lot like a noble, but is a brighter green. The branches are as thick, but a bit softer somehow. The top was just not strong enough to hold our angel. I need to get a picture of our alternate angel.

The kids, ok honestly just the girls, helped make pretzels for our cookie bags. The boys made a few, but were just not really into it this year.

I am really into ginger right now. From Moscow Mules to Kumbatcha to adding it to my morning smoothies, I am loving it. So I really wanted to make a ginger snap type cookie to add to our cookie bags. (The standard for our bags consists of chocolate chip cookies, russian tea cakes and peppermint chocolate dipped pretzles). It took a bit of experimenting, tweaking recipies from the internets, but I did come up with a variation that I quite like and hope to put it into the bag from now on. I even wrote down the recipe so I can make them next year.

My cranberry infused vodka is done!

Because I have not used cranberries enough this season.... I made sugared cranberries a couple nights ago. Sooooooo yummy!!! Today we had them with water crackers and brie. Pretty much amazing.

 

So there you go. Almost all caught up with my crazy life. A few more bits about running, then I'm off to bed. Remember The Nag. Well, MapMyRun pulled a fast one on their users. The voice feedback feature they rolled out in October became a monthly fee feature in November. In the update notes they did not indicate that the paid features would be ones we were already using for free. I felt th price ($6/month or so) was a bit high, but did a 3 month subscription because I was scared to let go of a training tool that was really working for me. In the mean time I dug out my GPS watch and looked into other free or one time only fee apps that did what MMR was doing. One of the things I discovered was that MMR was way off in tracking true distance. Really off. I was not happy! I have found another app that is much more accurate (Runmeter), but I still have another month of MMR so I am alternating using it and taking my actual milage off my GPS watch. (More on all this in a future post).

I have also continued to pass the lovely cranky people off and on and they continue to be lame. I am pretty sure that the cranky couple have their own inside jokes about me- the Crazy Running Lady. I quite literally laughed out loud at them one day. I was near giggling as we approached one another, then I said my cheerful hello, he of course did not give me the slightest look or indicate that he heard me, she scowled and said hello. I couldn't stop myself, I burst into laughter. When we crossed paths again, they both smiled and said hi. So yeah, they must have a joke, but I don't care, I won a round finally- he looked and she smiled. So there.

Of course that was a few weeks ago. This last week when I saw them I happened to be the one feeling a bit cranky. I managed to get myself irritated and worked up about these Not Friendly Morning People long before i saw them, so when I saw them coming I decided I was over being the nice one. I brought up my most lovely post bronchitis cough as they approached (into my elbow of course) and then looked at The Lady with no expression as we passed. She did the same. I was all geared up and ready to scowl openly at them the next pass, except I haven't seen them since. Oh well. I really should go back to being friendly, but after 4 months I guess I'm a little tired of being the one that has to try, then that optimistic person in me wants to play nice, because surely it will make a difference. Then I get cranky and worked up and plot all sorts of diabolical plans about how to Show Them. I'm pretty sure I have issues. And maybe alternate personalities that should have their own names.

Ok, as much as I would like to share more fantastically weird stuff about myself with you all, it has taken me over 3 days to get this all written out and hopefully properly edited to make sense. There are more bits about running that you all must know and I am sure I have many other fascinating stories to share that I just don't have the time to write, however I am going to post this and move on!

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Hard Run, Wine, Long Run

I've come to realize that my fears in running have very little to do with distance. There is a brief fear of being cold- this is mostly because most of my running attire consists of warm weather stuff. I'm slowing getting things I need to keep warm, but the fear of being too cold, then getting too hot is definitely there. It was 42* Friday morning. I layered up, but not too much since this run was meant to be a "hard" run, 4.5 miles. I set The Nag to pace me at 10:45. I managed a 10:28 average pace and felt really good through out. The dogs kept up well, but it was tougher on Reina. A few months ago, she could barely walk over 2 miles without being overcome with exhaustion, tongue hanging nearly to the ground, the pads of her feet bleeding from being worn down. Now, 10 lbs lighter, she is running and walking over 15 miles a week (maybe more) and she can last 5 miles, tongue hangs low, but her feet have toughened up. Then I ran her 4.5 miles hard. She did fantastic, but both her back paws had wear spots and tracked little spots of blood all over the house! Poor thing. Good thing Saturday is our official rest day & I only take her 2-3 miles of Sunday's long day.

One other Reina note. She is a rescue, we got her when she was around 3. She has always had severe anxiety around small dogs. I have my theories on that, but I won't get into that now. If a small dog is around her whole being just amps up. Sometimes to the point of shaking all over. I don't think she wants to hurt them, but I don't trust her since she did once kill a sweet, precious chinchilla that she clearly thought was out to get us all. The groomer we take the dogs to loves her to pieces and is very good to her. Usually they have to crate her and cover her crate so she can't see the other dogs, especially the little ones. Buka usually has the run of the joint, wandering about as he pleases. Friday when I came to get them you could have knocked me over with a feather. My Reina was calmly, quietly sitting on the floor, tethered, but not attached to a person. She was sitting there watching a little dog get groomed. No anxiety, definitely very attentive, but so incredibly calm. It was amazing. I never thought I'd see the day! Buka was the one in the crate this time- he was getting to be too much of a busy body getting into everything. LOL! I am a huge fan of Caesar Milan, and have never been consistent with the most important of the three things dogs need (in order of importance). Exercise, discipline, affection. She rarely needed discipline, and she got lots of affection, but rarely enough exercise. I feel like we might be changing her life for the better a second time and it feels so good!!

 

Saturday is rest day. Sleep in day. No alarms at 5 am day. Except the car alarm that went off down the street and woke me up anyway. Grrrr. That's ok, I fell back asleep and got up at 6:30 so all was not lost. We had lots to do, Ben had to go to work, which meant the boys had to go to ballet with me. Just as we were leaving the house, right after inset the alarm, I heard a thunk on one of the back windows. I disabled the alarm and went to investigate. Sure enough a little American Goldfinch knocked herself silly on my back window. Poor thing. I held her for a minute, then went and got a tea towel for her to recover on. We were already running late for class so I couldn't stay with her to see if she broke her neck. I figured the least I could do was give her a warm little spot to recover. In the few minutes this all took she was already almost able to perch on my finger, so I felt ok about leaving. Came home to a towel with a couple of turds and no birdy! Yay!

(Please excuse my awful nails!!)

Saturday night we had a wine tasting/silent auction fundraiser for the girls ballet production. It's is our 3rd or 4th year going, I can't remember (I don't think it has anything to do with the wine either!) We always have a wonderful time. The venue is a personal estate and it is just beautiful. It was too cold to mingle outside unless you were under a heater, so I was sure to go up to the top of the property as soon as we got there to catch the sunset and take in the gorgeous view. This year was especially fun because we knew more people than we usually do. We had lots of great conversation, yummy food, a bit of wine and we bid on too much stuff, but love what we won & it is for a great cause.

(One of our auction wins...just a wee bottle of wine!! The one in the background is to give a little perspective).

 

This morning I had all my alarms set to go off in the dark, but it was 40* and the Weather Channel app said it felt like 37*. My fear of being cold kept me in bed for another hour or so, then I had no choice but to get on the road. It didn't make a bit of difference, TWC app said the same thing at 6:30 as it did at 5:30. Oh well. I put on 500 layers (of every different obnoxious color I could manage) and got moving. I didn't want to push Reina too hard so I ran the 'hood for 2 miles then dropped her off at the house along with a layer of gear. She was not happy. After the bleeding paws though, I really wanted her to heal.

(Me in all my colorful glory- sporting my Santa socks)

 

Buka and I then took off for the beach. I am testing out various things as I go along this journey. Today I wore a water belt. It holds two small bottles. In one I put plain water and in the other I put one that was flavored and had caffeine type stuffs. I also brought chocolate flavored Gu. Before leaving I ate half an Ezekiel English muffin. The water belt has a pouch that could fit my phone, but it would be on my back, I don't think I would be able to hear The Nag, so I also wore my regular pouch on the front. Everything seemed to fit well and was comfortable. For the long run days I actually do not use The Nag, however I do have her tell me each mile point. Helps me know when to turn back for home and also let's me know my pace, though I am not concerned with pace, just comfort.

 

 

I had to take a quick peek at the ocean, it was so clear you could see Yellowbanks out on Santa Cruz Island. I let Buka take a quick dip in the ocean and were off again. I felt great for the whole run, very comfortable. My left foot had some pain in the spot where I tore the tendon two years ago, and at one point my lower left butt cheek hurt, but nothing was run stopping and mostly I felt awesome. The only time I picked up the pace was in my last mile. I wanted to negative split and I want to get used to picking up the pace and pushing the last bit of the race. When. I hit 8 miles I dropped to a walk and checked out my splits. Have to say I am very happy with them! I averaged 12 min miles which is great as far as I'm concerned. Except for mile 5, I was either at a 12 min/mile or 11 min/mile. Mile 5 was nearly 14 min. Might have been when I was on the beach, not sure, will have to look t the map. The best part was that mile 7 was a 10:09 split, then my last mile- 9:55! I won't be bringing home any prize money, but I think I have a good chance at being a strong middle of the pack finisher LOL! I spent a half hour stretching, using the foam roller and working out any aches. All in all a great week of running, time with friends, and we will finish it up celebrating Gampy's birthday tonight.

 

And for those of you that are wondering, no sign of Mr. Cranky Pants, Barefoot Bathrobe or the Odd Couple. I think I have scared everyone off.

 

 

 

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Tikka Masala

Several weeks ago I decided I wanted to try to make one of my favorite Indian dishes- Chicken Tikka Masala.  Only problem was that I decided to make this on the first Friday of Lent.   So I thought I would take this dish that I'd never made and change the main ingredient-instead of chicken I used shrimp.  I've made it twice since, once again on a Lenten Friday with shrimp then I made it again but finally  with chicken. 

The first go around I used a recipe on http://allrecipes.com.  Since I'd never made anything like it and I was going to use shrimp instead of chicken I followed the rest of the recipe exactly as written.  We were having friends over (Nice of me to test never before tried recipes out on friends huh?) so I doubled the recipe as well.  All and all it was pretty good, especially if you were congested and needed to clear you sinuses! The original recipe called for 2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper.  I have never used cayenne pepper so I doubled it.  whoa nellie! It was so hot! Both Ben and our friend G loved it.  G took the leftover sauce home with him as a matter of fact.   I was able to eat it, but not really enjoy it.  I love hot, but not that hot!

A couple weeks later I tried again.  This go around was for another dinner party and added another two  guinea pigs friends to try my second attempt.  This time I added a spice or two and I cut the cayenne waaaaaay down.    Ben, G & new guest M added the cayenne to their own plates to up the heat, I think the rest of us agreed that it was darn near perfect with out it though.  There was enough of a kick to taste it, but I didn't have to blow my nose throughout the meal. 

I was really excited to finally get it together and use chicken.  I love shrimp, but I hate peeling and de-veining those suckers.  This time I was making it for my mom, two of her two sisters & my cousin who were in town for the weekend.  Those gals are Polish through and through and not really into the heat, so for this round I only gave the cayenne jar a shake  or two in the sauce.  I also tripled the recipe and portioned out a bit for my cousin who is vegetarian.  For her bit I had bought extra firm tofu to use. 
The general consensus was that it was quite yummy- Yay!   I absolutely love it and am so excited to make it again.

Here is the recipe I came up with- mostly as found on the allrecipes.com site.  I doubled & tripled this though.  I cook for 6 minimum around here and more often than not I have a few extras around the table. 

Ingredients:

marinade:

• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (only if you love it HOT!) 1/4 teaspoon is what I used the 2nd time
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
• 4 teaspoons salt (or to taste- I used kosher)
• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces OR 2 lbs of shrimp, peeled, de-veined and tails removed OR extra firm tofu

sauce:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 jalapeno pepper finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 3 teaspoons salt (or to taste)
• 1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. In a large bowl combine yogurt, lemon juice, and all the spices from the marinade list-cumin, cinnamon cayenne, black pepper, turmeric, salt  & ginger.  Stir in your meat- chicken, shrimp or tofu.  Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour- I had my stuff marinating all day.
2. If you are making chicken or tofu- you can use your grill to cook it.  If you want you can skewer the  chicken, I just threw it on some veggie grill sheets that I have to keep the meat from falling through.  You want to cook th chicken until the juices run clear- 10-15 minutes or so.
3. Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat.  Saute garlic and jalapeno for 1 minute. season with the sauce spices -cumin, paprika, turmeric and salt.  Stir in tomato sauce and cream.  Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes.  Add grilled chicken/tofu and simmer for 10 minutes.  Transfer to a serving plater and add fresh cilantro on top

For shrimp:

Instead of grilling the shrimp I just dumped the entire bowl of marinade and shrimp into the sauce once it had thickened.  I then cooked the shrimp in the sauce (a little less than 10 min I think- the shrimp should be pink).

All this was served with brown rice that had been seasoned with onions, garlic and turmeric and I added frozen peas once the rice had finished cooking (the hot rice will defrost and cook the peas in a few minutes).  Add some warm Naan bread and you've got yourself a delish meal!

Grilled marinated chicken

Simmering in the sauce

The finished plate :-)

Dog Tales

Much has happened lately, both good and not so much so.  It's the not-so-much- so part that has kept me from posting.  As mentioned in my previous post, I was one of the presenters at the CHN Family EXPO this year.  First let me just plug this event a bit.

If you live in California, especially if you live in SoCal, I can not recommend the Family EXPO enough.  This was our second year attending and it was just so much fun.  We look at the weekend as a family vacation with benefits.  The benefits include the following:

• A hotel full of like minded homeschooling friends, around 1000 of them!
• A  "family village" full of  fun things for the kids to do... All Day Long:  keva planks, arts and crafts, puppet shows, dress up, various classes like paper airplanes, stomp rockets, volcanos.
• game tables set up in other hotel areas
• a little kid area with blocks, games, story times, and lots of chairs for the grown ups to sit and chat with others!
• all day chess room
• amazing and inspiring sessions, just what you need to recharge for the fall
• a packed vendor hall with all sorts of goodies to drool over
• pool fun with lots of friends
• poolside dinners
• hotel staff that loves that we are there
• Fun Fun Fun!

I also want to say that if you are not a member of one of the 3 statewide homeschool groups, join one (or all) today.  The yearly cost are minimal and they are a fantastic resource.  With all that has happened with the court case in this last year it is important for homeschoolers to show the state that we are strong, we are united and that we are a force to be reckoned with.  The best way to show our numbers is to join a group.  I am a member of both CHN and HSC, I plan on looking into CHEA as well.  Look into it.  Now.

One of the things I have not mentioned (aside from on Twitter, and as far as I know only a few of you follow me there) is that about 4 weeks ago my baby dog Bungee was dx'd with lymphoma.  He turned 15 in March and up until then had been doing pretty well for such an old guy.  A little stiff, a little slow, but happy and loving.  When we got the dx we decided that we would do chemo for him and see how he would respond.  He responded GREAT!  His throat, which had been so swollen it was hard to eat, shrank after on treatment. He had a total of 3 treatments and was scheduled for his 4th when we got back from the EXPO.  Our very good friend C stayed at our house and watched the dogs while we were gone.  I left him a long novel about his care, what meds to give and when.  Our vet office knew we were going and had Chris listed in their computers. 

Saturday evening C called to say Bungee was refusing his meds and wouldn't eat.  He's done this here and there, so I wasn't too worried.  Well, this time it was different.  Sometime around 11pm Bungee started throwing up foam.  After a while C realized that this was not good, Bungee was in pain.  He took him to our local 24 hour vet ER. 

X-rays showed that Bungee's gut was twisted.  C called us round 1 a.m. to tell us.  It was a horrible thing to be over 2 hours away.  We knew at that point that the best thing for Bungee was for us to let him go.  At that point he was on morphine and completely out of it.  It broke my heart that I was not with him the last 3 days of his life.  I know that I was with him through out his life, but still.  I missed his birth by hours, I missed his death by a day.

There is some good in how and when it happened.  The kids didn't have to be there to see him.  But they also didn't get to say goodbye.  I didn't either.  That hurts.  We were in such a rush to get out the door that I don't know if I got in a good "see ya later".  I just keep reminding myself of the good though.  I still cry, I still miss him terribly, but I know it is ok and I know he feels so much better.  His ashes arrived Friday.  That sent me over the top too, but I am glad he is home.  We are thinking of taking him to a nearby beach that he used to love and letting him go there. 

It is funny how things work.  We have some very good friends who moved up to Salinas 3 years ago.  We went up to visit them in their first year, but haven't been since.  My friend A is a dog person, she always seems to have wayward dogs.  She had known Bungee most, if not all of his life.  She was one of the first friends I called once we were home and settling in to our life with out Bungee. A week or so ago my PDA chimed me a little reminder that it would be her husband's birthday soon.  I mentioned it to Ben and he said, "What are they doing? We should go up!"  I  called up A and asked what their weekend plans were.  As it so happened, she was planning a surprise party for her dh.  We worked out the details and made our plans.  It was at this point she told me about her recent acquisition.  A 4 moth old  black lab currently named Ben-10.  Guess what kind of dog we have talked about getting in the future?  A black lab or black lab mix, puppy in age.  I don't know that now was when were were thinking we would want one but there it was.    A told us how cool and different this little guy was.  She is not a lab person (too much shedding) but they were planning to keep him- if we didn't want him.  He was just that cool.  Well we went up for the weekend and had a chance to meet him.  He was pretty darn cute.  And mellow.  He reminded me of Bungee as a pup.  Bungee was the most mellow dog ever.  He was a lab/shepherd mix.  But not very lab like in the energy department. 

After spending all day with Ben-10 and watching him interact with the kids and our other two dogs, we decided to bring him home.  We have to change his name- not that it isn't cool, but since dh is Ben, we thought it'd be less confusing.  I picked the name Buka (long u, pronounced Boo-Ka)  I got the word from Olivia.  That is what she called the computer for the longest time.  I just loved the way she said it and was sad when she finally got the word "computer" down.  It is also the name of one of our favorite restaurants in Universal City- Buca de Beppo.  In that case Buca means "basement or hole" in Italian. For those of you that know what Ben does for a living,  "hole" is sort of appropriate! 

We got home late last night- well later than we intended anyhow.  All dogs survived the drive and there was minimal complaining from the kids.  Buka traveled well and seems to be settling in.  We need to get him a tag, get him registered with the city and maybe get him a bed.  He likes to chew, so the kids are learning real fast not to leave toys on the ground.

Our weekend with our friend was great she has a horse (not on her property) and we got to go out and ride her both Saturday and Sunday.  That was a real treat!  Ben also finally got to use his golf clubs that I bought him for Christmas...8 Years Ago!  He had fun, and is looking forward to taking lessons with the kids at some point.    I had fun visiting with my friend- I miss her and hate that they are so far away.  The kids loved playing with her boys- they get along really well so it is lots of fun to be around them.

I have a picture of Bungee and me from when he was about 6 weeks old.  I need to take it upstairs and scan it in to the computer to share with you!  For now here is one of the two of us taken July 9.  You can see how puffy his neck is, this was a week or two before we got the dx.

 

In case you hadn't noticed

I weighed in on Monday and I have officially lost 5 lbs!  (since the end of April & the beginning of a little contest between my friend and I).  Our final weigh in for the first month is on Friday the 30th.  I've already met my goal (4 lbs) but now I have to spend all week worried that I'll have some sort of freak 10 b weight gain. Ok well mostly I'm worried about a 2 lb fluctuation gain.  Over the course of a month, even when losing weight, I add a few lbs here and there- usually around or during my period.  I should

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Weird.  This post was supposed to be in draft mode- not published until I said- Publish.  (Hence the sentence that was left hanging.  yeesh. )

Well I did keep all my weight off (YAY) and me and my girl went to a local wine bar and had a perfectly wonderful night.  I'd go into detail but then you'd know that we indulged in yummy cheese, wine, Tuscan style fire baked pizza and (shhhh) we shared a piece of chocolate cappuccino pie thingy. Mostly it was great girl talk while the boys watched all the kids.  (That is a whole 'nother story)

Anyhow my intent was to blog about my crappy day today, but upon finding this here post unfinished I didn't get to do that did I?  Actually the day wasn't crappy, I was just in a crap mood right from the get go when a freakin bird started pacing my roof at 4am.   (We have a cathedral ceiling so I heard every dang step).  I am trying desperately to let go of my negative mood even now at 945pm.  Honest to God if that bird walks the roof again tonight I'll be out front in my jammies tossing rocks at the damn thing (and I really like birds normally- honest).

Peace out all-  maybe tomorrow I'll have my chance to write.  (Jenny I was also all geared up to share about the whole yearbook thing I'm doing too.)

We Wii, We Twitter & We Twirl

I know I know- I still pretty much am sucking at blogging.  I got issues  what can I say!

Last week Ben got us a Wii.  It is the first game system we have bought- apart from the V-smile and a leapster L-max.  Both of those game systems go in and out of fashion around here, and both have gotten quite a bit of use.  Both Ben and I have shied away from the big game systems-  we both love to play video games and know that we'd get sucked into a world we really don't have time for right now.  I have a hard enough time staying away from the computer in order to get things done around here (So you'd think I'd blog more huh?).  Any who, we both have been tossing around the idea of the Wii, mainly because it is a get up and move kinda thing.   Upon returning the birthday bike that never was (Got it put together only to realize it was defective) Ben had to return it to TRU first thing in the morning and it just so happened that they got a Wii shipment in the night before- so he was third to get one from them. 

I have to say it has been pretty darn fun!  I was sore for 3 days after the first night of boxing.  Seriously.  I've also discovered I am much better at Wii bowling than in real life bowling, and even better when I bowl lefty.  All the kids but Olivia can play it with some degree of competence, and it is easy enough to fake Olivia out since we have two remotes.  We have had so much fun creating Mii's ( the Wii people). We have made characters for every family member and several of our friends.  I even made a Severus Snape. (because you need an evil looking fellow wandering in and out of your games)  Making the Mii's is almost as much fun as playing a game.    We haven't pre-ordered the Wii Fit yet, but I am seriously considering it.  It looks pretty darn fun.   I used the boxing game today to complement my workout.  I walked 2-3 miles, then got on our spin bike for 30 min and since my heart rate was up (I wear a hr monitor) I thought I'd see if I could keep my hr in fat burning range while playing wii boxing.  Oh Yeah I can!   I boxed for 15 minutes and was truly sweating!  The kids got a kick out of seeing me use the game to "work out" too.  All in all a great purchase. 

As for the Twitter and twhirl- well if you take a gander at my side bar there is something labeled Twitter Updates.  I had heard of Twitter a while back but never got around to actually looking at it.  One of the blogs I read regularly (Just Enough Nothing More) recently posted about it and that was all it took to get me looking.  (in the past I heard about it on the radio, no where near a computer).   So now I have something else to get addicted to use regularly.  What I like about it is Twhirl- I can keep Twhirl on my desktop and jot lame quick thoughts without bothering to log in and all that fuss. 

So if you haven't already looked into it go have a Twitter and Twirl and look me up- I'll follow you!

It's the End of the Month (as we know it...)

Well the clock is ticking down.  Just a few more days and November will be over.  Generally one might think I have song filled words of Christmas to sing to you and all that crap, but no, it means two other things in this instance. 

1. The 30 day challenge is over at www.orgjunkie.com
2. It is the end of NaBloPoMo

I know I clued you in on the garage clean up thing.  However I have hesitated to say anything about the NaBloPoMo thing.  I sort of decided on a whim that I'd give it a try.  I only officially signed up last week.  How's that for limiting the chance of failure.  Sad I know.  I don't know that I have ever written as much as I have this past month.  I know there were a couple of days of, well, fluff, but I tried, really tried to write a few meaty posts each week.   I have both enjoyed and hated this whole thing.

I like that I feel somewhat accountable for posting.  At the same time I resented that I felt that I had to.  Overall I do think it has been a great exercise for me.   I do love to write. I do love to share my weird musings.  I do love that there are like 3 people who regularly check in on me.  (Along with all those Pink Cast people- which  you know I will be sure to use the words Pink Cast in a post a least once a month so that I can have hits from all over the globe!)

I look forward to slowing don a bit  in the month of December.  I have much to do around this house and blogging everyday is just not likely to happen. 

As for the challenge.  Well, I knocked out quite a bit in the garage this last weekend.  It looks fantastic.  However it is not finished.  There are two areas left that are in dire need of help, and I am just not so sure that I will get to them before the weekend.  I am going to try though.  Either way, I will be posting pictures on Friday of my clean and organized (mostly) garage. 

The Accidental Tradition

We have aways had somewhere to spend Thanksgiving. Since we have been married, I can't think of one time that we have spent a TG day at our own home.  The problem with that is that we both love the foods, and if you don't host, well, you don't end up with too many leftovers.   

We solved that long ago by making our own little feast on Friday.  Sometimes it's just the turkey, others the whole deal.  We didn't intend for this to become a tradition.  Never talked about it.  However that is what it has become.

We get to have a relatively stress free Thanksgiving day.  Making a dish  or a dessert (I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies yesterday that were a huge hit) and no big mess to clean up.  Friday we make our "leftovers" and get to enjoy another stress free day. 

We don't' do the whole shopping thing- except online.  We took care of 3 family members gifts all before noon, sitting at the kitchen counter.  Gotta love it! 

My Poorly Socialized Kids

We went to a reunion of sorts last Saturday.  I grew up in this area and our family had a sailboat.  From the age of 7 until I was around 16 or so- I spent all my spare time on the water or involved in the yacht club in some way.  We are blessed to have some islands off our coast and every holiday was spent on the boat at the islands.

My parents had a large, core group of friends- most all from the same club.  Many raced their boats as well as cruised.  Those folks partied too!  The 80's were a fun time.  This group of friends has drifted in part over the years, some leaving sailing and boating entirely.  Several are member of the yacht club that we joined.  This was a large reason for choosing this particular club.

A few months ago when my parents were out and we were at the club, they told Big Lar that he should have a fall BBQ at his home.  He has a lovely little home in a nearby small town, and his landscaping is beautiful. (He is a landscaper by trade and his yard is all native CA low water plants).  The idea took and it was decided that it would be "the old crowd". 

We had to go to a family party in LA in the morning, then we headed over to Big Lar's.  My parents and sister came to town for the event.  We got there around 1:45 and stayed until 6pm.  It was a great afternoon of socializing, eating and remembering old times.  LD brought a photo album that spanned the decade and that was sure fun to laugh at! 

Mine were the only children.  Big Lar has no kids/grandkids so his house had nothing but the yard for them to play in.  They had a few pieces of candy and a couple of trinket  toys from their  goody bags that they got form the party.  They played non stop- happily- without fussing or fighting- the entire time.  They were polite and respectful and a real joy to have there. One friend gave them the greatest compliment.  She said to me "Your kids are so nice Michelle.  You know sometimes you go somewhere and there is just one kid, and after a half hour you are ready to throttle the kid, and here you have four kids and you'd have hardly known they were even here.  They are just so pleasant!"  Wow!  That sure feels good!  Even my Olivia was happily playing, only coming to me periodically. 

Yes my poor, unsocialized, kids. How will they ever learn to adapt to "the real world"?

Oh and now, it has been decided that this will be an annual event... how cool!

Ben's Birthday Weekend

It's pretty cool when a single day can morph into a 4 day event.   His actual birthday was Saturday, but he got to start celebrating on Friday at work.  Nothing major, but a nice gesture.  Friday night we left the kids with my MIL and went to the yacht club.  Every Friday they have a Friday Night Dinner.  Once a month they celebrate all the birthdays of the month during  the dinner.  This was the October Birthday Dinner, so along with several other members we sang Happy Birthday and got a bottle of champagne.  We met several new couples at dinner and really had a nice time. 

Saturday marked the big day- 35.  He received several rounds of happy birthday from the kids, then he left for the off track betting place to go bet on the Breeders Cup with his brother.  He didn't end up winning, but had a great time.  While he was gone the kids and I went to Costco to get him his birthday present.  We got him Airhog helicopters.  I can't tell you how long he has wanted a remote control helicopter.  They also had the adjustable weights that we've been waiting and hoping for them to carry.  Each dumbbell can adjust from 5 lbs to 52 lbs.  So he got an unexpected present from me. Needless to say he was thrilled.   

Saturday night we had made plans with G & C.  we dropped Olivia off with the grandparents and the rest of us (G, C & their 2 kids) piled into The Beast (my suburban) and we dropped off all the kids at the Halloween party at the gymnastics studio and the 4 of us went out to dinner-completely free of children.  Now that was a treat! 

We went to a favorite tri-tip/bbq restaurant near gymnastics.  G & B had never been so we were excited to share it with them.  After a lovely meal, they pulled out their gift to Ben.  I had wondered why G had brought a sail bag into the restaurant.  The bag itself was part of the gift.  They put together a "Sailing Conversion Kit" for him.   Because of how clever and how much thought they put into this, I am going to share with you the directions for the kit, which were included.

• 1 retro Ullman Sails Sail Bag-  Container for sail, gear, cold beverages, etc.  Can also be placed over head to disguise oneself after bad performance.
• 1 North Sails One Design Mylar Enclosure- To house all impeortant sailboat documents, note it is waterproof.
• 1 Yacht Club Burgee-  To be flown proudly from any vessel you may be aboard, duplicates may be flown from backyard to show off to friends you have enough money to be a member of a yacht club.
• 1 Jimmy Buffet Novel-  Does anything really need to be said about how to use this?  If ou ever forget how to have a "laid back" time, this book wil remind you.
• $100 Dollar Bills-  Just a friendly reminder of the obscene amount of money it takes to participate in this adventure.
• 1 Personal Sized Tube of Sunscreen- to be aplied liberally to all exposed areas.  Warning, not for spousal consumption.
• 1 Package Crusing & racing Magazines - Because when your're not on the water, you need to act as if your preparing to be.  The 'Showboats' one is so once again, you can impress your friends.  Just tell them you interseted in a new "time-share" that's way cooler than a condo.
• 1 Mount Gay Rum Red Hat - You'll be shocked to learn this is the coolest, most coveted sailing item in the industry.  Can be found on EBAY for exorbitant amounts of money.  If you ever need extra funds for your boat and you put this online, we will no longer be your friends.
• 2 Ullman Sails Stickers - To be considered one of the chosen few, you must tattoo your car/window with a sailing sticker of some sort.  These have been treated with UV protection.
• 1 Sailing Related Invoice - To prepare you for the reality that you will be spending a lot of those $100 dollar bills. 
• 1 Roll of Duct Tape - Haven't you heard, it really does fix anything.  Can also be used to cover the mouths of obnoxious crew members.
• 1 Extremely Used and Loved Sailing Book - This has some really good information in it and can occupy the nex 3 years of your bathroom time.
• 1 Pair Size 10 Flip Flops - Because no matter how hard you try to resist, you always feel more relaxed with out shoes.  Be free our friend, don't fight it!
• 1 Harken Block Key Chain - quite possibly the most expensive key chain you'll ever own.    You already have a wallet that proves your true identity,now you have a key chain that proves you've been converted to a true sailor.  By the way if you ever get rid of this, we will disown you.  We weren't kidding, these suckers are expensive.
• 1 Bottle of Mount Gay Rum - You are a sailor now.  You need to ditch the Captian.  This is the true sailor's rum of choice.  Besides, if all esle fails with the above mentioned items, you can enjoy this item thoroughly.

Seriously-how cool was that!  Like my friend Jenny said recently- "But regardless of whether those friends are helpful, thoughtful, intoxicating, or sobering, I've found that friends are always worth the effort."

So true.  Our circle of friends has grown in the last year, and truly the effort is beyond worthwhile. 

On to more of Ben's birthday.  So let's see we left off at the restaurant.  After a very enjoyable opening  (and reading of) gifts, we went back and got our kids.  We came back to our house and got them all upstairs and in bed.  FIL brought a sleeping Olivia back and again we were 4 adults with out children.  Awesome!  We had a few drinks, talked then played the game Cranium.  It was really fun!  The boys won in the end but not with out a good fight from us girls.  We hit the sack much too late, but I'd say it was almost worth it (I'm still trying to catch up on sleep!!!)

Sunday G & C had a Gal Guy sailing event so I kept the kids while they sailed.  Ben went out to lunch with his good friend C (thus marking day 3 of the never ending birthday), then he helped Ben pick out a computer for work.  C is our computer guru.  I am now the happy owner of Ben's old laptop, and Ben's office is sporting a new desktop PC.

Late in the afternoon, the kids were getting edgy so I piled them all in The Beast and we went to the yacht club.  C & G were just taking the boat out of the water so it was great timing.  I sat and chatted a bit then piled my crowd back into The Beast and we headed to MIL's house for Ben's birthday dinner.  She makes an amazing lasagna.  We sang to Ben (again) and he got a whole set of tools and a tool box from them.  Our house was sadly lacking proper tools.  We have a mix match of random stuff, but now- we've got it all. 

Finally, we get to Monday. The last and final day of Ben's birthday.  On Monday Fed-Ex delivered the gift I had originally ordered for him.  I got him wireless headphones so he can get on the bike in the early morning and watch the Justice League or Lord of the Rings- two of his favorite things to workout to.

And so it ended.  The 4 day birthday.