A run and some other fun

Saturday I ran in a 5 mile run in Nashville. The Richland Creek Run to support the Greenways of Nashville. It was pretty apparent that this was the first organized, over 3 mile run I have participated in since the 2007 Memphis half marathon.

I miss running. I miss being in better shape. I miss being 6-10 lbs lighter. Geessh! I was a winded mess. The course was calm, scenic, and included some challenging hills. I told Ashley (and myself) I was not going to walk until I made it 2.5 miles/halfway. I made it half way, and then had to catch my out of shape, winded, congested breath. I’d like to blame it on the sinus infection and congestion, but it was totally due to my lapse in running dedication. Ashley ran on ahead of me and finished strong. I finished the 5 miles in 53:12 and ran at a 10 minute 39 second pace. I guess this is really more of an average because that last half was considerably slower than the first. All in all, it was a wonderful day, wonderful run, and a great experience. Hopefully the next event I participate in will be the upcoming Susan G. Komen ride for the cure.

Sunday Sabrina and her family came out to the farm. They had wanted to see the cows, but they were off roaming around and lounging in the warm weather. Wes, her husband, is a wonderful landscaper. He is working something up for my mother-in-law, that I’m sure is going to beautify the front of the house. We also showed them our future home site.

The rest of the weekend, we spent time together, did laundry, worked on planning our garden for this year, picked up around the house and in the yard, put up the new blue bird house (haven’t seen any move in yet), just piddled around together. I did find these cute, super cheap, galoshes for going out on the farm.

Welcome April (and its seasonal suffering)

Well, I haven’t gone to a Doc or anything, but I’m pretty sure that I have a sinus infection. I’ve been carrying around a roll of toilet paper. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of gunk that my face is producing. But I can’t really say that I feel bad, just snotty, sleepy, and a little bit of an earache. Everyone says I sound terrible though. Actually I just took a break while writing this to make an appointment with the Nurse Practitioner at my Doctor’s office. I probably need to see about getting some antibiotics. Last time I had one of these I let it drag out way too long, and its been at least 10 days now, so I might as well go ahead and see the Doctor. So I will tomorrow after work. Mucus be gone.

Last week was a super busy week. Matt and I had something every single night after work. Friday we actually climbed in the bed at 9:20 when we returned from a dinner in honor of my Grandparents 65 wedding anniversary. The weekend was just as packed, with things to be done. I hate all that running around. The upside… Tonight is my very last Wed night class. And I only have 2 Monday night classes left. This means my nights are almost freed up (except that I’ve started studying for my last final exam).

Matt is working really hard to finish up his student teaching. In fact, when we got home from all of our errands we had to run on Saturday, he did homework and class preparations until 8:00 p.m. His spring break is coming up, but it looks like he will be finishing up his portfolio and requirements for the college of education during the break. He also started another Masters level class on Monday nights.

That light at the end of the tunnel is getting a little brighter as each day passes.

Text from who and a cupcake at risk

That’s right. Last week I get this text message that asked for me to send the Unknown person my address. Me and my identity theft paranoia thought it was one of those scams where you get a text message asking for info, and then BOOM! Someone’s racking up charges all over the country in your name. So I said no way. I’m calling this person. So I call and say, “Um yeah, Who is this?” (said using my most demanding tone). Well it was my sweet friend Sabrina (who’s phone number I obviously do not have stored in my phone). So I had to explain my reason for being so rude, and she promised me she would not steal my identity. She is now stored in my phone, but if any funny business shows up on my statements…

Also, I have finished my second small quilt. Again, I learned from many little mistakes. I messed up on the corners in the finishing, and up close I recognize some of the stitching from Frankenstein’s face. I also did not trim the left-overs when piecing and that is why you might notice red behind the fabric. And lastly, I freaked out, because I need to wash the fabric markers I used off. The freaking happened because I realized I did not pre-wash that red fabric, and you know what happens if you throw something red in the wash and you shouldn’t have. I know it’s already pink, but I am worried about the red bleeding onto the other pieces. I’ve soaked test strips overnight, I’ve pinched them all together and hung them up to dry. I think it will be okay, but I’m still a little nervous about washing it.

Here is the finished quilt

Here is the cupcake up close.

It's made of felt and fleece.

The Stamp of Approval

So I was recently at a sorority thingy, where the college age girls and the alumni get together and have a meal and talk a bit about what has been going on. Well, while I was eating and meeting a very nice girl that just moved to town, one of the young’ins noticed that another youngin was talking about her at another table. And as these scenarios usually play out, the talker noticed that she and her conversation had been noticed. And she replys to the noticer, “We’ve decided we like your hair cut. We approve.” And then I realized just how grateful I was to be the person I am now.

I’d like to think that I wasn’t the type of girl in college that cared about others approval, but I’m sure I was to an extent. I remember a particular comment about open toed shoes after Labor Day that wasn’t appreciated by a sister. But I also remember the person making the comment knew exactly whose buttons she could push and did so frequently to many. I like to think back then I sought approval on bigger issues. I’d also like to think I’ve outgrown it. But I’d be lying if I didn’t ponder for a moment about what someone else might think of what I’m doing. In actuality it doesn’t matter. The decisions that I/we’ve made have always been for the purpose of doing what is best for my little family. We don’t own our own home (therefore we don't have a mortgage), I’ve been in school forever, and Matt went back to school full time. I’ve brushed off a few snide remarks made by some. But all in all, we have a plan, a big picture for our family, and very few people’s approval is desired.

Ahhh, the difference a few years makes.

Hunka-hunka- burning crumbs!

I love a light, full of fiber, English muffin in the morning. In fact, I have one almost every day. The particular brand of muffins I like have this gritty cornmeal type coating on the bottom, and they tend to fall off and collect in the crumb catcher.

Yesterday, when I heard the toaster oven ding, I noticed a bit of smoke billowing from the glass door on the front. I opened it up to find a flame roaming around the bottom of the toaster oven engulfing all the little gritty crumbs. I holler, “Fire! Fire!” and Matt quickly appears in the kitchen. The flame was almost through consuming the little grits, so it had died down quite a bit. I looked at Matt and asked if I should but some water on it. Matt said, “NO, NO, NO! You never use water to but out a fire when it is coupled with electricity [toaster]. Pour salt on it.” I grabbed the salt, shook, and the flame went out. I told Matt that he was my hero, and that he had saved me. And I know this is a little over kill, but really he just might have. I say this because, if it ever happens in the future I know never to go to the water (like I wanted to in this instance, because it was my first reaction). Always remember Baking soda for a grease fire (but don’t store it above the stove or you may not be able to reach it in an emergency) and maybe I little salt next to the toaster.

And the post just keep coming...

Matt’s Jr. Parliamentary procedure team he’s been working with won First place in the regional contest and are moving on to State. Matt was so proud of the kids. They announced their win over the PA at school the next day. Matt said the kids really held their heads high and it was real point of pride for all that were involved.

Next week I’ll be out of town. I’m attending a training that will hopefully provide me with an opportunity to make some money during those months between sitting for the bar and awaiting the results. And also the time its going to take to start up my practice. I mean, people don’t just start knocking on the door, because they heard you passed the bar. They also don’t hand out bags of money with your law degree. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be sitting with no clients (which means no money) and a really expensive piece of paper framed on the wall that took me eight years to get. At least for a while.

Quilting... yes, I'm a young old lady!

Well, I have made my first attempt at quilting. It’s so sad annoying how we learn more from trying and making mistakes, than we do when we have an immediate success.

In my novelty to the trade, I thought that I should use this fabric that had stripes so that I could use the lines to guide me. Great in theory, but in reality, I noticed every little flaw in my cutting. A stripe would be wide, then narrow, then wide again. DANG!!! Also, I totally under estimated how much of a pain it would be to make sure that all the stripes went the same direction. And speaking of pain, Oh my God my fingers. I seriously tortured them I little bit. And every time I wanted to say that my “fingers hurt”, I had a flash to this scene in Happy Gilmore.

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I totally feel her pain, but it’s still funny.

I purchased the things I needed as I went, and I’m pretty sure that I should have done things in a different order. When it came time to hand quilt the layers, I needed a quilting frame. I went to two different places on this side of town looking for one. One of the places I went was a “Quilting Shop” and the lady told me they didn’t carry them. I felt like saying, “I’m sorry I thought I came into a quilting shop”. Anyhow, I borrowed one from my Grandmother.

So here is my Christmas-y little quilt. I didn’t intend for it to look so Holiday appropriate it just turned out that way. And just to ward off the questions, there is no “with child” news. Its small because my Grandmother told me to start small for a while. But it is pretty perfect for a baby, and I’m going to put it in my cedar chest until that time comes. I’m going to piddle with a few more small ones before I take on a big project. I’ve already purchased the fabric for my next one. No stripes.

See what I mean about the stripes. Such a pain!

Here's the backHere is an up close of the back