Same Ol' Situation

Not running is really messing with my blogging and Daily Mile updates. It's more of not being as mobile which throwing things off. I'm attempting to keep busy with in reason, but when you're used to doing certain things as a part of your daily life it puts a kink on the chain of daily events to not do THAT thing, and running is that thing for me. Yes, this is a temporary situation, and I hope I'll be back to doing some sort of running and training in less than three weeks.

Gardening has been the activity of choice these days. It really isn't the fun part of gardening, yet, it's the prep part, like pulling weeds and digging up the dirt with a pick ax*. I have a big back yard, but it has gone by the wayside since May 2008 when I had the hip fracture and surgery. There's no problem with the lawn, that gets mowed and trimmed regularly. It's the planter and garden areas that have become unruly. Those areas were sort of my thing, and when I could no longer squat and easily get up and down after surgery, gardening was out of the question. When my grandparents were around, gardening was a serious thing. They planted just about everything, apricots to zucchini. The garden area was beautiful and always lush. They also had a beautiful array of of flowers growing, no matter what the season. It seemed like the Land of Oz to me when I was a kid because the yard was so pristine and colorful. I've told this story before, so I won't recap it, but I'm back on the gardening thing, perhaps not with the same verve my grandparents had, but at least it will be less unruly. Hubs and I thought putting in a lap pool(fire pit, new patio, granny flat/office, etc...) would solve most of the gardening issue, and it would, but maybe when the economy turns around and we actually have funds for something like that. Meanwhile, it's just me, a shovel, and some seeds.

Photo from May 2005- Currently looks about the same - Sad, I know....

Hubs celebrated a birthday on Wednesday. Since it was a work/school day, and everyone's schedules were all over the place, it was just Hubs, the kid and me celebrating. The three of us went out for sushi at the neighborhood place just blocks away, then we came home for cake.

I swear, I do have some mad cake decorating skilz and a degree in Art, I even own special cake decorating tips, paint brushes and gear, but that would have required a trip to the store, and I wanted to use what I had on hand. I made a cake from the Cooking Light cookbook , "Old Fashioned Caramel Layer Cake," decorated with fridge magnets and an Ikea tea-light candle.

OK, not my finest moment in artistic creation, I'll never work for Ace of Cakes, but the cake was delicious.

"Happy Birthday dear Papa..."

Thursday I attended a "Pants and Pinot" party at AKA Alice's home. Her sister brought over a really great inventory of jeans, tops, dresses and accessories. There was also a friend who was buying gold jewelry on the spot, but I didn't think ahead of time to look through my jewelry for things to sell. I wasn't planning on drinking wine (the allergy thing) and planning on buying just one pair of jeans. It has been AGES since I've had a decent red wine, but a certified wine snob told me that my best option for wine would be pinot noir** (less likely to have a reaction, not sure why) so I indulged in a glass of wine. I keep trying because I really miss red wines, and it's a crap-shoot with the taste of organic wines which don't warrant an allergic reaction. After a glass of wine and some really good nibbles of food, I was really relaxed, took a look at the awesome selection of jeans. I grabbed a few pairs to try on , just thinking I would purchase just one, but I also found a pair of jeans with my name on them. I rarely run into anyone who has my same name, unless they're 80+ years old, and to find my name on a pair of white jeans was just hysterical. Amazingly, the jeans fit well, so I had to purchase those in addition to the one pair I was already planning to buy. Score! This was a very smart retail event -- Alcohol and shopping. Fun for the guests and a major score for the retailer with all of those relaxed shoppers. I also saw some of the herd at the party. The funny thing is that we looked so different from our running selves, that we were not readily recognizable. One of the Heffers, Betty, walked right past me and said she didn't recognize me with my hair down, and I didn't recognize her when she walked past me - she had just come from work. We're used to seeing each other in running garb, all sweaty and dusty.

Oh, by the way, AKA Alice puts on a really good party. :)

Tomorrow is the Carlsbad 5000. I'm still not able to participate. I was hoping I'd be able to at least walk it by now, but I'm not there yet. I will be attending since Hubs and my friend Rich will be running, plus the Herd, RU buddies, and track club friends. *sigh* I'll bring the big ass camera and take pics. This so sucks not being able to run this one since the timing is chipped, and it's a 5k. Next year I'll be all over this one.

Wednesday's Song:
It Amazes Me - Tony Bennett

PEACE

*I really need to get a roto-tiller.
**Bummer. I still broke out, but it was so good!

Sounds Like Life To Me

Randomness

Like many of us, I spent the past 16(?) days catching up on the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, cheering for our country participating in sports I know little about. I am familiar with downhill skiing, cross country skiing and ice skating, only because I've had lessons in each of those activities, but I'm far, far, FAR from being a pro and have never competed, but I can confidently say that I can get myself from point a to point b. I know nothing about hockey, but I can get the gist of the game, and I found myself cheering and yelling at the TV a few times. Same thing with snow boarding, speed skating and bob sledding. I'm sure I would have been yelling at the curling event, too, but it wasn't on when I watched. Oh, and what about some of those guys (and women) in their super suits? You really have to have quite the physique to pull off one of those super fitted race suits. Now that the 2010 Winter Olympics are over, I'll have to find something else since American Idol is a yawner this season. At least I still have Project Runway.

I actually got out and ran with the track club on Saturday. We ran at one of my favorite locations, starting at Tidelands Park in Coronado, along the Silver Strand to fit in the time or mileage and back. A lot of people don't care too much for the Silver Strand, but I like it. I can find my groove there and just go with it. It figures that rain was in the forecast for our run. It seems it has rained three out of the four Saturdays in February, and that one non rainy Saturday I was sick. In spite of the rain there was a decent attendance of track club members. My mileage for this 2 hour out and back run was exactly as it was when I did it last year, but it was raining and very windy at some points this time, plus I was just coming back from being sick... I guess I should give myself some slack for that, but I was a little bummed with my time. It was good to be back running with the track club, though. I was able to catch up with my friends who did show up. I'm glad I had the foresight to bring a change of clothes because I was DRENCHED. My clothes and shoes were sopping wet and heavy. It felt good to change into dry clothes and shoes, even if it were just for the ride home.

I'm signed up for the Carlsbad 5000 on April 11 with Rehab United as a team - which should be fun. I missed the boat on the La Jolla Half Marathon, which said "FULL" when I tried to sign up yesterday. Am I bummed? No. Running in the LJHM was sort of an after thought to running the Carlsbad Half Marathon in January, and I was thinking about going for the triple crown (Carlsbad, La Jolla, AFC), but it wasn't a priority, getting healthy was the focus. Now I might have to rethink AFC and if I really want to do that one in the heat of August. There ARE other half marathons to consider.

Check out another running skirt give away at Endurance Isn't Only Physical.

I was in the mood for baking on Sunday, so I made a Red Velvet cake. I've been having issues with Red Velvet Cake I've had at restaurants. They aren't good. Either the cake tastes weird or the frosting is cream cheese frosting, which (in my mind) is all wrong. That's not how grandma used to make it. I scoured the internet for recipes and found this one that comes close to grandma's cake:

THE RECIPE FOR RED VELVET CAKE

The recipe for the frosting follows it. By the way, this frosting recipe contains enough butter to make Paula Deen squeal with delight.

Parenting (or in our case, Grand-parenting) rule #6.8 in the rule book:
"Never leave out any markers, pens, stamps, paint, and/or other media that a 6 year old can run a muck with."

What you're looking at is my dresser stamped with my husband's state license stamp. I guess the kiddo had a good time at it. No, he didn't get in trouble. It was his Papa's fault for leaving the stamp out, but the kiddo was made aware that this wasn't a nice thing to do, even though we thought it was funny.

Wednesday's Song:
Who Will Buy? - Barbara Streisand, London Theater Orchestra & Cast, Aaron Neville, etc...

PEACE

Photo by fleeglebingodroopersnork on Photobucket.com

Days Of The Week

Yesterday

We spent time at home fixing things around the house and gardening. I found more "planted" avocados, planted by my dog. The only thing is now some of the avocado seeds are starting to sprout. Someone suggested I dig those up and give them out as gifts. Aside from finding the sprouts, I pulled a lot of weeds and stray grasses, and that was just a small section. I really do need a bulldozer to take care of everything and just be done with it.

Today

Workout at RU today.
I got the usual killer workout, except this time I did barbell squats with 85#.

We're having some very un-San Diego weather here today. It feels somewhat tropical and humid. I was rained on. I'm glad it wasn't just me drenched in sweat when working out.

My PT sent me an e-mail, per my request, with a general workout for when I'm not working out at RU, 4 days of running - varied between my long runs, intervals, hills and tempo runs, strength training 2 days, and (of course) the two days I workout at RU. I just did the math. That's 8 days. Last time I checked there were only 7 days in a week, unless I missed something, and even so, I should have at least one rest day. I don't think he meant the workouts as it reads, but it does read as 8 days.

I found a really good referral to a raspberry buttermilk cake recipe off of Not Soccer Mom's blog, who found it on another blog, but it's also on Epicurious.com. The recipe is pretty straight forward and, in my opinion, easy. I've made this cake three times already. I might have to try this cake with blueberries next. It comes out exactly as it looks here:

Photo from Epicurious.com

Saturday's song:
Dream Of The Blue Turtles - Sting - Run-DMZ

PEACE

Where To Now St. Peter?

What day is it, anyway?

Oh yeah, it's Wednesday, the day after the presidential inauguration. Everyone keeps asking, (well, people on TV) "Where were you when Barack Obama became our 44th president?" I was at home, in my blue plad jammie pants, a giant red sweatshirt and my worn out Ugg boots that I should have gotten rid of a long time ago, holding onto a warm cup of coffee, with my little girl cat Luna at my side, watching the the inaugural ceremony in my living room. Under normal circumstances, I probably would have already gotten in a walk, run or work out, have been showered and going about my day. I had a flu shot on Monday afternoon and it gave me flu symptoms - achey, fever, felt like crap. I can't remember the last time I spent all day in my jammies due to a flu. I'm glad it was just a day thing. I'm feeling much better, thankyouverymuch. I did get up and made a celebratory chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. I was craving chocolate, and I didn't want to feel left out, you know, all the celebrating on TV. (Yeah, good excuse!) To tell you the truth, I would have been happy with a single Hostess chocolate cupcake, but I had the stuff to make cake. I knew that if I had my one piece I'd be over it, and I also knew the cake would be gone before this morning -- and it was, and not by me.

Anyway...

Where was I?

Apparently, getting the flu shot also causes temporary ADD.

President Obama's speech really made an impression on many, even on those who did not vote for him. It reminded me of how far we've come as a country, but how much further we have to go. I felt the speech was very honest, and the suggestions that it's going to take all of us to get the country back on track resonated throughout his speech.

"America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."

Sunday's song:
Busy Being Fabulous - The Eagles - Katiefeldmom

PEACE

Lemonade

So...
If life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.

If life gives you chocolate cake you...


...have an impromptu Chargers party and re-celebrate my son's birthday with more friends... Of course this called for a trip to the store for more beer, mixers and more food to grill. We went from just the 5 of us to about 20 before the first half of the game. The Chargers won the game.

It was a great day.

We still have chocolate cake left over. There was a lot of cake.


Friday's song:
Orange - 10,000 Maniacs




PEACE

Swim

Did you hear the one about the 41 year old mom who made the Olympic swim team??? Just more proof that it doesn't all end after having kids and at age 40. Rock on Dara Torres.

Full enough, yet?

Tonight's dessert was angel food cake with strawberries.



Yesterday's song:
Rockin' At The Barbeque - Dave Fields

PEACE

Picture from Photobucket.com

Hummingbird

It's hard to believe that the little guy in the photo is going to be 5 in a couple of weeks. I dug out this photo because Bisous is looking for a cake recipe for her daughter's first birthday. I immediately thought about the Hummingbird Cake recipe, which is what that bunny cake up there is made out of. (I miss the days of bunny cakes. Now it gets more complicated because that little guy in the picture now wants a Lexus birthday cake. How do we manage THAT, other than putting a Matchbox or Hotwheels version of a Lexus on top???)

Here's the recipe:

HUMMINGBIRD CAKE
From recipezaar.com

Ingredients

• 
  

Cake

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained
• 1 cup chopped pecan
• 2 cups chopped bananas
• 1/2 cup chopped pecan

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 (16 ounce) package powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Combine first five ingredients in a large bowl; add eggs, and oil, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened.

2. (Do not beat) Stir in vanilla, pineapple, 1 cup pecans, and bananas.

3. Pour batter into 3 greased and floured 9" round cake pans. (I used 2 )

4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

5. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.

6. Spread Cream Cheese Frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake; sprinkle 1/2 cup chopped pecans on top.

7. Store in refrigerator.

8. Cream Cheese Frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed, with an electric mixer until smooth.

9. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until light and fluffy.

10. Stir in vanilla.

11. Yield: 3 cups

Calories - a gazillion

Since the cake was for a one year old, I left out the pecans. The first time I had this cake it was in three layers, but it has the density of a carrot cake, so you really don't need to layer it. I made the bunny head using two round pans, cutting out the two ear part, then using the left over part for the bow-tie. I also used store bought tube decorating frosting and confections to decorate.

Most importantly, he loved it...


Yesterday's song:
Hot Dogs and Hamburgers - John Mellancamp

PEACE

Yummy

I like cake. There's no secret about it. It's not like I eat cake constantly, and I probably can count on one hand the times I've had an entire piece for myself this year. I'm not sure exactly why, but I did not have cake for my birthday this year. I had one bite of a brownie the day before when we went out with the family. On the actual day of my birthday, we ended up at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner, and they really don't have cake. The catch is that I'm allergic to dairy, so cheesecake is out. They had an apple crisp, put the ala mode in a different dish for my husband, and stuck a candle in the crisp, which was OK but it still wasn't cake. Even when I went out with the gang from work, there was no cake. It's still June and still my birthday month, and I asked my husband to PLEASE go get a good chocolate cake, and none of that cheap cake with Crisco frosting crap that I always scrape off. Chocolate cake with real chocolate frosting was in order. My husband sent my son to Von's (Safeway) for the very much wanted confection. My son did well with the cake selection. As he walked in the door, I exclaimed, "Who wants cake? I do!" And then sang, to the tune of happy birthday "Chocolate caaaake for me." Everyone pretty much ignored me, but I was in total bliss. You'd think I'd never had cake before. It was delicious.

Yesterday's song:
Camera Obscura - Enigma

PEACE