Domestic Thursday

I thought I'd drop a quick note since I was just taking a bit of a breather. It's been a busy day so far. I got up with the kids vowing that today I'd stay on my feet and get what I had to done.

Breakfast in. OK, so I just had a huge cup of coffee and a Kashi bar. Misty you can stop shaking her head at me now. The kids fed and dressed. The grocery list in hand and out the door we went. Why does it take me nearly two hours to complete the grocery shopping? Seriously, why? The store was sparsely populated and I had no trouble finding things. The cart got over filled but almost all of it was from the produce aisle. I purchased an insane amount of produce.

Then skipped the meat aisle again (my freezer is still pretty full). I do my biggest damage in the "hippy" aisle. Of course, it doesn't help that everything is bulky and twice the cost of anything else in the store. The boys picked out each a new box of cereal from said aisle. I let them hold the boxes for the whole trip. The deal was that if they wanted it for lunch they were more then welcomed but that they needed to be good for me. Didn't really help matters much because I could be over heard several times saying that I was going to look for the wine aisle and then they could act up as much as they liked. CAS would handle the rest *snort* Too bad they are too young to really understand what Mommy means.

After the purse was emptied and the groceries in the car. The kids strapped in and still holding their Organic 7 grain flakes and granola (man I don't care...yeah its like $10 a box but it doesn't have a stupid multi-coloured toucan or tiger hawking their chemical enhanced crap)

They ate two bowls of the new cereal and the room was so quiet except for the very loud crunching of the granola. They didn't even ask for sugar to be sprinkled on top. Worth every damn penny!

So once the kids were fed I managed to jam all the groceries into their designated spots. I made myself some lunch though I still wasn't very hungry.

1/2 a whole wheat pita with spicy hummus smeared inside and yellow bell pepper, tomato, cucumber jammed inside. Some tiny oranges that pretty much looked good on the plate (not that I got a chance to eat them....L. the mooch strikes again). Finished up my cup of coffee and started in on the house work.

Kitchen cleaned, floors swept and washed. A couple loads of laundry in. Snacks made. By 3:30 I was famished. So I rolled up three thin slices of mozza cheese into three slices of honey ham. Half and apple and a handful of salt free roasted pistachios. A cup of Sencha chased it all back.
Once the break was over I oiled my cutting boards (zzzzzzz boring!) then organized the front hall. Washed the windows (again) and the closet glass. Through more laundry in the washer and searched high and low for L's Obi which apparently, he'd left at the dojo. Meaning I tore my house apart and got all grumpy for no reason *grrrrr*

Got the kids dressed and ready for Karate. Got myself dressed and made a smoothie with my new...you know I have no idea what this stuff really is? Is it "Greens"? Is it Protein? Gahhhh. Anyway I followed the simple recipe on the back omitting only the ice cubes since they make the smoothie too cold and thick to be wolfed back. The verdict....
Not bad at all.
1 banana
1/4 c frozen blueberries
1 c water
1/2 c orange juice
1 scoop of Smoothie Infusion
1/2 c ice (but I omitted that)
Whiz it up in the blender and it was really good. Nice and thin and I was able to drink it down quickly. I'm impressed.

The run was bad. I can tell that I spent a great deal of my energy on grocery shopping and house work because I felt tired and winded for the first 15 mins. Then I got to the top of the long climb at the top of Cochrane and Taunton and was able to recover going west on Taunton. By the time I got to the bottom of the hill I felt a lot better and the rest of the run was spent going at a faster clip than I'm used to.
I made it home with plenty of time for a shower and get dinner going. By the time the guys come home from Karate dinner was ready and we sat and enjoyed the meal.

I created a stir fry with leftover roasted chicken, broccoli, onion, carrot. Then tossed in some soba noodles. Made a sauce from the stock and rice starch.

Everyone enjoyed it. Unfortunately, the noodles have a colour that isn't the most appetizing shade. Normally I'd serve it in a ginger broth but I wanted something slightly more filling.

The kitchen is clean, the kids are tucked into their beds and I'm looking forward to crashing with the rest of a book of short stories written by Alice Munro. I've been interested in seeing the movie "Away From Her" but wanted the story first hand. It is a bleak short story told by the unrepentant philandering husband about his loss when his wife is admitted to a nursing home with a severe case of Alzheimer's disease. He swings from loneliness to jealousy as his wife falls in love with a fellow resident and doesn't even remember that she's married let alone that the man that visits twice a week and follows them about is actually her husband.

The rest of the book is comprised of more stories much in the same vein. All thought provoking but sadly, all in the same morbid flavour. I think I'll be happy when I'm done the book as I really hate to leave things unfinished. Don't get me wrong, they are fabulous stories just really depressing. I think I've let my brain get too fatty on chicklit.

Precious, My Precious....

Oh my old friend. Once upon a time I was a fairly well educated girl. Gainfully employed. Quick, witty and thoughtful. What's happened?

I know the answer to that question though it comes up from through the mist ever so slowly. Oh yes, that's it. I had kids. I've been on Mommy Duty since October 2004, though, that could be argued to say that really my Mommy Duty started pretty much the moment I realized I was carrying E. The fog, thick and grey enveloped over my eyes. It hasn't lifted since.

I feel like I've been keeping my little wrinkly friend here in her jar a bit too long. How is it that I've let her atrophy so badly? I kept up on serious literature. Wrote a couple of poems and pros. Created a few works of art and finished the occasional crossword puzzle. Still the dim curtain hangs thick.

They're All The Rage!

Who knew? I mentioned these to my running coaches about a year ago. Each one, in their turn, laughed at me.

I have a feeling even with a little dribble this bad boy would be a whole lot better than a full squat in a dirty snowbank out on Columbus Road.

Just imagine the honks we'll get standing there writing our names in the snow. *snort*

The Long....Slow.....Run

The long slow run. Today we were blessed with a gorgeous day. Partly cloudy, slight south-west breeze and about 4C. Wonderful, a definite sneak peek at spring.

Sheree, Misty and I set out on our 14K run that took us through some nice neighbourhoods and scenic country road. Thankfully, omitting all the hills that we could .

Along the way topics varied from husbands to power gel jelly beans. Our craziest discussions of the day was
"If we were dogs, what would we be?" I've decided that I would be a Golden Cocker Spaniel.
Yes, definitely! See, how pretty am I? Ahhhhh so cute.

We discussed old boyfriends, the state of the gas station bathroom where we stopped at the 8K mark. This had to make it into my blog, as it was the cleanest, prettiest gas station bathroom of all time. It was actually a treat to use! Seriously, I believe we all wanted to remark on it but felt at the time we were in the store that it might seem odd. I'm not sure how we came back to the topic but we were all in agreement. Fine facilities, indeed!

We certainly have some very silly conversations but I adore these chats, best. It gets us through the distance and at a rate where we aren't dying and we are thoroughly entertained. No negative talk, only supportive and witty remarks are made. A wave at a passer-bye or fellow runner, a comment about a gorgeous dog and back to our crazy topic. The occasional clandestine potty break with a beep of a horn from a passing car *sorry Sheree*. It's all good. Topped off with scandalous girl chat at Tim's after, which has cleared more neighbouring tables than we'd care to admit. The thought just crossed my mind that not only may our topics offend, our odor might too...Ha!

It is good to note that we are well on track for our time goal in Late May.

"Snoop Kutu"

Introducing the newest member of our family. E. named him. It's a collection of names of fish he was reading off the tanks while he waited for the pet store employee to capture this particular fish out of the over-sized tank filled with generic looking gold fish brothers and sisters. E. picked the most unique one of them all. (This is not a photo of the actual fish...he is not photogenic unfortunately). "Snoop" is actually mostly white with orange marks on his left flank and one black eye. We are toast if this fish dies because there will be no finding his fishy twin.

Up and out of the house early today. We decided against the lengthy grocery shop today in order to get this one particular errand completed. E's fish "Sushi" died last Sunday and he was decidedly upset by it. In our need to comfort him, after we explained that "Sushi" had gone to heaven and was swimming in God's ocean and being all fishy happy, he was still beside himself. We did what just about any parent does. We quickly added that if he wanted we could get him a new fish. *silent scream*

"Sushi" was a fifty cent Wal-Mart fish purchased in July 2007. It was initially purchased for E. with the best of intentions but cared for by Mommy begrudgingly. He could have cared less about it after he named it. The only time he paid any mind was if the fish was pointed out to him and then it was still a cursory glance. That tank and fish took up valuable space and was a big pain in the ......

When the fish kicked I figured, finally I can clean this tank out and give it away. Nope. No dice. That of course is the same thought behind the hamster cages. These big plastic mazes and bubbles that look like some kind of Ikea creation. We had two separate cages much like this for Molly and Holly. Apparently, once they mature they do not like to share space and fought till the point of drawing blood. So one huge cage became two twin modules.
Taking up a lot of space on our portable dishwasher because the boys could not be trusted to leave them alone or to keep from opening the cage if left unattended. Needless to say, once Holly goes up to God's Meadow there will be no replacing her.

It's really amazing what we do for our children. The next pet to come into this house had better be a painted rock!

Struggling

So as you know husband and I have given up meat for lent and only have it for one meal once a week (Sunday). It has proven a hardy struggle. We've both been feeling very sluggish, cranky and a little ill since the onset of the experiment. I don't crave meat but my body does. I don't even think about it when it comes time to plan our daily meals. Though after another day of absolute butt dragging I decided to break the fast with dinner out tonight.

It had to be out because of course all the meat in the house is in deep freeze. So off we go for dinner and it was pleasant enough in that we got to spend some quality time together without any electronic distractions. The only problem was that the service was horrid. We were not the only customers that seemed put out by how long the meal was dragging on. We walked in the doors at 5:45 and left just shy of 7:20. That's ridiculous. The meal finally came to a screeching halt when L. managed to tip over his full glass of sticky juice and soaked my side of the table (my dessert...hey I didn't really want the other half of that slice of pie *grrrr*) and it poured down and soaked my coat and sweater and E.'s pants.

Not a happy ending to an otherwise ok but long meal. So husband gathered the boys up and got them out to the car and got the heater going for me while I settled the bill and trudged out with a soggy coat and sweater, in my short sleeves. Freezing all the way home in the car. Not fun. I suppose that's my penance for breaking the fast. God's little way of saying that I didn't get off Scott free.

So I'll be adding back in meat. Likely every other night. It might have just been too abrupt a change. It was a good try. I'll continue to try and widdle it down but clearly right now it's not the right time.

So with that I'm back to the menu plan for the month and I'll pop in servings of meat into the meals I've already planned. I didn't run today because I ran yesterday. Although I started out with lots of enthusiasm yesterday I quickly ran out of energy. Again, hitting that sluggish wall. I wasn't looking forward to hitting it again today. So tonight I'm taking it easy and I think I'll putter a little.

It's a darn good thing I gave up swearing too. Nothing like having a back up plan *giggle*

Wednesday Catch Up

Oh it seems that it has been several days since I last posted. Sorry about that. Just got very busy with running about that I haven't had much "home" time. Today I'll do my catching up.

Sunday, I had a great run albeit a very strenuous one with lots of killer hills and some broken promises, right Misty? Yes that's right. After two of these big hills on a country road Misty said that she was 99.9% certain that the rest of the run would be flat. I knew I shouldn't believe her. I was right! No sooner than we crested the next hill we looked on further to see the entire road was one undulating climb after another. It was hell but still oddly, fun. We were joined by a friend of Sheree's. Now I can't remember her name...sorry *frown*. She was a pleasure to chat with. The running community is so awesome.

I'm still having trouble fueling up for runs. I know what I need to eat but still seem to be fueling all wrong. What is it about nutrition that makes it so tricky? Maybe I just over-think it? Maybe I'm flakier than I thought? I think I'll just stick to the tried and true. Topped-up oats or bagels w/nut butter and jam and lots of water.

The last couple of days has been spent trucking off to appointments, play dates, karate, beavers and runs. It just feels like nothing constructive is getting done. I've got laundry growing up around my ears and it is just my clothes. Everything else has been attended to. So here I sit in my Lulus and a ratty black sweater with nothing else to wear. It is my goal to get that done today.

I was out in my nearly spring running gear last night with 2 inches of leg showing (or glowing moon white). With this gorgeous weather coming on us it is starting to feel a bit more like spring than winter. Though I know I should be cautious in my thinking and wishing because Spring is still more than a month off. It is just making me want to get up and get the jogging stroller out of winter storage and get out with the kids. I miss hearing "Run faster Mommy!" They are like Mini Mistys.

Pretty isn't it? Breakfast today was a fabulous smoothie. 1 small banana, 1/4 c frozen blueberries, 1 scoop protein powder, 1 tbsp ground flax 1 cup almond milk, agave and 1/3 cup of oats. A little too thick but delicious and filling. Sadly, two cups of coffee. (half decaf, half caf).

Lunch will be a bowl of that fabulous Potato & Corn Chowder from last night with an orange and a cup of Sencha.

Dinner is also scheduled to be mahi mahi tonight but I was thinking that with that lovely homemade Greek yogurt in the fridge I should make falafels with home made pita bread and a nice tzatziki and save the fish for tomorrow night when I'd be coming in from a run with very little time to whip up dinner. Fish is always incredibly fast to make.

I'll up date with pictures later tonight if I have time between kitchen clean up and my coffee with JOanne. Ok off to get my chores done. Have a great day!

I promised Misty that I'd post a picture of the fish oil my friend had told me about. Truly, this stuff is awesome. No fishy taste, no repeat and it actually tastes good. It is expensive, to be sure but goes down so easy that it is well worth the price. I purchase it in the smallest bottle so that it doesn't have a chance to go bad before it is finished. Also takes up less space in the fridge.

Click image to enlarge