The Need for a Run December 30, 2009

I nearly determined the other day that I was allergic to my job.  I’ve been getting headaches for the last several workdays.  I don’t get these headaches on days when I’m not working.  Therefore, I must be allergic to my job.

Unfortunately, I don’t think any reasonable physician would agree with that.

Truly, I’m not sure what it is.  The fluorescent lighting?  The climate control system?  The chair/desk/computer combination which is set up in a decidedly UN-ergonomic manner?

Problem is, I’ve been in the same building with the same surroundings and same un-ergonomicness for the last three and a half years.

Perhaps the allergy was slow to develop.

Or, maybe it’s not a work allergy at all.

So what is it?  Why do I get these headaches?  Why do I have a knot the size of quarter in my neck?  Why do I have this ache between my shoulder blades?  Why is my SI joint acting up again?

Hmmm, when was the last time I went for a run?  A week ago?  Surely not.  (counting in my head…) Oh crud.  It’s been a week.  One long, entire week without a run.  Or even a brisk walk.

I mean, I guess I can make the Christmas excuse.  Except that I saw a dedicated person out running on Christmas morning, as Chef and I delivered an ice sculpture and then went back home to eat ourselves silly and lie around watching movies all day.  I was not the dedicated person.  (Unless I’m dedicated to biscuits and gravy.  And an argument could be made for that.)

So this may be the solution.  A run may work all the tightness out of my shoulders and evict the headaches from my temples.  It may remind my legs that they can do something besides walk from the couch to the fridge.  It may give me life again.

Tonight is the night.  Amen!

Button Barrettes December 29, 2009

Earlier this  month, I promised that I’d show you the Christmas gifts I made for less than $7.00.  Today, I fulfill my promise!

This summer, I went to the Cornerstone Music Festival in Illinois.  When visiting the merchandise tent, I saw these hair clips that had buttons on them.  They were cute, and I totally ripped off the idea for my Christmas gifts this year.  I had some pretty buttons, and my mom had a bunch, too.  All I needed to buy were bobby pins, snap clips, and super glue.

When you’re ready to work on making these, you should have the bobby pins, snap clips, and super glue available, plus a rag to dry them on.  Having a wet rag handy is good, too, in case you get glue on your fingers.  Please heed the warning on the super glue bottle that this glue BONDS SKIN INSTANTLY.

Seriously.  It’s not fun to have your fingers glued together.

Not that I’ve done it or anything.

Ahem.

You’ll use the bobby pins for shank buttons.

You’ll use the snap clips for the flat buttons.

Okay, so I took a bunch of photos while I was making these.  But since the items were so small and I was trying to get close-ups, almost all my photos were blurry.  I think I know how to fix that next time — zoom out until it’s not blurry, and then crop the photo to get the image I really want.  But I didn’t do that this time, so please try to use your imagination.  Honestly, these are so easy you hardly need a photo-tutorial.

For the shank buttons, slide the top part of the bobby pin into the hole (shank).  Put super glue all around wherever the button and the bobby pin touch.  In the hole, on the bottom, everywhere.  Let each piece dry on a rag.  Or, you may have to hold onto it for a while until it dries if the button is sliding around.  The glue does dry pretty quickly, so you shouldn’t have to hold it for long.  If you are able to set it down, don’t put it on paper, because the paper will stick to the glue and you’ll have to pull it off later.  When it’s completely dry, you can put them on cards for safe-keeping.

For the flat buttons, the first thing you’ll need to do is open up the snap clip.  At first, I thought it would be best to put a piece of paper in the clip and then close it before gluing the button on, but I found that I ended up getting paper stuck to the clip and the button.  There was one clip I had to throw away because I couldn’t get the paper off.  I was able to save the button, but not the clip.

They aren’t kidding when they call it super glue.

So open the clip, put a little glue on the back portion, and stick the button on.  You will probably be able to gently set the clip down, button side up.  It might take a bit of balancing, but it’s not too difficult.  Again, you’ll want to put these on a rag so that you don’t get glue on your table.

Here are all my clips, drying:

After they were dry, I started matching up the pairs.

And when these are dry, you can also clip them onto cards.

I had some that were in pairs, and some that were singles.  Sometimes you have just one really pretty button without a mate.  That’s okay.  Sometimes a girl wants a pair, and sometimes she just wants one.

It’s a woman’s prerogative!

All my girlfriends are gonna be stylin’ this year!

All my buttons were free (I already had them), and I bought one card of 100 bobby pins and three cards of twelve snap clips, plus one bottle of super glue.  The total cost was less than $7.00.  I made enough to give six people several pairs and singles, and I saved a few for myself.  I spent only about two or three hours working on them.

I’d say that was a good use of my resources, and great way to stay on budget for gifts.

Monday Meal: The Christmas Eve Edition December 28, 2009

I know, Christmas Eve wasn’t on a Monday.  But on Monday, we had leftovers from Chicago Style Pizza week (YUM!) and then we hosted brunch on Christmas Eve.

And I realized, I’m a terrible food blogger.  In fact, I can hardly call myself a food blogger.  Chef does almost all the cooking at these events, and I try to remember to take photos or get recipes or something, but when there are ten or more guests in my house, I tend to forget.

So this time, I have just a few photos of people and finished products.  We had Monte Cristos (see how to make them here), bacon, and biscuits and gravy.  I have what I consider to be the best biscuit recipe in the world, but they didn’t turn out this time.  They didn’t rise.  I doubled the recipe, so I wonder if I calculated something wrong.  (Math and I aren’t really friends.)  The dough was really wet and I had to keep adding more flour, and then I’m sure I overmixed it, and they weren’t the wonderful light, fluffy biscuits I love.  It was very disappointing.

But the Monte Cristos were good.

The bacon was wonderful.

Is bacon ever NOT wonderful?  I’m a fan of bacon.

The gravy was amazing.

I believe there should always be sausage in the gravy when biscuits and gravy are served.  Gravy without the sausage just isn’t as good.

And my biscuits, while pitiful, weren’t bad when smothered with gravy.

Okay, so they were a little bit like hockey pucks made of bread, but my guests were kind and none complained.  I’ve got to make these biscuits again soon, though, just to redeem myself.

It was fun because we had some of our regulars, plus some people who come only every now and then, and some people who’ve never been there before — including three of Chef’s friends from middle school.

What’s even better is that we had leftovers again, so Chef and I ate them on Christmas Day.  And that meant we didn’t have to cook on Christmas.  We just watched movies all day!  Ocean’s 13, Elizabeth: The Golden Age (we didn’t realize it was a sequel, so now we’ll have to find the first one and watch it), The Bishop’s Wife (an old Cary Grant movie that was on our over-the-air movie channel), and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, which was on network TV.  It was a wonderful way to spend Christmas Day!

I hope you all had a great Christmas Eve and Day.  How did you spend it?

The Christmas Story December 23, 2009

Luke 2

Jesus’ Birth in Bethlehem

¹Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth.

²This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

³And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city.

⁴Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David,

⁵in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child.

⁶While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth.

⁷And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

⁸In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night.

⁹And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.

¹⁰But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;

¹¹for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

¹²“This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

¹³And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

¹⁵When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.”

¹⁶So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger.

¹⁷When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child.

¹⁸And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds.

¹⁹But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.

²⁰The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.

.

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May you have a joyous and blessed Christmas.

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Luke 2:1-20, NASB, courtesy Bible.com

Image courtesy StMarkMystic.org

Snowy December 22, 2009

I woke up Saturday morning to see snow on the ground and more falling.  Because of weather, schedule, and laziness, I hadn’t been for a run since Tuesday, and it was high time.  I bundled up and headed out.

I like how snow seems to muffle sound.  The town was very quiet when I made my way to the park.  It was a wet snow which had started as rain late Friday night, so my feet made a sloshy noise as they hit the pavement.  I was thankful that there didn’t seem to be any ice under the snow; I didn’t slip once.

I was the first one at the park that morning, as evidenced by the lack of footprints or car tracks.  Only the squirrels, rabbits, and deer had disturbed the white blanket that covered the grass and the trail.

The wet snow clung to the tree branches, making lacy patterns in the sky, and to my shoes, making running a difficult task.  People say running in sand is a good workout.  I say running in snow is at least as good.  My quads were burning by the end of two miles, even with some breaks for walking, so I took it easy on the way back home.

I like running in the snow.  I like the silence and the crisp air.

And I like returning to a warm house.

Monday Meal: Chicago Style Pizza December 21, 2009

Lots of people tell Chef he should have his own cooking show.  He’s comfortable in a kitchen, he knows what he’s doing, and (though I can hardly believe I’m admitting this publicly) he’s funny.

I told Stephan on Monday that if he did have a cooking show, he should call it “The Improvisational Chef.”  That’s because he doesn’t usually follow written recipes.  He has recipes in his head, but he adjusts them as needed, tasting as he goes along, and changing things to fit his mood or the ingredients on hand.

That said, I can’t give you a recipe for Chicago-style pizza.  Chef admitted he was making what he thinks of as Chicago-style, but he isn’t sure what exactly makes it Chicago-style.  He was thinking of when he lived in Chicago and he would go to this restaurant called Lou Malnati’s.  He said the pizza was amazing, and he and his friends would always get the chocolate chip pizza for dessert.  So that’s what Chef was going for when he made this meal.

He started with the dough.  When I make pizza dough, I use a recipe out of The New Betty Crocker Cookbook that I got back in 1997 or so.  It’s in the recipe for Calzones, and it’s a wonderful crust.

Chef didn’t use that.  He used the recipe in his head.  It was really yummy.  (The crust, not his head.)

Then he made the sauce.  He used equal parts canned diced tomatoes and canned stewed tomatoes.  He seasoned it with an Italian seasoning mix and some salt and sugar and love.  It was a little bit sweet and very delicious.

We used a whole bunch of meat. Ham, pepperoni, and Polish sausage.

And a whole lot of veggies.  Red onions, bell peppers, and mushrooms.

And cheese.  We used Colby and Farmer’s cheese.  Mozzarella would be good, too.  We actually sliced the cheese instead of grating it.  At first, I thought that was weird, but as I was eating, I was glad we did it that way.  It seemed cheesier, and there was better coverage all over.

What Chef knows about Chicago-style pizza is that it’s deep-dish and made upside-down.  So directly on top of the crust goes the cheese, then the meat and veggies, and the sauce on top.

Here it is coming out of the oven.

It was amazing.

Chef’s dad actually called it “the best pizza I’ve ever had.”

We all ate so much we were stuffed.

But then… dessert!

Use some chocolate chips…

And some chopped pecans…

And make a big chocolate chip cookie.  Bake it, and then top it with ice cream, whipped cream and a cherry.

This was also amazing.  Soooo rich and gooey and good.

And of course, even though we were stuffed, we had to eat this too.

The really cool thing is that because we didn’t have very many people show up, we had a lot of leftovers.  We put the extra pizzas and cookies in the freezer, and we’re having this again next week!  Yahoo!

I Run for T-Shirts December 18, 2009

One Christmas, I gave Chef the gift of making his running T-shirts into a blanket.  He loves that blanket, and he uses it a lot.  I decided that I want to make one for myself, too, so I’ve been saving up my shirts from the races I run.

This shirt was for the first organized race I participated in.  Except it wasn’t so organized.  It was supposed to be a 5K, but I’m pretty certain it was only about a 4.5K.  There was supposed to be someone timing us, but the timer got bored by the time I came in, so I don’t know what my time was.

About a year later, I ran my first half marathon.  Chef ran it with me.  It was crazy hilly, and my hip was killing me by the end.  This was the beginning of my sacroiliitis, but thanks to my chiropractor, that’s under control now.

That was in the spring.  Chef and I had so much fun, that the same afternoon, after we ran uphill for thirteen miles (at least, that’s what it felt like), we were trying to decide when our next race would be.  We could barely walk, but we were looking for our next half marathon.  We decided it would be that fall.

During the Lake City Half Marathon, it rained.  And rained.  Pretty much the whole time, it rained.  My shoe rubbed my toe, and I got my very first black toenail.  It fell off a couple of months later.

About a month after Lake City, my alma mater had a 5K which I entered.

Last December, my mother-in-law suggested we run a 5K.  It was very very cold, and there were patches of ice on the trail where we ran.  But I was grateful to be out there nonetheless, because it helped me stay in shape over the winter.

In 2009, I ran several races that didn’t provide t-shirts.  That is truly disappointing to me.  A race number doesn’t make as nice a blanket, after all.  But still, I know I ran them, and I did it partly in training for the following race: the Indianapolis Half Marathon.  This was the first race I truly did on my own.  I didn’t know anyone else running.  No relatives, no friends.  Honestly, I loved it.  I set a personal record for time, and while part of that is due to good training, part of it may have been because I wasn’t distracted by a running partner.

This December, I ran my only repeat race — the 5K with the YMCA.  It’s not that it’s the best race in the world, but it is nearby, and it’s in the winter, which is encouragement to stay active.

At the moment, I have seven race shirts.  That’s two more than Chef had when I made his blanket.  (Not that he’d run fewer races — just that I couldn’t find any more of his shirts.)  How many should I save up until I make the blanket?  I mean, I’m not going to stop running or racing just because my blanket is done, so what’s the cut-off for a good blanket?  I’m thinking nine.  That would make a nice square of t-shirts in the middle.

But then what do I do?  Just keep running, I guess, and save up my shirts for another blanket.

HUGE! December 17, 2009

Chef bought this sweet potato the other day.

It’s the biggest sweet potato I’ve ever seen.

I knew I’d need to photograph it next to something so you can get an idea of how big this thing is.

But forks come in various sizes…

… and so do pencils…

… and so do hands.

But butter is standard.

We’ll probably need that whole stick of butter to flavor this enormous potato.

Ta-Da! The Sweater! December 16, 2009

I’ve been working on Stephan’s sweater for a few months now.  The idea of it intimidated me, but it wasn’t really quite as difficult as I’d feared.  I finally finished all the pieces (the front, the back, and each sleeve) and was ready to sew them together.  I’ve never really sewn knitted pieces together, so this was an adventure.

I got the shoulder seams sewn, so the front and back were together.

Then I stitched the sleeves on.  (I know the color looks totally different in the photo above as compared to the photo below.  Must have been the lighting.  I think the photo above gives a more accurate representation of the true color.)

No I was ready for the side seams.  First, I pinned them together.  Pinning yarn isn’t very easy.

Then I sewed the seam in a whip-stitch.  I don’t know if this was the correct stitch to use, but it seemed the least likely to pull, so that’s what I did.

Finally, I had it all stitched together!  (It’s inside out in this next photo.  And in the upper left corner?  That’s my dog’s tail.)

Now it was time to knit the collar on.  This is what I was really nervous about.

I used a circular needle.  Interesting aside: I got almost all my knitting supplies (needles, stitch counters, stitch holders, stitch markers, crochet hooks) from my aunt after she died.  It wasn’t that she left them to me (I was only 13 when she passed away, and I wasn’t even thinking about knitting back then), but one of her sisters had the stuff and didn’t really need it.  So when I started knitting, my Aunt Lynn passed on to me the things that my other aunt, Sister Mary Denise (she was a nun) had used when she was living.  Lynn didn’t need them.  I’m honored to have these things.  I remember Mary Denise always having needlework — either knitting or crocheting — in her hands.  She was constantly knitting, and as children we always received some kind of craft from her for Christmas.  I remember an orange and white cardigan she made for me that I loved.  I also remember a Nativity set that she made — all knitted and stuffed, which was great for small children to play with.

Anyway, the circular needle I used was from Mary Denise’s things.  You can tell by the packaging how old it is!

In order to make the collar, I had to pick up 80 stitches evenly around the neck.  This was NOT easy.  I nearly cussed about four times.  I did cuss at least once.  (But look!  I figured out how to use the aperture on my camera!)

Finally, I got the stitches on, pretty evenly (though not perfectly).

And I knitted the collar.  (And there’s the sweater looking olive green again.  It really isn’t olive green.)

When I got to the end, it looked really crooked!  I was not very happy!

But in finishing the collar, I managed to fix it.

Finally, the sweater was complete!

And it was ready for Chef to wear.

Doesn’t he look handsome?

The Winter Dilemma December 15, 2009

I generally prefer to run outdoors.  I like being able to see a variety of sights along the way — the houses, people, animals, and trees along the route.  I like the fresh air.

But in the winter, I sometimes retreat indoors.

I’m not crazy about treadmills.  I feel like they force changes in my gait and stride.  Plus, there usually isn’t anything interesting to look at.  Of course, if something became too interesting, I’d risk falling off.

If you’re doing some kind of specific training — speedwork, for example — treadmills are nice because you know you’re keeping a steady pace and not slowing down without realizing it.  Or if you want to do hill work, you can change the incline on a treadmill instead of searching for hills.

And there aren’t many hills around my house.

But in general, I find treadmills a little boring.  So even when it’s cold, I’m usually willing to bundle up and run outside.

Last week Tuesday, though, it was 34 degrees and raining, which in my opinion is the worst weather to run in.  It’s cold, wet, and miserable.  Wednesday it was crazy-windy and sleeting, which turned into sideways snow.

I’m not that dedicated.  When the weather is like that, I’m heading inside.

And I’m thankful for my membership to the YMCA.