The One Where I've been gone for awhile

No I didn't disappear permanently. but last week, metaphorically speaking, kicked my butt. The Hubbs was gone beginning Monday morning and didn't get back til the wee hours of Thursday night.
The week of Mom started out great on Monday and Tuesday and slowly went down hill from there. We just have a lot of adjusting to do with everyone being in a new grade this year, the amount of homework, and apparently the independence-push that comes from having a "tween".

The Menu from Menu-Planning Monday worked like a charm, other that my darling oldest son deciding that he was going to throw away his chicken and black bean quesdilla one night. Then he helped himself to a popsicle while I was on the phone, which is definitely a big no-no if you don't eat any of your dinner.

The next night, he decided to throw away the leftover pasta shells we were having. Which I must say, is made all the stuff he loves. Who doesn't love noodles with cheese inside. I didn't enen put chopped spinach in there. This is working-mom dinner stuff. Just ricotta in the shells, then pasta sauce on top. Easy. And every kid should be able to at least take 10 bites without throwing it out.

I told my Hubbs on Thursday, as he was at the airport, that on Saturday, when he was finally home and not going to work, that I wuold be leaving the house, by myself, to enjoy some much needed quiet time. He could probably tell by the tone of my voice that if he said anything that was not in complete agreement with my plan, that I might threaten to not come back. So his response, " O-------K."

Hubbs came back, I made it to Thursday night and we went back to normal schedule on Friday. Friday afternoon, I picked up my kids and learned that my oldest had to type up a story that was due by Monday. Who on earth came up with the idea to give 5th graders homework over the weekend? It wasn't technically due till Tuesday, but he has about 3 hours of homework a night as it is, I wasn't about to let him save the typing till Monday too!

By the way, get your 4th graders a typing program. They'll need to at least hunt and peck at a reasonable speed by 5th grade. It took him FOREVER to type 4 paragraphs. And the best part, he has to write a sotry every week. Guess he'll get lots of practice on the typing skills, every weekend!

The One After Day 3 of the 30 Day Shred

Day 3 completed. I could not have felt better to not have to run today. Too bad it's only one day and tomorrow is both a run and the shred.
We had a busy day today, complete with Tae Kwon Do, a soccer meeting and then a PTA meeting.

Dinner tonight was Crock Pot Dump Chicken (thighs)
I did a paackage of chicken thighs, along with some Sesame Oil, Peanut Butter, Ketchup, Soy Sauce, and some Brown Sugar.
It turned out pretty good, and thank goodness it was crock pot! The boys were able to eat at 5pm, and I didn't get to eat the chicken till after 8pm!

Hubby doesn't come home till super late Thursday night....the clock is ticking down.

The One with the Crazy, Hot Monday, where I

got my butt kicked BIG TIME.

So I was real dumb. I was supposed to run for an hour this morning (4am) and I just couldn't drag my butt out of bed any earlier than "shower time" in order to get ready for work. So the solution, since my running schedule is already altered since the hubby is out of town till essentially Friday morning, was to take the kids (and the dog) for an hour long run after work!

The dog is fine, she can run 8 miles with me no problem. The kids normally ride their bikes and that works. But my oldest had homework that still needed to be done, so he was chosen to stay home and do homework uninterrupted (he's going to be 11, and won't be able to go to childcare in a year, so he has to start being tested to be by himself to prepare for next year).

That left the little one, who's almost 9 and one of, hmmm how do I say it, Whinier children that know. And to top it all off, it was about 95 degrees.

It was a tough run for me and the dog, and a little tough ride for the little guy. He was hot, tired, thirsty, needed to go to the bathroom and had a leg ache, ALL AT THE SAME TIME. This all miraculously went away when we turned and he started down a substantial hill. and it completely disappeared once we got to the driveway. But we survived.

But it wasn't over....oh no. After running over 6 miles in 95 degree heat, I still needed to do the 30 day shred. It's 20 minutes, of a butt kicking workout, everyday for 30 days. Today was day 2. And I can barely push my arms hard enough to close a dresser drawer now. Being a marathoner, my legs don't feel most of the workout, and my cardio really doesn't get challenged, but the strength training in the arms, and the ab exercises are definitely kicking my butt.

To top it all off, I managed to stick to my 2 cups of coffee per day, and I had no snacks at work. This is huge as there are always those little mini-candy bars in several candy dishes in the office. and I usually give myself a stomach ache eating too many every single day. I now have 2 chocolates sitting on my desk, and several in my purse that I haven't touched. It's my goal to seriously cut down on the sugar which can only help my running.

The One with Menu Planning Monday for August 24rd

This menu will be open to interpretation, hubby leaves tomorrow morning till late Thursday night (he usually does all the dishes), and we have a CRAZY schedule on Tuesday. Plus I'm supposed to run at 4am tomorrow.

So, hear we go:

Monday: Pasta Shells (from OAMC recipe that I previously made and froze half)

Tuesday: Nachos (also from a double batch I made and put half in the feezer). Recipe for the Chicken and Black Bean filling is here. Filling courtesy of Stolen Moments

Wednesday: Crock Pot Spaghetti (only goes for 4 hours, and I work 20 minutes away, not sure how this will work out yet, aside from coming home at lunch). Crock Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs

Thursday: Leftovers. Hubby comes home and it will be good time to clean out the frig.

Friday: Crock Pot Indonesian Chicken (also known as spicy Peanut Butter Chicken in this house). Originally taken from the book "saving dinner" by Leanne Ely.

Saturday: Farm Team BaseBall Game. No Cooking for Me!!!

Sunday: BLT Pasta Salad.

I am so excited about this recipe. It looks so yummy in the picture. I got it from Cooking During Stolen Moments, which is a blog I follow via RSS feed. (I have quite a few I follow in order to find good recipes and great grocery deals).


Crock Pot Indonesian Chicken:
1 T. Soy Sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 t. fresh ground gingerroot
1 1/2 t. Seasame oil
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
6 skinless chicken thighs
1/2 cup peanut butter

Combine Soy sauce, oil, garlic, ginger, and cayenne pepper. Mix togethers. Place thighs in crock pot and cover thighs with mixture. Cook on low for 6 1/2 to 7 hours. Remove chicken from crock pot and stir peanut butter into juices until smooth. Spoon sauce over chicken to serve.

My husband loves this!!! He always asks for peanut butter chicken. The kids thought it was too spice, but when you cut back the cayenne, the love it.

For other recipes, please visit www.orgjunkie.com for other Menu Plans. http://orgjunkie.com/2009/08/menu-plan-monday-august-24th.htmlor cllick here

The one after the 1st 30 day Shred

I can tell I will be sore tomorrow. Got my butt kicked a little bit in the strength training department (I used the 5 pound weights, instead of either the 2 or 3 pounders that I have).

The cardio didn't really bother me at all----I got a wee bit hot and was "glistening" afterward, but I wasn't winded.

Some of the ab exercises bothered me, some didn't. I think I need to concentrate more on the proper form. Either that or I have like a herniated stomach muscle. Because some of the exercises I just didn't feel at all. Even if I'm doing them wrong, I should feel something.

It occurred to me that this may not be the best time to start the 30 day shred. I run a marathon in less than 6 weeks, and I have to run 18 miles on Saturday, not to mention 60 minutes on Monday, 45 minutes on Wednesday and 40 minutes on Friday. How on earth am I going to be able to do shred after 18 miles???? The program might go slower than it's supposed to go.

The One with the 30-Day Shred

I went out and bought the 30 day Shred DVD. I've got great endurance because of my running, and my legs and fanny are very muscular because of the running and training for a marathon (I've done 450 miles in 4 months), BUT...........

I still haven't found my abs since I had my boys. And that was almost 11 years ago! Plus, when you run, your body adapts very well to a routine. And any glitch in the routine and I get my butt kicked. Even if it is just on a new route, with less miles.

I've tried to build my route to include some pretty nasty hills, so that I get a workout each and every time, but the first two miles is always the same. And my body seems to think that's not a workout anymore.

So, I'm going to shock it with the 30 day shred! Starting tonight! Hubby will be out of town beginning tomorrow through Thursday, so I'll even be able to do it downstairs at whatever time works for me, since I won't have to turn off the golf shows when he's here ;)

Can't wait

The One with the Death in the Family

Boomer died. He's our Beta Fish, which was acquired soon after Speedy had died while we were on vacation. I noticed that he was very still (but still alive) yesterday, and he hadn't been eating. We changed his water, and then went down to the beach for the afternoon.
When we got home, it was bedtime and I skooched the boys up to bed. Boomer was vertical in the water, but still alive. Although I'm no fish expert, I do recognize that swimming vertically with his mouth right at the surface just isn't healthy.

Little Man was quite sad this morning, there were tears, and quite a few of them. I tried to make him feel better by fixing pancakes and letting him flip them. Not sure how we'll address the "can I have another fish". We already have 4 cats, and 2 dogs, so not having another pet certainly doesn't make things simple, but it doesn't add complications on the matter. Our housesitter received 4 pages of typed instructions when we went on vacation in July....one less pet to give instructions on could cut out at least 1 paragraph.