Friday, October 16, 2009

Harley Mama

Or at least a wanna-be Harley Mama... according to my folks and hubby since they gave me this new jacket for my b'day.
I'll work to live up to their expectations!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

The jumpin' off place

A quote from one of my all time favorite movies seemed appropriate for today.


"Death? Death aint nothing to be afraid of. Look at me. I'm at the jumpin' off place and I aint afraid."

Name that movie.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Make the most of it.

About 10 weeks ago, I signed up for the Fargo 10K with my girlfriend, Heather. She thought that I would be helping her train for her first 10K, but the reality was that she gave ME the incentive to get myself ready for the race! I had only done one other 10K in my life and that was in July 2002, when I was quite a bit younger and lighter...
The night before the race, mother nature conspired against us and dumped some snow and even whipped up some fierce wind to go with the cold temperatures. Suddenly we were faced with what-the-heck-to-wear and wondering if we would be able to drive to the Fargo civic center in time... Layers, layers and more layers were needed to contend with the high winds and 23 degree temperatures.
We were at the civic center with plenty of time on Saturday morning and were so lucky to have Heather's sister, Salena, there to distract us and entertain us before the race. For those who don't know Salena, she is one funny gal-pal to have around when you need distraction.

Just before the race started, Heather and I got separated in the crowd and I was so stressed trying to find my bestest-friend! Let me just point out the obvious... when you are basically 5 foot nothing, you can't see anyone else in a crowd of 400 + runners. With only minutes to spare, Heather found me and we were all smiles ready to go. We started out together and just as we began to cross the Veteran's bridge over the Red River, Heather turned to me and said, "See you at the finish-line." I smiled and started off, thinking all the way about the invocation spoken at the beginning of the race... "we pray that You give these participants bodies that bend but don't break..." and I asked God to carry Heather and me if our bodies failed.
At 53 minutes 22 seconds, I crossed the finish line and fumbled with my cold fingers to turn off my stop watch. Steve and the girls were there to greet me and then I quickly went down the course to find Heather and cheer her on. I am so proud of Heather finishing her first 10K and beating her goal time by over 3 minutes!! Less than 6 months ago, Heather began training for her first 5K and now has completed a 10K. She is an inspiration to me and to others on what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it.
Together we trained and together we finished! Nothing better than that!
The medal said, Running is life... make the most of it. The reality is that Life is life, make the most of it!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

The best invention

A bucket of apples can take a bit of time to process by hand, but with this handy contraption, you can be done in no time at all!
Behold the apple peeler, slicer, corer.... this has to be the coolest invention ever! If you don't already have one, you have got to get one.

A few quick turns of the handle and the peel is removed, the core is gone and the apple is neatly sliced.
Here is the final product... a perfectly peeled, cored and sliced apple in literally seconds.
A few quick cuts and your apple ready to go or you could leave as is and have perfect slices.

Eight cups of sliced apples ready for any apple recipe. I typically freeze in 8 cup increments in 1 gallon freezer bags.

Abby put this crumble together this past weekend.

Vanilla ice cream is the perfect accompaniment for warm apple crumble.

APPLE CRUMBLE
6-8 med. apples, peeled, cored, sliced thinly
1/4 c. sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
Dash of cinnamon
Dutch Crumble Topping
Toss apples with sugars, salt, spice; pour into greased 9 inch pie pan. Top with Dutch Crumble Topping.

CRUMBLE TOPPING:
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. quick oats
1/2 c. flour
2/3 c brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp. baking soda
Mix with pastry blender until pebble-like. Sprinkle over apples. You may have to press down lightly. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until done.


Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Sunday, October 4, 2009

The brutal reality of braces

Problems began less than 24 hours after Kippy had her braces put on. Her tongue began to get sore from rubbing on the bracket across the roof of her mouth. She kept picking at it and accidentally removed the whole piece which was cemented in. Within 48 hours, she picked off one of the front ties causing the wire to poke out directly into her lip, so Steve had to remove the entire front wire, which was across her 4 front teeth. By day 2, Kippy only had 4 brackets on her front teeth... nothing else. By day 5, before we could get her back into the Orthodontist to get everything fixed, she had knocked off a bracket from her front tooth. Exactly one week after getting her braces, Kippy was back in to have them completely done again. We are hoping this rough start is not predictive of how things will continue, but with this kid, anything is possible.