Not crazy . . .

. . . afterall!

As I previously mentioned the path that I bike to work includes exiting the bike path and driving through a parking lot. There are rocks / boulders blocking the connection point so that vehicles can't accidentally get out on the bike path. I had noticed that the boulders were moved, allowing for a small access point sometimes, while other times there were boulders in the way. I decided to start paying more attention and taking pictures when I noticed something different. Well what do you know, the boulders were in a slightly different configuration on Wed and again this morning, confirming that someone is moving them!

Here is a shot from a couple of weeks ago, notice the space on either side of the two large center boulders.

On Tuesday the space on the right was filled in with a boulder.

Yet on Thursday morning the view clearly shows that someone moved the rock and shifted its location so that the opening on the right of the center two large boulders was accessible once again.

Who does this? Why? I get a kick out of these type of random things that show up.

On other news or updates,

Todd's brother and wife were here over the weekend.

The family reunion was good.

I ran on Monday,Wednesday and Saturday mornings

I biked to work 4 days.

I attended 2 Pilates classes.

Summer has finally arrived - hot - humid - sultry weather has settled in and we turned our air conditioning on Thursday.

Enjoy the final summer moments!

 

 

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Another . . .

. . . beautiful day, although still not the summer weather we deserve at this time of year.

The morning started as most of my work mornings start, let Sophie out,
clean the litter box, make a cup of coffee, pick up the back yard and then
take Sophie out for a run/walk . . . but for some reason I ran out of time
for taking Sophie out for the run/walk and I have no reason why that
happened. Does that happen to you? You have a routine, you follow it and
yet somehow, something grabs some time. I don't recall what happened this
morning, but there wasn't time left. So off to work on my bike.

So far in 2014 I have biked over 1,400 miles. Here is a graph of miles per month. Honestly it feels like so much more.

My friend Tricia and I got a pretty early jump on the bike season and started biking in March, while there was still snow on the ground.

While I did bike to work a couple of days in April, it wasn't until May that the weather started more consistently cooperating or I got into the commuting habit. Honestly, this is more dependant on me getting in the habit of biking to work than the weather cooperating! Like any new task or process, biking to work takes some time to develop the habit. For me, just packing my bag takes some getting use to, making sure that I have everything that I need.

At this point in the season, the entire process goes pretty smoothly, but early in the year, everything takes longer. I am extremely lucky because we have showers and a small locker room at work. I have the necessary shower supplies in my locker and this year I also leave a basic amount of make-up at work.

A couple of lessons I have learned -

• keep an extra pair of underwear at work,
• if you wonder whether it is too warm to bike to work in work clothes, it probably is . . . don't chance it and wear biking clothes,
• in case you absolutely FAIL and forget an important article of clothes I have a dress and sweater hanging behind my door in my office
• leave a light weight jacket at work, although it is generally warmer when you bike home, that isn't always the case, I have had several times when my commute to work in the morning was beautiful while my bike ride home was cold and windy.

From May through August I have biked to work 65% of the work days including every day of August! ;-)

Work, well it is work. . . .

After work I headed to a stretch class called 'Refine your Spine' - a super
relaxing and much needed stretch class primarily on the roller.

So absolutely relaxing.

Speaking of relaxing, what do you suppose this guy is thinking relaxing over the ledge watching cars, bikes and people go by? It is some sort of artistic creation looking out over the third floor of a building near my Pilates Studio.

Back on my bike and not only did I get stopped at one railroad crossing, I got stopped at two railroad crossings!

Enjoy the moments!

 

 

 

 

 

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Missing . . .

. . . summer.

I will return when the temp's warm up. Seriously, there is no denying these cool temp's are lovely. It is great to run without feeling like you are dripping wet, bike without being extremely sweaty and feel cool breezes through the house BUT it is Mid-August and we should have hot, muggy days and sultry evenings.

I want summer back . . .

Enjoy the moments, even if they are cool.

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Monday . . .

Monday, so good to me.

Or not.

I didn't set my alarm this morning. Instead I decided to sleep until I woke and ended up waking around 7:30. I decided to bike to work. I know that might sound crazy, especially after biking 147 miles on Saturday and Sunday, but it was a beautiful morning.

Besides the beautiful day (morning), I set a goal to bike everyday of August. It might not be many miles, but I would like to get on my bike everyday. I have been tracking my mileage and am participating in the National Bike Challenge. The challenge is made up of individuals, work groups or teams that track and report miles biked and earn points for every day biked, in addition to the mileage covered. Just a little added motivation to get on my bike.

Well the beautiful morning changed to rain and thunder this afternoon. I bailed and called Todd for a lift. I still biked, just half as many miles as my normal commuter route.

Short and sweet.

Enjoy the day, enjoy the moments!

 

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Another day . . .

. . . and I didn't bike to work today. I love to bike to work, so when events occur during the day or evening that just make it difficult for me to bike, I get down. Today's reason was that I was invited it Concerts on the Square by a consultant group that is assisting us with a Peoplesoft software upgrade project.
Most people bring a blanket and some food and drink and sit on the Capitol lawn, but we were invited to the US Bank building and were on the 3rd floor balcony. It was a beautiful evening to be outside enjoying the lovely weather, eating good food and having a drink or two! Although we couldn't see the orchestra we could hear them and the setting was lovely.

Can you see the sliver moon?

A few words to mark the day, nothing fancy - that is what I am aiming for, and for this I am happy. Today was un-eventful, yet the simple Concert invite combined with the absolutely beautiful setting and weather made for a memory most certainly.

 

Enjoy those moments!

 

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Life gets . . .

. . . in the way!

I don't know about you, but this summer is flying by. Does time really go faster as you get older? Or are you just more aware of all the things you want to accomplish and feel like there is not enough time to get it done?

My goal, my want, my dream is to post about life, work, running, biking, gardening, cooking each and every day. How hard can that be? A few words typed onto a screen, a few pictures from the day. Obviously I am a bit lackadaisical regarding that goal. I say I want to blog every day, yet I don't. No one is stopping me. Most evenings I should be able to devote 1\2 hour to writing and publishing a post. Seriously what is up? Kids are out of the house and Todd is retired as of July 1 and is doing quite a good job doing work around the house. Enough complaining . . . .

Saturday morning started with a little 2 mile run with Sophie, then I biked to a 1 hr Pilates class. Honestly the rest of the day was relaxing, pulling weeds, watering the gardens, doing a little cleaning.

Sophie relaxing on the deck after her run.

Recipe challenge update: I continue to work on making recipes from Jenna's blog, Eat,Live, Run - here. Slowly but surely I cook. So far I have made 46 new recipes including tonight's dinner zesty crock pot chicken and potato stew. (Green beans added from our garden) Do you realize how hard it is to cook new recipes all the time? Will I complete my challenge before year end? Who knows, but almost each and every recipe has been great. At a minimum I will have expanded my go to meals and I have used a variety of new ingredients!

Stew on the 27th of July! Not your normal summer dinner? Well, the weather was anything but 'normal' today. I don't think it could make up its mind. Sun, clouds, wind, rain, wind, clouds, sun. Back and forth all day long.

This is what it looked like when we came off the water.

Windy days generally mean great jet ski weather. I think I was a little hesitant to head out on the lake because the temp's were only in the mid 70's, not the warmest weather to get wet. But we did anyway and we were rewarded with white cap weather and hardly a boat on the water. Because of the cool air temp's the splashing water was a bit of welcome warmth, albeit short lived. Because as soon as you got wet the winds chilled you down. But we were constantly getting soaked, so it was a balanced day on the water!

I want to write about my biking and running and Pilates - but in an effort to keep this short and because other than a quick spin around the neighborhood on my bike I did neither of the other two activities today. And after all, I want my blog to be about today, and maybe just a little of yesterday because that is when I started this post!

Enjoy the moments!

 

 

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Catching . . .

. . . up! Oh what a beautiful morning!

Easter Sunday - ahhhhhh! The morning started with choir practice at 8:00 to prepare for singing at both the 9:00 and 10:30 services. In addition to choir responsibilities, Todd and I also ushered at the 10:30 service. Busy morning and a busy week for church. I don't usually sing in the choir, but the Pastor asked a few individuals to sing with the choir to boost the ranks for the Palm Sunday Passion musical and Holy Week. This entailed weekly practice with a Palm Passion service on Palm Sunday, singing on Good Friday and singing again on Easter Sunday. Last Thursday was my last practice :-). Don't get me wrong, I love to sing, but the mix of choir members isn't really a group I want to hang with. There are some VERY nice people, but then there are also the whiners and complainers. You know the type, nothing ever makes them happy. I don't like to be around people like that and since it is my choice, I don't have to!

Here is a picture of my church sanctuary this morning! Yup, those are the 10 commandments, front and center! Sort of imposing! Flowers in front of the alter, towels on the alter (offered for 'The Road Home' program, a homeless program my church and I are involved with) and a paper flower cross made by the Sunday school children on the side.

Since our oldest son Joe, was spending Easter with his girlfriend's family and Charlie stayed in Eau Claire, it was just Todd and I. When we got home from church, Todd asked, do you think it is OK to run the power washer on Easter? my response, Sure, I don't see why not! So we got busy cleaning the screen porch and outside furniture. With the warmer temp's finally arriving in Madison, the porch is a wonderful place to sit, but a winters worth of grim needs to be cleaned off of screen, floors and furniture before you want to use it.

Todd handled the power washer, while I scrubbed the furniture. I am sitting on the porch as I type this and it is nice to sit on the chairs without a beach towel, which I used to keep the grim off of me!

Now for the 'catch up' portion.

Running: I have been running 2 miles in the morning with Sophie usually 4-5 days a week and did venture out for 4 miles on Friday morning.

Biking: Tricia and I did a 27 mile ride on Friday, passing through Paoli. Little did I know that we would bike to Paoli (15 miles) on Saturday too!

On to Saturday, Todd, Joe, Chelsea and I decided to do a short ride to Paoli. From our starting point, it is a nice 15 mile ride, nothing challenging, but a great lunch destination. I asked Tricia if she wanted to join us and she said sure. When we got into Paoli, we stopped at one of the many unique shops in Paoli, this one is called 'Cluck'. They specialize in chicken feed and collectibles. I found this great print and can't wait to get it framed and hung, photo bombing chickens!

Here we are outside of the Paoli Pub. There are 'nicer' 'artsy' places to eat, but we prefer a beer and food at the pub and the food is really good!

Side note: I have biked 139 miles in March and April - not as much as many avid bikers, but I don't really consider March and April prime biking months, so am pretty happy with that mileage.

Recipes: Cooking my way through Jenna's blog: eat, live, run  HERE.  l have been really focusing on making some recipes the last couple of weeks. Last time I posted, I had my next recipe selected, Chicken Paprika with homemade dumplings, here. This was the first time I've ever made dumplings and they turned out great. The dish was wonderful, rich and creamy. Will be making again. And it was quick and easy.

We had a causal get together at church a couple of weeks ago. Wasn't sure what to being, but I knew it would be something from Jenna's blog! I decided on Grilled Brie with Honey and Trail mix, here. Again, Brie is something I haven't ever made. I have eaten it, but just never made anything with it. This was well received, everyone enjoyed it and again, easy peasy!

Next up was Spinach feta turkey burgers, here on Sunday. I know I sound like a broken record, but they were so good. Turkey burgers can be a little dry, but with the spinach and feta cheese in the burger, that provided a little moisture and they were great. Not much to look at, especially when you compare it to the rich dark color of a beef burger - but it can hold its own in a taste test.

Tuesday brought us Pork Chops with Grilled Nectarines, Caramelized Onions and Gorgonzola Cheese, here. Sounded and looked fancy but it was really quick and you just can't go wrong with the combination of Grilled Nectarines, Caramelized Onions and Gorgonzola Cheese, oh and the pork.

Last Thursday I wanted to make Red beans and rice, here. I started with soaking the beans Thursday evening and then in between running and biking on Friday, I headed to the store to pick up the ingredient I didn't have on hand, specifically ham hocks. Another thing I have never used in cooking! Like chili, the red beans and rice gets better each and every day it is warmed up.

Hoping you all had a wonderful Easter.
Enjoy the moments.

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Patience . . .

. . . while the house is under construction is difficult.

We are currently into week 3 of home remodeling. The crew started while I was on vacation and probably have 2 to 3 more weeks of work left. If you have never lived in your house while remodeling, trust me, it is worse than you can imagine. Over the years we have pretty much replaced everything in the house, which seems like an amazing fact, but is true. Somehow we dealt with it. The kitchen remodel was probably the worst - but this is probably a close second. We are replacing all of our interior doors, replacing the wood trim around the doors, replacing the window trim and installing true window sills and replacing the base trim. In addition, all the trim is getting painted and while we have the painter here, we are having the three bedrooms and master bath painted. Afterall, the new white trim needs freshly painted walls for it to pop!

Here are a couple of before and after shots!

New doors and trim - drab beige walls! (Photo bomb by Cleo)

New doors, new trim and new paint!

 

New doors, new trim

New doors, new trim and new paint

 

New base

On to running . . . which is hard to do in extremely cold conditions. Not only did we have the Polar vortex settle in over the state earlier in January, we were lucky enough to get a second blast of frigid air earlier this week. Highs for the day did not top zero and lows in the negative mid 20's before any windchill! I did get out for short walks with Sophie in the morning, but outside of a real 2 mile run on Saturday my exercise has been limited to moving furniture, cleaning floors and dusting surfaces! Forecasts are calling for 'normal' temps this weekend and early next week. I NEED to get outside for a run.

Recipe Update: since returning from vacation I have only had time to make one recipe. Between the house remodeling and working until 7 there has not been time to cook. Keeping with my goal of cooking all of Jenna's main course recipes from her blog, eat, live, run - I selected her Crook Pot Root Beer Pulled Chicken, Here. This was so good! I made it on Sunday and Todd finished it last night! I enjoyed mine on top of a sweet potato and it was yummy!

Enjoy the day

Enjoy the moments

 

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It is cold . . .

. . . as it should be at this time of year in Wisconsin!!!!

All anyone can talk about is the cold! Newscasters are warning people going to the Packer game to wear 3 layers. I am not quite sure why 3 layers is the magic number? For the last couple days, today's Packer game has been compared to the famous ice Bowl, described by Wikipedia: "The Ice Bowl", the game-time temperature at Lambeau Field was about −15 °F (−26 °C), with an average wind chill around −48 °F (−44 °C). Today's temp's at game time is 5 °F with a wind chill of −12 °F . . . If you haven't been in cold temperatures, let me assure you that -12 is NOWHERE as cold as -48 . . . Not even in the same ball park!

Forecasts are still calling for extremely frigid temp's with the wind chill for tonight and tomorrow! We will see. I understand that 40 below zero is frigid and extremely dangerous but let's not act like we haven't experienced these type of temp's before.

It is Sunday, so our morning started at church service. There were about half as many people as a normal service. Once home I had decorations to take down and put away. A little cleaning and then chili making. This is perfect weather for chili! I posted a question on Facebook to see how much chili as getting made today? Lots of positive comments . . . .

Keeping with my goal of cooking all of Jenna's main course recipes, I selected her Homestyle Turkey Chili, HERE. How can a chili recipe that uses 1+ cup of red wine not be good? I have been cooking with a lot of ground turkey and knew I had some ground chuck in the freeze, so I make it with the beef. Plus, the recipe calls for chopping a gigantic onion. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE onions but maybe my onion was SUPER sized gigantic, because I decided to pull forego some of the onions.

No running for me today. With yesterday's 5+ miles and shoeshowing, my legs are tired. Took Sophie for a quick walk around the block.

How was the chili? You ask? That will have to wait until tomorrow - tonight was leftover meatloaf from last night with roasted cauliflower and asperagus and a sweet potatoe!

The Packer game has been somewhat painful to watch . . . OK, make that very painful. The only bright note to them losing is that I don't need to pack any Packer clothes for our ski trip next week end.

I need to figure out my running and biking plans for 2014 and get them posted (it helps with being accountable) and I had wanted to post a 2013 summary - but it might be getting a little late for that - heck it is already the second week of 2014.

Enjoy the moments!

 

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