Working Hard...or Hardly Working?

The weather was quite nice last Saturday afternoon.  I had to make a dessert for Easter dinner, so Mike decided to do some work in our yard.  See that tree stump?  Really, how random is that?  Anyway, it had to go!

The original plan was to pull the stump with Brett's truck, but they decided to chop it down instead. 

Yay, no more stump!

The next project was to get rid of the overgrown bushes.  We liked them, but they were planted to close to the sidewalk, so if we wanted to walk on the sidewalk, we'd have to prune the bushes back so far they wouldn't even look like bushes.  We decided to pull them up and we'll plant new ones later this spring.  This time, the guys got to use the truck :)

New Equipment

Did you know the right equipment really makes all the difference?

After my first 5k, my hips and knees hurt horribly!  I had been running for almost 4 months before the race and hadn't had a whole lot of trouble.  But for the majority of those 4 months, I had been running on a treadmill which has more "give" than pavement.  When I started running outside the week before the race (and the day of the race), my knees and hips were screaming!

I talked with a seasoned runner and he encouraged me to buy a good quality pair of shoes.  The pair I had been running in were my track shoes that I used in high school when I threw discus and shot put and (sometimes) ran the 400 yard relay.  It was high time for them to be replaced.

My friend told me about a great store for runners.  I went there and they fitted me for a pair of good shoes.  It was neat because they watched me walk/jog and paid attention to how my feet moved so they could recommend the best pair of shoes for me.  I tried on quite a few pairs before finding "the one"--the pair that didn't feel like I was wearing shoes, was comfortable, and fit just right!  (By the way, did you know that your running shoes should be about 1/2 a size larger than your street shoes so that when you run your toes don't hit the end and cause pain? I didn't!)

I have been wearing my new shoes for about a month now and running outside with them quite frequently.  The best part?  No pain!

On another note, I've been wanting an exercise ball for a long time.  It really helps my back when I lay on it and stretch out.  I've also heard that sitting on the ball while watching tv (or reading blogs on my laptop!) is a good way to build up core strength.  So when I saw this ball at Aldi for just $5.99, I snatched it up!  I've used it quite a bit and I'm loving it!

Friend Makin' Mondays: Today I...

Today I have to give Kenz credit for coming up with these great questions every week! ;)

Visit her blog to play along!

FMM: Today I....

Today I felt...great after a wonderful weekend, great night's sleep, and longer-than usual workout.

Today I saw....that our dove is now sitting on 2 little eggs!

Today I ate...homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast, yum!!!

Today I kissed...my handsome husband ;)

Today I bought...absolutely nothing!

Today I heard...lots of motorcycles go by my work.  They must be enjoying the warmer weather!

Today I lost...nothing...yet.

Today I decided...to make it my goal to drink at least 3 bottles of water!

Today I need...to edit pictures for my blogs!

Today I wish...it was sunny out, but I'm happy it's not raining! :)

The Good and the Bad

Last weekend was crazy!

On Friday, I went to get my hair cut and pulled into the parking spot and heard a loud crack.  It didn't sound good.  This is what I saw:

Yeah, not good!  Unfortunately the sound and look was all too familiar, and I knew that the ball joint was broken.  The same thing happened last year, but on the opposite side!  So I called the tow truck and had the car towed to a local mechanic.  The mechanic couldn't fix it until Monday, so I went the weekend without my car.  I did get it back on Monday, all fixed, and for almost $50 less than the quote he gave us!

Then on Saturday, I ran my second 5k.  The weather wasn't the greatest, but at least it didn't rain the whole time.  There was one hill right before the race was done that was a killer, but I survived!  I beat my previous time (31:51) and finished the race in 30:33!!!  I was proud of myself for running in the time I did, but I was disappointed that I walked 3 times (just short amounts but still....)  I had side aches really bad, but I need to figure out how to work through them and keep running!

Then I rushed home so Mike and I could look at a new vehicle (we've been looking since we got our tax return back...time to replace the Stratus!)  We had a little trouble finding the dealership so we called and were told he just sold the vehicle we were hoping to test drive!  So much for that!

Sunday was relatively quiet.  Church, then lunch at my parent's house.  Then I froze my butt off (quite literally!  metal benches are cold!) watching Mike practice with his work softball team.  We went home and had a nice relaxing evening together.

All together, a pretty good weekend.  Then I woke up Monday morning and saw this:

Gotta love this Michigan weather!

We have another busy week coming up; between work, car hunting, youth group, baking, Good Friday, Easter....gonna be another crazy one!!!  How is your week going?

Friend Makin' Mondays: The Grocery Store

It's Monday!  The weekend is over, with its highs (setting a new PR) and lows (car is in the shop again)...details later.  Mondays are Friend Makin' Mondays, of course!  Visit Kenz to play along!

FMM: The Grocery Store

1. Do you make a list when you go grocery shopping? Do you stick to it?  I always make a list.  I stick to it for the most part which saves me a lot of money.  But sometimes I see things I forgot to put on the list, or that sound good, or that's on sale...and it somehow ends up in my cart!

2. Do you buy more groceries when you're hungry?   Not really...I don't usually grocery shop when I'm hungry.

3. Coupons. Use 'em?  All the time!  I never rarely buy anything that I don't have a coupon for or isn't on sale!

4. Have you ever complained to the manager of your grocery store?  Never.

5. Do you like to buy groceries at huge chain stores like Wal-Mart and Target? Or do you shop exclusively at food stores?  I do most of my grocery shopping at Meijer, after coupons and sales their prices are basically unbeatable.  I do get a lot from Aldi, and I sometimes shop at Family Fare (I try not to because they are so expensive!)

6. How much time do you spend reading labels in the grocery store?  I don't read labels...

7. Do you push your own grocery cart to the car and return it? All the time.  I hate when people don't!

8. What is the one food item you always buy at the grocery store that you must have in the kitchen? Fruit and yogurt.

9. Do you enjoy grocery shopping? I actually do.  It's like a game or a challenge for me when I use coupons, so I really enjoy it!

10. How often do you shop for groceries? I shop once a week, usually Friday afternoons right after I get out of work. 

Daisy Plate

Did you know that daisies are my favorite flowers?  I made this plate/serving dish after making my Patriotic one.  I love how it turned out!!!

Unfortunately, I only had 2 blue stemmed wine glasses, and this was my last one.  Now I have to scour the thrift stores again to find more cool wine glasses!

My Bucket List

Have you ever watched the movie, The Bucket List?  It's an inspirational movie about two men who are dying and go on a journey to cross off item's on their "bucket lists".  

When I was in high school, my senior English teacher encouraged us all to make our own "bucket list".  I think we had to make a list about 20 long or so, but I really liked the idea and I came up with 100 things I'd like to do someday.  I used to have this list hanging in my bedroom and each time I completed something, I'd cross it off.  Who knows if I'll complete it all before I die...there are some things on there that have changed since I created the list and I no longer want to do.  I'm sure this list will go through many updates though my life, but it's fun to cross items off!  I've done a lot, but I still have much more to do!  Do you have a "bucket list"?

1.       Go skydiving

2.       Get married

3.       Have kids

4.       Adopt kids

5.       Visit all 7 continents

6.       Tour Europe

7.       Visit Mescalero (my birthplace)

8.       Perform for a large audience

9.       Go on a cruise

10.   Go scuba diving

11.   Take a dance class

12.   Fall in love

13.   Write a song

14.   Get a truck

15.   Open my own hotel/resort

16.   Swim in all the oceans

17.   Live in another country

18.   Go mountain climbing

19.   Be kissed on the top of a ferris wheel

20.   Shoot a gun

21.   Go hunting

22.   Parasail

23.   Design/decorate my own house

24.   Drive a Hummer

25.   Save a life

26.   Break my PR for discus and shot put

27.   Run 5 miles  (Accomplished June 10, 2011!!!)

28.   Work/advocate for a pro-life movement

29.   Ride a roller coaster with my hands in the air

30.   Go on a road trip

31.   Speak Spanish fluently

32.   Go backpacking

33.   Own my own business

34.   Meet the president

35.   Go surfboarding

36.   Learn how to knee board

37.   Publish a story

38.   Sell some of my photography

39.   Get a college degree

40.   Go to Las Vegas

41.   Sleep outside

42.   Be kissed

43.   Go to a major sporting event

44.   Get my belly button pierced

45.   Read the Bible all the way through

46.   Go to a movie on opening night

47.   Watch the sunset at the beach

48.   Live below my means

49.   Graduate high school

50.   Drive a motorcycle

51.   Go to a club

52.   Meet some one famous

53.   Play a real game of soccer

54.   Play on a softball team

55.   Stay out partying all night

56.   Cook a gourmet meal

57.   Spend time with all my aunts and uncles

58.   Hitch hike

59.   Go to Disney Land

60.   Go to Times Square on New Year’s Eve

61.   Buy something from a famous designer

62.   Go fishing and actually clean the fish I catch

63.   Go skinny dipping

64.   Make a prank phone call

65.   Be kissed while watching fireworks

66.   Host a dinner party

67.   Plan a huge event

68.   Go to a circus

69.   Get laser eye surgery

70.   Go to a spa

71.   Stargaze

72.   Go to Hawaii

73.   Visit a Ripley’s Believe It or Not

74.   Visit Stonehenge

75.   Ride in a limo

76.   Touch a giraffe

77.   Swim with dolphins

78.   Ride in a helicopter

79.   Bike around Mackinaw Island

80.   Bench press my body weight

81.   Start a blog

82.   Learn how to play guitar

83.   Go to the top of the Empire State Building

84.   Go to Ground Zero

85.   Eat a whole slice of cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory

86.   Live on my own

87.   Take a self-defense class

88.   Go on a trip with no destination in mind

89.   Watch a horror movie

90.   Go tenting in the middle of the woods

91.   Cook over an open fire

92.   Walk across the Mackinaw Bridge

93.   Ride a horse bareback

94.   Spend a night in a mansion

95.   Drive a Viper

96.   Choreograph a song

97.   Finish my photo wall

98.   Watch the Olympics in real life

99.   Live a day in the life of someone else

100. Ride in a hot air balloon

Friend Makin' Mondays

Visit All the Weigh for other participants!!!

FMM: Everyday Things

1) What is your favorite part of an average day? I love the evenings, because both Mike and I are home from work and we get to relax and enjoy time with each other. 

2) Is there one food that you eat every single day?  I usually have yogurt everyday.

3) Are you an early bird, or do you prefer to sleep in late?  I'm an early bird; I get up at 5:30 so I can workout and shower before work!

4) Share one thing that you're looking forward to doing this week.  Getting the new program for work installed on my computer so I can finally do my job without computer hopping!!!

5) What's for dinner this evening?  Not quite sure...we go to Mike's parent's for dinner on Mondays so I rarely know what we're having!

Work Friends

I have some new friends at work.  They come and visit me every day.  They don't talk much, but they are fun to watch.  I have to be careful though, or they get easily scared and fly away.

A mom and dad dove have built a nest right outside my window at work!  I'm hoping that they have eggs soon; it would be fun to watch the babies grow!  I'm sure I'll have more pictures to share if they have babies!

When life gives you lemons...

...make lemonade!  Right?

I found out last week that one of my favorite summer restaurants won't be open this summer.  It's become a tradition that Mike and I visit his mom on the beach every summer and we always go to Pronto Pups for a Pronto Pup and fried dill pickles.  Mike's mom posted on Facebook about the situation, and so many people commented how disappointed they were that they couldn't get Pronto Pups or pickles there anymore.

Mike and I were among the disappointed.  We moped around for a few days (lol) and then I got busy.  I figured that if we couldn't buy our fried dill pickles, I'd just have to make them!  I came up with a really good recipe, we were both quite pleased with it!

You can click on the picture to get the recipe!

Next recipe to remake...Pronto Pups!

April Showers

They say April showers bring May flowers.  But, I don't know what kind of flowers these kind of showers are going to bring!  This was what we saw Sunday afternoon at my parents' house!

Forget the showers, I'm ready for flowers!

Why Go To Church?

I got this in an email today and thought it was definitely worth sharing!  I hope you appreciate it too!

"A Church goer wrote a letter to the  editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday.  "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons.  But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them..  So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor.  It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

"I've been married for 30 years now.  In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals.  But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals.  But I do know this.. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work.  If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today.  Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"

When you are DOWN to nothing..... God is UP to something!  Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible!  Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!"