31Mar / 2011

Wednesday Woes and Wind

Allergens were sky high and the winds were insane on Wednesday morning. No outdoor run for me. I opted to go workout at the office gym and then clock in at 5:30. I need my head examined. I had a ton of work to do and I like doing it with no distractions. All of my distractions were still asleep, hehe!

Bad day at work. Not a fan of grown-ups acting like children. Afternoon meeting went south, I left work mad. I was just happy that part of the day was over.

Headed North to meet Dan. Our AAA baseball team is now a Rangers affiliate! Exposition game with the Rangers and Express was on tap Baseball makes everything better.

Dan and I walked next door to the stadium (because they had nothing I could eat with my current GF situation). They allow you to bring food in, but Dan didn’t want me to have to do that (nor did I really). We ate at the Round Rock location of Salt Lick BBQ. (it’s pretty well known in Texas). Anyhow, I am not really a fan of their food. They have a tiny menu and I don’t really think it’s anything special, plus they have weirdly sweet BBQ sauce. I got smoked turkey and a big bowl of beans, with tons of pickles. Their beans are good, which is nice, because it’s their only side i’ll eat. Not photo worthy, believe me. It was ok. I like Rudy’s better, especially since they have more to choose from and I like their sauce better.

We walked back over to the stadium and it was super windy, cold, and crowded. Sold out crowd. Settled into our awesome seats, which are also our season ticket seats. (we have partial share in season tickets that we buy into and also Dan sometimes gets the suite for work).

Good times. Express won, 4-3. Should be a great season for both teams, lots of talent. We were both really cold the whole time, but I held on the whole game, I didn’t want us to miss the rest of the game. Where was this weather last weekend? Perfect running weather!

By the way, I have made it clear that I want to wash their pants in hot water. Maybe I should launder for them. Who wants baggy britches?

Next game for us is 4/24. Yeah, oops! I didn’t realize that when we selected our 1 and only weekend or daytime game, it was on Easter. Dan and I are ok with that though, ought to be fun And I can enjoy whatever ballpark food I chose to eat, if I want to eat there, hehe!

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29Mar / 2011

Easy Enchiladas

This is one of the very first recipes I ever made on WW, I found it on Three Fat Chicks back in 2007. It’s been in my stash ever since. Everyone loves it, but I forget about this oldie but goodie. The original recipe says 10 servings, but we’ve always divided it into less. This time I did 6 servings, which on the new program, as I made the recipe, was 7 P+. This meant 2 days of dinners for us, it’s a GREAT leftover. I’ve frozen it before too, which was fine. Would be great as a vegetarian meal as well, with or without meat substitute.

For my serving, I served it over spinach and other mixed veggies for some added bulk. Dan asked why I don’t make this more? Not sure why, I just forget about it sometimes. That and I like trying new things. I am going to try to stick with tried and true in April and enjoy many of the things I’ve forgotten about.

I’d forgotten to photograph it and it’s a horrible one at that.

Ultimate Enchilada Casserole

1 pound ground turkey
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
11/2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon vinegar
6 medium corn tortillas
1 can (15 ounces) pinto beans, rinsed and drained
2 cans (10 ounces each) enchilada sauce, divided
1 cup shredded, fat-free cheddar cheese (I use 2%)
1 can (101/2 ounces) reduced-fat, low-sodium cream of chicken soup
1 tablespoon chopped, canned green chiles
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 2-quart baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large nonstick skillet, cook the ground turkey. Add the onion, green pepper, dried oregano, chili powder, garlic powder, ground cumin, cayenne pepper and vinegar; cook until the onion is tender.

Remove the pan from the heat.

Cut the tortillas into 1-inch strips and then into thirds.

Line the baking dish with half of the tortillas. Top them with half of the meat mixture. Layer with the beans, the remaining meat mixture, one can of enchilada sauce, cheese and the remaining tortillas.

In a small mixing bowl combine the soup, the remaining can of enchilada sauce and the chopped green chiles; pour the sauce over the tortillas.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until the casserole is bubbly and heated through.

LIFE

Once again the oak pollen is killing me. I went home early from work on Monday and stayed at home/worked from home part of the day on Tuesday. Totally not my typical symptoms, this time the drainage wrecked havoc on my throat, nose, and stomach. BLECH. So glad I had that yummy casserole on the yummy and got to eat the leftovers tonight and not put forth any effort.

I did workout today at home, and it made me feel better temporarily. I just knew I couldn’t be outdoors with any more of the allergens. I know I probably shouldn’t have worked out, but I wanted to try at least.

I have meetings all day tomorrow, no idea when I will catch up from being out today I hate getting behind, but doing anything productive today probably wasn’t going to happen

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29Mar / 2011

Angie’s Half Crazy Recaps

Until I can get my head together and write something, please read my friend June’s recaps here and here

She did a great job with photos, the recaps, etc.

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26Mar / 2011

Long road to Houston

I worked until 1 pm on Friday. Tried to get everything wrapped up in the office, so that i’d have nothing to worry about over the weekend.

There are many routes to Houston, but I chose to go highway 290 because I had wanted to take mom to Buc-ees in Giddings (which is about an hour outside of Austin). I was just telling my mom how much I hate that road (we were between Elgin and Giddings), because it’s an un-divided road where the speed limit is 70 most of the way. Over the years, i’ve driven up on many horrible accidents and the highway is lined with memorials and crosses. It’s not a very safe area. We were talking about a snack/bathroom break 15 miles ahead in Giddings.

Then it happened. About 100 yards in front of me, a Lexus SUV tried to make a u-turn and did so straight into a full size older conversation van. The van went through a fence and into a pasture. The SUV spun around about 4 times and pieces flew EVERYWHERE. It was horrible. I have no idea why someone would try to make a u-turn from an active lane on an un-divided highway where the speed limit is 70. I would have pulled into a driveway, turned around, and then pulled out. The driver of the van lept out and ran to the SUV which was pretty far away.

I immediately called 911. Luckily there was a tractor store right in front of me with a clearly posted address. It took about 15 minutes for cops to get there and an EMT, 30 minutes for more police. Since others were attending to the SUV, I stayed across the highway at my car. I didn’t want to see what was going on (everyone was fine, just minor injuries). Airbags deployed all over the Lexus. I could see the lady driver’s arms and there were some guys talking to her while we waited for the crews to arrive. I confirmed with the sheriff that everyone was alright, I just didn’t want to see anything. I gave him my contact information and he stopped traffic for mom and I could get into the road. He warned me to never ever drive in the left-hand lane of that road (pretty sure i’ll be a long time before I drive that road again). We’d already planned on taking IH-10 to 71 back to Austin on Sunday, so we can make some other special stops.

So we get back on the road, although we were both shaken up. We get outside of Houston, see another Buc-ees and stop for another break. And then my freaking car wouldn’t start. I thought the keyless key was dead, so I tried jumping it, which didn’t work. I tried and tried and 15 minutes later, I get it started. I get back on the freeway and try searching for a dealership to run-into (while trying not to kill us driving). As I am searching, my mom sees one, so I immediately get off the freeway. They tell me they close in 30 minutes and I had to explain to them that we were traveling and I needed my car to start! The girl got someone to look at my car, they replaced the break switch and we got back on the road. Only to sit on the toll-road for an hour in traffic. FUN!

We eventually made it to the hotel. I joked with my mom in the AM, that I am pretty sure I am not her child and she is really Dan’s mother. They both are chronic overpackers!

We are not even here for TWO days. That is only her stuff! And you can’t even see the 2 Whole Foods re-usable bags hanging from the cart.

We unloaded into the room and set off for dinner and errands. We ate at Market Seafood.

She had Mahi Mahi, which was alright, it was a bit overcooked. She had some awesome BBQ’d Mahi in Corpus earlier in the week, so the bar was set pretty high.

I had peel and eat shrimp and a salad. It was good, but it’s pretty hard to screw up boiling shrimp, but they were fresh. The sauce was ok, I made it better with a bunch of hot sauce. Way fresher than last Friday, when I had the same exact meal in Georgetown. Funny how this time last year, I wouldn’t touch shrimp cooked that way, now I LOVE it.

We ran to the grocery store on the way back to the hotel to get some snacks and other things. We both enjoyed some dessert and watched some Food Network. Exciting huh?

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25Mar / 2011

Lucky?

I think I just have something on my face that says, “Hi stranger, please give me unsolicited comments!”

Mom and I were shopping at Academy Sports and Outdoors yesterday, looking for throw-away shirts for Sunday (I already like mine too much, I should have bought something fugly). Anyhow, there was another mother-daughter combo (both who were very overweight) shopping the other side of the rack. I asked my mom if she could find anything smaller than an XL?

She laughed and called me “skinny-mini”. The random stranger mom said, “yeah, you are so lucky.” She then went on a tangent about age and genes and blah, blah, blah.

Lucky? Really? Luck has NOTHING to do with it. I muttered something about how I wasn’t always this size and I walked away.

Those words have been eating at me for over a day now. I wanted to tell her everything i’d done to achieve my goals. I wanted to tell her that Weight Watchers changed my life. That I made the decision to eat better and become fit. That I feel and look 100 times better than I ever did before. I wanted to tell her that LUCK HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.

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25Mar / 2011

Things I like Thursday: Family Time

Perfect timing.

Dan is in Vegas for a week. Mom is in town to ride down to Houston with me tomorrow for the race weekend.

That means 1 thing…

GIRL DINNER!

We went to Fuzzy’s Tacos because my mom has never been there (I wanted Spicy Pickle, but sister wanted Fuzzy’s). Fuzzy’s had disappointed me a few weeks ago because we got takeout and it was: cold, parts missing, falling apart. They’d sent me a card to try it again since it wasn’t good the Friday of “Hell Week” (I liked it the first 2 times I went). Mom and sister liked their food, mine was pretty bad again. I tried something new and it was really disappointing

We talked about the weekend some, and I sensed that my sister was jealous. I invited her to go, but she won’t ever ask to leave work early unless it’s for her boyfriend, so I wasn’t surprised when she said no. That and I guess she didn’t want to go if she wasn’t participating. I offered at least!

Not that I take my mom for granted, but events with friend’s moms have started to worry me. I know parents aren’t around forever. I know time is precious. I know you should never take anything for granted, but I know we all do at some point or another.

Last night when we got home from dinner and we were trying to wind down, I read my mom Janethas blog about what happened to her mom earlier this week. I wanted my mom to see that someone similar in age and fitness could come across a setback. That and she loves Janetha’s recipes and blog, but she rarely keeps up with her reader, so I wanted catch her up.

My mom is stubborn. She doesn’t take her cholesterol meds although she needs them. She hasn’t been tested on her levels in a long while, because she hates their Dr. I am going to make it my mission to see if I can find her a new PCP in San Antonio that she will go to and hopefully listen to. Those issues are genetic and run in both sides of my family. I am the only one without high cholesterol. Sister and I tried to tell her she has to get this done, like everyone else, but she’s refusing. I’m going to work on her!

Anyhow, less sad, more happy. I’m excited about this weekend! I can’t wait to get away and spend time with mom, with friends, and have some FUN!

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23Mar / 2011

Buried

I think part of the reason my workouts haven’t been strong lately is that i’ve been going non-stop. I’m hoping this doesn’t turn into me going non-stop straight into the ground.

Nothing exciting. Been working, been working out, been tired.

First I had TIR, which was awesome. But starting the next day was “Hell Week”, which lived up to the name and then some. Plus I got sick that week, plus I didn’t really give myself a proper recovery from the race weekend (big lesson learned here).

Fast forward and other than last Friday (when I took off for SXSW after begging for the day and asking many favors, and then not going), I’ve had 0 downtime. Not from anything. Work is still overloading me. Filling in the time around work with the rest of life and working out.

The calendar is starting to fill up fast. I am already looking at very little free weekend time between now and mid-July and soon, i’m sure that will all be full too. From now until November, we are always SO busy. Sometimes it’s fun, but often exhausting. That alone is starting to overwhelm me. I love spring and summer fun, but sometimes I need a break from that too!

It’s full steam ahead into the rest of the week. Trying to wrap things up at work so I can leave a bit early on Friday to set off for Clear Lake and Angie’s Half Crazy. Mom is coming into town tomorrow afternoon and then we’ll take off for Houston area in the afternoon on Friday…IF I can get work done. I have meetings all dang day tomorrow, that’s a productivity killer if there ever was one.

I have so many things to take care of this evening, it’s not even funny. Good thing I knocked out my run before work today (although the oak is now killing me from it). I worked in our yard for a few hours yesterday and now I have to go pick up supplies to finish it in the next 2 evenings before it gets super hot and my plants are fried. Plus, I really have to clean before mom gets to town. Meant to do it earlier in the week, but it just didn’t work out as planned. It’ll be a cleaning and gardening marathon tonight! (can I carb load for that?)

Did I mention that Dan is in Vegas for work until Sunday night? Hard life, huh? I’d originally planned on going on that trip, but since I can’t take days off of work, I couldn’t I was lucky to get that whole day last week that I blew. MEH, at least i’ve never been and don’t know what I am possibly missing

I’ll be honest, I am TERRIFIED of the race on Sunday. My last long run went fine. I do have some knots that I could do without, but they don’t impact the run. It’s going to be hot (especially the 2nd half), it always is. In fact the last few miles of that race are usually just like the last few miles of the TIR anchor leg I ran. Hot, hot, and HARD. I’m keeping these sentiments to myself though, don’t want to scare my mom.

Even if I don’t do as well as i’d like, the experience will be one I will remember. I will always remember mom’s first half marathon. Her last long was 2 miles longer than me, so she is more than ready. It’s going to be a fun weekend. I get to see June and Nicole, which I don’t see near enough. My ARC buddy and TIR captain Megan is coming down also (she’s using the race as a Boston training run).

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22Mar / 2011

Random observations

Just some random observations and musings lately that I don’t get….

Workouts

Running with bible. This wasn’t even in Austin, it was in Cedar Park. Brushy Creek Saturday morning, man running with bible. I’ve never seen that one before.
Working out with curlers. This morning I saw a lady doing weights and cardio with curlers in her hair. Even if you don’t sweat, I think this is strange.
It was 99% humidity and almost 80 in the early morning on Saturday, I saw a man running in tshirt, shorts, and gloves.
Lady wearing a tube top, cutoffs, and NO shoes to lift weights. Did I mention her hair was at least 3 feet long and it wasn’t pulled back at all?
Reading between sets. Not a workout journal, not even a magazine. A novel.
I don’t know why the fruity colored weights exist at the gym at all
I overheard a lengthy conversation between 2 women about how they didn’t want to “bulk up”. I tried hard not to laugh
There is a man at my gym that works out more than once a day and he wears the same clothes for the whole week. It’s nasty and he’s a profuse sweater who flings sweat everywhere. Did I mention he smells? It’s the #1 reason I rush to the gym on Mondays, to try to kill most of my workout before he gets there, which means less time I have to smell his stench
Running is not the solution to everything. It is a great solution to many things, but not for everything

Eating

Very few people in my WW follow the program. They come, weigh in, complain they don’t know why they didn’t lose, and glaze over during the meeting
A lady told me yesterday she couldn’t eat like me for the rest of her life. Like what? She has no idea what I eat. I suppose she thinks I don’t eat. HA!
You can’t out-train a bad diet. Running will not solve your eating issues.
If something is a trigger, try to limit it. I love to bake, I like sweets. I rarely bake at home unless it’s for an occasion or event. If I want something, I eat it out most of the time (good quality stuff). Or I buy a small serving to share with Dan.
I do keep dark chocolate at home, but I keep it behind closed doors. If I want some, i’ll get some. It’s not in plain sight, so I don’t go nuts with it. Out of sight, out of mind.

Just my 2 cents

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20Mar / 2011

SXSW Saturday

Started the day off with 12 miles. 12 long, very hot and humid miles.

Showered, made some lunch. Guess it was more of brunch, since it was right before 11 am.

My version of Claim Jumper’s Jamaican Sweet Potato. SO good. This time I made the potatoes in the crockpot while I was running. Then sautéed green onions, bell pepper, red bell pepper, chicken breast, pineapple, and Jamaican Jerk spices. Kept me full all afternoon, which was what I was aiming for

Then the music. First Dan and I hit Revolution Bar. Eastside. If you don’t know Austin, Eastside is the “not so privileged area” (that’s how the TIR summary referred to such neighborhoods, sounds PC to me). Anyhow, I am pretty sure that it used to be a Mexican Discotheca. It was a pretty rad little dive. We were there for the 9 Bullets showcase.

We were actually early, only because the noon band didn’t play. We were there to see new music we didn’t already know. That’s the beauty of SXSW, getting exposed to new things….

Like “2 Cow Garage”:

I was bummed that we couldn’t stay for Glossary. Dan was heading to Houston with friends to see Ryan Bingham (I opted to catch other friends at SXSW). This place is not within walking distance of any of the other places, so I didn’t have a choice but to move on Plus I had to drop Dan off near Whole Foods, which was like 8 miles away.

I sent Dan on his way and then headed on to Molotov…

Yes, that is one of the bars that bachelor Brad owns, and yes, he was there. So was the brother.

Saw several bands including “Reid Wilson and his So Called Friends.”

And then Reid Wilson and his girlfriend

Aren’t they cute? That’s my friend Heather from Dallas. Hopefully soon she will be Heather in Austin She said she’s going to start running (holding you to it, I know you are reading this, hehe).

Celebrated our friend Sarah (in the green), 21st birthday. Yes, us geezers have a few young friends.

Molotov has a giant open air window, so that’s why we are so shady

Then off to Waterloo Records (they do all day-all week showcases) down the street for HAYES! I love me some Hayes Carll (and yes, I saw him last Saturday night).

First it was Neon Trees. I was FAR from the stage, they’d just started when I got there…

Needless to say, I got A LOT closer for Hayes once the Neon Trees fans left. By time Hayes went on, it was even more crowded than before.

Hayes was wonderful, as usual. One the way back to the car, I stopped to get some GF oats. I only walked out with $15 worth of stuff. MIRACLE

That’s the Whole Foods flagship store. It used to look gigantic until that skyscraper moved in.

Finale was sister date at Vivo. MUCH better than last time. Sat on the patio for a few hours and caught up. The enchiladas were extra cheesy (really too cheesy and I NEVER say that). But very good. If you’ve never been there, the inside is dark, trendy, almost club-like. And both locations have lots of art-deco mod paintings of boobs. None of the men in our family like it, I guess it’s too hip for them, hehe

Every lady gets a rose. Not sure how the 2 of us got one

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19Mar / 2011

The day off

I’d been waiting for Friday FOREVER. A day off, finally. SXSW, finally.

Got up, got dressed to run, grabbed my gym bag, and drove off to the train station. Got to the station and realized I had no sunglasses. Not to run in, not to be outside in all day at SXSW. I simply cannot tolerate that much sun without sunglasses. My eyes would go berserk.

Run home, search for shades. There went the 2nd to last train. I keep multiple shades in the car, but Dan took my car. By time I’d found a pair to wear (the 2nd pair from 3M goody bag), the last train had left I could have driven the truck downtown, but parking during SXSW is near impossible, and in Dan’s truck, I didn’t have the desire or patience.

Drove home and was a bum all day long. Cleaned some house, got some projects done. Took a much needed nap, caught up on DVR. I guess that would be ok with some people for a day off, but it put me in a crummy mood. I actually almost just got dressed and went to work.

Dan came home, we chilled a while, then decided to drive back up to Georgetown to eat dinner at Fish City Grill. It was alright. Since it was Lenten Friday, I couldn’t eat meat, which was fine, because I really wanted some tuna or shrimp. No tuna, so I opted for peel and eat shrimp (which I got addicted to in Florida over the summer). I am glad there was no photographic evidence, because I pretty much inhaled them (it was after 8 when we were eating, which is really late to me). They were alright, not the best i’d ever had. Dan got raw oysters, which I think are disgusting, he also had grilled shrimp and their cream of jalapeno soup. I tasted the soup and it was good, but one of those things that is definitely something to be enjoyed in moderation!

We then went to Dan’s office and I “helped” him do some spring cleaning and moving offices. He said it was helpful and he feels good about what we got accomplished. I had to practically force him to go, because he didn’t want to, but he was grateful when it was done. I felt like I was getting in the way, but I was able to do some filing and cleaning. We got home after 11. 11 is WAY past my pre-long run bedtime, but it was worth it to have an evening with Dan that didn’t involve tv.

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melissa dishes

Monthly Archives: March 2011

Wednesday Woes and Wind

Easy Enchiladas

Angie’s Half Crazy Recaps

Long road to Houston

Lucky?

Things I like Thursday: Family Time

Buried

Random observations

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The day off

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