And so it begins!

As I am in charge of feeding the Thanksgiving masses, I think I would rather run a Turkey Trot, eat some canned cranberry sauce, then take a nap! Seriously, I love me some canned Ocean Spray. And really I don’t have a huge role in the lunch festivities; mainly because I’m a better baker than baster. HaHA, see what I did there?!

Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. It signifies child-like awe at mounds of mashed potatoes and huge, fluffy, buttery rolls. Somehow things taste better at Thanksgiving.

Have I ever shared about the Thanksgiving my dad and uncles thought it hilarious to serve a giant hog as the starring dish? Complete with cherries in the eye sockets and a huge apple in its ugly mouth, it was quite the sight to behold. Clearly we are country people with very little class. I believe the photo exists to this day somewhere in a pile of long-forgotten photos. My apologies to anyone who reads this with a growing sense of appall. I, too, am appalled I even shared this memory. Nonetheless, it’s been 25 years since my dad passed. He was quite pleased with his hog-hunting and stuffing abilities.

Credit: #momsbehavingbadly via Instagram

Now that I’ve seen one house with its Christmas lights up (and on), let’s begin this season, as well. I guess. I promise I’m not a Scrooge…but I’d rather enjoy one holiday before catapulting into another. Hallmark must be so confused. Really the only mistake I made was sharing my Christmas-light sighting with the other two occupants of my home who promptly began dragging out bins and totes of baubles, bells, and bows. And the 6 Christmas trees I own. Different story.

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I ask you –

What’s your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

How soon is too soon for Christmas decorations?

Please feel free to appall me with a wild story!

Day in Photos, pt 75

This is more like a week in photos. Work with me.

My cherry tomato plant is still thriving, even into November! Perhaps bucket planting is the way to go next year.

Tooth fairy time, round 2. In an unexpected turn of events, she let it be pulled out by her Papa. Shocking. I was no part of any of these festivities. Teeth – when they’re not in a mouth – gross me out. $2 later, we have a winner.

There was also a week of drug-free activities, aka Red Ribbon Week. I’m still a little confused by this and I believe many memes already exist but I’m going to say it anyway…no one (I repeat, no one) has ever offered me drugs. I was offered cigarettes a lot, but not like real, illegal drugs. Maybe cocaine was too rich then. Anyway, just say no.

I digress. One of the week’s dress up days consisted of pajama day! My workplace really needs to get it together. Since I got to take my mini to school that day, we stopped for coffee first. Because no pajama day is complete without a huge coffee.

Edit: I heard, errr read, about National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo, a nonprofit that challenges writers to complete 50,000 words in the month of November (roughly 1667 words daily). So it’s like a running streak, but writing instead. If you’re reading this, then you may/may not know today is November 1st. The organization encourages writers to participate in the daily goal in order to complete a novel, but many use it to brainstorm blog posts, etc. Always up for a good writing task. Let’s see how this goes!

Thank you to https://brianlageose.blog/2021/10/30/friday-night-clam-bake-35-its-almost-the-time-of-year-when-i-do-that-questionable-thing-that-confuses-most-people/ for the idea!

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I ask you –

Are any of your vegetables still alive?

What’s the going rate for a tooth nowadays? I think I’m getting scammed.

Tell me something funny about your week!

Things: Likes/Don’t Likes

-the food edition–

Corn. I like corn. Especially the sweet, buttery, salty corn I remember growing in my parent’s garden. But not corn on the cob. I’m that girl who cuts it off the cob. I don’t know why.

Anyone else eat pea salad? Only my mother and sister. And me! Not mini. She’ll eat plain sweet peas, but once you add additional ingredients, she abandons ship. More for me! I like to experiment with pea salad. In the photo below, I subbed pico for the traditional onion only. It was superb, in my opinion. And since I’m the only one eating it, here we are.

Keto is as restrictive as you make it. So when I’m on that proverbial wagon, I don’t eat much fruit. But I love fruit!! This is why…training season can be so much fun. I eat all the fruit I want. Besides kiwi, there’s not a fruit I don’t like. Some I don’t necessarily love – that’s ok, too. Peaches, bananas, strawberries, blueberries, bring it! In fact, I recently bought so many peaches I had to slice and freeze them because they would have rotted before I ate them all. Since I’m on a smoothie kick, I thought it was a great idea aka cost effective to buy several pounds worth of peaches. In my defense, several pounds of peaches really isn’t that many whole peaches. And I saved money. Take that.

Recently I tried cheese curds. Ugh. The word “curds” grosses me out. Which is probably why I’d never tried them. I remember living in Pensacola with my Navy friends and some would order cheese curds at Buffalo Wild Wings. They’d rave about how great they were; I would refuse to try them.

Fast forward a lot of years later and they were on the menu at a local restaurant near me. HOLY CRAP! Why didn’t I try these before?! They were amazing! It was like cheese wrapped in funnel cake batter. Heavenly! I’m a cheese curd convert.

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I ask you –

What’s a family food you grew up with? Was it yay or nay?

How much fruit do you eat daily?

Name fruit you do/don’t like. I forgot about pomegranates. I don’t like those at all.

Wk 7, HM Training

Fall is finally here! I’ve only been complaining about the heat for maybe 7 months. Holiday run with two bike riders. One of them crashed. You decide which.

Post-run smoothie happened again. Mini and I added half of a banana, a whole peach, vanilla yogurt, and some leftover iced chai tea latte. I thought it was good; she disagreed.

When in Rome, you know the rest. I have tons of hot/cold options at home, so I was forced to improvise when I decided to do what I kind of knew needed to be done…at work. Soda cans happen to be the perfect size and shape for “icing” my hamstrings/ACL/MCL in the office. Then I resurrected my lonely heating pad when I got home. Yeah, I know; I’ll make a doctor’s appointment soon.

9.80 miles in 1:45:00 for my long run which puts me right on track to hit my half marathon goal. The cold temperature was my absolute best friend! Surprisingly, I kept my jacket on the entire time…really I’d expected to warm up faster and toss it. Legs were a little numb at first, but it felt good on that hamstring issue I’m having.

Update: I did make a doctor’s appointment.

Next week is another week for good things!

Weirdo and Other Words I’m Proud to be Called

I’m what some may consider a clockaholic. News to me. Wish I could quantify the facial expressions of people around me when I stated I like to remove the batteries from the clocks and set the time permanently to a meaningful number in my life, like my Dad’s birthday.

It’s not a struggle (yet) but it definitely doesn’t come easy – properly fueling before, during, and after training. I know I have to eat to be strong in order to accomplish my goals. Mainly the 2:10 goal. It would “just” be an 8 minute PR, but 8 minutes over the course of 13 miles does not leave a lot of room for error. But pre-run fuel is not my happy place. As I type this, I’m eating toast. Solid, simple choice. But I’m laughing (ruefully) because I ran nearly 5 miles recently on nothing but a scoop of peach jelly. You’re an idiot, Kel. That’s not proper fuel! I’m trying to do better.

The following is a sentence I never imagined I’d say. Certainly not at work. “Why are there ants in the toilet?” And apparently the high bun I wear when a) I workout, b) I don’t feel like washing my hair, and c) I’m trying to get sh*t done – so basically all the time – is what mini refers to as “Mama’s pineapple hair”.

Wonderful. Just wonderful.

_______________________

I ask you –

Have you ever used a weird name to describe yourself?

What’s your favorite weird phrase?

Give me your fuel suggestions!

Wk 5, HM Training

Remember that summer I ate a sandwich every day for months? Welcome to Fall 2021.

Think I’m figuring out the proper fueling techniques. I haven’t been taking anything mid-run (of course the longest until this week was only 70 mins). Afternoon pre-run, I do well with a banana and peanut butter. AM pre-run, I’ve been on an overnight oats kick…mixed with a little homemade peach jam… delicious!!

Not sure why Garmin just now has me doing strides, but I guess wk 5 is as good as any. Ideal cadence was 150-200 spm. Seeing as how I don’t typically train this way, I think I did well! (This was also day 3 of consecutive runs due to scheduling conflicts.)

Long run of the week (Friday): a little over 8 miles felt great! Post-run smoothie made an appearance again. This time I used strawberry yogurt, a whole peach, ice, and orange juice as the liquid base. HOLY CRAP! It was delicious!

Usually long runs are on a weekend due to time constraints, but because of my own time constraints, I ran on Friday instead…which meant I ran, I showered, I fueled, I stretched, and then ran (not literally) to have lunch with my mini.

Of course she requested McDonalds for lunch. Not ideal fueling, but we – my legs and I – survived. The new week will be here soon!

For Real?

Like… really? Title in progress.

I love blogging. Really, I do. And I love reading other blogs. Yeppers! But the ones who spend 6 paragraphs detailing the “best holiday desserts” and have the outright gall – that’s French for cajones – to include a recipe for Poached Pears is out of their mind. WHO eats poached pears? Nevermind…what is a poached pear? And for the holidays? No!

Fall is finally upon us. Admittedly I cried when I woke up the first day, remembered it was a Wednesday, and realized I don’t run on Wednesdays. Not all Wednesdays, just currently. I should have changed my training schedule, but I had a doctor’s appointment that day. At least it seems the 50s are here to stay through the overnight hours.

Speaking of doctors, the nurse quietly asked me if I was still breastfeeding. Mind you, we’d already discussed I had a 5 yr old. Way to go! – to the women still nursing five years later. However, I’m not one of them. Are you for real? – to the timid nurse at the VA. Glad she took my blood pressure before the interrogation.

My how time flies when you’re getting old and don’t remember when you graduated.

The last time I saw this stage was 2011 when I graduated from Wayland Baptist University with a Master’s degree. P.S. my phone changed “graduated” to some weird combination of those letters that made no sense and I considered leaving it like that.

For real? Yes, it sounds about right.

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I ask you –

Is the phrase ‘for real’ too casual for professional conversation?

How often a day do you use this phrase?

Tell me your best ARE YOU FOR REAL? story!

Office Life / Cold Front

My office has a serious Crumbl cookie addiction. As well as donut addiction. If you want to get something into the hands of leadership quickly, we can be bribed. Everyone has a price!

Speaking of office stuff, when the going gets tough, I remind myself of an instance where I helped a stranger get into their master’s program. Well, it was a miniscule part but I played it. Seeing as how it was several years ago, I imagine they have since graduated. Pretty proud!

Again, on the office theme, I have encountered some really beautiful sunrises lately. The only problem is I’m usually driving and too lazy to pull over. Being punctual is my thing. Although my phone doesn’t take the best sun photos, you get the idea. I adore the mornings. There’s just something about a new day, waking up before others, the quiet stillness of the world early in the day. Before life gets crazy. Before the sun starts boiling me alive. The days are getting shorter hence the darkness is lasting longer. Bring on Fall!

We’re getting closer to the closing of Hell’s Gate aka end of summer in Tejas. Not close enough. Sadly I missed the opportunity to run last week when it was a blizzard-like 59°. Break out the parkas, folks. I’ll get my cold weather running gear. It’s a party!

Alas, a day later, it was 99° outside and 78° in the office. Have I mentioned I miss teleworking?

________________________

I ask you –

Does your office have a particular addiction?

What are the average daily temperatures where you live?

Tell me an office skill you’re not proud to be good at! I’m getting good at work order requests.

Day(s) in Photos, pt 29

Finally found a huge pretzel! It’s not pretzel bites, but it will do for the time being.

When I have time on my hands, I attempt to decorate them.

Beer shoes?!? Brooks outdid themselves this time. I feel like these shoes speak volumes to runner’s priorities.

Although I love the below list of words, I feel as if it’s missing one: whackadoo!

Credit: @hardcorecomedy2.0 via Instagram

Finally, the moment you’ve all been waiting for – ta da!!! 2 years of Gummies netted me a whole hour of unlimited line boosts. I was super excited by this prize until I realized it was not the same as a whole hour of unlimited lives. So in approximately 12 mins I was out of lives and had to wait 10+ mins to get another life, repeat, etc.

I really need to get help.

_______________________

I ask you –

On a scale of 1 to no longer being my friend, how much do you love huge pretzels?

What word is missing from the list?

Honest opinions only: is my Gummy addiction out of control?

An Open Letter

…to the pretzel shop in our rather dismal, dying mall.

Dear Pretzel Peoples, I really needed you to come through for me. Let me explain: my kindergartner just finished her first full week of school. Earlier in the week, this child (my child) who rarely asks for anything, asked – politely – if we could go to the mall this weekend to get pretzel bites. As any proud mom would do, I smiled and replied affirmative. The weekend came. After many other unexplainable events of which were not her fault, we arrived at said mall to purchase said pretzel bites. “The ones that are all buttery and delicious”, she said. Unbeknownst to us, your pretzel bite location was closed. To my shock, I read the posted sign detailing your legal and financial woes. As my young child stared in horror at the darkened heat lamps and noticeable lack of “buttery pretzel bite” smell, the realization began to sink in. There would be no pretzel bites for her today. And, according to the date in March 2021, there had not been any pretzel bites in quite some time. I hope you understand this: I get it. Times are hard, the economy is a rollercoaster, the list goes on. But I made a promise to a young lady who had her heart set on pretzel bites. Yes, the buttery, delicious ones. Of which you let me down. You, pretzel people, did not hold up your end of the bargain. Therefore, I had a sad, disappointed, mildly angry child to explain to, in an age-appropriate way, why there would be no pretzel bites today. I SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN IN THIS SITUATION! You should be ashamed of the second-best option I presented to her. Sure, cookies and smoothies and coffee are some of her favorite things. To be honest, they are some of my favorite things, as well. However, they were not pretzel bites! They were not what I promised. You should make this right. Sincerely, the mother of a pretzel bite-loving girl.

__________________________

I ask you –

Have you ever made a promise you couldn’t fulfill but which was completely out of your control?

Do you enjoy pretzel bites?

Please pass this on to anyone you may know whom owns a pretzel bite business. They need to know how important this business is to at least one young girl.