Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Run and Freezer Meals

So I had my first run back since the stone and I guess since classes started. Five miles, five tough miles, but five tough miles outside in warmer than cold weather :). I can't believe I skipped two weeks, no wonder it felt tough. It was great to run outside again, it felt different but it was ok.

Now I'm watching the biggest loser and doing homework. About to throw a freezer meal in the oven, cheesy hash-browns. It has been so helpful to have freezer meals, I love just being able to defrost a great meal and throw it in the oven. it gives me time to finish up homework, go for a run, or take a nap. My next cooking day is going to be either Saturday or Sunday, so I'll try a few new ones and throw a few out. Anyway, I should probably stop procrastinating... back to the hw.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

The Hundred Dresses

This semester I am in Children's Literature. In this class we have to read about seventy children's books through out the semester. All this to say tonight I read the first book I needed to read and summarize for the class, The Hundred Dresses. I picked up the book at Borders today when I was going to pick up Tuck Everlasting. It was a short book that was a Newbery Honor, met the criteria, and looked cute, so I picked it up. I didn't really know what to expect when I opened it up, but shortly after I started reading it, I became aware that it was a book about teasing. Most of the book if from a little girl's point of view who isn't really teasing but is standing by while her friend teases. The book was written in 1944 by Eleanor Estes, and it is beautifully illustrated in what I assume is watercolor pencil by Louis Slobodkin. The girl who was being teased ultimately moves away to a big city where their Polish name won't be made fun of, but it really isn't the journey of the girl being teased that we see. We see the sleepless nights of the girl that is not much better off financially and is scared that she might be the next butt of the joke, and so she doesn't step forward to tell her friend she is wrong. We see that everyone has talents and worth. We also see that sometimes thing will stick with us because we knew they were wrong and we can't take them back. For a children's book it sure does have a lot of truth to it. Am I standing by, while I know I can do something to stop what is happening that is wrong? Am I keeping my mouth shut so that I don't become the next butt of the joke? Am I seeing the worth and talents of even the people that annoy me? Talk about a heavy first book.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

ER

At 4:30 this morning I woke up again in pain, same place, same intensity. I took some medicine and tried to go back to sleep with no avail. Hours later, still in pain, I ended up going to the campus nurse practitioner. To make a long office visit short, he sent me to the emergency room because of the place of pain (right trunk) and the possibilities of what it could be. I went to baptist's ER, which was without water... Little crazy. Anyway, after a long day in the er, we found out I had a kidney stone, and there are more in my kidneys. Thankfully now we know, and I can be prepared when it happens again. Needless to say the run is out for tonight. Please pray that this passes quickly and that I'll be able to sleep tonight.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Cooking day was a success, but...

Yesterday was cooking day... drum roll please.... I made 5 meals in 5 hours! I split all the meals in half. We ate half of a meal. Calculating... there are nine meals ready in the freezer! I also made a big pot of veggie soup the night before that is sitting in the fridge and we are eating off of it slowly. The only meal I forgot was the honey lime chicken, but it can wait for next time.

Here comes the but part... While cooking was a success, what was not a success was waking up in the middle of the night in serious pain! I woke up about three o'clock with a solid pain on the right side of my stomach and felt sick. I tried to deal with the pain thinking of anything it could be, anyway I took a Tylenol and prayed it would stay down. I finally fell asleep in the recliner. Thankfully the pain was gone when I woke up but I still felt queasy. I called in to work and stayed in bed all day watching the 6 hour version of Pride and Prejudice. My wonderful husband brought me lunch in bed and took care of me. Still have no clue what it was, don't think it was a kidney stone, but I have had one before... Hopefully I won't have to find out what it was because it won't happen again. Back to work tomorrow, off night for classes, and its a run night. Off to bed for me, goodnight.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Freezer friendly cooking day!

Today I went for a run (at the gym) and then braved the cold to buy food for our freezer friendly cooking day... It was in the 20's for most of the day so at least there was no worry that the food would spoil. So here is the line up for tomorrow's day of cooking:

Cream cheese chicken
Cheesy Ham and Potatoes
"So Simple I can make it- Vegetable soup"
Swiss Chicken
Italian Sausage and Pasta Bake
Honey Lime Chicken
Beef Stroganoff
White Chili (Joe's going to make)

I also picked up some easy meal ideas, such as frozen pizza, and tortellini. I hope I am not trying to take on too much the first time around... I'll tell you after tomorrow.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Resolutions

So Last year I had a couple crazy resolutions...

I have some pretty strange resolutions this year... some of which I still haven't started yet but here they are.

-Read my Bible everyday
-Wake up before 9:30 every morning
-Work out in some way every day
-Get involved in a Church
-Drink 8 glasses of water a day
- By the end of the year I want to learn how to knit socks.


Needless to say... The only successful one was finding a church. And even then I'm not sure how "involved" in it. So much has changed this past year... we went back to school, moved again, found a job, found a church, started running again... All this to say I am hoping this year's are different. So here they are!

- By this time next year I want to be prepared to and run the 1st light marathon in Mobile.
- I still want to be more involved in our church, but I also want to prayerfully consider how God wants to use me.
-This next one I don't want to sound vain, but I am going to try to make an effort everyday to look the best that I can. I haven't done so well with this but I know I need to put effort in to the way I look... wake up earlier and take time to take care of my self.
- Part of the waking up earlier I will also take time to spend time with God, I have a reading plan and plan on reading through the reading plan consistently.
-Finally I want to be more organized, I haven't come up with a measurable outcome to judge this by for next year but I am going to try.

2010 here I come...