I miss my Grandma

Yep, I said it .. I miss my Grandma. She's been gone for over 10 years now, but I miss her a lot. Not a day goes by that I don't think about her. I have so many good memories of her. I would give anything to go back to that time when life was so much simpler. We didn't have cell phones or internet or HDTV, but I had the time of my life. Here are some of my favorite memories of my grandma..

• When I was about 6 or 7 years old, I was out in the yard helping my grandma plant flowers. I started digging a hole for a flower and just kept digging and digging to see how big of a hole I could dig. My grandma turned to me and said "are you trying to dig a hole to China?" I laughed so hard like it was the funniest thought ever and attempted to truly dig a hole to China. I really thought I could.
• I have this one fleeting memory of going out to eat with my grandparents in Wauseon one afternoon and on the way there, I remember looking out the window at the countryside and thinking about how much I loved going for drives in the afternoons and just looking at all the farms and wishing that day/moment would never end. I remember we were on our way to visit my great aunt in the nursing home. It was a weekday and I was probably about 10 years old.
• When I was little, my grandma would sometimes babysit me while my mom went to child study club meetings. I remember one particular evening that my grandma babysat me that my mom did not get back to pick me up until almost 11:30 at night. My grandma stayed awake the whole time with me playing games because I did not want to go to bed.
• I remember another occasion that my grandma babysat me that I ended up staying the night at her house. I was sick with a cold or flu of some kind and my grandma gave me Vicks to put on. I remember feeling better instantly and to this day, I think that Vicks cures everything and sometimes I put it on just for the memories :) lol
• I think her favorite color was peach, because I remember how her Christmas tree was always decorated with peach ornaments.
• I remember sitting on her front porch with my cousins drinking Faygo red pop.
• Going to Florida in the winter to visit my grandparents was always the best. I remember laying in bed in a couch that pulled out into a bed and pretending to read smut books while sticking m&ms in my teeth.
• I remember my grandma scaring me one night by pointing at me :)
• My grandma made the best fried bologna known to human kind. I remember thinking she was the world's best cook when she made fried bologna on toast. (She was the worlds greatest cook by the way, unless she was making roast beef).
• I remember going for walks with my grandma in the summer time. I remember going with her to pick these wildflowers one afternoon. They were white wildflowers. We brought them back to her house and filled 4 vases with water mixed with different colors of food coloring (green, blue, yellow, and red). We put the flowers in the water / food coloring mixture and watched the flowers turn color.
• I remember one day I found a robin's egg in the yard at my grandma's house and she let me bring it in and we put it in a tiny box with cotton balls and hoped it would hatch into a real bird.
• One day my family was helping to scrape the old paint off my grandparents' house and prepare it to get repainted. I took one of the scrapers and used the edge of it to scrape my initials into the siding. The more I thought about it, the more scared I got, because I was afraid my initials wouldn't come out of the siding. I started crying and confessed to my grandma who told me that it was just fine to have my initials in the side of the house. I wonder if they are still there.. :)
• I remember running laps around my grandma's driveway, because I thought it was the same size as the track uptown that the high schoolers ran on.
• I remember playing tripoly with my grandma and all sorts of other card games.
• I remember my grandma liked to watch Wheel of Fortune and do crossword puzzles.
• I remember the last time my grandma told me that she loved me.

I can't wait to see her again. I think about her every day and all the memories we shared. I can't wait to see her again. She was a very special person and she is very missed.

I love you Grandma.

Running on empty

Well, we made it home from Green Bay safe and sound with the treadmill in tow. Before we left, my mom claimed that my brother told her it was 48 inches long, meaning that it would fit perfectly in the back of my vehicle (which allows 64 inches). When we get there, I stood next to the treadmill and it's almost as tall as I am (68 inches). So either my brother isn't very good at using a tape measure or my mom has a very sneaky way of getting me to drive 7 hours to Green Bay! Luckily, we found a way to get the treadmill in the back of the car (but not without pushing the passenger seat up really far so my mom had miniscule leg room!) and we had a great weekend all around. See my facebook page for pictures!

So now that I have a treadmill set up at home, I have no excuses for not using it daily and meeting my running goals. My biggest obstacle right now has been my hip/knee pain and the fact that it gets dark so soon after I get out of work. Now I have a solution for the lack of sunlight. I just need to find a way to get rid of this nasty knee and hip pain. I'm looking for a good yoga DVD to do a couple of times a week and hopefully that will help. I'm also going to do a lot more stretching both before and after running and hope that helps also. Wish me luck!

In the meantime, it's time for me to go to bed. All that driving is super tiring..

Cheese-Heading it

Who is so dedicated to her running goals that she's willing to drive 7 hours one way to pick up a treadmill? This girl! And who is also so dedicated to her running goals that she could barely walk at work today? That's right, this girl again!

Tomorrow morning, I'm leaving for Wisconsin to pick up a treadmill that my dad has in storage at my brother's place. My mom is riding along, because a) she is too scared to let her little baby drive all the way to Wisconsin alone and b) she will never refuse the opportunity to see Wyatt (my nephew, her grandson). If all goes well, the treadmill will easily fit in the back of my Escape (the seats fold down) and we will have a good time visiting, even if it is going to be a short visit.

Last night, I shockingly got out of work in time to get home and get a run in before it got dark outside. I don't know what's going wrong, but lately it's my hip that has been bothering me, which causes my knee to hurt, and it even hurts down into my ankle. I think it's my IT band that's the culprit, but either way, I was in a lot of pain mid-run last night and in even more pain at work today. I better get these issues figured out, because I am not going to let any aches and pains slow me down. I refuse to feel old.

Double bacon cheeseburgers

I haven't done the greatest with my exercise this week, but I have been making an attempt to eat better. My only workouts since Sunday's run have been my cardio class on Monday and Wednesday nights and a 10 mile bike ride on the recumbant bike tonight. It's just too cold and dark for me to get outside and run on weeknights after work. I really can't wait to go pick up my treadmill. The recumbant bike doesn't even feel like a workout compared to running.

I think I'm doing a tiny bit better with the choices I'm making food-wise. I'm eating a bigger breakfast now. Although it doesn't feel like it's keeping me from eating so much at lunch, I at least don't feel like I'm starving every morning at 10:30am. I really need to find a good, healthy, quick to throw together breakfast food to take to work in the mornings though. I need something that I can get put together fairly quickly on my way out the door that I can wait and eat at about 8:10 am when I am actually hungry. This week, it's been peanut butter sandwiches with all natural peanut butter and whole wheat low-calorie bread. Not the tastiest in my opinion, but very filling.

My latest creation that I feel is a recipe worth sharing is a healthy version of a double cheeseburger. These ingredients were all purchased at the grocery store uptown. I made it in the George Foreman grill, but I suppose they could be made in any type of grill as long as you press down to drain all the fat out of the meat. I wouldn't recommend making them in a skillet.

Double Bacon Cheeseburgers

Ingredients:

Jennie-O Turkey Burgers (from the frozen foods section in the side isle by the meat at Kaiser's) - 2 burgers (they come in packs of two)

Aunt Millie's whole grain low calorie bread (they just started carrying this - I love it) - 2 slices

Pepper Jack cheese from the deli dept (2 slices)

Oscar Mayer fully cooked thick sliced bacon - 4 slices (it's healthier and lower calorie than regular bacon)

lettuce

onion

Directions:

Thaw burgers in the refrigerator the night before. Heat George Foreman grill to 400 degrees. Salt and Pepper burgers (and any other seasoning you want to put on them) and put on grill. Close grill and cook for 7 minutes. Fold up one slice of pepper jack cheese and put on top of one burger, then put the other burger on top of the cheese. Close grill and cook for another 3 minutes. In the meantime, toast bread, microwave bacon for 45 seconds, and chop onion. Put remaining slice of pepper jack cheese on top of burger and let it melt. Put the 2 burgers on the toast, top with bacon, then onion, then lettuce, then final slice of toast. What you have is an amazing double bacon cheese burger that will make you feel like you are on the show Man Vs. Food when you eat it. It was soo good. You could use sharp cheddar cheese instead of pepper jack. I will never recommend velveeta or American cheese for anything in my entire life. So don't use either :)

Awesome tacos

I have successfully ran a total of 10 miles over the course of this weekend. I think that's pretty good for someone like me who is basically just getting started. I ran 3 miles Friday, 3 yesterday, and a little over 4 today. I'm feeling pretty good about it. I might not be getting super skinny and losing tons of weight, but that's not my goal. My overall goal is to just get healthier...ok, and go out and win some races in the next year. I'm not very fast right now, but the fact that I ran so far today without any knee pain is an accomplishment in itself.

My other goal, in addition to maintaining this work out / running schedule, is to start eating a little healthier. However, I refuse to give up some of my favorite foods. I will eat unhealthy things in moderation, but for the most part, I want to make better choices. This can be difficult at times, based on the limited selection of foods that we have up at our grocery store here in town. But...I'm trying to save money by not driving to Walmart and spending $100s every trip. Plus I really do want to support a local business and I'm a little scared that the new Dollar General (awesome as it is) might put our grocery store in a world of hurt. That being said, I made a delicious and healthy supper entirely with ingredients that I purchased at the grocery store here in town. There is no excuse for not making this meal...and it tasted great.

Heart Healthy Tacos

Ingredients:

2 packages ground turkey (I bought the Festive brand in the side freezer section, it comes in 1lb. packs)

2 packages of taco seasoning mix (whatever kind you prefer)

1/2 an onion chopped

1 small tomato chopped

lettuce chopped (as much as you want)

3 jalapenos (sliced) - If you don't like spicy food, you can substitute green pepper

1/4 cup Crystal Farms shredded Mexican cheese (this is not healthy, so use sparingly)

Chi Chis hot salsa (as much as you want) - you can use any salsa, but the chi chis hot salsa is amazing

Chi Chis whole wheat tortillas (how ever many you need to eat to get full - I ate 2)

Directions:

Brown the turkey (it takes longer than hamburger) and drain off all the fat. Add the taco seasoning mix with the appropriate amount of water (it will be on the label) and let the mixture come to a boil. Let the mixture simmer for 2x as long as the package says, because it takes longer for the ground turkey to absorb the seasoning flavor. Heat up tortillas in microwave on high for 45 seconds. Put cheese in first, then add taco meat, then add veggies, then salsa on top.

This will be very messy to eat, but so so so so so so so so so so good and filling. I promise you that the ground turkey will taste just like ground beef tacos. I was amazed. If you make this recipe like I did, you will have leftovers for another couple of meals (if cooked for 1 person anyway).

Motivation

I am officially in training to run at least a 1/2 marathon by next year. So far so good. I'm currently doing my running outside in the cold, but luckily, I am going to be picking up a treadmill in a couple of weeks to get me through the winter months. As long as I can stay motivated, I know I can achieve this goal. The problem is...I have a hard time staying motivated. So, I decided to make a list of things that will keep me motivated to push myself and actually become the athlete I want to be.

1. Get the new ipod nano and fill it with fast-paced running music only.

2. Run in public as much as possible, because I hate taking the chance that people might see me give up and start walking.

3. Mix up the workout routine. I'm not going to run every single day. I'm going to take some days off, do some cardio workouts, mix in some strength training, and probably ride bike on other days.

4. Bookmark every website that has to do with eating right and working out / running so that when I don't feel like doing either one, I can at least read about it and hopefully change my mind.

5. I already subscribed to Runner's World magazine, which is supposed to come with some sort of running log to track my runs.

6. Sign up for as many 5 and 10Ks in the area as possible.

7. Reward myself with new running shoes as often as I feel like.

8. Watch ESPN and other sports as much as possible.

9. Let myself indulge in an Amigo's pizza and eagle bread every now and then :)

10. Finally buy scales so I can keep track of how much I weigh (until yesterday when I weighed myself at work I really had no idea).

That's my motivation list for right now. Good think my work has me on a sleep schedule where I wake up by 7am even on the weekends. I've already been up and running this morning and I plan on spending the whole rest of the day relaxing on the couch watching football :)

New direction.

So after doing some thinking, I have a few ideas as to how I should proceed with this blog. I feel like all I ever do on here is complain about work and tell everyone that I'm stressed and occasionally post a few updates about what's going on in my life. I feel like it's repetitive and boring and needs to be changed. Therefore, I'm coming up with a few new ideas as to how I can make a change and make it more interesting. I haven't made up my mind yet, but here are a couple of them:

- Just make this a straight-up "this is my opinion" blog where I just pick a topic that has sparked my interest and express my opinion on it. This has gotten me into trouble before, but opinions are opinions and our country has the freedom of speech for a reason.

- Keep and update of my progress toward my fitness/running goals. For example, track my progress toward running the 1/2 marathon next year and try to keep myself motivated by sharing how I'm doing exercise/diet wise.

- Become a "professional" sports analyst and make it a sports blog. If the guys from "Around the Horn" can be famous for all of the B.S. they talk about, I should be able to make myself extremely famous by sharing my sports insight. Besides, if ESPN is willing to hire Lou Holtz to commentate college football, I should be able to come up with a halfway decent sports blog that doesn't involve me spitting on anyone whenever I say my "S"s.

- All recipes. Random recipes of foods that I eat all the time and which ones work and which ones don't.

I am really bored (and I'm sure my whole 2 readers are too) of the direction this blog has taken, so any feedback is welcomed. Otherwise, I will just come up with a new focus on my own and begin with it the next time I post.