Longhorn Lucy

Moving on

2012-08-01T20:19:00.001-05:00

A long time ago in a galaxy far away my sister once asked if me Longhorn Lucy was defunct. Well the answer... for the past year is clearly yes. Our life has changed so much since starting the blog and our beloved dog while still a big part of our family is no longer the center of our world. So we're moving to a new blog. Come check us out at http://jakeandbeccagood.blogspot.com/

Baby Bump Week 12

2011-07-03T13:00:00.001-05:00

Here is a picture of the baby bump week 12

You can tell a little more from the side.
I am currently half way through week 14, and I have noticed a few changes. I'm much less tired in the evenings than I was in this picture.

We have another doctors appt on Tuesday. I'm looking forward to it. I really haven't had a lot of symptoms and I'm not really showing, so the doctors office is the place where it feels the most like I'm actually having a baby.

And baby too

2011-06-19T12:55:00.003-05:00

So let's see, new house, new car, new job, why don't we just add a new baby to the mix just to make sure our life looks absolutely nothing like it used too.

Jake and I are expecting our first child at the end of December.

I have been coordinating one of my last classes at the food bank for the last six weeks. Over the course of those six weeks I've been telling the volunteers about all the changes. Tuesday was our last class and one of the volunteers said to me... "well, enjoy your new life" I thought that was a pretty funny comment.

Everyone has a nickname for the baby before it's born. Bean, nut, fig, etc... Babycenter.com tells you each week what size your baby is as it compares to a fruit or vegetable. Several weeks ago the compared it to a blueberry, so we've been calling it a blueberry.

It took me serveral weeks to realize that with the last name Good, blueberry is pretty funny in the lamest sense possible.... Berry Good... get it... ha ha. Now I love the nickname even more.

I have been so fortunate to have very minimal symptoms. This made me a little nervous due to our previous experience, but I had a enough symptoms to know that some thing was different. At first my sense of smell was so strong, then I started to get some nausea in the evening. Thankfully no throwing up, and the nausea was pretty minimal. We got to hear the heartbeat and see the first ultrasound pictures last Monday, so that was really exciting.

Since I started working 1 and a half full time jobs, I've been totally exhausted. Somebody take Jake Good out for a beer this week. He deserves it. He's been so helpful these last two weeks.

Thankfully I only have to work full time plus ten hours at the food bank this week and next so that is wrapping up. Hopefully I'll have more time to blog about the blueberry's progression and the other exciting things happening around us this summer.

What's behind door number one?

2011-06-12T10:28:00.002-05:00

A NEW Car! Said in my best Bob Barker voice.

So I believe I left off with the new job. There is definitely going to be a adjustment period at my new job. I think I'm not that good at starting new jobs. I think I don't like not know what's going on, I think I'm bad about seeing the flaws in a place instead of focusing on the positives, I think I struggle to get to know co-workers especially when I feel I don't have that much in common with them. All in all I'm just a big negative Nancy. But now let's talk about something fun.

The Sunday before I started my new job, Jake and I went and looked at car as we felt we finally needed to break down and get two. After giving it a lot of thought, and calculating out the dollars, we decided to get an SUV. We've been carting princess Lucy and Sir Bentley around in the back of the Civic for 3 years now, and the poor Civic has been covered in dog hair since. We're hoping to get one of those gate things, to put between the back seat and the cargo area so they can ride back there.

We found a 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee that we liked very much, and Monday we went back and picked it up. For now it'll be "my" car and Jake will get his beloved Civic back. And I will no longer have to drive a manual on a regular basis. YEAH!!

Here is a pic Jake snapped while we were still at the dealership.

We've moved

2011-06-03T09:25:00.000-05:00

A few days after my last post, we found a house to rent. We spent the Easter weekend negotiating rent and a move in date, dogs, and all of that, but by the end of the weekend we'd made a decision.

We took possession of the keys on Friday May 20th. Jake had to work all weekend because a few people were coming in from out of town over the weekend. So, we worked everything out and planned to move on Monday May 23rd. I took the day off, Jake took the day off, we were all set. Somewhere during that time period I started to interview for a job. I ended up having to schedule a second interview for Monday morning at 8am. We'd hired movers who were planning to be there at 11am. It was going to be a tight fit, but we could make it work. We'd pack as much as we could ahead of time, and I'd spend the weekend moving some small stuff and getting ready. Monday morning, Jake would just have to take the sheets off the bed, and a few other small things and we'd be set.

Well Monday morning came and everything was going as planned. I headed off to my interview and nailed it, if I do say so myself. I got home and Jake had everything all ready... we just needed to make one trip to the new house, and get back in time to meet the movers....and then it started raining...... and by raining, I mean pouring down rain, hail, wind, you name it.

The movers called about then asking if it was raining in Fort Worth, and did we still want them to come. I said yes because I thought it was going to be a short shower. The only problem was, we'd disconnected the TV, and the internet so I really had no way of knowing that for sure. After about 20 minutes it was still coming down and I was starting to panic. Now I know it's just stuff, but man, it's all of our stuff and if some of it gets drenched like this it'll be ruined. So we called the movers to see if we could postpone for a few hours. They said unfortunately not and they were booked for the rest of the week. So we told them to come on over and we'd just make do.

At this point my mom called to see how everything was going... I was a little upset at the moment and told it was not going well. She listened, said she'd check the radar and hopefully everything would turn out.

My mom texted a few minutes later saying the storm was almost past, and it was totally clear after that. I was SO relieved to get that text.

By 11:15, the movers had shown up, it was still sprinkling but looked to be clearing up quickly. I had just given the movers directions and gotten them started and my phone rang again... it was the company I had just interviewed with, saying they were pretty interested in me and needed to do a background check and check my references!!

So within a 30 minute period I went from OMG my stuff is all going to get ruined or I'm not going to be able to move... to movers gettin it done and a potential job offer.

The move turned out just perfectly, by the time we got to the new house the sun was trying to come out. We still don't know where everything is going to go, but we're making progress.

My new job

2011-06-02T09:47:00.004-05:00

So needless to say a few days after we moved in, I officially got a job offer. I am going back to my healthcare software roots and working for a company doing support for a product I've never worked with.

I actually started yesterday. I'm a little nervous to be going back to work full time, I haven't worked full time in almost 3 years. Granted I got a Masters degree so it's not like I've been sitting on the couch eating bon bons but it's been a while since I've had to be somewhere every day at 8am and stay there until 5pm.

At my current job I work quite a few evenings, so I've gotten used to having the morning to be productive. I think I will miss that a little.

I think the job is kind of stepping stone to bigger and better things in the company, a foot in the day one might say.

I'm not quite done at the food bank, so I'll be working during the day, and some nights and weekends for the rest of the month. After two days, I'm pretty dang tired, so it might be a long month!!

What we've been up too

2011-06-02T09:18:00.003-05:00

Well hello to the two followers I have left!! Here is a list of what we've been up too. Each has it's own little stories attached so I'm going to TRY to follow up with longer posts about each.

1. We found a new house and moved in about a week and half ago. Still just renting. Just in case anyone didn't already know this, moving totally blows and we even hired movers!!

2. I got a new job and start this coming monday..

3.... but I'm not quite finished with my old job, so I'll be trying to work two jobs for the month of June..... and I think I'm going to try and blog more heh heh

4. Since there will be a new job in the opposite direction and with somewhat different hours than Jake's job I think we will finally be breaking down and buying a new car. My goal was to be a one car family for two years. We made it two years and 7 months.

5. I think we might be going the SUV route... I actually have mixed feelings about that.

6. I have put the breaks on running for a while, I still haven't joined that gym I was talking about back in April.. a few other things got in the way, and it's hot and we've been busy.

7. My friend is updating her blog with what she's calling mini-goals (MG). I think that is a great idea and I might try to do the same.

A List

2011-04-19T21:05:00.003-05:00

Here are some things that have been on my mind.

1. It's getting hot here in TX. It's really hard for me believe that on a day like today when it hits 96 degrees here that it could even possibly still be snowing somewhere.

2. I think if it was still snowing where I lived I would probably be constantly in tears.

3. Because it's getting hot I think I might have to join a gym. I don't really like the gym, it always seems overpriced, but at the same time I'm finding if I don't go running/exercise when I have the opportunity (like right after work) I don't make time for it later. And when it's 96 degrees it's not really possibly to go running at 4 or 5'oclock in the evening.

4. I was thinking about starting another blog where I discussed some of the Healthy things in Fort Worth, it's not totally out of the question but I might start smaller and just add a "Good Health" section to this blog. (get it, Good Health, cause my last name is Good hee hee I think I'm so funny)

5. My friend just asked me to be in her wedding this fall, I'm really excited.

6. We're back on the hunt for a new house to rent. I think we're just ready to move on.

I think that's all I've got today.

Perspective and the Price of Gas

2011-04-11T13:37:00.002-05:00

Sunday Morning Jake and I were making waffles for breakfast, and we pulled out a real maple syrup. This is a new thing for us. In our attempt to continue to eat healthier, and purchase foods with fewer ingredients.

After we began eating Jake made a comment about how we'd used about $2 worth of syrup on just our two waffles. The maple syrup was about $10 for a 10oz bottle, so we figured we'd used about an ounce each. I honestly thought for one second, eek that's a lot of money. But then I happen to look at the liquor cabinet and realized that we spend more than that for a bottle of bourbon and don't think twice about it, or how much it is per ounce.

We started talking about perspective and how because we were used to paying $3 for big bottle of syrup, it just seemed so much more expensive, but since we were already used to pay more money for the bourbon we'd never thing about getting the less expensive one, why would you go down in quality??

This issue just came up again when I told Jake I'd paid $40 for gas in our Honda Civic. We were both like WOW that is so much money!! And then I got to thinking again. We spend $40 for a dinner out, which may or may not even be that good, and again don't think twice about it. So what's the big deal with gas, why do we think it's SO much money. We don't drive far, either of us, we only have one car, and we fill up about once a week. Why we do we think a 10 cent increase is so crazy.

Food for thought.

Delectable Delights- Buffalo Chicken Panini

2011-04-05T20:43:00.002-05:00

Yet another winner from Cooking Light Magazine. In all honesty you could probably get all of these recipes yourself, but then you'd miss out on my witty comments so stick around. We made these tonight and they were fantastic. I stink at the picture thing. Mostly because it seems like I want to make sure it taste good before I take the picture, but by the time I realize it tastes good there is already a bite out of it. Catch 22 if I ever heard one!! This is so easy, it should hardly count as a recipe. My favorite kind.

Buffalo Chicken Panini

1/4 cup hot pepper sauce, divided (we used Franks Red Hot, it has like zero calories and actually not that much sodium so I'm not even sure why you need to measure it, just pour some on)

1 lbs chicken tenders (you could easily use regular chicken breasts to save a few bucks but the tenders do make it easy)

1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese

6 tablespoons mayo (technically the recipe called for canola mayo but I didn't want to buy it for just one recipe. Has anyone every used it? How does it taste)

8 slices sourdough bread

Directions:

Preheat broiler

Mix some of the sauce with the uncooked chicken tenders, and throw them on a tinfoil lined baking pan ( trust me it will make for easier clean up)

Broil the chicken 4 minutes on each side

Toss cooked chicken with more sauce.

Combine Mayo and blue cheese and spread on the bread slices ( this ends up being a lot thicker than blue cheese dressing, so I would suggest substituting blue cheese dressing, but it would work in a pinch) Top with chicken

Put the sandwich on a grill pan, a regular pan would easily work too, you just wouldn't get the pretty grill marks, put something heavy on top. We do have a panini press too so we used that, but another pot would work, or in all honesty just cook it like a grilled cheese at this point. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side to get some of the blue cheese to melt.

Enjoy

I meant to serve it with Sweet Potato Fries, but I forgot that until it was 7:15 and we were pretty hungry, so we skipped the fries and went with some pineapple instead.

delectable Delights- Tilapia Tostadas With Roasted Corn Relish

2011-03-23T13:56:00.002-05:00

I've been wanting to try this recipe from Cooking Light for a while now. I finally got around to it over the weekend and it was worth it.

One of my favorite things about Cooking Light recipes is the number of vegetables they use. So if you are like me, and eat a little more than their recommended portion size you are still in fairly good shape because of the number of vegetables you are getting.

Tilapia Tostadas

Ingredients

1/2 reduced-fat sour cream ( I used Greek Yogurt)

1/4 cup green salsa

Cooking spray

1 cup corn (we used canned)

1/4 cup red bell pepper ( I used green because we had one, but red would have been more colorful)

1/4 cup red onion

1 1/2 tsp minced seeded jalapeno

salt

1 cup peeled avocado, diced

2 tsp lime juice

1 1/2 lbs tilapia fillets ( we used less than a lb, two fillets, it was plenty)

pepper

1/3 cup yellow cornmeal

1 tablespoon oil

8 corn tortillas (the recipe has you broil the tortillas to crisp them up. I used store bought tostada shells, which are fried, I think if I had corn tortillas on hand I might try broiling them, but most likely I'd use the store bought again)

1 cup packaged angel hair slaw, (I used plain ole shredded cabbage)

Directions

Spray heated skillet with cooking spray, add corn, bell pepper, onion and jalapeno, sprinkle with salt and saute for 5 minutes.

mix sour cream and salsa.

Heat a pan with 1 tbls oil

Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper, dredge fish in corn meal

Add fish to skillet and cook about 3 minutes per side

If you were using corn tortillas, coat with cooking spray and place under broiler for 2 minutes on each side.

Put corn mixture, salsa mixture, cabbage and avocado in separate condiment bowls

Assemble tostada starting with cabbage, then adding corn mixture, then fish, then avocado, and top with salsa mixture.

Enjoy

We thought these were so fresh and yummy. I think we both would have liked the to be a little spicier, so next we might either add a little hot salt to the cornmeal mixture, add the jalapeno after the corn and peppers have been cooked so stays a little spicier, or buy the medium jar of salsa. I look forward to making it in the summer, when the peppers, and corn with be fresh.

Ouch

2011-03-21T08:16:00.002-05:00

This morning, Jake and I were unloading the dishwasher before we went to work. He had bent down to put the pots and pans away, and I had some silverware in my hands. The silverware drawer is directly above where Jake was bent over...I did that thing, that we all do, I thought I was quick enough that I could put the silverware away and get the drawer closed before he stood up... I was quick enough... He tried to stand up and hit is back on the silverware drawer, which of course, led to him shouting in pain, and me feeling bad for not waiting... Now I know I'm not the only one who does this, and Jake has done it to me, but WHY DO WE DO THIS?? Are we in such a hurry in our lives, that we can't just wait for the other person to finish, are we all just that naive that we think it won't happen this time? Do we ever get away with it, and we're classically conditioned to keep trying to get that reward?? What up with dat?

leaky sink

2011-03-20T18:27:00.003-05:00

A week ago Friday, I waited around all morning for the plumber to come fix the leak under our sink. It's frustrating enough to be held hostage by service people who can only give you a 4 hour window for when they'll be able to make it, but then, he never showed. I got a call around 12:30 saying he was too backed up and wasn't going to make it.

I wasn't able to reschedule the appointment for almost another week. So the plumber came on Thursday and fixed the leak......this evening, I went to get a rag from under the sink...it was already soaking wet. Here we go again!

10 Random things

2011-03-19T14:20:00.003-05:00

I haven't been writing because I don't feel like I have much to say or that it's always the same thing, about my running or my exercise in general. So I'm just going to tell you about 10 random things that have been going on with me.

1. We're thinking about getting a second car, I want to, but Jake doesn't want one yet. We are currently doing the carpooling thing and it's working out for the most part, and I'm probably just being selfish.

2. I have to pay taxes this year. First time ever. :(

3. My job at the food bank is going very well, just finished up a series of classes last week, had one really busy week to do all of the paperwork and prep, and now start a new series this coming week. I'll have three classes going at once.

4. I'm already over half way done with my internship there.

5. We have been talking about going on vacation with our friends. I'm excited about it, but man, it makes me really nervous to think about being away from the house.

6. Day Light Savings really messed me up.

7. I ran this morning for the first time in a week. See number 3, and number 6.

8. I went out for St. Patty's day, I didn't drink any green beer.

9. I'm starting to realize there are a lot of jobs I could be happy with.

10. The dog training is paying off. Bentley doesn't pull on the leash at all anymore and can go outside with me without running away. Lucy doesn't pull as much on the leash...what can I say, she's a stubborn girl. Takes after Jake I think ;)

Cowtown 10K recap

2011-03-05T15:08:00.002-06:00

Last Saturday I ran the Cowtown 10k here in Fort Worth. I wasn't looking too forward to this event. The Cowtown just hasn't been the most fun race for me. The first year I ran it, it was freezing cold, and super windy. Jake had another event that same day, so I wasn't running with anyone and didn't have anyone to look forward to seeing at the finish line. All in all it was a fine race, but pretty uneventful. Last year, I tried to run the full, then got injured, then tried to run the half.. and things just kind of fell apart after that, I didn't even end up being in town on race day. I ended up signing up for the 10k because my run group paid for my entrance.

The day was much nicer than my first race. A little cool, but no wind. The race started at 7am, so the sun was pretty just on it's way up as we made our way. About 2 miles in, I caught up to a few people in my run group. One of the guys was trying to run about the same pace as me, so we decided to finish the race together. It made the race so much more enjoyable to run with a partner.

I didn't manage to get any pictures myself, but my group grabbed a few good ones. My friend Courtney took this picture on the run, I'm to her right. Ryan took this one of me as we ran.

The course this year seemed much nicer than the first year I did it, and the race was very well run.

What to do?

2011-02-25T10:43:00.002-06:00

So it's pretty safe to say our house is not in the perfect neighborhood....

After we were robbed, we got a bunch of listings and looked pretty seriously for another place to live. We really weren't finding much in our price range, in a location that we liked, with everything we have here. We actually really like the location. It's centrally located to all of the things we like, our jobs, places we hang out, grocery stores, restaurants, etc. This was a major reason we had trouble finding some else we liked. It seemed to stay in this area we had a choice between really high rents, or apartments. Since Longhorn Lucy has had free range of the backyard since the day we got her, I'm not sure how apartment living would go down. To find a price range we liked with a backyard, we had to give up location.

What we've decided for now is just not to decide for another 6 months. We made this decision after checking with the landlord. I had gotten to a point where I thought the landlord didn't want us to live there anymore. Frankly I thought he didn't want to be in the landlord business anymore. The reason I thought this was that he is not very responsive to us. Doesn't return our e-mails in a timely manor or sometimes at all, says he'll do/fix something and doesn't.

When I last talked with him I flat out asked if he wanted us to move out thinking maybe he'd put the house up for sale and get out of the landlord business. He was quick to respond saying of course they wanted us to stay, and whatever we needed to feel safe in our home again he was open too it. I got back to him with a few things I thought would help, he replied and said he'd get on it. We haven't heard anything since..... Frustrating

Funny enough, there is a house on our same street that is up for rent... it's in our price range, it's bigger, it has a backyard... it's not any safer ( it's on the same street) but it's also not on the corner either.

Is it weird to consider moving down the street? Should I try to use this as leverage with the landlord, should we just wait it out and save ourselves some money and then try to find another place.....

What happens when you don't run for about 2 weeks

2011-02-15T18:57:00.003-06:00

You..... can't..... catch..... your...... breath.

Wow, I cannot believe how out of shape my lungs got in two weeks. Post half marathon, which also happened to be the week of 4 snow days in a row, I kinda let myself slack off. Wouldn't have been a big deal, I got one run in, but then we got hit with some more crazy weather, we're trying to adjust to a new schedule and I let another week go by. I'm back on track I've gotten 3 runs in since last Friday, but man oh man can I feel it in my lungs. Thankfully I believe I will snap back fairly quickly. I'm looking to do another half either at the end of March or early April depending on my schedule.

I also bought some Gu, a Cliff shot energy gel, and some Power Bar chewables this weekend. I look forward to trying them out over the next few weeks. I'll certainly share what I think.

Oh and we had a really good meal tonight that I'll try to share this week.

Adjusting to a new schedule

2011-02-10T10:00:00.000-06:00

Jake started a new job on Monday, and for the first time in three years he is not working from home. Additionally we only have one car, so we are taking an adventure is carpooling and taking the bus. One car has always worked out pretty well for us when I was in school and Jake was working from home because our schedules were pretty flexible.

Today will be day three for the week. We had yet another snow day yesterday so we didn't have to go in. Wed and Thurs are going to prove to be the toughest days because Jake works from 8-5, and I work from 1-9 on those days. This is hopefully where the bus will come in.

We have also decided to take a stronger approach to training our dogs. Longhorn Lucy has always been a high energy dog, and Bentley doesn't really like other dogs so it's been a bit of a challenge, truth be told Lucy doesn't really like other dogs either. Our ultimate goal is to be able to take them to the dog park on the weekends since we'll be busier with work during the week. So for now, we are adding that to our busier schedule. Yesterday we had to get up at gasp 6:30 in the morning. Welcome to the real world Goods!

Star Tribune Article

2011-02-09T14:55:00.004-06:00

This is a cool article about the program I work with. I used to live in Minnesota so it's great to see the program working at another location. Sadly my job with the program is only temporary, but it has been a really great experience for me.

http://www.startribune.com/local/north/115374979.html

Delectable Delights- Pasta, Pesto and Peas

2011-02-03T10:06:00.001-06:00

I've made this dish a couple of times and it is very good.

Pasta, Pesto and Peas adapted from Ina Garten via the Food Network. It's a really large recipe so you could make half and still probably serve 4 people with a salad or another side. We made about 3/4 of a recipe last time and it was still too much*

What you'll need

1.5 lb pasta, rotini, bowtie, cavatapi, something the sauce can stick too

1/4 cup good olive oil

1 1/2 cups pesto (packaged or see recipe below) We used packaged

1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach defrosted and squeezed dry

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 1/4 cups good mayonnaise

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

1 1/2 cups frozen peas, defrosted

1/3 cup pine nuts

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Cook the pasta as directed, add the peas in for the last minute or two of cooking. Drain and toss into a bowl with the olive oil. You could skip the oil here, the sauce probably has enough. Cool to room temperature.

In the bowl of a food processor, puree the pesto, spinach, and lemon juice. Add the mayonnaise and puree. Add the pesto mixture to the cooled pasta, add the sauce a little at a time and stir you may not need the entire amount, and then add Parmesan, pine nuts, salt, and pepper. Mix well, season to taste, and serve at room temperature. I actually like mine a bit warmer than room temperature. I don't let the pasta cool all the way to room temp.

The thing I like about this dish is that it's really flavorful and could easily be adapted. I've made it with sun dried tomato pesto (again store bought) and it was wonderful. I think next time I might try adding some chopped tomatoes or sun dried, to the basil pesto to add a little color.

* too much for us, is when each of us has to eat the left overs more than once.

A novice runners follow up questions

2011-02-02T10:06:00.001-06:00

I have a couple of post race/ future training questions if anyone feels like they want to answer them.

First, Goo, no goo? I started to get hungry towards the end of the race on Saturday, and wondered if something might have helped and given me a little energy boost. Additional note.... there was no sports drink available at any of the water stations so I also wonder if that would have been all I needed. There also probably weren't enough water stations. I've never eaten anything on a long run. I did eat breakfast, a bowl of raisin bran.

For a while I was keeping a gatorade/water mixture in my pack. Which brings me to my second question. What type of water system do you carry on your long runs? Hand held bottle, water belt? I have been using Jake's camelback backpack, which I actually don't mind, but it was hard to keep clean with anything other than water and I felt like I noticed the difference when I switched to plain water.

Finally, now that I have one half under my belt and am looking to add a couple more, probably in the next few months, do you recommend running more than 13 miles? It seems like if you can build up your stamina to run more miles, mentally, running 13.1 won't feel so tiring because hey you've run 15 miles before.

Wherein I invite people to mock us

2011-02-01T09:39:00.002-06:00

We are, I think, two fairly intelligent people. But friends we are losing a battle of wits with a mouse who has taken residence in our kitchen. FOR A MONTH!! I'm sure this is not the case, but I have decided mousy snuck in the door when the robbers left it so nicely ajar for him. Just one more thing I can blame on the crooks.

We have tried several different strategies to catch the mouse and on two occasions the hubs has had him trapped in a corner, only to have the little son of a...gun shoot between his legs and back behind the dishwasher.

We bought a trap, but mousy was able to get the peanut butter out without setting off the trap.. Now the thing, the trap that is, sits on our counter mocking us. We read on the internet about a trap where you set up paper towel or toilet paper roll on the edge of the counter with bait at the end, then set a bucket on the floor and wait for the mouse to tip the balance of the roll and fall in. THE INTERNET SWORE IT WOULD WORK!!

Last night as we sat watching tv, we heard a thump..... oh man were we excited. We'd caught the mouse. We began getting our shoes and coats on talking about where we were going to drop mousy off... because you know the internets says you have to drive them at least a mile away from your house.

I'm sure you've already guessed the treats where gone and the tp roll was in the bucket, but the mouse was not.

We are at the point of considering poison which we have avoided up to this point because dogs, and the fact that we cook in the area we'd be placing it. But then again I read on the internet that the smell of a decaying mouse could be toxic so before I get to that point, I am putting a call out. Does anyone have anything that has worked for them in the past to catch a unwelcome guest? Maybe need a different trap? We bought the sticky pad tube kind.

Race Recap-Benbrook Half Marathon

2011-01-31T10:06:00.000-06:00

Yea! I completed my goal. It feels so good. I finished the Benbrook half.

I have been nervous all week because I was having some pain in my inner thigh, and a pretty sore quad muscle. I didn't sleep very well the night before. I just wasn't sure how things were going to come together. I kept thinking...Ugh not again, I worked so hard, and the week of the race I start having trouble. Alas, Jake and I were up at 6:30am, early for us on a week day let alone a Saturday. We got to race about 7:30 for an 8:30am start. Once we got there, I did a little warm up and was having any pain at all much to my relief. I knew at that point I'd finish the race. I'd asked several people what to wear as I was a little unsure. All the feedback I got was shorts and a tee shirt. You better believe I was unsure of my decision when the car thermometer read 37 degrees. I was so thankful to have Jake there so I could stay as warm as possible until race time. My crew knew what they were talking about. I wouldn't have wanted any more clothing by about mile 3.

I started out to fast, I knew I was doing it to, and just couldn't stop myself. Honestly it's really difficult not to, I'm not a very fast runner, so when people were passing me left and right, and left and right again, it was hard not to want to speed up. I hope I've learned my lesson.

Due to my early speed racer pace, the last 3 miles were tough and it was pretty warm by then. But when I came around the last corner and heard my husband cheering my name, and jumping around, I got just enough extra energy to get across the finish line.

My goal for this race was just to finish, so I was pretty happy with my 2 hour and 13 minute finish. Heck I would have been happy with any time as long as I finished.

Tentative 3 Month Race Schedule

2011-01-26T09:17:00.000-06:00

So I'm really liking this running thing.

I think that it keeps me motivated to exercise, even when I'm tired or it's cold or whatever excuse I can come up.

I think the excitement that surrounds a race, it's fun to have total strangers cheer you on.

I figure since I'm already in shape, I might as well keep it up and set some goals to complete a few more races, but I probably shouldn't get to crazy since it's been a while since I did more than one race a year. So I decided I'd do my race schedule in 3 month increments. Most people seem to plan out the whole year.

Here are my race goals for Jan, Feb, Mar

Jan 29th (next week) Benbrook Half Marathon my very first half marathon attempt.

Feb 26th Cowtown 10k I've done this 10k before. Should be fun and I think there will be a tweetup afterward.

March 27th Dallas Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon If all goes well next week, I think I'll try another.

That's it for right now. I'm contemplating the Nashville Half Marathon in April but not willing to buy plan tickets just yet.

100 things, the Big Finish!

2011-01-24T11:06:00.000-06:00

In an attempt to create a little more space in our house, I have decided to embark on a modified version of the 100 things project.

I know you've all been waiting with baited breath to see the grand finale of the 100 things project. After Christmas, it seems that I need to focus on replacing things rather than getting rid of more stuff, the crooks did that for me.

Alas I still have 100 things of no use to me that I have

gotten ride of.

Here is the final pictures. All 100 things I got rid of. Most of it was donated, some was just flat thrown away.

A few reflections on this project:

I have a lot of stuff.

I could probably get rid of 100 more things, like extra hair clips I never use, or half full bottles of conditioner I decided I didn't like.

Why do we hold onto so much stuff?

Alas the project was cathartic and I may do it again.