A Whole Bunch of Stuff

As I was running errands today, I drove past a business adding a big addition to their building. What caught my attention was the porta-pot on top of the roof! It must make sense to them; the workers don’t have to climb up and down to take care of business. But what I’m wondering about is the draft, ya know? And it is still winter, with wind. Might be worth the extra 5 minutes of ladder climbing.

I’ve started a running training program. I’m running up to six days a week. I have to wear a heart-rate monitor. My workouts probably look weird- a 30 second fast, hard pace with 90 seconds of rest in between or a hard steady hill climb for 15 seconds just to turn around and walk down the hill and do it all over again. I’m running outside as much as I can. So that’s what I’m doing if you see me sprint out and then stop. I’m not possessed. I’m training.

I made a mason jar meal for Audrey for lunch the other day. Here’s the link to where I got the idea. I layered dressing, carrots, pine nuts, cranberries, feta cheese and spinach in a wide-mouth pint jar. At lunch time her friends wondered what in the world she had and then thought it was cool. Audrey said it wasn’t bad. Ben thought it was dumb, but you know him and salad.

I’ve stopped buying granola bars and am now making them. We are on our third different recipe. I sent a molasses laden batch to school for Luke’s treat bucket day. Don’t worry- no peanuts in them, which is unusual for a granola bar. When we find a happy recipe that fits our whole family, I’ll try to let you know. Pretty much homemade granola bars are like A MILLION TIMES healthier than most store-bought varieties.

I’m eating kale now. It’s a green, sort of like spinach. And like spinach and homemade granola bars, it’s healthy. I’ve pinned a recipe for a kale/avocado smoothie. I’ve yet to make it, though I have had a kale and avocado salad and that was good. I first had kale at my sister’s and then got adventurous on my own and bought some. When I ran out, I decided I wouldn’t get any that week because the Fareway store I shop at doesn’t carry it so that would mean a trip to Hy-Vee for it and I wasn’t going to make another stop just for it. Well, guess what I found in the produce section near the lettuce? I told the teen checker my whole story. She smiled (take that to mean: politely, in a nice way until I left and then she most likely rolled her eyes).

I’ve stopped drinking caffeinated coffee. I decided I needed to quit for just a week, you know, detox a little. I knew if I went complete cold turkey, I’d be out for a couple of days, so I weaned off gradually with going to green tea. Now I’m down to brown water- that is, decaf coffee. I plan to stay that way, with only minor exceptions, because I found out that caffeine was affecting my body in the sweating department. Too much info? Probably.

When I’ve cut out caffeine before, I noticed a huge spike craving for chocolate. But this time not so much. I think it has to do with running every day and perhaps the kale. Let’s just say it is, okay? But speaking of chocolate, I’ve found a new brand of chocolate that is absolutely AWESOME! It is Divine chocolate.  Divine Chocolate is a Fair Trade chocolate, meaning the farmers are paid a fair wage, have personal investment and say in the company and a sense of empowerment and that is NOT the way most cacao workers are treated. Where to find it in my area? World Goods on Main St. and Wheatsfield, both in Ames and World Market in West Des Moines.

When I came home the other night, Luke had a friend over to play. At first I wasn’t sure because I heard boy banter but didn’t see any boys. Then I saw feet sticking out from under Luke’s bed. That’s when I heard this “Oh, there’s my ant farm!”

I found a small, metallic letter “H” in my hair while doing it one day. I have no idea of what, when, where, why, how.

I had a dream about cleaning out my toenails. Perhaps it was because of all the running I’ve been doing on trails in squishy mud.

At the beginning of the month, Bill had double hernia surgery. It was a long day at the hospital, mostly because coming out of anesthesia is a blast and then you have to “go” before they let you leave. Since Bill wasn’t allowed to drink any liquid whatsoever after midnight the night before, it took him quite a while to get hydrated enough.

Once we were home there was a no touching Dad rule for a while. What I found out later is that there is also a no laughing rule for those who’ve just had their guts stuck back in. I cracked a really good joke and got both of us laughing, except that it hurt Bill to laugh and he told me to stop. Except that I couldn’t. I left, tried to compose myself and then come back in the room. But I couldn’t. I kept laughing. And that’s when Bill shut the door and locked me out. All because I was too funny. Nice way to treat your nurse!

He’s healed  up and fine now and has let me back in the room and we are still laughing.

And that’s a bunch of stuff from lately.