A Little Pressed for Time …

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Is it Sunday already? I am so behind on my to-do list, and my Google reader has about a million unread blog posts. But I didn’t want to go any longer without a new post of my own, so here is a quick update!

First of all, a big shout-out to my daddy, who just celebrated a big birthday on Friday. He’s my hero, and I wish I lived close enough to give him a big hug. So, here’s a virtual one that I made:

Not much, I know … and not nearly enough to show my daddy how much I love and miss him, but hopefully it’s a start. Besides, it gave me a reason to play with the hundreds of pictures my mom scanned in from my childhood and sent me for Christmas!

Thanks, Mom.

On to other news … I’m still glowing from last week’s 10-mile run, and I used that great feeling to keep up the training this week. I did a couple of medium-long runs before work this week — a 5-miler and a 7.5-miler. The getting up before sunrise is still tough, but once the sneakers are laced up and I’m on the road, I feel fantastic. I love seeing the sun come up.

How was your Valentine’s Day? Lucas and I aren’t all that big on the holiday, especially because his birthday is in late February, and mine is in mid-March. I asked him not to get me anything, since we’re saving money, but I didn’t ask the animals to follow the same rule, so the doggies got me this:

Excuse the spelling — they are dogs, you know.

Lucas says they must have snuck out while he was at the gym on Friday. Thanks, boys! We also went out for our new holiday tradition — Vietnamese Pho.

No new pictures, but here’s a refresher from New Year’s:

This time, I got the vegetarian version, with carrots and snow peas and bean sprouts and all sorts of goodness.

Then we went next door to our favorite market, and I found a NEW LOVE — watermelon seeds.

Another borrowed picture, because I ate most of my seeds in the car on the way home. They taste like a cross between nuts and sunflower seeds, and they’re only 5 calories for a serving. Um, delicious.

I felt a little lazy today — I slept in until (gasp!!) 8:45 am, and when I went to have a breakfast of my brand-new cottage cheese:

and after one bite, realized it was rancid. AAAAHHHH!! That is a taste not even two teeth-brushings and tongue-scrapings could get rid of! I tried my best with a piece of Ezekial bread and some homemade blackberry jam sent down by Luke’s family.

I thought maybe the late start and the nasty breakfast was a sign that I should just write the day off, but it seemed like a shame to waste my first full day off in weeks. So, we rallied and got ready for the day. After a 3-mile run and a great hour at the gym, today, Lucas got to work on putting the torn-out shower back together. And I settled in to file taxes, plan the week’s meals, get some Growing Bolder work done, and try and tackle the insanity that is my DVR.

I knew we’d need a nice hearty lunch to get through the afternoon, and I’ve been wanting to try homemade Cuban sandwiches. So, with a lot of liberties, I made his ‘n’ hers versions (mine: low-sodium turkey, sugar-free bread and butter pickles, roasted red pepper, dijon mustard, reduced-fat cheese and Arnold’s sandwich things; Luke’s: same, except full-fat versions of the above).

That’s a mix of beans and veggies on the side — lima, green, corn, carrots and more. So good!

And, since I was too lazy to get out the George Foreman or some other “real” kitchen tool — I made my own panini press:

Time to wrap it up … and since it’s already been a random post, I’ll leave you with one more shot from my life. Our dryer has been busted for months, so Lucas has been hanging the clothes and sheets out on a line. I love seeing the stuff out in our backyard, and knew I needed to snap a couple of pictures when I saw Luke’s shirts all next to each other.