Snow!!

I know I grew up in Wisconsin. I live in Wisconsin by choice. I got my temps and learned to drive starting in January. But, I don't know what it is -- ever since I moved from DC and especially since moving to West Bend, I am terrified of driving in the snow. An entire day of work can be almost shot because I'll be nervous about my commute later on that day (or in a few days). Last year Rob and I slid off a back road in West Bend and ended up in the ditch. We were fine, but it was nerve racking! It wasn't snowing, Rob is a safe driver, and yet, it still happened.

So, here is my rant/PSA. SLOW DOWN OUT THERE. The posted speed limits are for ideal driving conditions. I go the 7 mph over the speed limit on a normal basis. But it's just not worth it to me when it's snowing or it's been snowing or it's winter or it's windy. I turn into seriously the worst granny driver. I know, in normal conditions, again -- I get angry at the slow driver just as much (if not more so) than the next guy. But, it's just different when it's not completely clear out.

Oh, and also, don't tailgate. Breaking distance decreases too. And it makes the granny driver (aka me), even more nervous which makes me go even slower. And this year I'm determined not to let your tailgating pressure me. I believe in keeping up with traffic -- I'm a huge proponent. But, not necessarily in bad conditions when you don't feel safe. Last year I had a small skid out and slid into a curb on a ramp to get on Capitol. I dented my tire rim and had to get it repaired, and it seriously deflated my tire. And you know why that happened? I was taking the turn too quickly because I didn't want to upset the people behind me by going slower and breaking sooner. This year -- too damn bad. You can hold your horses. 

Now, maybe you feel safe in your big truck/SUV, but I don't. And you know what -- you probably aren't as safe as you think either. You can probably get through higher snow than I can, but if you can't get traction ... I don't know, the size of your vehicle isn't going to do much I don't think.  I could take the time to find some statistics on car accidents and deaths or amount of money spent on damage ... but just take a second and think about it. Is getting some place 5 minutes faster really worth either of those things? I don't think so.

So, please, please be careful out there this winter and be courteous to the granny drivers out there like me.

Pretending to work from home for a day

So today in lovely West Bend, WI in Washington County we had a Winter Storm Warning from midnight last night to noon today and now we've switched over to a Blizzard Warning from noon until 3am tomorrow. When I woke-up early today at 5:30am to check to see how the weather was, how the roads were -- because if I was going to make it on time, I knew I'd have to leave early ... it was apparent to me I was not going to risk driving. So, today I got to work from home and I just can't help thinking, and re-living and re-hashing how awesome it would be to not have a 45-60 minute commute!

Loaded up and ready before 8:00 AM!

The weather got worse this afternoon -- this was about an hour ago and it's worse now! The only problem with working from home is that it's a little after 2:30 PM right now and I've kind of lost motivation to do work. (Don't worry -- if I don't work 8 hours today I will take it as vacation).

But, let's just do this little comparison.

	Current	Working from Home/Less than 30 min. commute
6:00am	Wake-up (well, around this time)	Wake-up
6:00am-7:00am	Get ready	Exercise
7:00am-8:00am	Drive to work	Get ready
8:00am-4:30pm	Work	Work
4:30pm-5:30pm	Drive from work	Make Dinner
5:30pm-6:00pm	Get the mail, change clothes, etc.
6:00pm-7:00pm	Gym	Eat Dinner
7:00pm-7:30pm	Shower	All of this time at night to do whatever! Scrapbooking, working on my recipe book, I could even go to Grad School classes! The possibilities are endless!
7:30-8:30pm	Make Dinner
8:30pm-9:30pm	Eat Dinner, Watch TV
9:30pm-10:00pm/11:00pm	Make lunch for the next day, have a few minutes to myself, etc.
10:00pm/11:00pm	Bed Time

Look at that! I feel like a broken record, but it just helps me keep perspective on A) What I can practically expect to get done (and not feel bad when thinking about what other people do with their time). and B) How much we need to change our situation one way or another. New Year's Resolution/Plan anyone?

Fish Tacos

We made fish tacos for dinner on Friday. They were great! We kind of just made up the recipe. I even cut and breaded the fish!!

I started with 2 pretty large filets -- we used tilapia. (The cod was from Russia and we both agreed we'd rather go with the tilapia from Costa Rica).

I cut the tilapia into chunks and then breaded them. I put some Italian breadcrumbs in a bowl and then added Old Bay, cayenne, chili powder, and cumin.

Then I cooked the tilapia in olive oil. 

For fixings, we used romaine lettuce, black olives, tomatoes, cucumber, and green peppers. (Rob has a thing about cucumber on his tacos -- it's not something I grew up with, but it's okay). We also had taco sauce, shredded cheese, and guacamole.

I did put more Old Bay on one side of the fishes once they were in the pan. (You can never have too much Old Bay, amiright?)

 Then we put it all together!

And served with some coleslaw.

They had a bit of a kick and were mighty tasty, if I do say so myself!

Just Load the Dishwasher

Rob and I both have Yahoo email accounts, so we often see the stories they have on the Yahoo! homepage. Frequently, the headlines of these stories are intriguing -- "how to get your dream job," etc. But then when you read the article it's filled with common sense things -- dress professionally at your interview. So, we sometimes joke about these stories. I got sucked into one of these stories and it really stuck with me. It was about how to keep on top of household chores with a busy schedule. One of their golden nuggets of advice? Take care of the dishes everyday -- just load the dishwasher and do the few pots.

That really made Rob and I peeved because we don't have a dishwasher. We frequently lament how much more we could do if we didn't have to spend hours every week washing dishes. We both agreed that we'd definitely be able to stay on top of the dishes if all it meant was loading the dishwasher. As it stands now, we get often get behind and our kitchen quickly becomes a disaster.

This week we were able to catch up on the dishes! Rob thought I was joking when I said, take a picture. I was not.

This was the first time in probably a month that this happened. (Well, except for the couple days after Rob got out of the hospital and my Mom came to our apartment and did the dishes like 3 days in a row. <3)

Sometimes you have the celebrate the mini coups.

Pumpkin Soup with Shrimp

Last year for some reason Rob got really into Jambalaya. Now that the weather has gotten colder we decided to make it the other day. Right next to the recipe for Jambalaya was a recipe for Pumpkin Soup with Shrimp.

Spiced Pumpkin and Shrimp Soup (Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book – 12th Edition, ) Start to Finish: 30 minutes Makes: 4 servings (about 5 ¾ cups) Ingredients 2 medium onions, sliced 2 medium carrots, sliced (1 cup) 1 tablespoon snipped fresh cilantro 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger ½ teaspoon ground allspice 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 tablespoons butter or margarine 1 14-ounce can chicken broth 1 15-ounce can pumpkin 1 cup milk 1 8-ounce package frozen peeled and deveined cooked shrimp, thawed Plain yogurt or dairy sour cream (optional) Snipped fresh chives (optional) Instructions 1.    In a large saucepan cook onion, carrots, cilantro, ginger, allspice, and garlic in hot butter, covered for 10 to 12 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring once or twice. 2.    Transfer vegetable mixture to a blender container or food processor bowl. Add ½ cup of the chicken broth. Cover and blend or process until nearly smooth. 3.    In the same saucepan combine the remaining 1 ¼ cups broth, the pumpkin, and milk. Stir in blended vegetable mixture and shrimp; heat through. If desired, serve topped with plain yogurt and chives. 247 calories per serving.

It was definitely different, but pretty good.

I will say this -- it takes more than 30 minutes to prepare. One of my pet peeves is recipes that put in the ingredients "peeled shrimp" or "sliced carrots" like then they don't have to account for that work of getting those things together like when I get home from work I just magically have sliced carrots ready to sautee to put in a soup. Oh, we also bought raw shrimp on accident, so that was another thing that took awhile.

But, it was hardy, great for a cold November evening with some fresh baked Pillsbury french bread. 

Getting Back to Normalcy

So, once again, it's been awhile since I've posted. But, we've been busy.

Rob's lung collapsed spontaneously. Seriously.

So, for two weeks I was shuttling back and forth from the hospital, work, and briefly being at home. Rob's been home for over a week and actually went back to work today! So, things are starting to get back to normal.

We actually went to the gym yesterday!

So, slowly but surely life is getting back to normal and I hope to be able to post more often again!

Oh, and I'm so glad that Rob is okay.

RIBS

Let me tell you about this the bomb rib recipe.

(As a side note on my use of "the bomb." I'm aware that this is slang from the 90s that is no longer cool. I'm afraid Rob and I picked it up as a joke from Monk. Monk uses it and if you watch Monk, you know it's silly him saying that. So, we kind of started saying it's the bomb as a joke but now I kind of do it frequently. Okay, all the time).

BUT, this rib recipe is delicious. We have made it three times now. The first time honestly was the best. The second time we didn't do the last broiling step because it was July and 100 degrees and the third time they came out a little crispy. But, you know, we will probably keep making this recipe because it's so dang good.

I found it on Pinterest and I won't bother to re-type the whole thing here because you can just find it on Mmm ... is for Mommy.

I'm not a rib connoisseur or anything. I'm not frequently ordering ribs at restaurants. But, everyone needs this recipe in their life.

The pictures below are a mix of the first and third time we made them.

I second Mmm ... is for Mommy that the broiling part is NOT to be missed. From experience, they just aren't as good without it.

 

Joys of Fall

Fall I think is my favorite season. This year I particularly enjoyed watching the leaves turn and admiring them on my drive to and from work. One of the fall activities Rob and I discovered last year was apple picking. (We actually tried to the previous year to that but we were too late, there weren't any apples left).

So, after our 5k (we had a big day!) we headed over to Appleland in Fredonia to pick a bushel. It was still pretty crisp and the wind was a little biting, but we still had fun!

 There was a chicken coop. I was mighty excited (and slightly terrified when they got too close to the fence). Rob practically had to drag me away.

Good thing we like apples!

2nd 5k

So, first I guess I should apologize for taking so long to update again. My, a month goes by quickly! It has been one of those things -- I need to write a blog post, I need to write a blog post, but it hasn't seemed to happy until today. The trade-off: I didn't exercise today. But, that also has to do with the fact that I'm super busy at work and didn't get home until close to 7pm tonight. But better busy than not!

I have a list of about a dozen topics that I can write about too now, so I'll try to work those in before long.

This post though is about the second 5k we did earlier this month on October 6th! It was in West Bend, so that was super convenient and it was for domestic violence -- so a good cause! It was a pretty cold fall day but we managed to get through. Rob even came in 2nd in his division! I'm so proud of him! I came in 9th, but as an excuse, my category was more saturated. :)

Next up I want to work on increasing my mile time. Any suggestions on how to go about that?

Time

Lately I've been thinking a lot about time.

Not how quickly it passes or anything.

But finding time in the day or making space for things.

What boggles my mind is how other people find time to do everything.

How do you ...
work full time
raise a family
make healthy, delicious meals
exercise and take care of yourself
write a blog
apply to graduate school
go to graduate school
find a job
plan a wedding
have a hobby
read books
read the paper
check your social media accounts
watch TV
spend time with your significant other
see friends
and relax!

Okay, so I've commented before that I think there are a few things we could do currently that would free up some time. Like, not having a 45 minute commute one way. Or having a dishwasher. Right there, if my commute were say, 15 minutes one way, I'd have approximately 1.5 hours longer every night to do things. Wow. That amazes me.

But, that is not going to change for us within the next year. So what other options do I have? I don't feel like I spend all that much time watching TV. Rob and I probably watch one show a night usually while we eat. Is the trick to eat at the table and get up and keep doing stuff after you eat for 20 minutes? That's not very appealing.

I am seriously in awe of people who go back to school and still work full time. I literally don't know how they do it. (I'm also impressed with their ability to decide what to go to school for. I keep waffling about what I may do in the future).

What am I missing? How do you do it?

Are you doing it all? Do you have any tips to share?

An Adventure to the Grocery Store

I know, you're thinking, my, she really must be running out of material already. This post is obviously going to be riveting. A trip to the grocery store. Really, Carolyn?

But stick with me here.

Rob and I go to the grocery store together every week. Before we go, we sit down together and meal plan for the week and make the list. We check the ad paper and look at the coupons we have. I've convinced Rob to let me assign a meal to every day of the week instead of just seeing what we feel like. It's helpful to me (and part of my Type A, let's face it) to have it all planned out so if Rob's not home yet I can just start dinner and know that's the plan.

Rob usually drives and parks in the same area -- near the road, almost the farthest spot possible.

We frequently wonder if the employees at the Pick N' Save like us or think "Oh God, here comes that couple" when we walk in the door. I like to think that they like us.

We have our routine -- Rob pushes the cart, I'm in charge of the list. (Isn't crossing things off of a list just the best?)

(Are we a 70 year old retired couple?!)

This is where we veer from the bounds of what I consider most people's shopping habits. (I'm sure we're not the only ones out there who do this. Maybe under the age of 50. But not the only ones). This week we needed new trash bags. First of all, we buy two different kinds. One for the kitchen garbage. The other for the non-paper recycling. Technically we have co-mingled recycling, but if you put it in the paper bag it gets used up too quickly. And there is just something that makes me uncomfortable with putting a used can in a trash can with no bag. But you can't recycle plastic bags. And we recycle quite a bit and the garbage bags we buy for the garbage are kind of expensive. So, we buy a second type of bag that is cheaper and then Rob just dumps out the contents in the big recycling bin and throws out the bag. (Whew. I didn't realize how much back story I'd need to write for this).

SO. We are in the store looking at the garbage bags. We've bought them before -- should be easy to pick out what you want. First up, recycling bags. Roundy's bags are on sale! The twist tie ones are like 14.1 cents each. (We look at the price per unit. For every bag we consider. This is why -- I kid you not -- we spent at least 5 minutes in that aisle looking at the garbage bags). Then, we get the Glad flexy bags withhout Febreeze because those bags STINK. But wait -- what about all of these other bags. How much are they? Decomposable bags end up being the cheapest at 13.2 cents each (or something like that. It was 2 days ago, I'm paraphrasing).

I must say, we don't do this every week or with every item. But it amazes me how much time we can spend in the grocery store.

I'm so glad that we do it together though. I think it turns something that could be a chore into a fun adventure!

Not my day

Today was not my day.

I should have known when I was woken up at like 3:30am with a terrible charley horse in my calf.

Work was not great. We've been having network and internet issues for a week or two now and this morning the internet was running as slow as molasses. Very frustrating considering I was trying to create over 20 Google Spreadsheets. By the time the afternoon rolled around I was antsy. I realized that I think it's because today I had nothing scheduled. And I didn't even have an impromptu meeting with my boss or anything. It was literally me. In my cubicle. In front of my computer. Seems like ripe conditions to make anyone go mad!

So, I come home excited to go for a run and put the work day behind me. I'd had a glass of milk and a banana, so I thought my calf wouldn't give me any problems.

Before I headed out I brushed my hand on the back of one of the kitchen chairs and it cut me/maybe gave me a sliver. I ignored it, put on my sneakers and headed out.

I've been doing this plan I got from Self magazine that is supposed to help you loose 10 pounds in 5 weeks (if you follow all the directions. I'm not so good at only eating the recommended amount of calories). Today's cardio was to do intervals. Sprint for 8 seconds at level 10 (10 is the highest), then back down for 12 seconds at level 6 for 20 minutes. (This exercise is impossible to do at the gym -- you have to do it outside -- the machines just don't react that quickly). And this week I was to add hills or carry weights, etc. Since I live in the Kettle Moraine, I thought I'll just go around the neighborhood instead of running on the Eisenbahn (a paved railroad track that is flat).

So, I head out, start the warm-up walk. After about 5 minutes it's time to sprint. So, I kick up the pace and BAM. Excruciating thigh pain. I thought about turning around but I didn't. I was determined that this exercise was happening. I did the best I could, but it wasn't great. I thought that maybe my muscle would warm up and I'd be fine. Wrong. So, I could really only jog -- sprinting just caused too much pain. Worse, I couldn't even jog the whole time. I was really sucking wind and I just thought, it's not worth it. So, I walked. I was out there exercising for 30 minutes at least, but it was disappointing.

Oh, the other thing is that I keep a Post-It in my iPod arm carrier with the combination to the lock I use at the gym. Two weeks ago, I noticed it was gone. And since I'd been running outside for a bit, I completely spaced on the combo. Luckily Rob has the exact same lock with the exact same combination. So, he gave it to me again last week. (It took 2 weeks of me going to the gym before I remembered to ask -- after a desperate text plea for help). I wrote it on a bright pink Post-It and stuck it in the arm band thing. Well, when I started to sprint -- it came out and flew behind me! I went back to pick it up because I didn't want to litter. But I thought, well, that location isn't going to work for this run. So, I stuck it in my bra. Despite having taken a shower, I now have a little pink square on my chest. Apparently Post-It coloring will come off with sweat.

I looked up online and I think I have the symptoms where you should apply heat not ice. Of course, the dual cold/hot pack I had was in the freezer. I put it in boiling water but it's just a little over room temperature. It's just really not my day!

Road America

Well, last week was our first full week with Rob back to work and classes in session. Rob worked late Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights so there was quite a stretch when we didn't really see each other. We still are getting used to the schedule ... we ate dinner at 9:15pm on Friday. *Le sigh* you just can't prepare complicated meals on weeknights, even if it is Friday.

We finished watching the second season of Sherlock too. I don't know what we're going to do for another year or so until the next season comes out!

 On Saturday, we had a nice time celebrating Cole's 2nd birthday and seeing family. I don't have any pictures but it was so fun. Kids are so cute.

On Sunday this weekend, Rob and I headed up to Road America in Elkhart Lake with my parents. We went last year to see some races so we made plans again this year. This time we saw vintage cars. It fun. It was a beautiful fall day, so great to be outside. We had a picnic lunch and got to visit and see some pretty fast cars! (I was the one acting like a 10 year old boy yelling "woah!" as they went by).

Thanks Mom & Dad for treating us!