Weekly Update, 9/29/10

I am...

Happy that it's Fall!  It's been beautiful so far.  Mr. Handsome-and-Handy and The Things did their now annual "First Day of Fall" trip to the pumpkin patch.  They were Farmer John's first customers this year; they brought home 3 large pumpkins (orange, green and white), several tiny ones for teachers and for me to take to work, and a cooking pumpkin that Mr. H&H grilled with dinner the other night.  Yum!

Happy for My Blog Buddies Doing Awesome Stuff!

• Brooke of "Smart + Strong = Sexy" had a great first triathlon experience in the Anchor Splash Triathlon!  Read about it here!
• Josie of "At the Starting Line" (formerly "35 and Shrinking") did her longest race yet: the Miracle Miles 15K!  (The proceeds of this race benefited the Winnie Palmer NICU unit in Orlando.) Her inspiring race report is here, at her newly renamed blog!  (P.S. - Happy Birthday, Josie!)
• And Biz made it to round 2 of the "Project Food Blog" contest!  Here's a link to her entry for the next round.  

Feeling Injured.  Okay, now's the part where I whine a bit.  I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I seem to have some sort of lower leg pain in my right leg, in the ankle/heel area.  I suspect Achilles tendon, although it's sort of in my ankle, too.  I first noticed it after the long, hilly run I did on the 12th.  It flares up when I run, then I rest it and do other stuff.  It then feels fine, I think, "Oh, goodie!  All better!" and then I run again, and ouch again.  I think part of the problem may be that instead of completely *easing* back in, I've been jumping back to where I left off in my training.

So naturally, I'm feeling really discouraged and frustrated.  I was going to run the Pumpkin Run 10K this year, and it's only 2.5 weeks away.  I think that's out, although I might walk the 5K if I can.  I'm still planning to go to Vegas, but I'm wondering if I'll be able to do the half-marathon now...it's only 9 weeks away, and I was only up to about 4.5 miles in my gradual build-up of mileage.

But even though I'm kind of in that "what if this never goes away?" funk, I'm also determined to do what I can to heal it and work around it the best I can.  Based on what I've read, here's what I can do and plan for the next few weeks.  (Any suggestions or advice would be very welcome!)

• Ice, Compression, Elevation.  (The last one is kind of tricky, but I do put my foot up at work.)
• Calf stretching and Achilles tendon stretching.
• New insoles and arch support in my athletic shoes. (Done!)
• See the doctor if I'm still limping in another day or so.
• For fitness, I'll be focusing on moderate stationary cycling and swimming for cardio, and upper body strength exercises.  This is actually a great opportunity to get some more strength exercises into my week.  I'm still planning to do my CardioSculpt class; I went today and told the instructor what was going on, and so I felt comfortable modifying or doing other things when the class was doing lunges.  (Squats without additional weight, for example, felt fine.)

Knitting. "Project Chloe Grace" is going pretty well.  I'm knitting a test square with the main yarn, and it's working well.  Once I finish it and verify that the rows and number of stitches are matching the measurements for the pattern, I can start the actual sweater.


Grateful for Mr. H&H and his mad cooking skills!  I may have mentioned this before, but Mr. H&H is our family's chef.  When his mom went back to school (around the time he started middle school), all 6 of the kids had to take on extra chores.  He selected cooking dinner as one, and he learned that skill well.  Before Mr. H&H came into my life, sure, I could whip up a batch of cookies, but I rarely cooked.  I ate more dinners of  bag of salad with chopped lunch meat, bag of microwave popcorn, and Diet Coke than I care to admit.  And I only ate bacon when dining out, because it was so intimidating to cook.


Well, all that sure changed!  Sure, he lured me in with grilled salmon dinners and fresh fruit and veggie beach picnics, but pretty soon we were whipping up homemade pizza and such Michigan favorites as pasties.


So anyhow, last time I mentioned him cooking up a special dish, it was the boneless stuffed chicken.  But last week, he made one of our comfort food dishes.  Debby tried it and liked it, so I figured I'd share it with you all.  

What is it? (Other than something that could really use better lighting and a cilantro garnish?)  This dish is our attempt to recreate a favorite dish at La Fiesta restaurant in Mountain View. The dish is called "Grandma's Especial," and it's chicken in a creamy sauce flavored with chiles.  The flavor is unique and so delicious!  From research I've done, I believe they use a different chile than is commonly used in canned enchilada sauce, and they probably use more authentic dairy products.  But the dish seems to me sort of like a Mexican version of the Indian Chicken Makhani dish, or the Eastern European Chicken Paprikash. We have what we consider to be a reasonable approximation at home, with easily available ingredients.  I don't have an exact recipe, but if you want to try it, here's how we make it:

• We cut chicken breast into large cubes. (The restaurant makes this with the whole breast, bone in.) You could use any cut of chicken, really, but be sure to remove the skin. The more chicken you use, the more like a stew it will be; use less chicken, it's more like a soup.
• Sauté the chicken with chopped onions (about 1 onion) and a can of chopped green chiles. Season with garlic, cumin, and oregano to taste. (Fajita seasoning also works well.)
• Add a can of enchilada sauce and simmer; 30 minutes seems to work well.
• Before serving, add sour cream, cream cheese, and a splash of lime juice (go easy on the lime juice!). To incorporate the cream cheese, sometimes it works best to pull a little sauce from the pan, mix it up with the cream cheese so it's more sauce than big lump of cheese, then add it back in.  I think we use about 1/4 cup cream cheese and 1/2 cup of sour cream. I'm sure it would be just as good with plain Greek-style yogurt instead of the sour cream. We've used non-fat and low-fat for the dairy stuff, and either works really well.

I had leftovers in my lunch, and I added leftover green beans and potatoes to it, and that worked really well, too.  There are so many variations you could do - I could see this working really well as an all-veggie stew, or adapted to a crock pot recipe, or maybe even made with leftover turkey. (I have done the crockpot variation - I left the chicken breasts whole, putting them on top of the onions, peppers, and spices, which I  browned in a pan before adding to the pot.  I then added the can of enchilada sauce.  The dairy items are incorporated just before serving.)

Doing good with the numbers. Up .8 pound.  Blood glucose was 107 for 7-day average and 97 for 7-day fasting average.

I want to...

Be injury free.  I want to be able to run again.  I also want to come up with a 20-minute strength routine I can learn and get comfortable with at the gym.

Keep the numbers good.


More knitting!


Try a new recipe.

Go, SuperBoo, Go!

*clang*! *clang*! *clang*! *clang*!

Why, what's that sound I hear...?

Could it be...?

The clarion call of cow bells....?

(Because heaven knows, you can never have enough cow bell.)

It's the sound of me ringing my virtual cow bell. (because I really did price cow bells at the local feed store - yes, we have one in semi-rural coastal San Francisco Bay Area - and those puppies were expensive!).

For whom does the cow bell clang?

Why, for SuperBoo (aka Brooke of Smart + Strong = Sexy), who is racing in her first triathlon this weekend!!!  She isn't just any tri newbie - she is racing after having to cancel her originally scheduled tri debut, overcoming extreme adversity, healing, training, and coming back to DO this thing!

Please pop over to her blog and wish her the best of luck!

(Ooo, I'm getting teary and excited for her, just thinking about it!  Good luck, SuperBoo!!!)

Weekly Update, 9/22/10

I am...

Surprised and delighted to try a pair of compression tights from Zensah!  I have MizFit and Suzanne, the rep from Zensah, to thank for this.  In case you missed it, Zensah sponsored a sports bra giveaway on MizFit's blog, and the price of entry was feedback on your greatest sports bra lament.

Well, I felt moved to verse, mainly to make Miz laugh.  But also because heaven knows I've given plenty of thought to what makes the ideal sports bra *for me*, and I'm not shy about sharing.  (Although they are not mentioned in the poem, it is also sort of a lament, because Glamorise no longer makes my favorite sports bra, nor do they seem to have one just like it anymore.)  In case you missed it, here's the poem:

Zensah sports bras? Alas!
They don’t have my size.
Their Seamless Tights, though,
Look just right for my thighs.

But what qualities in a sports bra
Does this zaftig tri-girl seek?
Must support like a fortress
And of the nipples, no peek.

I like one front-hooking,
With a racer back sturdy.
Uniboob is okay;
I’m not trying to be flirty.

The straps must not slip
Off the shoulders or chafe.
Wickability’s a must!
And size? Opposite-of-waif.

(I’ll pass on an entry;
But thanks, MizFit and Zensah!
Hope those wonderful giveaways
Make some others sigh, “Ahhh!”)

Wouldn't ya know, Miz forwarded this to Suzanne, who kindly offered to let me try some of their tights! I got them this week, ripped open the package, and wore them all evening on Monday. Com-fy! I also wore them during one of my training runs on Tuesday, and they felt fantastic.  I think there is some more rhyming in my future, after I've given them a wash and tried them out again. I think the real test will be wearing them to CardioSculpt class, because my legs are usually sore for days after that one. (Compression is supposed to help with that sort of thing.)

Oh yeah.  I guess this needs an FTC disclaimer...um...what needs to be in those?

Zensah sent me tights.

Freely, I wear and review.

(Did I do this right?)

Getting geared up to start knitting a doggie sweater!  Stay tuned for some photos from Project Chloe Grace!  I bought some yarn, and analyzed the pattern, and the next step is to knit up a gauge swatch.  I just started testing out the novelty yarn that I was thinking of using for the collar.  It's interesting, that's for sure, if a little awkward, but I think it will work.  I hope it turns out looking as cute in real life as it does in my head!

Excited for Sagan!  Her blog, "Living Healthy in the Real World," was nominated for a "has been nominated in the "Health Resource – Social Media category" for the 2010 Canadian Natural Health Awards! I'm just bummed that I can't vote for her blog - but if you live in Canada, YOU can!  Check out the orange banner on the left side of her blog's page.

But I can vote for Biz!  She's entered Foodbuzz’s "Project Food Blog" contest. If you want to vote, too, go to Biz's contestant page, and then click the little "Vote" tag in the "My Challenges" widget. Good luck, Biz! (And wheee-whooo, check out that apron!)

Having a great workout week!

Staying healthy!  Aside from a donut-y detour (154!) saved by a quick pedal on my stationary bike (back to 122 after 10 minutes at moderate intensity), the numbers are good:  7-day fasting of 99 and 7-day average of 104.  Weight is down .2 pound.  Try not to be overwhelmed by this.

Using too many exclamation points!  But I can't seem to help myself!!!!!

I want to...


Keep trusting the training


Keep knitting


Keep the health numbers good

An Embarrassment of Riches

Forward: Sometimes my life seems best summarized by the idiom, "an embarrassment of riches," both tangible and intangible, great and small.  Today's post is about some of the greater ones lately....

I am....

Relieved that I can finally write about the "Pay It Forward" gift I received from Debby!!!

Oh, whew! (*mopping brow*)

Debby delivered my gift in person at breakfast, and I thought I was going to burst into tears.  It is some kind of gorgeousness!!!  I cherish it, and am wondering how to best display it.  But I was even more moved to read Debby's account ("Pay It Forward Challenge") of how she created it and personalized each segment that she made for Juice, Jill, and me.  I love that our quilts have a connection; it's really reflective of the blog community!  (*sniff*...I'm getting a little teary again...)

Debby's account has the better pictures, but I wanted to talk about some of the details I've noticed so far, and love.  It's an intricate quilt, and I have a feeling that the more I look at it, the more I'm going to see and appreciate.

I love the butterflies!

I love the buttons, and the position of the heart-shaped button by the dedication.

I also love how the stitching goes around the flower blocks to create petals, 

and then extends down to create the stems and leaves.

I also love the richness of the metallic gold in some of the fabrics;

you can't see it too well in the photo, but the brown fabric in the upper flower has it,  

and it adds to the richness without overwhelming.

Isn't the spiral and star stitching on this flower cool?

More of the lovely stitching and embroidered details...I love how she combined these.

More embroidered detail to compliment the center of this flower.

Here's a view of the full treasure!  

Thank you, dear friend!!!

Training:  Well, I was all happy after the big run on Sunday, and then I noticed my ankle got achy after my stationary bike ride on Monday morning.  Bother!  So I swam on Tuesday instead of running.  It felt good, though it took an effort to get over the ugh-have-to-drive-there-and-get-wet-and-reshower inertia.

I think my mantra has to be "Trust the Training."  I ran today (Thursday, day after CardioSculpt class) and my legs weren't 100%, and I felt really sluggish.  My ankle feels fine though.  I have to remember that if I do this *consistently*, the results will follow.  I'm working to build distance, but a little more pep in my step would be welcome.  Rest day tomorrow, then a 4-mile run on Saturday.

Knitting:  Yeay, I finished another baby hat!  No, not for me, but for Christie O's baby shower for the parents of premature babies at her local hospitals.  She and a mom's group in her area do this every year, so I'll be sending her along some hats as part of my "Pay it Forward" project.

I was a little worried about this hat.  I was short on blue, so I switched to cream; I was knitting a pattern that you knit on straight needles in the round instead and saw some flaws in the details.  I agonized whether to start over, but I kept going.  And you know what?  When I finished it, it looked fine, and it's so soft.  I think there's an analogy here.

Yes, I finished this one in the car.  

Don't worry, I'm parked.  

It seems to be one of the few places I can bind off, undisturbed.
(Oh, and no, it's not a toilet paper cozy. :-)

Healthy:  So grateful that the numbers are good.  My 7-day fasting blood glucose average was 106 and my overall 7-day average was 107.  My weigh-in day weight has remained unchanged since the beginning of the month.  I'm happy that this is so, even though I'm not weighing daily. (Trust the training!)

I want to...

Keep doing the good stuff.


Publish some of the draft posts I've started.


Start that sweater for the adorable Chloe!

Weekly Update, 9/9/10 (whoops, a day late!)

It's Rosh Hashanah!  (And there I cluelessly was, wondering about the lack of MizFit post in my reader - d'oh!)   L’Shanah Tovah to everyone celebrating the Jewish new year!  I have to add a pointer to Amy Tenderich's post over on Diabetes Mine today; I liked her theme of "renew, refresh, and reset."  Also, her post last year talked about the Rosh Hashanah tradition of tossing bread crumbs away, which symbolizes casting off your worldly mistakes.  I was wondering if perhaps I could reframe it to help me get a little closer to my "best self" and cast away my nut cache to some hungry squirrels....


I am...

So delighted to have met Debby in person!  Blogger buddy Debby of Debby Weighs In and I have been trying to get together for a meet-up for quite some time now, and thanks to her hard work and travel, we did so this past weekend!  (***squeeeeeee!!!!!***) She joined us for an Opposite Family breakfast, we chatted over coffee, and then she and I headed up to the Kings Mountain Art Fair.

Pubsgal and Debby!

(Pubsgal seriously considers changing her Internet moniker to "AmazonOfTheForestGal"
and hopes she's not so overwhelming-looking in person....)

It was a fantastic meet-up!  I've felt lucky that every blogger I've met "in person" is exactly the way they are online, and Debby was no exception. Debby wrote a great summary of our visit over on her blog ("A Most Excellent Adventure").  Lori commented, “I find it interesting how you can just fall into easy conversation with someone you have never met in real life, but feel like you have known them forever.” And as I responded over there, it was so true! It was like getting together with a friend that you haven’t seen in awhile. Probably because you know more about the blogger’s interests than someone you’re just meeting, so you have a better idea of what would be fun to talk about, or what you’d like to know more about the person from having read their blog.

Speaking of authenticity, we also had a laugh about her brother's (a non-blogger) "and we like your little dog, too!" remark (imagine that in Wicked Witch of the West voice, of course); the context was, how real are these blog people?  With all the stuff you read about, I can see why our non-blogging loved ones may sometimes feel concerned.  I had to admit, I felt a little unsure about the blogger meeting etiquette, and it's not like Internet safety isn't important.  Normally I'd probably suggest a public meeting spot for a first meeting "in person."  But I felt like I had followed Debby long enough to get a sense of the kind of person she is, and vice-verse.  I was more worried about stuff like "Will I serve the wrong thing for breakfast?" and "What can I pull together without having to take a trip to Whole Foods?"  It is a little good-but-odd, though, once your blogging life starts to intersect with your "in person" life...sometimes I get the sense that Mr. Handsome-and-Handy is bemused about the whole thing: who ARE all these people she keeps yammering about?  Well, now he's met one: they are real!  Real nice!  

So done with cookies.  Sunday saw all of the Opposite Family at the fair this time, but we were there for business first: to help sell cookies!

"Come buy a cookie for your little dog, too!  Eeee hee hee hee heeeee!"

I'm happy to report that our school's fundraiser was a success:  volunteers sold all of the nearly 3,700 cookies we all baked!  (The cookies are kept in the community center freezers until showtime.)  The cookies are large enough to feed a family of 4-6, or perhaps one if your face is this size.  After our shift, we enjoyed lunch and took the kids to the "Kiddie Hollow" section of the fair.

They enjoyed making their own crafts and playing games...

Serious Spin Artist at work

...hanging out in the giant tepee and clambering over the redwood stumps...

Things 1 & 2, fiercely on the prowl

and getting their faces painted!

Cheetah Princess of the Forest!

(P.S. - I saw a kid wearing a "Thing 1" shirt at the fair!  I didn't know they made t-shirts that looked like the outfits worn by Things 1 & 2 in Cat in the Hat!)

No, it's not a picture of a dumpster.  

It's the mirror above the outdoor sinks.  

The one on the left had a little label, "Try the other one."  

The one on the right had the label as shown.  

Who's not going to look wonderful after reading that! :-)

(Mr. H&H looks quizzical:"Why is she taking a picture of the mirror? Must be a blog thing....")

SO fighting the lack of motivation.  But as I've learned, the motivation, she comes and she goes...you a lot of times have to just suck it up and get 'er done.  Especially when the running mileage needs to start ramping up.  (Although, have to admit, the endorphins were kicking after yesterday's CardioSculpt class, so maybe it's back on the uptick?)

So cheering on this lady AND this lady, too! Good luck on your charity ride this Sunday, Lori, and your Memory Walk for Alzheimer's, Biz!  Anyone know a "nice biking & walking weather" dance we can do for them?  Apparently "Classical Stretching" is not it, because we're having some truly dismal fog and drizzle this week.  Which explains why they filmed that class on a beach in Jamaica - anywhere else, and it would have started pouring rain, I suppose.

So grateful that the health numbers are good. 7-day average for fasting blood glucose is 105 and 7-day average overall is 109. Weight is exactly the same as last week, within my particular "normal" range.  I can check "make Dr. appointment" off the list (it's set for next month) and "get flu shot" off the list, too.

I want to...

Feel excited about the training.  I'd like to think that I've learned a thing or two over the past couple of years of fun and fitness.  One of those things is that I can't force the motivation and excitement to happen, that those feelings come and go, and if I'm patient and stay relaxed and open about it, they'll come back.  I just hope they hurry the heck up, though, because I'm starting to feel a *teensy* bit anxious about the mileage I have to build up over the next few months.  But I guess that's part of it, though: it's only a few months, and it will pass, and I'll have an adventure and get the t-shirt if I'm lucky and stay healthy.  And then I can take a little rest and plan the 2011 season.  

Keep good numbers. This seems to be going pretty smoothly.  Have to admit, that first year of charting every.darn.thing and intense scrutiny did help retrain me to have better habits.  I think there's always room for improvement, though.  One thing I kind of dropped was aiming for more meatless meals.  Yesterday, I had cheese and eggs but no meat, and a lighter dinner, and my fasting number this morning was especially good.  I don't like to make work for our family chef - it's hard enough cooking to please our herd of cats - actually, cooking for a herd of cats would probably be easier, just crack open a bunch of cans of tuna - and it's easy to have leftovers for lunch.  But maybe on those "fend for myself" nights, remembering that quesadillas are really quite good would be a wise thing.  Or beans, I keep forgetting about beans!

Write a book review for The End of Overeating.  It's an excellent book, and I enjoyed listening to it.  It gave me a lot to ponder, and I can't do justice to it in one paragraph, so I'll be gathering my thoughts and posting about it soon.

Celebrate Thing 1's birthday!  My beautiful boy turns 9 this year!  How the heck did that happen?

Happy September!

Hey, it's September!  We've already been back to school for a week, helped bake and wrap 3,642 big-as-your-head cookies for the school fundraiser, and will be helping to sell them this weekend at the Kings Mountain Art Fair.  (If you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, it's totally worth going!)

Thing 2 "cookiefaced" me...the resemblance is uncanny, no?
(Wish I could really arch one eyebrow like that!)

I am...

Adjusting to The Things being back to school.  Yep, we're back already!  Thing 1 has the same teacher, and some new kids in his multigrade class; at least we know what to expect.  Thing 2 has a new teacher, and she's enjoying it quite a lot.  (Some stuff is still being taught by her Kindergarten teacher, because all the classrooms are multigrade this year.)  She brought home this red bull stuffed animal that she named "Bruce the Bull Cow," a prize from the prize box "for winning a very hard game," she said.

Gearing up for the ambitious Shrinking Jeans Monthly Project: Free Yourself Once and For All.  I think that will probably be taking a bit of each month for the rest of my life, that one.  And funny, the things that have sort of coalesced in this area.  I started listening to the book The End of Overeating.  (I know, discussed ad nauseum in the blogosphere last year...I'm a little late to the party.)  I saw a post today on the blog Stop Renting Weight Loss titled "Convenient Fat," which discusses the question, "What could we accomplish if we didn’t struggle with fat, diets, calories and food?" Which in turn reminded me of the Phineas & Ferb episode in which Dr. Doofenshmirtz builds the "Junk Food-inator" in order to make all healthy food unhealthy, thus rendering the overweight citizens of Danville easy to control. Hmmm. Kind of makes a girl wonder....(if she watched too many X-Files episodes, if nothing else! ;-)

Getting aware of my personal cash flow.  Frugality is a virtue in my husband's family, and Mr. Handsome-and-Handy has been a great influence on me financially.  When we got married, I told him I didn't want to combine our finances until I was debt free.  So I paid off my car and my credit cards, while contributing equally to the house and other expenses.  Luckily we tend to have similar financial goals and values, which helps keep things going smoothly, but I feel like I haven't been fully doing my part to manage my own cash flow.  While I've done pretty well with less restaurant and Whole Foods eating, when I do go, I feel like I'm spending too much on something that's just for me.  Treating myself once in awhile is fine and fun, but I tend to go a little overboard when I walk into Whole Foods.  So I'm sort of making a game out of "how long can I keep this cash in my wallet?" and "how long can I go without going to Whole Foods?" (It's been 2 weeks so far!)

Doing fine with my health numbers and feeling a lot better after the weekend.  I was sick on Monday, but I'm feeling quite a lot better.  I'm not sure if it was a bug or some mild food poisoning, but a day of fairly bland eating and resting got me back in order.  7-day averages for fasting blood glucose was 111 and 7-day overall average was 108.  Over the past couple of weeks, my weight went up a couple of pounds, then back down a couple of pounds...still in the same range, which is comforting.

Not on plan with my training, and NOT okay with it.  I know that my schedule has changed, and I am not beating myself up about it.  But I just need to get those runs in, plain and simple, while they are doable.  Because in a couple of weeks?  The miles and times really start to ramp up.

Part of the problem is being utterly DOM-inated by my CardioSculpt class, and it's been taking a couple of days for it to go away.  I've adjusted slightly to work the arms more than the legs, but today's class?  Whew.  Even without extra weight, I think all those lunges and one-legged squats are going to really hurt tomorrow.  (But I LOVE the instructor...she's really mixing things up now that we no longer have to follow the old class format, and we're going to get so much stronger!  Yeah!)  I think I just need to switch my rest and run day, and then follow through on the run day.  

I want to...

Let myself off the hook for finishing Savor. Great book, but it's going to be due back at the library soon, and I just don't think I'll have it finished. I'll just get as far as I can. And hope the library eventually gets an audio book.

Knit while on homework supervision duty. Because I get stressed out while cracking the whip, and I need something to do with my hands that has nothing to do with eating nuts. (Crunching down the nuts distracts Thing 1, too.)

Make my doctor appointment and get my blood work done. It's checkpoint time for the health numbers!

Get on track with my training. I need to get in at least two runs before next Wednesday. (3 would meet my training schedule, but I'm not sure how the holiday/volunteering weekend stuff will impact that.) So here's a tentative schedule:

Thursday: Rest or run after drop-off but before work, depending on whether my leg muscles are still speaking to me after today....
Friday: See Thursday; rest if I ran, or run if I rested.
Saturday & Sunday: We'll be attending and working at the fair, respectively, so that will be my functional fitness.  Get in 30 minutes of at-home upper body + abs strength stuff over the course of the weekend, too.
Monday: Enjoy a long run outdoors.
Tuesday: Ride 30 minutes on stationary bike and run 1 mile on treadmill with sprint intervals.