NaBloPoMo #10 - What to Watch while Running Recommendations?

(c) 2011 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

So, I've been running for almost two years now (not counting my years of high school track, that is). I've run in four 5K races (two each year) and I'm happy with my times. I'm thankful for the Couch-to-5K program for breaking it into little pieces and proud of myself for following through!

I tend to do most of my running inside on the treadmill.  In large part, that's due to WI weather and the timing of my exercise.  I'd love to get outside more, but since I usually almost ALWAYS run in the late evenings after the girls have been put to bed, it gets dark pretty early much of the year.  Not to mention COLD for quite a few months.

(Yes, I have considered running in the mornings.  But then my alarm goes off and I laugh.  Well, if you can call it a laugh since it happens in the 0.5 seconds between when my alarm goes off and when I've hit the snooze.  Evenings work better for me, and as long as I start my run before 8:30, I have no problem falling asleep that night.)

But running on the treadmill can be boring. Sure, sometimes I watch the telly we have downstairs, but often there's nothing on the over-the-air tv that I want to watch.  A couple of years ago we managed to snag (on sale at Amazon on a deal of the day thingie, I think, which is unusual because we never watch that kind of thing closely), the complete set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  An "hour" of tv with commercial breaks turns out to be about 45 minutes, so it's perfect.  Each episode is complete in and of itself, but the characters/storyline continue.  It's ideal.

Except that I'm now in season 5...

...of 7.

...Which means that I'm starting to think about running out, and what comes next!

Since we're approaching the holidays, and the "what's on your Xmas list" season, I thought if I came up with a good idea, I could put it on my list and maybe Santa would bring it!  So, I'm asking y'all for some help - any recommendations on a good "hour"-long tv series, available on DVD, (preferrably complete, but that's not a deal-breaker),  that I should consider once I run out of Buffy?  Any/all suggestions appreciated!  Thanks!!!

NaBloPoMo #9 - WW - Penguin's first field trip... to a pumpkin patch farm

(c) 2011 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com
 

NaBloPoMo #8 - Maybe I AM becoming a runner...

(c) 2011 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

I had a dream last night. A dream of running.
A dream of running, and it felt good.

It felt free.

In my dream, my husband and the girls and I were about to run a 5K. He was going to stick with them and I was going to Run.

Run far and fast and free.

Run with purpose and speed and lungs filled with air.

Air-filled lungs and winged feet.

In my dream, running felt good and right and powerful. I welcomed it - the challenge, the distance, the pace, the speed.

It just felt good.

Maybe, just maybe, I am becoming a Runner.

NaBloPoMo #7 - Thoughts Upon Seeing Santas on November 7th.

(c) 2011 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

I'd just like to go on record as being against Christmas decorations being put up prior to Thanksgiving.  Especially WAY prior, like now.  Any decorations for any end-of-December holidays, in fact. Santas, wreaths, snowflakes?!  Please, no!

I mean, really, doesn't Thanksgiving get a turn to be a holiday?  It's one of the big-six-almost-everybody-gets-a-day-off national holidays, after all. People travel miles and hours and endure crazy airports to spend Thanksgiving with their families and/or friends.  It even usually gets a bonus-day-off with the Friday following, but respect, not so much.

Sure, I realize turkeys and gourds aren't as glittery and fancy as tinsel and lights, but especially here in our winter-gets-cold-and-snow locale, Santa just looks wrong sitting out amongst the mums and fallen leaves. Many homes still sport their barely-a-week-old jack-o-lanterns, while next door their neighbor's house is all red bows and wreaths?

I give a pass, though, to putting up one's holiday lights in November.  Putting them up is fine; lighting them is not.  Numb fingers, slippery boots on slippery ladder rungs (PSA: "Not a step" means "Don't step there, doofus, unless you might like a broken wrist!"), and nice, cold, hard, frozen ground to land on = not much fun, so anytime now Mr. Kluges is allowed to attach ours to the gutters.

But please, if you're thinking about setting out your light-up, animated reindeer or your giant-inflatable Santa-in-a-snowglobe, remember that here in the States, Thanksgiving is coming up first!  I beg you, don't let Thanksgiving be the Rodney Dangerfield of holidays.



* New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, & Christmas

NaBloPoMo #6 - Halloween Picture Fun

(c) 2011 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Those of you who know me in real life know how much I love Halloween. I adore costumes and dressing up and the creativity involved in taking an idea and turning it into reality.  I mean, one year I made my husband into the Arby's Oven Mitt using a couple of thrift-store mattress pads and some foam. 

This year I decided to unleash that creativity on the photos that sit on our mantle.
(You could click onto the images if you want to see them in more detail.)

Cute, no?!

NaBloPoMo #5 - Penguin's 1st Birthday Party Invite

(c) 2011 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Penguin had her first invited-on-her-own birthday party today. This might call for more reflection time than I have available, as my parents are here, which means Mr. Kluges and I can have a Date Night!  Now, Penguin's been invited to birthday parties before, but they've been family friends and Pumpkin has been invited, too, and/or they've been ones for our whole family to attend.

This one was for a 4K classmate, one we don't really know.  Sure, I've volunteered twice in Penguin's classroom and attended one of her field trips, but Z is not a child Penguin usually mentions.  I was actually a bit hesitant to have her go, in large part because her grandparents are here, but Mr. Kluges convinced me that she was SO EXCITED and that it was only two hours and that it was her first as-her-own-individual birthday party invite that we should let her go.

She was, in fact, very excited.  Well, excited and a bit nervous.  She requested I stay.  I said I'd stay as long as she wanted me to, but that I'd ask her occasionally and leave when she was ready for me to go.  In fact, I kind of wanted to stay for at least a bit since we've never had a play date with them and make sure my instincts were happy with her being there.

Well, I did end up staying the whole time, even though she would have been fine on her own, and the family seemed very nice.  I was the only parent to stay the whole time, although two other moms did stay the first hour.  She would have been fine - she asked Z, the birthday girl, within the first 10 minutes where the bathroom was, in case she needed it, and used it within the first 30 on her own.  She played completely independently the whole time with her classmates (well, 9 classmates & Z's cousin, who mostly played with Z's brothers anyway). 

But it did make me realize she IS a big girl now.  She's got friends/classmates I don't know, and their parents I've not really met.  She has her own thing in 4K, which is great, but she is also still my little girl, who wants me to stick around for security...

...and I'm happy to do so, for as long as she needs me....

...which I do realize won't be long at all!

NaBloPoMo #4 - Kale Chips over at Recipeeps

(c) 2011 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Mmmmm! Food! Alas and alack, I've been neglecting poor little Recipeeps just as awfully as I have this blog, so I figured I'd post over there today.  Last week was our last CSA delivery for the year and we got some lovely kale.  The first time we got kale (and had no idea what to do with it, having mostly just seen it as a salad bar decoration!), we tried a lovely recipe in the CSA newsletter for kale chips and were hooked.  The girls love it, too.

While they taste nothing at all like potato chips, these kale chips are still crispy & salty & more-ish.  Check it out here.

NaBloPoMo #3 - Cheater, cheater, what-would-you-eater?!

(c) 2011 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Hey, guess what? I've gotten so out of the habit of writing here that it's only Day #3 of National Blog Posting Month & I'm already struggling for ideas.  Man, good thing I'm doing this. :)

So I toodled over to the NaBloPoMo site and checked out their writing prompts.  Yesterday's caught my attention:

If you knew that whatever you ate next would be your last meal, what would you want it to be? 

 Hmmm... good question.  Also, in no way "this is what I had for lunch," right?

I'd have a big ol' tender grilled steak, or maybe some nice prime rib.  Definitely these asparagus!   Some big fat salty steak fries & a spinach salad with dried cranberries and slivered almonds.  A cheesy artichoke dip for an appetizer.  Something ooey and gooey and chocolate and warm for dessert, with real whipped cream. 

...you know, suddenly leftovers for supper tonight sounds really, really disappointing.

How about you?  What would YOU choose if you knew it was going to be your last meal? 

NaBloPoMo #2 - Brief thought on (flannel) sheets & (daylight) savings

(c) 2011 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

I realized today our flannel sheets are much like the soon-to-leave-us Daylight Savings time - not the "standard," but around for more than half the year anyway.


Such are the ways my mind meanders while I try to deal with the 4 bunches of celery, big ol' stalk of Brussel sprouts, and other end-of-the-CSA and dying-garden bounty.  It's back to the kitchen for me now - wish me luck!

Happy Halloween!

(c) 2011 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

P.S. Yes, I know I've been neglecting this poor little blog terribly, so to get myself back in the habit (and to catch any of you who are still occasionally checking in back up with our lives), I'm going to do National Blog Posting Month again this November.  So, check back in often & we'll see how I do!