just another day.

Abby Normally has a new home!

You can find me over at www.abbynormally.com!

Update your readers and come on over!!

I had such a great run yesterday! I cranked out nine (read it: NINE) miles before church, and I felt great. I ran a steady 5 miles and stopped just a few times on the way back. It wasn’t a very fast run, especially compared to pre-injury, pre-exhaustion runs, but man, it felt excellent. The weather was ideal: about 30 degres and sunny. And because it was an early Sunday morning, I felt like I had the town to myself!

Pre-run photo-shoot with the Dexter Dog.

He’s such a precious guy. Too bad he can’t run with me. Gimpy-hip. But that’s why he was meant for me, because we’re both gimps!

Here are the stats:
Distance: 9.0 miles
Time: 1:36
Avg. Pace: 10:41

Mile 1: 10:05
Mile 2: 10:41
Mile 3: 10:43
Mile 4: 10:07
Mile 5: 10:26
Mile 6: 10:22
Mile 7: 12:27
Mile 8: 10:22
Mile 9: 10:51

Let me explain mile 7. I realized that I was puching it for time considering that I had to finish my run, get ready, and get to church on time. So I took a walking break inorder to use the g-chat app on my phone to ask my wonderful husband to iron my pants and do a few other prep things for me. And he did! I had no trouble getting ready and being on time, but I certainly didn’t give myself much time to take it slowly.

Anyhow, this run really got me thinking about my training. Really, I’m about 2 miles behind where I should be for my long runs, but I’m not worried. That run gave me so much confidence about running this marathon. What’s amazing is that I only worked out 3 times this past week: a hill run, a tempo run, and my long run. I think in the past I had been so worried about getting my mileage up that I would run, run, run until I ran as far as I wanted. But when I was doing that, it would be such a struggle to pound out nine miles. I would run six and then go out the next day and run only four, and then I’d keep running until I made it to nine. I would push myself to exhaustion. I’m learning to take the good with the bad. Accept a bad run for what is and move on. So when it comes to my personal training, less is more.

I don’t want to cut out cross training, but I think I’m going to be adjusting my schedule to allow for some more rest days. I don’t really function well under routine, so my exercise will probably vary from week to week. But I’m starting to get an understanding of how my body handles training.

As for my foot, it’s definitely sore after that last run, but I’m not too concerned. It doesn’t hurt on impact, which makes me think it’s not the bones, rather the soft tissue–which will happen when coming back from a stress fracture. I’m trying to be much more intentional about icing it, and I think it’s going to be ok!

I’ve got a hill run scheduled for tomorrow morning, and with this new hill run workout I made up, I am really looking forward to it.

Does anyone have training suggestions? Anything that makes training more enjoyable? Any tips for training after an injury?

Hello, running. I’m back, and I’m back with a vengence.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU all for your sweet, sweet comments about my bad news. I didn’t think twice about sharing the information with you because I have found that you, my readers, are such an encouraging community and I know that you will always have my back. The joys and successes in life aren’t in the degrees you have or the money you make. The fullness of life is found in the little things. Thank you for giving me such rich encouragement. I love you all.

I’d like to wish a very happy birthday to my big brother, Adam! Adam’s love and energy just blows my mind. He’s always doing, doing, doing and bringing so much laughter to everyone! He’s been struggling with Inflammatory Bowel Disease for many years now, and he doesn’t let it get him down. In fact, he doesn’t look for people to cater to him, he lives to serve others.

When he heard of my “rejection”, he brought me this shirt from one of my favorite bands.

His thoughtfulness brightened my spirits immediately. It’s the little things.

And today was the baby shower for him and his wife! They are expecting their first baby in March (Fitbloggin’ weekend, to be exact)! Adam joined us and charmed the room full of women with his charisma.

They even let him open some presents.

I think some of the gifts were meant for Adam and not the baby. Especially the ones dealing with baseball, and the Dallas Cowboys.

Baby things are so cute! I can’t wait to meet this little guy and see his smiles and hear his giggles. Say it with me, “It’s the little things!”

I’m anxious to see my brother grow as a father, and if he’s anything like the rest of the men in our family, he will be an excellent one. The women have been very blessed.

The cake was adorable!

It was actually made of cupcakes, which always seem to make me smile. Who doesn’t like cupcakes?!

They are such little things!

I had about 3/4 of the cupcake plus much much more food. I definitely didn’t make the best choices, but I will definitely be fueled for my run tomorrow! And speaking of runs…

I had a long run scheduled for this morning, but I found out another food to add to the “do not eat before runs” list: yogurt covered raisins. I had a hayday with them last night and this morning was spent in and out of the bathroom. What can I say? It’s the little things.

My mom and I did a podcast from Yoga Download. We were enjoying the downward facing dogs until our dogs started wrestling between us. It wasn’t as peaceful as yoga should be, but we certainly had a good laugh. It’s the little things.

Anyhow, I’m going to watch Apolo Ohno tear up the ice rink and then head to bed to tackle that run in the morning (before church).

To kick it off, I said in the last post that I was upset because he spoke his opinion. After I thought about it, I realized that it wasn’t true. I certainly was taken aback by it, and would have, in this case, been happy for him to keep his opinion to himself, but that wasn’t the thing that upset me. What really got under my skin was his assumption that vegetarian + skinny = ED. Other people’s opinions don’t bother me (a lack of tact might), but I know that I can entertain opinions without having it effect my own beliefs. You might call it narrow-minded, I call it wise. I can’t be changed by every opinion I hear! I’d get whip-lash! Ok, glad that’s out.

Back up to Wednesday and I saw this tweet in my feed:

I’m not here to blog about anyone’s thoughts concerning universal/absolute truth, BUT I did minor in Philosophy and I just can’t believe some “philosopher” would say or tweet this! Can anyone else see the fallacy in this age-old argument? The contradiction in this statement screams at me, so I screamed back:

If anyone else would like to give me an argument for objective truth that doesn’t contradict itself IN ONE SENTENCE, then please comment below. But I don’t think it’s possible. It’s not just the sentence, it’s the concept that is self contradictory. You can’t even THINK that are no universal truths without thinking a universal truth. Anyhow, this concludes Abbynormally’s Philosophy 101 TIRADE.

Now onto the less controversial portion of my blog!

Some evil person slipped me some Veritaserum today, because I’m about to spill a lot of beans.

I didn’t ride the bike like I said I would Wednesday night. I figured that studying for the Greek test was more important. I did get a B on the last test, and the truth of it is that I don’t really get B’s. I was one of those I-studied-dead-languages-and-people-and-got-really-good-grades-and-didn’t-party-and-the-only-time-I-left-my-apartment-was-to-go-run-and-on-those-runs-I-listened-to-books-and-sermons people. Or person, because I have yet to find someone else who fits that description. Yup, that’s the truth.

Also I did get up Thursday morning for a 6 mile run. Yup, outta bed by 4:40 and walking out the door at 5 am. But I only ran 4 because I spent almost 15 minutes scraping ice of the Jeep. I did a total of 4 miles in 40 minutes. I think it’s good if you take into consideration the 2 minutes of walking I did while untangling my headphones.

I had a pretty good day expecially compared to my dear friend/co-worker who found out she brought some “visitors” back with her from her Cruise–BED BUGS. Gross! But I was so thrilled by the way I began my day that I treated myself to a soy latte because I exercised before the sun was up!

It was after the latte that we realized my friend lent David that same suitcase for his trip last month. So last night was Operation Bed Bug Prevention. We did some serious looking (thanks to tips my friend received from the exterminator that she’s paying almost $1000 to get rid of her visitors) and we really don’t think we have them. But they can be killed with a steamer (which we have, thankfully), so we steamed and washed EVERYTHING.

And that was the impetus behind cleaning our apartment, too!

Big difference from Wednesday, huh?

This is next Truth is a tough one. (Really wishing there were really no universal truths at this point) I didn’t want to share it, but I have come to love you readers, and this is a blog about my life, so I have take the good with the bad.

I didn’t get into the graduate program that I wanted. I got the letter yesterday. It was rough.

At first I felt like a failure, because in one weekend I got crappy GRE scores and a broken foot. But I know that was my own fault for doing too much and not taking care of myself. I have learned a lot from that experience, so I’m not going to convince myself I failed in any way. Because I didn’t. And as I sat on the couch crying with my husband at my side and my puppy laying on my feet, I knew that my life is full of things that scream “success”–at least the kind of success that truly matters. Like the love of my Savior, relationships, and a sense of humor, and the will to carry on.

I know that this is not what God wants for me at this time. I’m thankful He made it so clear, not many people get a letter saying “GOD DOESN’T THINK THIS IS BEST FOR YOU RIGHT NOW”, but I did. What more can I ask for?!

So am I disappointed? Of course. Clearly it’s something that I wanted or I wouldn’t have applied. But I didn’t make any plans around it, and I wasn’t sold out on it, and from the beginning I had a gut feeling that it wouldn’t happen. Just the size and caliber of the program let me know that I probably wouldn’t be accepted. The odds weren’t in my favor, and I’m not one to ignore reality. I know people who have lost loved ones, suffered broken relationships, been injured and sick…if this is my disappointment, then I’m thankful.

But are my dreams shattered? Not at all. This may open in the future, but in the meantime, I have other desires and interests and plans. And if it never opens in the future, I am ok with that. Whatever it is, I know God has something great in my future, and that is my dream and that is exciting!

This weekend is a weekend of celebrations–2 birthdays and a baby shower! So I’m going to enjoy my “successes” and not sweat the small stuff.

Happy weekending!

Have you ever suffered a disappointment only to discover it’s a blessing in disguise?

Wow, great responses on my last post! You all ROCK! I think there’s one thing I saw trending in the comments: keep your opinions to yourself unless asked. Totally agree! I hope that I am viewed as someone who is respectful of other people’s decisions and don’t push my convictions on everyone I meet. I don’t want it done to me, so I shouldn’t do it to others!

This post is going seems to be seriously lacking in substance compared to the last one, but I’m in a time cruch. I have to ride the bike tonight, study for my Greek test (got a B on the last one–can’t have that happen again! ha!), and I want to go to bed early so I can run before work tomorrow. That means an 4:30ish alarm. Oh my.

Anyhow, yesterday I had this horrible headache haunting me all day. I had a nice hill run before work (30 minutes, increasing incline every 3 minutes). It was tough but didn’t wipe me out for the day. I can’t wait to do it again, but next time, I’ll do it for longer.

I had an amazing Green Monster while I iced my foot afterwards.

It contained spinach, Tropicana50 OJ, 1 banana, ground flax, greek yogurt, ice. Amazing. I felt like I was drinking an Orange Julius–only it was green. And the prettiest green, too!

My headache slowly got worse throughout the day, and by the time I got home at 7:15, I was sick in my stomach. I was in bed at 8 and I missed the Olympics AND Lost! AND NO DINNER! It was a horrible, horrible night. I woke up feeling much better, just a slight “headache hangover”…which was made worse when I realized all that had been forgotten.

The bedroom.

The Kitchen.

The Laundry.

Oh, the Laundry.

And for some odd reason, I remember something else that I had been neglecting…

Racquetball! I remembered those rackets sitting in our closet, lonely, forgotten, and I now I’m determined to find a nearby court so that Dave and I can release some energy and get those rackets exercised.

Although last time we played David almost broke my hand with a bad shot. Seriously. A really bad shot. I was about 10 feet to his right amd just about 2 feet in front of him, and he hit the ball and it smacked me square on my engagement ring. We ended up running all over the college’s field house looking for the trainer. I don’t know what was more shocking: that the ring was ok, or that my hand was ok. It was miraculous. I think I haven’t played since then out of fear. But I think I’m ready to go back.

Do you have a sport or hobby that you fell you’ve been neglecting. I have a whole list, but right now I have racquetball on my mind!

Yesterday at church, a man approached David and me. He had just met Dave at the men’s Bible study and came over to say hi and to meet me. He asked Dave if he had a donut (they offer them at church in between Sunday school and the Church service). Dave said no and then looked at me and jokingly said, “What is that thing you always say to me?” “Make good choices.” This guy looked at me and asked if I was a dietitian. I just smiled and said, “No, just a vegetarian runner.” Now, clearly not everyone knows how anal vegetarians and runners tend to be about food, so maybe I should have said something else, but I’m not good at thinking on my feet. Anyhow, he immediately sized me up–literally! He looked me up and down and looked at Dave and said, “Are you a member of the Facebook group ‘Vegetarianism is an Eating Disorder’?”

Excuse me? EXCUSE ME?

First of all, I know I’m thin. Do all thin people have eating disorders? Secondly, do you really know anything about my eating habits? Thirdly, since when are eating disorders appropriate small talk in the church foyer right after meeting me? What if I really did have an eating disorder? And most importantly, do you know anything about vegetarianism?!

I wanted to address this because I think this is an issue that needs a bit of attention.

Some people do use vegetarianism as a means of restrictive eating. I know some people who have done this, but let me assure you, I am not one of them. These people wouldn’t be telling their husbands to “make good choices” because they wouldn’t be making one themselves. Meat offers some essential nutrients to a human’s diet, and if some decides to stop eating meat, the “good choice” would be to replace those nutrients with other foods. A true vegetarian is concerned with replacement whereas a “vegetarian” is more preoccupied with restrictions. That is not a good choice, and that is not my goal.

I went to the Facebook group to see what they are all about. The description of the group says something like, “For all of those who think not eating meat is weird and just plain sick.”
Ok, let me tell you somethings that vegetarians generally think are sick: factory farms and hold too many animals in a small space. These overcrowded animals, living in each others’ filth, then get sick or injured, so the cheapest thing to do is pump them full of antibiotics before chopping their heads off. After all, land is a limited resource (and therefore expensive) where as chemically produced medications are limitless.

True vegetarians also find obesity, heart disease, and cancers linked to the consumption of poor quality meats sick. True vegetarians take pride in what they give their bodies.

Now don’t get me wrong. Meat-eaters can also take pride in what they eat. But if they are aware of what they eat, then they tend to also be aware of the reasons behind vegetarianism. My husband eats meat and loves it. But he respects my decision, and since we have been married he has learned to “make good choices” and is so much more aware of the food he eats.
Those are some really general reasons behind true vegetarianism, but let me explain my own reasons for a meat-less diet.

Ready?

Are you sure?

Here goes…

I don’t like it.

::GASP:: That’s it? Yup.

I had mentioned in my Food Philosphy that I have always had a sensitive stomach and realized that greasy meat was huge irritant. When my brother got sick in 2006, his nutritionist took him off red meat, so my mom only cooked poultry for us. I felt so much better. When I moved out on my own in less than 2 years later, I discovered that I had no desire to eat meat. In fact, it kind of grossed me out. I made the decision to become a vegetarian in March of 2008. Here I am in February of 2010 letting you know that I don’t miss it, and I don’t want it. I love my diet of fresh fruits and veggies, beans and grains… and guess what? No more Irritable Bowel Syndrome. But the key is substitution (not restriction).
Now because this whole interaction occured in Church, I want to address the thought that “God created meat to be eaten and declared it to be ‘clean’ and ‘good’”. You’re right, He has. So take the knowledge that God has created them and declared them to be good and go reconcile that knowldege with the current abuse at factory farms.

Got it? Ok, moving on…

I don’t think that this diet is for everyone, but I do think that it can be a very healthy lifestyle. Take Daniel, for instance. Daniel, an Israelite student in the palace of a the Babylonian King Jechoiakim, had resolved not to eat the king’s food because it was defiled, based on the commandments given by God to the Israelites. The advisors in the palace were afraid that Daniel would get sick and weak from eating any other diet, but Daniel suggested giving them only vegetables and water for the next 10 days, and at the end of the 10 days decide if he was less healthy than those who ate the king’s diet. And sure enough, they saw the improvement in Daniel’s health over the other students’ and determined that all should be fed the diet of vegetables and water. I believe that Daniel’s health was a reward for obeying God’s laws, not necessarily that he was a vegetarian and the other young men weren’t. However, I do believe that God adminsters his blessings and rewards to people through science and nature–and in this case, a healthy diet.

It’s amazing what you can learn from Bible stories, huh?

I’m not a dietitian or a nutritionist, so I have a lot to learn. But I know that I am considerably more aware of my diet and my body than most Americans. Can vegetarianism be an eating disorder? Most definitely. Humans are experts at distorting good things to suite their warped perceptions of reality. But is TRUE vegetarianism an eating disorder? Absolutely not. It’s simply a form of good stewardship of the body that has been gifted to us. We should all be aware of the importance of good nutrition and the proper treatment of our bodies.

Oh, and a second lesson to be learned is to be aware of what you say to people. You never know when you’re giving a blogger great writing material.

What are your thoughts on vegetarianism? Do you find that it is commonly used as a disordered eating habit?

If you eat meat, why? If you don’t, why not?

Complaint-free February went out the window yesterday. I’m slightly ashamed. But only slightly, because I intend on redeeming myself today.

First of all, I was hoping to get back on track this week with my marathon training. I did all the exercises that I should, but my running mileage was a little lower than scheduled because I didn’t want to exasperate my foot. I planned a 9 miler for yesterday and realized that it would have to be done on the treadmill because there is no room on the roads for me, cars, and excessive dirty snow. To make the best of a stinky situation, I invited Dave to the gym with me, but it didn’t make it better. First of all, we went out to my car only to discover that the battery was dead. Big deal, right? We hopped in Dave’s Jeep. So at the gym, I became FURIOUS at the weather (and my car) as I plowed away on the treadmill, and at 4.5 miles, I said “screw it” and decided to brave the roads anyway.

We went back to our apartment and Dave prepared to jump the car while I changed. While I was changing I heard what I figured was Dave blowing the horn. This didn’t help my mood and I thought, “If he wants me to come out to help, he’s just going to have to wait.” Well, the horn kept beeping while I bundled up and when I stepped outside, there was Dave standing with the cables in hand and the most baffled look on his face. Everytime he touched the jumper to the Civic’s Engine, the car alarm started to go off. Seeing that the only thing I can do to a car is kill its battery, he sent me one my way. About 30 seconds later, as I was trudging through the knee-deep snow to the loop that I run, I WIPED OUT (in fact, my knee is a little tender from it today). I realized that to try to make it down the hill in those conditions was foolishness and, with my tail between my legs, I went back to car only to find Dave still with the cables in his hand and the same baffled look on his face. FIghting back tears at this point, we decided just to jump the car as normal…I was happy to find that the car didn’t explode when I turned the key, but not so thrilled that the car alarm WOULD NOT STOP. Dave felt bad for the other tenants in our apartment complex, so he took the car for a little ride while I went to do some foam rolling. When I got inside, the overwhelming feeling of defeat came over me and I started to cry… and then I realized that Dave was out driving our “girly” (it’s a pretty shade of blue) car throughout the Pittsburgh suburbs with the car alarm BLARING. HOW FUNNY IS THAT?! The day went up hill from there…once the alarm stopped, that is.

Dave surprised me with a trip to a Vegetarian/Vegan restaurant, The Quiet Storm, for a Valentine’s day treat. I had a quesadilla that was stuffed with some of my favorite foods: black beans, sweet potatoes, pineapple, and cheddar cheese. Oh my.Can you imagine a better combination?! I can’t! I ate half for lunch and half for dinner!!

We went out to lunch because I heaven forbid I am unable to watch my Valentine Apolo Ohno dominate the Olympic Short Track competition. Dave went to return a video and came back with soy lattes and a card for me.

The envelope read: “If you’re not taken by Apolo Ohno will you be mine?”. Hold on, honey. I’ll have to wait until after the men’s 1500m finals to ask him if I’m free. Looks like I am. Turns out Mr. Ohno isn’t into women who care nothing about their appearance OR who misuse Google’s Video chat by making really strange faces to her unsuspecting friends. Lucky Dave is stuck with this:

Oh, marriage, what have you done with my pride?!

Fact #5- Despite my laid-back, “just wanna have fun” attitude, I am a very competitive person. I owe this quality to being raised with boys. My entire childhood was littered with these phrases:
“I dare you.”
“I bet you can’t.”
“No, you can’t.”
“Race ya!”
“Time me.”
“Me first.”
A girl can’t be raised in that kind of environment and not be affected in some way. I swear my parents encouraged this among us because it preoccupied our free time. My dad would even use it to his advantage–for example, if he wanted one of us to get something for him and we didn’t want to, he would say, “I’ll time you”, and we’d be off before he could even say “GO!” I really don’t think he actually timed us, but it didn’t keep me from getting my butt in gear to do him that favor. Probably because I figured out his scheme much later in life. At the time I was just interested in seeing how fast I really was, especially if it meant I was faster than one of my brothers.
Unfortunately for me, my husband is also extremely competitive. This explains why we own only 2 games…and never play them. Dave might have had a deck of cards thrown at his face before….
That competitive spirit could definitely win me some medals in the Olympics if only I had some talent to pair with it.

If you could compete in one sport in the Winter Olympics, what would it be? Or, if you’re not as neurotic competitive as me, what is your favorite Winter Olympic sport to watch? I’m going to have to say SHORT TRACK for both questions!

Thank you all for your sweet comments on my post! I really do have a wonderful family. I often talk to David about the idea of a “legacy”. In both of our families, we have relatives who are so loved and spread joy to everyone they touch, and at the same time we have relatives that can be burdensome and unhappy and seem to excude negative energy. We love them all and have been blessed by them, but it makes us think about what kind of legacy we will leave behind. I want to leave a legacy similar to the ones that I am certain my Grammy and Pappy will leave.

I think that the most significant signs of a truly healthy life are not pants size or resting heart rate, rather lives seasoned with altruism, grace, and love. I am blessed to be a member of a family that is full of people with those qualities.

I am finally at the end of “Home” by Marilynne Robinson (still not quite done, hopefully tonight)! It’s funny because the first book that I read by her, “Gilead”, was recommended to me by both of my uncles in Asia, and the story reminded me of them and my Pappy and all the stories they tell of their childhood. However, in “Home” I came across a quote that I thought I would share:

“It is in family that we most often feel the grace of God, His Faithfulness.”

Do you have a family member or a role model that embodies all the characteristics that you wish to have? Has someone in your life left a legacy that has inspired you to better yourself?

When you have two snow days in a row, the novelty wears off. I was really struggling with something interesting to put on here.

I could tell you that I ran 4.5 miles on the treadmill. It was a “tempo” run, but let’s face it, there’s no such thing in my world as a tempo run on a treadmill. I think it is exciting that I made it that far. But still, treadmills are boring, so what do I have to write about? I watched Ellen and Drew Brees was a guest. He cut his hair.

I also could talk about some of the exercise clothing I bought at Target and Old Navy, or just post a picture.

I’ll do the same with Dave’s Valentine’s gift.

Exciting, right?

However, I did end up receiving an email from my mom with a story about her parents that I thought would be nice to share on the blog.

Meet Pappy and Grammy.

They are the two most loving, selfless, kind, caring people you will ever meet.

Now meet their kids!

Steve and his wife live in Hong Kong and their four daughters are scattered across the world.

Then there’s my mom, she, my dad and my little brother are currently snowed in about 25 minutes from where my grandparents live.

My Uncle David and his wife Ying Ying live in Taiwan with their 7 year old daughter, Ana.

Then there’s Missy. Missy was born with cerebral palsy and lives in an apartment about 30 minutes from my grandparents. She has a roommate and a live-in in personal care assistant. Despite the help she has from her assistant and social worker, my mom and countless others, my grandparents do almost everything for her.

Their hardwork and selflessness isn’t limited to the needs of my aunt. Grammy is always whipping up dinners and Pappy is always working on some “project”. They aren’t just the benevolent grandparents that you visit on Easter and Christmas. Pappy taught me how to drive. Grammy taught me how to take blood pressure and make “hospital corners” on beds. If I got sick at school, Pappy would pick me up and Grammy would make me soup. They are pillars in their church and the backbone of our family. Grammy and Pappy are constantly giving, serving and loving.

Next month Grammy will be turning 80 and, in April, Pappy will also be 80. Despite the fact that they are very active, they are suffering from the inevitable aches and pains that come with age. Do you think any of the family has heard them complain about it? Not at all. Quite the opposite, in fact. My mom is constantly reminding them that they need to take it easy! And apparently my uncles overseas do the same thing.

The snowfall accumulation back “home” was almost 3 feet. When my Uncle Steve heard about it, he called my grandparents begging them to find someone to shovel for them, knowing that my mom is was snowed in as well. Pappy doesn’t ask people to do things for him, rather, he does things for others. In fact, Pappy was probably already making plans to shovel himself out, then drive to my Aunt Missy’s to shovel her out and bring out the salt trucks, and to make sure she wouldn’t slip on the sidewalks. You can imagine that it took a few more pleas from his kids to get him to realize that he can’t be the one to shovel them out.

With this weighing on his heart, he went up to his room to pray about it.

While he was up there there was a knock and my grandmother answered to find a boy, whom she had never met, named Jake. Jake asked if he could please shovel for them. My grandparents, having learned from 80 years of experience that God’s timing is impeccable, accepted his offer. How sweet!

Jake shoveled for them and when he was finished, my grandparents were so pleased that they not only paid him, but took his name and phone number to call if it snowed again… only to learn that he wasn’t even from the neighborhood! As he turned to leave, Grammy noticed his hood was full of snow, so she offered him a dry hat and scarf for his walk home.

You can imagine the relief of their children who were separated by snow and oceans when they heard of the snow angel that God had sent. It’s amazing how God listens to our prayers, even when they seem to be so small. It’s also amazing how those prayers are answered, like Jake and his shovel–the snow angel.

Hi FRIENDS! Having a great humpday thus far?
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I want to give you all a heads-up that pretty soon I will be moving to my own website. My brother, the brains at Smart Media, is building it for me! It should be up and running soong. Thanks, big bro! You are my favorite big brother.
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Thanks for your great comments on my last post! I couldn’t remember the Google commercial so I looked it up on YouTube…and then I remembered it. It was great and didn’t try to sell us anything inappropriate. I really appreciate all of your feedback! Now let’s take a time-warp to a time before Google or YouTube or the days when the only thing we cared about concerning our bodies was if we were taller than other classmates…because….

I’m having a SNOW DAY today! It also seems that I’m stuck in a time warp because of the snow. I don’t think I’ve ever been happy about a significant snowfall since highschool. But since Dave and I have both had snow days as a result of these storms, I’m as giddy as a school girl!

When I was younger, my mom would celebrate school cancellations with us by making mini pizzas! She used english muffins and pepperoni, but I have neither, so I improvised for dinner last night!

I used arnold sandwhich thins, tomato-basil spaghetti sauce and mozarella cheese.. mmm mmm DELICIOUS! Tasted like my childhood!

The Yuengling Bock beer I enjoyed with it did not remind me of my childhood, however, for obvious reasons.

(…skip to today) For lunch today I tried something that was new, rather than over-do the childhood favorites. Well, I don’t have any fish sticks on hand, and even if I didn I wouldn’t eat them. I tried the new Yoplait Greek yogurt! I picked the blueberry as my first test.

My initial reaction was “gag me”, so I doctored it up a bit (TJ’s GF granola, an apple, and a scoop of Crofter’s superfruit spread from North America). And then I loved it. I really love how much protein there is in Greek yogurt, but a word of caution, I did notice in the store that Dannon’s greek yogrt only has 6 grams of protein, that’s why I went with the Yoplait (well, really it was because Oikos and Chobani were nowhere to be seen).

After lunch I triple-dog-dared myself to play in the snow with Dexter. Just like the old days I stood and took pictures. Just kidding. My parents didn’t trust me with my own camera until I was a senior in high school. I don’t blame them, I have broken way too many cameras since then. I should not be trusted with technology.

Anyhow, Even though I didn’t build any snowmen or make any snow angels, Dexter had a blast. You could tell he felt like a kid again!…wait, he still is one.

Anyhow, I came back in and warmed up with Redi-whip and a little bit of hot chocolate. Just like my mom used to make for me. And just to accentuate the fact that for one day, I’m a kid again, I drank it from my Tigger mug!

THIS JUST IN: I have another SNOW DAY tomorrow, too! I don’t know what to do with myself….or what to eat!

Is there any food you eat or activity you do that transports you back to your childhood? Does anyone else have snow day traditions?
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Fact #4- I was on the local gymnastics team when I was in 6th grade. I have no idea how I made it, but I did…and I hated it! Those girls and their mothers were psychotic! My family and I are definitely baseball people–much more laid back. And in all honesty, I was the “new” girl, so no one liked me expect ONE COACH. I was in excellent physical shape, but it was emotionally taxing.

I’m tagging Caitlin! Caitlin is a fellow Pittsburgh blend, and one of the two blends that I’ve actually met! She is beautiful and has a beautiful soul that is reflected on her blog. Check it out!