All Manner of Pressing Issues

The weather here for the last few weeks has been warm and sunny. Every day I am outside for about an hour and a half between my runs and Olivia’s walks. For this reason I have developed The Runner’s Tan. I have lines on my arms and chest from shirts and a line on my legs from my shorts. My feet are stark white. It’s very attractive. For the last few days I have been deliberating about what I can do to get rid of the lines. I am anti-tanning beds and I just simply do not feel like messing with sunless tanning lotion this year (I’ve already seen several cases gone bad when I’ve been out and about in the last few weeks). I don’t want to go bask in the sun at the pool to get rid of the lines either. So, I’ve decided that I am going to consider my Runner’s Tan a rite of passage. I have come to the conclusion that my Runner’s Tan is something that I should be proud of because it means I’m a professional, right?

I’ll keep telling myself this until I believe it.

Olivia is crazy. She is such fun to have around. Sunday evening I planted flowers on the balcony. I had never done this with her before so I wasn’t exactly sure how it would go. She loves dirt and eats flowers, so my expectations were not too high. She actually did really well though. I got the flowers planted (she only ate a few) and she entertained herself appropriately (for the most part).

I had an old flower pot that was full of dirt (no plants) behind one of our chairs. I was saving the dirt just in case and was glad I did because I needed it! I had scooped up several small pot fulls of dirt from that old planter and I uncovered one of Olivia’s bones! She had hidden it deep in the dirt in the pot! I gave it to her and I kept working. Later, I found her over in the corner on our balcony. She was scraping dirt out of a bag and trying to cover the bone up with it!!

Here she is after her bath on Saturday:

Oh and one more thing and I’ll stop talking about my doggie. I had to buy her new food/water bowls. She out grew her old ones!

I have been knitting! Can you believe it? I did quite a bit of knitting in airports over spring break, but for a few weeks after that I fell off the wagon! I am knitting again-finally. I am working on a felted tote. I’ve made two before  (see them here and here) and love them! This is an easy knit–which is what I need right now!

I have several more inches of the red to go and then I will add the “novelty” yarn. After that I’ll make a couple of handles, sew those on, sew the bottom up and felt it! I can hardly wait to felt it!

I haven’t been doing much in the kitchen lately. I have actually had to dust the stove rather than clean it from cooking spills. I have been eating, though. I’ve been eating ceral and salads mainly–and some ice cream. I’ve had a break from the kitchen for the last several weeks and I am finding myself missing cooking (gasp!). It won’t be long until I am back at it. I’m looking forward to it!

I found a recipe in my latest issue of Runner’s World the other day that I thought sounded good. I haven’t tried it, so if you do you’ll be ahead of me!

Curried Chicken Salad Sandwich wtih Cranberries and Pine Nuts (taken from Runner’s World)

3 c. skinless chicken breast, shredded

3 tbsp dried cranberries

3 tbsp roasted pine nuts

1 c. apple with peel, chopped

1/4 c. light mayonaise

1/4 c. fat-free sour cream

1 tbsp honey mustard

1 tsp ground curry

2 c. spring greens or fresh spinach

8 slices multigrain, whole-wheat or sourdough bread, or 4 whole-wheat pita pockets

Add chicken, cranberries, pine nuts and chopped apple to a large mixing bowl and toss together. In another bowl, whisk together mayoniase, sour cream, honey mustard and cirry until blended and smooth. Spoon dressing over the chicken mixture and toss to blend. Place 1/2 c. of greens on the bottom slice of each sandwich; top with 1 c. of chicken salad per sandwich. Place the second slice of bread on top. If using pita, cut each pita pocket in half and fill each half with 1/4 c. of lettuce and 1/2 c. of the chicken mixture. Makes 4 sandwiches.

I am so glad they told us to “place the second slice of bread on top”. Talk about fool proof!

I think I have shared these salads before, but I am going to again for fun.

Asian Chicken Salad (except I don’t make it with chicken when it’s just me.. but if you do make it with chicken, consider marinating the chicken in some type of teriyaki marinade.)

spring greens

chow mein noodles

mandarin oranges

some type of Asian dressing (I think right now I have some sort of Toasted Sesame Ginger something)

This next salad is my at-home take on a salad I loved at a restaurant I used to frequent while I was in college (and I even worked there one summer actually). Again, this is good with baked or grilled chicken, but when it’s just me, I don’t bother. Bacon can also be added to this one!

Chicken Berry Salad

sliced strawberries

water chestnuts

spring greens

poppy seed dressing

While we’re talking about food, I’ll tell you about this. A couple of Sundays ago, I was listening to a program on NPR. The importance of eating berries was discussed. Since then, I have made a point to eat berries every single day. I don’t even remember why they said we should eat them, I just know they acted like it was very, very important that we consume a lot of berries, so I have been–with cool whip.

This has been a very trying week at school with my first graders. I am not sure why, but the majority of them have been testing the limits with me this week. This morning I woke up wondering if it was Saturday.It’s just been one of those weeks.

I think God knew I needed a little pick-me-up with my students to remind me of the good side of them (they really are sweet kids, we’ve just had a rough patch this week). This morning one of my students walked in with something in her hand and told me it was for me. When she handed it to me she said, “I know it’s wrapped in toilet paper, but it’s okay.” This really may possibly be one of the sweetest things a student has ever done. She had wrapped a pair of DANGLY earrings in the toilet paper (complete with lots of Scotch tape). She was SO PROUD of herself–and I was, too because she could have kept those DANGLY earrings for herself. I have never seen this little girl wear a single piece of jewlery, but every day this week she has come decked out (her mom must have cleaned something out)–and she gave up that pair of earrings for me. I know this little girl and I know it was a sacrifice. So precious.

The second good thing that happened today was that the students clapped and cheered when the caterpillar in The Very Hungry Caterpillar turned into a “beautiful butterfly”. They even asked me to read it again!

God, please cause these moments to come to mind when I feel like the walls of my classroom are closing in on me. Help me remember that these precious children are your’s and you have entrusted them to me for 7 hours each day.

There are 45 days remaining until I go here:

(Buffalo, NY)

There are 55 days remaining until I go here:

(Dewey, DE)

I can hardly wait!!

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for baby Colben! His overall prognosis is now good (he has been diagnosed with pneumonia) and they are now in the process of trying to wean him from the ventilator. His recovery will be long, so please continue to pray for Colben, his doctors/nurses and his family.

Prior to spring break I had a lot of trouble getting Olivia to actually walk on her leash. She would walk to her potty area, but that was about it. Whenever I would try to get her to walk, she would put all four breaks on and practically lay down. She would not budge. For exercise, I had to take her to an area near where we live where I could safely let her off the leash because she would not walk on the leash.

During spring break, Olivia enjoyed  a lot of new experiences. When we took her to Annapolis we were jealous of all the other dog owners whose dogs were trotting along ever so politely on their leashes all the while I  hauled our too-big-to-carry darling in my arms. While we were in DC, there was a particular median with grass where we took her to go potty. Every time I had to carry her through the lobby and the almost full block to the median. Every once in a while she would walk a few feet, but that was it. Trust me, I TRIED to get her to walk. Sometimes if there was someone in front of us she wanted to meet she would walk just to chase them. As the week went on, she started walking farther and farther by herself. After one particular potty trip, I came back to the apartment really bragging on how far Olivia had walked by herself. Richard nonchalantly responded, “Oh yeah. She’s been doing that the whole time for me.” WHAT? Here I’ve been carrying this 14 lb. dog every time she puts the breaks on and she’s been “doing that the whole time” for her daddy?? Dang dog. Needless to say, she learned to walk everywhere without behind carried.

Every now and then she puts the breaks on still. When she does that now, I just stop for a minute and let her take a break and then she’s ready to go again. We’ve been going on 30 min-1hr. walks every day. She loves getting outside and is well behaved on the leash. She also likes to get in the creek when she gets hot (I didn’t know terriers would get in the water–shows what I know!). We normally go for our walks in our neighborhood, but on days when I have time, I take her to a park in our city on the river. She will not walk over any bridge, but there are plenty of trails that her fear of bridges isn’t a big deal.

I think going to the grocery needs to be on the top of my “to do” list today! This is what my refrigerator has looked like for the past two weeks! I have had something almost every night and going grocery shopping has just not been a priority! This week won’t be nearly as busy. I think I only have something going on 2 nights this week! Yay for relaxation!