Playing catch up

Well I think I am officially over the crud now. I am so grateful to finally feel like myself again! And now that I'm healthy, its time to catch up on everything, oy. Like working out...I got off track of my training for Bloomsday due to not working out last week but you can't exactly add the miles you missed to get to where you should be, or at least I can't. That would give me a huge case of shin splints. All I can do is start off kind of where I left off and ease back into it. I'm seeing the possibility of even doing the Bloomsday race diminishing (not just cuz of my being sick, the two gals I was gonna race with are facing pretty big hurdles to get there) and so I'm not going to get too worked up over my training bump. I'll just keep working at it and when the race is closer, we'll see. I tell ya, though, it sure feels good to get back on the treadmill after feeling sick! Its refreshing. And I was missing my "running movies". I've started to reserve one of our three-at-a-time Netflix movies as my "running movie" and I watch it while I'm running, I can usually finish one movie in two runs. I've been able to get the movies Erik wouldn't necessarily enjoy watching with me and that aren't "kid" movies. Its been great! I've watched a couple chick flicks and yesterday I was able to finish "Step Up 2 the Streets". Which, although it isn't a cinema masterpiece, it works great for running cuz the upbeat music and I love the cheesy dance movies. lol

I've got the house mostly clean, except the bathrooms which I've been putting off because I hate doing bathrooms. But we'll have company this coming weekend so I will do them before Friday, I have to! We're having a family from the church in Bozeman stay with us--there is a big ol' shindig this weekend with a concert, early church service w/ special speaker from Spokane and a potluck Sunday after service. Its going to be busy but great. Its always cool to get to spend time with folks from other towns. I'm glad I took the time to really clean the basement before I got sick though, that is less to do this week to prepare for guests!

We spent this past weekend up at Erik's folks house on the lake. We hadn't been there since probably before Christmas and it was amazing to see the road construction and buildings and other changes on the drive up. It was a nice weekend. Saturday the girls spent some time beading while the guys drove up to a big ol' Boat/Rv/Boat dock,etc show in Kalispell. I got to try a little pattern Karen had picked out for kid's hairbands. I don't usually bead w/ a pattern and I hadn't done any beading since the Canada trip, so it was fun. Here's a picture of one of Kera's hairbands, I think they turned out really cute. The picture is kind of blurry, I took it with my cell phone.

The girls also played with the Lincoln logs and made a pretty cool house with their Papa. Kera has really gotten into building things lately and I am always hearing about what she built at preschool or aftercare and it seems like she's always building when I pick her up, so I'm thinking she might be getting something to build with for an Easter or birthday present!

I am making Split Pea Soup tonight for dinner, and its kind of become a Monday routine for us. I use the leftover bacon from the weekend and its a quick and easy dinner that most of us (Kera has her days) really like. Plus it makes enough for leftovers and I can eat it for easy lunch during the week. Its also great because I think one vegetarian meal a week is good and I'm trying to eat more legumes every day, so its perfect. This recipe I use is extremely easy and I had taken pictures of my soup last week with the intention of sharing the recipe in a blog post. Well, obviously I am catching up now so here it is....

Split Pea Soup (from recipezaar.com/83723)

2 cups dried peas

2 carrots, chopped (I vary the amount of carrots/celery based on what is in my veggie drawer!)

1 large onion, chopped

2 celery ribs, chopped

2 quarts of vegetable broth (or can use bullion cubes and water)

2 tablespoons dried parsley

1 Tbsp minced garlic

salt and pepper to taste

1. Add all ingredients to large pot.

2. Bring to a boil. Let boil for about 20 minutes, then reduce heat to simmer.

3. Once everything is soft, puree with hand blender or blender. This is the best part because all those carrots, onions and celery are now "invisible" to the kiddos!

4. Add water as necessary to thin the soup.

5. Reheat and add salt and pepper to taste. I throw in a few broken up pieces of bacon for flavor.

Great served with freshly grated Parmesan cheese or goldfish crackers for the kiddos! :-)

Okay, so this is the marathon post and I need to finish it so Kera and I can make a quick run to the grocery store before Lindsay's bus drops her off, but I wanted to include a picture of the absolutely gorgeous flowers and vase Erik got me for our anniversary. I love it and the cool thing is, because the roses weren't open all the way when he got it, its lasted this long, our anniversary was the 2nd and now its the 16th! It still looks great. Okay, I'm off ot the store!