We Have Snow

It started snowing Sunday night...and did not stop until Monday night. Mark and made it to work Monday, my office sent us home early, so we headed up to snuggle up, drink champagne, eat meatballs, and watch MNF. I was so glad the power didn't go out!!!

We again made it in Tuesday, but were sent home early before the afternoon freeze set in. The roads were slick today, but not too bad.

I actually really like the snow and I know that even if I don't think driving in it is smart Mark has the truck and we can pretty much get wherever we need to.

No more snow today, just cold, REALLY, REALLY COLD!!! Keeping the heat turned up and staying inside.

Good Football Weekend

It was a good weekend in general but made so much better when my teams win! ND pulled out a win and the Steelers rocked the Raiders!

Mark and Bob took Grace hunting Saturday so I spent the day cleaning up the house, making guacamole, and getting the crock pot meal for Sunday ready so I could just turn it on Sunday morning, and of course watching football! I headed over to Bob and Michelle's so Michelle and I could watch the ND game together and I made tacos for us all once the boys got back. BTW tacos are so much better with homemade guacamole!!!

ND has had so many injuries this year that I sort of gave up hope that they would have many wins, but they have pulled together as a team and looked pretty good. The only game that didn't go how we wanted was the Mississippi State game, but they put up a good fight against Arkansas and lost in OT.

Sunday we watched the Steelers vs Raiders at Nolan and Michelle's house. Thankfully they are pretty mellow people for being Raiders fans and took the loss pretty well. So many interesting calls in that game...I will leave it at that.

Looks like I have two FFB wins this week as well!

Thursday Night Football

I love it that I can watch football Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday! Well, I could always watch college ball on Thursday, but now I can pick between college or NFL depending on who is playing. Tonight I want to watch both, so will be flipping back and forth. Really I want to watch the Bears as Knox is one of my fantasy WR, but I have enough friends that are UW fans that I feel compelled to pay attention to that game as well.

I can't wait to go home, put on my pj's and chill on the couch watching football. Dinner is already done (gotta love the crock pot!) so aside from a few dishes I can totally relax tonight!!!

I love Thursday nights!

No Power

I love a good storm! It is the perfect excuse to put flannel pj’s on, drink tea or better yet hot spiced wine, and curl up on the couch with a good book/movie/or sporting event. But last night was CRAZY!

To start with I was not happy that the power flicked on and off during MNF! Not that there was any doubt as to the outcome of the game after the first 6 minutes, but don’t mess with MNF!

Given that the power was flickering on and off I should have known to get the candles out before the power went out for good, but I didn’t. And, do we have a single flashlight in the house? Um no, ok yes one little one, but really for as much as we camp you would think we would have a few in the house. I seriously could have used a camping lantern last night, but at least with EVERY candle it the house lit we have ambiance and competing smells of cinnamon, sugar cookies, and apple pie with a little basil cucumber thrown in…all a bit sickening after a while!

The one sound I really didn’t want to hear…the transformer blowing up! We know that means we may be without power for a few days the way things go in Lakewood. (Last time it blew we were out for 3 days I think).

Then the bombardment on the house really started...branches crashing into the roof, windows and deck. It literally sounded like we were under attack. Mark and I looked at each other a few times thinking this was the branch that would knock a hole in the roof. The yard (and pretty much all of Lakewood for that matter) looks like a war zone! It is going to take a while to clean it all up, but thankfully we survived with not trees coming down on the house and no significant damage…just a few little things to clean up/fix.

Oh to be a kid again when a storm meant the power going out and having the entire dark house to play hide and go seek in!

Wine of the Month

Mark and I joined the Sunset wine club and received our first two bottles of wine for the month. What I love about this wine club is that they send a recipe to go with each bottle, and being that I LOVE to cook I was so excited to get wine and new recipes to try!

Both bottles of wine were amazingly good! The first one we tried was the red we were sent:
Soquel Vineyards
04 Pyramid Meritage
One of the most flavorful wines I have ever had. It was earthy and strong with really bold flavor.

The recipe that goes with the Meritage was a South American Flank Steak and it was great!! The wine and the steak were PERFECT together! (I will share the recipe in a later post).

The second bottle was a Chardonnay. Normally I don't like Chardonnay, so I kind of put off opening this bottle and giving it a try, but once we opened it was gone in no time. We both loved it.
Kearney 07 Monterey County Chardonnay
It had a strong butter taste and was so smooth it felt like silk on my tongue. I was not really all that interested in the recipe that went with it so we had the wine alone without food.

I can't wait to see what wine we get next!

Never Say Never

One of my personal philosophies in life is not use terms like Never or Always. Very few things in life are absolute and life throws stuff at you that sometimes results in decisions or actions that you never thought you would make or do.

One of the few things I still say I will never do is become a runner. I HATE running!

Well I may have to eat those words. Michelle and I have signed up for a 5K race in January. Now I know that one little 5K does not a runner make, but still running a 5K, or any race for that matter, is something I never ever thought I would do or have wanted to do until now.

So, why am I doing it? Well it is a fundraiser for the scholarship fund in Tina Griswold's name, she is one of the fallen Lakewood officers. The race is taking place in Ft. Steilacoom park, which is pretty much my back-yard. And, Tina responded to one of our calls when a driver crashed through our fence. She was nice, helpful and followed up with us to make sure we received the info/support we needed to get our fence fixed. Maybe most important of all is that Michelle is supportive and doing the race with me. It will make a huge difference having someone to train with and run the race with.

Combine that with the fact that my 6 and 8 year old nieces have completed 5K's and I could not think of a reason, other than the fact that I hate to run, not to do it. Michelle and I will start training on Saturday mornings so that we can be prepared and actually try to enjoy our run on the 29th. My #1 concern is shin splints. I can run for 2 minutes or 2 hours and get shin splints every time, but I am determined to do this and hope that with the running involved in playing dodgeball/kickball/and softball (even though I didn't play I ran my but off the last few practices helping the team practice fielding) my body will respond a bit better to running than it has in the past.

It is kind of fun to have a goal to work towards. I'm really going to focus on my workouts so that my cardio and strength are where they need to be and am looking forward to knowing Michelle and I have a weekly date to spend time together doing something healthy and supporting our community at the same time.