Cheap Tricks: Runner's Edition

I'm getting ready to run my 3rd half marathon this Spring.  If you're a distance runner- I would love to hear about your crazy tricks!  Here are a few of mine...

1.  Nasal Decongestant:  When I lived in MN, I ran in cold weather quite often.  The cold often caused my nasal passage to get blocked.  On a few scary occasions, when I was miles from a water source, I ate some snow out of the ditch to clear my throat.  This works.  What works even better is two nasal decongestant tablets prior to a long run.  I recommend this for any long distance you plan to run in chilly weather.
2.  Peanuts, Popcorn:  These aren't just for baseball spectators.  Salty snacks the night before a long run will keep you hydrated the next day.  I picked this tip up from a lady I used to work with.  She, her husband, and her son have done dozens of marathons.  Anyone that has ever run a long distance knows the amount of sodium your body loses during a long run.  I can see it and brush it off my arms and my face.  If you think is loopy talk, you can read more about this here:  http://www.runtheplanet.com/trainingracing/nutrition/salt.asp
3.  Forgo the "out and back" route by using public transportation:  I have to admit, a lot of my running routes have been out and back type of patterns.  The trouble with these is the temptation to give up before you really get "out".  To avoid this "give up" option, make a plan to run somewhere and then take the bus home.  I find it easier to follow through when you're not constantly tempted to alter the route.  I have to caution you against using this trick without checking the weather though:  I got really cold and wet on one occasion.
4.Vasaline:  To avoid "skin burns" or discomfort due to friction:  Vasaline does the trick.  I put this on the inside of my arms above my elbows.
5. Tunes:  Music will keep you moving and make your run more fun.  It's funny when I think back to running with a personal CD player not too many years ago.  I had to replace the batteries every time I went to the gym.  God bless Steve Jobs and the IPod- it changed my life.  I get new music all the time and I'll listen to whatever I just bought on repeat until I start to hate it a little.  If you're looking for some good music, I recommend downloading Girl Talk "Feed the Animals" and "All Day" albums. These are free albums that are made up of all kinds of songs that are mixed together.  Think The Jackson 5., playing on top of a Black Eyed Peas song, with a guitar riff transition from the Grateful Dead.  It's a brilliant hodge podge and the best running music I have ever had. 
6. Training Plans:  Hal Higdon is where it's at.  Everyone I know that runs uses his training plans.  You can find Hal here:  http://www.halhigdon.com/
7.  Caffeine:  I hate running in the morning.  But, road races mostly take place during this time. When I drag myself out of bed for these, I drink something with caffeine + cereal.  I always end up going back to bed after races- which is annoying to me, but anyway...
8.   Running buddy:  I used to think I wasn't a chatty runner:  but it turns out, I am, as long as the other person is too.  I can't maintain a constant stream of talking.. but taking turns telling stories makes a run go by pretty quick.
9.  Roadblocks:  For non-Runners or Beginners:  I used to think I hated running... turns out I hate sprinting.  Some people confuse the two.  If you feel like you want to die while you're running, you need to take it down a notch and work your way up to something quicker.  For Beginners/Intermediate:  Never run less than 2 miles.  The first two miles is always the hardest.  You need to tough it out to mile 3.  At this point, enough time has passed that you body has both warmed up and muscles have naturally numbed themselves.  Enjoy the buzz.
10.  Mind- Body Connection: Your mind comes up with amazing thoughts and novel ideas while you're running.   When you're running, you have nothing better to do but to figure out your life.  Realizing this will make running your addition, but also your therapy.

Anyone else have a crazy running trick? 

Sweet December

Hello all!  I must say it's been a while!  Life has been pretty crazy for the past month or so! I had a birthday- 27th ride around the sun!  The same week we packed up our apartment and then I headed to a conference at the Lake of the Ozarks Wed-Fri.  I got back to town on Friday afternoon just in time to close on our new house!  The next day we moved (in the rain).  Thank you to Marty, Candice, Mike, and Tiffany- you guys were such a big help!  We dove right into unpacking and doing house projects.  I painted our bedroom that first night.  I was so excited- I was painting until 1 in the morning!  The next work week was crazy because the semester was wrapping up.  But we got more work done on the house each night.  We ordered pretty much all of our furniture on-line- so we came home almost every day to huge packages on the front porch. Between couches and Christmas cards- I feel as if the mail fairies have truly blessed us recently.  Next we headed down to South Carolina to spend Christmas with Joe's family.  We had a great time and we even got an unexpected white Christmas.  Now were back in Rolla and things are slowing down just a bit.  My family was planning to come down this past weekend, but they didn't make it due to the blizzards up North.  I'm sure something else will pan out for us soon though! Now for a list of everything we've accomplished so far and some pictures!

1.Painted the bedroom- Valspar "Bear Claw" (Terracotta Orange)
2.Put shelf paper in the antique bedroom furniture I refinished this past fall
3.Painted the basement Valspar  "Porcelain Shale" (Charcoal Gray)
4.Insulated the attic
5.Created electric outlets in the basement (so we could hang the tv on the wall without all the cords showing)
6.Installed a porch light- there wasn't one before- just naked light bulbs, hanging out
7.Installed a new kitchen faucet- our old one was was installed backwards and it drove us crazy. We figured if we were going to reinstall something, it might as well be something we liked.
8.Made, painted, installed custom shelving in the basement for all the stereo/video game stuff
9.Refinished a coffee table for the basement (we brought this back inside a LITTLE too soon- it has little kitty footprints on it now- opps.  I think it adds character.  But- maybe we'll fix it in the Spring)
10.Painted the living room Valspar Gourd.  The shade was a lot darker than I thought it would be. I was not happy. So- my smart husband asked the Google gods "how to lighten paint" and I ended up following their advice:)   More about that later.
11Textured the ceiling in the basement and painted it white.
12.Cleaned.  A lot. The last owners had 3 dogs, one of which shed a lot of black hair. All over the place.

I think that's it. A home is a lot of work!  But- we love working- ergo, so far, so wonderful!

Alrighty- what to do when you paint your walls and you're not happy... Here's my before shot. I wanted gold... it seems I made a stop over at orange juice...

My remedy involved a trip to Lowe's.  I am starting to feel like some sort of regular in that store- they're getting to know me there!  Anyway... I purchased a can of interior faux finish... same stuff I used for the bedroom set redo:

This time I had it tinted "Gypsy Gold".  This color is about 10 shades lighter that my base coat "Gourd".  I also got a special paint brush that is used for Tuscan faux finishing.  You can find these by all the faux finish pamphlets at Lowes. Next, I taped off all the trim just as if I was going to repaint the room.  Then, the fun part, painting random X's all over the walls, working side to side, overlapping as I went.   When each wall was complete, I went back and blended the X's with a wet flour sack dish towel.  The results...

Much better!  It was a good mistake to make because I'm really happy with how it all turned out.

Alrighty- pictures of one other thing I don't think anyone has seen in our house...

There's a little workshop.  Which is great for this handy man...

I think he looks pretty happy:)

Got a blog? Get free cards!

Shutterfly is offering bloggers 50 free 5X7 greeting cards this Christmas.  Check out the offer here.  We used Shutterfly for our cards last year and I was really happy with how they turned out! In fact, they looked like this !

Here are a few new Christmas Card designs that I think are pretty cute:
Most Wonderful Time of the Year
It's a Wonderful Life
Oh Holy Night

Shutterfly also offers other cute personalized goods such as

• wall calendars 
• personalized mugs 
• valentines cards

Head on over to Shutterfly to check it all out!

Joe and I chose Shutterfly last year because I wanted a photo card and Joe wanted a card that would fold like the traditional style card. They offered us a happy compromise. I don't think we'll start doing a Christmas letter...yet! I look forward to writing one of those someday though! With all the ages of our children and what they have been up to- that will be so fun.

It's funny to think how much has changed since we sent our our last card! We both have new jobs, we found Stella, we've moved once, and now we're moving again into our first house!

Better After!

Since we just bought a house we are working on collecting some furniture.  Joe and I have spent the last 8-9 years living in furnished apartments and dorm rooms so all we have we really have is a  plethora of book shelves, a mattress, and a box spring.  We have a ways to go.  This is why, I decided to peruse, Rollanet!  It turns out our fellow Rollaonians have boycotted Craig's List... in favor of Rolla Net:.  I wish I would have realized this about a year ago... I have spent a fair amount of time searching Craig's List in vain for anything on sale within a hundred miles of Rolla. Go figure- I was recently clued in on Rolla's preferred on-line classifieds server, so on we go... I purchased the following bedroom set... there are 5 pieces total.  Apparently I didn't get a before picture of all the pieces...

Nice and sturdy- but just a little too 1985 for my taste!  Using the process described here:  Here's what I did to amend this...

Step One:  Remove the hardware:

Step 2:  Apply 2 coats of primer.  I used Kilz Odorless Spray Primer.  This dries in about one hour.

Step 3:  Apply 3 coats of paint.  I used Valspar Interior Exterior Gloss in Antique White.  This dries in about 20 minutes.

Step 3:  Using a paint brush, apply a thin coat of Valspar Interior Faux Finish.  This finish needs to be tinted when you buy it.   I had it tinted "New Black" at Lowe's.  The finish is painted on with a paint brush and then wiped off with a damp cloth.   This finish makes all the etching in this set pop out. 

Step 4:  I spray painted the hardware an oil rubbed bronze. Here's how it all panned out... I don't have an after picture of mirror that goes on top of the long dresser.  It's done... it's just currently crammed away in the townhouse! 

Whew!  I'm pretty happy with it!  However, I don't think I will ever feel the need to spray paint anything ever again...  If you're interested in trying this method I recommend a trip to this blog for more instructions and inspiration:  All Things Thrifty by Brooke. 

New Digs

We bought a house last week!  After looking at on-line real estate postings for the past year, we started actually looking at places about 3 months ago.  We weren't overly serious about house hunting, mostly just attending random open houses.  Then last week, we fell in love with one particular listing and so we contacted the realtor and set up a private showing.  Joe knew right away that we would buy it... I played the role of the patient one, insisting that we look at one more comparable property, just to be sure.  Lucky for Joe, my "comparable property" was really creepy inside! Creepy attic, creepy basement, creepy used to be kitchen, now just a weird room with old cupboards- lol.  So, we confidently went ahead and  put in an offer on first house  the next day during our lunch hour.  It was accepted a few hours later.  I love it because it had wood floors, a white kitchen, and cute red doors- which are good luck!  Oh yes- fun cultural fact- people in Asia paint their doors red right before Asian New Year in hopes of good luck and good tidings in the coming year  Joe liked the basement and the big backyard.  I think we both like the fact it's charming and unique feel, the size, and the price.  Here are some pictures... PS- this is not our stuff!

The pictures don't show everything.  There are 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a big laundry room, and a bunch of sheds outside.

The current owner is an artist that  runs a business out of the basement-    http://hattierex.com/ It looks like she has done pretty well- her stuff has been featured in a few different magazines.  She did some cute artsy stuff in the house too- there is a distressed door in the master bedroom and if you look closely at  the kitchen curtains- they are hanging from bent forks and spoons.  There is a secret thing in the house too!  What is it?  I'm not telling- you'll have to come visit us after we close if you want to find out- hehehe:)  December 10th- we'll be good to go! 

Stay tuned for... a before and after of our new bedroom set I refinished last weekend! 

Oh my, Apple Pie!

Well- it's been a long day!  I wasn't feeling too good today... this past Friday evening I went into Urgent Care and walked out with 10 days of anitbiotics.  What do I have?  I don't know- not ear infection like I thought.  The  nurse practioner said she "did not trust my throat" followed by a long monologue on how she is dissatisfied with our nation's outdated higher education requirements.  Meanwhile- she struggled with the lab computer- eventrally she explained that she had been confusing the backspace with the enter key.  And out I walkd with amoxycillin sans throat swab or true diagnosis.  Weird. Also weird- not being able to hear much of anything because my my ears are all whaked out.  Humph:(


But anyway- I'll survive!  Here's what's cooking this last week:

Betty Crocker Scrumptious Apple Pie

Crust
2 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons shortening
4 to 6 tablespoons cold water


Filling
1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 cups thinly sliced peeled tart apples (8 medium)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine


In medium bowl, mix 2 cups flour and 1 teaspoon salt. Cut in shortening, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until particles are size of small peas. Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost cleans side of bowl (1 to 2 teaspoons more water can be added if necessary).


Gather pastry into a ball. Divide in half; shape into 2 flattened rounds on lightly floured surface. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate about 45 minutes or until dough is firm and cold, yet pliable. This allows the shortening to become slightly firm, which helps make the baked pastry more flaky. If refrigerated longer, let pastry soften slightly before rolling.


Heat oven to 425°F. With floured rolling pin, roll one pastry round into round 2 inches larger than upside-down 9-inch glass pie plate. Fold pastry into fourths; place in pie plate. Unfold and ease into plate, pressing firmly against bottom and side.


In large bowl, mix sugar, 1/4 cup flour, the cinnamon, nutmeg and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Stir in apples until well mixed. Spoon into pastry-lined pie plate. Cut butter into small pieces; sprinkle over filling. Trim overhanging edge of pastry 1/2 inch from rim of plate.


Roll other round of pastry into 10-inch round. Fold into fourths and cut slits so steam can escape. Unfold top pastry over filling; trim overhanging edge 1 inch from rim of plate. Fold and roll top edge under lower edge, pressing on rim to seal; flute as desired. Cover edge with 2- to 3-inch strip of foil to prevent excessive browning.


Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust, removing foil for last 15 minutes of baking. Serve warm if desired.

Did I make my own pie crust?  Heck no, the world gives us these things in the grocery store.  However, I did use these to cut cute little leaf shapes into my pie:

They were a gift from Joe for... our anniversary maybe?  I think that was it- they have these shapes and more fun designs at Williams Sonoma. 

What else is new? Well... I am headed back to school for my Doctorate in Higher Ed Leadership.  Right now I am studying for the GRE (again- did you know your scores expire?) and pulling together all of my application materials.  The first two years will mean traveling for class on Wednesdays nights and taking the whole month of June off for class.  But- by age 30, I'll be done- woot!  I'm excited- I love to learn, so why not get back on the proverbial horse and get back to school?  But, I'm anxious as well- 2 years is a long time to devote all your vacation to educational pursuits. But, I think it will be a good invenstment and a valuable experience. So, here goes nothing- a deep breath and a leap. 

Harvest Baking and Good Read

It's officially autumn!  I can't say it really feels like it yet in Missouri, but that doesn't stop me from getting into the spirit of things with a little pumpkin baking!  Here are are a few recipes I tried this afternoon...

Pumpkin Nutella Bread
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/3 cup water
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon hazelnut extract
8 tablespoons Nutella (2 tablespoons per mini loaf)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 4 mini loaf pans with cooking spray. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, water, pumpkin, eggs, and extracts. Whisk until smooth and combined.

4. Slowly stir in the flour mixture. Mix until ingredients are combined.

5. Pour the batter into the mini loaf pans, making sure batter is evenly divided. Drop 2 heaping tablespoons of Nutella onto each loaf pan. Swirl the Nutella into the pumpkin batter with a knife. Place the loaf pans onto a baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

6. Place the loaf pans on a wire rack. Cool for 15 minutes in the pan and then carefully remove the loaves. Cool completely before slicing.

*Note-You can make regular size loaves. This recipe should make 2 8×4 loaves. Adjust baking time to about 60 minutes.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oi
l 2 eggs
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
 
1.Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners.

2.Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt.. Add wet mixture and stir in chocolate chips.

3.Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.
 
And if you're wondering- yes I staged that picture with the nutella and the apple candle- lol.  What else is new around here... I am reading this-

Those of you who know me realize that I am currently not a Republican and probably never will be.  So why read a book by a Republican politician's daughter?  I saw her interviewed on a late night talk show and was intrigued by her perspective.  This book gives me a little hope for the future of the GOP and my fellow twenty-somethings.  Maybe the Millennial wave of the conservative right will put the elitist and exclusive characteristics of the Republican party to bed for good.  And maybe women in their 20's will progressively refrain from yielding to the cultural insinuation that it's best to be seen or heard.  Cheers to a lady with a lot good things to say.