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Wednesday, November 27, 2013

"Thanksgiving" 2013

Maple-Orange Cranberry Sauce


     We celebrated Thanksgiving this past Sunday with my husband's side of the family.  We started the day doing the Lincolnwood Turkey Trot.  My husband and I did the 10K along with our daughter while our son and daughter-in-law did the 5K.  Our other son came to cheer us on while our son-in-law stayed home with our grandson who had a croupy cough.

Green Beans Gremolata


     It was a cold morning, about 12-15 degrees but sunny and little wind.  My husband paced our daughter-in-law for the first half of her run while I paced our daughter who hasn't raced or even run much since a half-marathon in April 2012.  With pregnancy, bedrest and some postpartum surgery she hasn't been able to do much running.  We wound up doing it in 1:04:40 which wasn't bad all things considered.  My husband came in just over an hour.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Carrots

     
     Then it was on to I-Hop for breakfast.  They were all out of hot chocolate so afterwards we stopped at Starbucks for some hot chocolate.  How can you not have hot chocolate?

Cornbread Dressing



     The home for showers and getting ready for company.  I had cooked all day before so it was mostly final cooking and making biscuits.  I had put a couple of pork roasts in the crockpot with apple juice, onions, cinnamon and basil before heading out to the race.  They smelled so good when we walked in.

Buttermilk Biscuits


     My son and his wife picked up my mom from her new place in Palatine.  Our son-in-law came with our grandson.  My sisters-in-law came, one with her hubby and the other with her daughter (her hubby and son had to work).  My son's mother-in-law also came.  We had 14 for dinner.

Apple Crostata



     We had the pork roasts with roasted sweet potatoes and carrotscornbread dressinggreen beans gremolatamaple-orange cranberry salad, and buttermilk biscuits.  It was all delicious except the biscuits didn't raise and were not all that tasty.  Probably won't make them again.  The sisters-in-law provided the salad and wine.

Cinnamon Swirl Sweet Potato Cheesecake


     For dessert we had apple crostata and cinnamon swirl sweet potato cheesecake.  The cheesecake didn't quite turn out as swirled but it was delicious!

     Very thankful for a wonderful family.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

November Kids Sewing

Nonie and her notions bag


     The kids have been busy this month. In Monday's class, Nonie finished a notions bag and started on some polka dot pajama pants.  Kate finished her blue floral peasant blouse while her sister Christine finished her plaid pajama pants.  Christine took the time to lay out the pattern to match the plaid and then spent lots of time pinning.  They turned out great.

Kate and her peasant blouse
Christine and her beautifully matched plaid pajama pants


     In Tuesday's class, Julia is working on a sparkly gray tank top.  Hayley almost finished her round neck blouse, just needs the ribbon and label.  Najiyah finished her first two sewing projects, a sewing bag and a belt, and started cutting out some plaid pajama pants.  I helped her with the layout so she also can match her plaid.  Greta is nearly done with her white ribbed tank top.

Najiyah and her sewing bag and belt


     In Wednesday's class Lindsey finished her first two sewing projects, the bag and belt while Natalie is almost done with her bag.  Ellen finished her brown sparkly sport shirt while Cara is working on the same shirt but with long sleeves in a beautiful turquoise knit.

Lyndsey and her dewing bag and belt
Ellen and her sport shirt


     In Thursday's class Nick finished a pair of sweatpants and Bella is working on her musical notes peasant blouse.  Aviva is working on a pair of polka dot pajama pants while Maddie is starting on some fun penguin pajama pants.

Nick and his sweatpants




     We have a few more classes before we take a break in December.  I am going to be traveling to Charlotte NC to take a week of classes myself.  I love teaching and learning.


Maddie so excited with her bag and belt


Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Race Season



     Our race season is finally over.  Our last big race was the Miami Man Half Iron Duathlon.  The race consisted of a 1 mile run followed by a 56 mile bike and a 13.1 mile run.  We spent many weekends biking and running including doing our first century bike ride.

     We chose to fly to Miami so that meant we had to ship our bikes.  Our local bike shop M&M Cyclery where we bought our bikes packed them up and shipped them to a shop in Florida for us.  A few days before the race there was only one bike confirmed as delivered to the shop. After several phone calls with the shop and FedEx it was found that the bike was delivered but the driver forgot to get a signature.

     Two days before the race we headed to the bike shop and test drove our reassembled bikes.  Only one minor adjustment needed to be done to my bike.  On the day before the race we headed to the expo and retrieved our bikes from the dealer there.  We got them set up in transition and covered the chains because rain was expected.

     The morning of the race we had hard rain several times during our drive to the race start.  Fortunately it let up by the time we got there.  We got everything set up in transition and then did our warm-up.  Then it was finally race time.  We watched a few waves of the swimmers start and then it was our turn.  The first mile went well, my husband and I ran together.  Took me a bit of time in transition, I was nervous to go out on the bike.  It was drizzling off and on at this time and the roads were still wet.

     I started a little slow just to get a feel for how the bike was going to handle the wet conditions.  I was glad we had driven the course the day before so I had some idea as what to expect.  The road was pretty smooth and very little elevation change.  The rain stopped but then the wind started to pick up and we had a head wind for the last leg back to transition.  That was a challenge.

     By the time the run started it was hot and sunny.  I started running the first loop but by 4 miles I was run/walking.  The second loop I just fast walked the whole way even passing some people that were running.

     My husband beat me and took first in his age group.  I took second in my age group.  Except for some sunburn and raw spots I am feeling pretty good.  I really have to thank everyone at TFP, The Fitness Pursuit, for all their support but especially Lauri Robinson out trainer.

     It was a long training season but all in all I think it went well and we are both thinking of doing more.  Just have to figure out how it will work out with the family.  I don't want to spend too much time away for the kids and grandson.