Black Friday~ YES!!!

This is a truly wonderful day for me. I manage to get most of my shopping done. I start at 6:30

and I'm done by 11:00! Then a quick lunch on the go and home by 12! What a great day:)

Margey, Beth, & I got to the mall at 7 and were home by twelve eating left over pumpkin pie. Then off for a nap while the boys were still out playing golf. Around 3:30 we headed for the Great News Cooking Store for a few last minute items. I am pretty much done with the shopping. How about you?

The After Turkey Dinner Party

Now we get down to the really good stuff...game playing! We played the card game "Hand and Foot" with Jay, Heidi, Tom, Margey, Katie, & Dan. Beth, Joey and Cayce played on their computers. Family time is so fun. Tonight (Friday) we are going to play a different game called Left, Center, Right. Hmm...sounds like a game where you have to keep track of things.

Of course we ate pumpkin and apple pies while playing. Dan and Heidi were the card playing winners. Revenge tonight!

Thought you would enjoy some adoration pictures of Danny, who is now two, and his "daddy" Jay. This doggie is just too cute. He didn't beg at all...can't say that about Auggie

Our Family Gives Thanks

Did you ever think we could feed this many folks around our little table? Yes, I was there, but of course someone has to be in charge of all the lovely photos you see.

Before Turkey Nap

This will be short and sweet! The men napped before the meal. This includes the old man "Auggie" who at 14 years old needs lots of extra sleep.

The girls slaved around the stove. Tom did manage to stay awake long enough to check on the turkey. He did a mighty fine job too!!!

Thanksgiving is a very special time for our family!

"Proof of Run"

This post is really for my trainer, Brandon. Yes, Brandon, I really did participate in this race. My time was 58 minutes because I walked it...I walked fast too, but there were so many people it was hard to go as fast as I wanted in some sections. So here is the mile one marker.

And here is mile two. So far we are on track for 18 minute miles. The ball of my left foot is now hurting and I am getting sweaty. Time to get rid of this long sleeve Turkey Trot official shirt.

Finally we go to the 3 mile sign and I was ready for this puppy to be done. The cool thing is that as you head for the last .2 miles you

are running in over the bridge into Balboa Park. It is rather exhilarating. Not exciting enough to make me run, but it was pretty cool. Now this is my 6th 5K. Not bad for an old couch potato.

So here it is Brandon. I did it and even saw 4 ladies that were in the run club with Michelle!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Part III: The Turkey Trot

Hurray! It is 6:30 a.m. an officially time to start Thanksgiving. Joey has just arrived and we are all getting ready to drive to Balboa Park for the Fr. Joe's Turkey Trot. This event is the main fund raiser for the charity's feed and house the homeless programs. We piled into 2 cars and the 6 of us headed out by 7. As you can see here, we are putting on our official "bibs" and shoe timing chips. Thank heavens Jay was along to help the inexperienced (Joey and Heidi) and elderly (Mom and Dad).

Heidi and I walked the trail rather than running because:

• Our feet hurt
• Too many people to maneuver through
• Too many strollers and running bobs
• It was sunny and hot (it rained last year)
• We were taking "proof of walk" pictures
• We talked to people we knew along the way
• We talked to random people along the way

One of the high points was that I got to have a picture with Father Joe himself! Now how cool is that :) Jay and Dan went to the beer garden and they said it was great! Joey chatted with a friend after the run, but found a shady spot to wait and Heidi and I became designated drivers. Get this---4 beers by 9:30 a.m.!

Dan broke his record and ran the race in under 30 minutes and Jay was a bit faster. Jay was actually a bit slow because he injured his MCL in his Ultra Marathon Race last weekend. Joey came in shortly after and it took Heidi and I substantially longer. Beth was kind enough to hold all the "crapita" like jackets,

water bottles, cameras etc. while we trotted.

This year they expect 7,500 folks~that was 1,000 more than last year. HOWEVER, they had just over 9,000! That does not include all the helpers it takes to put on an event like this. It was so well run and there were no causalities, dogs were well behaved, and everyone was happy to be supporting a great cause.

The Princess and the Porta Potty

At every racing event there are those lovely porta-potties that smell oh so fragrant. Fr. Joe's Turkey Trot is no exception. There were two humongous sections for these wonderful tinkle houses with each section having about 45 toilets. That means about 100 of these! Not bad since they announced that this year there were 9,000 racers.

Ever wonder how porta-potties get to an event and what they do with them after it's over?

But you know the game plan: be one of the first to use them if you have to and have hand sanitizer in your pocket!

A princess uses these ONLY in the event of an emergency.

It's almost time to run...better make sure there won't be a problem on the 5K!

Turkey Day Prep Part II

Well, shopping was done and it was time to tackle some of the cooking so that all of Thursday is not spent cooking!

Beth was tasked with baking pumpkin pie. She whipped out five HOMEMADE crusts in nothing flat and then made the filling. She is amazing. I thought Mrs. Smith's frozen would have done okay, but apparently not :). Don't they look awesome!

Now we know Brian will be bummed because he is not getting any of this pie, but perhaps there will be a repeat when Christmas comes. Heidi is bringing an apple pie for those who enjoy fruit pie--That is definitely Dan and I know I love it too!

While Beth worked diligently on the pies, I took to the task of:

• Sage Dressing (Dad's family recipe)- into a crock pot-but drying out the bread took 2 days.
• Cranberry Chutney (another of Dad's recipes)- thank heaven's we now have food processors
• Mashed Potatoes (not your ordinary potatoes: cream cheese, sour cream, whipping cream, butter, scallions, and lots of shaved Parmesan cheese) Cholesterol Hell!
• Gravy from the turkey stock I made yesterday
• Two sausage, onion and spinach pies (kind like a double-crusted quiche and DEFINITELY frozen pie shells) for after the Thanksgiving Day 5K-better known as the Turkey Trot to benefit Father Joe Carroll's Charity.

STILL TO DO TONIGHT: prepare fruit salad and clean the bathrooms before the guests come. Guess I should pick up all the dog toys that Danny and Auggie have strewn around too.

My hands are killing me from so much dish washing. We filled 3 trash bags before the night was over. I filled 3 bags yesterday with other prep work. Tomorrow will be more. I should stop whining about clean-up~I am so blessed to have my family here in San Diego to share this wonderful holiday!

Parts III and IV tomorrow!

Prep Time for Turkey Day Part I

It is Wednesday and my sister Beth and I are up and ready to start the preparations for the big event tomorrow. All the family will be here except Emma who is in Ohio at school and Brian and Patience who are in Chicago with her family. We have a new member joining us and that is a young woman named Heidi who is Jay's girlfriend. Can you believe it, she and Jay were born 11 days apart? Jay is the younger of the two and Jay reminds her he is dating a younger woman...I am not sure how enthralled she is with the comment.

To begin the day Beth and I were out the door by 8:30 a.m. and headed for the YMCA for our workout session with Brandon, the trainer. After a quick warm-up on the treadmill, I went to do some ab work...ugh, I so dread that. Anyway, as we were training I got the bright ideas to mix-up the workout and asked if we could play basketball instead of the usual cardio and weight routine.

Now Brandon is a HUGE basketball fan and was a player in high school and college, so of course he was up for it. We went and got Beth off the treadmill and the 3 of us went to the courts.

We learned some shooting drills, a little dribbling, some passing (three kinds), and how to shoot using our legs like springs. It was fun! He played some silly game called knock-out. We were out of breath and had a great workout.

When we left we felt ready to tackle the turkey-day prep work! Now I was somewhat hesitant to go back to Vons for yet another trip in sweaty nasty workout attire, but we did it anyway. After walking the produce aisle a few minutes Beth laughed and said that all the people in the store either just came from the gym or they all just wear workout clothes for the heck of it.

Hmm...maybe they were working off the "intended" calories of tomorrow.

Not So Retired

This week has been very hectic with my support role in bringing along new schools to the K-2 GATE Nurturing Program. I have discovered a few things about myself...
I am used to having my time budgeted for me. School hours are very regimented. Even the after school meetings are structured. Curriculum is determined by state standards and everything is about test scores! I do NOT miss that.

Upon retirement, I have lots of unstructured time, but have lots of work to be done if I am to be a consultant that is actually helpful to others. I was far more organized while I was teaching than I am now. What is wrong with this picture? I was always known for my organizational abilities. I have to admit that a lot of that drive is dwindling away.

My Midwest vacation sort of cured that. I realized that:
I like slowing down.
I like reading whenever I like.
I like napping in the middle of the day.
I like going to the Y when all the other people are not there.
I like simmering soup all day long.
I like to say, "Well, not today, maybe tomorrow."
I like playing with Danny and Auggie.
I like having time to write and create.
I like having time to help out at church.
I like having time to help other teachers
I like sightseeing and traveling!
I like time with family.

I guess retirement isn't all that bad:)