Home Gym

I posted seventeen times in July!  I have not had a seventeen post month since January of 2013!  I know Bob and Lana were thrilled!  The rest of the free world could probably care less.

Let's see if we can keep this nice trend going where I relive the everyday, mundane happenings around here that my parents love to hear about!

Weekend big news...I pulled the trigger and got to work on the office purging, cleansing, purging project on Saturday morning.   I mentioned it was on my "To Do" list so I decided to get after it.

Purging was intense.  Dust was flying everywhere.  Papers were sorted, trashed, filed, organized.  Trash cans were filled. Three bookshelves were reduced to one. 

One, nice, tidy, organized bookshelf. 

Then what did I do with the new found space?  

Home gym, baby! 

The boys got me a great weight set, a tall mirror, a stability ball and a BOSU half ball for my birthday!  Exactly what I wanted and now I am set up!  I can do a solid weight work out with this equipment! 

We also rounded up all the random exercise equipment we have scattered throughout the house and garage and consolidated it on this side of my office.  Nice to have it all in one place. 

Of course, once got it set up we all had to try out all kinds of exercises.  Me and Chip were throwing a weighted ball back and forth and then we progressed to trying to bounce the ten pound weighted ball off the BOSU and catch it.  Not sure that is exercise, but it was a challenge.  Well, this old girl was on the big purple ball and I was heading backwards with heavy weighted ball overhead and no brakes in sight.  Legs flew up, my back crashed into the lizard cage, shoulder smashed into my desk.  Chip was howling with laughter.  I was cussing cause it HURT!   Why cry when you can cuss!  Not my most coordinated effort!  Dang it!  

I felt old until Harry also went off and over the ball and crashed into the sole bookcase remaining in the room and almost knocked the whole thing over.  We were wild.  Maybe we should have just padded the walls!  

I put the home gym to good use this morning after my run/walk!  BTW, we did a 28 minute run without stopping!  Woo Hoo!  I came home and did a great little circuit while I was warmed up and already sweaty.  It felt great and I was thrilled to have it done…AND I didn't fall off of anything!  YES!  

In other news….

• Had an amazing brunch with my girls Beth and Karen on Sunday morning.  Two solid hours of visiting and good food!  And a Bloody Mary self serve bar.  Loved it. 
• Chip went to a sleep over this weekend.  Him and his buds pulled an all-nighter…no sleep.  He was a zombie Saturday afternoon but had an absolute blast! 
• We went to a lawyer today with our last will and testament information.  Our Will is going to be drawn up officially and we will sign it in a few weeks.  That will be a relief to have that done and I will mark it off my 50 Things To Do Before I Am Fifty list!  Then we will go about trying not to die so the Will won't come into play! 

Hope you had a productive weekend and are off to a great start this Monday morning!
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Top Ten Tidbits

Quick Friday post because I am on a roll here!  July has been a banner month for blogging!

1.  Me and Chip are absolutely addicted to a show we found on Netflix called "Arrow".  So good. We have plowed through about 22 episodes in a week.  Can't wait until he wakes up so we can watch one before work!  Seriously good.

2.  I made an Eye of the Round last night with a weird cooking method that turned out a gorgeous hunk of meat.  My people love hunks of meat.  Oven preheated to 500 degrees.  Season the meat with salt and pepper, put it in a baking dish fat side up and throw it in the oven (no water, no foil).  Turn heat down to 475 degrees, cook for 7 minutes for each pound (mine was about 20 minutes) then turn off the oven and leave the roast for 2 1/2 hours (do not open the door at all!)  Let sit for 10 minutes.  Slice thin.   It was great!  Reminded me of the Eye of the Round my mom used to make on a big ol' rotisserie we had.  Yum.  I will make that again.

3.  Starting to make a list of things to pick up for Harry's return to college.  Summer went fast.  He is jazzed about getting back. I am excited for him and know he is going to have another great year.  We will definitely miss his sense of humor and big personality around here.  And those random hugs he lays on me every once in a while as we pass each other in the kitchen?  I will miss those most of all.

4.  Running (even slow) is way more mental than physical.  My mental game is weak.  I will however give myself a pat on the back for running three days this week without my partner (she is on vacation) in the early morning darkness.  That is a first!   I must be serious about this half marathon training!  I did three 25 minute runs with no stopping this week.  Except today, I did stop. Three times. About 15 seconds each time!  Just had to catch my breath.  I have got to toughen up!  Next week we run for 28 minutes without stopping!  Son of a….

5.  Hubby got a membership card from AARP in the mail this week.  He is turning fifty shortly.  That is just wrong on so many levels.

6.  I want to redo my office.  First, give it a thorough purging, cleaning, purging.   That is two purgings because there is all kinds of stuff in this office.  Then….New furniture. New lighting. New floors.  Seems like a big undertaking.   Need the Bob and Lana crew here to motivate and help me!

7.  Today is the last day of July.  Isn't that nuts?

8.  What could possibly be the reason that in the last two months the Excel program on my computer has started running as slow as molasses?  I mean, I can literally fold a load of laundry waiting on a spreadsheet to open.  All the other applications seem to be working the same.  Once I get the spreadsheet open it seems to work normally.  Saving data in excel also seems to have slowed down, but nothing as dramatic as the initial opening of a spreadsheet.  I open ALOT of spreadsheets.  I do not understand!

9. Hubby is getting his brain scanned today to make sure his aneurysm hasn't changed.  Prayers for good results would be appreciated.

10.  I just drank the tiny bit of balsamic vinegar left at the bottom of my bowl of cherry tomatoes.  Now I am choking.  Wouldn't that be a crazy way to die…choked on balsamic vinegar.  Still coughing.  Think I am going to make it.

That is it!  Ten random thoughts running through my head!  Hope your head has better stuff than that going on between the ears!

Happy Friday!  

25 Minutes

Is so damn long when you are jogging.

That is all.

Chicken Doritos Casserole

Tonight, I was stumped for what to make for dinner so I perused the pantry, did a quick spin through Pinterest and landed on a casserole made with chicken, Doritos and a special sauce.  My people don't like casseroles.  I knew before I started cooking that this would not be a welcome addition to the dinner rotation.  I charged on anyway, because sometimes I get sick of cooking the same dang things.  These boys like about five or six things and don't like to mess around with any variations or changes to the norm.  I braced myself as I started pulling stuff together and the boys wandered into the kitchen to see what was cooking.

Here it comes....

The looks I got when I described their upcoming dinner was making me laugh and it was just the beginning.  They were staring into the bowl of special sauce.  Lips were going up.  Eyebrows were raised.  To say the boys were NOT looking forward to trying this concoction would be the understatement of the year.

Harry actually texted his Dad and said "You might want to stop at McDonalds on your way home.  Mom's got some mess going into the oven."

I just kept being positive, telling them things like "I think this one might surprise you."  It is an old southern recipe (pretty sure that is a lie!) that is super popular around the world (big, fat culinary lie!)

I pulled it out of the oven and the skeptics gathered around and the comments started flying.  Chip's first comment was "This looks exactly like it is going to look when it comes back up."  Hubby said "Why did you use Doritos?  Wouldn't Tostitos have been better?"  The best of the night was Harry's description when he said "This looks like a bird flew into a Chuckie Cheese, ransacked the place and then barfed this mess into it's baby's mouth."

On that note, everyone dig in and enjoy their yummy dinner!

Who wouldn't want to cook for these chumps???

And, guess what?

{Big Dramatic Pause}

They liked it.

Turd blossoms.

Harry: "It's not bad.  Tastes kind of like tacos.  I can eat this."

Chip:  "Wait a minute.  Mom, this tastes pretty good."

Hubby:  "I like it. It seems like a good meal for cold weather.  I would eat this again."

So, in the end they did not hate it, they ate it and I may very well make that "old southern staple recipe that is popular all over the world" some other time.

Basketball Goal - Take Two

Remember a couple of years ago, when we built a basketball goal and we didn't realize we had mounted the backboard on the pole, while the pole was still sticking through the ladder?  No?  Well, get caught up on that debacle of a project by clicking here!  (Look at me getting all fancy with links and everything!)

So, we are not experts at the assembly of basketball goals.  We are however, experts at running over basketball goals.  Just ask Harry.  

He ran over the last one backing out of the driveway.  No damage to his truck, but that could not be said for the goal.  It cracked the base so the water leaked out and bent the rim into an oval.  The ball could still go through by it had to be a PERFECT shot!   We put a sandbag on top of it and it held up for a while, but then starting falling over every time the wind blew.  It was a menace in the cul de sac so we eventually dismantled and disposed of it.  

A new basketball goal has been in the plan, and we finally put that plan into action this weekend.  

Shaded driveway was the perfect spot to begin assembly.  Please note the new step ladder that Harry is standing on.  Please also note that no one is working except for Hubby. 

The instructions were read, re-read and read a final time.  It all came together great with only one do over.  That was pretty dang good!  Felt like it went much faster this time around. 

We did have lots of extra pieces and parts left over but that is to be expected, right?  Right?  

Cool new product we used to fill up the base.  It is called BaseGel and it is basically about three cups of a sand like mixture that you pour in the base and add water.  It absorbs water and basically turns to a ton of concrete.  Seriously, we could barely move the portable goal.  I am talking HEAVY!  Hopefully it will be sturdy for years of play.  Hopefully Harry won't run it over, because pretty sure this time it would not budge and there would be car damage! 

Finally, here is my Chip posing like a model with his come hither look?  Or is that a smoldering look?  Or is it a, "it is 105 degrees out here, even in the shade" look?  I think it is the last one.  Definitely the last one.  

Hot days in Texas, but basketballs are already being bounced and shot all over the place!  

Hope you had a great start to your week! 

Family Bunco Night

Games, games, games....we have been into some games the last few weeks.

Last night, we hosted a Family Bunco Night with some good friends.  WHAT A BLAST!!  The kids loved it and I think the adults loved it even more!  I have played Bunco with ladies, I have even played Couple Bunco, but this was the first time I had played with kids and adults.  The most fun ever!

The prizes were lined up on the mantel and I got the kids spun into a frenzy when I told them there was cold, hard cash in the envelopes.  Kids love some cash!  They were all a little worried about how to play, what the rules were, but it didn't take them but a round or two to figure it out.  The pressure was off when they realized there was no strategy, no logic...it is just pure luck whether your number comes up on the dice or not.  Bunco is a perfect family game, because kids young and old can play and have the same chance of winning.

We had a little dinner and then it was time for BUNCO!

Let the games begin!

We had four tables set up in the house.  Everyone had their own scorecard and one person at the table kept score for both teams. 

Please note:  That is NOT Christy's real hair!  That, my friends, is what you had to wear when you were lucky enough to get a Bunco!  Folks were wearing it loud and proud and happy to have a turn in that beautiful accessory!  

The great thing about Bunco is that you switch partners every round so you are always on the move and teaming up with a new face!   

And let me tell you about this competitive bunch!  There was screaming and hollering going on that I haven't even seen at Alabama football games!  THAT is saying something!  

The kids were totally into it!  

The head table had more screaming than most!  

Last night, I saw more trick shots of dice throwing than ever before.  We had the "Reverse", the "Whip", the "No Look Behind the Back", the "Roll Off the Fingertips", the "Left Hand", the "Right Hand", the "Shake a Lot", the "Shake a Little", blowing on them, rubbing them between both hands and lots of "Momma Needs a New Pair of Shoes!"

This COC team was pulling out dance moves and singing hymns!  It was a riot! 

There were tons of tie breakers that were heart breakers! 

Folks were talking hard to the dice.  Screaming at their partners.  Begging their opponents to not roll any more.  Or maybe that was just my son!  

So much fun! 

The winners! 

After a quick break we moved on to the final event of the evening!  A game of Left-Right-Center for money!  Everyone put in three dollars and we had a pot of $51 that was going home with one lucky winner!  We all crowded around the dining room table and hoped our lucky streak would hit an all time high when it was our turn to roll the dice! 

Does it look like anyone is having fun in this picture??

Would you believe the kid who had the Most Wins at Bunco ALSO won Left-Right-Center?  What a night for him!  I was so happy that a kid was the big winner of the evening and I might encourage his mom take him to play the lottery ASAP! 

It was a wonderful night with so much laughter!  

Such a hit, with adults and kids alike, that I think we are going to make this a monthly event!

Looking forward to it! 

Yahtzee Night

I played Yahtzee last night with my girlfriends.  It was awesome!  Super casual, sitting around the kitchen table playing a game.

Let me just state the obvious right off the bat....playing a game with six women is so very, very different than playing a game with the three boys I live with.  Last night, there was no smack talking. There was no burping or farting.  No one shouted "It is NOT your turn!"  Games were not interrupted for important news announcements from the world of sports.  At no time, did anyone stomp around the kitchen declaring themselves "El Champion" in a super loud voice while pumping their arms in the air. That just didn't happen last night.

Here is what we did have:

Clapping, cheering and genuine happiness for opponents when the dice rolled their way.  There was honest input about the options you could choose with the dice you had rolled.  We will call those "Yahtzee consultations" that were given freely and willingly from the Yahtzee experts we had in attendance.  There were groans when the roller did not get the dice they were hoping for.  There were pauses in the game with nice conversation.  We covered the gamut.  Headline news, neighborhood news, health updates, kiddo updates, recent travels, upcoming travels, etc.  There was even erasing an already entered score because someone suggested a way you could get more points with your roll putting it somewhere else.  That is against the Yahtzee rules, but we just didn't care.  It was quite remarkably different.

Now, I enjoy both crowds.  Honestly, I do.  Very, very different experiences that are very enjoyable.

Unfortunately, I did let a little of my boy culture creep into girl night when I got three Yahtzees in one game.  I might have over celebrated for girl's night.  I might have shouted out a few too many Woo Hoos.  I also may have also taken a close up picture of my scorecard, with the previously mentioned three Yahtzees, where I set what has to be a personal best score of 424!   I blame my poor behavior on playing too much with boys!

It was a fun night and I will definitely host Yahtzee Night again!   If you haven't played it in a while, drag the game out and get to rolling!