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Ultimate Coffee Date

Hellooooooo!  Once again it’s the first Friday of the month (that was fast!) so I’m linking up with Deborah and Coco for the Ultimate Coffee Date.  If we were having coffee together, I would tell you…

… that I’m feeling a little melancholy.  I think it’s FOMO from not doing a 4th of July race.  My husband decided to run a 5K at the last minute, and I considered it…. but my calf is still a little fragile.  I decided to skip it, but then felt sad.  Sigh

I did go for a walk, and then went to the gym with my son.  That was good, but “4th of July Gym Day” just doesn’t have the same feel as “4th of July 5K.”

Going to the gym with my son is always 100x harder than going on my own…

I tried to rally with a festive dinner- Impossible burgers for my husband and son, and sweet potato burgers for my daughter and me.  It was fun, and yes those are 4th of July crackers on the table!

They turned out to be the worst crackers in the world, though.  They had little slips of paper with jokes on them, and mine were in french.  When I complained, my daughter said “Well, some people speak french!”  Yes, but these are obviously 4th of July crackers, to celebrate our country’s birthday.  I don’t think it’s too much to ask that my jokes be in english.

Speaking of our country…. I’ve decided to pretend I’m an alien from another planet, here to objectively observe the upcoming election.  It’s so funny!  These Americans have such strange voting customs!  Look at these candidates!  I can’t wait to see how this debacle plays out.  Luckily I’ll be going back to my home planet afterwards, so I don’t have to deal with the fallout.  Oh.  Wait….

And now I’m finishing up the night watching fireworks through my living room window while the cats hide under the bed.  Bombs bursting in air!

Did you celebrate the 4th?  Did you make a some fun food?  Run a race?  Did you watch fireworks?

Top photo by Paul Weaver on Unsplash

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Weekly Rundown- Between the Storms

Oh, hi there!  Thanks for stopping by the Weekly Rundown, hosted as always by Kim and Deborah (thanks, ladies!)  It was a good week- read on for details… Monday I started the week with a 3 mile run… …followed by the Caroline Girvan deadbug workout. Tuesday This was a strength day at home- hip stability exercises, upper body strength focused on back, and a MadFit standing core workout.. Wednesday “Long” run!  8 miles at my old favorite trail.  The last time I was here was before my race in February. I forgot how much I love this trail.  We may not have mountains or woods, but I like to call this trail “Florida-beautiful.” I was really happy with how well my calf held up in spite of the fact that this is a sandy trail.  But, I was a little alarmed at how hard eight miles felt!  Maybe it was the weather- I’m not complaining, mind you, but I’ll just mention that it was hot AF.  Or, maybe I’m just out of shape.  This was the first long-ish run I’ve done since May.  Well, I’ll just keep grinding away. Thursday Leg day at the gym!  Squats, deadlifts, and abs. Friday I knew I was going to run two days in a row- for the first time since May- so I kept this run short.  2 miles… …followed by another MadFit standing core workout. and then hip stability exercises. Saturday It was a dark and stormy morning! Actually, it was just dark at first.  I ran 4 miles, and in the last mile the rain started.  Luckily no lightning though! I’m loving this schedule of a long run in the middle of the week, and Sundays off.  I finished this run, congratulated myself on a solid week, went to work, and then came home and hunkered down for the weekend. What?  Some people go out on Saturday night?  Don’t be ridiculous!!!  We had plenty of entertainment right in our living room.  First up was my son’s senior recital. This was a big day for him, and while we couldn’t be there in person, we were able to livestream the concert.  Other friends and relatives around the country were able to watch as well. After that excitement, we watched the Baylor game.  Arg!  Can we ever WIN???  Oh well- at least we have the Dolphins tomorrow (Oh.  Wait… sigh.) Sunday On tap- sleeping in!  Waffles… football… the usual Sunday activities.  And- we have ANOTHER hurricane headed to Florida.  It’s predicted to hit Tampa, which is the last thing they need.  We’re forecasted to get a lot of rain.  I don’t want to wish away any of this time, but we’ll all be happy when hurricane season is OVER. How was your week? Do you like to sleep in on weekends, or do you keep to your regular schedule? – I know you’re supposed to stick to the same schedule every day, but there’s no way I’m getting up at 5:30 if I don’t have to!

October Ultimate Coffee Date!

Hooray!  It’s the first Friday of the month, which means I’m linking up with Coco and Deborah for the Ultimate Coffee Date.  It’s obviously time to get out the Halloween mugs.  Pour yourself a spooky beverage and join me! The first thing I would tell you over coffee is, tomorrow is my son’s senior recital. We can’t be there in person but will be able to watch it via livestream.  I’m dealing with a cocktail of emotions here: disbelief that he’s a SENIOR in college, nervous for him (I mean, I’m sure he’s well-prepared and will do well, but a mom has to worry), sad that his time at Baylor is coming to an end, and of course- so, so proud of him.  The baby whose nickname was “Li’l Sumo” is now a MAN. So what else is on tap for the weekend?  My husband and I are planning a little at-home “Oktoberfest.”  I’m not quite sure what that will entail, other than beer of course.  My husband is very enthusiastic about the beer- “Let’s make it really cold!  We can get a bucket and put all the beers in it with some ice!”  WHOA THERE.  I’m not sure how many beers he plans on drinking, but my limit is probably 1.5.  We’ll have to have something to eat as well- I’m looking at this website with vegan Oktoberfest recipes. In other news, I got a letter saying that my request to postpone jury duty has been granted.  PHEW!!!  Interestingly, I’ve talked to three people who told me when they get a jury summons, they just throw it away.  They figure since it’s not registered mail, no one can ever prove they got it.  Huh!  Now I’m feeling virtuous about getting out of jury duty the “right” way.  Or, maybe I’m just a fool. Lastly, thanks to everyone who complimented me on fixing my blog.  Unfortunately I did NOT fix it (yet) and the only way it looks “normal” is if I include lots of photos (to make the post long.) Here’s one of me in my element…     What would you tell me over coffee?  Do you have any plans for the weekend?      

Reading and Eating

I finished the Ken Follett Century Trilogy!!!  Fall of Giants covered WWI, Winter of the World continued with WWII, and The Edge of Eternity starts in the 1960s. One thing I loved about these books is it showed me the continuity between these events.  I used to think of WWII as something that happened in the past, whereas events in the 1960s and 1970s were in more “modern” times.  Now I understand more the connection between WWI, WWII, the Cold War, Vietnam, and the events leading to the fall of communism. Edge of Eternity focuses mostly on the children and grandchildren of the original characters from Fall of Giants.  It was fascinating that a young man who fought in WWI, if he lived to a ripe old age, would also live through the Cold War.  There were characters in the book who endured Nazi Germany, WWII, the Soviet occupation of East Germany, and then saw the Berlin Wall come down.  It was incredibly moving to me that Black people who fought for Civil Rights in the 1960s could live to see Barack Obama elected president. I will say that, while I was reading it, Edge of Eternity was my least favorite of the three books, and I’m still trying to figure out why.  The first two focused heavily on Europe, and in Edge the focus shifted to the United States and Soviet Union.  There was a lot of detail about politics in the US, and while it was interesting, the story bogged down a little for me.  JUST A LITTLE!  I still enjoyed it, but whereas with the first two books, I didn’t want them to end, with Edge, I was kind of looking forward to finishing it. Then… I actually finished it, and the ending was so good that I cried.  There was an epilogue, which I was initially annoyed to see- I mean, the ending was perfect, what’s with this epilogue?  But then the epilogue also made me cry.  You guys- it was so good and I’m so glad I read these books.  I’ll be thinking about them for a long, long time. It was hard to move on to anything else, but I had to forge ahead.  I have some library books to get through, so I started this one: So far, so good!  I’m not very far into it, but I’m enjoying it. Eating-wise, I continued the pumpkin theme with some pumpkin oatmeal.  No special recipe- I just add a couple dollops of pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice to my regular oatmeal. For dinner on Sunday, I went to Nora Cooks and browsed through her “Fall Recipe” section.  I ended up making Butternut Squash Curry With Chickpeas. It was good!  The only problem was, I should have doubled the recipe.  I like my Sunday dinner to also feed us on Monday, and I should have known one can of chickpeas wasn’t going to do that.  My daughter wasn’t a fan of the squash, but she’s obviously insane.  You cube the squash and roast it, and add it to the curry at the end- it was delicious. I’ll echo Engie’s recent question- what was the last book that made you cry?   What are you reading now?

A New Month

It’s October!  Time to get out the Halloween decorations- how exciting. Like many others, I’m looking forward to the Girl Next Door Fall Extravaganza episode for 2024.  While I’m waiting, I’ve been amusing myself by listening to their old ones.  One thing I love about these episodes is, Kelsey and Erica live in Arizona. Arizona weather is not Florida weather, but there are similarities.  Mainly that neither place has a true “fall.”  While the rest of the country is (hopefully) experiencing beautiful, crisp fall days, we’re still sweltering in the heat. In this episode from 2016, Kelsey and Erica talked about how they adjusted to fall in the desert.  They went through stages of denial, acceptance, and said they are now living in an alternate reality where it IS fall, dammit, because I say so!  That’s the way I feel- I put up my decorations and light a candle, so therefore it’s fall. Switching out my decorations (fall to Halloween, to Thanksgiving, to Christmas) also helps make one month distinct from another.  In Florida, we pretty much have two seasons: Summer, and SuperSummer.  There’s definitely a difference between January and July, but still- most days in January you can still walk around in shorts and a tank top. There are many times that I temporarily have no idea what month it is.  I know we all have those moments, but I doubt most people up north get confused between summer and winter.  In the absence of external cues, it’s important to me to make one season distinct from the next.  Otherwise time slips by much, much too fast. In this week’s Best Laid Plans podcast, SHU discussed how she marks the start of a new month,  One of the things she does is switch her screen backgrounds.  I like that!  I’m going to switch the photo on my phone, and I’m thinking of using this “terrifying” one of Charlotte… Hee hee… actually, she was yawning.  But she looks ferocious.  Here she is looking like her beautiful self: Magical black cats really do guard my home this month! Do you decorate for Halloween? Do you feel like you need to do something to make your months distinct, or does it naturally happen where you live?  

36 Responses

  1. I’m not American (so, no, I didn’t do anything for the 4th), but I think this may be the single best thing I’ve read about your country’s upcoming election: “I’ve decided to pretend I’m an alien from another planet, here to objectively observe the upcoming election. It’s so funny! These Americans have such strange voting customs! Look at these candidates!”

    Those “burgers” look delicious and it looks like potato salad…which reminds me I LOVE potato salad and haven’t made any all year. Why?? I must change this!

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  2. LOL at the French crackers. I had an impossible burger (and impossible meatballs) this week and LIKED THEM! Sweet potato burgers sound great— we’ll try those next

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    1. Ha, the Impossible burgers are WAY too meaty to me- I’d rather have a mushy burger made out of sweet potatoes and beans, and so would my daughter. But my husband and son love them.

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  3. Pretending you’re an alien is basically how all of us non-Americans are viewing your election. Like, what is this ridiculousness? Things are far from perfect in Canada, don’t get me wrong, but…just when I think it can’t get any more insane in the US, it does.

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    1. I know!!! And just think what could happen between now and November- there’s still plenty of time.

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  4. I can’t stop snickering at “Luckily I’ll be going back to my home planet afterwards”—I wish! It’s funny in a not really funny at all way. I’m with you.

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  5. I’m sorry you didn’t end up doing a 4th of July race, but a gym day sounds nice too! I did a 4 mile trail run and of course, it was already hot by the time I started at 7:30 am, but at least I wasn’t out when the excessive heat warning began at 10 am!

    I also had a veggie burger for dinner on the 4th, with fries and a pasta salad. Your sweet potato burgers sound really good!

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    1. We’ve had heat warnings, but it’s “only” in the low 100s (feels like.) I know it’s hotter where you are- my son keeps checking the weather in Waco to compare.

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  6. I have completely dissociated I can’t even handle it. Please take me back to your planet with you when you go.

    I didn’t run a 4th of July race either. I just didn’t have it in me. It’s so dangerously hot, and I just can’t handle it. Or maybe your crackers were a sign: let’s go to France.

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  7. Jenny: I was nodding along to everything (except the race–sorry you couldn’t run, but glad you’re being cautious). This week *did* seem to go by so fast, we too had Impossible burgers yesterday, and the elections *are* ridiculous right now.

    If there were a kind and peaceful planet somewhere, I’d want to go too… Heck, I’ll happily apply for a kind and peaceful country!

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    1. Oh that’s funny! Impossible burgers for everyone! And yes… there has to be a kind and peaceful country that would take us in.

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  8. Well, congrats on your successful “adulting” and passing up the 5k so that you can have a longer race later this fall. But yes there is FOMO and snooooooze it’s so boring to make good decisions.

    We did a massive family party with all of the dogs and it went really well. We took the dogs inside when the fireworks started, and they all seemed pretty calm and happy to play with each other.

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    1. That’s good! I actually don’t mind fireworks- I secretly like them, except that they scare all the animals. And yes- it’s so boring and dull to make the better choices sometimes.

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  9. May I join you on your home planet? It’s sad when a debate could possibly be a really long SNL skit. What a world we live in.

    We drove to my parent’s lake home yesterday morning and I debated having a glass of wine when we arrived at 11:15 because it was that bad. I took a photo of taco screaming because maybe it will be funny in a few years. Paul was a great traveler luckily. It was a very very rainy day here so it was not super festive. My California aunt and her family are here so they came over for dinner. Our big party is tomorrow. There will be 50+ people here… I don’t love these big family gatherings to be honest!

    But today the sun is shining and the boys are happily playing in the sand and water!

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    1. I know it’s not funny, but I’m laughing at you wanting a glass of wince at 11:15 am. Glad things improved! And, good luck with the big party. I know- like so many things, it’s just not fun when you have two little kids to take care of.

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  10. I made some cookie to take with us to a BBQ, but we didn’t actually eat the BBQ because we are Those People and we came home to try to protect our dog from the scary fireworks. Our protection was weak, though, and she had a challenging night. Pre-dog, I liked going to a fireworks show. I never noticed how people would put off backyard fireworks for weeks before and months after July 4. Now I am a curmudgeon about the holiday. No more fireworks! They should be outlawed. *harumph* (Maybe I need a nap? I’m feeling extra grouchy about this.)

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    1. No, I know. I used to like fireworks, and I still get a little thrill of excitement- but then I see how scared the cats are and that ruins the whole thing. And dogs are even worse, I know. Our cats just hid under the bed and then cautiously came out when it was all over (and that wasn’t until about midnight, sigh.)

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  11. I now know I can host a big 4th of July shindig in my backyard, and there will be no shortage of fireworks for entertainment. Yikes, both the 3rd & 4th evenings were nonstop action! My neighbors (across the street beyond my backyard) must all be pyromaniacs, LOL. Max, however, was not as amused…

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    1. Yes, there’s no need to actually go anywhere to see fireworks anymore- people set them off right in our neighborhood, and they look like professional fireworks shows.

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  12. It is odd that the patriotic crackers would have French in them! The election is very odd. Just be glad you don’t live in DC or have a husband who works in politics because it is Dover the top right now!! Hope you had a great 4th

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    1. Omg. I didn’t know your husband works in politics! YIKES! And yes, you live in DC. I never even thought of that. I’ll bet it feels good to get away on vacation for a while.

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  13. LOL on the firecrackers. I wondered could they have been for Bastille Day, but not with those stars and stripes. Did you translate the joke? Was it funny?

    I am so worried about where this country is headed. My hamstring isn’t strong enough for me to run off all that stress so I’m limiting my exposure to the day-by-day blows.

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    1. Ha, great point- we need to keep our bodies healthy enough to run so we can cope with the stress. And yes- limiting exposure is the only thing to do.

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  14. I went to the gym with my mom on the 4th to take a yoga class, hehe. It was nice to not have to work for a day!

    I’m highly concerned about the upcoming election so viewing it from that perspective definitely sounds wayyyy less anxiety-inducing (if only we didn’t have to deal with the fallout tho…). :[

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  15. Yes it sure is a debacle. Ugh. If only we were mere spectators.
    Sweet potato burgers sound SO good! This week was all about celebrating Greg’s (and his twin bro’s) birthday as well as Independence Day. It was chaotic but fun! Once we got fortune cookies from a restaurant but they were clearly meant for a bachelor party or something like that. The messages inside were dirty!

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  16. I didn’t workout on the 4th as we were at my parents’ house… I had brought shoes and intended to go for a run in the morning, but we ended up staying up until like midnight on the 3rd and then in the 4th all I really felt like doing was lounging on their patio in the morning with my tea. Ha. I am not one who generally frets about working out on “vacation” (even though this wasn’t actually a vacation, but similar idea- away from home/ out of regular routine) so this is pretty standard practice for me. I admire those who are so hard core and never miss, though!

    Funny election story- you know my son works at McDonald’s. A few weeks ago, he was working the drive thru and he took a man’s order over the speaker. When he was done, Ethan asked the man, “Would you like anything else today?” and the man replied, “Um, yeah, how about a couple different presidential candidates?!” (to which apparently his wife in the car shushed him… lol). 😆 Hahaha. At least he made his McDonald’s shift a bit more entertaining!

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  17. I love those America crackers! I didn’t realize crackers are a thing in the states? I had never seen them untill I moved to the UK.

    Sorry you missed your July 4th run. I’ve never associated the 4th with running but I’m always sad to miss a turkey trot in November. However gym day with son seems a pretty good second?

    I had my head in the sand on US politics until recently… I hadn’t been reading the news at all and then I started reading news and while I don’t really get what is happening I feel I do totally understand your desire to be an alien. Sorry about the home planet 🙁

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  18. How odd about the French jokes – I agree with Jenn maybe it is a sign to head to France lol! Escaping from here and the politics doesn’t sound like such a bad idea at the moment!

    I’ve never heard of sweet potato burgers but they sound good!

    Hope your calf is feeling better soon.

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  19. I’ve never heard of sweet potato burgers. Were they good? At least you made it to the gym even if you didn’t run a 5k on the 4th. I am the other alien with you. 🙂

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  20. Don’t forget that the United States is a melting pot with no official language… the french person who bought the next set of crackers was probably disappointed the jokes weren’t in French :D. And… remember that France gave us the Statue of Liberty. That must be worth something on the 4th of July? 🙂

    I can tell you watching the political / election coverage from afar is … bizarre. I believe here in the Netherlands we are collectively shaking our heads on a daily basis.

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  21. We didn’t really do anything for 4th of July (it was so hot) and I was so upset about all the illegal fireworks that were set off in our City… We went outside in the evening and it smelled burned and sure enough, the Fire Department had to respond to multiple fires. Why are people such entitled jerks?

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  22. I was SUPER lazy for the 4th and I was really happy about that. No parties, no festive food, nothing. I had to work the next day and I just felt like doing nothing and staying home. My gym threw a 4th of July workout that you probably would have been all about! 30 minutes of spinning, 30 minutes of HIIT, and 30 minutes of… some other class. I can’t remember what it was now! Maybe yoga?

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  23. I am another one here, watching your election shenanigans from afar and shaking my head in disbelief. Unfortunately, what happens in the US has an outsize effect on the rest of the world, it seems like there are a lot of people (not just in the US) that want to burn everything to the ground. Personally, I prefer hugs all round.

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