Marathon Madness!!

This year I decided to volunteer for the Salt Lake Marathon in the medical tent.  I signed up and then later started working in the ED.  I'm glad too, then I knew a few people!

So early!

I was instructed to get their early and so at 530 am I arrived to put together the medical area for the sicker ones.  It was like a MASH tent and rolling equipment on the grass was no bueno.  The unexpected pouring rain was insane too and made me a little nervous with the electrical cords.  Plus we didn't have any light, so we opened up one of the side walls a little for light.  I ended up organizing all the buckets in the dark, with one flashlight.  Gotta make it work!

 Go University of Utah!

Me and a couple of nice peeps set this up.  Come on in...we have suppositories!

All the supplies.  It was amazing to see how much we had!

This is the view from the MASH area in the back.  We didn't have any lights and so we opened up the tent a little for some light.  The rain was insane.

After that was done I was lucky enough to see my friend Paul and his wife Susan blast past me on the 5K.  Right after that my sister in law Marie found me and we watched Joe fly to the finish line for the half marathon race.  He is looking more and more like my dad and when he ran by, the resemblance was strong.

Paul around 24 minutes for the 5K!!  

It's a blurry pic but there is no mistaking it's "Chef Boy our Beenie boo"!!!  Hahaha  With hardly anyone behind him and just a few in front, Joe did a fantastic job and set a new PR for himself.  Way to go little brother!

I should also mention that Logan ran the half marathon also, unfortunately I didn't see him or even know he was running until after the race.  Way to go LOGAN!!!

After that the EMT's and RN's hung out at the finish line with a few wheelchairs to help some of the runners that made it to the end, but barely!  It was so interesting to watch people finish their race!  It doesn't matter how far the run was, every distance had runners that were super passionate about finishing their run.  Moms and daughters, husbands and wife's, kids with their parents all running together to just get over the finish line!  There was some amazing people run by.  Young, old, heavy, skinny....everything!  It makes me feel like there is no way I can't do a marathon.  I probably won't ever do one, but I am certainly inspired.  The older runners were awesome!  There was a couple of runners that came in together and then shook hands as they thanked each other for the company and the help to make it to the end.  Perfect strangers that bonded on the trail!   Is it me?  Is it because I am so tired that it makes me cry like i'm watching a Kodak commercial??  It is absolutely a book of stories told by the faces at the end.   


Next year more pics.  I want to take pictures of the awesome people that get up early on a Saturday morning just in case you do a face plant, have chest pain, pass out or just need a band aid.  


I look forward to volunteering next year and I have new motivation for my half-marathon in the fall!
I do want to get a running tutu.  They are awesome and you can certainly stand out in a crowd!


Blog on.............

Perfect "Welcome to Utah" Picture

Taken April 11.

Need I say more?

Painful Mockery

My dog came home from a 30 day sleepover at his girlfriends house.  We were all excited and everyone greeted him with hugs and kisses and promises to walk and take care of him.
Yeah..you aren't the first teenager I've raised.
So, after a week we are totally drowning in dog hair.  It's spring and Ted wants to shed his winter coat into a sleek spring jacket.  The problem is, there is no end to the hair!  There is huge clumps of it all over our house only minutes after we are done vacuuming.  We vacuum once a day, minimum.  A few days ago Matt dragged him outside and proceeded to "Furminate" Ted.  That lasted about 4 minutes and the dog hair flowed across the carpet like tumbling tumbleweed.  Today, after the second vacuum within a day I decided to give it a try.  Ted is very patient with the process and just stands there with a blank look on his face while you work away at the dog hair.  


I brushed and brushed and after the brush was full I would grab the hair off and throw it behind us.  Then the hair proceeded to float through the air, dancing all the way back and landing right back on Ted!  Oh the mockery!!!  After I was done I had to change socks and shirt and roll my pants.


Then I looked into the living room and there was Ted, having a scratch fest...standing up and leaving 3 clumps of dog hair.  ::::Fist in the air:::::  Why me????

Thank goodness he is so awesome!

Blog on...........

The unthinkable....

It happened so fast I didn't have time to argue.  There is just no way around it.  If I want to do this job, and I want to work with Trauma I's and II's, then I have to just get over it.


I wore a fanny pack.


SHHHHHHH..........oh I bow my head in shame!  I wore it low and on my back trying to put the cool back into such a travesty!   I even tried setting it down, but NOOOOO..it has narcotics in it, so that is not an option.  This was my first trauma and it was a very easy, Trauma II that was very fortunately OK.  I didn't need to rip out any of my magic tricks from the bag, so I'm sure that I will appreciate the contents in due time.  It was also midnight and the crowd was sparse, much to my satisfaction.  In order to overcome my aversion and actually accept (GULP!) the fanny pack as a tool, I have come up with some rules that make it perfectly OK to sport what is apparently a convenience device.


1.  Work.  If you are being paid and you need it for your job and there is no other option..then you have to do it.  I've never been much of a fashionista for my work time and why stop here?  Of course I wear all  my diamonds!  It's a subtle statement that says, "yeah, I dress for the job here, but as you can tell, I can dress it up FINE!"


2. Wear it properly.  I realize that having the fanny pack actually ON the fanny is not the quickest way to access it, but it's not called a FANNY pack for nothing!  Worn loose on the hips and over the butt gives a more "cool" aura to the wearer.  Being loose, you can swing it around, get your gear and back it goes!  Tada!  Tight, in the front, around the waist just doesn't seem to look good on anyone!


3. Loosen up and forget there is a fanny pack.  Don't apologize for your fashion disaster!  This is work!  We are serious here sometimes.  


That's the best I could do.  Plus, I need to go to work.  I can't be late and tell them it's because I was writing a blog on the horrors of wearing the Trauma fanny pack.  That is just bad form for a new employee.  At least I have that going for me.


Does this mean I must turn my head when my sweet hubby takes his fishing fanny pack out??  Oiy!!!    Only if it's actually AT the fishing facility.  It that enough give and take?  I'm pretty sure it is!


BLOG ON.............

Bathroom Fix-up

About four years ago I bought a shower curtain that I wanted to redecorate my bathroom around.  This month I have finally got it together and started on the bathrooms.  So far, the only one that is all the way done is the small one off the kitchen.  Daniel uses that one.  The big bathroom is waiting for a new light, but we did get it painted.  Here are some before and after pics.

 Ripped off the medicine cabinet and took down the light.

 getting everything ready.

 The toilet corner.

 We took off the shower door..it was pretty done.

 The painting will begin.  I hate the get ready part..I like just painting.

 I painted both ceiling with Kilz so that we wouldn't get moldy and yellow spots on the ceiling.  Love my painting look?  It's vintage.

 This is NOT my helper...haha

 The little bathroom is painted a light grey blue.

 around the shower.

 The mess...and the music.

 I love my Starsky & Hutch painting tee..it's awesome.

 Sami really wanted in the pic.

This is after the ceiling was painted and I was getting ready to paint the walls.

 Done..but not decorated.

 Tile job.  A little protection from all the boys that have ever lived in this house.  Splashy Splashy!

 The big bathroom painted.  We still need to hang new hardware, shower curtain, light and the blinds.

 Small bathroom done (except blinds).  Most of the stuff I got from Ikea, even the shower curtain. 

 I love this shower curtain!!!  Ikea!

I bought the light a year ago from Costco and the mirror is from Ikea.  The new light is awesome!

It's hard to take pictures of the small bathroom, but I love it!  A very light blue/grey paint with brown and grey accents.  Matt replaced all the light switches and plugs with white ones.   I will post more pics of the big bathroom once we get a few more things done.

Blog on.............

My sisters kids

Since my sister LeAnn died in 2003, we have had minimal contact with her kids.  Two of her kids were minors and the oldest was just not very nice.  I totally understand why they wouldn't want to hang with me, because I'm the only one that tells it like it is and doesn't let her (the oldest) take advantage of my family.  I don't understand why they wouldn't want to spend time with my parents.  My parents are so awesome.  I suspect it's mostly about money.   More then that then I am just speculating.  I do know that I walked into a couple of conversations while my sister was dying about how they were going to spend it.  My sister didn't die with much money and her inheritance of my parents money wasn't available because they are still ALIVE.  Our family trust is set up to protect assets and each kid only owns like 3% of the entire trust.  Then they spent the year or so after my sister died trying to fight the will which sucked all the money out and then they got jack.  SO, as per my previously mentioned post, I hope they enjoyed the fruits of their garage sale!
There are times that I Google the kids and see if I can see pictures or find them.  I believe they are all local.  When my nephew Zak was on a mission, he did send letters to my parents and even one to Jake, telling him to go on a mission.  Today I found this picture.

He has his dad's smile, but he looks surprisingly like my sister.  That was my initial reaction.

I wish I had a better picture of my sister.  I need to just have a scan-a-thon.

It's a complicated situation and I am never surprised when I see the things that happen when people die.  The desire for free money can be so overwhelming for some people it takes away their common sense.   I wouldn't pass it up, but working hard isn't a bad way to go either.


Blog on...........

Channeling the Pioneers

But wait, they didn't have freezers.  
OK, I'll channel my grandma.  She had a huge freezer full of delicious ice cream that she served us on a cone with a glass of home bottled grape juice.  We could see her in the kitchen window as we pulled up to my grandparents house, late at night, in Shelley, Idaho. 
That's my memory and that's the way it will stay.  Did I mention she wore a house dress, sensible shoes and an apron, all the time.  She was tougher then I'll ever be. She was a farmers wife.  


I love thinking of new ways to make life easier and cheaper.  That whole lottery thing is just not coming through and I hate spending too much money on things that don't pamper me.  Of course!  I rarely buy my lunch at work.  The new cafeteria is too expensive, it takes too long to get there and even if the food is delicious, it doesn't make sense to spend $6-7 dollars a day on food!  Now when I spend $4 on a delicious coffee around the eighth hour of work when I start getting tired...THAT makes sense!


So every day I work I like to take some rice and vegetables (Birds Eye, flash frozen) and sometimes I will throw in some chicken.  Last year I found frozen rice at Costco that was super delicious, but after two trips they stopped carrying it.  Last time I went I found a bag of frozen brown rice that was divided into about 3 cup servings that you could cook/warm up in the microwave pretty quick.  When that run out I was in a panic!  I was in no mood to go to Costco even if they did have the rice.  I always spend way too much there and I didn't want to spend $2 to 3 dollars a bag for that microwave rice that will cover two lunches.  It was also a little high in calories (190 calories a serving).  So, I bought a bag of long grain brown rice (under 3 bucks) and had big plans to cook a bunch, freeze it in servings and then use it when I need it.  WELL, it worked!!!  Not exactly as I thought it would, but good enough and I have plans for change next time.  Plus, it's delicious and easy and I might even get my family hooked.  Hello healthy eating!! shhhhh....


I thought I'd share and while I'm doing that I will have something to refer to next time!!




Frozen Rice Servings


Bag of long grain brown rice.
Chicken, beef or vegetable broth.  I used some leftover vegetable broth we had and threw in 3 cubes of those chicken cubes I dislike so much.
I also threw in about a tablespoon of butter for the whole pan.
Freezer quart bags

This is where I started taking pictures.  Last night I made about 9 servings of rice and in place of half of the water I used vegetable broth and threw in 3 chicken broth cubes.  When it was done and cooled a little I put it in a big baking pan covered in aluminum foil, covered it with plastic wrap and put it in our freezer overnight.

In the morning I had a rice brick.  I let it sit on the counter long enough that I could hack it up in about 12 serving sizes

 

 My freezer bags are ready and I had taken off about 6 servings..OK, so maybe I ended up with about 15 servings.  I don't think what they recommend as servings is necessarily what I wanted.

 Love the ice crystals on top?? I was really doubting myself here.  How about that wood rolling pin??  My brother Joe made that for me when he was in high school and I was getting married or Christmas or something.  I cherish it because he made it.  Even though I don' think it's approved use was to pound the back of a huge knife trying to cut up frozen rice.  

 Then I threw them in the freezer.  They never really thawed, and they were not out of the freezer for too long.  I am not nervous about any food poisoning and believe me, I ran that through my head over and over to make sure.  I am a 2 hour food freak, meaning that once food is out for more then two hours it's going to get tossed.  Of course it doesn't count if the food is suppose to be kept at room temperature.  I won't eat any plain rice that has been in the fridge for more then 48 hours.  Did you know that rice harbors nastiness after that?  Yeah, me neither.  If you don't believe me, ask Sami.  She ate some rice from the fridge and had the yack attacks!

 I took a piece that was very frozen, right from the middle.  Don't mind the dirty microwave, it's not dirty enough to bother cleaning it yet.

I cooked it one minute on high.

 Then I mushed it up and cooked it about 45 seconds or until it was nice and steamy.

DELISH!!!  The broth I used made it moist and tasty!  I usually use soy sauce if I am eating it plain, but this rice hardly needed it at all! 
WINNER!  <---move over Sheen.


When I do it again (and save about 15 - 20 dollars for my fancy coffees) I will let it cool a little, divide it up in 1/2 to 3/4 cup servings in the freezer bags and THEN freeze it.  Skip a step.  I did label all my bags in case one gets lost and we find it in a couple of years.  I have no idea how long frozen rice is good for.  I don't suspect this batch will last more then 2 months and that with just me eating it.  


I also want to try freezing a little bit bigger bags and use them for family dinners.  This precooked rice thing is awesome!  Easy too.  I'm way too lazy to do anything that is too involved.


I watched Food, Inc.  last week and I haven't been the same. I stopped eating fast food about 4 years ago and now I really wish everyone would.  Not so much the unhealthiness of it, but of what a hold of the food business these fast food conglomerates have.  I would really like the quality of the beef and chicken raised to a new level, but whatever McDonald's wants is about how quality it gets.  Did you know that anyone that sells to the big companies is not allowed to talk about how the cattle are raised and are not allowed to have any of their farms filmed in any way. 


Interesting....
So lets just say there is a huge container of freshly cut up fruit and bag of celery in our fridge.  


Blog on..............