New Life

First, the highlight of my weekend. A nap with Munchkin Number 3. He is a furnace baby. Sweaty, hot, and smells SOOOOO good.The Fertile Crescent is fading fast. It is to maybe snow this week. And since I took Friday off and it was a beautiful fall day, I decided it was time to pull the tomatoes. (I pulled the green beans last week.) Was a sad, sad day for me, but it's been a good six months. I planted the first weekend in May and it's the fourth weekend in October. I'd say that was a good run.

Before.

The tomatoes are still going strong at my house! I keep thinking it's going to freeze on me and I will have loads of green tomatoes to deal with, but not yet. Two more Lemon Boys got harvested yesterday. I'm waiting on a bunch of Better Boys (the red ones) and strangely, I think the Yellow Pear is finally producing. After a summer of nothingness, there's tiny little tomatoes growing all over it. Good thing I never ripped it out!

I don't keep a lot of food in the house. I plan for the week, go to the store, and that's that. So, I have to get creative once in awhile if I want something other than rice chex for a snack at night. But believe me, you can do lots and lots with rice chex and the odds and ends sitting around. Think of them topped with melted peanut butter and leftover Christmas of 2009 chocolates, or sprayed with olive oil, dusted with garlic powder and toasted. Softened cream cheese and salsa with the chex stirred in. I don't keep milk in the house, so it's never just cereal.

Rice chex aside, I wanted to eat the tomatoes, so I sliced them and marinated them in balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. I'm out of olive oil at the moment. I'm out of everything at the moment. Then I took some sad, almost over the hill pita bread, sprayed it with Pam, sprinkled it with rosemary and red pepper flakes then toasted it. And then I pulled out this mysterious cheese. Remember when I went to that Harvest Dinner? Well, we had a bread and veggie course that starred a toasted garlic bread, herbed cream cheese and roasted peppers and onions that you were to stack on your own. Both Symphony Date and I declared it the best course of the night. I have tried to re-create the cheese and been unsuccessful so far. When I found Chef Dominique's herbed cream cheese at the store, I snatched it up. It's not the same, but it is quite herby. Too much garlic if you ask me, but don't tell him. Holy. But perfect for my evening purposes. The finished product. Was delicious! And perfect for an evening snack.

No picture today, but my tootsies were cold this morning walking in to work. I had a jacket on, but no socks. I can't. Not yet. Did you know that by this time last year, it had already snowed three times? THREE TIMES! And if you read back in last October's archives, I was HAPPY about it.

I suppose having persevered and not stuck a fork in my neck last February out of sheer desperation, I should have a level of confidence going into this winter, but I'm not feeling it. Last winter was scarring. Simply scarring to the soul. But. We all know I'll be just fine this year too. I will just whine about it on the regular. Feel free to visit another blog.

But for the time being, my garden is still going strong. I picked a pan full of green beans last night (Yes. In October. Green beans!), blanched them, then browned them in butter with garlic. Gay Boyfriend ate them all. He came down and I offered him a few to try. They were gone in less than a minute. Good thing I wasn't that hungry. I need to do something with the glut of cherry tomatoes I have sitting in the kitchen at the moment. Tomato paste perhaps? I'll have to google it. And I am patiently waiting for the first real frost to pluck the parsnips from the ground. Although pluck is not really the word. Those suckers must be huge. They don't budge one centimeter when I tug on them. I'll have to extricate the pitchfork from holding up one of the tomato plants to get them out of the ground.

I would like to disappear for the weekend. I wanted to go camping again. Remember when I went last year? But I'm not going to afford it this year. Contacts and running shoes come first. Funny how your priorities change over time, no? Running shoes before camping? Again I say, "Who IS this woman that inhabits my body these days?!"

I love all the munchkins in my life. So, so much. I want to squeeze them! Here is Munchkin Number 2 drinking "in style" as she put it, with her curly straw and orange garnish. Please note the princess dress. Oh yes. We are princesses. Always. See? The tiara proves it. Now, Munchkin Number 2 is not very cuddly. She may wear princess dresses, but she's ALL tomboy. And if you tell her no, the look of death comes quick and furious, so it was much to my surprise that after Munchkin Number 3 finally gave up fighting sleep, she said, "Now, we cuddle." And plop, into my arms and we laid on the couch and watched cartoons until mommy got home. She snuggled in so tight. It was heaven. Pure heaven. I love her so. I would call that the most successful Friday night of my summer.

I am experimenting with bread. The Good Doctor got a new bread machine and gave me his old one. Of course, he wants to tell me how to make "his" bread, but I'm stubborn and I like to experiment. The first loaf was hard as a brick. I used all whole wheat flour and flax seed meal. Hahahaha. Yeah. Rock solid. Last night's was a bit better. Mostly white flour and a smaller mix of whole wheat and oatmeal. It's a little fall-aparty, but it's much, much better. Will try again in a few days. I have to eat this one. I am in need of a houseful of people to eat my creations. Sigh.

Remember last week, when I told you I have this new exciting thing that I'm exploring career wise? Well, I have my first meeting tonight. It has to do with research and writing and you all know I love THAT. Too bad it's not about The Bubonic Plague, because then I wouldn't have to do any research at ALL! Anyone care to throw a new disease out there for me to play around with? You know that's my favorite thing ever. Anywho, I'll let you know how it goes.

That also means that I can't run with the runner's club tonight. *Sulk* It will be me on a treadmill later on. Blech. But guess what? I think I found out what the breathing problems are all about. My Recovery Dad told me last night that his asthma and breathing are out of CONTROL right now because of the super high pollen counts and the dust and he says that he rarely goes outside this time of year because it just means one asthma attack after another. Um. Yeah. I guess I'll be running inside until it freezes.

And I'm over here today, talking about the elusive MILE.

I didn't win at running this weekend. I don't know if there's a lot of pollen in the air right now or if I'm just struggling with breathing, but holy. I struggled on Saturday morning with the 5K group. And I shouldn't be struggling, right? I mean, I can run for 38 minutes straight. I proved that before I ran the race. But now, going 6 minutes was like breathing torture. And then on Sunday afternoon, when I was running with the 10K group, we were supposed to do our long 4.5 mile run. Well, first of all, we started off running into a breath defying wind. I just couldn't get any down my airway. The wind was just sucking the air right out of me. It was horrid, but I persevered. I did. Because I knew in another mile, the trail would drop down into the woods and that helped. A lot.

But then the woman I was running with decided that she was done and was turning back. Okay. Solitary run. I can do that. It's what I had planned. So I plugged in my iPod and away I went. Slow and steady wins my race, right? I was still struggling with the breathing. Partly because the way I regain my rhythm is to run with my mouth shut and only breathe through my nose. It calms whatever is going on in my lungs. Except that it's getting colder now and that makes my nose run. I couldn't catch a break.

I saw two of the other runners on their way back after the turn around, and they shouted encouragement to me, telling me that I was almost half way, which always makes me happy, so I kicked it into a higher gear and rocked out to old school Eminem. (I know. Don't judge.) and smiling - met my trainer who was waiting for me at the turn around. I shouldn't have stopped, internet. I just shouldn't have. I was finally into a groove and I was breathing right, but she suggested I walk for a bit when I told her how badly I had struggled. And after that? I just couldn't get it going again. We walked almost the whole way back. I couldn't do it. I knew there were circumstances that kept me from reaching the goal (I had to go to the bathroom really, really badly, too. I wasn't going to say that, but whatever. It's my blog, right?) And when I got home, I fought the failure demons with a fiery sword. I'm not quitting, internet. I'm not. I love running. Just not all the time.

And so I leave you with my dinner. The Big Boys are finally turning red. Late, they are. Really late. But here's the premiere taste test of them. They were phenomenal. Truly. I gobbled them in like 2 mintes flat. And then I read. On the swing. Until it got so dark, I couldn't see.

'Tis a sad day, internet. Open toed shoes are no longer the norm. Don't get me wrong, I'll be wearing them whenever I can, but the season is coming to an end. Notice, I am not yet wearing socks or tights. It will be a woeful day when that happens. I'm sure I'll tell you all about it. Ha!

We did speed work at runner's club last night. Holy. Sweet. Jesus. Hard. Work. See? I can talk myself through a couple of miles at an easy pace. I am NOT fast. I don't think I will ever be very fast; that's not the point for me. I've discovered that the 8, 18 and 23 minute marks are the ones I have to work through and when I'm through them, I'm good until the next one. But this running as fast as you can for a quarter mile? For the birds. Now, I know that it will make me a stronger runner for my 10K, but I did not like it. The first time, I made it about half way around the track before I couldn't take it anymore. The next time, I made it three quarters of the way, and I kept going farther each time, but I never made it all the way around. Maybe next time, right? Of course right.

And then right before we left, I totally inhaled a mosquito. It was horrid. And then all night long, I kept gagging and retching because I was certain it was still in there. Gross. Cricket and I went to coffee right after, and here's where I know the weather has significantly changed. Before, we'd go inside the heavily air conditioned coffee shop and drink iced mochas to get cooled off. This time? We deck out our sweaty bodies in sweatshirts and shiver in the corner drinking the hottest coffee we can get because we're FREEZING with sweat. Oh, the changing of the season. Sure makes running more fun!

It is to be a glorious weekend! Maybe I'll go to the park and try this trail running everyone is so keen about. Could be an adventure!

I haven't shown you the garden lately. Fall is truly here. I have 5 butternut squash growing on the ground and I picked one last weekend for New Life Mom and Dad to take to Baby Z. for all organic, Auntie Kate grown baby food. Yummmm! The green beans are mostly done. I get a handful now and again. I have to leave the lima beans alone because in order to get a good sized lima from those pods, they have to be HUGE. The parsnips are to be pulled after the first frost and the tomatoes are going gangbusters. I'm patiently waiting for the Big Boys to turn red and the rest of the Lemon Boys to turn yellow. But the cherry tomatoes? CRAZINESS. Everynight I pick a cereal bowl full. And every two nights, I make them into some sort of sauce to freeze.

Remember these babies? Homemade felted slippers by my mom. Happy Feet, indeed! It's getting cold around these parts at night. I had the windows wide open with five blankets on last night! Sooooo snuggly. My favorite kind of sleeping weather.

My trip to the dentist was not all butterflies and rainbows, I tell ya. It was awful. Pure horribleness. My dentist has the misfortune of having me as his patient, but he's nice to me anyway. I am immune to normal doses of novocaine. He gives me enough for an elephant and even that doesn't work sometimes. Here's how it all went down. Shot, shot, shot. Drill. Squeals from me in the chair. Shot, shot, shot. Drill. Me, coming off the chair exorcist style. Shot, shot, shot. Then he says, "Kate. I'm just going to go for it. Won't be but a minute." BAM. Holy god. My body was as tense as a board. I have fingernail marks on my palms. Talk about a work out. But it's over and I was exhausted the rest of the day. I finally felt like I could eat something around 4 p.m. and I was STARVING! Imagine me trying to squish tiny bits of beef stew into my offended mouth, drooling all over myself and making a horrible mess. That was the funny part.

The not so funny part is that it costs me $500 for a crown. And sadly, I have been saving for two other teeth that we thought would need it first. They will need it soon. Have I mentioned how much I hate money? The last check of the month pays the rent, my car payment, my medicine and a few groceries. I seriously have $30 left after making a $200 payment to my dentist. Sigh. And I want new running shoes. And it's getting cold and what do people run in when it's cold? I haven't figured that out yet. All those so-called performance wear shirts are over $50. Running tights aren't far behind. I'd like some suggestions from the peanut gallery on how to layer for winter running. 'Cause it's coming fast and I'm afraid my yoga pants aren't going to cut it much longer.

6 a.m. Dark. Raining.Of course I went. What kind of runner do you take me for?

The cherry tomatoes just keep coming! I go out every night and pick a handful of them. And every other day, I have to think of something to do with them. Pizza sauce this time.I grew this little onion, too. I only have one more left in the ground. I liked going out and picking an onion whenever I needed it. I'm sad that's over. I might have to grow more of them next year.