November Road Trip to Nebraska, numero two

We took a road trip for Thanksgiving!

In addition to spending a wonderful holiday weekend with some of my amazing family, 

Mark and Lucy cuddled, as usual

Lucy slept

I enjoyed a few sunrises

I snagged a "Bird of Paradise" coffee at a small coffee shop/home decor store.
banana, coconut, and caramel in coffee.
Yu-umm! (p.s. hooray for small business Saturday)

We went roller skating!!!
Mark was obviously thrilled.

We also ended up at a sock hop accidentally.
My cousin was just as shocked as we were about her peers' behavior.
(I'll have to explain in another post)

We enjoyed a few sunsets.

and Lucy slept some more

.

ThankFULL

In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

~1 Thessalonians 5:18

We have so much to be thankful for today and every day! I'm thankful to have an amazing family, and the ability to make a short drive out to see those that don't live in ColoRADo. I'm also blessed to have a husband who will hop in the car with Lucy and I to make that drive. 

Which reminds me, I'm also thankful for Lucy.

I'm thankful for my job, and to have an extended vacation for Thanksgiving this year. I'm sad that we didn't spend thanksgiving with my Dad, but no matter where we ended up eating our turkey, I would be grateful because I know there are others who spent this day deployed to foreign countries, alone,  in hospitals, or under a bridge. I'm so blessed to have the family that I have, and don't know what I've done to deserve to be surrounded and related to these amazing people. 

It's no secret that he's my favorite..... I'm so thankful for my nephew. He sent us on the road with instructions to "watch out for deer, and let them all cross before you go." This little angel lights up my world and makes my heart melt. 

I'm thankful for friends, who take the time to let me know they care, and I hope I show enough of my gratitude and appreciation in return. 

Oh yeah, and I'm thankful for the ability to do GHD situps, even if they result in sore abdominals that leave me unable to stand up straight ~which means I was doing them wrong!~

Thank you, God, we are definitely drinking from the saucer.

I Know You Gonna' Dig This

Could today GET any more awesome??? Well...always, yes. But.....here's a refreshing change from the usual gripe fest that's going on somewhere else in the world right now. Some AMAZERING things happened today :)

1) I finally listened to my husband and checked out a certain gym on post.  ~Insert the hubs saying "I told you so!"~ this led to awesome thing #2) I planned, and completed a crossfit work out on my own schedule, for free, in my own little sliver of the world today. #dreamcometrue  So often I enter the gym with a plan, and have to change things because equipment is occupied or inaccessible. NOT TODAY, MY FRIENDS!!! Okay I'm done shouting now. I did 2 power cleans, 2 box jumps, 4 power cleans 4 box jumps, and so on for 10 minutes :) it rocked then I did other gym stuff
3) Tomorrow is my Friday.
4) My husband requested a healthy option for dinner tonight. I made it. He ate it. he had seconds. I'll be busy scraping my jaw off the floor for the rest of the evening. 
I purchased a speed rope for $5 dollars. Yes, you read that right. $5!!!!!!!!!! (this was #5, by the way)
aaaaannnnd #6. Jami Nato did her #letsgetpraisy linkup today. And it has been hilarious. You should check it out

and I hope amazing things happened in your world too!

Gluten Free Green Bean Casserole

You're welcome.
I hunted and hunted and hunted and crawled on my knees in the grocery store....all for this recipe.

Gluten Free (not dairy free) Green Bean Casserole

just in time for Thanksgiving :)

follow the recipe on the back of the French's french fried onions - the ones you can't eat because they're mostly flour- except, use half of a can of this

I found it on the back of the bottom shelf of the grocery store.
It was awesome.

instead of condensed cream of mushroom soup  (Add some salt, pepper, and other spices to your liking, mine came out pretty bland) then make your own french fried onions.
Slice an onion extra super thin.
Soak the slivers in milk (I used coconut milk because I haven't bought milk in months) for a few hours at least.

yep. Onions in milk. 

Take the milk-soaked onions and dredge them in gluten free flour.

Then fry them in a shallow skillet full of your cooking oil of choice. (I used olive oil)

Drain them out on a paper towel.

Magic. :)

store-bought glutenous poison in the white container. Mine in the baking dish. 

We had a GORGEOUS weekend here in ColoRADo.

look at that blue sky! (and not up my nostrils)

Lucy and I enjoyed a few walks this weekend.

Her after-walk ritual.

And a true basset in action!

If the globe seemed a bit off...it was probably because I have been leaving the house in skinny jeans.

I swore in seventh grade that I would NEVER wear tapered-leg pants again. That teasing (you know who you are!) was oh so painful. See, I missed the rise of the "flared" jeans....and I paid for it. Big time. Middle-schoolers are brutal. But I've come past that now...and here I am, in skinny jeans..... :::sigh::::

Spin Schooled

My day did NOT start out very awesome. While I took the day off yesterday, my computer at the office decided to go on strike.

I felt like this all day

Don't get me wrong. I can function without a computer......just not so much when I'm at work and people are expecting me to, ya' know, work... because any work that I do involves the use of a computer. Oh well, I'll take a computer crash over any other type of crash any day of the week. I'll enjoy my solitude until my new "machine" (as everyone in my industry, and my grandmother, refers to computers for some reason) arrives.

Even though it was my Monday and I might as well have worked out of the storage closet all day, I did not have a bad day at all :)

After work I hit up the gym on post for a spin class. (insert dramatic pause)

It's no secret I've been slacking on the fitness and gorging on the foodness the last few months weeks. I can't even remember the last time I went to spin class. Holy mooooooossseecrackers did this lady school me on my spin bike. I wish I could go to her class after work on Friday too, but lucky me I'll be at home sipping wine with some awesome ladies I know (oh darn huh?) Use it or lose it, people. My legs had a case of the wigglies coming out of class...and that's NEVER happened before. I are out of shape. Don't let yourself fall into the same trap! Just get in your training time! 

P.S. Have any of you spinners out there ever heard of Position 4? I learned about it today, and I just LUURRVE position 4!!!!

I came home to a hugh jass salad that the hubs grabbed for me since I have once again failed at grocery shopping and food preparations.

I'm not even going to pretend I wasn't in my pajama pants before dinner. 

I also came home to some results in the mail, FINALLY! I've been waiting to hear if I passed my group ex cert for a long long long time.

The good news is they usually don't mail reject letters in big giant envelopes. I'm official, y'all!

Then I made some peanut butter no bakes to cheer up the hubs :) He had a rough day :( These are not poo, and they are for reals for him, I won't eat any. Scouts honor. 

In the multitude of my anxieties within me,

Your comforts delight my soul.

~Psalm 94:19

Furballs

I took the day off from  my paying job so I could stay home with these two furballs, errr, I mean goofballs :)

The hubs had today off for Veteran's day. Typically I would have had to work, but I'm thankful for PTO! I needed a bonus day of recovery :)

The hubs helped me FINALLY put the trim back up in the bathroom. Yeah...the floor project was started back in September....shame on me for leaving the trim in the garage for two months. 

Then we grabbed lunch and went to Wal-Mart. (Ya know...just livin' the dream.) Seriously though, this is exciting, because the hubs bought me a new vacuum!!!!!!! Having these two furballs inside for the winter has really been driving me nutzzzoo. I feel like the house is NEVER clean.  

dirty rotten furry critters

Gentlemen, if you don't know what to get your gal for Christmas, grab her one of these. And then show her this blog post to prove to her that you're being thoughtful, not insulting. It's a Bissel(R) total Floors somethingorother. (I'm so helpful)

This thing ROCKS!!!!!! It has a crevice cleaner and a pet hair picker-upper attachment and an extra long cord, and features scatter-free cleaning for hard floors! Yippee! We'll have the cleanest home on the block! (See earlier post about my competitive problem)

On an unrelated note, I'm switching over to use the on-post gyms from now on starting tomorrow and I'm freaking out a bit. ~change, different, new, not in my control= freak out~ BUT, my crummy gym membership is expiring and, duh, I have access to like four gyms on post for FREE, in addition to gyms on the Air Force base. One of these gyms has an indoor track (buh-bye, treadmill!) PLUS, rumor has it there's some crossfit areas I can use on post (insert ginormous smile here) free crossfit on my own terms is kind of really exciting!

I fear change.

Did Somebody Say "Competition"

Uh oh. It's about to get all sorts of competitive up in here. One of the blogs I follow, From the Natos (her blog is super awesome and you should check it out),  is doing a competition! She's searching for praise in non-praise and worship music. She has some pretty clever ones listed on her blog post, I highly recommend checking them out to lighten up your Monday. If you know me, you know I'm always up for any sort of competition. So let's get jiggy with it...... oh wait, I mean #letsgetpraisy

These come from one of my favorite songs, especially for running, "Tonight is the Night" by Outasight... (explicitcontentwarning! there is an f-bomb in here, and a whole lotta nakie skin) This song also rocks for car dancing, not that I do that or anything.

"I'm feelin' better than I ever thought was possible but now I know. I'm feelin' better than I ever did. (Impossible don't exist. Impossible don't exist)"   1 Corinthians 2:9-
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9

Takin' Care of BizNass

Had to take a little business trip today. Nothing major, just a few hours in the car each way.

I love road trips : )

dusk to the east

wind thingies at sunset

sunset to the west. you can almost see the mountains out there!

how you doin'?

look out!!!!! a bear!!!!

And I love coming home to this face

...pay no attention to the man behind the curtain cute dog, the hubs is in some sort of virtual Nascar heaven back there.

This trip taught me a few things:
1) I have control issues like major totally big time. It's a problem.
B)Highway 24 is the longest highway on the planet when all you want to do is just get.home!

...and the best fiesta salad you will ever eat in your entire life can be found in Sterling, Colorado

at TJ Bummer's

Goin' Band Geek on Y'all

I'm SUPPOSED to be doing homework right now, as this is my last evening at home for the rest of the week. Yeah...and it's only Monday! ::::sigh::::  Okay, back on point....I'm supposed to be doing homework and to avoid distraction, I searched for some classical music and for some reason searched for one of my favorites from back in the day....back when I played the saxomophone in the middle and high school band. This song is so freaking amazing I have to share it with you all. If you need five minutes to just chill out (as we all do in today's hectic world), give this song a listen.

Ashokan Farewell

I won't do it justice by explaining the background or the purpose or the story it is telling. Just know that those low, haunting undertones you hear are where I came in back in high school band class ;) I played the baritone saxophone- it weighed more than I did- and the sheet music for that instrument landed me the coolest sounding parts of every piece, IMO. That's the baritone y'all; the low, haunting gut grabbers that sneak out of nowhere and catch you by surprise. (hmmmm, sounds somewhat like a MandGrenade)

Gluten Free Doggie Treats

...apparently this recipe is going to be a bit of a process in order to get them just right.

Fact: coconut flour is beneficial for pooches.  Which is good, because I personally can't stand the taste of it and have about four pounds of it sitting on top of my fridge.

Fact: Lucy loves pumpkin

...this brings me to my creation of...(drum roll please............................)

Coconut Flour Pumpkin Puppy Treats!

2 cups coconut flour
1/2 cup oats
2 tbs ground flax seed
3 eggs
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
Mix together then add water until the dough sticks together.

These weren't as workable as I wanted. I was hoping to roll the dough out and cut fun dog biscuit shapes, but the dough did not stick together well enough, so I scooped it with my cookie scooper and baked at 350 until the edges turned golden brown.

Lucy didn't mind the lack of fancy shapes

Which is also good...

...because we have enough dog treats to last until Valentine's Day.

Saddlebags

This morning started with walking my little love nugget to the vet.

No not Mark...Lucy!

It was time for her yearly vaccinations and I also wanted to get these weird lump things she has on her hips checked. I didn't think they were anything serious but wanted to be sure. I actually really wasn't expecting what the vet had to say.

Lucy has saddlebags.

it's no wonder she's fat....just look at that beggar face!

She's gotten fat, and like her momma, is carrying the weight near the badonkadonk region. It's okay though; fat I can fix, other things I cannot.

Next on the list was watching my nephew play soccer!!

This kid is awesome. My life would be pretty bland without him.

And then I headed to the grocery store so that I can be all prepped for the coming week. it's time to get this household back on track food-wise (obviously, our dog is fat!!) But...I couldn't resist this junk food splurge for my coffee :)

 I'm a sucker for flavored creamer. And this one tastes like s'mores and is gluten free (guess there's no graham cracker crumbles in there....go figure)

Check it out, I saved about 1/4th of what I spent and got a 75cent coupon...for 75 cents off anything! (These non-specific coupons make me happy...I know I have issues)

I should also note that the fat girl voted

Just kidding, but I did vote on Friday even though I just wanted to go home and take a nap after work. I don't know how I used to go to derby practice (at a rink an hour away!) two or three nights a week and then get up and go to crossfit four mornings each week. guess I'm just getting old.

In spite of my exhaustion after late night skating and the early morning gym sesh...I'm already looking forward to Thursday night speed skating practice.

These skates are my happy place :)

On my way to the store I saw a bumper sticker that read "Jesus loves you but I'm his favorite." This rubs me the wrong way for some reason......thoughts?