Birthdays, Birds, and Bling

Day 57: She's Got Dead Legs
So...I think I got a little over-exuberant on the trainer last night because all day long, my legs felt like two lead sticks.  The thought of hundreds of squats and lunges made me want to weep.  I took a rest day - and it. was. great.  I got a few things done and then took to the couch with my fuzzy blanket followed by crawling into bed early in hopes of feeling better by Tuesday.

Day 58: It Fits!
Normally I don't leave the office for lunch, but today was an exception.  I made a mad dash across town to pick up my dress from the seamstress. Then I raced home to try it on...it was perfect.  Whew! One less thing to stress out about.  Now I just have to make sure to keep my shoes on so I don't trip over the hem.  After work it was down to The Cave for 55 minutes of Pump Revolution.  I think I'm going to have to turn the music up during that one so the neighbors don't hear my quads screaming!

Today was also Spot's Birthday.  I can't believe that the tiny little 4 month old bunny we adopted is already 4 years old. Man...time flies.

Day 59: Last Chance!
Tonight was my last chance to cram in a workout before the big 60 day milestone...and the epic feast that followed, but first I had to run to the mall in search of jewelry to go with the aforementioned dress - since I generally stay as far away from malls as possible between Thanksgiving and New Year's.  Fortunately it was a pretty painless experience since I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted and both items were actually in stock!

 After the brief trip to the mall it was down to The Cave for a trainer ride while Mr. R&R worked out, followed by HardCore Abs.

When I first started this challenge, HardCore Abs was the bane of my existence.  It. Was. Hard.  It hasn't gotten any easier, but I've definitely gotten stronger. I surprised myself by being able to do a couple of the walking hovers on my toes before dropping back to my knees.

Day 60: Gobble Gobble
Mr. R&R and I did our 60 Day weigh-in/measurements/photo shoot before I got down to the business cooking.  Since I was only cooking for my mom and I this year, I opted out of making a whole turkey and went for a turkey breast instead.  The bird went into the oven around noon and spent the next few hours hanging out in there.

Once the bird was in the oven, it was time to start the side dishes and dessert.  My mom arrived around 2pm, just as Mr. R&R was heading out to his parents' house, bringing with her all the ingredients for a spinach souffle.  Don't ask me how, but between mom, myself, and a good bottle of white Bordeaux, we got dinner on the table at our originally appointed time and there were no disasters - it even looked kind of pretty!

I put a little of everything on my plate, but I think my favorites were mom's spinach souffle and the brussels sprouts with gorgonzola sauce.

Carbs, Greens & Protein!

After dinner and dishes, dessert went into the oven and Mom and I moved into the living room to polish off the wine and hang out with Walter, Spot, and our wheeking little house guest (we're pig-sitting again).

What are you? And why do your ears look so funny?

Dessert came out of the oven looking like this:

And hit the table looking like this:

Neither Mom, nor I like pumpkin pie, but we've never met a turtle sundae we didn't like, so this dark chocolate chunk bread pudding topped with vanilla ice cream, hot caramel sauce, and salted pecans was the perfect dessert for us!

Later in the evening, Mr. R&R and I met up with his mom, brother, and brother's girlfriend for our annual Thanksgiving Eve/Black Friday foray to the outlet mall.  I wasn't planning on going this year, but after purging so much of my wardrobe a few weeks ago, the work-appropriate clothing situation was getting pretty dire, and 50% off of everything at some of my favorite outlet stores convinced me to go - and I'm glad I did.  Most of the stores opened at 8pm this year, so we arrived around 9pm.  Mr. R&R and I hit up all of our favorites and were home by 1am (it's about a 40 minute drive home) - and I even managed to score one of my mom's Christmas presents while we were there!  Oh, and let's not forget about the dangerously delicious deal we found at the Lindt outlet: 100 Lindor Truffles for $25! So far, my favorites are stracciatella and sea salt - and I suspect that I will be in love with the caramel truffle as well when I finally try one. 3 hours of walking around an outlet mall counts as a workout, right?

Oh Yeah...That Happened.

Day 61: Can All Friday's Be Like This?
Due to my Black Friday adventures, I was a little tired this morning, but a quick stop at Caribou on my way to the office (I volunteered to provide adult supervision) helped immensely.  I got to work around 9am and the phones and my email were so quiet that I got a ton of work done.  By 2pm it was obvious that no major meltdowns were going to happen (those usually occur early in the day) and that keeping the office open just for the sake of being open was just silly, so I shut it down and headed home to go through and try on the loot Mr. R&R and I picked up the night before.  That's the downside of Black Friday bargain hunting - you really can't try anything on since the fitting room lines are insane, so you sort of have to guess what will work for you and be willing to make another trip to return your rejects, but the deals usually make this worth while.  I ended up keeping 2 pairs of jeans, 1 pair of dress pants (which will need to be hemmed), 1 sweater, 1 sweater dress, 1 hoodie, 1 pair of boots (which I was able to try on in the store), 1 hoodie, and 1 wristlet purse. Not a bad haul!

They're flat...and they were 60% off!

Next up was the Pump Extreme workout I neglected to do on Thursday.  I shocked myself by increasing my weights on the squat track to 10 lbs on either side of the barbell and I did a few more push ups on my toes!  I know I was a little iffy about this workout after the first time I did it, but it's definitely growing on me - even though the shoulder track which makes me feel like firecrackers are exploding in my arms!  After the workout I took a quick shower, pinned up my hair, and planted myself face down on my massage therapist's table. There were no massive trigger points in my back this time, but there were still enough to keep him busy for an hour!

Day 62: Now I Remember...
Now I remember why I never get manicures/pedicures...they take too damn long! This upcoming vacation/black tie wedding had me looking at my feet with disgust, so I decided to make an appointment for a manicure/pedicure at a little place up the street from my house in hopes of not having to display Wisconsin Winter Feet on the beach.  I arrived at the appointed time (11am) and immediately felt like I had stepped into a time warp back to the mid-90's. That plus the fact that they basically ignored me until almost 11:30am made me seriously consider walking out, but there's no way I was going to get an appointment anywhere else in time, so I sucked it up and stuck around.  The nail tech, when she finally appeared, was really nice.  She suggested I get a shellac manicure since the polish is supposed to last 14 days - even if you wash dishes, clean, etc.  This sounded like a good idea to me. I was going to get a shellac pedicure as well (since sand is murder on nail polish), but they don't have the required curing lights for feet.  Oh well...she matched the colors pretty well, so it all worked out.  Long story short (too late) I was there for almost 3 freakin' hours! Not exactly how I'd planned to spend most of my Saturday!  I'll definitely be going somewhere else to get the shellac removed when it's time.  Although the nail tech was nice enough, I didn't really like the feel of the place, but at least my hands/feet are dress ready!

Let's see if this shellac stuff is all it's cracked up to be

After a sufficient amount of laying around and consuming the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers, I hit The Cave for HardCore Abs and Flow. By the time I was done, my abs were yelling, but the rest of me felt pretty good.

Day 63: What the What?
For the first time in 63 days, I missed a workout. Damn it!  It was just one of those days...running around like a crazy person, getting stuff done, totally failing to build in Cave Time...the next thing I knew it was midnight and I was falling into bed.  It was bound to happen eventually, but I can't say that knowing I missed a day makes me happy.  On a positive note, I think for the first time in a long time, all my laundry is done, everything is ironed, and all my clothes/shoes are put away.  On to the next week!

Blogging Bunnies

Hoppy Easter Walter &Spot Day!  We took over our mom's blog last year in honor of our day, so this year, we thought we'd just photo bomb you with our cuteness (Has our mom ever told you that our egos are disproportionately large?).

*pushing and shoving* Walter, I wanna be first! You got to be first last year!
*ear shaking* Oh, fine. You can be first this year, but you have to promise to clean my ears later.  *hops off and munches on a hay cube*

 Hi, Spot here. I'm a 3 year old Sagittarius. I enjoy hay, hay cubes, bananas, and long stretches of time hiding in the bathroom - especially behind the toilet, climbing on my dad whenever he lays on the floor to read, and cuddle time with Walter.

Okay, Walter, I think I'm done for now.  Show 'em what you've got!

Hi, I'm Walter! I'm a 3 year old Virgo. I love carrots, bananas, perching on towels, shredding paper towels, and snuggling with Spot.

We know you're probably on cuteness overload already, but do you know what's cuter than each of us on our own?

Both of us together!

 Well, that's all for this year's Walter & Spot Day post...see you next year!

Memories of Christmas Past

Christmas Day was sort of a blast from the past for me.  For the first time in almost 25 years, my mom's side of the family gathered at my grandma's house to celebrate the holiday.

We haven't had Christmas in this house since 1988 when it was decided that the house where my mom and her 5 siblings grew up had become too small for the rapidly expanding family.  Family size in 1988: 11 adults, 5 children.  I think I'm the only one of my cousins who can actually remember having Christmas at Grandma's!

This year, 17 adults (1 aunt/her husband and 3 cousins/1 cousin's spouse weren't able to join us) and 2 dogs crammed into the 984 sq. ft. house that has been home to our family since it was built in 1953 for what is likely the last time since Grandma passed away last month.  I think my mom and her siblings wanted to 'go home for Christmas' one more time before the house is sold.  Seems perfectly reasonable to me.  Sure, we were packed in like sardines and it was a little weird being in the house without Grandma there, but it brought back so many memories and really illustrated how much the family has changed since 1988!

Some things haven't changed - like Grandma's collection of spoon rests on the wall above the stove.

And Grandma & Grandpa's wedding photo:

 Other things have changed - like the addition of my mother-in-law's amazing Christmas cookies (a fixture every year since I met The Husband).

Seriously...the woman is one chromosome away from being Martha Stewart (but much nicer).

Due to the immense size of the family (22 people all told), we did away with a gift exchange long ago, so imagine my surprise when each of Grandma's grandchildren received one last Christmas gift from her.  When I opened my box, I found this:

This music box is one of my earliest memories of Grandma's house.  It used to sit atop the stereo in the living room - right at a little girl's eye level.  Every time I was at Grandma's house, either she or Grandpa would wind it up and let me pull the little pin on the side to make it play - over and over.  I've always loved this music box and I'm so happy it was entrusted to me. (I would have added a video of it playing, but it refuses to upload properly!)


After the gifts were opened; dessert was had, football was watched and then we all departed - for likely the last time.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Merry Christmas!

Since we all know that there are two little reasons that I don't decorate for the holidays, I thought I'd wish you all a Merry Christmas with pictures of adorable fuzzballs instead of pictures of twinkling trees and piles of presents!

(Sorry for the image quality on some of them, but Walter and Spot don't like to hold still and wait for me to get my regular camera!)

Walter

Spot

Merry Christmas from The Rabbits and Runs Family!

In The Kitchen

It's been a busy day in the RabbitsandRuns house - especially the kitchen, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Today is also my mom's birthday!  She's never been a fan of being a Christmas baby.  As a child, her birthday and Christmas presents were often combined, or if they weren't, they were usually wrapped in Christmas paper.  As a result, I've been well-educated over the years as to what to do and what not to do when dealing with a holiday birthday.  This came in handy when my half-sister (dad's kid) was born on December 26th!  In honor of the occasion, The Husband and I took mom and my uncle to lunch at a build-you-own-stirfry place (mom's request) and then followed it with cake and presents at mom's house.  Low key, but still a separate celebration (Holiday Birthday Rule #23: Always have a separate celebration.)

After lunch and a sugar rush, it was back home and into the kitchen.  I seem to have been assigned to bring all things carbohydrate to the family Christmas celebration on Sunday.  Original Assignment: Bring stuffing and mashed potatoes.  My Interpretation: Bring two kinds of stuffing and two potato dishes.  What? I like interesting food and my mom's side of the family is the size of a small army!

First up: Garlic & Romano Smashed Red Potatoes

I started by washing and hacking up 5 pounds of red potatoes and boiling them.

After draining, they were smashed with milk, butter, romano cheese and minced garlic.  I love this dish because it's perfectly acceptable to leave some lumps - they taste better that way.

Finished Product

Dish #2: Mushroom Stuffing. 

Diced onion, celery and sliced mushrooms were sauteed in butter, seasoned with some black pepper, and then combined with bread cubes and chicken stock.  The results are not photogenic (and a wee bit on the moist side), but they taste awesome - see below.

Ugly, but tasty!

Dish #3: Apple Cranberry Stuffing

More chicken stock, more bread cubes, 2 cups of peeled, diced apples, and a small bag of craisins combined to make this dish.  Oddly, this one turned out much drier than the first.  It's also not quite as flavorful, but that's probably a good thing since some of my relatives are not the most adventurous eaters on the planet.  The two stuffing recipes could easily be 'vegetarian-ized' by replacing the chicken stock with vegetable stock or even 'vegan-ized' by using a non-dairy butter substitute like Earth Balance.

Meh.

The final dish is the one I was most excited about.  It's a Three Cheese Mashed Potato Casserole that I stumbled onto on The Hungry Mouse.  I loved the step-by-step instructions, complete with photos  - it made me less nervous when my potatoes began to look more like a giant, gooey cheese ball before I topped it and put it in the oven.  The only part I'm not happy about is not being able to taste-test the final product before serving it since it would be totally obvious that I had! (I seriously can't wait to try more of the recipes from The Hungry Mouse)

See what I meant about obvious?

It pouf-ed up like a souffle when it baked!

On that note, I've got a full dishwasher to run and sink full of dishes to wash!

Are you doing any holiday cooking?  If so, what are you making?  If you're not cooking, what are your must-have holiday foods?