Free Friday-Happy Halloween

This morning Academy Sports opened their doors in Cordova!!!!  For the first 150 customers they issued a voucher to win a gift card. I woke up at 0500 hrs and went to Academy Sports, where I was the 10th person!!!!  When they let us in we went and drew gift cards. I got $25.00. Stocked up on Nuun hydration tablets. I will be using a lot of Nuun while training for my Ironman.

Halloween officially starts the holiday season.  I am ready for the trick or treaters. Thank God my children are not as bad as my brother and I were.  I remember waxing cars, running to the same houses twice, and eggs on Halloween😁

I finally taught myself to flip over eggs without using any utensils. As Julia Child once said while she tried to flip eggs, "you've got to have courage in your convictions."  My favorite movie is Julie & Julia.  It is about cooking and blogging two of my favorite things. I have two copies just in case one gets scratched.

Have my workout plans for the weekend: biking and running.

Do you have Halloween plans?
What are your plans for the weekend?
Are you willing to sit in the cold for a freebie?

Spinning instead of running

So last night I made homemade chicken Marsala, mashed potatoes, and barfalli (broccoli). I hate broccoli.  Since I am a pescatarian I did not eat the chicken, however the Marsala sauce was awesome. Rave reviews from the meat eaters.

I have a confession about Halloween candy 😁 I purchase the candy I like of course, and more than I need.  I then plot how I will be able to keep ALOT of it because I am a sugar addict.  My plan is as follows:  only give out one piece, turn the lights off when I feel I may be running low, and of course to just say we only had a few trick or treaters.  This is partly because of my father, I learned from the best.

Ridiculous!!!!!

I was only going to do the spinning bike today, BUT decided after 45 minutes on the bike that I was going to run too.  I broke my PR (personal record) for the 5k. Twenty minutes!!!! That averages: 6 minutes and 34 seconds per mile.  Very happy😜.  

Do you overbuy Halloween candy so you have extras?

Have you ever broken a PR without trying? 

 

Mornings at home

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I am fortunate I don't have to work!!!  After putting my son on the bus I spend the morning with PRISSY. She is my 11 year old seal point Persian cat.  Isn't she beautiful?  Obviously you can tell why I named her Prissy.  She is a member of my family, and still acts like a kitten.  We sit in the morning and watch the birds at the bird feeder. I wonder if she believes she is a cat while watching.  She always comes to the door and looks outside with a look that I can only describe as "who walks outside and gets their feet dirty?"  She has never been outside. I sip on my chai latte and enjoy the sunrise and birds.  I have always loved watching birds, my father taught me every bird that was in Pennsylvania.  One time he and I stood outside very still with bird food in our hands.  The birds would fly up and eat out of our hands.  I am very blessed to have had such a wonderful father and I miss him everyday.  Usually after I "wake up" I hit the gym.  Mornings are my "me" time and I enjoy every minute of it!!!!!

Are you a morning person?

If you have pets, post a picture!!! 

Do you think birdwatching is therapeutic?

I love new stuff, great finds!!!!!

What a great day!  Had my monthly visit to the Veterans Hospital (I suffer from major depressive disorder and PTSD). Always nice talking to the older veterans.
Since I was out I made a few stops:
 
     WHOLE FOODS- I love this place the selection is amazing.  While browsing through the sports          nutrition area I came across BOBOS OAT BARS absolutely delicious and a great deal on CLIFS KITS ORGANIC  bars. They were $1.00 but I had .50 cents off coupons so score on those.
     SEPHORA- I always feel so girly when I go in. It is fun to try out new scents and see what the latest trends are. Picked up a SMASHBOX full exposure eyeshadow kit.  I really only wear neutral colors and very rarely. I am more tomboyish than the average bear, lol.
     ACADEMY SPORTS- I really have too many running shoes BUT I saw these awesome ASICS GEL NOOSA TRI shoes and needed them (if I say needed it justifies it)   The shoes have various triathlon related pictures and phrases. Adorable

     Have you tried Sweet Revenge?  Tastes almost like cotton candy!!!! 
Now what to make for dinner?

Do you ever go on mini shopping sprees?
How often do you wear makeup?
What do you like to splurge on?

Monster Munch Directions

First and most importantly you will need a super large bowl. Mix the following ingredients together:
          1 bag M&Ms 12 ounce bag fall colors
          1 bag candy corn 22 ounce
          1 pound bag of small pretzel sticks
          2 popped bags of plain popcorn (the kind you pop in the microwave)
After mixing those ingredients get 1 pound of white candy melts. You can get them at the grocery store or Michaels. Melt the white candy in the microwave per directions on the packaging.  Once it is melted slowly drizzle it on top of the popcorn mixture.
Spread the completely mixed munch on wax paper.  I chose to add some Halloween sprinkles on top of mine, if choosing sprinkles put on as soon as you spread the mixture out. Let cool completely.  Break into pieces store or gift it. 

   

                       MONSTER MUNCH

Speaking of Michaels I got sprinkles, twenty five cute spider themed bags, and four cute Halloween gift bags all for $3.25. Yes, Michaels has their Halloween stuff 70% off. I'm going back later and stocking up!!!!

Here are the bags, with Monster Munch. The two bags combined were only .30 cents

Weekend wrap up

As usual the weekend flew by, however I got a lot of stuff accomplished.  We went to Eat Well, score for me !!!!!!!  I used the small plates this time so I would control myself which worked. I was full but not miserably.  I tried every sushi they had it was delicious.  If you are ever in Memphis I highly recommend it.  Finished a thousand piece puzzle with my son.

Got up early on Sunday hit the gym with a quick 8 miles in under an hour. I also did spinning for thirty minutes.  Went home and had a cinnamon raisin bagel with Chai latte.  I helped a friend with his new job and got treated to lunch at Young Avenue deli.  I just had a large garden salad which was alright.  When I went into the office of his new job, I noticed a huge bowl of trick or treat candy, I must say I am already impressed with this place!!!!  And yes, I did trick or treat two pocketfuls.

Picked out a pumpkin for carving which Krogers had for $3.99 awesome deal. Thanks to my friend Jennifer Chaffin for a monster munch recipe (to follow tomorrow)  Sports Authority sent me a coupon for $25 off a purchase of $75. I took full advantage. Zachary needed new shoes which were $50. The other $25 was for socks and Nuun which were free after the coupon. It was too good to pass up. 

Tomorrow is a special person's birthday, the big 40!!!! I am making an Oreo cheesecake.  

Long run Saturday

Good morning to those who are up. The rest of my house is still asleep.  Saturdays are my long run days, usually over ten miles.  Today I plan on using the treadmill because when I am outside and it is chilly my nose runs non stop, so gross.  I took this spinning class a year ago and the instructor said "I'm sparkling"   What she was trying to say was that when she was covered in sweat she felt sparkly, not me I feel badass!!!!

Hopefully if I beg enough we are going to Eat Well , which is not how I will eat but an actual restaurant.  It is an authentic Japanese sushi bar.  All I can say about it is I LOVE IT.  Plus it is a pescatarian meal.  Unfortunately I have a reputation at all you can eat places, I make it worth the trip. My youngest son, Zachary, feels that he needs to inform everyone there that I will eat the most.

I have three sons, Jordan 21, Marcus 20, and Zachary 11.   When I was a uniformed police officer people would say how difficult it must be. My reply would always be, " I come to work for a break." When I look back I don't know how I survived the older two.  They turned into awesome young men so all that work was well worth it!!!! Parenting is the hardest job.

I am new to blogging I am trying to get some pictures and recipes up


What is your weekend run schedule?
Do you enjoy sushi?
Does parenting exhaust you?

Happy Friday!!!!!!

This is a wrap up of my week of working out, eating, and finding things that make me sparkle.  I bet you are wondering what is sparkling?  To me it means that joy that reminds me of Christmas morning as a child.  I love finding new things to try, doing adventurous things, and just finding peace amongst this chaotic world.

I decided to compete in an Ironman 140.6 next October.  Wondering what the 140.6 means? One hundred forty point six miles.  It is broken down by events swimming 2.4 miles, bicycling 112 miles and running 26.2 miles. In one day, lol.  I already have the running and bicycling experience.  Swimming is another story going to start training early.

This week I tried a few new foods. I recently decided to go pescatarian which is basically eating fish, shellfish, and the usual vegetarian diet. I have been doing this for about two months and I am having fun with it.  I baked a spaghetti squash, added a few things to it-awesome!!!  Also baked a butternut squash and made soup out of it.  I will post the recipes in a day or two

What are you doing this weekend?
Anyone ever competed in an Ironman competition?
What do you find sparkle in?