Long run

Getting ready for a New Year's Day 5k. Five miles at 5/1 intervals. Slow but felt great.

 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

And from Scotland, Merry Christmas from this sweet family!

 

 

Recipes

If you've never tried The Pioneer Woman's meat loaf, oh my, you should. I made it this evening. Followed the recipe exactly. Cooked it just a tad longer than it called for. The hubby said that meal was one of his top five ever!

Earlier today I spent a lot of time in the kitchen making her maple iced cinnamon rolls. They were very good too, but almost too sweet and rich, if that is possible. It makes seven round cake pans full. Great for Christmas gifts to neighbors and friends. We already delivered one pan, and hopefully will give away more tomorrow.

(Picture from Pioneer Woman's blog)

I tried to run today. Haven't run in a week and am thinking of signing up for a 15k race (9.3 miles) in February. After a mile warm up I tried to increase my speed. Knee started hurting so I cut it short after only 2.3 miles. I don't want any injuries so I guess I'll do a couple of weeks very slow before I try to increase the speed again. This picture illustrates my mood after a crummy run....

 

 

 

 

 

Big Decision

I made a huge decision yesterday. I am going to retire from my full time job. I've spent 34 years and 11 months working at the same site, and for most of that time in the same organization. I really do love my job and the people I work with. It has been a lot of fun and afforded me opportunities to go to Russia, Paris, Vienna, Prague, New York, San Francisco, and many other places. My management allowed me to work part time when my son was little. My co-workers are family and I will miss them very much. However, it is time to do something different. I do have plans for what that is going to be. I made the decision very quickly which took everyone by surprise. With it being the holidays there will be no time for a retirement party, which makes me sad, but I've had lots of folks come by my office and email me with their kind words of congratulations. Honestly, that is what I looked forward to with a party. Those words have meant the world to me and made my heart swell!

I hope to spend the first month at home cleaning and organizing! The blog may be getting more posts of all the stuff I will be getting into.

I am so very thankful I've been able to work where I do, with the people I work with, and am able to do this in my fifties. All thanks to the Lord for his mercy and grace given to me! I believe everything in this life is orchestrated by God the father to work out his plan. Proverbs 16:9.

 

Using protein powder

Everyone is probably pretty familiar with using protein powder for smoothies. I thought I'd try to find some other recipes for it. Yesterday when I got groceries, the bag with the eggs fell over and a few cracked. I wanted to use them today, so I found a recipe that makes French toast using protein powder.

I used some of my honey wheat homemade bread, eggs, almond milk, a scoop of vanilla protein powder, some cinnamon and a touch of vanilla extract. Then I topped it off with some homemade maple syrup. It was a bit heavy but very yummy. I had it with a cup of Royal Tea that came from The Elephant House in Edinburgh. The Elephant House is supposedly where J. K. Rowling spent a lot of her time writing the Harry Potter series books.

If you've never tried making homemade syrup, you should. I'll never buy syrup again. I used one cup of water, one cup of white sugar, one cup of brown sugar, and a tablespoon of maple extract. I could only find imitation maple extract but I thought it was still good. I've read about a product called Mapleleine, but never seen it in a store. if you can find it, you only use a half teaspoon of it.

Still getting organized from my long trip away. Need to put up the Christmas tree, do some cooking, get in a run, and believe it or not, I am wanting to start on one of the two baby quilts I need to make by spring. Yay for quilting. It has been a long time since I've made anything.

 

Last day in Edinburgh

We braved the cold, wind, rain, and sleet today and ventured out to a really good hamburger joint then the National Museum of Scotland. It was awesome.

Emma was wonderful going through the museum. She loved it, as much as a ten month old could. She enjoyed seeing everything and touching things.

I will miss this little girl so very much. She has definitely captured my heart.

 

More Edinburgh

My time here is drawing short. Just some more random photos.....

It has been very difficult to get good pictures of Emma. The lighting inside isn't the best, I didn't bring my good camera, and she is usually very bundled up when we are outside. And she is ALWAYS on the move, so they all turn out blurry!

 

Edinburgh Christmas 5k

It was cold, windy, and dreary this morning but my son took me to Inverleith park for the 5k. It started to rain once we got there and then it was sleeting!

I told him if it didn't stop soon I just wanted to go back to the flat. He said the weather changes so fast to just hold on.....so we did. And it did. The sun came out and the rain/sleet stopped. It was still chilly at about 40 degrees with a wind, but not bad at all.

No records set today. They didn't use the chip timing system and only had awards for the top three for female and male. But everyone got a medal, and a goody bag,

My garmin time was 35:11, about average for me.

...but it is exciting to have a medal And a t-shirt from a race so far from home.

My sweet daughter in law had a yummy meat loaf about ready when we got home. And I am looking forward to spending the day with this little monkey.....

 

Day trip to England

We took a train, then a bus, to Alnwick, England, today. Emma did pretty good for such a long day trip. It was beautiful. This first picture is of the castle there.

 

 

We went to the biggest used bookstore in the UK. It was in the old Alnwick railway station.

 

This picture tells the story of the station and lists the names of all those who worked there over the years.

I did get a picture of Greyfriers Bobby last night in Edinburgh. The story is the owner of the establishment passed away and his dog, Bobby, never left his graveside until he too passed away 14 years later.

Supposedly if you rub the nose of Bobby's status, you'll have good luck....or something like that.You can see the black has been rubbed off on him.

..but the best part of this trip is this....