The ball is starting to roll....

We have about 4 weeks left here in flipping freezing cold MA. I am not just saying that it is cold here because I have mentally left MA and am sitting pool side, no, it is really just that bitter cold here. I am not one who cares so much about the snow falling on the ground. Nope, and why would I? John bought a 2 trillion dollar snow blower that solidified that I would never have to shovel snow, I worked from home, if it was that bad, my kids and my husband would be home safe with me.

I care now because it is just that raw to your bones cold. As of right now, it is 19 feels like 6.....and in case you don't know....it isn't even December. What the heck ever happened to fall? Oh wait, I think that is what happened a couple weeks ago on the weekend....

We got word today from the realtor that everything is still full steam ahead with the new buyers. We are leaving shortly on a house hunting trip and that should prove to be interesting. I am not too picky as long as the house comes equip with the pool boy, lawn/rock boy, laundry boy and car boy already there waiting for me. That shouldn't be too hard to find, right?

Well I guess I am off for a mug of tea and my down blanket.....not for too much longer though...not for too much longer.

Inspector Gadget was here!

So the guy came to inspect the house (along with the potential Barnard Road home owners who are super sweet and very nice) this am and I have to say that I am going to buy that guy a ticket and have him inspect my house in AZ! This guy was OPENING MY FRIDGE!!! My mom always warned me about wearing clean underwear in case of an accident but she never said a WORD about keeping the fridge clean in case of inspection. Way to go Mom, way to go.

Things have been a little crazy around here still and I am sure I am not the only anal one out there but everything in my fridge has it's place. Well that hasn't been the case since the last time I went to the grocery store. The eggs are where the meat goes, the yogurt is where the milk goes and I am probably out of milk. It is not a pretty site. Not at all.

I am really glad that the guy was here in case there are any potentially fixable things that would make the house sale fall through but in my gut, I just don't think that is going to happen. The guy has been telling everyone (who has been in turn telling us) that he really wants this house. (yeah us!) and as a bonus for that, he gets a free weiner dog with purchase. Now don't you wish you bought the house?

Just keep running...

So I am on my third day of exercising again.....in a row.....and I am feeling pretty darn rooting tooting good about myself. It is a great source of stress relief for me and who doesn't need that. I am reading a book about a former couch potato turned marathon runner (just one marathon though) and I am feeling pretty inspired to launch out and find one in the next 5 years that I can do. But then I sit there and think 26.2 miles....in a row.....that is like from here to CA (or something like that....I might be a bit off in my mapping of it)...but you get the idea! I wonder if you can wear heely's and run it....hrmm.....now that doesn't seem like an impossible task.

Hopefully I will turn this moving board into a sound off for me running a marathon.....let's see.

We signed the papers and if everything goes through, I have about 6 weeks left in this cold state. It is going to make for a very interesting Christmas. I wonder if I pull everything out, I can have the packer boys pack it back up....that would be a piece of heaven here on earth....

Someone pass the crayon...

In about 3 hours, my realtor will be here with a packet of papers for us to sign. We have an offer on our house and we are going to accept it. I am excited and yet sad at the same time. I always poke fun at my friend for holding on to every little thing that her kids might have looked at during their years here but I have never had an issue with it. I am not so cold hearted that I threw away everything. I have their outfits they came home in from the hospital (at least Madison's possibly Anthonys....I mean he is the second kid), handprint pictures, teeth, first time they wrote their names and I have the cutest pair of ant underwear (size 2) of Anthony's. This is the home that we bought right after getting married 11.5 years ago and now, someone is going to come in here and make it their own.

Don't get me wrong, I am super excited to be moving ahead with our life and trying something new and exciting but.....these are the walls I had to wash crayon off of, these are the floors that i *literally* have to get on my hands and knees to clean, this is the yard my kids (and many other kids) learned to walk, these are the windows that I have to clean all the time because my kids write their names on them when they fog up.....it is things like that I am going to miss. I am going to miss the windstorm of gloves and hats and boots for the first snow storm. I am going to miss my kids wearing their jammies inside out and backwards in hopes of a snow day. I am going to miss the excuse to have hot cocoa with extra marshmallows on a cold day. I am going to miss the request for another leaf pile so that they can jump in and get buried. I am going to miss driving like an old lady praying my car will make it up the icy hill. I am going to miss the time change where it gets dark at 4:45pm (time change doesn't happen in AZ).

Most of all, I am going to miss all the friendships that I have made here. I may not have many friends but the ones that I do, I cherish more than they will know.....off to get a tissue and a crayon to sign the papers.....

Watch out Martha Stewart

Or maybe Jimmy Stewart....

In all my culinary excitement, I went out last night and bought another cookbook. There is something about laying in bed reading a cookbook. (doesn't everyone read them in bed?) Anyway, I made this amazing AMAZING salsa tonight that no one but John and I ate...which is just fine with me.

So I wanted to share my recipe with you so that you could read this post in bed and hopefully make it tomorrow. Since I am just too lazy to get up and FAR lazier to actually measure ingredients, I will tell you that it is about a cup per fruit and a cup per veggie

Cantaloupe (I used half and saved the other half for breakfast)

Mango (used the whole thing because I couldn't be bothered to wrap this up too)

Strawberries (just enough so I could have some tomorrow)

Cucumber - seeded (although I usually don't take the extra step to dirty a spoon, I did tonight and I used half because Madison got to the other half

Small red onion - (I would recommend if it makes you cry on slicing, just use 1/4 as 1/2 of the onion was too much)

Green pepper - (I used all but what Madison ate)

Fresh Mint - (picked until I got tired of picking)

Basil - (went by memory at the grocery store and forgot to pick this up

1 T honey

Juice of one small lime

I put every ingredient into my food processor and pulsed the machine until it was chunky but not pureed....mxed it into a bowl....threw it in the fridge for an hour.....served it over rice and chicken but am thinking about using white fish the next time....

Happy Cooking!

Two guys walk into a bar...

the third one ducks...

I need some major jokes thrown my way. If you happen to talk with me in the next few days, tell me your best joke.

That is, by the way, one of my favorite joke. My favorite all time joke is a knock knock and just doesn't have the same flair when typed out...

Hi ho, Hi ho...

It's off to work I go! I am not coming out of retirement just yet and I could have said no but for some extra spending cash, I have have been doing some assistant work at a couple places. I should be happy about working today but I am just tired. Tired of many things. So tired in fact, I was in bed at 7:30pm! My kids came in to me and climbed in bed with me on *THEIR* way to bed! Huh? What the heckers!?

So needless to say, I am not feeling very witty or comical today. Just tired....overwhelmingly so...hopefully later, I will be able to write some good news here.....keep those prayers a coming!

Feel the beat!

I originally started this blog as a means to track how much running I was doing that didn't include the run to the fridge when the plate was empty. I really love running. I love racing. If you have never ran a race, I seriously suggest you do it at least once in your life. There will never be another time where you have complete strangers cheering you on when you look like crap, feel like crap, and smell even worse.

*Holy great idea just came to me!! Along with a foreign half naked pool boy, laundry boy, and lawn boy I need to get a cheerer boy too....someone who's sole purpose is to stand by the treadmill (or running with me) with a sign and saying nothing but words of encouragement!!! BRILLIANT!*

My ultimate goal is to run a marathon. That is my holy grail. I also want to do a triathlon, bike a century, and beat my last half marathon time. I want to think that I can focus on that right now and sign up (send check and all) for the Phoenix race in Jan but then when I woke up and it was 29, I canceled the check.

Plus, it doesn't appear that we are going to be any closer to AZ anytime soon. Oh we have had our share of lookie-lou's but nothing serious yet. We have another second showing tomorrow and a possible third showing on Friday. That is promising.

Off to go for a run to the fridge...hey, it is cold outside....