Last long training run before the race

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We have a 5k race scheduled on Sunday. I’m so excited!

Tonight we ran 3.13 miles, the last long run before the race. It’s 95 degrees outside, so definitely not ideal running weather. We ran it in 43 minutes.

I’m getting faster but I’m still not meeting my time goals. I really want a sub-40 5k. Hopefully I’ll be able to run a bit faster when the weather cools down. I’ve read ideal running temp is 60-65 degrees. That’s a bit off our 95 degree running weather.

Tomorrow – 1 mile run, fast as possible

Thursday – 1 mile run, nice and easy

Rest until race on Sunday morning

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Menu Plan Monday

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I am still working my way through the Newstart cookbook. We’ve had some successful meals and a couple we’ve thrown away. But I’m glad we decided to cook our way through the recipes.



Three Bean Salad

Sunday

Breakfast – Smoothies

Lunch – Quesadillas

Dinner – Stuffed Green Peppers, pg. 109; salad; French bread

Monday

Breakfast – Meal-In-One Breakfast, pg. 22

Lunch – Leftovers

Dinner – Spaghetti; garlic bread; green beans

Tuesday

Breakfast – Smoothies

Lunch – Mini French Pizzas, pg. 125

Dinner – Tacos

Wednesday

Breakfast – Scrambled tofu with onion & mushrooms; Peach Breakfast Cake, pg. 26

Lunch – Subs

Dinner – Lentil Links, pg. 111

Thursday

Breakfast – Smoothies

Lunch – Pitas with hummus, spinach, tomatoes

Dinner – Tofu Oat Burgers, pg. 116

Friday

Breakfast – French Toast, pg. 27

Lunch – Subs

Dinner – Almond Rice Loaf, pg. 112

Sabbath

Breakfast – Smoothies

Lunch – Leftover Almond Rice Loaf

Dinner – Pizza – mushroom, onion, fresh basil, garlic

New recipes scheduled for this week – 8

Total Newstart recipes cooked – 25/269

*Linked up at Menu Plan Monday

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This Week’s Memory Text – Psalm 33:3

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This week I am memorizing the next verse in this passage.

Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous:
for praise is comely for the upright.

Praise the LORD with harp:
sing unto him with the psaltery
and an instrument of ten strings.

Sing unto him a new song;
play skilfully with a loud noise.
Psalm 33:1-3

I don’t know why I like this passage so much lately but I’ve been finding joy in reading it almost every morning! I wish I knew how to praise the Lord on an instrument. Alas, all I have is my poor voice. I’m so thankful that God looks at our heart, not at our singing ability!

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Love & Respect

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Would anyone be interested in reading Love & Respect, by Emerson Eggerichs, along with me? I read it last year and really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, the book was a library copy so I wasn’t able to take my time with it. This time, I want to read more slowly and try to implement some of the principles.

The book is based on Ephesians 5:33. From inside the book jacket: Psychological studies affirm it, and the Bible has been saying it for ages. Cracking the communication code between husband and wife involves understanding one thing: that unconditional respect is as powerful for him as unconditional love is for her. It’s the secret to marriage that every couple seeks, and yet few couples ever find.

If anyone is interested in reading along with me, just let me know. I was thinking a chapter a week and I want to discuss it in a blog post – what I learned, how I implemented it, what happened.

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Sticker Charts – for Homemakers?

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It was a crazy idea but I decided to try. Tofugu is my primary resource for learning Japanese. One day, Koichi posted about “Using ‘Jerry Seinfeld’s Secret To Productivity’ To Learn Kanji.” This strategy involves a calendar and a goal. It’s a great idea for learning kanji.

Well, I thought about using this idea for homemaking. Having a clean kitchen is so nice! Unfortunately, most nights I feel lazy and just leave the dishes until breakfast. It’s not fun waking up to a sink full of dirty dishes.

First – I set a goal: to wash, dry, and put away all the dishes before going to bed.
Second – I printed out the nice calendar that Koichi so kindly provided.
Third – I bought a set of really cute stickers from Walmart.
Fourth – I started trying to create a streak!

It’s motivating to see a solid line of stickers! If I skip washing the dishes one night, I have to break the chain. Some nights I’m motivated to do dishes only because I want my sticker. Other nights, I’m motivated simply by having a clean kitchen. My chart currently has a streak of 35 days of clean dishes. Whatever works!

Do you think this method would work for you? How else can it be applied?

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Menu Plan Monday

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Cooking through the Newstart cookbook is still going really well. Last week I didn’t make everything on the menu and this week I picked out an even greater number of new recipes to make! We’ll see how many of them I will actually cook. I do my best to stick to the menu but occasionally I run out of cooking time or my produce goes bad faster than expected.

I make my menus/shopping lists on Thursdays each week and complete most of my grocery shopping on Fridays. That’s why they are Sunday-Sabbath, not Monday-Sunday.

Sunday
Breakfast – Smoothies (banana/peach)
Lunch – Quesadillas
Dinner – Pasta with yummy yummy sauce and garlic bread

Monday
Breakfast – Oat Waffles, pg. 30
Lunch – Stir Fry
Dinner – Pasta Italiana, pg. 127; Onion Rolls, pg. 7
*Extra – Make Tofu Mayonnaise, refrigerate overnight, pg. 158
*Extra – Make Three-Bean Salad, refrigerate overnight, pg. 141

Tuesday
Breakfast – Smoothies (banana/peach)
Lunch – Subs with Tofu Mayonnaise, pg. 158; Three-Bean Salad, pg. 141 (didn’t make last week)
Dinner – Tacos

Wednesday
Breakfast – Breakfast Bar Muesli, pg. 24
Lunch – Subs; Potato Salad, pg. 143
Dinner – Mushroom Stroganoff, pg. 139

Thursday
Breakfast – Smoothies (banana/strawberry)
Lunch – Pitas with Cucumber Raita, pg. 151
Dinner – Tofu Walnut Loaf, pg. 113

Friday
Breakfast – French Toast, pg. 27 (didn’t make last week)
Lunch – Leftover Tofu Walnut Loaf
Dinner – Better Burgers, pg. 114

Sabbath
Breakfast – Smoothies (banana/strawberry)
Lunch – Chow Mein
Dinner – Pizza (mushroom, onion, fresh basil)

New recipes scheduled for this week – 12
Total Newstart recipes cooked – 18/269

*Linked up at Menu Plan Monday

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This Week’s Memory Text – Psalm 33:1-2

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This week I made a conscious effort to spend more of my prayer time praising God. It was kind of awkward! I realized it’s a lot easier to ask God for things I think I need rather than praising Him for things He’s done.

Do you think there is a difference between thanks and praise? I suspect there is.

Thanks – “Thank you, Lord, for protecting me on the roads today as I drove to and from the grocery store.”

Praise – “You are wonderful, God! You are strong and offer protection to your children as they travel the busy roads.”

For me, the first type of prayer is easier to say, both out loud and in private prayers. David wrote many hymns of thanks and praise and he didn’t seem to have any issues praising God. Maybe with time, it will become easier.

For this week’s memory text, I’m going to add the verse following the one I learned last week. I think it will be great to learn an entire passage.

Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous:
for praise is comely for the upright.

Praise the LORD with harp:
sing unto him with the psaltery
and an instrument of ten strings.
Psalm 33:1-2

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Cupboard mess

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I have been cooking from scratch for several weeks. For the most part, it’s been great! Most of the food has been good and I’ve added a couple of meals to our favorites list.

Cooking from scratch requires that I buy a lot of food from the bulk bins: nuts, seeds, flours, rice, beans, dried fruit. Because of this, I am running into two problems.

1 – I’m slowly killing the environment with all of these plastic bulk bags. It’s ironic, as I use reusable shopping bags to carry my groceries home!
2 – My cupboard is overflowing with ingredients and it’s hard to find anything.

Help! Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I could do to eliminate at least one of these problems?


My scary cupboard

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What’s On My Nightstand?

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Completed in June and July (links are to my reviews)

The Naked Sun, Isaac Asimov – 3 stars
The Robots of Dawn, Isaac Asimov – 3 stars
The Help, Kathryn Stockett – 4 stars
Mornings with Mailer: A Recollection of Friendship, Dwayne Raymond – 3 stars
The Boxcar Children, Gertrude Chandler Warner – 3 stars
Have a New Kid by Friday, Dr. Kevin Leman – 4 stars
The Faraway Horses, Buck Brannaman – 3 stars
Ramona the Pest, Beverly Cleary – 2 stars

Wow. Looking at this list, I am surprised. I thought I had completed more books than this. I think it’s because I have a few books waiting to be reviewed and way too many in progress. Lately, I’ve been having a hard time finishing books, instead skipping around from book to book.

In Progress

City of Ember, Jeanne DuPrau – YA science fiction
Cleopatra, a Life, Stacy Schiff – Biography
50/50: Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days, Dean Karnazes – Health & Wellness
The Amber Room: The Fate of the World’s Greatest Lost Treasure, Adrian Levy & Catherine Scott-Clark – History, Russia & WWII
Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement, Kathryn Joyce – Nonfiction, Religious Studies

Upcoming

I don’t think I’ll get through all of these books before they are due back at the library. The last couple times I visited the library, I succumbed to “hey, this looks good!” a few too many times. Ha! I’ve been in a reading mood lately but haven’t had enough time to read so the books just keep piling up. And now that it’s a Nightstand day, I’ll be adding more books to my reading list!

Happy reading, everyone!

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Menu Plan Monday

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I am still working my way through the Newstart cookbook. I think it’s going to take awhile before I make all of the recipes. As we complete a recipe, I put a little check mark next to the recipe title in the index. The check marks are very sparse compared to the number of recipe titles. At least I won’t be running out of recipes any time soon!

Sunday
Breakfast – Smoothies – banana/peach
Lunch – Quesadillas
Dinner – Apple Burritos, pg. 28 with Maria’s Tortillas, pg. 10


Maria’s Tortillas

Monday
Breakfast – Smoothies – banana/strawberry
Lunch – Subs
Dinner – Broccoli Amandine, pg. 108
*Extra – Make Three-Bean Salad, refrigerate overnight

Tuesday
Breakfast – Smoothies – banana/strawberry
Lunch – Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with Three-Bean Salad, pg. 141
Dinner – Spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce, pg. 96

Wednesday
Breakfast – Banana French Toast, pg. 27
Lunch – Subs
Dinner – Lentil Links, pg. 111

Thursday
Breakfast – Smoothies
Lunch – Stir-fry
Dinner – Tacos

Friday
Breakfast – French Toast, pg. 27
Lunch – Subs
Dinner – Tofu Loaf, pg. 113
*Extra – make pumpkin pie – Crust – pg. 58, pumpkin pie filling in cupboard

Sabbath
Breakfast – Smoothies
Lunch – Chow Mien
Dinner – Pizza – onion, mushroom, basil

Last week, I made summer vegetable enchiladas. The filling was extremely colorful!

We enjoyed the new cheese sauce and the tomato sauce but thought the filling was better suited for stir-fry. At least the enchiladas looked pretty!

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