Weekend Recap: Olympics, Home Cooked Meals, and Sunshine

First things first.  We did not win on Friday night, and another basketball season is in the books.  Thankfully, we played a really good game so we went out on a high note.  And the bus ride with our opponent was no big deal.  I found out after the game that their coach and I both played basketball at HC. She is several years older than me and I had heard her name mentioned by some of my older teammates, but I had never seen her before.  I guess it is a small world after all.

Saturday afternoon sky. Can you see the tiny rainbow spot in the center of the picture?  It was the only spot of rainbow in the entire sky.

We got home at a decent hour so I settled in to watch the last half of the Olympic's opening ceremonies.  It was pretty entertaining, but as tired as I was I dozed off pretty quickly.  I watched as much Olympic programming as I possibly could this weekend (as usual).  I just love it!  I can get Eric to watch for a little while, but then he realizes what he is watching and wants to change it.  Although I caught him watching men's figure skating the other day and he said he had not changed it because the USA guy was skating.  My goal is to watch as much Olympic programming as I possibly can over the next couple of weeks.  Lucky for me that will be easier to do since basketball is over.

Is your mouth watering yet?  Mine is just thinking about this!

The rest of the weekend was spent cleaning the house top to bottom--it was in bad shape--getting back into my cooking groove (homemade mac and cheese, deer spaghetti, and the best cookie bars I have ever eaten-recipe coming this week), and taking long walks with the puppies in my SHORTS!  It was mid 60's and sunny all weekend so I decided to let my legs get a little sunshine because they need it bad.

Handsome boy enjoying the porch.  He spent a TON of time out there this weekend.

This week will be full of adjustments for me.  No practice, getting to cook dinner again, watching as much Olympic overage as I can, and adding in Insanity workouts to my nightly routine-which I am stoked about!  Oh and we have ANOTHER chance for wintry weather.  I think most of it will go north of us, but this will be our 3rd bout of wintry weather in 3 weeks!  I realize that is normal for winter most places, but it's crazy for down here!  I am just glad the cold has been coming mid-week, leaving the pretty weather for the weekends!

Happy Monday!

We Get to Play Another Day

Would you believe me if I said we didn't end our season last night?  It's true. We didn't, but we didn't win either because the game was postponed.  We had a bit of wintry weather come through yesterday evening and because of the hoopla last week no one was taking any chances this week.  We got a little bit of sleet and from what I have heard it did snow further north where we were playing, but it was waaaay to warm for it to stick.

These latest developments have provided their own set of challenges. Mainly how we supposed to get to the game.  The school I coach at is part of a one city school system that only has so many buses and bus drivers.  Our wrestling team has sectionals today--one bus down; our boys basketball team has their own area tournament game today at another school--another bus down; and we have to leave at 2pm for a 5pm game which is right smack dab in the middle of the time all of the other students need to be dropped off at home--there goes the rest of the fleet.  Not to mention neither myself or the head coach has a CDL so even if we had a bus we couldn't drive it.  Our solution is a little unorthodox, but it will have to do, because there are no other options.  We are being bused to our opponent's school 10 minutes away from our school where we will get on the school but with our opponent. We will ride the bus with them to the school that is hosting our tournament an hour and a half away, play a game, and then ride back together.  I still think it's crazy they would not let us just play our game at our opponent's school last night.  I understand the whole "hosting the tournament" privilege for the #1 seed, but when that involves everyone driving so far don't understand why an exception could not be made.  It might even save the schools a little money, but why would we want to do that?  *steps off soap box*  I have decided I am just going to go with the flow and be flexible with this situation because there is no other choice and me stressing over it will not change anything. If anything maybe we can psyche them out on the bus, all the while thanking them for taking us in and helping us get to the game.  =)

Not having a game last night meant that I had another rare free night.  The boys got a nice long walk, we did Insanity Pure Cardio together (sweet right?!), I made some delicious Turkey Lettuce Wraps for dinner, and we even watched a little Olympic coverage.  Eric was on board with the Olympics until the men's figure skating came on tv.  I lost him after that so we caught up on this week's Duck Dynasty.

Clockwise from Top Left: 1. A yoga mat can became a dog mat in .2 seconds at our house.  That's ok boys I will use the floor.
2. Turkey Lettuce Wraps is one of our favorite go-to weeknight dinners.
3. I had no idea a dog could give such a perfect side-eye/paw point combo.
4. It was probably because of the insane amount of drool coming out of Hawk's mouth after I shared a clementine with them.

Happy Friday!

Random Thoughts on a Thursday

How did Thursday get here so quickly?!  This week has flown by.  I just realized that my birthday is 2 weeks from today!  I mean I knew it was coming up but it's happening very very soon.  The busy-ness of life has me not quite thinking clearly.  That needs to be fixed because my birthday is a very important day to which attention should will be given. =)

We are definitely getting a real, legit winter down south this year. We had flurries this morning just a week after the Snowpocalypse. I am not going to lie, I love it!  I was born and bred a Mid-Westerner and to be honest southern winters usually leave me wanting more [cue eye rolls from all Northerners]. This year I've gotten to wear ALL of my sweaters multiple times and I got to see snow in my own backyard.  Not to mention I have had real reasons to make a bunch of delicious soups and chili. Last night's selection was Tortellini Soup.  So easy, so delicious.

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup from Plain Chicken
(one of my favorite recipe blogs!)

Speaking of delicious, Eric and I have a new found obsession with goat cheese.  How did we both go nearly 30 years without knowing about this delicacy?!  I am just glad we found out about it when we did.  I am pretty sure I have made at least 5 goat cheese pizzas since we discovered it about 6 weeks ago.  I did a little research this morning and found out one of our favorite pizza places has 2 pizzas with goat cheese one them.  I sent Eric a text about it and now we're trying to figure out the first free night we have to go try them.

When we get to go will all depend on my basketball schedule.  Tonight could potentially be our last basketball game of the season.  We got a bye in our tournament because we were the 3 seed in the Region (with 3 wins...ha), so if we are already in the second round.  If we can win tonight we're guaranteed 2 more games.  The team we are playing is good, but not that great.  A win is certainly doable. They just have to want it bad enough.  I have 4 seniors on the team this year and they have been with my since my first year when they were sophomores. They have been through so much with this program and I think it would be amazing if we could get a win for them.  We told them last night that tournament time meant the slates have been wiped clean and your record up to this point now means nothing.  The game is now win or go home.  I know I am not the most motivational speaker but I hope they take what we've told them to heart.

I hope we keep playing for a few more games, but I am excited to get back to daily walks with these knuckleheads.

Snowpocalypse 2014

What a difference a week makes. A week ago I was at work waiting to be sent home because of the impending Snowpocalypse.  Today it's supposed to be 65 degrees.

It took nearly 4 days for us to thaw out.  The roads were clear enough for me to report back to work at noon on Thursday. In case you've missed the news last week, the South was blanketed with a sheet of ice and snow.  Our area was lucky.  We were expecting it, so most schools and businesses were already closed when the storm came rolling in.  My work made us go in (you could take leave, but if you did and they let us leave you still had to use leave...stupidest rule ever), so I did and they finally decided to send us home around 9:30 after the ice started falling.  My 40 minute commute turned into an hour long commute, but it was nothing compared to folks in Birmingham and Atlanta, some of whom it took a couple of days to get home. Those cities were only expecting a dusting of snow and ended up getting pounded with snow and ice a lot earlier than they were expecting.  It was a mess.  There were countless stories of people abandoning cars on major roadways and walking home.

1. Our house looks pretty good in white.
2. Looking out the front window.
3. Our mailbox won for the longest icicle.  It was crazy!
4. My car iced over while I was driving home from work.
5. I think Eric's truck had the largest accumulation of snow.
6. Icicles on the diving board!
7. Being snowed in = Homemade Chipotle Burritos and wine for dinner.
8. My poor rose bush got iced over, too. 

We didn't get nearly the amount of snow we were hoping, but we still made sure to get out and enjoyed it. Eric made the most of the last week of hunting season and kept sending me pictures on Tuesday afternoon of his hunt as the snow was falling.  He said that might have been one of his most favorite hunts ever, despite the fact that he missed an 8-point deer.  I took advantage of my down time and did as little as possible aside from a couple of puppy walks and workouts.  Since school was out I didn't have practice or dance classes.  I barely knew what to do with myself with 3 free nights in a row!

We went out to the hunting land on Wednesday and I got a picture of the barn we stayed in the previous weekend.  What a difference a few days make!

There was a little more snow there and it was so pretty!  The pond had completely frozen over, and that bare spot is from where Eric's truck was parked as the snow was coming down on Tuesday afternoon. 

Oh you know just hanging in the woods.  

I might have temporarily gotten myself lost in the woods while we were at the hunting land.  We went to look for a deer that someone shot the day before but could not find.  When we got to the bottom of the hill (by the pond) Eric told me to walk 30 yards alongside the pond and then go straight up the hill.  He took off the other way and I told him I would make a bird-like sound if I found it (not sure why I felt the need to do that but I was in the woods, might as well be one with the creatures, right?).  After a couple of minutes I heard a bird-like sound from the direction he went so I bee-lined in that direction.  After a few minutes I still didn't see him so I walked back to the top of the hill thinking he had already dragged the deer out.  I didn't see him or a path where he'd dragged a deer, so I called his name several times.....no answer.  Mild panic set in at this point.  I was out in the woods, it was 20 degrees, and I have no idea where my husband is.  I finally pulled out my cell phone to call him.  He answered.  He had not found the deer.  I heard and actual bird, not him calling me.  He was back at the ATV by the deer stand (which I could see barely).  I took off toward it and found him. Thank goodness!  And thank you Verizon for your excellent cell reception!  And now I can say I was lost in the woods during Snowpocalypse 2014.

The pups enjoyed the snow just as much as we did--if not more!  We made sure to take a couple of walks since I was home all day.

Waiting to go outside and play!

That's my snow day(s) story and I'm sticking to it!