Once upon a time, I had a dream that I could kick off my 4th decade with a high energy, bucket list activity. This weekend, at the Tinker Bell Half Marathon, that dream came true. Full race report later this week. It was awesome!

These are serious problems when you are 10.

Yesterday, I too had a stressed look on my face. I needed to get a few pieces of my projects to some sense of closure. Finish up a ridiculous mountain of laundry. Oh, and pack before my flight this morning.

These are serious problems when you are 40.

But what my daughter and I realized at the end of the day is that neither of our problems were really that big. She got to pick “one of the three boys who washes their hands.” I was able to get things wrapped up enough to not feel guilty for the next four days. Sometimes you start the day thinking things are just going to be awful. Then you take the day one piece at a time and by the end you realize that it wasn’t so bad after all. (at least most days)

Now you’ll have to excuse me because I’m leaving in less than two hours and I’m not finished packing. Plus I have to paint my toe nails so I can wear sandals

1. A lot of cookbooks, recipes and comfort messing around with favorite food items to create something new.
2. Reliable resources for new recipes and ideas.

I’m going to share with you one of my favorite online resources for new recipes and ideas: Tasty Kitchen. For those of you who are fans of Pioneer Woman you probably already know about this spin off that she created. It’s a repository of recipes from people all over the Internet. And it’s a great place to go for inspiration and recipes – many of which are focused on feeding a family.

This week I needed one more meal for my weekly plan. I had a craving for some sort of chicken, cheesy, casserole type dish. I have some recipes for that but I wanted something new. Off to Tasty Kitchen I went where I came across this yummy concoction: Chicken Tamale Casserole

A tweak here and there and we had a dinner plan! Here’s my minor revision to the original:

Chicken Tamale Casserole

3-4 chicken breasts
1 jar of salsa
1 bag Shredded Mexican Cheese Blend, Divided
1/3 cup Milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1/2 teaspoons Ground Red Pepper
1 box Corn Muffin Mix (such As Jiffy)
15 oz can Cream Style Corn
4 oz can Chopped Green Chilies
1 red bell pepper, diced
10 oz can Red Enchilada Sauce
Sour Cream

- Early in the day: Put chicken in crock pot and cover with salsa. Cook 4 hours on low. (Can cook all day if needed, just add a little water.)

- Dinner time: Preheat oven to 400F.

- In a large bowl, combine 1 cup cheese, milk, egg, cumin, red pepper, corn muffin mix, corn, green chilies and bell pepper; stir until moist. Pour into a 9 x 13 baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake for 20 minutes. While it’s baking, take your chicken out of the crock pot and shred it.

- Pierce surface liberally with a fork. Pour enchilada sauce over the top. Top with chicken and remaining cheese. Bake for an additional 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting. Serve with a dollop of sour cream on top.

I can’t explain it. Usually I obsess about the weather and check it approx 22 times a day to see if the forecast has shifted. I checked the forecast once this week. It’s going to be gorgeous in Southern California. 40s and 50s for running. Upper 70s for playing the rest of the day. Not a cloud in the sky. There’s nothing to obsess about.

Usually I obsess about what I’m wearing. I planned that out a couple weeks ago and tested out my outfit on a ridiculously warm (for January) 40 degree day when I ran my second 12 miler. I might shift from long sleeves to arm sleeves and a short sleeve t-shirt but those are both small and easy to pack so I can decide later.

Usually I obsess about the distance. I was a little crazy this weekend because I didn’t do my last long taper run. Then I remembered that I’ve run two 12 mile runs this month. I should be just fine adding one more mile. Even if this silly shin splint of mine decides to complain, my training has been very strong. I haven’t had the time to bump my weekly mileage as high as I was hoping too but I’ve had 20 mile weeks for almost two months so I know I’ve got the race distance in my legs.

I might or might not be wearing this on the flight home.

Second star to the right and straight on to the finish line!

And on went life with all its many loads of laundry.

In recent weeks I’ve had a few times where the dryer smelled hot when I took the clothes out. I chalked it up to the size of my loads or the number I was doing each day. I took my dry clothes out of the dryer, folded them (eventually), put them away and repeated the cycle. (every day, I do laundry every. day.) This weekend the occasional hot smell turned into something different.

As I walked past the laundry room on Saturday it didn’t smell hot, it smelled burnt. I went in and checked the load in the dryer. It was a load of towels and it most definitely smelled burnt. They were at the end of the cycle so I went ahead and took them out and decided the dryer must need a break. I went about my merry day, occasionally walking into the laundry room to see how it smelled. It smelled burnt. I decided to unplug the dryer and call a repair person Monday morning.

Little did I know that a small fire was smoldering away that whole time. Did I mention I have a gas dryer?

Monday morning I pull the dryer out. The smell is greatly diminished. I begin to wonder if this has something to do with that part that fell out so many weeks ago. I call the repair person. He comes at 3pm, opens the dryer and calls me in.

“Ma’am, there’s been a fire in here.”
“Really? You mean some lint got stuck because that seal fell out?”
“No I mean some lint caught fire. You are really lucky it burned it self out.”

I look inside the dryer, it is filled with ashes and scorch marks. Turns out that felt ring seal is a pretty important part of the dryer. He said he could try to fix it but that he wasn’t sure how well the motor would do after being on fire. There was also the issue of how bad it smelled. My husband & I decided to get a new dryer – the thought of using one that had been ON FIRE is not so appealing.

And now all I can think about is… what if I hadn’t been home to smell the burning smell? I am notorious for putting a load in the dryer as I leave the house. Or what if it had been at night, when my entire family was sleeping? I’m even more notorious for doing one last load of laundry by putting it in the dryer before I go to bed.

Sure, it’s a funny story. A friend of mine made me laugh when she said “That’s it! No more laundry! I’m telling my husband it’s just too dangerous.” And it’s totally the sort of thing I’m good at – denying there’s a problem and assuming the world will go along with my denial. But it could have turned out much differently.

Stupid laundry.

The 13yo came home from a babysitting gig about 20 minutes into the movie so we let her stay up and watch it with us. Yesterday as we were driving to her swim meet she asked me if I liked the movie. I told her I did and asked her what she thought. She thought it was great and very funny. I told her it had funny parts but I don’t think it’s a funny movie. Why? Well…. let me tell you a few similarities that made it not so funny (I promise I won’t ruin the movie if you haven’t seen it.)

The basic premise of the movie, as you might guess from the title, is love. The story line around which all the minor plots revolve is the marriage of Steve Carrel’s & Julianne Moore’s characters.

• They started dating in high school. My husband and I started dating in high school.
• Miniature golf was one of their “things” early in their relationship. Our first date was miniature golfing.
• The husband buying his wife ice cream was another one of their shared moments, her favorite ice cream flavor is mint chocolate chip. Mint chocolate chip is MY favorite ice cream flavor.

Are you kidding me?!?! I’m sitting there expecting a light, romantic comedy. Instead, I get a relationship that is breaking up before my eyes with eerie similarities to mine. You know – except that I didn’t sleep with a co-worker. And I don’t think there’s a bar in our tiny town with a Hitch wannabe waiting to magically transform my husband. And my life is not filled with grand romantic gestures.

I won’t say anymore in case you want to watch the movie. I found the whole thing a little weird. Cute movie. Probably far cuter if you’re not me watching it while eating mint chocolate chip ice cream that your husband surprised you by bringing home earlier in the day (yes, really).

In the meantime, I’ll grab my moments of serenity on the fly. And that’s where this quick reflection of grace in small things comes from. In this crazy-hectic-non-stop moment, I find grace:

• In vacuum tracks on my carpet – even if the shelves are dusty and the kitchen sink is full of dishes, I feel a sense of relief when my carpet looks clean.
• In story time – no matter what else is going on, the 15 minutes I spend snuggled in bed with J at night are golden.
• In the strength of my legs – even when I cut the workout short, those runs/bike rides/laps in the pool reduce my stress, help me breathe and replenish my energy.
• In yellow roses – still blooming from last week’s birthday gift, in front of the window looking out on sparkling snow. Those flowers are instant cheer-givers.
• In warm socks – it’s cold, so cold I have seriously considered working at my laptop in fingerless mittens. Warm socks and slippers give grace.

You can make this meal spicy or tame. My husband & I like it on the spicy side but I’ll give you instructions at the end if you want to tone it down. But come on… who doesn’t want a little spice in their life this year??

Shrimp & Bok Choy Noodle Bowl
Courtesy of Rachael Ray’s 365 No Repeats Cookbook with minor modifications by yours truly

2 TB cooking oil
2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (or less to taste)
4 tsp minced garlic
1 small piece of ginger (approx 2 inches long) peeled and cut into very thin matchsticks
1 package (8 oz) of shiitake mushrooms, sliced
1 medium bok choy, trimmed and cut into 3 inch matchsticks
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup clam juice (in the soup aisle)*
1 lb peeled shrimp
1 box thin spaghetti
4 green onions, cut into 3 inch matchsticks

1. In a soup pot, heat oil over medium high heat. Add crushed red pepper, garlic, ginger, mushrooms and bok choy. Season with a bit of salt & pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add chicken stock and clam juice. Cover and bring to a boil.

2. Add shrimp and noodles and cook at a rolling boil for 5 minutes. Add green onions and turn off the heat. Let sit for another five minutes so all the flavors come together.

Serve it in big bowls. My kids love to use chop sticks to eat this dinner – another fun way to work in the Chinese New Year theme. I alternate between using a fork and a spoon (I’m terrible with chop sticks) and I’ve been known to slurp up the broth at the bottom of the bowl.

Don’t want it spicy? Omit the crushed red pepper. Some of you want it spicy? Divide and conquer – get two pots and make half with the spice and half without.

Oh and that * by the clam juice… in a pinch I’ve used a can of vegetable stock with a splash of Thai fish sauce. Seafood stock would be great if you can find it instead. The added seafood taste adds a very nice layer to this dish. You could just add another cup of chicken stock if you can’t find any fish-related substitution.

Happy Chinese New Year!

This weekend, J tried to put on his winter boots for his first snow play of the year. They are a little hard to get on, but that’s to be expected with his heavy socks. I bought the boots last winter a size too big and I check the tag now. They are the same size as the shoes he wears every day. Sure, his foot might be a little bigger than it was at the beginning of the school year but we can make this work.

Well – we crammed his foot in and then when he came in, I measured his foot. He is measuring at a size 4.5 – 5. His current shoe? Size 3. Yet he never complained once. Can you imagine squeezing your foot into a shoe two sizes too small without complaint day after day?!?

On a related note, it seems that I shrunk all of his pants in the laundry (and yet somehow didn’t shrink anyone else’s clothes). Because all of his pants are suddenly about an inch too short.

Come to think of it, we also used to have a lot more dinner leftovers too.

I have a sneaky suspicion these things are all connected.

I understand their disappointment. Snow makes everything so pretty. Without it we are left with some very brown, drab scenery. On yesterday’s run I couldn’t help but smile at how nice everything looked sparkling in the snow. I wasn’t a big fan of the icy spots or piles of slush that slowed me down from time to time, but the snow everywhere was just beautiful.

Unbroken expanses of snow made me want to take a picture. But it was the messy yards that made me smile. The yards with the snow angel markings and footprints through to the grass in spots and the piles of snow that somewhat resembled snowmen. Those yards weren’t nearly as pretty but there the snow was well-appreciated. In those houses, there will also be small voices asking “Where did the snow go?”

Those kids aren’t in line at the store saying “I’ve seen enough of that white stuff to last me for a while.” They don’t grumble at the forecast. They don’t walk around and complain to each other about the snow. Those kids love winter (and spring and summer and fall). Snow just brings a new way to play and what could be better than that?!

Snow is really just a lesson in seizing the day.