Ever been bitten by a brown recluse?? Well I have and it is not that fun.  Bitten twice actually and spent an evening in urgent care.  Really not fun!!  I have been bitten by spiders many times but never to this extent.  Whole arm was swollen and feverish so, thats why I've been MIA on the blog lately.  

Anyway, Marathon is done- Im doing a half in two weeks and will decide from there what direction I want to go.  I'm thinking MMA fighter but we will see.

         We had an event at the Temple that I ended up making 40 latkes for, I love latkes.  AND I love even more to cook with grease in somewhere that is not my house.  Much easier clean up that way. I'm now making cinnamon rolls from scratch and some matzo balls.  If the cinnamon rolls turn out well I will post recipe tomorrow.

Oh, I almost forgot we(meaning Larry) are making end tables for the bedroom out of pallets.

These pallets have the strongest nails I have ever seen!!! Also will let you know how they turn out!!:)

The Day Before!

Well, Here we are- the day before the Route 66 Marathon and I wanted to take it easy!  So-- I ran a 5k

Ha-  I look very serious, which is funny, because in all reality I'm totally not.  I had a decent run-finished in 32 minutes.  To continue on with my relaxing, I then went grocery shopping. Wal Mart on a Saturday before Thanksgiving day is not a pretty sight.   After the grocery store, I cooked a whole chicken and then divided into 3 meals, chicken salad for Larry's lunch next week, Matzo balls because I love them and I make delicious ones, and a chicken pot pie because I need something more substantial then matzo balls if I gonna run 26.5 miles( yep .5  doing the center of the universe tour) tomorrow!wow that was one heck of a run on sentence!! I also made 6 pie crusts for Thanksgiving and pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies for the hell of it.

These cookies are AWESOME--  just  a regular snickerdoodle recipe but add a cup of pumpkin puree.(I told you last week how to make your own puree)  also (ignore the junk food cereal box in the background).  THEN I went to a reveal party, I know--what the heck is a reveal party- well my BFF who is pregnant did not know what sex the baby is but her hubby did.  So, they threw a party and bought a cake and "revealed" what they are having!! AND ITS A 

GIRL!!CONGRATULATIONS NATALIE, MARCUS, AND STERLING!!

Very Exciting.  Anyway,  now I am really trying to get some rest so I'm gonna head to a bday party.  Sounds smart right! ugh!!!  Completely unrelated--

This is what our poor dog looks like when his dad has to leave for a side job after he's been gone all day.  Is it not the saddest thing you have ever seen.

Marathon tomorrow--Ill let you know-

Arkansas

So, If you are from Oklahoma, like me and you have not done the Talamena drive. You simply have to do it.  It is a scenic byway from Talihina Oklahoma to Mena Arkansas and it is absolutely gorgeous.  Larry and I went to the wedding of our good friends Emma and Zane this weekend.  We took a round about way and took this byway.  It was well worth the extra 7 hours in the car.  I won't bore with all the details of the weekend but we saw a lot of leaves, celebrated a wonderful marriage between two awesome folks, and generally had a great time.

And now on to real business.  One week to the marathon and I am pumped!! carb loading and tapering make for a very pleasant week.  Ended with and extra day off to recover what could possible go wrong!!

Chasing Lori: Time Change!!

Chasing Lori: Time Change!!: I don't know about anyone else, but the time change has me all screwed up.  I'm exhausted at 8 p.m. and up at 5 a.m. everyday.  It is becomi...

Time Change!!

I don't know about anyone else, but the time change has me all screwed up.  I'm exhausted at 8 p.m. and up at 5 a.m. everyday.  It is becoming quite an issue, mainly because of my crappy attitude in the evening hours due to extreme sleepiness.   Which, is why I have also been ignoring the blog, my running, cleaning the house etc.   Oh well, I guess it will all work out.  

       Yesterday I took Michael to the grocery store.  It was quite an experience.  As we are walking in he tells me: " Now we can go to shopping together just like we have always wanted".  I was completely unaware that we have always wanted to go to the shopping together, but glad that I could make him happy.   Everyone in the store knows him, which is really strange because he has only been there a few times.  I feel like a celebrity when I hang out with Michael-or a adult babysitter.  I'm now sure which one.

    I was exhausted last night so I skipped my run, which is fine since I am in tapering mode(my favorite week of training)  and I only have to get in 17 miles this whole week!!  So, Larry and I went to the Chinese buffet near the house.  He does not want me to show this picture , so I'm going to make it extra large!

This is is plate after he finished.  Notice the carnage of crawdads.  This is because I do not allow shellfish ( among other non-kosher) items in the house.  When we go out is his only opportunity to eat and tends to go a bit over board!.    

     Trying to plan a little weekend trip to my friend Emma's wedding in Fort Smith.   Thinking of doing the Talahina Drive and staying one night somewhere around the end of it.  Anyone been there??

20 miles

Wow- What a great and relaxing weekend.  Except of course for the 21 mile run I had on Saturday morning! Was completely planning on heading to the Lieberman Bar Mitzvah but instead was out running all over Tulsa for FIVE hours.  I love to run with a group but I hate the fact that every 5 miles 10 people have to use the restroom and it takes 10 minutes everytime!! oh well-It was still a great run.  I am participating in a blog contest called "Pile on the Miles". The goal is to run/walk as many miles as possible in November-so instead of adding pounds- you are adding miles.  With the one run I had in the first four days of November I'm already close to my goal.  google Pile on the Miles and check it out.
    So, the run pretty much wiped me out for Saturday and all I did was lay around and eat.  Brandon had given a deer leg and some backstrap and we have been eating deer all week.  A both lean and delicious choice of meat. Which leads me to my cooking this weekend- I made homemade English Muffins AND

   Today, I made pumpkin puree for Thanksgiving.

It's really easy--get a pumpkin,quarter and gut it.  Roast it for a couple of hours in the oven and scrape the skin off.  I like to add brown super and pumpkin spice when the pumpkin is this big.  The bigger the pumpkin the less sweet it is.  Then I freeze it for pumpkin pie, ice cream etc....  It is way cheaper and always fun to make you own stuff.

This is my cat--Can't every remember her name- we just call her cat.  She is not supposed to be inside because she likes to poop on our bed.  Somehow she always seems to be inside though.  That is her laying on my channukah throw that is on the couch. The dog has been crying all night because he can see the cat inside and is jealous.   I finally let him in and if I had audio you could hear him snoring.

2 Weeks until the Route 66 marathon and I can't wait!!

These are habanero peppers from our garden  Aren't the gorgeous!!!  Not only are the beautiful, they are probably the hottest peppers I have ever eaten in my life- and I LOVE hot food.  I can't even maybe handle these babies.  Larry put half of one in our pasta curry tonight and I was sweating like a whore in church-yes, I know very crude but very true.

These are snickers bars that I made from scratch--yes I know they look fantastic and believe me --- they are.    They are also very time consuming --So... if you get them for Chanukah or Christmas know that I love you more then life itself because if takes that long to make them.  

        I know that a lot of the east coast is experiencing awful storms but here in Oklahoma, it is gorgeous.  I mean gorgeous.  

Check out this fire we built in the back yard last night.  How can you not sit around this and think that life is fantastic and awesome!

       All right-enough of all that good stuff-Ran four miles today, even though I was exhausted because I couldn't sleep last night because the dog was snoring so loud, but I have to prepare  for my 20 miles on Saturday. Right now it's all I can think about.  As much as I love to get up in the morning and look at myself in the mirror and see a long distance runner----I HATE being a long distance runner.  It is painful--very very painful, and very time consuming.    On a side note- no matter how often I eat yogurt for breakfast it never ever fills me up.  If someone has any suggestions for a good breakfast that does not make me sick or starving please let me know.   By The Way  Michael told me today "if I was to ever get married,  I'd marry Lori because she is such a good cook". Thanks Michael--I think-- Please don't marry me.   THAT IS ALL