I've Been Lazy

It happens. You decide to pick up dinner one night instead of cooking because you're too tired. You stop running on weekends because you deserve a few days off. You stop reading the newspaper in a timely manner because "Teen Mom" is more engrossing. You get lazy.

Okay, not it's not "you" it's me. I'm lazy. At least I was. I started running again on weekends yesterday morning because if I don't get up and do SOMETHING, then I don't get up to do anything. And once I was up, I vacuumed, paid bills, did some organizing and other household chores. It inspired me to get up again on Sunday and do a separate set of chores (and even a little work) so that I didn't feel like a complete slob all day. Frankly, I need to be honest and say that I might not have been as productive all Sunday if the Colts game hadn't been the Sunday night one.

I not only did household chores, but also some baking. A Heath Cheesecake for Chef (found the recipe in my mom's old recipe box) and some Hungry Girl Death by Chocolate cupcakes for me. I've also started REALLY watching my calories again. Not just pretending like I have the past week.

I stopped physically writing down my calories (that's what worked for me the first go-around) and started using an app for my iPhone. It's called My Fitness Pal and it's not that much different than a lot of other tracking sites. It's free and all that. But what I love about it is the number of food items that it has in its database to log. For example, it doesn't just have coconut creme yogurt, but KROGER brand coconut creme yogurt. Today I tossed in "hungry girl" as a search and it had the nutritional information for A LOT of her most used recipes including the death by chocolate cupcakes that I made. It makes logging calories and exercise take about 30 seconds. I love it.

So, now that I've recognized that I've been lazy and that I am so much happy when I'm not lazy, it's time to keep the momentum going. Maybe I should go back to running or walking twice a day. . . .

Stromboli, Banana Fritters and the Dirt Diaper

All of the above items were available to eat this past weekend at the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival (aka the Fall Festival) in Evansville. I went home this weekend to see my best friends and we met up at the Fall Fest for old time's sake. I honestly hadn't been in more than a decade. It's a big deal in Evansville. Like a huge event with about 1/2 mile of trailers all offering disgustingly named, but deliciously tasting, items of food. It would probably be fair estimate that about 75% of the food items offered are fried.

We decided to divide and conquer for the most part so that we didn't end up getting sick like so many others. It's pretty easy to go from a good time to the vomiting with just one wrong calculation of fritters. I actually ate all or some of the following items: Chicken and Dumplings, corn fritters, Stromboli, fried macaroni & cheese, lemon shake-up, and banana fritters. It sounds like a lot, but that's actually not too bad. The only huge disappointment was the weak, microwaved Stromboli by the Young Democrats booth.

While those are some of the less weird items, there were a few items that were new (or oldies but goodies) that those not from Evansville find odd. Here's a few:

• Brain Sandwich (a LONG time festival favorite)
• Fried Oreos & Fried Twinkies
• Dirty Diaper (a pumpkin turnover)
• Pigeon Poop (I have no idea, but calling things something related to excrement tends to be a festival tradition)
• Gumbo, shrimp and other seafood (it's best to avoid as Indiana is a land locked state)
• Pronto Pups (similar to a corn dog, but not corn related at all)
• Orange Shake-ups
• Homemade potato chips
• Cheeseburgers
• Kuchen
• Fudge
• Yoohoo Shakes
• And more. . . .

While the food was pretty good--actually probably better than I remember--it was more awesome to spend time with my girls. We hung out all day and then headed back home on Sunday. I was also lucky enough to squeeze a quick visit in with my dad and my mom's side of the family.

The only think that sucks about the trip was the mold. There's a mold in southern Indiana that makes me miserable if I end up spending more than 24 hours in the area. I'm now still taking Claritin D and sounding like a congested crazy person. In fact, it's been three days now, so I'm beginning to wonder if I'm actually not only fighting allergies but also sickness. I have gone to bed at about 8:30 the last two nights.

No matter what if I had to do it again, I would gladly do it to see my friends and family.

Working, Walking and Waking

This weekend was the annual Heart Walk in Nashville and it was probably the best one we've ever had. Of course, after last year's rain out, just having one this year was actually a joy. You don't realize when you're planning for an event how much actually having the event is a catharthis of sort.

But I digress. As I all really did was wake up early, walk around the field for hours on end to help and work with my volunteers. The Heart Walk team, who put in hundreds of hours and a year's worth of work, did a wonderful job. The event has really evolved in the last 9 years. From a "grab your yogurt and walk for 30 minutes" to a full fledged event with lots of interactive booths that truly display the mission of the American Heart Association.

It's also what I call the fastest three hours around. The walkers whoosh in and then the walkers leave and then the walkers come back for turkey dogs and it's done. What took a day to put up, takes minutes to take down, and then it's off for a cleebratory beer. It's a tiring day, but also a fun one. There are few times of year where you get to see nearly all of the people who you work with all year in one place. Plus you get to hear stories of survivors, people who've lost loved ones and those who are supporting survivors. It's just a fun day and if you haven't been--either in Nashville or wherever you are, I encourage you to do so. In fact, there's a walk in Rutherford County on November 7th if you want to go :) (www.rutherfordheartwalk.org).