New Year's Resolution

The family and I are headed to New Jersey to spend some time with Joe's parents and family. So unless I can find some quick time to blog you won't be hearing from me until after January 7th.

Here are my New Year's Resolutions - I have to admit that I am scared to put these in writing because it seems as if whenever I do the never happen - but I have been thinking about these for awhile.

1. - Run the Gateway Trail Marathon in May.

2. - Run the 4th of July race from Gothic to Crested Butte. This is a 1/3 marathon and I have done this twice before. With the marathon training I hope to beat my previous times of 1.5 or 1.75 hours.

3. - Olympic Triathlon in Salida. I will need to get a road bike to do this. I have been thinking about doing this for awhile but this comes at a perfect time since I won't be training for marathon I can mix things up with the swimming and biking.

4. - Second Marathon - Mountain Air Marathon. This one is local from Crested Butte down to Gunnison. (They are re-doing their website so this was all that I could find.)

Hopefully with all of this training I will get down to 133 - my pre-baby weight. I am having so much trouble with these last 9 pounds.

I have found my max

Since I have started training for this marathon I have been doing my long runs but at the end of each one I feel as if I could go longer. Normally I will come home and take the girls for a walk because Mikayla wanted to go running with me and when I tell her no because I am going to far she asks if we can go for a run when I get home! I hope she keeps this up.

Well, I found my max yesterday. I did 8 miles and my average pace was 11 minutes 21 seconds per mile, which I feel really good about. Especially since at the end I was very tired but after a 1/2 mile of super slow I was able to summon up the energy to pick up my pace for the last 1/2 mile home. Boy when I got home I was tired and sore. But the good thing is that I woke up this morning just fine.

Even though I did not get a lot of runs in because of the snow I did a lot of cross training. I a great mix of cross country training, running, yoga and strength training.

Marathon Training Weeks 7 and 8

My marathon training has really slowed down the last two weeks due to the cold and snow. The first week I was stressed out that I was not getting the miles in but now I am just doing what I can.

Two Sunday's ago I set out late afternoon for an 8 mile run but after a couple of miles I was cold!! It was about 20 (which normally here in the winter is warm) but it was cloudy and just bitter. I told myself that I could turn around at 3 miles and if I felt up to do 2 miles around town. The closer I got to home the more I started thinking about a hot shower. My thighs were freezing and I am pretty sure I had icy in my panties!

After that cold run I decided to go to Gene Taylors (a local sporting goods store) to see if they had any sales. I found a pair of tights that have fleece on the inside for $25! I love them. I need to go back and get another pair so I can have one dirty and one clean pair. I could even put another layer on the outside if it is super cold.

The snow in slowing me down as well. I cannot go very fast on the snow so instead of doing speed work I am just running what I can as quickly as I can without getting hurt. The other day I did 4 miles through snow covered streets and I was happy with an 11 minute mile because in the snow that was pretty good.

Due to the snow I have been shoveling. On Sunday I set out to do 8 miles (again) and I felt great in the morning. As soon as I started running my back started hurting. I tried to run through it hoping it would stop but less than 1 mile into it I had to stop. I tried walking and stretching but that did not work either so I gave up and headed home. The rest of the day I my back was killing me and I tried to rest but that does not happen unless Lily is sleeping.

On Monday I was feeling much better but I did a strength training routine instead of running. Today I went for a 4 mile run and felt great.

Winter Wonderland

Have you ever noticed that when it is snowing outside it is also very quite. For the past 10 days or so we have been receiving between 3 to 6 inches a days. One day last week we had received about 6 inches so Joe ended up taking me to work. The next day we received another 3 or so inches and I decided to bike to work.

First, I had to change my normal route. Normally I head up a fairly busy side street. I started to do this like normal but the snow plows had only made the road big enough for one lane of cars on either side of the yellow line. The bike lane and parking area had not been plowed. Also, in Gunnison they push all of the snow to the middle of the road for quick plowing and clean up after the storm has passed. (When Lily was born it snowed for days (literally) and we received over 5 feet of snow. The snow piles in the middle of the road were bigger than the cars and trucks on the road.) Back to the story - because of the snow in the middle of the road cars could not swerve around me. Then I started to slip and slide and almost fell down, so I decided to take the side streets - much better. It was a beautiful bike ride to work.

Since then I have been riding through the snow. On Monday it was a pretty rough, slippery ride. I decided to do something I have never done before (and I have lived in Colorado for over 10 years). Instead of walking the dogs at night I took them for a cross country ski around town. We had a blast. Then this morning instead of bike riding I cross country ski'd to work! Joe ended up having to bring me home because it did not snow all day so the streets were drying out.

Here are some pictures of the snow around town.

My little model.

This is a picture of the pile of snow in the middle of the road.

This is what I was riding through the other day when it was dumping.

We have even more snow now.

This is just a cute picture of the girls I have to throw in.

Facebook

Are you on facebook? I have been for a month or so and my husband (Mr. Popular) already has over 100 friends and they are all his old friends from his school days seeking him out. I need some more friends (I have less than 20!)

So please, come find me - Tiffany Ziegenhorn O'Connell (yes my maiden is Ziegenhorn - what a mouth full!

Missing Witness

As many of you know I am a big reader. I picked up a book that I am recommending to all of you. It is called Missing Witness by Gordon Campbell.

It is about a mother and daughter who walk into the daughter's father's house and one of the two shoots the father. The first part of the book is about the mother's trial and the second part of the book is about the daughter's trial. I am almost done and I still do not know how it is going to end.

It is a true page turner. The only time I have to read in right before bed and I have been staying up later than normal because I just do not want to put this book down.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmast Tree

This weekend we put up the Christmas tree. It is beautiful and looks great. Not an easy job to do with ah 3 1/2 year old that wants to help and a 10 month old that wants to pull the decorations off of the tree.

After we finished we took a couple of picture of the girls for Christmas cards. I think we need to take some more.

What do you think?

Later that evening I was giving the girls a bath and Joe was cooking dinner. I heard this loud crash right outside the bathroom. I went out into the hallway and the Christmas tree was laying over on its side. It had fallen over. We have never had a tree to that. I should have grabbed the camera but I had two girls ready to get out of the tub and a Christmas tree in the way with water and broken ornaments everywhere. Luckily most of the broken ornaments were just balls but there were a couple of nice ones.

I manged to get the two girls dressed and put them in Mikayla's room to play with the door closed. I did not want Lily crawling over broken glass and we were right outside the door. It was amazing the both played happily in there while we cleaned up the mess.

Marathon Training Week 6

7 miles - yup you heard (read) me. I did 7 miles on the long run on Sunday. Since the marathon I want to do is trail running I headed to a recreational area (Hartman Rocks) to go running.

It was hard and very slow at first. I had to run uphill and in the snow. We have had a couple of small snows and there was a couple of inches on the trail. Finally I found some dry jeep track and was working on heading back down to the base area where I had parked the car. I did get a little lost so that meant a little bit longer than I had planned. When I was about a mile or mile and a half from the car and I said to Sky (My dog that went running with me. She is a tropper, she is 10 years old but still loves to run even if it means limping the rest of the day. But an asprin after the run and she was good. Tired but good.) "if we get to the car and we are at 6.5 miles we are going to finish it up and make it 7 - even if it means that we are late getting home." (I was already late but what is another 5 minutes when you are over 15 minutes late.) We got back to the car at 6.44 miles so we made it 7.

It did take me awhile, 1 hour and 30 minutes, but it was VERY slow in the beginning. Next week when I head out for my long run I think I will stick to the streets. Even though that is boring to me I want to see if I can get 8 miles in an average of an 11 or 12 minute mile.

Crawling Baby

Lily started crawling about a month ago and now she is all over the house. One minute she is in the living room and the next thing I know she is the bathroom crawling into the walk in shower. She is so cute and getting more and more vocal. She will yell, dadadada.

Today I called a friend of mine to see if she wanted to go for a walk and she was home sick. Her husband has his own business so that means many hours away from home. I told her to bring her kids over so she could get some much needed rest. Her kids are 7 and 6 months. The 7 year old loves to play with Mikayla. They spent an hour jumping on the trampoline. It is very unseasonably warm here and I was glad that Mikayla got some exercise.

While the girls jumped I put the babies on the living room floor to play. Her son was happy to play with the toys but every time I would get up to check on the girls Lily would come crawling over saying mama, mama. Even thought it was annoying it was nice to hear her call me mama.

Here are two pictures of the crawling baby who also enjoys her rice and beans for dinner!!

Marathon Training Week 5

Here I am at week 5 of my marathon training plan and as I look back through my log I see that I am back to week 2 of my training. It is frustrating but I still have plenty of time so I am going to get my butt in gear. It is always easier to say that on a Monday morning than on a Wednesday morning. It seems as if I start many weeks out great only to fail. I gotta stick with this because I really want this.

Why do I want to do a marathon? All though highschool I was never athletic. I never ran a mile. I was a bit overweight - not much just a bit to make me feel self conscious. Now that I can run I want to run and I want to prove to everyone and myself that I can do it. I also want to lose some weight. I am trying to get this baby weight off but most of the trying is wishing it off and we all know that does not work.

Here are my goals for this week. Please help me stick to them. Send me emails, leave me comments, tell me not to eat the chocolate in my boss’s office or the chocolate sitting on our office managers front desk. I hate/love the chocolate that comes out this time of year!!

Ok back to the goals for this week.

Goal 1 - Keep my calories under 1200 per day before dinner. It is hard to calculate how many calories dinner is because hubby makes dinner and boy does he like to use olive oil. I tell him that even though olive oil is good for your it is still a fat so use it sparingly.

Goal 2 - Do 4 runs this week, 3 miles, 3 miles, 5 miles and 6 miles.

Goal 3 - Weigh 138 my December 30th. December 30th we are heading back to New Jersey to spend New Year’s with hubby’s family. I have been struggling between 143.5 and 141.5 for the last 2 months and I want to be in the 130's before we leave.

Pictures

Before you look at the rest of the picture let me ask you - Lily or Mikayla?

About a month ago we hiked up to the beaver ponds. It was a wonderful fall hike.

Lily was along for the ride!

Good thing it was a short hike because that is all Teo is good for.

Sorry I don't have better Halloween pictures. Mikayla was Tigger and Lily was a pumpkin.

The girls and their daddy.

Happy Girl

On our way to the playground.

The next few pictures are where I go when things get stressful or Gunnison is too cold. For our honeymoon we went to Hawaii. Come back and visit the next few pictures the next time it is cold, snowing, icy and a miserable day in your neck of the woods.

Marathon Training Week 3 - What Training??

I started my training schedule last week off great, even though I felt myself getting yet another cold. I was able to run on Monday and I did my strength training routine on Tuesday but it was tough. Wednesday through Saturday I did nothing. I managed a slow 1.3 mile walk on Sunday but it took all of the energy I had. I am finally feeling better today and I did my strength training routine and I hope to go for a slow run tomorrow at lunch.

Ever since I had kids and Mikayla started going to daycare I get so sick in the winter. She gets all of the germs at daycare and brings them home and gives every last one of those little buggers to me - and I am sick of it! I few years ago I was taking Body Balance by Lifeforce.

Here is blurb from their website regarding Body Balance. (They can say it much better than I can.) Body Balance is a powerhouse of liquid nutrition made from whole foods. Aloe alone contains over 75 nutrients and 200 active compounds, including 12 vitamins, 20 minerals and 18 amino acids. Combined with SeaNine™—our proprietary blend of nine select varieties of nutrient-rich sea vegetables--Body Balance is absolutely loaded with unique whole food nutrition. SeaNine provide a broad spectrum of trace minerals and phytonutrients that are more frequently deficient from land-based diets. It’s pleasant tasting, and its liquid form promotes easy absorption.Why sea vegetables? The mineral riches of the earth that have been washed into the oceans have been reclaimed by sea vegetation. Furthermore, the chemical balance of the human body is similar to that of sea water. The nine varieties of sea vegetables in Body Balance are sustainably harvested from pristine ocean waters around the globe. The Aloe vera in Body Balance is grown and processed according to organic standards, and is inner-fillet aloe. The pairing of SeaNine vegetables with Aloe is dynamic. Experience what it feels like to finally give your body the nutrients it craves for optimal performance.

When I was taking it a few years ago I really enjoyed it and I felt like it was giving me a boost of energy. I was taking it in the summer so I did not give it a chance to help me in the winter. I have talked to many people who take it and they say that they do not get sick as much as they use to.Let’s hope that this stops me from being sick all of the time. I am getting a cold at least one a month and that is too much time for me to take off from my marathon training.

Send me an email if you want to try some. It is only sold through network marketing and I can set you up.

Wednesday Blog Tour - How to Deal With Yelling

This week as I was strolling through blog land I read 2 blogs that I read all of the time. The first is Uppercase Woman I think on my blog roll I list her as "so I wasted all that birth control" which was what she was called when I first started reading her blog over 3 years ago. I should mention that she describes her blog as "The Rantings of a foul-mouth liberal, feminist, fat, recovering alcoholic, mother, wife, women and writer," which describes her to a T. You might ask yourself why you are reading a blog like that but I have grown to lover her outspokenness and liberal views. You need something like that in your life to shake it up! I don't always agree with her but that is ok too. Cecil is great about responding to EVERY comment. Take a few minute to check out her blog and let me know what you think.

The next blog I was reading was Snickollet. Snickollet is a single mom to 2 year old twins (boy and girl). Unfortunately she is single because her husband died in April 2007 due to pancreatic cancer. I have been reading her blog while she struggles to be a single mom, a widow, work full time, and recover (is that the right word) from her husbands death. She recently dove back into the dating world.

Now back to the second part of this blog entry - How to Deal With Yelling. On both blogs mentioned above they had entries regarding yelling and difficulty in dealing with the kids. It just so happens that I read an article just two days ago in Parents so I thought I would recap the article "How to Discipline Without Yelling" from the December Parents magazine.

We have all been there and done that. EVERY parent has yelled at their kids when they did not mean it. Just the other day I was working on cleaning the house and I was planning on heading out in a little bit with the girls to give Daddy some quite time. Daddy was doing some sort of work on the computer. The girls were getting very noisy (especially Lily) and Daddy yelled at them to settle down. So I decided to leave the house now instead of later. Which meant getting hats, coats, gloves, library books etc... I yelled at Mikayla for being too demanding while I was trying to find something for Lily to wear. I should not have yelled at Mikayla and I felt bad so I apologized. I also find myself losing my temper in the morning because Mikayla moves too slow at getting dressed, I wished Joe would get into the shower earlier than he does, and all I want is 10 minutes to sit down on the couch drink some coffee and watch the Today Show.

Ok - back to the article. Here are some tips to reduce the yelling in your house.

1. Recognize your child's limits. Sometimes, a lot of the time, we expect are children to do things above their capability. In my house a 3 1/2 year old will get distracted while getting dressed and she is a lot slower than I want her to be. In order to solve this I need to allow more time for Mikayla to get dressed.

2. Bite your Tongue. Do nothing is another example. In this article the author mentions that her kids will yell down to her from upstairs and she will yell back. She solved this problem by saying that is she can't see you than she can't hear you. The kids have to come downstairs to talk to their mom. I have tried this with Mikayla but she is great at "Mama, can I watch my show?" and repeating the same question until she gets an answer from me.

3. Survey the Situation. Instead of a food diary, keep a yell diary. Write down when most of the yelling occurs and what can you do to reduce it.

4. Devise a Battle Plan. What drives you crazy the most and causes you to yell the most? Then write down your resolution to this situation. In this article the two boys yelling at each other causes the mom to yell at them. So instead of yelling as well the mom sends the boys one one bedroom and they cannot come out until they have spend 5 happy minute together.

5. Drop a decibel. This was my favorite. Instead of yelling, whisper. It makes everyone quite down to listen.

6. Patience. This is one of my own and I use it all of the time. In order to raise kids you have to have a TON of patience. I have learned if I stop to take a breath, even in the middle of yelling, screaming and crying, it does help.

What do you do in your house to control the yelling?

7 Random Things About Me

Carrie at Newlywed Girl tagged me and it has taken me awhile to get to this post. The biggest reason is that I am having trouble thinking about 7 random things about me.

1. I never liked exercise as a kid and I never ran a mile until I was in college. Now I can do 6 miles and now I enjoy running and exercise.

2. As a kid my family would travel to Colorado all the time in the summer. I always wanted to live in Colorado but I never wanted to live in Gunnison. Now I live in Gunnison!

3. I am an anally clean person.

4. I love to read.

5. I want our next two dogs to a pug and a HUGE dog like a English Mastiff, Berense Mountain Dog, or Great Pyrenees.

6. When I daydream I see myself 15 to 20 pounds less, and a girl who runs marathons, does ironman triathlons, and can keep up with the boys on a killer mountain bike ride.

7. I really want to travel one day - Africa, Asia, Australia, Iceland, the Caribbean - everywhere.

I am tagging (but don't feel like you have to):

Mommy From the Midwest

Views from the Passenger Seat

Fitness for Mommies

Marathon Training Week 2

Week 2 of my marathon training plan did not go so well. I only did 2 runs and a total of 5 miles. No real reason why, one day I did not feel like it so I only did 2 miles and another day the wind was horrible so that really slowed me down and unmotivated me.

This week should be much better. I am planning on 4 runs this week with a total mileage of 17 miles.

With daycare in its new location I should be able to fit in shorter runs during the week and even weight training two times a week. I would much rather run at lunch than early in the morning. It is getting cold in the morning.

What do you do during the winter to stay in shape?

Daycare

The girls go to a wonderful daycare but it is unlicensed. In the state of Colorado if you watch more than one family you have to be licensed. The stupid thing about this law is an unlicensed daycare or babysitter can watch one family. That one family can be 1 kid or 10 kids as long as they are brothers and sisters. But if you watch more than one family (even if it is 1 kid from each family) you have to be licensed.

The girls' daycare, a husband and wife team, have taken all of the necessary daycare classes but they rent their home and at the time (quite a few months ago) they did not have a fenced in yard so they could not be a licensed daycare. A couple of months ago they moved into a new home with a large fenced in yard but they have not taken the time to get licensed. At the beginning of November they got a letter stating they had to close down the daycare. The daycare did the responsible thing and gave everyone notice. Since we had 2 kids we had until the end of November to find a new daycare.

I had found a new babysitter for the girls and she was ready to watch them whenever I wanted but we decided on December 1st. I had Tuesday off for Veterans Day (I know I have it made at the law office). That night I got a phone call saying that they had received another letter and no more daycare. So for Wednesday I had no daycare. I was very upset that they could just close it down just like that. I called the new babysitter and she was more than happy to start watching the girls but the girls had never met her before. Joe and I decided to take Wednesday off in shifts and that afternoon I took the girls to meet the new babysitter and her kids.

I was more worried about Lily since she is going through separation anxiety. But while we were visiting I disappeared a few times and Lily was not happy but the new babysitter was able to calm her down and Lily was not screaming horribly just fussing. So after the meeting I felt MUCH better.

On Thursday the babysitter and Lily were able to bond and had a great morning. When I dropped Mikayla off after preschool she had a blast playing with the 5 year old and on Friday the babysitter's other kids, twin 8 year old girls showed up and LOVED playing with Mikayla.

So after all the stress and headache of moving to a new daycare we are much happier. I also love the new location. The new babysitter is only 3 blocks from preschool so I now have over 1/2 of my lunch hour back and I plan to use it to run. I really slacked off this week in my marathon training so I gotta get my butt in gear.

Home Made Yogurt

In order to make my own yogurt my mother-in-law bought us the Euro-Cuisine Yogurt Maker from Williams Sonoma (she works there!). You could make it without the yogurt maker but the yogurt makes is so easy for a busy working mom.

First bring about 32 oz. of milk to a boil over medium to low heat. (whole, skim whatever you want - I am sure you could also try substituting soy milk as well - I need to try that!). The milk needs to heat up to 185F and stay there for a couple of minutes. Make sure you are stirring so it does not stick.

Next cool the milk down to room temperature. If you are in a hurry place the sauce pan in a bowl (or the kitchen sink) in a cold water bath.

After the milk has cooled down stir in 7 oz of yogurt (according to the directions you can use homemade yogurt but once do this one time then use store bought the next time - it has something to do with the cultures).

Once the milk and yogurt is all mixed up pour into the jars that come with the yogurt maker, turn the yogurt maker on and let it work for the next 12 to 15 hours (I use the 15 hour button). Once the machine is done chill the yogurt in the fridge for 3 hours, and then enjoy. You can add fresh fruit, honey, granola, whatever you want!

Whole Wheat Bread Receipe

A few of you asked for my whole wheat bread recipe and yogurt recipe. This recipe is from the back of the yeast packets you buy.

2 3/4 cups flour (I use 1/2 cup of white and the rest wheat)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup water
1/4 cup margarine or butter melted (I have been using about 2 tablespoons of olive oil instead)
1 packet of Active Yeast

First - Dissolve the yeast in hot water (105 to 110 - make sure you measure the temperature of the water first), also add about 1 teaspoon of sugar to the yeast and hot water and stir - the sugar feeds the yeast and helps it rise.

Then I put the salt, oil and some of the flour into the mixer, add the yeast mixture after it has doubled in volume. Start mixing and add the rest of the flour and water. If your dough is too watery add some more flour.

Instead of kneading by hand I put my kneader on the kitchen aid mixer and let it go for about 10 to 20 minutes (depends on if I get busy doing something else.) After the dough is kneaded place the dough in a bowl and cover with a towel. Let the dough rise in a WARM spot (sunny window works great). After the dough has doubled in size punch it down and knead it again and I let it rise another time, and after it has doubled in size again punch it down and knead it into the shape you want. Place the dough on a greased cookie sheet and let it rise one last time.

After the dough has doubled in size for the last time place it in an pre-heated over at 375 and bake for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Heidi - What was it like to move from the North Pole, Alaska to Las Vegas?? Culture and heat shock I bet!

Wednesday Blog Tour

This week our blog tour takes us over to Metropolitan Mama. Stephanie is the queen of surfing the internet! What I mean is that by reading her blog she will show where all of the best information for parents and contests are. For example this week you can find links to win a $30 gift certificate to Expressiva, $25 gift certificate to Kroger, the other day I entered a contest to win a Bissell Prodry Fast Drying Carpet Cleaner (how she gets offers to try this products I have not figured out yet - but I want to review these products), she also has links to information such as baby clothes, nursing, exercise, and so much more. I learn something new everytime I read her blog and she is ALWAYS hosting giveways and contests.

Marathon Training - Week 1 - Excellent!!!

This past week I did a total of 3 runs and all of them were great. On Wednesday morning I got up early and ran 4.2 miles. It was cold and wonderful! Then on Friday I did my normal lunch time run and I fit in a full 60 minutes and I ran approximately 5.6 miles. Sunday was my long run. I ran 67 minutes for an approximate 6.1 miles.

The reason I started running was that it was a fast way to burn calories. It was something that I hated doing but I did it anyway to get in shape and lose some weight. Now I am finding myself really enjoying my runs, even the hard uphills I am enjoying. I find myself at the end of a run when I am tired, smiling and singing along to the song on my Ipod.

I am getting tired of estimating my miles and it is hard since I am trail running mostly. So I talked my mom into getting me my Christmas present early. I had originally asked for a heart rate monitor for my birthday and my parents sent me a check and told me to find my own! So I asked mom to send me more money for Christmas now and I bought the Garmin Forerunner 305. I found it at Walmart.com for $195 instead of the $299!! I have spent the last week looking for the perfect heart rate monitor and I ended up with the Garmin because not only does tell me my heart rate but it will also tell me EXACTLY how far I have run using GPS and my pace. Right now I am estimating I am running an 11 minute mile but since I am trail running I really have no idea.

My first week of training went great but I HAVE a long way to go. Until January my plan is to focus on increasing my miles in 3 to 4 runs a week. Since I ran a total of 15.9 miles last week I going for 17.5 miles this week during a total of 4 runs.