I had been preparing for this day since the beginning of July–The Mighty Niagara Half Marathon (for hospice). Week after week I followed my training schedule, running something like 3 miles Monday, 5 miles Tuesdays, 4 miles Thursday, with a long run on Friday or Saturday. My long runs started at 6 miles (since that was my base prior […]
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Mini Muffin Recipe
I have been hearing Sara talk about the goodness of these muffins for years now, and for whatever unknown reason had never gotten around to baking them myself. I’m glad I finally kicked my rear into gear because these little babies are OUT OF THIS WORLD. I probably ate half the batch myself. These can […]
How I Fell in Love with Oatmeal
Oatmeal seems to be one of those highly divisive foods–people either love it or they hate it. I think it’s really about the consistency or texture. It could added to the list of foods like tapioca pudding (or any pudding), yogurt, and stuffing that has the potential to trigger one’s gag reflexes. At least that’s […]
Homemade Peanut Butter Recipe
If you are a fan of natural peanut butter, then this recipe takes your the best varieties and perfects it by limiting the essential ingredients to one—peanuts. The oil, salt (or even honey) are all optional additions to increase flavor in your homemade peanut butter. I love finding a jar of peanut butter with […]
How We Manage Our Money
Friday is our day off–our Sabbath, if you will. (Full time ministry necessitates a different day to rest.) Oddly enough, I spent a large part of my morning spontaneously updating our budget based on our expenses from the past year. (You can laugh if you want.) In the midst of my number crunching (who am […]
My Favorite Relaxing, Productive Saturday
Ahhhhhhhh. The Saturday Morning I’ve been longing for, but hadn’t been able to grasp hold of in so many months. Sleeping in until my internal clock wakes me up. No alarms. (This meant 7:17am.) Lazily rolling out of bed, still deciding what the day might hold. Opening the curtains to let the dreary daylight shine […]
Observations from Mile 12
This morning was my first solo long run besides the 8 miles I ran last fall about this time. I wanted to make sure I was capable of doing the long run on my own because up until this week, I’ve had someone running or biking alongside me. Running is almost entirely a mental sport. Yes, it requires […]
Rustic Peach Pie Recipe
We had a large bowl full of fresh, beautiful peaches given to us from local fruit farmer friends who go to our church. Yum! We were eating as fast as we could, but we couldn’t keep it. It was time for reinforcements–pie to the rescue! This lovely, rustic pie is simple to make and delicious […]
The Start of My New School Year
It all began at 3:30 yesterday afternoon when 2nd grader, Zach, walked though my front door. Piano lessons are back in full swing now! Yesterday, five new students had their very first lessons with me and I love each of them already. I can tell this is going to be a fantastic year. And to think, […]
My Nicknames {revealed}
What’s in a name? Oh, the possibilities are endless. (Or at least they are in my family.) You see, I come from a clan of nick-namers, and oftentimes the pseudo names have no origin and no connection to the person’s actual name. And for whatever reason, I’ve decided to share with you all some of […]