Season's End

So I ran the Allerton Trail run yesterday. It was very, very hard but very fun. The weather was absolutely perfect -- a crisp, fall day (35 degrees), zero wind and buckets of sunshine. I couldn't have asked for weather any better. I got Carter to roll out of bed around 7:20 and we left shortly after that. There were tons of people and the race itself was very well organized. Carter was only able to run this with me because Uni wasn't at the State play-offs....a bittersweet thing, needless to say.

We ran together almost the entire way, which I really enjoyed. We got stuck in the back of the pack at the beginning and were actually walking for a while, but I didn't mind because I got to enjoy the Fu Dogs. It also meant that once things got going, we could have fun moving up, slipping around people when the trail allowed us to. I don't know about Carter but that gave me a sense of strength and momentum. And it was very easy to get distracted by the natural beauty all around.

We trucked along pretty well for the first 3 miles or so, and then my calf started to really hurt and Carter complained about his feet. We started talking brief walking breaks, which helped, but then we had to climb a L O N G steep hill to get to the SunSinger. That really hurt and was discouraging because that part of the trail was divided in half and the runners ahead of us were coming down the trail as we were going up. There were a LOT of them. Of course, there were people coming up the trail as we were going down, but not too many. There was a guy in a jog suit that was designed to look like an American flag -- no kidding!! He was the Stars and Stripes all over and that made me smile.

We continued moving along until about mile 4.5 -- I was feeling pretty low on energy. I should have eaten more. It's always a tricky proposition -- to know how much to eat ahead of time. You need enough to finish strong, but not too much that you end up running for secluded bushes. I erred on the side of not enough. At this point, Carter gave up on me and went ahead. I continued plodding along, got to the Stadium where I did a Rocky-esque stair run and then did the last 1/2 mile. It took me a lot longer than I had hoped but I did finish and I enjoyed myself. That was my goal.

I'm thinking that a mere 6 1/2 months ago I ran my first race ever! the Parkland 5K. The weather that day was 26 degrees and the wind was 15-20 mph -- miserable! My goal for that race was to finish and I did, with an ok time.

I'm proud of myself and happy with my season. I have run nearly 300 miles, 6 races and improved my time consistently. I have better form and while I break a healthy sweat, I hardly ever get winded (I should run harder!) I'm not where I'd like to be but that's ok. And I am paying for the trail run and not resting as much as I should have to manage the calf injury, so I'm moving my workouts to the eliptical and pilates. I don't enjoy either of them as much as running outside, but they'll do. Looking forward to next spring!

Learning is fun

Like most preschoolers, Brennan is very interested in the difference between the sexes. We use the correct anatomical language for body parts so he knows that he has a penis. Lately he's asked us to draw pictures of everyone in his family and/or those important to him.

After I drew all six of us, Michael, "Soft Puppy," Cookie Monster and Elmo, he asked that we draw penises on all the boys. There was some question about Cookie Monster and Elmo but all the others males got something like a penis drawn on them. (I know....sounds weird but a parent's gotta do what a parent's gotta do.) Then he asked about bottoms and stated "Mommy doesn't have a penis but she has a bottom." I confirmed that information. He then said "Mommy doesn't have a penis. Mommy has a pajama."

Gonna have to work on that terminology.

Model Citizen

The holiday catalog deluge has begun. In the mail yesterday we got one for toys, one that I like better than others because of it's offering of toys that require more child imagination and less noise and blinking lights. Brennan grabbed it up right away and began going through the pages with LOTS of excitement......"I want that. I want THAT! Can I have that? I want that." I listened and mumbled indulgent responses for a while and then became more and more uncomfortable. When he said "We can go to the store and get that right now" I'd had enough. I said, "Sweetheart, these are toys that you could get for Christmas. We don't go to the store every day to get toys." He said, without blinking an eye and in all seriousness, "Yes we do."

Yikes.

Trifecta

Thanks to high humidity, a bad head cold and early on-set of SAD, my head feels like a block of compressed dryer lint. Nothing's getting in....or out, really, and it feels so fuzzy and dense in there. I really wish humans could hibernate.

A mother's pride, a mother's guilt

Uni High isn't typically known for it's athletics. It hasn't had a football team since the early part of last century. But for the second year in a row, the boy's soccer team has made it to the state sectional championships. Last year was exciting for our family because Bethany's boyfriend Michael was one of the star players. It was also the year that Carter broke his wrist requiring surgery and sitting out for the entire soccer season. So THIS year was a big deal for Carter. In preparation for the season he and some friends started playing pick-up games with U of I students during the summer. He got new cleats. He dribbled a soccer ball around the house and showed off his moves to me and whoever else would watch. I'm guessing the other players did similar things because the team played pretty well this season, even though there were a lot of new and younger players.

George and I dragged the mini-muffins to as many of the home games as we could. At first the games were a little boring. If you've ever watched a soccer game, you know what I'm talking about. But then we got to know each of the players by name, and we would marvel at the intricate footwork, the way these boys could go from 0 to 60 in just a few seconds. And, of course, I just loved seeing my beautiful son play, his lanky arms and legs everywhere. I could tell he loved every minute of it.

Last Friday Uni won the regional title against a school they had beat once before. It was a nail-biting game, one that stayed 0-0 until nearly the end when Uni scored, sort of by accident. Who cares?! Now they're going to sectionals! Yesterday we packed up the little guys, lots of snacks, jackets, etc. and expectantly trekked down to Monticello for the game. It was a little cooler than I had expected and the wind had definitely picked up. We watched the first half, me dancing around to stay warm, Brennan and Logan chasing each other, seemingly oblivious to the weather.

The opponents scored twice soon into the first half. Disappointing. Then it started to rain. And the wind picked up even more. It became pretty miserable, prompting the little boys to hide their heads in our legs and ask to be picked up. By the end of the first half, the rain had become a downpour which flipped the "whine" switch....not the "I'm vaguely dissatisfied, make me happy" whine, but the "I'm so miserable, please help me" whine. I was filled with maternal angst, torn between the needs of one child and the needs of the other children. We went ahead and skedaddled back to the van, thinking "they're probably going to lose."

Well, they did. The final score was 3-2. One of those goals was made by CARTER. I missed my son's great moment, the one where he helped save his team's pride by keeping the game from being a shut-out. The one where all his athletic effort and focus culminated. Big sigh. Laced with lots of guilt.


On the left you can see him (white jersey) scoring with a "header." Those are really hard to do. On the right, the goalie and Carter after the game. ( got these pics from the Uni website.)

Thank GOD he's a junior and has another year to play. Perhaps next year we'll invest in rain gear for everyone. And stay no matter what.

Stocking up on basics

I try to grocery shop once every 2 weeks, but I noticed we were getting low on some very important items so the boys and I went to the store while George worked on the basement. We came back with

chocolate syrup
chocolate Teddy Grahams
chocolate chips
Ghirardelli Double Chocolate coffee

Hmm. I'm noticing a theme.

Not to worry, folks. I also came back with 100% juice, whole wheat bread, almonds, dried apricots, prunes, reduced fat Wheat Thins (with 0% trans fat!) and Kashi Pumpkin Spice Flax crunchy granola bars. We eat pretty healthy most of the time, but a girl's gotta have her chocolate!

The "up" side of Global Warming?

I guiltily admit --


I'm enjoying the prolonged warm weather.

NOT a morning person

While Brennan was climbing into the van this morning to take Carter to school, Logan said "Hi!" to him in his cheery, toddler way. Brennan grimaced at him and barked "No saying 'hi!' You're in trouble!"

Two things you can always count on

Last Friday I went to a symposium at the University of Chicago. My colleagues/friends/landlords (not in that order) Tim and Joanna made up the three-some and we cleverly called it a "retreat" because we planned to have dinner together afterward. The symposium was an oral festschrift for one of the biggest scholars/clinicians in my field -- a woman who studies, writes about and incorporates into her practice spirituality, diversity and family resiliency. This sounded like something we'd be willing to shell out $120 plus traveling expenses and loss of a day's income for.

When we got to the campus and walked the short distance to the School of Social Service Administration, I was briefly charmed by the stately, gothic buildings and all the young, mostly bright faces of students hurrying to class. There is something magnetic about a university campus, especially an old, rich, famous university like U of C. Sometimes, just every now and then, (pretty rarely actually), I see myself on a campus teaching again. This past Friday was one of those rare occasions.

But it only took 5 minutes into the first presentation for me to remember why I left academia in the first place......the rampant narcissism. Oh, and the agonizing tedium of the academic process of doing anything -- by committee and very slowly. The folks involved in this Symposium would make their academic mamas proud because the introducers of the presenters had introducers.

You read that right.....it went like this: there was a peon-type person in the field who introduced a middle tier person in the field who then introduced the big-whig speaker. Sadly, the 8 presentations themselves, with the exception of 1 or 2, were disappointing, with lots of droning on and on about "my study this" and "my study that." This goes to show that some things never change.

After 7 hours of sitting on a backless bench and trying to stay awake, we "retreated" uptown to Lincoln Park for a little S & P (shopping and people watching). Then we went a little further north for dinner at a new Italian restaurant called Il Fiasco (except for a red wine incident, it wasn't). The restaurant had been recommended by a friend of Joanna's and we weren't sure exactly where it was. As we looked for the address, I realized that we were in my old stomping grounds. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped as I took in all the changes that had taken place since I left the City 8 years ago. A trendy restaurant? In my old neighborhood?? And look at that new place! And THAT new place!! Those look really cool!

I probably sound like one of those people that thinks when they move the place they left becomes frozen in time, as a sort of memorial to their presence. I know that doesn't happen. It was just a lot of change in what seemed like a short time. So, along with my very pricey 6 CEUs, I brought home a lingering wistfulness for certain parts of an old life, but a bigger sense of gratefulness that things are always changing.

Mood Lighting

When George and I got married in Santa Fe, we saw this really cool lamp in one of the stores on the Plaza. It gave off a soft, golden glow and revolved so that shadows of images were enlarged on the wall. That particular lamp was WAY expensive, as things in Santa Fe are, and not quite right for our personal decorative tastes -- if I remember right, the images were of cowboys and cacti.

Since then (about 5 1/2 years) we've been looking for a lamp for our bedroom that would give a similar feel. We've found various lamps along the way but nothing that really "WOWed" us in a joint way. We try really hard to get stuff that we both really, really like and we keep looking until we find it.

Before Bethany left for the year she gifted us with a special date. We went to Allerton Park during the day to walk around the grounds and try to get a feel for the 5.5 mile trail that I'm planning to run later this month. Then we strolled around downtown Monticello before we had dinner at Montgomery's on the Square. Sadly, most of the stores were closed except for a new toy store and a specialty shop with blown glass items. The doors were open even though the hours indicated the store should be closed. Music and the beautiful items pulled us to the shop windows. We could see a man towards the back of the store blowing glass. Turns out he was the owner/artist of this gallery. He was gracious enough to educate us about glass blowing and to help us put together a lamp for our bedroom.

You can see it's pretty stunning on it's own:

The blue, green, yellow swirls sort of remind me of the Van Gogh Starry Night. Very, very beautiful and unique.

But look what happens when the lamp is turned on.....

This definitely "WOWed" us and as you can see, it has taken a place of honor in what I call the "George and Lisa shrine." It's where we keep everything with special meaning to us: a kaliedescope I bought when we were on our second date, our wedding photo, our traditional Native American wedding pot, a picture of us on our honeymoon, a crystal heart given as an anniversary present, and a picture of us right before we found out we were pregnant with Brennan. Oh! and the big box George bought for me to keep all the cards, notes, letters, etc. that we have given each other. It's practically full.

I could see why some of you might feel nauseated by this post. Well I'm sorry, I'm just not going to apologize! Ain't love grand!

Conversation between two teenaged boys

Dude. Mothers are amazing, but creepy.

Dude. Why are they creepy?

Because they know everything.

Dude. You're right....they DO know everything. So why are they amazing?

Dude! Because they make cookies!

Good point, Dude.

Befy Update #2

Per the once a month phone call rule, I called and spoke to Bethany for about 30 minutes today. She sounded decidedly happier and more relaxed about her stay in Venezuela. She caught me up on what school was like and the friends she is making (mostly boys). She gets up around 5 am every day to get to school by 6:50 am. It doesn't take her that long to get ready, and the school isn't that far away. She says the traffic is terrible and they spend a lot of time in the car trying to get anywhere. Her day is spent at school in "salons" made up of classes of students who have been together since grammar school. They have PE only once a week but they have a "recess" every day during which they can eat a snack. She says she loves the epanadas and that the avocados, some biggerthan grapefruits, are practically given away because they're so plentiful. Sounds like heaven to me!

Below is a post that she wrote for her Facebook profile. She said she forgot how to post to her blog so I guess she's writing about her experiences on Facebook.

Mì primera mes en Venezuela (My first month in Venezuela)

4:35pm Thursday, Oct 4

Hello everyone stuck in the boring United States! It has been one month since I arrived in Venezuela and I can't believe it. It is absolutely beautiful here. I'm living in a house in the mountains in the city of Carrizal, which is about 30 miles (or 3 hours because of the monstrous traffic jams called colas) from Caracas. The temperature is always around 60 or 70, and it rains almost every day. My host family is absolutely awesome. My host father is chubby and funny, his name is Ezequiel. My host mother, Milagros, is what the Venezuelans refer to as bochinche, which as far as as I can tell means party animal, she loves to dance and talk until around three in the morning. I also have a host sister, Maria Luisa, who is quiet and shy, but we get along very well.

I started school two weeks ago and I am so happy! The school is a big and very well kept Catholic school, with about five hundred students. The kids learn in salons, which is like a homeroom, and the salons have been together since the first year of school. The students accepted me whole-heartedly, and I already have costillas (which literally in Spanish means ribs, but is a saying for really good friends). This weekend is already totally full, and on Monday we´re going to the movies. An interesting thing about school is the way girls and boys interact, boys and girls who are friends will hold hands, give each other massages, stroke each other's hair, etc. It took me a while to get used to, but now I feel comfortable.

The first two weeks here I was very homesick, since I was alone most of the time in a big house, and my Spanish was really bad, but since I've started school, the only thing I have to complain about are the mosquitoes, and the fact that all of you aren't here.

Venezuela, despite being a beautiful country naturally, is very run down. People litter all over the streets, there's graffiti on all of the buildings, and a lot of bad stuff goes down in the cities. For example, two teenagers were shot randomly on a bus in Los Teques (a town close to mine), I've been warned about a drug from Columbia that people touch you with and you lose your memory and free will, and basically do whatever that person says until the drug wears off. There's also a law here that if there are rooms in your house that nobody is sleeping in, anybody without a home can come in and live there. It's kind of a scary place, but also a welcoming one, because most of the people are so nice, and will give you the clothes off their back. Also, I'm never afraid because I'm never alone, I'm always with family or my friends.

So in summary: Venezuela-beautiful, host family-nice, school and friends-super awesome. I miss everybody lots! My phone number here is (removed for security reasons), but you should only call me once a month. I love you all!

44

That's how many years I have lived, as of today. I've celebrated so far by having a Pumpkin Spice Latte (thanks, Mom, for the Starbucks gifts card!), an omlette for breakfast (thanks George!) and a nice, long, ALONE run (also thanks to George).

Running helps my mind flow. I typically work out little problems (like what we need from the store), untangle the complexities of parenting both toddlers and teens, and how to handle client stuff.

But today, I let my mind run (no pun intended) with the whole birthday thing. I started thinking about how LONG 44 years is and what has changed in that time. For example, in high school I took typing (now it's called "keyboarding") on a real typewriter and used that skill to prepare my own and others' research papers in college (aahhh, the smell of White Out and typewriter ribbon ink). In grad school I learned to use a computer, which was seen as an improvement, but my papers came out on dot matrix printers and took forever. And right now I'm typing, oops! keyboarding these, my thoughts, on a laptop in my kitchen and when I'm done, the wireless router in our house will distribute this post to the Internet once I click on "publish post." A-MAZING.

I thought about how being born in 1963 technically classifies me as a Baby Boomer (1946-1964) but how sometimes I feel a little more like a Gen X-er (1964-1976). I counted how many times I've moved since birth (23), how many schools I've attended (11) and how many hairstyles I've had (lost count early in the process). In my 1 life I've had 2 careers, 3 mates, 4 children, and 5 cars. (I could actually go on, but you'd stop reading).

I thought about how much I've changed in 44 years, and how much I've stayed the same. I thought about what a comfort it is to know that my basic personality has been with me since birth, so I can know myself, but that I can also transform a few of the less-than-lovely parts. I'm pretty sure I'll always have freckles, though.

Towards the end of the run my mind started to wander towards the future and I realized that I didn't sense any anxiety or questioning. I thought "It's been 'all good,' (yes, even the crappy, painful stuff), and it will all be ok. Then I decided to enjoy the sun on my face, be grateful for it shining down on me and for the One who made it.

The love affair continues.....

What's Cookin' Wednesday

Quinoa!

Even though George pronounces it "kih-no-ee," it's pronounced Keen -wah. We discovered it while eating at one of our favorite restaurants in Champaign, Radio Maria.

Quinoa is a grain native to South America and has been cultivated for more than 5,000 years. It has been called a "super grain" because it's protein content is 22% for one cup (compared to 14% for wheat and 7.5% for brown rice), and because it has an adequate quantity of lysine (an amino acid), which most grains lack. That makes it a source of complete protein, the issue many refer to when expressing concern about being vegetarian. It's also higher in other nutrients and minerals than other grains. Here's what it looks like growing, harvested raw, and cooked:



The nutrition aspects of quinoa are important to us but even more important is the ease of preparation and how it tastes. Quinoa is very versatile, is as easy to cook as rice, and tastes really good. It's also becoming more easily found at the regular grocery store and not just at the health food store. I saw it Mierer the last time I shopped there.

Here is one of our favorite recipes for preparing quinoa:

Quinoa and Black Beans

INGREDIENTS

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.
2. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes,
3. Stir frozen corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro.

How much do you love me?

I've done a lot of stupid things, but what I did last night earns me the Idiot of the Year award.

There's a gravel road (actually more like a trail) near our house that runs between two corn fields. It's part of one of my favorite running routes and looks like this:


I've been running this about once a week because I love watching how the fields change with each season and I love scaring up flocks of birds, grasshoppers and an occasional bunny as I go by (probably from my loud, heavy breathing). The only problem is that I don't know how far it is. You might think it doesn't matter but most runners are a little nutty and we want to know exactly how far we've gone each time we go out.

Well, I was driving home from seeing clients last night and had the "bright" idea of driving around those barricades and up the gravel road and back so I could find out it's distance. You non-idiots probably see the problem with this idea immediately, but I thought it could work. I've seen other vehicles go around those barricades and drive down the road. OK, they were large-ish work trucks and not a Toyota Corolla. Oh, and also? It was about 8:30 pm -- pretty dark, even with the high beams on.

So I start in, cautiously (I'm not THAT nutty), but pretty soon find myself stuck in a lot of mud. I don't panic yet because I'm a seasoned winter driver and I know that you just have to sort of "rock" the car back and forth, find the tiniest bit of traction and you can get out. I guess that only works with snow. I get out and look for something in the trunk to put under the tires to give it traction. Ah! a towel! That will work! Nope.

I finally realize I'm going to have to call George. Ohhhhhh this wasn't going to be good. You see, the car I was driving was his car (yeah, yeah, yeah, it's "our" car, but it's really his car). And if you know George, you know that he is......how does one say.....fastidious. He's understandably upset, but comes to my rescue and gets the car out of the hole. I didn't realize how bad it was until I went back to the scene of the stupidity:


See that concrete barricade right there? The cute little gray Corolla was about 6 inches from it. George only groused a little bit....I expected a lot more, because what I did (or tried to do) was really, really stupid. Later, when I came home from washing his car and filling it up with gas, I apologized again. He said, "Well, sh#t happens, you weren't thinking, and besides, one of the things that made me fall in love with you is your sense of adventure."

For this, and many, many, many other reasons, George is my ONO (One 'N Only).

Priviledged

Here's what I saw on my run today:

• a big pile of what looked like dryer lint
• a can of Cheez Whiz (I didn't stop to see if it was empty or not)
• a wadded, mud-encrusted blue and white dish towel
• a flattened PB&J sandwich with one bite out of the corner. Granted, it was made with that flavor-less, texture-less white bread.....I probably would have thrown it away too (or composted it)
• one blue tube sock covered with grass
• numerous piles of dog poo and fast food bags
• lots and Lots and LOTS of the typical trash (cigarette butts, beer bottles, plastic wrapping, the ubiquitous Wal-Mart shopping bag, etc.)
  

Only in a wealthy nation can people afford to throw away this kind of stuff. Maybe it's time to bring back this commercial