Thankfulness

Keith had a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day. He shot a 180 lb, 8 point buck Thursday morning! We are excited to have meat to eat this year and be able to share it with our friends. He also went pheasant hunting with his brother and nephews and shot a few more birds. I am being creative with some new pheasant soup recipes and looking forward to trying them.

Happy Thanksgiving

Who's working out on Thanksgiving day besides me? Anyone? Come on. You know this is the holiday weekend where people gain the most weight, right? (Shopping on black Friday does not count as a workout BTW) Every year at my mom's, we prepare the feast and while the food is cooking, people jump in the shower and I ponder what I could do for 30 minutes?
- I could check my google reader blogs (tempting)
- I could catch up on my bible study
- I could go play with Eldon or
- I could do a pre-burn on all the carb and calories I know I will digest later. This is usually what I pick. The treadmill calls my name. I feel better afterwards and have no guilt when I eat a big slice of chocolate-pumpkin-sugar-apple (pick your favorite) pie. Good luck and get that workout in. You won't regret it!
Safe travels everyone!

SKOY

A few months ago I won a 4 pack of SKOY cloths on a green blog I follow and I have to tell you how much I love them. They are biodegradable, re-usuable and I dig the bright colors (they make one in PURPLE!!) and fun designs. I know you are thinking, why use a SKOY cloth when you can use paper towels, sponges or your husbands cut-up tshirts, right? SKOY cloths are 100% biodegradable and compostable, while sponges and shirts are crowding our landfills. Think about all the paper towels you use... its scary to realize how many trees were cut down for me to use them once and throw them away. 1 cloth is equivalent to using 15 rolls of paper towels. YIKES!

Here is the best part: They are washing machine and dryer safe!! Yippee! I gave up sponges ages ago because they get so yucky so quick. You can microwave your wet SKOY cloth to zap the germs out of them, or throw them in the wash. Hallelujah!

The real test - I cleaned my bathrooms with one it didn't miss a beat. I was very impressed how well it cleaned, picking up all my long hairs and general bathroom crud. It washed up really well too and didn't shrink up to nothing in the dryer. I gave one to my sister in Orlando and she just loves them. Like me, she is trying to eliminate paper towels in her home and making lots of green changes.

Oh - check out their cute packaging! I love that they don't use the plastic shrink wrap that you have to throw out after you chase the dog down and wrestle it out of his mouth (oh come on, you know that happens in your house too). They are reasonably priced too. Lets do some math with some If Then statements....
Its $6 for 4 reusuable cloths.
If 1 cloth = 15 rolls of paper towel and
If 1 roll of paper towel = $1 (I use the generic, not the fancy ones) then
60 rolls of paper towel = $60.
That sounds like a big 90% savings to me. Even if you buy 50cent paper towels and your cloth only lasted the equivalent of 7 rolls of paper towels, it would still cost you $14 in paper towels and you would have landfill guilt. :)
I think I am buying some online for Christmas gifts this year! If you've tried them, what do you think?

Breaking News

I just got a newsletter from D.IN.O and I finished 1st in my age group overall for the Fall Sub Series.... I get a plaque!!!!! I am soooo excited!! Its not overall for the entire series (spring and fall combined) just the fall. This is the 2nd year I have placed in the fall sub series and I am stoked! If you are in Indiana and are looking for an excellent trail race, this is the one.

In other news, got new road shoes! I know, I know, but I dooooo love them. They are the same ones I bought in the spring, but in a redish/orange color. I typically like to buy from local retailers to help out the small businesses, but after hearing what a great experience Jamie had ordering from Zappos.com, I had to check them out. This color of the Nike Zoom Vomero+3's were on sale for $104 with free shipping both ways! Then, on top of that, they upgraded me with free overnight shipping... I had them the next day and tried them out on the treadmill last night. I knew I would love them, but I forgot how awesome it is to have new shoes. It was like running on a bed of marshmallows. Heaven on my feet!!

Over the River and Through the Woods

Do you remember that feeling as a child where you could run unsupervised with no worries, jumping in every mud puddle you saw and flinging yourself into the nearest creek to clean yourself off? It was carefree, fun and liberating. Those were the days! I experienced that feeling again on Saturday during the final Dino Series 15K Trail Run at Fort Ben. It was miserably cold, raining and dreary - perfect running conditions. Dave and I ran through mud, mud puddles, horse poop and horse poop puddles before crossing the creek. Creek? More like a small river with all the rain we had. Last year, it was a true 'creek' where you could tip toe across and stay dry. This year, Dave and I came to a HALT, while I surveyed the dryest, quickest, safest way across the creek. Dave trudged right in, almost up to his knees in freezing water. I gave a yell and went in after him, up the hill and on with the race. It was soooo freeing! Since it is an out and back course, we crossed the creek again, splashed in the puddles and hiked up a mud hill to the finish. The race provided a warm fire and cups of hot cocoa to all the participants, which was the icing on the cake. Too cold to stick around and see how I did overall, (i later found out that I placed 2nd in my age group) I went home to shower and then enjoyed a relaxing spa day with my girlfriends.

The Hardest Worker

Pheasant season opened last weekend and we went home so Keith and Eldon could hunt. I was able to tag along the first morning so I could get some action pics of the two of them. Eldon is such a good hunter and I don't normally get to see that side of him. I see the dog who plays in the yard and runs around the house. When it comes to hunting, he is a dog on a mission. He never slowed down and I was impressed. I was just walking, but it was tough work. Lugging heavy boots through the tall grass for several miles is a lot different than running 5 miles. I dont know how Eldon works so hard for 3 days in a row for Keith, but he does.

Keith, Eldon and Victor at the end of Day 2. Victor didn't have as much luck as Keith, but he will be back out to try again soon.

Old school hunting meets new technology. This is Keith's favorite shot. You can see the new windmills in the background, which have really changed not only the landscape but the hunting has changed too.

Keith giving Eldon some praise for pointing and retrieving a pheasant. Its all about him! Keith shot 5 pheasants over the weekend with Eldon's help.

A hen flying away to safety - its illegal to shoot a female pheasant, unless you are the photographer.

Glamour shots

Lucy was here for a week recently and I have been the bad Aunt who forgets to post pics (Thanks H.Lo for the reminder!). Shame on me. Mom had a local photographer who is just starting out with her photography business come to the farm for some pics. I snagged them from her website, as you can tell from the watermark.

Dad got out of the field just to snap this pic with Lucy. Too cute!!

Who else thinks Lucy's favorite color will eventually be purple?! ME, if I have anything to do with it. I bought that dress for her right after we found out she was a girl and am excited she finally fits into it. They come for another visit in December, Christmas actually, and we are looking forward to celebrating her 1st big holiday with her.

Yoga Motivation

If these cute cookies don't motivate you to do yoga, nothing will! Aren't they adorable?
I regularly read a blog called Grounded Fitness, which is a wonderful blog for all things yoga and fitness related. This week they are giving away a box of yogi gingerbread cookies to 1 lucky reader for the low low price of a comment. check it out!
I know my yoga instructor would love to receive these as a gift, if only I could win them (and then only if I didnt eat them all upon delivery...).

Political Workouts

Yesterday I went for a wonderful 4 miler right after work, trying to make a decision on who to vote for. I was on the fence. With every step I chanted Red, Blue, Red, Blue.
After dinner, Keith did some 'political yoga' - he did yoga while I watched and we talked about our voting decisions. I needed someone to talk my reasons over with because I was torn about my choice. I am sure it didn't make for a very zen yoga session for him, but he listened supported my views.
I love working for the government! I have today off, so Keith and I went to the polls at 6:30am. Our thinking? Beat the morning rush. The line wrapped back on its self and looked to be at least an hour, so Keith went to work and I went home to organize closets and make Goodwill bags.
At 10:45am I left for my 'voter run'. Our poll place is on my regular running route, so I met Keith there. I got some strange stares as I ran up to the building, but I figured I was being environmental and healthy at the same time. There was NO LINE!! I was still torn about my vote and after several minutes of hesitation, I decided. We chatted about our decisions and I ran home. It will be an interesting political night for sure.

Wedding Bells

I used to babysit for Emily McAllister when I was in high school, and Saturday she got married to Tim Arth on the IU campus in Bloomington. Keith pheasant hunts with her dad John, and her mom Susan, is one of my mom's best friends. Matthew and I enjoying our cocktails on the patio at the IU Union, where the reception was held.

Susan and Joanna, Emily's sister, after the wedding. The ceremony was lovely and the priest was funny, making for a light hearted service. The IU football team had a home game down the road from the church and everytime they scored a touchdown, cannons fired. Everytime the priest heard them he would pause, look towards the stadium and yell "go hoosiers!" Emily and Tim both graduated from and now work at IU, so it really fit in with the theme. As we exited the church, guests received IU thunder sticks to bang together in leiu of birdseed.

When Emily and Joanna were little, they always dreamed of riding in their Grandpa Victor's Model T Ford on their wedding days. Even though he has passed away, Emily still got her wish, with her dad and Tims dad driving them away from the wedding in it. She was a very emotional, but gorgeous bride. It was the perfect day for a fall wedding!

My dad and I after the ceremony. It was dad's responsibility to get the Model T to Bloomington, then to the wedding site and finally back on the trailer to haul it back to Fowler safe and sound. Sunday was dad's 55th birthday - Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Halloween

How!

We always spend Halloween at Victor & Lisa's house. She has all the family over, cooks a huge spread and gives a ton of candy out. It is always a busy, fun night, full of dancing and partying. The indian chief and the school girl.

Jacob, the baby Marine. His daddy is in Iraq and has only seen him through email and video.

Victor and I are checking out the candy stash. Last year they ran out of candy and we ended up going through the pantry and throwing in Ramen Noodles, Easy Mac and granola bars. It was such a hit, this year they had kids come back asking for Easy Mac! Sorry, only candy, moon pies and little debbie snack cakes this year kiddos.

Lisa, Victor and Keith handing out on the porch. Keith's costume was a very last minute throw together. We picked up the fabric with the fringe and cutouts on it and I quickly cut and sewed some arm holes, then gathered the top and sewed the shoulders. I do NOT sew. Ever. I get pretty excited when I put a button on right, so this was pretty phenominal for me.

Boo!