Cleaning Out My Pantry (The Graduation Edition)

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Coco

This weekend I noticed those tell-tale signs that the mouse had been back in the pantry again. I traced the damage to a large bag of M&Ms I had bought for holiday baking but forgotten at the back of the top shelf.


(What does it tell you when the mouse doesn’t eat the “candy coating”?
I don’t think I can eat M&Ms again!)

I took everything out of the pantry, checked packages for signs of infiltration, wiped down boxes and cans with Clorox wipes, and thoroughly cleaned the shelves. As I put things away, I tossed things we don’t eat anymore (Craisins anyone?) and put our snack foods into plastic tubs for added protection.  (The mouse has a thing for chocolate, and has ruined several dark chocolate Lindt bars!)

I also did some pantry cleaning of a different type. I tossed the snacks I bought for my daughter when she was home a few weeks ago. Now that she’s back at college for summer school, I seem to be the only one tempted by the Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I also made sure that my son took all of the Cheez-Its to the beach.

(I don’t need to be home alone with these all week.)

I got rid of the tub of peanut-butter filled pretzels that my husband got at BJ’s, since that’s another item I seem to be “enjoying” more than anyone else.

My son will only be gone for a few days this week, but when he goes off to college in August I won’t have any “reason” to stock so many cookies, chips, and snack foods. I’m sure my husband will want a few things to nibble on, but I am looking forward to having less junk food in my house.

Do you keep junk food in the house for your husband or kids?

What junk food item do you crave most yourself?

Posted in Fitness | 5 Comments

Proud Mom Monday (The Graduation Edition)

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Coco

PLUS


EQUALS

(My son’s awards for 11 varsity seasons and 3-D art)

Posted in Life | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Praying, Not Worrying (The Graudation Edition)

Posted on June 10, 2012 by Coco

The original version of this post was inspired by this post on Carla’s blog (MizFitOnline) about worrying. This re-post is once again inspired by a post on Carla’s blog and other life events conspiring to remind me that my worrying is not helping anything.

I have had periods in my life when anxiety had a tight grip on me, and I took comfort in Matthew 6:26:

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

But I had a hard time focusing on these words as they were read during my son’s Baccalaureate service (a chapel program for the graduating seniors) this week. My son wasn’t there because he had been in the middle of a chain reaction fender bender on the way to school. Out of six cars, he was car number 4. Car numbers 5 and 6 were fellow seniors, also on their way to school. No one was hurt (See!) but I was still worried for him and the others, because being involved in an accident is stressful, especially when the police are involved, and especially when it causes you to miss a special event.

Another part of the reading (Matthew 6:27) caught my attention over something else I have no control over:

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[?

Since my son’s surgery was postponed because the surgeon thought the gash in his leg (from a bicycling adventure gone awry) posed too much risk of infection, I have been worrying over whether it will be sufficiently healed in time for his new surgery date (this Friday). As if my worry can make his skin cells grow any faster! (But I welcome your prayers–it’s still not scabbed over!)

What I needed to hear–and heard in Carla’s post even if she didn’t say it–is that I should stop worrying and start praying. I need to remember that the reason that I don’t  need to worry is because God loves us and is taking care of us.

I need to make this passage of Psalm 33 from the New Jerusalem Bible my mantra:

Let your constant love attend us, oh Lord,
   as we put our trust in you.

As I live through the last few days of post-graduation celebrations and the final days leading up to my son’s rescheduled surgery, I need to live this passage from Philippians 4:4-7:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Amen.

Posted in My Faith | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

LHH 2012: DNS

Posted on June 9, 2012 by Coco

This year’s Lawyer’s Have Heart 10K fell on the same day as my son’s highschool graduation, so I never was planning to participate. Still, when my law firm decided to pay the entry fee for any employees, I decided to sign up to support the American Heart Association with my entry fee and my fundraising page.

The fact that we were going to have cool technical shirts for our “team” was a bonus.

I love this design!

Even the race t-shirt had an interesting design this year.

To earn my race bling, I wore my team t-shirt and went on my own 10K run on Friday (except I only ran 6.1 miles–oops!). My route was hillier than the Lawyers Have Heart course, but much shadier, and I ran at 6:00 am, so it was much cooler. I wasn’t trying to run at “race” pace, but I was pleased with my 57:22 time (avg 9:24 min/mile).

Does it count as a DNS (Did Not Start) if I knew when I signed up that I wouldn’t be running?

Have you ever signed up for a race just for the bling?

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The Quest For The Perfect Cheez-It

Posted on June 7, 2012 by Coco

This is what happens when my son asks me to get him “cheddar” Cheez-It® crackers.

After I got over the initial shock of how many varieties of Cheez-It® crackers there are, I scanned the shelves five times to confirm that none were called “cheddar.” I grabbed the “White Cheddar” variety knowing that they were not what my son wanted (we’d had them before, so he would have asked for them by name if that’s what he wanted) but at least that way I could tell him that I got the only box that said “cheddar.” I also got him the regular variety (the plain old Cheez-It® crackers on the left), again knowing that it probably wasn’t right but confident that they would be eaten anyway.

When I got home and he confirmed that he had something else in mind, we went to the Cheez-It website to see what it could possibly be called. Out of the ten varieties listed on the website, my guess was “Colby” but he wasn’t sure. When I went to the grocery store, I noticed the smoked cheddar/Monterey Jack “Duoz” and got those as well. I was doubtful, because I think he would have remembered (and possibly not liked) the “smoked” flavor.

After I got home we had a taste test, and the winner was …. Colby!

Are you more astounded at the fact that there are ten varieties of Cheez-It® crackers, or that I bought four of them?

(Steena, want to come over for some carbo-loading?)

Posted in Food | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments