This was the top piece of paper on the notepad on the desk of a hotel I stayed at recently. For some reason, I noticed that I could make out the words that had been written on the page above it–a page I hope has made its way to a special place for safekeeping.
I love you
mom! I love
my family +
you are
the best mom
in the world!
Love,
Xxxxx
My husband really likes stuffed peppers, and while my son won’t eat much of the pepper shell (he boycotts most vegetables), he does like the filling (and I manage to sneak in some veggies there). I adapted this recipe from Cooking Light and it has become a family favorite.
Ingredients
1-2 cups cooked rice, cooled
4 medium bell peppers (green, yellow and/or red)
3/4 pound lean ground beef (or ground turkey or ground chicken)
1 cup chopped onion
1/8 tsp allspice
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups pasta sauce, divided
1/2 cup (2 oz) grated Parmesan cheese
I always have enough extra filling left for another dish.
I still haven’t figured out the perfect rice-to-meat ratio–I usually end up feeling like there is too much rice–but my guys don’t mind.
Do you have a favorite stuffed peppers recipe?
Last week my left calf started hurting big time. By Wednesday, it was very tender, making me limp, and noticeable even when I was in bed. By Thursday, it was aching even when I was sitting down. Because of my history, I made a doctor’s appointment for Thursday afternoon. Because of my history, the doctor ordered an ultrasound to rule out a DVT (blood clot).
I was relieved when the ultrasound didn’t show anything unusual, but puzzled about my calf. It hurt near the top of my calf, not in the middle where I would expect a calf strain. While it bothered me when I walked, it hadn’t bothered me when I ran on Wednesday. I couldn’t remember doing anything to injure it. The doctor prescribed rest (with gentle stretching and light activity), ice and alternating Tylenol/Motrin.
Friday morning I started my day with my favorite yoga routine–the “Twists” program on my Rodney Yee A.M. Yoga For Your Week DVD. I took Tylenol and Motrin but never got around to icing it. While I was working at my kitchen counter Friday evening, I crossed my legs and–ouch!–found that tender spot. I remembered working at home most of Monday (Memorial Day), sitting at my kitchen counter, crossing my legs. Was that the source of my problem? I made a point to keep my legs un-crossed and stood and stretched frequently.
I alerted my friend that I wouldn’t be able to meet her for a run on Saturday, and just took my dog for a walk instead. When I took my dog out again in the afternoon, I noticed that my calf did not hurt at all. By that point I was pretty sure that the whole episode stemmed from my over-zealous leg crossing. I sent a text message to my friend indicating that I might be able to run on Sunday morning, and she immediately tried to convince me that I was fine. The weather in the D.C. area was amazing this weekend–with temps in the upper 50s and low humidity at our usual o’dark-thirty running time.
We met up for a run at her house (her neighborhood has gentler hills than mine) and went for 6 miles instead of our usual 7 or 8. My calf felt fine, and I felt good as we averaged a 9:15 min/mile pace.
So, I guess I will cancel my follow-up doctor’s appointment, but I’m not sure I’ll tell the doctor my theory of what I really did to my calf.
On a similar note, ever since my chiropractor fired me and I made a doctor’s appointment about my ITB/piriformis issue, that hasn’t really bothered me either! My ITB feels a smidge tight when I run, but it hasn’t been bothering me any other time. I still am going to keep at least my first few physical therapy appointments because I know I have some muscle imbalances, but hopefully I will be explaining what “usually” bothers me instead of pointing to current pain points.
Have you ever had a mystery injury?
Did you ever figure out what it was?
When I walked into church on Sunday, I wondered if it was set up for a special day school event. I first noticed butcher paper on the walls of the narthex with baskets of markers near by. Then, in the back of the sanctuary I saw a table with clipboards, drawing paper and crayons, and another table with large balls of Play-Doh. As it turns out, our priest had set up a variety of “prayer stations” with different “activities” to encourage us to take different approaches to prayer.
During our service, instead of listening to a sermon we were given time to explore the activities. I ended up visiting four of the prayer stations:
Cloth Braids (for relationships):
Select three strips of cloth–one for yourself, one for the other person in the relationship, and one for God. (Silly me! I was going to pick one for me and one for each of my children, leaving God out of the picture until I learned the directions.) It was a very powerful experience to pray with the image of God literally weaving the two of us together.
Worry Stones:
Select a stone and pray over it with whatever is weighing down your heart. Place the stone in the baptismal font as a reminder of the promise in Matthew 11:28:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will refresh you.”
Scrabble Words:
Use Scrabble tiles to build on a crossword that describes your relationship with God.
Prayer Candles:
Light a candle as you pray for those in need of healing, to lift them up into God’s care.
(My priest explains the others on her blog)
Have you ever prayerfully walked a labyrinth?
I wonder why I feel so stressed at work, and then I realize that I have not put in a full week of work (Monday-Friday) in ages. Since this is my son’s senior year of high school, I made going to his lacrosse games a priority, even if that meant leaving work at 3:00 or 4:00 a few days a week.
Two weeks ago we took Friday off to head to the state championships. It would have been worth it even if they didn’t win, but the smiles on their faces really are priceless.
(Team captains with the championship plaque)
My son hurt his hand during that game, which led me to take the next Friday off to take him to the orthopedist. (Luckily nothing was broken.)
June doesn’t look much better for work. I have off June 1 because my son is having surgery to repair a lacrosse injury he’s been suffering through since last summer. (He wasn’t willing to miss wrestling last winter to have the surgery earlier.)
I have off June 8 for the day-before-graduation events.
I will be out of town June 15 for an all-day meeting.
I will be out of state June 22 for a conference.
I wish I had June 29 off to get a head start on a July 4th vacation, but I probably will be in the office, trying to catch up!
All of these events are worth the stress and pressure of working nights and/or weekends to stay ahead of deadlines–besides, there will be plenty of time to work next year!
Has your schedule been crazy lately?
Do you have summer vacation plans?
![The Ultimate Coffee Date](http://got2run4me.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ultimate-Coffee-Date.png" "The Ultimate Coffee Date")
