Friday Night Photos

It's my favorite time of week... Friday night! I'm pretty sure the most exciting thing I'm doing tonight is laundry, but there is still something about Friday night that feels good. I don't have very many photos from this week (that I haven't already shared) but here goes...

Being stiff and in pain when I wake up every morning is really taking a toll on me. Mornings are the worst--my joints are extremely stiff and I walk like I'm 100 years old. It usually takes 90 minutes or so before I can actually function and it's really frustrating. (My third appointment with the rheumatologist is next week--but I don't know that she'll have any answers.)

Anyway, even though it's the last thing I feel like I can do when I wake up, I wondered if I go for a short walk (just around the block--half a mile), will it make me feel less stiff and painful? So I tested that out today. I was in a lot of pain but I managed to get Joey leashed and out the door. We walked slowly, but Joey loves that because he wants to smell everything anyway. By the time we got back home, I can't really say that the pain was much better, but I definitely felt less stiff and I was walking faster.

I'm going to try and do that every morning before I do anything else. Even if it's not helping, it at least makes me feel better mentally. And Joey loves the idea ;)

My next door neighbor is very into gardening and she's so good at it! I wish I could grow something, but even my attempt at starting seedlings in my kitchen failed because my cats ate them. Anyway, my neighbor generously shares her bounty with me sometimes and yesterday, she gave me this basil. Isn't it amazing?! That was a full grocery bag full of fresh basil (my kitchen smelled heavenly). I made pesto with it--I'd never made pesto before, but I love it!

This is a new project I'm working on. We needed a couple of stools for the snack bar in the kitchen (one of the ones we had in there broke) but I didn't want to spend much on them. I found these on Facebook Marketplace for $35. They're not really my style, but they are very well-made and sturdy, and I figured if I paint them, they'll look much better. Yesterday I primed them and today I put the first coat of paint on. Tomorrow, I'm going to paint a second coat. I'll share the "after" photo when I'm done.

A year ago, Eli was addicted to pop. We never have pop in our house (I don't really like it and Jerry could take it or leave it, but somehow Eli got hooked on walking to the store and buying a pop every day. We were sitting around a campfire up north last summer and somehow it was brought up. I proposed that if he gives up pop for a year, I'll pay him $1 per day--but only if he makes it for the whole year (so, it would be a total of $365 if he could do it).

He said he would do it (I totally didn't believe him) but he stuck with it--for a whole year! I really hoped he would decide not to drink it again after the year was up, but he was excited to try his favorite (Pepsi) and see if he still liked it as much as before. He walked to the store and bought one, and I told him I wanted to get a picture of him trying pop for the first time in a year.

I asked what he thought, and he replied, "It tastes just as good as I remember!" Haha. Well, I'm proud that he managed to complete such a difficult challenge. That's tough for a 15-year old boy!

When I pulled up to my parents' house last weekend to pick up Luke and bring him to my house, my heart melted when I saw this in the driveway. My dad had turned a kids' basketball hoop into a gas pump for Luke and Riley's bikes. It's so cute! I love the pictures he drew of them, hahaha.

When I went grocery shopping, I wanted to buy some Nutella (which I hadn't bought in a long time). I was a little taken aback when I reached for one; I had to choose between these three! They were all the same, just with different labels--obviously for a marketing thing. I just now looked it up out of curiosity and found, "Start the Nu school year with a smile" and there are labels for all the school grades. 

This is one of the peach muffins I made for the heritage recipes, spread with the peach preserves I made--it was so good! 

I saw this on Instagram (@90smovieclips) and I thought it was a fun decision to make...

From those, I would choose a Drumstick, Cherry Coke, and Friends. 

And here is another...

From these, I'd choose Cool Ranch Doritos, Peanut M&M's, and Jurassic Park. Feel free to chime in with your own responses!

And that's all I've got for this week. Have a great weekend :)

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Some FAQ's About How I'm Losing Weight

This post feels premature to me because I've only been back to calorie counting for 10 weeks and I'm still 30 pounds above my target weight. (I don't really want to say "goal weight" because I'm not sure what that is, exactly. I know I feel best at 130-135, but if I am only able to get to 145, I'm cool with that. I start feeling uncomfortable in my own skin when I'm above 145, so I am loosely aiming for something under that.)

Anyway, the last time I was under 145 was actually in early 2018--so it's been quite a long time! I am just hoping that I don't write this post and then stop seeing progress in taking the weight off.

I was about 130-135 pounds here, which is where I feel best.
Clearly, though, I was stronger back then. That tree was heavy AF ;)

I've gotten a lot of questions about how I've been losing weight and the details of how I count calories, so I wanted to write an updated post to 'How I Calorie Counted My Way Back to My Goal Weight').

Before I get into it, I REALLY want to stress that what works for me may not work for others. Everybody is different, and bodies respond differently. What works for others may not work for me, and what works for me may not work for them. I think it's super important to experiment and find out what works for you (especially if there are dietary restrictions for medical reasons to consider).

This post is actually going to be quite boring, because my biggest "secret" is that I keep it SUPER SIMPLE. Over the decades of dealing with my weight, I've learned that the simpler I keep it, the more likely I am to stick to it. So here are some frequently asked questions (and my answers):

Q. Do you track just calories, or do you track macros too?

A. In the spirit of keeping it simple, I only track calories. I would feel way too overwhelmed trying to track anything else in addition. And each time I've counted calories, I've been successful at taking off extra weight. I've tried all sorts of diets but nothing ever worked for me except for eating less food in the form of counting calories.

Q. Do you limit carbs?

A. Like I said with the previous question, I don't count anything but calories. So no, I don't limit carbs. I just eat whatever sounds good to me and I weigh or measure my food to log the calories.

Q. How many calories do you aim for each day?

A. I don't have an exact number. I roughly shoot for 1600, but I don't feel like it's mandatory to hit that number. If I'm feeling less hungry that day, I eat less; if I'm ravenous, I eat more. But when I average out the numbers, it's about 1600 per day.

Q. Do you add calories for exercise?

A. No, I don't--since I don't have a target calorie count, it doesn't really make sense to add in calories. If I'm hungrier on the days I run, then I just eat a little more. I usually find that I'm less hungry on running days, though!

Q. What exercise do you do?

A. I started the Couch to 5K plan the same day that I started counting calories. It's only three days a week and I followed the plan exactly as written--it starts out at about 20 minutes per workout and at the end, it took me about 36 minutes per workout. After completing the plan, I'm now running 3 miles, 3 days a week.

Q. What kinds of foods do you eat?

A. I eat anything that sounds good to me--I try to eat what I want most because that is what will most satisfy my appetite. I eat a lot of grapes (because I LOVE grapes!) and this week I've eat so many peaches that I feel like I'm going to turn into one. I usually eat a really light breakfast and/or lunch because I like to save most of my calories for my main meal (dinner).

For dinner, I usually just cook something that I've already posted the recipe for (you can find the recipes page here). Something that I make a point to avoid is changing the ingredients in recipes to be lower in calories. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but I like to use whole milk, real butter, full-fat cheese, real pasta versus subbing in cauliflower or something, and I don't cut back on those ingredients.

The reason for this is that I prefer to choose quality over quantity. I'd rather eat a smaller portion of rich, cheesy lasagna than a huge portion of zucchini "noodles" with plain tomato sauce and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. (This is just my personal preference; if I liked zucchini more than pasta, I would choose the zucchini!)

I've also noticed that I lose weight much more easily when I eat a smaller volume of food. Even if I eat the same number of calories, my body prefers smaller portions of higher calorie food than large portions of low-calorie food. I don't feel hungry when eating smaller portions as long as I get enough calories.

Here is a variety of what I've eaten over the past couple of months:

Also, I love dessert--I usually have something sweet every day. This is something I did throughout my entire 125-pound weight loss.

Q. What do you do when you don't know how many calories are in something?

A. Another lesson I've learned over the years is not to take calorie counting to the extreme. If I don't know the calories in something but I want to eat it, then I just search on my app to find something similar and I count the calories that way. For example, my mom made a "hummingbird pie" and brought some over. It looks like an apple pie with a streusel topping, but it's made with peaches (she got a box of peaches from The Peach Truck, too!). I didn't have her recipe and I didn't worry about that--I just ended up counting it as an apple pie with streusel topping.

When Luke stayed the night last weekend, we made homemade lemonade. We also had a movie night and made popcorn (and Luke asked if we could add a handful of Skittles to it, and as his fun aunt, of course I said yes). It was all about spending time doing something fun with my nephew, and I didn't want to worry about measuring out exact portions so that I could count it correctly. I just guesstimated it later by looking up similar things on my app.

We watched the movie Cars (which is why I used this filter) and sent this
"Jerry face" selfie to Jerry (he was in Wisconsin at the time).

So basically, I don't take it super seriously. If I'm going to have to count calories forever to lose/maintain my weight, then I want it to be something that I can fit into my lifestyle.

Q. What app do you use to count calories?

A. Currently, I use Cronometer, at the suggestion of a reader. It's very detailed and numbers-oriented, and as a "numbers person", I love that (even though I only actually count calories). I pay for a subscription for it, though.

The first app I always recommend to people is actually Fat Secret. I used that for a long time before I switched to Cronometer and it's the best free app I've tried (and I've tried a lot of them!). It's very user-friendly, there aren't ads, the database isn't overwhelming with hundreds of entries for the same item, and it's easy to create and save recipes (for easy tracking later). I highly recommend it.

Okay, I think that about covers the questions I've been getting lately... if I didn't answer something and you're curious, feel free to ask! Remember, these are things that work best for ME and MY preferences; it's important to figure out what works best for you. This post explains that in more detail--how to make changes that work for YOU.

Now, I just hope that I continue to see progress! I feel very confident that I have the determination to see this through--and beyond. I've learned just how easy it is to put weight back on, and I definitely don't want to have to lose the weight yet again ;)

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Wednesday Weigh-In : Week 10

I'm not sure when it became "a thing" to use a mirror selfie on my Wednesday Weigh-In posts, but that's what I've been doing. (My blog automatically uses the first photo in each post as a thumbnail on my main page, and the last thing I want is a huge picture of the scale on my home page!)

Anyway, trying to take a mirror selfie when you have cats is next to impossible sometimes. Estelle used to be in almost all of my photos, but now that Duck follows me around everywhere, he is the one that winds up in them. And Chick, for some odd reason, loves to get on my scale! So it's hard to weigh myself in the mornings because Chick sits down on the scale; then I take him off and then hurry to try to get my weight before he steps on again. It usually takes a few tries. They love bathroom time in the mornings, apparently!

Here are some outtakes of the photo I was trying to get for this post...

Which reminds me of a very funny photo I have of Duck when I was trying to do a mirror selfie for 75 Hard...

Anyways! Last week, I weighed in at 173.4. This weeks weight:

I was at 172.6, which is a loss of 0.8 pounds this week. Not a huge loss, but I'll take whatever I can get! That brings my 10-week total to 24.4 pounds. If you'd have told me 10 weeks ago that I would lose this much, I never would have believed it. I thought I was too far gone--it seemed impossible to take the weight back off.

However, I came to realize that when I *thought* I was trying to lose weight over the past couple of years, I wasn't really doing all that I could. It wasn't until I saw the scale on Day 1 in May that I got the determination to do it--no matter what. Seeing how close I was to the 200's again scared the bejesus out of me.

Sometimes the days feel like they go by so slowly--I have times where I just want to eat everything in sight, almost always due to stress--and it's very hard to be rational. However, I am super determined to see this through. (Here is my post on motivation versus determination--it explains the difference.)

I am finally, FINALLY, starting to feel a difference in my clothes. The shirts that used to be really baggy, then got tight and uncomfortable, are feeling somewhat loose again. Also, I can only wear my size 10 jeans once before washing because throughout the day they get looser and looser as they get worn-in. For a while, I couldn't squeeze into them at all--quarantine meant yoga pants! And then if I did manage to get them on, I was afraid to wash them for fear of not being able to get them back on, hahaha. 

Last year, I cleaned out my closet and got rid of a LOT of clothes that didn't fit anymore. However, I didn't want to part with all of my favorite things just yet. So I put them in bags and brought them out to the garage. I said that if I can't wear them within the next two years, then they're gone--I'll get rid of them. (My closet was pretty bare after that--I only kept things in there that were wearable at the moment.)

Before we went up north a couple of weeks ago, I was looking for a pair of pants that I knew I had kept. I brought in the bags of clothes from the garage to look for them, and I decided to try on the clothes that I thought might fit me again. And I found a lot! Mostly the sweatshirts/hoodies (like the one in the mirror selfie today). I'm not even going to attempt trying on the jeans for a while. I also found a few pairs of capris that I can wear now (although I still prefer to wear pants year-round).

I'm so relieved that I'm actually seeing (and feeling) the progress now. I was really worried that I was going to continue gaining weight until I was back up to where I started, at 253 pounds. I still have a good 30 pounds to go, but I'm almost halfway there!

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Transformation Tuesday #36

Happy Transformation Tuesday! On yesterday's post, I meant to write a plea for more transformation submissions and I completely forgot to do that. The past week has been so out of the norm for me--I really hope that this week feels a little more familiar.

Today, I'm going to start with one of my own transformations--something I've been working on since I picked up my peaches from The Peach Truck on Friday. In my head, when I imagined buying three dozens pounds of peaches, I thought we'd have no problem going through them. Noah and I love peaches, so I figured we'd eat a ton of them.

Well, I thought wrong. There is no way to eat that many peaches before they go bad, no matter how much I love them! So, I decided to make peach preserves (which, I learned, is different from jam--jam is made from mashed fruit, while preserves have large pieces of fruit). I tried the preserves on one of the peach muffins I made on Sunday, and it was delicious!

Today, I still had a LOT of peaches left, so I decided to make (and can) peach salsa. I think the salsa looked better before cooking it, but it still tasted really good just before canning.

I got 12 jars of preserves and 7 jars of salsa from the recipes I used. Here is the recipe I used for the preserves, and here is the recipe I used for the salsa. So here are the transformation photos...

And I have to share what the salsa looked like before cooking, because it's so pretty!

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I don’t have good before pictures but our front porch was very small. Our 3-foot wide sidewalk had buckled from tree roots. My husband had cut the buckled section out and inserted a flagstone but it didn’t look great.

We hired some men to add to the porch and to replace and widen our sidewalk to 4 feet.   They also skim coated the old porch so the colors would match. It’s one of our favorite spots to sit outside now.

- Pam, Texas

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My husband and I just bought our first home (we've been married for 14 years). Part of the front staircase looked pretty bad; the paint had long since chipped away and was an eyesore. The previous owners left behind masonry paint so I figured I'd take a stab at it. I did my best and tried to be as precise as possible but I ain't Bob Vila LOL (if anyone can remember him!). I'm glad with the end result. The new coat of paint made a big difference visually. I hope to become more "handy" as we adjust to our new home and tackle projects. Thanks!

- Katie

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Pam, I can completely empathize with having a narrow walking path. I really wish we'd made ours wider when we poured it. Your new porch area looks amazing! I love the little sitting area--that's something I've been wanting for years. Glad you're enjoying it :)

Katie, I think Bob Vila would be impressed! It never fails to amaze me when something as simple as fresh paint completely transforms something, and your staircase looks fantastic. You did a great job, I love that you weren't too intimidated to try doing it yourself. A huge congrats on buying your first home! That's super exciting :)

Okay, I am fresh out of Transformation Tuesday posts, so here is my weekly plea... please transform something (and don't forget to take "before" photos, even if you don't think you'll actually send them!). No transformation is too boring or too little or too (whatever), so please share! Just send a before photo and an after photo to me at: katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com and don't forget to include your name and a description of the transformation.

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Return to Running Recap: Week 10

I'm not sure what to title these Monday posts anymore now that I'm done with Couch to 5K! Like I said last week after completing Couch to 5K, I still plan to run three miles, three times per week; my main goal is to run three miles at an easy effort (to me, that means in my MAF heart rate zone--131-141 beats per minute). My plan to do that, at least as of right now, is to run at the same pace for the same distance each time and look for a downward trend in my heart rate.

Eventually, I'm hoping that it will take less effort (shown by lower heart rate) to run the same distance in the same amount of time. Less effort = more fit. I couldn't care less about being slow! I just want to be fit again--and running three miles at an easy effort will make me feel great.

Just a forewarning--these weekly recaps will likely get even nerdier than they already are. As you know, I love numbers and data, so this heart rate stuff is interesting to me ;)

Right now, I'm doing most of my running on the treadmill (always at 5.0 mph) and I'll probably continue to do that until running feels easier. Running outside at this point is still intimidating (which is odd, because I used to run outside almost exclusively). I'm hoping that when the weather cools down in the fall I'll feel ready to run outside.

This past week, I started a running journal to look for patterns in my heart rate--if my sleep or hydration affects it, whether I've eaten or not, taken my medication, etc. It's kind of a pain to log everything, but once I get some insight into what makes me have good or bad runs, I won't have to write out all these details. I like writing out numbers, but the other stuff is boring to me ;)

Here is a recap of this past week:

Run #1 (3 miles) :

The week went by so quickly--I didn't even realize until FRIDAY that I'd gone three days between runs (I like to keep it to no more than two). So I did my first run for the week on Friday. I ran on the treadmill, 5.0 mph.

I actually felt pretty good, and somewhat energetic to start. I really wanted to run with a low heart rate, avoiding Zone 5 altogether (the ultimate goal is to stay in Zone 2, which is my MAF zone). For the previous run, I'd spent 41% in Zone 5 and 41% in Zone 4... which was the worst run I'd had out of the entire Couch to 5K plan!

Thankfully, I managed to avoid getting into Zone 5, but my heart rate was still higher than I would have liked. The average overall was 151 bpm (with mile splits of 144, 153, and 155 bpm). Much better than the previous run, but definitely needs improvement.

Run #2 (3 miles)

I did this one yesterday a couple of hours after Luke left. I was feeling pretty good and I hadn't planned to run until the evening, but because I was feeling good, I decided I'd better take advantage of that. I got on the treadmill (5.0 mph again) and tried very hard not to think about my heart rate.

I read my book and told myself I can look at the timer on the treadmill only after I'd read X number of pages. That helped the time go by so quickly! The first mile flew by.

I didn't feel much different than the previous run, but when I saw my heart rate afterwards, I was sure there had to be a mistake. I couldn't believe that my average was 147 bpm and the maximum it had reached was 151. (Mile splits of 143, 148, and 149 bpm.) I spent zero time in Zones 4 and 5.

The entire run was in Zone 3--and not even at the high end. I was right in the middle. I looked over my journal to see what was different from the previous run and the only thing I could think of was coffee.

As I've mentioned several times, my body is extremely sensitive to caffeine. It gives me horrible anxiety for hours (sometimes all day long) from a single cup of coffee (or even black tea). However, sometimes I stupidly think I can handle it and I'll get in the habit of having a cup in the mornings--then I only drink it to avoid the inevitable five-day-long headache that happens when I don't have it.

Anyway, several months ago, I got in the habit of drinking half-caff (I mix half decaf and half regular). I only drink one cup of it, but it's enough to where I feel jittery. I want to quit (because of the anxiety issue) but I get "the headache" and I end up giving in. (Like I said, it's stupid.)

For this particular run, I'd only drunk about half of the cup (I was playing with Luke and simply neglected it). When I got on the treadmill, I actually felt calm; usually, I feel nervous. (I know there is no reason to be nervous--but I still feel that way every time I run!)

The coffee was the only thing I could think of that may have had an effect on my heart rate.

Run #3 (3 miles)

This time (today), I decided to test out the coffee issue again, and I only drank half of it before starting on the treadmill. Again, I ran at 5.0 mph. The only real difference from yesterday is that I started at 10:30 AM instead of 12:50 PM like I had the day before.

I actually felt pretty jittery after only half a cup of the half-caff, so I debated waiting until later to run. I wanted to get it done, though, so I drank 16 oz. of ice water (not sure why I thought that would help, but the least I could do was hydrate). Then I talked to Noah and Eli for about 10 minutes, which distracted me from thinking about running. And afterward, I felt much better about getting started.

I really had no hope that my heart rate was going to be as low as yesterday, but I didn't want to think about that. Again, I focused on my book and only looked at the treadmill timer sparingly. I felt like I put in about the same effort as yesterday. I wanted to look at my heart rate while I was running, but I didn't want to be disappointed if I saw it was in the 150's. (It's funny--I used to do the same thing with my pace. I wanted my pace to be lower, so I played games with myself not to look. Now, I don't care at all about my pace, but I want my heart rate to be lower!)

When I finished the run, I wasn't gasping for breath, which was a good sign. I always sit in front of the fan behind the treadmill while I upload my run to Garmin Connect, and while I did this I was shocked when I saw my heart rate! And then I thought, "Dang it! I bet the battery died in my heart rate monitor during the run, which is making the average lower than it should be."

But when I looked at the graph, it was all there--nothing abnormal--and my heart rate really was the lowest it's been since I started Couch to 5K.

My average heart rate was actually 141--which is my MAF rate! The first mile averaged 137 bpm, the second mile was 143 and the third was 144. (The goal with MAF training is to keep your heart rate in the MAF zone for the entire run--not just the average overall.)

I really hope that the coffee situation will continue to have an impact. I'm going to switch entirely to decaf tomorrow. If cutting out caffeine affects my heart rate this much, I'll be glad to put up with the headache in order to stop drinking it again. (Even when I try to cut back gradually, I get a headache--that's why it's so hard for me to quit. The logical answer is DON'T START, I know.) The thought of coffee in the mornings is romanticized and I get caught up in those thoughts. But no more!

I'm going to start doing my first run of the week on Wednesdays so that I don't feel like I have to squeeze in three runs so close together. I'll plan for Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. I'm excited to see if my heart rate continues to stay on the lower side next week--I'm definitely ready for three-mile runs to start feeling easier ;)

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HERITAGE RECIPE: Peach Muffins

I'm sure it's no surprise that I chose a peach recipe this weekend from the heritage recipe cookbook. As you know, I bought 38 pounds of Georgia peaches from The Peach Truck a few days ago. I've been letting them ripen on the counter, and today they were perfect! So, I've spent all day up to my eyeballs in peaches--the biggest project is making preserves. The recipe I'm using takes a couple of days--which is a good thing, because I need a break from working in the kitchen!

While I was working on prepping the peaches, I decided that I'd try to find a peach recipe from the heritage cookbook--that way I could use up some peaches and make my weekly heritage recipe at the same time. Unfortunately, there were only three peach recipes to choose from--and one of them called for canned peaches, so that was out. I was left with Peach Muffins or Peach Crisp. The Peach Crisp sounded amazing, but I wanted to do something a little different; peach muffins aren't something you see very often, so I chose that recipe instead.

This recipe was submitted to the Rockwood, Michigan Area Historical Society by Stephanie Metzger.

As always with the heritage recipes, I am typing it out exactly as written in the book; I made this with no substitutions or changes. See my notes after the recipe for anything that may be unclear. The printer-friendly version below is written with any clarifications.

Here is a printer-friendly version!

Peach Muffins

1 egg
1/2 c. sour cream
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1-1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. fresh or frozen peaches, chopped/thawed

In mixing bowl, beat the egg, then add sour cream and oil. In another bowl, combine all dry ingredients, then fold into egg mixture; stir until moistened. Add the peaches and stir lightly. Spoon mix into greased muffin tins, each section 3/4 full. Bake at 375 F for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.

My Notes:

This recipe is really straight-forward. As far as ingredients, I used full-fat sour cream and (obviously) fresh peaches. (I peeled and chopped 1-1/2 peaches to yield 1 cup)

I didn't even get out my stand mixer for this one--it was super easy and fast to throw together. (Exactly what I needed after blanching, peeling, and pitting peaches for what felt like days!)

The texture of the batter was very thick--I thought I had to have missed something, because it seemed TOO thick. But the recipe is so simple that I just went with it and hoped it would turn out. I figured maybe the juice in the peaches would keep it from being too dry. This is how thick the batter was:

I spooned the batter into a greased muffin tin--the recipe didn't say how many muffins it would make, but I got seven (and they were the perfect size).

I baked mine for 25 minutes; I kept expecting to see the tops turn brown, like I am used to seeing with muffins, but they stayed very white. After 25 minutes, they were just starting to brown, but I was afraid to let them go any longer because I didn't want the bottoms to burn.

I was excited to try one; they looked very different from the texture of muffins I'd seen before. The best way I can describe the texture is like a very thick pancake or a fluffy biscuit. (I'm guessing this is due to the sour cream; I don't normally bake with sour cream, even though I know it's commonly used in baked goods.)

The peach flavor was very mild. I love peaches, so I would have liked to taste it more, but Jerry doesn't like peaches and he still really liked the muffins. You really only get a taste of peach when you bite into the little chunks of peaches. The muffin itself doesn't have much flavor--but it's really good somehow! I just kept thinking of how it reminded me of thick pancakes (pancakes don't have a lot of flavor themselves, but somehow they are so good!).

Overall, I really like this recipe, but I wouldn't say that it's super special in any way. Maybe once I'm done making my peach preserves, I can spread it on the muffins for more peach flavor. Regardless, I think I'll circle back to this recipe at some point--I really like the texture of these!

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Fresh-Squeezed Lemonade

I have to make this post very quickly... Jerry went to Wisconsin to visit Rik and I thought it would be a great opportunity to spend some one-on-one time with Luke (my 4-year old nephew). Luke and Riley (my niece) were going to be spending the night with my parents, but I asked if Luke could stay here instead. So he's here with me (I am quickly typing this in-between playing with Play-Doh and looking at a booger under a microscope). 

Several weeks ago, Luke and I picked cherries from my dad's cherry tree, and somehow the subject of lemonade came up. Luke was asking me all kinds of questions about making homemade lemonade. I'd never made it before and I always thought it would be fun to make fresh lemonade. (I actually included that on my 40 Goals by 40 Years Old list.) When he asked me questions about it, I made a mental note to do that with him in the near future.

So today was a great day to do that! I didn't use a recipe or anything--I figured I'd just mix fresh-squeezed lemon juice with water and then make simple syrup to add to taste (I actually like lemonade to be on the less-sweet side).

Luke and I squeezed lemons (just enough to make one cup of lemon juice--I don't think he'd have the patience to squeeze more than that!). Then I added two cups of water. I made simple syrup by combining one cup of water and one cup of sugar on the stove, heating until the sugar dissolved.

We put ice in glasses (for Luke, me, Noah, and Eli), then poured some of the lemon juice mixture, and then added a little simple syrup to each. It was delicious!

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Friday Night Photos

This week went by WAY too fast--I don't even know what to say! So here are some photos from this week...

I've been so excited for The Peach Truck to come back to town, and today was the day! I picked up my pre-ordered box of peaches (they are sold in 25-pound boxes--that's a lot of peaches). I wrote about them a few weeks ago--these peaches put every other peach I've ever eaten to shame. They're SO GOOD.

They are picked in Georgia and immediately driven on a truck to a couple of cities for a tour, where you can buy them (either pre-order or hope that they have some when you get there). My mom and I picked them up today and there were SO many people there--but the line moved crazy fast because it was so well-organized.

They give you instructions to lay the peaches out on your counter for a couple of days to let them fully ripen. (Duck takes his job as head of security very seriously, as you can tell.) I'm dying to eat them now! In the meantime, though, I'm picking out some recipes to make with peaches. I'm planning to make peach preserves with whatever I can't eat in a week's time (I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't any left, haha).

Eli finally got to go musky fishing in Lake St. Clair again yesterday. It's been two years since I went with him on a family-friend's boat and he's been dying to go again. He and Andy were out for about 13 hours yesterday and they each caught one. (Remember, this is the "fish of 10,000 casts". I was so relieved that Eli caught one--he's talked about it for two years and would have been super disappointed if he didn't catch one.)

I was in the living room a few days ago while Jerry was sleeping, and he sent me a text from the bedroom. He said, "This is what I saw when I woke up and opened my eyes." HAHAHA

THIS very odd-looking thing is actually a pillow I made. (Jerry said it looks like a very skinny person's legs wearing skinny jeans--a couple of times, I've done a double take because I've thought the same thing!) I know it looks completely weird, but I made it specifically for what I felt would work to make me most comfortable (I have a lot of pain at night and it's hard to sleep because of it). I made it like a travel neck pillow, but extended the sides so they go down to my knees. I filled it with the leftover pieces of the Tempurpedic pillows.

I really didn't have much hope of it actually working how I imagined, but holy cow--it is perfect! I am actually able to get comfortable and stay comfortable. It's hard to explain the purpose for the specific shape I made (I can wrap it around to support painful areas), but even though it's not exactly pretty, it works great!

Noah and I started making the table for his bedroom. I thought I wrote about this, but I can't find it anywhere. Noah wants a chabudai (a table that is common in Japanese homes, from what I understand--I've mentioned that he's very interested in Japanese culture, so this wasn't an unusual request from him). 

For his birthday, I took him to Menards (haha) and we picked out the materials to make the table. We stained the top but we still have to seal it. Then we are going to add legs that fold underneath (the tables sit very low to the ground, so the legs will be short). It's been a fun project for us to work on together!

When we went to my brother's house for the fourth of July get together, my cousin Shannon was wearing these shoes (Hey Dude is the brand) and I loved them. I ordered a pair and then Jerry liked mine so much that he ordered a pair (his legs are the hairy ones in the pictures--hopefully that's obvious!). 

The shoes are slip-ons, they weigh next to nothing, they're SUPER comfy, and they're machine washable! They have about a trillion different models, too. I chose a gray canvas pair because I figured they'd match just about anything, but there are so many to choose from. (If you're interested, here is a referral link for 5% off; I get reward points or something if you use it.)

Eli took this picture of Joey and Chick, and I just thought it was adorable. Chick really likes Joey!

I really don't like how I look in the photos we took as a family up north, so I'm not going to post those. Well, except for these--here are a few. I love the one of my kids and Luke and Riley! 

Photo credit: Riutta Images

This one below is the whole family: Nathan, Shawn, Jeanie, Dad, Mom, Brian (with Luke on his shoulders), Becky (holding Riley), me, Jerry, Eli, and Noah. I definitely look like I was switched at birth, haha. (It's much worse in the pictures of me and my siblings!)

Photo credit: Riutta Images

And I love this one of my parents--their 50th wedding anniversary was on July 24th!

Photo credit: Riutta Images

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Final Thoughts on the Couch to 5K Plan

A little over nine weeks ago, I started the Couch to 5K running plan (originally from the CoolRunning website, but no longer there). There are a ton of "couch to 5K" plans (meaning to get you from couch potato to 5K runner by following the plan) out there on the internet, but the one I followed was (I believe) the original. I had tried it way back in 2007 for the first time--before there were smart phones and apps to follow and/or track running.

Back then, I printed out the plan and followed the instructions. I knew NOTHING about running at that time! I had no idea what a slow or fast pace was, how far was "far" to run, or even the distance (in miles) of a 5K. I never finished the plan.

I tried a couple more times over the next few years, but never got very far. The plan has you do intervals of running and walking, building up the running portions while reducing the walking portions over a period of nine weeks--at which point, you're supposed to be able to run 5K.

I absolutely hated running intervals--I found myself constantly dreading the next running portion. The walks seemed to be so short and the running seemed to last forever.

Fast forward to 2010, when I wanted to start running after having lost about 60 pounds. I couldn't stand the thought of doing intervals again, so I worked my way up to running 5K with a make-up-as-you-go-along plan. Basically, I just ran as far as I could (which wasn't very far at all!) and then added a little bit each time I went out (three times per week). I wrote it out in my own sort of "couch to 5K" plan. Here is the plan I wrote that is basically how I became a runner--I call it the "Walk to Run" plan; and here are eight beginner 5K plans that I wrote with a variety of options.

I went on to run 5Ks, 10Ks, half-marathons, and even three full marathons. I'd become a "real runner".

Anyway, about the Couch to 5K...

Since I'd pretty much given up running in 2017 (aside from short periods here and there), I had gotten totally out of shape. I no longer considered myself a runner. Eventually, I found that I missed it! I missed the physical and mental health benefits I got from running regularly. And because I had never finished the Couch to 5K plan, I thought it would be fun to see if I could do it this time--dreaded intervals and all.

I located the old plan (via screen shots) from Google images and then I typed it out so that it was printable and easy to read. I printed it out and hung it on my refrigerator. (Here is the printable one that I made--remember, it's not my plan; I just typed it out so that it's easy to read.) I know it's old-fashioned to print out the plan these days, but I really like seeing it on my refrigerator and crossing off the runs as I complete them. Sometimes I prefer the old-fashioned method of things to the new apps.

The first week looks so simple on paper: Run 60 seconds, walk 90 seconds, and repeat 8 times (for a total of 20 minutes). It turned out to feel much harder than I anticipated! I was gasping for breath and my face was beet-red after that first workout.

Each week increases the amount of running for each interval and decreases the amount of walking. I found myself just wanting to get the running out of the way so I could walk the rest of the time. I didn't have enough time to catch my breath between the running intervals and I just wanted to be done!

Week 4 of Couch to 5K is pretty infamous because there is a huge jump in the amount of running. I was determined to get through the week, though, because I knew that I was capable of it. (The best advice I can give to a new runner is to slow down--even when it feels like you're running at a pace that you could crawl faster, you can go a lot farther than you think when you slow down.)

A lot of people choose to repeat weeks of the plan or create weeks that are something in between each. And I would definitely recommend doing that rather than quitting altogether. The only reason I didn't do that was because I really felt determined to do the whole plan as-written in nine weeks. But there is certainly no shame in repeating workouts. And I'd suggest creating a Week 3.5--that way Week 4 isn't so intimidating!

After the first few weeks, I did most of my runs on the treadmill (just personal preference). I also chose to do all of the running at the same pace so that I could see if my fitness was improving (if the same pace felt easier after running it over and over again, I would know that I was getting fitter). I like to use my heart rate as an indicator of my effort as well.

So, my overall thoughts of the plan itself:

I still don't like intervals. If I was starting from scratch as a runner (again), I would prefer to follow my own plan--doing all the running first and then finish with walking. I actually progressed faster and found it easier without doing the intervals.

I think the Couch to 5K plan is definitely too much, too soon for true "couch potatoes". The first workout has you running 8 minutes--even though there are walk breaks in between each minute, it's still a lot to ask of someone who has never run before.

I followed the plan exactly as written and it did, in fact, take me from couch to 5K runner. But it was HARD--even for someone who used to regularly run long distances.

I liked that it was only three days a week. When someone is going from "couch to _____", asking them to exercise 6-7 days a week sounds impossible. Three days a week of short workouts of 20-40 minutes or so is much more do-able and less intimidating.

I did enjoy the variety of the workouts--which I know directly contradicts what I said about hating intervals. I just liked that each week was a little different, which kept it from getting too monotonous.

I didn't really FEEL the progression of the workouts. I guess I hoped that they would feel easier over time, but they really haven't (yet, anyway). I am still dripping sweat after each run and my heart rate hasn't noticeably improved. However, now that I am up to the entire distance, if I continue to run three miles at a time, I'm hoping that I'll start to notice improvements.

For my FINAL final thought: I think the Couch to 5K plan works to get someone to run the 5K distance, but I think it's too hard for the average couch potato--which will make it not-very-fun, which will likely make them quit. It's a good plan for people who have taken a short hiatus from running and want to get back into shape. If you do the first few workouts and find yourself dreading each interval, then it's not the plan for you--the intervals only get longer.

[It's important to note that all of this is MY OWN opinion of the plan--obviously everybody has their own thoughts about it. Tons of people love the plan! I'm not saying whether it's a good or bad plan, because that entirely depends on the person who is following it. We all need to figure out what we like best and what works for us, which is why I did my own plan back in 2010.]

I'm really happy that I completed Couch to 5K because I'd felt like it was unfinished business from 14 years ago. Now I can put it to rest. And now I am at the point that I can run three miles, which was the goal in the first place!

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