Recipe for family fun - cookies, gifts and a bit of snow

Cookies on Christmas eve...

Can't do it without some home made chex mix.

Some gifts just bring out the silly....

Trying to open some gifts that dad wrapped with his trusty tape gun.

Then to Truckee and the snow.....

Christmas morning

I am up before anyone....not that I am so anxious to open gifts or to start the festivities, it is because I always get up early. It is almost a lifelong habit - started when the kids were young and it was to get some quiet time. It stuck and, of course, as you get older...it is what you do. Sometimes I sew, sometimes I "puter", sometimes I read. I always drink coffee and can absolutely NOT drink it without this ... only my current fav is vanilla cinnamon.

If I do not have it, I will take a trip in the wee hours to get it before I have my coffee. Another addiction to something that has absolutely no nutritional value...it is probably not even made of anything real except the taste.

Burpees...Jay and I did 90 yesterday am...he did them in 10:50, I did them in 11:30. Both are incredible times. The last time I did them sub 12 min was when I did 70 something of them. Goes to show you what a little competition and encouragement will do. Only 10 more days and I will have done a burpee challenge without missing a day!!!!

On another topic....do NOT tell Nyia the contents of any Christmas gift...she can't keep anything even under dire threat...she is so bad at this, she can't keep that she told!!! Part of the issue is she is a non-stop talker so she is constantly in need of subject matter coupled with her propensity to say anything and everything that is on her mind. A disaster for Christmas secrets.

This pix is from a previous entry but it makes the point. Love her so.

Anyway....

Merry Christmas to all...I hope that you are as fortunate as I am to have such an incredible family and to have this incredible family with me during the holidays.

Only Two More Days

When I was younger and my sis was in her teens, I went back home for a visit. On her calendar, she had my name on the date of my arrival along with some happy faces/doodles. I was so touched when I saw it.

I do so get it, tho. Jay and T are coming home on Sunday - only two days away - and my calendar has happy doodles on it!!!

Here is a pix of when they embarked on their European adventure almost two years ago!

Hurry home!

Not many posts...

been busy at work - but, incredibly, this week I hit my 10 year anniversary at bullseye country. I hate to be cliche...it does seem just like yesterday. Can't have the next 10 fly by so quickly!!!

Work is work, but there are far worse places I could work and I do have work. They seem to like me, I stay engaged and challenged, I have one of the best teams I have ever worked with, I get a great deal of freedom to choose how I spend my time, I get 5+ weeks vaca, and they pay me!!! All in all not a bad way to spend a decade :-)

Personal Best

Today I did my personal best in:

Deadlift - 180 lbs
Back Squats - 135 lbs

AND did 80 burpees

not bad at all.

Busy and Cold

These days it seems like I have more to do, both work and play, than there is day, and the days are short!!!!

They are also cold - colder than we care to think about or be in. It is pretty, tho...

This is Mt Diablo

two burpee stories

One - a blog follower from my guild asked me to demonstrate what a bumpee was.

Two - on Sunday, I asked Ny, my grand, if she would time my burpees with a stopwatch. I showed her how and as soon as she pressed the start button, she started yelling at me with things like....

Come On Grandma

You are going too slow

The time is getting to 100, hurry up

No stopping

She even went so far as pushing me on the back when I paused between # 30 and #31.

and, then my fav... Is that all you got?

She grew up going to her mom's basketball practices. Clearly, my daughter had some sadistic coaches!!! Sorry, O, if I had only known!

pillowcases and shoelaces

So, we ended up with 265 pillowcases to donate to two organizations - Foster a Dream and one that will send them to those in the military. Another winning Pillowcase Posse season...

In the background is my good friend Francie...we blog but have not seen each other for a bit. Was so fun to hang for an hour or two.

This next one is a keeper...

Nothing like a finished quilt...

Here is the one from the Mystery Quilt class. I finished it so it could be a prize for a party I am going to.. I have grown to really like it!

Update -

Fitness - burpees at 69...gonna do 70 today. They are making my arms stronger...I am better at regular pushups and at pull ups. And they help with my wind (I put this in so my sis could comment). They are still very much NOT my fav.

Did go to CF Tuesday and Thurs this week - I had other stuff the other days. Next week will be back to 3-4.

Been eating ok after the holiday. Will see what the scales say. Do have a party tonight and one tomorrow. So far, I have been pretty good at them - depends upon my mood and whether I have a devil may care, throw caution to the wind, wtf kind of attitude or one of self constraint and self righteousness. Which one sounds better to you??????

Even tho it only takes me less than 12 minutes

67 burpees kick my ass!!!

Well....

this certainly was a long cheat weekend!!!! And the weigh in shows up 2 lbs - ah well.

You know, when you run out of gravy, you might as well have run out of everything else.. Except, of course, the turkey which, if I was supposed to eat bread, gets between two slices of bread, some mayo and there you have it!!!

Worked most of the weekend - Black Friday, Clean up Saturday. Off today.


Been doing burpees - on Thanksgiving, O and I did them together, all 62 of them in 8:20. Good to have someone around to push you.


Since then, I have broken them up and do half at a clip. I know, I know, but I AM doing them - haven't missed a day yet...scares the crap out of me to have to double them up.

Will be back to doing them all at once tomorrow.

back to regular CFittin

back to eating right

until

of course,

Christmas!!!

Thanks and the day after...

These pics are for J and T who could not be here for the festivities but will be here soon!

Of course, things always start with family and friends.

And a few mad games of Old Maid ....

in which Nyia sets a new record of losing 4 times in a row.

The turkey was barbecued - HIGHLY recommended.

And the sides, oh the sides....need I say more????

Wake up tooth fairy

I am not sure why, but it always seems to be more important to adults that a loose tooth gets disengaged from a child's mouth than said child. Such was the case this weekend with Nyia, N's mom, gramps and me. To be fair, that tooth was quite loose and, in fact, the replacement tooth was already more than crowned!

Anyway, we convinced Nyia that we should have a go at it.

Took quite a bit of doing, but finally we got the floss around the tooth.

Then, mom and Ny go to a doorknob because everyone knows that is one way to do it (although I do not remember any of the teeth on any of the kids coming out in this manner).

Mom has one end of the floss, gramps is looking on. Nyia is backing away from the doorknob and mom is acting not so sure. The floss is getting taut between them so quick thinking and acting gramps karate chops the floss.

Out pops the tooth.

A new look and, of course, she just had to tell the whole fam about it!!!!

Weigh In Sunday

broke the 155 barrier - now at 154 :-)
burpees ... 58 in 8:53 - not bad - it is VERY important to time them because when you are low and do not want to do burpees (is there ever such a time??) - you can tell yourself it will only take 9 minutes...surely you can do that!

Did not go to CrossFit yesterday as just had to sew that mystery quilt. I have done 3 mystery quilts so far and I only really like one - it is not the pattern, it is where I choose to put the fabric before I know what it is going to look like. There must be a method to it that I just have not gotten yet.

But I also did not go to CF because on Friday, I had to run 4X400m (among other things) and my right leg was hurting a lot more than usual. Anyway it made sense to rest it for a while. Depending upon how I feel, I might take Monday and Tuesday off as well - then go on Wed. I figure as long as I do my burpees, I should be ok.

Mystery Quilt

Going to a mystery quilt class - where we get the fabric according to some general description, cut it out and do some pre-sewing but we do not know what it is going to look like. I like these classes although I struggle a bit picking the fabric. Here is what I am using:

And here is what it turned out to be.

Now that I know the solution to the mystery, I might have gone about solving it a bit differently...but, as usual, it was fun. For those who are really good detectives, you will note that one corner is left undone...I only needed a 3 1/2 inch square and did not have it with me...fortunately, I did have enough at home.

Friday, at last

This seemed like a long week so Friday is welcome. Next week is Thanksgiving and the start of the Christmas retail season...busy busy. Thinking of barbecued Turkey - did it once before and it was great...it also frees up the oven for all of the carbs that need cooking!

Have to get up at around 3:30am the day after Thanksgiving so I can visit stores that open at 5am - crazy!!!

Still at it with burpees - so far, no days missed. up to 56 in 9:09. Did not go to Crossfit on Wed - two reasons - work and my leg needed a rest as it was hurting from the deadlifts last week. Back at it tonight.

N and L demonstrated wall sits for R and me.

Politics at the local guild

So, foolish as it sounds, I allowed myself to be appointed VP of our Quilt Guild for next year. Already there is guild drama and I only got appointed two weeks ago AND my term does not start til January. Not sure if I can take it.

On a burpee note - up to 53 this morning - did it in 8:10 which is too long.

They should have paid us to do last night's WOD:

3 Rounds of:

25 Air Squats/15 Pull-ups
Then:
Run 800 meters
25 Box Jumps (30/24")
15 Swings (70/53)
Run 400 Meters
25 Squat-Thrust Burpees

I did it in 24:05

I did NOT do it Rx, however.

One cute pix of Nyia...

Sunday at the alumni game

which, as is only right, the alumni lost. I asked O to score 4 pts, which she did...one of which was a three pointer.

We asked Nyia to take our picture - see below ...it turned out a bit odd and dark but here we are. And, altho my hair can use some styling, that point at the top of my head is part of the background!

records and non records

Yesterday, I deadlifted 173 which is about 2 lbs less than my record. I think I could have lifted 10 more lbs but I felt a painful pull in the wrong area so stopped there.

today did 51 burpees at 7:31...2 more seconds than yesterday...mmmm

today weigh in broke the 156 barrier at 155 (I never count the stuff after the decimal point) - a record - at least for this go around!!!

Going to O's alumni game with my bro, Mike...gonna be fun.

And a shout out Happy Birthday to my sis.

..

50

took me 7:29.

You would think just 12 more would only take a minute but those 12 took at least 2 1/2.

Update

burpees - this morning did 38 in 4:48. So far, in this challenge, I have done at least 750 burpees and have not missed a day. I say, at least, because I started by doing 20 each day until my fellow co-challengers caught up and because we have had some WODs that included burpees.

Tomorrow fast forwarding to 50 so Jay can participate and so we can hit 100 when he is here.

What a mom won't do for her superhero son.

hey hey hey

I did a double under....in fact I did 30 of them!! Not in a row, mind you, but 30 nonetheless. In case you do not know what a double under is....if you think it looks easy, try it.

CrossFit

People ask me what CrossFit is - and I go on and on. I need a short, concise explanation for it so I grab their interest without scaring them off.



One description is:

Mixed Modal

High Intensity

Functional Movement

in a team oriented environment

with challenging, but caring, trainers.

Another is:

burpees today...36 in 5:01

Screwing with the time

I don't know about any of you,

but I am not a fan of changing the time -

particularly at this time of year.

I am not sure why daylight

is more important to save

during the summer than the winter

Or why Arizona

doesn't have to do it

and we do

I hate it when I work in the office

(with no windows)

and leave at a decent time

(5 or so)

and emerge into darkness.

It makes me feel like this...

To catch up a bit...

Wednesday, I had the chance to work out with some of the women from the SJ Police Department. They have their own gym and the woman who was instrumental in bringing it to the department gave a speech about CrossFit to a Women Leaders in Law Enforcement Conference that my company sponsored.

It was fun. The WOD was Tabata - squats, push ups and situps. Then they added burpees.

Friday - regular CRV warmup. Workout was:
For time:

• 30 backsquats - I lifted 85lbs
• 1 mile run

My time was 29 minutes even! Not bad, I thought.

Saturday -team workout - 50m death by running. That is so much harder than running straight! I did 12 rounds - best folks got to 16 rounds.

Babies spent the night - haven't had a sleepover with them for a while. Cutest grands in the world!

Today - did not run, but did 33 burpees in 4:21 and have not missed a burpee day yet. I am afraid to!!!

Today was a cheat eating day because we went to a brunch and then went to see baby Henry...so cute, although it is so hard to think of Elijah and Leslie as old enough to be parents!!

Piazza di burpee

Here is where I do my burpees and where I did 31 this morning:

Donation Quilts

This is two quilts - the front is mostly the same, the back fabric is different. Just thought the fabric was adorable. Donated them to Project Linus this past weekend.