Two Tasks In One Day

Of course Andy's truck would break during vacation and rather than sleeping in we would spend our mornings waking up earlier than normal and driving Daddy to work.  As a means of combating the slight annoyance, Little Man and I decided to go out for breakfast one of the mornings.

There is a breakfast place in Winooski, Vermont that we used to live less than a tenth of a mile from in our pre-child years.  We always heard it was wonderful, but never wanted to get up early enough to avoid the hour long wait at the door.  Since Little Man and I were up with the sunrise dropping Daddy off, we decided to be the first ones in the door one morning. 

Little Man LOVES going out to eat.  Since we had to wait 10 minutes for it to open up, he was bouncing around the car like a pinball machine, and bounced right out the door when the lights in the window went on announcing the restaurants opening.  He was a little excited and knew exactly what he wanted.  Bacon! (for those of you who follow weird random news, this is the restaurant that took down the bacon sign because it offended others' religious beliefs, bacon was a must.) He, of course, had his bacon with a side of pancakes.  The food was good, our waitress was awesome and Little Man was super excited about the mint scented hand-wash in the bathroom.  You would think we never took him out.

Little Man was given a few choices for the day which included skiing, skating, oh and an art museum I wanted to check out.  Of course he choose the art museum......not what I would have guessed but OK.  So off we went to Middlebury College Museum of Art.  Surprisingly enough Little Man enjoyed himself, although not quite as much as he had at Sneakers.  I was slightly amused by the one of the workers at the museum who informed me that there were college students doing a photo shoot in the street art gallery, and they would be using a toy gun.  I refrained from telling him that Little Man's birthday present two years ago was a real bow, and arrow and he knows how to use it.  

Little Man spent the rest of the afternoon entertaining my dental hygienist, and when he left was rewarded with a pair of Groucho Marx glasses.  Like he really needs encouragement. 

Paint-Task 9

There is a white wall in our house that has driven me crazy since we moved in.  It is not a wall one often looks at unless you are laying on the floor.  The man who owned the house before us apparently stained the ceiling before we bought the house and did not do a very good job at that.  It was something we did not notice until one day when I was laying on the floor with Little Man.  It has driven me crazy ever since. 

It has been almost seven years since we moved in and I decided it was time for the wall to be painted.  I had every intention of doing it myself.  I went to the hardware store to pick up samples, went back for the paint, and then all of a sudden Andy was painting the wall.  He apparently does not trust my painting abilities. Oh well....the wall is done.  

Ottawa in Winter-Task 8

Last May we went to Ottawa, and we fell in love.  It is by far the best running city I have ever been in, beautiful, lots to do, great food and the people are so incredibly friendly.  So when we heard that they plow the (frozen) canal in the winter, we knew we were going to have to return.  Once again it did not disappoint.  

We arrived in Ottawa after a slightly longer than usual drive in the snow. I have to admit between the snow blowing, and the 12 degree temperature; I was a bit worried.  However, after settling into the hotel, we decided to make the two block trek from our hotel to the canal.  It was totally worth it.  We went into the warming hut on the ice, changed into our skates, and headed out onto the ice.  After skating for almost an hour, we made a quick stop at one of the Beaver Tails Huts for hot chocolate and beaver tails (the Canadian version of fried dough). If Little Man had not been with us, it would have been the perfect date night!

We would head to the canal two more times to skate during our stay in Ottawa. I even went once more on my own for a run.  Yes, if you look to the left of this picture there is a 5 foot wide packed snow trail that people run and walk on.  It was one of my best runs ever in the early morning.  

The boys spent most of the weekend eating themselves sick, from the huts on the ice to the shops in By-Ward Market.  Thankfully I gave up sweets for Lent and only joined in on the Indian restaurant and sushi because I am pretty sure we rolled Andy out of the hotel on Monday morning.  

When we were not eating or skating, we did venture down the street to the Canadian Museum of Nature.  Little Man has been wanting to go to a Museum with dinosaur bones for a long time and we certainly found one.  Although if you ask him, his favorite exhibit was the tarantula and black widow spiders in the live critter area (not my favorite area).  Overall it was a nice break from the cold. 

Ottawa is still our favorite city.  Now we just need to go back in the summer and fall to see what they have to offer.

Bone Marrow- Task 7

I am a firm believer in trying new things, so of course trying a new food would end up back on this year's list.  Andy and I went out to dinner without Little Man on Thursday (not because of Valentines Day- we won a free night of babysitting at the youth group's silent auction). Andy had also received a gift card to one of the local restaurants in the area, so we decided to eat there.  Since we were not as worried about cost, we decided to try a few new things on the menu like bone marrow on toast.  It was one of those items I had heard was good, but had not tried.  It was OK, but not as good as some of the other things we ordered for dinner.  Check a new item tried off the list and moving on to the next thing. 

Salvation Army-Task 2 cont.

Way back in November, I ran a 10k with one of my cross-country runners.  During the time we were together that day, she talked about how excited she was to be serving a meal at Salvation Army; something she had been doing for one of her classes.  She was excited enough about it that I thought Little Man and I would give it a try.  

Since the holiday season is full of people wanting to serve, we choose February as the month we would give it a try.  I was a bit worried about how Little Man would do standing in one spot serving for an hour, but I figured if we did a one-time commitment then we would not be locked into it.  It was worth a try. 

Upon arriving at the Salvation Army we were instantly greeted by some people waiting in the hallway for dinner to start.  It was a cold night, and I am sure it was more about getting out of the cold then it was about the food that night.  Since I have had a few homeless teens on my caseload, I know that they can not enter the shelters until 6:30 (it was 4:30 when we arrived at the Salvation army). 

Little Man went right to work helping set salt and pepper shakers out on the tables.  Once things were set up people came streaming in at 5:00.  Little Man was in charge of handing out sandwiches.  He was awesome! At 6:00 when dinner service was over, he immediately started cleaning up.  He helped another boy two years older than him put all the chairs away, wipe down the tables and sweep the floors.  I was impressed.  

Since it was late when we left, we stopped for dinner on the way home.  Little Man said that he enjoyed serving dinner and would like to do it again next month.  Now, if I can just get a time scheduled for us, we'll be all set. 

Choices

Do I choose the local cider and elderberry ginger hot cider mix?

 Or do I choose the local mix and Lake Champlain hot chocolate mix? 

Sustainability for February

Last year we let the mother duck try and raise her ducklings when they hatched and not one made it more than 48 hours.  This year we decided we were going to help mother nature out a bit.  As soon as we had a broody duck, we prepped the brooder and had everything ready to go.  Of course they decided to come on a day when the temperatures were -3 during the day.  When Andy went out to give the ducks their water for the night, 7 little ducklings were huddled up in the coop.  All of them were scooped up and are currently living in our kitchen.  I am just hoping it gets warmer before they get too big; ducks grow fast!

Other sustainability tasks completed in January:

1. With Christmas money we bought a new washer since our last one did not spin and thus required two rounds in the dryer.  The new one is awesome!

2. A friend of mine helped me set up an ebay and craigslist account.  

Snowshoe Race -Task 6

As a means of breaking up the winter running this year I decided to try my hand at a snowshoe race.  After doing a little research, I found out that they actually make running snowshoes, and that there is a race nearby that consists of a 4k and 8k option.  After talking a friend into joining my craziness, we signed up and made a plan to train.  This of course was foiled by lack of snow (we only snowshoe ran one time before the race). Thankful that we choose the shorter race, and we set off after recruiting my mother for the walking division.  

Upon arriving at the race the temperatures were single digits, and we began to doubt ourselves after a few veteran racers told us the first k was uphill (they were not joking) .  Knowing that there was a walkers division, we talked about running as far as we could and then walking when we needed to.  We were excited to be there and totally freaked out about what we were about to do.  

 As we stood there ready to go, the race mentality kicked in and off we went.  The first K was in fact a hard uphill, and I lost my friend to a woman who would not let people by on the single track section.  I had no problem plowing past her in the snow.  Once past the woman, I realized there were only 4 other woman ahead of me going up the hill and locked onto the one just in front of me.  I caught her going through a field just before the 3k marker and locked onto the next lady.  The finish was a gradual up hill climb and I had the next woman within my reach right up until she heard me coming (there is no way to be stealthy and quiet running with snowshoes on your feet)  and she took off.  I never quite caught her, but finished 4th overall for the women which felt pretty good.  My friend was not far behind either.  

The best part of the day, watching my mom come through the finish with a big smile on her face.  We all decided to do it again next year, we may even be brave enough to try the 8k.