Champion

Can you tell Tim came home early and told me to use my time to relax?

Another one of my goals was to try to do a walk a season. The winter/spring walk was an 8K hosted by the Tinley Park Park District called the Running O' the Green. I was a bit worried about a longer distance race, but it worked out nicely.

Here's the thing: I had practically no training. About five years back, I had a BAD run of sinus infections. I learned from that experience sometimes it is best to call in the big guns: ENT Doctor.

I was sick for a week in January. Then for a few weeks I was well. Then sick again in February. About a week before the race, I could tell it was coming back. I called a new ENT near our home and made an appointment for the Friday before.

I was pretty messed up by Monday. Thankfully, we left work early that Tuesday due to snow. With Tim off and everything for the night cancelled, I fell asleep. I was not feeling much better by Friday. The doctor decided to blast the heck out of the infection with: an antihistamine nasal spray on top of my steroid spray, oral steroids and a new strain of antibiotics.

By Saturday, I felt good, but unsure. The steroids did give me trouble sleeping but opened me up quickly. On Sunday morning, despite the rain, it was rather warm and I felt pretty well. I put on a tank top, the race shirt, a hoodie and Tim's Columbia jacket from work and I was off. I could have probably done without the hoodie, but I was pretty worried about upsetting my lungs needlessly. I took my puff of inhaler and felt rather like Lance Armstrong with all my steroids!

I didn't do well. I went to the back of the pack very early and by a mile in, lost sight of everyone. I kept going, going and going. I kept running "Singing in the Rain," Eye of the Tiger" (from my years as VJA's wrestling stat girl) and "I Walk Alone" in my head. My iPod wasn't charged:(

I made it in around 1:52 ish which put me about 20+ minutes behind everyone else. By the time I got back, the awards were given up and they packed up all the after race snacks! I felt silly for being so slow. However, I also felt extremely proud that I didn't let my health issues stop me from accomplishing a goal. I may be the turtle, but I "ran" the race! (or walked, whatever)

On to a 5K for the fire department in May!

Katie Does "Irish" Cooking

I had posted that I wanted to cook more on Saturdays and Tim's goal was to do the same on Tuesdays. Well, I'm happy to say that Tim has been pretty good about making Tuesday night's meals. On the other hand, I haven't! I've had some bad luck when it comes to illness and it seems like when I'm not sick, I'm busy!

However, I did want to do something special in honor of St. Patrick! My mother is big into St. Patrick's Day. Every year, we all gather for corned beef, cabbage, soda bread, Bailey's cake and assorted other desserts. Unfortunately, I did not inherit my mother's passion or her talent in the kitchen. Since we celebrated St. Joseph Day at church last Saturday and St. Patrick Day with my family on Sunday, I moved our celebration to this past Saturday night.

I went the more simple route. GFS had some shamrock cookies on clearance at GFS. I brought three boxes and froze two for our Women's Club bake sale. I had read on Facebook about someone making a Shepard's pie and it sounded like it was my speed. I found a great recipes here for a Guinness cottage pie recipe. I can't imagine my husband's taste buds dealing with lamb and I don't like simply because my dad hates it. So, beef it was! The Guinness worked wonderfully as we had plenty left over from Mom's party, although she did give me a look when I stuffed four bottles in John's diaper bag (two for the pie, two for me).

The ingredients are simple and cheap. I remember our Assistant Director once telling me that no matter how bad of a cook you are, just saute an onion and your kitchen will smell amazing. Boy, was he right!

Here are some pictures:

 

 

We ended up pairing the pie with the last of my mom's soda bread made without raisins because I hate them. It's from an old, secret family recipe carried down from the old country. Who am I kidding? Grandma got it out of the Chicago Tribune sometime during the 60s!

 

Overall, it was a success. John had half a plate, which is unusual for him. We gobbled it up quite nicely as well. It was very flavorful even today when I had some leftovers for my lunch at work. Johnny is totally obsessed with the cookies. We were upstairs and he insisted on going downstairs only to grab the bag Tim left on the couch and gobbling a few up.