Lots of things

– You know I’m a big Morrissey fan, right? I got to see him 8 years ago in Virginia, but I was pregnant and, I don’t know, the show wasn’t as amazing as I’d hoped it would be. Well, I found out last week that he’s playing HERE! In New Orleans! For the first time since 1992! Exciting, right?

Except it’s the same week George and I will be in England. (We’re even flying into Manchester. Life is cruel.)

– In somewhat less sad news, I started planting jasmine vines along our iron fence. We don’t have a back yard, just a side yard, so maybe this will give us a little more privacy. In a few years, anyway. And it will smell nice.

– In case you were wondering where in the heck my “Bootcamp Day XX” posts have been (only kidding, I know no one has) it’s because I’m trying to let my achilles’ tendon heal. I’m not sure what’s going on with it, but it hurts sometimes, mostly when I’m going down stairs, or running. So I’ve been sticking to cycling. And sleeping later. It’s frustrating, I’ve never really had any running injuries before.

I ran a tiny bit on the treadmill this morning, just to see how it felt and it definitely felt weird. Tomorrow I have some new shoes coming in the mail (going back to my old trusty Nike Structures that I wore from 2001-2013, but got too expensive, but yay for old models on eBay) so maybe the extra stability will help.

I also read that I should be wearing shoes with a bit of a heel (I mean, not stilettos, but not my beloved Toms, either) so I guess I’ll be the cool mom sporting sneakers with my high-waisted pleated jeans this summer. Or something. Or maybe I’ll just get some wedges. Or something.

I just want to make sure that I can still do the Rocketchix triathlon in July again. We shall see.

– Just had the most delicious lunch, must share. I mixed together the following in a bowl:

shredded chicken that I slow-cooked last night in taco seasoning and salsa (the shredding-in-a-stand-mixer is the bomb, btw.)
quinoa
chopped avocado
salsa
plain greek yogurt (stand in for sour cream)

And I just mixed it all up and gobbled it up. If I wasn’t doing the Simply Filling thing with Weight Watchers, I could have added beans, corn, and cheese, but it was really good even without those.

– I never finished posted pics from when everyone was visiting last week. This is one of my favorites, so I’ll just share this one. Me and my nieces and my boys. When we’re in Virginia, I’ll do one with Andrew and photoshop them together or something.

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A post shared by Pam Kocke (@pyjammy)

Drawings

It’s like I don’t know my own children anymore.

For the past few days, they’ve been drawing, reading, and playing chess. WHO ARE THESE STRANGE KIDS?

Yesterday, I came home from a bike ride (that’s kind of a lie. I went for a bike ride, popped a tire by the pub and ended up spending a few hours there.) and the boys were surrounded by drawings. Good drawings.

Somehow they found some video on YouTube that teaches kids how to draw using letters and numbers, and they’re now obsessed. I approve.

Here’s the channel:

Muffalo Potato

Month 88

You know what this means? Twelve months from today, we’ll be taking #100. Then, maybe I can consider stopping. (No, not really. As if.)

This month, we had a very special guest, all the way from Los Angeles! Give it up everyone, for COUSIN ELLIE!

Thursday

I posted a picture of the cousins in birth order a couple of days ago, but here’s how my brother got them to do it. Cue the giggles!

We came home on Tuesday so we could sleep in our own beds (my mom’s house, while large and lovely, is not quite large enough for four families, so the boys and I were camped out on the floor of my mom’s office on various mattresses and sleeping pads) and it was kind of sweet how sad Linus was to leave his cousins. Mean of me to take joy in his sadness, I know, but it just makes me happy that they are having so much fun together.

(He was also sad to leave the big house with the big yard. Yeah, kid, we all want a big house with a big yard.)

We had crawfish and shrimp Monday night, yum.

Ellie and Miles in their matching Wapuu shirts

Relatedly, my brother has spent a bunch of time working on his current Kickstarter project, which I promised I’d pimp out for him. A few years ago, he drove cross country and did a time lapse of the drive, which you can see here:

Now, he’s doing one around Iceland. Gee, must be nice.

So, go support him so he’ll stop bugging me already.

Little trip to the zoo

Took the boys to the zoo after school with a friend. There was a 100% chance of rain, but thanks to me wearing rainboots and carrying two umbrellas, it didn’t rain at all!

It was really cute how much the boys wanted me to take pictures of them with their friend (who Oliver later informed me was his BFF.) I may have to get him over to our house for monthly pics now. Whatever it takes.

Little random things

Some random things.

1. Inexplicably, the boys are into Power Rangers again. They stopped watching that dreck a year ago, and now it’s back. Yuck.

2. I was asked to be interviewed for a multiples-related podcast. Fun! If it happens, I’ll share more details.

3. I got to see my high school BFF this weekend, which was great. She was in town for another friend’s birthday party, so it was like a tiny high school reunion. I know most people would shudder at the thought, but my high school friendships are among my most enduring.

4. Miles says “night mirror” instead of “nightmare.” I love how their mispronunciations sometimes make more sense than the actual word. (They still say “movie feeder” instead of “movie theater,” because you eat there. Duh.)

5. Today would have been Stinky‘s 17th birthday. I was talking about her with the boys, and Oliver rather hilariously said, “it’s her afterlife,” whispering the last word for dramatic effect.

I did that 8k race this morning, so I’ll be working on that post next. Don’t worry, it’ll be short.

Shoes ‘n’ laces

I have nothing to report, fitness-wise today, since I took this morning off. All planned, normal rest day, etc. Tomorrow I’ll be back at the gym in the wee hours. Saturday I may go to the gym but maybe not since I have that race on Sunday. We’ll see. I know, zzzzz.

After I picked up the boys from school yesterday, I had to take them to the shoe store so Miles could get a new pair. I swear, I feel like I am always buying them shoes. And I’ve discovered it doesn’t matter if I buy them cheap sneakers or more expensive ones, they destroy them just as quickly. So off to Payless we went.

The boys still don’t know how to tie laces, and it’s one of those boring things I’m not really interested in teaching and getting frustrated with and they won’t go to college unable to tie their shoes, right? But as they get bigger, velcro shoes are becoming less common, so I had to bite the bullet and buy lace up shoes.

I’ll admit, they also look a lot nicer. But I’m not looking forward to either tying six laces every morning or teaching them how to do it. If anyone has any great ideas or resources, I’m all ears. I’ve watched a few YouTube videos that supposedly will teach me how to teach them, but I’m not sold. I think learning how to teach someone to tie shoes is like knitting – I have to be shown in person how to do it, I can’t watch a video. Maybe a book instead?

(Note about the photo at the top: Linus got new shoes, even though he didn’t really need them, but I bought them a half size bigger so in theory he can wear them longer. But because he didn’t need them, I would only buy him the clearance shoes, which are the uglier shoes on the left. Of course, he thinks they’re cool. But he’s a 7 year old boy.)

Wednesday (day 3)

I’d planned for my gym schedule to be Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, but I went this morning instead of tomorrow. I’m having dinner with work people tonight and I am pretty sure I’ll want to “sleep in” (you know, til 6:30) tomorrow morning.

My Achilles tendon (or something at the back of my left ankle) was a little sore yesterday so I decided to cross train today. My gym got some of those old-school stair climbers (like tiny escalators) so I spent a bit of time on that (14 minutes climbing stairs is a long time!) and then did some strength training, then got on the elliptical for a little while (booorrrring) and then more strength training.

Okay, enough of that. Other things I’ve been meaning to write about:

– 2/3 of the boys had their first sleepover last week! Big milestone, and especially since Miles actually made it through the night. I was pretty shocked. Linus chose not to stay, though. It was kind of fun having one kid. It was very quiet.

– I’m reading this book right now. It’s set in Baton Rouge, and it takes place in 1991, when the main character is 16. I grew up in Baton Rouge, and I was 16 in 1991, so it’s kind of fascinating. Some of the setting is fictional, but enough of it is not to keep me enthralled.

When people ask me if I’m from here (New Orleans), I always have a hard time answering. Baton Rouge is a totally different world from New Orleans, and it’s so hard to describe. But this book nailed it.

You have to understand. When people think of Louisiana, they think exclusively of New Orleans. We are okay with that. New Orleans has the culture, the allure. They are The Big Easy. The Crescent City. The Birthplace of Jazz. The people of Baton Rouge don’t even have accents. Our parades, when compared to New Orleans, are amateur hour. Even our most raucous bars close at two o’clock in the morning. Theirs don’t close down at all. So, whenever people in Baton Rouge feel wild, we drive the sixty miles to New Orleans. We stay in upscale hotels and spend gobs of money. We drink beer on the street and make bad decisions. We take wrong turns at intersections and feel perpetually lost, and when we wake up in the morning, regretful and satisfied, we go back home saying, “It’s a fun place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.”

From My Sunshine Away by M.O. Walsh

Well, I guess I did decide to live here, but growing up, I never had any desire to. Anyway, if you’re looking for a good read, I recommend you pick this up. (Even though I haven’t finished it yet.)

– I ended up signing up for that race on Sunday. I really really hope it’s cool and overcast. Hmmph.

– Last week, I got a box from HelloFresh. It’s one of those companies that’s cropping up that sends you the ingredients for meals and the recipe cards, and all you have to do is put them together. I got three meals, two of which were excellent (the third was good, but not outstanding.) We had a pasta bolognese one night, squash with quinoa another night, and chicken and potatoes another night. (The first two were the excellent ones.) (No, the boys didn’t eat this.) (Actually, George didn’t eat the squash one either. More for me!)

Anyway, I loved that I can make these again, because none of the ingredients were particularly unusual. It wasn’t like I’d have to buy from that company, you know? Just some more meal ideas.

If you want to try it and get $40 off your first box, you can use this referral code: R7KT4K (Yeah, it’s not cheap, but great for special meals, and the portion sizes mean you have enough for leftovers.)

Tuesday, March 10

I suppose I could come up with better post titles, but I really don’t want to name them all “DIY Bootcamp Day 2.” What if I manage to keep up with this for an extended period of time? I don’t want to have DIY Bootcamp Day 273.” Well, I mean, I do, but I don’t, if you know what I mean.

Anyway. Got to bed earlier last night, so was definitely a bit more well-rested (though was in the middle of a weird dream about miniscule bunnies in a balloon and my friend Lindsay and the zoo when the alarm went off) and this time managed a bit over 3 miles in 35 minutes.

My friend Heather is trying to convince me to do the Shamrock Run on Sunday (I’ve done it for the past two years, ever since it started, and part of me does like the idea of doing a race every year from the beginning) but I don’t know if I can run the whole thing (it’s 8K which is very nearly 5 miles, and maybe I can if I run slow enough, but it’s also mid-March and it could be warm and humid) but I have to decide today because the price goes up $15 tomorrow.

Also, you may have noticed I left out any mention of strength training. Well, I did a set of tricep somethings, but then I decided maybe I could do my arm stuff at home. So if anyone has a source of an arm routine that I can do at home that doesn’t involve the floor, I’m all ears.

In other, non-fitness news, Oliver and I had some one-on-one time at IHOP last night (every time I want to write iHop, good lord) which was super sweet and fun. We rode the bus (I mean, we sat on the same side of the booth, which in my opinion is only acceptable for parents and children) and ate pancakes. Well, Oliver ate the shit out of some chicken and waffles AND a short stack. So now I know how to fatten that kid up. I very virtuously only ate 2/3 of my Harvest Nut ‘n’ Grain waffles.

Oh, one last thing. If you blog (regularly or not) can you fill out this very short survey for me? Thanks!

My boys and me

I had a friend take a picture of the boys and me at the New Orleans Moms Blog Easter egg hunt today. They had more fun helping with the setup than actually hunting for stuff. That said, we brought home plenty of Smarties. Woot!

Zoo pics

Some more pics from the zoo yesterday. Still loving my new lens!

It’s funny because for the past seven years, we had zoo memberships but the boys weren’t interested in going. And when we did, it was mostly to ride the carousel or the train. So we let the membership lapse. But ever since they had their time at the zoo for school, they’re obsessed and have been dying to go back. So we renewed our membership yesterday and actually went around and looked at animals.

These are the photos that I think are good…