Never Enough T-Shirts

I really hoped to run (and read some blogs!) yesterday, but I was busy busy busy the whole day/night! I went to my old classroom/school office & worked for a few hours. Came home and did a lot of cleaning (it's very hard to arrange a tiny dining room so that 15 rubbermaid bins full of classroom stuff and 11 Christmas dinner guests will fit!), some baking, and then when David got home from work we went to the Marine base to check on a piece of furniture I've really been wanting. We had dinner while we were there and it was 8pm by the time we got home!

 I had such a hard time waking up this morning. By the time I was up & moving, the bank & commissary were open and I knew I'd better do my errands right away or I wouldn't do them at all. And since we sold my car today, I had to do my last-minute driving while I still had the chance! It doesn't really seem like we're moving, but my car being gone does make it feel a bit more "real". 

So, it was another evening run for me. This time, I made sure I turned our Christmas tree on so I'd be able to see it through the window on my way out and back. I ran through a housing area looking for good lights, and so far, they were the best I've seen. My favorite was a quad-plex decorated with icicle lights all the way across the eaves of all 4 units, lights on the bushes, wreaths in the windows and red bows on the palm trees! That must be a great group of neighbors, coordinating their decorations perfectly! My friends put up awesome lights, but they live in a housing area on another base and I didn't have my ID card or enough time before my husband would be back with our dinner. We really don't get take-out every night, but since I've been baking for days and cooking dinner for 11 tomorrow and breakfast for 6-8 on Christmas day, I think I deserve to not cook dinner!

I felt like I should have run more than 4 miles, but I plan on a nice 7 or 8 miles tomorrow morning. Christmas Eve, Christmas day, and Thanksgiving day are my three very favorite days of the year to run! The roads (around here anyway) are so quiet and I always love imagining what's going on in the houses I run by early in the morning on those days.

My plans for a Christmas Eve morning run fell through...my cookies needed me more. So I went out for a nighttime run at almost 10pm, after our guests had been fed and those that remained were too busy playing Rock Band to notice if I took off!

 I'm glad I went at night, because all the lights were on...between the clear sky, the holiday lights, and the street lights it hardly seemed like it was dark out! Pretty houses, quiet roads (I saw only 4-5 cars, 3 people walking, and a couple backyard parties going on), and nice cool weather. I've been listening exclusively to 172 Christmas songs on my iPod the past few days and the song running through my head (no headphones allowed!) was Elvis Presley singing, "Give thanks for all you've been blessed with and hold your loved ones tight, for you know that the Lord's been good to you on a snowy Christmas night." I thought it was appropriate...although I decided I'd need to change the words to "on a balmy Christmas night."

6 miles-52:50 total: 9:20, 8:58, 8:50, 8:41, 8:41, 7:56

Merry Christmas!

No run today, but thought I would share my Christmas card with my new friends here!

And our letter too:

I didn’t think I’d be spending another Christmas in Okinawa, but here we (still) are. I am confident that this will be the last Christmas card we send from Oki. We should be leaving the island in January and I hope Indiana still has some snow waiting for me. I can’t wait to finally see snow after 3 and a half long years. You’ll find me in the yard making snow angels, snow men, snow balls, snow cones... A quick shot of a Mid-West winter will serve as a good transition for David--he’ll spend 2009 in Greenland, only about 900 miles from Santa’s workshop.  Brrr!

David was gone again this February, and I didn’t get to witness his absolute elation when his team-NY Giants-won the SuperBowl. Luckily, he made it back just in time to cheer me on in the Okinawa marathon. I’ll never know who he cheered more loudly for--me or the Giants.

David continues to spend a lot of time on the golf course. He recently shot a new “PR”-78. David’s dedication to golf gives me plenty of time for my latest obsession-knitting.

We got a dog! Unfortunately, we only got to keep him for a few hours. He joined us while we were out running one Saturday morning and followed us all the way home--about 4 miles! Then we called his owner and arranged for pick-up.  I wish I could’ve kept him, he would’ve made a great running partner!

In July, we took a dream-trip to Australia! It was fantastic! We--yes, WE--ran the Gold Coast Marathon. It was David’s first one. The jury’s still out on whether it was his last. So far, he hasn’t given up his golf clubs for running shoes. Ten days in “Oz” was a great way to get out of the Oki-heat! I don’t know if the weather forecasts were wrong or if I just forgot what 62-69 degrees felt like, but it was COLD! We each came home with a new coat! We fed kangaroos, ate fries but called them “chips”, cuddled koalas, rode trains & ferries, and took about 100 photos of the Opera House. Although his plans to golf while we were in the Gold Coast were thwarted by the rain several times, David eventually got to go golfing in Sydney.  

Since our return to Okinawa, life has been pretty tame.  We both got back to the grindstone at work and haven’t done much else. I’ll be handing my 2^nd graders over to a new and unsuspecting teacher at the end of November *evil laugh* and enjoying a month of paid vacation until we leave.

6 miles this afternoon. My body was warm, but the air sure was cold and took a while to get used to! By the 2nd mile, I had a stomach cramp... probably because I spent much of the day eating leftover cheese & crackers, cookies and "Buster Bars" (my favorite...I'm sharing the recipe below!).

My little running group meets tomorrow and I'm excited... I didn't see them last week since I was doing the garage sale. 

9:22, 8:48, 9:06, 9:12, 9:13, 8:21.

Buster Bars

8 ounces Club crackers, divided  (I use 1 box...about 1.5 packages)
1 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup milk chocoloate chips
1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Place a third of the crackers (about 25) in bottom of an ungreased 13 x 9 x 2
inch pan. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add milk, graham
cracker crumbs and sugars; bring to a boil. Boil, stirring constantly, for 5
minutes. Pour half of the mixture over crackers, carefully spreading to cover.
Place half of the remaining crackers (25) on top. Spread with remaining sugar
mixture. Top with remaining crackers. In a saucepan over low heat, stir the
peanut butter and chips until melted and smooth. Spread over crackers. Chill
until firm, about 1 hour. Cut into small squares. Yield 3-4 dozen. Enjoy!

1 mile to the gym to meet my running group (since we sold my car!), then 7 miles with my group. I got a ride home and sent some of my cookies & fudge out of my house too!

We did a nice route today, out gate 1 and down 58 until the 3.5 mile mark. When we turned around, I took us through the Sunset beach area and it was beautiful today! The water was a gorgeous color...another run where I wish I had my camera! Before I leave, I'm going to go out and take pictures of all of my favorite run routes. Then when I get a treadmill, I can make a slideshow of all of these pretty runs to watch and maybe I'll forget that I'm on the treadmill! Ha!

And another week meeting my 4x a week goal! Woohoo! I might consider raising my goal next week. I'm not sure I'm ready to commit to 6x a week yet like Sasha suggested, but I can certainly try for 5...but that means I'm going to either need to get more running clothes or do more laundry!