KROGER SKILLET MEALS

I was given the opportunity to try Kroger Skillet Meals through Bzz Agent.

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I received coupons for free and discounted food.

I picked Chicken Florentine and a Caesar salad mix along with the garlic bread.

I tossed the skillet meal in a pan, covered it and let it cook for 10 minutes.

While it was cooking I popped the garlic bread in the oven and mixed the contents of the salad mix which included lettuce, cheese, croutons and dressing.

Pasta's done!

Dinner is served!

We all really enjoyed these items.  There was enough for 4 people to have good sized servings and dinner was done in less than 15 minutes!

Total cost would be under $10.00.

I will definitely be buying this items again. 

AV YMCA Turkey Trot

This morning I ran the Antelope Valley YMCA Turkey Trot. This is the 5th year they have been hosting this run and it gets bigger every year. 

I couldn't find a Thanksgiving shirt so I made my own. You can see how here

Packet pick up was last night at the Y. I was able to pick up my shirt and goodie bag but unfortunately they didn't have the bibs yet. 

The goodie bags were ok. 

The shirt is a cotton shirt. 

There are sponsers listed on the back. 

I got to the Y around 7:30 this morning and had to stand in line to get my bib. It took about 10 minutes. Timing was chipped so that was nice. 

They let people register this morning and due to an overwhelming amount of people not everyone got a chipped bib. 

After a few announcements we were off. We got started about 20 minutes late. 

We ran around the park and through a few neighborhoods. It was cold this morning!  I managed to finish in a decent time. 

Here's how my Nike app compared to their chip timing. 

After we finished we received a bottle of water and they had orange slices avaliable. 

Overall this was an enjoyable event that I look forward to each Thanksgiving. It's nice to see more and more people participating each year.

...DIY Thanksgiving Turkey Shirt

Tomorrow morning I’m running the Antelope Valley YMCA’s annual Turkey Trot.  I wanted a Thanksgiving shirt to wear but I couldn’t find one anywhere!  After looking up shirts online, and deciding I didn’t want to pay very much for a shirt I was just going to run a 5K in, I decided to make one my self.

 

This was my inspiration.

 

I purchased a few pieces of felt at Michael’s and got the shirt at Wal-Mart for $5.  

I used household items to cut out the head, and eyes.  The nose was just the corner of the felt square and the waddle I cut out free hand.

I used Aleene’s fabric glue to glue all the pieces together.  

After about an hour I glued the whole thing on to the shirt.

 

I just hope it stays together for the run! 

...I am a Half Fanatic!

If you’ve been reading my blog you know that I ran the Palos Verdes Half Marathon a few weeks ago.  If you want to read my recap, you can right here. This was my 10^th Half Marathon.  It was also my 3^rd Half in less than 90 days.  77 days to be exact!

By completing 3 Half’s within a 90 day time frame I became eligible for Half Fanatics! 

I am #5571!

Half Fanatics is basically a group of people who love to run Half Marathons.  There are different levels called Moons.  I’m on Neptune.  This is the lowest level.  I am hoping to “moon up” to Uranus soon by completing 6 Half’s in 6 months. 

According to the Half Fanatics website, if you can answer “YES” to any of these questions you just may be a Half Fanatic.

• Do your thoughts switch to the next scheduled race immediately after finishing a Half Marathon?
• Are you signed up for more than one race right now?
• Do you know specifics about many of the Half Marathons? Dates, courses, years run, etc.?
• Do you know the story of how the Half Marathon got started?
• Do you read books on running likeMarathon and Beyond?
• Is www.marathonmaniacs.com book marked on your computer?
• Do you look at the race schedule more than once a week?
• Do you start to feel down when you haven't run a race in a while?
• Are your closets and dressers filled with race t-shirts
• When asked about your racing from none running people, do you find yourself talking with great passion to the point that the person that asked the question regrets ever asking?
• Have you run races on back to back weekends? Or better yet back to back days?
• Have you run a Half Marathon as a training run? Or just to pace a friend?
• When asked by loved ones what your plans are for the weekend, you feel guilty telling them you’re running another half marathon so you tell them "it's only a 10K this weekend"?
• Do you plan all your vacations around a race?

Hmm, I can definitely answer YES to almost all of them!

Last week, on one of the running message boards I belong to, someone asked why people decide to join Half Fanatic.  The reason I joined was bragging rights, to commemorate my accomplishment of 3 Half’s in 77 days, to meet other runners since I usually am running by my self and so I could purchase the awesome running tops and hoodie!

I plan to wear the top at my next Half which is the Diva’s Half in Ontario, CA on December 8^th.

 If you are a Half Fanatic leave me a comment and tell me why you joined. 

...this is my Palos Verdes Half Marathon recap and review.

Saturday morning I ran the Palos Verdes Half Marathon in Palos Verdes, CA. I paid $80.00 to sign up.

Packet pick up was the Friday before at Road Runner Sports in Torrance or the morning before the race at the race site.  We didn't get a "packet", just our race shirt, timing chip and bib.  The bibs were the standard Road ID bibs.

The shirt is a short sleeved tech shirt with the race logo on the front and sponsors on the back.  They are unisex sized. I ordered a small and it's still big.

Palos Verdes race shirt

The morning of the race I stayed in Long Beach and left the house around 5:00am.  I made it to the parking lot in about 30 minutes so I was WAY early!

Due to limited parking at the Start/Finish area we had to park at the RPV City Hall and take a shuttle bus to the start.  There were signs on the main road directing us where to turn for race parking. Since I got there so early I had no issues finding a parking spot and there were 4 shuttles waiting.  It was about a 15 minute drive to the start.  

Once I arrived at the start I still had over an hour before the race started. I stretched a little and watched the sun come up.

People who didn't pick up their packet on Friday had to find their number on the board. 

There were tables set up and they were still taking registrations that morning. 

Here I am before the race. 

It was a little cold before we started so I'm glad I brought a sweater. There was a bag check available so I was able to check my jacket and pick it up after the race. 

We lined up at the starting line right before 7:00am and we were led in some stretches before we started. After the Star Spangled Baner was played we were off. It was probably 7:10am.

The course was beautiful!  

I could see the ocean for most of the race. Here I am at mile 7. 

It started warming up so I took off my arm sleeves and stuffed them in one if the pockets of my Sparkle Skirt. I love these skirts and all their pockets and they come in the cutest patterns!  

Here a few more photos from the course. 

There were plenty of water stops along the course that also had Gatorade, bananas, and power bars. The only thing they didn't have were Cliff Shots but luckily I had brought my own. 

The course was pretty hilly but it really wasn't too bad. The upside was you could really make up time going back down the hill. And it was a nice down hill sprint to the finish line. 

The medal was pretty nice for such a small race. After checking the results, 605 people completed the Half Marathon. 

After receiving my medal I also was given a bottle of water  

There was a small finish line festival at the Resort. I would say maybe 10 booths. But there were plenty is samples, SoyJoy bars, coconut water and yogurt to name a few. 

It was a short walk to the shuttles after the race. I was able to board a shuttle bus right away and had no trouble leaving the parking lot and getting back to the freeway. 

Overall I really enjoyed this race and although I was worried about the hills and  the fact that it such a small race I had a great time and I will definitely run this race again. 

My official time according to race timing was 2:54:04. Not too bad considering all the hills!  

My Garmin read 2:53:38. 

If you have any questions about the race leave me a comment and I'll get back to you. 

…hot and cold rice packs.

I’ve seen people selling those fabric packs filled with rice, and have even purchased one in the past.  The one I have is starting to lose it’s scent so I decided to make my own.  It was so simple!

I started with a bag of rice, some fabric scraps and lavender scented oil (that I found at Michaels).

I poured all the rice in to a large zip lock bag and added 10 drops of oil.  Sealed it up and shook it to spread out the oil.  I let it sit as I sewed the bags.

I cut a long piece of fabric and folded it in half.

Next I pined the long edges together with the right sides of the fabric together.  I sewed along both of the long ends, leaving the short end open.

After sewing I turned the bag right side out and sewed right down the middle of the bag, about 2 inches from each end.  I marked where I wanted to start and end with pins.

After sewing down the middle it was time to add the rice.  I used the whole bag and it filled it about 3/4 of the way full.  If you fill it too full it will be too stiff to bend.

After that I folded the open edged inside and pinned it and sewed it closed.

The finished product:

This was so simple to make, I made two in no time.  I wanted to make more but ran out of rice.

The great thing about these is they can be made in any size you want.  I saw this great idea online and I think they will make great Christmas gifts this year.

These rice packs can be kept in the freezer (in a zip-lock bag) and pulled out when a cold compress is needed.  Or toss them in the microwave for 2-3 minutes for a warm compress.  I heat mine 30 seconds at a time, then take out and move the rice around so it heats evenly.

If you make one of your own let me know!